The Day it Snowed Tortillas: Folktales told in English and Spanish by Joe Hayes

Kids of all ages are always asking Joe Hayes, "How can it snow tortillas?" Well, now they’ll know where to find the answer—at long last, Joe’s signature book The Day It Snowed Tortillas is appearing in this new bilingual edition. Bloomsbury Review listed the original English-only edition as one of their fifteen all-time favorite children’s books. Our bilingual edition has all the original stories as they have evolved in the last twenty years of Joe’s storytelling. It also has new illustrations by award-winning artist Antonio Castro. Storytellers have been telling these stories in the villages of New Mexico since the Spanish first came to the New World over four hundred years ago, but Joe always adds his own nuances for modern audiences. The tales are full of magic and fun. In the title story, for instance, a very clever woman saves her silly husband from a band of robbers. She makes the old man believe it snowed tortillas during the night! In another story, a young boy gladly gives up all of his wages for good advice. His parents think he is a fool, but the good advice leads to wealth and a royal marriage. The enchantment continues in story after story—a clever thief tricks a king for his kingdom and a prince finds his beloved in a house full of wicked step-sisters. And of course, we listen again to the ancient tale of the weeping woman, La Llorona, who still searches for her drowned children along the riverbanks.
Joe Hayes is one of America’s premier storytellers. He is especially recognized for his bilingual telling of stories from the Hispanic culture of northern New Mexico. Joe lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and travels extensively throughout the United States, visiting schools and storytelling festivals.

*taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press; 1 edition (October 1, 2003)
Language: English, Spanish
ISBN-10: 0938317768
ISBN-13: 978-0938317760

What a fun fun book to read. This book contained funny and scary stories. Some that you knew were fake and others that taught a good lesson. I am a little confused as to the reading age: I wouldn't necessarily call this a YA novel, but I was assigned to read it as one, and after the class discussion will probably have more to add. For now, I would recommend this as a fun novel for all ages.

Dark Dude by Oscar Hijuelos

*Starred Review* In his first novel for young adults, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1987) proves himself to be a powerful, adept storyteller for teens. Rico, a Cuban American teen growing up in Harlem in the late 1960s, is tired—of working extra jobs to help his family; of the chaos and tragedy at school, where students are so inured to violence that, when classes close after a shooting, they behave “like it was suddenly a holiday”; of being hassled for his light skin and hair. When his parents threaten to send him to a military school in Florida, he runs away. Together with his best friend, Jimmy, who has just kicked a heroin habit, Rico hitchhikes to Wisconsin, where Gilberto, an older-brother figure from Harlem, has bought a farm that he shares with several hippie college students. In an unwavering, utterly believable voice, Rico details his midwestern year, in which he adjusts to rural life, falls in love, and pursues his comic-book-writing aspirations. Most of all, though, he searches for a sense of self, ultimately realizing that “where you are doesn’t change who you are.” Frank, gritty, vibrant, and wholly absorbing, Rico’s story will hold teens with its celebration of friendship and its fundamental questions about life purpose, family responsibility, and the profound ways that experience shapes identity. Grades 9-12. --Gillian Engberg

*taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Atheneum; 1 edition (September 16, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 141694804X
ISBN-13: 978-1416948049

I read this book as an assignment, and we all know what kind of attitude that can invoke. When I honestly saw the cover I was a little confused. I was a picture of a white kid with his back turned looking at graffiti! And of course, as I read the book I found that I fell into the typical person that makes Rico so upset. (turns out he isn't white) Definetly a book for the older grades - not something you would find me teaching in a 9th or 10th grade classroom.

Cut by Patricia McCormick

Amazon.com Review
Burdened with the pressure of believing she is responsible for her brother's illness, 15-year-old Callie begins a course of self-destruction that leads to her being admitted to Sea Pines, a psychiatric hospital the "guests" refer to as Sick Minds. Although initially she refuses to speak, her individual and group therapy sessions trigger memories and insights. Slowly, she begins emerging from her miserable silence, ultimately understanding the role her dysfunctional family played in her brother's health crisis.
Patricia McCormick's first novel is authentic and deeply moving. Callie suffers from a less familiar teen problem--she cuts herself to relieve her inner frustrations and guilt. The hope and hard-won progress that comes at the conclusion of the novel is believable and heartening for any teen reader who feels alone in her (or his) angst. Along with Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak and E.L. Konigsburg's Silent to the Bone, McCormick's Cut expertly tackles an unusual response to harrowing adolescent trouble. (Ages 14 and older) --Emilie Coulter


Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Push; First Edition edition (February 1, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0439324599
ISBN-13: 978-0439324595

Hmm, I think my recommendation for this novel is the same as the one I had for Speak and Distorted. This book covers a hard topic, but in a "nice" way. The author's approach to writing puts the reader in the therapist's seat, which could prove very helpful for someone who is reading this as the loved one and/or friend of a teen suffering from the same problems. A great approach to a tough topic!

