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| Reviewer: Becker |
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How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity by Michael Cart, editor |
This collection showcases the short story talents of some of the best YA writers out there. With a common thread of identity, these stories of gay, lesbian, and transgender teens are as diverse as the teens they are about and the authors who wrote them. There are even two graphic stories by Ariel Schrag and Eric Shanower. If you've ever felt different, or ever wanted to try on an identity different than your own, give this collection a try. You may even discover an author or 2 who you want to read more of.
-Review by Becker |
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Front and Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
First of all, if you've yet to read Dairy Queen and The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, stop now, get thee to your local library, and read them. Ok, are you back? Now you're ready for Front and Center, which concludes DJ's story with her finding her voice and starting to figure out where and how she wants to be in the world. DJ is back playing basketball after a year off, and the town and the team are thrilled to have their star player again. But DJ doesn't want to be the center of attention, she just wants to play. When college scouts start trying to woo her with scholarships, she has a lot of hard thinking to do. She's also got some thinking to do about her love life. Beaner, her football buddy, is suddenly interested in being more than friends, but DJ just doesn't feel the spark with him that she felt with Brian. Beaner is fun, sure, but she can really talk to Brian. What's more important? Join DJ as she truly learns what it means to find your voice and make hard choices despite fear, with a great sense of humor all the way.
-Review by Becker |
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Hate List by Jennifer Brown |
How do you move on after a school shooting? What if it's your boyfriend who did it? What if people think that you helped him decide who to shoot? What if you're not sure whether you're happy you lived, even though you were shot that day? Valerie has a lot of questions that she needs to answer for herself. Yes, she was Nick's girlfriend, yes, she made the infamous hate list with him--lists of people who targeted them for abuse, teachers they didn't like. But she didn't know about Nick's plan. No one did until he started shooting. Now it's 5 months later, and Valerie is trying to finish out her senior year amongst the classmates who are still trying to recover from the trauma of that horrible day. But the support of a therapist and unexpected offers of friendship can help Valerie face the demons that she ultimately must face alone. Will she ever remember who she was before May 2, and will she ever be that person again?
-Review by Becker |
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Going Bovine by Libba Bray |
Somewhere between a road trip and just plain tripped out, somewhere between Mad Cow Disease and madness, somewhere between life and death, you'll find Going Bovine. Cameron has just found out that he has Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, aka Mad Cow disease. He's dying. Cameron hasn't done all that much with his life yet, but he's not sure how much he cares, either. When he's visited by a punk angel named Dulcie who tells him that he might find a cure AND save the world if he sets out on a quest, he figures Why not? It's better than sitting around in a hospital room and having his temperature and blood pressure checked every few hours. What follows is a wacky road trip involving a New Orleans jazz legend, a happiness cult, Gonzo, classmate of Cameron's and dwarf, a yard gnome who claims to be the Viking god Balder, reality TV, alternate dimensions, and Cameron trying to figure out the secret of life. Expect the unexpected!!
-Review by Becker |
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Destroy All Cars by Blake Nelson |
Cameron Smith has his opinions, especially about consumerism and the environment. He expresses these opinions through essays he turns in as English assignments, often getting them back with the feedback that he needs to focus, stop ranting, and back up his points. Throughout the year, he tries to get over his ex-girlfriend, Sadie (they broke up over political differences--she thought building bike paths and getting petitions signed was the way to get things changed, he wants to, well, destroy all cars). While he hangs out at the library, scopes out other girls (who will never compare to Sadie), and reads classic political and environmental writings by the likes of Black Elk, Cameron refines his writing and learns that there are many ways to work to change things both within and outside of the system. His dad wants him to go to college, but Cameron has other ideas about how he wants to live his life and try to make a difference. Join Cameron as he spends some time figuring things out, writing about it, and (maybe) finally getting over Sadie. Check out the author's web site, too!
