Moving past grief means leaving Luke behind.
Tressa just can’t do that,
but she can’t find peace among the living either. read my recommendation
Tag Archive | school
Haunted high schools… double scary books!
High school can be frightful for some folks, and when you add in some ghosts who never graduate… just plain spooky! Tread the haunted halls in these BooksYALove faves (and watch your back)… This way to scary school stories
Me On the Floor, Bleeding, by Jenny Jagerfeld (book review) – thumbtip gone, mom gone, Maja is… where?
Maja really wouldn’t harm herself.
Mum really wouldn’t forget their weekend plans.
Dad really wouldn’t assume the worst (yes, he would).
A classic outsider at her high school, Maja is willing to wander a bit further in search of the truth than the adults in her life are comfortable with.
Not the first book-in-translation that I’ve featured on BooksYALove, but its publisher is my first small press from Sweden. Hope to see more YA from Stockholm Text in the future!
**kmm
Book info: Me On the Floor, Bleeding / Jenny Jagerfeld; translated by Susan Beard. Stockholm Text, 2014. [author site in Swedish] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: When Maja is injured at school, everyone worries that she did it on purpose… except her mom, who’s gone missing. The Swedish teen’s search turns up more answers than she was looking for.
If she hadn’t been trying to make a bookshelf instead of sculpture for art class, the 17 year old wouldn’t have mangled the tip of her thumb in the electric saw after hours.
If Mum had answered her text, Maja wouldn’t have taken the train to an empty house for her visiting weekend and found Mum’s mobile phone left behind.
If Justin next door hadn’t helped Maja clean up after yet another accident, they wouldn’t have gone to the coffeehouse together, or the bar, or his room.
And Maja keeps flashing back to the whirling saw blade and the blood and Mum’s increasingly odd communications. Where are the answers?
Play Me Backwards, by Adam Selzer (book review) – his soul to Satan for chance at her heart
To turn his life around, Leon needs some help.
His best friend Stan has just the solution… for a price.
Socially inappropriate behavior is the norm, whether hanging out in Satan/Stan’s black basement (has anyone seen his parents recently?) or the breakroom of the low expectations ice cream place where the best friends “work” (well, they get paid for being there) – but this slacker decides that another chance at having ultra-cool Anna in his life is worth some real effort.
Even if you missed Leon’s earlier misadventures in How To Get Suspended and Influence People, it’s time to search for the perfect Slushee flavor, visit your local library or favorite independent bookstore to get Play Me Backwards, and decide for yourself if Stan deserves an extra A in his name!
And yes, there is an EP of songs from/inspired by the crazy-funny novel here, each track complete with backward message.
**kmm
Book info: Play Me Backwards / Adam Selzer. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2014. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: Leon’s had no reason to stop his slide from junior high genius down to senior slacker until Anna’s imminent return to Des Moines shocks him into agreeing to Stan’s personality makeover plan – for the price of his soul.
For years Stan has said he’s really Satan, and maybe his unfailing hangover remedies prove it. But can his master plan make Leon cool again before Anna arrives from England – listening to Moby Dick on unabridged audiobook, finding the Great White Grape Slushee, joining the yearbook staff, and going out with a popular girl – whaaat? Hanging out with Stan and the other goths/slackers in the back room at work is more Leon’s style, but he doesn’t want Anna to think he’s a loser, so here goes.
Somehow cheerleader-cute Paige winds up on the Slushee hunt when Leon rescues her after she’s dumped on Valentine’s Day, and and their drives together turn into something more.
Now, to sneak a satanic poem into the yearbook and finish that zillion-CD whale tale…
Buzz Kill, by Beth Fantaskey (book review) – dead coach, teen sleuth, too many suspects!
One geeky teen girl reporter with few friends.
One new quarterback with no personal history.
One rival cheerleader/reporter with a grudge.
One dead coach with a long list of enemies.
There are more motives for murder, offbeat theories, and potential killers in this story than you can shake a honey-stick at, as loner Millie tries to prove that her dad couldn’t have killed the coach and finds an unexpected ally in new-to-Honeyville Chase who fends off cheerleader Vivienne’s advances as smoothly as he quarterbacks the team to victory.
And how I wish that the video of Viv’s humiliating encounter with the Stingers’ mascot was really on YouTube! Grab this at your local library or favorite independent bookstore for a fun football Friday read anytime.
