Posts Tagged «identity»
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
by Marie Lu, 305 pages, Grades 7-12
In a dystopian future society, the western United States has become the Republic, a military dictatorship in a constant war with the surrounding Colonies. Student trials determine where you will be placed in the social order, but Day lives outside the law; he is the Republic’s most infamous criminal. June, on the other hand, was raised in a wealthy family; her parents and her brother held high positions in the Republic; she scored the highest ever on the Trials and attends one of the Republic’s best military academies. An accident throws these two opposites together. They should be instant enemies, but maybe what brought them together was not an accident after all, but what they are up against might be too big for the greatest outlaw and the smartest citizen even if they are working together.
Click here to see if it’s available for check out.
If you like dystopian fiction, you might also enjoy: The Hunger Games, by Susanne Collins, The Maze Runner, by James Dashner, or Matched, by Ally Condie.
Tags: adventure, dystopian, identity, science fiction, suspense
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Friday, January 6th, 2012
by Leslie Connor, 290 pages, Grades 6-8
Addie’s life has a lot of “twists and turns” that she doesn’t expect. She used to live with her Mommers, Dwight and her two little sisters, but after what she calls her big mistake everything changes. Now, she and Mommers are moving into a trailer home and “the littles” (her sisters) are moving away with their dad, Dwight.
Addie is good at making the best of almost every situation; her mom calls the trailer a piece of junk in the middle of no where, but Addie calls it an adventure and sees her new loft-room as cozy, not cramped. Even when there is no food in the house, she can create a delicious meal, in fact, she has invented a repertoire of toast-dinner recipes.
Addie’s winning personality makes her a lot of friends, but her life is far from normal; she might need more than optimism to get her to out of danger in the end.
Other stories about challenging family situations are: Guitar Boy, by M.J. Auch, Grounded, by Kate Klise, and Ruby Holler, or Bloomability, by Sharon Creech.
Click here to see if it’s available for check out.
Tags: coping with challenge, disfunctional families, families, family problems, girls, identity, realistic fiction
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Sunday, September 4th, 2011
by Christopher Paul Curtis, 341 pages, Grades 6-8
Elijah wishes he was not quite so fragile. He can take off running when he sees a snake, or might feel like crying when someone tells the sad story of escaping from slavery in America. His parents worry that his fragile nature might make his life difficult, but it is that very nature that turns him into a hero.
Buxton was a real town established in 1849 by an American abolitionist who hoped to give people escaping American slavery a place to live as free human beings. The story of Elijah is fictional, but things that happen are realistic for the time and place.
Even though his family thinks he is a delicate soul, Elijah finds courage deep inside himself and takes a lot of risks to do the right thing. It is a dangerous time to be African American; Elijah’s adventure is truly heroic.
Connections: Christopher Paul Curtis is gifted at creating exciting stories that happen to be set in realistic times in history. If you like Elijah of Buxton, you might also like Bud Not Buddy, or The Watson’s Go to Birmingham, both by Curtis as well.
Tags: African Americans, coming of age, families, historical fiction, identity, multicultural
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Friday, June 3rd, 2011
by Eileen Cook 256 pages grades 7 and up
Hailey Kendrick got the whole school on probation; no one can leave campus because of her. She has gone from popular to outcast in one night.
Hailey attends a fancy boarding, so fancy, in fact, children of movie stars, and teen stars themselves, are her classmates. She has no money worries, obviously, she is popular and is dating one of the most handsome guys in the school. Her life seemed pretty perfect until she got everyone on probation.
What is going on? Has Hailey lost her mind, or was there something already boiling beneath the surface that just had to burst free? And, how is she going to manage life when everyone she knows has dumped her?
Other fun realistic fiction with teen girl central characters are: Heist Society, by Ally Carter, Rules of the Road, by Joan Bauer, and a fantasy with a teen girl central character is Matched, by Ally Condie.
Tags: friendship, girls, high schools, identity, realistic fiction, romance, teens
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Thursday, May 12th, 2011
by Kate Klise 196 pages Grades 6-7
Daralynn’s father, brother and baby sister died in a plane accident, and Daralynn is only alive because she was grounded that day and had been forced to remain behind.
After the tragedy, her mother becomes the hairdresser for the dead at the local mortuary to make ends meet, but it is not easy to recover from such a shattering loss. Daralynn’s mother is not only over-protective of her, but also seems to be angry about everything, and kind to no one.
Even Daralynn’s Aunt Josie, her father’s sister, is often the victim of Mother’s attacks. When Josie starts dating Daralynn’s mother’s competition, things really heat up. But, there is something suspicious about “Uncle Clem,” Josie’s new beaux, and Daralynn’s investigation might just prove to be the thing her family needs to pull them back together.
