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| Summer Reading Program 2010 |
Flop
down and Flip the pages!
The
romance, the drama & the angst.
 |
Books Recommended by students. |
 |
Books recommended by staff. |
 |
Award Winners |
 |
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After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson | |
 |
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Newbery Honor Book - 2009 , YALSA Best Book for Young Adults - 2009 In the New York City borough of Queens in 1996, three girls bond over their shared love of Tupac Shakur's music, as together they try to make sense of the unpredictable world in which they live. |
|||
*Read reviews and find more books like this one in Novelist, ask your student for the password. NoveList
*You
can also check Amazon for editorial reviews. Amazon
The List
(Titles in blue are new to the list
- Titles in green are
books by Brazilian authors.)
|
Senhora: Profile
of a Woman by Jose de Alencar -
Strong-willed, independent heroine Aurelia uses newly inherited wealth
to "buy back" and exact revenge on the fiance who had left her
for a woman with a more enticing dowry. |
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|
 |
Does My Head Look Big In This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah - Year Eleven at an exclusive prep school in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, would be tough enough, but it is further complicated for Amal when she decides to wear the hijab, the Muslim head scarf, full-time badge of her faith--without losing her identity or sense of style. |
|
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Eva Luna by Isabel Allende - Against a background of South American history and revolution,
this love story protrays the relationship between a headstrong orphan
and a German adventurer. |
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| Dona Flor and her Two Husbands by Jorge Amado - Dona Flor discovers how to have both her roguish, impetus husband, who dies in the pandemonium of a carnival, and her kind, considerate pharmacist-husband. | |||
Laurie Halse Anderson 2009 Margaret Edwards Award.The Margaret A. Edwards Award, established in 1988, honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature. |
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 |
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Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson, 2007 - "As tension mounts, Tyler reaches a crisis point revealed through
one of the most poignant and gripping scenes in young-adult literature.
Taking matters into his own hands, Tyler decides that he must make a choice
about what kind of man he wants to be, with or without his father's guidance"
(Kirkus). |
 |
 |
Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson Eighteen-year-old Kate, who sometimes chafes at being a preacher's daughter, finds herself losing control in her senior year as she faces difficult neighbors, the possibility that she may not be accepted by the college of her choice, and an unexpected death. |
 |
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson -
Eighteen-year-old Lia comes to terms with her best friend's death from anorexia as she struggles with the same disorder. (Novelist) |
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Head Case by Sarah Aronson, 2007 "Although not as compelling as Terry Trueman's Stuck in Neutral (2000), Aronson's raw first novel delves into the emotions, mobility, daily functions (e.g., eating, talking on a phone and using a computer) and even the pleasures and sex of quadriplegics. Above all, it asks us to consider how we value individuals with disabilities" (Kirkus). |
|||
Emma by Jane Austen - Classic novel about a self-assured young lady whose behavior
is dictated by romantic fancy. |
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 |
Peeled by Joan Bauer - Peeled is vintage Bauer, a warm and funny story full of likable, offbeat characters led by a strongly voiced, independently minded female protagonist on her way to genuine, well-earned maturity. Bauer seasons Hildy's story with the high school homecoming dance, a budding romance, strong friend and family ties, and a host of quirky characters, then serves it up in quick-paced prose juicy with apple metaphors. A-peeling all around! (School Library Journal) |
||
Forbidden City - by William Bell -
A seventeen-year-old boy accompanies his reporter father to China during
a student uprising. |
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Searching
for David’s Heart by Cherie Bennett -
Darcy adores her older brother David and is devastated when he is hit
by a car and dies. Because Darcy feels responsible for his death, she
decides she can only live with herself once she finds the owner of David's
heart. |
 |
Wait! Audrey by Robin Benway - While trying to score a date with her cute co-worker at the Scooper Dooper, sixteen-year-old Audrey gains unwanted fame and celebrity status when her ex-boyfriend, a rock musician, records a breakup song about her that soars to the top of the Billboard charts. |
 |
Almost
Home by Jessica Blank 2007 - "The
author's note offers resources for both at-risk and street teens. Examining
the ties that bring people together and force them apart, this is a harsh
and honest view of homeless teen life in the city of angels" (Kirkus). |
|
24
Girls in 7 Days by Alex Bradley - "When
the love of his life rejects his invitation to the senior prom, Jack Grammar's
so-called best friends pose as Jack and run a personal ad in the online
school newspaper soliciting a date" (School Library Journal). |
|
 |
Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande - 2007 YALSA Best Books for Young Adults - "The most impressive thing about this novel is the fairness and empathy with which Brande presents Mena's heartfelt struggle to reconcile her belief inboth God and in science. She addresses a difficult subject with grace, humor, and humility." (School Library Journal) |
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte -
Intense, introspective novel of the mid 19th century about a woman who
becomes a governess and falls in love with the master of the house. |
||
Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Bronte -
When Mr. Lockwood has an encounter with the spirit of Catherine Linton
at the home of the unsociable Heathcliff, he hears the story of the tempestuous
love affair between Catherine and Heathcliff. |
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|
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Candy by Kevin Brooks
- "Brooks'
fourth novel, another provocative, suspenseful work that thrusts an average
teen into an intense situation, invites inevitable comparisons with the
film Traffic. When Candy, a girl "with the kind of smile that
rips a hole in your heart," speaks to suburban teenager Joe outside a
London train station, he falls hard but senses something amiss" (Booklist). |
