Kelly Jensen's Blog, page 41

Anne of Green Gables: Retellings and Homages

L. M. Montgomery’s classic tale of Anne Shirley is always popular – but it seems to be experiencing a bit of a surge above and beyond the norm. Within the past year or so, there have been ten titles published for kids and teens concerning the series: retellings, homages, biographies of Montgomery, and even a cookbook. It would make a fun display to entice parents and kids alike, whether as a trip down memory lane or a child-friendly entree into one of the English-speaking world’s most beloved stories.

 

For Babies and Young Kids


Anne of Green Gables: A Babylit Places Primer by Jennifer Adams and Alison Oliver

Introduce little ones to beloved redheaded orphan Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables: A BabyLit(R) Places Primer. as they explore Prince Edward Island and the places that Anne loves. Jennifer Adams and Alison Oliver, with their words and bright illustrations, introduce toddlers to Anne’s home and her favorite pond, wood, field, garden, and the avenue to Avonlea. This delightful board book will captivate your brainy baby’s imagination, and yours.

 

Anne of Green Gables: A Babylit Storybook by Stephanie Clarkson and Annabel Tempest

In Anne of Green Gables, preschoolers get to know the beloved redheaded orphan Anne Shirley, who is sent to live with Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert in Avonlea. Tag along with Anne on her adventures with her best friend Diana and classmate Gilbert as they explore Prince Edward Island. Easy-to-follow, engaging text combined with original quotes and beautiful artwork create a book to be treasured through childhood and beyond.

 

Anne’s Colors by Kelly Hill

Iconic moments from the beloved L.M. Montgomery classic are celebrated in this adorable concept book. Artist Kelly Hill creates vignettes of the most recognizable scenes from Anne of Green Gables, including Anne and Diana’s first meeting, Gilbert pulling Anne’s hair, Anne’s puffed-sleeve dress and even Anne and Diana sharing raspberry cordial! Each scene has its own color, with simple text and tactile, gorgeous works of art created from cut fabric and embroidery.

Part of a series of Anne concept books, Anne’s Colors is a perfect way to introduce future fans to this winning character.

 

Anne’s Numbers by Kelly Hill

Iconic moments from the beloved L.M. Montgomery classic are celebrated in this adorable concept book. Walk along with Anne as she goes on a nature walk, counting trees, flowers, clouds and friends! The path Anne takes is based on the description of Anne’s walk to school in Anne of Green Gables. Each scene has multiple counting opportunities, with simple text and tactile, gorgeous works of art created from cut fabric and embroidery.

Part of a series of Anne concept books, Anne’s Numbers is a perfect way to introduce future fans to this winning character.

 

Goodnight, Anne by Kallie George

Under the watchful eye of her adoptive mother Marilla, Anne has come to cherish life at Green Gables — the dearest, loveliest spot in the world, and her true home. Every night before she goes to bed, she thinks of all the people and places she loves: her family, her bosom friend Diana, her splendid teacher Miss Stacy, beloved tree Snow Queen, the Lake of Shining Waters and the brilliant sky above. Anne even wishes goodnight — or good riddance! — to pesky classmate Gilbert and nosy neighbor Mrs. Lynde. And through it all, Anne’s imagination takes flight on a whimsical journey through Avonlea.

This sweet and heartfelt picture book is a perfect read-aloud introduction to L.M. Montgomery’s beloved Anne and will delight her brand-new fans and lifelong readers alike.

 

Anne Arrives: Inspired by Anne of Green Gables by Kallie George

The charming first book in a new early-reader series, starring the spirited — and outspoken — Anne Shirley as she first arrives at Green Gables.

Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert need help on their farm, so they’ve adopted what they hope will be a sturdy, helpful boy. Instead, Matthew finds Anne awaiting him at the train station — imaginative, brash, redheaded Anne-with-an-e. With her place at the Cuthberts’ at risk — particularly if nosy neighbor Mrs. Lynde has anything to say about it — Anne will have to learn patience, understanding and what it takes to make Green Gables her true home.

Lovingly adapted by Kallie George with beautiful, nostalgic illustrations by Abigail Halpin, Anne Arrives is perfect for new fans of Anne and old.

 

For Tweens
Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel by Mariah Marsden and Brenna Thummler

Schoolyard rivalries. Baking disasters. Puffed sleeves. Explore the violet vales and glorious green of Avonlea in this spirited adaptation.

The magic of L.M. Montgomery’s treasured classic is reimagined in a whimsically-illustrated graphic novel adaptation perfect for newcomers and kindred spirits alike. When Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert decide to adopt an orphan who can help manage their family farm, they have no idea what delightful trouble awaits them. With flame-red hair and an unstoppable imagination, 11-year-old Anne Shirley takes Green Gables by storm.

Anne’s misadventures bring a little romance to the lives of everyone she meets: her bosom friend, Diana Barry; the town gossip, Mrs. Lynde; and that infuriating tease, Gilbert Blythe. From triumphs and thrills to the depths of despair, Anne turns each everyday moment into something extraordinary.

 

The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook by Kate Macdonald

Avonlea beckons in this cookbook inspired by the most famous Canadian children’s book, L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. “Kindred spirits” both young and old will enjoy experiencing late-nineteenth-century Prince Edward Island firsthand through the delicious recipes culled from the eight books in the Anne of Green Gables series.

From Poetical Egg Salad Sandwiches, to Anne’s Liniment Cake and Diana Barry’s Favorite Raspberry Cordial, these recipes are easy to prepare and delicious to serve up any day, on a weekend, or for special occasions! With full-color photography, whimsical illustrations, and quotes and anecdotes from the books, get ready to be immersed in Anne Shirley’s world.

 

House of Dreams: The Life of L. M. Montgomery by Liz Rosenberg

An affecting biography of the author of Anne of Green Gables is the first for young readers to include revelations about her last days and to encompass the complexity of a brilliant and sometimes troubled life.

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Maud who adored stories. When she was fourteen years old, Maud wrote in her journal, “I love books. I hope when I grow up to be able to have lots of them.” Not only did Maud grow up to own lots of books, she wrote twenty-four of them herself as L. M. Montgomery, the world-renowned author of Anne of Green Gables. For many years, not a great deal was known about Maud’s personal life. Her childhood was spent with strict, undemonstrative grandparents, and her reflections on writing, her lifelong struggles with anxiety and depression, her “year of mad passion,” and her difficult married life remained locked away, buried deep within her unpublished personal journals. Through this revealing and deeply moving biography, kindred spirits of all ages who, like Maud, never gave up “the substance of things hoped for” will be captivated anew by the words of this remarkable woman.

 

For Teens
Maud: A Novel Inspired by the Life of L. M. Montgomery by Melanie J. Fishbane

Fourteen-year-old Lucy Maud Montgomery—Maud to her friends—has a dream: to go to college and, just like her idol, Louisa May Alcott, become a writer. But living with her grandparents on Prince Edward Island, she worries that this dream will never come true. Her grandfather has strong opinions about a woman’s place in the world, and they do not include spending good money on college. Luckily, she has a teacher to believe in her, and good friends to support her, including Nate, the Baptist minister’s stepson and the smartest boy in the class. If only he weren’t a Baptist; her Presbyterian grandparents would never approve. Then again, Maud isn’t sure she wants to settle down with a boy—her dreams of being a writer are much more important.

Life changes for Maud when she goes out West to live with her father and his new wife and daughter. Her new home offers her another chance at love, as well as attending school, but tensions increase as Maud discovers her stepmother’s plans for her, which threaten Maud’s future—and her happiness—forever.

 

August 2018 Debut YA Novels

It’s time again to round up a new batch of debut novels — this time for August!

This round-up includes debut novels, where “debut” is in its purest definition. These are first-time books by first-time authors. I’m not including books by authors who are using or have used a pseudonym in the past or those who have written in other categories (adult, middle grade, etc.) in the past. Authors who have self-published are not included here either.

All descriptions are from Goodreads, unless otherwise noted; I’ve found Goodreads descriptions to offer better insight to what a book is about over WorldCat. If I’m missing any debuts that came out in August from traditional publishers — and I should clarify that indie/small presses are okay — let me know in the comments.

As always, not all noted titles included here are necessarily endorsements for those titles. List is arranged alphabetically by title,  and I’ve left off publication dates because they’re all available now. Starred titles are the beginning of a new series.

 

Brave Enough by Kati Gardner

Teenager Cason Martin is the youngest ballerina in the Atlanta Ballet Conservatory. She never really had a choice of whether she learned to dance or not. Her mother, the conservatory’s artistic director, has made all the decisions in Cason’s life. But that’s about to change. Cason has been hiding an injury, and it’s much worse than anyone imagines.

