Persepolis- Marjane Satrapi

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This was my second foray into graphic novels, and I think I’m becoming a fan.  While completely different than American Born Chinese, this graphic novel still held my attention.  I feel like “recent” history isn’t taught or talked about enough, so reading about the revolution in Iran was extremely interesting and informative.  I liked that though the book deals with serious issues there was still a bit of humor intertwined in the story.  I think this could be used easily in a high school English class, or in a world history course.  I’d be interested in hearing how teachers have used it, as I know many have.  

 

Award:

 2004 ALA Alex Award
 YALSA Best Books for Young Adults
Booklist Editor’s Choice for Young Adults
New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age
 School Library Journal Adult Books for Young Adults
A New York Times Notable Book
A Time Magazine “Best Comix of the Year”
A San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times Best-seller 

 

Nation- Terry Pratchett

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This Printz honor book has historical and fantastical elements to it.  With both male and female teens being central to the story it will appeal to both sexes.  As the characters are on an isolated island there is a lot of adventure, science, and discussion of faith.  Some parts of the story seemed to drag to me, and or were hard to follow, but overall I found it engaging and interesting and worth the read.  The story also deals with the issues of racism.  I am not sure that I would use this book in a classroom because I think students could get confused as to whether it were historically accurate or not.  I would however recommend it to students to read independently.  I’d say this book is probably best suited for middle school students, but high schoolers may enjoy it as well.

Awards:

2009 Printz Honor Book

2008 LA Times- Young Adult Finalist

 

 

An Abundance of Katherines- John Green

An Abundance of Katherines is a creative and humourous story that centers on a 17 year old boy and his history of dating girls named Katherine.  A child prodigy, Colin tries to use his brain smarts to create a formula for predicting the outcome of a relationship.  While there is a bit of math-speak in this novel, one does not need to love math or understand it in order to enjoy the story.  (I should know- math is NOT my strongest subject.)  Along with dealing with teenage love this story also touches on life goals, friendship- between guys nonetheless, and a little bit with religions.  I really enjoyed reading this book, and think that high school boys and girls would both be able to identify with it.  I especially enjoyed the random facts that are sprinkled throughout the novel.  I would recommend this as a book for individual reading.  I don’t think it would be out of place in a classroom setting- but I also think there are other novels that are better suited for whole class reads.

AWARDS:

2007 Printz Honor Book

A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist

An ALA Best Book for Young Adults

A Booklist Editors’ Choice

A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year

A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the Year

Leaving Fischers- Margaret Haddix

This is a realistic fiction novel. The girl that this book centers around is the new kid in school and looking to fit in. It deals with the ideas of cult-like religions, and blind faith. This is another book that I would recommend perhaps for individual reading, but not as a whole class read. This book is most appropriate for 7th-9th grade based off of content and skill level.

AWARDS:

American Bookseller Pick of the Lists1998

YALSA Best Book for Young Adults 1998

YALSA Popular Paperback for Young Adults 2007