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 ›
Young Adult Fiction
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 ›
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 ›
Malamander
Young Herbert (Herbie) Lemon works as the Lost and Founder from his small, cluttered office in the Grand Nautilus Hotel in Eerie-on-Sea, a resort town shut down for the winter season. Having mysteriously washed up as a baby in a… Read More ›
Stepsister
This novel is a recast of the Cinderella story, opening with the two ugly stepsisters (in this book, Isabelle & Octavia) cutting off part of their feet in order to fit the glass slipper being shopped around by the Prince…. Read More ›
Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation
Twelve-year-old Charlotte (Charlie) Thorne is a wunderkind. Her IQ is almost as high as was Einstein’s, she speaks twelve languages fluently and is amazingly dexterous in mathematics, the sciences, coding and all things technological. She’s not always wise in the… Read More ›
I’m Not Dying with You Tonight
McPherson High School seniors Campbell (who is white) and Lena (who is black) arrive separately on Friday night at the McPherson stadium for the big playoff with rival Jonesville High. Campbell’s dad drops her off near the concession stand, where… Read More ›
Before You Buy YA 