Kate Mester

Listening to this on trips. Good car companion.

This improved upon Leviathan. The plot was more interesting and faster paced and the slang wasn't as grating (or maybe I was just used to it).

I just went to a few street lit sessions at the Black Caucus of ALA (American Library Association) that were truly fascinating, and Tyrell was one of the books the panel recommended for teens (since it's a much lighter version of true street lit). I think through the sessions my views on promoting street lit really changed. I can think of so many teens I would recommend Tyrell to, and I think I'll also try to read Booth's next book, Kendra.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. It was funny and witty and sad and quirky and a totally enveloping read. I think Standiford speaks to the kind of girl that you (sadly) don't see too often in YA lit, and that's a great thing.

Actually currently listening to it whenever I'm in the car. I really like the narrator, but being that the narrative is so disjointed, I'm not sure only listening to it sporadically is the best method. We'll see at the end.

Cute and funny, very good for young reluctant readers.

A slow start but upon reflection I think I liked it even better than the first book of the series.

I love both authors, but I kept waiting for this book to get better. I enjoyed the new perspectives on male friendship and who can't help but love Tiny Cooper, but the 2 Will Graysons, I didn't love so much.

Went to a talk with Rebecca Skloot and history and chemsitry professors giving context. So excited to actually read the book...what a phenomenal (and heartbreaking) story, and sad that no one has thought to tell it until now.

I decided to finally get on board with the hype. The book starts of pretty procedural (I kept thinking, yes Larsson, you did a lot of research, good for you, now move it along) but it got faster after that. A little too long, but overall good for what it is.

Offensive on all possible counts.

Definitely not my favorite by him, though the first that I've read of his with a female narrator. I would say Rash and Godless are MUCH better.

Gee and I are listening to this on car/plane trips, since everyone else has read it (reading peer pressure!). It's interesting in parts, and really boring in others, though the actors reading it are pretty great (Mark Hamill! Henry Rollins! Jon Turturro!)

I can see why this won the Printz: for creativity alone. At the end, I honestly couldn't decide whether I liked it or not, but it was still a fascinating page turner where I was constantly impressed with Libba Bray's writing, language, and imagination. I wouldn't put it in a junior high (too many drugs, sex, and fucks) but I would surely give it to high schoolers, and recommend 8th graders to find it. This is a great getting-boys-who-don't-like-to-read to read book.

A solid 3 1/2, not as badly written and over dramatically love-obsessive as Twilight, but in the same vein. I liked that it was witches and not vampires (again), that is was narrated by a 16 year old boy, and that the romance was interesting and much more believable than other teen reads, but still PG enough for middle school.

I just found out that a childhood friend's wife wrote this book! I'm so excited for her, I'm really looking forward to reading it.

I was glad in reading this book that it is also appropriate for junior high girls. Too often, the content of older YA books is just too much to give to a 6th grader, but Christine keeps the material interesting without being too graphic. I also really enjoyed the strong female character. Claire doesn't need her boy crush to fix her or save her or rescue her (I'm looking at you, Twilight) but instead makes her own decisions and is praised for her strengh and uniqueness. A great message for teen girls to absorb, coupled with the fact that the story moves quickly and keeps your interest throughout.

Like Jenn, I thought this was good but skews much younger than his intended teen audience. I'd say 10 and up. Also, the slang is funny and new at first and then really grates with overusage over time. But I did really like the concept and the illustrations.

Pretty delightful. I actually really enjoyed the details that the movie added, though. I also think Gaimam's comments are spot on, that children reading this book just see a fun adventure story, but adults are truly creeped out...yep, I was creeped out, particularly by the movie images.

Stork really made Marcelo an authentic character, not just a checklist of Asberger's. Beautifully written and a sweet story.

I decided these books would be my fun summer reading and then I would get the HBO True Blood series and watch that. After the first couple pages, I almost stopped reading the book because the writing was so lame, but it does get better and the fun stories and characters eventually drew me in. I'm a fan of authentic, author-created worlds that you can get lost in, and I'm enjoying spending the summer in Bon Temps, Louisiana.

This book was fast paced and enjoyable. It reminded me a lot of the “Uglies” series, only more violent. I'm doing it as a read-aloud for school and so far the kids are edge-of-the-seat interesting, so hopefully that continues.

Just as trashy as the show but not nearly as fun. I still wouldn't recommend this to any of my kids.

I'm starting this series on a student recommendation, and at half way through it's pretty interesting. I can definitely see recommending it to other students.

sadly not as good as the mcewan that i've read. i devoured the other books in a constant state of enjoyment, and i felt like i was just sort of making it through this one.

Really interesting and very different from the Uglies series, but still really adventurous. We'll see how the other books are, because I felt that Uglies declined throughout.