Plymouth Librarians' Choice

HEAT by Mike Lupica
Youth Fiction: LUPICA. Teen Zone Fiction: LUPICA

This heart-warming, come-from-behind sports story will have you cheering from the first chapter right through to the exciting conclusion. Michael and Carlos Arroyo came to New York from Cuba with their father to pursue a better life. When their father dies, the brothers must find a way to stay together until Carlos comes of age. Complications arise when Michael’s talent as a pitcher brings him some unwelcome notoriety and unfounded accusations from an opposing team. Michael is benched just when the team needs him most. The story ends with a baseball dream come true, it’s just a different one than Michael expected. (Journalist and sportswriter Mike Lupica, has written many novels about sports for adults and children.)

SEARCH OF THE MOON KING’S DAUGHTER by Linda Holeman
Book - Teen Zone Fiction Main Level – Holeman

This novel is exciting historical fiction about young Emmaline Roke and her family in 1830s Victorian England. Emmaline’s father passes away when she is very young, and her mother, Cat, is unhealthy in spirit and mind. This leaves much of the responsibilities up to young Emmaline. Even though this is a difficult situation, Emmaline acquires a huge blessing by taking care of her sweet baby brother, Tommy. When he is sold to be a sweep in London to help support Cat’s drug addiction, Emmaline’s world turns upside down. Determined to find Tommy, Emmaline sets off on the adventure of a lifetime with just a few coins in her pocket and an abundance of faith. If you like to read mysteries with historical flavor and strong human spirit, you will enjoy Search of the Moon King’s Daughter by Linda Holeman!

Snow by Tracy Lynn
Teen Zone – Paperbacks - L

One of my favorite subgenres is the fairy tale made into a novel. For the conceit to work, the simple cartoon outlines of the original story have to be fleshed out, the story moving from anytime, anywhere, with any motherless child to a particular time, place and characters that feel real. This is a truly excellent example of the art. Jessica was born a duchess in a tiny manor in Wales. Neglected by her father, she took refuge in the kitchens. When her new stepmother came, over forty and determined to produce an heir at any cost, Jessica became a servant girl named Snow. The new duchess’s madness grows, and Snow flees by train to London, where she finds refuge with a little band of outcasts. The late Victorian setting works beautifully for the tale, with the industrial jungle of London substituting for the forest of the original Snow White. Magic and science blend in the stepmother’s experiments, while the world that Snow lives in also flows back and forth between modern and ancient. Lynn keeps the story close enough to the original to be recognizable, yet without providing the neat edges and answers for which fairy tales are known.

The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt
Teen Zone New Fiction- Main Level- Schmidt

Holling Hoodhood has many things on his mind. The U.S. is at war with Vietnam. His older sister has painted a flower on her face. His father is trying to run the town’s other architect out of business. And Holling’s teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates his guts. You see, every Wednesday after lunch, half of the kids in Holling’s 7th grade class go to the Temple Beth-El for Hebrew School. The other half goes to St. Adelbert’s for Catechism. Holling, the lone Presbyterian, is the only student keeping Mrs. Baker from an afternoon to herself. To avenge her privacy, Mrs. Baker decides to bore Holling to death by reading Shakespeare with him, but the joke’s on her- Holling actually likes Shakespeare! It may help him secure the heart of Meryl Lee Kowalski, get Doug Swieteck’s older brother off his back, and run faster with the cross country team. Or, it may help him right into a pair of yellow tights with feathers on the behind. But maybe, just maybe, it will help him tell his father how he feels.

This laugh-out-loud novel from Gary Schmidt (author of Newbery Honor book Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy) will reel in readers with Holling’s wry yet innocent narration. Schmidt, a professor of English, grew up in Long Island just like Holling. He now resides near Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he taught me how to write, among other things, book reviews.

Thwonk by Joan Bauer – Teen Zone Fiction – Main Level – Bauer
Teen Zone Paperbacks – Main Level - Bauer
A.J. McCreary is 17 years old and unlucky in love. She spends most of her days crushing on new boys, attending Benjamin Franklin High, hanging out with her best friend Trish, and pursuing her passion of photography. One night something strange occurs—her stuffed cupid, Jonathan, comes to life and offers her the chance to have one of a possible three wishes come true. A.J. chooses to have her major crush, Peter Terris, fall in love with her despite Jonathan’s ominous warnings about forcing love.

With a tiny “thwonk” from Jonathan’s arrow, Peter Terris’ heart is forever changed and propelled to love A.J. McCreary with the deepest of devotion. At first, A.J. is beyond thrilled with Peter’s undying love, and thoughtlessly ignores her past friends as she gets swept away by her new boyfriend. However, as time passes A.J. realizes that one should be careful what they wish for because the best kind of love is natural and real. She also learns that truth is more valuable than fake emotion because truth is real, and in order to achieve anything worthy in life, one has to experience truth.

Joan Bauer really captures the spirit of teenage angst and love in this novel. All of the characters are believable, and Thwonk is a story that will make you laugh, smile, and sympathize with A.J who could be anyone’s daughter, sister, or friend. Thwonk is a lot of fun to read especially when you imagine a tiny cupid assisting you through life’s ups and downs, and it is certain to bring smiles to those who thumb through its pages!

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Teen Zone Fiction- Main Level- Pullman
Teen Zone CD Books- Main Level
Downloadable Audio File

Something is awry in Oxford. Children are being snatched away, never to return. Lyra Belacqua thinks it’s a myth until her friend Roger disappears. No one else seems to notice, and she realizes it’s up to her to rescue him. When Lyra learns that her new foster mother, the oh-so charming Mrs. Coulter is involved, she runs away to the raw frozen North with a band of gyptians, an armored bear, and a mysteriously powerful gadget given to her by a former caretaker. Piece by piece, she bravely uncovers the mystery of where the children are and what is being done to them. But can she save them? Lyra’s adventures deeper and deeper into danger gave me the most delightful jitters, and there’s no doubt that she belongs on my list of coolest fictional females. And I haven’t even mentioned Pullman’s writing, which is musical, bonechilling- glorious! Lucky for me, there are two more books in the trilogy, and I’m already counting down until the movie comes out on December 7.

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff. Narrated by Kim Mai Guest.
Teen Zone CD Books – Main Level - Rosoff

Fifteen-year-old Daisy is mostly relieved when she leaves her pregnant stepmother in New York to stay with her aunt and cousins in the English countryside. She loves the old farm house and being part of a large family. Then, her aunt leaves the country for a few days. England is attacked and the borders are sealed, leaving four teens and nine-year-old Piper alone in the big house. Somehow, Daisy falls in love with her younger cousin Edmond (fourteen), who seems to be able to read her thoughts. In spite of the ickiness factor, but aided by the war, they have a tender but inexplicit romance. Then the children get discovered and separated, the oldest brother joining the military, Daisy and little Piper to one house, Edmond and his other brother to another, hours apart. As the war gets worse, Daisy knows that it’s up to her to reunite the only family she’s ever felt she belongs in. And as food gets scarcer, the eating disorder she brought over from New York starts to look very different. At the height of the book, Daisy and Piper are traveling secretly across England by foot, foraging for food, and trying to find Edmond, whom Daisy can still hear faintly in her mind. What started off looking like a loveable family drama turns quickly into a survival adventure, with explicit and gory violence. The narrator of the audio book sounds utterly believable as a young teen. For older teens through adults, this is a book you won’t want to turn off.

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
Teen Zone Fiction - Main Level - MARCHETTA

Saving Francesca is a captivating novel that focuses on a teenager named Francesca Spinelli and her experiences as an 11th grader at St. Sebastian’s school which has 30 girls and 750 boys! It’s a time of learning and change for Francesca as she tries to fit in with girls she doesn’t particularly feel drawn to and boys who aren’t so happy to have girls at their school. In the meantime, Francesca also deals with her mother’s depression. Her mother, Mia, is an outspoken and go-getter type of woman, but one day she is unable to get out of bed. This depression leaves a cloud of sadness over the entire family which includes Robert, Mia’s husband and father to Francesca, and Luca—the baby of the family.

Throughout this year, Francesca tries to come to grips with her mother’s illness and her new school. Luckily, Francesca finds friends in places she never thought possible and even falls in love for the first time with Will Trombal--one of the 12th grade leaders of the school.

Set in Australia, this is a novel that will definitely captivate its audience—teen to adult. The unlikely friendships that form between the kids at St. Sebastian’s are truly realistic, relatable, and enjoyable. Furthermore, the heavy theme of depression is something that most people have some experience with in terms of at least knowing someone who has dealt with this illness. There is hope in this novel through the everlasting friendships that Francesca makes and the resiliency of the human spirit. Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta is so well-written that in my opinion, it could definitely be made into a movie!

The White Darkness
Teen Zone Fiction- Main Level- McCaughrean

“I have been in love with Titus Oates for quite a while now—which is ridiculous, since he's been dead for ninety years.” So begins The White Darkness, this year’s recipient of the Michael L. Printz award for excellence in young adult literature.

Titus Oates, who joined Robert Falcon Scott’s exploration of Antarctica, has indeed been dead for ninety years, and his last breath was taken in the South Pole. Fourteen-year-old Sym has been hearing his voice in her head for quite some time; he is her dearest companion. No one else at her school wears hearing aids or dreams of Antarctica.

Sym’s dangerous exploration begins when a weekend trip to Paris with her Uncle Victor, the man responsible for Sym’s obsession with “the ice,” turns into a surprise visit to exactly that place. How generous! Until the camp of tourists is plagued with mysterious mishaps, and Sym finds herself unsure of who to trust and how to survive. Geraldine McCaughrean will mesmerize you with her eerie descriptions of adventure in “the last place on earth.”

Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman.
Teen Zone Fiction—Main Level—Cushman.

It’s 1290, and Catherine the 13 year old daughter of a minor lord has been told she must soon get married. “Corpus Bones!” This is not a happy prospect for feisty Catherine who likes to burp and play in the mud. Worse yet are all the men her father keeps inviting over to visit Catherine. These men are gross, and Catherine does everything to outwit them. For instance, she rubs soot in her teeth and hair and even blows up the outhouse in her determination to get rid of one of her suitors! These shenanigans work for awhile until Catherine is betrothed to marry Lord Murgaw of Lithgow, the Baron Selkirk, Lord of Smithburn, Random, and Fleece. Catherine calls this lord Shaggy Beard because he is slimy, yellow-toothed, cruel, and rude. He is also old! How could her father do this to her? Can Catherine get out of this arranged nightmare? Or is she destined to be the life partner of a man she doesn’t love much less even like? Pick up a copy of Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman so you can laugh out loud as you find out the answer to these questions and more!

Karen Cushman is a prolific author that has written quite a few historical fiction novels about strong adolescent females. Her stories are inspirational as they give young girls a voice. They are also touched with humor and heart.

Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. Read by Natalie Moore.
Teen Zone CD Books - Main Level - MURDOCK

It’s the summer between DJ Schwenk’s sophomore and junior years. She’s managing her family’s dairy farm, with both her parents unable to help and her little brother busy with Little League. Her two college-age older brothers are off coaching at a football camp. Busy, simple, boring. Then a family friend, the coach of the rival high school’s football team, asks DJ to coach his back-up QB. Brian is a rich and snotty quarterback already loathed by the entire Schwenk family. Still, DJ and Brian forge a connection as they’re running and bringing in the hay. More than that, his casual insults make her think about what she does and why. DJ decides to find a way to do more of what she really loves – football. There’s also an interesting subplot with DJ’s best friend, Amber. This is a rare book with a protagonist for whom thinking and words don’t come easily. Natalie Moore brought DJ to life with a great Midwestern country teen voice. DJ's humor and honesty with herself kept me going straight on to the second book, The Off Season. Murdock's most recent book is Princess Ben.