Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Written by Jeff Kinney

Published by Amulet in 2007

224 pages.

Genre: Social Issues, Humor, Graphic Novel

Summery: Greg is a wimpy kid. He's stuck in middle school with a bunch of morons. His older brother and younger brother are equally unapproachable. And on top of everything, his mother is making him keep a diary.

Response: Laughed out loud at every. single. page. Excellent cartoons to supplement the quirky, true to life writing.

Word of Caution: The laughter this book induces may give you a hernia. Hmm, I guess I could mention the bullying too. Except even the bullying is funny. (Oops. I shouldn't say that. Beating up wimpy kids is not supposed to be funny.)

Scat

Scat

Written by Carl Hiaasen

Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers in 2010

384 pages.

Genre: Nature, Adventure

Summery: This book is full of fun craziness. A kid who eats pencils and burns billboards, a teacher who disappears, a crooked oil drilling company, a boy with one arm tied behind his back, a guy glued to a tree, and a substitute teacher who is as dotty as a dalmation.

Response: Carl Hiaasen is my favorite. Period. His writing is clean, fresh, and funny. His characters are rounded and distinct. I liked some of his other books better than this particular one, but I'm just being picky. This book is instant fun and sunshine, but the main character's father is a soldier in Iraq, so it carries an underlying real life message as well. Fantastic book. Read it.

Word of Caution: Really, it's pretty dang clean. Teenage vandalism, if I were to put anything here.

Trouble

Trouble

Written by Gary D. Schmidt

Published by Graphia in 2010

300 pages.

Genre: Multicultural, Family, Adventure

Summery: Henry Smith's father always said, "If you build your house far enough from Trouble, then Trouble will never find you." That was true for the first 14 years of Henry's life. Then when Henry's older brother Franklin is hit by a car, Henry has to learn to deal with Trouble. He feels called to climb Katahdin, like he and his brother had planned to do. The journey to the mountain is enlightening, to say the least. This is a story of racism, forgiveness, grief, family, history, war, and love.

Response: I loved this book. I think I might buy it. So wonderfully written and sincerely genuine. It pulls heartstrings and tickles funny bones. (That last sentence was incredibly cliche. Sorry.) It's tragic, but still uplifting. It starts out a little slow, but by a few chapters into it, I was hooked. Read this book.

Word of Caution: Describes some rather violent scenes. I don't remember any bad language, but there might be a little.

An Abundance of Katherines

An Abundance of Katherines

Written by John Green

Published by Speak in 2008

272 pages.

Genre: Romance, Humor

Summery: Colin Singleton is a child prodigy who just graduated from highschool. For a super smart kid, he's kind of dumb. He's just been dumped for the 19th time. All his girlfriends have been named Katherine. And every last one of them has dumped him. Colin is depressed and unmotivated, so his best friend drags him on a road trip- a sure cure. They drive all the way from Chicago to Gunshot, Tennessee. There, they stay for a while. They make new friends, work a weird job, hunt pigs, and Colin tries to come up with a math formula that can predict romantic relationships.

Response: Very well written. Absolutely hilarious. Dorky- in a nice way. Too much bad language for my taste. Probably wouldn't let my brother read it. Probably won't read it again. Enjoyed it anyway.

Word of Caution: Frequent cursing. (I say frequent, and I mean almost every sentence the kids speak. Yuck.) Sex.

American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese
Written by Gene Luen Yang
Published by Square Fish in 2008
240 pages.

Genre: Graphic Novel, Multicultural

Summery: Jin Wang is a typical kid. Except his parents are from Taiwan. He has the usual middle school experience: being picked on, sitting by himself, having a crush on a pretty girl etc. He also has the typical tough experience of being an American Born Chinese. The whole book is a comic strip, which is remarkably effective for the story.

Response: I enjoyed it, but I don't think I really got it. There's a few storylines going on, and maybe I was too distracted by the comics to catch it all. It's brilliantly done. The pictures are bright and expressive. A delightful book-if you like comics.

Word of Caution: Bullying.

13 Little Blue Envelopes

13 Little Blue Envelopes
Written by Maureen Johnson
Published by HarperTeen in 2006
352 pages.

Genre: Adventure, Romance

Summery: 17 year old Ginny gets a package with 13 little blue envelopes and 4 rules in it. It's from her dead aunt. Ginny travels to Europe, opening each of the numbered envelopes after she completes the task contained in the last. She meets all kinds of people and sees great sights.

Response: A fun travel book. It's entertaining, and the characters are well written. I like how Ginny is independent, but not in the typical rebellious teen way. There's not a lot of deeper stuff to think about, but I would recommend it. Don't be put off by the slightly skanky cover; Ginny is a very wholesome person.

