Brigid Kemmerer – The Hub

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2021) Nominees Round Up, October 14 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Amazing Audiobooks nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes; narrated by Barrie Buckner
Hachette / Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 9781549157332

Moving from New York to Boston, and from a public school to private, Donte would love to be under the radar at his new elite prep school. Biracial, but darker skinned than his older brother, he finds that he really stands out at his mostly white school. After getting expelled for an infraction he didn’t commit, and experiencing bullying by the captain of the fencing team, he takes up fencing as a means to stand up to the racism he is experiencing. He seeks out a Black former Olympic fencer who agrees to coach him.

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2020) Nominees Round Up, August 23 Edition

Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer
Bloomsbury YA / Macmillan
Publication Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1681198095

Rob and Maegan have been ostracized by their classmates: Rob’s crooked father embezzled money leaving some community members struggling financially, and Maegan jeopardized classmates’ SAT scores by cheating during the test. Both have put up walls to protect themselves but romantically connect when those walls come down. Maegan learns that Rob takes care of his father whose unsuccessful suicide attempt requires twenty-four hour care. Rob guesses that Maegan’s new family drama includes her older sister’s unplanned pregnancy while on a full-ride lacrosse scholarship to Duke that their father wants kept secret. How can anything go right when so much has gone wrong?

Continue reading Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2020) Nominees Round Up, August 23 Edition

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2020) Nominees Round Up, May 31 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Best Fiction for Young Adults nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

This is What it Feels Like by Rebecca Barrow
HarperTeen / HarperCollins
Publication Date: November 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0062494238

Hanna, Jules, and Dia, three estranged friends graduating from high school, reunite to make their punk rock dreams reality. While following their passion, they grapple with balancing family, love and loss.

This is What it Feels Like explores the fears, confusion, and excitement that comes with being an older teen on the cusp of entering adulthood. This story depicts the “after”, or fallout that many teens experience, but is rarely described in many situations. The authentic LGBTQA+ representation without the coming out story and the depiction of an older teen having had a child years before and is now trying to make ends meet are well developed. Many teens struggle with drugs and drinking, but often in Teen Fiction readers aren’t given the experience of the life of a sober teen, doing the best they can with the resources that they have.

Continue reading Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2020) Nominees Round Up, May 31 Edition

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2020) Nominees Round Up, March 26 Edition

A Curse So Dark and Lonely Cover A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
Bloomsbury YA
Publication Date: January 29, 2019
ISBN: 978-0399547966

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer is a modern re-imagining of the classic fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast. Rhen, the prince and heir to Emberfall, has been cursed to repeat the same season until a girl falls in love with him. Harper is a spirited girl with cerebral palsy from Washington D.C., who finds herself taken to Emberfall by mistake. Starting another season, Rhen is not only faced with the realities of how his curse has affected his people, but Harper, Rhen, and Grey, the commander of the Royal Guard, have to also deal with an invading army and an evil enchantress as well.

Continue reading Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2020) Nominees Round Up, March 26 Edition