Maggie Reagan works for Booklist as an associate editor in the Books for Youth department. In addition to the required love of reading, she is also an adventure junkie, animal hugger, and stringed-instrument enthusiast. Follow her on Twitter @MagdalenaRayGun.
These days, it’s pretty hard to imagine the YA landscape without Sarah Dessen. With a body of work that has earned her a Margaret A. Edwards award for her contributions to children’s literature and a thoughtful, accessible writing style that has ensnared a loyal legion of fans, Dessen is a staple in the field. Her […]
In 1999, a woman who was to become a major voice in YA made her fiction debut with the novel Speak: a spare, biting, redemptive story about a girl starting high school as an outcast in the aftermath of her rape. It’s been nearly two decades since the publication of Speak, and Laurie Halse Anderson, its […]
Let’s get one thing out of the way: You write about the rain when it’s sunny. These days, though, it’s always raining, and no one has time to wait for the sun. So you write heartbroken. You write frustrated. And you write angry. Last year saw a new wave of books that dealt with rape […]
New novels by Julie Murphy and Riley Redgate, out this month, both tackle the oft-neglected B in LGBTQ. Julie Murphy (Dumplin’, 2015) knows a thing or two about navigating the worlds of girls on the brink of self-discovery. In Ramona Blue, that girl is Ramona Leroux, over six feet tall and sporting blue hair. She’s also […]
Shusterman’s latest investigates a future world without struggle or desire. Without these, he asks, are we even human? In the year 2042, humans conquered death. Now, in the postmortal society of MidMerica, people can live for millennia, either reanimated from fatal accidents or “turning the corner” when they get old by resetting themselves to a […]
Next week is Banned Books Week, an annual celebration of the freedom to read. As part of their efforts, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom compiles a list of the top ten most frequently challenged books. As this year’s list proves once again, if any book is bound to end up challenged, it’s one that deals with LGBT issues […]
The Books for Youth department at Booklist has been positively flooded with books whose covers have things in bottles/jars/globes, etc. The two books in Alexandra Bracken’s Passenger series involve boats, one—Nicole Castroman’s Blackhearts—is about pirates, while Ally Condie’s Everlife series concerns warring factions in the realm of the dead. Is this coincidence, or the glass-covered shape of things to come? […]
There’s no denying that it’s certainly been the Year of Hamilton. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s groundbreaking musical surprised no one when it won the Tony Award for Best Musical in June, and swept 10 other categories besides. (For an excellent behind-the-scenes account, check out this audiobook.) Hamilton is a singular sensation to be sure, but Broadway’s been bursting […]
“Clearly,” Ruta Sepetys says with a good-natured laugh, “I have no idea what my books are about.” She’s speaking to a room packed full of people who have come to hear her discuss her latest release, Salt to the Sea, a novel about the greatest maritime disaster in history. As a multi-award-winning author whose books have […]
The acclaimed Ruta Sepetys dredges up a sunken German military ship as she fictionalizes the greatest—and surprisingly little-known—tragedy in maritime history. Shipwrecks and maritime disasters are of fathomless interest, with ships such as the Titanic and the Lusitania household names. It’s interesting that the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff during WWII, which led to the largest loss of life […]
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