Student request

A student suggestion box for PRHS has found a home in the library, and one of the suggestions was for me:

Different variety of books! More historical/thrillers/adult.

This was a fun one to do, especially as I just received a donation from the Student Council. It is also apt since we don't have many adult books or thrillers, although we have a fair amount of historical novels (which I need to promote more, it seems!). So here is an abridged list of books at the library - some new to the library with more still to come - that fit this request.

Historical Fiction

(You can view a nearly complete list of historical fiction at the library, as well as lists of World War 1 and World War 2 fiction on GoodReads.)

Crossley-Holland, Kevin. Arthur trilogy.

Gardner, Sally. The red necklace.

Hooper, Mary. Newes from the dead.

Jefferson, Joanne K. Lightning and blackberries.

Roberts, Judson. The strongbow saga.

Smith, Sherri. Flygirl.

Speare, Elizabeth George. The witch of Blackbird Pond.

Sutcliff, Rosemary. The Eagle of the Ninth.


Adult Fiction (full list)

Bradley, Alan. The sweetness at the bottom of the pie.

Brightwell, Geri. The dark lantern. (This book is actually an adult historical thriller!)

Ford, Jeffery. The shadow year.

Hill, Lawrence. The book of Negroes.

Mankell, Henning. Chronicler of the winds.

O'Flynn, Catherine. What was lost.


Thrillers (full list)

Abrahams, Peter. Reality check.

Bowler, Tim. Frozen fire.

Duncan, Lois. Killing Mr. Griffin.

Hamilton, Steve. The lock artist.

McNamee, Graham. Bonechiller.

Ness, Patrick. The knife of never letting go.

GSA Awareness Week, November 22-26

Over the past 3 years, I have made a concerted effort to expand the library's collection of resources with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning material and characters. The collection now includes 30 novels (with more on the way) and 3 nonfiction books, and these will be displayed in the school lobby during GSA Awareness Week. Below is a small selection with the entire list displayed at the bottom of this post.

Freak show by James St. James is about Billy Bloom, who moves in with his father in Florida and the people at his new high school don't know how to respond to him, from his fabulous outfits to the fact that his "sexuality is still largely theoretical" (p.11). Unfortunately, their responses include incessant and increasingly brutal bullying, and while Billy's experiences are unfortunately commonplace his perseverance is truly inspiring.

Down to the bone by Mayra Lazara Dole tells the story of Laura, also living in Florida, who gets kicked out of Catholic high school and her home after one of her teachers reads a love note from Laura's girlfriend of 2 years in front of the class. Over the course of the next year, Laura finds comfort and support from friends old and new while she discovers her sexuality.

For a novel that shows the flip side of the homophobic-high-school coin, try Boy meets boy by David Levithan wherein Paul deals with his break-up with Noah and the school's star quarterback is a drag queen.

The full spectrum is a collection of nonfiction essays and poems written by queer young adults, all aged 13-23.

Online resources: I have over a dozen websites collected on the library's Delicious account, including the following:

I'm from Driftwood - Every day, new true stories are posted from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered individuals about their experiences.

ItGetsBetterProject.com "is a place where young people who are gay, lesbian, bi, or trans can see with their own eyes how love and happiness can be a reality in their future. It's a place where LGBT adults can share the stories of their lives, and straight allies can add their names in solidarity and help spread our message of hope."

PRHS's glbtq book montage

PRHS's favorite books »

Intense books

A couple of students were in the library recently looking for "intense books," which they defined as being edge-of-your-seat emotional reading but not particularly scary in the usual horror sense. I found a few books for them right off the bat (The rules of survival, Such a pretty girl), but after they left more and more books kept coming to mind. The list I have thus far is below, with book cover images linking to the PRHS library catalogue.

Booklist: Dystopian novels

Dystopian fiction addresses possible futures of human society and the planet earth, and it's usually pretty grim. One example that many students are familiar with is The Giver by Lois Lowry, and PRHS has a number of other dystopian novels available as well.

**April 9, 2010: updated to include new books and websites.

Feed by M. T. Anderson

The handmaid's tale by Margaret Atwood

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The Hunger Games (read my review) and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

The city of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

Gone by Michael Grant

Green angel by Alice Hoffman (read my review)

Devil on my back by Monica Hughes

Brave new world by Aldous Huxley

The giver by Lois Lowry

The declaration by Gemma Malley

The secret under my skin by Janet McNaughton

The knife of never letting go by Patrick Ness (read my review)

Life as we knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer (read my review)

How I live now by Meg Rosoff

The forest of hands and teeth by Carrie Ryan

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Skinned by Robin Wasserman

Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld (read my review)

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

Clicking on the linked title will take you to the PRHS library catalogue so you can see if the book is checked in.

More dystopian booklists:

Best dystopian novels for teens
Dystopian fiction
Dystopian fiction for youth
Dystopias booklist (includes adult novels)
Top 10 dystopian novels list

Review: Graceling

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Katsa lives in a land of seven kingdoms and is the orphaned niece of King Randa. She lives freely and comfortably in the castle but must do as Randa demands. It wouldn’t be such an awful trade-off but Randa demands that she does horrible things to other people, for Katsa is Graced with an exceptional ability to kill. She is tired of Randa’s bullying and has started the Council, which uses a network of informants and spies to help people in need.

On one of her rescue missions Katsa encounters Po, a foreign prince Graced with fighting who is trying to unravel the mystery of his kidnapped grandfather. When Katsa and Po eventually discover that they are trying to solve the same problem, they team together to take care of it (and a problematic king) once and for all.

Graceling had been getting rave reviews from tons of blogs and starred reviews from major book review publications, so I decided I had to read it. It has quickly become one of my favourite books and one that I will re-read gladly. There are so many things I loved about this book: Katsa kicks butt but is also hilarious and empathetic, the plot never stops for a moment, and there are twists at every turn. One thing that really impressed me is that the moment I figured something out, the characters figured it out too. Nothing irks me more than knowing something integral to the plot and the characters haven’t a clue until 100 pages later. It drives me crazy! This book is smart, funny (I laughed out loud several times), action-packed, thrilling, and devastatingly romantic. In one word: wow.

Thankfully, Graceling is the first in a series.

5 stars out of 5 for Graceling.

Kristin Cashore’s blog.

An interview with Kristin Cashore.