Please enable JavaScript
Print | Page 93 | LitPick Book Reviews
Print
Give It Up (Swoop List) (The Swoop List)
Give It Up
Stephanie Perry Moore
When five girls at Jackson High School find themselves on a nasty list, they must join together and face the rest of their school. But will their struggles be too much to bear?

Book Details

The Bunker Diary (Fiction - Young Adult)
The Bunker Diary
Kevin Brooks
This is the winner of the 2014 Cilip Carnegie Medal. Room meets Lord of the Flies, The Bunker Diary is award-winning, young adult writer Kevin Brooks' pulse-pounding exploration of what happens when your worst nightmare comes true - and how will you survive? I can't believe I fell for it. It was still dark when I woke up this morning. As soon as my eyes opened I knew where I was. A low-ceilinged rectangular building made entirely of whitewashed concrete. There are six little rooms along the main corridor. There are no windows. No doors. The lift is the only way in or out. What's he going to do to me? What am I going to do? If I'm right, the lift will come down in five minutes. It did. Only this time it wasn't empty...Praise for The Bunker Diary: "[Kevin Brooks'] pacey plots ...have made him a cult among teens. This, though, is the big one. It should be read by everyone". (Amanda Craig, The Times). Kevin Brooks has won the Branford Boase Award and been shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Award, the Booktrust Teenage Prize, the Manchester Book Award and for the Carnegie Medal (for Martyn Pig, Road of the Dead and Black Rabbit Summer). Kevin Brooks was born in Exeter and studied in Birmingham and London. He had a varied working life, with jobs in a crematorium, a zoo, a garage and a post office, before - happily - giving it all up to write books. Kevin is the author of Being, Black Rabbit Summer, Killing God (published as Dawn in the USA), iBoy and Naked for Penguin. He now lives in North Yorkshire. If you enjoyed The Bunker Diary and want to get inside more of your favourite books, then check out spinebreakers.co.uk for exclusive author interviews, competitions and much more.

Book Details

Infandous (Fiction - Young Adult)
Infandous
Sephora Golding lives in the shadow of her unbelievably beautiful mother. Even though they scrape by in the seedier part of Venice Beach, she's always felt lucky. As a child, she imagined she was a minor but beloved character in her mother's fairy tale. But now, at sixteen, the fairy tale is less Disney and more Grimm. And she wants the story to be her own. Then she meets Felix, and the fairy tale takes a turn she never imagined. Sometimes, a story is just a way to hide the unspeakable in plain sight.

Book Details

Returning to Normal (Locked Out)
Returning to Normal
Patrick Jones
When Xavier's father returns to Boston after serving ten years in federal prison, tensions quickly mount and Xavier's anger explodes on the baseball field, making it less likely that he will achieve his dream of playing in the major leagues than that he will follow his father's path.

Book Details

Taking Sides (Locked Out)
Taking Sides
Patrick Jones
At odds with his sister, Tina, fourteen, who says their father murdered their mother, Todd, fifteen, who claims it was self-defense, begins to lose faith in their father when he pressures Todd to get Tina to change her story, and being in separate fosterhomes only makes things harder.

Book Details

Contract City
Contract City
Mark Falkin
The year is 2021 and the money is still green. The fully privatized city of Tulsa, OK, is home to Sara Paige Christie, a teenage girl with her heart set on a film career in L.A. and her camera trained on the graffiti-covered walls of the city’s outskirts. In pursuit of a documentary subject that might propel her from college hopeful to film school admittee at USC, Sara has focused her ambitions upon a singularly ubiquitous tag―WH2RR??From the facades of storefronts to the walls of public restrooms, the tag is appearing nearly everywhere. Its stark all-capital letters and demanding question marks have captured Sara’s imagination, even as the private security personnel of Free Force Tulsa (FFT) scramble to eliminate the marks with power washers, gray-overs, and full censorship, stripping even photographs of the tags from the locally accessible Internet.Sara has no doubt that there is meaning hidden in plain sight, and she sets off on a mission to find the person behind the mysterious tags while balancing an already full life: her final exams, her wild best friend, a physical fitness test that threatens her GPA, and a family that seems almost oblivious to what’s happening just down the street from their suburban home.With the exception, perhaps, of her father.A retired Marine turned FFT investigator, Sara’s dad has been on the trail of the graffiti artist for his own professional reasons. And if he knows what’s going on, he’s not telling Sara.And they're not the only ones on the hunt…Tensions are rising in town and beyond. Between the machinations of the city’s home-grown megachurch, Chosen Hill, and the movements of a growing camp of homeless citizens parked just beyond Tulsa’s comfort and security, life in Tulsa is about to become very interesting, and Sara just might be in the right place to catch it all on film…… but only if she survives.

