About that book...

Book Blogs #9-16; LSSL 5385; Spring 2019

Quintero, I. (2014). Gabi, A Girl in Pieces. El Paso, Tejas: Cinco Puntos Press.
Gabi Hernandez is seventeen years old and surrounded by adult problems. Her father is addicted to meth and often goes missing for days when he is on a binge. Her best friend Cindy, also in high school, is pregnant and planning on raising the baby while living with her mother. Her best friend, Sebastian, told his parents that he is gay and was kicked out of his home and needs a place to stay. Her little brother, Beto, is constantly sneaking out to graffiti areas of the neighborhood, risking being arrested. Her mother is trying to hold the family together while raising her teenagers with an addict for a husband and is now pregnant. Gabi loves food but is self-conscious of her full figure. She loves writing and performing poetry. And she’s beginning to date boys realizing that brings an entirely new set of emotional issues. Dealing with all of her family drama while trying to find her place in life creates many internal struggles that Gabi must face, and often depend on the support network that surrounds her. Quintero goes back and forth between Spanish and English, using both first person narrative and poetry in the novel that is written as Gabi’s journal during the course of her senior year. There are parts of this book that are absolutely hilarious and the honesty with which Gabi writes is refreshing. There are also parts that are emotional and heartbreaking to read. I found myself so angry at Gabi’s mother when she would tell Gabi she was overweight or make references to how much she would eat. I am so happy to see the teacher play such an important part of Gabi’s success. Any teacher would love to be compared to Mrs. Abernard as she is Gabi’s biggest supporter of her writing and furthering her education by getting into her first college choice. The cover of the book is a collage designed by Zeque Penya of what makes up the strongest pieces of Gabi. The book was a William C. Morris YA Debut Book Award Winner along with Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award winner.

King, A. S. (2011). Everybody Sees the Ants. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.
Lucky Linderman has been bullied by Nader McMillan since elementary school. He has watched him torture young, scrawny kids in the locker room. He has seen him make a girl who has lost her bikini top at the pool expose herself to get her clothes. And he has been the target of multiple threats. Lucky is in high school trying to make it through each day avoiding confrontation with Nader while overcoming the fact that the teachers and administrators think he’s suicidal. Lucky’s grandfather was captured during Vietnam and was never found, a situation his own father has never been able to overcome. Lucky’s mother is trying to hold the dysfunctional family together and when it gets too messy, she reverts to swimming more laps in the local pool. Lucky finds his own escape in his dreams where he helps his grandfather face the enemy and avoid being killed in the jungles of Vietnam. When Nader makes a bloody mess of Lucky’s face, his mom decides to pack them up and visit her brother and sister-in-law in Arizona. Lucky finds support and the strength he needs to return and face his bully. I struggled through parts of this book and required absolutely no distractions to avoid going back and re-reading. The characters are complex and the author does an incredible job at making them relatable to students who may be facing the same situations. Other books about bullying are Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina.





(Best Fiction for YA)
Shusterman, N. (2018). Scythe. London: Walker Books and Subsidiaries.
Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice a Scythe in a world where accidental deaths don’t happen. There is no war, no poverty, no diseases. The world would be overpopulated except for the creation of Scythes. Scythes must follow 10 rules and they can choose how people die. Citra and Rowan do not want to be Scythes, which is why they were chosen. Only one of them will succeed and become a Scythe, the other will die. As they work together to master the art of taking someone’s life, the relationship that develops makes it more difficult to continue or want to succeed. In this dystopian fiction novel, people are chosen to die based on previous world statistics of death. The journal entries at the beginning of each chapter invite you into a world where Shusterman envelops you and explains the rules. I could not put this book down as the plot and characters are so different than anything I have ever read. It’s intriguing and suspenseful as the reader becomes attached to both Citra and Rowan and to choose one over the other would mean that one character must die. The Arc of a Scythe series continues with book 2, Thunderhead. There is also anticipation of book 3, The Toll, due out in 2019 or 2020. Other books by Neal Shusterman that I would recommend are Unwind, Bruiser, The Schwa Was Here, and Challenger Deep.

