Reviews by Category: Teens
Eleanor & Park
By Rainbow RowellEleanor and Park at first glance seem to be two different people, but after Park saves Eleanor from the horrors of the bus one day, they discover how much they complete each other. They find themselves in love, knowing that it probably won't last, but hoping beyond reason that it will.
Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey
By Margaret Peterson HaddixTish is writing journal entries as an assignment for her English teacher, Mrs. Dunphrey. She has promised not to read any entries marked "Don't read this" and that is exactly what Tish writes before almost every entry. As Tish struggles with her abusive father and neglectful mother, she writes about those struggles in the journal. Dunphrey comments positively about how much she is writing, asks her to write some entries she can actually read, and also scolds her for not turning her journal in on time and for not completing other homework assignments.
Wolf in White Van
By John DarnielleJohn Darnielle’s second book is about the space between two separate worlds – the one we live in and the one we think we live in. It’s a place where aspirations are born, where imagination develops . . . also where great loneliness lives.
I Am Her Revenge
By Meredith MoorePart Fatal Attraction part Great Expectations, this a new mystery/thriller for teens filled with plot twists and intrigue.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
By Jesse AndrewsIt’s a shame that Me and Earl and the Dying Girl gets lumped in with John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars. Even though both are excellent novels involving a person dying of cancer, both are about vastly different things.
An Ember in the Ashes
By Sabaa TahirIn a world inspired by ancient Rome, Laia is a Scholar, a member of a conquered people who were once the greatest minds on earth. Laia ekes out a living making jams with her grandmother, while her brother and grandfather provide health care to the needy. Until one night when her brother is accused of spying on the Martial Empire for a rebel group. Laia’s grandparents are murdered in front of her face and her brother is thrown in prison. Laia only escapes this fate buy running away. Ashamed of how she has behaved she tries to barter with the rebel group for her brother’s freedom.
Hold Me Closer
By David LevithanTiny Cooper is a character in David Levithan's book Will Grayson, Will Grayson. He is flamboyant and emotional, and he spends that novel writing and then performing a musical of his life. Hold Me Closer is that musical, written in theater script format.
Landry Park
By Bethany HagenMadeline Landry is the heiress of Landry Park, the richest estate in the country, which has been in her family for generations. However, as she starts to doubt her father, she meets David Dana, who is more than meets the eye.
Sex & Violence
By Carrie MesrobianWhile it certainly contains the titular activities, this book isn't nearly as sensationalistic as its title might imply. More than anything, Sex & Violence is a fantastically-voiced, layered character study. The description "layered" applies to narrator-protagonist Evan, the other characters in the book, and their relationships; and it applies to the meanings of, manifestations of, and connections between sex and violence that Evan gradually comes to grasp in unstated, embodied ways.