Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun: A Personal History of Violence (2010)

This graphic novel is based on a book of the same name by Geoffrey Canada and is illustrated by Jamar Nicholas. It is a memoir of the lessons learned growing up on the streets of the South Bronx. There is a code that is passed on from older kids to younger kids as they emerge from their families' apartments out on to the street. If they don't adhere to this code the consequences are some form of violence and the older the kid, the more severe the consequences.

As he gets older, Canada finds that the means to defend himself increase in efficiency from the fist to the stick to the knife and to the gun. At first he feels he must carry a gun to defend himself but he eventually comes to the realization that the consequences of using the gun could mean taking a life. He decides that carrying the gun makes it too easy and convenient to shoot someone so he decides to get rid of the gun and rely on less violent ways to survive.

And yet, these are young men who because they are armed feel less inclined to avoid confrontations that could escalate into bloodshed.
The power of the gun is no less intoxicating to them that it was to me. The evidence of their need to carry a weapon for self-defense is made clear to them every day as they talk about who was shot, who was robbed, who was killed.
They are not going to swap their guns just for sneakers, or gift certificates, or small amounts of cash. And unfortunately for us all, many of them have not been raised in the church or with any moral teaching, so the fact that they might end up taking a life is not a persuasive argument for throwing away their guns.

Canada is very involved with the ambitious program, Harlem Children's Zone, so that children can walk to school and the store without fear.

The illustrations in this book are in black, white, and gray and are rough and stark. They add to the fear and intimidation that the writer grew up with.

I highly recommend this book.

My rating: ++++

Blank Confession (2010)

I have been enjoying Pete Hautman's books since I read his National Book Award winning book, Godless, and I was thrilled when we received this book yesterday. Short and fast, it tells the story of Mike and his sister, Marie who was dating a drug dealer named Jon, and a police detective named Rawls. The story reminded me of the old TV series, The Lone Ranger, where a mysterious masked man would ride into town, avenge the innocent victim, and ride away before anyone could thank him.

Our story opens with a young man named Shayne showing up at a police station to confess to a murder he committed.

He had seen that expression in other places too. The morgue. Funeral parlors. Murder scenes.
The face of the dead.
But this boy was not dead. Somewhere behind those eyes existed a spark -- a spark that had brought him here, to this building, to this bench, to George Rawls.
"Are you Shayne?" Rawls asked.
The boy dropped his chin. Rawls took that as a yes and sat beside him on the bench, feeling every last one of his forty-three years, fifteen of them as a cop. Despite having conducted hundreds of such interviews, he found himself at a loss. Something about his kid -- who could not have weighed much more than his Labrador retriever -- frightened him. Not fear for himself. The other kind of fear: fear that the universe no longer made sense, that everthing was about to change.
"So . . . ." Rawls cleared his throat, looking straight ahead, ". . . who did you kill?"

The chapters alternate between Shayne giving his statement to Rawls, and flashbacks of the events from Mike's point of view. Jon shoved a bag into Mike's backpack when police showed up at the school with dogs to perform locker searches. Fearing that he might be caught with drugs, Mike threw the bag into the garbage. The next day Jon demanded his bag back and since the garbage had been emptied, he told Mike to repay him $500 or suffer the consequences. Unable to pay and afraid more for what Jon would do to his sister than himself, Mike is in a real quandry. In rides Shayne on his white horse, er, BMW motorcycle, to save the day.

"Hi, ho, Silver. Away!!!"

This book didn't take much longer to read than watching an episode of the Lone Ranger. The reader is swept along by events fearing the worst would result in this situation. I highly recommend this book to anyone.

My rating for this book: ++++

When You Reach Me (2009)

Rebecca Stead's book received the 2010 Newbery Award and is quite different from winners of past years. Miranda is a 12-year old girl who lives in Manhattan with her single mother in the 70s. She has the intelligence and common sense that most latchkey kids get with the responsibility and freedom of getting around a big city on one's own. She is given a copy of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, and she ponders the complications and contradictions of time travel. In the meantime she deals with the typical sixth grade stuff like stuffy friends, bullies, homeless guys, and not so typical stuff like finding notes referring to events that have not yet happened.

On the Friday after Thanksgiving there was no school, but Mom still had to go to work. I'd been trying hard not to think about them, but I spent a good chunk of that morning worrying about your notes. I held one in each hand and read them over and over. The part about writing a letter wasn't too scary. The scary parts were "I'm coming to save your friend's life" and "Oh, by the way, where do you keep your keys?" and "P.S. Don't ever tell anyone about any of this." Seeing my name written out on the second note was also pretty creepy, because I was still trying to pretend the notes weren't really meant for me. And also where you wrote "I won't be myself when I reach you." I didn't like that part at all.

