Tag: Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2024) Feature Review: Pardalita by Joana Estrela

  • Pardalita
  • by Joana Estrela
  • Publisher: Chronicle Books
  • Imprint: Levine Querido
  • Release date:  April 18, 2023
  • ISBN: 9781646142569

Raquel is a 16-year-old living in a very small town in Portugal. Everyone knows everyone kind of small town. It starts out with Raquel being suspended for cussing out a school aide. She has her two best friends, Luisa and Fred, to help ground her. Then she sees, for the first, Pardalita. Next thing Raquel knows is that she’s applying for the theater program to become closer to Pardalita.

I think this would be a good candidate for QPRR. It’s very much a slice of life, it’s very relatable, and deals with first loves/crushes, being an “angsty” teenager, and “coming out of your shell.” It’s very much a great book to read for any teen!

 Recommended for readers who also may have enjoyed This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, and Are you listening? by Tillie Walden.

-Molly Sprague-Rice

Other Nominated Titles

Release Date: January 3, 2023
Release Date: March 7, 2023

The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2024) Feature Review: Extra Life (Young Readers Adaptation) by Steven Johnson

  • Extra Life (Young Readers Adaptation)
  • by Steven Johnson
  • Publisher: Penguin
  • Imprint: Viking Books for Young Readers
  • Release date: January 3, 2023 ISBN: 9780593351499

Humans have doubled their life expectancy. Extra Life explores the scientific advancements that have prolonged human life, including vaccines, seat belts, and pesticides. It provides a deep dive into modern history and scientific advances, which not only informs, but also speculates on the impact this has on the planet and our future.

With large font and interesting chapter titles, a hefty bibliography and index, this book also includes recommended reading and would be a perfect resource for basic science inquiries and the starting point for further topic investigations.

Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary by Gail Jarrow, The Deadliest Diseases Then and Now by Deborah Hopkinson, and History Smashers: Plagues and and Pandemics by Kate Messner.

-Lorrie Roussin

Other Nominated Titles

Release Date: April 11, 2023
Release Date: April 18, 2023

The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2024) Feature Review: Someone is Always Watching by Kelley Armstrong

  • Someone is Always Watching
  • by Kelley Armstrong
  • Publisher: Penguin Random House
  • Imprint: Tundra
  • Release date: April 11, 2023 
  • ISBN: 9780735270923

Blythe’s tight-knit group of friends have started to be plagued by nightmares, hallucinations, and what seem to be repressed memories. The stakes are raised when her best friend Gabrielle has a series of psychotic breaks at school, and is whisked away to a mental health facility following a suspicious death of a school official. Blythe and her friends must work together to find out what really happened to Gabrielle and how this relates to their own nightmares and visions. But can they trust anyone, even one another?

Someone is Always Watching is a fast-paced, plot driven thriller. Although some parts of the plot feel a bit underdeveloped, especially in the second half of the book, the twists and turns will likely keep readers turning the pages until the end. The book is just about 350 pages, but reads as quickly as a book half its length.

Also try books by Karen McManus or These Deadly Games by Diana Urban.

– Julianne Novetsky

Other Nominated Titles

Release Date: April 18, 2023
Release Date: January 3, 2023

The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2024) Feature Review: Hungry Ghost by Victoria Ying

  • Hungry Ghost
  • By Victoria Ying  
  • Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
  • Imprint: First Second
  • Release date: April 25, 2023 
  • ISBN: 9781250766991

Valerie Chu is the perfect daughter: obedient, quiet, studious, and thin. When tragic circumstances cause her to lose her carefully controlled grip on her life, she must question her relationship with her mother and what future she really wants for herself. Content warning for eating disorders and death of a loved one.

This is a very short, issue-oriented graphic novel that will appeal to many teens. Even if readers have not struggled with an eating disorder, they will likely relate to the pressure that Valerie feels to fit in to other’s expectations of her. Some of the characters could have benefited from deeper development, but the relationship between Valerie and her best friend, Jordan, seemed very real and relatable.

 For more body dysmorphia books consider titles like Lighter Than My Shadow by Katie Green or The Impossible Light by Lily Myers.

