YA Books Galore Giveaway!

June 14, 2016/9 Comments/in Giveaway, Reading, young adult/by AJ Cattapan

Who wants to win a whole stack of

YA books?

This contest is open to anyone with a U.S. mailing address. (Sorry, international YA fans, I found out the hard way that mailing a book is really expensive. Mailing a whole stack of books would be outrageous.)

Contest opens: June 14, 2016

Contest ends: June 27, 2016 (midnight, CDT)

To enter, you just need to do two things:

Sign up for my Insiders Club (where you’ll get to learn about all sorts of giveaways).
Comment below that you signed up!

That’s it!

Want an extra entry point? Share the news of this giveaway on Instagram. Tag me @a.j.cattapan and use the hashtag #YABooksGalore.

Want to see me look silly? Watch this video.

Click here to sign up for the Insiders Club. Then comment below to enter!

Save

Monday Book Review: Footer Davis Probably Is Crazy by Susan Vaught

June 13, 2016/1 Comment/in Book Reviews, Middle Grade, Mysteries, Reading/by AJ Cattapan

Every year I try to read the Edgar Award nominees for juvenile and young adult fiction before the winners are announced. Due to time constraints with the doctorate program, I completely failed this year. However, I did manage to read the winner in the juvenile category recently, so here it is!

Title: Footer Davis Probably Is Crazy

Author: Susan Vaught

Genre: mystery

Age group: middle grade

Synopsis: Footer Davis’s mother has bipolar disorder. Sometimes she’s just fine–but not if she doesn’t take her pills. Prior to the opening of our story, there was a terrible fire on a neighbor’s farm. The two Abrams kids who live there haven’t been seen since. Were they so badly burned in the fire no one could find their remains? Or have they fled? Footer and her best friend Peavine decide to investigate, and what Footer finds scares her into thinking maybe she had something to do with the fire herself.

Author Susan Vaught works in the mental health field, so she’s definitely writing about something she has experience with here. The story is told in first-person from the perspective of young Footer Davis. Footer has a very unique voice. It’s one of the strengths of this story, but I’ll also admit it’s part of what made this story a little hard for me to get into at first. After all, Footer Davis “probably is crazy,” and her thoughts can be hard to follow. When are we being told the truth? When are we experiencing visions or a dream through Footer’s perspective? Or is she just remembering the past?

Thankfully, once you get used to Footer’s unique voice, the story moves along very rapidly. The author also does a great job with the ending. Often in middle grade mysteries, I can guess where the author is headed. It took almost until the surprising ending for me to figure out where this was all headed. And then once I figured it out, I wanted to shout at Footer, “Hey! Don’t you see what’s going on here?!?”

Some might wonder with all of this talk of mental illness if this is appropriate for middle grade readers. Yes, it’s definitely told with a middle grade voice, not a YA voice. I would put it a little akin to the great story So B. It by Sarah Weeks which deals with a character whose mother is mentally challenged.

So if you’re into middle grade mysteries with unique main characters, check out Footer Davis Probably Is Crazy.

Monday Book Review: Life-Changing Love by Theresa Linden

May 23, 2016/0 Comments/in Book Reviews, Reading, young adult/by AJ Cattapan

I had a chance to read an advanced copy of Theresa Linden’s new release (officially, it comes out on May 26), and I’m happy to share a bit about it now!

Title: Life-Changing Love

Author: Theresa Linden

Genre: contemporary romance

Age group: YA

Synopsis: There are several “love stories” going on here, but the main character is Caitlyn, who is about to turn 15 and is being introduced to the idea of old-fashioned courtship. There’s no dating without parental involvement, and things must be taken slowly. Caitlyn would like to try out this way of getting to know someone with her crush, Roland West, but Caitlyn’s not the only girl with her eye on Roland. Another girl’s interested, too, and her parents aren’t holding her to any courtship rules. How can Caitlyn compete? To complicate matters, another girl she knows is pregnant, and the boyfriend’s pushing for an abortion. Then Caitlyn learns something about her own parents and their dating mistakes that makes her question everything she’s learned.

Theresa Linden is one of my fellow Catholic Writers Guild members, so she does a nice job of weaving Theology of the Body into her story. This book has a strong pro-life message and would be a great way to talk about difficult dating and sex topics with your teenager. Theresa keeps the story engaging and realistic (this is not a saccharine love story nor are the characters all goody-two shoes).

