Back from the Dead

Hi all,

Some of you may be wondering where I have been the past two months. I AM still alive, I have just been crazy busy with the end of the school year and, drum roll please, obtaining my new job. I am pleased to announce that this fall I will be the media specialist at the brand spanking new Bedford High School in Bedford, NH. I am so excited by this awesome opportunity - opening a brand new library is sort of a dream come true. It is going to be a lot of hard work but I'm looking forward to building this library from the ground up. All that said, I am sad to leave behind the students and faculty of Peoples Academy. They have been great to me the past two years and they will be truly missed. I hope those that read this blog continue to do so.

In addition to all the work involved with opening the library I also will be moving to Manchester, NH. I hope to be able to read and post on some books this summer but please forgive me if my posts are a little irregular during this time. I can promise that it will not be another two months before my next post. Until then keep on reading and shoot me a line if you find a good book you want to share.

Being Bindy - Alyssa Brugman

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Grades 5 & up

We all have comfort zones - places and situations where we feel secure. For some of us this is a room in our house, a class with a certain teacher, or hanging with a best friend. But what happens when we get knocked out of our comfort zone? What happens if we move or change schools? What happens if our best friend isn't our best friend anymore?

Bindy is an Australian seventh grader that has been knocked out of her comfort zone. It all starts one day during lunch when Janey, Bindy's best-friend-forever, decides that they should sit with Hannah, the pretty, popular girl everyone wants to be friends with. It isn't long before Bindy realizes that Janey is drifting away. Janey and Hannah are best friends now, and if losing her best friend isn't bad enough, Janey and Hannah start doing things to make Bindy's life miserable. Add this to the normal problems a girl has (parents, older brothers, boys) and you can understand how Being Bindy can be a tough thing.

I thought this was a pretty good book. Bindy is a fairly normal girl so I think that will help other girls relate to her character. I would recommend this to middle level girls that like "chick lit." One thing to note about this book - there is some brief descriptions of Janey smoking marijuana and coming home drunk. This may scare some teachers and parents away from recommending it to younger kids - I hope this doesn't happen. A book is a safe place for kids to encounter situations where risky behavior is taking place. When reading about sex, drugs or drinking kids can think about how they would handle the situation if they were in it. The key is they are thinking about what they would do before they are in the situation where they a faced with making a decision. I think that is a good thing.

Buja's Diary - Seyeong O

Genres: Graphic Novel, Short Story
Grades 10 & up

At this point some of my more observant readers will have noticed that this is the third graphic novel I have read in the past four weeks. Rest assured I have not gone completely comic book nerd on you (not that there is anything wrong with comic books or nerds). I have been fortunate over the past few weeks to have the opportunity to read some great graphic novels - I have read graphic novels in the past but it wasn't until recently that I began to fully appreciate what this format has to offer. Buja's Diary by Seyeong O, with its exquisite artwork and engaging stories, is a great example of what a good graphic novel can be.

As I mentioned before O's drawing are fantastic. In some of the stories the drawings themselves tell more of the story than the words do. The stories in this collection run the gamut from the morbidly weird Fire to the sweet and moving The Little Alley Watcher. Other favorites included the funny Observe and the disturbingly sad Cockfight.

All in all I thought this was a good book. While I found most of the stories entertaining there were others I simply did not get, either due to their sheer weirdness or perhaps my ignorance of Korean culture. I would recommend this to mature high school students due to the sophistication of the stories as well as some nudity and sex.

Kampung Boy - Lat

Genres: Graphic Novel, Humor
Grades 4 & up

When I was a younger young adult I traveled quite a bit. I wouldn't take huge trips - in fact I had never been outside of the United States until three years ago - but my friends and I traveled to different parts of the country fairly often. While on these road trips it was easy to notice the differences from one place to another - license plates, road signs, clothing styles and accents all varied from place to place. Then one day I came to the realization that no matter how different places were from each other there was always more similarities between places than difference. License plates and road signs may loom different but the cars and the roads are the same. People may be dressed different and sound different but they were still people - they have the same wants and desires regardless of where they live.

Kampung Boy is a comic that tells the story of a boy growing up in a small village in Malaysia. The story gives the reader a lot of insight into the culture of these Malaysian villagers. Their culture is very different than the average Americans. Still, the little boy is very similar to boys in America - his curiosity gets him into trouble with his parents, he goes to school, he likes to hang out with his friends and swim and fish.

