Burgess, M. (2013). The hit. Frome, England: Somerset. Genre: Dystopian near-future Intended audience: Older teens Personal reaction to the book: A challenging and sometimes disturbing book. The sole thing that makes this a YA title is the age of the protagonist. The point in his life cycle is typical YA; otherwise, the fare is grim:… Continue reading Hit me, hit me, hit me
Walk a mile in her pants
Brashares, A. (2001). The sisterhood of the traveling pants. New York: Delacorte. Genre: Romance Intended audience: Romantics, particularly girls. Personal reaction to the book: It's a chick-lit book that goes beyond the usual stereotypes: The hot boys weren't all clueless; The characters progressed during the book (a hard concept for the genre, I know); The… Continue reading Walk a mile in her pants
Let’s talk about sex
Blume, Judy. (1975). Forever … . Scarsdale, N.Y.: Bradbury Press. Genre: Romance / realistic fiction Intended audience: Older teens, especially girls Personal reaction to the book: Steamy for its era and certainly for Blume's traditional audience; it would be a relatively tame romance by contemporary adult standards (for instance, I just did a comparison of… Continue reading Let’s talk about sex
All wet
Blakemore, M.F. (2013). The water castle. New York: Walker. Genre: Fantasy Intended audience: Tweens and young teens. Personal reaction to the book: A hugely detailed world, well thought out and rendered. Extremely slow-moving for the age group and full of historical and scientific material well beyond the target age group. The author has avoided romance… Continue reading All wet
She’s so cold
Black, H. (2013). The coldest girl in Coldtown. New York. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Genre: Fantasy / horror Intended audience: Mid-teens and older Personal reaction to the book: I don't usually like vampire novels, but I enjoyed this one. The setting is just askew enough to keep it fresh: Vampires have become common… Continue reading She’s so cold
… living in a mechanical world
Barnett, D. (2013). Gideon Smith and the mechanical girl. New York: Tor. Genre: Steampunk Intended audience: General YA and older Personal reaction to the book: It's a lot of fun and an appropriate introduction to steampunk for a YA audience. Standard fare (for steampunk) includes Victoriana, vampires, zombies, zeppelins, penny dreadfuls, Sherlock Holmes (in the… Continue reading … living in a mechanical world
No graphic violence
Backderf, D. (2012). My friend Dahmer. New York: Abrams ComicArts. Genre: Graphic nonfiction Intended audience: Personal reaction to the book: A detailed examination of the banality of evil (like The complete maus in that regard), and a singular read. A lot of negative reviews on Goodreads.com focus on whether Backderf and his friends in high… Continue reading No graphic violence
Ship breaker, dream maker, love taker …
Bacigalupi, P. (2010). Ship breaker. New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Genre: Dystopian science fiction Intended audience: Primarily boys, any teens Personal reaction to the book: Not a bad little dystopian future novel, in a sort of modern take on the Boys' Own Adventure model. It is set in a world decimated by… Continue reading Ship breaker, dream maker, love taker …
Feeding time
Anderson, M.T. (2004). Feed. Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press. Genre: Science fiction Intended audience: Mid-teens and up Personal reaction to the book: The first 90 or so pages largely establish the fictional world. As the book is told through the point of view of a teenage boy at some point in a future with air cars and… Continue reading Feeding time
Back from the dead
I haven't used this blog for a year or two, but I have to present my reading list from my young adult reading class, so I'll be filing (a lot) of posts over the next few weeks, almost all about books. Who knows, if the conversation gets rolling, I might keep doing this. Most of the… Continue reading Back from the dead
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