Plus, there are some scenes in Italy. Enough said. 😉

You can pre-order it on Amazon here.

Monday Book Review: The Sign of The Carved Cross by Lisa Hendey

May 16, 2016/0 Comments/in Book Reviews, Middle Grade, Mysteries, Reading/by AJ Cattapan

The Sign of the Carved Cross is the second book in the Chime Travelers series. I suppose I really should have read the first book in the series before diving into book 2, but luckily, Lisa Hendey fills in enough details that if you missed book 1, you can still read book 2!

The Chime Travelers series is about a brother and sister who travel back in time and visit with saints. Their time-travel journeys start with the chiming of church bells.

Title: The Sign of the Carved Cross

Author: Lisa Hendey

Genre: Mystery

Age group: chapter book (grades 2-4)

Synopsis: When a new girl starts at Katie’s school, Katie joins her friends in excluding her from all their fun. But when Katie and her family help clean the church and the bells begin to chime, Katie is suddenly transported back to 1675. Tossed into a Native American village, Katie gets a sense of what it’s like to be “the new girl.” Luckily, she finds a friend in Tekakwitha, a young woman who knows what it’s like to be an outsider. Tekakwitha has scars on her face from a terrible disease, and her uncle’s family looks down on her for being a Christian. While Tekakwitha and Katie bond, things become worse in the village for Tekakwitha, and soon the girls are forced to run away in the middle of the night.

You may have guessed that Tekakwitha turns out to be St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American woman to be canonized. While I remember hearing about St. Kateri in school and I remember her being canonized in 2012, I really didn’t know too much about her. This book is a delightful introduction to this beautiful saint. Not only is this a lovely, intimate way to learn about St. Kateri, but it’s a fun read as well. Hendey keeps the story moving along quickly, and young people will enjoy getting to know Katie and her family through this series. I love that the very “real life” problems of bullying and exclusion are worked so nicely into this story and in ways that children can easily relate to.

The book also includes discussion questions, a prayer in honor of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, and a prayer before receiving Communion. There are at least four books in the series out now. You can check them out here.

For news on my upcoming middle grade mystery and a chance to win a free copy, be sure to join my Insiders Club here.

Monday Book Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

April 4, 2016/1 Comment/in Book Reviews, Reading, Speculative Fiction/by AJ Cattapan

Cinder has been on my TBR pile for a couple of years, at least. Yes, that’s how long my to-be-read list is! I had started reading it last summer, but then my mom fell ill and grad school started up, and the book had to be returned to the library. Thank goodness for spring break and the chance to read something other than grad school work! I’m glad I found the time to read this book that a number of my coworkers have been talking about for a while. As I explained to some friends Saturday night, I feel like I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole. So immersed did I become in the world Marissa Meyer created that, that I can’t wait to read the rest of the Lunar Chronicles series.

Title: Cinder

Author: Marissa Meyer

Genre: dystopian/sci-fi/fairy tale retelling

Age group: YA

Synopsis: In this retelling of the classic Cinderella fairy tale, we meet Cinder. After a tragic accident at age eleven, Cinder is given a second chance at life by scientists who rebuild her. She’s now part human, part machine, but completed despised by anyone who knows she’s a cyborg. Shortly after her surgery, she’s adopted by a new family, but her adoptive father dies, leaving her with a stepmother and stepsisters who don’t have much use for a despicable cyborg. Cinder is left to do the only “chore” she understands–repairing machines.

While running her repair booth at the market in New Beijing, Cinder is surprised by an unlikely guest. The handsome Prince Kai has come to her booth undercover. He needs help repairing an old android . . . and maybe a maiden to marry. However, the Queen of the Lunars (not-quite-humans who live on the moon) wants to make a marriage alliance with the young prince–and that’s just the start of her plans.

Cinder is the kind of book where I fear saying too much for fear of ruining the delightful ways author Marissa Meyer puts a spin on this classic tale. If you’re a fan of dystopian novels, sci-fi, fairy tale retellings, or all three, you’ll enjoy this book! Good, clean fun that you won’t want to put down!

