Despite efforts to eradicate it, bullying remains a problem in schools, communities, workplaces, and online. Holly Thompson’s debut middle grade novel in verse, Orchards, portrays a seventh grader whose bullying of a former friend contributed to that girl’s suicide, an…
Attending the Brooklyn Book Festival’s Children’s Day for the first time last September, I came across a lone booth in the middle of the plaza. There Alicia and Tameka McKenzie were selling their self-published series for middle graders, The Anti-Socialites,…
My reviews this month focus on small presses and their unique contributions to the publishing ecosystem. These contributions may be in the form of subject matter, point of view, language, or style. As John Byrd of Cinco Puntos Press pointed…
In an acclaimed piece on reviewers and diversity, author Malinda Lo addressed some of the familiar criticisms leveled against diverse books by reveiwers who just don’t “get it.” Most common criticism #2 was “so many (too many?) issues.” She saw…
Biddy and Quincy have just turned 18 and graduated from their high school’s Special Education program. Their counselor has arranged for them to live together, with Biddy helping Elizabeth, an older woman with a neurological disorder, and Quincy working as…
The week of September 22-26 has been declared National Hazing Prevention Week, with the purpose of raising awareness of this destructive and frequently dangerous practice. Young people endure emotional and physical abuse because they believe it will make them part…
I met Estela Bernal at a novel revision workshop led by the wise and generous Barbara Seuling. Estela and I shared a room and she told me about her work rescuing abused animals and educating people about responsible pet ownership.…
The S-Word (Gallery Books) by Chelsea Pitcher $10.99 Angie seeks revenge against those who labeled her best friend, Lizzie Hart, “Slut.” But she is also seeking redemption from the guilt that plagues her because Angie let it happen after…
FAT ANGIE Written by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo Hungry for an intimate, intense third person drama? FAT ANGIE will keep you reading, wondering – and laughing. e.E. Charlton-Trujillo has created for Fat Angie a barely functional family. Some characters are…
Last December I reviewed A.S. King’s excellent young adult novel Everybody Sees the Ants for my local newspaper and interviewed the author on the novel’s central theme of bullying. Since then, several more books have come out on the subject,…
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