Reading Rants! Out of the Ordinary Teen Booklists!

When Octavia thinks about her grandma Mare, the first word that comes to mind is “embarrassing.” Instead of being the cozy type of grandmother who bakes cookies and does the Sunday paper crossword puzzle, Mare “has long fake nails and a croaky hoarse drawl, and she’s always holding a long, skinny cigarette…She’s loud and bossy and she drinks bourbon with lemon juice at dinner. She has a low-slung, two door red coupe…and walks everywhere else on strappy high-heeled sandals.” As far as ‘Tavia’s  concerned, the less time she spends with outspoken Mare the better! But now her parents have volunteered Octavia and her snooty older sister Tali to accompany Mare on a summer road trip South to a mysterious family reunion, and neither of them is very happy about it. Octavia stopped getting along as sisters with Tali a long time ago, and the prospect of having to deal with her in the close quarters of Mare’s car seems not only uncomfortable but practically impossible. But soon Octavia sees a whole new side of her outrageous grandma as Mare starts spinning tales of her time in the WAC (Women’s Army Corp.) during WWII to pass the time in the car. Almost against their will, the sisters are drawn into Mare’s sweeping story of bravery, sacrifice, prejudice and pain. As the journey continues, both girls begin to soften towards each other and Mare as they begin to understand the role the past has played in shaping their present.  There’s nothing I like better than a good inter-generational story—as long as the oldster on the scene isn’t some sappy, wise Yoda-type figure dispensing advice. And Mare couldn’t be less like that. She’s smart, sassy and utterly cool. But she also admits her mistakes, never sets herself up as a role model, and allows her granddaughters to see her weaknesses and insecurities. I loved how Tanita Davis wove together the contemporary with the historical and showed how they connect through two generations of strong African American women. And if you want to read another great story about the contributions of African American women during WWII, check out Sherri L. Smith’s Flygirl.

In 1943 Louisiana, nineteen-year-old Ida Mae Jones wants nothing more than to contribute to the war effort like her big brother Thomas. She’s tired of serving on the home front, where all women can do is save bacon fat for machine grease or donate their silk nylons for parachutes. Like her father before her, Ida Mae has the flying bug and won’t be happy until she’s piloting a plane for Uncle Sam. There’s just one lil’ problem: Ida Mae is an African American woman, and although black men are allowed to enlist and serve in segregated units, women are not welcome as pilots or soldiers in the United States Army. But just when Ida Mae has given up all hope of realizing her dream, she hears about the WASP, or Women Airforce Service Pilots program. Due to the shortage of able-bodied men, the Army needs female pilots to ferry planes across the US to drop-off points where they can then be flown overseas to the battlefields and Ida Mae is determined to become one of those women. To the horror and dismay of her friends and family, armed with just her father’s forged pilot’s license and her light skin, she enters the WASP training program as a white female pilot. Her fear of being found out  is quickly eclipsed by the thrill of flight and the close friends she makes at the training center. But her family and her roots are never far from her mind. Exposure as a black woman would mean expulsion from the program, criminal arrest, or worse. Can Ida Mae make it as a black woman in a white man’s Army? Will she even want to after facing discrimination, ridicule and the death of a dear friend? Sherri L. Smith’s fourth novel is a high flying historical adventure, full of thrills and spills, but also jam packed with fascinating historical facts about the amazing WASP and their unique brand of heroism.

It’s 1947 and fifteen-year-old Evie is in a big hurry to grow up. She’s sick of her gorgeous mom Bev always stuffing her into little-girl dresses and making her wipe off her lipstick. So when her stepfather Joe proposes a family holiday to swanky Palm Beach, Evie jumps at the chance to recreate herself on vacation. Her opportunity to do so arises when she meets Peter, a dishy ex-G.I. friend of her stepfather’s who’s also staying in Palm Beach. Peter is a twenty-three-year-old Hottie McHotster and a total flirt. Though Evie’s mother seems to enjoy Peter’s company, Joe seems sullen and resentful anytime he’s around. Slowly it becomes clear to Evie that Peter wants something from her family—but what? Does he really like Evie, or is he just using her to get closer to beautiful Bev? Or maybe his true target is Joe, and Evie is just an afterthought in his pursuit of a business deal with her stepfather. The answer is revealed when a tragic accident forces Evie to choose between Peter and her parents, and the decision she makes  surprises even Evie herself. Though it takes place almost fifteen years earlier than the 1960’s cable sensation, this slick hist. mystery reminded me of the glamorous yet repressed world of Mad Men, where no one shares their real feelings and family secrets are swept neatly under the rug. Judy Blundell’s sophisticated teen noir is not only one of the few true mysteries in YA  Lit. Land, it’s also one of the best. But don’t just take my word for it—Blundell’s book was also crowned the winner of the 2008 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, despite some very tough competition.

