Books for Teenagers and Young Adults: Featured Novel

J.H. Trumble’s debut began as a NaNoWriMo novel. It was also written with a YA audience in mind. In an interview on Lambda Literary the author is is asked how she feels about Kensington’s decision to publish the novel as adult, and I thought her response was quite smart. Yes, teens are likely to find it anyway — especially if librarians hear about it and buy for the teen section — and if it made her more comfortable writing an honest gay love story, it undoubtedly resulted in a better book. Music is a big part of the story, and Trumble provides a playlist on her website. (Any playlist that includes Rufus Wainwright is OK by me!) TRUMBLE, J. H. Don’t Let Me Go. 337p. Kensington. 2011. pap. $15. ISBN Read more…

Prolific science fiction author John Shirley calls his latest novel “an anti-teabagger political metaphor” and “near-future thriller.” Just yesterday, Shirley wrote a piece on his blog about a possible reaction against the politics of the novel by those he chose to satirize. Very interesting, and something I had never head of before. SHIRLEY, John. Everything Is Broken. 288p. Prime. 2012. Tr $14.95. ISBN 978-1-60701-292-4. LC number unavailable.   Adult/High School–This terrifying story examines what happens when a town whose mayor does not believe in government is hit by a tsunami. Lon Ferrara, mayor of the small town of Freedom, CA, believes that privatization means efficiency; he has even dismantled “wasteful” public Read more…

from graphic novel guest blogger, Francisca Goldsmith: As experienced readers even in traditional print formats, we all know how the size of a page, the presence or lack of margins, font choice and color can be relevant to something beyond merely our enjoyment or comfort with reading.  These factors can also tinge how we judge what we read, where we find ourselves holding the book, and how deeply our noses may be pressed into the narrative figuratively as well as anatomically.  The choice of binding, paper stock and ink aren’t just matters of economy, but also lights and textures we experience physically as we read glossy coffee table pages, cheap paperbacks, “book club” editions that, although encased in board covers, nonetheless Read more…

YALSA’s 2012 Alex Awards were announced yesterday morning at the ALA Media Awards. The winners are (with links to the AB4T review of each title): Big Girl Small, by Rachel DeWoskin In Zanesville, by Jo Ann Beard The Lover’s Dictionary, by David Levithan The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens, by Brooke Hauser The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline Robopocalypse: A Novel, by Daniel H. Wilson Salvage the Bones, by Jesmyn Ward The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures, by Caroline Preston The Talk-Funny Girl, by Roland Merullo First, a huge congratulations to the Alex Awards committee members on their hard work, and on a Read more…

Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan were both 15 years old in 1957. The photograph that was taken of them that day affected the rest of their lives. David Margolick follows both their lives and their relationship, using them as a unique lens through which to view race relations in the United States. After Little Rock, Elizabeth and Hazel’s first contact was in the early 1960s, when Hazel telephoned Elizabeth to apologize. They met in person on the 30th anniversary of the photograph, found they had a lot in common, and became friends. They traveled together, spoke to school groups together. Sadly, it didn’t last; Elizabeth and Hazel are currently estranged. MARGOLICK, David. Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock. 310p. Read more…

from graphic novel guest blogger, Francisca Goldsmith: The well constructed anthology not only offers readers an opportunity to find multiple voices, views and styles within a single pair of covers, but also directs the reader’s attention to similarities, differences, developing tropes and legacies arising from the variety. Tom Pomplun’s long running series of “Graphic Classics” typically provides richly rewarding explorations of both the writers and the cartoonists he pulls together in any single topical volume. Even at that, African-American Classics, number 22 in the series, is especially fine. Poems included are maintained as the authors wrote them, while the short stories have undergone necessary adaptation so that the book Read more…

This creative little book will make your teens stop and take notice. The publisher puts it best, “You can open the book in either direction to decide whether you’ll first read Brendan’s, or Evelyn’s account of the mysterious love affair. Choose a side, read it like a regular novel—and when you get to the end, you’ll find yourself at a whole new beginning.” Except that I would say it is more of a short story or novella – at a little over 40 pages per “account” that is more accurate. Still, it is a satisfying story, and I liked both the characters and the setting. Cornwall by the sea – what’s not to like? This video on Amazon does a good job of showing what the book looks like – it’s difficult to describe in Read more…