The Outsiders

Hinton, S.E. (1967). The outsiders. New York: Viking Press.  ISBN 014038572X

Plot Summary

                       Ponyboy Curtis divides the world into two distinct categories: the greasers, of which he is one, and the socs, short for social.  Greasers are tough, self-sufficient, and live on the defensive.  Socs are rich, spoiled, and senselessly cruel to anyone not like them.  The Curtis brothers, orphaned after their parents died in a car accident, and their extended family of greaser friends, all abandoned or outcast in their own ways, look out for each other.  When a violent encounter with a group of socs goes terribly wrong, Ponyboy and his best friend Johnny, the youngest and most vulnerable of the group, have to skip town, testing the bonds of family and loyalty.  Escape proves impossible, however, after another serious tragedy befalls Johnny and Ponyboy, and they must face everything that has happened.   As his life continues to unravel, Ponyboy is forced to confront hard truths about himself, his family, and his narrow perception of the world.

Critical Analysis
                         It cannot be debated that this book was groundbreaking – a novel written for teenagers, by a teenager, the way teenagers talk, at a time when honesty was a truly rare commodity in young adult literature.  Almost fifty years after publication, The Outsiders continues to stand the test of time.  The characters are flawed and complicated.  There are no stock heroes or villains here.  As Ponyboy’s eyes are opened more and more to a world he thought he had figured out, the reader sees vulnerable, relatable sides to characters labeled as purely bad early in the novel.  Ponyboy’s lesson is the moral of the story: we are all sad and lost in our own way.  It is hard all over.  This evolution of character is perhaps the most important aspect of The Outsiders.  Characters learn lessons the hard way, violently, in life or death situations.  This is a true reality for many teenagers, and an important breakthrough in young adult literature at the time.  Voice is another important literary element of this novel.  Ponyboy speaks in first person, in the vernacular of the greasers.  His gritty, imperfect language and the slang terms that characterize his speech bring us into the greaser world more effective than mere descriptions would.  Place is very distinct and vivid through Ponyboy’s eyes – the drive-in movie theater, the messy but happy house in which he lives with his brothers, the hollow interior of the church where he and Johnny hide out.  We both see and feel these environments through Ponyboy.  Sometimes this book is criticized as being overly romantic and sentimental, but what saves it from an overload of sentimentality is Ponyboy himself.  Ponyboy is a romantic – his love of Gone With the Wind, and poetry, and nature.  This is his story, his experience, and without this endearing and contrasting aspect of his character, The Outsiders would have been a much bleaker, flatter story.

Reader’s Annotation

                                 Ponyboy Curtis and his fellow greasers are pitted against the world of privileged socs.  After a violent tragedy that send Ponyboy and his best friend Johnny on the run, he finds his perceptions about everything he thought he understood changing rapidly.

About the Author

                           S.E. Hinton wrote The Outsiders at the age of sixteen due to her dissatisfaction with the young adult novels of the time, which she felt were inadequate and unrelated to the reality of her life.  The Outsiders was a huge hit, which put the spotlight on Hinton and caused a severe pressure-induced writer’s block.  She overcame this with the help of her boyfriend, now her husband, and wrote That Was Then, This Is Now.  In her career she has published nine books – seven for young adults, two for children. 
                            Several of her books have been made into major motion pictures, most notably The Outsiders.  She was the first recipient of the Young Adult Services Division / School Library Journal Author Achievement Award.  Currently she lives in her hometown of Tulsa, OK with her husband where she reads, writes, audits classes, and shows horses.

Genre

        Contemporary - coming of age

Challenge Issues

                          Possible challenge issues in this book include violence, death, underage drinking and smoking, and profanity.  In the event of a challenge, I would consult the challenge defense file prepared for this book.  The challenge defense file would include: positive reviews from credible sources for the purpose of proving merit to the challenger; negative reviews in order to inform me on what might be challenged; a written explanation of my own rationale for including the book in the collection as well as a summary of the plot; the American Library Association Bill of Rights; a review of my branch’s selection policy; and, as a last resort, an explanation of the reconsideration policy for my library and an official reconsideration form.

Curriculum Ties

                        English and Writing: voice, character development, plot arc.

Booktalk

              This book was written not only for teenagers, but by a teenager.  S.E. Hinton did not see the violent world she knew represented in the books that were being written for her age group, so she wrote her own.  The characters and life or death situations in this book are truly authentic because they came from her life.  This story will suck you in.

Reading Level and Interest Age

                                                 Grades 8-12.

                                                 

Why I Included This Book

                                          The Outsiders was so important to me as an adolescent, and its place in  the history of young adult literature make it a no-brainer for any collection.