A classic haunted house story is given a gentle face-lift by mistress of modern horror Deborah Noyes, who, with just a few tugs and some careful reconstruction, has created a glowing new work that does tremendous tribute to the original.  Turn-of-the-century American novelist Edith Wharton wrote “Kerfol” in 1916, a short story about a controlling French lord who kept his young wife practically imprisoned within Kerfol, his forbidding Baroque mansion. He refused to allow Milady even the comfort of a pet, and because of his suspicions that she was having an affair, ruthlessly murdered each dog she tried to keep in secret. Then the lord turns up dead, seemingly mauled by a pack of dogs. Except, there are no dogs at Kerfol…none left alive, that is…First Noyes took Wharton’s story and re-imagined it from the point of view of a young maid who worked in Milady’s service, interweaving her own writing with some of Wharton’s original phrases and dialogue. Then she moves forward in time to show how future generations continue to be haunted by the ghosts of Kerfol. Right after the French Revolution, a young artist who inherits Kerfol is tormented by the beautiful image of a woman he can’t stop painting, and the pack of sad-eyed dogs who follow him everywhere yet refuse to be touched. In 1926, a spoiled flapper meets her doom when she dons Milady’s cursed sapphire necklace. In 1982, a college-aged couple on a European tour awaken the vengeful spirit of the jealous lord when they engage in an illicit tryst in his former bedchamber. Finally, in 2006, the spirits seem to settle into an uneasy rest after a deaf young gardener finds and removes the cursed necklace from the manor grounds. Or, will the restless ghosts just follow the jewels to their new home and continue to haunt the young man? Like the linked sparkling gems in Milady’s necklace, each of Noyes’s stories is a small masterpiece, gracefully strung together by interwoven themes of bitter betrayal, sweet revenge and tempting madness. This gorgeously Gothy title is a just-right read for a blustery November night—or anytime you want to give yourself a delicious shiver!

There’s nothing I love more than a good Arthurian legend. And Philip Reeve has written a slammin’ one! In this realistic revamp, Myrddin (Merlin) is a smooth-talking two-bit politician, a slight-of-hand bard who knows there’s no such thing as magic, only human gullibility and greed. He takes a promising young warrior named Arthur and attempts to use his savage talent to unite the squabbling tribes of Britain, who have fractured into a million warring pieces after the fall of the Roman Empire. But despite all of Myrddin’s efforts to groom the brutish Arthur into something resembling a king, the man known as “The Bear” refuses to be tamed. Arthur continues to loot and terrorize neighboring communities just like the barbarian Saxons he has sworn to protect them from, even as Myrddin grows his legend as a fair and just leader throughout the land. Myrddin’s masterful manipulations and Arthur’s violent exploits are seen through the eyes of Myrddin’s young assistant Gwyna, an orphan girl who becomes an unwitting accomplice in the creation of the enduring, yet wholly man-made legend of Arthur. The players you know well are all here: Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere) Bedwyr (Lancelot) Peredur (Perceval) and of course, the wily Myrddin. Except in this reimagining, there is no fantasy to blunt the sharp edge of Arthur’s broadsword Caliburn (Excalibur). Reeve removes the gilded edges from the traditional Arthur tales and writes Camelot the way it might have been in a real time and place. The result is bleak, and often bloody, but brilliant. If you are as obsessed with Arthurian myth as I am, you’ll also want to read Kevin Crossley-Holland’s and Jane Yolen’s versions of the legendary king.

“I was chained between two nations.” When Isabel Finch’s mistress dies, she is sold to a New York Loyalist family instead of being granted her freedom as was promised in the old lady’s will.  Bound to a cruel new Tory mistress who delights in tormenting her, Isabel is initially tempted to join forces with Curzon, the enslaved message boy of a rebel leader who believes in the patriots’ cause. However, it isn’t long before Isabel discovers that neither Tory nor Patriot is interested in granting slaves their freedom, and if she wants her independence, she’ll have to take it for herself. Armed with only her wits and the memories of her lost family, Isabel learns to play both sides against each other for the highest of stakes: her future. Giving readers an intimate portrait of the sights, sounds and smells of New York in the tense six months leading up to George Washington’s famous Delaware crossing, this suspenseful hist. fic.  had me turning pages with breathless anticipation to see how Isabel was going to engineer her escape. Friends, this prose MOVES—would you expect anything less of rock star YA author Laurie Halse Anderson of Speak and Fever 1793 fame? But this isn’t just an adventure story. It is also a tale of bravery, passion and fear featuring a smart, courageous heroine who is impossible to forget. (I just knew it would be good, especially with that cover that looks like it’s straight out of a Kara Walker exhibit!) This novel pairs perfectly with another of my fav titles that kicks it Revolutionary War-style: Octavian Nothing, vols. 1 & 2. Read ‘em all together for the total AmRev experience! Being released into a library or bookstore near you October 2008.

Benjamin and Tom are two entrepreneuring eighteenth-century grifters who need a sympathetic third body to help them tug at potential marks’ heart and purse strings. Enter Ren, a small dirty orphan with only one hand. Grateful to have found a new “family,” Ren agrees to play his part, though his sensitive conscience (well developed at the Catholic orphanage) often pains him. Using Ren’s wan face and prominent disability, the two crooks clean up until they turn their illegal attentions to grave robbing. Caught at the dirty deed, the trio are targeted by a shady local mill owner, who holds an entire small New England town in his tight fist. As they try to escape his murderous intentions, a surprising secret about Ren’s past comes to light, changing, well…everything. This quirky historical yarn, reminiscent of the writing of Charles Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson, is full of colorful characters and unexpected twists. Both absorbing and exciting, often absurd and sometimes deeply sad, The Good Thief is a darn good read.

