The Book of Jude by Kimberly Heuston
Front Street, 2008, 217 pp., $17.95

Mental and Emotional Health
ISBN: 1-932425-26-8

The reader follows Jude through her attempts to cope when she reluctantly moves with her family to Czechoslovakia.

Judith Grace Wheelock is a 15-year-old girl who goes by the name of Jude. Her Mormon family moves to Czechoslovakia unexpectedly when her mother receives a Fulbright scholarship to study there. Jude is upset by this drastic change and cannot seem to understand why her mother, father, twin sister, and younger sister seem to adjust to their new lives so well. Jude’s incapability to cope with the move leads her into a series of uncontrollable episodes that culminate with her stealing and wrecking the family car.

This lands her in a psychiatric hospital where she learns she has Borderline Personality Disorder, which means she does not react well to trying times because she is unable to draw support from her past fond memories. She finds hope in the comfort of a loving family, a secure belief system, and wise old friends.

Rachael Gatewood
Fayetteville, AR

Dead is the New Black by Marlene Perez
Harcourt, 2008, 190 pp., $7.95

Vampires
ISBN: 978-0-15-206408-2

Daisy Gordano, a Nightshade High School junior, is the only “normal” member of a family full of psychics. Her mother often contributes her unique abilities to help solve crimes with the town sheriff. One day, her mother enlists the help of Daisy’s older sister to investigate a young girl’s death. Meanwhile Samantha, head cheerleader and Queen Bee of Nightshade, returns from summer vacation with a less-than-fashionable makeover – one that includes pale, ghostly skin, lots of black clothing, and a peculiar charm around her neck.

Soon girls start dropping like flies, and vampire rumors begin to surface. Nightshade is a breeding ground for supernatural happenings and strange behavior, so it comes as no surprise. Daisy begins snooping around with a little help from her friend Ryan. As she succeeds in solving the mystery, Daisy learns a few new things about herself and those around her. Aside from discovering a few budding talents, Daisy realizes the importance of getting to know people and giving second chances.

Jessica Kerner
Tallahassee, FL

Ever by Gail Carson Levine
Harper Collins Publishers, 2008, 244 pp., $16.99

Romance/Fantasy
ISBN: 978-0-06-122962-6

Kezi, a mortal teen-aged girl who lives in the city of Hyte, and Olus, the god of the wind, fall in love and are forced to endure extreme challenges in order to attain their hope of marriage.

Kezi is an amazingly talented dancer and rug-weaver sentenced to sacrifice her life to the god Admat in 30 days for the sake of saving her Aunt Fedo. Olus longs to befriend mortals his own age. While herding goats for Kezi’s father Senet, Olus is stricken with desire for Kezi at a marriage celebration for Kezi’s cousins. After admiring Kezi from afar, Olus becomes increasingly enthralled with her beauty and seeks to help her overturn her fate as a human sacrifice. In the extreme efforts to save Kezi’s life and be together forever, they are forced to overcome unbeatable odds and daring challenges.

This book id recommended for ages 12 and up, and it could be used as an individual or small group read to accompany lessons about ancient mythology.

Rachael Gatewood
Fayetteville, AR

Headlong by Kathe Koja
Francis Foster Books, 2008, 195 pp., $16.95

Friendship/Identity/Family
ISBN: 978-0-374-32912-9

After attending an elite private school her entire life, suburban Lily Noble falls into an unexpected friendship during her sophomore year at Vaughn. Hazel Tobias, an eccentric scholarship student, was raised in the city by her artist brother and his gay partner. Despite repeated concerns of Lily’s parents and school administrators, the two girls form an unexpected and dynamic bond of friendship. Mirrored by their differences, each girl is able to explore untapped possibilities in her own identity. Beautiful, free-spirited Hazel learns what it means to belong. Lily breaks through the confines of performing as a model student to explore her untapped creative potential.

Koja’s realistic prose illuminates the struggles of adolescent identity. By contrasting conservative and liberal family expectations, this author skillfully navigates her characters through a process of self-discovery. The complexities of adolescent relationship and identity are illuminated through Lily and Hazel’s emotional journeys.

Patricia Ackerman
Salina, KS

Hurricane Song: A Novel of New Orleans
by Paul Volponi
Penguin Group, 2008, 136 pp., $15.99

Disaster/Survival/Family
ISBN: 978-0-670-06160-0

News stories reported the devastating experiences of the citizens of New Orleans as they sought refuge in the Superdome during Hurricane Katrina. In Hurricane Song , Paul Volponi gives us a more intimate look at this tragic event through the eyes of Miles, a sophomore focused on his future with the football team who is ambivalent to his father’s career as a jazz musician. When their plan for evacuating New Orleans fails, Miles, his father, and his uncle head toward the Superdome to ride out the storm and then return to their home. What Miles witnessed and experienced there caused him to question his faith in his fellow man and strengthened his commitment to his father and family.

Volponi’s frank descriptions and characterization give the reader a taste of what it was like for those waiting for rescue and relief, as well as those who returned home to find nothing. Despite the devastation, Miles and his family exemplify the spirit of New Orleans: the spirit of hope.

