The Invention of Wings ( 359 Pages)

Sue Monk Kidd has such a wonderful knack for developing characters, and Hetty "Handful"  Grimke lives up to this reputation. Handful, is the name her mother gave her, but as was common in the South, pre-Civil War, owners named their slaves and gave these slaves their own last name. Handful and her mother were slaves owned by the Grimke family. Handful was "given" to Sarah on her 11th birthday, and so starts the book which is rich in character, setting, and family values, but also does not spare the reader of the injustices of slavery. The relationship between Sarah and Handful changes slowly over the years and as the book's chapters bounce between Sarah and Handful, the reader sees both characters thoughts and beliefs. I loved every minute of it. Although not written as a YA book, it is one which will be enjoyed by 8th graders on up.

If I STAY ( 234 PAGES)

I just finished reading this book by Gayle Forman, and it's a four kleenexer that girls will love. At the beginning of the book, Mia's family is enjoying the inch of snow that has caused the Portland, Oregon schools to be cancelled for a "snow day". Mia, is in her senior year of high school, and in a split second her life changes. The family decides to get in the car and visit family friends and end up at their grandparents' home for dinner. But they are in a horrible car accident that kills all of her family, and Mia is then the voice telling the story.....even while she is in a coma. The main message becomes  the idea stated by a nurse in the ICU that "It's all up to Mia. She's the one in charge." Thus, the title. The reader discovers Mia's family life, each member, her boyfriend, her one BFF, all told by Mia . It's an interesting idea, one that affirms we are all in charge of our lives and the direction is one we choose.  Your girls will LOVE this book!

Being Sloane Jacobs (327 Pages)

This book by Lauren Morrill is the literary equivalent of a chick flick! Imagine two girls, both named Sloane Jacobs. One is the daughter of a prominent Senator, and lives a rather "comfortable" life in D.C. as she attempts to perfect her figure skating. Her middle name is Emily. Her mother is a rather "pushy" person who expects her children to behave in the socially "correct" way at all times. The other, whose middle name is Devon, comes from the opposite end of the social & financial scale. Sloane Devon lives in a trailer park, she is an aggressive hockey player, with a mother who is in an alcoholic rehab program. I mention both mothers because for both girls there is an undertone of an attempt to escape the family "problems." However, this is NOT a book about slamming mothers. It is a book about two girls and the pressures of athletics. Both are headed towards Montreal for a summer camp on ice, where they are to improve their skating experience.  They meet at a hotel where both are staying the night before checking in to camp. It is there that they decide to switch places. And so the book develops with alternating chapters from Sloane Emily and Sloan Devon.  At first I thought OMG, this going to be so predictable.  But after a while, I realized it wasn't. And furthermore,  I  think girls will really enjoy this book!

The Scar Boys (237 Pages)

Wow!This novel has it all! Len Vlahos has written a book that sounds like kids. It covers it all. There is bullying, family angst, School angst, friends, and it's not only a coming of age novel, it is also a story about self discovery. Written as a college essay, Harry tells the story of his own growing up in the North East of the United States. There are parts that ring with meanness, there are parts that ring with the comfort of a good friend, and tying it all together at the beginning of each chapter is a quote from a song with the song's writer(s) acknowledged. In this book, Harry is horrible damaged by a group of neighborhood boys who tie him to a tree, and then when a thunder and lightening storm develops, they run to the safety of their homes. The tree is hit by the lightening, and Harry's face and neck are burned. And this is in the first six pages. It doesn't lose any steam from that page on. Both boys and girls will enjoy the book. Parents will enjoy it also. Warning: the language is rough in a few parts. But it is so real, so appropriate, that it didn't bother me at all. This is a keeper !

Panic (408 Pages)

Lauren Oliver has written another YA book that has me wondering how kids will respond to the ideas within its pages. The book takes place in a small town in upstate New York and focuses on four teens: Heather, Bishop, Nat, and Dodge. The four have just graduated from high school. Their town, Carp, offers little for teens to enjoy and because of this, a tradition known as Panic has developed. Panic is open only to seniors who have graduated. The summer of their senior year the students meet secretly over the course of the summer and receive messages as to when and where the next step of Panic will take place. It is an elimination process, and students learn about each Panic contest only when they arrive on the scene. The judges of Panic are unknown, and there are specific rules students must follow. Every student who decides to participate puts a set amount of money into the Panic account and the total that will go to the winner is announced at the first scene. It is basically a game of chicken and ends with a final challenge known by all as "Joust." Joust is where the final participants drive cars toward each other until one of the cars swerves to avoid a crash. There are twists and turns to the plot, part of which will be familiar to readers. However, this is a tense, frightening, and realistic fiction. How will our students today respond to this text? With intelligence or with infallible thinking?

Homeland ( 381 pages + 8 VERY interesting afterword pages)

Cory Doctorow has written a sequel to Little Brother that I reviewed in an earlier post. In this novel, he continues to focus on Marcus as the main character and leader of techie teens in San Francisco. Following a terrorist attack on San Francisco, the city experiences a severe collapse of the economy. Both of Marcus's parents have lost their jobs, resulting in Marcus needing to drop out of college. However, after he attends an annual event in the California desert known as Burning Man with his girlfriend, Ange, he meets some famous gentlemen who were early on technical whizzes. His name is passed along to a man running as an independent in the next California election. He offers Marcus a job as the campaign's webmaster, telling him that he expects some exciting new ideas. This book contains so much excitement and is a fast-paced read. The comment in the book's jacket says the ideas in this book are "as current as yesterday". It also says that Doctorow is encouraging his readers to have courage, be active, and to work to make the world a better place. And all of this being done with computers! Your students will love this book, and both you and they will gain much from reading the information included in the afterwords and the bibliography.  As a matter of fact- I might be very tempted to begin with these!

Paper Towns ( 305 Pages)

Just finished John Green's Paper Towns, and I loved it. Open to some wonderful discussions. I was one of the few people who didn't care for his Looking for Alaska, and thought An Abundance of Katherines was OK, but I adored The Fault in Our Stars. So I gave this one a chance. Boy, would I like to discuss this with some high school kids. First of all, I had never heard of paper towns until I learned that a company produced them as a means of protecting against copyright infringement. A paper town is not a real town, but is put on a map, and that is the only way it exists. In this book, Green also uses it to describe residential developments that were meant to be, but were never finished. Also, Margo Roth Spiegelman, the next door neighbor and love of his life to Quentin Jacobs, describes herself late in the book as a paper doll. If any of you recall paper dolls, you know that they were flat and without much substance. This book traces the final days of senior high school, and how a small group of friends handles the change they are about to face. It is also about friendship and acceptance and understanding ourselves and those we care about.