7 New Middle Grade and YA Books I Want to Read This Fall
These are the new fall releases at the top of school librarian and GeekMom Jackie’s To Read pile.
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Tag: YA
Drift: A Unique Summer Read
The new YA novel makes you paint an entirely new universe in your mind; one that has battles, magic, and love, all on the back of a giant turtle.
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Looking Back at London’s First Young Adult Literature Convention
Last weekend saw the UK’s very first Young Adult Literature Convention (YALC) take place as part of the London Film and Comic Con. Fifty YA authors spoke on a range of subjects from sex to fan fiction, graphic novels to dystopias.
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Sarah Daltry & Pete Clark Talk Backward Compatible, Gaming, and Monty Python
It has been a difficult six months for author Sarah Daltry but both she and her Backward Compatible co-author Pete Clarke agreed to talk to us about the book, future projects, and whether or not aliens exist…
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Between the Bookends at GeekMom
This month the GeekMoms have run the gamut from new interpretations of Beowulf to a murder mystery in post-Revolutionary War New England. There are graphic novels filled with aliens and wizards, shadowy government organizations, teenage boys painting models in their bedrooms, and girls being discovered floating in cello cases. If something there doesn’t pique your interest then I don’t know what will!
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Between the Bookends at GeekMom
Once again, the GeekMoms have been reading an incredible variety of books this month. Hear about a drug-filled near-future dystopia, a mouse detective, the “lost journal” of Assassin’s Creed’s Blackbeard, and an academic introduction to the work of Joss Whedon.
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Between the Bookends at GeekMom
This month’s Between the Bookends covers comical cats, Lemony Snicket causing despondency yet again, and a story of ordinary hardship in World War I.
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This One Summer: Beauty in Realism
This One Summer is a new graphic novel by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki. It is a YA book that transcends the genre into where most adult novelists wish they could go: honest and nuanced characters in that familiar world you forgot to cherish. The details of a summer beach town, and two girls on the brink of teen, may not be your memories, but the yearnings, confusion, and relationships certainly will reveal half-buried reminisces.
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Get Lost in Grasshopper Jungle
If you used to like dystopian young adult fiction but you feel like it’s all starting to blur together, have I got the book for you: Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith.
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Backward Compatible: YA Romance for People Like Us
Backward Compatible is a boy-meets-girl romance for people like us and is crammed full of more geek references than an entire season of Community.
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Exclusive! Discover the Secrets in Tesla’s Attic
In February, an intriguing new fiction trilogy that pays homage to the inventor and scientist kicks off in Tesla’s Attic.
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Green Tara: Sci-Fi Eco Adventure
Ecology gets a space-adventure for young adults in a new book by K.H. Brower. Green Tara: A Bosque Family Adventure is set in a future where Earth can no longer sustain life.. Can one girl change that and bring humans back home?
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Excerpt and Giveaway: Win a Copy of Dark Talisman
If you live in the United States or Canada, you could win one of five copies of the YA fantasy Dark Talisman by Steven M. Booth.
Continue ReadingKiller of Enemies: Kick-Butt Heroine
Killer of Enemies by Joseph Bruchac is about Lozen, a young warrior trying to keep her family alive in a post-apocalyptic world where electricity no longer works and monsters and myths once again roam the earth. Lozen’s most powerful tool is her compassion.
Continue ReadingThe Fault in Our Stars: Read This Young Adult Book, No Matter How Old You Are
The book you should be reading if you haven’t already turned its last page and been moved by its message.
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Six Reasons Geeks Should Be Reading Tamora Pierce
If you haven’t read Tamora Pierce’s books, here are six reasons you should start.
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Hammer of Witches
Hammer of Witches by Shana Mlawski is all about stories: fairy tales, religious texts, and history. She takes what we know of Columbus’ voyage to America and uses it as the backdrop about a boy learning the power of words, and the magic behind the meaning of stories. It’s a good book.
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LeakyCon 2013 Hits Portland Tomorrow
Attention, Muggles: LeakyCon, a Harry Potter fan convention, starts tomorrow in Portland, Oregon.
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Dark Crystal Contest to Revive Franchise
The Jim Henson Company and Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group, are re-booting The Dark Crystal franchise — or so it would seem — with a contest called the Dark Crystal Author Quest. The deal? Fans are encouraged to send in ideas for the “first book in a new young adult series based on the world of the classic fantasy film.” The winner gets a $10,000 contract to write the book.
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Eoin Colfer's The Reluctant Assassin
Fans of Colfer are sure to enjoy this new novel, The Reluctant Assassin.
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Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong
I have to admit, when I was sent a review copy of Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, a YA graphic novel by Prudence Shen and illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks, I wasn’t as excited as I could be. In Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong Hicks was only doing the art.
But I should have trusted that Hicks wouldn’t collaborate on something unless it was worth her mad skills. I, and my two teens, very much enjoyed it. Amusing dialogue, great art (duh), and characters that have fun with their stereotypes, tossing or flaunting them at a whim.
The Cliffs of Insanity: Could Lois Lane Carry a Monthly Comic?
Welcome to this week’s adventures climbing the cliffs of insanity. This week, I dove into the Gender Through Comics Course online course being given by Christina Blanch, a good friend made a richly deserved visit to the New York Times bestseller list, and I finally added Chunky the macarnivore to my stuffed animal collection.
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The Office of Mercy
Imagine America hundreds of years from now. Science and technology has created a society of humans who can live for hundreds of years. Pain and suffering has been eliminated; peace reigns. There is no inequality. Doesn’t sound too bad, does it?
Continue ReadingReview: In Prodigy, Marie Lu Follows up her YA hit Legend
Legend, the first book in a YA dystopian epic about two teens — Day, a plucky street fighter and working class hero, and June, an elite warrior-in-training who is sent undercover to capture him. They meet in the rough lower-class …
Continue ReadingReview: Homeland by Cory Doctorow
As I said in my review last year of his book Pirate Cinema, a Cory Doctorow YA novel is as much a treatise as a story. His latest, Homeland, is no exception.
Continue ReadingShades of Earth Concludes Revis’ YA Sci-fi Trilogy
I mentioned Beth Revis’ Across the Universe trilogy as one of my favorite books of 2012, though I only reviewed the first two so far. The final book in the trilogy, Shades of Earth, is out this week (Tuesday, January …
Continue ReadingReview: Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow
The “let’s put on a show (in a sewer)” aspect of the underground video scene in Doctorow’s third novel for young adults is fascinating.
Continue ReadingWhat’s Going on in Toxic City?
The number of post-apocalytpic young adult novels has exploded in recent years. It’s interesting how genres ebb and flow, and I certainly do my best to try and keep up with what’s popular reading with kids these days. A good …
Continue ReadingJoin the Treasure Hunt on the Island of Thieves
I love a good kids thriller, whether it’s a movie… or a book. And recently I found a book with a story that, in my opinion, would fit perfectly on the big screen. It has some great elements going for …
Continue ReadingGeekDad Exclusive: New Covers Revealed for Across the Universe Trilogy
GeekDad gives you a first look at the new covers for Across the Universe by Beth Revis.
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