Hannah Rose Summers is a high school student at Cane Bay H.S. who loves her friends, family, and a good book at all times. She is an aspiring pediatric cardiologist who’s always willing to jump up and help with most anything. Here at the store, we call her the “Singing Bookseller.”
Hannah’s specialty is young adult and children’s reads. She’s a voracious reader and keeps up with all those cool YA series, too…
Young Adult Favorites
A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer– this Beauty and the Beast retelling is one of the fantasies that I have read in a long time! Lovely, diverse characters that are so real in their enthusiasm and mistakes that you can’t help but love them. Not to mention a enemies-to-lovers trope that’s not super cliche. The first book follows Harper, a girl from DC, and Rhen, prince and heir to the throne of Emberfall, a world not quite like our own. Highly highly suggest this book for any fantasy and/or romance lovers!
Rule of Three by Eric Walters – This book is in the first person point of view of a high school boy who not only has to navigate hormones and feelings, but also try to survive in their suddenly, and very drastically, different world. If you like strategy the way I do, then you will love this! This whole book is full of strategic survival, grief, and hysteria and makes for a book you won’t be able to put down! To make things better, it’s a trilogy!!
Scythe by Neal Shusterman – Two teens in a “perfect” world must become scythe apprentices – a group of individuals outside of the law who kill people at random in order to keep optimum world population. This book handles the forming of a cult like group and the corruption of power within the cult. Got conflicting emotions? This book has that too with the two teens stuck between duty and desire and a teacher stuck with some tough decisions.
Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon – Peer through the eyes of Madeline Whittier, a teen girl who has a rare disease that locks her up in her house – no visitors allowed. Well except for her nurse and mother of course. But young Madeline has a big imagination and an even bigger sense of curiosity, especially when new neighbors move in with a boy her age. Go through this adventure of love, loneliness, hope, and betrayal with me! I guarantee you will be hugging this book!
The Knife of Never Letting Go By Patrick Ness– Oh my goodness! This book was absolutely nothing like I’ve ever read before! Patrick Ness invites us into a world where no one of your thoughts is a secret; everything can be heard and seen by everyone else. It is as fascinating and gruesome as it sounds. I cannot express how well the already blurred line of good and bad was just tossed out the window. The Chaos Walking trilogy expresses the ugliness as well as the beauty of humanity so well! If you want a Young adult thriller with a tad of otherworldly-ness and a dash of familial bonds, this is the book for you! I guarantee you won’t be able to put it down!
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau– “The City of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race. Two hundred years later, supplies are running low and terrifying blackouts are sweeping through the streets. It’s only a matter of time before the lights go out and never come back on again. When Lina finds part of a secret message, she’s sure it holds a clue that will save Ember. She enlists her friends Doon, and together they explore long-forgotten parts of their dying city as they race to solve the mystery. If they succeed, they will have to convince everyone to follow them into danger. But if they fail? The lights will burn out and the darkness will close in forever” This book is HIGHLY recommended and also happens to be a popular required reading for 4th graders!
Glow by Megan E. Bryant- Meet Lydia, a young woman who is excited to get her first real job at the factory with the working girls! Here they paint luminous watches to help soldiers in WW1. But there is something deadly in this factory. Something deadly in the very paint they’re using. Something that will change America as they knew it. Meet Julie, who once she graduates high school finds herself stuck, not knowing what to do. Until one day she finds paintings at an antique store that intrigues her. Especially when she finds out that in the dark, they glow, with horrifying images. In this story that takes place in both the past and present, learn about the Radium Girls, what they experienced, what they did, and how their gruesome deaths helped to bring light to the horrible conditions girls worked through in factories.
Best Children’s Books
Raise Your Hand by Alice Paul Tapper –
11 year old Alice Tapper was in class one day when she noticed hardly any girls ever raised their hands to answer questions! So Alice decided to do something about it. Read this short story with fun illustrations to your young girls and give them a needed sense of empowerment!
Geronimo Stilton by Elisabetta Dami – Follow Geronimo the mouse on all of his wild adventures from competing in the Olympics to getting ghosts out of the hotel! These books are great reads with their fun texts and colorful pictures; even the most anti-book children would have a hard time putting it down!
White Fang by Jack London- travel along with White Fang, a strong pup who travels from owner to owner, all the while trying to figure out who he is and what his purpose is. This is, in my opinion, one of the best books out there and is my FAVORITE! I recommend this book to any and everyone whether you’re 7 or 70!