I already know what you’re going to say: “Jen! Why do you post about books that aren’t coming out for MONTHS, knowing full well I won’t be able to get my hot little hands on them anytime in the near future?” I know, I feel your pain and I apologize, but I just couldn’t wait to share my joy after reading the sequel to Octavian Nothing, the most amazing historical fiction ever. I was gifted with an early review copy and promptly sped through the 500+ pages in just a few days, dying to know what became of the experimental slave man-child raised by 18th century philosophers who used him as an example to prove that an African slave had all the same intellect and reason as a European man. After escaping his captors with the help of his tutor, Dr. Trefusis, at the end of the first book, now Octavian and the good doctor find themselves trapped in the besieged city of Boston, where resources are scarce and the rebels await just outside the city’s fortifications. Then Octavian hears that Lord Dunmore, the exiled Tory governor of Virginia, has issued a proclamation that promises freedom to all slaves who will join with his troops against the rebels. So Dr. Trefusis and Octavian travel to Norfolk, Virginia, where Octavian joins the Royal Ethiopian Regiment, in service to the King of England. But Octavian has a hard time fitting in with the rest of his escaped colleagues, as his exquisite manners and proper speech make him seem fussy and prim. In addition, the REG seems to spend more time sitting around and waiting in the hold of a stinky ship as they do actually fighting their former slave masters. Soon Octavian begins to wonder, “Rebel or Redcoat, were there none who needed to use us sufficiently to save us?” Beautifully written in the vernacular of the 18th century, this throughly researched sequel both stands alone and also answers all the questions readers had at the end of the first volume of Octavian’s unusual history. The action is fierce, the philosophy thought-provoking, and the characterizations complex and compelling. The incomparable M.T. Anderson poses questions about the meaning of liberty and the relativity of loyalty in the midst of war, while making connections between the American Revolution and the society we live in today. While they are in no way easy or quick reads, if you are a student of history or life, it would be well worth your while to read both volumes of the Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing. Coming to a bookstore or library near you (don’t hit me!) October 2008.

Twenty-two year old scullery maid Anne Green is NOT having a very good day. First, she was hung by the neck after being found guilty of a crime she didn’t commit. Then, she wakes up in total darkness, not being able to move or speak, and realizes that instead of standing at the pearly gates, she is actually STILL ALIVE IN HER COFFIN! Worse yet, just on the other side of the rough wooden planks, doctors are deciding which of her lovely limbs they’re going to carve up first in the name of science. See, Anne’s body has been requested for dissection by the good physicians of Oxford University, and her parents are too poor to demand it back. So unless Anne finds her voice, and soon, she’s going to go all to pieces—literally! Based on the true story of a young woman in 1650 England who survived the hangman’s noose, this enormously hip historical fiction by Brit author Mary Hooper is written in chapters that alternate between Anne’s increasingly anxious voice as she recounts the events that led to her almost-end, and the room outside her coffin, where a young medical student begins to notice signs of life in Anne’s ice-cold corpse. Utterly-un-put-down-able, you will find yourself frantically reading ahead to see if Anne lived through the noose just to fall prey to the doctors’ scalpels. If you’ll pardon the pun, it’s a ripping good read!

Fifteen-year-old Annie is used to twisting the truth to her own benefit. After all, Annie’s Mama is Madame Caterina, a fake medium who claims to speak to spirits, but whose sham séances are about as real as a wooden nickel. Cross her palm with silver, or better yet, cold hard cash, and she’ll tell you anything you want to hear. But now that Mama wants Annie to pretend to be a drooling idiot so people will carelessly speak their deepest thoughts around her—thoughts that Mama can then use when pretending to tell their fortunes—Annie’s decided that she’s sick and tired of lying for Mama. She’s going to hatch a new scam that benefits her, and now Mama’s the one who’s going to have to learn to play along! This totally hip hist. fic., set in upstate New York in 1924, is full of the fascinating tricks of the trade that scam artists used to make grief-stricken people believe that they were communicating with the dead. I had a ball learning how a few strings, a hidden bell, some low light, and a double-jointed big toe could convince folks that they were really speaking to their beloveds who had “crossed over.” How Annie undermines and breaks free of sly Mama will leave you cheering and feeling grateful that instead of grifters, your parents are just ordinary teachers, stockbrokers, or truck drivers!

In this oldie-but-goodie tale of adventure and intrigue set in 16th-century Japan, young orphaned Taro is taken under the wing of the great samurai Lord Akiyama, after his father is killed in battle and his mother slain in the aftermath. By using his wits and suppressing his fierce pride, Taro slowly ascends the ranks of his lord’s household until he achieves his greatest goal—becoming a samurai like his father and Lord Akiyama, whom he has come to admire. But the life of a warrior is not easy, and Taro finds himself sacrificing opportunities of love and friendship in order to gain honor and respect. Is Taro willing to give up all the comfortable trappings of hearth and home for the dubious privilege of living–and dying–by the sword? Full of period detail that immerses the reader in the everyday life of a samurai in training, this retro-read will appeal to fans of Lian Herne’s Tales of the Otori (Thanks for the suggestion, Harry!)

