Prom

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Prom. ISBN-10: 0142405701, ISBN-13: 9780142405703. Puffin Books. 2006.

Summary
After the math teacher runs off with all of the money for the senior prom, Ashley and her friends have to scramble for the next eleven days to get the prom off the ground. The problem is that Ashley doesn't care. She's got a lot going on in her life: she's struggling to graduate, has to wear a nasty rat costume and serve pizza to bratty kids, her mom is very pregnant and her drop-out boyfriend has ideas about Ashley's future than don't match her own. But between her prom-crazy aunts, and her friend Nat's relentless belief in the "prom cause" Ashley is dragged into helping the committee get creative and put together a great prom for their low-income high school.

Critical Evaluation
The concept of an elaborate prom in this low-income neighborhood high school is one that would appear depressing because not only did the math teacher run off with the money, the school authorities seem apathetic, and it doesn't sound like any of these girls can afford the niceties they dream of for the perfect prom. Laurie Halse Anderson takes this disheartening situation and tries to infuse some comedy with Ashley's prom-fanatical and boisterous aunts, her friend Nat who will stop at nothing to have the prom of her dreams and Nat's grandma who is a "little" crazy. Fans of Speak and Twisted maybe disappointed, but other readers may enjoy the comedic change of pace from Anderson.

Reader's Annotation
Ashley is caught up in planning a prom she doesn't care about when the money goes missing with the math teacher. Together with friends and families, the prom committee works to all of their prom dreams come true.

About the Author
Laurie Halse Anderson is a native to New York state, and is where she currently lives and writes. The bestselling author writes books for kids of all ages, but is possibly best known for her young adult novels. Her debut novelSpeak was a National Book Award finalist, a New York Times bestseller and a Printz Honor book. Catalyst followed in 2003, Prom in 2006 and Twisted in 2008—all of which touching on tough subjects with delicacy and the right amount of humor.

Anderson is also very well known for her American History picture books that highlight the women who also helped shape our country. Vet Volunteers is a chapter book series written for elementary readers. While Anderson alternates between her projects, she is often recognized for her outstanding efforts. She was presented with 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award forCatalyst, Fever 1793 and Speak. In 2008, she received the ALAN Award for her "outstanding contribution to the field of adolescent literature. And in April 2010, she was chosen to be the School Library Month spokesperson by the American Association of School Librarians.

Genre
Girls/Women
Adolescence

Curriculum Ties
n/a

Booktalking Ideas
How far would you go to help a friend?…
Given a situation that seems hopeless, are you able to see around the limitations for a solution or hit the brick wall…

Awards
n/a

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 15-18

Why I included this title...
I really enjoyed Speak and Twisted… and I thought I'd enjoy this one too.

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!

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!

Twisted

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Twisted. ISBN-10: 014131088X, ISBN-13: 9780141310886. Puffin. 1999.

Summary
Before his senior year, Tyler was a nobody. He was invisible, but that's all changed due to his creative graffiti on the school walls and his summer spent in punishment working hard-labor outside. His reputation and his body have changed. He's no longer lurking in the shadows, and he's caught the attention of his crush and super-popular Bethany. This leads to conflicts at school because she is the sister to his archenemy, Chip. And this makes home awkward as she's also the daughter of his Dad's boss. As the story unfolds, Tyler's got to deal with his feelings to find out what kind of man he really is, or is growing to be.

Critical Evaluation
So many times books are written to help girls who suffer from social issues, but in Twisted Laurie Halse Anderson opens up the heart and mind a teen called Tyler. He's always been an outsider, and would still be overlooked if not for his crazy act of rebellion where he vandalized his school. His crime changed his reputation, and his punishment of manual labor changed his body. The superficial changes bring the attention of Tyler's crush, an equally superficial Bethany. He's now caught in the dilemma of what does a man do when he's got what he wants and it's nothing like he thought it'd be. Young readers will be acquainted with the inner conflicts of sex and love, drinking and partying, school, and parental issues.

Reader's Annotation
Now that Tyler is popular and attention-worthy, he needs to face the ethical quandaries of being a man in the world today.

