The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl

Author: Barry Lyga

Publisher: Boston: Houghton Mifflin 2006
ISBN-9780618723928
pages: 320
Author's website

Classification: Young Adult Fiction
Genre: Contemporary life
Topics: graphic novels, bullying, individuality
Media Type: Book

Grade level: 9-Adult

Reader's annotation: Hoping to remain invisible so as not to get bullied in school, our storyteller lives for his graphic novel that he is drawing and writing. Then he meets Kyra aka Goth Girl who not only wants to talk to him but gives him the support he needs to stand up for himself.

Summary: Written in first person, our narrator spends much of his time at school trying to be inconspicuous so as to keep from getting bullied. At the same time he is a straight A student in all of the top level classes. While trying to ignore the jock who is punching him in the shoulder over and over, he attracts the attention of Kyra (aka Goth Girl) who gives him the nickname of Fanboy. This is his first real friend since he moved to this town 6 years ago. His only other friend is Cal who can’t be seen with him in public for fear of alienating his jock friends, but they share a love of comics and graphic novels. Fanboy is working on his own graphic novel, Schemata. He is anxiously awaiting the convention where he will show twenty of his best pages to his favorite writer/artist Bendis. He and Cal have been planning this for months, that is until Cal’s lacrosse team wins and gets to go to the playoffs. He still has Kyra, that is until he has a fight with her too. It will all be worth it when Bendis sees his work.

Evaluation: A good choice for those interested in graphic novels or comics and for anyone who has been bullied or feels alone and invisible at school. Lyga touches on issues of suicide, family dysfunction and violent fantasies. He captures the “voice” of teens in both of the main characters.

About a Boy

Author - book: Nick Hornby
Screenplay: Peter Hodges
Directors: Chris & Paul Weitz

Publisher: Universal City CA: Universal 2002
ISBN-978-0783268644
Rating: PG-13

Classification: Young Adult Fiction
Genre: Realistic fiction
Media Type: Movie

Grade level: 7-Adult

Reader's annotation: Self-absorbed, cool, playboy bachelor Will lives his life on his own terms. Then Marcus is there, trying to include himself into Will’s life whether he likes it or not. Every man is an island, or is he?

Summary: Independently wealthy Will Lightman lives his self-centered life in units of time. One unit for a haircut, another for dinner, two units for a movie. There is no future plan but to go on this way, no real responsibilities to anyone but himself. He likes the companionship of a girlfriend but as soon as the girl thinks there is some kind of future, he bails out. Then he dates a single mom who breaks it off first! Will now realizes this is his gold mine - single moms who don’t want to commit. But how can he find them? He attends a single parent support group but then realizes they expect him to be a single parent, so he makes up a child. That gets him a date with her friend’s son Marcus in tow. But the date ends with the discovery of Marcus’s mom’s attempted suicide. Marcus liked Will and decided that he better have more people in his life than just his mom, just in case she wasn’t there anymore. Marcus’s tenacity and determination coupled with his charm and openness about the bullying that is going on in school hook Will into caring, even though he tries not to. As the story develops more people come into their circle and before he knows it Will feels responsible.

Evaluation: This is one of my favorite feel good movies. It is funny and heartwarming without being sappy and kids relate to the difficulties Marcus has with his mother and with school. They laugh at his geekiness and enjoy Will's attempts staying independent and failing. The movie has a great soundtrack as well as a very good cast.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Author: Sherman Alexie

Publisher: Prince Frederick MD: Recorded Books 2008
ISBN- 9781428182974
length: 5 CDs
Author's website

Classification: Young Adult Fiction
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Media Type: Audiobook, read by Sherman Alexie

Grade level: 7-Adult

Reader's annotation: How does a geeky teenage Spokane Indian get off the reservation? He goes to the all-white school where he finds his place among the outsiders.

Summary: “I was born with water on the brain.” These are the opening words of the book. We then hear about all the other quirks and anomalies Junior (Arnold) had growing up on the Spokane Indian reservation. The Indians were poor and there wasn’t much to do, so fun often involved getting into trouble. When one of Arnold’s teachers encourages him to transfer to the better high school off the reservation, he decides it may be his only way to escape the cycle of poverty and does it immediately before he can change his mind. Being the only Indian in an all-white school makes him a curiosity at first but he eventually finds a place and makes some friends. He definitely has two lives, school and “the res” that do not intersect at all. They become difficult to juggle when the alcoholic, self-destructive behavior of some family members result in some deaths. But it doesn’t bring him down and he is stronger for living through the difficulties. Listening to the tape meant missing the cartoons that are in the book but hearing the author tell the story makes up for it.

