The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo is a coming of age story written in poetic verse. Xiomara Batista attends Catholic high school and forced by her mom to attend catechism classes. Her mom has a very strict idea of what her daughter should be. Boys are definitely off limits. Thus, she pours all her teenage angst into her prized notebook. Also lots of feelings about her classmate named Aman. It’s only when she joins the poetry club does she begin to find her voice. Unfortunately, she […]
The World Seemed to Burn
Lish McBride’s debut novel, Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, is as funny and twisted as the title implies. Firebug (Henry Holt, 2014) is set in the same fictional universe, populated by a hidden society of supernatural beings like vampires and werewolves, but features a brand-new cast of characters. McBride writes like Joss Whedon on amphetamines, peppering every page with quips and puns, so if you like your teen angst with a heaping side of snark, you’ll probably enjoy Firebug. What’s it about? Ava Halloway is a […]

