by Deb Caletti
Jade suffers from Panic Disorder. While she is on medication and meets with a psychologist, there are other little things she does to help her cope with her disorder, such as tap three times before entering her room, lighting patron saint candles for a little extra help even though she’s not religious, and [...]
Archives for December 2008
The Nature of Jade
Splurge
Thanks to some very generous relatives who gave me bookstore gift certificates for Christmas (Thank you! Thank you!), I just indulged myself in some book buying, something I rarely do since I am in love with the library (and not rich enough to buy all the books I want). I just bought Wondrous Strange by [...]
The Boy Who Dared: A Novel Based on the True Story of a Hitler Youth
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
We meet young Helmuth on October 27, 1942 on his 264th day in a Nazi prison. It’s a Tuesday and the executioner works on Tuesday. Will this be Helmuth’s Tuesday?
What has Helmuth done to land himself here, waiting in the cold, dank cell for death. Helmuth thinks back to how he got [...]
The Dragonfly Pool
by Eva Ibbotson
Tally’s family decides it is best to send her away from London to the safe haven of the countryside as war becomes a more imminent threat. Tally doesn’t want to go to boarding school, but she is a very like-able, very agreeable child who only wishes for the happiness of others, so she [...]
WWII for 6th Graders
As I have mentioned in a couple of recent posts, I am giving booktalks in January to 6th graders on World War II in Europe. I have lists of books used in the past by my predecessors and I am planning on including many of them, but I am interested in some different titles to [...]
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
by John Boyne
Nine-year-old Bruno must leave his comfortable home in Berlin that has five floor and a banister for sliding down and his three best friends for life and his grandparents to live in a desolate countryside where there are no children to play with. He must do this because his father has a very [...]
Wuthering High
by Cara Lockwood
Miranda makes a few bad choices — charging $1,000 in Wonder Bras on her stepmother’s credit card, totaling her father’s car, and over-sleeping her PSATs because she had been at a party the night before where someone had spiked her drink. She doesn’t think these things warrant her punishment, reform school. Bard Academy [...]
Sarah's Key
by Tatiana de Rosnay
My friends and I have begun a book club, so now I have a specific reason to read adult titles. It’s kind of nice. While I love teen lit, I feel like that is all I should be reading since there are so many good titles that I need to stay on [...]
Posts
Morris Award Finalists
The Morris Award is a new award given to outstanding first-time YA authors. Official wording and award info here.
Here are the five finalists:
Curse as Dark as Gold by Elizabeth Bunce
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Absolute Brightness by James Lecesne
Madapple by Christine Meldrum
Me, the Missing, and the Dead by Jenny Valentine
I have only read Graceling but Madapple and [...]
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