Walking on Glass

by Alma Fullerton
Published by Harper Tempest
ISBN: 978-0-06-077851-4
$15.99 131 pgs. FIC POP FUL

A touching account of a young man's struggle with the attempted suicide of his mother and the decisions he has to face in the following months. Fullerton doesn't actually describe what happens until page 122, so you can accurately imagine the confusion and loneliness (apparent through journal entries written as free verse) that the young man experiences as his father spirals into a deep depression, his best friend Jack becomes a substance abusing monster, and a new girl Alissa tries to enter his life. His personal torture is over when he makes that life and death decision that nobody should have to make about their own parent.

Recommended grades 9th-12th

the dead & the gone

When an asteroid hit and pushed the moon closer to the Earth life as Alex Morales knew it changed forever. After catastrophic tidal waves, flooding, and volcanic eruptions hit parts of the Earth Alex and his two sisters find themselves alone; having to fend for themselves. Food shortages, disease, and death abound and Alex finds himself having to make some tough character/morality judgments. Alex and his sisters are devoted Catholics and they are forced to question aspects of their faith such as surviving by stealing from the dead. Illness is not immune to the Morales’ and when it strikes do they have what it takes to survive?

Note: This is a companion novel to Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

You Know Where to Find Me

This contemporary novel incorporates many social issues such as alternative lifestyles, suicide, depression, obesity, substance abuse, and self-esteem, but yet it does not seem exaggerated.
Laura and Miles are biological cousins but they grow up more like sisters in a wealthy part of Washington, DC.
They are very different superficially: Laura is thin, pretty, popular, smart and rich while Miles is fat, ugly, likes to eat, drink and smoke. Laura has many friends and is accepted to Georgetown. Miles is a year behind in school, and has only one friend. That's why Laura's suicide stuns Miles and she spends time searching for a reason while slowly falling into a deeper hole. Eventually, only her faith in herself and friends she did not realize that cared help her rebuild her life.

Crutcher, Chris Deadline
Publisher: Greenwillow Date: 2007 ISBN: 978-0-06-085089-0 Price: $16.99 #of pgs: 316 Call number: F Crutcher
Annotation: Ben Wolf has gotten the ultimate punch in the gut. He’s eighteen years old, a senior in high school, when he finds out that he has an incurable blood disease. He orders his doctor not to tell anyone (and because he’s of legal age he gets away with it) and he sets out to have the best year possible.
Ben has his reasons for making the decision not to tell anyone. His mother is bipolar, with nightmarish manic and depressive cycles. Ben has no idea how his mother will react to the news, except it won’t be good. His father has all on his plate that he can handle. Ben also wants to be treated normally – he doesn’t want to be known as the "dying kid." Finally, he wants to do some
things that he would never have had the nerve to do otherwise – such as playing football (at 123 pounds) and seeing how far he can go with Dallas Suzuki.
So Ben plays football with his brother, starts a relationship with Dallas, and continually irritates his government teacher by pointing out how bigoted he is. To Ben, "somehow I knew my chances aren’t about living, they’re about living well" (p. 10) and that’s what he does.
Strength: Theme -- the idea of getting the most out of life. Crutcher's characters are also very appealing.
Weakness: Crutcher does hit a lot of problems in this novel but I think he does it successfully.
Cover Appeal:
The cover has a picture of boy upside down -- appropriate since Ben's life has been turned upside down. It would be appealing for both boys and girls

Draper, Sharon November Blues
Publisher: Atheneum Date:2007 ISBN:1-4169-0698-3 Price:$17.00 #of pgs:316 Call number: FIC DRA
Annotation: This sequel to Battle of Jericho; however, it is not necessary to have read that book first. Life doesn't go as planned in this realistic novel about a sixteen year old girl named November who has so many positive future plans, a great family, good friends, and is respected by her teachers. When she discovers she is pregnant 2 months after her boyfriend, Josh, died from a pledge stunt gone terribly wrong, she is truly unprepared and recognizes that she is so not ready to have a child. Josh's cousin Jericho, is having a very difficult time after the death of his best friend, Josh; he gives up his trumpet to play football. To add to the problems the father of the baby's parents find a way out of their depression by trying to adopted the baby. Too keep the subplots going we have an overweight, bullied girl who becomes a good friend to both November and Jericho. The ending was climatic, realistic and satisfying. A must read for both boys and girls.
Strength: characterization is well-developed, plot is fast paced
Weakness: dialogue is somewhat artificial or stifled
Cover Appeal: beautiful girl with a serious expression and a football player looking at the stands

Dear Zoe by Philip Beard

Tess deals with the tragic, accidental death of her young sister Zoe by writing her a letter. She chronicles her life since the hit and run accident, including a summer romance. She also tells Zoe stories about their family before she (Zoe was born) and about the things Zoe used to do. Finally, Tess addresses the day that Zoe died, Sept.11, 2001, and her guilt over what happened to Zoe.

I LOVED this book too!

Strengths: A great way to write this novel about finding your place in the world as a teenager and as the survivor of a lost family member. Teens will relate to the problems that Tess deals with, from how long it takes to get ready in the morning, to trying drugs and sex for the first time. Many will relate to the family situations involving Tess’s step-dad and her real dad as well. Deals with the different ways people cope with a loss.

Concerns: Sex and drugs. Again. This book had more drug use than A Certain Slant of Light, but I don’t think readers will be terribly shocked at the characters’ use of marijuana. It only touches briefly on sex and not in much detail.