The Poet X (2018) by Elizabeth Acevedo is an award-winning YA novel-in-verse that just blew me away. The audiobook is narrated by the author, which I especially loved, as you hear the pacing and intonation as she intended. Xiomara (pronounced See-oh-MAH-ruh) lives in Harlem with her parents and twin brother. They are 15 and Dominican,Continue reading “The Poet X”
Tag Archives: young adult
Last Night at the Telegraph Club
Last Night at the Telegraph Club (2021) by Malinda Lo is an award-winning queer young adult historical romance/ thriller set in 1954 San Francisco, featuring Lily Hu, a Chinese-American high school student who discovers that she is not like most girls because she likes other girls. Lily has spent most of her life sheltered inContinue reading “Last Night at the Telegraph Club”
Darius the Great is Not Okay
Darius the Great is Not Okay (2018) by Adib Khorram is a sweet YA coming-of-age book about depression, tea, Star Trek, family, and embracing all of the different sides of oneself. Darius is a fractional Persian–his mother is Persian and his father is American. He is a high-schooler in the Pacific Northwest with his parentsContinue reading “Darius the Great is Not Okay”
The Sound of Stars
The Sound of Stars (2020) by Alechia Dow blew me away! I wish I remembered how I found out about it, given that it’s been out nearly 4 years and I want to read more just like it. Ellie (Janelle) Baker is 17, living in a building in New York with her parents, after anContinue reading “The Sound of Stars”
Elsewhere
Elsewhere (2005) by Gabrielle Zevin was a delight! You wouldn’t think that a book that opens with a 15-year old girl, Liz, who dies in an accident on her bicycle would be so uplifting, but Zevin (Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow; The Storied Life of AJ Fikry) is a magician, and this is one ofContinue reading “Elsewhere”
Rise to the Sun
Rise to the Sun (2021) by Leah Johnson (You Should See Me In a Crown) is a contemporary sapphic YA romance that takes place over the three days of a summer music festival. Both Olivia and Toni are from the Indianapolis area, but they don’t know each other. Olivia goes to the festival with herContinue reading “Rise to the Sun”
The Unstoppable Bridget Bloom
The Unstoppable Bridget Bloom (2023) by Allison L. Bitz is a delightful fat-positive YA novel of self-discovery with some romance. As the novel open, Bridget is moving in to her dorm room at her performing arts boarding school in Chicago–it’s a pipeline to Broadway and her parents sold land back in Nebraska so that sheContinue reading “The Unstoppable Bridget Bloom”
Little & Lion
Little & Lion (2017) by Brandy Colbert is a well-done YA novel that covers many themes: bisexuality, mental illness (specifically bipolar), and loyalty in a blended family, and it features a black Jewish main character in a multiethnic family. It won a Stonewall Award the year it was published. Suzette has just returned home toContinue reading “Little & Lion”
The Ten Thousand Doors of January
I was completely enthralled by The Ten Thousand Doors of January (2019) by Alix E. Harrow from very nearly the first page. Set in the late 1800s, January is a teenager cared for by a guardian, Mr. Locke, because her father is always traveling on expeditions for him. His house is filled with wondrous thingsContinue reading “The Ten Thousand Doors of January”
You Should See Me in a Crown
You Should See Me In a Crown (2020) by Leah Johnson is so good!! Liz Lighty, senior at a suburban Indianapolis high school, band geek, straight-A student, lives with her grandparents in a small town on the outskirts of Indianapolis that feels very familiar. Her mother has passed away, and her brother is often sickContinue reading “You Should See Me in a Crown”