**kmm
Book info: Buzz Kill / Beth Fantaskey. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers, 2014. [author site] [publisher site] [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: When the Stingers’ belligerent head coach is murdered at his own football field, Millie puts her reporting skills (and deep knowledge of Nancy Drew mysteries) to work to find the killer.
Millie’s rival on the school newspaper staff is trying to pin the crime on her dad (who’s been named as acting coach), the cute new quarterback (who has no background online at all) decides to help her investigate, and her librarian (who’s guided her through those difficult years after Mom’s death) reveals a decision which shocks her dreadfully.
With 100% overlap between the suspect list and the roster of Coach Killdare’s enemies, socially inept Millie and suavely charming Chase discover motives aplenty, find clues that don’t add up, and unearth some dangerous secrets in this funny maybe-romantic mystery, along with an inept detective, old movies, homemade pie, a smelly dog, and international paperweights. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)
Dirt Bike, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly, by Conrad Wesselhoeft (book review) – grief, honor & gaming
Playing chicken with big trucks on the highway,
joysticking into the Drone Zone,
adrenaline removes Arlo’s grief…for a while.
Trying to cope with Mom’s murder, Siouxsie’s progressive neurological disease, Dad’s retreat into the bottle – Arlo keeps his dirt bike running, scrounges change to play Drone Fighter at his tiny town’s online cafe, but then what? One early morning phone call changes things (but not everything).
Traveling recently through bone-dry northern New Mexico where the author strands this small town, I can see why anyone there would want to find a way to get away, even if it means trading the make-believe of gaming for real drone piloting and its violent consequences.
Read this April 2014 book now – right now!
**kmm
Book info: Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly / Conrad Wesselhoeft. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers, 2014. [author blog] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: Arlo’s gaming skills could pay his sister’s huge medical bills, his dirt bike prowess could salvage his reputation in their small New Mexico town, but it’ll take something more to rescue his family from their endless grieving for Mom.
When the US Air Force wants Arlo to fly real reconnaissance drones over Pakistan from their base at White Sands, based solely on his Drone Fighter video game world ranking, the 17-year-old’s journalist dad is skeptical – until the Colonel erases their debts for Siouxsie’s treatments.
When gorgeous Lee slides into dusty Orphan County to stay with her aunt until her dad returns from his Afghanistan deployment, Arlo thinks she’ll scorn scruffy dirt bikes after leaving her smooth Harley in Seattle – until she helps his Evel Kneivel-style jump go higher and farther.
Zooming down I-25 from the New Mexico-Colorado borderlands whenever the Colonel phones, Arlo has too much time to think on his way to White Sands. Even if he can discover the most-wanted terrorist’s whereabouts with his drone, how can he recover what his family lost when Mom was murdered?
Mountain vistas, Mom’s ashes spread atop the mesa, small-town football as seen from the snack bar, and a moto-stunt for the ages fill this don’t-miss novel about love, grief, and honor.
Looking back at crazy school days
Did you read every BooksYALove recommendation this summer? No?
Well, be sure to check out these two very different books about school that you might have missed (click on the title link to open its page in a new tab/window):
Target Practice, by Mike Maihack – Great combo in this graphic novel with talking cats, aliens, and the Queen of the Nile as a curious teen.
Kate Hattemer’s Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy pits those who think “For Art’s Sake” reality show is their path to success against the kids who think it’s ruining their school.
Remember that you still have time to enter the free giveaway for an autographed copy of The Green Teen Cookbook from Zest Books. Go to my original recommendation here and comment by 11:59 pm Central Daylight Time on Sunday, 31 August 2014 to be entered. I’ll toss all the comments into Randomizer when I get back from #IASL2014 in Moscow, and we’ll see who the lucky winner is!
p.s. Do either of these schools resemble yours?
**kmm
OCD Love Story, by Corey Ann Haydu (book review) – counseling, compulsions, Cupid?
Obsessions and compulsions.
An unsought-for chance at love.
5, 6, 7, 8…
What are the odds that the sweet guy that Bea met during a blackout would be in her new therapy group? That they’ll make it past date #8? That Bea can control her obsession with the fabulous couple she overhears at the therapist’s office?
If Bea keeps denying that her OCD is spiraling out of control again, she might lose Beck (everything in 8s – taps, handwashing, daily gym workouts), her best (and only) friend Lisha, and her own sanity.