-Julianne Novetsky

Other Nominated Titles

January 3, 2023
Release Date: March 7, 2023

The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2024) Feature Review: Going Dark by Melissa De La Cruz

  • Going Dark
  • by Melissa De La Cruz
  • Publisher: Sterling Publishing Co
  • Imprint: Union Square and Co
  • Release date: January 31, 2023
  • ISBN: 9781454947646

When college sophomore, Josh, returns from a romantic Roman getaway without his travel influencer girlfriend the internet has questions. Soon #WhereIsAmeliaAshley is trending and Josh is the police’s number one suspect. But fellow student and master hacker, Harper, is also working the case and she has discovered that even people who live their lives online can have plenty of secrets.

True crime fans will recognize the similarities to the Gabby Petito case, which is sure to raise interest. But this is not a retelling of her tragic death. This fast-paced book is filled with twists that have twists. The tone is dramatic and readers feel like they are rushing towards an inevitably dark conclusion.

Readers who are into influencer culture,  quick mysteries, and unreliable narrators should read  Live Your Best Lie by Jessie Weavernd You’re So Dead by Ash Parsons.

-Cathy DeCampli

Other Nominated Titles

Release Date: March 7, 2023
Release Date: April 25, 2023

The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2024) Feature Review: Last Chance Dance by Lakita Wilson

  • Last Chance Dance
  • by Lakita  Wilson
  • Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
  • Imprint: Penguin Random House
  • Release date: February 21, 2023
  • ISBN: 9780593525616

Leila has just been dumped by her high school boyfriend right before graduation. Feeling lost and like she wasted her time, she’s looking for something new. Luckily her school has a tradition called Last Chance Dance. Students write down three of their crushes and with a serious algorithm they are paired up with matching crushes. When Leila does hers, she’s excited about all her matches except Tre, an annoying boy who bugged her all through high school competing to be the best, and making fun of her at the worst times. So Leila decides to go on dates with all her matches, except for Tre.  As Leila goes on her dates, she learns about love, loss and what it takes to find the right match. Because when she finally does date Tre, she discovers that not everyone is who they seem on the outside, and sometimes people surprise you.

This cute romance story has wonderfully well-developed characters that teens can relate to. The journey Leila takes as she goes on each date is relatable and readers truly get to know them just as Leila does. Readers will love reading about her dates. There is humor, romance, and a diverse main character.

Readers who enjoy the enemy-to-lovers trope, realistic fiction about graduating, and stories with strong friendships will like this one.  For more enemy to lover’s romance try Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert. For another realistic, relatable diverse romance try Love Radio by Ebony La Delle.

-Rachel Adams

Other Nominated Titles

Release Date: September 13, 2022
Release Date: January 31, 2023

The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2024) Feature Review: Aces Wild: A Heist by Amanda DeWitt

  • Aces Wild: A Heist
  • by Amanda DeWitt
  • Publisher: Peachtree Teen
  • Imprint: Holiday House
  • Release date: September 13, 2022
  • ISBN: 9781682634660

Jack attends a private school in Massachusetts and runs an underground, literally in the basement, blackjack ring where he uses his card counting tricks learned from his life in Las Vegas where his family owns and runs a casino.  Things seem to be running smoothly until he sees his mother arrested on TV and has to race back to Las Vegas.

Jack is ace and has a group of internet friends that have found each other as allies who are also ace that live around the country. When Jack’s mom is arrested, he makes an impulsive decision to fly his friends to Vegas to help him figure out what happened. Many bad decisions are made, but they have each other to rely on.

Readers who love the idea of taking risks in casinos and banding together with friends on a mission will enjoy Jack and his friend gang. Similar reads are The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers by Adam Sass, Overturned by Lamar Giles.