References

Hinton, S.E. (n.d.). Biography. Retrieved from http://www.sehinton.com/bio.html

Tantalize

Smith, C. L. (2007). Tantalize. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press. ISBN 076364059X

Plot Summary

                    Seventeen year old Quincie has more responsibilities and less support than many adults.  In the wake of her parents’ death, she is charged with the fate of the family restaurant, while her own care falls to a feckless young uncle who is often more interested in his girlfriend than Quincie.  Together, he and Quincie reinvent the restaurant around a vampire theme and call it Sanguini’s.  Then when a tragic murder leaves them without a chef just weeks before the opening, Quincie must find a chef who can create a suitably creepy menu and look the part on top of it.  Under extreme stress as the opening night bears down, struggling to transform new chef Brad into a creature of the night, and all the while dealing with the imminent separation of her best friend and first unrequited love Kieran, a werewolf-hybrid who will soon embark on a quest of transformation, Quincie is struggling to keep her head above water.  As she sinks deeper into her uncertain, hectic life, the familiar city around her seems to be changing, growing more dangerous, and she begins to wonder who and what she can really trust.

Critical Analysis

                          This motley mix of fantasy, romance, humor, and the paranormal reads quickly and easily, but gives the reader much to think about.  Quincie’s character is rich in contrast – tough and vulnerable, self-sufficient and lonely, wise and naive.  She has been forced to grow up quickly and bears both the scars and the maturity that this entails.  The reader keenly feels her complex emotions towards Kieran, the yearning and frustration, as well as his own internal struggle related to his coming of age as a wolf-human hybrid.  The world of hybrids, werewolves, vampires, and creatures that exist only within these pages is rich and fully told.  The reader has no trouble keeping up with Leitich-Smith’s unique cast of characters.  Characters are fully developed and multi-faceted and each plays his or her own important role in this layered story.  As the book progresses, what the reader believes they knew about the characters is peeled away and, like Quincie, the reader begins to second guess their previous conceptions.  This continues all the way up until the surprise ending.  The place in which the story is set, Austin, Texas, is clearly important to the author and as such, sharply and accurately drawn.  Austin’s imagined paranormal underbelly is exposed, as well as the distinct and unique details of the actual city.  We see the streets, the people, we feel the air and taste the food; the place is fully immersive and very important to this story.  The reader is given to understand that this story could only play out in such a diverse, magical city.  The prose is simple but not overly so, making this book a very quick read, and the dialog rings true from every character.  Overall, Tantalize is a lot of fun, a page-turner without a doubt, and unique in its own creepy, romantic way.

Reader’s Annotation

                                 Seventeen-year-old Quincie is in over her head with the opening of her family's new vampire-themed restaurant, the imminent departure of her werewolf-hybrid best friend and first love, and a disturbing increase of violence in her beloved hometown of Austin, TX.  More and more, Quincie cannot trust who or what she sees around her.

About the Author

                         Cynthia Leitich Smith was born in Kansas City Missouri and is a member of the Creek Nation.  She has held many diverse jobs, such as popcorn popper in a movie theater, receptionist, waitress, tutor, and reporter.   She currently lives and writes in Austin, Texas with her husband, Greg Leitich Smith, also a young adult and children’s book author, and their four cats. 

                           In addition to the Gothic fantasy novels for which she is best known, she has written young adult short stories and books for children.  Her list of awards and honors is considerable.  Among others, she was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award, 2001 Writer of the Year from Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, and Borders Original Voices Nominee in March 2007.  Her books are routinely listed on the Publisher’s Weekly and New York Times Bestseller Lists.

Genre

         Paranormal/Horror - monsters

Challenge Issues

                          Possible challenge issues in this book include violence, underage drinking, profanity, references to sex, and the profusion of the paranormal.  In the event of a challenge, I would consult the challenge defense file prepared for this book.  The challenge defense file would include: positive reviews from credible sources for the purpose of proving merit to the challenger; negative reviews in order to inform me on what might be challenged; a written explanation of my own rationale for including the book in the collection as well as a summary of the plot; the American Library Association Bill of Rights; a review of my branch’s selection policy; and, as a last resort, an explanation of the reconsideration policy for my library and an official reconsideration form.

Curriculum Ties

                         English and Writing: place, dialog, point of view, and the genre of fantasy.

Booktalk

              The book that has a little bit of everything: romance, humor, monsters, bloody murder, and a plot that twists and turns from beginning to end.  The story kicks off with a brutal homicide and the pace only increases from there.  Tension builds from one page to the next - you won't be able to turn away.          

Reading Level and Interest Age

                                                   Grades 9-12.       

                                           

Why I Included This Book

                                          This wonderful mix of humor, romance, and truly unique paranormal elements that go beyond the usual vampires and werewolves was difficult to put down.  There is a sense of fun and irreverence that make this book a must-read.  It should be a popular addition to any collection. 

