Realistic+Fiction

A young boy named Daniel Zinkoff is like all kids. But when it comes to doing things, Zinkoff never wins and he doesn’t care about what people are saying about him. **//Loser//** takes you from Zinkoff in 1st grade to Zinkoff in 6th grade.
 * //Loser//** by Jerry Spinelli (located @ SPI in the East Library Fiction Collection)

Have you ever been a loser? Daniel Zinkoff loses at everything. He is clumsy and annoying. He gets in trouble a lot with the teacher. I enjoyed the book because the author is creative. If you like funny books, this one’s for you! MF (5-7-10)

Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina is where Veronica, or Ronnie for short, and her little brother, Jonah are being sent for the whole summer to spend time with their dad, Steve. That is the worst part; after three years of her parent's separation, Ronnie blames her dad because he chose to walk out on them. Little did she know… At the moment, all Ronnie could wish for is to be 18 already! While with her dad, Ronnie does not expect anything to happen and she’s not planning on having anything to keep her attached because all she wants to do is leave! See how Ronnie spends her last moments trying to make up for her mistakes from the past and how she changes from who she started to be from beginning to end. Read **//Last Song//**to see how the truth unravels, with a gift left undone for Ronnie to complete. Read **//Last Song//** if you want to read a book that's filled with love and laughter. Love between a father and a daughter whose bond grows to something so strong. Not only that but also falling in love with someone you just never expected to fall for. See how two people grow strong feelings and affection for one another in such little time and how they manage to get through so much together, no matter what the situation is. See how they work this out and how long a love so strong can last, forever or not even close, maybe even never.
 * //The Last Song//** by Nicholas Sparks (located @ SPA in the East high Library Fiction Collection)

If you're interested in books like this, one's filled with a family love, romantic love, and problems to over come, this is a book for you. In my opinion the book is better than the movie. It's a touching story of family and a love ES (5-6-10)

Laine and Leah have been best friends since fifth grade, but as they reach high school, they drift apart. Laine started out as a loner and became popular because in fifth grade, Leah felt bad and started being her friend. **//Lessons from a Dead Girl//** goes on to tell the tragic story of how partying, drinking, and using drugs can ruin a teenager’s life.
 * //Lessons from a Dead Girl//** by Johanna Knowles (located @ KNO in the East High LIbrary Fiction Collection)

How would you feel if your best friend died right before your eyes? If you like realistic fiction books, you’re will really enjoy this book! A story of crazy teen lives! BP (4-28-10)

Ryan, an avid cubs fan, tries to deal with her father’s death and her distant friends as well as she can. While at Wrigley Fields, she meets Nick and they become friends. Can their relationship last? Or will secrets tear another person out of Ryan’s life?
 * //Comeback Season//** by Jennifer E. Smith (located @ SMI in the East High Library Fiction Collection)

I would absolutely recommend this book! It was a tearjerker, but some of those tears are happy ones. Smith combines love, loss, life, and baseball to make a beautiful story. HD (4-27-10)


 * //In Metamorphosis- Junior Year//** by Betsy Franco (located @ FRA in the East High Library Fiction Collection)
 * //In Metamorphosis- Junior Year//**, Ovid, who was named after the Greek poet, tells about he is coping with a huge loss, while writing poetry about the Greek myths he sees played out in the lives of his friends.

I would recommend this book because it was a sweet story and dealt with many different aspects of life in high school. I liked it a lot! HD (4-27-10)

Melissa’s Father has died and she feels alone. Now she is growing up and high school is so different without her dad. She also has to live up to her big sister’s beauty and popularity status, two things Melissa could care less about. In this coming of age story, Melissa learns what true love is and how to survive without her dad.
 * //Life of Glass//** by Jillian Cantor (located @ CAN in the East High Library Fiction Collection)


 * //Life of Glass//** evokes happy and sad emotions. MF (4-18-10)

**//  Boy Toy //** by Barry Lyga (located @ LYG in the East High Library Fiction Collection) John Mendel is the perfect student: straight A’s since elementary school; math whiz waiting for responses from the best colleges (Stanford, MIT, Yale); best baseball in the school. However, Josh has a secret, but everyone knows what it is. His history teacher, Evelyn Sherman, sexually abused him at the age of 12. Josh’s responses are so keyed into what happened with Eve, that he almost abused his friend Rachel.

