Jailhouse Rock

Buckhanon, Kalisha. Upstate.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005. Print.

I know several of you are in relationships right now - you love your significant other, and would do anything for them. Its true love, and you are loyal. But could  you stay loyal through the incarceration of your signif? Especially if they were accused of murder? Would you believe them if they said they didn't do it?

Upstate is the story of Antonio and Natasha, two 16 year olds living in Harlem. When Antonio gets sent upstate to serve time for killing his abusive father, he and Natasha cling to each other through letters, each marking the passage of their lives apart by sending their love on paper. Follow along with their extraordinary journey.










Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "In jail after being charged with his father's murder, seventeen-year-old Antonio finds his love with sixteen-year-old Natasha tested and engages in a ten-year correspondence with her from behind bars. Baby, the first thing I need to know from you is do you believe I killed my father? So begins Upstate, a powerful story told through letters between seventeen-year-old Antonio and his sixteen-year-old girlfriend."

Winner: ALA Alex Award 2006, ALA's Top 10 Books for Young Adults 2006

OCLC World Cat Record - Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info

Organ Donor

Shusterman, Neal. Unwind.
New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2007. Print.

So, when we go to get our Driver's Licenses or State IDs, the people at the DMV always ask us if we want to be an organ donor, and it's marked as an option on our cards.

Well in this world, being an organ donor isn't optional - its mandatory. That's not so bad, you might think. But what if you were forced to donate your organs against your will?

In Connor, Lev and Lisa's world, overpopulation is at an all-time high and is bordering on disaster. Parents are offered initiatives to sell off their teenaged children, who are then "unwound" for their organs.

Creepy, right?

Come find out what happens.


"... I know its stupid, but it made me think twice about the Organ Donor thing on my license..." ~ Jaqui, 18




Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "In a future world where those between the ages of thirteen and eighteen can have their lives "unwound" and their body parts harvested for use by others, three teens go to extreme lengths to uphold their beliefs--and, perhaps, save their own lives."

Winner: Sakura Medal for Middle School Books

OCLC World Cat Record - Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info

Cool Shades

Smith, Andrew. The Marbury Lens.
New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2010. Print.

This very dark story starts out on a very dark day when sixteen-year-old Jack is kidnapped and horrifically tortured after a drunken going away party.

He narrowly makes his escape with his best friend Conn, who exacts gruesome revenge on their captor.

The two travel to London, where a strange hands Jack a strange pair of goggles that allows him to see the world not as it is on the surface, but as a terrifying cannibalistic wasteland, where Conn is Jack's greatest enemy.

Dark tales, indeed.

Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "After being kidnapped and barely escaping, sixteen-year-old Jack goes to London with his best friend Connor, where someone gives him a pair of glasses that send him to an alternate universe where war is raging, he is responsible for the survival of two younger boys, and Connor is trying to kill them all."

Winner:  YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2011, Publisher's Weekly's Best Children's Book of the Year Fiction 2011

OCLC World Cat Record - Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info

Penny for your Thoughts

Ness, Patrick. The Knife of Never Letting Go.
Cambridge, Mass: Candlewick Press, 2008. Print.

Voices, always voices, forever in your head, a cascade of Noise. You have to watch even what you think, since everyone in your settlement can hear what you think, too.

Fear is ever-present. You are told you are infected with a Germ, a Germ that generates the Noise and has killed all the women in your settlement.

Your adoptive fathers have plans for you to escape this hell, but are found out. You run.. you are tracked.. you find the most precious of all things - a Girl.

Find out what happens when Todd realizes that he has been lied to for his entire life, and the way he thought things were are not even close to the way things are.

"... very creepy..." ~ Adam, 14








Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "Pursued by power-hungry Prentiss and mad minister Aaron, young Todd and Viola set out across New World searching for answers about his colony's true past and seeking a way to warn the ship bringing hopeful settlers from Old World."

Winner: Book Trust Teenage Prize 2008, Guardian Award 2008, James Tiptree Jr. Award 2008

OCLC World Cat Record - Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info

Gamers Unite!

Doctorow, Cory. Little Brother.
New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2008. Print.

With all the protesting that is happening these days, various Occupy Protests setup world wide and videos of police monitoring and arresting protesters every night on the news, its not hard to imagine what life would be like if the government decided that we didn't have the right to protest anymore.

This book focuses on the protest activities of a teen who has been illegally arrested and accused of being a terrorist after an attack on San Francisco. Of course, the charges are false, and Marcus uses his advanced technological expertise to start an underground protest movement.

Exciting, techy, and a little bit unnerving since it hits so close to home, Little Brother will have you taking a second interest in what Big Government and Big Business really does behind closed doors.







Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "After being interrogated for days by the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco, California, seventeen-year-old Marcus, released into what is now a police state, decides to use his expertise in computer hacking to set things right."

Winner: White Pine Award 2009, Prometheus Award 2009, John W. Campbell Memorial Award 2009

OCLC World Cat Record - Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info

Running

Dashner, James. The Maze Runner.
New York: Delacorte Press, 2009. Print.

Familiar places and faces give our lives meaning. We wake up each day knowing who and what we're going to be surrounded by, and know how to act in that situation.

What if you woke up one day in a completely unfamiliar place, surrounded by people you've never seen before and are expected to earn your place in this new society you didn't ask to belong to? 

Would you be able to adapt? Or would you fail to survive?

"... I liked how he (Thomas) had to start completely over and make new friends... its hard to do that when you've grown up with people sometimes." ~ Samantha, 16











Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape."

Winner: YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers

OCLC World Cat Record - Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info

Baby Its Cold Outside

Cave, Patrick. Sharp North.
New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2006. Print.

The world is ravaged by climate change.

You are a Watcher. Your life is simple and happy.

Then you see a woman who looks like you shot down by the police. Your name is in her papers.

You run. You have to know your true story. Your journey is fraught with danger, and you eventually make your way to a safe place - where you learn the most devastating secrets.

One part survival story, one part thriller, one part mystery.

Sharp North.









Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "In a futuristic world, Great Families rule Britain through a caste system where reproduction is seriously restricted, while the families keep illegal clones or "spares" of themselves."

OCLC World Cat Record - Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info