This book was a very quick and entertaining read. The story was very funny and the drawings were great. I would recommend this book to any kid particularly those interested in learning about different cultures and young boy that always find themselves getting into trouble.

Let it be Morning - Sayed Kashua

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Older Teens

We take a lot of things for granted in the United States. Nearly everybody has electricity and running water. Despite the turbulent state of American politics our government is a rather stable entity. We do not see soldiers walking through our streets. While there are certainly poor people in our country, for the most part the poverty they face is not as extreme as that seen in other parts of the world. Generally speaking Americans are not desperate for the essentials of life: food, shelter and safety.

Let it be Morning tells the story of an Arab journalist living in Israel. For the past ten years he had been living with his wife in an Israeli city. Because of the changing political and social climate he decides they should move back to the Arab village where he grew up. Shortly after their return the village is closed off by the Israeli military - the electricity and water are shut off and no one is allowed to enter or leave. Over the course of just a few days the conditions within the village deteriorate rapidly - people run out of food and water and desperation sinks into the village. This book is a frightening look at what happens to people when they get truly desperate - a type of desperation that is hard for the average American to imagine.

This book didn't really do much for me. I'm not exactly sure why. It might be that I found the pace very slow. This may be due to the fact that this book was originally written in Hebrew then translated into English. It may also be that I am not very knowledgeable about the history and details of the Israeli-Arab conflict. There were a few parts where I was emotionally pulled into the story but by and large I found it a very dry read. I would have a very hard time recommending this book to the kids in my neck of the woods - unfortunately I think that the political undertones of this book would be lost on most of them and they would have a difficult time empathizing with the characters. If I lived in a different, more diverse area I may recommend this to older high school students, particularly to those of Arab or Israeli descent. They may have a connection to this story that makes it more enjoyable for them.

American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Yang

Genres: Fable, Graphic Novel
Grades 7 & up

Every once in awhile I think about how great it would be to go back in time and, knowing what I know now, relive my middle and high school years. Then I come to my senses. Kids today are dealing with a whole slew of issues that I never considered 10-15 years ago. It is almost cliche to say it but the world is moving so much faster these days and it has had a dramatic affect on the lives of kids. Lots of things have changed since I was in school but one thing has not - the need for kids to fit in. For some kids this is really easy - they can just be themselves and they fit right in. For others it is a bit more difficult - they feel that they need to be something else, something better than what they are for people to like them. The irony is that when a person changes to be accepted by others, they often change into a person that they don't like. In the end they realize (as I did) that by being yourself you are being the best person you can be and that people will like you for this.

American Born Chinese illustrates this point exquisitely. The book is three stories in one. The first deals with Jin Wang, a typical kid that just wants to fit in. He is self conscious about his Asian background, especially his looks, and wishes to be more American. The second story is a take on the old Chinese fable of the Monkey King, a monkey that wants to be more human so that he can attend a dinner party with other human-like deities. The last story is drawn like a sitcom starring Chin-Kee. Chin-Kee is every bad Chinese stereotype wrapped into one person - he's got buck teeth, slanted eyes, wears a queue hairstyle and traditional Chinese-style robes and says harro instead of hello. The three apparently separate stories all come together for a surprise but very satisfying ending.

American Born Chinese was a fun book to read. The artwork for this graphic novel is great - very colorful. This book reads very quick. I would recommend this book to any kid, particularly those that like comics or those that feel like they are having trouble fitting in.

Battle Dress - Amy Efaw

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Grades 7 & up

At my school we subscribe to the philosophy of habits of mind - if you train yourself to think in certain ways you will be better prepared to behave intelligently when faced with a problem. Persisting is the first habit of mind we talk about. We often face problems that will not be solved immediately - understanding that sometimes the solution isn't immediate and that despite this we must persist on and finish what we have started is a trait we would all be better off to have. If I could summarize Battle Dress by Amy Efaw with one word that word would be persistence.

