We review a lot of graphic novels around here (thanks in large part to super-reviewer Francisca Goldsmith) so, as we said on Monday, Angela and I were very happy to see a GN on the Alex Awards list this year. As I somewhat embarrassingly indicated, though, I hadn’t read Derf Backderf’s My Friend Dahmer, so I [...]
Teen behavior in libraries includes a lot of browsing. I have two different display spaces in my small high school library. Fortunately, one of them is right in front of my desk, so I often get the chance to watch students check out the latest books (surreptitiously, lest I scare them away!). Some will just [...]
MARK: Congratulations to all of the 2013 Alex Award winners, and to the wonderful committee. Later this week, Angela and I will probably be dissecting the list in a little more detail, but for now, we just want to get up some first reactions. First, and most importantly to me, in your face, Angela! I [...]
A few weeks ago, I posted about genre fiction and teen appeal. At that time I made a promise to myself that I would read more genre titles this year. So far so good because by reading The Six-Gun Tarot I covered three in one – fantasy, horror and western. Teens are going to love [...]
I am sharing two very different books today, which I can only tenuously connect thanks to the Alex Awards. (Thus the completely unimaginative title of this post!) Let’s begin on a light-hearted note. First, a review of Raiders!, which won a place on the Booklist Editors Choice: Adult Books for Young Adults, 2012. Our reviewer [...]
Back in December, I wrote a post in which I wondered why we don’t see more nonfiction books recognized in awards for teens, and in particular, why memoirs and biographies are so dominant among the nonfiction titles that do show up. Commenter Meghan suggested: My own experience as a public librarian has shown it’s easier [...]
MARK: Back before the 2011 Alex Awards were announced, Angela said she “would never presume to predict the Alex winners”, but this year I’ve convinced her to help me go ahead and presume away. So today we offer our combined random guesses, er . . . informed predictions as to what might make the 2013 [...]
from regular AB4T graphic novel guest blogger, Francisca Goldsmith: Cortés gained popular stature last year with his sweetly counterpoint art in satiric Go the F**k to Sleep. That’s part of his genius: giving the eye important information barely hinted at in the text. In “The Secret History” series, of which this exploration of Coffee, Coca, and [...]
We may have settled on our Best Books of 2012 back at the end of November, but here we are in early January and we’re still finding great books from last year. This week, we have three very different takes on thrillers that all bring to mind (for me anyway) the movies. First up is [...]
Today we feature new books by two authors well-known among teen readers. With Francesca Lia Block’s return to adult fiction we have, as Jamie says in her review, a perfect example of the New Adult category. In an Interview Magazine piece, Block was asked about the themes in this book, “In The Elementals, I explore the [...]
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