Wild

Biography

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State–and she would do it alone. Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.

Want to know more? Use the Destiny Catalog to search for the title – click on the title and look for the Title Peek logo below the cover image to get more plot details, read reviews, and preview chapters.

Hidden Girl

Memoir

Hidden Girl: The True Story of a Modern-Day Child Slave by Shyima Hall

Shyima Hall was eight years old when her parents sold her into domestic slavery.

One of eleven children, Shyima lived with her family in poverty in Egypt.  When an older sister, a domestic servant in Cairo, was dismissed from her job for stealing, Shyima's parents made a deal with her sister's employers.  In order to repay the debt, Shyima would take her sister's place.

This began Shyima's life as a slave.  Her captors, a wealthy couple, referred to Shyima only as "stupid girl" and forced her to wait hand and foot on their family.  Any money she was paid for her work went directly to her parents, with whom she had very little contact. Two years into her bondage, Shyima's captors moved to the United States, and illegally trafficked Shyima in with them, keeping her enslaved.  

This is Shyima's harrowing true story of life as a child slave, and her long, inspiring road to freedom.

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Last Seen Leaving

Mystery

Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig

His girlfriend has disappeared. 

How can he uncover her secrets without revealing his own?

Flynn's girlfriend, January, is missing.  The cops are asking questions he can't answer, and her friends are telling stories that don't add up.  All eyes are on Flynn — as January's boyfriend, he must know something.

But Flynn has a secret of his own.  And as he struggles to uncover the truth about January's dasappearance, he must also face the turth about himself.

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Lincoln’s Spymaster

Biography – History

Lincoln's Spymaster: Allan Pinkerton, America's First Private Eye by Samantha Seiple

Without Allan Pinkerton, Abraham Lincoln might never have made it to the presidency.  This story highlights Pinkerton's efforts to uncover the details of an assassination plot designed to stop the newly elected Lincoln from ever taking office, as well as the detective's other adventures as America's first private eye.

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Throne of Glass Series

Fantasy

Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas

When magic has gone from the world, and a vicious king rules from his throne of glass, an assassin comes to the castle. She does not come to kill, but to win her freedom. If she can defeat twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition to find the greatest assassin in the land, she will become the king's champion and be released from prison. Her name is Celaena Sardothien. The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. And a princess from a foreign land will become the one thing she never thought she'd have again: a friend. But something evil dwells in the castle–and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying, horribly, one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the source of the evil before it destroys her world.

Want to know more? Use the Destiny Catalog to search for the title – click on the title and look for the Title Peek logo below the cover image to get more plot details, read reviews, and preview chapters.

The series continues in the following volumes:

The Pregnancy Project

Memoir

The Pregnancy Project, by Gaby Rodriguez, with Jenna Glatzer

It started as a school project . . . but turned into so much more.

Growing up, Gaby Rodriguez was often told she would end up a teen mom like her mother and sisters.  But Gaby had ambitions that didn't include teen motherhood.  Wondering how she would be treated if she "lived down" to others' expectations, as a school project she faked her own pregnancy to gauge  the reactions of her friends, family and community.  In her memoir, Gaby reveals all that she learned from the experience and how she came out from the shadow of low expectations to forge a bright future beyond the stereotypes.

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Original Fake

 Graphic Novel, Teen Life

Original Fake – written by Kirstin Cronn-Mills, with art by E. Eero Johnson

A tale for anyone who's ever felt invisible.

An escalating sibling rivalry train wrecks and vengeance is a street-art act of war in this illustrated novel.

Frankie Neumann's always felt like the black sheep of his family.  compared to his tutuwearing nightmare of a sister and his parents, Bridget and Brett – Frank sinatra and Dr. Frank-N-Furter impersonators – he's the odd man out in a very odd family.  He's the introvert nobody ever sees.  

But Frankie's got his own secret artistic aspirations, and they're about to get him swept up in the art adventure of a lifetime.

When Frankie's approached by David and Rory, cousins and errand runners for the notorious and anonymous street artist Uncle Epic, they make him the offer of his dreams, giving him the chance to strike back at his sister and to hang out with the hottest girl in school.

But soon, the lines between art and real life start to blur, and Frankie has to find a way to rein in the chaos before things spiral out of control.

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The Sports Beat Mysteries

Sports, Mystery

The Sports Beat mysteries by John Feinsein

Teen sportswriters Susan and Stevie Carol just iintend to cover sporting events – the players, the coaches, the competitions – but shocking truths and dark crimes keep putting the two in dangerous situations where they must solve the mysteries and save their own lives.

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The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee

Felicity Montague is through with pretending she prefers society parties to books about bonesetting – or that she's not smarter than most people she knows.