Davis Channing understands all too well what it’s like to give up control of your life. He’s survived cancer, but his drug addiction nearly killed him. Now he’s been sober for seven months and enjoying his community service at the hospital. But just when he thinks he’s got it together, Davis’s ex-girlfriend, who is still battling her addiction, barrels back into his life.

Cason and Davis are not friends. But, as their worlds collide, they will start to depend on one another. Can they both be brave enough to beat the odds?

 

 

Darius The Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He’s about to take his first-ever trip to Iran, and it’s pretty overwhelming–especially when he’s also dealing with clinical depression, a disapproving dad, and a chronically anemic social life. In Iran, he gets to know his ailing but still formidable grandfather, his loving grandmother, and the rest of his mom’s family for the first time. And he meets Sohrab, the boy next door who changes everything.

Sohrab makes sure people speak English so Darius can understand what’s going on. He gets Darius an Iranian National Football Team jersey that makes him feel like a True Persian for the first time. And he understand that sometimes, best friends don’t have to talk. Darius has never had a true friend before, but now he’s spending his days with Sohrab playing soccer, eating rosewater ice cream, and sitting together for hours in their special place, a rooftop overlooking the Yazdi skyline.

Sohrab calls him Darioush–the original Persian version of his name–and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he’s Darioush to Sohrab. When it’s time to go home to America, he’ll have to find a way to be Darioush on his own.

 

Dark Beneath The Ice by Amelinda Bérubé

Something is wrong with Marianne.

It’s not just that her parents have split up, or that life hasn’t been the same since she quit dancing. Or even that her mother has checked herself into the hospital.

She’s losing time. Doing things she would never do. And objects around her seem to break whenever she comes close.

Something is after her. But a first attempt at an exorcism calls down the full force of the thing’s rage. It demands Marianne give back what she stole. And Marianne must uncover the truth that lies beneath it all before the nightmare can take what it think it’s owed, leaving Marianne trapped in the darkness of the other side.

 

 

Google It: A History of Google Anna Crowley Redding (Nonfiction!)

Larry Page and Sergey Brin started out as two Stanford college students with a wild idea: They were going to organize the world’s information. From that one deceptively simple goal, they created one of the most influential and innovative companies in the world. The word “google” has even entered our vocabulary as a verb. Now, find out the true history of Google—from its humble beginnings as a thesis project made out of “borrowed” hardware and discount toys through its revolution of the world’s relationship with technology to a brief glimpse of where they might take us next.

In Google It, award-winning investigative reporter Anna Crowley Redding shares an inspiring story of innovation, personal and intellectual bravery, and most importantly, of shooting for the moon in order to change the world.

 

 

 

 

Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry

Michael is an atheist. So as he walks through the doors at St. Clare’s—a strict Catholic school—sporting a plaid tie, things can’t get much worse. His dad has just made the family move again, and Michael needs a friend. When a girl challenges their teacher in class, Michael thinks he might have found one, and a fellow nonbeliever at that. Only this girl, Lucy, is not just Catholic . . . she wants to be a priest.

But Lucy introduces Michael to other St. Clare’s outcasts, and he officially joins Heretics Anonymous, where he can be an atheist, Lucy can be an outspoken feminist, Avi can be Jewish and gay, Max can wear whatever he wants, and Eden can practice paganism. After an incident in theology class, Michael encourages the Heretics to go from secret society to rebels intent on exposing the school’s hypocrisies. When Michael takes one mission too far—putting the other Heretics at risk—he must decide whether to fight for his own freedom, or rely on faith, whatever that means, in God, his friends, or himself.

 

How To Breathe Underwater by Vicky Skinner

Kate’s father has been pressuring her to be perfect for her whole life, pushing her to be the best swimmer she can be. But when Kate finds her dad cheating on her mom, Kate’s perfect world comes crashing down, and Kate is forced to leave home and the swim team she’s been a part of her whole life.

Now in a new home, new school, and faced with the prospect of starting over, Kate isn’t so sure that swimming is what she wants anymore. But when she decides to quit, her whole world seems to fall apart. But when Kate gets to know Michael, the cute boy that lives across the hall, she starts to think that starting over might not be so bad. There’s only one problem: Michael has a girlfriend.

As the pressures of love, family, and success press down on her, can Kate keep her head above water?

 

 

*Mirage by Somaiya Daud

In a star system dominated by the brutal Vathek empire, eighteen-year-old Amani is a dreamer. She dreams of what life was like before the occupation; she dreams of writing poetry like the old-world poems she adores; she dreams of receiving a sign from Dihya that one day, she, too, will have adventure, and travel beyond her isolated moon.

But when adventure comes for Amani, it is not what she expects: she is kidnapped by the regime and taken in secret to the royal palace, where she discovers that she is nearly identical to the cruel half-Vathek Princess Maram. The princess is so hated by her conquered people that she requires a body double, someone to appear in public as Maram, ready to die in her place.

As Amani is forced into her new role, she can’t help but enjoy the palace’s beauty—and her time with the princess’ fiancé, Idris. But the glitter of the royal court belies a world of violence and fear. If Amani ever wishes to see her family again, she must play the princess to perfection…because one wrong move could lead to her death.

 

The Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

Everyone knows what happens in the end. A mermaid, a prince, a true love’s kiss. But before that young siren’s tale, there were three friends. One feared, one royal, and one already dead.

Ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch.

A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, Evie is convinced that her best friend actually survived. That her own magic wasn’t so powerless after all. And, as the two girls catch the eyes—and hearts—of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.

But her new friend has secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad, or on two legs, unless Evie finds a way to help her. Now Evie will do anything to save her friend’s humanity, along with her prince’s heart—harnessing the power of her magic, her ocean, and her love until she discovers, too late, the truth of her bargain.

 

See All The Stars by Kit Frick

It’s hard to find the truth beneath the lies you tell yourself.

THEN They were four—Bex, Jenni, Ellory, Ret. Electric, headstrong young women; Ellory’s whole solar system.

NOW Ellory is alone, her once inseparable group of friends torn apart by secrets, deception, and a shocking incident that changed their lives forever.

THEN Lazy summer days. A party. A beautiful boy. Ellory met Matthias and fell into the beginning of a spectacular, bright love.

NOW Ellory returns to Pine Brook to navigate senior year after a two-month suspension and summer away—no boyfriend, no friends. No going back. Tormented by some and sought out by others, troubled by a mysterious note-writer who won’t let Ellory forget, and consumed by guilt over her not entirely innocent role in everything and everyone she’s lost, Ellory finds that even in the present, the past is everywhere.

The path forward isn’t a straight line. And moving on will mean sorting the truth from the lies—the lies Ellory has been telling herself.

 

So Glad To Meet You by Lisa Super

Seventeen-year-old Daphne Bowman, a bookish drama nerd in public school, might never have crossed paths with Oliver, the popular, outgoing mascot for his private school’s football team, but one event has bound them inextricably. Daphne’s older sister, Emily, and Oliver’s older brother, Jason, who were high school sweethearts, committed suicide together seven years earlier.

When Daphne uncovers Emily and Jason’s bucket list—a list comprised of their “Top Ten” places to visit before they die—she knows she has to tell someone. The one person who might actually get what she’s going through and who might not think it’s silly that she wants to complete the list, is also someone she’s never spoken to—Oliver Pagano. Throwing caution to the wind, Daphne sends Oliver a Facebook message that will come to change the course of both of their senior years—and maybe their entire lives.

Tackling grief with a wry voice and an unflinching eye, So Glad to Meet You tells the story of two people who, in searching for what they’ve lost, end up finding what they never knew they needed—each other.

 

The Soul Keepers by Devon Taylor

Death is just the beginning.

After dying in a terrible car accident, Rhett awakens in the afterlife and is recruited to join the crew of the Harbinger, a colossal seafaring vessel tasked with ferrying the souls of the dead. To where exactly, no one knows. But the crew must get the souls there, and along the way protect them from vicious soul-eating monsters that will stop at nothing to take the ship and all of its occupants.

Rhett and his new friends have a hard enough time fighting back the monsters that grow bolder and more ferocious every day. But then a new threat emerges, a demon who wants something that Rhett has. And if she gets it, it could mean the end of everything… for both the living and the dead.

 

This Week at Book Riot

 

I’ve been writing a ton at Book Riot and because of that, almost forgot to just link them over here this week (my brain is on Friday mode pretty hard at the end of August).

 

10 potent quotes from Sadie by Courtney Summers to make you pick up this book about violence, girls, and power.

