Vampire Academy

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead is everything a reader is looking for in both a young-adult literature novel and a vampire novel. The first in a series of books, Vampire Academy, takes readers into the lives of Lissa, a moroi princess, and Rose, a dhampir, have been on the run for two years after their escape from St. Vladamir's Academy, but this comes to a screaming halt when they are caught by the guardians and forced to return to the academy. This is unfortunate for both Rose, who is not only Lissa's best friend but training to be her guardian to protect her from strigoi, and Lissa who has powers that only Rose knows about, and the more she uses her powers the weaker she becomes. Lissa's life was turned upside down when both her parents and her brother were killed, and now all she has is Rose. Lissa will do anything to protect Rose, even if saving her means almost killing herself. Rose has a unique bond with Lissa and can enter her thoughts and even be transported to see different situations that Lissa has gotten herself in. More importantly, this bond enables Rose to feel Lissa's feelings, and Rose can feel that Lissa's powers are getting to be too much for her. Rose struggles with what she should do...as Lissa's best friend she has promised not to tell anyone about Lissa's struggles, but as her guardian she is now afraid for her life, and needs to make a decision fast or one of them could be dead!

This is a great novel for teens and adults! Filled with lust, passion, friendship, death, and more Richelle Mead takes us into the lives of vampires and all of their trials and tribulations! After a few chapters and finally understanding all of the "vampire classifications" and how the vampire society worked, I was in awe of Mead's ability to make me as a reader want more! This novel is more based towards high school students, and because of the sexual content I would not recommend for a younger audience. If you are looking for a novel that will make you yearn for more than this one is for you...and the good new is that this is only book #1 in the series so there is more to be had!

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead is a Teens Top Ten Best Books nominee for 2008. For a complete list of nominees click on the following link:

http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/teenreading/teenstopten/2008_nominees.pdf

Sucks To Be Me: The All True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (maybe)

Sucks To Be Me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (maybe) by Kimberly Pauley is a fantastic read for young adults...especially those that struggle with making decisions! Sixteen-year-old Mina is a normal teenage girl who worries about normal teenage girl things like best friends, boys, school, and prom. The only difference being is that Mina's parents are vampires. She has known all along that they are vampires, and this fact has not effected her life in very many ways, that is until now. Now that the vampire council has found out about Mina's existence she must choose whether she wants to become a vampire herself. Doesn't sound too complicated right? Well it is the toughest decision she will ever make. If she chooses to become a vampire she will get to stay with her parents, but she must forget everything and everyone from her life prior to becoming a vampire, and she is just not so sure she can do that. Furthermore to help her make her decision she has to go to classes that provide her with everything should would ever want to know (or not want to know) about being a vampire. Throughout the novel Mina struggles with her decision and the many ways it will affect her life. Mina's main struggle is trying to figure out which is more important family or friends. How can she make a decision that will affect her entire life at only sixteen years old? Well she has too...and she will!



Sucks to be Me is a great novel for young adults because it encompasses an issue that most adolescents go through: balancing friends and family. This is Kimberly Pauley's first novel, but it sure does not show! She does a great job at providing readers with a real glimpse into the life of Mina, and we can truly feel her emotions as she struggles to make a life-altering decision. I would recommend this book for junior high and high school students probably starting in seventh grade. I think it is a great book to lead into a discussion about the struggles that adolescents face when forced to prioritize family and friends. Go get it and read it today!


To read author Kimberly Pauley's blog click here:
http://www.blogger.com/profile/4918687



This novel is a 2009 Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers nominee. For a complete list of nominees please use this link:
http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/quickpicks/quickpick.cfm

Sweethearts

Sweethearts by Sara Zarr is a brilliant novel for young adults. Zarr's second work of young adult literature, her first was the much acclaimed Story of a Girl, is the story of Jennifer Harris. Jennifer was an outcast in grade school, constantly ridiculed for being chubby, not having the right clothes, and not having any friends. She was completely alone. Her mother worked and went to school, and she did not know her father. Jennifer took care of herself day in and day out. That is until Cameron Quick came along. Cameron was the one person that understood Jennifer and was able to look beyond what she was on the outside to the person she was on the inside. Constantly clicking, Jennifer and Cameron spent all of their free time together and had a special bond. But Cameron struggles with his own problems, like an abusive father and a mother who refuses to leave him. Jennifer and Cameron form a life-long bond that is special beyond words, and they help each other through difficult times, only getting by on the wings of their friendship. Then the news comes...Cameron is dead. Jennifer is overcome with grief, and believes that she has lost the one person that "loves" her. The only way for Jennifer to get through the tragedy is to reinvent herself. Jennifer becomes "Jenna", and the novel catches up with skinny, popular "Jenna" during her senior year in high school. "Jenna" has a boyfriend that other girls would die for, and friends that "love" her. However, "Jenna" has never shared with anybody that she was once the chubby outcast that other kids would not talk to...that is everybody except Cameron Quick. The only person that knows of her past is Cameron, and he is dead so she has nothing to worry about, right? That is what she thinks until she receives a letter from her "dead" former best friend and childhood sweetheart. This is when everything in her life is turned upside down. Just when "Jenna" thinks she has everything figured out she learns that life simply is not that simple.

Sweethearts by Sara Zarr provides readers into a glimpse of the life of a girl who is facing issues that most young adults face. The book touches on issues of neglect, abuse, bullying, search for identity, friendship, and more. I believe it offers something for all readers out there, and you will not be disappointed! I think that the issues dealt with by Zarr in this novel make it a great book for junior high and high school depending on the reading levels of the students. This novel is what young adult literature is all about, touching upon issues that all young adults may face and providing them with a "character" that is striving to learn about herself in the face of all of these issues. A great read!

