Indigara

Lee, Tanith. Indigara. New York: Firebird, 2007.

Jet Latter’s family goes mad for Ollywood when her bitch-on-wheels older sister gets a part in a movie. But Ollywood proves to be anything but a good time for Jet and her robot-dog Otis.

When Jet’s irritating older sister gets a bit part in a movie, the whole family heads to Ollywood for the summer. Jet and her robot-dog Otis are left on their own when the family is swept up in the Ollywood movie scene.

Jet and Otis get on the wrong end of some pretty bad guys while wandering around Studiocity’s Subway city. Trying to make their escape, they turn into a dark alley, and – No Way! – run into a dragon. Let the adventures begin.

Said dragon pulls the pair into an alternate reality filled with failed B movie actors acting out failed B movie scripts. Meanwhile, an alternate Jet and Otis are wreaking havoc up in the real world. Will Jet and Otis be stuck forever in the failed film fantasy world of Indigara?

Awards
Novelist Best, 2007; VOYA starred review, December 2007; VOYA Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, 2007.

Jacket Illustration © Daniel Dos Santos, 2007. Jacket Design by Lori Thorn. Scanned May 27, 2009.

Lee, Tanith. Indigara. New York: Firebird, 2007. 978-0-14-240922-0. $11.99.

American Born Chinese

Yang, Gene Luen, and Lark Pien. American Born Chinese. New York: First Second, 2006.

See the pictures. Read the words. Experience how three stories become one.

All the Monkey Kings wants is to be a god. All Jin Wang wants is to fit in. All Danny wants is to forget his Chinese cousin ever existed.

But, you can’t always get what you want.

Maybe being a god is not your destiny. Fitting in may hurt more than it helps. And, finally, don’t hide who you really are. Three tales tell the story; the story is – be true to yourself. You are American Born Chinese.

Awards

American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults; YALSA Great Graphic Novel for Teens, Top Ten List; NPR Holiday Pick; San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year; Michael L. Printz Award – Medal; National Book Awards – Finalist; Amazon.com Best Graphic Novel of the Year; Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year; Books for the Teen Age, New York Public Library; Chinese American Librarians Association Best Book Award; Cybil Award; Eisner Award Winner; Harvey Award, Best Colorist to Lark Pien; Reuben Award Winner; Booklist Editors' Choice; Booklist Top 10 Graphic Novel for Youth;Library Media Editor's Choice; Publisher's Weekly Comics Week Best Comic of the Year; Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books of the Year; School Library Journal Best Books of the Year.

Illustrations by Gene Luen Yang. Color by Lark Pien. Scanned May 19, 2009.

Yang, Gene Luen, and Lark Pien. American Born Chinese. New York: First Second, 2006. 1-59643-152-0. $16.95.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Alexie, Sherman, and Ellen Forney. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Little, Brown, 2007.

Follow the trials, triumphs and travails of 14-year-old Arnold “Junior” Spirit through his drawings and entries in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Fourteen-year-old Arnold is the punching bag of the reservation – for the other kids and even some of the adults. He is defended by his best friend Rowdy, the toughest kid on the reservation. But, heck, even Rowdy hits him sometimes.

Still Arnold hangs in there. He loves basketball and he loves learning. He enters Wellpinit High School on the reservation with hopes of making the team and learning all he can. On the first day of school, Arnold opens his geometry book only to find it’s the same one his mother used 30 years ago. He loses his cool and throws the book at his teacher. This gets him suspended.

The events that follow lead Arnold to transfer to the white high school in Reardan, 22 miles away. He has hope of a better education, maybe even a future in college. Folks on the reservation feel betrayed by Arnold’s decision. Even Rowdy tells Arnold he hates him, and then punches him in the nose to prove it. About his first day at the new school, Arnold writes:

Reardan was the opposite of the rez. It was the opposite of my family. It was the opposite of me. I didn’t deserve to be there. I knew it; all of those kids knew it. Indians don’t deserve shit.

Yet Arnold prevails, and extraordinary things start to happen.

He punches the biggest kid in the high school over an insult. The kid doesn’t hit him back.

Arnold becomes friends with Gordy, the smartest student in the school. Gordy introduces Arnold to all the knowledge that can be found in the school library’s books. He teaches him how to study. Arnold reflects: In Wellpinit, I was a freak because I loved books. In Reardan, I was a joyous freak.

