A Year in Review: 2008-2009

Well, despite a slow last couple of months, my blog has reached it’s one year anniversary.  And I think the year has been rather successful.  I experimented with different styles of reviews, having polls, and the types of YA lit that I’ve read.  I have plenty more to do, and I am hoping to renew my efforts for year number 2.

 

For now, here’s a recap of all the books I’ve reviewed here on YA Lit, the Good, the Bad, the Ugly.

October 2008

Cut- Patricia McCormick

Out of the Dust- Karen Hess

Leaving Fischers- Margaret Haddix

A Hero Ain’t Nothing But A Sandwich- Alice Childress

Whale Talk- Chris Crutcher

Looking For Alaska- John Green

November 2008

Romiette and Julio- Sharon Draper

House of the Scorpion- Nancy Farmer

Seek- Paul Fleischman

Scorpions- Walter Dean Meyers

I am the Cheese- Robert Cormier

Twisted- Laurie Halse Anderson

Monster- Walter Dean Meyers

 

December 2008

Copper Sun- Sharon Draper

 

January 2009

I am the Messenger – Markus Zusak

Slam- Nick Hornby

 

February 2009

Maximum Ride- James Patterson

An Abundance of Katherines- John Green

 

March 2009

Boy Proof- Cecil Castellucci

Room in the Heart- Sonia Levitin

Confessions of an Not it Girl- Melissa Kantor

How Ya Like Me Now?- Brendan Halpin

Cuba 15- Nancy Osa

Bullyville- Francine Prose

Tangerine- Edward Bloor

Wintergirls- Laurie Halse Anderson

Beauty Shop For Rent- Laura Bowers

 

April 2009

The Battle of Jericho- Sharon Draper

Persepolis- Marjane Satrapi

A Step From Heaven- An Na

Kit’s Wilderness- David Almond

The White Darkness- Geraldine McCaughrean

American Born Chinese- Gene Luen Yang

Nation- Terry Pratchett

 

May 2009

The Chocolate War - Robert Cormier

Dead is the New Black- Marlene Perez

Jellicoe Road- Melina Marchetta

Tears of a Tiger- Sharon Draper

Being Nikki- Meg Cabot

 

June 2009

Ghostgirl- Tonya Hurley

Max- James Patterson

 

July 2009

The Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins

So Not The Drama- Paula Chase

Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes- Chris Crutcher

 

August 2009

Ghostgirl:Homecoming- Tonya Hurley

 

September-October 2009

No new book reviews- though I did re-read Tears of A Tiger and Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes during these months.

 

I’ve made it through 45 reviews.  I hope to top that during my second year.  Stay tuned!

 

 

Halloween, Cake, and YA Literature

I received an email today telling that me that on the October 29th season finale of Ace of Cakes one of the featured cakes will be in the shape of Charlotte from Tonya Hurley’s  Ghostgirl. The cake is being made on the episode for the launch party of Ghostgirl: Homecoming. According to the email the cake is six feet long and took 56 hours to create.

So if you liked the book, and or love watching people create amazing cakes check it out!  I believe the show is carried only on The Food Network.

I’ve Returned

Sorry for my long hiatus.  Once I started teaching full time I seemed to lose any extra time to just read for pleasure.  And with it, the time to post about anything I’ve read.  But, I need to find more time for myself, and I am going to make a more concentrated effort to begin posting again.

In the meantime, let me catch you up on what I’ve done with YA Lit in my classroom thus far.

My 9/10 class read Tears of A Tiger by Sharon Draper.  I chose this book because I did not know what reading level the majority of my students were at, and felt it was a high interest book.  It was met with very mixed reactions.  I had a handful of students who read it almost straight through, and one girl who immediately went on to read Forged by Fire and Darkness Before Dawn; the two other books in the trilogy.  I was so happy to see some of the students so interested in the story.  There were several who hated it, they felt it was too low level for them.  I acknowledge that the reading level is low, but explained that the content is appropriate for high school students.  Some really did not like the multi-genre aspect of the story.  The rest of the kids either didn’t attempt to read it at all or read it and were rather indifferent.  I plan on allowing them to choose their own book from my YA lit collection to read for our next assignment.  Currently they are finishing up a research project where they had to choose between teen depression, suicide, underage drinking, and drinking and driving as their topics.  They seem to be enjoying finding out new interesting information for the most part, and I’m hoping that some of the information sticks with them outside of school.

