Extended Stay-At-Home Enrichment/Activity Kit (grades 1-3)

physical activities would also be nice!

I just realized I had none.  For sick kids not an issue, but otherwise, they will be needed.

GetPandemicReady.org - non commerical website with practical ways for families to prepare.

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by: Average Concerned Mom @ Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 13:14:31 PM CDT

Nature Study

While prepping for the possibility of young children in the home I ran across these decks of cards called the 52 Series by Lynn Gordon.
I purchased a few and one of them was 52 Nature Activities.
http://www.amazon.com/52-Activ...
There are 52 Rainy Day, 52 Art Projects, 52 Things to do on an Airplane...and such.

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by: Chesapeake @ Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 15:40:02 PM CDT

cool!

What age range are they?

GetPandemicReady.org - non commerical website with practical ways for families to prepare.

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by: Average Concerned Mom @ Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 16:57:44 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Cards say age 4-8

but I think children of any age would enjoy them.
From the Nature Activities---
Synopsis
This charmingly illustrated deck of cards describes 52 games, activites and art projects for children to do in nature. From educational to just plain fun, these cards are a convenient size to carry in a backpack.

These activites are just right for:

A backyard
A national park
A patch of grass
A group of kids
Single kids
Big kids  

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by: Chesapeake @ Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 06:39:26 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Physical activities

A ball, hoop, jump rope are good starters. Endless ball games from catch, throw, bounce,dribble, throw ball in waste paper basket, pass ball above head below, through legs etc.
Hoop for circling waist, rolling.
Skipping rope ( I think you call it jump rope!)
French elastic (you heard of that?) Really long elastic around 2 people's legs standing about 1metre apart and the jumper jumps on the elastic one side to the other, in the middle, outside. If not enough people you can use chair legs as the people with the elastic at either end! It can be at ankle height or knee height to jump higher.
Space hopper, large inflated bouncy thing you sit on and hold handles and bounce on your bottom.
Mini exercise trampoline.
Dance/exercise DVD.
Dance to music.

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by: tammy @ Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 17:19:53 PM CDT

Basic Skills....

My son will be going into 5th grade when school starts back. Not knowing what will be going at that time I picked up "Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills" for 5th and 6th grades.They cover math, reading, reading comprehension, english and writing. Each book cost $7.86 at Sam's Club and they have pre-school thur 6. I also picked up "Summer Link Math plus Reading" ...summer before 5th grade, it was $7.88. Both are from American Education Publishing. http://www.SchoolSpecialtyPubl...
Sam's also has Tear-Away Activities book for $7.88, http://www.kidsbooks.com

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by: Sunnybrook @ Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 20:05:42 PM CDT

Game Time

Game Time: "All on One Side"
All On One Side is a cooperative game. The game requires a net or rope and a balloon. This is can be a very fast-paced game.

Equipment:

inflated balloon
net or rope to bounce the balloon over

Directions:

1. Your whole team starts on one side of a volleyball net with no one on the other side.

2. The object is to get your team to the other side of the net and back as many times as possible.

3. Using a balloon for a ball, each player volleys the balloon to another player and then scoots under the net to the other side.

4. The last player to touch the balloon taps it over the net and scoots under.

5. The receiving players try to keep the balloon in play and repeat the process.

http://www.easyfunschool.com/a...

Game Time: Authors
This is a great learning game that can also be a cooperative game. All you need are pieces of paper for the equipment.

Equipment: Pieces of paper, one for each player, with a different author's name written on each one; pins

Directions: An author's anme is pinned on each player's back. No player knows what name she or he wears and just find out by asking questions that can be answered by "yes" or "no." For instance, "Am I living? Am I American? Am I a man? Do I write detective stories?" The winner is the first player who riases their hand and correctly identifies themselves. The cards may be shifted after a round has been played.

Variation: The group is divided into two teams. Team A wears cards with names of prominent authors, living or dead. Team B wears cards with two or more titles of works by these authors. Each player tries to find one of the titles of their author within a stipulated time.

Game Time: "Auto Trip"
Auto Trip is what is known as a "circle" or "passive game". It requires you to use your imagination rather than any equipment.

Equipment:

none

Directions:

1. Players sit in a circle and are assigned the names of auto parts. (ie. hood, wheel, door, etc.)

2. The storyteller tells a story of an auto trip.

3. As the player tells the story, the parts mentioned get up and follow him/her as he/she walks around "driving."

4. When the storyteller yells "Blowout" each player scramblers for a seat.

5. The one left out becomes the next storyteller.

Game Time: Balloon Bust
Games are incredibly useful for lessons. Here's a game that is both fun and can be done as a theme.

This game is known as a "circle" or a "passive" game. It can be played in various settings and locations without much trouble.

Equipment: balloon with message inside

Directions:

1. The players sit in a circle.

2. A balloon is passed around the circle.

3. Each player has to sit on the balloon with all their weight for 3 seconds.

4. If someone breaks the balloon, they must do what it says on the message. (ex, sing a song, bark like a dog, dance)

You can have the activities to be theme-related. For instance if you are doing a literature study, you can have them reinact actions of the various characters. You could also have them answer questions.

I did this to make math fun. Instead of using flash cards or pop quizzes, the balloons contained math problems that the children would solve as it was popped.

Game Time: Barnyard
Equipment needed: none

Each child is given the name of an animal with three children having the same name. No one is allowed to tell another which animal he is. At the signal each child makes the noise of the animal that he has been given. The first group of three animals to find each other and sit down are the winners.

Game Time: Big Wind Blows
This is a fun circle game. You can use it as a stand alone activity; or, you can include it in a unit or lesson on weather for a fun change of pace.

Directions:

The group forms a large circle sitting at an arm's length apart. One person is chosen to be the "wind", and stands in the centre of the circle. The game begins when the person in the middle acts like the wind ( by turning in a circle and waving their arms) and says "THE BIG WIND BLOWS" At this point they must specifically state what the wind blows, a statement which must be true about themselves. ie "The Big Wind Blows everyone who has blue eyes." All of the kids who have blue eyes including the wind must stand up and run through the circle to a position that is now empty on the other side. Upon reaching this spot, they sit down. One person will be left over, they are now the wind and the game continues. There is no winner or loser, just a lot of fun.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

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by: KathyinFL @ Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 20:50:24 PM CDT

Game Time 2

Game Time: Blind Man's Bluff
Equipment need: blindfold

Directions:

Blindfold one player and spin them around 3 times. The blindfolded player tries to tag one of the other players, who may crouch low, sneak up behind the "blind man" and yell "Boo", or stand still and keep very quiet. Eventually though, someone will get careless and be tagged. That player is then blindfolded for the next game.

Game Time:
Catching the Dragon's Tail
How to Play:

A dragon is formed by grouping the players into a long line each with their hands on the shoulders of the one in front of him. The first in the row is the dragon's head. The last in the row is the dragon's tail, eager to lash to the right and left in order to escape the head. Until the signal GO is given, the dragon must be a straight line. Someone in the group counts "One, two, three, go!" On the signal GO the head runs around toward the tail and tries to catch it. The whole body must move with the head and remain unbroken. If the head succeeds in touching the tail, they may continue to be the head. If the body breaks before he catches the tail the head becomes the tail and the next in line is the head and so on until each has a chance to be the head and the tail.

Game Time: Colored Eggs
This is a group game that I've played with my kids and groups lots of times. Its a big hit. They can get real creative on the colors!

Directions:

One player is chosen to be the Fox. One player is chosen to be the Hen. All the rest of the players are the colored eggs. The fox must stand far enough away from the hen and her eggs that he can't hear them. The hen assigns a color to each egg by whispering the color in their ear. The eggs line up facing the hen. The fox comes up behind the hen and acts like he is knocking on a door. The hen responds, "Who is it?" The fox replies, "It's the fox." The hen says, "What do you want?" The fox says, "Colored eggs." The hen says, "I haven't got any." At this point all the players who are eggs laugh loudly. The fox says, "I hear them laughing." "O.K." says the hen. "What color do you want." The fox begins to guess colors. When he guesses a color that is assigned to an egg the egg begins to run. If the fox catches the egg a new fox and a new hen are picked. If the fox doesn't catch the egg before it gets back to the hen he must guess another color and try to catch the next egg. However,before the fox can make his/her guess the fox must knock on the door each time and the conversation between fox and hen must be repeated each time.

Game Time:
Escape From the Planet Of 'What'
This is an active game that is a real blast for the kids. Its very creative! Adjust the clues and instructions for the age level involved. You'll get asked to set this one up over and over!!

Directions:

The game begins by giving each team a clue that will lead them to their spaceship. These can be anywhere. Once at their spaceship, the team finds a message for them either in a tape recorder or on a piece of paper explaining that their spaceship has malfunctioned and they have crashed on the Planet of "What". They have 40 minutes to follow the clues that will lead them to a new spaceship so that they will only be able to say "who", "what" and "where". Clues lead them from station to station where they have to perform a task (such as making up a national anthem for the planet, or crawling through a laser field). The final task is to build a spaceship out of any equipment available.

Game Time: Fight for My Attention
Fight for My Attention (drama/passive)

Two people are challenged to come up to the front of the room and the audience then chooses a topic. The two people must talk about that topic for one minute in front of the crowd, BUT they are both talking about the topic AT THE SAME TIME! The audience must then vote on which person held their attention for longer.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

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by: KathyinFL @ Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 20:52:41 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Game Time 3

Game Time: George
This is another fun game that I have played on many occasions with several different age groups. Its a great game for getting acquainted with new friends.

"George" can entertain groups for a good while.

To play this game everyone sits in a circle. Every one goes around the group and says their name. This allows everyone to learn everyone's name, in case they didn't already know. After the names are said the name stays with that seat/spot. George is "it". He can start it by saying a name of one person. Amy do you want to leave? Amy answers: no. George says, then who? Amy will take over and repeat it with another or the same name. Scott do you want to leave? Scott says: no. Amy says: then who? It continues until someone messes up. When some one messes up the person to the right of George gets up and the one who messed up goes in his place (the last postion) and everyone rotates up to where the person who messed up was sitting.

The trick is to remember when everyone moves, their name stays at that seat! It can get confusing to remember whose name goes with what seat. For younger ones, I've used index cards attached to where they are sitting, but they are only allowed to look at it twice. On the third time they have to look at the card, they have to be "George."

Its a good way to memorize everyone in the group's name and gets lots of giggles.

Game Time: Guess Who?
Guess Who (moderate/icebreaker)

Equipment: pieces of paper with names on them, tape

Each player needs a name taped to their back. The object of the game is to figure out who you are. Everyone goes around and asks the other players questions. The players can only answer yes or no. This game is great when a theme is incorporated. (ex. cartoon characters, book characters)

Game Time: Ha Ha Ha
The is a hilarious game! Its a passive/cooperative game so even the smallest should be able to participate.

Directions:

This is a contagious laughing game. Player #1 lies on their back and places their head on the belly of player #2 . Player #2 then places Their head on the belly of player #3, and so on. Players should end up lying in a zig zag formation. Now the first person shouts "ha!" and the next person answers with "ha ha!".... etc. Soon everyone loses control and starts laughing hysterically.

Game Time: Hot and Cold
One person is "it" and leaves the group. The rest choose an object in the room and when "it" returns they help him find the object by singing a familiar song and increasing the volume as he nears the object and decreasing when he becomes colder. Alternatively you could use softer and louder hand clapping.

Game Time: How Do You Feel?
How do you Feel? (circle/passive)

Fill a few bags with varying items. (ie: chunk of bread, a piece of soap, a candle, a stick of gum, a sock, kleenex, wet paper....). Be sure to have things that are difficult to distinguish. Then, sit the group in a circle. Give the bags out and ask the person to pick out an object without looking in the bag. If they pick out the wrong objects they must put it back. Then the bags are passed on to let someone else have a turn.

Game Time: Islands
Islands (active)

Equipment: hoops or small designated areas

Several "islands" are placed on the ground. When the music stops or the leader stops singing, everyone must be standing on a island without touching anyone else in the group. As the game continues, remove islands until only one is left.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

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by: KathyinFL @ Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 20:55:00 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Game Time 4

Game Time: My Name Is...
Games are some of the easiest, and most fun, methods of learning or reinforcing thinking skills. Games are also a great method of exercising memory skills. This game focuses on memory skills. It is a great "getting to know you" game for groups.

Game Directions:

Players sit in a circle or a number of small circles, depending upon the size of the group. One player is asked to tell the group his or her name. They say, "My name is [INSERT NAME, FIRST AND LAST]." The player on their left then says. "Her name is [INSERT NAME]; my name is [INSERT THEIR OWN NAME]." Continuing on around the entire circle, until the last player in the circle tries to name all the people in the group. If a player cannot recall a name, others in the circle may help them, or they can be "out" and the game begins at the beginning with the person on the immediate left of the "out" person being the starting point.

For example:

The first person says, "My name is Betty Mills." Then player on her left then says, "Her name is Betty Mills; my name is Mary Bryant." The player on Mary's left continues, "Her name is Betty Mills; her name is Mary Bryant; my name is Greg Richards." The person on Greg's left then says, "Her name is Betty Mills; her name is Mary Bryant; his name is Greg Richards; my name is Sean Smith." So on, and so on.

The name can be made more complicated or easy by adjusting the number of players in the circle(s), using only first name or using first and last names, etc.

Variation:You could also make it even more interesting by have people using made up names, or names of story book characters in place of the players' real names!

Game Time: Slapjack
This game encourages sharp eyes and speekdy reactions. The only equipment needed is a standard deck of cards and a sturdy surface to play on..

Number of Players: 2 to 5
Place: Anywhere there is a sturdy surfact, such as the floor or a table top
Equipment: a standard deck of playing cards

Game Directions:

One of the easiest card games of all times so it can be used with very young children. You don't need any matching or sequencing skills so this could also be a good game for special needs children. All a child needs to be able to do is recognize the Jack in the card deck. Alternately you could play with a different kinds of playing cards and use a different card for your "jack."

Now, the one rule that you must impose on this game is that the hand slapping involved is to be GENTLE. Sometimes the little ones get a little over excited.

To play, everyone picks a card, and the one who draws the highest card gets to shuffle the whole deck and deal out all of the cards. Each player then places their cards face down in front of them. The object of the game is to simply win all of the cards.

The player on the dealer's left goes first by laying the top card from their pile fuce up in the center of the playing area. The next player does the same, placing their card face up on top of the one just put down by the previous player. This continues until eventually someone will lay down a Jack (or your "jack" from an alternative kind of card deck). As soon as a Jack appears, all the players try to slap their hands on top of it.

The first one to slap the jack gets the whole pile.

The player who slapped the jack first then starts the play all over again by putting one card face up in the center and the player on his or her left continues.

If a player gets over eager and slaps a card that IS NOT A JACK, then that player must give each of the other players one card.

A person who is out all of his or her cards is not automatically out of the game. Instead, they must watch carefully while the others play on and try to slap the next Jack placed on the pile. If they miss that time, then they are out completely.

The first person to collect all of the cards is the winner.

Game Time: Tongue Twisters
Tongue Twisters is a game to see who can repeat a tongue twister the most time during a given time period. This is a super silly game that can be played by a broad range of ages.

Number of Players: 2 or more
Place: Anywhere
Equipment: something to keep time with

Game Directions:

Each player is given a tongue twister to repeat as many times as they can during a given time period, without making a mistake. For maximum fairness, each player should be given the same phrase.

Some common tongue twisters are listed below, but you may wish to find new ones from books at the library or online.

She sells sea shells down by the seashore.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

Rubber baby buggy bumpers.

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if woodchuck could chuck wood?

Toy boat. (more difficult than you think!)

Unique New York.

Red leather, yellow leather.

Six thick thistle sticks.

One smart man, he felt smart; two smart men, they felt smart; three smart men, they all felt smart.

Game Time: Word Lightning
In this game you have one minute to think up as many words as you can that begin with the same letter.

Number of Players: 2 or more
Place: Anywhere
Equipment: something to keep time with

Game Directions:

Word Lightning works for a wide variety of ages. In the preschool crowd it can help them recognize beginning sounds. For older kids you could tell them the words have to have at least "x" number of letters or be adjectives or adverbs, etc.

Players take turns picking a letter for everyone to use. Every player gets one minute to call out as many words as possible that begin with the letter chosen for the first round. One player acts as the timekeeper, counting the words being called out.

After everyone has had a turn, the player who called out the most words is named the winner. The winner gets to choose the letter for play in the next round.

Game Time: Zip Zap
Games are wonderful ways of learning and having fun at the same time. The lessons in a game don't necessarily have to be obvious. This one works on listening skills.

This game is known as a "passive" game because there is no equipment used and the activity is minimal. It can be used almost anywhere.

Directions

1. Pick a person to be "it".

2. It points to a person in the circle repeating the word "zip" or "zap" and counting to five.

3. If they say "zip" the person must reply with the name of the person on his right, "zap" he must reply with the name on his left.

4. If he is wrong then he goes into the centre of the circle.

Continue the game, increasing the speed that the next person must respond in.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

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by: KathyinFL @ Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 20:57:16 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Science at home

try a search on---  "at home" science experiments.
You will find a wealth of ideas such as:
http://www.sciencebob.com/expe...
http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/At...
http://www.hunkinsexperiments....
http://www.fatlion.com/science...

OK so I am a strange science type.  But my kids loved these kind of things and so do my grandkids.

Be Prepared

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by: DennisC @ Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 21:04:31 PM CDT

recommend

scout handbooks, and work on merit badges.

To calm the wife buy cases of chocolate, to calm the husband buy cases of booze, and to calm the children...... heck the booze and chocolate should work.

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by: Oremus @ Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 01:43:52 AM CDT

Knot Tying

is an excellent skill for a young person to have.
http://www.animatedknots.com/i...

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by: Chesapeake @ Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 06:53:17 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Great thread!

I'll pass the link along!

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by: InKy @ Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 06:46:42 AM CDT

I agree

This is a wonderful compilation of ideas.  I'm adding it to the Prepping Information Index. Thank you, ACM.

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by: AlohaOR @ Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 12:06:08 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Unit Studies as an educational method

Home educators are probably very familiar with this type of curriculum and study plan.  Many educators will also be familiar with these.  However, lay-parents (smile) might not have thought of this as a way of teaching their children in the event of school closures, etc.

I wrote this up years ago but its still a useful explanation.

What is a unit study you ask?

"A unit study [also commonly called a thematic unit or thematic study] is taking a theme or topic and diving into it deeply over a period of time, integrating language arts, science, social studies, math, and fine arts as they apply. Instead of studying eight or ten separate, unrelated subjects, all subjects are blended together and studied around a common theme or project."
-- from http://booksbookscurriculum.hy...

Unit studies are a frugal and fun way to facilitate learning -- both in the home or classroom setting. They are also good to use within a cooperative (aka co-op) setting. Various learning styles are encouraged and hands-on/active learning are keywords.

Here a few, simple tips for making this unit study more enjoyable for your child, and for you:

1. Plan a schedule. You can make it as general or as detailed as you find useful. But, as you create your schedule remember this next tip...

2. Be flexible. If you are really into a project or activity, don't cut it short just to keep on schedule.

3. Prepare! Make sure that you begin collecting all of the books and craft supplies you need BEFORE you need them. There's nothing worse than having a particularly exciting craft or activity planned only to find out you are missing the one vital ingredient you need to make it work.

4. Adjust your assignments and activities for your target audience. Don't make the young child's assignments too difficult and don't make the older child or highschooler's assignments too easy. Doing either of these can lead to frustration and/or boredom and much less learning will occur.

5. If you are teaching this in a group setting, allow for differences in understanding and opinion, particularly if you are teaching multiple age levels at one time.

I have one final suggestion. Keep a portfolio notebook of your unit study activities. It makes a great contribution to a school portfolio or a nice keepsake to pull out when friends and family come over and ask "What on earth do you do all day?!" It also makes it easier to remember what you did if you plan on repeating the unit study at some future date.

and here's another that might be of use.

Implementing Literautre in a Unit Study
Using literature is a wonderful source for a unit study. Or, expand a topical unit study and add new dimensions of interest. Here are some ways to incorporate your literature selections.

You may want to read How to Implement a Unit Study for ideas on successful use of unit studies.

Before reading your chosen piece of literature, you could let your child examine the cover of the book and predict what the book will be about.

Brainstorm what you already know about your given unit study topic (or something that figures prominently in your reading selection) before reading the book: geography, economy, architecture, education, art, religion, government, society, family, etc. Then, after reading the book, see what more you have learned.

Have your child create a literature or writing journal by stapling writing paper between construction paper covers. They can decorate the journal cover with motifs that are consistent with the stories you are reading or the topic that you are covering.

Make a vocabulary list or let your child create their own by writing down new or unfamiliar words they come across as they read. There are several activities that you could then use these words with:

Vocabulary flashcards
Word definitions
Illustrations
Synonym-antonym chart
Parts of speech charts (noun, verb, adjective, adverb)
Poetry using the new vocabulary words
Create crossword and search-n-find puzzles with graph paper
Vocabulary bees
Using the new vocabulary words correctly in sentences
Vocabulary charades

Have them learn to make outlines. They can practice by outlining the story line from one or more of your literature selections.

For "reluctant readers" or young students, implement some reading strategies. Even older students will sometimes be more likely to pay attention to a story if they are reading it along with someone else. Reading together also makes a great bit of one-on-one time. Below are some successful strategies that I have used.

1. Round Robin Reading. This is an oral activity that you can use when you have two or more children reading the same book at the same time. Each child takes a turn for a paragraph, page, chapter, etc. and then passes the book to the next child allowing them to read, then on to the next child, etc.
2. Partner Reading. Children pair up and take turns reading. They could even do this activity with a non-homeschooled friend.
3. Teacher Reading. The adult in charge reads the book or selection out loud. This helps the child develop good listening skills, particularly if they are asked comprehension questions at the end of the reading session.
4. Silent Reading. This is where the child is allowed to read the book alone and to themselves.

Have the child answer, in complete sentences, comprehension questions about the story. They can do this in their literature journal.

Create comic strips from stories that they have read.

Let them make "new and improved" book jackets for each story.

They can make illustrated dioramas or diagrams for the literature selections you choose.

They can write plays or dialogues based on the literature selections you choose. You can then enact the play or dialogue if you choose -- or even use it at your "Finale" activity.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

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by: KathyinFL @ Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 09:09:54 AM CDT

Unit study index

The following unit studies can be found at http://www.easyfunschool.com/I...
I wrote these over the last several years but they continue to be used my many people.

Aesop's Fables
American Civil War
American Heritage
American Revolution
Ancient China
Animal Science
Antarctica
Archaeology
Archery
Architecture
Arts & Crafts Unit
Astronomy
Audiovisual Production
Auto Mechanics
Aviation
Babysitting
Beethoven, Ludwig Van
Bicycling
Birds
Boating
Books
Brazil
Camping
Chemistry
Cinematography
Citizenship
Coin Collecting
Colonial America
Community History
Conflict Resolution
Criminology
Dance
Daniel Boone mini unit
Desktop Publishing
Dr. Seuss
Easter
Eating Healthy
Energy Wise
Family Week
Farming
Fashion Design
Fish & Wildlife Management
Fun at the Farm
Fun With Dollars and Sense
Gardening
Genealogy
Gingerbread
Gold Rush Era
Good Christian Men Rejoice (Christmas)
Graphic Communication
The Great Depression
Hobbies
Home Life
Horses
Hot Chocolate
Insects
Inventions
Japan
Jewelry Design
Journalism
Just Plain Fancy (Amish)
Kings, Queens, and Castles
Landscape Architecture
Language
Lego Brick Units and Activities
Lewis & Clark (Karen Caroe)
Lewis & Clark (Kathryn Martinez)
The Magic Schoolbus
The Melting Pot
Music, theory
Music, general
Names of Jesus (Christmas)
Nascar
Nutrition
Oregon Trail
Orienteering
Owning Your Own Business
Paper Art
Passover
Photography
Plants and Animals
Plumbing
Public Speaking
Pumpkins
Raggedy Ann and Andy
A Rose By Any Other Name
Safety
Self-Defense
Space
Sports
St. Patrick's Day
Stamp Collecting
Stress
Summer - part 1
Summer - part 2
Summer - part 3
Swimming
Textiles
Theatre
Volcanoes and Earthquakes
Water
Water Fun
Weather
Well-Being
Wilderness Survival
Wildlife
Women's History
World Citizenship

Theme Fun List:

Corn
Cornucopia
Fish
Mayflower
Pilgrims
Pumpkins
Skeletons
Spiders
Turkeys  

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

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by: KathyinFL @ Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 09:12:23 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Language Arts and Literature Activities

The following activities can be found at http://www.easyfunschool.com/I...

