teenagers – Mom Read It

Non-Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads, Young Adult/New Adult

Girl Power! Girl Code!

Posted on March 6, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Girl Code: Gaming, Going Viral, and Getting It Done, by Andrea Gonzales and Sophie Houser, (March 2017, HarperCollins), $17.99, ISBN: 9780062472502

Recommended for readers 12+

Two teens attend NYC’s Girls Who Code Program, become friends, and create a viral video game that addresses the taboo of menstruation. It really happened, and they’re telling their story, hoping to inspire more girls to get involved in the tech space. More importantly, Andrea “Andy” Gonzalez and Sophie Houser talk frankly about the stress and the pressure of being in the spotlight; the sacrifices they made as they learned more about school, tech and entrepreneurship. They discuss the struggle to find a work-life balance. Girl Code is loaded with photos and includes an appendix with a glossary and coding exercises for both PC and Mac and is essential reading for anyone – particularly young women – interested in pursuing STEM careers.

I’ve been a big proponent of STEM for my library kids and for my own kids. I’ve run coding programs at my last library and am working on plans to bring one to my newest location. I urge the kids I see every day to get hands on, whether it’s toddlers playing with water tables to see what floats and what sinks, or tweens making BB-8 and R2D2 follow coding commands to move around a screen. Having two mentors like Sophie and Andy available on bookshelves is important, because they tell all: overcoming shyness and anxiety; encouraging kids to keep plugging away at code because it doesn’t always happen the first time, but perseverance gets results; and most importantly, that there are people out there that want you to succeed, but there are also people out there that will try to take the wind out of your sails once you do. Having two young women talk about their experiences is so much more important than me telling kids to stick two Scratch blocks together to run a command, because representation matters. I want readers to read these young women’s words and think, “I can do that.”

If you don’t have kids that are into code, give them this book anyway. Sophie and Andy take on the very taboo topic of being female in public. You read that right. Their game, Tampon Run, takes on the taboo of “icky girl stuff” – having periods – and puts it front and center, making it visible and real. It’s a big statement, and the thinking and reasoning behind the creation of this game is fascinating and inspiring reading.

Horror, Post-apocalyptic/Dystopian, Science Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Scott Sigler’s Alive is a tense mix of speculative fiction, mystery, and horror. Read it!

Posted on July 2, 2015July 2, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Alive, by Scott Sigler (Jul 2015, Del Rey/Spectra), $18, ISBN: 9780553393101

Recommended for ages 13+

“I open my eyes to darkness. Total darkness. I hear my own breathing, but nothing else. I lift my head . . . it thumps against something solid and unmoving. There is a board right in front of my face. No, not a board . . . a lid.”

A teenage girl wakes up in what she perceives to be a coffin. She breaks out, and liberates the other kids from their coffins- but not everyone is alive. No one has any memory of who they are, where they come from, or how they got where they are. The only clue to anything about them lies in the engraved names at the end of each coffin: an initial and last name. M. Savage, the first girl to wake up, finds herself leading a group of teens through the unknown environment, in search of answers and freedom, but can they survive the horrors they witness… or one another?

If you’ve never read Scott Sigler before, you are in for a treat, my friends. I discovered his book, Infected, years ago thanks to a horror podcast I used to listen to. This is the first YA by Sigler I’ve read, and trust me – you’re going to need to grit your teeth and brace yourself for this ride.

What I love about Scott Sigler is his masterful way of taking a group of people and showing conflict. It’s set off by one thing, but it’s never really about that one thing, is it? You throw a group of hormonal teenagers into the insanity of waking up with no memory and no clue as to where they are, you’ve got some interesting issues on your hands. Sigler’s your man. I can’t go into too much of the story, because I really don’t want spoilers in any way, shape, or form to put you off of this book, but think about the kids in your life, and then imagine tossing them into the craziest situation you can imagine. You’ve got layers and layers of issues, personalities, and conflicts that will come to the fore. The best horror lies not with the monsters under your bed, but the horror we inflict on one another, and we all know and remember that children can be pretty cruel.

Alive needs to be on your teen space bookshelves, and MAN, the stories that can come out of a book talk featuring this book are legion. The book hits stores on July 14th, but there’s a serialized podcast to get you all riled up until then.

Check out Scott Sigler’s author website for more information about his books, including the Infected trilogy.

Post-apocalyptic/Dystopian, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Post-Apocalypse New York, run by teens- Chris Weitz’s The Young World

Posted on March 5, 2015March 11, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Young World, by Chris Weitz (2014, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), $19.00, ISBN: 9780316226295

Recommended for ages 14+

The Young World takes place in a post-apocalyptic New York City. A sickness has wiped out young children and adults, leaving only teenagers to fend for themselves in this new world. When you turn 18, you develop the sickness and die, too. Jefferson, left in charge of the Washington Square tribe once his brother dies, sets out with key members of his group to find information on what caused the sickness, hoping to find a cure. The trip will take them throughout New York City – and other tribes that are dangerous in their own right – and beyond, as they discover secrets and experiments that lead to the rise of the Young World.

It’s an interesting take on the post-apocalyptic genre. Author Chris Weitz knows how to stage a teen story: he’s directed films like Twilight: New Moon, American Pie, and About a Boy. He has a good grasp on the teen voice, and the novel itself is told effectively in alternating first-person narratives between Jefferson and his childhood friend and would-be love interest, Donna. In a world where kids and adults are dead, teens – at a tumultuous time of life to begin with – are left to forge ahead on their own. We see different social classes and races handle things very differently, and the factioning of Manhattan, particularly Grand Central, is fascinating. The characters are well-developed, each with his or her own distinct voice. Secondary characters, particularly Brainbox – the brains of the Washington Square tribe – are nicely fleshed-out through Jefferson’s and Donna’s eyes. I felt that Donna struggled a bit to find her own voice, but hits her stride mid-novel.

The story reminds me of 12 Monkeys meets The Warriors. (This is a good thing; I love both of those movies.) I’m interested in seeing where the next book – The New Order, publishing this July – takes things.

Check out more about The Young World at Little Brown’s page.