Sweethearts by Sara Zarr is a Best Books for Young Adults 2009 nominee. For the complete list of nominees please use this link:

http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/titlesnominated.cfm

CHIGGERS

Chiggers by Hope Larson will open your eyes to the fantastic world of graphic novels! Fun! Fast-Reading! Wonderful Illustrations! Great Storyline! Chiggers is all of these things and more. A winner of the Eisner Award, Hope Larson's graphic novel is for adolescents and adults alike! A thoroughly enjoyable read...and this coming from someone who never thought I would pick up a graphic novel...let alone enjoy one!

Abby is being forced to go to summer camp AGAIN! She is hoping this year things will be different. However, when she arrives everything is the same, and cabin cliques form on the first day, and although Abby is trying her best to fit in she has the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, and says the wrong things. When one of Abby's bunkmates is infected with chiggers and has to go home everything for Abby changes. Shasta is the new girl. The cabin clique decides the first day that she is stuck-up and annoying. Abby finds her interesting and decides to befriend Shasta despite what the snooty girls in the clique have to say. But Shasta has a lot of secrets and strange things start happening to her...like lightning being attracted to her wherever she goes! Will Shasta be the friend that Abby is hoping for at summer camp or is she just the same as all the other girls?

I think that this is a great graphic novel. My fear of graphic novels has been cured! The illustrations literally transport you into the book. The story-line flows well and keeps the reader interested in what is going to happen next. Hope Larson has done a great job at capturing adolescent girls. I think this would be a great book for students that have never read a graphic novel before. I would recommend this book for sixth grade and up. I think that although the story is about adolescent girls, adolescent boys can learn some lessons as well from this one! This was one of my first graphic novels, and I am now excited to see what else is out there!

Here is a link to an interview with Hope Larson author of Chiggers:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?id=18076&page=article

For more recommended graphic novels please use the following link:

http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/greatgraphicnovelsforteens/nominations.cfm

HAPPY READING!

The Missing Girl by Norma Fox Mazer

He could be any ordinary, respectable citizen.

But he's not.

This man watches with careful scrutiny the five Herbert girls - Beauty, Mim, Stevie, Fancy, and Autumn.

Like The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, the story is told with alternating viewpoints of predator vs. prey.  Norma Fox Mazer carefully weaves the dialogue between innocent schoolgirls to a haunting pedophile.

The reader sees the girls pursue through life, completely unaware of the impending danger.

Then, the reader sees The Man carefully calculating his next plan, making a schedule of the girls' movements.

As a special education teacher, I always have a tendency to read these stories through the eyes of my students.  I found this book very difficult to read.  The five Herbert girls range in age from eleven to seventeen and have very similar voices within the text.  The students would need specific character notes to keep the girls and their point of views straight.  While I don't deny Norma Fox Mazer's talent, I believe this book would be a little too much for my middle school students.

The Juvie Three by Gordon Korman

Gecko Fosse drove the getaway car in yet another one of his brother's foolish escapades.  Arjay Moran fought back against bullies, and one was killed accidentally after a punch.  Terence Florian ran with the worst gang in Chicago.  All three are incarcerated in the criminal justice system...that is until they meet Douglas Healy.

Gecko, Arjay, and Terence are released into the custody of Douglas Healy.  Healy has grant "to create a living situation for boys in the juvenile detention system." He will be living with and supervising the trio in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. They will be carefully overseen as they attend a public high school, participate in community service, take part in group counseling, and share the cooking and cleaning. There will be no unsupervised time and no contact with family or old friends for six months.  If one of them messes up, they all go back to juvie.

In an altercation in the middle of the night, the boys accidentally but severely injure Mr. Healy. Leaving him, in a coma, outside the entrance to a nearby emergency room.

From the first sentence, this book captures the reader in a single sitting.  As a special education teacher, I see myself recommending this book for students to read during silent reading.  Middle school or high school literature teachers could work this in a class study of people trying to turn their lives around.  The Juvie Three could be read along with Touching Spirt Bear or The Outsiders.

Wonder Woman: Love and Murder by Jody Picoult

I have a confession to make...Wonder Woman: Love and Murder by Jodi Picoult was my first graphic novel, ever.  I had no idea what to expect, and I had some confusion as to why Jodi Picoult was publishing a graphic novel.

Jodi Picoult is best-selling novelist who has published novels such as My Sister's Keeper, Second Glance, The Pact, Plain Truth, and The Tenth Circle.  The Tenth Circle had a graphic novel embedded into the text.  Her novels deal with real-world ethical conflicts, so the thought of her tackling Wonder Woman surprised me.

In this episode, we are introduced to Wonder Woman via Diana Prince, her human alter ego.  She's working with humans at the Department of Metahuman Affairs and struggles with relating to humans on a personal level.  She can save humans, but the day-to-day effects of the everyday life give her trouble.  The people that she is working for want her to bring in Wonder Woman for questioning, in response to the death of Max Lord.  Let's see where this leads....

Overall, I found this book to be an enjoyable read that would be well placed in a high school library.  However, I am not sure the academic merit of this text.  High school literature teachers could work in readers of superheroes - then and now.  Students could analyze how society viewed women in comics in the past and present.  Jodi Picoult's other works would be well-placed in a best sellers course as they deal with many current issues.

  

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Have you ever had one of those days?

