Punkzilla by Adam Rapp

“J”, aka Punkzilla, is on his way from Portland, Oregon (not Maine) to Memphis, where his brother “P” is dying of cancer.  The story is told through letters, mostly from Punkzilla to P.  Punkzilla’s learned a lot since he ran away from military school.  He’s been living on the streets.  Neither he nor P ever really got along with their parents, and Punkzilla’s not quite sure if their parents even know that P’s dying.  But with little money and only some street smarts to guide him, will he be able to make it to Memphis before his brother dies?

Punkzilla was awarded a Printz Honor Award.

Review by Kathleen from a library copy

Wild Orchid by Cameron Dokey

Mulan is a young girl, raised without a mother and with an absent father.  Her best friend teaches her how to fight and ride horses.  She hopes one day to meet her father, a great warrior in China’s army.  She longs to hear her mother’s name.  But when her father comes back, it isn’t long before war erupts again, and every family is required to supply one man for the army.  Her father is old and injured, and his new wife is expecting a child.  So Mulan sets off in his place.

Review by Kathleen from a library copy

The Mark by Jen Nadol

Imagine seeing a mark around a person on the day they’ll die.  A day isn’t much time to stop someone from dying, and should you even try?  Can you change someone’s fate?  And if you can change it, is it really fate?  One girl struggles with the practicalities and the ethics of her ability. 

Review by Kathleen from a library copy

Numbers by Rachel Ward

Imagine being able to see an eight digit number above someone’s head.  You can see it above everyone’s  head, and you have for as long as you can remember.  You see one above your mom’s head.  You see one above your classmates’ heads.  You know the date they will die.  Can you change the date?

Review by Kathleen from a library copy

In A Heartbeat by Loretta Ellsworth

In A Heartbeat is the story of two girls.  One is lively and figure skates competitively.  The other is sick, shy, and stays home because she has a heart problem.  But when the figure skater misses her jump and hits her head, her organs get donated.  Her heart goes to the sick girl.  And soon after surgery, the sick girl starts getting some of the personality traits of the girl whose heart she received.  In A Heartbeat is told in alternating chapters by the two characters, and is based on a real phenomenon.

April is also Organ Donation month. 

Review by Kathleen from a library copy

Wide Awake by David Levithan

Duncan is ecstatic.  It’s the morning after the first openly gay Jewish man has been elected president of the United States.  He and his boyfriend and all of their friends worked hard on the campaign, and it seems to them that now nothing can go wrong.  But then the governor of Kansas declares a thousand votes for Stein invalid and the entire election is in jeopardy.  Wide Awake is set in the not-too-distant future, after the Greater Depression (Debt, Deficit, and Fuel), the Reign of Fear, the War To End All Wars, the Prada Riots, and the Worldwide Healthcare movement.  While it was published in 2006, a lost of what Levithan posits in this novel are either quite likely or have already happened in the intervening few years.

Review by Kathleen from a library copy

Love and Lies by Ellen Wittlinger

Marisol’s decided she’s going to take a year off between high school and college in order to write a novel.  She’s already worked on a zine and made some contacts in that world.  Now she’s living in an apartment with her best friend and his boyfriend, and she just wants to write her novel and find a girlfriend.  And when her beautiful writing teacher seems to like her and a younger girl seems to have a massive crush on her, Marisol doesn’t know what to do.  And how does she know what’s true?

Review by Kathleen from a library copy

Frannie in Pieces by Delia Ephron

After Frannie’s dad dies, she finds an intricately carved box with her name on it in his house.  Thinking it was meant as a birthday present for her, she takes it home and opens it.  Inside is a jigsaw puzzle and a picture of what the puzzle will probably look like when it’s put together.  Strange things start happening to Frannie with the puzzle, and that’s not the only thing she starts to piece together.

Review by Kathleen from a library copy

Beastly by Alex Flinn

The guy who used to be Kyle Kingsbury has been transformed by… well… a witch, after standing up the wrong girl for prom.  But he gave a rose to the girl taking the tickets, and for that he gets a chance to redeem himself.  His father is a news anchor and never home anyway, but when he thinks Kyle’s new appearance could jeopardize his job (or his ratings!), Kyle gets a house to himself (and his housekeeper, and his tutor) to do with what he likes, as long as he stays inside and out of sights and has, you know, no contact at all with the outside world.  He has two years to be kissed by someone who truly loves him, someone he loves truly in return.  Will he find someone who can look beyond his appearance?

Beastly is scheduled to be made into a movie, with Neil Patrick Harris playing Kyle’s blind tutor, and Vanessa Hudgens and Mary-Kate Olsen playing two of the girls in Kyle’s life.

Review by Kathleen from a library copy.

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You by Peter Cameron

James Sveck may not be the most likeable guy.  In the summer after high school, he’s decided that he doesn’t want to go to college after all.  He’d rather take the money his dad would have spent on four years at Brown and buy a house in the midwest.  This would be a complete change of pace for James after his upbringing in New York City with his artist and art gallery owner mother and hot-shot lawyer father.  As the summer progresses, James doesn’t really know what he wants, and what starts out as friendly joking with the other guy who works at his mother’s gallery might have more consequences than James thinks.

Review by Kathleen from a library copy