Evaluation: Alexie reads his story with a mix of seriousness and sarcasm that had us laughing at some of the most difficult moments. Wonderful coming of age story that impresses one on the author’s ability to keep his own life priorities in place while strong surrounding influences could bring him down.

King of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-Advised Autobiography.

Author: Chris Crutcher

Publisher: Random House/Listening Library, p2004.
ISBN-9781400095001
length: 4hrs. 30mins.

Classification: Young Adult Fiction
Genre:Biography
Media Type: audiobook
Read by: Chris Crutcher
Author's website

Grade level: 9+

Reader's annotation: Growing up in a small town in a remote area under the thumb of an older brother isn’t always easy. Being a very non-athletic person in a school that worships its athletes is even more difficult.

Summary: This is the autobiography of Chris Crutcher, mostly his experiences from his childhood and high school years. He keeps us entertained with stories about his sports experiences as he is not really a very good athlete, and being bullied and/or controlled by his older brother, whatever you want to call it. He referred to himself as a bawl baby, and shamelessly told us about all the times he got tricked into doing something he didn’t want to do and ended up crying his way out. There were several touching, and heart-wrenching, in some ways, events that gave the reader insight into how similar his novels are to his real life. At the end he does talk a little bit about his life as an adult.

Evaluation: It is almost hard to remember that this is not one of his novels, especially when you hear a story that sounds familiar. This gives great insight into why Chris writes the kinds of books he does and where his stories come from.

Stargirl

Author: Jerry Spinelli

Publisher: New York: Knopf/Random House 2000
ISBN-978-0679986375
pages: 186
Author's website

Classification: Young Adult Fiction
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Topics: friendship, individuality, romance
Media Type: Book

Grade level: 6+

Reader's annotation: He noticed her the first day of school, her long skirt, ukulele and sunflower bag. Stargirl changes Mica High and Leo’s life forever.

Summary: Leo can’t keep his eyes off her when he sees her in the cafeteria and he is terrified she’ll single him out with a birthday serenade. Somehow she seems to know things about people, like when their birthday is. It takes a little bit but eventually the whole school warms to her and is positively affected by her energetic personality. By the winter Stargirl and Leo are inseparable. But then Stargirl goes too far and is shunned by her classmates and eventually Leo wants her to conform as well. Stargirl makes a go of it but finally realizes it isn’t her and so she reverts and Leo can’t handle it. The choice is between the group and being true to oneself. Everyone has to make their own choice and then live with it.

Evaluation: A bittersweet story about first love, conformity, popularity and individuality, the reader roots for Stargirl no matter what happens. A great story for anyone who has felt out of place or wants a different perspective on the same old things in life.

Sequel - Love, Stargirl

Flush

Author: Carl Hiaasen

Publisher: New York: Knopf/Random House 2005
ISBN-978-0375821820
pages: 263
Author's website

Classification: Young Adult Fiction
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Media Type: Book

Grade level: 6-11

Reader's annotation: Noah and his Dad are trying to catch, the owner of the gambling boat sitting in the harbor, in the act, as they dump their waste directly into the water - the water that the kids swim in during the day.

Summary: The book opens with Noah’s dad in jail because he sunk the Coral Queen, a gambling casino boat that sits a harbor in the Florida Keys. An act of civil disobedience he says, and tells his son they are dumping their nightly waste directly into the water. Unfortunately the boat is back in action a few days later. Noah is sent by his dad to talk to Lice who used to work there, to see what kind of information he can get and if he’ll submit a notarized statement of what is going on. After some haggling a deal is made but things don’t ever seem to go quite smoothly. What seems to be a side story, Noah gets bullied by son of casino owner and his friend Bull, but this ends up an integral part of the whole picture. The story is full of twists and turns as is Hiaasen’s style, this one including his little sister , the disappearance of Lice and his scary girlfriend, and a long lost grandfather. Justice is had by all, in the end, also characteristic of this author but the journey to get there is all the fun.


