9
Mar
2010
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
It’s really no wonder that this was shortlisted for the National Book Award (Young People’s category) and won the Printz award. It’s one of those highly literary stories that trancscends the young adult or genre or the graphic novel genre. In fact, I think it may be enhanced by them.
25
Jan
2010
Odd & the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
Odd, in this case, may indeed be odd, but that is not what his name implies. In Old Norse, it means “lucky.” Unfortunately for Odd, he’s not.
24
Jan
2010
Fallen by Lauren Kate
I am making an effort to read more YA literature. But then I read it and I remember why I don’t usually pick up books like this. And the worst of it is, I kinda liked it.
30
Jun
2009
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
In the U.S. this book has been marketed as Young Adult, but I heard that Zusak didn’t intend it that way, and in fact that it was marketed as an adult book when it first came out in his native Australia.
29
Jun
2009
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
If you read any sentence of this book out loud to my sister, Sally, she can tell you want is happening in the story. She’s probably read it eight times. This was, in fact, a game that I liked to play with her when I read it–I would have been 11, she would have been 20.
12
Apr
2009
Flight by Sherman Alexie
I’ve lived in Seattle for almost four years now and I spend a lot of time in dive bars in Pioneer Square, so this book kind of stuck with me. Most of the homeless people, Native American or otherwise, in PS are pretty harmless. Some are even entrepreneurial entertainers and will sing or tell jokes for a buck. Some are obviously crazy or on drugs or drunk, but when I’m hanging out at the Merchant’s Café on a sunny Friday afternoon during the summer, so am I, so who am I to judge?
