Book Addict

Young Adult Literature is not a Genre of its own...but it is pretty Amazing!

Here are some of the books I have read this semester. There was only one I didn't particularly care for...see if you can discover which one it is.

Fantasy Fiction

Summary:  Kate “Puck” Connolly is a strong-willed seventeen-year-old girl, but that is just it, she is a scared girl who has experienced the tragedy of losing both parents to the water horses (capaill uisce). A girl who loves her horse, Dove, and lives with her brothers. They have to do odd jobs to survive on their small island. As adult realities begin to throw one thing after another her way, Puck is forced into taking a stand that she never thought she would. Riding in the Scorpio Races started as a way to try and keep her older brother from moving to the mainland, but morphed into a longshot of trying to keep their home and standing up to the men who said she should not/could not do it because she is a girl. As the story progresses, Puck becomes even more stubborn, but also fierce as she fights to hold her family together and protect them from the carnivorous water horses. She meets Sean Kendrick when he saves her life and tells her to “keep her pony off the beach.”  As she observes him, he is intrigued by her. He watches her determination to race her normal horse against the dangerous water horses as she strives to overcome her fear of them. Can Puck beat the odds, win the race, save her home and maybe even win Sean’s heart?

Summary:  Set in dreary, Eleventh-century England, the Book without Words keeps you wondering to the very end. Sybil, a thirteen-year-old servant girl, continues to do her master’s bidding, even when he refuses to stay dead and buried. Her master, Thorton, a very old alchemist, is obsessed with living and making gold. Thorton uses magic from the Book without words, which only green-eyed ones can read. The problem with this magic is that it takes what it gives and everything seems to keep going askew. With two green-eyed boys, a talking old raven, and an on and off dead master to take care of, Sybil tries to figure out what her life is worth while doing what is right, and not get hanged in the process.

Summary:  Elizabeth has just gotten her first job, but it isn’t the kind of job you would expect a teenage girl to have. She is working in the New York Circulating Material Repository as a page. This isn’t any regular place as Elizabeth soon learns. The repository checks out all kinds of normal things to the people of New York…and some not so normal things. Elizabeth learns that there is something weird and sinister going on. As Elizabeth and her new friends soon learn, they are not the only ones interested in the “special collections” at the Repository. Someone has been stealing items from the Grimm collection. Yes, as in The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales, except these items have magical powers. Through adventure, magic, and danger Elizabeth and her friends have to solve this mystery and rescue those they care about before it is too late.

Summary:  Lucinda was orphaned at five years old when her parents were killed. She was sent to live with a pseudo-uncle and his wicked wife. Riches to rags, she is a “Cinderella story” made to clean and beaten when she dared to speak up. Her whole world comes to a halt at fifteen, when the Beryl woman comes to her uncle’s shop to have him create a new setting for her stone. Accused of being a witch, Lucinda’s aunt refuses to service the woman and sends Lucinda to return her stone. Secretly, Lucinda keeps the stone to have her uncle work on it in private, but a thief steals it, and tragically her uncle dies. Her cruel aunt accuses her of stealing and kicks her out. Lucinda is now an orphan, broke and on the streets. She decides to turn to the Amaranth Witch for help, but has no idea the adventures, romance, peril, and loss in store for her.

Summary:  A girl is running through the woods...enchanted woods trying to stay alive because even the trees are trying to harm her. She finally reaches a house in the woods, but every part of her being tells her to stay away. She goes in anyway only to find she has entered the home of a witch. Sounds like the beginning of a nightmare or a Grimm Fairy Tale. This is what our girl is living. She has not name, or even clothing as she is covered in spider webs. She is desperately trying to reach Pennyroyal Academy because she wants to train to become a princess. Little does she know what the Fates have in store for her or what princess are really training for in this academy. Does she have it in her to survive and become like the princesses from our fairy tales?  

