Category: Young Adult

Book Recommendations, Young Adult

Recommended: BLOOD WILL OUT by Jo Treggiari

Publisher’s Description Ari Sullivan is alive–for now. She wakes at the bottom of a cistern, confused, injured and alone, with only the shadowy recollection of a low-pitched voice and a gloved hand. No one can hear her screams. And the person who put her there is coming back. The killer is planning a gruesome masterpiece, a fairytale tableau of innocence and blood, meticulously designed. Until … Continue reading Recommended: BLOOD WILL OUT by Jo Treggiari

Rebecca J. AllenLeave a comment
Book Recommendations, Windows & Mirrors, Young Adult

Windows & Mirrors: One Last Word

We are coming to the end of another Poetry Month, and we would be remiss to let it go without highlighting a staggering new work by Nikki Grimes. ONE LAST WORD is an ode to the Harlem Renaissance, but also thoroughly modern. It utilizes the Golden Shovel form, in which a line from a previous poem, or the entire text of a short poem, is … Continue reading Windows & Mirrors: One Last Word

Kate HillyerLeave a comment
Book Recommendations, Middle Grade, Young Adult

Book Recommendation: How I Resist: Activism and Hope For the Next Generation

No matter who you are and where you live, you have to admit there are problems in every country and the world. They are individual and global issues, and each one affects us differently. You may be passionate about gun violence, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, Black Lives Matter, poverty, war, global warming, or hundreds of other issues. Even looking at just one and what it … Continue reading Book Recommendation: How I Resist: Activism and Hope For the Next Generation

Halli GomezLeave a comment
Book Recommendations, Windows & Mirrors, Young Adult

Recommended: ALLEGEDLY by Tiffany Jackson

Publisher’s Description Orange Is the New Black meets Walter Dean Myer’s Monster in this gritty, twisty, and haunting debut by Tiffany D. Jackson about a girl convicted of murder seeking the truth while surviving life in a group home. Mary B. Addison killed a baby. Allegedly. She didn’t say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that … Continue reading Recommended: ALLEGEDLY by Tiffany Jackson

Rebecca J. AllenLeave a comment
Book Recommendations, Young Adult

Book Recommendation: Lizzie

There are specific types of books I’m drawn to, and because of my long career with police departments (as an employee, not a criminal!) murder mysteries are at the top of my list. When I saw this book about Lizzie Borden, I knew this was a must read. The fictional tale of Lizzie by Dawn Ius was just what I hoped it would be. Seventeen-year-old … Continue reading Book Recommendation: Lizzie

Halli GomezLeave a comment
Book Recommendations, Middle Grade, Windows & Mirrors, Young Adult

Windows & Mirrors – Celebrating National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month, so Windows & Mirrors is back with another great list of books by under-represented voices. This time, in verse. The Poet X This new release by Elizabeth Acevedo is taking the publishing world by storm, debuting on the New York Times best seller list. This story about a young poet who dreams of performing all the poems in her notebook … Continue reading Windows & Mirrors – Celebrating National Poetry Month

Julie ArtzLeave a comment
Book Recommendations, Writer's Life, Young Adult

Fangirl Report: LOVE, SIMON

Several Winged Pen members loved Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. A couple of us saw the movie adaptation last weekend. We’ve been fangirling behind the scenes and thought it would be fun to chat about the book/movie here and to invite our readers to join the conversation. We’ve never tried a post like this, but we thought we’d give it a … Continue reading Fangirl Report: LOVE, SIMON

Rebecca J. Allen5 Comments
Book Recommendations, Young Adult

Book Recommendation: Nothing But Sky

This story is as beautiful as it’s cover. It sends the reader soaring through the clouds, takes us back down to Earth, and through the trauma of heartache. It is as much a love story about flying as it is about relationships. Grace Lafferty only feels alive when she’s dangling 500 feet above ground. As a post-World War I wing walker, Grace is determined to … Continue reading Book Recommendation: Nothing But Sky

Halli GomezLeave a comment
Book Recommendations, Windows & Mirrors, Young Adult

Windows & Mirrors: The Astonishing Color of After

Welcome to Windows & Mirrors, where we feature books that provide us windows to lives outside our own and mirrors to our shared common human experiences.   Today we’re featuring The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X. R. Pan. When fifteen-year-old Leigh’s Taiwanese mother commits suicide, she is visited by a great red bird who delivers a package to her from her mother with a … Continue reading Windows & Mirrors: The Astonishing Color of After

Michelle LeonardLeave a comment
Book Recommendations, Windows & Mirrors, Young Adult

Windows & Mirrors: The Poet X

Welcome to Windows & Mirrors, where we feature books that provide us windows to lives outside our own and mirrors to our shared common human experiences.   Today we’re featuring The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. Fifteen-year-old Xiomara longs for the simple relationship she had with her mother before she became a curvy Afro-Latina, turning neighborhood boys’ heads despite wanting to be invisible to them. … Continue reading Windows & Mirrors: The Poet X

Michelle Leonard1 Comment
Book Recommendations, Nonfiction, Windows & Mirrors, Young Adult

Windows & Mirrors: HIDDEN FIGURES by Margot Lee Shetterly

Welcome to Windows & Mirrors where we feature books that provide us windows to lives outside our own and mirrors to our shared common human experiences. March is Women’s History Month, so today we are featuring Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. Hidden Figures is the untold story of the black women mathematicians who helped win the space race. My daughter and I saw Hidden Figures … Continue reading Windows & Mirrors: HIDDEN FIGURES by Margot Lee Shetterly

Rebecca J. AllenLeave a comment
young adult books, book review
Book Recommendations, Young Adult

Recommended: Unearthed by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Publisher’s Description When Earth intercepts a message from a long-extinct alien race, it seems like the solution humanity has been waiting for. The Undying’s advanced technology has the potential to undo environmental damage and turn lives around, and their message leads to the planet Gaia, a treasure trove waiting to be explored. For Jules Addison and his fellow scholars, the discovery of an ancient alien … Continue reading Recommended: Unearthed by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Rebecca J. AllenLeave a comment