Five years later, Josh is still going to therapy after the trial sent Eve to jail. He is still having “flickers” of his past, and his personal life is almost nonexistent. When Eve gets out of jail early, Josh becomes an emotional wreck. He lives in fear that Eve will pop up at any moment. He also has to deal with his parents’ deteriorating relationship, college, and Rachel. Rachel is determined to be back in his life and to make him realize what exactly he feels about Eve and himself.

This book is painful to read as one goes through Josh’s past and interactions with Eve. One can feel what Josh feels and can understand his confusion. You will not be able to put this book down! MC (4-6-10)

 What would you do if you lived in public housing, had no skills, the phone is disconnected so your social worker can’t get to you, your dad’s stoned on your couch, your mom’s left to “visit” someone, and you just got kicked out of school? Maybe make a plan… A plan to change everyone’s mind about you. After all, you’re not a bad kid once people get to know you. In **//Saint Iggy//**, Iggy Corso tries to turn his life around and gets caught in the good, bad, and very, very ugly. Torn physically and spiritually, Iggy gets out on an adventure to try to do something great. He goes from the highest of highs to his own front door in this irreverent, heart-wrenching tale. A good book; something a little different; you won’t want to put it down. AC (4-6-10) //**
 * //Saint Iggy//** by K.L. Going (located @GOI in the East High Library Fiction Collection)

// **13** **Blue Envelopes** // by Maureen Johnson (located @ JOH in the East High Library Fiction Collection) **// 13 Blue Envelopes // is an okay book if you like reading about sporadic teenage girls who can’t make up their own minds. Ginny Blackstone is the main character and it seems she can’t make up her own mind about anything. Throughout the book, she is told what to do from letters sent to her from her dead Aunt Peg.

The books has its ups and downs like any book; the reason I kept reading it was to see what Ginny was told to do next. She goes all over Europe because of those letters, meeting interesting people, but all that got kind of lost when she reads the last letter in which something new is revealed about her Aunt Peg’s life. KW (4-6-10) **

// **God Don’t Like Ugly** // by Mary Monroe (located @ MON in the East High Library Fiction Collection) Do you know what it is like to grow up being called fat and ugly most of your life? Or having your dad walk out on you and your mom when you’re only three years old, and remembering it like it happened yesterday? How about having a pedophile move in with you at age seven, changing your life forever? Well Annette knows exactly how all this feels. As if being colored in the sixties isn’t bad enough… Annette faces some of the hardest things one person can experience throughout his life, black or white. She finally catches a break when the most beautiful girl she’s ever seen becomes her best friend. But what she doesn’t know is that her new friend has some secrets of her own that will burden Annette for the rest of her life.

This book is full of surprises; the first one is not to judge this book by its cover. I highly recommend this book. SB (4-6-10)

// **Sweet Little Lies** // by Lauren Conrad (located @ CON in the East High Library Fiction Collection) Conrad continues her story begun in **//L.A. Candy// with Jane and Scarlett the stars of the reality television show, “L.A. Candy.” In this second installment, life is not perfect for the average girls turned starlets, and when compromising pictures and gossip surrounds them and their private lives, the girls must stay tough to maintain their friendship. Who is real and who is just a player? Find out in Lauren Conrad’s //Sweet Little Lies//.