 

25 must-read YA books about witches.

 

Gorgeous book wall art for your home or office.

 

5 documentaries for book lovers you can stream right now.

 

There’s also a new episode of Hey YA. Eric and I talk about the soap thing, then dig into great YA romance, comics for YA fans, and wrap up the show talking about the books we plan on finishing before summer ends.

 

Short Story Collections, Part Two: Middle Grade Edition

Back in February, I did a round-up of 2017 and 2018 short story collections for young adults. But middle grade authors are getting in on the action, too. Here are a few from the same two year span.

Funny Girl: Funniest. Stories. Ever. edited by Betsy Bird

A collection of uproarious stories, rollicking comics, rib-tickling wit, and more, from 25 of today s funniest female writers for kids.

What could be funnier than family? Read stories about Ursula Brown’s grandmother driving her on a road trip to disaster, Lisa Brown’s little brother getting a Tic-Tac stuck up his nose, and Carmen Agra Deedy’s mom setting the bathtub on fire.

What could be funnier than friends? Pretty much nothing, as Rita Williams-Garcia shows two besties hatching a bird-brained scheme to get on to a TV talk show, and Deborah Underwood introduces a dynamic dog-and-cat duo teaming up on a pet advice column.

What could be funnier than YOU? Tell your future with Mad Libs, discover your Chinese Zodiac sign with Lenore Look, and learn the best tricks of the comedy trade from professional humorists like Adrianne Chalepah and Delaney Yeager.

With clever contributions from award-winning and bestselling authors including Cece Bell, Sophie Blackall, Libba Bray, Shannon Hale, Lisa Graff, and Raina Telgemeier, this anthology of funny girls will make you laugh until you cry. Or cry until you laugh. Or maybe you won’t cry at all. Either way, you’ll definitely laugh. Funny Girl isn t just an anthology: it’s a cause, a mission, a movement. Girls are funny. Now it’s time for the world to know it.

 

The Whirlpool by Laurel Croza

Charity takes small steps to escape her controlling father. Jasmine endures the rumors about her at school, even though no one really knows what happened last summer. The Oh! So Perfect Hair Dolly wishes for just the right child to take her home from the store. Nicola has a run-in with a classmate on her first day at a new school in the big city ― or is the classmate a wolf in disguise? A squirrel ruminates on the nature of life and death. Dani fights for her dream, in spite of her father’s insistence that her older brother should be the one to play hockey. Mike finds the kind of family he has longed for in his coworkers at the restaurant where he works.

In these seven stories by Laurel Croza (author of the award-winning picture books I Know Here and From There to Here), five teenagers, a doll and a squirrel break out of the expectations placed upon them. Featuring beautiful black-and-white illustrations by Kelsey Garrity-Riley.

 

The Wrong Train by Jeremy de Quidt

Light the candles and shut the door, The Wrong Train is a deliciously creepy and scarily good collection of scary stories, complete with terrifying illustrations from Dave Shelton. Perfect for fans of Patrick Ness, R.L. Stine, and Emily Carroll.

Imagine you’ve just managed to catch your train and you realize it’s the wrong one. You’d be annoyed of course, but not scared . . . Yet. Imagine you get off the wrong train at the next station hoping to catch one back the way you came. But the station is empty. Again, you’d be annoyed, but not scared . . . Yet. Imagine someone comes to the station, a stranger who starts to tell you stories to help pass the time. But these aren’t any old stories–they’re nightmares that come with a price to pay. And you want them to stop. Scared yet? You will be.

 

Us, in Progress: Short Stories About Young Latinos edited by Lulu Delacre

Acclaimed author and Pura Belpré Award honoree Lulu Delacre’s beautifully illustrated collection of twelve short stories is a groundbreaking look at the diverse Latinos who live in the United States.

In this book, you will meet many young Latinos living in the United States, from a young girl whose day at her father’s burrito truck surprises her to two sisters working together to change the older sister’s immigration status, and more.

Turn the pages to experience life through the eyes of these boys and girls whose families originally hail from many different countries; see their hardships, celebrate their victories, and come away with a better understanding of what it means to be Latino in the U.S. today.

 

Sit by Deborah Ellis

The seated child. With a single powerful image, Deborah Ellis draws our attention to nine children and the situations they find themselves in, often through no fault of their own. In each story, a child makes a decision and takes action, be that a tiny gesture or a life-altering choice.

Jafar is a child laborer in a chair factory and longs to go to school. Sue sits on a swing as she and her brother wait to have a supervised visit with their father at the children’s aid society. Gretchen considers the lives of concentration camp victims during a school tour of Auschwitz. Mike survives seventy-two days of solitary as a young offender. Barry squirms on a food court chair as his parents tell him that they are separating. Macie sits on a too-small time-out chair while her mother receives visitors for tea. Noosala crouches in a fetid, crowded apartment in Uzbekistan, waiting for an unscrupulous refugee smuggler to decide her fate.

These children find the courage to face their situations in ways large and small, in this eloquent collection from a master storyteller.

 

Totally Middle School: Tales of Friends, Family, and Fitting In edited by Betsy Groban

From literary masterminds Lois Lowry, Gary D. Schmidt, Linda Sue Park, Katherine Paterson, Karen Cushman, Gregory Maguire, and more comes a timeless and inspirational anthology about the sometimes-challenging, always-rewarding coming-of-age years: middle school.

With eleven short stories told in text messages, emails, formal letters, stories in verse, and even a mini graphic novel, Totally Middle School tackles a range of important subjects, from peer pressure, family issues, and cultural barriers to the unexpected saving grace of music, art, friendship, and reading.

Brimming with heart and humor, these poignant stories from bestselling and award-winning authors shine a light on the moments when everything is thrilling and terrifying at the same time–in a way it will never be again.

 

Flying Lessons and Other Stories edited by Ellen Oh

Whether it is basketball dreams, family fiascos, first crushes, or new neighborhoods, this bold anthology—written by the best children’s authors—celebrates the uniqueness and universality in all of us.

In a partnership with We Need Diverse Books, industry giants Kwame Alexander, Soman Chainani, Matt de la Peña, Tim Federle, Grace Lin, Meg Medina, Walter Dean Myers, Tim Tingle, and Jacqueline Woodson join newcomer Kelly J. Baptist in a story collection that is as humorous as it is heartfelt. This impressive group of authors has earned among them every major award in children’s publishing and popularity as New York Times bestsellers.

From these distinguished authors come ten distinct and vibrant stories.

 

Scream and Scream Again! edited by R. L. Stine

R.L. Stine—the godfather of Goosebumps—and some of the most popular authors today bring an unrivaled mastery of all things fearsome, frightening, and fantabulous to this terrifying anthology of all-new scary short stories.

Scream and Scream Again! is full of twists and turns, dark corners, and devilish revenge. Collected in conjunction with the Mystery Writers of America, this set includes works from New York Timesbestselling authors telling tales of wicked ice-cream trucks, time-travelling heroes, witches and warlocks, and of course, haunted houses.

Read it if you dare! With twenty never-before-published scary stories from some of the most popular authors today—including Chris Grabenstein, Wendy Corsi Staub, Heather Graham, Peter Lerangis, R.L. Stine, Bruce Hale, Emmy Laybourne, Steve Hockensmith, Lisa Morton, Ray Daniel, Beth Fantaskey, Phil Mathews, Carter Wilson, Doug Levin, Jeff Soloway, Joseph S. Walker, Alison McMahan, Daniel Palmer, Tonya Hurley, and Stephen Ross—it’s sure to leave readers screaming for more.

 

Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge: (More Than) Mid-Year Progress Report

I’m taking on the Book Riot Read Harder this year. I’ve tried in the past, but each time I’ve tried, I’ve found myself feeling too pressured to read certain books over others. I don’t know what clicked this year, when I realized that the point of those categories was to stretch myself in ways that could still work for my reading life: I don’t have to read something in a completely different genre or category to find a book within, say, YA or adult nonfiction, that perfectly meets the goals of the category. It’s a stretch beyond the comfort zone, without feeling like I need to read for the person I think I should be, rather than the person I am.

For those unfamiliar with the Read Harder challenge, the goal is to read one book from twenty-four different prompts throughout the year. The idea is that you’d read two books a month to fit the challenge. You can, of course, do it however it works best for you, but when you break it down to two books per month, it feels super manageable.

One of the things that’s made this work well for me this year, aside from a shift in my thinking, is that the spreadsheet I like to use to track my reading includes a space for tracking titles which might fit the challenge categories. This means every time I finish a book, I’m able to flip through the tasks and see if it fits. I’ve found myself naturally picking up some books that fit, without ever once wondering if it would fit a specific prompt. That makes the challenge even more enjoyable for me, since it’s nice to see that I’m able to naturally pick up books that hover just beyond my normal reading diet.

