MADreads Reviews

It’s not very often a science fiction book wins the Newbery Award and the Pura Belpré Award but The Last Cuentista did this year. The Last Cuentista is a dystopian story with tales of Mexican folklore woven within. ‘Cuentista’ in Spanish means storyteller and the main character, Petra Peña, is truly the only cuentista left in the world.

Seriously. In this young adult novel, high school is the worst. Todd Mayer has died and no one at his school will answer any questions or admit to knowing him when the police investigate. Things are not right, that's for sure. Georgia's brother goes to school with Todd and is in the same grade, even, and won't acknowledge that he knows Todd. So what's up?

This book is described as a smash-up of art and text that captures 2020 and what it was like to be black during the COVID-19 lockdown and racial unrest and protests. It is incredible:  painful, powerful, and beautiful. Told in three sections called Breath One, Breath Two and Breath Three, I viewed the book as illustrated poetry with the parts representing the past, present and future.

This book is described as a smash-up of art and text that captures 2020 and what it was like to be black during the COVID-19 lockdown and racial unrest and protests. It is incredible:  painful, powerful, and beautiful. Told in three sections called Breath One, Breath Two and Breath Three, I viewed the book as illustrated poetry with the parts representing the past, present and future.

Temple Alley Summer is full of mystery, history, and ghosts. Kazu's summer project is to learn more about his neighborhood, Temple Alley, named for the former Kimyo Temple located where Kazu's house currently stands. An old legend claims that the temple has the power to bring the dead back to life. A girl named Akari suddenly appears in the alley and Kazu starts to wonder if the legend is more than a story. 

The ALA Youth Media Awards were announced last week and Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley was honored in a number of categories (very deservedly so!).

2022 Awards and Honors:
AILA American Indian Youth Literature Award, Young Adult Honor
William C Morris YA Debut Award Winner
Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature Winner

The American Library Association (ALA) announced the top books, video and audio books for children and young adults, including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards at LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience today.

A list of 2022 award winners follows:

The American Library Association (ALA) announced the top books, video and audio books for children and young adults, including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards at LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience today.

A list of 2022 award winners follows:

In the Young Adult book world, there are many new, fresh voices being represented as well as more titles from favorite YA authors. Here are some YA books that have left an impression on me this past year. They made me stay up way too late or were a treat to listen to as I mowed the lawn or drove around town.

In the Young Adult book world, there are many new, fresh voices being represented as well as more titles from favorite YA authors. Here are some YA books that have left an impression on me this past year. They made me stay up way too late or were a treat to listen to as I mowed the lawn or drove around town.

Yes, Mona is a wizard, but her specialty is bread. Which is wonderful for keeping muffins from burning or convincing biscuits that they are not overworked, but significantly less so for defending the her city from an internal coupe and foreign invaders. Mona is a reluctant hero, who very rightly points out that she wouldn't have needed to BE a hero if the people in charge had just done what they were supposed to.

Yes, Mona is a wizard, but her specialty is bread. Which is wonderful for keeping muffins from burning or convincing biscuits that they are not overworked, but significantly less so for defending the her city from an internal coupe and foreign invaders. Mona is a reluctant hero, who very rightly points out that she wouldn't have needed to BE a hero if the people in charge had just done what they were supposed to.

Although Miles and Rhys attend the same school, they don't know each other in real life, but in the online game Mecha Melee they are triumphant besties known as Gryphon and Backslash. The action in the book switches back and forth between in-game action and real-life family and middle school drama. The students at their school make up a diverse cast of background characters. Miles and his family are Black, and Rhys and his family have light brown skin and straight, dark hair.

This middle grade graphic novel set in Indonesia will pull at your heart strings. Jordan (named after Michael Jordan) shoots hoops like no one else at Kahawaii Multicultural School. A former star player on the basketball team, she's now the Captain after an accident leaves her paralyzed and unable to play on the team as before. Jordan misses playing basketball but remains upbeat and runs practices, attends games, and remains an integral part of the team.

If you heard that someone got stuck when trying to cross the border, would you think of San Ysidro, El Paso or maybe Laredo? I admit, I did. But this story takes place at the Canadian-American border. This graphic novel, illustrated by Natasha Donovan, is an adaptation of Thomas King's 1993 short story. A Blackfoot boy in Alberta tells how when he was about twelve years old, his seventeen year old sister moved to Salt Lake City. The tension between Laetitia and her mother feels very real.

To this day there is argument about what happened at Kent State on May 4, 1970. What's certain is that tensions were high. America was at war in Vietnam, the nation was divided in their support of President Nixon, young men were living in fear of the draft, and students were protesting the bombing of Cambodia by United States military forces. Many students at Kent State thought the bombing escalated a war that the United States was supposedly withdrawing from and were peacefully protesting on Friday, May 1 on the Commons, a large grassy area in the middle of campus.

I've been waiting to tell you about John Scalzi's forthcoming title for a while now as it was just the antidote I needed for a reading slump. At the time most things I'd been reading were eliciting a tepid, 'ah it was fine' response. And then came the Kaiju. Not only were they a saving grace for me, but based on the author note included in the book, were one for Scalzi as well. He'd been struggling with another book as the pandemic worsened and just couldn't make progress when the idea for this story popped into his head.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that we’d like to have Mary Roach in our high school science classes. Her ‘can-you-believe-this’ odd factoid interjections would likely liven up most classrooms while making those facts that teacher presents stick all the better.

Recently the National Book Foundation announced the 2021 Finalists for the National Book Awards.  According to their website "the mission of the National Book Foundation is to celebrate the best literature in America, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in American culture."   The categories include Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, Young People's Literature.

October and the spooky season are just around the corner and I have the book for you. Elly Griffiths' (best known for her Ruth Galloway series of mysteries) Stranger Diaries is suspenseful and even spooky at times (there's even a ghost) and is a gothic book about a gothic story that is being written about for a book. Okay that sounds like nonsense, I know.