This book combines sugar, spice, and everything L.A. to create a mixture that is sure to excite your taste buds. MF (2-27-10) **

In **//Twenty Boy Summer//**, Anna, her best friend Frankie, and Frankie’s older brother, Matt are the perfect trio. Almost… Anna has been dating Matt and keeping it a secret from Frankie. When tragedy strikes their trio splits; in the end, two will reunite. To find out which two reunite, read this great book!
 * //Twenty Boy Summer//** by Sarah Ockler (located @ OCK in the East High Library Fiction Collection)


 * //Twenty Boy Summer//** teaches you lessons about letting go and friendship. It’s an interesting book with a breathtaking, heartwarming story. PN (2-22-10)

What would you do if you had a twin who was jealous of you, who hated you because you had more of your father’s love; hated you because to your twin, you were perfect?
 * //I//****//dentical//** by Ellen Hopkins (located @ HOP in the East Library Fiction Collection)

I would recommend **//Identical//** as it is a suspenseful bone-chilling mystery that will keep you turning to the next page. PN (2-16-10)

Sam Montgomery is a very shy girl whose best friend has a sappy new boyfriend. Sam decides to go to summer camp to get away, but there she has to survive Ashley and Hunter, the two most popular teens at camp. She has to learn how to say “no,” how to make friends, and how to escape from wolves! **
 * //Sleepaway Girls//** ** by Jen Calonita (located @ CAL in the East Library Fiction Collection)

//**Sleepaway Girls**//** is a good story of several girls’ journeys through life and summer camp. I loved how each girl is different; every reader could relate to at least one of them. HD (2-16-10) **

Madeline, Desiree, and Ariel are three totally different girls with their own major problems. Madeline is the two-hundred-pound daughter of a drunk mom, Desiree’s mom is addicted to painkillers (but it’s her boyfriend, Lonny, Desiree should worry about), and Ariel’s boyfriend is starting to get really creepy. Each of the girls tries to deal and along this journey, they learn a lot about themselves… and each other.
 * //Blue Plate Special//** by Michelle D. Kwasney (located @ KWA in the East Library Fiction Collection)


 * //Blue Plate Special//** by Michelle D. Kwasney is an excellent portrayal of three girls’ struggles through life; it was very moving and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone because of its beautiful life lessons. HD (2-11-10)

//**Crash Into Me**//** by Albert Borris (located @ BOR in the East Library Fiction Collection) **
 * //Crash Into Me//** by Albert Borris is about a group of teens who meet online and share the same problems. They all start to get close and plan a vacation to meet up. These teens all deal with suicide and believe that it is the solution to their problems. During their vacation, they start to notice the good and the bad, and they decide whether or not suicide is right.

I would recommend this book because it relates a lot to teens; while telling a good story, the author puts out advice to help teens. LD (12-8-09)

//**Reality Check** by Peter Abrahams (located @ ABR in the East Library Fiction Collection) Reality hits Cody swift and hard when he spots the article in the paper about a local girl gone missing. Not just any girl, Clea used to be Cody’s girlfriend. Before she went to boarding school, before he tore his ACL and lost his starting QB position and hopes of college, before he dropped out of high school to return to his dead-end summer job. It’s been a rough couple of months, but he’s got a clear goal in mind now for his future. Find Clea. Leaving his deadbeat dad and going-nowhere town behind, Cody starts a difficult journey east, armed with just his car and his determination. //
 * It’s unusual enough to find a mystery novel for teens, but a well-written one to boot? Fantastic. In **//**Reality Check**//, Abrahams chose a teen with real issues and problems as his main character- not just some wonder kid who skates through tough times with help from others. Good choice. RJ ( 9-21-09)

//**Broken Soup**// by Jenny Valentine (located @ VAL in the East Library Fiction Collection) Distracted by all that is negative in her life- the death of her brother, having to care for her sister, her father leaving- Rowan doesn’t pay attention when a strange boy shoves a photo negative into her hands. Who is the boy? Why did she get the photo? Rowan develops the negative and a mystery begins to unfold as Rowan’s life begins to become more “positive.”

With simple language and just enough dialogue, Jenny Valentine’s //**Broken Soup**//** is a good read for students who want to see how someone deals with life’s ups and downs. FJ (9/10/09) **

//**Just Another Hero**// by Sharon Draper (located @ DRA in the East High Library Fiction Collection) In the third and final installment from Sharon Draper, //**Just Another Hero**//, school has started again for Arielle, November, Jericho, and Kofi. Told from Arielle’s point of view, the story talks about growing up, making decisions, and rekindling old friendships. Senior year is exciting and full of surprises, but when the fire alarm goes off, the kids realize that this drill is no prank, but harsh reality. From heartbreak to new life, the seniors face the obstacles like soldiers; but who will be the hero when it really counts.