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse and Marika Mashburn

Product Description
When Billie Jo is just fourteen she must endure heartwrenching ordeals that no child should have to face. The quiet strength she displays while dealing with unspeakable loss is as surprising as it is inspiring. This award winning story is set in the heart of the Great Depression. It chronicles Oklahoma's staggering dust storms, and the environmental and emotional turmoil they leave in their path. An unforgettable tribute to hope and inner strength.

*review from Amazon.com*

Another great book, and a plesing approach to poetry. I am an English Major, but can I be honest and say that poetry and I just don't get along! And I have a feeling that I am not the only one out there. So as a lover/hater of poetry I might Have a connection with my students. This book will be a good way to bridge the gap between students (or yourself) and poetry. Just be prepared, the storyline in this one isn't for the weak!

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Amazon.com Review
In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community's Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy. With echoes of Brave New World, in this 1994 Newbery Medal winner, Lowry examines the idea that people might freely choose to give up their humanity in order to create a more stable society. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be, and boldly decides he cannot pay the price. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
In the "ideal" world into which Jonas was born, everybody has sensibly agreed that well-matched married couples will raise exactly two offspring, one boy and one girl. These children's adolescent sexual impulses will be stifled with specially prescribed drugs; at age 12 they will receive an appropriate career assignment, sensibly chosen by the community's Elders. This is a world in which the old live in group homes and are "released"--to great celebration--at the proper time; the few infants who do not develop according to schedule are also "released," but with no fanfare. Lowry's development of this civilization is so deft that her readers, like the community's citizens, will be easily seduced by the chimera of this ordered, pain-free society. Until the time that Jonah begins training for his job assignment--the rigorous and prestigious position of Receiver of Memory--he, too, is a complacent model citizen. But as his near-mystical training progresses, and he is weighed down and enriched with society's collective memories of a world as stimulating as it was flawed, Jonas grows increasingly aware of the hypocrisy that rules his world. With a storyline that hints at Christian allegory and an eerie futuristic setting, this intriguing novel calls to mind John Christopher's Tripods trilogy and Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl. Lowry is once again in top form--raising many questions while answering few, and unwinding a tale fit for the most adventurous readers. Ages 12-14.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

*review taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Laurel Leaf (September 10, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0440237688
ISBN-13: 978-0440237686


I know that this book is read by high school children across the continent...but I don't think I had ever joined the bandwagon until this year. As I read through The Giver it felt so familiar, I knew what was going to happen as I turned the page; but whether that knowledge was my super powers (which I rarely talk about) or the old memories of reading the book, I loved this book! (has there been a book yet that I haven't liked?) I can also see why this is such a popular novel for use in HS - it would make for some great discussions!

Bound by Donna Jo Napoli

From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 5-9–Napoli takes the elements of the traditional Chinese version of "Cinderella" and creates a powerful and moving story. Xing Xing is left to the mercy of her stepmother after the death of her father. Focusing on a good marriage for her own big-footed daughter, the woman binds the poor girl's feet even though she is past the usual age for this painful procedure. Xing Xing's only pleasure is her daily contact with a beautiful white carp in the pond where she draws water. To her, the fish seems to be the spirit of her mother helping her endure her difficult life. When the stepmother kills it, the girl is devastated, but she retrieves the bones from the garbage heap and, in the process of hiding them, discovers a green silk gown and gold slippers that belonged to her mother. Dressed in this rich garb, Xing Xing goes to the festival where she loses one slipper in her effort to escape detection. The slipper is eventually bought by an unconventional prince; when he finally finds its owner, Xing Xing considers her options and decides to marry him. Napoli retains the pattern of the traditional Chinese tale with only a few minor changes: she sets the story in the northern province of Shaanxi during the Ming dynasty rather than in a minority community in southern China. She fleshes out and enriches the story with well-rounded characters and with accurate information about a specific time and place in Chinese history; the result is a dramatic and masterful retelling.–Barbara Scotto, Michael Driscoll School, Brookline, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 7-12. Drawing from traditional Chinese Cinderella stories, Napoli sets this tale in a small village during China's Ming period. Since her beloved father's death, Xing Xing has become "hardly more than a slave," serving her acrimonious stepmother and pitiable stepsister, Wei Ping, whose botched, bloody foot binding has left her perilously unwell. A dangerous trip in search of medicine for Wei Ping brings Xing Xing into the wider world, but she returns to find home more treacherous than before. Napoli creates strong, unforgettable characters--particularly talented, sympathetic Xing Xing--and her haunting, sometimes violent tale amplifies themes from well-known Western Cinderella stories, making them fascinating questions: Could ancestors serve as "fairy godmothers"? In a society that so grossly undervalues females, what does "happily ever after" really mean? Teens and teachers will want to discuss the layered themes of freedom, captivity, love, human rights, and creative endeavor within this powerful survival story, which, like the yin and yang forces Xing Xing thinks about, balances between terror and tenderness, and is both subversive and rooted in tradition. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

*reviews taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse (August 1, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0689861788
ISBN-13: 978-0689861789

What a fun twist on an old fairy tale! One thing that I find so interesting is that no matter what culture you live in, the basis of the fairytale usually exist. We may call a character a Fairy Godmother, others may call that character the Spirit of an ancestor, but either way the spirit of the story stays the same. As the reviews state above, some of the retelling of this story is so vivd that you are actually there. But this was a book that I was able to read in between errands in the course of one day! A quick read and so so good!

