Booktalk

Alexie, Sherman
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Exploring Indian identity, both self and tribal, Alexie's first young adult novel is a semiautobiographical chronicle of Arnold Spirit, aka Junior, a Spokane Indian from Wellpinit, WA. The bright 14-year-old was born with water on the brain, is regularly the target of bullies, and loves to draw. He says, "I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats." He expects disaster when he transfers from the reservation school to the rich, white school in Reardan, but soon finds himself making friends with both geeky and popular students and starting on the basketball team. Meeting his old classmates on the court, Junior grapples with questions about what constitutes one's community, identity, and tribe. The daily struggles of reservation life and the tragic deaths of the protagonist's grandmother, dog, and older sister would be all but unbearable without the humor and resilience of spirit with which Junior faces the world. The many characters, on and off the rez, with whom he has dealings are portrayed with compassion and verve, particularly the adults in his extended family. Forney's simple pencil cartoons fit perfectly within the story and reflect the burgeoning artist within Junior. Reluctant readers can even skim the pictures and construct their own story based exclusively on Forney's illustrations. The teen's determination to both improve himself and overcome poverty, despite the handicaps of birth, circumstances, and race, delivers a positive message in a low-key manner. Alexie's tale of self-discovery is a first purchase for all libraries


Barbar, Tiki
Tiki: My Life In The Game And Beyond
Tiki Barbar recounts his life story, both personal and professional. This autobiography is a behind-the-scenes account of professional football—both controversies and highlights. A great read for football fans of all ages.


Cheshire, Simon
Kissing Vanessa
Told from a 15-year-old boy's point of view, this humorous novel is set in Great Britain. When a beautiful new girl comes to town, it's love at first sight for Kevin. The trouble is, he's not a "babe magnet" like his friend Jack. In fact when it comes to girls, Kev is clueless. Luckily, Jack, who is writing a book on how to attract the opposite sex, is willing to reveal his secrets. While Kev is doubtful at first about following his friend's advice, desperation finally propels him into doing so. Unfortunately, Jack's Girlfriend Management the Easy Waylands Kev in a series of comic situations that make him appear to be dorkier than he really is. Of course, true love wins out in the end. Several qualities set this book apart from the typical teen romance. It glitters with a sarcastic wit that is similar to that found in Louise Rennison's novels. Kev's thoughts and feelings about his situation are so exaggerated that readers will laugh out loud, and they'll find his slightly eccentric sidekick equally funny. This is a fast and fun read.–


Chotjewitz, David
Daniel Half Human (A Novel)
Engrossing story of a teenage boy in pre-war Germany who finds out he is half Jewish.  The implications are astounding and horrifying.   This book is very well-written and puts a human face on Holocaust history. 


Clements, Andrew
Things Not Seen
Teens, especially those not in the über-popular set, know all about feeling invisible. But what would happen if you actually did wake up invisible one day? Fifteen-year-old Bobby is faced with this curious predicament in Andrew Clements's compelling novel Things Not Seen. Doing his best to adapt, Bobby informs his parents and grows more and more frustrated as they try to control his (unseen) life. Attempting to take matters in his own hands, he ventures out--naked--to the library, where he meets a blind girl who becomes a natural confidant. The ensuing drama, involving a nationwide search for other invisible people and a break-in to the computer database at Sears, Roebuck legal department headquarters ("News flash: Invisible people make excellent spies and thieves") is authentic enough in detail to allow readers to overlook the nuttiness of it all. Teens will identify with Bobby's experience of being essentially invisible. Highly recommended.

Clement-Moore, Rosemary
Prom Dates from Hell
Maggie Quinn, reporter for the Avalon High school newspaper, happens to have her camera on the day some football jocks, cheered on by their “mean girl” friends, dangle a nerd from the balcony. Stanley is justifiably angry with his tormentors, but also unleashes anger at Maggie for stepping in to make him look foolish. When a chain of dangerous weird events begins to happen to all those involved in the situation, Maggie relies on her latent family talent for perception as well as Justin, a graduate student studying paranormal phenomena. When Maggie says her prom dates were from hell, she’s not joking. She manages to find humor in the scary events that surround her.


Farmer, Nancy
the house of the scorpion
Matteo knows he is not like other children and is treated like dirt except by El Patron who seems to love him.  El Patron presides over the poppy fields between Mexico and US that supply opium.  As Matteo begins to realize why El Patron cares about his safety and health, he is horrified to discover what the future holds for him.  He has to escape—but how?


Green, John
an abundance of katherines
Colin Singleton always dates girls named Catherine—19 to be exact.  He has become so sure of the point in their relationship when they will dump him that he even figures out a mathematical equation to predict it.  He takes a road trip with his best friend who just loves Judge Judy and their adventures include a feral hog and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke.  


Korman, Gordon
Born To Rock
Leo Carraway, high school senior, president of the Young Republicans, recipient of a full-ride scholarship to Harvard, reluctantly accepts a tutoring job helping a young man who has been labeled “genius”, but who is, in reality, one giant klutz. On the day of the big math exam, Leo sees his protégé go blank, and says one word to jog Owen’s memory. This simple action unleashes a lost college scholarship, a new love and a job as a roadie with Purge, a 1980s punk band whose lead singer, King Maggot, just happens to be Leo’s biological father. Funny book with characters that are easy to like.


