Gossip Girl - Cecily von Ziegesar

Genres: Chick Lit
Recommended Ages: 15+

Hmmm, well what can I say about Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar? I decided to read it because I figured it had been awhile since I had read a novel for girls. The Gossip Girl series is fairly popular amongst the seventh and eighth graders at my school, so I figured I would see what all the hubbub was about. I was very surprised (and possibly disturbed) by what I read.

Blair Waldorf and her friends live a life most people can’t even begin to understand. They all attend exclusive private high schools in Manhattan. They come from the richest families in the world. They go to the coolest parties. Blair’s life seems perfect. She is in love with her boyfriend Nate and is about ready to take their relationship to the next level. Everything was going as planned until Blair’s former best friend Serena returns to the city after being kicked out of a boarding school. This stirs up a nasty little love triangle that really brings out the worst in some of the old circle of friends. The book’s ending leaves itself open for the nine sequels that have since been published.

Even though I didn’t like this book that much, I can definitely see why it is popular. The book was written in a fast moving style and each chapter ended with a bit of a cliff hanger that just kept me reading. I would recommend this book to older, high school aged girls looking for a little romance, a little backstabbing (these girls were really mean to each other – is this how girls really are?) and a quick read. There is a lot of mature activity going on in this book. Even though these kids are only seventeen they live the lives of twenty-somethings. They go bars (and never get carded?), drink a lot, smoke cigarettes, etc. Because of this I would not recommend this book to middle school aged girls.

Flush - Carl Hiaasen

Genres: General Fiction
Recommended Ages: 11-14

I recently found out some bad news - at one time this blog had as many as four readers. Alas, now there is just one, and it is I. But fear not, I will keep writing, and maybe one day, when school is back in session, or my wife isn't mad at me anymore, I will have two or three more readers. That's my comfort zone right there. Anyway…

Noah Underwood’s dad is behind bars. He is guilty of sinking the Coral Queen, a casino boat owned and operated by Dusty Muleman. You see Dusty – who, by the way, is not a very nice guy - has been dumping the Coral Queen’s holding tanks into the ocean, polluting the water and causing the local beach to close down. So Noah’s dad sunk the Coral Queen to stop the dumping. Problem is he couldn’t prove anything. That is where Noah and his kid sister Abbey come in. Together, with the help of a few unlikely friends, they will devise a scheme that will prove to everyone once and for all that Dusty is guilty.

I had a good time reading Flush by Carl Hiaasen. The pace of the book is really good – it gets right into the action and doesn’t let up until the end. I would recommend this book to any middle school aged kid, particularly to kids that like fishing and other outdoor activities. Hiaasen is the same guy that wrote Hoot, which has recently been made into a movie.

The Chocolate War - Robert Cormier

Genres: General Fiction
Recommended Ages: 14+
DRP: 56

Some may find it hard to believe that I was not a huge book reader during my teen years. As an elementary school student, and even a bit during my middle school years I was a voracious reader – I particularly enjoyed sports biographies and other nonfiction. By the time I was a teenager most of my reading was magazines. I really didn’t read any young adult fiction, but that just made me a typical teenage boy. So, with that in mind, I have begun to read some of the books that I probably should have read as a teen, particularly titles that are considered teen classics. The most recent book I took on was The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier.

The Chocolate War centers on the story of Jerry Renault, a freshman at Trinity High School, a small Catholic school in Massachusetts. Jerry is a typical freshman boy – he’s trying to make the football team, trying to figure out who he is, coming to grips with the changing relationship he has with his father. Trinity High School is essentially run by a secret society known as the Vigils. The Vigils, led by Archie Costello, hand out assignments to students that are designed to humiliate the kids that carry them out. The students carry out the assignments out of fear of the Vigils.

Each year, Trinity High School has a chocolate sale to raise money. Although not required, every student is expected to sell a certain amount of chocolates. Jerry is given the assignment of refusing to sell the chocolates. This infuriates the school's headmaster, Brother Leon, who sees Jerry’s refusal as an act of rebellion against everything Trinity stands for. After awhile, the Vigils order Jerry to start selling the chocolates but he continues to refuse. This is where the story starts to get interesting, as we see what can happen to a student that “dares to disturb the universe.”

I liked this book and can see why it is considered a classic. The struggle Jerry faces to stand alone in a sea of conformity is a struggle I think most teens face at one point or another. Cormier does a good job building the characters – you feel for Jerry’s plight; you easily grow to hate Archie Costello and Brother Leon. I would recommend this book to high school kids, particularly boys. There is a good deal of swearing and some talk about masturbation which makes it inappropriate for younger teens. All-in-all I say if you read The Chocolate War, you are not likely to be disappointed.