The Secrets We Keep

by Trisha Leaver

Summary:

When Ella wakes up in the hospital, she can barely remember what happened. When everyone starts calling her Maddy, her twin sister's name, she remembers everything and more. Rather than face her own guilt about the accident, Ella decides to just become Maddy-who was always the better, prettier, more popular twin anyway. As the months pass, Ella has to decide whether or not it's better to come clean about being Maddy, or whether she should give up her own dreams to live her sisters forever.

Review:

A good quick read, it's one of several of the same theme that have come out lately. This one is slightly believable, but also not on a lot of levels. Ella ultimately comes clean with few real reprecussions, which is also a little unbelievable. Overall its good for anyone who likes realistic fiction that's not too deep.

Age Level: 8th Grade

Genre: Realistic

The Impossible Knife of Memory

by Laurie Halse Anderson

Summary:
Hayley and her father moved back to his hometown to start over after spending the last five years on the road. But as she starts to settle into a normal life, her father's struggles with PTSD from his time in Iraq start to take over their lives. Though Hayley tries to keep his condition from her teachers and friends, she'll have to realize that sometimes you can't save the ones you love by yourself. A haunting look at PTSD, the book is a stark reminder that sometimes the worst scars we carry aren't ones you can see.

Review:
Anderson's book is an extremely powerful read about something that has affected so many people who've served, and how it has affected their families. Hayley is a great character, albeit sometimes a little older than her years (and sometimes extremely juvenile). The ending wraps up a little too nicely, but it's nice to imagine that things could be fixed. Overall it is a good read for anyone who likes realistic fiction, though the many references to excessive drinking and drugs make it a better read for older teens.

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 10th Grade

Ketchup Clouds

by Annabel Pitcher

Summary:
Have you ever done something truly horrible? Something that no one knows the truth of but you? Something like murder? Zoe has no one she can tell about what really happened on May 1st, so she decides to write to a man on death row, because as murderers they share a common bond. As she tells him the story of the events leading up to May 1st we learn that not everything is as simple as what it seems. And that sometimes love can be deadly.

Review:
Written as an epistolary novel, Ketchup Clouds is a captivating book that is hard to put down til the end. Zoe is a eloquent and smart girl whose letters are both entertaining yet told without bias. She starts off each letter in the present before returning to the story of the events leading up to May 1st, which can be a little confusing at first. The story is one about unintended consequences and heartbreak, and will definitely stay with the reader. Best for slightly older teens due to the prevalence of drinking throughout, but a good read for anyone who enjoys a tragic romance.

Genre: Epistolary Fiction
Age Level: 9th Grade

In Honor

by Jessica Kirby

Summary:
Just days after Honor found out her brother Finn was killed in Iraq, she gets a letter from him. Now that the funeral is over, she's going to do what the letter asked. As she sets out to drive to California to go to a concert of a superstar that they both loved, she runs into Finn's best friend Rusty who decides to come with her, against Honor's protests. What starts as a journey to fufill Finn's last wish just might turn into a way for them both to heal a bit from losing him.

Review:
This book was fantastically written. Honor's struggles to both grieve and heal, to let herself live even though he joined the Army in order for her to go to college, are heartbreaking yet so easy to identify with. The characters are all well drawn and pull you in. It's a book that is extremely apt given how many people died in the Iraq war leaving behind their families. It's a great read for anyone who likes realistic fiction, though best for the slightly older set as it does feature some drinking.

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 9th Grade

The Opposite of Hallelujah

by Anna Jarzab

Summary:
Carolina has been essentially an only child since she was 8 years old, when her older sister Hannah decided to enter the convent.  Now, 8 years later, Hannah decided to leave the convent and come home.  It's not that Carolina doesn't want her there, but having a virtual stranger move into her house her junior year is not ideal. Besides the fact that none of her friends even know she has a sister (because you try explaining that your sister is a nun and you barely remember her because it's been so long since you've seen her). Yet as Hannah moves back in, it becomes apparent to everyone that everything isn't quite right with her. Carolina is about to find out that old secrets have a way of coming to light, and that it's always better to face things head on rather than try and bury them in the past.

Review:
I really enjoyed Jarzab's book.  Carolina is both bratty and compassionate, dealing with the stress of being an overachieving high school student and having her home life completely thrown upside down.  It's easy to think that she's in the wrong most of the time, but as you get to know her you really feel for her situation, it would be really hard to live most of your life with no sister then have one thrown at you and be expected to be best friends with her immediately.  I thought that Hannah's situation could have been talked about more, the end was a bit 'here's all the problems ok now we move forward' but overall it was good. Definitely a good read for teens who are a bit more spiritual. It's a good balance of religion and fiction, making it appealing to a broad audience.  I really liked that it questioned a lot of beliefs and had Carolina really looking at her life. 

