We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

Wallach, Tommy. We All Looked Up. New York: Simon and Schuster. 2015. Print. ISBN: 9781481418775. Ages 14+.

Formats Available:  Harcover, paperback, eBook, Audio

Awards: None

Annotation: Four teens from four very different lifestyles come together in hopes to shed their labels and live their best life before time has run out.

Booktalk: When news hits that an asteroid will hit the Earth in less than two months, four teens from very different walks of life try to determine how to play out their last days. Before the news of the asteroid, the jock Peter is worried that his best days are going to be left behind in his high school years and Eliza is counting down the days until she can rid herself of her promiscuous reputation and leave town. Anita, the girl with the best grades wants to pursue her dream of becoming a professional singer but is faced with the pressure her parents put on her to attend an ivy league college  while Andy, the grungy rocker doesn't care about what happens after high school-college and the future aren't going anywhere. When the four high schoolers hear their world may be ending- and soon- they begin to think about what really matters and how they can fit in their greatest wants in life before its too late. Will the Earth really get wiped out? Do the little things like tests and school really count when there may be no future?



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Forgive me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

Quick, Matthew. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock. New York: Little Brown Books, 2013. Print. 978-0316221351. Ages 16+

Formats Available: Hardcover, paperback, Audio, eBook

Awards: None

Annotation: Leonard has given up. He is tired of being different and is willing to go to extreme measures to rid of this awful feeling of being different, even if it means taking his own life.

Booktalk: It's Leonard Peacock's birthday and he has a gift for the four people he is closest to and one for himself. No one seems to remember his birthday, but he knows he must deliver each of these gifts before he delivers the last one to his former best friend and himself. Leonard lives with his mother who spends most of her time working and not paying much attention to her son. He doesn't see much of his drug abusing father and his old best friend Asher isn't his friend anymore for a reason. Leonard spends most of his time skipping school and hanging out with his neighbor Walt. Walt is a senior citizen and the two of them spend their time watching and reciting lines from old Humphrey Bogart movies. Not a lot of people seem to genuinely care about Leonard's existence, let alone his birthday and he has had enough. Leonard is about to take his future into his own hands, but at whose expense? Will the gift he is going to give himself relieve him of all the pressure and terrible feelings? Find out Leonard's fate in Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock. 


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White Space by Ilsa J. Bick

Bick, Ilsa J. White Space. New York: Egmont, 2014. Print. ISBN: 978-1-60684-419-9. $18.99, Ages 14+

Formats Available: Hardback, softcover, eBook, Audio

Awards: none

Annotation: Emma Lindsay's short story may not be her own. Will she discover the reasons behind all of these strange happenings, or will the real writer of White Space take control of her ending?

Booktalk: Emma Lindsay's problems are like no one else she knows. She has a skull made of metal and is experiencing these strange lapses in time or as she calls them, 'blinks", where she enters into someone else's life but can't seem to remember how she got there, or what went on while she was gone. On top of these strange occurrences, she's recently submitted a short story called "White Space" for class that her teacher seems to think she's ripped off from a dead author's inaccessible work. Confident that she's never read anything by this author, Emma's life and her trips during her blinks are beginning to unravel before her. It seems like the story she's written is unfolding before her eyes. As the characters in her story begin to come alive in the strange events that begin to take place, follow Emma as she tries to figure her way out of this foggy, bizarre experience known as White Space.

White Space is a story told in an nontraditional pattern and will suck the reader in after just the first page. If you think Emma's story seems like something from a different world, wait until you meet the other characters that all play into the emergence of white space and the race against time. Is this real life? Do these people exist or are they a fabrication from an alternate world?

Multimedia:

Here's my booktalk on White Space!

Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral

Anthony, Jessica and Corral, Rodrigo. Chopsticks. New York: RAZORbill, 2012. Print. ISBN: 978-1-59514-435-5. $19.99, Ages 12+.

Formats Available: Paperback

Awards: none

Annotation: Glory, a piano prodigy, faces the hardships of choosing her future and talents over the love of her life. 

Booktalk: Glory Fleming is an accomplished piano prodigy and lives with her father and piano teacher/manager, Victor. In the beginning of the novel it is announced on television and in newspapers that the famous young pianist has suddenly disappeared. But why would such a successful young artist suddenly vanish? Flashback eighteen months earlier to learn of Glory's mother's death, and of the new neighbor Frank Mendoza. Glory and Frank have an instant connection but soon are separated when Victor and Glory set out on an international tour, where Glory will play famous venues with her beautiful musical talent. During the time the couple is separated, we learn through photographs, beautiful artwork, text messages and letters of the hardships Frank is facing at school, and Glory's struggle playing on stage when the only music she wants to play is the famous piece, Chopsticks. Will Glory and Frank ever reunite?

A powerful story of a young girl and boy with extraordinary talents as they struggle to stay connected and live a life that will fulfill them, Chopsticks will have you turning page after page. The images and artwork, with minimal text give the ability for readers to develop their own details as they learn of Glory and Frank's fate. What happened to Glory? A novel fit with creativity, love, gorgeous imagery and words that will tug on your heartstrings.

