Chandler, Kristen. WOLVES, BOYS & OTHER THINGS THAT MIGHT KILL ME

Chandler, Kristen. WOLVES, BOYS & OTHER THINGS THAT MIGHT KILL ME
New York : Viking, 2010
IL YA
ISBN 0670011428

No, this is not a werewolf/vampire story!

It is set in a ranch town just outside of Yellowstone National Park, and the issue is how or even whether wolves should be protected. KJ, our heroine, is 16, a bit of a spitfire, who lives with her widowed father who is a hunting and fishing guide. She thinks her town is Redneck City USA. When Virgil and his mother arrive for a year while she researches the wolf pack in the park, KJ and Virgil quickly become friends. As they are both on the school newspaper, they decide to start a column on the wolves of Yellowstone.

Very soon their articles stir up a mess of controversy in town. The ranching families experience wolves as menacing predators of their livestock; but as KJ and Virgil observe the wolf pack and their young, their articles increasingly seek to show how they are a crucial part of the local food chain.

This starts to look like an "us against them" story, especially when there are a couple nasty incidents in town. But then Virgil reaches out to help a rancher's family and through his experiences we begin to understand their concerns. This is a thoughtful story that not only offers romance and action, but also seeks to consider the complexities of our environmental concerns. (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Mulligan, Andy. TRASH

Mulligan, Andy. TRASH 
New York : David Fickling Books, 2010 
IL YA 
ISBN 0385752148 

This story, set in Asia, is about 3 three boys whose families survive by picking through the daily mountains of rubbish at an enormous city dump. ... So, why would our kids want to read this? 

One of the boys uncovers something inside a folded newspaper, in the freshly dumped rubbish – a leather wallet with a map, a key, money, and photos. This is real wealth, but also the beginning of real trouble. In just a few hours, the dreaded police arrive asking a lot of questions, for this wallet was tossed in a street bin by a desperate man as he was being chased by the police, and shortly before he died at their hands. It contains clues to an old unsolved murder, and to the man who was sent unjustly to prison for it. The boys are scared. Aside from the money, the wallet's contents are a mystery to them; but, they know the police are corrupt, and trying to cover-up something big. They decide this is one wrong they are going to set right. But they are closing in, and they must disappear, both to protect their families and to ferret out what really happened. 

This story not only takes you to a world we know little about, it also is an action packed, tense thriller told by three interesting and very different boys. Hand it to kids who liked the movie Slum Dog Millionaire, or read and liked I am Number Four, Devil’s Breath, The Last Thing I Remember. 

The author worked in a school in Manilla that was next to an enormous city dump like the one in his book. So the story is based in reality and started when he wondered what if … (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Oppel, Kenneth. THIS DARK ENDEAVOR

Oppel, Kenneth. THIS DARK ENDEAVOR 
New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2011 
IL YA 
ISBN 1442403152 

Viktor and Konrad Frakenstein are identical 16-year-old twins. Their resemblance ends at their appearance, however - Konrad has a sunny, pleasing nature where Viktor is brooding and uncomfortable with his happy, close-knit family, which includes loving parents, two younger brothers, Elizabeth (a distant cousin), and Henry (a family friend close enough to be blood). While exploring the castle, the young people discover a camoflaged panel, leading them to a hidden library, full of oddly titled, old books in strange languages. The books are alchemical in nature and may lead to the fabled Elixir of Life. When Konrad falls fatally ill, Viktor and Elizabeth are consumed with translating and creating the Elixir. (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Choat, Beth. SOCCERLAND

Choat, Beth. SOCCERLAND 
New York : Amazon Children's Pub, 2012 
IL YA 
ISBN 076146249X 

Flora’s school is at the top of Northern Maine - Acadia High School, to be precise. She has the honor of being the top player on the team, as her mother was before her. After a disappointing no-show by the Androscoggin team, Flora arrives home to discover her coach has an amazing offer for her - she has been given a tryout slot at the International Sports Academy for the United States U-15 National Women’s Soccer Team - the opportunity of a lifetime! She’s going to be the first Dupre to trade the potato fields for a soccer pitch and a chance to follow-thru on her dream. Flora’s size and strong accent make her stand out among the girls and discovers following a dream may be more work than she had anticipated. (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Leavitt, Lindsey. SEAN GRISWOLD’S HEAD

Leavitt, Lindsey. SEAN GRISWOLD'S HEAD 
New York : Bloomsbury, 2011 
IL YA 
ISBN 1599904985 

