Alive in the Killing Fields : Surviving the Khmer Rouge Genocide

by Nawuth Keat
At age nine, Keat was rousted from his bed by Khmer Rouge soldiers. After savagely murdering most of his family, they shot him three times and left him for dead. Miraculously, he survived, only to spend the next few years fighting for his life and running from the Khmer Rouge along with his remaining family members. Eventually, he and his siblings made their way to a refugee camp where his older sister bought his freedom. In this memoir, written with the assistance of his college professor, Keat paints a poignant portrait of life as a child in Cambodia in the 1970s. His skills, cunning, and sheer will to survive enabled him to endure devastating occurrences and difficult living conditions. The story is not for the faint of heart, as suffering torture at the hands of soldiers, subsisting solely off of rice chaff, and being forced to sleep among human remains are only some of the atrocities he suffered. Keat's story is compelling and concise, and readers will find themselves invested in his eventual escape.

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How Beautiful the Ordinary : Twelve Stories of Identity

by Cart, Michael
This collection's refreshing perspective-that gay, lesbian, and transgendered lives simply are, as Cart states in the introduction, "as wonderfully various, diverse, and gloriously complex as any other lives,"-distinguishes it. Twelve acclaimed authors contribute stories ranging from sweet and nostalgic to lyrical and desperate, capturing the blissful/painful process of self-discovery. Highlights include Margo Lanagan's retelling of "The Highwayman" from a voyeuristic stable boy's point of view and Gregory Maguire's story told from different points in time, in which an 18-year-old Iranian-American boy discovers the impact a summer of accidental love can have on his entire life. The formats and settings of the stories are as varied as the characters. Graphic novelist Ariel Schrag's "San Francisco Dyke March" gives funny tourist observations, and in "Happily Ever After," Eric Shanower illustrates how love, not genies, fixes troubled relationships. William Sleator's compelling Thai character finds a dangerous love. Francesca Lia Block, David Levithan, and Emma Donoghue customize the epistolary story. Julie Anne Peters skillfully voices two teen girls' trepidation and ecstasy during their first sexual encounter. Ron Koertge's "My Life as a Dog" is an ingenious metaphor for coming out, and in "Trev" Jacqueline Woodson gently allows Trev to accept his gender identity. This collection, with some detailed sexual descriptions, is sure to find its intended teen audience.

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The blockbuster "New York Times"-bestselling companion guide, fully revised and updated, now includes a wealth of new material, with analysis and revelations from the films, including the upcoming sequel, "New Moon," and more

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GLBTQ: THE SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR QUEER AND QUESTIONING TEENS

Huegel has written an indispensable guide for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning teens, as well as for their straight peers and parents. In 11 candid, fact-filled, nonjudgmental chapters, she covers every aspect of being GLBTQ-- from coming out to homophobia, from religion and culture to sex and sexuality. She devotes an entire chapter to transgender teens, a group that is often ignored or misunderstood. The tone is always supportive and matter-of-fact, Huegel's recommendations are sensible and practical, and apposite quotations from young people who have been there enrich the text. The book, designed for browsing, also contains an extraordinary number of references to additional resources--many of them online--as well as a glossary and a bibliography. One of the best one-volume sources of information available about being GLBTQ

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The Pain Tree: And Other Teenage Angst-Ridden Poetry

An accessible and visually appealing collection of poetry culled from teen Web sites and magazines. Throughout the 25 selections, the young people address a wide range of emotions while coping with the trials of growing up, sometimes under less than ideal circumstances. The poetry is timely and timeless, but uneven in quality. Some selections are well-written expressions of adolescent experience and frustration, while others show less inspiration and are not as convincing in their imagery. The accompanying paintings, both colorful and creative, are abstract rather than exact representations of the narratives associated with them. While some selections are suitable for reading aloud, the majority are introspective accounts of personal experiences.

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Starred Review. Gr 9 Up–Karl Shoemaker, in group therapy at school since fourth grade, turns a new leaf on the first day of senior year, 1973. His goal is to be normal and avoid therapy while still keeping his friends, who are all part of the Madman Underground. Karl's widowed mother is an alcoholic, hippie, conspiracy-theorist slut who steals his earnings (he has five jobs) for benders. At one time or another, most Madmen are locked out of their houses by drunk or absent parents, or don't go home to avoid getting beaten, or felt up. They depend on one another's hospitality by way of empty basements, open windows, and unlocked cars. Barnes writes with amazing ease and clarity. He has a light, immediate feel for character, and the ensemble of Madmen, teachers, parents, and crotchety townspeople is distinct and fully formed. Dialogue between Karl and this motley crew is mostly hilarious, expletive laden, and consistently flawless. Karl's conversations with Marti, the newest Madman, are among the most heart-melting in teen literature. Barnes's descriptions of small-town Ohio defy the usual pitfalls of the back-when-the-author-was-a-teen setting–Lightsburg is so believably backward it seems timeless. While a moral dilemma may seem an underwhelming plot device, Karl's psychological journey is consistently gripping. His narration is so easy and engaging, so sweet and funny, so astonishingly truthful that teens will rip through these 500-plus pages and want more.

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Starred Review. Gr 9 Up—Smithson experienced the events of 9/11 while in high school and responded by enlisting in the Army Reserve after graduation. He married his high school sweetheart before being deployed to Iraq. Once there, he worked as an equipment operator in an equipment platoon, and while mortar fire was a regular occurrence, the missions he describes were all about bulldozing berms, filling craters created by IEDs, and convoying lumber. Some of the author's most poignant passages are his descriptions of interactions with Iraqi children. Where he was expecting rock-throwing, he encountered barefoot, dirty children grateful for the water the soldiers gave them. It is these children and the villagers he met that help explain for him the purpose of the war. The book ends with Smithson's return home, his almost magical escape from night terrors, and his work with children in his own hometown. Writing proves to be his therapy for PTSD. There are mixed metaphors aplenty, crude and morbid humor, and other evidence of a young author, but it all works together to create a tough but powerful look at one man's experience.—

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