Haunted by Meg Cabot

Cabot, Meg. Haunted: A Tale of the Mediator. New York: Harper Collins, 2003. Print.

Annotation:  Susannah has a gift, she helps ghosts move on to whatever is next but her latest ghost is not co-operating. She has to help him to move on and fast so that she can deal with her boy drama and try to keep her curious friends in the dark about her talent for talking to the dead.

Booktalk:

Susannah Simon is a Mediator, she is a go-between for the living and the dead.  Her job is to help the dead move on to the next stage.  While dealing with the dead she is also juggling a major crush on Jesse the boy who haunts her house and a handsome, rich boy with an air of danger who has the hots for her.  On top of the boy drama she is stuck dealing with an angry ghost who won't leave,  a pair of too tight Jimmy Choo's, and bad hair.  Haunted by Meg Cabot, fabulous fashions, guys and ghosts.   

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Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis:The Story of a Childhood. New York: Pantheon, 2003. Print.


Annotation:  The semi-autobiographical graphic novel of Marjane Satrapi's childhood in Iran.  It shows all the good and the bad of being stuck in the middle of all the fighting.

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Booktalk:

Persepolis is the tale of one girl's childhood in Iran from 1980 until 1984.  In the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution Mari is a member of a wealthy and educated family living under Islamic rule.  Satrapi offers an insider's view of Iran in the early '80's.  This graphic novel is at once funny and heartbreaking.  It is a portrait of open rebellion and the small quiet rebellions that takes place under the guise of conformity. 

Winner of the Angouleme Coup de Coeur Award
Winner 2004 ALA Alex AwardWinner YALSA Best Books for Young AdultsWinner Booklist Editor's Choice for Young AdultsWinner New York Public Library Books for the Teen AgeWinner School Library Journal Adult Books for Young Adults 

Interview with the author about the movie made from both Persepolis books.  

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr

Coerr, Eleanor. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1977. Print.
Annotation: Sadako Sasaki is sick with cancer, she is trying to fold a thousand paper cranes, if she does her wish to get well will come true.

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Booktalk:
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes is the true story of Sadako Sasaki, hero of the children of Japan.  Sadako became a symbol of strength and peace because of her courage in facing death.  Sadako died of leukemia as an effect of radiation from the atomic bomb dropped on the city of Hiroshima.  This short book is her story which serves as a story of all of the many children that died as a result of the bombing.

Breathless by Lurlene McDaniel

McDaniel, Lurlene. Breathless. New York: Delacorte Press, 2009. Print.

Annotation:  This story told from multiple points of view is about how far people will go someone they love.

Booktalk:
Travis has it all. He is a champion diver, popular at school, has a girlfriend, Darla, who he loves, a loyal best friend Cooper and a kid sister, Emily, who he likes to hang out with.  An accident sets in motion a chain of events that none of them could predict.  Loyalty, friendship and love will be tested.  Travis will ask all of them for the unthinkable.  The question will leave you Breathless.

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Rooftop by Paul Volponi

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Volponi, Paul. Rooftop. New York: Penguin Group, 2006. Print.

Annotation:  Clay is the only one who knows what really happened on the roof the night his cousin Addison was killed.  There are people all around who want Clay to tell it their way, he needs to decide if he should tell the truth or what people want to hear.

Booktalk:
Clay got caught smoking pot so his parents send him to Daytop, a drug treatment program that replaces school.  While there he meets back up with a cousin who he lost touch with. Clay and his cousin Addison bond instantly.  But tragedy strikes and Addison is shot dead by police on a rooftop with Clay next to him.  Clay is left with the pain of his cousin's death and the fire storm of politics that Addison's death triggers.  It is up to Clay to figure out what is right and to make the choice between truth and lies.

ALA Best Book Young Adult
ALA Quick Pick Award
New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008. Print.


