Red's Journey Through Bookland

Stone, N. (2017).  DEAR MARTIN . Random House Childrens Books. Dear Martin by Nic Stone was noted on the 2018 Best Fiction for Young Adults by YALSA. It was also awarded as New York Times Bestseller,  William C Morris Finalist, and Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Finalist. This book is a perfect example of the #weneeddiversebooks initiative. Dear Martin  by Nic Stone tells the story of Justyce and his dealings with racial profiling and police brutality. The story starts with Justyce trying to do the right thing, when he has followed his ex girlfriend who is drunk out to her car to keep her from driving home after her best friend has given up on convincing her. As he is trying to help her into her car, and her resisting, he is stopped by the police, thrown to the ground and hand cuffed. While being bitter about the whole situation, he realizes that it could have easily gone worse. Justyce is on the track to go to an IVY League college and has a scholarship to a presti...

McManus, K. M. (2019).  Two Can Keep a Secret . Random House Childrens Books. Two Can Keep a Secret  by Karen M. McManus is a New York Times Best Seller with 15 weeks on the list as of May 18th, 2019 after it being released on January 8th 2019. This is the author's second novel, One of Us Is Lying , being the debut novel and being on the NYT best sellers list for 79 weeks. I chose this book because it was brand new knowing that it would have reviews but little awards as of yet because of its recent release. I have always been a fan of mystery and thriller novels, but feel that they have always been too difficult to find in YA- normally they feel very film noir or Sherlock Holmesian, rather than realistic fiction.  Two Can Keep A Secret  is about a set of twins, Ellery and Ezra, who have been sent to Echo Ridge a small town in the North East after their mother has been admitted into rehab after an accident that involved a jewelry store front and her car. E...

Brown, D. (2018).  The unwanted: The story of the Syrian refugees . Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees  by Don Brown was chosen for the 2019 Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults by YALSA. This book was also chosen for various other awards including 2019 Silbert Award Honor book, and 2019 top ten Great Graphic novels for Teens. This book and it's author have had some great reviews and prestige, so I was very excited to start reading this book.  The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees tells the stories of many (seemingly unnamed) refugees. It shows the experience both unique and common of those seeking asylum in the years 2011 to current times as the country of Syria is falling apart. It follows nameless refugees and their families through their journey- to often unknown destinations. It shows that often refugees thought they were to safety, they were turned away or sent somewhere else. It uses various sized ...

Khorram, A. (2018).  Darius the Great Is Not Okay . Penguin Young Readers Group. Darius The Great is Not Okay was chosen as one of the 2019 Top Ten Best Fiction by YALSA. This list is presented annually recommended for readers between the ages of 12 to 18. The purpose of this list originally was to be a resource for collection development and reader's advisory purposes. Among others in the top ten is Poet X  which won this years Printz award and others that were recognized in other ways. When picking a book from this list, I wanted to try to cross reference and see if any of the books I was interested in reading had won any other awards or had been recognized. I also wanted to have a wide variety of texts that I have picked from this semester.  Darius The Great Is Not Okay  has also won the William C, Morris Debut Award, Asian/Pactific American Award for Young Adult Literature, TIME's 10 Best Young Adult and Children's Books of the Year, Publishers Weekly Best...

Lewis, J., Aydin, A., & Powell, N. (2013).  March . Marietta, GA: Top Shelf Productions. The List of Outstanding Books for the College Bound is a list by YALSA that offers opportunities to discover new ideas and provide various perspectives on a variety of topics. This list is curated every five years with the new list for 2019 to be released in December of 2019 or January of 2020. This list is separated into categories to pick from including: Arts & Humanities, History & Cultures, Literature & Language Arts, Science & Technology, and a Social Sciences list. These lists were designed around prospective academic disciplines when a student is entering college or in college. I chose the graphic novel March  book one from the History and Cultures list as I felt that this was an area that both interests me and that I have a lack of knowledge in.  I have read many positive reviews of  the March   series since they began com...

McNeil, G. (2018).  #Murdertrending . Los Angeles: Freeform Books. #Murdertrending  was chosen this year for YALSA's 2019 Top ten Quick picks and has been suggested for the upcoming YALSA's Top Ten Teen Books 2019. This book is funny, riveting, and alarming all at the same time- which makes for a perfect YA book.  #Murdertrending   is a story set in the not to far off future that criticizes our current fascination with reality TV, justice, and social media. In this not far off Dystopian like future, Dee has been convicted of killing her step-sister and has been sentenced to death on Alcatraz 2.0. This is a world that has created a commodity out of our justice system- that those who have been convicted of corporal crimes are sent to a newly renovated Alcatraz island in which the inmates are hunted down by serial killers in the name of justice. Think of the ideas and morals behind Dexter, but without the forethought and planning to make sure that the people...