SKINNED
by Robin Wasserman

For readers of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series, the cover of this book may look familiar, and it would be tempting to assume that the storyline is similar.   Lia Kahn's physical body is really the main character in this book, and there the similarities end.  Skinned takes place in a future, post-nuclear accident America, where the rich have every possible advantage and the poor live in unhealthy squalor.  Medical science has advanced to the point that a person's mind can be downloaded into a beautiful mechanical body, but those who have had the procedure done, either by choice or because their bodies have become so damaged that they had no choice, if they wanted to continue to exist, are looked at as inhuman, souless machines.  They are the outcasts of society.  After a horrifying accident, Lia's father decides to save her by giving her a mechanical body. She is then faced with not only adjusting to the physical changes, the change in her social status, but much more importantly, dealing with who and what she has become emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually.  This book poses all the difficult questions about what it means to be human, whether there is a god and spiritual life, and what the responsibility is of those who are virtually indestructible to those who aren't.  None of these problems are solved, but at the end, Lia is at last ready to consider the questions.  Skinned is Book One in a trilogy which promises to be full of action and thought-provoking angst.  ~reviewed by Dail Sams

the summer i turned pretty
by Jennifer Han

Belly (a nickname for Isabel) lived for the summers--the long summers in Susannah's beach house, with her mother, Laurel, and brother Steven and Susannah and her boys, Jeremiah and Conrad.  Susannah and Laurel had been best friends forever, so they blended their families every summer.  Jeremiah and Conrad seemed as much Belly's brothers as Steven did, except she had always had a crush on Conrad. If Conrad noticed it, he never gave any indication.  This summer, the summer of Belly's sixteenth birthday, everything seemed different.  Steven was only there for a couple of weeks because he was leaving to visit colleges with his dad, Belly was dating a local boy, which didn't seem to make Jeremiah and Conrad very happy, Conrad was aloof and angry all the time, and Susannah spent a lot of time in her bedroom.  The tension was thick, but Belly didn't know what was wrong.  She only knew that for the first time ever, she was being noticed, and she liked it.  When Susannah's illness finally comes out, Belly realizes what has been wrong with Conrad all summer, and she also realizes nothing can be the same again.  An appealing coming of age story with an ending that didn't quite add up.            ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams

The Ask and the Answer
by Patrick Ness

After running for weeks to reach Haven and escape Mayor Prentiss and his men, Todd carries the wounded Viola into the town square of Haven, only to find the Mayor waiting there for them. So ends Book One of the Chaos Walking trilogy.  The intensity never lets up in Book Two, The Ask and the Answer, as Todd and Viola are separated, manipulated, and deceived by the Mayor and others with their own agendas.  Viola finds herself aligned with a rebel group of women called the Answer, led by Mistress Coyle, a healer and adept strategist for planning terrorist attacks on the city.  Meanwhile, Todd is a virtual prisoner of Mayor Prentiss, and is made to do increasingly cruel and immoral acts.  He doesn't have the will to resist because he believes Viola has left him alone on purpose.  His means of enduring is to turn off his emotions entirely and refuse to think about the pain he is inflicting on women of the city and the Spackle, natives of the planet.  As the Answer steps up their terrorist attacks, Mayor Prentiss responds with his own brand of evil cruelty in the Office of the Ask.  Both groups are trying to solidify their own power before the arrival of Viola's people in their space ship.  The final agonizing scene of this powerful story finds the Ask and the Answer racing toward a final battle on the outskirts of the city, the spaceship nearing arrival, and Todd finally gaining a tenuous control over the Mayor inside the now destroyed cathedral, when out of the hills a totally unexpected conquering force marches toward the city.  This is the epitome of a "cliff hanger."  As with the first in this trilogy, The Knife of Never Letting Go, I found this story incredibly painful to read, but once begun, there's no stopping. This saga is so much more than science fiction.  --reviewed by Mrs. Sams

the red necklace

by Sally Gardner

I find it really too bad that the cover of this book is so "girly."  That probably will keep many guys from checking it out, which is a shame, because the main character of this book is Yann Margoza, an appealing orphan Gypsy boy who has been reared by Tetu, a dwarf with powers of the mind.  They make their living by performing in a magic show in a Paris theater.  Yann himself has limited powers which he uses in the show, but these powers seem to desert him one night when he meets Count Kalliovski, a creepy and intimidating man of the upper class, and Sido, despised daughter of the selfish and silly Marquis de Villeduval.  Set against the backdrop of the turmoil and bloodbath of the French Revolution, this story is full of intrigue and interesting historical facts.  To avoid being captured and killed by the evil count, Yann is forced to flee to London, where he is cared for by a well-to-do couple, and educated as a gentleman.  When he learns that Sido and her father are in danger, he realizes that he must return to Paris and rescue them.  In his quest to recapture his former powers and learn new ones, Yann also seeks out the Gypsy community near Paris and comes to grip with his own heritage.  I really liked this story.  It's much more than a historical novel, and Yann and Sido's story is compelling.  I'm not sure if a sequel is forthcoming, but it's possible since Gardner left plenty of loose ends.    ~reviewed by Dail Sams

Four things my Geeky-Jock-of-a-Best-Friend Must Do In Europe  
by Jane Harrington

Brady is heading off to Europe with her mother for her coming of age trip, a family tradition.  Before she leaves, her best friend Delia writes four must-do things on Brady's hand in permanent ink.  Brady spends her entire Mediterranean cruise trying to overcome her insecurities, fulfill her friend's instructions, and wash off the ink.  This is a novel in letters--the letters Brady writes home to Delia reporting on her progress and adventures in her sardonic and ironic voice.  From being dragged around Pompeii, Barcelona, and Florence by her mother, to partying with fellow shipmates, Brady has a funny take on all that happens to her.  Pure fluff, Harrington's travel novel is a really quick read and a fun piece of escapism.     ~reviewed by Dail Sams

CATCHING FIRE

By Suzanne Collins

Though Katniss and Peeta have been given a few short months of peace and prosperity following their victory in the Hunger Games, it is inevitable that Katniss, at least, would be punished by President Snow for her defiance at the end of the games. Refusing to kill Peeta has sparked rebellion in a number of the districts, infuriating government officials. Punished she is, in many and excruciating ways. The most painful way of all is the announcement by the government that she and Peeta will be going back into the arena for the Quarter Quell, the 75th anniversary of the Hunger Games. Katniss has no hope that she will survive the games a second time. Even if she could, she has already made the decision to protect Peeta as long as she can and sacrifice herself to keep him alive. Returning to the diabolical arena are a host of tributes from past games, some there just to stay alive as long as they can, but others allied together to spark further rebellion. Collins has followed up her highly acclaimed The Hunger Games with another turn in the arena guaranteed to keep readers racing through the pages and begging for more at the cliff-hanger ending. ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams

