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Editorial Content for Everything That Makes You

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Sydney L, Teen Board member

Fiona’s world flipped upside down on the day of her accident, which left her with a massive burn scar on the side of her face and a lingering feeling of shyness and insecurity.   Read More

Teaser

Fiona Doyle's face was horribly scarred as a child. She writes about her frustrations and dreams in notebooks, penning song lyrics. But she'd never be brave enough to sing those songs in public. Fi Doyle never had an accident. She's the best lacrosse player in the state and can't be distracted by her friend who wants to be more than that. But then her luck on the field goes south.

Alternating chapters between Fiona and Fi tell two stories about the same girl --- hopes and dreams and crushes, fears and failures and loss.

Promo

Fiona Doyle's face was horribly scarred as a child. She writes about her frustrations and dreams in notebooks, penning song lyrics. But she'd never be brave enough to sing those songs in public. Fi Doyle never had an accident. She's the best lacrosse player in the state and can't be distracted by her friend who wants to be more than that. But then her luck on the field goes south.
 
Alternating chapters between Fiona and Fi tell two stories about the same girl --- hopes and dreams and crushes, fears and failures and loss.

About the Book

Ever wonder "What if?" Everything That Makes You is a romantic, epic story about one girl --- and her two possible lives after an accident changes her fate.
 
Fiona Doyle's face was horribly scarred as a child. She writes about her frustrations and dreams in notebooks, penning song lyrics. But she'd never be brave enough to sing those songs in public. Fi Doyle never had an accident. She's the best lacrosse player in the state and can't be distracted by her friend who wants to be more than that. But then her luck on the field goes south.
 
Alternating chapters between Fiona and Fi tell two stories about the same girl --- hopes and dreams and crushes, fears and failures and loss. This beautifully written realistic contemporary novel with a twist is perfect for fans of If I Stay by Gayle Forman and Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.

Editorial Content for My Best Everything

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Alison S., Teen Board member

Not a lot of books portray first love alongside moonshine, junkyards and agoraphobia --- but even if it weren't for the ingenuity of its plot, MY BEST EVERYTHING would still stand out from the deluge of young adult romances flooding bookstore shelves. Read More

Teaser

 

 

Luisa "Lulu" Mendez has just finished her final year of high school in a small Virginia town, determined to move on and leave her job at the local junkyard behind. So when her father loses her college tuition money, Lulu needs a new ticket out. Desperate for funds, she cooks up the (illegal) plan to make and sell moonshine with her friends. 

Promo

Luisa "Lulu" Mendez has just finished her final year of high school in a small Virginia town, determined to move on and leave her job at the local junkyard behind. So when her father loses her college tuition money, Lulu needs a new ticket out. Desperate for funds, she cooks up the (illegal) plan to make and sell moonshine with her friends. 

About the Book

An Appalachian summer walks the line between toxic and intoxicating in this debut novel about first loves, broken hearts, and moonshine.
 
Luisa "Lulu" Mendez has just finished her final year of high school in a small Virginia town, determined to move on and leave her job at the local junkyard behind. So when her father loses her college tuition money, Lulu needs a new ticket out.
 
Desperate for funds, she cooks up the (illegal) plan to make and sell moonshine with her friends. Quickly realizing they're out of their depth, they turn to Mason, a local boy who's always seemed like a dead end. As Mason guides Lulu through the secret world of moonshine, it looks like her plan might actually work. But can she leave town before she loses everything?
 
My Best Everything is Lulu's letter to Mason--but is it a love letter, an apology, or a good-bye?

March 2015

Hello!

Whether you and your children live in a place like Miami, where it has been sunny and beautiful for months, or in New York City, where the sky is threatening to dump buckets of snow on the city any minute now, you can't deny the facts: today, March 20th, is the first day of spring! And if your kids are anything like me, they are more than ready to put aside their boots in favor of skirts without tights, flowers, endlessly long walks, ice cream cones, light jackets and pure, unadulterated sunshine.

We decided to help them celebrate this much-needed seaonal transition at Kidsreads.com in a few different ways. See below for some spring-themed books you can share!

