Books for Teens

Oggie Cooder doesn’t mind being different.  He does wish he had more friends, but the people in town just can’t accept his weird clothes and odd habits.  When he accidentally auditions for Hidden Talents and is chosen to appear on TV everyone in town starts to notice him.  It starts out as a blessing.  Oggie loves to Charve (Chew and carve- a word he created himself) cheese into sculptures of the states.  However, when Donnica becomes his manager, she wants to be famous at all cost.  Will Oggie make it all the way to Hollywood?  Make sure to check out Sarah Weeks’ novel to find out!

In this installment of the House of Night Series, Zoey has just escaped Kalona and the Raven Mockers.  She and her friends are hiding in the tunnels with the Red Fledglings.  Neferet has become evil and is a powerful enemy.  Zoey and Eric seemed to be making up just as Heath arrives again!  And when Zoey is seriously injured she must drink from Heath and their Imprint is reestablished.  Not to mention, Kalona has been stalking Zoey in her dreams and wants her to be his A-ya.  That is three guys after Zoey so far and there is still a fourth she encounters that she begins to fall for!  I enjoyed the fast pace of this novel.

By the time I reached the end, I half hoped that things would be resolved but I also didn’t want the story to end.  Will Zoey remain with Eric?  What about her Imprint with Heath?  Can she save Stark?  Defeat Kalona?

The final book in the Twilight series is a shocker.  If you haven’t read it yet…just stop here, because I don’t want to spoil it for you.

You still there?

Bella gets married and soon after finds out she is pregnant.  Her pregnancy developing very quickly and Edward can’t turn her into a vampire since it could jeopardize the baby.  He wants to terminate it since having a vampire baby inside a human appears to be dangerous.  The baby incapacitates Bella, drains her of all her energy, breaks her ribs when it kicks.  But, Bella can’t imagine not having the baby and so she decides no matter the risk she will have it.

Meanwhile, Jacob’s werewolf clan discuss killing the baby since no one knows what power it will hold or whether it can be controlled.  Jacob leaves the clan in order to protect her.  Bella’s baby grows alarmingly fast.  And in quite a short time she is ready to deliver.  There are complications however, and Edward has to turn Bella into a vampire to save her life.  Both mother and baby thrive.  When the other vampires hear there is an immortal child (which is not allowed in vampire society) not only are werewolves after Bella’s baby but the powerful Volturi vampire clan also confront the family.

You have to read the book to find out what special talent Bella develops as a vampire and to learn more about her baby.  Also can Edward’s clan fight off the powerful Volturi?

This is the third book in the Twilight series.  In this novel, Bella is torn between her friendship with Jacob and her love for Edward.  When Jacob declares his love for her, she doesn’t want to lose their friendship.  In the end, both guys want what is best for Bella and unite to fight off a group of vampires that are hunting Bella.  Bella begs Edward to turn her into a vampire.  But, he insists they get married first, which Bella thinks is not a good idea.  To me that was a little confusing… she wants him bad enough to die for him, but she is not ready to marry him?  Not much gets resolved…which led me quickly to book 4–Breaking Dawn.

This is a great book for upper elementary students through middle schoolers.  I won this book in a raffle and I quickly finished the book.  It reminded me a lot of the movie National Treasure.  It is basically a treasure hunt book.  The main characters Amy and Dan Cahill are left the first clue by the grandmother.  Unfortunately, she left the same clue to many other relatives, so the race is on to see who can figure it out first.  The race leads to many historic places, with enemies ready to trap them at every turn.  Book one ends with clue #1 solved, but does this mean we have to read 38 more books to find out what the mystery treasure is?  I liked the book well enough, but I’m not sure I want to commit to reading 39 books.  Something that was cool is that each book comes with clue cards to help you decipher the big mystery.  You can go online and log in to find out more about the characters.  There are also additional card packs to buy if you want more clues.  I think kids will enjoy the internet connection and the chance to win prizes.  I went ahead and put this in my elementary library to see how the kids react to it.

