The Best 368 Colleges by The Princeton Review

Princeton Review, 2008. The Best 368 Colleges. New York: Random House.

Classification: Non-Fiction

Genre: NonFiction

Age Level: 15-19

Stars: 5 stars

Subjects: College, High School 

Reader's Annotation

This guide by the Princeton Review examines colleges based on their admissions, student body, life on campus, and a number of other factors that will best help students find the right college for them. 

Summary

This remains one of the standard introductions to the college search process. It covers a wide variety of schools. Its greatest strength is its detail involved in the text. The authors and editors actually go to the schools and meet students in person. Entries contain paragraph information on campus life, the students, academics and popular majors, admissions, freshman profiles, deadlines, other schools attendees might have looked at, and financial facts. It has a good name, an easy-to-read format and it can make the college selection process a little more manageable for students uncertain about their options. 

Street Magic by Tamora Pierce (Circle Opens Quartet, Book 2)

Pierce, Tamora (2002). Street Magic. New York, New York: Scholastic Paperbacks. 

ISBN: 9780509396431

264 pages

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Fantasy

Age Level: 15-17

Stars: 4 stars

Subjects: Magic, Royalty, Fantasy, Relationships, 

Reader's Annotation

Briar, now a full-powered mage, is traveling with his mentor when he encounters a young street urchin in possession of powerful stone magic whom he must protect from warring gangs seeking to exploit her powers. 

Summary

Similar to the first book in the series, Magic Steps, the former student becomes a teacher. In this book, Briar, the plant mage, has come into his power. While traveling with his mentor, he comes acros Evvy, an urchin who can perform powerful storm magic. He finds that, having discovered her, he is responsible for her and must protect her from those seeking to use her and her talents, but this places Briar in and uncomfortable position between warring gangs who desire to use Evvy for their own ends. 

Notes

Although this is a sequel to Pierce's Magic Steps, it can also stand alone as a book. Pierce carefully weaves the story so that readers are brought along every step of Briar's journey as he becomes a teacher and protector of a young mage. Those interested in learning more and following these characters should explore the Magic Circle books by Tamora Pierce or other books in this series. 

Author Information

Tamora Pierce Fansite

Magic Steps by Tamora Pierce (Circle Opens Quartet, Book 1)

Pierce, Tamora (2001). Magic Steps. New York, New York: Scholastic Paperbacks. 

ISBN: 9780590396059

272 pages

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Fantasy

Age Level: 15-17

Stars: 4 stars

Subjects: War, Royalty, Magic,  Murder, Family, Relationships

Reader's Annotation

Sandrilene fa Toren (Sandry) is fourteen years old and fully in her powers as she helps her great-uncle, Duke Vedris IV, ruler of Emelan, recover after a near-fatal heart attack, when she realizes that she must help another with his magical training as they both work to stop a murderer. 

Summary

14-year old Sandrilene fa Toren (Sandry) has finally come into her powers. She is busy helping her great-uncle, Duke Vedris IV, the ruler of Emelan, recover after a near-fatal heart attack when she witnesses a younger boy unknowingly perform a dance of magical power. She takes it upon herself to become his trainer and to guide him in the arts of magic before he becomes a danger to more than himself. He is reluctant to accept her as a teacher, making her job more difficult. In the meanwhile, a powerful family is slowly being killed off and the two must weave magic to overcome the murderers before it is too late. 

Notes

There can be quite a bit of gore and death, so those with weak stomach should read with caution. Those who read the Magic Circle Quartet will recognize the characters in this book as they have grown and developed. Younger teens will find it easier to relate to young Sandry than older teens, but anyone who enjoys a skillful fantasy narrative will enjoy this and the other books in the series. 

Author Information

Tamora Pierce Fansite

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Levithan, David (2005). Boy Meets Boy. New York, New York: Knopf Books. 

ISBN: 9780375832994

192 pages

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Fiction

Age Level: 15-19

Stars: 4 stars

Subjects: Gender, Sexuality, Relationships, High School, Tolerance

Reader's Annotation

In an idealized high school where sexuality is not considered an issue, Paul, a sophomore, believes he has found love with Noah, but he makes a mistake that may cost him his relationship

Summary

Paul is a high school sophomore whose school is in an idealized world where cliques, gender, and sexuality have a completely different meaning. Although parents and adults have different views, the teens in this world don't see each other in typical gay/straight, jock/nerd, popular/unpopular dichotomies. Rather, they live in a world where everything has blended and people are simply judged for themselves, rather than any labels society might place on them. Paul thinks he has found love in the form of Noah, but he ends up making a mistake that might mean the end of their relationship, so he seeks counsel among his friends. Not everything is ideal in this high school world- there are still domineering boyfriends, conservative parents, and the typical problems of lovelorn teenagers that hint at an underlying darkness to the teen world without ever collapsing under the weight of its problems. 

