Welcome to Mr. Landry's Book Picks ArchiveMr. Landry's Spring Picks 2001
Ender’s Shadow By Orson Scott Card Orson Scott Card proved he is a masterful science fiction writer with Ender’s Game, the first book in the Ender Wiggins series, the entire series can be found in the Smith Middle School library. Ender’s Shadow is a companion novel to Ender’s Game. In this book the reader is brought back to the battle school which trains young children for the ensuing battle with the buggers, but this time the story is told through the eyes of Bean, a young child prodigy that joined Ender’s Dragon Army in Ender’s Game. This is a great book to read if you enjoy science fiction and a must to read if you enjoyed Ender’s Game. Available in book format
Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry Visit a future society where advanced technology has disappeared and people live in isolated villages governed by strict rules. Left orphaned and physically flawed in this society, which shuns and discards the weak, Kira faces an uncertain future. However, Kira has a unique talent for weaving which makes her valuable to the all-powerful Council of Guardians. The Council of Guardians provides Kira with a protector, a man named Jamison, a room in the Council Edifice, and plenty food. All Kira must do is restore the ancient telling robe which illustrates the history of the world. As the months pass and Kira restores the beautiful telling robe, she begins to question the secretive ways of the Council of Guardians and she wants to learn more about the mysterious disappearance of her father. Available in book format.
Monster by Walter Dean Myers While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script. Through the process of writing about his experiences, Steve comes to a conclusion: “If you know something is wrong and you do nothing to stop it, then you are just as guilty as the person committing the wrong.” Steve learns the difficulties involved in being an honest person in a society, which applies enormous peer pressure on young adults. NOTE: THIS BOOK IS ON THE HIGH SCHOOL READING LIST AND SHOULD BE READ BY AN EIGHTH GRADER GOING INTO NINTH GRADE. Available in book and audiobook format.
Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary by Walter Dean Myers An extremely readable biography of the famous civil rights leader. The book's premise argues that Malcolm X's message resonates with the young generation of today more than other civil right leaders of the 1960's. After all haven't you heard of Generation X?Available in book format.
Soldier’s Heart By Gary Paulsen Paulsen’s historical fiction follows fifteen-year-old Charley Goddard who leaves his farm in June 1861 to join the First Minnesota Volunteers. He does not want to be left out of the great adventure known as the Civil War. The great adventure turns into the horror of combat and the luck of survival. If you liked Paulsen’s brutally honest depiction of slavery in NightJohn then this book is a must read. Available in book and audio book format
To Hell with Dying By Alice Walker This short story in picture book format is heart-warming, sad and uplifting all at once. The story will help anyone deal with and grieve for the loss of a grandparent or elderly friend. Alice Walker captures the power of unconditional love over illness as a mother and father repeatedly bring their children to the bedside of a dying Mr. Sweet and apparently bring him back from the dead. NOTE THIS TITLE IS NOT ON THE SUMMER READING LIST. Available in picture book format
Mr. Landry's Summer Picks 2001
Squashed By Joan Bauer
This novel is set in Rock River, Iowa where sixteen-year-old Ellie Morgan is putting all her extra time, money and effort into growing a giant pumpkin named Max. This year Ellie has set her sights on winning the blue ribbon at the Rock River Harvest Fair and, more importantly, dethroning the vile, four-time, giant pumpkin weigh-in champ, Cyril Pool. Joan Bauer has written a laugh-out-loud funny book about a teenaged girl who discovers her inner strength, rediscovers her father, and falls in love for the first time, all while growing a giant pumpkin. If you want to laugh, try this book.Available in book format
Mr. Landry's Fall Picks 2001
The Contender by Robert Lipsyte
Seventeen-year-old Alfred Brooks of Harlem is a high school dropout working in a grocery store. His childhood friend, James, is involved with the wrong crowd. When James is caught trying to rob the grocery store in which Alfred works, Alfred feels responsible because he forgot to tell his friend about the recently installed security system. Now Alfred is being stalked and bullied by Major, a thug in James's wrong crowd. To escape the spiraling events of his life, Alfred begins going to Donatelli's Gym, a boxing club in Harlem. There Alfred learns it's the effort, not the win, that makes the man. Available in book format.
Driver's Ed. By Caroline Cooney
Although the first thirty or so pages reads like a teenage romance novel, the drama and moral dilemma quickly turn this book into a "can't put it down" page turner. As high school juniors, Remy Marland and Morgan Campbell are taking Mr. Fielding's driver's ed class. The class is a joke. Mr. Fielding does not know the students' names and he is never sure who is behind the wheel. When Morgan and Remy agree to a first "date", it is a night time escapade to steal street signs. That night, their hormones and the thrill of risk get in the way of their judgement. The last of the three signs they steal is a stop sign. Later that evening a twenty-six year old mother dies when she drives through the intersection where the stop sign had been and a truck crushes her car. The rest of the book explains how Morgan and Remy deal with the guilt of their nightmarish act. Available in book and audio book formats
The Greatest: Muhamad Ali by Walter Dean Myers
Walter Dean Myers makes a strong argument for Muhamad Ali as a courageous and lasting civil rights leader. Ali is compared to Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King in terms of influence and impact on African Americans and the civil rights movement in the United States. The simple and direct style of the book makes it enjoyable for anyone to read and actual photographs from Muhamad Ali's professional boxing career which are spread throughout the book adds to the overall presentation. When finishing the book, the reader will have an understanding and respect for the brutality of professional boxing and the moral and physical courage displayed by the man known simply as "The Greatest". Available in book format.
Ironman by Chris Crutcher
Bo Brewster, the seventeen-year-old main character in Ironman, writes to Larry King in diary format about his senior year at Clark Fork High School. Bo is constantly fighting with his father who is divorced from Bo's mother. Additionally, in a recent and fairly common angry outburst directed toward Coach Redmond, Bo loses his spot on the football team. However, Bo does not mind being kicked off the football team because he hates Coach Redmond and he can now concentrate on his triathalon training. Unfortunately, Coach Redmond is out to get Bo. As a result of this recent outburst of anger, Bo must attend Mr. Nak's before-school anger management group or face expulsion from school. Chris Crutcher's humorous style keeps the reader entertained as Bo learns to cope with his anger and difficult family relationships. Available in book format.
Woodsong by Gary Paulsen
Published in 1990, Woodsong is a personal account of Gary Paulsen's extensive experience with nature. Divided into a series of short chapters, the book describes, among other things, Paulsen's first attempt at running dogs with a sled, Paulsen seeing a doe get caught and eaten by brush wolves, a crazy banty hen named Hawk who protected her chicks including six grouse chicks from every living thing in the farmyard, Paulsen's near-death experience with a black bear, and several dog anecdotes. With each nature story, Paulsen learns a new lesson about humanity and develops a deep respect for nature which he passes on to the reader. The last third of the book is an account of Paulsen's first attempt at the Alaskan Iditarod. Paulsen's straight forward and simple writing style makes this book a must read for nature lovers. Available in book format.
