For the Love of Teen Literature

Feed by M.T. Anderson Margaret A. Edwards Award Copyright: 2002 Titus lives in the near future of what America looks like during this time. In this time of the future, society is controlled by corporations. The internet is big but especially in the minds of all who can never escape the "messages" in their heads. Titus makes a trip to the moon in the beginning of this novel where he tries to see what college life would look like in the future. Titus then meets one of the prettiest girls he has ever seen named Violet. After going to a party, an old hacker appears and the police have to come and turn off "the teens" so he doesn't win. During this time, the hacker is being beaten up. In all of this, the corporation that control their minds(internet induced information processing) is always looking to create chaos and bad things for the young teens. If something happens to the feed, then it also happens to the user's brain. While the teens have been turne...

The Fault in Our Stars is a book that drew me to read it because of my daughter and her love for the book.  January 10, 2012 Hazel Grace Lancaster is a teen that narrates the story of her life with thyroid cancer. Her lungs become affected and so therefore she struggles with her sickness. Hazel's parents struggle with how to help her and find a support group that she can attend. Hazel is not into joining this group but decides to do it anyway. Hazel meets others struggling like her but meets this boy named Augustus who has lost his leg to cancer and is there to support his friend Oscar who lost his eye. Augustus is in remission. This story takes a turn when both Hazel an Augustus become sick and Augustus becomes deathly ill. Augustus finds Hazel's author she loves because of the books she reads and they track him down. His love for Hazel grows strong and his love for her takes over everything he needs. They have a connection that is so true and it reveals itself more...

Dumplin by Julie Murphy Free Choice September 2015 Dumplin is the nickname of a girl named Willowdean given by her mom who happens to be the winner of the Clover City Beauty queen of her time. Willow's mom is the person known around town as having it all together and runs the beauty paegent every year. Willowdean is an overweight teenager that struggles with her weight and the way she looks. She has a best friend named Ellen who is by her side through out life and all the ups and downs. The beautiful part about this story is the love of the relationship between Willowdean and her aunt who died years ago from a heart attack. Her name was Lucy who also suffered from being very large. As the story unfolds, Willowdean tries to stay her confident self with losing her best friend Ellen from wanting to be in the pageant to her love of her co worker Bo who really likes Willow but she doesn't believe it. In the end, Dumplin learns to love herself and love her mom through being  a ...

Restart by Gordon Korman  State Book Award Winner May 30, 2017  The story of Chase who is a boy who is a star football player at his school and who is very popular for many reasons. Chase falls off the roof of a house and ends up in the hospital to only be fighting amnesia. In this mix, Chase has to go back to school to only learn that he use to be a bully and was not nice to others. He realizes that friendship is something he doesn't have much positive experience with. All he ever knew is his old life was football but now since he is healing, he has to figure out something else to do. He joins the video club to meet others. Chase becomes a better person and tries to live his the rest of his high school year by working on his relationships with others around him.  I would suggest this to my boys and all my teens about the strong convictions of voice and how it is important to leave a legacy of being who you are. 

Crossover by Kwame Alexander The use of prose and rap in this book was amazing and easy to follow. Crossover is a story about a boy named Josh and his twin brother Jordan who struggles with loss and love. The one thing they have in common is the love of basketball in which they both hope to play in college and against each other. The book narrates Josh's story and his struggle at first which his close relationship with his brother Jordan "JB" because of his relationship with a girl. Being the sons of a basketball superstar named Chuck Bell as your dad puts alot of pressure on both boys. The tensions run higher throughout the story for the brothers who play basketball together but have squabbles on the court too. The only thing that changes this is that their dad has a heart attack. They experience loss as their dad falls to a third heart attack and dies. This ending is one that creates a bigger connection with the two brothers that they become inseparable. I would us...

Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto Copyright date: Manga Series Kids are crazy over this Manga Series so I decided to read Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto volume one. This book was hard to follow but I wanted to gain some information as a libraraian on why and what students like about this book and character. The background I got was that he didn't know his parent died for him and he was a trouble maker until he found his true meaning of his life.  As the story begins, the character Naruto is looking for a chance to prove himself in his land of Konoha that he can be a great leader and ninja. Naruto's father was the hokage of the village at one time but had to sacrifice himself to protect the village. Hidden leaf is name of the village in which Naruto has to defend.  Sakura is another character who is a girl that Naruto is in love with. He tries to win over her interest in him but she is not in love with him but with his friend/foe named Sasuke. Naruto has the nine tails beast insid...

The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas Edgar Award Winner for Young Adult 2018 copyright date: February 2017 Wow!  This book was so revealing of the issues that teens face. Racism in America in this book is so transparent when it comes to the main character Star and what she had to witness seeing her best friend Khalil. The twist of this story when I first read it was that Starr really lived in two worlds. One world is the neighborhood she lived in and its poverty and problems and the all white rich area school she attended each day. The author bases this story on a real life killing of an African American by a police officer. Thomas lends her voice through Starr her character that she creates in her novel. Starr becomes really upset within the story line because her best friend Khalil is portrayed as a gang member who is bad in society which is not true and the police officer that shot him is portrayed as a good person. Starr finds her voice within this story which leads to many st...

I'll Give you the Sun by Jandy Nelson Copyright: September 16, 2014 2015 Winner of the Printz Award This novel takes place where twin siblings Jude and Noah have such a different relationship as they grow. Jude is a girl who loves to be a girl and Noah is a quiet reserved boy who loves to draw and who is in love with a boy named Brian.  The twins are very close until something happens in the story.The quote" maybe some people must stay in their story together" relates to the twins growing farther away from each other and has different lives they begin to live. Their mother Dianna struggles with their father and falls in love with another guy. After telling Noah about this, Dianna goes to meet her new love and gets into a fatal car accident. The twins are going through so many emotions. Jude falls in love but yet misses the connection with her brother. Noah comes out as liking boys and starts to create a life with his friend. My reaction to this book is that it was ...

Alex Award winner Copyright: May 6, 2014 Many strong themes throughout this story. Marie a teen talks about how the sea does not belong to tyrants. Marie is a blind girl and Werner is a boy who befriends Marie an wants to run away during a tough time in World War II times. The Nazis are controlling the world around them. Werner loves math and science which he studies while in school. Both of these teens in this book are very curious when it comes to books for Marie and a little old radio for Werner. History plays itself out during the story of this book in which sacrifices are made. Werner wants nothing more but to be a scientist. The violence of war around them is inevitable in the times of the world in history of this novel. Marie and her father escape to another place and Marie holds a secret diamond in which she hids in the attic and escapes with it. Werner is eventually held captive and escapes but later dies from a mine explosion. The only thing that gets him through this is...

Keeping up with Roo by Sharlene Green Disablities Award Winner Copyright date: March 30, 2004 This book is on the Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award winner's list. It is a story about a girl named Gracie who has an aunt named Roo who has the mind of a small child. Gracie is very close to her Aunt Roo and have been very close for a long time. Even though Roo is mentally challenged, she gives the gift of being thankful for every moment she has and finds the light in everything she does. Gracie grows up and finds herself in the teacher role of everything she has learned in school to share with Roo. The novel displays several important things you can use as teachable moments with teens. You can point out how people are different and how you have to be accepting. It creates a chance for you as a teacher to show that we all can learn something from each other and that we all don't know everything.

American Street by Ibi Zoboi (2017) Multicultural Title This story has a title that is very symbolic to issues that are happening now in the Americas today. This story begins in an airport where a girl named Fabiola and her mother are coming to the Americas from their home in Haiti. Fabiola tells the story of her mom and the struggles she goes through to live with her in the United States. They are coming to Detroit which Fabiola paints a picture through her words and the difference between Americas and Haiti. The weather is a change for Fabiola and her mother. She talks about how to get cold air in Haiti, you have to climb to the top of the mountain. All of her cousins she meets are not so nice to her. They make fun of her not really knowing what a fridge, and household accessories are for. All this time, Fabiola's mom is being detained by immigrant officials which makes her have to live with her aunt and cousins. As time goes on, Fabiola draws closer to her cousins but is gi...