Well...Tyler has had one of those lives.  

Laurie Halse Anderson, the author of Speak, tackles another prevalent teen issue in Twisted.  

Tyler has had enough.  Unappreciated by his parents, bullied at school, ignored by the female population...he's fed up.

The novel chronicles his coming-of-age journey.  He commits the Foul Deed, spray-painting graffiti on his high school and is forced to complete mandatory hours of community service and probation to pay for his crime.  Tyler assumed anything was better than jail time.  That summer spent working long hours landscaping transformed Tyler into a strapping young man.  As the novel unfolds, we see the days in the life of a teenage boy.  

As a female, I had no idea the violent thoughts that run through teenage boys heads.  Is this normal?  This book will serve as a companion to Speak.  Both novels tackle tough teen issues with grace.  Teens do not feel like adults are talking at them about prevention or rape or teen suicide.  They feel like someone is "down in the trenches with them" helping them find their way out.  

Anderson effectively wrote from the male point of view and tackled current teen issues.

She discusses this below:

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

Wow...the only words that came to me after I finished reading this memoir by Ishmael Beah.

Ishmael is a native of the Sierra Leone region of Africa.  The novel chronicles his journey of boy turned soldier.  He opens the book with a conversation between him and his high school friends.

“Why did you leave Sierra Leone?”

“Because there is a war.”

“Did you witness some of the fighting?”

“Everyone in the country did.”

“You mean you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?”

“Yes, all the time.”

“Cool.”

I smile a little.

“You should tell us about it sometime.”

“Yes, sometime.”

This memoir is his "sometime".  Before reading this memoir, I don't think any native-born American citizen can relate to the honest, heartbreaking story the Ishmael, now twenty-six years old, unfolds.  At the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. At sixteen, he was removed from fighting by UNICEF, and through the help of the staff at his rehabilitation center, he learned how to forgive himself, to regain his humanity, and, finally, to heal.

The memoir is written in conversational style and is an easy, yet terrifying, read.  The book may not be for all readers, due the graphic violence with in his story.  However, this text serves as an important place in any world history or world literature course.  Beah's narrative needs to be read, discussed, and talked about over and over again.  Too often, the American media turns a blind eye to the plight of child soldiers.

Penelope by Marilyn Kaye

The Modern Day Fairy Tale: You've probably heard of Penelope. The wealthy girl from a well-to-do family, with an enchanted bedroom, and some of the coolest clothes in the world. There's just one problem: She was born into a cursed family with the face of a pig.


From an ancient curse, the Wilhern family nervously awaited the day a daughter was born. After centuries of only male Wilhern's, finally Penelope was born, and the curse was true. She had the face of a pig. Well...actually just the nose of a pig. Her beautiful long brown hair and chocolate eyes were all normal and fine. The only way to break the curse is to find another blue-blooded man of her own kind to love her all of her days.

So with gag orders for everyone that enters the house, Penelope's parents and a matchmaker seek out to find the guy that won't run away from her snout. It doesn't go well. She's been locked up in her house her whole life to avoid a scandalized life, no contact with the outside world, and insecurities about her looks--which aren't even her looks, they're her great-great-great grandfather's fault.

Finally, Penelope leaves the nest, goes to the city and wears a scarf to avoid any speculation. She meets a few friends, sees the city and starts to enjoy her life. She becomes a celebrity, and in turn learns to love herself despite her mother's attempts to bring her down. After a thwarted wedding attempt to break the curse, Penelope stands up for herself--even if she has to live the rest of her life with a snout--and declares her freedom. The curse was misunderstood! You'll have to read it to find out how...

This novel is an awesome look into the insecurity so many teens and young adults have in their lives. Even without support from the people who really should love you the most, Penelope takes the reader on a journey to find herself, her real self who has been there all along. Everyone has something they'd like to change about themselves; Penelope learns that she's pretty great just the way she is.

This novel could be taught in the classroom, with a connection to classical texts or a genre unit for fairy tales or folklore. But I think it would serve best as an enjoyable fun-read. The novel is easy to read, funny, and a page turner of pure enjoyment.

Check out the video below for a look at the trailer to the movie:

Honey & Clover by Chica Umino

"Love triangles-

Who says you don't learn math in art school?"

Takamoto, Mayama and Morita are roommates at Hama Art College.  Their lives are not in any way fantastic; scraping together enough money to buy meat, getting to class on time, and improving their art are their main concerns.  When Hagumi Hanamoto, a relative of the students' mentor Professor Hanamoto, arrives at Hama, the three friends become mesmerized by her artwork which is dark and unsettling; this quality of her art, which hints at her inward unhappiness, strongly contrasts her outward beauty and delicate nature.

The revelation of Hagumi's unhappiness in the face of her brilliant art makes the guys begin to realize that there may be more to life than art.  Morita, an aimless genius who has recently returned to school after taking a break, falls in love with Hagumi instantly.  The presence of the mystical Hagumi in the lives of these three college students opens up their eyes to the love that they have been denying themselves and love triangles and relationships develop that complicate their lives in more ways than they can imagine.

Honey & Clover delves deep into the lives of a group Japanese art students and examines Japanese culture at the college level.  Written in manga, the traditional reading style of Japan-top to bottom and right to left-Honey & Clover is anything but easy to read, especially since it is written as a graphic novel.  As an avid reader, I assumed that this challenge would be easily overcome, but, as it turns out, the Japanese names and ideas that the novel is about were a lot harder to digest than I imagined.  I would definitely say that this book is well suited for grades 10 and up.  Not that the subject matter is too racy for lower grades, but the content itself is a little bit hard to tackle.  Watching the live action version of the novel was helpful, but it caused me to focus on the unimportant details of the novel rather than the overall message.  This isn't a book I would necessarily recommend, unless it was for a class which studied the graphic novel or japanese culture.