But of course, we the readers are looking at all of the characters trying to figure who it was that came back in time and which kid was the one to come back. It was refreshing to read a book about a young city dweller that wasn't involved in drugs and gangs but maneuvered around city life with confidence.

My rating for this book: ++++

Rainbow Boys (2001)

Alex Sanchez has written a series, starting with this book, about young gay men wrestling with different aspects of being gay in high school. The chapters are told from the viewpoint of three different young men; one openly gay (Nelson), one closeted gay (Kyle), and one closeted bisexual (Jason). They also have a variety of family reactions from very supportive and actively working for gay rights to an alcoholic and abusive father paired with a woman fearful for her own safety and unable to help.

They deal with coming out of the closet (when and how), gay bashing at school, losing one's virginity, and the fear of AIDS. This book does not gloss over any of these issues.

He asked questions for more than an hour and phoned the hot line three more times during the summer, speaking with different men and women. Each of them invited him to a Saturday meeting. No way, he thought. He wasn't about to sit in a room full of queers.
He pictured them all looking like the school fag, Nelson Glassman - or Nelly, as everyone called him. Even though a lot of people liked him, Jason couldn't stand the freak - his million earrings, his snapping fingers, his weird haircuts. Why didn't he just announce he was homo over the school loudspeaker?

I read this book because it is very popular and I wanted to see how these topics were handled. It shows the young men with all of the worries of straight teens with the added stress of being gay. I can only imagine how this book would, if not solve, at least let other young gay men know that they are probably not alone and that reaching out for help might help them. In the back of the book are resources that might be of use to them as well as their families.

I would recommend this book to gays in high school and their friends to help them understand what they are going through.

My rating for this book: +++

Angry Management (2009)

Chris Crutcher has brought together characters from his previous book (without aging them) and put them together in an anger management course led by a retired teacher/cowboy who gives us a brief introduction of each of them as a way of reminding us of their previous history. Kids from foster homes, abused kids, black/gay kids, obese kids, and all of them mad.

Amazingly, the ones best suited to help them are other damaged teens. They understand what it is like to live in situations that most people can't understand and while they can't solve the problems, they can listen.

"I WANT HER TO MAKE ME FEEL BAD!"

Montana grabs Tara and holds her tight.

Tara squirms a moment, then surrenders. How do you tell somebody that? How can she tell her mother that feeling bad feels right when everything in your world is wrong; that at first you need your foster parents to make things familiar, which in this case means f___d up. It makes such sense at a heart level, but even for a wordsmith like Montana West, it's impossible to articulate. It's so true, and it sounds so crazy.

The author is proud that his books have been challenged and removed from libraries because he puts in them things that many adults don't want to hear, or don't want their kids to hear. It is, of course, a shame, because what he has to say should be heard by every teen and every parent of a teen.

I highly recommend this book.

My rating for this book: +++++

Nineteen Minutes (2007)

Jodi Picoult doesn't tell the story of a high school shooting massacre from just one point of view -- we get it from the shooter's, the victims', the parents', law enforcement's, lawyer's and DA's. We don't just see the events of one day, we go back to the shooter's first day of kindergarten and follow him and his classmates to the fateful day and through the trial which followed. We get the whole story, dissected and laid out for us so we can feel everyone's emotions.

Chaos was a constellation of students, running out of the school and trampling the injured. A boy holding a handmade sign in an upstairs window that read HELP US. Two girls hugging each other and sobbing. Chaos was blood melting pink on the snow; it was the drip of parents that turned into a stream and then a raging river, screaming out the names of their missing children. Chaos was a TV camera in your face, not enought ambulances, not enough officers, and no plan for how to react when the world as you knew it went to pieces.


Gripping is a word that is frequently used to describe an exciting book. I wish I could think of a word even more dramatic to describe how this book captured my attention, sucked me in, and had me suffer along with all (yes, I mean all) of the characters. I can't help but look around my school and wonder about all the hidden, horrible things that are probably occurring now and how there may be someone who feels as desperate and hopeless as this shooter felt.

High school students and parents of high school students will find this book scarier than anything written by Stephen King.

My rating for this book: +++++

Catalyst (2002)

Kate is having a rough time. She grew up without a mother. Her father is a minister who pays more attention to his parishoners than his family. Her brother is... a brother. And to make things even worse, she doesn't get into MIT, her dream since fourth grade. Now her neighbors, the Litch's have a fire and Teri, a classmate, is moving in with her until their house can be rebuilt.

