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  • Emily Ellet

A Little Family Bragging – Katie’s YA Book Reviews!

I’m crazy proud of my family.  From a dad who played on a Grammy-award winning album (“Cleo at Carnegie”, if you’re in the mood for amazing jazz), to a mom who taught me how to be a female entrepreneur in a male-dominated profession, to my sister Amy who teaches high school history (anyone who can get me that excited about Khrushchev and the Janissaries is going to have a profound impact on kids’ lives!), to my brother Brian who is a truly remarkable bass player and recording engineer on his way to a serious career, I’ve never been prouder to be a part of our family.

But today, it’s my sister Katie that I’m bragging about.  A phenomenal writer, artist, and fashionista/costume-designer in her youth, Katie is now writing young adult book reviews for the internationally acclaimed newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor.  How awesome is that?!

Historical proof of our family obsession with reading.  Extra points for flouncy nightgowns.

Historical proof of our family obsession with reading. Extra points for flouncy nightgowns.


The best part is that I get to read the books after she’s published her reviews, and Katie’s reviews are spot-on.  So you should read them too!  Dive into some of the newest Young Adult fiction with Katie’s most recent reviews:

  1. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick.

Katie writes, “The confluence of beauty and terror– that’s how my high school art history teacher described the sublime. A sublime painting or poem would spark fear or awe through natural beauty, grandeur, or infinity.  Not long into Matthew Quick’s Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, I realized I was experiencing sublimity firsthand.”  (This one’s next on my list!)

  1. Transparent by Natalie Whipple.

In Katie’s words: “In her debut novel, Transparent, Natalie Whipple presents an imaginative tale of an invisible teenager on the run from her mobster father. Though not as effortless as some other sci-fi/young adult titles, the skillful world creation and tricky final plot twists on display in this novel make it well worth reading.”

  1. Earthbound by Aprilynne Pike

By far, my favorite of the books I’ve read!  I totally agreed with Katie:  “It’s usually a good sign when I read the first 30 pages of a book one day and devour the following 300 pages the next. Such was the case with Earthbound, Aprilynne Pike’s superb new young adult novel. It’s a complicated, intoxicating, and surprising ride that I literally couldn’t put down until I read it all.”

If/once you’ve any of these, let us know what you thought in the comments!

And thanks, Kate, for giving me a chance to brag about you. 🙂

#EarthboundbyAprilynnePike #BookReview #ForgiveMeLeonardPeacockbyMatthewQuick #Books #ChristianScienceMonitor #KatieBeimEsche #Reading #YoungAdultFiction #Emily #TransparentbyNatalieWhipple

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