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Cindy: Brother is just shy of twelve-years-old when he must step up and help his grandfather run their Oregon farm after his father is shipped off to Iraq. The theme of conflict and loss runs throughout the story from the opening chess sequence to Brother’s fights with his older brothers when they come home and [...]

Cindy: “It’s not nice when girls die.” Ten years ago Laurie Halse Anderson gifted teen readers with her first YA novel, Speak, about a girl dealing with depression following a date rape. In Wintergirls (Penguin/Viking, 2009), Anderson is as unflinching and honest in presenting Lia, who learns on page one of chapter {001.00} that an [...]

Cindy & Lynn: Happy Mother’s Day! Mother Poems (Henry Holt, 2009) is an emotional journey through grief and healing after a young girl loses her mother too soon. To honor the extraordinary powers of mothers everywhere, we’d like to share the celebratory poem that accompanies Smith’s collage illustration seen on the front cover. We’ve known [...]

Cindy: Whenever Lynn makes me read a science fiction book I respond by forcing her to read something that tugs at her emotions. She would rather cavort with aliens than have to pull out a tissue while she reads. Oh well, baseball season is upon us and I’ve been begging her to read The Girl [...]