Book Blogs 17-25
LSSL 5385; Spring 2019
Ness, P. (2008). The Knife of Never Letting Go / With Bonus Short Story. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.
Todd is almost a man in Prentisstown. A boy becomes a man at 13 years old, but the years in Todd’s life are 13 months long. In Prentisstown there are no women, there are no girls...only boys and men and animals that can hear everyone’s thoughts. It’s the NOISE of knowing what others are thinking at all times of the day and night. But Todd discovers a silence, a moment without NOISE and then he must escape the town and run away to protect himself. And in that escape, he finds Viola and learns that there are many things that were not true in the world that he was raised in. This was an extremely challenging read for me because of the story line, misspelled words (planned as part of the story), the addition of characters throughout the story, and the NOISE that is constantly changing the direction of thought. I must say that many times I put the book down because I struggled understanding if there were distractions or interruptions. The relationship between Todd and Manchee is strong and their communication with each other is hilarious, but left me heartbroken at the end of Part III. The book is told with incredible imagery that describes not only the beautiful things seen on the adventure but the violence with which they fight. The book ends in a cliffhanger and readers must continue to book 2, The Ask and the Answer and book 3, Monster of Men. A unique, science fiction storyline, this is a mature YA read due to the strong descriptions of violence and the content of murder.
Smith, A. (2014). Winger. New York: Simon & Schuster. BFYR.
Ryan Dean West is 14 years old, beginning his junior year at Pine Mountain private school, in love with Annie Altman, and a rugby player trying to stay out of trouble for one semester to get out of O-Hall. Ryan Dean, because that’s his full first name, has the nickname Winger, for his position on the rugby team. He attends Pine Mountain, a school for rich kids who get in trouble when they are left without parental supervision. He is placed in Opportunity Hall, a dorm for the bad kids, because of his less than desirable choices during his sophomore year. His roommate is Chas Becker, the senior class bully who hates just about everything and everyone, except hot girls. Ryan Dean is 2 years younger and much smaller than the rest of his classmates making him an easy target for being teased and ridiculed. When his relationship with Annie develops into mutual romantic feelings, he depends on the support from his friends Joey, Sean and JP to give him relationship advice. Andrew Smith has set up a story with a complex main character that is so easy to love but can make me so angry. Ryan Dean is a hilarious fourteen year old boy obsessed with two things- sex and sports. I would have loved a friend like Ryan Dean-funny, witty, with the guts to stand up to anyone for his friends. He makes really poor choices, like making out with Megan, Chas’girlfriend, and urinating in a gatorade bottle so he doesn’t have to get out of bed. But what makes him so great- he’s real, he’s passionate, and he’s loyal. The additional comic drawings add to the appeal of Ryan Dean’s humor and are a delightful surprise at just the right moments in the book. The commentary that Ryan Dean has with his #1 and #2 self are comical. The handwritten notes between Annie and Ryan Dean send me back to my high school days of note-passing and the English teacher in me appreciates that Smith makes the allusion to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. The continuation of Ryan Dean’s story is told in book 2, Stand Off. This entertaining book is for a mature YA reader, with warnings of strong language.
(Great Graphic Novels for Teens)
Larson, H. (2018). All Summer Long. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.
Bina and Austin are best friends about to begin their summer vacation before entering the eighth grade. Austin is going off to soccer camp and Bina could not be more devastated. She is not looking forward to a boring summer without her best friend to up their “fun index” score. Bina and Charlie (Austin’s older sister) make friends when Bina breaks into his house to find the key to her own home after she loses her house key. When Austin finally returns, Bina realizes that their friendship is in a weird phase because Austin is having a hard time making sense of being friends with a girl. All Summer Long is a quick read graphic novel with a fun storyline about two friends learning how to grow up in a world that makes boys and girls being “just friends” strange and abnormal. I like that Larson made Bina and Austin have separate interests, yet remain close friends. The drawings in the novel are shades of orange with black accent and black and white background. Topics of friendship, family support, and growing up are all discussed through Bina’s story. Readers that like the graphic novels, Sisters, Smile, Guts and Drama by Raina Telgemeier will also like Hope Larson’s, All Summer Long.
(Excellence in Nonfiction)
Slater, D. (2018). The 57 Bus. Waterville, ME: Thorndike Press.
