Tag Archives: Young Adult

The House of Power (Atherton, Book 1) by Patrick Carman

American Literature May 15, 2009 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: Atherton is a world with three levels, which have always remained apart; however, when the top level begins to sink the entire society is threatened and a young boy may be the only one with the key to survival. Review: I was glad that I knew very little about The House of Power before reading. The dust jacket is deliberately, thankfully obscure, and the story doesn’t yield its treasures readily. I love the pacing of the exposition, which kept me in suspense but not…

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt

On Reading April 16, 2009 Superfast Reader 2 Comments

Synopsis: As her father’s wedding approaches, Christine needs help more than ever to process her grief over her mother’s death, but her friends are all fighting with each other. Review: The second book in the Miracle Girls series, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do has a darker tone than Miracle Girls, and as a result goes a lot deeper. Angsty Christine is angrier and sadder than any of Anne & May’s protagonists to date, and in her pain she’s eminently relatable. They also do a…

Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford

American Literature April 7, 2009 Superfast Reader 4 Comments

Synopsis: Carter just can’t believe he’s still a virgin, but hopefully starting high school will change all that! Review: Carter Finally Gets It was really not for me. I am very sensitive now that I’m a mom and it was really hard to read about 13- and 14-year-old girls dressing like prostitutes. I just don’t want to read about children being sexually active as a comedy.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

American Literature March 21, 2009 Superfast Reader 9 Comments

Synopsis: Katniss Everdeen takes her sister’s place in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death between teenagers, televised for the whole world. Review: I asked my YA librarian friend if The Hunger Games was any good, and her report was that it wasn’t the best book she’d ever read but she couldn’t keep it on the shelves and the kids in her school were passing it around like crazy. Being a fan of YA literature and of Rollerball-type stories, I had to check…

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

American Literature March 19, 2009 Superfast Reader 4 Comments

Synopsis: The death of her best friend sends an anorexic girl into a backsliding tailspin. Review: While all of Laurie Halse Anderson‘s books are fantastic, Wintergirls is the first one to equal Speak in its simple depth, elegant honesty, and dynamic storytelling. Anderson frames Lia’s emotional journey through her grief over the death of her best friend, the girl who taught her to be anorexic in the first place. It’s a heartwrenching story because Lia’s suffering is so palpable, yet Anderson isn’t afraid to let…

House of Stairs by William Sleator

American Literature March 8, 2009 Superfast Reader 3 Comments

Synopsis: Five orphan teens find themselves trapped in a room filled with nothing but stairs, which quickly turns into an experiment that may have no end. Review: House of Stairs is a book I read about a zillion times when I was a kid. The scenario enthralled me–a seemingly endless room with stairs as far as the eye can see, and a machine dispensing pellets of food as long as the kids performed a bizarrely elaborate dance. Things get darker when the machine changes its…

Blue Bloods and Masquerade by Melissa De La Cruz

American Literature March 5, 2009 Superfast Reader 5 Comments

I recently reviewed Revelations, Book 3 in Melissa De La Cruz’s Blue Bloods trilogy. I finally got a chance to check out books 1 and 2 in the series and would recommend them to anyone who wishes Gossip Girl had vampires. There’s scads of name-dropping and swanky NYC night clubs along with a really well thought out mythology that goes back to Puritan New England. I’m glad I got a chance to check these books out!

Sophomore Undercover by Ben Esch

American Literature February 27, 2009 Superfast Reader 2 Comments

Synopsis: When wannabe journalist Dixie Nguyen stumbles into the story of a lifetime in the boys’ locker room, he risks everything, including his place on the football team, to bring down an albino drug lord–who happens to be another high school student. Review: Sophomore Undercover is written in a breezy, comic style that will definitely appeal to readers, especially boys. I wasn’t so into it myself, because I found the plot really frustrating from the get-go. Dixie makes some assumptions that send him down the…

The Year the Swallows Came Early–Blog Tour Wrap Up

American Literature February 25, 2009 Superfast Reader 5 Comments

It’s been so much fun being a part of the blog tour for Kathryn Fitzmaurice’s The Year the Swallows Came Early. All the other participants have written great stuff so I thought I’d highlight some of my favorites. Noel at Neverjamtoday names some books that reminded her of Swallows–great recommendations if you liked it as much as she did. Marie at Fireside Musings has an interview in a few parts with author Kathryn Fitzmaurice. I wish I’d had time to talk to her, because I…

The Year the Swallows Came Early by Kathryn Fitzmaurice

American Literature February 24, 2009 Superfast Reader 9 Comments

Synopsis: When 13-year-old Capistrano native Groovy’s father gets arrested, she has to face the devastating truth about her family and look for the courage to forgive. Review: In The Year the Swallows Came Early, debut novelist Kathryn Fitzmaurice gives us a winning protagonist in Groovy (nee Eleanor), named by her ne’er-do-well father because as a toddler she loved to dance. Now Groovy’s beloved dad has been hauled off to prison, and her salon-owner mother won’t give her a straight answer as to why. What I…

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