September Teen Book Reviews


kateorangeThe Orange Houses
Paul Griffin

Tamika Sykes is a high school student who hates to wear her hearing aids, loves the rhythm of a guitar, works hard in class, and draws pictures void of people. Fatima is a refugee living in NYC all alone, with dreams of visiting the Statue of Liberty, and has a passion for finding beauty in everything and everyone. Jimmi Sixes is a 19-year-old war veteran, stuck on drugs and poetry, and wise beyond his years. When Jimmi introduces Mika and Fatima, he somehow manages to teach them how to look beyond the streets, beyond the skies, and into the world. Tragedy is unavoidable in the worlds of these three young people — far older in experience than they are in years — but their struggles to survive and thrive are inspiring. The author writes with a fluidity and subtle rhythm that allows readers to find comfort even in the darkest corners and most horrific scenes.
Recommended to all. This authentic story is both short and long-lasting.

I Am an Emotional Creature
Eve Ensler

Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues, offers incredible words aimed at the hearts of teenage girls everywhere. This collection is virtually an emotional appeal to young women to be content and happy with who and what they are, and to not listen to anyone who suggests that they be less than satisfied simply because they are girls. This book can serve as a quick silent read from cover to cover, or as a selection of monologues and poetry women and girls can choose to voice aloud to an appreciative audience. Either way, the words are true and beautiful.

Rot & Ruin
Jonathan Maberry

Are you looking a little bit of gore, a whole lot of heart, some teenage boy humor, and a few kick-ass females? Even if you think you couldn’t get into a zombie novel, Rot & Ruin might just be for you.

Benny doesn’t want to get into the family business basically because he doesn’t want to work with (and especially not for) his older brother Tom. Sure Benny wants to kill zoms, but there are much cooler Bounty Hunters in Mountainside to look up to than Tom. He doesn’t understand why others seem to respect Tom; Benny remembers him as a coward, taking Benny as a baby and running from his parents rather than trying to save Mom from a sure death. But not everything is black and white in this time after First Night, and Benny just might have to learn the hard way. There are no rules, and what happens out in the Ruin, stays in the Ruin.

This novel has a great beginning, which will help to carry the reader though the melodramatic B-movie moments through some predictable twists and turns, alongside a few surprises. Recommended to those who don’t always need high-quality classic literature, but prefer to mix some pure entertainment into their reading lists. The sequel, Dust & Decay, is out now!

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Katherine Vasilik, A/YA Librarian

Piscataway (NJ) Public Library
telephone: 732-463-1633 x6
email: kvasilik@piscatawaylibrary.org or kate_thelibrarian@yahoo.com
blog: http://katethelibrarian.blogspot.com