Lisa, Bright and Dark

Neufeld, J. (1969). Lisa, Bright and Dark. New York, NY: Puffin Books.
ISBN-10: 0141304340

•Plot Summary
Lisa Shilling has everything going for her, at least on the surface. She is intelligent, beautiful, has a wondering relationship with her equally fantastic boyfriend (Brian), and three of the best friends a teen could have (Mary Nell, Betsy, and Elizabeth). Unfortunately for Lisa and her friends, she is also losing her mind. When explaining to her parents over the dinner table doesn't cause Lisa's parents to believe her condition, and her school counselor (Mr. Benrstein) seems unwilling to help, her friends agree to work as a group to help Lisa work through her problems. It takes Lisa stabbing herself with pin holes to have Mr. Bernstein talk to her parents, and then he only advises that her problem is related to stress and problems with Brian. She is sent to a home with elderly people, left alone to do as she likes, even after her return. But Lisa's bright days are dwindling, and more often she is wearing dark clothing, skulking about, whispering or talking to people that aren't there, and instilling fear in her classmates and school faculty. When she attacks brutally Elizabeth, the friends try speaking with her Lisa's parents, but they never see her odd behavior. Her English personality shields away that part of Lisa from their view, making it impossible for her behavior to cause them concern. Lisa's mother is concerned more with her image than her daughter's potential behavior, and Lisa's father is often away on business. As Lisa's behavior becomes more and more erratic, the friends agree not to let Lisa out of their sight. Betsy has finally realized why Lisa made friends with the coolly beautiful Elizabeth, and why Elizabeth did not fight back when attacked-Elizabeth experienced something similar. One evening while they are grouped at Betsy's house, her father comes into the room, and even Lisa greets him warmly. From there, she turns around, walking through a plate glass door. Bloody, she passes out on the lawn, and her mother is called. Mrs. Shilling strikes Elizabeth when she tries to explain she needs to listen, that Lisa is ill, and then tells the girls that Lisa's problems are their fault. She insists they not be around her daughter any longer, and after her stay at the hospital ends, Lisa returns home. Summer is closing in, and everyone except Betsy is scheduled to leave. Elizabeth also disappears for a few days, and Betsy is left to wonder what happened to her. When Elizabeth returns, it's because she has been to New York, and has brought her own former psychiatrist (Neil Donovan) home to see Lisa. News arrives in the paper that a teenage girl had swallowed barbiturates and been hospitalized, prompting the friends to find out if it was Lisa. Confirming that it was, and knowing her father is on his way back, the band of five (friends and psychiatrist) go to visit Lisa. She cries, glad there is someone finally present to help her, and the friends soon learn she is expected to return to school in about seven months. She may have a harder time than before, because the odd behavior that scared her schoolmates into silence won't be as apparent, but the story of her being in care will make her a target of ridicule.

•Critical Evaluation
Well-written, creative, yet informative look at life for a teen whose life is going out of her control. Lisa's plight is heart-wrenching, without being overly dramatic. Her friends' attempts at aid are individualized, and believable.

•Reader’s Annotation
Recommended for older teens, and those curious about mental health problems.

•Information about the author
John Neufeld was born in Chicago, and at age ten decided that he wanted to be a writer. He worked at writing through high school and college, finally moving to New York, where he worked in publishing.

He has written thirteen novels, primarily for young adults. Lisa, Bright and Dark was made into a television program, and was made a New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year.

•Genre
Realistic Fiction

•Curriculum Ties
Psychology

•Booktalking Ideas
Mental health issues, depression

•Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 10-12/Ages 15-19

•Challenge Issues
N/A

•Why did you include this book in you’re the titles you selected?
Mental illness runs in my family, and my mother has suffered from several "episodes" in her struggle. Even in today's society often goes misdiagnosed or untreated, especially among teens, and for many of the reasons held by Lisa's parents. I almost didn't include this one in my novels, because it was very personal, but I felt it was important to include a title such as this one in my selections.

