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Category Archives: Mystery/Thriller
Swim with Caution
I love a good thriller/suspense novel. My students do too. As a result, I read a lot of both YA and adult thrillers. So I was super excited when I saw The Lake this spring. The publisher’s teaser was “the undisputed queen of YA thrillers is back with a scary and suspenseful read about a summer camp filled with dark secrets.” This was totally in my wheelhouse. A thriller. Secrets. Count me in. And Barnes and Noble was offering a signed edition. Yes, please!
Posted in Mystery/Thriller
Tagged as: suspense, thriller, YA Lit, YA Literature, young adult lit, young adult literature
Aced It!
“I’ve felt alone a lot in this world., filled with people and faces that don’t look like me” (Abike-Iyimide 406).
“Dreaming is dangerous. But I allow myself to this time. I think we deserve a happy ending” (Abike-Iyimide 408).
“To me, [Henrietta Lacks] and all the other spirits broken by this world and its systems are the reason I get up and do this every day” (Abike-Iyimide 414).
Scrolling through Twitter one morning two weeks ago, I saw a tweet celebrating Ace of Spades book birthday.
Posted in Mystery/Thriller
Tagged as: classism, LGBTQ+, mystery, systemic racism, YA Lit, YA Literature, young adult lit, young adult literature
There Is No Place Where Espionage Is Not Possible
The Spy School series is a VERY popular series in my class library. It is a series that I need to make sure I purchase the newest book when it comes out. My students become exasperated when they have to wait for it. I should say, my male students become exasperated when they have to wait for it. My girls just aren’t that into it.
If you haven’t read Spy School, the books are a completely implausible, funny romp through the fast-paced world of espionage–all told through an eighth-grade protagonist. Stuart Gibbs’ website summarizes the premise best, so I’m just going to use his words:
Posted in Mystery/Thriller
Tagged as: Boys Reading, Girls Reading, Plot, Spy School, Stuart Gibbs
Preparing faces
“Sometimes people think they know you. They know a few facts about you, and they piece you together in a way that makes sense to them. And if you don’t know yourself very well, you might even believe that they are right.”
–This Song Will Save Your Life, Leila Sales
Full disclosure: I haven’t read This Song Will Save Your Life. I was merely looking for a quote about YA books, and of course, google gave me quotes from YA books, and a blog post from Barnes and Noble titled “12 YA Quotes that Perfectly Express the Teen Condition.” Now, I don’t know if the quotes do or not. It’s been a really long time since I was a teen. And while the biology of adolescence hasn’t changed, adolescent life today seems far more complicated than it was in the 80s.
Posted in Coming of Age, Mystery/Thriller
Tagged as: Before I Let Go, Identity, Nijkamp, YA Lit, YA Literature, young adult lit, young adult literature
Desire to Understand
mys·ter·y1
ˈmist(ə)rē/
noun
1.
something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain.
“the mysteries of outer space”
synonyms: puzzle, enigma, conundrum, riddle, secret, problem, unsolved problem
“his death remains a mystery”
2.
a novel, play, or movie dealing with a puzzling crime, especially a murder.
synonyms: thriller, murder mystery, detective story/novel, murder story, crime novel;
informalwhodunit
“reading a classic mystery”
Posted in Mystery/Thriller
Tagged as: agatha christie, al capone, alane ferguson, ally carter, april henry, body finder, carl hiaasen, edward blood, el konigsburg, embassy row, forensic mystery, gallagher girls, gennifer choldenko, John Feinstein, john green, john grishom, judy blunder, katherine howe, kimberly darting, lauren oliver, laurie faria stolarz, mystery, Series, silent to the bone, theodore boone, thriller, trenton lee stewart, YA Lit, YA Literature, young adult lit, young adult literature