Helen Hoang transfers a minor character from her popular 2018 debut, The Kiss Quotient, into the spotlight in her engaging follow-up. Initially introduced as the younger brother of Quotient’s protagonist’s best friend, Khai assumes leading man status here – he’s single, movie-star handsome, successful. He’s...
Venus Black gets straight As, has never gotten drunk, smoked pot, or skipped a class. She’s also a 13-year-old murderer, sent to juvenile lock-up for shooting her stepfather. Within days, her younger half-brother Leo – “[he] has what [their mother] Inez calls ‘developmental issues’” –...
"Twirly-whirly,/ loop-dee-loop" takes Trampoline Boy up "into the blue, blue sky." Each "BOING" enables him to see something new, from his own backyard to far beyond the clouds. In the morning, after school, and "until the sky turn[s] pink," Trampoline Boy finds contentment in the...
*STARRED REVIEW Boise, Idaho, is home to the James Castle Collection and Archive, commemorating an internationally renowned local artist who lived most of his 78 years in isolation. The sleek building stands in sharp contrast to the artist's actual lifetime studios: an attic, an abandoned chicken...
Narrator Em Eldridge is undoubtedly convincing – and her range here impressive. She’s youthful and innocent as almost-14-year-old Ginny, gently gruff but patient as Ginny’s Forever Dad, and alternately understanding and stressed as Ginny’s Forever Mom. Eldridge also moves seamlessly among the other characters who...
"Oh, Lester, you're going to love it so much," Lucy Musselbaum promises her 10-year-old son about entering Quarry Elementary. Homeschooled until now, Lester is understandably wary – change is always tough for him – but Lucy gently explains she's "100 percent sure" she needs to...
Benny’s father endures long-lasting effects when he suffers a brain aneurysm. Benny’s life was already tough: his brother George, who has autism, requires special attention; Benny’s best friend moved away, and making new friends hasn’t been easy. Now with his father’s recovery uncertain, the whole...
Sweden's Stieg Larsson died of a heart attack in 2004, but his internationally famed, mismatched hacker/journalist duo are proving to be immortal. Yes, Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist are back in a fourth installment of what is now the Millennium series (a 'trilogy' no more) with a new writer, Swedish journalist and...
On the morning of her 12th birthday, Dawnie Rae Johnson – named for the new day rising when she was born – wakes to find a surprise under her pillow: a diary made by her 8-year-old brother Goober. The year will turn out to be crucial, not...
Meg Wolitzer's latest bestseller begins with an intricate overview of the hierarchy of privileged teenagers. In the summer of 1974, six 15- and 16-year-olds meet in Boys' Teepee 3 at Spirit-in-the-Woods, an arts-focused summer camp for the entitled, and baptize themselves the titular Interestings. Four of the...
As spare as this book is, it's turned out to be one of the most bookmarked (with skinny stick-its) titles I've recently read. Written by an autistic Japanese then-13-year-old, the English translation arrives six years later courtesy of parents of an autistic child – internationally...
Ben Bright – popular senior, lead in the school musical opposite both his girlfriend Ariela and best friend Niko, the older son in a warmly bonded family of four – has a secret. Without telling his family and friends, he's bypassed college and chosen the U.S. Army....
From the creator of some of my favorite kiddie books ever comes another 'free-to-be-me' invitation. Peter H. Reynolds has an uncanny ability to capture children both visually and literally ...
I fully admit that had Mockingbird not won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature last week, I probably wouldn't have read it. I'll also tell you that by page 9, I...
Marcelo marks quite a memorable moment in our family's dynamics: For the first time ever, our daughter actually shut us out with her headphones (I realize it's coming relatively late in modern teenage life), demanding that she be able to finish this book right now (it was...
Belgian-born Stefan Brijs' novel The Angel Maker seemingly has all the necessary elements to be a success with U.S. readers. It's already an international bestseller, with 80,000 copies sold in Holland alone, according to the pre-publication...
The third adventure in the entertaining new series featuring hapa Agatha Wong and Orville...
Confession time: I was ready to hate these – those names, for heaven’s sake! But how entertaining – and empowering – to have a hapa Chinese American girl, Agatha Wong, and her...
