A to Z list

100% Perfect Girl

Big Girl Small

Bittersweet

Blackhope Enigma

Book Thief

Boy Meets Boy

Certain Slant of Light

Chocolate War

Cyberbully

Elephant Mountains

Eragon

Everybody Sees the Ants

Forever

Girl of Fire and Thorns

Going Bovine

Going Too Far

the Giver

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Hatchet

High School Musical 3

Holes

Hunger Games

the Last Song

Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Light in the Attic

the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Lovely Bones

North of Beautiful

Outsiders

Out of Shadows

Perks of Being a Wallflower

Personal Demons

Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy

Seventeen Magazine

Speak

Stardust

Stargirl

Tales of Beedle the Bard

Teen Ink

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster

Truly, Madly, Deeply

Truth About Forever

TTYL

Twilight

Virginity Club

Weetzie Bat

Wherever You Go

Where the Heart is

Wrinkle in Time

Going Bovine

by Libba Bray

 Bray, L. (2009). Going Bovine. New York: Delacorte Press.

Plot Summary:  16-year old Cameron has decided he just wants to make it through high school and  life, and wonders if that’s just too much to ask. When Cameron hears the news that he’s going to die, he wants to give up. But hope arrives in the form of a punk chick with pink hair, named Dulcie. Dulcie tells him she knows of a cure to his disease and sends him on a psychodelic journey across the midwest. But is this journey all in his head or real?

Critical evaluation: The author creates a story that is very tied up with Don Quixote. You can visualize the characters being parallel with characters in Don Quixote. I feel like she created a great voice for Cameron and is very adept at writing a book for teeanged boys.

Reader’s annotation: Cameron takes an adventurous journey after he finds out he’s sick with mad cow disease, can he find the cure or is it all in his mind?

Booktalk ideas: Research mad cow disease

Genre: Realistic fiction, adventure

Reading level 14 & up

I really enjoyed this book, I had to include it.

 

Going too Far

by Jennifer Echols

 Echols, J. (2009). Going Too Far. New York: Pocket Books

All Meg wants is to escape, escape from her boring parents and her dull town. So on spring break, she decides to go on a trip to Florida. Before she leaves, Meg and her friends end up on a railroad bridge where some local kids had died years before. Arrested by the local cop, a 19 year old named John who Meg couldn’t understand why he didn’t want to leave that town. Meg is assigned to John for the night shift as part of her punishment. As she pushes John to reveal why he wants to stay, he pushes back even harder trying to figure out why she so badly wants to leave.

Critical evaluation: The relationship and banter between John and Meg is amazing and hot. I loved the way the two characters interacted with each other and the way they are written. It feels like they are meant to be together, and it’s great the way it happens. I really like Echols writing style, it adds so much to the book.

Reader’s annotation: Meg wants to escape from her small Alabama town, but when she meets John, a local cop, will that change everything she believes?

Booktalk ideas: Think of an alternate title for the book

Genre: Realistic fiction

Reading level: 14 & up

What an amazing book, I’m so glad I read it.

North of Beautiful

by Justina Chen Headley

 Headley, J. (2009). North of Beautiful. New York: Little, Brown.

Terra is a typical high school student, beautiful in every way but one, she has a port wine birthmark on her cheek, which she feels ruins her looks. After several failed removals, she is ready to give up, graduate high school, and get away from home and her abusive father. When Terra meets Jacob, a goth boy with a cleft pallete scar, her mother and her decide to head to China. In China she learns so much about herself, her mother, and life.

Critical evaluation: This is a beautifully written book. The geographical references give it an edge that other books don’t have. I really like the character she creates in both Terra and her mother, you actually feel their pain from the verbal abuse, and you actually love to hate Terra’s father. I also like Jacob’s  character. What an eye opening book.

Reader’s annotation: Terra has to conquer not only a birthmark but a verbally abusive father, but will China make things better or just be more of the same pain?

Booktalk ideas: look through magazines for words and pictures that describe the book.

Genre: multicultural, Realistic fiction

Reading level: 14 & up

I chose this book because it looked good and I was not disapointed.

 

Truly, Madly, Deeply

by Faraaz Kazi

 Kazi, F. (2010). Truly, Madly, Deeply. New Dehli: Cedar Books

Rahul is head over heels in love with Seema, a shy girl who goes to his school. At first they share just innocent times together, but even as their romance grows, they never say the words I love you. Their friends and teachers don’t approve of their relationship at all or Rahul’s showboat nature, which Seema also finds annoying and frustrating. They drift apart but by the time Rahul realizes it, there isn’t much he can do. He tries to woo her back but wonders if his first love will be his last.

Critical evaluation: This book was hard to follow but I think that is due to the fact that it is a multicultural title and even published in New Delhi. I had a lot of fun reading it though. Rahul’s showboat attitude easily comes across in this coming of age title.

Reader’s Annotation: Rahul tries to win back the love of his life, Seema, who isn’t sure what to do since none of her friends like Rahul at all.

Booktalk ideas: Learn more about the cultures in this book

Genre: Multicultural, realistic fiction

Reading level: 14 & up

I chose it because it was multicultural

Eragon

by Christopher Paolini

 Paolini, C. (2003). Eragon. New York: Alfred Knopf.

