Index

1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
2. All Hallows’ Eve by Vivian Vande Velde
3. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Vol. I by M.T. Anderson
4. Debbie Harry Sings in French by Meagan Brothers
5. Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole
6. Feed by M.T. Anderson
7. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
8. I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle
9. It’s Complicated: The American Teenager by Robin Bowman
10. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
11. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
12. Now You See It…Vivian Vande Velde
13. Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger
14. Remembering Raquel by Vivian Vande Velde
15. Slam by Nick Hornby
16. Uzumaki by Junji Ito
17. Wake by Lisa McMann
18. When Jeff Comes Home by Catherine Atkins
19. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

19. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Doctorow, Cory. (2008). Little Brother. New York: Tom Doherty Associates Book. ISBN: 1892391813, p. 382

Genre: Fiction
Interest Age: 14+
Curriculum: Literature

Reader’s Annotation

Marcus, aka “w1n5t0n” is a tech savvy high school kid who uses his technological skills to outwit his principle, teachers, and truant officers. But when he and his friends are suspected of being terrorists after being at the wrong place at the wrong time during a terrorist bombing, Marcus finds that he now must use his skills to outwit an oppressive government.

Plot Summary

Marcus is the tech savvy protagonist in this story of what could easily happen in the aftermath of a devastating terrorist attack. Marcus and his friends are out on the streets of San Francisco, ditching school to play their favorite game Harajuku Fun Madness, when terrorists bomb the Bay Bridge. Marcus and his friends are quickly picked up by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS); they are held without explanation and harshly interrogated. Eventually Marcus is released but returns to a San Francisco which has become a closely monitored police state, with the DHS monitoring everyone’s movements and activities. Worse yet, Marcus’s friend Darryl was never released and for all intents and purposes has been completely “disappeared” by the DHS.

Marcus must now use all of his skills to thwart the Orwellian police state that is slowly destroying all of the freedoms that Americans hold sacred. As the mischief Marcus started for personal reasons slowly builds into a full-fledged social movement, Marcus must struggle with becoming a leader of a powerful underground movement while avoiding being captured by the government who has labeled him a traitor and a terrorist.

Critical Review

Cory Doctorow creates a terrifying vision of the future where, due to the fear of terrorism, San Francisco gladly turns over its freedom and becomes an Orwellian police state in the name of “security”. Much of what Doctorow describes in Little Brother already exists: DHS, The Patriot Act, acts of rendition, torture in the name of security, censorship, and electronic surveillance all are present in today’s world. Doctorow simply pushes these to the next logical step by asking, “What if there was another successful, large scale terrorist attack on American soil?” How much freedom and privacy would the American people sacrifice in order to feel safe? What is most disturbing about Doctorow’s premise and story narrative is that it feels all too possible.

Along with harsh socio-political critique, Doctorow also blends themes of civil disobedience as well as youth, social and anti-war movements. These themes are sometimes addressed in a very on the nose style; it is not challenging to decipher Doctorow’s own views. However, Doctorow blends his commentary with enough action, and a bit of humor, so as to not let the book become preachy and didactic. In fact, despite the very serious underlying tone and message of the story, Little Brother is a fast and furious read, loaded with cat and mouse chases, narrow escapes, and enough techno-speak to make the reader feel like a genius or a complete dullard, depending on how much you understand about computers, programming, and technology. For example, Xboxes and cell phones play central roles in the fight against the growing authoritarian dictatorship.

Doctorow has created a piece of fiction that fits comfortably next to dystopian classics like 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451.

Author Info

Cory Doctorow is a writer, blogger, and social activist based out of Ontario, Canada. Doctorow is the author of nonfiction, works dealing with technology like Essential Blogging: Selecting and Using Weblog Tools as well as numerous technology articles for periodicals such as Wired and The New York Times. He is also active as a digital rights activist and coordinator with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Doctorow received a Nebula Award nomination for best novel, 2005, for his debut novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (2003). Little Brother also was won a Prometheus Awards novel prize and Sunburst Award in the young adult category. Doctorow also maintains his website, Craphound.com

"Cory Doctorow." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 May 2010.

