When it comes to YA stories that retell or riff on classic works—and if we’re not counting the fairy tales compiled by the Grimms—more often than not, the inspiration comes from Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, Nathaniel Hawthorne, or William Shakespeare. And while it felt for a while that every third book I picked up was a rewrite of Pride & Prejudice, I suspect that if we made a list, there would be far and away more Shakespeare rewrites than ...
Even though I haven’t spoken to her in ten years, I know almost everything there is to know about Callie Greenwood. Everything except the thing I desperately need to know.
Does she still think about it?
—The Darkest Corners, by Kara Thomas
Ten years ago, Tessa Lowell and her best friend Callie testified in the biggest murder case that Fayette, Pennsylvania had ever seen. Their testimony clinched the case against Wyatt Stokes—between their eyewitness accounts and some circumstantial evidence ...
As I’m sure you know, there’s a celebration day for pretty much anything you can imagine. Today, April 18th is—according to various sources and among other things—International Amateur Radio Day, National Lineman Appreciation Day, National Velociraptor Awareness Day, Newspaper Columnists Day, Adult Autism Awareness Day, and World Heritage Day.
It is also National Animal Crackers Day—because why not?—and with that lightly-sweetened deliciousness in mind, let’s take a look at some circus-themed YA books:
The Weight of Feathers, by Anna-Marie ...
A few days later, and I’m still looking for an escape from the tail-end of winter. This time, I’m headed all the way through the clouds and out of our atmosphere: TO OUTER SPACE.
The following are some of the space-related books coming out this year that I’ve got my eye on:
Zodiac, Wandering Star, and Black Moon, by Romina Russell
While the world this series is set in has distinctly Divergent overtones—the Zodiac solar system is populated by people ...
Two days ago, it snowed all day.
Today, we got rhubarb crowns in the mail, and my husband stomped right outside and planted them. Come hell or MORE SNOW, he pretty much just jammed a SPRING IS HERE flag into the ground.
If it snows again, I’m going to pretend it’s not happening. But JUST IN CASE I need some help with that, I’ve got some garden- and farm-themed books to distract me:
Flowers in the Sky, by ...
Only the craziest, most violent inmates go to Segregation. We’re talking girls who really should be in mental facilities, only they got sent here because their families are either too poor or too stupid to hire a good lawyer. Most of them can’t sit next to you for a second without pulling out your hair or jabbing you in the eye with their finger. They’re too dangerous to be around the rest of us so they get locked up alone ...
New month, new books! Beyond Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here and A Fierce and Subtle Poison, both of which I’ve already covered in this column, here are some of the April releases I’ve got my eye on:
Saving Montgomery Sole, by Mariko Tamaki
A trio of oddballs—including our titular character—send away for a magic amulet on the internet, and when it arrives, it seems like it…might work? Meanwhile, an evangelical preacher known for his homophobic rants has moved to ...
For the last month, I’ve been obsessively listening to back episodes of
The Adventure Zone, a podcast in which three brothers and their father play
Dungeons & Dragons. It makes me laugh so hard that it makes for dangerous commute listening; it scratches my I-miss-tabletop-roleplaying itch, but at the same time, it’s almost making me miss it more? Combine that with my inability to stop playing
Destiny, and, WELL—at the moment, I am All Gaming, All The Time.
So of ...
