Kathryn Harrison‘s latest novel centers on Rasputin’s daughter, Matryona Grigorievna Rasputina. After Rasputin’s death, his 18-year-old daughter, Masha, is sent to live at the imperial palace with Tsar Nikolay and his family. When the royal family is placed under house arrest, Masha begins telling stories (both true and imagined) to distract young Aloysha, a hemophiliac, from his [...]
The publication of a new novel by Anne Rice is always an event, and especially when she begins a new series. The Wolf Gift is a werewolf novel that displays her unique combination of philosophy, sensuality and gothic horror. I was thrilled to interview Anne Rice for the AB4T blog, and Random House is also [...]
Working through barriers of language, culture and gender, American Katherine Boo spent over three years in the Mumbai slum of Annawadi. Her extraordinary book reveals the truth of life in urban India. Again and again, reviews mention her novelistic writing, the uncovering of Dickensian depths of corruption, and the detail with which she brings to [...]
With good old-fashioned storytelling, Jenny Wingfield sets up a classic struggle between good and evil in small town Arkansas. Homecoming has been widely compared to To Kill a Mockingbird, and its young protagonist, Swan, to Scout Finch. High praise! Although this is Wingfield’s debut novel, she is an experienced screenwriter, best known for “The Man in the Moon” [...]
Today’s guest blogger is Mark Flowers. I’m sure you’ve enjoyed his reviews here, which over the last several months have ranged from graphic novels to fiction to nonfiction: Does it matter if a Shakespearean play was written by William Shakespeare or by a 20th century conman? Does the value of a piece of art change [...]
Today’s guest blogger is Karlan Sick. Karlan and I served together on the Alex Awards committee for four years, and Karlan was always determined to find a book of poetry for the list. She introduced me to Poets House. At least once a summer, we would meet there and spend hours reading through potential collections, [...]
Much has been made of the fact that Téa Obreht was named as one of the National Book Foundation’s 5 under 35 and to the New Yorker’s Top 20 under 40. These are wonderful honors, and yes, Obreht is very young and talented. But what really matters is her writing. Her debut novel, The Tiger’s [...]
The Bells is less about opera than about the power of music, the melodrama of being an outcast and a victim of thwarted young love. This is a book about a boy nearly overpowered by his senses and emotions. For him, sound is a physical sensation. Teens, both artistic and not, may identify with the [...]
Several first novels stood out this year, many with appeal to young readers. Many of them have already been reviewed here: Girl in Translation, The Girl who Fell from the Sky, The House of Tomorrow, Matterhorn, The Outside Boy, and The Vanishing of Katharina Linden. Let’s add one more. A paperback original, Finny is a coming-of-age novel [...]
I thought I would kick off the Thanksgiving holiday week with two nonfiction titles that are garnering both critical praise and a great deal of publicity. They will likely end up in many a Christmas stocking this year. How do they stack up for young adult readers? First, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, the much anticipated new [...]
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