Book Talking Ideas

1. What happens to Marcus after he is picked up by the DHS? What are the circumstances of his release?
2. What are some of the ways Marcus tries to tamper with the DHS monitoring systems? How successful is he and what are the consequences of his actions?
3. What is the proper balance between freedom and security? Is there one?

Challenges

While there have been no high profile, formal challenges, the book does include some profanity, teenage drinking and sex (although neither are graphic or exploitative), and strong anti-government and anti-authority themes.

Why I choose this title

The book deals with numerous important topics that are very relevant to everyone today and has received much praise from critics and other writers.

18. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Collins, Suzanne. (2008). Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN-13: 978-0-439-02348-1, p. 374

Genre: Action/Adventure
Interest Age: 13+
Curriculum: Literature

Reader’s Annotation

In a dystopian future, teens are forced to fight for their lives in the violent, televised arena of The Hunger Games.

Plot Summary

In the future, North America has become the new nation of Panem. Panem, ruled by the Capitol, is divided into districts which once a year are forced to choose two tributes between the ages of 12 and 18 to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal competition where these young tributes are forced to fight to the death. In the impoverished District 12, Katniss, a precocious 16-year-old, and Peeta, a quiet baker’s son, are chosen to be this year’s tributes. They must face off against not only the older, deadlier tributes from the more wealthy districts, but they must also eventually face on another, for only one can remain standing at the end of the Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games test the tributes strengthen, cunning, and will to survive. In order to survive Katniss must become something which she is not, a killer. Can her skills and talents keep her alive? Can she survive the Games and not lose her humanity?

Critical Review

Suzanne Collins crafts a fast paced, action pact story which interweaves moments of brutal violence with tender scenes of romance and sacrifice. Our heroine Katniss, is far from an angelic protagonist; she selflessly sacrifices herself to save her younger sister Primm from the Games but she also is not above being emotionally manipulative in order to survive; she is a skilled hunter whose heart belongs to friend Gale but she plays a dangerous emotional game with her fellow District 12 tribute Peeta, whose professed love of Katniss may or may not be just a strategy to survive the Games.

Collin’s greatest success is the creation of a rich, detailed world in which these characters exist. The history of Panem is only briefly described and alluded to but is detailed enough for the reader to feel that this world is already old and full of history. Collin’s descriptions of the impoverished District 12 to the opulent Capitol create the image of diverse, intricate society. The Games themselves are anything but simple. They have the feel of a futuristic gladiator match filled with pomp and opulence as well as brutal competition and violence. The reader sees everything through Katniss’s eyes which is mixed with feelings of fear and wonder.

Once the Games start, the reader is barely allowed to rest. Confrontations often occur without warning and are intense. Katniss must face not only individuals like herself, who are randomly selected, but also Careers, who are bred and trained to be champions of the Games. The violence is balanced out by Kat niss’s conflicting desire to survive yet not to be a tool of the Capitol and The Games.

The Hunger Games is the first in a trilogy and even though it works wonderfully as a self contained story, Collin’s definitely has created a world and a set of characters which are complex, engaging and leave the reader wanting more.

Author Info

Suzanne Collins is the author of several Sci-Fi and Fantasy YA novels as well as extensive writing work in children’s television. Suzanne Collins grew up “all over the world” as the daughter of a military man. She found early professional success as a writer for such television shows as the Emmy nominated show Clarissa Explains It All, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, and the critically acclaimed Rankin/Bass Christmas special, Santa, Baby!.

She is also the author of the widely popular, five-part fantasy/war series, the Underland Chronicles as well as the Hunger Games Trilogy, the final book, Mockingjay is set to be released in the summer of 2010. The inspiration for The Hunger Games came from the Myth of Theseus as well as the fascination with Reality TV.

"An interview with Suzanne Collins." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 52.8 (2009): 726+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 May 2010.

“Biography”. Retrieved May 16, 2010 from http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/bio.htm

Book Talking Ideas

1. What is the purpose of the Hunger Games? What are the various stages which the tributes participate in?
2. What is the Myth of Theseus? How is it similar to The Hunger Games?
3. How are The Hunger Games are similar to the gladiator matches of ancient Rome? To today’s Reality TV?