Payton Gritas discovered quite accidentally her family had been hiding something from her - her father's case of multiple sclerosis. Her feeling of betrayal and impending loss drive her mother to send Payton to see her guidance counselor. The guidance counselor recommends Payton find a focus object upon which to journal to her help center her emotions. Payton chooses Sean Griswold's head, the boy who has sat in front of her for many classes, but whom she has never gotten to know. Payton finds she and Sean have a mutual attraction, but she fears Sean will no longer want to be around her if he learns the real reason she has gotten close to him. Payton must decide which path she needs to take - does she tell or hide her secret. (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Kittle, Katrina. REASONS TO BE HAPPY

Kittle, Katrina. REASONS TO BE HAPPY 
New York : Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2011 
IL YA 
ISBN 1402260202 

Hannah is an adventurous spirit who delights in making lists of reasons to be happy from "sand under your bare feet" to "getting yourself all freaked out after a scary movie". When her parents who are both actors become movie stars the family moves to LA. The day before school starts Hannah makes a little list of all the great adventures she is going to seek out that first day, but as soon as she enters the building she is met by one of the stylish clicky B-Squad. They want to own the friendship of the new girl whose father is a hot star. Hannah's slightly plump, easygoing presence doesn't make the grade. Increasingly her days are about hiding who she is, and fitting the B-Squad expectations. 

Meanwhile at home her beautiful mother has been diagnosed with cancer, and Hannah feels she must not worry her mother with her own problems. She becomes overwhelmed by it all, and one day she gets so tense she throws up; but afterwords she feels really good. Ahhh, she's discovered a secret remedy! At first everyone thinks her weight loss looks good, but her secret remedy is also compulsive. Soon there are side effects which she must also hide. Her mother is too sick, and her father too distracted with grief and work to see what is happening to their daughter. 

Then her aunt comes to visit. She was once bulimic, and she sees it all. She is a documentary filmmaker and is heading out to film the plight of orphans in Africa. She convinces Hannah's father to let her bring Hannah with her. There, Hannah reawakens as she befriends a girl her age who is struggling with her own over-whelming problems, and yet brings Hannah a fresh offering of friendship and self worth. It is not a fix, but it is a strong start, and a reaffirmation of who she really is. And that gives Hannah the will to fight back. (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Lu, Marie. LEGEND

Lu, Marie. LEGEND

Set in a Dystopian future, and told in two voices. 

The western half of the United States has seceded and is ruled by The Republic, an oppressive totalitarian regime. 15 yr-old Day, who lives off the streets, is one of their most wanted criminals, but to others he's a kind of Robin Hood. When his younger brother is infected with a deadly virus, Day breaks into the regime hospital for the needed medicine. He is discovered on his way out and has to fight a Regime soldier to escape. 

That soldier dies before morning, and that soldier has a younger sister in the forces, 15 yr-old June. She is one of their brightest prodigies, and she is now committed to hunting down Day and avenging her brother's death. But when the two meet, they are both undercover and neither knows the other's true identity. As they work together, each one is drawn to the other, for they are much alike. They both are young heroes. 

As June begins to experience the darker side of the Republic, and learn more about that fateful night, she becomes convinced that her brother's death may involve some inside treachery. She has to solve this, and, she now is also committed to somehow saving Day from execution. In desperation she devises a plan, but can she make it work? 

When the story ends, you want more. Thank heavens it's the 1st of a series! (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Perera, Anna. GUANTANAMO BOY

Perera, Anna. GUANTANAMO BOY 
New York : Albert Whitman, 2011 
IL YA 
ISBN 0807530778 

Khalid is normal English 15-year-old-boy. He loves soccer and video games, school is not his favorite place to be, and he thinks his parents are know-nothings and way out of touch. He and his father see eye-to-eye on very little. He definitely does not want to follow in his father’s footsteps as a cook in their own little restaurant. Unfortunately, Khalid’s grandmother in Pakistan has passed away and the family must make a trip to the country to check on Khalid’s aunts and cousins. While out in the city, Khalid is mistaken for a Muslim insurgent, kidnapped, and sent to a prison where no teen should ever go, accused of crimes he does not understand. Innocent until proven guilty has no place at Guantanamo Bay. (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Bedford, Martyn. FLIP

Bedford, Martyn.  FLIP
New York : Wendy Lamb Books, 2011
IL YA
ISBN 0385739907
Ever wake up a bit groggy? 14-year-old Alex, a somewhat geeky aspiring clarinetist wakes up
and finds himself in someone else's body. While he's trying to really wake up - this must be a
weird dream - that someone else's mother tells him to get up and get ready for school! Who is
that? What school?! Soon he is bumbling through Philip Garamond's life, for that's who
everyone thinks he is now, trying to fake it till he can figure out what's going on. And they are
such different people! Philip is a buff athlete and one of the "in crowd", and knows nothing
about music.

