Tag Archive | abandonment

Dare she travel ROAD OF THE LOST into lands of fae? by Nafiza Azad (YA book review)

May16
book cover of Road of the Lost, by Nafiza Azad. Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Helping a girl trapped as a stone statue cracks Croi’s glamour, making the brownie visible to courtiers in the human palace!

The 17 year old flees back to her guardian’s home in the Wilde Forest, and the Hag gives her two books about the fae – why?

Croi, who isn’t a brownie after all, cannot resist the summoning spell taking her away from the Forest to the Otherworld of fae and dryad and pixie.

With the other half of herself now awakened (and talking so much in her mind), Croi won’t be completely alone. Perhaps she’ll meet the young man Iriel who invades her dreams as he searches for the Forever King’s descendants.

As she travels in strange lands whose magick is dwindling, Croi meets a dryad with a desperate request, a catkin seeking his kidnapped brothers, a fire princess leading a rebel army, and a pixie with attitude.

Who sent Croi to the Wilde Forest as a child?
Why is this summoning spell calling her into the Otherworld?
What is Iriel’s part in all this?

Many want the high fae Robber Queen to lose her power over the Otherworld at the upcoming Saol ceremony – the battle is on!

By the author of The Candle and the Wind, recommended here.

Which being of legend would you want to meet?
**kmm

Book info: Road of the Lost / Nafiza Azad. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2022. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Can they keep safe THE BOOK OF STOLEN DREAMS? by David Farr (MG book review)

May3
book cover of The Book of Stolen Dreams, by David Farr. Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Scarce food, few jobs,
little hope, no freedom –
all seized by the dictator.

When he invaded Krasnia, Charles Malstain ordered that children be kept out of sight because he hates them so much!

Rachel and Robert have grown up in this sad country, she a dreamer and big brother an avid experimenter. The love and imagination of their parents turned the Kleins’ tiny apartment into a pirate ship or polar expedition!

On Rachel’s 11th birthday, Father took her and Robert to the city library where he worked, to see the world’s most fascinating book – The Book of Stolen Dreams, reputed to bring loved ones back from death’s kingdom. Actually, they were there to steal it, to keep it away from evil President Malstain who wants to use its power so he can live forever!

Oh no, the police! Father sends the siblings out of the library by a secret way, with the wondrous Book and instructions on how to safeguard it.

Mum’s poor health cannot long stand the strain of Father’s imprisonment far away. Following the only clue they have, 13-year-old Robert flees across the sea to Port Clement, a city of parks and happy people and hope, as Rachel is taken to a distant and dismal re-education orphanage.

How can they locate the person who should receive the Book?
Can Rachel escape the orphanage and find their father?
Does the artist who created its amazing images know where the last page of the Book is?

A race to keep the ultimate power over death out of evil Malstain’s hands!

Be sure to check out the puzzles and games on the author’s website here. Yes, book two is in the works.

Who would you want to visit with one last time?
**kmm

Book info: The Book of Stolen Dreams / David Farr; illustrated by Kristina Kister. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2023. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Z is for Zahra and THE LOVE MATCH: who to choose? by Priyanka Taslim (YA book review) #A2Z

Apr30
book cover of The Love Match, by Priyanka Taslim. Published by Salaam Reads | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Zahra, her widowed mother, grandmother, and little sister and brother are squeezed into a tiny city apartment, thankfully in the largest Bangladeshi community in the US.

Every Muslim deshi auntie in Paterson joins her mom in trying to set up Zahra with the right young man. Everyone knows that marrying into a rich family will solve every problem, as the popular Bengali natok dramas show through music and extravagant dances.

But the recent grad wants true love, like a Jane Austen novel – someone who adores her for herself, not for her auspicious social connections to Bangladeshi royalty or her mother’s amazing dressmaking skills.

Enough that Zahra has to work for a year to support her family while her besties head away to college. For now, she’ll keep drafting her novel, and someday she’ll finally study creative writing at Columbia University, someday…

Oh dear! Amma agrees with the wealthy Emon family that their son Harun and Zahra are a perfect match!! The 18 year olds decide quickly that they’re not suited for each other, but will go on several dates (with chaperones) to make their parents happy.

