My Most Excellent Year

Follow three high school freshman
through a year of baseball, theatre,
activism and love. Multiple formats ie.
instant messaging, school assignments,
etc. make this a lively read. You will
wish you knew these kids!

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

This book is based on a true story.  Karana is twelve years old and her people are being moved from their island home to a new one.  Everyone boards the ships but she cannot find her little brother anywhere.  As the ship leaves she sees her brother standing on the beach.  She jumps overboard and goes to him.  This begins their life of living alone on the island.  It is a story of survival and loneliness, perseverance and determination.  Karana builds weapons, clothing, even a house for her survival.

Carlos is Gonna Get It by Kevin Emerson

Have you and your friends ever planned a trick on one of your classmates? That’s just what Trina and her seventh-grade classmates planned for Carlos, a special-needs student. Carlos reveals his fear of aliens when he and Trina are assigned project partners. Now that Trina knows his secret she and her friends can plan their extraterrestrial prank for the class overnight camping trip.

The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious Year I Truly, Completely Lost it by Lisa Shanahan

Gemma Stone has a lot going on in her life. She falls for a boy who barely knows she exists, auditions for the school play, is the love interest of Raven De Head, a notorious boy in school, and her sister is getting married into a family of military freaks. This book is delightfully comedic with a plot line that teaches kids to look again and appreciate people for who they are. As Gemma tells the reader about her life, she forges a friendship with Raven De Head and begins to realize that he and his family are not the family that everyone in town thinks they are.
Grade Level: 6 and up

 

Teen, Inc. by Stefan Petrucha

Jaiden Beale has been asked to attend an early morning conference and to his surprise the the PowerPoint presentation begins with “Jaiden Beale Dating Options IQ.”

When Jaiden’s parents were warming his baby bottle the stove exploded. The infant had no relatives to raise him but he did have a big fat settlement from the company which was found responsible for the explosion, the NECorp. The lawyers were able to stall paying off the settlement by giving NECorp guardianship of baby Jaiden. Jaiden’s bedroom suite is at corporate headquarter and a team of executives has been charged with managing his upbringing including his dating life now that he’s a teenager. Grade 8+