C. W. Gortner, author of Mademoiselle Chanel

Coco Chanel was a woman with a vision who fought every convention of her time to become the most iconic fashion designer the world has ever known. She hit her stride in the 1920s with a style that freed women and money that brought her a freedom she had never known. As her reputation and business reached new heights, Chanel became the woman every man wanted and every woman wanted to be.

Jacqueline Winspear, author of A Dangerous Place: A Maisie Dobbs Novel

On a ship bound for England to visit her aging father after her stepmother summons her home, Maisie Dobbs realizes she isn’t ready to return. Against the wishes of the captain, who warns her, “You will be alone in a most dangerous place,” she disembarks in Gibraltar. Days after her arrival, a photographer and member of Gibraltar’s Sephardic Jewish community is murdered, and Maisie becomes entangled in the case and renews an uneasy acquaintance in the process.

James Patterson, author of NYPD Red 3

Detective Zach Jordan and his partner, Kylie MacDonald, are called to the home of billionaire businessman Hunter Alden, Jr. after he makes a grisly discovery in his townhouse garage. When Alden's teenage son goes missing soon afterwards, and his father seems oddly reluctant to find him, Zach and Kylie find themselves in the middle of a chilling conspiracy that threatens everyone in its wake --- especially their city's most powerful citizens.

Don't Stay Up Late: A Fear Street Novel by R. L. Stine

R.L. Stine's hugely successful young adult horror series Fear Street is back after almost two decades. Fear Street is a worldwide phenomenon and helped to kick off the young adult craze which is still going strong today. In the second new book in this series, DON'T STAY UP LATE, Stine explores the unbridled terror of a damaged young lady sent on a doomed babysitting job. 
 

Interview: Susan Crawford, author of The Pocket Wife

Mar 20, 2015

Susan Crawford is a debut author who, in addition to teaching and writing, is involved in many impressive literary extracurricular activities --- including participating in two critique groups. THE POCKET WIFE is her first full-length novel, and it’s about Dana Catrell, a bipolar woman in the throes of mania, who must piece together the shards of her broken memory in order to figure out who killed her neighbor. In this interview with The Book Report Network's Norah Piehl, Crawford talks about why she decided to write a psychological thriller, the challenges of matching her writing to Dana’s state(s) of mind, and why there’s no such thing, really, as a reliable narrator. She also recommends some great books for anyone interested in further exploring bipolar disorder.

March 20, 2015 - April 10, 2015

Here are reading recommendations with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars for the contest period of March 20 - April 10.

Editorial Content for The Assassin: An Isaac Bell Adventure

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Judy Gigstad

If you haven’t been spellbound by Van Dorn private detective Isaac Bell by this time, then THE ASSASSIN will make you a fan. The ability of Clive Cussler (in collaboration with Justin Scott) to fine-tune characters, set them in near-impossible situations and spin a multifaceted plot is storytelling genius.  Read More

Teaser

Van Dorn private detective Isaac Bell is investigating John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil monopoly, when a sniper begins murdering opponents of Standard Oil, and it doesn’t stop there. The murders --- shootings, poisonings, staged accidents --- have just begun as Bell tracks his phantom-like criminal adversary across the U.S., to Russia’s war-torn Baku oil fields on the Caspian Sea, and back to America for a final, desperate confrontation. And this one will be the most explosive of all.

Promo

Van Dorn private detective Isaac Bell is investigating John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil monopoly, when a sniper begins murdering opponents of Standard Oil, and it doesn’t stop there. The murders --- shootings, poisonings, staged accidents --- have just begun as Bell tracks his phantom-like criminal adversary across the U.S., to Russia’s war-torn Baku oil fields on the Caspian Sea, and back to America for a final, desperate confrontation. And this one will be the most explosive of all.

About the Book

Van Dorn private detective Isaac Bell is investigating John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil monopoly, when a sniper begins murdering opponents of Standard Oil, and it doesn’t stop there. The murders --- shootings, poisonings, staged accidents --- have just begun as Bell tracks his phantom-like criminal adversary across the U.S., to Russia’s war-torn Baku oil fields on the Caspian Sea, and back to America for a final, desperate confrontation. And this one will be the most explosive of all.