References

Leitich Smith, C. (2011). About the author: Cynthia Leitich Smith. Retrieved from  http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/CLS/about_cyn.html

Little Brother

Doctorow, C. (2008). Little brother. New York: Tom Doherty Associates. ISBN 0765323117

Plot Summary

                     The wrong place at the wrong time: this is where Marcus finds himself on the day his hometown of San Francisco is bombed by terrorists.  He and his friends appear suspicious, according to the Homeland Security Officers who snatch them from the streets like kidnappers and detain them in a secret location for interrogation.  Marcus and his friends endure the most difficult days of their lives struggling to provide answers to questions that have no answers, and defending the technology that is intrinsic to their everyday lives.  Upon being released, Marcus finds himself in a different world, one in which citizens are monitored, questioned, and detained for any reason at all, and technological freedom is a seeming impossibility.  With the help of other like-minded teens, Marcus initiates a nonviolent technology war against the oppressive government.  Almost immediately, this movement catches the consciousness of his entire generation like fire and grows enormous and unwieldy, alienating Marcus in some ways, and creating in him an unwitting celebrity who is simply struggling to regain the country he once knew.

Critical Analysis

                          Doctorow’s Little Brother is compulsively readable in its pace, its sense of fun, and its examination of a subject matter that is almost too close for comfort to some of our current political realities.  Marcus’s voice is vibrant and real and the reader identifies with both his outrage and his trepidation as the war he accidentally started rages out of control.  His massive knowledge of technology and how to manipulate the Internet is very believable, although sometimes a bit long-winded and inaccessible for a technology novice.  Just as believable is Marcus’s voice as a teenage boy.  He is every bit as naive, doubt-filled, impulsive, and distracted by girls as he is intelligent and focused.  His character is very complex and drives this story forward just as effectively as the plot and conflicts.  The majority of Doctorow’s characters show this same complexity, which is refreshing and necessary in a novel that wrestles with such intricate ethical issues as government surveillance, terrorism, and human rights.  The reader sees Marcus evolve as the story unfolds, and his relationships with those around him evolve as they respond to the tragedy in different ways.  He loses some friends who cannot condone his actions against the government, and he gains some who support him.  The reader also experiences him falling in love with the girl who becomes his partner in crime; it is this kind of plot line that fleshes out the story beyond a simple technological cautionary tale.   Place in this novel is also key.  One of Marcus’s main motivators is love of his country and his city.  San Francisco after the attack and Marcus’ memory of it before play major roles in this novel.  Through Marcus’s eyes we see the streets and neighborhoods he loves, the places that were once safe and familiar, destroyed and violated not only by the attack, but by the government’s response to the attack.  In a way Marcus is mourning his city throughout this novel and we see and feel that clearly through his inner monologue and his actions.  Overall, this book is extremely satisfying to read and leaves the reader fulfilled and seeking more books by Doctorow.

Reader’s Annotation

                                 Following a devastating terrorist attack, Marcus finds himself a victim of his own government, in his country which he loves.  He delves into the world of technology and social networking to fight back against this oppression and ignites a movement that takes on a life of its own.

About the Author

                          Cory Doctorow is a technological activist and expert, blogger, teacher and lecturer, journalist, and writer of young adult science fiction.  His nonfiction work appears in publications such as The Guardian, Wired, and The New York Times.  He is former director of the European Affairs for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, co-editor of boing-boing.net, and co-founded a peer to peer software company OpenCola, among many other accomplishments in the field of technological freedom and civil liberties.

                           Doctorow’s novels have won awards such as the Locus and the Sunburst and have been nominated for such honors as the Nebula and Hugo awards.  All of his novels, in addition to being published in print, are available online under Creative Commons licenses, which promote free sharing and re-use.  His work has been translated into dozens of languages.

Genre

        Adventure/Thrillers - espionage/terrorism

Challenge Issues

                          Possible challenge issues in this book include truancy, social disobedience, sex, underage drinking, and profanity.  In the event of a challenge, I would consult the challenge defense file prepared for this book.  The challenge defense file would include: positive reviews from credible sources for the purpose of proving merit to the challenger; negative reviews in order to inform me on what might be challenged; a written explanation of my own rationale for including the book in the collection as well as a summary of the plot; the American Library Association Bill of Rights; a review of my branch’s selection policy; and, as a last resort, an explanation of the reconsideration policy for my library and an official reconsideration form.

Curriculum Ties

                         English and Writing or History: for English, voice, dialog, and story arc; for History, social unrest, political change, and civil disobedience (perhaps during a unit on the Sixties).

Booktalk

              How would you feel if suddenly the government was against you, tracking your every move, treating you like a suspect in your own home?  What would you do?  Would you act out against the oppression, or would you try to adapt?  The characters in Little Brother find themselves in this very situation after a terrorist attack on San Francisco.  Some of them choose to trust the government that claims it is trying to take care of them, while others fight against it in an effort to regain their freedom.  As you read it, ask yourself, what would I do?

Reading Level and Interest Age

                                                   Grades 9-12, although it might have more impact on older teens who are more politically aware.

                                                  

Why I Included This Book

                                          Teens growing up in this day and age are bombarded with information from all sides, including information about war, terrorist threats, and our often uncertain and changing political climate.  They are far more aware of the world they live in than the generations preceding them.  This book will give them an outlet to think about what they would do if the worst happened.  For that reason, I felt it was important to include in the collection.

