Reviews written by Kimberly Pauley

Gail Carson Levine is a great storyteller and usually it takes me just minutes (well, it feels that way, anyway) to devour one of her books. For some reason, The Two Princesses of Bamarre took me much longer. I must have picked it up and read the first few pages...

Id been meaning to read this book forever. I actually got it before the release date (5/04) and had it near the top of my ever-growing stack of review books, but somehow it kept getting moved back. The title (So B. It) intrigued me, as did the description on the...

Unlike many books targeted towards teens that want to write, Your Name in Print is both useful and down-to-earth. Ive seen other books that promise pie-in-the-sky or just talk about the fuzzy feel-good benefits of writing, but this one is really helpful. Written by a father-daughter team...

Annie Lockwood is a romantic in today's world. Her boyfriend, Sean, is more of a grease monkey and even refers to her as "ASL" (Anna Sophia Lockwood), rather than by name. She yearns for something more, something with romance, something with feeling and heart. And then she finds it, when...

The town of MacOongafoondsen (try saying that fast three times) is a tiny one (only 21 residents) and they have little contact with the outside world. When a mysterious ship washes up on shore with one lone (and very hairy) survivor, the townspeople are convinced that not only is the...

Haley's the new girl on the block and she's determined to turn her life around and be popular in her new school. The only thing getting in her way is her sometimes out-of-control psychokinetic powers, but after she manages to control them a bit more, they prove to be an...

The Rush Hour series was a very ambitious project and sadly, short-lived (it was to be published twice a year originally, and I understand now that they've stopped after just 4 volumeshopefully the news is wrong). An anthology mixing short fiction, poetry, and essays, Rush Hour: Sin is a cutting-edge...

Rebecca is positive that she's found the perfect guy, and no amount of advice from her best friend Celeste will change her mind (as in, she's barely even talked with the guy before and he hardly knows she exists&and she's about to become his sister). When Rebecca's mom marries Pres'...

I always enjoy reading stories from Walter Dean Myers, though this was my first stab at something other than a novel. A true master, even his short stories convey a lot in just a little bit of space. There are ten stories in this slim novel, all...

The Foretelling is a beautiful new story by Alice Hoffman based on the Amazonians. Rain is the daughter of the Amazonian leader and the next in line to lead the tribe of warrior women, but she is different and marked by the shame of the circumstances of her birth ...

This is a starkly honest novel about a 15-year-old named Jon who lives a hopeless and bleak existence on the edge of society. He has no hope and no conscience; stealing and roughing up younger kids barely causes a flicker of thought. He doesn't see any alternatives to his hardscrabble...

Okay first the bad news. The author, at this time, has no plans to write a sequel to this book. Sigh. But maybe I can talk her into it, 'cause I'm dying to know what happens to the characters next. Seattle has an unconventional family....

Whew! Break out the handkerchief for this series not to wipe away any tears, but to dab away the sweat that will break out. This is one HOT series dealing with seven teens and the seven deadly sins. Grace, California is a dry, dusty place with...

Floey Packer feels invisible next to her exciting older sister. She feels like even her friends don't pay much attention to her. She might as well be the wallpaper. She decides to turn over a new leaf and become the new and improved Floey. A daring Floey...

Vivien Leigh Reed excuse me, Leigh Reed can think of a ton of things she'd rather do than spend the summer with her movie-star mother, Annika. Actually, just about anything. But her dad insists that she needs some quality time with dear old mom, so she finds herself...