Mr. Landry's Winter Picks 2002
On the Fringe edited by Donald Gallo
A powerful collection of short stories about students who do not fit in to the “popular cliques.” The stories delve into the psyche of all participants in a school community which contribute to the creation of kids who feel so disconnected with society that they are willing to do ANYTHING. The collection of stories is a reaction to the increased incidents of school violence around the country and especially to the incident in Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, on April 20,1999. Characters in the stories range from teachers like Mr. Beemer in Chris Crutcher’s “Guns for Geeks” who challenges his student with his liberal thinking before he is shot by a student; to Renee, a popular cheerleader and high school journalist writing a story about the outcasts of the school in Ron Koertge’s “Geeks Bearing Gifts”; to the skinny, flat chested Jeannie who tries to understand her sexuality while struggling to fit in at school in Francess Lantz’s “Standing Naked on the Roof”; to Muzak, a student who takes prozac to control his impulsivity, who struggles with apologizing for a rumor he spread which led to a girl’s suicide in Jack Gantos’ “Muzak for Prozac.” This book offers no solutions to the problems created at school, but provides insight into the minds of adolescents involved in the sometimes brutal world of public education. Available in book format.
Castaway of the Flying Dutchman by Brian Jacques
Popular fantasy author, Brian Jacques, departs from his Redwall series to write this book. Neb escapes his evil step-brothers by jumping into the freezing ocean waters and becoming a stowaway on The Flying Dutchman. Unfortunately for Neb, The Flying Dutchman is a doomed ship led by an evil, greedy captain and a mutinous crew. While serving as the servant to the ship’s cook, Neb rescues and befriends a black Labrador retriever who Neb names Denmark. When The Flying Dutchman is on the verge of sinking during a winter hurricane off of Cape Horn, a mysterious angel rescues the ship and dooms its evil captain and crew to sail the oceans of the world for all eternity without ever dying. The same angel rescues Neb and his faithful dog from drowning. Because they are the only innocent souls on board the cursed ship, the angel sends the pair on an eternal journey to help people in need throughout time. The pace of the book slows down after Neb’s frightful journey at sea, but picks up again when Neb finds himself helping villagers in 1896 save their small English village from a group of money-grubbing business people who use bullying techniques to get what they want. Available in book format
The Land by Mildred Taylor
In this prequel to the Newberry award winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor writes about Paul Edward Logan and how he purchased 400 acres of land in Mississippi for the Logan family. Racism enters all parts of Paul’s life in this story about the Reconstruction period in the United States. Edward Logan, Paul’s white father and a former slave owner, had two of his five children with a former slave, Paul’s mother. Paul is allowed to sit at his father’s table for meals except when guests are present. He is “my daddy’s colored son.” After a painful break from his family, Paul sets out to start his own life in Mississippi. He commits himself and his best friend, Mitchell, to two years of backbreaking work clearing forty acres of land for a white man in return for the deed to the land. Unfortunately in the end Mitchell is shot by drunken white trash and the white owner of the forty acres reneges on his deal with Paul. “You think I care about a paper signed with a nigger?" This story is a painful reminder of the suffering endured by African Americans at the hands of racists, but not all whites are demonized in the book. There are a few white people willing to help African Americans. Above all this is a wonderful story about pain, suffering, joy and the endurance of the human spirit. Available in book and audiobook format
Silent to the Bone by E.L. Konigsburg
What happened to six month old Nikki Zamborska on Wednesday, November 25, 2:43 PM Eastern Standard Time? Branwell Zamborska, Nikki’s half-brother dialed 911 then mysteriously went mute. While Nikki struggles for survival in a hospital, Branwell is locked up in Clarion County Juvenile Behavioral Center. Branwell remains mute with all the adult psychologists who attempt to communicate with him. Only Connor Kane, Branwell’s best friend can communicate with Branwell through the use of index cards which indicate shared experiences from their friendship. Branwell leads Connor on a quest for the truth about what happened on that day. Connor slowly unravels the truth through interviews with several people in Branwell’s life including Vivian, the seductive English au pair. Konigsburg has written a wonderful psychological mystery. Available in book and audiobook format.
The Transall Saga by Gary Paulsen
Thirteen-year-old Mark Harrison has convinced his parents to let him go on a week long hike across the old Magruder Missile Range alone. After a hard day of hiking, Mark sets up camp. Before falling asleep, Mark notices a strange glow just over the next set of hills. He discovers a beam of blue light coming out of the sky and when he touches the beam he is transported to another time on what appears to be another planet. The grass and tree leaves are red. The daytime sky is yellow and night is starless and dark. Using skills he only read about in outdoor magazines and developing muscles he never used before, Mark somehow manages to survive this harsh new wilderness. After a year Mark discovers there is other human-like life on the planet. In fact the planet is filled with primitive peoples that are constantly fighting one another for dominance. While always looking for a way home, Mark learns the warrior ways of this strange world where he is considered the stranger. Eventually, Mark resigns that he will have to forge a new life in this strange world, so he begins to form close bonds and relationships with the inhabitants of the planet, but he also learns that he has a powerful enemy in this new world. Gary Paulsen brings his powerful storytelling ability to the genre of fantasy. This book will please fantasy fans as well as Paulsen fans that are used to his rugged stories of survival. Available in book format.
