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by Matthew Quick
2016

State Book Award Title

Nanette O'Hare is an unassuming teen who has played the role of dutiful daughter, hardworking student, and star athlete for as long as she can remember. But when a beloved teacher gives her his worn copy of The Bubblegum Reaper--a mysterious, out-of-print cult classic--the rebel within Nanette awakens. As she befriends the reclusive author, falls in love with a young but troubled poet, and attempts to insert her true self into the world with wild abandon, Nanette learns the hard way that rebellion sometimes comes at a high price.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Every_Exquisite_Thing.html?id=IY2DCgAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description

First I would like to say how surprised I was to learn that this book was written by a man but the main character was a girl.  I really thought Quick did an excellent job portraying the thoughts of a girl through his novel.

This book provides a great discussion on how a book can play with your mind.  I can see using this book as a book study to get students thinking about what they read, music they listen to, and the shows they watch and how all these things get them thinking and how that develops.  This book study could go right into adding books that students find interesting and that provides thought provoking conversation for them.  I think this book make a great starter for any group looking to teach debate and collaboration!

I love this video with the author talking about why he wrote this book and mentioning other books he has read that made him think. Excellent video to go along with my book study!!!!!

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NOVELS THAT WILL KNOCK YOU OFF YOUR FEET || Matthew Quick

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by Elizabeth Acevedo
2018

Verse Title

A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. She has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages, reciting the words to herself like prayers. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.  She does join a slam poetry club but finds out that it's not easy to get to because of her Mami.

I found this book so intriguing and heartbreaking.  The scenes described in this book are so graphic.  Acevedo does an amazing job using language that helps you feel the frustration of the characters.  When Mami destroys the notebook, I balled my eyes out because I just wanted Xiomara to be heard!

I would use this book along with many others on this log to discuss the struggles of others that we have no clue. To understand how sometimes we think we have a difficult situation but there are some teens struggling to understand how to navigate the world in their difficult situations. I could see using this book with parents to help them understand their children who struggle to conform to their parent's worlds. This would be a great adult book study!!

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by Kiiro Yumi
2014

Manga Title

Fighting censorship at her hometown art museum, Iku Kasahara and her fellow Library Forces team members are involved in a fierce skirmish in which several ranking officers are severely injured. The damage is far reaching, causing a rift in the Library Forces management that makes Iku question her place in the organization. In the midst of this controversy, Iku’s relationship with her direct supervisor, Dojo, grows more intimate when a long-discussed tea-date begins to sound more like a romantic liaison!
https://books.google.com/books/about/Library_Wars_Love_War.html?id=PdIXAwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description

I wanted so much to like this book but I struggled with the format, reading, and graphics of the book.  I can see where some would find it interesting but I felt like there wasn't enough depth to the book to get me excited.  I felt like I was missing something while reading and that I was missing the plot in it's true form.  I was able to do enough inferencing to figure it out but I didn't find it an enjoyable read.

I could see using this series to introduce my students to a new type of read and comparing manga to graphic novels with comparing and contrasting different novels to get them reading and to provide some literature work.

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Library Wars by Kiiro Yumi ~manga review

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by Courtney Summers
2018

Edgar Award Winner

Sadies has been raising her sister Mattie in a very small town and trying to pretend like she has a normal life.  Then Mattie is found dead and soon after Sadie is missing.  A radio personality, West McCray follows the clues she left behind to find where she has gone and why.  The story takes on Sadie's point of view and a podcast through the journey.

Loved the back and forth nature of this book and the suspense through-out. This is an excellent book to create a program of different collections of books with unhappy endings and then creating a study or survey of fellow readers and their response to determine preference. This could be a fun study to do with students.

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Why I Think Teens SHOULD Read Sadie | Sadie by Courtney Summers Book Review

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by Nina LaCour

2017

Printz Award

Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend, Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit, and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28243032-we-are-okay

I found the way that LaCour wrote this book from all three friends point of view from where it picked up for them was interesting. About the time the story started to become stagnant, the book would change to a different character's point of view. I liked that because this book would be a great mentor text for students to learn about their own writing style. It would be a great read for high school students to write like LaCour with their own plot line.

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by Gary D. Schmidt
2015

Audiobook

When Jack meets his new foster brother, he already knows Joseph almost killed a teacher, he was incarcerated at a place called Stone Mountain, and he has a daughter. What Jack doesn’t know, at first, is how desperate Joseph is to find his baby girl or how urgently he will want to help him.

As far as audio books, I struggle because I am very visual and I have to sit and focus on reading and when I was listening, I found myself distracted and not really listening.  It took a while for me to find an audio book from the Amazing Audio book website from ALA.org that my public library has access.  I had to search over 25 books before I found that we had this book available in an audio format for me to access.  I didn't find the auido book version exciting to listen to and I struggled with understanding the book in this format.  I would like to find a new book to listen to in order to see what an audio book could really be like that would make it fun to listen to.

I could see using an audio book for students who struggle to read to help them read higher level books for projects and research.

