Posts Tagged «love stories»
Friday, June 3rd, 2011
by Maryrose Wood, 278 pages, Grades 7 and up.
Even Jesamine, who is the daughter of the apothecary and a skilled gardener, is not allowed beyond the locked gate of the poison garden. Jesamine lives with her father, who heals the sick in and around London, in a country house in the mid 1800s.
One day the man in charge of the local home for the insane delivers a mysterious young man he calls Weed to their doorstep. Jesamine’s father agrees to take him in even though he seems dangerous; he might be to blame for curing those in the asylum, and creating an epidemic of insanity in town.
The arrival of Weed reveals things to Jesamine that she has not realized about herself, about her father, and about the nature of poisons. Her life will never be the same.
If you like romance, mystery and fantasy you might also like Graceling, by Kristin Cashore, Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, or Matched by Allie Condie.
Tags: family problems, fantasy, historical fiction, love stories, mystery, teens
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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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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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Friday, April 30th, 2010
by Robin Brande p. 327 Young adult
No exploding volcanoes for seventeen-year-old Cat (Catherine) Locke’s science fair project! Instead, the smart, competitive overweight teen makes herself the guinea pig for her project. Her goal is to live for seven months as a Homo erectus, an early prehistoric human, which means no technology (cars, cell phones, computers except for school work) and no processed foods including sugar. Cat is determined to win the science fair, mostly to get revenge on her former best friend and rival Matt McKinney, whom she believes betrayed her most terribly in seventh grade. All the walking and healthy eating causes her to lose weight and feel better, and after her best friend Amanda takes her shopping for stylish clothes, Cat starts drawing a lot of male attention. This young adult novel is filled with funny, clever teen conversation and portrays friendship at its best.
Connections: These young adult novels also deal with weight and weighty issues: Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen, Life in the Fat Lane by Cherie Bennett, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher and Dough Boy by Peter Marino.
Tags: diet, eating, fiction, friendship, high schools, hominins, Homo erectus, love stories, relationships, science experiments, self-perception, sustainable foods, teenagers, teens, Young Adult
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Friday, April 23rd, 2010
by Beth Fantaskey p. 351 Young Adult
More vampires anyone? Jessica’s adoptive parents wait until she’s a high school senior before telling her that her birth parents were vampires in Romania! They’ve also neglected to tell her that she was betrothed at birth to a vampire prince who has just shown up in her hometown to claim her as his fiance. Of course, this very rational mathlete doesn’t believe in vampires and so is having a very difficult time dealing with the arrogant, but very good looking, stranger who is posing as a foreign exchange student at her high school and living in the apartment above her garage. Filled with suspense, drama, romance, and humor this is a great read for Twilight fans.
Connections: Here are some other young adult vampire novels you might enjoy: Suck It Up by Brian Meehl, Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer, and The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause. Though not about vampires, Beastly by Alex Flinn is a good romance with the beauty and the beast theme.
Tags: fiction, high school, humor, love stories, romance, teenagers, vampires, Young Adult
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Sunday, November 15th, 2009
by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. p. 274 Grades 7-8
What a summer! Fifteen-year-old D.J. Schwenk of Red Bend, Wisconsin, works dawn to dusk on her family’s dairy farm after her father has hip surgery. Life is pretty dismal until the coach from her high school’s rival team asks D.J to coach his budding quarterback, the gorgeous Brian Nelson. While training and doing farm chores, the two teenagers become friends, but things get complicated when D.J. tries out for her high school’s football team.
Connections: The sequel is Off Season. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher is another football romance.
Tags: family problems, farm life, farms, fathers and daughters, football, friendship, high schools, love stories, realistic fiction, romance, teenagers, Wisconsin
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Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
by Alex Flinn. p. 304 Young Adult
Attention Twilight fans! This compelling romance puts a contemporary spin on the Beauty and the Beast tale. Popular fourteen-year-old Kyle Kingsbury is incredibly good looking, charming, rich, and really mean. After playing an especially cruel trick on a homely girl,at a dance, a witch casts a spell on Kyle turning him into a beast–making him as ugly on the outside as he has been on the inside. He only has two years to break the spell or live as a beast forever. In order to do so, he must fall in true love with someone who will love him back and give him, of course, a kiss!
Connections: Here are some other excellent versions of the Beauty and the Beast story: Beast by Donna Jo Napoli; Rose Daughter and Beauty by Robin McKinley.