If you enjoyed Regarding the Fountain by Klise, you won’t be disappointed by this sweet narration. Another great book about family perseverance in the face of tragedy is Mockingbird, by Kathryn Erskine
Tags: families, family problems, identity, mystery, realistic fiction, sad stories
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Friday, March 25th, 2011
by Wendelin Van Draanen, 336 pages, Grades 7 and up
“‘Fifty-five flat!’ Kyro shouts, ‘Fifty-five flat!’
It’s a new personal best for me.
A new record for the league.” (11)
At sixteen Jessica is on top of her game, about to take league, maybe even go to state, when the track team’s bus is hit by an out-of-control car. One of the team loses her life, and Jessica’s right leg is crushed.
Jessica is a runner; running is not just something she likes to do, it is woven into her identity, so the accident takes more than her leg, it makes her question who she is.
Personal strength, friendship, family, and courage pull Jessica forward on her journey to discover who she is and who she can become. It is as inspirational a journey as the many true journeys of people in similar situations.
The following is a link to a TED talk with Aimee Mullens, also a runner, called “Aimee Mullans and Her 12 Pair of Legs.” http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/aimee_mullins_prosthetic_aesthetics.html
Tags: differently-able, families, friendship, girls, identity, realistic fiction, self-realization, survival, teenagers
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Friday, March 25th, 2011
by Ally Condie, 366 pages, Grades 7 and up
In a future world where no one has to fear disease, malnutrition, crime, or other problems of past cultures, people trust The Society to make the best decisions about everything: the food you should be eating, the clothes you wear and even who is best suited to be your partner for life.
Cassia has reached the age of her matching, and at the ceremony while others are paired with people from other cities far away Cassia is surprised and grateful to find her match is Xander, her best friend from childhood. She leaves the ceremony feeling confident this is her ideal mate, but when she uses the computer to find out more about her match the face of another boy she knows flashes on the screen!
This little “mistake” opens Cassia’s eyes to the possibility that The Society might not really be as perfect as she has been brought up to believe; could this doubt put everyone she knows in danger? And, who is her real match?
If you enjoy dystopian fantasy, fiction that takes place in a future that is the opposite of an ideal world, you might also like: Unwind by Neal Shusterman, or Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
Crossed, the sequel to Matched will come out in 2011.
Tags: coming of age, dystopian, families, fantasy, identity, love stories, romance, teens
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Monday, February 7th, 2011
By Scott Westerfeld, 44o pages, Grades 7 and up
Westerfeld has created an alternative history of World War I and filled it with Clanker and Darwinist war machines. The Clankers use mechanical transports that remind readers of the Empire’s AT-AT walkers in Star Wars while the Darwinists use flying machines that live, breathe and eat. In fact, one of their greatest living machines called Leviathan is really an entire ecosystem; whale DNA, bat, and bird all mixed together to create a huge flying zeppelin manned by the military. Daryn, a girl disguised as a young soldier, joins the Darwinist army and is aboard the Leviathan when the war begins. Alek, the Austrian prince, escapes his country after his parents’ assassination in a Clanker contraption. A near fatal crash, and a famous scientist seeking to save her precious cargo bring Daryn and Alek’s worlds and missions together in the chaos of the beginning of an alternate first World War.
This book’s sequel Behemouth has recently arrived and promises to be another thrilling adventure. Another exciting adventure including a zeppelin and an alternative past is called: Airborn, by Kenneth Oppel. Oppel’s story is less of war and more like an adventure on the high seas with pirates and mysterious creatures.
Tags: adventure, Darwin, fantasy, friendship, identity, steam_punk, suspense, teens, war, World War I, Young Adult
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Monday, November 29th, 2010
By Neil Shusterman, 335 pages. Grades 7-9
It is the future, and if you are between the ages of thirteen and eighteen you worry every day about becoming an “unwind.”
When no one won the terrible civil war between the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life groups there was a compromise. It was decided that all babies would be born, that children would be untouchable from birth to 13, and that between 13 and 18 any child could be unwound. Every single body part goes on living in another body, so it is not considered death. The unwound teen continues to live in different places.
In this version of the future there are no doctors, only surgeons. There is a transplanting process that works so well, people just replace parts that are damaged or diseased instead of trying to cure them. The technology is great for people who lose a limb, but you can also “correct” things like baldness with a transplanted scalp full of hair, or replace your crooked teeth with a brand new set.
Connor is trouble, and his parents have had enough. Risa has no parents, and the state homes need to make space for the new babies being “storked,” left on their doorstep. Lev is a “tithe;” he has been raised since birth to be unwound as a sacrifice to god. “Unwinds” are outcasts whom no one wants to help, so how can they escape their fate?