Hawkes

Harbor

S.E. Hinton

Those who have read and loved such S.E. Hinton classics as The Outsiders and Tex may have wondered if she has written anything new recently. The answer to that question is yes! After a 15-year hiatus, Hinton has come out with a new novel, but if readers are looking for another teen novel like The Outsiders, Hawkes Harbor will come as something of a shock. This dark, adult novel of Jamie Sommers, an orphan abused as a child, and terrified as an adult by an awakened vampire to the point of madness, moves too slowly to really capture, and for me, at least, was too crude and violent to engage. I wanted to stop reading every page. The plot seems inconsistent. Near the end of the book, the cruel vampire, Grenville Hawkes, is cured of his vampirism, and suddenly gains concern for the man he violently controlled for years. While I like happy endings as much as anyone, this resolution just didn't seem to fit the tension-filled beginning of this novel. S.E. Hinton's new book will not be available in the high school library, and I would be hard-pressed to recommend it to our students. There are plenty of better vampire books out there. Leave this one on the shelf. ~review by Dail Sams

BLADE: playing dead

by Tim Bowler

It's been a long time since I've read a book with such unrelenting tension and suspense. Not even one sentence of comic relief interrupts the sense of fear and darkness that envelops the life of fourteen-year-old Blade, a street kid in urban Britain. Blade is a person with a past--a violent and painful past. But he managed to escape the life he had been living, and for the past three years, he's been playing dead, hiding from every personal contact and even from himself. Blade is a master at sensing trouble; he has honed his powers of observation to a fine point. But one day he slips, is brutalized by girl gang members, and his life starts unraveling. Ghosts from his bloody past come to track him down. He makes the mistake of starting to care for a girl and a small child. He has lost control, and never has he been in greater danger. Told with Blade's voice to an unseen observer, Bigeyes, in British street slang and Bowler's own language, this story grips the reader from page one and doesn't let go even at the last sentence. The word is that Blade is book one in an eight-book series. That is a good thing, because at the end of book one, Blade has no where to go but up. ~reviewed by Dail Sams

THE KNIFE

OF NEVER

LETTING GO

By patrick ness

Sometimes the Noise in Prentisstown on New World is overwhelming, though most every man has learned to deal with it somehow. There's little privacy because everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts--their Noise. Prentisstown has only men in it. All the women died long ago. And Todd Hewitt is the youngest of the children in town. In one month he will turn 13 and become the last boy to reach manhood. Until then, he's lonely. He does have his dog Manchee to talk to, though dogs don't have much to say back. But one day, down in the swamp, Todd hears a hole in the Noise, a silence that is deafening, and he finds a girl, a terrified girl, hiding from Aaron, the preacher man in town. Todd has long suspected Aaron is crazy, and when he hears Aaron's noise about the quiet, he knows for sure.

Ben and Cillian, Todd's guardians tell Todd to run. They know the town's secrets, the secrets that every boy learns when he becomes a man. They know Todd Hewitt must escape, even if he doesn't understand why. So he and Manchee run, and the silent girl runs with them. They are relentlessly pursued by Aaron, and then by the army formed of all the men in the town. They head for the legendary town of Haven, the first settlement on New World, and the largest city. Over and over they are caught and hurt and endangered, and over and over they escape to run on again, never completely understanding why, but knowing they are being followed by evil... The Knife of Never Letting Go is painful to read but impossible to put down.

~reviewed by Dail Sams

The Opposite of Invisible

by Liz Gallagher

I really liked this almost love story. It was easy, a fast read, and true to teenage life, without having the usual "kids are so cruel to kids" theme. Alice and Jewel (a nickname for a guy named Julian) have been best friends forever. They both are artsy and just haven't needed anyone else. Except in their own small art group. they are pretty much invisible at school, and don't care a bit. Narrated by Alice, the story of their lives changes subtly when it seems that Jewel might be wishing their friendship was more than that, and Alice can't tell him that she has a crush on a jock in the popular crowd. When Alice starts dating her crush, Simon, it seems like the Alice/Jewel friendship is over, but it doesn't take Alice long to realize that she just isn't that comfortable with Simon. The good thing about going with Simon is that she is drawn into his crowd, and she makes new friends that just might last longer than the relationship. And to a lesser degree, the same thing happens to Jewel. When they are able to patch things up, Alice and Jewel have become more confident in themselves and their lives have become richer and less isolated. A sweet first novel for Gallagher, and on this year's Tayshas list. ~reviewed by Dail Sams

Dingo

by Charles de Lint

The day that Lainey and her large dog come into Miguel's dad's comic and music shop, his life is changed forever. She has wild red hair, beautiful brown eyes, and she and Miguel click almost immediately. The trouble is that she doesn't seem like the same person the next time he meets her, and Miguel starts having really crazy, frightening dreams. Lainey has this strange connection to her dog, Em, which she says is a dingo, a wild dog from Australia, her home country. When Johnny Ward, the town bad boy, tells Miguel about the dreams he has been having and that he really likes Em, whose dog's name is Lainey, Miguel knows he has entered the Twilight Zone. At a nighttime meeting on the beach, Lainey tells Miguel that she has a twin sister, and that they are shape-changers. Soon Miguel and Johnny are thrown into a perilous venture to save the girls from their biological father, and Dingo, the leader of their clan. Dingo is similar to the last book I read, Impossible, where a fatastical, magical reality parallels a normal, modern one. And again, the power of love is a central theme. Dingo is another title on this year's Tayshas list, available in the LHS library. --reviewed by Dail Sams

Impossible

by Nancy Werlin

Lucy Scarborough is the latest in a long line of cursed women who have become pregnant at age 18 and had baby daughters. Based on the lyrics to the old folk ballad "Scarborogh Fair", made famous by Simon and Garfunkel in the 1960's, Lucy, her family, and her best friend Zach realize Lucy must perform the three tasks mentioned in the song or she will go insane after delivering her baby. Each of the three tasks seems more impossible to perform than the last. The underlying tension of evil, personified by an incredibly attractive stranger named Padraig Seeley, makes this book one that is difficult to put down. The binding and breaking power of love is the most important theme threaded throughout this spellbinding tale. Werlin has created an unusual story intertwining the very modern and rational with the ancient and magical. A great read on this year's Tayshas list. --reviewed by Mrs. Sams

waiting for normal

by leslie connor

Waiting for Normal is another of several YA novels I've read in the past year or two about the struggles and fears of kids who have to take care of themselves because the adults in their lives are either irresponsible, cruel, or both. Addie's mother is not cruel, which makes this novel a little less painful to read than some, but she is selfish and thoughtless, leaving 12-year-old Addison to fend for herself on a regular basis. More than anything, Addie wants to have a normal life, with her two younger sisters who live with their dad, a good man who happens to love Addie too. But he's not Addie's blood father, so he hasn't been able to gain custody of her. He has done the best he can for Addie and her mother by providing them with a small trailer to live in and monthly support. Addie is happy with it, but Addie's mother is rarely satisfied, and she feels entitled to her own life, often leaving Addie alone, sometimes for days at a time. School activities and Soula and Elliot, the owners of a minimart across the street, make life bearable for Addie. When Addie accidentally sets the trailer on fire one morning while her mother is gone on one of her getaways, Soula finally calls child protective services, and sets in motion the circumstances for Addie to achieve her "normal." A surprisingly upbeat novel, considering the subject matter, Waiting for Normal is a great story about a girl who is a survivor. Read Sarah Dessen's Lock and Key and Deborah Davis's Not Like You, for other takes on the same subject. Waiting for Normal is on this year's Texas Lone Star list.