Mr. Landry's Spring Picks 2002
Who Killed Mr. Chippendale? A Mystery in Poems by Mel Glenn
This unique book explains how the death of a popular teacher at High Tower High School effects the school community throughout the year. In the first four pages of the book, Mr. Robert Chippendale was out for his daily morning run around the track when a bullet from a rifle penetrated his brain killing him instantly. The book is told from many points of view, each page is a new poem from a new point of view. Readers are let into the thoughts of Harry Balinger, the detective investigating the case; Angela Falcone, guidance counselor and Robert’s close friend; Russell Franks, High Tower principle; and several high school students. The life of a complicated man is unveiled and a mystery is solved. Excellent quick read.Available in book format.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Melinda Sordino was attending a high school party at the end of her summer vacation between her eighth grade and freshman year. A real high school party with real alcohol, real seniors, a real kiss, and an all-to-real rape which forces Melinda, the victim, to call 911. The party is broken up and Melinda becomes a social outcast during her freshman year. She loses her few friends, her voice, and her dignity while the boy responsible for her rape continues to be a popular football player in the school. As is often the case, Melinda suffers throughout the book while the true bully and villain lives an unchanged life. Melinda begins to find her voice again through art and an understanding art teacher who helps Melinda sort through the unspeakable event of the summer party. When attacked by the same upperclassmen that raped her in a small locked utility closet, Melinda finds her voice, stops him, and becomes whole again. Speak is a well written book that shows how high school students can create outcasts and destroy lives among themselves in the name of fun. Available in book format
Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman
Shawn McDaniel is happy. He can leave his body and fly around rooms, through walls, over tall buildings, and even follow his mother’s car as it travels down the highway. Shawn also remembers every word that he ever hears perfectly, right down to the tone of voice and volume. So, why does his father want to kill him? Shawn is a 14-year-old boy with cerebral palsy. He cannot voluntarily move a muscle and he has two to three grand mal seizures per day. It is because of the perceived pain during these seizures, his son’s inability to communicate, and his sincere love for his son that Shawn’s father wants to kill him. His father doesn’t know, could not possibly know, his son is a happy genius and during each seizure, Shawn has a wonderful out-of-body experience. Terry Trueman is the father of a son with cerebral palsy. In his first novel Trueman has captured the spirit of a young adolescent male and leaves the reader to decide whether or not Shawn’s father took his son’s life in the end. Available in book format
Memory Boy by Will Weaver
Sixteen-year-old Miles Newell never thought that the stupid oral-history project he had to do for Mr. Litzke’s social studies class would ever prove useful in his life. However, Miles’ life and the lives of everyone in Will Weaver’s novel were all changed since the mammoth explosion of Mount Rainier. Two years after the explosion the world resembled a post apocalyptic gang land rather than the tame suburban living of Miles’ childhood. For the oral-history project, Miles was paired up with an eccentric old man named Mr. Kurtz. Mr. Kurtz had built his own cabin on the upper Mississippi river where he lived off the land in a state forest. Mr. Kurtz shared several survival skills and the location of his cabin with Miles and the knowledge stuck in Miles’ memory. Later, when looting and violence is becoming more common in the suburbs, Miles and his family leave their large suburban home to live in their grandparent’s secluded lake cabin, only to find that the cabin has been taken over by a large biker, his wife and a family with five children. The biker, who has a small arsenal of rifles and ammunition, is unwilling to give up the cabin. Miles, his sister, and his parents, the lawful owners of the cabin are forced to leave or fight for their own cabin. Miles, remembering Mr. Kurtz’s cabin, convinces his family to follow him on a search for the secluded cabin. Will Weaver has written an excellent survival story. Available in book format.
Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah
After her mother died giving birth to her in 1937, Adeline Yen Mah the fifth child, was considered bad luck by her family. When her father remarried Niang, a seventeen-year-old Eurasian beauty, one year later, Adeline and her brothers and sister were treated as second-class citizens within their own home. To escape the constant psychological abuse at home, Adeline puts all her efforts and energy into her schoolwork. She excels as a student, but her father and stepmother continue to treat her like she is worthless at home. Sharing a room with Aunt Baba was the only good thing about living at home for Adeline. Aunt Baba always nurtured and praised Adeline. Unfortunately, when Niang discovered that Aunt Baba gave Adeline one dollar for her tenth birthday, she demanded that the two be separated. She claimed that Aunt Baba was a bad influence. Events in Adeline’s life quickly spiraled downwards. Adeline’s father and Niang sent her away to a French Convent school in the heart of China while the Chinese Communists were taking over the country. At the convent school Niang was encouraged to enter a national writing contest. Niang soon became the only student left in the convent school as the Chinese Communists approach. Niang escapes the Communist with help of her aunt and returns to her father’s home for a short while. Meanwhile the results of the writing contest are made known and Niang won the contest bringing honor to her father. He decides to send her away to a medical school in England. Available in book format.
Mr. Landry's Summer Picks 2002
Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card
The sequel to Ender’s Shadow follows Bean and the other Battle School cadets as they return to Earth after defeating the formics, a bug like alien race. The book features a battle of wits between Bean and his mortal enemy, Achilles to whom readers were introduced in Ender’s Shadow. The Battle School cadets, young military prodigies who had been the generals in a battle for the survival of all humankind return to their homelands throughout the world. However, they soon find themselves taken hostage by Russian forces under Achilles control while a guided missile destroys the house where Bean is staying with his family. Achilles wants Bean dead. The only way Bean can defeat Achilles and make the world safe from this sadistic megalomaniac is by joining forces with Peter Wiggins, Ender’s older brother who did not make it to Battle School because he was too violent and dangerous. Set three hundred years in the future, Orson Scott Card writes a realistic possible scenario for the future of world politics.Available in book format.
P.S. Longer Letter Later: a Novel in Letters by Paula Danzinger and Ann M. Martin
Twelve-year-olds Elizabeth and Tara-Star are best friends, but Tara-star has moved away and now the two friends must keep their friendship up by writing to each other. Tara-Star’s parents are too poor to afford long distance phone calls. Tara-Star and Elizabeth could not be any more different. Elizabeth is shy and quiet. She lives with her mother, father and five-year-old sister in a huge house with a full time staff to cook and clean. On the other hand, Tara-Star is loud and eccentric. She lives in a small apartment with her very young parents, Barb and Luke. Tara-Star has always thought Elizabeth’s life is perfect with a lot of money and parents that love her, while Tara-Star has taken care of her parents who had her when they were seventeen-years-old. Over the course of the book the girl’s lives change drastically. Tara-Star’s parents are holding down jobs and becoming responsible, while Elizabeth’s father is laid off from his $250,000 a year job. Elizabeth’s father turns to drinking, gets the family in serious debt, and finally leaves the family before they move to a one bedroom apartment. Available in book format
Battle Dress by Amy Efaw
Seventeen-year-old Andi Davis is leaving her family to attend West Point as a cadet-in-training. Being one of the few women in a male dominated school and profession is not going to be easy, but Andi is thrilled to be leaving her dysfunctional family. After growing up with the verbal abuse from her mother and neglect from her father, Andi thinks the hazing that she will receive at West Point will be mild. Andi soon learns otherwise. She is pushed to the brink of her mental and physical endurance during Beast, the first six weeks or basic training at West Point. Drawing on her personal experience as a cadet at West Point, Amy Efaw has written a fast moving, realistic story about training and schooling on of the best known military schools in the United States. Available in book format
Sabriel by Garth Nix
Enter the world of dark fantasy where the Old Kingdom, filled with magic and the dead who will not stay dead, borders Ancelstierre, a modern world with automobiles, electricity, and airplanes. Where these two kingdoms border is a military perimeter similar to the perimeter between North and South Korea. Here soldiers from Ancelstierre defend their borders with machine guns, mines, trip flares, and barbed wire from the living dead who try to cross the border with increasing frequency. A powerful dead creature has risen in the old kingdom and is mounting an attack against Ancelstierre. Standing in this dead lord’s way is Sabriel, young daughter of the powerful necromancer, Abhorsen. Abhorsen’s job is to keep the dead where they belong, in the realm of the dead, but Sabriel learns that her father has been trapped in the realm of the dead and she must rescue him or all shall be lost. Available in book format.
