In order to vote, you have to have read all three of the books. I’ve already read and reviewed two of the three. (Sadly, I can’t vote because I’m not a teen!) One of the books is on my summer reading list; another is the first book in a series–and the second is on my summer reading list. So if you don’t know what to read this summer, why not these?

The California Young Reader Medal Program Nominees for 21011-12 school year:

YOUNG ADULT (Grades 9-12)

Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Harcourt, 2008.

Beastly by Alex Flinn. Harper Teen, 2007.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman. Penguin Group, USA, 2009.

Don’t lose those grade-level gains you worked so hard to make all year long! Reading over the summer prevents the traditional summer loss of reading comprehension and vocabulary skills. And it’s so easy—a virtually stress-free, fun way of learning. Just pick out a few good books and get started. I’ve put together a great list of summer books using recommendations from the best sources. I plan on reading and reviewing these books all summer long. 

Join me! As you read, feel free to make comments on any of the books by clicking the comment link on the review. All of the books I’ve picked out are available in multiple copies from the Ontario City Library at both the Colony and Ovitt branches. And don’t forget—any that you read will count toward the Ontario City Library’s summer reading program, so you can pick up some prizes as you go. If the title of the book is hyperlinked, I’ve already reviewed it, and you can make comments now. For the titles that are not—I’m reading! Check back soon!

This summer’s theme:

Compassion and Camaraderie

(Life is full of bullies—let’s understand each other)

Laurie Halse Anderson

Speak

Wintergirls

Twisted

Catalyst

(Don’t miss Anderson’s moving poem/tribute to the readers of Speak. She reads it here.)

John Green

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

An Abundance of Katherines

Paper Towns

Looking for Alaska

(He’s a video blogger, too—see him here.)

Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons Why

Sarah Dessen

What Happened to Goodbye?

Lock and Key

Just Listen

Gayle Forman

If I Stay

Where She Went

. . .

Genre Fiction for Fun:

Fantasy

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Sapphique by Catherine Fisher (sequel to Incarceron)

Fire by Kristin Cashore (This is the sequel to Graceling)

Eon and Eona by Alison Goodman

Sword Fighting and Combat

Ranger’s Apprentice Series by John Flanagan

Horror for Guys

The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer

Sports

Heat by Mike Lupica

(and if you like the book, Mike Lupica has a lot of good sports books)

Historical Fiction

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Try a Classic:

Dracula

Frankenstein

Things I Just Want to Read for No Particular Reason:

Matched by Ally Condie (VOYA best Sci-Fi of the year)

Unwind by Neal Schusterman

Bad Girls Don’t Die by Katie Alender

     Fire

For the second time in a week, I’m in the weird position of recommending to you a book that I really didn’t like all that much. I hope that this doesn’t appear hypocritical. Let me just say that I didn’t like Fire (or Graceling, its partner book) because over several years of study as an English major, I learned to loathe this sort of thing. And the reason I’m recommending it to you is that I honestly think you’re going to like it. (You’re young and not so jaded!) I’ve tried it out on two students. One is finished with the book and really enjoyed it; the other is still reading (and that’s a good sign). All the professional reviews were glowing.

Fire, who lives in the Dells, is the last human ‘monster’ in the kingdom. Monsters are not as we think of them; they are like typical creatures, but have extraordinary coloring and the ability not only to read minds, but to influence others’ thoughts, to control them if they aren’t strong enough to resist. Fire’s fabulous coloring includes hair that is a true red, orange and yellow. She’s is so unearthly beautiful that some people can’t resist touching her, running their hands through her hair. (Yes, if you know me, you know the author was already losing me with this.) Fire must cover herself in public to be able to travel unmolested. Her major concern with being a monster is that she not behave like her father (Cansrel), who used his powers to ruin lives and nearly destroy the kingdom.

