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Teen SRC 2021 – This is How We Fly by Anna Meriano

Written by Casey
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I would call myself a casual Harry Potter fan. I have memories of the books and movies from when I was younger. So when I saw This is How We Fly by Anna Meriano, a book about Quidditch in real life, I was curious.

Ellen Lopez-Rourke just graduated high school, and she has one summer left until she’s off for college. Her plans are thrown out the window, however, when her step-mom grounds her for the whole summer. Her only out is begging to join the local Quidditch team with her friend, Melissa. Ellen expects a bunch of Harry Potter nerds, but what she finds are committed, loyal team members playing a super athletic game. Quidditch is just the distraction Ellen needs from her drama with family and friends, but she’ll find she can’t outrun them for long.

I enjoyed this story about finding yourself and finding community. This book captures the feelings of a teenager moving on to adulthood, and of someone finding a supportive place where they feel they belong. There are plenty of aspects of Ellen’s life, such as her struggles with identity and social activism, that succeed in rounding her character. There was growth from each character presented, I just wish the book had better handled Ellen’s relationship with her step-mom. Overall, an interesting read.

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Teen SRC 2021 – Things I Should Have Known by Claire Lazebnik

Written by Rahma Kabeer
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Things I Should Have Known - LaZebnik, Claire Scovell


I absolutely LOVED Things I Should have Known by Claire Lazebnik!

Chloe Mitchell is a wonderfully thought out character, who has excellent development!
Her older sister, Ivy is on the autism spectrum and is reliant on Chloe for a lot of things. Chloe decides that Ivy needs to become independent and get a boyfriend because she’s going to college. Ethan, a boy from Ivy’s special needs class would be a perfect candidate! She arranges the dates between Ivy and Ethan with the help of Ethan’s older brother David, a boy from school who is hated by the “cool kids”. She is worried about her life at school where she is popular but begins to feel like a fake with her boyfriend and amongst her friends. David and Chloe meet every time Ethan and Ivy do and that starts to create problems when rumours begin to fly.

They all bond with each other, but some bonds get stronger than others. 😉

This book has great representations and shocking twists that I didn’t see coming! I rate this book a 10/10!!

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Teen SRC 2021 – They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

Written by Olivia X
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“No matter how we choose to live, we both die at the end.” Take a moment to let that sink in. In They Both Die at the End, – an adventure fiction book written by Adam Silvera– two teenage boys named Mateo and Rufus receive an alert, telling them they would both be dead within the next twelve hours. The two boys meet and spend their last day on Earth creating memories with each other, visiting strange places, and eating at fancy restaurants. That was how they chose to live. But of course, it doesn’t matter, because They Both Die at the End.

I think that this book does the most fantastic job of making ordinary things seem magical. That’s the case for Mateo and Rufus, because they have to enjoy the everyday activities we take for granted before they’ll never be able to do them again. There are also quite a handful of scenes that have deep, meaningful quotes that make you stop and think.

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Teen SRC 2019- the perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Written by Max
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Hey! This is my first teen SRC review I’ve ever done so I wanted to dedicate it to a book that meant a lot to me. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I first read this book when I was around the age of 10 and to be honest, I had no idea what was going on half of the time. I actually thought this book was pretty pointless. A few years later, I saw it at the local library and I thought I’d give it another try, given the fact that I was literally 10 when I first read it. I started reading through it, when it hit me how dumb I was as a child. I saw Charlie’s writing through a whole different perspective and it amazed me how much I related to his thoughts. I felt as if Charlie and I were somehow reaching out to each other. Charlie and I shared a fascinating connection of poetry and reading. As I flipped through the pages in this book, I felt myself get more and more attached to Charlie. It blew my mind knowing that I could connect with a character in such a way.

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Teen SRC 2019 – Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig

Written by Winnie
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Last Seen Leaving - Roehrig, Caleb

Last Seen Leaving is a mystery novel written by Caleb Roehrig. The mystery part of the novel is not as satisfying to read as I expected. Flynn, the main character, tries to figure out what happened to his ex-girlfriend who went missing. The storyline is a bit too simple. What I liked about the book is the self-discovery part: Flynn stops hiding his secret from everyone and accepts himself for himself.

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Teen Review – Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts) by Lev A. C. Rosen

Written by Joy Qian
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Okay what? This book is just…..uh…..very…..mature for a 8th grader. Namely, me. I wasn’t Image result for jack of hearts and other partsreally a big fan of the book. AT ALL. If you read the blurb of this book, you will know what it is about. A teenage gay boy, his friends, a sex column, and a stalker. Well, I didn’t read te blurb, assuming that no book can be THAT bad. I mean, I love books, and, well, I’ve enjoyed about 99% of the books I’ve encountered in my lifetime. So.

