Looking for Alaska

Green, John. Looking for Alaska. ISBN-10: 0142402516, ISBN-13: 9780142402511. Graphia. 2007.

Plot Summary
"Pudge" has left his friendless life behind in Florida in hopes of a better life at the Culver Creek Boarding School in Alabama. Things are immediately different when his roommate shows up and introduces Pudge to Alaska. She's beautiful, funny, rebellious, sexy and a mess. She fascinates him and makes him crazy with lust. That was all before what came after.

Critical Evaluation
All teens envision leaving behind bad times for what Pudge calls the "Great Perhaps" (from Rabelais). At his new boarding school, Culver Creek, he is able to shuck the boringness of the first 16 years of his life for the drinking, smoking and prank-pulling life with his roommate "the Colonel" and the Colonel's best friend, the beautiful Alaska. The two of them drag Pudge into the world and give him experiences beyond his wildest dreams. Interestingly, the book is in two parts (before and after), and further divided into the days "before" and the days "after." As the number of days before dwindles, readers wait with breaths held for what will happen. And when tragedy does strike, the characters and readers will realize that you can never go back, knowing what you now know. John Green weaves a story rich with the feelings young men have toward sex and love and friendship and how the three are vastly different. He ties humor into lives that are lacking any, and empathetic emotion where you least expect it.

Reader's Annotation
Pudge goes to boarding school to escape his boring life. He never expects to find the friends he does, or to fall in love with the funny, smart and {yet} sad Alaska, or to have to learn how to deal with losing her.

About the Author
John Green worked as a publishing assistant and production editor for Booklist during the years he wrote his first novel, Looking for Alaska. It was published in 2005 to excellent reviews—it went on to win the Michael L. Printz award in 2006, among many other accolades. His second novel for young adults, An Abundance of Katherines, was published in 2006, and followed by Paper Towns in 2008. Green also is working with David Levithan on the novel Will Grayson, Will Grayson. Green's books are full of feeling and hilarity while facing deep topics.

Genre
Boys/Men
Dating/Sex
Death/Dying

Curriculum Ties
no applications

Booktalking Ideas
Would you leave this life you're living now behind for another…
How would you cope with a friend's death…

Awards
Michael L. Prinze Award (2006)

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 15+

Why I included this title...
I have always heard good things about this book—it's a good one.

Slam

Hornby, Nick. Slam. ISBN-10: 1594483450, ISBN-13: 9781594483455. Riverhead Books. 2008.

Summary
Sam is a skater—not on ice, but on a board—which could be why Sam turned to Tony Hawk for someone to talk to. He "talks" to his poster of Tony and references the skater's autobiography when his life falls apart. He had this amazing girlfriend, then they broke up and now she's telling him that she's pregnant with Sam's baby. Sam was raised by a single, teen mom and he doesn't want that for his baby. But he's not sure he's ready to be dad either. He knows that he's got to do something, though.

Critical Evaluation
Sam is a normal fifteen year old. He was in love with a girl, then they weren't doing anything but having sex, and then they broke up. He was over her and thought everything was going great. That was until his whole life was upset with the news that his ex-girlfriend is pregnant with his baby. Without anyone else to talk to about this predicament, Sam channels the wise words of his skateboarding mentor, Tony Hawk, through the skater's autobiography. Mix that with the odd visions into his future, Sam starts to make very adult decisions. Nick Hornby gives us an inside look into the heart of boys and men. Teen girls will love knowing some of the things that go through a guys mind, and guys will be thankful to know that they aren't alone in their thoughts of fear and insecurity. The backcover of the book says, "Nick Hornby has made a career writing about men who act like boys. Now he gives us a boy who acts like a man…" Sam is very likable, unlike some of his other characters.

About the Author
English author Nick Hornby is another author who began his working life as a teacher. The Cambridge educated Hornby taught, worked for Samsung, and was a freelance journalist before becoming a novelist. He is better known for his books for adults. He started his career with the memoir (Fever Pitch) of his "support" for the Arsenal football (soccer) team. It was made into two movies: a British version with Colin Firth and the American version with Jimmy Fallon as the fervent fan of the Boston Red Sox. High Fidelity and About a Boy subsequently followed, and they were also made into major motion pictures starring John Cusak and Hugh Grand, respectively. In the last decade, he has written three other adult books (How to Be Good, A Long Way Down and Juliet Naked); in addition to Slam, his first young adult effort. Also, in the decade Hornby has collaborated with other authors to contribute to two short story collections—Big Night Out (2002) and Click (2007), edited an anthology (Speaking with the Angel, 2000), wrote several non-fiction books, and penned the Oscar nominated screenplay for "An Education."