The story starts with Andi Davis, a seventeen year old girl from the suburbs of Chicago, and her family getting ready to drive to New York to drop Andi off at the United States Military Academy at West Point. You quickly realize why Andi is excited to be leaving home. Andi's parents are whacked. Her dad is emotionless and completely detached from reality - her mom is suffering from some sort of mental illness. The parental dysfunction comes to a head during the trip when Andi's mom, angry that the dad won't stop, grabs the steering wheel and tries to pull the car off the road. After the father pushes the mom away the mom grabs dads glasses and throws them out the car window - all of this while they are traveling down the interstate at highway speeds. When Andi arrives at West Point she realizes that her family is the least of her problems. Andi, like all other new cadets, must go through a six week boot camp known as the beast. During this six weeks Andi and the other new cadets will be pushed to their physical, mental and emotional extremes. Andi's problems are compounded by the fact that she is a woman at a military school that is 90% male.

This was a good read. Amy Efaw writes from Andi's perspective with great conviction - Efaw is helped by the fact that she is a West Point graduate. I would recommend this to older middle level or high school aged kids, particularly girls or those that are interested in military life.

Drawing a Blank - Daniel Ehrenhaft

Genres: Mystery, Humor
Grades 6 and up

I guess I've read enough books now to know what it is that I like in a story. First, the book has to hook me within the first fifty pages - I'll probably still finish a book that doesn't hook me but reading it becomes more of a chore than a pleasure. Second, the story should be original and unpredictable - I can tolerate a probable story to a certain extent, but if I've read the same story in another book I'm probably not going to enjoy it the second time through. Thirdly, and this is the part I'm most ashamed of, I like a story with a happy ending - I know, this kind of goes against the "predictable" thing I just talked about but it is true, I am a sucker for a good, ol' fashioned happy ending. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the book must have good characters.

Drawing a Blank by Daniel Ehrenhaft has three of the four qualities listed above. This story has a great main character in Carlton Dunne IV, a junior at a private high school in Connecticut. Carlton is a loner with a number of strange quirks. A few examples:

• his thoughts often come out in "rapid bullet-point succession"
• when confronted with a stressful situation he will stop what he is doing and begin sketching out stories for his comic strip Signy the Superbad.
• is a self-described misanthrope¹

Much of the beginning of the book is spent fleshing Carlton out as a character. While often humorous I found the story started off a bit slow - this book did not have a great hook but it was worth sticking with it because the story eventually picks up. Carlton's dad, an architect obsessed with a centuries old family feud, is kidnapped by a member of the rival clan and taken to Scotland. At the demand of the kidnappers Carlton flies to Scotland to save his dad. Carlton must find and deliver a long lost artifact that will settle the family feud. This task is made difficult because the kidnappers don't exactly tell Carlton what this artifact is, not that he could understand their thick Scottish brogue anyway. Fortunately Carlton meets Aileen, a cute Scottish girl that becomes Carlton's sidekick on his trek to save his dad. The story has a happy ending, something that I found so predictable yet so satisfactory.

All-in-all I liked Drawing a Blank - it started off slow but finished strong and stayed funny throughout. The story is tame enough for middle school kids but I would say it is better suited for older kids that will pick up on the subtle humor and romance Ehrenhaft works into the narrative. If you liked my personal fave, King Dork by Frank Portman, you will probably enjoy this book as well.

¹ misanthrope n. 1. A person who hates mankind 2. A person who avoids human society

A Small White Scar - K.A. Nuzum

Genre: Historical Fiction
Grades 5 & up

As I have mentioned before I am the oldest of five kids. I feel like my siblings and I get along pretty well right now, but it wasn't always that way. Growing up I often resented the fact that I was left to take care of my little brothers and sister. We fought a lot. It wasn't until the past few years that I realized what an influence I had on my siblings - unfortunately I think that too often I was a bad influence but they learned a few good things from me as well. It is tough to be a role model when you are just a kid - this is what A Small White Scar is about.

Will and Denny Bennon are fifteen year old twin brothers living on a cattle ranch in Colorado during the 1940s. Denny has Down's Syndrome, and since the death of their mother much of the responsibility of taking care of Denny has fallen to Will. Will is tired of taking care of Denny - he wants to be able to live his own life. The only way Will can make this happen is to leave his dad's ranch and find work elsewhere. Will is determined to head to the La Junta rodeo, win the prize for best overall cowboy, get a job with another ranch and leave Denny and his dad behind. Unfortunately for Will his plan doesn't go as smoothly as he would have hoped - when he leaves his dad's ranch Will is followed by Denny. Will tries to send Denny home, but poisonous snakes, flash floods and a variety of desert calamities keep the two together.

