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The embodiment of athletic purpose, graceful and resolute, Elijah Thomas is 6’4” and carved out of steel, according to his best friend, Dylan Buchanan.  With his rhythmic dribbling skills, Dylan is no slouch on the court either.  The two juniors, teammates on Maryland Public Secondary School’s basketball team who have been playing together since boyhood, help their high school team win the state championship.  Now, they’re ready to play in the adult tournament, Hoops, on the Battlegrounds, an asphalt court in the neighborhood where practice and pickup games take place.  Despite their talent, can the boys “compete in the adult division, against college guys, hard-core streetRead More →

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Given that her father is the famous Hollywood producer, Bill Hollis, Peyton Hollis is afraid she’ll be paparazzi fodder for the rest of her life, living behind a glam façade—all “dazzle and dysfunction, spritzed with expensive perfume” (1).  No longer wishing to associate with her family, whose money can buy secrecy, shroud scandal, and make them untouchable, Peyton has chosen life’s default setting, WEIRD.  When she discovers unsavory family secrets, she moves out of Hollis Mansion, hoping to escape the unrelenting, high pressure lifestyle of the rich and famous.  Getting more than she’s wishing for, Peyton ends up hospitalized, the victim of a violent assault.Read More →

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Book Two in the Mark of the Thief series by Jennifer A. Nielsen, Rise of the Wolf carries forward the story of Nicolas Calva who continues to feel like a pawn.  In this sequel, Nic continues to crave freedom, but he finds adversaries at every turn.  His grandfather General Radulf wants the gods to bow to him, even if that means he has to neutralize his grandson.  Atroxia, a vestalis who continues in her allegiance to the goddess Diana, will torture him unless he relinquishes the Malice of Mars and creates a Jupiter Stone. Decimas Brutus will go to any length to rob Nic ofRead More →

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Nervy but not nuts, Buck Anderson craves adventure.  Most comfortable surrounded by rock and roots and earth, Buck’s passion is caving.  And living in southwest Virginia in the Appalachian foothills, this stubborn, risk-taker has many opportunities for discovering, exploring, and hoping to make history.  When his best friend David Weinstein moves away, thirteen-year-old Buck loses his cautious cave-exploring partner, and “the first rule of caving is never—not ever—do it alone” (2). Although Buck disobeys this rule more than once, his fascination with caves and their potential danger is only one strand of the plot in Going Where It’s Dark by Newbery Award-winning author Phyllis ReynoldsRead More →

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For Maisie Winters, the protagonist in Alyssa Sheinmel’s novel Faceless, three syllables burdened with meaning are those in ac·ci·dent. While Maisie is out running one rainy morning in late April, lighting strikes a tree, setting off a chain of events that end in hospitalization for this junior at Highlands High in San Francisco.  Because “electrical fires burn hotter and faster than regular fires” (24), Maisie is now a girl without a face, but she doesn’t feel like the lucky miracle everyone keeps referring to her as.  Even though she knows the question represents “a shallow and immature concern” (50), Maisie wonders whether she’ll ever beRead More →

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The Diseray, a nearly apocalyptic war between Othersiders and humans, has completely altered life on Earth in Mercedes Lackey’s new novel, Hunter.  After the Diseray, the world was rebuilt, laid out to protect the elite from monsters that began to cross over from the Otherside, invading Earth with frequency and with impunity.  Mythical beasts like Harpies, Furies, and Kraken, and multiple other manifestations of terror—like Knockers, Gazers, Jackals, Drakken, Ketzels, and Redcaps—have made Hunters necessary protection. In this new world, where most meat is vat-grown and eggs and dairy are synthesized from vegetable oils, economic disparity is glaringly obvious.  Real meat, eggs, and dairy areRead More →

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Set in Ireland, Moira Fowley-Doyle’s debut young adult novel bumps up against the difficult topic of abuse: sexual, self-imposed, child, and partner.  But The Accident Season stops short of really tackling the topic—perhaps to reflect the reality of trying to protect a terrible secret or to tread with sensitivity, given the YA audience.  Regardless of its somewhat nebulous approach, The Accident Season provides a rich opportunity for wrestling with a difficult topic and for examining life from some of its shadowy angles.  It invites conversations about abusive behaviors—its perpetrators, victims, by-standers, enablers, and allies. Known since childhood for having a big imagination, Cara Morris isRead More →

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Late last month, a new release from New York Times bestselling author of the Tiger’s Curse series, Colleen Houck, hit the shelves.  Packed with action and adventure, Reawakened awakens the reader to diverse ways of being in the world and imparts considerable knowledge about Egyptian culture and history. Houck’s book features image conscious, seventeen year old Lilliana Young who enjoys studying people.  During spring break of her senior year, Lilliana is trying to determine a career path.  While psychology and counselling are likely choices, she knows her parents want her to major in something that would make them proud, like medicine, business, or politics.  ToRead More →

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When she was eight years old, Bridget Barsamian loved Charlie Chaplin, Volkswagen Bugs, and roller-skating.  All three passions contribute to a life-changing accident on a New York street for this young Armenian-American.  After four surgeries and a year of physical therapy, Bridge is back in the game but uncertain about who she really is.  Now she’s in seventh grade wearing cat ears and trying to define love and the purpose of life. Although this is the basic plotline for Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead, the novel wrestles with some of life’s biggest complications along the way: youth, high school, and friendships—where reality really can be asRead More →