Realistic Fiction

Clements, Andrew. Things Not Seen. NY: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 2002.  ISBN-13: 978-0142407318; Paperback;$6.99; 272 Pages.

Awards

• ALA Notable Book & The Schneider Family Book Award

Annotation 

Bobby Phillips is a normal high school kid, but one day he wakes up and he is invisible and he can no longer attend school, hang out with his friends, or lead a normal life. Phillips turns to his parents and new friend Alicia to help find out if he will ever be seen again.

Book Talk

Bobby was once a normal kid going to high school, hanging out with friends, leading a normal life. This is all shattered when he wakes up one morning to find himself invisible. His parents are baffled by this phenomenon. Alicia, a blind girl, is his only friend through this horrible ordeal.Bobby becomes lonely, scared, and worried. His family, Alicia, and even Alicia’s family all try to find the cause of this strange phenomenon.  Is Bobby ever visible again? Does he ever find out what  caused him to go invisible? Read this intriguing story and find out if they are ever able to see The Things Not Seen.  

Hear what another teen thinks about this book.................

Autobiography

Bechdel, Allison.  Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Print.  0780618871711; paperback; $13.95 USD.  

Awards  

• Time, 12/25/06, #1 Best Book of the Year
• New York Times, 12/3/06, 100 Notable Books of 2006
• Entertainment Weekly, 12/22/06, Best Books of the Year, #1 Nonfiction
• People, 12/25/06, Top 10 Books of the Year
• USA Today, 12/21/06, Best Graphic Title of 2006
• Los Angeles Times, 12/10/06, Favorite Books of 2006, Fiction and Poetry
• San Francisco Chronicle, 12/17/06, The Year’s Best Books
• New York Magazine, 12/18/06, Best Books of the Year, #7
• Time Out New York, 12/06, Favorite Books of the Year
• Minneapolis Star Tribune, 11/24/06, Best Books of 2006
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12/3/06, Best Books of 2006
• The Plain Dealer, 12/10/06, Outstanding Books of 2006
• Salon, 12/12/06, Best Debuts of 2006, Nonfiction
• The Capital Times, 12/12/06, 2006 Favorites
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12/15/06, Best of Year
• Out, 12/2006, 100 Most Intriguing People of 2006
• Amazon.com, Editor’s Choice, Top 50 Books of 2006, Top 10 Memoirs of 2006
• Oregonian, 12/31/06, Best Books of 2006, #2
• The Advocate, 1/07, Best Book of the Year
• The Guardian (UK), 11/26/06, Pick of 2006
• New York Blade, 12/29/06, Literary Stand Outs of 2006
• PW Comics Week, Critic’s Poll, Best Comic Book of 2006
• Publishers Weekly, Best Books of the Year 2006
• Times (UK), 12/16/06, Best Books of 2006, #10
• Newsday, 1/2/07, Favorite Books of 2006
• The Village Voice, 25 Favorite Books of 2006

Annotation

Alison Bechdel portrays her childhood in comic strip form. Her honoree relationship with her father and her homosexuality are covered in this intriguing darkly humorous autobiography.

Book Review

 Fun Home A Family Tragicomic is a deeply honest and darkly comical autobiography  of the cartoonist Alison Bechdel known for her comic strip Dykes to Watch out For. It chronicles her life from a young child to adulthood.  The book focuses on her tumultuous and somewhat honoree relationship with her father. A high school English teacher, elusive parent, closeted homosexual, funeral home director, and house preservationist are words used to describe Bechdel’s father.  His misdoings and flaws are cleverly told in addition to Bechdel’s self discovery of her own sexuality as a lesbian. Bechdel’s graphic novel is written with truth, dark humor, and riveting graphic depictions. The autobiography was written from her personal journal as a child but has the added depth and perception of her adult years and understanding of the truth about her father, family, and herself. Bechdel has married humor with her family’s sadness and truth.  Readers will be filled with sarcastic laughter and in the same moment a somber sadness. The controversial topics such as suicide and homosexuality in addition to graphic pictures would make this book more suitable for upper high school students and beyond. Recommended. 

