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Young Adult

It's All About Me: Personality Quizzes for You and Your Friends

It's All About Me: Personality Quizzes for You and Your Friends

70 pages Young Adult

Danny Says

I honestly have no idea how I have overlooked putting this book on a prior edition of the Lazy Readers’ Book Club, as this was my favorite book of 2006. If you are a teacher, you HAVE to buy this book. This book is applicable for all ages, but teenagers love it the most. It is filled with funny personality quizzes that delight students. Parents and teens: BUY THIS BOOK. Great fun! I’d also like to plug the publisher, Klutz, which publishes a lot of high-quality books.
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How They Met and Other Stories

How They Met and Other Stories

By David Levithan 256 pages Young Adult

Danny Says

David Levithan is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors. As it is February, I realized I had to include at least one book for Valentine’s Day. This collection of 18 delightful stories about love written from different perspectives (first, second and third person) chronicles love in all its forms, and I would recommend this book not just for teens but for their parents, as well.
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Garfield Large & in Charge

Garfield Large & in Charge

By Jim Davis 96 pages Young Adult

Danny Says

Davis is always funny, and the reason I include this book recommendation is to bring more attention to his website, www.professorgarfield.org. This is one of my favorite websites to teach students how to write, as its free comic strip creator is a terrific way to allow students to create their own Garfield comic strips to teach sequence of events, review concepts learned each day, etc. Any K-8 teacher needs to check out this site.
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The Arrival

The Arrival

By Shaun Tan 128 pages Young Adult

Danny Says

This is a MUST BUY for all middle school teachers. I think it is one of the best books I have read for young adults in years. A wordless picture book that captures the immigrant experience and speaks loudly to my English language learners, this book can be used to stimulate amazing class discussions. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
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The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

By Stephen Chbosky 224 pages Young Adult

Danny Says

Chbosky knows teenagers, and this book does a decent job of addressing the issues so many 11th graders face. I recommend this book to parents of teens, as I hope it will make more parents empathetic with the trials and tribulations of today’s adolescents.
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Define

Define "Normal"

By Julie Anne Peters 196 pages Young Adult

Danny Says

The story of two opposites discovering they are not so different after all is nothing new. Still, many teenage girls I read with connect to 15-year-olds Antonia and Jazz. I think Peters does a good job of capturing the way teens communicate. 
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Before Midnight

Before Midnight

By Cameron Dokey 208 pages Young Adult

Danny Says

Part of Dokey’s wonderful Once Upon a Time series, this different take on Cinderella helps explain why the stepmother did not like Cinderella and what Cinderella’s father was thinking leaving her in her stepmother’s care. I have enjoyed every retelling in the series, from Dokey’s take on Rapunzel to her re-examination of “Sleeping Beauty” Princess Aurore.
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Football Hero

Football Hero

By Tim Green 320 pages Young Adult

Danny Says

Here’s a good football book for boys about a 12-year-old with the uncanny ability to predict another team’s plays. Anyone who enjoys rooting for the underdog will enjoy this book, written by former NFL defensive end Tim Green.
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

By Lewis Carroll 70 pages Young Adult

Danny Says

Sterling publishers have a wonderful series of unabridged classics that I think everybody should be made aware of, as the series includes books ranging from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Gulliver’s Travels to Frankenstein and The Wind in the Willows. As a dedicated lazy reader myself, I found these books to be especially enjoyable as an adult (when I willingly chose to read them rather than had them mandated to me by a teacher).
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Drita, My Homegirl

Drita, My Homegirl

By Jenny Lombard 144 pages Young Adult

Danny Says

Absolutely marvelous book about two unlikely friends, an Albanian refugee and a precocious African-American fourth grader. Written in first person in alternating chapters from both girls’ perspectives, I could not put this book down. I highly recommend you check it out.
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Life Is Fine

Life Is Fine

By Allison Whittenberg 181 pages Young Adult

Danny Says

I teach a lot of African-American teenage girls who complain that there are not a lot of good things out there to read, so they challenged me to read a lot more African-American literature. I guess the great thing about discussing books is that I stumble upon sweet pieces I probably would have never discovered on my own. This wonderful second novel by Whittenberg is a very quick read that reminds me of an African-American version of Dead Poet’s Society (but I enjoy this book a lot more than I enjoyed that movie, and you can email me if you want to know why I am not a fan of that flick).
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Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 1

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 1

By Jeff Kinney 224 pages Young Adult

Danny Says

I have spoken at three school districts in the last month and a half that are discouraging students from reading this book. What “book banners” do not seem to comprehend is that banning books is precisely the way to make a book a bestseller. In fact, I pray that some day I may author a book that causes protests and boycotts. Why anyone would want to ban this book is beyond me. Boys love it, and – frankly – I rejoice whenever I can find a book that boys like that does not include graphic language or images. Kinney is hilarious, and this book should find its way off banned reading lists and on to recommended summer reading. I highly recommend this book (and its recently released sequel).
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The Opposite of Invisible

The Opposite of Invisible

By Liz Gallagher 160 pages Young Adult

Danny Says

It seems to be increasingly difficult to find books for teens that do not deal with sex, drugs and guns. I grabbed this book solely because I liked the author’s photo and was excited this was her first book. What I was treated to was a book that relies more on the author’s writing ability than any shock value…a simple and sweet story about a girl that learns the difference between love and a crush.
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Arf and the Metal Detector

Arf and the Metal Detector

By Philip Wooderson 72 pages Young Adult

Danny Says

If you have a boy who does not like to read, I’d recommend checking out Stone Arch Books. They produce all sorts of wonderful books, and I especially enjoy their graphic novels. This gem includes a lot of funny cartoons, writing prompts and discussion questions and works particularly well with 7-10 year-olds.  
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Kandide and The Secret of the Mists

Kandide and The Secret of the Mists

By Diana S. Zimmerman 286 pages Young Adult

Danny Says

Okay, I confess that the book is actually 288 pages, but it is big print and includes several appendices and illustrator Maxine Gadd’s gorgeous full-color art pages of various characters. Fantasy is all the rage right now, and I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys The Chronicles of Narnia series. What I like best about this book is the message of overcoming adversity and maintaining hope. Precisely the kind of book I like to see adolescents reading.
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