Mean Girls meets The Age of Innocence in this deliciously decadent debut. Just imagine Lindsey Lohan and Rachel McAdams in rustling silk dresses, batting their eyes at boys in white tails behind feathery fans in tastefully decorated drawing rooms, and you’ve got The Luxe, a Gilded Age Gossip Girl. The year: 1899. The place: upper crust NYC. Here, you’ll meet good-as-gold girl Elizabeth Holland, a frosty blond with a boiling hot secret—she’s in love with stable boy Will, and has been trysting with him late at night for some less-than-innocent rolls in the hay. But she’s being forced to marry wealthy playboy Henry Schoonmaker for his inheritance because her blue-blooded family is on the brink of financial ruin. When her best friend ( and worst enemy) Penelope Hayes discovers Elizabeth is engaged to her crush, she begins to plot her friend’s downfall in order get Henry for herself. Meanwhile, Henry has become smitten with Elizabeth’s wild younger sister, Diana, who isn’t sure she can stand by and watch her sister marry the man she knows is meant for her. And don’t forget the sly chambermaid, Lina, who knows Elizabeth’s shameful secret, and isn’t afraid to sell it to the highest bidder so she can better her position and win the heart of stable boy Will (who we started with, remember?) This high society romp is light, fluffy, and totally escapist. The scandalous ending hints at a sequel, so hopefully we will be able to continue swooning over Henry Schoonmaker for several thick books to come. And the cover, oh the cover! Talk about swooning–do they carry that dress at Macy’s? If you enjoy The Luxe and want to read more about the Gilded Age, look up the classics by Edith Wharton and Henry James that clearly inspired this teen tale of manners (or just rent the very fine movie adaptations of The Age of Innocence and Portrait of a Lady).

Well, fiddle-dee-dee! Picture book author Rosemary Wells has penned a rousing Civil War novel whose heroine is the very antithesis of spoiled southern belle Scarlett O’Hara. India Moody is the daughter of a modest Virginia harness maker who reluctantly leaves home to become an ambulance wagon driver for the Confederates. In his absence, India (who is a daddy’s girl through and through) pines for him as she tries to help her mother keep their family together while the war goes on and resources become scarcer. She is encouraged and inspired by her teacher, Emory Trimble, a young man of science who teaches India all about the wonders that exist beneath the glass of the microscope. After a friend up North writes to tell her that there is a college in Ohio that accepts women, India becomes determined to work her way there, war or no war. Soon Emory follows her father to the battlefield and India finds herself unable to just sit and wait for bad news. She leaves home to find her father, and ends up smack dab in the middle of the bloody battle of Sharpsburg. Will India survive long enough to find her father and realize her dream of a college education? Although Wells succumbs to the occasional bit of melodramatic purple prose (in this example, literally): “Mauve is a pinkish purple of such delicacy I can only hold the silk square to the light and gaze at it. I have seen it only in petunias and stained-glass windows,” it suits India’s rebellious, yet lady-like personality. And who doesn’t enjoy a little historical melodrama, especially of the skirt-swishing, finger-wagging, swooning sort? I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to find out what would happen to India and her dream of studying science with the big boys, and I will definitely be recommending Red Moon to my 8th grade students next year as a perfect selection for their Civil War book project.

“Love and hate in seventh grade are not far apart, let me tell you.” In 1967 on Long Island, NY, Holling Hoodhood’s English teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates him about as much as she loves William Shakespeare. How does he know? Because every Wednesday afternoon, when half his class leaves for catechism lessons and half leave for Hebrew school, Holling, the only Presbyterian, is left alone with Mrs. Baker…and Shakespeare. When Mrs. Baker first proposes that they read and study the Bard’s plays together, Holling is less than thrilled. But that’s before he discovers Caliban’s curses in The Tempest, or how to use lines from Romeo and Juliet to woo the fair Meryl Lee. Suddenly, Shakespeare doesn’t seem so stupid anymore. In fact, the long dead playwright’s words help Holling in all sorts of situations: facing a bullying neighbor, speaking up to his overbearing father, and winning a coveted place as the only seventh grader on the school’s new cross country team. And even though it’s harder to find comfort in plays while the Vietnam War rages on and Martin Luther King is assassinated, Mrs. Baker shows Holling that what Shakespeare wrote about wars and kings is just as relevant in 1967 as it was in 1587. Schmidt’s warm, solid autobiographical read is getting mad love from teachers and librarians because even though she’s prickly, Mrs. Baker is smart and cool (like we like to think we are) and well, it’s about the power of SHAKESPEARE! But don’t worry, Schmidt filled his story with lots of funny, subversive stuff for teens too–think Ralphie Parker in A Christmas Story. Take a look at this one yourself and see if you agree that its a book that both a teacher AND a student could love.

After fifteen-year-old Tamar’s beloved grandfather commits suicide, it is three months before she can bring herself to open the old box of keepsakes he left her. When she does, the odd assortment of WWII memorabilia that dates back to his days as a spy for the Allied Forces in Nazi-occupied Holland holds little meaning for her. Until she looks closer, and realizes that “Grandad hadn’t been mad when he put these things in it. I knew that these things fitted together in some way, and I had to find out how.” Using a set of maps, an old crossword puzzle, and a bundle of money that adds up to 1945, Tamar sets out on a journey along the English river she was named for to uncover the past of a man she thought she knew. Alternating chapters tell the story of her grandfather’s final dangerous mission into occupied Holland during the terrible “Hunger Winter” when the Dutch people were slowly starving to death waiting for the Allies to come. Working undercover, he and his partner were given orders to try and unite the chaotic Dutch Resistance; desperate rag-tag groups of men who did whatever they could to undermine the Nazi’s efforts, including stealing supplies and bombing roads. What he did there had always been a total mystery to his family…until now. The two stories finally converge in the shocking truth that drove Tamar’s grandfather to suicide, leaving Tamar with a new understanding of the complicated man who asked that she be named for his code-name: a beautiful, winding river that could be both treacherous and calm. Friends, I loved this epic story, but I’m not going to lie, it was a struggle to get into. Clocking in at just over 400 pages, it takes a while to get going. But those last hundred pages make the initial slog through the first hundred all worth it. Full of espionage, romance, and incredibly brave acts of derring-do, this satisfying war-time tome is like six-course banquet, so don’t sit down to it unless you’re ready for a serious feast of historical fiction!