Meanwhile, every shift working together at the Pakistani chai shop brings Zahra and cute Nayim closer. He’s just arrived here in New Jersey, is staying with the imam, and loves music (more fun than Harun’s model-building and bearded dragon).

It is nice to be friends with Harun, even if there’s no spark between them. It’s lovely to be with Nayim at the deshi community picnic, even though he won’t discuss his family back home. It’s hard to watch her best friends excitedly prepare to move away for college, so hard.

Nayim or Harun?
Fairy tale or practicality?
Secrets?! More secrets?!

Trying to balance family expectations with her own dreams makes Zahra wonder if this summer will be a happy Dhallywood natok or a tragic one!

What’s your favorite literary love match?
**kmm

Book info: The Love Match / Priyanka Taslim. Salaam Reads/ Simon & Schuster, 2023. [author site] [author interview] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

S is for Sun and Rook, SPELL BOUND in magical emergencies! by F.T. Lukens (YA book review) #A2Z

Apr22
book cover of Spell Bound, by F.T. Lukens. Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Magic is real – fact.
Cars still don’t fly – sad.
You’ve got magic or not – great or so, so sad.

Just-graduated Edison misses his late grandmother’s magic and needs a job, so he asks the most powerful sorcerer in the city, Antonia Hex. Because her magic fries out electronics, the owner of Hex-a-Gone cursebreaking services hires the tech-savvy 16 year old, dubbing him Rook.

The non-magical teen has invented a secret device that displays the spell-powering ley lines that only magic-wielders should be able to see. Antonia isn’t a fan of the Consortium that makes all the magical rules, so this is…interesting. But according to teenage Sun, ever-clad in black and apprentice to sorcerer Fable, that Spell Breaker device is going to get Rook into big trouble.

Rook and Sun see each other on big jobs where Antonia and Fable must (grudgingly) work together to fix things like singing mice in apartment walls. And meet for coffee while Sun finishes their summer school homework before apprentice hours with Fable. And venture to his grandmother’s house together, Spell Breaker in hand…

Can Antonia really teach magic to Rook?
Will the Consortium find out?!?
What did happen to her last apprentice?

Chapters by Rook and by Sun recount the growing fondness between the teens, in contrast to the deepening feud between Antonia and Fable, with the Consortium’s iron fist ever-looming over all. (watch out for that enchanted doormat with a bad temper)

Just published! Modern-day magic by the author of In Deeper Waters (more here) and So This is Ever After (recommended here) – anything they write, I want to read!

If you could cast just one spell, what would you choose?
**kmm

Book info: Spell Bound / F.T. Lukens. Margaret K. McElderry Books/ Simon & Schuster, 2023. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

R is for romance, fake – but THIS TIME IT’S REAL! by Ann Liang (YA book review) #A2Z

Apr21
book cover of This Time It's Real, by Ann Liang. Published by Scholastic Press | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Another year, another school,
another place to not fit in –
just keep writing…

Little sister is adapting fine to their new school, but moving back to China after many years away for Mom’s consulting career is really tough for high school senior Eliza – just keep writing…

When her adorably perfect boyfriend must exit the shadows “protecting his privacy” so social media readers can have more of their romantic interludes, Eliza is aghast.

No way that will happen since the 17 year old invented him for her school blog entry!

That writing opened the door to a prestigious online magazine’s internship, so somehow she’s got to make him really real, have cute adventures in Beijing together, snap some filtered photos, and keep the story going during their senior year.

Desperate, she pleads with Caz Song at school – if the popular model/actor will step in as her dream sweetheart, she’ll help him write the college application essays demanded by his over-busy parents.

How will they pull it off without endangering Caz’s contract obligations?
Can she convince their classmates and her best friend Zoe back in California that it’s a real relationship?
Is Mr. Perfect movie star actually a little lonely?

