Ohmigod! Mrs. Lutwak, you have to read this!

 
The Recruit. Muchamore, Robert. 2004.

Book one of the Cherub series, The Recruit opens with the story of James Choke. A tough kid living in a tough neighborhood in London, James' mother is a professional thief whose job entails leading a large theft ring from her flat. When his mother dies unexpectedly, he is shunted into a public home for boys. His half sister goes to live with her dad, who despises James. The feeling is mutual, as Ron has stolen from his mother repeatedly, never contributed anything, and picks on James whenever he visits. James quickly falls in with a bad crowd at his new school and experiences his first brush with police. On a collision course with a second, a visit to a counselor's ends with James waking in a posh campus where he is invited to join an elite, and secret, children's branch of the English secret service. With nothing to lose, James accepts.

First published in the U.K. in 2004, the series has slowly (too slowly for my students!) been released here in the U.S. A fast paced thriller, it contains many of the features that made Percy Jackson so lovable - James' faults are what makes him attractive to those who offer him a new, exciting, and appreciably better life than he had in front of him. James is not a prodigy and has a knack for getting into trouble. This book has turned so many reluctant readers into the kind of student who quivers with anticipation at finding the next installment on the shelf, so I just had to try it. Loved it. It was hard getting hold of the first book in my library - they are always out.


Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth. Kinney, Jeff. 2010.

The latest installment in this cartoon telling of the life of the average boy as he navigates parents, big and little brothers, friendships, girls, and school, Greg Heffley returns to narrate the school year that includes health classes on all of that stuff they've been dancing around. His anticipation at getting answers to some thorny questions about the birds and bees is increased by his growing suspicion that what he hears from peers is likely inaccurate, e.g., girls don't fart. He has seen his aunt fart! Will health class answer his questions or confuse him further with irrelevant information on the complexities of DNA?

I continue to be amazed by books like this which appeal equally to elementary and middle school students alike. Some of my brightest and most advanced 8th grade readers were thrilled to see it and immediately checked it out, along with some of my most reluctant readers who seemed surprised and happy to see it in the library.



Perfect: A Pretty Little Liars Novel. Shepard, Sara. 2007.

"Have you ever had a friend turn on you? Just totally transform from someone you thought you knew into someone ... else? .... I'm talking about your soul mate. The girl you know everything about. Who knows everything about you. One day she turns around and is a completely different person." So opens a story about a clique of middle school girls bound together by the need to be popular, on the verge of breaking apart when the leader of the pack shows signs that she is getting ready to leave the rest behind and move up the social ladder. Told in the aftermath of that girl's disappearance and murder, it is a painful glimpse into the shallow side of high school girl fights. A junior version of Gossip Girl, it nevertheless holds one's attention as an anonymous person threatens all of the original clique with the secrets they entrusted to the murdered girl.

This book reminded me of a YA version of Desperate Housewives with its sinister, unknown narrator making comments suggesting an all knowing perspective on how every move of every girl will play out, and the reference to the show in the book makes clear that the author was aware of it being such. So many of my students have gushed over it, and watch the T.V. show based on the series, that I had to take a look. Not what I'd call literature, but definitely a page turner and a book that captures the cruelty of mean girls. Since this is a phenomena that affects so many girls at this age, a few novels that explore it are inevitable and, in my opinion, a good thing.


Frostbite: A Vampire Academy Novel. Mead, Richelle. 2008.

In this second book in the Vampire Academy series, Rose Hathaway, a Dhampir raised to protect the good vampires (Moroi) from the bad vampires (Strigoi), returns to her school with her best friend Lissa, the last in a Moroi royal family. Rose is determined to protect Lissa. The prologue gives a brief synopsis of the wild events in book one, where Lissa reveals a rare magic ability to heal and saves Rose's life, creating a psychic bond in the process and also putting herself at great risk due to the number of people (vampires?) who would go to great lengths to control the one with such a gift. Part romance, part politics, part thriller, and part pure vampire fantasy, the novel promises a great ride.

I struggled to find a copy of book one but all of the copies on the North Shore are out - and the copy in my library was lost. What I managed to read of this second novel suggests that this is the kind of vampire novel that I like - one that is heavy on political alliances and intrigue with lots of action and the romance as a side dish. My students are on much later books and have admonished me repeatedly for not having read it. I can see why.