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| Image Credit: https://simonandschuster.com |
Awards: Margaret A. Edwards Award-1996
Annotation: Katherine and Michael are dating and they are discovering what relationships and forever mean.
Book Review: What does love and forever mean? These are concepts that Katherine and Michael are trying to understand. The main protagonists, Katherine and Michael, become inseperatable and tell each other that they will love each other forever. By summer, their love is tested when both take summer jobs that their parents have arranged for them. After the summer, Katherine must make a difficult decision regarding her relationship with Michael and she learns that love and forever have different levels of meaning.
Judy Blume wrote an insiteful story about first love and sexual experiences. She brings in the reality that love, forever, friendship and sex are not easy to understand and that growing up means letting go of someone that you love. The story is well thought out and written and there are serious situations and messages but it is not preachy which can alienate a young audience. This is a very good young adult book for teenagers who are beginning to enter the difficult world of love and sex. o
Theme: Classic, Coming of Age, Young Adult Romance
Schmidt, Gary, D. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. c.2004. Print.Awards: Newberry Honor Book--2005 Award
Best Books for Young Adults--2005
Michael Printz Award for Excellence in Young
Adult Literature Young Adult Award--2005
Michigan Library's Association Thumbs Up Award
(Honor--2005)
Image Credit:http://www.ala.org/yalsa
Annotation: This is a story about Turner Buckminster and Lizzie Bright's friendship and their fight against prejudice.
Book Review: In 1912, twelve year old Turner Buckminster and his parents move from Boston, Massachusetts to Phippsburg, Maine, where his father becomes the pastor at the First Congregational church. Turner does not like Phippsburg at first. They play a strange version of baseball, everyone acts the same, thinks the same and even the houses look the same. He keeps thinking of heading out to the Territories for adventure. His perspective changes when he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin a girl from Malaga Island which is off the coast of Phippsburg. She takes him to the island and he meets her grandfather and the other island inhabitants. Turner sees the island as a paradise and the people interesting. Turner eventually begins to see that the Phippsburg residents do not like Malaga nor its inhabitants and they want them out. Turner experiences the results of racism, hypocrisy and tragic events that changes his life and Lizzie's.
Gary Schmidt wrote a book based on a true story of Phippsburg and Malaga Island. In 1912, the Phippsburg residents forcefully removed the Malaga inhabitants and some were put in a mental institution and others settled in different communities. This was done so that the Phippsburg could put a hotel on the island to bring in tourists and improve its economy. Turner and Lizzie represent the affects of this event and how their lives change from this experience. This is a good story to introduce to young adults the concept of racism and how it affects people and communites. I think the author was true to the concept of racism and to what happened to the Malaga residents.
Theme: Historical Fiction
Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young Girl. New York: Bantam Books. c1993. Print.
Awards: YALSA Best Books for Young Adults--1997
Annotation: Anne Frank wrote a diary when her and her family were being hidden from the Nazi's.
Image Credit: :http://www.barnesandnoble.com
Book Review: Anne Frank a 13 year old jewish girl living in Amsterdam writes in her personal journal about her family, the family Van Daan and Mr. Dussel who are living in a secret area of a warehouse. They are hiding from the Nazis so that they won''t be sent to a concentration camp. For two years they lived like this and Anne writes down her thoughts about being a young girl hidden away, her hopes and dreams, and the discord between herself and her parents and sister and between the adults. The diary ends just days before they are discovered and sent to the camps.
Reading this diary is heartbreaking because this is a story of a young a girl whose life is cut short not only being imprisoned in a warehouse but by the brutal laws and camps that Hitler created for all Jewish people under Germany's control. She receives her diary before her and her family go into hiding so at first she writes about being with friends, getting ice cream, and worries about school, which is common for all young adults. Then it is about living and hoping to have a future after hiding, which does not happen. We learn from Anne about how strong the human spirit can be and that hope is important to have when life has become unbearable.
This is an important book to read because Anne writes about living in a world at war and we learn from her what war does to people, a society and countries. This book is a historical and human record of how bad and good people can be.
Theme: Biography
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| Image Credit:http://www.randomhouse.com |
Awards: School Library Journal Best Book of
the Year--1974
ALA Best Books for Young Adults--1974
ALA The Best of the Best Books for
Young Adults--1974
New York Times Notable Book
of the Year--1974
Annotation: Jerry tries to make a point and fails.
Book Review: Ahh Chocolate, a wonderful delight, a symbol of love and affection and makes people feel good. But if chocolate is so wonderful, why did it start a war-a chocolate war? It all started with Jerry Renault, freshman at Trinity School, a private, all boys Catholic school. He won a spot on the football team and was considered a good student until Brother Leon, the chocolate and Archie came along. Archie is the "Assigner" for the Vigil Gang. He tells kids to do silly things in the classroom to annoy the teachers. Brother Leon is the acting principal for the school and he develops a fundraiser of selling chocolates to get money for the school. Archie tells Jerry to say no when Brother Leon asks how many boxes he will accept to sell. Jerry is supposed to say no for a few days and then say yes. Jerry realizes he does not have to do what Brother Leon and Archie say and by continually saying no he angers Brother Leon and Archie. Is Jerry being stubborn, does he dare to "Disturb the Universe" and create chaos or will he submit? Only a war can answer this question.
Theme: Realistic, Coming of Age
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| ImageCredit:http://us.macmillan.com |
Awards : (Author)
Lambda Book Award
Robert Davis Intellectual Freedom Award
Margaret A. Edwards Award--2003
Annotation: Liza and Annie are friends but they slowly discover that their is more to their friendship and they are not sure what will happen if they pursue their intimate feelings with each other.
Book Review: It all began at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Eliza "Liza" Winthrop heard Annie Kenyon singing in one of the galleries. Liza thought she sang beautifully. They introduced each other and walked and talked throughout the musueum. They exchanged telephone numbers and a friendship grew from that. Liza goes to Foster Academy a private school in Brooklyn Heights and wants to attend MIT to be an architect. Annie is at one of the public schools in Brooklyn so they call each other or meet on the weekends. As the fall progress into winter, Liza and Annie realize they have feelings of more than friendship with one another. Annie tells Liza that she is gay but does not want to force her into a relationship that Liza may want. Liza admits she wants to be with Annie and she wants more than a friendship with her. As their love grows for each other, an unforseen event occurs that knocks their world apart. Liza must face her parents, her brother and the Foster Academy schoolboard for being considered "immoral" and "unnatural" with Annie. Will these events tear Liza and her family apart and will Liza and Annie see each other again?
Theme: GLBTQ, Lesbian Literature