Teach Me

Nelson, R. (2005). Teach Me. New York, NY: Razor Bill.
ISBN-13: 9781595140852

•Plot Summary
"Nine" Carolina is a focused young woman, months away from her high school graduation, whose life has always revolved around astronomy and her best friend, Schuyler. But the day she meets her new English teacher, Mr.Mann, all that begins to change. What starts as conversations about Emily Dickenson, becomes a heated love affair with discussions of marriage and children. Switching between her present plans, and memories about their time together, the reader travels with Nine along the bitter path of being dumped for no apparent reason, finding out later that Mr.Mann has married a young woman in her third year of college because she is pregnant, and he is a coward. In a startling scene where Nine smuggles a gun into Mr.Mann's poetry reading, the reader will hold their breath, only letting it out again when they realize the gun is for paint ball. Things are not relaxed for long, however, and Nine has literally dragged her best friend underwater with her when she trails Mr.Mann in her car and skids off the road. The ending is not necessarily a happy one, but it's the best one, with a sense of poetic justice in the life Mr.Mann is left to live while Nine goes on with hers.

•Critical Evaluation
Racy account of a young woman's love affair, but the emotions are perfectly orchestrated, and not shedding a few tears over Nine's dilemma is almost impossible. A good book for anyone who has ever had a crush on that one brilliant teacher, who may not be so brilliant after all. For a male author, Nelson has convincingly framed out the feelings of a teenage girl in love.

•Reader’s Annotation
Not suitable for younger teens due to language, and sexual content. Nine may be led down the wrong road for awhile, and while her feelings are raw, her comeback is worthy of attention.

•Information about the author
Like Nine, author R.A. Nelson has attachments to Mark Twain, and was born in Alabama. As a child, he wanted to be an astronaut, then a time traveler, and possible a pioneer in colonial America. He enjoys reading, travel, spending time with his family, and studying quantum physics.

Currently, Nelson has written three novels. Teach Me and Breathe My Name were both nominated for the YALSA Best Books for Young Adults list. Teach Me was on Teenreads.com Best Of list for 2005. Nelson was chosen as a Horn Book Newcomer in 2005, and his books have been recognized by the New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age list and the Booksense Kid Picks. His third novel, Days of Little Texas, comes out in July. His fourth, Throat, is scheduled for publication in the fall.

•Genre
Realistic Fiction

•Curriculum Ties
Astronomy
Social Science

•Booktalking Ideas
Current events, student/teacher relationships, crushes, astronomy

•Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 10-12/Ages 15-19

•Challenge Issues
Obvious points of tension with parents and school districts, but I would point out that sometimes these relationships do exist, and Nine makes a recovery after learning of her teacher's cowardice.

•Why did you include this book in you’re the titles you selected?
Initially, I was just intrigued by the plot. I never had one of those crushes on a handsome older teacher, but the idea was interesting. In the end, there were quite a few parallels between myself and Nine, from the skidding off the road into water deep enough to drown, to living in the South, to being dumped by someone out of the blue.

Chloe Doe

Phillips, Z. (2007). Chloe Doe. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.
ISBN-10: 0316014141
ISBN-13: 9780316014144

•Plot Summary
Chloe has been a kid on the streets for four years by the time she lands in Madeline Parker Institute for Girls, a place for teens that have been arrested for either drugs, alcohol, violence, suicide attempts, prostitution or a mixture of these. Her mother immediately fell in love with Chloe's father, a European man she met in a diner, married, and gave two daughter's before he left when Chloe was only three. Chloe inherited his eyes, and both girls his light skin, making them popular in the barrios. A woman always looking for a man to love and care for her, Chloe's mother goes from one boyfriend to the next, largely overlooking the needs of her daughters. When she marries the wrong man, Walt, in ends in Camille (Chloe's sister) being repeatedly raped, burned, and finally murdered at his hands. Chloe runs away, and ultimately ends up being a prostitute, because without a phone number or place to shower, she can't get a job that pays better. Now in therapy at the Institute, she slowly reveals her existence since the death of her father, fondly intertwining tales of her adventures with her sister, with those of life on the streets.

Her Institute roommate is a girl they all refer to as the Nina (for her innocence, despite several suicide attempts, and ended pregnancies from an ongoing incestuous relationship with her brother). Nina says all the right things, and is released, leaving her diary with Chloe. She believes they have more in common than Chloe realizes, and it's reading her diary that causes Chloe to feel she needs to leave. By the novel's end, she has been out of the Institute for a year, and is changing her to name to Chloe Aimes...Mixing her own name, with letters from her sister's, the only way she knows how to take Camille into her future with her.