Braaaaaaaaaccchhhh...
It wasn't part of my plan to be the schmuck that wound up on the cot, but there you go. Teri and Mikey took my bed. As if worrying about MIT weren't enough to keep me awake I have a lawn mower roaring in the middle of the room.
Mmmbrrrraaaaachhh...
The law mower is Mikey Litch breathing through his mouth, producing a decibel-per-pound output that is off the charts. I should sample the noise and sell it to struggling musicians. I'd make a fortune.
...
How can Teri stand it? This could explain her anger management problem. I've got to do something or I'll never go to sleep.

Teri's dad is long gone, a blessing for the family, and her mother seems to be rather shell shocked and not very helpful in times of disaster. Teri has a two-year old brother who clings to Teri like a leech and Teri, amazingly, has a chip on her shoulder and isn't the most friendly and appreciative person.

Kate is torn between suffering with her own problems and trying to make a difference for Teri and maybe put a chink in her defensive armor that puts everyone off. I have to admire Kate because Teri is mean, rude, a thief, and as obnoxious as can be. I don't know if I could have been as persistent and patient as Kate.

I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy teen age stories with true-to-life problems.

My rating for this book: ++++

Fly on the Wall (2006)

After a trilogy of books with magicians and monsters, I thought I would come back to reality. Well, almost.
E. Lockhart's book takes place in the Manhattan School for Arts and Music and we meet Gretchen Yee, a half-Chinese girl whose parents announce they are getting a divorce then leave her alone for a week (Dad has business in Hong Kong and Mom goes on a trip to the Caribbean).
They always warn you that you get what you wish for but Gretchen makes an offhand wish to her friend, Katya, anyway.
"Just tell me," sighs Katya. "What do you wish?"
"I wish I was fly on the wall of the boys' locker room," I say.
The next morning finds Gretchen clinging to the wall of the boys' locker room with four more legs than she went to bed with and a set of compound eyes and wings! I will leave it to you to imagine what she observed there over a span of several days, and what she learned about the boys from her school gives her a whole new perspective of their lives and her place in the high school.
There is a lot of humor in this book (as you can well imagine) but it has its moments when Gretchen learns harsh truths about the boys and their private lives.
I recommend this fast reading book with a warning about the frank discussion of boys' bodies.
My rating for this book: ++++

The Graveyard Book (2008)

"There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife."
So begins Neil Gaiman's book, an ingenious story of how a community (of ghosts) adopted and raised a boy and taught him everything a young man needs to face the world with confidence and independence. The opaque characters are introduced with their epitaphs.
"And so it went, until it was time for Grammar and Composition with Miss Letitia Borrows, Spinster of the Parish (Who Did No Harm to No Man all the Dais of Her Life. Reader, Can You Say Lykewise?)."
The toddler wandered into a London graveyard having slipped from his house while he family was being murdered. Since the ghosts didn't know his name they named him Nobody (Bod for short) and his adoptive parents were a childless couple, Mr. and Mrs. Owens, a elderly but kindly couple. The other ghosts represented all different times in history dating back to before the Roman occupation. In addition to teaching Bod learn how to read, they were able to teach him special abilities such as Fade which helped him hide in plain sight.
Aside from the touching story of an orphan, there is mystery, action, and a touch of horror when Bod discovers areas of the graveyard not visited by the living in ages. His guardian, Silas, is able to leave the graveyard and procure food and other necessities for Bod. As he said, "It is going to take more than just a couple of good-hearted souls to raise this child. It will...take a graveyard." And this village does just that.
This story will appeal to just about anyone who picks it up. In addition to the wonderful story, illustrations by Dave McKean makes this a true treasure.
My rating for this book: +++++

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

OK, that's it. No more rereading H.P. until summer and the next movie is about to come out. It's just that J.K. Rowling's series of books is so darn addictive!
One of the interesting things that didn't make it to the movie is the major use of chocolate as a remedy for feeling down. I have no doubt in my mind that this is a factual cure and I always head for a bite or two of dark chocolate when I feel stressed. No fiction there! I also had forgotten the role Cruikshanks, Hermione's cat, had in this book. Let's hear it for cats! They can always read a person (or rat) better than other people.
If there is one criticism I could have for this book, it is the speed and ease that Harry went from hating Sirius, believing him to be the cause of his parents' deaths, to loving him when he found outSirius was his godfather. With all of the hiding and treachery going on at a rapid pace, it is amazing that Harry could switch gears from full reverse to full speed ahead in such a short time. Not that Sirius didn't deserve the love, but he was just so infuriatingly slow in revealing himself to Harry. I am also bothered that Harry's father, James, bullied Snape. I don't think Harry ever made the connection between how James harrassed Snape and how Malfoy harrasses Harry and his friends.
One of the best things about working in a high school library and having a teenaged daughter is that these books are available to me and I have a justifiable excuse for reading (and rereading) them.
I think everyone knows about these books and that everyone would enjoy them (again and again).
My rating for this book: +++++