Tags: Add new tag, Beauty and the Beast, fantasy, fathers and sons, fiction, love stories, New York City, popularity, romance, wealth, Young Adult
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Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
by Jordan Sonnenblick. p. 264 Grades 6-8
It’s tough being the new kid especially in January of the eighth grade. San Lee has moved around and changed schools a lot, and this time it’s because his dad has gone to prison for fraud. His mom’s short on money because of his dad’s legal fees, and even though it’s the middle of the winter in Pennsylvania, San heads off for his new middle school in sandals and the light windbreaker that were fine in Texas. Adopted from China as a baby, San is the only Asian American at his new school. When he discovers that his social studies class is studying Buddhism, which he studied last year, he pretends to be a Zen master. This deception wins him the attention of a beautiful girl but spins out of control in both serious and comical ways as more and more kids believe he’s the real thing.
Connections: Books where a new kid makes a big impact on the other students in a school are Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, The Gypsies Never Came by Stephen Roos, Schooled by Gordon Korman and, for mature readers, Jake Reinvented by Gordon Korman as well as Inventing Elliot by Graham Gardner. If you’d like to know more about Zen Buddhism, try browsing the 294.3 section of the library.
Tags: Chinese Americans, humor, love stories, middle school, multicultural, new kid, outsiders, romance, teens, Zen Buddhism
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Monday, July 20th, 2009
by Lauren Tarshis. p. 169 Grades 5-8
Emma-Jean Lazarus is different from the other seventh graders at William Gladstone Middle School. She’s super smart and super logical and finds the social interactions among her peers interesting but totally irrational. Yet she is drawn to use her super problem solving skills to help sweet, hypersensitive Colleen when Emma-Jean discovers her crying in the girls’ bathroom. Emma-Jean’s meddling not only leads to some hilarious situations but also to her beginning to make friends. In the sequel, Emma Jean Lazarus Fell in Love, Emma Jean develops a crush herself while trying to help Colleen discover the secret admirer who left a note in Colleen’s locker. If you enjoy quick, humourous reads about quirky characters, you’ll love Emma Jean Lazaus!
Connection: Other good novels with quirky characters include The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd, Word Nerd by Susin Nielsen, Susan Patron’s Higher Power of Lucky, Way Down Deep by Ruth White and the adult novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.
Tags: friends, humor, interpersonal relations, love stories, middle school, outsiders, problem-solving, quirky characters, teens
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Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
by Anna Levine, p. 250 – Grades 8 & Up
As Israel and Lebanon engage in battle, eighteen year-old Aggie is simultaneously preparing for high school graduation and her two year, compulsory service in the Israeli army. Thoughts of kisses and crushes compete with concerns over inadequacies. She thinks she wants to be a member of the elite, women’s combat unit rather than be stuck in a desk job, but members of her family are making her question her capabilities. Her best friend’s older brother, Noah (a combat soldier) is showing particular interest in her trials at the physically and mentally challenging boot camp. Aggie gets a taste of the front line when she goes north to help one of her buddies from boot camp.
Connection: Another love story with war as the backdrop (in this case the Civil War) is Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Rosemary Wells.
Tags: Anna Levine, autonomy, Israel, Lebanon War 2006, love stories, multicultural, self-realization, soldiers
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Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
by Suzanne Collins, p. 374 – Grades 7 & Up
In this book, for mature readers, what was once the United States is destroyed by climate change and war and is replaced by Panem with its wealthy rulers in the Capitol controlling twelve neighboring districts. Each year the districts must pay tribute to the Capitol by sending two of their teens (12-18) to fight to the death in the Hunger Games, which is televised and must be watched by everyone (think Survivor with weapons and a manipulated environment). Sixteen year-old Katniss Everdeen volunteers to replace her younger sister as the tribute from District 12 (the poorest district) when her sister’s name is pulled in the lottery for the 74th Hunger Games. Since her father’s death in a mining accident, Katniss has had to work hard so she and her family could survive, but in the Hunger Games she will be facing tributes who have spent their lives training for this event.
Connection: Other examples of survival fiction that will keep the reader on edge are Deathwatch by Robb White and The Dead & the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer. –CRW
Highlight: Watch this video interview with Suzanne Collins.
Tags: contests, interpersonal relations, love stories, loyalty, science fiction, survival, suspense, Suzanne Collins, television programs, Young Adult
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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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