November 19, 2018 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction
Seventeen-year-old Jon Nielsson has spent his entire life in Unity, a faith-based polygamous sect. He has already started to question the religion he has been brought up in since childhood when he is discovered kissing ... Read More »
Ruth, the tween protagonist of Charis Cotter’s new novel, doesn’t know much about her family history. Her mother died suddenly when Ruth was only two years old, and her father doesn’t have a lot of ... Read More »
November 15, 2018 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction
Glynis Guevara’s second novel, Black Beach, is set in the small fishing town of La Cresta on an unnamed Caribbean island. The story follows 16-year-old Tamera Woods through a period of transition. She’s struggling in ... Read More »
November 8, 2018 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction
Stephanie is nobody’s idea of a good mother. She doesn’t hold down a job; she’s emotionally immature; she moves from man to man; she drinks. But she’s all the family 11-year-old Edgar has. At the ... Read More »
November 5, 2018 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction
Synchro Boy by Shannon McFerran is a queer YA novel with a lot of potential, which sadly it does not fulfill. While tackling important and complex issues for contemporary queer teens – gender policing, homo/biphobia, ... Read More »
November 1, 2018 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction
In the graphic novel Fake Blood, Whitney Gardner – author of the 2018 Schneider Family Book Award winner You’re Welcome, Universe – dips a gentle toe into the thrills of vampire romance and ponders how ... Read More »
October 29, 2018 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Picture Books
What must life have been like for Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy after they returned from Narnia? That fabulous premise has inspired debut author Laura E. Weymouth’s The Light Between Worlds. When siblings Evelyn, Philippa, ... Read More »
October 18, 2018 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction
The grand hotels of yesteryear may be gone, but their old-world hospitality and charm continue to inspire intriguing storytelling. It’s 1908 and 16-year-old Charlotte O’Dell takes a waitressing job at the St. Alice Hotel – ... Read More »
October 15, 2018 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction
It’s never easy for a kid to start at a new school. It’s especially difficult for Felix, the 12-year-old protagonist of No Fixed Address, the winning new novel from Vancouver writer Susin Nielsen. At first ... Read More »
October 1, 2018 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Kids’ Books
More than just a racy whodunnit, Catherine Lo’s second YA novel is eerily well plotted. When nude photos of high-school law teacher Ms. Bailey end up online, seniors Jenna, Drew, and Mouse know that it ... Read More »
September 27, 2018 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction