Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos

Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets

James Whitman (no relation to Walt) lives with his parents, the Brute and the Banshee, who have recently kicked out his sister recently expelled from school for fighting. Now he enjoys all of the parental attention by himself. To use his phrase, "Yawp!" Now he suspects that he is suffering from depression and is toying with the idea of killing himself. He realizes he needs help.

His best friend is dating a 21-year old woman and is not a reliable source of empathy. He gains the attention of Beth, a girl at school who is trying to get him to look in his sister's room for some poetry she had written. He offers his own photography along with his own poetry and helps them develop an online publication. He tries to persuade the school to readmit his sister and allow her to walk the stage with the hope his parents would allow her to return home. He finds out that there was much more to the story than he realized.

Unlike most other young males who may turn to violence or drugs to deal with their issues, James turns inward with his problems.  His favorite way to cool off is to literally hug trees and he has an imaginary therapist, Dr. Bird, who talks out his problems with him.

I would recommend this book to readers who are dealing with 'stuff' like depression, thoughts of suicide, cutting, abusive parents, or leaving home.

Identical (2008)

Ellen Hopkins pulls no punches in her stories. She uses words and words in shapes to tell her stories as novels in verse.

I don't want to say much about the plot of this book because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Suffice it to say that it is a terrifically told tale about a very dysfuntional family.

Afraid to Die Loveless
Because
I think if
you die
without
knowing
love in
this life,
that's how
you'll
spend
eternity.
Alone.
Frozen.
Do you
think hell
is fiery?
I don't.
I think
hell is
frozen.

'Nuff said.

My rating for this book: ++++

Wintergirls (2009)

Laurie Halse Anderson has written another YA masterpiece, this time centering on anorexia and cutting. Lia's friend, Cassie, was found dead in a hotel room. Lia had just returned to her father's house after a second stay in a clinic called New Seasons. Her mother, a heart surgeon, did not feel she could properly supervise her daughter and thought that her remarried ex-husband and his wife could do better.

I reach for the steak knife in the nest of spoons. The black handle is war. As I pull it free, the blade slices the air, dividing the kitchen into slivers. There is Jennifer, packing store-bought cookies in a plastic tub for her daughter's class. There is Dad's empty chair, pretending he has no choice about these early meetings. There is the shadow of my mother, who prefers the phone because face-to-face takes too much time and usually ends in screaming.
Here stands a girl clutching a knife. There is grease on the stove, blood in the air, and angry words piled in the corners. We are trained not to see it, not to see any of it.

...body found in a motel room, alone...

Someone just ripped off my eyelids.

The pain Lia experienced is intense and excrutiating. She felt ugly, fat, and stupid, and the only control she had was her weight. As her story and weight loss progressed, we are allowed intimate details of the triggers which exasperated her disorder, how she controlled her weight, and how she hid her weight loss from her parents. The only person she felt connected with was her stepsister, Emma.

This book is a must for teens and adults who know someone suffering from eating disorders. In addition to the inner turmoil, readers are given a glimpse of the damage the body suffers from anorexia and bulimia.

My rating for this book: +++++

Raven Summer (2008)

Raven Summer by Englishman David Almond, is a powerful novel about a young man who learns about the people around him and himself one summer. It opens with Liam and his friend, Max, who follow a noisy and persistent raven and discover an abandoned baby. His parents are arty and rather distracted people but they fall in love with the child and become foster parents for her. In this child we see the beginning of a life story that has tragedy, mystery, and hope.

He is friends with a young scarred girl and a young Liberian man who run away from their foster home. Along the way he learns their stories and a bit about himself as well. Crystal is covered with scars, some are burns inflicted on her and some are cuts inflicted on herself. Henry (aka Oliver) has a particularly heart wrenching past and shares it with his friends. I will not spoil it for the reader by going into particulars.

He looks across the flames at me.
"Perhaps is will always be so," he says. "That fathers wish their children
to live their lives for them. Is it so, Liam?"
I think of Dad: Live like you're in a story, Liam. Live an
adventure.
"Yes," I say. "It is true."

I highly recommend this book. It is a fast read and most everyone will get something out of it.

My rating for this book: ++++