Jennifer Hubert's Blog, page 14
April 16, 2016
Cloud and Wallfish by Anne Nesbet
Noah Keller, a pretty ordinary kid except for his “Astonishing Stutter,” is stunned when he comes home from school one day and his parents announce they are leaving their hometown of Oasis, Virginia and heading to one of the grimmest places on earth in 1989: East Berlin behind the Berlin Wall. While his mother explains […]
April 2, 2016
The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry
In 1241 medieval France, the all-powerful Catholic Church doesn’t take kindly to anyone who questions its authority. So when Dolssa de Sigata, an eighteen year old noblewoman begins healing people by channeling the divine energy of Jesus, who she calls her “beloved,” the Church hands down a death sentence: she and her mother are to […]
March 17, 2016
Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick
Has a book ever changed your life? When her English teacher hands Nanette The Bubblegum Reaper, an out of print novel about a disillusioned teen named Wrigley who decides to “quit” society, she quickly becomes obsessed with the novel, underlining sentences and memorizing passages that seem to speaking directly to her. Then her teacher arranges […]
February 27, 2016
Snow Job by Charles Benoit
It’s the middle of winter in 1977 upstate New York, and seventeen year old Nick has decided he’s OVER being a burnout banger. So he ditches his pot-smoking friends, trades in his ratty concert tees for a shirt and tie and memorizes his new mantra: STAND OUT. STAND UP. STAND BY. STAND FAST. When his […]
February 15, 2016
Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin
“The first thing you’re going to want to know about me is: Am I a boy, or am I a girl?” After spending six weeks in a teen psych ward as the result of a severe panic attack, Riley is hoping to start over at a new school. But after a first day spent dodging the […]
February 5, 2016
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
It is 1945 and WWII is coming to a messy, brutal end. Germany is being squeezed by the Allies on both sides (British and American troops from the west, Russian troops from the east) and panicked civilians and refugees are desperate to escape the war torn country. Joana, a young Lithuanian nurse haunted by the […]
January 18, 2016
Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina
It’s the summer of 1977 in Queens, New York and situations both inside and outside seventeen-year-old Nora Lopez’s life are threatening to explode. Outside the tiny apartment Nora’s single mom works day and night to hold onto, it is the hottest summer on record. Arsonists are setting random fires around the city that are keeping […]
Dan vs. Nature by Don Calame
Dan’s divorced mom has never had the best taste in men, Dan’s dad included. So when she tells Dan that she has arranged a hardcore camping trip for him and her newest beau Hank so that they can “get some quality guy time in,” Dan is obviously less than thrilled. Dan is sure that Hank […]
January 1, 2016
2015 Top Ten
Happy New Year, teen peeps! Here is my top ten list, delivered like a baby 2016 to your email, Twitter or Pinterest right on January 1. Please note that there has been absolutely no attempt to balance this list by age, gender or genre. These are just my “from-the-gut” favorites of the books I read this […]
December 28, 2015
Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan
What do a brother and sister in 1935 Nazi Germany, two homeless boys in 1935 Philadelphia and a young Latino girl in 1942 California have in common? A magical harmonica and the hope that lives within it. In Pam Munoz Ryan’s epic, all-ages novel, the power of music unites these young people across time and […]
