Godberson, Anna. Bright Young Things. New York: HarperCollins, 2010.
ISBN 9780061962660 | Hardcover | 389 p. | $17.99 USD
Annotation: In the first of a series, Bright Young Things follows Cordelia Grey and Letty Larkspur in their search of a glamorous life in New York City. They find themselves wrapped up in a world of speakeasies, dance halls, and bootlegging rivalries and soon learn that finding fame in New York is not without its challenges.
Awards/Honors:
- Inky Awards Nominee
- YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults: Forbidden Romance (2012)
Wrap Back Booktalk: It's 1929 in New York City, and the city is alive with opportunity and excitement for young girls. Follow Cordelia, the bootlegging heiress, Astrid, the confident flapper, and Letty, the aspiring star and they try to make a name for themselves in a city full of Bright Young Things.
Read more about the series, play games, take quizzes and watch book trailers on this interactive site devoted to Bright Young Things and Godberson's other series, The Luxe: http://www.bytseries.com/byt/
Paolini, Christopher. Eragon. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003.
ISBN: 0375826688 | Hardcover | 509 p. | $11.98 USD
Annotation: In the fictional land of Alagaesia, a 15-year-old boy named Eragon finds a rare blue stone that hatches into a dragon. Eragon embarks on a journey across the land as he encounters a complex world of magic, violence, elves and dwarves in Christopher Paolini's debut fantasy novel.
Awards / Honors:
- Beehive Awards (Utah): Young Adult Books
- BILBY - Books I Love Best Yearly (Australia) : Older Reader
- Buckeye Children's Book Award (Ohio): Grades 6-8
- Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award
- Colorado Children's Book Award: Junior Book (1992-present)
- E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards: Middle Reader
- Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award (Rosie Award)
- Gateway Readers Award (Missouri)
- Golden Archer Awards (Wisconsin): Middle/Jr. High School
- Grand Canyon Reader Award (Arizona): Teen Book
- Iowa Teen Award
- Nene Award (Hawaii)
- Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards: Grades 6-8
- Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Choice Book Award (Illinois)
- Rhode Island Teen Book Award
- Sequoyah Book Awards (Oklahoma): Young Adult Books
- Soaring Eagle Book Award (Wyoming)
- South Carolina Book Awards: Young Adult Books
- Surrey Schools' Book of the Year Award (British Columbia)
- Virginia Readers' Choice Award: Middle School (Grades 6-9)
- YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults: Adventure Seekers (2012)
- Young Reader's Choice Award (Pacific Northwest): Intermediate
Open End Booktalk: What would you think if you found a shiny blue stone in the forest? When an orphan named Eragon picks up this strange object while hunting, he just hopes its worth some money so he can sell it. Much to his surprise, the blue stone hatches one night to reveal a dragon. Eragon is shocked. There are no more dragons left in all of the land. Will he escape the people hunting this rare creature? As Eragon travels across the land in search of revenge ands safety, he begins to wonder, will he really become a powerful dragon rider?
Eragon was made into a movie! Check out the trailer:
"My favorite thing to read is fantasy. I like getting into a good fantasy story and forgetting everything else that's going on... Gail Carson Levine is my favorite author." - Mary S.
Whitney, Daisy. The Mockingbirds. New York: Little, Brown, 2010.
ISBN: 9780316090537 | Hardcover | $16.99 USD.
Annotation: When Alex is date raped during her junior year at an elite boarding school, she turns to the Mockingbirds, a secret student society, for help. This honest, coming of age novel explores the realistic emotional turmoil that is tied to issues of drinking, sex and violence.
Award / Honors:
- Amelia Bloomer Lists - Young Adult Fiction: 2012
- Association of Booksellers for Children New Voices Pick 2010
- Best Book for Young Adults - American Library Association
- Chicago Public Library Best of Best Books for Teens 2010
- Goodreads Mover and Shaker 2010
- Indie Next List Pick
- NPR Best Book of 2010
- Romantic Times Best Book of 2010
- YALSA Best Books for Young Adults: 2011
Wrap Back Booktalk: Themis Academy seems like a nice New England boarding school, full of model students. But one morning, Alex wakes up in bed with a strange classmate and she can't remember anything from the night before. When she realizes she was the victim of date rape, she doesn't know where to turn. Adults at the school are no help. They pretend all the students are perfect. Troublesome students would only make Themis look bad, so the faculty turns a blind eye. What is Alex supposed to do? Do students at Themis just get away with bullying and cheating and date rape? Not if the students can help it. WIth no adult supervision, the students at Themis have developed their own underground justice system, inspired by Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. As Alex begins to remember bits and pieces of the night, she seeks justice for her attacker with the help of The Mockingbirds.
Learn more about the author and The Mockingbirds sequel, The Rivals, from the Daisy Whitney's website: http://daisywhitney.com/
Katcher, Brian. Almost Perfect. New York: Delacorte Press, 2009.
ISBN: 9780385736657 | Paperback | 368 p. | $8.99 USD
Annotation: Almost Perfect follows the narrator, Logan Witherspoon, as he falls for the new girl at school, Sage Hendricks. When Logan finds out Sage is a transgendered person, he struggles to understand his feelings towards her. The novel explores themes of teenage sexuality, identity, and love while tackling issues such as homophobia and hate crimes.
Awards / Honors:
- Capital Choice Noteworthy Book for 2010 - Rainbow Lists - Young Adult Fiction: 2010 - Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Award: 2011 - YALSA Best Books for Young Adults: 2010 - YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults: Forbidden Romance (2012)
Wrap Back Booktalk: In a small town in Missouri, Logan Witherspoon spends his days moping around over his cheating ex girlfriend. One day, Sage Hendricks arrives at school and catches Logan's eye. She is funny, awkward and pretty, and he can't stop thinking about her. As they grow closer, Logan becomes more and more attracted to Sage. When he tries to make a move on Sage, he is enraged to find out Sage was born a boy. Will Logan try to understand who Sage really is? Will Sage be able to forgive Logan for becoming so cruel? Read about their rocky relationship in Almost Perfect.
Watch as two high school student interview Brian Katcher on writing novels for young adults: http://vimeo.com/34918691
Bechdel, Allison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Print. 0780618871711; paperback; $13.95 USD.
Awards/Honors:
ALA Notable Books - Nonfiction: 2007
Eisner Awards: Best Reality-Based Work
Lambda Literary Awards: Biography / Autobiography
New York Times Notable Books - Nonfiction: 2006
Publishing Triangle Award for Lesbian Nonfiction: 2007
Rainbow Lists - Young Adult Nonfiction: 2008
Stonewall Book Awards: Israel Fishman Nonfiction Award
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is a memoir written in the form of a graphic novel. The memoir focuses on Bechdel's young life and relationship with her father, a high school English teacher, funeral home director, home restoration enthusiast, and closeted homosexual. Shortly after Bechdel comes out as a lesbian to her parents, her father commits suicide by walking in front of a truck. It was not until after she comes out that she learns her father is a homosexual, and she explores the possibility of her coming out being related to her father's death. Knowing now that her father was a homosexual, Bechdel looks back at her young relationship with him in a new light.
An interesting aspect of this graphic novel is the way in which Bechdel looks back at her old diary entries and analyzes them with her more adult understanding of her young self. The book is heavy on references to classic literature, and without having read many of the works referenced in the book, some metaphors can be difficult to grasp. Some of the themes and the graphic drawings of Bechdel's sexual explorations makes this book more appropriate for older teens.
