Hate List December 14, 2009

Title: Hate List

Author: Jennifer Brown

Summary: On the first day of her senior year Valerie Leftman walks into the school that only months before was terrorized by a school shooting. The gunman? Valerie’s boyfriend Nick. To some, she is a hero because she took the final bullet before Nick turned the gun on himself. To others, she is just as guilty as Nick – after all, she was the one who kept the ‘Hate List’ Nick used to target his victims: A notebook full of the names of the people who bullied, teased, and tormented Val, Nick and their friends.

She has always been an outcast, but now she feels truly alone, without the one person who really understood her and unable to even mourn his loss. This impossible-to-put-down, honest book follows Val through the aftermath of the shootings and her senior year: Her slow recovery, her therapy sessions, the long days at school and the crumbling of her family. She finds both friendship and scorn in unexpected places, but can the world ever really forgive her? Can she forgive herself?

Who will like this book?: Fans of intense fiction about healing and coming to terms with your actions.

If you like this, try this: Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. Columbine by David Cullen. Another excellent book about tragedy and healing,  All We Know of Heaven by Jacqueline Mitchard.

Recommended by: Nicole, Teen Librarian

How to Say Goodbye in Robot December 2, 2009

Title: How to Say Goodbye in Robot

Author: Natalie Standiford

Summary: Beatrice might be a robot. She isn’t as emotional as her mom, and often fantasizes about what it would be like to die – so she can dream about how cute guys would cry over her remains. When her family relocates again the summer before her senior year, she anticipates moving swiftly through another new  school without making real friends and finally leaving for college.

When Beatrice meets Jonah, a quiet, pale-skinned guy nicknamed ‘Ghost Boy’ by his snarky classmates, her world is forever changed. She and Jonah become inseparable – not boyfriend/girlfriend, but so close that the word ‘friend’ doesn’t seem  to describe it either. But there is a reason why Jonah is a ghost boy. As Beatrice finds herself becoming more girl than robot, she begins learn that sometimes no matter how hard you try to help, or how much you might love someone, you will have to say goodbye.

Who will like this book?: This deeply moving book is perfect for teens about to face the transition from high school to college. If you are the kind of person who others often ask ‘Why are you friends with them?,’ this is the book for you.

If you like this, try this: Paper Towns by John Green. For something very different, but sort of the same, read the wordless graphic novel Robot Dreams by Sara Varon.

Recommended by: Nicole, Teen Librarian

Destroy All Cars September 22, 2009

Title: Destroy All Cars

Author: Blake Nelson

Summary: James Hoff is angry: He is sick of watching the people around him disregard the immediate peril of global warming and environmental destruction just because they like to shop and drink bottled water. He hates new clothes, preferring to cut the elbows out of his sweaters to make them look older than they are. And he hates the way his ex-girlfriend Sadie tries to change the community by working on silly projects like bike paths and conservation that can’t possibly make a difference. But most of all, as he describes in one of the many essays for his AP English class that form the bulk of this funny, quick read, he hates cars.

James is a great character, a dark and jaded loner who says he has no hope in the future but still obsesses over the possibilities of reunion with his ex, and a determined misfit who finds that it isn’t always so easy to practice what you preach. As you follow James through the ups and downs of his junior year, you will be drawn into his world, and maybe consider walking to school instead of grabbing a ride in your family’s giant SUV.

Who will like this book?: Budding political radicals and environmentalists, and the friends who would like them to relax a little bit.

If you  like this, try this: The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd. If you are interested in making an impact, try The Virtuous Consumer: Your Essential Shopping Guide for a Better, Kinder, Healthier World by Leslie Garrett or Generation Green: The Ultimate Teen Guide to Living an Eco-Friendly Life by Linda Sivertsen.

Recommended by: Nicole, Teen Librarian

Getting the Girl July 22, 2009

Title: Getting the Girl: A Guide to Private Investigation, Surveillance, and Cookery

Author: Susan Juby

Summary: At Harewood Technical High School, the worst thing that could happen to a girl is to get ’defiled,’ or ‘D-Listed.’ When your picture goes up in the bathroom with a D written over it, you instantly become a non-entity: No one will associate with you, or even talk to you at all, ever again. When Sherman Mack, a slightly short culinary student and all-around nice guy, begins to fear that the new girl he has a crush on might get D-listed, he decides to find out who exactly is doing the ‘defiling,’ even if it means crossing the social boundaries of his school and asking questions no one really wants to have answered.

This mystery will keep you guessing, and gives both guys and girls a great hero to root for in Sherman. Even though like most young people, he has a lot on his plate (both literally and figuratively), he goes out of his way to help his friends and the Defiled. You’ll finish this book wishing Sherman was your next-door neighbor - a guy who stands up for what he believes in and a terrific cook!

Who will like this book?: People who like funny mysteries that aren’t intense or gory. Readers who like stories with heroic teens who aren’t afraid to stand up for what is right.

If you like this, try this: The Alice books, also by Susan Juby. 13 by Jason Robert Brown. Little Brother by Cory Doctrow. Paper Towns by John Green.

Recommended by: Nicole, Teen Librarian

Columbine June 17, 2009

Title: Columbine

Author: Dave Cullen

Summary: On April 20, 1999, two boys entered their high school and proceeded to unleash the most unforgettable school shooting of the modern era. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were troubled outcasts in black trench coats, picked on by jocks and preps, who, after years of listening to angry music and playing violent video games, finally snapped.

Or were they? Actually, none of these accepted facts about the young killers are true. In this absorbing book for mature readers, a reporter who was on the scene that day and followed the story long after the tragedy of school shootings became seemingly commonplace, dispels the myths behind the shooting, its perpetrators, and even its victims. Everyone knows what you mean when you say ‘Columbine,’ but not one of us has ever heard the whole story until now.

Who will like this book?: Mature teen readers interested in crime and detection stories. 

If you like this, try this: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser. A mature fictional work that deals, in part, with Columbine and it’s aftermath, The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb.

Recommended by: Nicole, Teen Librarian

Jumped March 11, 2009

Title: Jumped

Author: Rita Williams-Garcia

Summary: When should you speak up? Trina, a pretty girl who is pretty self-absorbed, cuts through Dominique’s space in the hallway before school. An insulted Dominique vows to beat her down at 2:45 when school lets out. Trina doesn’t realize it – but Leticia, who witnesses the scene and overhears Dominique, does. When Leticia calls her friend to gossip about what just happened, she is urged to warn Trina…but why should she? She and Trina aren’t friends.

As the school day goes on and the clock winds down, we follow each girl through classes, lunch, and interactions with teachers, friends and guys. Trina, oblivious to what is in store for her, hangs her artwork. Dominique, angry about being benched for basketball games because of one failing grade hustles to get back on the court. And Leticia ignores her friend’s pleas to do something, and waits to see if Trina will really get jumped.

Who will like this book?: People who like gritty, disturbing, realistic fiction. None of the girls are heroes – you won’t be rooting for any of them and the ending of the story will leave you shaken. A great read for people who like stories that make you think.

If you like this, try this: Snitch by Alison van Diepen.

Recommended by: Nicole, Teen Librarian