Kit's Wilderness

 Kit’s Wilderness by David Almond is a fantasy adventure story.  Kit and his friends play a game called Death, where they take turns, pretending they are dead and have left their bodies.  After playing the game, Kit feels something supernatural and he starts seeing the ghosts of his ancestors who died in the mines.  

Into the Wild

Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst is a fantasy adventure book with a clever concept.  I love fairy tales.  The protagonist is 12 year old Julie who lives in a world where fairy tale creatures exist.  Her mother is Rapunzel, her grandmother is a witch, and her cat is Puss in Boots.  Her father is a prince who was killed helping Rapunzel escape the forest.  They have the seven dwarfs over to her house for dinner a lot.  The fairy tale creatures who have escaped the Wild, have to repeat their stories over and over because of a supernatural object.  Julie has to go rescue her family out of the Wild.

The Clique Series

 The Clique by Lisi Harrison is similar to its young adult predecessors such as Gossip Girl and The A-List.  All three series deal with mean girls.  This one doesn’t have the graphic language and sex the other two do.  This one is for middle school girls and how hard junior high is.  I was picked on a lot in junior high because this is the development stage between the maturity of a kid and the maturity of an adult. 

The Chocolate War

 The Chocolate War by Robert Comier definitely measures up to his other books, After the First Death and Tenderness.  Cormier has an interesting writing style and writes about problems other authors don’t dare to write about.  What starts out as a hazing ritual after refusing to sell fundraiser chocolates ends in a brutal beating.  I had to sell chocolates while I was in junior high and they weren’t very good so I doubt people would buy them if it wasn’t to support the school.  I liked how Jerry was able to stand his ground surrounded by peer pressure.  It made it seem like all the teachers at the school were menacing. 

Shooter

 Shooter by Walter Dean Myers is a very sad book about because of similar events that have happened at Columbine, Virginia Tech and even as close to us at Trolley Square in Salt Lake.  The book is very relatable and the characters are believable.  The ending shows us we need to help people overcome obstacles. 

Whale Talk

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher is about a high school senior named T.J. Jones, who struggles with racism, bullying, society, anger, and fear. He is adopted and lives with his foster parents. His mother is a lawyer and his dad is stuck on a day when he accidentally ran over his girlfriend's son with his truck.

Because of his mixed heritage, he is discriminated against a lot by his peers. There are two men in the book named Mike and Rich, who make T.J.'s life harder in and out of school. T.J. has to control his anger a lot through out the book, because of the actions of these two men. T.J.'s dad always advises him to take "Not one minute for revenge."

T.J. joins the swim team and finds solace with the other outcast members. Being on the team, bonds the boys, and makes them feel like they belong somewhere. The boys look up to T.J.

Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle

Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle by Stephen Dunning is book of poetry and photographs. The poems are short and easy to read. The poems have a broad range of subjects and interesting styles. Books like this one are helpful to get young adults to like poetry.