Thomas, A. (2017). The hate u give. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Starr Carter is a 16-year-old high school student living two different lives. She has her school life where she is only one of a few African-American students in a predominantly white private school in a wealthy area. She has her home life in a poor neighborhood where her dad owns a business and her family tries to avoid violent situations. Starr is with a childhood friend on the way home from a party when a police officer shoots and kills him when he thought he was reaching in the car for a weapon. Starr is now the key witness to a murder and must face her own feelings of that night along with the racial tensions that arise at her school when her friends defend the policeman’s actions. Caught between worlds, Starr is forced to grow up overnight where she must choose to stand up for what’s right and fight against the wrong. I loved this book and found it impossible to put down until the end. Thomas gives us a serious look at the issues facing our world through teenagers to allow us to bring up the conversations we should be having in our homes and our schools. The hate u give movie was released in 2018 and has been awarded the following:
Goodreads Choice Awards Best of the Best
William C. Morris Award Winner
National Book Award Longlist
Printz Honor Book
Coretta Scott King Honor Book
#1 New York Times Bestseller!
Angie Thomas just released the book On the Come Up about a young girl fighting for equality to fulfill her dream of being a rapper.

(Quick Picks)
McManus, K. M. (2017). One of Us is Lying. New York: Delacorte Press/Penguin Random House.
Five students at Bayview High School are assigned detention on a Monday afternoon at the end of the school day. However, only four make it out of the room alive. The mystery of Simon’s death and who is guilty of his murder is the plot of this story that explores the lives of the five teenagers and how all of their lives are connected. Each student has a unique background and their own story to tell. Each student would have a reason to kill Simon. Simon was the writer of an online gossip column that exposed secrets of the students in the high school. If someone cheats, steals or has a hidden past, Simon would uncover and reveal for the entire student body to discover. I liked that the introduction of the characters was only the surface layer and that the author wrote from multiple points of view to allow the reader to really appreciate each character’s existence. The book will remind you of the movie, The Breakfast Club, with all the unique personalities of the students that are thrown together. In fact, the idea for the novel was inspired by The Breakfast Club. I loved the mystery of trying to determine who murdered Simon since each character in the book would have their own personal reason. I did think that the story was a little too glamorized for a high school but it gave it a soap opera feel or “Riverdale” or “Gossip Girl” resemblance. This is the author’s debut novel with her second book, Two Can Keep a Secret, due out in 2019.

(Best Fiction for YA)
Zentner, J. (2016). The Serpent King. London: Crown Books for Young Readers/Random House.
Dill is a senior in high school living in a small town in Tennessee with his mother and recently-sent-to-prison father. His father is a pentecostal preacher with a talent for snake handling and he wants his son to continue with his religious ways. Dill has two best friends Travis. Travis dresses in all black, reads fantasy books and lives with an abusive dad. Lydia comes from a wealthy family but doesn’t fit the stereotypical “rich girl” personality. She is a fashion blogger looking forward to the day when she can get out of the small town mentality. Both Dill’s mother and father blame him for his father being sent to prison since he did not lie to cover up the pornographic images his father was in possession of on his computer. The town is critical of him because of his father’s religious beliefs and he is teased and harassed at school for the dynamics of his family. His mother forces him to visit his father in prison and Dill feels like getting out of the town after high school graduation is a hopeless dream. His mother is not supportive of higher education and thinks that there is no reason that Dill would need to leave the town to pursue a different life. Zentner tells the story from all three perspectives and the heartbreaking loss of one of the characters left me in tears. I love the subtle touch of romance between Dill and Lydia and the “real-ness” of the characters toward their family situations and how they handle the conflicts in their lives. When I think back to my high school days, I think that there may have been one or two of my best friends that I felt safe to share my feelings. I guess this story reminded me that true friends accept and encourage the real you, in spite of your family or anything else that tries to stand in the way of becoming what you’re meant to be.
This was Zentner’s debut novel that was recognized with the following awards:
William C. Morris YA Debut Award (2017)
Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee (2018)
Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee (2017)
Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Nominee (2017)
Lincoln Award Nominee (2018)
Great Lakes Great Books Award for 9-12 (2018)
Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Debut Goodreads Author & for Young Adult Fiction (2016)
Missouri Gateway Readers Award Nominee (2018)
Another book by Zentner that I would recommend is called Goodbye Days.