~reviewed by Dail Sams

Book of a Thousand Days

by Shannon Hale

This beautifully written, lyrical novel is based on a lesser-known Grimm Brothers fairy tale. Though the plot is engaging, and the characters appealing, it's the language that drew me through the story. Book of a Thousand Days reads more like poetry or a song, than like prose. It has more striking similes than I can remember encountering in a novel before. Phrases like "his soul slipped back inside, curled up like a cat in his chest, and purred to be home," and "I was under the stars like a fish is under water," and "in a few months' time winter would whack us dead like a yak's tail slaps a fly," run all through the text. Since Dashti, a peasant girl and the main character of the story, has learned to sing all the healing songs from her mother, the lilting quality of the language perfectly complements the events of the plot. And healing is one of the main themes--healing of body and soul. This is a story full of cruelty, privation, and destruction, yet Dashti's songs keep the tone light and hopeful. The structure of this book is in Dashti's diary entries as she and her mistress Saren are bricked up in a tower by Saren's father for seven years, without light or fresh air, because she wouldn't agree to marry the man her father had chosen for her. After half that time, they manage to break themselves out, only to find that the lady's home city has been utterly destroyed by the man she was to marry. They travel on to the city of Khan Tegus, the ruler of a neighboring kingdom, and the man Saren wants to marry. There they find work in the palace kitchen, and Dashti waits for an opportunity to make Saren's presence known to Tegus. Though Dashti is allowed to sing her songs of healing to the khan, Saren is too afraid to reveal herself, and Dashti falls in love with Tegus herself. In the end, both Saren and Dashti gain happiness through separate acts of bravery. And everyone lived happily ever after. --reviewed by Dail Sams

Me, the Missing, and the Dead

by Jenny Valentine

An amazine first novel by Valentine, Me, the Missing and the Dead, has a clever plot, well-developed, dynamic characters, and a surprise ending. What more could you want? Here's the story: Peter Swain, the father of our narrator, Lucas, disappeared without a trace five years ago. His wife and three children don't know if he's alive or dead. They just know he never came home one day. Lucas feels like he's the only one who cares, who is trying to keep his father's memory alive. In a seemingly unrelated event, Lucas wanders into a cab company early one morning to catch a cab home, and notices an urn sitting up on a shelf. It contains the ashes of Violet Park, and she and her urn were left in a cab five years ago and never claimed. For some reason, that makes Lucas really sad, and he is determined to take possession of Violet's ashes and sprinkle them in a nice place. He just can't rest until he's done it; it seems that Violet is calling to him. With the help of his grandmother, Lucas claims the ashes and begins doing research on Violet Park. She was a noted pianist, in several movies, and craziest of all, she had known his dad. Lucas begins to wonder if there is a connection between Violet's death and his father's disappearance. On this year's Tayshas list, Me, the Missing, and the Dead is a great novel about seeking the truth and learning when to let go. Highly recommended.

--reviewed by Dail Sams

hush: an Irish princess' tale

by Donna Jo Napoli

In hush, Napoli has created a haunting tale based on an ancient Irish folk story about a princess named Melkorka. Melkorka is beautiful and haughty, used to being waited upon and to looking down on those who serve her. A brutal attack in which her older brother's hand is severed, causes their mother to send Melkorka and her little sister, Brigid, away for safety. Along the way, the girls are abducted by slave traders, and very quickly learn what they must do to survive. Melkorka deals with her situation by becoming mute. She reminds herself continually of some of her mother's last words to her--"hush Melkorka, hush." Her lack of speech, causes her captors to be curious and even afraid of her which protects her from unwanted attention. Eventually Melkorka is sold to a man who treats her well, though he uses her as a concubine. However, as a slave, she has no rights and virtually no chance of ever returning home.

This story gives a grim picture of life in 900 A.D. British Isles. Raiding Vikings cause constant fear, and there is unrelenting work for the common people just to maintain the barest necessities of life. Napoli has once again given us a realistic picture of ancient life, and a strong character in Melkorka who changes from a spoiled princess to a compassionate, capable survivor. A great historical read on this year's Tayshas list. --reviewed by Dail Sams

TEEN, INC. by Stefan Petrucha

For most teens, having two parents to answer to, is more than enough. Just imagine if you had a whole corporation in charge of your life? What if you had to attend board meetings to discuss your dating life? Meet 14 year-old Jaiden Beale, NECorp's adopted "son." When a NECorp product accident killed his parents when he was three weeks old, the company decided to settle 40 million dollars on him and to take care of him until he reaches adulthood. Since Jaiden has no other relatives, he doesn't remember his parents, and the company buys him lots of cool electronic gadgets, Jaiden really has no reason to resist the arrangement. He did have to push his management team to allow him to attend public school after years of private tutors. And the whole power meeting on potential dates was too much to bear, but it was not until he learns from Jenny, a classmate, that NECorp is dangerously polluting the local water supply with mercury, that he starts questioning his loyalty to the company. A series of bizarre incidents and teen pranks follow which lead to NECorp having to clean up its act and Jaiden being faced with some decisions about his future.

Teen, Inc. is an entertaining and highly readable story, but I found it a little confusing. The author couldn't seem to make up his mind if he was writing a comedy or a serious novel about pollution and corrupt business practices. And the basis for the story and several goings-on within the plot just weren't believable. However, Jaiden is a totally normal and likable character, in spite of his strange "home" life, so many students will enjoy reading Teen, Inc. --reviewed by Dail Sams

The

Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins

It's Reaping Day again in Panem, and every person in each of the 12 districts is required by the government to dress in his or her best clothes and appear in the city square for the lottery. Two teenagers from each of the districts, one boy and one girl, will be chosen for the annual Hunger Games, a contest among the 24 teenagers from all the districts, televised across the country. The Hunger Games, is just one way that the Capitol wields its power over its citizens, for everyone is afraid their child, or their friend, will be chosen, and no one is powerful enough to resist. This year, 12--year-old Prim is chosen, but her older sister, Katniss immediately volunteers to take her place. Katniss and Peeta, the baker's son, leave that day for the Capitol, a place of unimaginable luxury, where they, along with the other contestants from the other districts are pampered and fed and coached for days before the games begin. But none of the riches they are given can really ease the terror of what they will encounter when the Hunger Games commence. For the Hunger Games is a challenge to the death, and only one teen can be the victor!

