Category Archives: Young Adult

The Chaperone by M. Hendrix

23 Monday Jan 2023

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Stella lives in a world that has strict rules for both sexes. She doesn’t know that the New America she lives in is vastly different from the one her parents grew up in. She is taught that DANGER exists and that in order to be safe, she must:

Deflect attention. Abstain from sin, Navigate the world with care. Give obedience. Embrace purity. And, Respect her chaperone.

All girls are assigned a chaperone whenever she begins her periods. These chaperones are assigned by the government, and they remain with the family until the girl is married or unless the chaperone dies. It is the duty of the chaperone to see that the girl to which she has been assigned follows the rules. Stella is very glad that her chaperone, Sister Helen, is more of a friend than a caretaker like those of her friends. But when Sister Helen suddenly dies, Stella’s world world is turned upside down.

Not only does she get a new chaperone right away before she has accepted the death of Sister Helen, there is some suspicion in the eyes of the police about Sister Helen’s death, but also Stella is nearing the end of her high school career. That means she is expected to marry and produce children soon. None of those things make Stella happy. She especially wants to know a little bit about boys, and she wants to go to college before she settles down. Surprisingly, her new chaperone, Sister Laura, is on her side. She helps Stella attend a forbidden party and helps her find her way to the Old America, which still exists but in another state. Stella was not even aware of its existence. There she experiences a life without constant scrutiny and rigid rules, yet she worries about her little sister and all the other girls in New America who may never have a chance to see freedom.

This is a very well-written book. The characters are vivid, and the plot develops naturally. However, I do have some issues with it. There is a near-rape scene that is extremely vivid. I feel that it has more of a purient feel than is necessary for the message of the story, particularly when the readers it will appeal to are probably 6-10th graders. While Stella does stand up for herself and does stop the rape from occuring, that account need not go into the graphic depiction that it does. I do not want to say, “Do not buy this book.” But, the library-media specialist who does so MUST be aware that its inclusion in a school library might bring on the ire of parents. It also takes a very stereotypical view of right-wing conservatives. All the men, except a few outliers are painted as being very misogynistic and extremely religious.

Obviously, the author is portraying the view of a divided America, but the New America that is presented is not one in which most of us would like to live. Perhaps that is exactly the point, but I feel the story goes beyond that and promotes the idea that conservative Christians are bigoted and narrow-minded while all the rest are embracing true freedom. It might be worth your time to read this and then to draw your own conclusions. Perhaps I am coming down a little hard on the authot, and I would appreciate some other input.

Questions I Am Asked About the Holocaust

30 Friday Dec 2022

Posted by in History, Non-Fiction, social studies, Uncategorized, Young Adult

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by Heidi Fried

Remembering the past in all its glory and/or depravity is the first step to changing the future. Someone has said that if we do not remember the past, we are doomed to repeat it. Since Heidi Fried lived through the events of the Holocaust, she is able to help us see clearly what happened in the hope that we never repeat that history.

Some people today are so ignorant that they are even saying the Holocaust did not happen. Fried shows the reader clearly that it really happened. The question of why it happened at all is one that can never be answered to anyone’s satisfaction. It is probably best just to acknowledge that it did happen and to do everything in our power to see that it never happens again. That is Fried’s position.

Her book is designed to answer questions she has encountered over her lifetime. At the age of 90 she has reached the step of gerotransendence in her life and thus is able to look back at all that happened to her with a detachment that probably was not possible for her earlier. Her dispassionate responses to the questions are reflective of her age.

Fried explains about how World War II changed her life as a Romanian Jew who was from a good middle class family to being a slave in a labor/extermination camp. At nineteen, she was looking forward to continuing her education at a university, but instead she found herself orphaned with a younger sister to care for and to try to keep both of them alive. Fortunately, both girls were in their late teens and appeared strong enough to work—at least for a while—for the Nazis. Both girls survived and went to live in Sweden.

Fried answers over forty questions for the reader. Some of them are quite personal, such as: Where you raped? How did you handle your periods? Why did you choose Sweden? Others are more philosophical, such as: Why did Hitler hate the Jews?  After all that has happened, do you still believe in God? Could it happen again?