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 9th Grade

The Fault in Our Stars

by John Green

Summary:
Hazel has stage IV cancer. And she's ok with it.  She's accepted what will eventually happen to her. In the meantime she's living her life however she can. She goes to the support groups, where she is one of the few left out of the group who was there when she first started treatments (left because they died, not because they lived). But then she meets Augustus Waters, a cancer survivor. Charming, fun, makes her forget for a little while that she has cancer Augustus.  And she starts to wonder....maybe she can beat this thing, maybe she can have a normalish life. Even if it is a life with cancer.

Review:
Once again John Green has created another incredibly memorable and moving story.  Teens and adults alike will readily identify with the characters in the book. The poignant love story between Augustus and Hazel is heartbreaking, a first love torn apart in a way that no one should ever have to experience.  It presents a life with cancer in a compelling and realistic way, particularly the way that friends seem to drift away from the sick person, only to come back at the end.  It's a fantastic read, but one that is sure to make you cry.

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 9th Grade

See You at Harry's

by Johanna Knowles

Summary:
Fern loves her family, she really does. But sometimes she just feels invisible.  Between her older sister and brother and their antics, and her little 3 year old brother Charlie clamoring for attention, she just kind of gets lost in the mix.  But when an accident happens, an accident Fern is sure she caused, the family is ripped apart. You never know how much you can take until you are taken past your breaking point, and Fern doesn't know how her family will survive.

Review:
Knowles' book is a poignant reminder of how easily breakable life is. Fern's family life wasn't perfect before the tragedy, but they all loved each other and were a constant presence in each other's lives.  Now she has to deal with her own guilt about the accident, a sister and brother sorting through not only their grief but their own immense issues, and parents who have completely withdrawn from their children.  Fern is a great character who you really identify with as she tries to find a way to bring her family back together. A great read for a slightly older tween or teen.

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 7th-8th Grade

Lost

by Jacqueline Davies

Summary:
Essie has always had a hard life.  She's taken care of her younger sister since Zelda was born, and now works all day at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company to support both of them and her mother.  But when Essie meets Harriet, the new girl at work, she is immediately intrigued.  After all, why on earth would a well dressed, educated girl be working for $6 a day?  Despite the secrets both keep they find friendship together, but tragedy works in mysterious ways.  Neither is really who they appears, and neither have made it through life unscathed.

Review:
Set in the early 1900's, Lost seamlessly blends fiction and reality. Many aspects of the book are real, like the Triangle Shirtwaist Company and the terrible fire that happened there which changed fire code standards throughout the US.  Essie is like thousands of workers at the time, struggling to remain a step beyond complete poverty and desperation but finding ways to live there. One of the most interesting twists of the book involves Essie and her sister Zelda, though Harriet and her heiress story is also quite intriguing.  A good book for tweens who like historical fiction.

Genre: Historical Fiction
Age Level: 7th Grade

Looking for Alaska

by John Green

Summary:
Miles didn't exactly know what to expect when his parents sent him to Culver Creek Preparatory School, a boarding school in Alabama.  But from the moment he walks into the dorm room he will share with his new roommate Chip, Miles knows that there is something different about this place.  There's something about their friend Alaska, a girl who's confidence and love of life knows no bounds, that keeps everyone coming back for more.  But life can't stay perfect always. When a car crash interrupts, Miles and the rest struggle to come to terms in their own roles in the wreck.  And learn to live after others are gone.

Review:
Green's book is a study in before and after a tragedy.  Miles and the rest of his group at school are not bad kids, but they break the rules they want to.  They aren't exactly models of clean living but they never do anything really terrible.  But a tragedy that could have been avoided cuts through all of their lives.  We watch him and his friends try to come to terms with it, as well as with their own roles in it.  It is a well written book about loss and survivor's guilt, as well as the necessity of moving on.

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 9th Grade

How to Save a Life

by Sara Zarr

Summary:
Over the last year, Jill's life has been turned upside down.  She is still coping with the unexpected death of her father last year, when her mother decides that the best way to cope with her grief is to adopt a child.  But not just any child. 

Mandy might be almost 19, but she is not ready to cope with the child she is carrying.  In Jill's mother she sees her salvation, a person who can get her away from her hometown in the midwest, away from her mother and terrible home life. 

