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Action, adventure and an engaging story set deep in the heart of Chinese culture – oh, and it’s all set on Mars in the year 2515. Welcome to the latest book by Chris Roberson, Iron Jaw and Hummingbird. In this engaging book, Roberson continues his development of  The Celestial Empire, where China rose to world dominance in the fifteenth century on Earth and eventually colonized Mars, or Fire Star.  It’s intriguing to imagine and develop alternate world histories (and futures) as Roberson does with his Celestial Empire stories (which remind me of the excellent book by Kim Stanley Robinson, The Years of Rice and Salt) and toRead More →

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Dade Hamilton has just graduated from an Iowa high school and he has 3 months ahead of him before leaving for college in Michigan.  His secret relationship with the popular football player Pablo is coming to an end, he wrestles with coming out to his parents and friends, and he watches as his parents’ marriage unravels before him. He just wants to make it through one final summer in suburban wasteland and then start over in the Fall.  But then he meets mysterious, gorgeous Alex Kincaid – who ignites things in Dade he wasn’t expecting: real love, truth, self-respect and hope. The Vast Fields of OrdinaryRead More →

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Avery’s got a secret and he doesn’t know how to live with it. Why is this happening to him? How can he control it? What can he do with it? Can he be the only one to have it? It, in Sarah Cross’ smart, quick, and fun first novel, Dull Boy, is superpowers.  In Avery’s case, super strength and the ability to fly.  He prowls around his town trying to find people to help (he’s got a complex about putting his gift to good use); tries to stay under the radar so he doesn’t end up in a test lab; and attempts to figure outRead More →

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13 year old Kyra has grown up in an isolated desert compound, living in a mobile home with her mother and siblings. Her father spends every third week with her mother, since he has 2 other wives in nearby trailers with a total of 20 children.  Everyone in this compound is devoted to Prophet Childs.  They’ve rejected the outside world, technology, and burned their books; they believe through obedience to the Prophet, plural marriage and the abundant production of children they can achieve a place in Heaven. Kyra doesn’t question this life much – she loves her family and feels safe in their compound –Read More →

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Julie Anne Peters’ newest novel, RAGE: A Love Story, will be out from Random House (Knopf) in September 2009.  It’s the intense, gritty, gripping story of a powerful first love that tears at your soul. In the last few weeks leading up to high school graduation, Johanna finds herself tutoring a hulking, creepy guy, Robbie, as a favor to a favorite teacher. Spending time with him after school, she learns some potentially scary, life-threatening secrets about him.  But what she soon discovers is that her time with Robbie has a surprise benefit – access to his sister, Reeve, the girl Johanna has been in intensely loveRead More →

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If one of the primary ways of getting young people to connect with a book is to create a protagonist they identify with, then Blake Nelson has absolutely done it again in Destroy All Cars. From the first page of this fantastic novel, James Hoff’s funny, angry, relentless voice grabs the reader and pulls you right into his world.  He’s pissed off – at our consumer-based, wasteful, gas-guzzling, hypocritical culture; at his parents; at his ex-girlfriend, Sadie; and, even though he doesn’t readily admit it, himself.  In journal entries, essay assignments for Junior AP English, and biting diatribes, James rails against everyone and everything, pointingRead More →

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In Skunk Girl, 11th grader Nina Khan feels trapped between 2 cultures: middle America and her Pakistani-Muslim heritage. She’s got all the usual high school troubles: cliques, friends starting to drift apart because of interests in boys, academic pressures, body/self esteem issues, and a crush on a really hot guy; and if that weren’t hard enough, she’s got the expectations left at school from her “supernerd” older sister, restrictions on who she can hang out with, traditional/conservative parents, andof course being the only Asian student in the school.  Nina feels bound and constrained by her parents’ traditional values, unsure about her own feelings, and reluctantRead More →

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A.E. Cannon’s The Loser’s Guide to Life and Love is a light-hearted romantic comedy of errors that is as breezy and easy as a warm summer night. Well-meaning, if somewhat relationship-challenged Ed has a summer job at Reel Life Movies where he works with his best friend, Scout.  Scout’s the kind of girl guys like to hang out with: she plays sports, love cheeseburgers, and has a great sense of humor.  Quark is Ed’s other best friend, a shy, but gorgeous, guy who’s intellectually way ahead of everyone. And Ellie, a beautiful girl from out of town, who breezes into the video store and catches Ed’s eye right away.  Read More →

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Just finished reading, and loving, the advance reading copy of Fat Cat, the second novel by Arizona’s Robin Brande. (due from Random House in Oct ’09) Catherine (Cat) is a smart, wise-cracking, funny high school junior who is trapped in a fat suit. She wishes there was a way to unzip the suit and start living her real life; but instead she’s trapped in a body that keeps her from being the person she longs to be.  Start of junior year and she’s in for a tough year:  lots of AP classes, no real social life to speak of (except her awesome best friend Amanda),Read More →