Jazz will stop at nothing to save her brother. Their foster mother, Carol, has always been fanatical, but with Jazz grown up and out of the house, Carol takes a dangerous turn that threatens thirteen-year-old Joaquin’s life. Over and over, child services fails to intervene, and Joaquin is running out of time. Then Jazz gets a blocked call from someone offering a solution. There are others like her—people the law has failed....

If you’re reading this newsletter, I’ve just been buried alive under probably a veritable mountain of snow, and am probably somewhere between “dig, dig for your life” and a one-woman, three-act theatrical performance of Stephen King’s Misery. Ah, the New England life. Actually, what I probably spent my Saturday storm day doing was reading. Big ol’ Nor’easters aren’t really good for much except laying low and staying out of the snow....

The Merc with a Mouth has a strange history in comics, and I’m here to help you navigate that history to find the books you really need to read for a primer on Rob Liefeld’s most popular creation. Deadpool by Joe Kelly, Stan Lee, Ed McGuinness, Aaron Lopresti, Bernard Chang, Shannon Denton, and Pete Woods Deadpool didn’t start as the fourth-wall-breaking, bizarre character we all know and love today. Ryan Reynolds would have been a strange casting choice for Wade Wilson before Joe Kelly got a hold of him....

A score-odd years ago, you forbade me from reading Baby-Sitters Club books. Well…mostly. What you technically said was, I wasn’t allowed to own Baby-Sitters Club books. Or to check them out from the library. So I did read them, but only two of them: Hello, Mallory, which I borrowed from a friend; and Little Miss Stoneybrook…and Dawn, which I read sitting on the floor at the library since I wasn’t allowed to bring it home....

First we tried three samples of coffee all brewed the same way but at slightly different temperatures. Then we tried coffee brewed through paper filters next to coffee brewed through metal filters. We tried coffee made from bottled water next to coffee made from tap water. We tried coffee prepared identically except for the size of the grind. I was floored with how seemingly tiny changes in just one aspect of the coffee making experience could make such a huge difference....

There are plenty of studies showing that yes, in fact, reading fiction can help boost empathy and emotional intelligence. But there scientific detractors, too, who say that the data is not clear or that the interpretation of the data is not comprehensive. On a personal, anecdotal level I believe that being a voracious reader has indeed increased my empathy. In fact, I even bought a t-shirt that declares to all who read it that reading will cultivate empathy....

The Society of Authors, the UK’s trade union for professional writers, recently collaborated with the charity Samaritans (who provide listening services to anyone in emotional distress, particularly those at risk of suicide) to produce a guide on depictions of suicide and self-harm in literature. Guidelines for journalists and reporters on ways to report stories involving suicide and self-harm have existed for many years in the UK, with best practice guidelines set out by Ofcom and several suicide prevention charities, but as far as I’ve been able to find out, this is the first formal set of guidelines on how fiction writers can portray suicide and self-harm in their work without potentially putting their readers in danger....

If you already admit that you love dragons, then you’re all set. Also, if you happen to not be a child or teenager, these books will likely be ideal for you. Why should kids have all the draconic fun? Come on in. Dragon Books for Adults Coiling Dragon by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi, translated by Ren Wo Xing A noble house fallen into decay may have another chance at greatness when its scion, Linley, finds a ring carved like a coiled dragon....

Just complete the form below and sign up for What’s Up in YA? to enter. This sweepstakes is open to residents of the United States (excluding Puerto Rico and all other U.S. territories). Entries will be accepted until 11:59pm, March 31, 2019. Winner will be randomly selected. Complete rules and eligibility requirements available here. Oops! We could not locate your form.

The Kübler-Ross model doesn’t always apply in situations of a tragic and sudden loss, contrary to the neat five stages we’ve internalized by now. In fact, grief strikes in many different ways. In Erica’s case, her grief culminated in what would become her first full-length book. This Party’s Dead delves into her experiences traveling to seven different death festivals around the world—one for each day Chris’s body went undiscovered. David Mitchell Som: Did you start your journey to the “Deathtivals” detailed in This Party’s Dead knowing that you would write about them?...

