Tag Archive | mothers

Q = Quiet Kind of Thunder, no need to hear or speak, by Sara Barnard (book review)

Apr19

US book cover of A Quiet Kind of Thunder, by Sara Barnard, published by Simon Pulse | recommended on BooksYALove.comNot-speaking was her choice (sort of).
Not-hearing wasn’t his (at all).
Not-communicating with each other isn’t an option.

Steffi’s anxiety keeps her from talking most times, but speaking British Sign Language with new student Rhys or texting him is easy.

But is being with Rhys keeping her from communicating with her best friend away at school or standing up to her families about future plans?

I’m apprehensive when the novel premise is “she can’t this, he can’t that, together they are perfectly something” but this one goes beyond the simplistic formula to ask tough questions, like “would we have this relationship at all without this (or that) as vital component?”

Find this story in texts, signs, and sighs at your local library or independent bookstore.

How much must you say before it’s enough?
**kmm

Book info: A Quiet Kind of Thunder / Sara Barnard. Simon Pulse, 2018. [author Facebook]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

P for Penny & Sam, linked as Emergency Contact & maybe more, by Mary H.K. Choi (book review)

Apr18

book cover of Emergency Contact, by Mary H.K. Choi, published by Simon Schuster BFYR | recommended on BooksYALove.comCollege will be better than high school, of course.
Learning fiction writing from an amazing author!
Connecting with Sam is…um …just text, okay?

Her mom still acts and dresses like a teen, her new roommate Jude is vibrantly alive, so Penny is grateful for the quiet text life she has with Sam (who is 21, but somehow Jude’s former step-uncle).

But can the Korean-American teen become brave enough to write like she should, go out with Jude and Mallory, actually visit Sam in person at the coffeehouse?

And P is also for “plans busted to smithereens” as this debut novel told in alternating chapters by Penny and Sam (lots of texts) moved onto the New York Times Bestsellers list last week before our A-to-Z got to P!!

Yes, Mary will be at the North Texas Teen Book Festival on Saturday, 20 April 2018, and you should be there, too!

Real life or by text?
**kmm

Book info: Emergency Contact / Mary H.K. Choi. Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2018. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

M is Messenger with psychic gift she doesn’t want! by Carol Lynch Williams (book review)

Apr14

book cover of Messenger by Carol Lynch Williams, published by Simon & Schuster BFYR | recommended on BooksYALove.comHer Gift arrives at age 15!
For cookery or fixing any hair, like her aunts?
Oh no! Not talking to ghosts?!

Maybe Evie will be the one Messenger in her family line who doesn’t have a psychic gift…nope! The Florida teen can see and hear and communicate with dead people!

How can that girl Tommie get into their house without Evie’s momma and stepdad hearing her?

Should Evie really kiss cute Buddy from across the street?

Wild thunderstorms, seeing dead people, and going to a new high school – what a birthday week!

Yes or no for seeing dead people yourself?
**kmm

Book info: Messenger / Carol Lynch Williams. Paula Wiseman Books (Simon Schuster), 2016 (hardcover), 2017 (paperback). [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

K = Kim, with another Changers body-switch! Book 3 by T Cooper & Allison Glock-Cooper (book review)

Apr12

book cover of Changers Book 3: Kim, by T Cooper & Allison Glock-Cooper, published by Akashic Books | recommended on BooksYALove.comWoke up as a girl for grade 9,
as an African-American guy for grade 10,
what’s in store for Drew on the first morning of grade 11?

In the third Changers book (my notes on Book 1 here and Book 2 here), our hero/ine is now an Asian-American girl who has to deal with fat-shaming by peers and adults, body image, former friends not being able to know who s/he is now, and the long-standing conflict between Changers and Abiders boiling over.

Thankful for her drama pal Kris (so very, very dramatic), especially when her grandmother falls ill – oh, this third transformation is not the best one!

The authors say that Book 4 – where our teen must choose which body and identity to keep for life – is due for 2018 publication!

What lessons learned by fictional characters have you taken to heart?
**kmm

Book info: Changers: Book 3 – Kim / T Cooper & Allison Glock Cooper. Black Sheep/Akashic Books, 2016. [T Cooper author site] [Allison Glock author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

J is Japan in Last Leaves Falling, by Sarah Benwell (book review)

Apr11

Knows he is dying,
losing body control, bit by bit –
and finally finding friends who don’t care?

Have a hankie at hand when you read Abe’s determination to get the last word over the ALS that’s attacking his 17 year old body and his almost-too-late joy in meeting peers who look past his condition to help him when he needs it most.

Read the first chapter free at the publisher’s website here (scroll down to Excerpt), then discover the rest of this Japanese teen’s story at your local library or favorite independent bookstore in hardcover or paperback.

