The Reading Nook

For this assignment, I chose to read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. This book can be categorized as young adult for several reasons. First and foremost, the story is told from the first-person perspective of the protagonist. The protagonist in this book is a 14/15 year old girl named Melinda Sordino, a typical age for YA. Melinda is an outcast at school, near friendless. This is the result of the fact that she called the police at an end of summer party for a secret reason, and is now hated by everyone. Being a misfit and an outcast is another theme of YA. This book also largely qualifies as YA because it examines the unspoken code between teenagers, and the results when someone breaks it. Melinda is a recepetive, intelligent young woman dealing with many things, not the least of which is her dysfunctional family. The fact that her parents are not there to help and support her is another common YA trademark. Melinda, haunted by the events at the party, stops speaking almost entirely. This is her way of dealing with her feelings of hurt and alienation. She also finds a safe haven in the art room- she learns to express and help herself through art. This is a theme of YA also- that the main character helps themselves, usually without the help of an adult. The book is also very realistic- all the character’s speech sounds almost familiar, and they are very plausible. This book is not a happy story- it is a very sad, heartbreaking story of a young girl’s pain and the way she deals with it. It may not be happy, but it can be hopeful- she matures and grows greatly, and the readers finds themselves being proud of her. Personally, I loved this book. I found the main character very lovable and relatable, and I love books like that. I also liked how real all the people and places seemed, and in certain cases scarily so. Speak is a wonderful book, but not for someone who is faint-hearted. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone under 6th grade. For anyone older though, I definetley would.

For this assignment I chose to read the book Whirligig, by Paul Fleischman. This book contains many elements that that allow it to be categorized as a Young Adult story. For instance, the main character, Brent Bishop, is an adolescent boy who is trying to fit in at his new school. Most main characters in Young Adult books are teenagers who struggle to not be an outsider. In this book, Brent goes to a party. He thinks that he might find a way to fit in more during this event. At the party he is introduced to alcohol and drugs, which is another theme of a Young Adult book. Unfortunately he finds out that he did not follow the specific dress code. Later on he tries to talk to a girl he likes, but she suddenly screams that she doesn’t want to talk to him. Embarrassed, Brent leaves the party and tries to kill himself by crashing his car. This too, is a YA book theme, for it deals with depression, something that mainly occurs to teens. He crashed his car, but instead of killing himself he kills an innocent girl named Lea. This causes him to go into a deeper stage of depression. He wants to make it up to the victims parents, and they request that he goes to the four corners of the US: Washington, California, Florida, and Maine, and put up a whirligig of Lea there. Now he must undergo this adventure which he thinks may be the key to solving his personal issues. This book is clearly a YA book because it involves the struggle of a teen’s life, drugs, alcohol, death and depression.

I personally enjoyed this book. I found it interesting how sudden the changes in Brent’s mood were. The decrease in his confidence truly amazed me. I also liked how the author showed the effects Brent’s whirligigs had on the people who saw them. I really like this book, and I recommend it to others.

For my YA assignment I read SPEAK. This book is about a girl who like most kids of her age is having a tough time at school and her name is Melinda. The book is set in Syracuse, New York in the present time and up there it can get pretty cold. Snow has to do a lot with the book because their is a lot of it. You find out that the summer before school started she crashed a party and called the cops. When she goes back to school none of her friends are friends with her anymore. Throughout most of the book she is trying to make friends with them and have their click come back together. In her school throughout the year she loves art and the art teacher. At the beginning of the school year the students were all given different themes that they would work with throughout the year. Melinda happened to get TREE which at the beginning thought was very easy, but then finds out that it is so hard to the point that she can not draw a decent tree. This theme leads into another friendship with one of her old friends. At the of the book however you find out why she really crashed the party.

This book could be easily called a YA book. It is definitely directed toward people who are in their early to late teens, but for any younger than that it probably would be quite inappropriate. However, if a good reader one or two years younger than us would have picked it up and read it they would have understood what was happening.

This book deals with people not of the faint in heart. The ending is quite sudden, but happy as well as being quite complicated and slightly exciting. I started reading with quite high expectations because I had read a book previously by the same author called Whirligig. I ended the reading with my expectations were thoroughly fulfilled.

I read The First Part Last by Angela Johnson. It includes many ideas and themes that go into a book to allow it to be categorized as Young Adult. The book is mainly about teenagers around the age of eighteen, and there is a lot of dialogue that is written as if a teenager is saying it. The characters are faced with many challenging issues including teenage pregnancy and severe health problems. The main character is a young man who’s girlfriend has just had a baby, but she is in an irreversible coma so he has to take care of his child, Feather, alone. As a result of that, he is often seen as an outcast in his society. He has to realize that he is no longer a child and now has adult responsibilities.

I enjoyed this very much overall. It dealt with some very hard but real issues that made me aware of things other people may be going through. The writing was beautiful and descriptive and it deeply explored the consequences of having a baby too young. One thing that made it confusing was that the chapters switched back and forth from the present to what happened before the baby was born. That was hard to understand at first, but as it got clearer I enjoyed it very much. There was not a very developed plot, but I still loved it because it felt so real and I connected and sympathized with the characters very easily. I recommend this book to anyone who likes books that are about real life, and the crazy twists it holds.

Stuck In Neutral, by Terry Trueman is the book that I choose to read for the Y.A. assignment.  It is fairly short book told in first-person about a fourteen-year-old boy named Shawn McDaniel, who spends most of his time worrying about his death.  Shawn has Cerebral Palsy, s condition when a person does not have control of their muscles.  Shawn lives with his mother Lindy, brother Paul and his sister Cindy.  His father, Sydney E. McDaniel, is a character in the book who one does not know weather to like or dislike.  He left his family when Shawn was just four years old because it was too painful for him to see his son in this state.
Shawn’s life is a “…One of those ‘good news-bad news’ jokes.” (1)  In addition to not being able to move his body as he pleases, his brain works just fine.  He has an amazing memory and has the thought of an average teenage boy; girls, food and fun.  Everyone thinks that Shawn is just a “vegetable” and does not have the ability to think.  His father thinks that he is in pain, and wants to do something about it.  As the book progresses, the reader learns about a man named Earl Detraux.  A few years earlier Earl killed his two year old son, who he also thought was constantly in pain, and thought the right thing to do would be to stop it.  Shawn’s father is supporting this man, and Shawn does not know weather his father will try and ‘End his pain’ as well. By the end of the novel, Shawn, as scary as death may seem, decides that whatever decision his father makes will be the right one.
I really enjoyed this book because it dealt with a very serious problem, and made me think about my opinion on the matter.  I also like it because it seemed pretty realistic, and personally, I do not like to read about things that are impossible.  Even thought not many people have Cerebral Palsy, many children may feel ignored and feel like they cannot express themselves, like Shawn.  While reading this book, I started to get a sense of what it must feel like to have a disease like Cerebral Palsy, and, in return, I cried a fair amount during this book.  I recommend Stuck In Neutral for anyone who likes books with deep and interesting plot.