Kissing
the Rain by Kevin Brooks - " Michael "Moo"
Nelson is an uncouth, overweight, working-class 15-year-old who escapes
the daily harassment-- the "rain" as he calls it -- he faces at school by
riding his bike to a bridge, climbing to a familiar vantage point, and
losing himself in the Zen of watching the endless flow of traffic. His
life is changed when he witnesses a murder from the bridge" (School
Library Journal). |
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|
 |
Conception by Kalisha Buckhanon,
2008 - "A sensitive
portrayal of young lovers that moves beyond gritty urban fiction. The
novel's inspiring story has a message of hope that's sure to connect with
readers" (Essence Magazine)."Recommend this moving novel to
readers who enjoyed Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye or Sapphire's Push ; for all African American fiction collections and most
general fiction collections" (Library Journal). |
 |
Ask
Me No Questions by Marina Budhos ©2006 -
"As Budhos's ( House of Waiting, for adults) provocative
novel opens, 14-year-old narrator Nadira Hossain and her family are heading
north to Canada, seeking asylum from the harassment that has become routine
in the U.S. in the wake of 9/11" (Publishers
Weekly). |
Leaving
Jetty Road by Rebecca Burton - "As they prepare for the next steps in their lives, the girls become
so wrapped up in themselves that they fail to see how their friends are
growing, changing, and--especially in Lise's case--hurting" (Booklist). |
|
 |
Fortunes of Indigo Skye by Deb Caletti Eighteen-year-old Indigo is looking forward to becoming a full-time waitress after high school graduation, but her life is turned upside down by a large check given to her by a customer who appreciates that she cares enough to scold him about smoking. |
|
Love in the Asylum by Lisa Carey -
Alba Elliott speaks in riddles that have an odd and depressing logic about
them and is resigned to enduring her mental illness in an institution
until she falls in with a fellow patient. |
||
By the River I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho -
Tells the story of Pilar, a frustrated scholar looking for some greater
meaning in the endless cycle of her days. When a childhood friend contacts
her, she is surprised to learn that her former playmate is now a charismatic
spiritual leader, someone revered as a miracle worker. She is even more
astonished when he reveals that Pilar has always been his great love. |
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 |
 |
Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor c2008- Starred Review - "A story centered around loss, heartbreak, abandonment,
and new beginnings. "Connor takes a familiar plot and elevates it
with smartly written characters and unexpected moments. Addie starts out
being a kid who thinks she has to go along to get along, but as Mommers'
actions become more egregious, her spine stiffens. And though Addie
loves her time upstate, she is willing to forgo it when the normality
she has there is more painful than positive. This is a meaningful
story that will touch many." (Booklist) |
|
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Splintering by Eireann Corrigan - YALSA Best Books for Young Adults - Told in verse, "it's about what happens after a stranger breaks
into a house and attacks a family. It's about the sisters who must barricade
themselves behind a splintering door while tethered on the phone to 911"
(Amazon). |
||
|
Crackback by John Coy -"When Miles Manning, a successful
high school football player, discovers his teammates are using steroids--and
one of them is his best friend--he's faced with a tough decision: Is he
willing to do what it takes to win? Football is his life, and his family,
especially his dad, is pinning its hopes on him" (Amazon). |
The
Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher - "This clever, spirited post-modern meta-narrative is a quick read
that is bound to be controversial. It has no profanity, sexual acts, drug
or alcohol use, or bloody violence but takes dead aim at censors who can't
get past counting swear words or the notion of a gay character who is
still alive at the end of a book" (School Library Journal). |
|
 |
Not Like You by Deborah Davis
-
Kayla's mother has made the 15 years of her daughter's life unpredictable, from moving for "fresh starts" to drunken binges, no money, loser boyfriends, and a year in foster care. Kayla is tired of being the adult and of letting a guy use her for sex just to feel loved. When Marilyn moves them to New Mexico and seems genuinely to want to stay sober, Kay is skeptical, but she begins to make a life for herself by walking dogs and making friends, especially with a 24-year-old musician. Thoughtful, touching, and honest, this story hits all the right notes. (School Library Journal) |
|
Just
Listen by Sarah Dessen - " Annabel Greene seemingly
had everything: cool friends, close family, good grades, and a part-time
modeling career in town. But it all came crashing down, and Annabel has
spent the summer in shaky, self-imposed exile" (School Library Journal). |
|
Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen -
When Halley’s friend Scarlett discovers she is pregnant two months
after her boyfriend Michael is killed in a motorcycle accident, the two
girls turn to each other instead of their families for support. |
|
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The
Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen - "With
her sixth novel, award-winning author Sarah
Dessen offers up another generous helping of finely crafted storytelling
about real teens dealing with real life. In The Truth About Forever , when asked how she is coping with her father's death, invariably
seventeen year old Macy Queen's answer is "fine," when nothing could be
further from the truth" (School Library Journal). |
|
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|
 |
Before
I Die by Jenny Downham c2007 - Starred Review - "The eloquent dying teen can seem a staple of
the YA novel, but this British debut completely breaks the mold. Downham's
writing is shockingly straightforward, and she cushions nothing for readers.
In laying out so bald a story she evokes an extraordinary range of emotions,
exorcised in a fiercely cathartic ending" (Publishers
Weekly). |
 |
Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole - Laura, a seventeen-year-old Cuban American girl, is thrown out of her house when her mother discovers she is a lesbian, but after trying to change her heart and hide from the truth, Laura finally comes to terms with who she is and learns to love and respect herself. |
 |
Shooting the Moon by Frances O’roark Dowell When her brother is sent to fight in Vietnam, twelve-year-old Jamie begins to reconsider the Army world that she has grown up in. |
|
Rebecca by Daphne DuMauier - Rebecca's insidious seems to extend from beyond the grave.