Book Details

Running Out of Night
Running Out of Night
Sharon Lovejoy
A Children’s Book Review Seven Middle Grade Books for African American History Month Pick Fans of Elijah of Buxton, Trouble Don’t Last, and Stealing Freedom will be drawn to this tale of the incredible journey of an abused twelve-year-old white girl and an escaped slave girl who run away together and form a bond of friendship while seeking freedom. Every day is a misery for a nameless, motherless Southern girl who is treated cruelly by her pa and brothers. Her life changes forever when a runaway slave named Zenobia turns to her for help and shelter. Longing for her own freedom, the girl decides to run away, and she and Zenobia set off on a harrowing journey. Along the way, Zenobia names the girl Lark, after the bird, for her ability to mimic its song. Running by night, hiding by day, the girls are pursued by Lark’s pa and brothers and by ruthless slave catchers. Brightwell, another runaway slave, joins them, and the three follow secret signs to a stop on the Underground Railroad. When the hideout is raided and Zenobia and Brightwell are captured, Lark sets out alone to rescue her friends.A CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book of the YearAn International Reading Association Best Chapter Book of the YearA Vermont Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award Master List Selection A Great Stone Face Book Award NomineeA New Mexico’s Land of Enchantment Book Award SelectionA Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards Selection"Lush, detailed, total-immersion storytelling."--Kirkus Reviews"Distinguished by lively descriptions and dialogue."--Publisher's Weekly"A gripping historical novel . . . heart-stopping, heart-racing and eventually heart-easing.--Library Voice"Powerful debut novel."--International Reading Association"An essential read for those interested in American history."--San Louis Obispo Tribune"A gritty, engrossing tale.--Slo Coast Journal

Book Details

Little White Lies
Little White Lies
Katie Dale
Fans of Pretty Little Liars will be ensnared in this tale of deceit. Christian is hiding terrible secrets from his girlfriend, Lou. But Lou has told lies as well. What if their accidental meeting wasn’t an accident? The first time Lou meets mysterious Christian, she knows he is The One. But Christian is hiding a terrible secret. Why does he clam up every time Lou asks about his past? Why doesn’t he have any family photos, and why does he dye his blond hair black? When Christian’s house goes up in flames, his tires are slashed, and he flees for his life, Lou insists on going with him. But as Christian’s secret is unveiled in front of the whole world, it seems everything he’s ever told Lou is a lie. Can what the media are saying about him really be true? Should Lou trust him? Or is she in grave danger?  "Gripping whodunit."—Kirkus Reviews"Spellbinding. . . . The amazingly well-thought-out plot and strong characters make this selection a great addition to any library, from junior high through young adult."—VOYA "This edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller is painstakingly plotted and well paced, with twists around every corner that keep the reader guessing until the end."--Booklist"This powerful suspense story succeeds . . . this well-crafted mystery-romance is sure to please the sophisticated young adult crowd."--The Bulletin Check out the book trailer! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_nn8Qzoqws&feature=youtu.be

Book Details

The Conformity (Twelve-Fingered Boy Trilogy)
The Conformity
John Hornor Jacobs
Mr. Quincrux is dead. Armistead Lucius Priest, founder of the Society of Extranaturals, is now seated uneasily in his protégés flesh, and though Priest's powers are not inconsiderable, the Conformity will not settle for the second-brightest flame in the etheric heights. It will confront Shreve. But it will have to find him first. Under the protection of Mr. Negata, Jack, and the rest of the Irregulars, Shreve retreats to the wild to face his demons and prepare his mind for one more battle. The Conformity is the breathtaking conclusion to the acclaimed Twelve-Fingered Boy Trilogy.

Book Details

Trash Mountain (Fiction - Middle Grade)
Trash Mountain
Jane Yolen, Chris Monroe
When the gray squirrels kill his parents, a young red squirrel vows revenge, finding unlikely allies in the rats and gulls of Trash Mountain.

Book Details

Pages



RECENT BOOK REVIEWS