Lizzie Zelter

Cut, a novel by Patricia Mccormick, is the story of a fifteen year old girl named Callie. It is only a little more then one hundred pages, and is narrated from the view of Callie in the form of journal entries for her rehab center counselor. Callie suffers from the now too-common problem of cutting. She regularly cuts her skin with a blade in order to escape pain;as a result of this she is sent to a rehabilitation center named Sea Pines, but the girls who live there call it Sick Minds, as a sardonic reference to themselves. This is something many teenagers-depressed or not- can relate too. Mccormick presents Callie and her fellow inmates as very realistic and believable characters by having them speak and act as an average teenager would. They curse and joke around, and there are also very sublte sexual innuendos lurking in the girls’ words. The aspect of the story that labels it as a Young Adult book most obviously, besides the fact that Callie is a teenager, is the fact that Callie is a mature and perceptive character who is unable to believe that she is mature and perceptive. If this review were a TV station it would pause for a dramatic lack of self esteem in a teenager notification, flashed on the screen in huge yellow letters. It is later revealed that Callie began cutting herself after a tragedy of sorts occurred in her family, whcih she blames herself for although it was obviously not her fault. Callie also stops talking out of shame about this event. Her lack of speech and interaction makes it hard for her to feel like a part of her Sea Pines/Sick Minds group. She cannot bring herself to participate at all, and also realizes sadly that almost all of the girls have a will to get better, while Callie is not able to find the inner strength necessary to do so. Callie is both gifted and cursed by her detachment. It allows her to see other girls cheating on their recovery, like a bulimic girl she hears throwing up in the bathroom while others are too distracted to notice. Callie’s fear of human contact prevents her from telling anyone about this. When the bulimic girl’s condition deteriorates rapidly, Callie again blames herself. However, Callie gradually find the courage to make a connection with others, and to see what really happened the night her family was shattered. By the end of the story, Callie has made the momentous decision that labels Cut (underlined) as a Young Adult book and herself as a mature young woman: she realizes she wants to get better.

What I really enjoyed about this book was the vivid descriptions Patricia Mccormick uses. I am not talking about descriptions of the beautiful sea green color of the outside world, which is forbidden to the inmates. Whenever Callie cuts herself, the reader is forced to live through every single moment of the razor biting into her skin, and the chilling peace Callie feels from the pain. Perhaps the best moment of the book is when Callie first sees the arms of another ‘cutting’ patient. They are crisscrossed with angry red welts in strange, deliberate patterns, and have words cut out on them. These horrifying, gory images seared into my mind when I first read them. I also screamed in a high pitched voice and threw the book with all force against a wall. For me, this is the mark of very good and thought-provoking writing. The writing forced me to consider how awful it was to be sad enough to hurt yourself, and the descriptions gave me ten times more insights into the character’s mind then I had before.

-Leighton Braunstein

Go Ask Alice, a diary of an Anonymous girl, is about a teenager who has a very troubled life. It is very hard for her to make friends, and she eventually gets addicted to drugs. She writes in her diary as if she was speaking to a person, and writes as if her diary is her only friend. She tries very hard to get boyfriends, but most of them abuse her. She constantly tries to get off her addiction of drugs, but she always finds herself under the influence of drugs. Then, after both of her grandparents pass away, she starts to change. Near the end of the book, she shows a lot of improvement and nearly becomes a normal youth, and decides not to keep another diary. A note at the end of the book reveals that the author of the diary dies three days after this decision. This book fulfills all of the themes of a YA book, and most of the elements.

I enjoy how the author of the book seemed to be talking to the reader, which made me feel like I was watching her the whole time. I also liked how she made me feel sorry for her after every single mistake she makes, and because it is her actual diary, she reveals all of her thoughts in the book. I didn’t really like the first half of the book, because it is too slow paced and not much plot changes. It is a lot more interesting when she is more emotional, because you can feel exactly how she feels. You never know what is going to happen next; it seems that every step she takes causes another wall for her to jump over. This is a very mind-capturing book, and will capture any reader’s eye.

-Ethan Zhou

Morghan Williams

Library Assignment

For my library assignment, the book that I choose to read was Boy meets Boy, by David Levithan. I chose to read this book for my YA assignment because the cover stood out to me and the title was interesting. Boy meets Boy is about a boy named Paul who is gay and he has to decide between his boyfriend and his ex-boyfriend, deal with his crazy friends, and help his friends parents understand that being gay is not a bad thing. I liked this book because it showed how Paul deals with being gay, how he doesn’t care what people thought of him, and how he told himself that he is going to accept himself for who he is.

This book is a young adult book because it deals with teenage situations. Boy meets Boy deals with straight, gay, lesbian, and bisexual teenagers. This is a big topic in the book and it is something that older readers would understand more. Most of the characters are teenagers and readers can understand what type of things the characters are going through. The author, David Levithan, did a wonderful job of making this a book that some teenagers can relate to or that teenagers can understand when they are reading it.

he YA book I chose was The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak. Interestingly, this YA 550 page book doesn’t exactly meet all the attributes that a typical YA book has. The story, it self, is told by “death.” I takes place in Nazi, Germany so death is obviously a big part of what happened at that time. The main character, Liesel, is sent to a foster family. She never had a father, her mother abandoned her and  probably dies soon after, and her own brother practically dies in her arms. The book doesn’t really relate to any other teenagers except for her friend, Rudy, but they only become teenagers until later on in the book. Liesel starts off being 9 years old. The story is mainly about her moving to this foster family, and eventually what happens, is they decide to hide a Jew in their basement. As the book progresses, Liesel becomes more mature in her actions and understanding of things. She starts to get what is going on around her and struggles with what to do, and what her idea of right and wrong should be.
When she first moves to Molching, she does not know how to read or write and is made fun of for that. In the beginning, she suffers from the loss of her family, but she soon grows an attachment for her new papa, Hans Hubermann. She loves the way he plays his accordion, and he starts teaching her how to read after she tells him about her troubles in school. Each night around 2:00 in the morning she wakes every night from a nightmare she has about her brother’s death. And every night, Hans comes in, play the accordion for her and teaches her how to read. She then accumulates an obsession with books and actually starts stealing them, hence the book’s title. As far as YA themes in this book, The Book Thief meets most of the levels. She is faced with the Nazi-Jew problem and it certainly increases as the book moves on. She also deals with death, as almost everybody she knows in the story dies, and extreme poverty. The book ends with her being a teenager, she is 14 and her entire family has just died. I think that this book is a YA book, but definitely a different kind then one would expect. It does deal with the problems of this girl, Liesel Meminger, and how she deals with them. Overall, I think this book was incredibly sad, but important and really taught me something about what happened in the 1940’s in Germany.

Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, should be classified as a YA book. It is a YA book because it includes ten-out-of-ten “YA elements” as defined by literary scholars. The main character, named Cole, is only a teenager when we goes too far and assaults Peter Driscal by smashing his head into a sidewalk. Peter sustains life crippling injuries during his assault. This book is told in first person as Cole tries to heal himself.

This book deals with many aspects that are only suitable for older audiences including depression, severe regrets, and abuse by Cole’s parents. It also deals with the harsh reality of being genuinely sorry but knowing that you cannot make what you did better. Touching Spirit Bear is also relatively short, at only 287 pages, another aspect common in YA books. Cole definitely becomes more mature, even in the early stages of the book. This is because after nearly dying because of his bravado, Cole is forced to live, incapacitated and barley able to move, on an Alaskan Island. While there, he is forced to take such PG-13 measures as eating mice and worms (!), watching the death of some helpless baby birds, and suffering from his poor choices greatly. While this book does not offer much in the way of cursing outside of the occasional “crap” or “damn” is does mention ‘long stings of curses’. This book is clearly intended for young adult readers for many reasons.

I loved this book because it is both humbling and enlightening, cruel and joyous, and most importantly, happy but deeply depressing. Overall, I would give this book a ten out of ten because it depicts the harsh realities of our world, but also offers ways that we can become true to what is right, and become better people.

The Princess Diaries
By Meg Cabot

The Princess Diaries is a YA book about a girl, Mia, who deals with normal girl things: Boys, friends and school. She thinks all of these things are complicated, but then she finds out she is a princess! Mia must deal with regular girl problems and must sort out her princess life too. When her school finds out she is a princess she needs to tell the difference if people like her for her, or if they are using her for media attention. Mia finds out the hardships of being famous and how differently people will treat you.

