Speak

Most of us have been to at least one bad party. And I bet all of us have had a crummy day at school. (Remember Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day?) Well, Laurie Halse Anderson’s 1999 novel, Speak, takes the un-fun party and the awful school day to new heights. It’s one of the most-borrowed books in the fiction section. (It’s also a movie.)

Melinda starts off her ninth grade year under the cloud of something that happened at a summertime party. Something so terrible that she called the police, who broke up the party, which outraged the other party-goers. In the space of a phone call, Melinda has become an outsider, shunned and heckled by her peers -- even her best friend, Rachel, dumps her. “I am OUTCAST,” she realizes. Why did Melinda call the cops? She can’t think about it. She can’t talk about it. Soon, she cannot speak at all.

Speak is organized by quarters, like the school year. We see the students, teachers, halls and classrooms from Melinda’s point of view, reading her thoughts. We are outcast with her, and burning to find out what actually happened at that infamous party.

Lest you think that Anderson’s novel is one long, miserable slog, I have to mention how funny it is. Yes, really. Melinda has a wicked wit, and a spot-on take on almost every aspect of high school life. From the cliques (the Future Fascists of America, the Marthas, the Suffering Artists...) to the teachers (good old Mr. Neck!) to the ever-changing school mascots and the way her parents talk in post-it notes, you will find plenty of humor to break up the suspense and sadness.

If you’ve read Speak, we’d love to see your comments. Fire ‘em in!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Got an electronic thumb? How about your Sub-Etha-Sens-O-Matic? If you wanna' be a hoopy frood, grab a towel and let Douglas Adams guide you into outer, way outer, space.

Ford Prefect, seasoned traveler and man about space, has one more entry to make in the Hitchhiker's Guide but got stuck on Earth for far too long upon completion (of the entry, not of Earth!) Rescuing Arthur Dent in the nick of time as the Vogons blast the planet into smithereens in order to create their own freeway, Ford and Arthur hitch a ride out of destruction and into the wackiest version of space in sci fi lit.

Meet Zaphod Beeblebrox, galactic president and proud owner of two heads and three arms, his girlfriend, Trillian, former Earthling herself, and Marvin, their depressed, rather intelligent computer who so depresses the policeship computer that it commits suicide, but that's another story. Y'see, it turns out that Earth was really nothing more than an organic computer designed to formulate the answer to the question: "Well, what's the question to the answer, "42?"

Confused yet? Can't imagine why. Get a good night's sleep, tighten your belt, and let us know how you survived. Yes, yes, you clearly had a towel but write us a note anyway.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

There may be a few teenage girls in the USA who haven’t read Ann Brashares' 2001 novel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, in which case, I’d better plug it now. Happy readers have worn out several copies from our library; the net is thoroughly populated with Sisterhood sites (including the Wikipedia article, Sisterhood Central, and a great author Q&A from Random House); and there was even a movie back in 2005.

The recap: four 15 year old best friends (Carmen, Lena, Bridget & Tibby) prepare to spend a first-ever summer apart. They’ve been together forever, and while they mostly look forward to spending time in South Carolina, Greece, Baja California, or (poor Tibby) right at home in Bethesda, Maryland, they also know how terribly they will miss each other.

These are no cookie-cutter friends: they have wildly different interests, personalities, backgrounds and body types. So it’s pretty weird when a pair of $3.49 thrift shop jeans fits all of them perfectly, making each one feel confident, sexy, and powerful . “These are magic pants!” And magic pants must be shared so that each girl will have the pants for one week, and then send them on in rotation, giving everyone two weeks of the magic by summer’s end.

Each girl’s summer story then unfolds, intertwined with the schedule of the traveling pants. Fear, happiness, anger, love, jealousy, suspense, grief -- it’s all there, and then some, as we experience not one, but four summertime comings-of-age.

Ann Brashares’ captivating first novel has something to offer almost any girl on the planet. The writing is witty and true to life; the characters are so well drawn you feel like you’ve known them for years; and each girl’s summer story is a page-turner in its own right. Like the movie trailer says, “Laugh. Cry. Share the pants.”

If you liked The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants as much as I did -- or if you really didn’t -- please say so. (My favorite character was Tibby; who was yours?)

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."