Language Arts, Miscellaneous:

100 Words Commonly Misspelled in the English Language
Book Report Sandwiches
From Dyslexia to Published Author
Game Time: Authors
Grow a Bookstalk
High-Interest Activities for Older Reluctant Readers
High-Interest Writing for Older Kids
High-Interest Writing Ideas for Reluctant Writers
How to Implement a Unit Study
Implementing Literature in a Unit Study
Lapbooks for Everyone
A Simple Approach to an Essential Tool: Vocabulary

Education, General:

Create a "Books Wanted"Notebook
Frugal Homeschooling
A Homeschooling Expert -- Who Me?!
Learning Styles
You CAN Use Resource Centers

Literature Units:

Fairy Tales:
Fairy Tale Punch Rumplestiltskin
Uletka and the White Lizard

General Resources:
Author Day (Nov 1st)
Game Time: Authors

Suggested Reading Lists:
"Best Books" Lists on the Web
Best Books for Young Adults: 1996
Best Books for Young Adults: 1997
Best Books for Young Adults: 1998
Best Books for Young Adults: 2000
Best Books for Young Adults: 2001
Best Books for Young Adults: 2002
Books for the College Bound: Biographies
Books for the College Bound: Drama
Books for the College Bound: Fiction
Books for the College Bound: Nonfiction
Books for the College Bound: Poetry
Caldecott Medal Winners: 1938 - 2001
Newbery Award Winners: 1922 - 2001
Suggested Reading for History

The Swiss Family Robinson:
Swiss Family Robinson Unit Study Index

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne:
Introduction
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six

Alice in Wonderland:
Alice in Wonderland Unit Introduction

Treasure Island:
Unit Introduction
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
Anne of Green Gables
Be A Perfect Person in Just Three Days
The Borrowers
The Bronze Bow
Bunnicula
Caddie Woodlawn
Calico Captive
Call It Courage
Charlotte's Web
Chocolate Fever
The Courage of Sarah Noble
Dear Mr. Henshaw
The Fighting Ground
Freckle Juice
The Giving Tree
The Hobbit
Horton Hears a Who Mini Unit
Horton Hears a Who Word Search
How to Eat Fried Worms
James and the Giant Peach
Johnny Tremain
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Word Search
Little House on the Prairie Activities and Unit Studies
Molly's Pilgrim
Night Tree
Number the Stars
Pippi Longstocking
The Polar Express
Prince Caspian Narnia Mini Unit
Prince Caspian Word Search Puzzle
Ramona, the Pest
The Reluctant Dragon
Rent a 3rd Grader
Sarah, Plain and Tall
The Secret Garden
Stewart Little
Sounder
Velveteen Rabbit
Wizard of Oz
Where the Wild Things Are
The Wild Christmas Reindeer  

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

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by: KathyinFL @ Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 09:14:18 AM CDT

How to Eat Fried Worms

Is that a phase 2 preps book?

To calm the wife buy cases of chocolate, to calm the husband buy cases of booze, and to calm the children...... heck the booze and chocolate should work.

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by: Oremus @ Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 11:15:26 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I remember that song, didn't realise it was about pandemic survival

Nobody likes me,
Everybody hates me,
Think I'm gonna eat some worms.
Big fat juicy ones,
Long thin slimy ones,
See how the little ones squirm.
Bite their heads off,
Slurp all the juice out,
Throw their skins awaaaaaay.
Nobody likes me,
Everybody hates me,
Worms three times a day
Another plateful? Yum, yum.

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by: UK - Bird @ Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 11:20:12 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Oremus you are too funny

Its actually a book.  My kids really thought it was funny.  Here's the synopsis.

How to Eat Fried Worms has happily repulsed children since its original publication in 1973. Billy must eat 15 worms in 15 days--but the reward will be worth it: $50 for a shiny new minibike. Luckily, Billy's friends cook up these fat juicy grubs in a variety of appetizing ways--drenched in ketchup and mustard, fried in butter and cornmeal, and the pièce de résistance, a Whizband Worm Delight (an ice-cream worm cake). How to Eat Fried Worms is a ghastly gastronomical treat that will dazzle young listeners.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

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by: KathyinFL @ Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 13:58:37 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

THANK YOU!!!!!

We've had lousy "summer" weather so far and my kids have been out for two weeks and already are driving each other (and me) crazy.  SIP will not be pretty.  

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by: LauraB @ Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 05:41:28 AM CDT

SIP will not be pretty

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! I have a 6 year old son and an 11 year old daughter. We are between camp sessions this week and they are driving me crazy. It's in the hundreds here and I've been thinking that if we have to SIP this summer I will definately go crazy!

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by: MLBIT @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 11:35:39 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

we homeschool and..

and somethings never get easier.. esp when the kids are older.

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by: nika @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 12:02:20 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Best Books

I'm just going to continue the lists from 2003 forward since they weren't on the preceding list.  These lists are the annotated ones used by librarians.

-------------------

Best Books for Young Adults 2003

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

---

by: KathyinFL @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 11:41:21 AM CDT

2003 book list

Nonfiction

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. 2001. illus. Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850. Houghton Mifflin, $18.00 (0-618-00271-5)
A detailed account of the rapid onset of the Great Irish Famine of 1845-1850 and its devastating, long-lasting effect on the Irish people.

Fleischman, John. Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science. illus. Houghton Mifflin, $16.00 (0-618-05252-6)
In 1848 a tamping iron accidently blasted through the head of Phineas Gage, foreman on a railroad construction gang, leaving him physically recovered but mentally and emotionally changed and providing new insights into the workings of the human brain.

Gantos, Jack. Hole in My Life. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $16.00 (0-374-39988-3)
Compelling story by the prizewinning author, Jack Gantos, of how as a youth he helped smuggle hash on a yacht, was arrested by the FBI, convicted, sent to prison, how he did his prison time, and went to college to study writing.

Hampton, Wilborn. Meltdown: A Race Against Nuclear Disaster at Three Mile Island: A Reporter's Story. 2001. Candlewick Press, $16.99 (0-7636-0715-0)
An eye-witness account of escalating disaster of the Tree Mile Island nuclear power plant accident of 1979, told by a U.P.I. reporter, set within the context of the Hiroshima atomic bombing and Chernobyl power plant explosion.

McPherson, James M. Fields of Fury: The American Civil War. illus. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, $22.95 (0-689-84833-1)
Event by event, a noted Civil War historian chronicles for younger readers the deadliest conflict the United States ever fought, providing battle descriptions, personal anecdotes from participants, biographies of the most important players, illustrations from paintings, photographs, other historical documents and clear maps.

Nelson, Peter. Left for Dead: A Young Man's Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis. illus. Random House/Delacorte Press, $15.95 (0-385-72959-6); lib. ed., $17.99 (0-385-90033-3)
The USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine in the last days of World War II. Over fifty years later, a teen works with the survivors of the disaster to clear the name of the Indianapolis's captain, who was wrongly court martialed for the tragedy.

Nye, Naomi Shihab. 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East. HarperCollins/Greenwillow, $16.95 (0-06-009765-5); lib. ed., $16.89 (0-06-009766-3)
Nye's father is Palestinian and her mother is German-American, so she grew up in St. Louis, San Antonio, and Jerusalem. Her poetry includes stories of the Middle East through the eyes of an American child, as well as of America through the eyes of Middle Easterners.

Partridge, Elizabeth. This Land Was Made For You and Me: The Life & Songs of Woody Guthrie. illus. Penguin Putnam/Viking, $21.99 (0-670-03535-1)
The tragic life story of the rambling folk singer Woody Guthrie, author of "This Land is Your Land."

Philbrick, Nathaniel.Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex. illus. Penguin Putam/G. P. Putnam's Sons, $16.99 (0-399-23795-X)
A detailed account of the 1820 voyage of the whaleship Essex which was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale.

Rall, Ted. To Afghanistan and Back: A Graphic Travelogue. illus. Nantier Beall Minoustchine, $15.95 (1-56163-325-9)
Syndicated cartoonist and columnist Ted Rall shares the details of his fascinating and dangerous fall 2001 trip to Afghanistan along with his liberal political views in this graphic travelogue.

Steinberg, Jacques. The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College. Penguin Putnam/Viking, $25.95 (0-670-03135-6)
A behind-the-scenes look at the college admissions process by the national education correspondent for the New York Times who shadows an admissions officer at Wesleyan through a year's work.

Fiction

Alvarez, Julia. Before We Were Free. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, $15.95 (0-375-81544-9); lib. ed., $17.99 (0-375-91544-3)
Twelve-year-old Anita de le Torres' increasing physical maturation is matched by an increasing social awareness, not only of the boys around her but also of the mounting danger to her family, active opponents of the Dominican dictator, Trujillo.

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Catalyst. Penguin Putnam/Viking, $17.99 (0-670-03566-1)
Kate Malone, the preacher's daughter, learns there is more to life than her obsession about getting into MIT when she becomes involved with her tragedy-stricken neighbors.

Anderson, M. T. Feed. Candlewick Press, $16.99 (0-7636-1726-1)
Titus and Violet are teenagers living in a future society where corporations define the lives and lifestyles of Americans, and where it has become common for prosperous parents to endow their newborn children with Feed: mini-computers with wireless Internet connections that are implanted in their heads.

Auch, Mary Jane. Ashes of Roses. Henry Holt & Company, $16.95 (0-8050-6686-1)
Sixteen-year-old Irish immigrant Rose Nolan survives the breakup of her family on Ellis Island, an uncomfortable stay with resentful relatives, and a sweatshop owner's roving hands before finally landing a choice job in New York City's Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.

Bardi, Abby. The Book of Fred: A Novel. 2001 Pocket Books/Washington Square Press, $24.00 (0-7434-1193-5); lib. ed., $13.00 (0-7434-1194-3)
How do the lives of fifteen-year-old Heather, her mother and uncle change when fifteen-year-old Mary Fred Anderson, raised in a fundamentalist commune, is placed in their home as a foster child?

Barker, Clive. Abarat. illus. HarperCollins/Joanna Cotler Books, $24.89 (0-06-028092-1); lib. ed. (0-06-051084-6)
Candy Quackenbush leaves her home in Chickentown, Minnesota and enters the magical world of Abarat, where she is pursued by the wicked Lord Carrion.

Bechard, Margaret. Hanging on to Max. Millbrook/Roaring Brook Press, $15.95 (0-7613-1579-9); lib.ed., $22.90 (0-7613-2574-3)
Seventeen-year-old teen father Sam juggles the care of his eleven-month-old son, Max, and his desire for both of their futures.

Black, Holly. Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale. Simon & Schuster, $16.95 (0-689-84924-9)
Kaye never imagined that saving the life of the impossibly gorgeous Roiben would bring her to the attention of the unseelie court, as the intended sacrifice for the tithe. Or does it?

Blackwood, Gary L. Year of the Hangman. Penguin Putnam/Dutton, $16.99 (0-525-46921-4)
In an alternate "what-if" history, set in 1777, a rowdy English teen encounters the remnants of the unsuccessful American Revolution when he is exiled to the Colonies.

Breslin, Theresa. Remembrance. Random House/Delacorte Press, $16.95 (0-385-73015-2); lib. ed., $18.99 (0-385-90067-8)
The chaos and waste on the battlefields of World War I cause a comparable upheaval to traditional ways of life in the tiny Scots village that was home for Charlotte Armstrong Barnes and her brother Francis, from the big house, and Maggie Dundas and her brother John Malcolm, from the shop in this tender love-and-war story.

Chambers, Aidan. Postcards from No Man's Land. Penguin Putnam/Dutton, $19.99 (0-525-46863-3)
Jacob's visit to the seductive city of Amsterdam reveals family secrets and new ideas about sexuality and death, as he learns of a passionate love story from his family's past and perhaps begins to create one of his own.

Clements, Andrew. Things Not Seen. Penguin Putnam/Philomel Books, $15.95 (0-399-23626-0)
Fifteen-year old Bobby Phillips wakes one morning to find that he is invisible.

Cohn, Rachel. Gingerbread. Simon & Schuster, $15.95 (0-689-84337-2)
When sixteen-year-old Cyd Charisse is sent to New York to stay with her bio dad she gets to know not only her older brother and the sister who calls her "Daddy's little indiscretion" but also herself.

Crowe, Chris. Mississippi Trial, 1955. Penguin Putnam/Phyllis Fogelman Books, $17.99 (0-8037-2745-3)
A gripping novel based on the true story of fourteen-year-old Emett Till, whose brutal lynching for whistling at a white woman helped to launch the Civil Rights movement.

de Lint, Charles. Seven Wild Sisters. Illustrated by Charles Vess. Subterranean Press, $35.00 (1-931081-33-6)
When one of seven red-haired sisters befriends a backwoods wisewoman, she unwittlingly draws all of them into a centuries old feud between the bee fairies and 'sangmen in this modern fairy tale.

Desai Hidier, Tanuja. Born Confused. Scholastic, $16.95 (0-439-35762-4)
In the summer before her senior year, seventeen-year-old Dimple is confused about her relationships with her family, her heritage, and her beautiful best friend.

Dessen, Sarah. This Lullaby. Penguin Putnam/Viking, $16.99 (0-670-03530-0)
Made cynical by her romance novelist mother's five failed marriages, Remy Starr is stunned to discover that her heart may not be made of stone, when she reluctantly falls for quirky-cute Dexter the summer before she leaves for college.

Ellis, Deborah. Parvana's Journey. Groundwood/Douglas & McIntyre, $15.95 (0-88899-514-8)
After her father died of the sickness that had dogged him since they had left Kabul, thirteen-year-old Parvana, disguised as a boy, wanders alone through war-torn Afghanistan looking for her mother and siblings who had disappeared in the tumult of the Taliban takeover of Mazer-e-Sharif, and forming a new family of abandoned children she has met along the way.

Etchemendy, Nancy. Cat in Glass and Other Tales of the Unnatural. Illustrated by David Ouimet. Carus Publishing/Cricket Books, $15.95 (0-8126-2674-5)
These eight tales range from the supernatural to the unknown to the horrific.

Fama, Elizabeth. Overboard. Carus Publishing/Cricket Books, $15.95 (0-8126-2652-4)
While on a trip to visit her uncle, Emily escapes the sinking ferry and finds herself-and a young, courageous Muslim boy-adrift in the waters off the islands of Sumatra.

Farmer, Nancy. The House of the Scorpion. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum/A Richard Jackson Book, $17.95 (0-689-85222-3)
Matt is a clone. Livestock. No better than an animal. Generally, human clones have their brains destroyed at birth, but for some reason, Matt's patron has left his mind in tact. What could he want from him?

Ferris, Jean. Once Upon a Marigold. Harcourt, $17.00 (0-15-216791-9) fiction Christian decides to leave his foster father, Ed the Troll, and his life in the forest in order to meet the princess he has observed through his telescope.

Frank, E. R. America. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum/A Richard Jackson Book, $18.00 (0-689-84729-7)
A young man named America gets "lost" in the social welfare system and after a series of foster homes, hospitals, and suicide attempts, he meets a caring psychiatrist who refuses to give up on him.

Frank, Hillary. Better Than Running at Night. Houghton Mifflin, $17.00 (0-618-10439-9); lib. ed. (0-618-25073-5)
Native New Yorker Ellie Yelinsky's freshman year at art school turns into an unexpectedly strange and wonderful experience, as Ellie dances with the Devil and learns that painting is more about craft than it is about angst.

Freymann-Weyr, Garret. My Heartbeat. Houghton Mifflin, $15.00 (0-618-14181-2)
Ellen's question about her brother's relationship with his best friend James changes everything in this tight three-way friendship.

Froese, Deborah. Out of the Fire. Sumach Press, $7.95 (1-894549-09-0)
A careless moment at a teen bonfire party forces Dayle to re-evaluate her values and her relationships with her friends and family.

Gaiman, Neil. Coraline. Illustrated byDave McKean. HarperCollins, $15.99 (0-380-97778-8); lib. ed., $17.89 (0-06-623744-0)
One day, while exploring her family's new home, Coraline wanders down the wrong corridor.

Giff, Patricia Reilly. Pictures of Hollis Woods. Random House/Wendy Lamb Books, $15.95 (0-385-32655-6); lib. ed., $17.99 (0-385-90070-8)
An artistic foster child who has bounced from place to place seeks a real home and recalls the tragedy of the previous summer.

Giles, Gail. Shattering Glass. Millbrook Press/Roaring Brook Press, $15.95 (0-7613-1581-0); lib. ed., $17.99 (0-7613-2601-4)
Rob is very popular, and Rob is used to getting his own way. When he decides to make Simon Glass, class geek, popular, it surprises everyone. Especially Simon. What Rob doesn't count on is the iron will beneath Simon's push-over exterior.

Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest. Edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling; Illustrated by Charles Vess. Penguin Putnam/Viking, $18.99 (0-670-03526-2)
Eighteen stories and poems that celebrate the pagan myth of the Green Man and other friendly or frightening fairy folk.

Grimes, Nikki. Bronx Masquerade. Penguin Putnam/Dial Books, $16.99 (0-8037-2569-8)
Eighteen inner city teens in Mr. Ward's English class tell about their lives through text and poetry as they participate in weekly "Open Mike Fridays." This exercise brings them together, opens them up to one another, and forces them to learn about themselves and the people around them.

Halam, Ann. Dr. Franklin's Island. Random House/Wendy Lamb Books, $14.95 (0-385-73008-X); lib. ed., $16.99 (0-385-90056-2)
While on their way to a special science camp in Ecuador, Arnie, Semi and Miranda find themselves the sole survivors of a plane wreck, and become castaways on a deserted island. Or so they think. Little do they know that the island is home to a mad genetic scientist who is just waiting for fresh teenage flesh to inject with animal genes.

Hiaasen, Carl. Hoot. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, $15.99 (0-375-82181-3); lib. ed., $17.99 (0-375-92181-8)
New to Florida and Trace Middle School, Ray Eberhardt is at the mercy of the local bully but intrigued by a strange unschooled kid whose passion for the local wildlife leads them both into a crusade against a new pancake shop that will displace a colony of burrowing owls.

Holeman, Linda. Search of the Moon King's Daughter. Tundra Books, $17.95 (0-88776-592-0)
When Emmeline's mother sells her little brother to a master sweep to get money for drams of opiate to take away her pain, Emmeline must leave everything to try and find him before it is too late.

Jordan, Sherryl. The Hunting of the Last Dragon. HarperCollins, $15.95 (0-06-028902-3); lib.ed., $15.89 (0-06-028903-1)
After Jude becomes the sole survivor from his village after a dragon attack, he finds himself becoming friends and unlikely allies with Jing-Wei, the "freak" in a sideshow in a quest that could kill them both.

Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees. Penguin Putnam/Viking, $24.95 (0-670-89460-5)
In the summer of 1964, just after Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law, fourteen-year-old motherless Lily Owens breaks her black caretaker, Rosaleen, out of jail after a failed attempt to register to vote and they run off, finding a home with the beekeeping Calendar Sisters of Tiburon, S. Carolina

Koertge, Ron. Stoner & Spaz. Candlewick Press, $15.99 (0-7636-1608-7)
What happens when a sixteen-year-old guy with C.P. and a caustic wit fall in love with a drugged-out girl with tattoos? Well...it isn't Romeo and Juliet!

Korman, Gordon. Son of the Mob. Hyperion Books for Children, $15.99 (0-7868-0769-5); lib. ed., $15.95 (0-7868-2616-9)
The ultimate Romeo and Juliet tale. The son of the mob falls in love with the daughter of the FBI. Even communications are a problem when your girlfriend's dad is the agent in charge of bugging your house.

Lawrence, Iain. The Lightkeeper's Daughter. Random House/Delacorte Press, $16.95 (0-385-72925-1); lib. ed., $18.99 (0-385-90062-7)
A teenage mother tries to reconcile with her lightouse-keeping parents, despite feeling that it was their remote and lonely lifestyle that led to her brother's death.

Leavitt, Martine. The Dollmage. 2001. Red Deer Press, $8.95 (0-88995-233-7)
The Dollmage is the wise woman of Seekvalley. On the day she predicts to be the birthday of her successor, two girls are born, leading the dollmage to make a decision that will affect all of the lives in the valley.

McCaughrean, Geraldine. The Kite Rider. HarperCollins, $15.95 (0-06-623874-9); lib.ed., $15.89 (0-06-623875-7)
Danger lurks everywhere in thirteenth century China as Haoyou rescues his grieving mother from an evil potential second husband, an action which forces him to join a traveling circus in the perilous role of the Kite Rider.

Miller, Mary Beth. Aimee. Penguin Putnam/Dutton, $16.99 (0-525-46894-3) How well do you think you'd cope if your best friend made sure you were the only witness to her suicide, you weren't allowed contact with any of the rest of your tight-knit group of friends, and everyone believed that you must have helped Aimee kill herself or perhaps, even murdered her?

Moore, Christopher. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. HarperCollins/William Morrow, $25.95 (0-380-97840-7)
WWJD? At age six? Thirteen? Eighteen? Restoring lizards to life and hanging out with Biff and Maggie are only a couple of His activities.

Oates, Joyce Carol. Big Mouth & Ugly Girl. HarperCollins, $16.95 (0-06-623756-4); lib. ed., $16.89 (0-06-623758-0)
What are the consequences when high school junior Matt Donaghy jokingly threatens to blow up the school during lunch one day?

Park, Linda Sue. When My Name Was Keoko: A Novel of Korea in World War II. Houghton Mifflin/Clarion Books, $15.00 (0-618-13335-6)
In 1940, when the Japanese rulers of Korea decreed that all Koreans must take Japanese names, Kim Sun-hee's official name changed, but she did not lose her Korean identity or her patriotism which grew as the war came far too close to home, food and clothing became difficult to get, her uncle who had been working for the underground fled, and her brother joined the Japanese army to become a kamikaze pilot.

Placide, Jaira. Fresh Girl. Random House/Wendy Lamb Books, $15.95 (0-385-32753-6)
Mardi's sunlit childhood in Haiti disappeared in the violence that forced President Aristide and thousands of other Haitians including members of her own family into exile ten years ago, but it took a long time for fourteen-year-old Mardi to admit to her family in Brooklyn just how traumatic her escape had been, to put violence behind her and begin to make her way in her new world.

Plum-Ucci, Carol. What Happened to Lani Garver. Harcourt, $17.00 (0-15-216813-3)
Claire McKenzie is haunted by her brief relationship with Lani Garver, a newcomer to her close island community who changed her life.

Powell, Randy. Three Clams and an Oyster. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $16.00 (0-374-37526-7)
Three members of a flag football team search for a fourth teammate over a weekend in which they confront their attitudes about friendship, girls, and their shared past.

Rottman, S. L. Stetson. Penguin Putnam/Viking, $16.99 (0-670-03542-4)
Stetson has learned to survive a drunken negligent father by fending for himself, working at the salvage yard, and devoting his free time to rebuilding his car until a mystery younger sister turns up and turns his life upside down.

Santana, Patricia. Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility. University of New Mexico Press, $19.95 (0-8263-2435-5)
When fourteen-year-old Yolanda Sahagun's favorite brother returns from Vietnam in the spring of 1969, everything changes and everything is changing.

Savage, Deborah. Kotuku. Houghton Mifflin, $16.00 (0-618-04756-5)
Seventeen-year-old Wim Thorpe resists caring after the loss of her best friend, but the attractive New Zealand historian investigating Maori connections to her home town looks exactly like a benevolent tattooed apparition who may be showing her they way to her own truth.

Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones: A Novel. Little, Brown & Co., $21.95 (0-316-66634-3)
With wisdom and compassion, fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon narrates the story of her brutal murder and glowing afterlife as she watches her family and friends grapple with the hole her death has left in their lives.

Shattered: Stories of Children and War. Edited by Jennifer Armstrong. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, $15.95 (0-375-81112-5); lib. ed., $17.99 (0-375-91112-X)
The shattering effects of war on children are described in twelve short stories by authors well known and new to the young adult field.

Sheppard, Mary C. Seven for a Secret. 2001. Groundwood Books, $15.95 (0-88899-437-0)
Fifteen-year-old cousins Melinda, Kate and Rebecca face the decisions that will determine their futures in a remote Newfoundland outport community in the 1960s.

Smith, Kevin and Phil Hester. Green Arrow: Quiver. Illustrated by Ande Parks and Guy Major. Warner Books/DC Comics, $24.95 (1-56389-802-0); paperback, $17.95 (1-56389-887-X)
Oliver Queen, a.k.a. The Green Arrow, comes back to life, reunites with his old superhero pals, and unravels the mystery of his resurrection.

Smith, Sherri L. Lucy the Giant. Random House/Delacorte Press, $15.95 (0-385-72940-5); lib. ed., $17.99 (0-385-90031-7 lib)
Lucy escapes her life with a drunken father by posing as an adult and gaining work on a commercial crabbing boat on the Bering Sea, where she finds a family of a different sort.

Tolan, Stephanie. Surviving the Applewhites. HarperCollins, $15.99 (0-06-623602-9); lib. ed., $17.89 (0-06-623603-7)
Jake Semple, a smartass troublemaker, is sent to live with his grandfather after being kicked out of several schools. Once there, it is no problem getting put out of Traybridge Middle School, but the Applewhite's Creative Academy is another story.

Toten, Teresa. The Game. 2001. Red Deer Press, $7.99 (0-88995-232-9)
When Dani wakes up in a psychiatric hospital she doesn't remember the events leading up to her attempted suicide. She only remembers the game that she and her sister played, and must come to terms with a terrifying reality.

Van Pelt, James. Strangers and Beggars: Stories. Fairwood Press, paperback, $17.99 (0-9668184-5-8)
A giant spider that encapsulates a student and a teacher in its web, a kid who has always felt he was an alien and really is, and an endless trip in awful traffic that even death can't stop are just a few of the stories in this collection.

Woodson, Jacqueline. Hush. Penguin Putnam/G.P. Putnam's Sons, $15.99 (0-399-23114-5)
Toswiah Green struggles toward a new identity as Evie Thomas when her family joins the Witness Protection Program and everything she has known before is lost to her.

Yolen, Jane and Robert J. Harris. Girl in a Cage. Penguin Putnam/Philomel Books, $18.99 (0-399-23627-9)
Imprisoned in a cage by King Edward Longshanks, Princess Marjorie wages her own small war on him while her father, the newly crowned King of Scotland, defends his country from the ruthless King of England.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

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by: KathyinFL @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 11:41:39 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

2004 book list

Best Books for Young Adults Annotated List 2004
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Purple Hibiscus . Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. (1-565-12387-5) fiction.  While his Nigerian community sees him as a devout Christian and highly respected man, Kambili's fanatically religious father has privately always demanded perfection of his family and doled out brutal punishment for anything less.   When an outspoken aunt reenters their lives during the political turbulence of a military coup, the fragile family order begins to crumble, ultimately resulting in tragedy.