Genre
Dating/Sex
Boys/Men

Curriculum Ties
Health: safe sex
Sociology: studying the value and effects of "family" on today's society

Booktalking Ideas
How would you react to being a teen mother/father…
How do you think your life would change…
Awards
Young Adult Library Services Association's Best Book for Young Adults (2008)

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 15+

Why I included this title...
I was lucky to meet Nick Hornby while at a YALSA luncheon! As a fan, I was excited to read his young adult book, but it sat on my shelf unread for three years. I read his new book (Juliet, Naked) this summer and couldn't agree more with the quote "Nick Hornby has made a career writing about men who act like boys. Now he gives us a boy who acts like a man…" I plan to leave this book out in hopes that my boys will read it in a couple of years.

More information
Nick Hornby's Official Website: http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/nickhornby/

Forever

Blume, Judy. Forever. ISBN-10: 054512367, ISBN-13: 9780545123266. Scholastic Press. 2009.

Summary
Forever is one of Judy Blume's most challenged books for its sexual content. More importantly, Forever is a book about true love that feels like it will last forever, and unfortunately it doesn't always happen that way. Katherine and Michael fall in love during their senior year of high school, and over a short period of time—and much discussion—they become intimate. They are sure that their love is true and will last forever. Change is on the way as high school ends and they have other big decisions to make.

Critical Evaluation
Forever is one of those books that is often challenged for its sexual content without taking into consideration the context and the responsibility taken into thought. It's also one of the books that isn't always read all of the way through, either because most young people skim its pages looking for the "good stuff", or the adults challenging it are also just looking for the "bad stuff.". The book is about Michael and Katherine who meet in their senior year and build this intense and passionate relationship. That passion for each other brings them to talking and experimenting with their sexual urges. Judy Blume writes about sex in a positive and upfront manner. The beauty of young adults reading this book is that even though all of the feelings that flood in so strongly during these heady times of first love sometimes have a tendency to quench themselves out. It isn't a how-to-have-sex book, it's more of a book about the realities of relationships.

Reader's Annotation
Katherine and Michael are in their senior year of high school, they are in love and they are on the verge of many decisions about the "firsts" in their lives.

About the Author
Judy Blume was born in New Jersey, and has said that she was always making up stories in her head. It wasn't until her own kids were in school did she start putting them on paper. She has written more than 20 books over the years. In the last four decades, she has written for children (The Fudge and Pain and the Great One series), for young adults (Are You There Go? It's Me Margaret, Then Again, Maybe I Won't, and Forever) and for adults. (Smart Women and Summer Sisters).

To no one's surprise, her adult books all spent time on the New York Times bestseller's list, while her books for children and young adults are often challenged and/or banned. Five of her books (Forever, Blubber, Deanie, Tiger Eyes and Are You There God? It's Me Margaret) were on the American Library Association's list of Top Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-09. Because of that scrutiny, she became an advocate for intellectual freedom working with writers, teachers and librarians to protect the freedom to read.

Genre
Girls/ Women
Romance
Banned/Challenged

Curriculum Ties
n/a

Booktalking Ideas
Even if you said you'd love someone forever, do you think that's an honest reality…
Does sex cement a relationship…

Challenges
Sexual Content
Awards
n/a

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 15+

Why I included this title...
I read just the "good parts" in high school, but was happy to read the whole thing again for my part of the Banned/Challenged presentation.

Deadline

Crutcher, Chris. Deadline. ISBN-10: 0060850914, ISBN-13: 9780060850913. Greenwillow Books. 2010.

Summary
Ben is going to die. Not some day, but within the year. He's decided to keep that "little" secret to himself. Armed with this knowledge, he's decided that he's going to live the last months of his life to the absolute fullest—he's going to give up the safety of cross-country for the dangers and glory of football, he's going to speak up in class and press his opinions, and most importantly, he's going to ask the gorgeous Dallas Suzuki out on a date, rather than love her from afar. Unfortunately, not everything goes exactly to Ben's plans. He learns that keeping secrets isn't necessarily the best method to keep from hurting people.

