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Teen SRC 2022 – Charming as a Verb by Ben Philippe

Written by Eileen X
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Charming as a Verb by Ben Philippe – 9/10

This book follows Henri Haltiwanger, a Haitian-American who is a senior at FATE Academy, which is a fancy private school in New York. He constantly juggles his dog-walking business, debate club, and complicated relationships as he stresses about university. He believes that he has it all under control, but throughout the book it is clear that he starts to lose grasp. Henri is a social butterfly, receiving invites to many parties and has a great reputation! Everything were normal until Corrine Troy, his neighbour and classmate, blackmails him into teaching her how to be more sociable and outgoing. As the end of the year approaches, Henri is torn between living up to his father’s dream by going to a prestigious university, or pursuing what he is truly passionate about.

I enjoyed this book as it shows how family expectations can overwhelm and prevent a person from striving for their dreams. The characters are easy to get attached to and I was sad when the book ended. Would recommend!


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Teen SRC 2022 – Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi

Written by kayla
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Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi was pretty good overall, it deals with issues with the characters and their moms, anxiety, and the characters are flawed but lovable. Penny and Sam are the two narratives and each chapter they switch, I liked seeing how their characters slowly changed throughout the book. It also has a unique layout with “texts” and banter between characters are witty. The ending is really sweet. I did not like the use of internet slang within this book, it’s awful and I was about to put down the book, but it goes away thankfully in the later chapters, I don’t know why though, kinda inconsistent. Anyways so about the book it’s about Penny and Sam, they meet each other and they go through a lot of problems together, but become friends over text first, it’s heartwarming but also really sad, and the main characters have issues themselves, also therapy is mentioned, the characters need therapy, it’s a mostly feel-good book, quick to read, rom-com(???), bit dark, underlying issues, but I liked it, 7.5/10 thank you.

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Teen SRC 2022 – The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Written by Erin Salvador
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Fault in our Stars, The : Green, John: Amazon.ca: Books

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The novel, The Fault in our Stars by John Green starts with a 16 year old girl named Hazel. She originally had thyroid cancer but it spread into her lungs. Her parents then encouraged her to attend a support group for people who have cancer; They believed that it would help her share her feelings and understand that she isn’t alone in her situation. At the start, Hazel didn’t enjoy being surrounded by people who had the same struggles and worries; that was until she met Augustus Waters. Augustus (or Gus) is tall, handsome, smart, and confident. They started hanging out pretty often along with Gus’ best friend Issac who also has cancer. It did not take long for Hazel to realize that she had found the person she admires and loves. The more Hazel and Augustus had hung out, the more they figured out how much they had in common; they both love to read, are very poetic with their actions and words, and they both know the struggles of having cancer. Throughout the rest of the story, there are a few ups and downs with the things getting in the way of their relationship. Will they work it out? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

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Teen SRC 2022 – Shooter by Caroline Pignat

Written by Ethan L
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Shooter by Caroline Pignat

Shooter by Caroline Pignat

A lockdown surprises 5 grade 12 students, and they all end up in the same washroom. Alice, is an introvert who is really good at writing, she also has the responsibility to take care of her autistic brother Noah. Isabelle is the popular girl that everyone wants to be friends with, who has a big ego and sometimes only cares about herself. Then there’s Hogan, who used to be a football player, but is now someone feared by many because of the rumors going around that he killed his brother, he may seem scary but in the inside, he just needs someone to understand. There’s also the last guy named Xander, he’s socially awkward and sometimes says things that shouldn’t be said out loud. He’s always snapping pictures of random moments with his camera he calls “The Tank”. After a while, Isabelle gets a text from her best friend Brianna that this lockdown is not a drill, and there’s an actual shooter roaming around in the school, and it also turns out that one of the people know more about this shooter than they realized, and together they try to figure out what the shooter is trying to do, and how to stop them.

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Teen SRC 2022 – The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Written by Romina
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The Fault in Our Stars by John Green was a great and eye-opening book about cancer. It wasn’t the like the usual cancer book where the cancer patient is suffering, so they do a fundraiser to help others. Instead, it was about what true cancer is like and what cancer patients actually go through.

The main character, Hazel, has lung cancer and uses machines to help her breathe. She

This book deserves an 11/10.

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Teen SRC 2022 – Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Written by Cianna Ho-Kuang
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Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli is told from the perspective of Leo Borlock, a shy high school student. At Mica High, there was an unspoken rule where everyone stays inside the lines and does not stand out no matter what. And so that’s what he did. Until a new kid came in, shaking his world upside down.

This book emphasizes the act of being true to you, no matter what. The book was a gift from a friend, and I ended up loving the ending, especially because I did not see it coming. I would definitely recommend this read to others, however there were some parts in the book where it felt like it was dragging on and on.