The true story of two teenagers, Sasha and Richard on their way home from school on the 57 bus in Oakland, CA. Sasha is caucasion, identifies as agender (does not identify as one gender), attends Maybeck High School and has a small group of close friends. Richard is an African-American male teenager that attends Oakland High School has c. Both teenagers ride the bus that travels 11 miles through both wealthy and poor neighborhoods. On the afternoon of Monday, November 4, 2013, Richard makes the choice to set Sasha’s skirt on fire while she is asleep on the bus. This one event changes the lives of both teenagers and their families as Sasha will endure weeks of surgeries to try and correct the burn scars on her legs and Richard is arrested and will be tried as an adult for a hate crime. Slater writes this book in journalistic style, including verse, letters, court documents and information put together from a variety of media released during and after the event. In addition, Slater includes bits and pieces of information that help the reader understand the vocabulary of gender and sex along with text from the Youth Rights Documents. Although Richard committed the crime, he is not made to look like a monster in this story. The events of his life along with his family show that he made a choice that was unlike him. The incredible forgiveness that Sasha and their family show to Richard is overwhelming and heart-wrenching. The book, published in 2017 was able to follow the details of the trial along with the life of Sasha after the trial when they attended MIT. (Note: in the book Sasha is referred to as “they” since because of identifying as agender. Therefore, this book review shows to refer to Sasha using the same pronouns of “their” and “they”.) The 57 Bus has been recognized for the following:
- Stonewall Book Award for Children’s & Young Adult Literature (2018)
- California Book Award for Young Adult (Gold) (2017)
- Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Young Adult Literature (2017)
- Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee (2019)
- Lincoln Award Nominee (2020)
Readers that like The 57 Bus may want to read October Mourning by Leslea Newman- a book in verse about the murder of Matthew Shepard.
Harris, R. H., & Emberley, M. (2014). It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.
A remarkably honest and exceptionally detailed nonfiction book, Harris and Emberley answer the questions tweens and teens have about their bodies and feelings. Cartoon-like images, text, diagrams, and dialogue help maneuver the reader through the book to discuss topics that may be difficult to address with parents or teachers. The book is rated for 10+ but I feel as though some 10 year olds are not ready for the information, whereas some are entering puberty and may need the answers to questions. This is a book that I would recommend parents read and become comfortable with answering questions about the topics brought up before handing the book to their child. The topics for this book include: puberty, sex, sexual health, reproduction, birth control, pregnancy, birth, families, LGBTQ+, sexual abuse, and STDs including HIV/AIDS. There is some humor in the book to lighten the subject but not to an extent that it becomes a joke. Multiple images show naked males and females and all body parts along with detailed information about the male and female anatomy. The book should be prefaced with discussion and followed with open dialogue that may bring about some embarrassment with a teen reader but the information is accurate and provides answers that are better than a google search that returns conflicting information. It does mention abortion, sexting, and masturbation which may not be appropriate for all students at an early age.
(NYT Bestseller List)
Draper, S. M. (2018). Blended. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Isabella is a “blended” eleven-year-old girl with a talent for playing piano The “blended” refers to being biracial and a child of divorced parents. Navigating her way between parents who cannot get along, the girlfriends and boyfriends of parents and eventually stepparents is almost too much for an 11 year old to handle. Her parents trade off weeks and for Isabella that means that means trading who she becomes each week. Isabella must endure questions about her looks because she doesn’t look like either parent with skin color. She is asked if she is “mixed”, told that she is exotic-looking because of her skin color and a friend tells her that she gets her good looks from her mother, who is white. With all the turmoil in her life, she escapes in her music and prepares for an upcoming concert where she hopes that all of her family members and extended partners can get along with each other. When both of her divorced parents decide to get remarried on the same day and cannot quit fighting, Isabella breaks down and runs from them during an exchange. When her parents finally realize that their arguing uses Isabella against the other parent, they both agree to change and be more civilized to each other without the tug-of-war game they are doing with her. After the weddings, Isabella and her step-brother, Darren, are on their way to her piano concert when they are confronted violently by the police for robbing a bank. The police have mistaken them for the actual suspects who fled the scene. During the situation, a shot is fired and Isabella is shot in the arm. In the end, Isabella’s families are brought together and she is released from the hospital. Draper addresses multiple serious topics in the novel, Blended, but without making the content too mature for teenagers and young adults. All children and teens can relate to the pains of having divorced parents and being split between them. Biracial children can relate to Isabella’s conflicts with the insensitive comments made by her friends and people who do not know her. The brutality by the police towards Darren and Isabella at the end of the novel betrays the reader because instead of a resolution, it opens an entirely new conflict that was subtly building throughout the story. Other books by Sharon Draper are Tear of a Tiger, Panic, and Forged by Fire.
