This page is devoted to children’s books and young adult books. If you have a recommendation for this list, please add it using the reply box (give the title, author, and if possible, the genre and publication date). It would also be helpful to let us know the age of the child/teen who enjoyed the book so we have an age range for each entry.
I hope this page becomes a place for kids to read what other kids read and liked. Please encourage your children to submit their reviews.
If you want to use Bean’s rating system, here it is:
*** = don’t miss this book!
** = a very good read
* = good
= worth mentioning
***Willow by Julia Hoban
First off I certainly would not recommend this book for anyone under sixteen, it is very stirring and relates to young adults around this age especially the comprehension of the story.
If there were more than three stars they would be up there. This is my all time favorite book and I could read it over and over again. It keeps you so captivated from the moment you see the book, until after you’ve finished the last words. It is something you will actually feel…
Seven months ago Willow’s mother and father drank too much at dinner. Willow was given the keys on one of the worst storms, in spite of only holding her driver’s permit. It was dark and raining when Willow had lost her parents.
Now willow lives with her older brother but cant help feeling as thought she is a burden upon his life.They barely talk anymore to even feel related. She seems unable to move on from what has dramatically changed her life. To hide her pain, loss, and loneliness she is a cutter while no one knows it she secretly feels the need to relieve herself with the razors if ever uncomfortable or unstable for any reason.
Guy, a boy she meets while working at the library, becomes close and personal with her new life and feels the need to help with everything that’s happening. She feels that Guy is the one person she connects to and that knows her better than anyone else.
***Please Stop Laughing at Me
In a powerful memoir of her teen years, Jodee Blanco tells the ultimate horror story of being teased in school in her book “Please Stop Laughing at Me”. This book is a must read for teens and parents. It was chosen as the One Book One Community selection for the 2005-2006 school year in Lansing, MI and has become part of a permanent exhibit at the Chicago National Historical Society.
The story revolves around the author and her never ending quest to “fit in”. By initially sticking up for the underdog in school, Jodee becomes the underdog, outcast and misfit despite her desperate attempts to find a group, any group to belong to. She is tormented in the bathrooms, endures physical abuse on the bus and relentless degrading verbal abuse. “Blanco you suck”, “You are garbage” and much, much worse. She had clothes destroyed, is beat up by the football team and tortured by neighborhood kids to the point of dreaming she were dead. This book will make kids, parents and teachers think twice about the silent and sometimes not so silent aggression of teens. Perhaps as I am sure is the goal of the book, it will even stop the behavior of some of these silly cliques that are so demeaning to kids. This book will open your eyes and make all of us think twice about the way we treat others.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (1999)
Melinda Sordino, the narrator, is hilarious–she’s witty, sarcastic, and observant. But she’s also silent. The story takes place just after she broke up a summer party by calling the cops, an action which caused all of her friends to desert her, and which landed her in the outcast heap as she begins her freshman year in high school. Since she won’t reveal why she called the police, and since no one bothers to ask, she shuts down and enters a silent world where she narrates her life to us, particularly her observations about the various high school cliques: the Marthas, the Suffering Artists, the Jocks, the Country Clubbers, the Goths, and many more. Though her inward slide is sad and sometimes frustrating (because this reader wanted to yell “just tell them!”), her commentary is hysterical. Take for instance, the scene where she’s in English with her teacher–Hairwoman–and she tells us: “we are reading The Scarlet Letter one sentence at a time, tearing it up and chewing on its bones.”
Ultimately, she finds her way, as if the suffocating silence finally smothers her enough to want a voice again. It’s a healing journey, and a serious story, but at the same time, funny and entertaining, especially to those us us who witness high school every day.
This was one of the stories that I read in college and then have reread several times. I know that it is meant for an older audience (high school at least), but a selection of my eighth graders have checked this out from the library. I think that it is an important story for people to read. Another book that is about the same type of thing but from a different point of view is Inexcusable by Chris Lynch. It’s very short, but a decent read.
Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser (2000)
I came across this book a few years ago when my son read it, and I reread it this fall as the sponsoring teacher for our 9th grade “Book a Conversation” project. It’s disturbing, but well written and an important book for middle school and high school students. The bok opens with suicide notes from the two main characters, Gary and Brendan, so we know from the opening where their lives lead them. The book is then narrated by all the other people in their lives: friends, classmates, teachers, administrators, and parents. Through these voices, the story unfolds from the time both boys lead seemingly normal lives to their infatuation with video games and violence, their disconnection from peers, the bullying from classmates, their descent into a dark world. It’s easy to look back and see the path to destruction, but hindsight is more clear than reality. In reality, people saw their behavior as weird and different, but not violent. And the bullying they endured was never taken seriously.
Today, I think things are different. The book was published in 2000, and since then, while school shootings have increased bullying awareness and prevention has increased as well. I think we realize today just how dangerous the formula is: disconnected, bullied kid + gun = violent actions. The gun gives them the power they never had.
In addition to the fictional story (which seems very real), at the bottom of each page, the author gives facts about guns, violence, bullying, etc. These come from news articles, magazines, and research studies. So along with the story, we get real information about the issues. This is a good read.
*** Boot Camp by Todd Strasser
It’s hard to believe that things in this book could actually happen. The main character is in the middle of nowhere with razor wire fences and broken glass topped walls. We might think he’s in a prison, but actually his parents pay $4000 a month have his life “retooled” because he was having a relationship with his teacher, Sabrina, a woman who’s eight years older than he is. Also, he skips school because he can get straight A’s without attending, so he hangs out in the park and plays chess with old people. So his parents, very wealthy people with a “good” reputation, make him disappear, and he ends up in this boot camp where he can be “changed”. But part of changing him is abusing him. For example, when he’s assigned to TI (temporary isolation)he has to lie face down while he gets kicked and stood on. Also, they make him tell everyone at the camp about Sabrina to embarrass and humiliate him. This story is ficitonal, but hundreds of boot camps actually exist and tens of thousands of kids end up in them without committing a crime–their parents just send them there to be “more polite” or “bettter kids.”
** Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
This book is about a guy, Perry, a recent high school graduate, and his friends fighting during the Vietnam war. I thought it was very well written because it gave readers an image of the Vietnam War. It showed how all of the men could be so scared and nervous at times, like when they see a bare leg bone of one of their platoon members who is hit during combat. They have to endure sitting still not moving at all for two hours, treading through land with vines that grab at their feet, and getting soaked when they cross rivers. I would never have the nerve to do those things.
** Schooled by Gordon Korman
This book is about a boy who goes to a public school for the first time when he’s about 14. Until then he lived with his grandma–a hippie–on a commune where she homeschools him. But when she has an accident, she goes to the hospital and he goes into a foster home where he is sent to school. For a long time he is made fun of because of his long hair and peace necklace. While other kids are mean to him, he continues to be nice, and eventually they accept him, but it takes a long time. I like how the book is written because each chapter is narrated from a different person’s perspective, so you can hear each person’s feelings in their own words, including the mean people. The main character is into 70’s culture, so if you’re into that, you’d like it even more. (fiction)
*** The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by by Avi (1990)
Imagine boarding a ship as a passenger and then easing into port as a captain. That’s what Mr. Zachariah says to Charlotte when she arrives in America. When 13 year old Ms. Doyle leaves England, she is supposed to travel with two families, but neither ends up going, so she sails with an all male crew and a captain she has never met. I loved this book because of the sacrifices Charlotte makes for herself and the crew, especially when she climbs to the top of the mast in a hurricane to fix the sails. She is really brave. When we’re in bad weather on our sailboat, I’d rather huddle in my bunk! Her parents, however, were not happy with her actions when they read her journal and were more concerned about the way she wrote her story of the voyage rather than the story itself. You’ll love the ending. I did and now I’m more motivated to be a good sailor.
*** Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
This book is about four girls growing up who turn into women, and they express many hardships and many sorrows, but it is a story that you don’t want to put down until you’re done. My favorite sister is Beth because she plays the piano and she loves cats. Amy is artistic and she takes a liking to Aunt March when all the other sisters are terrified of her (especially Beth). Jo is sort of my type because she writes a lot of stories and she always has ink smudges on her. Also, she has a different love for Beth than everyone else. Meg, the oldest, likes fancy stuff and thinks that her burden is not being able to afford the nice dresses that she sees the rich girls wearing. This book is very long–over 500 pages–but I was glad it was long because I never wanted it to be done at the end of each chapter. I highly recommend this for people who like reading a lot. Now I’m going to read Little Men, but I bet Little Women will be better.