South Carolina Association
of School Librarians
Young Adult Book Award Nominees
2001 - 2002
Speak
Laurie Halse Anderson
Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1999
198 pages
SUMMARY:
No one at school will speak
to freshman Melinda Sordino because she broke up an end-of-the-summer party
by calling the police. She doesn't tell anyone that she was raped by an
upper classman at the party. As the school year progresses, she withdraws
from her surroundings, cutting classes, failing to do her homework and
very rarely talking. When the rapist attempts to attack her again, she
finds the strength to stand up for herself and SPEAK.
RELATED READINGS:
So Much to Tell You John
Marsden
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen Chbosky
The Facts Speak for Themselves
Brock Cole
But What About Me? Marilyn
Reynolds
Past Forgiving Gloria
Miklowitz
Rundown Michael Cadnum
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
Psychology
Personal Development
Guidance-Counseling
Sociology
Art
INTERNET SITES:
Laurie
Halse Anderson
Review
Date
Rape
Friends/Peer
Pressure
BOOK TALK:
Melinda Sordino is starting
her freshman year in high school as a complete social outcast. Her old
friends won't talk to her and people that she doesn't even know hate her.
What did she do? She broke up an end-of-summer party by calling the police.
Melinda doesn't tell anyone what really happened to her at the party and
as the school year progresses, she withdraws more and more into herself,
cutting classes, failing to do her homework and very rarely talking. As
you become involved with this witty, likable character through her first
person narrative – and you will become involved – you will find
yourself urging her to tell what really happened; to open her mouth and
SPEAK.
Prepared by Kathy Thomas
Hear These Voices: Youths
at the Edge of the Millennium
Anthony Allison
Dutton Children's Books, 1999
170 pages
SUMMARY:
Hear These Voices is
a compilation of first-hand accounts from young adults around the world.
Their stories are devastating and their situations bleak. Fifteen-year-olds
from the United States to South Africa tell their stories of problems with
drug abuse, child prostitution, homelessness, and HIV/AIDS. The stories
of the various grassroots organizations and adults who try to aid these
individuals are included as well. Despite the bleakness of their situations,
each account conveys a sense of hope for change and a better tomorrow.
RELATED READINGS:
Whirligig Paul Fleischman
Tribute to Another Dead
Rock Star Randy Powell
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen
Chbosky
Make Lemonade Virginia
Euwer Wolf
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
Multiculturalism
Problems of youth and society
Conflict resolution
Plight of the homeless
INTERNET SITES:
National
Coalition for the Homeless
Review
BOOK TALK:
Hear These Voices introduces
you to fifteen-year-olds from around the world. Muay from Thailand was
sold into prostitution at age 10 by her stepfather. Carrie, from Denver,
bounced in and out of foster homes and was gang raped before she decided
to take control of her own life and pursue her GED. In Ireland, Sharon
and Caroline talk about their fear and confusion about the decades old
"troubles" dividing the region. In their own words, these teenagers and
others describe lives disfigured by some of the worst the world has to
offer--addiction, neglect, violence, and terrorism. Hear These Voices is
a book about desperate lives that radiate hope.
Prepared by Jennie Redmond
Two Suns in the Sky
Miriam Bat-Ami
Front Street/ Cricket Books, 1999
223 pages
SUMMARY:
The Emergency Refugee Shelter,
the grim refugee camp, was located in Fort Ontario near Oswego, New York.
This barb wired enclosure was the only place on United States soil to give
aid to people displaced during World War II. Chris Cook, 15, is fed up
with the boring town of Oswego but is fascinated by the exotic strangers
living so close by. She and her friends sneak into the camp where she meets
Adam Bornstein, a Yugoslavian Jew. The two fall passionately in love, in
spite of their differences of language and religion--and
the angry resistance of Chris's father to anything "foreign." Their voices,
as distinctly different as their cultures, alternate in telling the story
of their ill-fated attraction.
RELATED READINGS:
Good Night, Maman Norma
Fox Mazer
Heroes Robert Cormier
Farewell to Manzanar
Jeanne Houston
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
History
Cultural Studies
Social Issues
Personal growth and development
INTERNET SITES:
Miriam
Bat-Ami
Review
Teacher's
Guide
The
Safe Haven Story
BOOK TALK:
Life long resident of Oswego,
Chris Cook feels trapped. Typically she is concerned with whom and when
will be her first boy friend and first kiss. At age fifteen her summer
job is working with onion sets. She is sure nothing could be more boring.
