Tag Archive | teens

ONCE THERE WAS…some magic, a monster, a miracle? by Kiyash Monsef (YA book review)

book cover of Once There Was, by Kiyash Monsef. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Her best friends try to help, but Marjan is sleepwalking through life since Dad was killed by who-knows-what recently in their California home. She’s trying to juggle sophomore classes and Dad’s struggling vet practice and her anger and grief.

Wait, her Pakistani father didn’t just treat dogs, cats, and birds – he was a veterinarian for creatures out of myth and legend?! And “the work” is Marjan’s now, because she’s inherited his gift of knowing precisely how to care for them, wherever in the world they are.

People who live with these amazing creatures contact Marjan through the secretive Tea Shop group. Off she goes to see a griffon in England reaching the end of its very long life, an incontinent house gnome a few hours from home.

Into Dad’s vet office comes a young woman named Malloryn, a self-taught witch whose grey fox is ill. She’ll stay with Marjan for the mythic nine-tailed fox‘s lengthy treatment, maybe disperse the house’s gloom and bad aura.

Um, this ultra-rich Horatio guy isn’t collecting mythic creatures to appreciate them, like Malloryn loves Zorro or cute Sebastian’s family loves the griffon who chose his family generations ago. There’s something dark about Horatio, and Marjan wants to stay far away from his underground menagerie of faerie and stone giant and deadly manticore – every Persian tale her father told her, come to life.

Tea Shop believes that magical creatures’ contentment influences the overall good for humanity. As many creatures have disappeared lately, things are worsening in the world – and they want to find the missing.

Horatio keeps requesting her help with his creatures – can she safely stay away?
Dad was preparing for a trip to Ithaca, New York, when he was killed – will Marjan find any answers there about his death?
Sebastian wants to help her – what can two teenagers do against age-old problems?

“Once there was, once there was not…” Tales told by her father punctuate the action and peril – read the first chapter here free on the publisher’s website.

What’s your favorite mythic creature?
**kmm

Book info: Once There Was / Kiyash Monsef. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2023. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

How friendly is their new-old house in THE TIME OF GREEN MAGIC? by Hilary McKay (MG book review)

book cover of The Time of Green Magic, by Hilary McKay. Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Two families into one.
An old house large enough for all.
Enough love to go around?

Abi had been an only, cherished by Dad Theo and Granny Grace after Mum died when she was a baby.

Now the 11 year old is a middle, squished between 13-year-old Max and grubby hands 6-year-old Louis when Dad marries Polly, and they move into her small house.

The blended family searches and searches for another house to rent, finally deciding on an old, tall house covered with ivy – and room enough for everyone!

With Polly and Theo working more hours to afford the house, Esme is hired to bring Louis home from school, and Max is enraged that his best friend Danny tells everyone that the 18-year-old French art student is his “babysitter” now.

Abi is happy to get back to escaping into books in her own room – so vivid, so real that she can feel the ocean spray in her face as she reads Kon-Tiki.

It isn’t ‘a nowl’ that Louis hears in the ivy, but an invisible friend, a cat-shaped being named Iffen who races up the vines to sleep in his room, who sharpens his mighty claws on the bedside mat, who is hungry.

Could Max finally calm down around Esme?
Is Iffen listen getting larger?
How can Abi see Iffen?!

Perhaps, perhaps the old house’s magic can help their many-parts family become whole.

Did you have an imaginary childhood friend?
**kmm

Book info: The Time of Green Magic / Hilary McKay. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2020, paperback 2021. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Can she OUTRUN THE MOON & fate through education or luck? by Stacey Lee (YA book review)

book cover of Outrun the Moon, by Stacey Lee. Published by Penguin | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Mercy wants better for her little brother than backbreaking laundry work, but she needs more education than their poor middle school can offer so she can start a business.

The teen negotiates her way into a semester scholarship at St. Clare’s School for Girls, the best in 1906 San Francisco, determined to brave anti-Chinese prejudice on the way to her dreams.

In return, Mercy promises snobby Elodie’s father a meeting with the Benevolent Association to apply for permission to sell his very fine chocolates in Chinatown…

Oh, how she longs to help her boyfriend Tom find his way into the sky instead of becoming an herbalist doctor like his father!

