The Hunger Games

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Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic Press, 2008. 

Annotation: Katniss Everdeen is a young hunter from District 12.  When her younger sister is selected for the deadly and annual Hunger Games, Katniss decides to volunteer in her place. 

Awards:

Georgia Peach Book Award (2009),

Amelia Bloomer List (2009), 

An ALA Notable Children's Book for Older Readers (2009)

An ALA Notable Children's Book for Older Readers (2009), 

Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (2008), 

West Australian Young Readers' Book Award (WAYRBA) for Older Readers (2010), 

Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award Nominee (2011), 

Red House Children's Book Award for Older Readers & Overall (2010), 

New York Times Notable Children's Book (2008), 

Publishers Weekly's Best Books of The Year,South Carolina Book Award for Junior and Young Adult Book Awards (2011), 

Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award (2010), 

Teen Buckeye Book Award (2009), 

Rhode Island Teen Book Award (2010),

Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award (2010), 

ALA Teens' Top Ten (2009), 

Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee (2010),

Sakura Medal for Middle School Book (2010), 

Michigan Library Association Thumbs Up! Award (2009), 

Florida Teens Read (2009),

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (2010), 

Iowa High School Book Award (2011),

 ALA's Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults (2009), 

The Inky Awards for Silver Inky (2009), 

Abraham Lincoln Award (2011) 

Book Talk:  It isn’t easy living in District 12.  Here, coal miners work day and night, barely making money, barely surviving.  For young Katniss, surviving means sneaking outside of the guarded community to hunt for wild game.  It is all she can do to provide for her mother and younger sister since her father died. To make things worse, each of the twelve districts must participate annually in a game with deadly consequences.  Two are selected, one boy and one girl from each district, twenty-four contestants in all, but only one may win.  When Katniss hears her sister’s name selected for this game of death, she immediately volunteers in her place.  Now she must fight her way through twenty three opponents in order to see her mother and sister again.  Will Katniss find the will to survive when the hunter becomes the hunted?  Life will never been the same once she enters The Hunger Games!


Rachel - Age 17: "I have read The Hunger Games and absolutely loved it. I loved the plot, I loved the characters. The character of Katniss is strong and fierce and was an awesome fighter. Finally they have a heroine instead of a hero."


Catherine - Age 17: "I enjoy reading "dystopias " because these types of books let you use your imagination. My favorite book is "The Hunger Games" because the whole book makes you think, and It was so suspensful, I was always tempted to read more."

The Tomorrow Code

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Falkner, Brian. The Tomorrow Code. New York: Random House, 2008. 

Annotation:  Tane and Rebecca are two teenagers that discover the secret for sending messages through time.  Once they begin to receive cryptic messages from their future selves, a desperate adventure begins to save the world. 

Awards:  2009: New Zealand Post Book Award

Book Talk:  What if you could send messages through time and space to warn yourself of future events?  Tane and Rebecca find the secret that unlocks the mystery of time travel so they can receive, just like an email, messages from the future.  Upon decoding their first message, it seems that good fortune as smiled upon them as they receive a set of lottery numbers! After they accept their good luck, more messages arrive, this time in a form of a warning.  What could the warning be?  For Tane and Rebecca, their good luck is about to run out and the fate of the world lies within their hands, but only if they can decipher The Tomorrow Code. 

how i live now

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Rosoff, Meg. How I live now. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2004.

Annotation: Daisy is a teenage girl visiting her relatives in England.  As she finds love, war breaks out and splits her family and new love apart.

Awards:

Orange Prize Nominee for New Writers (2005) 

Printz Award (2005)

Branford Boase Award (2005)

Book Talk:  Daisy can’t stand her new stepmother.  Her father feels it’s best for her to go live with her aunt and cousins over in England.  Upon arriving, Daisy notices that life in England is a lot different than in New York.  She immediately is taken with her new family and feels a new responsibility for her little cousins.  Life seems to be grand living in England, on a farm, surrounded by family that love and respect her.  On top of that, it seems that Daisy is finding love in all the most unusual places.  When war breaks out within England, Daisy’s new life is ripped apart by circumstances beyond her control.  With her new sense of responsibility for her cousin’s safe, Daisy sets out to be reunited with her family and her new true love.  Will Daisy’s life ever be sane again?  

feed

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Anderson, M. T. Feed. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2002. Print.

Annotation:  Titus and his friends are living in a future world where their brains are connected to the “Feed,” a constant connection to texting, internet browsing and advertisement.  When Titus meets Violet, a girl who views the world and the Feed in a different light, he begins to question what he knows.

Awards:

National Book Award Nominee for Young People's Literature (2002)

Los Angeles Times Book Prize (2002)

ALA's Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults (2003)

Book Talk:  Titus and his friends seem to be your average teenagers.  They look forward to hanging out and going to the latest parties, buying new cars and dating.  They also enjoy being connected by “the Feed.”  The Feed allows constant communication, instant downloading, instant purchasing all by just thinking.  It is the internet within your head…no mouse, no keyboards, just think it and you can get whatever information you would like.  There is one small problem… While humans are busy buying and consuming over the feed, their world and their bodies are dying.  Titus meets Violet, a girl his group views as strange but “cool.”  Violet easily fits in with Titus and his friends however, she sees things for what they really are.  Will Titus join her in seeing the world for what it is or will he forever be lost within the feed?

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

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Dick, Philip. Do androids dream of electric sheep. New York: Ballantine Books, 1996. 

Annotation: Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter on the look-out for rogue androids.  He faces against a group of the most intelligent and deadly androids mankind has ever known.

