For nearly twenty-five years, the story of Blackbriar

Novel William Sleator, Young adult

Long ago we called this sort of thing an After School Special — television programs that featured timely topics and life lessons for a school-aged audience. Titles included: “What if I’m Gay?,” “Please Don’t Hit Me, Mom,” and “My Dad Lives In A Downtown Motel.” But they were cooled-up with familiar teen faces: The teen [...]

Novel Jay Asher, Lois Duncan, Young adult

Jin-Ling is an American-born girl whose parents came to this country from China bringing their customs and culture with them. Jin-Ling’s 2 Left Feet, Helen Chen’s debut novel, could have been an ordinary run-of-the-mill young adult novel, but the way Chen blended American and Chinese culture made this book a pleasure to read.
Jin-Ling is [...]

MN Authors, Novel Helen Chen, Young adult

Phase two of Stephenie Meyer’s beloved vampire series begins on our self-lathing heroine Bella Swan’s 18th birthday. In New Moon, the gothess is struggling with a Matthew McConaughey-ism: She will keep getting older, while her boyfriend stays the same age.
Bella reluctantly agrees to par-tay with the pasty bloodsuckers, who buy her a car stereo, an [...]

Novel Stephenie Meyer, vampires, Young adult

While reading American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang, I had to consistently remind myself that it was graphic novel for young adults. Without that reminder I found myself growing a little weary of the premise — dealing with racism in America, trying to find your identity, etc.
But when I kept in mind that this [...]

Graphic Novel Gene Luen Yang, Young adult

Andromeda Klein is a skinny, goofy-haired seventeen-year-old girl with disorganized collagen which causes her to have fragile bones and bad hearing. Because that’s not enough to make her a high school misfit, she’s also got a couple of wacky parents (Mom’s addicted to online role-playing games and Dad’s a conspiracy theorist) and is dealing with [...]

Novel Frank Portman, Young adult

Last year, when I started the Rock & Roll June endeavor (whereby I only read Rock & Roll flavored books for an entire month) one of the I Will Dare readers suggested Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Since I was mired in the endless Rock & Roll bios on recoupable debt, I never got around [...]

Novel David Levithan, Rachel Cohn, Young adult

Carl Hiaasen is well known for his offbeat characters, wry sense of humor, and his environmentalist passion. Every novel of his that I’ve read so far has carried those elements. His novel Hoot is no exception.
New kid in town, Roy Eberhardt is being harassed on the school bus by local bully, [...]

Novel Carl Hiaasen, Young adult

In my (imaginary) book, Markus Zusak wins the award for coolest ideas ever. His first novel, which happened to make #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List, is The Book Thief…a book narrated by Death. Let me repeat: Death is the narrator of this book. And it isn’t Death waxing poetic about his average [...]

Novel Markus Zusak, Young adult

Under the Persimmon Tree came to me via my 11-year old daughter, who read it earlier this academic year for school. She has recommended the book many times as a choice for the Rock & Roll Book Club, to which we finally acquiesced last month. Written in 2005 by journalist Suzanne Fisher Staples, Under the [...]

Novel Suzanne Fisher Staples, Young adult