Realistic Fiction

Summary:  Ever Davies is a fifteen-year-old girl just trying to survive high school, but with one big problem, one huge problem that she carries with her everywhere she goes. Ever weighs three hundred two pounds, but that is not the worst of her problems, Skinny is. Skinny is the little demon voice in her ear that whispers what everyone is thinking. Skinny’s voice is a constant, berating sound that drowns out even the people that could and would care about Ever. Ever doesn’t see herself through anyone’s eyes, but Skinny’s and it is destroying her life, literally. 

Ever can sing, like really sing. She is extremely talented and wants nothing more than to show the world her talent and have them see her for who she is. The problem is that Ever also wants to blend into the background and have no attention on her because of her weight. She is made fun of and people don’t understand her, except her best friend, Rat. Finally, Ever has had enough, and for all the wrong reasons she decides to have Gastric Bypass surgery. As the pounds begin to fall off and more attention is paid to Ever, her life is changing, but is it all she had hoped for?

Summary:  How could her mother allow her step-dad to hurt her like that? Can she ever trust anyone again? Carley Conner is now a foster kid, she is scared, angry, and humiliated!

How can these people be so nice and perfect? How could she ever fit in here? All of these thoughts and many more are swirling in her twelve-year-old brain as she tries to settle into her new foster home, fresh from the hospital. Trying to hide her bruises from the soft eyes of Mrs. Murphy, Carley avoids all of the prying questions from the lively Murphy boys and the caring Mrs. Murphy. They could never understand. Their life is too perfect. Mrs. Murphy is so different from her own mother, Carley is shocked at how she is drawn to her, but it scares her. When Carley is scared she lashes out.

Carley Conner has a lot to learn from this family, she also has a lot to teach them…but can she just let down her guard long enough to let them in. The Murphy boys have an amazing way or working their way into Carley’s heart, but what happens when her own mother is out of the hospital and ready to take her back?

Summary:  Ponyboy Curtis and his brothers, Sodapop and Darry are orphans, but they are part of a family. The greasers are their family and they take care of each other, especially when the Socs (Social Elites) come to jump them. Johnny got jumped a few months ago and Ponyboy got jumped on his way home from the movies. A greaser can’t walk anywhere by himself these days. When Ponyboy and Johnny meet some nice Soc girls at the movies, their boyfriends don’t take too kindly to it and jump the two boys again. Ponyboy didn’t think life could get any worse, but as one of the Socs is “giving him a bath” in the fountain, something terrible happens to send Johnny and Pony running for the hills.

Summary:  A family fight causes her two older brothers to leave home for good, then her dad hurts his hip and cannot run the family farm. What does a good little girl do? She quits basketball and takes over all of the work without complaint or argument. She doesn’t know any better until Brian shows up in her life. Brian, the enemy. Brian, the quarterback from her school’s rival football team and whom she will train because the thought intrigues her. She can, she has the knowledge, experience, and tons of practice helping her brothers, but he is a spoiled, rich, jerk. D.J. works him until he is exhausted, pushes him and all the while he is pushing right back. Unbeknownst to D.J., as she is teaching him, she is learning from him. He is teaching her how to communicate and share her feelings, but he is the only one she is sharing with. But, she is keeping something big from everyone, including Brian. D.J. has decided to try out for the school football team. Will she make it? If she does, what will it do to this friendship that has formed between these two unlikely teens when they have to be enemies on the field?

Graphic Novel

Summary:  Students at Eucalyptus middle school are putting on a play, Moon over Mississippi. Callie and the rest of the set crew are busy designing and building, costumes, lighting and all the behind the scenes parts that go into a production as they are dealing with the drama of their teen lives. As Callie is trying to keep her mind off boys, she meets a set of twins, Jesse and Justin and quickly becomes friends with them both. Justin tries out for a part on stage as Callie convinces Jesse to join the crew. The sets and costumes are coming together as Callie’s friendship with Jesse progresses into a full-blown crush. Callie is struggling with liking Jesse when she learns that Justin likes boys, she wonders if Jesse does as well. When production time arrives, the leading lady refuses to go on with her part because of a broken heart and Jesse steps up to save the show. The caveat is that he has to kiss the leading man during the play. At first, the audience is shocked but then explodes with applause during the bows because he put on an amazing performance. With her crush still intact and a dance coming up, there is still more drama, heartbreak, and friendship to experience.