This dystopian novel is reminiscent of Shirley Jackson's story, The Lottery, with elements of Big Brother in Orwell's 1984. Panem is a frightening future North America, the land area vastly reduced because of global warming, flooding, natural disasters, and war. But the main characters are strong, appealing survivors, and the action runs the gamut from sweet and touching acts of selflessness to brutal savagery, with the government being the true bad guy. I loved this book! It has everything a good read should have, and the best thing of all is that the sequel , Catching Fire, is due out in September. The Hunger Games is on this year's American Library Association's Top Ten best books for young adults, and the 2009-2010 Texas Tayshas list. --reviewed by Dail Sams

Black & White and Dead All Over

by John Darnton

It's bad enough that the New York Globe is struggling with decreasing circulation and advertising while its readership increasingly depends on the Internet for its news. But the Globe is really in trouble when one of its most hated editors is murdered and his bleeding body deposited on the floor of the main newsroom, with a stake through his chest. Ace reporter Jude Hurley is given the assignment to cover the murder, teaming up with NYPD detective, Priscilla Bollingsworth. They are obviously dealing with a clever murderer because two weeks pass with little real evidence and few clues coming to light, while two more Globe reporters are murdered in ever more gruesome ways. The ambitions and petty jealousies of editors and reporters at the Globe put nearly everyone under suspicion and make for a smart, suspenseful story by Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, John Darnton. This great read will be available at the LHS library this fall.

---reviewed by Dail Sams

SLAM by Nick Hornby

Sam is a normal 15-year-old boy whose life has finally hit a great spot. He has a decent relationship with his single mom, his art teacher has encouraged him to go to college in graphic design, he has learned some great skateboarding moves, and he has a beautiful girlfriend. World-famous skateboarder Tony Hawk is Sam's hero and the source of his best advice, in the form of quotes from Hawk's autobiography, which Sam has read about a thousand times. But all it takes is one 5-minute slip in judgment, and his life is changed forever. He receives a slam against the wall, in a big way. When he finds out his girlfriend is pregnant, all he thinks about doing is running away, but in the end, Sam does the only thing he can do. He decides to be responsible and does some major growing up. Sam is a funny and oddly endearing character, and Hornby, an English author, has written a realistic novel about teenage fatherhood, and the importance of taking responsiblilty for our mistakes. Three of Nick Hornby's books have been made into major motion pictures. Find out more about him on his official website, http://www.nicksbooks.com/index.php/archives/category/news/. Read Slam, on this year's Tayshas list. --reviewed by Dail Sams

What I Saw and How I Lied

by Judy Blundell

This is a classic coming of age story set in post-World War II Palm Beach, Florida. Evie and her mom and step-father, just home from the war, leave their New Jersey home for a celebratory trip to Palm Beach. Evie, nearly 16, believes herself to be a plain, awkward girl, and constantly compares herself to her knock-out gorgeous mother Beverly. But while in Florida, Evie falls for a handsome GI who shows up to see her step-father Joe. Peter is friendly and kind to Evie, and she begins to believe that she can make Peter see her own beauty. It is obvious that there is tension between Joe and Peter for reasons that Evie can't quite understand. Evie is naive and inexperienced and completely misreads what is going on right under her nose. When Peter is mysteriously killed in a boating accident with her parents, and Joe comes under suspicion, Evie learns that she has never really known the people who are closest to her. In the period of a few days, she grows up, learns some of the truth and realizes what she has to do to protect her world. Evie Spooner will never be the same again. What I Saw and How I Lied is the 2009 National Book Award Winner. --reviewed by Dail Sams

The London Eye Mystery

by Siobhan Dowd

The London Eye is one of the most recognizable landmarks of London. Perched on the edge of the Thames, it is an enormous Ferris wheel-looking thing, only not, because you can't see the wheel turning. It goes so slowly, it takes 30 minutes for the wheel to to make one complete revolution, and on a clear day, those who ride can see all over London. Ted, the narrator of this book, and Kat, his not-always friendly sister, take their cousin Salim to ride the Eye, when he makes a visit to London. Since a strange man offered them a free ticket, and Kat and Ted had already ridden the Eye before, they decided to let Salim ride by himself, while they waited for him below. Keeping their eye on the capsule Salim had entered, they waited for 30 minutes till it came back around. And when it did, Salim did not emerge from the capsule. Ted and Kat waited for the next capsules, then started frantically searching all around the area, but Salim had disappeared. The next day the police are called in, and soon Salim's parents decide to make an appeal on TV. All the while Ted and Kat are doing their own investigation and coming up with their own sometimes hilarious theories. Ted, our narrator, has Asperger's Syndrome, which means his brain works a little differently than most people's. It also means he is very literal, which leads to some pretty funny explanations on his part. But it also means that he is very helpful in the investigation, because he looks at the situation from a very unique perspective. While doing their best to find Salim, Kat and Ted become better friends, and both of them do some growing up. The London Eye Mystery is a serious story, because Salim could really be in danger, but Ted's funny commentary, keeps the story light. A fun, quick read, and on this year's Texas Lone Star list. ~reviewed by Dail Sams

Sundays at Tiffanys

By James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet

I heard a radio interview with internationally known author James Patterson the other day on my way home from school. Amazingly, he has nine, yes nine, books coming out this year. He manages this by having co-authors. Such is the case with Sundays at Tiffanys, a tender love story, reminiscent of Nicholas Sparks. Jane Margaux is the 8-year-old daughter of an inattentive single mom, Vivienne, a hard-nosed, ever busy Broadway producer. Jane survives because she has an imaginary friend named Michael. Michael is a grown man whose job it is to befriend needy children. We are never quite sure if he's ghost or angel, but whatever he is, he takes very good care of Jane until she turns 9 years old, when he has to leave her. That's the rule. Michael can only stay until the child's ninth birthday, because after that, she can manage on her own. He endures these excruciatingly difficult leave-takings because the children he loves and leaves forget him almost immediately. Even for Michael, the memories of his children become very fuzzy. But Jane is special, and she never forgets Michael, and he doesn't forget her.