What if the headmistress decides Mercy isn’t worthy to be at St. Clare’s?
What if the Benevolent Association won’t consider their request?
What does her mother see when she foretells their futures?

Earthquake! The St. Clare’s girls escape to Golden Gate Park and, with Mercy’s practical skills, try to help others fleeing collapsed buildings and fires.

Her family! Their families! What now?

Outstanding historical fiction from the author of The Downstairs Girl (recommended here).

Are you prepared for a natural disaster?
**kmm

Book info: Outrun the Moon / Stacey Lee. Penguin, hardcover 2016, paperback 2017. [author Facebook] [publisher site] Personal collection; cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Traverse A WILDERNESS OF STARS to save humanity, by Shea Ernshaw (YA book review)

book cover of A Wilderness of Stars, by Shea Ernshaw. Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

An unmistakable omen,
Time to leave safety,
Time to find the stars’ secrets.

Every night, Vega and Mom talk about all the stars they can see from their secluded valley, including the constellation tattooed on the teen’s neck.

When Vega sees a dreadful omen in the skies and Mom dies, it’s time to go away – for Vega is the last Astronomer and must find the Architect to save their world.

Together, they can find a cure for the fast-spreading sickness that takes sight and hearing before death.

If she can stay clear of the star-branded Theorists who believe the Astronomer can help them end the world quickly…
If that young man truly knows where to find the Architect…
If the Architect and the Astronomer can get to the sea…

Hunted by Theorists, going quietly around dusty near-ghost towns where her face is on wanted posters, Vega moves quickly with teens Cricket and Noah, now the Last Architect.

Vega’s affection for Noah grows as they travel stealthily across the hostile wilderness toward the sea, even as she worries about the secrets of his past.

Will their knowledge – passed down orally for generations – be accurate enough to save their world?

**kmm

Book info: A Wilderness of Stars / Shea Ernshaw. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2022. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Her art school future requires ceramics mastery – will she SLIP? by Marika McCoola & Aatmahja Pandya (Graphic novel review)

book cover of Slip / words by Marika McCoola, art by Aatmaja Pandya. Published by Algonquin Young Readers

Jade is attending an intensive art camp to develop her ceramics skills and prepare her art school application portfolio.

But the high schooler is worried beyond words that her best friend Phoebe just went into treatment for attempted suicide – how can she try to make new friends?

Jade’s technique with clay is good, but where’s the inspiration? Everyone else at Art Camp is so much better prepared…

One night, she crumples up yet another not-good-enough sketch and sets a match to it – there in the smoke her memories with Phoebe appear like a movie!

Mary tries to help Jade find inspiration in the woods, the art book library, the hardware store in the nearby tiny town, in being together…

When Jade’s ceramic angry cat comes out of the kiln and runs away, she’s not sure what’s happening!

Getting a scholarship for art college requires a strong portfolio, and Jade’s days at Art Camp are growing short.

How can Jade support her best friend when Phoebe doesn’t want to talk to anyone?
How can she and Mary have wonderful moments together while Jade is struggling?
How can the images in smoke and moving ceramic cat exist?

Pressure to succeed, to love and be loved, to respect others’ artworks – Jade doesn’t want to fail.

When have you searched for inspiration and found it?
**kmm

Book info: Slip / words by Marika McCoola, art by Aatmaja Pandya. Algonquin Young Readers, 2022. [author site] [artist site] [book site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Audiobooks teach us about weapons of war – legal, illegal, deadly. (audiobook recommendations)

This week’s free AudioSYNC audiobooks tell of war and weaponry, during declared armed combat and on America’s streets outside the law!

You have until Wednesday 21 June 2023 to download either or both audiobooks into your Sora shelf. They expire in 99 years, so you can listen to them whenever you like, as long as you keep them on your Sora shelf.

Sign up here for a free Sora account and see the entire AudioSYNC season, too.

On to the front lines!

CD cover of Spearhead (Adapted for Young Adults): An American Tank Gunner, His Enemy, and a Collision of Lives in World War II,  by Adam Makos | Read by Johnathan McClain. Published by Listening Library

Spearhead (Adapted for Young Adults): An American Tank Gunner, His Enemy, and a Collision of Lives in World War II (free Sora download 6/15-6/21/23)
by Adam Makos | Read by Johnathan McClain
Published by Listening Library

Tank warfare during World War II was brutal, grinding, and deadly – especially for the first tank in formation.

