Firegirl by Tony Abbott

Tom thought it would be a regular school day.  He would meet Jeff after school to goof off and continue making plans to hang out the following weekend with Jeff’s uncle.  Jeff and Tom were going to take a ride in his dream car – a Cobra. In the meantime, Tom could continue fantasizing about the hottest girl at his middle school, Courtney. Tom’s world gets turned upside down when a new student arrives – Jessica.  Jessica was involved in a fire – none of the students know the particular details.  She has been horribly disfigured.  Most of Tom’s classmates can’t stand to even look at her.  Suddenly Tom finds himself torn between his friends – and a loner girl he finds a connection with.

This book doesn’t have much action in the plot – but it serves an important purpose.  Students will realize the importance of accepting others.

Everlost by Neal Shusterman

 

 

Neal Shusterman creates a fascinating setting in this novel - the story takes place in a world known as "Everlost."  This is an appropriate name because the world exists for children (aged 14 and under) who have died – yet their body and souls remain.  They are, in a sense, ghosts -but not the haunting kind you typically read about in most fiction. 

Nick and Allie are involved in a horrific car crash.  Rather than surviving the accident or finding themselves in another "higher" place, they wake up to this mysterious world.  Caught between the living and the deceased, Allie and Nick find themselves searching for answers and eventually fighting for their sanity and freedom.  The author manages (once again) to create a fantastic story that extends beyond your imagination and makes it realistic for the reader.  The characters in the story are complex.  The reader will question which people in Everlost are actually evil – seemingly sweet Mary who takes in all the children and provides them with a home or the "evil" McGill who traps Everlost children and leaves them dangling (literally!) for all eternity in his pirate ship?  Will Nick and Allie find themselves a place in this world?  Will they ever reach their final destination?  Read Everlost to find out!

The Geography of Girlhood by Kirsten Smith

 Penny hates her life.  While it seems that everyone else is enjoying their high school years, all Penny dreams of is an escape.  Why not leave forever and never look back – just as her mother did after Penny’s 4^th birthday?  She would never be as pretty as her sister Tara.  Or as popular as her friend Elaine.  In The Geography of Girlhood,  Penny chronicles her life in verse: including the death of  an ex-boyfriend,  the remarriage of her father, trouble with the law and the birth of new, exciting friendships.  Penny spares no details about how truly difficult her journey is to young adulthood– the pain, the happiness, the joy, the fear, the hate.  In the end, the reader realizes that Penny has triumphed after all just by accepting her life for what it is – and all the imperfections that includes. 

Acceleration by Graham McNamee

 If you enjoy fast-paced mysteries, Acceleration will have you hooked from the first page.  Seventeen-year-old Duncan hates his job.  He has to sort through lost and found articles at the Toronto Transit.  He works in a dark, grim basement with no one to keep him company except, Jacob – a seventy-something, cranky, quiet old man.  Soon Graham finds he has more excitement than he can stand.  One of the lost items is actually a diary.  A diary kept by a madman and wannabe serial killer.  In the diary, the man describes three women he has been stalking.  He has plans to hunt them all.  Frantic, Graham looks for clues in the diary for the man’s identity.  He even takes the diary to the police – but they don’t take him seriously.  Graham realizes it is up to him to save these women before it’s too late.  Maybe, just maybe, by saving three lives, he can make up for the life he has lost.  The one person he could not save.  The girl who haunts his dreams every night.Acceleration is impossible to put down.  The story has many twists and turns as you learn more about the stalker through his diary – as well as Graham’s not so innocent past and the guilt that haunts his every waking moment.  The title of this novel has more than one meaning.  The most important is that Graham’s life is at a standstill.  Solving this mystery before any crimes take place is the only way Graham will be able to move forward – to accelerate.  Not only is this book exciting, the reader will appreciate the humor in Graham’s voice and the relationship he has with his two best friends.  Check it out!  You will be glad you did.  

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer was given to me by Mr. Barnett. It was also recommended by Mrs. Cantrell. At first, I was not eager to read this book because I knew it was a Vampire story and thought it was probably more for high school students versus middle school pre-teens. I was actually wrong on both accounts.

The more I read of this novel, the more I wanted to know. I have not read many horror books or vampire stories. When I was in high school I was a Christopher Pike addict, but now I tend to prefer less gruesome, violent reading. I have read Darren Shan’s Vampire Mountain. This book is nothing like the Cirque du Freak series. Much less gore – much more emotion. Much better written.

