The Good, the Bad and the UGLY

New YA Literature - Fall 2008 Edition

Presenters: Maureen Ambrosino (CMRLS) and Sarah Sagigian (Metrowest)
(all of this information will be posted this week on the CMRLS and Metrowest websites)

Three Willows: The Sisterhood Grows by Ann Brashares
Like Sisterhood of the traveling pants, but for younger girls. Three girls who were best friends in elementary school and are no longer friends in middle school. References the traveling pants girls.
Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale (Graphic Novel) (any age group)
Witty, funny, there will be a sequel. She rescues herself then she teams up with a guy named Jack and they go try to save her mother.
Pandora Gets Jealous by Carolyn Hennesy (4+)
Great!

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (high school)
Story of Malcom who is a hacker and plays real life version of role playing game. On a mission a bridge is blown up and Malcom is brought in for questioning. Malcom gets out and creates a "safe" online community to discuss what is going on in the police state of San Francisco. Really good, very important book.
First Kiss (Then Tell)
First kiss stories by many famous authors. Some stories are very short. Some are true, some made up.
All We Know of Heaven by Jacquely Mitchard (High School)
Based on true story- two girls who look alike are in a fatal car accident and the survivor is misidentified. Story of the survivor, her guilt and putting her life back together.
Danger Overseas by Keene and Dixon (Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys)
The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew are in Rome on two separate missions which turn out to be the same mission. They team up. The technology is very outdated, won't resonate with kids today. Nice to look back at old favorite characters, but would have rather reread old books.

Gone by Michael Grant (6+)
Everyone over the age of 14 disappears. Takes place in coastal town in California (between ocean and mountains). Kids don't know where everyone else is. Good vs. evil, survival, cliff hanger ending. Great story, reminiscent of The Girl Who Owned a City.
Feathered by Laura Kasischke (high school)
Two high school friends who go on a graduation trip to Cancun. Parents tell them to be safe, but they take a ride from college guys and has something slipped into their drinks (we think). One of the girls disappears and one is rescued and brought back the hotel. The missing girl is left behind and anguish and guilt is dealt with. Not much good to recommend it.
Suck It Up by Brian Meehl (Middle to High)
Great book that makes fun of all the other vampire books. Morning McCobb is a vegetarian vampire who goes to a vampire school. Morning becomes the coming out spokesman for the school, who wants to come out of the dark. Romance, silly, mystery, etc.
Stolen Car by Patrick Jones (High School)
Teenage girl, Danielle, who wants to escape the life she has living with her mother. She reconnects with an older guy she used to like. We discover this guy is a bit sub-par. Danielle has to come to terms with this on her own. Her friend Ashley helps her through this. Good friendship story.
Spirit by JP Hightman (Middle School)
Takes place in fictional town north of Salem, MA. Two main characters are 19th century married 17 year old ghost hunters. Quick read.
Shift by Jennifer Bradbury (High School)
Two boys graduate from high school and decide to take a cross country trip on their bikes. One boy disappears and the other becomes a suspect. The second boy needs to prove his innocence, figure out where his friend is and then decide whether or not to tell the FBI and family.
Reincarnation by Suzanne Weyn (High School)
Story of two souls who are reunited time and time again. Begins in prehistory (cave man time) when a woman finds an emerald and when fighting over it with a man they both fall in the river and drown. Over time they meet as different ages, but always involving an emerald or some sort of green stone.
Night Road by AM Jenkins (HS)
Vampire training a young vampire who has just been trained. Focuses too much on the older vampire, should have been on the younger vampire. Probably a pass.
My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger (8+)
Story of the freshman year of three teenagers, TC, Auggie and Alejandra and romance, coming out of the closet, family, friendship, and helping a deaf boy. The book is written in narrative, letters, emails, advertisements, etc. Steve Kluger will be coming to the Brookline Public Library in May.
Merlin's Dragon by TA Barron (middle school)
This book bridges the gap between the Lost Years of Merlin series and the Great Tree of Avalon series. (Go to TAbarron.com and request a teacher pack)
All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn (lower M.S.)
Not up to Downing Hahn snuff. Vermont inn- two bad kids sent to live with grandmother for summer. Kids discover that the inn was haunted and kids decide to recreate haunting to help pick up business. The plan back-fires when they reawaken the spirits who used to haunt the inn. Not very believable, but a good ghost story.
Rumors by Anna Godbersen (sequel to Luxe) (8+)
Follows the adventures of Penelope trying to get back into society in winter of 1899. Third book, Envy, comes out in January.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Future: war town US, the US is divided into regions. Each year, each region selects two kids to send to the hunger games where they must fend for themselves in the televised game show. "Fantastic!"
Guardian by Julius Lester (high school)
Only about 100 pages, but really packs a punch. 1960's south US. A boy chooses not to tell the truth about something he's seen regarding a black man in his town who is accused of a crime. The black man is lynched and the boy has to live with the guilt of not having spoken up. Very powerful.
Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (everybody)
Like the Jungle Book but takes place in a graveyard. The child was raised by spirits.
The Ghosts of Kerfal by Deborah Noyes (Middle school)
First section- retelling of Edith Wharton story Ghosts of Kerfal
The Ghost's Child by Sonya Hartnett
Story of an old woman who is reflecting on her life through the eyes of a child she finds at her home when she comes back from a walk. The story takes place in an afternoon. Resonates with adult reader. but probably not with kids.
Ever by Gail Carson Levine (middle school)
Mythological story about girl who is going to be sacrificed to gods because father made a deal with the gods to save her mother's life. Over the thirty days she has between the deal and promise needs to be fulfilled the girl falls in love with the god of wind. Characters are a little flat, not up to Carson Levine's norm.
Curse as Dark as Gold by Elizabeth Bunce (middle school)
Retelling of Rumplestilskin, set in the industrial revolution time period.
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson (Middle School)
Historical fiction- Story of what happens during the American Revolution through the eyes of a girl who's a slave. Probably will win awards.
Bliss by Lauren Myracle (High School)
"One of the creepiest books I've ever read in my life, I had nightmares." 1960's a girl named Bliss is sent to live with grandmother when hippie parents flee to Canada. Bliss makes friends with the "normal" girls and then another, stranger girl, Sandy. Chapters are interspersed with quotes from the Gong Show and the Manson trial. Sandy becomes psychopathic and the book gets weirder and weirder.