Category Archives: teen books

Feed

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

   Feed by M. T. Anderson

Ages 13 and up

Titus is a typical, teenage boy living in a future world that involves space travel and major media involvement.  Computers are no longer an external device that people carry around, but are internal devices, feeding directly into the brain.  The “feed” can be used to broadcast, chat, send messages, receive mass amounts of advertisements, and for shopping. Kind of like Facebook in your head! Titus and his friends go spend a weekend on the moon, seeking the ultimate party, and meet Violet.  While at a party, Titus, Violet, and several of their friends are hacked.  After a few days of hospitalization, and reprogramming, they are all up and running again- except for Violet.  Violet’s feed is malfunctioning.  As Titus continues to get to know Violet, he is forced to think about things form a perspective he had never considered.

My Rating:  5 Stars

Z for Zachariah

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O’Brien

Ages 12 and up

Ann Burden is a sixteen year old girl who has gotten used to living by herself.   After the war ended, all of the people she knew died from radiation poison.  It seemed that the valley (somewhere along the east coast) she lived in somehow “has its own weather.”  Ann begins to take care of herself, cultivates the land, and is surviving.  The book, written as a journal from Ann’s point of view begins with “I am afraid.  Someone is coming.”  When John Loomis, a chemist from Cornell University arrives in his green radiation-free suit, with his supplies and a Geiger counter, Ann has to decide how she will share the land with him, or if she even wants to.

My Rating: 5 Stars

 

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

  Bang! by Sharon G. Flake

Ages 12 and up

Mann is still struggling with the loss of his kid brother, Jason.   Even though the apartment has been cleaned up, Mann can still “see the blood” from where Jason died after he was shot.  In a world of poverty, crime, and shootings, Mann has to face life and learn how to deal with it himself.  After another incident, Mann’s father makes some decisions to harden his son, or to help him “be a man.”  Mann’s father has been reading about manhood initiations in Africa, and believes that some of the same acts might save his son.  Unfortunately, it might kill him first.

This book gives an authentic look at what life is like in the inner city, and how parents, and their children try to survive.

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

 

  After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick

Ages 9 through grown-up

In this sequel to Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie (one of the best books ever!), Jeffrey is in 8th-grade, and dealing with the effects of chemotherapy and radiation while being treated for leukemia when he was four.  He has a pretty severe limp and his brain isn’t as efficient with certain things, especially math.  This is nothing compared to what his best friend, Tad, has to deal with.  Tad dealt with cancer twice, and is virtually stuck in a wheelchair.  The boys support each other as they deal with life as 8th-graders, including issues like parents, siblings, girls, and something that “nobody is talking about.”

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

 

Sold

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

Sold by Patricia McCormick

Grades 9 and up

Lakshmi tells her story in verse, and it is an ugly, sad story of oppression.  Lakshmi, at 13, is sold by her family in Nepal, and is brought to India’s “red light district.”  When a man shows up for her services, and Lakshmi realizes what she is supposed to do, she tries to fight it.  She understands,  as other girls cope with this life in whatever way they can.  Lakshmi is offered an out by someone she was told not to trust, but she is not really sure who to trust regardless.  She has already seen what happens to a girl who tries to run away, and must choose from a variety of risks.

This excellent story, told in poetry, is eye-opening and based on real accounts of the trafficking that occurs in India.

Typical Teen Topics

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

Middle School:  The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson

Grades 4 through 9

Rafe begins sixth-grade and starts setting goals immediately.  His first goal is to avoid Miller, the school’s biggest bully.  His second goal is to get Jeanne Galletta’s attention, as she is pretty and cool.  His third goal, based on the other two, is to break every rule in the Hills Village Middle school Code of Conduct – yep, that’s right, break EVERY rule.

The book is filled with illustrations that add to the story, as Rafe deals with teachers, students, his family, and himself.

