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Tag: staff pick

--Staff Picks General

Sketchtasy by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore

Sketchtasy follows narrator Alexa and her friends through life in mid-1990s Boston. They party, go to clubs, dance, meet people, and try to experience the pleasures of life, while, as queer people, also facing homophobia and living through the height of the AIDS crisis. Sycamore’s writing is gripping: while reading, I felt as if I […]

--Staff Picks Teens

Check & Mate

Mallory Greenleaf walked away from chess for good at the age of 14 after it destroyed her family. Now, four years later, she finds herself begrudgingly agreeing to compete in a charity tournament with her best friend. She also happens to beat the current World Champion, Nolan Sawyer, at said tournament and shocks everyone. She’s […]

--Staff Picks

Cleat Cute

This sports rom-com follows Phoebe Matthews, a young hotshot player who has just been called up to the US National Team World Cup camp for the first time, and Grace Henderson, the veteran superstar who has been on the team for 10 years (and is only 26). Phoebe has idolized (and crushed on) Grace for […]

--Staff Picks

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is, at it’s core, a love story, but not in the romantic sense. It is the story of the deep love and decades long friendship between Sam and Sadie who met as children in a children’s hospital game room in California (Sam was a patient, as was […]

--Staff Picks

“Open Throat” by Henry Hoke

Open Throat follows the adventures of a cougar in Los Angeles. Though they are elderly and prey on younger men, they are not the kind of cougar you might assume. The real P-22 puma lived in L.A.’s Griffith Park from 2012-2022, and author Henry Hoke has spun a colorful narrative based on sightings of the […]

--Staff Picks

“Slime: A Natural History” by Susanne Wedlich

Are you looking for a gooed popular science book? Slime: A Natural History by Susanne Wedlich, translated from German by Ayça Türkoğlu, oozes charm. The text touches on the biology of slime of all kinds, from organisms like slime molds to secretions like mucus, but doesn’t get mired in complex scientific details. The book also […]

--Staff Picks Teens

Imogen, Obviously

Becky Albertalli’s latest title follows high school senior Imogen and her discovering her bi-sexuality. Imogen has always been a staunch ally, her sister and best friends are queer. She’s up to date on all the queer media and attends her school’s GSA meetings. She’s straight with a capital S. Then she goes to visit her […]

--Staff Picks Teens

“While You Were Dreaming” by Alisha Rai

This YA novel, based loosely on the plot of the 1995 film “While You Were Sleeping,” follows 17-year-old Sonia Patil as she makes plans to finally get noticed by her crush.  Instead, he faints into a canal and Sonia jumps in to save him.  When a video of the rescue goes viral, she can only […]