A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend

Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner


Summary (from SLJ): After the death of her best friend, Cass finds herself questioning her own identity, sexuality, and place in the high school hierarchy.  This funny, touching, and sweet coming-of-age story explores serious themes in a fresh way.  Cass's tentative questioning of her own sexuality and her hesitant approach toward her first serious romantic relationship will delight readers who struggle with similar issues, as well as those who simply enjoy a well-crafted story.


Thoughts: This is truly a sweet, feel-good story.  It's great to see a novel that demonstrates what a real teen would feel and how real teens might respond.  The parents are generally absent from the story and that frustrates me.  However, as you watch Cass grow (through flashbacks as well as present tense story-telling) you get to see some true high school problems work themselves out.  I know this books explores sexuality (Cass is gay), but it does so in a non-sexual, rather innocent way.  This is a great novel that I would recommend.

Small as an Elephant

Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson


Summary: A mother leaves her young son at a campground.  Told from the boy's perspective, it's his journey to find her and the elephant she wouldn't let him go see on the way to the campgrounds.

Thoughts:  I thought this was a good book.  It was not action-packed.  However, the story flowed and I could identify with the characters.  If you like The Miner's Daughter, I think you would enjoy this book.

Last Summer of the Death Warriors

Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork

Summary: Pancho feels like death follows him everywhere: his father, his sister, and now this kid named D.Q. has cancer.  As Pancho works to avenge his sister's death, D.Q. tries to teach him the ways of the Death Warrior.

Thoughts:  Eh.  This novel was okay.  I definitely wanted to finish it and find out what happens.  Does Pancho actually kill the man responsible for his sister's death?  Does D.Q.'s treatment work?  Where do they all end up?  However, sometimes the writing dragged and Pancho's inner thoughts were drab.  Have you read it?  Did you like it?  Let me know.

The Running Dream

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

Summary: Jess is on her way back from a track meet when her bus is involved in a traffic accident and she looses one of her legs...and one of her teammates.  This is the story of how she survives - physically and mentally.

Thoughts: Really enjoyed this book.  I'm not a runner.  At all.  So, while I didn't completely understand how she felt about running, I could relate in other contexts.  This book was totally accessible.  It has a really sweet ending and will make you look at "disabled" people in a whole new light.

Sleeping Freshman Never Lie

Sleeping Freshman Never Lie by David Lubar

Summary:  Scott Hudson is trying to survive his freshman year in high school when his mother announces she's pregnant.  In order to give his new sibling advice, since his older brother isn't there to give him advice, Scott begins writing letters to this unborn creature.

Thoughts: Another great book!  Seriously, they're getting pretty easy to come by these days.  It's a realistic fiction that's relevant for boys but accessible to girls, too.  The friend group starts breaking up, one of them is constantly tormented, and, of course, there are girls involved.  It's a fun read that kept me smiling.

Realistic Boy Fiction

I have never been into reading realistic fiction where the boy is the main character...until now.  Authors like Jordan Sonnenblick, Gary D. Schmidt, and Mark Shulman (is it weird that their last initial is "s"?) have really nailed the genre. 

I read Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie a few weeks ago by Jodan Sonnenblick.  Who'd have thunk that I'd be reading a boy book and crying?  Or laughing so loudly that the kids in the library look at me funny?  (And have even "shushed" me!)  It's an amazing book.  Boys will get it, girls will get it, and it's pretty much an all around awesome novel.

I listened to Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars on a recent car trip.  Also a powerful boy novel.  It just goes to show that boys have feelings too.  Even if they often punch people so they can feel the same emotion.  It made me smirk and laugh and gasp...especially when the rats fell out of the asbestos-tiled ceiling. 

I also read Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt.  Wow.  Just...wow!  This book talks about how a boy finds himself through art, the library, and some teachers/librarians who are willing to take their time with him.  It details the struggles kids can have when their families are "messed up," they're new to town, and they're teenagers.

I read Mark Shulman's Scrawl which is also a book on the LoneStar Award's Nominee list.  It was an interesting read from a bully's point of view.  It has a narrative that will open anyone's eyes to the fact that most bullies are bullied themselves.

I'd recommend any of these books to both genders...although I think boys will enjoy them the most.

Tangled

Tangled by Carolyn Mackler

Summary (from GoodReads.com)
Paradise wasn't supposed to suck.

Not the state of being, but a resort in the Caribbean.
Jena, Dakota, Skye, and Owen are all there for different reasons, but at Paradise their lives become tangled together in ways none of them can predict. Paradise will change them all.

Personal Thoughts
Hmmm.  I wasn't sure about this one when I started.  There's a fair amount of language (especially in Dakota's section) and a few lustful passages throughout.  The story was well-written and brings everything together nicely, but wasn't contrite.  Middle schoolers probably think and speak the way the characters in the book do, but it's a little raunchier than the books I normally go for.  Due to some of the more mature scenes, I would say this is more of an 8th grade book.

Book Trailer: The Summer I Turned Pretty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pXvIzb0c68
This is the link directly to YouTube if this video is not loading fast enough in the blog.

13 Little Blue Envelopes

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

Summary (from book jacket)
Inside little blue envelope 1 are $1,000 and instructions to buy a plane ticket.  In envelope 2 are directions to a specific London flat.  The note in envelope 3 tells Ginny: Find a starving artist.

Because of envelope 4, Ginny and her artist, a playwright/thief/bloke-about-town called Keith, go to Scotland together, with somewhat disastrous-though utterly romantic-results.  Ginny isn't sure she'll see Keith again, and definitely doesn't know what to think about him.  Could the answer be in the envelopes?

Ginny doesn't know it, but adventures in Rome and Paris are in envelopes 6 and 8.  The rules are that she has to open one at a time, in order, so perhaps it isn't surprising that she discovers things about her life and love one by one.  Everything about Ginny will change this summer, and it's all because of the 13 little blue envelopes.

Personal Thoughts
I liked this book a lot.  Part of the reason is because I've been to most of the places Ginny traveled to!  It was exciting to think about her standing in front of the Trevi Fountain and knowing that I've been there.  She also traveled to several places I haven't been to but now want to visit...like Denmark.  Ginny's adventure was very personal to me.  I went through some very similar personal transformations when I was traveling, too.  I found out who I was, came out of my shell, and began to see the larger picture or the world and my role within it.  I always suggest a semester abroad for college students and hope they grab life with the same amount of zeal that Ginny has shown.  I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys travel, adventures, and finding out who you really are.

High Heat

High Heat by Carl Deuker

Summary (from book jacket)
Like the game of baseball, life is quirky and unpredictable, as Shane Hunter discovers in the spring of his sophomore year.  Suddenly and without warning, his life of privilege is turned upside down.  And just as suddenly, life begins to seem utterly without fairness or purpose to him.  From a star pitcher to being unsure of himself on the mound, Shane has to try to overcome his doubts and try to find redemption through baseball.

Personal Thoughts
I'm a baseball fan, but not a FAN.  I enjoy watching a game on occasion but don't follow it religiously.  In spite of this, I enjoyed this book.  There was some baseball lingo that I just didn't understand and sometimes I felt like the baseball play-by-play was a little long-winded.  However!  If you like baseball and know what a leadoff home run and a DH are you will love this book.  It's easy to read and has a great back story as well.