Dewey Kerrigan is an eleven-year-old budding Einstein. The other girls in her class, with their giggling and boy talk, don’t interest her half as much as the experiments she reads about in The Boy Mechanic. Now her scientist dad has taken a top-secret job in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Dewey is going to join him. She has no idea what he’s working on, all she knows is that her father and his colleagues are developing a “gadget” that is supposed to end the WWII. No one knows the details, but anything that will end the war has got to be good, right? Even if you think you know how this story goes, Klages’ creative, thought-provoking ending will haunt you. And I wasn’t the only one who was impressed! Klages scored the 2007 Scott O’Dell award for best historical youth fiction.

You want to read about survival? I’ll give you survival! Try survival on the wild steppes of Kubla Khan’s Mongolia in the 13th century when you’re just a girl with a horse, a dream and a whole lotta bad luck doggin’ your heels. THAT’s survival! Tell Gary Paulsen to take his Hatchet and go home! Wilson has written a fantastical historical fiction about a girl named Oyuna who’s not afraid to dress like a guy, ride like a solider and make her own luck. Mulan is just another fairy princess compared to Oyuna. Go ahead and give this Horse a good hard gallop!

Weak-One, a young Crow Indian girl, is having more than just a bad day–she’s having a bad life. It all started when her twin brother, who was prophesied to be the Great One, who would lead his tribe to health, wealth and all-around general victory, died. Ever since, her people and even her own father have looked at he with suspicion and distrust. Did she somehow kill her brother so that she could be the Great One? No one knows for sure, but most dislike her just the same. When her father dies, she decides to take off for parts unknown to seek her fate, instead of being just another foster girl at someone else’s fire. Once out on the wild (which geographically gifted readers will recognize as Yellowstone National Park) Weak-One becomes the opposite of her name as she survives on her own, even fighting, killing and skinning a bear. (I was so absorbed in the bear battle that I missed my subway stop) But her adventures aren’t over yet. She is kidnapped by a rival tribe and at first, treated like a queen. Only later she finds out that the tribe intends to use her as a human sacrifice in one of their rituals. Now, don’t get too scared, remeber, this is the girl who fought a bear and won. Find out if Weak-One fulfills her fate or loses it all with the flick of a sacrificial knife.

Octavian grows up in a house of colonial scholars in the years before the American Revolutionary War. His mother is a princess from a foreign land, flirted with and adored by the bookish men who toil at their mysterious experiments all day, while Octavian is petted and coddled by the kindly old professors who teach him science, Latin, and how to play the violin. Then one day he discovers a room within the house of books that reveals a startling truth so contrary to what he understands about his existence that Octavian must re-learn who and what he is from the ground up, basically from nothing. Who is Octavian Nothing? Patriot? Traitor? Property? Or Freeman? M.T. Anderson’s compelling book is at once incredibly complex in its construct, told in a myriad of forms and voices, while being breathtakingly simple in its theme of freedom and individual choice. This book isn’t an easy read, or a light one. It will take some awhile to get into and finish. But finish it you must to learn the secret—and the surprising fate—of the Astonishing Octavian Nothing.

The Rivers are your typical 1960’s family. Mom is a housewife who dreams of being a writer, little brother Danny desperately dreams of getting a dog, older brother Beau is obsessed with the NASA space program, which currently features the Gemini space capsules piloted by astronaut Gus Grissom, and Dad is building a fallout shelter in the backyard. Typical. Ordinary, even. But what is not so ordinary is how Danny reacts after Beau is in a terrible accident. After the accident, Danny’s parents finally let him have a dog. The dog, Rocket, becomes Danny’s best friend and shadow. But when Rocket savagely attacks a neighborhood bully, the authorities come to put him down. Danny knows he has to save his dog no matter what, his dog who loves model airplanes and seems to watch the television every time Gus Grissom is on. Because Danny knows, even though no one else believes him, that Rocket is really the reincarnation of his dead brother Beau. Haunting, beautifully written and sweetly nostalgic, Gemini Summer is reminiscent of “Stand By Me” or “The Outsiders,” and will transport you back to a time when we were still in awe of all the things we didn’t know and couldn’t always explain.

Death has seen quite a few catastrophic events in his time, but none quite so ruthless and methodical as the genocide of the Jewish people carried out by Hitler and his death squads during WWII. But no matter how terrible the circumstances, there is no rest for gentle Death, who must continue to gather souls, from battlefields and gas chambers alike. However, he finds his ancient head turned by one little German girl who, in the midst of darkness, has found light through the magic of books and reading. Liesl, the book thief of the title, has attracted Death’s attention because of her unusual habit of stealing books during times of great distress in her life. Now, Liesl and her parents have hidden a young Jewish man in the basement of their home, and he will need more than just words on a page to survive the war. Narrated by the striking and original voice of Death, the tale of The Book Thief is one of horror, courage and unbelievable love that you will probably need (and want!) to read more than once to fully understand and appreciate.

