Last Days of Summer

Kluger, Steve. Last Days of Summer.  New York, NY: Perennial Books, 1998. ISBN: 0-380-79763-1. PBK $13.00.

Awards: n/a

Reviews:

Publishers Weekly 1998

Library Journal 1998

Parade 1998

Kirkus 1998

Annotation: A coming of age novel about a 13 year-old-boy told through letters, telegraphs, interviews and newspaper clippings. Enjoyable and realistic characters you'll grow close too and want to join for a baseball game in Brooklyn circa 1941.

Booktalk:

It's April 1940--the rest of the world is at war with Hitler. You're just a Jewish kid in Brooklyn whose been abandoned by your father and you're best friend is deported because he is Japenese. The school bully keeps targeting you and you have no faith in FDR. Who do you call on? No one but Charlie Banks, 3rd baseman for the NY Giants. Even though his last letter stated: "Dear Kid: Last week it was the plague. Now it's malaria. What do I look--stupid to you? Your lucky I don't send somebody over there to tap you on the conk. I am inclosing 1 last picture. Do not write to me again. --Chas Banks, 3d Base." Well, there's always the next letter during these Last Days of Summer.

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This Vast Land

Ambrose, Stephen E. This Vast Land. 1st Edition. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2003. ISBN: 0-689-86448-5. Hardcover $17.95.

Awards: n/a

Reviews:

School Library Journal 2003

Booklist 2003

Annotation: A fictional journal kept by young George Shannon as he joins the adventure of the lifetime, travelling with Lewis and Clark on the mission sanctioned by President Jefferson. 

Booktalk:

"Aug. 30, 1803: 

This day capt. Lewis said I could accompany him and his party on their trip to St. Louis and then up the Missouri River. It has taken me six weeks to presuade him...

Oct. 20, 1803:

I killed my first deer today, it was fit and fine...[they] annointed me with the deer's blood, smearing it on my forehead...this is always done for a man's first deer..."

Just the opening months alone will prove to change George Shannon's life forever as he follows Lewis and Clark across the American wilderness of This Vast Land. 

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Bloody Jack

Meyer, LA. Bloody Jack: Being n Account of the Curious adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ships Boy. New York, NY: Harcourt Children's Books, 2002. Print. ISBN: 0152167315. Hardcover. 336 pp. $17.00.

Awards: N/A

Reviewed: 

Publishers Weekly 2002

Library School Journal 2002

Booklist *Starred Review*

Annotation: The heroine in this novel--the first of a series is Mary "Jacky" Faber, she's been a orphan for almost as long as she can remember in early 19th Century London. But her luck is about to change as she heads out on the start of a swashbuckling adventure disgused as "Jacky" the ship's boy. 

Booktalk:

If you thought the adventures of Cap'n Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl were wild and wonderful then you are in for a rollercoaster of a ride. Join the Jacky on the M/S Dolphin to escape life as an orphan in the streets of London. She may be hiding out as a boy but when she earns her her nickname "Bloody Jack" in a sea battle to rival any other, you'll be glad you followed along! Join, suit up and get ready for some blood! 

Image courtesy of: www.uflimho.blogspot.com

Bread Givers

Yezierska, Anzia. Bread Givers. New York, NY: Persea Books, 2003. Print. ISBN: 0892552905. PBK. $8.00.

Awards:N/A

Reviews:

Included in Jesse Larsen's 500 Great Books by Women

Annotation: The first quarter of the 20th Century proved to be a groundbreaking period for women across the United States. In this novel the struggle for one young Jewish woman of the New World is to find her place while her father desperately tries to keep her living in the Old World's ways.

Booktalk:

Why cannot my father leave me be? I want to experience the world. I want to have a taste of everything and then decide for myself if it is good or bad. I am tired of being told how a nice young Jewish maiden must only busy herself with becoming ready for her pending marriage to a nice young Jewish man. But here in America, "where girls pick out for themselves the men they want for husbands, how grand would it be if the children could also pick out their fathers and mothers" (76).