This book is about everyday group of kids with struggles and obstacles just like you and me. It teaches you not to judge someone by how he looks or where he comes from, and how the most unlikely person can turn out to be a hero. MF (8/27/09)

//**Skunk Girl**// by Sheba Karim (located @ KAR in the East Library Fiction Collection) Nina is a Pakistani Muslim whose parents moved to American for better opportunities. Nina is growing up and living under the shadow of her genius big sister and the demands of the Muslim religion. She doesn’t drink, go to parties, have sleepovers, and most of all, does not like non-Muslims. As Nina struggles with growing up and fitting in, she must come to terms with what she believes in and stand up for her own values and morals.

This book was very good and I would recommend it to a friend. MF (5/5/09)

** //Swim the Fly// ** by Don Calame (located @ CAL in the East Library Fiction Collection) Fifteen year old Matt and his two friends, Sean and Coop, are on a mission—to see a real-live naked girl for the first time. The boys take on their challenge also while being part of the swim team. There Matt meets the girl of his dreams, “Kelly West,” the hottest new swim star. All Matt wants is to impress Kelly so he takes on a new challenge of “//**Swim the Fly**//” (100 yard butterfly).

I LOVED this book! It kept me entertained the whole time. If you’re a teen who wants a fun read and wants to have a great laugh, then this is the book for you! MA (5/7/09)

//**Project Sweet Life**// by Brent Hartinger (located @ HAR in the East Library Fiction Collection) This was going to be Dave’s, Curtis’s, and Victor’s greatest summer yet. That is until their fathers decide they need to get summer jobs. The boys hate the idea of getting jobs during their last jobless summer (the summer of their 15th year) so here comes their plan-- “PROJECT SWEET LIFE!”

I would so recommend this book because it’s a great laugh. You learn to love the characters and you get the urge to jump from your world to the book to help the boys on their wild summer vacation! MA (5-2-09)

//**In Your Room**// by Jordanna Fraiberg (located @ FRA in the East High Fiction Collection) In //**In Your Room**//, a boy and a girl from totally different worlds swap houses. As time goes by, they keep in touch, learning each other’s secrets and dreams through emails. They start to fall in love, but they’ve never seen each other face-to-face.

I would recommend //**In Your Room**// to others because it is an interesting story with amazing descriptions and realistic characters. The plot is something that could actually happen. KW (4-27-09)

//**Jumped**// by Rita Williams-Garcia (located @ WIL in the East Library Fiction Collection) //**Jumped**// follows three girls- an attacker, a clueless victim, and a bystander that doesn’t want to get involved. The three share one thing: each is the center of their world.

I would recommend this to people (9th through 11th graders) who enjoy stories that make people think or those people who like high school dramas. There is some strong language used. AH (4-27-09)

**//Somebody//** by Nancy Springer (located @ SPR in the East Library Fiction Collection) Sherica has gone by many names over the years. Her father, every so often, picks the family up and moves them away, starting yet another new life. Sherica used to go along with this, but lately she’s realized that not all is well. They are running from something. Or someone. And Sherica isn’t sure that she wants to run anymore.


 * //Somebody//** is very good. It creates an identify crisis taken to the extreme. It is a powerful story that shows that it is best to be yourself. AH (4-27-09)

//**Secrets, Lies and My Sister Kate**// by Belinda Hollyer (located @ HOL in the East Library Fiction Collection) Twelve-year-old geography buff Mini is very close to her sister, Kate. Until Kate starts acting strange, that is. She starts leaving for longer and longer periods of time without anyone knowing where she goes, until one day, she doesn’t come back.

I would recommend this book to a friend. Hollyer creates a character that usually knows it all and puts her in a situation where she doesn’t know anything. She shows what it is like to be young, embarrassed, scared, and loving. This book would be rated PG. AH (4-16-09)

//**The Teas**////**hop Girls**// by Laura Schaefer (located @ SCH in the East High Library Fiction Collection) Annie and her friends, Genna and Zoe, have formed a club called the Teashop Girls whose meeting place is Annie’s grandma’s tea shop. Now the girls are entering high school and life as they once knew it is not so simple. The tea shop is running out of funds and Annie’s friends are caught up in their own plans. Annie must survive or loose her childhood friends.

