Right Behind You by Gail Giles

http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com/video/video/show?id=672799%3AVideo%3A60954

Reading Olympics 2008

Reading Olympics 2008

reading olympics 2008

Tyrell by Coe Booth & Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin

Two that I just read may be too dark for 7th grade but great anyway and worth a mention--Tyrell by Coe Booth is about a 17 yr old whose family is homeless because his dad is in prison and his mom won't work. Now with his little brother, Tyrell lives in a roach infested halfway house waiting for a better place to live. But he has lots working against him and the book really explores how he copes--drops out of school, really loyal to a girl and taking care of his brother. Tyrell wants to provide but is also overwhelmed by how to do it and so we see Tyrell spiral and try to do right for himself. Another one I read right after that was Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin---Matthew the older brother tries to shield his two sisters from their crazy, abusive mother. Nikki professes to love her children but harms them, scares them and Matthew tries to get help from a man named Murdoch who he befriends after seeing him come to the rescue in a hold-up. Matthew's love for his sisters makes him do almost anything to keep them safe. Nikki's sanity slips as she is plunged into psychosis but she really thinks she is a great mom. These two books are great survival tales and the teens are heroes despite tremendous odds.

What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones

I just love all of Sonya Sones' books and this one is awesome. Robin and Sophie finally hook up but Robin has no idea why Sophie likes him! In free verse, popular Sophie choses weirdo Robin "You're a real Murphy" as the love of her life. Only problem is, not one of Sophie's friends and all the other students at Cambridge High seem to understand what Sophie sees in the Murphster. But Robin is young, sweet, amorous and totally ga-ga about Sophie, her eyes and her heart. Robin is also an artist with real talent and I loved the classes he audits at Harvard and the great art students he becomes friendly with. You will laugh, you will cry--this is the guy take on first love and it is amazing.

Review of Crank by Ellen Hopkins and Guyaholic by Carolyn Mackler

I just finished reading 2 very different but awesome books. Since I joined the Book Challenge- they are #1 and #2 on my list. Crank by Ellen Hopkins is a novel in verse about junior, Kristina who goes to visit her dad. She starts introducinbg herself as Bree who is the opposite of Kristina and this guy gets her hooked on crank. Wow, it was so sad to see her slide into hopelessness. Even though it is over 500 pages, it flies off the booktalk shelves because our reading teacher does such a compelling booktalk. Then the kids come back and want to read her others Impulse, Burned and Glass. The 2nd book, Guyaholic by Caroyln Mackler will be one of my favorites to booktalk. V the main character was in another one of Mackler's books (you must read Vegan, Virgin, Valentine and Other Four Letter Words where V is a minor but compelling character)and in Guyaholic after endless hookups for 3 weeks tops--V gets hit inthe head with a hockey puck and Sam Almond rescues her. He is hunky in a geeky way, kind, compassionate, loves to cook and wants to be V's boyfriend, hold hands and go to the prom--all of which are NoNos, if you know V's history - moving 20 times in 16 years and a mother who dates endlessly. If you want a funny, poignant read, try this, I guarantee you will like it!