Other Nominated Titles

Release Date: April 4, 2023
Release Date: January 31, 2023

The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2024) Feature Review: A Whole Song and Dance by Sarvenaz Tash

  • A Whole Song and Dance
  • by  Sarvenaz Tash
  • Publisher: Disney Publishing
  • Imprint: Disney Hyperion
  • Release date: April 4, 2023
  • ISBN: 9781368077552

Nasrin has been accepted into NYU’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. Unfortunately, her parents think she is attending business school instead. She intends to tell them once she is settled in New York City but quickly gets swept up in the rigor of class and lands a role in a musical web series that oddly parallels her own life. With her coursework, shooting schedule, and tutor sessions with her adorable stats teacher’s assistant, Nasrin has a lot on her plate. But things get much more complicated when her parents make a surprise move to New York City and it becomes much more difficult to keep all of the lies straight.

Nasrin approaches life like a musical, but she is still very much present in the real world, even if her parents don’t quite believe that. Many scenes offer a glimpse into drama classes, theater rehearsals, and backstage at a TV show. Nasrin is surrounded by a cast of characters that pull her in different directions and add depth to the story including her parents who immigrated from Iran and created a wildly popular restaurant app and her cousin on student visa from Iran who is determined to experience every bit of the American college life, even if it means possibly blackmailing Nasrin. 

Drama kids will see themselves in this book. Similar titles to read if you enjoy this are Mazie by Melanie Crowder and Hearts, Strings, and Other Breakable Things by Jacqueline Firkins

– Cathy DeCampli

Other Nominated Titles

Release Date: January 31, 2023
Release Date: February 21, 2023

The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2024) Feature Review: The Black Queen by Jumata Emill

  • The Black Queen
  • by Jumata Emill
  • Publisher: Delacorte Press
  • Imprint: Penguin Random House 
  • Release date: January 31, 2023
  • ISBN: 9780593568545

Nova is set to be the first Black homecoming queen at Lovett High School. Her friend Duchess is thrilled to finally have representation on the homecoming court and sees it as a start to fighting racism at her school. Popular, white Tinsley was supposed to be homecoming queen and carry on her family’s tradition of being crowned queen. When Nova is found murdered the night of her coronation, everyone, including Duchess, suspects Tinsley. But as the investigation goes on more clues develop and soon Tinsley and Duchess are teaming up to find the true killer and bring justice for Nova.

The combination of social justice, petty high school drama and twisty mystery make this a fantastic ride of a read. The mystery is solved at just the right pace with clues and suspects falling off one by one until the final reveal. The commentary on institutional racism in schools and small towns helps drive the story forward and gives even more depth to the plot. 

Readers who enjoy books that are more than just a thrill will devour this quick read. Also those who enjoy small town murder-mysteries. For those looking for another complex mystery with hints of social justice should read Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé or The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson.

– Rachel Adams

Release Date: April 3, 2023
Release Date: September 13, 2022

The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2024) Feature Review: Sun Keep Rising by Kristen R. Lee

  • Sun Keep Rising
  • by Kristen R. Lee
  • Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
  • Imprint: Penguin Random House
  • Release date: January 24, 2023
  • ISBN: 9780593309193

Teen mom B’onca has always found a way to survive. Things are harder now with her baby, but she finds a way to stay in school, help pay the rent and raise her daughter. Unfortunately, her Memphis neighborhood is being gentrified and the rent is increasing. Soon B’onca and her mom get an eviction notice. B’onca can’t lose her home or her daughter. The father’s family is threatening to take the baby if she can’t prove she has a stable household. Pushed into a corner, B’onca decides to take a risk to get quick money, putting everything even more in jeopardy. 

The difficult, but real issues in this book are handled with grace and also don’t shy away from the pain and injustices. The realistic way it’s written will appeal to reluctant readers who like true stories with believable characters. In this short book the reader is drawn into B’onca’s life.

Readers who enjoy realistic stories that deal with complex life issues will enjoy this book. This tells a story that isn’t often told and gives a voice to young teen mothers who love their babies and strive to make themselves better for their kids. For more books about young women of color finding their voice while grappling with complicated lives read Vinyl Moon by Mahogany Browne and Me: Moth by Amber McBride.

Other Nominated

Release Date: September 6, 2023
Release Date: November 8, 2022
Release Date: February 28, 2023
Release Date: December 6, 2022

The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.