Parent Swap by Terence Blacker

Thirteen-year-old Danny Bell is just plain bored and generally dissatisfied. Since his mom moved to focus on her career, his dad – a washed-up British “rock star” – refuses to take care of the house, himself, or the kids. When Danny finds a flyer offering the opportunity to choose his family, he can’t resist the urge to discover more about ParentSwap. While staying with his first “new family,” Danny becomes suspicious that ParentSwap might be hiding something. He sees camera crews in the strangest places, notices security monitors throughout his “new home,” and overhears bits of hushed conversations. Finally recognizing ParentSwap for what it is – an attempt at reality television – Danny decides to get revenge for being taken advantage of and lied to. He leaves the first new family and chooses his next family – a wannabe-famous actress, her knighted husband, and their twins. With the help of his friends from back home and the support of the Queen of England, Danny manages to unmask KeepItReal Productions, revive his dad’s old band, and pull his real family together. While a suspension of belief is necessary and foreshadowing is obvious, this book is a humorous look at family life and the popular reality TV culture. This is a unique pick especially suitable for reluctant boy readers.

Call number: YA BLACKER (Teen Room)

The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Cynnie is thirteen years old and dealing with more than she can handle. Her mother is an alcoholic, and Cynnie must take care of her three-year-old brother, Bill, who has Down syndrome. After her grandparents take her brother to live with them, Cynnie soon turns to alcohol to help her cope with her loss, insecurity, and hopelessness. After she tries to kidnap Bill and gets in a car accident, she is required to go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. It is here that she is able to form relationships with caring, responsible adults, and she begins to gain the freedom she needs to focus on her own emotional and physical recovery. For troubled teens, this book can be both a reflection of the pain of addiction as well as hopeful inspiration for recovery. The characters do not always sound authentic, but the emotion portrayed is real. Also, pair this story with books like Nancy Werlin’s Rules of Survival as examples of young people overcoming abuse and hardship for the sake of themselves and those they love.

Call number: YA HYDE (Teen Room)

A Different Kind of Heat by Antonio Pagliarulo

Luz has just celebrated her first year anniversary living at St. Therese Home for Boys and Girls in New York City. She is a seventeen-year-old Peurto Rican female with gang affiliation, a background with drugs, and anger management issues. After her brother was killed by a police officer a year ago, she began to spin further out of control. With the support of St. Therese Home, she is finally beginning to come to terms with her brother’s death and with her own feelings of isolation, insecurity, and fear. The horrors of inner-city drive-bys, robberies, and disrespect are described through Luz’s journal entries, poetry, and conversations. Luz offers the authentic voice of a young minority who has been tested, shocked, and hurt by people and the world around her. As Luz forms relationships with adults and her peers, and as she matures as a person, she begins to come to terms with the violence that surrounds her, and ultimately recognizes her beloved brother’s participation in dealing drugs, and his role in his own destruction. While the presence of pain is obvious, the novel is not overwhelming, and it concludes with visions of acceptance, appreciation, and tolerance.

Call number: YA PAGLIARULO (Teen Room)

Grief Girl by Erin Vincent

In the style of a personal journal that reads like a novel, Erin Vincent recounts her emotional experiences as a fourteen-year-old girl, who has just lost both parents within a month of each other. One car accident leaves Erin, her older teenaged sister Tracy, and her toddler-age brother Trent alone. Tracy is awarded guardianship over her siblings, and the broken family must try to find a way support themselves, deal with their emotional pain, and continue living their lives. In present tense, Erin tells of her desolation and isolation – she is constantly reminded that she doesn’t have it as bad as her sister who has the burden of being the caregiver, and that she is also luckier than Trent who will barely remember his parents. She tells of day-to-day frustrations, of disappointment in self and family, and of guilt and fear. However, this memoir also includes loving neighbors, unfailing friends, and the value of perseverance in education, relationships, and faith. While there is a lot of grief packed into this memoir, there is movement towards accepting grief as well, making it sure to touch many who can relate to an extraordinary loss.

Call number: YA 155.9 VINCENT

Hitch by Jeanette Ingold

Seventeen-year-old Moss Trawnley’s main focus is providing for his family, despite what sacrifices he needs to make. The Depression has made times hard for everyone, and once he loses his job, Moss figures that the best way to help his family is to find his father who ran off years ago, deserting his farming business, wife, and children. He does find his father, only to find him drunk, jobless, and homeless. Moss realizes that he wants to do better for himself than his father has done, and when the opportunity comes along for him to join the Civilian Conservation Corps, he accepts it. During his six-month commitment to the Corps, he makes a diverse, loyal group of friends, and along the way, he is also faced with making choices that may save – or destroy – an entire community of people. In the midst of formidable conditions, Moss reminds his fellow enrollees, “we came here [to the CCC] and saw how, by working together, we’ve got the power to change things. You want to give that up?” Moss truly comes of age, having learned that he has a place in the world and that through hard work, dedication, and heart, a man can make a difference in the world.

