The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

Year Published:2003
ISBN:9780385509459
Pages:256 p.
Genre:Mystery stories, Psychological fiction, First person narratives, Adult books for young adults
Interest Level:
Reading Level:
Subjects: Fifteen-year-old boys, Autism, Savant syndrome, Dogs -- Death, Neighbors, Social phobia, Family secrets, Holmes, Sherlock -- Influence

Annotation: Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically-gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers secret information about his mother. (Novelist)

Summary: Sometimes profound characters come in unassuming packages. In this instance, it is Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old autistic savant with a passion for primary numbers and a paralyzing fear of anything that happens outside of his daily routine. When a neighbor's dog is mysteriously killed, Christopher decides to solve the crime in the calculating spirit of his hero, Sherlock Holmes. Little does he know the real mysteries he is about to uncover. The author does a revelatory job of infusing Christopher with a legitimate and singularly human voice. Christopher lives in a world that is devoid of the emotional responses most of us expect, but that does not mean he lacks feelings or insights. Rather than being just a victim, he is allowed to become a complex character who is not always likable and sometimes demonstrates menacing qualities that give this well-trod narrative path much-needed freshness. The novel is being marketed to a YA audience, but strong language and adult situations make this a good title for sophisticated readers of all ages. Highly recommended for all fiction collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/03.]—David Hellman, San Francisco State Univ. Lib. --David Hellman (Reviewed May 1, 2003) (Library Journal, vol 128, issue 8, p155)

Reviews and Awards:
ALA Notable Books - Fiction: 2004
Alex Award: 2004
Booklist Editors' Choice - Adult Fiction for Young Adults: 2003
British Book Awards (the Nibbies): Children's Book of the Year
British Book Awards (the Nibbies): Literary Fiction Award (2004-2005)
Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best First Book
Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best First Book: Regional Award: South Asia & Europe
Costa Book Awards (formerly the Whitbread Book Award): Novel category
Garden State Teen Book Awards (New Jersey): Fiction (Grades 9-12)
Library Journal Best Books: 2003
Los Angeles Times Book Prizes: Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction
New York Times Notable Books - Fiction and Poetry: 2003
School Library Journal's Adult Books for High School Students: 2003
YALSA Best Books for Young Adults: 2004

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Year Published:1999
ISBN:9780613237529
Pages:213 p.
Genre:Epistolary novels,Diary novels,Coming-of-age stories,Realistic fiction,Books to movies Interest Level:9-12
Reading Level:7.0 Subjects:Child sexual abuse victims,Letter writing,High school students,Teenage boys -- Diaries,Teenagers -- Sexuality,Teenagers -- Drug use,Teenagers -- Alcohol use,Gay teenagers -- Friendship

Annotation:A series of letters to an unknown correspondent reveals the coming-of-age trials of a high-schooler named Charlie. (Novelist)

Summary:Aspiring filmmaker/first-novelist Chbosky adds an upbeat ending to a tale of teenaged angst--the right combination of realism and uplift to allow it on high school reading lists, though some might object to the sexuality, drinking, and dope-smoking. More sophisticated readers might object to the rip-off of Salinger, though Chbosky pays homage by having his protagonist read Catcher in the Rye. Like Holden, Charlie oozes sincerity, rails against celebrity phoniness, and feels an extraliterary bond with his favorite writers (Harper Lee, Fitzgerald, Kerouac, Ayn Rand, etc.). But Charlie's no rich kid: the third child in a middle-class family, he attends public school in western Pennsylvania, has an older brother who plays football at Penn State, and an older sister who worries about boys a lot. An epistolary novel addressed to an anonymous "friend," Charlie's letters cover his first year in high school, a time haunted by the recent suicide of his best friend. Always quick to shed tears, Charlie also feels guilty about the death of his Aunt Helen, a troubled woman who lived with Charlie's family at the time of her fatal car wreck. Though he begins as a friendless observer, Charlie is soon pals with seniors Patrick and Sam (for Samantha), stepsiblings who include Charlie in their circle, where he smokes pot for the first time, drops acid, and falls madly in love with the inaccessible Sam. His first relationship ends miserably because Charlie remains compulsively honest, though he proves a loyal friend (to Patrick when he's gay-bashed) and brother (when his sister needs an abortion). Depressed when all his friends prepare for college, Charlie has a catatonic breakdown, which resolves itself neatly and reveals a long-repressed truth about Aunt Helen. A plain-written narrative suggesting that passivity, and thinking too much, lead to confusion and anxiety. Perhaps the folks at (co-publisher) MTV see the synergy here with Daria or any number of videos by the sensitive singer-songwriters they feature. (Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 1999)