Win a FREE author visit to your classroom!

October 6, 2015/0 Comments/in Angelhood, Giveaway, Middle Grade, Reading, Speculative Fiction, Teaching/by AJ Cattapan

To celebrate Angelhood winning a 2015 Readers’ Favorite Book Award, I’m giving away one free author visit to a classroom in the Chicago area. Details and entry form are here.

But hurry! Contest is only open until November 15, 2015!

Spread the word to any teachers, principals, and school librarians you may know in the Chicago area.

8 Books to Engage Your Middle School Student this School Year

August 24, 2015/4 Comments/in Book Reviews, Fantasy, Historical, Middle Grade, Mysteries, Reading, Speculative Fiction/by AJ Cattapan

As an author and middle school English teacher, I get a lot of requests from parents about what books I might recommend to their children. Since the school I teach at started early this year, I’ve already been listening to my students’ book talks on what they chose to read this summer. It hit me this past week that there are definitely some recurring favorites that have popped up many times over recent years.

So if you’re looking for a book to recommend to your child in middle school, here are some of the repeat favorites as recommended by their own peers! (In other words, the kids really like these books.)

1. Wonder by R.J. Palacio–If you haven’t yet discovered this gem about a boy with physical deformities heading back to a regular school after years of being home-schooled, please do yourself a favor and get a copy. I adored Wonder, I have nieces who have read it multiple times, and a ton of my students have enjoyed it and called it one of their favorites as well. You can read my original review here.

2. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart–Fun, fun, fun series of books by an author I got to meet years ago when the first book came out and he came to visit my school. A group of gifted children are invited to join a secret society only to find out they have been chosen for a very special mission. The Mysterious Benedict Society has a creative cast of characters, fun puzzles and riddles to solve, and an engaging plot. Even my mom read this one! Original review here.

3. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin–This one is for lovers of fables and folklore. Grace Lin’s drawings are gorgeous, and her writing will sweep you away. In this story, a young girl travels to meet the Old Man in the Moon in order to save her poor family from famine. Original review here. Lovely tale!

4. So B. It by Sarah Weeks–A lovely contemporary story with a bit of a mystery to solve. Twelve-year-old Heidi lives with her mother who is mentally challenged. Her mom can only speak a few words, but Heidi is determined to get to the bottom of one word in particular that she can’t quite figure out. Original review here.

5. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate–This Newbery Medal Winner is reminiscent of Charlotte’s Web. A silverback gorilla named Ivan is the top attraction at the Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. His best friend is an elephant named Stella. When a new baby elephant arrives, Ivan decides he needs to find a better life for her than the Big Top Mall. Original review here. Probably most appropriate for younger middle school readers.

6. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull–A great series for fantasy lovers who have finished Harry Potter and Percy Jackson and are looking for something else with magical creatures. I first reviewed this book back in 2013, and I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be participating in the official blog tour for Brandon Mull’s next book: The Caretaker’s Guide to Fablehaven. Watch for my special post in October!

7. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead–Fans of quirky mysteries with a major plot twist at the end will love this story of sixth grader Miranda who keeps receiving mysterious messages. The notes eerily predict the future and carry warnings of what might come. I can’t say too much about this book because I don’t want to give anything away, but let’s just say it was one of those books where the ending made it all worthwhile! Check out my review here.

8. Hidden Talents by David Lubar–If you have a reluctant reader, this is the book I recommend. I’ll warn that it comes with a little mild language, but I’ve found that nearly every child I’ve read this book to (I change damn to darn and sucks to stinks when I read it aloud) loves it. There’s a sequel too. The kids often ask if there’s a third book and are really disappointed when I inform them there isn’t. Original review here.

Want to know more about my favorite books? Keep up-to-date by following my blog (see upper right side bar to follow me on Blog Lovin’ or “Subscribe to my blog via email”) . . .

or . . . if you’d just like monthly updates, sign up for my newsletter below.

BookTubeAThon 2015 TBR List!

August 4, 2015/0 Comments/in Reading/by AJ Cattapan

Just a couple days ago, an author friend told me about a seven-day reading challenge called BookTubeAThon. It’s happening over on YouTube, but if you watch this video, you’ll hear about my list of books to be read in a week. (Ha! Not going to happen.)