#yawednesdays

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Ok, this photo from YAWednesdays is giving me life... Thank you, YAWednesday for including Amy Reed here-twice!

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Not Now, Not Ever Blog Tour

Lily Anderson’s follow-up to The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You will be out next Tuesday, November 21st.  Her second novel, entitled Not Now, Not Ever, is a modern story inspired by Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. Today, we are THRILLED to have Lily here with us on the blog talking about her upcoming novel, plus some tips and tricks to help inspiring writers, especially those that…

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Sasquatch, Love, and Other Imaginary Things Author Interview + Giveaway

Sasquatch, Love, and Other Imaginary Things Author Interview + Giveaway

Yesterday was the book birthday  for  Sasquatch, Love, and Other Imaginary Things. Today we are fortunate enough to be hosting a belated book birthday party on the blog with authors Betsy Aldredge and Carrie DuBois-Shaw.  They are here to tell us a little bit about the origin of the book, as well as a little about their collaborative writing process.  We have a present for you when it’s all done.…

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In Volume 1 of this series, I highlighted similarly themed books with eye-catchingly similar covers.  As we learned, two books with similar covers can have similar themes.  Today, we explore books with similar covers but disparate plots.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the UniverseAristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz versus The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

    Aristotle and Dante (one of our favorite books of 2015) is a contemporary YA about two boys coming to terms with themselves, each other and their place in the universe. Contrast that premise with The Assassin’s Curse, which is a fantasy adventure full of pirates, thieves, secret societies and magic.

  The Wish Granter by CJ Redwide versus The Muse by Jessie Burton

  Two books, one an adult historical fiction (The Muse) and the other a YA fantasy based on the Rumplestilskin fairy tale (The Wish Granter) don’t share more than the look and feel of their whimsical, embroidered covers.

  Lucky Few by Kathryn Ormsbee versus The Deep End by Julie Mulhern

  The Deep End is an adult murder mystery.  Lucky Few is delightfully quirky, contemporary YA.  Both share large bodies of water with bodies floating in them on the cover.  Death may be the only theme that ties these books together, but not in the way you may expect.

  What’s a Girl Gotta Do? by Holly Bourne versus Joe Gould’s Teeth by Jill Lepore

  What’s a feminist revolution have in common with a historical memoir?  Apparently, a mouth full of teeth is all that ties them together.

  Now that I started looking for cover doubles, I see them everywhere. What cover dupes have you seen?

~Carmen

Who Wore It Best Vol. 2 In Volume 1 of this series, I highlighted similarly themed books with eye-catchingly similar covers.  As we learned, two books with similar covers can have similar themes. 

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First Reads Friday Presents: Bad Romance by Heather Demetrios

First Reads Friday Presents: Bad Romance by Heather Demetrios

It’s been almost three weeks since I finished this book and I’m still not over it.  The micro-aggression. The outright aggression. The abuse. The feeling of helplessness.  The isolation. The small ways abusive and possessive relationships grow into something so big and all-encompassing that the world seems to come crashing down on you. Heather Demetrios has created a masterful study of teen…

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First Reads Friday Presents When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

First Reads Friday Presents When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

Are you ready to meet your bookish significant other? It’s more than summer love with Sandhya Menon’s When Dimple Met Rishi, one of our most anticipated books of 2017. Check out our First Reads Friday review after the jump. (more…)

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First Reads Friday: Gemina by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

First Reads Friday: Gemina by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Look, chum, I know what you’re going to say:  seen it, reddit.  What more can possibly be added to The Illuminae Files?  Well, I’m here to tell you: PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING. (more…)

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It’s September and students everywhere are heading back to school. As part of the back to school ritual they will undoubtedly be presented with an academic reading list, a list that hasn’t changed much in the past 50 years. While we love classics such as To Kill A Mocking Bird and Catcher in the Rye, we thought we’d offer some contemporary and diverse alternatives.

Replace To Kill A Mockingbird  with Mosquitoland.

There will forever be a place in my heart for Harper Lee’s classic tale of the loss of innocence in 1930’s Depression era racially segregated South. But the times they are a changin’ and we need a Scout for a modern age. Enter Mim Malone.

  Replace The Catcher in the Rye with The Great American Whatever

Your inner 13-year old will fall in love with Quinn Roberts, the Millennials’ Holden Caulfield. One self-centered slightly mental boy replaces the other when The Catcher in the Rye is updated with The Great American Whatever.

  Replace Flowers for Algernon with Extraordinary Means

In both the classic Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes and the modern Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider, medical issues change the way our lead characters live. They are forced to see the world differently and this change or profound. While these stories are very different, they share the elements of coming of age, compassion, tragedy and hope.

  Replace Brave New World with Feed

In 1932 Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World which predicted the society that is played out in the 2002 book Feed by MT Anderson which predicted the social media obsessed world we live in today. I know, it’s getting meta, but trust me on this one. Both Brave New World and Feed show us a glimpse of modern society in the not so distant future. And the future is a pretty scary place.

Replace The Complete Sherlock Holmes with A Study in Charlotte 

Update the stale old Holmes and Watson camaraderie for the Millennial generation.  We start by adding a feminist twist and making Holmes a female and Watson her love-sick do-boy.  Set on a college campus, the traditional myth is further steeped by making these characters the great, great grandchildren of the original characters from Doyle’s series.  A perfect introduction to a new generation of readers.

  Replace The Scarlet Letter with Speak 

The Scarlet Letter’s Hester Prynne gets a high school makeover with Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak.  Rather than facing being ostracized and wearing a large letter A, Melinda experiences a relatable high school experience and discovers more heartache and more complex rules of engagement than in Hawthorne’s original.

Replace Romeo & Juliet with The Weight of Feathers

We all know the tragic tale of star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, but Anna-Marie McLemore brings a new twist to the ill fated love story with The Weight of Feathers. Instead of fair Verona and rivaling royal houses, McLemore gives us the world of traveling performers, mermaids and tightrope walkers. This retelling has a much more diverse cast than the original, with elements of magical realism while still holding on to the gorgeous, lyrical writing from the original.

  Replace The Outsiders with Kids of Appetite

The Outsiders and Kids of Appetite are both stories of creating your gang, whether it’s greasers or hipsters.  They’re both stories of self-discovery.  Kids of Appetite uses the The Outsiders formula and adds plenty of diversity of race and experience to the gang.  KOA’s heart-warming journey taps into the modern psyche of today’s teen reader and is an excellent replacement for The Outsiders.

Replace The Bell Jar with Belzhar 

Belzhar chronicles the pain of being pulled into the depths of depression and mourning, much as The Bell Jar was Sylvia Plath’s personal journey. In homage to the original, this book chronicles the experiences of one particular girl in one painful situation using The Bell Jar as it’s framework.  Poignant, painful, this is a book for every school reading list.

Be on the lookout as we continue adding on to this modern classics list.  Did we miss modern YA books that you think should be included on this list?

Ann-Eliza & Carmen

A (modern) Academic Reading List It's September and students everywhere are heading back to school. As part of the back to school ritual they will undoubtedly be presented with an academic reading list, a list that hasn't changed much in the past 50 years.