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When Beatrice, aka Robot Girl, moves to a new town and meets Jonah, aka Ghost Boy, they form an unexpected friendship. Jonah is a loner who hasn’t made a new friend (or much of an impression on anyone) since the third grade–but he might make the exception for Bea. Bea describes herself as Robot Girl (except for the made-out-of-metal part). As this quirky tale unfolds,  Bea and Jonah bond through honest conversations, shared escapades, and late night calls into an “old-timer radio show.” As their friendship grows, Bea learns about Jonah’s history and their relationship becomes more meaningful than either of them ever expected. ThisRead More →

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In the not-to-distant future, civilization is divided into 4 realms: the privilidged classes in Realm One, living a life of comfort, safety and ease; the working classes living in an overly industrialized Realm Two that isn’t much different from today’s dirty industrial cities; social misfits, outcasts and dangerous elements in a harsh, prison-like Realm Three; and a foreboding, frightening Realm Four from which no one and no real information returns.  And all that divides these Realms and their citizens is a mysterious Test that all citizens take when they’re 14. It’s administered by the Great Processor and no one challenges the test or the results. 14 year oldRead More →

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In: Action & Adventure, Action & Adventure (YA), Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction (YA), Middle Grade Reviews, Sci Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
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Rooted firmed in the steampunk genre,  Scott Westerfeld’s new series opens with gusto in Leviathan, released last week from Simon Pulse. In this alternate reality where the Central Powers (Clankers) have invented amazing mechanikal war machines, 15 year old Prince Aleksander Ferdinand’s parents, the heir to the throne of the Austria-Hungarian Empire Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Sophie Chotek, have been assassinated and he is whisked away in the dead of night by just a few loyal men in a giant walking war machine, a Stormwalker.  Naive to the intricacies of politics and international intrigue, Alek slowly realizes this assassination has been the spark to set off the greatest warRead More →

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Cecilia Galante’s Patron Saint of Butterflies  follows the story of two young girls, Agnes and Honey, as they realize that the religious commune that they’ve spent their entire lives on is not like the rest of the world–and when all is not as it seems on the commune with its charismatic leader, the changes are for the better. Told in alternating narratives between the two girls, Galante weaves the two (very different) perspectives into an inspirational tale about friendship, faith, healing, and family.  The book, while it contains some heavier themes, handles delicate situations and broaches some serious topics with grace. The two-perspective approach allowsRead More →

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The wait was long; the wait was painful; but today the mystery was solved!  In Ghost in the Machine, Patrick Carman concludes his highly suspenseful, fast-paced, and tech-savvy thriller duo that started in last year’s Skeleton Creek.  When we left high school best friends Ryan and Sarah at the nail-biting end of Skeleton Creek, they were trapped in the defunct,  surface-mining gold dredge outside their tiny, isolated home town.  Forbidden to have contact with each other, yet bent on solving the sinister mysteries surrounding the dredge’s death-laden past, Ryan and Sarah snuck into the dredge late at night to find a secret room when they wereRead 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 →

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At the start of their junior year at Georgia O’Keefe School for the Arts (aka Fashion High), Chloe, Mackenzie, Isabel and Erika are best friends. But over the couse of the year their friendship is seriously tested as each girl faces a variety of personal challenges and has to make hard choices about who she is, what she wants, and what’s important to her.    The story is told through Chloe’s illustrated journal as she looks back over a year that has altered the rules of their friendships and their social standing at school. Trying to make sense of everything that’s happened, the story chronicles the trust,Read More →

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Andromeda Kleinis a misfit.  Stringy hair, boy body, oily skin, brittle bones and faulty hearing are just the start. Socially awkward, shy, sarcastic, and uncomfortable in crowds, Andromeda Klein finds solice in the intricacies and minutiae of Renaissance magic, occultism and Tarot and the quiet halls of her deserted local library branch (“the International House of Bookcakes”).  She has no real friends at school and is the subject of frequent teasing and bullying, no boyfriend to speak of and little hope of attracting one, and a dad who is bi-polar and a mom obsessed with online role play.  Andromeda Klein’s only real friend and partnerRead More →