Codes for Reviews

First Initial (Overall Rating):
E = Exceptional
VG = Very Good
G = Good
F = Fair
NR = Not Recommended

Second Initital (Reading Level):
A = Average Reading Level
E = Easy
M = Mature

“The views expressed are of individuals and do not necessarily reflect the views of their respective institutions.”

For more information about YAR, please email Dora Ho at dorah2005@gmail.com


Friday, May 28, 2010

Ernest Hemingway: A Writer's Life

VG/M Reef, Catherine. Ernest Hemingway: A Writer’s Life. Clarion Books, 2009. $20.00, 183p.

Unlike most biography, this one flow well and teens will enjoy reading it from cover to cover. With many photos detailing the life a great American writer whose life was carefully outlined in eleven chapters. In each of the chapter, Reef focuses on an aspect of Hemingway’s life. Born as the oldest son to Ed and Grace Hemingway, he did not win his parents approval for his style of writing. His relationship with them drifted further away over the years. His life was not a most desirable one: many time he struggled as a writers; he had several failure in marriages: Hadley Richardson, Pauline Pfeiffer, and Martha Gellhorn, and he committed suicide to end his life. He was most proud of his work as wartime correspondence for various newspapers. This oversize tome is great for high school assignment or general research on the life of Ernest Hemingway, but for more extensive research, The Ernest Hemingway, a Literary Reference would be a more comprehensive source. Dora Ho, LAPL - Young Adult Librarian

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Wide Awake Princess

Middle School Fiction

VG/E Baker, E. D. Wide-Awake Princess. Bloomsbury, 2010. 261 p.

This is a humorous retelling of Sleeping Beauty with characters from some other familiar tales thrown in. In a world where everyone is blessed with magical gifts at birth, Annie's gift is to be immune to magic. So when her older sister inevitably pricks her finger on a spinning wheel and the entire castle falls asleep, she is still awake. Now she must journey throughout the kingdom searching for princes to try and wake her sister with a kiss.

Sarah Mae Harper, CoLAPL, AC Bilbrew Library

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Picture the Dead

G/A Griffin, Adele. Picture the Dead. Sourcebooks Fire, 2010. 272p. 978-1402237126. 17.99.

Jennie Lovell has recently lost most of her loved ones in battle during the Civil War; her father, twin brother and fiancĂ© are all dead. Her life in Brookline, Massachusetts must go on even with their ghosts haunting her. Complete with illustrations from Jennie’s personal scrapbook, this book follows her as she discovers the truth about war and ghosts. Good for fans of historical fiction, mystery or lightly gothic books. Loren Spector, LAPL, Felipe de Neve