Fast forward 20 years, and Michael is back in NYC. One day he sees Jane, who is still being walked all over by one who should love her. To his astonishment, she recognizes him. This is a modern-day fairy tale, so it is not hard to imagine where this story goes. Though Sundays at Tiffany's holds few surprises, it is still a satisfying read for those of us who love happily ever afters.

--reviewed by Dail Sams

NIGHT ROAD

by A.M. Jenkins

Another in the rash of vampire novels which have come out since Twilight, Night Road takes a darker, more traditional view of vampires, called hemes (for hemevores). Most of the action in this story takes place during the night, because in this version, sunlight is devastatingly harmful to hemes, and they are meticulous in protecting themselves from it. Cole, a 170-year old heme, has become solitary and introverted, protecting himself from memories and relationships too painful to deal with. When Johnny calls Cole back to the Building, a haven for other hemes in an urban area, he knows something is up. Johnny wants Cole and Sandor to take Gordon,"the accident" , a new heme, on the road, to teach him everything he needs to know about his new life. It's been a long time since Cole has spent this much time with other people. His overwhelming sense of responsibility toward Gordon causes him to remember and share memories that he has stuffed for a long time. It also causes him neglect his own needs so that Gordon has his needs met, leading to a terrifying near catastrophe. This road trip certainly prepares Gordon for the life he is destined to live for eons, but Cole comes away changed for the better as well.

An interesting take on the vampire world, but I found it hard to really connect to this story or these characters. However, it is certain to appeal to YA readers who like dark, melancholy tales.

--reviewed by Dail Sams

Am I a censor???
For the past few days I've been reading a four-book series about the daughter of the first woman President of the United States. To tell the truth, I haven't been able to put these books down. Meg is an extremely appealing character, smart, funny, and honest. The first book takes the Powers family through Meg's mother's presidential campaign. The second one focuses on the family's move to the White House and all the adjustments that come with living in a fish bowl with 24/7 Secret Service protection. When the President is shot in an assassination attempt, the family's world is turned upside down. In book three, my favorite so far, Meg is kidnapped by terrorists, beaten, and left to die, chained in an abandoned mine shaft. The fourth book which I'm still reading, chronicles Meg's recovery, her painful physical rehab, her struggle with post-traumatic stress syndrome and feelings about her mother's refusal to negotiate with terrorists, and her need to go to college and move on with her life. Even when the plots are not totally spell-binding, still the characters kept me coming back for more. I have to know what happens to Meg.
So, what's the problem? It's the language. Meg and her younger brother and her best friend Beth, use non-stop profanity, most of it taking the Lord's name in vain. I went back and reread the reviews upon which I based the acquisition of these books. Only one of them mentions Meg's language as being "appropriately raw," while all give very positive revi ews. I guess I have to be fair and say that most of the profanity is in Meg's head. Meg is mostly very respectful and discreet when actually speaking to other people. But that doesn't change the perspective that there's a lot of what I would consider inappropriate language in these books. So, I now have the difficult decision whether or not to keep these books in the library collection. As much as I have enjoyed the story, the language offends me, and I think it could offend others. On the other hand, in our rather crude society, I know that there is nothing in these books that LHS students haven't heard on a regular basis in TV shows and movies. I often remind myself that a significant percentage of our student population is of adult age, or about to be, and I don't think it's my job to protect them or censor their reading material. On the other hand, I have to live with my conscience and be faithful to the task of providing excellent resources to complement and support the curriculum. In this case, I think I'll have to pull these books from the shelf. In other cases, I heave a sigh, wishing young adult authors didn't feel the need to be quite so "realistic," and put the books on the shelf. Finding the balance is the hardest part of my job.

2009 Tayshas Reading List with Annotations

• Alexie, Sherman. Flight. Grove Atlantic, 2007. AD/YA. Fiction. Annotation: 15 year old "Zits" has a whole bunch of anger and 2 guns in his pocket. But just as he's about to exact his revenge he mind jumps into an FBI agents brain.
  
• Archer, Lily. The poison apples. Feiwel and Friends, 2007. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: When they first arrive at their exclusive Massachusetts boarding school, 15-year-olds Molly, Reena, and Alice appear to have little in common. Soon, though, the girls discover that each has a much-loathed, recently acquired stepmother.
  
• Armstrong, Kelley. The Summoning. Harper, 2008. YA. Fiction. Annotation:
  Chloe sees ghosts. At least she thought she did before being sent to a group home and told she has schizophrenic hallucinations. So how come she isn't so sure they're telling the truth?
  
• Asher, Jay. Thirteen Reasons Why. Razorbill for the Penguin Group, 2007. YA. Fiction. Annotation:Clay comes to find a package on his porch with his name on it. His crush, Hannah, who committed suicide two weeks earlier, has recorded tapes explaining why she killed herself. There are thirteen reasons, and Clay’s one of them. ( see my Dec. 1, 2008 post)
  
• Bradbury, Jennifer. Shift. Atheneum, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Before starting college Chris and his best friend Win decide to bicycle across the United States. The trouble starts when Chris is the only one who returns.
  
• Bradley, Alex. Hot Lunch. Dutton Children’s Books, 2007.YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: After an epic food fight Molly and Cassie are forced to work in the school cafeteria to create a hot lunch each day for their fellow students.
  
• Brooks, Kevin. Black Rabbit Summer. Scholastic/Chicken House, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: It was supposed to be one last get together before everyone moved on to college. It was supposed to be about reminiscing. It was supposed to be fun. It wasn't. (see post on November 14, 2008)
  
• Caletti, Deb. The Fortunes of Indigo Skye. Simon & Schuster, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: What would you do if you were given two and a half million dollars unexpectedly? Indigo Skye, a high-school senior, with a fairly normal life, finds out just what impact that kind of money has on her life.
  
• Clare, Cassandra . City of Bones: The Mortal Instruments Book One. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2007. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: In 24 hours, Clary Fray's mother disappears, Clary is attacked by demons, she discovers she has the Sight, and she meets the mysterious Shadowhunters. Clary's entire life has been one big lie.
  
• Collins, Suzanne. Hunger Games. Scholastic, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Every year 24 teens are chosen to play in the Hunger Games. The only way to win is to survive. You might make alliances, you might try to avoid killing, but if you want to win everyone else has to die
  
• Crocker, Nancy. Billie Standish Was Here. Simon & Schuster. 2007. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Billie is abused, shy, and lonely, but finds herself forging an unlikely, rich, loving friendship with her elderly neighbor when the levee threatens to break in their rural 1968 Missouri community.
  