I highly recommend this book to someone who is going through the regular chaotic day of a teenager, but also to someone who wants a book to be less predictable. This book is very relatable to our age group because it deals with things teenagers go through. In every page you will feel engrossed and that you don’t want to put the book down. At the end of the book, Mia learns that you should always stay true to yourself. Even if the rest of the world is trying to change you.

~ Lipi Raghunathan

For my YA book I chose the second book in the “Twilight Saga”, New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. This is about the troubles Bella, the protagonist, goes through after her boyfriend, Edward, leaves her. Bella goes through serious stages of depression where she no longer feels the desire to live but must stay alive to take care of her father.  After hearing the devastating news of Edward’s departure, Bella closes herself off to the world until her father brings her back to reality. New Moon deals with many YA issues including depression, running away from home, death, and marriage. It is definitely not geared toward young children. It is 560 pages, a length that exceeds all most all children books’. Its ending is not a cliche, “happily ever after”, as in too many children books; but instead it’s a combination of emotions that wouldn’t be comprehensible for young kids.

I LOVED this book,  I thought it gave very thorough descriptions and it made me feel as if I were there in the book. New Moon book appeals to teenagers, mostly girls, although you won’t fully understand the novel without reading Twilight. Once you read New Moon, you will be hooked and will feel an uncontrollable urge to read the other books in the series to find out what will happen (Obessive Twilight Disorder). The beginning of the book is rather slow but once you get farther into it, you don’t want to stop reading. I give it 4.5 stars out of 5 because it is definitely up among my favorite books but it did get a bit repetitive and slow. If I were to give it a title in the newspaper I would say “Twilight Saga; the best ‘must read series’ since Harry Potter”

-Elana Simon

“Am I Blue? Coming out from the Silence”, is a 272 page novel edited by Marion Dane Bauer. This heartfelt collection of short stories depict a diverse range of teens and parents, struggling to discover their sexual orientation. The book is told in first, second and third person. Although at times it was a rough transition from first person to third person narrative, each story increased in intensity, which kept me engaged. “Am I Blue?” features many different scenarios in which a homosexual or lesbian is faced with constant harassment of not fitting in with the “traditional” boy-girl relationship. This concept of single sex love is a recurring theme in YA books. Each of the individual characters in the novel face the homophobic life that lies ahead of them with a different approach. Some choose to fight back against the mainstream while others simply choose to not let the social scene affect them.

A few of my favorite stories are Winnie and Tommy, Am I Blue?, Michael’s Little Sister, Blood Sister, and Dancing Backwards. Dancing Backwards happens to be my favorite tale because it is about the clash of cultures when two young girls living in a Christian boarding school suddenly fall in love. I adore this book. While raving to my friends and family about this novel, I have been asked the question, “Are you thinking about coming out?”. My answer is irrelevant, but the point is that you do not have to be “gay” to read this book. The morals and lessons portrayed in the book do not only apply to homosexual teens. In fact, I would recommend “Am I Blue?” to anybody who would like to feel good about themselves. The overall message of the book is that you should shine your inner personality and not pretend to be somebody that you are not. It is a feel good book that at times can be sad, but it sends the right message. This book is a true gift because it dares to ask the unexpected questions and it strives to find the answers.

-Olivia Matlin

I’d tell you I love you, but then I’d have to kill you is a Y.A book about a teenage girl named Cammie, who is very relatable character for girls our age. She encounters every day problems, like boys and friendship issues, but she also is different, and therefore interesting, because she is at a school for learning how to be a spy. The book is told in first person, so the reader can really have insight into how Cammie is feeling, and what she is going through throughout the novel. The book is 284 pages, so it isn’t a very long book, so it keeps the teen readers attention. I really enjoyed reading this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good story, that has a meaning at the end of the day.

-Margaret Heftler

I’d Tell You I love You, But then I’d have to kill you
by Ally Carter
I read I’d Tell You I Love You, but Then I’d Have to Kill You, a 284 page novel by Ally Carter. It had many motifs that put it under that category of young adult. It is about a girl that is 16, and her friends and life as a spy. There is speech that is feminine and definitely for teenagers. The main character, Cammie, is not a normal girl, but she is going out with a normal boy. They have a pretty intimate relationship except for the fact that they don’t see each other a lot. Cammie has to hide this relationship from her mother, teachers, and classmates. She has to deal with keeping the boy, her good grades, and her life.

All together I found it an enjoyable book. It talked about the life of a teenage girl, who is more than normal. It is well written and it keeps you reading. It talked about how it is hard to keep big secrets, and its best not to keep them. If secrets are bad things or good things. There were many things going on with spy school which made it a bit confusing. With classes outside of school, and different classroom levels. But then later in the book I figured it out and that helped to make the book better. Although it was not areal life story, nor could it ever be a real life story, I became part of the book and seemed to have been there. As if it actually was real life. I definitely would suggest this book to and girl who wants a little mysterious, femininity, and spy.

-Jamie Bigman

I read Black and White by Paul Volponi for our YA assignment. It is a 185-page novel about racism and friendship. It alternates between the viewpoints of two teenagers, Marcus Brown, who is Black, and Eddie Russo, who is White. When Eddie and Marcus decide to commit armed robbery to pay for their senior-year fees, they get mixed up in a terrible situation. The stick ups they pull off work out well until they accidentally shoot a man. The police eventually arrest Marcus but not Eddie. Marcus then has to deal with the potential destruction of his and Eddie’s friendship because the police press Marcus to give them the name of the shooter. He does not give it. Marcus and Eddie are forced to deal with their problems by themselves. They keep reminding each other that it’s “black and white through thick and thin.” The book also deals with racism and prejudices against African-Americans. This book is definitely a Young Adult book because it deals with many YA topics. The book is less than 250 pages and is written in large font. There are also some curse words throughout the novel.

I liked the book a lot. I thought the way the author brought you into the life of Marcus and Eddie was great. The plot was very captivating and interesting. I felt as if Marcus and Eddie were talking right to me and were trusting me to help them with their problems. The dialogue is very realistic and the description of the area in which they live is very good. I also like how it was written almost as a diary of the two boys. The only negative thing I have to say about the novel is the overwhelming use of basketball. I know the book was about them playing together and the team but it also seemed like a way for the author to keep the story going when he didn’t know what to write. I recommend this book to people of all ages because it is very intriguing and is something with which everyone can connect. Overall, I thought the novel was great and I hope that the author writes a sequel.

-Lucas Carmel

“Hard Love” a novel by Ellen Wittlinger deals with a teenage boy and different problems he has. John (Gio), the main boy in this novel is just a regular teenage boy until one weekend in Boston. He met a girl named Marisol Guzman and that’s when the plot kicks in. Marisol is a quirky, different and interesting girl who is very open about her sexuality. From the start she defines herself as a lesbian and doesn’t let anyone forget it. John isn’t sure about his sexual preference and is debating it through some of the book. This book is most definatly a YA book because Wittlinger talks about homosexuality and the book also deals with issues at home. John isn’t only dealing with Marisol, he is also dealing with his mother and her boyfriend. His parents are divorced and he spends his week days with his mother. She isn’t very loving and refuses to even touch her son. The language Wittlinger uses to describe John’s feelings is very strong and definatly sends out a powerful message. “Hard Love” is a very good book but I would definatly not recomend it to yound children (under 12).

I really enjoyed “Hard Love”. I felt it was very well written and it really was very powerful. Throughout the book Wittlinger uses curse words which at first wasn’t very appealing to me. But after a while I realized that the foul language gave the book a ‘kick’. It made the book a bit more interesting because it really showed what the characters were thinking. Marisol (the heroine) is a very VERY interesting character. She is a lesbian and is very open about it. The whole book is centered on the whole theme of “escaping”. John is trying to escape his mother and father and Marisol is trying to escape the discrimination she feels because she’s lesbian. The book is pretty dramatic but is still good. I really liked it and I would recomend it to older kids.