The first video is the trailer for "Honey & Clover" and the second video is Part 1 of "Honey & Clover," which can be watched in its entirety by clicking here.

Sometimes going unnoticed is not a bad thing.

Sometimes going unnoticed is not a bad thing.

Everyone goes through some type of change or transformation, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. This transformation will seemingly bring about new situations in ones life that can and will cause more problems.

In Twisted, Laurie Halse creates a character that we all can associate with at one point in our lives. Tyler Miller goes through most of his early teen years unnoticed and quite meek. He wouldn’t be one to stand out in a crowd unless he was among a high school football team. Tyler does something that gets himself into a lot of trouble that leads him to getting a summer job in landscaping. This job turns scrawny Tyler into brawny Tyler. With his new found physic he gains attention now from people that would never have even looked his way; Even Bethany. This tale of Tyler goes deep into the life of this young teen and his struggles with an angry father, people letting go of his past, and the occasional teen drinking party. With mayhem in his life and thoughts of suicide, Tyler soon finds out that being popular for the wrong reason is not always a good thing.

This book by Laurie Halse is an excellent read for teens. The story deals with issues that are prevalent in young America. Issues such as finding your identity, suicide, and undergoing a transformation are done very well in a tasteful and often times humorous manner. Readers will definitely walk away with something good after reading this book.

Teenagers doing what they do best…getting into trouble.

Teenagers doing what they do best…getting into trouble.

Going back in time to the 1800 a group of teens are trying to get themselves out of a Jam that the inevitably got themselves into. These teens with super powers have realized, while back in time that they are not the only ones with this “special” abilities. Of course each member has to take care not to disrupt the current situations of the past; otherwise they may disrupt the latter situations of the future, which is there present. Trying to find a way out as quickly as possible each member of breaks off on their own, they run into individual problems of their own.

“Runaways” is a book about teens with special abilities that find out that their parents are super villains. Joss Whedon continues this story with the second installment of the series. This book will take its readers on a seemingly complicated journey of several subplots that parallel well together and until tie the plots up well in the end. Because this book is a sci-fi graphic novel, it is not for everyone. But if your imagination is tolerable of an adventurous tale that takes you into the past then this book is for you. The artwork in this book is vivid and on the realistic side more than the cartoonish side. Even though many teens may not have super villains as parents but many teens feel that way. This book can present to its readers the importance of a team that all are on one accord to attain a common goal, readers will enjoy the quick read feel and the nice eye candy of this book. This book in the series stands well alone but will do better if the previous installment was experienced as well.

Teaching a graphic novel may be difficult to fit in to a school curriculum but I have found that it can fit in the National Teaching standards. In fact I talk to an English professor at the Illinois Math and Science Academy and he gave me a proposal that he is working on so that teaching graphic novels can be implemented into schools curriculum. Here is a portion of it:

A. Preliminary Learning Experience Design
What are you proposing, and why is it compelling in light of the needs of our students?

Since the 1980s, the so-called graphic novel, or long-form comic, has become a popular and accomplished literary and artistic form. Transcending its origins in pulp fantasy and adolescent entertainment, this evolving and hybrid medium represents, in the words of author and artist Eddie Campbell, "an emerging new literature of our times in which word, picture, and typography interact meaningfully and which is in tune with the complexity of modern life . . . ." This course offers a survey of some of the best graphic novels of the last thirty years, and it provides the skills for reading comics critically in terms of what they say and how they say it.

IMSA students have had limited classroom exposure to what some observers speculate may become the major literary form of the new century. Most, if not all, sophomores read Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale; many juniors read Gareth Hinds's comic adaptation of Beowulf after studying Seamus Heaney's translation from Old English; seniors in "Portraits of Creativity" discuss Lynd Ward's 1929 "novel-in-woodcuts," Gods' Man, an early forerunner of today's graphic novels. More sustained study of such works would allow students to understand the conventions of comics as a medium, to survey the recent development of the graphic novel as a form, and to use graphic novels as a springboard for grappling with pressing social and political issues of our times. A semester-long elective in the graphic novel would help students to develop new skills in reading visual narratives, which would nicely complement our offering in film studies, while considering the relation between image and text within a fascinating segment of contemporary world literature. A dedicated course on graphic literature would also provide broad exposure to various genres while giving students the opportunity to experiment with a range of sequential visual-verbal narratives themselves. NCTE's recent publication of James Bucky Carter's Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels (2006) and the forthcoming release of the MLA's Approaches to Teaching the Graphic Novel reflect the increasing use of such works in language arts classrooms and provide pedagogical strategies for incorporating these texts into the curriculum. Moreover, recent scholarship shows that graphic novels can be used to help a range of students, from reluctant readers to gifted ones.

