When I was a teen, I was into reading fiction about girls with anorexia, which at that time (mid-80's) was pretty new. I even thought that I might want to become a psychologist or psychiatrist due to the empathy that was borne in me from reading about the inexplicable struggle that these young girls go through. It's been a long time since I was a teen and it seems like eating disorders are much more commonplace (in fact they only affect about 1% of teen girls--see note below**), but I still wonder if anyone reading this hasn't had a friend or a relative who has struggled through anorexia or bulimia. And now with a tween daughter of my own, I feel certain that at some point one of her friends or she herself will struggle. Is ...
Category Archives: 12 and up
On Reading: Suzanne Collins Mockingjay Reading
Suzanne Collins lives in my area. Yes, THE Suzanne Collins. She generally does library and school appearances and signings, but the past couple of years, she's been very busy with the release of Catching Fire and Mockingjay (linked to Dawn's review), and I don't know if you knew that she's writing the screenplay for The Hunger Games movie right now -- so we haven't been able to see her. When my daughter Amanda and her good friend Haley found out she was going to be doing a reading and signing about an hour away, her mom and I bought the tickets (a hardcover copy of the book at full price, even though I had already preordered one at an incredibly low price at amazon) and made plans to attend. Since the event was on ...
Mission: Explore
Over a year ago, Jennifer and I co-reviewed a book that intrigued us both- Free-Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy, and personally, I haven't stopped thinking about the book since then. Lenore's blog, also titled Free-Range Kids, is a regular online stop for me, and my curiosity was instantly piqued when I read the guest post: How to Get Kids Outside & Exploring Again. After an online inquiry, I found myself holding the neatest little book that encourages older children to explore their worlds in a completely unconventional way -- Mission: Explore by The Geography Collective. The simplest way to describe this book is to say that it consists of 102 individual adventures or tasks, referred to as "missions" throughout, for older children to complete in their own neighborhoods. Space is provided for recording information, creating ...
Suite Scarlett and Scarlett Fever
Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson is a somewhat old fashioned tale. For one, the family lives in a hotel. Isn't that just a perfect setting for a classic teen novel? Secondly, it's a family story. Scarlett isn't one of those YA heroines who spends time hanging out with friends, ditching school and going to parties. All her friends are off having summer adventures while she stays home to help her family run the hotel. When she turns 15, she's supposed to take more responsibility in caring for one of the suites. As it happens, the mysterious and headstrong Amy Amberson, a former actress, moves in and hires Scarlett to be her assistant. She's quirky, and her quirks give level-headed Scarlett an easy "straight man". She plays the same role to older-brother Spencer, ...
The Adoration of Jenna Fox
You may be one of the throng who are waiting for 8/24/10 when Mockingjay is released and concludes The Hunger Games trilogy (linked to Dawn's review if you aren't sure what all the hubbub is about). But The Hunger Games isn't the only dystopian YA lit out there. While you are waiting for your copy to arrive, or for your number to come up on the library's waitlist (my YA librarian said that she has 8 copies on order, and there are already almost 60 names on the request list), here's another book with a strong female lead that you might want to consider: I listened to the audiobook of The Adoration of Jenna Fox a while ago -- a long while, and I've been remiss in posting a review, even ...
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
I didn't realize that the whole story of The Red Pyramid was supposed to be a tape made by Carter and his sister, but it made the audiobook that I listened to even more "spot on" as you listen to siblings Carter and Sophie Kane argue their way through telling the story about how their father disappeared and how they try to use their ancient power to help them. I haven't read the Percy Jackson series, so I can't compare this new Rick Riordan series to that one, but I found this story to be creative and interesting. I absolutely loved the brother/sister angle, as well as the bi-racial element (their dad is black and Carter favors him and their mom is white, and Sophie favors her, so people don't even believe that they are related). This is ...
I, Q — The Series
One of my great finds from the Book Expo this year was discovering that Sleeping Bear Press, the publisher whose picture books we here at 5 Minutes for Books have all come to love, also publishes middle grade/YA novels (Dawn reviewed Fat Boy Chronicles last month). One of the very first books that I read from my BEA bounty was I,Q: Independence Hall. Amanda (age 11) was thrilled to read it as well. It's the first in a new series by Roland Smith. In I,Q: Independence Hall we meet Angela, age 15, and Quinn (also known as "Q"), 13. Their parents have recently gotten married, and also recently recorded a smash hit single. Quinn and Angela quickly have to get to know each other as they ...
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Jennifer Donovan
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