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May. Warm weather. Gym Drill. Bazaar. Latin Day. A long
weekend. The end of the school year. What's not to like? Take
advantage of the good weather and sit outside and READ!! |
May Almanac |
1431 Joan of Arc is burned at the stake |
1934 Bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are killed in a shootout with police. |
1536 Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, is beheaded for adultery. |
1944 Mohandas Gandhi is freed from prison. |
1607 Jamestown, Virginia, is settled as an English colony. |
1945 Germany officially surrenders in WWII. |
1889 The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public |
1994 Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president. |
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I am Scout: a biography of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields.This biography is a reworking of the best-selling Mockingbird, adapted for young adults. Shields spotlights Lee's lifelong friendship with Truman Capote and the creation of To Kill a Mockingbird , showing how the publication and success of that book affected the rest of her life. Shields uses previously conducted interviews with Lee and her family, friends, and neighbors. He pulls from books, magazine articles, newspapers, and radio and television interviews to piece together this life story of the notoriously press-shy Lee. The author's clear and appealing style is much the same as in Mockingbird and this adaptation appears to have been not so much edited as streamlined. Photos include Lee, her family, friends, and the famous Hollywood actors who made the film version of her book. I Am Scout moves along at a good pace, and Lee's quiet life makes for a surprisingly fascinating read. Perhaps because Shields is pulling from so many sources, the occasional turn of phrase comes across as oddly formal, but generally, this is an immensely readable, intriguing tale of a quiet, private author.-Geri Diorio, The Ridgefield Library, CT School Library Journal |
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Mockingbird: a portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields. Charles Shields is a former English teacher who taught Harper Lee's book, and a scrupulous journalist who respects the lady's privacy even as he opens up her life. This biography will not disappoint those who loved the novel and the feisty, independent, fiercely loyal Scout, in whom Harper Lee put so much of herself. The New York Times - Garrison Keillor |
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Thirteen reasons why: a novel by Jay Asher. This brilliant first novel is a moving, highly original story that focuses on a set of audiotapes made by a girl before she committed suicide, and which explain to 13 people the reasons why she decided to end her life. Told in a highly effective duel narrative -- alternating between the girl’s voice and the thoughts of a boy who is listening -- this honest, poignant story reveals how other people's actions shape, and by extension can ruin, an individual's faith in people. Intensely powerful and painfully real, Thirteen Reasons Why reveals how brutal high school can be, the consequences of spreading rumors, and the lasting effects of suicide on those left behind. From Barnes & Noble. |
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Invisible by Pete Hautman. Doug Hanson has "crooked teeth and poor coordination," wears "stupid clothes," and has the popular, talented Andy Morrow as a best friend. Next to Andy, the most important thing in his life is his Madham Line, the locomotive set left to him by his grandfather. Dougie's obsessive nature has led him to turn this train set into a town, where he's in the process of finishing an eleven-foot suspension bridge built of matchsticks that he has sanded, stripped of tips, and glued together from over 22,400 matches. Dougie's precision and troubled quality are immediately apparent to readers. Soon we watch him spiral downward. He gets caught for peeping on a popular girl and phoning in a bomb threat. Why does he always get in trouble when his best friend Andy seems close by? And what is the troubling event that happened to Andy? Spare writing, carefully-selected details, and a curious voice lend suspense to this story, but readers will be little prepared for the realities of Dougie's life or the book's tragic end. Susie Wilde - Children's Literature. |
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Sleeping freshmen never lie by David Lubar. Scott Hudson begins his freshman year of high school as a source of income to Wesley, the school shakedown artist. The girl he's known since kindergarten has blossomed into a goddess, but doesn't seem to know he's alive. He gets roped into writing the sports column for the school newspaper, even though he's not an athlete. On top of everything else, his mom is pregnant. As Scott maneuvers through a number of serious situations--bullying, a suicidal classmate, school dances--he still manages to be upbeat and true to himself. Overloaded with extracurricular activities and honors homework, he begins a journal filled with lists and tips for his expected sibling on how to survive freshman year. As the school year and his mom's pregnancy progress, Scott begins to find his niche at school in David Lubar's laugh-out-loud novel (Dutton, 2005). The main narration is more than capably done by Ryan MacConnell as Scott. The rest of the characters are voiced by a variety of actors, adding depth to Scott's experiences. Unobtrusive music throughout enhances the recording, including a lullaby whenever Scott writes in his journal for the baby. An excellent choice for public and school libraries.-Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI School Library Journal |
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What I was by Meg Rosoff. This whole novel is built on a surprise (which caught me totally unaware), but beyond the surprise lies the beauty of what it means to live without junk in your life, only essential beauty, together with the reminder that all of it—the junk and the beauty—will be gone in a twinkling. This is a lovely book. Washington Post. I also really loved the book Rosoff wrote before this one—The Way I Live Now. It was fantastic. |
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It's kind of a funny story by Ned Vizzini. Like many ambitious New York City teenagers, Craig Gilner sees entry into Manhattan’s Executive Pre-Professional High School as the ticket to his future. Determined to succeed at life -- getting into the right high school to get into the right college to get the right job -- Craig studies night and day to ace the entrance exam, and does. That’s when things start to get crazy.
At his new school, Craig realizes that he’s just average, and maybe not even that. He soon sees his once-perfect future crumbling away. The stress becomes unbearable and Craig stops eating and sleeping -- until, one night, he nearly kills himself.
Craig’s suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, isolated from the crushing pressures of school and friends, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety. From the Publisher |
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Whatever happened to Janie? by Caroline B. Cooney. The outcome of The Face on the Milk Carton is disclosed in this book about fifteen-year-old Janie Johnson, kidnapped at three, returning to live with her birth parents as Jennie Spring. The effects of this move on Jennie/Janie, both sets of parents, and the sisters and three brothers in the Spring household are painfully revealed. The unravelling of the mystery of the kidnapping is sometimes gripping, if far-fetched, and the reader may grow impatient with the unrealistic expectations everybody has of everybody else. The ALAN Review
I have been reading this series, and I have really enjoyed it. It's a different take on being a teenager. |
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