References

Doctorow, C. (2011). About Cory Doctorow.  Retrieved  from http://craphound.com/bio.php

Fallout

Hopkins, E. (2010). Fallout. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books. ISBN 1416950095

Plot Summary

                      Three teenagers damaged and abandoned by the same crystal meth addicted mother account their innermost struggles through three separate lives.  Unable to stay faithful, unable to resist impulse or temptation, stricken with self-doubt and anger, these characters bear the scars afflicted upon them by a lifetime of neglect and confusion.  Each one is fragile, flawed, terribly unsure, and seeking love and acceptance in their own misguided ways.  Hunter wrestles with infidelity despite how much he loves his understanding girlfriend.  Autumn finds solace in alcohol and a boyfriend whose intensity both thrills and scares her.  Summer’s first experience with love results in a secret pregnancy which she believes will keep the boy with her forever.  As the book progresses, Hunter, Autumn, and Summer’s scattered lives draw closer together towards an ending that will reunite them with each other, their mother, and a family barely known to them, an event that holds the possibility for explosive breaking down as well as much-needed release and reconnection.

Critical Analysis

                           Fallout is the conclusion to a trilogy based on these characters’ mother, Kristina, and her addiction.  The first two novels in the trilogy, Crank and Glass, explore her struggle with crystal meth and the ways in which it rapidly dismantles her family and her entire life.  In Fallout, however, Hopkins allows the reader to see the results of Kristina’s destructive behavior through the difficult lives of her abandoned children.  Kristina’s point of view is nonexistent.  The children tell the story, each in their own voice, their own font, and their own style of verse.  The style of this novel is what makes it so unique and intriguing.  Hopkins uses dialog and inner monologue to create a filigree of words that speak through their shape on the page, their format, and their spacing.  In many of the poems, a vertical column of words spaced apart from their verse run down the page and tell a different story than the one presented in the poem, in much the same way a character might act one way but think something entirely opposite.  This use of spacing to create depth and inner conflict is both subtle and striking.  Her point of view is complicated, switching from one character to the next by way of font and style.  It takes some time to immediately detect when there has been a switch, but once the reader is immersed, the characters’ separate voices become obvious.  In Hunter there is a tone of cocksure anger, in Autumn loneliness and cynicism, and in Summer hesitancy and hopelessness.  Hopkins’ plot structure is arresting.  As the book progresses, the braid of these three siblings’ scattered lives winds tighter and tighter.  There is an agony in this, anticipating the crash with their poisonous mother at a Thanksgiving dinner that promises anything but gratitude – but there is also hope that they will find in each other the understanding, solace, and relief that they cannot find in the outside world.

               

Reader’s Annotation

                                 The difficult lives of three siblings stranded by their crystal meth addicted mother draw closer and closer together as they each come to terms with their own wounds.

About the Author

                            Ellen Hopkins was adopted by older parents who nurtured her love of reading and writing and instilled in her the honesty and work ethic that fuels her career today.  Her birth mother, who she later found, is also a writer.  She grew up with a younger brother, also adopted, in an affluent part of Palm Springs where her neighbors were celebrities such as Kirk Douglas and Elvis Presley.  In college she studied journalism but quit to get married.  With her first husband, she had three children and started her own business.  Her marriage failed and when she remarried, she sold her business and focused full-time on her writing.  Now she and her husband live in Nevada with one adopted son where they participate in outdoor sports and raise German Shepherds.

                         Hopkins has written five novels on controversial topics such as drug addiction, teen pregnancy, sex, and domestic violence.  All of them have been on the New York Times Bestseller list.  She has also written over twenty nonfiction novels for young adults.

Genre

         Alternate Formats - novels in verse

Challenge Issues

                          Possible challenge issues in this book include teen pregnancy, sex, promiscuity, drug use, alcohol, profanity, and truancy.  In the event of a challenge, I would consult the challenge defense file prepared for this book.  The challenge defense file would include: positive reviews from credible sources for the purpose of proving merit to the challenger; negative reviews in order to inform me on what might be challenged; a written explanation of my own rationale for including the book in the collection as well as a summary of the plot; the American Library Association Bill of Rights; a review of my branch’s selection policy; and, as a last resort, an explanation of the reconsideration policy for my library and an official reconsideration form.

Curriculum Ties

                         English and Writing: prose poetry, voice, and form.

Booktalk

              Summer, Autumn, and Hunter are siblings flung apart by their neglectful mother - very different, yet bearing the same scars from their difficult childhoods, or the lack of childhood altogether.  Each character is represented by a different font, a different voice, and a different set of insecurities that the reader will find themselves identifying with.  The form of this novel is beautiful and unique - prose poetry that spells out more on the page than mere words - and the story is timeless, a quest for love in a harsh world.

