Geektastic, ed. Holly Black & Cecil Castellucci

Geektastic, edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci. New York: Little, Brown, 2009. ISBN-10: 0316008095; ISBN-13: 978-0316008099. 416 p.

Plot Summary
In this collection, 15 of the most popular YA authors of today share stories of what it means to be a geek. Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci share their take on the differences (and similarities) of Star Wars and Star Trek fans at a convention. David Levithan tells of jealousy and competition between members of a quiz bowl team. Tracy Lynn shares the story of a cheerleader who wants to become proficient in geek-speak to grow closer to her boyfriend. Other authors in the collection include Garth Nix, M.T. Anderson, Scott Westerfeld, Libba Bray, and more (a complete list of authors, as well as short summaries of each story, can be found here).

Critical Evaluation
As a former band and drama geek, it was a joy to read these stories of other geeks and their obsessions. From Dungeons and Dragons and LARPing to drama and music to Comic-Con and online personalities, each author who contributed to this collection has something unique to add. Teens (and adults!) who have an obsession will enjoy discovering the many types of geeks out there and relishing the different ways that people enjoy their passions. While every story may not appeal to the reader, any geek is sure to find a story in the collection that resonates with them.

Reader’s Annotation
What does it mean to be a geek? This collection of stories from top YA authors, including David Levithan, Scott Westerfeld, and Libba Bray, offers different perspectives on the answer to this question.

Editor Information

Holly Black is an American writer best known for writing the Spiderwick Chronicles and Modern Fairie series. Born in New Jersey in 1971, "Black grew up in a decrepit Victorian house piled with novels and oddments and that her mother, a painter and doll-maker, fed her books on ghosts and fairies that formed much of her later views on the world.  Today, Holly lives in West Long Branch, New Jersey with her husband of 10 years, working as a full-time writer and an avid collector of rare folklore volumes, spooky dolls and outrageous hats" (Canada.com article). She graduated with an English degree from The College of New Jersey, and worked as a production editor of medical journals while studying at Rutgers University. She says her favorite thing in her house is her secret library (link). She can be found online at her website (http://www.blackholly.com) and on Livejournal (http://blackholly.livejournal.com/).

Cecil Castellucci has written several novels for young adults, including Boy Proof, The Queen of Cool, and the graphic novel The Plain Janes. Her website states that "her books have been on the American Library Association’s (ALA’s) BBYA, Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, Great Graphic Novels for Teens lists, as well as the NYPL Books for the Teen Age and the Amelia Bloomer list." She has also written the libretto for  a modern opera as well as other performance pieces. A complete list of works can be found at http://castellucci.wordpress.com/about/arts-stuff/.  She blogs at http://castellucci.wordpress.com/.

Genre
Short Stories
Memoir

Curriculum Ties
English: Short story format

Booktalking Ideas
-Read the passage from the cheerleader story (by Tracey Lynn) as she first interacts with her geek mentors. It's a great introduction to the tone and subject of the rest of the stories in the collection.

Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 9+ (School Library Journal)

Challenge Issues
Language and sexuality, neither of which is overwhelming.

I included this book because it appeared on YALSA's Teens Top Ten nomination list from 2010. I also heard of it when looking up more books by Bryan Lee O'Malley (of Scott Pilgrim fame)--he contributed to the illustrations.

Head Games, by Christopher Golden

Head Games, by Christopher Golden. New York: Simon Pulse, 2000. ISBN-10: 0671775820; ISBN-13: 978-0671775827. 256 p.

Plot Summary
In this novel from Golden's "Body of Evidence" series, Jenna Blake, assistant to the local pathologist, has returned home from her first semester of college for the Christmas break. She is horrified when three high school friends brutally murder their entire families. The police are leaning toward the idea that these teens were influenced to kill by violent video games, but as she investigates, Jenna begins to believe that someone is playing sinister head games with her classmates. Can Jenna solve this mystery before disaster strikes again?