Chris spends her work time planning to change her life. The excitement
comes to town in the form of the Emergency Refugee Shelter located at Fort
Ontario. Chris's parents are adamant patriots and strong supporters of
the war effort. However, her father feels the displaced people are "someone
else's dirt" and Chris is ordered to stay away. In direct disobedience,
Chris joins the crowd lined up to watch the refugees arrive. She begins
her interaction with some of the refugees when she passes her bicycle over
the dividing fence for a forlorn little girl to take for a spin. As her
interest in the refugees develops into a personal relationship with the
bicycle riding girl and her brother, Chris's father attempts to keep her
away. Chris's father becomes more restrictive and more physical in attempts
to keep Chris away from Adam and the other refugees. The war ends, the
ERS is going to be broken up but how can Chris resolve her involvement
with Adam and her friends in the camp while dealing with her family?
Backwater
Joan Bauer
Putnam, 1999
185 pages
SUMMARY:
While compiling a genealogy
of her family of successful attorneys, sixteen-year-old history buff Ivy
Breedlove treks into the mountain wilderness to interview a reclusive aunt
with whom she identifies and who in turn helps her truly know herself and
her family.
RELATED READINGS:
Search for the Shadowman
Joan
Lowery Nixon
Dozens of Cousins: Blue
Genes, Horse Thieves, and
Other Relative Surprises
in Your Family Tree Lois Horowitz
Finding Your Roots: How
to Trace Your Ancestors at
Home and Abroad Jeane
Eddy
Cold River: A Novel William
Judson
Boats and Boating in the
Adirondacks Hallie E. Bond
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
Genealogy
Adirondack Mountains
Family Relationships
INTERNET SITES:
Joan
Bauer
Review
Genealogy
Adirondack
Mountains
BOOK TALK:
Sixteen-year-old Ivy Breedlove
is a historian, not a lawyer. Ivy doesn’t care about the Breedlove family
tradition of lawyers – what she does care about is compiling family history.
What she discovers is a large part of the Breedlove history is missing
- her dad’s sister went away to be a hermit in the mountains and is scornfully
referred to as "stuck in the backwater". Ivy knows Aunt Jo holds the answers
to the Breedlove secrets. Ivy travels far with a mountain guide and discovers
more than the missing pieces of the family history. In the mountains are
lots of danger and a little bit of love. What are the mysteries awaiting
Ivy as she and "Mountain Mama" climb the snowy drifts? Will Ivy find the
missing link of Breedlove history? Is this true love or is her mind playing
tricks on her?
Prepared by Pam Davenport
Zack
William Bell
Simon & Schuster, 1999
192 pages
SUMMARY:
Zack is a bi-racial high school
senior whose parents have taken him from the comfortable surroundings of
big-city life in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to a rural, riverside town,
Garafraxa, Ontario. Although it is a small college town and the move is
perfect for his parents, Zack is angry. Not only does Zack allow his anger
to affect his schoolwork, but he also begins to challenge the rules of
the school. However, his history teacher offers him a "last ditch effort"
to pass her class. He must do an independent research project about local
history and he must identify the topic himself. A chance discovery and
a shared moment with his dad of a beautiful view of the river leads Zack
to learn about a former slave who fought for his freedom and earned a place
in American and Canadian history. The project also leads Zack to discover
his own African roots: to meet his mother's father from whom Zack's mother
had been estranged since marrying Zack's Jewish father. Zack finds that
racism exists in many places and has many faces.
RELATED READINGS:
What are You? Voices of
Mixed Race Young People Pearl Gaskins
Best of Enemies Suzanne
P. Ellison
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
Family Life
Racism
INTERNET SITES:
William
Bell
Review
BOOK TALK:
Moving to a new town at the
beginning of your senior year! What a bummer! On top of that Zack
is going to fail history. His teacher offers him a chance to pass if he
will do a project of his own choice, but it must be about the local town's
history. (She must have something up her sleeve!) A lot of issues are on
the table for Zack. He is spending his senior year as a stranger. He is
mixed race, which is becoming an issue with him. He wants to know all of
his family--both his mom's and dad's families. Since his mom won't talk
he must pursue his "roots" by himself. What a shock to find out that your
own grandfather totally dislikes and distrusts anyone not of his own race.
Where does that leave Zack? Zack's project and subsequent journey set in
motion an interesting and exciting turn of events.
Keeping the Moon
Sarah Dessen
Viking, 1999
228 pages
SUMMARY:
Fifteen-year-old Colie is
sent by her fitness-guru mother to spend the summer with eccentric Aunt
Mira on the North Carolina Coast. There she becomes friends with a set
of college age waitresses, and her aunt's boarder,
an aspiring artist. She learns a lot about friendship, herself, and the
nature of self-esteem and perception.
