City of Ember

Duprau, J. (2003). The City of Ember. New York: Yearling.

Image credit: Wikipedia

Annotation:

Residents of the City of Ember begin to panic when the electricity and generator begin to fail. They must figure out something quickly before the lights go out for good and the Emberites are left in dark, dark world.

Booktalk:

What is life like for a person in the City of Ember? For starters its pitch-black, all the time, except for the old lights strung across the city. You choose your job out of a bag filled with little papers with different jobs written on them. You stand in line for hours at the warehouse for supplies just to be told that the city has recently run out of the requested item. You are constantly worried that the lights will go out for good as rumors of the generator failing permeate the city.

Lina and Doon, citizens of Ember, are intelligent, curious, and hopeful. Brought together by their shared concern about the eminent blackout, Lina and Doon work together to find out more about the inner-workings of the city. Doon's father gives them cryptic adivce to live by:

"The main thing is to pay attention. Pay close attention to everything, notice what no one else notices. Then you’ll know what no one else knows, and that’s always useful.”

Join them in their search for truth and a brighter future in a world consumed by darkness. Will Lina and Doon succeed in saving the people of The City of Ember?
 

Awards:

• ALA Notable Book
• Black-Eyed Susan Award, 2005-2006
• Borders Original Voices
• California Book Awards, Commonwealth Club of California
• Chapman Award for Shared Reading (Esmé Raji Codell)
• Child Magazine’s Best Children's Books, 2003
• Children's Literature Association of Utah Book Award
• Kirkus Editor's Choice, 2003
• Land of Enchantment Book Award, New Mexico
• Mark Twain Award, 2006
• Nevada Young Reader’s Award
• New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
• New York Times Bestseller List (Children's Paperback Fiction)
• Nutmeg Children’s Book Award, Connecticut
• Publisher's Weekly Flying Start
• William Allen White Children’s Book Award, 2006
• Young Hoosier Book Award, Indiana

How I Live Now

Rosoff, M. (2004). How I Live Now. United Kingdom: Puffin.

Image credit: Perrot Library

Annotation:

A young American girl is sent to England to live with estranged family at the onset of World War III.

Booktalk:

Then...

Daisy lived in Manhattan with her father. Her biggest concern was her evil stepmother who had recently revealed that she was pregnant. Daisy was sure the baby would be just as devilish as Davina.

Now...

Daisy lives with her four cousins in the remote English countryside. Her aunt has been stranded in Norway due to the outbreak of World War III. For a while things are idyllic without an adult around. But, as the war catches up to them, Daisy and her cousins must face a new reality that is violent, hostile, and deadly. Find out what happens to Daisy and see How She Lives Now.

Awards:

• Branford Boase Award, 2005
• Der Luchs des Jahres Book Prize, 2005
• Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, 2004
• Julia Ward Howe Prize (Boston Authors Club), 2005
• Michael L. Printz Award, 2005

The Hunger Games

Collins, Suzanne. (2008). The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic.

Image credit: Wikipedia

Annotation: 

In order to prevent her sister from certain death, seventeen year-old Katniss must battle to the death at The Hunger Games, a life or death battle where winning means being the only one left alive.

Booktalk:

How far would you go for the ones you loved? Katniss Evergreen has just volunteered to take her little sister's place as one of District 12's tributes for the annual Hunger Games. In doing so she will spare her sister's life, but she will be putting hers on the line.

Accompany Katniss as she battles twenty-three other children in an arena that is an unpredictable killing field controlled by the Gamemakers. The only way to make it out alive is to be the last man standing. Who will survive and win this year's Hunger Games?

"Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun..."

Check out the new film adaptation of the book out March 23, 2012

Awards:

• ALA Amelia Bloomer Project List, 2009
• ALA Notable Children’s Book
• ALA Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults
• Black-eyed Susan Award, 2010-2011
• Booklist Editors’ Choice, 2008
• CCBC Choices, 2009
• Children’s Choice Book Award, 2009
• Cybil Award for Fantasy & Science Fiction, 2008
• Horn Book Fanfare
• Indies Choice Best Indie Yung Adult Buzz Book Honor
• Isinglass Teen Read Award, 2009-2010
• Kirkus Best Book, 2008
• New York Times Bestseller
• New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
• New York Times Notable Children’s Book, 2008
• NYPL “Stuff for the Teen Age” List, 2009
• Publishers Weekly Bestseller
• Publishers Weekly’s Best Children’s Fiction Books, 2008
• School Library Journal Best Books, 2008
• Teen Choice Book of the Year Finalist
• USA Today Bestseller
• Wall Street Journal Bestseller
• YALSA'S Teens' Top Ten, 2009
• LA Times Favorite Children’s Book, 2008

The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Pearson, Mary. (2008). The Adoration of Jenna Fox. New York: Henry Holt.

Image credit: Tower.com

Annotation:

 A seventeen year-old girl awakes from a coma with no memory of who she is or what happened to her. Jenna Fox struggles to find her identity and realize her purpose in life.

Booktalk: 

 “Tell me who I am.” 