•Critical Evaluation
A hard look at life through the eyes of a teen prostitute, but Chloe is an utterly convincing character. A novel reminiscent of Girl, Interrupted, but with an edge that those middle class characters never had.

•Reader’s Annotation
Not recommended for young teens, due to language and violence. Completely convincing characters, and a novel that manages to give us hope after being often bleak.

•Information about the author
Suzanne Phillips is a special education teacher in San Diego, CA. Chloe Doe is her first novel.

Her newest novel is called Burn, and deals with how being continuously bullied, can end in the person being bullied finally murdering their persecutor. It's a novel written in hopes that those reading it will learn to take a stance when they see bullying happen, not turn a blind eye until violence makes it impossible.

•Genre
Realistic Fiction

•Curriculum Ties
Social Science
Psychology

•Booktalking Ideas
Domestic violence, rape, drug abuse, prostitution by teens, murder

•Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 10-12-Ages 15-19

•Challenge Issues
Almost everything in this novel could be viewed as possibly unsuitable for teens, especially by concerned parents and library staff. I think it would be important to give statistics on how common cases like Chloe's really are, perhaps not to the point of murder, but certainly criminal neglect, domestic violence, runaways, abuse, and teen prostitution (especially in major cities like Los Angeles where Chloe lives). Too, if they are able to see how Chloe gets beyond her past, and turns her eyes toward creating a future for herself, I would hope they'd view the novel in a more positive light.

•Why did you include this book in you’re the titles you selected?
I don't often pick up novels of this type, as they bring up some issues that occurred in my own family, and it's sometimes difficult to read about them. Still, I thought the plot line was interesting, and it received a good review from Booklist.

Look for Alaska

Green, J. (2005). Look for Alaska. New York, NY: Speak Imprint, Penguin Group.
ISBN-13: 9780142402511

•Plot Summary
Miles Halter has decided that in his pursuit of the "Great Perhaps" (a message from a book), he is going to have his Senior year at the same boarding school is father attended, Culver Creek Boarding School. Soon after he arrives, his new roommate (Chip aka the Colonel), dubs him "Pudge" due to his being incredibly thin, and introduces Pudge to the most beautiful girl he's ever seen. Charismatic Alaska Young isn't just beautiful though, she's also self-named, brilliant at calculus, owns a library of books she plans to read during her lifetime, and suffers from tremendous mood swings for which no one can really account. Amid the pranks against the enemy (the Weekday Warriors), Pudge proving to everyone he may actually know the final last works of every president, and drunken parties, it is revealed that when Alaska was eight, her mother died from a seizure. Alaska's father blamed her, because she was home at the time, and never called for an ambulance. Alaska avoids going home on the holidays, is clinging to her boyfriend (Jake) as if he is the one thing keeping her from a life of sexual promiscuity, and kisses Pudge on the last night she is alive. Pudge and Coronel make it easy for her to escape the school grounds by lighting firecrackers to attract the dean's attention, and no is sure if Alaska was so drunk that she mistakenly hit a police car already stopped at an accident scene or if it was an act of suicide. The only evidence readily available could be taken either way, and it isn't until Pudge has battled through several chapter with the concepts in his religion class, and Alaska's death, that we find out Alaska had forgotten to put memorial flowers on the grave of her mother.

•Critical Evaluation
A believable look at the personalities that might populate a boarding school, with students both sent their for the elite education, and to avoid their lives at home. Pudge is convincing as a sort of lost soul after Alaska passes away, although in some respects it is hard to understand why he's in love with her. Several of the final chapters probably could have been condensed, as the story begins to be bogged down in the "why?" questions being volleyed between Pudge and Coronel.

•Reader’s Annotation
Despite the death of a main character, this book does not become overly dramatic, although it does tend to lose something of its grip. Arguably written this way to mirror the lost and confused feelings of the students.

•Information about the author
Like Pudge, John Green was raised in Florida until moving to Alabama to attend boarding school. In 2000, after graduating from college, he worked as a chaplain at a hospital for children. It was there that he first began to think about writing Looking for Alaska. Following his time as a chaplain, he worked in Chicago for Booklist Magazine. He has also written for National Public Radio's show All Things Considered.

