Back to top

MADreads for Teens

Teens posts by Jane J

By day a comic book writer...

Cover of The Frame-Up
A review of The Frame-Up by Meghan Scott Molin

MG Martin is a writer working for the comic book publishing company responsible for the comics that spurred the geekdom of her youth. Her dream job, or so you'd think. But things have stalled. She struggles to have her ideas heard in a building full of men and while she still wants to write the comics she loves, she's wondering if she should be pushing for more or even pursuing her love of costume design. Then into her lap falls a real-life mystery.

Jan 7, 2019

War lingers on

Cover of Treacherous is the Night
A review of Treacherous is the Night by Anna Lee Huber

It's 1919 in England and the Great War is over, but its shadow still looms large over England and all of Europe. Verity Kent is one of those struggling with a new life and her attempts to find a new normal. She's grounded in the here and now, but when a friend asks that she attend a seance, she agrees. Verity is a skeptic, to say the least, so when the medium channels a woman Verity once worked with in Belgium during the war, her suspicions are raised. Why would the medium make mention of a woman who worked as an anti-german spy?

Dec 18, 2018

Countdown begins

Kiss Quotient book cover
#libfaves18

I posted a couple "best of" lists last week. Today starts the 10 day #libfaves18 countdown. Each day for the next ten days library workers across the land will be posting their favorite 2018 titles, one day at a time. They'll use the hashtag #libfaves18 on Twitter so you can follow along. Tallying is happening each day and at the end of the countdown the biggest vote-getters will be posted.

Dec 10, 2018

The concierge is available

Unclaimed Baggage book cover
A review of NPR's Best Books of 2018 by

NPR's Book Concierge is back for 2018 and there are more then 300 titles for you to sort and peruse. You can look at all 319 titles or you can break it down by category. Or if you want to narrow it down even more, pick a couple of categories and see which titles fit your new criteria. There is quite simply something for everyone in this massive catalog. So take a look. Do you want to see which two books work for Art Lovers and Book Clubs? It's possible. How about the Comic/Graphic Novel that is Rather Short? You got it.

Nov 28, 2018

Secrets and lies (oh and ghosts)

Cover of A Dangerous Collaboration
A review of A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn

Veronica Speedwell and her cantankerous companion Stoker return in their fourth adventure. Veronica is just back in England after a lengthy butterfly hunting trip abroad. She'd been using the time away to try and figure out where her feelings stand in regard to Stoker but still hasn't figured anything out. So an invitation from Stoker's brother, Tiberius, to attend a house party at the estate of Lord Malcolm Romilly, which is on an island off the coast of Cornwall, seems just the ticket to distract her.

Nov 19, 2018

When a book becomes a movie

Cover of Now a Major Motion Picture
A review of Now a Major Motion Picture by Cori McCarthy

Imagine your grandmother was as big as J. K. Rowling and had written the number one fantasy series of all time - with all the fandom that that entails. Now imagine the first book in that series is being made into a movie, which has pushed the fandom into an even more frenzied state. And though you've tried your hardest to distance yourself from everything to do with the books, you're now being forced to join the set of the movie being made. That's just where Iris Thorne finds herself. Her grandmother, M. E.

Sep 17, 2018

Magical steampunk

Cover of The Clockwork Witch
A review of The Clockwork Witch by Michelle Sonnier

In this first of a series Sonnier offers a vibrant and fast-moving tale that melds steampunk and magic to great effect. Arabella is the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter of England's most powerful family of witches. As such she was expected to do great things. But Arabella has aged past the point where her powers should have been revealed with nary a spark of talent showing, much to the dismay of her mother and delight of some of her more competitive sisters.

Aug 27, 2018

Pages