Is she really dead? |
Aftershock by Kelly Easton,
2006 - "Although it seems unrealistic that an accident victims memories
would be as clear as Adams are, the contemporary road adventure is told
with terse drama, and occasional rough language that fits the raw emotion
of the story. During his travels, Adam thinks of Gary Paulsens Hatchet (1987), and readers will want to pair that story with this one, as
well as with other books about the journey home" (Booklist). |
|
Leaving
Paradise by Simone Elkeles ©2007
- Caleb and Maggie exhibit enough pain and anger to wreak havoc on their
families and community, named, ironically, Paradise. Both missed their
junior year of high school; Maggie, recovering from a car accident, and
Caleb, jailed for hitting her while driving drunk" (School
Library Journal). |
|
Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments, with Recipes,
Romances, and Home Remedies. by Laura Esquivel - At the beginning of the 20th century, Tita, the youngest of
three daughters, is expected to serve her mother for the rest of her life,
but in order to show her love to Pedro, who is engaged to her sister,
Tita cooks for him. |
|
 |
Diva:
A novel by Alex Finn ©2006 - "Caitlin,
who was abused by her 16-year-old boyfriend, Nick, in Flinn's Breathing
Underwater (HarperCollins, 2001), wants to put that relationship
behind her. A talented opera singer, she gets into Miami High School for
the Performing Arts despite her own nervousness and her mother's objections" (School Library Journal). |
|
Touching
Snow by M. Sindy Felin,
2007 - YALSA Best Books for Young Adults - "Felin draws readers into the chaotic, often violent world
of a Haitian-American girl's coming-of-age in upstate New York during
the 1980s. Karina, the 14-year-old narrator, expresses her feelings of
isolation at school, where she is often taunted, and explains why her
situation is even less bearable at home" (Publishers Weekly). |
||
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert - Landmark 19th cenury novel in which a woman defies the standards of conventional French society and establishes relationships that jolt the world around her. |
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Breaking
Up by Aimee Friedman - a graphic novel, "Chloe Sacks, is a self-described "aspiring artist, chronic daydreamer,
borderline neurotic," and tells the story of her junior year at Georgia
O'Keeffe School for the Arts in flashbacks. The volume strikes a sure
balance between realistic issues and teenage sarcasm" (Publishers
Weekly). |
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|
 |
Jerk California by Jonathan Friesen Schneider Family Book Awards 2008 - Plagued by Tourette's syndrome and a stepfather who despises him, Sam meets an old man in his small Midwest town who sends him on a road trip designed to help him discover the truth about his life. |
 |
Keesha's
House by Helen Frost - Michael Printz
Honor Award - "Frost has taken the poem-story to a new level with well-crafted
sestinas and sonnets; leading readers into the souls and psyches of her
teen protagonists. The house in the title isn't really Keesha's; it belongs
to Joe. His aunt took him in when he was 12, and now that he's an adult
and the owner of the place, he is helping out kids in the same situation" (School Library Journal). |
||
 |
Owning It by Donald R. Gallo Presents ten stories of teenagers facing all of the usual challenges of school, parents, boyfriends and girlfriends, plus the additional complications that come with having a physical or psychological disability. |
|
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden - Liza and Annie meet at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, fall in love, and then find that a public declaration is too threatening to their friends and relatives. |
|
|
 |
Looks by Madeleine George YALSA Best Books for Young Adults - Two high school girls, one an anorexic poet and the other an obese loner, form an unlikely friendship. (Novelist) |
 |
|
 |
Looking for Alaska by John Green Printz Award 2007,Sixteen-year-old Miles' first year at Culver Creek Preparatory School in Alabama includes good friends and great pranks, but is defined by the search for answers about life and death after a fatal car crash. |
|
|
 |
Paper Towns by John Green Booklist Editors Choice, YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, Oprah Kids Reading List, Edgar Allen Poe Award - One month before graduating from his Central Florida high school, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, Q's neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears. |
|
|
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson -
Passions and prejudices surface when a Japanese man stands trial for a
fisherman's murder in Washington state in the 1950's. |
|
|
Pucker by Melanie Gideon
- "With
his face hideously scarred by a childhood fire, 17-year-old Thomas Quicksilver
has been cruelly nicknamed "Pucker" by his classmates. But Tom knows that
his scars are not the only things that make him an outsider" (Booklist). |
Hail
Caesar by Thu-Huong Ha, 2007 - "The first-time author holds nothing back and tells it like
it is. She confronts issues like drinking, sex, betrayal, friendship,
and love, causing readers to think about themselves and the type of person
they want to become" (School Library Journal). |
|
 |
Get
Well Soon by Julie Halpern c2007 - "Debut author Halpern drew from her own teen experiences with depression,
and Anna's voice, filled with spot-on musings, sarcasm, slang, and swearing,
is uproariously funny and authentic, whether offering vivid accounts of
"Lake Shit's . . . booger green and vomit brown" decor, bewildering therapy
sessions, or the shock and pleasure of finding friends, romance, confidence,
and belonging" (Booklist). |
 |
 |
Blood
Brothers by S. A. Harazin,
2007 - "This compelling story, told in diary entries that cover hours
and days, never loses the pace as Clay races to discover what happened
during Joey's last day. The anti-drug message is never didactic, and the
story will grab readers from the first sentence" (Kirkus). |
|
 |
Sucker Punch by David Hernandez YALSA Best Books for Young Adults - Still working as an unlicensed PI but finally off parole, Cal Innes is given the assignment to accompany a talented amateur boxer to his first major tournament in Los Angeles, but his simple babysitting job soon turns deadly, thanks to rumors of a rigged bout, Liam's explosive temper, and a codeine habit. By the author of Saturday's Child. |
 |
Dark Dude by Oscar Hijuelos -YALSA Best Books for Young Adults - In the 1960s, Rico Fuentes, a pale-skinned Cuban American teenager, abandons drug-infested New York City for the picket fence and apple pie world of Wisconsin, only to discover that he still feels like an outsider and that violent and judgmental people can be found even in the wholesome Midwest. |
Glass by Ellen Hopkins, 2007 - Ellen Hopkins has had phenomenal success with YA lit using poetic device to tell the story. "The poems are masterpieces of work, shape and pacing...A stunning protrayal of a teens loss of direction" (School Library Jounral). "Hopkins delivers a gritty, fast-paced read" (VOYA).