Overall, I would rate it a 8/10.

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Teen SRC 2021 – Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao

Written by Olivia X
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I cannot even begin to explain how much Our Wayward Fate, a teen romance book written by Gloria Chao, blew my mind. See, this was another one of those books I decided to read just from glancing at the cover and barely skimming through the blurb. I was expecting an amusing anecdote, maybe a relatable story at most. What I wasn’t prepared for was the most heartfelt, lovable romance novel with amazing characters.

I’m not going to go through the plot synopsis here, but the general idea of the book was about an asian boy called Chase Yu who moved to a new school in Indiana, with no other asian kids whatsoever. …Well, with the exception of Ali Chu. The two begin to bond throughout the book, but when Ali’s mother forces her to stop seeing Chase, Ali has to find out more about this mysterious classmate.

HANDS DOWN the best plot twist ever. Unexpected, mind-blowing, heartbreaking and the good kind of dramatic. I enjoyed reading this book, 9/10!

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Teen SRC 2021 – Better Together by Christine Riccio

Written by Olivia X
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Better Together by Christine Riccio

I’m not gonna wait for the conclusion. I would give Better Together by Christine Riccio a seven out of ten for the writing and a hundred out of ten for the cover. I’m sorry, try to prove me wrong; there are literally two sides to the cover, each illustrating one sister.

The writing itself was more of a short anecdote that I found to be lighthearted and entertaining. There are no really heavy or deep concepts in this book in my opinion, I think it was just a casual, fun, read. That being said, I really loved the writing style and the character development in this book, along with the plot twists. I absolutely loved the contradiction of the two personalities of the sisters too as it made the book extremely satisfying to read. Overall I just think it was a light sort of book, the type that gets you out of a reading slump; I’d give it- oops, that was already covered in the introduction, wasn’t it?

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Teen SRC 2021 – The Names they Gave Us by Emery Lord

Written by Rahma Kabeer
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When I found out that Lucy was Christian and the daughter of a priest, I didn’t expect to like the book because the MC would be so different from me. Turns out I was wrong. I absolutely adored The Names they Gave Us by Emery Lord!

On the night of her prom, Lucy finds out her mother’s cancer has relapsed and rushes home, angry with God for letting this happen. She is heartbroken and vows to spend as much time as she can with her mother. Her mother asks her to spend the summer at Camp Daybreak (for kids who are having a tough time) as a councillor and only come home on the weekend. To make matters worse, her boyfriend thinks their relationship needs a “pause” and Lucy is left lonely at a camp where she knows no one. As the story progresses, she finds secrets linked to her mother’s past. She desperately wants to know everything about her mother before it’s too late. While her faith is wavering and with her new friends, Lucy learns to “be okay again. Just a different kind of okay than before”

Lucy’s relationship with her mother, her faith, and her friends makes this book so wholesome! I rate this book a 10/10!

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Teen SRC 2021 – Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

Written by Rosie
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Tweet Cute: A Novel: Lord, Emma: 9781250237323: Books - Amazon.ca

I feel like I know what you’re thinking: Rosie writing another review on a YA romance?? ?

And yes, you are correct. I did indeed read yet another realistic fiction, teen romance novel this year :0

BUT — it’s because I was trying to get into the summer mindset and this just happened to scream teen spirit to me!!

And guess what? I liked it a lot more than Anna and the French Kiss! I know, crazy. Just read on to find out why <3

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord is the story of Pepper Evans and Jack Campbell. An enemies to friends to enemies to lovers. Yep. That’s basically it. But if you really want to get into it, let me tell you about these two, because I loved, loved, LOVED them. Remember how I commended Stephanie Perkins on making Anna and St. Clair relatively realistic and likable? Well Emma Lord blew this aspect out of the heckin’ park.

Pepper is an all-round amazing student. A perfect GPA, countless stellar extracurriculars and awards, and a naturally competitive spirit to top it all off. She’s smart, she’s driven, and she’s… lost? She isn’t quite sure what she wants to do in the future, so she’s just trying to do everything she can to make it into a top university for the time being. To add to her workload, her mother (the CEO of a huge fast-food chain, Big League Burger) is constantly asking Pepper to manage the business social media, posting snarky replies and funny tweets.

Jack, on the other hand, is the class clown, always just one step behind his incredibly popular twin, Ethan. His family runs a local deli (Girl Cheesing), and Jack’s been working there his entire life, and many of their loyal customers have watched him grow up. He knows that when he graduates, Ethan will be off changing the world, and he’ll be charged with staying and taking on the family business. Secretly though, Jack harbours dreams of going into app development and coding, and has already created several fun and unique apps.

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