From Kathi Appelt, National Book Award finalist for The Underneath:
“Guilt, loyalty, honesty, sex and the lines that separate them are all found in Alex Stromm’s journal. After the drowning death of his friend Thomas, Alex binds them all together with poetry written for his English teacher, a woman he’s obsessed with. But can he find the truth? Can he tell it? The lines Alex writes and walks are as thin and sharp as the pages of his book. Paper Covers Rock is dazzling in its intensity and intelligence, spell-binding in its terrible beauty.”
Read the starred review in Publishers Weekly.
(School Library Journal also gives it a star.)
Another starred review from The Horn Book: “Hubbard’s characters are confounding and intriguing…. The poignant first-person narrative is…deftly woven…. The traditional, buttoned-up boarding-school setting makes the perfect backdrop to this tense dictation of secrets, lies, manipulations, and the ambiguity of honor.” -Katrina Hedeen
And another starred review from Booklist: “The poetry that Hubbard produces from Alex’s pen is brilliant, and the prose throughout is elegant in its simplicity…. Reminiscent of John Knowles’ classic coming-of-age story, A Separate Peace (1959), this novel introduces Hubbard as a bright light to watch on the YA literary scene.” -Francisca Goldsmith
From Kirkus Reviews: “Readers will eagerly anticipate [Hubbard's] next work, and in the meantime they may try such similar, classic fare as A Separate Peace and The Catcher in the Rye.”
Deidre Parker Smith of The Salisbury Post finds the book full of “teen truths.” Read the full review here.
Read the interview/review by Rob Neufeld of the Asheville Citizen-Times.