Fire lands inKing City, where all the important men lust after her. However, she’s already engaged in a casual sexual relationship with a childhood friend, Archer. King Nash and his brother Brigan—the commander of troops—are engaged in saving the kingdom from evildoers. They could use Fire’s help in interrogating spy prisoners. Fire’s not sure whether using her powers to control others’ minds, even for the benefit of the kingdom, is right or just. So she has some important decisions to make. And, since both brothers are gaga over her, she has to sort that out, too, as well as her feelings for Archer, who is having multiple relationships with women in his frustration over the fact that Fire won’t marry him. (A Ms. Waddle side note: Girls, don’t fall for that nonsense when a guy tells you he’s playing the field because you’re not giving him everything he wants. It’s the oldest trick in the book.)

Some of the reasons I had a hard time getting through Fire were the same reasons it took me awhile read Graceling, the primary problem being that it was too repetitive. (Fire was tired of being attacked? Yeah, well, I got sick of hearing about her musings on the subject.) Other things just seems silly to me—that her presence provoked monster attacks—the monster form of raptors especially go after her. Or the constant references to her ‘monthly bleedings,’ how she had to lock herself indoors during that time or risk being shredded by monster creatures, who were especially sensitive to her at that time. I guess Cashore was trying to elevate this woman’s issue to a philosophical discussion (what should she tell Brigan’s little daughter about it? Would it hurt her psyche?) I believe this sort of thing will drive male readers away. And the inclusion of a single character from Graceling seemed artificial.

Nevertheless.

When all is said and done, you’re going to like this book because Fire is the same kind of kick-butt, never-back-down, take-no-prisoners heroine that Graceling’s Katsa was. She, too, is unconventional, refuses to get married, and carefully guards her mind and her independence. You’ll like the romance. In addition, Fire makes some important points about the relationship between parents and children. Fire has to understand that she is not responsible for her father’s evil and that she is not destined to repeat it. And there are some great quotable lines. I liked this from the end:

“Some people had too much power and too much cruelty to live. Some people were too terrible, no matter if you loved them; no matter that you had to make yourself terrible too, in order to stop them. Some things just had to be done.”

Note: I tagged this as ‘mature’ because of the casual sexual relationships that many of the characters have. There aren’t any explicit sexual descriptions, but I think some parents would have an issue with the book. A war is going on, so there’s violence, too, but it’s not graphic.

No Passengers Beyond This Point is quick, an easy read, and very creative—it’s fun and out of the ordinary.

Three siblings—India, Finn and Mouse (all named after foreign countries–Mouse is actually Switzerland)—find out that their house has gone into foreclosure and their mother, lacking any more options, and needing to stay in California to complete the year as a school teacher, is going to pack them on a plane and send them to their Uncle Red in Colorado.

Of course, no one is happy. Self-centered India is going to miss her friends. Finn is a worrier and he thinks about leaving his basketball team behind, but he also stresses out over how difficult all this must be for his mother. (The children’s father is dead.) Mouse is too young to fully grasp what’s happening, although she’s incredibly bright for a five-year-old. She relies on her imaginary friend, Bing, to get by.

I was expecting a book where the siblings would deal with being the new kids in town—maybe they’d be bullied at the new school, maybe they wouldn’t be accepted. Instead, the plane experiences turbulence and it lands, after only an hour, in a place called Falling Bird. The kids are picked up in a feather-lined taxi, driven by a twelve-year-old with a fake mustache. O-K! We are in an alternate universe.

The first thing that each of the siblings gets is a dream home of his or her own, complete with a better-than-real-life parent. But that only lasts a day. The dream houses blow apart and the kids are homeless again.

Knowing that Finn, India and Mouse are in an alternate world from which they must escape makes the reader question the purpose of all the things in their world that they must confront. After their perfect dream houses explode, they are on a clock—with a deadline to get out safely or be stuck forever. You’ll start clicking through the oddities—what are all the black birds about? The black box? The dimes in the shoe? The white cat? How about the white courtesy phones that keep popping up as temptation all over the place? Does Mouse’s imaginary friend, Bing, have a purpose?