Bell, Hilari. The Goblin Wood . HarperCollins/Eos. (0-060-51371-3;  0-060-51372-1  lib) fiction.  A young hedgewitch, a disgraced but honorable knight, and a myriad of goblins are at the center of events in a magical world at war.

Bird, Eugenie.  David Downton, il.,  David Ellwand, photo. Fairie-Ality: The Fashion Collection. Candlewick Press. (0-763- 6 14130) nonfiction.  What will the fairies be wearing this season?   Calla lilies and rose petal dresses, gerbera daisy bell-bottoms, or snakeskin bikinis? This fashion catalogue for the wee folks will set the trends.

Bray, Libba . A Great and Terrible Beauty. Random House/Delacorte.(0-385-73028-4; 0-385-90161-5 lib) fiction.  In 1895 Victorian England, rebellious sixteen-year-old Gemma Doyle finds herself embroiled in a decades-old supernatural mystery at a stuffy finishing school that she is being forced to attend after her mother's tragic death abroad.

Brennan, Herbie. Faerie Wars. Bloomsbury. (1-582-34810-3) fiction.  Henry Atherton, a teen from "our" world, and his octogenarian employer Mr. Fogarty join forces with an animal-loving boy from the faerie world who is in "mortal" danger.

Brooks, Kevin. Lucas. Scholastic/The Chicken House.(0-439-45698-3). Fiction.  Caitlin becomes isolated as the other young adults of Hale Island develop and immediate and intense hatred for the attractive and mysterious newcomer she befriends.

Brooks, Martha. True Confessions of a Heartless Girl. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Melanie Kroupa Bks. (0-374-37806-1) fiction.  After stealing her boyfriend's money and truck, newly-pregnant Noreen leans in the small town of Pembina Lake and becomes the catalyst for change for the town's residents.
Buckingham, Dorothea N. Staring Down the Dragon. Sydney Press. (0-972-45773-9 pbk) fiction.  Rell is in cancer remission but can't quite resume her normal life - she feels as though no one truly understands what she's been through or how the disease has changed her life.

Burt, Guy. Sophie. Random House/Ballantine Books. (0-345-44659-3) fiction.  Adult Mattie recounts his strange childhood with his sister Sophie, his hostage.

Calhoun, Dia. White Midnight . Farrar, Straus & Giroux (0-374-38389-8) fiction.  Rose, discounted as timid, ugly and inconsequential by her community, finds the inner strength to face her fears as well as Thing" who lives in the Bighouse's attic, in order to save her beloved Greengarden.

Capuzzo, Michael.  Lars Hokanson, il. Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916. Random House/Crown Publishers (0-375-82231-3;   0-375-92231-8  lib) nonfiction.  A description of both the mass hysteria that gripped the Jersey shore in 1916 and the voyage of the shark that caused it before man knew what a danger a shark could be.

Coburn, Jake. Prep. Penguin Putnam Bks for Young Readers/Dutton (0-525-47135-9) fiction.  Long after a tragedy caused Nick to abandon his Krylon cans and his crew, he is forced to dive back into the prep schoolgangster underworld in order to save the life of Danny, the younger brother of the female friend Nick secretly loves.

Cofer, Judith Ortiz. The Meaning of Consuelo . Farrar, Straus & Giroux    (0-374-20509-4) fiction.  A young girl tells her tragic story of coming of age in 1950s Puerto Rico.   Consuelo struggles to understand her place in the world as her father embraces each technological advance and the promise of wealth it offers, her mother reaches for the past and the natural beauty of the island, her closest friend and cousin begins to reveal his homosexuality, and her younger sister slips quietly into madness.

Crowe, Chris. Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case. Penguin Putnam/Phyllis Fogelman Books. (0-803-72804-2) nonfiction.  When Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, violated the most serious tenet of white supremacy in the summer of 1955, his murder touched off the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Crutcher, Chris. King of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-Advised Autobiography. HarperCollins/Greenwillow Press (0-060-50249-5;  0-060-50250-9  lib) nonfiction.  The autobiography of Margaret A. Edwards award-winning author Chris Crutcher recounts hysterically-funny vignettes of his childhood, profound-yet-simple truths that he learned along the way, and the path and elements leading to writing his honest and gritty young adult books.

Davis, Amanda. Wonder When You'll Miss Me. HarperCollins/William Morrow & Co. (0-688-16781-0) fiction.  When everything in her life spirals out of control, 16-year-old Faith/Annabelle runs away to the circus.

Donnelly, Jennifer. A Northern Light. Harcourt. (0-152-16705-6) fiction.  In Upstate New York, in 1906, against the background of a true, and truly scandalous murder, fictional character Mattie Gokey fights her family and the societal constraints of the times to become her own person.

Firebirds: An Anthology of Original Fantasy and Science Fiction.   Sharyn November, ed. Penguin Putnam/Firebird Books. (0-142-50142-5) fiction. A broad range of solidly written sci-fi/fantasy that showcases major authors of the genre with all new original stories, including ones by heavy hitters like Lloyd Alexander, Nancy Springer and Garth Nix.

Fleming, Candace. Ben Franklin's Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentleman's Life.Simon & Schuster/Atheneum. (0-689-83549-3) nonfiction.  A topically organized biography of the printer, writer, scientist, statesman and inventor, the only Founding Father who signed allfour of the documents that are the basis of our country today, modeled on his own Poor Richard's Almanac.

Fradin, Dennis Brindell and Judith Bloom Fradin. Fight On! Mary Church Terrell's Battle for Integration. Houghton Mifflin Company/Clarion Books. (0-618-13349-6)  nonfiction.  A biography of an indomitable fighter against all forms of discrimination who, in her late 80s, conducted a successful campaign to integrate D.C. restaurants and movie theaters.

Frank, E. R. Friction: A Novel. S & S/Atheneum/A Richard Jackson Book. (0-689-85384-X) fiction.  An innocent young girl's budding sexuality contributes to the terrible confusion-and, ultimately, to the tragic consequences-when a new classmate begins an insidious campaign to portray their popular teacher as a pervert.

Freedman, Russell. In Defense of Liberty: The Story of America's Bill of Rights. Holiday House. (0-832-41585-6) nonfiction.  The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791, listed the individual freedoms guaranteed Americans, but court cases and societal changes have broadened and changed our understanding of those freedoms over the years.

Freese, Barbara.  Coal: A Human History, Perseus Publishing (0-7382-0400-5) nonfiction.  Facts and anecdotes examine the historic, scientific, economic, political, cultural, and literary aspects of coal, as well as the current debates about energy consumption, developing nations, and global warming.

Frost, Helen Keesha's House. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Frances Foster Books. (0-374-34064-1) fiction.  A verse novel in which Joe, whose aunt had taken him into her house when he was young and in need, now owns that house and does the same for a variety of kids with their own problems.

Going, K. L. Fat Kid Rules the World. Penguin Putnam/G.P.Putnam's Sons. (0-399-23990-1) fiction.  At 17, Troy struggles with obesity and depression.   He is rescued from a near-suicide attempt by a chance encounter with a homeless teenage punk-rock icon, who convinces Troy to become a drummer for his new band.

Goodman, Alison. Singing the Dogstar Blues. Penguin Putnam/Viking  (0-670-03610-2) fiction.  Seventeen-year-old Joss consoles herself with her blues music as she faces an assassin, unruly demonstrators, a peeved professor, and intrusive high tech security when she is selected as a partner by Mavkel, the first alien to study time travel at the Center for Neo-Historical Studies.

Greenberg, Jan and Sandra Jordan. Runaway Girl: The Artist Louise Bourgeois. Harry N. Abrams/La Martiniere.   (0-810-94237-2). nonfiction.  The French artist Louise Bourgeois was definitely a woman ahead of her time.   Known for her post modern arachnid sculptures, hemp and naturalistic material pieces and rebellious attitude, she is known for coining the phrase "Art is the promise the artist makes to the community that they will not commit murder."

Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: A Novel. Random House/Doubleday. (0-385-50945-6) fiction.  Welcome to the world of a 15-year-old autistic teen who knows it will be a "super good day" if he sees 5 red cars in a row or a "black day" if he sees 4 yellow cars in a row.   Christopher can solve quadratic equations in his head but can't bear to be touched or to eat foods that are touching one another on his plate.

Hampton, Wilborn. September 11, 2001: Attack on New York City. Candlewick Press. (0-763-61949-3) nonfiction.  The destruction of the World Trade Center told through the experiences of people closely involved including survivors who escaped the falling towers, a man who lost his wife, firemen, the mayor, and a perpetrator as well as the author.

Hautman, Pete. Sweetblood. Simon & Schuster. (0-689-85048-4) fiction.  Sixteen year old Lucy comes to terms with her out-of-control sugar diabetes by comparing her disease to being like that of a blood-dependent vampire and immersing herself in Goth culture.

Hearn, Lian. Across the Nightingale Floor: Tales of the Otori, Book One. Putnam Publishing Group/Riverhead Books (1-573-22225-9)  fiction.  An adventure of epic proportions begins for Kateo when his village is slaughtered and he is rescued by Lord Otori, who somehow guesses at his secret identity.

Henkes, Kevin. Olive's Ocean. HarperCollins/Greenwillow Books. (0-060-53543-1;  0-060-53544-X lib) fiction.  When Martha's classmate, Olive, is killed in a hit-and-run accident, Martha sets out to accomplish the things that Olive never had the chance to.

Hoffman, Nina Kiriki. A Stir of Bones. Penguin Putnam/Viking. (0-670-03551-3) fiction.  Fourteen-year-old Susan Backstrom may be perfect in every way, but she's also hiding a perfectly horrible secret that only three new friends, a love-struck ghost and a helpful haunted House can help her face.

Holt, Kimberly Willis. Keeper of the Night. Henry Holt and Company. (0-805-06361-7) fiction.  Isabel, who is a Guam teenager, and her family, try to survive and heal after her mother's suicide.

Horvath, Polly. The Canning Season. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. (0-374-39956-5) fiction.  Ratchet Clark is quite surprised when her mother sends her off to spend the summer with her twin aunts PenPen and Tilly -the last thing she expects to find is a real home.

Jenkins, A. M. Out of Order. HarperCollins. (0-066-23968-0;  0-066-23969-9  lib) fiction.  High school sophomore, Colt Trammel, struggles to maintain his macho image despite problems with both his girlfriend and his classwork.

Johnson, Angela. The First Part Last. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. (0-689-84922-2) fiction.  The story of Bobby Morris, a teenage father first introduced in Johnson's Heaven, is told by filling in the "now" and "then" of his life in New York City raising his daughter, Feather.

Johnson, Kathleen Jeffrie. Target. Roaring Brook Press. (0-761-31932-8;  0-761-132790-8  lib) fiction.  Grady struggles through his senior year, haunted by the memory of the gang rape that destroyed his sense of security and self-worth.

Juby, Susan. Alice, I Think. HarperCollins/ HarperTempest. (0-060-51543-0;  0-060-51544-9  lib)  fiction.  Not many girls have given a counselor a breakdown by the age of fifteen, but hopefully Alice Macleod has nowhere else in her small town to go but up.

Koja, Kathe. Buddha Boy. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Frances Foster Books. (0-374-30998-1) fiction.  Justin is shaken from his safe little niche at school when he meets Jinsen; an unusual new student who will only smile at the abuse he faces at the hands of the school's predators.

Korman, Gordon. Jake, Reinvented. Hyperion. (0-786-81957-X) fiction.  A mysterious new high school student who instantly becomes the center of the social scene and a star on the football teamharbors secrets from his past that threaten to topple the new identity he's constructed for himself.

Krisher, Trudy. Uncommon Faith. Holiday House.  (0-823-41791-3)  fiction.  The livery fire in 1837 was only the beginning of the changes in Millbrook, Massachusetts, when young people who felt invisible began to question the established authority, to compare the status of women to the status of slaves, and to object to them both.

Levithan, David. Boy Meets Boy. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf.    (0-375-82400-6;  0-375-92400-0  lib)   fiction.  "Gay boy" Paul finds himself on an emotional rollercoaster as he tries to establish a new relationship with Noah while at the same time caring for Kyle.

Little, Jason. Shutterbug Follies. Bantam Doubleday Dell/Doubleday. (0-385-50346-6) fiction.  Bee's job as a technician in a one-hour photo lab leads her into a bizarre murder mystery involving an art photographer's grislysubjects.

Lowachee, Karin. Burndive. Warner Books, Inc./Aspect. (0-446-61318-5) fiction.  Ryan Azarcon is drawn into an interstellar war when his famous family is targeted by assassins.

Mack, Tracy. Birdland. Scholastic, Inc. (0-439-53590-5) fiction.  Jed's East Village video documentary and the people he meets help him deal with the grief over the recent death of his brother, Zeke, a poet and jazz fan.

Mackler, Carolyn. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things. Candlewick Press. (0-763-61958-2) fiction.  Fifteen-year-old Virginia Shreves learns how to manage her weight, the wandering hands of Froggy Welsh the Fourth, and an accusation of date rape against her perfect older brother when her best friend Shannon moves to Washington and she is forced to deal with her problems on her own for the first time in her life.

Martinez, Manuel Luis. Drift. St. Martin's Press/Picador. (0-312-30995-3  pbk) fiction.  Set adrift by his family after his dad splits one too many times and his mom has a nervous breakdown, sixteen-year-old Robert Lomos tries to put his life together but keeps screwing up - getting into fights and getting high.   Only his iron-willed Grams truly believes in him.

Maynard, Joyce. The Usual Rules. St. Martin's Press.   (0-312-24261-1)  fiction.  Thirteen-year-old Wendy tries to pick up the pieces of her shattered life after her beloved mother, an executive secretary, dies in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

McNamee, Graham. Acceleration. Random House Children's Bks/Wendy Lamb (0-385-73119-1,  0-385-90144-5  lib)   fiction.  While working a summer job in the subterranean Lost and Found Office of the Toronto Transit Commission, Duncan discovers a lost journal containing a man's plans to murder women.

Meyer, L.A. Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy.Harcourt, Inc. (0-152-16731-5)   fiction.  Reduced to begging and thievery on the streets of London, Mary transforms herself into Jacky Faber, ship's boy on the Britishwarship Dolphin.

Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. Houghton Mifflin Company/Clarion. (0-395-77608-2) nonfiction. Yellow fever disrupted the federal government, divided the medical establishment and destroyed the lives of thousands of Philadelphians in the disastrous epidemic of 1793, one of many in cities around the world until the cause of the disease was identified at the beginning of the 20th century.

Murphy, Jim. Inside the Alamo. Random House, Inc./Delacorte Press  (0-385-32574-6;  0-385-90092-9  lib)  nonfiction.  In February 1836, General Santa Anna led the Mexican Army to the town of San Antonio de Bexar, where they fought and massacred almost all of the men holed up inside the complex of the Alamo Mission defending the newly formed territory of Texas from Santa Anna's attempts to reclaim it for Mexico.

Murray, Jaye. Bottled Up: A Novel. Penguin Putnam/Dial Books. (0-803-72897-2)  fiction.  Pip is a 17-year-old badass who gets his kicks by drinking, smoking, cutting class, and generally getting in lots of trouble.   But then the school principal gets involved and Pip is forced to come to terms with what he's doing and the impact it has on his six-year-old brother.

Myracle, Lauren. Kissing Kate. Penguin Putnam/Dutton Books. (0-525-46917-6) fiction.  A brief, intimate episode between two long-time high school girlfriends results in an unbridgeable rift when they react in radically different ways to what has happened at that party - a shared, intimate kiss.

Naidoo, Beverley. Out of Bounds: Seven Stories of Conflict and Hope. HarperCollins. (0-060-50799-3;  0-060-50800-0  lib) fiction.  Seven short stories, set in South Africa between 1948 and 2000 and focused on individual experiences, white, black and colored, chronicle the stiffening and then collapse of the legal segregation of the races on South Africa known as apartheid.

Napoli, Donna Jo. Breath. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum.  (0-689-86174-5) fiction.  In the late 1200s in rat-infested Hameln, Germany, a young boy with a terrible disease (cystic fibrosis) meets the piper.   Stark and full of vivid imagery of a disease-infested landscape, this book is incredibly addictive.  Napoli based this story on events that truly happened and cleverly manipulates them with the tale of the pied piper.  Rats take the blame for everything.

Osa, Nancy. Cuba 15. Random House/Delacorte Press.  (0-385-73021-7;  0-385-90086-4  lib) fiction.  Fifteen-year-old Violet Paz is struggling to understand her Cuban heritage while her Abuela plans her quinceanero, and she gathers great material for her speech team performances from her crazy family.

Parker, Jeff. The Interman. Octopus. (0-972-55530-7) fiction.  Van Meach is the INTERMAN, a global project worked on in secret by several governments to attempt to create the perfect war machine, an assassin who can adapt to his surroundings no matter what the situation.   Now that these government leaders have decided that Van is too dangerous to live, they are finding that their prototype has become far more successful than they ever hoped...

Pattou, Edith. East. Harcourt Children's Books. (0-152-04563-5) fiction.  Rose agrees to travel far from her home on the back of the mysterious White Bear, a journey that leads her "East of theSun and West of the Moon" on an adventure she never imagined.

Paulsen, Gary. How Angel Peterson Got His Name: And Other Outrageous Tales About Extreme Sports. Random House Children's Books/ Wendy Lamb Books. (0-385-72949-9;   0-385-90090-2  lib) nonfiction.  Gary Paulsen relates a series of bizarre and daredevil feats attempted by his friends during their childhood in Minnesota.

Peck, Richard. The River Between Us. Penguin Putnam/Dial.  (0-8037-2735-6) fiction.  In 1916 Howard Leland Hutchings travels to his father's ancestral home in Southern Illinois and meets Tilly who tells him the story of his father's kin during the Civil War era.

Pierce, Tamora. Trickster's Choice. Random House. (0-375-81466-3;  0-375-91466-8  lib)  fiction.  When Aly decides to avoid her famous warrior mother she never dreams that she will be captured by slavers, but finds that this gives her the opportunity to prove that she has all the makings of a spy.

Pratchett, Terry. The Wee Free Men: A Story of Discworld. HarperCollins. (0-060-01236-6;  0-060-01237-4  lib)  fiction.  Armed with an iron frying pan, Tiffany Aching goes with the wee free men who have made her their leader to rescue her little brother, one of a series of young people kidnapped by the Queen of Fairyland.

Rapp, Adam.   Timothy Basil Ering, il. 33 Snowfish. Candlewick Press. (0-763-61874-8) fiction.  Boobie, Curl and Custis are on the run with Boobie's baby brother in tow as they each attempt to escape their demons and cling to one another in their darkest hours.

Rees, Celia. Pirates!    Bloomsbury/Bloomsbury Children. (1-582-34816-2) fiction.  In the 1720s, dire circumstances propel two girls - a wealthy merchant's daughter from England and her father's Jamaican slave - into a life of piracy.

Reeve, Philip. Mortal Engines: A Novel. HarperCollins/Eos.  (0-060-08207-0;  0-060-08208-9  lib) fiction.  In a future so bleak that cities travel on huge tank-like tracks hunting and consuming smaller towns, four teens uncover a diabolical plan to reconstruct the very weapons that killed civilization as we know it.

Roach, Mary. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. (0-393-05093-9) nonfiction.  The book is a journey into the afterlife of human cadavers.   The author Mary Roach gives a humorous, yet touching and respectful and poignant look at how scientists utilize every precious element of the human body.

Rowling, J.K.   Mary Grandpre, il. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Schoastic, Inc. (0-439-35806-X,  0-439-56761-0 lib) fiction.  Harry Potter is haunted by dreams that foreshadow a terrifying secret.   Being a 15-year-old adolescent doesn't help matters either.  In his fifth year at Hogwarts Harry is snappier and moodier than ever and his hormones and emotions fluctuate continuously.

Rylant, Cynthia. God Went to Beauty School. HarperCollins/HarperTempest. (0-060-09433-8; 0-060-09434-6  lib) fiction.  Very funny, yet thoughtful, collection of poems presenting an alternative view of God.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. Random House, Inc./Pantheon. (0-375-42230-7) nonfiction.Marjane, the daughter of radical Marxists, grows up in Iran during the time of its revolution and subsequent war with Iraq.

Sis, Peter. The Tree of Life: A Book Depicting the Life of Charles Darwin: Naturalist, Geologist & Thinker. Farrar, Straus, Giroux/Frances Foster    (0-374-45628-3)   nonfiction.  An introduction to the nineteenth century scientist who sailed around the world and wrote a book that changed it, including material from Darwin's own diaries and detailed illustrations by the author.

Slade, Arthur. Dust. Random House/Delacorte Press. (0-385-73004-7;  0-385-90093-7  lib) fiction.  Eleven-year-old Robert is the only person in Horshoe, Saskatchewan who remains impervious enough to the dazzling visitor and his promise of a rainmaking machine to wonder where all the town's missing people have gone.

Spinelli, Jerry. Milkweed: A Novel. Random House, Inc./Alfred A. Knopf.  (0-375-81374-8;  0-375-91374-2  lib) fiction.  A resourceful orphan steals to survive the horrors of the Warsaw ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland.

Stroud, Jonathan. The Amulet of Samarkand: Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book One. Hyperion Books for Children/Miramax.   (0-786-81859-X;  0-786-85143-0  pbk) fiction.  A brilliant, self-taught young magician named Nathaniel aims to take revenge by conjuring up a powerful djinni named Bartimaeus and commanding him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from Simon Lovelace, the magician who was responsible for humiliating Nathaniel.

Thompson, Craig. Blankets: An Illustrated Novel. Top Shelf Productions. (1-891-83043-0) fiction.  This graphic novel, autobiographical in scope, vibrantly depicts the life of the author.   Simultaneously weaving childhood, adolescence and adulthood, Thompson illuminates the trials and tribulations of being an outcast, attending a zealous bible camp and meeting the girl of his dreams.

Trueman, Terry. Inside Out. HarperCollins/HarperTempest.   (0-066-23962-1;  0-066-23963-X  lib)  fiction.  While waiting for his mom in the coffee shop, sixteen-year-old Zach Wahhsted, who suffers from adolescent onset schizophrenia, becomes the voice of reason when a foiled robbery by a pair of armed teens turns into a hostage situation.

Vance, Susanna. Deep. Random House/Delacorte Press. (0-385-73057-8;  0-385-90080-5  lib)  fiction.  Enthusiastically spoiled thirteen-year-old Birdie Sidwell and solemn, sea-faring seventeen-year-old Morgan become unlikely allies when they both come in contact with a ruthless, utterly charming modern pirate.

Vande Velde, Vivian. Heir Apparent. Harcourt, Inc. (0-152-04560-0)  fiction.  Trapped in a virtual reality game by outside religious agitators who have stormed the video arcade and harmed the sensitive equipment, fourteen-year-old Giannine isn't just playing to win, she's playing for her life!

Wittlinger, Ellen. Zigzag. Simon & Schuster/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. (0-689-84996-6) fiction.  Robin discovers more than the sights during her cross-country trek.

Woodson, Jacqueline. Locomotion. Penguin Putnam/G.P. Putnam's Sons. (0-399-23115-3) fiction.  A verse novel in which 11-year-old Lonnie recovers from the trauma that results when his parents are killed in a fire.

Wrede, Patricia C. and Caroline Stevermer. Sorcery & Cecelia, Or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot: Being the Correspondence of Two Young Ladies of Quality Regarding Various Magical Scandals in London and the Country. Harcourt, Inc. (0-152-04615-1) fiction.  Cousins Cecelia and Kate, who have grown up raucously in the country, correspond in lively letters during the course of Kate's first season in London.

Yolen, Jane. Sword of the Rightful King: A Novel of King Arthur. Harcourt, Inc. (0-152-02527-8) fiction.  Assassins, treachery, and sorcery abound in this inventive version of King Arthur's early days of rule, including the magician's very risky staging of the test of the sword in the stone.

Zahn, Timothy. Dragon and Thief: A Dragonback Adventure. Tom Doherty Associates/Tor. (0-765-30124-5;  0-765-34272-3  pbk) fiction.  Jack Morgan's efforts to be cleared of a theft he didn't make are complicated when he allows Draycos, a symbiotic dragon, to take up residence on his back in the form of a moving tattoo.

 

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

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by: KathyinFL @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 11:42:26 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

2005 book list

Best Books for Young Adults 2005

Aidinoff, Elsie V.   The Garden.   HarperCollins Children's Book Group: HarperTempest, 2004.  0-06-055605-6.  In an alternate Eden after the creation of the first human beings, Adam is tutored by God as Eve is left in the care of the Serpent.

Allen, Thomas B.   George Washington, Spymaster: How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War.  National Geographic,  2004.  0-7922-5126-1.  Who knew our most famous Founding Father was a colonial James Bond? This book features Washington in a little known but incredibly important role as the mastermind behind an intricate network of Patriot spies during the Revolutionary War.

Almond, David.   Fire-Eaters.   Random House Children's Books: Delacorte Press, 2004.  0-385-73170-1.  It is 1962 and the whole world is holding its breath as the Cuban Missile Crisis intensifies.  In Keely Bay, Bobby Burns is walking the tightrope between faith and fear as he struggles with a sadistic school master, his father's mysterious illness and the overwhelming events of a world poised on the brink of destruction.

Bass,    L.G.  Sign of the Qin: Outlaws of Moonshadow Marsh, No. 1.  Hyperion Books for Children,  2004.  0-7868-1918-9.  Dangers abound in this magical epic martial arts fantasy that follows Prince Zong, the Starlord, and his mother Silver Lotus, the First Consort, after their separate escapes from the dangerous and corrupt Emperor Han.