Critical Evaluation
Deadline is a touching book that addresses the question of what would you do if you knew you had nothing to lose. Ben wants to make the most of his last days. While he enjoys the chances he's taking, he sees that withholding the truth to those he loves the most, hurts them just as much as the truth could. Young adults will like the idea Ben's philosophy of "having nothing to lose" during his last days, and will see how honesty improves Ben's short life. It's a book that could be very sad, and whereas it is sad, it's also got humor at work at the same time.

Reader's Annotation
Deadline is a book about living one's life to the fullest, as Ben is faced with his death during his senior year of high school.

About the Author
Chris Crutcher one of those rarities: an Idaho author. He was raised near Boise, in a small logging town that is similar to the town of Trout that appears in some of his novels. He holds a degrees in psychology and sociology, and a teaching certificate. He's taught in California and Washington, where he ending his teaching career at an alternative school for at-risk kids. He then started another career as a therapist and child protection advocate while looking for a way to help support his writing habit in Spokane.

He's still in Spokane, and he relies heavily on the experiences as a teacher and family therapist to give his fiction life. His writing style brings reality to the forefront with amazing humor. He's written ten novels for young adults in the last three decades; as well as a small series called Stotan, a short story collection, Athletic Shorts and a memoir, King of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-Advised Autobiography. He is also often challenged and/or banned due to the real subjects of which he writes and the real language of teens. His book Whale Talk (2001) deals with issues of child abuse and drug abuse, and was 41^st on the American Library Association of the Top 100 Banned/Challenged books for the last decade. Coming in at 44^th on the same list, is his collection of short stories (Athletic Shorts, 1991), and at 85 is Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes (1993).

Crutcher was awarded the Margaret A. Edwards Award for a lifetime contribution to young adult literature in 2000.

Genre
Death/Dying
Frienship
Boys/Men

Challeneges
Death
Sexual Abuse
Language

Curriculum Ties
no applications

Booktalking Ideas
If you knew you had a fatal condition, would you tell everyone or would you keep it to yourself…
If you knew you had one year to live, what would you do…

Awards
n/a

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 15+

Why I included this title...
I heard Chris Crutcher speak at the Idaho Library conference, and couldn't believe I had never read his books.

More Information:
American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedbydecade/2000_2009/index.cfm

What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know

Sones, Sonya. What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know. ISBN-10: 0689876033, ISBN-13: 9780689876035. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing. 2007.

Summary
What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know is a sequel to What My Mother Doesn't Know. However we now get to hear from Robin Murphy, Sophie's sweet and artsy boyfriend. Everyone at school is as shocked at their relationship as Robin is, and because of it, Sophie and Robin are made to be outcasts in all of the social circles. And Robin is questioning the value of actually getting the thing you most want.

Critical Evaluation
In this novel that picks up where What My Mother Doesn't Know left off, Sonya Sones uses her familiar sparse free verse to tell Robin's side of the story and how he feels about Sophie. He knows she's now a social outcast because she is with him, and it's hard for him to see her suffering for being with him. He finds a bit of respite from the hard times of their high school when he enrolls in a college drawing class. Girls will be torn for their feelings of popularity and the love of Robin when reading this book. Guys will understand Robin's awkwardness and understand his torn feelings and the uncertainty about his sometimes-uncomfortable relationship with Sophie when a college student from his class takes an interest in him. All teen readers will appreciate both of the character's flaws, and applaud when they stand up to the bullies together!

Reader's Annotation
We met Sophie in What My Mother Doesn't Know, and now we get to meet her boyfriend, Robin Murphy. The couple is ridiculed and alienated at school, but come together to face their adversity.

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 movies as an editor and painted baby clothes for Neiman Marcus stores before enrolling in a poetry class at 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 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 incorporates bits of herself in each. 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 (1999). Sones was writing poems about her first love, and then she started thinking about all of the "firsts" in a young girl's life, and she used those thoughts for What My Mother Doesn't Know (2003). Next she incorporated her own story of an East coast girl moving to the West for One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies (2004). But then What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know (2007) came from letters asking the author for what happened next in Sophie's story. Sones says she wanted to know what happened too. Sones is currently working on her fifth novel.

