Wednesday, March 26, 2008

eight new young adult fictions

Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
When she is abandoned by her alcoholic mother, high school senior Ruby winds up living with her sister Cora, whom she has not seen for ten years, where she learns about Cora's new life, what makes a family, how to allow people to help her when she needs it, and that she has something to offer others as well.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

Snakehead by Anthonly Horowitz
While working for the Australian Secret Service on a dangerous mission, teenaged spy Alex Rider uncovers information about his parents.

Starcross by Philip Reeve
Young Arthur Mumby, his sister Myrtle, and their mother accept an invitation to take a holiday at an up-and-coming resort in the asteroid belt, where they become involved in a dastardly plot involving spies, time travel, and mind-altering clothing.

Game by Walter Dean Myers
If Harlem high school senior Drew Lawson is going to realize his dream of playing college, then professional, basketball, he will have to improve at being coached and being a team player, especially after a new--white--student threatens to take the scouts' attention away from him.

Deadline by Chris Crutcher
Given the medical diagnosis of one year to live, high school senior Ben Wolf decides to fulfill his greatest fantasies, ponders his life's purpose and legacy, and has dream conversations with a spiritual guide known as "Hey-Soos."

Revolution Is Not A Dinner Party by Ying Chang Compestine
Starting in 1972 when she is nine years old, Ling, the daughter of two doctors, struggles to make sense of the communists' Cultural Revolution, which empties stores of food, homes of appliances deemed "bourgeois," and people of laughter.

Skim by Mariko Tamaki
Kimberly is a not-slim, would-be Wiccan goth who goes to a private girls' school. Suicide, depression, love, being gay or not, crushes, cliques, and finding a way to be your own fully human self--are all explored in this smart and sensitive graphic novel.