Persepolis

Annotation: Marji’s autobiography about growing up in as a privileged and precocious Iranian girl during the Islamic Revolution and subsequent war with Iraq is told through a haunting and irreverent graphic novel.

Book Talk:

Little Marji remembers her life before and after veils came to Iran.

It’s hard at first for her to figure out what she thinks of all the political changes swirling around her.

“I really didn’t know what to think about the veil. Deep down I was very religious but as a family we were very modern and avant-garde.”

Marji had believed she could be a prophet and imagined how she might solve all of her family’s problems!

But as she grew, she learned more about the history of her homeland and her father taught her about the “2,500 years of tyranny and submission” of her people.

Marji’s parents begin to share their political ideas with her and she is fascinated by a comic book about Marxism. This is just in time because a revolution in Iran begins to gain steam. Marji’s parents demonstrate every day and she’s desperate to join them, but the revolution grows increasingly violent.

Marji’s parents decide to share a family secret with her, the kind of secret that changes everything she though about her family and their role in Iranian society.

This secret opens up Marji’s eyes to harsher realities than she ever could have imagined about what life has been like in Iran for people who have openly challenged the Monarchy. And when the revolution finally succeeds, Marji meets family and friends who suffered unthinkable torture in prison for speaking and acting out about their beliefs.

But the happy reunions and celebrations are premature; the revolution has lead to religious extremists seizing power and life for Marji, her family, and friends grows more dangerous than ever. She has always relied on her special relationship with god, but with terror and fear all around her, which she can no longer ignore, Marji’s faith crumbles.

And that is just the beginning of Marji’s story! Read the graphic novel of her autobiography to learn about the ways her life changes even more once war breaks out, how her family struggles to cling to hope and persist with their normal lives, despite the world falling apart all around them, and especially how Marji finds creative ways to resist oppression, as only teenagers can, through humor, attitude and pop, punk and rock music!

Once you've read Persepolis, I guarantee you'll want to get your hands on Persepolis 2, which picks Marji's story right back up and chronicles her teenage experiences abroad!

Image courtesy of http://sumthinblue.com/

Can't get enough Persepolis?! Check out the trailer for the award-winning feature film based on both books!

"Persepolis Trailer" Online Posting. YouTube, 20 November 2007. Web. 29 November 2011. 

Awards:

• 2001: Angoulême Coup de Coeur Award for Persepolis
• 2004 ALA Alex Award
• YALSA Best Books for Young Adults
• Booklist Editor's Choice for Young Adults
• New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age
• School Library Journal Adult Books for Young Adults

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis:The Story of a Childhood. Trans. Mattias Ripa and Blake Ferris. New York: Pantheon-Random, 2003. Print.


Image courtest of http://www.randomhouse.com/

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Annotation: A bright, artistic Indian teenager chooses to attend a school off his reservation to escape the dead-end cycle of poverty and violence and clings to hope, despite challenges resulting from his identity as an Indian in an all-white school and as a traitor within his own community on the reservation.

Book Talk:
Meet Junior:

This is a self-portrait he drew of how he thinks he looks at fourteen. Sometimes kids think they look a lot worse than they do and imagine their flaws as being super exaggerated. In Junior’s case though, he does stand out physically; he was born with “water on the brain” and his head is unusually large. He miraculously survived brain surgery when he was just six months old, but he still suffers from seizures, a debilitating stutter and lisp. He gets headaches because one of his eyes is near-sighted and the other is far-sighted and since he lives on an Indian reservation, or “res,” his only option for glasses is a pair that’s big, thick and black. But trapped inside Junior’s body is a hopeful, artistic soul who is smart and can draw.

Meet Junior’s parents:

This is how Junior imagines they might have been. They used to have dreams and aspirations for the future, but the oppression and poverty of the “res” left them with few choices and so, even though his mother still reads all the time, she never became a teacher and, though his father could have been a musician, he only plays now when he drinks his pain away, and is poor, like everyone else on the res is and has been for generations.

Meet Mr. P, Junior’s teacher on the res:

Mr. P might mean well, but he forgets to come to school. Teachers like Mr. P live in a compound, apart from the community. They are all white. Indians on the res don’t get to become teachers and educate their own people. The books Mr. P uses to teach are the same ones Junior’s mom used. Not just the same edition; the same exact copies. There isn’t money for new, updated books for the res school.