Days become weeks. Alex learns that his own body is lying in a coma after a car accident and
that what seemed like one night was actually 3 months.
One of the things I liked about this story is you only learn the answers as to what's happened
through Alex. The tension of the confusion works. You get drawn in and want to know - how is
this going to be resolved? Surely Alex can get his own life back, right? And, if Alex is in
Philip's body, is Philip locked in Alex's body?  Along the way he meets Ron, a person with the
same condition, it's called psychic evacuation. Ron tells Alex to adjust to his new life and get
on with it. That's not what Alex wants.   How is this going to be resolved? You'll have to read it
to find out.

Falkner, Brian. BRAIN JACK

Falkner, Brian. BRAIN JACK 
New York : Random House, 2009 
IL YA 
ISBN 0375843663 

When the story opens Sam is hacking into the White House Security system, well it's there and supposed to be impenetrable, but when he tries to cover his tracks on the way out he accidentally crashes the international computer grid, and that gets him busted. Not long after he is incarcerated, he gets recruited to work for the government in their super secret cyber defense force. As such he essentially joins a select group of elite hackers as they work to track down and outwit cyber terrorists. “Use your skills to keep the world and our country safe!” 

In not too long evidence of a deadly neuro-virus surfaces on the web; however, their newest and best weapon, a neuro headset that connects your brainwaves directly to the internet thus ramping up response time, skills, and range, also creates an open door that could expose your very mind to the terrorists you are hunting. So, have fun, and buckle your headset! (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013) 

WHAT YOU WISH FOR : STORIES AND POEMS FOR DARFUR

WHAT YOU WISH FOR : STORIES AND POEMS FOR DARFUR
New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2011
IL YA
ISBN  0399254544

What Your Wish For: A Book for Darfur is a collection of writing and art from an international
roster of some of the best authors and artists who are currently working.  Authors like Meg
Cabot and Alexander McCall Smith, Francisco Stork, Naomi Shihab Nye, Jeanne DuPrau, Joyce
Carol Oates, Nikki Giovanni, Karen Hesse, Cornelia Funke, Ann M Martin, Meg Cabot, R.L. Stine,
Jane Yolen, Gary Soto, Nate Powell, Cynthia Voigt -- have all donated their work to this
project.  Each piece explores wishes – some are funny, some are creepy, some are inspiring –
but all are linked by the universal power of a wish, the abstract things we wish for: home,
family, safety and love.

The book was created to raise awareness of the plight of the Darfuri refugees forced to live
in camps in eastern Chad.  And funds from sales of the books go toward granting the Darfuri’s
wishes – building libraries in the refugee camps.  Their wish is that children growing up in
refugee camps will become educated about good and evil and their history and their future,
and will therefore be less likely to be recruited as child soldiers.

What You Wish For is a thoughtful book that sheds light on an important international tragedy.
But readers will also become exposed to some very fine writing that will encourage them to
continue to read more of these authors’ works.   (NH Isinglass Teen Award
nominee, 2013)

Higson, Charlie. THE DEAD

Higson, Charlie. THE DEAD
New York : Hyperion, 2010
IL YA
ISBN 1423134125

The Dead is about zombies…perfectly suited for readers who couldn't get enough of The Enemy, Charlie Higson has written a prequel that throws an entirely different set of characters into jeopardy.

If you don't know or haven't read The Enemy, the zombie disease only affects people sixteen or older. It starts with the symptoms of a cold. Then the skin begins to itch, and spots appear--spots that soon turn into pus-filled boils.

Once the teachers at Rowhurst School in London go on the attack, Ed, Jack, Bam and the other students know it's time to escape and make their way to London. It's a bit easier to escape the adults - they're usually disoriented and wandering. But once on the move, the students run into teens, who are stronger and more energetic, and hide in the shadows for unsuspecting victims.