Sara Farizen If You Could Be Mine by Sarah Farizen  Copyright date: August 20, 2013   LGBTQ title  On Page three, this line stuck out throughout the book: " I want to stop loving Nasrin but how do you stop doing something you know you are suppose to be doing". Sahar and Nazrin have been best friends for a very long time. Their feelings change as they fall deeply in love with each other. The hard part is that their Iranian culture does not allow nor condones lesbian love. The story goes through the struggle to win their families and the struggle with their families and making sure no one finds out. Sahar struggles with making the decision of if she should change her body as a man to be able to love Nazrin. One problem is Nazrin is in an arranged marriage to a doctor who she does not love but has been obligated to do so. The struggle of being who you are vs. being who you need to be is written clearly in this story that everyone can relate to with whateve...

Zora and Me by Victoria Bond  (Audio Book ) 2010 Copyright  2018 Audiobook  This story depicts a true friendship that is between Zora and her close friend Carrie. This novel is told through Carrie and shows the loyalty they had for each other. Zora is an inquisitive girl who shows her love for anthropology and didn’t mind making things up to sound like the truth. Through the story, Zora told stories of mystery that even herself was scared of sometimes. Zora and Carrie go on a little trip and find themselves in the middle of a death and a ghost. Eatonville their small town is known to be fairly safe. Zora and Carrie go throughout the novel to try and keep their little town safe through wonderful adults who help them like Joe Clarke, the owner of the town general store. It is only a matter of time that the girls found out of the death of a man by the ghost. The imagery and symbolism of the town and its racial issues are very well written in the words of this story...

Steve Jobs: The Man who thought different by Karen Blumenthal 2013 YALSA Award for Excellence- Non fiction February 14, 2012 This nonfiction selection is an endearing story of a man who began at the bottom and went all the way to the top to fall again. A biography told of a man named Steve Jobs whose mom had to put him up for adoption due to having him outside of a marriage and by a Syrian man. The baby was adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs. Through his childhood, his adoptive parents made sure that Steve had what he needed for success. He is painted as a down home boy who loved to be barefooted throughout and wanted to attend a small college. As he goes to college he gets caught up with the social aspect and the curiosity of the way things work and later decided to quit college.  He goes to create a life through computers and a company called Apple II in 1977 with the help of others. They never knew how much this company would change their life and the world around us all. ...

Honor Girl by Maggie Thrash Copyright date: September 8, 2015 Love this book!  Love Graphic Novels! Through this graphic memoir the story of fifteen year old Maggie comes alive. Maggie is a teen that spend each summer at a camp for all girls. This story depicts the life and challenges a girl goes through in their teen years but Maggie has something else that is worrying her and that is the feelings she has for her girl counselor, Erin. Maggie must go through coming out and coming to terms with her feelings and how people might feel about her. You were left at the end of this graphic novel feeling like the story was not completed as camp ended. I would put this out on my mature shelves of my 8th grade section of the library for my teens to explore. With many students loving graphic novels, this would fly off the shelf. The book Drama by Raina Telgemier is like this book in that it delves into loving different people. This novel was an easy read and a quick read. The on...

The Book Thief by Mark Zusak Copyright Date: March 14, 2006 Historical Fiction  Wow! What a great story set back in the times of the Nazis, Hitler and the world in the way it was developing. This historical fiction novel is set in the year of 1939 with the story of a girl named Liesel who grew up in the times of World War II and death all around her. Death narrates this book in a tale of emerging in a deep and dark time of history.  Sitting by her brother’s graveside the story begins where Liesel finds a book hidden in the snow which intrigues her to grab and begin reading what was in the pages of this book. She learns to read through these books that she keeps on stealing. During these times that this book is set in, reading was not something that everyone was given the chance to learn. Liesel’s life after her brother’s death becomes hard as she is put into a foster home with the Hubberman’s family. Liesel becomes close with her foster father but does not mesh...