Hear the true story of a 21-year-old American gunner in the newest Pershing super-tank and a 17-year-old German crewman in the legendary Panzer tank as their units battle to the death in the ruined streets of Cologne!

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/209608/spearhead-(adapted-for-young-adults)-by-adam-makos-read-by-johnathan-mcclain/

swirling lines clipart http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_images/mondays-throughout-the-day-17164159
CD cover of Tommy: The Gun That Changed America,by Karen Blumenthal | Read by Maggi-Meg Reed. Published by Listening Library

Tommy: The Gun That Changed America (free Sora download 6/15-6/21/23)
by Karen Blumenthal | Read by Maggi-Meg Reed
Published by Listening Library

The Thompson sub-machine gun was created by John Thompson as a more efficient weapon during World War I.

But soon the Tommy gun became the gangsters’ firearm of choice during the 1920s and ’30s, to the inventor’s dismay.

An engaging historical look at this iconic gun and its notorious users, as well as its influence on today’s conversations about gun safety and gun rights.

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/229594/tommy-by-karen-blumenthal-read-by-maggi-meg-reed/

What war stories do you recommend?
**kmm

divider clipart http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_images/mondays-throughout-the-day-17164159

Find the escaped soul or be GROUNDED FOR ALL ETERNITY!? by Darcy Marks (YA book review)

book cover of Grounded For All Eternity, by Darcy Marks. Published by Aladdin | recommended on BooksYALove.com

During lockdown because a prisoner escaped from the Pit, Malachi and his squad are bored, so the teens sneak to the woods near their neighborhood in Hell and find an opening to another world. Of course, the veil is thinnest on All Hallow’s Eve… do they dare?

Mal gets pushed through to Salem, Massachusetts, without his black feathered wings! Will his friends use the skills they’re learning as future infernal law enforcement to locate him?

The humans here have auras – blue for heaven-bound, red for Hell, gray for undetermined – interesting…

Aghh! A seraph from Heaven arrives – are they in competition for a human with a gray aura?

Gotta get home before the veil closes, but the gate to Hell requires that all who entered return in a group… who is missing? The escaped prisoner Parris?!

The townspeople begin acting dangerously, pushed by manipulator Parris as he did during the Witch Trials.

As midnight approaches, Mal and friends reluctantly enlist the help of a teen boy with psychic abilities – they must capture Parris before the veil closes!

The seraph wants to call down avenging angels to wipe out the problem…

Can Mal, Crowley, and Lilith get back home to Hell?
Will Mal tell his parents that he doesn’t want to train for the job assigned by Fate?
They’ll be grounded forever, right?

The balance of the universe is at stake here!
Paperback edition available today – 13 June 2023.

Ever been to Salem?
**kmm

Book info: Grounded For All Eternity / Darcy Marks. Aladdin, hardcover 2022, paperback 2023. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

CODEX BLACK: A FIRE AMONG CLOUDS – adventure, danger, evil arising! by Camilo Moncada Lozano (Graphic novel review)

book cover of Codex Black: A Fire Among Clouds, by Camilo Moncada Lozano; colored by Michi Desantiago. IDW Publishing| recommended on BooksYALove.com

Now he can use his crow powers!
Now she can search for her father!
Now they are hunted by thieves and gods!

A new alliance of three city-states seeks to conquer all of Mesoamerica in the 1400s, as does an evil being conjured from the depths of darkness!

At age 15, stubborn Donaji leaves their Zapotec village to find her father who vanished on a trading journey years ago. Her poncho is the earthly abode of Chicahualizteotl, god of Fortitude, adding to her bravery.

Rookie warrior from Mexica, 17-year-old Itzcacalotl is separated from the Alliance expedition, follows crows to a high place, falls into a pit, and emerges days later wearing crows’ wings!

When their paths cross, the teens decide to travel together to the city where her father was last seen, before trying to reconnect with Itzcacalotl’s expedition.

Attacked by vicious gods on the trail! Few clues about her father in the city. A thief steals Donaji’s poncho!