-Tejashree S. Gopal

Bucking The Sarge introduces itself with a snap shot of Luther T. Ferral’s life. He’s lost his wallet and is worried about his mom, The Sarge punishing him. Luther is a slightly cynical teenage boy with an obsession with philosophy. His mother owns most of the houses in Flint, Michigan. The book almost seems like a scrap piece of paper being used to doodle on by Luther. The writing is sprinkled with many inside jokes shared by him and his friend Sparky such as, “From womb to tomb”. Luther struggles with his overbearing Sarge/Mom and the four old men that he must take care of. These rich men are from a retirement home that his mother owns. The goal of caring for these men is so she can get a lot of money when they die. The book is sort of a roller coaster for Luther. He finds extremes at every situation including, being at the bottom of the social ladder to winning the science fair three times in a row. Another example is when Luther finds out he has only 900 dollars in his education fund and a few minutes later of 50,000 dollars.

Sometimes I found the book slow and I thought the philosophical quotes were getting corny. Later on though, I realized that these little inside jokes was the essence of Luther’s personality and I begain to respect him more.  All it takes is confidence and determination. This taught me the lesson of positive thinking and I learned that no matter how bad your life can be it can easily be turned around.

—Nissim Ram

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl  ( under lining Failure) a 311 page book by Barry Lyga, was My Y A book. Immediately it breaks the classic Y A mold, being over 250 pages, but otherwise it fills the void rather well, kinda like a big scaled up version of a normal Y A book. The premise is a boy (fanboy) with one friend meets a Girl ( goth girl) and the mutual felling is akward. In this zany novel Fanboy, in first person, shows us his social status from the start. Low. He is at the bottom of the food chain in high school, a bad place to be. His only freind (YA, YA, YA) is a “Jock Jerk” and his best friend jumping between the two groups. Goth Girl is a vulgar class skiping punk, who fancy’s cursing and being Goth (and probably Fanboy too but we don’t know). They meet and find similarities being both low in class. Oh, and did I neglect the fact that his parents are divorced, (Ya, YA, YA) he lives with his mother and hates his step father (YA, YA, YA, YA, YA) and his mother is pregnant with his stepfather’s child. Aside from that every thing’s just hunky dorey.

All right now for the moment of truth. I loved it. I could really relate to Fanboy’s plight and I thought that if under the same circumstances I could be Fanboy. The books starts out with a tinge of hilarity as he describes the denizens of the bus. A new twist of dark humor is added as Goth Girl enters the story, and another twist still at the “boy+girl=KABOOM” factor. Over all the novel was highly enjoyable and I recomend it to anybody in the mood for a good laugh, and a huge amount of akward silence.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luan Yang is a wonderful graphic novel about a boy named Jin Wang, whose life the story covers from 3rd grade through high school, the Monkey King, and Chin-Kee, the sereotypical Chinese person. Jin Wang and his family moved from California and he must deal with his new classmates who are culturally blind. The Monkey King, after being disgraced, must try to find his true identity. Chin-Kee is the Chinese cousin of Danny, the average teenager. As Danny tries to cope with the way Chin-Kee messes up his reputation at school every time he comes to visit, he Discovers some very valuable information about himself. I loved this book because it was funny, relatable, and interesting. One of the themes of this book was finding your true identity. Jin tries to change himself so that he isn’t seen as a stereotyped chinese person. Eventually, he finds out that he was just fine the way he was at first. The Monkey King tries to change himself to be more respected, but, like Jin, he finds that he was fine in the first place. The language in this novel is very modern and easy to understand. The author uses phrases that an average young adult would use. A few things that characterizes this book as a Young Adult book are: the fact that the book is mostly told in first person, the main character does mature throughout the whole book, and he learns a lot about himself. I would give this book 5 stars and I highly recommend it for everyone!

The Year of Secret Assignments (can’t underline) by Jaclyn Moriarty, is a suspenseful and humorous book for children ages 11-15. It is based on 3 high school best friends: Lydia, Emily and Cassie. Together, the girls have a thrilling and emotional 10th grade year after being given pen-pal assignments with another school in their town. The year includes skipping classes, death notes, breaking into schools and stealing cars. The entire story is told through letters, e-mails and one trans-script of a trial. In my opinion this book qualifies for a YA book. That is because the novel has many matured themes such as when Matthew Dunlop is writing to Cassie he uses a few curse words and threatens to kill her. In addition there are financial troubles and deaths of family members included in the story. The book surely could not be a normal fiction book since it is based on the typical troubles that a teenager has rather then a young child.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I found it amusing yet quite suspenseful. So suspenseful that at 12:30 am I wasn’t able to put the book down for I had a need to know what happened next. I thought the characters were also quite easy to relate with and very likeable (or unlikeable). They each had a true personality that made me feel as though I truly have met and knew these girls. I even felt sad for Cassie and cried when the Matthew said those horrible things to her. I would rate this book a ten out of ten because I could not have liked it more and because there was not a moment when I was bored. I recommend this book to all girls 11-15 because it is an amazing novel.

Lila Bruynesteyn

The book, Forever, by Judy Blume is an entertaining book about an eighteen year old girl who is at an age where she is forced to make dramatic decisions about her life. This book is full of romance and finding one’s companion. Katherine struggles when trying to make the decision if she wants to be sexually active and if her love for Michael is indeed strong enough. They think that doing “it” with each other will prove their love for each other and it will remain that way forever. Katherine matures throughout the book because she is forced to make choices that change how she thinks of herself and how others see her. Forever is most definitely a YA book because it is a fascinating 220 paged book full that contains ideas about teen love and the risk of pregnancy. The book is very graphic and clearly displays the character’s emotions and that is what captures the reader’s attention. I think this book is great for teenagers because they can understand what other kids their age are going through.

Overall, I thought that this book is an ideal book for teenagers looking for a sexual novel, but there were some things I did not approve. First, I think that this book is not as appropriate for younger teenagers because they are usually not yet in the age where sex has become part of their life. Second, I thought the ending could have been more detailed and organized in a way that fit together like a puzzle. Other than that, Forever was a book you could not put down because it really shows how teenagers think and most kids can relate to the characters emotions. I would probably want to read this book again later in High-School and I would recommend this book to other young adults.

-Samantha Cohen

I read this book and liked your write up. I found a few sentences that seemed somewhat awkward for some reason or another but overall you covered the points well. The one mistake (albeit somewhat irrelevant) is that the Spirit Bear is not a “white black bear” but a polar bear (the book takes place in Alaska remember) Nice write up

Just realized this didn’t come up after Deven’s post sorry

Weetzie Bat, by Francesca Lia Block, is a 113-page book with some very confusing points and fast moving scenes. At first, this book revealed itself to be about a teenage girl, with an interesting name, Weetzie Bat, who was very wacky, and shall I say, glittering in the sense of her fashion, and language. As the book goes on, Weetzie becomes a little more mature in her personal - life situations, and boy and girl relations. As the pages were being turned, it occurred to me that this book was a definite YA book. She is not as boisterous in her actions towards boys and bars/nightclubs, but yet more sophisticated in her responses and actual actions with them. Her language, and other characters’ language, is filled with typical teenage slang as well. Weetzie Bat, is a typical YA book because it is about a teenage girl with far more problems than the average girl making her way through high school, which by the way, Weetzie dislikes to a great extent. The writing gets the reader to think fully about the concept in which the author is trying to talk about because it is a very fast-moving and descriptive text, which forces the reader to feel awkward and a little uncertain about a few things, yet keeps you hooked on reading the book. Like many other YA books, Weetzie and her friends/lovers have to overcome their problems and insecurities, therefore, becoming more mature.

