Korman, Goran. Pop

Korman, Gordan. Pop. Baltzer & Bray, 2009 [978-0-06-174230-9]
Marcus and his mom move to a new town. He was the star quarterback in his previous town but when he shows up at his HS for tryouts at this town, he is faced with a championship team that is well-knitted together. He gets on JV. Meanwhile he start practicing at a local park where he runs into this strange middle aged guy who teaches him how to tackle and take hits. This guy is very unpredictable and eventually starts doing strange things which end up getting Marcus involved in the law. This 260 page book is such a multi-dimensional story. It great sports story that deals with moving to a new town, getting your first girlfriend, getting in trouble with the law, keeping secrets out of loyalty, and also the terrible degradation of Alzheimer's disease. The over-riding theme is serious but Korman deals with it using his wonderful sense of humor. This is a great book, right up there with his "A semester in the life of a garbage bag."

Brooks, Kevin. Lucas

Brooks, Kevin. Lucas. Chicken House, 2003 [978-1-905294-17-6]
WOW.. Can I say it again? WOW! Kevin Brooks is now my most favorite author from the last few years. Once again he writes a very powerful story. A loner (Lucas) wanders into town and Cait falls for him. He is mysterious and lives alone in the woods. The local group decided they don't like this "gypsy" even though he is not one and decides to frame him in a plot to get rid of him. This 361 page book is definitely not for elementary students. There are attempted rapes (not descriptive but you know what is happening) mob violence, mugging and more. In the middle of this Cait falls in love with this loner. This is a POWERFUL book. I can't tell anything about the ending.. but to give you a hint... I couldn't put it down and almost an accident! If you have Jr. High or High School students, Kevin Brooks books are a must!

Allison, Jennifer. Gilda Joyce: The dead drop

Allison, Jennifer. Gilda Joyce: The dead drop. Dutton, 2009 [978-0-525-47980-2]
Fourtreen-year-old psychic investigator, Gilda, gets to spend the summer as an intern at the "Spy Museum" in Washington, D.C. Because someone older suddenly takes sick, Gilda gets to be a counselor at their week-long summer spy camp. Once again she gets involved in ghosts in try ing to solve a mystery. Since the story takes place in Washington, she also gets involved in international intrigue. This 300 page story is a fun and engaging tale but I have the same complaint that I have with her other books. The cover illustration looks more juvenile than the book so you have to explain the story to 7th and 8th graders to get them to pick it up. Otherwise they think it is a "kid's book."

Lupica, Mike. Long shot [Comeback kids]

Lupica, Mike. Long shot [Comeback kids]. Philomel, 2008 [978--0-399-24717-0]
Pedro is a great basketball player and loves playing for his 6h grade team. He is not a hotdog, but a real team player. Ned is the other star player on the team and they play well together. Ned not only is a good athelete but also the most popular kid in school and is expected to become class president. Pedro decides to run for class president also will this change their relationship at school and more importantly will it change how the interact with each other on the court? This 182 page book is a good piece of sports fiction. There is not only the story and action on the court, but also other plots going on in the story. Lupica has written a book for upper elementary...increasing his audience from his other great YA sports books.

Cockcroft, Jason. Counter clockwise

Cockcroft, Jason. Counter clockwise. HarperCollins, 2009 [978-0-06-125554-0]
Nathan lives alone with his father, Henry after his mom passed away before the book started. They are not a happy family, not having much communication then one day after school Nathan runs into a Beefeater (story takes place in England) who tells him that his father is going to go back in time to prevent his mother from dying. If Henry successfully stopped his wife from dying, it would change the time progression in which they are living. This 202 page book can be interesting to a student interested in time and time travel.. otherwise, it could be very confusing. I kind of enjoyed it because the implications of time travel always have interested me.

Kinney, Jeff. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days [#4]

Kinney, Jeff. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog days [bk 4] Amulet Books, 2009 [978-0-8109-8391-5]
Well in book four, it is now summer. He has an argument with his best friend, Rowley and Greg wants to spend the summer inside playing video games...not if his mom can help it. This 218 page book continues along like the others.. very entertaining with its humor and cartoon strip type illustrations. No matter how many of these books I own, I can not keep them on the shelves!

Lubar, David. True talents.

Lubar, David. True talents. Tom Doherty, 2007 [978-0765-30977-8 // 0-765-30977-7]
In this sequel to "Hidden Talents" the guys are out of their alternative school and trying to maintain somewhat normal lives with their families (and their Talents.) "Trash" gets kidnapped by a guy who does work for the government and now tries to harness his power of telekinesis for military purposes. Once again the guys from the first book get together to rescue "Trash" and defeat the madman wanting to experiment with them all. While initially the book can be confusing tracing the actions and thoughts of the gang individually before they get together again, this is a great roller coaster ride of suspect and the tale works out. This 312 page book is very different "Hidden Talents" which is much lighter. Here the boys are battling was a evil man; people get hurt and even die. It is unusual for a sequel to have such a different feel than the first book, but that being said, I found that liked this book much better than "Hidden Talents" which was much lighter and humorous.

