This is a wonderful story. You can’t really help but be interested when the opening chapter is the death of a piano teacher on Lucy and Gus’s living room floor. What follows is a beautiful story of a girl growing up, and growing into the...

Annabelle Sullivan and the Restless Spirit Society by Ivy K. Tyler is about Annabelle, Chloe, Bradley, and the ghost whom only Annabelle can see. No one believes Annabelle when she tells them about the ghost except her friend Chloe. Though she believes Annabelle, Chloe is...

Ordeal at the Old Ivy Oak is a young adult coming-of-age novel by John Funke. Jerry and Benny Banks are heading out for their first solo camping trip. Their father, who usually accompanied them, felt it was time they went out on their own while...

Runaway by Anfal Khaliq is the story of Chloe and her three sisters, Christine, Katie, and Lucy who live with their nasty Aunt Mel. Aunt Mel ill-treats the girls because they have no parents and they live with her. She dislikes the fact that they...

Fate’s Fables is the amazing debut fantasy novel by T. Rae Mitchell. Fans of Gail Carson Levine and Cassandra Clare will want to add T. Rae Mitchell to their reading list. Mitchell has been quoted asking the following question, “Who wasn’t either bored or troubled...

Success Against All Odds by Regina Ozoemela is an interesting book by a woman who has seemingly overcome great and some would even say extreme challenges to be self-supporting. Coming from Nigeria, she found herself abandoned by her husband and his family and left with...

The Apple of my Eye by Christine McGreggor is about Michelle and her grandmother with whom she shared a special relationship. When her grandmother dies, she leaves the house to Michelle. The apple trees in the yard remind Michelle of her times with her grandmother...

In The Jewish Ninja, Allegra Coleman has given young adult readers a taste of living and growing up in a Jewish community. Following the death of her parents in an automobile accident, twelve-year-old Alexia is forced out of her comfortable world of friends, family, and...

Chaperones by Megan Karasch is a fantastic novel of self discovery and growing up, even when the main character is already 26. Andrea was so over protected while growing up she never learned anything about life or herself. Her only enjoyment came from behind a...

The Not Wholes by Giovanna Pezzulo is about an Italian teenager who has been castrated. The story deals with how a certain strata of the society accept him and how the rest do not. The backdrop of the story is a music conservatory in Italy. For...