Monday, November 27, 2006

The Hippie House


The Hippie House by Katherine Holubitsky
Fourteen-year-old Emma feels safe and protected from the violent world but it about to come to her world. A young girl has gone missing. She is found raped and murdered in a small shed at the "Hippie House". And now the search is on for the killer. And the girls in town no longer feel safe and protected.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Fade To Black by Alex Flinn

Alejandro "Alex" Crusan is a seventeen-years-old Latino and HIV positive. His family moved from Miami to Pinedale, Florida. No one in his new school will touch him, much less befriend him. The only one that does not avoid Alex is Daria, the girl with Down Syndrome. Everyone avoids her too. But someone nearby hates Alex enough to learn his daily routine, followed by taking a baseball bat to Alex's car. The windows shatter, throwing tiny glass shards over Alex. The shards act as knives. Daria does not lie. She tells the police what she saw. The police go after Clinton Cole. Clinton has been very vocal on his feelings about Alex being HIV positive from the beginning. Everyone agrees with Clinton; however, no one believes Alex deserves what happened to him. When everyone begins avoiding Clinton, the teen starts to understand how Alex's isolation feels. Clinton swears he did not do it. Yet no one believes him.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Dancing In Red Shoes Will Kill You by Dorian Cirrone


Kayla never really thought of her double Ds as "problem breasts." It made them sound like children who wouldn't behave.
Kayla Callaway has prima ballerina grace and something else that most ballerinas don't have: a full figure. Her heart is set on a future in dance. Unfortunately, her proportions just got her cast as an ugly stepsister in Florida Arts High School's production of Cinderella. Kayla's disappointment makes her a prime suspect when the dance troupe receives a string of threatening messages.

Friday, October 27, 2006


When Joe Beck, a fifteen-year-old suburban kid, gets lost in a disreputable neighborhood on his way to an appointment in London, he is struck dumb by his first sight of beautiful and seemingly innocent Candy. She talks with him, teases him, but reveals nothing about herself except her phone number. Later they have a perfect day at the London Zoo, and soon Joe is as addicted to Candy as she is to heroin, in spite of the threats of her menacing pimp Iggy. Almost nothing matters except his desire to free her from her terrible life -- not his band’s chance for a recording contract, not the song he has written for her that has become a hit without him. But there is something that still matters to him, and when he rescues the young prostitute from her sordid rooming house and takes her into hiding to sweat out her addiction, Iggy finds and uses that one thing that is stronger than Joe’s passion for Candy, in a heart-thumping, breathless conclusion.

Friday, October 20, 2006

The Tequila Worm by Viola Canales


Sofia comes from a family of storytellers. Here are her tales of growing up in the barrio in McAllen, Texas, full of the magic and mystery of family traditions: making Easter cascarones, celebrating el Dia de los Muertos, preparing for quinceaƱera, rejoicing in the Christmas nacimiento, and curing homesickness by eating the tequila worm. When Sofia is singled out to receive a scholarship to boarding school, she longs to explore life beyond the barrio, even though it means leaving her family to navigate a strange world of rich, privileged kids. It’s a different mundo, but one where Sofia’s traditions take on new meaning and illuminate her path.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Invisible

Invisible is narrated by Dougie, and it a spare, disturbing book. Dougie’s spends most of his time working on building a bridge for his model train. His best friend is popular, football-player Andy. From the beginning, I knew that things aren’t right with Dougie. The book is all the more uncomfortable because I could also identify with the “mean” kids in high school who persecuted him. Dougie is so weird that I could easily see why he was picked on. Hautman skillfully tells the story, giving the history of Dougie and Andy’s relationship, and leading to what felt like a difficult but inevitable conclusion.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Girls in pants : the third summer of the sisterhood by Brashares, Ann.


This book deals with the girls growing up a little and realizing what each of them has inside plus the support of each other and family, they can make it in the world. They all are sad because they know at the end of this summer they will have to separate and make a way for themselves in the world, but are hoping to still stay close. Wish it was this way but for many of us, we know that life gets busy and friends grow apart. This book however the girls lean on each other a bit, but are a bit more independent. They learn to rely on themselves a bit more. Like Lena, who wants to go to art college but her dad forbids it. He won't pay for her to, so now she must work to get a scholarship. Carmen must deal with her mom and David having a new baby, just as she is ready to leave for college. Tibby must deal with her siblings and what she really feels about Brian. Bee is coaching a soccer camp and must deal with the past.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Peaches by Jodi Anderson

Three teenaged girls from very different backgrounds, thrown together to pick peaches in a Georgia orchard, spend a summer in pursuit of the right boy, the truest of friends, and the perfect peach.

This was a very fun book. The girls learned to grow together through their differences in personalities and the hardships they were facing as teenage girls. My favorite character was definitely Murphy; she was strong and independent, and had a tendency to speak rather sharply at times. She loved to get herself into mischief.

I recommend this book to any teenager who is looking for a quick enjoyable read with themes that pertain to almost every young girl.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

The Perfect Shot by Elaine Marie Alphin

The Perfect Shot is a mystery thriller about a high school basketball player who may be the only person to give investigators the right information about the murders of his girlfriend, Amanda, and her mother and little brother. All quilt points to Amanda's father. Brian doesn't know he holds the missing link of the trial until his history teacher assigns all the students a lesson on famous past trials. The story is told in flashbacks as Brian compares Amanda's father's situation to the 1913 Leo Frank murder case he is researching for class. The story doesn't stop there. Brian's friend and basketball teammate Julius, one of the few blacks in the school, is arrested for driving lost in a small Indiana town. Brian now must face the realization of prejudice in the real world. Brian struggles with all of the above pressures as he tries to lead his basketball team to victory. This book will keep you turning pages to the very end.

The Perfect Shot is a wonderful look at teen life and the struggles human beings go through when dealing with a loss. This book is also an experienced look at the struggles young adults go through when trying to figure out what their place is in this world.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

"Softly he brushed my cheek, then held my face between his marble hands. 'Be very still,' he whispered, as if I wasn't already frozen. Slowly, never moving his eyes from mine, he leaned toward me. Then abruptly, but very gently, he rested his cold cheek against the hollow at the base of my throat."

Twilight, written by Stephenie Meyer is a fantasy novel about vampires. Bella moves to Forks, a gloomy Olympic Peninsula to be with her father. On the first day of her new school she meets Edward, an extremely unique young man whom Bella can’t resist. Edward and Bella fall in love and the romance continues throughout the book even though Bella discovers that Edward and his family are vampires. Bella wants nothing more than to become a vampire.

If you love fantasy, especially ones dealing with vampires, this is the book for you! It’s one of those books that once you begin reading, you can’t put it down. It will keep you up all night turning pages. It’s a book that you never want to end; however, this one does end but not the story line! I have had the privilege to read book 2, which is not for sale at the moment. I was able to get my hands on a revision copy while at the Texas Library annual conference.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

This is a test of my blog.