RELATED READINGS:
Becoming Myself: True Stories
About Learning from Life Cassandra Walker
Girls Speak Out: Finding
Your True Self Andrea Johnston
The Skin I'm In Sharon
G. Flake
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
Self Esteem
Acceptance of others
Friendship
INTERNET SITES:
Sarah
Dessen
BOOK TALK:
Colie and her mother have
been through a lot of changes lately: they've gone from being overweight
and practically homeless, to svelte and wealthy. Colie's mother has thrived
as an inspirational fitness guru, but Colie, although now thin, is sullen,
insecure, and an outcast at her school. When her mother embarks on a selling
tour of Europe, Colie is sent to stay with her outlandish Aunt Mira on
the North Carolina Coast. There we meet two improbable waitresses, Isabel
and Morgan, who give Colie not only a job at the Last Chance Cafe, but
also a makeover, and a sense of friendship. We also meet Norman, who shares
Aunt Mira's house. He is the son of a car dealer trying to make it on his
own as an artist. But perhaps the most memorable resident of Colby, N.
C. is Aunt Mira -- she is a greeting card artist, who is happy and satisfied
as an eccentric and ignores the stares of locals as she bumps down the
village roads on her old bicycle. The people Colie runs into that summer
--- even a mean-spirited classmate --- help her to learn the value of being
a wonderfully unique individual. Enjoy your trip to a sleepy coastal town
where you will meet characters that you -- just like Colie --- will never
forget.
Romiette and Julio
Sharon Draper
Simon & Schuster, 1999
236 pages
SUMMARY:
Romiette Chappelle is a bright,
attractive, African-American teenage girl. Julio Montegue is a smart, handsome,
Chicano teenage boy who has just moved from Texas to Cincinnati. They find
each other in an Internet chat room; but when they discover that they attend
the same high school, they fall in love. Neither their parents nor the
local gang approve of the romance.
RELATED READINGS:
Romeo and Juliet William
Shakespeare
West Side Story Arthur
Laurents
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
Dating
Multiculturalism
Parent-child relationships
INTERNET SITES:
Sharon
Draper's Home Page
Sharon
Draper National Teacher of the Year 1997
Shakespeare
Site
Romeo
and Juliet
Gangs
BOOK TALK:
Romiette Chappelle is a bright,
attractive, African-American teenage girl. Julio Montegue is a smart, handsome,
Chicano teenage boy who has just moved from Texas
to Cincinnati. They find each other in an Internet
chat room; but when they discover that they attend
the same high school, love blooms. Neither their parents nor the local
gang approves of the romance. Will they be as star-crossed as Shakespeare’s
lovers or will true love prevail? Read Romiette and Julio by Sharon
Draper.
Prepared by Derryll Satterwhite
Mind's Eye
Paul Fleischman
Holt, 1999
108 pages
SUMMARY:
A novel in play form in which
sixteen-year-old Courtney, paralyzed in an accident, learns about the power
of the mind from an elderly blind woman who takes Courtney on an imaginary
journey to Italy using a 1910 guidebook.
RELATED READINGS:
Rules of the Road Joan
Bauer
Tuesdays with Morrie :
An Old Man, A Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson Mitch Albom
The Nautilus Wanda Gilberts
Kachur
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
Physically handicapped
Voyages
Old age
INTERNET SITES:
Paul
Fleischman
Review
Spinal
Cord Injuries
BOOK TALK:
Courtney is sixteen years
old. One day she is a normal teenager who enjoys riding her horse and then
in an instant her life is changed forever! She falls off her horse and
suffers a severe injury; her spinal cord is severed completely at the first
vertebra. Her real dad took off when she was two, and her mom died last
year. No way is her stepfather going to turn in to her nursemaid! He dumps
her in a nursing home and takes off. No friends or family members visit
Courtney. Her only companion is her eighty-eight year old blind roommate,
Elva, a retired schoolteacher. To pass the time, the two take an imaginary
trip to Italy where Courtney learns more than about life than Italian art.
Join Courtney and Elva as they make the journey through Italy and one of
self-discovery in Mind’s Eye by Paul Fleischman.
Stardust
Neil Gaiman
Avon, 1998
256 pages, illustrations
SUMMARY:
Seventeen-year-old Tristran
Thorn lives in a remote English village separated from the realm of Fairie
by a wall over which all are forbidden to go. One night Tristran and Victoria
(the local beauty whose heart Tristran is trying to win) see a star fall
on the other side off the wall. Swearing to fetch the star for Victoria
in exchange for his "heart’s desire", Tristran crosses the wall and enters
into a magical land of witches, unicorns, and other fantastic beings. This
is an adult fairy tale full of adventure, danger, romance, and humor.