Any girl can relate to this funny well written book about love and heartache and starting over again. Jennifer Lewis has the perfect life, until her boyfriend dumps her without any warning. She is heart broken and depressed about losing the love of her life. Since she can’t think of a reason why Max left her, she starts to find fault in her self. That’s when Nana comes to the rescue. After hearing a talk radio program about a new self help book called The Breakup Bible, Nana buys it to help Jen get over Max. At first Jen finds the book ridiculous, but the more depressed she becomes the more she realizes maybe there is something good in this book. To distract herself from thinking about Max, she pours all her energy into an article she is writing about race relations at her high school. Her school sponsor is so impressed with her that he recommends her for an internship at The New York Times. Things start to look up for her when her father sets her up on a blind date. Gene is sweet and funny and Jen really hits it off with him…until he kisses her and all she can think about is Max. She begins to fear that she will never get over Max, when all of a sudden she realizes she never really knew him at all. After taking some heat over the controversial article she has written for the paper, Max approaches Jen and accuses her of retaliation for dumping her. Shocked, she can’t believe that he could ever think she would be so cruel. At that point, a switch turns off and Jen decides Max was never right for her after all. The novel ends, full of hope. Will Jennifer get the internship? What happens with Gene? Is Max out of her life for good? Readers will be joining “Team Jennifer,” and cheering her on right up until the last page.

The format of this book is incredibly appealing. At over 500 pages, it might be intimidating to a young reader until they pick it up and flip through the pages. Selznick’s book is a graphic novel told in pages of words alternating with pages of black and white drawings. It was a quick read, despite the length and I highly enjoyed reading it.

Hugo is an orphan. After his father died he has been hiding in a train station, maintaining the clocks in the building. The only thing he has left from his father is a broken automaton and the dream of repairing it. Hugo tries his best to fend for himself. He often has to steal food and parts for his repairs from a local toyshop. One day Hugo befriends the toyshop owner’s goddaughter at the movie theater. Later, he is caught stealing by Georges Melies, the shop owner. Georges takes Hugo’s sketch book as a penance for the theft. More than anything Hugo wants his sketch book back, so he begins to work for the shopkeeper to earn it back. Through the help of his new friend, Hugo is able to get his sketch book and repair the automaton. Once they turn on the automaton, it begins to draw a picture and write out a message.  Hugo can’t wait to see what it creates.  He is shocked to find at the bottom of the picture the automaton has signed Georges Melies’ name.  A mystery is to be uncovered.  What role did Georges play in the creation of the automaton?  Why did it draw a scene from Hugo’s father’s favorite movie?  The fast paced ending had me glued to my seat, eager to find out what would become of Hugo Cabret.

I must admit that when I started this novel, I didn’t think I would finish it.  I don’t know if I was distracted or in a bad mood.  It has a funny introduction, I honestly don’t know why I didn’t want to continue reading it. All I know is…I am glad I did.  Violet Paz has just turned fifteen.  When her Abuela comes to visit her, Violet learns that her family wants to hold a quincaenero (15th birth day bash!)  That sounds sort of fun to Violet except she hates to wear dresses and she hates dances.  Her grandmother talks Violet and her parents into planning the quince party.  Even though Violet is half Cuban she has to read The Quincaenero for the Gringo Dummy to find out what the party involves.  She decides to make it reflect her personality, so instead of dates for her court she has an all girl court.  She also changes the traditional pink dress to a stunning purple and white number.  While planning the party her family holds many bbqs and Violet starts to get to know her extended family better.  Everyone comes together to support her.  The more she learns about this Cuban tradition, the more she longs to know about Cuba.  Her father will not speak about Cuba after the Communist movement his family suffered under.  Violet is forced to take matters into her own hands to learn about her family history.  When her father finds out that she has gone behind his back to learn about Cuba he threatens to call off the quince party.  After all their hard work on the party…what will it take for Violet and her father end their feud?

