Teen and Young Adult Fiction Reviews
Outstanding
There’s a difference between deaf and Deaf. The former is a physical condition, the latter is an identity. Having grown up with a deaf sibling, I’d always been aware of the frustrations in communicating with someone who can’t hear, but until recent years I had not known there was an official community.… Read the rest
Peas and Carrots by Tanita S. Davis, a Coretta Scott King Honor Winner, is the story of a journey of trust.
Fifteen-year-old Dess—white, rebellious, defensive—who long ago learned that she had to depend on herself has accepted the necessity of becoming a foster child.… Read the rest
Were you one of those children who adored horses? Do you have a child who 
devours every book on horses that she can get her hands on?
Then you have probably read books by Marguerite Henry.
I didn’t. As a kid, I liked horses.… Read the rest
I’m always good for a compassionate tear-jerker of a story, and Lety Out Loud with its sympathetic characters and focus on abandoned pets blessed me with three separate crying jags.
Lety Muñoz is an ESL student fresh out of fifth grade.… Read the rest
Synopsis
After a series of bad choices rocked his world, seventeen-year-old Preston charts a new course as far from his ladies’ man ways as he can get. He distances himself from the dating scene and avoids his party-loving friends—the things that once dominated his life.… Read the rest
Last month I interviewed one of the Scriblerians’ own, Cynthia Toney, regarding her Birdface series. Cynthia also has another book out which is historical fiction, and I loved the story. I don’t give five stars all that often, so you know it’s wonderful!… Read the rest
Lady Selene is the heir to the Great House of Ravenwood and the secret family gift of dreamwalking. As a dreamwalker, she can enter a person’s dreams and manipulate their greatest fears or desires.
Last month I reviewed a Newbery winner which fascinated me with its intricate puzzle mystery. When You Reach Me is based on another complicated mystery, which, if I tell you the type of puzzle it is at its core, I would ruin the ending for you.… Read the rest
The Westing Game is a mystery, or more accurately, a puzzle-mystery as described in the author’s own words. With sixteen characters, each with their own point-of-view, the challenge of solving the mystery ranks on par with the difficulty level of a 3000-piece jigsaw puzzle.… Read the rest
Set in post-Revolutionary War New England, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch is the biography of Nathaniel Bowditch, author of The American Practical Navigator, nicknamed the “Sailor’s Bible.” While I never paid attention to the author’s name when I was a child, I’m sure I read several of Jean Lee Latham’s biographical works.… Read the rest