|
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Becoming Chloe by Rainbow Lists/Young Adult Fiction - Catherine Ryan Hyde A gay teenage boy and a fragile teenage girl meet while living on the streets of New York City and eventually decide to take a road trip across America to discover whether or not the world is a beautiful place. |
 |
Dirty Liar by Brian James No longer able to tolerate living with his alcoholic mother and her abusive boyfriend, high schooler Benji, nicknamed Dogboy, has moved in with his emotionally distant father, stepmother, and stepsister, and strives to be invisible at home and at school until a series of events forces him to express himself. |
 |
|
 |
Repossessed by A. M. Jenkins ©2007, 2008 Printz Honor Award - "Arebellious demon (who prefers the term...fallen angel) named
Kiriel takes over the body of 17-year-old Shaun Simpson moments before
the teen steps in front of a speeding cement mixer in Jenkins's (Beating
Heart) latest. Eager to experience life as a human being, and feeling
long overdue for a vacation from his duties of subjecting souls to eternal
torment Kiriel quickly gets underway living Shaun's life" (Publishers
Weekly). |
|
Devilish by Maureen Johnson YALSA Best Books for Young Adults - From the author of 13 Little Blue
Envelopes comes a, " Fast paced and very funny, this is the story
of high-school senior Jane Jarvis, who gets in over her head--which isnt
difficult because shes very short. Shes also very smart, and when her
best friend, Allison, starts acting oddly, it doesnt take Jane long to
figure out that theres some unholy connection between Ally and mysterious
Lanalee, a new girl at their Catholic school" (Booklist). |
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13
Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson - YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2006 - "This
whirlwind adventure begins as Ginny, 17, reads a letter from her free-spirited,
unpredictable Aunt Peg, who has recently passed away. She is given several
destinations, four rules, and the instruction to open one envelope upon
her arrival at each place" (School Library Journal). |
|
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 |
Bone
by Bone by Bone by Tony Johnston - Starred Review School Library Journal Best Books 2007, YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2008 - "Small-town Tennessee in the 1950s comes vividly to life in this story
of a risky friendship. David, nine, and Malcolm, eight, are both firecrackers,
full of mischief and way too curious and independent to accept the rigid
social norms that the adults around them take for granted. David's physician
father, Franklin Church, lays down the law: Malcolm is black and thus
inferior, and may never enter the Church home" (School
Library Journal). |
 |
|
 |
Mudbound by Hillary Jordan Alex Award Winner 2009, In 1946, Laura McAllan tries to adjust after moving with her husband and two children to an isolated cotton farm in the Mississipi Delta. |
|
 |
Another
Kind of Cowboy by Susan Juby, 2007 -"YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, Rainbow Lists/Young Adult - Starred Review,
"Utterly, abosolutely sidesplitting" (Kirkus) |
|
 |
Undercover by Beth Kephart, 2007 School Library Journal Best Books 2007 - "Through Elisa's poems, letters and descriptions, Kephart perfectly
plumbs the thoughts and feelings of an adolescent girl. Captivating"
(Kirkus). |
 |
 |
Alabama
Moon by Watt Key - YALSA
Best Books for Young Adults, 2008. - Starred Review - After the death of his father,
ten-year-old Moon leaves their forest shelter home and
is sent to an Alabama institution, becoming entangled
in the outside world he has never known and making good friends, a relentless
enemy, and finally a new life. |
 |
Freaks by Annette Klause ©2006 - From the author of Blood & Chocolate comes "Abel, 17, is the
normal son of a legless father and an armless mother. He lives with other
oddities in a midget village where they put on shows. He is restless and
wants his own life. His romantic experiences have been limited to kissing
the hairy Dog-Faced Girl. He runs away and joins a traveling circus, unaware
that Apollo, 12, the hairy Puppy Boy, has followed him and stowed away
aboard the circus train" (School Library Journal). |
Lessons
From a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles, 2007 - "Spare
and evocative prose weaves the story of Leah and Lainey's turbulent and
abusive friendship" (Kirkus). |
|
|
 |
Strays by Ron Koertge, 2007 YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2008- "Readers will root for Ted as he learns how to feel comfortable
both around other people and in his own skin. Using deft touches of humor
and an element of the supernatural, Koertge (Boy Girl Boy) delivers
a stirring account of a boy's rise above difficult circumstances"
(Publishers Weekly). |
 |
The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by E.L. Konisburg -
When Amedeo moves to the Navy town of St. Malo, Florida, he finds an unlikely friend in William Wilcox when, while working together on a house sale for Amedeo's eccentric neighbor, they become caught up in a story that dates back to Nazi Germany, which teaches them the true meaning of heroism.(Novelist) |
|
 |
Born to Rock by Gordon Korman ©2006 - " What makes the book irresistible is its well-crafted plot, full of fate-reversing twists and bountiful humor. This one enters the chart with a bullet: it has the goods to go platinum" (Publishers Weekly). |
 |
The
Girls by Lori Lansens - Starred
Review - A fictional account of the lives of conjoined twins, "There
is a great deal of subtlety in Lansens narrative, and how the twins reveal
the details of their lives--often one will refer to something she is sure
the other has already mentioned in her section. But her biggest achievement
in the novel is bringing to life these two truly extraordinary characters
to such a degree that readers may forget they are reading fiction" (Publishers Weekly). |
|
 |
Absolutely,
Positevly Not by David Larochelle - YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, Booklist Editors' Choice, Rainbow Lists/Middle-Early Reader - "In a touching, sometime hilarious coming-out story, Steven DeNarski,
16, tries to deny he is gay. He covers his Superman posters with pictures
of women in skimpy bikinis and lacy lingerie, and he follows the aversion
therapy prescribed in a parents' handbook for getting over his "deviant"
desires and awakening his sluggish interest in girls" (Booklist). |
|
|
Lessons
in Taxidermy by Bee Lavendar - "Diagnosed
with cancer at age twelve and perilously pregnant at eighteen, surviving
surgeries and violent accidents: sometimes you can't believe Bee Lavender
is still alive; sometimes you think nothing could kill her. Lessons
in Taxidermy is Lavender's fierce and expressive search for truth
and an elusive sense of safety" (Amazon). |
 |
Absolute
Brightness by
James Lecesne c2008 - The mystery of Leonard Pelkey.
