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April 2008 Book Picks
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Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger
"Angela McNair is a boy! Oh, to the rest of the world she's obviously a girl. But the transgendered high-school junior knows that she's a boy. And so, bravely, Angela cuts her hair short, buys boys'clothing, and announces that his name is now Grady and that he is beginning his true new life as a boy. Of course, it's not as simple as that; Grady encounters an array of reactions ranging from outright hostility to loving support."
Booklist April 15, 2007
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Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins
"A rebellious demon (who prefers the term "fallen angel") named Kiriel takes over the body of 17-year-old Shaun Simpson moments before the teen steps in front of a speeding cement mixer in Jenkins's (Beating Heart) latest. Eager to experience life as a human being-and feeling long overdue for a vacation from his duties of subjecting souls to eternal torment-Kiriel quickly gets underway living Shaun's life. (There is no conflict between the two personalities-in Jenkins's story, Kiriel's takeover sends Shaun's soul on to the afterlife.) Shaun was a prototypical slacker, brushing off his younger brother Jason (whom he calls a "jerkwad"), dressing and living like a slob and barely engaging at school. With funny and heartwarming results, Kiriel tries to engineer a lasting, positive impact on Shaun's family and friends, confronting a school bully--as a demon Kiriel knows where the teen's actions will land him in the afterlife--and taking the reclusive Jason under his wing."
Publishers Weekly June 18, 2007
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My Mother the Cheerleader by Robert Sharenow
"When her mother pulls Louise, 13, out of class to protest the forced court-ordered integration of her school in New Orleans in 1960, Louise never gives the political issues a thought. Everyone knows segregation is the way things are. Sure, she does feel bad that first-grader Ruby Bridges has to endure the vicious racist insults from the white crowds outside the school every morning. Louise’s mother, Pauline, is one of those jeering "Cheerleaders." Then New York editor Morgan Miller comes to stay in Pauline’s run-down boardinghouse, and his quiet outrage makes Louise begin to raise doubts and questions."
Booklist July 2007 |
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Fire From the Rock by Sharon Draper
"Sylvia is completing her last year of middle school, and she's excited about going to the local high school with all her friends. But this is not a typical coming-of-age tale because the setting is Little Rock, Ark. in 1957, and there are important decisions to be made that will affect not only Sylvia but all African-Americans. Central High School is to be integrated and Sylvia has been selected as a candidate to enroll. If she attends her segregated school, she's guaranteed a good education as well as an abundance of activities and an assured social life. If she goes to Central, she will be prohibited from participating in clubs, sports and all social events, and will definitely be subjected to threats and danger to herself and her family. In the end, she chooses the option that is right for her."
Kirkus Review July 15, 2007 |
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
"Urged on by a math teacher whose nose he has just broken, Junior, fourteen, decides to make the iffy commute from his Spokane Indian reservation to attend high school in Reardan, a small town twenty miles away. He's tired of his impoverished circumstances ("Adam and Eve covered their privates with fig leaves; the first Indians covered their privates with their tiny hands"), but while he hopes his new school will offer him a better education, he knows the odds aren't exactly with him: "What was I doing at Reardan, whose mascot was an Indian, thereby making me the only other Indian in town?" But he makes friends (most notably the class dork Gordy), gets a girlfriend, and even (though short, nearsighted, and slightly disabled from birth defects) lands a spot on the varsity basketball team, which inevitably leads to a showdown with his own home team, led by his former best friend Rowdy."
Horn Book September/October 2007 |
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