Bausum, Ann.   With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman's Right to Vote.  Simon & Schuster: National Geographic, 2004.  0-7922-7647-7.  The long, arduous, and sometimes violent struggle for a woman's right to vote is told in an engaging narrative.  The roots of the movement as well as the other efforts it spawned are well told.

Bolden, Tonya.   Wake Up Our Souls: A Celebration of Black American Artists.  Harry N. Abrams, Inc.,  2004.  0-8109-4527-4.  This book highlights influential and important Black American 20th-century artists, from those of the early part of the century, to important participants in the Harlem Renaissance, to modern and contemporary artists. The text also includes sidebars highlighting individual pictures and creators, describing a wonderful chapter in the history of American art and African American life.

Braff, Joshua.   The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green.   Workman Publishing Co.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2004.  1-56512-420-0.  Jacob Green tries to establish his identity in his seriously dysfunctional suburban Jewish family during the late seventies/early eighties.

Burgess, Melvin.   Doing It.   Henry Holt & Co.: Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 2004.  0-8050-7565-8.  Rude, crude, and obsessed with the needs of Mr. Knobby Knobster, high school students Jonathon and his mates Dino and Ben provide an unflinching inside look at the terrors and delights of male sexuality.

Choldenko, Gennifer.   Al Capone Does My Shirts: a Novel.  Putnam Publishing Group,  2004.  0-399-23861-1.  Twelve year old Moose Flanagan is dismayed and more than just a little wary when his family moves to Alcatraz Island because of his father's new job as a prison guard, so that his autistic sister Natalie may attend an exclusive special school.

Chotjewitz, David.   Daniel Half Human and the Good Nazi. Doris Orgel, translator.  Simon & Schuster: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2004.  0-689-85747-0.  

When Daniel tells his parents that they cannot forbid him from joining the Hitler Jugend (HJ), they tell him the truth - that he is half Jewish and the Nazi Party will not allow him to join.

Corrigan , Eireann.   Splintering.   Scholastic,  2004.  0-439-53597-2.  A family faces the aftermath of a brutal attack by a violent stranger.

Curtis, Christopher Paul.   Bucking the Sarge.   Random House Children's Books: Wendy Lamb Books, 2004.  0-385-32307-7.  Fifteen year-old Luther T. Farrell has come to terms with the fact that his mother is a number one scam artist, preying on the weak and powerless, including her own son. Luther's plan is to do well in school, win prizes for science projects, go away to a good college with the money his mother is putting away in his college fund. When Luther's project threatens to expose his mother's illegal dealings, Luther's plans nearly unravel.

de Lint, Charles.   The Blue Girl.   Penguin USA: Viking Children's Books, 2004.  0-670-05924-2.  Being temporarily blue-skinned hasn't helped brash, street-smart Imogene's status as her high school's social outcast, nor does it help her and her friends-- real, dead and imaginary-- to defeat the soul-eating Anamithims.

Dr. Ernest Drake's Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons.   Dugald Steer, editor.   Candlewick Press,  November 2003.  0-7636-2329-6.  Dragonologists, both amateur and academic, will hail Dr. Drake's lavishly illustrated rediscovered guide that includes a classification of dragons by habitat, anatomical drawings, helpful riddles for outwitting the European genus and a practical list of essential equipment for the serious scientist ready to leave his armchair.  Dragon dust and important spells are included in the appendix.

Dunkle, Clare B.   The Hollow Kingdom.   Henry Holt & Co.,  October 2003.  0-8050-7390-6.  Beautiful Kate agrees to marry the King of the Goblins in exchange for the safe return of her kidnapped sister.

Farmer, Nancy.   The Sea of Trolls.   Simon & Schuster: Atheneum. 2004.  0-689-86744-1.  When the Northmen invade Great Britain in 793, 11-year-old Jack, who has been apprenticing with The Bard, and Lucy, his five year old sister, are taken as slaves and partake in a series of adventures involving trolls, dragons, magic, and a very angry young Berserker girl.

Fisher, Catherine.   The Oracle Betrayed.   HarperCollins Children's Book Group: Greenwillow Books, 2004.  0-06-057157-8.  The Archon sacrifices himself to the scorpion to bring rain to his drought-stricken land but not before warning shy Mirany, the new Bearer that treachery and deceit are all around.

Flake, Sharon.   Who Am I Without Him?: Short Stories about Girls and the Boys in Their Lives.  Hyperion Books for Children: Jump at The Sun, 2004.  0-7868-0693-1.  Ten short stores focus on sometimes difficult male-female relationships as experienced by African American teen girls.

Flinn, Alex.   Nothing to Lose.   HarperCollins Children's Book Group: Avon Tempest, 2004.  0-06-051750-6.  What happened the night that Michael Daye joined the carny life? Now that his mother is on trial for murder, perhaps the real truth will come out.

Freedman, Russell.   The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights.  Houghton Mifflin Company: Clarion Books, 2004.  0-618-15976-2.  A biography of the great singer Marian Anderson and her role in bringing the injustice of segregation in the arts to national awareness.

Fusco, Kimberly Newton.   Tending to Grace.   Random House Children's Books: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.  0-375-82862-1.  Cornelia Thornhill, who refuses to speak because of her speech impediment, is left with her Great- Aunt Agatha when her mother and her boyfriend head off to greener pastures in Vegas.

Gothic: Ten Original Dark Tales   Deborah Noyes.   Candlewick Press,  2004.  0-7636-2243-5.  Ten gifted authors create short gothic tales that thrill and chill.

Greenberg, Jan and Sandra Jordan.   Andy Warhol: Prince of Pop.  Random House Children's Books: Delacorte Press, 2004.  0-385-73056-X.  This biography of Andy Warhol illuminates his life and times, highlighting his impact on art and culture.

Halpin, Brendan.   Donorboy.   Random House: Villard Books, 2004.  1-4000-6277-2.  14-year old Rosalind Butterfield's life is suddenly destroyed when her two lesbian parents die in a freak accident.  Her genetic father, a casual, past friend of her mothers', embarks on a journey to be her father in her time of need.

Hautman, Pete.   Godless.   Simon & Schuster,  2004.  0-689-86278-4.  Sixteen-year-old Jason Bock, tired of the tedious "Teen Power Outreach" sessions he is forced to attend at his Catholic church, decides to create his own religion that involves worshipping the town's water tower as a god.

Hoose, Phillip M.   The Race to Save the Lord God Bird.   Melanie Kroupa Books,  2004.  0-374-36173-8.  The story of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker's demise is the centerpiece for a book about extinction and the pressures of mankind upon the Earth.

Horowitz, Anthony.   Eagle Strike: An Alex Rider adventure.  Putnam Publishing Group: Philomel Books, 2004.  0-399-23979-0.  Teenage British spy Alex Rider is back in an all new addicting adventure that includes a reunion with an old enemy, a celebrity madman, and a near fatal rendez-vous with destiny aboard the famous Presidential Air Force One!

Janeczko, Paul B.   Worlds Afire: The Hartford Circus Fire of 1944.  Candlewick Press,  2004.  0-7636-2235-4.  On July 6, 1944, 167 people were killed and over 500 were injured when the circus they were attending in Hartford, Connecticut caught fire.  Janeczko recreates the before, during, and after of this true event in haunting poetry.

Jocelyn, Marthe.   Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Romance.  Candlewick Press,  2004.  0-7636-2120-X.  Mabel Riley dreams of grand adventures when she and her sister move away from their home and board with a farm family in turn-of-the-century Ontario.

Johnson, Angela.   Bird.   Penguin USA: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2004.  0-8037-2847-6.  Thirteen-year-old Bird runs away from her home in Ohio in hopes of retrieving her departed stepfather, Cecil.

Johnson, Kathleen Jeffrie.   A Fast and Brutal Wing.   Henry Holt & Co.: Roaring Brook Press, 2004.  0-59643-013-3.  Emmet and Niki may or may not be a brother and sister pair of shape shifters implicated in the disappearance of a local celebrity who may or may not be dead.

Johnson, Maureen.   The Key to the Golden Firebird.   HarperCollins Childrens Books:  2004.  0-06-054138-5.  A year after their father dies from a heart attack in his prized 1967 Firebird, the three Gold sisters try to cope with their grief and get their lives back to normal.

Koertge, Ron.   Margaux With An X.   Candlewick Press,  2004.  0-7636-2401-2.  Margaux,"with an X", a beautiful ice queen, can have any boy she wants, and what she wants to do is tease. That is, until she meets Danny Riley, school outcast.

Koja, Kathe.   The Blue Mirror.   Farrar, Straus & Giroux: Frances Foster Books, 2004.  0-374-30849-7.  The Blue Mirror serves as Maggy's escape from her alcoholic mother, and her entrance into the destructive, abusive life of Cole, an enigmatic and homeless Pied Piper.

Konigsburg, E.L.   The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place.   Simon & Schuster: Atheneum. 2004.  0-689-86636-4.  Rescued from summer camp bullies by her Old World-styled Granduncles, Margaret Rose Kane spends a transformative month lodging at their unusual home.

Kubert, Joe.   Yossel, April 19, 1943: A Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.  Simon & Schuster: Ibooks, October 2003.  0-7434-7516-X.  With rough pencil sketches, fifteen-year-old Yossel chronicles the horrifying events of the Holocaust in the Warsaw Ghetto, culminating in the ill-fated uprising.

Lawrence, Michael.   A Crack in the Line.   HarperCollins Children's Book Group: Greenwillow Books, 2004.  0-06-072477-3.  Sixteen-year-old Alaric stumbles into a parallel universe in which his dead mother still lives and discovers that his room is occupied by Naia, a girl who looks just like him.

Lawrence , Iain.   B for Buster.   Random House Children's Books: Delacorte Press, 2004.  0-385-73086-1.  Kak, 16, illegally enlists in the Canadian Air Force in 1943 and experiences the horror of war as he battles his fear of flying in the bombing raids over Germany.

Leavitt, Martine.   Heck, Superhero.  Front Street, 2004.  1-886910-94-4.  HECK, SUPERHERO reveals ninety-six critical hours in the life of a thirteen-year-old all-too-human kid who has channeled a lifetime of chronic neglect by his severely depressed mother into becoming a caregiver and doer of Good Deeds as well as a truly extraordinary artist.

Levithan, David.   The Realm of Possibility.   Random House Children's Books: Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 2004.  0-375-82845-1.  This ambitious and romantic novel in verse presents twenty distinctive-yet-interwoven stories by twenty high school students who each share defining pieces of their lives in a variety of poetic forms.

Marchetta, Melina.   Saving Francesca.   Random House Children's Books: Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 2004.  0-375-82982-2.  Random House Children's Books: Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 2004                (0-375-82982-2)                        Fiction

Teenaged Francesca is facing her classes, her friends, and the complications that arise from being one of thirty girls in a school with 750 guys, while also groping for some key that might help lead her high-powered mother back from a breakdown.

McKinley, Robin.   Sunshine.   Berkley Publishing Group,  September 2003.  0-425-19178-8 .  A band of vampires chain Sunshine to the wall of an abandoned ballroom and leave her to be devoured by the ballroom's other inhabitant, a vampire who instead asks her to help him escape.

McNaughton, Janet.   An Earthly Knight.   HarperCollins Children's Book Group:  2004.  0-06-008992-X.  In 1162, Jenny finds herself in the role of elder daughter when her older sister runs away with an dangerous suitor -- but what happens when Jenny falls in love with Tam Lin instead of the brother of the King?

McWhorter, Diane.   A Dream of Freedom: The Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968.  Scholastic: Scholastic Reference, 2004.  0-439-57678-4.  This handsome volume summarizes and explains the key years of the Civil rights Movement, bringing in major players as well as lesser known heroes and heroines.

Meyer, L.A.   Curse Of The Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady.  Harcourt Children's Books,  2004.  0-15-205115-5.  Having her blown "grand Deception," Jacky Faber, ships' boy and aspiring fine lady, has been unceremoniously dropped off in Boston by the H.M.S. Dolphin crew to attend the Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls. There she encounters worse sharks than any she could ever meet in the open ocean!

Morgan, Nicola.   Fleshmarket.   Random House Children's Books: Delacorte Press. 2004.  0-385-73154-X.  A young Scottish boy, Robbie Anderson, tries to uncover the true nature of a head surgeon and learn about early nineteenth century medicine after he hears (at the tender age of eight) the sounds of his mother's breast surgery at the Theater of Surgeons in Surgeons Square in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Moriarty, Jaclyn.   The Year Of Secret Assignments.   Scholastic: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2004.  0-439-49881-3.  Best friends Lydia, Emily and Cassie's penpal project with boys from a rival school results in hilarious high school hijinks, including out of control pranks, identity theft and a text-book perfect act of sweet, sweet revenge.

Morpurgo, Michael.   Private Peaceful.   Scholastic,  2004.  0-439-63648-5.  Fifteen-year-old Tommy Peaceful and his older brother Charlie enlist in the British army and are sent to fight in the trenches in France after their noble landlord offers them a choice between joining up or having the family evicted from their home.

Myers, Walter Dean.   Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices.  Holiday House,  2004.  0-8234-1853-7.  The hopes, dreams, and disappointments of the iconic African American community are explored in verse and vintage photographs.

Napoli, Donna Jo.   Bound.   Simon & Schuster: Atheneum Books for Young Readers,   2004.  0-689-86175-3.  In this retelling of Chinese Cinderella tales, Xing Xing, 14, is resigned to a life of servitude to her ungrateful stepmother and sickly stepsister, until, with the help of an extraordinary fish, she finds the strength to decide her own fate.

Nelson, Blake.   Rock Star, Susperstar.   Penguin USA: Viking Children's Books, 2004.  0-670-05933-1. Sixteen year old bass players Peter learns bittersweet lessons of life, love and rock and roll during his sophomore and junior years of high school, playing with the underground band, The Tiny Masters of Today.

Oppel, Kenneth.   Airborn.   HarperCollins Children's Book Group: Eos, 2004.  0-06-053180-0.  Matt Cruse is more at home in the air than anywhere on land. He pursues his dream of someday serving as captain on an airship like the Aurora, that takes passengers and cargo around the world.  When the Aurora, part dirigible, part shipping vessel is forced to land on an uncharted island, Matt and fellow traveler, Kate must battle pirates and strange winged creatures in order to return their damaged ship to its voyage in the sky.

Peck, Richard.   The Teacher's Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts.  Penguin USA: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2004.  0-8037-2736-4.  When mean ole Myrt Arbuckle hauls off and dies, fifteen year old Russell Culver thinks he is finally done with school forever until his older sister becomes the new teacher.

Peters, Julie Anne.   Luna: A Novel.  Little, Brown & Co.: Megan Tingley Books, 2004.   0-316-73369-5.  Luna, like her namesake the moon, can only come out at night. What happens when she decides to become a presence in the daylight too, changing Liam into Luna before his family's very eyes?

Pratchett, Terry.   A Hat Full Of Sky.   HarperCollins Children's Book Group:  2004.  0-06-058660-5.  When Tiffany Aching leaves the Chalk and her Wee Free Men to become a witch-in-training, she does not know that she will soon need their help to battle an invisible foe.

Rapp, Adam.   Under the Wolf, Under the Dog.   Candlewick Press,  2004.  0-7636-1818-7.  Gifted and talented high school student Steve Nugent reveals how he ended up in a teen facility after his mother dies of cancer and his brother shortly thereafter kills himself.

Reeve, Philip.   Predator's Gold: a Novel.  HarperCollins Children's Book Group: Eos, 2004.  0-06-072193-6.  In a futuristic world where wheeled cities devour other cities, lovers Hester and Tom are pursued by a terrorist group as they shelter on a traction city attempting to find the "Dead Continent" of America in this sequel to Mortal Engines.

Robinson, Sharon.   Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America  Scholastic,  2004.  0-439-42592-1.  Jackie Robinson's daughter weaves interesting narrative about her father's baseball career, family life and political activism with beautiful photographs and handwritten correspondence to create an unforgettable read.

Rosoff, Meg.   how i live now.   Random House Children's Books: Wendy Lamb Books, 2004.  0-385-74677-6.  Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth (Daisy) finds her whole world turned upside down when she travels to England to stay with relatives, falls in love, and is caught up in a  devastating world war.

Saenz, Benjamin Alire.   Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood.   Cinco Puntos Press,  2004.  0-938317-81-4.  Sammy Santos dreams of getting away from the barrio to college but when Juliana Rios, the girl he loves, is tragically killed his grief nearly overwhelms him.

Satrapi, Marjane.   Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return.  Random House: Pantheon Books, 2004.  0-375-42288-9.  Marjane Satrapi continues where she left off in Persepolis, living in Vienna and enduring the hardships of being a Third World citizen in a Western country.

Schmidt, Gary D.   Lizzie Bright and the Buckminister Boy.   Houghton Mifflin Company: Clarion Books, 2004.  0-618-43929-3.  Turner's family moves to Phippsburg, Maine at a time when the town's white leaders are seeking to eliminate a nearby island community, originally founded by former slaves, in hopes of attracting tourism. Based upon a historic 1912 incident.

Seagle, Steven T.   It's a Bird.   DC Comics: Vertigo, 2004.  1-40120-109-1.  A comic writer named Steve is unable to accept the job of a lifetime, to write a Superman story, because the problems in his family's past continue to haunt him in the present.

Shinn, Sharon.   The Safe-Keeper's Secret.  Penguin USA: Viking Childrens Books, 2004.  0-670-05910-2.  The foundling, Reed, is raised with the Safe-Keeper's own baby, Fiona. As the two grow older they must come to terms with who they are as well as who they might become.

Shusterman, Neal.   The Schwa was here.   Penguin USA,  2004.  0-525-47182-0.  When Antsy Bonano realizes that his friend Calvin Schwa is functionally invisible, they decide to use this "Schwa Effect" to make some big bucks.  Their plan works wonderfully until they are caught in loony Old Man Crawley's apartment.

Silverstein, Ken.   The Radioactive Boy Scout: The True Story of a Boy and His Backyard Nuclear Reactor.  Random House,  2004.  0-375-50351-X.  Science geek David Hahn's obsession with nuclear energy results in the unsupervised creation of a radioative device with the potential to spark an environmental disaster in his community.

Sones , Sonya.   One of those Hideous Books where the Mother Dies.   Simon & Schuster,  2004.  0-689-85820-5.  After her mother dies of cancer, Ruby is forced to move to "Cali-phony-a" to live with her father, the famous movie star, Whip Logan.

Strasser, Todd.   Can't get there from here.   Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing,  2004.  0-689-84169-8.  A homeless teen, Maybe, and her tribe of fellow street urchins try to survive the natural and human elements of a winter on the street in Manhattan.

Stratton, Allan.   Chanda's Secrets.   Firefly Books: Annick Press, 2004.  1-55037-835-X.  Sixteen-year-old Chanda loves school and dreams of a scholarship and a life beyond her family's poverty.  But her Mama is tired all the time after her little sister's death and Chanda must fight to keep her dreams alive and conquer her fears in the face of the brutal reality of Africa's AIDS epidemic.

Stroud, Jonathan.   The Golem's Eye: The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book Two.  Hyperion Books for Children: Miramax, 2004.  0-7868-1860-3.  Nathaniel, a talented and ambitious 14-year-old governmental magician, again summons Bartimaeus, the sarcastic and irreverent djinni from The Amulet of Samarkand, to help him destroy a hideous golem that is attacking London.

Tocher, Timothy.   Chief Sunrise, John McGraw, and Me.   Cricket Books,  2004.  0-8126-2711-3.  Escaping his abusive father, fifteen-year-old Hank Cobb joins Chief Sunrise, "immortal in the making," in a journey to meet John McGraw and try out for the 1919 New York Giants baseball team.

Townley, Roderick.   Sky: A novel in 3 sets and an encore.  Simon & Schuster: Atheneum, 2004.  0-689-85712-8.  Sky is a 15-year old jazz musician who is forced to come to

terms with his over-bearing father and struggles to find himself in 1958 Manhattan.

Turnbull, Ann.   No Shame, No Fear.   Candlewick Press,  2004.  0-7636-2505-1.  In 1662 Britain, as violent intolerance of Quakers mounts, a 15-year old Quaker girl and the well-educated son of a prosperous and respected Anglican businessman fall in love.

Unger, Zac.   Working Fire: The Making of an Accidental Fireman.  Penguin USA: Penguin Press, 2004.  1-59420-001-7.  A young rookie provides a behind-the-firehouse doors look at what is like to fight fire in a big city.

Updale, Eleanor.   Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman?  Scholastic: Orchard Books, 2004.  0-439-58035-8.  Montmorency, a petty thief in Victorian England, is badly injured and then caught by the police, but his time recuperating in jail is the beginning of a whole new life for prisoner #493.

Van Der Vat, Dan.   D-Day: The Greatest Invasion - A Peoples History.  St. Martin's Press: Bloomsbury, November 2003.  1-58234-314-4.  A visually stunning overview of the pivotal invasion of Europe that changed the course of World War II.

Weeks, Sarah.   So B. It: a Novel.  HarperCollins Children's Books: Laura Geringer Books, 2004.  0-06-623622-3.  Twelve-year-old Heidi--whose mother's severe mental disability limits her to only being able to articulate 23 words, sounds, or short phrases--embarks on a journey to discover the truth of her mom's and her own past.

Werlin, Nancy.   Double Helix.   Penguin USA: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2004.  0-8037-2606-6.  Haunted by too many unanswered questions, Eli Samuels finds they all seem to lead to world-famous transgeneticist Quincy Wyatt, a man whose eerie familiarity masks a chilling truth.

Westerfeld, Scott.   So Yesterday.   Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers: Razorbill, 2004.  1-59514-000-X.  When Hunter Braque, a Cool Hunter, meets Jen Jones, an Innovator, the pair unwittingly fall into a secret scheme to rock the foundations of a multinational shoe manufacturer.

Whedon, Joss.   Fray.    Dark Horse Comics,  December 2003.  1-56971-751-6.  In the distant future, Fray is a thief making a living in the slum that was once Manhattan. One day her destiny catches up with her. She's a Slayer, born to kill the monsters that are at war with mankind.

Whitney, Kim Ablon.   See You Down The Road: a novel.  Random House Children's Books: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2004.  0-375-82467-7.  Bridget is a sixteen year-old Traveler, part of a family of roaming con artists, who is not sure she wants to stay in the life now that she has been promised in marriage. Bridget is a sixteen year-old Traveler, part of a family of roaming con artists, who is not sure she wants to stay in the life now that she has been promised in marriage. Bridget is a sixteen year-old Traveler, part of a family of roaming con artists, who is not sure she wants to stay in the life now that she has been promised in marriage.

Williams-Garcia, Rita.   No Laughter Here.   HarperCollins Children's Book Group: Amistad Press, 2004.  0-688-16247-9.  When Victoria returns from as family visit to Nigeria, she is uncharacteristically distant from her best friend, Akilah.  Soon Akilah learns that her friend was circumcised in keeping with that country's coming-of-age ritual.

Wolf, Allan.   New Found Land: Lewis and Clark's Voyage of Discovery.  Candlewick Press,  2004.  0-7636-2113-7.  Fourteen members of the Corps of Discovery tell the story

of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Wooding , Chris .   The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray.   Orchard Press,  2004.  0-439-54656-7.  Possession, wych-kin, airships and Stitch-face all pose tremendous challenges to Thaniel and Cathaline as they fight to rid London of the evil Fraternity.

Woodson, Jacqueline.   Behind You.   Penguin USA: Putnam Publishing Group, 2004.  0-399-23988-X.  Family, friends, and Ellie--the love of his life--deal with the tragic death of 15-year-old Jeremiah.

Yolen, Jane and Robert J. Harris.   Prince Across the Water.   Penguin USA: Philomel Books, 2004.  0-399-23897-2.  Duncan MacDonald and his cousin Ewan are eager to answer the call to restore Prince Charlie to the Scottish throne, a quest that will lead to the end of the Highland clans at the bloody battle of Culloden.

 

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

---

by: KathyinFL @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 11:43:26 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

2006 book list

2006 Best Books for Young Adults with annotations

Nonfiction

Akbar, Said Hyder and Burton, Susan. Come Back to Afghanistan: A California Teenager's Story. Bloomsbury, 2005. $24.95. (1-58234-520-1).  California teen Hyder describes three summers (2002-4) he spent with his father who had returned to the Afghanistan to help rebuild his country by serving as spokesman to the president and governor of a border province.

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow. Scholastic, 2005. illus. $19.95. (0-439-35379-3).  "I begin with the young...What material! With them I can make a new world." Adolf Hitler exploited the idealism of millions of Germany's young people to fuel his evil master plan for global domination.

Blumenthal, Karen. Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX: The Law That Changed the Future of Girls in America. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, 2005. illus. $17.95. (0-689-85957-0).  A few years ago opportunities for women in sports not to mention most professions conducted by men were extremely limited. In 1972, congress passed a momentous law called "Title IX" forever changing the lives and professions of girls nationwide. Uppity Women Unite!

Bolden, Tonya. Maritcha: A Nineteenth Century American Girl. Abrams, 2005. illus. $17.95. (0-8109-5045-6).  Maritcha Lyons, born of a free African American family in New York in 1843, led an amazing life, one that was directly influenced by pivotal events in American history. Maritcha and her family were acquainted with many of the important names in the abolitionist movement and as such, her story provides a unique look at free Blacks who struggled to live normal lives in the "free North".

Deem, James M. Bodies From the Ash: Life and Death in Ancient Pompeii. Houghton, 2005. illus. $16. (0-618-47308-4).  A clear, concise and intriguing explanation of the eruption of Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii in AD 79 is presented in this thin volume.

Delisle, Guy. Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea. Drawn and Quarterly, 2005. illus. $19.95. (1-896597-89-0).  Guy Delisle is a French Canadian animator who is sent to North Korea to oversee an outsourced animation project. He shares his experiences as a foreigner in communist North Korea in a straightforward, and at times funny, visually simple graphic novel.