I didn’t fully enjoy this book for different reasons. Since the book was a quick moving one, it was hard for me to actually grasp what the author wanted the reader to take in from it. Secondly, the context of the book wasn’t that interesting overall, although I do admit, it had some interesting scenes. However, the best part of Weetzie Bat is that it kept me thinking about some points in the book a few days after I finished it. I find it weird that some teenagers can fully relate to Weetzie, but right now, I CANNOT! Heehee.

- Gabrielle Freitag

Standard;Shahn Savino
Dawson B
11/16/08
YA Novel Analysis
The novel I read, Sunrise Over Fallujah, was a young adults book because it had many themes including violence, death, survival and progressing maturity throughout the book. Private Robin Perry is in the army. Robin feels that being in the army will be cool, he doesn’t know how wrong he is. Robin sees all the violence and hatred that people have, and his dream turns into a nightmare. Robin sees enemies with bombs, enemies with RPG’s and enemies with M16’s. Robin realizes that his mission is the easiest part of his stay in Iraq, surviving is the hard part. Robin sees his best friend die, near the end of the novel. As the book goes on Birdy starts to understand how precious life is and how important his unit is to the Iraqis.
I really liked the book, it gave me a whole new understanding of war. I thought of war the same way Robin thought of war at the beginning of the novel. I thought that it would be cool to hold a giant gun and shoot things without realizing that when you shoot that person, one life is lost, not realizing that person is dead. Most people don’t realize the severity of war, this book will change that. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes action. I would also recommend this book to anyone who is ignorant about war, someone who thinks that fighting a pointless war isn’t a problem.

In Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight (I don’t know how to underline), Bella Swan is a devastatingly beautiful teenage girl who tells the story of what it is like to be in love with a vampire. Even though this novel is four hundred ninety eight pages, it is truly a quick read. Bella, a seventeen year old girl struggling with her self image, lives with her mother, Renée, in Phoenix, until she decides to go to Forks and live with her father. She does not enjoy being in Forks because of the dreary weather, but she is determined to make the sacrifice so that her mother can live with her boyfriend, Phil. She arrives in Forks and attends her first day of school to find the Cullen family, a group of people so gorgeous that it could almost be dangerous. Days pass and Bella gapes at the Cullens from across the cafeteria with feelings of her own insecurity. These feelings generate because everyone but one of the Cullen boys seem to notice her. This boy who stands out to Bella the most is filled with alluring and captivating mystery, the likes of which Bella has never seen before. His name is Edward Cullen. At first, Edward and Bella find each others presence lined with almost infuriating awkwardness, but as the chapters pass, the dark, yet friendly mysteries behind Edward’s dark eyes unfold.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book for multiple reasons. I truly liked the fashion in which Stephanie Meyers describes each character and creates a clear image for who they were and what they were supposed to be like. I especially enjoyed Edward’s wry, yet teasing and intriguing humor towards Bella, which showed both the growing friendship and love between the two teenagers. As soon as the novel begins, it already has the reader hooked into the story. Not being able to read it for more than five minutes becomes quite frustrating, even after putting the book away. I am not a person that has the patience to wait until half way through to book for the story to get interesting, so if you are one of those people who wants to get hooked immediately, Twilight is a definite recommendation to you.

Eden Chinn

Forever, by Judy Blume, is a 220 page book about an eighteen year old girl who is faced with many difficulties. This book is put in perspective of Katherine as goes through senior year facing her first true love. In the beginning she appears to be nervous about what other people think of her and throughout the book it is easily noticed that she has more self confidence. Although it seems that she will stay scared she is actually noticed as a very mature woman. Besides her first love she has to deal with a death, sexual urges, and the idea of teenage pregnancy. Towards the end of the book she is given the problem of being away from her boyfriend for the summer and has to face seeing a ‘hot’ guy all day long. She must keep her mind on her love while this appealing man his hitting on her. Katherine after her last year of high school is very mature and now can do anything she sets her mind to. This book definitely qualifies as Ya book.

I liked this book a lot more than I had expected it would be. Since I was interested in a sexual book in a girls perspective it was just what i was looking for. I loved the entire book except i thought that ending had ruined the whole book. The way it just ended with that last scene with out elaborating. I really want to continue reading the book. But i was very hooked and couldn’t put it down. But otherwise it was a great book and I recommend it to everyone.

Kyle Rosen

My book for the Y.A. assignment was Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan. This book is definitely Y.A. The story is about a bunch of teenagers growing up in a town where almost everyone is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. You hear the story from the point of view of Paul, the protagonist, who is also gay. From the beginning Paul seems to be smarter then the rest of his friends, but by the end of the novel you can see that he has matured. He no longer makes the mistakes that he made before he met Noah. Noah is the boy who “changes everything.” He actaully does seem to have an affect on Paul’s life. In the book, most of the characters who are not gay, don’t have a problem with the gay population. So, most of Paul and his friends feel pretty comfortable with who they are. But, of course Paul and his friends still have to deal with being a teenager as well. They are still having to deal with growing up. That is another reason that is Y.A. The characters are going through normal teen problems.

I did not enjoy this book that much. They characters did not seem that interesting to me. Their lives were kind of boring. Unlike in modern society, they were not having a hard time dealing with being gay, which did not make the story interesting. It was basically just another story about a couple, but this time it was two boys. Everyone excepts them, and except for Paul messing everything up, their relationship is not a difficult one. Almost none of the characters have any spark to them. Yes, they do seem real, but they just blend in. They really don’t have any hardships, other than being a teenager, in their lives. Only Tony, one of Paul’s two best friends, has trouble in his life when it comes to hime being gay. His parents have a hard time excepting it, but by the time the book ends, they do. Also, nothing happens in book, until you get to the end. Paul and Noah relationship really does not have any bumps until about thirty pages before the book ends. The plot of the book really didn;t have much to it. Not much would happen. They would get pizza or rent a movie, but it would not make the story any more interesting. Boy Meets Boy is written in present tense, which is different from most books. Unfortunately, this does make the book a little bit harder to follow. That kind of annoyed me. I don’t like reading books written in present tense, because I think that makes the book go by so fast, you don’t have time to realize what is really going on.

I read American Born Chinese by Gene Luan Yang. It is a graphic novel(comic book) about “three” people- well, not exactly, but you can read that for yourself (I’m not ruining the surprise). One is a Chinese boy/teen (the book covers his years from third grade to high school) named Jin Wang, another is Monkey King (yes, the mythical Chinese monkey), and the last is a teenager named Danny. Jin moves from San Francisco to the place where his story starts. He has few friends. But he goes on living, and when he is in seventh(yes, 7th) grade he develops a crush on a girl. Then he sees that she might like another boy. Meanwhile, his best friend Wei-Chen starts to date the only Asian girl in the class, Suzy Nakamura. Jin does something nasty(not telling what) and that night, dreams of a certain herbalist’s wife who when he was young told him that he could be anything he wanted as long as he was willing to forfeit his soul. That he did, with that nasty act, and he turns into an american boy so the girl he has a crush on will think he is more handsome. He also takes a new name: Danny (sound familiar?). The story continues, and there’s a surprise ending that I’m not going to ruin. Jin matures throughout the book, and learns to be a good person. It qualifies as a YA book because the main character is a boy, then a teenager, and he realizes that who he is is just fine.

This book was funny, slightly magical, but also showing the changes in the life of a boy as he grows up and matures. This book had many parts that had me laughing uncontrollably. It wasn’t really a hook-book, but it was funny and interesting from the beginning. It was short and easy to read, with lots of jokes in it. Overall, I liked it very much. I thought I would. It is a good book to read if you don’t want romance(ick-kissing… well, maybe ONE kiss in this book, but it’s kind of funny, the way it happens), violence(all right, there is some, but the really funny type, and everyone who got beat up kind of deserved it), or other topics like that. I’d give it at least 4.5 stars. It was really good. I recommend it to anyone who’ll listen.