Felicity has returned to from a whirlwind tour of Europe spent evading highwaymen and pirates.  She has two goals in mind – avoid marriage with a persistent suitor and enroll in medical school.  But the administrators who see men as the sole guardians of science thwart her second goal, requiring a trip to Germany where a more forward thinking physician might be willing to take her on.

But making the trip involves impersonations and secrets that threaten not just her plans but her life.

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Symptoms of Being Human

Gender Identity, School Life

Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin

The first thing you're going to want to know about me is: 

Am I a boy, or am I a girl

Riley Cavanaugh is many things: Punk rock. Snarky. Rebellious. And gender fluid.  Some days Riley identifies as a boy, and others as a girl.  The thing is . . . Riley isn't exactly out yet.  And between starting a new school and having a congressman father running for reelection, the pressure — media and otherwise — is building up in Riley's so-called "normal" life.

Just settling in to a new school, and  developing feelings for a mysterious outcast, Riley starts an anonymous blog to vent those pent-up feelings and tell the truth of what it's really like to be a gender fluid teen.  But the blog goes viral, and an unnamed commenter discover's Riley's real identity, threatening exposure.  

Riley must make a choice: walk away from what the blog has created — a lifeline, new friends, a cause to believe in — or stand up, come out, and risk everything.

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The Female of the Species

Friendship, Loss, Violence

The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis

Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn't feel bad about it. When her older sister, Anna, was murdered three years ago and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best. The language of violence. While her crime goes unpunished, she relegates herself to the shadows, unremarkable in the high school hallways.

But Jack sees her, and so does Peekay. Their lives are set on a collision course that will change them forever.

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Dear Rachel Maddow

Teen Life

Dear Rachel Maddow by Adrienne Kisner

Brynn has been writing – but never sending – emails to Rachel Maddow about personal problems for a long time, about her brother's death, her awful stepfather, and why she is thinking about dropping out of school.

When she's confronted with a moral dilemma in the form of an ex and an archnemisis, she has to ask herself:  What Would Rachel Maddow Do?

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Student Review: Black Like Me

Memoir – Racial Identity

Erik Brainard provided this student review of Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin.

Black Like Me Review

Most people know of the hardships that blacks faced throughout most of American history, from enslavement in the 1700’s and 1800’s, to facing oppression to this day even after being freed in the late 1800’s. However, for a long time, whites had no idea what it was like to be of African descent in America, and none were brave enough to go against the grain and discover what it was like. However, this all changed when in 1961, white author John Howard Griffin published his book Black Like Me, documenting his experiences playing the societal role of a black man in the south during the late 1950’s and 1960’s. Using various dyes and exposure to UV lights, Griffin successfully changed his skin color from Caucasian to African American. Griffin writes in a diary style, with each chapter being a new day, with a date for each. Griffin accurately describes his experience as a black man and his information stays relevant even to this day.

The book begins with Griffin pondering the idea of living as a black. He questions; what adjustments would a white man need to make to live as a black in the south? Griffin then goes on to describe the steps that he took to prepare himself for this change, including how he got his family on board, and his experience finding a dermatologist who would help him. When Griffin finally starts his treatments, he finds them painful, and they often cause him nausea. However, because of his dedication, he pulled through and completed the process. The first time Griffin looks at himself in the mirror after his treatment is a major event in the book, showing one of the main themes: losing and regaining identity. When Griffin looks in the mirror, he doesn’t recognize the man staring back at him, and he feels scared. This foreshadows how different his life is about to become, and symbolizes his departure from the white community and his entrance into the black one. Throughout his experience as a black man, Griffin finds the condition of living to horrible. He is constantly on the receiving end of racial slurs and at one point a white man almost attacks him before Griffin chases him away. It is also very hard for Griffin to find a job, and to even find a restroom to use. Obviously, most educated people today already know that blacks had a very hard life before the civil rights movement, but Griffin’s firsthand view and white man’s perspective are really a nice change from other accounts, simply because Griffin is able to make comparisons between these two different lifestyles, something that genetic blacks can’t do. Griffin then goes on to describe his time after his six-week experiment. When he first publishes an article in 1960 describing his experiences as a black man, Griffin receives huge amounts of praise from around the world, and is invited to appear on multiple major television shows to be interviewed. However, he doesn’t quite get as much praise in Mansfield, TX, his home town. The overall attitude there remains racist, and Griffin and his family feel threatened, so they move to Mexico.