Dendy, Leslie and Mel Boring. Guinea Pig Scientists: Bold Self-Experimenters in Science and Medicine. Holt, 2005. illus. $19.95. (0-8050-7316-7).  Extraordinary and often disturbing stories about ten people who cared so much about scientific exploration that they experimented upon themselves to test their theories.

Eisner, Will. The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Norton, 2005. illus. $23.95. (0-393-06045-4).  A historical treatise on the publication of a false pamphlet and "Vampire-like fraud" called "the Protocols of the Elders of Zion" which fueled a huge response of anti-Semitism and has been quoted by Klansmen, Hitler, and other defamation groups to push their cause.

Farrell, Jeanette. Invisible Allies:  Microbes That Shape Our Lives. Farrar, 2005. $17. (0-374-33608-3).  A lively examination of the beneficial and necessary microbes in our systems, tracing a lunch of a cheese sandwich and a chocolate bar from beginning to end.

Fleming, Candace. Our Eleanor: A Scrapbook Look at Eleanor Roosevelt's Remarkable Life. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, 2005. illus. $19.95. (0-689-86544-9).  This scrapbook-format biography of Eleanor Roosevelt covers her childhood, marriage, motherhood, and years as First Lady highlighting her accomplishments as an astute politician, writer, social activist, delegate to the UN, and champion of those in need.

Frank, Mitch. Understanding the Holy Land: Answering Questions About the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Viking, 2005. illus. $17.99. (0-670-06032-1).  Using a question and answer formation, the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are examined.

Giblin, James Cross. Good Brother, Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth. Clarion, 2005. illus. $22. (0-618-09642-6).  Biography of two brothers, Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth, both famous actors, and the tragedy of John Wilkes Booth's assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Growing Up in Slavery: Stories of Young Slaves as Told By Themselves. Ed. by Yuval Taylor. Lawrence Hill, 2005. illus. $22.95. (1-55652-548-6).  An intense collection of ten American slave narratives. This collection is sobering and brutal, but it also speaks to the triumph of the spirit and the determination to be free. These historical collection of primary source narratives are well executed by Taylor with an informative introduction and valuable further reading recommendations.

Jurmain, Suzanne. The Forbidden Schoolhouse: The True and Dramatic Story of Prudence Crandall and Her Students. Houghton, 2005. illus. $18. (0-618-47302-5).  Inspiring true story of Prudence Crandall, a white woman who opened a school for African-American girls in Canterbury, Connecticut in 1833 despite vicious opposition from many of the townspeople.

Lavender, Bee. Lessons in Taxidermy. Akashic Books/Punk Planet Books, 2005. $12.95. (1-888451-79-3).  Pushed around "like putty" by legions of doctors surgically attacking almost every body part at one time or another, Bee Lavender survived a childhood and adolescence battling multiple cancers and other diseases by relying on a family where "the women hit back" and by honing her own morbid and unique sense of humor.

Nelson, Marilyn. Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem. Front Street, November 2004. illus. $16.95. (1-932425-12-8).  A stunning mix of powerful poetry and history honoring Fortune, a slave, whose body was dissected and rendered after his death and his skeleton studied by his master and then put on display in a museum.

Nelson, Marilyn. A Wreath for Emmett Till. Illus. by Philippe Lardy. Houghton, 2005. $17. (0-618-39752-3).  In a heartbreaking elegiac collection, a "heroic crown of sonnets", the death of 14-year-old Emmett Till is placed in historic and poetic context.

O'Donnell, Joe. Japan 1945: A U.S. Marine's Photographs from Ground Zero. Vanderbilt, 2005. illus. $39.95. (0-8265-1467-7).  The absolute devastation of Ground Zero in Japan is portrayed with the camera's unflinching eye through a series of photographs taken shortly after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Partridge, Elizabeth. John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth. Viking, 2005. $24.99. (0-670-05954-4).  A telling photo-biographical account of John Lennon, the man behind the myth who sought truth through music. Partridge traces Lennon's life from birth to his remarkable career with the Beatles and then with Yoko until his untimely death.

Zenatti, Valérie. When I Was a Soldier: A Memoir. Bloomsbury, 2005. $16.95. (1-58234-978-9).  A non-fiction account of French immigrant and Israeli citizen Valerie Zenatti who enters into adulthood via compulsory army duty. Her life changes forever.

Fiction

Adlington, L. J. The Diary of Pelly D. Greenwillow, 2005. $15.99. (0-06-076615-8).  While working on a demolition crew after the war, Toni V finds the diary of Pelly D buried in an empty water can.  The more he reads of the diary the more he begins to question what he has believed his whole life.

Bechard, Margaret. Spacer and Rat. Roaring Brook/Deborah Brodie, 2005. $16.95. (1-59643-058-3).  Jack is all set to leave Freedom Station for a new job on Liberty when an Earthie Rat, Kit, and her bot who has named himself Waldo, endanger not only his plans but also his life.

Black, Holly. Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie. Simon & Schuster, 2005. $16.95. (0-689-86822-7).  After catching her boyfriend cheating on her with her mother, Valerie runs away from home and slides into a seductively magical world full of betrayal and honor.

Bray, Libba. Rebel Angels. Delacorte, 2005. $16.95. (0-385-73029-2).  Gemma's act of breaking the runes has given to magic to all. Does she have the strength and power to bind the magic and restore it to its rightful possessors, the Order?

Bruchac, Joseph. Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two. Dial, 2005. $16.99. (0-8037-2921-9).  After years of mistreatment at white run boarding schools, Ned Begay and other Navajo are enlisted by the Army to use their special talents to develop an unbreakable code in World War II.

Buckhanon, Kalisha. Upstate. St. Martin's, 2005. $19.95. (0-312-33268-8).  Natasha and Antonio, young lovers, communicate via letters for nine years during his incarceration for murdering his father.

Castellucci, Cecil. Boy Proof. Candlewick, 2005. $15.99. (0-7636-2333-4).  Victoria Denton (Egg) hides behind her identity until she falls in love with an interesting new boy unlike all the others. Life becomes interesting when she learns to share her true self--her brains, her energy, her talents and love of the cinema-with others.

Coburn, Jake. LoveSick. Dutton, 2005. $16.99. (0-525-47383-1).  Crippled in a drunk driving accident, Ted loses his basketball scholarship. Then a shocking offer to spy on a Manhattan princess brings another chance to attend college his way. Where is the line between privacy and spying?

Cummings, Priscilla. Red Kayak. Dutton, September 2004. $15.99. (0-525-47317-3).  Brady, JT and Digger don't call out to the people in the red kayak as it heads out on a stormy morning, and Brady will regret it the rest of his life.

Delaney, Joseph. Revenge of the Witch. Greenwillow, 2005. illus. $14.99. (0-06-076618-2).  Thomas Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son and has an aptitude for the supernatural. Thomas becomes an apprentice to the Spook who has the important, if feared, job of ridding the countryside and villages of pesky "ghouls, boggarts, and all manner of wicked beasties."

Every Man for Himself: Ten Short Stories About Being a Guy. Ed. by Nancy E. Mercado. Dial, 2005. $16.99. (0-8037-2896-4).  Ten short stories that explore the issue of what it means to be a man.

Flake, Sharon G. Bang! Hyperion/Jump at the Sun, 2005. $16.99. (0-7868-1844-1).  Mann, still mourning the senseless shooting of his younger brother, is left in the wilderness by his father in order to become a 'man.'

Fleischman, Paul. Zap. Candlewick, 2005. $16.99. (0-76362-774-7).  Dead bodies, a sarcastic performance artist, an English country manor, bored Russians, Richard III, scheming writers and artificial buttocks are just a few things found in this play comprised of seven mini plays within a play.

Frank, E. R. Wrecked. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, 2005. $15.95. (0-689-87383-2).  Anna, 16, develops post-traumatic stress disorder after being in a car accident where she feels responsible for killing her brother's girlfriend and seriously injuring her best friend.

Gaiman, Neil. Anansi Boys. HarperCollins/William Morrow, 2005. $26.95. (0-06-051518-X).  Everyone's parents are annoying-- even when they're dead. Oh, and gods.

Galloway, Gregory. As Simple as Snow. Putnam, 2005. $23.95. (0-399-15231-8).  High school student Anastasia (Anna) Cayne disappears, leaving behind her neatly placed dress lying near a hole in the ice.

Green, John. Looking for Alaska. Dutton, 2005. $15.99. (0-525-47506-0).  Miles is looking for the Great Perhaps--and an Alabama boarding school offers the possibility of finding it, especially after he meets the captivating, unpredictable, and utterly alive Alaska.

Griffin, Adele. Where I Want to Be. Putnam, 2005. $15.99. (0-399-23783-6).  Jane and Lily have always been close despite their differences. After Jane dies, both must come to terms with their troubled relationship.

Grimes, Nikki. Dark Sons. Hyperion/Jump at the Sun, 2005. $15.99. (0-786-81888-3).  In a novel of free verse, Sam, a modern-day African-American teen copes with the break-up of his parents marriage and his changed relationship with his father. A parallel narrative explores the biblical story of Ishmael, son of Abraham, and his despair upon being replaced by Isaac.

Gruber, Michael. The Witch's Boy. HarperTempest, 2005. $16.99. (0-06-076164-4).  A witch who knows little about the practicalities of daily life finds a hideously ugly baby boy in the woods and raises him as her son.

Halam, Ann. Siberia: A Novel. Random/Wendy Lamb, 2005. $16.95. (0-385-74650-4).  Sloe, 13, treks through a cold dystopian wilderness full of thieves and outlaws in an attempt to find a safe haven for the DNA of genetically engineered lost animal species she's smuggling.

Hartnett, Sonya. Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf. Candlewick, 2005. $16.99. (0-7636-2644-9).  Satchel O'Rye finishes work on possibly the very last job in his dying town. Social, religious, and economic forces are pushing for a whole new existence for Satchel. Meanwhile an animal long thought extinct blinks and yawns, "and breath billowing out between its great wide jaws would take form and swirl, an echo like memory of the animal itself." The two stories of life going away and life returning form the lyrical background for this beautifully told story.

Hautman, Pete. Invisible. Simon & Schuster, 2005. $15.95. (0-689-86800-6).  17-year-old Doug's teachers and parents think he is highly disturbed, and the kids at school find him creepy. Only his best friend Andy understands him, and together they harbor deep secrets that are eventually revealed in a most shocking way.

Hearn, Julie. The Minister's Daughter. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, 2005. $16.95. (0-689-87690-4).  The fates of Nell the healer's daughter and merrybegot and the minister's daughters, Grace and Patience, are intertwined when Grace accuses Nell and her grandmother of witchcraft.

Hiaasen, Carl. Flush. Knopf, 2005. $16.95. (0-375-92182-6).  FLUSH, the story of what happens after Paine Underwood pulls the plug on the Coral Queen, gets arrested for this act, and how this spurs his family and community to take action.

Holub, Josef. An Innocent Soldier. Translated by Michael Hofmann. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine, 2005. $16.99. (0-439-62771-0).  Conscripted in place of his farmer's son, farm hand Adam joins Napoleon's march on Russia in 1811 and first serves, then becomes friends with a high-born lieutenant as they help each other survive the slog to Moscow and retreat home.

Jacobson, Jennifer Richard. Stained. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, 2005. $16.95. (0-689-86745-X).  Why did Gabe suddenly disappear? Can Jocelyn put the pieces together and make it safe for his return or are they all forever stained?

Johnson, Maureen. 13 Little Blue Envelopes. HarperCollins, 2005. $15.99. (0-06-054141-5).  The 13 blue envelopes Ginny receives from her Aunt Peg will take her through Europe and change her life.

Kass, Pnina Moed. Real Time. Clarion, October 2004. $15. (0-618-44203-0).  Thomas Wanninger feigns interest in gardening as his motivation for wanting to work on the kibbutz. This modern German teen really wants to discover whether or not his grandfather was a Nazi war criminal.

Kibuishi, Kazu. Daisy Kutter: The Last Train. Viper, 2005. illus. $10.95. (0-9754193-2-3).  Daisy Kutter is a reformed bandit in a strange wild west town where robots and cell phones are as common as corrupt poker games and shotguns. Her "reform" is short lived as she tries to pull off the ultimate heist and figure out how to maintain a relationship with her ex partner in crime and lover, Tom, who is now the Sheriff.

Krovatin, Christopher. Heavy Metal and You. Scholastic/Push, 2005. $16.95. (0-439-73648-X).  METAL HEAD NOT GOTH and Sam likes his life LOUD until a very different straightedge girl starts whispering to him. Melissa tempts Sammy away from drugs, alcohol, and tobacco but can she turn down the VOLUME?

Lanagan, Margo. Black Juice. HarperCollins/Eos, 2005. $15.99. (0-06-074390-5).  Ten stories from Down Under explore the darkness and the light of the human spirit.

Larbalestier, Justine. Magic or Madness. Penguin/Razorbill, 2005. $16.99. (1-59514-022-0).  When fifteen-year-old Reason's mother suffers a mental breakdown, Reason is sent to live with the grandmother they have evaded for years and she discovers that her grandmother truly is a witch, magic is real and runs in her genes as well and there is a terrible price to be paid for its use.

Larochelle, David. Absolutely Positively Not. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine, 2005. $16.95. (0-439-59109-0).  Steven has noticed that his new health teacher, Mr. Bowman, is extremely handsome, but he still tries to convince himself that he's not gay in this hilarious coming out story.

Lester, Julius. Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue. Hyperion/Jump at the Sun, 2005. $15.99. (0-7868-0490-4).  After being sold in the largest slave auction in American history, Emma and Joe agonize whether to try to escape or remain chattel in this fact based novel told almost entirely in dialogue.

Levithan, David. Are We There Yet? Knopf, 2005. $15.95. (0-375-82846-X).  Brothers Elijah and Danny travel through Italy together even though they feel that they have nothing in common. Then they meet Julia.

Lubar, David. Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie: A Novel. Dutton, 2005. $15.99. (0-525-47311-4).  In a series of humorous diary entries, 9th grader Scott offers a list of "do's" and "don'ts" to his unborn sibling on surviving freshman year of high school.

Lynch, Chris. Inexcusable. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, 2005. $16.95. (0-689-84789-0).  High school senior and football star Keir Sarafina says, "I hate it when people I love condemn me," but has Keir done something inexcusable to Gigi Boudakian?

Lynch, Jim. The Highest Tide: A Novel. Bloomsbury, 2005. $23.95. (1-58234-605-4).  Miles O'Malley discovers peculiar sea life in a cove of Puget Sound.

Martinez, A. Lee. Gil's All Fright Diner. Tor, 2005. $12.95. (0-765-31471-1).  When Earl, a vampire, and his werewolf buddy Duke pull up to Rockwood's only diner in their out-of-gas pickup, they find themselves uniquely suited to stop Armageddon.

McGhee, Alison. All Rivers Flow to the Sea. Candlewick, 2005. $15.99. (0-7636-2591-4).  It's always been Rose and Ivy, until that one fateful night when a blue truck slides into their car, and forever separates each sister into two hovering realities: one skirting a stupefying grief that acknowledged would mean an unbearable finality, the other to the farthest perimeter of life, dependent on the mechanized breathing of a ventilator to sustain her.

Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight: A Novel. Little, Brown/Megan Tingley, 2005. $17.99. (0-316-16017-2).  Bella's move to rainy Forks, Washington is the most boring move she will ever make, until she meets Edward, the vampire love of her life.

Myers, Walter Dean. Autobiography of My Dead Brother. HarperCollins/Amistad, 2005. illus. $15.99. (0-06-058291-X).  Jesse examines his life and the lives of those around him in words and art.

Oppel, Kenneth. Skybreaker. HarperCollins/Eos, 2005. $16. (0-06-053227-0).  Matt Cruise is following his dream as a first-year student at the Airship Academy when during a two-week navigation training stint, he is part of the crew that sights the Hyperion, a legendary ship that never reached its destination and is reputed to be carrying great wealth. This sighting sets off a fierce competition among adventurers to reach the ship and seize her treasure. Matt finds himself aboard a special vessel with his old friend Kate, a mysterious young woman, and a rogue adventurer chased by murderous pirates, also seeking the wealth.

Pearson, Mary E. A Room on Lorelei Street. Holt, 2005. $16.95. (0-8050-7667-0).  A bed in a room. Doesn't seem like much. But when you are 17 and your alcoholic mother cannot even remember to pay rent and you deal, deal, deal with it, the room on Lorelei Street--what a pretty name--seems like heaven, if you can only figure out how to pay for it.

Peet, Mal. Keeper. Candlewick, 2005. $15.99. (0-7636-2749-6).  Holding the World Cup as he talks, El Gato, the great goalie, describes his early life in a remote South American village, the secret soccer field hewn from the jungle and the mysterious figure he knows only as the Keeper who trained him.

Peña, Matt de la. Ball Don't Lie. Delacorte, 2005. $16.95. (0-385-73232-5).  Sticky, 17, foster care victim and talented white basketball player overcomes his tough upbringing with the support of his girlfriend and the older hoopsters at the local gym.

Perkins, Lynne Rae. Criss Cross. Greenwillow, 2005. illus. $16.99. (0-06-009272-6).  Criss Cross is a radio show that Debbie and Hector and others listen to in the car. It also serves as a central metaphor for this rambling collection of thoughts centered on how unique individuals cross our paths or fail to cross our paths. Criss Cross explores the symbols and language, mostly through the voices of Debbie and Hector, of love and connections and just how beautiful and tenuous they can be.

Qualey, Marsha. Just Like That. Dial, 2005. $16.99. (0-8037-2840-9).  Could 18-year-old Hanna have prevented the deaths of two teens? Her realization that life can change in an instant causes her to revaluate her life and relationships as she keeps her guilty secret.

Riordan, Rick. The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Hyperion, 2005. $17.95. (0-7868-5629-7).  After dyslexic teen Percy Jackson vaporizes his Algebra teacher and is attacked by the Minotaur, he discovers that he is not who he thought he was!

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine, 2005. illus. $29.95. (0-439-78454-9).  In book 6 Harry is more contrary and less trusting yet a leader. Harry wants revenge against he who shall not be named and goes on a series of dark adventures to try and accomplish his goal.

Salisbury, Graham. Eyes of the Emperor. Random/Wendy Lamb, 2005. $15.95. (0-385-72971-5).  Lying about his age, 16 year-old Eddy Okubo joins the U.S. Army in Honolulu in 1941, just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He wants to make his father proud and protect his country, the United States of America. Amidst thick racism, young Japanese American men train experimental K-9 units to hunt Japanese during World War II.

Spillebeen, Geert. Kipling's Choice. Translated by Terese Edelstein. Houghton, 2005. $16. (0-618-43124-1).  John Kipling, son of the famous writer, Rudyard Kipling, joins the British Army in World War I with help from his father.

Staples, Suzanne Fisher. Under the Persimmon Tree. Farrar/ Frances Foster, 2005. $17. (0-374-38025-2).  Najmah, an Afghan girl, who witnesses her mother's and brother's deaths in an air raid and her father's and older brother's conscription by the Taliban, finds refuge in Pakistan with an American-Muslim teacher.

Stein, Tammar. Light Years: A Novel. Knopf, 2005. $15.95. (0-375-83023-5).  Maya Laor comes to Virginia to escape the tragic bombing that killed her boyfriend and for which she feels responsible-- but even that may not be far enough to escape from the grief and pain.

Thal, Lilli. Mimus. Translated by John Brownjohn. Annick, 2005. $19.95. (1-55037-925-9).  A Prince must play at being a jester as he strives to rescue his imprisoned father.

Tiffany, Grace. Ariel. HarperCollins/Laura Geringer, 2005. $16.99. (0-06-075327-7).  Behind Shakepeare's Tempest is the mysterious figure of Ariel.  This is her story, of dreams and lies and madness.

Tingle, Rebecca. Far Traveler. Putnam, 2005. $17.99. (0-399-23890-5).  After the sudden death of her mother, Athelflaed of Mercia, sixteen-year-old Aelfwyn disguises herself as a bard to escape marriage to an older man who is the king's ally. A worthy sequel to The Edge on the Sword.

Tullson, Diane. Red Sea. Orca, 2005. $7.95. (1-55143-331-1).  Libby is a typical 14 year old. She says "down" when her stepfather says "up." If he suggests something, she is going to fight against it. And she's not going to be very cooperative with her mother either. In fact she is purposely late to the launch of their group sailing trip and her family decides to set sail alone. Mediterranean pirates and a fierce storm kill her stepfather, seriously injure her mother, and scuttle and strip the sailboat. Now Libby must figure out what to do and where to go before her mother dies.

Vaughan, Brian K. Runaways: Volume 1 HC. Illus. by Adrian Alphona. Marvel, 2005. $34.99. (0-7851-1876-4).  Six teenagers discover that their parents are super-villains, and after deciding to turn them in, fight for both their own survival and an end to the evil from which they were born.

Vaught, Susan. Stormwitch. Bloomsbury, 2005. $16.95. (1-58234-952-5).  Ruba, a teenager in Pass Christian, Mississippi, struggles to deal with civil rights and Hurricane Camille using the voodoo skills her Haitian grandmother taught her.

Volponi, Paul. Black and White. Viking, 2005. $15.99. (0-670-06006-2).  For best friends and co-players on their High School basketball team, Marcus (AKA Black) and Eddie (AKA White), life looks good. Then an armed robbery goes terribly wrong and everything changes.

Waid, Mark and others. Superman: Birthright. DC Comics, October 2004. illus. $29.95. (1-4012-0251-9).  The origin of Superman is updated in this graphic novel.

Weaver, Will. Full Service. Farrar, 2005. $17. (0-374-32485-9).  When 16-year-old farm boy Paul Sutton takes a job at the full-service Shell station in town, he sees the town and its inhabitants through new eyes.

Westerfeld, Scott. Peeps. Penguin/Razorbill, 2005. $16.99. (1-59514-031-X).  College freshman Cal comes to NY, spends a night with a beautiful girl-- and becomes a carrier. Now everyone he kisses develops a craving for meat, an aversion to sunlight, and super strength.

Westerfeld, Scott. Uglies. Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse, 2005. $6.99. (0-689-86538-4).  Tally can't wait for her 16th birthday - and the surgery that will transform her into a "pretty". Because if everyone is beautiful, everything is perfect - right?

Whitcomb, Laura. A Certain Slant of Light. Houghton/Graphia, 2005. $8.99. (0-618-58532-X).  Helen has been a ghost gently and anonymously haunting various hosts for 130 years until the day when a boy in a classroom lets her know that he can actually see her.

Wittlinger, Ellen. Sandpiper. Simon & Schuster, 2005. $16.95. (0-689-86802-2).  Two lonely teens, each with secrets that set them apart, meet and their lives are changed completely.

Wooding, Chris. Poison. Scholastic/Orchard, 2005. $16.99. (0-439-75570-0).  When Poison's sister is kidnapped by Phaeries, Poison is determined to get her back but she doesn't realize that she is part of a much larger, darker story.

Wynne-Jones, Tim. A Thief in the House of Memory. Farrar/Melanie Kroupa, 2005. illus. $17. (0-374-37478-3).  When a dead man is found in his family's house, Declan finds himself drawn into a vortex of memories and lies.

Zusak, Markus. I Am the Messenger. Knopf, 2005. $16.95. (0-375-83099-5).  Aimless, amiable 19-year-old cab driver, Ed Kennedy, foils a bank robber and then begins to receive mysterious messages assigning him to intervene in the lives of strangers.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

---

by: KathyinFL @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 11:44:10 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

2007 book list

2007 Best Books for Young Adults
Fiction

Almond, David. Clay. Random House/Delacorte, 2006. $15.95. (0-385-73171-X).  In a novel steeped in religious symbolism, strange new kid Stephen convinces Davie to create a giant golem who will obey his command to kill the local bully.

Anderson, M.T. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 1: The Pox Party. 2006. Candlewick, $17.99. (ISBN-10, 0-7636-2402-0; ISBN-13, 9780763624026).  He was raised as an experiment and considered a piece of property. Now that revolution has come to America, will Octavian find freedom?

Bondoux, Anne-Laure. The Killer's Tears. Tr. By Y. Maudet. 2006. Random House/Delacorte, $15.95. (ISBN-10, 0-385-73293-7; ISBN-13, 9780385732932).  When murderer Angel Allegria kills young Paolo's parents, the killer and the orphan embark together on a journey of rebirth and redemption.

Booth, Coe. Tyrell. 2006. Scholastic/PUSH, $16.99. (ISBN-10, 0-439-83879-7; ISBN-13, 9780439838795).  Homeless teen Tyrell resists the pressures of the streets to keep his family together and maintain a relationship with "good girl" Novisha.

Brooks, Kevin. The Road of the Dead. 2006. Scholastic/Chicken House, $16.99. (ISBN-10, 0-493-78623-1; ISBN-13, 9780493786232).  Cole and his psychic brother Ruben journey to the ghostly moors of Dartmoor to discover the truth behind their sister's brutal murder.

Budhos, Marina. Ask Me No Questions. 2006. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum/Ginee Seo, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 1-4169-0351-8; ISBN-13, 9781416903512).  When their father is detained by U.S. Immigration, Nadira and Aisha must maintain an illusion of normality while they fight for his release.

Cohn, Rachel and Levithan, David. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. 2006. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 0-375-83531-8; ISBN-13, 9780375835315).  When Nick asks a total stranger in a New York punk club to be his girlfriend for five minutes, a chaotic night of music and romance ensues.