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, by Ally Carter, is the sequel to I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You. The 236-page book consists of many of the elements that define a YA book. It is written in first-person, told by the 15-year-old main character, Cameron Morgan, (Cammie). The story takes place mainly in the Gallagher Academy, an all-girls spy school. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy deals with the emotions and confusion all teenagers have. Throughout the book Cammie becomes more mature, and learns how to manage her life better. As a spy, Cammie knows her life will never be normal. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy makes the reader wonder what normal is. When Cammie’s life forces her to deal with people and things she’s never dealt with before, she doesn’t know what to believe. The book compels the reader to think about honesty and certainty. The plot makes you contemplate reality. How does one know what’s real and what’s fake? How can one figure out who is genuine and who is not? What if how one perceived an issue…determined their fate?

I enjoyed Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy because the plot consisted of many different elements. Each chapter held another event in which every decision Cammie made could be the difference of life or death for her. I liked the book because it was descriptive. I stayed interested in the book because I kept wanting to know what was going to happen to Cammie. Although the plot was not realistic, the emotions felt by the different characters were very realistic. The reactions and uncertainty of the individuals was genuine, making it easier to connect with the characters. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy was a page-turner that contained many of the elements of a YA book.

The Gospel According to Larry is a book about consumerism and “idol worship”. It is a 227 page book by Janet Tashjian and is narated by Josh Swensen, a gifted child with strong feelings for the earth. This book is a novel about a teenage boy, fighting with himself and others to find his place in the world. He trashes big companies and organizations openly under the psuedonym of Larry. However things go a little farther than he expected and he finds himself caught between family, friends, and his alter-ego. This book immediately made me think of teenage life. Perhaps on a slightly more extreme scale, however the book is written to seem like it is true and definately could have happened.

I recomend this book to anyone looking for a book that relates to the life of a teen (us). Also anyone fed-up of designer brands and the worship of hollywood stars. I do not suspect that anyone will take their feelings as far as Josh but I presume that many kids can relate to him. It was a page turner, and I was always in need to know what was going to happen next. As far as ratings go I give it four stars. It was exciting and fun to read but the theme of consumerism got a tad repetitive.

I read The First Part Last by Angela Johnson. It includes many ideas and themes that go into a book to allow it to be categorized as Young Adult. The book is mainly about teenagers around the age of eighteen, and there is a lot of dialogue that is written as if a teenager is saying it. The characters are faced with many challenging issues including teenage pregnancy and severe health problems. The main character is a young man who’s girlfriend has just had a baby, but she is in an irreversible coma so he has to take care of his child, Feather, alone. As a result of that, he is often seen as an outcast in his society. He has to realize that he is no longer a child and now has adult responsibilities.

I enjoyed this very much overall. It dealt with some very hard but real issues that made me aware of things other people may be going through. The writing was beautiful and descriptive and it deeply explored the consequences of having a baby too young. One thing that made it confusing was that the chapters switched back and forth from the present to what happened before the baby was born. That was hard to understand at first, but as it got clearer I enjoyed it very much. There was not a very developed plot, but I still loved it because it felt so real and I connected and sympathized with the characters very easily. I recommend this book to anyone who likes books that are about real life, and the crazy twists it holds.

The book I read in the YA reading assignment is a 221 page book called After the First Death. The book is told mainly in the third person and it is about a school bus that is full of 5 and 6 year olds and gets hijacked by terrorist. Kate, a teenager who is driving the bus because she is filling in for her uncle, seems to be the main character of the story. When the bus gets hijacked they force her to drive the bus to a abandoned bridge where she would be assassinated, but they were supposed to kill her uncle but he is sick so they made her take care of the kids while they set out there plans. The terrorist then ask that the government give 10 million dollars towards their cause, release a group of prisoners, and destroy inner delta. They try to keep the kids quiet by giving them a chocolate mixed with a drug but one of the kids dies from a allergic reaction. This brings the operation into a worst situation. In the end many were killed, but it really kept me reading.
The book starts out slow and hard to follow in the beginning but over time it starts to pick up in speed and action. Towards the end I could not put the book down. In the end its makes you never want to stop reading until the end and on the last few pages it becomes very moving and emotional. I give this book a 4 1/2 stars because it was good but hard to follow at points. Some things you would question why they were there but in the end it was a very good book. The characters seemed to be as if they were real people. The plot was amazing and overall it was a great book. I recommend this book to people who like books that really make you feel for the characters and wish that this wasn’t happening to them. It is also very well written.

TTYL is categorized as a young adult book, because it involves teenage girls in an instant message chatroom. The whole book is written as instant messages between the three main characters, which are Angela, Zoe, and Maddie. Their screen names are SnowAngel, Zoegirl, and mad maddie. This book is a few months, in 3 teenager’s lives. It is an entertaining story of the three main characters, a teacher, church services, and love between them. It is a YA book, because young adults are interested in this topic, and enjoy reading it.

For my YA assignment, I read TTYL, by Lauren Myracle because my friend recommended it. I am so glad that I read this book, because it has interesting situations in it, and is enjoyable. It is an easy-read, because you get stuck reading it, you really cannot stop. TTYL has all of the themes that we talked about in class, it has curse words, shows maturity of the characters, and their personalities’ change. The whole book is a big instant message reply and response and it is a very unique book.

For our YA assignment I read Son of the Mob, by Gordan Korman, a book about a boy who’s father runs mafia. Some people would think it would be cool to have a mob leader for a father but Vincent Luca, the mob leaders son, knows otherwise. Vince has to try to conceal who his father is because of his desire to life an honest, normal life. Unfortunately for Vince though, his girlfriends father is an FBI agent who happens to be hot on the trail of Vince’s father. Vince must try to control the situation without his father ending up in jail or his girl friend dumping him. To make things more complicated, Vince tries to help two shady characters in trouble with his father. He tries to keep himself independent from his fathers profession in the hope that he can live the honest life he dreams of. As the novel progresses Vince learns more and more disturbing news about his father and his job that discovers just how dishonest Mr. Luca actually is. Throughout the book, Vince learns how to deal with his problems and matures significantly since the beginning. Vince must learn how to be honest in his way of living while at the same time being dishonest about his back round for the sake of himself and others.

I really enjoyed reading this novel because of the comedy in addition to how unique the situation was. The fact that he is the son of a mob head is completely original and sets this book apart from others. I particularly enjoy these kind of books. Also, this book was one which once you started it, it was impossible to put down. I had to plan it out knowing that once I started reading, I would not be able to put the book down for at least a half and hour. By the end of the book Vince comes to an understanding with his life in that he balances out being the son of a mob and just being a normal person. In the end everything is worked out and there are no unknotted threads. He comes to terms with everything that is troubling him and that is that. This was a great unique YA book and I sincerely hope people write more books like this one.

For the Young Adult reading assignment, I read the book How To Be Popular.  The main character in this book, is a girl named Steph Landry, and the book is told from her point of view.  Steph is entering 11th grade and after years of being picked on by almost everybody at school, she decides that she wants to change.  Steph finds a book called How To Be Popular, and she sets out to follow the rules and ideas of that book, in order to change the way that people see her.  The novel addresses teenage themes such as being an outcast, peer pressure, trying to fit in, and the beginnings of first love.  Steph matures a great deal throughout the novel as she goes along on her journey to change the way people see her.

Although the book was a fairly easy read, I did not enjoy it as much as I thought i would.  I found it hard to relate to the main character because although issues of popularity affect boys and girls, this novel dealt with those issues from a girls point of view.  Although that I understand that it would be hard to go through life with a lot of people making fun of you, the way she talked about changing herself did not appeal to me.  However, I did like the way everything turned out well for Steph in the end.

