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

London Bridges

Beck, Ian. Pastworld. London: Bloomsbury, 2009. Print.

Victorian London is a magic place where loads of books are set - and this one is no different. The fog, the cobbled streets, the local pubs, the dirt and grime that was so pervasive...

The only difference in this book is that the year is 2050, and the Buckland Corporation has created a massive theme park based on the past.

There is a heavy dash of Big Brother in this world - your movements are watched by cameras the size of a mosquito, and your day is completely planned for you in order to keep you out of danger - since the Fantom is loose in the city... 2050's very own version of Jack the Ripper.

As violence in the city reaches a high, the mystery behind who is responsible for a string of gristly murders grows...






Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "Startling and original, Ian Beck's vision of a world in which people are pawns and your future is predestined by place of birth makes compelling reading."

Winner: Angus Book Award 2012

OCLC World Cat Record -  Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info

Freak Fights

Aguirre, Ann. Enclave.
New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2011. Print.

Run, girl, run!

The freaks are breathing down your neck and you have to report the horrible news back to the Enclave that you've found what everyone dreads - the annihilation of another Enclave by the Freaks, something the Elders said would never happen.

You are Deuce, newly named at the ripe old age of 15 because you are one of the few who survived. You are a proud Huntress, your partner is the foundling boy named Fade. You are afraid of his seditious ideas, but he survived in the tunnels without an Enclave, and you trust his instincts. To your horror, you are slowly realizing his rants against the Elders hold truth.

 Safe!! You've made it back and report your findings to the Elders, who tell you to keep quiet, or else. Knowing to keep the Enclave safe the group must move, and when Fade protests the order of silence, you stand by his side.

You both are thrown out of the Enclave for speaking against the Elders. Now you must survive on your own, you and Fade, together. He says you both can head to the surface.. that its safe. Its your only hope, cuz anything is safer then these Freak-filled tunnels. You agree to head topside... if you can get there first...

Run, girl, run!

Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "In a post-apocalyptic future, fifteen-year-old Deuce, a loyal Huntress, brings back meat while avoiding the Freaks outside her enclave, but when she is partnered with the mysterious outsider, Fade, she begins to see that the strict ways of the elders may be wrong--and dangerous."

Winner - YALSA 2012 Best Books for Young Adults

OCLC World Cat Record ~ Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info

Sci-Fi High

Itoh, Project, and Alexander O. Smith. Harmony.
San Francisco: Haikasoru, 2010. Print.

Who has a cold right now? (show of hands) A headache? (hands) Or even is getting over a stomach thing? (hands) ok, everybody move away from those people... (haha)

But, wouldn't it be great if society figured out a way to eradicate all illness from humanity?

In this thriller, Japanese author Project Itoh creates a world where all humans are installed with a medical nano-program called WatchMe that monitors every aspect of their lives in order to maintain optimal health. The creators of WatchMe broke down the traditional country barriers and created units of government called Admedistrations that control every aspect of human life from a medical point of view. Tuan Kirie grows up rebelling against this society in her own small ways until a terrorist attack in the form of a mass suicide takes place when someone hacks all the WatchMe units installed in the populace. Through Tuan's investigation we find that even a "perfect" society has flaws.

Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "In a perfect world, there is no escape."

Winner: Nihan SF Taisho Award, Seiun Award, Phillip K. Dick Award Special Citation

OCLC World Cat Record - Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info

A Little Something Graphic

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis.
New York: Pantheon, 2003. Print.

We all wonder what it would be like to grow up in a different country or culture. We have romanticized ideas about how our lives would be so different and how we would want and worry for completely different things.

After reading Persepolis, you might be surprised to find out that growing up a teen in Iran in the 1980s is not quite so different as growing up in the US. Family, friends, school, fashion, grades - sound familiar? Take a trip to Iran and find out how alike we all are, no matter where we are.













Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "Persepolis is the story of Marjane Satrapi's childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming--both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland."

Winner: 2004 ALA Alex Award, YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, Booklist Editor's Choice for Young Adults, New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age, School Library Journal Adult Books for Young Adults

OCLC World Cat Record - Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info 

Many Voices

Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street.
New York: Vintage Books, 1991. Print.

Every neighborhood has its own rhythm - it breathes, it moves, it talks, it dances...

Little Esperanza's neighborhood on Mango Street sways to a distinct Latino sound. Even the words Esperanza uses to describe her life as she grows up on Mango street vibrate music and poetry with Latino spice.

Come immerse yourself in the sounds and flavors of the House on Mango Street.














Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "The story of a young girl growing up in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago. Capturing her thoughts and emotions in poems and stories, she is able to rise above hopelessness and create a quiet space for herself in the midst of her oppressive surroundings."

Winner: American Book Award 1985

OCLC World Cat Record - Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info

Lit Chick

Von, Ziegesar. Gossip Girl: A Novel.
New York: Little, Brown and Co, 2002. Print

Welcome to New York's Upper East Side, where money runs deep and the people run wild. The very best of the best is not only expected but required; wearing the wrong shoes with your dress? Prepare to have your reputation gleefully smashed to pieces by your favorite group of frenemies. Follow S, D, B and N as they crawl through the glamorously seamy underbelly that oozes under all the glitz. XOXO! Gossip Girl.

"...I've read almost the whole series... it's so trashy, it makes you want to find out what happens just so you can be like OMG..." ~Meghan 17













Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): " Presents a world of jealousy and betrayal at an exclusive private school in Manhattan."

Winner: YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers

OCLC World Cat Record - Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info 

Oh the Horror!!!

Meyer, Stephenie. Eclipse.
London: Atom, 2007. Print.

True love is a powerful force, drawing two people to each other like the moon draws the water of the tide. Bella, reckless with sorrow after Edward chooses to leave her side, becomes close friends with Jacob Black and throws herself into danger just to hear Edward's voice. How could he have left her? How can she go on without him? Does she even want to exist without him?

I have died everyday waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more...

Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "

Bella must choose between her friendship with Jacob, a werewolf, and her relationship with Edward, a vampire, but when Seattle is ravaged by a mysterious string of killings, the three of them need to decide whether their personal lives are more important than the well-being of an entire city."

OCLC World Cat Record - Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info

Dark Fantasy Dream World

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games.
New York: Scholastic Press, 2008. Print.

You are an expert with bows and arrows, having hunted since you were a child. You are now engaged in a televised battle with your peers that is presented to the entire world. Sounds like a great video game, right? Except its not - its real life. And if you don't hurry up and kill off the other teens you are pitted against, you are going to be killed next.

Meet Katniss Everdeen, girl tribute from district 12 with the "honor" of participating in the Hunger Games, a cruel forced death-match put together by the government as a punishment for a past uprising. Every district must present a girl and a boy who will fight to the death in a televised reality tv event. Katniss knows she is strong - but is she strong enough to beat out the 23 other tributes who are gunning for her?

May the odds be ever in your favor.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place."

Winner: Publisher's Weekly Book of the Year, New York Times Notable Children's Book of 2008, Golden Duck Award 2009, 2008 Cybil Winner, School Library Journal's Best Books 2008, Booklist Editor's Choice 2008, California Young Reader Medal

OCLC World Cat Record - Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info

GLBTQuality

Katcher, Brian. Almost Perfect.
New York: Delacorte Press, 2009. Print.

We've all been dumped at one time or another. It hurts and we often look for something or someone to come and take the pain away.

Logan is reeling from finding out his girlfriend of 3 years, whom he loves deeply, has cheated on him. Desperate to find someone to cling to, he starts hanging out with the new girl: tall, awkward, beautiful Sage.

But Sage is carrying secrets of her own that could shatter her new relationship with Logan, and even change Logan's life forever.

Finding out who someone really is can be shocking - and this book's twist could shock you right out of your chair.

Enjoy the Ride.







Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "With his mother working long hours and in pain from a romantic break-up, eighteen-year-old Logan feels alone and unloved until a zany new student arrives at his small-town Missouri high school, keeping a big secret."

Winner ~ 2011 Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Award, ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2010

OCLC World Cat Record - Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info

Reality Reading

Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War: A Novel.
[New York]: Pantheon, 1974.

Don't rock the boat. Go with the flow. Roll with the punches. Flow with the tide. Follow the pack.

But what happens when you disagree with the pack's choices? Do you rebel? Do you stand up and make your mark on the world, damn the consequences? Do you dare to disturb the universe?

Find out what decision Jerry Renault - high school freshmen, football player, revolutionary - makes as he accepts his assignment from Archie and The Vigils to refuse to sell Brother Leon's all-important fundraiser chocolate, slowly changing his world. Will it be for the better? Or ruin everything?

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier.









Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "A high school freshman discovers the devastating consequences of refusing to join in the school's annual fund raising drive and arousing the wrath of the school bullies."

Winner: ALA Best Books for Young Adults, School Library Journal Best Books of the Year, Kirkus Reviews Choice, New York Times Outstanding Books of the Year, Margaret A Edwards Award

OCLC World Cat Record - Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info

Biographabulous

Pelzer, Dave. A Child Called "It." Deerfield Beach: 

Health Communication Inc.,1995. Print.