In the book, Griffin does a superb job of keeping the story pretty interesting and entertaining, while also keeping it historically accurate and informative. The blending of these two aspects really make Black Like Me a special book to read. Because of it being an interesting story, the book can be read for pleasure, and can be assigned to high school students and it won’t bore them to death. On the other hand, because of its historical relevance and accuracy, this book can be used for anyone looking to study the life of blacks in the 50’s and 60’s, and can be considered a primary source from this era. Whatever the reason for reading may be, chances are Black Like Me will satisfy the reader. However, the book is not flawless. The main issue is that Griffin’s writing style is not the most exciting. He doesn’t use much imagery when describing, and this occasionally makes reading feel like a chore. Another flaw is the way that the chapters are set up. Each chapter is one day, which in theory sounds like it would work, but doesn’t work quite so well in the book. Since on some days more things happen than on other days, the chapter length can vary quite a bit, and this disrupts the flow of Griffin’s writing.

All in all, John Howard Griffin’s book Black Like Me is still relevant to this day. Whether the reader wants a book to read just for pleasure, or they want a historically accurate book from the Civil Rights Era, Black Like Me will be satisfactory. Although it does have some flaws such as lack of descriptive language and unusual chapter structure, the positives certainly outweigh the negatives.

Very in Pieces

Very in Pieces by Megan Frazer Blakemore

A straight-A student in a family of free-spirited artists must face the hard truths about those she loves most.  Very has always been the dependable, responsible one–until her grandmother becomes terminally ill, causing all of the pieces of Very's once-structured life to come crashing down. Now she's cast aside her steady boyfriend and started an unexpected fling with Dominic, a rebellious art student with a bad reputation. Things at home have also taken a turn. Very's mother drinks all day, her father is never around, and her sister Ramona is constantly skipping school. And that's when the sculpture appears. Out of nowhere, a bottle cap design starts climbing up the stucco walls of the Sayles-Woodruff house, mysteriously growing by the day. With her grandmother nearing death and things heating up with Dominic, Very is tired of always being the responsible one.  If everything else can fall to pieces, why can't she?

Want to know more? Use the Destiny Catalog to search for the title – click on the title and look for the Title Peek logo below the cover image to get more plot details, read reviews, and preview chapters.

The Unwind Dystology

Science Fiction

The strange and terrifying future that began in Unwind continues in Neal Shusterman's Unwind Dystology:

UnWholly

Thanks to Connor, Lev, and Risa-and their high-profile revolt at Happy Jack Harvest Camp-people can no longer turn a blind eye to unwinding. Ridding society of troublesome teens while simltaneously providing much-needed organs for transplanting might be convenient, but its morality has finally been brought into question. However, unwinding has become big business, and there are powerful political and corporate interests that want to see it not only continue, but also expand to the unwinding of prisoners and the impoverished. Cam is made entirely out of the parts of other unwinds; he is a teen who does not technically exist. A futuristic Frankenstein, Cam struggles to find identity and meaning and wonders if a rewound being can have a soul. And when the actions of a sadistic bounty hunter cause Cam's fate to become inextricably bound with the fates of Connor, Risa, and Lev, he'll have to question humanity itself.

UnSouled

Connor and Lev are on the run after the destruction of the Graveyard, the last safe haven for AWOL Unwinds. But for the first time, they're not just running away from something. This time, they're running towards answers, in the form of a woman Proactive Citizenry has tried to erase from history itself. If they can find her, and learn why the shadowy figures behind unwinding are so afraid of her, they may discover the key to ending the unwinding process forever. Cam, the rewound boy, is plotting to take down the organization that created him. He knows that if he can bring Proactive Citizenry to its knees, it will show Risa how he truly feels about her. And without Risa, Cam is having trouble remembering what it feels like to be human. With the Juvenile Authority and vindictive parts pirates hunting them, their paths will converge explosively-and everyone will be changed.

UnDivided

Proactive Citizenry, the company that created Cam from the parts of unwound teens, has a plan: to mass produce rewound teens like Cam for military purposes. And below the surface of that horror lies another shocking level of intrigue: Proactive Citizenry has been suppressing technology that could make unwinding completely unnecessary. As Conner, Risa, and Lev uncover these startling secrets, enraged teens begin to march on Washington to demand justice and a better future. But more trouble is brewing. Starkey's group of storked teens is growing more powerful and militant with each new recruit. And if they have their way, they'll burn the harvest camps to the ground and put every adult in them before a firing squad-which could destroy any chance America has for a peaceful future.

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Con Academy

Con Academy by Joe Schreiber

It's his senior year and Will Shea has conned his way into one of the country's most elite prep schools. But he soon runs into Andrea, a fellow con-artist. With the school not big enough for the both of them, they make a bet that whoever can con Brandt Rush, the richest, most privileged student in the school out of $50K, gets to stay at the school. Will starts setting up his con (an online poker scam) with his uncle who's one of the best grifters in the business, but also with the unwanted help of his father.. The plot thickens as Will starts falling for fellow student Gatsby, and some of Will's lies start to catch up with him. In this twisty tale of scams, secrets, lies and deception, it hard to figure out who's conning who!

