Young Adult Novels

Outstanding Books for the College Bound

“Chasing Shadows” by: Swati Avasthi

Avasthi, S., & Phillips, C. (2013). Chasing shadows. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.

This is a story about a brother, Corey, his twin sister, Holly, and their best friend, and Corey’s girlfriend, Savitri, or Sav as they call her.  They are seniors in high school and planning their futures and trying to decide what colleges to go to. They do this thing called “free running”.  They run very fast and do flips off ledges, benches, run up walls and do back flips, etc. On their way home one night after doing this, Sav is in her car and Corey and Holly are in their car which they call The Dana.   They are following each other and Sav makes it through a light, but Corey and Holly don’t.  So Sav pulls over past the light to wait for them.  But while they are waiting for the light to turn, a gunman walks up and starts shooting into Corey and Holly’s car! Corey throws himself over his sister who ends up saving her life, but he doesn’t make it. Sav is running back to their car after seeing this entire event take place in her rearview mirror.   The shooter has on a hoodie and jeans, but that is all she can see of him. This story shows how hard a struggle the two girls go through after the death of Corey.  Can they remain friends?  Can they help each other through this?  Holly especially has a very hard time coping with life after Corey’s death.   She has thoughts that she can bring Corey back, but they are dark thoughts and not real.  She slowly starts slipping into a mental breakdown, but her parents and Sav just don’t want to believe it.  In the end, she ends up drugging Sav because she thinks if Sav goes into a coma like she did after she was shot, Sav could help her bring Corey back.  But Sav ends up pulling through this and decides she hadn’t been helping Holly at all. Holly really needed a tough friend who would listen instead of someone who just went along with her so as not to upset her.  Holly is committed to a psychiatric hospital and slowly starts to realize her brother is really dead and is never coming back.  The police, with the help of Holly and Sav finally do catch the shooter, but it almost cost Sav her life.

This book is for older teens, it has a lot of very deep thinking parts to it about death, friendships, and letting go of things so you can move on with life. 

NYT Bestseller

“Saint Anything” by: Sarah Dessen

Dessen, S. (2015). Saint Anything: A novel. New York, NY: Penguin Group.

 

“Saint Anything” is a realistic fiction piece about a girl named Sydney.  Sydney had spent her whole life feeling invisible next to her brother Peyton.  Peyton was always bigger than life and daring, until those exact characteristics had him seeking adventure in illegal ways, landing him in prison for hitting a boy on his bike while driving under the influence.  Sydney is tired of the people at her school looking at her like she had something to do with it, so she changes schools.  In her new school she makes unlikely new friends, and actually feels what it’s like to be loved.  The main problem in the book is Sydney feeling like she’s always been invisible, and that her mother still doesn’t see the damage her brother has caused.  In Sydney’s new group of friends, she no longer feels invisible.  She learns what it’s like to open up to people and not feel judged.  When her friends’ mother ends up in the hospital, Sydney breaks the rules to be there to support them.  Her mother realizes through this, that sometimes it’s ok to break the rules, and she and Sydney regain their close relationship.  The story ends with Sydney going to apologize to the boy her brother hit with his car.

This book would be a good read for teens that enjoy realistic fiction that tugs on your heart strings. Teachers may find this book valuable to teach about how a parent’s point of view could be skewed due to other circumstances. It is also a great book about seeing how someone can grow and strengthen through a hard time, and how sometimes when things seem their worst, something great can come out of it.

Great Graphic Novels for Teens

“Drowned City” By: Don Brown

Brown, D. (2015). Drowned city: Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

 

This is a nonfiction graphic novel explaining to the reader what it was like when Hurricane Katrina hit the city of New Orleans. It is beautifully done with drawings and illustrations that tell the horrible tale of the people on those days. It walks the reader through every moment of the storm and discusses the Superdome, the convention center, the lack of government response and the confusion of all the people. The author throws in quotes from people who were there and can describe the smell and what it was like in those buildings. It tells the story of the attempted help of a Navy hospital ship that was ignored, busses that offered to help people get out of the city and trains that left empty because of the government. It tells how the hospitals suffered and even had children pumping air into patients who needed air when the electric pumps and generators ran out of fuel. How it took till October before the water was out of the city. Only 80% of the population has returned to New Orleans after the storm and only 15% of the 9^th Ward where the most lost was.

I think that any student who is interested in weather and natural disasters will enjoy the book. It is hard to even come close to understanding what the people of New Orleans went through but this book helps put some of it into perspective. It would be a great nonfiction-graphic novel book to pair with other Hurricane Katrina books. When I started reading the book I didn’t put it down till I was through. It is a quick and fast read that I think will make kids think. I understand and agree with why it is on the Great Graphic Novel list for Teens.

Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults

“First Flight Around the World: The Adventures of the American Fliers Who Won the Race” By: Tim Grove

Grove, T. (2015). First flight around the world: The adventures of the American fliers who won the race. New York, NY: Abrams.