In 1645 England, Nell is the granddaughter of a village healer, and a “merrybegot,” a child conceived on the first of May, a joyful and auspicious day according to Pagan tradition. Her new neighbors, Grace and Patience, are daughters of the widowed Puritan minister, a stern man with no tolerance for the villagers’ superstitious customs. Nell cares not for the prissy, stiff girls who are rarely allowed outside the dark walls of their forbidding house, and Grace thinks Nell is more wild animal than girl, with the way she races headlong through the forest on bare and dirty feet. When the minister embarks on a mission to clear the village of remnants of the “Old Religion” once and for all, Nell and her grandmother are immediately singled out as possible witches. Nell stands defiant against the minister’s crusade, even as her grandmother weakens and grows ill. But when Grace needs to hide a terrible secret, she takes advantage of her father’s “divine” cause to get rid of Nell and her independent ways once and for all! Shivery, shocking, and wonderfully atmospheric, The Minster’s Daughter blends fact, fiction, and fantasy in a way that will have you frantically flipping pages to find out what happens next, while simultaneously hoping this amazing book will never end!

In the unforgiving frontier landscape of late 1870’s Colorado, 13 year old Eva suddenly finds herself with no folks and no money when both of her African American foster parents pass away. But not quite with no place to go. Seems that Eva’s adopted mama kept the name and address of Eva’s birth mama and upon her deathbed, gave that information to Eva. Now Eva is traveling all alone to Denver, to discover the identity of the woman who lives on Holladay Street. And the fact that she lives in a high class brothel is not nearly as upsetting to Eva as the secret that is revealed the first time she sees her biological mother’s face! Fascinating and utterly original, Last Dance will give you some idea of the lack of choices women had when this country was new, and the sacrifices that were made to insure the freedom of the daughters of this generation. An amazing story by an equally amazing storyteller, who writes some of the hippest hist. fic. around!

It’s 1935, and twelve year old Moose Flanagan’s dad is a new guard on the notorious Alcatraz Island prison. Back then, guards and their families were given free housing on the island. Understandably, Moose is a little weirded out living next door to criminals, no matter how famous they are. “I’m sleeping with my clothes on. Who wants to face a convicted felon in your pajamas?” Moose also has to deal with his “big” sister Natalie, who looks like a teenager but acts like a little kid. And Moose has to watch Natalie a lot more now that his father is working so much and his mom is away teaching piano lessons. While all this sister-sitting doesn’t leave much time for hunting baseballs outside the cons’ recreation yard, or getting involved in a laundering (shirts, that is) scheme with the manipulative daughter of the warden, Moose still manages to get into some serious trouble doing both. When the special school that his sister goes to threatens to remove Natalie, Moose turns to the infamous Al Capone for help. Smuggling a note to the hard nosed criminal through the laundry, Moose asks that if Capone has any pull left on the outside, could he use some of it to help Natalie stay at her school? You won’t believe the kind of answer Moose gets…This is one funny historical fiction novel, set in one of the most original locations ever!

Just when I was convinced that I couldn’t be surprised or moved by yet another emotionally wrenching Holocaust story, veteran author Spinelli proved me wrong. Misha is an orphan in the Warsaw ghetto who can’t remember his real name, who his parents were, or where he was born. With his coloring, he could be a Jew or a Gypsy, neither of which is safe in Hitler’s Europe. Having never known any other life than that of a hungry beggar and a thief, Misha takes pleasure in small things, like a warm mouthful of bread, or the polished boots of the Nazi soldiers. He is shockingly naive, not recognizing the danger that surrounds him until it almost too late. It is only when most of his gang of orphan friends have been killed or deported that he begins to see how amazing it is that he has survived this long, and plans his own escape from the ghetto. There are images in this book that will haunt me forever, mostly the picture Spinelli paints of a group of Nazi soldiers and their girlfriends, who come to the ghetto in their rich clothes and full bellies to throw bread to the starving Jewish children as if they were hungry birds, and laugh as they fight over it. Gorgeous writing, but oh so sad. Keep some Kleenex handy.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin story is given fresh breath in this inventive retelling by the master of the fractured fairy tale, Donna Jo Napoli. In medieval Hameln, the townsfolk can’t seem to cure the horrible disease that is felling both man and beast. Twelve year old narrator Salz is the only one who seems to be unaffected by this illness that looks like the dread Black Death, but isn’t. Could it be coming from the swarms of filthy rats that seem to be everywhere: in the beds, in the stables, even the soup pots? When a traveling musician offers to pipe the vermin away, the townsfolk happily agree. But when the fits of madness still plague the people after all the rats have been removed, they no longer believe that they owe the piper his due. Salz has all the pieces to the puzzle of the mysterious illness, if he could only put them together in time. This is a rich, gorily detailed story that is not only great hist. fic. but an absorbing mystery as well. An author’s note at the end puts it all together for readers who, like Salz, can’t quite figure it out.

In 1906, 16 year old aspiring author Mattie Gokey finds herself in the middle of circumstances she couldn’t even imagine in one of her own stories: a possible murder at the Catskills hotel where she is working as a maid. The first time Mattie meets the sad and lonely Grace Brown, she thrusts a handful of letters into the surprised Mattie’s hands just before going boating with her fiancee. The next day, Grace Brown drowned body is found, the fiancee has disappeared, and Mattie has to decide what to do with the incriminating letters. Meanwhile, Mattie’s dream of moving off the mountains and heading to New York to pursue her dream as a “writing woman” grows dimmer and dimmer as her widowed father puts more pressure on her to take care of her many siblings, and a local Lothario urges her to marry him. As Mattie begins to read Grace’s letters and piece together the mystery of her death, she begins to see the danger in letting other make your life decisions for you. Is she brave enough to leave the Catskills and all she have ever known behind? If she doesn’t, she may end up as dead inside as Grace Brown. A 2004 Printz-award honor book, A Northern Light is historical fiction at it’s very best.

