Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler. 2010. Little Brown. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. The Plot: Delilah Hannaford, almost seventeen, is in a car headed from Pennsylvania to Vermont. It’s been eight years since she’s been to her mother’s hometown. Back then, it was for her beloved grandfather’s funeral. Because of a fight between her mother, [...]
Hush by Eishes Chayil. Walker, a division of Bloomsbury. 2010. Review copy from publisher. The Plot: Gittel is a teenager, preparing to graduate High School, get married, get a job. She is haunted by memories of her childhood friend, Devory. When they were both nine, Devory hanged herself in the bathroom of Gittel’s house. Now [...]
Room by Emma Donoghue. Little, Brown. 2010. Borrowed copy. The Plot: Five year old Jack lives with Ma in Room. His entire life, all he knows, is within these four walls. Rug, with the spot on it from when he was born. Bed, where he wakes up with Ma in the morning. Wardrobe, where he [...]
Dark Water by Laura McNeal. Knopf Books, an imprint of Random House. 2010. Review copy from publisher. The Plot: Pearl DeWitt is fifteen when she first sees Amiel de la Cruz Guerrero, a seventeen year old migrant worker. She cannot stop thinking about him. She asks her uncle, who owns an avocado grove, to hire Amiel. Her [...]
Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers. Amistad, an imprint of Harper Collins. 2010. Copy borrowed from friend. The Plot: Maurice “Reese” Anderson will be fifteen in a month. For the last twenty-two months, he’s been at the Progress Center for young offenders aged twelve to sixteen. He’s on a special work-release program a few days a [...]
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff. Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin. 2010. Reviewed from ARC from ALA. The Plot: Mackie Doyle, sixteen, knows he’s different from the other teens in Gentry. On page five, Mackie admits that during the school blood drive “I could smell the blood — sweet, metallic. I could taste it in the back [...]
The Demon’s Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan. Simon & Schuster. 2010. Personal copy. The Plot: The story of Alan, Nick, Mae, and Jamie starts not that long after the events of The Demon’s Lexicon. Demons, magicians, and battles, oh my. The Good: There will be spoilers. For those who have not read The Demon’s Lexicon: [...]
The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove by Susan Gregg Gilmore. Crown, a division of Random House. 2010. Reviewed from uncorrected proof from publisher. The Plot: As the title promises, the life of one Bezellia Louis Grove, starting with her birth announcement in 1951. Bezellia recounts her youth and teenage years as the daughter of one [...]
The Twin’s Daughter. Lauren Baratz-Longsted. Bloomsbury. 2010. Reviewed from ARC from author. The Plot: Victorian London. Lucy Sexton is thirteen when she opens the door and sees her mother…. No. Not her mother, Aliese Sexton; it is her mother’s identical twin sister, Helen. A twin no one knew about. Aliese and Helen were separated at [...]
The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter. 2010. Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan. Review from ARC provided for review. The Plot: These are the three Hardscrabble children. Let them introduce themselves: “Otto was the oldest, and the oddest. Then there was Lucia, who wished something interesting would happen. Last of all was Max, who [...]
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