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Since You’ve Been Gone

Teen Life

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Sloane had been the one who yanked Emily out of her shell and made life 100% interesting.  But right before what should have been the most epic sumer, Sloane just . . . disappears.

All she leaves behind is a to-do list.  On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that Emily would normally never try.  But what if they could bring her best friend back?

Apple picking at night – Easy enough

Dance until dawn? – Sure.  Why not?

Kiss a stranger? – Ummm.

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Grunt

Military, Science, Nonfiction

Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War by Mary Roach

Take a tour of duty with Roach, and you'll never see our nation's defenders in the same way again!

Grunt tackles the science behind some of a soldier's most challenging adversaries – panic, exhaustion, heat, noise – and introduces us to the scientists who seek to conquer them.  

Mary Roach dodges hostile fire with the US Marine Corps Paintball Team as part of a study on hearing loss and survivability in combat.  She visits the fashion design studio of US Army Natick Labs and leans why a zipper is a problem for a sniper.  She visits a repurposed movie studio where amputee actors help prepare Marine Corps medics for the shock and gore of combat wounds.  At Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, in east Africa, we learn how diarrhea can be a threat to national security.

The author samples caffeinated meat, sniffs an archival sample of a World War II stink bomb, and stays up all night with the crew tending the missiles on the nuclear submarine USS Tennessee.  She answers questions not found in any other book on the military: Why is DARPA interested in ducks?  How is a wedding gown like a bomb suit?  Why are shrimp more dangerous to sailors than sharks?  

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More Happy Than Not

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

In the months after his father's suicide, it's been tough for 16-year-old Aaron Soto to find happiness again–but he's still gunning for it. With the support of his girlfriend Genevieve and his overworked mom, he's slowly remembering what that might feel like. But grief and the smile-shaped scar on his wrist prevent him from forgetting completely.

When Genevieve leaves for a couple of weeks, Aaron spends all his time hanging out with this new guy, Thomas. Aaron's crew notices, and they're not exactly thrilled. But Aaron can't deny the happiness Thomas brings or how Thomas makes him feel safe from himself, despite the tensions their friendship is stirring with his girlfriend and friends. Since Aaron can't stay away from Thomas or turn off his newfound feelings for him, he considers turning to the Leteo Institute's revolutionary memory-alteration procedure to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he truly is. Why does happiness have to be so hard? 

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Carry On: The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow

Fantasy

Carry On: The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow by Rainbow Rowell

"So now that you know I'm a vampire, for certain, you don't care?"

"Now that I know that you just sneak around, drinking household pets and legal game, yeah, I'm not too bothered.  It's not like I'm a militant vegetarian."

"And you still don't believe that I'm dead."

Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who's ever been chosen. That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he's probably right. Half the time, Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon's face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here–it's their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon's infuriating nemesis didn't even bother to show up.

This book wins my award for the most misleading cover on a YA book.  There is romance, and angst, but also monsters and death and misuse of magic and annoying roommates.  More of that needed to show up on the cover!

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Winter

Winter by Marissa Meyer

The Lunar Chronicles' final chapter is the story of Winter, the scared princess whose beauty rivals that of her stepmother, the Queen.

Winter despises her stepmother, and has been undermining her wishes for years.  Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that's been raging for far too long.

Other titles in the series:

• Cinder
• Scarlet
• Cress
• Fairest

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The Unlikely Hero of Room 13 B

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13 B by Teresa Toten

Adam Ross has made a list:

1. I  believe that I fell in love with Robyn Plummer last Monday.  This feeling is extremely uncomfortable.  I would stop it if I could.

2. I believe that I should have been allowed to skip grade 4.  I would be in grade 11 now and my entire life would be different.  Better.  Somehow.

3. I believe that playing Warhammer games all these years with Stones (Ben Stone) has probably kept both our heads above water, but just barely.

4. I believe that my four-year-old half brother, Sweetie, loves me more than all the adults in our lives put together.  This does not stop him from being a considerable pain.

5. I believe that Group is mucho weirdo (except for Robyn). I can't see how it's going to help with anything, but the superhero stuff is not half bad.

Adam's goals are to: Grow immediately. Find courage. Keep courage. Get normal. Marry Robyn Plummer. The instant Adam Spencer Ross meets Robyn Plummer in his Young Adult OCD Support Group, he is hopelessly, desperately drawn to her. Robyn has an hypnotic voice, blue eyes the shade of an angry sky, and ravishing beauty that makes Adam's insides ache. She's also just been released from a residential psychiatric program–the kind for the worst, most difficult-to-cure cases; the kind that Adam and his fellow support group members will do anything to avoid joining. Adam immediately knows that he has to save Robyn, must save Robyn, or die trying. But is it really Robyn who needs rescuing? And is it possible to have a normal relationship when your life is anything but? 

