Pasadena Public Library
review by Nina Dinan, age 14 Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman This book is a portrait in words, filled with vivid descriptions of scenes and locations that are by turns devastating and breathtakingly beautiful. This is fitting in a sweeping dual biography of two brothers who lived […]
review by John Chon, age 15 That Thing We Call a Heart by Sheba Karim That Thing We Call a Heart by Sheba Karim is an interesting novel about the modern Muslim family. Not most teen books are about this topic. This book does a fair job with it, balancing it out with […]
review by Jacob Chon, age 15 House of Furies by Madeleine Roux House of Furies is a gripping tale of a young beggar who is thrust into a boarding house straight out of a horror movie. Louisa Ditton runs away from her status as a beggar to become a maid at […]
review by Kira Toal, age 16 The Art of Feeling by Laura Tims Summary: The Art of Feeling is a YA romance/drama by Laura Tims about pain, emotional and physical, and the different effects it has on two foils: a girl with chronic pain, and a boy with congenital analgesia. Characters: The […]
review by John Chon, age 15 The First Time She Drowned by Kerry Kletter Summary: Cassie O’Malley has been trying to keep her head above water—literally and metaphorically—since birth. It’s been two and a half years since Cassie’s mother dumped her in a mental institution against her will, and now, at eighteen, Cassie […]
review by Jacob Chon, age 15 Madness by Zac Brewer What is madness if it is not doing something many times, each time expecting a different result? And who is Brooke, if she is not a girl who goes to therapy many times, each time expecting a different result? As a young […]
review by Jacob Chon, age 15 The Closest I’ve Come by Fred Aceves Marcos Rivas is like any other high school student. He simply wants to be loved. From his basketball games with other guys from the hood, to his abusive stepfather, Marcos’s life is not giving him that. All he gets are […]
review by Sylvie Bower, age 16 That Thing We Call a Heart by Sheba Karim That Thing We Call a Heart is the story of Shabnam, a Pakistani-American girl, during her last summer in New Jersey before going to Penn. She isn’t speaking to her best friend, who’s recently started wearing a hijab, […]
review by Jacob Chon, age 15 There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins Summary: Love hurts… Makani Young thought she’d left her dark past behind her in Hawaii, settling in with her grandmother in landlocked Nebraska. She’s found new friends and has even started to fall for mysterious outsider Ollie Larsson. But […]
review by John Chon, age 15 Blight by Alexandra Duncan Summary: Seventeen-year-old Tempest Torres has lived on the AgraStar farm north of Atlanta since she was found outside the gates at the age of five. Now she’s part of the security force guarding the fence and watching for scavengers—people who would rather steal […]