The Graces by Laure Eve Booktalk

River is a lonely 15-year-old who has just moved to a small, old coastal town with her mother. She's not popular and she's picked on by mean girls. She becomes fascinated with this family whose children go to her school, and they're called the Graces, because that's their last name. Summer Grace is her age, and the twins, Thalia and Fenrin, are a few years older. They're beautiful and intriguing and popular, and their family is wealthy but is rumored to be witches.

If you liked Twilight (or Mean Girls), try this.

River develops a huge crush on the boy, Fenrin: he's got a lot of girlfriends and is one of the most popular boys in school, so when he shows an interest in her, she's flattered. Summer Grace starts befriending her, too - this uptick in River's popularity is great, and for the first time, she feels happy.

But River starts flirting with the supernatural: she visits an old, obscure bookstore to buy books on magic, and she practices spells. Yet there's another loner, Marcus, who warns her very strongly against associating with the Graces. He seems to have dated Thalia, and he warns that the Graces will use River and then discard her.

The Graces by Laure Eve. 336 p. Amulet Books, 2016. Booktalk to high school.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (Booktalk)

[Start by showing the map of Beechwood Island found on the opening pages.] Imagine your relatives had their own private island. This is Beechwood Island, where the wealthy and beautiful Sinclair clan go on vacation each summer. Cadence, also called Cadie, lives in Windemere [show on map] with her mom and their dogs. Her cousin Mirren lives in Cuddledown; her cousin Johnny and friend Gat live in Red Gate.

Cadie's family's island, Beechwood, off coast of Massachusetts

Their grandfather lives in the big house, Clairmont. They have multiple beaches, a family dock, boats, and paid staff. The four older kids - Cadie, Mirren, Johnny, and Gat - are about the same age, older teens. They're called the Liars. You'll find out why. They're nice kids.

But something is really wrong. When the story opens, Cadie tells us she is almost 18. Let me quote her. "I own a well-used library card and not much else...I used to be blonde, but now my hair is black. I used to be strong, but now I am weak. I used to be pretty, but now I look sick. It is true I suffer migraines since my accident"(4). What accident? And if she's one of the liars, is she lying now?

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. Delacorte Press: 2014. 225 p. Booktalk to high school. Also has crossover appeal for adults.

Glory O'Brien's History of the Future by A.S. King (Booktalk)

Glory O'Brien, age 17, has not been having a glorious life so far. Her mother killed herself years ago; her dad has eaten his grief and went from an original 120 pounds to 240. He won't get rid of the oven that his wife used to kill herself with, either. He won't go into his wife's photography darkroom or even discuss her. Glory doesn't have many friends, and she often actively dislikes her "best" friend, Ellie. Glory is happy to be graduating from high school in a few days: she wants to get away from all that is trivial and tedious. Why bother having anyone sign her yearbook? There's no point.

The only thing Glory likes is taking photographs; that was about all her mom liked, too, it seems. So when Ellie - often the holder of illogical and harebrained ideas - suggests that the two girls drink the remains of a dead bat, Glory decides to comply. What's the harm? Ellie had joked that the dead bat was God. Ellie is just plain weird.

Here's the good news: neither girl gets sick from drinking dead bat remains. But there's bad news, and it's literally "the future": the future that you and I will inhabit, if we live long enough. Both girls start seeing visions of it, and it's no place that women would want to live in.

Glory O'Brien's History of the Future by A.S. King. 307 p. 2014. Little, Brown. Booktalk to upper high school: contains mature themes.

Book talk: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

High school is hard, but if you're Arnold Spirit -- "Junior," to everyone -- you're the only Native American at a high school full of mostly white kids. Smart, beautiful white kids who have money and nice clothes and cars and parents with jobs.

Junior is poor. Junior was born with a big head and should've died at birth because he had problems with his brain. He has a lisp, a stutter, ugly clothes, an alcoholic dad, and a best friend - Rowdy - who will not speak to him. Junior lives on a reservation -- called "the rez" -- and he knows that being poor and Indian really, really sucks. Forgive my language. I'm just quoting him.

