YA and Children’s

YA Review: Wicked Little Secrets by Kara Taylor (Prep School Confidential)

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I was browsing around the internet a few weeks ago and realized that I had missed the publication of book 2 (and book 3!) in the Prep School Confidential series by Kara Taylor. I had read the first book last year and really enjoyed this YA mystery – https://drbethnolan.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/ya-review-prep-school-confidential-by-kara-taylor/

I purchased WICKED LITTLE SECRETS for my Kindle. In this story, Anne Dowling is back and getting into trouble again. She is determined to figure out what happened to a former Wheatley student who died in the 1980’s after she finds a picture of him in her deceased roommate’s belongings, with “they killed him” written on the back. Anne starts digging up old secrets, which unfortunately involve the parents of several of her friends and classmates, including the father of her boyfriend. Anne connects again with Isabella’s brother to help her figure out and solve the mystery of what happened all those years ago.

Once again, Ms. Taylor has written a fast-paced and exciting story that keeps you guessing and keeps you laughing at Anne’s unique voice and pluckiness. I enjoy Taylor’s writing and pacing and I give her credit for making her stories believable.

I also heard some chatter that a Prep School Confidential movie is in development.  Hmmm….

You can see WICKED LITTLE SECRETS on Amazon where I got mine.

Review: THE GOLDEN PATHWAY by Donna M. McDine

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Today I’m thrilled to be part of the HF Virtual Book Tours blog tour for the promotion of the book THE GOLDEN PATHWAY by Donna M. McDine and illustrated by K. C. Snider.

This story is written for children and is about a young boy’s experience during the Civil War. Young David lives in a violent home, and he befriends his family’s slave, Jenkins. One night he gets a chance to help Jenkins escape on the Underground Railroad. Will he take the risk to help his friend?

This is a very short story — picture book style and less than 20 pages. The copy I read was a hardcover/library binding edition. I kept thinking how this would be a wonderful edition to the classroom: David’s story is a great jumping off point to start to discuss the Civil War, slavery, the Underground Railroad, and basic human rights. It is aimed at younger elementary-aged readers, and I plan to have my children read it as a way to start a discussion on slavery and the Civil War (which they’ve learned about some in school, but still find puzzling and highly disturbing). 

Author Donna McDine is an award-winning author with several books to her credit. You can read more about her at http://www.donnamcdine.com. THE GOLDEN PATHWAY is published by Guardian Angel Publishing.

Thank you, Amy, for making me part of your book tour!

 

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Quick YA Review: ESSENCE by A. L. Waddington – Book One of the E.V.E. Series

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Over the summer I received a kindle edition of ESSENCE from my friends at Booktrope. In this story, a high school senior (Jocelyn) lives a fairly run of the mill existence, until she starts having strange visions and dreams, and feels a strong connection to a boy she has only just met, yet when she is around him she feels nauseous and faints. Is it all in Jocelyn’s head? Or does she have the genetically passed skill of time travelling? Which of Jocelyn’s worlds is the real one? Or is she actually existing in parallel lives?

I’m a huge fan of time travel stories (anyone ever read the old children’s book TIME AT THE TOP?). Jocelyn’s story is intriguing, and I kept reading to see what would happen. It seems like a lot of the YA novels I’m reading these days are book one of a series. Not sure how I feel about that, but c’est la vie. I did find the pacing rather slow for the first half of this book. I wanted more action and I wanted to know just what was going on with Jocelyn. That said, it was a fun read and something I could recommend to middle schoolers as well as older YA readers.

Thank you, Booktrope, for my review copy. 

YA Review: HOW TO FALL by Jane Casey

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I love a good, creepy YA mystery. This one I read in the spring, though it publishes in late summer. It appears to be the first of a series.

In HOW TO FALL, British teen Jess Tennant goes with her family to stay with relatives on the coast for the summer. Jess’ cousin Freya has tragically died in a recent accident, but Jess’ arrival brings memories and information to light. Remarkably, Jess looks just like her cousin, and the various teens of the village are drawn to her — both in a good way and in a mean, bullying way. Jess is tough, though, and she’s not going to be scared off by some tough girls. She begins to suspect that there might have been something more to Freya’s death – it wasn’t just a tragic accident – and Jess will not stop until she has discovered exactly how and why her  cousin died.