Challenges

There have been no high profile challenges as of yet. The book does have a fair amount of violence (although there is little explicit blood and gore) and the central plot is teens violently killing each other, which can be offense.

Why I choose this title

It is one of the most popular YA books in the last few years. The book is perfect for reluctant readers: it has an easy to follow plot but is fully of depth, social commentary, and complex characters.

17. Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger

Wittlinger, Ellen. (2007). Parrotfish. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN- 13:978-1-4169-1622, p. 287

Genre: Fiction/GLBTQ
Interest Age: 15+
Curriculum: NA

Reader’s Annotation

Angela is making the biggest decisions of her life. She decides to live the way which seems right to her, as a boy named Grady.

Plot Summary

Angela feels she is and has always been a straight boy who was born in a girl’s body. After years of preparing herself, she finally makes the switch and begins to live her life as Grady. But getting a new haircut, new clothes, and a new name are the easy parts. Grady must now come out and explain his new identity to his family, friends, and everyone at school. Simply choices like which bathroom to use become complex. How does Grady explain his situation to the girl he’s slowing falling in love with? Grady must learn deal with those people who hate who he is and embrace those who will support him for who he is.

Parrotfish examines the definitions of sex and gender and explores the life of someone whose identity is not black and white.

Critical Review

Issues of sexuality and gender identity are skillfully handled by Ellen Wittlinger in this touching story of a transgender youth. As Grady transitions from life as a girl to that of a boy he deals with general questions of gender and identity, like the “Is it a boy or a girl?” question which is always asked of expecting mothers, to more practical questions like, “Which locker room do I use?” The awkwardness, fear, and joy experienced by Grady as he comes out to the world is all made palpable by Wittlinger’s multidimensional characters and keen insight into the trans-gender experience.

Wittlinger writes a diverse cast of characters who all represent the different points of view society has on trans-gender individuals. Although Grady’s father and little brother deal with Grady’s transition fairly easily (to her little brother the change is almost benign), her mother, still loving and caring for her child, is clearly upset at the loss of her daughter. There are the close minded, and vicious girls at school who seek to humiliate Grady simply for being different (and to cover up their own insecurities); Grady’s former best friend Eve, who disowns Grady in order to fit in with the other kids; and Sebastian, a sort of outsider in his own way, who accepts just about everyone around him for who they are.

Along with the important GLBTQ themes, Parrotfish also address several other themes which are universal to the teen experience. Grady struggles with feelings of love for a friend. Eve deals with peer pressure, loyalty to her oldest friend, and fitting in at a new school. Grady’s family has to deal with a changing family dynamic (which plays out through a hilarious reenactment of A Christmas Carol). These themes transcend gender and sexuality and make Grady’s story relateable to anyone who survived the mine field of high school and battled the pressures of fitting in vs. the desire to be one’s self.

Author Info

Ellen Wittlinger was born in 1948 in Belleville, IL. She attended Millikin University for her B.A. and University of Iowa for her M.F.A. As well as being a writer, she has also worked as a children’s librarian and a writing instructor. Wittlinger had her first YA novel Lombardo’s Law published in 1993. She won major praise for her novel Hard Love (1999), the story of 16 year old dealing with his parents divorce and feelings for a girl who is gay; the novel won the Michael R. Printz Honor Book designation, Lambda Literary Book Award, and Best Books for Young Adults selection and Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers selection.

Wittlinger generally writes about the teen experience through the eyes of outsider and loners. The author notes, “I find I'm most interested in those kids who are on the fringes….the slight oddballs and lovable misfits who aren't quite comfortable in their own skins, or if they are, their differentness makes those around them uncomfortable. I want to celebrate their differences because they are likely to be the most fascinating people the rest of us will ever know”.

"Ellen Wittlinger." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 May 2010.