About the Author
Laurie Halse Anderson is a native to New York state, and that is where she currently lives and writes. The bestselling author writes books for kids of all ages, but is maybe best known for her young adult books. Her debut novel Speak was a National Book Award finalist, a New York Times bestseller and a Printz Honor book. Catalyst followed in 2003, Prom in 2006 and Twisted in 2008—all of which touching on tough subjects with delicacy and the right about of humor.

Anderson is also very well known for her American History picture books that highlight the women who also helped shape our country. Vet Volunteers is a chapter book series written for elementary readers. Anderson alternates between her projects all the while being presented with 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award for Catalyst, Fever 1793 and Speak. In 2008, she received the ALAN Award for her "outstanding contribution to the field of adolescent literature. And in April 2010, she was chosen to be the School Library Month spokesperson by the American Association of School Librarians.

Genre
Boys/Men
Adolescence

Challenges
Underage Drinking
Sexual Content

Curriculum Ties
n/a

Booktalking Ideas
When faced with getting the very thing you wanted and realizing that it's all wrong, how do you respond…
How do you shake the reputation that people gave you when they only know what they think you do without really getting to know you …

Awards
n/a

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 15+

Why I included this title...
Often the feelings of young men are overlooked, and this book is a great look inside the feelings of a guy.

The Pigman

Zindel, Paul. The Pigman. ISBN-10: 0553263218, ISBN-13: 9780553263213. Batnam Books. 1983.

Summary
Two pranksters, John and Lorraine, meet Mr. Pignati while trying to prank him out of ten dollars for the fictitious "L&J Fund." When they go to collect their money from the Pigman, a relationship is started as the teens realize that the old, bald fat man is all alone. Mr. Pignati is more than happy to take on the role as a father-figure to the jaded, bored and alienated teens. Sadly, he isn't well, and suffers a heart attack while skating with the teens. John and Lorraine betray him by having a party in his house and the man's prized possessions are destroyed. Learning that John and Lorraine are responsible for betrayal, Mr. Pignati has another heart attack, this time a fatal one.

Critical Evaluation
This novel was first published in 1968, and yet its story still stands true. John and Lorraine learn that life isn't meaningless when there is love. That is the legacy that was left to them by their friend Mr. Pignati. Unfortunately, they learned it too late and promise to tell the story of their friendship with the Pigman as honestly as they can. Mr. Pignati was a lonely old man they tried to con out of some money for a prank to entertain their bored lives. Quickly he embraced them as friends, and his love for life flows from him onto the teens. Yet, as teens can be, they are selfish and betrayed Mr. Pignati by having a party while housesitting his home. The party gets out of hand, and the Pigman's prized possessions are destroyed—his dead wife's collection of pigs. Realizing that his friends, John and Lorraine, betrayed him and learning of the coinciding death of his favorite zoo animal—a cantankerous baboon, he's pushed over the edge, and dies from another heart attack. Young adult readers will hopefully grasp on to this thought: Our life would be what we made of it—nothing more, nothing less. Adults will perhaps read this and think badly of the teens because they may have forgotten that being a teen is being selfish. All readers will love Mr. Pignati for his ability to love.

Reader's Annotation
John and Lorraine tell the story of how they meet and strike up a friendship with a bald, fat, old, lonely man, the Pigman. Contracted to tell only they facts, they talk about the Pigman's ability to love even the most difficult people/creatures and how the two of them betrayed that love and faith.

About the Author
Paul Zindel was trained as a chemist at Wagner College in Staten Island, worked as a technical writer for about six months, and then moved to the role as a teacher. Inspired by with his time with mentor Edward Albee, Zindel began writing plays in college and continued to do so through the decade he taught high school chemistry and physics. His first staged play was "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds."* The play was seen by a book editor at Harper & Row, who encouraged Zindel to write his first book, The Pigman in 1968. In 1969, he quit teaching to write more books for young adults. With The Pigman, he used his own experiences as a teen to convey the way teens think and feel. That was the key to his success, and what he continued to do in his honest efforts to reach out young adult readers in ways the books being published for them at the time were not doing.