Meet Rowdy:

Junior’s best friend hates when Junior draws him. He’s angry, and if you lived in a home with as much violence as he does, you’d probably be angry too. Rowdy is tough and good at sports, but he also loves comic books, just like Junior, so they’ve been friends since they were little kids. He can be cruel to Junior, but he’s also loyal and defends his friend against all the bullies on the res.


Junior should, by all accounts, be dead, or at least as hopeless and broken down as the other Indians on the res who fight and drink, drink and fight. And yet, his love of learning and his artistic talent lead him to make the bravest decision of all: to attend a school off the res, where he might actually have a shot at a decent future. This might not seem like a big deal, but to the res community, and his only friend Rowdy, he is a traitor. And he doesn’t exactly fit in with the white, middle and upper class students at his new school either:

Can Junior survive being ostracized by his own people; his closest friend? Can he brave the social scene at his suburban school as a poor res kid, knowing he will never have the right clothes, cash to cover a snack or even be able to count on ride home? Can he rise above the poverty, violence and tragedy of the res to be the first Indian in his family able to choose hope and, just maybe, a future worth the risk?

Awards:

• #1 Book Sense Bestseller
• Amazon.com Best Book of the Year
• Boston-Globe Horn Book Award 2008
• California Young Reader Medal 2010
• International Book on Books for Young People Sweden- Peter Pan Prize 2009
• Kirkus Reviews Best YA Book of 2007
• Nappa Gold Book
• National Book Award for Young People’s Literature 2007
• New York Times Notable Book of 2007
• Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
• School Library Journal Best Book of the Year 2007

Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Illus. Ellen 
     Forney. New York: Little, 2007. Print.


Image courtesy of http://www.fallsapart.com/ 

The Coldest Winter Ever

Annotation: The privileged and precocious daughter of a successful Brooklyn drug boss is challenged to survive on her own when her family is torn apart and the financial security she has always known disappears

Booktalk:

Winter grew up in the projects of Brooklyn, but don’t assume that meant she grew up poor. Behind the extra security locks of the entrance to her family’s apartment, was a world of privilege and luxury; fancy electronics, the latest designer fashions and diamonds galore! Winter’s parents married young, but her father Santiaga more than got ahead; his illegal drug empire employed men throughout the community and provided Winter, her sisters and their mother all the comforts and cash they desired. Winter attended school occasionally, but spent most of her time shopping, hanging with girlfriends and hooking up with men worthy of her attention and brave enough to risk facing Santiaga’s wrath. Winter was spoiled, but she wasn’t scared of the streets and she knew how to prepare for a fight with Vaseline on, jewelry off and a razor stashed in her mouth.

“I knew these streets like I knew the curves of my own body. I was like the princess of these alleyways, back staircases, and whatnot.”

But all it takes is one night for Winter’s entire family and life to begin to quickly unravel. Santiaga warns her:

“Winter, you gotta be tough. It’s time. Remember everything I taught you. Keep your ears open. Follow the directions I gave you to the letter, and just play your hand close to your chest.”

She’s always been scrappy and crafty, a confident and self-assured fighter. But can she really survive on her own without her father’s money and power? Will Winter succumb to the streets or will she follow Santiaga’s instructions and stop the downward spiral?


Click here to listen to Sister Souljah speak about The Coldest Winter Ever!

Awards:

• YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, Hard Knock Life Category 2010

Souljah, Sister. The Coldest Winter Ever. New York: Washington Square, 1999. Print.

Image Courtesy of http://www.sistersouljah.com/

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Annotation:  A group of lifelong girlfriends discover a pair of jeans that, amazingly, fit all of them! Before dispersing around the world for the summer, they plan to mail the pants back and forth so that each friend will have a turn to experience their magic!

Book Talk:

Just how much magic can one pair of jeans contain?

When four lifelong girlfriends find a single pair of jeans that fit all of them perfectly, even though they have totally different body types, they are astounded, to say the least! But the magic doesn’t end there. This will be the first of fifteen summers that the girls will spend apart, and to ease the separation, they decide to share the pants by mailing them around the world so that each girl has a turn to experience the magic on her summer adventure!

While in Greece, the pants lead Lena to a local guy she instantly falls for, but it turns out their families have been rivals for generations! Meanwhile, Carmen had grown used to her parents’ divorce, but she was in no way prepared to deal with her father’s new family in South Carolina, who she doesn’t relate to at all, let alone the news bomb they drop on her! Bridget, who has grown to be more of a risk taker in the four years since her mother’s suicide, is spending the summer at soccer camp in Mexico, where the pants embolden her to pursue a forbidden crush on a coach, making some reckless choices she may not be quite ready to handle on her own. And Tibby, who stayed behind at home to work as a sales clerk and complete a documentary film project, finds that the least likely friend of can change her film and life forever.