RELATED READINGS:
Briar Rose Jane Yolen
Black Unicorn Tanith
Lee
The Fellowship of the Ring
J.R.R.
Tolkien
The Two Towers J.R.R.
Tolkien
The Return of the King
J.R.R.
Tolkien
The Black Cauldron and
its sequels Lloyd Alexander
The Dark is Rising and
its sequels Susan Cooper
A Midsummer’s Nights Dream
William
Shakespeare
Mists of Avalon Marion
Zimmer Bradley
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
Fantasy
Romance
Relationships
Fairy Tales
Magic
Adventure
INTERNET SITES:
Neil
Gaiman
Review
BOOK TALK
You may remember seeing Disney’s
Sleeping
Beauty, Snow White, or Cinderella when you were a little
kid. These are sugarcoated movie versions of fairy tales passed down through
the ages. Nothing too gory or too scary—wouldn't want to frighten the kiddies.
Maybe when you got a little older, you saw The Princess Bride (maybe
you even read the book). Now that has some pretty gruesome parts, along
with offbeat humor, wild adventures, a handsome hero, a beautiful heroine,
daring rescues, and true love conquering all. That is a fantasy story that
kids can watch and enjoy but the older audience members can enjoyeven more
because they understand all the innuendoes of the language and action that
go right over the heads of the tots. Stardust is the book for you
if you loved The Princess Bride. If you’re not yet a fantasy fan,
you will be after you read it. For those of you that know Neil Gaimen (author)
from his Sandman
graphic novels, and his book (and movie), Neverwhere,
you are already primed for Stardust. If you haven’t yet sampled
Gaimen, get ready for a delicious treat. This book will sweep you into
a magical place and you will not want it to end. Happily, you can read
it again and again, discovering details you missed during the prior reading.
Remember, this is not for the wee ones—too graphic.
Prepared by Elizabeth T.
Harrell
What Are You? Voices of
Mixed-Race Young People
edited by Pearl Fuyo Gaskins
Henry Holt & Company, 1999
272 pages, including Index and Resources
SUMMARY:
In this collection of poetry,
essays, and interviews, 45 mixed-race people between the ages of 14 and
26 share what it is like to grow up in America outside traditional racial
boundaries. Interviewer Pearl Fuyo Gaskins, a child of a Japanese-American
mother and a European-American father, offers insightful commentary throughout
the book. She has written this book because she felt a sense of "aloneness’
as she grew up; feeling she was "not white enough" and "not non-white enough".
By creating this book, she provided a forum for mixed-race young people
to share their pain, frustrations, strengths, humor, and hopes.
RELATED READINGS:
Romiette and Julio Sharon
M. Draper
Arilla Sun Down Virginia
Hamilton
Half and Half: Writers
on Growing Up Biracial and Bicultural Claudine O’Hearn, editor
Black, White, Other: Biracial
Americans Talk About Race and Identity Lise Funderburg
Of Many Colors: Portraits
of Multiracoal Families photographs by Gigi Kaeser introduction by
Peggy Gillespie
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
Racially Mixed People
Multicultural Stories
Identity
Minorities
African-American
Poetry
INTERNET SITES:
A
website for the book.
Pearl
Gaskins
Biracial/Mixed
Race
Review
BOOK TALK
There is an obsession in our
country with race and racial identification. Almost every single form we
fill out requires us to "check one box" for a racial designation. If you
are a child of mixed-racial parents, this box represents a lifelong dilemma.
When Tiger Woods won the Masters golf tournament in 1997, he achieved instant
global fame for being the youngest golfer and the first "African-American"
to win. But when he appeared as a guest on the Oprah Winfrey show, he created
a huge controversy by proudly sharing his multiracial background and refusing
to be labeled simply as "African-American". Consequently, he was denounced
by many African-Americans as someone who was "denouncing his blackness."
What
Am I? resonates with voices of young people who face this kind of prejudice
everyday. Have you ever been judged for the way you look or talk or dress
or for the people you hang out with or the music you listen to? Or have
you ever judged somebody on these same merits? Reading this book will most
likely open your mind more than any other you have read—can you handle
that?
Prepared by Elizabeth T.
Harrell
Rosey in the Present
Tense
Louise Hawes
Walker and Company, 1999
128 pages
SUMMARY:
Rosey in the Present Tenseis
the poignant story of a young man dealing with the death of his girlfriend.
