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Queen
Bee
If you’ve seen the movie Mean Girls, or
if you know what it’s like to feel unpopular in school, you’ll
totally get Queen Bee. This is an awesome book! It’s
cool in the way that graphic novels just are, but it’s also
a great story. It’s about these two girls who both want to
be super-popular in school. One of them, Haley, is the new girl
and she’s nice. And the other, Alexa, is already popular and
she’s pretty mean.  |
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they both have psychokinetic powers—which means they can move
things with their minds. And when they meet, there’s literally
a tornado. Their superpowers attract and repel each other and all
kinds of crazy things happen. |
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We loved Esperanza Rising so, naturally, when Becoming
Naomi León finally came out, we were so excited. Naomi Soledad
León Outlaw (Wow! That’s some name, huh?) doesn’t have
it easy. Her clothes are polyester, she has trouble speaking up in school,
and seven years ago, her mother basically left the family in the dust.
Now, Naomi’s grandma takes care of her and she’s mostly happy—until
her mother suddenly reappears and stirs things up. This book is completely
heartbreaking, so if you don’t want to cry, you’re in trouble!
The writing is really good, and I can’t stop thinking about it.
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The Slightly True Story
of Cedar B. Hartley
So many people say the word "unusual" as if it is a bad thing.
But it's really not. Nothing proves this like The Slightly True
Story of Cedar B. Hartley, a book about a girl who actually plans
to live an "unusual" life. She does everything she can to make sure
this will happen-she makes up championships at her school that she
can win, she intentionally steps on cracks, and she's learning to
be an acrobat. How cool is that?
But that's not all that is weird
and different about Cedar-she has a way with people that makes
them like her and want to be around her-especially if they are
unusual themselves. [They probably like the way she celebrates
it and thinks it's a good idea!] Cedar makes friends with people
most of the world ignores, like the old lady who lives next door
to her and has a dog who needs an operation, or even more importantly,
Kite, the boy with a strange voice that she thinks sounds like
a river. Everything in the world is interesting and exciting for
Cedar-who finds out it's pretty hard to just live a "usual" life.
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The
Keys to the Kingdom #3: Drowned Wednesday
I love sci-fi books. They're my "thing." When I first found
The Keys to the Kingdom series, I was immediately pulled into this strange
and amazing world that Arthur Penhaligon is charged with saving.
Arthur was nearly killed in this
strange house on Monday—a house that contains a whole other
world in it, inhabited by monsters, wizards, and strange creatures.
On Tuesday, he awoke to find himself being pulled back in, meeting
new people, and saving more lives. And now, in The Keys to
the Kingdom #3: Drowned Wednesday, he is called back to
this strange alternate world yet again. Will Arthur make it
out this time? Will he return to the house on another day?
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This is a really cool book! We picked it up because we liked Eoin
Colfer’s other stories so much, but we were surprised by how
deep this really was. Meg’s life is really hard - when her mom
dies, she loses her place in the world, and ends up hanging out with
a bad kid named Belch. When Belch goes and gets them both killed,
she’s left in a weird place, with St. Peter and Beelzebub fighting
for the rights to her soul.
This is a really cool book! We
picked it up because we liked Eoin Colfer’s other stories
so much, but we were surprised by how deep this really was.
Meg’s life is really hard - when her mom dies, she loses
her place in the world, and ends up hanging out with a bad kid
named Belch. When Belch goes and gets them both killed, she’s
left in a weird place, with St. Peter and Beelzebub fighting
for the rights to her soul.
St. Peter and Beelzebub can't decide because Meg's the first
person who they've seen with a perfect balance between good
and bad. So, they send her back to earth - to tip the scales,
by placing her in a situation where she has to help the last
person she hurt. Beelzebub doesn't want to lose her, so he sends
Belch back to mess things up for her. But really, everything
is in Meg's hands, and it's a matter of her finding a way to
either save - or doom herself for eternity.