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by Sharon M. Draper
2002

Group YA Author Presentation

This is the ending of the trilogy that started with Tears of a Tiger and Forged by Fire.  After Keisha’s boyfriend commits suicide, she soon meets Jonathan who treats her like a woman instead of a girl like the rest of the guys in her senior class.  In a  twist of events, Keisha mysteriously starts to receive gifts on her doorstep and she is swept off her feet.  However the book takes a terrifying turn and suddenly Keisha is overwhelmed with darkness.  Through this darkness, she learns the power and danger of silence.

I really enjoyed this book because I feel like Sharon Draper does a great job explaining life's difficult situations but in a way that is respectful but written with heart. I could see using this book as a mentor text to help students with their writing. Writing from a characters point of view can be hard and providing the depth of a situation presented. This book would be great to gather excerpts from the book to show how Sharon Draper uses different types of language to get her point across. Excerpts from her book would also make a great bulletin board of figurative language.

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Novel Project- Darkness Before Dawn- Advertisement

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by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, & Nate Powell
2013

Graphic Novel

In book one of this graphic novel trilogy, Congressman John Lewis shares his story with a younger generation in a vivid first-hand account of his lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in Lewis’ personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement.

I don't normally like graphic novels but I really liked this book!  When I started in the library, I struggled with graphic novels because to me they were glorified comic books.  This book however changed my point of view.  I love that this book provides details about history in a fun way for students to read and study.

I could see using this book to start a civil rights study with students.  I would love to use this book with my 4th graders to show new graphic novel reads.  I think my students would be surprised how a graphic novel can be non-fiction.  I don't think this book would be a good read aloud but a PERFECT literature circle book because students need to be able to see the pictures and the fun reading format to truly love the book.  First I would start with HOW to read the book for those new to graphic novels and then provide a template to assess students' understanding of civil rights.  It would be really fun for students to create a comic strip or graphic novel of their own about what they have learned!

I would love to start with this launch/promotional video to get students excited which has excellent music to set the tone!

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by Emily M. Danforth
2012

Book vs. Movie

In 1993 after teenage Cameron is caught in the backseat of a car with the prom queen, she is sent away to a treatment center in a remote area called God's Promise. While she is being subjected to questionable gay conversion therapies, she bonds with some fellow residents as they pretend to go along with the process while waiting to be released.

I struggled with this book because I couldn't really determine how it would be useful with my students.  I teach in a K-5 Public Elementary School Library and so I don't think this book is appropriate and I struggled with how it could be helpful to patrons.  However, if I was in a different library, I could see recommending this book for someone struggling with their sexuality and how being gay int he eyes of society has changed.  This book was good to see Cameron's thought process and how she began to to understand that she is gay.

I found this great book talk to help advocate for the book by using scenes from the movie.  It would be an excellent book to compare the book and the movie with students because to me the movie leaves out so many important scenes that I thought the author did an amazing job portraying within the book and helped really shaped Cameron's life before going to God's Promise.

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The Miseducation of Cameron Post Book Talk

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by Ann Braden
2018

WHOLE Class Read

Zoey is a seventh graders that has her hands full taking caring of her much younger siblings after school every day while her mom works.  She often thinks about how much easier everything would be if she was an octopus with eights arms to do everything she needs to do at once, incredible camouflage ability and steady, unblinking vision.
Throughout the book she joins a debate club which ultimately leads her to see things in a new way: her mom’s relationship with Lenny, Fuchsia’s situation, and her own place in this town of people who think they’re better than her.

I absolutely loved this book and the story it tells.  Ann Braden does a remarkable job explaining the difficulties that some families go through and how that shapes their live.

I am looking forward to using this book as a book study for my fifth graders.  I want to start a read aloud with some work in a literature circle during my time with them in the library to encourage collaboration, debate, and discussion on how different our friends worlds can be.    This would be an excellent book to encourage students to learn about other's opinions and how to be emphatic towards others.  I look forward to creating a plan of study with this book and encouraging classroom teachers to co-teach with me.

I look forward to using this launch video to get students excited about the book!

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by Ray Bradbury
1953

Free Choice

Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13079982-fahrenheit-451

Oh how I wanted to love this book. I loved the concept of the book but I found it extremely confusing to follow and the thoughts were so outside my realm of thinking that it made it hard for me to follow. I like the concept of thinking about how we censor ideas and where this can lead but I didn't so much enjoy this book. I could see how this book and its' ideas could be used with young adults to begin to have them question what we decide for others and the affects that can have.

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by Gail Giles
2014

Disabilities Title

Quincy and Biddy are both graduates of their high school's special ed program, but they couldn't be more different: suspicious Quincy faces the world with her fists up, while gentle Biddy is frightened to step outside her front door. When they're thrown together as roommates in their first "real world" apartment, it initially seems to be an uneasy fit. But as Biddy's past resurfaces and Quincy faces a harrowing experience that no one should have to go through alone, the two of them realize that they might have more in common than they thought -- and more important, that they might be able to help each other move forward.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Girls_Like_Us.html?id=Z7ZvDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description

I absolutely LOVED this book! This was a fantastic story from the point of view of two amazing girls trying to make it through life. The experiences they have are something that I could only imagine and I was heartbroken while reading. This would be an amazing book to share with students on how life can be different for those with special needs but how they can learn to grown and survive on their own. I could also see this being an amazing professional development book for staff to help them understand how to see the world through these girls' eyes.

