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.

Croak by Gina Damico

Damico, Gina. Croak. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print.  ISBN 978-0-547-60832-7; Paperback; $8.99.

Annotation: 

Lex is angry and out of control so she gets shipped to the country to live with her uncle Mort where she can put her skills to use, as a Grim Reaper.

Book Talk:

Lex Bartleby used to be a good girl but all that has changed.  Sarcastic, volatile, prone to smashing people in the face, Lex is on her last straw with school authorities when her parents send her off to visit her weird uncle Mort in the country to see if she can sort out her "anger issues."  Instead of chanting Kumbaya and churning butter, Lex quickly learns that Croak, the tiny town where Mort lives, is the home of reapers who haunt the dead and Lex is there to learn the family business.  Now that Lex has an explanation for her sudden fascination with death and endless anger, what will happen when she is turned loose with the power to take lives without seeming consequence?  Is Lex even a little too hardcore for the residents of Croak? 

Available in paperback, hardcover, and ebook. 

Teen quote:

"Anyone will love this book."

~Marie, 16.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: The Graphic Novel by Ransom Riggs and Cassandra Jean

Riggs, Ransom, and Jean Cassandra. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: The Graphic Novel. New York, NY: Yen Press, 2013. Print.  ISBN 978-0-316-24528-9; Hardcover; $20.00.

Annotation: 
Jacob's grandfather Abe dies and leaves him with an eerie message: go back to the foster home Abe grew up in and learn about the monster that killed him and the friends he left behind.

Book Talk: Jacob Portman is very close with his eccentric and adventurous grandfather, Abe.  Abe regales Jacob with stories about being sent away from his homeland in Poland to a tiny island on the edge of Wales to escape terrifying monsters.  The foster home he is sent to is for children with unusual gifts, such as lifting heavy objects or levitating.  Abe even has pictures to prove it.  As Jacob gets older he begins to doubt his grandfather's stories and presumes the photos are fake.  Until one day, Abe is killed and Jacob sees the monster who did it.  Convinced Jacob is losing his mind with grief, his parents send him to a psychiatrist who convinces Jacob's father that it's ok for Jacob to visit the island his grandfather always talked about, that it may provide some closure to Abe's horrific passing.  Once Jacob arrives at Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and meets Abe's childhood friends, he doesn't get closure, only finds himself asking more and more questions.  Read Ransom Riggs exciting story made into a chilling graphic novel and find out for yourself if Jacob and Abe are telling the truth about the monsters or if mental illness and peculiarities just run in the family.

Available in hardcover and eBook.

Teen quote:
"I found this to be a quick, fun read."
~Christy, 19.

Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

Wolitzer, Meg. Belzhar. New York, New York: Dutton Juvenile, 2014. Print.  ISBN 978-0-525-42305-8; Hardcover; $17.99.

Annotation:
Jam's boyfriend is dead and she can't bear living until a special English class at a boarding school for "emotionally fragile" intellectuals opens her eyes to a possible future.

Book Talk:
Jam Gallahue falls madly in love with the tall, romantic and gorgeous English exchange student Reeve and they spend 41 perfect days together until the unthinkable happens.  He dies.  Jam, unable to bear the loss, buries herself in the blankets on her bed and can barely function.  After a year of serious depression her parents ship her off to a boarding school in Vermont called The Wooden Barn.  There she meets others like her: drifters, misfits, sensitive souls with traumatic pasts they can't bear in the present.  Jam is sure nothing will ever feel good again until she is enrolled in a mysterious class called Special Topics in English where the entire curriculum is based on the work of Sylvia Plath.  This is where they learn about Belzhar.  When Jam and her classmates discover how to go back to the way things were before their lives fell apart they each have to decide whether they want to live in an unchanging and comfortable past or an uncertain future.  Find out what Jam discovers in Belzhar and see if she chooses love over life.

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

Teen quote:

"It's not as dark as it sounds, ending on a hopeful note about transformation." 
~Amy, 18.

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

King, A.S. Glory O'Brien's History of the Future.  New York: Little, Brown, 2014.  Print.  ISBN 978-0-316-22272-3; Hardcover; $18.00.

Annotation: Glory O'Brien can see the future and the past but she isn't sure if she wants to stick around long enough to see if it comes true.

Book Talk:
After one night of doing something really stupid and gross, Glory and her best friend Ellie acquire the uncanny ability to see both the past and the future of everyone around them, except for themselves.  As Glory tries to unravel what her visions of war, female oppression, and unexpected love reveal, her best friend must confront her own demons of sexual promiscuity and betrayal.  Read A.S. King's brave and powerful new novel to find out what Glory O'Brien knows about the History of the Future and whether or not she can save it.

