Jessica just wants to enjoy her senior year as a normal girl but soon falls under the spell of the very attractive Lucius.  She does her best to help Lucius keep his “condition” a secret but rumors start to fly when Lucius begins to show an interest in Faith Crosse, a shallow airhead cheerleader in Jessica’s opinion!  As action heats up toward a conclusion, Jessica works to convince Lucius he isn’t the evil person he’s been raised to be by his evil uncle.  But what kind of a future is Jessica heading for–college student or vampire princess?  Fun book, lots of humor!

Much of the story is told from the perspective of Arielle who, along with her mother, must deal with an abusive stepfather, and Kofi, who must be the adult to his irresponsible parents while dealing with a growing addiction to prescription drugs given to him for an injury to his arm.  Added to seeing how they all deal with major issues in their lives is the mystery of who is committing thefts of money and electronic devices, and who keeps pulling the fire alarm in the middle of winter!  Lots of action leading up to a dramatic ending!

Fire from the Rock

(Originally posted by Ms. Moeller)

Fire from the Rock is a historical fiction novel that weaves a fantastic story and supplies information about the fight to desegregate American schools. This is the story of the Little Rock Nine. The main character, Sylvia Patterson, is a typical high school student concerned with friends, boys, and music. She is also a strong willed girl who needs to make difficult choices. Although this book is fiction, the incidents are based on reality. Sylvia is chosen to be one of the few black students to go to the all white Central High School. Her choice is not an easy one as many white people in the community are against desegregation.

Life As We Knew It

Students often come in asking for “scary books.”  Deciding what is “scary” varies from person to person, but this story is very scary to me.

A large meteor is on track to collide with the moon.  Shouldn’t be a huge deal since it’s the moon and not Earth, right?  But then it happens and day by day they began to find out how the moon’s influence on the Earth through tides being messed up and the resulting tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcano eruptions  around the world, turns everything into chaos.  Communication was affected when cable TV went out and cell phones stopped working.  Then real problems began when they realized the climate was affected and winter was coming on sooner than usual.

This is the kind of book where I put myself into the story and wonder how I would react as a mother trying to take care of my family.  When supplies of food, fuel and other necessities get low, how will people behave so that they can all get through the crisis and on to hopefully better days?  Read this book and find out.  Then read the sequel, The Dead and the Gone, to see what happens next!

The story goes on to tell how he adjusts to live in America, going to school in his ESL classes, meeting new friends, and finding a way to care for Gol, the cow.  But all the while he worries about his mother back in Sudan.  Everyone says he probably won’t see her again.  He just can’t accept that.  What do you think will happen?

Read this Maud Hart Lovelace reading list entry for a new way to think about students who come to our country–and our school–directly from another country.

Short story books are wonderful because one can read the stories they choose. First Crossings has a wonderful introduction which explains the collection. Each story is unique in its perspective. One story is about getting in trouble at school and the problems with translation. A story talks about football and the prejudices of some people. A Minnesota author, Marie G. Lee, also has a story in this collection. These stories talk about the difficulties of being a teen in a new country.

Don’t Read This is a collections of short stories. Three stories stand out as particularly entertaining although they all are tales to be read. In one story a boy kills his grandmother in order to inherit her money and go to a private school. Another story talks of a boy moving to a new house only to find a ghost his own age. A third story talks about a girl being pulled into a mirror. These stories are scary, creepy, and a bit odd.

Readers who have enjoyed the Scary Story books will like this collection of short stories.

This is two stories which seem to alternate, but come together magically at the end. A calico cat meets a hound dog and an unusual friendship begins. When Sabine and Puck are born to the calico cat, the four become an odd family. Gar Face is the owner of Ranger, the dog, is mean and causes tragedy to the new family. In the other story, a shape-shifting water serpent has been asleep in the Piney Woods mystical forest and is coming to life again. Although it seems like a typical animal story or a good versus evil story, it is more.

The cover is not fitting of the book. Keep in mind the old saying, “Don’t judge the book by it’s cover.”

There are two types of Vampires, Loners and Leaguers. Morning McCobb is a leaguer which means he doesn’t need to subsist on human blood. He is graduating from the IVLeague which is the International Vampire League. Since he is a vampire, he will remain sixteen forever which means his life will be moving from city to city and high school to high school (the only place for a sixteen year old). Birnam has another idea. His idea is for the leaguers to “come out” and let the world know they’re vampires. He wants to use Morning as an experiment. This is how morning becomes involved with Penny, his new PR (public relations) person and her daughter Portia (coincidentally a teenager like Morning). Penny, and Portia, take Morning to various talk shows and let’s Morning prove himself as a vampire. This is when the troubles begin. Is Morning able to keep from drinking human blood and stick to his Blood Lite (protein type blood drink)? Is the country ready to acknowledge there are vampires living amongst the public? Will the Loners appreciate the Leaguers trying to “come out”?

Honor doesn’t fit in with the other ‘H’ kids in her class. Part of the reason is because her name doesn’t start with the ‘H’ sound. This is not the only reason she doesn’t fit in. Her parents have had a second child which is not OK in this new community. The corporation has taken over this community and made life better by protecting people from the changes in weather. Although Honor doesn’t fit in, she does conform and is learning what the corporation wants her to learn in school. When she meets a boy Helix, she soon realizes his parents are nonconformists like hers, but his parents are taken away making him an orphan. What will happen to Honor and her little brother?

This book is recommended to those who liked City of Ember and/or The Giver. It is a futuristic novel.