Briar Rose - Jane Yolen

From Publishers Weekly
Windling's Fairy Tale series has produced several excellent fantasy novels inspired by classic fairy tales. This is one of the series's most ambitious efforts, and only a writer as good as Yolen ( Sister Light, Sister Dark ) could bring it off. Yolen takes the story of Briar Rose (commonly known as Sleeping Beauty) and links it to the Holocaust--a far-from-obvious connection that she makes perfectly convincing. Rebecca Berlin, a young woman who has grown up hearing her grandmother Gemma tell an unusual and frightening version of the Sleeping Beauty legend, realizes when Gemma dies that the fairy tale offers one of the very few clues she has to her grandmother's past. To discover the facts behind Gemma's story, Rebecca travels to Poland, the setting for the book's most engrossing scenes and its most interesting, best-developed characters. By interpolating Gemma's vivid and imaginative story into the larger narrative, Yolen has created an engrossing novel. She handles a difficult subject with finesse in a book that should be required reading for anyone who is tempted to dismiss fantasy as a frivolous genre.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
A young woman's promise to her dying grandmother leads her on a quest to discover the truth of her own family's mysterious beginnings in this grim retelling of the classic fairy tale "Briar Rose," or "The Sleeping Beauty." In Yolen's modern-day version, the wall of thorns becomes a barbed-wire prison, while the sleeping princess is both victim and heroine. The latest in the "Fairy Tale" series showcases Yolen's skill at transforming the real world into a realm of fantasy. A good selection for adult and YA fantasy collections.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

*taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Tor Teen (March 15, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0765342308
ISBN-13: 978-0765342300


After reading this novel, Bound, and The Witch's Boy, I have become a sucker for fairy tales retold! This book made a startling connection between Sleeping Beauty, (one of my favorite fairy tales) and the Holocaust. And even though I knew that this novel was a "Holocaust" novel, the entire time I read it I was enthralled. I had to know what would happen next, and I remember that the day I read it I was so happy the sun was out. I let my kids play on the playground for the 2 1/2 hours it took me to read the entire novel! Amazing writing and great talent. After reading this novel, I am definetly putting Jane Yolen on my list of must read authors!!

The First Part Last - Angela Johnson

Bobby, the teenage artist and single-parent dad in Johnson's Coretta Scott King Award winner, Heaven (1998), tells his story here. At 16, he's scared to be raising his baby, Feather, but he's totally devoted to caring for her, even as she keeps him up all night, and he knows that his college plans are on hold. In short chapters alternating between "now" and "then," he talks about the baby that now fills his life, and he remembers the pregnancy of his beloved girlfriend, Nia. Yes, the teens' parents were right. The couple should have used birth control; adoption could have meant freedom. But when Nia suffers irreversible postpartum brain damage, Bobby takes their newborn baby home. There's no romanticizing. The exhaustion is real, and Bobby gets in trouble with the police and nearly messes up everything. But from the first page, readers feel the physical reality of Bobby's new world: what it's like to hold Feather on his stomach, smell her skin, touch her clenched fists, feel her shiver, and kiss the top of her curly head. Johnson makes poetry with the simplest words in short, spare sentences that teens will read again and again. The great cover photo shows the strong African American teen holding his tiny baby in his arms. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

*this summary was pulled from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:
144 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse (December 28, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0689849230
ISBN-13: 978-0689849237

This book was a really quick read! ANd for being such a quick read I really liked it. The story seems to be well developed in a small amount of space. The thoughts of the character are reflected in the writing: you can read through the exhaustion of Bobby. The plot twist about Nia was a little unexpected, although after I read the book I did some research on her condition and found that the medical condition was described right on and that if you knew what to look for the clues were throughout the entire novel.

Some reviews claim that this book is appropriate for grade 6 and up, others claim it is appropriate for grade 8 and up - personally I wouldn't use this book in a classroom younger than 9th or 10th grade, with 9th grade pushing it.

Some things to be wary of: mild language and one brief scene of intimacy.

Godless - by Pete Hautman

Thoughts from the Author himself!!

A FEW THOUGHTS, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER...