This adventure/relationship might not follow her outline or his script! Counting down to their big television interview…

How would you write your own happily-ever-after?
**kmm

Book info: This Time It’s Real / Ann Liang. Scholastic, 2023. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Q is for quiet, quizzical CREATURE drawings and paintings by Shaun Tan (Nonfiction book review) #A2Z

Apr20
book cover of Creature: Paintings, Drawings, and Reflections, by Shaun Tan. Published by Levine Querido | recommended on BooksYALove.com

A mechanical gecko,
a garden atop a traveling snail’s shell,
an armored jet-propelled ancient fish…

Imaginary beings are at the heart of Shaun Tan’s most beloved books: The Arrival, Tales from Outer Suburbia, The Lost Thing (also made into an award-winning short film – trailer here).

Collected in this large and beautiful book are 25 years of the Australian artist’s paintings and drawings from those books, as well as many standalone works.

“The first thing I remember drawing was a creature… and not much has changed since.” (page 7)

Tan writes intriguing commentary about influences on his style and subject matter – old monster movies, Aboriginal stories, birds in his family’s neighborhood – and how his imagination reinterpreted them as he told stories through images.

Enjoy these large-scale pictures of mechanico-animal beings, humans living alongside unusual beasties, and transformational situations, then flip to the back and read Tan’s notes about how each creature was made.

Includes this set of creature Emoticons, 2016, pencil on paper, digitally composited, originally published in The Stick and Der Spiegel, as shown on Tan’s website.

Emoticons, 2016, pencil on paper, digitally composited, originally published in The Stick and Der Spiegel - from https://www.shauntan.net/creature-book-1

What creature from your own imagination would you like to meet?
**kmm

Book info: Creature: Paintings, Drawings, and Reflections / Shaun Tan. Levine Querido, 2022. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher; Emoticons illustration from https://www.shauntan.net/creature-book-1.

P is PEARL OF THE SEA, fighting poachers & monsters! by Silverston, Della Donne & Samuel (YA Graphic novel review) #A2Z

Apr19
book cover of Pearl of the Sea, by Anthony Silverton, Raffaella Della Donne, Willem Samuel. Published by Catalyst Press | recommended on BooksYALove.com

The ocean is more home for Pearl and her one-eyed doggy than the rundown house that she and Dad share in their struggling South African coastal town.

In fact, the teen is often late for school because she’s diving for sea creatures to sell for rent money.

Pearl spots something interesting through the restricted offshore area’s fence near the sunken trawler, just before the poachers overfishing the abalone beds spot her – and the police boat spots all of them!

Dad says they have to move inland to the city so he can find work, but how can Pearl leave the sea?

Reluctantly helping the poachers find more abalone, she ventures into the fenced-off area and finds an amazing creature!

Now, to keep her new friend Otto safe from everyone, responsibly harvest enough shellfish to pay back the poachers, and stay awake in class…

Easier said than done, as her school friend Naomi worries about Pearl, the poachers spy on her, and Dad says it’s time to move – now!

A stunning graphic novel from creators at Triggerfish Animation Station in South Africa, coming to North America through Catalyst Press.

How have you helped a friend through difficult times?
**kmm

Book info: Pearl of the Sea / Anthony Silverton, Raffaella Della Donne, Willem Samuel. Catalyst Press, 2023. [creators’ site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

O is for on campus, starting college at FIRST-YEAR ORIENTATION! edited by Eric Smith & Lauren Gibaldi (YA book review) @A2Z

Apr18
book cover of First-Year Orientation, edited by Eric Smith & Lauren Gibaldi. Published by Candlewick Press | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Move-in day,
time for goodbyes and hellos –
your new life after high school begins!

Welcome to Rolland College, home of the Owls! Many first-year students (we don’t say freshman anymore) come from other states or countries to this small New Jersey institution, which is a hometown fixture for a few.

This year’s entering class includes marching band buddies and theater stars (on stage and behind the scenes), a football player with brains and brawn, former child actors trying to escape rerun fame, youth with helicopter parents or a missing family member or a big secret…

Through these 16 short stories by YA authors and an actress, we meet students who are first in their family to attend college and those following relatives’ footsteps at Rolland, young people who want to reinvent themselves or finally get to show their true selves.