The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick
Rodman Philbrick has created a bleak future for earth, but the final message is hopeful for humanity. Spaz lives in world divided into latches ruled by latch bosses and their gangs. “The Big Shake” destroyed all the cities of the world and allowed the latch bosses to take over the latches, but the true rulers of the Earth are the Proovs. The Proovs live in a paradise called Eden that normal people cannot even reach without dying. The Proovs are genetically enhanced humans. Spaz has been separated from his family and the only person he really loves his sister, Bean. He is now in the Banger’s latch under the rule of Billy Bizmo and he collects “taxes” for Billy. It is while Spaz is collecting for Bizmo, when he meets the old gummy, Ryter. Ryter, get this, doesn’t plug in to mind probes for entertainment. He writes books and believes in the equality of all humans. When Spaz learns that Bean is near death with an illness, he decides to break the rules and cross over latches to return to the latch from which he been exiled. Ryter decides to help him. Available in book and audiobook format.
Mr. Landry's Fall Picks 2002
Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian
In 1915, Vahan Kenderian is the twelve year old youngest son of a powerful and influential Armenian lawyer in Turkey. Vahan has lived a privileged life, but all that is about to change. After Turkey enters World War I on the side of the Germans, two gendarmes, military police come and take Vahan’s father to the “. . . government building. [on] ‘official business,’. . .” Vahan never sees his father again and soon he will see his family members die cruel and often slow deaths at the hands of the Turks. Vahan’s courage, luck, and determination to live help him survive a long journey through hell on earth from the heart of Armenia to Constantinople. So many similarities can be made to the Armenian massacres in World War I to the Jewish Holocaust led by Adolf Hitler in World War II, but the Armenian suffering remains the forgotten holocaust. This book is a historical fiction. Available in book format.
The Misfits by James Howe
“Skeezie, Addie, Joe and Bobby – they’ve been friends forever. They laugh together, have lunch together, and get together once a week at the Candy Kitchen to talk about ice cream and important issues. Life isn’t always fair, but at least they have each other – and all they really want to do is survive the seventh grade.” From inside book jacket. Bobby becomes an improbable hero in this book when he comes up with an idea for a student government campaign slogan, “Sticks and stones may break our bones, but names will break our spirit.” James Howe has created a realistic middle school setting with a funny and believable set of characters. This is a humorous look at school life with a serious anti bullying and anti prejudice message. Available in book format
Spellbinder: The Life of Harry Houdini by Tom Lalicki
This short easy to read and entertaining biography of Harry Houdini follows him from his early childhood as Ehrich Weiss through his fame as world’s best known escape artist and entertainer. The secret to Houdini’s success from birth to death was hard work and determination. “I want my show to be the best of its kind whilst I am alive. When I am dead there will never be another like it,” said Harry Houdini. Reading the book will allow you to determine if Harry Houdini reached his goal or not. The book is filled with black and white photographs spanning Houdini’s career. Available in book format
The Terrible Hours by Peter Maas
This is the true story of the rescue and recovery of the World War II class, U.S. Submarine named the Squalus. “On the eve of World War II, America’s newest submarine plunged helplessly to the North Atlantic bottom during a test dive. Miraculously, thirty-three crew members still survived. While their wives and girlfriends waited in nearly unbearable tension on shore, their ultimate fate would depend on one man.” From inside book jacket cover. U.S. Navy officer, Charles “Swede” Momsen led the rescue. He was a man that dedicated his life to submarines and, quite possibly, did more than any other man in history to advance the way submarines were viewed and used. Peter Maas in this well written book keeps the reader on edge just as the men in the Squalus stuck 250 feet beneath the Atlantic ocean’s surface must have felt. A non-fiction book cannot get more action packed than this book. Available in book format.
In the Company of Men by Nancy Mace
In 1996, Nancy Mace was one of four women to enter The Citadel, the South Carolina military college. At the time there was a tremendous amount of media coverage surrounding the four women. The media coverage became even greater when two of the women, one of them was Nancy’s roommate, quit the college during their first year and filed lawsuits against the college administration for discrimination. Nancy Mace shares the courageous, sad, and sometimes humorous story of her time at the Citadel. She had to overcome physical challenges, mental duress, a learning disability, and discrimination to become the first female graduate of the Citadel in 1999. Available in book and audiobook format.
Mr. Landry's Winter Picks
Slap Your Sides by M. E. Kerr
Fourteen-year-old Jubal Shoemaker’s life has changed since his older brother’s decision to stay out of World War II as a conscientious objector. The Shoemaker’s are Pennsylvania Quakers and their religion does not permit violence, but most Quakers sign up for non-combat support positions in the war. Jubal’s oldest brother, Bud, refused to sign up for any position in the war and everyone in Jubal’s small patriotic town knows about Bud’s decision. As more and more of the town’s young men fight and die in World War II, the townspeople begin to show bitterness and even violence toward the Shoemakers. The Shoemaker’s family store is being boycotted and its walls and windows are being vandalized. Jubal catches the vandal in the act of painting the family’s storefront and she is Daria Daniel, the girl of Jubal’s dreams. M. E. Kerr has written an often humorous but serious story about the effects of war on the families of the young soldiers that are off fighting the war. Available in book format.
The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins: A World War II Soldier by Walter Dean Myers
Walter Dean Myers writes about seventeen-year-old Scott Pendleton Collins’s experience in World War II from the moment he took part in the invasion of Normandy on Omaha Beach to his eventual injury in the battles for St. Lo. Private Collins from Central Virginia never forgets the horrors he witnessed during the invasion of Omaha Beach. Throughout the rest of his involvement in the war, Private Scott Collins realizes that he is not alive because he took his training more seriously than his fellow soldiers, or because he is in better physical shape, but because he is lucky. He travels through occupied France with his “patched together” unit sharing his thoughts about what he sees in his journal. Everything Scott sees in France after Omaha Beach is filtered through the haunting images of death and carnage, which he endured during the initial invasion. Scott Collins walks through France like all the other soldiers wondering when he will be killed in action not if he will be killed in action. Walter Dean Myers has done a nice job putting a personal voice on the past: the United States invasion of Europe in World War II. This book is part of the “Dear America” series. Available in book format
Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr by Garth Nix
Reenter the world of dark fantasy where the Old Kingdom, filled with magic and the dead who will not stay dead, borders Ancelstierre, a modern world with automobiles, electricity, and airplanes. Where these two kingdoms border is a military perimeter similar to the perimeter between North and South Korea. Here soldiers from Ancelstierre defend their borders with machine guns, mines, trip flares, and barbed wire from the living dead who try to cross the border. In his sequel to Sabriel, Garth Nix adds the son, daughter and half sister of Sabriel to the cast of characters fighting the dead in the Old Kingdom. This time instead of the dead crossing into Ancelstierre, the threat is a large number of living refugees crossing into the old kingdom where they will become prey for the dead creatures and then become living dead themselves. In this way, a powerful evil necromancer is amassing an army of living dead in his quest to raise an ancient evil force that has been buried for thousands of years. If he succeeds, no living creature will remain in the Old Kingdom. Only Sabriel, her family and the new Abhorsen-in-waiting, Lirael can save the Old Kingdom. Available in book format
Interstellar Pig by William Sleator
It looks like another boring summer vacation at the summer beach house with Mom and Dad for 16-year-old Barney. But three exotic neighbors, a beautiful woman and two male friends move into the cottage next door. The new neighbors are addicted to a board game called interstellar pig and they soon include Barney in their addiction. Why do the mysterious neighbors take the game so seriously? This question burns in the back of Barney’s mind throughout the book. Only at the end of the book, with a sudden twist, does Barney realize that all of humanity may depend on his next move in the game. William Sleator has written a funny fast moving book with a sequel Parasite Pig that has just come out in October 2002. Available in book format.
