The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

by Sherman Alexie

This really strangely named book, was the 2007 National Book Award winner for Young Adults, and is on this year's Tayshas list. It is truly the saddest funny book I've ever read. Junior Spirit was born and raised on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington State. He knows all about being poor and powerless. The reservation schools are no good, so Junior makes the decision to go to school at an excellent rural white school 23 miles away. His parents agree to help him, but there are many days he has to hitchhike or walk most of the way. His best friend Rowdy won't forgive him for leaving the "rez" and most of his people think he is a traitor. But Junior is determined to make something of his life, and to escape the cycle of poverty. This book is peppered with Junior's cartoons, most really funny, and stories of life on the reservation, alternately funny and heartrending. At his new school, he manages to make friends with a brainy geek, who helps him study, and gets a girlfriend named Penelope. But it's his basketball playing ability that really wins him the respect he craves.

Be prepared to learn something about Native Americans by reading this book, and be prepared to be touched by a character who has to work like crazy just to get what most American kids take for granted. Although this is a great guy book, it is one that everyone should read.

--reviewed by Dail Sams

lock and key

by Sarah Dessen

Ruby is used to her mother being irresponsible. She's used to having her mother come home drunk, often with another man. She's used to having to help her with her job. She's used to getting no emotional support from her. But it surprises her when her mother just doesn't come home at all one night. After two weeks, Ruby realizes her mother isn't coming back. If she can just hold on for a few months until she turns 18, she will be home free. But it gets harder and harder. She can't pay the rent and the water is turned off. Finally, the landlord gets suspicious, and calls in social services, and the game is up. She is sent to live with her older sister Cora, who left home ten years ago to go to college and never came back. Her sister is married to a wealthy man, a good man, and Ruby's life changes overnight. But she has locked away her heart, and finds it difficult to open herself up to love. It takes the patience of her sister and the friendship of Nate, the guy across the alley, to unlock her heart for the first time in a long time.

Dessen hits the nail on the head with her new novel about teens who learn how to survive when the adults in their lives fail them.

--reviewed by Dail Sams

Twisted

by Laurie Halse Anderson

Tyler Miller is walking on the edge. He manages to maintain his balance by escaping into a video game for hours at a time, and by hanging with his best friend, Yoda. Tyler is doing penance for his Foul Deed of last spring, a major act of vandalism on the school building, by working tons of community service hours with the school's maintenance crew and a local landscaping company. His mother is a nice but unhappy lady. His sister is about to enter high school and is itching to break lose. His dad is an autocratic workaholic there's no pleasing. Tyler has been a scrawny, bullied victim for as long as he can remember. But, after a summer of physical labor, he's bulked up and shot up to 6'3". The impossible has happened. The school's hottest girl, and incidentally, his dad's boss's daughter, is showing interest in him. But what starts out to be the best thing that has ever happened to him in his life, ends up pushing Tyler off the edge into a dark place. Tyler is a character most guys could identify with and most girls could sympathize with. A great read.

The newest book in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, is due out on August 2.
Go to Barnes & Noble website for a video of Stephenie Meyer speaking on Twilight and the writing process.

http://media.barnesandnoble.com/index.jsp?fr_chl=eeef1c48b137ca6f7002930b78484d1eab3a0a7d Click on "new shows and interviews" and scroll down to Stephenie Meyer.

The third volume of Paolini's Inheritance trilogy, Brisingr, is scheduled for release on September 10.

Multiple copies will be available in the LHS library.

Stephenie Meyer's New Book Captivates!

With the publishing of The Host, Stephenie Meyer proves she is more than a one story author. It's hard to imagine more captivating characters than Bella and Edward, but the world Meyer creates in The Host is every bit as fascinating, and even more original than the vampire/werewolf world of Twilight. By the use of an alien invasion of Earth, Meyer examines what it means to be human, both the good and the dark sides, and causes her reader to sympathize equally with human and alien.

Melanie Stryder is one of the last humans left on earth, as far as she knows, who is not inhabited by an alien. Then she finds Jared, another "uninhabited" human and falls in love. When Melanie is finally captured and taken over by the alien, Wanderer, she refuses to fade away as most humans do, leading to a strange and complicated relationship with a being who has control of her body. The dynamics become even more difficult, when the two endanger their body to find Jared and the group of humans hiding in the Arizona desert. Though the focus of the plot is definitely on the characters and relationships, this is interesting science fiction as well. Meyer ties up plot complications pretty well in this novel, but there's plenty of room for a sequel, if she wants to further develop her new world.

--reviewed by Dail Sams