It has been hard to post here over the last few weeks, but I am determined to finish listing my favorites of last year (even if, in the end, it is simply a list). These are not necessarily my Caldecott predictions, as the books that I end up loving most are often not the sort [...]

There will never be another John Hughes movie. I am incredibly sad about this. However, books like this one – heirs to John Hughes’ oeuvre in all of the very best ways – go a long way toward alleviating some of that sadness.
This book may have the best title of any on the fall list. [...]

Dear Jennifer Sturman:
WHERE IS THE SEQUEL TO THIS BOOK? I do not care that this book has not even come out yet, I NEED THE SEQUEL. NOW.
(I have cookies!)
Serious cliffhanger ending in this here book, people, but I can’t use that fact to warn you away. In fact, I need to tell you to read [...]

James is a hardcore anti-consumerist. He takes the bus, wears used clothing, and wants to overthrow the oil companies. And probably the government. Maybe the world. He wants big change, and he wants it now. He’s incredibly frustrated by the people around him at school and at home, especially his ex-girlfriend Sadie. She likes to [...]

Don’t do what I did. Don’t read this and WINTERGIRLS back to back. The heart isn’t meant to take so much. There’s only so much room inside your brain and your heart to hurt with these characters, and both of these books – well, they make you hurt. Not in a bad way, you [...]

If I were handselling this I would say it was a cross between Avi’s Crispin series and The Ranger’s Apprentice series, which would probably have boys taking it from me without question. This would also appeal to girls who like historical fiction/fantasy type crossovers, of course.
It’s leveled for teens but I’m not entirely sure why [...]

I really liked Vivian’s previous book, A LITTLE FRIENDLY ADVICE and I think this one’s even better. 16 year old Emily’s from a well-off South Jersey family and her life is pretty much the same thing every day: school, friends, family. Ever since her best friend got a boyfriend things have been a little off [...]

I do not think I know how to tell you about this book.
Honestly. Sometimes a book would come along in my bookselling life that I would absolutely love and be absolutely incapable of selling because I couldn’t describe it. Because I would open my mouth to describe it and this excited jumble of…well, crap…would come [...]

I have been trying to write this review for over a week. Man, this longer format is hard to adapt to. I’d only been reviewing books for the shop, and I need to write them more handsell type of reviews – what you would say when you hand someone the book as a purchase suggestion. [...]

Okay. Before I talk about THE SEASON, which I very much enjoyed, I need to say something. Possibly might turn into a rant. Maybe not.
THE LUXE started it all – this Regency teen romance thing. Well, if you want to be truly factual then I think you need to acknowledge first SORCERY AND CECILIA and [...]