OK, I wanted to read this one because it's popular with the teens (and because I loved Animorphs as a kid, duh), but I wasn't really expecting to like it. I didn't, really? It was too dark and gross and odd for me, an adult fussbudget. It also seems like there is a LOT going on in this series. Like, all the adults disappeared, but also there are mutant powers, but also there are talking coyotes, but also there is a dark magic force that lives in a mine? It... couldn't have been just like two of those things? And this couldn't have been less than 550 pages? No? OK fine.

I don't have any desire to read the rest of this series, but I did immediately go on to Wikipedia to read plot summaries of the rest of the books. Like, I wanted to know what happened, but I knew I did not want to read thousands more pages about these characters to find out. It all sounds very grim. And the book I read concurrently is a nonfiction book about global warming. I think maybe to an adult reader the scenarios are a lot more horrifying than to teen readers? Or maybe they just like to be horrified? That would explain all the zombies. IDK MAN.

Wonderfully funny and engaging historical fiction. And I loved the strong doses of American social/labor history. Viva Eleanor Roosevelt! Not sure how much teen appeal this has? I guess historical fiction does have its young fans (I was one, after all), but it might be for a more limited audience. It might appeal more widely to adults, actually.

UGHHHH I decided to read some of the vampire books besides Twilight. I was kind of hoping this would all go away but people keep asking me about vampire books and I just sort of assume they are all like Twilight. But House of Night--at least the first one--is WAY WORSE THAN TWILIGHT OH MY GOD.

This book has an annoying protagonist who's basically the Best Vampyre Ever (a lot like Bella, actually, but at least Bella spells "vampire" correctly). Also, she's part Cherokee and has Cherokee Magick too. I will let Debbie Reese handle that: http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/search/label/House%20of%20Night

Also, she's really into slut-shaming other vampyres.

Reading this book made me appreciate Meg Cabot even more than I already did. Zoey (that's our annoying narrator) talks in a way that's reminiscent of Princess Diaries' Mia, but TERRIBLE. Meg Cabot makes that kind of spazzy teenage voice sound, like, totally natural and not annoying. Zoey makes it TERRIBLE. (Random example: "My cute Bug was sitting there where she always sat--right in front of the third door to our three car garage. The step-loser wouldn't let me park her inside because he said the lawnmower was more important. (More important than a vintage VW? How? That didn't even make sense. Jeesh, I just sounded like a guy. Since when did I care about the vintageness of my Bug? I must really be Changing.")

I skimmed about the last third of this book. God, I hated it. It made Twilight look sooo good.

I reviewed this for the library blog, but basically: if you're going to have a narrator on the autism spectrum, commit to it. Colin Fischer has a weird meandering 3rd person omniscient narrator that undermines Colin's POV and seems really odd for a mystery to use.

I'm into it yo. My teens report not liking this one as much as they liked Matched but I dug it. It is maybe less romancey and more survival/adventurey. Also SECRETS ARE REVEALED but I still want to know more. I'm on the list for [b:Reached|13125947|Reached (Matched, #3)|Ally Condie|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1330717582s/13125947.jpg|14449480].

This was the first Sarah Dessen book I've ever read! IDK how I've read so much YA lit and missed out on her. Anyway, I get her popularity now. Kind of the book equivalent of a tearjerker chick flick, but sometimes that's what you want.

It took me awhile to get through this. I mean I think copyright reform is important but I kind of skimmed a lot of the legalese. I did like the slightly future setting with raised stakes for copyright infringement--it's easy to see a world where copyright violations get your internet disconnected for a year, and a world where that's truly a dire punishment. I liked reading about Trent/Cecil's adventures in homelessness and dumpster diving. I kind of wondered if it's glamorizing homelessness? But people do say you can get awesome stuff from dumpster diving. OK, that's not really the point of the book, just a social consciousness concern that flitted through my mind while reading.

This might appeal slightly more to the hacker/vidder crowd? Or to the homeless? IDK.

I guess I read 2 YA books in a row that I'm afraid ~glamorize homelessness.~ Or is it empowering homelessness? Maybe I need to check my home-having privilege :(

Anyway I read this book because John Green recommended it. I thought it was pretty funny and engaging, and a super fast read. It's kind of sparsely-written but Going gives enough details to let you piece together pretty good characterizations of Troy (the titular fat kid) and Curt (the mostly-homeless kid who stops Troy from jumping in front of a train).

Also it is cool that it doesn't end with the Fat Kid losing weight and becoming popular! (spoiler?)

CONFESSION: I probably only read 2/3 of this book because I skimmed all the italicized Space Drama and only read the parts on Earth. The Earth parts were funny and compelling but the Space parts were soo boring to me. People who are big fans of High Fantasy and aren't annoyed by long ficticious family tree drama would probably like the Space parts too. I'm pretty sure I understood all the Earth parts without reading the Space parts? If not: whatevs.

A really cute, fun read. I loved the way the stories overlapped--the way one character's huge drama was another character's background incident. These three authors are all great at offering warm, realistic portrayals of teenagers & Let it Snow doesn't disappoint.