Many authors have produced good works about the Holocaust, but I feel that first person narratives are the best source of true information. Every library should add this book to its collection. Social studies teachers would find this a very valuable source for discussions on the Holocaust. Fried even provides a list of discussion questions. I highly recommend the purchase of this book.

The First Thing About You

22 Wednesday Jun 2022

Posted by in Social Issues, Uncategorized, Young Adult

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by Chaz Hayden

This coming-of-age tale is a first novel for Hayden. It is about a sophomore in high school who moves with his family from San Diego, California to New Jersey. That sort of move, in and of itself, would be challenging for any teen-age boy. But Harris Jacobus is not just any teen-age boy. He has spinal muscular dystrophy and has to have a physical assistant for all aspects of his life. His skeletal muscles do not function very well, but his mind and the rest of his body are fine. Harris has accepted his limitations, but he has never learned to relate to other people or to make friends with people his own age. He also never had good luck with the medical aides assigned to assist him. He relies on his mother to always be there and to take care of him.

Harris hopes that this move will bring big changes in his life even though he and his older brother will be going to separate high schools. Harris would like to have friends—maybe even a girl friend, but in order to do that he has to learn how to let people know who is. Harris has a theory about people’s favorite colors and how they will relate to him. His favorite color is blue, and he believes that people whose favorite color is blue, green or violet will not be compatible with him. He thinks that opposites attract; therefore, his best chance for having a good relationship lies with people who are orange, red, or yellow. The first question he always asks someone is, “What is your favorite color?” Their response colors the way he thinks they will interact with him.

The first person he meets is a girl by the name of Nory. She is in most of his honors classes, and they get paired up as homework partners. But she refuses to tell him her favorite color. The next person he meets is Zander, a nerd who sits with two other nerdy guys at a lunch table and whose favorite color is yellow. And the next important person to come into his life is Miranda, his personal assistant, whose favorite color is red. Harris calls her his executive assistant. Through each of them Harris gradually learns to be a normal teenage boy. Then, because of events in his life, he shuts out Zander and Nory; and Miranda leaves him because of her behavior. Harris finally grows up and realizes that Zander and Nory did not abandon him, and that Miranda, although she took him to rock concerts and drove fast, was not a good friend to him.

I was totally blown away by this novel. It is real and gripping. It allows the reader to experience, with no holds barred, the life of a teenager with a life-altering condition. The author, himself, has spinal muscular atrophy and lives his life from a wheelchair. It must have taken a great amount of courage for Hayden to write this book and be so open about how people with different abilities are treated. He openly discusses how his teachers talked about him while he was present and how others spoke to him as if he were a child. There are a few expletives and Harris does get drunk at a party on night. But the book points out that this behavior was wrong, and Harris regrets it. I highly recommend this book for any middle school and high school student.

The Letter Keeper

09 Wednesday Feb 2022

Posted by in Adult, Adult fiction, Social Issues, Uncategorized, Young Adult

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by Charles Martin

I almost didn’t pick this book up in my library. The cover didn’t impress me. I had never read anything by this author, and it was marked as number two of a series. But I am very glad that I did take it out anyway. It was on the NEW shelf. It has a copyright date of 2021, but I suppose it was new to my library.

It is the most moving tale I have ever read of sex-trafficked children and the effort it sometimes takes to free them–not just from the clutches of their abusers, but also from the prisons that abuse has made in their minds and hearts. It is also a tale of sacrificial love by a man who was trained as a military special operator, who became a priest and a writer. This man is Murphy Shepherd, an author, who spends all of his money to rescue children in sexually slavery and to restore them to normalcy.

In doing this he is nearly killed several times, yet he does not kill those who attacked him. He turns them over to law-enforcement. He loses two of his sanctuaries to someone who are trying to stop him from destroying their business.

He has his own personal problems. He seems to lose those he loves. Consequently, he has trouble opening himself up to love, and when he finally does his life is turned upside down. Like the Great Shepherd who goes to search for the lost sheep, he drops whatever he is doing and goes to look for those who are lost.

The psychological trauma these victims endure is clearly spelled out in the pages of this book. It not for the squeamish reader, but it will open your mind to what others may be enduring. It also gets the reader thinking about what life is worth, and whether or not sacrificing your life for another is worth the cost.

