Catcher in the Rye

Holden’s story begins on the Saturday following the end of classes at the Pencey prep school in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. Pencey is Holden’s fourth school; he has already failed out of three others. At Pencey, he has failed four out of five of his classes and has received notice that he is being expelled, but he is not scheduled to return home to Manhattan until Wednesday. He visits his elderly history teacher, Spencer, to say goodbye, but when Spencer tries to reprimand him for his poor academic performance, Holden becomes annoyed.

Back in the dormitory, Holden is further irritated by his unhygienic neighbor, Ackley, and by his own roommate, Stradlater. Stradlater spends the evening on a date with Jane Gallagher, a girl whom Holden used to date and whom he still admires. During the course of the evening, Holden grows increasingly nervous about Stradlater’s taking Jane out, and when Stradlater returns, Holden questions him insistently about whether he tried to have sex with her. Stradlater teases Holden, who flies into a rage and attacks Stradlater. Stradlater pins Holden down and bloodies his nose. Holden decides that he’s had enough of Pencey and will go to Manhattan three days early, stay in a hotel, and not tell his parents that he is back.

While Holden is hiding out in Manhattan from his parents he meets up with his little sister and we see another side of Holden that has not yet been revealed. Holden is a frustrated youth who thinks that adults are phony. Holden plans to run away but when his sister begs him to take her with him Holden realizes that he can't just up and leave.

I thought this was a really interesting book and I thought that it would be a good read for a high school senior class.

The Book Thief

Death meets the book thief, a 9-year-old girl named Liesel Meminger, when he comes to take her little brother, and she becomes an enduring force in his life, despite his efforts to resist her. "I traveled the globe . . . handing souls to the conveyor belt of eternity," Death writes. "I warned myself that I should keep a good distance from the burial of Liesel Meminger's brother. I did not heed my advice." As Death lingers at the burial, he watches the girl, who can't yet read, steal a gravedigger's instruction manual. Thus Liesel is touched first by Death, then by words, as if she knows she'll need their comfort during the hardships ahead.

And there are plenty to come. Liesel's father has already been carted off for being a communist and soon her mother disappears, too, leaving her in the care of foster parents: the accordion-playing, silver-eyed Hans Hubermann and his wife, Rosa, who has a face like "creased-up cardboard." Liesel's new family lives on the unfortunately named Himmel (Heaven) Street, in a small town on the outskirts of Munich populated by vivid characters: from the blond-haired boy who relates to Jesse Owens to the mayor's wife who hides from despair in her library. They are, for the most part, foul-spoken but good-hearted folks, some of whom have the strength to stand up to the Nazis in small but telling ways.

Stolen books form the spine of the story. Though Liesel's foster father realizes the subject matter isn't ideal, he uses "The Grave Digger's Handbook" to teach her to read. "If I die anytime soon, you make sure they bury me right," he tells her, and she solemnly agrees. Reading opens new worlds to her; soon she is looking for other material for distraction. She rescues a book from a pile being burned by the Nazis, then begins stealing more books from the mayor's wife. After a Jewish fist-fighter hides behind a copy of Mein Kampf as he makes his way to the relative safety of the Hubermanns' basement, he then literally whitewashes the pages to create his own book for Liesel, which sustains her through her darkest times. Other books come in handy as diversions during bombing raids or hedges against grief. And it is the book she is writing herself that, ultimately, will save Liesel's life.

Close Enough to Touch

Matt Moran has lost his true love Dory, when she died of aneurysm. The book focus' on how he deals with going to her funeral and continuing his life without her. Would he love again? Is it possible? These are some of the things that Matt has to come to terms with. When he then meets a senior named Magaret Chasen and is immediately drawn to her. Would he get past his hurt to love again? Though this book deals with death it shows the different emotion the character is feeling and you feel like you could know this person very believable. A touching read.

The Outsiders

I love this book.
I absolutely fall in love with every single one of the Greaser Boys. I think that the connection that the author makes with the audience is incredible.

