Reviews by Category: Teens

Teen Review

Piper

By Jay Asher

Rated by
Olivia from Leawood Pioneer Library YAAC
May 17, 2018

Everyone knows the story of the pied piper right? How a mysterious man came into town and lured away all the rats by playing his pipe. But the townspeople refused to pay him, so he stole away all the children that night and they were never seen again. Right? But this book tells a different story. One you never expected.

Staff Review

Spellbook of the Lost and Found

By Moira Fowley-Doyle
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Chris K.
May 15, 2018

If you don't close your mouth, a fly will fly in, and then you'll have to swallow a spider to catch the fly, and then a cat to catch the spider, and then a dog to catch the cat, and then a goat to catch the dog, and then a cow to catch the goat, and then a horse to catch the cow, and then a lost soul to catch the horse.

Enchanting. Atmospheric. Mysterious. (a lost soul to catch the horse) Lush. Gritty. Suspenseful. There are so many good words I can think of to describe the beguiling collection of words that is this book. Dark. Mature. Sensual.

Staff Review

Saint Death

By Marcus Sedgwick
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Chris K.
Apr 12, 2018

A powerful book about the tough and gritty existence on the edge of the border, where everyone dreams of better lives that are only available to a very few through even fewer routes.

Teen Review

The Beast of Cretacea

By Todd Strasser

Rated by
Olivia from Leawood Pioneer Library YAAC
Apr 10, 2018

When Ishmael wakes up from stasis aboard the Pequod, he is amazed at how different this faraway planet is from the dying Earth he left behind. He is here to work, risking his life to hunt down enormous ocean-dwelling creatures to harvest and send back to the resource depleted Earth so he can save enough money to get his foster parents off Earth before it is too late. But time and again the chase boats are ordered to leave easy prey behind so they can pursue a dangerous and elusive monster, few people who have seen it have lived to tell the tale.

Teen Review
Can't Get There From Here by Todd Strasser

Can't Get There From Here

By Todd Strasser

Rated by
Olivia from Leawood Pioneer Library YAAC
Apr 6, 2018

Maybe lives on the streets with a tribe of homeless teens. These kids are runaways and throwaways, they have no place to go except cold city streets and have no family other than each other. They are abused, abandoned, and forgotten by society, every day they struggle to survive against the cold, hunger, and constant danger. But now there is a new girl, Tears, a 12 year old whose mother didn’t believe she had been abused by her stepfather.

Teen Review

The Prisoner of Cell 25

By Richard Paul Evans

Rated by
Beth
Apr 4, 2018

So .. it's about this 15 year old boy named Michael Vey and he has electric powers,he has had it his whole life. his mom knows it too so they try to keep it hidden and that is a bit hard for him since he was born with Tourette's Syndrome, and is always picked on. one day a bunch of bullies were hitting him and he got so mad he "pulsed' them and they were terrified of him after that day, the bad thing was someone saw electricity come out of his hands when he did it. it was his crush Taylor the head cheerleader and the prettiest girl in the high school, she saw what had happened.

Teen Review

This Is Our Story

By Ashley Elston

Rated by
Olivia from Leawood Pioneer Library YAAC
Apr 2, 2018

No one knows what happened that day when five best friends went hunting, but only four returned. The boys won’t say who fired the shot that killed their friend. And evidence shows it could have been any one of them. When Kate began an internship at the district attorney's office, she didn't expect it to be anything other than an excuse to leave school early. But now the DA hands her boss the biggest case her town has ever seen. As she helps investigate, the aging prosecutor who is her boss relies on her to see and hear what he cannot.

Teen Review

Fish Girl

By Donna Jo Napoli

Rated by
Olivia from Leawood Pioneer Library YAAC
Mar 29, 2018

She is a mermaid. She has lived her entire life in an aquarium located on the boardwalk. She is the main attraction, but visitors can never catch more than a glimpse of her. She can’t walk or speak, but she can make friends with Livia, an ordinary girl, and yearn for life outside the water. She can grow stronger and braver, and with the help of her determination, a touch of magic and the help of a loyal octopus, she can do anything.

Fantasy and reality intersect in this mermaid tale. It was beautifully drawn, with a good story too.

Teen Review

Maus

By Art Spiegelman

Rated by
Olivia from Leawood Pioneer Library YAAC
Mar 27, 2018

This book tells the story of a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist trying to come to terms with his father’s story and the death of his mother. This book follows the story of his father’s experiences in Poland and Auschwitz, as well as that of his entire family. It tells of the romance between his father and mother during this time and their struggles to stay together despite the circumstances. This book shows the relationship between the author and his father throughout. This graphic novel portrays the Jews as mice and the Nazis as cats during the Holocaust.

Teen Review

The Librarian of Auschwitz

By Antonio Iturbe

Rated by
Olivia from Leawood Pioneer Library YAAC
Mar 23, 2018

This book is based on the incredible true story of the Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus. She was taken from the Terrezin ghetto in Prague, and she is adjusting to life in the Nazi camp with her mother and father. And when the Jewish leader Fredy Hirsch asks her to protect the 8 precious books prisoners have managed to sneak past the guards, she agrees. This is the story of how she became the librarian of Auschwitz. This girl risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust despite constant danger every day.

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