One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies

Sones, Sonya. One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies. ISBN-10: 1416907882, ISBN-13: 9781416907886. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing. 2004.

Summary
Ruby's mom has died. But that's not the only problem: Ruby has to leave her Boston home, her Boston friends and her Boston boyfriend to move across the country to live with her father. Her father is a famous movie star who left Ruby's mom before she was born, and Ruby has turned her grief for her mother to anger toward her father. She's hateful, ungrateful and refuses to show her father any love. But there is more to the story of her father, and it'll take an act of God to help Ruby see that.

Critical Evaluation
Sonya Sones uses epistolary (emails mostly) free verse to tell the story of Ruby. Her mother dies from cancer and she is forced to leave Boston and move to Los Angeles to live with her movie star dad. She's grief-stricken, and funnels that grief to fuel her anger at the dad she never knew because he took off before she was born. She tortures him at every turn—his famous friends, her beautiful room in his mansion, rejecting his endeavors to get to know her. Ruby relies on her emails to her best friend and boyfriend who she left back in Boston, as well as her dead mother and her father's live-in trainer/personal assistant. Young adult readers will side with Ruby over her misery of having to leave her friends, and may understand her anger toward her dad. She's a smart character who tells a great story that twists with an earth-shattering earthquake.

Reader's Annotation
Fifteen year old Ruby has just lost her mom to cancer, and is now living in her movie star dad's Los Angeles mansion—a world away from her best friend and boyfriend she left in Boston. She finds relief in her misery by writing emails to them and even to her dead mother, until an act of God shakes up what she thought she knew.

About the Author
Sonya Sones has spent most of her life drawing, animating or editing something or another. The Boston native was educated at Hampshire college, has taught a Harvard, worked in the film industry as an editor and painted baby clothes for Neiman Marcus stores before enrolling in a poetry class at the University of California-Los Angeles. She had an influential professor who guided her into writing her first book Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy in 1999. In over the last decade, she has written four young adult novels, three short stories and one children's picture book—Violet and Winston—with her husband Bennett Tramer.

In her young adult novels, Sones often incorporates bits and pieces of herself in each book. Inspired by her professor and the actual events surrounding her mentally ill sister, Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy was written first (1999). Sones was writing poems about her first love, and then started thinking about all of the "firsts" in a young girl's life, and she used many those thoughts for What My Mother Doesn't Know (2003). Next she incorporated her own story of an East coast girl relocating to the West coast for One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies (2004). What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know (2007) came from the copious amount of letters asking the author for what happened next in Sophie's story. Sones says she wanted to know what happened too, so she wrote the sequel. Sones is currently working on her fifth novel.

Genre
Poetry/Verse
Death/Dying
Adolescence

Challenges
Homosexuality

Curriculum Ties
English: writing a complete story in verse

Booktalking Ideas
How willing would you be to pick up and move across the country just because your mom has died and you're now forced to live in a Los Angeles mansion…
Do you think you can tell a whole story using free verse poetry tucked into emails…

Awards
Tennessee Volunteer State Teen Read Award (2006)
Iowa Golden Apple Teen Read Award (2006)
Rhode Island Teen Book Award (2006)
New Hampshire Isinglass Teen Read Award (2006)
South Carolina Mustang Book Award (2005)
Cuffie Award from Publisher's Weekly for Best Book Title of the Year (2006)
Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association (2005)

… and numerous nominations

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 14+

Why I included this title...
Sonya Sones' What My Mother Doesn't Know was recommended to me, and so I wanted to see if her other books were as good… this one was better!

Goth Girl Rising

Lyga, Barry. Goth Girl Rising. ISBN-10: 0547076645, ISBN-13: 9780547076649. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2009.

Summary
In this sequel to The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, Kyra (also known as Goth Girl) has just been released from the Maryland Mental Health Unit after a 6-month stay. She comes out just as angry as she was when she went in and is now looking for the one person she knows understands her. When she finds Fanboy, she's devastated by the change in him. He's unrecognizable, and her fury for her dad overflows over to Fanboy. She's set on destroying his new found confidence and popularity, by exposing that Schemata (his comic book) is nothing that his classmates think it is. Goth Girl's ire is rising, but will revenge quench it?