When Ponyboy Curtis and his friend Johnny are jumped by a group of drunk Socs, kids who have money and nice cloths and cars, Ponyboy almost is drowned in the fountain at the park. Johnny acts in self defense and one of the Socs ends up dead. These two young boys are forced to run away so they can stay out of trouble. Ponyboy and Johnny are the little brother figures and the two boys that all the hardend boys try to protect.
Ponyboy lives with his older brothers Darry and Sodapop, after both his parents die. Ponyboy ends up having to put aside his differences that he has with Darry when Sodapop, the favorite of both Darry and Ponyboy, can't handle it anymore.

I love this book because it delves into relationships and friendships and the bonds that hold people together.

Love that Dog

I thought this was a really clever book that helped show how easy and how difficult poetry can be. I thought it did a great job of showing how you can work through things that are really bothering you without realizing that is what you are doing. I really liked the narrator and the fact that the story was told in a poem form, but yet you still got to know the personality of the narrator.

The Hunger Games

THIS WAS AMAZING!

The United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives. When rules change Katniss and Peeta partner up in order to survive and with everything out of sorts, Katniss begins to fall for Peeta, but how real are her feelings with all of Panem watching and so much of how they are portrayed determines how much they are helped by sponsers. In the end Katniss is left to figure out how to put her life back together and survive normal life.

Uglies

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

When Tally is about to turn 16 she meets Shay, they both are Uglies about to turn 16 and get a special operation which will make them Pretties. But when Shay decides she doesn't want to become a pretty but instead wants to run away with David, someone Tally doesn't even believes exists, Tally gets dragged into an investigation which has been going on for a while. When Tally is told that she can't become a Pretty until she helps the Special's find the group of people who have escaped to a place called the Smoke, she is forced into becoming a spy for these people she is afraid of. When Tally follows Shay's directions and finally gets to the Smoke, she learns that you don't have to have an operation to be pretty. Tally falls in love with David and so when she accidentley sets off the tracker that the Specials sent her with, everything goes crazy. Tally knows none of this would have happened if she hadn't come to the Smoke and feels responsible to fix everything.

First Part Last

I thought this was a really good book. I loved the connection you felt with Bobby. Bobby is a sensitive, caring 16 year old boy who is now a father. His daugher, Feather, is a new challenge that he had never anticipated. When Nia his girlfriend told him she was pregnant, Bobby felt that he needed to support her and we slowly find out through a serious of flashbacks what the story is with Nia. At first you think that she has just run off, but you begin to realize that this is not the case and that the situation that these two young teens are put in change their lives forever. I thought this was an incredible book and I would probably recommend it to young teens, so they can get a glimps at what having a baby at a young age would be like.

First Boy

Cooper Jewet is fourteen years old and has been raised by his grandparents after the death of his parents in a car accident. Living on a dairy farm Cooper has learned how to be independent and self sufficient so when he grandfather dies Cooper is left to take care of everything on his own. But when there are mysterious black sedans that show up in the small town Cooper begins to realize there is something suspicious going on. When a presidential candidate takes a special interest in him, Cooper has to learn that you can't always trust people who seem to be interested in you. Coopers elderly neighbors jump in to help Cooper anyway they can and it seems as if everything will be okay. With a twist at the end and some crazy driving, Cooper learns to stand up for himself and that he has people who love him, no matter what the truth is about his parentage.

The Thief

Stuck in the King's Prison for stealing, Gen has little to no chance of being able to escape. With the little chance that he does have it will take him a long time to accomplish his escape. When the King's Magus sends for him, and forces him to join them in the quest for the Hamiathes's Gift, which is said to identify the true ruler of the country. The Magus is determined to get this and give it to his King so that he can unite the country, but the King is not a good ruler, so his ownership of the Gift would be detrimental. Magus is certain that he can get Hamiathes's Gift by using Gen to retrieve it for him, because Gen is an accomplished thief.
I enjoyed this book and thought it was good reading. I would definitely recommend this book to the adventurer.

War Is...

This book was intense.

I struggled with this book because of the content. It focuses on the reality of war and uncovers the truth about what really happens before, during and after a soldier goes into battle.

A compilation of articles, stories, letters, and experiences I think that Seniors in high school should read this book through out the course of their year. It is a bit of heavy reading and suprised me with the details. I definitly had my eyes opened to something I never expected to find in a book.

A Separate Peace

I love, Love this book. I can't tell you why, I can only say I do.

