Kids / YA Review October 2026
The Dog Heist by Dani Jansen
Dani Jansen’s first book – The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life - made me laugh out loud. I promised myself to read her next book, which is The Dog Heist.
The Dog Heist is about more than stealing Lyra the dog: it is the intricate story of two tweens, Valery and Caleb, who navigate the complexities of life, friendship, social responsibility, and learn independence. It is also about realizing that sometimes the person you least expect to understand you become exactly the friend you need.
The strength of this book is that it captures the experience of Valery and Caleb who learn the skills necessary to communicate. It’s not easy to get across what you are thinking. We aren’t born brilliant communicators. Learning to communicate is sometimes an awkward process. In The Dog Heist, the parents and teachers in this story, are supportive and helpful mentors, without being didactic. And, oh. The whole, “going-outside-in-a-hurricane-and-finding-your-furious-frightened-parents-waiting-when-you-get-back” scene? Perfect.
Canadian Middle Grade Fiction: pr8591251
This month's Kids & YA review was written by Helen Wilding Cook, a Juvenile & YA Fiction Print Selection Specialist at Library Bound.
Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers’ Rights by Debbie Fong
Banned Together is a collection of personal essays, short stories, comics, poetry and interviews from 15 diverse authors exploring book bans through multiple perspectives.
Among the collected works is Robin Stevenson’s essay that unpacks her misrepresented book and the ensuing American Supreme Court case about access to 2SLGBTQ books – or the choice to opt out of occasions where 2SLGBTQ materials would be presented.
In another chapter, an author writes about her relationships with two male friends, who felt she overreacted, when she reported a misogynist “joke” that was serious enough to have the perpetrator expelled from university. It’s interesting to see how she associates that experience with the theme. There is a piece by Maia Kobabe, author of Gender Queer: A Memoir. One of the best aspects of this book is that it offers a list of banned authors and books to support, and other ways youth can protect their right to read. I wonder about using a book like this as the backbone of a book club. It’s humbling and inspiring to read about courage. Authors are amazing.
YA Fiction Anthology: pr7781981
This month's Kids & YA review was written by Helen Wilding Cook, a Juvenile & YA Fiction Print Selection Specialist at Library Bound.
Adult Review October 2026
True Crime : a memoir by Patricia Daniels Cornwell
Who knew that the first book I’d pick up by Patricia Cornwell wouldn’t be one of the installments in her famous Scarpetta series, but her deeply personal memoir, True Crime?
Cornwell begins her story one winter morning when she wakes up to find her mother burning all of her and her brother's clothing in the living room fireplace, mumbling about the end of times. What follows are a series of tragic stories about her childhood: from being abandoned on Christmas Day by her father; being molested at five years old; living in an abusive foster home while her mother was admitted not once, but twice to a psychiatric hospital; getting admitted to that very same psychiatric hospital for an eating disorder; to being sexually abused as a young adult. Despite her traumatic upbringing, her life story continues as she begins her career working the crime beat at a local newspaper, becoming a volunteer police officer, and finally a technical writer and computer analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, where she recounts how her experiences at the OCME inspired her Scarpetta character and novels.
Admittedly, the compelling nature of her memoir does take a slight turn after her rise to fame, as Cornwell proceeds to constantly name drop the celebrities and political figures she has come across, including George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Tom Clancy, Jodie Foster, Demi Moore, Nicole Kidman, and more. Despite this, True Crime was still a fascinating read, and while it was my first book by Cornwell, it won’t be my last.
Adult Non-Fiction: pr8327633
This month's adult review was written by Julia Malott, Adult Print Selection Specialist at Library Bound.
Fenway Punk : How a Boston Indie Label Scored Big On Baseball’s Greatest Rivalry by Chris Wrenn
I was immediately drawn to Fenway Punk solely by the title, as both baseball and Hardcore are a large part of my personal history.
Interestingly, this is not another detailed account from the mosh pit but the personal history of an ambitious narrator, Chris Wrenn, wrapped around an in-depth account of the Boston Red Sox during the 2000s and entrepreneurial dedication. At 19 Wrenn, an avid Hardcore fan envisions starting a record label to document Boston’s Hardcore scene, of which he is a member. To front his vision Wrenn begins selling bumper stickers representing both his anti-establishment ethos and the rivalry between Boston and New York, Where the true story begins is after Wrenn distances himself from old friends because they are dangerous and irresponsible, not the expected path for a twenty-something punk, nor is his dedication to squirreling away the profits from the bumper sticker sales that will grow his record company and eventually lead to the creation of three companies: a record company, a tee-shirt company and a printing company.
Adult Non-Fiction: pr8236525
This month's adult review was written by Mike Clark, Acquisitions Associate at Library Bound.
Our Little Secret by Edward Kay & Mikhael Klassen-Kay