Great Young Adult Novels!

“Brown Girl Dreaming” By: Jacqueline Woodson

 Woodson, J. (2014). Brown girl dreaming. New York, NY: Nancy Paulsen Books.

“Brown Girl Dreaming” is written by Jacqueline Woodson about her childhood in the ‘60s and ‘70’s.  Woodson was born in Ohio.  She has relatives who were slaves.  She had family in the south and would make trips to South Carolina to visit her Grandma Georgiana and Grandpa Gunnar.  Her parents fight often about their trips to the south.  Eventually her parents’ divorce and she moves to South Carolina to live with her grandparents, her mom and her two siblings, Hope and Odella.  Jackie is aware of the racism but still loves her new home and its beauty.  Jackie’s mother then decides to move to New York City and leaves the three children with her parents. Her mother comes back for them but it has been a while because she has a new baby with her.  Jackie then moves with her mother to New York City and makes friends in her new home and it is there that she realizes she was meant to be a writer.  Writing is the one thing that she loves to do and knows she is good at it. Jackie returns to visit her grandparents each summer.  After the death of her grandfather, her grandmother moves to New York City to join the rest of the family.  Jackie finally has a teacher, Ms. Vivo, who tells her that she is indeed a writer and encourages her to pursue her love of writing and telling stories.  She feels confident in her future.

This book was written in prose and was an easy read.  It is for Middle School or High School students.  I think elementary students would get lost.  This book is a good example of how it was to grow up a young black girl during the Civil Rights Movement. There is a lot of history in the story and it would be a great partner with a nonfiction book about Civil Rights or for a class read aloud during Black history month.

“Persepolis” By: Marjane Satrapi

Satrapi, M. (2003). Persepolis. United States: Pantheon Books.

This is the story of Marjane Satrapi, a young girl who grew up in Iran from the age of six to fourteen.  She saw firsthand the horrors of the war with Iraq.  Her parents were often involved with political protests and her uncle had fled to Russia because the Iranians thought he was a spy. As a young girl, Marjane wanted to fix her country and the world.  Marjane is a very strong willed and outspoken girl and while she is trying to make a difference she ends up getting expelled from school and her parents worry for her safety. She is then sent to Vienna to live in a boarding school run by nuns.  After living in the boarding house she lives in a variety of places with very interesting and different kinds of people. After a while, she decided to go home to her family in Iran.  After she moved back to Iran she married then unfortunately not long after that divorced.  She realized that Iran was not really the place for her either so she moves back to Europe to try and find her place in this world and where she can be happy. Marjane’s grandmother passes away at the end of the story and Marjane isn’t there but she says that “Freedom has a price”.

This book is a black and white graphic novel which made parts of the book even darker.  This book was depressing and heartbreaking but also at times funny!  I would recommend it for High School students who were interested in stories about other cultures.  

“Gabi: A Girl in Pieces” By: Isabel Quintero

Quintero, I. (2014). Gabi, a girl in pieces. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press.

Gabi is a Hispanic overweight girl in her senior year of high school, who writes her story in the form of a journal. She writes about her two best friends, one of which just came out that he was gay and the other who just found out she was pregnant.  Her family consists of a younger brother, her father who is addicted to meth and a mother who also becomes pregnant as well as her aunt who comes to live with them. Gabi writes about her dating and her daily life as a teenager in high school. Being the friend of a young pregnant girl and a gay guy causes her conflict at school some days. Her father had the habit of being gone for days on end and when he would return he hadn’t showered and looked like a homeless man.  She depicts the feelings her father makes her go through by writing letters to him. She also wrote letters to her boyfriend, although she never gave any of the letters to him or her father, it was a good way to get her feelings out in a healthy form. Gabi encounters some tough things in her senior year as she finds her father in the garage after he overdosed, goes through her boyfriend cheating on her and gets suspended from school for punching the guy who raped her best friend. She finds comfort in her journal and writing poetry alongside her boyfriend.

This book is good for teenage girls in high school who may be experiencing these same day to day activities, just beware of the explicit language. Students can learn from this book that everyone has been through hard times just as Gabi did. You just have to choose how you are going to deal with the situation. Gabi choses to write out her emotions and maybe some girls can relate or find comfort in writing as well. 