Critical Evaluation
This time around, Barry Lyga focuses in on Goth Girl, and goes deeper into explaining who she is and what made her. Her stay in the Maryland Mental Hospital has done nothing for her attitude. She's still angry at the world. She's especially livid with her father for putting her in the hospital, and with Fanboy who has transformed from the quiet loner she left behind into someone she doesn't recognize. Fueled with her rage, she emotionally tortures her dad, and plots to ruin Fanboy's popularity and expose his comic book. Kyra remembers Fanboy's book as an homage to a senior Fanboy had a crush on, but hasn't seen how it's change to reflect a very different heroine.

Kyra is a hard character to like, but readers will be able to relate with her feelings of isolation. Her alienation and loneliness is particularly hard to face for her, as life has gone on while she was away. And other readers will find that Kyra's friends to be irritating with their unoriginal thoughts, their replication of her all-white style, and their constant need to hook-up. Readers will see that the poem that grows throughout the novel shows that Kyra's anger goes very deep, and Goth Girl is an antihero you hope finds her way.

Reader's Annotation
Goth Girl has been in the mental hospital because she took his bullet and the gun. Now that she's been released, Goth Girl is searching for Fanboy and realizes he's not the same boy she left behind… and she remembers it was HE who called her dad, making him as much to blame as her dad for putting her in the hospital. And she's looking for revenge.

About the Author
Barry Lyga is the popular author of The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, as well as a collector and activist of comic books. After he graduated from Yale (with a degree in English) he went to work in the comic book world, and he was a major player in the development of Free Comic Book day*. He served as the spokesperson for industry and is well-quoted in numerous publications as well as penning a book on the topic on incorporating these graphic materials into schools and school libraries.

Lyga changed gears a bit when he jumped into the realm of young adult novels. He used his vast comic book knowledge to write the rave-reviewed young adult book The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl in 2006. Boy Toy followed in 2007, and it was garnered enthusiastic reviews. In 2008, Hero-Type was released, and then in 2009 Goth Girl Rising the sequel toThe Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl was published. He's also written books for middle school aged readers, short stories, a film and copious articles and essays. Lyga was named a "Flying Start" from Publisher's Weekly for his strong debut in 2006.

Genre
Girls/Women
Mental Illness
Death/Dying

Challenges
Sexual Content
Language
Parental Angst

Curriculum Ties
Psychology: teen depression and suicide

Booktalking Ideas
At what lengths would you go to extract revenge…

Awards
n/a

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 15+

Why I included this title...
After reading The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl I needed to know what happened to Kyra. And I'm adding Barry Lyga to my list of favorite authors.

Sports Illustrated

Levine, Adam, editor. Sports Illustrated. Time Inc.: New York: 2010.

Summary
Sports Illustrated gives readers the information they want on almost all sports played in America and beyond. A typical issue will focus on the sports in season covering both the professional and collegiate realms. Most issues also offer information on the lives (and sometimes deaths) of athletes of interest. There are regular columns with well respected experts in the sports arena and factoid sections in each issue The cover photography alludes to an important upcoming game or event, while on page three is the complete "lineup" or table of contents. The photography in Sports Illustrated covers sports in a way that captures the spirit of the game or player. It's very artistic and dramatic.

Critical Evaluation
Sports Illustrated is a weekly magazine that reports on what's happening in the world of sports. The cover articles are always the longest, spanning two or three pages, while other articles are shorter than a page, or in the shape of a factoid box. This allows readers to be able to easily finish any article over their morning cereal. The factoids can be quickly scanned quick reading entertainment and good-to-know sports statistics/trivia. The section called "Faces in the Crowd" will appeal to young adults because it highlights the achievements of the country's best high school athletes. Both guys and girls who are interested in sports will enjoy the weekly Sports Illustrated. And with the different lengths of articles, readers with different the reading abilities will get something from the magazine.

Genre
Sports
Popular Culture

Challenges
Sexual Content— in advertisements and the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue

Curriculum Ties
Physical Education: the power of sports on a body
Psychology: the power of sports on the mind
Booktalking Ideas
Does knowing about an athlete's personal life change how you view them as a professional…
Are professional athletes role models? Overpaid? Rock stars…

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 12+

Why I included this title...
This is a popular magazine with all ages, and I noticed that both of my tweens read it while eating breakfast.

