38.) Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn

“Life is funny, baby, and that's no joke”

(Cyd Charisse, Book 1)


Genre: General Fiction, Real Life

Honors: None Found

Review: Cyd Charisse is a bit of an unruly teen, or at least so her parent's think. So they send her to live with her biological father in New York City for a few weeks. Perfect timeing since Cyd just broke up with her boyfriend Shrimp. Cyd hasn't seen her birth father since she was a little girl and she doesn't know what to expect. What she finds is an instant bond with her "new" older brother, but a tremulous bond with her "new" older sister, and not much of a bond at all with her father. The whole situations brings Cyd closer to her family she left, and hopes to reconcile with Shrimp.

Opinion: I really liked this book, I love Cyd. I think that she was a very relatable portayal of a teenage girl. She faced serious problems and had to deal with them and she grew throughout the course of the novel, but stayed true to herself at the same time.

Ideas: I would recommend this book to teens who like to read real life situations, no fantasy, or magic, and the romance is real so it can be painful. It was a very easy read and flowed real well so I would pick up another Rachel Cohn book, maybe the sequel to this Shrimp.

37.) Stoner and Spaz by Ron Koertge

Stoner and Spaz by Ron Koertge (Candlewick Press, 2002)
(Stoner & Spaz #1)


Genre: General Fiction, Real life

Honors: Michigan Library Association Thumbs Up! Award Nominee (2003), Georgia Peach Honor Book Award (2004) [Honors Information found at Goodreads.com]

Review: Ben is sixteen and has cerebral palsy. He doesn't have many friends so he spends all his time watching movies. When the notorious stoner-girl shows up during a monster movie marathon at the local theater and starts talking to Ben he is shocked. The two begin an unlikely friendship. With the persistance of Colleen, Ben decides to make a documentary about his high school. He cares for Collen but he sees her going down a dangerous path with drugs and alcohol until she lands in the hospital one day. Out of her recovery a romance forms between the two. 

Opinion: This is almost exactly The Astonishing Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl! It seems like Barry Lyga just moved the interests of the characters a little bit and made his Kyra a bigger bitch. They might not be exactly the same, but they are very similar indeed. I actually like this lot more then Fan Boy and Goth Girl. This book seems to really portray what teens are really like. 

Ideas: I might recommend this to anyone who like stories portraying real teen life. Anyone who liked Rachel Cohn's Gingerbread would probably like this novel, or anyone who liked Fan Boy and Goth Girl. It's not a problem novel because although the character Colleen does have a drug problem it is not the central theme of the story. I would display this as a novel portraying teenage life.

35.) The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl

“The best revenge is living well, my dad told me once.”

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga (Graphia, 2006)
(The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, #1)

Genre: General Fiction, Real life,


Honors: None found

Review: Fanboy is in hell, or rather, his sophomore year of high school. His mom is pregnant and hormonal, his step-father pretends he doesn't exist, the presents of his real father is practically non-existent, and the bullies at school have made him a favorite target. The only thing he has to look forward to is the small comic book convention coming to a town near him where his comic book creator idol Brian Michael Bendis will be. Fanboy is determined to show him his graphic novel that he has been putting his heart and soul into. Then Fanboy meets Kyra, a girl dressed in goth gear who befriends and makes fun of Fanboy at the same time. He can't decide if she is a friend, or a girlfriend. As the comic book convention draws near Fanboy's life gets more and more complicated with Goth Girl in it.

Opinion: This book was such a total disappointment. Kyra's character and Donnie/ Fanboy's mother were two of the most annoying female characters that I have come across in a long time. There is not rhyme or reason for the way Kyra acts, and the reader never finds out why she lies so much or where she gets the cars from. But I do have to say this about the author, he knows his comic stuff. I really liked all the real comic book information that he put in the book.  I think if he made the Kyra character a little more relatable and less demanding the book would have been more enjoyable.

Ideas: I guess you could give this book to someone who likes comic books, but I'm not sure that they would enjoy it that much. I'm not really sure I would recommend this book to very many people so it's hard to get ideas for it. 

Little Comic Strip written by Barry Lyga

8.) Dodger by Terry Pratchett

“Money makes people rich; it is a fallacy to think it makes them better, or even that it makes them worse. People are what they do, and what they leave behind.”  

Dodger by Terry Pratchett (HarperCollins, 2012)

Genre: General Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Humor

Honors:  Printz Honor 2013 [Honors Information found at Goodreads.com]

Review: Set in Victorian London, Dodger is a tosher who searches the sewers for jewelry and other valuables. He is a master of dodging trouble on the streets of London but he can't help but interfere when he sees a young woman being beaten by two men. He saves her and takes her to a refuge with the help of two journalists. The mystery of the woman, and her attackers, and especially her beauty captivate Dodger and he can't help but be overcome with a desire to help her. In trying to help her by tracking down her attacker a series of incidents, including disarming and capturing (quite by accident) the butcher of Fleet Street, Sweeney Todd,  leads Dodger to become a minor celebrity.  Getting help along the way from other historical figures Dodger plays out his role of an unlikely hero. 

Opinion: I really liked this book, it was fun, and full of humor, and had Charles Dickens references galore! Nothing in the book was overly fantasy, and I guess the things could actually happen (Even though Sweeney Todd was a fictional character) so I counted it as historical fiction, though Pratchett himself described it as historical fantasy.

Ideas: This is a good book for a boy, or anyone looking for a funny, historical book. If someone doesn't like fantasy, it's really not a fantasy book, but more or less a historical book. I would put this out in a display for humor or historical.

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

“If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing.”
 
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; First Edition edition, 2007)

Genre: General/Realistic Fiction 

Honors:  National Book Award for Young People's Literature (2007), School Library Journal Best Book of the Year (2007), American Indian Library Association Award, South Carolina Book Award Nominee for Young Adult Book Award (2010), Michigan Library Association Thumbs Up! Award Nominee (2008) Florida Teens Read Nominee (2009), American Indian Youth Literature Award for Best Young Adult Book (2008), Horn Book Fanfare (2007), ALA's Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults (2008), Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction and Poetry (2008), Abraham Lincoln Award Nominee (2011), James Cook Book Award Nominee (2009) [Honors Information found at Goodreads.com]

Review: Both heart breaking and heart warming at the same time, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian is a moving story of Junior who was born with minor disabilities making him a target on the Indian Reservation where he grew up. After taking some advice from a burnt out teacher Junior decides to go to a "white" school off the reservation. Indians on the reservation take this as a betrayal, including Junior's long time protector and best friend Rowdy. Feeling like an outcast on both the reservation and his new school Junior must deal with extreme poverty, numerous deaths of loved ones, and high school. His sheer tenacity to take tackle his problems head on rather then succumb to the darkness that seems to surround his life makes this novel very special and uplifting.

Opinion: The illustrations really help move this story along, but the story can really carry itself. I first listened to it on audio and had no idea that there were illustrations.  I really liked this books and it was one of my favorites that I read for this project.

Ideas: This is a great book to give to any teen: boy or girl. Would be great to recommend to a  reluctant reader. The story is humorous and the illustrations help move the story along.

One of the many illustrations in the book