Satrapi, M. (2003). Persepolis. New York, NY: Pantheon Books/Random House.
Marjane Satrapi’s life growing up in Tehran, Iran is told in comic strip form in black and white images and text. She was born in 1969 and was living in Iran during the cultural revolution that required women to be hidden and silent. Because her parents were more liberal than most, Marji had her own opinions, ideas and dreams. Many of the events that occurred between the ages of 6-14 would shut down those dreams. Marjane tells each significant event through her own eyes of the situation with only the knowledge that she has or is told to her by her parents. I found her to be extremely witty at such a young age when she would withhold the fact that she wanted to be a prophet from her parents after they were brought in by the teacher to discuss her future. The images contributed so much to the text and teaching about Iran and the Islamic Revolution. I can understand why this book is used in high schools to communicate the difficult subject matter in an engaging manner and view Marji's political and religious viewpoints. The thematic relationship between Marjane and her parents and how that formed her views on the situations that arise in the book should be explored by students as they are about to leave for colleges and jobs. The introduction provides the background needed to understand how the Shah came into power and Marjane's purpose in telling her story. This is a memoir unlike any other that I have read. Persepolis 2 continues with Marjane's story through adolescence and young adulthood.

Acevedo, E. (2018). The POET X. New York, NY: HARPERCOLLINS.
A book written in first person poetic verse by main character, Xiomara Batista, growing up in a Harlem neighborhood with her parents and twin brother is now on my top ten list of favorites. Xiomara’s mother is a devout Catholic woman who wanted at one time to be a nun and has felt like she has cheated on God since she became a married woman. Her father lives with them but is essentially nonexistent in their daily life and experiences. Xiomara uses her writing to express her feelings of lust and love for Aman, her displeasure of God and going through confirmation, and her unpleasant experiences with her mother. Her best friend Caridad is her constant supporter and the person who knows all of her secrets and dreams. Xiomara’s twin brother is also going through his own personal struggles as he is hiding the fact that he is gay from his parents. I think my favorite part of this book is when Xiomara feels like she is ready to have sex with Aman. But when they actually get to the point where she feels uncomfortable and asks him to stop, he stops. He doesn’t call her names like she thinks will happen, he doesn’t make her feel guilty, and he patiently and gently helps her get dressed and wipes her tears. I love Xiomara, but I love so much more that Acevedo made a character like Aman. A character that is good and does the right thing even when challenged. I was so angry that the fight between Xiomara and her mom ends with her mother burning all of her poems. It broke my heart because of all the writing that was lost. This book took me through all emotions and I could not stop reading. I wanted to see Xiomara escape the harsh rules of her home and succeed. But I also wanted to see that her mother could learn from Xiomara and see that holding on so tight to her daughter would cause a wedge that can’t be removed. And most importantly, I want to be Mrs. Galiano. I love books in verse and this one is probably one of my favorites.
The Poet X has received the following awards:
National Book Award for Young People's Literature (2018)
Michael L. Printz Award (2019)
Kirkus Prize Nominee for Young Readers' Literature (2018)
Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Poetry (2018)
Pura Belpré Author Award (2019)
Other books by Elizabeth Acevedo are With the Fire on High and Beastgirl and Other Origin Myths.

About that book...