I highly recommend this book for mature teens and for adults. It does have a Christian message, but it is not fake or preachy. It is the most honest book I have read in a long time. I fully intend to find other books written by Martin.

Ferryman by Claire McFall

13 Thursday May 2021

Posted by in Ghost stories, Mythology, Uncategorized, Young Adult

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Dylan is involved in a deadly train crash in a tunnel in Scotland after she took off to meet the father she has never known. She wakes up and begins to make her way out of the wreckage. Her cell phone doesn’t work, and she has no idea where she is. She thinks she has survived unscathed, but she couldn’t be more mistaken. She is dead and actually in a wasteland that is being created by her own memories, thoughts and fears. She must cross this wasteland to get to her afterlife destination. After she emerges from the tunnel, she meets a teenage boy sitting on a rock. Tristan tells her she is to come with him, and since she has no other choice, she follows him. Gradually she learns that she is dead and that Tristan is her Ferryman. It is his job is to guide Dylan’s soul safely across the treacherous landscape, a journey he has made a thousand times before. Only this time, something’s different. What occurs between Dylan and Tristan is not the usual things that have occurred during crossings.

What happens to us when we die is a question that is ever in our minds. The answers we accept are determined by our understanding of the essence of man–his soul. Our concept of death and the possibility of life after death is the major theme of this book. McFall pulls ideas from several religions and mythologies of the past to explain what is going on in her story. The idea of a ferryman is, of course, taken from the myth of Charon who ferried the dead across the River Styx. Tristan is not the dirty fearful image of Charon. He is able to take on whatever form is needed for the newly dead to willingly agree to go with him on the journey to the next life. In this case, he is a young teen-age boy who is attractive to the girl who has been killed in a train wreck. Is it possible for the dead to love another being? Is it possible for the ferryman to love someone? Is it possible for the dead to return to this world? All these questions McFall answers very satisfactorily for the reader. I highly recommend this novel for teen readers.

I understand that Ferryman (with its sequels,Trespassers and Outcasts) is in development to be a major motion picture.

Covid 19 and Other Pandemics: a Comparison by Don Nardo

13 Thursday May 2021

Posted by in History, Social Issues, Young Adult

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This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is covid-19-image.jpg

While we are in the throes of COVID-19, we need to remind ourselves that pandemics are not new and that many of them have been many times more deadly than the pandemic we face today. Our current crises is only eighth (3.4 million deaths) out of others like the Black Death (1347-1351 AD) at number one with 200 million deaths, The Smallpox in the New World (1520-1796) at number two with 56 million deaths, and the Spanish Flu (1918-1919) at number three with 40-50 million deaths. We must also remind ourselves that there will be future pandemics facing humanity.

Nardo gives the reader a look at pandemics of the past and helps us understand what science has learned from them. He also goes into the effect that disease had on the New World, both in loss of life of the indigenous population and the effect on the economy of their deaths. The Aztec people were almost totally wiped out by disease. Since they believed that the diseases were caused by gods and since they noticed that the conquerors were not getting sick (because of the immunity they had developed), many of them turned to the new god as their salvation.

He explains that the need for many laborers to work fields and the lack of indigenous people to do that led to the expansion of the African slave trade. Many Africans, like the Europeans, had developed immunity to the diseases which were killing off the natives. Nardo ends the work with a good discussion of COVID-19 and what has happened so far. He does not take sides on the debates swirling in our society. He provides facts and allows the reader to make his/her own decision. The book has excellent illustrations, a good bibliography and index. I think it will be very useful for middle school, high school, and public libraries.

Hurricane Summer

11 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by in Uncategorized, Young Adult

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How can traumatic events both destroy and build? Tille learns through events in her life in Jamaica one summer that they can. She experiences wonderfully good things and horribly bad things. Both serve to change her for the better. Four men, one her father and the other three very young men that she encounters on a trip back to her parents’ land are the destruction and the building blocks of her life. She yearns for her father’s love, but he has his own demons and cannot give her what she so desperately needs. She falls in love with one young man, Hessan, only to find that, while he does love her, he is promised to another girl, and he will not turn his back on that promise. Another young man, Jahvan, attacks her sexually after Hessan’s fiancee lies about her and tells him that Tille really wants him. Only Andre, her dark-skinned cousin, really cares about her and treats her kindly. In the end he is destroyed by the hurricane that hits the island. Her aunts believe that she is promiscuous. They even call her a slut. However,Tille learns that everyone in her family has secrets hurts. She finally realizes that she can’t do anything to help anyone. The only person she can help is Tille. She can only move on from the destruction of the hurricane summer.