Reviews and Awards:YALSA Best Books for Young Adults: 2000,YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: 2000, Banned Book: 2010-2011

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Year Published:2008
ISBN:9780545310581
Pages:374 p.
Genre:Science fiction,First person narratives, Books to movies
Interest Level: 5-12
Reading Level: 5.0
Subjects:Survival,Contests,Dystopias,Television programs,Competition,Sixteen-year-old girls,Interpersonal relations,Sisters,Teenage boy/girl relations

Annotation: In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place. (Novelist)

Summary: If there really are only seven original plots in the world, it's odd that “boy meets girl” is always mentioned, and “society goes bad and attacks the good guy” never is. Yet we have Fahrenheit 451 , The Giver , The House of the Scorpion —and now, following a long tradition of Brave New Worlds, The HungerGames . Collins hasn't tied her future to a specific date, or weighted it down with too much finger wagging. Rather less 1984 and rather more Death Race 2000 , hers is a gripping story set in a postapocalyptic world where a replacement for the United States demands a tribute from each of its territories: two children to be used as gladiators in a televised fight to the death.Katniss, from what was once Appalachia, offers to take the place of her sister in the HungerGames, but after this ultimate sacrifice, she is entirely focused on survival at any cost. It is her teammate, Peeta, who recognizes the importance of holding on to one's humanity in such inhuman circumstances. It's a credit to Collins's skill at characterization that Katniss, like a new Theseus, is cold, calculating and still likable. She has the attributes to be a winner, where Peeta has the grace to be a good loser.It's no accident that these games are presented as pop culture. Every generation projects its fear: runaway science, communism, overpopulation, nuclear wars and, now, reality TV. The State of Panem—which needs to keep its tributaries subdued and its citizens complacent—may have created the Games, but mindless television is the real danger, the means by which society pacifies its citizens and punishes those who fail to conform. Will its connection to reality TV, ubiquitous today, date the book? It might, but for now, it makes this the right book at the right time. What happens if we choose entertainment over humanity? In Collins's world, we'll be obsessed with grooming, we'll talk funny, and all our sentences will end with the same rise as questions. When Katniss is sent to stylists to be made more telegenic before she competes, she stands naked in front of them, strangely unembarrassed. “They're so unlike people that I'm no more self-conscious than if a trio of oddly colored birds were pecking around my feet,” she thinks. In order not to hate these creatures who are sending her to her death, she imagines them as pets. It isn't just the contestants who risk the loss of their humanity. It is all who watch.Katniss struggles to win not only the Games but the inherent contest for audience approval. Because this is the first book in a series, not everything is resolved, and what is left unanswered is the central question. Has she sacrificed too much? We know what she has given up to survive, but not whether the price was too high. Readers will wait eagerly to learn more.Megan Whalen Turner is the author of the Newbery Honor book The Thief and its sequels, The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia. The next book in the series will be published by Greenwillow in 2010. --Staff (Reviewed November 3, 2008) (Publishers Weekly, vol 255, issue 44, p58)

 Reviews and Awards:Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award ALA Notable Children's Books - Older Readers Category: 2009 Amelia Bloomer Lists - Young Adult Fiction: 2009 Beehive Awards (Utah): Young Adult Books BILBY - Books I Love Best Yearly (Australia) : Older Reader Black-Eyed Susan Book Awards (Maryland): High School Blue Hen Book Award (Delaware): Teen Book Booklist Editors' Choice - Books for Youth - Older Readers Category: 2008 California Young Reader Medal: Young Adult Charlotte Award (New York): Young Adult (Grades 6-12) Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award (Rosie Award) Garden State Teen Book Awards (New Jersey): Fiction (Grades 9-12) Gateway Readers Award (Missouri) Georgia Children's Book Award: Children's Book Award Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers Golden Archer Awards (Wisconsin): Middle/Jr. High School Golden Sower Awards (Nebraska): Young Adult (Grades 6-9) Grand Canyon Reader Award (Arizona): Tween Book Heartland Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature (1996-2010) Iowa High School Book Award Isinglass Teen Read Award (New Hampshire) Kentucky Bluegrass Award: Grades 9-12 Land of Enchantment Book Award (New Mexico): Young Adult category Maine Student Book Award New York Times Notable Books - Children's Books: 2008 Nutmeg Children's Book Award (Connecticut): Teen category Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards: Young Adult Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Choice Book Award (Illinois) Rhode Island Teen Book Award Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award - Best Mainstream: 2008 School Library Journal Best Books: 2008 Sequoyah Book Awards (Oklahoma): High School Books Sequoyah Book Awards (Oklahoma): Intermediate Books Soaring Eagle Book Award (Wyoming) South Carolina Book Awards: Junior Books South Carolina Book Awards: Young Adult Books Teen Buckeye Book Award (Ohio) Texas Lone Star Reading Lists: 2009 Texas Tayshas Reading Lists: 2009 Thumbs Up! Award (Michigan) Truman Readers Award (Missouri) Virginia Readers' Choice Award: High School (Grades 10-12) WAYRBA - Western Australian Young Readers' Book Awards : Older Readers YALSA Best Books for Young Adults: 2009 YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults: What if ... (2011) YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: 2009 Young Reader's Choice Award (Pacific Northwest): Senior

