“What super depressing tragedy are you reading about now?” That’s what my fiance said to me the other night as I pulled out my book to read before bed. “The sinking of the Lusitania,” I replied. “Of course. That sounds awful.” I like sad books. I almost always have. Friends ask me for book recommendations…
The Thursday Book Beat: Working Towards Diversity in Every Space We Have
Hey there, dear readers! I’m back from an amazing weekend in New York City, where I spent my Sunday with lots of bookish people at Blogbound. It was so invigorating to be surrounded by readers, authors, and book lovers for an entire afternoon, and I’m definitely looking forward to any future events that Nicole Brinkley,…
Chillin’ In The Summer Heat with The Unexpected Everything
The Unexpected Everything Morgan Matson Simon & Schuster Canada May 2016 Disclaimer: An Advanced Reader’s Copy (ARC) of the book was provided by the publisher for an honest review. Two years ago, around this time, when the winter blues became a distant memory and it was still bright outside at 7 PM, I read and reviewed…
YA?! Y Not’s Summer Reading List
Psst! Hey! Wanna hear a secret librarian confession? I hate summer reading. Don’t get me wrong: I love summer, and reading, and reading in the summer. Combating the so-called “summer slide”—where students lose reading and math skills over the summer because they are not practicing day in and day out—is really important, but what I…
Dogears: More SmallvilleGuy!
Lois Lane: Double Down Gwenda Bond Switch Press May 1, 2016 Disclaimer: A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Jess, WWAC writer, reviewed the first Lois Lane novel Fallout, and I agreed that it was a really fun read. I adored teen Lois and was excited…
Seek Higher Things: 4 Takes On The 100 Season Finale
After a controversial season that saw the deaths of major lesbian and black male characters, season three of the CW’s apocateen drama, The 100, ended with torture, sacrifice, and the start of another nuclear apocalypse. Surprisingly low on mass murder, though! The 100 is a regular subject of complaints—and sometimes compliments!—in WWAC’s Slack, so I thought…
You Be You: a Review of Princess Jellyfish
Princess Jellyfish, Volume 1 Mangaka: Akiko Higashimura Translation: Sarah Alys Lindholm; Lettering: Carl Vanstiphout; Editing: Haruko Hashimoto; Kodansha Comics Edition Cover Design: Phil Balsman. Kodansha Comics March, 2016 Disclaimer: This review of Princess Jellyfish is based on a review copy provided by the publisher.
White Pine Awards & Toronto’s Reading Festivities
On May 17th, I got up early and made my way down to Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre for the first day of the Festival of Trees. It’s a two day literary festival, with a third day in French, and has expanded to satellite events in Sault Ste. Marie and London, Ontario. It’s put together by the…
Searching for Glendower: Reflecting on The Raven Cycle
In 2012 Scholastic took the Young Adult book world by storm when they published The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, the first book in the new Raven Cycle series. It stared a young girl named Blue Sargent, who lives with her aunts, all of whom are clairvoyant, in a small town. Blue’s life may be unconventional…
The Thursday Book Beat: Booktubers & YA Authors Team Up For Anthology
This week, I’ll be filling in on the book beat and tackling the book news of the last few days. Bloomsbury is putting together an anthology that pairs a booktuber with a young adult author. The booktuber will provide a prompt for a story that the author will write from the perspective of a famous villain….
Dogears: An Unscripted History of Dragons
My Unscripted Life Lauren Morrill Delacorte (Random House) October 11, 2016 Lauren Morrill is a comforting voice in YA fiction, with contemporary romances that aren’t surprising but still engaging. But My Unscripted Life is the least captivating of her books thus far—it’s a novel that elevates romance at the expense of character development and story growth….
YA? Y Not?! In Defense of the Love Triangle
Ah, the love triangle—one of YA’s most divisive tropes! Love it or hate it, the YA love triangle is here to stay. In “The Curse of the Love Triangle in YA Fiction” at Acculturated, Abby W. Schachter said, “Romance in YA fiction is fine; but love triangles are boring. Authors who have conjured entirely new…