He currently lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with his wife, Sarah. John kept a year-long video blog with his brother, called Brotherhood 2.0, has his own self-titled blog, and is an editor for mental floss. Movie rights for Looking for Alaska was purchased by Paramount Studios, and the screenplay is currently being worked on. Green's second novel, An Abundance of Katherines, was a Michael L. Printz Honor Book and a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize.

•Genre
Realistic Fiction

•Curriculum Ties
N/A

•Booktalking Ideas
Teen suicide, teen drinking

•Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 10-12/Ages 15-19

•Challenge Issues
Teen drinking, promiscuity, and suicide are certainly items that could be addressed as problematic. For each of these, however, it should be pointed out that having a parent being aware of their teen's behavior can counteract the hold these behaviors have. It cannot be proven if Alaska did commit suicide, but the list of signs reviewed by Coronel and Pudge are accurate, and could be followed with further research to see if an individual teen displays possible signs of suicidal thoughts.

•Why did you include this book in you’re the titles you selected?
I've known a few Alaska's in my time, we probably all have, and I wondered how things might work out between she and Pudge. Of course they don't in the end, because she had Jake, and passes away, but I liked the "what is" possibilities.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

Zevin, G. (2007). Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac. New York, NY: Ferrer, Straus, and Giroux.
ISBN-13: 9780374349462

•Plot Summary
What started out as a coin toss between two friends, leads to one of them being able to almost become a new person. Naomi Porter and Will Landsman are best friends, serve on the yearbook committee together, and it's his letter that she reads on awakening in the hospital with the last four years of her life missing from her memory. She does not remember that her parents got a divorce because her mother was having an affair, that the affair ended in a second marriage for her mother, and a little sister (Chloe). She does not remember that she plays tennis with her boyfriend, Ace, or what he looks like. She doesn't even remember what she looks like, only realizes that she isn't the twelve to fourteen year old she feels like, because her body is more mature. She vaguely recalls the boy that came with her in the ambulance, the one that found her at the bottom of the steps, James. She does remember that she was adopted by her parents from Russia, because it was believed her mother could not have children. She'd been found in a typewriter case in the pew of an Eastern Orthodox Church. The other pieces begin to come together again, due to help from Will, Naomi's father, and conversations overheard when she finally returns to school. With memory, also comes the realization that Naomi isn't interested in being who she was before. She breaks off her relationship with Ace, and stops playing tennis. Becoming friends again with one she had in middle school, Alice, she starts working on a theatre production instead of going to yearbook committee meetings and reviews. She gets enthusiastic about photography again, which she had planned to drop before the accident, and spends a great deal of her time thinking about her required final project-one that has to be of a personal nature. Perhaps most importantly to Naomi, at the time, she and James begin to connect. James has a past he cannot forget, an older brother that died of cancer, and what everyone else thought was an attempted suicide via pills. There was Sera, a girl he'd fallen in love with, then been forced away from when he was found her room with his wrist cut. Finally, from out of the blue, Naomi remembers all the things she'd forgotten, but doesn't tell anyone. James and Naomi fall in love, but his depression results in his asking her to fly to L.A. where he has gone to inspect the CSU campus he'd gotten into for college. Naomi's father, who'd covered up the fact he was getting married again, now has a daughter that lies to him. It isn't until James goes missing for several hours, and Naomi is able to access her cell phone in his car, that she realizes her father knows hers was no trip to San Diego for yearbook. She's grounded, although she doesn't seem to mind it so much, and James commits himself to a minor mental health care facility program. Ace and Will have both gotten new girlfriends, and yet Naomi agrees to be Ace's doubles-partner since his had an injury, an event that helps them resolve their problems on a friendly level. Naomi convinces Will to drive her to the house where James is staying, but the reception from her boyfriend is not warm, and soon after she receives a postcard from James, telling her to forget him. Will falls ill with pneumonia and cannot attend, but Naomi has come to like her father's fiancee, and she goes with the couple and Rosa Rivera's twin daughters to Martha's Vinyard, for the wedding. Naomi finally reaches a reconciliation with her mother, to whom she had not been speaking, despite meeting her step-father and sister in a theatre during a production at Christmas. Her mother helps her with a project idea, and Naomi produces a series of photos with a typewriter case in place of herself in each one. Over the phone, she and Will begin to speak again, although on the way back from the mental health facility, she had already confessed regaining her memory. Naomi takes over as Editor of the yearbook committee, and the two drift back toward one another, words of love not spoken-just understood.

