Before I Die by Jenny Downham
The teenage “BUCKET LIST!” Grab your tissues—especially for the end of the novel! This book keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what event would be next on Tessa’s list. Tessa has leukemia and is trying to live her teenage life in a matter of months because her time is winding down. Yes, as for all teenagers she wants to experience for the first time driving, dancing, sex, drugs, breaking the law and of course falling in love. Tessa of course learns valuable lessons along the way. She is aided in her illegal deeds by her BFF, Zoey, who is no “angel.” Through out her list of 10, Tessa realized that the most important things were not on her list, like listening to you little brother, love for family and friends and of course true love. In the beginning she is ready to die, just simply get it over with, however as she transforms from being bitter and feeling self pity, she wants to prolong her life so she can be there for her family. Tessa like many teenagers rebels against her father because he is extremely overprotective and her mother for leaving them when she was young for another man. This novel is filled with exciting adventure and touching heart felt moments. Tessa leaves letters for the people closets to her before she dies telling them what she wants for them when she is gone—Yes—tissue time. Before I Die is definitely a book the girls will enjoy, it may be a little to “mushy” for the guys, however it can teach them how to be there for someone that you care about who is going through a similar situation.
Derby Girl by Shauna Cross
A YA novel with a Texas connection! This is not your typical high school novel of the popular group against the outcasts, nonconformist. Bliss Cavendar is your typical 16year old girl who feels her parents don’t understand her. She is not the beauty queen her mom wants her to be, she likes thrift shop t-shirts and her blue dyed hair. She is caught in the struggle to do what her mom wishes while hiding her secret identity, Babe Ruthless and her true of love Roller Derby, which she has been playing behind her parents back. Her best friend Pash, also an outsider, has helped her with her secret until one evening she feels dumped! Bliss starts to let her responsibilities of “Best Friend” go after she becomes involved with Oliver, the musician she finally gives up her virginity for. She is in love! However, it turns out Oliver is not and was only in it for one thing. Finally, one afternoon the lies are revealed and Bliss runs away from home, after three days of being gone and learning that Oliver is cheating on her, she ends up and home where she and her mother do some sort of bonding. Bliss gives in and competes in the Miss. Bluebonnet pageant, only to be surprised by her Mom’s change of heart and she actually gets to roller derby! I was so intrigued by the Texas connection that I had to Goggle if there was an actual Bodeen, Texas and did Bluebonnet actually refer to Blue Bell. This book has strong language and would definitely be for older readers. I hope to see another novel by Cross based on her experiences as a Roller Derby star!
What They Found: Love on 145th Street by Walter Dean Myers
This novel revolves around the community of Harlem and deals with the struggles facing several individuals to survive in their day to day life. Each and every chapter has a new character and a new struggle; however the struggles always seem to center around being on the right or wrong side of the law, dealing with poverty and trying to make the government checks last to the end of the month, unwed mothers who have and the way the characters perceive themselves, teen sex, drugs and violence. I enjoyed the chapters with Noee and Abeni’s family. They always stayed true to them selves and wanted to become something by going to college but always keeping their family roots centered. The one character, Letha and her son Amiri really got to me. Letha was a young, unwed mother trying her best to raise her son all alone, without the help of her family when one day a neighbor, Billy, asked if he could paint her portrait. When the portrait she could not believe it was her, she never did not perceive herself as pretty and capable of love and could not believe that another individual would see her in that light as well. She had the assumption that she was only good for one thing and that was letting guys have their way with her, and from that moment on whenever she felt down she would hold her baby and look at her self in the mirror and see herself differently.
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Lloyd Jones dresses himself in the first-person, female narrator Matilda. Matilda is a young teenage girl who, seemingly at first, lives at a far-away time on a far-away island. The reader learns, however, that though Matilda's world is separated from ours by water and a blockade, she is a very modern character. Her tropical island existence is one of sacrifice, fear, loss, and war - until Mr. Watts, AKA Pop Eye and the only remaining white man on the island, acts as substitute teacher to the native island children. He admittedly doesn't know everything, but he does know Mister Dickens and introduces the children to Mister Pip. At first, Mister Pip and his great expectations are an escape for the children. Then, the story becomes a source of harsh disagreement for one mother for a stint; then a unifying element for the rebels and villagers as they listen to Mr. Watts' and Mister Pip's lives woven together; next, two sacrifices of love; and finally, a journey for Matilda who must rise out of ashes like a phoenix and piece her life together as she learns more of the lives of the two men who inspire her - Mister Pip (Dickens) and Mr. Watts - and taught her "how to reimagine the world, and to see the possibility of change, to welcome it into our lives" (245).
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sheerman Alexie
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian is a story which touches on the personal struggles of a young boy, Arnold Spirit, as he tries to find out where he belongs in the world and how he will end up once he is left on his own. I have to admit, I had a real hard time getting into the novel, a slow start, but once Arnold made his big decision to go out into the “White world” the story kept me intrigued. Arnold grew up on an Indian Reservation and was the one everyone tortured and picked on because of some of his physical disabilities and speech impediment. He seldom ventured outside his home unless he was with his best friend Rowdy, who protected him against all the other bullies. Life on the reservation was a constant struggle of poverty and drunkenness. Arnold never knew when his father would take off of days on drinking and spending what little money his family had for food. After being told to get off the reservation by Mr. P, a high school teacher, Arnold made a decision to leave the reservation school and go to a school in Reardan, an all white school. He was now considered a traitor by all the other Indians and had to deal with the struggles on both sides of the world, the white and Indian. While in Reardan he did become someone people liked, made the basketball team and had friends even a girlfriend, Penelope. Arnold thought it was amazing that in his own world he was on the bottom of the food chain, but here in a foreign, “white world” he was somebody and he felt like someone and every there believed in his abilities. After the deaths of his grandmother, sister and friend Eugene, Arnold decides he will never stay on the reservation, he will go someplace in life, he will become someone, no matter where he was he would not forget his roots and always pray and hope others would leave the reservation because he did not want the Indian culture to die with all those who had no hope and were to afraid to leave.
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