Sidekicked

Review written by Jonathan Lavallee. The Sensationalist is unhappy with his lot in life. Born Andrew Macon Bean, he was recruited into H.E.R.O., a superhero sidekick training program, because of his incredibly heightened senses. H.E.R.O aims to take young people with extraordinary talents and pair them with superheroes willing to take on apprentices who have […]

The Door in the Hedge

Review written by Jonathan Lavallee.  The Door in the Hedge came on my radar as I was trolling through the Toronto Public Library ebook website. It was part of the Big Library Read program where the company that handles ebooks for the library, Overdrive, decided to let everyone borrow this book and even provided points […]

A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel

The graphic novel of A Wrinkle in Time hews so closely to the original novel that this review will in many ways serve for both. But first a quick story. I was one of those kids (mostly girls) who discovered A Wrinkle in Time on her own and fell madly in love with it. I […]

Akata Witch

Akata Witch is the story of Sunny, an albino Igbo girl who recently moved to Nigeria from the United States. As if she doesn’t already feel enough like she doesn’t fit in, she learns that she’s a Leopard person, which means she is capable of juju and other magical type things. She becomes friends with […]

Winter

Winter brings The Lunar Chronicles to a satisfying close, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that it’s a bit sprawling as all of the threads get tied up. However, unlike some final books to a series, it feels complete, well thought out, and not rushed. It’s just going to take over 800 pages to get […]

Smuggler’s Run

Review written by Clark Valentine. Wrapping up the first trio of Star Wars YA novel reviews is Smuggler’s Run: A Han Solo & Chewbacca Adventure, a fast-paced adventure starring Han Solo and Chewbacca, set between the films Star Wars (A New Hope, as it’s now known) and The Empire Strikes Back. The Star Wars trivia […]

The Weapon of a Jedi

Review written by Clark Valentine. A question that I have long pondered is “So, between blowing the Death Star to smithereens in Star Wars and getting his face washed by a wampa in Empire Strikes Back, what did Luke Skywalker do, anyway?” Yes, I’m serious. If you immerse yourself in the canon that’s the sort of […]

Black Widow Forever Red

Black Widow Forever Red is a young adult novel about, among other characters, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanoff. It takes place in a post-Avengers world, where Black Widow, Iron Man, and the rest of the team are celebrities (but Coulson is alive and working with Black Widow? It doesn’t fit the Marvel Cinematic/TV Universe perfectly). It’s […]

The Martian

Review written by Clark Valentine. I hear you. It’s a valid question. “Clark,” you say, “why in the world are you reviewing The Martian for a book review site focusing on 8-13 year old readers?” Yes, The Martian was absolutely written with adults in mind, no question about it. But with the film being released […]

The Sister Solution

Enter to win a copy of this book! It’s hard to live in a sibling’s shadow, and it’s even harder when that sibling is younger than you! In The Sister Solution, Sammi has to deal with her younger sister Jorgianna skipping two grades to join her mid-way through her 8th grade year. Understandably, Sammi doesn’t […]