Cornish, D.M. Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling. 2006. illus. Penguin Group USA/Putnam, $19.99. (ISBN-10, 0-399-24638-X; ISBN-13, 9780399246388).  An orphan, sent to become a lamplighter in distant High Vesting, encounters fantastical creatures as he aids a beautiful monster slayer.

Dessen, Sarah. Just Listen. 2006. Penguin Group USA/Viking, $17.99. (ISBN-10, 0-370-06105-0; ISBN-13, 9780670061051).  Being nice, never complaining, and avoiding conflict no longer work for Annabel Green. Can she listen to her own voice and speak up?

Eldred, Tim. Grease Monkey: A Tale of Growing Up in Orbit. 2006. illus. Tom Doherty/Tor, $27.95. (ISBN-10, 0-7653-1325-1; ISBN-13, 9780765313256).  In this hilarious graphic novel, a teen spaceship mechanic learns to adjust to his crotchety new boss-who happens to be a gorilla.

Firebirds Rising: An Anthology of Original Science Fiction and Fantasy. Ed. Sharyn November. 2006. Penguin Group USA/Firebird, $19.99. (ISBN-10, 0-14-240549-3; ISBN-13, 9780142405499).  Teens from different worlds and times populate these 16 short stories, which are as wildly inventive as they are relevant.

Fletcher, Susan. Alphabet of Dreams. 2006. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum/Ginee Seo, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 0-689-85042-5; ISBN-13, 9780689850424).  Mitra sells her brother's ability to dream the future, leading them to Melchior, one of the three magi, as he seeks the birth of the king foretold in the stars.

Frost, Helen. The Braid. 2006. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $16. (ISBN-10, 0-374-30962-0; ISBN-13, 9780374309626).  In tightly structured, braided poems, two sisters tell of their difficult separation when one leaves Scotland for a better life in Canada in the mid-1800s.

Gantos, Jack. The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs. 2006. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $17. (ISBN-10, 0-374-33690-3; ISBN-13, 9780374336905).  Loving your mother is a blessing; loving her so much you feel the need to perform taxidermy on her is a curse.

Giles, Gail. What Happened to Cass McBride?. 2006. Little, Brown, $16.99. (ISBN-10, 0-316-16638-3; ISBN-13, 9780316166386).  In this taut, psychologically rich thriller, Cass McBride and her tormentor, who has buried her alive, form a unique and surprising bond.

Glass, Linzi Alex. The Year the Gypsies Came. 2006. Henry Holt, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 0-8050-7999-8; ISBN-13, 9780805079999).  Against the backdrop of anti-apartheid riots, a family of wanderers brings tragedy to a South African teen in this shattering story about lost innocence.

Going, K.L. Saint Iggy. 2006. Harcourt, $17. (ISBN-10, 0-15-205795-1; ISBN-13, 9780152059754).  Meth-damaged Iggy Corso faces many obstacles, including his expulsion from school, but he still yearns to make a difference.

Gratz, Alan. Samurai Shortstop. 2006. Penguin Group USA/Dial, $17.99. (ISBN-10, 0-8037-3075-6; ISBN-13, 9780803730755).  In 1890 Tokyo, 16-year-old Toyo uses traditional bushido training to improve his baseball game and comes to understand the place of Samurai values in Japanese culture.

Green, John. An Abundance of Katherines. 2006. Penguin Group USA/Dutton, $16.99. (ISBN-10, 0-525-47688-1; ISBN-13, 9780525476887).  After the nineteenth girl named Katherine breaks his heart, Colin and his friend Hassan hit the road. Can a mathematical formula help a former child prodigy find the new love of his life?

Hartnett, Sonya. Surrender. 2006. Candlewick, $16.99. (ISBN-10, 0-7636-2768-2; ISBN-13, 9780763627683).  As 20-year-old Gabriel lies dying, he remembers his miserable childhood and the influence of his mysterious companion, Finnigan.

Hoffman, Alice. Incantation. 2006. Little, Brown, $16.99. (ISBN-10, 0-316-01019-7; ISBN-13, 9780316010191).  Secrets are dangerous during the Spanish Inquisition-especially if you are secretly Jewish.

Jansen, Hanna. Over a Thousand Hills I Walk With You. Tr. by Elizabeth D. Crawford. 2006. Lerner/Carolrhoda, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 1-57505-927-4; ISBN-13, 9781575059273).  Based on the experiences of the author's adopted daughter, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, this story provides a heart-wrenching perspective on the horrors of a modern holocaust.

Jaramillo, Ann. La Linea. 2006. Roaring Brook/Deborah Brodie, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 1-59643-154-7; ISBN-13, 9781596431546).  Mexican teen Miguel crosses la línea to join his parents in the United States, but the journey is full of danger and hardship.

Johnson, Harriet McBryde. Accidents of Nature. 2006. Henry Holt, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 0-8050-7634-4; ISBN-13, 9780805076349).  Jean has lived her life as the poster child for cerebral palsy until she meets Sara at a summer camp for teens with disabilities, where she becomes aware of the politics of the differently abled community.

Johnson, Maureen. Devilish. 2006. Penguin Group USA/Razorbill, $16.99. (ISBN-10, 1-59514-060-3; ISBN-13, 9781595140609).  Jane, the smartest girl at St. Teresa's Preparatory School for Girls, has a fight on her hands when a cupcake-eating demon buys the soul of her best friend.

Knox, Elizabeth. Dreamhunter: Book One of the Dreamhunter Duet. 2006. Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Frances Foster, $19. (ISBN-10, 0-374-31853-0; ISBN-13, 9780374318536).  In a world where dreams can be harvested, 16-year-old Laura uses her dream-catching ability to expose intrigue and government corruption.

Koss, Amy Goldman. Side Effects. 2006. Roaring Brook/Deborah Brodie, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 1-59643-167-9; ISBN-13, 9781596431676).  Fourteen-year-old Izzy's life changes when she is diagnosed with lymphoma.

Krech, Bob. Rebound. 2006. Marshall Cavendish, $16.99. (ISBN-10, 0-7614-5319-9; ISBN-13, 9780761453192).  Most Polish guys go out for wrestling, but basketball is in Ray's blood. He knows his game, but can he make the squad?

Lanagan, Margo. White Time. 2006. HarperCollins/EOS, $15.99. (ISBN-10, 0-06-074393-X; ISBN-13, 9780060743932).  From a tale about a horny ant to one about a time travel internship, these ten mind-stretching stories are as bizarre as they are touching.

Lansens, Lori. The Girls. 2006. Little, Brown, $23.95. (ISBN-10, 0-316-06903-5; ISBN-13, 9780316069058).  Ruby and Rose, conjoined twins, each reveal the secrets, struggles, and dreams of their remarkable lives.

Larson, Kirby. Hattie Big Sky. 2006. Random House/Delacorte, $15.95. (ISBN-10, 0-385-73313-5; ISBN-13, 9780385733137).  In 1918, 16-year-old Hattie Brooks runs a 400-acre Montana farm, faces threats from wolves, and fights prejudice and loneliness.

Lat. Kampung Boy. 2006. illus. Roaring Brook/First Second, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 1-59643-121-0; ISBN-13, 9781596431218).  Mat's Malaysian village comes alive in this graphic novel, showing a picture of life in a 1950s Muslim kampung. Western influences, however, threaten his familiar world.

Lisle, Janet Taylor. Black Duck. 2006. Penguin Group USA/Philomel/Sleuth, $15.99. (ISBN-10, 0-399-23963-4; ISBN-13, 9780399239632).  While researching a newspaper article about a mysterious 1929 event, 14-year-old David uncovers secrets surrounding the deaths of three bootleggers on the rum-running vessel The Black Duck.

Lynch, Scott. The Lies of Locke Lamora. 2006. Bantam Dell/Spectra, $23. (ISBN-10, 0-553-80467-7; ISBN-13, 9780553804676).  In this fantasy caper, professional thief Locke Lamora has long preyed on the nobles of Camorr; now, someone unexpected is preying on him.

McCormick, Patricia. Sold. 2006. Hyperion, $15.99. (ISBN-10, 0-7868-5171-6; ISBN-13, 9780786851713).  In this startling, frank novel in free verse, a 13-year-old Nepalese girl is sold into prostitution by her stepfather after a monsoon leaves her family destitute.

Miller, Kirsten. Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City. 2006. Bloomsbury, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 1-58234-960-6; ISBN-13, 9781582349602).  Beneath the streets of New York, menacing gangsters, killer princesses, and Girl Scouts gone bad embark upon a wild adventure.

Mitchell, David. Black Swan Green. 2006. Random House, $23.95. (ISBN-10, 1-4000-6379-5; ISBN-13, 9781400063796).  In this darkly humorous novel, Jason's stammering terrorizes him, making silence preferable to humiliation.

Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. Dairy Queen. 2006. Houghton Mifflin, $16. (ISBN-10, 0-618-68307-0; ISBN-13, 9780618683079).  Running her family's dairy farm and fulfilling others' expectations makes D.J. feel like a cow, until she finds herself training the rival school's quarterback.

Murphy, Sean. Off Road. November 2005. illus. Oni Press, $11.95. (ISBN-10, 1-932644-30-0; ISBN-13, 9781932644300).  While off-roading, three self-described tough guys get stuck midstream in this hilarious graphic novel.

Myers, Walter Dean. Street Love. 2006. HarperCollins/Amistad/HarperTempest, $15. (ISBN-10, 0-06-028079-4; ISBN-13, 9780060280796).  College-bound basketball star Damien, whose story is told in spoken word rhythms, defies the expectations of his family and friends when he falls hard for troubled Junice.

Na, An. Wait for Me. 2006. Penguin Group USA/Putnam, $15.99. (ISBN-10, 0-399-24275-9; ISBN-13, 9780399242755).  Mina lies about grades to fulfill the expectations of her Korean mother. She lies about boys and sex. Eventually, she lies so much she has trouble remembering who she is.

Pfeffer, Susan Beth. Life as We Knew It. 2006. Harcourt, $17. (ISBN-10, 0-15-205826-5; ISBN-13, 9780152058265).  In her journal, 16-year-old Miranda records the catastrophes that occur after a meteor strikes the moon and alters its course, causing tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and escalating chaos.

Pierce, Tamora. Terrier. 2006. Random House, $18.95. (ISBN-10, 0-375-81468-X; ISBN-13, 9780375814686).  Raised in the slums, trained to the lawkeeping force, and armed with the ability to hear the voices of the dead, Beka Cooper is determined to save the people of the Lower City.

Portman, Frank. King Dork. 2006. Random House/Delacorte, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 0-385-73291-0; ISBN-13, 97803857324918).  While creating outrageous album covers and trying to name his band, 14-year-old Tom grapples with his father's death.

Pratchett, Terry. Wintersmith. 2006. HarperCollins/HarperTempest, $16.99. (ISBN-10, 0-06-089031-2; ISBN-13, 9780060890315).  Waily, waily, waily! In this Discworld novel, witch-in-training Tiffany Aching accidentally attracts the attention of the Wintersmith, imperiling her family and requiring the expertise of the Wee Free Men.

Price, Charlie. Dead Connection. 2006. Roaring Brook, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 1-59643-114-8; ISBN-13, 9781596431140).  Murray enjoys listening to the voices of the dead-until a missing cheerleader begs him to help solve the mystery of her death.

Reinhardt, Dana. A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life. 2006. Random House/Wendy Lamb, $15.95. (ISBN-10, 0-385-74698-9; ISBN-13, 9780385909404).  Encouraged by her supportive adoptive family, Simone reaches out to her birth mother and finds unexpected blessings-including a new appreciation for her Jewish heritage.

Rosoff, Meg. Just in Case. 2006. Random House/Wendy Lamb, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 0-385-74678-4; ISBN-13, 9780385746786).  After David rescues his baby brother from a near-tragic occurrence, the 15-year-old struggles to reinvent himself and change his destiny.

Sayres, Meghan Nuttall. Anahita's Woven Riddle. 2006. Abrams/Amulet, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 0-8109-5481-8; ISBN-13, 9780810954816).  In early twentieth century Iran, a headstrong girl convinces her father that she will marry the suitor who can guess the riddle woven into her wedding carpet.

Sedgwick, Marcus. The Foreshadowing. 2006. Random House/Wendy Lamb, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 0-385-74646-6; ISBN-13, 9780385746465).  During World War I, Sasha poses as a nurse and travels to France to save her brother from the fate she has foreseen for him.

Selvadurai, Shyam. Swimming in the Monsoon Sea. September 2005. Tundra, $18.95. (ISBN-10, 0-88776-735-4; ISBN-13, 9780887767357).  Against the backdrop of a sultry Sri Lankan summer, 14-year-old Amrith makes discoveries about both his family's past and his own sexuality when his Canadian cousin visits.

Smelcer, John. The Trap. 2006. Henry Holt, $15.95. (ISBN-10, 0-8050-7939-4; ISBN-13, 9780805079395).  In the Alaskan wilderness, Grandfather Albert attempts to escape one of his own steel-jawed traps; back in their village, Johnny worries about his grandfather's safety while pondering his own future.

Stahler, David, Jr. Doppelganger. 2006. HarperCollins/Eos, $16.99. (ISBN-10, 0-06-087232-2; ISBN-13, 9780060872328).  After murdering a popular athlete and possessing his body, a shape-shifting killer becomes embroiled in his victim's troubled life.

Stassen, Jean-Philippe. Deogratias, a Tale of Rwanda. 2006. illus. Roaring Brook/First Second, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 1-59643-103-2; ISBN-13, 9781596431034).  Deogratias, a Hutu boy, desperately clings to his humanity and his love for Benina, a Tutsi girl, in this unsettling graphic novel depicting the Rwandan genocide.

Sturtevant, Katherine. A True and Faithful Narrative. 2006. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $17. (ISBN-10, 0-374-37809-6; ISBN-13, 9780374378097).  In seventeenth century London, women don't write-except for Meg, who disobeys her father to pen the story of a young merchant kidnapped by pirates and enslaved in Algiers.

Tharp, Tim. Knights of the Hill Country. 2006. Random House/Knopf, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 0-375-83653-5; ISBN-13, 9780375836534).  High school football star Hampton Green believes that his buddy Blaine started him toward a better future, but how far should he go out of loyalty to his friend?

Turner, Megan Whalen. The King of Attolia. 2006. HarperCollins/Greenwillow, $16.99. (ISBN-10, 0-06-083577-X; ISBN-13, 9780060835774).  Eugenides must convince his new queen, his court, and his subjects of his ability to rule, despite his disreputable past as a liar and a thief.

Twice Told: Original Stories Inspired by Original Artwork. Illustrated by Scott Hunt. 2006. Penguin Group USA/Dutton, $19.99. (ISBN-10, 0-525-46818-8; ISBN-13, 9780525468189).  Pairs of authors respond to nine original drawings with strikingly divergent short stories.

Vaught, Susan. Trigger. 2006. Bloomsbury, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 1-58234-920-7; ISBN-13, 9781582349206).  After blowing a hole in his head with a gun and suffering severe brain damage, Jersey Hatch sets out to discover why he did it.

Vizzini, Ned. It's Kind of a Funny Story. 2006. Hyperion/Miramax, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 0-7868-5196-1; ISBN-13, 9780786851966).  Suicidal Craig, overwhelmed by academic pressures, ends up in the adult psych ward, where he encounters a hilarious cast of characters while moving toward recovery.

Volponi, Paul. Rooftop. 2006. Penguin Group USA/Viking, $15.99. (ISBN-10, 0-670-06069-0; ISBN-13, 9780670060696).  There are no easy answers for his family, or their African American community, after Clay witnesses the shooting of his cousin by a police officer.

Vrettos, Adrienne Maria. Skin. 2006. Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 1-4169-0655-X; ISBN-13, 9781416906551).  After his sister starves herself to death, 14-year-old Donnie reflects upon her illness and its devastating effects on the family.

Werlin, Nancy. The Rules of Survival. 2006. Penguin Group USA/Dial, $16.99. (ISBN-10, 0-8037-3001-2; ISBN-13, 9780803730014).  When Matthew and his younger sisters witness a man confronting an abusive parent, they think they may have found a hero who will save them from their vicious mother.

Wittlinger, Ellen. Blind Faith. 2006. Simon & Schuster, $15.95. (ISBN-10, 1-4169-0273-2; ISBN-13, 9781416902737).  Liz's grieving mother joins a spiritualist church despite objections from her atheist father. With the help of her friend Nathan, Liz, who feels trapped in the middle, finds her own path.

Wooding, Chris. Storm Thief. 2006. Scholastic/Orchard, $16.99. (ISBN-10, 0-439-86513-1; ISBN-13, 9780439865135).  After stealing a powerful device, street thieves Rail and Moa flee their city's ruthless leaders with the help of a strange creature.

Woodrell, Daniel. Winter's Bone: A Novel. 2006. Little, Brown, $22.99. (ISBN-10, 0-316-05755-X; ISBN-13, 9780316057554).  To save home and family, 17-year-old Ree sets out on a perilous search for her missing father in their isolated and dangerous Ozark mountain community.

Yang, Gene Luen and Pien, Lark. American Born Chinese. 2006. illus. Roaring Brook/First Second, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 1-59643-152-0; ISBN-13, 9780596431522).  Combining three different stories, one drawn from Chinese mythology, this graphic novel explores racism and self-hatred as a young boy struggles to come to terms with his heritage.

Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. 2006. illus. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 0-375-83100-2; ISBN-13, 9780375831003).  Death colors (and narrates) Liesel Meminger's attempt to survive Hitler in a small German town. Orphaned and devastated, Liesel finds salvation through stolen books.

Non-Fiction

Bausum, Ann. Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement. 2006. illus. National Geographic, $18.95. (ISBN-10, 0-7922-4173-8; ISBN-13, 9780792241737).  Though Lewis and Zwerg were of different races, their lives became entwined as their activism helped end segregation.

Benanav, Michael. Men of Salt: Crossing the Sahara on the Caravan of White Gold. 2006. Globe Pequot/Lyons, $23.95. (ISBN-10, 1-59228-772-7; ISBN-13, 9781592287727).  On a 40-day odyssey through the Sahara on a camel caravan to the salt mines, an American journalist experiences the amazing resolve and fascinating traditions of a nearly extinct culture.

Engle, Margarita and Qualls, Sean. The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano. 2006. illus. Henry Holt, $16.95. (ISBN-10, 0-8050-7706-5; ISBN-13, 9780805077063).  This beautifully illustrated collection of linked poems explores the life of Juan, a brutally treated slave who nonetheless sees the world in unique and lyrical ways.

Fleischman, Sid. Escape!: The Story of the Great Houdini. 2006. illus. HarperCollins/Greenwillow, $18.99. (ISBN-10, 0-06-085094-9; ISBN-13, 9780060850944).  A spellbinding biography of the amazing Harry Houdini written by a fellow magician.

Fradin, Judith Bloom and Dennis Brindell Fradin. 5,000 Miles to Freedom: Ellen and William Craft's Flight From Slavery. 2006. illus. National Geographic, $19.95. (ISBN-10, 0-7922-7885-2; ISBN-13, 9780792278856).  In this true story, a couple goes to extraordinary lengths to escape slavery, eventually helping others by sharing their experiences.

Freedman, Russell. Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. 2006. illus. Holiday House, $18.95. (ISBN-10, 0-8034-2031-0; ISBN-13, 9780823420315).  Through photos and eyewitness acoounts, Freedman draws readers close to the dramatic 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and the ordinary people who participated.

Harper, Hill. Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny. 2006. Penguin Group USA/Gotham, $20. (ISBN-10, 1-59240-200-3; ISBN-13, 9781592402007).  Through family stories, life experiences, and the words of some celebrity friends, actor Hill Harper provides guidance to young men facing difficult decisions.

Hopkinson, Deborah. Up before Daybreak: Cotton and People in America. 2006. illus. Scholastic Nonfiction, $18.99. (ISBN-10, 0-439-63901-8; ISBN-13, 9780439639019).  Oral histories and archival photographs enrich the story of King Cotton, deepening readers' understanding of the place of an iconic crop in American history.

Hubner, John. Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth. September 2005. Random House, $25.95. (ISBN-10, 0-375-50809-0; ISBN-13, 9780375508090).  This heart-rending but ultimately hopeful look at a Texas program for violent teen offenders offers an unblinking view of the juvenile justice system.

Jacobson, Sid and Colon, Ernie. The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation. 2006. illus. Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Hill and Wang, $30. (ISBN-10, 0-8090-5738-7; ISBN-13, 9780809057382).  This concise graphic novel re-creation of the government's official report conveys the horror of 9/11 and looks at how it happened.

McClafferty, Carla Killough. Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium. 2006. illus. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $18. (ISBN-10, 0-374-38086-8; ISBN-13, 9780374380366).  Marie Curie, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, was also the first person to win it twice. This biography explores Curie's achievements in an era when women scientists struggled for recognition.

Noyes, Deborah. One Kingdom: Our Lives with Animals. 2006. illus. Houghton Mifflin, $18. (ISBN-10, 0-618-49914-8; ISBN-13, 9780618499144).  Seamlessly incorporating the scientific process, this pictorial exploration of the human-animal bond blends myth and history while raising provocative questions.

Robertson, James I., Jr. Robert E. Lee: Virginian Soldier, American Citizen. November 2005. illus. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, $21.95. (ISBN-10, 0-689-85731-4; ISBN-13, 9780689857617).  Dashing Robert E. Lee was Lincoln's choice to lead the Union, but Lee's devotion to Virginia changed the course of U.S. history. This fascinating biography explores a remarkable life.

Thimmesh, Catherine. Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. 2006. illus. Houghton Mifflin, $19.95. (ISBN-10, 0-618-50757-4; ISBN-13, 9780618507573).  Suspenseful and packed with little-known facts, this exploration of the Apollo 11 mission captures the dedication of the people behind the scenes.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

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by: KathyinFL @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 11:45:24 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

2008 book list

2008 BBYA List with Annotations
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest-growing division of the American Library Association (ALA), today announced its 2008 list of Best Books for Young Adults. The list of 85 books, drawn from 216 official nominations, is presented annually at the ALA Midwinter Meeting. The books, recommended for those ages 12-18, meet the criteria of both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens. The list comprises a wide range of genres and styles, including contemporary realistic fiction that reflects the diversity of the teen experience, nonfiction that brings to teens an awareness of the world they live in and its history, and fantastical stories told in both narrative and graphic formats.

In addition, the Best Books for Young Adults Committee created a Top Ten list of titles from the final list that exemplify the quality and range of literature being published for teens. (Starred items denote Top Ten selections.)

"This year's list demonstrates the variety of outstanding choices to entice and enrich teen readers," said Holly Koelling, committee chair. "There is something here to appeal to every reader, and also to attract teens who don't regularly read to the pleasures of a good book."

The members of the Best Books for Young Adults Committee are: Holly Koelling, chair, King County Library System, Issaquah, Wash.; Angelina Benedetti, King County Library System, Issaquah, Wash.; Teresa Brantley, Salem Middle School, Apex, N.C.; Amy Chow, New York Public Library; Ashley Flaherty, Columbus (Ohio) Metropolitan Library; Jacqueline Gropman, Fairfax County Public Library System, Fairfax County, Va.; Summer Hayes, King County Library System, Foster Library, Tukwila, Wash.; Andy Howe, Albuquerque (N.M.) Academy Library; Caroline Kienzle, Apalachicola, Fla.; Connie Mitchell, Carmel (Ind.) High School; Diane Roberts, St. Thomas High School Library, Houston, Texas; Elsworth Rockefeller, Ocean County Library, Point Pleasant Boro, N.J.; Karyn N. Silverman, Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School, New York; Ed Spicer, Allegan, Mich.; Rollie Welch, Cleveland (Ohio) Public Library; Jennifer Mattson, consultant, Booklist, Chicago, Ill.; and Rick Orsillo, administrative assistant, King County Library System, Shoreline, Wash.

Fiction
* Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. Illus. by Ellen Forney. Little, Brown, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-316-01368-0; $16.99.
Junior leaves the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white high school, where the only other Native American is the school mascot. Is he choosing his own destiny or betraying his heritage?

Alexie, Sherman. Flight. Grove/Atlantic Black Cat, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-8021-7037-8; $13.00.
Just as a cop's bullet stops his wild shooting spree, Zits, an orphan who is half Native American, finds himself transported through space and time and into another body.

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Twisted. Penguin Group USA/Viking, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-670-06101-3; $16.99.
Tyler begins his senior year transformed on the outside, going from geeky video gamer to buff hottie, but he still struggles internally with problems at home.

Asher, Jay. Thirteen Reasons Why. Penguin Group USA/Razorbill, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59514-171-2; $16.99.
When Clay receives a package of cassette tapes that explain his classmate's suicide, he is forced to consider how his own actions, and those of others, may have contributed to her decision.

Brande, Robin. Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-94349-2; $15.99.
Timely, explosive issues come to the fore when Mena Reece, shunned by her church's fundamentalist Christians, finds a kindred spirit in her quirky, brilliant lab partner.

Brooks, Martha. Mistik Lake. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Melanie Kroupa, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-374-34985-1; $16.00.
Seventeen-year-old Odella, an Icelandic Canadian, struggles to unlock the secrets behind her mother's abandonment in this lyrical coming-of-age novel.

Burgess, Melvin. Bloodsong. Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-4169-3616-9; $7.99.
The heroic Sigurd slays a dragon, descends into the underworld, and rules over a tenuous peace in a post-Apocalyptic Britain peopled with genetic mutants.

Cameron, Peter. Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Frances Foster, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-374-30989-3; $16.00.
Jaded, aloof James is tired of almost everything in his life. His perspective shifts when he attempts to connect with a co-worker and makes a grave error in judgment.