I took it off the shelf seeing that it was fairly new and had a very eye-catching cover page. Yeah. Probably shouldn’t have judged a book by its cover, but……ANYWAYS. Enough about that. This book was basically about a boy named Jack who’s in high school. A VERY INAPPROPRIATE HIGH SCHOOL, in fact. So, one day he gets a note that says: “You’re cute” (or something like that…I returned the book immediately after realizing how unsatisfactory it was). Then, his friend asks him to write in a sex column. Already heading towards the wrong side, y’all. So, to prevent further uncomfortable-ness? I’ll just stop here and warn you: IT’S REALLY SEXUAL GUYS. Yeah. Just don’t. I mean, it was a pretty good plot, but…..a bit TOO much for me. So…. huh.. backing off…..

I guess that BASICALLY kinda maybe sorta summarized my whole….uh…. opinion on this book. But, y’know, everyone has their preferences!

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Teen SRC 2018- Alan Turing: The Enigma: The Book That Inspired the Film The Imitation Game by Andrew Hodges

Written by Nadia
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The official book behind the film, The Imitation Game, this is a dramatic portrayal of the life and work of Alan Turing, one of Britain’s most extraordinary unsung heroes, and one of the world’s greatest innovators.
This is the official story that has inspired the British film, The Imitation Game, a nail-biting race against time following Alan Turing, the pioneer of modern-day computing and credited with cracking the German Enigma code, and his brilliant team at Britain’s top-secret code-breaking centre, Bletchley Park, during the darkest days of World War II. Turing, whose contributions and genius significantly shortened the war, saving thousands of lives, was the eventual victim of an unenlightened British establishment, but his work and legacy live on.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown released a statement of apology in 2009 on behalf of the British government for the “appalling” treatment of Turing for being part of the LGBTQ+ community.

This book may seem boring to many teenagers (there is a lot of pages), and I know it is not the usual fictional love/fantasy stories most girls/guys seem to gravitate towards during summer, but I promise you that this is the most hard-hitting, and beautiful book I have ever picked up. Alan Turing is a historical icon, and this book just made me know the man behind the machine.  This book is completely non-fiction but written in a way a character would be. I actually grew really close to Alan’s personality and felt his pain. This book is totally underrated, and I hope more people get the honour of reading his biography and see him in a different light.

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Teen SRC 2018 – Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin

Written by Joy Qian
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Symptoms of Being Human

This book was so awesome! It portrays the main character’s voice so well! This book is about a kid named Riley who is gender fluid. It means that some days Riley wakes up as a boy, some days as a girl. But, Riley isn’t so sure which category applies. But then Riley starts a blog. Anonymously, Riley starts to share experiences to the public- through the name Alix. But then the blog goes viral, and Riley is in deep trouble. Riley isn’t ready for fame yet. Especially since Riley’s parents don’t know about the “gender fluidity” crisis yet. Riley has no idea who did it, but there’s been a hater posting mean comments lately, and Riley is almost 99.9% sure that the hater is the same person as…..I’m giving wayyyyy too much away, aren’t I?

Anyways, I loved this book, and I know that you guys will too! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

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Teen SRC 2018 – Little and Lion by Brandy Colbert

Written by Joy Qian
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Little & Lion

Little and Lion by Brandy Colbert

This book is about a girl named Suzette who comes back home to LA from her boarding school. Her stepbrother, Lionel, has bipolar disorder, and his mood switches constantly. Suzette is trying her best to give him as much support as she can. But as she stays for a bit, she finds herself falling for someone-and that person is the exact girl that her brother’s falling for. But then, her brother’s disorder gets worse. Suzette needs to watch out for her brother more than usual-before he starts to hurt himself-or something worse.

This book was so awesome I cannot. But one thing I definitely felt like needed a bit more tweaking was the bisexual love triangle. Just….no. I felt like it was something extra that wasn’t really necessary. But overall, I think this book was written very well and with so much character.

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Teen SRC 2018- Wired Man and Other Freaks of Nature by Sashi Kaufman

Written by Joy Qian
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This book is about two boys, Tyler, and Ben. Tyler is the golden boy, and he’s worshipped Wired Man and Other Freaks of Natureby everyone. But Tyler has secrets of his own, and they’re starting to show under the golden boy cover. Ben, on the other hand, is partially deaf. The only things that don’t make him feel like a freak are soccer and hanging out with his best friend Tyler. And then Ben meets Ilona. She’s kind of a weirdo, with blue 💙 hair, tattoos, and no friends. But ever since Ben and Tyler have been drifting apart, Ben doesn’t know what it’s like to be alone-and maybe everyone needs to hang out with a fellow freak now and then.

I loved the whole structure of this book, and although there were a few ‍🌈LGBTQ+ themes in the book, I don’t think the author addressed it very well, so if you’re sensitive in topics like that, I highly doubt you will enjoy this book.

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