What sort of book is Godless? It's coming-of-age story, a comedy, a tragedy, a drama, an adventure. I've been told that the title makes it sound like a scary, violent tale about someone or something evil. It is not. My intention was never to equate godlessness with evil. They are not the same thing at all. I was thinking of the temporary godlessness that descends upon a person who is actively searching for his or her faith. Maybe I should have called it "Churchless."
Godless is neither pro- nor anti-religion. The main character. Jason Bock, is Roman Catholic, but he could as easily be Protestant, Jewish, or Muslim.
Godless is not about God. It doesn't weigh in on the existence or nature of a Supreme Being. It is not about which religion is the truest, or the best. It's about how people--teenagers in particular--deal with the questions that arise when their faith has been shaken.
If you strip away the whole religion thing, Godless is about a big fat nerdy kid named Jason Bock who has an excess of smarts and imagination, and his relationship with his even nerdier snail-collecting best friend Shin.
Godless is about the power of ideas--Jason conceives the Chutengodian religion, he sets it in motion, but he is unprepared for the consequences. This is a latch-key teenage moment--our first conscious realization that the expression of our own beliefs can have a huge impact on the beliefs of others--especially our friends. It's about discovering personal power, and the heady experience of plying it.*



WHY I WROTE GODLESS...

Godless was inspired by two events in my life.
First, I read a story about Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Latter Day Saints, better known as the Mormons. On September 22, 1827, Smith was just another 14-year-old kid who was vaguely dissatisfied with the faith of his fathers. On that day, according to church teachings, the angel Moroni appeared to Smith and revealed the location of golden tablets containing the Book of Mormon. Pretty soon young Joseph had created one of the most successful of the modern-day religions. Reading his story I thought, wow--what an incredible coming-of-age story that is!
Then I remembered something I hadn't thought about for more than 35 years--a brief teenage interlude when I and a few of my friends devised a mock-religion worshipping the St. Louis Park water tower. It was a summer goof, a way to be irreverant and...well, teens are easily bored, y'know? Anyway, we had this whole epistemology, a pantheon of water tower gods in which the towers belonging to other cities were lesser deities, and so forth. It was something I did for a few weeks one summer and then forgot about.
One thing you learn when you write teen books--all those uncomfortable, embarrassing memories you worked so hard to erase, they're still in there. It all came back to me in a rush.
Godless is not a memoir. It's fiction through and through. But the feelings and the questions raised by the characters are quite real. I know. I was there.

*http://www.petehautman.com/godless.html*


Wow! This book was such an interesting book. I liked it, and I liked how it made me think. The underlying story that progresses through the chapter headings was by far one of my most favorite things. I say a big kudos to Mr. Hautman for a job well done on a thought-provoking book!

A teacher's guide to teaching godless
can also be found at www.petehautman.com/godless.html

Book Specs:
Crown Forum; 4th Printing edition (June 6, 2006)
ISBN-10: 1400054206
ISBN-13: 978-1400054206
320 pages

The Witch's Boy - by Michael Gruber

One lovely spring morning, a witch ventures out to collect her daily herbs. Much to her surprise, she finds a baby in a basket outside her door. But this is no ordinary baby; it is the ugliest child anyone has ever seen, and tied to its basket is a note: "the devil's child for the devil's wife." The witch is taken aback: "Witches are supposed to eat babies, not feed them," she says. But she surprises herself by feeling an odd fondness for the ugly child, who she names Lump, and she assembles a sort of family to help her care for the boy: a she-bear, a malevolent demon, and her familiar, a cat named Falance.

As Lump grows, he struggles to find his own magical powers and his relationship to the other humans nearby. In the meantime, his foster mother has the same problems as working mothers everywhere: how to balance her time between tending the Midsummer fires and caring for her child. The witch, who is more powerful than Lump understands, is mystified by motherhood. She thinks, "I have always known what to do; I see the Pattern clear as my own hand, and I follow it and am content. But there is no guide here, and every path I can see leads to some pain. Perhaps this is part of having a child; the Pattern is of no use, and there is this aching in my heart."

Soon enough, disaster strikes, and Lump, the witch, and Falance hit the road. Robbed of her powers when she makes the ultimate sacrifice for her child, the witch must find a new life for herself: "It is the case that I cannot be both a mother and a witch, or not the sort of witch I was." In the meantime, Lump grows more distant, demanding, and hard to love. Fashioning themselves as The Faeryland Outcasts, the three perform magic and meet dozens of characters who will be vaguely familiar to readers from other fairy tales.

THE WITCH'S BOY, though, is far more than a fractured fairy tale. Although many of the characters, settings, and situations are borrowed from folklore, the complexities of plot and theme go far beyond simple fairy stories. The conflicted relationship between mother and son, the psychological pain inflicted on the boy Lump, the ways all the characters must step out of themselves to find friendship and love, the unexpected places where magic is found --- all these elements elevate THE WITCH'S BOY from a simple fairy story to a haunting, fully developed tale of magic, mystery, growth, and love.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

*http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0060761644.asp*

I absolutely loved this novel!! Perfect for those who love fantasy, but also delightful for those who like a good twist on an old favorite. This is a book that I would recommend for grades 6-12.

Book Specs:

HarperTempest
Fantasy/Literary Fairy Tale
ISBN: 0060761644
384 pages

How Joe Succeeded

A 1900s novel about a cross-dressing lumber jack who wear his grandmother's pearls, which he finds inside a turnover. Grandmother put them in there b/c "Joe had always enjoyed them, much more than [his sister] and Grandmother knew he would need them. Life as a limberjack was going to be hard!"