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Goldfish

Friendship, Teen Life

Goldfish by Nat Luurtsema

I am Lou Brown

Social outcast, precocious failure.

5' 10" and still growing.

I was on the fast track to Olympic Superstardom.

Now, I'm training boys too cool to talk to me.

In a sport I just made up.

In a fish tank.

My life has quickly become very weird.

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Code of Honor

Suspense

Code of Honor by Alan Gratz

Kamran Smith has it all. He's the star of the football team, dates the most popular girl in school, and can't wait to enlist in the Army like his big brother, Darius. Although Kamran's family hails from Iran, Kamran has always felt 100% American. Accepted.

And then everything implodes.

Darius is accused of being a terrorist. Kamran refuses to believe it, but the evidence is there — Darius has been filmed making threats against his country, hinting at an upcoming deadly attack. Kamran's friends turn on him — suddenly, in their eyes, he's a terrorist, too.

Kamran knows it's up to him to clear his brother's name. In a race against time, Kamran must piece together a series of clues and codes that will lead him to Darius — and the truth.

But is it a truth Kamran is ready to face? And is he putting his own life at risk?

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Nemesis

Nemesis by Brendan Reichs

It has been happening since Min was eight.  Every two years, on her birthday, a strange man finds her and murders her in cold blood.  But hours later, she wakes up in a clearing just outside her tiny Idaho hometown – alone, unhurt, and with all evidence of the horrifying crime erased.

On her sixteenth birthday, as she cowers in her bedroom, hoping not to die for the fifth time, Min has had enough.  

Across the valley, Noah just wants to be like everyone else.  But he's not.  Nightmares of murder and death plague him, though he does his best to hide the signs.  But when the world around him begins to spiral toward panic and destruction, Noah discovers that people have been lying to him his whole life.  

For the planet has a bigger problem – an enormous asteroid threatening all life on Earth.

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15 Days Without a Head

15 Days Without a Head by Dave Cousins

Fifteen-year-old Laurence Roach just wants a normal life, but it's far from easy with his little brother who acts like a dog and their depressed alcoholic mother. If Laurence can win the luxury vacation in a local radio contest, he's certain his mum will finally be happy again. Then one night she doesn't come home from work, and Laurence must face the reality that she might not come back at all. Terrified that child services will separate him from his brother, Laurence does whatever he can to keep their mother's disappearance a secret. For two weeks, he spins a web of complicated lies to friends, neighbors, and the authorities–even dressing up in his mother's clothes to convince everyone she's still around. But Laurence can't hide the truth forever. He begins a desperate search for her, and that's when the real trouble starts in this powerful story about family, forgiveness, and hope.

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On Two Feet and Wings

Memoir

On Two Feet and Wings by Abbas Kazerooni

Abbas Kazerooni is not yet ten when, during the Iran-Iraq War, her is forced to leave his parents, his friends – his entire world – and flee from Tehran.

On his own in the often frightening city of Istanbul, Abbas grows up fast with little more than his wits to guide him.  Here, in a city where he doesn't speak the language, he must determine who is a friend and who is an enemy, walking a tightrope of survival.

His quick thinking, entrepreneurial spirit, and the unexpected kindness of of strangers allow him to make the best of his dire situation in surprising ways.  But does he have what it takes to achieve his parents' ultimate dream for him: a visa to England – and safety?

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Before We Go Extinct

Friendship, Death

Before We Go Extinct by Karen Rivers

Since watching his friend fall (jump?) from a skyscraper, JC, nicknamed Sharky, has been holed up in his room, obsessing about sharks and climate change, and texting his dead friend.

When his mom sends him to a remote island in Canada to visit his dad, Sharky meets a girl who just may show hiim how to live – and love – again.

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Who Killed Christopher Goodman?

Mystery

Who Killed Christopher Goodman? by Allan Wolf

Everybody likes Chris Goodman.

Sure, he's kind of weird.  He wears those crazy bell-bottoms and he really likes the word ennui and he shakes your hand when he meets you, but he's the kind of guy who is always up for a good time and is happy to lend a hand.  Everybody likes Chris Goodman, which is why it's so shocking when he is murdered.

A multi-voiced narrative that includes the perspective of the killer and is inspired by a true and shocking crime from the author's own past, the book endeavors to answer the first question that comes to mind in moments of unthinkable tragedy:

How could a thing like this happen?

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Rock ‘N’ Roll Soldier

Memoir

Rock 'N' Roll Soldier by Dean Ellis Kohler

During a time when none of us knew for sure if we would live or die, I came to know the true power of music.​

Dean Kohler is about to make it big–he's finally scored a national record deal! But his dreams are abruptly put on hold by the arrival of his draft notice. Now he's in Qui Nhon, Vietnam, serving as a military policeman.