The author, Alison Bechdel, reads excerpts from her book... 

Historical Fiction

 

Zusak, Markus.  The Book Thief.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Print. 9780375831003; hardcover;  $17.99 USD.  

 Awards  

• 2006 - Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (South East Asia & South Pacific)
• 2006 - Horn Book Fanfare
• 2006 - Kirkus Reviews Editor Choice Award
• 2006 - School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
• 2006 - Daniel Elliott Peace Award
• 2006 - Publishers Weekly Best Children Book of the Year
• 2006 - Booklist Children Editors' Choice
• 2006 - Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book
• 2007 - ALA Best Books for Young Adults
• 2007 - Michael L. Printz Honor Book
• 2007 - Book Sense Book of the Year
• 2009 - Pacific Northwest Young Readers Choice Master List

Annotation 

The story is narrated by Death and set in the middle of the WW II and the Holocaust. Leisel Meminger is taken at the age of 9 with her brother to live with foster parents;Hans her foster father teaches her to read and she learns the power of words.

Book Review

The Book Thief is set in WWII Germany and narrated by Death. Death tells the gripping story of Liesel Meminger. She is taken at the age of nine along with her younger brother to live with foster parents Hans and Rosa Huberman. Death first meets Liesel when her brother dies on the trip to meet her foster parents. Rosa is very strict and harsh while Hans is kind and soft. She finds refuge in the father figure Hans as he teaches her to read and introduces her to the world of books. The first book Liesel steals is The Gravediggers Handbook. She does so before she even knows how to read. Liesel discovers a passion for books and for words which she shares with Max the Jew in hiding at her foster parents. Liesel faces many challenges the loss of her brother and the reality of the present dangers of growing up in Germany during the rise of Hitler.Zusak writes a riveting novel in a style that is different from that of Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel’s Night. He uses such imagery and description through the use of the narrator to tell Liesel’s story. The story surrounds themes of calamity and horror of the human condition to the love and power of words and reading. The book leaves readers turning the pages and makes them ache for the horrors of the Holocaust while also relishing in the power and passion of writing and reading. This book is highly recommended for advanced readers in High School and beyond.  

 An interview with Markus Zusak about his book, The Book Thief.....

Classic

Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders. New York: Speak, 2008. 180 pages. Paperback. $9.99. ISBN: 9780140385724 

Awards

• New York Herald Tribune Best Teenage Books List, 1967

• Chicago Tribune Book World Spring Book Festival Honor Book, 1967

• Media and Methods Maxi Award, 1975

• ALA Best Young Adult Books, 1975

• Massachusetts Children's Book Award, 1979 

Annotation 

Two rival gangs the Greasers and the Socials discover more about themselves than which is the tougher gang in this coming of age story. The Greasers realize they need one another and the Soc soon realize they cannot exist they way they have; both groups they discover they are more alike than they realized.

Book Review 

 The Outsiders by H. E. Hinton is an action pact adventure novel about two rival gangs; the Greasers are a low-socioeconomic group in Oklahoma and the Soc, short for Socials, are the rich, upper class from the west side of town. They fight, hassle, kill, and disrupt each other’s lives seriously. The Greasers in the end realize that they are family and need each other to survive in life. The Soc also realize that they cannot continue to exist the way they have been in the past. Both groups realize that they have some things in common, and if they are going to survive into adult life they must grow in character and trust of the other.Hinton does an excellent job of writing this coming of age story. Even though the book was written some time ago, the themes still resonate with teens and adults today. Teenagers will relate to the themes presented in the book such as disputing stereotypes, overcoming differences, and supporting and standing up for what one believes. This book is highly recommended for the reluctant as well as the advanced young adult reader. Both groups will find its fast moving action appealing, page turning, and engaging to the last page. This book is one that readers will want to read again even as an adult. Readers will be able to identify with the story line, the issues, and the tragic conclusions regardless of  which socioeconomic group they are from.   

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