What My Mother Doesn't Know

by Sonya Sones

I'm going to be lazy today and use other people's words; so, lifted from the back cover:

"My name is Sophie.

This book is about me.

It tells

the heart-stoppingly riveting story

of my first love.

and also of my second.

And, okay, my third love too.

It's not that I'm boy crazy.

It's just that even though

I'm almost fifteen

it's like

my mind

and my body

and my heart

just don't seem to be able to agree

on anything"

And to borrow from someone else again:

Booklist (a magazine librarians read to find good books to buy) says this book is "Fast, funny, touching" which is very true. And I will add, realistic. Check here for library's holdings.

Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

by Sherman Alexi

14 year old Junior lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation. He has a lot of medical problems and is picked on and beat up all of the time. Junior decides one day that he wants to attend Reardan, the rich, white high school 22 miles from "the rez".

His alcoholic parents agree to let him attend, but can't guarantee that they'll always have money to buy gas for the car to drive him there.

Junior, of course, has a difficult time fitting in at Reardan. Things start to gradually change for the better,though, when Junior punches "Roger the Giant", one of the school jocks. Junior is used to fighting by the "unofficial and unwritten Spokane Indian rules of fisticuffs" which pretty much guarantees many fights in one's lifetime. Roger, however, doesn't play by the "rules" and walks away when Junior punches him.

The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian will make you laugh and cry. It's a quick read that both boys and girls in grades 8 and up should enjoy. And unlike most novels for teens, it has illustrations.

Check library holdings here

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

The thief in this story is Gen. Gen has been plucked from prison to help steal a precious stone in a remote temple of the gods. There is plenty of action and suspense, great storytelling and surprising revelations in this first book of a trilogy. And the book is well written. For those of you interested in such things, the book was a 1997 Newbery Honor book.

The Thief is one of those books with wide appeal. Males and females from grades six through adult should enjoy it. Look here for the library's copy.

Sold by Patricia McCormick

13 year old Lakshmi's peaceful yet hard-scrabble life in Nepal is shattered when she is sold into prostitution by her gambling stepfather. Lakshmi is taken hundreds of miles away to a brothel in India where she is held virtually a prisoner.

This is not an easy book to read. The language is sparse and poetic which makes the book a fast read. But the topic is unfortunately all too realistic. In the author's notes at the end of the book, Patricia McCormick discusses her research and her encounters with girls who have had similiar experiences to her character, Lakshmi. Look here for the library's copy.

Watership Down by Richard Adams

This is an older, long book about a bunch of rabbits (yes, rabbits) who need to find a new place to live. Sound boring and childish? It is most definitely not.

On the surface, Watership Down is an adventure story about a warren of rabbits who need to find a new home when their's is threatened by a land developer. The leader of the rabbits is Hazel. On their quest, Hazel and his compatriots encounter a Hitler-like rabbit, General Woundwart. General Woundwart captures some of the rabbits and one of the rabbits, Bigwig, masterminds a daring escape. (BTW, the book has nothing to do with ships or the sea. Watership Down is the name of the place where the rabbits find a safe haven.)

The main characters in the book ARE rabbits. These aren't cute, cuddly bunnies who speak English and walk on their hind legs like humans. These rabbits are very rabbit-like and yet, we human beings will have no trouble relating to the lives of the rabbits. That is part of the genius of this book. Richard Adams does a masterful job of making this book relevant to OUR lives. He is especially adept at conveying the importance of our role in nature, either to help or to destroy. Although this book was written over 30 years ago, the environmental themes are as relevant today as they were "back then".

Watership Down is on many people's lists of best books they've ever read. It's on mine. Try it some time and see if it might end up on your list.

Look here for the library's copy.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Tally can't wait to turn 16. Not because she can get a driver's license, but because she can become a Pretty. Tally is tired of being an Ugly. In Tally's world, an operation transforms all 16 year olds into beautiful, perfect people who get to live in Pretty Town and whose only job is to have fun.