The Journal of Patrick Seamus Flaherty: United States Marine Corps by Ellen Emerson White
The book opens on Christmas day of 1967 in Khe Sanh, South Vietnam, with Patrick questioning his decision to follow in his grandfather and father’s footsteps and serve his country in war. “Okay, so this was a really bad idea. Big mistake. Probably fatal.” Writes Patrick in his journal about his involvement in the Vietnam War. Patrick finds himself in one of the bloodiest sieges of the 14 years of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. In January of 1968, 6,000 United States Marines were surrounded by as many as 40,000 North Vietnamese troops. Ellen Emerson White puts a personal Irish American voice on the day-to-day events that the U.S. Marines endured in the battle for Khe Sanh. Most Americans saw this battle on television. As the body bags filled with dead American Soldiers, Khe Sanh became a focal point for the anti-war movement on the United States mainland. This book is a part of the “Dear America” series. Available in book.
Mr. Landry's Summer Picks 2003
Anne Frank and Me by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld
Nicole Burns has a broken heart. Boy J the love of her life does not even know she exists. She pines for Boy J on her website which no one visits. When it appears Boy J cares for her, Nicole is overjoyed, but the feeling is short-lived. Boy J tells Nicole that he is interested in her best friend. Devastated, Nicole suffers a head injury in a freak accident on a school field trip and wakes up to find her English teacher is her mother and her school principal is her father. This is weird enough, but she is now in France, the year is 1942, and she is wearing the Star of David on her clothing. This would be a nightmare of perhaps fatal proportions, if Nicole didn’t learn that Jacques, Boy J, loves her and displays his affections with kisses in this alternate reality. The harsh reality of being a Jew in Nazi occupied France soon hits home with Nicole. Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld have written a holocaust story with a modern twist. The Internet generation meets the Jewish Holocaust in World War II. Available in book format
Goddess of Yesterday by Caroline Cooney
Anaxandra is the happy favorite child of her father, the chieftain and pirate of a small island in the Aegean Sea. Anaxandra, after unknowingly helping King Nicander steal her father’s accumulated wealth, is taken from her island by King Nicander to be a companion to his crippled daughter Callistro. Cruel fate strikes again when pirates plunder and kill King Nicander and his family, Anaxandra’s adopted family. Anaxandra is left standing alone over King Nicander’s grave after the attack until King Menelaus rescues her. Afraid and alone, Anaxandra lies to King Menelaus and tells him that she is Princess Callistro. Although King Menelaus believes and protects Callistro, his beautiful wife Helen sees through the lie and despises Anaxandra. When Paris a Trojan Prince steals Helen away from Menelaus to start the Trojan War, Anaxandra willing impersonates Hermione, Helen’s daughter, to save Hermione’s life. However, when Helen discovers the trick she is furious. She forces Anaxandra to be a lowly slave and has her head shaved bald. Caroline Cooney has written an exciting prequel to the Trojan War, which shows Helen as a cruel cold woman who loves to see men die for her. Available in book format
The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier
The book opens with a chilling account of a boy breaking into a family’s home to steal some handguns. The boy knows the family is away on vacation, but when he breaks in and takes the loaded handguns he hears a noise upstairs and discovers the family of three, a mother, father and a ten year old son, are not on vacation, but asleep in bed. Carl Seaton confesses to shooting the sleeping family members to death to Detective Trent. The story is not so much about the monsters that commit crimes, but the monster that gets people to confess to crimes that they may or may not have committed. Detective Trent has built a career on getting confessions from perpetrators in high profile cases, but are the confessions always the truth? Into Detective Trent’s dark den enters Jason Dorrant, an introverted twelve-year-old accused of murdering his seven-year-old friend in Monument, Massachusetts. Robert Cormier has written a psychological thriller that reminds the reader of the importance of everyone’s Miranda rights. Available in book format.
You Don’t Know Me by David Klass
Fourteen-year-old John creates alternate realities because he doesn’t know how to deal with his reality: no biological father, a weak mother, an abusive boy friend, and a painfully shy personality. His reality gets worse when his mother leaves John in the care of her boy friend while she goes to comfort her dying mother. When John steals twenty dollars from the boy friend’s stash, John’s problems are worse than normal, getting smacked in the head for not having a microwave meal ready for the boy friend when he gets home. John steals the money so he can impress his dream date, Gloria (Glory Hallelujah) on his first date. The date starts fast and gets faster with Gloria removing John’s shirt in the darkened basement with music blaring and Gloria’s huge, violent father in the bedroom upstairs. Gloria’s father did not stay upstairs long. Instead he burst through the locked basement door like a charging bull and set his sights on John. John barely escapes, by wiggling through a pet door, with his life, but without his pants, shirt or shoes. John returns home to his worse nightmare: his mother’s drunk boy friend that has discovered that John stole twenty dollars from him. Although David Klass is writing about broken families and child abuse, the book is often laugh-out-loud funny and it ends on a positive note. Available in book.
Abhorsen by Garth Nix
Reenter the world of dark fantasy where the Old Kingdom, filled with magic and the dead who will not stay dead, borders Ancelstierre, a modern world with automobiles, electricity, and airplanes. Where these two kingdoms border is a military perimeter similar to the perimeter between North and South Korea. Here soldiers from Ancelstierre defend their borders with machine guns, mines, trip flares, and barbed wire from the living dead who try to cross the border. In his sequel to Sabriel and Lirael and the third book in the trilogy, Garth Nix follows Hedge, the powerful and evil necromancer as he masterminds his plan to bring the Destroyer back to power. The plan to bring back the Destroyer seems to be years in the making and has roots in both Ancelstierre and the Old Kingdom. Only Sabriel, her family and the new Abhorsen-in-waiting, Lirael can save the Old Kingdom, but the enemy always seems to be one step ahead of them. Available in book format.