Murdock, Catherine Gilbert
Dairy Queen
D. J. Schwenk, 15-year-old farm girl from Red Bend, Wisconsin, knows she’ll be spending her summer keeping the family farm from going under.  Her mom is working and her dad has health problems so he can’t do the farm work.  She doesn’t count on having to “train” the quarterback from rival school, Hawley.  Coming from a football dynasty of a family, she provides such good training that she begins to think maybe she herself should try out for the team.  A funny, insightful book with a great message and very interesting story.


Napoli, Donna Jo
The Smile
“She is called Lisa, short for Elisabetta.  When Lisa is fifteen, she will be betrothed to one of the nobles of Florence. Hopefully he will not be too old, or too mean, or too ugly.  She longs for romance, to marry for love, but she knows that this is not the fate of most girls like her.  Even though she does not think she is beautiful, Elisabetta catches the eye of her father’s famous friend, the great Leonardo da Vinci, who insists he will one day paint her portrait.  It is Leonardo who introduced Monna Elisabetta to Giuliano de’ Medici.  He is the heir to the most powerful and wealthy family in Florence.  He is young and fair and swears his love to the girl he calls Monna Lisa.  But Florence is changing, and as Elisabetta soon finds, it is a dangerous time to love a Medici.  Again, her fate is not within her control.” (book jacket)


Pearson,
Adoration of Jenna Fox
Jenna Fox, an only child, awakens from a coma after a terrible traffic accident to find herself living in California with her mom and grandmother.  Her dad, a famous scientist who invented BioGel is still in Boston where the family has always lived.  At first she has no memory, but slowly things begin to piece together and she is horrified to discover the truth about why she is in California and what she has become.  She struggles to make friends with the kids at the alternative high school her mom has enrolled her in, especially Allys .  Allys lost her hands and legs to a terrible infection that couldn’t be cured because people had taken so many antibiotics that there were none left that were effective against the strain of bacteria she contracted.  Because of this she is an ardent campaigner against medical manipulation of nature.  So what will happen if she discovers the truth about Jenna?


Pratchett, Terry
Thud! (review from Barnes & Noble)
Once, in a gods-forsaken hellhole called Koom Valley, trolls and dwarfs met in bloody combat. Centuries later, each species still views the other with simmering animosity. Lately, the influential dwarf, Grag Hamcrusher, has been fomenting unrest among Ankh-Morpork's more diminutive citizens—a volatile situation made far worse when the pint-size provocateur is discovered bashed to death . . . with a troll club lying conveniently nearby. Commander Sam Vimes of the City Watch is aware of the importance of solving the Hamcrusher homicide without delay.  But more than one corpse is waiting for Vimes in the eerie, summoning darkness of a labyrinthine mine network being secretly excavated beneath Ankh-Morpork's streets. And the deadly puzzle is pulling him deep into the muck and mire of superstition, hatred, and fear—and perhaps all the way to Koom Valley itself.


Rosenfelt, David
Play Dead    
Andy Carpenter is rich—so rich he only works as an attorney when the case really interests him. He does love Golden Retrievers, so when one is rescued from an abusive home, he takes the case to plead domestic violence to save the dog from being euthenized. Thus begins an interesting and complicated murder case that challenges Andy to use all his skills. Carpenter is smart and very funny as he follows all leads and calls upon his buddies, the cop and the newspaper reporter, to help him free an innocent man from prison and reunite him with his dog.


Selfors, Suzanne
Saving Juliet
Just because you come from the first family of Broadway theatre doesn’t guarantee you want to spend your life on stage. Mimi Wallingford, who has been acting since age three, experiences stage fright for the first time when playing Juliet in Shakespeare’s play. When her aunt sends her a good-luck charm she is transported back to Verona, Italy and meets the real Romeo and Juliet. In the process, she finds her own Romeo and her own voice.


Spinelli, Jerry
Stargirl
Stargirl was certainly not your typical teenager in your typical high school.  She was unconventional in every way.  Is there room for people who think and act differently from the majority?  Does society depend on a certain amount of conformity in the group?  What happens to those who love someone who “marches to the beat of a different drummer”?  This book raises some thought-provoking questions that should interest most teens.


Vaught, Susan
Big Fat Manifesto
What do you do if you’re a high school senior who is smart, friendly, outgoing and FAT?  Jamie Carcaterra is in love with a big boy who decides to undergo gastric bypass surgery because he is tired of being fat.  How will that affect their relationship?  She chronicles his decision and progress in a school newspaper column entitled “Fat Girl.”  Along the way we learn her insecurities and strengths.  An honest look at the way obese teens are treated by society, their peers and themselves.


Yancey, Rick
Alfred Kropp The Seal of Solomon
The Seal of Solomon has been stolen from the Office of Interdimensional Paradoxes and Extraordinary Phenomenon (OIPEP) by one of its own operatives, so once again the services of Alfred Kropp are needed. Alfred is an ordinary 15-year-old boy, slightly overweight, tall, with a big head, who gets bullied in the halls of his local high school. Of course, this same Alfred has blood that can heal, is the last son of Sir Lancelot, and is the sole heir to the Samson fortune. His is a name known by all and his mistakes are the kind that can end the world as we know it. As the Outcasts of heaven are released, readers follow Alfred through many fast-paced adventures, starting when he is kidnapped from his foster home in Tennessee and taken to many parts of the world. The teen hero parachutes out of airplanes, faces demons, and has a plan to save the world, if he can live long enough to carry it through. A great book for boys, as well as reluctant readers, The Seal of Solomon tells a rip-roaring story that teens will love and won't be able to put down