Braless in Wonderland
By: Debbie Reed Fischer
224p
Dutton Juvenile
ISBN-10: 0525479546
ISBN-13: 978-0525479543
Annotation:
Allee Rosen is a teen girl who focuses on her more on education and less on her social life is thrust into a world completely new, when she is discovered by a model scout.
Summary
Allee Rosen is a high school senior with one thing on her mind, Yale University. That is until her father explains that a minor miscalculation in the college fund is about to destroy everything she has worked so hard for. While at the mall to support her sister (affectionately named “The Fluff”) own modeling aspirations, Allee is accidentally discovered by a modeling agency. Now she is given the choice, either go back to business as usual; finishing up high school and working at the local Wal-Mart, and accept one of the dreaded local colleges or spend the next six months in Miami trying to be the model she never thought she was. In an attempt to earn enough money to pay for the college of her dreams, She chooses the later.
Allee’s adventure in modeling is a fun journey filled with strange vocabulary and surreal surroundings that sound almost imaginary to the casual reader. Fans of America's Next Top Model will be enthralled, especially once she becomes the next “it” girl. As the story comes to a close Allee is then forced to choose, continue modeling and head to Japan for the next six months or go to Yale.
The story tends to drag once Allee begins her modeling career her common sense is lost once she enters the modeling world which makes for predictable resolutions. Teens will love the fantastical storyline and unforgettable situations, however, combined with one dimensional characters such as the “friend” who is really the conniving back-stabber, the mean girl with a heart of gold, makes this novel unable to completely fulfill its potential.
Still Teens will be strutting down the runway when the finish this book, looking for more on the subject.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Braless in Wonderland
Black Box
Black Box
By: Julie Schumacher
176p
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0385735421
ISBN-13: 978-0385735421
Annotation:
When her sixteen-year-old sister is hospitalized for depression her parents want to keep it a secret, fourteen-year-old Elena tries to cope with her own anxiety and feelings of guilt that she is determined to conceal from outsiders.
Summary:
A realistic look at the effects of depression and the problems that can surround it.
Fourteen year-old Elena is responsible and reliable while her older sister Dora is the exact opposite. As Elena tries to deal with not only her sister’s illness but also the constant questioning from friends at school, and the fighting at home it becomes difficult for her to maintain her composure. As her parents refuse to acknowledge Dora’s condition, Elena feels more and more isolated and alone. Intent on not showing emotions, Elena finds solace in the friendship of her classmate Jimmy; a social outcast who has experiences with the practices at the local mental institution.
Throughout the novel Elena, deals with the constant emotional uncertainty of her sister while she is both in and out of the institution and her strange behavior once she returns. Elena become suspicious of her sister and begins to research her medicine, which is where we come to learn the meaning of the title (Blackbox is a warning label stating that these people should be under constant supervision) as well as her strange behavior at school.
This novel is no Disney story, it deals with difficult situations in a manner that is accessible to teens, the novel also includes websites and information about depression and suicide prevention, which may be helpful for people looking for more information.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Rats Saw God
Rats Saw God
By: Rob Thomas
202 pg.
Publisher: Simon Pulse
ISBN-10: 1416938974
ISBN-13: 978-1416938972
Annotation:
In hopes of graduating, Steve York agrees to complete a hundred-page writing assignment which helps him to sort out his relationship with his famous astronaut father and the events that changed him from promising student to troubled teen.
Summary:
As the story opens our protagonist Steve York is dealing with the effect of the pending divorce between his parents, his father affectionately known as the Astronaut and his mother. After trying to live up to the high expectations placed on him by his father such as Straight A’s and a part-time job, Steve cracks and escapes to a better reality with the help of drugs and a random group of friends everything comes crashing down. Now removed from all of that, he is living with his mother and her new husband an only one assignment separating him from his high school graduation, a 100 page paper on the subject of himself. Forced to reexamine how he has reached this point of his life, this novel allows the reader to reflect not only on the telling story of Steve, but perhaps on their own high school experience as well.
Steve’s coming of age is not nearly as smooth as we expect, through these hundred pages we are forced to examine his first love, first sexual experience and even the traumatic first heartbreak.
This novel exemplifies the difficulties of coming-of-age with a character as real as you or one of your friends.
Memoirs of A Teenage Amnesiac
Gabrielle Zevin
271p.
Publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux
- ISBN-10: 0312561288
- ISBN-13: 978-0312561284
This touching sophomore novel, by the author of Elsewhere (2005), touches on the sensitivities and humors of everyday life.
Naomi accidentally hits her head and loses all her memories from the present to sixth grade. Imagine all the traumatic events of the last five years, having to be rediscovered in a few days. Things like rediscovering your parents are divorced or birth control devices in your bedside table take on a complete new level of emotionality. Naomi allows us to experience these events at a comfortable and safe distance as a reader. Through her journey she is able to learn more about herself and the people in her life as well as find love. Until her memories come flooding back.
What does this mean for all the meaningful friendships she has made during her time as an amnesiac, and more importantly what does it mean for her and her fellow amnesiac boyfriend?
This novel is a humorous and guilty pleasure that still has the ability to affect the reader. This novel is perfect for those readers looking for something with substance yet still a fun read.
