MAY 28, 2009
I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
Ed is an underage taxi driver in Australia who lives with his dog "the Doorman" and is madly in love with his best friend Audrey. His days are filled with card games and hanging out with his friends Richie and Marv, and Ed admits that there is little in his future. The book opens with a foiled bank robbery and Ed suddenly finds himself an unintentional hero. Shortly after, he receives his first ace in the mail. The ace of diamonds has three addresses written on it. When Ed visits each address he finds that there is something he must accomplish at each - stop a man from raping his wife nightly, act the long-gone husband to a lonely old woman, and provide encouragement to a shy young girl who likes to run. These accomplished, the ace of clubs arrives and more messages must be delivered, continuing with the ace of spades and the ace of hearts. Left only with the question of who is sending him the aces, Ed is delivered his own life-changing message. This is an engaging and humorous story of how the lives of young people like Ed and his friends will turn out, and would be suitable for teens in grades 10 and up due to mature themes. This is wonderful to listen to on CD as well because the listener can hear the Australian accent. This book won the 2003 CBC Bookof the Year award in Australia and the Printz Honor Award here in 2006, among other awards, and has recently been adapted to stage.
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MAY 27, 2009
Long Shadows (Warriors Power of Three #5) by Erin Hunter
Hollyleaf, Lionblaze, and Jaypaw, Firestar’s three grandchildren, devise a plan to restore faith in StarClan after the rogue Sol starts to erode the bonds between the Clans and turn them away from the warrior code and their warrior ancestors. The three are confident that this success is part of the prophecy for them. All is not well, however, as ThunderClan cats become sick with greencough and there is no catmint to be found. Jaypaw has a vision which shows him where to find the catmint to heal the cats of the clan but he must convince Lionblaze to go through the tunnels to retrieve it. Lionblaze initially refuses but eventually summons up the courage to get the necessary plants to help save the clan. Jaypaw’s efforts earn him his name of Jayfeather. Just as things are looking up for the cats, a terrible thunderstorm strikes, leaving the ThunderClan camp in flames. Hollyleaf, Lionblaze, and Jayfeather are nearly trapped in the burning camp but are led out a secret passage at the back of the camp by their mother, Squirrelflight. Another lightening strike leaves the three siblings stranded on a ledge with flames licking up all around them. Squirrelflight pushes a fallen tree across the chasm so the cats can escape but Ashfur refuses to allow the three young cats to cross, forcing Squirrelflight to reveal a devastating secret in order to save her children. Ashfur is later found dead in the river. As the medicine cat, Leafpool, cleans Ashfur’s limp, dead body, she discovers that Ashfur was killed by another cat as evidenced by the bite on his neck. Speculation on who killed Ashfur abounds with the favorite rumors being that WindClan killed him or that Sol killed him. Of course, some speculate that the killer is inside the clan!
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MAY 18, 2009
Scat by Carl Hiaasen
Readers who enjoyed Hoot and / or Flush will surely enjoy Hiaasen's latest offering, Scat. Two young high school students, Nick and Marta, become involved in the search for an unpopular biology teacher who mysteriously disappears as a fire erupts in a Florida swamp while on a field trip with her class. Before she is restored to teaching, the plot features an endangered panther and its kittens, another student called Smoke, (possibly because he has been found guilty of arson two times previously), and some greedy characters bent on a criminal scheme to fake an oil discovery. Two immensely rich older folks play important roles in advancing the narrative, while the detectives and investigators assigned to the case seem somewhat clueless and "asleep at the switch." This tale is well-suited to young adults ages 10 to 15 who favor quick-paced adventure.
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MAY 17, 2009
Living Dead Girl: A Novel by Elizabeth Scott
Alice was abducted five years ago during a class trip to the aquarium. Her life was instantly changed from a "little once upon a time girl" of friends, fun, and family to the hollow shell of a girl, a living dead girl, who is continually molested and abused mentally and physically by Ray. She is the second "Alice" Ray has kidnapped. Now 15, Alice's body won't stay small anymore despite the starvation, birth control pills to stop her periods, and the waxings to keep her body hairless. She hopes he will kill her soon, like he did the first Alice. Instead, Ray has something else in mind. She must choose the little girl to replace her.
This gripping story of abduction brought to mind the headline news story from early 2007 when it was found that a recovered kidnapped boy was actually the second victim of a pizza parlor manager who had been holding another boy for the past four years.
As incomprehensible as it may seem why a child may not leave a captor, as in the highly publicized Elizabeth Smart case, a reader will no longer have any doubt how this happens, despite opportunities. This novel is concise, and as disturbing as it is to read, it is also compelling. The reader must know how it ends. And the ending will shock the reader. Guaranteed.
Because of the graphic nature of the subject, this book is recommended for readers in grades 10 and up. While it is not explicit in description, enough is left to the imagination for the reader to grasp every innuendo.
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MAY 10, 2009
Morning in a Different Place by Mary Ann McGuigan
Set in the fall of 1963 in New York City, the reader will be amazed at how segregated American lives were back then. Even though blacks and whites went to school together and sometimes lived near one another, separation of races was insidious and widespread, even threatening the friendship of twelve-year-olds - Irish-American, Fiona O'Doherty and African-American, Yolanda Baker. Because Fiona is befriended by a thirteen-year-old boy, she is noticed and invited to join in the activities of the "in-crowd" at school. But, of course, being with them means that she has to abandon Yolanda. At the same time she is terrified of her alcoholic father and fearful for her mother who bears the brunt of his physically abusive behavior. Week after week, as she thinks about how helpless she is to change all these things that need to be rectified, monumental historical events are taking place in the world around her. The March on Washington with Martin Luther King and President Kennedy's subsequent support of voting rights for black citizens become a kind of talisman for Fiona as she sees the need to stand up to problems in order to solve them - however unpopular that defiance might be. Well-developed characters facing real-life challenges will engage readers 12 - 15 who have an interest in historical fiction.
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