Genre
Poetry and Verse
Dating and Sex
Adolescence

Challenges
Sexual Content

Curriculum Ties
English: writing a complete story in verse

Booktalking Ideas
How would you handle your whole school making fun of you and your new boyfrien…
Is it more important to be popular than to be happy…

Awards
n/a

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 14+

Why I included this title...
I wanted to see what happened with Sophie and Murphy, so I had to read it!

Boy Toy

Lyga, Barry. Boy Toy. ISBN-10: 0547076347, ISBN-13: 978547076348. Graphia. 2007.

Summary
Five years ago, Josh learned several things about himself—mainly that he knew how to please a woman. Sadly, five years ago, Josh was 12 years old and was having a very adult relationship with one of his teachers. Eve, the teacher, is now being paroled while Josh is trying to finish high school, improve on his already amazing baseball statistics, and start a relationship with Rachel. But he's still really angry—he flies off in violent rages; he can't commit to a relationship with Rachel because he's unsure of how to be in a real relationship, and he's holding on to a secret that everyone already knows. It's just time for him to know the truth too.

Critical Evaluation
Barry Lyga has taken a headline that is being seen more and more commonly, a teacher having a sexual relationship with one of her students. Josh is one of those students, and Eve was his teacher. He was seduced and convinced that he was in a loving relationship where this kind of behavior was acceptable. Five years later, he's still stuck in a mire of self-doubt, while searching for a little control in his life. The story is told in a flashbacks that he calls flickers where his mind drifts back to his time with Eve. The flickers slowly build up from grading papers, to kissing and then much more. Lyga's descriptions of Josh and Eve's relationship are honest, explicitly so. Older teens will understand many of Josh's feelings about relationships, ending high school and moving on. And all readers will get a better inkling into the mind of the silent male victim.

Reader's Annotation
Josh has been keeping a secret—but everyone already knows that he was a victim of molestation by his history teacher in seventh grade. He also needs to come to terms with the relationship, and the truth may release him.

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 spokeperson for industry and is 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, and 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 to The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl was published. He's also written books for middle schoolers, 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
Sexual Abuse
Dating/Sex

Challenges
Sexual Content

Curriculum Ties
Sociology: abundance of sexual abuse with female teachers and young male students

Booktalking Ideas
When you think about a female teacher having a sexual relationship with a male student, who do you think is to blame…
If you knew your best friend had been molested by a teacher, what would you do to be a friend and support him?

Awards
n/a

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 16+

Why I included this title...
I stumbled on this one by accident... and as Bob Ross used to say, "it's a happy accident". I'm very glad to have found Barry Lyga.

*On the first Saturday in May, participating stores join in to the industry-wide promotion.

Bob Ross was a painter, who created beautiful landscapes and entertained many for years on PBS channels.

What My Mother Doesn’t Know

Sones, Sonya. What My Mother Doesn't Know. ISBN-10: 0689855532, ISBN-13: 9780689855535 . Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing. 2003.

Summary
Sophie has a lot going on. She's new to high school, her parents have kind of checked-out on her, she's infatuated with the super-hot Dylan, she's crushing on sweet and smart "Murphy" and she's chatting with mysterious Chaz online. And while she and her friends are all talk about suffering from the common disease of "lackonookie," Sophie realizes that while her sometimes-reluctantly hooking-up with Dylan isn't as good as just being with Murphy.

Critical Evaluation
Sonya Sones tells Sophie's story in a series of free verse poems. She taps into the mind, body and heart of a young woman as she poignantly chronicles Sophie's freshman year of high school complete with her lusty thoughts, her fears, her insecurities over her height, and her frustrations with her remote father and her soap-opera addicted mother. Teens will love the honesty of Sophie's lustful thoughts, and older readers will remember when they too felt that way.

Reader's Annotation
Join Sophie as she enters high school and learns about love, lust and friendship. Sonya Sones perfectly chronicles this year of Sophie's life in short free verse poems.

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 and Verse
Dating & Sex
Adolescence

Curriculum Ties
English: writing a complete story in verse

Booktalking Ideas
When you're older, what parts of your teen years will you remember? Be embarrassed of? Want to share with others…
Do you know the difference between lusting over a hottie and being in love with someone, and how do you get your body not to betray you…

Awards
Iowa Teen Book Award (2005)
Michigan Thumb's Up Award Honor Book (2002)
American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults (2002)
International Reading Associate Young Adults Choice (2003)
Booklist Editor's Choice (2001)

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 14+

Why I included this title...
This is another book that was recommended to me by one of my young adult patrons.