Awards:  

1968 - Nebula Award nominee

1998 - Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990 (Place: 51)

Book Talk:  The world has changed.  People live off-world on Mars and Earth is inhabited by the rejects that no longer fit into society.  Androids were developed by humans to carry out less than desirable tasks.  The Nexus-6 are the most advanced androids created by man.  So advanced they live among humans undetected.  When a rogue group of androids causes more trouble than their makers are willing to admit, Rick Deckard, bounty hunter, is called in to “retire” them.  It is a dangerous ride of twists and turns as Rick tries to solve the mystery behind who is a human and who is an android.  

Ghostbusters: The Return

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Fisch, Sholly. Ghostbusters. New York: IBooks Distributed by Simon & Schuster, 2004. 

Annotation: It has been 2 years since the Ghostbusters have defeated Vigo the Carpathian and saved New York city. An ancient evil has returned feeding off of the fear of the citizens and it's up to Peter, Ray, Egon and Winston to stop it.

Book Talk: The Ghostbusters are back and cleanin’ up the town! Urban legends are coming to life and threatening the citizens of New York. It is up the boys in brown to solve the mystery behind these supernatural occurrences and uncover the truth. It is a funny and sarcastic ride of thrills, chills and spills as your favorite paranormal investigators get themselves in a heap full of trouble while savin’ the day! When you hear a bump in the night, who you gonna call? Don’t miss Ghostbusters: The Return!

V for Vendetta

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Moore, Alan. V for Vendetta. New York: DC Comics, 2005.

Annotation:  After the world is devastated by war, Fascism rises up and takes over.  As people lose their identity and freedom, an individual named “V” uses anarchy to free society from the chains of oppression.

Book Talk:  “Remember, Remember the 5^th of November…” These words take on a whole new meaning when oppressed England experiences their first taste of anarchy.  In a time when fascism is now the ruling class of the world, people have become trapped in a society that bares no hope, no future and no chance of freedom.  In a surprising turn of events, an individual known simply as “V” starts to destroy the barriers of oppression with his new “love” of anarchy.  When all hope is lost, when all freedom is gone, when the fascist government has you in the grip of fear, make them fear you and become V for Vendetta.

Brave New World

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Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Perennial Classics, 1998.

Annotation: A futuristic world where humans are grown for specific functions for the ruling class.  Everything is passive within this world until one of their own visits a primitive society and brings back a “savage.”

Awards:

1959 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award of Merit for Brave New World.

1983 Brave New World Prometheus Award, Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Libertarian SF Novel

Book Talk: What would a world be like without emotions?  What would it be like if we never saw old age or death?  What if we were grown to have one function, one job for the rest of our existence?  What if there were no more families and what if “love” was just a pill that you took?  Would you really want to know a life that was passive and clean and free of “pain”?  If you are still curious then follow me to a Brave New World.

Rapunzel's Revenge

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Hale, Shannon. Rapunzel's Revenge. New York, N.Y: Bloomsbury, 2008.

Annotation: A twist on the fairy tale of Rapunzel and her abnormally long hair.  Our story finds our heroine on a adventurous and humorous journey to save her mother.

Awards:

ALA Notable Children's Book (ALA)

Amelia Bloomer Project Selection (ALA)

An Al Roker Today Show Book Club Pick

An IndieBound Next Pick

Cybils Award (Graphic Novels)

Great Graphic Novels for Teens (YALSA)

Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults (YALSA)

Texas Maverick Graphic Novel List

Utah Book Award

Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee

Book Talk: Saddle up partner and travel to once upon a time!  Join Rapunzel as she lets down her hair and races to save her mother from the evil clutches of Gothel and her band of thugs.  With her side-kick Jack, Rapnzel faces off against packs of hungry wolves, giant poisonous snakes and evil…antelopes? Don’t miss this wild ride of high adventure and magic in Rapzunel’s Revenge!

A Step from Heaven

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AN, NA . A Step from Heaven. Asheville, NC: Front Street, 2001. 

Annotation:  Young Ju is a Korean immigrant who is starting a new life in America.  Along with you mother, father and young brother, Young Ju is trying to figure out this new life while dealing with struggles within her family.

Awards:

Michael L. Printz Award

National Book Award Finalist

New York Times Book Review Notable Book

Best Children’s Books 2001 – Publishers Weekly

A Best Book of 2001 – teenreads.com

Book Links Lasting Connections of 2001

Children’s Books of Distinction Award – Riverbank Review

Book Talk:  Where is heaven?  How do you get there?  Young Ju has a life changing experience when her family moves from Korea to America. In this new world, she must face the hell one must walk before they can reach paradise.  Can she live with through the trials and tribulations life unfolds upon herself and her family?  If she remains the brave little girl she once was in Korea, she’ll find even though life is sometimes hell she’s just A Step from Heaven.

City of Ember

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DuPrau, Jeanne. The City of Ember. New York: Random House, 2003.

Annotation:  Lina and Doon are two children part of a lost underground city.  As the city lights begin to fade, Lina finds a cryptic message that may be directions to the way out of Ember.  She and Doon begin a race against time in search of freedom from their doomed city. 

Awards: 

2003 Child Magazine's Best Children's Book

2003 Kirkus Editor's Choice

2006 Mark Twain Award

2006 William Allen White Children's Book Award

American Library Association Notable Book

Book Talk:  Deep underground there exist a city of lights.  Each day the citizens go about their business maintaining the order and structure within their society.  When the lights of the city start to flicker, the citizens start to panic while the mayor denies any cause for alarm.  Lina Mayfleet, a young messenger for the city makes a shocking discovery when she finds a cryptic message that may point to a way out of the city.  Along with her best friend Doon Harrow, the two youngsters being a journey of discovery that could be the key to saving all the citizens of their doomed city.  Will anybody believe them?  Can the mayor keep them from revealing the truth?  Join the adventure of a lifetime as they try to escape…The City of Ember