F.T. Lukens – The Hub

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2023) Featured Review of The Peach Rebellion by Wendelin Van Draanen

The Peach Rebellion by Wendelin Van Draanen
Narrated by Laurie Jo Daniels and Emily Ellet
Listening Library
Publication Date: May 17, 2022
ISBN: 9780593585009

When Ginny Rose and Peggy are children, they form a fierce friendship as they pick peaches in the orchards on Peggy’s family farm in central California. Ginny Rose’s family travels there in the summers to escape the Oklahoma Dust Bowl and earn a wage doing farm work. Ten years and a world war later, Ginny Rose’s family is back in town permanently but the differences between their families that didn’t register when they were children seem to loom above every interaction. It doesn’t help that Peggy’s best friend Lisette, a wealthy banker’s entitled daughter, is constantly putting Ginny Rose on edge.

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2022) Nominations Round-Up, Summer

Due to the large number of nominees, not all titles are shown here. See full list below.

Each quarter, the Selected Lists teams compile the titles that have been officially nominated to date. These books have been suggested by the team or through the title suggestion form, read by multiple members of the team, and received approval to be designated an official nomination. At the end of the year, the final list of nominations and each Selected List’s Top Ten will be chosen from these titles.

Amari and the Night Brothers. By B.B. Alston. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99 (9780062975164).

Amari’s brother Quinton has disappeared, and her only hope of finding him is to follow in his footsteps and become a Junior Agent with the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs.

Amber and Clay. By Laura Amy Schlitz. Candlewick Press, $22.99 (9781536201222).

In ancient Greece, two unlikely friends Rhaskos and Melisto find their lives intertwined in a search for freedom and purpose. As a ghost bound to Rhaskos, Melisto must help free him before she can find her own rest in the Halls of Hades.

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2022) Featured Review of Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Last Night at the Telegraph Club Cover Art

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
Penguin Random House / Dutton Books
Publication Date: January 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-0525555254

17-year-old Chinese American Lily Hu has always felt a little bit different. Growing up in San Francisco’s Chinatown provides Lily with a sense of community, but the strict social mores of 1954 frequently leave her feeling stifled in ways she can’t quite put her finger on. Even more confusing for Lily is her new preoccupation with an advertisement she has stumbled upon featuring a male impersonator at the Telegraph Club. When she accidentally drops the ad in front of her white friend Kath, she’s shocked when Kath tells her that she’s been before and would be willing to go again with Lily. When Lily finally visits the Telegraph Club with Kath, she discovers not only that lesbian women exist outside of pulpy thrillers, but that she might be one.