Banned-Book

Summary: She was just a girl going to a party before she started high school. She was just a girl trying to fit in and be one of the cool crowd. How could this have happened to her? Was it her fault? Now, no one will look at her or speak to her. When they do, it is with jeers or disgust. Her friends…her old friends will have nothing to do with her and she can’t talk to anyone about IT. The pain of it has lodged a lump in her throat and she can hardly talk at all. High school was supposed to be fun- a new start, not failing grades glaring teachers and griping guidance counselors. Now Melinda is counting down the days until graduation, thinking about where she can hide until it is over, and trying to avoid IT.

Novel in Verse

Summary: Addie is a thirteen-year-old girl who is bold and outspoken. She stands up for what she believes, stands up for her friends, and even stands up for atrocities in the world. But, these things get her ostracized and bullied in her own school. She is the only girl in her group of male friends, but she has the support of a strong and free-spirited grandmother. 

Addie on the Inside is creative and uniquely written from Addie’s perspective as short poems.

Mystery

Summary: “You're late, my grandmother said you should have been here around noon, and it’s almost six,” said Arthur. “Did you know someone was murdered in your house? My grandmother found her” 

This was how thirteen-year-old Logan Forbes met his new neighbor as his family was moving into their new home in Maryland. What a way to start out in a new place…living in the murder house with such an annoying, nosy neighbor. Little did Logan know that Arthur would become his best friend as they spent the remainder of the summer riding their bikes around town trying to solve the mystery of the murder and missing money. They also wanted to clear the name of poor old Mrs. Donaldson who was murdered because someone thought she had stolen the money from the Magic Forest, an old amusement park where she worked almost her whole life. The Magic Forest, now closed, abandon and over-grown with kudzu vines was holding all the secrets…and danger.

Historical Fiction

Summary:  It is 1893 in New York City, a city full of immigrants just trying to survive. The city is dirty, corrupt, crowded and dangerous, but Maks is too old for school, so he is working as a newsie to help keep his Dutch family in their three-room tenement. Everyone in their large family works when they are old enough. Pappa and Maks’ fourteen-year-old sister work in the shoe factory, Momma does other people’s laundry, and Maks’ oldest sister works at the fantasy Waldorf hotel…that is until she gets arrested for stealing a watch. Maks is trying to get Emma out of jail, but he has trouble of his own. The Plug Ugly gang is beating up newsies and stealing their money, burning their papers and even breaking bones. When they come after Maks, he finds an unusual ally in a skinny orphan named Willa. Willa beats off the gang with her stick quickly becomes his closest friend. With Willa by his side, Maks has to earn money to keep his family off the streets, find a way to clear Emma’s name and try and avoid a beating from the Pug Uglies. America may be freer, but there are more tears.

Summary: Monticello is Thomas Jefferson’s farm. He owns over one hundred thirty slaves who cook, clean, raise animals, grow crops, blacksmith and woodwork for him. Master Jefferson is a pretty nice slave owner, but he is a slave owner. If you run away, you get beaten. If he wants to sell you, you are gone. This is the life of a slave. Master Jefferson likes lavish parties and wine, and he is constantly spending money. Between his increasing debt and growing age, his family and slaves worry what will happen to them when he passes.

 If you are a slave then you can’t be white, but what if you are 7/8 white and the secret children of Thomas Jefferson? Beverly, Harriet, Maddy, and Eston are all just this, his secret children with his slave, Sally Hemings. They look white with the right clothes and behavior, except Maddy. Could they survive and pass themselves off out in the world, away from Monticello and everything they have ever known? This is what their mamma, Sally, has brought they up to believe. Master Jefferson has promised that his secret children will be free when they turn twenty-one, but the worry over Master Jefferson’s age and money troubles bothers mamma as she is determined to see her children free.