Book Talking Ideas

1. How are gender and sex defined? What are the differences? How does Grady define herself?
2. What are the different reactions to Grady’s coming out as a boy? Why do these characters have these responses?
3. What does the juxtaposition of the Christmas play and Grady’s actual life mean? What does the play mean to different characters in the story?

Challenges

There have been no well publicized challenges to Parrotfish but the novel deals with issues of sexuality and gender which are often cited as reasons for challenges.

Why I choose this title

Providing well written GLBTQ materials serves a group of readers who are unable or reluctant to talk about such issues. Giving them materials that address issues they face every day is important.

16. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing Vol. I by M.T. Anderson

Anderson, M.T. (2006). The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the nation (Vol. I). Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press. ISBN: 0-7636-2402-0. p. 351

Genre: Historical Fiction
Interest Age: 14+
Curriculum: American History

Reader’s Annotation

Raised in seclusion by a group of scientists and philosophers in pre-Revolutionary Boston, Octavian learns about freedom, slavery and his place in the world.

Plot Summary

Octavian is the son of an African princess, living in Boston just as the American Revolution is beginning. Octavian’s providers are a group of highly refined and educated philosophers and scientists who provide Octavian with the finest of classical educations. He is taught the classics, music, Greek and Latin. But the true intentions of these men of science are unknown: Why are Octavian and his mother referred to by surname while these men of science are referred to only by number? Why do these men observe and note every detail of Octavian’s life? Octavian soon learns that he himself is a part of a greater experiment.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Volume I explores the turbulent time which gave birth a nation. Freedom, slavery, tyranny, patriotism, populism, class and the American Revolution are all explored through the eyes of young Octavian Nothing.

Critical Review

M.T. Anderson creates a masterful piece of historical fiction. The description of Octavian’s life in the Novanglian College of Lucidity is soaked in mystery and Gothic atmosphere. Everything about Octavian’s life (the men who control it), feels skewed in a dark and sinister manner. Unfortunately for Octavian, these feelings of dread and terror turn out to be almost benign when compared to the pain and horrors of slavery which Octavian endures.

Through Octavian, Anderson shows the reader the brutality, fear, and degradation which slaves (even those who lived in the Northern states) had to endure. When Octavian first encounters the true, unrestrained racism the reader shares his terror; the reader shares his pain when Octavian and his mother are flogged for the first time after insulting the College’s rich, white benefactor. Teens often learn about slavery through texts books and while these texts convey the facts about slavery they sometimes lack the kind of personal, emotional resonance which M.T. Anderson achieves with this story.

Octavian Nothing also examines the beginnings of the Revolutionary War. While the book is in no way a historical account of the Revolutionary War, Anderson does succeed in recreating the setting and the feeling of this chaotic time in American history. Octavian views Redcoats on the streets of Boston, hears stories of unrest and battles with the militias. Octavian even experiences the horrors of battle first hand. Anyone mildly interested in this period of American History feel a sudden urge to jump into the deep end of this history immediately.

Anderson faithfully writes in 18th century English, which can be a bit challenging at times (even for a seasoned reader) but it contributes greatly to an immersive reading experience which draws the reader in to an absorbing story that blends drama and history.

Author Info

M.T. Anderson was born November 4, 1968 in Cambridge, MA. His first young adult novel was Thirsty (1998) about a high school freshman who finds he’s becoming a vampire. He has also written the YA novels Burger Wuss (1999) about love and revenge and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing Vol. I & II (2006 & 2008 respectively). Vol. I won the National Book Award for Young People as well as Printz Honor Book in 2007.

Concerning his own writing Anderson has said, "We are so used to the bizarre images, cabals, rituals, and rites that constitute our lives that they seem natural, even invisible, to us….I admire books that facilitate renewed awareness of the way we live, and this is what I'm attempting in my own work: renewed awareness both for myself and, I hope, for my readers. That's my goal, in any case."

"M. T. Anderson." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.

Book Talking Ideas

1. How did Octavian and his mother come to live at the College of Lucidity?
2. How does Octavian’s life change when Mr. Sharpe takes over the College?
3. How does Octavian experience the early part of the Revolutionary War?