He keeps telling himself he's a musician, not a killer, and that he's lucky he's not fighting on the front lines. When Captain orders him to form a rock band, it's up to Dean to find instruments and players, pronto. Ingenuity and perseverance pay off and soon the band is traveling through treacherous jungle terrain to perform for troops in desperate need of an escape–even if it's only for three sets.

And for Dean–who lives with death, violence, and the fear that anyone could be a potential spy (even his Vietnamese girlfriend)–the band becomes the one thing that gets him through the day. During one of the most controversial wars in recent American history, this incredible true story is about music and camaraderie in the midst of chaos.

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The Uplift Saga

Science Fiction

The Uplift Novels by David Brin

David Brin is a Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction author.  His Uplift series is set in a future world where humans have been joined by genetically enhanced dolphins and chimps as they explore a universe full of superior alien races, many hostile to those from Earth.

Sundiver

In all the universe, no species has ever reached for the stars without the guidance of an alien patron – except perhaps humans. Circling the sun, in the caverns of Mercury, Expedition Sundiver prepares for a journey into the broiling inferno of the sun to find out more about humans' place in the cosmic order.  But mysterious ghosts and murderous passengers threaten the ship's mission.

Startide Rising

The Terran exploration vessel Streaker has crashed on the uncharted water world of Kithrup, bearing one of the most important discoveries in galactic history.  Above, in space, armadas of alien races clash in a titanic struggle to claim her.  Below, a handful of her human and dolphin crew battles armed rebellion and a hostile planet to safeguard her secret – the fate of the Progenitors, the fabled First Race who seeded wisdom throughout the stars.

The Uplift War

As galactic armadas clash in quest of the ancient fleet of the Progenitors, a brutal alien race seizes the dying planet of Garth.  The various uplifted inhabitants of Garth must battle their overlords or face ultimate extinction.  At stake is the existence of Terran society and Earth, and the fate of the entire Five Galaxies. 

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Student Review: Scratch Beginnings

Memoir

Jeffrey Liao  provided this student review of the non-fiction memoir Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shepard.

Scratch Beginnings

If you’re a teenager who is wondering what it’s like to be poor, read this book.

If you’re a liberal and believe the American Dream doesn’t exist, read this book.

If you’re a conservative and believe the homeless are just lazy, read this book.

If you haven’t heard or read Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shepard, you’re missing out.

Shepard’s memoir of his journey from “rags-to-fancier-rags” is a very enlightening book that I, admittedly, had trouble putting down.

Will you receive cultural insider knowledge on how the other half lives after reading this book?

Yes. Will you become a financial guru? Probably not. The point is, the purpose of this book is to prove two things: 1) that the American Dream does exist. 2) People who complain about what they don’t have are just whiners.

The book begins with Shepard providing context to his little social experiment. He states the motivation behind his wanting to do this (which was to prove the American Dream does exist), and how he made sure his experiment was controlled and unbiased. He chose a random city, only took an initial amount of $25 to spend, a sleeping bag and the clothes on his back. He establishes that his goal is to get a place to live in, own a car, and become a regular citizen of society, all within a year. Shepard then takes the train to Charleston, where he soon finds a homeless shelter called Crisis Ministries, but not before having several tense encounters with homeless people. At Crisis Ministries, he’s able to get a job, however, it pays very little, and it isn’t even a secure job (as every day is a new job somewhere else). While he still looks for ways to get closer to achieving his goal, he starts to form friendships with the people at Crisis Ministries, often hanging out with them and watching movies together. He discovers more about the personal lives of the homeless, and how they ended up in their poor situation.

As Adam progresses, it is very interesting to see how his attitude changes. See, in the beginning, Adam was absolutely determined to keep a low profile. He did not want to attract attention to himself, either by fighting or doing something illegal. However, after he finishes a stressful and abusive shift at a clothing store, he gets tired of Planet Plump’s (the manager of the store) mistreatment of Adam and his friends and decides to confront her. He transitioned from a very cautious man to a person who just did not care anymore. Adam wanted to just be himself.

Later, Adam discovers that he has a solid opportunity to land himself a job at a carwash, but declines since the wage was slightly smaller than he had wanted. Still though, it was a significant step towards official employment. In the end, he does get hired as a mover for furniture, and considered himself lucky that he got paired with “one of the best movers on the planet.”

In the end, Shepard succeeds in finding a secure job, a place to live, and fitting into society. He also accomplishes more than that, and in lesser time than he had expected.

