A few years ago I wasn’t reading any Young Adult novels. My reasoning was that I had to many adult fiction books to read but I can’t remember now what prompted me to give YA books a try (probably a challenge or one of you dear blog friends!) and now I read them. I don’t read that many but I do like to read a few here and there.

One I’ve recently finished is Pieces of Me by Charlotte Gingras and translated by Susan Ouriou. This moving story is about Mirabelle, or Mira as she prefers to be called, a lonely young girl who feels abandoned. She has no friends, her mother is mentally ill and her father well Mira refers to him as her “ex-father” so you get the idea.

I loved this story. I loved it for its vulnerability, its honesty and how it made me remember in some ways growing up. Our situations were completely different yet at one time or another as a teen you feel so alone and that no one understands you. I thought the author captured that perfectly. Pieces of Me (click on title for my review) has recently been released in the U.S. so I hope you’ll add this book to your radar.

Speaking of books on the radar, I’ve just added a few more YA novels to mine from a new to me imprint, WestSide Books.

• Seattle Blues by Michael Wenberg. The summer of 1969 starts off badly for 13-year-old Maya. Her mother has sent her to Seattle to stay with the grandmother she’s never met; her father is reported MIA in the jungles of Vietnam; and angry Maya’s determined to get back home, even if it means running away.
• Between Us Baxters by Bethany Hegedus. It’s hard to be a “Black Sheep Baxter,” at least for 12-year-old Polly. From a poor white family, Polly’s best friend, Timbre Ann Biggs, is black, making them the only “salt-and-pepper” friends in town.
• Running for My Life by Ann Gonzalez. The powerful story of Andrea McKane, a fourteen-year-old who struggles to cope with her mother’s schizophrenia. She must face the heartbreaking fact that her mother, with whom she once laughed and played, has vanished into her disease, possibly forever.
• Stepping Up by Mark Fink. Ernie Dolan, 14, is plagued by the curse of the average. Nothing about him stands out—except his stutter. Only best friend Mike Rivers sees him at his best. Then, at a competitive basketball camp, Mike excels while Ernie is—average.
• Waiting to Score by J.E. MacLeod. Quirky, smart, and good looking, Zack Chase is a book-loving, talented hockey player. But he doesn’t want to turn pro like his late dad, despite his mom’s hopes.

These all sound like the type of books I would have devoured as a teen reader. What do you think? Got a recent YA book you’ve been reading that I must add to my radar? Actually, I am reading another YA book but I’ll save that for another post because I’m almost done with it and no doubt I’ll want to tell you all about it.

So today I had planned to spend the afternoon working on an Altered Book. I’ve never made one but a local bookstore hosts a weekly craft get together where you can make these. I enjoy doing collage, playing with glue and basically just having fun with paper so I thought this would be a blast. Unfortunately the group didn’t meet today. What a bummer but I’ve got it down on my calendar for next week and I promise to share pics of whatever I make.

My trip to the bookstore wasn’t wasted though because I wandered around the stacks to check out their selection. Frugal Media is a used bookstore (similar to Half Price Books), and while I didn’t find their shelves as overflowing as those at HPB it’s still nice to have another bookstore to visit.

The biggest surprise was that I found a book in German for my husband. So I didn’t buy anything for me but he’s excited to start his new crime novel, Tanz mit dem Engel by Åke Edwardson. I’ve been meaning to try a book from this Swedish author but haven’t yet. It looks like my husband will beat me to this series.

Ok, now back to my books. I’ve still got the same pile I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. It seems like I’m moving slowly through these books but I’m enjoying them so that’s what counts.