The year is more than half over, and I thought it would be worthwhile to not only see where I was in terms of progress, but to also consider and solicit ideas for the remaining categories.

Completed Tasks

 

A book published posthumously

I picked up I’ll Be Gone In The Dark by Michelle McNamara for this one, and I listened to it on audio. This was right before an arrest was made, so seeing that hit the news after reading the book made the experience that much better.

An engaging and engrossing exploration of the Golden State Killer, and further, an engaging and engrossing exploration of putting together an investigation of a crime pieced together in part by the author and the notes she left upon her untimely death.

The book and the story of the book sell.

The audiobook was great, and the introduction by Gillian Flynn a nice touch. I’m a fan of journalistic true crime, a la In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, so this one scratched that itch nicely.

 

A book of true crime

Another one I did on audio, and this time it was You All Grow Up and Leave Me by Piper Weiss. An absorbing memoir/true crime read about Piper Weiss’s life intersecting with Gary Wilensky. Wilensky earned her trust, as well as her family’s, but it was through this grooming behavior that allowed him to then pursue further attempts at relationships with his young clients. His attempts to capture and seduce one of his students went terribly wrong, which led Wilensky to end his life, and Weiss’s book is an attempt to not only explore who he was and what drew him to behave this way, but it’s also a look at how being a teenage girl is a land mine of men like Wilensky. Weiss is privileged and well-off in Manhattan, with access to so much, yet a man like him was able to gain her trust, her parents trust, and the trust of so many others like her.

This is an exploration of why not her, and yet, why her at the same time. It’s a book about the way adults groom and earn the trust of young victims, about the ways that those advances can be brushed aside and ignored.

It’s hard to say much more. Weiss is, by all accounts, as average as someone with her status could be, and her experiences with Wilensky are as a victim without being “the” victim. In a lot of ways, this makes her story relatable and something so many women will identify with.

The audiobook for this was great. Brittany Pressley gives a great performance and offers up just enough intonation to give more depth to the book itself — her voice sounds like a teen girl, on the cusp of adulthood, and here, it works perfectly.

 

A comic written and illustrated by the same person

I’ve actually read a number of titles that fit this task, but the one I logged was Thornhill by Pam Smy. Jane Eyre The Secret Garden set in 1982 and 2017. It’s creepy, delicious modern-set gothic horror. The art is fantastic, the story completely engrossing, and a super fast read.

Ghosts! Dolls! An old as hell creepy abandoned house! There’s so much to love. All the trope-y goodness.

 

A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa)

I counted Girls Burn Brighter by Shaboa Rao for this one, and I wrote more in-depth about this excellent adult fiction title with tremendous teen appeal earlier this summer.

This is about friendship: the fierce, fiery kind of friendship that exists between two girls who understand their place in the world as girls, their place in society as girls in India of a lower class, their place in society as girls who can only rely and depend upon one another. Savitha and Poornima only spend a small portion of the book together, but it’s the spark between them that keeps them connected through tragic event after tragic event.

What I loved most is what they carried of one another inside them. Poornima saw Savitha as the brave, self-assured girl, but in the end, Poornima pulls that same energy to find Savitha again, who has found herself in a situation not unlike the one Poornima was in during her marriage. Lost. Adrift. Alone.

 

A book about nature

I listened to the audiobook for an Alex Award winning book called The Wasp That Brainwashed The Caterpillar by Matt Simon. It’d been on my to-read since it was named an award winner, and during the weeks I was cleaning my house to prepare for the move, this one was one I devoured on audio. 

If you love the bizarre adaptations of nature, then this is the book for you. I happen to be someone who digs these weird facts and stories, and this book was a DELIGHT to listen to. At times on audio, the jokes didn’t seem to deliver as well as they would in print, but in addition to being really interesting, this has a lot of humor packed in what can sometimes be downright horrifying for humans to think about.

 

A western

One of my favorite YA books this year was the title perfect for this task: Devils Unto Dust by Emma Berquist. Set in west Texas in 1877, the story follows Willie (real name: Daisy, but that’s too dainty for her) as she has to find her father, as he’s stolen a load of money from McAlister. McAlister promises revenge if that money is not returned.

The thing is: no one steps out of Glory alone. Outside of the gates are the shakes. The shakes are hungry, vicious, and will turn you into one of them in an instant. Willie has little money, but needs to hire herself a hunter to help her track down her father in another town. Enter the Garrett brothers.

Willie leaves behind her brother and twin brother and sister as she goes, but not for long. Micah can’t stand the idea of her venturing alone, even with the hunters, and he, along with neighbor Sam, catch up with the crew on the journey.

Enter the shakes.

Berquist’s first novel is the perfect blend of western and horror. The pitch “True Grit” meets “28 Days Later” is absolutely spot on. From page one, I was riveted and loved the entire arc of Willie’s story and character. The exploration of grief and guilt is thoughtful and thought-provoking, particularly as Willie sees herself to blame for a lot of the mess that occurs. Saying more would be a spoiler, of course.

The writing is pitch perfect, with descriptions of desolation in the desert palpable. Every minute I was not reading this, I was thinking about it and thinking about Willie.

Bonus: there is not a romance in this book. Sure, there’s a kinship that emerges between Sam and Willie at the end, but we know nothing more will be coming of it.

And then there’s what happens when they find Pa and ask him what happened to that money. And what happens when they return to Glory to face McAlister again.

Mega appeal to fans of westerns, of zombie stories, and to books that are fast paced and action-packed (but without making your head spin). The 500 pages speed by, and it’s a stand alone, perfectly contained read.

 

A comic written or drawn by a person of color

I chose one that had a person of color who did both (which would also fit the task “a comic written and drawn by the same person”). Jen Wang’s The Prince and the Dressmaker was one of my favorite comics in a long time. Perfect and sweet with outstanding art.

Didn’t even end up putting the bookmark on a page because I read it cover to cover in one big, quick gulp.

 

A romance novel by or about a person of color

Jasmine Guillory’s The Wedding Date did both. I gulped this one down while on a trip out to Boise earlier this year, and I discovered the joy of reading a romance novel while enjoying an adult beverage by myself at the hotel bar. It’s a lovely, flirty, and fun read that plays with the fake relationship trope (which I’ve come to discover is one I like quite a lot). The publicist for this book just sent along Guillory’s next book, The Proposal, and I can’t wait to read it.

 

An Oprah Book Club selection

I used to devour the Oprah Book Club books as a teenager. They were such a nice way to ease into different types of adult literature beyond the classics. For this  task, I went with her most recent pick, The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton.

What makes this book less brutal to read is knowing that Ray walks out of prison and away from the death sentence he was handed as an innocent man.

What makes this book more brutal to read is knowing there are many other Rays sitting on death row who may never see that fate.

I’ve always been fascinated with prison stories — fiction and nonfiction. I’m firmly against the death penalty, and believe that we have the means as human beings to do better when it comes to criminal justice and rehabilitation. Ray’s story isn’t about crime and punishment, though. He was an innocent man who, prior to being framed for murders he didn’t commit, made some sophomoric mistakes that he has no problem owning up to. Those mistakes were borne not from evil but from desperation and from his own background growing up poor, black, and outside Birmingham. It was those very things that led to his wrongful conviction.

Ray is an unbelievably positive human throughout his story. He waited 30 years for justice, and despite the fact nothing was ever expected of him on death row, he didn’t sit and wait for the inevitable. He not only fought for his innocence, but he made his life and the lives of those around him better. He began a book club with fellow inmates that helped give them all something to look forward to, a way to pass time that allowed camaraderie in what is otherwise a lonely place. He kept faith, over and over again, despite the fact he saw the cards stacked against him.

We’re lucky he can tell this story. But what a damn shame he has to.

 

A book of social science

I have so many titles to pick from for this task, in part because I read exclusively nonfiction on audio, and much of that nonfiction leans toward social science. But I noted Votes for Women by Winifred Conkling for this task. This is a compelling, engaging, and balanced look at the women’s suffrage movement which doesn’t shy away from the racist attitudes of some of the movement’s most well-known (and historically beloved) leaders. Complete with interesting images and great back matter, this is a book for readers looking for a solid history of the American push for the right for women to vote. I’ve read more than one book on this topic for young readers, but this is the first one I’ve read which doesn’t shy away from the ugly.

