almost perfect

Katcher, Brian.  almost perfect.  New York: Delacorte Press, 2009.  Print. 

Awards

2010 ALA Best Books for Young Adults

2010 Capitol Choice Noteworthy Book

2011 ALA Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Award

Annotation

Still upset over his last break-up, Logan avoids dating until a new girl shows up at school with a big secret.

Booktalk

Logan’s life is far from perfect: 

• Just a few months ago his girlfriend Brenda broke up with him…after she cheated on him with another guy.  Hopeful they would get back together, Logan has been waiting around for her (literally: waiting for her to get off the bus every morning).  He's starting to realize now that it’s over. 
• Logan’s sister moved out to go to college.  While they used to be really close he doesn’t get to see her that much anymore. 
• His mom is gone most of the time because she has to work so many shifts at the diner just to make ends meet. 
• And he’s still living in the trailer he grew up in, the same one they lived in after Logan’s dad left.

All Logan really has to look forward to is his upcoming graduation and hanging out with his friends.  But when a new girl, Sage, transfers to his high school at the start of senior year Logan’s life starts to look a little better.  After all, it’s small town Boyer, no one new ever shows up and on top of that Sage is funny, smart, quirky…almost perfect.  Except Sage has a secret she can’t risk anyone finding out about.  And once Logan discovers what it is, he doesn’t want anyone to find out either.

Image credit:  http://www.randomhouse.com/book/89991/almost-perfect-by-brian-katcher/

Keeping You A Secret

Peters, Julie Anne.  Keeping You A Secret.  New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2003.  Print.

Awards

2003 Lambda Literary Award Finalist

2004 ALA Stonewall Honor Book

2004 ALA Amelia Bloomer Project List of Recommended Feminist Books for Youth

2006 ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults   

New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age

Alphabet Award (First recipient)

Annotation

Holland Jaeger has just realized she’s a lesbian and she’s in love with a girl from her school, Cece Goddard.  Both Cece and Holland decide to keep their relationship a secret, until the truth becomes impossible to hide.

Booktalk

These are the rules:

1.)   “They got it wrong when they called it “the closet”.  [It’s] a prison”.

2.)   “You can’t always trust your friends”.

3.)   “You don’t have to do anything to be hated for being gay”.

4.)   You think telling people your gay is “about identity.  Love…asking for acceptance”.  Others, including your friends and family, think you’re “asking for trouble”.

These are just some of the rules Holland Jaeger has to live by now that she’s admitted she’s a lesbian.  Holland works hard at school, has a job and is on the swim team.  She loves her sister Hannah and is trying to get along with her other sister, Faith.  It shouldn’t matter that she’s in love with Cece Goddard.  Cece, though, knows that’s not the case.  Having transferred from another school in the area, Cece knows how hurtful people can be when they find out you’re gay.  She begs Holland to keep the secret.  And while Holland does break up with her boyfriend, she doesn’t tell him why and she doesn’t tell her two closest friends either.

Keeping the secret seems like such a good idea at first, but will staying quiet turn out to be a mistake?  What if everyone at school finds out (it wouldn’t be too hard, Cece’s not exactly in the closet).  What if Faith tells their parents just to spite Holland?  Most importantly, what if everyone Holland loves finds out the truth from someone other than her?   

*Christine (19 years old) suggested I read this book.  She told me that she enjoyed it because "it talks about current themes, themes teenagers can relate to".  "It's emotional because Holland's friends and family have a hard time accepting her, but once Holland is at peace with herself, there's also a message of hope [and] that's important" she added.*


Image credit:  http://www.julieannepeters.com/files/ExcerptKYAS.htm

David Inside Out

Bantle, Lee.  David Inside Out.  New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2009.  Print.

Awards

2009 Rainbow List

Annotation

David likes his best friend and fellow track teammate and even though Sean likes him too, he doesn’t want anyone else to know about it.  Will David decide to stand up to Sean, follow his heart and be honest about his feelings?

Booktalk

What would you do if you were in love with your best friend?  What would you do if you didn’t want to be in love with your best friend?  If you were trying to hide this love by dating someone else, but all you really wanted to do was tell the truth?

This is exactly how David feels.  He’s dating a girl at his school, Kick, but it’s Sean, a member of his track team that he really wants.  Sean wants him too – but he doesn’t want anyone else to know about it.  What will David do?  Will he stand up to Sean and tell him he wants to be honest about his feelings?  Will he finally be able to come out to his friends and family?  Will he lose his friendship with his once-girlfriend, Kick?  What about the relationships with his track teammates?

Image credit:  http://leebantle.com/

The Vast Fields of Ordinary

Burd, Nick.  The Vast Fields of Ordinary.  New York: Dial Books, 2009.  Print.

Awards

2009 New York Times Notable Book of 2009

2010 ALA Stonewall Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature

2010 ALA Rainbow Books

Annotation

Dade is spending his last summer before college doing ordinary things in his small town of Cedarville until he meets Alex, someone who is different from anyone else he knows and who will spark changes in his life that can’t be undone. 

