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All American Boys
by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

Rashad is a black high school student minding his own business when someone trips over him at a convenience store.  A police officer sees the incident and concludes that Rashad is stealing.  While arresting him, the officer beats Rashad so badly that he winds up in the hospital for nearly a week.  Witness to the beating is Quinn, a white student at Rashad’s school who happens to be good friends with the police officer involved.
All American Boys explores issues of police brutality, racism, and loyalty in an informative, even handed manner.  This book is engaging and highly recommended.

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Scythe  by Neal Shusterman
No one can die naturally in the future.  In fact if you’re looking a little ragged you can go and have your physical self reset to a younger age.  However, this means that overpopulation is a problem.  Society has decided to solve this by creating a group called scythes, people whose job it is to glean, or kill, randomly to keep the population down.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to become scythe apprentices.  They are trained in the art of killing and comfort.  But their training takes very different paths- one that is respectful and aware of the ethical implications of gleaning, and one that just revels in the joy of killing.

This was a fast paced, interesting book.  It left me with much food for thought.  Highly recommended.
This is the first book in an eventual series and it is being made into a movie.

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SUMMER READING!!!   Here are some awesome suggestions to keep you reading this summer.  I'll bet you can find these titles at your local library.  And remember- library cards are free and libraries are air conditioned!  (Sometimes on hot summer days I go to the library and catch up on my magazine reading.)

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SUMMER READING!!!   Here are some awesome suggestions to keep you reading this summer.  I'll bet you can find these titles at your local library.  And remember- library cards are free and libraries are air conditioned!  (Sometimes on hot summer days I go to the library and catch up on my magazine reading.)

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Beneath a Meth Moon
By Jacqueline Woodson

This is a beautifully written book.  It is so easy and delicious to read even though it is about a terrible subject, meth addiction.  Laurel is a 15 year old girl who recently moved to Iowa from Mississippi.  She is a cheerleader and catches the eye of the co-captain of the basketball team.  When they are making out, he casually inhales meth and then puts some under her nose to inhale.  She is hooked, and all that matters is getting meth.  She drops out of school and is kicked out of her house by her dad (after she smokes meth in the house and endangers her little brother).

Moses is a high school senior who paints portraits on the sides of buildings of people from the area who died from drugs.  He befriends Laurel.

I don’t want to give the ending away, but give this sensitive and well written book a try.