Books marked with * are a top book of 1999
|
*Rules of the Road
|
|
By Joan Bauer
|
| Funny young adult writers are a rare treasure, and Joan Bauer is one of the funniest. Critics and young readers rejoiced at her three previous novels--Squashed, Thwonk, and Sticks-- and with Rules of the Road, she has written a story that is wise and touching, as well as comical. Jenna Boller is too tall for a sophomore and she is not much good in school. Her sister, Faith, got all the looks in the family, but boy, can Jenna sell shoes! She is supremely happy at her after school job at Gladstone's, where the big white sign over the door says, "We're Not Just Selling Shoes, We're Selling Quality"... |
|
Armageddon Summer
|
|
By Jane Yolen and Bruce Coville
|
| Armageddon Summer provides a front row seat for the type of event most of us only witness on a TV. screen. Reverend Raymond Beelson is gathering 144 "Believers" atop Mount Weeupcup in Massachusetts to camp out, pray, and await Armeggedon--July 27 2000-- when he predicts his faithful flock will be saved as the rest of the world is set ablaze in fire and brimstone. We experience the month leading up to this climax through the eyes of two teenagers who have never met before, Jed and Marina... |
|
*Holes
|
|
By Lewis Sachar
|
| "If you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy." Such is the reigning philosophy at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention facility where there is no lake, and there are no happy campers. In place of what used to be "the largest lake in Texas" is now a dry, flat, sunburned wasteland, pocketed with countless identical holes dug by boys improving their character. Stanley Yelnats, of palindromatic name and ill-fated pedigree, has landed at Camp... |
|
Party Girl
|
|
By Lynn
|
| "We used to sit on the playground and plan our weddings, tracing long flowing white gowns in the sand with sticks. Then in sixth grade--I can't remember the day it happened-- a stone rolled in front of our futures. We dropped the sticks and our dreams and started planning our funerals instead." This sad, resigned voice, wise beyond her teen years, is that of Kata, a girl who has just lost her best friend, Ana, to gang violence. Ana and Kata, inseparable since fourth grade, are on their way home... |
|
Antarctica
|
|
By Kim Stanley Robinson
|
| The popular author of the Mars trilogy takes readers on a journey to a place with an equally in hospitable climate, bringing along a disparate characters with vastly different agendas for the frozen continent. Teens who like multilayered science-fiction will be pleased with the vivid blend of fact and fiction Robinson uses to depict the stark landscape as they are by the stories diverse cast is gradually widening circle of intrigue. |
|
Extreme Elvin
|
|
By Chris Lynch
|
| Having survived summer and sports camp, "Big and Tall" Elvin Bishop, with his offbeat sense of humor intact, is ready for high school--maybe. With a sometimes raunchy teen boy sense of humor and fascinating characters, this enjoyable book will make you laugh and remember how hard it is to be a teen. |
|
The Lord of Fires and Other Stories
|
|
By Tim Wynne-Jones
|
| Seven coming of age short stories featuring unique and interesting placed in situations which rage from funny to thought provoking. |
|
Hear These Voices: Youth at the Edge of the Millennium
|
|
By Anthony Allison
|
| Teens from all over speak about their lives; counselors, teachers, and youth agencies add their words to these often harrowing narratives. |
| My top pick of an outstanding book for the year is The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. This is the science-fiction story of a group of American friends who discover an alien planet during a night at an observatory. Led by a Jesuit priest, they venture to find the planet and discover who the inhabitants really are. This story brings up many theological and ethical questions about invading an alien culture. |
| Other reading suggestions: Try out the Oprah Book Club picks. |
| A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton--When a toddler drowns, it shatters a quiet Midwestern town and burdens Alice, the story's protagonist, with all sorts of problems. |
| Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay--In 1972 Ellen Grier has followed her husband with their two children to the home of her in-laws on Vinegar Hill. This is a loveless house filled with bitterness and routine and a calculated cruel way of life. |
| The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou--This is a continuation of her autobiography in which she finds new joy as a singer-dancer in New York City and as a writer with the Harlem Writers Guild. She joins Martin Luther King's crusade and has her heart stolen by an African Freedom fighter. |
|
Favorites
|
| What have been your favorite books over the years? I always have one each year that stands out over-and-above the other books I've read that year. It's a book whose characters or scenery or events keeping popping up in my mind--and I relive parts of the book again. |
| Favorite book of 1998-99--Beach Music by Pat Conroy. This is the story of a widower who has chosen to raise his daughter in Italy away from his family and the tragedy that befell him. However, he returns to South Carolina to be near his mother who is dying and to deal with the grief caused by the suicide of his wife. |
| Favorite book of 1999-2000--The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. (See book reviews.) |
| Other picks: |
| Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rawlings. (and the other Harry Potter books.) This may look like a children's book, but it is for all lovers of fantasy. Harry tries so hard not to be a hero, yet can't help himself since both of his parents were witches. The other characters though serious are also caricatures. I particularly delighted in their names which portrayed them so vividly. |
| The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. At first I didn't think I'd like this book about a missionary family to the Congo in the sixties. However, having the story told from the viewpoint of the four daughters lends an innocent air and a Faulkner-like slant to their new world. |