“The Knife of Never Letting Go” By: Patrick Ness

Ness, P. (2008). The Knife of Never Letting Go. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

Todd lives in a futuristic world with his dog Machee and his foster parents Ben and Cillian. He lives in a town called Prentisstown where a weird germ/plague has spread from the alien like people called the “spackle” and allows for everyone to hear all your thoughts, or “noise” as the people call it. This causes many problems for Todd as he is made to escape the town he has known his whole life before he becomes a man on his 13^th birthday. As he is escaping for reasons he doesn’t know he runs into a girl, Viola, in the swamp. This is the first girl he has ever seen since there are not any girls in Prentisstown. It turns out she landed on a space ship coming from the Old World to the New World, but when her ship crashed, she was the only survivor. They discover that they are better off together and decide that to survive they have to help each other. Once the Mayor of Prentisstown hears that Todd has escaped and has found a girl in the swamp he sets the whole town’s army after him to catch him so he can make Todd a “man” and complete his mission. Todd and Viola have to work together to try and out run the army and beat them to Haven, which is supposed to be a safe place. Since Todd hasn’t been taught to read, Viola helps to read the map that he was given and told to follow. On their way to Haven they encounter many people. Some they can trust, like Hildy and Tam and others they can’t, like Aaron the priest from Prentisstown who tries to kill them through the whole story. Once Todd and Viola finally make it to Haven they are greeted by the one person they have been running from the whole time, the Mayor of Prentisstown. The book leaves you hanging and running to the book store to pick up the second book.

This is a science fiction book that tells a great story of survival and growing up. I think that kids that enjoy a fast paced fiction story with touches of science fiction will be thrilled with this book. This book will leave you guessing and trying to figure out what is happening and who can you trust or not. Great journey of self-discovery.

“Monster” By: Walter Dean Myers

Myers, W. D., & Myers, C. (1999). Monster. New York, NY: HarperCollins

Steve Harmon is a young black male that was caught in the wrong circle of friends. In the book he is in jail waiting on his trial, he is being tried for murder. He was in a film class back in the high school he attends so he decides to write his daily trials and tribulations in the form of a script for a movie.  He journals about how some of the things he fears and how the whole ordeal makes him feel. He also gives a play by play on each day of the trial. He is on trial for the murder of a drugstore owner that his friends robbed for cash and 5 cartons of cigarettes. Steve was supposed to check the store before to make sure that there weren’t any patrons or cops. Steve goes over the conversations that he had with his friends prior to the robbery and never really agrees to the part he was playing and never ended up giving the actual signal so the DA was able to get him acquitted of the charges. Despite the outcome of the story the fear he felt while in jail was portrayed through his writing. The emotions that his family went through when they visited him were depicted well as he described each detail.

This book would be good for teenage boys as the consequences of actions are not always real until you hear the stories of others and what they went through. The story of Steve Harmon in Monster can really set a tone for teen age boys and the circle of friends they associate with because although he wasn’t directly involved or never really agreed to the things he was doing he was looking at facing 25 years in jail from a young age.

“It’s Perfectly Normal” By: Robie Harris and Michael Emberley

Harris, R. H., & Emberley, M. (2014). It's perfectly normal: A book about changing bodies, growing up, sex, and sexual health. Cambridge, Mass: Candlewick Press.

This book was written to inform the reader about all of the changes that happen when you are growing up and during puberty, sex, pregnancy, and taking care of families. This would be considered the “birds and bees” talk but very detailed and expanded. One of the last chapters even talks about sexual abuse. The book also includes information about sexually transmitted diseases, and the choices a woman has when she gets pregnant. Some chapters are broken down by gender when it talks about different organs and puberty. The book includes cartoon pictures to help the reader understand what the text is talking about. The book also includes an index in the back in case you just wanted to read about one topic and it also has pages in the back where the reader could take notes.

While this book is very informative and will teach the reader a lot of information that every person should know about, I do not feel that I would put it on the library shelf. I feel that this book would be better used in the nurse’s office or in the hands of the teacher who teaches sex education.

“George” By: Alex Gino

Gino, A. (2015). George. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.