Vicki Sherbert
Wakefield, KS

Jimmy’s Stars by Mary Ann Rodman
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008, 257 pp., $16.95

World War/Family
ISBN: 0-374-33703-9

A World War II tale of soldiers’ family and friends on the homefront, this coming-of-age story will move readers with its poignancy and unexpected beauty.

Eleven-year-old Ellie McKelvey knows what it’s like to do without. It’s 1943, and Americans are making incredible sacrifices for the war effort. But, Ellie reminds herself, it’s only “for the duration.” Then, Ellie’s brother Jimmy receives his draft notice from the War Office, and suddenly everything changes. Though everyone insists Jimmy won’t come home for a long time, Ellie never stops believing that Jimmy will be back for Christmas – even when her friend’s brothers are reported missing and killed.

Readers from sixth grade and up will be drawn into a world not unlike our own – a world of uncertainty and conflict, and a world where family is still an unbreakable bond.

Evelyn Baldwin Williams
Fayetteville, AR

Kendra by Coe Booth
Scholastic, 2008, 304 pp., $16.99

Coming of Age/Relationships
ISBN-13: 978-0-439-92536-5

Growing up in the South Bronx isn’t easy, and no one knows that better than 14-year-old Kendra Williamson. This is her story, an urban coming-of-age tale that is not afraid to expose the challenges of growing up female amidst the hard-edged realities of inner city life. It is in Booth’s concrete, gritty realism, as seen in schoolgirl rivalries, skanky outfits, and hushed sex, as well as her emotional landscapes blighted by absence, rejection, and betrayal, that readers will find characters with whom they can connect and lives as complicated as their own.

While Kendra can be characterized as a problem novel with an attitude, and one that will no doubt appeal to high school readers, it can also be characterized as a testament to humanity. While Booth’s world is a dark and problematic one, it is not without hope. and she does not leave her readers without a guide.

The explicit language and sexual content of this novel suggest that it is geared toward high school students.

Phyllis Thompson
Johnson City, TN

My Summer on Earth by Tom Lombardi
Simon & Schuster, 2008, 246 pp., $8.99

Science Fiction/Romantic Comedy
ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-5563-4
ISBN-10: 1-4169-5563-4

In covering a diverse range of topics and surely reaching interests of a parallel student population, this book delivers. It is a unique take on the alien-visiting-Earth concept. What’s different here is that the alien, Clint, uses unfiltered language as if he were not an alien at all.

On a mission to find and take home a human of his own, Clint experiences many trials and tribulations associated with just such a challenge. Once Clint gets to Earth, he feels something that he has never known—love and attraction for a girl named Zoe. He has only heard about sex and never experienced it because reproducing in his world is all done through technology. He has an overwhelming urge to experience earthling love with her, if he could just figure out how.

A note of caution: Adolescents uncomfortable with profanity should be steered away from this book. Even with the language and suggestive content, Lombardi captures the essence of sweet innocence in a coming-of-age love story suitable for 10th through 12th grades.

Tonya Seaton
Fayetteville, AR

Newes from the Dead
by Mary Hooper
Roaring Book Press, 2008, 246 pp., $15.95

Fiction/England
ISBN-13: 978-1-59643-355-7
ISBN-10: 1-59643-355-8

This novel is based on the true story of Anne Green, a servant who survived her own death after being sentenced to death by hanging for infanticide.

Newes from the Dead takes place in 1650 England during the civil war between King Charles and Parliament. After being hanged for the murder of her new born baby, Anne Green wakes up on a lab table wondering if she is in Heaven, Hell, or somewhere between the two. Through the help of a shy young medical student named Robert, doctors discover that Anne survived her own death. This story is beautifully written and includes a large number of historical events. Hooper concludes the novel with an author’s note that shares more historical content and includes the actual facts behind the true story of Green’s medical miracle.

This is a great book for readers 14 and up who love realistic and eerie storylines.

Lindsay Smith
Fayetteville, AR

Owning It: Stories About Teens with Disabilities,
edited by Donald R. Gallo
Candlewick Press, 2008, 224 pp., $17.99

Disabilities/Fiction/Short Stories
ISBN-10: 0763632554
ISBN-13: 978-0763632557

A teen creates a school video explaining his Tourette’s syndrome; a girl finally finds friends who accept her immobilizing migraines, and another teen’s friends scare him sober. These short stories by Gail Giles, Julie Anne Peters, and David Lubar, respectively, are in this ten-story anthology featuring teens with disabilities. Various authors, topics and plotlines appear, but all stories portray ordinary teens living with conditions and end positively. Quality is somewhat uneven; although Alex Flinn’s brain-injured former honor student and Robert Lipsyte’s militaristic cancer ward expertly blend tragedy and comedy, a few resemble public-service announcements.

