Tag Archives: first love

Review: The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Anne Frank

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Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition
Anne Frank
EFE Books
Published May 15, 2022

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About The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition

The Diary of a Young Girl, often known as the Anne Frank Diary, is a collection of entries from Anne Frank’s Dutch-language diary, which she recorded while a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family evacuated their house in Amsterdam and went into hiding in 1942 when Nazis occupied Holland. Anne Frank died of typhus at the Bergen-Belsen detention camp in 1945 after the family was … Continue reading →

Review: Rana Joon and the One and Only Now by Shideh Etaat

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Rana Joon and the One and Only Now by Shideh Etaat cover shows a girl in jeans and high tops sitting on the ground, holding a discman and listening to headphones.

Rana Joon and the One and Only Now
Shideh Etaat
Atheneum Books
Published July 25, 2023

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About Rana Joon and the One and Only Now

This lyrical coming-of-age novel for fans of Darius the Great Is Not Okay and On the Come Up, set in southern California in 1996, follows a teen who wants to honor her deceased friend’s legacy by entering a rap contest.

Perfect Iranian girls are straight-A students, always polite, and grow up to marry respectable Iranian … Continue reading →

Review: Gilded by Marissa Meyer

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Gilded by Marissa Meyer

Gilded (Gilded Duology #1)
Marissa Meyer
Feiwel & Friends
Published November 2, 2021

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About Gilded

Long ago cursed by the god of lies, a poor miller’s daughter has developed a talent for spinning stories that are fantastical and spellbinding and entirely untrue.

Or so everyone believes.

When one of Serilda’s outlandish tales draws the attention of the sinister Erlking and his undead hunters, she finds herself swept away into a grim world where ghouls and phantoms prowl the earth and hollow-eyed ravens track her every move. The king orders Serilda to complete the impossible task of spinning straw into gold, or be killed … Continue reading →

Review: This Place is Still Beautiful by XiXi Tian

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This Place is Still Beautiful by Xixi Tian

This Place is Still Beautiful
XiXi Tian
Balzer + Bray
Published June 7, 2022

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About This Place is Still Beautiful

Two sisters. A shocking racist incident. The summer that will change both of their lives forever.

Despite having had near-identical upbringings, sisters Annalie and Margaret agree on only one thing: that they have nothing in common. Nineteen-year-old Margaret is driven, ambitious, and keenly aware of social justice issues. She couldn’t wait to leave their oppressive small-town home and take flight in New York. Meanwhile sweet, popular, seventeen-year-old Annalie couldn’t think of anything worse – she loves their town, and feels safe coasting along in its … Continue reading →

Review: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

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The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

The Poet X
Elizabeth Acevedo
HarperTeen
Published March 6, 2018

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About The Poet X

Fans of Jacqueline Woodson, Meg Medina, and Jason Reynolds will fall hard for this astonishing New York Times-bestselling novel-in-verse by an award-winning slam poet, about an Afro-Latina heroine who tells her story with blazing words and powerful truth.

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, … Continue reading →

Review: All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson

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All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson

All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto
George M. Johnson
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
Published April 28, 2020

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About All Boys Aren’t Blue

In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.

Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well … Continue reading →