This book was slow moving at first, but once the main characters are introduced the pace quickens. I think this book would be enjoyed by middle school kids, particularly boys, that enjoy westerns and adventure stories or those that have siblings with special needs.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing - M.T. Anderson

Genre: Historical Fiction
Grades 9 & up

Before I get into talking about this book I'm going to give myself a little pat on the back - this week is the one-year anniversary of this blog. In the past year I have read and reviewed 37 young adult books - not a ton but a pretty good start. My goal for 2007 is to read 40 books - 6 weeks in I have read 6 books, so I am ahead of schedule.

One of my favorite books is Feed by M.T. Anderson, so it was with pleasure that I began reading The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Anderson's latest novel. Octavian is a black teen growing up in Boston on the eve of the American Revolution. Octavian lives at the Novanglian College of Lucidity. He receives the finest education and is treated like a prince - in fact he is a prince, his mother being African royalty. Octavian lives a very privileged life, but all of this begins to change when he comes to the realization that he is in fact a slave and is the subject of a science experiment to measure the learning capacity of Homo afris. Things get worse when, due to the blockade of Boston imposed by the British, the school runs out of money and comes under new leadership. It is under this new leadership that Octavian begins to really understand what freedom means.

About a third into this book I thought there would be no way that I could finish it - I thought it was terrible, mainly due to the overly wordy and extremely difficult to understand language the characters use. This language is supposed to be representative of how an educated person would speak during the 1770s. All I know is that I needed to keep a dictionary next to me just to get through each page. I really felt that the language used got in the way of the story. Fortunately I was able to overcome this (I think it was a combination of me starting to get the writing style along with the language becoming a little easier), the story came to the forefront and I was able to begin to enjoy the story.

Apparently this is the first book in a two-part story. The book has an ending that definitely leaves you waiting for a resolution. I would recommend this to high school-aged kids that are strong readers, particularly those that enjoy historical fiction and war stories.

Gossamer - Lois Lowry

Genre: Fantasy
Grades 4 & up

Every once in awhile you come across a story that really touches you - Gossamer by Lois Lowry is one of these stories. Littlest One and Thin Elderly are Dream-givers, creatures that come to us while we are sleeping, create dreams based on fragments of memories they pick up from our belongings then bestow those dreams into our heads. Littlest One and Thin Elderly work at the home of an old lady that has taken in a foster child named John. John has lived a tough life, a life where he and his mother have been abused by John's alcoholic father. John's mother is trying to get her act together so that she can get John back, but it is a tough road. When John first gets to the old lady's house he is very angry and not capable of trusting others. This leaves him very vulnerable to attacks by Sinisteeds, evil horse-like entities that are responsible for nightmares. It is the job of Little One and Thin Elderly to strengthen him with good dreams, the only way to protect John from the Sinisteeds.

I found this to be a really engaging story, sometimes sad but in the end uplifting. The story of John's mom was particularly moving - it made me think about my mom who had to work so hard and sacrifice so much to keep our family together. This book is easily accessible to a wide age range. The writing is simple enough for a fourth grader to get but the story can be enjoyed by older teens as well.

Gil's All Fright Diner - A. Lee Martinez

Genres: Horror, Fantasy
Older Teens

What do you get when you cross the gore of Saw III with the comedy of Epic Movie? You get Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez. Duke, a werewolf and Earl, a vampire, are driving through the small desert-town of Rockwood when they come across Gil's All Night Diner. When their meal is interrupted by a slew of zombies Duke and Earl realize that Rockwood is no ordinary town. The forces of evil are at work in Rockwood so Duke and Earl decide to stick around to see if they can help. Hilarity ensues, but not before a major dose of bloodshed with a little romance tossed in just for the heck of it.

Many of this blog's younger readers are not old enough to remember the movies House and Army of Darkness, but fans of these movies will surely love the humor/horror angle of this book. I can definitely see this book being made into a film one day. I really enjoyed this story and would recommend this books to older teens, particularly those that can enjoy a good ol' funny book.

Luna - Julie Anne Peters

Genres: General Fiction, Social Issues
Recommended Grades: 8 Up

Regan O'Neill has your typical teenage girl problems: she kind of hates her parents, she definitely hates her chemistry teacher, and she totally has a crush on her lab partner. Her biggest problem is her older brother Liam. Liam is transgender - he is a boy on the outside, but trapped in this boy's body is a girl named Luna. Regan is the only one that knows Luna's secret. This secret is tearing Liam/Luna apart and in the process is bringing Regan down as well.