Finny and Gene are almost polar opposites, that's why they need each other. Only is seems that Finny is in Gene's life for one purpose only, to help him live life to the fullest. Finny or Phineas is a carefree boy of 16 who loves life and knows how to enjoy it. The epitome of what youth is Finny is the favorite of all the teachers at Devon School for Boys and is the natural leader of the boys in his grade. Finny is an emblem of what life should be like. But at the end of the first Summer Session at Devon School, there is an accident and Finny gets hurt.

In his absence Gene begins to realize how much he depended on Finny as a friend and roommate. Finny is everything that Gene hoped to be. So the fact that Gene was right next to him on a branch high in a tree above a river when the accident happens haunts Gene.

This story is one of a boy finding who he truly is, discovering true friendship and forgiveness.

I read this book in high school and I will defintely have my students read it.

I am the cheese

This book is really intersting. Told in a couple different ways the reader slowly peices together the memory of Adam. There is a part in this book where the story is moving forward and you are on a journey with Adam as he tries to bike from Monument Massachusets to Rutterburg Vermont. He encounters people he can trust and those who he cannot. Afraid and suspicious of everyone Adam almost makes it to his destination when he is unexpectedly delayed.

Also, there is part of the story that is told as if you are overhearing someone talk to a psychiatrist, questions and answers then flashbacks. All revealing A.'s past. You discover and fill in the blanks along as A. does. A. seems to be Adam and as the story goes along you find yourself becoming suspisious of the same things as Adam.

This is a book that I would recommend to a student who wanted to be challenged a litle more and who wanted to test his/her mind. I would not recomend this to someone who is prone to falling asleep during books, because they would get completely lost and confused as to what is happening. A good read and took me about 2-3 hours.

The Giver

I love this book.

This is the story of a young boy who has grown up in a society of sameness. Everything is predictable and nothing happens by chance. A controlled atmosphere where there is no fear, and everyone is provided for. At the ceromony which the communittee celebrates the birthdays of children of ages 1-12, Jonas is selected to become the new reciever. This means that he will meet with and be trained by the old Receiver until his training is done.

As the story progresses, Jonas finds out that his communittee has flaws. His job is to hold all the memories from the past, and advise the communittee council on subjects only when they come to him. Jonas holds the memories of snow, joy, happiness, color, anger, fear, sorrow, and pain. And through this developes a conscience of what is right and what is not.

This story is about a young boy who has to make adult decisions and faces the choice of whether or not to leave everything he's always known, or to stay and by doing so encourage something he believes to be wrong.

This is a fantastic book and I think that it is one that everyone should read so that they can realize how wonderful it is to have freedom to choose for ourselves, though dangerous, it is liberating.

Cyrano

Cyrano, a man in love with the most beautiful girl in all of Paris. Clever and whitty, charming and heroic Cyrano fears he will never be able to marry the beautiful Roxane because of his large nose, watches as young Christian wins the heart of the young beauty. Cyrano, a poet and master of words can't help be to feel obligated to help the fumbling Christian when words are out of reach.

Cyrano teaches and coaches Christian in what to say, all the while writing love letters to Roxane in Christian's name. Roxane falls in love with the man who can say how he feels and put his feelings to such delicate words.

The beauty of the poetry causes Roxane to proclaim that she would love Christian even if he were ugly. When Cyrano hears this he feels a twinge of hope. But alas with a final twist in the story Cyrano, Roxane, and Christian's struggle to find their places in each other's lives.

This book was wonderful. it was a quick read and I thought that the author did a wonderful job in writing for young adults. This book focused on love and that it depends more on the beauty of the being of the person, than the physical appearance of the person. I loved this book.

Burning Secrets

This book reading level was probably that of an 8th grader, but still the main character was 13. It is a story about two brothers and an old man that continues to show up in random places. With a mysterious little door that won't open in their late Uncle's home, the two brothers discover an old family secret and help a very old man acheive his dream.

This book took about 45 minutes to read and was a simplistic in form. However it drew the reader in and I found myself nervous for the two brothers wondering what would happen.

This book would be perfect for someone who struggles with reading and/or middle school students.

