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: How Oliver Olson Changed the World (Virginia Readers' Choice)

There are five facts you should know about Oliver Olson’s parents:

1). They worry about him constantly.

2). They hover over him when he does his homework.

3). They would never let him walk on the moon.

4). They only let him eat super healthy snacks. No junk food.

5). They will not let him go to a class sleepover that he really wants to go to.

There are many facts you should know about Oliver himself, but I’m only to give you 3.

1). Oliver was very sick when he was a little kid.

2). Oliver is a really nice and very smart third grader.

3). Oliver has to make a diaroma of the solar system at home, and his parents are doing it for him, against his will.

The last fact I’m going to tell you is the title of this book: How Oliver Olson Changed the World. Wait a minute? He changed the world? With parents micro-managing him? Yep, you’re just going to have to read it.

How Oliver Olson Changed the World by Claudia Mills; pictures by Heather Maione. 104 p. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux. Booktalk to elementary, intermediate grades. Virginia Readers’ Choice for 2011-2012.

Take a Second Look: Booktalk 4

What if you didn't know your parents? That's Delana's story: she's an only child who lives with her Grandpa and her Aunt Tilley in West Virginia. Aunt Tilley likes to show Delana old-fashioned photographs of Delana's relatives -- descended from slaves -- and make them come alive through stories. So Delana _thinks_ she knows her family, but once Aunt Tilley dies, Delana gets a secret visit from one of her relatives disguised as a scrawny peddlar -- Cousin Ambertine. Ambertine is on a mission: to tell Delana part of the truth. As it turns out, Ambertine was really close to Delana's mom, and has news which shocks Delana, who finds she must take a second look at her mysterious family. Finding Family by Tonya Bolden.

Finding Family by Tonya Bolden. 172 p. Bloomsbury, 2010. Booktalk to intermediate grades and middle school.