Franklin Sanders is wandering in the emotional mind field that individuals
encounter when they have lost a cherished loved one. Walk with Franklin
as he stumbles along the path of recovery. Rosey in the Present Tense handles
the universal theme of grief and its acceptance with gentle hands.
RELATED READINGS:
Romiette and Julio Sharon
Draper
Whirligig Paul Fleischman
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Teenage deaths
Grief counseling
INTERNET SITES:
Louise
Hawes
Review
Grief/Death
and Dying
BOOK TALK:
Franklin Sanders is seventeen
and every day is agony. It’s been six months since his girlfriend Rosey
died. Only his memories of Rosey provide relief from his grief and suffering.
Franklin can't adjust to life without her. He carries on
conversations with her in his head. When Rosey starts to talk back and
reappears almost her old bubbly self but insubstantial, Franklin can't
believe it. Is she a ghost or a figment of his imagination? He doesn’t
care. He’s just glad she’s back, until it becomes apparent that somehow
he’s holding Rosey back from where she needs to go. How will Franklin resolve
the situation? Can he let Rosey go yet again? Journey with Franklin as
he stumbles along the path of grief and acceptance. You’ll laugh and cry
and be glad that you picked up Rosey in the Present Tense to read.
Prepared by Jennie Redmond
The Raging Quiet
Sherryl Jordan
Simon & Schuster, 1999
266 pages
SUMMARY:
Set during the Middle Ages,
sixteen-year-old Marnie marries an older man to save her parent's farm.
The newlyweds move to a remote village far from her family, where Marnie's
husband dies in an accident. Marnie believes that she has killed him because
she prayed that something would happen to him so that he would not desire
her. She confides to the village priest about her prayers, and three old
women hear her confession. They spread gossip about the newcomer throughout
the village. Marnie befriends the young "village madman", Raver, who is
not crazy, but who is actually deaf. Marnie and Raver learn to communicate
with each other through hand words and as their friendship deepens into
love, the villagers become more suspicious of Marnie and they accuse her
of witchcraft. She is forced to defend herself in a witchcraft trial where
her fate is determined by a fiery iron bar.
RELATED READINGS:
The Midwife’s Apprentice
Karen
Cushman
Catherine, Called Birdy
Karen
Cushman
King’s Shadow Elizabeth
Alder
The Miracle Worker William
Gibson
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
Middle Ages
History of Witchcraft
Sign Language
Physical Handicaps
INTERNET SITES:
Sherryl
Jordan
Review
Sign
Language
Middle
Ages
BOOK TALK:
In the tradition of The
Midwife’s Apprentice, The King’s Shadow, and Catherine, Called
Birdy, Sherryl Jordan brings us The Raging Quiet. Marnie’s father
is the overseer on Sir William Isherwood’s estate. In return for the work,
the family is given a house on a small portion of land where they keep
animals and grow their own food. While life is difficult for Marnie and
her family, it is bearable until one night when Marnie’s father does not
return home from looking for a lost horse. He is eventually found, face
down in a field, unconscious, but still alive. He never recovers and a
new overseer is appointed. Marnie tries to work to keep the farm, but it
isn’t enough. The family is about to be evicted when the lord’s middle
son, Isake, comes to the cottage with a solution. If Marnie agrees to marry
him, the family can remain in their home. Marnie was faced with a moral
dilemma. She hardly knows Isake, and he is much older than her. On the
other hand, if she doesn’t marry him, her entire family will become homeless.
Finally, she decides to marry him for the sake of her family. Needless
to say, the wedding night was not what Marnie had dreamed of all of her
life. In fact, it was so dreadful that Marnie prayed that something would
happen to make her husband not desire her. The newly weds moved to a remote
village far from the manor to a home her husband owned. Two days later,
while fixing the roof, Isake accidentally falls and dies. Consumed with
guilt, Marnie goes to the village priest and confesses her sin. The priest
convinces her that she is not to blame. However, several women overhear
the "confession" and gossip starts about the newcomer. Marnie also encounters
and befriends the village madman, Raven, a young man. Marnie discovers
that he isn’t crazy, but that he is deaf! The two form a close friendship
and they begin to communicate by using "hand words" or sign language. The
friendship soon grows into a passionate love affair. Word gets back to
the village gossips that Marnie is using the devil to talk to the madman.
She is accused of witchcraft and she must defend herself in a trial. Is
Marnie convicted of witchcraft? What happens to Marnie and Raven? Read
The
Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan.
Prepared by Patty Tucker.