Critical Evaluation
Golden is good at both writing the clinical details of an autopsy and creating believable relationships between Jenna and her friends. While the danger to Jenna never feels quite real in this volume, it's still interesting to follow the conclusions she comes to as she draws closer to solving the mystery. Perfect for fans of TV shows like CSI and Bones, as well as any teen who enjoys reading a good mystery.

Reader’s Annotation
Three of Jenna Blake's high school friends have brutally murdered their families. Can Jena find out who drove them to murder before another victim dies?

Author Information

Christopher Golden published his first book in 1992--a non-fiction pop culture book called Cut! Horror Writers on Horror Film, which won the Bram Stoker Award--and has been a full time writer ever since. At the time of his first book sale, he was 25 years old and writing for Billboard magazine in New York, but moved back to Massachusetts with his wife once he started working as a writer. In an interview with Cynthia Leitich Smith, he shared that he loves writing YA books because "kids and teens are so much smarter and wiser than they're often given credit for, and writing for that audience is a way for me to both communicate with younger people and to let them know that I don't feel that way, that they have my respect."

Golden has written in a number of different genres, including mystery, horror, thrillers, and fantasy, and has also published non-fiction pop-culture books, video games, comic books, an online animated series, and a movie script. Along with his YA books, he's also known for writing novelizations of popular works, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the novelization of Peter Jackson's King Kong. He writes more about his love of pop culture in an interview at Wondrous Reads.

Golden can be found on the web at http://www.christophergolden.com/.

Genre
Mystery

Curriculum Ties
Medical fields: pathology
Psychology: subliminal messaging

Booktalking Ideas
Read the passage where the first boy opens his Christmas presents and then kills his entire family--a great hook into the idea of the book.

Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 9-12

Challenge Issues
Graphic gore
Detailed descriptions of autopsy procedures

I included this book because both Pam Cole (Young Adult Literature in the 21st Century) and Diana Tixier-Herald (Teen Genreflecting) recommend this series as a good set of examples of the mystery genre.

Acceleration, by Graham McNamee.

Acceleration, by Graham McNamee. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2003. ISBN-10: 0385731191; ISBN-13: 978-0385731195. 210 p.

Plot Summary
Duncan is spending his summer working in the Dungeon--the Lost and Found of the Toronto Transit Authority. It's a boring job, and he hates being stuck in the dark basement during the sunny summer. Most of the things in the lost and found are pretty basic: wallets, glasses, sports equipment. But one day, he finds a strange diary filled with accounts of animal abuse and arson, and angry rants against women and the daily schedules of three women he's been stalking. Has he already killed one of them? As Duncan learns more from the diary, he becomes determined to find the serial killer before he claims another victim. 

Critical Evaluation
An inherent danger in mystery novels with teen protagonists is the believability of a teen solving a crime without the help of an adult, especially in a world where police and other authority figures blow off teenagers as immature and incapable. If a teen, like Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, is able to solve crimes on his or her own with a minimum of problems, the reader's credibility can be strained. McNamee manages to dodge this bullet, and creates a believable scenario where Duncan can solve the mystery of the serial killer's identity on his own, with his only help coming from his two best friends. Although it would be nice if the story and characters could be fleshed out more than they are, Duncan is a relatable hero who must face his insecurities and fears if he is to succeed.

Reader’s Annotation
As he works in the Toronto Transit Authority's lost and found, Duncan finds the lost diary of a serial killer. Can Duncan solve the mystery of the killer's identity before anyone else gets hurt?

Author Information
McNamee describes himself as "Male. Caucasian. 5'10". Brown hair. Brown eyes. Do not approach. Extremely shy. Author of: Hate You, Nothing Wrong with a Three-Legged Dog, Sparks, and Acceleration. Hate You was an ALA Best Book for young Adults and an ALA Quick Pick, won the Austrian Children's Book Award, and was nominated for the Governor General's Award. Sparks won the PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship" (from book jacket).  McNamee doesn't have much of a web presence, and it's difficult to find information about him. However, he does share a name with a pioneering broadcaster. 

