The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Bender, Aimee. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake: A Novel. New York: Anchor Books, 2011. Print.  ISBN 978-0-385-72096-0; Paperback; $15.00.

Annotation:

Rose Edelstein has a secret: she can taste people's emotions in the food they make.  But she's not the only Edelstein with a secret.

Book Talk:

When Rose Edelstein turns nine her cheery, fast-talking mother makes her favorite lemon cake, but everything is ruined when Rose tastes her mother's buried feelings - of sadness, loneliness, and emotional hunger.  It begins happening at every meal until Rose can no longer bear it and demands to have her mouth removed.

"I didn't talk at the table because I was busy surviving the meal.  After the incident in the ER, I no longer wanted to advertise my experience to anyone.  You try, you seem totally nuts, you go underground.  There's a kind of show a kid can do, for a parent - a show of pain, to try to announce something, and in my crying, in the desperate, blabbering, awful mouth-clawing, I had hoped to get something across.  Had it come across, any of it?  Nope."

As Rose matures into a teen, and then a young woman, she discovers she's not the only member of her family with a secret, or a special gift.

Available in paperback, hardcover, eBook, audio CD, and MP3.

Award:

Alex Award Winner, 2011.

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

Alexie, Sherman, and Ellen Forney. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Little, Brown and Co, 2009. Print.  ISBN 978-0-316-01368-0; Hardcover; $20.00.

Annotation: 
Junior leaves the reservation to attend the all-white high school 20 miles down the road.  Will he survive tragedy and illness to get the girl and graduate?

Book Talk:
Junior is a nerdy, sickly, reading and drawing obsessed Spokane Native who leaves his friends and family behind on the reservation to attend a racist all-white high school in the next town.  Despite meeting the girl of his dreams, Penelope, and making new friends, like Gordy, tragedy strikes and one horrible thing after another happens, until Junior isn't sure if he can go on.  Does being Native destine him to a life of drunken poverty, unhappiness and early death?  He says, 

"I used to think the world was broken down by tribes...By black and white.  By Indian and white.  But I know that isn't true.  The world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not."

Read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian to discover if Junior is willing to change everything in order to change his life.  When given the choice, which tribe will he choose?

Available in paperback, hardcover, eBook and audio CD. 

Awards:

2007 National Book Award for Young People's Literature
2008 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Fiction and Poetry
2009 Odyssey Award as the year's "best audiobook for children or young adults"
2010 California Young Reader Medal, Young Adult Book

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

Myers, Walter D, and Christopher A. Myers. Monster. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.  ISBN 9780060280789; Hardcover; $15.89.

Annotation:
Steve is in prison awaiting trail for murder and his own lawyer isn't sure if he's innocent.

Book Talk:
16 year old Steve Harmon has landed in prison and is awaiting trial for felony murder in a robbery gone wrong.  In order to deal with life behind bars and what awaits him before a State Prosecutor who refers to him as a "monster" Steven writes in a journal and creates a screenplay of his experience.

Check out this notebook entry:

"They take away your shoelaces and your belt so you can't kill yourself no matter how bad it is.  I guess making you live is part of the punishment."

Read Walter Dean Myers award-winning book to find out whether Steve is destined to spend the rest of his life behind bars, whether his lawyer truly believes he is innocent, and whether he can figure out for himself whether or not he's a monster.

Available in paperback, hardcover and on audio CD.

Awards: 
Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award 2000
Nominated for the National Book Award 1999
Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book 2000
Nominated for the Edgar Award 2000

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Hartman, Rachel. Seraphina.  New York: Random House, 2012. Print.  ISBN 978-0-385-66839-2; Hardcover; $21.00.

Annotation:
Seraphina is half-dragon, half-human in a world where that is forbidden and a handsome young prince is about to find out.

Book Talk:

Would you tell the truth for love?  Seraphina is a young woman with a terrible secret: she’s a half-breed, with a dragon mother and human father, a musical gift and the ability to locate and communicate with other half-breeds in her mind.  Phina lives in a kingdom with an unstable peace treaty between the emotional, impulsive humans and the calculating, rational dragons who assume human form to become scholars and noblemen.  Even though everyone is supposed to get along, dragons and humans rarely trust each other and interspecies marriage is strictly forbidden.  After a member of the royal family is murdered shy, introverted Seraphina gets swept up into an investigation that leads her to falling in love with the princess’s finance, the handsome and perceptive Lucian Kiggs.  In order to save the Royal family and her beloved uncle, Seraphina has to reveal her special talents and the scales she hides under layers of clothing, but will Lucian ever see her the same way?  Would you tell the truth for love?

