Jennifer Hubert's Blog, page 13

Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel

“If [my father] hadn’t belted Professor Cartland that night in the Academy of Natural Sciences, I wouldn’t have had the chance to see Rachel’s eyes up close.” The first time Samuel Bolt and Rachel Cartland meet, it’s over their fathers’ flying fists. Professors Bolt and Cartland are battling paleontologists, each determined to be the best […]

It Looks Like This by Rafi Mittlefehldt

Mike is a quiet guy. Minds his own business, keeps his nose clean, doesn’t rock the boat. When his dad announces that they are moving from Wisconsin to Virginia for his job, Mike just goes with the flow. His new high school in Somerdale is fine. His friends Ronald, Jared and Terry are fine. Grace […]

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

What if the Underground Railroad was actually a REAL railroad? That’s the question author Colson Whitehead asks in this allegorical historical fiction about one slave woman’s quest for freedom in a twisted version of America that is both fantastical and horribly real. Cora is only a teenager. But she feels a thousand years old, due […]

The Plot to Kill Hitler: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Unlikely Hero by Patricia McCormick

Never heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer? Welcome to the club. Luckily for those of us not in the know, National Book Award finalist Patty McCormick has penned a fascinating biography of the little known German Lutheran minister who was a big part of an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Bonhoeffer was a traditionally trained and educated […]

Don’t You Trust Me? by Patrice Kindl

“It must be complicated, being a person with a conscience.” Fifteen year old Morgan is “cold.” She doesn’t know what it’s like to put herself  in someone else’s shoes, because the only feet she’s ever cared about are her own! That’s why when her parents finally get fed up with her self serving ways and […]

The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz

Three tweens walk into a tavern: a Christian, a Jew and an African. Too young to drink, they instead make miracles and take on the King of France with their devoted dog, a resurrected greyhound named Gwenforte. What sounds like the beginning of a classic joke or a superhero origin story is actually a fresh, […]

The Porcupine of Truth by Bill Konigsburg

Carson already knows it’s going to be a bummer summer. His aloof therapist mom has moved them from the not so mean streets of Manhattan to the boring wilds of small town Montana, where they are tasked with taking care of Carson’s dying alcoholic dad who abandoned them years ago. Carson’s feelings about his father […]

The Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks

Within the walls of the Nameless City, there are the conquerers and the conquered. The city is re-named each time it is taken over, but none of the names last for long, and none of the conquerers ever ask the citizens what they want. Kaidu, the bookish son of one of the current conquerers, is […]

Speed of Life by J.M. Kelly

Stubborn, hard working high school seniors Crystal and Amber know what it’s like to make sacrifices. They have done without their whole lives, since their gambling addicted mom spends her paycheck on lottery tickets instead of groceries and their lazy stepdad spends more time passed out on the couch than he does working his pizza […]

Sweater Weather by Sara Varon

Anyone who has ever picked up a pen and dreamed of creating their own graphic novel is bound to be inspired by graphic novelist Sara Varon‘s latest charming short comic collection. Originally published in 2003, these eighteen vignettes are now accompanied by personal notes that detail her inspiration and who the different characters symbolize, giving […]