//**The Teashop Girls**// is a very cute story about the strength of friendship and growing up. MF (4-5-09)

//**To Be Mona**// by Kelly Easton (located @ EAS in the East High Library Fiction Collection) Sage has always been an outsider. Her only friend is a boy named Walter who likes the way she is. But Sage is not satisfied. She is tired of not having money to pay rent or for electricity, and not eating for days on end. Sage is ready for a change, but is change ready for Sage? As she fights for the dream life, she realizes who her real friends are and how good her life is.

Although //**To Be Mona**// would be good for sophomores, juniors, and seniors to read, I would not recommend this book to a friend. MF (4/5/09)

//**All the Way**// by Andy Behrens (not in East High Library) Ian Lafferty is a seventeen year old boy, working in the local mall at Dunkin’ Donuts. He hates his boss and has a crush on a co-worker, who barely knows he exists. His best friend is the cocky heartthrob that all girls want to date. Ian only dreams of achieving what his best friend has. In fact, he hasn’t been with a girl he likes to call “Mrs. Tasty.” Here’s the catch-- she actually likes him. So now Ian must journey all the way to North Carolina to meet Mrs. Tasty with his best friends, Lance and Alicia at his side.

This book is a masterpiece. It brings you up, and never lets you down. It was written beautifully and deserves to be shown to the world. It’s funny, intriguing, and all you hope for, is for Ian to embrace this girl in his arms. And who knows… He just might get it. JM (12-8-08)

**// Far North //** by Will Hobbs (located @ HOB in the East High Library Accelerated Reader Collection) If you were stuck in a frozen northern forest during the winter, how would you survive? This book could teach you how to survive in the Canadian wilderness during the winter months. It starts out as Gabe, the main character, is going to school in Canada. He goes on a sight-seeing tour with another classmate; it turns into a disaster. Now Gabe and his classmate are stranded in the Canadian wilderness, unprepared and with limited supplies. They start to follow a river and soon enough, they see a cabin in the distance. Almost out of food, they go hunting, but don’t have any luck getting an animal. After deciding to construct a raft and following the river, disaster strikes them again. Will they survive the harsh conditions and the dangerous animals, making it to civilization?

This book is very intriguing, exciting, and full of adventure. BF (12-8-08)

Brianna is just trying to live a normal life, but who can when mucus threatens to drown your lungs and every day that you live might be your last. Brianna has cystic fibrosis, a terminal disease that she has been fighting all her life. As comes to grips with her imminent death, she realizes that friends surround her and her fight is almost over.
 * //Forever Changes//** by Brendan Halpin (located @ HAL in the East High Library Fiction Collection)

This book has a very good meaning and tugs at your heartstrings. It incorporates everyday life and math into a story about coming to grips with death. MF (1-4-09)

Meet KJ Miller, just your typical red-haired junior class girl at Washington High School; she is very far below on the social radar. This doesn’t matter as she is the first ever junior to be stage manager at her high school, which is putting on the classic play, __Grease__. But sadly her life isn’t as glamorous as she wants it to be since she is… a total “Geek Magnet.”
 * //Geek Magnet//** by Kieran Scott (located @ SCO in the East High Library Fiction Collection)

Meet geek number one, Fred Fronts, who is playing Doody in the school play. Fred is KJ’s longest stalker friend/neighbor. He always gives her food and treats, and follows her around with his sad puppy dog eyes. Geek number two is Andy Terrero, her assistant stage manager who is a health food nut. He also follows KJ around, judging the food Fred gives her. And finally, geek number three-- Glen Marlowe. Or as some people call him, Glen “All Hands” Marlowe. Geek three is the bane of KJ’s existence; if Fred and Andy are semi-irritating gnats than Glen is one big soul-sucking mosquito.