The course also seeks to address some concerns raised in the February-March 2005 English external review, including the perceived lack of "a significant range of diversity of authors and content across gender, ethnicity, and epochs" in our course syllabi. Our reviewers recommended that we "consider what IMSA students will likely read in university English courses and select reading materials that will complement and even go beyond university readings rather than repeat or parallel them." Graphic novels offer the kinds of readings suggested by our reviewers, namely "diverse works that . . . expand the faculty's as well as the students' literary experiences, especially those dealing with contemporary writers and issues." We'll study male and female writers and artists from across the world (North America, Brazil, England, France, Iran, and Japan) working within various genres (history, biography, journalism, memoir, etc.) in book-length comics today. Readings range from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's apocalyptic and postmodern Watchmen (1986-7), named one of Time magazine's 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present, to Marjane Satrapi and Alison Bechdel's award-winning graphic memoirs Persepolis (2000-2003) and Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (2006). These varied works also present opportunities for collaboration with colleagues in other disciplines, or what our reviewers called "cross-disciplinary interdisciplinary teaching," which they did not see in our classrooms. Specifically, we could work with World Languages on Osamu Tezuka's pre-1980 Japanese manga or French cartoonist and L'Association co-founder David B.'s memoir Epileptic (2005), and with History on Joe Sacco's journalistic account in Palestine (1996) of the Palestinian experience under Israeli occupation during the first Intifada or Chester Brown's 2003 "comic-strip biography" of nineteenth-century Manitoba founder and Métis rebel leader Louis Riel.

eleven by patricia reilly giff


Imagine you struggle with reading.
Imagine coming across a story in an old newspaper
in which you can only recognize the word
"MISSING"...
and a picture of yourself as a toddler.
Imagine how your life would change
if the story was about your childhood kidnapping.

On the eve of his eleventh birthday, Sam does what he does every year- searches for his birthday presents. This year however, what began as adolescent impatience turned into a mystery of epic proportions. He didn't find his birthday presents, but he did find a newspaper clipping that makes Sam believe that he was involved in a kidnapping at a young age. In addition to his fear that his entire life as he knows it- his relationship with his grandfather, the death of his parents, the role of his neighbors and extended family in his past-has all been a lie, Sam's difficulty with reading is preventing him from getting the whole story from the newspaper. In order to help him uncover the truth about his past, Sam decides he must find someone he can trust to help him read the article and keep his secret.

The day after his alarming discovery, Sam is assigned to work on a project with Caroline, the new girl in school who is constantly reading. Upon talking with Caroline, Sam realizes that he needs to befriend her because her loner status and love of reading made her just the person Sam needed to help him in his investigation. What begins as a forced partnership for a school assignment, blossoms into a strong friendship that is threatened by Caroline's nomadic existence. Her parents are planning on moving her again and both Caroline and Sam are afraid that they won't figure out the mystery of his past before it's time for her to leave town.

As he learns more about her lack of family stability, Sam begins to realize that the life he has been living and the family he has been living it with is actually pretty good. There is Mack, his grandfather who has loved and supported him for as long as he could remember; Onji, Sam's neighbor and the deli owner who makes lunch for him everyday; and Anima, Sam's other neighbor who reads to him each night. Meanwhile, Sam's dreams and vague memories are growing more frequent and the number eleven, which appears in them, is becoming more and more ominous. What could this number represent? Would he and Caroline be able to figure it out? Is Sam's only "true" family actually his family at all?

Although Patricia Reilly Giff focuses on an uncommon problem as the basis for the main conflict, the characters and the search for self-identity are what make the book worth reading for readers between grades 5 and 9. There is the bond between Sam and his grandfather, the close knit relationship that Sam shares with both Anima and Onji and the formation of an unlikely friendship between Sam and Caroline. Sam's search for his identity is also evident in the development of his woodworking skills, his determination to improve his reading skills and his search for the truth about his past. Eleven would be an excellent choice for reluctant boy readers because it addresses the problem head on through Sam's aversion to reading because of his difficulty with it. In addition, the book examines ways for these reluctant readers to approach their own reading difficulties by getting help from people who care: family, teachers and friends. Eleven is a great read for those students who may not realize just how common reading problems actually are.

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen

"Pretty girls in pretty dresses, partying until dawn.

Irresistible boys with sly smiles and dangerous intentions.

White lies, dark secrets, and scandalous hook-ups.

This is Manhattan, 1899..."

Set in the fantastic world of turn-of-the-century New York, The Luxe encapsulates the scandal and intrigue of the lives of the socially elite.  The novel focuses on Elizabeth and Diana Holland who are the daughters of one of the oldest and most well-renowned families in New York.  When the Holland name is threatened by the death of their father, however, Elizabeth must participate in a marriage of convenience in order to secure her family’s financial future, all the while putting aside her true feelings for a family servant.  Her fiancée Henry Schoonmaker, a notorious womanizer who is secretly being seduced by Elizabeth’s best friend Penelope Hayes, is forced into the marriage of convenience as well and also must put aside his love for and involvement with another woman- Diana Holland.  Murder mystery, blackmail by servants attempting to live above their class, sexual tension, and elegant balls all add to the deliciously decadent and intriguing plot that is mesmerizing from the start.

  Anna Godbersen’s thorough historical research adds elements of reality to her non fiction melodrama.  Historical events, descriptions of turn of the century socialites, and intricate descriptions of clothing and interiors- all of these details create The Luxe into a historical romance that towers above others of its kind, despite the fact that among the details there is little in the way of social commentary regarding important topics of the period.  Whether or not Elizabeth, Diana and Penelope behave as young socialites at the turn of the century would have actually behaved hardly matters when the novels mix of feminine rivalries, sensational settings and scandalous plot lines creates what can be characterized as nothing less than addictive reading.