This is a cool retelling of the Illiad from the teen’s point of view. Xanthe and Marpessa are sister servants in the palace of Hector, ruler of Troy. Xanthe is nanny to Hector and Andromache’s royal baby, and Marpessa is beautiful Helen’s (”the face that sailed a thousand ships”) personal assistant. Xanthe also works in the “Blood Room,” the place where all the Trojan soliders are brought when they’re wounded. It’s there that Xanthe falls for hottie solider Alastar as he recovers from battle. Gods and goddesses also drift through the story, usually causing trouble. Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, sees Xanthe mooning over Alastar, and, because she’s bored with all the war stuff, decides to make both Xanthe and Marpessa fall for Alastar, but make him love only Marpessa. Meanwhile, the crippled stablehand who both sisters are friends with only has eyes for Xanthe, but she can only see Alastar. And least you think this sounds too romantical, outside the sieged city walls, the Trojan war between the Trojans and the Greeks over Helen’s “kidnapping” (she actually went willingly from her Greek husband so that she could knock the boots with Paris, the gorgeous, although shallow Trojan warrior) continues, with Greek warrior Achilles is slaying people left and right while the god of war, Ares, strides up and down the battlefield, admiring his handiwork. Sexy, bloody, and just downright absorbing, you don’t need to read the original Illiad to understand this hip interpretation. (Trust me, I never read the Illiad, either!)<

Donata is tired of being talked down to by her big brothers. In 1592 Venice, girls, even those of the upper class, aren’t allowed to study anything other than music or needlework, can’t go outside unescorted, and must always be quiet unless spoken to. The only way outgoing Donata learns anything is by quizzing her brothers about it. But she knows even they are carefully selecting what they can and can’t tell her. So she decides to take matters into her own hands. With the help of her identical twin, Laura, Donata scores some beggar boy clothes, ties up her hair and heads out into Venice on her own, dressed as boy. (I know, that whole “girl dressing as a boy” plot has been done to death, but this in this story it works well) There, she gets beat up by another alley-rat kid, and makes friends with Noe, a young scholar from the Jewish ghetto. But once Donata discovers the real Venice, she knows she can never go back to being a quiet, dutiful daughter. How can she convince her parents to let her get an education like her brothers, without telling them about her double life? The best part of this book is the intricate historical detail. Napoli carefully describes the architecture of Venice, it’s complicated system of canals, and most importantly, the many, many rules that governed it’s Renaissance women. When I closed the cover, I couldn’t believe that I was still sitting in my apartment in Queens instead of a swaying gondola. (And please dismiss the childish cover on this book–it’s really much older than it looks!)

A harrowing look at how the bubonic plague of the 17th century almost destroys a small English village’s spirit. Anna Frith is just 18 years old, but already a widow with two small boys when a traveling tailor arrives from London, carrying a bolt of cloth that he intends to make clothes out of for the village people. Anna has a room to rent in her little house, and offers it to him. A few short weeks later, he dies painfully in bed of a high fever and pulsing sores, and soon everyone who bought a dress from him is also sick. For the tailor’s bolt of cloth carried fleas, and the fleas carried the dreaded Plague. And so begins a year of sickness that affects both the minds and bodies of Anna’s little village. In their fear and delirium, the townspeople begin to turn on each other, and claim that it is witchcraft that is spreading the disease. Anna, one of the few who doesn’t seem to be affected, works day and night helping the sick, squashing rumors of witchcraft, and questioning her own beliefs and morals when her two small sons die in her arms. A terribly sad yet thoughtful story full of complex questions about life, death and fate.

It’s hard to believe, but many writers have taken one of the most fascinating periods of history–the Salem Witch Trials–and made it kinda dry and dusty. You know what I mean–books like Witch of Blackbird Pond or Witch’s Children. They always have an innocent girl at the center, accused of witchcraft, but she comes out okay because she really is a good, God-fearing gal, blah, blah, blah. What’s the fun and fear in that? Now Brit author Rees knows how to stir up the cauldron a little–her story is about a girl who’s a REAL witch, the last of her kind in a long line of pagans who follow the Old Religion and worship nature. Mary Nuttall helplessly watches her own grandmother hung as a witch before a beautiful and mysterious benefactor whisks her off to the New World with a batch of Puritans. There, Mary thinks she will be free to be her witchy self, but she finds these pilgrims are even more Puritanical that the ones she left behind in merry old England. Now, she’s gotta watch her back as all the town elders start shooting black looks her way just because she happens to knows how to read and heal the sick. Can Mary keep these pinch-faced Puritans in the dark? Or will her secret identity be revealed? Written in diary form, this is one witch story that will keep you riveted.

Twelve year old African American Leonora Sutter is running scared. Even though she and her father have dealt with racism before (after all, this is 1924, before Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement) she is terrified of what will happen to them now that the Klu Klux Klan has come to their small Vermont town. Who among the townspeople can she trust not to don white hoods after dark? Will Constable Johnson help her family if there is trouble, or is he one of THEM? On which side is general store owner Harvey Pettibone? Or Mrs. Sara Chickering, the lady farmer who avoids Leonora, but has a little Jewish girl staying with her? The tension builds as Leonora tries to decide who to put her faith in during these dangerous times. Witness is written entirely in free-verse poetry, each poem being the inner thoughts of eleven different characters (including Leonora, Harvey and Sara) about how they feel about the KKK setting up shop in their town. Everyone thinks they know which side is right and which side is wrong, but when a furtive gunman opens fire on Sara Chickering’s house, each person must painfully reevaluate their position. Besides being a wonderfully deep examination of racism and identity, Witness is also a great history mystery. Note the clues each character drops to help you figure out who the guilty shooter is.

