Reviews of books for children and teens.
Review by Sara Francoeur
After the sudden death of their missionary parents, the four McCready sisters between the ages of eight and fourteen are sent from their home in Borneo to faraway west-coast Canada to live in a seaside village on fictional Pine Island. Upon arrival, they find themselves on their own again. … More Pine Island Home by Polly Horvath
Review by Katie Gaston
What’s it like to be a K-pop star? Most of us will never know, but one of the world’s most famous K-pop singers, the legendary Jessica Jung, can help us imagine. … More Shine by Jessica Jung
Review by Shyamala Parthasarathy
First published in South Africa back in 2012, This Book Betrays My Brother follows the life of Naledi, a young teenage girl growing up there in the nineties. She loves her brother, Basi, and all things feminine, but the novel’s title is, as you’ve guessed, as much a spoiler as a warning. … More This Book Betrays My Brother by Kagiso Lesego Molope
Review by Rachel Jung
Imagine a small, fragile bead the size of your fist that contains your entire life energy (gi). Now, imagine that one day, its existence only becomes known to you after a messy interaction with a monster ejects it from your body and into the hands of a stranger. … More Wicked Fox by Kat Cho
Review by Logaine Navascués
Sons can bring good fortune and prosperity to a Taiwanese family, so what could be better than having ten of them? But if we look a little more closely, we see that their quiet sister also shines, despite growing up in the shadow of her siblings. … More Ten Little Dumplings by Larissa Fan, Illustrated by Cindy Wume
Review by Hira Peracha
Loss and addiction have a way of overpowering your thoughts. When it seems like the only option available, you sometimes have to seek help from strangers. Kipp learns the hard way that not everyone has good intentions. … More Stranded by Jocelyn Shipley
Review by Sara Francoeur
If you are anything like Lucille Harper—driven to excel at school and diligent about building up your resume for college applications—then having a living replica of yourself might seem like a solution to many problems. … More Half Life by Lillian Clark
Review by Logaine Navascués
Max doesn’t feel like a regular 11-year-old boy in his hometown of Santa María. His dad won’t let him join the other kids for fútbol practice in a nearby town—even though making it to the local team is Max’s greatest dream—because he’s worried something might happen to him. That he will also disappear, just as his Mother did when he was still a baby. … More Mañanaland by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Review by Louise Brecht
Louisa Adair didn’t know what Sergeant Lind was talking about. None of them did, not really. They’d only wanted to save lives, not hoard the machine that is the key target of a massive British Intelligence operative.
… More The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein
Review by Claudine Yip
Last time, she saved the city. Next up: the universe? Or worse: college applications?
… More The Iron Will of Genie Lo by F. C. Yee
YOUNG ADULTING 