“The Hunger Games are a reminder of what monsters we are and how we need the Capitol to keep us from chaos,” (Collins 343). On the morning of the reaping of the tenth annual Hunger Games, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow learns he will be mentoring the female tribute of District 12, Lucy Gray Baird. While unfortunate, Coriolanus …
“I think it’s time for me to decide what to be. I can’t go on being nothing forever, can I?” (Blume). Almost twelve-year-old Margaret Simon has just moved from New York City to Farbrook, New Jersey and is settling in well. She has three new friends, a secret club, and is happy to belong with a …
“What about us?…The young ones. The next generation. The future…we trusted you to care for us. To love us. To make the right decisions for us. And you did. We’re alive today because of you…But for a long time, you didn’t tell us everything about what happened when we were little kids…We asked you, over …
I’m a simple girl, you tell me there’s an anthology of YA stories adapted from Shakespeare’s plays and I’ll read it. That Way Madness Lies doesn’t disappoint, it’s an excellent collection of stories that Shakespeare lovers will love and many of the stories work as a great introduction to Shakespeare’s works that reluctant teens may be …
“Humans. For the most part, you are dull and blundering. But occasionally, you can be remarkably bright creatures,” (Van Pelt 350). Tova Sullivan is a woman who knows how to cope. Thirty-years ago her eighteen-year-old son Erik vanished on a boat in Puget Sound, and only a few years ago her husband Will died of cancer. …
“‘I feel alone,” she says, ‘when I’m with other people.’ ‘Ah,’ Ernest says. ‘The worst kind of lonesome,’” (Lockyer). In the rural town of Burr, Ontario thirteen-year-old Jane’s dad has just died. She spends her time fantasizing about becoming a worm that will burrow into his body, buys tarot cards and tries Ouija boards to …
I’m very grateful to the Literary Review of Canada for reaching out to me to review Nick Bantock’s The Corset & the Jellyfish. Read my full review on their Substack, Bookworm!
“I wonder what the fuck I have to do for people to recognise me as a threat, you know? It’s like…am I even doing this shit? Have I even fucking done anything?…Do I have to smash a glass over the head of every single man I come into contact with, just so I leave a …
“lost and alone,/wandering./i swill back the pain; it burns and it belches/rage and despair/leaving only a windigo/who cannibalizes himself,” (Thistle, 157, “Windigo”). Jesse Thistle recounts his journey of recovery from drug-addiction. He remembers his brief time in the foster-care system with his brothers, moving to Ontario with his paternal grandparents, until he finds himself homeless. …
“I’m no longer sure which is worse: surviving and living the rest of my life as a lie, or wasting away in this apartment and dying from this cancer,” (Maylott 35). Paige Maylott’s debut memoir is an honest exploration of transition and discovery. Finding solace, community, and love in online communities and games, Maylott comes into …
Sarah O'Connor 