From the time he was born, Junior has had to struggle for his survival. Everything he has, he has had to fight for, whether literally or physically fist-fight for. On the first day of high school on the rez, Junior picked up a textbook. When he saw the name inside, he realized the textbook was over 30 years old. That's what the Indian kids get: not even second-best. The dregs. It angered Junior so much that he threw the textbook, and it hit his teacher right in the face, resulting in a suspension for Junior.

Every cloud has a silver lining -- sometimes even for Indians -- and the teacher convinced Junior to attend a better school, named Rearden, twenty-two miles away from the reservation. You know how poor Junior is? He often has to hitchhike those 22 miles to and from school. A few times he walked the whole way, and he got blisters. It was awful. You try being the only Indian in a school full of whites. See how long YOU last.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. 230 p.
2008 Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Fiction. 2010 Young Readers' Choice Award.
Booktalk to high school.

Sherman Alexie

Book talk: A Game for Swallows by Zeina Abirachad

Most of you have been at home alone while you waited for your parents to return home, right? It’s a fairly typical teen experience. But what if you had no way of contacting your parents when they were gone? What if you worried they’d get hit by sniper fire when returning home? In this graphic novel, Zeina drew us a map of how tricky it was to avoid the sniper near their apartment. 

Avoiding the sniper in A Game for Swallows

And what if the block and the area you lived in got bombed so regularly that all your neighbors would come join you in the foyer of your apartment because it was considered the safest spot? Imagine living with all your neighbors in a tiny room for hours and hours and even days. It’s a hard way to live, but Zeina and her little brother have grown up with this. They live in Beirut, Lebanon, during a time of civil war, a civil war which dragged on from 1975-1990. They know of people who have disappeared and were never seen again. But there’s humor in this novel: her neighbors – virtually family since they live in close quarters – are protective, loving, and quirky. If your world shrank to one room, would you be able to laugh?

A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return by Zeina Abirached. Graphic novel. 188 p. Booktalk to middle school, high school.

Book talk: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

[In an effort not to reveal their romance or any spoilers, I limited myself to the earliest part of plot.]

It really, really irritates me when people read over my shoulder, especially if I’m on a bus or a train, because then it’s harder to get rid of them. Park takes the bus to school every day, and he’s sort of considered a cool kid, but he’s also sort of an independent. You know how high school is.  A decidedly not cool girl -- Eleanor (even her name is uncool) --  has been sitting next to Park on the bus – every single day: to school and back home – and he just figured out that she’s been surreptitiously reading his comics while he’s reading them: that’s brazen. 

 Eleanor’s the kind of girl you’d feel sorry for if she wasn’t always sitting right next to you in closed quarters. She dresses really, really oddly (a giant men’s shirt with seashells all over it?!), seems to have no friends, and is already a bully target. Park feels as if he should say something to her – in fact, he’s always felt that way about her, which is odd and unexplainable because he’s never felt that way about anyone, ever – and he wants to say something to her, but he’s gone so long now without speaking to her that he doesn’t know what to do. Something is up with him, you know. And something must be up with her, as well, or she’d sit next to someone else. For now, he makes sure she can see the books and he turns the pages a little more slowly.

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. St. Martin's Griffin, 2013. 336 p. Booktalk to high school; has crossover appeal for adults, as well.

Book talk: Choker by Elizabeth Woods (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2013-2014)

What would you do if the best friend you ever had – whom you hadn’t seen in years – showed up in your bedroom, sitting on your bed, and asked you if she could stay with you (unbeknownst to any parents) to escape an abusive home situation?

If you were Cara, you’d let her stay. Zoe was Cara’s best friend when they were younger, and now Cara’s a teenager who struggles with the social situation at her high school. Cara doesn’t have any real friends at school, and she just got the nickname “Choker” from an embarrassing incident in which she almost choked to death on a carrot in the school cafeteria. The cool kids witnessed it, and they won’t let Cara forget it.

