A Little Piece of Ground

Laird and Nimr's novel follows 12 year old Karim as he deals with his life in a war torn Palestine. With frustrations with restrictive curfews that start to harm his father's business and sister's heath, Karim finds refuge in day dreaming about escaping the occupation and becoming a soccer star. With friends he defies curfew to play soccer in an abandoned lot. Despite the escape on the field Karim and friends he finds himself injured after a confrontation with Israeli forces and lands in the hospital. Through the struggles Karim's journey highlights the struggles and chaos of war and its affect on growing up and family. The authors don't avoid rough areas, and the book is a good read for those willing to listen and recognize the strength's Karim and friends develop together throughout the occupation.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Growing up on a Spokane Indian Reservation, Junior struggles with everything from thick glasses and extra teeth to awful clothes because of his family's lack of money. Even though he admits his brain is a bit muddled and confused, he takes through his life as he moves to a school of the reservation. From struggling with confronting the white students and explaining his decision to parents, Junior's cartoons and humor pull him through his transitions...

Weetzie Bat

Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat is an alternative novel starring Weetzie... she wears taffeta dresses and likes things that sparkle. She is strange and bizarre, but so is the company she meets. Hanging out with Dirk they travel around the town in Dirk's Pontiac and decide to find love. Coincidentally they do and all move into Dirk's grandmother's home and work to live "happily ever after..."

This book is a perfect read for anyone who ever a little "weird" maybe a little different. It's OK to listen to dream about Marilyn Monroe and fall in love in the strangest of ways. If you're looking for a normal Twilight-y teen romance then this book isn't for you... If you listen to 1970's punk and think the rockabilly life might be for you, you need to read this...

Pretty Dead

Francesca Lia Block's Pretty Dead takes the glamor and romance from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga and turns the quest for eternal life as a vampire, to a desire toward humanity. Charlotte Emerson has everything from wealth to beauty, but wants nothing more than to be human. Decades of loneliness and suffering from the death of her twin brother have left her pining for death and the chance to once again feel love. Her creator and fellow vampire offers her a chance, but with a sacrifice that involves the death of those around her. Mixed with poetry, dialogue, and letters the book is a quick read that spins the ideas we have been forming about the lifestyles of vampires after the rise in Twilight's popularity.

The Perfect Boy

Hailey Abbott's The Perfect Boy can be dumped into the pile of those teen novels that are no great work of literary genius, but you managed to read in a couple hours because you couldn't get past the drama and the never ending love triangles. Following Ciara as she leaves behind her famous soap star Mother for a summer with her Dad in Santa Barbara, we get to watch her attempt to land a budding hip hop emcee...along with her best friend. The two of them just so happen to be friends with his ex as well. Trying everything from revealing clothes to some sultry dancing, both girls fail in the end as emcee AJ hooks back up with his ex. In the end all find a love of their own and learn a thing or two about themselves. If you're looking for points to score with your AP English teacher, this novel won't land you that, but if you're looking for a good guilty read, The Perfect Boy and Abbott's other Summer Boys are a start.

Trouble with LGBTQ Literature...

It looked good from the outside...how do you approach someone you are attracted to if you're not sure of their orientation? However past that the novel lost its worth. Rather than addressing the angst, fear, and confusion that comes with being different than your peers when you are a teenager the book spends most of its time focusing on fashion and the shallow materialistic endeavors of a pair of rich New York socialites. Paige and Anthony are chasing the same boy and use Jimmy Choo shoes and designer clothing to lure him in. If you're looking for something with nothing more than pure drama and gossip this is it, if you'd like a reflective read that vaguely mirrors reality, I'd look elsewhere...

Twilight vs. The Graveyard Book

The American Library Association's Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)is holding a vote for the top ten reads for teens this year. While I must say there are a fair amount of good titles missing from the list, it is time to cast your vote...PC Cast or Stephanie Meyer? You decide...

You can vote here...

Something to think about...

There has been a new wave of literature written by teens for teens and for Latinos by Latinos. Following the lives of teens on death row and adults who barely escaped their lives as immigrants and former gang members, these stories are not only good reads, but something to think about. If there was ever a time you doubted there was an author who wrote something you can directly relate to, I think you need to take a look at these books.

The East Side Dreams by Art Rodriguez

Brothers Torres by Coert Voorhes

Mexican White Boy by Matt de la Pena

No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row by Susan Kuklin

Homeboyz by Alan Sitomer

The First Part the Last by Angela Johnson

The Vast Fields of Ordinary

Nick Burd's debut novel follows Dade Hamilton through his final summer before he heads off from his home in the suburbs of Cedarville to college at Fairmount in Michigan. Dade's transition into freedom includes everything from coping with his parents divorce and extramarital affairs, to coming out about his own homosexuality. His secret relationship with the school's best looking Latino athlete, Pablo Soto, leaves both him and Pablo struggling to find themselves and comfort with their feelings for one another. When Dade meets Lucy and becomes confident in himself, his new found sense of bold exploration puts in the relationship he dreamed of.

The novel packs three months into 300 pages of struggle, hope, depression, love, and devastation. Taking a new twist on the normal teen novel, this addresses mature themes from the perspective so many young adults know so well.

Graphic Novels

Did you see The Watchmen? Are you planning on seeing Wolverine? Would you like the back story to the biggest movies of the past few years? Take a look online here at the library's graphic novel, manga and comic book collection. If you need recommendations or help picking out titles stop by the reference desk and speak with a librarian.

In the mean time if you liked The Watchmen I would recommend these titles:
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
Batman, the Dark Knight Series by Frank Miller
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
Batman Hush by Jeph Loeb

Thirteen Reasons Why

I just finished a great new book I thought I would share. Jay Asher's Th1rteen R3asons Why is an interesting look on suicide through the perspective of two narrative voices. The deceased, Hannah Baker, creates a series of tapes before she commits suicide, and sends them to 13 different people in her life who she wanted to speak with following her death. The other narrator, who was the only positive person in Hannah's life struggles as he listens to her speak from beyond the grave, as we listen to his thoughts, while he listens to hers. The book tackles everything from gossip, to love, to rape from a range of perspectives that I think any teen or young adult could learn from.

Place a hold on it here using your library card.