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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The Life of Glass

by Jillian Cantor
Cantor (The September Sisters) introduces inquisitive 14-year-old Melissa and her somewhat shallow older sister, Ashley, who live in Arizona. A year and a half after their father dies of lung cancer, their mother starts dating again, and Melissa becomes desperate to preserve the memory of her father. She begins reading his journal, which contains family members' love stories-notes for a book he was writing-and starts creating love stories for her relatives while investigating a woman from her father's past. Melissa's emotions are authentically chaotic as she fears losing her best friend, Ryan, to a charming yet insincere new student; feels abandoned by her mother and sister; and has to decipher her true feelings for Ryan when a popular stud takes an interest in her. Melissa's first-person narrative and pithy remarks ("I always thought that there was one person you were supposed to love.... It had never occurred to me... that my mother was going to look for that love all over again") are realistic and relatable as she comes to terms with the inevitability-and also the possibilities-of the future. Ages 12-up. 

Monday, April 19, 2010

Freak Show

by James St. James
Gr 9 Up-Teenage drag queen Billy Bloom explodes onto the conservative scene at Eisenhower Academy, where he finds love and a band of blond sadists. St. James tells the oldest story in the book, the one where an outcast seeks the homecoming crown, only this time a queen wants to be Queen. Billy's bold, bawdy narration makes Freak Show not only cohesive but also immensely entertaining. Readers will relish his conversational voice, naughty humor, celebrity put-downs, unabashed exuberance, and ALL CAPS expletives. Beneath the sequins, feathers, and foundation, Billy nurses an ardent desire for acceptance. Teens will quickly identify with his worries and needs, even as he dons lip gloss and a beehive wig. Billy shirks labels (he calls himself a "Gender Obscurist"), and this book also refuses to be defined by sexuality. Yes, Billy falls for another boy, and yes, they do kiss. Teens will find this romance fresh and fun, but they will also enjoy exploring complicated issues of empowerment, bigotry, self-esteem, and fear. Freak Show visits these difficult regions of adolescence with gracious candor and humor. More buoyant than weighty, this book flows as a fast-paced, snarky story of high school horrors. Mature readers will love St. James's playful rendition of a conventional American tale

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Monday, April 12, 2010

My anxious mind : a teen's guide to managing anxiety and panic

by Michael A. Tompkins
According to the authors, one in 20 teens in the U.S. suffers from extreme anxiety. If you know one, you could do a lot worse than handing over this reassuring manual. Short enough to read in a couple sittings and embued with an optimistic tone that rarely talks down, the book lays out common kinds of anxiety and triggers, describes breathing and relaxation techniques to stave off and coast through nervous episodes, and offers up various logs to fill out as the sufferer begins to make progress. As is to be expected, some suggestions feel ingenious (the Time Machine method of de-catastrophizing an apparent disaster), while others feel overly complicated (tools with such acronyms as ABCDE and ICAAN although it's true that even the most convoluted of routines can be comforting). In a departure from similar adult titles, the authors stress the importance of finding a supportive helper, and the conversational language, including analogies to everything from LeBron James to MP3 playlists, creates an aura of familiarity. The cool cover doesn't hurt, either.

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