How to Ruin My Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles

Year Published: 2006
Publisher: Flux
ISBN: 0738709611
Pages: 234
Price: $15.95 (Library Bound)
Classification: Fiction
Interest Level: 7-12
Personal Rating: 4 Stars
Reading Level: 4
Subjects: Family, Father-daughter relationship, Jews, Israel

Reader's Annotation: Your estranged father calls you out of the blue to tell you that you have to leave with him to go to Israel to see your sick grandmother. What will you say?
a. Israel - I can buy nice dresses there
b. Israel - the country that always gets bombed as shown in CNN
c. Israel - no thanks. I want to stay in America and spend my summer at the tennis camp

Summary: Amy Nelson is a stereotypical spoiled American teen who has stereotypical plans for her summer vacation: shopping, friends, boyfriend. Suddenly,her long-absent father calls to inform her that the grandmother whom she has never met is ill and that Amy needs to go to Israel to meet her.They travel to Israel and goes through a culture shock. She shares a room with a cousin who hates her for being a spoiled American, lusting after a brooding older boy on the verge of his mandatory military service, and learning more than she ever thought possible about her faith, her family, their history, and their present. Amy gets a new perspective of her father, her culture, life and boys.

Evaluation: An easy read with a lot of humor about a typical American teenager. The author used a lot of profanity and vulgarity in her character's language to depict the modern teenage expressions.

Author Website: www.simoneelkeles.net

Darkness Before Dawn by Sharon Draper

Year Published: 2001
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN:0689851340
Pages: 276
Price: $11.26
Classification:Fiction
Genre: Suspense, Drama, Romance
Interest Level: 7-12
Reading Level: 4
Rating: 4 Stars
Subjects: Rape, High Schools, African American

Reader's Annotation: Handsome, mature, smart, fit and he is attracted to me. He seems like a sincere guy. Perhaps one date will not hurt.


Summary: This is the third book of trilogy. Keisha Montgomery has a lot of things going on in her senior year while coping with her ex-boyfriend’s death. She is the class president and a track athelete of Hazelwood High. She gets really close to the new tract coach, Jonathan. She develops a serious relationship with him even if he is older and the principal’s son. She soon discovers herself entrapped in this handsome man’s dark motives.

Evaluation: This is a fast-paced romantic book that teens will enjoy reading and can also learn valuable lessons about date rape. The attempted rape scene can be graphic and disturbing for some teen readers.

"The graduation scene, in which class president Keisha gives the closing speech, is moving and triumphant, showing Draper and her vibrant characters at their best." Booklist (January 1, 2001 (Vol. 97, No. 9))

Awards: ALA Booklist, ALA/YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, IRA Young Adults' Award, School Library Journal, Voice of Youth Advocates

Forever in Blue by Anne Brashares

Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares
Year Published: 2007
Publisher: Delacorte Press
ISBN: 9780385729369
Pages: 380
Price: $13.66
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Romance, Adventure
Interest Level: 9-12
Reading Level: 4
Personal Rating: 3
Subjects: Best friends, Friendship, Jeans (clothing), Conduct of life

Reader's Annotation: Four friends have their final summer adventure apart and the magical traveling pants bring their friendship even closer. But what if the pants get lost? Will their friendship fall apart?

Summary: Lena, Tibby, Carmen and Bridget, four friends are farther apart on the final summer adventure with magical traveling pants. The pants bring their friendship even closer. This is an interesting conclusion of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. This book entertains teens and teaches about friendship, relationships, family and life.

Evaluation: In this fourth book, the characters face more adult issues such as pregnancy, attraction to a married man, loss of virginity, posing and painting in nude. All the characters go through adult transition as they try to handle the challenges in the adult world. Parental guidance or adult supervision is highly encouraged. Teens should be able to discuss unclear issues mentioned in the book.

Reviews and Awards: Kirkus Reviews (11/15/06), School Library Journal (2/07), Booklist (12/15/06), The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (5/07)

Author Information: Ann Brashares grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She and her siblings attended Quaker school in the Washington, D.C. area. Ann studied Philosophy at Barnard College in New York City. Ms. Brashares worked as an editor for many years before making the transition to writer. She is best-known for Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants. The author lives in New York City with her artist husband, Jacob Collins, and three children.

Website: www.annbrashares.nt

Saving Zoe by Alyson Noel

Year Published: 2007
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 978031235516
Pages: 230
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Personal Rating: 3 Stars
Interest Level: 9-12
Subjects: Grief, Death, Sisters, Interpersonal relations, High schools, schools

Reader's Annotation: How will you deal with the pressures of life? Your sister just died but you are forced to move on in the new school where she was once popular. What if you discover things about your sister that you never knew, will you still love her the same way?

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Echo is coping with the death of her sister, Zoe. Echo also begins her freshman year in a high school, where her sister is well –known. She meets her sister’s former boyfriend, Marc and he gives her Zoe’s diary. Echo learns more about her sister,which helps her to rebuild her life over and learns to love her even more even when she is long gone.

Evaluation: This book have graphic sexual scenes especially the rape scene. It gives a scary but realistic picture about how sexual predators. This book can be a good tool for discussions on how to protect teenagers from the dangers of rape and murder.

Author Website: www.alysonnoel.com

Forged by Fire by Sharon Draper

Year Published: 1997
Publisher: Antheneum Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 978069806995
Pages: 151
Price: $17.26 (Library Bound)
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Drama
Interest Level: 9-12
Reading Level: 5
Subjects: Child abuse, stepfamilies, siblings, African Americans

Reader's Annotation: Should you turn-in your parents to save yourself from the abuse? How will you protect your little sister from sexual abuse from your step-father? Will you risk your life for it?

Summary: This is the second book of the trilogy opens on a terrifying scene of child’s physical abuse in a grocery store, which sets the mood and stage of book. Sixteen-year-old Gerald Nickelby learns that her younger half sister, Angel, is being sexually abused by his step-father, Jordan. He learns to fight through physical abuse and finds courage to save his sister and himself. This book takes you to an emotional experience but triumphant ending. This touches many different tough issues that teens deal with. Some of these issues include abuse, suicide, and drugs. This book can be a great tool to open some discussions for teen issues that they face today.

Awards: ALA Best Book For Young Adults, ALA Booklist, ALA/YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Coretta Scott King Award, Voice of Youth Advocates, Wilson's Junior High Catalog

Author Information: Sharon M. Draper was born in Ohio August 21, 1948. She earned a B.A. from Pepperdine University and a M.A. from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Ms. Draper taught junior high and high school students for more than thirty years. She is a public speaker who addresses educational and literary groups of all ages, both nationally and internationally.
Ms. Draper was awarded the Coretta Scott King Award in 1998 for Forged By Fire and in 2007 for Copper Sun. She received the Coretta Scott King Author Honor in 2004 for Battle Of Jericho and in 2008 for November Blues.
The author and her husband reside in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Website: sharondraper.com