American Born Chinese

A fantastic quick read. This only took me about forty five minutes to read, and it was really entertaining. I have never read a comic-book before and this gave me a great taste for what it is like. I enjoyed this very much. While the story was entertaining and at some parts rediculous I thought that by the end it had a great moral to the story. It being that we will never be as great as we can be, until we are comfortable with who we are. I think it is a fantastic way for someone who is struggling to connect to books or who struggles with reading to still be able to pick up a book, have a good experience with it and to close it having taken something away.

Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of The Emmitt Till Case

A fourteen year old boy from Chicago and his cousin go to Mississippi to visit family and work on the farm for a short vacation in August of 1955. When Emmitt dares to treat Southern-White Folk the same way he treats Whites in Chicago, he crosses a line that is a catalyst to the Civil Rights Movement. In this biography, Chris Crowe takes you through the events and details of before Emmitt was kidnapped and after the trial of the murder of Emmitt Till.

This was an incredibly well written biography and I will probably use it in some future class of mine. I thought it would be boring and I thought that I would really struggle to understand the facts and what had happened, but the story was very concise and to the point. It didn't embellish any part of the events that took place and handled the event in a very respectful way. It was careful to represent the details in a truthful and un-biased manner. I really enjoyed reading the writing style of the author and learned a lot about the events surrounding the Emmitt Till trial of 1955.

Beast

Beast is the story of Orasmyn, Prince of Persia. When he seeks to help in the sacrificing of a camel, as is ritual in his country, he discovers on the morning of the sacrifice that the animal is imperfect and has blemmish. He decides to cover the blemish and allow that the animal be sacrificed anyways. Later that night he is incountered by a spirit from the other side and a curse is placed upon him. The curse is that his father will kill him the next day.This serves as punishment for allowing the animal with blemmish to be sacrificed. Frightened, but determined not to die at the hands of his father, Orasmyn goes strait way to his father and tell him everything. They make a plan, in which they decide that Orasymn will stay locked in his bedroom that night and all of the next day, while his father will do the same except to go on the hunt with the guest that have come from so far. All seems to be going well until Orasmyn meets a lady on the street who needs help and then tells him that the only way for the curse to be removed is if a woman can fall in love with him. Scared that she should know of the curse when he only has told his father of it, Orasmyn runs through the rose garden and stays there a while. There he falls asleep, and when he wakes he finds himself turned into a Lion. Here the adventure really begins. As Orasmyn flees from the hunters he must learn how to work in his new body. Over the next two years Orasmyn travels from Persia to India, then to France. In France he discovers an old abandoned castle and takes it over as his home. When a blizzard hits and an old merchant is forced into the castle for safety, Orasmyn learns the man has a daughter. He demands the man, by writing on the floor with his paw, to bring the daughter to the castle, and the man agrees because he thinks that this lion is possessed. When Belle arrives she is unhappy and Orasmyn does everything in his power to win her over and to make her happy. As time goes by the two grow closer and closer, Orasmyn truly falling in love with Belle and Belle finding compassion for the Beast.

This was a wonderful book, I thought it was fantastic and I thought that it was well written. I thought the ending of the book was weak though and thought that the author should have put just as much detail into the last event as she had all the others of the book. I felt the author gave up on the ending and instead of polishing the story of nicely I felt like the carpet was ripped out from underneath me.

Inexcusable

Keir Sarafian is a Senior in High School and for him everything is working out just perfect. He's been living with just his dad after his two older sisters move out and are at College. To Keir he is a pretty good guy and as we all know bad things don't happen to good guys. As his senior year progresses, Keir goes through the routine, football season, prom, and graduation. When he talks to the girl of his dreams who happens to be a friend of his, he is convinced he's in love with her. He'd do anything for her, and anything to be with her. But there is a small snag in his plan, she's dating someone else. The two are thrown together when Keir's older sisters don't come to his graduation and Gigi's boyfriend doesn't make it home to celebrate with her. When Keir's dad rents a limo for him as a graduation present Keir and Gigi decide to go on a little road trip so that Keir can see his sisters on his graduation day. Once they embark on this journey it puts things into motion that will change both of their lives forever. Do they know the people they love as well as they think they do? This will be tested in the first 24 hours of graduating from high school and walking into the real world.

