2025 Woodland Summer Book Talks by Jodie D'Alexander

The Rosewood Hunt by: Mackenzie Reed

jdalexander2 — 2025-04-22 14:01:10 UTC

Lily Rosewood has lived with her grandmother since her dad’s death a year ago. When Gram dies suddenly, Lily’s world is upended when the quarter of a billion dollar inheritance goes missing! Gram had always loved games, and even in death, she still has a few tricks up her couture sleeve.

a fun, fast-paced mystery, loaded with twists and angsty drama; perfect for fans of The Inheritance Games and Knives Out.

Publisher Weekly - starred review

Concrete Rose by: Angie Thomas

jdalexander2 — 2025-04-22 14:07:40 UTC

If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.

However, life’s not perfect. Maverick becomes a young father to Seven, who depends on him for everything. Life is challenge to earn money on the streets, finish school, and raise a child. So when he’s offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. In a world where he’s expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove he’s different.

Printz Honor book

Booklist - starred review

School Library Journal - starred review

Publishers Weekly - starred review

Kirkus - starred review

Punching the Air by: Ibi Zoboi

jdalexander2 — 2025-04-22 14:07:53 UTC

A single punch leads to a fight between Amal and his friends—all Black—and a group of white boys from a gentrifying part of his neighborhood. Amal is found guilty of assault while his friends are given plea deals. All are sent to prison, while the white boys involved are not charged at all. Through Amal's first-person verse narration, readers learn about his aspirations as a poet and artist, as well as his experience entering the prison system as a young Black man.

Booklist - starred review

School Library Journal - Best Book of the Year

Kirkus - Best Book of the Year

Clap When You Land by: Elizabeth Acevedo

jdalexander2 — 2025-05-06 16:39:33 UTC

This dual narrative, novel in verse follows the experiences of two grieving sisters, one from NYC and the other from the Dominican Republic, who navigate the loss of their father and the impact of his death on their relationship.

Publishers Weekly - starred review

Kirkus - starred review

We Are Not From Here by: Jenny Torres Sanchez

jdalexander2 — 2025-05-22 12:11:34 UTC

Pulga has his dreams.
Chico has his grief.
Pequeña has her pride.

Crossing from Guatemala through Mexico, they follow the route of La Bestia, the perilous train system that might deliver them to a better life--if they are lucky enough to survive the journey. With nothing but the bags on their backs and desperation drumming through their hearts, Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña know there is no turning back, despite the unknown that awaits them. And the darkness that seems to follow wherever they go.

Booklist - starred review

School Library Journal - starred review

Publishers Weekly - starred review

Kirkus - starred review

Poisoned by: Jennifer Donnelly

jdalexander2 — 2025-05-22 12:17:50 UTC

Once upon a time, a girl named Sophie rode into the forest with the queen's huntsman. Her lips were the color of ripe cherries, her skin as soft as new-fallen snow, her hair as dark as midnight. When they stopped to rest, the huntsman pulled out his knife . . . and took Sophie's heart. With the help of seven mysterious strangers, Sophie manages to survive. But when she realizes that the jealous queen might not be to blame, Sophie must find the courage to face an even more terrifying enemy, proving that even the darkest magic can't extinguish the fire burning inside every girl.

2021 YALSA Best Fiction

Ski Weekend by: Rektok Ross

jdalexander2 — 2025-05-22 12:26:06 UTC

Six teens, one dog, and a ski trip gone wrong....The Breakfast Club meets Lord of the Flies in this nail-biting tale of survival, filled with twists, secrets and life-changing, action-packed moments that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

National Indie Excellence Award winner

In the Wild Light by: Jeff Zentner

jdalexander2 — 2025-05-22 16:02:14 UTC

A coming-of-age story about two best friends whose friendship is tested when they get the opportunity to leave their impoverished small town for an elite prep school. This novel examines grief, found family, and young love.

Booklist - starred review

School Library Journal - starred review

Publishers Weekly - starred review

Kirkus - starred review

They Went Left by: Monica Hesse

jdalexander2 — 2025-05-23 16:14:39 UTC

Germany, 1945. The soldiers who liberated the Gross-Rosen concentration camp say the war is over, but nothing feels over to eighteen-year-old Zofia Lederman. Her body has barely begun to heal, her mind feels broken. And her life is completely shattered: Three years ago, she and her younger brother, Abek, were the only members of their family to be sent to the right, away from the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Everyone else—her parents, her grandmother, radiant Aunt Maja—they went left. Zofia travels across post-war Europe as she searches for her younger brother and seeks to rebuild her shattered life.

Booklist - starred review

School Library Journal - starred review

Publishers Weekly - starred review

An Ember in the Ashes by: Sabaa Tahir

jdalexander2 — 2025-05-23 16:18:21 UTC

Laia is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire's greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.

Publishers Weekly - starred review