Hand to readers who love nonfiction, to budding feminists, and to any reader who needs a starter history of the women’s movement. Other reviews have noted this reads like a textbook, but I disagree. This is narrative nonfiction at its best; the challenge is that, with such a simultaneously broad and limited topic, the focus can dwell on certain aspects more than others, meaning some readers might not be as engaged with those aspects as others.

In terms of writing, I especially loved how this was bookended with the decision in Tennessee — the decision for ratification of women’s suffrage came down to a vote there, by a man influenced by his mother. Little page time is given to that, and instead, more time is spent showcasing what it was the women did to help get that man to that point.

 

A one-sitting book

This one could have worked for a number of books. I’m generally not a “read it in one sitting” kind of person, even for short books, but if I don’t have plans for the day and am really engrossed in what I’m reading — be it 100 or 500 pages long — I can do it. I used Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough for this one. Perfect for fans of Ruta Sepetys, McCullough’s debut verse novel tells the story of Artemisia Gentileschi in the early 1600s. A young painter, apprenticed by her father — who was, of course, profiting from her work — she dreams of capturing the true essence of the women whose stories her deceased mother told her into her art. But when she is raped by a potential client, her life turns upside down and she turns to the strength of those women to find her voice and speak up and out about what happened to her.

Powerful, moving, and despite the setting, utterly contemporary, this is a book about women, about power, and about discovering the ways your voice, by virtue of being female, can change your life (for better or for worse). The writing is gorgeous and evocative, made more painful and raw by how this book could be set today and still resonate.

This was the second historical novel about women and power I’d read in a short time span — Circe by Madeline Miller being the other — which is far less about women’s place in history and much more about women’s place in contemporary society. For as much “progress” as we’ve made, we’ve barely moved.

 

A first book in a new-to-you YA or middle grade series

I picked up Somaiya Daud’s forthcoming Mirage for this one after seeing so much buzz about it, and I wasn’t disappointed. This one was well out of my normal reading area, and I’m really glad I pushed myself. Taken from her home which has been ravaged, Amani is pulled into the royal palace of the Vathek Empire. She’s nearly identical in appearance to the Princess, and her job will be to play the role of the Princess in situations where danger could arise. Amani doesn’t want that — she wants to be at home, with her family, dreaming, reading poetry, and in a place not dominated by a society like the Vathek’s. But she doesn’t get what she wants…..

She has to make what she wants to happen do just that.

A really lush fantasy about identity, about truth, and about trust. Who do you trust in a world where you have few you can depend on? And what happens when you’re torn away from them? Amani’s voice and determination propel her forward in this story and allow her to make decisions that put her life at risk for the betterment of her own people.

There’s a romance here, built perfectly within the narrative. It’s dangerous and forbidden but doesn’t detract Amani from her bigger goals and purposes.

 

A sci fi novel with a female protagonist by a female author

I thought this one might be tough, but then it turns out a book I’d picked up because it was by a YA author I love — Katie Williams — fit the task perfectly. Tell The Machine Goodnight is her first foray into adult fiction.

A smart, savvy, and funny novel about our culture’s obsession with technology and happiness. Pearl’s job is to run the Apricity, which doles out the steps one needs to take in order to become happy. Some of those steps are bizarre — wear a velvet suit, cut off the tip of your right index finger — while others are pretty benign — write poetry. Then there are those who get advice which is so startling, it comes without a real list of steps to take. Pearl’s son Rhett falls into this last category, and Pearl is dead set on figuring out how to make her son, who suffers from an eating disorder, to be happy.

Wrapped into this are the stories of other people in Pearl’s world, including her boss (who seems to get promotions and demotions left and right, as one does in Silicon Valley), her ex-husband (who she is still somewhat in a relationship with), and her ex-husband’s new wife (who harbors a pretty terrible secret she won’t tell the husband but we get to become privy to). The revolving voices can at times get a titch confusing, but there’s something somewhat logical in that confusion. This is, after all, a tale about how technology can mess with us when we become too dependent upon it.

At heart, it’s a book about what it means to be human, good, bad, pretty, and ugly. I devoured it in a single afternoon. It’s science fiction with a literary bent to it.

 

A comic that isn’t published by Marvel, DC, or Image

My local library puts its new comics in a space on the new books shelf, which I absolutely love. It’s given me more opportunities to pick up comics when I might otherwise forget how much I enjoy them. That said, the one I wrote down for this task was Imagine Wanting Only This by Kristen Radtke and I remember nothing about it. I should have maybe put New Shoes by Sara Varon here instead. My notes from Goodreads call Radtke’s book a quick read and worthwhile, but uneven and at times, a stretch (which, fairly, she explains away a bit as her grasping to understand everything and pretending even when she doesn’t).

 

An essay anthology

I could have noted so many for this one, as essay anthologies are something I gravitate toward in my reading life. It’s weird whenever I see people say anthologies aren’t popular or ask “who reads them?” The answer is me! It’s not just that I like them from the writing standpoint. I also love seeing how they’re constructed, what all they accomplish, and whether or not they’re successful. I also just like reading well-thought pieces from people who are passionate about something. For this task, I hit the jackpot with They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib.

An outstanding collection of essays about music, race, and life in contemporary America. Hanif is a black Muslim who grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and his writing on being who he is in that Midwest space is out of this world good.

All of the essays have a connection to pop culture, and most to music, and it doesn’t matter whether you know or like any of the thematic threadings of the pieces. They’re about much, much more.

(And that Carly Rae Jepson piece!)

Those who love and laud Roxane Gay would do really well to pick this up, too.

For a little taste of what made this collection so grand, I have to share the link to one of Abdurraqib’s pieces in the New York Times about why Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill is the album American needs right now.

 

Outstanding Tasks

If you have any great recommendations for these categories beyond what I’ve noted as possibilities, let me know! Nine tasks in a little over four months is easy enough, and given how much I am reading with the inclusion of audiobooks in my daily life, I feel this is totally doable.

 

A classic of genre fiction

I’d really like to read a classic contemporary romance for this one, but I am a little unsure what that might be. I’m not too worried about finding one in time, though, since I also know there’s a whole swath of amazing horror classics to enjoy, too. I’m toying with picking up a Shirley Jackson or maybe another Stephen King read (after It last year, I might go for something a lot shorter, though!)

 

A book of colonial or postcolonial literature

This is a tough one, but a title on my radar for audio is A Moonless, Starless Sky: Ordinary Men and Women Fighting Extremism in Africa by Alexis Okeowo. Are there any really solid YA titles that might fit here? I’d love to hear any ideas.

 

A children’s classic published before 1980

My summer reading goal includes a full read of Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery, so as soon as I start on that, I know this will be an easy task to tick off.

 

A celebrity memoir

I’m kind of surprised this one is still left. When I was taking stock of my progress on the challenge, I immediately went and put Retta’s So Close To Being The Sh*t, Y’all Don’t Even Know on hold at the library.

 

A book of genre fiction in translation

I picked one up on my last library trip on a lark, and I think it’ll fit the challenge perfectly. Fever Dream by Samantha Schweblin and translated by Megan McDowell is a horror novel translated from Spanish.

 

A book with a cover you hate

Honestly, this one will be easy when I go through my bookshelves. There are a lot of covers I just plain dislike among them. I’m curious: what might you choose for this task? What book covers are just not working for you?

 

A mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+ Author

I guess technically I have accomplished this already a few times this year looking at my list, but I want to go into the book with one of these things at the forefront of my mind (in other words, I know White Rabbit by Caleb Roehrig fits, but I didn’t go into the book knowing Roehrig identifies as gay — I looked it up afterward). On my library checkout list right now is Sherri L. Smith’s Pasadena, which I have been wanting to read for a long time and know will work perfectly here.

 

A book with a female protagonist over the age of 60

This task is one I sort of suspect will be the last one I do. When you read a lot of YA, finding a book where the protagonist is over 60 ends up being nearly impossible. Any suggestions of adult fiction or nonfiction I might enjoy? I wonder if a memoir would work well here.

 

An assigned book you hated (or never finished)

So many options for this one. I’ve been assigned Virginia Woolf a few times and never read it. I’ve also been assigned a few other titles I didn’t bother with or that I just plain didn’t like. I’m a nerd who has kept track of every book read since high school, so I need to peruse that list and go with something that conjures up immediate disgust.

 

 

Are you taking part in the Read Harder Challenge this year? I’d love to hear how you’re doing!

This Week at Book Riot

 

Over on Book Riot this week…

 

Magical unicorn bookmarks to make and to buy.

 

24 poetry books for teens to read and enjoy.

 

A round-up of the .