I enjoyed reading this mystery! I look forward to more in this series, too. I haven’t read much by Ms. Casey, but I will look for her stories. As you know, I love YA!

I got mine from Net Galley – thanks!

Picture Book Review: TWO PARROTS by Rumi and Rashin

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I was contacted by a publicist to see if I would like to review the picture book TWO PARROTS, and I was able to get a (free) signed copy of this book when attending BEA in May.

This is a classic Persian tale, retold and illustrated. In the story, a parrot is owned by a wealthy merchant and kept in a cage. He has everything he wants – except his freedom. He manages to trick the merchant into setting him free so that he can be with his friends again and not live in a cage. The merchant learns a valuable lesson as well.

This was a fun book with spirited, cartoon-like drawings. I had not heard this story before, and discovered that Rumi was a 13th century Persian poet. I think that it would be a good book to share in the classroom with young ones, or to have in a collection of stories from around the world for older children to read. The brightly colored illustrations are almost like cartoons, which gives the book a festive air.

Ms. Rashin was quite lovely and gracious when I briefly met her. I wish her success on her US debut!

YA Review: SIX STRINGS by Jen Sanya Williamson

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I was recently approached to see if I would like to review SIX STRINGS by Jen Sanya Williamson. I thought the premise sounded great: a teenager is dealing with her beloved grandmother’s Alzheimer’s, when she discovers that she comes from a long line of time travelers, and that her grandmother has passed this gift along to her.

This was a book I would have loved when I was a teen! Riley, the protagonist, is a typical teenager: loves music, is thinking about college, has her special group of friends. From her grandmother she learns that her father is not her father, but that her biological father is actually a famous rock star from that her mother knew when she was young. His guitar is her item that helps her time travel and she has six chances to go back and explore the past in order to better understand the present. Riley is frightened, and only half-believing, but gives it a try. She goes back to the early 80’s and finds her grandparents (so poignant) and also her teen mother (yikes!) and her uncle. Along the way, she is also drawn to a boy she meets there, but needs to keep her true self a secret.

I just loved this book, which read quickly and was appropriate for a wide range of ages. My only disappointment is that the next book in the series is not available yet! 🙂 I have to add that Ms. Williamson’s portrayal of dementia is so spot on, it brought tears to my eyes.

Thank you for my review copy, and I will look forward to reading more from Ms. Williamson.

YA Review: CONVERSION by Katherine Howe

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I had heard about this book, but couldn’t get my hot little hands on a copy. Then at BEA I had the chance to get a SIGNED copy from Katherine Howe herself! I was quite excited and couldn’t wait to read it when I returned.

Pub Day is finally here for this great book (July 1).

CONVERSION centers on the character of teenager Colleen Rowley, a senior in high school at a prestigious private girls’ school. One day a classmate falls ill with mysterious symptoms, and soon several classmates are sick: all with odd symptoms, all seniors. Between the CDC, the community, and the media, Colleen’s school becomes a bit of a circus. Then Colleen receives texts from an unknown sender urging her to read Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”.  What is going on? And can Colleen figure it out before she, too, falls ill?

I really enjoyed reading this book! Interspersed between Colleen’s story are chapters from the 1700’s and Ann Putnam, one of the girls from the Salem Witch Trials, confesses her story of the Salem girls to her minister. Ann Putnam is a critical character, and in modern day, Colleen herself is studying Ann as a key to what actually went on in 1692 and what is happening now. There are some other side plots as well, though they all tie together, with the biggest one being one of Colleen’s friend’s heartbreak over an affair with a teacher.

CONVERSION has a tension which builds and builds, until things truly start to spiral out of control. I thought this was a great read for both older YA and for adults. If you have a daughter in high school, you should read this book, just to remind yourself what a pressure cooker that time can be. A lot of Colleen’s pressure is self-imposed (e.g. the quest to be valedictorian), and reading this reminded me of what that felt like, even though I graduated 30 years ago.

