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Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse

April 2016

Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke spends her days procuring and delivering sought-after black market goods to paying customers, her nights hiding the true nature of her work from her concerned parents, and every waking moment mourning her boyfriend, who was killed on the Dutch front lines when the Germans invaded. On a routine delivery, a client asks Hanneke for help. Expecting to hear that Mrs. Janssen wants meat or kerosene, she is shocked by the older woman's frantic plea to find a person --- a Jewish teenager Mrs. Janssen had been hiding, who has vanished without a trace from a secret room.

Golden Boys by Sonya Hartnett

April 2016

Colt Jenson and his younger brother, Bastian, have moved to a new, working-class suburb. The Jensons are different. Their father, Rex, showers them with gifts --- toys, bikes, all that glitters most --- and makes them the envy of the neighborhood. To the local kids, the Jensons are a family out of a movie, and Rex a hero --- successful, attentive, attractive, always there to lend a hand. But to Colt, he's an impossible figure: unbearable, suffocating. Has Colt got Rex wrong, or has he seen something in his father that will destroy their fragile new lives?

Nelson Henderson

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

Attribution

Nelson Henderson

Do you tend to read more during the week or over the weekend?

April 28, 2016, 522 voters

Georgia: A Novel of Georgia O'Keeffe by Dawn Tripp

April 2016

I confess that I never knew Georgia O’Keefe lived in New York. I always thought she spent her entire life in New Mexico, which I have visited just once, but still think of when I contemplate beautiful places. Thus GEORGIA: A Novel of Georgia O’Keeffe by Dawn Tripp was a real treat as I read about Georgia’s life in New York (where she moved in 1916), her relationship and marriage to the noted photographer and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz, and her works beyond the flowers and landscapes that I have come to associate with her. Stieglitz’s photographs of her, many of them nudes, drew attention to them both. He also marketed and showed her work, positioning her in the art world and continuously urging her to do more.

Editorial Content for The Last Boy and Girl in the World

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Sally Witchalls

Teaser

 

What if your town was sliding underwater and everyone was ordered to pack up and leave? How would you and your friends spend your last days together? While the adults plan for the future, box up their possessions, and find new places to live, Keeley Hewitt and her friends decide to go out with a bang. There are parties in abandoned houses. Canoe races down Main Street. The goal is to make the most of every minute they still have together. And for Keeley, that means taking one last shot at the boy she’s loved forever.

Promo

What if your town was sliding underwater and everyone was ordered to pack up and leave? How would you and your friends spend your last days together? While the adults plan for the future, box up their possessions, and find new places to live, Keeley Hewitt and her friends decide to go out with a bang. There are parties in abandoned houses. Canoe races down Main Street. The goal is to make the most of every minute they still have together. And for Keeley, that means taking one last shot at the boy she’s loved forever.

About the Book

From the critically acclaimed author of THE LIST comes a stunning new novel about a girl who must say goodbye to everything she knows after a storm wreaks havoc on her hometown.

What if your town was sliding underwater and everyone was ordered to pack up and leave? How would you and your friends spend your last days together?

While the adults plan for the future, box up their possessions, and find new places to live, Keeley Hewitt and her friends decide to go out with a bang. There are parties in abandoned houses. Canoe races down Main Street. The goal is to make the most of every minute they still have together.

And for Keeley, that means taking one last shot at the boy she’s loved forever.

There’s a weird sort of bravery that comes from knowing there’s nothing left to lose. You might do things you normally wouldn’t. Or say things you shouldn’t. The reward almost always outweighs the risk.

Almost.

It’s the end of Aberdeen, but the beginning of Keeley’s first love story. It just might not turn out the way she thought. Because it’s not always clear what’s worth fighting for and what you should let become a memory.

Audiobook available, narrated by Jorjeana Marie.

Editorial Content for The Haters

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ariel G., Teen Board Member
In Jesse Andrew’s second literary pursuit, the theme tunes in on a slightly different artistic expression: music. While enjoying universal praise and acclaim for his first endeavor in the very memorable ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL, Andrews summed up his newest work in the most comical of ways, saying, “I feel pretty confident that this is my finest second novel yet.” I might have to agree, both because of its obviousness and because he just might be right.  
 

Teaser

For Wes and his best friend, Corey, jazz camp turns out to be lame. It’s pretty much all dudes talking in Jazz Voice. But then they jam with Ash, a charismatic girl with an unusual sound, and the three just click. It’s three and a half hours of pure musical magic, and Ash makes a decision: They need to hit the road. Because the road, not summer camp, is where bands get good. Before Wes and Corey know it, they’re in Ash’s SUV heading south, and The Haters Summer of Hate Tour has begun.

Promo

For Wes and his best friend, Corey, jazz camp turns out to be lame. It’s pretty much all dudes talking in Jazz Voice. But then they jam with Ash, a charismatic girl with an unusual sound, and the three just click. It’s three and a half hours of pure musical magic, and Ash makes a decision: They need to hit the road. Because the road, not summer camp, is where bands get good. Before Wes and Corey know it, they’re in Ash’s SUV heading south, and The Haters Summer of Hate Tour has begun.

About the Book

From Jesse Andrews, author of the New York Times bestselling ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL and screenwriter of the Sundance award–winning motion picture of the same name, comes a groundbreaking young adult novel about music, love, friendship, and freedom as three young musicians follow a quest to escape the law long enough to play the amazing show they hope (but also doubt) they have in them.
 
Inspired by the years he spent playing bass in a band himself, THE HATERS is Jesse Andrews’s road trip adventure about a trio of jazz-camp escapees who, against every realistic expectation, become a band. 
 
For Wes and his best friend, Corey, jazz camp turns out to be lame. It’s pretty much all dudes talking in Jazz Voice. But then they jam with Ash, a charismatic girl with an unusual sound, and the three just click. It’s three and a half hours of pure musical magic, and Ash makes a decision: They need to hit the road. Because the road, not summer camp, is where bands get good. Before Wes and Corey know it, they’re in Ash’s SUV heading south, and The Haters Summer of Hate Tour has begun.
 
In his second novel, Andrews again brings his brilliant and distinctive voice to YA, in the perfect book for music lovers, fans of The Commitments and High Fidelity, or anyone who has ever loved --- and hated --- a song or a band. This witty, funny coming-of-age novel is contemporary fiction at its best.

Audiobook available, narrated by Michael Crouch.