Teen and Staff Reviews

Teen Review
Princess Jellyfish by Akiko Higashimura

Princess Jellyfish

By Akiko Higashimura
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Boogiebear
Feb 1, 2022

Tsukimi Kurashita is a young girl living in Tokyo, Japan. Ever since she was little, she’s had a fascination with jellyfish. She lives in an apartment called Amamizukan, a haven for girls with strange interests. But one day, she runs into a “stylish” or at least that’s what everyone in Amamizukan calls them. But little does she know that there may be more to this woman than she thinks. . .

Teen Review
Blackout Anthology

Blackout

By Nicola Yoon, Nic Stone, Dhoniella Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Kendal A.
Jan 31, 2022

Blackout is an adorable love story, written by 6different popular YA authors, Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Ashley Woodfolk, Angie Thomas, and Nicola Yoon. All of these amazing authors came together to write 6 different love stories, all happening on the same day. One day in New York, the entire city experiences a blackout, casting New York into darkness in the middle of a heatwave.

Teen Review
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

By Holly Jackson
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Kendal A.
Jan 31, 2022

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson is a realistic fiction book about Pippa Fitz-Amobi, a young girl writing her senior project. She decides to write her project about a local murder that took place 5 years ago, using her senior project as an excuse to do her own investigation. Her goal is to prove the innocence of Sal, the alleged killer who was also found dead, and find out who really killed Andie, Sal’s girlfriend.

Teen Review
Normal People by Sally Rooney

Normal People

By Sally Rooney
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Alyssa F.
Jan 31, 2022

Normal People follows the story of Connell and Marianne, who in high school were total opposites to the outside world, but secretly the same people. As they grow up, they simply can’t stay away from each other. Now for me, this is one of my favorite romance ‘tropes’. The ‘We hate that we love each other but can’t stay away from each other enough’. If you also like that, I 100% recommend this book.

Teen Review
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

A Raisin in the Sun

By Lorraine Hansberry
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Geoffrey A.
Jan 31, 2022

A Raisin in the Sun is a 1959 play by Lorraine Hansberry that focuses on an embattled family in south Chicago as they attempt and discuss ways to improve their lives financially after an insurance payout following the death of the patriarch in the family. In this quick but compelling play, Hansberry thoughtfully focuses heavily on racism, housing discrimination, and assimilation.

Teen Review
Tangerine by Edward Bloor

Tangerine

By Edward Bloor
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Geoffrey A.
Jan 31, 2022

Tangerine by Edward Bloor centers on Paul Fisher, an eighth-grader with impaired eyes who moves to Tangerine County, Florida, with his whole family. In the novel, Paul juggles making new friends, dealing with the constant harassment from his football-star brother, joining his middle school’s soccer team, and uncovering strange occurrences that keep happening in Tangerine. Overall the book is a gripping story with many twists and turns from beginning to end.

Teen Review
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip H. Dick

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

By Philip H. Dick
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Geoffrey A.
Jan 31, 2022

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a dystopian science-fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. The story takes place in 2021 in post-apocalyptic San Francisco. The world has become dramatically destroyed by nuclear war, and the reader follows Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter tasked with killing escaped androids. This novel is more mature than other dystopian novels, and, that being said, it does include a lot of adult topics and themes.

Teen Review
Catch Me if You Can by Frank W. Abagnale

Catch Me if You Can

By Frank W. Abagnale
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Geoffrey A.
Jan 31, 2022

Catch Me if You Can is a semi-autobiographical novel based on the novel’s author, Frank W. Abagnale, criminal venture into being a con-man and exploiting multiple companies and the FBI. In this partly fictionalized yet riveting story, the reader follows Abagnale’s criminal beginnings as a teenager to his attempts to become a law-abiding citizen in adulthood.

Teen Review
Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong

Our Violent Ends

By Chloe Gong
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Lisa J.
Jan 31, 2022

One year has passed since the destruction of These Violent Delights, and Shanghai is on the brink of upheaval. Whispers of civil war hang in a mist over the streets, and the Scarlet Gang is stretched thin between the leadership of Juliette and her ruthless cousin Tyler, who threatens to usurp her.

Teen Review
Axie Oh

XOXO

By Axie Oh
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Taylor E.
Jan 31, 2022

Axie Oh’s XOXO is an adorable contemporary romance novel. All Jenny wants is to be accepted into a prestigious music conservatory, but when she meets Jaewoo at her uncle’s karaoke bar in Los Angeles, her life will change drastically. Suddenly, Jenny finds herself moving to South Korea to take care of her sick grandmother. Unbeknownst to her, the boy she met in the karaoke bar is a famous K-pop idol.

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