In August 1942 Zofia Lederman and her family, who are among the remaining Jews in the Polish town of Sosnowiec, report to the local soccer stadium, where they are sorted into two groups, one headed for death camps and the… Read More ›
Young Adult Fiction Reviews
Rules for Being a Girl
Long-time best friends Marin Lospato and Chloe Niarchos are high school seniors who also are co-editors of their school newspaper. They seem like typical teens with the usual interests, with a good social circle of friends, supportive families, and realistic… Read More ›
What I Like About You
Halle Levitt is spending her senior year with her brother at her grandfather’s home in Middleton, Connecticut instead of traveling abroad with her documentary-producing parents, who, after six previous Academy Award nominations but no win, are still pursuing the prize…. Read More ›
The Kingdom of Back
In 18th-century Salzburg, Austria, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Woferl) lives with his parents, older sister Maria Anna (Nannerl), and their family manservant Sebastian in respectable but slightly shabby quarters while their father Leopold serves as musician in residence to the Archbishop…. Read More ›
Dragon Hoops
Award-winning comics artist and graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang spent seventeen years teaching at Bishop O’Dowd High School in California. Near the end of his tenure there, as he was casting about for the topic of his next book, he… Read More ›
The Shadows Between Us
Alessandra is the second daughter of a baron in need of a big infusion of wealth to pay off debts and sustain his estates. Her older sister Chrysantha is their father’s favorite. Actually, she seems to be just about everybody’s… Read More ›
One of Us Is Next
This book is a sequel to the author’s book ONE OF US IS LYING. However, I have not read that book and I found that, while fairly frequent references were made to the previous story, the current book stands perfectly… Read More ›
The Twin
Ten years after their parents divorce and their mom moves away to another city, taking one identical twin (Iris) with her and leaving the other (Ivy) with her ex-husband, the twins find themselves living together again when their mother suddenly… Read More ›
Winterwood
Nora Walker is living alone in the family homestead that nestles close to the bottomless lake and the lush forests of Fir Haven, while her mother has taken off towards the west coast to make sales calls for the special… Read More ›
The End and Other Beginnings
This book is a collection of six short stories by science-fiction writer Veronica Roth that focuses on brief episodes in the lives of characters in different worlds and times. As I read them, I frankly saw them more or less… Read More ›
Before You Buy YA 