Gephart, D. (2018). Lily and Dunkin. New York: A Yearing Book
Lily Jo McGrother, born Timothy James, has one week left of summer before entering the 8th grade at Gator Lake Middle School in southern Florida. Lily wants to start hormone therapy to prevent the happenings of a teenage boy in order to remain feminine. Lily meets Norbert during that week before 8th grade and gives him the nickname Dunkin. Dunkin has just recently moved with his mother from Burlington, New Jersey and the two are staying with his grandmother in the same neighborhood as Lily. Dunkin struggles with bipolar disorder, is on anti-psychotic medication, and wants to be popular with the basketball boys. When he realizes that he is committing a social blunder by being friends with Tim (Lily) and Dare (Lily’s friend), he decides to deny their friendship in front of his jock friends. Lily’s mother and sister are accepting of her wishes but Lily’s dad wrestles with the decision to lose his son. This story plays out and the reader is left satisfied with the resolution of his father’s acceptance of him publicly at the school dance. Dunkin’s situation does not have the same happy ending as we find out that Dunkin blocked out the real reason for he and his mother’s move to Florida. His story is heartbreaking and the reader is left to understand that he will have the same mental trials that affected his father. The friendship between the two teenagers doesn’t really play out until the end of the story when Dunkin finally decides that he doesn’t care what others think. The serious subject matter is approached in a way that a teenager or young adult wrestling with the same issues can find comfort in knowing they are not alone. The author includes notes at the end to explain how Lily’s and Dunkin’s story originated along with discussion questions, resources for transgender/gender organizations, mental health programs and forest conservation contacts.
Crutcher, C. (2009). Deadline. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books
Ben Wolf is 18 years old, a high school senior in Trout, Idaho, and has been given one year to live. He has restricted the doctor from telling his parents that he is dying because of confidentiality rules and the only other person that knows is his therapist. He has decided that he will live the last year of his life with no regrets and doing things that he has always been afraid to do because he now has nothing to lose. He joined the football team, made a move on the hottest girl in school, and uses his voice to argue for what he believes in with his teachers. His mother has bouts of depression and he worries that the news will put her over the edge. His brother is 11 months younger and also a senior football player but Ben doesn’t want him to be burdened with the news. His father is the most consistent person in his family and he is worried that telling him would just make him focus on doing all he can to beat the disease. Ben doesn’t want to live his last year bald and sick. Throughout the course of the year, Ben learns that he’s not the only one that is keeping a secret and he becomes a confidant and friend to Dallas Suzuki and Rudy McCoy. The author touches on serious topics in this novel-teenage pregnancy, child molestation, suicide, teenage death, and depression. But the book does not go without humor because Ben is a funny character. He says things that will make you laugh and phrases like “you were the fart on the proverbial skillet” are certainly worth highlighting and repeating out loud. The relationship between Ben and his brother Cody was my favorite aspect of the book and the admiration that Ben has for his dad to be the rock of the family. Knowing what was going to happen at the end did not keep it from being heartbreaking. The way Crutcher chooses to end with the epilogue made for the closure that the reader needs to justify Ben living the last year of his life the way he wanted but also shows his remorse for not letting others in to know his secret. Other books by Chris Crutcher:
Garden, N. (1982). Annie on My Mind. New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux.
Liza Winthrop meets Annie Kenyon when she is visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art and experiences a strong connection, so strong that when they first meet and they look at each other, she loses all sense of what is happening in the present moment. Liza is seventeen years old and a senior at Foster Academy. She breaks a rule that says she is to report infractions and must attend a disciplinary meeting where receives a three-day suspension the week before Thanksgiving from Foster Academy. During those days of suspension, she visits Annie at her school and they begin a relationship that is brings about new and confusing feelings. Annie is sure of her feelings of being gay but Liza had not yet realized that her feelings for Annie were romantic. They begin a relationship but are apprehensive because they fear they will be isolated and ridiculed. They are able to keep it a secret until they get caught together and Liza is threatened with expulsion from Foster Academy for her actions. As she is put through a disciplinary hearing it is determined that she will not be expelled and can remain as the student council president. Liza and Annie break up their relationship and move away from each other after graduation, but after pondering her feelings, they end up back together when Liza comes to terms with her sexual orientation. The story is told from Liza’s point of view but within the story are side excerpts address the reader to help explain the feelings Liza is experiencing. There are also letters that Annie and Liza write back and forth to each other. As a reader, I found the letters aspect of the novel refreshing because it took away the technology/cellphone/snapchat/instagram elements that have bombarded young adult literature. And even with the mature content, I still felt that the romance was kept on a PG-13 level and had a sweet, innocent teenage love appeal. Annie On My Mind was the center of controversy in Olathe, Kansas when protestors burned copies of the book on the steps of the Olathe South High School. The School Library Journal selected Annie On My Mind as one of the most influential books of the 20th century.
