The Selector’s Selections: July 2023

Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2023 by Brianna

How’s your Summer Reading going? If you need a few more books to finish up, try these! I have no theme this month, except general awesomeness.

Give Me a Sign coverGive Me a Sign” by Anna Sortino

Lilah has severe hearing loss, but with hearing aids and lip reading, she’s able to get along well enough. Still, she misses the feeling of connection she had when attending Camp Gray Wolf as a kid, a camp for deaf and/or blind kids. The summer before senior year, she applies to be a counselor at the camp and is accepted. While she never felt like she fully fit in with the hearing world, she also struggles to fit into the Deaf community—especially because her ASL is nowhere near fluent. But she makes patient and supportive new friends as she starts to define and embrace her identity. It doesn’t hurt that her sweet and attractive fellow junior counselor volunteers to help her improve her signing. This debut by a Deaf author explores many different aspects of Deaf culture, including perspectives from people with supportive families and not-so-supportive ones. It also gives good examples of difficulties Deaf folks might face in the hearing world, especially with things like interactions with the police. A summer romance with excellent diverse representation. Continue reading “The Selector’s Selections: July 2023”

Uneasy Lies the Head

Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2023 by Dana

 

When Shakespeare wrote “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” it was King Henry IV moaning that people with great responsibility don’t sleep very well. While riches and power don’t seem like much of a problem to me, fictional royalty often has a lot of kingdom-saving and evil battling to do.

So if you’d like to forget your troubles and read about queens and princes and knights with some worthy struggles, take a look at some of these titled titles. Continue reading “Uneasy Lies the Head”

The Selector’s Selections: June 2023

Posted on Wednesday, June 28, 2023 by Brianna

If I tell you to guess the theme this month, I think you’ll get it without having to try too hard. Enjoy!

Starlings coverStarlings” by Amanda Linsmeier

Kit just lost her dad unexpectedly, and now she and her grieving mother have been invited to spend Christmas with her paternal grandmother. The problem is that Kit’s dad always claimed his mom was dead. When they arrive in the small town of Rosemont, everything is perfect. Roses bloom all year round, the townspeople are super friendly, there’s a cute boy (and girl!) to crush on, and everyone treats her grandmother Agatha Starling—and Kit by extension—with a deference bordering on reverence. Kit and her mother aren’t planning on staying past the holidays, but everyone else seems to think otherwise. When things start to go wrong, Kit has to discover the truth about the town, and why her father never wanted her to know it existed. With a bisexual main character, nuanced character development and suspenseful plotting, this horror novel has a lot to offer. Continue reading “The Selector’s Selections: June 2023”

Read With Pride

Posted on Tuesday, June 13, 2023 by Dana

Happy Pride! If you’re looking for a new, queer read, I’ve got a list in every hue of the rainbow!

 

       

Fools in Love – A diverse, inclusive young adult anthology featuring short stories that re-imagine or subvert popular romance and rom-com tropes by some of the biggest authors in YA and has a little something for everyone.

Continue reading “Read With Pride”

Beginners Guide to Trans Identities

Posted on Thursday, June 1, 2023 by DBRLTeen

Beginners Guide to Trans Identities

Happy Pride Month! We are celebrating, honoring and affirming our transgender folks with a beginners trans booklist. Below are a few books to help you on your journey whether you are questioning yourself or you’re a curious ally. We hope you find this booklist helpful. Our booklist is geared toward teen readers and their caregivers and contains books across multiple age groups. We made this list with love and care! Enjoy! Continue reading “Beginners Guide to Trans Identities”

Book Review: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me

Posted on Wednesday, May 10, 2023 by Nigel Church

What’s the story?

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me” is one of those books that tells you pretty much everything that it’s about in the title. The main character, Freddy, is infatuated with Laura Dean, but this is not an equal relationship. Laura Dean is with Freddy whenever it’s convenient for her to be and breaks up with Freddy whenever she feels like it, repeatedly. Continue reading “Book Review: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me”

May the Fourth Be With You!

Posted on Thursday, May 4, 2023 by Dana

Looking for a book to commemorate this auspicious day in the Star Wars Universe? I definitely have a few recommendations!

Starting with the chronologically oldest book, let’s talk about “Light of the Jedi” by Charles Soule, which is the first book in the High Republic era series of publications. I really enjoy the High Republic books. They take place centuries before the Battle of Yavin and the events of the movies. When the Republic was smaller and the Jedi were less corrupted by politics. Continue reading “May the Fourth Be With You!”

The Selector’s Selections: April 2023

Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2023 by Brianna

Because I don’t want these posts to just be about the books I reach for first, I tried to stretch myself this month with some different genres! We’ve got a contemporary fiction written by an activist in India, a hard sci-fi survival story and a dystopian graphic novel.

I Kick and I Fly coverI Kick and I Fly” by Ruchira Gupta

Heera is fourteen, and well aware of the probable fate awaiting her. Like the vast majority of girls in her community, she expects to be sold into prostitution to help pay off her family’s debt. She attempts to stay in school to avoid this but is expelled for standing up to a bully. Just as Heera’s father is making plans to sell her, the woman owner of a youth hostel approaches with another offer. Not only does she pay their debt, but she also offers to teach Heera kung fu so that she can compete in tournaments for cash prizes. As Heera learns to use her body in martial arts, she’s filled with determination to save others who can only expect their bodies to be used. Written by an activist who founded an organization working to end sex trafficking, this is an eye-opening and insightful debut. Continue reading “The Selector’s Selections: April 2023”

Book Review: Doughnuts and Doom

Posted on Wednesday, April 12, 2023 by Nigel Church

What’s the story?

Doughnuts and Doom” does not contain quite as much doughnuts or doom as the title might lead you to believe. A more accurate title would probably be something more along the lines of “Potions and Indie Rock,” but that would be a lot less eye-catching and I would have been a lot less likely to pick it up myself. So, what is it all about? Well, Margot is a witch with performance anxiety who is pretty good at potions, but really bad at passing her magic exam license test. After her most recent failure, she has an encounter with Elena, half of an indie rock duo, who works at a doughnut shop. Margot has a severe need for chocolate doughnuts after her most recent failure and as it so happens Elena is the one to give the unfortunate news that they are all out. This leads to Margot losing control of her magic a bit and accidentally cursing Elena. From here on out the characters are intertwined as Margot works to undo her curse and both our heroines learn more about each other. As I said the peril is pretty mild and even the development of the relationship is pretty low stakes. It’s most of all just a cute story about two people meeting by chance and finding out they’re both pretty into each other. But I haven’t told you about the most important part: Stanley! Stanley is a snake and Margot’s familiar and every page he is on is just about the cutest thing possible. Continue reading “Book Review: Doughnuts and Doom”