Similar to the Young Adult book series Gossip Girl, now a popular television series, The Luxe draws readers into the lives of rich, spoiled, turn-of-the-century New York young adults.  Although the plot and historical details may attract girls more than boys, the novel is geared towards readers in grade 9 and above.  The novel, although not significantly successful at exploring social struggles,  could be used to examine the missing social commentary through a comparison to novels written in the early twentieth century, such as Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, when such social struggles are actually occurring.  However, as a twenty-something avid reader, I found this novel to be a completely satisfactory “guilty pleasure” read during a time when most of my required reading lacks the elements that this novel proudly advertises.

 

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

What if it was made illegal for a child to be aborted from the moment of conception, but instead could be retroactively aborted between the ages of thirteen and eighteen?

This seems like a frightening and crazy concept, but that is the reality of life for Connor, Risa and Lev in the novel Unwind. All three of these teen are up for "unwinding," in which the child is not technically terminated, but disassembled and used for body parts to give to those who are sick and injured. Connor is a delinquent teen who has trouble controlling his emotions, so his parents condemn him to "unwinding." Risa has no parents and is at an orphanage. She tries to show her worth at a piano recital, but does poorly and is sentenced to "unwinding" to cut costs. Lev is the tenth child in an extremely religious family who actually volunteers himself as a tithe, or human sacrifice, and is celebrated for this with a ritual religious party. On the way to the "harvest camp," Connor decides to escape and go AWOL. While escaping, he meets up with Risa and Lev. In desperation, these three unlikely companions must go on the run together until their eighteenth birthdays, when they can no longer be "unwound."

This scenario comes about in the unspecified future after there has been a second Civil War, "The Heartland War"--this time fought between pro-life and pro-choice armies. In order to bring the war to an end, the two sides come to a compromise with the "Bill of Life," which states that a human life cannot be touched from the moment of conception to age thirteen and then "unwound" between the ages of thirteen and eighteen.

Written by Neal Shusterman, this novel puts any interesting twist on the topic of abortion. But in addition to that, the book also touches on issues such as organ transplants, euthanasia, and the rights of parents, children, and society. These issues can also be tied to things like the death penalty and harvesting stem cells for profit. The book therefore offers up many of the moral and ethical dilemmas regarding life and the right to it. Unwind is a futuristic dystopian possibility taken to the extreme, much like the novel 1984 by George Orwell. They are both chilling dystopian novels, so I can see using them in conjunction with each other in the classroom. Discussions of the novel would have to be treated a bit cautiously, since the topic of abortion is such a volatile one, but this novel could spark quite the moral debate. And a strength of this book is that Shusterman is rather even-handed at looking at all of the issues brought up in his novel. He doesn't come down on one side or the other, but looks at the good and bad of both sides and challenges "not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to be alive." This book is frightening, thought-provoking, and worth the read.

How They Met, And Other Stories by David Levithan

It was at Starbucks. It was on a plane. It was in physics class. It was during the war.

These are just some of the examples of "how they met." What happened? Was it a disaster? Did it last a lifetime? Well, you'll have to read to find out.

How They Met, And Other Stories is a compilation of 18 short stories about love. Not "love stories" as David Levithan describes in his author's note, but instead "stories about love." They are so varied and unique, yet come together in such a remarkable way. I'll give you a taste of just a few examples:

"Starbucks Boy" is the first story in the book, and begins "It was my aunt who pimped me out." From there, I was hooked. The story follows a guy named Gabriel, who is staying in New York with his Aunt for the summer and ends up babysitting a precocious six-year-old named Arabella. She continues to bring him to a Starbucks nearby (because what six-year-old New Yorker princess doesn't love Starbucks?), where he falls for "Starbucks Boy." But will he ever get up the courage to talk to this mocha God?

The Number of People Who Meet on Airplanes was one of my favorites, though I feel I could say that about a lot of the stories. As the title suggests, it's about a couple who meet on an airplane. What a coincidence! ...or is it? The theme of the coincidences leading up to love is one that can be seen in several stories, like How They Met, which is about the meeting of Levithan's grandparents.

A Romantic Inclination was the first of these short stories Levithan wrote and is about Sallie, James, and Physics. Physics? Yep. Levithan himself actually wrote the story in high school. While bored in a physics class, he got the idea to look through his physics book for any "romantic notions" he could find and this story is what ensued.

Many of the stories in this collection were written by Levithan throughout high school and college, which is quite astounding to know once you've seem how smart, funny and beautiful they are. Many of the stories were also "valentine stories"--stories he wrote to give to to his friends on Valentine's Day every year.

Reading this book made me smile, continually. I'm sure I looked like a complete fool reading these stories on the El since I couldn't stop myself from grinning. That is the kind of humor and charm Levithan writes with and these stories contain. And I felt like most all of the stories could be expanded into novels. That's actually how several of his other novels have begun. The characters are so developed and unique that many times I wanted to keep reading about them after the story was over! I also liked that many of his stories were about gay and lesbian youth and relationships. That's not something you often find, especially in schools. When I was reading the stories, it felt more like "pleasure reading" to me, but if there would be a way to incorporate a GLBTQ story into the classroom, I think it would be a good thing. The stories also could obviously be tied to classic literature with themes of love. And the fact that they're short stories would lend well to being incorporated in class.

Three Little Words, A Memoir by Ashley Rhodes-Courter

SOON. Soon, soon, soon… the little four letter word that shaped young Ashley Rhodes-Courter’s life. After being taken from her mother before reaching the age of four, Ashley and her infant brother Luke bounced from foster home to foster home. Having more than a dozen “mothers” in her life Ashley struggles to find herself amidst the discombobulated life of strangers.