Challenges

There have yet to be any challenges but it does contain brutal descriptions of floggings, beatings and revolutionary battles.

Why I choose this title

Historical Fiction can be useful in both literature and history classes. It can engage students who normally are not interested in history. The book is also an award winner; an exemplary piece of historical fiction.

15. Wake by Lisa McMann

McMann, Lisa. (2008). Wake. New York: Simon Press. ISBN-13:978-1-4169-5357-9. p. 209

Genre: Fiction
Interest Age: 15+
Curriculum: NA

Reader’s Annotation

Janie Hannagan has a power she cannot control; she can enter people’s dreams, their fantasies, and their nightmares.

Plot Summary

Janie Hannagan is an average high school student; she works at a nursing home; she is saving money for college; she copes with her alcoholic mother. She also must live with a secret. She has the power to enter people’s dreams. It has been happening ever since she was a little girl. She’ll be sitting in a room, someone with drift off to sleep, and Janie will be uncontrollably pulled into the dream. She sees everyone’s inner most thoughts, desires, dreams, and fears. It lets her see the horrible nightmares of Cabel, the boy with a mysterious past. She sees more than he tells her. Is he a liar? Drug dealer? Monster? She must find a way to control her power if she is to understand what she sees and possible help those around her.

Critical Review

Lisa McMann mixes elements of the supernatural, suspense and drama to create a fast paced narrative filled with creepy and surreal imagery. McMann does a fantastic job at creating the character of Janie, who has been haunted by the dreams of others since she was little. Janie also deals with an alcoholic mother who spends most of the book stone drunk/past out or completely absent altogether. Despite having a drunk as a mother and never really knowing her father, Janie is a determined individual who works hard to maintain her grades at school in order to get into college. She also works long hours in order to pay for school. Cabel, Janie’s love interest, is also a well rounded character. On the surface, McMann paints Cabel as the stereotypical bad boy or “rebel without a cause”, but as the story progresses, he becomes a fairly complex individual who challenges Janie and showed that although she may be able to see into people’s dreams, she might not know as much as she thinks she knows.

The most effective parts of the story are the dream sequences. The reader is introduced to Janie’s power immediately and the experiences can be scary and disorienting. Janie doesn’t control her power and for most of the book, is a mere spectator in these dream states. She experiences everything from the surreal sexual fantasies for her classmates, to the nursing home resident’s memories of war and death. McMann builds scenes of significant tension as Janie is unexpectedly wrenched in and out of the dream world.

Even though the drama and mystery dissipates towards the end of the novel and the conclusion is somewhat lackluster and unfulfilling, Lisa McMann builds on a fascinating premise and creates an exciting story which should entice young, reluctant readers. Wake feels like a prelude to a much larger more intricate story.

Author Info

Lisa McMann is the author of the Wake Trilogy which includes Wake (2008), Fade (2009), and Gone (2010). McMann was born in 1968 in Holland, MI. She graduated from Calvin College in 1990 and has worked as a writer, blueberry picker, bindery worker, bookseller and realtor. She won the Templeton short story award and Wake was nominated by the ALA as a Best Book for Young Adults.

McMann was inspired to write Wake after she dreamt about being in her husband’s dream. McMann currently lives in Arizona.
“Lisa McMann.” Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center. Web. 13 May 2010.

Book Talking Ideas

1. What are dreams and how do they reflect the actual lives of the characters in Wake?
2. How does being able to see into people’s dreams affect Janie’s relationships in the book?

Challenges

I have not found any current challenges to Wake but the novel does contain a significant amount of profanity which is one of the most cited reasons for a challenge or banning.

Why I choose this title

It made the YALSA Top 10 YA Books list in 2008.

14. The Absolutely True Dairy of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Alexie, Sherman. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian. New York: Hachette Book Group. ISBN-10:0-316-01368-4. p. 229

Genre: Fiction/Multicultural
Interest Age: 14+
Curriculum: Literature Class, Multicultural Studies

Reader’s Annotation

Junior Spirit leads something of a double life: Half-White when he’s at his mostly white high school; Half Indian when he’s at home on the Reservation.