Safe at Second
Scott Johnson
Putnam, 1999
245 pages
SUMMARY:
Safe at Secondis a
story that deals with the changes that must occur in the lives of some
young people when one of them is injured in an accident. Told from the
viewpoint of his best friend, Paulie Lockwood, the story of Todd Bannister,
star of the high school baseball team and candidate for a future in the
pro’s reveals the uncertainties in Paulie’s life as well as his dreams
of being part of Todd’s life in baseball. Suddenly, both lives are changed
when Todd is hit in the face with a ball during a game. The injury to Todd’s
eye is so severe that it finally must be removed. Paulie is convinced that
if Todd just doesn’t give up and keeps practicing he will come back to
his earlier level of play. Paulie’s obsession with taking care of Todd
allows him to avoid planning a life of his own even as those around him
keep reminding him that he also has a life. Finally, as Todd adjusts to
a life with one eye, Paulie begins to realize that he can have a life that
doesn’t include taking care of Todd.
RELATED READINGS:
Crazy Horse Electric Game
Chris
Crutcher
Painting the Black Carl
Dueker
Dean Duffy Randy Powell
Izzy, Willy-Nilly Cynthia
Voigt
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
Vocational Guidance
Family Life
BOOK TALK:
Todd Bannister seems to be
living a charmed life. He is good looking, has a beautiful girlfriend,
makes good grades, and is star of the high school baseball team. In addition
he has Paulie Lockwood as a best friend. While Todd meets with coaches
and recruiters and keeps up with his studies, Paulie contents himself with
memorizing baseball stat’s, playing table top baseball, and thinking about
Todd’s future. They have known each other since Paulie was in 5th
grade and Todd was in 6th, and they played little league together.
When they are joking around about what they will be doing when Todd becomes
a Pro, Todd even says that Paulie will be his "personal manager", whatever
that means. But life is not always easy. Not only do Todd and Melissa break
up, but also the real crisis happens on the baseball field. Todd is hit
in the face with a baseball. As the story of Todd’s injury unfolds, we
learn that his eye is severely damaged. In his attempt to cheer and support
Todd, Paulie tries to get Melissa to become Todd’s girlfriend again, anything
to give his friend courage. Melissa tries to help Paulie when she says
"…You can’t live your life for another person." And so we recognize the
subplot of the story is about the vicarious life,
which Paulie is living through his friend, Todd. Eventually, Todd must
have the injured eye removed to keep his good eye from developing problems.
Paulie’s effort to help continue as he tries to convince Todd that he still
has a chance with the Pro’s. Todd tries to adjust to a life with only one
eye and for a while he does try to make a comeback on the baseball team.
The big question is can he make it, and can Paulie?
Hidden Talents
David Lubar
Tom Doherty Associates, 1999
213 pages
SUMMARY:
Thirteen-year-old Martin has
been kicked out of every school that he has ever attended. Edgeview Alternative
School is his last chance. In fact, it is the last chance for every student
who is attending the school. The students believe that they are the misfits
of society, mainly because everyone, including their parents, teachers,
and counselors, keeping telling they're misfits. Martin's problem is that
he has no respect for authority and he enjoys insulting anyone with authority.
At Edgeview, he associates with a group of five boys who have as many problems
as Martin. But the boys also possess psychic powers which
Martin discovers and he also
discovers a hidden talent that he himself possesses.
RELATED READINGS:
What’s So Super About the
Supernatural? Robert Gardner
A Gift Of Magic Lois
Duncan
A Voice in the Wind Kathryn
Lasky
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
Alternative School
Extrasensory Perception
Telekinesis
BOOK TALK:
Edgeview Alternative School
is the end of the road for Martin Anderson. He has been kicked out of every
school he has ever attended. Martin has a problem with anyone in authority.
Everyone, teachers, counselors, and even his parents have given up on Martin
– Edgeview is his last hope! Once he arrives at the alternative school,
Martin settles in with a unique group of other students: "Torchie" the
boy who starts fires and denies doing it, "Cheater" the boy who cheats
on every test and homework assignment, but swears he didn’t mean to, "Trash"
the boy who can smash an entire classroom in a number of minutes, and "Flinch"
the boy with the quickest reaction time on earth! Martin discovers that
his new friends are not really bad kids who should be sent to an alternative
school, but kids who posses psychic abilities. "Cheater" for example is
telepathic. He can read minds – that’s why he always had the same answers
on his tests as other people in the classroom. He tries to convince his
friends, but they don’t or want to believe him. They only believe they
are bad kids. Can Martin convince them they truly have psychic power and
what does in discover about himself in the process? Hidden Talents
by David Lubar.
Prepared by Patty Tucker.