I really liked the story, but I wonder how it will be received by readers who are not familiar with Jamaican patois. The author does provide a list of terms right at the front of the book to enable readers to understand the conversations of the characters. I had to resort to referencing that list many times. Nevertheless, I do not think many high school students will be willing to read material that they cannot readily understand. I can only suggest that it be an optional purchase for libraries.

How can traumatic events both destroy and build? Tille learns through events in her life in Jamaica one summer that they can. She experiences wonderfully good things and horribly bad things. Both serve to change her for the better. Four men, one her father and the other three very young men that she encounters on a trip back to her parents’ land are the destruction and the building blocks of her life. She yearns for her father’s love, but he has his own demons and cannot give her what she so desperately needs. She falls in love with one young man, Hessan, only to find that, while he does love her, he is promised to another girl, and he will not turn his back on that promise. Another young man, Jahvan, attacks her sexually after Hessan’s fiancee lies about her and tells him that Tille really wants him. Only Andre, her dark-skinned cousin, really cares about her and treats her kindly. In the end he is destroyed by the hurricane that hits the island. Her aunts believe that she is promiscuous. They even call her a slut. However,Tille learns that everyone in her family has secrets hurts. She finally realizes that she can’t do anything to help anyone. The only person she can help is Tille. She can only move on from the destruction of the hurricane summer.

I really liked the story, but I wonder how it will be received by readers who are not familiar with Jamaican patois. The author does provide a list of terms right at the front of the book to enable readers to understand the conversations of the characters. I had to resort to referencing that list many times. Nevertheless, I do not think many high school students will be willing to read material that they cannot readily understand. I can only suggest that it be an optional purchase for libraries.

How can traumatic events both destroy and build? Tille learns through events in her life in Jamaica one summer that they can. She experiences wonderfully good things and horribly bad things. Both serve to change her for the better. Four men, one her father and the other three very young men that she encounters on a trip back to her parents’ land are the destruction and the building blocks of her life. She yearns for her father’s love, but he has his own demons and cannot give her what she so desperately needs. She falls in love with one young man, Hessan, only to find that, while he does love her, he is promised to another girl, and he will not turn his back on that promise. Another young man, Jahvan, attacks her sexually after Hessan’s fiancee lies about her and tells him that Tille really wants him. Only Andre, her dark-skinned cousin, really cares about her and treats her kindly. In the end he is destroyed by the hurricane that hits the island. Her aunts believe that she is promiscuous. They even call her a slut. However,Tille learns that everyone in her family has secrets hurts. She finally realizes that she can’t do anything to help anyone. The only person she can help is Tille. She can only move on from the destruction of the hurricane summer.

I really liked the story, but I wonder how it will be received by readers who are not familiar with Jamaican patois. The author does provide a list of terms right at the front of the book to enable readers to understand the conversations of the characters. I had to resort to referencing that list many times. Nevertheless, I do not think many high school students will be willing to read material that they cannot readily understand. I can only suggest that it be an optional purchase for libraries.

Teen Guide to Volunteering by Stuart A. Kallen

19 Thursday Nov 2020

Posted by in Non-Fiction, Uncategorized, Young Adult

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Teens of all ages need to know that they can make a difference in this world. Not only will they make the world better, they will make themselves better by helping others. Kallen has presented them with many different options ranging from working in a soup kitchen to helping out neighbors. He even discusses the possibility of setting up on-line donations.

One of the things that I particularly like was the list of web-sites that readers could go to to learn more about volunteering. I have supplied the list from the appendix of the book. Check these out to see what each site offers.

DoSomething.org (www.dosomething.org/us)

MLK Day of Service (www.nationalservice.gov)

Operation Gratitude (www.operationgratitude.com).

