When I was a teen, I was into reading fiction about girls with anorexia, which at that time (mid-80's) was pretty new. I even thought that I might want to become a psychologist or psychiatrist due to the empathy that was borne in me from reading about the inexplicable struggle that these young girls go through. It's been a long time since I was a teen and it seems like eating disorders are much more commonplace (in fact they only affect about 1% of teen girls--see note below**), but I still wonder if anyone reading this hasn't had a friend or a relative who has struggled through anorexia or bulimia. And now with a tween daughter of my own, I feel certain that at some point one of her friends or she herself will struggle. Is ...
Category Archives: High School
On Reading: Suzanne Collins Mockingjay Reading
Suzanne Collins lives in my area. Yes, THE Suzanne Collins. She generally does library and school appearances and signings, but the past couple of years, she's been very busy with the release of Catching Fire and Mockingjay (linked to Dawn's review), and I don't know if you knew that she's writing the screenplay for The Hunger Games movie right now -- so we haven't been able to see her. When my daughter Amanda and her good friend Haley found out she was going to be doing a reading and signing about an hour away, her mom and I bought the tickets (a hardcover copy of the book at full price, even though I had already preordered one at an incredibly low price at amazon) and made plans to attend. Since the event was on ...
Mockingjay
Mockingjay. This is the one word that's been on many, many lips since the third book was announced in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Forget sparkly vampires, this one is all about a dystopian world in which society as we know it has been gone for quite some time, and in its place is a controlling and abusive government called the Capitol which keeps order through horrific measures. *You can count on me to leave out any spoilers for Mockingjay, but if you haven't read the two previous installments of the trilogy, you might want to get thee to a library/bookstore/friend's bookshelf before reading further.* We first met Katniss in The Hunger Games (linked to my review), the teenager from District Twelve whose life of daily struggles changes the instant her younger ...
Suite Scarlett and Scarlett Fever
Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson is a somewhat old fashioned tale. For one, the family lives in a hotel. Isn't that just a perfect setting for a classic teen novel? Secondly, it's a family story. Scarlett isn't one of those YA heroines who spends time hanging out with friends, ditching school and going to parties. All her friends are off having summer adventures while she stays home to help her family run the hotel. When she turns 15, she's supposed to take more responsibility in caring for one of the suites. As it happens, the mysterious and headstrong Amy Amberson, a former actress, moves in and hires Scarlett to be her assistant. She's quirky, and her quirks give level-headed Scarlett an easy "straight man". She plays the same role to older-brother Spencer, ...
The Adoration of Jenna Fox
You may be one of the throng who are waiting for 8/24/10 when Mockingjay is released and concludes The Hunger Games trilogy (linked to Dawn's review if you aren't sure what all the hubbub is about). But The Hunger Games isn't the only dystopian YA lit out there. While you are waiting for your copy to arrive, or for your number to come up on the library's waitlist (my YA librarian said that she has 8 copies on order, and there are already almost 60 names on the request list), here's another book with a strong female lead that you might want to consider: I listened to the audiobook of The Adoration of Jenna Fox a while ago -- a long while, and I've been remiss in posting a review, even ...
The Fat Boy Chronicles
As adults, we are well aware of the health implications of being overweight, and unfortunately, these problems are being experienced by more children and young adults than ever. Perhaps as equally damaging are the mental health effects felt by young people whose obesity becomes the target for ridicule and shame. The Fat Boy Chronicles is a fictionalized account of an overweight teenager, inspired by real life and written by two high school teachers, Diane Lang and Michael Buchanan. It certainly packs a punch in depicting the anguish that can be experienced by ostracization and torment. When Jimmy starts high school in a new neighborhood school, he hopes that his middle school memories of being pegged "Not-So-Slim-Jimmy" will be just memories, but unfortunately his weight continues to attract constant teasing, or more appropriately labeled abuse, by his ...
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Jennifer Donovan
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