Alexie, S., and Forney, E. (2007). The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. New York: Little, Brown.

Junior lives on a reservation and attends school where he is constantly bullied for his size and appearance. His best friend, Rowdy (true to the name),  sticks up for him but it is not enough for Junior to stay in the school where he is unhappy. He decides to attend a “mainly-all-white-school” and is supported by his parents-his often-drunk-father and too-tolerant-mother. The book follows Junior's struggles of being a new kid in a school with kids that don't look like him, the relationship between Junior and Rowdy, and the problems that surface in a family (and culture) that struggles with alcohol addiction. Alexie does not shy away from the often uncomfortable and awkward topics in a teenage boy’s life and will have you laughing at the hilarious thoughts and events Junior must encounter. The conflicts and trials Junior must face will have you in tears of compassion and cheering for his success to have a somewhat normal day. The “Unofficial and Unwritten Spokane Rules of Fisticuffs”  will definitely give you reason to chuckle. The illustrations by Ellen Forney are amusing and encourage the idea that as serious as life is, sometimes humor is the best way to deal with tough circumstances. For students that like this book, Matt de la Pena's novel, Ball Don't Lie, is about a high school student feeling like he is an outsider and just doesn't have a place where he fits but he has a love for basketball.

(YA by Kwame Alexander)
Alexander, Kwame. (2014). The Crossover. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing.
Josh Bell, nicknamed by his dad as Filthy McNasty, is a 13 year-old-student-rapper and basketball player and twin brother of Jordan (JB). Jordan is also a basketball player but much more interested in a particular girl. Their mom, an assistant principal, and their dad, a former professional basketball player, have high expectations for their sons. When Josh and JB begin drifting apart, Josh becomes angry and lonely, longing for the days when his brother was his best friend and basketball partner. When his father collapses during a basketball game, Josh is unsure what the future holds for his family. He has one last chance to visit with his father, but decides to play in the championship game. Throughout the book Josh learns that life is about dealing with the consequences of the decisions he makes. Kwame Alexander grasps his audience on page one with this incredible poetic masterpiece that is a realistic fiction story told in various styles of verse. The rich and unfamiliar vocabulary become chapter titles that the character explains with multiple sentences in the chapter. For example, the word pulchritudinous is defined and then explained in sentences on page 55. “As in: I’ve never had a girlfriend, but if I did, you better believe she’d be pulchritudinous.” And on page 142- “chur-lish” “As in: I I don’t understand how I went from annoyed to grumpy to downright churlish.”
The author has a good balance between thoughts of the protagonist and the dialogue with his family and friends. The well-developed characters experience change throughout the book by going through real-life experiences that often affect teenagers and families. The devastating conclusion will leave the reader wishing for an alternative ending, but understanding that authors write to mimic true life. The mixtures of font along with words read vertically add to the style and rhythm of the poetry. The book is a quick-read and would be most appropriate for young teenagers, but young adults would also appreciate the way in which Alexander writes. It would also be an excellent choice for a developing reader that struggles to complete a novel. Other books by Kwame Alexander written in poetic-style are: Rebound, Booked, Swing, and Solo (told through verse, text messages and song lyrics).

Myers, W. D. (1999). Monster. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers

Steve Harmon is a 16-year-old African American boy on trial for a convenient store robbery gone awry. A man was killed and since Steve is was the lookout guy, he stands the chance of spending life in prison. Being called a MONSTER by the prosecuting attorney, Steve is haunted by what he hears and what he has become to the justice system. To handle the events that stand before him and to separate his emotions from the trial, Steve begins to write about the daily occurrences in the courtroom as if it was a script for a movie. He also uses a journal to express his fears of the future and the loss of his youth. With stage directions, dialogue, and “off camera” notes that are found in the script to the diary entries that Steve writes to the flashbacks from Steve’s childhood, Walter Dean Myers is able to communicate in a way that is unique of any other story. The reader is emotionally pulled in all directions of feeling sadness and sympathy for Steve to feeling that he may somehow be guilty for a man’s life, to the anger of seeing the flaws within the judicial system. Students are introduced to what the defense and prosecution must go through in a criminal trial and see the human side of heartache when bad choices are made.  Monster was the first ever Michael L. Printz Award recipient, an ALA Best Book, a Coretta Scott King Honor selection, and a National Book Award finalist. Monster: A Graphic Novel was released in 2015.