Summary:  Jade Moon is loud, willful, strong and independent, all the things a Chinese girl or woman is not supposed to be. She is a Fire Horse Girl which is bad luck and the worse sign in the Chinese Zodiac-especially for a female. Her birth killed her mother and her father is having a difficult time arranging her marriage in their small village somewhere outside of Hong Kong.

Just before the Chinese New Year Sterling Promise shows up full of promises and sweet talking her father and grandfather into his plans to go to America. He claims to be the adopted son of Jade’s long lost uncle. Plans are made for Jade’s Father to sail to America, pretending to be the uncle, with Sterling as his son. Jade wants desperately to go to America because she believes she will find freedom there, that America will accept a Fire Horse Girl. At least her father tells her she is going and they set sail, leaving her grandfather alone to tend the rice farm. 

The trip is not what Jade expected. During the voyage, she and her father must learn all the details of this pretend family they are in. It is called a “Paper Family”. When they arrive at Angel Island, the immigration station near San Francisco, they are treated very poorly and kept on the island for a long time as they are interrogated and kept in a prison. Finally, the guards tell them they have determined if they get to “land” or will be sent back to China. Jade Moon is determined to make it to America. If they will not let her in, she must take matters into her own hands, because she decided she is not going back to China.

Summary:  Stubby was a stray dog, as he showed up at the military training area at the Yale football field. He quickly became a pet of the men, but Stubby had his favorite soldier. He knew his way around Camp Yale as he watched and learned the Army men train. Stubby even learned how to salute. He paid attention to the sounds and positions of the men. The men snuck him aboard the ship when they were shipped out to war. Stubby kept the men company, even saving lives by warning them of gas attacks and finding and waiting with wounded men until they were rescued. He could even hear incoming bombs before the men, warning them with a bark. He would race through the bunkers and trenches, warning the men. Stubby was such a great dog that a Frenchman tried to adopt him and Stubby’s American men demanded him back. Stubby was also very competent at identifying German soldiers. Stubby was their mascot, friend, and hero.

Science Fiction

Summary:  Fifteen-year-old Nadia and her eleven-year-old brother, Rabbit, are on their own after the Blue Star virus kills their mother, along with most of the world. Uncle Bean, their dad’s twin brother, had already prepared them for this epidemic by stockpiling food, water and giving them a shot to survive the virus. Now they have to get from their home in Washington state to their crazy Pappi’s mine bunker in West Virginia to survive the aftermath. The two set out in the family jeep, taking supplies and a few mementos. Along the way they meet other survivors, unfortunately, most of them cannot be trusted. The journey is long and they learn what people become in the face of an apocalyptic event.

Non-Fiction: Biographies

Summary:  Eleanor Roosevelt was a woman that grew out of fear and properness. She was told she was an ugly duckling, so she had better have manners. She grew up in a time when women were supposed to be wives and mothers and quietly support their husbands without causing a stir. She had a tragic childhood, a poor little rich girl. She grew to be a kind, eloquent and peaceful woman who hated public speaking but would speak out for any cause she strongly believed in. She was a teacher, philanthropist, diplomat, wife, mother, and champion of the people.

Eleanor Roosevelt: A life of discovery chronicles her life from birth to death. The author writes in such a way that you feel you are traveling the journey with this amazing woman. You are riding along with her as she loses both parents, heads off to boarding school to find herself and comes home for her societal coming out. You celebrate with her as she becomes engaged to and marries Franklin D. Roosevelt (her cousin) and bears his children. You grieve with her as she suffers life’s tragedies and mistakes. She is truly a woman for the Nations. If you would like to learn about the amazing adventures of this brave, stubborn and brilliant woman, pick up Eleanor Roosevelt: A life of discovery.