Looking for Alibrandi
Melina Marchetta
Orchard Books, 1999
250 pages
SUMMARY:
Josephine Alibrandi faces
familiar problems of a high school senior: college admissions, her relationship
with her mother, and the opposite sex. In addition, Josie must deal with
deeper issues of being an outsider. She lives is Australia, but in a deeply
traditional Italian community. Worse, she must endure attitudes and comments
about her mother's status as an unwed mother. As Josie tries to balance
her desires and obligations, she meets the father she has never known and
begins to forge a relationship with him. This is a compelling coming-of-age
story of an engaging young lady.
RELATED READINGS:
Hope Was Here Joan
Bauer
The Raging Quiet Sherryl
Jordan
Breaking Rank Kristen
Randle
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
This is a different kind of
multi-cultural book, introducing readers to both Australian and Italian
cultures, with the attendant prejudices. Issues of relationships, family
ties, sexuality, and suicide receive frank treatment.
INTERNET SITES:
Melina
Marchetta
Review
BOOK TALK:
Josephine Alibrandi faces
the kinds of pressure that most high school seniors do--fitting in, finding
the right boy, breaking free from family expectations and restraints. Some
of her challenges, however, will introduce South Carolina students to a
different world. Josie is illegitimate and attends a Catholic school full
of wealthy students only because she is on a scholarship. Josie is also
Italian, living in Australia, and her circumstances introduce us to an
array of prejudices, based on both culture and class. As Josie grows toward
womanhood, she embraces life while negotiating difficult terrain. She must
choose between two very different boys who are interested in her, decide
whether she wants a relationship with the father who abandoned her and
her mother before she was born, and cope with some life-shattering situations.
Prepared by Beverly J. Jackson
Stonewall’s Gold
Robert J. Mrazek
St.Martin’s, 1999
223 pages
SUMMARY:
Fifteen-year-old Jamie is
thrown into an exciting, death defying adventure during the last cruel
winter of the Civil War when he recovers a map from a ruthless deserter
that turns out to be a treasure map for Stonewall Jackson’s gold.
RELATED READINGS:
With Every Drop of Blood
James Lincoln Collier
Red Badge of Courage Stephen
Crane
Amelia’s War Ann Rinaldi
In My Father’s House Ann
Rinaldi
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
Civil War
Stonewall Jackson
INTERNET SITES:
Stonewall
Jackson
BOOK TALK:
Fifteen-year-old Jamie and
his mother are trying to survive on their own while his father is away
fighting in the Civil War. They have to rent out a spare room in order
to eat, because the Yankees have destroyed everyone’s farms and crops.
Jamie’s life is almost destroyed by their last border. Someone is digging
up soldiers’ graves. Jamie catches their border in the act of searching
the bodies in the graves. When he discovers what the man is looking for,
his life is in serious danger. Other men are willing to kill him for the
information that he has taken from the border. Jamie has the map showing
where Stonewall Jackson’s gold is buried in his possession. He is thrown
into a death defying adventure with a mysterious, one-armed soldier and
a beautiful girl as they try to protect the Confederate gold from the renegade
soldiers.
In My Hands: Memories
of a Holocaust Rescuer
Irene Gut Opdyke with Jennifer Armstrong
Alfred A. Knopf, 1999
276 pages, including Photographs and References
SUMMARY:
Recounts the experiences of
the author who, as a young Polish girl, hid and saved Jews during the Holocaust.
RELATED READINGS:
Rescuers Defying the Nazis:
Non-Jewish Teens Who Rescued Jews Toby Axelrod
The Hidden Children of
the Holocaust: Teens Who Hid from the Nazis Esther Kustanowitz
Bearing Witness: Stories
of the Holocaust Hazel Rochman
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
Holocaust
World War II
Rescue of Jews during the
Holocaust
Righteous Gentiles of the
Holocaust
INTERNET SITES:
Interview
with Jennifer Armstrong
Review
Righteous
Gentiles
BOOK TALK:
When World War II began, Irene
Gutowa was a 17-year-old Polish nursing student. Six years later she felt
"a million years old." During these six years Irene was separated from
her family, raped by Russian soldiers, and forced to work in a hotel serving
German officers. Imagine dealing with all this at such a young age. Observing
the persecution of the Jews in the city Irene began leaving food and blankets
under the wall of the ghetto where all the Jews had to live. When she began
working in the hotel where the German officers were housed, Irene had to
supervise Jewish workers brought in from the concentration camp at Ternopol.
She befriended these Jews, and later, when she became housekeeper for a
German major, she hid her friends in the basement of his large villa. After
the major discovered the Jews in his house, Irene agreed to become his
mistress in order to buy his silence and keep her friends safe. This is
a powerful and moving story of extraordinary courage and moral conviction.