This is the story of a luminous force of nature: a boy who encounters
evil and whose magic isn't truly felt until he disappears (from the back
cover). |
|
 |
Strange Relations by Sonia Levitin Sidney Taylor Book Award -
Levitin (The Goodness Gene) offers a vivid portrayal of Chasidic culture in this intimate novel about a contemporary Los Angeles teen’s reunion with her extended Orthodox Jewish family. Having felt disconnected from her parents since her younger sister’s disappearance five years ago, 15-year-old Marne is eager to go to Hawaii to spend the summer with her Aunt Chaya’s family, even if it means putting up with their religious views and rituals. Marne looks forward to swimming in the ocean and learning to surf, but ends up spending most of her time helping overworked Aunt Chaya with her seven children and with her endless community duties as a rabbi’s wife. |
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 |
Boy
Meets Boy by David Levithan - Lambda Literary Award, YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, Booklist Editors' Choice - "Paul,
a high-school sophomore, is gay. Big deal! He's known he was gay since
he was in kindergarten. Remarkably, everybody else knows it, too, and
nobody cares. Clearly, the world Paul inhabits in this breakthrough book
(the first upbeat gay novel for teens) differs from the real world: two
boys walk through town holding hands; the cross-dressing quarterback,
named Infinite Darlene, is not only captain of the football team but also
homecoming queen; the school has a biker cheerleading team" (Booklist). |
|
|
 |
Girl,
(Nearly) 16 Absolute Torture by Sue Limb - Rainbow Lists/Middle-Early Reader - Second in
series, "In the on-going tradition of Louise Rennison and her heroine,
Georgia Nicholson, comes the story of Jess, who is in the first throes
of love with her boyfriend Fred. Then her mother has to go and ruin it
all by planning a vacation--just Jess, Mum, and Gran, motoring down to
Cornwall to visit Jess' long-absent dad and throw Grandpa's ashes in the
sea." (Booklist). |
|
 |
Girl
Going on Seventeen Pants on Fire by Sue Limb ©2006
- "Ever since Jess Jordan surprised readers by stuffing bags of minestrone
soup down her bra to create the perfect filler in Girl, 15, Charming
but Insane (Delacorte, 2004), the laughs haven't stopped. This
third book about the teen does not disappoint" (School
Library Journal). |
|
The
Boyfriend List by E. Lockhardt - "Fifteen-year-old
Ruby Oliver's life is full of challenges. She lives on a houseboat; attends
private school--on scholarship; and her boyfriend has dumped her for her
best friend. Nothing, however, is worse than having her "boyfriend list"
(homework from her shrink) passed around school" (Booklist). |
|
|
Dunk by David Lubar
- "Dunk
grips readers from the very first sentence and doesn't let go until the
last. The summer crowd hasn't quite arrived on the boardwalk in a Jersey
shore town when Chad becomes entranced by the Bozo-the clown in the dunk
tank-whose voice and comments are as irritating as nails on a chalkboard"
(School Library Journal). |
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Astonishing
Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga ©2007- School Library Journal Best Books 2006, YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2008 - "Lyga looks at how teens are pushed to their limits
by society. Though he toys with such concepts as teen suicide and Columbine-like
violence, the novel never turns tragic. His love of comics carries over
into all three teen characters, breathing animation into a potentially
sad but often funny story. This is a great bridge book for teens who already
like graphic novels" (School Library Journal). |
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Dough
Boy by Peter Marino - "Overweight
fifteen-year-old Tristan, who lives with his divorced mother and her boyfriend,
Frank, suddenly finds his life turned upside down when Frank's popular,
troubled, nutrition-obsessed daughter, Kelly, moves in. As he faces increasing
abuse about his weight at home and at school, the hurt of his former best
friend pairing off with Kelly, and the anxiety of a crush, he manages
to find peace in taking his own path" (Amazon). |
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The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean, 2005 - The 2008 Michael Printz Award Winner- "McCaughrean weaves a tale of obsession and personal growth against the backdrop of nature's unrelenting power. Fourteen-year-old Sym Wates is fascinated with the Antarctic and the men who explored it, even to the point of creating an internal confidante in the form of Captain Lawrence "Titus" Oates, who was part of the doomed Scott expedition 90 years earlier. So when her "Uncle" Victor whisks the painfully shy, hearing-impaired teen away on a surprise trip to the South Pole, it seems like a dream come true. But Victor has his own agenda, seeking the legendary Symmes's Hole, portal to the interior of a hollow Earth. The lengths to which the madman pursues this quest provide the book with a dramatic drive and powerful revelations" (School Library Journal). |
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Down by Norah Mcclintock - After serving time for assault, Remy must learn to control his anger. |
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Debbie Harry Sings in French by Brothers Meagan YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2009, Rainbow Lists/Young Adult 2009 - When Johnny completes an alcohol rehabilitation program and his mother sends him to live with his uncle in North Carolina, he meets Maria, who seems to understand his fascination with the new wave band Blondie, and he learns about his deceased father's youthful forays into "glam rock," which gives him perspective on himself, his past, and his current life. |
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Dairy
Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock ©2006 YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2007, School Library Journal Best Books 2006- "This humorous, romantic romp excels at revealing a situation seldom
explored in YA novels, and it will quickly find its place alongside equally
well-written stories set in rural areas, such as Weavers Full Service (2005), Richard Peck's The Teacher's Funeral (2004), and
Kimberly Fusco's Tending to Grace (2004)" (Booklist). |
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Dangerously
Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor ©2007 - Mistakes and quarrels, big and small, drive the plot in the twenty-second
novel in the popular Alice series about coming-of-age now. In high school,
Alice, 16, is preparing for the PSATs, but what really worries her is
that some members of the mean, popular crowd have labeled her Miss Goody
Two-Shoes. Are they right? (Booklist) |
Prom
Anonymous by Blake Nelson - "Jace,
and Chloe were best friends growing up, but once high school hit, they
grew apart and found new (very different) friends. Now they're juniors,
and Laura has decided that nothing would be better than to go to the prom
with her two oldest friends. A flurry of planning ensues. Freaky Chloe
doesn't have a date or a dress, and isn't sure she wants either-after all,
the only thing freakier than Chloe is Chloe in a dress with a blind date"
(School Library Journal). |
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After
the Wreck I Picked Myself up Spread my Wings and Flew Away by Joyce Carol Oates ©2006 - " Throughout this intense novel, the author offers keen insight
into the cause and effect of a teen's self-destructive behavior. Readers
distraught by Jenna's downward spiral after the wreck will find solace
in the book's inspiring conclusion" (Publishers
Weekly). |
Emily
Goldberg Learns to Salsa by Micol Ostow - ©2006 "Without heavy messages, Ostow draws on her own half-Jewish, half-Puerto
Rican roots to tell a moving story that has a solid plotline and plenty
of family secrets--past and present--as it opens up issues of tradition,
feminism, friendship, and loyalty" (Booklist). |
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Brett McCarthy: Work in progress by Maria Padian YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2009 -
Bigmouth Brett has two great loves: vocabulary words and soccer. When she's not getting her adrenaline fix on the soccer field, she hangs out with her best friend Diane and enjoys a close relationship with her eccentric but loving grandmother, Nonna. A phone prank Brett and Diane play sets off a series of events that turn Brett's life from average, even happy, to disastrous.(Kirkus) |
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A
Different Kind of Heat by Antonio Pagliarulo,
2006 - "While Pagliarulo seems to pack every minority social issue into
a single novel, he cannot be faulted for his articulation of adolescents'
rage at unfortunate circumstances and the destructiveness when that rage
is misdirected at those in authority who try to help. It is the challenge
of redirecting that rage into--a different kind of heat--one that solves
problems rather than creates them--that Pagliarulo depicts so graphically.