When asked if writing this book made him feel differently about the subway, McNamee answered, "my buds and I used to hang out in the subway when we were young and bored. We’d do dumb stuff, like run from one platform across the tracks to the other side. We didn’t know about the third rail back then, the one that carries the electrical current and will fry you to ashes if you touch it. And we’d dare each other to run down the tunnel to the next station. (Don’t try this at home, unless you want to get flattened into an idiot pancake.) Years later, when I was working downtown, I had to ride the subway during rush hour. Packed so tight you couldn’t move, me and the rest of the workforce drones would wait on the platform for the next train. A lot of times I’d be standing at the front, my toes inches from the edge, and I’d think how easy it would be for someone to just give me a little shove, nothing conspicuous, and push me over the edge. Staring across at the platform on the other side, I tried to figure if I could squeeze in that little space under the edge. And every time, as the train rushed in, I’d feel a tiny tug of vertigo, like I was starting to fall. But I never did feel that hand on my back, pushing me over. And I never found out if I’d fit under the edge" (source). McNamee manages to make this concern a very real prospect in Acceleration.

Genre
Mystery

Curriculum Ties
Psychology: serial killers and sociopaths

Booktalking Ideas
-Read the passage where Duncan first finds the diary and realizes what it is (p. 32).
-"What would you do if you had to solve a crime on your own without the help of the police?"

Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 7-12 (taken from the Booktalking Colorado website)

Challenge Issues
-The glorification of criminal activities as they're used to help solve the mystery
-Descriptions of the serial killer's actions and his sick mind

I included this book because YALSA includes it on their Ultimate Teen Bookshelf as a great mystery novel, a genre which is definitely underrepresented on this blog.

The Demon's Lexicon, by Sarah Rees Brennan

The Demon's Lexicon, by Sarah Rees Brennan. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2009. ISBN-10: 1416963790; ISBN-13: 978-1416963790. 336 p.

Plot Summary
Demons are real--and 16-year-old Nick Ryves and his brother Alan have spent their lives on the run from them and the magicians who summon them. The demons are hunting the Ryves family to retrieve a charm their mother stole, one that keeps her alive. When a brother and sister come to them, asking for help to remove a demon's mark dooming one of them to death, Nick is reluctant to put his life in danger to help. Bug when Alan is also marked by a demon, Nick must kill one of the magicians who've been hunting them if he wants to save his brother.

Critical Evaluation
Nick, our protagonist, is disconcertingly emotionless at the beginning of the book, and speaking as a reader, it was off-putting. I could not understand why the author made the choice to have such a cold, distant narrator. But as the book progressed, and Nick's history and motivations became clear, the relationships between all the characters clicked into place. This book was a fascinating, engrossing look at what it means to be human and how the relationships we create on this earth are what really matters.

Reader’s Annotation
Nick and Alan have spent their lives fleeing from the demons and magicians who are tracking them. When Alan is marked by a demon, they must kill a magician to keep themselves safe.

Author Information

Sarah Rees Brennan grew up in Ireland, where her teachers did their best to make her fluent in the Irish language. Mostly, she chose to read books under her desk instead. Some of her favorites included Jane Austen, Anthony Trollope, Robin McKinley, and Diana Wynne Jones, and she still loves these authors today.

After college, she lived in New York for a while, but returned to the British Isles to work on a Creative Writing MA and work in a library in Surrey, England. She wrote The Demon's Lexicon while in Surrey, and has since made Ireland her permanent home base. Her website can be seen at http://www.sarahreesbrennan.com, and she blogs at http://sarahtales.livejournal.com/. She has also guest posted for the author Justine Larbalestier (found here), and several interviews are also available online (such as here and here)

Genre
Fantasy

Curriculum Ties
English: mythology and folk tales

Booktalking Ideas
-Share the scene where Nick and Alan learn that Jamie and Mae (the brother-sister pair who come to them for help) need help because Jamie has a demon's mark. It's a good scene to introduce the sense of suspense that permeates the rest of the book.

Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 9+

Challenge Issues
Magic and the occult. Any occult magic is as innocuous as in Harry Potter, but some parents still will have a problem with it.

Challenge Defense
Ask if the challenger has ever read the book. By the end of the book, there's an uplifting message about family and friends.

I included this book because it was nominated for a Cybil Award in 2010, and it looked interesting.

Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend, by Carrie Jones.

Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend, by Carrie Jones. Woodbury, MN: Flux, 2007. ISBN-10: 0738710504; ISBN-13: 978-0738710501. 288 p.

Plot Summary
Belle and Dylan have been dating for years, and their entire small town things they're destined to be together. So when Dylan tells Belle he's gay, she is shocked. Was their entire relationship a lie? Is it fair to be mad at your boyfriend for being true to himself? Belle journals her journey to acceptance and understanding. She finds that even though her heart really hurts, things will eventually be okay and she will find love again.

Critical Evaluation
Jones is excellent at capturing the emotions a girl feels when her boyfriend comes out to her as gay--wondering if she'll always be the girl that guys date before they come out and wondering how long she's been lied to--but also reminds the reader that life moves on. Belle's voice is compelling and realistic. I did have one quibble with the book--it's set out as the journal of a seven day period after Dylan and Belle break up. I found the timeline to be a little compressed and unbelievable--would Belle really have a new boyfriend that quickly after a breakup with her boyfriend of two years? However, if you ignore the timeline and pretend it's happening more organically as far as time is concerned, it seems very realistic.

Reader’s Annotation
Belle and Dylan were always the perfect couple, and Belle thought they were always going to be together. When Dylan tells Belle he's gay, her world is rocket by the revelation.

Author Information

Carrie Jones grew up in Bedford, New Hampshire, where she once had a seance with the comedian Sarah Silverman. She graduated from Vermont College's MFA program for writing, and has won literary awards in Maine, where she currently lives. After college, she edited newspapers and poetry journals before she published her first book (this one) in 2007.

Carrie's website contains some very funny true confessions about her life. One example: "Carrie lives in Maine. She has a hard time with this in the winter. It is bleak in Maine in the winter. Imagine everything shades of gray and brown and no green anywhere except for in people’s noses. This is Maine in Winter. Maine in summer is the best place in the world, so it’s a trade-off. Feel free to invite Carrie to your house in the winter, but not if it’s in Greenland, Canada, or anywhere north of Florida." For FAQs, links to other writers, and information about her books, visit her website at http://www.carriejonesbooks.com/.

Genre
Realistic fiction

Curriculum Ties
Sociology of homosexuality

Booktalking Ideas
-Read the passage where Dylan confesses that he's gay
-Read the passage where Belle wonders if she's marked/destined by this to always be a "beard"

Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 9+

Challenge Issues
-Derogatory language toward gays by other high school students
-Open homosexuality and sex among high school students


Challenge Defense
This issue is something I have personal experience with, and if I'd had this book to read a few years ago, I would have found it really helpful. I would share my own experiences.

I included this book because I was browsing the teen area at my public library and the title practically jumped out at me as something I'd like to read.

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, by Bryan Lee O'Malley. Portland, Oregon: Oni Press, 2004. ISBN-10: 1932664084. ISBN-13: 978-1932664089. 168 p.

Plot Summary
The first of six volumes, Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life introduces Scott Pilgrim, a 23-year-old slacker living in Toronto, Canada. He plays bass in a band called Sex Bob-Omb and is in love with Ramona Flowers. But before she will be his girlfriend, he must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends. He is challenged by the first boyfriend while playing a gig with his band, and must fight a video game-style duel to defeat him.

Critical Evaluation
I lack the skills to critically evaluate comic books and graphic novels, because I haven't read many of them, but I can say that really liked this one. Bryan Lee O'Malley excels at conveying his characters' complex emotions through fairly unsophisticated line drawings influenced by the Japanese manga movement. Influenced by indie rock, classic video games, and Toronto culture--all things I enjoy--I found nothing to complain about and everything to love in this slim volume.