What would you do to help a friend?
**kmm

Book info: The Last Leaves Falling / Sarah Benwell (or Fox Benwell). Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2015 (hardcover), 2016 (paperback) [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

I = Girl In Between feeling invisible, by Sarah Carroll (book review)

Apr10
UK book cover of The Girl In Between, by Sarah Carroll, published by Simon Schuster UK | recommended on BooksYALove.com

UK cover

US book cover of Girl In Between by Sarah Carroll, published by Kathy Dawson Books PRH | recommended on BooksYALove.com

US cover

No one must know that she and Ma are living in the old Mill building. It’s a sort of like a home.

No one can see her or the Authorities will get her, Ma says, but the girl wishes she could play with someone or go to school.

When the Developers arrive with their plans to tear down the Mill,
when she hears strange noises in the upper floors,
when Caretaker is the only one who hears her talk – what then?

Visit your local library or favorite independent bookstore for this 2017 debut release.

Another cover comparison – do you prefer the representational US cover or the more abstract UK one?

**kmm

Book info: The Girl In Between / Sarah Carroll. Kathy Dawson Books (PRH), 2017. [a bit about the author here]  [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

H for hoarder mom + hateful mom= no more home in Behind Closed Doors, by Miriam Halahmy (book review)

Apr9

UK book cover of Behind Closed Doors, by Miriam Halahmy, published by Firefly Press | recommended on BooksYALove.com

UK cover

US book cover of Behind Closed Doors by Miriam Halahmy, published by Holiday House Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

US cover

One mom chooses stuff, stuff, stuff over her own daughter (and goes to jail for tax evasion).

One mom chooses her boyfriend over her own daughter (and he tries to have them both).

Then Mum’s so-called friends arrive to find valuables among the masses of stuff at Josie’s house (and won’t leave!)

How can almost-friends Josie and Tasha stay safe when neither home is a safe place to be?

Read the first chapters here free, courtesy of the US publisher, to meet Josie and Tasha as their home lives fall apart and the British teens have to fend for themselves together.

Publishing in the UK this summer – which cover speaks to you?
**kmm

Book info: Behind Closed Doors / Miriam Halahmy. Holiday House, 2017 (US); Firefly Books, 2018 (UK). [author site] [US publisher site] [UK publisher site] Review copy and US cover image courtesy of Holiday House; UK cover image courtesy of Firefly Press.

G is Gorilla Dawn on dangerous days, by Gill Lewis (book review)

Apr7

US book cover of Gorilla Dawn by Gill Lewis, published by Atheneum BFYR | recommended on BooksYALove.comWe depend on our smartphones
which depend on tantalum found in coltan
whose mining destroys families – human and gorilla!

Why does corporate greed incite kidnapping and environmental catastrophe in the Congo and elsewhere?

How can we individuals make it stop, save children like Imara and Bobo from being kidnapped and enslaved to mine coltan, protect habitat for gorillas?

This middle-grade novel reminds us how interconnected we are and how our unthinking consumer choices can drastically affect others.

When is a smartphone a dumb choice?
**kmm

Book info: Gorilla Dawn / Gill Lewis; illustrated by Susan Meyer. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2017 hardcover, May 2018 paperback. [author site] [publisher site] [author video] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

F is The Thing With Feathers, by McCall Hoyle (book review)

Apr6

book cover of The Thing With Feathers by McCall Hoyle, published by Blink | recommended on BooksYALove.com Managing her epilepsy while homeschooling is simple, with seizure-sensing dog Hitch always there.

Suddenly sent to public high school, Emilie refuses to tell anyone about her condition (hard enough to fit in when you’re the only teen on the Outer Banks who can’t swim).

Not even English project partner Chatham as they delve into Emily Dickinson or visit the lighthouse or worry about family complications.

Find this Sept. 2017 release at your local library or independent bookstore.

When is playing it safe the least-safe choice?
**kmm

Book info: The Thing With Feathers / McCall Hoyle. Blink, 2017.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

E is the END with Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza, by Shaun David Hutchinson (book review)

Apr5

book cover of Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson, published by Simon Pulse | recommended on BooksYALove.comHer virgin birth – science proves true.
Toys speaking messages from Beyond – also true.
People snatched by a sky-portal when she heals others – ditto.

Elena didn’t ask for healing powers, or for a drunken stepfather, or for inanimate objects to channel divine instructions to her since childhood.

But in author Hutchinson’s odd Florida (setting of his At the Edge of the Universe , my pick here) strange things happen regularly.

What is stealing away people? Why? Where do they go?

Maybe it’s a better place than Elena’s high school and now-constant demands that she heal people.

Fiction or science fiction? (or fantasy?)
**kmm

Book info: The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza / Shaun David Hutchinson. Simon Pulse, 2018. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.