My Rating: 3 Stars

 

 

The Earth, My Butt & Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler

Ages 13 to 19

Virginia always played in the shadows of beautiful, successful, and thin siblings.  The brother she had always looked up to gets in trouble for something abominable, and Virginia has to start re-evaluating some things:  her family, her self-perceptions, her life rules, her social life.  After taking a few risks, things start to change…

My Rating: 4 Stars

 

 

Two Tough Topics

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher

Ages 15 and up

Logan, is a regular high school guy who is working on getting over a girl who he dated for three years.  One day, Sage, a new girl, shows up in biology class.  Logan is instantly taken by her, and it seems the she likes him back.  He gets mixed messages from Sage.  Sometimes she seems really attracted to Logan, and other times she says that she is not allowed to date.  She says that she was home-schooled for a few years.  Logan is respectful of all of that, but he wonders why Sage’s younger sister was not home-schooled and is allowed to date.  As he discovers Sage’s secret, Logan is forced to decide how much he cares about Sage, and how much he cares about what others think.

I was expecting a “girl book” because of the cover, but I found a rich, story with a dynamic male protagonist.  Once I got into the story, I could not put the book down.

My Rating:  5 Stars!

Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers

Grades 7 and up

Reese is in a juvenile detention center, serving time for stealing prescription pads.  Regardless of his best efforts to keep his nose clean, Reese gets in several fights, and keeps losing privileges while he is locked up.  Fortunately, he participates in a work program, so he gets to work at a home for Senior Citizens.  Reese is assigned to work with the difficult, angry Mr. Hooft.  At first, Reese finds Mr. Reese as intolerable as everybody else does.  As he continues to work with him, however, they learn a bit from each other.

My Rating: 5 Stars

All in the Family

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman

Ages 12+

Vince is trying his hardest to be a regular high-school guy, and to live quietly and honestly.  In spite of his efforts, his family’s business keeps affecting his life.  Because his father is the big boss of the mob, Vince’s house is bugged and the F.B.I. is always keeping tabs on what they are doing.  Life gets even more complicated for Vince when he falls for a girl, and then later discovers that her dad works for the F.B.I.

This book deals with some challenging issues, as Vince confronts his own morals and makes sense out of his beliefs about what makes a “good guy” and a “bad guy.”  I loved this book because it dealt with these issues in a humorous way, and I could relate to Vince.  I really did laugh out loud a few times as I read this book.

My Rating:  5 Stars

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Grades 8 and up

Set in the future, along the Gulf Coast, Nailer struggles to survive.  His job is to scavenge copper wire from ships that sunk during “city killer” hurricanes.  While Nailer belongs to a crew, the work is every-man-to-himself, as it is about survival.  Living under poverty conditions, with a drunken, abusive father as his only “family”, Nailer has to make decisions about who to trust and who not to trust.   The considerations about what constitutes family, and how to determine if someone is trustworthy get even more complicated when Nailer rescues Nita from a ship filled with riches.

While I do enjoy a good, futuristic, dystopian novel, I struggled with this one.  Maybe because I went in unfamiliar with ship breaking, which I have since researched.  I also found some of the characters to be somewhat flat, so I was less concerned about what happened to them than I should have been.

My Rating:  3 Stars

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

Grades 8 and up

Matt is isolated and abused for the first years of his life.  A clone to El Patrón, the drug lord of the land called Opium (between the U.S. and Mexico, now referred to as Aztlán), Matt realizes that he is different the other clones, as they are all “eejits.”  Matt learns about his purpose (why he was cloned), and confronts his beliefs about family, love, trust, government, power, and fear as he grows up under El Patrón’s “care.”

This book pulled me in, and kept me fascinated throughout its entirety.  Nancy Farmer knows how to develop characters that one is led to care about, while twisting science-fiction, reality and thriller into one amazing masterpiece!

My Rating:  5 Stars!!

Two More

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Ages 10 to 14

Coraline, an only child, lives in a flat with her mother and father, who are usually busy.  Coraline discovers a door that connects to the other flat.  When she figures out how to get over to the other side, she discovers some similarities and some differences compared to her side.  Even the “people” resemble her family.  Making her way back, if she can, will require facing darkness, desires, and fear.

My Rating:  3.5

The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis

Ages 11 to 99

Parvana lives in Afghanistan, with her well-educated family.  Unfortunately, the Taliban have control over the city where Parvana lives.  Her family has had to move out of their nice home, and now live in a small room with barely enough food, and no water.  The Taliban use violence and fear to control everything.  They have even called off school!  As the Taliban hurts Parvana’s family directly, she has to be brave and do some things that she never would have imagined.

My Rating:  5 Stars!!