Bonuses include revisiting Olivia in Ron Koertge’s “Good Hands,” originally in “Calle de Muerte,” from Gallo’s 2006 What Are You Afraid Of? Stories about Phobias , and finding Eddie Proffit from Chris Crutcher’s The Sledding Hill in “Under Control.” Author notes include each writer’s connection to the disability portrayed, plus facts and contact information about each condition.

Lisa A. Hazlett
Vermillion, SD

Planet Pregnancy by Linda Oatman High
Front Street, 2008, 197 pp., $16.95

Teen Pregnancy/Free Verse Novel
ISBN-13: 978-1-59078-584-3

Sahara is waiting, rather impatiently, for the results of a test. This is the test of her lifetime. She counts down the remaining time for the results in seconds and memories. In three minutes, she has now joined the ranks of the thousands of unwed teenage mothers. Now that she knows, she had to decide the fate of this egg’s life and her own life.

Sahara shares her thoughts in free verse that sometimes sounds like a rap. She lets the reader in on all her thoughts about the baby’s father, the choices that Sahara must make, and how she gets through the various days in a nine-month cycle. She finds out more about her own life such as actually meeting her own father and what makes a parent.

Planet Pregnancy walks the reader through what a teen mother thinks, feels, and wonders. It’s a quick but thorough must-read.

Mary Schmutz
Junction City, KS

Searching for Yesterday by Valerie Sherrard
Dundurn, 2008, 224 pp., $12.99

Mystery
ISBN-13: 978-1550027884
ISBN-10: 1550027-883

Most people know who their parents are, but Annie Berkley is different. Unlike the other students in her classes, she is withdrawn and has a negative outlook on life. This is because she was abandoned by her mother and has had several foster families, all of which give up on her. Things soon change when Shelby Belgarden thrusts herself into Annie’s life and leads them on an adventure that changes both of their lives, in which the reader can gain insights into the ups and the downs of friendships.

Valerie Sherrard’s Searching for Yesterday is a mystery story filled with twists and turns that ultimately leaves the reader wanting to read more. This is the sixth book in a series, but it can stand alone because it has a great plot.

Sherrard has the ability to bring her readers into the minds and hearts of all of her characters.

Jennifer O’Brien
Tallahassee, FL

Sister Wife by Shelley Hrdlitschka
Orca Book Publishers, 2008, 269 pp., $12.95

Religion/Struggle for Independence
ISBN: 978-1-55143-927-3

A fictional story set on a polygamist compound and told through the eyes of three adolescent girls, Sister Wife is an instantly engaging novel that offers insight into the pressures and struggles young girls in polygamist communities face.

The fictional town of Unity is a highly structured community where young girls are expected to care for siblings, be married to a man as old as their fathers, and live in a household with multiple wives and their children. The last thing they are supposed to want is to leave. Celeste, her sister Nanette, who is strictly and steadfastly committed to following the ways of her faith, and Taviana, a young girl welcomed and then ostracized from Unity, alternate as the narrator.

After Celeste begins to discover a desire for independence through a series of clandestine meetings with a local artist, experiencing romantic feelings for a boy of her own age, is faced with the choice of staying to honor her family and their traditions or leaving to forge her own way in the world.

Tara Griner
Fayetteville, AR

Tweaked by Katherine Holubitsky
Orca Book Publisher, 2008, 179 pp., $9.95

Murder/Addiction
ISBN-13: 978-1551438511
ISBN-10: 1551438518

The story follows the struggies of 16-year-old Gordie Jessup, as he tries to deal with his family’s breakdown. Gordie’s 17-year-old brother is addicted to methamphetamines, has stolen valuables and money from him and his parents, and has taken to the streets. Their parents are heartbroken and barely speak to one another or even to Gordie. The only friend Gordie has is Jade, whose situation at home is not much better.

Holubitsky’s book contains issues on murder, drug addiction, family relations, and severe illness. It encourages adolescent readers to consider the consequences and damages drug addiction can cause, not only in the individual using the drugs, but also in the struggles, pain, and abuse in a family of a drug addict. Gordie and his friend Jade put on this front while in the company of others, when in reality their lives are full of suffering.

Keeping in mind the content of the story, this book, although easy to read, should be considered for mature readers.

Katie D’Souza
Tallahassee, FL

Zombie Blondes by Brian James
Feiwel and Friends Book (Macmillan), 2008, 232 pp., $16.95

Bullying/Supernatural
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-37298-9
ISBN-10: 0-312-37298-1

Hannah Sanders’s father is running from small town to town, trying to escape the mysterious events of his past as a police officer in the city. In each new town, he takes a new job and tries to start a new life, but each time he fails. When the money is almost gone, Hannah comes home from school to find all of her possessions loaded in the car, and she and her father are off once again to a new town.

As much as Hannah thinks she knows everything there is to know about starting at a new school, Maplecrest is different. The popular girls in this school are all blonde cheerleaders, and there is something sinister about them. Hannah’s new friend in the school, Lukas, warns her about the cheerleaders, but Hannah wants to be popular.

Brian James' newest novel is a contemporary re-telling of the familiar zombie tale.

F. Todd Goodson
Manhattan, KS