The events and grief of September 11, 2001, will be explored in fiction for many years to come as our nation continues to work through the most profound, gut-wrenching event of our times.  It’s no surprise, then, that 9/11 will also have continuing impact on Young Adult fiction, even though today’s teens were in elementary school at the time.  Virgin Territory, James Lecesne’s next novel after Absolute Brightness, is in its own way a post-9/11 recovery novel.  15 year old Dylan and his dad have lived in the small town of Jupiter, Florida for the past 9 years.  Still feeling like an emotional and physical outsider, DylanRead More →

15 year old Pearl lives with her recently divorced mother on her uncle’s sprawling California avocado farm.  Uncle Hoyt routinely hires migrant labor to work in the groves and until the day when Pearl notices beautiful, mysterious, quiet Amiel, she’d never thought twice about the undocumented migrant workers’ plight.  But something about shy Amiel speaks to Pearl: he’s beautiful, of course, but there’s more; he’s mute due to a tragic accident in his past, he seems vulnerable and kind, and he’s very reluctant to open up to her overtures of friendship.  Pearl finds herself drawn repeatedly to the quiet bend in the river after she discovers Amiel’s small campsite where he’s beenRead More →

Order 12th Grade Kills today and receive a FREE MINION T-SHIRT! The first 30 orders will receive a free minion t-shirt with their copy of 12th Grade Kills. To Receive a Free T-Shirt: Be one of the first 30 people to place an order that includes Twelfth Grade Kills ONE t-shirt per order, ONE order per customer Sizes will vary First come, first served ~ Limited Quantities Available If you are not one of the first 30 orders we receive, we will email you to verify that your order should still be processed Your book and t-shirt will ship together after September 28. Easy WaysRead More →

Here’s an interesting editorial From Publisher’s Weekly:   The Ol’ Dead Dad Syndrome Why are there so many dead parents in kids’ books? By Leila Sales Sep 20, 2010 I am a children’s book editor. You might assume this means that I spend eight hours a day reading charming bedtime tales about bunny rabbits, but that is not true. I primarily work on novels for older children, and the “in” thing right now is future dystopias. So I actually spend eight hours a day reading about barren wastelands in which teens struggle against fascist dictatorships. Also, their parents are usually dead. Dead parents are so muchRead More →

18-year-old Alexandra Adornetto’s novel Halo follows three angels as they descend from heaven to a small coastal town to combat the Dark Forces that are rapidly spreading across Earth. There’s the archangel Gabriel, the healer Ivy, and Bethany, the youngest and most human. But when Bethany falls in love with a human boy…well, that is just the beginning of these angels’ escapades. This novel delivers everything you would expect a teenage supernatural romance story to have — there is the kind-hearted supernatural being who falls in love with the honorable human (even though she knows it is forbidden),  the inevitable reveal of the supernatural being’s trueRead More →

At 14, Hamish Graham is a genius, a sociopath, a brilliant strategist, and a murderer.  Hamish has recently been transferred into another facility for criminal youth, and the staff doesn’t really know how to approach his rehabilitation.  The director of the New Horizons Boys’ Home in New Zealand decides Hamish should keep a journal in the hopes of both providing an outlet for Hamish to reflect on himself and for the staff to get a handle on what he thinks and how he feels. Denis Wright’s Violence 101is Hamish’s first person journal alternating with 3rd person narrative of the staff’s reaction to the journal and the narrativeRead More →

Mike Lupica’s Hero, due from Philomel/Penguin Books in November 2010, is a variation on familiar territory for both Lupica and the teen-hero genre.  When 14 year old Billy Harriman’s dad, the globetrotting special advisor to the President, is mysteriously killed in a small aircraft crash, Billy’s world is turned upside down.  Billy had always looked up to his famous hero-of-a-dad, but also secretly wished he’d been around more, instead of always putting others, and America, before Billy and his mom.  But now that his dad is gone and never coming home, he is forced to confront the anger, resentment, and longings he’d suppressed for years. But that’sRead More →

Mark Shulman’s Scrawl is the detention journal of the school’s bully, Tod.  After he and his droogs are busted for breaking into the school, he’s sentenced to spend his daily detention in a hot, empty room with Mrs. Woodrow, a no-nonsense guidance counselor.  Not really sure why he escaped grounds-keeping duty, Tod only knows he’s supposed to write about himself, his family, friends and school life in a beat-up notebook and turn it in for Mrs. W.’s review.  Through the journal Tod eventually opens up and we can see that he is a smart, thoughtful kid who lives a bad home life, isn’t socially acceptedRead More →