Arnold wins a spot on the basketball team. He’s the hero of the biggest game of the year.

He gets the girl – sort of.

Arnold doesn’t leave the tragedy and the poverty of the reservation behind, however. His grandmother, his sister, and his dad’s best friend die in alcohol-fueled calamities.

He’s too poor to take his girl to the school dance so he meets her there, wearing one of his Dad’s suits from the 1970’s.

Sometimes his father can’t afford the gas for the car to drive Arnold the 22 miles to school. Sometimes Arnold has to walk the whole way.

Sometimes there isn’t enough to eat.

Through it all – the good and the bad – Arnold succeeds in his first year of high school. You can read all about it in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Awards
2009 Odyssey Award for audio version, produced by Recorded Books, LLC; 2008 Washington Book Award - the Scandiuzzi Children's Book Award for middle grades and young adults; 2008 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards for Excellence in Children’s Literature in Fiction; 2008 Capitol Choices Noteworthy Books for Children; 2008 Book Sense Book of the Year Children's Literature Honor Book; 2008 Pacific Northwest Book Award; 2008 American Indian Library Association American Indian Youth Literature Award; 2007 National Book Award for Young People's Literature; Publishers Weekly 2007 Best Books of the Year - Children's Fiction; The New York Times Notable Children's Books of 2007; Los Angeles Times Favorite Children's Books of 2007; National Parenting Publication Gold Winner 2007; School Library Journal Best Books of 2007; Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Books of 2007; Horn Book Fanfare Best Books of 2007;
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon Winner.

Illustrations © 2007 by Ellen Forney. Design by Kirk Benshoff. Scanned May 14, 2009.

Alexie, Sherman, and Ellen Forney. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Little, Brown, 2007. 0-316-01368-4. $16.99

Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras

Hopkins, Cathy. Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras. New York: Simon Pulse, 2003.

Fourteen-year-old Lucy Lovering has goals: meet the mystery boy, grow six inches, save the world. What she fears she doesn’t have is the brains and talent to make reach them.

Class Profile Sheet for Lucy Lovering. Age: 14 but I look about 12. Height/build: 4 foot 8 and a HALF. Slim. 30 minus A chest. Race/Nationality: English/Scottish. Possibly alien. Short, skinny, feels-like-an-alien Lucy is having a heck of a time. Is she losing her best friend? Has she fallen in love at first sight? Will she ever finish her choose-a-career assignment for school? Lucy has her hands full with Mates, Dates and Inflatable Bras.
First in a series.

Awards. American Library Association Young Adult Library Services Association Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, 2004.

Cover photograph © 2003 by Paul Draine
Cover design by Debbie Sfetsios
Scanned May 15, 2009

Hopkins, Cathy. Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras. New York: Simon Pulse, 2003.
0-689-85544-3. $5.99. Paperback. (Originally published in the United Kingdom, 2001.)

Rooftop

Volponi, Paul. Rooftop. New York, N.Y.: Viking, 2006.

Reuniting with his cousin in a drug rehab program leads 17-year-old Clay on heartbreaking journey that tests his courage, and his beliefs.

Clay is ecstatic when he walks into his rehab program one day to find his cousin Addison has joined the program. They were inseparable as young boys until their mothers had a falling out. For years, they had barely seen each other. Their friendship is renewed, their mothers make amends, and everything is going great until one tragic night when an unarmed Addison is shot to death by police. For devastated Clay, who was with Addison when he died, the world begins to spin out of control. He faces life-changing choices about staying true to himself, staying sober, and following through on a goal of Addison’s. Clay reflects:

I knew part of the truth was locked up inside of me. I didn’t know if it would ever find a way out, or how things would come back on me if it did, but that hole in the middle of my chest had stopped aching. And I started to believe that if I faced up to everything staring me down, it might even close up one day.

What Clay decides to do effects his family, his friends, and his future.

Awards
New York City Library's Book for the Teen Age;Junior Library Guild selection, 2006; American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, 2007; American Library Association Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, 2007; Gateway Readers Award nominee, 2008-2009.

Cover photos © Sami Sarkis/Getty Images and Mark Cooper, 2006.
Cover design by Nancy Brennan.
Scanned May 11, 2009.

