Books for Teens

This is a fun suspenseful tale of the Jared, Simon and Mallory. When Simon’s cat goes missing, he has to find out what happened to it. When he doesn’t return, Jared and Mallory go to find him. This time they have the seeing stone to help them see what creatures are really lurking in the woods. While traveling through the creepy woods and a murky lake, they encounter a troll. After outwitting him, they stumble across a group of goblins roasting a cat for their dinner. Dangling above them are cages filled with other animals and their brother Simon. Jared and Mallory have to figure out how to get past the goblins to rescue Simon and make it back home safely. This book has just the right amount of suspense and tension for younger readers. My daughter and I read this book together in one sitting. We will be starting book three before Spring Break is over.

As S.E. Hinton wrote in Tex, “There are some people who go places and some who stay.”  Arnold Spirit will go places.  In this touching and laugh out loud story Arnold tells just what it takes to make it in the world.  Poor Arnold.  He has a rough life.  He was born with water on the brain.  After surgery to treat the problem, he has permanent brain damage which causes him to stutter, lisp, and have 10 extra teeth.  Because of all that he is constantly being picked on.  But that’s not getting Arnold down.  In fact, Arnold is doing everything he can to beat the odds.  All his life he has grown up on a reservation, or the Rez as Arnold calls it.   His family is very poor and his father is often drunk.  He best friend is the town bully, but he is also Arnold’s protection.  When one of the reservation teachers tells Arnold he is really smart and not to give up like so many other Indians on the reservation have, Arnold decides the only way to be someone is to get off the reservation.  Arnold enrolls in the closest public school, almost 25 miles away in Reardan.   It’s a hick town, small minded, with hardly any minorities and Arnold Spirit sticks out like a sore thumb.  The first day is rough, but after Arnold punches the captain of the football team, he slowly earns the school’s respect.  The Indians back home seem to think Arnold is acting superior and even his best friend stops talking to him.  Arnold finds himself split to two…stay on the reservation and become a loser or risk everything to get off the reservation.

As I read this book, I felt hooked. I just couldn’t put it down. Bella moves to a small town. She is immediately curious about a strange group of kids she sees on the first day of school. They dress in black. They keep to themselves. The catch is that they are extraordinarily gorgeous. Bella finds herself drawn to one of the crowd…Edward Cullen. At first he seems repulsed by her. He avoids her and ignores her. Then he disappears. It couldn’t be because of her…could it? When he returns to school a week later, he is a different person. As lab partners they become friends. Before long he starts to walk her to class and she starts to fall for him. So far it sounds pretty good right? What could go wrong? One night while Edward is on a hunting trip with his family, Bella hangs out with some of the town kids. She asks some questions about the Cullen family. It turns out some people think the Cullen family are vampires. This suspenseful tale is full of secrets, mystery, vampires, love, and heartache. As I raced through the final pages of the book, I already knew I needed to go out and get book two.

If you’ve got an annoying brother or sister…
If you’ve ever been picked on…
If you are a misunderstood genius…
If your parents are too uptight…
If no one understands your great ideas…
If you’ve ever tried to make your own haunted house…

You’ll love Greg Heffley’s Journal, which he tells you right away: “This is a journal, not a diary. I know what it says on the cover, but when Mom went out to buy this thing I SPECIFICALLY told her to get one that didn’t say “diary” on it.” This is the hilarious tale of a very normal kid’s life in middle school. The funny tales and comic style drawings make this a quick easy read.

Sometimes rules are necessary. Sometimes rules are frustrating and just too much too deal with. For Catherine, rules help her cope with her autistic brother. She is embarrassed by the strange things he does, like: walk down every aisle in the video store and then pick up all the dvds and shout “PG 13 FOR EXTREME VIOLENCE, or RATED R FOR LANGUAGE!” When she accompanies him to therapy sessions she meets Jason, who she describes as having an extreme disability. He can not talk and is confined to a wheel chair. She becomes friends with him. Eventually he starts to like her as more than just a friend, but how will Catherine handle it? If she’s embarrassed of her brother, will she be able to get over Jason’s disability?