The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey

I love a good book trailer (who doesn't really). And what really caught me about this book was the book trailer, well there are actually four of them, and they are all amazing. This is another book I heard about at a conference I went to and had to get from my bestie at the high school library. It was recommended for high school at the conference and I didn't want to buy it and then not be able to put it in my collection. And, you know, moratorium on buying my own books because it "isn't in our budget."
Anyway, I had just finished Winger and I was ready for some non-realistic fiction that wouldn't want to make me bawl my eyes out. The Fifth Wave just looked so good. The cover is great, the book trailers are even better, and you know what, the book does NOT disappoint. I love a good heroine, and Cassie is a great heroine. What is the fifth wave, you may ask? Well, aliens have taken over our world. They have destroyed humans in waves. In the first wave, humans no longer have electronics. No phones, stoves, refrigerators or Ipads. The second wave destroys the coast. Then the plague breaks out, killing millions of people. During the fourth wave even more humans are killed. Cassie has lost her mother and father and her brother has been taken away from her, and now she will stop at nothing to get him back. But Cassie can't do it alone.
Then Evan Walker saves her, but in a world where no one should be trusted, why would Cassie ever trust Evan?
For fans of any dystopia literature, start salivating. This book has action, survival, and romance. And, guess what? When I did my last order from Amazon, I forgot to order this book. Noooooooo! However, I quickly rectified the situation and it is now sitting in my cart. Along with a couple more copies of The Fault in Our Stars because now all the students have seen the movie trailer, which is super amazing as well.



And just because my students are also salivating over this as well:

Winger by Andrew Smith

I have this weird obsession with John Green and his amazingness as a writer and overall human being, and I love me some realistic fiction more than I love a glass of wine at night (okay, let's not get crazy here), but I do like it a lot. So, when I saw Winger on my recommendations list from Amazon, and I read the amazing reviews posted, I had to get my hands on a copy. One problem, it isn't exactly a middle school book (according to School Library Journal and Booklist), and I have been banned from buying any more books off Amazon. Yes, my husband put a moratorium on buying any books; I am a librarian after all. I however, know people in high places and by high places, I mean my friendly high school librarian who will inter-office me any YA book I want. After making said request, two days later I had Winger in my hands.
Winger is told from the point of view of Ryan Dean, a fourteen year old genius Junior at a boarding school.  He is also in a little bit of trouble because of some hacking he had done the year before and is now rooming in the "special dorms" with the school's meanest and dumbest boy in school. However, both are teammates on the rugby team, so hopefully his life will be spared before the first semester ends and he can get back to the regular dorms. I know you are now asking yourself, "what does a fourteen year old boy think about over the course of an entire book?" And the answer is sex. He thinks about sex a lot; like how Annie, the only girl he truly has eyes for, wants to kiss him; how Annie's friend has a hot mustachey type hotness about her (nothing a little wax couldn't take care of), or how Annie's mom is definitely hot. I laughed out loud at all his sex thoughts and especially one scene with a school nurse that nurtures poor Ryan back to health. I laughed so hard that I had to read it out loud to Jim, who promptly responded with, "Yep, that's about right."
Ryan Dean is lovable and sweet and becomes friends with the most unlikely people. It not only made me laugh, but I cried and couldn't stop crying for a few days after. I have decided that this book definitely has its place in my library. I can already name a few boys and girls who would find this book and never want to let it go, much like I felt when I had to re-inter-office it back to the high school. In a time where Dystopia and Action are the genres of choice, Winger has this undeniably necessary place on any teens bookshelf, and sorry Jim, but I may have already ordered my own personal copy.

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Some books are so seamlessly and fantastically written that as you are reading you forget that it is in fact a story you are reading. You forget that the characters are not real people. You forget that the things that happen to them have not actually happened. When I picked up two of John Green's books, both Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars I knew that I would have to really psych myself up to read The Fault in Our Stars, a book that would, without a doubt, make me cry, so I decided to read Looking for Alaska. Well, I ended up in bed at 2 A.M. unable to sleep and bawling my eyes out. Thanks John Green for your amazing writing. Thanks for making me love your characters. Thanks for making me realize how little control we have over those we love most. Thanks for making me realize that you probably can't save those you love, no matter how much you want, if they don't want to be saved.

Looking for Alaska is definitely Miles' story of truly experiencing life, even when someone he loves dies. Yes, Looking for Alaska will make you cry. But it will also make you laugh and think and appreciate those around us. Yes, I went and hugged all of my children a little tighter the next day.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (damn you Lauren Oliver and your amazing writing)

What happens right before we die? What do we think about? Do we have regrets? Do we realize mistakes we made?

It took me awhile to get up the nerve to read this book. I hate to admit it, but becoming a mom has changed my outlook on the stories I read. I always tell my students that each of us brings a new perspective to a novel. It is impossible for anyone to strip themselves of their life experiences, because how we have been shaped and those that shaped us will always be in our conscience, and it will always affect the way we view everything; a film, a television show, a political story, a novel.

For me, Before I Fall is about the death of a girl: someone's daughter, someone's sister, someone's friend, and I think that is why it has taken me nearly three years to pick up the story and read it. As a mother of two amazing little girls I couldn't imagine them not being in my life forever, and even though Samantha is a fictional character, I didn't want her taken from her parents or her sister. Although Samantha has her faults, through the novel we see the love she has for those around her, and it is heartbreaking that even her good days must come to an end.

For me, Before I Fall is about a very mean girl who is allowed a second chance. We are not supposed to like popular beautiful Samantha Kingston because what she does right before her death is terrible. As she sees it, she didn't deserve to die, no one deserves that, but her mean act forces her to relive the day of her death over and over again until she gets it right.

Oliver, as always, has written a character that we can truly feel. Not everyone can relate to Samantha. She is mean, she is popular, she is beautiful and is well aware of the fact that other students want to be her, and she seems to make mistake after mistake. However, there are things I love about Samantha, and I can see how other teenagers would relate to her as well. After all, I'm sure we have all done something to another person that we have regretted before. Yes, you are judged by the bad things do, but the ultimate judgment comes with whether or not you try to fix the mistakes you have made.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: Director's Cut!

David Levithan on EVERY DAY

Every Day by David Levithan

“Every day I am someone else. I am myself-I know I am myself-but I am also someone else.”

When trying to write a review for this book, I wasn’t sure how to begin. This book blurs the lines between who we are as a body and who we are as a soul. A is the main character of the book. He is only A, a name he gave himself, to remind himself that he is someone. A soul, a spirit, a person who is passed around from body to body each day, a never ending cycle of being someone that is not him, and until now he has been alone. Then he meets Rhiannon, Justin’s girlfriend, and for one day he is able to love and laugh and be himself. That is when his world changes forever. Rhiannon is the first person to learn his secret, the first person he really loves. Through Rhiannon he is able to truly show who he is.

I found myself drawn to A, wanting this torture to end for him, and I was a little angry at Levithan for putting him through this unhappy life in a situation that may never end. I found myself, as a mom, sad that A never had parents to love him or hug him, but I guess this is a life other people have had, his is just a little stranger.

Through his book, David Levithan makes us question what love really is. Is it a gender, a physical attraction, or is it with heart that we really love someone? He makes us question who we are. Are we merely a body; are we merely a mind; are we both? Beautifully and seamlessly written, Every Day is a book that makes us think long after we put it down, and Levithan I am really hoping for a sequel. 

Levithan is the author of many amazing books including Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist  and Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List