I didn't really like this book, I thought it was an interesting read and I thought that it provided and interesting look into the mind of a teenage boy who is struggling to stay on top. I liked how the author used flash backs and throughout the story the reader was able to piece together what happened.

Fever 1793

Fever is an incredible story of a young girl who overcomes the challenges of losing those who are closest to her. Mattie is almost 15 years old when yellow fever strikes Philidelphia in 1793. Her mother, their cook Eliza, and she run a coffee house and when people begin dying because of a new sickness in the city, drastic measures must be taken. But when their plan to escape the fever doesn't work and they get seperated, Mattie learns how to work and is forced into growing up.

No, longer a child, Mattie learns what it means to be responsible for others and sees how she can have a great influence on the lives of those she is surrounded by. Dreams of a bright and successful future must be set aside for now while she learns how to deal with day to day struggles and grief.

This was a fantastic book to read because it illustrates that those who are given responsibility can rise up and prove their ability to lead and take control of their situation. I think I would recommend this book to someone who was searching for a way to claim their future, and help others.

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (March 1, 2002)

A Walk to Remember

This book was made into a touching and wonderful movie, but I found that as I read the book, there were a lot of differences between the two. The movie is one of my favorite "chick-flicks" but the book jumped up to be one of my favorite of all time.

Landon Carter is an only child and has never really had anyone who he felt he could trust. He and his friends are known as the renegades of the small town they live in. When Landon has to take a Drama class as a Senior he is put into the same class as Jamie Sullivan. Jamie is looked at by the other teenagers and younger kids as being odd and she doesn't really fit in with anyone. She spends most her time either at home, or working at the orphanage. She also does a lot of service work and is very involved in her church. Her father is a pastor and as such Jamie has a lot of rules that she has to live by, but she doesn't mind. One of the reasons Jamie is viewed as being weird is because she doesn't dress or talk like most girls her age, she always has her Bible with her and always says she will pray for the person she is talking to.

Little does Landon know that when he walks into his drama class the first day. Throughout the story Landon and Jamie begin to have a friendship due to an act of desperation on Landon's part Jamie tells him he must not fall in love with her. It becomes inevitable and Landon and Jamie will fall in love with each other as the story progresses.

I think this was a wonderful story, and I was super suprized with how different it was from the movie.

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English

Invisible

Invisible is an interesting book which explores the depths of a teenage boy's thoughts after experiencing a tragic accident. Throughout the entire book you are trying to figure out what is wrong with the boy that is narrating the story. Dougie is extremely intelligent and focused, but this focus is taking over his life and he is becoming obsessed. Dougie isn't like normal kids and he is often excluded from activities by other kids. The only person that Dougie can trust and that is his friend is Andy Marrow, his next door neighbor. But what's really happening and why don't Andy and Dougie talk about what happened three years ago at the Tuttle place.

This book was really interesting and I don't know how much of it I can summarize without giving anything away. I'm not sure I would even suggest this book to anyone to read.

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• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (November 28, 2006)

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The Magician's Nephew

The Magician's Nephew is a fantastic book to read. It was written near the end of the Chronical's of Narnia series. However, it is a prequel to The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. This story helps explain how certain things

The story begins with Diggory meeting Polly in her backyard. Diggory and Polly discover a passageway that connects the neighborhood homes together. Diggory and his monther live with his Aunt and Uncle who seem to lead fairly common and boring lives. Diggory and Polly soon learn that Uncle Andrew has a secret and the secret lies in the mysterious yellow and green rings that they find in his secret study. When Polly is given a yellow ring the adventure begins. Diggory and Polly witness the birth of Narnia, meet the White Witch, and learn what real magic is.

This is a great book that I would recommend reading before the rest of the Narnia books.

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (May 24, 2005)

Fire

A companion book to Graceling, Fire takes a jump back approximately twenty years back and is based in a land beyond the Estill and Monsea mountain range where monsters live.

Monsters are like the Gracelings that live in the 7 kingdoms in many ways. First monsters are extremely beautiful creatures of all kinds. They are colorful creatures that exceed any normal beauty and they lure people in with this beauty. Entering into the minds of humans and other creatures the monsters entice their prey to come close enough to be eaten.