Graphic from rant.sportslizard.com. Retrieved from http://rant.sportslizard.com/2007/08/18/my-new-favorite-custom-mcfarlane/ on December15, 2010.

Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty

Neri, Greg, writer. Randy Duburke, illustrator. Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty. ISBN-10: 1584302674, ISBN-13: 9781584302674. Lew & Low Books. 2010.

Summary
"Yummy" is the nickname for an eleven year old boy, Robert Sandifer. In 1994, Yummy was responsible for the stray bullet that killed another kid, a 14-year old girl from the same Chicago Southside neighborhood. In the span of three days, we see Yummy running and hiding from the police and eventually his own gang. The narrator, Roger, gives a insight into who Yummy is and the system that, in the end, may have failed Yummy and many other children like him.

Critical Evaluation
In stark, black and white illustrations, Yummy is a graphic novel about the very short life of the real Robert Sandifer, aka Yummy. He was 11 years old when he shot and killed 14 year old Shavon Dean. The story is told through the eyes of a fictional classmate of Yummy's, Roger. And he is the voice that asks the questions about how Yummy turned out like he did: Was it the dangerous Roseland neighborhood? Was it the attraction of gang life to fill in where his family was absent? It's impossible to know what happened to Yummy, but readers can look at this graphic novel as a cautionary tale for their own futures.

Reader's Annotation
The Roseland neighborhood in Chicago's Southside is a dangerous place to grow up. Watch how a boy who loved sweets, dubbed Yummy, became an 11 year old murderer.

About the Author
Greg Neri is the author of several books for children and young adults, a producer of interactive media projects for clients like Reebok, Disney and Mercedes Benz, writer and director of three films and the winner of numerous awards. He currently lives in Florida, but graduated from University of California-Santa Cruz with a degree in theater arts which explains his wide range of projects. Yummy began as a movie project and after 12 years, it became a graphic novel.

Illustrator Randy Duburke was born in Georgia, lived in New York and now resides in Switzerland with his family. Over his 20 year career, he has worked on comic books, book cover art, children's picture books, and animation. Duburke was awarded the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe award for best new talent/illustration for his first children's book, Moon Ring, in 2003. Now he is committed to his time to work on illustrating children's books and graphics novels.

Genre
Graphic Novel
Biography
Violence
Boys/Men

Challenges
Violence

Curriculum Ties
Sociology: Chicago's Southside Roseland neighborhood
Sociology: Gangs as family
Current Events: Gang Violence

Booktalking Ideas
What were you thinking about when you were 11… shooting another kid to into a gang…

Awards
Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2010
Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2010
Booklist Best Books of 2010
School Library Journal's Fuse #8: 100 Magnificent Children's Books of 2010 List

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 13+

Why I included this title...
I read the review in Booklist.

Emily the Strange: The Lost Days

Reger, Rob, author/illustrator. Jessica Gruner, co-writer. Buzz Parker, co-illustrator. Emily the Strange: The Lost Days. ISBN-10: 0601452297, ISBN-13: 9780601452291. Harper Collins. 2009.

Summary
In the town of Blackstone, a girl is sweeping out a coffee shop for sandwiches, sleeping in a cardboard lean-to with four cats and has amnesia. She doesn't know who she is, why she's in Blackstone, but she knows there are things that need to be found out, and found out quickly because not knowing who she is is becoming a bother.

Critical Evaluation
Emily is in a town that she's never visited before as far as she knows, but then again she's got amnesia so she doesn't even know that she is Emily or why she's in this strange town. Readers who have read about Emily's other adventures will be caught up in the mysteries that abound in Blackstone, with her barista Raven, and with the other cast of characters that are part of the puzzle. Written in Emily's well-known lists and journal entries, fans will enjoy the ninth book in the Emily collection.

Reader's Annotation
Blackstone is a town that has neither stones nor anything black other than the four cats that follow around a girl who wears the same black dress every day. But all will be explained after the amnesia has expired, and Emily is back to being herself.

About the Author
Emily the Strange is the product of Rob Reger. He started with her image on t-shirts and skateboards and now has over 10 books dedicated to Emily, her cats and her adventures. Emily's iconic image has become a fashion brand known around the world.