So Zoe hides out in Cara’s bedroom while Cara’s at school, and Cara’s parents are too busy with their important legal careers even to notice. At first it’s fun – like a slumber party that never ends – but Zoe’s strange and difficult moods – and her disappearances - get harder and harder for Cara to handle. Cara has told Zoe about the mean popular kids and knows that Zoe hates them. Zoe might be strange, but she’s loyal to Cara, and perhaps too loyal.

But something nags at Cara. One of the girls in the popular crowd is found dead and another goes missing. Does Zoe have anything to do with this?

Choker by Elizabeth Woods. 233 pages. Booktalk to high school. Virginia Readers’ Choice, 2013-2014.

Choker

Book talk: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

If you’ve read any of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, you’ll know that the author, Rick Riordan, tells a great story.

In his new series, The Kane Chronicles, he once again sets us on a strange journey. The Red Pyramid features two new main characters, Carter and Sadie, who are brother and sister but who haven’t lived together for years. In fact, the last time they lived together, a birthday cake exploded at a party, and their parents decided they’d live apart - in separate countries. It’s a long story.

            Carter and Sadie have an odd, complicated family history of which they know very little when the story begins. Their father is a brilliant Egyptologist who moves around a lot and seems paranoid. At one point, their father seemed to attack the world famous Rosetta Stone, which really backfired, and released some ticked off Egyptian gods. Do not tick off an Egyptian god. They are extremely vengeful, whether they’re male, or female, or…animal.

Of course, now that their father is gone, Carter and Sadie have to fight back, and they gain some interesting allies along the way. One of their allies is a cat named Muffin [awww!] and a basketball-playing baboon named Khufu who only eats food ending in the letter O. Strange friends? Don’t get me started about their enemies, who are even weirder. The Red Pyramid is one strange and wonderful journey.

The Red Pyramid

Booktalk: The Knife of Never Letting Go (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2011-2012)

It can be really embarrassing if you inadvertently think out loud. Much of the time, you really don’t want other people knowing your private thoughts. But for Todd Hewitt, a young teen, everyone else is privy to your thoughts: all the time. Your thoughts are broadcast out loud, in what’s called Noise. It’s almost as if you have speakers broadcasting what you’re thinking. Zero privacy: try keeping a secret.

Todd lives in a settlement called Prentisstown, which is part of the New World, a world without women, all of whom died. Todd has never seen a woman when we first meet him. His parents are dead, and he’s been raised by two of their male friends. Todd’s closest friend is his dog, Manchee, with whom goes on walks. In one of his walks, Todd encounters a physical presence: silence – an absence of Noise, a freedom from it. It has a powerful effect on him, and when he goes back to town, he leaks his secret about what he experienced through his Noise. Todd’s adopted parents are scared to death for him and urge him to leave Prentisstown immediately. From reading their Noise, Todd can tell that he is very grave danger. All he’s got is his dog, his knife, and a book of his mother’s which he can barely read. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. 479 p. Candlewick Press: 2008. Booktalk to high school. Virginia Readers' Choice, 2011-2012.

Booktalk: Hold Still by Nina LaCour (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2011-2012)

Ingrid and Caitlin are best friends. Ingrid is really, really obsessed with photography – she’s good at it, too – and she keeps these wonderful, quirky journals which are a composite of her drawings, feelings, and questions. The two are inseparable, and although they have other acquaintances (crushes, friends, etc.), they sort of make up their own world. Caitlin’s the more practical, pragmatic of the two. But then Caitlin’s world changes completely. The worst happens. Ingrid commits suicide.

How do you live your life when your best friend dies? How do you go to school and face the people who knew you primarily as part of a pair? How do you survive? Why do you survive? Now that people just pity you, will anyone your age like you just for you? How do you make sense of the way in which life changes?

There are different ways in which Caitlin survives. Some of these ways she’s aware of, and some she may not be. No one can ever take Ingrid’s place, but there are people out there who are kind, interesting, and forgiving; some of them are well camouflaged, but they’re right there, hiding in plain sight.