My 11/12 classes “read” Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher.  I put read in quotes, because I am pretty sure that only about 10% of the kids actually read it, a few skimmed, and a few chose to not participate in the unit at all.  The older class has made it clear that they do not want to read young adult books.   They definitely prefer having more control over what they have to do, so I would like to try having them choose between a few classic novels for our next unit.  The few students who did complete the book ended up liking it but felt that it took too long to get to the good parts.  I am not sure if I will use this book again in my teaching.

Yesterday I stopped at Half Price Books and picked up 10 books for just under $25.  Lucky for me it ended up being teacher appreciation weekend and I got 20 percent off.  I found several YA book to purchase for my classroom library.  I’m hoping that I can continue to stock up and build an interesting and varied selection of books for my students to read.  Some of the books that I picked up I have not read yet, so hopefully I will be able to update again soon with new reviews.

Ghostgirl:Homecoming- Tonya Hurley

 

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This is the sequel to Ghostgirl- Tonya Hurley which I already reviewed.  Again the cover is visually appealing, and the book has a rich feel to it.  I think that overall I enjoyed the first book more, but I can’t say why exactly- I guess I just found the story line a bit more intriguing.  If you liked the first book and want to see what happens next then I recommend this book.  It is still appropriate for any young adult readers and I would feel comfortable having it in my classroom and recommending it to students who showed an interest.  I would not use it as a teaching text however.  

July Recap

Sorry this is so late!

I managed to finish 4 books in July, and got most of the way through another so my August is off to a pretty good start as well.  

Books read in July:

33. So Not the Drama- Paula Chase
34. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes- Chris Crutcher
35. The Quickie- James Patterson 
36. Ghostgirl: Homecoming- Tonya Hurley (not reviewed yet)

 

Total YA books read in July- 3

Total adult books read in July- 1

Total books in July- 4

Total books for the year- 36

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes- Chris Crutcher

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Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes was a great read.  The story is told from the perspective of a teenage boy who is overweight.  He tells about his friendship with a girl named Sarah Byrnes, whose face is horribly disfigured due to burns suffered when she was three.  Along with issues of appearance and friendship,  the book also touches on religion, abuse, and trust.  There is mystery and action in the story that keeps you interested till the end.  I rooted for the characters the entire time.  I think this book is definitely classroom appropriate for high school.  It is an easy read, but is great for discussing theme and other elements of literature.  I would recommend this book to any student.  It will appeal to both both teen boys and girls.  

Awards:

ALA Best Book for YA
SLJ Best Book for YA
American Booksellers Pick of the List
California Young Reader Medalist
1995 Joan Fassler Memorial Book Award
ALA Best of the Best Books for YA
Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review
1994 South Dakota YARP Best Books
Nominee 1995-1996 Iowa Teen Award 
Nominee 1995-1996 SC YA Book Award 
Nominee 1996 Young Reader’s Choice Award 
Nominee 1996-1997 ILF Rosie

So Not the Drama- Paula Chase

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So Not the Drama is a light easy read that still talks about some serious issues.  Mina is entering high school along with 3 best friends (1 girl, 2 boys) and is very concerned with becoming one of the “popular” crowd.  Throughout the novel Mina deals with keeping up her friendships, forming new ones, popularity, race issues, and more.  I enjoyed reading about Mina and her friends, and thought that the issues presented were done in a light interesting way.  There are a few swear words but I don’t think that they’re over done or too explicit.  I’d say this book is appropriate for students in grades 8-10.  I do not see this book appealing to teenage boys or being used in a classroom, though there are discussion questions at the end of the book.  This is book 1 of a 5 book series, and I hope to read the rest within the next 2 months.  

