Jennifer Hubert's Blog, page 9

Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl

Near the end of Beatrice’s senior year at posh boarding school Darrow-Harker, her talented, funny boyfriend Jim was found floating facedown in the local reservoir. Ultimately ruled a suicide, the tragic death and devastating aftermath busted up Beatrice and her tribe of besties: cunning Whitley, brainy Martha, cavalier Kipling and master hacker Cannon. Without Jim, […]

Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

Monday Charles and Claudia Coleman are the best of besties. They dress alike, dance alike, and since their names alphabetically come one right after the other on class lists, even always sit together in classes at their Washington D.C. middle school. Monday helps Claudia conceal her dyslexia, while Claudia’s home is a quiet place for Monday […]

I Am Still Alive by Kate Marshall

Oh my gosh, do I love a good survival story! I mean, real life-and-death kind of stakes where scrappy, puny humans fight against a totally uncaring landscape full of sharp, cold, wet or poisonous obstacles that are either passively or actively trying to kill them. But let’s be clear–I have no desire to start a […]

Tradition by Brendan Kiely

Jules, a smart and savvy senior at the exclusive and expensive Fullbrook boarding school, has had it up to here with the rampant sexism that is allowed to flourish on campus. This year, she’s on a mission. She’s going to make “Fullbrook Academy women-first for once,” and forget all about last year. Last year when […]

Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Penelope Bagieu

Do you know who the powerful Chinese empress Wu Zetian was? Have you ever heard of the three rebel Dominican sisters (Las Mariposas) who defied the dictator Trujillo? Or how about super sexy singer/songwriter Betty Davis? Or passionate Afghan rapper Sonita Alizadeh? ME EITHER, until I read graphic artist Penelope Bagieu‘s candid, colorful, cartoon collection of girl-power-mini-bios. […]

I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman

Three star-crossed teens find their way back to love, family and acceptance in Gayle Forman‘s fate-full new novel. When troubled rising pop star Freya takes a tumble off a low bridge in Central Park and concusses a good looking stranger, she has no idea that the random accident will change the course of her life. […]

New York Times YA Roundup

Dear Teen peeps, Some of you may have noticed that I did not post to RR AT ALL the whole month of February. No, it wasn’t because I was hibernating or binging Netflix shows while the snow flew and the temperatures dropped. It was because I was working on this super-sized round up of some […]

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Lots of people have had bad childhoods, but Jude’s takes the cake: when she was seven years old, a green skinned stranger with big teeth showed up at her front door, murdered her parents and then kidnapped her, her twin sister Taryn and older sister Vivi. Turns out the stranger was her human mom’s jilted […]

2017 Top 5

Dear Teen Peeps, Like last year, I haven’t read nearly as much YA as I wanted to/should have, due to number of tedious, adult-ing reasons. So here is a leaner, meaner list of my top five best YA reads of 2017. I mean, I could have dragged the list out to ten, but that would […]

You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins

Three generations of Indian and Indian American women laugh, cry, break up and make up in this past-to-present story of mothers and daughters, sisters and cousins. Tara and Sonia Das begin life as dutiful Indian daughters, but soon veer off onto nontraditional paths after arriving in New York with their parents in 1973. Beautiful, insular […]