Kosoko Jackson – The Hub

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of At the End of Everything by Marieke Nijkamp

At the End of Everything
by Marieke Nijkamp
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Imprint: Sourcebooks Fire
Release date: January 25, 2022
ISBN: 9781492673156

Teens at the Hope Juvenile Treatment Center are trying to survive within the secured, heavily guarded walls of Hope, but when the guards do not return, inmates take the opportunity to escape. When met by armed soldiers, they learn a highly contagious disease has the nation on lockdown and they must return to Hope. Survival is no longer about time to serve, but without supplies and a virus now within Hope, this group of incarcerated strangers must decide who to trust if they are going to survive.

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2022) Nominations Round-Up, Winter

Each quarter, the Selected Lists teams compile the titles that have been officially nominated to date. These are titles that have been 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.

*Prices shown are for Library Digital Download.

All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team. By Christina Soontornvat. Read by Quincy Surasmith & Christina Soontornvat. 2020. Brilliance Audio, $35.99 (9781713547792).

An honest and frank account of the 2018 Thai cave rescue told in a thrilling and fast-paced manner, perfect for younger and older teen readers alike. Quincy Surasmith is a capable narrator and will keep readers engaged with this tense and true story.

As Good as Dead: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. By Holly Jackson. Read by Bailey Carr, Kristen DiMercurio, Robert Fass, Lauren Fortgang, Johnny Heller, Barrett Leddy, Shezi Sardar, Vassilea Terzaki and Megan Tusing. Listening Library, $75.00 (9780593416761).

A shocking turnaround in the finale to the trilogy as the true crime podcast turns on the investigator herself. Once again brought to a spectacular audio experience using a full cast in audiobook form, this wrap up to the story will keep readers breathless to the end.

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2022) Featured Review of Good Girl, Bad Blood and As Good As Dead (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Books 2 and 3) by Holly Jackson

Cover art for Good Girl Bad Blood and As Good As Dead

Good Girl, Bad Blood and As Good As Dead (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Books 2 and 3) by Holly Jackson; narrated by Bailey Carr, MacLeod Andrews, Donte Bonner, James Fouhey, Neil Hellegers, Cary Hite, Amy Landon, Raymond J. Lee, Keylor Leigh, Maggi-Meg Reed Shezi Sardar and Bailey Carr, Kristen DiMercurio, Robert Fass, Lauren Fortgang, Johnny Heller, Barrett Leddy, Shezi Sardar, Vassilea Terzaki and Megan Tusing
Listening Library
Publication Date: March 2, 2021 and September 28, 2021
ISBNs: 9780593342398 and 9780593416761

After the revelations of the Andi Bell case, Pippa Fitz-Amobi just wants to leave her investigating days in the past and focus on applying to college and her relationship with her family and boyfriend, Ravi. When her friend’s brother goes missing, and the cops won’t do anything about it, and then when an anonymous stalker starts threatening her via her podcast, Pip is reluctantly dragged back into a world she desperately wishes she could leave behind.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2022) Nominations Round-Up, Summer

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.

Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre. By Alverne Ball. Art by Stacey Robinson. Abrams/Megascope, $15.99 (9781419755170).

Greenwood—also known as Black Wall Street—was a bustling district in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with many successful Black-owned businesses. In 1921, a white mob descended on Greenwood, destroying businesses and devastating the community. One hundred years later, Across the Tracks pays homage to Greenwood.

Alone. By Megan E. Freeman. 2020. Penguin Random House/Crown, $17.99 (9780593176399).

Maddie finds herself completely, totally alone when she wakes up from a secret sleepover and discovers that everyone was evacuated overnight from her town, her state, and maybe her whole half of the country. She has to survive natural disasters, the elements, looters, wild animals, and her own crushing loneliness.

The Hub Challenge 2021 – Amazing Debuts

The Hub Challenge 2021 is in full swing, and readers are taking advantage of all the ways to participate! Even if you didn’t sign up officially, you can always join the fun by keeping a copy of the Bingo Challenge board handy for inspiration.

Several of our Challenge participants have tackled that “Read an Amazing Debut” square, and others are curious about how to connect with those titles that might be Morris Award-contenders for 2022. To begin, some participants are using the 2021 Morris Award finalists to earn their Amazing Debut square.

Here is Leanna Chappell, Hub Challenge participant and Head of Youth Services at the Swanton Public Library in Ohio, describing her love of Christina Hammonds Reed’s tremendous debut The Black Kids:

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2022) Featured Review of Yesterday is History by Kosoko Jackson

Yesterday is History by Kosoko Jackson
Sourcebooks Fire/ Sourcebooks
Publication Date: February 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1492694342

After a life-saving liver transplant, Andre Cobb gains the ability to time travel. He finds himself tethered to a young man named Michael who he meets in the year 1969, and the two quickly fall into a deep romantic relationship. Back in 2021, the family of Andre’s liver donor shares the news that they too are time-travellers, and they task their son Blake with teaching Andre about his new skill. The two share an obvious attraction, but Andre must first figure out what he wants out of life before he can choose which partner to love.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2022) Featured Review of The Crossroads at Midnight by Abby Howard

The Crossroads at Midnight by Abby Howard
Iron Circus Comics
Publication Date: February 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-945820-68-7

This graphic collection of five stories explores that scary time just after midnight, when desperation drives each main character to reach out and accept the supernatural. Each story is told from a different point in life – as the youngest child just wanting a friend of her own to play with, a queer teen wanting to be fully accepted by her parents, a teen girl wanting to protect the monster that had one time treated her family well, a college student trying to make ends meet while also passing final exams, and a single woman living a lonely retirement by the edge of a bog. They all turn toward the supernatural, but does it save them?