Pasadena Public Library
review by Kira Toal, age 16 The Careful Undressing of Love by Corey Ann Haydu The Devonairre Street girls of Brooklyn are said to be cursed. According to local legend and the ominous admonitions of elderly female Devonairre Street residents, any boy with which a Devonairre girl falls in love […]
recap by McKenna Blackshire, age 14 The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee Summary: A thousand-story tower stretching into the sky. A glittering vision of the future where anything is possible—if you want it enough. WELCOME TO MANHATTAN, 2118. A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. Everyone […]
review by Jacob Chon, age 14 Spill Zone by Scott Westerfeld Summary: Nobody’s ever really explained the Spill. Was it an angelic visitation? A nanotech accident? A porthole opening from another world? Whatever it was, no one’s allowed in the Spill Zone these days except government scientists and hazmat teams. But a few […]
review by John Chon, age 14 Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman Summary: This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded. The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than […]
review by Madison Comick, age 14 Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist Let me start off by saying this contains spoilers. You have been warned. Now that you’ve been cautioned, let me begin by stating the obvious. If you are reading this, you can see. If sixteen-year-old, blind-since-birth Will Porter had this […]
review by Nina Dinan, age 13 Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Woman Living History by Karen Blumenthal While Hillary Clinton is likely best known among young people for her most recent presidential campaign, her public life has spanned decades and is laid out for readers in Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Woman Living History. This […]
review by Alicia Zhang, age 13 The Best Kind of Magic by Crystal Cestari In the novel The Best Kind of Magic by Crystal Cestari, teenager Amber Sand is overwhelmed by the intensity of the two worlds she straddles—one of magic, which is not as glorified as one may think—and the other regular […]
review by Alaina Joby, age 14 City of Saints and Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson A good mystery book is always fascinating because of the slight hint of what one might call “the otherworldly”. There is a moment when intuition is the only thing leading the protagonist towards the final answer. Some of […]
review by Kristina Yin, age 17 The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian classic. American government and way of life have been taken over by extreme Christian fundamentalism due to a scarcely mentioned nuclear war (this book was written in the 50s under the Reagan administration, so the […]
review by Jacob Chon, age 14 The Lost Causes by Jessica Koosed Etting and Alyssa Embree Schwartz A mystery book for the YA genre, The Lost Causes is a fairly unique book and stands out against the majority of the YA genre. It follows five high school students with psychological problems so […]