There are many clues—and to be honest, not all of them fit into the completed puzzle at the end of the book. Still, for those that do fit, you’ll have an ‘ah-ha’ moment.

This is a book for everyone—read it out loud to a younger brother or sister. The sinister aspects of the weird world of Falling Bird are only creepy. There’s no graphic violence or scariness. And there’s a great message about brothers and sisters—one worth sharing!

Note: Gennifer Choldenko also wrote Al Capone Does My Shirts, a popular book that you may have read. If not, it’s unusual and a lot of fun, too. It discusses family, and even autism, at a time when that spectrum was unrecognized.

I figured I’d put the graphic version of The Lightning Thief to the test by having my son read it. He and I loved the entire Percy Jackson series (the original Lightning Thief is reviewed on this blog). He told me that it really does stick closely to the original story.

Since I’ve been working with our wonderful new EL 1 students at Chaffey High in the past few weeks, I’m happy that The Lightning Thief is one of the books we are getting free for each school–Colony and Chaffey–after sponsoring a Scholastic Book Fair at both. Come on in and check it out–as well as the other brand new graphic novels we received from the fairs.

I’m thinking this may be my ‘best YA read’ of 2011 although I know it’s still early in the year.

But wow.

Cameron, sixteen, lazy, and a not-so-great student is the loser brother of a popular girl, Jenna. He hates school, hangs around with a couple of stoners, periodically indulges with them, and seems to live to irritate his parents—a father who is an university professor and seems to be having an affair with one of his grad students and a mother who is an English prof, unable to make the slightest decision—even what to order in a restaurant.

The family members avoid one another except when Cameron tries to humiliate Jenna in front of her popular friends at school. (“Hey, Jenna. Were those your birth control pills I found in the bathroom this morning?”) That is, until Cameron starts to lose control of his muscles and acts out in class, including punching Jenna’s self-righteous and hypocritically religious boyfriend. Everyone assumes this is the result of a drug problem (even though Cameron swears it’s not) and Cam is expelled and has all privileges taken away at home. But when he goes for treatment, the doctors find that he has Creutzfeldt-Jacob, that is, he has the human version of “mad cow” disease. His brain is deteriorating, and he can’t control his muscles or movements; CJ causes hallucinations. There is no cure.

This hilarious book has been poking fun at societal norms and values. (‘Buddha Burger’ where Cam works makes customer feel like they’re doing something good, being ‘Zen’ by eating there. Nerds reciting lines from Star Fighter—aka Star Wars, everyone wanting to be on a reality show—I don’t know. There’s just too much dark humor in this book! The happiness cult alone makes this worth the read.) Now the  narrator is certainly going to die.

Who should appear to save the day but Dulcie—a pink-haired punk angel. She tells Cam he can not only survive, but also save the world from a tear in the fabric of time, made by Dr. X when he was seeking the cure for death. All Cam has to do is go on a quest with his friend Gonzo (the dwarf). After the two ditch the hospital and hit the road, they pick up a third friend, Balder. He seems to be a yard gnome and so has suffered the humiliation of being stolen by college students and carried on travels (as well as being peed on a lot). But Balder is really a Viking god, son of Oden, and in search of his ship, Ringhorn. (If you know anything about Don Quixote, you’ll like this wackiness to the nth degree.)

Take this trip with the three as they fight the Dark Wizard and the fire giants. joining forcing with jazz legends and mad scientists. Answer the big questions in life: Why do we die? And how do we really live? All the while wondering whether the dying Cameron is hallucinating from his hospital bed or if he is finding the meaning of life. Or both.

Note: This is a book for mature readers. There’s significant profanity. (Sample chapter title: “Chapter Four in Which a Brief Sanctuary is Found, I Fail to Comprehend Jazz, and I Am Forced to Have a Conversation with My Asshole Father.”)

Teachers: If you are a Kurt Vonnegut fan, and want to introduce students to this genre (if you can even call it a genre), this is the book to recommend.