Question of the week #1

I couldn’t think of a good poll, so I’m going with a question of the week.  Please post your response in the comments below.  

 

If you could be any character in any book and live their life who would you choose and why?

 

I’ll post my response in a few days.  I’m really curious to see who people pick.

The Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins

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The Hunger Games had been on my reserve list at the library for several weeks before it finally came.  It was worth the wait.  I would not classify myself as being a lover of sci-fi or fantasy, but I really liked this book.  In this book 24 teens are forced to compete to the death for the entertainment of the capital city.  It follows one girl in particular and her experiences within the game.  While one might think the book would be overly violent it isn’t, and focuses more on relationships and human nature than the killing of other people.  I wish that in addition to the perspective of the girl we also got more information about how the citizens watching the games reacted.  It can be seen as commenting on what our society views as “entertainment.”  The characters were interesting and easy to relate to.  I didn’t know while reading that there is a second book coming out, but by the end I definitely wanted to read more.  (The sequel is set to release September 1, 2009)

This book could be used in a classroom.  I would say that it is appropriate for grades 8-10 based off of reading level.  But could be used for older grades as well, and for some 6th/7th graders depending on their maturity.  I believe this book would appeal to both male and female students even with a female protagonist.

AWARDS:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
USA TODAY BESTSELLER
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY’S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: CHILDREN’S FICTION
NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE CHILDREN’S BOOK OF 2008
AN AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION TOP TEN BEST BOOKS FOR YOUNG ADULTS SELECTION
AN ALA NOTABLE CHILDREN’S BOOK
#1 ON CHILDREN’S INDIE NEXT LIST
KIRKUS REVIEWS EDITOR’S CHOICE, 2008
A HORN BOOK FANFARE
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOKS Of 2008
A BOOKLIST EDITORS’ CHOICE
LA TIMES FAVORITE CHILDREN’S BOOKS, 2008
BARNES & NOBLE BEST BOOKS OF 2008 FOR TEENS AND KIDS
BORDERS BEST BOOKS OF 2008: TEENS
AMAZON BEST BOOKS OF 2008: 
    TOP 100 EDITORS’ PICK
    TOP 10 BOOKS: TEENS

Ultimate YA Bookshelf

YALSA has come out with their “Ultimate YA Bookshelf” which has 50 books, 5 magazines, and 5 audiobooks.  The premise behind it and a link to the pdf can be found here.

Here are the 50 books-  I am interested in how many of them I’ve read- and whether most of them are specifically YA lit or just books that Young Adults might enjoy…

Just so I can keep it straight I will BOLD the ones I’ve read and UNDERLINE the one’s I’ve never heard of- as, I’m afraid to admit there are many!

1. Acceleration by Graham McNamee
2. Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
3. All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot
4. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
5. Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
6. Beauty by Robin McKinley
7. Black and White by Paul Volponi
8. Blizzard! The Storm that Changed America by Jim Murphy
9. Bone series by Jeff Smith
10. The Book Thief by Mark Zusak
11. Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
12. The Chosen by Chaim Potok
13. The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Anne Frank
14. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
15. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
16. Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going
17. Feed by M.T. Anderson
18. Fruits Basket series by Natsuki Takaya
19. The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
20. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
21. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
22. The Guinness Book of World Records
23. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
24. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
25. The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
26. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
27. I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan
28. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
29. If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson
30. The Killer’s Cousin by Nancy Werlin
31. Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
32. Looking for Alaska by John Green
33. Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff
34. My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr
35. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
36. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
37. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
38. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
39. The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
40. Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer
41. Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
42. Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar
43. Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman
44. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
45. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher
46. Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman
47. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
48. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
49. The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
50. Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

Wow, I’ve read only 16 out of the 50.  Oh, and I’ve gone through The Guinness Book of World Records, but have not read it cover to cover… has anyone?  That’d put me at 17.  I’m glad that several of the books are already on my to read list!

I’ve never heard of 22 of the books.  I have heard of many of those authors though.

updated: 8/13/09