• Cross, Shauna. Derby Girl. Henry Holt and Company, 2007. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Bliss Cavendar is an Indie rock kind of a girl that finds her passion for life in the roller rink of an Austin based Girls Roller Derby League and not in her tiny hometown of Bodeen, Texas, known for its beauty pageants and ice cream factory. Bliss's roller derby participation, of course, is unknown to her parents, who would not approve, and it's just a matter of time before Bliss's lying ways catch up with her.
  
• De La Pena, Matt. Mexican Whiteboy. Delacourte Press, 2008. YA. Fiction Annotation: Danny is angry at his Caucasian mom because he thinks she left his Hispanic father. While spending the summer with his father's family, he practices his pitching, falls in love, and discovers himself.
  
• De Lint, Charles. Dingo. Firebird, 2008. YA. Fiction. Annotation: Love at first sight, that is what Miguel feels when he lays eyes on Lainey. But Lainey isn't what she appears to be and Miguel must risk everything, including his life to save her.
  
• Deuker, Carl. Gym Candy. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007. YA. Fiction. Annotation:His father, a former NFL player, made sure his son Mick always played football, beginning at age four. Mick wants nothing more than to be the best football player on the team, number one in the eyes of his dad, his teamates, and coaches. When he falls short as a freshman, Mick decides to to go down a dangerous path to be the best.
  
• Doctorow, Cory. Little Brother. Tor, 2008. YA. Fiction. Annotation: Seventeen year old techie, gamer, Marcus Yarrow is at the wrong place at the wrong time during a terrorist attack. After being held against his will and tortured by the DHS, Marcus fights back. ( see the April 20, 2009 post)
  
• Downham, Jenny. Before I die. David Fickling Books, 2007. YA. Fiction. Annotation: Tessa is dying. But she’s not willing to go without living first.
  
• Duey, Kathleen - Skin Hunger. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2007. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Sadima was born into a time when magic was outlawed; Hahp was born into a time when it had been restored. Both must use their wits to survive.
  
• Felin, M. Sandy –Touching Snow, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2007. YA. Fiction. Annotation:Karina knows the best way to avoid being picked on by high school bullies is to kill someone. And even if you haven’t, just letting them think you have gets the same effect. She also knows that this is the year that everything is going to change.
  
• Fletcher, Chistine. Ten Cents a Dance. Bloomsbury, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: In 1941 Chicago, it isn't easy for respectable girls to make a living. So when Ruby discovers a way to make money - make that lots of money - she's willing to take her chances despite the risks.
  
• Friedman, Aimee. Breaking Up. Graphix, 2007. YA. Graphic Novel. Annotation: Four girls, Mackensie, Isabel, Erika, and Chloe, have been best friends since grade school. Starting their junior year of high school, at the school they have dubbed Fashion High, their feelings start to change and each becomes their own person, risking the tight bond they have shared for years.
  
• Gaiman, Neil and Michael Reaves. Interworld. HarperCollins Publishers, 2007. YA. Fiction. Annotation: Joey Harker is so bad with directions, he can't find his way out of his own room sometimes. So when he and two classmates are dropped off somewhere in the middle of his hometown with instructions from their History teacher to find their way to a rendezvous point, Joey knows they are in trouble. Although the street they are on looks somewhat familiar, it doesn't take Joey long to get lost...really, really lost. Parallel universe lost.
  
• Gallagher, Liz. The Opposite of Invisible. Wendy Lamb Books, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: What is the difference between love and a crush? Alice must decide this when she is confronted with the choice between Jewel (Julian) , her best friend since age three and Simon, the new guy in town
  
• Gardner, Sally. The Red Necklace. Dial Books, 2008. YA. Fiction. Annotation: Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, an imprisoned girl of noble birth and a Gypsy boy with mysterious powers must outwit their enemies before it is too late.
  
• Giles, Gale. Right Behind You. Little, Brown, 2007. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Kip committed a horrible crime when he was only nine years old. Now he has to live with the guilt and hiding the truth from his friends. When he finally meets someone that he has to tell, if he wants a relationship, he is afraid of the consequences which have troubled him most of his life.
  
• Green, John. Paper Towns. Dutton Books, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Quentin is shocked when Margo shows up at his window and enlists his help in an engenious scheme. But he's even more shocked when she disapears the next day leaving a series of clues for him to decode (see the March 23, 2009 post)
  
• Hale, Shannon. Book of a Thousand Days. Bloomsbury. 2007. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: On the first day of her service as a princess’ maid, fifteen-year-old Dashti, and her princess, Lady Saren, are locked in a tower for seven years because Lady Saren refuses to marry the horrible prince her father has selected for her. After several years pass, the world seems to have forgotten about them, and in order to survive they must escape.
  
• Halpern, Julie. Get Well Soon. Feiwel and Friends, 2007. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: In funny, easygoing prose, 16-year-old Anna writes letters while spending three difficult, involuntary weeks in a mental institution. Anna's parents placed her there because she stopped going to school due to panic attacks, crying jags and death wishes.
  
• Hearn, Julie. Ivy. Simon & Schuster, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: After running away from school, Ivy must learn to thwart a variety of scalawags, hungry pythons, thieves, jealous mothers, overly avid artists, and a host of incorrigible scoundrels that mean her harm
  
• Henderson, Lauren. Kiss Me Kill Me. Delacorte Books, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Two minutes after Dan kisses Scarlett he drops dead. No one knows how or why he died. The only thing Scarlett can be sure of is she wants to clear her reputation as the girl with the "Kiss of Death."
  
• Hoffman, Mary. The Falconer's Knot: A Story of Friars, Flirtation and Foul Play. Bloomsbury, 2007. YA. Fiction. Annotation: Sixteen-year-old, prince, Silvano is infatuated with Angelica. Angelica is already married to a wealthy merchant. Angelica’s husband is murdered, Silvano is the prime suspect. Hiding out in a nearby friary until he can prove his innocence, Silvano meets Chiara who has been forced to enter the nunnery next door.
  
• Hornby, Nick. Slam. Putnam’s Sons, 2007. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Fifteen-year-old Sam lives for skateboarding and often gets advice from his hero, champion skater Tony Hawk, but his life drastically changes when his girlfriend reveals that she’s pregnant. (see my July 5, 2009 post)
  
• Jocelyn, Marthe. Would You. Wendy Lamb Books, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Natalie and her friends are always playing the game "Would you rather". When Natalie's older sister is involved in a terrible accident, Natalie wonders if she would rather die then have her sister die.
  
• Johnson, Maureen. Suite Scarlett. Scholastic, 2008. YA. Fiction. Annotation:
  Scarlett knows her summer's going to suck. All her friends on adventures and she's stuck working at her parents' hotel. Then Mrs. A checks in, an out of work actress who shakes everything up.
  