Carey, Janet Lee. Dragon's Keep. Harcourt, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-15-205926-2; $17.00.
Princess Rosalind's atrocity-a dragon's claw where her finger should be-makes her beautiful to Lord Faul, the fierce dragon who enslaves her in exchange for her people's safety.

Carey, Mike. The Re-Gifters. Illus. by Sonny Liew and Mark Hempel.DC Comics/Vertigo, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-4012-0303-0; $19.99.
Panels that explode with martial arts power energize this graphic novel about Dixie, who almost lets her killer crush on a boy in her hapkido studio ruin her shot at tournament glory.

Cassidy, Anne. Looking for JJ. Harcourt, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-15-206190-6; $17.00.
Recently released murderer JJ, a British teen whose childhood crime stirred a media frenzy, fears that her past will be discovered despite her new identity.

Castellucci, Cecil. Beige. Candlewick, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-7636-3066-9; $16.99.
Prim, proper Katy relaxes into a new identity when she is forced to live in L.A. with her father, a punk rocker and recovering addict.

Clarke, Judith. One Whole and Perfect Day. Front Street, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-932425-95-6; $16.95.
Lily, the sensible one in her quirky Australian family, longs to fit in with her classmates even while belittling their shallow interests. Then grandpa goes berserk and Lily falls in love. A 2008 Printz Honor book.

Compestine, Ying Chang. Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party. Henry Holt, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-8050-8207-4; $16.95.
China's Cultural Revolution drastically alters the lives of Ling and her family as political oppression and violence sweeps away their comfortable, middle-class existence.

Cross, Shauna. Derby Girl. Henry Holt, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-8050-8023-0; $16.95.
Bliss, a smart, athletic Texas teen, forges an identity apart from her beauty-pagent-obsessed mother by secretly joining a roller derby team.

Cullen, Lynn. I Am Rembrandt's Daughter. Bloomsbury, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59990-046-9; $16.95.
Cornelia, illegitimate daughter of the great artist Rembrandt, strives to escape her life of poverty and low social status.

Dowd, Siobhan. A Swift Pure Cry. Random House/David Fickling, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-385-75108-7; $16.99.
Coolbar, Ireland, is a village full of secrets, and Shell is not about to reveal hers until suspicion falls on the wrong person.

* Downham, Jenny. Before I Die. Random House/David Fickling, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-385-75155-1; $15.99.
Tessa, who has terminal cancer, creates a list of ten things she wants to do in the months she has left to live. This fierce and devastating novel explores end-of-life realities with honesty and grace.

Doyle, Larry. I Love You, Beth Cooper. Illus. by Evan Dorkin. HarperCollins/Ecco, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-06-123617-4; $19.95.
In this offbeat, bawdy romance, Denis declares his love for a high school cheerleader in his valedictory speech-and lives with the consequences.

Ellis, Ann Dee. This Is What I Did. Little, Brown, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-316-01363-5; $16.99.
Logan, whose family has moved to a new neighborhood where he is bullied, won't talk about a disturbing incident from his past until encouraged by a counselor.

Felin, M. Sindy. Touching Snow. Atheneum, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-4169-1795-3; $16.99.
Thirteen-year-old Karina, a member of a large immigrant family from Haiti, deals with growing up in an abusive and dysfunctional home dominated by her horrifying stepfather.

Friesen, Gayle. For Now. Kids Can Press, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-55453-133-2; $7.95.
Sarcastic Jes and her blended family are back, and their lives are shaken up again when her mother announces that she is pregnant. This follow-up to Losing Forever (2002) stands alone.

Gipi. Notes for a War Story. Spectrum. Translated by Spectrum. Illus. by Gipi. Roaring Brook/First Second, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59643-261-1; $16.95.
Three young men struggle to survive the aftermath of war. The senseless violence of their underground crime ring comes through powerfully in this graphic novel's nonlinear storyline and dark, gritty images.

Grey, Christopher. Leonardo's Shadow: Or, My Astonishing Life as Leonardo da Vinci's Servant. Simon and Schuster/Atheneum, 2006; ISBN13: 978-1-4169-0543-1; $16.95.
Young Giacomo, servant to Leonardo da Vinci, seeks to understand his past while caring for and contending with the brilliant, cantankerous artist in fifteenth-century Milan.

Hale, Shannon. Book of a Thousand Days. Illus. by James Noel Smith.Bloomsbury, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59990-051-3; $17.95.
Themes of friendship and loyalty elevate this fairy-tale romance, in which sensible, loyal maid Dashti serves a harsh sentence alongside Lady Saren, who has refused an arranged marriage.

* Hemphill, Stephanie. Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-83799-9; $15.99.
Most people know little about Plath's biography apart from its tragic ending. Appropriately, this powerful portrait uses verse to shed light on the life of the gifted poet. A 2008 Printz Honor book.

Hinds, Gareth. Beowulf. Candlewick, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-7636-3022-5; $21.95.
Hinds' graphic novel captures the passion and violence of the original Anglo-Saxon saga through masterful illustrations and a respectfully adapted text.

Hornby, Nick. Slam. Penguin Group USA/Putnam, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-399-25048-4; $19.99.
Stunned by his girlfriend's pregnancy, Sam seeks direction from his (possibly) imagined conversations with skater idol Tony Hawk.

Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. Penguin Group USA/Riverhead Books, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59448-950-1; $25.95.
Two women born a generation apart witness the destruction of home and family in wartorn Kabul, testing the limits of their strength and courage.

Jenkins, A.M. Repossessed. HarperCollins/HarperTeen, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-06-083568-2; $15.99.
Even after escaping from hell, adolescence is a wild ride for this demon! A 2008 Printz Honor book.

Jocelyn, Marthe. How It Happened in Peach Hill. Random House/Wendy Lamb, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-83701-2; $15.99.
Annie gathers information for her mother's séances by playing the village idiot. Then she meets Sammy, and now all she wants is to be a normal girl.

Johnston, Tony. Bone by Bone by Bone. Roaring Brook/Deborah Brodie, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59643-113-3; $17.95.
David's interracial friendship with Malcolm is forbidden by David's father, a small-town doctor who threatens to shoot any black person who comes into their house.

* Jones, Lloyd. Mister Pip. Dell Publishing/Dial Press, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-385-34106-6; $20.00.
In the midst of guerrilla warfare, 14-year-old Matilda attends school to hear Mr. Watts, the only white inhabitant on her Pacific island, read from Dickens' Great Expectations. A 2008 Alex Award winner.

Key, Watt. Alabama Moon. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-374-30184-2; $16.00.
Moon, having lived in isolation in Alabama's deep woods until his father's death, sets out for Alaska and discovers how little he knows about the outside world.

Klass, David. Firestorm. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Frances Foster, 2006; ISBN13: 978-0-374-32307-3; $17.00.
Everything Jack thinks he knows about his world is wrong in this science fiction adventure set in the present day.

Knox, Elizabeth. Dreamquake: Book Two of the Dreamhunter Duet. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Frances Foster, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-374-31854-3; $19.00.
In the second volume of the Dreamhunter Duet, Laura searches for master dreams to reverse the effects of a government conspiracy, only to discover an even more sinister plot. A 2008 Printz Honor book.

Koertge, Ron. Strays. Candlewick, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-7636-2705-8; $16.99.
Trapped in the unwelcoming world of foster care, Ted relies upon his strong connection with animals as he struggles to determine his life's direction.

Lanagan, Margo. Red Spikes. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-84320-4; $16.99.
In this collection of ten unsettling stories, a bogeyman, an angelic budgie, and souls in limbo are just some of the elements that will leave readers startled and intrigued.

*Landy, Derek. Skulduggery Pleasant. HarperCollins, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-06-123115-5; $17.99.
When Stephanie inherits her uncle's' estate, she also inherits his best friend: a walking, talking, crime-fighting skeleton.

Lat. Town Boy. Roaring Brook/First Second, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59643-331-1; $16.95.
The move from a small village to a growing Malaysian town offers Mat a chance to experience a wider world filled with exaggerated yet totally believable characters. A followup to graphic novel Kampung Boy (200?).

Lockhart, E. Dramarama. Hyperion, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-7868-3815-8; $15.99.
When friends Demi and Sarah both attend theater camp, their bond is tested when Demi meets his dream man and Sarah discovers that she may have misjudged her talents.

Lyga, Barry. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl. Houghton Mifflin, 2006; ISBN13: 978-0-618-72392-8; $16.95.
Fanboy, a comic-book nerd and perennial target of the Jock Jerks, finally takes charge of his destiny (with a little help from Goth Girl).

Lyga, Barry. Boy Toy. Houghton Mifflin, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-618-72393-5; $16.95.
Josh's middle school teacher taught him more than history. Five years later, her release from jail forces him to confront the past in this frank depiction of sexual abuse.

MacCready, Robin Merrow. Buried. September 2006. Penguin Group USA/Dutton, 2006; ISBN13: 978-0-525-47724-2; $16.99.
As her obsessive-compulsive disorder spirals out of control, Claudine finds herself buried under home and school duties after her alcoholic mother appears to have abandoned her.

Marillier, Juliet. Wildwood Dancing. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-83364-9; $16.99.
Jena combats dark forces to protect all she holds dear, including her beloved Other Kingdom, in this magical steeped in fairy-tale lore.

McCaughrean, Geraldine. The White Darkness. HarperCollins/HarperTeen, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-06-089035-3; $16.99.
Battling an inscrutable villain in the frozen South Pole, Symone learns survival skills from her imaginary companion, the long-dead explorer Titus Oates. The 2008 Printz Award winner.

Mieville, China. Un Lun Dun. Random House/Del Rey, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-345-49516-7; $17.95.
When it turns out her friend isn't the Chosen One after all, 12-year-old Deeba steps in to save Un Lun Dun-a bizarre and fantastical alternate London.

Miller, Sarah. Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-4169-2542-2; $16.99.
New teacher Annie Sullivan struggles to unlock the mind of Helen Keller, a deaf and blind 6-year-old whose family is desperate to control her violent tantrums.

Moore, Perry. Hero. Hyperion, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-4231-0195-6; $16.99.
Thom is keeping two very big secrets from his father-that he is a superhero in training, and that he is gay.

Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. The Off Season. Houghton Mifflin, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-618-68695-7; $16.00.
In this standalone sequel to Dairy Queen, female linebacker DJ struggles to balance school, romance, and family responsibilities as she starts her junior year.

Myers, Walter Dean. What They Found: Love on 145th Street. Random House/Wendy Lamb, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-385-32138-9; $15.99.
From beauty shops and meat pies to war, drugs, and love between dying dogs, these fifteen interconnected stories explore life in Harlem with humor and sensitivity.

Olmstead, Robert. Coal Black Horse. Algonquin, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-56512-521-6; $23.95.
Carried by a mysterious horse, 14-year-old Robey Childs journeys to find his father in the grisly aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg.

*Peet, Mal. Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal. Candlewick, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-7636-3488-9; $17.99.
This sweeping thriller moves between World War II and the present day as 15-year-old Tamar uncovers her grandfather's hidden past as a spy in the Netherlands.

Resau, Laura. Red Glass. Random House/Delacorte, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-385-73466-0; $15.99.
Fear has ruled the life of 16-year-old Sophie until dehydrated, speechless Pablo, a 6-year-old survivor of an illegal border crossing, is brought to her home.

Resau, Laura. What the Moon Saw. Random House/Delacorte, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-385-73343-4; $15.95.
Fourteen-year-old Clara spends the summer in a tiny Mexican village with grandparents she has never met, discovering a sense of belonging previously unknown to her.

The Restless Dead: Ten Original Stories of the Supernatural. Edited by Deborah Noyes. Candlewick, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-7636-2906-9; $16.99.
These original short stories feature a celebrated cast of young adult authors and invite readers to question whether the dead really do rest in peace.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Illus. by Mary Grandpre. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-545-01022-1; $34.99.
Harry fights to the death with Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters in the conclusion to this hugely popular series.

Schmidt, Gary D. The Wednesday Wars. Clarion, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-618-72483-3; $16.00.
Overseen by his seventh-grade English teacher, Holling Hoodhood spends Wednesday afternoons reading Shakespeare, hunting rats, and learning the consequences of the Vietnam War.

Sedgwick, Marcus. My Swordhand is Singing. Random House/Wendy Lamb, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-84689-2; $15.99.
When the dead of Chust begin to rise from their graves, Peter and his father, Tomas, must face a soulless enemy and a terrifying destiny.

Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel. Illus. by Brain Selznick. Scholastic, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-439-81378-5; $22.99.
Combining words and black-and-white pictures inspired by silent films, Selznick reveals the connections between a Parisian orphan and an elderly toymaker. The  The 2008 Caldecott Medal Winner.

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Adapted by Richard Appignanesi. Illus. by Sonia Leong. Abrams/Amulet, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-8109-9325-9; $9.95.
Manga meets the bard! The classic, doomed love story gets a fresh look in this contemporary retelling set in Japan.

Sharenow, Robert. My Mother the Cheerleader. HarperCollins/Laura Geringer, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-06-114896-5; $16.99
Thirteen-year-old Louise is thrust into an ugly confrontation due to her mother's activism against the 1960s integration of New Orleans schools.

Shusterman, Neal. Unwind. Simon & Schuster, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-4169-1204-0; $16.99.
This is a future world where teens are "unwound"-their body parts are harvested for use by others. Conor, Risa, and Lev will go to extreme lengths to avoid this fate.

Smith, Roland. Peak. Harcourt, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-15-202417-8; $17.00.
His name is Peak and his destination is Everest. But is this avid climber ready to fulfill his father's dream?

Sonnenblick, Jordan. Notes from the Midnight Driver. Scholastic, 2006; ISBN13: 978-0-439-75779-9; $16.99.
Alex's drunken joyride in his mother's car lands him with 100 hours of community service mentoring a cantakerous elderly man.

St. James, James. Freak Show. Penguin Group USA/Dutton, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-525-47799-0; $18.99.
Cultures collide when teen drag queen Billy moves from the northeast to a staid Florida community, where he is determined to disrupt the status quo.

*Tan, Shaun. The Arrival. Illus. by Shaun Tan. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-439-89529-3; $19.99.
Without a single word, Tan's extraordinary images express the loneliness, sadness, anxiety, and wonder of the immigration experience.

Thompson, Kate. The New Policeman. HarperCollins/Greenwillow, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-06-117427-8; $16.99.
In search of the perfect gift for his mother, J. J., an Irish 15-year-old, must save the inhabitants of another world and solve an ancient mystery.

Wallace, Rich. One Good Punch. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-81352-8; $15.99.
Seemingly straightlaced Mike has never been in trouble-until police find four joints in his locker, forcing him to choose whether or not to betray a childhood friend.

Weinheimer, Beckie. Converting Kate. Penguin Group USA/Viking, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-670-06152-5; $16.99.
Kate has only known a world where her church is the ultimate authority, but after her father's death she begins to question her allegiance.

Wiess, Laura. Such a Pretty Girl. Simon & Schuster/MTV, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-4165-2183-9; $12.00.
Having lost all faith in the justice system, Meredith tries to save herself and others from her father, a child molester recently released from prison.

Wizner, Jake. Spanking Shakespeare. Random House, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-375-84086-9; $15.99.
With humor and pathos, Shakespeare Shapiro chronicles the absurd events his senior year and his obsession with sex.

Zarr, Sara. Story of a Girl. Little, Brown, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-316-01453-3; $16.99.
When Deanna's dad catches her having sex with an older guy, the consequences are greater than she ever could have imagined.

Zevin, Gabrielle. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-374-34946-2; $17.00.
After falling down some steps, Naomi can't remember the past four years of her life. Now she must discover who she really is.

Nonfiction
Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Sarah Crichton, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-374-10523-5; $22.00.
A former child soldier in Sierra Leone recalls the heart-wrenching experiences that transformed him from an innocent 12-year-old into a cold-blooded killer. A 2008 Alex Award winner.

Crisler, Curtis L. Tough Boy Sonatas. Illus. by Floyd Cooper. Boyds Mills Press/Wordsong, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-932425-77-2; $19.95.
Poems about boys growing up poor and black vividly show the constant threats of ghetto life, as well as the positive relationships that help sustain them.

The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss. Edited by Claire Nouvian. University of Chicago Press, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-226-59566-5; $45.00.
Amazing photographs and essays by scientists introduce the strange, beautiful, and sometimes terrifying deep-sea creatures that live in the largest, most mysterious ecosystem on the planet.

Fradin, Judith Bloom and Dennis Brindell Fradin. Jane Addams: Champion of Democracy. Clarion, 2006; ISBN13: 978-0-618-50436-7; $21.00.
In a time when women had little control over their lives, Addams became a powerful force for good by helping the poor and disadvantaged and fighting for peace.

Helfer, Andrew. Malcolm X: A Graphic Biography. Illus. by Randy Duburke. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Hill & Wang, 2006; ISBN13: 978-0-8090-9504-9; $15.95.
The events and controversies of Malcolm X's life, culminating in his assassination, are presented with unblinking realism in a bold, graphic-novel format.

Marrin, Albert. The Great Adventure: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Modern America. Penguin Group USA/Dutton, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-525-47659-7; $30.00.
Roosevelt rides to life in this intimate yet historically revealing book about the man who redefined the United States presidency.

* Polly, Matthew. American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China. Penguin Group USA/Gotham Books, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-59240-262-5; $26.00.
On a quest to transform himself from a scrawny weakling into a kung-fu master, Polly drops out of Princeton and journeys to the legendary Shaolin Temple. A 2008 Alex Award winner.

Raddatz, Martha. The Long Road Home A Story of War and Family. Penguin Group USA/Putnam Adult, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-399-15382-2; $24.95.
An investigative journalist contrasts the physical brutality of the Iraq War with homefront loved ones' stress when an American platoon is trapped in a firefight.

Reef, Catherine. e.e. cummings: a poet's life. Clarion, 2006; ISBN13: 978-0-618-56849-9; $21.00.
This well-rounded portrait skillfully examines the culture in which poet e. e. cummings lived as he developed his craft.

Sis, Peter. The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain. Illus. by Peter Sis. Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Frances Foster, 2007; ISBN13: 978-0-374-34701-7; $18.00.
Through spare text and bold, powerful illustrations, Sis tells of his life in communist Czechoslovakia, especially his yearning for freedom, his attraction to Western pop culture, and his determination to embrace his creativity. The 2008 Sibert Award winner and a Caldecott Honor book.

Tammet, Daniel. Born on a Blue Day: A Memoir: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant. Simon & Schuster/Free Press, 2007; ISBN13: 978-1-4165-3507-2; $24.00.
Recounting his long struggle to emotionally connect with others, Tammet vividly describes his childhood and adolescence as an austistic savant.

 

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

---

by: KathyinFL @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 11:46:40 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

2009 book list

Fiction
Almond, David. The Savage. Candlewick. 2008. 978-0-7636-3932-7 $17.99
Blue Baker is writing a story about a wild savage living in the woods...at least he thinks it's a story. When realities shift, the reader must discern what really happened.

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Chains. Simon & Schuster. 2008. 978-1-4169-0585-1 $16.99
Slaves Isabel and younger sister Ruthie are sold to harsh Loyalists at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Isabel must decide to be loyal or spy for the American patriots.

Anderson, M.T. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: Vol. II: The Kingdom on the Waves. Candlewick. 2008. 978-0-7636-2950-2 $22.99 Having escaped from his captors, Octavian joins the Royal Ethiopian Regiment of the British Army in 1775 Boston when they promise freedom to any slave who fights the rebel forces.

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. The Boy Who Dared. Scholastic. 2008. 978-0-439-68013-4 $16.99
Told through flashbacks, this is a fictionalized biography of German teenager Helmuth Hubener, who was imprisoned and executed in 1942 for openly resisting the Nazis.

Bell, Hilari. The Last Knight. HarperTeen/HarperCollins. 2007. 978-0-06-082503-4 $16.99
An anachronistic knight errant takes a criminal as squire, mistakenly frees a woman charged with murdering her husband (brother to his father's liege), and becomes captive in her keep.

Benway, Robin. Audrey, Wait! Penguin/Razorbill. 2008. 978-1-59514-191-0 $16.99
Audrey's ex-boyfriend records a hit song about their breakup, and suddenly all eyes (and cameras) are on Audrey. Fans, Facebook, and tabloids - it's all too much for Audrey.

Blundell, Judy. What I Saw and How I Lied. Scholastic. 2008. 978-0-439-90346-2 $16.99
When Evie's father returns from the war, she expects life to return to normal but a mysterious trip to Florida, secrets, deceptions, and a first forbidden love complicates things.

Booth, Coe. Kendra. Scholastic/Push. 2008. 978-0-439-92536-5 $16.99
Kendra is thrilled her mom, Renee, has completed her Ph.D. program-now they can finally be a real family. But is Renee excited for their future together, too?

Bradbury, Jennifer. Shift. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum. 2008. 978-1-4169-4732-5 $16.99
Chris and Win take a bicycle trip across America after graduation, but only one returns and that person is pressured to reveal what happened.

Brothers, Meagan. Debbie Harry Sings in French. Henry Holt. 2008. 978-0-8050-8080-3 $16.95
After Johnny's dad dies in a car accident and an unintentional drug overdose lands him in the hospital, he moves in with an uncle, gets a girlfriend, and starts to explore his interest in cross-dressing.

Bunce, Elizabeth. A Curse Dark as Gold. Scholastic. 2008. 978-0-439-89576-7 $17.99
When young Charlotte Miller takes over the family's woolen mill after her father's death, she is faced with unexpected debts, catastrophes, and a hidden curse that threatens her family's future.

Caletti, Deb. The Fortunes of Indigo Skye. Simon & Schuster. 2008. 978-1-1469-1007-7
$15.99
At 18, Indigo wants no more out of life than to be a waitress and give people food, until a customer gives her $2,500,000. Can she stand the changes?

Cashore, Kristin. Graceling. Harcourt. 2008. 978-0-15-206396-2 $17.00
Katsa was born with ability to kill men with her bare hands but can she find moral courage to stand up to evil rulers and fight for what is right?

Colfer, Eoin. Airman. Hyperion. 2008. 978-1-4231-0750-7 $17.99
Conor Broekhart spends his days dreaming of flying hot air balloons and inventing flying machines until murder and court intrigue sends him to prison and labor in the diamond mines.

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic. 2008. 978-0-439-02348-1 $17.99
Katniss has been providing for her family since her father died, but is she strong enough to win the Hunger Games, a deadly competition that can have only one winner?

Conner, Leslie. Waiting for Normal. Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins. 2008. 978-0-06-089088-9 $16.99
Left to live in an old trailer under the overhead train track with Mommers, Addie is the child that has to learn to take care of herself. She almost succeeds.

de la Pena, Matt. Mexican WhiteBoy. Delacorte. 2008. 978-0-385-73310-6 $15.00
Half white, half Mexican and 100% confused, Danny struggles with baseball, his absent father and first love while spending the summer with his familia in San Diego.

Doctorow, Cory. Little Brother. Tom Doherty. 2008. 978-0-7653-1985-2 $17.95
There's been another major terrorist attack and the Department of Homeland Security has clamped down big time. It's up to Marcus, computer geek, to save everyone from this police state.

Dowd, Siobhan. Bog Child. Random House/David Fickling Books. 2008. 978-0-385-75169-8
$16.99
When Fergus and his uncle find the body of a girl buried in the peat bog near their home, all sorts of troubles comes to light.

Dowd, Siobhan. The London Eye Mystery. David Fickling/Random House. 2008. 978-0-375-84976-3 $15.99
When their cousin Salim disappears into thin air during a ride on the London Eye ferris wheel, Ted and his sister Kat try to solve.

Fleischman, Sid. The Entertainer and the Dybbuk. HarperTeen/HarperCollins. 2007. 978-0-06-134445-9 $16.99
The Great Freddie, a second-rate ventriloquist, is inhabited by the spirit of a 12-year-old Jewish boy killed in the Holocaust.

Fletcher, Christine. Ten Cents a Dance. Bloomsbury. 2008. 978-1-59990-164-0 $16.95
Ruby wants to support her family, but when her taxi dancing causes problems she could not have anticipated, it will take all of her strength to come out on top.

Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book. HarperCollins. 2008. 978-0-06-053092-1 $17.99
This often chilling story describes the life of a boy growing up in a graveyard as he is looked after by ghosts and a mysterious guardian.

Gardner, Sally. The Red Necklace: A Story of the French Revolution. Penguin/Dial. 2008. 978-0-8037-3100-4 $16.99
During the French Revolution, Yann a 14-year-old magician's assistant, witnesses the death of his employer and the evil that ensues.

Geerling, Marjetta. Fancy White Trash. Penguin/Viking. 2008. 978-0-670-01082-0 $16.99
Abby Savage is determined not to be like her mother and sisters-each became pregnant as teens-but her only confidant is Cody who has his own sexual issues.

George, Jessica Day. Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow. Bloomsbury. 2008. 978-1-59990-109-1 $16.95
A woodcutter's daughter agrees to live with a great white bear after he promises her impoverished family fabulous wealth. When he disappears, she begins an arduous quest for him.

George, Madeleine. Looks. Viking. 2008. 978-0-670-06167-9 $16.99
Meghan, the invisible fat girl, and Aimee, overlooked and anorexic, form an uneasy alliance to get revenge on a mutual enemy.

Green, John. Paper Towns. Penguin/Dutton. 2008. 978-0-25-47818-8 $17.99
Quentin idolizes next door neighbor, Margo Roth Spiegelman. When she includes him in a wild night of revenge and then disappears, Q must follow the clues to find her.

Harmon, Michael. The Last Exit to Normal. Alfred A. Knopf. 2008. 978-0-375-94098-9 $18.99
To get him on the right track, Ben Campbell's dad and stepdad accompany him to Montana, where he encounters small town life, homophobia, an abused boy, and a special girl.