Genre
Mystery
Illustrated Novel (not a graphic novel)

Challenges
n/a

Curriculum Ties
n/a

Booktalking Ideas
If you could give yourself amnesia, would you…

Awards
n/a

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 13+

Why I included this title...
This book was given to me because the spine was broken by a patron. After ordering a replacement, I started reading because I liked her lists.

More Information
Rob Reger. http://robreger.com/

Transformers (DVD)

Transformers. Actors: Shia Labeouf, Megan Fox, Jon Voight, and Josh Duhamel. ASIN: B000VR0570. Dreamworks Video. 2007.

Plot Summary
Director Michael Bay and producer Steven Spielberg bring to life the epic battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons. The battle of good versus evil comes crashing to Earth in a fast-paced and exciting movie full of special effects. Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is a geeky kid who holds the only clue that holds the key to ultimate domination. He joins forces with Bumblee, gets to hang out with the hot chick and save the world.

Critical Evaluation
Transformers is an oft-told tale of good versus evil. The new version draws on the long running franchise, multiple television versions as well as the toys from the 80's, to bring this action-packed DVD to a wide range of viewers. The movie offers amazing special effects and a story that carries the concept far past the merchandise. It's the special effects—not the plot or dialog that will suck young adults in, and leave them wanting more.

Reader's Annotation
The epic battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons comes to Earth, and an Earthling, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) holds the only clue that holds the key to ultimate power.

Genre
Science Fiction
Young Men
Friendship

Curriculum Ties
n/a

Booktalking Ideas
How would you handle your car coming to life and dragging you into a battle for world domination?

Awards
Saturn Award for Best Special Effects from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films (2008)
BMI Film Music Award (2008)
Blimp Award for Favorite Movie from Kid's Choice Awards (2008)
Best Movie of the Year from MTV Movie Awards (2008)
and several awards for visual effects from the Visual Effects Society (2008)

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 10+

Why I included this title...
Even with bad reviews for plot, acting and dialog, this franchise is wildly popular.

Graphic from worstpreviews.com. Retrieved from http://www.worstpreviews.com/forums/showthread.php?789-Transformers-DVD-Cover-and-Specs December 14, 2010.

Little Brother

Doctorow, Cory. Little Brother. ISBN-10 076531983, ISBN-13 9780765319852. Tor Teen. 2008.

Summary
San Francisco is attacked by terrorists, and Marcus and his friends are caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. All of the sudden, an afternoon of skipping school has turned sour for this group of high schooler hackers. They are arrested, detained and caught in a brutal struggle with the Department of Homeland Security, as the DHS has made San Fransico a police state where everyone is a suspect—especially anyone who is smart enough to see through the DHS online privacy invations. Marcus sees a way to expose the travesties of the DHS, but can he and a group of other teen hackers fight back against the government?

Critical Evaluation
Little Brother is George Orwell's 1984 for a new generation. A group of very savvy hackers are skipping school when their lives are changed forever. They are detained and viciously mistreated by the Department of Homeland Security in the name of keeping San Francisco safe from further terrorist attacks. But Marcus and his friends see that it's perhaps the zealots of DHS who are causing much of the panic. Young adult readers who understand the hacker technology will enjoy that aspect of the novel, but there is a strong story to keep other readers gripped until the end of the book.

Reader's Annotation
Marcus is smart, but is he smart enough to fight back against the government who think he's guilty of treason?

About the Author
Cory Doctorow is far more than a Canadian science fiction author. He's a co-founder of a company for software sharing, an activist, blogger, editor of a weblog BoingBoing as well as contributor to The Guardian, Wired and many other websites, magazines and newspapers. He's been nominated for several awards like the Hugo and Nebula, and has won the Locus and Sunburst Awards which celebrates excellence in Canadian Literature.

Maybe many of his post-scarcity ideas come from being raised by extremely motivated activist parents. That idea of practically free good for all and the common threads of digital rights management and file sharing flow through Doctorow's fiction and non-fiction work. He has served on several boards that support his passion, as well as serving in several visiting and virtual teaching positions.

Genre
Science Fiction
Young Men
Friendship

Curriculum Ties
History: Government

Booktalking Ideas
Would you fight back against the government if you felt they were wrong...

How would you rebel against your government if you felt you were wrongly accused…

Awards
American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults

Challenges

Anti-Governement issues

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 15+

Why I included this title...
Again this is a book I might not have chosen on my own; but, as it was required, I read it and found myself enjoying the story.