KJ wishes she can tell these three geeks to back off but she doesn’t know how to be mean like Tama Gold, Ms. Queen of popularity and Sandy in KJ’s play. Tama insists that KJ needs to get cruel and ditch the geeks, then win Cameron Richardson’s heart. He’s KJ’s long-time crush, who she doesn’t think even knows she exists. So—can KJ have it all? A nice long geek-less life or is she stuck forever with the schools geeks.

I give this book three stars. It’s no __Twilight__, but it’s a good book and girls can easily relate to unwanted crushes and drama queens. __Geek Magnet__ is an easy read that would be great for lying on the couch while drinking cocoa during Christmas break. BJ (12-8-08)

Two very different people are joined together by a dreadful experience. Caleb Becker has spent a year in juvenile detention for drunk driving and accidentally hitting someone with his car. To Caleb, returning to Paradise isn’t easy. His mother is acting like nothing happened, his sister hardly talks to anyone and has gone gothic, and his ex-girlfriend wants to get back with him, and his dad is just standing there. Maggie Armstrong was the person that Caleb hit; Maggie has been trying her best to walk right again and attending school. The one thing Caleb and Maggie truly need to get their lives back isn’t their old friends or their old lives, but each other. That one incident that affected them both, each in a different way has caused a strong connection between them that they will never be able to ignore.
 * //Leaving//** **//Paradise//** by Simone Elkeles (@ ELK in the East High Library Fiction Collection)

This book is an amazing love story that will have you so hooked you won’t be able to put it down! MA (12-13-08)

-- 1/2 //**Price of Admission**// by Leslie Margolis (located @ MAR in the East High Library Fiction Collection) What happens when your best friend dies? When your diary that is written in the form of a movie script is found in his room? When movie producers want to buy the movie script? Now your diary is in the hands of a stranger and in an instant, your whole life will be exposed. Everybody thinks the script was written by your best friend who just died. Will people recognize you, your friends or your family in the script? Jasmine’s dad wants to buy the movie script, but he has never read it. He’s just heard that it will make a great movie. It’s a race to get Jasmine Green’s diary back before her dad has a chance to read it.

This book will have you non-stop reading until the end. I give this book four and a half stars. It’s in the middle of “better than most” and “read it right now!” SM (12-8-08)

You and your friends try on a pair of pants and find that they magically fit all of you (even though your body types are different). Wouldn’t that be magically? Bridget, Carmen, Tibby, and Lena are parting for their second summer apart. With having the pants traveling around during their first summer apart, they managed to keep their sisterhood alive. This time new conflicts and events occur between, and the pants are there to see it all. While traveling from one friend to another, the pants bring confidence to the girls when they need it the most as they know the pants hold each other’s presence in them. During the second summer apart, each of them finds out a little bit more about themselves and the pants. Bridget, Carmen, Tibby, and Lena are prepared for this summer apart because the pants will hopefully keep their sisterhood alive and strong.
 * // The Second Summer of the Sisterhood //** by Ann Brashares (located @ BRA in the East High Library Fiction Collection)

I rate __The Second Summer of the Sisterhood__ four stars. ZV (12-8-08)

The book __The Secret Life of Bees__ tells a story about a little girl named Lily Owens who is in her mid-teens. Lily is a runaway child, trying to find answers about her deceased mother by going to a lady names August. Lily lives at her house along with August’s two sisters, June and May.
 * // Secret Life of Bees //** by Sue Monk Kidd (located @ KID in the East High Library Fiction Collection)

To me, this book is about finding out who you really are and loving life as long as you have it. I can relate to this book greatly because my mother also died when I was a young girl. Just as Lily is depressed and trying to love life, so am I. She is trying to be at peace with herself; luckily she finds it. I feel this book is writing about my life, about any lost person just waiting for the end or waiting to be happy. I completely recommend this book to anyone as surely it rates five stars. HD (12-10-08)

