review by\u00a0Sylvie Bower, age 16<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/b>The Arsonist<\/i><\/b> is the story of Ava, Molly, and Pepper. Ava Dreyman is a world-famous martyr of the Cold War, whose life and possibly death are memorialized in her diary. Molly Mavity is the daughter of a murder-arsonist about to be executed, who is convinced her mother is alive and sending her clues about the mystery of her disappearance. Pepper al-Yusef has failed high school, and must write twelve essays to convince the school why he should be allowed to move on, but he\u2019s still not really sure what an essay really is. These three individuals\u2019 lives are impossibly entangled, but Molly, Pepper, and Bertrand, a fat seizure pug, are determined to solve this heaping mystery. <\/span> Find this book in our catalog: The Arsonist<\/p>\n Catalog Number: On Call<\/p>\n 493 pages<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" review by\u00a0Sylvie Bower, age 16 The Arsonist\u00a0by\u00a0Stephanie Oakes \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Arsonist is the story of Ava, Molly, and Pepper. Ava Dreyman is a world-famous martyr of the Cold War, whose life and possibly death are memorialized in her diary. Molly Mavity is the daughter of a murder-arsonist about to be executed, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":4572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-teen-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2018\/02\/The-arsonist.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ZwbD-1bJ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7465,"url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2023\/epically-earnest-teen-book-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":4571,"position":0},"title":"Epically Earnest – Teen Book Review","author":"Nathan Wang","date":"December 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Reviewed by\u00a0Giselle Carlos, age 18 Epically Earnest by Molly Horan Jane Grady is notorious for being the \u201cbag baby,\u201d but all she wants right now is a prom date. As a one-year-old found by her future father and aunt in an oversized Gucci bag at a train station, Jane found\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2023\/12\/81j30-FHH6L._SY522_.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2787,"url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2016\/ya-book-club-orphan-train\/","url_meta":{"origin":4571,"position":1},"title":"YA Book Club — Orphan Train","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"March 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"YA Book Club recap by Kara Eng, grade 11 \u201cA nice combination of American history and a look into the experience of orphans and the foster care system. It\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve heard about orphan trains. I\u2019m curious to learn more.\u201d \u2013Kara E., grade 11 \u201cThis is the first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/d.gr-assets.com\/books\/1362409483l\/15818107.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4146,"url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2017\/the-lost-causes-teen-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":4571,"position":2},"title":"The Lost Causes — Teen Review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"November 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"review by Jacob Chon, age 14 The Lost Causes\u00a0by\u00a0Jessica Koosed Etting and Alyssa Embree Schwartz \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/09\/the-hundred-lies-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1706,"url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2015\/love-letters-to-the-dead-teen-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":4571,"position":3},"title":"Love Letters to the Dead — teen review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"May 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Review by Hadley, teen reviewer Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira Laurel switches schools after an unfortunate accident leaves her mother across the country and her sister May buried in the ground and the past. She believes that the best way to move on is to start over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Teen Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Teen Reviews","link":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"five-stars","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2015\/03\/five-stars.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4048,"url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2017\/pasadena-teen-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":4571,"position":4},"title":"Pasadena — Teen Review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"September 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"review by Kira Toal, age 15 Pasadena\u00a0by\u00a0Sherri L. Smith \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jude is on vacation on the East Coast when she receives a disturbing call that tells her that her best friend, Maggie Kim, was found dead in her swimming pool in her Pasadena home. From the moment Jude returns to her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/09\/pasadena.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7898,"url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2024\/the-library-of-shadows-teen-book-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":4571,"position":5},"title":"The Library of Shadows – Teen Book Review","author":"Nathan Wang","date":"July 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Reviewed by\u00a0Kaelin Lee, age 16 The Library of Shadows by Rachel Moore Este Logano enrolls in Radcliffe Prep, the nation\u2019s third most haunted school, in order to learn more about her deceased father, who attended the school. When she encounters a ghost named Mateo, he frames her for stealing a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2024\/08\/64627957.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2024\/08\/64627957.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2024\/08\/64627957.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4571"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4577,"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4571\/revisions\/4577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I went into this novel completely blind, and expecting nothing, only knowing the fact that the cover was extremely gorgeous. I did not expect to have as much fun as I did, or even that it would only take a day to finish this novel, as I could not stop reading for the life of me. The characters are just so ordinary, but also people that I wish that I could have as my friends. I really enjoyed the relationship between Molly and Pepper, as A) for once it didn\u2019t have to be romantic, and B) it really goes to show that you connect with anyone, no matter what divides you. Oakes weaves a highly intricate mystery across the globe, and across so many people\u2019s lives, and she does this magnificently. I was worried as I was reading this that she had set the bar too high, and that the book wouldn\u2019t manage to tie everything together, but boy was I wrong. I love that this book touches on how one interaction can be meaningless to one person, but mean so much to another, and that people you hardly know can change your whole experience of life. While the book was slightly unreal, the root of it is something that I want everyone to apply to their own lives. <\/span>
\n<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I would recommend this novel to anyone in search of a good mystery, or even just anyone looking for something that you won\u2019t find anywhere else. Stephanie Oakes is definitely an author to watch (go check out <\/span>The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly<\/span><\/i> if you haven\u2019t already!) 4.5\/5 stars. <\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\n