Julie Anne Peters has written a great story in Luna. Regan is a really great character - her family relationships, her disastrous dates, her problems with classmates - all are so easy to relate to. Liam's conflict with himself is extremely intense and left me felling really bad for his situation. This book is sure to provoke discussion, particularly on topics like gender expectations and what being transgender is all about. I could not bring myself to label this book as chick lit mainly because I think this book has so much to offer boys as well as girls, but I think this book would appeal mainly to girls. I would recommend this book to high school or older middle school kids because of some coarse language and a little bit of drug reference.

Saint Iggy - K.L. Going

Genres: Social Issues
Recommended Grades: 9 Up

I just got done reading Saint Iggy by K.L Going. The book is about this kid named Iggy Corso. Iggy is an interesting dude. He is sort of simple minded, probably because of all the drugs his mom did when she was pregnant with him. He is not a bad kid but he always seems to be in trouble. He is getting kicked out of school - not for doing anything particularly terrible, mainly just for all of the little things that he has done throughout the course of his high school career. Iggy has a hearing in front of the school board to determine his fate - his principal tells Iggy that he should bring his parents, and that if he really wants to stay in school he needs to come up with a plan, figure out a way to show that he can make a contribution to society. Getting his parents to show could be a problem - his mom is AWOL, gone for the last two weeks on a meth bender. His dad is around, but he is usually sleeping on the couch and would be too strung out on heroin to show up anyway. Iggy's only hope is to make a big contribution, something that will get into the papers, and he has to do that quick.

Iggy turns to his friend Mo for help. Mo, a twenty-year old college drop out, is kind of like Iggy's mentor. Iggy goes to Mo hoping Mo will be able to help him - unfortunately Mo has got his own problems going on. The world sucks and the only way it will get better is if Mo to renounces all of his worldly possessions and desires and becomes a Hare Krishna. But first he needs to get high. Thus begins a series of sometimes funny, sometimes sad events that ultimately lead Iggy to his contribution.

I found this book to be really thought provoking. This book does a good job of illustrating how different people's priorities are when they take different things for granted. Mo, who comes from an affluent background, hates his mother because she forgave his father for cheating on her. Iggy, despite all of the things that his parents have put him through, really just wants to see his mother one more time to know that she is still alive. This book is about drug addiction and how it affects both the poor and the rich. This book is also about being poor and being rich and how often those two world, despite their differences, are often very alike.

K.L. Going is a really great writer - she hit a home run with Fat Kid Rules the World and she did a great job with this book as well. I really liked the first 99% of this book. I was very disappointed by the almost cliche yet completely surprise ending - I know that seems like an oxymoron but you will know what I mean if you read the book. That said this book is still worth a read. Iggy Corso is a solid character that is easy to empathize with. Mo is also another great character - kind of like Holden Caulfield only a few years older. I would recommend this book to high school aged kids, especially those dealing with addiction in their families.

The Riddle - Alison Croggon

Genres: Fantasy
Recommended Grades: 7 Up

The Riddle is the second book in Alison Croggon's Pellinor series - if you have not read the first book of the series I highly recommend you read The Naming (and my review of it) before you read the rest of this review.

It is kind of funny how things work. Six or seven months ago I had gone through a stretch of reading several serious, dreary young adult novels. I then read The Naming - it was perfect timing because I needed a little fantasy, something that took my mind off of the real world. Well the same thing has just happened - not that the books I have been reading are all gloom and doom, but I just needed a good fantasy book to sink into (especially since my last exposure to the genre was the terrible Eragon movie I saw a few weeks ago...but I digress). So it was with joy that I began reading The Riddle - the highly anticipated follow up to The Naming.

This book picks up where the last one left off - Maerad and Cadvan are fleeing Norloch as it burns, the great city succumbing to a civil war brought on by the actions of evil bard Enkir. They hop on a ship and sail to Thorold. It is in Thorold that Maerad finally has a chance to relax and reflect upon all of the crazy stuff that had happened in the past three months. It is also there that Maerad begins to piece together what she must do to save the world from The Nameless One. She must find the Treesong - this task is made difficult by the fact that nobody knows what the Treesong is. The journey is also complicated by the fact that Cadvan and Maerad have been declared traitors and are wanted by Enkir.