What We Know About Dog Man Dav Pilkey began the Dog Man series in 2016. The first book in the series begins with a “Behind the Scenes” section. Here, the two main characters from the Captain Underpants books, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, rediscover a comics series they wrote in Kindergarten called “Dog Man.” Now 4th graders, they decide to start the series again. After this introduction, the main story begins when Officer Knight and his police dog Greg get injured in an explosion caused by Petey the Cat....

From the critically acclaimed author of Rainbirds comes a novel of tragedy and dark histories set in Japan. University sophomore Miwako Sumida has hanged herself, leaving those closest to her reeling. In the months before her suicide, she was hiding away in a remote mountainside village, but what, or whom, was she running from? To Ryusei, a fellow student at Waseda; Chie, Miwako’s best friend; and Fumi, Ryusei’s older sister, Miwako was more than the blunt, no-nonsense person she projected to the world....

The titles here include stand alone titles, series books (marked in a *), books from well-known YA authors, debut authors, and books that’ll be blockbuster books as well as quieter titles. Both fiction and nonfiction are represented. This collection of fall 2019 YA books isn’t comprehensive, but it’s pretty darn close. Like always, these titles were pulled from a variety of publisher catalogs, and publication dates could shift slightly from what’s been listed....

From uncovering devastating family secrets to chronicling the hunt for a serial killer, the premises of these memoirs are as engaging and compulsively readable as that of any fiction novel. So if you’re a fiction loyalist looking to try something new (or just looking for your next great read), check out one of these fascinating nonfiction options. Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro Whether or not you read Dani Shapiro’s past memoirs (she’s written three before this latest one), it’s definitely worth picking up her most recent work, “Inheritance....

The debut novel from Daniel H. Turtel, winner of the Faulkner Society Award for Best Novel. “A remarkable debut from a talented writer—ambitious, moving, full of complicated, thorny characters and enough Jersey Shore ambiance that you can almost smell the boardwalk.” — Tom Perrotta, New York Times bestselling author of Election and Little Children In a small seaside city on the Jersey Shore, three half-siblings confront the death of a distant and bullying patriarch....

Read Bliss BookTuber Stephanie (Stephs Romance Book Talk) shares five of her favorite strong female romance novel protagonists in this Read Bliss video. Read Bliss is your video destination for all things romance and reading! Tune in to Read Bliss on YouTube each week for videos by romance fans, for romance fans―including book roundups, author interviews, trope spotlights, bookish DIY projects and more from our team of romance BookTubers. Read Bliss is presented by Harlequin....

Audiobooks can be accessed by downloading OverDrive’s Sora app and registering for the “school” named “audiobooksync”. Anyone around the world over 13 (including adults) can download these audiobooks, though they are mostly YA books. Some of the audiobooks included are: Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda edited by Jesse J. Holland (available now!) This is My America by Kim Johnson Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson Yesterday is History by Kosoko Jackson Someone Like Me: How One Undocumented Girl Fought for Her American Dream by Julissa Arce...

The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee by James Freeman, Caitlin Freeman, and Tara Duggan (Ten Speed Press) One of the loveliest moments of my year so far was spent reading a book on The High Line, sipping a New Orleans iced coffee from Blue Bottle’s Chelsea location while I recovered from Book Expo. These folks know what they’re doing, and they’re all about demystifying the process. Because good coffee can and should happen at home!...

In this edition of Front-to-Backlist, Bethanne Patrick reviewed Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, and I am reviewing The Fates Will Find Their Way by Hannah Pittard. (I promise that this does eventually discuss Hannah Pittard’s The Fates Will Find Their Way, but it’s going to take a bit to get there.) Any man who is paying attention has had the following experience. You are walking along at night by yourself....