I seriously got a kick out of this one - and it was only something like 70 pages, so it was a very fast, very easy (so long as you could read through the tears caused by laughter) read!

Cherry Aimes Clinic Nurse by Julie Tatham

Well, written in 1952, Cherry Ames Clinic Nurse by Julie Tatham, was most definetly different than any I had read before. The plot line of the book is this:

As she leaves Hilton Clinic one afternoon, Cherry is kidnapped, driven blindfolded to a mysterious location, and forced at gunpoint to help treat a gunshot wound.
(http://www.netwrx1.com/CherryAmes/book13.html)

The writing is definetly relfective of the time period, and well, I just couldn't get myself to read all of this one. Maybe because I am spoiled or maybe I am just used to the writing styles of today, but I just couldn't read it all.

If you are one who enjoys "the way things used to be" then this would have to be a book for you!

"Your job," Dr. Joe had told her soberly, "in one respect will be very like that of an office nurse working for a physician in private practice."
--From Cherry Ames,
Clinic Nurse, p. 3

War Is: soldiers, survivors, and storytellers talk about war by Marc Aronson and Patty Campbell

*Starred Review* In his provocatively titled introduction, “People Like War,” Aronson writes: “If we ask people to fight for us—as we always have and always will—we owe them the respect of listening to them.” Though differing (passionately) about war’s inevitability, his coeditor, Campbell, feels likewise, and joins him in presenting a gathering of reminiscences, interviews, letters, published articles, and literary works that brilliantly convey war’s terrible appeal as well as its realities and lasting effects on those whose lives are personally touched by armed conflict. Contributions include Ernie Pyle’s eloquent account of wreckage on a D-Day beach, a Vietnam vet’s nightmarish memories of combat, jokey letters home by Campbell’s naive doughboy father, scathing accounts of sexual harassment in Iraq and elsewhere from several female ex-GIs, and a disturbing indictment of recruiting practices in today’s high schools. Anyone considering enlistment will find these pieces (not to mention the many titles provided in the ample but not indigestible lists of war fiction and nonfiction at the end) to be mesmerizing reading. With this collection, Aronson and Campbell have provided an uncommonly valuable source of hard information and perceptive insight. Grades 10-12. --John Peters --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Marc Aronson thinks war is inevitable. Patty Campbell thinks war is cruel, deceptive, and wrong. But both agree on one thing: that teens need to hear the truthful voices of those who have experienced war firsthand. The result is this dynamic selection of essays, memoirs, letters, and fiction from nearly than twenty contributors, both contemporary and historical — ranging from Christian Bauman's wrenching "Letter to a Young Enlistee" to Chris Hedges's unfl inching look at combat to Fumiko Miura's Nagasaki memoir, "A Survivor's Tale." Whether the speaker is Mark Twain, World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle, or a soldier writing a miliblog, these divergent pieces look war straight in the face — and provide an invaluable resource for teenagers today.

*both reviews pulled from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Candlewick (February 10, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0763642312
ISBN-13: 978-0763642310


This book was so very provocative. As I read the opening essay by one of the editors(Aronson) he made a point that I personally didn't agree with, initially. He says we humans like war, we crave war. I thought, he is so wrong, but after reading through the stories and letters and other things contained in this novel, I think I might have begun to agree with him.

This book is listed as being appropriate for grades 10 -12, I definetly agree! The only way I might use this book in a 9th grade class is if the maturity level of my sutdents called for it.

If you want to stretch your mind and are open to thinking about War in a new way, this is definetly the book for you!

The Wee Free Men - Terri Prachett

Grade 5-7-Tiffany, an extremely competent nine-year-old, takes care of her irritating brother, makes good cheese on her father's farm, and knows how to keep secrets. When monsters from Fairyland invade her world and her brother disappears, Tiffany, armed only with her courage, clear-sightedness, a manual of sheep diseases, and an iron frying pan, goes off to find him. Her search leads her to a showdown with the Fairy Queen. It is clear from the beginning that Tiffany is a witch, and a mighty powerful one. The book is full of witty dialogue and a wacky cast of characters, including a toad (formerly a lawyer). Much of the humor is supplied by the alcohol-swilling, sheep-stealing pictsies, the Wee Free Men of the title, who are six-inches high and speak in a broad Scottish brogue. (The fact that readers will not understand some of the dialect won't matter, as Tiffany doesn't understand either, and it is all part of the joke.) These terrors of the fairy world are Tiffany's allies, and she becomes their temporary leader as they help her search for the Fairy Queen. Once the story moves into Fairyland it becomes more complex, with different levels of dream states (or, rather, nightmares) and reality interweaving. Tiffany's witchcraft eschews the flamboyant tricks of wizards; it is quiet, inconspicuous magic, grounded in the earth and tempered with compassion, wisdom, and justice for common folk. Not as outrageous and perhaps not as inventive as The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (HarperCollins, 2001), The Wee Free Men has a deeper, more human interest and is likely to have wider appeal. All in all, this is a funny and thought-provoking fantasy, with powerfully visual scenes and characters that remain with readers. A glorious read.
Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Book Specs:

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (May 25, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060012382
ISBN-13: 978-0060012380

If you want a book that is hilariously funny and heart-warming all at the same time: Read this! Terry Prachett does an amazing job of building the land of faerie and before you know it you are in love with the Wee Free Men and their Scottish brouge. You feel as surely as Tiffany does and in the end, you feel satisfied with the questions answered, and new ones brewing! This book is suggested for 5th - 7th grade, probably because the protagonist is 9 years old, but I see no reason why you couldn't teach this in a classroom for older students: heck, I am almost 30 and this has got to be one of my most favorite books ever! And, I haven't experienced the book as an audio, but I hear that it is really funny!

Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

*Starred Review* Like the author of this breakthrough debut novel, Amal is an Australian-born, Muslim Palestinian "whacked with some seriously confusing identity hyphens." At 16, she loves shopping, watches Sex and the City, and IMs her friends about her crush on a classmate. She also wants to wear the hijab, to be strong enough to show a badge of her deeply held faith, even if she confronts insults from some at her snotty prep school, and she is refused a part-time job in the food court (she is "not hygienic"). Her open-minded observant physician parents support her and so do her friends, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, secular. Her favorite teacher finds her a private space to pray. The first-person present-tense narrative is hilarious about the diversity, and sometimes heartbreaking. For her uncle who wants to assimilate, "foreign" is the f-word, and his overdone Aussie slang and flag-waving is a total embarrassment. On the other hand, her friend Leila nearly breaks down when her ignorant Turkish mom wants only to marry her daughter off ("Why study?") and does not know that it is Leila's Islamic duty "to seek knowledge, to gain an education." Without heavy preaching, the issues of faith and culture are part of the story, from fasting at Ramadan to refusing sex before marriage. More than the usual story of the immigrant teen's conflict with her traditional parents, the funny, touching contemporary narrative will grab teens everywhere. Rochman, Hazel --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

*taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks; Reprint edition (August 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 043992233X
ISBN-13: 978-0439922333

I am the Messenger - Markus Zusack

From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up - Nineteen-year-old cabbie Ed Kennedy has little in life to be proud of: his dad died of alcoholism, and he and his mom have few prospects for success. He has little to do except share a run-down apartment with his faithful yet smelly dog, drive his taxi, and play cards and drink with his amiable yet similarly washed-up friends. Then, after he stops a bank robbery, Ed begins receiving anonymous messages marked in code on playing cards in the mail, and almost immediately his life begins to swerve off its beaten-down path. Usually the messages instruct him to be at a certain address at a certain time. So with nothing to lose, Ed embarks on a series of missions as random as a toss of dice: sometimes daredevil, sometimes heartwarmingly safe. He rescues a woman from nightly rape by her husband. He brings a congregation to an abandoned parish. The ease with which he achieves results vacillates between facile and dangerous, and Ed's search for meaning drives him to complete every task. But the true driving force behind the novel itself is readers' knowledge that behind every turn looms the unknown presence - either good or evil - of the person or persons sending the messages. Zusak's characters, styling, and conversations are believably unpretentious, well conceived, and appropriately raw. Together, these key elements fuse into an enigmatically dark, almost film-noir atmosphere where unknowingly lost Ed Kennedy stumbles onto a mystery - or series of mysteries - that could very well make or break his life. - Hillias J. Martin, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

*taken from amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (May 9, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375836675
ISBN-13: 978-0375836671

The above review casts this as a novel appropriate for 9th grade. I am not entirely sure I am okay with that, I would probably only teach this particular novel in 11th or 12th grade, partially due to the few opening chapters which introduce some language and a few interspersed sexual references. My personal feelings on this book are quite amiable. I enjoyed the book from beginning to end and found myself breezing through the almost 400 pages, just so that I could discover the answer to the mystery. A gripping tale that keeps you turning pages until at last, you find yourself at the back cover.

Distorted: How a Mother and Daughter Unraveled the Truth, the Lies, and the Realities of an Eating Disorder by Lorri Antosz and Taryn Leigh Benson

Mom saw a popular, happy teen, poised to revel in her high school years; her daughter saw a fat, ugly loser, and vowed to take action. One saw glimmers of hope and researched to find the best care; the other had no intentions of getting better and researched new and clever ways to hide her compulsion. Such is the distorted reality in this riveting true account of a teen caught in the grips of an eating disorder and the mother who struggled to help her break free.


Through their gripping dual narrative, Lorri and Taryn Benson take turns chronicling their unique perceptions of events once Taryn was caught in the act of her first purge. With unflinching frankness, they reveal the deceit, the guilt, the shame, and the manipulations that are inherent in this enigmatic disease, unveiling the true picture of what happens to the family dynamic once an eating disorder takes hold. Much more than a cautionary tale, Distorted illustrates the psychological factors that underline the beginning and spread of the disease, the successful and unsuccessful therapies, and the consequences the disease had on themselves and their family.


