Welcome to Litsy!

I just love Laurie Halse Anderson. I began listening on @scribd to her novel Twisted, and I was immediately swept away. The protagonist, Tyler, embodies so much of what is great about teenagers: self-discovery, wavering self-confidence, and an earnest attempt to do what is right. While some of the twists and turns seemed to be a little overdramatized, I left convinced (once again!) of Anderson's ability to dig into the minds of teenagers.⠀

Joseph Boyden's Wenjack is a masterpiece, a concise, spare, and poetic story of Chanie, a nine-year-old Ojibwe boy who was taken from his home and placed in an Indian school designed to assimilate him into the Canadian culture. His escape with two other boys moves through his perspective and the views of the animals who accompany him on his journey in a beautiful, heartbreaking account.⠀

In our latest episode, we check in with an update about the books we'd listed on our YA TBR episode. You can find out what I thought about Neal Shusterman's SCYTHE and about Tahereh Maif's SHATTER ME series . . . and pick up a few other recommendations along the way.

Thanks to #partner @NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. The book releases on April 2.⠀
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I requested Aisha Saeed‘s novel for two reasons: (1) I absolutely adored her #ownvoices novel Amal Unbound, which was a 2018 Global Read Aloud selections, and (2) Aladdin is one of my favorite Disney movies ever. I can‘t count how often my best friend and I watched that film.

Check out my review at unabridgedpod.com/book-reviews

Laurie Halse Anderson's poetic memoir Shout is perfection. The book is about her rape, but it's also about her recovery, her childhood, her family, her history, her strength, her life, her writing . . . you get the point. I can't adequately express the beauty of her poetry. I'll simply say: you should read this book. (And hearing her speak with Jason Reynolds at the VA Festival of the Book deepened my appreciation for the book and the author.)

Thanks to @netgalley (#partner) for this egalley in exchange for an honest review.⠀
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I had mixed feelings about this novel from Cat Winters, coming out April 16. Check out my review on our Unabridged Book Reviews page (unabridgedpod.com). ⠀
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Has anyone else read The Raven's Tale? What did you think?⠀
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Our March Book Club book is Julie Murphy's Dumplin'. (Spoiler alert: we love it!) Look out for our episode about Dumplin' this Wednesday, March 6, and our discussion about the movie adaptation on March 13.⠀
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In the mean time, have you read Dumplin'? If so, what did you think?

In the newest episode of Unabridged, we share our thoughts about a talk by Nikki Giovanni at Bridgewater College. We hope you'll listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast catcher (or check us out on unabridgedpod.com). We'd love to know what you think about the episode or Giovanni's work.

This is gorgeous. Brubaker Bradley builds a brilliant ending to Ada's story as she continues to learn how to exist in a world that is safe from her mam but in danger from World War II. Moving, thoughtful story of this girl's fight against fear and of the way she moves into a family cobbled together by odd circumstances. I can't wait to see the author tonight at the Pence MS literacy night!!

On Wednesday's episode, we discussed the works of Ibi Zoboi, including Pride, her retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I've been a fan of retellings of classics for a long time--here are a few of my favorites . . . except for Re Jane, which is high on my TBR list!⠀
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What retellings would you recommend?