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Katie Roiphe of the Wall Street Journal has written an interesting article on the darker bent of YA lit.  I think she hits the nail on the head with her statement that:  “unsettling as it is, there is a certain amount of comfort to be gleaned from the new disaster fiction; it makes its readers feel less alone. … there is in all of this bleakness a wholesome and old-fashioned redemption that involves principles like triumph over adversity and affirmations of integrity.” What do you think? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203771904574173403357573642.htmlRead More →

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In: Action & Adventure, Action & Adventure (YA), Middle Grade Reviews, Sci Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
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When Thomas wakes up in a dark lift, headed upwards to who knows where, all he can remember is his first name. He has no idea where he came from, who he is, or how he got where he is. When the door above him opens, he discovers he’s “welcomed” by other teen boys, in a large expanse, called The Glade, surrounded by tall stone walls.  The Gladers also have no memories of their lives before – they only know they’ve been virtual prisoners in the maze for about 2 years.  They know that every morning, the large stone doors open and runners head out into the mazeRead More →

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Interested in the highlights for childrens’ & YA for Fall 2009 from BEA?  Publishers Weekly has great coverage: BEA Childrens’ Highlights Article: The Fall’s biggest titles were on display, updates on print runs, sequels and new titles you just can’t miss! Write up & Photos from Childrens’ Author Breakfast: 1,200 booksellers and librarians attended a special breakfast. Pictured: Breakfast speakers Meg Cabot, Tomie dePaola, Julie Andrews and Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Photo By: Stevekagan.com. YA Editors Buzz Session – Hot books for Fall 2009 that exemplify the 3 main elements of buzz:  emotional impact, suspense and heat – straight from the editors themselves. Some good forthcoming optionsRead More →

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In: Middle Grade Reviews, Romance (YA), Supernatural & Horror, Supernatural & Horror (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
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Shiver is the perfect title for Maggie Stiefvater’s romance due out from Scholastic in August 2009.  In the literal sense, of course, because it’s the cold that forces Sam into wolf form and pulls him away from his one true love, Grace. But in the figurative sense as well because both Sam & Grace, and readers, will shiver throughout this book with delight, anticipation, yearning, fear and delicious sexual tension.   Grace is a 17 year old girl who yearns for something other than her middle class existence – escape; passion; an uninhibited life – something embodied in the wolves she watches every winter in the woods behindRead More →

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Chris Woodingcontinues his exploration of deep, dark, scary otherworlds in his latest book for young adults, Malice, due from Scholastic in October 2009. Like all good urban legends, it’s the thrill of the unknown that draws kids in: gather some odds & ends, chant a phrase 6 times, and then wait to see if Tall Jake comes for you.  And then there’s a creepy, hard-to-find comic called Malice that details erratically horrifying snipets of kids trapped in a dangerous underworld, most of whom meet gruesome ends. When one of their friends goes missing and then appears to die in the pages of Malice, Seth andRead More →

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In: Action & Adventure, Action & Adventure (YA), Middle Grade Reviews, Sci Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
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“I will have to travel from district to district, to stand before cheering crowds who secretly loathe me, to look into the faces of the families who children I have killed…” By page four of Catching Fire I am swept away with emotion.   When I left the heroine of The Hunger Games, Katniss, I thought I could easily hold it together until she returned in its sequel.  How wrong I was.  When I was able to read an advanced copy, I found myself pinned to the couch, taking only time to eat one meal…forcing myself to stop at 1am with 40 pages to go.  Why? Read More →

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In: Action & Adventure, Elementary Book Reviews, Middle Grade Reviews, Supernatural & Horror
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In screenwriter Greg Taylor’s first novel, Killer Pizza, 14 year old Toby just landed a great job for a guy who dreams of being a celebrity chef – in the kitchen of a cool new franchise, Killer Pizza.  Along with his teen co-workers, Strobe and Annabel, Toby soon discovers the pizza shop is actually a front for a nationwide network of monster hunters – wait?! Monster Hunters? Yep, monsters!  They quickly accept the reality that fearsome monsters exist in their midst, and undergo weeks of combat, technical, and weapons training in order to discover and defeat them. The main ingredient in this recipe is action, action, and more action.  It’s like aRead More →

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Dale Peck’s latest novel, Sprout, is in some ways the antithesis of a novel I read earlier this spring, tales of the MADMAN underground by John Barnes.  Where Barnes’ characters speak, think, and express themselves with the manner of real teens, Peck’s characters (at least filtered via the protagonist/narrator Sprout) have consciously edited their language to reflect their understanding of the fact that the people who will read their story (adults) and decide on its appropriateness for its intended audience (teens) have issues with profanity in books.  Sprout works precisely because it’s so upfront about the fact that it’s being edited for content and language: “it’s easy toRead More →