First of all let me start by saying, I just love books by Gordon Korman.  The first book that introduced me to this author was Shipwrecked: Island Book 1.  Gordon Korman has a knack for writing books that kids are just drawn to.  In No More Dead Dogs, the main character Wallace Wallace is the town hero.  Ever since he saved the day at last year’s football championships, the entire town looks up to him.  Wallace Wallace is a likable guy, all of us know someone like him.  He is a little sarcastic and tells it just how it is.  In fact, he never lies.  So when his English teacher assigns a book report on Old Shep, My PalWallace tells the teacher his honest opinion of the book.  Basically…he thinks it stinks.  As you might guess, his teacher (who absolutely loves the book) is not too impressed with Wallace’s report.  Wallace is assigned detention to work on rewriting it.  When Wallace shows up to detention, he is horrified to find out that his teacher Mr. Fogelman is directing a school play about Old Shep, My Pal.  In order to attend detention, Wallace can no longer go to football practice after school.  As soon as Wallace writes “an appropriate review” of the book, he’s released from detention.  However, Wallace who never tells a lie just cannot bring himself to write a positive review of the book.  Eventually, the longer he stays with the drama club, the more he begins to like them.  They listen to his ideas and before long the kids are listening to his ideas over what Mr. Fogelman had planned.  At first Mr. Fogelman is frustrated by the students changing around the play according to Wallace’s suggestions.  However when they try out what Wallace has in mind, Mr. Fogelman can’t help but agree that Wallace’s ideas are good ones.  Throughout the story is an underlying mystery.  Someone is sabotaging the play and making it look like Wallace is responsible.  The football team has a losing streak without Wallace and pretty soon, half the school seems to hate him for not writing a review for his teacher.  As more pranks are pulled on the play, his new drama friends start to believe he really might be responsible.  Wallace has to set things straight, so he decides to catch the prankster in the act.  I was completely surprised, by who turned out to be responsible for the cruel jokes.  In the end, Wallace does save the day (and gets the girl!) But, you have to read it yourself to find out how.

During 1935, Moose’s family moves to Alcatraz island after his father gets a job working at the jail.  His sister, Natalie, has mental deficiencies and his mother is trying to get her some help with her condition.  His father has to work constantly to keep up with the bills for Natalie’s tutors and special schooling.  When his mother is forced to take a job giving piano lessons to help cover the costs, it becomes Moose’s responsibility to take care of Natalie after school.  The other children on the island befriend Moose, but immediately he sees that Piper, the warden’s daughter, is in charge.  If he doesn’t keep her happy she immediately tells Moose she will tell her father about Natalie.  Moose hates to have anyone pick on his sister, so even though he hates to break the rules he goes along with Piper’s schemes.  Her first scheme is to make money from the mainland school kids by selling the opportunity to have their laundry done by prisoners such as Al Capone.  Everything seems to go fine until one of the parents finds out and complains to the warden.  Moose is punished even though his only role is that he knew about the plan and did nothing to stop it.  The warden tells him if he messes up again Moose’s family will be kicked off the island. 

Moose’s mom tries everything to get Natalie help.  Many people try to convince her to institutionalize Natalie.  When a special school will not accept Natalie, his mother arranges for Ms. Kelly to start tutoring her.  Natalie starts improving.  The more time she spends with Moose, doing everyday things such as playing and walking around the island, the more she improves.  Moose feel’s overwhelmed at times by her demanding nature.  Natalie has to have things done in a certain way.  Birds have to be counted, people have to walk single file.  Moose’s new friends on the island, Theresa, Anne, Jimmy and Piper, accept Natalie and treat her like a human being. When the Esther P. Marinoff school does accept Natalie in their special school, Moose goes to special tactics and enlists the help of Al Capone. He types out a letter asking Capone to help him, because Moose says if anyone can help Al Capone can. With the help of Piper he slips his letter in the inmates’ incoming mail. Before long Moose’s family receives a phone call stating that Natalie will be allowed to come to the new Marinoff school for older children. In the end, Moose goes to put on his shirt and sees a note attached to it with the single word “DONE” printed on it. I just loved this book. I had been curious about reading it because of the title. I am so glad I did. Getting insight into the life of a family with a disabled child is very interesting. Also Alcatraz has always captivated me. I especially enjoyed the historical notes at the end of the novel, they answered many questions for me.