More Information
Powells.com.http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-9780765319852-13

Leftovers

Wiess, Laura. Leftovers. ISBN-10 1416546626, ISBN-13 9781416546627. MTV Books. 2008.

Summary
During the course of a year, Ardith and Blair change from happy ninth-graders to bitter-justice-seeking sophomores. They each tell their side of this heartrending story that involves their parents, their classmates who tease and torment those who are a bit different, and the boys who take whatever they want without facing any real consequences. Blair and Ardith are voices from the growing group of today's teens who are written off and overlooked for not fitting into the norm, or those who are doing the overlooking.

Critical Evaluation
Leftovers is a heartbreaking tale of two girls who are trying to find their place in the world, but find it hard when their worlds are on shaky ground. Blair is a mere accessory to her mother's legal career ambitions, and Ardith is a prude in her parent's free and easy world. At school the girls are ridiculed, and over the course of a year, they seek to find justice in an unjust world. Although, they think they brought fairness, they are just pawns in the bigger picture. Many readers will identify with the feelings of isolation, betrayal and the need for justice.

Reader's Annotation
Blair and Ardith seek revenge and justice from the people in their lives that have betrayed and isolated them.

About the Author
Laura Wiess is a New Jersey native, who now lives in the Endless Mountain region of Pennsylvania. She is the author of critically acclaimed novels often deal with the silent voices of victimized adolescent girls, and their poignant, desperate need for revenge.

Over the years, Wiess has worked at several other jobs before becoming the author of three novels for young adults. It's the times as a bartender and waitress, to which she credits her gathering of customer's stories to add to her own writing material.

Genre
Girls/Women
Friendship

Curriculum Ties
no applications

Booktalking Ideas
What would you do to get back at someone who hurt you…
At what lengths would you go for justice…

Awards
American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults

Challenges
Sexual Content
Alcohol Usage

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 15+

Why I included this title...
I like the books being published by MTV Books because they seem to be a little more gritty and hard-edged.

More Information
Laura Wiess/Simon & Schuster. http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Laura-Wiess/35363023/author_revealed

Wolf by the Ears

Rinaldi, Ann. Wolf by the Ears. ISBN-10: 0590434128 , ISBN-13: 9780590434126 . Scholastic Paperbacks. 1993

Summary
Sally Hemings is said to be the mistress of the great American Thomas Jefferson, and is said to have mothered several of his children. Wolf by the Ears is a fictional account of one of their children, Harriet. She has grown up in comfort and protection on the plantation of Monticello. She worked little, was tutored much and faced little of the real world of slavery in America. However, now at 19, she has been offered her freedom on her 21^st birthday. This is a frightening thought, because if she stays at Monticello, she'll remain a slave; but if she leaves, she leaves her family and her race behind.

Critical Evaluation
RInaldi weaves a story from pieces of legend and speculation. However, the story has a strong readability factor because there is always the mystery of whether or not Thomas Jefferson carried on a long-time affair with Sally Hemings and fathered several children with her. Young adults may be intrigued in the slavery and second-class status yoking the African-Americans at Monticello. Harriet's inner struggle to stay or go will also appeal to readers who are on their own paths of independence.

Reader's Annotation
Alleged daughter to Thomas Jefferson, Harriet Hemings faces a life of comfortable slavery or braving the unknown as a free "passing" white woman.

About the Author
Ann Rinaldi began her writing career as a weekly columnist with the Somerst Messenger Gazette in 1969. But it was her son's involvement in Revolutionary War reenactments that piqued her interest in history. By the early 1980's, she finished her first book, Time Enough for Drums and thus begun a career that has given young adult readers over 40 titles.

Rinaldi writes young adult historical fiction in hopes to interest readers in the great history of our country. Not only does she hope to grab the imaginations of older teens, she writes for younger readers in the Dear America series.

Genre
Historical

Challenges
Sexual content

Slavery

Curriculum Ties
History: Thomas Jefferson

Booktalking Ideas
Could you leave the only life you've ever known, for the "promise" of a better life…
If you could "pass" for something your weren't, would you fool people for a better life…

Awards
American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 15-18

Why I included this title...
This is an interested topic to me… how often did this happen and how often were these children treated like pets rather than regular slaves…?