Reader’s Annotation
Scott Pilgrim has a crush on Ramona Flowers, but before she will date him, he must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends.

Author Information

Bryan Lee O'Malley is a Canadian cartoonist best known for his Scott Pilgrim series. He is an occasional songwriter and musician, under the alias Kupek. He lives with his wife, cartoonist Hope Larson. His website is http://www.radiomaru.com, and he blogs at http://destroyerzooey.livejournal.com/.

O'Malley says Scott Pilgrim's setting was definitely influenced by his time living in Toronto. 'Yeah, it’s based on the first two or three years that I lived here, consolidated into the Scott Pilgrim storyline. I had a gay roommate, I was dating an American girl, and I was in a band. I wasn’t in the band until a year later but I just compressed it. His love of music also permeates the first volume, as well as the other four that have been published to date: "I feel like a lot of kids who maybe get the Nintendo references don't necessarily get all the music stuff. I guess I just wanted to put the rounded sides of my interest in there. When I was starting the book, I was listening to a lot of '70s music and country-rock, that Neil Young and Gram Parsons school of music. Now that influence is on the pace of the book, the laid-back feeling of it. Canadian indie-rock was behind the whole thing; the name comes from a Canadian indie-rock song from the '90s. But a lot of that stuff was influenced by '70s rock. I'd been listening to all that, tracing it back. It all goes into Scott Pilgrim. It's kind of my whole synthesis of everything I care about."

Genre
Graphic novel/Comic Book

Curriculum Ties
None.

Booktalking Ideas
Watch this trailer.




If you loved the trailer, you'll probably love the graphic novels. If you hated it, you'll probably hate them.

Reading Level/Interest Age
High school and adult.

Challenge Issues
None.

I read this book after I saw the movie trailer. It looks awesome, and the books are also really great.

Summer Boys, by Hailey Abbott

Summer Boys, by Hailey Abbott. New York: Scholastic, 2004. ISBN-10: 0439540208. ISBN-13: 978-0439540209.  224 p.

Plot Summary
The Tuttle family spends every summer at Pebble Beach. Ella is looking for her next romantic conquest, and finds him--but he's her sister's boyfriend. Jamie is excited to see Ethan--they hooked up last year, and write each other all year. But he doesn't seem excited to see her....Beth is falling for her best friend George, but worries about how this will affect their friendship. All three cousins learn a lot about themselves as they navigate their summer romances.

Critical Evaluation
This novel consists of three storylines that are connected only tangentially, through the fact that the three main protagonists are all cousins. While it could be argued that the novel's structure is a commentary on the sense of isolation we all may feel or have felt in relationships--the feeling that our situations are unique and no one else has ever felt the way we do--in this instance, it feels more like laziness on the part of the author, a sense that she didn't bother to properly flesh out all her characters. While I really enjoyed the Beth and George plotline, I felt that the other two were just caricatures of a teen vixen and a recent dumpee. I can see how this would appeal to teens, especially those looking for a fluffy beach read, but it left me cold.

Reader’s Annotation
Jamie, Ella, and Beth are cousins who visit Pebble Beach each summer. Can each of them deal with the happiness, jealousy, and sadness that come from their summer romances?

Author Information
Hailey Abbott grew up in Southern California, where she spent her time either writing or playing on the beach. She now lives in New York City.

Some of Abbott's published books include Getting Lost with Boys, The Secrets of Boys, The Perfect Boy, Waking Up to Boys, The Forbidden Boy, and The Other Boy well as the Summer Boys books and The Bridesmaid (list from Harper Collins Publishers).

Genre
Chick lit.

Curriculum Ties
None.

Booktalking Ideas
-Jamie's sense of confusion when Ethan blows her off.
-Ella's physical attraction to Peter.
-The scene when Beth first realizes she loves George.

Reading Level/Interest Age
High school.

Challenge Issues
Some teen sexual situations, underage drinking. Mostly innocuous.

