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)

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)

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)