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This One Summer Genre:   I selected This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki for the Graphic Novel category. Target Age Group : The target age group is 12-18 years. Summary :     This One Summer is a bildungsroman graphic novel wondrously written by Mariko Tamaki. A young teenager named Rose has vacationed at Awago Beach every summer with her parents since she was 5. Windy is her summer friend at Awago and Rose, who is a year and a half older than Windy, is experiencing a blooming sexual awareness. She is also dealing with, since last summer, her mother's deep-rooted sadness. Rose is insistent on capturing the happiness she has experienced at the beach in the past but the sadness and coldness of her mother seems to permeate any and all of her joy. She suffers through these negative feelings from her mother while hanging out at the beach with Windy or walking to Brewster's (Awago's general store) to rent a scary video. It takes a momentous incident in the lives of Rose and her mo...
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The Sun Is Also a Star Genre: I chose The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon for the Michael L. Printz Honor Book category. Target Age Group : The target age group is 12-17 years. Summary:     The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon is a lovely and brilliant novel of happenstance. Two teenagers, Natasha and Daniel, cross paths one day in New York City and their lives are forever changed. Natasha, an undocumented immigrant from Jamaica, and Daniel, a first generation Korean American, meet on a critical day for both of them. Natasha is hoping to not be deported with her family at 10 that evening and Daniel has a college interview for Yale that his parents demand he attend (the interview and the school) to become a doctor. Daniel is a poet and Natasha is a blossoming scientist. With so much resistance from Natasha and unforeseen obstacles, they fall utterly and completely in love. This beautiful development happens in a matter of hours. Hope is the guiding force in this not-to-be-...
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  Out of Darkness Genre: I selected Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez for the Historical Fiction category. Target Age Group: The target age group is 14-17 years. Summary :     Out of Darkness is a young adult historical fiction book written by Ashley Hope Pérez. The interracial love between a 17-year-old Mexican American girl by the name of Naomi and Wash, a 17-year-old Black young man, in a 1936 oil town in East Texas, predicts a story filled with sadness and heartbreak for these two young people. Joy is fleeting in this poignant novel and it is only found in the woods near Naomi's house. Naomi has been living with her grandparents in San Antonio since the untimely death of her mother and she is coerced, along with her lively younger twin siblings, Beto and Cari, to live with her horrid stepfather, Henry. With careful planning, Wash and Naomi explore their stolen moments of joy but when an explosion occurs at the New London School, their lives and so many others in ...
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Grown Genre: I chose Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson for the Mystery/Suspense category. Target Age Group : The target age group is 13-17 years. Summary:     In the young adult novel, Grown , Enchanted Jones is a young 17-year old-girl who becomes enamored with a famous music star, Korey Fields, when she meets him at a singing audition. What seems like a casual meeting soon becomes a nightmare of gigantic proportions. Enchanted is beguiled by Korey and is soon caught up in his web of deceit and depraved, abusive behavior. She is powerless and full of shame when she cannot escape his monstrous actions. Grown is a novel that will keep the reader breathless and frightened from the horror that ensues in Enchanted's life while she is tyrannized by Korey Fields. Yes, there is a murder involved but it begs the question, is a murder of a monster worse than a murder of someone's soul? Justification :     The cover art and the blurb by Angie Thomas propelled my interest in this t...
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The Hate U Give Genre: I selected The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas for the Banned Book category. Target Age Group: The target age is 15+ years. Summary:      The Hate U Give is an explosive and gripping young adult novel written by Angie Thomas. In this novel, Starr Carter, a 16-year-old Black girl is a witness to the murder of her childhood friend, Kahlil, by a White police officer. Kahlil is shot in the back three times and the ramifications of this incident set Starr on a path of self-discovery. She proceeds to realize that shame has been an integral part of her life. Starr goes to Williamson Prep, a school in Riverton Hills, light years away from the impoverished community of Garden Heights where Starr lives with her family. She has convinced herself that she is not being disloyal to her family but with Kahlil's tragic death, Starr has to face whether or not she has the courage and strength to be the fearless person she so desperately wants to be for her family but e...
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  Book Blog #3 I will be reviewing the books The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson, Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez, The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon, and This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki.
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Genre : The Crossover by Kwame Alexander is my choice for the novel in verse category. Target Age Group: The target age group is 10-13 years.  Summary:     The Crossover by Kwame Alexander is an extraordinary novel in verse about 12-year-old twin brothers, Josh and JB, who excel at basketball and encounter a myriad of problems while they are mentally and physically trying to work toward the championship game for the Reggie Lewis Wildcats. Their dad, a joyful yet stringent father, Chuck "Da Man" Bell, is a former professional basketball player. He has a set of basketball rules for the boys which are actually life rules. These rules are a constant throughout this intense novel. The novel is written from Josh's point of view and his fearless confidence enables him to make complex decisions at difficult moments where his age does not hinder him from accomplishing unerring resolutions. Justification:     I chose The Crossover for my verse novel because I was not f...
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