Image courtesy of: www.tower.com

A Wrinkle in Time

L’Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in Time. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1962. ISBN 0-440-49805-8. $6.50. Paperback edition. Awards:  Newbery Medal (1963) Lewis Carroll Shelf Award (1965) Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (1963) Annotation: This title is the first in a series by L'Engle surrounding the Murry and O'Keefe families. Meg Murry must save her father whose mysterious disappearance has answered no questions. Joined by the Calvin O'Keefe (who thinks quite a lot of himself) and her young brother, they travel through the tesseract--a folding of space and time.   Book talk: "It was a dark and stormy night" in which an unimaginable adventure began for the unsuspecting Meg Murry, her brother and schoolmate as they pass through A Wrinkle in Time. Image courtesy of: www.kidsource.com

A Step From Heaven

Na, An. A Step From Heaven . Asheville, NC: Front Street, 2001. Print. ISBN: 1-886910-58-8. Hardcover. $15.95.

Awards: 2004 Printz Award

Reviews:

Publishers Weekly 2008

Library School Journal 2008

Booklist *Starred Review*

Annotation: A coming of age story for Young Ju as she and her parents emigrate from Korea to the United States. Young Ju's family will experience many ups and downs in the country they believe to be heaven. But will it be?

Booktalk: Whimsical/Heartache/Honesty/Confusion/Uncertainty/Future/Change/Bubbles/Clouds/Forever/Balloons/Surprise/Unique/Strength/Dreams/Experiences...A Step From Heaven....

Image Courtesy of: www.frontstreetbooks.com

Kare Kano

Tsuda, Masami. Kare Kano: His and Her Circumstances. Los Angeles: TokyoPop, 2003. Print. ISBN: 1591820596. $9.99. 

Awards: N/A

Reviews: N/A

Annotation: The fourth in a Manga romantic comedy series about Soichiro and Yukino. Follow yet another trial and tribulation on the path to true love.

Book Whisper: Soichiro and Yukino are in love but outside forces are continually trying to drag them apart. This time it's so-called friends from the past who are jealous and want to ruin their happiness. Will their relationshop be able to survive?

Image courtesy of: www.asianfanatics.net

Black

 Brown, Tracy. Black. Columbus, OH: Triple Crown Publications. 2003. ISBN: 0970247281. PBK. $10.29.

Awards: N/A

Reviews:N/A

Annotation: Kaia is chosen by the streets as her life. However, will it also be her demise?

Booktalk:

Black

 Would it matter?

 Saving me

 Land of the lost

 Street

 Or no home

 Harsh

 Finite

 No future.

 Fear 

 Savior or---?

Image courtesy of: www.tower.com

Annie On My Mind

Garden, Nancy. Annie on My Mind. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1982.  ISBN -0374400113. $8.00 PBK. Awards: ALA Best Book for Young Adults (1982) YALSA Margaret A. Edwards Award (2003) Booklist Reviewer’s Choice (1982) Annotation: Annie on My Mind, is a story with the same predicament just discussed. Annie's the daughter of blue-collar workers in lower-class New York City, while her best friend Liza is the daughter of upper-class wealthy residents. A kiss surprises both girls for their true feelings until they are discovered by disapproving parents. As the tension of the situation once caught is too much to handle for Liza. After graduating from different high schools they attend colleges on separate sides of the country, and it is only then that Liza allows herself to truly think through her feelings for Annie who is a self-proclaimed lesbian. Can the two work things out or will it be too late? Booktalk: You're 17. You're in love with your best friend and they are in love with you. Neither of you wants anyone else, it seems you should find nothing but support from those around you. But you're best friend is a girl just like you, and not everyone is savvy with it. What lengths will you have to go to be with the one you love and who loves you in return?

Image courtesy of: www.fantasticfiction.co.uk

Fire in the Hills

 Napoli, Donna Jo. Fire in the Hills 1st Edition. New York, NY: Dutton Children's Books. 2006. ISBN: 0-525-47751-9. Hardcover. $16.99.

Awards: N/A

Reviews:

School Library Journal 2006

Voya 2006

Booklist 2006

Annotation: The story of a young man who joins the Italian Resistance during World War II in the fight against fascism and Hitler. His journey is dangerous, knowing that every step could be his last and if he or any of his fellow comrades are caught they will be tortured and killed. He changes his name from Roberto to Lupo and joins the good fight despite the danger.

Booktalk:

"A pair of Nazi's came up to check documents. Lupo didn't flinch. His mind was still on the foot of the man in the wagon, on those bodies that might get burned like filth. But then he saw the old man in the crowd. The Jew he'd met in the park months before. Lupo was sure it was him. And he wasn't wearing his armband. Of course not. After the assassination attempt on Hitler, the few remaining jews in town were put on trains north. If these two Nazi's looked at the old man's documents, they'd find out he was a Jew. They'd find out he'd broken the law by no wearing his armband. He was a dead man" (147).   