Available in hardcover, eBook, and audio CD.

Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King

King, A S. Everybody Sees the Ants. New York: Little, Brown, 2012. Print.  ISBN 978-0-316-12927-5; Paperback; $9.99.

Annotation: 
Lucky Linderman escapes from Nader, the Squid and the Turtle by visiting his grandfather in his dreams and imagining ants seek revenge on his behalf.

Book Talk: 
Lucky Linderman doesn't feel so lucky.  He has no real friends and no girlfriend.  He has been bullied by Nader McMillan for as long as he can remember, and it is getting worse.  But no one seems to care.  His granddad never came home from the Vietnam War and no one in his family has recovered.  His mother hides from her problems at the local public pool and his dad works too much.  After Nader's last attack leaves him disfigured, depressed and vengeful, Lucky begins hallucinating tiny ants to enact his revenge.  In order to escape oppressive reality Lucky travels into his dreams where he tries to rescue his grandfather from the jungle and rescue himself from Nader McMillan.  Read A.S. King's engaging and haunting novel to discover how Lucky, and everyone else who is suffering, sees the ants.

Available in paperback, hardcover, eBook and audio CD.

Awards: 2011 Cybils Award finalist
2011 Andre Norton Award finalist

Teen quote:
"I really like this book because it talked about how your (sic) the one who builds your own prisons so your (sic) the only one who can tear them down. I also liked that whenever he woke up from a dream he had an object from the dream. That was COOL."
~Jill, 15.

Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff

Cliff, Tony. Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant. New York: First Second, 2013. Print.  978-1-59643-813-2; Paperback; $15.99.

Annotation: 
Watch Delilah Dirk plunder, kick and fly her way through various exploits while dragging along her mild, tea-drinking new friend Selim.

Book Talk:
Delilah Dirk is a feisty, sword-wielding, globetrotting adventure-seeker who refuses to be tied down to any man or place for too long.  When she is detained by and later rescues Selim, a Turkish soldier with a penchant for tea and relaxation, he tags along on her latest escapade.  It doesn't take long for Selim to discover he isn't cut out for explosions, murder, stealing treasure or flying ships.  Read Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant to witness Selim's amazing reaction when Delilah gives him a compass and tells him to follow it.

Available in paperback.

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

Murakami, Haruki. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage.  Trans. Philip Gabriel.  Toronto: Bond Street Books, 2014. Print.  ISBN 978-0-385-68183-4; Hardcover; $29.95.

Annotation:
Tsukuru's friends are all named after colors, but he is bland and colorless.  When his friends dump him unexpectedly with no explanation, Tsukuru sets out on a journey to discover why.

Book Talk:
Where does the line blur between dreams and reality?  Can we revisit the past and change our interpretation of events in order to create a new future?  Or does fate have us locked into a destiny that will find us no matter which choices we make?  

Haruki Murakami forces us to ask all these questions and more in his new novel that follows the travels of Tsukuru Tazaki as he tries to solve a mystery from his past.  In high school Tsukuru was part of a close-knit group of friends who all had colorful nicknames based on their surnames: Mr. Blue, Mr. Red, Ms. White, and Ms. Black.  The only one who didn't get a special name was Tsukuru, whose last name simply means "one who builds".  He felt this was fitting since he had always seen himself as rather colorless, quiet and bland, and was just happy to be an empty vessel the group could rest their vibrancy within.  So one day, in his sophomore year of college he is thrown into the depths of despondency and depression after having the following phone conversation with one of his best friends, Ao:

 "I'm sorry, but I have to ask you not to call any of us anymore," Ao said abruptly and without preface.  No "Hey!" or "How've you been?" or "It's been a while."  I'm sorry was his only concession to social niceties.
          Tsukuru took a breath, and silently repeated Ao's words, quickly assessing them.  He tried to read the emotions behind them, but the words were like the formal recitation of an announcement.  There had been no room for feelings...
          ..."But if possible, I do want to know the reason for this," Tsukuru said.
          "That's not something I can tell you," Ao replied.
          "Then who can?"
          A thick stone wall rose.  There was silence on the other end.  Tsukuru could faintly hear Ao breathing through his nostrils.  He pictured Ao's flat, fleshy nose.
         "Think about it, and you'll figure it out," Ao said, finally.

Join Tsukuru on his adventure to chase down the answer to why his best friends abandoned him all those years ago, and whether or not the fault lines of memory can be mended.

Available in paperback, hardcover, ebook, digital audio book, and audio CD.

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.