Volponi, Paul. Rooftop. New York, N.Y.: Viking, 2006. 979-0-14-240844-5. $6.99. Paperback.

Dangerous Girls

Stine, R. L. Dangerous Girls: A Novel. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003.

Twin sisters Destiny and Livvy Weller are in the fight of their lives – and the finale will come with the next full moon.

Destiny and Livvy spend their summer before their senior year in high school as camp counselors. Another counselor at camp is mysterious, darkly handsome Renz, with whom – unbeknownst to each other - each sister spends a romantic evening under a full moon. However, all is soon forgotten when Destiny and Livvy return home to get ready for school.

Strange things are happening in their hometown of Dark Springs. The twins have developed a bizarre craving for fresh blood. Soon, dead animals with their blood drained are discovered around town. Then two of the girls’ best friends are murdered and their blood is drained. Could the sisters have something to do with the frightening deaths?

Rumors start to fly that there are vampires loose in Dark Springs – and secret groups of hunters have formed to track the creatures down to put stakes through their hearts. The girls must battle their desire for blood and avoid the hunters as they desperately seek an antidote for their condition. However, it turns out Destiny and Livvy have different solutions in mind. To each other, they become Dangerous Girls. First in the Dangerous Girls series.

Awards: ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, 2004. New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age.

Cover art © 2003 by Parachute Publishing, L.L.C.
Scanned May 4, 2009.

Stine, R. L. Dangerous Girls: A Novel. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003. 0-06-053082-0. $6.99. Paperback.

Orphea Proud

Wyeth, Sharon Dennis. Orphea Proud. New York: Delacorte Press, 2004.

Who is Orphea Proud? Join her on her journey of discovery.

17-year-old Orphea Proud takes the stage at a poetry club in Queens to tell the world about her life – all she’s lost and all she’s gained – and how falling in love with her best girlfriend changed her life forever. Check out: Orphea Proud.

Awards: Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading List, 2005; Lambda Literary Award Nominee, 2005.

Jacket illustration by John Ritter.
Jacket design by Angela Carlino.
Scanned May 1, 2009.

Wyeth, Sharon Dennis. Orphea Proud. New York: Delacorte Press, 2004. 0-385-32497-9. $15.95. Hardcover.

The Last Part First

Johnson, Angela. The First Part Last. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2003.

16-year-old single parent Bobby shares with us his experiences as a father, and reminisces about how he came to be where he is now in life.

The first part
Romantic relationships
Making Love
Birth Control
Adoption
Parenthood
Fatherhood
Friendships
African American families
Grief and loss
Remembrance
Maturity and change
The Last Part

Awards: Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Literature for Young Adults, 2004; Coretta Scott King Award for Best African-American Children's Writer, 2004.

Jacket photos ©2003 by John Healy
Jacket design by Russell Gordon.
Scanned May 1, 2009.

Johnson, Angela. The First Part Last. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2003. 0-689-8492222. $15.95. Hardcover.

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy

Schmidt, Gary D. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. New York: Clarion Books, 2004.

Best friends Turner Buckminster and Lizzie Bright Griffin come from two different worlds, one white and one black. What will it lead to in the quickly changing world of 1912?

Turner Buckminster is moved to the small coastal town of Phippsburg, Maine, when his father is hired as the local preacher. Turner doesn’t fit in so well. His only friend is a girl named Lizzie, the descendant of slaves, who lives with her grandfather in a small community on Malaga Island just off the coast. Lizzie is smart and kind. She teaches Turner how to do things the way they’re done in Maine. They share an unbreakable bond and Turner learns to love Lizzie’s world and the folks who live on Malaga. Lizzie isn’t allowed to experience Turner’s world, except when she secretly visits cranky old Mrs. Cobb.

Their friendship is powerful, but challenges from the community prove to be overwhelming. The city leaders want to wipe out the Malaga community so they can move ahead with their development plans. Turner vows to fight the changes and to stand up for Lizzie and the residents of Malaga.

The challenges are monumental – especially when it seems like Turner’s own dad is against him. The events that unfold could not have been foreseen and life is never the same for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy.

Awards: Michael L. Printz Honor, 2005; Newbery Honor Book, 2005; ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 2005; ALA Notable Book for Children, 2005; Kirkus Reviews Editor Choice Award; School Library Journal Best Books of the Year – Children; Novelist Best.

