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The Tension of Opposites, by debut author Kristina McBride, balances on the razor thin line between numerous opposites: pain and relief; expectation and reality; choice and fate; caution and recklessness; love and hate; and selflessness and selfishness. Noelle was abducted from her sleepy Midwestern town two years ago. And ever since, her best friend Tessa’ life has been on hold. Guarded, isolated and basically living in suspended animation, now-sophomore Tess won’t allow herself the life that Noelle can’t have.  Her only outlet and solace has been her love of photography.  When the novel begins, Noelle has escaped her captor and been able to get himRead More →

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I just finished reading Ellen Hopkins’ book Tricks and I must say, it is one of the most intense books I have ever cracked open. Being a long term Ellen Hopkins fan, I’ve read all of her previous books and knew without a doubt that this one would be just as intriguing. Tricks is a story about 5 teenagers who fall into the death grips of prostitution for several different reasons. Hopkins did a superb job in making each character come to life and seem as real as someone sitting right next to you. Tricks is filled with so much emotion and heartache that it isRead More →

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Continuing his tradition of writing well-crafted, thought-provoking, gripping novels for teens that blend fiction with tough reality, Paul Volponi’s latest, Rikers High, is another knock out.  With a deceptively simple plot, following Forty’s last 2 weeks in juvenile detention on NY’s Rikers Island, the book is full of wry observations, authentic characters, street slang, and sensitivity. 17 year old Martin Stokes (inmate in bed #40 in the mod, so he takes the name Forty) has been on Riker’s Island for 5 months awaiting trial on a trumped up steering charge.  Frustrated with his court appointed lawyer and the numerous delays in the judicial system, Forty is bound for court onRead More →

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When two people have as much talent as John Green and David Levithan, when they have so much fun doing what they do, and you combine that with humor, wisdom, sarcasm, and an eye for seeing the truth and the fearlessness to tell it in just the right way, well, you get something spectacular.  In 4 words, you get: Will Grayson, Will Grayson. When David Levithan was at PBC last year for a dinner with local educators, he shared some background about how this book came to be: the funny coincidences of having another person whose name is almost the same as yours and what happensRead More →

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In Yxta Maya Murray’s newest novel, The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Kidnapped, we’re on a high speed, high stakes thrill ride from the first page.  15 year old Michelle Pena is a determined and fierce young woman.  She’s a track star and an excelling student who is living with her gay foster father and working towards a scholarship at a prestigious Los Angeles area high school.  The problem is her past:  Michelle is the daughter of the gang’s leader, and when her dad was killed, her mother took over and ruled the organization with an iron fist.  She’s in prison and Michelle’s brother, Sampson aka “king,”Read More →

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18 year old high school senior Logan Witherspoon lives in a tiny Missouri town and at the start of senior year is still nursing his broken heart after being cheated on and dumped by his long time girlfriend.  Then a new girl breezes into his first period biology class: Sage, full of vivacious energy, confidence, tall and striking looking; she chooses Logan’s table and his fate is sealed. As their attraction develops, Logan wrestles with the unfairness of the harsh restrictions Sage’s parents have placed on her: she’s been homeschooled for the past 6 years; she’s not allowed to participate in extra-curriculars; she can’t leave the house except forRead More →

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Texas librarian Dia Reeves’ debut novel, Bleeding Violet, is a whirlwind, crazed, supernatural romantic thrillride, replete with madness, demons, sarcasm, irreverence, violence, sex and teen angst.  My head is still spinning… 16 year old Hanna’s mother abandoned her when she was a baby, leaving her to be raised in Finland by her father. After he dies, Hanna runs away to find and force a reunion with the mother she’s never met.  But Hanna’s life isn’t meant to be easy: she’s plagued by her own demons (manic depression and bipolar disorder) and a tendency towards violence and casual risk-taking; and when she breaks into her mother’sRead More →

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In her last book, Solace of the Road, Siobhan Dowd takes the reader on a gut-wrenching journey with Holly, and her alter-ego, Solace, as she finds her way to facing the pain in her troubled past and possibly moving beyond it to live her life. A ward of the state since she was a small child, 14 year old Holly has grown jaded and angry on the streets of London.  She accepts a placement in a quiet middle class home but can’t let her guard down to accept the comfort and love her foster parents try to show her.  The anger and mistrust that hasRead More →

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From Publisher’s Weekly:  Five backlist novels and two new titles are featured in Point of View, a fall marketing initiative from Penguin Young Readers Group. The campaign, which focuses on literary books with strong, somewhat challenging themes, entails consumer and trade components and aims to connect readers who embraced such novels as Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson to new books with a similar appeal. Joy Peskin, executive editor at Viking, who edited Wintergirls and After, views the campaign as “a great opportunity to give attention to important books by our newer authors, by tying them into more establishedRead More →