Evie in This Girl Is Different (Peachtree Publishers, 2011) by JJ Johnson is not your stereotypical homeschooled girl. She’s the more realistic version–confident, smart and independent. And, she’s bucking her mom’s wishes by going to the local High School for her Senior Year. Evie isn’t one to stay in the background and how she stands up for others ends up coming back to bite her.
On this page you can read the story behind the story!
The book came out in Korean in 2012.
In French in 2014.
And in German in 2015.
Quite a variety of covers, eh?
On her website, author JJ Johnson has the quotes that are epigraphs in This Girl Is Different.
Category: YA Novels
young adult novels (for 13+ yo)
An Ember in the Ashes
An Ember in the Ashes (Razorbill Books, 2015) by Sabaa Tahir is a compelling story told in two viewpoints where the characters’ lives eventually collide. Laia is from the oppressed Scholars; Elias from the Martial Empire. She has run to the Resistance after her brother is taken captive and her grandparents are killed. Elias is in training to be a Mask, but has plans to run away after graduation. The Resistance offers a trade to Laia–spy for us at the Martials’ training school and we’ll get you out. Only thoughts of her brother give her enough courage to face becoming a slave. Elias wants freedom for himself, but an Augur tells him he must stay to gain that freedom. So both must sacrifice the now for the future.
You can find out more about this New York Times Bestselling book at the book site or on the author’s site. Check out how many countries where this book is being sold–it’s incredible. And this is Sabaa Tahir’s first book!
There’s going to be a sequel and a movie (2017)! Woo Hoo to both!
Tunnel Vision
I was introduced to Tunnel Vision (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2015) by Susan Adrian when I went to hear another author speak. After hearing Susan talk about her book, I had to get it.
Jake Lukin has a special power–he can identify where someone is (and more) by touching an object the person has owned. His dad has warned him what the government will do if anyone finds out, but wanting to impress a girl at a party, he shows off his skill. Now he’s being followed around by government agents; or is it bad guys…
Tunnel Vision is a fast-paced thriller that is hard to put down. There are unexpected twists in the story, romance, and sacrifice. I’d love to see it made into a movie. Oh, and the book has been nominated as a YALSA 2016 Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers.
This is author Susan Adrian’s first book, but she’s working on a sequel! Check her website for her Tunnel Tour–she’s been traveling all over the country.
How It Went Down
How It Went Down is such a perfect title for this book (Henry Holt and Company, 2014) by Kekla Magoon. This story of a teen’s shooting shows so many things. Such as, how we sometimes see what we expect to see. How we jump to conclusions. That what we read in the news is not as simple as we think.
Instead of being told from one viewpoint, this story is told from multiple viewpoints–teens and adults. We see how a number of the characters change because of the shooting of 16-year-old Tariq.
It’s a tough book to read as it is so emotional–not that the author went over the top by any means–but that the circumstances of the people and the decisions they have to make create emotion. And that the injustices create emotion. I found myself putting the book down for some distance and then returning when I could handle it again.
How It Went Down is a Junior Library Guild Selection. I think it should be required reading for teens.
You may want to read the FAQ on the author’s website. Kekla Magoon has written four other YA books and is also a nonfiction author. On her website there are links to interviews with her that make interesting reading and also some videos.
The Third Twin
It was the title that drew my attention to The Third Twin (Delacorte, 2015) by CJ Omololu. And the insides rewarded me in this fascinating book.
Told from the viewpoint of Lexie, their fun and games with “Alicia”–the made up triplet–go horribly wrong when a boy who “Alicia” escapes from turns up murdered the next night. How can Lexie not suspect her identical twin Ava of killing him when she’s shown a video of a girl who looks just like her at the scene? Lexie knows she wasn’t there. But Ava denies being there, too.
I loved the multiple twists in this story of a girl caught in a nightmare.
If you like mysteries such as the ones April Henry writes, you’ll like this one, too.
Visit the author at her site and you can find out the source of her interesting last name.