Today’s reviewed novels are most likely to appeal to strong, mature teen readers looking for a challenge. Yet each includes a teen character, an authentic teen voice, that will keep the adventurous reading. The starred review belongs to A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. This novel is difficult to categorize. It begins [...]
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 [...]
Simon Lelic‘s latest thriller presents readers with a near future Britain in which the government has gained too much power in the name of national security. (I reviewed Lelic’s first book, A Thousand Cuts, back in 2010. Quite a powerful novel about bullying.) Read an extract from The Facility here. LELIC, Simon. The Facility. 341p. [...]
”I wanted to write a black existentialist novel, told in separate parts, that replicated some feelings I have had about being alive.” (from an interview on The Root) Zadie Smith is best known for her debut, White Teeth; NW is set in the same London neighborhood. NW refers to the area’s postal code, where its main [...]
What is it with kids wanting to solve mysteries? Maybe a warning should be added to the list of tried and true parental instructions: 1. Don’t talk to strangers. 2. Don’t investigate disappearances, burglaries or murders without adult supervision… Of course, this has been a popular device for ages. But this summer alone we have Pigeon [...]
Lucinda grows up at the very end of the Cold War, the daughter of a military family who has never lived in the United States. They have moved from one base to another her whole life. This book is about how she copes during her teen years, particularly with a volatile mother, an oblivious father, [...]
The Kid is author Sapphire’s 2nd novel, following Push (Knopf, 1996). Today’s audiences know Push best as Precious, the 2009 film that was nominated for several Oscars. (The 2009 Vintage paperback reprint is actually titled Precious: based on the novel “Push”.) The Kid is the story of what becomes of Precious’ son after she dies of [...]
How did I manage to get a whole month into this blog without posting the review of a memoir?? It seems to be common knowledge that memoir is a genre with tremendous teen appeal. Yes and no. Just because a memoir begins with the child and young adulthood of the writer does not mean that [...]
A post-apocalyptic, post-technology fantasy set in an Africa plagued by ethnic conflict, genocide and sorcerers. Despite its heavy topic, there is no question that Who Fears Death will appeal to teens. A young girl becomes a young woman while accepting the responsibility of saving her people, helped only by equally young friends and the occasional, [...]
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam) was originally published in February 2009, and is still on the hardcover bestseller list (#12 this week according to Publishers Weekly). That makes 73 weeks in a row. The paperback is currently scheduled for December 2011 (?!). No doubt another wave of popularity will surface next summer–the [...]
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