Plot Summary

Junior Spirit is a 14 year old Native American kid living in poverty on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Born with “water on the brain” and numerous other physical ailments (a big head, poor sight, etc…) which make him the target of constant bullying from not only kids his age but just about everyone else on the “rez”; his family is dirt poor, his father is an alcoholic, his mother suffers from depression, his sister does nothing, and Junior feels buried in a sense of hopelessness. To try and escape the cycle of depression, alcoholism, and hopelessness, Junior decides he wants to go to school off the reservation, with the white people. For this, he is branded a traitor by the entire tribe including his best friend. Junior becomes an outsider not only at his new school where he is the only other Indian his classmates know is possibly Tonto from the Lone Ranger, but also at home.

Junior deals with his daily struggles with leading a sort of double life with a self deprecating, witty, and sarcastic sense of humor and by drawing the people in his life.

Critical Review

In Junior Spirit, Sherman Alexie has created one of the most off-beat and intelligent characters in the YA Fiction genre. The laundry list of struggles that Junior must face on a day to day basis (e.g. alcoholism, racism, poverty, and prejudice from both white people and his tribe) sets the stage for what could be a soul crushingly intense story; but Alexie writes Junior with such a sarcastic, self deprecating wit that the reader can’t help but laugh at Junior’s situation. Junior’s first illustration of himself as the glasses wearing, lopsided, shaking nerd exemplifies how he chooses to deal with his struggles, the humor. The writing and especially the illustrations done by cartoonist Ellen Forney make the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian a hilarious read, as well as a enlightening and touching one.

Through humor, Alexie addresses many sensitive issues concerning modern Native American and reservation life. He skillfully addresses heartbreaking issues of poverty and alcoholism which are rampant on many reservations; he laments the self destructive nature of his people (Alexie himself is Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian); racism and prejudices of both the white people Junior goes to school with and the members of his tribe at home on the reservation are masterfully dealt with.

Humor and tragedy surround Junior Spirit’s life and Alexie blends the two so subtly that the reader may find themselves laughing on one page and choking up the next. If it can be said that comedy and drama are two faces of the same coin, Sherman Alexie has found a way to balance the coin on its edge without having one side obscure the other.

Author Info

Sherman Alexie was born in 1966 on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington (where Diary of a Part-Time Indian is set). Alexie has garnered critical acclaim for his stories about contemporary reservation life. Alexie’s early life on the reservation was characterized by poverty and alcoholism. He was an exemplary student and attended Gonzaga University on Spokane. After struggling with alcohol abuse himself, he transferred to Washington State University. Here he began writing and received a Washington State Arts Commission poetry fellowship.

In 1992, Alexie had his first collection of poetry and short fiction published. The Business of Fancy Dancing is filled with themes of “despair, poverty, and alcoholism that often pervades lives of Native Americans of reservations”. He went on to publish numerous novels Reservation Blues (1995) and Indian Killer (1996), the short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993), and several collection of poetry including First Indian on the Moon (1993) and Old Shirts & New Skins (1993), War Dances (2009) and Face (2009) His YA novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007) won a National Book Award.

"Sherman (Joseph), (Jr.) Alexie." Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 13 May 2010.

Book Talking Ideas

1. How does Junior describe life on the reservation?
2. What are the differences between the school on the reservation and the school at Reardan?
3. Who are the most important people in Junior’s life? Why?

Challenges

The book has been challenged several times. In 2008, the book was pulled from a Freshman English class curriculum after a father complained that the book “had a lot of references that I didn’t feel comfortable with.” The main issue was the short passage referring to masturbation.

The book also contains some profanity. Issues of alcoholism, child abuse, and racism are also discussed.

Dake, Lauren. (2008). “School yanks book from class after complaint”. The Bulletin. Retrieved May 13, 2010 from http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081211/NEWS0107/812110432/10 41&nav_category=

Why I choose this title

It is an award winning book that deals with important issues that teens face every day: fitting in, racism, romance, friendship, etc. It also explores a culture of which few teens are knowledgeable or even really aware of.