Challenge Defense
Be familiar with your teens before recommending this one. Suitable for struggling readers looking for a fun read.

Fever 1793, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Fever 1793, by Laurie Halse Anderson. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 2002 (first published 2000). ISBN-10: 0689848919  ISBN-13: 978-0689848919.  272 p.

Plot Summary
Mattie Cook lives above her family's coffee shop with her mother and grandfather. During the summer of 1793, yellow fever breaks out in Philadelphia. Instead of spending her days avoiding chores, thinking of her friend Nathaniel Benson, and planning ways to make the coffee shop the best in Philadelphia, Mattie must learn how to survive in a city where disease is everywhere.

Critical Evaluation
School Library Journal's starred review of Fever 1793 declares that "readers will be drawn in by the characters and will emerge with a sharp and graphic picture of another world." Indeed, the story of Mattie's survival and maturation during one of the worst epidemics in American history is fascinating. Anderson succeeds in tying realistic descriptions of life in Colonial time with an interesting, well-written story. This book was selected as a Best Book for Young Adults by the ALA.

Reader’s Annotation
Mattie Cook lives above her mother's coffee house and dreams of her adult future. But when a yellow fever epidemic sweeps through Philadelphia, Mattie must grow up quickly as those close to her are affected. 

Author Information

Laurie Halse Anderson came up with the idea for Fever 1793 after she read an article in her local newspaper commemorating the Philadelphia epidemic 200 years ago. Anderson also wrote the novel Speak, which was a highly acclaimed finalist for the National Book Award and a Printz Honor book. Laurie lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two daughters. She can be found online at her website, www.writerlady.com.

Anderson has said, "Fever 1793 for me started in a newspaper article that was written in 1993. Get it? Two hundred years, right? The Philadelphia Inquirer because I was living outside Philly. A museum exhibit had been put together that examined this epidemic that nearly wiped out the city when the city was the capital of the United States. And I'm a big history geek. And I had never heard about this epidemic. So I was reading the article and I was struck, (a) by that fact, that it was a little known, really important thing in American history. And it was disgusting. Yellow Fever's not a nice disease. It's very gory and you'd puke up blood and it was like people dying all over in the streets. And I realized that between the disgusting factor and the history thing, I had the perfect book for children."

Genre
Historical fiction

Curriculum Ties
History: Post-Revolutionary America; epidemics

Booktalking Ideas
-Maddie's crush on Nathaniel--how crushes are much the same today
-The description of Maddie's sickness striking her.

Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 7-12.

Challenge Issues
None.

I chose this book because it is a common entry on lists of good historical fiction for young adults. Historical fiction seems to have fallen out of vogue for teens, so I wanted something written recently and this was a good pick.

Evermore, by Alyson Noel

Evermore, by Alyson Noel. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2009. ISBN-10: 031253275X; ISBN-13: 978-0312532758. 320 p.

Plot Summary
After the car crash that killed her entire family and nearly killed her, Ever Bloom is able to read people's thoughts, see their auras, and know their whole life story just by touching them. She works hard to avoid other people and suppress her abilities, but when she meets Damen, everything changes. He has no aura, and his mind is a blank to her. As Ever grows closer to Damen, she finds she has more questions than answers about Damen's strange abilities.

Critical Evaluation
Evermore seems highly derivative of the Twilight phenomenon. Damen, like the vampire Edward, affects Ever strongly, and his touch is like no one else's. Damen has lightning-fast reflexes and has to deal with an unnaturally prolonged life, and it seems unclear why Ever affects him so strongly. But Noel's book succeeds in developing strong relationships between Ever and the people in her life, and it's refreshing to read a paranormal romance where the love interest isn't the sole focus of the protagonist's life (although it is still what the book spends the majority of its time on, sadly). While it will never be mistaken for an intellectual novel, Evermore will appeal to readers who loved Twilight and can't get enough of paranormal romance. Additional reader reviews can be found at goodreads.com.