Highly recommended! I’m so glad I was able to get this at BEA and was able to meet Ms. Howe. She herself is descended from those involved in the Salem Witch Trials, and history lives on in her veins and in her work.

Kids’ Review: THE MEGASAURUS by Thomas Weck and Peter Weck

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I recently received a copy of THE MEGASAURUS in the mail to review from Claudia, a publicist:

photo (48)LIMABEARBOOK

This children’s picture book (with illustrations by Len DiSalvo) is one in a series of books about the “Lima Bears”, small bean-shaped bears that live in the Beandom. Each book has a message and a problem that the Lima Bears must solve. In THE MEGASAURUS, the bears are being terrorized by the scary, large megasaurus monster who loves to eat beans. The kingdom must come up with a solution to this problem. Will they only listen to their wisest advisors? Or will they listen to one of the littlest bean’s idea?

This was a sweet book with a good message. I have to say that when the Megasaurus was wreaking havoc, I was a bit concerned that it might be too scary for the littlest ones, but there is a happy ending and all the “eaten” friends come back okay.

I think this book would be a good choice for a preschool or early grade classroom!

Here’s some information on Lima Bear Press:

http://limabearpress.com/

YA Review: WATCHED by Cindy M. Hogan

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I recently got this book free for my kindle as it was on sale. WATCHED is a YA suspense novel, telling the story of 15-year-old Christy, who wins a scholarship for a trip to D.C. While there, Christy and her friends witness terrorist activity, and the story becomes a big chase and escape until the end (when we discover that this is the first book in a trilogy).

Here’s the thing: I probably would have loved this book when I was 13. Christy is a smart girl, supposedly quite brilliant, but she is socially awkward. She has two boys attracted to her, for the first time in her life. She is trying to shake off her “really smart and not rich”  persona to blend with her new friends. All the time, however, scary terrorists are looking for her and her friends and the FBI is protecting her. I would have lapped this up as a young teen!

To be honest, in the here and now I found Christy’s story rather boring and far-fetched. Christy’s angst over which boy to like went on for so long that it dragged the book down and bored me. There was a great deal of time and space devoted to “I can’t date until I’m 16 and that’s not until next month. How do I handle my emotions? What shall I do? What shall I do???” The whole terrorist/FBI piece was unbelievable and too incredible to be plausible. Personally, as a parent of two children, if my minor children were involved with terrorist plots etc etc while on an educational trip to DC and I was never told about it or notified?? Well, you get my point. The fact that this is book one in a trilogy made the reading feel prolonged, in my opinion; and I have a personal pet peeve about lack of resolution at the end of a book.

So I finished the book (thus the review), which is a good thing (if I really dislike a book I don’t finish it, and thus don’t review it), but I was rather disappointed. I think my younger self, though, would have looked past the shortcomings I found and enjoyed Christy’s story.

YA Review : WE WERE LIARS by E. Lockhart

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I had heard some buzz about this book, so I ordered it from Amazon for my Kindle for when it was released earlier this month. This is the kind of book that people say, “I can’t talk about it without giving it away”. Okay – that’s true, but I can say this: this was one of those books that you start to read and can’t put down. I read it almost entirely straight through as I was trying to figure out what was going on. It’s memorable and heart-breaking and just really, really good – all at the same time.

In WE WERE LIARS, Cadence Sinclair has grown up as the eldest grandchild of the wealthy and well-known Sinclair family. They spend their summers together on an island off the coast of Massachusetts. They play, they argue, they exist as a big sprawling family. Cadence spends her long summer days with her cousins Johnny and Mirren, and their friend Gat. Then one summer, while they are in their teens, things change. Decisions are made and actions follow which have devastating consequences.

Loved loved loved this book. I’d suggest it for older teens (and adults – if you read YA, and you should!).

Can’t say more without spoilers, but I’ve added a You Tube clip of the author reading from the novel: