When I was in the eighth grade, I read Neal Shusterman's The Schwa Was Here for the first time, and it quickly became one of my favorite books. But little did I know that the lessons I learned from The Schwa Was Here would reach me far into…

Going back to school as a kid always began with a brand new binder, an exciting new classroom, and the classic writing assignment: "What did you do over summer vacation?" Seriously, how many times have you written that essay over the course of your…

There's something incredibly magical about hearing an author read their own work. If you love listening to audiobooks, you know that some of the best audiobooks are the ones that are narrated by the author. Don't get me wrong, voice actors do some…

I wasn't even born until the '90s, but somehow I still have a serious case of nostalgia for the '80s. Between the kind-of-terrible hair and the retro clothes and all the teen anguish, the movies of the '80s were filled with a certain energy that is…

The end of summer is fast approaching — insert a collective groan here. These warmer months have been a dream for summer book reading, and I don't know about you, but I'm definitely not ready for it to end. Luckily, you have most of August and all…

There's a drawer in my childhood bedroom that's so stuffed with my old journals and diaries that it won't close. Whenever I leave the house, I consider my journal as much a necessity as my wallet, and I always carry one with me. As I use my…

As a diehard Harry Potter fan, I'm always thirsty for any new details I can get about the Potterverse. So I'm obviously head-over-Hippogriffs excited about the news that the Harry Potter: A History of Magic audiobook is coming out on October 4th.…

The cutest thing happened to me last week: A guy I went on a date with texted me a picture of a library book. I had recommended the book to him on our date, and he had checked it out. I liked this dude a lot already, but after I saw that picture, I…

A legendary rocker, artist, poet, and memoirist, Patti Smith has truly lived a life defined by art. In her first memoir, Just Kids, Smith transports readers to New York City during the late '60s and '70s, a time in which the city was a haven for…

I was 15 years old and sitting in high school creative writing class when I first heard Naomi Shihab Nye read her poem "Valentine for Ernest Mann." My teacher played us a video (yes, on an actual VHS) of her reading the poem at a book festival, and…

Summer is the perfect time to find a new thriller novel to devour. With so many fantastic books hitting the shelves this year, it can be tough to decide to decide where to start. (Which is a great problem to have!) Fortunately, your favorite classic…

More likely than not, you know what it feels like to have a crush on a friend. Maybe you thought inconvenient romantic feelings would stop making appearances after high school, but, well, you were wrong. Luckily, there are plenty of books about best…

"I have a dream job: I get paid to read books," I frequently say when I meet someone new. It's true, getting to work with books is a strange and wonderful adventure. But I certainly did not start my career the same reader that I am today. In the…

Summer may be sweet, it may be sizzling, it certainly is extremely sweaty. In an ideal world, you're outdoors enjoying 70 degree temperatures and glistening not sweating. But in reality, you're probably drenched in sweat and eager to get inside so…

"It begins, as so many stories do, with a dead girl," or so says West McCray in the introduction of The Girls, a brand new podcast adapted from Courtney Summers's forthcoming YA novel, Sadie, which comes out on Sept. 4. That's right, this is a whole…

It's August, and the great new fiction books are rolling in with the humidity and late-summer thunderstorms. You're going to want to take advantage of these last few weeks of summer outdoor reading by picking up some excellent new releases over the…

In her debut novel, Fruit of the Drunken Tree, author Ingrid Rojas Contreras transports readers to Colombia in the late '80s and '90s, a period marked by extreme violence and political turmoil. A power struggle between the government, paramilitary…

When a generation of kids develops superpowers, the government embarks on a massive campaign to detain them and suppress their powers — so begins The Darkest Minds trilogy by Alexandra Bracken. If you think that sounds eerily prescient, you're…

I have attended hundreds of readings and literary events, both as an observer and as a coordinator. I absolutely love attending readers, and every event has been fruitful in its own way. Yet, there is one thing that happens more often than it…

"I'm about to have a meltdown in this coffee shop," I text my best friend. I'm sitting by myself at my neighborhood cafe, and I'm starting to feel seriously anxious. I can feel tears welling up behind my eyes and my breath feels trapped inside my…