Tricia's Picks for 2008

Thirteen Reasons Why: A Novel by Jay Asher   YA Fiction
When high school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.

Peeled by Joan Bauer   YA Fiction
In an upstate New York farming community, high school reporter Hildy Biddle investigates a series of strange occurrences at a house rumored to be haunted.

Sara’s Face by Melvin Burgess   YA Fiction
Seventeen-year-old Sara wants so much to be famous that when a legendary, plastic-surgery-addicted rock star offers to take her under his wing and pay for her to have surgery too, she jumps at the chance despite her misgivings.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow   YA Sci Fi
After being interrogated for days by the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco, California, seventeen-year-old Marcus, released into what is now a police state, decides to use his expertise in computer hacking to set things right.

Black and White Airmen: Their True History by John Fleischman   J 940.54
John Leahr and Herb Heilbrun became pilots during World War II, but they never met because the army was rigidly segregated--only in the air were black and white American fliers allowed to mix. Fifty years later, they met and discovered their lives had run almost side by side.

The Trailblazing Life of Daniel Boone: And How Early Americans Took to the Road by Cheryl Harness   J Bio
Profiles the life and adventures of Daniel Boone; chronicling his childhood in Pennsylvania, service in the French and Indian War, journey across the Appalachians, and settlement of Boonesboro, Kentucky; and includes illustrations, maps, and primary source quotations.

Fell by M.E. Kerr   YA Mystery
A strange incident on the night of the senior prom changes John Fell's entire life, leading him to enroll in an exclusive private school under an assumed name.

The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean   YA Fiction
Sym is not your average teenage girl. She is obsessed with the Antarctic and the brave, romantic figure of Captain Oates from Scott's doomed expedition to the South Pole. In fact, Oates is the secret confidant to whom she spills all her hopes and fears. But Sym's uncle Victor is even more obsessed—and when he takes her on a dream trip into the bleak Antarctic wilderness, it turns into a nightmarish struggle for survival that will challenge everything she knows and loves.

Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden   YA Fiction
Seven Australian teenagers return from a camping trip in the bush to discover that their country has been invaded and they must hide to stay alive.

What They Found: Love on 145th Street by Walter Dean Myers   YA Fiction
A collection of short stories from one of the great authors. These stories are all about love, husband-wife, parent-child, siblings, neighbors and friends. The stories work great separately for readings and also paint one large mosaic picture of Harlem and this community. Readers who liked Street Love will like seeing characters they are already familiar with.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Who is Jenna Fox? Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a coma, they tell her, and she is still recovering from a terrible accident in which she was involved a year ago. But what happened before that? Jenna doesn't remember her life. Or does she? And are the memories really hers?

Keeping Corner by Kashmira Sheth   YA Fiction
In India in the 1940's, thirteen-year-old Leela's happy, spoiled childhood ends when her husband since age nine, whom she barely knows, dies, leaving her a widow whose only hope of happiness could come from Mahatma Ghandi's social and political reforms.

Bootcamp by Todd Strasser   YA Fiction
In the middle of the night Garrett is taken from his home to Harmony Lake, a boot camp for troubled teens. Maybe some kids deserve to be sent there, but Garrett knows he doesn't. Subjected to brutal physical and psychological abuse, he tries to fight back, but the battle is futile. He won't be allowed to leave until he's admitted his "mistakes" and conformed to Harmony Lake's standards of behavior. And there's no way to fake it. Beaten, humiliated, and stripped of his pride, Garrett's spirit is slowly ebbing away. Then he hears whispers of an escape plot. It's incredibly risky -- if he's caught, the consequences will be unthinkable -- but it may be his only way out.

Sweethearts: A Novel by Sara Zarr   YA Fiction
After losing her soul mate, Cameron, when they were nine, Jennifer, now seventeen, transformed herself from the unpopular fat girl into the beautiful and popular Jenna, but Cameron's unexpected return dredges up memories that cause both social and emotional turmoil.

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