It's an important perspective that YA readers need to hear" (School
Library Journal). |
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The
Possibility of Fireflies by Dominique Paul, ©2006 - "While
the seriousness of the situation is clear to readers, the protagonist
convincingly manages to convey her determination to be happy and find
support. A vulnerability pervades the narrative, never denying the fragility
of the characters' circumstances" (School Library
Journal). |
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Ball
Don't Lie by Matt de la Pena - YALSA Best Books for Young Adults - "That
white boy can ball...He don't play like no regular white boy. Sticky,
17, has spent his life being abused by pimps living with his prostitute
mother, bouncing from one foster home to another, and living on the street
between failed placements. But he's developed incredible hoop skills that
have given him considerable social standing among his mostly black peers"
(School Library Journal). |
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Mexican Whiteboy by Matt de la Pena Sixteen-year-old Danny searches for his identity amidst the confusion of being half-Mexican and half-white while spending a summer with his cousin and new friends on the baseball fields and back alleys of San Diego County, California. |
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Three Girls and Their Brothter by Theresa Rebeck - Alex Award 2009, Booklist Editors' Choice - Transformed into the fashion world's latest "It" girls, the three Heller sisters fall prey to the venal forces and temptations of show business, unleashing a rivalry that threatens the three girls and their quiet, neglected brother with a self-destructive disaster. |
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How to Build a House by Dana Reinhardt YALSA Best Books of Young Adults 2009 -
When her father divorces her beloved stepmother and leaves her without her stepsister, Tess, Harper decides to join a volunteer organization to build houses for tornado victims, but struggling to figure out her role in the mix upon her arrival, Harper is befriended by Teddy who inspires her to love and trust once again.(Novelist) |
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A
Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life by Dana ReinhardtYALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2007 - Starred Review - "In a moving first novel, Reinhardt uses a sure
but gentle hand to explore the relationship that develops between an adopted
teen and her biological mother. Simone Turner-Bloom, 16, has always known
she was adopted but has avoided asking questions about her past" (Publishers Weekly). |
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Red
Glass by Laura Resau,
2007 School Library Journal Best Books 2007, YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2008, Oprah's Kids' Reading List, International Reading Association's Reading Award - "The characters are so compelling and sympathetic that the reader
really cares how they all fare. Emotionally charged and powerful"
(Kirkus). |
Under
the Baseball Moon by John Ritter - "Andy
Ramos, a free-style skateboarding trumpeter, has dreams as big as a baseball
moon. Born into a family of musicians, Andy wants to take his unique fusion
of Latin jazz, rock, and hip-hop straight to the top. But when he crosses
paths with Glory Martinez, a softball pitcher who has Olympian dreams
of her own, the mysterious fusion of their athletic and musical skills
changes everything. Or is that due to the elegant, but eerie man in black"
(Amazon) |
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My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters by Sydney Salter -
The tougher side of catching a boyfriend is depicted with humor and understanding in this first novel. Sharp-witted, accident-prone Jory Michaels knows she is klutzy, but she is more apt to blame her “Super Schnozz” than her clumsiness for her nonexistent love life. The summer after her junior year in high school, she hopes to decrease her “99.9 percent” chance of “dying a virgin” by saving up for a nose job and winning the heart of cute classmate Tyler. Nothing goes as planned, and the results are simultaneously painful and hilarious. (Publishers Weekly) |
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Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2009, Oprah's Kids' Reading List - Fourteen-year-old Henry, wishing to honor his brother Franklin's dying wish, sets out to hike Maine's Mount Katahdin with his best friend and dog. But fate adds another companion--the Cambodian refugee accused of fatally injuring Franklin--and reveals troubles that predate the accident. |
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Blackbox by Julie Schumacher YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2009 - A diverse group of characters becomes connected, both by circumstance and purpose, to the tragic death of a stowaway aboard flight AF266 between Birmingham, England, and New York, in a dark and complex tale in which the stowaway's life and death are revealed through stolen black box recordings, answering machine messages, sitcom outakes, and court transcripts. A first novel. |
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Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2009 -
Dani is forced to decide between her nomadic life with her mother as a traveling thief and the life she has always wanted when they reach the town of Heaven, a place where good people reside and simple pleasures are appreciated.(Novelist) |
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The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious Year I Truly, Completely Lost It by Lisa Shanahan Fourteen-year-old Gemma Stone struggles to understand her shifting emotions as her older sister plans her wedding, she overcomes her nerves and tries out for the school play, and she gets to know one of the most notorious boys in her class. |
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Safe by Susan Shaw,
2007 - "In the literature of trauma, this book is a rare find. The violence
and pity are offstage. The focus is on Tracy's feelings as she discovers
her capacity to heal in the shadow of pain and loss. Her growth is realistic
and hopeful. This is an excellent and ultimately reassuring book"
(School Library Journal). |
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The
Hoopster by Alan Sitomer, 2005 - Book 1 of a sequel. "Andre
Anderson spends his summer playing basketball with his pals and working
at a magazine, where he is assigned to write an article dealing with race.