The Pigman started Zindel on a prolific career of writing. He published over 50 books for young adults and children. There are a couple series, The Freaky Facts Club and P.C. Hawke in addition to several novels, plays and a memoir. Notably, there is sequel to The Pigman, The Pigman's Legacy and The Pigman and Me, a memoir that recalls the material in Zindel's life experiences that fueled his writing for young adults; as well as other well known titles such as My Darling, My Hamburger, Pardon Me, You're Stepping on My Eyeball and The Girl Who Wanted a Boy. The author died in 2003, ending a career that spanned over 30 years.

Genre
Friendship
Adolescence

Challenges
Teen Angst

Curriculum Ties
n/a

Booktalking Ideas
If you betrayed one of your dearest friends, would you be able to stand up and be honest about the betrayal…
What do you think your legacy will be when you leave this school? Or what do you want your legacy to be when you leave college? Or even later in life…

Awards
American Library Association's Notable Children's Books 1940-1970
American Library Association's Best of the Best Young Adult Books 1966-1968
The Horn Book's Fanfare Honor List (1969)
New York Times' Outstanding Children's Book (1968)

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 15+

Why I included this title...
I was in eighth grade when my school librarian gave me The Pigman, and I remember liking it. I don't think it made as much of an impact on me then, as it did when I reread it now.

*The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds was made into a movie directed by Paul Newman and starring Joanne Woodward

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.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Chbosky, Stephen. The Perks of Being a Wallflower. ISBN-10 0671027344, ISBN-13 9780671027346. MTV Books. 1999.

Summary
Charlie is a high school freshman who isn't a super-jock like his brother, or very popular like his sister, and is thought to be a little odd. When he starts high school, he finds himself on the fringe of a social circle. He isn't meant to be on the fringe with Patrick and his step sister, Sam, but hey are seniors, and they adopt Charlie into their lives. Charlie chronicles the escapades he experiences with Patrick, Sam and all of their friends in letters written to an unknown recipient. And through the letters, Charlie talks about his love for Sam, his concern for Patrick and his lover, the drugs and alcohol that help him cope. We also see his downward spiral into depression as the school year winds down, and as all Charlie's friends graduate, move on and leave him alone again.

Critical Evaluation
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a coming-of-age story that is written in an epistolary style. "Charlie" is the said letter writer who lurks in the shadows of his friends as they maneuver through their senior year of high school. As only a freshman, Charlie writes to an anonymous recipient about his friends as the all frequent the late night Rocky Horror Picture Shows, drink alcohol, take drugs, and explore both hetero- and homosexual relationships. Charlie gets caught up in the lives of his friends, and experiences a depressive breakdown as his friends all begin to fade out of his life after their graduation.

Reader's Annotation
Charlie shares what it is like to grow up in high school through a series of letters written from the point of view of the proverbial wallflower.

About the Author
As a native to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Stephen Chbosky graduated from the University of Southern California's Filmic Writing Program, and he's better known for his film and television writing. His film The Four Corners of Nowhere was accepted by the Sundance Film Festival. He's also worked as co-creator producer and writer for the short-lived television show Jericho.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is Stephen Chbosky's first and only novel to date, but he also edited Pieces, an anthology of short stories as well as a hard-to-find Sexaholic. It is said that Chbosky is working on a screenplay for The Perks
of Being a Wallflower.

Genre
Adolescence
Boys/Men
Friendship

Curriculum Ties
n/a

Booktalking Ideas
What would you think if one of your friends wrote about everything you and your friends did in a letter and sent it to someone else to read…

Awards
American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 15+

Why I included this title...
This is an often challenged book, and I read it for my group presentation.

Summer Sisters by

Blume, Judy. Summer Sisters. ISBN-10: 0440226430, ISBN-13: 9780440226437.Dell Publishing Company. 1999.

Summary
Victoria's life is forever changed when in the summer of 1977 when very privileged Caitlin invites her to spend the summer with her at her dad's house on Martha's Vineyard. Vix, as she is soon known by, becomes enmeshed in the luxurious world of Caitlin's family on the island, where the friends become forever summer sisters.
Over the years, things begin to change as the girls grow into women and different choices are made that expose the darkness within the friendship that haunts the both of them as they drift apart.

