High School Booktalks (Open Road Summer, The Screaming Staircase, All Our Yesterdays)

Now that Summer Reading is approaching it’s time to start thinking about booktalks for outreach and class visits. I’m on the YA Steering Committee at my place of employ which means that I present booktalks at every Fall and Spring new books presentation.

This spring we highlighted books from the summer reading list for our library system (which I helped pick and am in love with. You can find the full list online. I helped pick the middle school and high school titles.) and went with a shorter format to talk about more books.

As always I pulled my booktalks from my reviews but this time I shortened them. It was an interesting exercise in seeing how much you can distill a plot summary (the answer is a lot!).

Feel free to use these to present to readers but PLEASE if you are posting them anywhere be sure to credit me and link back to this blog.

So here are the three books I presented:

Open Road Summer by Emery LordOpen Road Summer by Emery Lord: Reagan wants to leave her bad-news ex and her bad girl reputation behind. She just isn’t sure how to do that. Country music star Lilah Montgomery is embarking on her first major solo your–with best friend Reagan in tow. Their plans for a girls’ only summer are quickly derailed when Matt Finch joins the tour as Lilah’s opener. Between his clean-cut good lucks and enough snark to match Reagan barb for barb, Reagan knows her plans for a drama free (and boy free) summer are in big trouble. Over the course of one unforgettable summer Reagan will learn that best friends are forever, mistakes can be left behind, and sometimes love is worth the risk.

The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan StroudThe Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud (Lockwood & Co. Book 1): Unlike most psychic investigation agencies, Lockwood & Co. does not employ adult supervisors who can’t see ghosts anymore. Instead the agency is run jointly by its young operatives who can see ghosts: Anthony Lockwood, George Cubbins, and–often much to her own surprise–Lucy Carlyle. When their latest case ends with a burn down house and threats of legal action (despite the ghost being effectively removed), Lockwood & Co. is faced with the imminent failure of the agency. The trio has one option to keep the agency open: accept a case clearing the most haunted house in London of its malevolent spirits. Lockwood says the case should be easy, he says that a lot. But matters involving ghosts–and murder–are rarely simple matters as Lockwood & Co. is about to find out.

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin TerrillAll Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill: Em has tried everything she can thing of to prevent the completion of a time machine that will break the world. All of her attempts have failed, leaving Em with one last, terrible option: She has to kill the man who will build it. Marina has loved her science prodigy neighbor James since forever. More than she loves herself sometimes. After one disastrous night everything Marina thought she knew about James (and even herself) will be thrown into question as she scrambles to protect James at any cost. Em and Marina are on opposite sides in a race to protect time. Only one of them can come out alive.

 

 

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