Reading Level and Interest Age

                                                   Grades 9-12, although older teens might get more out of the alternative form and mature subject matter.

                                                  

Why I Included This Book

                                          Novels in verse are appealing to teens because they are accessible and quick to read.  However, the content is impactful and as such will resonate with them long after.  Additionally this novel is told from the viewpoint of characters who have been deeply affected by drug use, rather than drug users themselves, so there is a unique perspective here that differs from many novels about drugs.  That's why I believe it would enrich any collection.

References

Hopkins, E. (2010). Fallout. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books. ISBN 1416950095

Nothing

Teller, Janne.  Nothing. Trans. Martin Aitken. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2000. ISBN 9781416985792.

Plot Summary

                     It all starts with Pierre Anthon, who is suddenly gripped with the understanding that nothing amounts to anything, there is no true meaning in life and therefore no point in going on, so he makes the decision to  spend the remainder of his days sitting in a plum tree, hurling these bitter realizations down at his former classmates who pass him on their way to and from the schoolhouse.  The entirety of the seventh grade refuses to take this lying down and band together in an attempt to prove him wrong.  They decide the only way to prove Pierre Anthon wrong is to create a physical pile of what constitutes real meaning and force Pierre Anthon to look at it, accept it, and repent.   They act out this goal in a ruthless round robin, each one deciding what the next should give up, their demands increasingly fueled by the sting of what they themselves were forced to relinquish.  Rapidly the ante is upped to disturbing levels, touching on life, death, innocence, and self, and this group of teenagers searching for meaning begin to suffer and break down in ways they could not have anticipated.

Critical Analysis

                         The cadence and sparseness of this story, set in the wintry Danish countryside, is reminiscent of a fairy-tale or a nursery rhyme, not the Disney remakes but the true originals with broken, violent endings, unhappiness, hopelessness, and the ultimate harsh moral lesson.  Teller’s prose is eerily quiet, spaced according to emphasis so that haunting phrases such as, “She should not have done that,” stand alone on blank white pages.  The reader is drawn down into this bleak world by a narrator about whom we know next to nothing; in fact, universally the characters are defined not by who they were, but by who they become as they change in reaction to the loss of meaning, increasingly personal and sacred, and subsequently by the vengeful act of demanding such sacrifices from their classmates.   There is a strong universal point of view in this story that pulls the reader back for a bird’s eye view of the characters and their group mentality as they carry out these acts.  Towards the end, this universal point of view telescopes back to include the community, and then the world, before zeroing in again on the teenagers and the aftermath of what they have done; this is accomplished expertly.  Also of intrinsic importance to this novel is the element of contrast – the contrast of their intent and their result, their actions and reactions, their impassioned beginning and tragic end.  On the whole, this existential fairy-tale for young adults is unlike anything I have read before. 

Reader's Annotation

                                There is no line this group of teenagers will not cross, nothing that cannot be sacrificed, to prove there is meaning in the world.  In their quest to pin down why life is worth living, they relinquish everything that matters, one by one, until there is nothing left to lose but themselves.

About the Author

                         Janne Teller was born in Denmark to an Austrian-German family.  Her education background is in economics and she has worked for the United Nations with development and conflict resolution in places such as Mozambique, Tanzania, and Bangladesh.  As of 1995, writing is her full-time career.  She divides her time between Paris, New York, and Copenhagen.

                        Her books often encompass controversial themes such as ethics, politics, philosophy, and religion and, as such, raise debates in her home of Denmark and all over the world.  Her work is translated into many different languages and she has been honored with many grants and prizes such as the Cultural Ministry for best children/youth book of the year, and Le Prix Libbylit 2008. 

Genre

         Multicultural - teens around the world

Challenge Issues

                          Possible challenge issues in this book include questionable morals, violence, rape, religious desecration, and desecration of a grave.  In the event of a challenge, I would consult the challenge defense file prepared for this book.  The challenge defense file would include: positive reviews from credible sources for the purpose of proving merit to the challenger; negative reviews in order to inform me on what might be challenged; a written explanation of my own rationale for including the book in the collection as well as a summary of the plot; the American Library Association Bill of Rights; a review of my branch’s selection policy; and, as a last resort, an explanation of the reconsideration policy for my library and an official reconsideration form.

Curriculum Ties

                         English and Writing: form, point of view, tone, contrast, and story arc.

Booktalk

              What would you say if someone told you that life had no meaning?  How would you argue this, how would you prove that it was untrue?  In Nothing, a group of teenagers burden themselves with this awesome task and their journey to prove that life has meaning begins to unravel them from the inside out as they learn that they must prove this not only to the classmate who challenged them, but to themselves.

Reading Level and Interest Age

                                                   Grades 9-12, although due to the sophistication of the subject matter, it might be more meaningful to Grades 11-12.

Why I Included This Book

                                          I picked this book from a display based on the lovely cover and the simplicity of the title.  The premise was so intriguing that I read it first of the many I checked out.  I was enthralled by the bleak tone, the ruthlessness with which she carried out her story, and her absolute fearlessness as an author.  This book would be a stand-out in any collection.