Anderson, L. H. (1999). Speak. New York, New York: Penguin.

The main character in the book, Melinda, is 13 years-old and going into her freshman year of high school when she experiences something so traumatic that she is not developmentally ready to even process the pain or recover. Melinda is an outcast. She has no friends, is ridiculed and bullied by the entire student body at Merryweather High, and parents that are too busy with their own problems. When she finally does make a friend, it is short-lived. But, Melinda has a secret. One that she hasn’t shared with anyone. And it consistently eats at away at her spirit. Hiding in an abandoned janitorial closet and reliving the memories of the boy who raped her, Melinda begins to find her voice through an art project guided by an art teacher that believes she has a story to tell. Anderson writes a narrative that allows the reader to share the emotions of pain and agony that Melinda silently endures as she processes the events of that night alone. It's a powerful story released over 20 years ago about events that are still happening to our young teenagers. This book is sure to bring up emotions and hopefully spark the conversation to give young adults the power to speak out about sexual assault and rape. Anderson released the graphic novel version of Speak in 2019.  Speak was a Printz award winner in 2000. Shout: The True Story of a Survivor Who Refused to be Silent  is a memoir set to be released March 2019.

(Printz Honor Book)
Reynolds, J. (2017). Long Way Down. New York, N: Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing Division.

Will’s brother, Shawn, has just been shot and killed by a neighboring rival gang and “the rules” say that Will should take his opportunity to even the score. As he takes the gun and steps onto the elevator, Will is confronted by the ghosts of gun violence victims that have a connection with his brother where they offer their view of the situation and help guide him into making a decision. The time it takes the elevator to reach the first floor is just a little over 60 seconds-the same amount of time that Reynolds delivers each character to examine Will’s plight. Written in artistically constructed verse and with such power in his words the book is impossible to put down. It examines the cycle of gun violence in a way that will leave you shocked and breathless. I read it in just under an hour but couldn’t help but go back and study the passages afraid that I had missed something because I was reading so fast. The experience of the elevator ride, holding on to the hope that Will discards “the rules” (no crying, no snitching, and revenge) before he sets foot out of the elevator to retaliate the death of his brother, is both terrifying and inspiring. Long Way Down has received the following honors and awards:

• 2018 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults
• Newbery Honor Book
• Coretta Scott King Honor Book
• Printz Honor Book
• A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner for Young Adult Literature
• Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
• Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award
• An Edgar Award Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction
• Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner
• An Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of 2017
• A Vulture Best YA Book of 2017
• A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of 2017

Other books written in verse are Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, The Crossover by Kwame Alexander, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, and All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg.

 

 

Behar, R. (2018). Lucky Broken Girl. New York, NY: Puffin Books.

Ruthie Mizrahi is a happy, energetic, 10-year-old Cuban-Jewish immigrant with a love for jump rope. She arrived in New York City in the 1960’s and  lives with her parents and brother. She loves school but wants to be in the “smart” class. A horrific car accident leaves Ruthie bed-ridden in a full-body cast for a year and on a strict diet to prevent her from outgrowing the cast. The frustration of her mother to care for her, the encouragement from her homebound teacher and neighbor, and the loss of friends during that year is just too much for a young girl to process. As Ruthie heals, she remains scared and timid to experience success for fear of setbacks that will put her back into bed with an injury. She prays and write letters for healing and forgiveness while often losing her patience and understanding of the events that happened to her. Some themes from the book are based upon the friendships that Ruthie sustains, overcoming trials and setbacks, and the fear of moving forward into the unknown.  I love the role that the neighbor, Ramu, plays in this story because he encourages Ruthie to be an artist and his love and support help to strengthen her emotions. Based on the real experiences from the author’s life, the reader feels the hopelessness of Ruthie and cheers for her to find victory in overcoming a substantial misfortune in life. Lucky Broken Girl was the winner of the Pura Belpre Award in 2018.