Hernandez, David. Suckerpunch. HarpterTeen/HarperCollins. 2008. 978-0-06-117330-1 $16.99
The guilt that Marcus feels because he couldn't keep his father from beating his brother Enrique compels him to go along when Enrique seeks answers - and maybe revenge.

Hijuelos, Oscar. Dark Dude. Simon & Schuster. 2008. 978-1-4169-4804-9 $16.99
Tired of taking abuse for being a light-skinned Cuban in his drug-infested Harlem neighborhood, Rico follows a friend to rural Wisconsin, where he struggles with his Latino identity.

Jenkins, A.M. Night Road. Bowen Press/HarperCollins. 2008. 978-0-06-054604-5 $16.99
Eighteen-year-old Gordon, a heme or blood feeder, must learn the rules of his new life while on a road trip with Cole and Sandor.

Johnson, Maureen. Suite Scarlett. Scholastic/Point. 2008. 978-0-439-89927-7 $16.99
The keys to a hotel suite and the responsibility to care for the room and its occupant-the wealthy and eccentric Amy Amberson-turn Scarlett's summer into a major challenge.

Juby, Susan. Another Kind of Cowboy. HarperTeen/HarperCollins. 2007. 978-0-06-076518-7 $16.99
When horse-crazy Alex finally gets a chance to switch from western pleasure to dressage, he feels more in tune with both his riding and his overall identity.

Katcher, Brian. Playing With Matches. Random House/Delacorte. 2008. 978-0-385-73544-5 $15.99
Leon Sanders is a loser until an extremely disfigured girl makes him feel special. Should he stay with her or be lured away by the girl of his dreams?

Kibuishi, Kazu. Amulet: Book 1: The Stone Keeper. Scholastic/Graphix. 2008. 978-0-439-84680-6 $21.99 Emily and her brother Navin descend into a dark and dangerous world below their great grandfather's mansion hoping to save their mother, who's been kidnapped by a large creature with tentacles.

Lanagan, Margo. Tender Morsels. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf. 2008.
978-0-375-84811-7 $16.99
Liga has suffered unspeakable assaults and creates a magic, safe haven for herself and her two daughters, but the real world intrudes and they cope with beauty mixed with brutality.

Lester, Julius. Guardian. HarperCollins/HarperTeen/Amistad. 2008. 978-0-06-155890-0 $16.99
Ansel's world set in the 1946 deep South disintegrates from the hatred and injustice consuming his family and community following a brutal murder and an innocent man being lynched.

Link, Kelly. Pretty Monsters. Viking. 2008. 978-0-670-01090-5 $19.99
From straight fantasy to magic realism to horror, this collection includes tales of magic libraries, wizards,and dead girls getting tattoos.

Lockhart, E. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. Hyperion. 2008.
978-0-7868-3818-9 $16.99
Frankie Landau-Banks has a chip on her shoulder and is determined to bring down the all-male Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds of Alabaster Preparatory Academy.

Marchetta, Melina. Jellicoe Road. HarperTeen/HarperCollins. 2008. 978-0-06-143183-8 $17.99
Taylor Markham was abandoned by her mother when she was eleven and is finally ready to discover the reason why.

Marillier, Juliet. Cybele's Secret. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf. 2008. 978-0-375-83365-6
$16.99
Paula travels with her merchant father to Istanbul and discovers a world filled with eunuchs, pirates, dervishes, and an entrance into the Other Kingdom.

Mazer, Norma Fox. The Missing Girl. HarperTeen/HarperCollins. 2008. 978-0-06-623777-0 $16.99
The five Herbert sisters find their innocent lives exploding in emotional turmoil when one of the sisters is abducted and held captive by a truly creepy child predator.

McMullan, Margaret. When I Crossed No-Bob. Houghton Mifflin. 2007. 978-0-618-71715-6 $16.00
Twelve-year-old Addy McDonnell struggles to come to terms with her family's unpleasant legacy and the events happening around her in post-Civil War Mississippi.

McNamee, Graham. Bonechiller. Wendy Lamb/Random House. 2008. 978-0-385-74658-8 $15.99
An ancient demon, intent on satisfying its hunger for human flesh, stalks Danny and his three friends in the brutal cold of backwoods Canada.

Meldrum, Christina. Madapple. Random House Children's Books / Alfred A. Knopf. 2008. 978-0-375-95176-3 $16.99
After growing up in almost total isolation believing she is was immaculately conceived, 15-year-old Aslaug's world begins to crumble when her mother dies.

Meyer, Stephenie. The Host. Little, Brown. 2008. 978-0-316-06804-8 $25.99
Set in a believable futuristic time when Earth and other worlds have been taken over by the "souls", this is a story of love, betrayal and compassion.

Monninger, Joseph. Baby. Front Street/Boyd Mills Press. 2007. 978-1-59078-502-7 $16.95
Fifteen-year-old Baby leaves the middle-aged Potters, her last chance at foster care, to be with her old boyfriend while she figures out her own needs and wants.

Murphy, Pat. The Wild Girls. Viking/Penguin. 2007. 978-0-670-06226-3 $16.99
Twelve year old Joan hates her new life in California until she meets the Queen of the Foxes and becomes one of the Wild Girls.

Napoli, Donna Jo. Hush: An Irish Princess' Tale. Simon Pulse. 2007. 978-0-689-86176-5 $16.99
Melkorka, a 10th century Irish princess, must adapt to a harsh new life after she is stolen from her home by Russian slavers.

Ness, Patrick. The Knife of Never Letting Go. Chaos Walking. Book One. Candlewick. 2008. $18.99
Todd Hewitt is the last boy in a town of all men. In a town where everyone can hear each other's thoughts what kind of secrets can be kept?

Padian, Maria. Brett McCarthy: Work in Progress. Alfred A. Knopf. 2008.
978-0-375-94675-2 $15.99
Eighth-grader Brett McCarthy--once good student and best-friend-to-Diane, now suspended and friendless--faces school and family troubles as she grapples with her redefined life.

Pearson, Mary E. The Adoration of Jenna Fox. Henry Holt. 2008. 978-0-8050-7668-4 $16.95
Jenna Fox wakes from a year-long coma. As her memory begins to return, she has more questions than answers about who she was, and who she is now.

Pratchett, Terry. Nation. HarperCollins. 2008. 978-0-06-143302-3 $17.89
Mau is caught in the tidal wave that destroyed his island and Daphne is the only survivor from her ship. Together on the devastated island they form a new Nation.

Reeve, Philip. Here Lies Arthur. Scholastic. 2008. 978-0-545-09334-1 $17.99
A fresh look at the Arthur legend told through the eyes of a young girl who pretends to be a boy to survive.

Reinhardt, Dana. How to Build a House. Random House/Wendy Lamb. 2008. 978-0-375-84453-9 $15.99
Devastated by her parent's divorce Harper Evans spends the summer with 11 other students building a house for a family in Tennessee and finds herself healing while making new friends.

Schmidt, Gary D. Trouble. Clarion. 2008. 978-0-618-92766-1 $16.00
Henry's father said Trouble would not find this family. But it did one horrific night, setting off tensions in Blythbury-by-the-Sea. Maybe it had it been there always, just waiting.

Schumacher, Julie. Black Box. Random House / Delacorte. 2008. 978-0-385-73542-1 $15.99
Fourteen-year-old Elena struggles to hold steady ground and help her sister Dora, who has been admitted to a psychiatric ward after swallowing an entire bottle of antidepressants.

Scott, Elizabeth. Living Dead Girl. Simon and Schuster/Simon Pulse. 2008.
978-1-4169-6059-1 $16.99
Abducted at the age of ten, Alice has lived as a live-in rape victim for Ray for 5 years until he informs her that she's "too old" for his love.

Scott, Elizabeth. Stealing Heaven. HarperTeen/HarperCollins. 2008. 978-0-06-112280-4 $16.99
Living by burglarizing expensive homes with her mother, Dani's friendship with another girl stalls when it becomes clear she lives in the house they are planning to rob next.

Sheth, Kashmira. Keeping Corner. Hyperion. 2007. 978-0-7868-3859-2 $15.99
In India during World War I, twelve-year-old Leela's husband dies, and she is forced to shave her head and keep corner, staying inside her family's house for a year.

Shusterman, Neal. Antsy Does Time. Penguin/Dutton. 2008. 978-0-525-47825-6 $16.99
One simple act - offering dying classmate Gunnar Umlaut a month of his life - takes hold with the entire student body and turns Anthony "Antsy" Bonano's life upside down.

Smith, Andrew. Ghost Medicine. Feiwel & Friends. 2008. 978-0-312-37557-7 $17.95
The summer that cowboy Troy Stotts turns 17, he and his two best friends band together to fight the trouble that surrounds them by creating a medicine all their own.

Smith, Roland. Elephant Run. Hyperion. 2007. 978-1-4231-0402-5 $15.99
Thirteen-year-old Nick is trapped on his father's teak plantation during the Japanese invasion of Burma during 1941 and must find a way to save his father as well as himself.

Tamaki, Mariko and Jillian Tamaki. Skim. House of Anansi Press / Groundwood Books. 2008. 978-0-88899-753-1 $18.95
Friendship, love, identity, and a general feeling of isolation in an all-girls private school contribute to Kim Cameron (Skim)'s growing depression.

Tharp, Tim. The Spectacular Now. Random House / Alfred A. Knopf. 2008. 978-0-375-95179-4 $16.99
Sutter Keely glides through his senior year's final days soaked with heavy amounts of booze but his joy ride is detracted by love issues and an unclear future.

Valentine, Jenny. Me, the Missing, and the Dead. HarperCollins/HarperTeen. 2008. 978-0-06-085068-5 $16.99
Five years after his dad's disappearance, Lucas senses that a dead woman is trying to communicate with him and he is driven to listen and respond.

Venkatraman, Padma. Climbing the Stairs. Penguin. 2008. 978-0-399-24746-0 $16.99
When Vidya's father is seriously injured, her family moves from their progressive home to the household of her conservative relatives, where she must adjust to a new set of expectations.

Voorhees, Coert. The Brothers Torres. Hyperion. 2008. 978-1-4231-0304-2 $16.99
Frankie Torres (or Towers depending which side his heritage is viewed) narrates his coming-of-age story of falling for a girl as his idolized brother runs with a group of cholos.

Werlin, Nancy. Impossible. Penguin/Dial. 2008. 978-0-8037-3002-1 $17.99
Lucy, 17, discovers the women of her family have been cursed with madness unless they complete three impossible tasks. All have failed. Will Zach's help and her resolve save her?

Wood, Don. Into the Volcano. Scholastic. 2008. 978-0-439-72671-9 $18.99
Duffy and Sumo set off on an adventure into the belly of an ancient volcano without knowing exactly what they're looking for. Their discoveries shock and then nearly kill them.

Woodson, Jacqueline. After Tupac and D Foster. G.P. Putnam's Sons. 2008.
978-0-399-24654-8 $15.99
The friendship of three girls from very different families fills the emptiness of uncertainty as they struggle with Tupac Shakur's troubles as well as their own.

Zarr, Sara. Sweethearts. Little, Brown. 2008. 978-0-316-01455-7 $16.99
High school senior Jenna has successfully remade her life, but has to confront long-suppressed memories of a traumatic childhood when her only friend from childhood, Cameron, suddenly reappears.

Nonfiction
Aronson, Marc and Campbell, Patty. War Is...Soldiers, Survivors, and Storytellers Talk About War. Candlewick. 2008. 978-0-7636-3625-8 $17.99
A balanced collection of contemporary and historical writings including interviews, stories, memoirs, and a miliblog addresses the experience of enlisting, serving, and surviving war from a variety of perspectives.

Barry, Lynda. What It Is. Drawn and Quarterly. 2008. 978-1-897299-35-7 $24.95
Questions, images, story, comic illustrations and workbook pages guide and push readers to break down barriers, experiment and grow through writing or drawing.

Bowman, Robin. It's Complicated: The American Teenager. Umbrage Editions. 2007. 978-1-884167-69-0 $40.00 This random collection of black and white photographs of teenagers from across the country includes short testimonials about their lives.

Engle, Margarita. The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom. Henry Holt. 2008. 978-0-8050-8674-4 $16.95
Caves and hidden huts serve as secret hospitals for Rosa as she risks her life nursing the sick and wounded during three wars for Cuba's independence from 1850-1899.

Fleischman, Sid. The Trouble Begins at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West. Greenwillow Press/HarperCollins. 2008. $18.99
Meet the young Samuel Clemens and the coast-to-coast experiences that molded America's most famed humorist and social commentator.

Kuklin, Susan. No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row. Henry Holt. 2008. 978-0-8050-7950-0 $17.95
Inmates sentenced to death as teenagers give firsthand accounts of life on Death Row and relatives of both victims and prisoners share their experiences in this collection of interviews.

Menzel, Peter and D'Aluisio, Faith. What the World Eats. Ten Speed Press. 2008. 978-1-58246-246-2 $22.99
This book examines the meals of 25 different families from all around the world using lush photographs and health statistics.

Nelson, Scott Reynolds. Ain't Nothing But a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry. National Geographic Society. 2207. 978-1-4263-0000-4 $18.95
Historian Scott Reynolds Nelson chronicles his journeys, both on land and in historical records, to find the truth about the man behind the myth of "John Henry."

Parker, David L. Before Their Time: The World of Child Labor. Quantuck Lane Press. 2007.
978-0-618-23378-6 $35.00
Presented are portraits of the world's children who labor under harsh and dangerous conditions in factories and on farms as miners, garbage pickers, sex workers and brick haulers.

Porcellino, John. Thoreau at Walden. Hyperion. 2008. 978-1-4231-0038-6 $16.99
Simply but beautifully illustrated, this adaptation of "Walden" introduces new readers to Thoreau's work while providing a fresh perspective for those already familiar with the text.

Shields, Charles J. I Am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee. Henry Holt. 2008. 978-0-8050-8334-7 $18.95
Curious about Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird? Finally her story is told; her childhood, success, seclusion and rejection of fame.

Weatherford, Carole Boston. Becoming Billie Holiday. Wordsong. 2008. 978-1-59078-507-2. $19.95

Wendel, Tim and Villegas, Jose Luis. Far From Home: Latino Baseball Players in America. National Geographic. 2008. 978-1-4262-0216-2 $28.00
The rich history of Latino baseball players is presented along with a feel of growing up in Latino communities passionate for the game.

 

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

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by: KathyinFL @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 11:47:49 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Homemade art supplies and art activities

Check out all of the following homemade art supplies and art activities at http://www.easyfunschool.com/I...  Most of these are made with common household items and can be used as a stand alone activity or incorporated into a lesson plan.

Alum Playdough
Backpack Tags
Batik Fabric
Beet Dye
Book Binding Glue
Bread Slice Clay
Cast a Faux Alabaster Figure
Cast a Faux Marble Sculpture
Chocolate Fudge Clay
Coffee Dye
Coffee Grounds Playdough
Colored Glue
Colored Rice or Pasta
Coloring Book T-shirts
Cornmeal Playdough
Cranberry Dye
Create a Fresco
Designer Cloth with Crayons
Easy Stained Glass Windows for Kids
Easy Tye Dye
Edible Aquarium
Edible Fun Dough
Edible Paper
Edible Spice Playdough
Eggshell Chalk
Fire Breathing Dragon Bookmarks
Flour Clay
Frosting Clay
Glitter Gel
Glow in the dark chalk
Glue-Shampoo Playdough
Granola Clay
Homemade Colored Paper
Homeschool Float Project
Homemade Glitter Wand
Homemade Kaleidoscope
Hypoallergenic Clay
Inexpensive Oily Soap Paints
Inexpensive Soap Crayons
Instant Rice Paste
Jello Playdough
Kool Aid Tye Dye
Line Hunt
Magnet Painting
Make An Art Book
Make Your Own Stickers
Marigold Dye
Marbled Paper
Marzipan Clay
Melon Seed Necklaces
Mustard Dye
Oat Playdough
Paper Beads
Paper From Nature
Paper From Plants
Paper Mache Pulp
Paper Models
Pearly Clay
Peppermint Playdough
Plaster of Paris Dinosaur Eggs
Purple Cabbage Dye
Rag Paper
Sand Clay
Sand Modeling Clay
Scratch-n-Sniff Watercolors
Shrunken Apple Heads
Sidewalk Chalk
Sidewalk Paint
Simulated Snow
Sized Paper
Spinach Dye
Styrofoam Tray Shrinks
Tea Dye
Tea Leaf Playdough
Tissue Paper Beads
Transfer Ink
Treasure Rocks
Walnut Shell Dye
Waterproof Glue
Window Clings  

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

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by: KathyinFL @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 11:50:32 AM CDT

Science Fun Activities

The following is an index of activities that can be found at http://www.easyfunschool.com/I...  Again, these use common, everyday household items.

Science Fun:

Acids in Nature
Alum Crystals
Amazing Egg, part 1
Amazing Egg, part 2
Another Easy Solar Oven
Astronomy
Autumn Science
Bats
Blow Hard -- A Science Experiment
Blue Clouds -- An Edible Chemical Reaction
Burning Without Flame
Chopsticks and Bird Beaks
Collecting Trees
Cream of Tartar Crystals
Easy, Fun, and SAFE Explosions
Edible Rocks
Edible Sprouts
Electricity
Epsom Salt Crystals
Epsom Salt Frost
Equalizing Air Pressure
Evolutionary Theory
Extracting Natural Flavors
Fingerprints
Floating Crystals
Floating Egg, The
Flowers: Male and Female
Fragrant Science
Fruit Fly Farm
Fun Cave Diorama
Grow Edible Sprouts
Helpful Plants: Flowers
Homemade Hourglass
Homemade Lightning
Homemade Tornado
How Does a Filter Work?
How Do Your Lungs Work?
How Fast Do They Orbit?
How to Gross Your Mother Out in Three Ingredients or Less
How to Make a Homemade Thermometer
Leaf Litter
Leaf Scents
Lemon Battery
Lots O' Lava
Make a Stargazer
Make Your Own Camera
Make Your Own Geode Eggs
Make Your Own Magnifier
Modeling the Brain
Moldy Oldies
Moooving Milk
Music
Observing Without Your Eyes
One Eye Or Two?
Pelean Eruption
Pennies of a Different Color
Plaster of Paris Dinosaur Egg
Plaster of Paris Fossil
Our Planets Orbit the Sun
The Relative Size of Planets
Rocket and Roll
A Rose By Any Other Name: A Science Unit of the Senses
Safe and Simple Science Rules
Salt and Vinegar Crystals
Science Summer
Seeds and Fruit
Seeds Are Baby Plants
Simple Machines
Simulating a Glacier
Singing Cake
Slam Dancing Spaghetti
Snowflakes and Sleet
Solar System Song
Sundial in a Pot
Taste of Outer Space
Testing a Hypothesis
Testing for Starch
Tracking of the Wild Plant
Two Tone Juice: A Lesson in Density
Universe in a Jar
Volcanoes and Earthquakes
Vulcanian Eruption
Whale Blubber

Science, Miscellaneous:

Bird Watching With Children
Can Animals Predict the Weather
Chemistry Unit Study
Earth Science
How to Be A Good Scientist
How to Sterilize Water
Meet Your Teeth
Mixed-Up Elements
Pathology Pound Cake
Personal Health: Adolescence  

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

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by: KathyinFL @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 11:52:19 AM CDT

History Fun Lessons and Crafts

Here is the index of activities that can be found at http://www.easyfunschool.com/I...

History, General:
Aged Paper for history projects
Community History Unit Study
History Fun: Resume of an Historical Figure
The History of Visualization and Role-Play in History Lessons
Mixed Up Presidents - part 1 (puzzle
Mixed Up Presidents - part 2 (puzzle)
Suggested Reading for History
Timeline

Ancient/Old Testament History:
Explore Ancient Israel
Investigative Report: Ancient Israel
Research Project: Famous Person of Ancient Israel
Mixed-Up Books of the Bible (puzzle)
The Old Testament Said What?!
Resources for Study Old Testament/Ancient History
What Made Them Different?

Ancient Middle East:
Ancient Mesopotamia and Religion
Assyrian Mythology
Brickmaking Activity/Experiment
Daily Life in Ancient Civilizations
Daily Life in Mesopotamia
Daily Life in Mesopotamia: Activities
Debate Hammurabi's Code
Gilgamesh and Enkidu
Locating Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Plan a Sumerian Feast
Sumerian Proverbs

Ancient Egypt:
Brickmaking Activity/Experiment
The Harvest Cycle

Ancient China:
Ancient China Unit Study

Ancient Japan:
Suggested Reading

Ancient Greece:
Ancient Greece Timeline and Activities
Create a Fresco
Cast a Faux Alabaster Figure
Cast a Faux Marble Sculpture,
The Iliad (please note: large file, slow in loading)
The Judgment of Midas
Marbled Paper
Olympian Vocabulary

Ancient Rome:
The Bronze Bow
Create a Fresco
Cast a Faux Alabaster Figure
Cast a Faux Marble Sculpture,
Marbled Paper

Early Europe:
Norseman Tale of Creation
The Sons of William the Conqueror

Medieval Times:
Fire-Breathing Dragon Bookmark
Kings, Queens, & Castles Unit
Middle Ages worksheet #1
Middle Ages worksheet #2
The Sons of William the Conqueror
St. George and the Dragon
Unit Study on the Middle Ages

British History:
A Child's History of England: Chapters 1 - 2
A Child's History of England: Chapters 3 - 6
A Child's History of England: Chapters 7 - 10
A Child's History of England: Chapters 11 - 12
A Child's History of England: Chapters 13 - 16
A Child's History of England: Chapters 17 - 21
A Child's History of England: Chapters 22 - 25
A Child's History of England: Chapters 26 - 30
A Child's History of England: Chapters 31 - 35
A Child's History of England: Chapters 36 & 37
The Sons of William the Conqueror

Age of Exploration and Beyond:
Exploring Antarctica
Life on the High Seas
Make a Compass
Pirates Treasure Chest
Who Really Discovered America?

Native Americans:
[Please note: The history of Native peoples falls in many different streams of history. You may want to check other sections of this history index if you do not see what you want in this list.]
Folk Tales
Myth/Stereotype of the Native American Women
Native American Cooking: Ah-Gee-Chum-Buh-Gee
Native American Cooking: Indian Bean Bread
Native American Cooking: Parched Corn
Native American Cooking: Simi Chumbo
Special Homes
Tribal List

Colonial:

Acorn Flour
Beet Dye
Chestnuts
Clabber Milk Cheese
Coffee Dye
Colonial Cooking: Apple Butter
Colonial Cooking: Apple Catsup
Colonial Cooking: Homemade Applesauce
Colonial Cooking: Homemade Sausage
Colonial Cooking: Indian Pudding
Colonial Cooking: Philadelphia Pepper Pot
Colonial Cooking: Sausage and Apple Rings
Colonial Cooking: Wiggs
Cranberry Dye
Easy Homemade Hard Soap
Easy White Cheese
Exploring Early America
Hashed Hominy
Homemade Butter
Homemade Hominy
Homemade Ink from Berries
Homemade Ink from Nuts
Homemade Mulled Cinder
Homemade Yellow Cheese
John Smith's Letter About Pocahontas
Marigold Dye
Mustard Dye
Old-Fashioned Pomander
Purple Cabbage Dye
Relishes
Rendering Lard
Sausage Cake
The Settlement of Jamestown
Soup Can Lantern
Sourdough Starter
Spinach Dye
Tea Dye
Walnut Shell Dye

American Revolution:
American Revolution Timeline
Johnny Tremain

Frontier/Pioneer History:
Cherokee Sweet Potato Bread
Daniel Boone mini unit
Lewis & Clark Unit
Maple Candy
Now That's Different!
PBS Frontier House: Lesson 1
PBS Frontier House: Lesson 2
Pioneer Cooking: Bannock Bread
Pioneer Cooking: Dough-nuts
Pioneer Cooking: Grits Bread
Pioneer Cooking: Hasty Pudding
Pioneer Cooking: Indian Cake
Pioneer Cooking: Indian Dumpling
Pioneer Cooking: Sallie Lunn
Pioneer Cooking: Venison
Pioneers "Meeting the Elephant"
Suggested Reading: Native Americans

Westward Expansion:
Jerky
The Pony Express
The Sante Fe Trail

American Civil War:
Civil War Cookin': Baked Bread Omelet
Civil War Cookin': Breakfast Cornbread
Civil War Cookin': Carolina Rice and Wheat Bread
Civil War Cookin': Fondus
Civil War Cookin': Fricasseed Eggs
Civil War Cookin': Griddle Cakes
Civil War Cookin': Hydropathic Crumpets
Civil War Cookin': Mississippi Cake
Civil War Cookin': Molasses Toast
Civil War Cookin': Rumbled Eggs
Civil War Cookin': Soda Biscuits
Soda Crackers
Send 'Em South (book review with activities

World War I:
Lesson Ideas
Bibliography
Geography
The Lusitania
Research Topics
Timeline
Trivia

The Great Depression:
The Great Depression: A Mini Unit

World War II:
Number the Stars
Pearl Harbor
Unit Activities


Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

---

by: KathyinFL @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 11:54:07 AM CDT

I've just created standards based math and science lessons

for grades K-2, and am working on Grades 3-5. I also have Grade 6 science.

All these are designed to be used by homeschoolers with ordinary around the house equipment, and are heavy on the hands on and manipulatives. Each set covers the whole years requirements for Math and Science at each grade level.  My plan is to open a website and sell these to Home schoolers, however for you guys at Wiki, if you want me to email you any of these I'd be happy to for free.

Just send me an email telling me which ones you want and I'll attach them.   email mary@retirehaw.com

Always have a plan B.

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by: maryinhawaii @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 16:28:57 PM CDT