•Critical Evaluation
Mediocre novel with an attempt at something deeper that never quite makes the mark, despite it's length. Topics that could have been explored more extensively, and despite Naomi's hopes to the contrary, she does seem to go from one boy to the next.

•Reader’s Annotation
Very basic exploration of what amnesia might be like, and how it could lead to great personal changes, even a chance to redo some things they regret.

•Information about the author
Gabrielle Zevin was born in October of 1977, in New York City, where she still lives. She graduated from Harvard University, and has received a Quill Award, a Border's Original Voices Award, and was nominated in 2007 for an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay-Conversations with Women.

To date, she has authored four novels, two of which were created for young adults. Her work has been translated into seventeen languages. She loves dogs, and keeps a personal blog at: http://gabriellezevin.blogspot.com/.

•Genre
Realistic Fiction

•Curriculum Ties
N/A

•Booktalking Ideas
Regret, ability to redo certain things in life, becoming someone else

•Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 10-11/Ages 15-16

•Challenge Issues
N/A

•Why did you include this book in you’re the titles you selected?
This was recommended, and loaned to me, by a co-worker who really enjoys young adult literature. She gave this novel rave reviews, and I was enthusiastic about reading it. The concept was intriguing, mainly because it was from a teen's perspective, someone that presumably would not have many experiences, times, things to forget.

Speak

Anderson, L. (1999). Speak. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
ISBN-10: 014131088X

•Plot Summary
For two months, ninth grader Melinda Sordino has been ostracized by her peers, and even her former best friends, for calling the police during a party. It was Summer, she'd had too much to drink, and the best looking boy in school had been flirting with her all night. When she wakes up from a temporary blackout, IT (Andy Evans), is already zipping up his pants. Desperate for friendship, she seems to connect with the new girl in school, Heather. Only Heather is more interested in being a Martha, a series of clones that do good deeds, and grade Heather on her appearance/behavior. Melinda's unlikely rescuer from her dismal everyday life is a forgotten janitor's closet with a poster of Maya Angelou, and her art teacher's assignment that compels Melinda to try to create the perfect project about a tree.

•Critical Evaluation
Sad, but realistic account of what it's like as a young woman carrying a torturous secret. Telling the truth can be harder than keeping it inside, and the moment of the reveal may come in an unexpected way. Anderson's work is unassuming, but powerful, and doesn't overdramatize.

•Reader’s Annotation
Hard hitting enough for older teens, but lacking the graphic details that would prevent it being read by those younger. Character is only in ninth grade, reminding us that rape can happen to anyone.

•Information about the author
Laurie Halse Anderson was born in Postdam, NY in 1961. After years of believing that writing was only suitable as a hobby, she changed her tune, and began to work in freelance. After joining the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, people that offered helpful critiques, things began to come together for her writing career.

To date, Anderson has written five novels for young adults. Her books have become National Book Award finalists, been on the New York Times bestseller list, and garnered an American Library Association's Best Book for Young Adults. In addition, she has received several awards for her two historical fiction novels.

She married her childhood sweetheart, and still lives in upstate New York. The couple have four children, and a dog. In her free time, Anderson hikes, gardens, and trains for marathons.

•Genre
Realistic Fiction

•Curriculum Ties
Social Science

•Booktalking Ideas
Rape, self esteem, teen drinking, art therapy

•Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 9-12/Ages 14-19

•Challenge Issues
For parents or administrators concerned about the content of the novel, it can be shown that turning a blind eye to teen drinking and what can come from it, won't change these situations for the better. As Anderson points out, the novel isn't just about rape, but also about the many stress factors that lead to teen depression.

•Why did you include this book in you’re the titles you selected?
My older sister was raped by someone she trusted, and kept it hidden for several years. Her experience was not in high school, but because she is developmentally challenged, her way of handling the situation took her down a road a lot like Melinda's.