A spooky psychological thriller, like a YA "We've Got to talk about Kevin." Teenaged Che is trying to figure out how to contain his psychopathic little sister Rosa before something worse than a guinea pig murder happens. His parents aren...
tagged: mystery, thriller, family, and mental-health
A fantastic mystery thriller about a violent young woman who assumes her rich friend's identity. Set in glammy locales and filled with spoiled rich kids, the narrative goes backwards, with a satisfying Lockhartian twist at the end. So mu...
Wow! Schusterman has spectacularly revived the overdone and boring "Hunger Games" type of novel. Rowan and Cintra are apprentice Scythes, training to be a "gleaner" of people in a world where there is no more death, sickness, poverty and...
tagged: dystopia, science-fiction, and coming-of-age
A beautiful, gentle little book about a child named George, born a boy and feels like a girl. This is about the moment in George's life where she has to communicate her truth to those closest to her. It's written for grades 3-6. I recom...
An upbeat mystery/romance featuring Simon, gay and not yet out, and his mysterious pen pal, Blue. Who is Blue? And will Simon's family ever stop making a big deal out of his life? A wholesome, healthy look at love, friendship and family.
tagged: lgbtq, romance, family, feel-good, and guys
A meditative, slow moving, mysterious post-Arthurian adventure, kind of like The Hobbit for senior citizens. A bunch of folks set out to slay a dragon and visit long lost son. The problem is everyone keeps forgetting what they are doing....
A fun quick read about a Japanese-American girl's trip to Japan alone, later joined by her family. It's notable because it's a memoir written and illustrated by a teenager. It's funny and honest.
tagged: global-perspectives, graphic-novels, family, and first-person
A Dickensian saga of the conquest of North America through the story of one European and one Micmac family, and the trees that define their lives through logging and planting. It sounds REALLY BORING but it's not--I learned so much (but ...
I love Martin Amis but it took me a while to get to this one. A shocking, at times funny in a very dry way, shocking shocking shocking and brave novel set in a Nazi concentration camp in Poland. Most of the characters are Nazis and we se...
A beautiful book filled with storms, dreams, secrets and family set during two consecutive summers in El Paso TX in the late 80s. Aristotle is a loner who meets Dante at the pool. The two fifteen year olds, who are Mexican-American, bond...