-Review by Becker |
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The Sky Always Hears Me and the Hills Don't Mind by Kirstin Cronn-Mills |
Morgan just wants to get out of her small town in Central Nowhere, see what else is out there in the world. Until then, she has her boyfriend, Derek, who she likes, but not THAT much, Rob, who she works with at the grocery store, who she really DOES like, and Tessa, who has a crush on her. Add in a distant father, a wonderful grandmother who is starting to have health issues, and a family secret, and Morgan has a lot of negotiating to do during her junior year. She has two favorite escapes. One is borrowing her grandmother's car, driving up to the hills, and yelling out her frustrations. The other is writing--Morgan plans to either write the Great American Novel or make a living writing fortune cookies. But running away from your problems rarely works, even if screaming at the sky can make you feel a whole lot better.
-Review by Becker |
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Rage: A Love Story by Julie Anne Peters |
Johanna hasn't had the best life, but it's not all bad, either. Her parents have both recently died, she lives with her sister & brother-in-law, she's finishing her senior year of high school with a best friend, a job at the mall, and a volunteer position at the hospice. One thing would make her life complete--if Reeve Hartt fell in love with her. Johanna has been noticing Reeve and fantasizing about her for ages. When Reeve finally notices Johanna, there is nothing that will make Johanna believe this isn't the best thing that's ever happened to her. Not when she loses her job, her friends, her brother-in-law's trust. Not when she's asked not to come back to her beloved hospice. Not when Reeve hits her. This story of Johanna's isolation and abuse is hard to read, but it will make you understand why some people stay in relationships where they are constantly being physically and emotionally manipulated and hurt. Johanna thinks that she can save Reeve with her love. Will she be able to save herself? Includes resources for you to use if you our someone you know is experiencing dating violence.
-Review by Becker |
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Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan |
It was a day when everything changed for everyone. Find out how 9/11 affected the lives of 3 NYC teenagers in this novel that yes, will make you cry, but is ultimately about hope, human connection, and love. Claire was in school when the attacks happened. She immediately went from imagined worries about her mother to very real ones, and sprung into action to comfort her 2nd grader brother. Jasper slept through the attacks, enjoying his freedom while his parents are in Korea visiting his grandmother. When he leaves the apartment, he starts to collect papers, files from the World Trade Center that have blown all the way to Brooklyn in the explosions, he realizes. Peter is cutting school, waiting for Tower Records to open so that he can buy the new Dylan CD. But there is no music that can make this day make sense. Peter goes to school with Claire. Jasper and Peter had made a tentative date for this night. While they hardly knew each other before, their interactions on this day and in the days, months, and years following show that connection can be forged from events that seemed designed only to tear apart, and that one of humanity's worst days has many individual stories, and many other sides.
-Review by Becker |
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Ash by Malinda Lo |
Ash's mother died when she was young, and after her father remarries, she loses him to illness, too. In a world where the king's philosophers try to move people away from their belief in fairies and Wood magic, Ash turns to this other world to escape from her stepmother and stepsisters whenever she can. Still longing for her mother, she develops a friendship with a handsome fairy named Sidhean. Ash's attentions turn towards her own world when she meets Kaisa, the King's Huntress. As their friendship develops, she finds herself making a bargain with Sidhean in order to spend more time with Kaisa, a bargain that she realizes will mean entering a fairy tale world but losing her true love. This retelling of the Cinderella story has fantasy, romance, adventure, and the promise of making you rethink fairy tales and their lure.
-Review by Becker |
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Skunk Girl by Sheba Karim |
Nina Khan is the only Asian, the only Muslim, at her small town high school in Deer Hook, NY. She has good friends, but as she gets older, it feels like the differences between her and them get more and more pronounced. They're allowed to date. She's not. Their free time is spent at high school parties and after school jobs, Nina spends her time studying (trying to live up to her genius older sister's example) and at gatherings of the local Pakistani Muslim community, where her mother is on the lookout for prospective marriage matches for her. The tug between making her parents happy (which means following the rules of her religion and the cultural norms of a country she's never even been to) and wanting to do things like act on her crush on Asher, the new Italian guy at school has Nina thinking a lot about who she is and how she wants to be in the world. And don't get her started on the body hair! Nina's struggle to navigate her two cultures is both realistic and humorous.
-Review by Becker |
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