Mr. Landry's Fall Picks 2003
The House of Scorpion by by Nancy Farmer
Celia loves Matt, but he can never leave the little wooden worker’s shack the two of them share. What about his parents? Why won’t Celia tell him anything about his mom or dad? Why does he have a tattoo on his right foot that reads “Property of Alacran”? As Matt looks out the dusty windows of the small worker’s shack into the opium fields, he has no way of knowing that he is the clone of Matteo Alacran, El Patron. El Patron is the one hundred and thirty-nine year old drug lord of Opium, a country located between Mexico and the United States in a future world created by Nancy Farmer. Matt is rescued from a cruel house servant, Rosa, who has locked Matt up in a room with wood shavings on the floor like a hamster in a cage, by El Patron. El Patron showers gifts on Matt, educates him and sits him in a place of honor at his birthday parties, but Matt learns that El Patron’s long-life is possible only with the organs of clones like Matt. Now, El Patron needs a new heart. Besides telling a great story of escape from a corrupt society, Nancy Farmer’s science fiction forces the reader to think about the meaning of life and the morality of cloning humans. Available in book format
Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos
Jack Gantos, author of the Joey Pigza series, writes about a troubling time in his young adult life which helped shape his life as a writer. Gantos recalls his senior year of high school when he was living alone while his parents were struggling with their small business in the Virgin Islands. He remembers getting involved with alcohol and drugs with no parent supervision, seeing convicts visit his high school to tell their stories and thinking “that will never be me”, and returning to his parents on the Virgin Islands in 1971 just as racial tension was erupting on the island. “In the summer of 1971, Jack Gantos was an aspiring writer desperate for adventure, college cash, and a way to get out of a dead-end job. For ten thousand dollars, he recklessly agreed to help sail a sixty-foot yacht loaded with hashish from the Virgin Islands to New York City, where he and his partners sold the drug until federal agents finally caught up to them in a bust at the Chelsea Hotel.” (Taken from the inside book jacket) Gantos goes on to describe his life in prison and how it changed his life. He comes to terms with the difference between being sorry for being caught and being sorry for what you have done. Available in book format
Left For Dead: A Young Man’s Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis by Pete Nelson
Here is a book that answers the age old student questions, “Why do we have to do this project? When are we ever going to use this in real life?” After seeing a scene from the movie Jaws, Hunter Scott, an eleven-year-old middle school student in Pensacola, Florida, decided to do a history fair project on the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. When he started the project there was no way that Hunter could have known that it was going to lead him to appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, Good Morning America and an “American Spirit” segment of the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. All of the publicity Hunter received for his history project along with his young age made him the perfect spokesperson for the injustice done to Captain Charles McVay III, who was court-martialed for his part in the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Ultimately Hunter went to Washington D.C. twice with the help of some congressmen and senators to pass a bill which would right the injustice done to Captain McVay. The book recalls the historical events leading up to the tragic sinking of the USS Indianapolis as well as stories from the survivors who floated in the ocean for four days before the first rescue planes and ships arrived. Also interwoven into the book is Hunter Scott’s story for justice which shows us how our country’s democracy works. Available in book format.
How Angel Peterson Got His Name and Other Outrageous Tales about Extreme Sports by Gary Paulsen
Gary Paulsen has written another easy to read nonfiction book based on his life. This time he recalls stories about the crazy, often dangerous, and almost always stupid stunts that he and his friends tried to accomplish as teens between thirteen and fifteen-years-old. He remembers a friend who tried to set the land speed record on skis by tying himself to the back of 1939 Ford Sedan with an original V-8 engine. He remembers another friend who attempted to fly eight foot by eight foot target practice kite for World War II fighter planes and ended up doing an early version of hang gliding. Paulsen begins the book recalling his own failed attempt at going over a waterfall in a barrel. This is a quick read that is often laugh-out-loud funny.Available in book.
Parasite Pig by William Sleator
Barney is back to battle more aliens in a race to get the piggy in this sequel to Interstellar Pig. This time danger is more real because Barney knows that the piggy is an intelligence that manipulates other alien life forms to study their ways, but he has an alien parasite in his brain. Madame Gondii, the parasite in his brain is trying to get Barney to the planet of J’koot where the native inhabitants, human sized crab-like creatures, love to eat humans. This story will keep you on the edge of your seat as sixteen-year-old Barney teams up with his sixteen-year-old friend Katie to represent the human race in a battle of wits and weapons against a whole host of nasty aliens. Although it is best to read Interstellar Pig before reading Parasite Pig, the book does stand on its own. Available in book format.
Mr. Landry's Fall Picks 2004
Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916 by Michael Capuzzo
Sunbathers and swimmers, in record numbers, were attracted to the New Jersey beaches during the brutally hot summer of 1916. Unfortunately, for eight people, a rogue great white shark was also heading for the New Jersey shores. Michael Capuzzo includes many researched facts about the weather, ocean currents, behavior of the great white, and newspaper articles from 1916 to recreate the events of the summer. The book alternates from the shark’s point of view to the many humans’ that come in contact with the seven and a half foot, 350 pound man-eater. This book is adapted for young adults from an adult version of the book. Available in book format
Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge
Fourteen-year-old, Kevin Boland is in bed with mono for the majority of the book which means he cannot be the starting first baseman for his school’s baseball team as in the past. Not playing baseball is difficult for Kevin to take, but having a lot of time to think about the recent death of his mother is even more difficult. Kevin deals with his grief and mono recovery in the same way, by writing poetry. Kevin Boland writing poetry? It is hard for him to believe himself, but when his dad, who is a professional writer, suggests Kevin do a little writing during his recovery, Kevin finds a book about how to write different forms of poetry and he begins to write poems as a joke at first. However, by the end of the book Kevin has discovered a lot about himself, his father, and his feelings toward his mother. Ron Koertge has joined a number of authors in the young adult field to write a complete novel in poetry form. Available in book format
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
Tree-Ear is a poor orphan living under a bridge with an old crippled man named Crane-man in twelfth-century Korea. Tree-Ear spends days watching the short-tempered master potter Min create his pottery. One day when he can contain his curiosity in Min’s work no longer, he sneaks up to Min’s outdoor workshop and while looking at a ceramic box, breaks it. Tree-Ear finds himself working off his new debt to Min by collecting wood for the kilns outside the village, but he really wants to create his own pottery and earn the respect of the hard-to-please Min. Where other village potters create five or six pieces Min creates one in the same time, but the one he creates is exquisite. Is it exquisite enough to earn a royal commission and bring Min wealth and honor? It is up to Tree-Ear to bring Min’s finest pot to the royal court, but when bandits attack Tree-Ear and shatter the pot, will a ceramic shard be enough to earn Min the commission? Linda Sue Park has written a heart-felt story about a time and culture foreign to modern America, but filled with many of the values we aspire to today. Available in book format.
Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
In 1821, Nantucket was the whaling capitol of the United States. However, whaling, while still profitable, was getting more difficult as the number of whales in the world’s oceans steadily decreased. Each trip out to hunt whales for their oil was taking ships and their crews further and further around the world deep into the Pacific Ocean. It was not uncommon for a whaling trip to last three years or longer. The Whaleship Essex was a twenty-year-old ship nearing the end of its career when first-time captain, George Pollard, Jr., took it out of Nantucket in late August to hunt whales. The trip took Captain Pollard and his crew across the North Atlantic to Corvo, then off the coast of Africa to Cape Verde Islands, around the tip of South America at Cape Horn, up to the Galapagos Island and finally deep into the Pacific Ocean North of Tahiti. The Captain and crew did not know that they were about to go from the hunters to the hunted. When far off shore in the Pacific Ocean, the biggest bull Sperm Whale ever seen by First Mate Owen Chase repeatedly rammed and sank the Whaleship Essex. This is the horrifying true survival story that inspired Herman Melville to write the final scene in his classic, Moby Dick. Only eight of the twenty men on board the Essex when it went down survived. Five of the eight were forced into cannibalism, eating the bodies of their shipmates, in order to survive. Revenge of the Whale is an adapted version of the New York Times Best-Seller In the Heart of the Sea. Available in book format.
Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli Imagine being so small that you could squeeze through a two brick hole in a wall designed to keep Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. This would allow you to go out into the city of Warsaw and steal food from the rich to give to the poor and suffering within the walls, a food stealing, life giving Robin Hood. Why not Robin Hood? The main character in Jerry Spinelli’s book lives on the streets of Warsaw before and during the German invasion and occupation. He is naïve so he believes everything that he hears. His name has been Stopthief, Stupid, Runt, Gypsy, Jew and Filthy son of Abraham. The shiny jackboots and the gleaming eagle on the hats of the Nazis impress him as they parade through the street and someday he would like to be a jackboot soldier and march in the parade, but this is not his fate. He is one of the victims, but he is bold, quick and impossible to catch, so he does not die during the German reign of terror. Does this make him less of a victim than those who died or more of one? Although intentionally confusing at times because of the mystery surrounding the main character’s identity, Milkweed quickly draws the reader into the action, mystery, and compassion of the main character. The book is a look at the horrors of the holocaust through the naïve eyes of an innocent, street-wise child. Available in Book format.
Mr. Landry's Winter Picks 2005
A Heart Divided by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld
Kate Pride, a seventeen-year-old high school junior, is motivated to write plays that will change people’s lives. Perhaps this is so because of pillow Katie’s mom made for her bed when she was three. The cross-stitched slogan reads, “The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” However, Kate thinks her mother’s true purpose for the pillow is to deal with her own unresolved issue. Back to Kate’s play writing. She is very good at capturing the humor in life, but Marcus, her theater mentor at an exclusive theater camp, criticizes her work for lacking depth. “But what’s behind that mask? You can’t write what you don’t know,” says Marcus. Kate’s family moves to Redford, Tennessee when her father gets a new job in the South. Kate is about to learn about racism, Southern honor, and love first hand. Kate quickly becomes involved in the debate, petition and eventual student vote over the use of the Confederate flag as the school symbol at her new school, Redford High School. However, Kate is more passionate about Jackson Redford III, the great-great grandson of Confederate General Redford and the town's founding father. Available in book format
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow are both old enough to be assigned a job in Ember. Lina loves to be outside, she loves to run and she loves to talk to people. Messenger is the job for Lina. Doon wants to be useful. He is going to solve Ember’s electricity problem. With increasing frequency, Ember is cast into darkness as the electric lights fail. Doon knows that if he sees the city’s generator located in the pipeworks beneath the city that he can fix the problem. Unfortunately, when the Mayor of Ember comes to the school to oversee the job assignments, Doon draws messenger. Soon the switch is made, but Doon finds the pipeworks are nothing, but a decaying tangle of pipes that will soon fall apart and the generator, a humongous, cavern-filling machine cannot be fixed in time to save Ember.
Doon is pulled out of his depression when Lina shares a discovery with him. She has discovered a message hidden away in her house for generation, uncovered by her increasingly senile grandmother, and chewed on by her baby sister, Poppy, but the message appears to be instructions left behind by the original builders of the city. Lina and Doon know if they can solve the riddle left by the builders that the people of Ember can be saved. However, after exposing the Mayor for being a corrupt thief, Lina and Doon realize that the corruption runs deep in the government of Ember and they find themselves being chased by the city guards. In her first novel, Jean DuPrau has created a set of believable characters in a city which could be cast into eternal darkness. Available in book format
The Messenger by Lois Lowry
This is a well crafted story with a predictable ending, but fans of The Giver and Gathering Blue will enjoy this book. The Messenger bridges the gap between The Giver and Gathering Blue and shows how all the interconnected villages and people created originally in The Giver fit together. Maddie is the character that makes all this happen. He is the young strong-willed boy saved by Kira at the end of Gathering Blue and in The Messenger, Maddie has grown into adolescence. He sees hatred and bigotry creeping into the village that accepted and saved him. Maddie must cross an angry, dark forest to bring Kira back to his village to be reunited with her father before the boundaries of Village are closed to outsiders forever. Available in book format.
Shades of Simon Gray by Joyce McDonald
Peepers, frogs by the thousands, are all over the town of Bellehaven. So many frogs in fact, that Simon Gray’s Honda Civic crushing and slipping over the web footed visitors, runs off the road and into the ancient Liberty Tree which dates back to the Revolutionary War. The accident leaves Simon in a coma, but, as this apparently perfect teenager with excellent grades and polite manners to match, lies in a hospital bed a police investigation into multiple computer hacking incidents at his high school is beginning. Is it possible that Devin, Danny and Kyle, a group of socially and academically elite students at the high school, have something to do with the computer hacking? And why did they recently befriend Simon Gray? As the lives of Simon and his new friends seem to unravel around their dark secret, Simon is learning about the town’s dark secret. In his comatose state, Simon is having conversations with a man hanged for murder two hundred years ago from the same tree Simon smashed into. Could there be a connection between the town’s dark history and the present? Joyce McDonald’s book leads the reader to the realization that the choices we make can have far-reaching consequences for us and for the people we love. Available in book format.