Triumphantly, the two women share what was ultimately needed to bring the truth to light, providing guidance for anyone struggling with or affected by an eating disorder. Their two stories--woven together as one powerful beacon of hope--will offer insight and comfort to families, spouses, and loved ones who feel helpless and alone.

*taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: HCI (February 8, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0757305946
ISBN-13: 978-0757305948

This book was gripping, I read it within a 2 hour time span (what with kids needing attention and all) and was totally enthralled! Very graphic,and withholding nothing these two brave women tell a story that allows the reader to experience emotions that both are feeling. A great way to "experience" this type of situation without having to be in the situation. Maybe not a book for everyone, and maybe not one to wholly discuss in a classroom setting, but the thoughts are very real and very realtable to some who may have been there, or are there now.

The White Darkness - Gene Mccaughrean

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up—As with Not the End of the World (HarperTempest, 2005), McCaughrean weaves a tale of obsession and personal growth against the backdrop of nature's unrelenting power. Fourteen-year-old Sym Wates is fascinated with the Antarctic and the men who explored it, even to the point of creating an internal confidante in the form of Captain Lawrence "Titus" Oates, who was part of the doomed Scott expedition 90 years earlier. So when her "Uncle" Victor whisks the painfully shy, hearing-impaired teen away on a surprise trip to the South Pole, it seems like a dream come true. But Victor has his own agenda, seeking the legendary Symmes's Hole, portal to the interior of a hollow Earth. The lengths to which the madman pursues this quest provide the book with a dramatic drive and powerful revelations. Sym makes for an engaging (if occasionally melodramatic) narrator, although aspects of her character, such as her hearing loss, are not fully developed. An afterword on Scott's expedition in 1911 is included.—Christi Voth, Parker Library, CO
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Fourteen-year-old Symone's only friend is an imaginary incarnation of Captain Laurence "Titus" Oates, an explorer who accompanied Robert Scott on his failed expedition to the South Pole. Sym is passionate about the Antarctic and her infatuation is fed by Uncle Victor, an eccentric family friend who has cared for Sym and her mother since Sym's father's death. When Victor surprises Sym with a trip to "the Ice," she has some doubts, especially when she discovers that her mother can't come. But her excitement overshadows her initial misgivings--until she realizes that Uncle Victor has an obsession of his own that runs deeper than the glaciers and threatens her life. It's not always clear whether Titus' voice is imagined or if it's meant to be shy, bookish Sym's only link to the outside world, but McCaughrean's lyrical language actively engages the senses, plunging readers into a captivating landscape that challenges the boundaries of reality. Best suited to older, better readers despite the age of the protagonist, this imaginative, intellectually demanding novel offers plenty of action. Jennifer Hubert
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

*review pulled from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen; Reprint edition (December 30, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060890371
ISBN-13: 978-0060890377

Wow!this was a good read. I found this book to be thought provoking and relatable to YA adults who struggle with finding their voice. I would caution that the Uncle in this novel is portrayed in such a way that makes him seem creepy in a sexual way, but as it turns out, he is just plain crazy!! A thrilling read that makes a lot of connections that maybe aren't discovered until after a thorough discussion...Frankenstein anyone???

The Smile - by Donna Jo Napoli

The identity of the woman the world calls Mona Lisa has ignited speculation since Leonardo da Vinci created her portrait and left it untitled, unsigned, and undated. In this richly embroidered romance set in Renaissance Florence, Napoli imagines the young life of the woman behind the famous smile. Thirteen-year-old Elisabetta, the daughter of a wealthy silk merchant, is starting to think of marriage when Leonardo da Vinci, a family friend, introduces her to young heir Giuliano de’ Medici. The teenagers share an instant attraction that deepens into friendship and, finally, love. Political turmoil that escalates into war threatens the young romance, though, and Elisabetta is caught between her passionate attachment to Giuliano and her dutiful obligations to her family. Napoli skillfully draws readers into the vibrant settings, from opulent Florentine palaces to rustic hillside villas, with tangible, sensory details that enliven the novel’s intriguing references to history and art. Elisabetta’s strength and individuality, as she grows into marriage and motherhood, will captivate readers, as will her wonderment over love’s complexity. Grades 8-11. --Gillian Engberg

*review pulled from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (October 16, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0525479996
ISBN-13: 978-0525479994

This was the first book I read by Donna Jo Napoli. I really enjoyed the book and thought it to be very well written. As a matter of fact, I can now say that I have read several other books by her (see Bound and Hush) and I really really like Napoli's style of writing. I agree with the age level that is recommended for this book.

I also checked out her website and saw the Napoli writes children's books as well. I have read some of those and found them to be delightful. Some of her other YA novels, I might not use until 10th or 11th grade, but I would definetly use her novels in a classroom setting.

Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen

Imagine being beaten for learning to read, shackled and whipped for learning a few letters of the alphabet. Now, imagine a man brave enough to risk torture in order to teach others how to read; his name is Nightjohn, and he sneaks into the slave camps at night to teach other slaves how to read and write. Celebrated author Gary Paulsen writes a searing meditation on why the ability to read and write is radical, empowering , and so necessary to our freedom. These skills threaten our oppressors because they allow us to communicate--to learn the real status of our slavery and to seek liberation. In this tightly written, painful, joyous little novel is a key that may unlock the power of reading for even the most reluctant teens.

*review taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:
Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 112 pages
Publisher: Laurel Leaf (January 1, 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0440219361
ISBN-13: 978-0440219361

The was a fast read (I read it in 45 mintues) but the lesson that it teches is one that stick with you forever. What does it mean to you to read and write? What would you give up just to learn?

Speak - by Laurie Halse Anderson

In her debut novel, Anderson's main character, fourteen-year-old Melinda Sordino, has essentially stopped speaking. One of the reasons is because the world has stopped listening to her. After calling the police on an end-of-the-summer party, Melinda enters ninth grade as a pariah, ostracized by everyone in the school, including her best friends.

"I am OUTCAST," she thinks on the first day of school as she walks down the hall facing the nasty taunts and sideways sneers with a stony veneer. She weaves through the hyena-like crowd at lunchtime and is greeted with a slap of mashed potatoes in her chest while looking for a seat. Fleeing the scene, Melinda gets in trouble with the hardened track coach and history teacher, Mr. Neck. Her voice dries up in her throat.

"It's easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie. Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say."

It's a rough first day without any bright moments until art class when Melinda finally feels a glimmer of hope. The art teacher, Mr. Freedman, explains the year's assignment --- each student will be given one object that she will have to learn about during the school year. By the end of the year, the goal is to transform the object into something that evokes emotion, something that speaks. Melinda's object is a tree. The question is, by the end of the year, will she be able to get her tree to speak if she still cannot?

With no desire to speak about her pain to her friends, family, teachers or even herself, Melinda goes through the motions of living. She breathes, eats, sleeps and observes. Securing an abandoned janitor's room at school as her safe haven, Melinda hangs up pictures, reads books, and hides away from life, and especially IT, the dangerous jock who roams the halls and torments her. IT is the nightmare of her existence, the reason her mouth, body, and mind are scarred and rendered mute.

While reading SPEAK, you spend most of your time harbored in Melinda's mind, a place often filled with pain, and sometimes biting humor. Her reality consists of an ex-bestfriend who mouths the words, "I hate you," on the first day of school --- where her harried parents don't seem to notice that her lips are scabby and raw from biting down on them. Her one and only "friend," new girl Heather, uses her for lack of any other friends. She goes through the motions, and her life is as white and blank as the snow that covers her Syracuse home. However, despite the damage that has occurred, you feel as if Melinda is just waiting, biding her time, until she feels safe enough to emerge from her hardened protective shell. But as the novel progresses, you begin to wonder, will it be too late?

Nominated for a National Book Award for Young People's Literature, SPEAK is a novel that will speak to anyone who is a teenager or was one. You can't help but empathize with Melinda's silent pain or laugh inwardly at the many cliques she describes, or the number of times her school's mascot is changed because it is deemed inappropriate by the principal. It's high school all right, and Melinda is buried in adolescent tundra and emotional strife. You shadow her, waiting until she finds her voice, and when the book draws to its climactic conclusion and the final page is turned, you will miss her.

--- Reviewed by Dana Schwartz

*review pulled from teenreads.com*


Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Speak; 10 Anv edition (March 19, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0142414735
ISBN-13: 978-0142414736

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

As alienated kids go, Jin Wang is fairly run-of-the-mill: he eats lunch by himself in a corner of the schoolyard, gets picked on by bullies and jocks and develops a sweat-inducing crush on a pretty classmate. And, oh, yes, his parents are from Taiwan. This much-anticipated, affecting story about growing up different is more than just the story of a Chinese-American childhood; it's a fable for every kid born into a body and a life they wished they could escape. The fable is filtered through some very specific cultural icons: the much-beloved Monkey King, a figure familiar to Chinese kids the world over, and a buck-toothed amalgamation of racist stereotypes named Chin-Kee. Jin's hopes and humiliations might be mirrored in Chin-Kee's destructive glee or the Monkey King's struggle to come to terms with himself, but each character's expressions and actions are always perfectly familiar. True to its origin as a Web comic, this story's clear, concise lines and expert coloring are deceptively simple yet expressive. Even when Yang slips in an occasional Chinese ideogram or myth, the sentiments he's depicting need no translation. Yang accomplishes the remarkable feat of practicing what he preaches with this book: accept who you are and you'll already have reached out to others. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

*review pulled from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Graphic Novel
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Square Fish; Reprint edition (December 23, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312384483
ISBN-13: 978-0312384487

This was the first graphic novel that I have read. I have to say that I did enjoy reading the novel, and it exceeded any expectations I might have had. I remember first saying out loud, "Oh the first book I have to read this semester is a comic!" but this book was much much more. If you haven't ever read a graphic novel I suggest you try one on for size - and this one isn't a bad one to start with.