cover image
LATEST ISSUE OF
Kirkus Reviews
Check out our interview with Rick Yancey, author of the wildly entertaining YA thriller The 5th Wave.
Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS



Bookshelves of Doom: Teen Books for Adults

Showing
Cover art for BLACK JUICE
CHILDREN'S
Released: March 1, 2005
BLACK JUICE
by Margo Lanagan

These ten new tales from Down Under take readers to worlds like, yet tantalizingly unlike, their own. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE BOOK THIEF
CHILDREN'S
Released: March 14, 2006
Kirkus Star THE BOOK THIEF
by Markus Zusak
"Beautiful and important. (Fiction. 12+)"
When Death tells a story, you pay attention. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE ASTONISHING LIFE OF OCTAVIAN NOTHING, TRAITOR TO THE NATION
CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 1, 2006
Kirkus Star THE ASTONISHING LIFE OF OCTAVIAN NOTHING, TRAITOR TO THE NATION: VOLUME 1, THE POX PARTY
by M.T. Anderson
"This is the Revolutionary War seen at its intersection with slavery through a disturbingly original lens. (Historical fiction. YA-adult)"
A historical novel of prodigious scope, power and insight, set against the backdrop of the Revolutionary War. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE GREEN GLASS SEA
CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 1, 2006
THE GREEN GLASS SEA
by Ellen Klages
"Unusual and thoughtful, but ultimately unsuccessful. (Fiction. 10-14)"
The author's acknowledgement at the end of this work reveals that the last chapter was originally a short story that subsequently inspired the rest. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE WHITE DARKNESS
CHILDREN'S
Released: Jan. 1, 2007
Kirkus Star THE WHITE DARKNESS
by Geraldine McCaughrean

A teenager's coming of age undergoes particularly harsh annealing in this intense, inwardly focused survival tale. Read full book review >
Cover art for SOMEDAY THIS PAIN WILL BE USEFUL TO YOU
CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 9, 2007
Kirkus Star SOMEDAY THIS PAIN WILL BE USEFUL TO YOU
by Peter Cameron
"Cameron's power is his ability to distill a particular world and social experience with great specificity while still allowing the reader to access the deep well of our shared humanity. (Fiction. YA)"
Cameron's meticulously voiced novel begins as a comedy of manners, wittily disarticulating a certain class of New Yorker, so it takes the reader awhile to catch onto the fact that it's actually a story about the psychological pain that comes from loneliness and the difficulty in making emotional connections. Read full book review >