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by Erika Sanchez
2017

Multicultural Title

Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family.

But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga’s role.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29010395-i-am-not-your-perfect-mexican-daughter

This book provided a great insight into how we perceive people and our expectations of them. Many times we think we know someone when really there is some much there under the surface that we can't see. This book would be a great example to use with young adults that show that sometimes are parents have been through things that we never know about ant this drives their concerns and discipline of us.

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by Ruth Behar
2017

Pura Belpre Author Award

Based on the author's childhood in the 1960s, a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31247023-lucky-broken-girl

This was a wonderful an insightful account of Ruth Behar's life after experiencing a horrible car accident that left her bed ridden for close to a year.  To me, the author's note is what truly put this book into perspective.  I would use this book to show young adults that even when life seems rough, there are always those that have harder struggles and that you can overcome if you work hard.

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by Neal Bascomb
2013

YALSA's Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults - Non-fiction title, other than a biography or autobiography

In 1945, at the end of World War II, Adolf Eichmann, the head of operations for the Nazis' Final Solution, walked into the mountains of Germany and vanished from view. Sixteen years later, an elite team of spies captured him at a bus stop in Argentina and smuggled him to Israel, resulting in one of the century's most important trials -- one that cemented the Holocaust in the public imagination.
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Nazi_Hunters_How_a_Team_of_Spies_and.html?id=gCcFO1MkRccC&source=kp_book_description

This book provided a riveting tale into the hunt for the Nazi's after the Holocaust.  Before reading this book, many would be lead to believe that as soon as Germany was stopped that it's leaders were captured and punished.  This book tells the true story of how the survivors suffered even after the Holocaust was over.  This book would be an excellent addition to a study on the affects of the Holocaust.  Many times books are written about the events of the Holocaust but I have never read a book about the experience afterward.

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by Nic Stone
2018

LGBTQ Novel/Memoir

Courtney "Coop" Cooper, Rae Evelyn Chin, and Charity-Sanchez
One story.
Three sides.
No easy answers
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39848512-odd-one-out

This book provided a insight into three teenagers lives and how each situation affected each one of them.  It was so interesting to see the same situation portrayed three different ways depending on the character.  This book would be an excellent example to use for point of view and perspective.  I can see using this book to showcase how truly difficult feelings can be to interpret.

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by Alan Gratz
2018

Historical Fiction

It's 1945, and the world is in the grip of war.

Hideki lives on the island of Okinawa, near Japan. When WWII crashes onto his shores, Hideki is drafted into the Blood and Iron Student Corps to fight for the Japanese army. He is handed a grenade and a set of instructions: Don't come back until you've killed an American soldier.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Grenade.html?id=C2FHDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description

This book provided an great insight into WWII and how it affected those on the island of Okinawa.  I had never considered this particular point of view.  This would be a great book to compare and contrast the point of views of Americans, Okinawans, and the Japanese by reading this book along with others that describe WWII.

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by Marie Lu
2017

Fantastic Fiction

For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn’t just a game—it’s a way of life. The obsession started ten years ago and its fan base now spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally. Needing to make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships—only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41014903-warcross

WOW!  I loved everything about this book.  I didn't want to put it down and I was constantly telling others about it.  This is an amazing book to get students excited about reading novels.  This book provided an amazing story-line to follow with great conversation starters for young adults.  I loved the action within the book and I could just picture everything Marie Lu described.  This would be an excellent book to promote to encourage readers and help them realize that not all novels are about history or about hardships in life.

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by Jacqueline Woodson
2014

Biography/Autobiography/Memoir

Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20821284-brown-girl-dreaming

This book was an easy read as it was written in verse.  The chapters were short and to the point but using a sing songy way of telling her story.  I could see using this book as an introduction to poetry.  Many times students struggle with poetry because they think it has to rhyme.  Jacklyn Woodson provides an excellent example how to get the point across of what he life was like while writing in verse.  This would also be a great book to discuss the KKK and how it affected the black and white community.

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by Rainbow Rowell
2013

Realistic Fiction

Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15745753-eleanor-park

I really enjoyed how this book went from Eleanor's perspective back to Park's perspective.  This book really showed the difference between student's lives and how different they can be.  I liked how this book really portrayed that many times we don't understand why someone does or say something until we understand where they come from.  My favorite from the book was that Park loved that Eleanor smelled like vanilla and Eleanor worried about it but it was the cheapest "perfume" they had.

I would use this book when talking to students about someone is perceived on the outside compared to what is truly going on in their lives.  This would be an excellent book to start a discussion on how different our lives are from others.