References
Teller, Janne. (ND) English Biography. Retrieved from http://www.janneteller.dk/?English:Biography

The Hunger Games

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, Inc, 2008. ISBN 0439023521

 

Plot Summary

                     Life on the Seam is as difficult as it gets.  Katniss Everdeen spends her days struggling to feed her young sister and mother by illegally hunting and trading for food.  This is not uncommon for residents of the twelve districts that once made up North America.  Panem, the opulent, wealthy capital at the center of the districts, hosts annual Hunger Games, gladiator-style battles to the death meant to keep the districts in line.  One female and one male adolescent from each district selected by way of lottery are forced to compete in these brutal games, fighting until only one person is left standing.  When Katniss’s baby sister’s name is drawn, Katniss steps up to replace her without a second thought, despite the fact that she is certain she will not survive.  She must immediately leave her family, her best friend Gale, her entire life behind and submit herself to elaborate preparations for the Games, which she is sure will lead to her death.  But survival and even violence come more naturally to Katniss than she expected and all at once it seems that she is a contender – but will she lose her integrity, her humanity in her fight for life?

Critical Analysis

                        The world created by Collins in The Hunger Games is completely absorbing and fully developed.  The reader, sees, feels, hears, and smells all of the details of the various settings for this story: the poverty and desperation of Seam, the decadence of the capital, and the many terrifying elements of the arena where Katniss fights for her life.  The arena even comes to life at the will of the rich citizens who run the games and sponsor the participants, rendering the setting a character in and of itself.  Katniss is complex and multifaceted, scarred tough by her difficult childhood, but underneath this, as scared and vulnerable as one might imagine.  She vacillates between extreme insecurity and bouts of sudden confidence brought on by her instinct for survival.  Her struggle to live through the extreme world of the Hunger Games is tense and absorbing, but even more so is her struggle to maintain her humanity as she plots to defeat her competitors.  This is a coming of age like no other – brutal, relentless, and life or death, literally.  All the while, her evolving relationship with simultaneous competitor and ally Peeta both on and off the Panem cameras, and her emerging feelings about Gale, the boy she left behind, only serve to complicate her journey towards losing her life, or losing herself.  This element of love woven into a plot centralized around vicious murder provides a contrast that is fully absorbing and unique.  This book is engrossing from the first page to the last and leaves the reader hungry for the next two in the series.

Reader's Annotation

                                Katniss Everdeen must compete in a death match put on for entertainment by the opulent capital that controls her world.  Despite her initial expectations that should would be killed off immediately, she finds that she might have a shot at winning, but at a personal cost too high to justify.

About the Author

                          Suzanne Collins, who lives in Connecticut with her family and two feral kittens adopted from outside, has a long history of writing for children.  She worked at Nickelodeon and was involved with such Emmy nominated and winning shows as Clarissa Explains It All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. For preschoolers, she wrote several episodes of Little Bear and Oswald.  It was children's author James Proimos who convinced her to try writing novels.

                           Her first such attempt was The Underland Chronicles, a series inspired by her contemplation of Alice in Wonderland's fascinating otherworld-ness, especially captivating to city children who had no real exposure to a pastoral environment.  After this followed The Hunger Games series, which has gained much attention worldwide.  The Hunger Games is currently being developed into a movie. 

Genre

        Science Fiction, Dystopia

Challenge Issues

                          Possible challenge issues in this book include violence and death.  In the event of a challenge, I would consult the challenge defense file prepared for this book.  The challenge defense file would include: positive reviews from credible sources for the purpose of proving merit to the challenger; negative reviews in order to inform me on what might be challenged; a written explanation of my own rationale for including the book in the collection as well as a summary of the plot; the American Library Association Bill of Rights; a review of my branch’s selection policy; and, as a last resort, an explanation of the reconsideration policy for my library and an official reconsideration form.

Curriculum Ties

                        English and History or Social Studies: for English, elements of place, character development, and prose; for History or Social Studies, discussion of political oppression and unrest.

Booktalk

               Think about reality television taken to the next level.  The Hunger Games are televised battles to the death between contestants chosen by lottery and forced to participate.  Humanity has a history of fascination with death - could this really happen?  Find out what it would be like to compete for your life just for entertainment's sake by reading about Katniss's journey in The Hunger Games.

Reading Level and Interest Age

                                                  Grades 9-12, although interest level might go two additional grades down due to the immense popularity of this series.

Why I Included This Book

                                            This book is an excellent synthesis between science fiction, adventure, coming of age, and romance.  So many elements of story-telling are beautifully executed in this book, it is no wonder it is universally popular.  It makes an excellent addition to any collection, both for its interest to young readers and its crossover appeal to adults.

