Pasadena Public Library
Review by Nina Dinan, 16 Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir By Nikki Grimes Ordinary Hazards is a memoir in verse. As the daughter of a paranoid schizophrenic mother and a struggling violinist father, Nikki Grimes spent her early years in and out of foster care, contending not only with poverty but with an […]
Review by Nina Dinan, 16 Shout: The True Story of a Survivor Who Refused to be Silenced By Laurie Halse Anderson In the poem “emergency, in three acts”, Laurie Halse Anderson recounts her experience giving a speech at a New Jersey high school. In this scene, she “stands in the spotlight […]
Review by Nina Dinan, 16 The Terrorist’s Son: A Story of Choice By Zak Ebrahim with Jeff Giles In writing The Terrorist’s Son, Zak Ebrahim does not mince words. He writes, “My father was the first known Islamic jihadist to take a life on American soil. He worked with the support of […]
Review by Jasmine Sov, 13 Let’s Call it a Doomsday By Katie Henry Let’s Call It a Doomsday is about a girl named Ellis Kimball, who, because of her overwhelming anxiety, is prepared for every possible way that the world could end. Maybe even over-prepared. When she meets Hannah Marks, a […]
Review by Nina Dinan, 16 Slave Stealers: True Accounts of Slave Rescues Then and Now By Timothy Ballard “Today, there are approximately twenty to thirty million people enslaved. Close to six million of these modern-day slave victims are children. Human trafficking brings in an estimated 150 billion dollars annually and is the […]
Review by Nina Dinan, 13 A Thousand Sisters: The Heroic Airwomen of the Soviet Union in World War II By Elizabeth Wein Yevdokia Bershanskaya, commander of the 46th Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, has devised a new method of flying bombing missions. It was a response to the events of a disastrous night […]
Review by Jasmine Sov, 13 Dance of Thieves By Mary E. Pearson Mary E. Pearson’s fantasy/sci-fi novel Dance of Thieves follows reformed thief, Kazi, and outlaw leader, Jase, as they meet under not-very-convenient circumstances, fall in love, and save the kingdom, one betrayal at a time. Oh, and did I mention […]
1st Place “What do you Fight For?” by Madison Comick, age 15 Alina clutched the paper between her hands. It had the typed question from her supervisor, Iris, but no answer. She’d been staring at the question for a week now- “What do you fight for? What are we […]
Review by Jasmine Sov, 13 Better Than the Best Plan By Lauren Morrill Maritza Reed always has a plan for everything. Then again, when your life is about jumping from house to house and living under an enlightenment-obsessed mom, you always need a back-up plan. That is, until Ritzy’s mom […]
Review by Nina Dinan, 16 Deep Dark Blue: A Memoir of Survival By Polo Tate Polo Tate arrived at the U.S. Air Force Academy with a mentality that fed off challenges. She was a highly successful student-athlete who quickly rose to the physical and mental demands of the academy. She was […]