Call number: YA INGOLD (Teen Room)

Unresolved by T. K. Welsh

In this historical novel, Welsh uses a supernatural flair to help describe the days following the tragedy of the General Slocum steamship disaster on June 15, 1904. Fifteen-year-old Mallory Meer is one of many residents of New York City’s Little Germany who died aboard the steamship on the East River. Mallory acts as the narrator as she finds herself in the spirits of others, knowing their memories, feeling their pain, and even recognizing their joys. She witnesses the townspeople as they struggle to find someone to blame for starting the fire that resulted in the destruction of the General Slocum. Most are quick to lay blame on Dustin, the young Jewish boy that shared in Mallory’s first kiss moments before her death. The time and place are well-drawn in this brief detailed novel, and the similarities of the pain and destruction in New York City between June 15, 1904 and September 11, 2001 are touching.  This story of the steamship disaster is told with a unique feel that readers will likely enjoy.

Call number: YA WELSH (Teen Room)

Face Value by Catherine Johnson

For a story that starts out slow, readers stumble into a world of drama and intrigue. The novel is told in alternating perspectives – between fifteen-year-old Lauren in present time and her guardian Nessa as a teenager years ago. Nessa was Paula’s best friend and she took over guardianship of infant Lauren when Paula committed suicide in prison. Lauren doesn’t understand why Nessa is so against Lauren engaging in the modeling industry like her mother did. Through the alternating dialogue the reader discovers that Paula had more experience as a prostitute than a model and was involved in an extremely dangerous life. The climax of the story arises when Lauren is kidnapped by a man who thinks he’s her father. The novel reads as though it could use a bit of editing, and the language of the characters is written with thick accents that can be distracting. However, the plot is suspenseful and the more you learn about the characters, the more you begin to care about how they are going to come out in the end. Lauren slowly begins her first romance, the relationship becomes stronger between the two females, and Lauren and Nessa discover a certain comfort in their lives.

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Going Under by Kathe Koja

Siblings Ivan and Hilly have always been emotionally connected. They are home-schooled, but Hilly decides to volunteer for the public high school’s literary magazine. When a friend from the high school commits suicide, Hilly is forced into therapy. She becomes more withdrawn the more her psychologist and brother fight for control of her mind. Dr. Roland uses whatever means possible to try to use Hilly’s private writings for his own book, and Ivan is manipulated by the therapist to turn against Hilly. The novel is told in alternating voices, but the story really seems to be controlled by Ivan. While there is some lack of clarity in the writing, it seems to make the character’s voices even more realistic. The stream of consciousness voices are rhythmic, becoming almost poetic. There is certainly an underlying negativity, a heavy sadness that portrays a loneliness, a lack of understanding of people and the world, and a fear of the unknown. Even the very little bit of hope at the conclusion is described with the line: “Hell has a door.” However, this is a story that will surely resonate with teenagers who have felt despair and confusion, as well as those who have at any time kept their own thoughts and writings secret from others.

Call number: YA KOJA (Teen Room)

Eva Underground by Dandi Daley Mackall

An American professor brings his eighteen-year-old daughter to Communist Poland to assist in the underground freedom movement, and they have to watch each step they make so that the militia will not be suspicious of their reasons for being in the country. Although Eva misses everything back home in Chicago, she comes to understand why her father needs to help, and she eventually falls in love with Tomek. Despite all her misery at the beginning of the novel, Eva chooses love over the comforts of home when she is offered the chance to leave the struggles of Poland and return to her old life.

A love-beats-all-odds romance may attract teenage girls, though there is an assumed understanding of what life was like in Communist Poland, without further information to reinforce the story’s historical context. The inclusion of some Polish words adds to the authenticity of the setting, and a list of vocabulary is provided.

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Mismatch by Lensey Namioka

Sue and Andy really like each other. Sue, a Chinese American teenager, doesn’t want it to matter that classmate Andy is Japanese American, and vice versa, but, unfortunately, their families do mind the cultural separation. When their high school orchestra takes a trip to Tokyo, the teenagers stay with host families and are able to learn about the Japanese culture firsthand, as well as learn to deal with the prejudice and stereotypes that they encounter. As Sue and Andy struggle with the conflicts that their ancestry presents, they learn a lot about themselves and each other as individuals. Their do-good and be-liked attitudes and the adolescent insecurities portrayed by Sue and Andy are often annoying but realistic, and the attitudes they encounter from others are too often universal. 

