Ten Miles Past Normal

Title: Ten Miles Past Normal
Author: Frances O'Roark Dowell
Pages: 211
Language: PG13
Content: PG
Level: High School, Upper Middle
Recommendation: Okay Read

Summary: Janie Gorman wants to be normal. The problem with that: she’s not. She’s smart and creative and a little bit funky. She’s also an unwilling player in her parents’ modern-hippy, let’s-live-on-a-goat-farm experiment (regretfully, instigated by a younger, much more enthusiastic Janie). This, to put it simply, is not helping Janie reach that “normal target.” She has to milk goats every day…and endure her mother’s pseudo celebrity in the homemade-life, crunchy mom blogosphere. Goodbye the days of frozen lasagna and suburban living, hello crazy long bus ride to high school and total isolation—and hovering embarrassments of all kinds. The fresh baked bread is good…the threat of homemade jeans, not so much.

Review: The characters are all kind of quirky and unique.  And Monster - what a character to add to the story.  The civil war aspect was also nicely added to the book.  It is a short, entertaining read.

The Tribe: Homeroom Headhunters

Title: The Tribe: Homeroom Headhunters
Author: Clay Chapman
Level: Middle/High School
Content: PG
Language: PG
Recommendation: Good Read

Summary: All Schools are the same and Spencer Pendleton expects no less from Greenfield Middle. But Spencer hasn’t met them yet—the Tribe, a group of runaway students who secretly own the school. They live off cafeteria food and wield weapons made out of everyday school supplies. Strangely, no one seems to know they exist, except for Spencer. And the group wants him to join their ranks. All he has to do is pass the initiations...and leave his mother and life behind. Can Spencer go through with it? Better yet, what will happen if he says no?
Review:   A new students at a school, the main character confronts bullying head on!  Feeling alone, he finds a missing poster of "Sully".  Turns out Sully isn't really missing!  She has joined a tribe/gang of students who aren't missing at all, but taking revenge on those who treated them badly at school!  An interesting read for anyone who deals with middle school kids, teasing, or bullying!  Although retaliation may not be the best avenue to deal with unfair treatment, the book opens eyes to the world of bullying and hurt feelings.

Title: The Secret Journal of Ashley Juergens
Author: ABC Family
Pages: 240
Content: PG13
Language: PG13
Level: High School
Recommendation: Optional

Summary: I got called into Principal Miller's office again. She handed me a notebook. This notebook. She told me keeping a journal is an excellent way to express oneself. So I have to write in this stupid thing and turn it in at the end of each month.

Little does she know what she's in for. With everything that's been going on—Amy's band camp pregnancy, my parents' divorce, a secret wedding—it's practically one-stop shopping for all your Grant High gossip needs. Property of Ashley Juergens. Read at your own risk (especially you, Amy).

Review: Based on the series "The Secret Life of the American Teenager",  this book was requested by numerous students.  However, I was not impressed.  I do not exaggerate when I say the word sex appears on nearly every page.  The sister had it, Ashley shouldn't.  Although following Ashley through the course of high school and the problems in her lives through her entries in a journal may open some eyes to what teenagers are dealing with on a daily basis, I would not recommend this book.

37 Things I Love

Title: 37 Things I Love
Author: Kekla Magoon
Pages: 218
Content: PG13
Language: R (few light swears, 7 "f"s)
Level: High School
Recommendation: Not in this library

Summary: Ellis only has four days of her sophomore year left, and summer is so close that she can almost taste it. But even with vacation just within reach, Ellis isn’t exactly relaxed. Her father has been in a coma for years, the result of a construction accident, and her already-fragile relationship with her mother is strained over whether or not to remove him from life support. Her best friend fails even to notice that anything is wrong and Ellis feels like her world is falling apart. But when all seems bleak, Ellis finds comfort in the most unexpected places. Life goes on, but in those four fleeting days friends are lost and found, promises are made, and Ellis realizes that nothing will ever quite be the same.

Review: The summary of the book looked great, but I was disapponited once I got deeper into the book. A teen girl, dealing with a few rough circumstances, I really thought a lot of teens could relate to the main character. Until they book got into a drunken party abd a lesbian scene. I guess I should have clued in, based on the cover of the book, but my naive mind didn't go there. I was very disappointed when these scenes took place at the end of the book, because I was really interested to see how Ellis would deal with the situations in her life. This book would not be a good addition to the libraries in our conservative area.

The List

Title: The List
Author: Siobhan Vivian
Pages: 332
Language: R
Swears: 20+ swears, 10+ "F"s
Content: PG13
Level: High School
Recommendation: Optional

Summary: An intense look at the rules of high school attraction -- and the price that's paid for them. It happens every year. A list is posted, and one girl from each grade is chosen as the prettiest, and another is chosen as the ugliest. Nobody knows who makes the list. It almost doesn't matter. The damage is done the minute it goes up.

This is the story of eight girls, freshman to senior, "pretty" and "ugly." And it's also the story of how we see ourselves, and how other people see us, and the tangled connection of the two.

Review:  I found this book a little "cliche".  Although it does tackle the tough world of high school, this book just didn't grab me.  I had a hard time keeping track of characters ~ who was "ugly" and who was "pretty".  The language of one character nearly did me in, although I can see why the author chose to present the character that way, I still struggled with it.  The book does show the effects of labeling, but I didn't love the way she presented it.