In Ashley’s memoir Three Little Words she describes the time she spent in the foster care system. While a few of her caregivers genuinely cared for her, the majority of them were straight out of a nightmare. One cannot help but admire her for having such strength and determination through such a horrid ordeal.

This memoir isn’t just a heart wrenching read but it is also important in pointing out both the strengths and weaknesses of the foster care system. Ashley herself experienced the bullying of her care takers as did many of the foster children she lived with. Foster care is an important social issue and this text really brings it to light in a very personal way.

Although Three Little Words covers a life that many of us are fortunate enough to have not experienced, the emotions and thought processes of Ashley will strike a cord with every reader. This memoir would be a great read for students both in junior high as well as high school. In addition to encouraging students to write about their own past experiences it can also be tied into a discussion on current social issues and possible solutions. Ashley Rhodes-Courter’s memoir is truly a must read.

Dirty Work By Julia Bell

At fifteen life is fun and full of hope. Many teens think about boys, friends, and school. However some young girls are stolen from their homes and forced to work. The word work is almost a joke because what they are really forced to do is accept rape. Women are lured into prostitute rings and are forced to give their wages to their owners.

Julia Bell’s Dirty Work is a dark story of how lives can be changed in an instant. Hope is an average teenager that wishes for a more exciting life. Her friends are fun and risk takers but she is a good girl that is forced to travel with her parents. Her normally luxurious life is simply the norm for her. However, her life changes when she meets Natasha. At first Natasha is interesting, but as the story progresses life with Natasha is scary. Natasha is not who she claims to be, in fact her name might not even be Natasha. Hope finds out that the life she is being bought into is far from fun. Hope and Natasha tell their own stories of how frightening it can be to be treated as property. Bell tells an alarming story of two women fighting for their freedom.

Bell’s writing is absolutely fantastic in this story. She writes honestly and vividly. She does not write a pretty story of teens because her topic is not pretty. Her book is worth reading for the frankness with which she writes. Some of the young adult books I have encountered are often a bit too pretty. Sometimes happy endings are not so definite. Bell’s writing offers promise but it also offers a sense of reality. This book is interesting for young adults because it is a good precautionary tale. Dirty Work teaches us that we are not invincible and that the world can be a frightening place. It is not a teacher’s job to scare students but it is their job that students be fully aware of what is out there. Sometimes teenagers tend to have a sense of super powers. Many teens feel like bad situations can never hurt them, but that is not the case. We are not immune to catastrophic events.

While the book is very interesting, I find that the content is suitable for high school student’s more than Junior high students. The book is not vulgar but it is definitely honest. It deals with issues of social class and the hopelessness of feeling powerless. More importantly, this book allows for the issue of gender to be discussed in a classroom. Gender can be examined because it raises the question of how different two lives can be based on gender alone.

The video included is a glimpse at the situations that Bell talks about within the book. The idea that young children in Russia are left to defend themselves with little to no money. This video is a real life representation of the world that Bell describes.

Glass by Ellen Hopkins

A new baby, a new life...back on the right track. But then he starts to call again. Not once, not twice- but constantly nagging, pressuring, tempting you to reunite with HIM. The monster is back.

Glass by Ellen Hopkins follows Kristina Georgia Snow, and her meth addicted counter personality Bree, through their rendezvous with the “monster”. After more than a year of being clean, and an infant son to care for, Kristina copes with her new found responsibilities.

In the sequel to Crank, Hopkins takes her readers through the dangerous and often fuzzy life of a crystal meth addict. Not long after her follow-up tale beings Bree takes over the life of Kristina and her life quickly spirals out of control. She soon ends up hanging out with her “old crowd” and even getting kicked out of her home and losing her son. Yet the meth is more important than any of that, more important than family, more important than love, even more important than the life of her infant son.

Kristina’s journey is unforgettable. There are a multitude of connections she is able to make with Hopkins audience from family life, boys, sex (including rape and sexual harassment), drugs, even desperately wanting to do what is right but somehow never being able to succeed. At times in the novel I felt furious at Kristina for what she was doing to her family, while at others she seemed almost pathetic and I wanted to reach out and help her.

I think this book would be a nice addition to a high school classroom. I would not suggest using this text in the classroom for junior high aged kids simply because the content may be a bit too strong. The form of the novel is writing in poetry which makes it very intriguing as well as a quick read. Glass could be used in a variety of subjects in everything from English to Health, the numerous issues it addresses makes it possible for the text to transcend many boundaries.

The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle

In Aryn Kyle's debut novel, The God of Animals, twelve-year old Alice Winston has more on her plate than the average preteen. When her sixteen-year old sister Nona elopes with a rodeo cowboy, she is left to endure the verbal abuse from her father, Joe. Frustrated that his family business is declining and that his prized rodeo daughter is no longer around, he has to find a way to make ends meet. Looking for a 'meal ticket' to riches, Joe decides to open his ranch to wealthy borders. As Alice is the only family member left by her father's side, she witnesses first hand how her father lies and cheats to keep his business alive.

Alice's mother Marilyn, has no idea of the mishaps going on because she has not left her bedroom since Alice was a baby. It is implied that Marilyn is suffering from postpartum depression, but 12 years sounds absurd. Alice is forced to grow up on her own, giving her character a voice more mature than an average 12-year old. Looking for the affection and adoration that her father gives his borders, Alice stumbles across her English teacher's phone number and decides to give him a call. An awkward friendship forms between the two, but Alice feels that it is much more. She begins to live a deceitful life, just as she witnessed her father doing.