Jade Green: A Ghost Story by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Judith Sparrow’s mother had gone crazy before she died and left sixteen-year-old Judith orphaned. Now, living with her stern Uncle Geoffrey in his large North Carolina mansion, Judith, born and raised in Ohio, is beginning to question her own sanity. Is it possible that mental illness runs in her family or is Judith really seeing a severed hand crawling around her Uncle’s mansion playing the piano and whacking a meat cleaver against a wooden chopping board? Could the appearance of the macabre hand be because Judith did not follow her uncle’s one condition for living in his house? She could not bring anything green into the house, but she could not leave behind the satin green framed picture of her mother that is the only possession Judith owns given to her by her mother. As Judith adapts to her new life in North Carolina, the terrifying story of the life and apparent suicide of the orphaned girl, Jade Green is revealed. Jade Green had been an orphaned girl rescued from the streets by Uncle Geoffrey to live in his house until three years ago when she apparently took her own life in the attic of the very house where Judith finds herself. Judith alternately trusts and suspects the new people in her life, the sweet household cook Mrs. Hastings, the handsome and thoughtful young man Zeke, her stern but kind Uncle Geoffrey and her creepy forty-year-old cousin Charles. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor tells a well-written tale of horror and mystery that comes to a stormy conclusion on the night a hurricane strikes Judith’s new home state of North Carolina.Available in Book format.
The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian Seventeen-year-old Josh Swenson has created an anti-consumerism web that generates over 255 million hits per day. Also, he was the catalyst for a two day anti-consumerism free concert in Maine featuring Bono with hundreds of thousand of people of all different ages, races and genders in the audience and not a single person was hurt or robbed. Additionally, he has spent the entire weekend at the Larry fest concert with the girl he loves, but she doesn’t know it. Beth doesn’t know Josh loves her just like no one knows that Josh Swenson is responsible for the website and the concert. Josh has done it all under a pseudonym, Larry. However, after Larry’s secret identity is exposed by Betagold, also an assumed internet identity, Josh’s life is spinning out of control. His salesman stepfather is rapidly losing clients, Beth no longer wants to speak to him, he can no longer maintain his web site, and he is being consumed by the media like the celebrities he used to speak out about as Larry. Perhaps this is why Josh is contemplating suicide after consulting with the spirit of his beloved dead mother. Then again, it may be time for Josh to commit pseudocide and reveal his story to the world. Janet Tashjian has written a fast moving, often humorous book that may lead you to reassess your values. Available in Book format.
Mr. Landry's Spring/Summer Picks 2006
Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters by Gail Giles
Gail Giles has written a quick, easy-to-read psychological thriller that will not disappoint fans of mystery books. When Sunny Reynolds’s older sister, Jazz, dies in a fire, the Reynolds family falls apart. Sunny’s mom, suffering from severe depression, cannot get out of the house and her father deals with the loss by drinking alcohol even more than he did before. Sunny is left to sort out her mixed emotions on her own while taking care of her mother. Before her death, Jazz could do no wrong in her parents eyes. She was loved and praised by Sunny’s mom and dad unconditionally, while Sunny was hardly noticed. Sunny and Jazz had a stormy relationship at best, but the relationship ended abruptly. From the book jaket, “Things had been getting better until I got a letter from my dead sister. That more or less ruined my day.”
Things are about to get a lot stranger in the Reynolds family when a girl posing as Jazz shows up at their front door claiming to be back home to help the family. How does this stranger no so much about Jazz and the Reynolds and why does Sunny’s mom believe this girl is her lost daughter? These are the mysteries that Sunny must solve as she determines whether this impostor is dangerous or not. Available in book format
Cruise Control by Terry Trueman
This is the companion novel to Stuck in Neutral. Paul is the seventeen-year-old brother of Shawn McDaniel, the main character in Stuck in Neutral. On the first page of the book Paul says, “My only brother is a veg. Yep, a full-fledged, drooling, fourteen-year-old idiot. If you were to call him that, you’d have a big problem on your hands—namely, me.” Throughout the book Paul struggles with his mixed feelings. He loves his brother and feels responsible for him especially since his father left the family, but he also can’t deny feeling hopeless, like what is the point of Shawn, who cannot move a muscle or talk, continuing to live. Of course this feeling creates shame and guilt which build up inside Paul until he explodes in fits of often violent rage. Paul is the senior superstar of his high school basketball team. Throughout the book he is leading his team through the state tournament and toward the state championship. Can basketball be his way out? Can his game lead to a full scholarship or will his temper explode to ruin his future? Terry Trueman has once again written an engaging story about the McDaniels. Available in book format
Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman
Welcome to sixteen-year-old Blake’s world. Normally, a good student, a slow cautious driver and a non-risk-taker, Blake is about to be forced into a change. After saving his reckless younger brother Quinn from being smashed by an on-rushing roller coaster, Blake is given a ticket to a bizarre phantom carnival by the beautiful and mysterious Cassandra. The ticket is good from midnight to dawn and the address is located deep in a dark wooded area. Later in the evening, Blake discovers the ticket is missing from his room and he finds his brother Quinn in an open-eyed coma. Blake can see carnival rides reflected in his brother’s eyes and he knows he has to save his brother once again. The only way to save him this time is to find the mysterious carnival and survive seven deadly rides by dawn, each of which represents a deep personal fear. Neal Shusterman has written a fast-paced, action packed, horror ride of a book. Available in book format. Dark Side of No Where by Neal Shusterman
What would you do if you discovered your whole life was a lie? The shot you have been taking once a month for your whole life is not an immunization for a rare disease that destroyed a section of town sixteen years earlier, but instead it keeps you in your human form. Sixteen-year-old Jason Miller has always been bored with his small town life where nothing ever happens. After his best friend dies of a sudden burst appendix, his mundane life is about to change. The school custodian, Mr. Grant, gives Jason the weirdest glove he has ever seen: a device that can shoot steel pellets out of every finger with deadly force. “I’ve been watching you. You are bored and not challenged. Tell no one about the glove and meet us in the abandoned section of town,” says Mr. Grant in the restroom at the high school football stadium. The secret of the glove leads to deeper secrets which begin to peel away the lies that have been Jason’s life and begin to reveal his true nature. The question is: can the Earth survive Jason’s true nature? Neal Shusterman has written a mysterious science fiction that will keep the reader guessing until the last page. Available in book format.
Accelerationby Graham McNamee The coolness of the library’s air conditioning is a relief to the stifling summer heat outside, but for Duncan his investigation is heating up. As Duncan reads the book, Loving Death: Inside the Mind of the Serial Killer, he begins to realize the significance of the diary he found. Mason Lucas, the author of the book and a former profiler for the FBI’s behavioral science unit, describes the triad of behaviors common in serial murderers: 1. Cruelty to animals 2. Bed-wetting and 3. Fire-starting. All three behaviors are described in the diary.
What Diary? Taken from the inside book jacket: “ Duncan’s summer job is a nightmare. He’s working in the subway’s lost and found, in a room he calls the Dungeon, far, far below the city streets. He’s bored out of his skull, until he finds the little brown book. The book is a diary filled with the dark and dirty secrets of an anonymous serial killer stalking his prey. Duncan can’t stop reading, can’t stop thinking. Somewhere in the city, the writer of this diary is hunting. Duncan has to stop him before it’s too late. He has to anticipate the killer’s next move. Stalk the stalker.”
Graham McNamee has written a psychological thriller which is sure to satisfy the mystery lover. Available in Book format.
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