Front Country by Sara St. Antoine Adventure Realistic Fiction * * * * Stars (Great!) Ginny Shepard’s world comes squealing to a halt when her science teacher starts a unit on climate change. Unlike her classmates, Ginny can’t seem to stop thinking about all the animals going extinct and the planet dying. Her friends and family don’t understand why it’s hard for her to care about anything else. When Ginny starts ignoring her grades in … Read more
Believarexic by JJ Johnson Realistic Fiction Novel in Verse (partly) * * * Stars (Pretty good) Jennifer (15) is an alcoholic and has an eating disorder that she’s been hiding for some time. She realizes that she’s sick, and that she will need help to heal, but her family is skeptical – is this just another case of Jennifer seeking attention and being dramatic? Still, her mother makes an appointment for her to be evaluated … Read more
Refraction by Naomi Hughes Science Fiction * * * Stars (Pretty good) Marty Callahan is a dealer in illegal mirrors who finds himself in hot water when enforcement agents get the drop on him. What’s so bad about mirrors, you might ask? Well, ever since an alien spaceship exploded over the Earth, enveloping most of it in an impenetrable fog filled with terrifying monsters, reflective surfaces have only served as portals for the monsters. So … Read more
Odder by Katherine Applegate Realistic Fiction Review #1 * * * * * Stars (Amazing!) What is life like for a wild otter? Living off the coast of California, near the Monterey Bay Aquarium (though it is called Highwater in her world), Odder delights in play. “Water means play, and play is their purpose.” When she was a child, barely a few months old (though otters grow much faster than human children) a storm swept … Read more
A Complicated Love Story Set in Space by Shaun David Hutchinson LGBTQ+ Mystery Romance Science Fiction Suspense Thriller * * * Stars (Pretty good) Noa wakes up in space – literally in a spacesuit floating outside a spaceship. He has no idea how he got there. At least he isn’t alone. DJ reaches out to him from the ship with some rather unfortunate news – the ship may explode if they don’t do something to … Read more
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death by Caitlin Doughty Nonfiction * * * * * Stars (Amazing!) Caitlin Doughty is a mortician and funeral director and in this book she responds to some of the questions she has received from young folks about death, corpses, funerals and more (including “Will my cat eat my eyeballs?”). Kids are curious about ALL aspects of death, so there’s a nice selection … Read more
Auggie & Me (sequel to Wonder) by R.J. Palacio Realistic Fiction Review #1 * * * * * Stars (Amazing!) “Auggie & Me” consists of three new chapters from three different characters that were in the book, “Wonder.” It takes place after the book and follows bully Julian, Auggie’s oldest friend Christopher, and his classmate Charlotte. It gives an insight into how Auggie has touched their own lives and where they go and what they … Read more
The Counselors by Jessica Goodman Mystery Suspense Thriller * * * Stars (Pretty good) Goldie, Ava, and Imogen have been best friends since they met at camp their first summer and now they are counselors. Over the past year, however, they’ve kept certain details about their lives hidden from one another and their secrets are getting in the way of their friendship. Goldie, for instance, is still dealing with the fallout from the car accident … Read more
Teen Killers Club Teen Killers Club #1 by Lily Sparks Mystery Suspense Thriller * * * Stars (Pretty good) Signal Deere supposedly killed her best friend, but she was framed! Looking at spending the rest of her life in prison, Signal opts instead to take a deal that will train her to be a teen assassin. Unaware of exactly what this entails, she finds herself at a training “camp” with other teen killers, decidedly lacking … Read more
Any Sign of Life by Rae Carson Science Fiction Suspense Thriller * * * * Stars (Great!) Teen basketball star Paige Miller wakes up attached to an IV and feeling like death itself. She discovers that she’s all alone and that everyone in her town is dead. Determined to survive, she goes in search of supplies and other people – eventually finding some companions. Together they follow a radio broadcast that promises additional community and … Read more