 

This is a great nonfiction book about an amazing feat of aviation that occurred in 1924 when flying was still in its early stages.  Very few people today have heard of this effort even though it was a significant step in American aviation’s development. The U.S. Army decided to send four planes on a flight around the world.  They had four planes especially built for the occasion. In 1924 no airplane was capable of flying long distances across the oceans. A route had to be planned that took the flights over or near land masses for the most part with only short over- water flights. Four planes started in Seattle, Washington on April 6 1924 and two finished September 28, 1924 back in Seattle. Almost six months compared to today when it can be done in two days. The flight path essentially followed the pacific coast north to Canada, Alaska and over the Bearing Sea to Russia and Japan then across Korea, China, India and the Middle East, Africa then Europe, Canada and back to the United States. The average for each leg of the flight was less than 600 miles. Of the four US planes that started, only two completed the race. The first crash occurred in Alaska shortly after the race started. The second plane was lost in the North Atlantic near Iceland. Even though the two planes were lost and damaged by rough landing or weather, none of the crews were lost. The U.S. was not the only country attempting this but they were the first to complete the journey. During the flight, the planes visited 28 countries, travelled 26,345 miles and were in the air for 303 hours. The crews got a hero’s welcome upon their return and in fact in many countries and cities along the route and generated a lot of good will for the U.S.

This is a great book for anyone interested in aviation and just a good story to read. It includes great pictures, diagrams, bibliography and a glossary. It gives a great first person perspective from the pilot First Lieutenant Lowell Smith for most of the book.   

Printz or Printz Honor

“And We Stay” By: Jenny Hubbard

Hubbard, J. (2014). And we stay. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.

 

Jenny Hubbard tells the tale of 17 year old Emily Beam in a beautiful narrative format with sprinkles of prose. Emily’s life is forever changed when he ex-boyfriend Paul pulls a gun on her and then kills himself in their high school library. It is only after you read the whole story do you really find out why they were fighting and what leads him to bring a gun to school. After that traumatic experience she is sent to a boarding school called the Amherst School for Girls, or ASG. Her new roommate is K.T. and very different from her. While at the school, she is left with time to reflect and think about Paul and what happened. She also spends a lot of her time writing poems about things she faces on a daily basis. Writing poems is her way to get through each day. She becomes good friends with K.T. and another girl named Amber. The reader slowly finds out that Emily was pregnant and didn’t want to keep the baby and that is kind of the reason why she broke up with Paul. He could not accept the break up and why she didn’t want to keep the baby. She had a future planned out and she also didn’t want him to give up his dreams either. She feels that Paul really didn’t want to end his life that day in the library but something just happened. In the end she is convinced to share her poems and decides to put them together in a book for everyone to read, read about love, life and everything in between.

This is a beautifully written tragedy story of loss and how to move on with your life. I think that high school girls will enjoy reading this book as their heart breaks for Emily. It is a good story that teaches teen that there is life after a tragedy and how it takes time and having an outlet like writing can help you get through it.

Quick Picks

“Black Widow” By: Margaret Stohl

Stohl, M. (2015). Black Widow: Forever Red. Glendale, CA: Marvel Press.

 

“Black Widow” is a fictional story about the iconic superhero Black Widow.  While she is one of the main characters, Ava and Alex make up the other two main characters.  The Black Widow and Ava meet at the beginning of the book, when a man named Ivan Somodorov has Ava, as a small child, attached to electrodes and a machine.  Natasha (Black Widow) saves Ava, but not before Ivan flipped the switch to the machine, sending electrical currents through the room.  Eight years later Ava finds Alex, the boy she had been dreaming about for years.  There is an instant connection for both of them, but that’s when the danger begins.  Ivan was back, and Natasha knew Ava was in jeopardy.  While being together, Ava and Natasha realized the electric shock from before made them share memories.  After visiting Tony Stark, they learned that Ivan had interlocked hundreds of people in the same way, and one of the two people was a spy.  Basically he built an army.  The main problem in the story was finding Ivan before he linked his army with their counterparts.  However, the underlying problem was Natasha and Alex learned they were brother and sister, and Natasha had never let anyone into her life.  The problem is solved when the three worked together to shut down Ivan’s plans, but Alex was killed in the crossfire.  At the end of the book, Ava was being trained to be an agent of SHIELD, and started working with Natasha.

This will be a great read for those teen students who are into the Marvel comics and superheroes. If a student enjoys this book and writing style of Margaret Stohl then they should also check out her other book “Beautiful Creatures”. Teachers may find this book valuable because it would be a high interest book for students since Marvel has so many movies out, and the Black Widow and Tony Stark play parts in the book. I can see why this book would be on the Quick Picks list, with its high action level while still building on character’s personalities and relationships.

Best Fiction for Young Adults

“I’ll Meet You There” By: Heather Demetrios

Demetrios, H. (2015). I'll meet you there. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.

Skylar is a young girl trying to find herself in and get out of the small town of Creek View, while Josh, a veteran who has just returned home from war, is trying to figure out if he has a reason to live. The two reconnect during a High School Graduation party. Though opposite in almost every way, the two find the answers they’re seeking in each other.  Skylar wants so bad to just leave town and never look back but can’t when her mom loses her job and she has to stay and help out. While Josh tries to deal with what he has been through overseas and struggles with PTSD. History begins to repeat itself as Josh joins Skylar back at The Paradise Motel. Though opposite in almost every way.  While working together at the weird Paradise motel the two create a bond and help each other deal with the situations they are in. Throughout the book they become closer and closer and by the end have really come to love each other very much. It is a great realistic love story. 

This book is a simple read that even the most versed of readers can appreciate. The story is simple, sweet, and really makes you feel that you’re seeing these lives right in front of your eyes. Young readers will find it very easy to connect with both of the main characters. Older readers will be able to draw back to memories of the past when it felt like the world was waiting on every decision they made. From the descriptive moments of what Sky is feeling, to the lost world that Josh lives in, everything is believable. It was a great book and allowed the world of Creek View to pull you in as soon as you open the book.