Gabi, A Girl in Pieces
Quintero, I. (2014). Gabi, A girl in pieces. TX: Cinco Puntos. Gabriela Hernandez otherwise known as Gabi is a senior at Santa Maria High School. She enjoys writing and hanging out with her friends. She is a bold lively girl who is a self confessed food addict. She loves to eat! This is the story of her senior year in high school. Gabi is surrounded by chaos and drama. The pregnancies of her best friend and her mom, the coming out of her male best friend and his family not accepting his life style, boy troubles, her meth addict father and sometimes wild out of control brother make for a dysfunctional last year of high school. This realistic fiction novel is written in English but the author uses phrases in Spanish to capture the culture and language of the characters. The author tells the story in diary entries written by the main character. Another book written in diary entries about the coming of age of a young woman is The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot. This was a required text.
Persepolis
Sartrapi, M. (2004). Persepolis. NY: Pantheon. In the 1980s, the author Marjane Satrapi was a child growing up in Iran. During this time, the Shah's regime was overthrown, there was political unrest due to the war with Iraq and the Islamic revolution caused many who did not agree with those beliefs to protest and face imprisonment. The author writes about the day to day life that she endured growing up in Tehran during this time in history. She writes about how her family struggled to bring some since of normalcy to the war torn time. The author was a very out spoken young woman who boldly challenged teachers and principals at her school. Ultimately at fourteen years of age, the author's parents thought it best to send her to live with a family friend in Austria for fear of her being sent to prison or ultimately executed for her boldness. This black and white nonfiction graphic novel gives an honest, child's point of view of life in Iran at that time. This was the first book in the series. The author published a complete volume of the series in 2007 called The Complete Persepolis. This was a required text.
The Hate U Give
Thomas, A. (2017). The hate u give. NY: Harper Collins. This realistic fiction novel is set in modern day and could have been taken straight from the headlines. It is the story of Starr Carter, a teenage girl who lives in an urban area infested with gangs and drugs. Starr's parents are determined to stay in the area and make a difference but opt to send their children to a prestigious private school across town so that they can get a good education. One night Starr goes to a party with her best friend in her neighborhood and brother's sister Kenya. There she sees a friend, Khalil that she has not seen in a while and they began to catch up when a fight breaks out and shots are fired. They flee the party in Khalil's car and what happens next changes Starr forever. They are pulled over by a police officer and Khalil ultimately looses his life over a hair brush. Starr has to deal with loosing her friend and has the weight of her community on her shoulders when the cop was not indited for killing an innocent young man. This is the debut novel of the author. Here is the link to a book trailer by Lisa McDonough for the book. https://youtu.be/MuCNYnt--sA This was a required text.
The Playbook: 52 Rules to Aim, Shoot, and Score in This Game Called Life
Alexander, K. (2017). The playbook: 52 rules to aim, shoot, and score in this game called life. NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This beautifully illustrated nonfiction book gives life lessons using sports metaphors. The author talks basketball to give inspirational wisdom on the journey of life. He includes quotes from well known athletes such as Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Bill Russell, Shaquille O'Neal, Abby Wambach Scottie Pippen. He also includes quotes from Oprah Winfrey former talk show host and studio executive, Maya Angelou acclaimed poet, and Sonia Sotomayor U. S. Supreme Court justice. This book is full of stories of real life perseverance and pursuit of dreams, achievement and excellence from track and field great Wilma Rudolph to the author himself. The author has written other books using the theme of basketball. One such award winning novel is The Crossover. Kwame Alexander was a required author.
Deadline
Cruthcer, C. (2007), Deadline. NY: Greenwillow Books. Ben Wolf, Little Wolf they call him. He was a cross country star until his senior year. Ben got some bad news from his doctor, a diagnosis of one year to live due to an illness. Ben decides not to accept treatment and gets his doctor to keep the diagnosis a secret. Ben decides to live his life to the fullest. He changes sports and joins the football team to play alongside his big little brother. He spends time reading every book he can and goes after his dream girl, Dallas Suzuki. Ben also spends time with Rudy, the town drunk. As the football season goes on, Ben begins to feel guilty about keeping his illness a secret and ultimately decides to share his fate with them. Chris Crutcher the author has written other young adult novels about young adults in difficult situations including Running Loose, Staying Fat For Sarah Bynes. Crutcher was a required author.
I Crawl Through It
King, A.S. (2015). I crawl through it. NY: Little Brown and Company. This is a magical realism book about four teenagers that are having a hard time maneuvering through their lives. Stanzi, is a girl who loves to dissect and never takes her lab coat off. Gustav is building an invisible helicopter. China is a girl who swallowed her self. Lansdale's hair grows when she lies. They deal with daily bomb threats at their high school as well as standardize testing that causes high anxiety. The students soon learn that the only way to get through this madness is to "crawl through it". This is a book trailer for the book. https://youtu.be/A_kzgcaNqio A.S. King was a required author.
100 Sideways Miles
Smith, A. (2014). 100 sideways miles. NY: Simon and Schuster. Finn Easton suffers from seizures due to an accident that happened when he was seven. He and his mom were walking under a highway overpass when a horse fell off a truck injuring him and killing his mother. Finn's dad is a science fiction writer who wrote a book that has a character in it named Finn and has seizures. Finn is an introverted teenager and always feels like he is stuck in his dad's book even though his dad swears the character Finn is not based on the real life Finn his son. Finn falls in love with Julia, a girl from Chicago and is heart broken when she moves back. Finn has a best friend named Cade who travels with him to a University in Oklahoma. On the way the two of them spot a van in the river with two people inside. Cade and Finn save them and they become heroes. After this, the two of them decide not to continue on their journey to Oklahoma and instead head to Chicago to see Julia. This realistic fiction story tells of friendship and love. This is a book trailer for the book. https://youtu.be/qMakV34Gyb4 Andrew Smith is a required author.
The Fault In Our Stars
Green, J. (2012). The fault in our stars. NY: Dutton Books. Cancer, it sucks. Hazel has cancer, thyroid cancer that spread to her lungs. She begins attending a support group at the insistence of her mother. Augustus also has cancer, osteosarcoma. He attends the same support group at the request of his friend Issac. Hazel needs oxygen everywhere she goes and Augustus lost a leg. Their common bond is cancer but they soon learn more about each other and grow closer. Soon they are spending more and more time together. Augustus still has a wish from the charity that grants wishes to terminally ill kids and decides to share it with Hazel so that she can travel to Amsterdam to meet her favorite author. Of the two of them the odds were that Hazel is the sickest and has the greater chance of dying. It turns out that Augustus ends up having a cancer recurrence this time it has spread everywhere and is aggressive. Augustus' condition ultimately deteriorates rapidly and he loses his battle. This realistic fiction novel tells of the horrors of cancer and the joys of young love. Another book by this author about the adventures of young people is Paper Town. John Green is a required author.