Connections: For other survival stories full of adventure try: The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, or Graceling, by Kristin Cashore. Another edgy science fiction adventure is Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.
Tags: coming of age, creepy, family problems, identity, science fiction, survival, suspense
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Friday, November 19th, 2010
by Mark Shulman p. 230 Grades 7 and up.
Tod Munn has a bad reputation; he has been known to steal the wimps’ lunch money, push his way into the front of the lunch line and shove people into the lockers when they least expect it. He is not someone you want to mess with if you don’t want to get hurt. Naturally Tod has landed himself in detention, and this time it is for something really bad, but he is not outside raking leaves with his “droogs,” instead he is spending time one-on-one with the school counselor, Mrs. Woodrow.
For detention he has to write in a journal every day after school. He spends weeks with the counselor in a hot school room writing and writing until it feels like his hand might fall off. Tod thinks the counselor is trying to “fix the bad guy,” and he doesn’t think it is going to work, either. Who do you think is right; is the bully really a bad guy, or is there more to the story than meets the eye?
Connections: If you like books about tough kids you might like Small Steps by Louis Sachar or if you enjoy books written in journal form you might also enjoy Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon Creech.
Tags: coming of age, family life, family problems, friends, high schools, identity, misunderstanding, outsiders, realistic fiction, teens, Young Adult
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Thursday, November 4th, 2010
By Blue Balliett, 306 pages mystery for Grades 5-8
Zoomy is legally blind, but he can see things if he holds them close up. He loves to read and play games on the computer, and he also loves to investigate and collect things.
He arrived on his grandparents’ front step when he was a newborn baby. They love him and take him in; they know their son, Zoomy’s father, can’t take care of a baby, because he is running wild; an alcoholic who is always in a lot of trouble with the law.
Zoomy’s life is going along just fine until the summer his dad shows up in a stolen truck and dumps a stolen box in their garage. His father’s mysterious appearance is the beginning of Zoomy’s life spiraling out of control. First, his grandparents let him investigate the contents of the stolen box, then his dangerous dad threatens Zoomy while he is alone at the library, then his grandparents are visited by a mysterious stranger, and finally there is a big fire at his grandparents’ shop that doesn’t seem like an accident.
What will happen to Zoomy? Could it all come down to the contents of the stolen box?
If you enjoy this book you might also like: A Dog for Life, by L.S. Matthews, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon, or The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jacqueline Kelly.
Tags: adventure, coming of age, Darwin, endurance, families, family problems, fathers and sons, friendship, identity, mystery, visually impaired
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Thursday, November 4th, 2010
By Kathryn Erskine, 235 pages, Grade 6-8
Caitlin and her father are feeling broken after tragedy strikes their family a second time. Caitlin’s mother died of cancer three years before and now her brother, Devon, is dead after a violent incident at school. On “the day their lives fell apart”, as Caitlin calls it, Devon’s door was slammed shut and Caitlin doesn’t feel like she can open it. She misses her brother, and his room and all it holds especially a special place next to his bed where she used go for comfort. It was Devon who used to help her cope with the worlds of the town, the classroom and the playground. He always said Caitlin was brave; he even liked to call her Scout after the character in To Kill a Mockingbird. Now that Caitlin’s dad spends a lot of time crying and Caitlin, who has Asperger’s syndrome, has to be especially brave. She would like to help her family put the pieces back together, but she is not sure how to do that. After talking to the school counselor one day, she decides what they need is “closure” and she is on a mission to get it. But, first she has to find out what it is and how you get a hold of it.
For other stories about how families find closure try Mick Harte Was Here by Barbara Park, or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon.
Tags: brothers and sisters, coping strategies, endurance, families, family problems, identity, middle school, outsiders, realistic fiction, resilience, sad stories, spectrum disorders, tragedy, Young Adult
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Friday, September 24th, 2010
By Margarita Engle, Art by Sean Qualls p. 183 – Grades 7-12 – biography
Trapped as a slave in a wealthy home in Cuba, Juan Francisco Manzano lived his life in fear of the cruel punishments of his masters. This sad and harrowing story was uncovered because the young slave, Manzano, wrote vivid poetry that describes his time as a slave. In Cuba poetry is like television; many people perform poetry for others and stories are often carried across the country because people repeat the poems they have heard. It is for this reason that the author, Margarita Engle, was inspired to write this biography in verse, paying tribute to Manzano’s work. While enslaved Manzano could not stop creating poems in his head; sometimes his owners praised him for his creativity and other times he was severely punished. The poems were part of Manzano and came to him as naturally as breathing; no punishment, no matter how harsh, could stop him from being himself.