War is inevitable in the Dellian kingdom after the fall of King Nax and his monster adviser Cansrel, who have brought the kingdom to ruin because their cruelty and abuse of their people. The duo created many enemies that would love to take over the kingdom and rule it for themselves, and the duty to reclaim and restore order to the kingdom falls on King Nax's sons King Nash and Prince Brigan. With war looming in the future and spies everywhere the Dellian Royal family needs someone they can trust to help them. So when Fire, the last surviving monster crosses paths with them and in an act of stupidity and bravery saves many soldiers lives she becomes an important piece to ending the war.

Fire is beautiful beyond reason and her presence in a room tends to make women jealous and ignore her and men desire her. In addition to her exquisite beauty, Fire is able to sense peoples minds, and more often then not can enter their mind and gain the information she needs or cause them to do things she needs. Unwilling to be like her cruel father Fire only uses this advantage to communicate and rarely to control people.

Of course there is a love story entwined in the twisting and ever-changing war story. But if I told you who it was between it would ruin the story. All I can say is it is you'll love it.

Fire finds her place in the world and is able to grow into a person whose beauty is not only on the outside. She discovers that true beauty shines from inside us, and the effect we have on people is what defines that beauty.

I loved this book because it was great to be reminded that true beauty comes from inside a person and that true friends will go to any lengths to help and protect each other. I also thought a good point to this book was the importance to guard your mind. You can build defenses in your mind so that you can discern things that appear enticing and good but aren't good.

* note: there was a few parts where strong language was used. And parts where you would know that Fire was changing the dirty thoughts of the men around her. But it never went into detail and was never explicit or made me uncomfortable.

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Dial; First Edition edition (October 5, 2009)

Incantation

Estrella de Madrigal's world seems just about as good as it can get. Her family is successful and her best friend is like a sister. The de Madrigal family is well liked in the village of Encaleflora. With Estrella's brother studying at the seminary, her grandfather a renowned teacher and her mother who made beautiful blue yarn Estrella thought she knew what to expect for her future.

Estrella is no longer a little girl, and when the quiet village is threatened by the unknown, Estrella learns about who she really is.Estrella's family has always done things a little bit different than her neighbors have and she discovers that her family has secrets. Up until now her family has tried to protect her by not telling her about their family secrets. Once she learns the truth, her life will never be the same. With relationships changing all around her Estrella has to choose who she can trust and who she must lie to.

This is a really good book to read because it teaches a lot about how people will act when they are afraid and tempted with rewards for their actions. This is a super fast read and I think it would be an important book for high school students to read because it also teaches that people have been treated poorly for ages.

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (October 1, 2007)

Graceling

First I must say I fell in love with this book in about the first 3 pages. Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down and to my utter disappointment the book was finished before I'd had enough of Katsa and Po.

Katsa is our main character and her story begins as she is sneaking through a dungeon in the effort of rescuing someone. Katsa isn't like most girls, in fact she's not like most people. Katsa is a graceling. Gracelings are people who have special gifts or "graces" that set them apart from other people. The graces are almost like super-natural powers. Some of these graces are fighting, mind reading, being able to tell what the weather will be like; the grace, could be anything and the person with that grace will eventually grow into their grace. Katsa hasn't fully grown into her grace yet, but as a young woman she knows that she is graced with being able to kill. Because of her grace, her uncle, King Randa, has taken her to be his own personal strong-arm. Sending her to punish those that go against his will. As a graceling, Katsa is also set apart from other people because she has two different colored eyes, an attribute that sets gracelings apart. At the beginning of the book Katsa is nearing a time when she has to decide what she is going to do with her life, and the decision she makes will alter it forever. With an unexpected friend,who's also a graceling, the two set out on and adventure that not only changes them but how they deal with life and their graces.

A thrilling adventure that leads to a wonderful end that makes you want to pick up the next book. I loved this book and thought it was wonderfully written, taking into account the need for adventure, romance, friendship and self discovery.

I would probably recommend this book to a student who was struggling to read because it is an enthralling book that just is begging to be read, and the story goes by so quickly.