Find this 2013 paperback at your local library or favorite independent bookstore (these are both search tools – no affiliate links ever on BooksYALove).
**kmm
Book info: OCD Love Story / Corey Ann Haydu. Simon Pulse, 2013. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: When familiar compulsive behaviors won’t keep her most recent obsession at bay, Bea struggles to stay close to her new boyfriend whose own OCD may end their relationship after Date 8.
Whatever triggered Bea’s OCD a few years ago has been firmly locked away by the Boston teen, and she doesn’t agree with Dr. Pat that group therapy will help. But there she finds Beck, the boy she kissed at a dance after the power went out, a guy with his own secrets, sorrows, obsessions, and compulsions.
Suddenly obsessed with the safety of a couple she overheard at Dr. Pat’s office, Bea finds compulsions once again overtaking her daily life, despite the welcome distraction of time with Beck. Can her sanity withstand the strain? Can her relationship with Beck last beyond his obsession with the number 8? (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)
When Mr. Dog Bites, by Brian Conaghan (book review) – Tourette’s & a bucket list of wow
Tics. Swearing.
Bucket list at 16?
Dylan would rather be a normal teenager than have Tourette’s, would rather have Dad home than away with the Army, and would rather live past March than get intimate with Michelle – scratch that last item: he wants to live and be Michelle’s boyfriend.
Filled with involuntary creative swearing from Dylan and racial slurs by his special school classmates, When Mr. Dog Bites has raised eyebrows for its strong language, but is also raising awareness of living with Tourette Syndrome like its author does.
This funny and profane book was published in the US in June – will Dylan fulfill his bucket list before it’s too late?
**kmm
Book info: When Mr. Dog Bites / Brian Conaghan. Bloomsbury, 2014. [author’s Twitter] [publisher site] [video interview] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: When he misunderstands a doctor’s comment, 16-year-old Dylan lists things to do quickly before he dies – and he’s not letting his Tourette’s or the crazies at his special school or that taxi driver stop him!
Inside Dylan is “Mr. Dog” the uncontrollable side of his Tourette Syndrome which causes the Scots teen to bark and swear. Special school, meds, and counseling help a bit, but Dad being away on special Army duty and Mum getting all weepy with the taxi driver don’t.
His best friend Amir doesn’t believe that the doctor said Dylan would die soon, but soon enough is on board with his plan to hook up with Michelle before it’s too late. Get Dad back home, find Amir a new BFF – lots to do before March, if Dylan can keep Mr. Dog quiet…
The tics, swearing, and blackouts permeating every moment of Dylan’s life despite his deep desire to behave normally reflect the author’s own struggle with Tourette’s in this forthright novel.
Revenge of the Girl With the Great Personality, by Elizabeth Eulberg (book review) – pageant big sis breaks loose
Pageant fees week after week, check.
Hair falls for a seven year old, check.
Reality check for Mom… nope.
Oh, yes, Lexi realistically could be tagging along after her little sister to beauty pageants every weekend of the year – thank goodness for her supportive friends, especially when her mom’s obsession with Mackenzie’s pageant appearances gets out of hand.
Check out this video interview to find out where the title came from (she told this story at TLA2014, too), then find this 2013 release in hardback or paperback now at your own local library or favorite independent bookstore.
Where’s the line between looking good and living for your looks?
**kmm
Book info: Revenge of the Girl With the Great Personality / Elizabeth Eulberg. Point, 2013. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: Her little sister is a Texas beauty pageant princess, so if 16-year-old Lexi wants more from life, she’ll have to overcome the “great personality” label and make her own way (despite their mom).
Downsized into a doublewide trailer because child support won’t cover house rent and Mackenzie’s pageant costs, Lexi feels unappreciated as she saves up for the fashion internship in New York City.
Cam thinks Lexi’s crush on Logan (boyfriend of beauty queen Alyssa) is ridiculous, Benny challenges her to a makeover in teeny steps, and she dares him to let cute guy Chris know his feelings.
Will she really stop hiding behind baggy clothes and messy hair?
Will Lexi and Benny ever escape their judgmental small town?
Will these pageants never ever end?
An average gal in the land of the gorgeous, Lexi decides that she must craft the ultimate Revenge of the Girl With the Great Personality if she ever wants to be herself. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)