Things That Make Me Conflicted

It strikes me that book award panels often cause a crisis of conscience for librarians. On one hand, as an intellectual person who appreciates word craft and good literature and feels a certain responsibility to have award winning books in my library, I am dedicated to purchasing the books that are chosen by the various panels.

On the other hand, my miniscule budget and desire to spend this money on books that I know will be popular makes me think twice about letting my limited resources go for something that I know will just sit on the shelf. It's not that these titles are bad, (in fact, many of them are quite good) just that they are not what the kids want to read.

"When You Reach Me" is just such a book. It is quirky, well written and enjoyable if you are an adult, but I just can't see kids relating to it. Although Miranda is a likeable character, she is just too precocious and weird. Also, I can't see teens or tweens relating to this time period. Who has even heard of the Ten Thousand Dollar Pyramid? The ending sort of saves the book but I'm wondering how many kids will understand what all has happened. I didn't really get it at first and had to reread to understand. Maybe I'm just dim.

So, there's my quandary. Do I buy this book because it's important to have good quality literature for teens? After all, if I only want to spend money on things that will circ I should get rid of my whole collection and just buy "Twilight" and all of the other books with a vampire storyline.

But,like "The Higher Power of Lucky" I can see this book staring at me from the shelves, uncirced and untouched, driving my pragmatic and miserly conscience crazy. Like booktalking a novel that I don't really think kids will enjoy, "When You Reach Me" really is one of those things that makes me conflicted!

Books for the College Bound

If you're like most high school students these days you either don't like to read or don't have time to read. But if your Xbox breaks or you get sick of watching Simon purse his lips on American Idol, you might like to peruse this list of books for college bound.

These are the books that are required by high school English teachers from all over the country. Some of these are for AP classes but many of them are read (and believe it or not, enjoyed) by regular old teens like you. The list may appear daunting, but there are lots of fun items on there. "Part-time Indian" and "Spanking Shakespeare" are both laugh out loud reads that won't even seem like homework.

This could be a great way to find common ground with other teenagers from around the country. You could be reading the same book as some hot guy from California. Imagine the "Facebook" pages you could start!

There are some pretty highbrow things on this list also, but a little intellectual endeavor never hurt anyone. Y0u never know when something you have to read for school can give you insight or help you come up with a topic for your college essay. At the very least it may someday make you seem intelligent and well read at a cocktail party or job interview. Who knows?

High School or a Minefield???

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
High school has been easy for Regina and the rest of her gang, the "Fearsome Fivesome." In fact, their job is to have fun and make life miserable for everyone else. But when Regina gets caught in the wrong place at a school party, she goes from being a queen bee to a sqaushed bug. Now she gets to see how it feels to be terrorized, teased and victimized by the people she used to call her friends. Are high school girls really this mean and conniving? Some girls are...

This was a quick read but also pretty painful. I just find it hard to believe that high school is really this much of a minefield. Anna, the main (mean) character is almost a caricature of all of the evil girls we've seen in teen movies. This isn't to say I didn't like the book. It was engrossing and kept me interested but it didn't seem believable.

I also find it hard to fathom that school administrators are so clueless. Can kids really be terrorizing other students right under their noses? And what about Regina's parents, she came home daily with new bruises, both physical and emotional, and they never noticed a thing. In fact I don't think her father even interacted with her in the book.

Spoiler alert....
What I did like was the fact that Regina didn't immediately renounce her evil ways and become nice all of the sudden. For awhile it seemed like she was determined to be even meaner than she was before. I thought that this was a big plus for the book. It would have been easy to have Regina break down, feel guilty and instantly become friends with the same kids she used to terrorize.

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Starved for the Sequel?????

Good news for those who are ready for another serving of "The Hunger Games" series by Suzanne Collins. Scholastic publishing company has announced that "Mockingjay," the third and final installment in this series, will be released August 24, 2010. Sort of unfortunate timing if you ask me, but this series is so engrossing that it just may have teens wishing away their summer so that they can hurry up and get this book.

I'm know I'm one of those who can't wait to once again "fear the reaper!" Although Collins isn't dishing anything about the plot of this book, we can be sure that there will be plenty of adventure, treachery and love triangle action. Let the games begin!

If you haven't already become hooked on "The Hunger Games" maybe this booktrailer by Justin Breaux of Saint Amant High School will help whet your appetite.