Review by Shyamala Parthasarathy
Seventeen-year-old Lainey is dragged along to a videogame convention with her brother Cody, aka, famous YouTuber Codemeister, to be his roadie. She crosses paths with SamTheBrave, who’s an up-and-coming gamer and YouTuber, and a lonely, bullied, fat kid with a mental illness who finds his safe space online. … More Fan the Flame by Anna Priemaza
Review by Shyamala Parthasarathy
Heather Smith’s Chicken Girl is a book about hiding and confronting both yourself and the world, and accepting that not everything revolves around you. When sixteen-year old Poppy posts a picture of herself dressed as Rosie the Riveter from the era of World War I, she gets what every curvy girl gets on the internet—photoshopped onto sub-Reddit thread ISeeFatPeople that make fun of fat people for existing. … More Chicken Girl by Heather Smith
Review by Emily-Anne Mikos
Deposing Nathan is a novel that reads like a secret: special, emotional, and powerful. As we learn more about Nate and Cam’s intertwined and complicated story, we fall deeper and deeper into their secrets, until all we can do is keep turning page after page. This was one of those books I couldn’t put down. … More Deposing Nathan by Zack Smedley
Review by Jennifer Irvine
The timeless tale of teenage rivalry, jealousy, and social hierarchy—all delivered with a cruelty that only teens can spoon out—keeps this narrative feisty. Author Ian Doescher morphs the iconic movie Mean Girls into a Shakespearean play, complete with five acts, numerous scenes, and stage directions. … More Much Ado About Mean Girls by Ian Doescher
Review by Juhyun Tony Bae
Even though we see reboots frequently in superhero comics, it’s a difficult task for any author to create a fresh start for any character with significant history. The reincarnation needs to be modernized and have some originality to justify it in the first place, while still honouring the old character so it doesn’t disappoint veteran fans. … More Teen Titans: Raven by Kami Garcia, Illus. by Gabriel Picolo
Review by Louise Brecht
Abby Furlowe’s in shock. She’s seventeen. She’s naturally blonde. She’s a self-absorbed beauty queen who’s spent a lot of time mapping out her senior year at her Texas high school: cool besties, hot guys, great parties, good grades. … More Confessions of a Teenage Leper by Ashley Little
Review by Shyamala Parthasarathy
Queer in every sense of the term, Michelle Ruiz Keil’s All of Us with Wings is an ethically handled rape-recovery narrative which redefines what family and home mean. On the run from her past, seventeen-year-old Xochi becomes the governess of precocious twelve-year old Pallas. … More All of Us with Wings by Michelle Ruiz Keil