Jacket illustration © 2004 by Stefano Vitale.
Scanned April 22, 2009.

Schmidt, G. D. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. 2004. New York: Clarion Books. 0-618-43929-3. $15.00. Hardcover.

The Rose That Grew From Concrete

Shakur, Tupac. The Rose That Grew from Concrete. New York: Pocket Books, 1999.

When he was 19, Tupac Shakur joined a San Francisco writing group with his soon-to-be agent and friend Leila Steinberg. She kept the poems he wrote during this period and, working with Shakur’s mother Afeni, had the poetry published in 1999, three years after Shakur’s death.

Tupac Shakur was known for his powerful, often violent rap lyrics. Arguably one of the most talented and controversial artists to dominate the Gangsta Rap scene in the 1990’s, he lived the life often portrayed in his music, and was murdered in 1996 at the age of 26. The crime has never been solved.

What may be surprising to some is the gentleness and sensitivity Shakur allowed to shine in his poetry. Mostly written in a simple rhyming pattern, the poems portray themes such as love, loneliness, and spirituality. At the same time, he gives a soulful account of growing up poor and on the streets. This work will resonate with young adult readers.

One of the most rewarding aspects of the book is the inclusion of the poems in Shakur’s own handwriting. The shorthand he relied on – 4 (for), 2(to), u(you) – seems to flow naturally in his handwritten work.

Cover Design by Matt Galemmo. Scanned April 12, 2009.

Shakur, Tupac. The Rose That Grew from Concrete. New York: Pocket Books, 1999. 978-0-671-02845-9. $16.00. Paperback.

weetzie bat

Block, Francesca Lia. Weetzie Bat. New York: Harper & Row, 1989.

Weetzie Bat lives in a world at once magical and harshly real. This tale begins when Weetzie is fifteen, and follows her through the trials and adventures of becoming an adult. Reads like a fable.

weetzie bat is a small book about big topics – being gay, having a baby, witchcraft, AIDS. Written almost like a fable, the main character is a teen named Weetzie Bat. She uses three magic wishes to enrich the life of herself and her best friend Dirk, who is gay. One wish is that they both find true loves and live together happily ever after. Enter "Duck", Dirk's lover, and "My Secret Agent Lover Man," Weetzie's true love. They all live together in a beautiful cottage where they raise two children – Cherokee, the daughter Weetzie and one of the three men (We never learn which one.) and one adopted daughter named Witch Baby. They live in a fantasyland-like Los Angeles, which they affectionately nickname Shangri –L.A., and hold on to each the best they can as their fantasyland slips away.

Awards: ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults; ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers; ALA Best Book for Young Adults; Parents' Choice Gold Award.

Jacket design by Alicia Mikles. Jacket (c) 1999 by HarperCollins Publishers. Scanned April 5, 2009.

Block, F.L. weetzie bat. 1989. NY: HarperCollins. 0-06-020534-2. $14.95. Hardcover.

The Outsiders

<>Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. New York: Viking, 2007. (Originally published in 1967.)

The worlds of two very different groups of young men clash, often with grave results. Friendships and endurance help these the characters make it to each new day.

There aren't many adults in S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. This book is about the closeness among young people in a world where adults are mostly absent or uncaring. Deep bonds of comradeship allow these characters – whose story is told by 14-year-old Ponyboy – to survive adversity and adventure. Although set in Oklahoma in the 1960's, The Outsiders tells a timeless tale of pals who stick together in their own world because they don't belong anywhere else. As Ponyboy explains it:

We're poorer than the Socs and the middle class. I reckon we're wilder, too. Not like the Socs, who jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks . . . Greasers are almost like hoods; we steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a while.

The main characters in this book – Ponyboy, his brothers Darry and Soda, their friends – aren't necessarily nice guys, but they have heart and they watch each other's backs. Written by Hinton when she was 16 years old,

Awards: New York Herald Tribune Best Teenage Books List; Chicago Tribune Book World Spring Book Festival Honor Book; Media and Methods Maxi Award; ALA Best Young Adult Books; Massachusetts Children’s Book Award.

Jacket design by Richard M. Powers, 2007. Scanned April 4, 2009.

Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders. 2007. NY: Penguin Group. 978-0-670-06251-5. $17.99. Hardcover. (Originally published in 1967.)