Evaluation: A classic Hiaasen story where the underdog has to overcome some pretty powerful characters to get justice. This story has a definite “what goes around comes around” message that is very satisfying.

Abarat

Author: Clive Barker

Publisher: Joanna Cotler Books 2002
ISBN- 9780060280925
pages: 388

Classification: Young Adult Fiction
Genre: Fantasy
Media Type: Book

Grade level: 6th +

Reader's annotation: Candy Quackenbush runs away from school and Chickentown MN and into another world full of fantastical creatures and islands to mark each hour.

Summary: Candy is having a bad day in her small Minnesota town whose main industry is chickens. She walks away from school and just keeps on going, right out of town into the empty fields where she meets John Mischief, a man with seven extra heads - his brothers! And if that isn’t strange enough who is the creature coming after them? Candy follows John’s directions to get the ball back in the bowl at the top of the crumbling lighthouse which triggers the sea to fill up the fields and take them all away. Candy is rescued by a boat as she is carried away in the sea and brought to the first of the islands of Arabat. She discovers all sorts of creatures and strange beings and visits several of the islands, each one with its own time. She makes a friend, Malingo, and they fight off all sorts of things that are after them that have been sent by evil Christopher Carrion. But she belongs and feels like she has been there before, she isn’t shocked by what she sees. At the end of the book is an appendix which describes several of the islands of time with the 25th hour added in.

Evaluation: If you like fantastical worlds this story has things you could never imagine. Illustrated by the author, one is given additional help to visualize this amazing world. It is a great escape with something exciting escapes though not much more.

Series: Abarat - book 2: Days of Magic, Nights of War

Ender's Game

Author: Orson Scott Card

Publisher: New York: T. Doherty Assoc. 1985
ISBN-978-0312932084
pages: 357
Author's website

Classification: Young Adult Fiction
Genre: Science Fiction
Media Type: Book

Grade level: 9-Adult

Reader's annotation: Chosen by the government to go to The special school, Ender leaves home at the age of six. Will he be the savior of the human race?

Summary: After feeling very unappreciated in school and as the youngest child in his family, Ender is chosen by the government after all to attend the special training program at the age of six. Now Ender can excel at what he is good at, computer gaming. He still has to deal with personality issues and competitiveness, something that he would rather put aside. But the training is rigorous and exciting, especially the descriptions of the games in the weightless room. Ender though has strong internal conflicts when he is forced to be brutal in order to survive.

Evaluation: Full of retribution and space age action this book is a real hit with teen boys. Some of the ethical and moral questions are good for teens to think about, especially those related to the value of life. The story is told as if it was happening at the moment which brings an excitement and urgency to it.

Series: Ender Wiggin - book 1

Whale Talk

Author: Chris Crutcher

Publisher: New York: Greenwillow Books 2001
ISBN- 978-0688180195
pages: 224
Author's website

Classification: Young Adult Fiction
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Topics: bullying, sports, abuse
Media Type: Book

Grade level: 8-adult


Reader's annotation: How does an multiracial adopted boy who refuses to play by the system rules become such a leader in his small town school? He stands up for the down-trodden and becomes the advocates for all those who can’t do it themselves.

Summary: T.J. Jones is an anomaly at his school. Multiracial, adopted, and one of the top students, he stands out from the others. Although everyone knows he is a great athlete he refuses to go out for football, something many of the conservative community members can’t understand. He works hard to keep his temper in check when he sees bullies messing with other students but he doesn’t hesitate to come to the victim's assistance. Then one of his teachers asks him to put together a swim team for the school so that he can be the coach and T.J. pulls together a group of misfits that can finally find something they might be good at. Outside of school T.J. helps out with his therapist when she needs another person in dealing with abuse cases and his family ends of taking in a little girl who has been abused by her step-father, one of the town bullies. What starts out as an act of generosity has grave consequences to everyone in T.J.’s life.

Evaluation: An excellent book about what it means to fit in and how we function together each with our own demons to deal with. Gives perspective to the term “bad things happen”. Anyone who has had to deal with bullying, misperceptions, and prejudice will relate to some part of this book.