• Johnson, Varian. My Life as a Rhombus. Flux, 2007. YA. Fiction. Annotation: Rhonda has sworn off boys and popular kids all together. When she starts tutoring Sarah in trig, she is faced with both. The popular Sarah, her sweet, good looking brother, David, and a secret threaten to pull Rhonda from the pulled-together, school centered life she has made for herself.
  
• Kephart, Beth. Undercover. HarperTeen, 2007. YA. Fiction. Annotation: Elisa is undercover. She secretly writes love notes for the boys in her class. Not to them, understand, but for them. Not a problem until she writes for Theo, a boy she begins to notice more and more. With their increasing contact, will she be able to stay undercover?
  
• Kuklin, Susan. No Choirboy- Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row. Henry Holt, 2008. YA. Non-fiction. Annotation: Teenagers do end up on death row for the crimes they have committed. Kuklin takes readers insider their lives and explores the thoughts and feelings these young offenders have about their crimes.

• Lipsyte, Robert. Yellow Flag. HarperCollins, 2007. YA. Fiction. Annotation: Kyle is born into a legendary NASCAR racing family, but loves playing trumpet. When his brother Kris is injured, he feels pressured to give up music and do what his family thinks he's born to do.
  
• Lockhart, E. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. Hyperion, 2008. YA. Fiction. Annotation: Everyone has always underestimated Frankie. But when she is kept out of a secret society at her boarding school, she sets out to prove that she is just as smart and worthy as any of its male members.
  
• Malley, Gemma. The Declaration. Bloomsbury, 2007. YA. Fiction. Annotation:It’s 2140 and you can now live indefinitely, if you agree to not have children. Anna—born outside this agreement—is surplus, and must work to pay back society for being a burden on its resources, and she’s content with that. Then Peter arrives. Is the chance at life worth the risks?
  
• Marillier, Julie. Wildwood Dancing. Knopf, 2007. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: When they were young girls, Jenica and her four sisters discovered a magical portal that allows them to travel between their Romanian estate of Piscul Dracului and the fairy world each full moon. But when their father must becomes ill and their power -hungry cousin, Cezar, comes to oversee their affairs, their lives take a turn for the worse.
  
• Mazer, Morma Fox. The Missing Girl. HaperTeen, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Someone is watching the five Herbert sisters. Someone is trying to decide which sister he likes best. Someone is trying not to make the same mistake he made when he took the last little girl.
  
• McCarthy, Maureen. Rose by any other name. Roaring Brook Press, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: While her family is unraveling, Rose embarks on a roadtrip up the Austrailian coast to visit her dying grandmother, a trip she had planned to take alone until her mother jumped in as she was leaving.
  
• McNish, Cliff. Angel. Carolroada Books, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Angels. Are they real? Stephanie believes. Freya wants to believe. No one understands and thinks they’re crazy. When the truth is revealed, will the girls truly believe then?
  
• Meldrum, Christina. Madapple. Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. YA. Fiction,
  Annotation: Fifteen year old, Aslaug Helling, has never spoken anyone other then her mother. When her mother suddenly dies, Aslaug must interact with a world she has never known and face accusations that she murdered her mother
  
• Myers, Walter Dean. Sunrise over Fallujah. Scholastic Press, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Army enlistee Robin Perry is a member of the Civil Affairs Unit in the initial invasion of Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. His story illustrates the struggles of the soliders fighting the war.
  
• Myracle, Lauren. Bliss. Amulet, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Dumped at her grandmother's by her hippie parents, Bliss must survive at an elite private school where the spirit of a dead girl longs to pull students into her deadly grasp.
  
• Napoli, Donna Jo. Hush: An Irish Princess' Tale. Atheneum, 2007. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Melkorka is an Irish princess who has always looked down her nose at the slaves in her father’s castle. As far as she is concerned they are stupid, disgusting and deserve to be slaves. All of changes when she is suddenly abducted by slave traders.
  
• Nelson, R.A. Breathe My Name. Razorbill for the Penguin Group, 2007. YA. Fiction. Annotation:Frances’s family adopted her away from her birth mother’s imaginary country of Fireless where she was happy. Until her mother’s madness led her to suffocate her children, all except Frances. Now her mother’s been released and wants to finish what was started.
  
• Ness, Patrick. Knife of Never Letting Go. Candlewick Press, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Todd Hewitt, the only boy left in Prentisstown, stumbles across an impossible pool of silence amidst the chaos of The Noise. What he discovers forces him to have to run for his life.
  
• Noyes, Deborah. The Ghosts of Kerfol. Candlewick Press, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Throughout the centuries Kerfol Manor haunts its inhabitants. Neither servant, nor lord, nor visitor will be able to escape its grasp.
  
• Pearson, Mary E. The Adoration of Jenna Fox. Henry Holt and Company, 2008. YA. Fiction. Annotation: After 18 months of being in a coma, 17-year old Jenna Fox wakes up in a houseful of secrets with no memories of who she is. While she relearns how to live, she peels away layers of lies to uncover the terrifying truth about her current existence.
  
• Pow, Tom. Captives. Roaring Brook Press, 2007. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Martin and his family are kidnapped on their vacation in the Caribbean. It is all a plot to overthrow the government using US tourists. Martin’s dad keeps a dairy of the events and after the ordeal and after becoming famous for the kidnapping, Martin tells his own version.
  
• Reinhardt, Dana. How to build a House. Wendy Lamb, 2009. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Harper's family in LA is falling apart and instead of dealing with it, she runs away from it by going to Tennessee to build a house for a family who lost their home in a recent tornado.
  
• Scott, Elizabeth. Stealing Heaven. HarperTeen, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Dani and her mom are professional thieves. No real connections, no real home, no real life. But when they move to the town of Heaven, Dani finds there are things she may want more than money.
  
• Shanahan, Lisa. The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious Year I Truly, Completely Lost It. Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2007. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Fourteen year old, Gemma is about to become the world’s oldest flower girl in her bridezilla older sister’s wedding. Gemma’s sister has even picked a theme for her wedding- "Animals who mate for life", meaning Gemma’s flower girl dress isn’t a dress at all, its a hideous swan costume.
  
• Shusterman, Neal. Unwind. Simon & Schuster, 2007. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation : In the future, abortions are outlawed until the unwanted child is thirteen years old at which time they may be become an unwind, still living but in multiple pieces. Conner, Risa, and Lev all find themselves in the situation of being an unwind fighting for their life no matter the price. (see post on September 2, 2008)
  
• Sitomer, Alan. The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez.Hyperion, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Tenth-grader Sonia reveals secrets about her life and her Hispanic family as she studies hard to become the first Rodriguez to finish high school.
  