 

Bloody Covers

Something I’ve noticed about YA book covers lately is that they seem to be a lot…bloodier. All of the titles below were or will be published within the same six-month period, from April through September of this year (with the exception of Red Queen, which was published in 2016 but just finished its series run in May), and all feature blood – sometimes a lot of it – on their covers. This isn’t a design choice I had really noticed before, and it strikes me that eight titles all within a year of each other constitutes a mini-trend. I’m not sure how I feel about it overall. I’m pretty squeamish when it comes to visual depictions of violence, so a few are a bit too much – but they certainly grab the eye.

Aftermath by Kelley Armstrong

“Three years after losing her brother Luka in a school shooting, Skye Gilchrist is moving home. But there’s no sympathy for Skye and her family because Luka wasn’t a victim; he was a shooter. Jesse Mandal knows all too well that the scars of the past don’t heal easily. The shooting cost Jesse his brother and his best friend–Skye. Ripped apart by tragedy, Jesse and Skye can’t resist reopening the mysteries of their past. But old wounds hide darker secrets. And the closer Skye and Jesse get to the truth of what happened that day, the closer they get to a new killer.” (Goodreads)

The first thing I actually thought of when I looked at this cover was the blood splatter from shooting a monster up close and personal in a first-person shooter video game like Doom. But while that’s generally done for comedic or gross-out effect, this cover is much more chilling. It’s really in your face and hard to look at. I always find it challenging to read stories about school shootings, and this cover drives home how serious the topic is. This looks to be an intense read.

 

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

“This is a world divided by blood – red or silver. The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change. That is until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime. But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart.” (Goodreads)

I’ve read this one and thought it was a lot of fun. The blood is important to show on the cover because it’s a major plot point: Mare has red blood and is masquerading as if she’s a Silver. The blood dripping from the crown is metaphorical, too: playing a game of thrones is a bloody business. It’s striking and I think it’s pretty effective.

 

Devils Unto Dust by Emma Berquist

“Ten years ago, a horrifying disease began spreading across the West Texas desert. Infected people—shakes—attacked the living and created havoc and destruction. No one has ever survived the infection. Daisy Wilcox, known as Willie, has been protecting her siblings within the relatively safe walls of Glory, Texas. When Willie’s good-for-nothing father steals a fortune from one of the most dangerous shake-hunters in town, she finds herself on the hook for his debt. With two hunters, including the gruff and handsome Ben, to accompany her, she sets out across the desert in search of her father. But the desert is not kind to travelers, and not everyone will pass through alive.” (Goodreads)

This is another one I’ve read and enjoyed. The blood blowing away like dust is a great design choice and gives a good feel for the story, which is a fairly bloody zombie Western.

 

Lost by P. C. Cast

“Things have settled down at the Tulsa House of Night since Zoey and the gang closed the tear between worlds and sent Other Kevin back to the Other World. Neferet hasn’t stirred. Damien and Jack are falling in love all over again. Stevie Rae and Rephaim are back in Tulsa where they belong. The Depot Restaurant is being rebuilt with the enthusiastic involvement of local humans. A new school year has begun, and Zoey’s exchange student program with public schools is really taking off. All is well. But if all is well, why is Zoey increasingly withdrawn and moody?

Sadly, Stark is sure he knows the answer to that question. Zoey can’t stop thinking about following her brother to the Other World, and Stark isn’t deluding himself about why. Of course she wants to be sure her brother is okay. Of course she wants to help defeat Neferet in yet another world and be sure the balance between Light and Darkness is restored. But the real reason Z is so drawn to that other House of Night world is because Heath Luck, her childhood sweetheart, is alive in that world-alive and mourning her death.In Lost, we follow Zoey, Stevie Rae, and Rephaim to an alternative version of the House of Night, where dangers take the form of friends and allies are found in the strangest places. Will Z return to our world and leave Heath to his? And if she does, will Stark forgive her for leaving?” (Goodreads)

I think this is the first YA cover I’ve seen where a human is actually cut and bleeding on the cover, at least to this degree. This guy looks like he should maybe make a visit to the hospital, not stand on a frozen lake bleeding handsomely. I also think this cover looks much more like an adult paranormal romance than a teen book – what teen boy actually looks like that?

 

Fatal Throne by Candace Fleming, M.T. Anderson, Jennifer Donnelly, Stephanie Hemphill, Deborah Hopkinson, Linda Sue Park, and Lisa Ann Sandell

“He was King Henry VIII, a charismatic and extravagant ruler obsessed with both his power as king and with siring a male heir. They were his queens–six ill-fated women, each bound for divorce, or beheading, or death. Watch spellbound as each of Henry’s wives attempts to survive their unpredictable king and his power-hungry court. See the sword flash as fiery Anne Boleyn is beheaded for adultery. Follow Jane Seymour as she rises from bullied court maiden to beloved queen, only to die after giving birth. Feel Catherine Howard’s terror as old lovers resurface and whisper vicious rumors to Henry’s influential advisors. Experience the heartache of mothers as they lose son after son, heir after heir. Told in stirring first-person accounts, Fatal Throne is at once provocative and heartbreaking, an epic tale that is also an intimate look at the royalty of the most perilous times in English history.” (Goodreads)

I like the subtle teardrop of blood in this cover, particularly on the artistic rendering of one of the queens in the style of the day.

 

The Unfortunates by Kim Liggett

“When seventeen-year-old senator’s son Grant Tavish is involved in a fatal accident, all he wants to do is face the consequences of what he’s done, but the consequences never come, even if headlines of ‘affluenza’ do. The truth soon becomes clear: Due to his father’s connections, not only will Grant not be held accountable for his actions, he’s going to get away with murder. When a long Tavish tradition approaches, a cave excursion on the Appalachian trail, Grant seizes the opportunity to take justice into his own hands by staging an accident and never coming back. But before he has a chance to enact his plans, the cave system collapses, trapping him miles beneath the surface with four other teens from much less fortunate circumstances. As they struggle to survive, they share their innermost secrets and fears, and just when it seems they might be on track to finding a way out, they realize there’s something else down there. And it’s hunting them.” (Goodreads)

This cover is certainly attention-grabbing, but I get more “corporate thriller with a high body count” than “rich boy trapped in a cave” from it. There’s a mismatch between design and description, though if it grabs readers, maybe that doesn’t matter so much.

 

Not Even Bones by Rebecca Schaeffer

“Nita doesn’t murder supernatural beings and sell their body parts on the internet—her mother does that. Nita just dissects the bodies after they’ve been “acquired.” But when her mom brings home a live specimen, Nita decides she wants out — dissecting living people is a step too far. But when she tries to save her mother’s victim, she ends up sold on the black market in his place — because Nita herself is a supernatural being. Now Nita is on the other side of the bars, and there is no line she won’t cross to escape and make sure no one can ever capture her again. Nita did a good deed, and it cost her everything. Now she’s going to do a lot of bad deeds to get it all back.” (Goodreads)

This book sounds super intriguing and it has a cover to match, though it doesn’t scream supernatural to me.

 

The Sacrifice Box by Martin Stewart

“A horror story about friendship, growing up, and finding a place in the world: Gremlins meets The Breakfast Club by way of Stephen King and Stranger Things. 1982, the summer before seventh grade. Five kids with nothing in common–Sep, Arkle, Hadley, Lamb, and Mack–become instant friends. On the last day of summer, they find a stone box buried in the forest, and each places an object inside to seal their friendship. And they make rules:

Never come to the box alone.

Never open it after dark.

Never take back your sacrifice.

1986, the summer before eleventh grade. The five haven’t spoken since that day in 1982. Sep has gone through the past four years alone and plans to escape to boarding school. But strange things are happening–mirrors are breaking unexpectedly, electricity is flickering in and out, and people are coming down with inexplicable physical ailments. Someone has broken the rules. And it seems the five committed more than objects to the box’s ancient stone–they gave it their deepest secrets and darkest fears, and now these are being returned in a flood of shambling corpses, murderous toys, and undead pets. The gang must reunite in an attempt to discover the secrets of the sacrifice box–and Sep might be the only one who can stem its tide of evil before it’s too late.” (Goodreads)

This cover has a very retro feel; the designers are definitely trying to invoke Stranger Things. The version published by Penguin in January (presumably the UK version, it’s not available in the US) has a much more modern cover (sans any bloody footprints).

 

The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas

“There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook. First there was the car accident—two girls gone after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know why he did it. Monica’s sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they lost.

