Teen and Young Adult Fiction Reviews
Beth Steury, one of The Scriblerians authors, immerses herself in the YA world via substitute teaching, reading YA fiction, and connecting with the teenage staff at the local fast-food joint, where she claims the back booth as her office.… Read the rest
Third in a series of reviews about deaf characters and their siblings, Of Sound Mind zeroes in on the burdens a CODA (child of deaf adults) carries when his parents cannot or will not connect with the hearing world.… Read the rest
When Antony John’s wife challenged him to write a book about rock music and its personalities from a deaf person’s point of view, Five Flavors of Dumb was the result.
Synopsis
Eighteen-year-old Piper Vaughn lost her hearing in fifth grade, so her speech is pretty clear, and she’s mastered the skill of reading lips.… Read the rest
They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.
Now we rise.
Synopsis
Once, Zélie Adebola’s world was filled with magic. The land of Orïsha had Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.… Read the rest
When a tree leans, it will rest on its sister.
Fifteen-year-old NAWRA from Darfur lives in a camp for refugees displaced by the Janjaweed’s trail of murder and destruction. She can’t read or write but when an organization called “Save the Girls” pairs her with a girl in the states, she gets her best friend to be her scribe her thoughts and experiences.… Read the rest
Thomas Fawkes is turning to stone, and the only cure to the Stone Plague is to join his father’s plot to assassinate the king of England.
Silent wars leave the most carnage.
Once a Princess by Sherwood Smith is an epic adventure fantasy with magic and swords, pirates and princesses, and a conniving villain. It is appropriate for ages 12 and up.
Many people on Goodreads dinged this books as a cliff-hanger, but that is not the author’s fault.… Read the rest