When Mandy arrives at Jill's, both are faced with decisions they didn't want to make.  With a situation neither expected.  With time, and patience, maybe they can come to understand each other, perhaps things will finally work out for both of them.


Reviews:
Zarr's book is a poignant look at a teenage mother who is faced with the decision of whether or not to give up her baby.  Mandy is a character who doesn't know any better.  She was raised with a set of morals that Jill, the product of an upper middle class family, can't understand. Mandy comes to live with Jill in the type of house she has only seen in magazines.  Both have to learn to understand the other in order to find a situation they can both live with.  It's a book with a happy ending, not a perfect one, but one that is definitely the best for all involved.  Really good read overall.

Hold Still

by Nina LaCour

Summary:
The school year might be beginning like normal for everyone else, but for Ingrid, all it brings is reminders of the death of her best friend at the end of last year.  Caitlin was beautiful and fun, but what everyone believed she was was shattered when she committed suicide.  Now Ingrid is left behind trying to understand not only why Caitlin did it, but why Caitlin never talked to her about her problems.  When Ingrid finds Caitlin's journal, she finds a way to understand a little bit of Caitlin herself, the part that Caitlin always kept hidden. 

Review:
Hold Still was not nearly as captivating as other novels about the aftermath of a suicide.  However what it did try to explain was the fact that Caitlin knew that she was ultimately the one responsible for her life and that what she was going to do was not the only option.  The book focuses on her friend trying to understand the betrayal she feels, and how to deal with both that betrayal and her grief.  Overall it's well written but there are better books on the subject out there.

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 9th-10th Grade

You Know Where to Find Me

by Rachel Cohn

Summary:
Miles and her cousin Laura didn't have much in common anymore.  Most of the time they spent together was when they would get high on pills.  But when Laura purposely overdoses, Miles is forced to confront her own choices.   She must decide whether or not to fight for her own life, or spiral into nothingness like her cousin. 

Review:
You Know Where to Find Me is a dark novel about the repercussions of a suicide.  Interestingly, the book focuses on recreational use of prescription drugs instead of the more typical 'trouble' drugs or alcohol.  Miles is not a character that one is easily sympathetic too, she is closed off from most people in her life and the reader can assume that it is mostly by choice.  The book focuses mainly on the pleasure that she feels being high, and it's hard to believe that no one ever figured out she was using.  Overall it's a decent read but there are better books that discuss this topic out there. 

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 9th-10th Grade

Revolution

by Jennifer Donnelly

Summary:
Andi has nowhere to go.  Trapped by the grief after the death of her younger brother, guilty that she might have been able to stop it, abandoned by a father who moved out and a mother whose grief has rendered her completely dependent on Andi, she has nowhere left to turn.  There is only one thing that comforts her, her music, but even that has not been enough.  When she finds herself stuck in Paris for two weeks with her father, she turns even more to her music.  When she finds a 18th century guitar in the house they are staying in, she finds comfort in it's strings.  But it is the diary she finds hidden inside it, written by a 17 year old girl during the French Revolution, which helps her find the peace she needs.

Review:
Revolution weaves French history with modern life in an interesting fashion.  The book deftly showcases life during the revolution, a time of horror for those who lived it, and relates it to the struggles that Andi is having in her life, as well as putting things in perspective for her.  The book is pretty accurate in it's history, though it does take liberties to incorporate Alexandrine's acts.  The book is also interesting in how it relates the struggles both girls have, both struggling with loss and feeling abandoned and alone.  In the end it is Alexandrine who gives Andi the strength to move forward with life.

Genre: Historical Fiction/Contemporary Fiction
Age Level: 8-9th Grade

Putting Makeup on Dead People

by Jen Violi

Summary:
Donna really didn't know what she wanted to do after high school.  Sure there was the possibility of college, but that just didn't appeal to her the way it should.  But then she attended the funeral of a girl she goes to high school with.  And suddenly she realizes that her career choice is right in front of her: mortician school.  Definitely not a typical choice, but after dealing with the loss of her own father, she knows that she has the ability to comfort the grieving, to help provide closure to those who have lost.  She just needs to convince her mother that it's the right choice.

Review: 
Violi has created an interesting character in Donna.  She is both incredibly mature for her age, having dealt with a severe loss in her life, but also very immature, being unable to cope with her mother dating 4 years after losing her father, and not able to talk about her life choices without being very defensive.  Overall though the book deftly deals with the many ways people cope with loss and the way one girl decides to help them.  Good for teens mainly, not a very thorough book about loss in general though. 

Genre: Realistic fiction
Age Level: 9th Grade