When looking at the YALSA website, the first thing I wanted to look at were the award lists. Since I have been enjoying audiobooks for the last couple years and they have become a part of my evening routine, this is the first list I looked at. The following books I found are from the 2019 list.
The first book that caught my interest is For Every One by Jason Reynolds. I read this towards the beginning of the semester and it was a very inspirational little read. The time it takes to listen to this audiobook is 25 minutes so it would be cool to have for a quick read. It is also read by Jason Reynolds himself so it would be interesting to hear it read the way he expected it to be read.
There are a couple books from this list that I want to add on my TBR list, the first being Swing by Kwame Alexander. I recently read Crossover by Alexander and I really enjoy his writing style and that he talks about sports. Since I do not really read sporty books, Alexander is a great new author for me to explore. Another book I’ve added is And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness. I read A Monster Calls by Ness and really enjoyed it but haven’t read anything else by him. I am
interested in seeing if I will enjoy him as an author or if I just enjoyed A Monster Calls for the story. The final book I wanted to add to my TBR list is Quidditch Through the Ages by J.K. Rowling and Kennilworthy Whisp. Since I am currently rereading the Harry Potter series, I am interested to see if this little add-on will be worth reading or not.
Audiobooks can be very helpful in the classroom because they allow students another way to comprehend the story. If a student is having difficulty with comprehension through reading normally, hearing the story while they follow along in their physical copy can help with this. Also, with technology and how easy it is to get audiobooks through apps like Audible, students can have more access to getting newer books than waiting for local libraries to get them. If a student really wants a book but it is physically not available to them, audiobooks can be a great alternative because they only take a couple hours to download.
This series follows a young wizard named Harry Potter. Harry lives with his aunt and uncle after his parents died in a “car crash”. Strange things always happen to Harry which he cannot explain but it all makes sense when he is told he is a wizard and has been accepted into Hogwarts Wizarding School. Harry also finds out that he is a survior of a dark wizard attack that caused his parents to die. This dark wizard is Voldemort who disappeared after he could not kill Harry. When arriving at Hogwarts, Harry meets multiple new wizards but one, in particular, is Ron Weasley. Ron and Harry soon become best friends but they also make a new enemy, Draco Malfoy. I do not want to spoil everything in this book but it basically covers different situations Harry, Ron, and eventually, another classmate Hermione Granger go through during their first year at Hogwarts. These include three-headed dogs, giant trolls, irritating professors, and numerious life treatening situations. If you have not read this series, I would highly recommend. They are not very difficult to read but towards the end books, they get pretty long. However, the story is very interesting and comes with a few surprises.
The Crossover is a verse novel that follows Josh Bell. Josh is twelve years old and has a twin brother named Jordan. Both of the brothers are wonderful at basketball and this could be partly credited to their father, who was a professional basketball player. The brothers are usually very close but this changes when Jordan gets a girlfriend who seems to be taking up all of his time. Josh gets pretty annoyed with this which leads to some tension between him and his brother, on and off the court. While this is going on, their father seems to be having some medical issues but refuses to see the doctor. I won’t spoil anything else but the ending is pretty upsetting but also very predictable. I would recommend this book because it is a very short read but has a very cool story. Since it is a verse novel, there is always the worry of losing information but that does not happen here!
Happy Monday! This week, I’ve read two young adult books.
The Poet X is about a young girl named Xiomara. Xiomara lives in a very religious household and is usually criticized for growing into her young woman body. When she meets a boy named Adam, it is not a good thing in the eyes of her parents. As they continue to meet in secret, it is no surprise that they eventually get caught. In order to cope with all of the obstacles in her life, Xiomara writes poetry. The teacher sees this and wants her to join the poetry club. With this, Xiomara finds her voice outside of her words.
Hello, Universe is a middle grades novel that follows a young man named Virgil. Virgil has some issues at school so he is put into a different class
Monster is about a young man who is put on trial for murdering an older man during a robbery. The book covers the trial as it goes on as well as Steve’s journals about his life and the trial. This is a book I have thought about reading for quite a while but was never interested in it. I am so glad that I finally read it. Covering the trial and the journals was so exciting and you are just hoping that the main character will be proven not guilty. Another great thing about this book is that it is such a quick read because of how it is written. There is a lot of dialogue so it is very easy to get through. However, I will say that I got confused with some of the characters. Some I kept getting mixed up with each other. Overall, I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in crime stories but this is a great read for everyone.
Allegiant is the final book in the Divergent series. There isn’t a lot I can say about this book without spoiling the previous book but in this book, Tris is working to create a safe area that is not ruled by one power. That is really all I can say. However, this book is a great conclusion to the series. It is VERY upsetting so be cautious to when getting to the end! From what I have read, a lot of people did not like the ending of this series because it is not a very happy ending. To me, it was very relieving to get something different and this ending really set it apart from other popular YA series.
This book is about the relationship between the author and Pedro Zamora. Pedro is HIV positive and spent his time being a motivational speaker on how to live with being HIV positive. It is seen as such a negative thing but Pedro shows that people with this illness can live a full and happy life. Overall, the book was very beautiful, in terms of the story and illustrations. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.
Rachel's Mind 