Pasadena Public Library
10 YA Books About Race by Jane Gov, Youth Services Librarian updated 12/11, 2017 This month, our book club discussed The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. It was the most highly rated book we have ever selected for YA Book Club–with five star ratings from everyone. The book’s […]
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 […]
This year’s annual Halloween event–a dinner party, after-hours lock-in, murder mystery–was exceptional; the theme was Harry Potter. With an almost entirely teen cast, the Teen Advisory Board transported the guests into a Hogwarts mystery. As the Halloween feast was winding down, a mystery was afoot. The culprit could be a […]
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 […]
Pasadena Public Library, Teen Advisory Board, 11/20/2017 Present: Brittany, Chris, Denisse, Faith, Jane L, John, Jonathan G, Lauren, Luke, Sofia, Sophie, Taleen Pre-meeting assignment: murder mystery survey Focus of November meeting: STEAM 2018, winter events, murder mystery evaluation Agenda Debrief (45 minutes) Murder Mystery For the most part, […]
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 […]
Young Readers League 2017 Writing Contest 1st place Category 2 (ages 12-14) The Ghost Story by Christopher Souza Age 12 (Grade 6) Blair Middle School It was a dark and gloomy night and the wind howled like hunting wolves. Out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning hit one of […]