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Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin deliver a hilarious, heartfelt concoction in Notes From the Blender.  I can’t count how many times I laughed out loud, smirked with understanding, and cringed with embarrassment throughout this book.    16 year old Declan (named after Elivs Costello, thank you very much) loves death metal, violent video games, and Neilly Foster.  He’s an outsider for sure, cloaking himself in black clothes, combat boots and an attitude that lets people know to keep their distance.  He’s learned to live with the pain and grief he’s carried since his mom was killed in a car accident when he was 9.  He and his dadRead More →

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Even with all of the “multicultural” young adult novels published every year, there really isn’t much that takes place in Sub-Saharan Africa.  And those stories taking on the plight of the refugees, the disenfranchised, and the desperately poor are even harder to find.  Michael Williams’ recent publication, Now Is the Time for Running, tells the staggering story of a 14 year old boy, Deo, fleeing from Zimbabwe into South Africa seeking safety and a chance at a decent life for himself and his mentally disabled older brother, Innocent.  Inspired in part by Williams’ work with homeless refugee youths in his home country (South Africa) as well asRead More →

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Paul Volponi has a talent for capturing the authentic voice of teen guys.  His books regularly display a straightforward, economic style that gets directly to the bare bones of his teen protagonists’ struggles with relationships, right and wrong, maturity, and a whole host of other real-life issues.  In every Volponi book I’ve read, I am always struck by the authenticity of the characters, the moral ambiguities, and the masterful blend of reality and fiction.   And his latest, Crossing Lines, is no exception, focusing on bullies, victims, and the people caught between them. The tension builds slowly over the course of the first few weeks ofRead More →

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Senior Jake Martin is the school’s soccer star: he’s got the magic that pulls off win after win and keeps him at the center of the school’s in-crowd.  But the magic means more to Jake than just winning on the field; his obsession with prime numbers and his increasingly complex daily rituals keep him focused, keep his family “safe,” and keep the spiders and their choking webs from taking over his mind.  Jake’s third soccer state final championship is coming up on Saturday, and if everything goes perfectly by the numbers, he’s sure he’ll be free of the demons that plague him. Heidi Ayarbe plungesRead More →

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Sam Smith and Emily Bell come from two different worlds:  17 year old Sam has spent his life drifting from state to state with his paranoid schizophrenic father, Clarence, and his autistic, asthmatic younger brother, Riddle.  They live outside the system, squatting in abandoned homes, preying on the gullible, and clearing out quick whenever the voices Clarence’s head tell him to run, or worse, the law comes looking.  Pretty, shy Emily lives in a comfortable suburban home with her caring and well-meaning parents, her somewhat annoying little brother, and the family dog.  But both Sam and Emily long for a deep connection to another personRead More →

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Jennifer Brown is making a name for herself with striking, poignant novels about hard-to-face topics.  Her latest novel, following her fantastic debut Hate List, is Bitter End, which explores with wide-open eyes and complete candor, the emotional roller coaster of a young woman in love with an abusive boyfriend. High school senior Alex is haunted by the tragic accident that killed her mother when she was a young girl; the fact that her father will never talk about the circumstances that lead her mom out onto the road to Colorado so many years ago, and the isolation she feels in her family at being the only one whoRead More →

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Gayle Forman’s If I Stay is an incredible book.  It’s heartbreaking, lyrical, visceral and beautiful.  I shed tears a few times while reading it. And when Mia chose to come back to a broken body, a life without her parents and beloved younger brother, to an uncertain future, but to the fierce love of her grandparents and boyfriend Adam, I rejoiced.  Next month, Dutton will release Where She Went, Forman’s sequel to If I Stay.  Three years have passed and now, and from Adam’s perspective we learn what happened to Adam and Mia.  Adam’s band, Shooting Star, has propelled him to rock star existance: he’s rich; hounded byRead More →

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Blake Nelson’s latest YA novel, Recovery Road, is a novel about a journey. At the opening of the book, high school junior Maddie is being committed to a rehab facility after a drunken car accident.  The story gets going a  few weeks later once she’s in the transitional program nearing her release.  On one of the weekly movie nights that the patients in the transitional program are allowed to leave the facility to attend, Maddie meets Stewart, a beautiful but remote guy about her age. Their attraction is instantaneous and soon they are finding ways to be together whenever they can.  Once Maddie is back homeRead More →