References
Collins, S. (ND). Biography. Retrieved from http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/bio.htm

The Body of Christopher Creed

Plum-Ucci, Carol. The Body of Christopher Creed. San Diego: Harcourt, Inc., 2000.  ISBN 0152023887


Plot Summary

                   When class outcast Chris Creed disappears without a trace, it seems at first like a joke to Torey Adams and his friends, all of whom tangled with annoying, socially clueless Chris at some point.  The disappearance becomes very real, however, after reading Chris’s cryptic last email to the principal, hacked from the school’s computer system.  Torey and his friend Ali and her boyfriend Bo, a “boon” (a slur short for boondocks), begin trying to unravel the mystery of whether Chris was murdered, committed suicide, or just plain ran away.  But they are soon implicated in the disappearance thanks to their intrusion – Bo in particular, due to his criminal record and history of violence – and Torey finds himself on the other side of that outcast wall where Chris lived his life.  As he struggles to prove his own innocence, the fabric of Torey’s safe and familiar life slowly unravels.  And the deeper he delves into the mystery of Chris Creed’s disappearance and the secrets of the community around him, the more his eyes are opened in ways he never could have imagined. 

Critical Analysis

                       The mystery of Chris Creed is one that aches to be solved.  It is a mystery unlike any other – the exact nature of what happened is not even understood.  Has Chris been murdered?  Is he a runaway?  Did he commit suicide?  His disappearance and the controversy surrounding it is beautifully messy and inconvenient.  The longer his absence goes on, the more bodies it uproots from the secrecy of this tight knit community.  The characters are suspended in an agony of not knowing.  Every major character and even the minor ones characters are sharply drawn and very complex.  There are no straightforward heroes or villains in this book.  The beauty of Plum-Ucci’s story is its ability to reveal the heroes and villains in the individual as they stand up against great strife.  Her portrayal of teenagers’ thoughtless cruelty resulting from naivete and innocence is artful, and her stripping away of this innocence will stun the reader.  Torey’s coming of age in the face of this tragedy is painful and inspirational and, above all, very real.  His character is endearing and stubborn and the reader cringes as he plunges forward into the mystery against better judgment.  The ending gathers a momentum that leaves the reader breathless and unable to lift their eyes from the page.  The images, the characters, and the brilliantly executed mystery of this book will stay with readers long after it is closed and back on the shelf.

Reader's Annotation

                               Chris Creed disappears into thin air, leaving Torey Adams and the entire town mystified in the wake of his absence.  Torey finds himself sucked deeper into the question of what happened and the further he delves, the more he realizes he does not know the world around him as well as he thought he did.

Author

          Carol Plum-Ucci grew up in Atlantic City over the funeral home owned by her father, a mortician.  As she is fond of noting, if her bedroom floor had been made of glass, she would have been looking right down at the dead bodies being prepared there.  She states that it was in the middle of sleepless nights in this unusual childhood home that she became a writer.

            Plum-Ucci has worked as a freelance writer, a ghost writer for six Miss Americas and two CEOs, among others, Assistant to the Producer of Miss America, and Staff Writer and Director of Publications of the Miss America Organization and Miss America Scholarship Foundation.  It was the success of The Body of Christopher Creed that allowed her to retire.  She has been honored with many awards for her work, including Most Popular Paperback List from YALSA and the Michael L. Printz Honor book award for The Body of Christopher Creed.  Currently she is working on a much anticipated sequel to this book.

Genre

         Mystery/Suspense - contemporary

Challenge Issues

                          Possible challenge issues in this book include sex, suicide, violence, underage drinking and smoking, and profanity.  In the event of a challenge, I would consult the challenge defense file prepared for this book.  The challenge defense file would include: positive reviews from credible sources for the purpose of proving merit to the challenger; negative reviews in order to inform me on what might be challenged; a written explanation of my own rationale for including the book in the collection as well as a summary of the plot; the American Library Association Bill of Rights; a review of my branch’s selection policy; and, as a last resort, an explanation of the reconsideration policy for my library and an official reconsideration form.

Curriculum Ties

                        English and Writing: story arc, creating suspense, point of view, and dialog.

Booktalk

              Chris Creed vanishes off the face of the earth and no one in his class seems to be taking it seriously, except for Torey Adams, who finds himself on a mission to unravel the mystery.  Once he is implicated in the disappearance, things take a very serious turn, and despite the consequences he is both unable and unwilling to step away from his search for the truth.  This book is a what-happens-next masterpiece.  What happens next will keep you turning the pages.

Reading Age and Interest Level

                                                   Grades 9-12; interest level might go as far down as Grade 8.

Why I Included This Book  

                                        I read so many positive reviews for this book, and it sounded so unusual, when I finally got my hands on it I almost expected to be disappointed.  I was not.  I love this book and would recommend it to anyone - young adult, adult, anyone who reads.  The story is taut and engrossing and Plum-Ucci's insights into the minds of her characters address issues that are important to teenagers or anyone who has been a teenager.