The Savage (2008)

People find different ways to deal with the untimely death of a loved one. This book by David Almond (illustrated by Dave McKean) shows how a boy named Blue deals with the death of his father. A school counselor advises him to write about his loss and he ends up writing a story of a boy who lives like a savage in the woods near his house. The book alternates between the Blue's voice and the story he is writing. His spelling is atrocious but the words make sense if they are pronounced out loud. Mr. Almond comes from England so "football" means soccer and there are other words that are British.

"She laughed and said, 'Will you, now? What kind of job?'

I didn't have a clue, of course.

'One that'll get me loads of dosh,' I said."

This is a very touching and surprising book. I highly recommend it for a quick and satisfying read to practically everyone.

My rating for this book: ++++

Paper Towns (2008)

John Green has already been recognized for Looking for Alaska which won the Printz Award for Young Adult books. Paper Towns is about a high school senior, Quentin, and the girl who lives next door, Margot. She wakes him up in the middle of the night and draws him in to helping her wreak havoc on her ex-boyfriend and other classmates. The next day, she vanishes. The police officer that interviews Quentin mentions that she previously left clues when she ran away but they were unable to find any this time. Quentin is intrigued, however, when someone pulls down the shade in her bedroom (across from his bedroom) and there is a poster of Bob Dylan taped on the outside. This message takes him on a quest to try and discover where she is hiding, if she is indeed still alive.

I recommend this book to mystery lovers, both boys and girls. The road trip that Quentin and his friends take is a bold, desperate attempt at finding Margot and binds them together.

My rating for this book: ++++

The Chocolate War

Robert Cormier's book which takes place in a Catholic boys' school, is in the top five of ALA's Most Challenged Books (probably because of the references to masturbation). I started to read this book once and put it down and just read it all the way through for a class. Since I had to analyze themes in this book, it really came home the amount of cruelty and bullying that appeared in this book.

For the first time since I have started this blog, I have to say I can't recommend this book. Our hero, Jerry, is given an "assignment" by the secret society called The Vigils. He has to refuse to sell chocolate bars for a school fund raiser for a set length of time. When the time runs out, he continues to refuse and actually starts to be an object of respect by the student body. The administrator of the school bullies the bullies to turn the students' regard of him back to disdain. In the end, Jerry is standing alone, no adults (not even his father helped) or friends support him. I can appreciate books that leave me with a sense of unease, like I could do something to better the situation, but this book left me with no sense of how things could have been better.

My rating for this book - +

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

"It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor. You start believing that you're poor because you're stupid and ugly. And then you start believing that you're stupid and ugly because you're Indian. And because you're Indian you start believing you're destined to be poor. It's an ugly circle and there's nothing you can do about it."

Yes, it's yet another book about a down and out teenager rising above his circumstances and making a whole new life for himself. Or is it? Junior attended a school on a Spokane Indian reservation and hit the roof one day when he opened a "new" textbook and found out that it had been around so long his mother had it when whe was in high school! It was time for a change so he asked his parents to transfer him to an all-white school off of the "rez". Even though they knew they may not have enough money for gas to drive him there and back, they transfered him to Reardon. That's when the real fun started.

One of the things that always happens to our heroes in these books is that they connect with one of two people who befriend our hero and helps him get through the rough times. In this instance, Junior befriended a geeky guy named Gordy, a real departure from his friend from the rez, Rowdy, a bully who was repeatedly beaten up on by his father.

Another thing that frequently happens in this type of book is that our hero returns home to face the people he "deserted" when he went where they didn't dare to go. For Junior, this took place on a basketball court when his school Reardon, met the reservation school team on their home court. Junior walked out on the court with his team, the only non-white member, and the entire gymnasium went completely quiet. I think that would make most people's hearts sink, but our unusual hero responded by laughing! I'll let you read the book to see what happens from this point.

This book won the 2007 National Book Award and joins the ranks of wonderful youth literature including books like Holes and The House of the Scorpion.

My rating for this book: +++++