A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd

A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Shell Talent has a tough life. Her mother has died, her father is an alcoholic who has become obsessed with religion and terrorizes his children. Shell must be mother, father and a teen in the south of Ireland in 1084. When she becomes pregnant by her classmate Declan who then runs away to American, Shell can't bear to get an abortion, she hides her pregnancy from her father, friends, & those in her village. But she cannot hide it from her brother and sister. So one night, she gives birth and falls in love with her baby girl. But unfortunately, the baby is still born and all three children go into their field and bury the baby with stones to mark the grave. Imagine Shell's surprise when the police come to her house to question her about a dead baby boy found in an inlet and her father has confessed. A spellbinding mystery unfolds with Shell at the center of a scandal, but she continues to show courage and honesty in the face of adversity. This is a Reading Olympic book this year, I am not sure this book will appeal to all students, but for those who persevere, they will learn alot about the pluck of a young Irish girl.

View all my reviews >>

Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpam

Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I think all of these short stories about the dire circumstances of families, children and adults in the African countries of Gabon, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria as told by Uwem Akpan needs to be read by teens and adults the world over in order to feel their pain, their pride and their bitter, heartbreaking struggles in daily life and war.

View all my reviews >>

The Bite of the Mango by Maraitu Kamara

The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Mariatu's story of life as an 11 year old child in Sierra Leone with a loving family is shattered immediately with the arrival of the civil war that brings rebels into villages to search and destroy. The rebels are as young as Mariatu, and they have guns, machetes, stones and boards for beating, killing, and maiming all of the people in a village. Mariatu is forced to watch 20 people, many she knows, be herded into a hut and then the hut is set on fire. Mariatu is then one of many that day who has her hands chopped off and then set free to show the President of Sierra Leone what the rebels are doing. Mariatu didn't even know what a president was. Mariatu goes on to tell what happens afterward, how she meets up with kind people, and also reunites with other family members who have also had their hands removed. She has journalists interview her and as her story spreads, Mariatu comes to England and Toronto to become educated and help her family back in Sierra Leone. This memoir is a testament to one girl's courage in spite of adversity and how she works on a daily basis to tell the world the horrors that are befalling children during war.

View all my reviews >>

Torched by April Henry

Torched by April Henry

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Ellie is sixteen and has parents who like to support environmental causes. Only problem is, one day her parents are arrested on marijuana charges and Ellie is forced to spy for the FBI and become involved in ecoterrorism or else--- Ellie will go into foster care and her parents would go to jail forever unless she goes undercover to help them. Ellie begins meeting with Mother Earth Defenders (MED); she has convinced them of her earnestness. She also begins to fall for Coyote, another member who has been involved with MED for a few years. The suspense is gripping, Ellie's fear is palpable, but she is determined to save her parents no matter what. She is resourceful and determined. Great for reluctant readers too.

View all my reviews >>

The Queen of Cool by Cecil Castellucci

The Queen of Cool by Cecil Castellucci

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I have read and loved all of Cecil Castellucci's books and graphic novels and this book is no exception. Castellucci's Libby Brin is the coolest, cutest girl in her school but she keeps feeling like she is bored, restless, and I thought, at times, depressed. She has potential, could get good grades but instead she decides to take an internship at a zoo and is partnered with a fellow classmate that she makes fun of with her friends in school. As she takes notes with Tina/Tiny and low talker, Sheldon, and makes mistake after mistake at the zoo, Libby starts to truly speak her mind, admit to her superficiality, and begin to be the queen of "uncool" and she realizes she likes her new friends and herself. A great YA book!!!

View all my reviews >>

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Kathryn Stockett has woven a story of heartache, humiliation, friednship and servitude in this wonderful historical fiction novel taking place in Mississippi in 1962. The relationship that develops between Miss Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny has far reaching and final effects. I loved Miss Aibileen, she was such a strong, loving parent figure to Mae Mobly (Stockett does a great job showing how the maids all have their own families---but love these white children like their own) I was so sad to read over and over again of the many children who are eventually turned against these nannies because of the racism that existed and the lines that could not and would not be crossed. Minny endures physical abuse from her husband and still has the mouth to stand up for herself and her friends. Miss Skeeter's job of writing their stories takes many suspenseful twists and turns and she suffers from her maid Constantine's disappeareance, her parent's refusal to discuss it, and it is her enduring love and bond with Constantine that urge her on to write the stories, and finish Constantine's story. This book is so moving and sad, even Stockett's own words at the end show the conflict of getting the black woman's point of view across and examining the roles between the black maids and the white families who employed them. I will be thinking about this book, the characters and the time period for quite awhile. I know my students will love this Reading Olympic book!