Reader’s Annotation
Ever is a mind-reader who lost her family in a terrible accident. Although she isolates herself to suppress her powers, she can't hide herself enough to keep from falling in love with Damen. But Damen isn't a normal boy...he's an Immortal.

Author Information

Alyson Noel was born and raised in Orange County, CA. After high school she wanted to get away from suburbia, so she moved to Mykonos, Greece, where she lived for several years. She wrote her debut novel while she was a flight attendant, during long layovers and weather delays that kept her from home. She and her husband live in Newport Beach, CA. More information about Alyson and her books can be found at http://www.alysonnoel.com/.

What gave Noel the idea for her Immortals series? She says, "Grief. Pure and simple. I’d lost three people I loved in five months, and shortly after that I nearly lost my husband to leukemia (he’s in full remission now!). Experiencing that sort of intense grief and fear got me thinking a lot about life and death, mortality and immortality, the bonds that tie us even after a loved one is gone, and how our youth loving culture sort of seeks physical immortality by trying to remain youthful looking for as long as we can—and yet, what would happen if we really could achieve it? What would it mean for us, our loved ones, society in general? And since I’ve been interested in all things paranormal since I was a kid, Ever and Damen’s story seemed like the perfect vehicle to explore all of those themes."

Genre
Fantasy; paranormal romance

Curriculum Ties
None.

Booktalking Ideas
-Compare it to Twilight
-Ever's sadness at losing her family

Reading Level/Interest Age
High school.

Challenge Issues
Minimal. While Damen would like to have sex with Ever, she stops his advances before they go too far, and there are no other language or violence issues.

I included this book because it was included on YALSA's list of 2009 Teens' Top Ten Nominations. I wouldn't have picked it up otherwise. I can see why teens like it, but it definitely wasn't my cup of tea.

Napoleon Dynamite (film)

Napoleon Dynamite. Fox Searchlight, 2004. Directed by Jared Hess and written by Jared and Jerusha Hess.  Rated PG, 94 minutes.

Plot Summary
Napoleon is the king of the anti-heroes in this unconventional high school comedy. He spends his days drawing unicorns and other mythical beasts, fighting with his brother Kip, and avoiding his uncle Rico, a self-defined "football star." When two new friends, Deb and Pedro, enter his life, the three of them start campaigning for Pedro to become the class president. But how can Pedro win, running against the popular Summer?

Critical Evaluation
From the first shot of the opening credits--a plate of tater tots--it's clear this cult classic is an original. It definitely won't appeal to everyone, but this film hits on the reality of high schoolers' treatment of each other in a way that's so real it's sometimes excruciating to watch. Napoleon isn't a likable hero. Orson Scott Card describes the film as a near-documentary--the drab isolation of eastern Idaho from the perspective of people who live there, with everyone in town just getting by. He remarks that "if the person at the pinnacle of the social pyramid needs to work to have spending money, we know we're not in the usual high school comedy" (his review here). But this unconventionality is part of the film's appeal. Recommended.

Reader’s Annotation
Napoleon is a shy loner in Preston, Idaho. When he becomes friends with Deb and Pedro, their campaign to make Pedro the class president gives Napoleon new confidence.

Author Information

Jared and Jerusha Hess are a husband-and-wife team best known for writing and directing the offbeat movies Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre. Jared attended Preston High School in Idaho, where much of Napoleon Dynamite was filmed. Jared and Jerusha met while studying film at Brigham Young University. They have a son and daughter and live in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Jared says that "The characters of Napoleon Dynamite are inspired largely from people I grew up with in Idaho and especially from my five younger brothers and friends at school. I basically set out to tell the story of the kind of young people who have never really had their stories told - people like that nerdy kid who sat next to you in math drawing mythical animals, the people you never talked to or really got to know" (source). 

Genre
Film; high school. Cult classic.

Curriculum Ties
Sociology: bullying, loners

Booktalking Ideas
N/A

Reading Level/Interest Age
Grade 7 and up.

Challenge Issues
None.

I included this film because it appears on YALSA's 2010 Fabulous Films for Young Adults list.