Image courtesy of: www.fantasticfiction.co.uk.

Catherine, Called Birdy

Cushman, Karen. Catherine, Called Birdy. 1st Edition. New York, NY: Harper Trophy, 1995. ISBN: 0-06-440584-2. PBK $4.95.

Awards: 

1995 Newbery Honor Book

1995 Best Books for Young Adults (American Library Association)

1995 Teachers'Choices (International Reading Association)

1995 IRA Distinguished Book Award for Fiction

1995 Fanfare Honor List (The Hornbook)

1994 Golden Kite Award for Fiction (Society of Children's Book Writer's and Illustrators)

1995 Notable Trade Book in Language Arts (National Council for Teacher Education)

1994"Pick of the Lists" (American Library Association)

Outstanding Books of 1994 for Middle-School- Aged Teens

Annotation: A tale written in journal form by a 14 year old young woman during the Midevial ages, the only daughter of a Lord and Lady. Her brothers are rascals, her father barely tolerable and her mother is the salt of the earth. Her father's sole mission in life though seems to be marrying her off and that is what Cathering, called Birdy will do anything to avoid!

Booktalk:

"September 12th:

I am commanded to write an account of my days: I am bit by fleas and plagued by family. That is all there is to say.

 Instead I thought to make a list of all the things girls are not allowed to do: 

Go on crusade

Be horse trainers

Be monks

Laugh very loud

Wear breeches

Drink in ale house

Cut their hair

Piss in the fire to make it hiss

Wear nothing

Be alone

Get sunburned

Run

Marry whom they will

Glide on the ice"

(p. 1, 83-84). 

Image courtesy of: www.readingbackwards.wordpress.com.

The Two Loves of Will Shakespeare

Lawlor, Laurie. The Two Loves of Will Shakespeare. 1st Edition. New York, NY: Holiday House, 2006. ISBN: 0-8234-1901-0. Hardcover $16.95.

Awards: n/a

Reviews:

School Library Journal 2006

Booklist 2006

Annotation: Perhaps better known by history for his literary plots and recognition, William Shakespeare lived a life in and out of the public eye. Usually discussions center around his public life, but this book takes a gandering guess at what the playwright was like during his younger days before becoming the Shakespeare history remembers.

Book Talk: Everyone has heard of the playwright William Shakespeare, but what about the Shakespeare who had two lovers both named Anne and whom he both has marriage licenses with? Join the Shakespeare you haven't met as you meet The Two Loves of Will Shakespeare. 

Image courtesy of: www.laurielawlor.com

Paradise

Goodman, Joan Elizabeth. Paradise Inspired by a true story of survival. 1st Edition. Boston, MA: Graphia, 2002. ISBN: 0-618-49481-2. PBK $7.99.

Awards: N/A

Reviews:

Booklist 2002

Kliatt 2002

Annotation: An excellent piece of historical fiction set in late 16th century Canada during the period of explorers. The heroine is invited by her uncle to be a founding member of the New World, joined by her maid and her secret love. But when betrayal casts an iron net over them all, will any one survive...Paradise?

Booktalk:

Betrayal

Terror

Evil Spirits

Black nights

and even darker days....

Survive

Heartache

Fight the fight

and never give up...

Even when the demons nearly have won.

Image courtesy of: http://www.allbookstores.com

Twilight

Meyer, Stephenie. Twilight. New York: Little, Brown and Co, 2005. ISBN: 0316015849. $8.99 (Paperback).

Awards:

A New York Times Editor's Choice

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year

An American Library 

Association "Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults" and "Top Ten Books for Reluctant Readers"

Translation into 20 languages 

A New York Times Best Seller

The best selling book of 2008 according to USA Today

Anontation: Bella Swan has never been an "it" girl, but upon moving from Phoneix, AZ to small-town Forks, WA she has seemingly become to object of desire for all the males. Except for one, his obvious dislike makes her wonder why he's offended and why on earth she is so drawn to him.

Booktalk: I don't think most people wake up in the morning and hope to die today. And it's not like I crave death...it's just I crave a permanently altered state that some day I will attain. Nor do I think most people allow their attractions to something--or someone who could kill you in an instant, but I can't help it. I don't like blood but I do love him. And I know he's drawn to me, and I know it's not just because of my blood!

Image courtesy of: www.jlpowers.net