As a new librarian I am really enjoying reading other librarian's blogs. Today I came across a neat challenge called the Debut Author Challenge and I decided to take the challenge! I have to read a minimum of 12 debut Young Adult or Middle School novels in the coming year. I love to read and I am enjoying reading YA titles I can recommend to my students so this shouls be fun! If any of you out there are interested in doing this check out the following for information:
Debut books I have read:
1. The Trouble with Half a Moon
Debut books in my to read pile:
1. Where I Belong by Gwendolyn Heasley
2. Havan by Kristi Cook
3. Leaverage by Joshua C. Cohen
4. Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
5. Head Games by Keri Mikulski
6. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
“It amazes me how easy it is for things to change,” Samantha thinks. “how easy it is to start off down the same road you always take and wind up somewhere new”.
Synopsis from Barnes and Noble
"You'll have no choice but to tear through this book!" Jay Asher, author of the New York Times bestseller Thirteen Reasons Why What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?
Samantha Kingston has it all: the world's most crush-worthy boyfriend, three amazing best friends, and first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High from the best table in the cafeteria to the choicest parking spot. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life.
Instead, it turns out to be her last.
Then she gets a second chance.
Seven chances, in fact. Reliving her last day during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death-and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.
I did tear through this book and enjoyed seeing the ramifications of the different ways that Samantha spends her last day over and over again. I expected this to be a sad book and it really wasn't-- instead it made me think about how important the choices we make in life are.
Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.
The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.
I really enjoyed this book. This society seems so perfect on the surface but the more you read the more you learn that it is not. Ky and Xander are both great guys and it is hard to see Cassia struggle between them-- lucky girl right! As you read you learn that there is a lot more to both of these guys than you first think.
This book is the first in what will be a trilogy. I am anxiously awaiting the next one!
High recommeneded!..
Check out the interview with author Allie Condie below.
Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth. This extraordinary first novel has captured the imaginations of teenagers and adults across the country.
This is one of my favorite books- it is incredibly thought provoking!
An infant left in the trash to die. A teenage mother who never knew she was pregnant . . .
Before That Morning, these were the words most often used to describe straight-A student and star soccer player Devon Davenport: responsible, hardworking, mature. But all that changes when the police find Devon home sick from school as they investigate the case of an abandoned baby. Soon the connection is made—Devon has just given birth; the baby in the trash is hers. After That Morning, there’s only one way to define Devon: attempted murderer.
And yet gifted author Amy Efaw does the impossible— she turns Devon into an empathetic character, a girl who was in such deep denial that she refused to believe she was pregnant. Through airtight writing and fast-paced, gripping storytelling, Ms. Efaw takes the reader on Devon’s unforgettable journey toward clarity, acceptance, and redemption.
Devon does one of the most horrible things I can imagine in this book and yet I found myself sympathizing with her! I enjoyed reading this book and recommend it.
Here is a interview with Amy Efaw for you to check out!
They said his uncle Ian died in a car accident. Alex Rider knows that s a lie, and the bullet holes in his uncle s car confirm the truth. But nothing can prepare him for the news that the uncle he always thought he knew was really a spy for Britain s top-secret intelligence agency. Enlisted to find his uncle s killers and complete Ian s final mission, Alex suddenly finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, with no way out. The original novel that started the worldwide phenomenon is now a major motion picture!
Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.
Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.
Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.
This is an incredible book. I really enjoyed the alternating chapters between the past and present. This is a historical fiction title that will appeal to all students. I can't wait to see the movie!
Check out this video interview with the author and the book trailer made by an AP Lit class I found on You Tube