The jeans are the common thread holding the girls together during this challenging summer apart, but one can’t help but wonder, whether the magic really resides within the pants that fit all the girls…or all the girls who wear the pants so well.

Liked the book? Want more traveling pants?! Check out the major motion picture of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants!

"The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants-Trailer" Online Posting. YouTube, 1 February 2008. Web. 29 November 2011. 

Awards:

• ALA Best Books for Young Adults
• Arizona Young Readers Award
• Book Sense Book of the Year
• Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award
• Indiana Young Hoosier Award
• Iowa Teen Book Award
• Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award
• Missouri Gateway Readers Award
• New Jersey Garden State Teen Book Award
• Pacific Northwest Young Readers Choice Award
• Rhode Island Children's Book Award
• Tennessee Volunteer State Book Award
• Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading List
• Washington Evergreen Young Adult Book Award

Brashares, Ann. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf-Random House, 2001. Print. 

Image courtesy of http://www.paperbackswap.com/

Boyfriends with Girlfriends

Annotation: A group of suburban teens all reconsider their sexuality when new friends become potential boyfriends and girlfriends and challenge each other’s established sexual identities.

Book Talk: By seventeen, you can assume you have your own sexuality all figured out…right?

“Did you ever hear of this famous doctor-dude named Kinsey? He did research on like hundreds of people back in the fifties. And he found that some people are super-straight, some are über-homo, and most people are actually somewhere in between.”

So what if you’re a girl with a steady boyfriend and you meet another girl who reminds you of a dream you once had, in which you maybe, kind of, felt a little attraction toward girls? And what if this new girl, who is definitely a lesbian, writes amazing poetry, shares your passion for manga and gives you a feeling that your boyfriend just isn’t able to anymore? Do you step out of your comfort zone and explore the possibilities with this new girl?

And what if you’ve been a proud gay boy for as far back as you can remember and, though you can be great friends with girls, thinking about them sexually is just not something you have any interest in whatsoever. Your first relationship didn’t go so well because your pseudo boyfriend wasn’t even out, let alone proud of his sexuality like you are, and to make matters worse, now he’s dating a girl! When you meet a new guy online and his profile info claims that he is “bi,” you assume he must just not be out yet. But what if he really is attracted to both boys and girls? Can you really trust him and accept that his sexual preferences aren’t identical to your own?

Maybe sexuality is way more complicated than simply gay or straight and a new person can challenge you to totally rethink everything you thought you already knew about your sexual identity.

Awards: None yet

Sanchez, Alex. Boyfriends with Girlfriends. New York: BFYR-Simon, 2011. N. pag. Print.

Image courtesy of http://books.simonandschuster.com/

Monster

Annotation: Who is Steve Harmon? Is he the wrongly accused teen son of loving parents? The aspiring filmmaker his teacher believes in? Or is he the monster the prosecution is steadily building a case against? All that matters now is who the jury decides he is.

Book Talk: All I know for certain about Steve Harmon is that he’s a young black man from Harlem, on trial for murder. The reality of his life as an accused criminal, with his future now in the hands of lawyers, a judge and a jury, and surrounded by violent and desperate inmates, is unbearable. So Steve turns to his passion, filmmaking, to process the unthinkable experience. The trial becomes a movie in his mind, with a script of dialogue from the characters swirling around him, and camera directions of the action as it unfolds. The suspense builds as the verdict looms ever closer; Steve reflects on his past and the choices that led him to this moment. After listening to all the witnesses and lawyers discuss him, even Steve isn’t sure anymore whether or not he’s the Monster the prosecution is working so hard to convince the jury he is. His only hope now is that the jury will disagree!




Awards:

• ALA Best Book for Young Adults
• ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice
• ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
• Arizona Young Reader’s Award
• Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Honor Book
•  Bulletin Blue Ribbon (The Bulletin of the Center for     Children’s  Books)
•  Coretta Scott King Honor (Author)
• Horn Book Fanfare
• Kentucky Bluegrass Award
•  Michael L. Printz Award
•  National Book Award Finalist
• Publishers Weekly Best Book

Meyers, Walter Dean. Monster. New York: Harper, 1999. Print.


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