Here's a great video of Rachel Hartman talking about how her dragons have sensory processing issues, like her son:

There's a sequel, The Shadow Scale, coming out in March 2015!

Seraphina is available in ebook, hardcover, paperback, and audio CD.

Awards:

Winner of the 2013 YALSA Morris Award for Best YA Debut Novel
Finalist for the 2012 Governor General’s Literary Award (Canada)
Short-listed for the Kitschies’ Golden Tentacle Award (UK)
Long-listed for the Carnegie Medal (UK)

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Gaiman, Neil. The Ocean at the End of the Lane. New York: Harper Audio, 2013. Sound recording.  978-0-06-226303-2; 5 CDs; $36.99.

Annotation: 
A young boy witnesses a tragedy and gets pulled into a magical world at the end of his lane where a family of women offer him the promise of protection.

Book Talk:

I first read Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane the moment it came out, as soon as I could get my hands on it.  Then I listened to it on audio in the car again just for the pleasure of hearing Neil Gaiman’s voice describe the incredible adventures of an introverted seven year old boy who has a worm hole in his foot, a nanny who is trying to lock him in the attic and seduce his father, a distracted mother, a contrary sister, and a family of women who live down the lane and who know that fresh baked bread, a warm cup of tea, and radical acceptance of everything that is, even when it feels like it shouldn’t be, are the very definition of home.  Gaiman’s narrator blows apart the shaky façade of adulthood and exposes people for the monsters they really are.  He writes:

“Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. Truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world.”

This book will appeal to anyone who is struggling with the idea of what it means to be human, what it means to be responsible for oneself or another, or anyone who likes an intelligent and philosophical swim through the metaphorical ocean of our lives.  Highly recommended.

Rumor has it they are turning it into a movie!  Stay tuned!!!

Did you know Neil Gaiman has a website for Teens?  Check it out: http://www.mousecircus.com/

Awards:
2013 National Book Awards (British), Book of the Year
2013 Kirkus Reviews, The Best Books of 2013 (100 titles
2013 Nebula Award for Best Novel, Nominee 
2013 Goodreads Choice Awards, Fantasy
2014 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel
2014 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, Nominee

Presently available in paperback, hardcover, large print, ebook, and audio.

Teen quote:
"This book is like experiencing a fleeting dream."
~Jessie, age 17.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars. Brilliance Audio, 2011. CD.  978-1-4558-6974-9; 6 CDs; $24.99.

Annotation: 

Hazel and Augustus are the perfect couple, except they have terminal cancer.

Book Talk:

The title of this book is based on a Shakespeare quote from the play Julius Caesar: Cassius says, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings."  In other words, we are not Gods, we are human, it is not fate that destroys us, but the human condition.  On the surface this seems to be another sappy, syrupy love story about two white, upper-middle-class, heterosexual teens who fall madly in love only to have their requisite tragic ending.  But Hazel and Augustus don't have your typical North American teen lifestyle, they have terminal cancer.  Anyone who's ever watched someone they love die from cancer knows the complicated feelings that come from wanting to see an end to their suffering and desperately needing to keep them around just a little bit longer.  Just so you can smell them and hear them laugh, and see their soul behind their eyes.  This book will also appeal to anyone who has ever loved someone and needed to let them go, for whatever reason.

Available in paperback, hardcover, e-book, audio CD, audio MP3 and it has also been made into a movie:

Check out the movie trailer below:

Award:

2013 Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production

Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher

Katcher, Brian. Almost Perfect. New York: Delacorte Press, 2009. Print.  978-0-385-73664-0; Hardcover; $17.99.

Annotation:
Logan falls in love with a girl that is almost perfect.  The issue?  She used to be a he.

Book Talk:

Logan has just been dumped by his long term high school girlfriend who has left him still a virgin at age 18 and he’s not happy about it.  When a new girl named Sage moves into town with her curly red hair, silky smooth skin and flirtatious ways, Logan decides maybe it’s time to move on.  But he quickly learns there is more to Sage than meets the eye, that she was actually born a HE, and now Logan needs to quickly figure out what it means when a straight guy has just made out with a girl who’s ALMOST PERFECT, and how no one can ever find out.

NOTE: This book is a great introduction to the difficulties facing transgender teens in North America as well as the challenges presented to their friends, family and lovers.  Brian Katcher leaves a detailed Author's Note at the end of the novel urging real-life Sages to reach out for help and know that there are special associations and support groups for them, like TNET and their friends and families, like PFLAG.