So, with that summary in mind, I think that Adam’s journey to find the American Dream was very fruitful and was filled with revelations. It may have had its flaws, as Adam himself points out in his book, but I believe that while he may have gotten lucky at times, his story cannot just be ignored. It does have a lot of merits. He did as much as he could to keep his experiment random and as close to a regular homeless man’s situation as possible. And yet, he was still able to get a job and home in less than a year. In general, I recommend this book for anyone. The American Dream theme relates to everyone in different aspects. Like I said at the beginning of this review: If you think the American Dream does not exist, read this book. Adam provides a relatively concrete case that the A.D. is within America’s reach. You will be thoroughly intrigued by how he got so far with so little. If you’re a conservative who believes homeless people just can’t get a job because they’re lazy, you will be surprised when you read how much Adam’s homeless friends eagerly talk about getting a job. You will discover that they don’t spend all their money on drugs. Some of them were just a victim of circumstance.

This book is certainly comparable to Ehrenrich’s Nickel and Dimed, where she concludes that the American Dream does not exist. Adam’s purpose, as he stated in the beginning of his book, was to prove her wrong, essentially serving as a rebuttal to her book. These two authors were people who were trying to discover if the illusive America Dream truly existed. Personally, I think that Adam has a better argument, since his process of starting low and coming out high was a lot more controlled and more realistic than that of Ehrenrich, who allowed herself to use her credit card. Ehrenrich didn’t really have a consistent, legitimate process, so I do not believe her conclusion is supported by her experiment.

But that is all just my opinion. Everyone has their opinions. For me, Adam’s book made quite an impact on how I see the unfortunate victims of circumstance, who are out there in the world, trying to become better people but just can’t seem to find the right chances to do so. Adam has also boosted my confidence that the American Dream could actually be tangible, if not already tangible. Therefore, after considering that he started out with so little, and came out with a lot, I proudly give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.

Stand Off

Teen Life

Stand Off by Andrew Smith

The sequel to Winger, fifteen-year-old Ryan Dean West, now a senior at Pine Mountain Academy, becomes captain of the rugby team, shares his dormitory room with a twelve-year-old prodigy, Sam Abernathy, and through the course of the year learns to appreciate things he has tried to resist, including change.  Dealing with grief, ghosts, nightmares, and romantic challenges in additon to rugby brings on a slew of insecurities related to his own past.

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VIII

Historical Fiction

VIII by H. M. Castor

Prince Hal is a young man with extraordinary gifts: astonishing warrior skills, sharp intelligence, and a fierce sense of honor.  His older brother will be the next king of England, but Hal knows that he is also destined for greatness – even if his father wishes he would disappear.

When his brother suddenly dies, Hal is thrust into further conflict as he becomes the heir to the throne. Upon his succession, Hal's obsession with regaining France and having an abundance of sons causes him to end marriage  after marriage, casting off and even executing his wives, breaking with the Catholic church, and turning from an honorable and idealistic young prince into the cruel and despotic ruler known as Henry VIII.

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Every Day – Another Day

Romance, Supernatural

Every Day and Another Day by David Levithan

These two books tell the same story from two different perspectives.

In Every Day, A wakes each moring in a different person's body, a different person's life.  There is never any warning about where it will be or who it will be.  A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live:

Never get too attached.  

Avoid being noticed.  

Do not interfere. 

It's all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon.  From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply.  Because finally A has found someone to love – day in, day out, day after day.

* * *

Rhiannon's side of the story is told in Another Day.  For Rhiannon, every day is the same.  She has accepted her life, convinced herself that she deserves her distant, temperamental boyfriend, Justin, even established guidleines by which to live:  

Don't be too needy.  

Avoid upsetting him.  

Never get your hopes up. 

Until the morning everything changes.  Justin seems to see her, to want to be with her for the first time, and they share a perfect day – a perfect day Justin doesn't seem to remember the next morning.  Confused, depressed, and desperate for another day as great as that one, Rhiannon starts questioning everything.  Then one day, a stranger tells her that the Justin she spent that day with, the one who made her feel like a real person . . . wasn't Justin at all.

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Gem & Dixie

Family relationships

Gem & Dixie by Sara Zarr

Gem has never know what it is to have security.  She's never known an adult she can truly rely on.  But the one constant in her life has been Dixie.  Gem grew up taking care of her her sister when no one else could: not their mother, whose issues make it hard for her to keep food on the table, and definitely not their father, whose intermittent presence is the only thing worse than than his frequent absence.  

When their dad returns home for the first time in years and tries to insert himself back into their lives, Gem finds herself with an unexpected opportunity: three days with Dixie, on their own in Seattle and beyond. 

But this short trip soon becomes something more, as Gem discovers that to save herself, she may have to sever the one bond she's tried so hard to keep.

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A Blade So Black

A Blade So Black by L. L. McKinney

The first time a Nightmare came, Alice nearly lost her life.  Now, with magic weapons and hard-core fighting skills, she battles these monstrous creatures in the dream realm known as Wonderland.  Yet even warriors have curfews.