Please read In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene
Gut Opdyke. You won’t be able to put it down.
Prepared by Sara Curry
Breaking Rank
Kristen D. Randle
Morrow, 1999
201 pages
SUMMARY:
Baby defies his non-conformist
gang, the Clan, and takes a high school achievement test. He does so well
that he is placed in honors classes. To help him catch up, Casey an honors
student, agrees to tutor him. Tension mounts as expectations from home,
the Clan, and Casey pull Baby in all directions.
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
Gangs
Sociology
Psychology
Peer pressure
Character Education
RELATED READINGS:
Making Friends with Yourself
and Other Strangers Dianna Daniels Booher
Coping with Family Expectations
Margaret
Hill
Crews: Gang Members Talk
to Maria Hinojosa Maria Hinojosa, photographs German Perez
The Outsiders S.E.
Hinton
Gangs Karen Osman
Everyday Courage: The Lives
and Stories of Urban Teenagers Niobe Way
INTERNET SITES:
Kristen
Randle
Review
Peer
Tutoring
BOOK TALK:
Being a part of a non-conformist
group like the Clan should be easy, right? Then why does it take so much
effort? Baby, the little brother of clan leader Lenny, knows that he could
do well in school and decides to take an achievement test to see what he
could score. The results land Baby in honors classes, and for the first
time, a member of the clan has broken through the barrier of the "cribs".
Casey, a popular "crib", is assigned to tutor Baby with his classes and
soon they find out that they have more in common than they thought. How
will Lenny react when he finds his own brother has gone against the Clan
rules? How will Baby make it through the expectations that his mother and
Casey have for him? Will Baby be true to himself? Find out when you read
Breaking
Rank.
Letters from Vinnie
Maureen Stack Sappey
Front Street, 1999
248 pages
SUMMARY:
Young Vinnie Ream has always
dreamed of carving her Indian friends' faces into the rocks she knows in
her Arkansas home. Her family moves to Washington. DC during the Civil
War and Vinnie spend her late teens learning to sculpt and working on a
bust of President Lincoln.
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
Art and artists - biographical
fiction
Women - biographical fiction
Civil War
Family life
RELATED READINGS:
Across Five Aprils Irene
Hunt
Joan of Arc: the Lily Maid
Margaret
Hodges
Catherine, Called Birdy
Karen
Cushman
Lincoln : A Photobiography
Russell Freedman
BOOK TALK:
Vinnie's father can't survive
the poor economy in Arkansas prior to the Civil War. He sells his real
estate business and moves his family to Washington, DC in hopes of finding
employment in his former fields of surveyor or cartographer. Most of the
family is strongly in support of the Union point of view concerning the
political issues of the times. Young Vinnie is a staunch Unionist, proud
to have her father talk of political matters with her rather than treat
hers as though the unrest and impending war should not be a matter for
women to discuss. Vinnie is fiercely loyal to President Lincoln and determined
to assist in the union effort when war breaks out. Her family's reduced
straits are exacerbated when her brother runs away from home to join the
Rebel Army. The Ream family lodger helps Vinnie on several fronts, he finds
job for Vinnie, convinces her parents to allow her to work, and opens starts
Vinnie on the path that leads to her sculpting lesson and eventually the
statue of Lincoln.
INTERNET SITES:
Maureen
Stack Sappey
Review
Civil
War
Prepared by Linda Bryant
Downsiders
Neal Shusterman
Simon & Schuster, 1999
246 pages
SUMMARY:
In the sewers and subways
of New York City, a group of people called the Downsiders lives. They are
forbidden to go and have anything to do with the Topsiders. When Talon,
a teenage Downsider, goes above ground searching for medicine, he meets
Lindsay. Lindsay is very curious about Talon’s world, and he marvels at
hers. When a construction accident takes place, both teens must make decisions
that will affect the lives of others.
RELATED READINGS:
From the Mixed-Up Files
of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler E.L. Konigsburg
CURRICULUM TIE-INS:
New York City
Parent-child relationships
Subways
INTERNET SITES:
Neal
Shusterman
Review
New
York City Subways
BOOK TALK:
Did you know that beneath
the streets of New York City lies another world? The people who live there
are called the Downsiders, and they are forbidden to have anything to do
with the people who live topside. When Talon, a teenage Downsider, is forced
to go above ground in search of some medicine, he meets Lindsay, a teenage
girl. She becomes his guide to the outside world, and in turn he shows
her his world. But disaster looms for the Downsiders when a construction
accident takes place, and both teens will have to make important decisions.
Prepared by the South Carolina
Young Adult Book Award Committee 2000-2001.