When I Was a Soldier

When I Was a Soldier by Valérie Zenatti

- 3 stars

Did you know that ALL boys and girls in Israel must serve at least two years in the army after their 18th birthdays? When I Was a Soldier is the true story of 18-year-old Valérie Zenatti’s experiences as a female soldier in the Israeli Defense Force.

While most teenagers around the world are worrying about going to college, hanging out with friends and dating, Valerie must deal with early morning training sessions, terrible mess hall food, and spying on pilots from the Jordanian air force.

After struggling through her initial training, Valerie gets assigned to the elite Israeli Secret Service, conducting top secret surveillance and spying missions. She misses her family and friends, and she’s trying to patch things up with her ex-boyfriend, but she must overcome and fulfill the important duty to her country.

Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

- 5 stars

Thirteen Reasons Why is one of the best young adult books I have read in a long time. It tells two stories – one about Hannah Baker, a 17-year-old girl who, by the end of the first chapter we already know, has committed suicide; the other about Clay Jensen, a friend of Hannah who receives a mysterious package of audio tapes in the mail and starts to listen.

The two stories begin to intertwine as Clay finds out the tapes were left by Hannah – each tape is a dedicated to a specific person and each tape tells a “reason why” she killed herself. Hannah’s reasons start out fairly minor, mostly involving rumors and pranks, but they rapidly become much more serious until Clay finally gets the complete picture of what led Hannah to make the ultimate decision.

Thirteen Reasons Why is an extraordinarily well-written and well thought out novel. It is a page turning thriller and an emotional roller coaster. It treats a very sensitive subject with thoughtfulness and tenderness. But most importantly offers a terrifyingly realistic example of how rumors and bullying may seem innocent, but can start a chain of events with unpredictable and tragic consequences.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

- 5 stars

Junior is a teenager growing up on the Wellpinit Indian Reservation in Washington State – a terribly poor, hopeless world of alcoholic adults, fistfights and tragedy. But Junior is a little different than his classmates…he’s successful in school, a talented artist and a pretty good basketball player. But most of all, he actually dreams of a future off the reservation.

Things really start to change when he decides to transfer to a school in Reardon – the “rich, white school” in the town near the reservation. He finds himself caught in the middle of two worlds – truly a part-time Indian. His white classmates shun him because he’s Indian; his Indian friends shun him because he abandoned the reservation.

Part-Time Indian is told with humor and sarcasm and is full of Junior’s funny cartoon drawings
that are his way of dealing with the difficult life of the reservation. Read along as Junior struggles to overcome his tough upbringing and make something of his life.

Hunger Games

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

- 5 stars

Hunger Games is a gripping page-turner about a young girl named Katniss who lives with her mom and younger sister in a poor, remote area in the future country of Panem. Katniss is a hunter – she illegally enters the woods each day, gathers plants and shoots game to sell at the market and feed her family.

Each year in Panem, the Hunger Games are held and the whole nation watches on live television. The games are like the Olympics, but instead of athletic events the young children of Panem are turned loose in a huge arena with only one rule – whoever is left alive is the winner.

Read along as Katniss fights for her life – she must evade her opponents, find water and food, and face the truth that in order to live, everyone else has to die.

I am the Messenger

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

- 5 stars

I Am the Messenger is a story about a 19-year-old Australian taxi driver named Ed Kennedy. Ed is an incredibly average person. He doesn’t have a glamorous well-paying job; he lives in a boring town; he hangs out with a group of slacker friends; and he’s in love with a girl who “just wants to be friends.”

Everything starts to change when Ed finds himself a minor hero after stopping a bank robbery and getting a mysterious ace of hearts card delivered to his mailbox. The cards he receives reveal messages, or “assignments” he’s supposed to do for people – some strangers, some close friends, some enjoyable, some painful. As the messages keep coming, he must keep working to solve the mystery of who is behind them and what they will finally reveal about himself.

Students with outstanding fines or books still checked out will not be issued report cards until their library accounts are cleared.

The Boy Who Dared

The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

- 4 stars

The Boy Who Dared is a novel based on the true story of Helmuth Hübener, a 17-year-old boy who has been sentenced to death for speaking out against the Nazi government in Germany during World War II.

Told in flashback from Helmuth’s jail cell, we learn of his beginnings in the Hitler Youth, how he started to question the Nazi government and eventually realized he had to gather up the courage to take action and tell the German people the truth about the Nazis.