Reading YA with Amanda

Its back to school time! But just because summer is over, doesn't mean the reading has to stop. Whether you feel like you need to escape reality for a moment, or just need a good laugh. Try one of these books out!

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

Once upon a time Hazel lived with her parents and attended a private school where the teachers loved her imagination and creativity. Now that her father has left, the only one who seems to understand her is her best friend Jack. Like Hazel, his home life is not perfect, but together they use their imagination to have the time of their lives. But being best friends with a boy has its own challenges, especially when he seems to change mysteriously over night almost like his heart had turned to ice. Hazel doesn’t believe that he doesn’t want to be friends anymore, but when he suddenly disappears; his friend doesn’t believe the story and convinces Hazel that she is the only one who can save him. Only, does Jack want to be saved? For the first time, Hazel must become a player in her real life fairy tale to rescue her friend and save him from the ice queen.

Like Breadcrumbs? Check out the rest of the 2012 Girls of Summer List!

Ursu, Anne. Breadcrumbs. Illustrated by Erin McGuire.  New York: Walden Pond Press, 2011. ISBN-13: 978-0-0620-1505-1. (hardback). Ages 8-12.

Impossible by Nancy Werlin

“Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme; remember me to one who lives there, for then she’ll be a true love of mine.” Lucy Scarborough is just like any other 17 year old girl, except that her birth mother, Miranda, enters and disappears from her life at the strangest times. Lucy’s mother was Miranda’s best friend, until she gave birth to Lucy and went crazy. So when Miranda starts showing up at Lucy’s school singing the lyrics to Scarborough Fair, Lucy tries to hide the fact that Miranda is her mom. But, when Lucy attends her prom and is raped by her date and then becomes pregnant, she begins to wonder if history is just repeating herself. Then, when she begins to read Miranda’s diary she wonders if there is more to the story, and the song, then meets the eye. As Lucy begins to believe in the curse, she finds solace in the fact that she has something that no other Scarborough girl had before her: love and support from family and Zach, the boy next door. Can Lucy and Zach solve the riddles and end the curse or will Lucy follow Miranda right down into the darkness?

Werlin, Nancy. Impossible. New York: Dial Books, 2008. ISBN-13: 978-0-8037-3002-1. (hardback). Ages 13+

The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee: an Origami Yoda Book by Tom Angleberger

Be a wimp or be a wookiee, that is the question! After being suspended from McQuarrie Middle, Dwight has transferred to Tippett Academy. All of his friends miss him, but they also miss Origami Yoda! However, Dwight looked out for them and gave Sara a Chewbacca Fortune Wookiee and a Han Foldo to translate. But, is the Fortune Wookiee the real thing? If so, can he handle all the strange things happening at McQuarrie? When the boys lose faith and decide that only Origami Yoda will do, they find that everything with Dwight may not be what it seems either. But dark times are ahead, can they save Dwight before its too late?

Check out The Strange Case of Origami Yoda and Dark Paper Strikes Back, the first two Origami Yoda books!  Then look out for the forth book, Art2-D2′s Guide to Folding and Doodling: An Origami Yoda Activity Book! Coming this spring! 

Angleberger, Tom. The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee: an Origami Yoda Book. New York: Amulet Books, 2012. ISBN-13: 978-1-4197-0392-8. (hardback). Ages 8-12+

 Swim the Fly by Don Calame

Matt, Coop and Sean are three friends who have always spent their summers on the neighborhood swim team (even though they aren’t very good) and trying to achieve their own personal summer time goal. This summer is no exception, except for their goal, which is the most unlikely the trio has set yet. To see a real-live naked girl! While that seems impossible enough, Matt has a major thing for the hot, new girl on the swim team, Kelly West. So, while he can barely manage one lap in the pool, he volunteers to swim the 100 meter butterfly.  As the trio plots and schemes to achieve their goal they must content with their bodies and girls. What could possibly go wrong?

Swim the Fly is a laugh out loud book for boys, and girls who are brave enough to learn what’s really going on inside their heads.

Calame, Don. Swim the Fly. Somerville, Mass: Candlewick, 2009. ISBN-13: 978-0-7636-4776-6. (paperback). Ages 14+

Special Sneak Peek Review

Safekeeping by Karen Hesse

"This is madness. This is the United States.
This doesn't happen here. But, it IS happening."

Radley Parker-Hughes is in Haiti helping at an orphanage after the earthquake when the President of the United States is assassinated and the American People's Party takes over. Radley sets out for home and her parents, but the United States she lands in is unrecognizable. Landing in New Hampshire, Radley's parents aren't there to pick up her, but she doesn't have the proper documentation to cross state lines into Vermont. So Radley decides to walk all the way home. But after days on the road when she finally arrives at her house, her parents are no where to be found. Feeling unsafe and afraid, she does the only thing she can think of and sets out for the safety of Canada, wanting nothing more than the safety of her parents and their love.

Safekeeping by Karen Hesse
Expected Publication Date: September 18, 2012
Young Adult, Ages 12+
ARC copy used for review.

(my complete review)