The Tragedy Paper

Title: The Tragedy Paper
Author: Elizabeth Laban
Pages: 320
Language: G
Content: PG13
Level: High School
Recommendation: Good Read

Summary: It follows the story of Tim Macbeth, a seventeen-year-old albino and a recent transfer to the prestigious Irving School, where the motto is “Enter here to be and find a friend.” A friend is the last thing Tim expects or wants—he just hopes to get through his senior year unnoticed. Yet, despite his efforts to blend into the background, he finds himself falling for the quintessential “It” girl, Vanessa Sheller, girlfriend of Irving’s most popular boy. To Tim's surprise, Vanessa is into him, too, but she can kiss her social status goodbye if anyone ever finds out. Tim and Vanessa begin a clandestine romance, but looming over them is the Tragedy Paper, Irving’s version of a senior year thesis, assigned by the school’s least forgiving teacher.   Jumping between viewpoints of the love-struck Tim and Duncan, a current senior about to uncover the truth of Tim and Vanessa, The Tragedy Paper is a compelling tale of forbidden love and the lengths people will go to keep their secrets.

Review: The summary does not do this book justice.  A beguiling book, with a secret that doesn't come out until the very end, I had to keep reading!!  I found this book a  refreshing read, clear of langugage and sexual content!!!

The Unlikely Gift of Treasure Blume

Title: The Unlikely Gift of Treasure Blume
Author: Lisa Rumsey Harris
Pages: 304
Level: High School
Content: PG
Language: G
Recommendation: Good Read

Summary: With her love of sweaters, goofy hair, and awkward manners—-not to mention her family curse—-Treasure Blume knows love is not in her future. That is, until she matches wits with Dennis Cameron, a divorced chef with a six-year-old daughter. Full of mischief, mayhem, and laugh-out-loud humor, this is an unlikely love story you'll want to read over and over again!

Review:  Witty humor, great characters, and a fun read! It conveys an important and timely message about looking past exteriors to find inner beauty.

Treasure is the most "unlikely" heroine you can imagine. She is awkward, old-fashioned, and completely clueless. But she is also compassionate, honest, and real. Grammy Blume, Treasure's ancestors, Bonnie (the villain), the Steppers geriatric dance team, and even the kids in Treasure's first grade class added their own flavor and color to the story.

Peeled

Title: Peeled
Author: Joan Bauer
Pages: 247
Level: Middle School/High School
Content: PG
Language: G
Recommendation: Good Read

Summary: Hildy Biddle wants something monumental to happen so she can finally prove herself to be more than a high school journalist. The problem? Her town's biggest story stars a ghost, which is not an easy interview. But while the local paper is playing up people's fears with shocking headlines of creepy happenings, Hildy is determined to discover what's really going on. Unfortunately, her desire to uncover the truth is starting to cause a stir. With rumors swirling and tensions high, can Hildy push past all the hype ...

Review: Very easy read, with quirky characters.  Suspense, mystery, and teens bent on helping their small community in New York. 

Also Known As

Title: Also Known As
Author: Robin Benway
Pages: 320
Content: PG13
Language: PG
Level: Upper Middle/High School
Recommendation: Good Read

Summary: Being a 16-year-old safecracker and active-duty daughter of international spies has its moments, good and bad. Pros: Seeing the world one crime-solving adventure at a time. Having parents with super cool jobs. Cons: Never staying in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend. But for Maggie Silver, the biggest perk of all has been avoiding high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations.  Then Maggie and her parents are sent to New York for her first solo assignment, and all of that changes. She'll need to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school's security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to gain the essential information she needs to crack the case . . . all while trying not to blow her cover.

Review: Fans of Ally Carter Spies or Heist Society novels will enjoy this book.  Maggie is easy to like, and the reader can sense her frustrations as she tries to live a normal life when nothing about her life is normal!

Out of the Easy

Title: Out of the Easy
Author: Ruta Sepetys
Pages: 346
Content: PG13
Language: PG
Level: High School
Recommendation: Optional

Review: It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer. She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street.  Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.  With characters as captivating as those in her internationally bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny.

Review: I LOVED the author's first book, Between Shades of Gray, and was anticipating another book from this author.  When I knew she had a new book, I was a bit saddened when I realized the book was about a prostitute's daughter.  I loved the character in this book, as well as the peculiar, yet loving people who took care of Josie in the only ways they knew how.  I would be hesitant however, to have this book in my library simply due to the subject matter invovled.  Although there is nothing graphic in the book, there are enough references to prosititution and subject matter of the like that I don't feel that I could recommend this book to the majority of the readers in our school.

Breaking Point

Title: Breaking Point (Book 2 to Article 5)
Author: Kristen Simmons
Pages: 384
Content: PG13
Language: PG
Level: Upper Middle/High School
Recommendation: Good Read

Summary: After faking their deaths to escape from prison in Article 5, Ember Miller and Chase Jennings have only one goal: to lay low until the Federal Bureau of Reformation forgets they ever existed.  Near-celebrities now for the increasingly sensationalized tales of their struggles with the government, Ember and Chase are recognized and taken in by the Resistance—an underground organization working to systematically take down the government. At headquarters, all eyes are on the sniper, an anonymous assassin taking out FBR soldiers one by one. Rumors are flying about the sniper's true identity, and Ember and Chase welcome the diversion….Until the government posts its most-wanted list, and their number one suspect is Ember herself.

Review:  Following Article 5, Breaking Point follows Ember and Chase as they continue to try to find safety and security in a dystopian society.  New characters cross their path, and they must deal with characters from their past. For kids who love dystopian, this book will keep them intrigued, and waiting for the third installment.

Theodore Boone Kid Lawyer

Title: Theodore Boone Kid Lawyer
Author: John Grisham
Pages: 272
Content: G
Language: PG
Level: Middle School
Recommendation: Good Read

Summary:  In the small city of Strattenburg, there are many lawyers, and though he's only thirteen years old, Theo Boone thinks he's one of them. Theo knows every judge, policeman, court clerk-and a lot about the law. He dreams of a life in the courtroom. But he finds himself in court much sooner than expected. Because he knows so much-maybe too much-he is suddenly dragged into the middle of a sensational murder trial. A cold-blooded killer is about to go free, and only Theo knows the truth. The stakes are high, but Theo won't stop until justice is served.

Review: Quick easy read with a male character (which seems harder and harder to find).  Interesting story, with a little bit of mystery.  Easy to read and full of information about the justice system in the United States.  Grisham does a great job of keeping the mystery and intrigue of his books on a level for young readers.

Darkness Before Dawn

Title: Darkness Before Dawn
Author: J.A. London
Language: PG-13 (several swear words)
Content: PG-13
Level: Upper Middle School/Highschool
Recommendation: Good read, but optional

Summary: Only sunlight can save us.  We built the wall to keep them out, to keep us safe.  But it also makes us prisoners, trapped in what's left of our ravaged city, fearing nightfall.

After the death of my parents, it's up to me-- as the newest delegate for humanity-- to bargain with our vampire overlord.  I thought I was ready.  I thought I knew everything there was to know about the monsters.  Then again, nothing could have prepared me for Lord Valentine.. or his son.  Maybe not all vampires are killers.  Maybe it's safe to let one in.

Review:  This book was a good read that kept me entertained.  There are several swear words and a few references to underage drinking that might offend some readers.  I believe the characters are developed enough to keep a students' interest throughout the series, but the genre is getting crowded with similar books.