Booktalk

“I practiced saying I was gay to inanimate objects around the house.  I told the soap dish in my bathroom, the ceiling fan above my bed, the blue drinking glass I favored above all the others simply because over the years its entire family had perished one by one during various interactions with hard surfaces around the kitchen and I’d convinced myself our solitude was linked. 

“I’m gay,” I told these things.”

Dade Hamilton has just graduated from high school and can’t wait to get out of Cedarville and go to Fairmont in the fall.  In fact, only a few days ago he was at his senior prom, drawing the initials DH + PS in a heart on the wall of the boy’s bathroom.  PS stands for Pablo Soto, his sometimes boyfriend.  Now Dade is spending his last summer at home, working at FoodWorld and going to parties hosted by Judy Lockhart, also known as Pablo’ girlfriend.  Dade loves Pablo, but Pablo isn’t ready to admit yet that he’s gay.  While trying to figure out how to deal with this, Dade meets Alex at a party and soon their friendship grows into something more. 

From this chance encounter on, Dade’s summer will start to unfold in ways he never expected from his parents’ marital troubles to the disappearance of a local autistic girl.  As Dade struggles to keep up he realizes that it’s not college he’s longing for, but the truth.  Will Dade be able to be honest with others?  Will those around him reveal their own truths?  Will the end of the summer finally bring with it some answers or just more questions?

Image credit:  http://www.worldcat.org/title/vast-fields-of-ordinary/oclc/275150000?referer=brief_results

Upstate

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

Awards

2006 American Library Association ALEX Award

Annotation

Seventeen-year-old Antonio is accused of stabbing his father to death and is sent upstate to serve a ten-year sentence.  While locked up, he exchanges letters with his girlfriend, Natasha.

Booktalk

What would you do if you were locked up at seventeen?  If you were locked up for a crime you committed trying to protect your family?  If you had to leave your friends and family behind for ten years?  If you could never see your boyfriend or girlfriend again?  If you couldn’t go to prom?  If you couldn’t graduate from high school?

This is the situation Antonio is facing at seventeen years old.  He is arrested for stabbing his father in an attempt to stop him from beating his mother.  His lawyer insists he has a good chance of being acquitted at first, but as the trail drags on things get complicated and Antonio agrees to serve a ten-year sentence as part of a plea deal.  Unable to see his family and friends, except on visitation days, he misses out on the end of high school, going to college, getting a job and watching his brothers grow up.  The one thing Antonio doesn’t want to miss out on, though, is a chance to keep his relationship with his girlfriend, Natasha, alive.  Struggling to reach her Antonio begins writing Natasha letters, and is forced to ask her “ baby, the first thing I need to know from you is do you believe I killed my father?”

Image credit:  http://us.macmillan.com/Book.aspx?isbn=9780312332686

The First Part Last

Johnson, Angela.  The First Part Last.  New York: Simon Pulse, 2003.  Print.

Awards

Teen People Pick

2004 Coretta Scott King Award (Writing Category)

2004 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature

Annotation

Bobby celebrates his 16^th birthday by learning that his girlfriend, Nia, is pregnant.  Now the couple have to decide if they are going to keep the baby or choose adoption.

Booktalk

Bobby feels as if he’s caught between two worlds: his life Then and his life Now.

Then:  I turned sixteen by skipping school and going to a movie with my buddies.  I had my favorite meal, cheese fries and ribs, for dinner and headed home early to get some cake my mom baked.  “I never had any cake though ‘cause my girlfriend Nia was waiting on our stoop for me with a red balloon” and something she had to tell me.

Now:  It doesn’t matter to my daughter Feather that I just turned sixteen.  She’s counting on me to make the right choices for her.  I just wish I knew what they were.

Then:  Nia and I sat in the office of the adoption agency with our parents.  I thought about how if we gave up this baby we could go to college and get on with our lives.  Everyone was telling us we should be happy and relieved; we were doing the right thing…

Now:  My buddy, K-Boy, asks me: “So.  You going to keep her or what?”

This is Bobby’s life Then and his life Now.  Then, Bobby was only thinking about himself, his girlfriend and going to college after graduation…until Nia got pregnant.  Now what is Bobby going to do?

Image credit:  http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780689849237-0

Go Ask Alice

Anonymous.  Go Ask Alice.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 1971.  Print.

Awards

2003 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults

Annotation

A teenage girl records her struggles to overcome her drug addiction and establish an identity.

Review

The diarist feels pressure to fit in at school and so accidentally tries drugs for the first time at a party.  From this point on, the girl struggles with her addiction – at times giving in and embracing it, while at others working hard to break free from the cycle.  She chronicles her journey of self-discovery and speaks to the process of growing into her own in this coming of age piece.

Her insightful and poignant entries call out to and draw readers in, reminding them that the unnamed diarist could be anyone.  Essentially, Go Ask Alice is the story of a girl grappling with life and the consequences of her decisions until her death three weeks after ending her diary.  It is at times frightening, overwhelming and sad, yet it also showcases the diarist’s courage and determination.

Image credit: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46799.Go_Ask_Alice