The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. Random House. 1974. (over the years, many reprints and imprints!) Library copy. The Plot: Trinity is a school ruled by an elite clique, The Vigils, and the person who runs that clique is Archie Costello. Archie creates “assignments” for his fellow students: various stunts and pranks. Jerry is a [...]
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. St. Martin’s Griffin. 2013. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. The Plot: August, 1986, and Park Sheridan is sitting on the bus, wanting to be left alone. When Eleanor Douglas gets on the bus, the last thing he wants to do is share his seat with her. Ignore her, leave [...]
Black Helicopters by Blythe Woolston. Candlewick Press. 2013. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. The Plot: “I’m Valkyrie White. I’m fifteen. Your government killed my family.” Valley has been bathed, so that she doesn’t smell of wood smoke and instead smells like other teen girls. Valley has been dressed, in jeans and a T-shirt and a hoodie, [...]
Come See About Me by C.K. Kelly Martin. Smashwords. 2012. The Plot: Leah’s boyfriend, Bastien, is dead. Since the police knocked on their apartment door, telling her about the accident, Leah has barely been able to function. University classes, her part time job, her friends, all fall by the wayside as she tries to live with her [...]
Reality Ali by Christine Marciniak. Zumaya Thresholds, 2012. Personal copy. From the publisher’s website: “The only thing real about reality TV is the camera. “Fourteen-year-old Ali Caldwell’s father keeps her privacy so secure none of the kids at boarding school believe she has a movie star for a mom. Sick of hiding in the wings, [...]
Ask the Passengers by A.S. King. Little, Brown. 2012. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. The Plot: Astrid lives in a small town where everyone knows, or thinks they know, everyone’s business. Everyone judges. So Astrid keeps some things to herself: like that her father is smoking pot. Like how she and her younger sister Ellis are [...]
My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick, Dial Books, an imprint of Penguin. 2012. Copy provided for review. The Plot: Samantha Reed’s mother explained to her about the family next door: “There’s one in every neighborhood. The family that never mows their lawn. The toys scattered everywhere.” The message to Sam is clear: stay away from [...]
Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo. Alfred A. Knopf, Random House. 2012. Review copy from publisher. YALSA Morris Award Finalist. The Plot: Amelia, fifteen, is in love with Chris. Chris is her co-worker at the local supermarket. Chris is twenty-one years old. Chris is finishing up university, trying to get over Michaela, figuring out what [...]
Summer in the City by Candace Bushnell. Sequel to The Carrie Diaries (2010). Balzer & Bray, an imprint of Harper Collins. 2011. Review copy from publisher. The Plot: Summer in the City picks up right where The Carrie Diaries left off: seventeen year old Carrie Bradshaw is in New York City for a summer writing [...]
The Miseducation of Cameron Post by emily m. danforth. Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. 2012. Reviewed from copy from publisher. Edited to add: Morris Finalist. The Plot: When Cameron Post’s parents die in a car crash, Cameron is left to be raised by her mother’s sister and father’s mother. On the day her parents [...]
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