Tally's friend Shay is not sure she wants to be Pretty. And when Shay runs away to "the outside", Tally learns a lot about what's really going on in the pretty world - and it isn't pretty.

Uglies is the first book in a trilogy. Pretties is the second book and Specials is the third. This is a very exciting and action-packed series that kept me up past my bedtime as I read it. It should appeal equally to boys and girls in grades 7-12. And even though it is set in a futuristic society, it is not a heavy science fiction book.

Find Uglies at the Adrian Public Library

Find Pretties at the Adrian Public Library

Find Specials at the Adrian Public Library

American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang is an interesting, award-winning, and unusual book.First, it's a stand-alone graphic novel. In other words, it's not part of a series and it's a novel written in "comic book" form.

Secondly, the author tells three seemingly unrelated stories: the first, about a Monkey King who can't accept being a monkey. The second is about a junior high Chinese-American who likes a non-Asian girl and is trying to fit in. In the third story, a popular "American" boy has to keep moving when his cousin Chin-Chu, the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, comes to visit from China. The author does a masterful job of tying all three stories together at the end.

American Born Chinese is also unusual in that it portrays a culture not commonly found in books for teens. Many readers are accustomed to the Japanese culture through Manga and Anime, but may shy away from this book because of the unfamiliar Chinese culture.

Despite its "unusuallness", this book is a winner - literally. For those who care about awards and such, American Born Chinese is the first graphic novel to win the Michael L. Printz Award for best teen book.

This book is also a winning read and should appeal to boys and girls in grades 7 - 12. It may require some readers to step out of their comfort zone of what they usually read, but this book is worth the risk.

Check library holdings for this book.

The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak has an unusual narrator: Death. Death tells the story of a young German girl, Leisel, who lives with a foster family during World War II. Leisel is the book thief in this story and the first book she steals is The Gravediggers Handbook. Her books and stories help sustain her family as they cope with hiding a Jewish man in their home. The Book Thief is an extraordinary book that will remain with you long after you finish it. Recommended for high school age and adult, The Book Thief is a 2007 Printz Honor Book. Look here for the library's copy.

Enter Three Witches by Caroline B. Cooney

"Double, double toil and trouble;/Fire burn and cauldron bubble"

Maybe you've heard this before. It's from the play Macbeth by Shakespeare and is spoken by three witches. The book Enter Three Witches is not Shakespeare, but it is Caroline B. Cooney's highly entertaining retelling of the story of Macbeth. Cooney takes some liberties with Shakespeare's work including adding new characters and making a few minor characters more important.

Enter Three Witches is told from the viewpoint of Lady Mary, the 14 year old ward of Lord and Lady Macbeth. Mary is being groomed to wed someone of importance and to be the head of her own castle. Mary's life drastically changes when her father is hanged as a traitor to King Duncan. Then King Duncan is murdered, his sons and heirs to the throne run away, and Lord Macbeth becomes King through suspicious means. Mary's life becomes perilous and her beloved Lady Macbeth seems to be losing her mind.

While Enter Three Witches is a good introduction to a classic Shakespeare play, it also a great story full of deception, murder, revenge, greed, violence, and yes - witches.

Look here for the library's copy

Rash

Rash by Pete Hautman is set in a futuristic society that has surrendered many freedoms to keep all its citizens safe from illness, disease, injury, natural disasters, etc. When sixteen year old Bo is sent to a prison labor camp in the tundra, he is introduced to playing the game of football. In Bo's world outside prison, playing football is illegal. So is running without wearing shin guards, kneepads and a helmet. At first, Bo can't catch, throw, run with or kick the football. But Bo is a gifted athlete and he soon learns to run with the ball. Playing football in prison gives Bo many privileges, but Bo doesn't like playing football at the whim of the prison warden and Bo wants desperately to leave prison. And Bo just might find a way to do this when the Artificial Intelligence program named Bork he created in high school suddenly contacts him in prison.

