We’ve all heard it said that a butterfly flapping its wings in the rainforest has the power to alter the weather on the other side of the hemisphere. I’m interested in that concept on a micro level—that domino effect in our day-to-day lives. When I read, I love seeing the impact of a character’s actions—for better or worse. The interconnectedness of those decisions is always one of my favorite things to watch unfold in both fiction and non-fiction.
Teen protagonist, Liv, narrates this heartfelt tale in verse, revealing how her world is impacted after her older brother, Jonah, accidentally shoots himself with his best friend Clay's father’s gun. Clay lives just across the street from Liv and Jonah. When their mom sues Clay’s parents, tensions escalate, and my heart broke for Liv, who is caught in the middle.
It’s tempting to read this story in one sitting because Liv’s voice draws you right in, but the characters and world are so well-built, you want to linger with them longer. This story feels like a conversation with a friend whose life has been turned upside down because of one devastating action. As Liv refuses to give up on her brother or ignore Clay, readers get a lesson in compassion and forgiveness.
Fans of Jandy Nelson and Marieke Nijkamp will love this deeply moving novel in verse about the aftermath of a gun accident.
Life changes forever for Liv when her older brother, Jonah, accidentally shoots himself with his best friend Clay's father's gun. Now Jonah needs round-the-clock care just to stay alive, and Liv feels like she's the only person who can see that her brother is still there inside his broken body.
With Liv's mom suing Clay's family, there are divisions in the community that Liv knows she's not supposed to cross. But Clay is her friend, too, and she…
The Outsiders was one of the first novels I read that made me want to be a writer. While this may seem like a classic “wrong side of the tracks,” story, it’s so much more. Brimming with heart, the novel follows teen Ponyboy Curtis, “an outsider,” who struggles with right and wrong—especially after his friend Johnny kills a “soc” (short for socials). While there’d been a long history of fighting between the greasers and the socs, the murder sparks a series of events that changes Ponyboy’s life forever.
As soon as my children were old enough to appreciate it, I had them read it. Ponyboy’s vulnerability and honesty stay with you long after you finish this slim novel that touches on love, loss, and friendship.
50 years of an iconic classic! This international bestseller and inspiration for a beloved movie is a heroic story of friendship and belonging.
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No one ever said life was easy. But Ponyboy is pretty sure that he's got things figured out. He knows that he can count on his brothers, Darry and Sodapop. And he knows that he can count on his friends-true friends who would do anything for him, like Johnny and Two-Bit. But not on much else besides trouble with the Socs, a vicious gang of rich kids whose idea of a good time is…
Twelve-year-old identical twins Ellie and Kat accidentally trigger their physicist mom’s unfinished time machine, launching themselves into a high-stakes adventure in 1970 Chicago. If they learn how to join forces and keep time travel out of the wrong hands, they might be able find a way home. Ellie’s gymnastics and…
This is a story I read in one evening. I needed to know how it ended. After fifteen-year-old Will’s brother, Shawn, is murdered, Will believes he’s supposed to follow “the rules,” which dictate that he must seek revenge. But, with a gun tucked in his waistband, Will encounters some interesting souls on his elevator ride down to the street. These unexpected yet insightful voices encourage him to reconsider what he knows and what he’s about to do. This tale is also told in verse and uses language in a spare and beautiful way. It’s the kind of story you’ll want to go back and read it again—it’s that unique and important.
“An intense snapshot of the chain reaction caused by pulling a trigger.” —Booklist (starred review) “Astonishing.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “A tour de force.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
A Newbery Honor Book A Coretta Scott King Honor Book A Printz Honor Book A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner for Young Adult Literature Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award An Edgar Award Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner An Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of…
This novel’s ending is everything! But it wouldn’t be as powerful without Lockhart’s lyrical build-up. It’s best to go into this one without knowing too much. But, without spoiling anything, the novel involves privileged teens who take matters into their own hands to stop their mothers from fighting over the family assets. Unfortunately, the consequences of their plan are devastating and far-reaching.
The TikTok phenomenon and #1 New York Times bestseller.
A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends-the Liars-whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth.
We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honouree E. Lockhart.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.
Don't miss FAMILY OF LIARS, the thrilling prequel to We Were Liars, published in May 2022.
A grumpy-sunshine, slow-burn, sweet-and-steamy romance set in wild and beautiful small-town Colorado. Lane Gravers is a wanderer, adventurer, yoga instructor, and social butterfly when she meets reserved, quiet, pensive Logan Hickory, a loner inventor with a painful past.
Dive into this small-town, steamy romance between two opposites who find love…
The Secret History is my go-to recommendation for friends who are experiencing a reading slump and looking for a book they won’t be able to put down. I’ve loaned my copy to a dozen people and they’ve universally loved this novel, which opens with a murder and then unfolds in reverse. Tartt immediately draws readers into the privileged world of students at a Vermont college and explores how the desire to fit in with the “cool crowd” can have terrible, even deadly, repercussions.
'Everything, somehow, fit together; some sly and benevolent Providence was revealing itself by degrees and I felt myself trembling on the brink of a fabulous discovery, as though any morning it was all going to come together---my future, my past, the whole of my life---and I was going to sit up in bed like a thunderbolt and say oh! oh! oh!'
Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries.…
When Tess Porter agrees to pick up her boyfriend’s college pal at the airport on a snowy December night, she has no idea she’s about to embark on the most dangerous ride of her life. Two days later, the 17-year-old wakes up in a hospital with broken bones, unable to remember how she got there. Her parents are acting strange, and neither James, her boyfriend, nor her best friend, Izzy, have visited. As she struggles to physically recover, Tess wrestles with haunting questions: What happened? Will her memory ever return? And what if she’s better off not recalling any of it?
This is the fourth book in the Joplin/Halloran forensic mystery series, which features Hollis Joplin, a death investigator, and Tom Halloran, an Atlanta attorney.
It's August of 2018, shortly after the Republican National Convention has nominated Donald Trump as its presidential candidate. Racial and political tensions are rising, and so…
A fake date, romance, and a conniving co-worker you'd love to shut down. Fun summer reading!
Liza loves helping people and creating designer shoes that feel as good as they look. Financially overextended and recovering from a divorce, her last-ditch opportunity to pitch her firm for investment falls flat. Then…