The subject matter of this novel may be painful, but it’s a fascinating read, for many reasons. Ingrid foresaw that Caitlin would be alone and in tremendous pain, and she did something really nice for Caitlin to help her. Find out what it was in Hold Still by Nina LaCour.

Hold Still by Nina LaCour. 229 p. Dutton Books: 2009. Virginia Readers’ Choice 2011-2012 for high school. Booktalk to high school. Contains sensitive subject matter.

Booktalk: Marcelo in the Real World (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2011-2012)

If you were to see Marcelo just walking down the street, you wouldn’t think there was anything different or special about him. He’s tall, healthy, dresses normally, and has a summer job working for his dad’s law firm. Normal, right? Well, yes, he is normal. However, he also can hear musically internally in his head (no ipod required), can memorize long passages of scriptures from different traditions, can bond with animals (especially ponies), and has a very hard time figuring out human beings and their motives. Marcelo really wanted to spend his summer working with animals – and he would have – except that his dad, a big shot lawyer, wants Marcelo to experience what life in the “real world” is like. Uh oh, the real world. We know what that’s like, right?

Marcelo has Asperger’s syndrome, which is on the autism spectrum, and he can function pretty well in society, but he’s not as good at reading people. For example, there’s a guy at work, Wendell, who’s a real jerk. Wendell has an agenda, and Marcelo is about to fall victim to it. There’s also a girl at work, Jasmine, who can be pretty tough and blunt but seems to understand and like Marcelo. Wendell has the hots for Jasmine, by the way. Yeah. And perhaps Marcelo does, too, but he’s at a real disadvantage here. You know how it’s hard for Marcelo to figure people out? That means that they can take advantage him: manipulate him, use him, con him. And it’s unfair, because he’s such a cool person, and innocent, too. Will Marcelo be able to figure out people in the “real world” before he gets burned? Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork.

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork. 2009: Scholastic. 312 p. Booktalk to high school. Virginia Readers’ Choice: 2011-2012.

Booktalk: The Red Necklace (Virginia Readers' Choice for 2011-2012)

A good horror movie keeps you on the edge of your seat. Although this book is not a horror movie – in fact, it’s set during the French Revolution – it’s got a character named Count Kalliovski who would fit in fine to any horror movie.

There are signs that the Count is the devil in human form. The count is incredibly wealthy, seems ageless, lends people money, and in exchange, gets their deepest, darkest secrets. In other words, he’s extremely powerful. He can get people to do virtually whatever he wants. His private motto is, “Have no mercy, show no mercy.” This is a dangerous sentiment to have during the French Revolution, a time of great upheaval, violence, murder and instability in France.

And the Count is going after a young gypsy boy named Yann who can read people’s minds. The Count is pretty relentless, too, when he wants someone dead. His victims are found wearing a red necklace which resembles drops of blood. It’s sort of his own personal way of saying, “I did this.” Can the devil be successfully evaded?

The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner. 378 p. Dial Books: 2007. Booktalk to high school. Virginia Readers' Choice for 2011-2012.

Booktalk: The Orange Houses (Virginia Readers' Choice for 2011-2012)

There are 7 things I want you to know about Mik, also known as Tamika.

1). When Mik was five, she got meningitis and lost a lot of her hearing. She’s 15 now, and she’s not completely deaf, but deaf enough that she really needs hearing aids.

2). She turns off her hearing aids, which she hates, an awful lot. Especially in school.

3). Mik lives in public housing for the poor, called ‘the orange houses.’ They are jail-like towers. It goes without saying that you have to be tough to live in the orange houses.

4). Mik’s sworn enemy, Shanelle, is a vicious gang leader who’d like to beat the living daylights out of Mik. Shanelle can do it, too, no problem. She’s crazy bad and hates Mik’s guts.

5). Mik has no close friends.

