3. Mexican Whiteboy
Waiting for Normalby: Conner, Leslie
Addie is waiting for normal.
But Addie's mom has an all-or-nothing approach to life: a food fiesta or an empty pantry, jubilation or gloom, her way or no way.
All or nothing never adds up to normal.
All or nothing can't bring you all to home, which is exactly where Addie longs to be, with her half sisters, every day.
In spite of life's twists and turns, Addie remains optimistic. Someday, maybe, she'll find normal.
Leslie Connor has created an inspiring novel about one girl's giant spirit. waiting for normal is a heartwarming gem.
Top Ten YA Books Special : It's Complicated: The American Teenager
0 comments Posted by sam.ae at 2:52 AM
It's Complicated : The American Teenager
by: Bowman, Robin
Robin Bowman’s five-year journey into the heart of teenage America created a series of 414 “collaborative portraits,” wherein she shares her discoveries of a generation now coming of age. In searing and intimate photographs, presented alongside the young people’s voices of passion, pride, embarrassment, lust, pain, bewilderment, anxiety, joy, uncertainty, and rage, the book charts the coming of age of the largest generation in America—77 million strong—in every region of the country and every socioeconomic group: from a Texas debutante to teenage gang members in New York City, from a drag queen in Georgia to a coal miner in West Virginia.
Bowman’s intimate photographs ask us to reconcile preconceived ideas and stereotypes of teenagers with the diversity of individuals in the portraits. This book and the traveling exhibition it accompanies are about the inside lives of these kids and how they see their reality in their own voices.
*So this means this book is more on photography? Hmm. I think it's good to explore another way of perceiving messages from people other than words. Maybe photographs are good message transmitters too? It's up to you.
As I was randomly surfing the net, I stumbled at the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) website and found out that The Best Books for Young Adults committee of YALSA each year selects and annotates a list of significant adult and young adult books. It is a general list of fiction and nonfiction titles selected for their proven or potential appeal to the personal reading tastes of the young adult. I viewed the top 10 list and decided to let you guys know the must have books this 2009.
1. It's Complicated: The American Teenager
by : Bowman, Robin
ISBN : 978-1-884167-69-0
2. Waiting for Normal
by : Conner, Leslie
3. Mexican WhiteBoy
by : de la Pena, Matt
ISBN : 978-0-385-73310-6
4. Bog Child
by : Dowd, Siobhan
ISBN : 978-0-385-75169-8
5. The Hunger Games
by : Collins, Suzanne
ISBN : 978-0-439-02348-1
6. Ten Cents a Dance.
by : Fletcher, Christine
ISBN : 978-1-59990-164-0
7. Baby
by : Monninger, Joseph.
ISBN : 978-1-59078-502-7
8. Nation
by : Pratchett, Terry.
ISBN : 978-0-06-143302-3
9. Skim
by : Tamaki, Mariko and Jillian Tamaki
ISBN : 978-0-88899-753-1
10. The Brothers Torres
by : Voorhees, Coert
ISBN : 978-1-4231-0304-2
Don't worry, I won't let you rush in to a bookstore and buy a book without knowing anything about it! You deserve more that that. :) So I'll make a Top 10 YA Books special, where every day, I will post something about these books so that you'll know if the story jives with your taste for stories. So stay tuned!
* http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/09topten.cfm
Background information on A Walk to Remember
by Nicholas Sparks(from a speech given in Berlin, Germany for Heyne Verlag, 2000)
". . . I'm often asked which novel is my favorite, but that's a question I can't really answer. It's like trying to choose between my children and all I can say is that I like them all for different reasons.
I can say however, that A Walk to Remember was my favorite novel to write. I enjoyed the process of capturing the voice of a smart-alecky 17-year-old kid, and found him to be fun to write. Likewise with Jamie Sullivan. There was something intrinsically sweet about her character that gradually seemed to take over the book. It was also the only novel that made me cry while writing.
A Walk to Remember was inspired by my sister.
In many ways, Jamie Sullivan was my younger sister. Like Jamie, my sister was sweet. Like Jamie, my sister had tremendously strong faith. Like Jamie, my sister loved church. Like Jamie, my sister wasn't popular at school. Like Jamie, my sister was always cheerful. Like Jamie, all my sister wanted in life was to get married.
And like Jamie, my sister got cancer.
Like Jamie, my sister met someone. And like Landon, there was a long period of time when this fellow couldn't imagine himself marrying a girl like her. And yet, in the end, he couldn't help himself. Even when he knew she was sick, even when he knew that she might not make it, this man asked my sister to marry him.
It was just about the sweetest thing that's ever been done for anyone, and I suppose I wrote this novel not only so that you could get to know my sister, but so that you would know what a wonderful thing it was that her husband once did for her.
Sadly, my sister died in June (2000). She was thirty-three years old. . ."
This novel has a lot of sentimental value than I thought. I'm almost finished so stay keep viewing my site for updates.
* http://www.nicholassparks.com/Novels/AWalkToRemember/BackInfo.html