That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders. But for Monica, it’s not that easy. She just wants to forget. Only, Monica’s world is starting to unravel. There are the letters in her stepdad’s desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, a strange new friend at school. . . Whatever happened five years ago isn’t over. Some people in town know more than they’re saying. And somehow Monica is at the center of it all. There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn’t mean anyone else is safe.” (Goodreads)

The blood on this cover is subtle, not overwhelming and in your face like some of the others in this post. I think it works well – just a touch of sinister for this murder mystery.

 

 

Bookish Things In My Life Right Now (That Aren’t Reading)

I’ve been reading more this summer than I have in many summers. I definitely feel some pressure with more responsibilities in talking about YA for work to do that. I want to keep up, as well as continue to focus on reading backlist. . . but backlist has kind of taken an unfortunate back seat to newer titles this summer. I generally like dedicating a month to reading back list, but it just didn’t happen this year. At least not yet. I still plan on getting through Anne of Green Gables before the year wraps up. It just might not happen before the summer ends in September.

Where it would be easy to feel like I’ve worked too much when it comes to my reading life, I don’t think I have. Instead, some of the most fulfilling moments of my reading life have come from the moments where I’m not reading. I’ve had the chance to go to and to do some cool bookish things, though not all of them were about the books being read in my hammock with a drink in my hand (I did get to do that and still have plenty of time to enjoy that!).

I write this to remind those readers out there who maybe didn’t reach their goals that a well-rounded reading life isn’t about the tally of titles at the end of a specified time frame. It’s about how you feel knowing what you’re reading and what you’re doing in the bigger picture. If you’re happy, if you’re exploring, if you’re challenging yourself, then you’re growing a damn good reading life, no matter what number of books you rack up.

Here are some of the awesome bookish things I’ve done in my life recently and that have made this summer a solid one so far!

Attended A Harry Potter Festival

Last summer, I finally read all of Harry Potter. This summer? I grabbed myself a Slytherin tank top and enjoyed the amazing “Wizarding World” event my local community put together for the second year in a row. Though it ended up being dampened by rain, it was so cool to see both young and old dressed up in their favorite Potter-themed gear.

The highlight for me at the event? I got to meet some owls. I met an eagle owl, a screech owl, a barred owl, and a great horned owl at a program put on by a local raptor sanctuary.

 

Worked on a Proposal for a New Book

I have a book coming out in October, and after that’s out in the world, I don’t have anything planned. At least, theoretically. This summer, I’ve been chipping away at plans for another book and my agent and I have been going back and forth as to how to make the proposal as strong as possible. I’m really excited about it.

And as exciting? I’ve been also working on a novel. I got some great motivation at ALA.

Also? I had another idea pop into my head for another potential nonfiction idea. So there are three things cooking in my head at once. That’s a lot of balls to juggle mentally, but I enjoy the ideas of each and have been slowing poking away at the hows and wheres of each.

 

 

Completed My Library’s Summer Reading Program

You know what the best prize to get for adult summer reading at the library is? Money off your fines. My library’s approach to the summer reading program for adults is brilliant and simple: for each book you read and drop a review of in their online system, you earn $.25 off fines that are good through December.

The system allows you to set a goal, and in June, fresh-eyed, I set one knowing I could beat it a bit. But I ended up beating it by quite a bit, which was a nice boost. But more than the number, it was nice to see how wide-ranging the titles were I read. I picked up a little of everything: middle grade and YA fiction, as well as YA and adult nonfiction. I even got a little bit of literary adult fiction into the mix, too.

At one point during the program, I had a pretty big fine going on because, well, each time I go to the library, I check out too many things (the best kind of problem to have). It was nice to cash in my reading time for fine forgiveness . . . which meant I could check out too many more books, then repeat the process.

In the end, I read 30 titles between the beginning of June and end of July.

 

Bookstore Hopped in Chicago

My friend Rachel and I headed to Chicago a couple weekends ago to attend a pop-up art/interactive exhibit and I realized when we were driving down that we’d have plenty of time to make a stop or two beforehand. I suggested we take the Blue Line to Damon and go visit Myopic Books. She hadn’t been, but I have, and not only did we have a fun time wandering, I managed to snag a title I’ve been looking for. I’m trying to collect all of Megan Abbott’s noir reads — her very early stuff — and they’re surprisingly hard to find. But I got one!

After we did what we’d set out to do in the city, we went back to the area of Myopic and visited both Volumes Book Cafe (which we’d both been to before) and then I took her over to Quimby’s.

While I’d been to all three before, I always love stopping there and exploring. It’s such a cool area of Chicago and the fact there are so many bookshops within a couple of blocks fills me with delight. I only walked away with three books, which felt like a real victory.

If you’re ever in the city and want a bookish place to roam, you can’t go wrong with visiting those three stops. You get your used books, your new books, and your indie-focused, small press books.

 

 

 

Produced a Podcast Episode of Recommended

Have you listened to Recommended? This Book Riot podcast interviews interesting people about their favorite books. I volunteered to produce an episode for the next season, which launches in September. Producing meant finding two fabulous guests to interview and editing their interviews to fit into the timeframe of the show. It was a total change from how I’ve been doing podcasts with Eric for Hey YA — we keep an agenda and kind of free wheel within it, readily ignoring the fact our show is 40 minutes long (we regularly hit that hour mark).

My episode won’t air until late September, but I had the total joy of interviewing two amazing women: Gretchen Rubin and Cynthia Leitich Smith. I can’t wait to share this with you when it’s available.

I also, at the same time I was doing this, set up a monster interview with a legend of children’s literature. I’m excited to see that writer’s responses and share it in the YA newsletter very soon.

 

 

Tell me about how you’ve stayed engaged in your reading life this summer (or this year!). I’d love to hear about your adventures beyond the printed page.

This Week at Book Riot

 

Over on Book Riot this week…

 

13 awesome children’s libraries from around the US.

 

Brilliant YA quotes about reading.

 

Gorgeous handmade watercolor bookmarks that you can buy or DIY.

 

 

There’s also a brand new episode of Hey YA, and this week, Eric and I talked about 2018 debut novels, back-to-school YA reads, and dug into what made Tyrell by Coe Booth such a fabulous book.

Illustrated YA Book Covers

Part of my job as a selector of youth materials for the public library is to decide how each book I select will be classified: Fiction or nonfiction? Graphic novel or illustrated chapter book? Middle grade or young adult? The covers are usually a great hint for this last one, before I even get around to reading the synopsis. If the cover features an illustrated person, it’s probably middle grade. If it features a model, it’s probably young adult.

While this is a good guideline, it’s not always accurate, and it’s fun to come across covers that break this unwritten rule. Below are 15 of my favorite recent YA books with illustrated covers. They’re creative, bold, and use all sorts of different artistic techniques. While they’re not super rare, they do stand out from the rest of the YA crowd.

 

Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi

For Penny Lee high school was a total nonevent. Her friends were okay, her grades were fine, and while she somehow managed to land a boyfriend, he doesn’t actually know anything about her. When Penny heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it’s seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind.

Sam’s stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a café and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. He knows that this is the god-awful chapter of his life that will serve as inspiration for when he’s a famous movie director but right this second the seventeen bucks in his checking account and his dying laptop are really testing him.

When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch—via text—and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.

 

Finding Yvonne by Brandy Colbert

Since she was seven years old, Yvonne has had her trusted violin to keep her company, especially in those lonely days after her mother walked out on their family. But with graduation just around the corner, she is forced to face the hard truth that she just might not be good enough to attend a conservatory after high school.

Full of doubt about her future, and increasingly frustrated by her strained relationship with her successful but emotionally closed-off father, Yvonne meets a street musician and fellow violinist who understands her struggle. He’s mysterious, charming, and different from Warren, the familiar and reliable boy who has her heart. But when Yvonne becomes unexpectedly pregnant, she has to make the most difficult decision yet about her future.

 

Here to Stay by Sara Farizan

For most of high school, Bijan Majidi has flown under the radar. He gets good grades, reads comics, hangs out with his best friend, Kenji, and secretly crushes on Elle, one of the most popular girls in his school. When he’s called off the basketball team’s varsity bench and makes the winning basket in a playoff game, everything changes in an instant.

But not everyone is happy that Bijan is the man of the hour: an anonymous cyberbully sends the entire school a picture of Bijan photoshopped to look like a terrorist. His mother is horrified, and the school administration is outraged. They promise to find and punish the culprit. All Bijan wants is to pretend it never happened and move on, but the incident isn’t so easily erased. Though many of his classmates rally behind Bijan, some don’t want him or his type to be a part of their school. And Bijan’s finding out it’s not always easy to tell your enemies from your friends . . .