Pet Partners (www.petpartners.org).

Volunteer Match (www.volunteermatch.org).

 

 

The Glare by Margot Harrison

17 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by in Mystery and Suspense, Science Fiction, Young Adult

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After being kept away from technology for 10 years, Hedda finds herself suddenly having to confront the devices of the modern world when her mother must travel to Australia. The only choice Hedda has is to go live with her father, his new wife and her half-brother. Almost immediately she encounters a bizarre situation in which a young girl supposedly commits suicide.  Something seems off about the death. and Hedda tries to figure out what really happened.  Other inexplicable violent deaths occur, and they seem to have some connection to an online- game. If the player dies thirteen times on level thirteen, they die in real life.  Oddly enough the game is tied to Hedda. Her discovery of the truth ultimately tears her life apart.  This is a thought-provoking novel.  Can computer programs actually infiltrate the mind of the users and cause actions that they would not otherwise take?  That is one of the questions the reader must confront.  I found the story interesting, but I did have a big question about one scene.  The story line moves through Hedda’s eyes – for the most part.  There are some scenes which show action from another person’s viewpoint.  These situations are indicated by a different font in the book.  One situation which involved Hedda and her viewpoint I found implausible.  Hedda goes to her father’s office and meets Kai, the receptionist.  In this scene and only in this scene, Hedda refers to Kai as “they” not “she” or “he.”  This is a very new transgender usage of pronouns.  If Hedda had been socially isolated for ten years, she would NOT have had any knowledge of that particular pronoun usage.  It appears to be a gratuituous reference to transgendered people.  It does not fit into the story in any way.  I found that disturbing.  Also, when Hedda goes to live with her father she and her mother leave their farm.  I could not find any reference to a caretaker or another farmer who helped them.  When Hedda and her mother return to the farm, the animals and chickens are there, but the question remains: Who took care of them? If you can overlook these little problems, you might want to add it to your collection of modern fiction.

Teen Lives Around the World, Karen Wells,ed.

28 Tuesday Jan 2020

Posted by in Social Issues, social studies, Young Adult

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This set takes a very in-depth look at the lives of teens in many countries around the world. I was initially impressed by the clear introduction to the set. There is not an emphasis of one continent over another. The set is in alphabetical order by country starting with Australia (Some countries I thought might have been included were Afghanistan and Argentina.)

The lives of the teens living in each country is the main focus, but each section starts with a Country Overview. The discussion then moves to Schooling and Education, Extracurricular Activities: Art, Music and Sport, Family and Social Life, Religious and Cultural Rites of Passage, Rights and Legal Status, and finally, Inequalities. In each section the statistics contain in-text bibliographic referencing. A thorough bibliographical list concludes each section. It is definitely an encyclopedia designed for grades 12 and up since the readability of the text is grade 12 on the Fry chart.

The biographic information at the end of vol.2 tells the reader that the editor and the contributors are all very well-educated; and, thus, one would tend to believe that the factual material being presented would be true and accurate. However, that is not the case in this instance. As I began to read the text, I ran across this sentence: “Egypt also shares borders with Turkey and Jordan.” (The co-contributor is the editor.) That statement I knew to be totally false. Next, I ran across what I believed to be either a poorly formed sentence or an outright lack of knowledge of geography on the part of the contributor – which, by the way was the editor, herself. I submitted that particular sentence for scrutiny to a group of English teachers on a Facebook page, who – much to my surprise – pointed out, not only needed changes in the syntax, but also a flagrant error in geography. This is that sentence: “France is a Western European country bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea to the West and the South and the Alps and the Pyrenees to the East.” My teacher friends quickly pointed out that the Pyrenees were to the west of France, not to the east.

In the face of not one, but two, glaring errors in the text, I began to question whether or not to recommend the purchase of the set. At $204.00 it represents a big chunk of a school’s library budget. My main problem lies in the fact that if there are any factual errors in any non-fiction work, the entire piece becomes suspect.

I cannot, in good conscience recommend the purchase of this set. Although there most likely are many things that are true, it is not possible to trust all of them to the editor’s veracity. The reader should be receiving positive truth – not possible truth. Do not spend your limited resources on this set.