As an African American, the teen is reluctant to take on this subject
as his first assignment, but he comes to think about it more deeply and
writes an explosive piece. In fact, the article stirs such passions that
a group of racists assault him, smashing his hand and sending him to the
hospital" (School Library Journal). |
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Hip-Hop High School by Alan Sitomer, 2006 - "Following The Hoopster (2005) in a planned trilogy, this says much about adolescence, schooling, and society, wrapped up in a dramatic and inspiring tale. Though Theresa makes it out, there's sadness too, for all of those show don't. A work for teens that adults would do well to read along with Jonathan Kozol's recent study, The Shame of the Nation" (Kirkus). |
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Freak
Show by
James St. James - c2007 YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2008, School Library Journal Best Books 2007, Rainbow Lists/Young Adult 2008 - Starred Review
- "Only St. James, an artist not unlike Billy, could compose such an accessible,
deliciously outrageous, machine-gun barrage of bitchy, button-pushing
drag queen humor packed with snarky innuendos and tongue-in-cheek one-liners.
The results? A groundbreaking, eye-opening, romantic, bittersweet story
of one boy's determination to seek acceptance for who he is and right
the wrongs of his world, one dress at a time" (Kirkus
Review). |
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith - Like the Tree of Heaven that grows out of cement or through
cellar gratings, resourceful Francie struggles against all odds to survive
and thrive in her adolescence. |
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Ghost Medicine by Andrew Smith YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2009 - Still mourning the recent death of his mother, seventeen-year-old Troy Stotts relates the events of the previous year when he and his two closest friends try to retaliate against the sheriff's son, who has been bullying them for years. |
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Notes
From the Midnight Driver by Jordan Sonnenblick ©2006 YALSA Best Books for Young Adults - "Even minor characters, such as Alex's parents and the judge, take
on a heft and weight uncommon in YA literature, and teens will easily
connect with Alex's epiphanies: You can't just throw someone out of your
life when they displease you, and, We're all free to choose some people
to love, and then do it. It all adds up to a funny, bittersweet tour de
force" (Booklist). |
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Fake
ID by Walter Sorrells - "Edgar
Award-winning author of legal thrillers for adults, brings his expertise
to a compelling suspense story for teens. Chastity Pureheart, newly settled
in High Hopes, Alabama, is absolutely in the dark about her name and why
she and her mother keep packed suitcases by the front door wherever they
live, as if they may need to move in an instant"(Booklist). |
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The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2009 - In the last months of high school, charismatic eighteen-year-old Sutter Keely lives in the present, staying drunk or high most of the time, but that could change when starts working to boost the self-confidence of a classmate, Aimee. |
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Rembering
Raquel by Vivian Vande Velde,
2007 - "This short, bittersweet story uses the voices of 20 different
characters to tell of the death of a teenager" (School Library Journal). |
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Grief Girl by Erin Vincent - The author describes how her parents were killed in a car accident when she was a teenager, and how she and her seventeen-year-old sister and three-year-old brother were left to deal with the pain and hardship while they struggled to survive on their own. |
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Skin by Adrienne Maria Vrettos - YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2007 " Like Sonya Sones' Stop Pretending (1999), this devastating novel
plumbs the anguish of a teen facing a sibling's illness. First-time novelist
Vrettos' gloves-off approach is apparent from the opening page, in which
14-year-old Donnie fruitlessly gives CPR to his elder sister, who has
starved herself to death. |
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House Party by Eric Walters - Hoping to fit in and make friends, Casey decides to hold a house party when her parents are out of town. (Cover description) |
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Learning
the Game by Kevin Waltman - "Nate
is looking forward to the start of the basketball season when he hopes
to finally become a starter on his high-school team. One night in late
summer, at the end of a pickup game, one of Nate's teammates suggests
that they break into a local fraternity house. Despite his pangs of conscience,
Nate goes along with the crime and helps carry the loot to a van"
(Booklist). |
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Zane's
Trace by Allan Wolf,
2007 - "While
drawing from historical characters and events, Zanes story is mainly
about coming to terms with family, the inheritance we cannot refuse. Not
all questions are answered at the end, but with Zane as the caustic but
compelling tour guide, the trip is well worth making. Author's note and
extensive bibliography included" (Kirkus). |
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Probably
Still Nick Swansen by Virginia Euwer Wolff - "strong,
compassionate story about a student with minimal brain dysfunction. While
all 16 year olds have problems, Nick Swansen's are unique: they involve
his identity outside the Special Education classroom and coming to terms
with the accidental death of his sister, Dianne, seven years earlier"
(School Libray Journal). |
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Emako Blue by Brenda Woods - " A novel described as both "contemporary and raw: in the first scene,
high-school friends attend the funeral of one of their own--Emako, a beautiful,
talented young singer who was shot outside her South Central home. In
alternating voices, four young people talk about Emako, revealing something
about their own very different lives" (Booklist). |
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Miracle's
Boys by Jacqueline Woodson,
2000 - "The fast-paced narrative is physically immediate, and the
dialogue is alive with anger and heartbreak, "brother to brother to brother."