Teen Quote: "I loved the idea of this book. With little text and beautiful pictures I was able to live Glory's story in my own way." ---Kayleigh, Age 12

Multimedia:

Here's my booktalk about Chopsticks!!

This is a video created to supplement the novel, check it out!

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jullian Tamaki

Tamaki, Mariko & Jillian. This One Summer. New York: First Second, 2014. Print. ISBN: 9781596437746. Ages 12+

Formats Available: Hardcover, paperback, eBook

Awards: 2015 Caldecott Honor Book
               2015 Michael L. Printz Honor Book

Annotation: Rose's Summer is like none she's ever had. She and her friend Windy will get wrapped up in drama and secrets like she's never before experienced.

Booktalk: Rose always looks forward to her family's annual Summer trip to Awago Beach. She loves to spend time there with her friend Windy, who is like a little sister to her. Every Summer is usually the same, but this time her parents can't seem to get along. Her mother has been trying for some time to have another baby, and her inability to become pregnant has forced her into a deep depression. To distance herself from the arguing and her unsettled mother, Rose starts taking notice of one of the cute local teens that works at the convenience store. Her casual observations have suddenly turned her into a spy and she starts to unravel secrets about this boy that could turn into something bad. Thankfully, Windy is there as her right hand man and together, the girls spend the Summer growing up and discovering who they are as people and as women.

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My Basmati Batmitzvah by Paula J. Freedman

Freedman, Paula J. My Basmati Bat Mitzvah. New York: Amulet Books, 2013. Print. ISBN: 978-1419713682, $16.99, Ages 11+

Formats Available: Paperback, Hardcover, eBook

Awards: none

Annotation: Tara must come to terms with her cultural backgrounds while at the same time deal with the life events that come with being a teenager.

Booktalk: Tara Feinstein comes from a background of Jewish and Indian heritages. Currently shes spending most of her time attending Hebrew school and working with her Rabbi to prepare for her Bat Mitzvah. It seems like her Jewish roots are taking over, and shes missing out on hanging with her best friend/crush Ben-o and her other best friend Rebecca, who is spending a lot of time with a snobby Sheila. Who was Sheila to tell her she wasn't Jewish enough to have a Bat Mitzvah? Tara is struggling with the transition into becoming a teenager, and the possibility of having to choose one culture over another. Does making her Bat Mitzvah mean she is devoted to the Jewish religion forever? What about her Indian roots? Told through the eyes of a quick witted, spunky 12 going on 13 year old girl, Tara may not know exactly what she wants, but she isn't about to let anyone else decide for her.

Freedman writes Tara's perspective as if she was a thirteen year old girl. Her words are natural and help readers to identify with Tara and truly feel her when as she figures out where it is she's heading. Everyone young girl or boy can relate to the feelings of finding themselves, struggles with friendships, love interests and the hardship of finding where they belong.

Teen Quote: "Tara reminds me of myself sometimes. She's so fiesty and she doesn't care what anyone thinks of her."---Kayleigh, Age 12

Multimedia: 

Listen to an excerpt of My Basmati Bat Mitzvah read by Paula J. Freedman

Shattered by Kia DuPree

Dupree, Kia. Shattered. New York: Grand Central. 2012. Print, ISBN: 978-0-446-54777-2. $14.99. Ages 16+.

Formats Available: Paperback, Hardcover, Audio, eBook

Awards: None

Annotation: When Kiki's mom loses custody of her, she must remain strong during her time in foster care. She has the will to survive, but will the choices she makes get her out in one piece?

Booktalk: When Kiki's deaf mother loses custody of her, she is instantly thrown into the foster case system and into a world of hurt. Struggling to free herself, Kiki is faced with the trials of being in the care of someone who sexually abuses her and the fear of never making it on her own. As a way to scrounge up money and escape her new imprisonment, she turns to selling her body to make ends meet. As her life falls from her reach, Kiki must make decisions to move away from her broken family and the friends who don't value her and fight back. Told through the eyes of a teenager trying anything she can to make it out in one piece, Kiki's story will shatter your heart and have you rooting for the underdog.

"Life is funny. One minute you think you got everything figured out. Then just like that, something random happens to make you question it all. I felt like that a month ago when somebody I ain't seen in forever bumped my shoulder hard as I stood in line at Nordstrom. Just when I was about to curse a bitch out, I heard, "Kiki! Oh m god! I knew that was you!" I blinked heard when I heard Nausy's voice screaming. She hugged me tight before I totally realized it was her. I couldn't believe how beautiful she looked and so different from what I remembered when I met her over ten years ago.

Nausy used to be big and chocolate with plump lips that matched her oversized attitude. The first day we met at Ms. Val's foster house on South Dakota Avenue, she sounded out every single syllable in her whole name. "It's Nau-sy-ni-ka and get it right," she had told me. Her neck snapping from left to right for each syllable. We was kids then, but wow--look at her now."

Multimedia: 

Check out an audio sample of Kia DuPree's Shattered