This book includes mystery, action, suspense, romance, and all the conflicts involved with teen angst. The reader will identify with Bella. Bella never feels she belongs. She is accident-prone – terrible at all sports and often trips over her own feet. Her parents are divorced, and she finds herself pushed into a situation where she has to live with a father that she really does not know.
Surprisingly, Bella actually does fit in at her new school. Boys like her. She is suddenly popular – the new girl that everyone wants to know. Everything seems to slowly fall into place. That is, until Bella meets Edward.

Edward Cullen and his family are the most beautiful people that Bella has ever seen. Edward, in particular, catches Bella’s eye. Not because he seemed to like her so much. Bella cannot understand why he glares angrily at her with such hatred in his eyes.
Bella soon finds herself drawn into a romantic relationship with Edward. Though he tries to push her away, even Edward cannot resist the connection and attraction he has to Bella.

Edward is willing to sacrifice his life, put his own family at risk, anything to be with the one he loves. Though he feels that he has waited his whole life to meet someone like Ella, Edward also must fight a horrific temptation….the never ending desire to end Bella’s life.

This book will appeal to sophisticated readers who enjoy fantasy, suspense, and romance.
I admit I may have to buy the sequel, Eclipse. You will fall in love with this story – and will never want it to end.

Chicken Boy by Frances O’Roark Dowell

 South Carolina Junior Book Award Nominee- 2007-2008

 - 2 out of 5 stars rating – Fails to engage reader, characters not well-developed

Mother dies.  Father is absent – physically and emotionally.  Main character must learn to survive on his own….Sound familiar?  This is a plot line that is becoming a bit repetitive in ‘tween lit.  Remember The Young Man and the Sea by Philbrick – also, a SCJBA nominee from 2006-07?  The difference between Young Man and the Sea  and this story, however, is the plot in the former engages the reader and the main character, Skiff, is very likable and admirable.  I do not feel the same way about the plot in Chicken Boy or the main character, Toby.

The action in the novel is pretty much nonexistent, and many of the characters are not well-developed.  The main character, Toby, was less interesting to me than his granny, a wacky in-your-face spitfire, and Henry, Toby’s classmate, who has developed a fascination of chickens and speaks with a voice much more mature than his young years.  To me, the book leaves so many potential conflicts undeveloped – the relationship between Toby and his young teacher, the tension between Granny and his father, Toby being torn between his new caring foster parents and the dysfunctional family in which he was raised, the relationship between Toby and his juvenile delinquent siblings, the teasing Toby endures with his classmates until he finally begins to prove himself…..

I guess I am missing the appeal of this novel.  I think there’s much more interesting realistic fiction that is not on this year’s list.  This book may appeal to some reluctant male readers, but overall, I think students will find it boring.

Books, Books, and More Books

               Over our Christmas break, I read 3 very different books that are new to our media center.

      

     The book I most enjoyed is Blood on the River: James Town 1607  by Elisa Carbone.  Though this book is classified as fiction, it contains many true events that occurred during the Jamestown settlement.  The story focuses on eleven- year- old Samuel Collier, a page to Captain John Smith, who decided to travel to the New World.  An orphan who likes to use his fists, Samuel felt like he had nothing to lose by embarking on this journey.  The adventure he encountered, however, was beyond anything he ever could imagine.  You may be thinking…”Oh great…another book about Jamestown.”  This book is very different, however.  The details give the reader insight into other people who were key to the Jamestown settlement, beyond Captain John Smith.  To me, the best part of this book is the view of  Native American culture and daily life.  The book is suspenseful, interesting, and historically accurate. 

     

    

    

     Another book I read is The Boy in the Basementby  Susan Shaw. I really did not enjoy this book nearly as much as Dave Pelzer’s A Child Called It.  The book is the same concept - a story of extreme child abuse and the impact on the child.  One key difference is this story is fiction v/s Pelzer’s nonfiction account.  I also prefer A Child Called Itbecause it is more detailed, contains more insight into Dave’s emotional struggles, and (with the trilogy) lets the reader know what has happened after he was removed from the situation. 

Regardless of my opinion, some of you may still enjoy reading Shaw’s The Child in the Basement.  Let me know what you think!

  

     Finally, I enjoyed the nonfiction book titled Good Brother, Bad Brother:  The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth by James Cross Giblin.  The account begins by describing the family’s background, focusing on the two brothers and their childhood.  At first, you believe that the brothers are very similar in nature.  As your reading continues, another view of John Wilkes Booth is revealed, a darker side…one that finally explodes when he brutally assasinates President Abraham Lincoln.  This story is very well-detailed,  including photographs, replicas of letters and documents, and first hand accounts from people who were close to the Booth family.  I like reading nonfiction and enjoy history and suspense – this was the perfect book for my tastes!  Give it a try – I bet you’ll love it, too!