Pasadena Public Library
Review by Isabella Henriquez, 16 Parachutes By Kelly Yang Every year, thousands of students from China migrate to the US to study in their schools. They are known as the “parachutes”. This includes our protagonist, Claire Wang. Claire’s parents didn’t believe that she would pass the gaokao, which is China’s […]
Review by Nina Dinan, 16 The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens who Made England) By Dan Jones Are you a fan of Game of Thrones or The White Queen? If so, you’ll love The Plantagenets, the true story of the ruthless and visionary family that transformed England from a […]
Review by Jasmine Sov, 14 The Easy Part of Impossible By Sarah Tomp *Spoilers Ahead* The Easy Part of Impossible by Sarah Tomp is told from the perspective of ADHD-diagnosed Victoria “Ria” Williams, a teenage diver who excels in her sport as opposed to her struggles in school. Fiercely pushed along […]
Review by Jasmine Sov, 14 Frankly In Love By David Yoon Frankly in Love is a story from the perspective of Frank Li, Korean-American high school senior whose parents are very, very traditional as in “go to Harvard for college and marry a nice Korean girl” traditional. In fact, when […]
Review by Genevieve Ruth Harvey, 16 The Astonishing Color of After By Emily X. R. Pan In The Astonishing Color of After, X. R. Pan crafts a story using nonconventional colors, such as fuchsia and alizarin crimson, to indicate the complex emotions Leigh is dealing with following her mother’s death. Leigh, […]
Review by Jasmine Sov, 14 Bone Crier’s Moon tells the story of Ailesse and Sabine, two young girls who must one day complete their rite of passage—summoning and sacrificing their destined true love—in order to become true Bone Criers, ferries of the dead. Ailesse is the daughter of her famille’s […]
Review by Genevieve Ruth Harvey, 16 Butterfly Yellow By Thanhha Lai The lacuna that separates Hang from the Texans is evident in the first chapter as she munches on ginger, isolating herself on the boat from others around her, desperately attempting to suppress the memories of her experiences at sea in the […]
Review by Jasmine Sov, 14 Yes No Maybe So By Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed When Jamie, who considers himself to be awful at public speaking, and Maya, who’s going through the worst possible time of her life, somehow end up doing political canvassing for their local state senate candidate, they’re […]
Review by Jasmine Sov, 14 What I Want You To See By Catherine Linka Winning a full-ride scholarship to California’s top art school previously seemed like a crazy, awesome, happily-ever-after for Sabine Reyes, but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. The renowned professor Colin Krell, who she’d hoped to be […]
Review by Nina Dinan, 16 Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything American History Textbooks Get Wrong (Young Readers’ Edition) By James W. Loewen, Adapted by Rebecca Stefoff “In his novel 1984, English writer George Orwell said, ‘Who controls the present controls the past.’ He meant that those in power shape the way […]