If you’re already a fan of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, you’re going to love this book. And if you haven’t had the pleasure of reading Riordan yet, start here.

I picked up this book because a few CHS students, looking for a (easy) novel to start their senior project with, asked me for something on ancient Egypt. While this novel fits that description, it isn’t historical, even by the loose definition we use for our project. However, I believe it will work perfectly for any student who’d like to form questions on ancient Egyptian culture, particularly on religion.

At the center of the novel are the current-day Carter and Sadie Kane. Their father is a famous Egyptologist and their mother, who died mysteriously six years before the book opens, was an anthropologist. After their mother’s death, the children are separated, Carter then traveling the world with his father and Sadie settled with her maternal grandparents in London

Dr. Kane only has visitation rights with Sadie two days of the year. On Christmas Eve Day, he picks her up, and, along with Carter, they go to the British Museum to visit the Rosetta Stone. There, working magic, Dr. Kane blows up the priceless artifact and unleashes powerful Egyptian gods, including the evil Set, who encases him in a magic sarcophagus (coffin). The children run for their lives.

From here on out, it’s all action as the sharp-tongued Carter and Sadie discover their true natures and powers. While they are fighting ancient evil forces, much of Egyptian culture is mentioned—various pharaohs, a number of gods and their special divinities, famous architecture and archeological sites—all great teasers just perfect for posing research questions about ancient Egypt.

As a fantasy book for teens, especially for girls, Graceling by Kristin Cashore, is nearly perfect. The heroine, Katsa, has just the kind of power in life that girls often dream about. (The first time a man tries to grope her, she kills him effortlessly.) Though she is spirited, strong, good and able to make her own decisions, men still find her very attractive and one very beautiful man is more than willing to sacrifice himself for her—a reversal of the roles we commonly experience in real life.

In Katsa’s world there are people called Gracelings who have special powers. They can be identified by the fact that they have two different colored eyes (Kasta’s are blue and green). Sometimes it takes awhile before they find out what their special grace is. Often they are employed by the kings in their seven kingdoms. Katsa has the misfortune of being the niece of the ruthless King Randa. When he finds out that her grace gives her the ability to kill or hurt anyone without being harmed herself, he uses her as a sort of henchman. She does his bidding, but as she comes of age, she also comes into her own power. She creates a secret council which works against Randa’s evil influence and later she turns away him altogether.

Enter Po, a graceling prince with one eye silver and one eye gold. He, too, is an excellent fighter. The two work together to save a young princess. They have constant battles of wills, yet Po (sigh deeply here) understands all of Katsa’s moods and is willing to do just about anything to be her true love. Unlike many such fantasy stories, in Graceling, Katsa doesn’t want to be under the command of a man, and that means she refuses to marry, taking Po as a lover.

My real criticism of the book is that it could have been much shorter, as the writing is redundant. Characters will have conversations—You don’t love me—yes I do—followed by a summary of the conversation—she felt that he didn’t love her, but he said that he did. Not only does this happen again and again, but it happens again and again on the same topic—you don’t love me ‘round five’ and the fifth round summary. However, the up side of this is that it adds to the total number of pages in the book, so you can impress your teacher by reading 475 pages—and you can do it quickly without having to pay too much attention because if you miss one train, it’ll be coming around again very soon.

This is a super-popular book, one of YALSA’s top ten of 2009. COHS students who’ve read it love it, and I’m guessing you will, too.

I’ve said before that I love this series–The Ranger’s Apprentice. This is the sixth book. Will, the ranger’s apprentice of the series’ title, now has his own fief to protect. It is a cold northern area with little activity–at least in normal times–but it has strategic value as a gateway to Arulen. However, in the fifth book of the series, Will is fooled into trusting treacherous people. Now in book six, when the Castle of Macindaw has been overthrown, Will must save Alyss by recruiting the outcasts of the fiefdom, an apparent wizard, and his old enemies-turned-friends, the Scandians.

Lots of fun and magic tricks! I’m waiting for book seven, which I understand is the last of the series.