Rash should appeal to both boys and girls in grades 7 - 12. And although this book is set in the future, non sci-fi fans should enjoy it as well as fans of the genre.

Find the book here at the Adrian Public Library

Dairy Queen

No, we're not talking about the ice cream store. It's a book by Catherine Gilbert Murdock I've just finished reading. It's a wonderful story about a dairy farm, Wisconsin, football, a snotty quarterback, the athletic Schwenk family, a big Family Fight, not becoming a "cow", and the hardest working 15 year old girl in the middle of all of it. D.J. is having an enlightening summer to say the least and it all culminates in her decision to try out for the football team at her high school. Yes, this is a girl wanting to play football with the boys.

This book made me want to laugh and cry and I hated having to say goodbye to the characters when the book ended.

Both boys and girls in grades 7-12 should enjoy this book.

Harry Potter #7

No, we haven't read this book yet! It comes out July 21 and the library has ordered 4 copies. We have to wait to read it just like everyone else. We thought this would be a good time to speculate about what happens in book #7. So, what do you think happens in book #7? Does Harry kill "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named"? Do you think any of the main characters gets killed off? J.K. Rowling has hinted that someone important dies. Do Ron and Hermoine get together? What's with Professor Snape? Is he a good guy or a bad guy? We'll all have to wait just a little bit longer to find out the answers, but we can have fun guessing. So, tell us what you think.

Chris Crutcher is King!

. . . King of the Mild Frontier, that is. This is the title of teen author Chris Crutcher's autobiography: King of the Mild Frontier: an Ill-Advised Autobiography.

It is a hilarious book about the author's childhood and teen years in a small town in rural Idaho. Chris is basically an unathletic, uncoordinated "dweeb" with a wicked temper.

Some examples of the hilarity: when the author is six, his older brother asks him, "wanna do something neat?" The something "neat" is peeing into the heat register grate in the middle of the their living room floor. And of course, 6 year old Chris wants to do something neat and of course his brother assures him he will not get in trouble . . . yeah, right.

And then there is the time Chris tries his hand at winter wilderness survival and needs to use a fishing pole to cook a piece of sausage . . .

And the time he is convinced that Jesus has an older brother named Esus . . .

After finishing this book, you can see where Chris Crutcher gets his ideas for his books. Haven't read any of his books? You might try:

Whale Talk

Chris Crutcher is a great author for older teens who like an author who tells it like it us, doesn't pull punches and doesn't treat teenagers like kids who need to be protected from some of the uncomfortable facts of life.

The Boy Who Couldn't Die by William Sleator

This is what I'm reading right now. (note: the cover of our copy is different than this one)

Great title, isn't it? It's it also a great book, typical William Sleator - spooky, eerie and suspenseful.

After 16 year old Ken's best friend dies in a plane crash, Ken decides he doesn't want to be so vulnerable. He combs the yellow pages until he finds a woman who will buy his soul. Ken becomes "the boy who couldn't die". Sounds great, doesn't it? Ken thinks so at first, but then of course realizes pretty quickly this is not such a wonderful thing. There wouldn't be a story if this was wonderful. In fact, this book becomes a modern day zombie story and Ken definitely does NOT want to be a zombie. But how does he get out of it? This is where the story gets interesting and I'm not going to tell you if Ken succeeds or not. Actually I don't know because I haven't finished the book yet. And besides, you'll just have to read it for yourself to find out because I'm not going to tell you!

So, what are YOU reading this summer?

Welcome!

Welcome to the first ever Teen Read blog here at the Adrian Public Library. From time to time we will be posting information about upcoming events at the library and about books! We'll let you know what we've read recently that we think you might also like.

But we don't want to have all of the fun! We want you , yes YOU, to make comments. Let us know what you've read and let us know what you think about our book reviews. You don't even have to agree with us. Just let us know what you're thinking.