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• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Graphia; Reprint edition (September 7, 2009)

The White Darkness

Sym has always been a little different from the other girls her age. She doesn't really fit in and to make her even more different than everyone she talks to her imaginary friend Captain Oates who lived about a hundred years before her. Captain Oates died a tragic death when he and his other shipmates got stranded in Antarctica. Sym dreams of someday going there and when her "Uncle" an old family friend offers to take her and her mother to Paris, the adventure begins. With twists and twirls in the story Sym discovers what's she's made of and that some people aren't what they always appear to be. While on her wild adventure Sym discovers who she is and learns to stand up for herself and discovers who she is.

I really liked this book in the ways it described the area's which Sym and her Uncle went. Sym's depth is incredible to me and I was able to finally see a different side to social situations. While relating to Sym in some ways, others were completely foreign to me and it was good for me to see how terribly frustrating it could be if I couldn't formulate my thoughts and people rushed on in the conversation assuming I was stupid. If I were to use this book in my class it would probably be to help my students understand that there is more to a person than just what's on the surface.

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen; Reprint edition (December 30, 2008)

The Rules of Survival

The Rules of Survival

The Rules of Survival is the story of Matt and his two sisters, Callie and Emmy, who are terrified of their mother. For as long as they can remember Nikki, their mother has scared them.

One night while their mother is gone Callie and Matt sneak out of their apartment to get some popsicles on a hot summer evening. While at the corner store a few blocks away they witness something and meet someone that starts to change their life forever and are introduced to the idea that they don't have to live their life afraid.

Matt has always taken care of and protected his sisters as best he could but once he realizes that having a crazy mother isn't normal and that people shouldn't have to live their lives afraid, Matt begins to cry out for help.

Over the course of the next couple years Matt with the help of his aunt, father (who is divorced from Nikki) and his mother's ex-boyfriend and the man they meet in the corner store, Matt is able to get his sisters away from their abusive mother and somewhere safe.

This book is really a sad book because it isn't hard to image that there are people who really go through these circumstances. Matt and his sister's situation really isn't as far fetched as some other books and it is interesting to see the thought process. Its hard to realize how serious situations are when you are so involved in them.

This book is a good read for all ages and I think it would be especially important for junior high and high schoolers to read with the purpose of exposing them to the realities of life, and in the process many who are living in these situations might somehow be saved. Since I plan on becoming a High School English teacher I would want my students to start keeping a journal at school where they could write anything they wanted to. I would keep the journals in a place where no one else could read them and talk to the kids about why it is important to let someone know if something is wrong.

I think this book is a cry for help. So often in this book Matt is pushed into places and situations that he never should have. Yes, his mother was abusive and crazy but why didn't anyone jump in sooner? Matt is writing a letter/book to Emmy and that is how we get the whole story. Multiple times he went to people and asked for help. People who knew what was going on and it took almost 3 years for it to finally happen. Why? This book is a cry for help, a plea that it not take 3 years for someone to step in. 3 years may be too late.

This book taught me a lot about what it might be like in Matt's shoes. No one should live in fear.

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Speak (March 13, 2008)

Dairy Queen

Dairy Queen

Dairy Queen a young adult book written by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. This is a story about a 15 year old girl,D.J., who as fate would have it is left to do all the farm work after her father is injured the previous year. Thus the nickname Dairy Queen.

D.J. has a few things that matter the most in her life, the farm, football, and her family. With these things taking up her time she is surprised one day when Brian, the quarterback of the rival football team shows up on on the farm and says that his coach, an old family friend, has said that he has to help out on the farm. D.J. is supposed to put him to work and train him up for the next football season.

D.J. has a sarcastic sense of humor and doesn't often say what she's thinking. Over the course of the summer Brian and D.J. become friends and something more than friendship seems to be growing between them. When D.J. tries out for her high school football team, Brian finds out and this causes problems for their friendship.

Something major that I picked up in this story is that communication is vital to a health relationship of any kind. It wasn't until the last couple of pages that I realized how much I'd learned about talking. D.J. learns in this story that problems and situations in our lives won't be resolved until we face what we are most afraid of, or most uncomfortable with.

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 274 pages
• Publisher: Graphia; 288 edition (June 4, 2007)
• Idea for additional use: I think this is a good book that would be a good tool to use when dealing with students or people who struggle in identifying what some problems may be in their lives. Also, this book focuses a lot about communication and how important it is. I think that communication skills are critical for the happiness of a person.