Life in real-world Atlanta isn't always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, and school.  Keeping Nightmares at bay is turning into a full-time job.

When Alice's handsome and mysterious mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she's ever gone before.  And she'll need to use everything she's learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head.  Literally.

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Running With Lions

Soccer, Friendship

Running With Lions by Julian Winters

As the Lions' star goalie, Sebastian Hughes should be excited about his senior year: his teammates are amazing, and he's got a coach who doesn't ask anyone to hide their sexuality.  But when an ex-best friend shows up at summer training camp, Sebastian realizes he needs to repair the relationship to save the team's success.  Setting out to regain Emir's trust, he is surprised to realize that their bonding efforts may be sparking more than just friendship between them.  

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Renegades

Renegades by Marissa Meyer

The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies – humans with extraordinary abilities – who emerged from the ruins of a rumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned.  As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone . . . except the villains they once overthrew.

Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance.  As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adreian, a REnegade boy who believes in justice, and in Nova.  But Nova's allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.

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Prison Island

Graphic Memoir

Prison Island by Colleen Frakes

The story of a perfectly ordinary childhood in a perfectly extraordinary place.

McNeil Island in Washington state was the home of the last prison island in the US, accessible only by air or sea.  It was also home to about fifty families, including Colleen Frakes's.  In this graphic memoir, Colleen tells her story of growing up on McNeil Island, where regular teenage activities like ordering a pizza or going to the movies became extremely complicated endeavors, and the small-town dynamics were amplified by living on the edge of a prison, in an isolated place where if you broke a rule, your family could be kicked off the island.

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Little Fish

Graphic Biography

Little Fish: A Memoir From a Different Kind of Year by Ramsey Beyer

Told through real-life journals, collages, lists, and drawings, this coming-of-age story illustrates the transformation of an 18-year-old girl from a small-town teenager into an independent city-dwelling college student. Written in an autobiographical style with beautiful artwork, Little Fish shows the challenges of being a young person facing the world on her own for the very first time and the unease–as well as excitement–that comes along with that challenge.

Ramsey Beyer is a comic artist and illustrator living in Philadelphia, PA. She self-published her autobiographical graphic novel, Year One , accounting for her first year in Philadelphia. Beyer has had illustrated and written work published in several books, including Fanzines by Teal Triggs, Make A Zine!, and Don't Leave Your Friends Behind. Little Fish: A Memoir From a Different Kind of Year is her first traditionally published book. Known for her pet portraits, she is also the illustrator of Daisy to the Rescue by Jeff Campbell.

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Challenger Deep

Mental Illness, Teen Life

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

Caden Bosch is on a ship that's headed for the deepest point on Earth: Challenger Deep, the southern part of the Marianas Trench.

Caden Bosch is a brilliant high school student whose friends are starting to notice his odd behavior.

Caden Bosch is designated the ship's artist in residence, to document the journey with images.

Caden Bosch pretends to join the school track team but spends his days walking for miles, absorbed by the thoughts in his head.

Caden Bosch is split between his allegiance to the captain and the allure of mutiny.

Caden Bosch is torn.

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Some Assembly Required

Memoir

Some Assembly Required: The Not-So-Secret Life of a Transgender Teen by Arin Andrews

Seventeen-year-old Arin Andrews shares all the hilarious, painful, and poignant details of undergoing gender reassignment as a high school student in this winning memoir. We've all felt uncomfortable in our own skin at some point, and we've all been told that "it's just a part of growing up." But for Arin Andrews, it wasn't a phase that would pass. He had been born in the body of a girl and there seemed to be no relief in sight… In this revolutionary memoir, Arin details the journey that led him to make the life-transforming decision to undergo gender reassignment as a high school junior. In his captivatingly witty, honest voice, Arin reveals the challenges he faced as a girl, the humiliation and anger he felt after getting kicked out of his private school, and all the changes – both mental and physical – he experienced once his transition began.

Some Assembly Required is a true coming-of-age story about knocking down obstacles and embracing family, friendship, and first love. But more than that, it is a reminder that self-acceptance does not come ready-made with a manual and spare parts. Rather, some assembly is always required.

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Bone Gap

Mystery – Fantasy

"Everyone knows Bone Gap is full of gaps – gaps to trip you up, gaps to slide through so you can disappear forever."

Eighteen-year-old Finn, an outsider in his quiet Midwestern town, is the only witness to the abduction of town favorite Roza.  When she disappears, the people of Bone Gap aren't surprised.  After all, it wasn't the first time.  That's just how things go, they say.

Finn knows she was kidnapped, but no one believes him, and Finn's face blindness, which makes him unable to distinguish between faces, makes it difficult for him to help with the investigation, and subjects him to even more ridicule and bullying.  Finding Roza means exploring the gaps between what is real and what is unseen, the gaps between worlds.

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