View all my reviews >>

Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess

Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book was so compelling, I couldn't put it down. Meredith is a teen who has been molested by her father while he has molested lots of other children, boys and girls alike. When her father gets a nine year sentence, Meredith feels safe even though she is a pariah in her town. Imagine her disgust and fear when he is released after only 3 years!!! And her mother can't wait to be one big happy family. Meredith has been spending time with Andy, a teen who is now paralyzed but was once one of her father's victims. She is also open and honest with Nigel, a police officer who lives in her apartment complex. Meredith feels she is the only one who can stop her father, even though she has tried by not taking baths, leaving her hair in her eyes, wearing clothes that cover her up and are filthy. I felt I was in a car careening out of control as I read this sickening book of a girl's despair and hatred for all the lives her father has shattered. She is a strong girl who perseveres in spite of her mother, her father and the justice system. A great read!

View all my reviews >>

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A riveting look at a young girl who lives in a polygamist who call themselves the Chosen. Kyra is thirteen, has a mind of her own, a father with many wives and lots of brothers and sisters. You can see from the lst page of the book, that Kyra has her own mind, thoughts which she voices, and loves her extended family very much. But there is something very wrong with this sect and Prophet Childs has been told by God to marry Kyra to her UNCLE who is 50 years older! Even her mother and father are horrified! The parents urge the Prophet to rethingk this union --- he will not budge and it is then that we find he is sinister, evil, and controls all his members through fear, citing their loyalty to God, and if that doesn't work----then they might meet a fate worse than death, death itself, or just disappear. Unbeknownst to everyone,Kyra had also fallen in love with Joshua and reads books from a bookmobile that stops outside the compound once a week. I felt all kinds of revulsion and heartbreak at the same time, I cheered for Kyra to try to get away and survive, and I was sickened by her families' meekness and their begging for Kyra to bend to the Prophet's will. A book I will not soon forget, I couldn't put it down,and I think it has something to say to students who read it---there are teens like them living a horror in sects that denies them their rights and their families' safety all in the name of a twisted religion. The only thing I didn't like was the cover---after reading the book, Kyra and any other girl in the sect would NEVER dress like that!!!

View all my reviews >>

Perfect by Natasha Friend

Perfect by Natasha Friend

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book is not recent but appeared on many lists as a recomended read and I finally got around to it---I love Natasha Friend's book! Isabelle, her sister, April and her mom have lost the most important thing in their lives--the sudden death of their father and husband. They are deeply hurting but each time Isabelle and April try to discuss their grief and loneliness with their mother, she refuses to deal with it--instead preferring to to cry by herself in her bedroom. As a result, Isabelle has become a binger and purger, and has been forced to attend group meetings ....Isabelle is such a great teen character, she hates herself, sees herself as a loser, and when "perfect" Ashley becomes part of the group, Isabelle longs to become perfect like Ashley. Isabelle's voice is sarcastic, lonely and filled with self-loathing, but she knows she wants to keep her father's memory alive with pictures and memories. This book explores family disintegration following the death of a beloved family member and does it just right with Isabelle and Ashley, group members, and her school friends. Reluctant readers will enjoy this

View all my reviews >>

Rules of Attraction bySimone Elkeles

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This multicultural YA book was so intriguing, I couldn't put it down. It involves a Mexican American teen, Carlos, who is taken out of his family home in Chicago, then Mexico, and placed under his brother Alex's watchful eye.
He is assigned a peer guide to help him the lst week of school and Carlos tears this girl, Kiara, up by snubbing her, being rude to her and mocking her every chance he can. But Carlos has a soft, vulnerable side and I really liked how he protects people, he has a strong sense of family loyalty and when he is interested in a girl, watch out! There is alot going on in this book, Carlos' brother got jumped out of the Latino Blood gang to be with his white girlfriend Carlos can't stand. Carlos is framed with drugs in his bookbag and then recruited to sell drugs and if he won't his family in Mexico and Kiara's family will be threatened. Kiara is a well adjusted girl from a wonderful family (imagine that???) who loves a challenge, loves to fix cars, got text-dumped by her boyfriend, has a gay best friend Tuck, and is falling for Carlos, despite his attitude, his Mexican ideas of macho and whatever he can do to turn her on and then turn her off. There are alternating chapters of Carlos and Kiara, this book will not disappoint and I think the reluctant readers and some urban readers will enjoy the drug/gang connection.

View all my reviews >>

Who Am I Without Him by Sharon Draper

Who Am I Without Him? by Sharon G. Flake

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I enjoyed each and every short story about the young teens and their forays into love and the issues they confront in their daily lives, in their family relationships and friendships. Reluctant readers will not be able to put this book down. Highly recommended!

View all my reviews >>