Lynn: It happens without warning: Annabelle has been trying to hold it together for a long time but suddenly she snaps and, in one panicky moment, she is running. “Snapping is easy when you’re already brittle from the worst possible thing happening,” she says. This is the reader’s introduction to Annabelle Agnelli and her journey […]
Lynn: When I heard that a movie of Philip Reeve’s brilliant Mortal Engines (2003) was in the works, I immediately wanted to reread the series. (I hear a chorus of “Sing it, sister!”) If you HAVEN’T read the series, RUN to get the first book NOW! If you’re a fan of world-building, this series is like […]
Middle-grade and young adult readers know and love S. A. Bodeen for her imaginative stories of adventure and survival—shipwrecks, doomsday bunkers, and dystopian human experiments abound. The Tomb, her tenth novel, follows 13-year-old Kiva after she emerges from virtual reality and finds herself aboard a spaceship. Earth is gone, and she traverses space with some […]
Lynn: On the first day of high school in a new town, with a chance to make a new life, Quinn looks at the two wigs on her bureau. Should she be Guinevere or Sasha? It’s been 408 days since she lost all her hair to an autoimmune disorder, during which time her eighth-grade friends drifted […]
Lynn: I have great respect for teen readers. They eat up books dealing with serious social issues, books that open doors to diverse cultures, and books carefully examining different points of view. But hey—sometimes even teen readers just want to have fun! So, librarians and teachers, when teens come looking for fun, here’s something to […]
Cindy: Our students started school last week, and now, with the Labor Day holiday behind us, most students around the country are back as well. One challenge facing new middle-school students is learning their locker combination. It’s such a big deal to go from a coat room hook to a locker! Accordingly, many book covers depict an […]
The box office success of Crazy Rich Asians (the sequel has already been announced!) has the interwebs a-twitter with discussions of how one movie with a fabulous all-Asian cast has increased diverse representation in Hollywood. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, released just two days later on Netflix, features a trio of Korean-American sisters and […]
Time travel, time paradoxes, time shells, time hollows—are they fantasy? Reality? The following titles are billed as fiction, but they’re also a look into endless possibilities. Last week, we brought you audiobooks about time travel for adults, but it’s time (sorry) younger readers got their due. Go ahead—or back. 47, by Walter Mosley, read […]
Cindy: I’ve been fascinated by the Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi ever since I read Susan Vreeland’s novel, The Passion of Artemisia (2002), while serving on the Best Books for Young Adults YALSA committee when it still included adult books in its charge. When I learned about the new debut YA novel Blood Water Paint (2018) […]
Lynn: We count you Bookends readers as friends. Having just read The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge (September) by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin, I know that, were I a goblin, I would affectionately address you as follows: You clammy, sweaty pedant! Get your toad-like hands on this book ASAP (as-soon-as-published)! Brilliant and very, very funny, writer […]
Encouraging Middle-Schoolers to Choose Books
There’s been a lot of discussion among the librarians I know about what to do with middle-schoolers: they just don’t seem to read as much as they used to. I know that here in Chicago, we have a unique perspective on this situation, since our schools run K–8. In my former school system in Maryland […]
Getting Started with the Global Read Aloud
The 2017 Global Read Aloud kicked off yesterday, and I’m here to help. Author and educator Pernille Ripp founded the program as a way to connect students and teachers from different locales around the topics of books. (Think One Book One School or One Book One City, but on a global scale.) Each year, Ripp […]
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: Practice Recognizing Fake News
Cindy: There have been a number of YA fiction books with the title “Two Truths and a Lie,” but we’ve found a creative, informational book for middle-grade students that reinforces evaluating information for truth. Fake news, anyone? Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive (2017) by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson is the first […]
Encouraging Middle-Schoolers to Choose Books
There’s been a lot of discussion among the librarians I know about what to do with middle-schoolers: they just don’t seem to read as much as they used to. I know that here in Chicago, we have a unique perspective on this situation, since our schools run K–8. In my former school system in Maryland […]
Getting Started with the Global Read Aloud
The 2017 Global Read Aloud kicked off yesterday, and I’m here to help. Author and educator Pernille Ripp founded the program as a way to connect students and teachers from different locales around the topics of books. (Think One Book One School or One Book One City, but on a global scale.) Each year, Ripp […]
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: Practice Recognizing Fake News
Cindy: There have been a number of YA fiction books with the title “Two Truths and a Lie,” but we’ve found a creative, informational book for middle-grade students that reinforces evaluating information for truth. Fake news, anyone? Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive (2017) by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson is the first […]
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