It's all a desperate journey to get to a fortified shelter - a journey that brings them to hitch a ride on a bus driven by the seeming last lone uninfected adult on the planet…unless…

The Dead is an exciting book. And it's gross. The descriptions of decaying zombies is vivid. But the other characters are fleshed out and well-rounded. We care about them, and we want them to get to safety (even the annoying girls on the bus) Higson doesn't pull any punches or favor one character over the other. The Dead will keep readers enthralled because you never know what might be waiting around the corner. (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Thompson, Holly. ORCHARDS

Thompson, Holly. ORCHARDS 
New York : Delacorte, 2011 
IL YA 
ISBN 038573977X 

Orchards is a novel in verse that deals with a difficult subject – bullying and teen suicide. 

Kanako Goldberg is half-Japanese and half-Jewish, and a member of the clique of girls whose teasing had something to do with a classmate’s suicide. The classmate was bipolar and had all these issues anyway, and besides, it’s not like Kana was the ringleader… but she didn’t do anything to stop it either. 

Hoping that Kana will reflect on her behavior and develop some sensitivity to the situation, her parents pack her off to her mother's ancestral home in Japan for the summer. Kana spends hours under the hot sun tending to her family's mikan orange groves. 

Kana's mixed heritage makes it hard to fit in at first, especially under the critical eye of her traditional grandmother, who has never accepted Kana's father. But Kana gets to know her relatives, and Japan, and village culture. Through imaginary conversations with Ruth, the classmate who killed herself, Kana begins to process the pain and guilt she feels about the tragedy back home. But news of another tragedy sends her world spinning out of control. 

Orchards is a contemplative, beautifully written book that will evoke important conversations about some very important topics. (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Sheehan, Anna. A LONG, LONG SLEEP

Sheehan, Anna.  A LONG, LONG SLEEP
Somerville, MA : Candlewick Press, 2011
IL YA
ISBN 0763652601

Rosalinda Fitzroy is awakened by a kiss. Bren, a handsome young man, was exploring the
basement of the apartment building where he lives with his parents, and found her stasis tube
and kissed her.  Biologically, Rose is 16 years old, but she learns that it’s been 62 years since
she went into stasis.  True, stasis protected her from the plague-ridden Dark Times, but she is
heartbroken to learn that everyone she knows is long dead -- particularly her beloved Xavier, a
childhood friend and first love.  Her waking also spurs a media frenzy: She’s the heir to her
father’s billionaire company that owns and operates most of the world of the future.

It’s expected that Rose will eventually take over the company – a task that she isn’t sure she’s
qualified to do.  She’s quiet and withdrawn.  Her guardians enroll her in the best intergalactic
high school but Rose struggles to keep up and fit in.  She picks up her art again and finds some
comfort in that.  She might be able to piece some kind of life together in this strange future,
except –

The media frenzy surrounding Rose’s awakening triggers another stasis sleeper – a dangerous,
virtually unstoppable killing machine called a Plastine who is programmed to assassinate her.
With the help of a few friends, and her own surprising strength, Rose must face reality –
finally – and defeat the Plastine.

This is a fast moving story, with both anticipated and surprising plot twists.  We move between
the present and the past; Rose is a complex girl whose heartbreaking past is eventually
revealed—we are constantly asking why she was in stasis at all…and the reason is really
disturbing.   ( NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Ness, Patrick. A MONSTER CALLS

Ness, Patrick. A MONSTER CALLS 
Somerville, MA : Candlewick Press, 2011 
IL YA 
ISBN 0763655597 

Every night at seven minutes past midnight, a monster visits Conor. But it’s not the monster from his nightmare--the nightmare he’s been having every night since his mother started cancer treatments. The one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming. 

This monster is different. It’s ancient and wild. It’s from his backyard, a huge treelike form, with his uppermost branches twisted into a face with a huge, gaping mouth. Conor assumes it’s just his imagination, these nightly visits, only…only in the morning, there are leaves and branches on the floor. When this monster comes to visit him, Conor finds he’s not actually afraid of him. And he tells the monster so. Because “I’ve seen worse,” Conor tells him. But this monster assures him that he’ll be afraid of him soon enough. Before it’s over…the monster will get the truth out of him. 

A Monster Calls is a heart-wrenching story of loss, of love, and of growing up. Conor must face fears that no child should face – the slow, painful death of a parent. A feeling of displacement in your world, when your world turns upside down. When your dad’s living far away and involved with his new family. When your grandma comes to stay and you can’t seem to keep yourself tidy enough for her. 

Patrick Ness, the author of the Chaos Walking Trilogy for young adults, wrote A Monster Calls based on an idea and characters by Siobhan Dowd, who lost her battle with cancer. The book is filled with beautiful illustrations by Jim Kay. ( NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)