Not quite a teenager, Poni loses her 12-year-old best friend in violent increments: to too-early forced marriage, three failed suicide attempts, and finally to childbirth long before her natural time. Poni – and her fiercely supportive mother – are determined that Poni will somehow stay in school...
So this might seem like a Chinese New Year title (because it is – although I just received a copy; the first print run sold out almost immediately, yippee!), but it's even more about sharing, forgiveness, and friendship. Which means don't read it just once a...
I can't believe we're already in the last full week of LGBT Pride Month! I confess that my June literary goal was to read as many David Levithan titles as possible (without guilt even, given what month this is). Alas, I didn't make much progress in any...
If, like me, you have trouble with accents, dialects, or unfamiliar vernacular, choose audible here. Narrator Peter Macon couldn't be smoother and clearer: I couldn't figure out "meejit" on the page, but in Macon's voice, no problem (turns out I'm just the "eejit" who can't understand 'midget,'...
*STARRED REVIEW In high school, Tsukuru Tazaki was part of a "perfect community" of five best friends. Each had a color attached to their family names – red, blue, white, black –except for Tsukuru, rendering him "colorless." After Tsukuru begins college in Tokyo, he's brutally excised...
You can go two ways here: 1. Just read this as is, without context or background, and you would enjoy it immensely because it's just so much fun; 2. Invest a little research time before you open the book and reach the final page satisfied and...
Canadian lawyer/author Jennifer Gold’s debut novel starts with such promise: a contemporary teenager's discovery of the eponymous "soldier doll" is interwoven with the doll's near-century-long journey from Europe to the U.S. to Vietnam, landing in a garage sale in Toronto to be bargained for a mere...
"Look at us. A family of four. Seated around the dinner table," 16-year-old Simone observes. "We do this every night. ...
Let's start with the bottom line: read this. [Or listen – narrator Adenrele Ojo is superb.] I guarantee this stupendously epic, unforgettably affecting story of Aminata Diallo will haunt you long after you finish. Born in 1745, Aminata is 11 when she's violently abducted from her...
In what should have been a year-long contract of difficult labor as a "pawn" for a 9-year-old girl whose family cannot survive otherwise, becomes a horrific journey to the other side of the world. Named Magulu by her parents, she becomes Margru because of a...
Claire Danes, interestingly enough, narrates 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning Michael Cunningham’s latest novel. The choice seems a bit odd as most of the narrative is from the point of view of two brothers. Still, Danes is good enough, if a little on the flat side. Perhaps...
While he's not exactly Mr. Popularity at his new school, Takao Kasuga is gingerly settling into his uprooted life far from the small town of Gunma where he was involved in so many shameful, difficult, frustrating, violent experiences. His favorite book, Baudelaire's The Flowers of Evil,...
Without a doubt, Kimberly McCreight's bestselling debut contains every parent's every nightmare, beginning with the absolute worst at the end of the first full chapter: "I'm sorry, Mrs. Baron. But your daughter, Amelia, is dead." Her 15-year-old body lies broken on the grounds of her posh private school...
So the book is funny ...
Get ready: E. Lockhart's latest is apparently the young adult read of the summer. That John Green cover endorsement alone should sell endless copies. So when everyone is chattering about what happened, you're going to want to join in. An aging, wealthy, widowed patriarch spends his summers on a private...
Summer is finally, suddenly almost here (we had snow just two weeks ago where I happen to be stuck). With that steady warmth comes the sort of utter enchantment found between the pages of Suzy Lee's wordless Wave-y wonder. Really, who needs text when you have such whimsical, beckoning expanses? Arriving...
As epigraphs go, Chris Bohjalian couldn't have chosen better (as if we would expect any less), not only for the words, but for the poet who originated the verses: "Before you know what kindness really is / you must lose things, / feel the future...
Before you can fully appreciate the final volume of the adventures of our favorite time-traveling hunky bathing beauty, you'll need to dive into the two previous volumes to catch up. If nothing else, aren't you curious why our ancient stoner is holding that bottle of Yakult? You won't find...
When her father dies, a girl and her mother's futures are forever altered. As a 14-year-old living in a 17th-century Persian village, she expected to be contentedly married, looking forward to starting her own family, not unlike her best friend who is already heavy with...
I read the eponymous first chapter almost a year ago and then stopped. I listened to the same story – the absolute highlight in the disappointingly uneven collection Haiti Noir – so smoothly, lullingly read by Robin Miles, and again stopped. The book stayed on my desk...