Hicks, Betty. Get real

Hicks, Betty. Get real.Roaring Brook, 2006 [1-59643-089-3]
This is the story of two best friends who want different parents. Dez is very neat and structured and organized while her parents are more creative and messy. Dez just doesn't feel like she belongs. Her best friend, Jil is adopted and comes from a well off family. One day Jil finds a way to contact her birth mother and her adoptive parents are supportive of this contact. Unfortunately this become a struggle as to who is her real parent. What will happen with her birth parent when push comes to shove. Jil runs away and tries to get Dez to join her or help her. This 184 page book is a thought provoking book about teens trying to fit in and the meaning of friendship.

Chesire, Simon. The prince and the snowgirl

Cheshire, Simon. The Prince and the snowgirl. Delacorte, 2006 [978-0-385-73342-7]

Tom is a look-alike actor who looks like England’s Prince George. (I am not sure why they used a fake name.. maybe for legal reasons.) He goes around at various store opening and other affairs, acting as Prince George. Meanwhile at school he has fallen in love a girl on the ski team with him (hence snow girl.) Of course he is shy and does nothing about it. One day the ski team travels to a competition and stays in a hotel and just for kicks, Tom pretends he is the Prince to scam the hotel for better rooms. Well of course you can guess what happens, the real prince shows up. How will Tom get out of this situation? Will he and “the snowgirl” ever get together? This 167 page book is a fun read. For students who might be bothered by it, there are a lot of “Britishisms” in the book which some students may not understand.

Rinaldi, Ann. Come Juneteenth

Rinaldi, Ann. Come Juneteenth. Harcourt, 2007 [978-0-15-205947-7]

Luli and her family live on a plantation in Texas as the Civil War draws to the end. Like most of the other slave owners in Texas, they decide not to tell their slaves of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Ruth (or Sis Goose as she is called) is a slave who was raised like a sister to Luli. She becomes very bitter when she finds out that the family hid the fact from her (and the other slaves) that they were free for two years. Will Sis Goose ever feel like part of the family? How will the family react and survive when a small group of Union soldiers occupy the plantation after the war? This 246 page book is a great piece of historical fiction as is usually the case with Rinaldi. What I liked about this one is that it is a little less meaty and therefore more approachable to greater number of students.

Douglas, Lola. True confessions of a Hollywood starlet

Douglas, Lola. True confessions of a Hollywood starlet. RazorBill/Penguin, 2005 [159514-093-x]

This is an interesting twist on several books with similar titles. Here we have an actual starlet who has had a drinking problem and a drug overdose. She is sent to a treatment program after which her mother decides she needs a real life so her hair is dyed and she is enrolled in a Midwestern H.S. to live like a normal teenage Of course it is important that non one learns of her background. This 259 page book traces her transition from feeling aloof yet trying to fit in, to actually becoming a integral part of the school community. Can she keep her secret? What will happen when she leaves and goes back to Hollywood after a year? I enjoyed the story. It is a fun story with serious undertones.

Daneshvari, Gitty. School of fear

Daneshvari, Gitty. School of fear. Little, Brown, 2009 [978-0-316-03326-8]

Four kids have strong phobias that are ruining the lives of them and their families. Their parents decide to send them off to a very exclusive school which deals with fear. Once there, they meet the strange teacher, Mrs. Wellington. They are very confused about her methods. This 333 page book is a fun read with a wild plot twist at the end (which I figured was coming.) This was an Advanced Readers copy. expected publication date, September 2009.

Pfeffer, Susan Beth. the dead & the gone

Pfeffer, Susan Beth. The dead & the gone. Harcourt, 2008 [978-0-15-206311-5]
This book is related to "Life as we knew it", telling of the same disaster, this time in NYC. The life of Alex and his family is suddenly changed when the asteroid hits the moon. When the flood and tsunamis come, his mom is on the subway to work and his father is visiting family in Puerto Rico. Always hoping his parents will return, Alex and his two sisters fight to survive as society crumbles in New York City. Things are terrible but every morning he goes "body shopping", searching the bodies of the deceased, finding anything of value he can trade for food. This 321 is as depressing as "Life as we knew it." These books are not for elementary students, both of them sent me into a terrible melancholy mood. The reader experiences the total collapse of society as we know it.