Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert

Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Imprint:
Release date: June 28, 2022
ISBN: 9781250826367

Magic, mystery and witchcraft combine explosively in this dark fantasy. Ivy’s summer vacation plans go awry when she’s involved in a car accident with a stranger who appears naked in the middle of the road. From there, things get creepy and weird quickly. As Ivy struggles to make sense of secrets she didn’t know her mother had, she is drawn into a world of witchcraft and sinister supernatural powers. Gripping and fast paced, this is an enticing blend of mystery, magic and terror.

Continue reading Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert

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

roundup header image

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.

Ace of Spades. By Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé. Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends, $18.99 (9781250800817). 

Ambitious queen bee Chiamaka and loner scholarship kid Devon are the only Black students at school. That’s all they have in common until an online bully going by the name “Aces” starts spilling all their secrets. Chiamaka and Devon will have to join forces to bring Aces down—or lose everything.

Bad Witch Burning. By Jessica Lewis. Penguin Random House/Delacorte Press, $17.99 (9780593177389). 

Katrell’s ability to converse with the dead has been earning her enough money to help her mom pay bills and buy food. When she makes a startling discovery about her abilities around the same time she receives a dire warning to stop using her magic, Katrell is faced with an impossible decision.

Barry Squires, Full Tilt. By Heather Smith. 2020. Penguin Random House Canada/Penguin Teen, $17.99 (9780735267466). 

After watching a performance of Irish step dancers, Barry Squires decides he was meant for tap shoes. The trick will be convincing everyone around him to give him a chance.

Continue reading Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2022) Nominations Round-Up, Winter

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2022) Featured Review of The Misewa Saga by David A. Robertson

The Misewa Saga Cover Art

The Misewa Saga by David A. Robertson
Penguin Random House Canada/Puffin Books
The Barren Grounds (vol. 1)
Publication Date: September 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-0735266100

The Great Bear (vol. 2)
Publication Date: September 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-0735266131

Indigenous foster kids Morgan and Eli have been separated from their families and placed with a white foster couple in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Both children feel alone and different from everyone around them at their new home and school, but Morgan and Eli have a secret. They can cross into another world — the land of Askí, where across the Barren Grounds they’ve befriended the talking animal villagers of Misewa. All Eli has to do is draw a picture, staple it to the wall of the attic, and he and Morgan can step into a fantasy land. During their first adventure in Askí, the two meet and befriend a fisher named Ochek, the sole remaining hunter of his starving village. Together, they embark on a weeks-long voyage to discover what has happened to the summer birds that are meant to keep the land alive. As they travel, Morgan begins to learn how to live on the land as her people do, and Eli flourishes with opportunities to share his knowledge. Many dangers await, and even if Morgan and Eli do return home, they must figure out how to explain their long absence. 

Continue reading Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2022) Featured Review of The Misewa Saga by David A. Robertson