• Thompson, Kate. The New Policeman. HarperTeen, 2007. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Irish teenager, J.J. Liddy’s mother jokingly asks her son for more time for her birthday. J.J. discovers that there is indeed less time then there used to be because time is leaking from his world into the world of the Fairy or Tir na nOg. He must find a way to stop the leak before it is too late
  
• Valentine, Jenny. Me, the Missing, and the Dead. HarperTeen, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Lucas' dad just up and disappears one day. No one knows if he is dead or alive. When Lucas takes a cab home from a friends house late one evening he encounters an urn that just might have the answers
  
• Vaught, Susan. Big Fat Manifesto. Bloomsbury, 2008. YA, Fiction.
  Annotation: Jamie is a big girl. No, scratch that, a big fat girl. But don't expect her to roll over and apologize or fade into the background, that's just not her style. She's created her alter ego Fat Girl and the world better watch out. Fat Girl is on the move to prove she deserves respect and love just like everyone else.
  
• Venkatraman, Padma. Climbing the Stairs. G. P. Putnam Sons, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Vidya leads a privileged life with her family in 1940s Bombay, India. When tragedy occurs, family traditions and her own dreams lead her to take her future into her own hands.
  
• Vincent, Erin. Grief Girl. Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2007. YA. Non-Fiction.
  Annotation: Death can bring out the worst in people. In 1983 both of 14 year old, Erin Vincent’s parents died in an auto accident. Her parents’ friends stole their furniture, the executor of their parents' will won't release any of the money held in trust, even for medical issues, and her unfriendly grandparents try to take away her younger brother. Yet Erin and her siblings somehow manage to survive.
  
• Voorhees, Coert. The brothers Torres. Hyperion, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Frankie Towers lives in the shadow of his older brother Steve who is the local soccer star. When Steve starts running with the wrong crowd, Frankie comes to realize that not everything is as it seems.
  
• Werlin, Nancy. Impossible. Dial, 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Can the women of her family really be cursed? Could that be the cause of all the horrible things that have been happening to 17 year old Lucy Scarborough?If it is a curse, will she be able to break it?
  
• Wizner, Jake. Spanking Shakespeare. Random House, 2007. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: High school senior, Shakespeare Shapiro hates his name. Unfortunately, his name is just one in the long list of injustices Shakespeare feels his parents have committed against him. To top it off, he has never kissed a girl, has only two friends, and his younger brother, Gandhi, one of the popular crowd.
  
• Zarr, Sara. Sweethearts. Little, Brown & Co., 2008. YA. Fiction.
  Annotation: Jennifer and Cameron are inseparable friends in elementary school. When a horrible event occurs, Cameron inexplicably disappears. Jennifer presumes he's dead until Cameron unexpectably shows up her senior year and her past comes rushing back.

LITTLE BROTHER

By Cory Doctorow

One fateful day after Marcus has skipped out of school using a variety of tricks to dodge the school's security system, terrorists blow up the San Fransisco Bay Bridge. Marcus and his friends just happen to be in the wrong part of town when it happens, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers swoop down upon them and carry them off to an undisclosed detention center. There, Marcus, Van, Darryl, and JoLu are bound, interrogated, and generally intimidated and humiliated into disclosing information about their phones, laptops, and other high-tech gadgets in their possession before being released several days later. Darryl had been injured during the initial terrorist attack, and was not released with his three friends. Marcus believes the worst, that Darryl has died in jail. Back at home, his parents have obviously had a bad few days, not knowing where he had been, but Marcus decides it is safer not to tell the truth. Besides, sometime during a torture session at the detention center, he had vowed to himself that he would pay DHS back for everything they had done to him. He can do that more easily if he keeps his parents in the dark. Marcus is one smart, tech-savvy kid, and soon has a virtually untraceable online network set up to spread the word about what had happened to him, and to plan and coordinte acts of sabotage against the DHS. Marcus's new handle, M1k3y, Little Brother, is born, and he becomes the reluctant leader of the free underground world.

This is a post 9-11 story about government gone crazy. The conflict is between two philosophies--the one that says it's OK to trample on people's civil rights if that's what it takes to keep citizens safe, and the one that says that only truly free people can ever be safe. In light of recent disclosures about torture and interrogation practices our government has sanctioned in recent years, this novel couldn't be more timely and thought-provoking. Here's what I don't like about this novel. As fascinating as the technological and political themes of this book are, I struggle to endorse it fully, because of the nonchalant way it treats teenage sex and alcohol use in several scenes in the story. Not a good message in that respect. Little Brother is on next year's Tayshas reading list .

--reviewed by Dail Sams--

Wintergirls

by Laurie Halse Anderson

Laurie Halse Anderson has written another heart-wrenching story about a girl sinking into the despair of anorexia. Told in first person, the reader can't help but see this illness through Lia's eyes, as she spirals out of control following the death of her best friend, Cassie, who was also anorexic. Lia inhabits a dark, cold place where self-loathing permeates her being and where every bite of food she takes is really a number of calories, begrudged, because she just doesn't deserve to nourish herself. As her weight drops, she deludes herself into believing that she is a wintergirl, strong and powerful because she hasn't given in to the lure of eating. She is constantly haunted by ghosts, especially Cassie's ghost, and finally it is that haunting, and the love of her younger step-sister that gives her the tiniest desire to live. Wintergirls is a precisely written, accurately researched, and frighteningly realistic work which should be read by every teenaged girl and by those who work or live with them.

~reviewed by Dail Sams

PAPER TOWNS

BY JOHN GREEN

John Green's third novel for young adults is intellegent, witty, fun, and so right on target with his characterizations of senior guys about to escape high school and move on. The entire book is an extended metaphor, comparing the shallowness of high school life to paper towns, fake towns made up and put on maps simply for the purpose of copyright issues. Paper towns only have the illusion of reality, but have no substance. This is how Margo Roth Spiegelman feels about her life, though she gives the appearance of being the sun about whom the whole school revolves. One of those orbiting around Margo, is Quentin Jacobsen, her next-door-neighbor and friend since they were babies. Although they have not been close for a long time, Quentin still loves Margo as he did when they were children. When Margo shows up at Quentin's bedroom window at midnight, insisting he drive her around town for a night of revenge and frolic, he can't say no. After an amazing heart-pounding night of pranks, Margo doesn't show up for school the next day, or for several days afterward. She has done this before, leaving clues as to her whereabouts, but this has a whole different feel to Quentin, who looks for clues everywhere in hopes of tracking her down. In the next few days, Q goes from the agonizing belief that Margo is dead, to the wild assurance that he knows where she is, and must follow and find her. On his high school graduation day, Quentin takes off on a hilarious but deadly serious 21-hour road trip with three friends in hopes of finding Margo Roth Spiegelman in the paper town of Agloe, New York. I couldn't possibly tell you the end of this story, but I can say that this book about striving for the real in life, won't disappoint. Find it in the library. ~reviewed by Dail Sams