References

Amazon. (ND), Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Carol-Plum-Ucci/e/B000APKTJC/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1319332304&sr=8-1

Plum-Ucci, C. (2011). About. Retrieved from http://www.carolplumucci.com/About.html

Through Her Eyes

Archer, Jennifer. (2011). Through her eyes. HarperTeen: New York. ISBN 9780061834585 

Plot Summary

                    Tansy Piper is definitely not thrilled to be transplanted across the country, yet again, to the setting of her horror novelist mother’s new book.  She is not bored for long, however; the deserted west Texas town of Cedar Canyon and the rickety old house her mother chooses to rent soon prove to hold more history than Tansy could have imagined.  A box of objects she finds in the cellar belonging to Henry, former resident of the house who, legend has it, committed suicide by jumping from a nearby bridge, seem to draw her into a haunted past that shows itself through her camera lens, the photographs she takes, and the rapidly disintegrating real world around her.  Her struggle to unravel Henry’s message and its connection to her ailing grandfather, who seems to be fading further away every day, becomes a race against time as Tansy questions both her sanity and her willingness to remain in the present day world instead of Henry’s.

Critical Evaluation

                             This novel seamlessly weaves together the elements of a love story, a ghost story, and a mystery.  There are notes of aching grief and loneliness, of the familiar pain that comes with never fitting in, amid sparks of hope and humor.  Archer’s characters are real, fallible, and complex, and they bring her story to life.  Tansy displays elements of a typical teenager, frustrated by her mother and longing to be included in the social scene at her high school, as well as a tenderness with her grandfather that goes beyond her years.  Tansy’s struggle as she finds herself pulled farther and farther away from the present day world is compelling, sucking the reader into the story. The place Archer creates, both the real present-day world of the house, the school, the town of Cedar Canyon and its residents, and the eerie past dominated by Henry and Tansy’s experiences through the eyes of helpless Bell, are rich in sensory elements so that the reader is always fully in touch with the character’s experiences.  Her motion back and forth through time and between places is complex but never difficult to understand.  The reader anticipates Tansy’s skips back to the past just as Tansy herself does, adding to the dramatic tension of past versus present.  Archer keeps both her cast of characters and her audience on the edge of their seats through one plot turn and revelation after another. This novel will keep the reader engaged, involved, and ultimately satisfied with the payoff of an intriguing conclusion.

Reader's Annotation

                                 Tansy, new in town and frequently alone in the ramshackle old house her mother has rented, finds herself pulled into the past by some mysterious items she finds in the basement.  These trips into another world, dominated by the strong presence of a boy who used to live in Tansy's house decades ago, begin to pull Tansy under and she finds herself increasing disconnected from her real life. 

About the Author

                          Jennifer Archer, author of one young adult novel and eleven adult novels, spent the first ten years of her childhood moving from one place to another as a result of her father's job.  Originally from Texas, she also lived in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Kansas and California, which exposed her to a variety of diverse environments and fed her creative developing-writer mind.  She discovered her love of writing early and began writing poetry, short stories, and essays.  She won an essay contest in fifth grade, which gave her a taste of success and attention that she enjoyed.

                         Her writing took a backseat, however, to college, a business degree, her social life, and ultimately falling in love.  After several dissatisfying career changes and the birth of two babies, Archer decided to stay home and raise her children.  It was then that her love of writing came back to life and, with the help of a creative writing night class at a community college, she dove into writing headfirst and created a career for herself.  Honors include being a finalist for the Rita Award and the Romance Writer's of Amerca Golden Heart Award, among others.  Through Her Eyes is her first young adult novel.

Genre

         Paranormal/Horror - ghosts

Challenge Issues

                             Possible challenge issues in this book include underage drinking, suicide, violence, and self-mutilation.  In the event of a challenge, I would consult the challenge defense file prepared for this book.  The challenge defense file would include: positive reviews from credible sources for the purpose of proving merit to the challenger; negative reviews in order to inform me on what might be challenged; a written explanation of my own rationale for including the book in the collection as well as a summary of the plot; the American Library Association Bill of Rights; a review of my branch’s selection policy; and, as a last resort, an explanation of the reconsideration policy for my library and an official reconsideration form.

Curriculum Ties

                         English and Writing: point of view, unreliable narrator, and place.

Booktalk

              Have you ever felt like you don't fit in, like you're alone in a crowd?  Have you ever wanted to escape your day to day life at all costs?  Tansy does, to the extreme; experience the feeling of being caught in a tug of war between the real world and a ghost pulling her back into a past that has come to life. 

Reading Level/Interest Level

                                               Grades 8-12.

Why I Included This Book

                                          Originally I picked up this book because it has cover appeal.  The close-up of a girl's face, green eyes, white skin, black eye shadow, is lovely and striking.  The blurb in the front cover pulled me in, a sucker for ghost stories, and the story proved to be absorbing, thought-provoking, and unique.

References

Archer, J. (2011). About Jenny: everything you wanted to know and more! Retrieved from  http://www.jenniferarcher.net/about_jenny.html.