Sixteen year old Mattie Cook yearns for some greater excitement than the dubious thrill of washing countless mugs in her family’s Philadelphia coffee shop. But she learns the hard way to be careful what you wish for when the whole city falls victim to yellow fever in the summer of 1793. Left all alone when members of her family are torn from her by illness or death, Mattie has to fend for herself in a city gone crazy, as opportunistic looters break into homes that have been abandoned and yellow-eyed corpses pile up in the streets. It’s only when Mattie meets up with Eliza, her mother’s free black friend, that she is able to deal with what has happened to her family and decide to take charge of her fate by helping others worse off than herself. Full of adrenaline charged action and lots of gruesome disease detail (blood vomiting and gravediggers hauling dead bodies through the streets) Fever is a fascinating medical thriller that reads like a historical Hot Zone! By the way, this book is based on a REAL epidemic that wiped out 10% of Philadelphia’s population in just three months.

In the post Civil War South, one of the few jobs that an able bodied African American man can hold in North Carolina is that of a “surfman,” one of the professional life savers that work to save floundering ships and crews during the winter storm season. Twelve year old Nate Williams wants to be one of those brave, before-Baywatch guys instead of a boring old fisherman, like his father. He can’t understand why dad is so against him becoming like one of his heroes, a “storm warrior.” Nate soon learns that father actually has his best interests at heart when he discovers that only the surf outpost on Pea Island, NC is open to African American workers. Nate could train to become a surfman–but he’d never be able to get another job off of Pea Island due to the prevailing racism of the day. Down but not out, Nate finds a way to help his community and himself in a totally different way that is just as brave as boogie-boarding out to shipwrecks. Full of daring rescues during wild and stormy nights, Storm Warriors is only for the bravest of sailors. Landlubbers should stick to Little House on the Prairie!

Based on true events, Donna Jo Napoli tells a different kind of Holocaust story that fans of Anne Frank may not have encountered before. Roberto is an Italian boy sick to death of WWII scrimping and pinching. So when a couple of his guy friends suggest taking in a rare American movie, Roberto goes, even though he knows if his mom finds out he’s in for it. Unfortunately, German soldiers have picked this Venetian movie theatre to raid for free labor. They take all the able bodied boys in the audience, load them up on a train, and without even a goodbye or explanation, take them all far away from their homes to toil in German work camps. Already cold, hungry, and afraid for his life, Roberto has one other little thing to worry about–his friend Samule. See, Samule is Jewish, but the German guards who took them don’t know that. Because to get into the forbidden movie theatre, Samule took off the yellow star that identified him as a Jew. Now, the two of them struggle to stay alive, keep Samule’s secret and hope against hope that they’ll make it home safely. Brutal and compelling, this is an amazing story of strength and friendship with lots of harsh landscape living thrown in. Get ready to cry buckets.

Waaaay back in Viking era Norway, teenage Ran has just about had it with her selfish mother. Ran’s dad is dead, and Ran’s mom has decided to take up with her old flame, Vigut, your average burning and pillaging evil Viking warlord. So Ran is forced to leave her beloved granny Amma and travel with Vigut and her mom to their new digs a few moons away. Too bad for Ran that en route mom dies, and nasty Vigut gets it into his pea brain that Ran is somehow responsible for putting an evil spell on her old lady. So now Ran is on the run (hee hee! love that word play!) from Vigut and his murderous band of Viking dudes. Lucky for her that she meets up with Toki, blind bard who also happens to be a hottie. They hook up typical Viking style (due to the short life expectancies of these guys, they had to get together and have babies fast and young, before they were snuffed out by disease, cold weather, or wolves) and cross over into Iceland, where they hope to be safe from Vigut. But Vi is on his way–Ran can feel it. Will she ever be able to escape his vicious Viking wrath? Be prepared to sit down with this one and read it straight through–it’s under 200 pages and so action-packed you won’t be able to put it down for a second.

In the 15th century, young Irish monk (and hunk) Brendan has been sent by the Catholic church to a lonely missionary outpost in Greenland, where he and his colleagues are expected to turn the native people onto Christ and away from their wicked ways. But things don’t turn out so well when the monks can’t really make a go of igloo living and start dropping like frozen flies. Brendan is the last one left alive, and he’s slipping fast. Enter Navarana, a Inuit shaman babe who sweeps in and saves Brendan’s life, even though that means one more mouth to feed in her already starving village. A village elder, wiser that both of them because he can see that opposites attract even when it comes to shamans and priests, sends them off on a mission together to find food, even though they act like they can’t stand each other. Chances are good that they’re gonna hook up, but what about the hungry villagers they left behind? Will they be able to stop quarrelling/kissing long enough to complete their mission? I’m making this book sound sillier than it is–Mette Newth is actually one of my favorite authors because she writes so beautifully and lyrically without the Harlequin cheese factor. Plus, it’s a great examination of religious beliefs and why we believe what we do. Your teacher will love it! (and so will you).