Available in paperback, hardcover, e-book, and audio CD.

Award:
Winner of the Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Award, 2011.

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Print.  978-0-375-84220-7; paperback; $12.99.

Annotation:
Liesel has just lost everything: her father, her mother, her little brother, and she's about to lose a whole lot more.

Book Review:

It’s the early days of World War II and just outside of Munich, Germany Liesel Meminger wakes up on a train to find her brother dead.  Her sickly, communist mother leaves her in the care of Hans and Rosa Hubermann, in a foster home on Himmel Street, and never sees her again.  Death, The Book Thief’s omniscient narrator, is watching.  This wise-cracking, smooth-talking Death appears outwardly unflappable but is beginning to inwardly fall apart.  His work is overwhelming; there are so many souls that need transporting and so many desperate survivors he has to stare in the face.  He can’t take a vacation: Death’s one of a kind.  But there is something special about Liesel, our illiterate, earnest protagonist that catches Death’s attention, when she steals a book from her brother’s grave site and sets about to learning how to read it.  Along the way she makes friends with a fist-fighting Jew, a scrappy athlete named Rudy, a haunted mayor’s wife, and her beloved foster father, Hans.  Amid abject poverty, starvation, bombings, Hitler Youth meetings, school and bullying Liesel continues to comfort herself with stolen words, and begins to write a few of her own.  Her obsession with literature becomes her saving grace from the sorrow and confusion of war.  And in the end, it touches upon the lives of her neighbors, loved ones, and enemies.  Even her biggest enemy of all, Death himself.

Weighing in at over 550 pages with a drab brown cover, The Book Thief is not going to appeal to the reluctant reader, though you may enjoy the movie directed by Brian Percival or The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman instead.  Unlike John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Zusak’s Book Thief never feels patronizing or didactic.  The book’s true magnificence is in its ability to capture so many points of view without making obvious judgments about any of them.  The storyline runs wide enough to encompass repentant Germans, guilt-ridden Jews, diabolical Nazis, abusive but loving parents and impulsive children.  And, of course, Death, who is far more human than we may find comfortable.  Recommended for ages 13 and up due to mature subject matter.

Available in paperback, hardcover, large print, e-book, braille book, audio CD.  They also made it into a movie:

Awards won in 2006: 

Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book (South East Asia & South Pacific), School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Daniel Elliott Peace Award, Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of the Year; Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book.

Awards won in 2007: 

Michael L. Printz Award, Book Sense Book of the Year, Notable Book for a Global Society, Sydney Taylor Award, Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People.

Forever...by Judy Blume

Blume, Judy.  Forever.  Scarsdale, N.Y: Bradbury Press, 1975. Print.  978-1-4169-3400-4; paperback; $8.99.

Annotation: 
Katherine falls in love with Michael and he wants them to be together forever, but she isn't so sure.

Book Review:

Written and set in the mid-1970s, Forever follows the life of suburban high school senior Katherine as she navigates the choppy waters of first love, losing her virginity, family illness, drinking and drug use and friends in emotional crisis. Katherine meets Michael at a New Year’s Eve party and isn’t quite sure how she feels about him, especially when she sees him kissing someone else, but Michael is definitely sure how he feels about Katherine.  He wants her.  He wants to be her boyfriend.  He wants to tell her everything.  He wants to teach her about sex and intimacy.  He wants them to be together forever.   When they are separated by their parents and their jobs over the summer holidays, Katherine meets a sexy, older tennis instructor named Theo and she begins wondering if maybe forever isn’t what she wants after all.

While it was refreshing to see a female protagonist grappling with questions concerning fidelity, birth control, attachment, and desire in the mid-70s, today’s teens may be looking for something a little edgier or more culturally diverse.  Katherine is an alarmingly thin, white, heterosexual teen whose father is a pharmacist and business owner and her grandparents and uncle are accomplished lawyers in New York City.  She plays tennis and skis in Vermont.  Going to university is a given.  The narrow confines of Katherine’s world may alienate many young adult readers and I would be quick to recommend something like Maryjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, Heather O’Neill’s Lullabies for Little Criminals or Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell in its place.

Available in paperback, hardcover, braille book, and e-book.

Did you know this book has been banned so many times and has sparked such controversy that Judy Blume has to travel with a security guard?  All the more reason to read it and keep it in your library!

Award:
Margaret A. Edwards Award Winner, 1996