This book was awesome - it lived up to all of the anticipation. In this book we really begin to see Maerad develop as a character - there are dark sides to her that were not fleshed out in the first book. The book has tons of twists and it was really hard for me to stop reading each night. I can't recommend this book enough, particularly to fantasy lovers, but I really think you need to read The Naming first. Although this is a pretty long book I think kids as young as seventh grade could handle it.

The Plot: The Secret Story of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion - Will Eisner

Genres: Graphic novels, History
Recommended Grades: 10 Up

I always enjoy reading about things I do not know about so I figured it would be interesting to give The Plot by Will Eisner a shot. The Plot examines the history of another book, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The Protocols is an account of a meeting of Jewish leaders around the beginning of the 20th century. The book details the tactics Jews will use to take over the world. The Protocols has been used by many groups as proof of a Jewish conspiracy as well as justification for antisemitic activities. The only problem is that The Protocols is a fraud - it is slightly changed version of another book, The Dialogue in Hell between Machiavelli and Montesquieu written in France in the mid-19th century.

Eisner has done his research and put together an easy to read history of The Protocols, detailing why The Dialogue was written, the political climate that brought about The Protocols, and how The Protocols continue to be distributed worldwide even though it was proven to be a fraud over eighty years ago. Not having any knowledge of this subject I found the book enlightening and informative. The is a section in the middle of the book that puts the text of The Protocols alongside the text of The Dialogue to show how obvious the plagiarism was - in my opinion this part dragged on a bit much but I imagine Eisner was really trying to drive home the point that The Protocols is bull. I think kids interested in history, particularly in Jewish history would find this to be a great book. The artwork is very good but the meat of this book lies in the text, not the pictures.

Absolutely Positively Not - David LaRochelle

Genres: General fiction, Social Issues
Recommended Grades: 6-10

Being a teenager isn’t easy. You’ve got all types of problems, all sorts of issues to deal with and not a lot of experience to guide you through them. Steven DeNarski has got plenty of problems. He can’t seem to pass his driver’s exam. His mom is a best-selling author of a book titled The clean teen: a how-to manual on raising tidy teenagers – she also happens to be a complete slob. He is also totally gay but in complete denial. Absolutely Positively Not is the hilarious account of a kid coming to grips with his sexuality while at the same time just trying to survive high school. David LaRochelle did a great job with this book. He seems to understand how the mind of a high school kid works. Steven is a great character – he is a little neurotic which shows up in the funniest ways. Despite the controversial nature of the topic of sexuality this book is suitable for middle school kids as well as high school kids. I would recommend it to any kid looking for a funny read. I would also recommend it to a kid grappling with their own sexual identity.

Black Hole - Charles Burns

Genres: Graphic novels, Fantasy
Recommended Grades: 11 Up

As a school librarian that serves kids from sixth through twelfth grade I am often faced with difficult decisions when purchasing books. You see, I think it is important to provide my older kids with books that are challenging, interesting and emotionally stimulating - at the same time I need to be sensitive to the fact that my younger students may not have the maturity necessary to be exposed to these books. A graphic novel intended for older kids can make this issue even tougher. The younger kids are drawn to these graphic novels like deer to a salt lick. Normally a book that discusses more mature topics like sex and drugs would not be a big deal - the younger kids would have to read the text to find the racy parts and even if they find these parts they might not understand what they are reading. With graphic novels the images are put right out there - you don't have to be mature to know what a naked body looks like.

With this in mind I read Black Hole by Charles Burns. The title was initially brought to my attention by another teacher that had borrowed it from our library. He showed me a few pages in the book that show the naked bodies of both men and women. He told me he had not read the entire novel because he had trouble with the graphic novel format so he really didn't know what the context of the nude images was - either way I knew I needed to read the book before putting it back on the shelf.

The story centers around a couple of teenagers growing up in Seattle in the 1970s. Keith and Chris are fairly typical high school kids - Keith likes to hang out with his friends smoking pot and talking about music - Chris is insecure about herself and makes poor decisions when drunk. In separate incidents both Keith and Chris catch "the bug", a sexually transmitted disease with a wide range of symptoms - some people end up with a few bumps on their skin, others grow lizard-like tails and shed their skin. As with most STDs their is a stigma attached to those with the bug and this is really what Black Hole is about. Keith and Chris both deal with catching the bug in different ways - by the end of the story people have been killed and hearts have been broken but happiness is to be had by some of the characters.