Critical Evaluation
Although, the book was published as an adult novel, it will appeal to young adults because of the fact that it's told in a series of flashbacks. The majority of the book is set during the summers of Vix and Caitlin's teen years on Martha's Vineyard. As with most of Judy Blume's coming-of-age stories, this crossover novel deals with friendship, sex and tragedy. Both young adults and adults will be sucked into the carefree summers of Martha's Vineyard with Caitin and Vix.

Reader's Annotation
Over several years of summers on Martha's Vineyard, Caitlin and Victoria grow up and and grow into summer sisters.

About the Author
Judy Blume was born in New Jersey, and 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. In her more than 20 books, she has written for children (The Fudge and Pain and the Great One series), for teens (Are You There Go? It's Me Margaret, Then Again, Maybe I Won't, and Forever) and for adults. (Smart Women and Summer Sisters).

Although, her adult books were all New York Times bestsellers, her books for children are challenged. 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
Crossover
Adolescence
Girls and Women
Death and Dying

Challenges
Sexual Content

Curriculum Ties
n/a

Booktalking Ideas
Could one of your friends talk you into doing something you didn't want to do…
Would you do anything for a friend?

Awards
n/a

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 16+

Why I included this title...
I love Judy Blume, and Martha's Vineyard... couldn't get my hands on this book fast enough!

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. ISBN-10: 0316013692, ISBN-13: 9780316013697.Little, Brown. 2007

Summary
While going to high school on the Spokane Reservation, Junior is issued a math text book that his MOM had used at least 20 years before! He is so frustrated with this book, his life of poverty, hunger, alcoholism and death on the reservation, he makes a decision to attend the nearby, all-white high school—off the reservation. This bittersweet story is peppered with Junior's cartoons, and his strong hope for a future that he's in charge of—not one destined for a kid from a reservation.

Critical Evaluation
Sherman Alexie has chronicled his own experiences as an adolescent growing up on the Spokane Reservation in his first book for young adults. Although, the story is one that could be very heartbreaking because of the harsh realities of the reservation, Alexie adds Junior's sense of humor and his touching cartoons to create a very funny book. Readers will appreciate the contemporary glimpse into Junior's life as he tries to straddle life in and out of the reservation as he feels like an outsider in both.

This book is often challenged and was recently banned in Stockton, MO.

Reader's Annotation
Sherman Alexie writes a tale of a Native American teen from the reservation that chooses to break away from the predestined life he's expected to accept.

About the Author
Sherman Alexie also grew up on the Spokane Reservation, was also given his mother's old math text book, also left the reservation to go to all-white Reardan High School, and also went on to excel academically and on the basketball court. He then graduated from Reardan, and went on to graduate from Washington State University (WSU). While at WSU, he was encouraged by a poetry teacher to pursue his creative writing and leave his ideas of becoming a doctor behind—he was a chronic fainter.

Alexie's career is one that mirrors that teen growing up on the reservation who wasn't afraid to try new things. After college, he received fellowships for poetry, which produced The Business of Bellydancing and other collections of poetry. His first collection of short stories, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, followed which was well received and lauded. Novels came next for Alexie with the publication of Reservation Blues. And in addition to writing stories and poetry, Alexie has done stand-up comedy, written screenplays (Smoke Signals) and directed films (The Business of Bellydancing).

Genre
Boys and Men
Adolescence
Racial Issues
Illustrated Novel (not graphic novels)

Curriculum Ties
English: writing autobiographies

Booktalking Ideas
Could you leave the only life you've ever known, in hopes of a better life…

Awards
Peter Pan Award - 2009
Washington Book Award - 2008
Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards for Excellence in Children's Literature in Fiction - 2008
Capitol Choices Noteworthy Books for Children - 2008
Pacific Northwest Book Award – 2008
American Indian Library Association American Indian Youth Literature Award - 2008
National Book Award for Young People's Literature - 2007
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist - 2007
Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year Children's Fiction – 2007
The New York Times Favorite Children's Books - 2007
National Parenting Publication Gold Winner - 2007
Barnes and Noble Best for Teens - 2007
School Library Journal Best Books - 2007
Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Books -2007
Horn Book Fanfare Best Books - 2007

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 14+

Why I included this title...
After hearing that this book was banned in Missouri, my interest was piqued.