Perfect by Ellen Hopkins

The title of this novel holds no secrets about its content.  Four individuals whose lives intersect tell their own stories of the difficulties immersed in striving for perfect, and the pain that underlies the desperate, unrelenting need for it.  Cara's parents expect the absolute best from their children, and one of those children has already attempted suicide as a result of the pressure mounting at home.  Cara's almost-loving relationship with Sean doesn't help to support her in her journey towards figuring out who she really is and what really makes her happy.  Sean doesn't think he can live without Cara, but he's convinced that it's really baseball and his ultimate athletic success that makes him who he is.  Kendra is in constant pursuit of the perfect body and the perfect face to allow her modeling career to soar, no matter the price.  And Andre has his heart set on a certain career and a certain girl, neither of which really fall into the plan that his parents' have created for him.

Ellen Hopkins never fails to deliver the real deal.  With powerful word selection and nothing short of stark honesty, Hopkins' characters are true depictions of the hopes, dreams, torment, and struggles that fill up lots of the nooks and crannies that make us all human.  Recommended to all high school readers.  (Release date for this title is September 13, 2011.)

Also discussed on this blog are Burned and Identical.  Her most known novel is Crank, the story of Kristina Gregory's journey with the "monster" of drugs and addiction that claimed control over most of her life (continued in two sequels), but all of Hopkins' novels in verse are powerful explorations of the mixture of light and dark found within individuals across the globe.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Leverage by Joshua C. Cohen

Danny is a gymnast, and (unfortunately) that includes having the body of a gymnast: strong but small.  Kyle is a football player, with the body of one, but not all that much else on the surface.  The football team and the gymnasts don't exactly get along, and when the gymnastics coach challenges the team for the shared use of the school gym, emotions run high and tensions run strong.  Danny and Kyle both wish that they could just be invisible because attention seems to always lead to pain, but neither of them can ignore the violence they witness that leads to another boy's suicide.  Yet neither one is sure that he has the strength to stand up and speak either.

This is a painful story to experience, at any age, and, yes, that's a warning.  There are many issues that are jumbled into this expansive novel -- among those issues are steroid abuse, unfortunate foster care situations, learning disabilities, child physical and sexual abuse, drinking, drugs, and random sex.  But the scene in the book that will stand out the most vividly involves three football players and one helpless freshman boy trapped in a locker room.  The author does not hold back and the reader is not shielded from the trauma and the horror any more than Danny is.  And yet as painful as the book might be to read, it is just as powerful to absorb.  It's a story that should be told again and again until it no longer exists.  The reader mourns the tragedy of the one and admires and celebrates the resulting strength that emerges from within the other.

Recommended primarily to adults and very mature teen readers.  This isn't a fun read, nor an easy one.  But it remains incredible.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.