When Joe's parents arrive for an unexpected visit, Alice does not know what to expect. They don't know of Nona's departure, the ailing health of her mother, or the stealing and lies that are the foundation on which the family stands. As all the secrets unravel one by one, both explicit and implied, the reader becomes destined to figure out the truth that lies beneath.

This coming of age novel is not appropriate to be incorporated in a Language Arts curriculum. Aryn Kyle addresses every theme that Young Adult Literature is common for, and then some (i.e animal cruelty, postpartum depression). The novel was uncomfortable and awkward at times, especially the bond that forms between Alice and her teacher. It is a lengthy novel that at times is drawn out, which would make it a better read on audio than in book format. Below is Aryn Kyle offering insight on her first novel that started off as short stories.

Saving Zoe by Alyson Noel

In Saving Zoe, by Alyson Noel, 15-year old Echo is dreading the one-year anniversary of her sister's death. Being used to living in a world where no one paid her any mind, Echo has found unwanted attention ever since Zoe was brutally murdered. Since her sister's death, Echo has become all to familiar with the stares, whispers, and inappropriate gestures, she knows that all she has to do is survive through this day. Gaining strength from her two best friends, Abby and Jenay, Echo knows that this year will be a little easier than when the murder first occurred.

A year ago while awaiting her fourteenth birthday party, instead of cake and ice cream, Echo finds police officers and news cameras. After learning that Zoe was brutally murdered, she knows that someone has to stay strong for her mom and dad. Not knowing how to make sense of it all, Echo goes through the five stages of grief with the help of her psychiatrist. Just when she was ready to step in to stage 5, the acceptance stage, Echo receives an unwanted visit from her sister's ex-boyfriend Marc.

When Marc reveals that he has Zoe's diary and would like Echo to have it, Echo wants no part of it. She has already laid her sister to rest, and does not want to bring sad memories back to the surface. As Marc insists on her having it so that she can really know her sister, Echo is offended and disgusted. Seeing that Marc will not leave her alone, she takes the diary and learns of the secret life that her sister was living. Not wanting to know more, Echo wonders if this diary holds the key to the loose ends that the police could not tie together. Should she follow her first mind and leave Zoe's memory as is, or should she try to save her sister's memory so she can truly rest in peace? These are the type of questions that leave the readers turning page after page until the very end.

Alyson Noel does a wonderful job balancing all the issues that Echo must face. This novel is engaging from page one to page two-hundred thirty. Educators can use this novel as a way to address death, sisterhood, friendship, betrayal, dating, drugs, sex, violence, all the issues that teenagers face in this evolving society. This novel is an appropriate read starting at the junior high level. The craft of Alyson Noel's writing makes Saving Zoe a must read.

Tamar by Mal Peet

As William and his son Jan walk through the luscious garden they discuss the impending birth of Jan's child with his beautiful wife. William makes a request that shocks his only child. If the child is a girl name her Tamar. Jan's curiosity is peeked, yet never the less he agrees to the name but only if his wife likes it. William believes this is fair and waits for the news patiently. Jan and his wife attend a family lunch with William and Marijke, Jan's mother. Jan gives his father the good news that he and his wife agree to name their daughter Tamar. Marijke brings in the gravy bowl, at the sound of the name Tamar she drops the bowl all over the table and the belly of her pregnant daughter in law. If this is not a sign of things to come I don't know what is.
Jan abruptly leaves his wife and child,fully abandoning them. William and Marijke continue to forge a relationship with their granddaughter, but not without the secrets and lies that the Hyde family has been built upon.
The lies catch up to William causing him to pretend he is still apart of his secret regime, parachuting into the Nazi occupied Netherlands. William stands upon his balcony and jumps out killing himself and leaving something of a Pandora's box for his beloved Tamar.
As a part of the Arnhem offensive William and his friend Ernst were trained as Special Operations Executives during World War II. The jobs of these young men were to spy on the resistant Nazi army and bring forth intelligence to the English. The two men were given the code names Tamar and Dart, both being named after rivers in England, but just like the true meaning of the name Tamar secrets and lies begin to shadow even the two friends.
It becomes Tamar's responsibility to find out the secrets of her grandfather and become the woman her destiny calls for. With the help of her cousin Johannes, better known as Yo-Yo. Tamar, who is only fifteen must cope with the loss of her grandfather and figure out the meanings behind the letters and clues left in this box with her name on it.
In this box holds mystery's that will take Tamar back to World War II and back to the secrets her grandfather has held for decades inside of a simple box. Tamar must make choices that no fifteen year old should have to make, fear propels her to take the journey into finding out who she is. Her grandfather William and grandmother Marijke are not who they appear to be which ultimately means that Tamar is not whom she appears to be.
Mal Peet infuses history, mystery and fictional characters into a compelling book that causes you to stop and look at the world around you.He goes beyond the basics of the history of the war to bring the reader in the history of the Intelligence people who were making a difference in the war. Peet guides us through the motives behind the secrets and lies that guide Tamar's existence. This text could easily be used in both U.S. History classes and Literature classes in any high school. Mal Peet uses the actual history of what was going on during this time, even going as far as to interview men who were involved in the Arnhem offensive for the Dutch, becoming trained for Special Operations in England. Peet allows us to see the emotional depth that William, and his granddaughter must confront on their journey's. The reality of the book along with the fictional elements make a case for unit based thinking if introducing this book in a high school setting. However this book can easily be seen as an adult book as well. It becomes more cross categorical in this way. Overall, Mal Peet has stuck to a style of writing that puts you right into the suspense and thrill of espionage, passion, and betrayal, as its sub title suggests.