George was born a boy hence the name George, but deep down he knows that he is really a she. This is the story of a fourth grader’s battle between what he is physically, what he knows himself to be and how to tell his mom, brother and the world that he wants to be a she. George lives with Scott, his older brother and typical teenage boy, and his hard working single mom. His dad has moved away and started a new family and they only see him during the summers. George’s best friend is Kelly and they have been friends for a long time. George’s class is told that they are going to put on a play about the book “Charlotte’s Web” and George is so excited and can’t wait to audition, but he wants to audition for Charlotte, a girl part, and is worried what people will think. He tells Kelly first and she thinks it is a great idea. They rehearse and George is very excited, but when he tries to read the part for Charlotte his teacher tells him that he can’t be that part because it is a girl part and George is crushed.  After a few days of working on the crew and seeing how miserable George is, Kelly comes up with a plan to allow George to be Charlotte and to show his classmates, his family, and the world who he really is by playing Charlotte in the second play of the day. Kelly played the part of Charlotte for the school showing but then in the evening when his mom was in the audience he switched places with Kelly and was able to play the part he wanted to play, the girl part. By playing Charlotte in the play it allowed George to start having communication with his brother, mom and of course his best friend about who he really is. Everyone was so accepting except the school bullies of course. In the end George’s best friend Kelly showed once again how special she is by planning a special day at the zoo for George. Her uncle that had not met George before was coming to take her to the zoo and she invited George to go with her but not as George, as Melissa, George’s female side. Kelly even let George borrow her clothes and wear makeup and George had the best day of her/his life.

There a very few books that have talked about this topic and are written at a middle school level. I feel that this book can teach students that everyone is different and we need to feel free to be who we are and accept people who may be different then we are. I think having a book like this on the library shelves can help that one student or students who might be able to relate to George.

“Annie on My Mind” By: Nancy Garden

Garden, N. (1982). Annie on my mind. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux.

“Annie on My Mind” is a romantic story about two 17 year old girls, Annie and Liza that meet in New York City. Liza Winthrop is a girl that comes from an upscale part in Brooklyn where she lives with her parents and brother. She goes to a private school called Foster Academy.  The academy is going through financial trouble. While Liza holds the body president position on the student counsel she runs into some problems and is almost forced out.  She is working hard to get into MIT and become an architect. Annie in ways is opposite of Liza. She goes to a public school and lives with her parents and grandma. Her mom is a bookkeeper and her dad a cabdriver and they live in the lower income part of Manhattan. Annie’s passion in life is singing. She inspires to get into the University of California to further her talent as a singer. Liza and Annie meet randomly at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where they become very close friends quickly.  Both having different things in life that they want, doesn’t stop them from falling in love. With the struggles of being in high school, they both deal with problems that bring them even closer. Liza goes through a suspension when things at school get bad. It was during that time and thanksgiving break where the girls were always together and eventually had their first kiss. Annie always thinking she was gay and Liza never even knowing she would one day fall in love with a girl? Liza had two female teachers that lived together and asked Liza to take care of their home during spring break. The two girls stayed at the house together and it all came out during that time that Annie and Liza were lovers. A Foster Academy Administrator discovers Liza and Annie and made them come out to both of their parents.  Eventually this was a huge meeting in front of the board to expel Liza. They decided to let her stay at Foster. During this time it pushes Liza and Annie apart. Both of them move on and go off to college far from each other. While away from each other Liza is now finding her strength and confidence when it comes to her sexual orientation; thinking back to the Foster teachers that lived together and loved each other. They supported Annie and Liza’s relationship telling them not to worry about others and what they think. Liza finds the strength to call Annie from her university after they have not spoken in months. Talking again they both decide to see each other during the holidays.

This is a great coming of age story and would be great for readers who might find themselves in this situation and know that they are not alone. It is a typical love story just with a new kind of twist.

“El Deafo: By: Cece Bell

Bell, C., & Lasky, D. (2014). El Deafo. New York: Amulet Books.