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Green's life is ruined. Everything she has ever known was just destroyed
by a horrible accident. The city across the way blew up, and her family
was killed. Her special place, her garden, was ruined. She has nothing left
and nobody to rely on, but herself. So she wraps herself in thorns, hides
in her former garden, and begins to cover her body with dark, black ravens.
It doesn't seem as if anything can save her.
While there in her garden, and
lost in her own pain, Green changes her name to Ash, and laments
all that she has lost in her life. It seems as if she will never
recover from any of this, but when she meets a ghost dog and
a boy who can not speak, things begin to change. Together, they
discover ways to magically make the garden grow again. And while
that happens, Green begins to find love, and maybe even begins
to heal some of the wounds of the recent past..
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Millicent
Min, Girl Genius
Millicent Min is a genius, and everyone knows it. She definitely knows
— and life is kind of boring for her. She's even going to college (and
she's only eleven!) and has the rest of her life planned out — starting
with the summer. But everything changes when her mom signs her up for —
ugh — volleyball, and also makes her tutor the super geek, Stanford
Wong. What else could go wrong?
Try everything! Her first college class is nothing like she thought
it would be. Her first college friend wasn't her friend at all.
Stanford Wong is STILL a total dork. And volleyball? It's better
to not speak about that!
Slowly, things start to change for Millicent, though. She finds
out she's not as bad at volleyball as she first thought - even though
she can't spike at all. And she's managed to make a friend, Emily,
who knows nothing about her IQ, her high school career (especially
the whole thing with the togas), or her college dreams. If Millicent
can just make everything work out - it might not be such a bad summer
for her, after all!
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ESPERANZA RISING
Esperanza and her mother live on a gorgeous ranch in Mexico, where they
have everything they ever wanted. When they are forced to leave their home
and find work in California, they discover a whole new world -- and have
to find their places in it.
After
losing everything, a young Mexican girl discovers the riches of
family and community.
Esperanza, whose name means hope
in English, and her mother live in luxury in Mexico. They have
a gorgeous home, beautiful clothes, and servants to take care
of them. When the Great Depression strikes, they are forced
to find work in a farm labor camp in California. Life is very
different there -- and they are not immediately accepted by
their own people. When her mother falls ill, and all the workers
strike for better working conditions, Esperanza learns about
community, loyalty, and most importantly, the value of family.
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HOW
FAR WOULD YOU HAVE GOTTEN IF I HADN'T CALLED YOU BACK?
It's 1960, and Bronwyn Lewis has just turned sixteen when her family
decides to pack up and move from the East Coast to the sleepy town of Ojala,
California. In order to make it in this new place where everyone seems cool
in a totally different way than she's used to, Bron is going to have to
find her way — and make some tough decisions.
A girl finds a new life and new loves in a new town.
Bronwyn Lewis is a cool chick, sixteen years old, living on the
East Coast. Suddenly, everything changes when her family decides
to move to a new town, all the way across the country — Ojala,
California. Bron is shocked by the way people there act — nothing
like the edginess she is used to back home — and she'll have
to find a new way to get by if she wants to fit in. She starts by
forgetting about school work and getting involved in the drag-racing
scene, where she hangs out and meets men. Things get really complicated
for Bron when she meets J.C. — a gorgeous, but older racer,
and Will — who is the nicest and smartest eighteen-year-old
she's ever met. Eventually, she has to make a choice... but it's
not easy, especially when the world seems to be racing faster than
the cars she's watching speed down the street. |
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A girl renames herself Blister in order to deal with all the bad things
happening in her life -- and as a way to take control of things gone wrong.
Blister by Susan Shreve is about Alyssa, who feels her
life can't get any worse and decides her name should be Blister.
Her parents are fighting, and her dad has moved out, which means
she has to move, too. Alyssa didn't want any of this -- so she's
fighting back. Since she has to go to a new school, she gets a new
name. And a new wardrobe. And a new attitude nobody can ignore --
not the kids at school (not even the cheerleaders!) and not her
parents, either. Alyssa/Blister is totally cool, and does everything
she can to turn a bad situation into one where she can come out
as the winner. |
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