Why I Created Clean Teen Reads

In addition to being an avid reader all my life, I have also volunteered for eight and a half years at the local Juvenile Justice Services facility, working weekly with the juvenile offenders to improve their reading. This work has led me to expand my young adult reading to include all genres, reading levels and types of books because, like other teens, the young adults I work with have diverse interests and a wide range of reading abilities.

As I've looked for books to interest these teens, I've been frustrated that I can't tell from most reviews whether a book has material that I would find objectionable, so I've had to establish a policy that I don't bring a book to the teens unless I've at least skimmed it.

Surely, I've thought, parents and other adults—and teens and tweens too—must share my frustration, so the idea of a website for teen books was born.

I hold a master's degree in English from Brigham Young University where I have taught writing for the past 23 years in the Honors Program, the English Department, and for the last 11 years at the Law School. For my church, I work with in the women's organization, assisting the presidency in caring for the needs of the women in our congregation.

I'm a single mother with one daughter, now married. So for two years, I've had a great son-in-law, and I now have a grandson who's a joy and a delight!

What Kinds of Books I Review

Unlike many lists of clean books that focus on the classics, this website focuses on recent books, mainly from the last decade. However, I will include a classic on occasion.

I review books in a variety of genres, subjects and reading levels, each with a “rating,” indicating if there's any bad language, sexual content, violence, etc.

I mainly review books from major publishers, but on occasion, I review books from other publishers. Except in very rare cases, I won't review books from religious publishers unless they also publish mainstream books. (Books by religious publishers are likely to be clean, so you can find them without help from me.)

If you are an author and would like me to consider reviewing your book on my website, please see the Author Review Policy.