I read Black and White by Paul Volponi. It was a very good book The main character role is split between two teenagers. They are best friends. Eddie who is white, and Marcus who is black. Eddie and Marcus encounter one huge problem along the road of their friendship. There is some cursing, but not so much of it that it’s too much to bear. The novel is about 180 pages with pretty big type. Eddie and Marcus tried to resolve their problem by themselves unsuccessfully. Eddie and Marcus did not become much more mature by the end of the book, but they became a bit more mature by learning a huge lesson. Eddie and Marcus were responsible for their own life before they came their problem, so they did not become more responsible than they were before. The book made me uncomfortable at times and challenged me to think about what I would do in the situation. My book deals with boys and girls falling in love, and a concern among family and friends.

I liked the book because of many things. The characters were very real, and had very real problems. I can’t relate to the characters, but if I was older I would be able to. The theme of the book was very intriguing. It is probably something that happens in real life, and has to be dealt with. The language of the book is easy to understand and fun to read. The setting of the book is what many kids live in, so it was a good choice. The book is fiction, but very well could be non-fiction. The plot of the book is very interesting, and it is very good. Black and White was a very good, realistic book.

For my YA assignment, I picked the book True Believer, by Virginia Euwer Wolff. The story is written as a journal of a 15-year-old girl named LaVaughn, who is struggling through a hard life. This qualifies as a YA book because she lives in a slum hearing the sound of gun shots daily. Her dad who she was very close to, died and her mother is swept off her feet by a new man. Her two best friends start to grow away from her, and the boy she loves can’t love her back. In the beginning, LaVaughn starts as an insecure character that is not quite sure of what she wants to do with her life. Throughout the book she learns and becomes a stronger person physically and mentally.
I enjoyed this book very much, though there were some downs to it. I felt the beginning lagged on a little, but for the rest I was intrigued and wanted to read on. There were some points in which I found quite confusing, but were explained later in the book. I found LaVaughn’s feelings were very realistic and that I could connect to her. At some points in the book, I felt my heart jump with happiness or sometimes fall with sorrow. I felt this book gave me a new perspective at my own problems and how I could fix them. I feel this book would appeal to mostly girls my age (probably ages 12-14). I say girls because a large part of the book is about LaVaughn dealing with a boy who she loves named Jody, and cannot love her back, and a boy named Patrick who loves her but she is too distracted by Jody to love him back. Overall I thought this was a GREAT book and I suggest it to many others.

For the YA assignment I read Sunrise Over Fallujah. It is about a U.S marine, named Birdy, who is fighting in Iraq. It deals with the possible truth of war. Birdy and crew are put in many high-stress, life-threatening situations resulting in lots of cursing. Because of the constant fighting, Birdy is constantly taking his life into his own hands and occasionally rises to the occasion ad saves others. The novel is somewhat depressing and sad at times because it is situated in a war zone and graphically describes the fighting. Birdy is constantly being challenged fiscally and mentally as things happen around him out o his control. Like many books dealing with war and violence there is allot of death, the novel describes it even if it is not related to Birdy directly.
Although Sunrise Over Fallujah is a rather long young adult book at 279 pages i highly recommend it. I enjoyed the full-blooded action of the war story with a little suspense thrown in. This book will have you hooked form start to finish and you won’t want to put it down. In the book there are moments that make you cry and there are moments that make you laugh, this book has got it all. my favorite part of the book was the ending. It wasn’t one of those cheesy, “and they all lived happily ever after.” endings it was the most action packed part with surprises that you can’t expect. It had a more realistic tone and altogether i loved it.

I chose “The Year of Secret Assignments” as my YA book. This book is about three girls and three boys from two rival schools. The girls: Cassie, Emily, and Lydia go to a prestigious private school, and the boys: Charlie, Seb, and Matt go to a public school on the other side of town. Since the two schools are enemies, so the English teachers at both schools decide to assign a “Pen Pal” project in order to bring peace between the schools. This novel was intriguing, humorous, and kept me into the story until the end.
When I first read the back cover, I knew for sure it was a YA book: “Three Girls. Three Guys. … And some really excellent kissing,”. Normally, this kind of book wouldn’t attract me, but I started to read the first chapter and could not stop. The back summary doesn’t do this book justice; It may seem like a shallow teen romance book that only teen girls read, but the book is actually deep. Lydia, for example, has a bad relationship with her parents. Cassie’s father just died, then a boy betrayed her by tricking her into trusting him, but he was a complete different person than his alias, treating it like a game. I also knew it was a YA book because of the themes and elements: The main characters are teenagers, Emily struggles to improve in school in order to follow her dream, Seb & Lydia get into a relationship as well as Emily & Charlie, there are some themes of sexuality, there are curse words, the characters have become more mature at the end of the novel, etc. The book was thought-provoking and at the end, I felt a little uncomfortable instead of happy or disappointed. I thought further about the ideas of the book even after finishing it. I enjoyed this book, adding it to my list of favorites.
:)

For my reading assignment I chose “Fat Kid Rules The World” by K.L. Going. This book is about a self pitying three-hundred-pound seventeen year old named Troy, who is ready to give up on life, when a half- homeless half- blond ferret High school dropout named Curt comes and saves his life. Curt then asks Troy to join his band as a drummer, and Troy made the mistake of saying yes. Troy, being an outcast because of his weight, and Curt, being an outcast because of his exotic lifestyle, are now friends (in Curt’s view). The book was told from Troy’s point of view, however the story was more about Curt. Curt in on drugs, and was abandoned by his father, and his mother married a man who beats her, so Curt doesn’t go back there anymore either. Troy’s mother died, before she died, Troy was very fit, but ever since she died, Troy became very, very obese. Throughout the book, these two young adults conquer the streets of the Lower East Side as “Rage/ Tectonic” (name of band) , and walk the streets as “fat kid and Blonde Ferret”.
To be honest, I chose this book because the name stood out to me. Unlike some of the other YA books, I thought “Fat Kid rules the world” was a comical story. Troy always interpreted hanging out with Curt as the apocalypse, but in general Curt made Troy’s life a lot better, and unknown to Troy, he returned the favor. The language is casual teenage talk, with a few f-words here and there, but mainly clean. Over the course of the book, Troy starts to become friends with Curt and the other members of the band, and he also moves from a self pitying fat kid to one of the best drummers of the lower east side. Overall, a great book, and one of my favorites.

For my YA reading book assignment, I read Make Lemonade, the first book in a three-part series  by Virginia Euwer Wolff. The premise of this book is that a fourteen year old girl, Verna LaVaughn, is babysitting for Jolly, a seventeen year old college dropout who is a single mother with two children.  Jolly has hit  rock bottom: she’s unemployed, her kids are wild, her dirty apartment is roach infested, and  the rent checks keep coming. LaVaughn also has her own problems to worry about, as she is aiming for college.  This book was YA for a number of reasons. The protagonist is a young teen who tells the story from her  point of view, and has to take matters into her own hands for the confused teen mother. It also deals with YA themes like teen pregnancy, poverty, rape, and a hard home life. A recurring theme is maturity: LaVaughn’s experience with Jolly helps her mature, and she has come of age at the end of the book. Another major theme is social class and what poverty does to people: both La Vaughn and Jolly are in bad situations partly because they are poor.