What would you do if your life changed in a blink of an eye and you were left with not knowing what to do next? If someone or something has taken a dream you’ve had since you were a little kid? These most frightening events come about for a fifteen year old girl in Oahu, Hawaii. All of a sudden, friends disappear in a blink of an eye. Everything seems normal, people just walking around on land, looking as if nothing happened. There are no beach patrols nearby, no medical services offered, and no ambulances rushing by. You have to wait for a few minutes; finally medical treatment. It could have been death in approximately 15-20 minutes, but they come in time. Lessons are learned to stay close to land if there is a next time. With a flattering family who cares, supportive parents, and changes to her life, this survivor learns a big lesson and decides to lay low for awhile.
 * // Shark Girl //** by Kelly Bingham (located @ BIN in the East High Library Fiction Collection)

This book will definitely hold your attention. TN (12-6-08)

//**When the Bough Breaks**// by Kay Lynn Mangum (currently not in the East High Library) I think that this book is great! It’s such a moving book about a girl named Rachel Fletcher. Rachel endures so much throughout the book—her father’s death, brother’s alcoholism, she begins the ninth grade, and her mom remarries to a man whose son she can’t help liking! Yikes! Throughout the book, she continuously is writing poems to release all her feelings, unlike her brother, who constantly has a raging temper. Even though her brother remains a jerk toward her, Rachel is still able to put others before herself. This is one of the greatest values I have learned. I have never read a book with s much emotion filled within only 343 pages. The novel explains so much about people and why they do certain things. It has encouraged me to strive to be more selfless. Also to be more thankful of the trials I go through, which don’t seem that hard after reading this book.

I give this book five stars because I absolutely loved it! My favorite part was the beginning through the end! AH (12-8-08)

//**Kitty Kitty**// by Michele Jaffe (located @ JAF in the East High Library Fiction Collection) Instead of returning to prep school (and her cute new rocker boyfriend) in the States for senior year, Jasmine’s dad is “exiling” her to Venice, Italy while he researches the history of soap. Never one to stay out of trouble, Jas gets pulled into investigating the mysterious death of a friend. Suicide or foul play? Jas fights to stay focused despite amorous gondoliers, numerous blows to the head, and her worries about a vixen named “Candy” seducing her boyfriend.

Even though this book is a follow-up to”Bad Kitty”, it can be read as a stand-alone novel with minimum confusion and maximum fun. Written in a very casual, conversational style, Jaffe easily draws the reader in to a world of quirky characters and crazy action- good times. R.J. (11-17-08)

//**Fix**// by Leslie Margolis (located @ MAR in the East High Library Fiction Collection) Fix is a compelling novel about coming of age and the pressure of fitting in. In the world where looks determine whether you’re in or not and plastic surgery is second nature, Cameron and her younger sister struggle with their appearances. Cameron has already had plastic surgery on her nose and it changed her from invisible to the “It” girl. Now it’s Allie’s turn. With her mom pressuring her and her insecurity, Allie is for the surgery that will change her life. This story goes in depth on the pros and cons of plastic surgery, and on how much women will go to be “gorgeous.”

Margolis has written a beautiful novel that addresses many issues of the day and leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions about many questions asked in the story. MF (11-6-08)

Haley Patterson is a freshman in high school with a writer’s spirit and two best friends there to support her. For Haley, things couldn’t be better-- until she messes up on her newspaper article and everyone, even her friends who said they would never leave her, turn on her. She has gone from starlet to scarlet. She is shipped off to her aunt’s and a job at a resort, all her troubles behind her. Still insecure, Haley finds her job at the resort a small reprieve from her outcast position at school. As Haley becomes more and more secure at the resort, she comes out of her shell more and more. But will a chance encounter with her previous antagonist, Camilla undo all her new self-esteem she has acquired over the summer? In this story of overcoming obstacles, the importance of popularity with a little taste of “mean girls,” Love successfully shows the reader what it is like to be a teenage girl in a world where style is hot and anyone can stab you in the back.
 * //Defying the Diva//** by D. Anne Love (located @ LOV in the East High Library Fiction Collection)

I would recommend this book to everyone because it successfully depicts the life of a common teen and the struggles that come with this day and age. Love uses real world experiences to portray the life of an unconfident teenage girl who is the victim of malicious bullying. MF (10-1-08)