Notes

Although this novel notably presents a fictional world, it will leave teens wondering why tolerance isn't this simple, and why the world is so categorical and unforgiving in its definitions of relationships, gender, and sexuality. By cutting through these issues, individual characters are able to shine, and the strength of their problems comes through in this well-crafted story of love, life, and high school. 

Awards

Booklist Starred Review

School Library Journal Starred Review

2003 Lambda Literary Award

Other Information

Fans of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (book or movie) might recognize David Levithan's humorous style and interesting take on love and life. 

Author Information

David Levithan's Website

Bloodsong by Melvin Burgess

Burgess, Melvin (2005). Bloodsong. London, England: Andersen Press Ltd. 

ISBN: 9781416936169

384 pages

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy

Age Level: 15-19

Stars: 4 stars

Subjects: Myth, Relationships, War, Heroism, Betrayal, Dystopia, 

Reader's Annotation

In future war-ravaged Britain where machines inhabit the same world as human-animal hybrids, 15-year-old Sigurd must claim his royal lineage and accomplish a series of impossible tasks- but will that be enough? 

Summary

In future Britain, a post-apocalyptic landscape reveals that the future has been anything but sweet. This story, part science fiction and part fantasy, weaves the tale of the lives and deaths of 15-year-old Sigurd. In this world, there are machines as well as animal-human hybrids, terrifying warlords, incredible technology used for destruction, and hideous beasts that present danger at every turn. After Sigurd is sent on a suicide mission, he then must pass a series of impossible tasks that force him to prove his courage, intelligence, and ingenuity as he passes into the underworld and must find his way to the throne with his heart and body intact. It is filled with violence and drama, but it is gripping nonetheless. 

Notes

Although this is a sequel to Burgess' Bloodtide (2001), it can easily stand alone. It has a strong narration, and although it can be somewhat dark at times, it is realistic enough that readers will find themselves wondering if a world such as this might be looming in the future as technology advances. Readers may also enjoy the links to Viking mythology. Because of the violence and graphic descriptions of war, only those capable of stomaching such material should venture into this novel, but any who do will be rewarded with a rich, engaging story. 

Author Information

Melvin Burgess' Website

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ismael Beah

Beah, Ismael (2008). A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 

ISBN: 9780374531263

240 pages

Classification: NonFiction

Genre: Memoir

Age Level: 15-19

Stars: 5 stars

Subjects: War, Soldiers, Death, Family, Relationships, Grief

Reader's Annotation

Ismael Beah tells his true account of growing up, surviving, and fighting in Sierra Leone as a soldier during a brutal civil war. 

Summary

At the tender age of 12, Ismael Beah becomes swept up in the civil war in Sierra Leone. He loses his family, is completely alone in the world, and he is recruited in the army. The chilling tale of how he becomes a trained soldier, learns to shoot an AK-47, and becomes a warrior to survive. Reading the boy's transformation from an innocent boy who loves American hip-hop and reading Shakespeare to a casual murderer is horrifying and gruesome. At the age of 15, he is finally brought to a rehabilitation center and he begins a life as a child advocate, but the truly gripping part of the story is the account of his life as a soldier- how he gets wrapped up and consumed by the violence, and how his existence is measured by war. 

Notes

The validity of the account based on the dates mentioned as well as some shooting incidents, was questioned, and Ismael Beah responded by releasing this statement.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Pearson, Mary E. (2008). The Adoration of Jenna Fox. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Co. 

ISBN: 9780805076684

272 pages

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Science Fiction

Age Level: 15-19

Stars: 5 stars

Subjects: Identity, High School, Relationships, Family, Future, Surgery

Reader's Annotation

Seventeen-year-old Jenna Fox wakes up from a year-long coma caused by a terrible accident unsure of who she is and who she used to be, and as she slowly gains her memoies back, she has more and more questions about who she was and what happened to her. 

Summary

Jenna Fox has been told that is her name. She has been told that she's seventeen years old and that she was in a coma for a year after a terrible accident. But in spite of the questions answered by her friends and family and the home movies she watches of herself before the accident, there are some lingering questions. Why are people treating her so strangely? What really happened on the night of the accident? Why do her arms and legs not feel, look, or move the way they used to? As she slowly starts to remember pieces of her life before the accident, she questions even these memories, and she wonders what she can trust, how she can know who she is and, most importantly- who is Jenna Fox? 

Notes

This has some similar themes to Scott Westerfeld's Uglies Trilogy. Readers who enjoyed this book may want to look into the series. It is equally thought-provoking about what makes you who you are, and how identity is formed.

Awards

A Book Sense "Top Ten" Summer Pick

Other Information

Adoration of Jenna Fox Website

Author Information

Mary Pearson's Website