Into The Wild by John Krakauer

Okay, here's the book everyone grabs when given the assignment: read an adventure story. Chris McCandless, fresh out of college, roamed the country for a year as he sought the kind of experiences Jack London invited and endured a century earlier. He ended up hitchhiking and riding the rails as he worked to equip himself to spend a season in Alaska...alone.

Chris turned out to be an incredibly stubborn guy who ultimately entered the Alaskan bush in late spring, ill-prepared and penniless by choice, determined to rely on nothing but native intelligence, rifle, and rice, of course. He left behind a map but carried a field guide to edible plants. The book's cover informs you that his decomposed body was discovered four months after he went in. You know how he ended. The question is: what happened?

Let us know what you find out by posting a comment and offering your opinion: was he just an arrogant rich kid, as many of the Alaskans thought, or did he have something else in mind, something to prove? Tell us, 'cause we want to know what you think!

The Lovely Bones

In December, when I hear the jingle bells, I remember The Lovely Bones: A Novel, by Alice Sebold. 14-year-old Susie Salmon (like the fish) died in December, raped and murdered by a neighbor as she took a shortcut home from school. Mr. Gilbert’s dog brought home her elbow.

Susie tells her story from beyond the grave -- from her afterlife, in her heaven. We follow as she watches her friends and family struggle with their grief, and as she imagines and mourns the life she will never live.

This book is at once gripping, powerful, and everyday. We grin as Susie describes the silly hat with pom-poms and bells she puts on to please her mom, but takes off when she's out of sight. We hold our breath as Susie fights to live, and gasp as she jumps to grab death by the hand when the battle is clearly lost. We understand her quest for justice, and her yearning for vengeance.

The Lovely Bones is one of the HHS Library’s most-borrowed books. I thought about it for weeks after I finished it. If you’ve thought about it, too, please leave a comment.

(And the jingle bells? The murderer jams that silly hat into Susie's mouth. When she screams, the only sound is the tinkle of the bells.)

Sojourn, Vol. 1: From the Ashes

What’s the most-read graphic novel here in LibraryLand? Yup. It’s Sojourn, Volume One: From the Ashes, written by Ron Marz, penciled by Greg Land, and inked by Drew Geraci. Here is epic fantasy, complete with heroine, wizard, quest, magic, mystery, trolls, and grand, bloody, chaotic battles between the forces of good and evil. It’s true that Sojourn starts out a little slowly, action-wise, while the author catches us up on 300 years of backstory -- but what fantasy junkie doesn’t love that stuff? The more we find out about that other world, the better.

Plus -- unlike its 800+ page counterparts on the fiction shelf (think Jordan’s Wheel of Time or Martin’s Song of Ice & Fire, etc.) -- this is a comic! The art is splendid. Aside from all the fantastic detail work, the action and emotion drawn into each character, creature, and scene really bring Marz’ storyline to life.

Fellow fantasy freaks, speak up! If you’ve read Sojourn, pop us a comment. If you haven’t, give it a try.

Fallen Angels

Written as a memorial to his brother, who died fighting in Vietnam in 1968, Walter Dean Myers' Fallen Angels is an accurate and revealing account of one soldier's tour of duty in Nam. If you want the sights and sounds of war, you've got 'em here: mortar and rocket fire, choppers, and the eerie noises of night patrol. And underlying the horrors, the loyalty and camraderie, is that omnipresent soldier's emotion -- fear.

Felt the fear? Thrilled during the skirmishes? Ached with a fellow soldier's death? (all in the story, of course.) Share your stuff here and post a comment.

Oh, and you might want to try Tim O'Brien's Vietnam books, Going After Cacciato, and The Things They Carried.

Go Ask Alice

Long the “number one most stolen book” on our fiction shelves, Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous, continues its 35-year reign as one of the HHS Library’s most popular reads. If you’re a fan of gritty, realistic, don’t-end-up-like-me novels, then Alice has much to offer: drugs (lots of them), promiscuity, running away, abuse, hospitalization, suspicion, and death (to name a few.)

Some think that Beatrice Sparks, “editor” of other cautionary tales (Jay’s Journal, It Happened to Nancy, Annie’s Baby, Finding Katie) is the anonymous author behind Go Ask Alice. Many think the book is poorly written and not quite believable. But the fact remains: years after its publication in 1971, it still makes a splash.

Do you have thoughts on Go Ask Alice? Send ‘em in!

Startled by His Furry Shorts

If you're keeping up with current teen melodrama, then you will not be Startled by His Furry Shorts, Louise Rennison's latest installment in the hilarious English schoolgirl series. Georgia Nicolson is once more on the "rack of romance" and probably heading to the "bakery of pain." But don't worry, Georgia's antics, which began in Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging, will most likely leave you howling on the kitchen floor. Watch out, that's Angus' tail you just stepped on!

If you can drag yourself off the floor and wipe away the tears of laughter, let me know what you think. Post a comment, please.

Twilight

We've hardly seen Twilight: A Novel, by Stephenie Meyer, on the shelf at all this Fall -- someone's always reading it. Not your average vampire story, Twilight blends passion, suspense, and school into a feverish stew that will have you hanging on every word. This, my friends, is a whole new take on what can happen when there's a new girl in a small town high school.

If you've read Twilight, hit the comment button and register your thoughts.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Hopkinton High School Library's first experiment in blogging! We want to use this space as a forum for promoting the books that our high school and middle school students like best. These will not necessarily be the titles that publishers, teachers, parents -- or even librarians (!) -- think young people should like, but rather the ones about which our students have actually said: "I couldn't put it down."