Get ready for dorm drama, an emotional support rabbit, a crack in the universe, and campus ghosts in these stories by Adi Alsaid * Anna Birch * Bryan Bliss * Gloria Chao * Jennifer Chen * Olivia A. Cole * Dana L. Davis * Kristina Forest * Lauren Gibaldi * Kathleen Glasgow * Sam Maggs * Farah Naz Rishi * Lance Rubin * Aminah Mae Safi * Eric Smith * Phil Stamper.

I love how main characters in one story appear in others as the first-years and returning students at this fictitious college rush to and from orientation, the student organizations fair, welcome parties, and the much-anticipated live concert… a kaleidoscope of encounters and emotions.

Just published this month in hardcover and paperback! From the editors of short story anthology Battle of the Bands, another look at a single day from multiple perspectives by several YA authors – recommended here.

What “how I got here” story do you tell on your first day in a new place?
**kmm

Book info: First-Year Orientation / edited by Eric Smith & Lauren Gibaldi. Candlewick Press, 2023. [Eric’s site] [Lauren’s site] [publisher site] Review copy via Edelweiss and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

K is Kyr battling in space for vengeance and SOME DESPERATE GLORY, by Emily Tesh (YA book review) #A2Z

Apr13
book cover of Some Desperate Glory, by Emily Tesh. Published by Tordotcom | recommended on BooksYALove.com

“While we live, the enemy shall fear us.”

They’re the last true humans, hidden in a hollow asteroid, living on scant food, training for vengeance after Earth was obliterated by the alien Majo.

Genetically-enhanced Kyr expects the other teen girls to train for combat with her focused ferocity, so they’ll be placed on a battleship instead of being trapped in the nursery as breeding stock.

Only her brother Mags is a stronger warrior, yet he is sent on a suicide mission to a planet of Majo-cooperating humans, and the Commander assigns Kyr to her worst nightmare.

Desperate to save Mags and herself, Kyr enlists the help of his tech-savvy friend and crush Avi to escape their fates by using the recently-captured Majo ship and its alien pilot Yiso.

Away they flee, to the same planet that their big sister defected to, the planet that the supreme Majo leader will soon visit…coincidence?

The history relentlessly drilled into Kyr gets a reboot, a shadow engine of subreality makes their toughest training sims seem like babies’ play, and the young people have only a short time to help Yiso keep things from getting worse.

And then time twists… and twists…

Who’s the hero here?
How can anyone gay survive in a society where reproduction is paramount?
What other ways could Kyr’s life have turned out?

In the future, as now, different views of the same events bring conflict as well as opportunities for peace.

What “fact” of history learned in childhood have you unlearned?
**kmm

Book info: Some Desperate Glory / Emily Tesh. Tordotcom, 2023. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

I is for IT ALL BEGINS WITH JELLY BEANS, by Nova Weetman (MG book review) #A2Z

Apr11
book cover of It All Begins With Jelly Beans, by Nova Weetman. Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Since her dad’s sudden death, 12 year old Meg does all the errands (Mom’s depression is so deep) and suffers panic attacks at school.

Moving to a new Australian town and getting used to her new insulin pump has been no fun for Riley at all.

As 6th grade winds down, the two girls find themselves in the nurse’s office together more and more often. Jelly beans there help Riley when her blood sugar drops and can be the only breakfast Meg has – small things, small steps toward understanding.

Will Meg’s mom ever be able to leave their house again?
Will Riley’s diabetes keep her from doing fun things forever?
What will either of them write for their graduation speech, due in just a few days!?

Told in alternating voices by Meg and Riley, as they negotiate stresses at home, not being understood by their classmates, and anticipating junior high.

How do you help friends with medical needs in tactful ways?
**kmm

Book info: It All Begins With Jelly Beans / Nova Weetman. Margaret K. McElderry Books/ Simon & Schuster, 2021, paperback 2022. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.