But daring Citlamina wants more than some textiles – the 19-year-old seeks the Mexica caravan’s riches and a dark, dark secret place.

Can Donaji and Itzcacalotl continue searching for her father?
Are the gods on their side?
Will Citlamina truly unleash a great evil to break the world?

This graphic novel is an exciting journey with humans and gods trying to keep the young people from their goal!

What do you know of Mesoamerican legend and history?
**kmm

Book info: Codex Black: A Fire Among Clouds / Camilo Moncada Lozano; colored by Michi Desantiago. IDW Publishing, 2023. [author interview] [distributing publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Starting over, needing to change, reinventing oneself – stories shared by AudioSYNC (audiobook recommendations)

This week’s AudioSYNC free audiobooks take us on journeys of self-discovery.

Remember to download either or both audiobooks into your Sora shelf by Wednesday 7 June 2023. All your AudioSYNC downloads are yours to read for 99 years, as long as you keep them on your Sora shelf.

You can sign up for a free Sora account and see the entire AudioSYNC season here.

How much will our characters change as their stories travel on?

CD cover of Poor Matza: Selected Stories of Avrom Reisen; by Avrom Reisen, Harvey Fink [Trans.] | Read by David Skulski. Published by Post Hypnotic Press

Poor Matza: Selected Stories of Avrom Reisen (free Sora download 6/1-6/7/23)
by Avrom Reisen, Harvey Fink [Trans.] | Read by David Skulski
Published by Post Hypnotic Press

Yiddish tales of shtetl life in Eastern Europe and the immigrant experience in pre-WWII New York City – 38 tales in a new English translation.

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/80962/poor-matza-by-avrom-reisen-harvey-fink-trans-read-by-david-skulski/

clipart of swirly lines http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_images/mondays-throughout-the-day-17164159
CD cover of The Truth About White Lies, by Olivia A Cole | Read by Mela Lee. Published by Hachette Audio

The Truth About White Lies (free Sora download 6/1-6/7/23)
by Olivia A Cole | Read by Mela Lee
Published by Hachette Audio

Fitting in at a new school is difficult, especially when unconscious biases divide and judge.

Can Shania accept how white privilege got her here without repeating its worst errors?

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/213614/the-truth-about-white-lies-by-olivia-a-cole-read-by-mela-lee/

How has an emotional or travel journey changed your sense of self?
**kmm

divider clipart http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_images/mondays-throughout-the-day-17164159

At a new school, THE FIRST THING ABOUT YOU that I noticed… by Chaz Hayden (YA book review)

book cover of The First Thing About You, by Chaz Hayden. Published by Candlewick Press | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Maybe the famous pizza in New Jersey will make up for moving from California for Dad’s work. Big brother Ollie just wants to play his last year of high school lacrosse and get to college.

Harris is determined to be known at his new school as more than “the guy in the powered wheelchair” so he needs a nurse-assistant right now! Having his mom accompany him everywhere (including the cafeteria and bathroom) won’t help the 15 year old blend in.

Enter the lovely Miranda, a nursing student in her final year, who graduated from his high school! She’s comfortable with administering breathing treatments, taking his notes in class, driving their giant van with the lift, and not taking any crap from Harris.

His new pal Zander is a little crazy (in a good way), but Harris still can’t get cute Nory in his honors classes to answer his getting-to-know-you question: what’s your favorite color? She’s quiet at school, but texts him photos of the wonderful Mexican meals that she cooks for her widowed father every evening.

Partnered with Harris for their big physics project, Nory decides they should study his theory of colors and personality = yes, that means time together after school!

Harris decides to sit with the football players at lunch, and his expert analysis of their first game blows them away = yes, more friends!

His first high school party with Nory and Zander = umm, not great. His first live concert with Nory (and Miranda) = really great!

Something terrible happened at school during Miranda’s senior year = she’s not over it yet, is she?

If only navigating relationships was as simple as using the joystick on his wheelchair…

Like Harris, the author was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy as a baby, spent way too much time in hospitals, and decided to motor his way through life with friendship and positivity. Read the first chapter here free, courtesy of the publisher.

What’s the first thing that you notice about a new friend?
**kmm

Book info: The First Thing About You / Chaz Hayden. Candlewick Press, 2022. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.