While the overpowering message of the story sometimes stands in the way of a true emotional bond between reader and characters, the story remains upbeat and enjoyable to read. Namioka is obviously sending a message to readers about the need to respect and appreciate cultural differences, as well as the importance of discovering and maintaining a sense of self. This is an easy read and it includes a lot of interesting anecdotal information about Chinese and Japanese culture and history.

Call number: YA NAMIOKA (Teen Room)

Burned by Ellen Hopkins

This poetic and powerful novel is an extraordinary piece of literature. Sixteen-year-old Pattyn begins the story with thoughts of suicide and readers follow her free verse narration through uncensored emotional ups-and-downs. Pattyn has been raised in a strict Mormon household, where women are taught to be subservient, and her alcoholic, physically abusive father maintains complete control. When Pattyn is found breaking religious and family rules, she is exiled to Aunt J’s house on a Nevada farm for the summer. There she falls in love with Ethan, who treats her with tenderness and respect. Supported by Aunt J and Ethan, she begins to regain trust in God and the goodness of life. But when she returns home, she realizes that home is dangerous and she decides to escape her father’s control. Tragedy follows and Pattyn swears revenge. There is a bittersweet and almost exaggerated realism found within the bleak negativity of this novel. Readers will become emotionally absorbed into Pattyn’s life and will undoubtedly be left broken-hearted.

Recommended to high school readers.

Call number: YA HOPKINS (Teen Room)

Thicker Than Water by Carla Jablonski

Kia is seventeen and has just moved to New York City to live with her father while her mother is in the hospital dying of cancer. Kia cuts herself to avoid dealing with her emotional pain, and while she is ashamed of her behavior, she feels that can’t confide in anyone and she doesn’t know how to stop cutting. When she meets Hecate in the hospital, the two girls become immediate friends, and Hecate introduces Kia to the underground goth club scene. It is here -- where the drink of choice is “bloodbath” and where she meets the strikingly beautiful Damon -- that Kia begins to feel accepted. Strange occurrences make Kia question whether or not the world of vampires is real.

Call number: YA JABLONSKI (Teen Room)

Free Stallion : Poems by Amber Tamblyn

Amber Tamblyn (actress "Joan of Arcadia," "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," and "House") reflects on politics, sexuality, feminism, and nature in this collection of poems written during her adolescence. Tamblyn, who credits Jack Hirschman as her literary mentor, seems to have impressive knowledge and experience that goes beyond her years. While poetic tributes to Thelonious Monk and Woody Guthrie may or may not specifically resonate with teens, images of love, loss, and the search for self surely will. What Tamblyn’s poetry does best is to emphasize her own passion; unfortunately, not much else is clear. The meaning of the words become lost behind Tamblyn’s attempts at putting together a sophisticated poem. Fellow poets may appreciate her use of style and phrasing.

Call number: YA 811.6 TAMBLYN

Queen Bee by Chynna Clugston

This classic teen girl theme shown often in movies and books is given a fresh feel in graphic novel format. Clugston depicts a wonderful imitation of middle school, full of cliques, boys, insecurities, and coming of age. The stark black and white images seem to show that individuals are actually more alike than they realize, but that their subtle unique characteristics make them special. As the new girl at a new school, Haley’s main goal is to make everyone like her, and she very quickly becomes the Queen Bee of the Hives, the most popular group of girls in school. However, when Alexa shows up as the next new girl, Haley discovers that they both share the same psychokinetic ability, and both girls realize that they can use their ability to hurt other people. With the help of true friends, like Trini and Jasper, Haley soon realizes that being popular is not as wonderful as it seems.

With detailed graphics and a lot of explanatory dialogue, this initial volume of the series is highly recommended for middle grade graphic novel readers.

Call number: YA GRAPHIC CLUGSTON (Teen Room)

The Nannies by Melody Mayer

In the form of popular chick lit, The Nannies tells of three teenage girls from different backgrounds who all have their own reasons for wanting a job as a nanny in California. Kiley, Lydia, and Esme form a support system, helping each other through situations with boys, their families, and traumatic teenage life experiences. While some readers will enjoy the sights and brand name clothes of Hollywood, others will see right through the unsympathetic characters and fail to be drawn into their world.

The perspective of each girl is revealed in alternating chapters, creating a light and quick read, and those who liked the Au Pairs, or who want a nicer version of the Gossip Girls, might request The Nannies. The Nannies has broad appeal for high school girls.

Call number: YA MAYER (SERIES) (Teen Room)