In this graphic novel the main character is a cartoon rabbit named Cece. When Cece was four years old, she was just like all the other kids in the neighborhood and just like her siblings, but things changed. Cece got meningitis and had to spend a lot of time in the hospital. Because of her illness Cece becomes deaf or very hard of hearing. Cece has to then start to wear big hearing aids and she hates them so much. She thinks that it makes her stand out and that other people will wonder what’s wrong with her. She goes to a special kinder class where she can learn to use other forms of communication like lip reading. Her family then moves to Roanoke and she wants to fit in there and not wear her horrible hearing aids but without them she can’t hear. In her new town she meets a very controlling friend named Laura who is very bossy. She also meets a true friend named Martha and her super crush and the new kid on the street Mike. All through school Cece feels as if she stands out when all she wants to do is fit in. This is when she invents the superhero alter ego of “El Deafo” after seeing it on TV. El Deafo possesses superpowers of super hearing. El Deafo becomes an escape from reality for Cece. After a lot of learning and growing up and dealing with the typical young girl things on top of dealing with being deaf, her classmates come to see Cece and her hearing device as cool; with help from Mike and her ability to hear where her teacher is at in the building at all times with her hearing aid, and that makes Cece very happy.

This is a great book about self-discovery and accepting who you are and being proud of who you are and what makes you special. I think that because it is written in graphic novel style and has a superhero in it the kids will really enjoy this book.

“Speak” By: Laurie Halse Anderson

Anderson, L. H. (1999). Speak. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.

Melinda is starting high school with a big secret. Her friends she has grown up with want nothing to do with her and other kids are laughing at her and don’t trust her. After the first couple of weeks she decides that art is going to be her escape and she also meets and somewhat befriends a girl named Heather. Heather talks a lot which is perfect for Melinda because since the night of the party she hasn’t talked much at all. She gets through the school year by hiding out in an old janitor’s closet where no one will find her or bother her. There in the closet she is able to work on her art and escape for a little bit. As the school year progresses she starts to get more and more withdrawn from people and talks less and less. As the reader gets farther into the story they will discover that during the summer before high school Melinda was raped at a party by IT, who we learn is Andy Evans a popular boy who flirts with everyone. When Melinda sees Rachel, her ex best friend, and Andy getting close she decides that something has to be done. Even though Rachel hates Melinda because she thinks Melinda called the cops on everyone at the party, Melinda can’t help but finally say something to stop Rachel from getting hurt by Andy. In the end the reader finds out that Melinda was not the only one who was raped by Andy. She is able to finally finish her art project she has been struggling to finish all year and finally feels free and is able to tell her story.

This is a very moving story for maybe even middle school girls about how to speak up for yourself. I think that if readers give it a chance they will fall in love with Melinda and hurt for her as they read her story. It is a little bit slow in the beginning but so worth sticking with it. This is a very powerful story of overcoming your fear and speaking out for what is wrong.

“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” By:  Sherman Alexie

Alexie, S. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.

This book tells the story of Junior who is a 14 year old boy growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. He was born with hydrocephalus (water in the brain). This causes him many health problems, like an awkward lisp and really bad eye sight so he has to wear thick glasses. He comes from a very poor family and this causes more problems for him throughout the story. Although he has many challenges he also has a best friend rightfully named Rowdy. Rowdy tries to help defend his friend Junior and even cut the ponytail off of a guy who beat up Junior once. Junior is a good student and really wants to learn in school but on the reservation the school is old and out dated so he transfers off the reservation to an all-white school, thanks to his teacher Mr. P. The move to the Reardan School hurts his friendship with Rowdy, but he was able to meet Penelope, a pretty girl and form a friendship with a nerd named Gordy. Junior works hard to earn the attention of Penelope and finally does and is able to take her to the Winter Formal wearing his dad’s old suit.  With Penelope’s help, the students start to accept Junior and he decides to try out for the Reardan basketball team and makes it onto the varsity squad. Reardan's first game of the season happens to be against Wellpinit, the reservation school. During the game all the people from the reservation ignore Junior and think of him as a traitor to his tribe. Then tragedy strikes one after another with his dad’s drinking, his grandmother passing away, a family friend being shot and then Mary’s death. Junior is devastated.  Despite all of the trials he has faced during his freshman year at Reardan, Junior does really well in school. In the end he is accepted by his new school and he and Rowdy are able to reconnect with the help of a cartoon drawing and Rowdy being bored.

This book sends you on an emotional roller-coaster! One minute you are mad and extremely sad with what happens with Junior’s dog but then laughing hysterically while reading the next chapter. This is a great book for high school boys and girls. It teaches a great lesson about survival and dealing with everyday issues.