6). Until one day Mik sees a girl wearing a headscarf signing to Mik in sign language. The girl signs, “Hello. Goodbye. I love you.” She hands Mik a paper angel which she has made. Mik is stunned.

7). This girl is just as unique as Mik as.

I’ve given you a little character study on Mik, but there are some other surprising things about her and the other characters which I’ve had to leave out. The Orange Houses by Paul Griffin.

The Orange Houses by Paul Griffin. 147 p. Dial Books, 2009. Booktalk to high school. Virginia Readers’ Choice (h.s.) for 2011-2012.

Booktalk: After by Amy Efaw (Virginia Readers' Choice)

Some teens manage to get straight A’s and perform at a consistently high level playing varsity sports: they’re perfect, right? If you knew her before, Devon, a 15-year-old girl, would fit that category. She’s a good kid who works hard both at school and at soccer, where she has the potential to be Division I someday. That’s Devon before.

Devon after gave birth to a baby girl and left that baby in a trash can to die. It’s horrible and cruel, obviously. But here’s the mystery. When the police got to her, she did not seem to understand that she had been pregnant or given birth. How could a girl not know that she’s pregnant? Devon is facing a bunch of criminal charges, including attempted murder.

What in her physical, daily world actually happened to Devon? And what happened inside her mind? How did she get from a fairly normal “before” to a deeply deluded “after”? After by Amy Efaw.

After by Amy Efaw. 350 p. Viking: 2009. Because of the controversial subject matter, booktalk with discretion. Virginia Readers' Choice (high school) for 2011-2012.

Booktalk: Boot Camp by Todd Strasser (Virginia Readers' Choice)

In our increasingly overweight country, boot camps are very popular: you join one to lose a few pounds and get in shape. Garrett, a teenager, is in a boot camp, but his is far different and has more in common with a prisoner-of-war camp. 

Like a prisoner of war, Garrett is there against his will: his parents enrolled him in it, he’s kept there under force, and the conditions are inhumane. Ironically, it’s called Lake Harmony: what a joke. Garrett’s been subjected to solitary confinement, grueling physical labor, and brainwashing techniques, most of which seem absolutely ineffective. Garrett’s parents felt his personal behavior was unacceptable, but does he deserve this hellish treatment? 

Garrett’s case doesn’t seem half as bad as that of Sarah: she’s been there for almost three years, and the camp has taken a real physical toll on her. When Garrett first meets her, she’s forced to wear a cardboard sign around her next which reads, “Two years and still pulling the same crap.” And then there’s Pauly, with his frail physical frame and his fanatical desire for escape. Boot Camp by Todd Strasser.

Boot Camp by Todd Strasser. 238 p.  Simon and Schuster, 2007. Booktalk to high school. Virginia Readers’ Choice, 2011-2012.

Booktalk: Yummy, The Last Days of a Southside Shorty (Virginia Readers' Choice)

Yummy is a young boy, only four feet tall and eleven years old. He lives with his grandma, loves candy and sweets, and even has a teddy bear. His real name is Robert Sandifer but everyone knows him as “Yummy.” He sounds pretty sweet, doesn’t he? Unfortunately, Yummy is mixed up with a gang, is from a broken home, lives in a tough part of town in Chicago, and wants to prove himself. Those are four factors which are going to work hard against him.

One way to move up in a gang’s hierarchy is to beat up or kill an enemy of the gang. Yummy tried to do this, but he shot and killed an innocent young girl instead. She died near her house with her parents inside: a complete tragedy. Yummy immediately went on the run, followed by a manhunt. When you’re 11, and you’re running from the cops, where do you go? What goes through your mind?

Before you feel too angry at Yummy, consider this. From the age of 3, Yummy had a bunch of scars and burns on his body: a sign that he was abused. One of the burns came from when he was whipped with an electrical cord. As much as he was a killer, Yummy was also a victim. Just like the girl he killed, his situation was also a tragedy. Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri.

Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri. Graphic novel: 94 p. 2010: Lee & Low Books. Booktalk to high school. Virginia Readers’ Choice 2011-2012. Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri.

Booktalk: Because I Am Furniture (Virginia Readers' Choice)

Anke is a normal 9^th grade girl who plays volleyball, writes poetry, resents the popular kids, and has a crush on a senior boy. But her home life is far from normal. Her father is verbally abusive, physically abusive, and sexually abusive. Anke has an older brother and an older sister, both of whom seem to bear the brunt of her father’s abuse. Anke’s mother is mostly silent and powerless. The children never have people over to the house: it’s almost unthinkable. So Anke does what she can in order to stay emotionally and physically alive in a house which feels like a prison. Even the title – Because I Am Furniture – gives you a view into her mental state. Anke doesn’t feel human at home: she feels like an object, taken for granted, hardly noticed, like furniture. Yet Anke dares to be hopeful. She made a list of things she could live without, and here are some of the things she listed: cars, cell phones, whitening toothpaste, Polo cologne, choosing sides … a father. Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas.

Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas. 352 p. Viking: 2009. Virginia Readers’ Choice for 2011-2012: high school. Due to subject matter, know both the text and your audience when booktalking this title.

Booktalk: Pop by Gordon Korman (Virginia Readers' Choice)

Marcus Jordan, high school football player, has a new football practice friend named Charlie. Here are five facts about Charlie.
1). Charlie appears to be an expert football player.
2). Even though he's in his 50s.
3). Charlie likes playing pranks on people: well, mostly one person
4). Charlie's son is the quarterback on Marcus' team
5). Charlie's family is extremely protective of him. Now, Charlie is a useful friend to have if you want to get really, really tough at tackling, being tackled, blocking, catching hard passes, and generally being a tough, indestructible football machine. But in other ways, Charlie is sort of like a kid: an innocent, forgetful one. What fact about Charlie is Marcus failing to see? Pop by Gordon Korman.

Pop by Gordon Korman. 260 p. Balzer and Bray, 2009. Booktalk to middle school, high school. Virginia Readers' Choice for middle school, 2011-2012.

Booktalk: Bystander (Virginia Readers' Choice)

When a friend like Griffin turns on you, he really turns on you. Some of your stuff goes missing, you get beat up by his sidekick, and you’re worried he might plant a weapon in your locker. Scary, isn’t it? So why would a nice, low-key 7th grader like Eric even be friends with Griffin in the first place? To start with, Eric is new in town and needs a group. Plus, Griffin isn’t all bad: he’s got some good qualities -- he’s charming, sociable, intelligent, and a group leader. And he and Eric have something really important in common: their fathers. Let’s just say that both boys are not doing well in the father department, sadly, and both of them know it. But remember how I told you that Griffin can turn on a person? Eric is going to have to decide whether he will be a friend to Griffin, an enemy who doesn’t tolerate Griffin’s cruelties, or a casual “bystander” who does nothing. Bystander by James Preller.

Bystander by James Preller. 226 p. 2009: Feiwel and Friends. Virginia Readers’ Choice: 2011-2012. Booktalk to middle school and to high school.

Booktalk: Frankenstein [graphic novel]; [Monsters; 3]

Victor Frankenstein discovered the key to creating life. When he decided to create a human, he got way more than he bargained for. He crafted one together using parts of dead bodies: he even disgusted himself in the process, yet he made a creature. But Frankenstein’s creature was not truly human. After all, is it human to turn against your maker, killing off his friends and loved ones? No wonder Victor Frankenstein sees his creation as a monster. But the monster is going to fight back. He wants a companion, and he’ll stop at nothing to get one. Can Victor Frankenstein actually make a second creature? This is a graphic novel adaption of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, adapted by Lloyd S. Wagner.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein [Campfire graphic novels], adapted by Lloyd S. Wagner. 2010: Kalyani Navyug Media. 68 p. Due to some gory content, I would hesitate to booktalk this to elementary school [5^th and under], but I do think it’s acceptable for middle school and high school.