 

If Only by Jennifer Gilmore

Before:

When Bridget imagined her life at sixteen, it didn’t look like this. She didn’t think that her boyfriend would dump her for another girl. And she certainly didn’t think that she would be pregnant. With just a few months until she gives birth, Bridget must envision an entirely new future—one for her baby. But as she sifts through the many paths and the many people who want to parent her child, she can’t help but feel that there is no right decision.

After:

Ivy doesn’t know much about her birth mother. She knows that she is now the same age Bridget was when she placed Ivy for adoption. She knows that Bridget was the one who named her. And she knows that fifteen years ago Bridget disappeared from Ivy’s and her adoptive moms’ lives. Ivy wants to discover more about herself, but as she goes to find Bridget, she can’t help but feel that the risks might far outweigh the benefits of knowing where she comes from and why her birth mother chose to walk away.

 

Social Intercourse by Greg Howard

Beck:

The Golden Girls-loving, out-and-proud choir nerd growing up in the “ass-crack of the Bible belt.”

Jax:

The Golden Boy, star quarterback with a slick veneer facing uncomfortable truths about himself and his past.

When Beck’s emotionally fragile dad starts dating the recently single (and supposedly lesbian) mom of former bully, Jaxon Parker, Beck is not having it. Jax isn’t happy about the situation either, holding out hope that his moms will reunite and restore the only stable home he’s ever known. Putting aside past differences, the boys plot to derail the budding romance between their parents at their conservative hometown’s first-ever Rainbow Prom. Hearts will be broken, new romance will bloom, but nothing will go down the way Beck and Jax have planned.

 

Summer of Salt by Katherine Leno

Georgina Fernweh waits with growing impatience for the tingle of magic in her fingers—magic that has been passed down through every woman in her family. Her twin sister, Mary, already shows an ability to defy gravity. But with their eighteenth birthday looming at the end of this summer, Georgina fears her gift will never come.

No one on the island of By-the-Sea would ever call the Fernwehs what they really are, but if you need the odd bit of help—say, a sleeping aid concocted by moonlight—they are the ones to ask. No one questions the weather, as moody and erratic as a summer storm. No one questions the (allegedly) three-hundred-year-old bird who comes to roost on the island every year.

When tragedy strikes, what made the Fernweh women special suddenly casts them in suspicion. Over the course of her last summer on the island—a summer of storms, of love, of salt—Georgina will learn the truth about magic, in all its many forms.

 

Ship It by Britta Lundin

CLAIRE is a sixteen-year-old fangirl obsessed with the show Demon Heart. FOREST is an actor on Demon Heart who dreams of bigger roles. When the two meet at a local Comic-Con panel, it’s a dream come true for Claire. Until the Q&A, that is, when Forest laughs off Claire’s assertion that his character is gay.

Claire is devastated. After all, every last word of her super-popular fanfic revolves around the romance between Forest’s character and his male frenemy. She can’t believe her hero turned out to be a closed-minded jerk. Forest is mostly confused that anyone would think his character is gay. Because he’s not. Definitely not.

Unfortunately for Demon Heart, when the video of the disastrous Q&A goes viral, the producers have a PR nightmare on their hands. In order to help bolster their image within the LGBTQ+ community-as well as with their fans-they hire Claire to join the cast for the rest of their publicity tour. What ensues is a series of colorful Comic-Con clashes between the fans and the show that lead Forest to question his assumptions about sexuality and help Claire come out of her shell. But how far will Claire go to make her ship canon? To what lengths will Forest go to stop her and protect his career? And will Claire ever get the guts to make a move on Tess, the very cute, extremely cool fanartist she keeps running into? Ship It is a funny, tender, and honest look at all the feels that come with being a fan.

 

This Book Betrays My Brother by Kagiso Lesego Molope

What does a teenage girl do when she sees her beloved older brother commit a horrific crime? Should she report to her parents, or should she keep quiet? Should she confront him? All her life, Naledi has been in awe of Basi, her charming and outgoing older brother. They’ve shared their childhood, with its jokes and secrets, the alliances and stories about the community. Having reached thirteen, she is preparing to go to the school dance. Then she sees Naledi commit an act that violates everything she believes about him. How will she live her life now? This coming-of-age novel brings together many social issues, peculiar not only to South Africa but elsewhere as well, in the modern world: class and race, young love and physical desire, homosexuality. In beautiful, lyrical, and intimate prose, Molope shows the dilemmas facing a young woman as she attempts to find her place in a new, multiracial, and dynamic nation emerging into the world after more than a century of racist colonialism. A world now dominated by men. There are no simple answers.

 

The Place Between Breaths by An Na

Sixteen-year-old Grace is in a race against time—and in a race for her life—even if she doesn’t realize it yet…

She is smart, responsible, and contending with more than what most teens ever have to. Her mother struggled with schizophrenia for years until, one day, she simply disappeared—fleeing in fear that she was going to hurt herself or those she cared about. Ever since, Grace’s father has worked as a recruiter at one of the leading labs dedicated to studying the disease, trying to lure the world’s top scientists to the faculty to find a cure, hoping against hope it can happen in time to help his wife if she is ever found. But this makes him distant. Consumed.

Grace, in turn, does her part, interning at the lab in the gene sequencing department in hopes that one day they might make a breakthrough…and one day they do. Grace stumbles upon a string of code that could be the key. But something inside of Grace has started to unravel. Could her discovery just be a cruel side effect of the schizophrenia finally taking hold? Can she even tell the difference between what is real and what isn’t?

 

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens edited by Marieke Nijkamp

A YA Anthology of short stories featuring disabled teens, written by #OwnVoices disabled authors. The stories reflect a range of genres and disabilities; contributors include bestselling authors Kody Keplinger and Francisco X. Stork, as well as newcomers Fox Benwell, Keah Brown, and more.

 

 

 

500 Words or Less by Juleah del Rosario

Nic Chen refuses to spend her senior year branded as the girl who cheated on her charismatic and lovable boyfriend. To redefine her reputation among her Ivy League–obsessed classmates, Nic begins writing their college admissions essays.

But the more essays Nic writes for other people, the less sure she becomes of herself, the kind of person she is, and whether her moral compass even points north anymore.

 

 

My So-Called Bollywood Life by Nisha Sharma

Winnie Mehta was never really convinced that Raj was her soulmate, but their love was written in the stars. Literally, a pandit predicted Winnie would find the love of her life before her 18th birthday, and Raj meets all of the qualifications. Which is why Winnie is shocked to return from her summer at film camp to find her boyfriend of three years hooking up with Jenny Dickens. Worse, Raj is crowned chair of the student film festival, a spot Winnie was counting on for her film school applications. As a self-proclaimed Bollywood expert, Winnie knows this is not how her perfect ending is scripted.

Then there’s Dev, a fellow film geek, and one of the few people Winnie can count on to help her reclaim control of her story. Dev is smart charming, and challenges Winnie to look beyond her horoscope to find someone she’d pick for herself. But does falling for Dev mean giving up on her prophecy, and her chance to live happily ever after? To get her Bollywood-like life on track, Winnie will need a little bit of help from fate, family, and of course, a Bollywood movie star.

 

Sadie by Courtney Summers

Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she’s been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.

But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie’s entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister’s killer to justice and hits the road following a few meagre clues to find him.

When West McCray—a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America—overhears Sadie’s story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie’s journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it’s too late.

 

Running With Lions by Julian Winters

Bloomington High School Lions’ star goalie, Sebastian Hughes, should be excited about his senior year: His teammates are amazing and he’s got a coach who doesn’t ask anyone to hide their sexuality. But when his estranged childhood best friend Emir Shah shows up to summer training camp, Sebastian realizes the team’s success may end up in the hands of the one guy who hates him. Determined to reconnect with Emir for the sake of the Lions, he sets out to regain Emir’s trust. But to Sebastian’s surprise, sweaty days on the pitch, wandering the town’s streets, and bonding on the weekends sparks more than just friendship between them.

 

Imagine Us Happy by Jennifer Yu

Stella lives with depression, and her goals for junior year are pretty much limited to surviving her classes, staying out of her parents’ constant fights and staving off unwanted feelings enough to hang out with her friends Lin and Katie.

Until Kevin. A quiet, wry senior who understands Stella and the lows she’s going through like no one else. With him, she feels less lonely, listened to—and hopeful for the first time since ever…

But to keep that feeling, Stella lets her grades go and her friendships slide. And soon she sees just how deep Kevin’s own scars go. Now little arguments are shattering. Major fights are catastrophic. And trying to hold it all together is exhausting Stella past the breaking point. With her life spinning out of control, she’s got to figure out what she truly needs, what’s worth saving—and what to let go.