Reviews written by Megan Kelly

I either need to get some survival training or I need to stop reading books about the apocalypse. ASHES is an intense and thrilling addition to the genre, detailing what happens after an electromagnetic pulse kills the majority of adults and leaves most teenagers as cannibalistic zombies....

I wish I had FAITH: FIVE RELIGIONS AND WHAT THEY SHARE when my students were doing their first research project on world religions. They were tasked with explaining the rituals, symbols, and traditions of a religion. It was difficult for us to find books at just the right reading and...

After a supervolcano under Yellowstone National Park erupts and destroys his Iowa home, fifteen-year-old Alex sets out to find his parents and sister in another state. Under a blanket of steady falling ash, he treks through the increasingly dangerous countryside, meeting Darla, a farmer who is probably the most capable...

I could read Sonya Sones’ novels in verse all day…and I have. What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know is the sequel to the excellent What My Mother Doesn’t Know, which details Sophia Stein’s romantic travails, ending with her dating the outcast Robin Murphy. What My Girlfriend picks up at the exact...

Peter Friedman's freshman year is not shaping up the way he had hoped. He always dreamed that he and his best friend, AJ, would be the young heroes of the high school baseball team, beloved by girls and worshipped by everyone else. Unfortunately, he ruins his pitching arm before the...

Ace and Bub, The Flying Beaver Brothers, are back for another graphic novel adventure. This time they are pitted against a corporation, Fish Sticks Environmental Manufacturing. When the brothers literally fall into the path of the company, they uncover information about this allegedly eco-friendly business that reveals...it's evil. Luckily, the...

Ace and Bub, also known as The Flying Beaver Brothers, are sports enthusiasts. They live a happy life on Beaver Island, surfing and napping, until they learn that evil penguins are planning to freeze the island. The penguins have headquarters in a giant sunken refrigerator and only they can stop...

What My Mother Doesn’t Know gives an awesome insight into the mind of a typical high school freshman. The novel follows Sophia through her romantic travails, her first being with Dylan, one of the cutest boys in school. From the first time they lock eyes until their...

Jamie Kelly might be my middle school alter ego, and not just because of our last names. She hates math, believes more food should be served in stacks, has a snarky sense of humor, and would die if anyone read her diary. Let's face it, she could be my alter...

Who doesn't love a picture book that can grow old with a reader? Young readers will enjoy Michela Sorrentino's beautiful artwork in AN EDIBLE ALPHABET. Her collages combine paper and acrylic paint to create multilayered illustrations that add dimension to the text. Early readers will enjoy the labels on the...

I wish that adult books had scratch and sniff options (for the most part)! Renee Khatami's LITTLE BLACK BOOK is a fun board book that will appeal to toddlers. Although it is very short, the interactive options will have young readers returning to its pages again and again. Featuring a...

If the new Common Core Standards are going to force me to teach more nonfiction, I hope I can use texts like How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous. This is probably the grossest book I've ever read, which is the ultimate compliment for adolescent readers. ...

Sonya Sones has written many free verse novels, but none are more personal than her first, the aptly titled Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy. Sones has crafted her journal entries from when she thirteen into poems that may help readers coping with loved ones with...

Orchards is a hefty free verse novel, both in pages (325) and theme (teenage suicide). Despite its weight, I read it in one day and loved it completely. Holly Thompson has crafted memorable characters and a unique setting for a YA novel. The daughter of a...

"When the Black Girl Sings" is the story of Lahni, a black girl adopted by white parents who are about to divorce. She is struggling in a lot of different ways: with snobby girls at school, with feeling betrayed by her father, with a strangely rude boy who is essentially...