Who is Jenna Fox? Imagine waking up one day with no memory of who you were or how to do simple things like walk or talk. This is the reality of Jenna Fox's new life. She's constantly looking up words to understand their meanings and watching excessive, almost creepy childhood videos. She remembers things that she shouldn't- couldn't and there are also the crystal-clear voices that visit every night. 

“The dictionary says my identity should be all about being separate or distinct, and yet it feels like it is so wrapped up in others.” 

Jenna's mother is obsessive, controlling, and secretive. Her grandmother avoids her like the plague and always seems mad. Her father always masks his emotions with a smile and a sweetly spoken "It's alright, Angel." Yet it is these people who hold the keys to the closet of secrets that is Jenna's life. She must discover her past to understand who she has become.

Follow in the new Jenna's footsteps and surrender yourself to the mysterious Adoration of Jenna Fox.

Quote:

One small changed family doesn’t calculate into a world that has been spinning for a billion years. But one small change makes the world spin differently in a billion ways for one family.

Awards:     

• ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 2009
• Andre Norton Award Finalist, 2009
• Arkansas Teen Book Award, 2010
• Booklist 2009 Amazing Audiobooks
• Califonia Young Reader Medal nominee, 2010-2011
• Capitol Choices for Teens, 2009
• Cynsational Books of 2008
• Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award nominee, 2010-2011
• Evergreen Young Adult Book Award 2011 Master list, 201!
• Garden State Teen Book Award Finalist, 2011
• German Youth Literature Award Finalist, Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, 2010
• Golden Kite Honor Award, 2008
• Heartland Award Honor Award for Excellence in Young Adult Fiction, 2010
• IndieBound "Top Ten" Summer 2008 Pick 
• International Reading Association Young Adult Choice Book, 2010
• Iowa High School Book Award master list, 2010-2011
• Isinglass Teen Reads Award Nominee, 2010-2011
• Kentucky Book Award Master List, 2010
• Kirkus Best Young Adult Books of 2008
• Librarians' Choices 2008
• Locus Magazine 2008 Recommended Read
• Maine Student Book Award Master List, 2010
• Missouri Truman Readers Award nominee, 2010-2011
• Never Jam Today Best of 2008
• Not Your Mother's Faves, 2008
• NYPL Best Books, 2009
• Oregon Reader's Choice nominee, 2010-2011
• Pennsylvania Young Readers Choice Award Master List, 2011
• Rhode Island Teen Book Award Master List, 2010
• School Library Journal Best Books, 2008
• Sequoyah Book Awards Master list, 2011
• South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Master List, 2009
• Tennessee Volunteer State Book Award Master List, 2010
• Texas Lone Star Reading List, 2008
• Texas Tayshas High School Reading List, 2008
• VOYA Top Shelf Fiction, 2008
• Westchester Fiction Award, 2009
• Winner Distinguished Work of Fiction CLCSC, 2009
• YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, 2010

A Step From Heaven

Na, An. (2001). A Step From Heaven. New York: Penguin Group.

Image credit: Powells

Annotation:  

A five year-old Korean girl suddenly finds herself adjusting to a new life in America where not everything is what she imagined.

Booktalk:

"What are you singing, Uhmma?"
"Ah-me-ri-ka."
"What is that?"
"Mi Gook."
"This is a magic word."

Since moving to Mi Gook, America, from Korea, Young Ju Park is confused, disappointed, and unimpressed. Her parents swear that she will have more opportunities in America, but they have contradicting desires for Young Ju. One day Young Ju's mother forces her to curl her hair so she will "look just like a real Mi Gook girl." The next day she is scolded for speaking English at home. Torn between two cultures, Young Ju adjusts to life in America while enduring painful abuse from her alcoholic father. Join Young Ju on her journey to Mi Gook where she will finally decide if America is truly just A Step From Heaven.

Awards:

• ALA Best Book for Young Adults, 2002
• ALA Notable Children's Book, 2002
• Children's Book Award in YA Fiction – International Reading Association, 2002
• Michael L. Printz Award, 2002
• National Book Award Finalist, 2001

Saving Francesca

Marchetta, Melina. (2003). Saving Francesca. New York: Alfred A. Knopf

Image Credit: Tower.com

Annotation:  

Seemingly all at once everything in Francesca's life changes from the school she attends to her family dynamics.

Booktalk:

Meet Francesca: a seventeen year-old sophomore at a all-boys high school that just recently became co-ed. But that's a joke according to Francesca, who suggests that the only thing about the school that's co-ed is the restrooms. One of about thirty girls at St. Sebastian's, Francesca feels lost in the crowd and uncertain about her group of friends. After Francesca's regularly perky and overbearing mother succumbs to a bout of depression, her family begins to fall apart. 

As things at home begin to fall apart, Francesca relies more and more on her friends and a new love interest. However, even things at school are not a perfect as they seem. Will Francesca be able to put the pieces of her life back together? Will Saving Francesca be possible, or will she fall victim to a life of depression like her mother?

Quote:

 The truth doesn’t set you free, you know. It makes you feel awkward and embarrassed and defense-less and red in the face and horrified and petrified and vulnerable. But free? I don’t feel free. I feel like shit.

Awards:

• Children's Book Council Book of the Year Award: Older Readers, 2004
• South Australia Premier's Awards, Children's Literature Award, 2004