Connections: For other serious stories in verse try Aleutian Sparrow or Out of the Dust, both by Karen Hesse. For stories about people escaping oppression try 5,000 Miles to Freedom: Ellen and William Craft’s Flight From Slavery, by Judith Bloom Fradin and Dennis Brindell Fradin, or The Year of Impossible Goodbyes, by Sook Nyul Choi.
Tags: biography, identity, nonfiction, poet, poetry, race relations, sad stories, slavery, survival
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Friday, September 24th, 2010
By Lian Hearn, p. 305 – adventure
Takeo has never known his father, who died many years before, and he has been growing up in a remote and peaceful Japanese village surrounded by the rest of his loving family. The rest of Japan is not so; it is a time of warlords, and secret societies in the middle ages, and Takeo’s home is attacked and destroyed by a warlord named Iida who is threatening to take over the whole country. When Takeo returns from a walk in the woods and sees his village burning, something inside him takes over. He scares the warlord’s horse and causes Iida to fall to the ground. Understanding his fatal blunder, he runs back into the woods chased by the warlord’s soldiers. They all run into a man on horseback who fights for Takeo, cutting off the arm of one of Iida’s best warriors. This mysterious man turns out to be a lord of the Otori clan, another of the powerful families of Japan.
Takeo’s life changes completely from this day forward. He is adopted by the Otori and he discovers his father was a famous assassin. He also finds out his real heritage is the Tribe, a kind of secret ninja society; he possesses some of the Tribe’s extraordinary abilities. He can hear details across a crowded courtyard, or through a wooden door, he can make himself “go invisible” and become as silent as a ghost.
In these turbulent times, talents like these are desired by many, and Takeo finds himself pulled in different directions, but he is determined to complete the final task for his adopted father: kill Iida, the same lord who burned his village and killed his family. The trouble is the only way to reach the warlord in his palace is to cross the nightingale floor, a huge room covered in a floor that sings whenever anyone touches it. How can he cross the nightingale floor and avenge his family?
Connections: For other stories taking place in medieval Japan try The Samurai’s Tale, by Erik Christian Haugaard, or The Sword that Cut the Burning Grass: A Samurai Mystery, by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler.
Tags: adventure, coming of age, families, fantasy, historical fiction, identity, love stories, orphans, outsiders, survival, teenagers, teens
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Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
by Ruth White, p. 197 – Grades 4-7
In Way Down Deep, WV during the summer of 1944, a cute, red-headed toddler was found on the courthouse steps. Raised by Miss Arbus, the owner of the local boarding house, Ruby Jane spends the next ten years living a comfortable life in the quiet little town filled with lots of quirky, loveable characters. When a bank robber and his family are taken in under the collective wings of the townspeople, Ruby Jane starts to piece together the puzzle of her mysterious past.
Connection: For other books with quirky characters set in a small town, try reading Richard Peck’s A Long Way from Chicago and A Year Down Yonder or Susan Patron’s Higher Power of Lucky.
Tags: coming of age, community life, foundlings, identity, magical realism, orphans, Ruth White, West Virginia
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Monday, May 4th, 2009
by Kristin Cashore, p. 471 – Grades 8 & Up
This award winning first novel by Kristin Cashore will have mature readers begging for a sequel. The king of Middluns first identified Lady Katsa’s “grace” when she killed a man at age 8, and he has been using her special talent to keep the people of his kingdom and the surrounding six kingdoms in line ever since. Lady Katsa rebels against the bullying king by secretly forming a council to protect those who have been treated unfairly throughout the seven kingdoms. The rescue of a neighboring king’s kidnapped father leads Katsa on a quest to find his captor, with the help of his grandson, who has an interesting “grace” of his own.
Connection: This book might appeal to those who enjoyed the combination of fantasy and romance in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight books or the strong female protagonist in Garth Nix’s Sabriel series. — CRW
Tags: autonomy, fantasy, identity, justice, Kristin Cashore, love stories, rebellion, romance, Young Adult
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Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
by Brian Meehl, p. 318 – Grades 7 & Up
After graduating from the IVLeague (International Vampire League), Morning McCobb gets the opportunity to be the hero he had always hoped to be… rather than just the skinny, awkward teen he will eternally be. The president of the IVLeague offered Morning the chance to be the first vampire to reveal himself to “lifers” (humans) in the hopes that humans and vampires can live together in harmony. Morning is thought to be the perfect canidate since he only drinks a soy-based blood substitute rather than the farmed animal blood that most Leaguer vampires drink. A potential love interest and an angry “loner” (non-league vampires that still drink human blood) make the challenge of convincing humans that vampires are friends even more difficult.
Connection: This book is a good choice for those interested a lighter version of Twilight, told from the vampires point of view. –CRW
Tags: Brian Meehl, heroes, identity, romance, teens, vampires
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by Marie Lu, 305 pages, Grades 7-12