As in Walter Dean Myers' novel 145th Street , the city block
in the story is hard and dangerous--and it is home" (Booklist). |
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After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson Newbery Honor Book 2009, YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2009, ALA Notable Children's Book 2009 - In the New York City borough of Queens in 1996, three girls bond over their shared love of Tupac Shakur's music, as together they try to make sense of the unpredictable world in which they live. |
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When the Black Girl Sings by Bil Wright - (Sunday You Learn How to Box) grabs hold of hard-hitting issues in a realistic and poignant novel that fully commands the audience's attention. Fourteen-year-old Lahni Schuler attempts to come to terms both with her status as the only black student in a school for privileged girls and with the news that her white adoptive parents are separating. This heavily freighted narrative evolves into an inspiring story as Lahni discovers a talent for singing and hidden inner strength. (Publishers Weekly) |
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Good Enough by Paula Yoo, 2008 - "She knows she's not supposed to rock the Harvard/Yale/Princeton boat but, encouraged by her violin teacher, she applies to Juilliard. Now her dilemma is not her SAT scores or her grades, but how to hide her desire to attend music school from her academically oriented parents. The Clash, a jam session and a new boy at school encourage Patti to break from her PKD shell and see her social life and violin studies in new ways. Teens living through the pressure of college applications and questioning their futures will sympathize with Patti in this enjoyable, funny but not superficial read, which bears many similarities to Alex Flinn's Diva" (Kirkus). |
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Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr, YALSA Best Books for Young Adults - "This is realistic fiction at its best. Zarr's storytelling is excellent; Deanna's reactions to the painful things said to her will resonate with any reader who has felt like an outsider. It is an emotionally charged story, with language appropriate to the intensity of the feelings. Story of a Girl is recommended for both teens and the adults who live and work with them" (School Library Journal). |
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Sweethearts by Sara Zarr, 2008 - YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, Oprah's Kids' Reading Lists - "This haunting and ultimately
hopeful novel asserts what many teens feel acutely: that childhood experiences
often leave indelible marks. A convincing, first-person narrative voice
makes the painful ramifications of exclusion palpable. The costs of popularity,
eating disorders and abuse also find resonance. Zarr transfixes teen readers
with enticing explorations of identity and enduring love" (Kirkus). |
Getting
the Girl by Markus Zusak - "In
this sequel to Fighting Ruben Wolfe (2001), the Wolfe family
has settled into a kind of "okayness." For Cameron's brother, Ruben, that
means "one girl after another, one fight after another." Only Cameron,
who's in adolescence's high season, seems to feel restless and alone as
he wanders the streets, pines over disinterested girls, and begins to
discover his passion for writing" (Booklist). |
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Nonfiction Titles
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Transparent:
Love, family, and living the T with transgender teenagers. by
Chris Beam,
2007 - " Beam writes of her volunteer activities at Eagles, a small high school
for gay and transgender teens in Los Angeles, by focusing on first one,
then another, of the young people she encountered. Many were homeless,
thrown out by their parents. Some alternated between gender identities,
switching from masculine to feminine names as well as apparel. Beam taught
language skills and writing. She and her students, who sometimes wandered
into school and sometimes didn't, "managed to pull together enough pieces
to make a magazine." Along with obituaries of friends, the 20-page glossy
contained teen poetry, medical advice on the hazards of too many hormones
acting too quickly, a transgender "Hints from Heloise," and two columns,
"Getting Out of a Gang" and "When Your Grandma Finds Your Drag Clothes."
Other victories, less tangible but equally important as she established
meaningful relationships with the kids, as well as frustrations, obstacles,
and disappointments, make for compelling reading that fills an important
niche in gender studies" (Booklist). |
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The Oxford Project By Stephen G. Bloom Alex Award Winner 2009- In this cleverly designed and artfully illustrated publication, artist Feldstein and Bloom (journalism & mass communication, Univ. of Iowa; Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America ) document inhabitants of the small town of Oxford, IA, with more than 300 black-and-white photographic portraits and first-person narratives. Feldstein, who was living in Oxford in 1984, offered to photograph for free all the town's residents; 20 years later, he photographed as many of his previous subjects as he could locate, and Bloom interviewed 100 of the residents. Masterfully and collaboratively conceived, this book consists of demographic, historical, and visual data about Oxford and snapshots of the town's inhabitants in 1984 juxtaposed to those taken in present times, many of which are offset by their stories. |
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Surrender Tree: poems of Cuba’s struggle for freedom by Margarita Engle Newbery Honor 2009, Booklist Editors' Choice 2009,YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2009, Pura Bulpre Award 2009, ALA Notable Book 2009 - Poems that explore Cuba's fight for independence follow Rosa, a nurse who turns hidden caves into hospitals for those who know how to find her, and who does her best to help everyone, with no regard to race or nationality. |
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The Trouble Begins at 8: a life of Mark Twain in the wild, wild West by Sid Fleischman - School Library Journal Best Books 2008, YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2009, ALA Notable Books 2009 - This biography covers enough of Samuel Clemens's youth for readers to appreciate how autobiographical Twain's later novels were, but the seven years that the writer spent meandering the Wild West are at the heart of the book. Fleischman chronicles Clemens's various bouts of gold fever and get-rich-quick schemes in the Nevada Territory and the San Francisco area, but shows that it was always his newspaper writing that provided stability.(School Library Journal) |
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Reaching Out by Francisco Jimenez Pura Belpre Award, ALA Notable Book 2009, Carter G. Woodson Book Award - In an inspiring sequel to the award-winning Breaking Through, the author describes the many challenges he faced during his quest to continue his education, including poverty, family turmoil, guilt, and self-doubt, and become an academic success. |
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No Choirboy by Susan Kuklin YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2009, School Library Journal Best Books 2008- In-depth interviews with teenage prisoners who have been sentenced to death and are awaiting execution on death row provides a powerful look at life behind bars, the effects their decisions have had on themselves and others, and their personal views on the death penalty itself. |
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Poster
Child by Emily Rapp,
2007 - School Library Journal's Adult Books for High School Students 2007 "Rapp,
a writing professor at Antioch University, has crafted a meditative, nuanced
account of her life, which began with a grim prognosis after she was born
in 1974 with a shortened leg. At first, her handicap is filtered through
the prismatic fantasy of girlhood. "I felt singled out and special," she
reflects, spinning stories of dragon attacks to enthralled schoolmates
in Nebraska and Wyoming" (Publishers Weekly). |
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