Touch by Francine Prose

“On those mornings, with my head next to Shakes’s, I felt less like a girl or a boy, and more like…well, more like a person… “And then all that ended in one day — one morning, to be exact.” -Touch, pg. 100 Kevin, Chris, Maisie, and Shakes. That’s the way it’s always been. Ever since [...]

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Much has already been written about the eating disorders anorexia and bulimia, but none in such an intensely vivid and personal way as Wintergirls.* Eighteen-year-old Lia tells her story in journal format with heartbreaking honesty. The book begins with the death of her former best friend Cassie, whose many calls for help went unanswered – and [...]

The Lovely Bones Film

When The Lovely Bones was published in 2002 it took off like a shot, catapulting its author, Alice Sebold, high into literary stardom. This dark, wrenching novel of disquietude and loss is the story of Susie Salmon, a 12 year old girl who is raped and murdered in an underground den by a neighbor one [...]

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

In observance of Banned Books Week, I picked up Laurie Halse Anderson’s Twisted to read.  It’s been challenged in a high school in Kentucky – Anderson’s blog has been tracking the details of the challenge – and earlier this week it looked like it was going to return to the AP English classes in which [...]

(Don’t) Watch Your Tongue: It’s BANNED BOOKS WEEK 2009

September 26th – October 3rd, 2009 is Banned Books Week.  This annual event was founded to celebrate the freedom to read and to raise awareness about the book challenges and bans that threaten that freedom.  Banned Books Week serves as a reminder that we must protect the availability of unpopular, even radical, viewpoints to all [...]

Twisted & Speak Challenged

Just last week YA author Laurie Halse Anderson received notice of 3 attempts to remove 2 of her books: TWISTED & SPEAK.   Speak was called “smutty” and “pornographic” by a complaining parent in California, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times. (Warning: if you haven’t read Speak, the article includes some spoilers) The [...]

Books I’m Taking To Camp*

Camp Minnetonkahaka in Wisconsin . . .  gonna be a blast!  Can’t wait to kayak, and I get to bring my cell phone and flat iron!  We have internet, too!  No parents for eight weeks plus my older cousin Suki is a head counselor!  She is so cool!  I’m bringing aaallll these books cuz they [...]

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson*

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, 2009. What is it like to be a wintergirl?  ”Caught between (two) worlds . . . (freezing your butt off,) a ghost with a beating heart.”  All I have to say is it’s got to suck.  Lia looks like a disgusting haunted toothpick, and Cassie is totally dead.  This book [...]

Wintergirls due out in a week!

Speak author Laurie Halse Anderson (see also Twisted and Chains) releases the first of 3 videos of her latest book: Wintergirls - due out on March 19.  Place a hold on one of our copies today!     Anderson illuminates a dark but utterly realistic world…this is necessary reading. –Booklist, starred review As difficult as reading this novel can be, [...]

Enter 2 contests with 1 book trailer!

As part of Reel Reads, the Teen Summer Reading Game, you can submit a book trailer for a chance to win one of several grand prizes, such as a video camera. For more information, click here.     YA author Laurie Halse Anderson is also hosting a book trailer contest for a chance to win [...]