Word of Caution: Some teen drinking, and a brief sex related scene wherein Ginny chooses the right and flees temptation. A reference to homosexuality.

Minerva Clark Gets a Clue

Minerva Clark Gets a Clue
Written by Karen Karbo
Published by Bloomsbury USA Children's Books in 2005
224 pages.

Genre: Humor, Family, Social Issues

Summery: Minerva Clark is tall. Really tall. She pretty much dwarfs everyone in her 7th grade class. And she has thick, crazy, curly hair. Like most 7th grade girls, she's painfully self-conscious. Add her height and hair to the normal quota of self-consciousness, and she's off the charts. But then her older brother does a science experiment on her, and BANG - personality transplant!! She's not shy or self-conscious. At all. Ever. That day turns out to be weird in other ways too, like when her favorite cousin gets arrested for a broken taillight. Minerva becomes a crime fighting detective with the help of her best friend and pet ferret.

Response: Loved it. It's funny and cute and real. It was a bit of a mystery, but refreshingly unpredictable. Or maybe I'm just naive. Which is possible. But really, it made me giggle and groan and occasionally smack my forehead. I like her relationship with her older brothers- they don't fight, and they have inside jokes. I recommend it.

Word of Caution: Um...... I think it might drop a couple of swear words. And there's one time that a kid smokes. The parents are gone all the time, so the kids eat on the couch (If you're a neat freak- get over it).

"The Taking of Room 114"

The Taking of Room 114
Written by Mel Glenn
Published by Dutton Juvenile in 1997
192 pages.

Genre: Poetry, Suspense

Summery: A crazy high school teacher takes his students hostage. It's remarkably gripping, considering that the entire book is a series of poems. There are five poems for each of the students telling of their lives as Freshman, Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors, and finally on the day of the event. The poems do an incredible job of getting inside the heads of teens. Very spot on. The poetry is fun and easy to read.
Response: Oh my. So good. Funny and real, with excellent characters. This book shows that we use too many words when we write. He can create detailed characters with 5 relatively short poems. His writing is fascinating. The storyline is faint but compelling. I read it in less than an hour. This was one of my favorite books I've read so far.

Word of Caution: Mild language. (We're in the teens' heads, remember?) Teen pregnancy. Poetry Haters beware -you might like this book.

"The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman"

The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman
Written by Louise Plummer
Published by Laural Leaf in 1997
192 pages.

Genre: Humor, Romance

Summery: Kate is 17 and writing her own romance novel. She recounts the story of how she fell in love at Christmas. The story begins when her older brother comes home for Christmas with his wife, his best friend Richard, and Richard's gorgeous friend, Fleur. Kate tells how she fell in love with Richard, using helpful phrases from The Romance Writer's Phrase Book. The book also tells a lesser tale of how she realizes she hates her best friend and actually like who she should hate (Fleur). It shows a great little family at Christmas, with the typical arguments, laughs, and traditions. A quick, fun read.

Response:
Reasons why I liked this book:
1. It has my name in the title.
2. It's a cute love story that's relatively un-sappy.
3. It made me snicker and giggle while we were reading in class. Embarrassing for me, but it's hilarious.
4. The heroine is tall with glasses and a high GPA.
5. It's a YA novel with realistic, humorous parents involved.
6. She's friends with her brother.
7. There's kissing in moderation.
8. The hero is awesome, but not perfect.

Word of Caution: I think some of the characters drink alcohol. Maybe a little mild language. Kissing. (Should that be a warning? Just don't let 11 yr olds read the smooching parts, I guess.) If you read this in a quiet room, you will disrupt others with snorts of escaping laughter.

"Breath"

Breath

Written by Donna Jo Napoli

Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers in 2003

260 pages.

Genre: Supernatural, History

Summery: This is a retelling of The Pied Piper. Salz is a 12 year old boy with cystic fibrosis. His town is infected with a strange disease that nobody can cure. Strangely, Salz, the sickest of all, escapes infection. But because of his illness, he can't follow when the Piper leads all the other children away.

Response: Interesting book. Full of weird black magic and the medieval ages. The characters are fairly well written. Salz and his grandmother are great characters. The others could have used some more details and personality. I didn't understand how Salz's father and brothers could be such jerks, while Salz is kind and innocent. It was a little too morbid for me personally. I'm not a huge fan of supernatural, which is a key part of the book. So if you like supernatural books, read it.

Word of Caution: Black magic, sex, maybe a little language, drug usage.