Little Blog on the Prarie

by Cathleen Davitt Bell

Ages 10+

Imagine it is 1890. No iPods, no cell phones, no jeans or tank tops, no electricity, and no indoor plumbing. This is the life that Gen Welsh has to endure for the whole summer, since her mother has decided that the family's vacation will be at a frontier-living fantasy camp near Laramie, WY. When they arrive, all modern conveniences are taken away, but Gen is granted her one wish: Clearasil. Secretly she has hidden her new cell phone in the product's box, and uses it to text her friends back home. 

Meanwhile, back at camp, a first romance and a good, clean girl rivalry are bubbling among the milking of cows and clearing of forest. As the families make their way through a difficult season, they all discover their strengths and weaknesses.

This fast read is humorous and insightful, with realistic characters that are refreshingly well rounded. Bell has captured a 13-year-old's voice, making Gen's unlikely situation feel very real.

Gingerbread (Cyd Charisse #1)

by Rachel Cohn
Age 16+
To say goth girl Cyd Charisse feels like she is misunderstood is an understatement to the extreme. Self proclaimed "recovering hellion" was just getting tossed from her posh boarding school. Wild, willful, and coffee addicted Cyd Charisse returns to San Francisco to live with her parents. But there's no way Cyd can survive in her parents' pristine house. Lucky for Cyd she's got her new surfer boyfriend and Gingerbread, her childhood rag doll and confidante.


When Cyd's rebelliousness gets out of hand, her parents ship her off to New York City to spend the summer with "Frank real-dad," her biological father. Trading in her parents for New York City grunge and getting to know her bio-dad and step-sibs is what Cyd has been waiting for her whole life. But summer in the city is not what Cyd expects -- and she's far from the daughter or sister that anyone could have imagined.

Cyd's narative is believable, sarcastic, and pretty funny. Recommended for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider in her own life.

Flipped

By Wendelin Van Draanen
Ages 12+

Juli Baker devoutly believes in three things: the sanctity of trees (especially her beloved sycamore), the wholesomeness of the eggs she collects from her backyard flock of chickens, and that someday she will kiss Bryce Loski. 

Unfortunately, Bryce has never felt the same. Frankly, he thinks Juli Baker is a little weird. Who raises chickens in the backyard? And don't eggs need to be pasturized or something?

Then, in eighth grade, everything changes. Bryce begins to see that Juli's unusual interests are kinda interesting. But just when Bryce starts to see Juli's side of the story Juli starts to think that Bryce is vapid and annoying.

Bryce and Juli's rants and raves about each other ring so true that teen readers will quickly identify with at least one of these hilarious feuding egos, if not both. A perfect introduction to the adolescent war between the sexes.

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl

By Barry Lyga
Grade 9 Up

On good days, Fanboy is invisible to the students at his high school. On bad ones, he's a target for bullying and violence. When a classmate is cruel to him, Fanboy adds him to The List and moves on. His only real friend, Cal, is a jock who can't be seen with him in public. Their love of comics, though, keeps them close friends outside of school. Reading comics and writing his own graphic novel, Schemata, are the only things that keep him sane. He dreams of showing his work to a famous author at a comic-book convention and being discovered as the next great graphic novelist.

When Goth Girl Kyra IMs him with photos of him being beaten up, he's skeptical. Why does she care what happens to him? He learns, though, that she's as much an outsider as he is. The two form a tentative friendship based on hatred of their classmates, particularly jocks, and her interest in Schemata. Fanboy is a rule follower, but Kyra is a rebel with a foul mouth. She teaches him to stand up for himself, and gives him the confidence to do it. Lyga looks at how teens are pushed to their limits by society. Though he toys with such concepts as teen suicide and Columbine-like violence, the novel never turns tragic. His love of comics carries over into all three teen characters, breathing animation into a potentially sad but often funny story.

This is a great bridge book for teens who already like graphic novels.

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Grades 9+

When Clay Jenson plays the cassette tapes he received in a mysterious package, he's surprised to hear the voice of dead classmate Hannah Baker. He's one of 13 people who receive Hannah's story, which details the circumstances that led to her suicide. Clay spends the rest of the day and long into the night listening to Hannah's voice and going to the locations she wants him to visit.

The text alternates, sometimes quickly, between Hannah's voice (italicized) and Clay's thoughts as he listens to her words, which illuminate betrayals and secrets that demonstrate the consequences of even small actions. Rumors, an unwarranted "bad girl" reputation, teasing and jeers, all lead to Hannah's decision to end her life. Hannah, herself, is not free from guilt but she reached out for help in small ways and in large ways. But in the end, she was ignored and not taken seriously--at one point she was accused of faking it. 

This is a devastating book. I kept on hoping that Hannah wasn't really dead. It seemed like little stuff but it was big to her. One small action snowballed and enveloped her whole life making her feel worthless and useless. Hannah was smart and pretty. She should have been the most popular girl in school. But that isn't how it worked out. It's really sad and makes the reader think about what his or her careless actions could have caused.

The message about how we treat one another, although sometimes heavy, makes for compelling reading.