Young Adult

I must confess that I love just about everything Sarah Weeks writes, and I have had the pleasure of watching her perform her works in Readers’ Theatre presentations with other wonderful authors (e.g., Avi, Pam Muñoz Ryan and Richard Peck). You and your kids will get a kick out of the mysterious tale of Polly the pie maker and why – after she passed away – she left all of her wonderful pie recipes to her cat.

This stirring and uplifting true story makes for a wonderful read for all ages, as it follows the unbelievable life of Chi Fa (which means “new beginning”) as he emigrates to the United States and prospers. Every day I realize there are extraordinary people all around me, if I just learn about their personal stories. Great book to engage students to tell their own stories, especially immigrants.

People tell me there is an Italian movie of this book, and I’d be interested in seeing it. This book will spurn a number of dialogues among your high school students, as it reads a lot like Stephen King’s novella The Body (made into the popular movie Stand by Me).

One of the best pieces of young adult historical fiction that I have read in the past five years. A boy apprentices for a doctor in the 19th century and searches for a cure to the consumption that is killing everybody in town, including his own family. I used this book for a class that was discussing advances in medical technology (it worked great with my impression of Steve Martin acting as a middle age doctor/barber in a hilarious old Saturday Night Live sketch).

Probably most appropriate for upper elementary and middle school students, this fantasy will whet young readers' appetites for the Harry Potter series.

Probably every fourth or fifth grader has read Gardiner’s popular Stone Fox about a boy’s dog sled race in Alaska. This is the one I prefer, though, as it is the funny and educational tale of a boy who decides to discover human photosynthesis and enter his findings into the school science fair. Young Allen ingests a ton of magnesium and soon loses his taste buds and craves sunlight, and the government does not want anyone to know that he has, indeed, discovered human photosynthesis. This book will get reluctant readers reading and teach them a thing or two about science while they eagerly laugh and flip pages.

I am a huge fan of the great Japanese film director Akira Kirosawa, and one of Kurosawa’s most provocative films is Rashomon, the story of a woman’s rape told from different perspectives. Walter attempts to do the same in this book by telling the story of a teenager who kills an elderly store owner, as told through 18 different first-person perspectives. I have heard many teachers gripe that the book offers no definite resolution, but that is precisely one of the things I like about the book. It makes for intense book discussions.

When a young adult book wins a National Book Award, you know it must be pretty special. This one is, as it tells the story of the teenage son of a poor puppet-maker who becomes a theatre apprentice and discovers the identity of Robin Hood-like character in famine struck 18th-century Japan.

Alright, the Megaboy book got me thinking about Kurosawa, so of course I wound up re-watching some of my favorite Kurosawa films (The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Ran, The Hidden Fortress). If you have never heard of Kurosawa, just know that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg idolized him, and his movies inspired all sorts of American adaptations (e.g. The Magnificent Seven, High Plains Drifter, Star Wars). Because of Kurosawa, I have managed to get a lot of middle and high school students interested in foreign films and Joseph Campbell. This brief autobiography is great and should whet your appetite for the much longer The Emperor and the Wolf (about Kurosawa and his turbulent relationship with his favorite star, Toshiro Mifune).

Note to Hollywood producers in search of the next children’s blockbuster: read this book. The coming of age story of Taran, assistant pig-keeper who assembles a group of companions to rescue the oracular pig Hen Wen from the forces of evil. This classic has been around for over 30 years, and I cannot believe there is still not a movie version. Read this, and you will be rewarded like readers of The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, as there are more in the series.

Appelt’s collection of short stories revolving around a middle school dance makes for a great book discussion among middle schoolers, especially girls. Appelt captures the voice of teen girls as well as any current young adult author. I have even shared this with grown-ups who were moved by the writing.

Grabbed a copy when I read praise on the cover from Mark Haddon (author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time). This is a MUST READ. One of the best young adult novels I have read in years, as it manages to cast a self-centered teen (redundant?) in dire circumstances (a 21^st century World War), and the protagonist actually learns empathy – something more adolescents could use. Middle school students cannot stop talking about this one.

A Newbery winner from the 60s, this book (written like an autobiography) chronicles the trials and tribulations of a slave prohibited from painting on his own that serves the great Spanish painter Velazquez (a painter whose work I used to enjoy almost daily on trips to the Prado when I lived in Madrid).

When I come across teens who don’t like to read, one of my favorite authors to direct them to is William Sleator. While Sleator writes a lot of great sci-fi, this “horror” book is a great way to peak teens’ interest in reading. Fast-paced, with plenty of clever twists and turns.

A tale of two drastically different cousins. When one commits suicide, the other spirals down the same path until her family intervenes. I found the book to be pleasantly uplifting in an overcrowded market of morose tales of teen angst.