Second Helpings

McCafferty, Megan. Second Helpings. Performers: ISBN-10 0609807919, ISBN-13 9780609807910. Three Rivers Press. 2003.

Summary
Second Helpings is obviously the second book in the Jessica Darling series. This sequel picks up with Jessica as a senior, but in addition to her problems with her parents, her sister and her annoying so-called friends, Jess is realizing that high school is almost over and is college looming in her future. Marcus is becoming more of a distracting reality that is becoming harder to ignore. But does he fit into Jess's future, or does she fit into his?

Critical Evaluation
Jessica Darling is back and is as hilarious as ever, and yet is still struggling to cope with her life. Her parents aren't going to pay for college, her sister is newly married and newly pregnant, her so-called friends are still annoying her, she's still missing her best friend Hope… and she's still just as confused over her feelings for the new and improved Marcus. Again, Jess's truthful struggles will strike a chord with young adults who are facing their own high school days coming to an end, as well as those who lived through it and can look back and laugh.

Reader's Annotation
Angst-y Jessica Darling is finishing her high school days, still plagued with the ridiculousness of it, facing college life and still wondering what Marcus is thinking.

About the Author
Megan McCafferty worked for Cosmopolitan as the senior articles editor, and has written for Glamour, CosmoGIRL! and several others before setting down to write. McCafferty, like Jessica, lives in New Jersey.
The Jessica Darling series includes five books, all chronicling Jessica through high school, college and grad school. McCafferty is also working on another book that's set in a dystopian world where only teen girls can reproduce. She has worked as editor and/or contributor on several fiction and non-fiction anthologies, such as Everything I Learned About Being a Girl, I learned from Judy Blume.

Genre
Girls/Women
Dating/Sex

Curriculum Ties
n/a

Booktalking Ideas
Are you ready to leave high school for the unknown-land of college…
At the end of it all, would you change anything about your high school experience…

Challenges
Sexual Content
Language
Parental Angst

Awards
Booklist Editor's Pick for one of the best novels of 2003

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 14+

Why I included this title...
After Sloppy Firsts, I was hooked on the series.

Sloppy Firsts

McCafferty, Megan. Sloppy Firsts. Performers: ISBN-10 0609807900, ISBN-139780609807903. Three Rivers Press. 2001.

Summary
Sloppy Firsts is the first book in the Jessica Darling series, and we meet Jessica as she has been left to face her New Jersey high school without her best friend, Hope. Without Hope, {plenty of irony intended} Jessica has no one to discuss all of her issues like her parents, her sister's wedding, her track meets, stupid school stuff, her other so-called-friends and their boy-craziness… and Marcus Flutie.

Critical Evaluation
Jessica Darling is a hilarious every-girl type of a character because most readers will have had been in her shoes at some point in high school and wear the same battle scars. Watching Jess navigate her way through high school without her best friend, Hope, and her new found feelings for the puzzling and smart Marcus Flutie who worked his way into her thoughts endears her to you. She is full of clever and funny insight, and tells her story with poignant honesty. Young adults will immediately both sympathize and commiserate with this one of a kind heroine!

Reader's Annotation
Jessica Darling travels the perilous days of high school missing her best friend, hanging with her other so-called friends and crushing on one of the last boys she ever thought about.

About the Author
Megan McCafferty worked for Cosmopolitan as the senior articles editor, and has written for Glamour, CosmoGIRL! and several others before setting down to write. McCafferty, like Jessica, lives in New Jersey
The Jessica Darling series includes five books, all chronicling Jessica through high school, college and grad school. McCafferty is also working on another book that's set in a dystopian world where only teen girls can reproduce. She has worked as editor and/or contributor on several fiction and non-fiction anthologies, such as Everything I Learned About Being a Girl, I learned from Judy Blume.

Genre
Girls & Women
Coming of Age

Curriculum Ties
Music: Seattle's Grunge

Booktalking Ideas
How would you tell your best friend that you're crushing on one of the guys that was with her brother when he overdosed…

Challenges
Sexual Content
Language
Parental Angst

Awards
ALA Top 10 Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 14+

Why I included this title...
In 2001, I picked this book up because of the lime green cover, and now I chose it because it's one of my favorite series.

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