Why We Broke Up (354 Pages)

Your kids will like this book. It has a similar layout to The Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian.  There are many wonderful pastel drawings throughout the book. Min has filled a box with various reminders of her relationship with Ed. The book is written as a huge letter from Min to Ed, and as the reader progresses through the book Min takes us on the journey of her time spent "going out" with Ed. We are told of the movie theater, the Halloween party, the football game.And each special content in the box, allows her to relate something about their relationship to Ed and simultaneously to the reader. The drawings are wonderful, and add to our understanding of both Min and Ed. Enjoy!

Same Sun Here (297 Pages)

Silas House and Neela Vaswani are the two authors of this delightful book. Each author becomes the voice of the two main characters in Same Sun Here. The book is current,  and describes real problems the two young teens are facing. They become best friends as a result of a Pen Pal assignment, but when all the others "peeter out,"theirs continues. River is a young man living in Kentucky. Meena is a young lady if Indian decent living in New York City. Both these kids are able through their letters to create a book that explains how poverty, immigration, end environmental problems can affect innocent children.  It is a wonderful read, and how I enjoyed getting to know these two young adults!

Reunited (325 Pages)

Hilary Weisman Graham has written a terrific novel about friends and frienimies.  I know that really isn't a word, but one of my kids made it up about one of her friends with whom she had an on again/off again friendship. One day they were BFFs, and the next they were enemies. Here is a book that is about the relationship of three girls who are best friends in middle school, and then they go separate ways in high school  Their middle school years are spent listening to the band Level 3, and imagining relationships with the boys in the band. Then the band breaks up, and as though it was the glue that cemented the girls' friendship. The book shoots ahead four years, and the girls are about to graduate, when Alice hears that the band is going to have a one time concert. Alice decides that this would be enough to bring the girls together. Alice, Summer, and Tiernan, do get back together (sort of) and commence to take the "Pea Pod," an old VW green bus Alice's parents own and traveled in when they were young. Readers will laugh and sympathize with the results. It is a fun read!

the realm of possibilities (210 Pages)

David Levithan has written a terrific book for YA readers. In the realm of possibilities characters come alive as they seem to represent all of the possible roles, worries, loves, interests, and concerns of high school students today. The book is written in free verse, each poem being the voice of a particular student. There is the voice of the "jock", the voice of the student who is coming out of the closet, but my very favorite "The Patron Saint of Stoners" made me cry. It is a wonderful poem that covers, love, loyalty, and the understanding of a person's character by one teen about another. If this is the only poem you read, I urge you to read it. The poem is on page 127 in my paper back copy. I won't say another word about it, because I don't want to give anything away!

Before I Fall (470 Pages)

Ok, you folks better sit down, because this is going to be my very rare negative review. Lauren Oliver has written several YA books, but this one was just plain weird! First of all, I think the message for YA readers is all wrong. The main character, Samantha, dies in a car accident. Then she dies again and again and again. Each death varies a little, but she wakes up in her bed, in her home, at her school. Her relationship with her friends will probably read as very familiar to today's students, those relationships being positive and some may think as negative. Her relationship with her family will ring likewise. Yes, she does some really good things. Yes, she shows love and caring to her little sister. Yes, she finally comes to her senses about her boyfriend. But I felt that in spite of these things, Sam sort of glorifies death. We have too many kids today who need to know that with suicide people don't mourn forever. They get on with living. Every time a young person dies, as sad as it is, life goes on. Others may read this book differently, and I would love to hear their comments.