I enjoyed this book a lot, mostly because it wasn’t one of those books that you finish satisfied with an “Aaaahhh…” It was thought provoking, one of those books that make you seriously examine yourself and the world. I really liked the topics it touched on and their connection to the world: I don’t really think about teen pregnancy or poverty very much, so in a way this book was like a reminder of the bad things in this world. But it was also optimistic, since LaVaughn finds a way to overcome many of her problems. I enjoyed the character development: the way LaVaughn developed into a more understanding, stronger human being and the way Jolly became more put-together and loving. I would have to say my favorite thing about the book besides its introspectiveness and the character development would be how real it is. The book felt very real, and Jolly’s situation is a situation that many unfortunate people have to deal with today. Overall, I would give the book a nine out of ten, because I really enjoyed the characters, the realism, and the introspectiveness.

Kimberly Murstein

You are SO not INVITED to my BATMITZVAH!, by Fiona Rosenbloom, is a 190 page novel about a “soon to be” teenager that learns all the new responsibilities about becoming an adult. The main character, Stacy Adelaide Friedman, is a teenager who narrates the book from her point of view. Stacy tries to resolve conflicts mostly by herself because her parents are in a divorce, which is a big family conflict for them. Stacy doesn’t want to aggravate her mother even more, so she talks to her friend, Kelly. By trying to get excepted into the popular group, “The Chicas”, she looses her best friend, Lydia. By the end of the novel, Stacy and Lydia become friends again, and are way more mature. They now know that you shouldn’t become someone else, to be excepted into a group and that they are always going to have each other. It is a real challenge for Stacy to have her 3 mitzvahs done by her bat-mitzvah, but by being confident and being herself she conquered it in the end. Stacy’s right of passage came through her bat-mitzvah and you could really see how she has changed physically and psychologically throughout the book.

I enjoyed this book because it was so easy to relate to and a really fun read. I can relate to Stacy because you hear her inner thoughts that she is stressed over that a normal teenager goes through. I can also relate to the struggles she has had throughout having her bat-mitzvah. Through having a bat-mitzvah, you have to find a dress, make a speech and most importantly, go through a coming of age by becoming more mature. Stacy realizes things about boys, friends and family, that she is going to remember for the rest of her life. I definitely recommend this book, and I believe it is one of the best novels I have ever read!

For our YA reading assignment, I chose to read a book called Cut, by Patricia McCormick. It is about a fifteen-year-old girl named Callie who is staying in a rehab facility because of a problem she has developed with cutting herself. At the beginning of the novel, Callie isn’t making as much progress at Sea Pines (the facility) as some of the other girls there because she refuses to speak. The book is the story of her struggle between the need to get better, and the strange “need” she has to cut herself. With help from those around her, Callie discovers the root of the reason she began to punish herself. It is a YA book because the concepts and realities Callie is dealing with are too mature for younger readers. The novel is told from Callie’s perspective and might be disturbing and confusing for anyone younger than I am. It also fits into the YA category because by the end of the novel, Callie becomes more mature and starts trying to help herself. It also doesn’t make the reader happy, but definitely made me really understand people with types of problems like Callie’s. I thought was a very deep YA book that presented the reader with challenges to think about.
I liked Cut, although it was extremely deep and was a heavy read because of its sadness. One thing that made it interesting to me was the perspective it was written in. Callie is the narrator of the story and throughout the novel she addresses you, (the reader) as her therapist. This puts you in the shoes of the person in the novel who is trying to help the person you are reading about. I found this element of the novel confusing but also very interesting. I also liked to element of reality that the author brought to the book. While reading I could see stories similar to Callie’s in people today that might be going through the similar things that she is in the book. I also felt that Patricia developed all of the side characters incredibly well. She exposed the vulnerability of people suffering from problems such as anorexia, substance-abuse and obesity. I thought that Callie was a character that I definitely felt sympathetic towards. Cut was a great novel but was not a light read. It really gave insight into someone else’s life. Overall, Cut was a very interesting novel that I enjoyed reading.

Son of the Mob, by Gordan Korman, is a fairly long YA book about an irregular teenager. The story is told by Vincent Luca, whose father is the leader of the mafia. Although being related to the mafia might not be all that bad, it is for Vincent because he has a girlfriend whose father is an FBI agent. It just happens to be that his girlfriend’s (Kendra) father’s job is to catch his father. Like a normal teenager of his age, Vincent take matters into his own hands. This includes attempting to help two people in his father’s business, while trying to save his relationship with his girlfriend despite her father’s agenda. Nonetheless, he is constantly involved with his father’s business, although he is trying to be as independent as he can given his disapproval of his father’s profession. Early on, Vince only cares about girls, yet matures significantly by the end of the novel by solving problems that the leader of the mafia could not. As he matures, he becomes more responsible for his actions. Vince’s life has abnormal elements as he’s the son of a mafia boss, but this coupled with also his very normal life revolving around girls, friends, and cursing.
I enjoyed Son of the Mob very much and I thought it was humorous and dealt with situations that nobody has. I particularly love books with conflicts that nobody has because they make the book more intriguing. This book had humor, but not too much humor that it took away from the actions that were taking place. I found myself reading this book when I had spare time, compare to my horror story which I had to read half of the book over the that weekend that it was due. Vincent, like a regular teenager, changes the whole way he looks at life in a small amount of time. He understands a lot more about people’s abilities at the end of the novel and deals with his struggles. In the end he gets what he deserves, which is both his girlfriends and his father, and although it is a complicated life, he lives how he wants. This book had humor, love and a great plot. I enjoy YA books very much and I thought that this was a GREAT book.

Omigod!!!! This was the best YA book I have ever read. It is not very ‘deep’ or ‘meaningful’, but by god it is good. There are a few major themes that classify this book as YA. First the protagonist is a teenager (duh) dealing with divorce. Second Bella, the protagonist, falls madly in love with a vampire. Do we see a pattern? Third and finally there is a big theme of fitting in. Not to mention that Edward, the vampire, is gorgeous, Bella is a complete klutz, and this book would only be understood by a tween or teenager. I think that though this book may not provide a deeper truth, it is still pretty down to earth minus the vampire bit. Love stricken girl who has to choose between love with serious risks or safety. It really appeals to tween and teenagers. (Mostly girls, but the occasional boy.)
I am officially hooked. OOOOOOOOTD. Really obsessed Twilight Disorder. I started this book vehemently against it, but now I am in love. This is my new favorite non-classic book. If you say it is boring I implore you try it one more time. The beginning is a tad slow, but once you get into it you can not stop reading. (Believe me I have tried.) I finished Twilight in less then twenty four hours.

Gordon Korman’s Son of the Mob is a 262-page novel set in Long Island and told by Vincent Luca, a stubborn and humorous seventeen year old, whose relatives, especially his father, are members of the Mafia. Vince must deal with the violent and illegal actions of his family, while struggling with regular teenage issues, consisting mostly of school work and girls. Son of the Mob shares many of the themes and plots of a usual Young Adult book. It exhibits a teenager involved in a secret life, while trying to live a normal adolescence like any other youth. The story incorporates elements of family conflict, social concern, maturity, and sexuality. Vincent must learn to balance his devotion to his family and his social life beyond his home. This is extremely difficult because he does not want to alienate either his father or his girlfriend. Since the story is told from Vincent’s view point, he uses various slang and curse words as he deals with problematic events. Vincent’s narration contains sarcastic humor, while vividly describing the everyday life of a teenage boy.

In my opinion, Son of the Mob is a very enjoyable Young Adult book. Every night I read, I was hysterically laughing due to Vincent’s sense of humor. Even after I finished with the novel, I was still chuckling at Vincent’s amusing comments. Because of the content of this book, I have learned that sometimes, there is not an alternative but to accept the choices of those around you, especially family. In Son of the Mob, although the deeds of Vincent’s mob boss father interfere with Vincent’s social life, he cannot try to change the career of his dad. I would surely recommend this novel to any teenager experiencing a difficult social life, or coping with “girl trouble.” Korman has done a wonderful job!