"A Child Called 'It'" by Dave Pelzer is not only one of the most heartbreaking accounts of child abuse chronicled, it is also one of the most important. Pelzer horrifies the reader with non-stop brutalizing and demoralizing descriptions of the hell his life was everyday at the hands of his sadistic alcoholic mother. Vivid and almost objective descriptions of being burned over a stove, starved, beaten and forced to drink ammonia give the reader a lurid vision of what his daily life was like when he was a child. Many would have cracked under such horrific abuse, but the redeeming silver lining of this story is that Pelzer decided to survive - to live his life in spite of how hard his mother tried to take it away.

This book is a fierce beam of light meant to shoot into the darkness that is child abuse; it calls attention to the warning signs for adults who have kids in their lives, and offers the strong voice of hope and survival to those who suffer alone at the hands of a caregiver. Frightening as well as inspiring.




Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "[This book] is [an] account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played torturous, unpredictable games - games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an "it." -Back cover."

OCLC World Cat Record ~ Holdings, Abstracts, Additional Info

Classic Cat

Block, F.L. Weetzie Bat. New York: HarperCollins, 1989. Print.

Weetzie Bat is an unusual name for an unusual girl who tells her story through a most unusual book. Weetzie is a free spirit who floats around L.A. seeing and expecting the best of people, but learns throughout the book that things don't always end up the way you might think they should. She loves her mom and her dad Charlie Bat, but its really her best friend Dirk and his boyfriend Duck along with My Secret Agent Lover Man that guides her through life and are her true supporters. This is the story of how Weetzie manages to create the perfect loving family for herself, even if it is anything but traditional.

Francesca Lia Block uses the most captivating language and huge splashes of magical realism to paint a glorious picture of Weetzie's world. Along with the spirit of fun that permeates this book, Block faces the heavy issues of homosexuality, suicide, absentee alcoholic parents, abusive sexual partners, AIDS, adultery and deciding to have children with grace, fierce truth and understanding. Somehow she managed to imagine up Weetzie, someone who looks at the world at the beginning of the book with naivety, but who also grows throughout the book into a young woman who learns to take unusual things in stride and continues to face each day with supreme and admirable optimism.  As we read through the book we come to love each facet of these unique characters and feel like we have become part of their fantastic family as well.

Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "Follows the wild adventures of Weetzie Bat and her Los Angeles friends, Dirk, Duck, and My-Secret-Agent-Lover-Man."

Winner - ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults, ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, ALA Best Books for Young Adults, Parents' Choice Gold Award

OCLC World Cat Record ~ Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info

Historical Awesomeness

Elliott, Zetta. A Wish After Midnight. Las Vegas, NV:
AmazonEncore, 2010. Print

A Wish After Midnight tells the story of a teen named Genna who is living in the slums of Brooklyn in the year 2000. She paints a vivid picture of her life living in the projects, of race relations in the 21st century, of how she doesn't fit in anywhere because she is smart and shy and wants to go to college. She hasn't a friend in the world until she meets Judah, a beautiful boy who finally sees her as she is and loves her for it. Judah encourages her to explore her African roots, but his disparaging remarks about the state of race relations in the U.S. leave her conflicted, since after all she is American as well as African. One night seeking refuge from a fight with her mother, Genna escapes to the Botanic Gardens and travels back in time to 1863 after a magical encounter near the park's fountain. Once she is in 1863, Genna blossoms into a young woman with views of her own after living life as a newly freed slave working as a maid in a home of rich whites.

Zetta Elliot does a fantastic job of giving a voice to the unseen and stereotyped youth of lower class New York, and gives biting and truthful renditions of what life in the projects is like for these kids. Genna is a strong female character who often doesn't back down from her views even in the face of violence. There are two items that sour this story however, and that is the very rushed ending (supposedly setting up for a sequel) and the fact that Genna seems to lose some of her own fiery personality in the face of Judah's convictions. She loves Judah, this much is clear, but she doesn't share some of his views. The fact that she seems to move toward giving up her dreams in order to stay with him doesn't quite fit with the strong young woman she is without him. Hopefully these issues will be addressed in the second book.

"...it was really interesting to get moved into the older New York and kind of see what life was like then..." ~ Traci, 15

Abstract (thanks to OCLC World Cat): "Genna Colon desperately wants to escape from a drug-infested world of poverty, and every day she wishes for a different life. One day Genna's wish is granted and she is instantly transported back to Civil War-era Brooklyn."

OCLC World Cat Record ~ Holdings, Abstracts, Further Info