Posts Tagged ‘ kidlit ’
Review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Trigger warning: Speak deals with rape. It’s Melinda Sordino’s freshman year of high school and it gets off to a bad start. She called the police at an end of summer party. The cops break up the party and some people get busted. So when school starts, she’s an outcast. Her former friends hate…
Why I Read YA
Young adult literature seems to be in a funny place right now. Rather, how adults talk about YA seems to be in a funny place right now. On the one hand, we have people like Meghan Cox Gurdon who lament how horribly dark YA is and how we need to protect children from it….
Review: Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
Trigger Warning: Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan contains instances rape and incest. Furthermore, I don’t think it’s possible to discuss the book without mentioning those plot elements as part of the review. Margo Lanagan’s Tender Morsels is a story of healing with fairy tale influences. Liga didn’t have a good childhood by any stretch…
What is the Best Way to Decide What to Let Kids Read?
Yes, I’ve been talking about posting my thoughts on this subject for some time. It’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about, but seem to have a hard time articulating my thoughts. When I sat down to write my post for the first time, what came out was a very long, very disorganized mess….
Review: A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle
A Swiftly Turning Planet, the third book published in Madeleine L’Engle’s Time quintet (apparently, Many Waters takes place in time between A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Turning Planet, but wasn’t published until later) occurs about nine years after A Wind in the Door. Meg is now married to Calvin and pregnant;…
Review: A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle
Set about a year after A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind In the Door follows Meg Murry and Calvin O’Keefe on a quest to save Meg’s brother, Charles Wallace. Charles Wallace has a medical condition that the medical field hasn’t yet learned how to treat. In the second novel of Madeleine L’Engle’s Time quintet,…
Review: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Meg Murry’s story begins one dark and stormy night with a knock at the door. Meg’s father has been gone for some time and nobody knows where he has gone. It’s up to Meg, her brother Charles Wallace and their friend Calvin O’Keefe to find Mr. Murry and bring him home. With a little…
Review: Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell
Review: Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
Trigger warning: Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott deals with rape and sexual abuse as does the content of the below post. When Alice was ten, Ray took her away. Alice is now fifteen and fears that Ray will kill her; he is growing tired of her, she’s too old. After five years of…
Review: Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr
Deanna’s first sexual encounter was her brother’s best friend, Tommy. When her father catches them in the act, Tommy is 17 and Deanna is 13. Sara Zarr’s debut novel, Story of a Girl, deals with what Deanna considers to be a big mistake. Tommy ultimately tells everyone at school that Deanna is “easy” and…