Someday this Pain Will be Useful to You
Someday This Pain Will be Useful to You
By: Peter Cameron
p.229
Farrar, Straus & Giroux
ISBN-10: 0312428162
ISBN-13: 978-0312428167
Annotation :
Eighteen-year-old James living in New York City with his older sister and divorced mother struggles to find a direction for his life.
Summary :
James has just graduated from high school and is unsure of his life's direction. He is working aimlessly at a job given to him by his Manhattan socialite mother at an art gallery. It is here where he meets the much older man John, who happens to be his mother's assistant. But when James is accused of sexual harassment by John, he has a feeling that his summer will be unlike any other.
Not your ordinary young adult novel, this book will sure to strike a humorous chord with its audience. This coming-of-age has its fill moments of humor, sadness and tender affection. For all of you who have ever wondered what life would be like if you had done something differently, than this is the novel for you.
Deftly written, this novel will appeal to both adults and young adults alike.
Hunger Games
Hunger Games
By: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic Press
ISBN-10: 0439023483
ISBN-13: 978-0439023481
First in a new and exciting series. Hunger Games takes us to a future, in which teens are forced to fight for survival for the enjoyment and amusement of the society. Filled with well developed characters, Collins creates a world easy to fall into.
Katniss is a skilled hunter and much more able to survive the pitfall of the Hunger Game than her sister. She is placed with Peeta, the bakers son as her teammate, a boy who had a crush on her since the age of 5. t will take a lot for her to learn how to rely on other people, but this challenge will teach her more about herself than even she realizes.
Collins novel will keep teens up into the late hours trying to discover what happens next. Not far from the reality show we are already used to, the situations are similar enough to allow the individual to ponder the possiblity of this becoming our future. Teens will appreciate all the action and adventure Katniss and Peeta are faced with. Collins does not shy away from the horror and gore so this is great for teens who prefer their fiction a little on the darker side.
Teens will be chomping at the bit, for the next installment of this sure to be smash hit series.
Lucas
Lucas
By: Kevin Brooks
ISBN-10: 1905294174
ISBN-13: 978-1905294176
Annotation:
On an isolated English island, fifteen year old Caitlin McCann makes the painful journey from adolescence to adulthood through her experiences with a mysterious boy, whose presence has an unsettling effect on the island's inhabitants.
Summary:
As Caitlin retells the events of the last summer, everything that happens especially the day she meets the young stranger Lucas. Lucas is young man, a drifter who has the uncanny ability to read people and predict their actions, and the ability to live off the land. Due to Lucas' unusual nature he is ostracized from the larger community, and only Cait knows his true demeanor. But when a young girl accuses Lucas of sexual harassment senseless mob decides that it is time for Lucas to leave.
The characters in Brook's novel well developed and poignant. They overcome the stereotype of common flat characters and become something more. Caitlin and Lucas are teens that have depth and will manage to keep the attention of even the most reluctant teen. These events in this novel are true to life as well as starkly terrifying.
Lucas will stay with you for years to come and will leave you pondering the events long after the final pages are read.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Just Listen
Just Listen
p.400
Puffin
ISBN-13: 978-0142410974
Isolated from friends who believe the worst because she has not been truthful with them, sixteen-year-old Annabel finds an ally in classmate Owen, whose honesty and passion for music help her to face and share what really happened at the end-of-the-year party that changed her life.
Summary:
What could be worse that being caught by all of your friends, with your best friend's boyfriend?
That is exactly what Annabel is asking. Gone is her popularity and her friends, she has accepted a self sentence of social exile, because she can never admit what really happened in that closet.
Annabelle is a nice girl. She is so nice that she is willing to do nearly anything for anyone to keep them happy, even if that means she has to suffer by being the doormat toher friends and family. Until one day when she is she and her best friend Sophie have a falling out and her world comes crashing down. Annabelle is shunned by nearlyeveryone, everyone except for Owen. Owen is a likeable guy who also happens to be a nut for alternative music, knows something isn’t right. As Annabelle begins to come more and more withdrawn and unwilling to speak up, the perfect life she once had is starting to crack at the seams. The only person willing to speak to her is Owen, but can she trust him?
Teens who love novels by author Laurie Halse Anderson will instantly be drawn into the drama that is Just Listen. Beautifully written, this novel will leave you haunted by hungry for more.
Nick and Norah...
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
By: Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
208p
Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN-13: 978-0375846144
Annotation:
High school student Nick O'Leary, member of a rock band, meets college-bound Norah Silverberg and asks her to be his girlfriend for five minutes in order to avoid his ex-sweetheart.
Summary:
When shy quiet recently single Nick glances at the headstrong and also recently single Nora across a bar in which they are both too young to be in, he realizes that she is his only chance to find a girl that will impress his beautiful and stuck-up ex-girlfriend Tris in time. He convinces Nora to be his girlfriend for the “next five minutes” and what happens next? You’ll have to read and find out.
This novel is filled with adventure and humor, and will sure to keep even the most reluctant of readers thoroughly entertained. Teens will fall in love with Nick and his attempts to do what is right even when things are not going his way.
Cohn creates a novel surrounding one night filled with wild antics, sexual frustration and of course lots of rockin’ music. A night in which two teens discover and explore the lives they have known and the future itself. This novel is filled with tons of music tidbits from heavy metal and punk bands to those oldies-but-goodies we know and love, perfect for the true music fan.
Strong Language is throughout this great teen novel, so readers beware.