The story is good (albeit very weird) but not great - in particular I didn't really like the ending. The artwork however is awesome - the black and white illustrations convey plenty of emotion and lend an eerie, uneasy feeling that is appropriate for a book dealing with teenagers growing up. I think this book would be enjoyed by kids that are into stories that are way out there, especially those that like comics and other graphic novels. I am not an experienced graphic novel reader and I was able to navigate through the pages fairly well so that shouldn't be a deterrent for those that have not read books in this format before. This book is definitely suited for older teens only - there are oodles of graphic images that depict drug use, drinking, nudity and sex. These images are not gratuitous - they play a central role in the story - nonetheless they are very graphic.

This brings me back to the initial issue - what do I do with this book? Do I put it back on the shelf or do I remove it from the collection? I believe the book has some literary merit for older kids but I also do not think that the images are appropriate for younger eyes. At this point I haven't decided what I will do. Anybody out there with any input should leave a comment or contact me as I would love some feedback regarding this book.

Code Talker - Joseph Bruchac

Genres: Historical Fiction, War
Recommended Grades: 5 Up

As a minor history buff I have always enjoyed reading stories that gave me a picture of the past, particularly stories that dealt with events I did not know much about. Because of this I found Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac a really interesting read. Until reading this book I knew very little about the Navajo Indians that served as code talkers during World War II.

The story centers around Ned Begay, a young Navajo boy living on the reservation in Arizona. The early part of the story gives the reader some insight into life on the reservation - the traditions and ceremonies, the culture and also the Navajo's interaction with White America. Ned's family sends him to an American run boarding school for Navajos. One of the goals at the boarding school is to take the Navajo culture out of the kids and turn them into Americans - the children are not even allowed to speak in their native language. This is ironic because a few years later, at the onset of World War II, the US military comes to the Navajo people for help. They need men that can speak both Navajo and English fluently. The military needs to develop a code that the Japanese can not break and the Navajo language will be the key. Ned joins the Marines and becomes a code talker. During the second part of the story the reader gets a great look at some of the key battles of the war in the Pacific; namely Bougainville, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Through this book we see the vital role the Navajo played in the US victory in World War II.

I thought this was a good book. While this is fiction the book seems to be historically accurate. I learned a lot about a part of US history I was not aware of. I think this book could be read by a wide age range - the writing is simple enough for a middle school kid yet the story is interesting and informative enough to keep a high school kid engaged. I would particularly recommend this book to kids that are into history and war.

The Usual Rules - Joyce Maynard

Genres: General Fiction, Chick Lit
Recommended Grades: 9 Up

Sometimes, you just need to cry - that's right, I said it. You know, a lot of people think that a tough guy like me wouldn't cry, but to those people I would say "If crying is wrong, I don't wanna be right!" Don't get me wrong. I'm not walking around crying all day, everyday. In fact, I rarely cry. But sometimes, you just have to. The things that make me cry usually have to do with my family - thinking about the danger and sorrow my younger brother has faced during his three tours in Iraq, or the dream I had about my sister overdosing on drugs - those things will make me cry. Sometimes hearing or reading stories of people suffering can also give me that choked up feeling in my chest.

The Usual Rules by Joyce Maynard is one of those stories that got me really choked up. In fact, I would go as far as to say that the first third of the book is the saddest piece of fiction I have ever read. Wendy is a thirteen-year-old girl with a thirteen-year-old girl's problems - trying to fit in at school, dealing with her dorky step dad - but her biggest problem is her mom. Wendy's real dad lives in California and he has invited Wendy to come out and visit. Wendy's mom won't let Wendy go because the school year has just started. One fateful morning Wendy leaves for school without saying goodbye to her mom - they had fought about the trip the night before. It turns out that that morning was September 11, 2001 and Wendy's mom worked in one of the towers at the World Trade Center. Now all of Wendy's problems seem like nothing when she thinks about what her life will be like without her mom. In the last two-thirds of the book Wendy deals with the loss of her mother while at the same time facing a whole new set of issues - moving to her dad's house, starting life at a new school. This part of the book is not sad at all - in fact, much of it is uplifting.

This was a good book. I liked it, but I think younger girls will enjoy it even more. Wendy is a great character - she has her flaws, but what thirteen-year-old girl doesn't. I would recommend this book to any girl looking for a good read. It is a rather long book and the writing is a bit more sophisticated than your standard teen novel, so it will probably be more appealing to advanced readers.