Eragon, a young farm boy, finds a mysterious blue stone and things will never be the same. Out of that stone hatches a beautiful blue dragon from a thought to be extint race of dragons. Eragon spends time bonding with the dragon and after his family is killed, he discovers he is part of the dragon riders, one of the last. Now he is a part of the war between the humans and the dwarves, elves, and other creatures. As Eragon and Saphira, his dragon, gain power and understanding of their powers, they embark on a journey full of perilous situations.

Critical evaluation: I held out a long time on reading these books. Now I want to finish the series. The fact that the author was 17 years old blows me away. He has nowhere to go but up as he matures as a man and a writer. The characters and situations were a little shallow, but I believe that as I read through the series I will find him mature as  a writer, just like JK Rowling did.

Reader’s annotation: Eragon is surprised when a mystical blue stone hatches a dragon, but soon he finds that he is a dragon rider, and that his destiny is so much more than just being a farm boy.

Booktalk ideas: Complete each of these eight ideas with material growing out of the book you       read: This book made me wish that. . ., realize that. . ., decide that. . ., wonder         about. . ., see that. . ., believe that . . ., feel that . . ., and hope that. . . .

Genre: fantasy, adventure

Reading level: 12  & up

I chose this book because I had heard good things about it.

Stardust

by Neil Gaiman

 Gaiman, N. (1999). Stardust. New York: Spike.

Nine months after Dunstan Thorn crosses the wall he finds a baby boy on his doorstep. Tristan vows to pursue a star over the wall and bring it back to win the love of Victoria Forester. After he finds the star, he is struck with the realization that the star is  a beautiful girl, a  daughter of the moon, named Yvaine. The dying Lord of Stormhelm threw a gem into the sky and accidentally knocked her down, now his sons are after that gem because whoever finds it, gets to be the next Lord. As Tristan begins to discover who he really is and where he came from, he tries to protect Yvaine from an evil witch.

Critical evaluation: I liked the characters in this book, but the storyline seemed to jump around a little. This book is written in a prose style. The settings in this book are very real feeling and inspiring. There are also some very vivid scenes which make it feel even more real.

Reader’s annotation: Tristan crosses the wall to find a star to bring back to a beautiful girl, what he may find instead is more about himself and his family.

Booktalk ideas: Create a diorama of the settings in this book.

Genre; Fantasy

Reading level : 12 & up

I chose this book because I liked the cover.

High School Musical 3

Directed by Kenny Ortega

Plot Summary: High school musical 3 is the continuing story of Troy and Gabriella and their group of friends. This time the Senior class is talked into doing a musical for the drama club that tells the story of their Senior year. Gabriella gets accepted to college early and leaves the group, leaving Sharpay playing her, and they are completely different personalities. Troy drives to get Gabriella and they make it back just in time to save the play. But don’t worry about Sharpay, she’s more comfortable playing her own character anyway.

Critical Evaluation: I have to say  high school isn’t like this, people don’t bond together in spite of their differences, but I love it anyway. The music from all three movies has a way of sticking with you and it’s something that even adults can handle watching. The actors have stayed the same in all three movies, which can, at times be a rare thing.

Genre: Movies

Age level: 8 & up

I just love it in spite of myself.

 

Stargirl

by Jerry Spinelli

 Spinelli, J. (2000). Stargirl. New York: Random House.

Stargirl Caraway is the new girl at school, and everyone can see is a bit different. She is herself, no one else, she doesn’t wear makeup and wears pioneer type dresses, she remembers people’s birthdays and loves her pet rat. Leo, her boyfriend, who is the narrator of the book, begins to realize that people aren’t as enamored with Stargirl as they once were, and this is making him feel alienated. He quickly finds he has to choose between her and popularity. As the characters unfold and show their true colors, you begin to see both sides of the story. In the end, Stargirl gets what’s the best for her, not for everyone else.

This is a delightful read that teaches that being true to you is better than changing to make others happy. With lifelike characters, you fall in love with both the narrator and Stargirl, making it hard to decide who to side with.

Reader’s annotation: Stargirl is the new girl at school, and everyone loves her, or so she thought, when her boyfriend chooses popularity over her, she realizes that being herself is more important than any guy.

Booktalk ideas: Make paperdolls of the characters in the book, act it out differently, rewriting the ending

Genre: realistic fiction

Reading level: 12 & up

I chose this book because I had read it before.

Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky

  Chbosky, S. (1999). Perks of Being a Wallflower. New York: Pocket Books.

Charlie, a fifteen-year old freshman is moving through life, writing letters to an unknown friend. After losing his friend to suicide a year earlier and his aunt when he was six, he was happy just being a wallflower, observing but rarely participating. With the encouragement of his English teacher, he begins to try to participate in life and school. He is always honest, from writing about his first party to masturbation, and even his witnessing of a rape. As Charlie begins to experience life, along with two other teenagers, he describes every moment, his happiness, his sadness, and his fears. He covers all the facets of being a teenager, sex, love, acceptance, and drugs. A sweet character, that seems too good to be real, his story grabs your heart and makes you see the world in a different way.

His honesty makes this book more intimate than any diary has ever been. His thoughts and feelings quickly become your own, making you sympathize with him at every turn.

Reader’s Annotation: Charlie is always writing letters to his friend, when he is convinced to open up and participate in life, he finds life isn’t what he thought it was.

Booktalk ideas: Make a monologue using information from the book

Genre: Realistic fiction, sexuality

Reading level: 14 & up

I chose this book because it sounded interesting