My Mom's Having a Baby by Dori Hillestad Butler

Year Published:2005
ISBN:9780807553442
Pages:17 p.
Genre:Picture books for children
Interest Level:Kindergarten -4
Reading Level:1
Subjects: Children of pregnant women New baby in family Children and childbirth Pregnancy Childbirth Brothers and sisters Children's questions and answers Science -- Health and medicine -- Pregnancy and newborns Social situations -- Families -- New baby in family

Reader's Annotation:Elizabeth's mom is having a baby, and the whole family is involved. Elizabeth learns all about the baby's development, and she traces his growth, month by month. She learns how the baby got inside Mom, too. Finally the big day comes Mom and Dad head off to the hospital, and soon there's a brand-new little person in the family! (Novelist)

Summary:With unwavering exuberance, young Elizabeth takes readers month-by-month through her mom's pregnancy, tracking her prospective sibling's size from September's "only as big as my bottom front tooth," through February's "as big as my stuffed rabbit," and on to May's delivery. Unusually for treatments of this topic, Elizabeth is very specific—about not only the baby's physical development and Mom's anatomy, but also about just how Dad's sperm came to meet Mom's egg. Thompson follows suit in cartoon-style watercolors, placing Mom and Dad under covers but interspersing views of the smiling family with lots of labeled inside views and enlargements. Confusingly, Elizabeth refers to the fetus as "he" throughout, even while relating how her parents are opting to wait to find out the baby's sex—but for children seeking hard facts on the whole business, this makes a good alternative to the likes of Kes Gray's Baby On Board! (2004), illustrated by Sarah Nayler, or Laurel Molk's lyrical but oblique When You Were Just a Heartbeat (2004). (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-8) (Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2005)

Reviews and Awards:Booklist Editors' Choice - Books for Youth - Young Readers Category: 2005

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

Year Published:2009
ISBN:0-316-01369-2
Pages:229 p
Genre: Coming-of-age stories; Diary novels; Native American fiction; Pacific Northwest teenage literature; Realistic fiction
Interest Level:7-12
Reading Level:4
Subjects: Race Relations
Reader's Annotation: Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

Summary: Exploring Indian identity, both self and tribal, Alexie's first young adult novel is a semiautobiographical chronicle of Arnold Spirit, aka Junior, a Spokane Indian from Wellpinit, WA. The bright 14-year-old was born with water on the brain, is regularly the target of bullies, and loves to draw. He says, "I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats." He expects disaster when he transfers from the reservation school to the rich, white school in Reardan, but soon finds himself making friends with both geeky and popular students and starting on the basketball team. Meeting his old classmates on the court, Junior grapples with questions about what constitutes one's community, identity, and tribe. The daily struggles of reservation life and the tragic deaths of the protagonist's grandmother, dog, and older sister would be all but unbearable without the humor and resilience of spirit with which Junior faces the world. The many characters, on and off the rez, with whom he has dealings are portrayed with compassion and verve, particularly the adults in his extended family. Forney's simple pencil cartoons fit perfectly within the story and reflect the burgeoning artist within Junior. Reluctant readers can even skim the pictures and construct their own story based exclusively on Forney's illustrations. The teen's determination to both improve himself and overcome poverty, despite the handicaps of birth, circumstances, and race, delivers a positive message in a low-key manner. Alexie's tale of self-discovery is a first purchase for all libraries.—Chris Shoemaker, New York Public Library --Chris Shoemaker (Reviewed September 1, 2007) (School Library Journal, vol 53, issue 9, p190)

Reviews and Awards:Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards, Fiction and Poetry California Young Reader Medal, Young Adult Delaware Diamonds, High School Great Lakes Great Books Award (Michigan),Grades 9-12 National Book Award for Young People's Literature New York Times Notable Books - Children's Books, 2007 School Library Journal Best Books, 2007 Texas Tayshas Reading Lists: 2008 YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, 2008 YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults and Hard Knock Life (2010) BookTalks