Annotation:  Katness Everdeen has to fight for her life in a televised game she is forced to play.  She doesn't know who to trust and what plans her partner has.  


Booktalk:
Would you kill someone? Could you kill someone? Could you kill the person sitting next to you? The Hunger Games, twenty-four enter, one leaves. Countryman against countryman; neighbor against neighbor. Some enter for glory, most because they are poor and unlucky. Katness Everdeen enters out of love. What will it take for Katness to leave The Games? The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. May the odds be ever in your favor.


Winner of 2008 Cybils in the Young Adult Category
Publisher's Weekly Best Book of the Year 2008
New York Time Notable Children's Book of 2008
ALA Top Ten Books for Young Adults
2009 Children's Choice Book Award
YALSA Teen's Top Ten 2009
New York Public Library "Stuff for the Teen Age" List 2009
Kirkus Best Book of 2008
Horn Book Fanfare
School Library Journal Best Books of 2008
Booklist Editors' Choice 2008

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Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Mayberry

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Maberry, Jonathan. Rot & Ruin. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010. Print.

Annotation:  Benny Imura begins apprenticing with his brother in the family business, zombie killing.  He starts to realize that killing zombies is not all there is to the job.

Booktalk:
"Benny Imura couldn't hold a job, so he took to killing.  It was the family business."  Life is not what Benny Imura thought it was.  Sure there's zombies (zoms), survivors and bounty hunters, but when he begins apprenticing with his brother Tom he is taken beyond the fence into the Rot & Ruin.  Out there he begins to see the reality he never considered.  Bounty hunting is not what he thought it was, zoms aren't what he thought they were either, and Tom is most certainly not who Benny thought he was.  Can Benny and Tom survive the zombies and worse in the Rot & Ruin?

Winner of 2010 Cybils for Fantasy and Science Fiction Category

Listen to the 1st chapter
of Rot & Ruin.

Don't miss book two in the Bennt Imura series Dust & Decay. 

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

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Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars. New York: Penguin, 2012. Print. 

Annotation:  Hazel and Augustus, two cancer patients fall in love and learn about loss.

Booktalk:
Hazel Grace Lancaster is dying.  The fact is undeniable, but while not in remission, an experimental drug has halted the progress of her cancer indefinitely.  At a support group for kids with cancer she meets Augustus Waters.  He is hansom, smart, funny and understands what it is to live with cancer.  Hazel Grace and Augustus visit the Netherlands searching for answers from the author of their favorite book.  Along the way they discover the love of their lives. 

"Almost everyone is obsessed with leaving a mark upon the world.  Bequeathing a legacy. Outlasting death.  We all want to be remembered. I do, too.  That's what bothers me most, is being another unremembered casualty in the ancient and inglorious war against disease.  I want to leave a mark.  But... The marks humans leave are too often scars.  You build a hideous minimall or start a coup or try to become a rock star and you think, "They'll remember me now," but (a) they don't remember you, and (b) all you leave behind are scars.  Your coup becomes a dictatorship. Your minimall becomes a lesion."

The story of Hazel and Augustus is a tale of love, of dying, and of the scars we leave.

Watch author John Green read the entire first chapter of The Fault in Our Stars.

Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy by Bil Wright

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Wright, Bill. Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print.

Annotation:  Fashion forward Carlos Duatre has landed his dream job and his is on his way but the road to fame is rocky.

Booktalk:

Carlos Duarte, fashionista and self proclaimed "big" guy, has dreamed of being a makeup artist to the stars for as long as he can remember.  Now he has his first break on the way to fame and fortune; he has landed a job at the Feature Face makeup counter in Macy's.  Carlos feels he is destined to be famous, but for now he is stuck navigating high school, a crush on a guy who keeps giving mixed signals, family issues and friend drama.  Can Carlos realize his dreams?  Read this novel about an unapologetically fabulous guy and see if all of his practice Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy has gotten him where he knows he belongs.

Winner of the Stonewall Award 2012