The following novels are also about immigrant families and situations: Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo and Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix.

 

(YA by Raina Telgemeier)

Telgemeier, Raina author, artist. (2014). Sisters. New York: Graphix

Raina, along with her mother, sister and brother are setting off on a roadtrip to visit extended family in Colorado. As the family travels Raina experiences memories of her previous years as being the oldest sibling. At first,  Raina wanted a little sister and couldn’t wait to help care for the baby. Then Amara was born and was nothing like she imagined; she was cranky, grouchy, and spoiled. As Amara gets older, she and Raina rarely seem to agree and Raina wonders why she ever wanted a little sister. A little brother is born to make them a family of five. The trip includes experiences with rainstorms, dead animals, rush-hour traffic problems, live king snakes in the van, being stranded in the desert, her mom as a hitchhiker and then the admission that her parents needed to momentarily separate. Raina realizes that even though they may not always see eye to eye, they are still family and all of their experiences create memories of love and support.

Based on the experiences of growing up, Telgemeier writes and draws a humorous story of being an older sister dealing with the conflicts in a family. This graphic novel is engaging and entertaining and holds the attention of the reader in a comic book style format (like the Sunday comics in a newspaper). Through the flashbacks of the main character’s previous years, the struggles of being the oldest sibling shows in pages that are yellow. The present situation is shown in white pages. The author uses a variety of large fonts to display emotions from the characters along with emphasized facial expressions. Tween and younger teenage readers can identify with the trials of being a sibling and a family that is not always perfect. The author includes real pictures at the conclusion of the book of herself and her sister to make the real-life connection. Students who may be struggling in their family dynamics or are dealing with the pains of growing up with siblings can connect with Raina and would appreciate this story. Other graphic novels by Telgemeier include: Smile, Drama, and Ghosts.

  

(YA by John Green)

Green, J. (2017). Turtles All Way Down. New York, NY: Dutton Books.

Aza  Holmes is a sixteen-year-old high school student struggling with anxiety and the spiraling thoughts that are constantly causing her to overthink and deeply analyze every situation in her life. She is obsessed with germs and learning about self-diagnosed diseases that she convinces herself she has. Daisy is Aza’s best friend and together they decide to investigate Aza’s wealthy neighbor who has gone missing in return for a hundred-thousand-dollar reward. The missing neighbor’s son, Davis, is Aza’s age and through the investigation, the two of them form a romantic relationship, which really isn't the main topic of the story. This book really opened my eyes to the thoughts that someone with an obsessive compulsive disorder is going through. Aza’s thoughts are a constant and nagging internal conflict and John Green allows us to see inside her mind throughout the entire story. My heart broke when Aza is in the hospital with a lacerated liver and her willpower to fight against shoving the sanitizer in her mouth overcomes her rational thoughts that it will make her sick. It took me longer to finish this because I would have to go back and re-read pages where I thought I missed something. So much was happening in Aza’s mind that I felt like I was losing the plot direction, but now I believe that is what the author intended for the reader to feel. The relationships between Aza and Daisy, Aza and her mother, and Aza and Davis show us the importance of friendship, love and acceptance. This was not an "easy" read or a book that I would want to read while relaxing on a vacation. It is, however, a book that requires attention to the characters and details while often stopping and contemplating the struggles of mental illness. This realistic fiction/mystery that John Green gives us certainly lives up to the title. Other books that deal with mental illness are: Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella, All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, and Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

Happy Planner = Happy Days

LOVE Happy Planners!!!!