The House of Tomorrow

Bognanni, Peter. The House of Tomorrow. ISBN-10 0399156090, ISBN-13 9780399156090. Amy Einhorn Books. 2010.

Summary
After years of isolation with his grandmother in their geodome in the middle of Iowa, Sebastian Pendergast is about to break out. His unlikely liberators come in the form of punk-rock-wannabe Jared Whitcomb and his mom who come to tour the geodome. Sebastian’s eccentric grandmother has kept him in the dome for over eleven years on a steady diet of organic food and the teachings of Buckminster R. Fuller, but when she has a stroke, Sebastian must venture out and maneuver his own course in the real world with the help of Jared, his sister, his mom, punk rock, a stolen bass guitar and a church music competition.

Critical Evaluation
Sebastian and Jared are unlikely friends who have a common need to escape from the controlling women in their lives—Sebastian’s grandmother, and Jared’s mother and sister. They come together through Jared’s insistence that they start a punk rock band and that Sebastian needs to learn to play the {stolen from the church basement} bass guitar. But the music is just a cover for these scared boys to cling to each other as they emerge as young adults. Young adults reading this book will appreciate Jared and Sebastian’s desperate need to break away from parents/grandparents to create their own identity. As a crossover novel, adults will be reminded of the times in their own youth when breaking all of the rules seemed like the only way to survive.

Reader's Annotation
A beat-up mini-van, a stolen bass guitar and punk rock bring on a series of hilarious events bring sheltered Sebastian out to the real world after years of living with his grandmother in a geodome in the middle of Iowa.

About the Author
Peter Bognanni is the author of several short stories, and humor pieces in addition to his novel The House of Tomorrow. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and currently teaches Creative Writing at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN.

And he also played in a high school punk band

Genre
Young Men
Friendship
Death and Dying

Challenges
Parental Angst
Language
Sexual Content

Curriculum Ties
Philosophy: Fuller R. Buckminster

Booktalking Ideas
When you live in a glass geodome are you watching the world go around you from the dome, or is the world watching you in your dome…

Awards
n/a

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 15+

Why I included this title...
I was given this book at a conference and met the author who made me laugh, so I figured his book would make me laugh too.

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!