Elephant Run

Elephant Run
Roland Smith
Hyperion Books for Children

Nick Freestone has lived all over the world: Burma (present day Myanmar), United States, and England. When the bombing starts in London during WWII, Nick's mother is forced to send him to live with his father back in Burma, thinking it will be safer. She is sorely mistaken, however, when a few days after Nick arrives the Japanese take over his father's teak plantation and turn it into a Japanese headquarters. Nick's father gets sent to a labor camp while Nick is forced to stay and work on the colonel's garden. The situation soon becomes life-threatening and Nick has to leave Burma, with his father, to survive. The decision wasn't a hard one to make, but getting to India is a whole other story.

WARNING: There are a few swear words and minimal descriptions of war crimes and hostile conditions in the labor camps.

Personal opinion:
After I read Peak, I really wanted to read another Roland Smith book so I chose this one and loved it. I liked it even more than Peak. The inner conflicts that Nick has seem so realistic and the way his story is told is really great. Smith is a great story teller. His books seem to be extremely accessible, but not lacking in meaning or moral. Definitely one of my new favorites.

Other books by Roland Smith: Sasquatch, I.Q., Zach's Lie, Jack's Run

Peak

Peak

Roland Smith

Harcourt, Inc.

Peak, a fourteen-year-old boy, has been raised mostly in New York City by his mother and stepfather with his twin half sisters worshipping the ground he walks on. Peak is a climber. His parent's are climbers, too, and that's why he hasn't seen his biological father in years; he's too busy making a name for himself climbing prestigious mountain ranges. Obviously, prestigious mountain ranges are scarce in the middle of New York so Peak resorts to climbing skyscrapers instead. But then he gets caught and the concequences could mean jail until he turns 18. Instead, his dad swoops in and offers to take Peak out of the country until then and the judge agrees. What no one else knows, however, is that Peak's father plans to put Peak on the summit of Mount Everest during that time. Although the surface story line is about the struggles of climbing the tallest mountain in the world, Peak finds himself facing a whole lot of other life changing challenges.

WARNING: One or two swear words and mild descriptions of ailments involving severe mountain climbing, involving seeing corpses along the way.

Personal opinion:

Um, this was a REALLY great book. It didn't have some mind-boggling hidden meaning or anything like that, but the story line and the morals were absolutely amazing. Smith puts Peak in situations that are so frustrating but by the end of the book, you are in complete awe at the way Peak chooses to handle them. I'm still in awe at how simple and yet profound the last few chapters were. Once again, you don't have to go digging to find what Smith was trying to say, it's a surface read, but amazing nonetheless. Great book for readers who are reluctant or just don't enjoy it too much, or really for anyone else. It was easy and catchy and I loved it.

Other book by Roland Smith: Jack's Run, Cryptid Hunters, Zach's Lie, The Last Lobo, Thunder Cave.

There's a Girl in My Hammerlock

There's a Girl in My Hammerlock

Jerry Spinelli

Aladdin Paperbacks

Maisie Potter is definitely the athletic type, but definitely not the girly type. So why is she so surprised that she doesn't make the cheerleading squad? Of course, the only reason she really wanted to be a cheerleader was so she could impress Eric Delong. So when the winter sports come along, instead of her usual basketball stardum, Maisie goes out for the wrestling team. For something that started as just a way to get closer to a guy, being the first girl ever on their school's wrestling team turns into a whole lot more then that. Maisie finds herself the brunt of many jokes and even causes a few parents to pull their kids off the wrestling team. Maisie soon realizes that she has dished herself a lot more then she cares to have.

WARNING: There are a few swear words and one scene where the coach is teaching a move called the crotch ride and makes the team repeat the word over and over and over until they are no longer afraid to perform the move on Maisie.

Personal opinion:

I thought this was a great book for showing the importance of self-image and sticking to your guns. I liked the book all the way up until the ending. I didn't think the ending was sincere enough to really make the story resolved. It was an easy read and really made me want to go against what society thinks is right, as long as I think it's right.

Other books by Jerry Spinelli: Stargirl; Love, Stargirl; Milkweed; Maniac Magee; The Wringer.

All-American Girl

All-American Girl

Meg Cabot

HarperTeen

Samantha Madison is a not-so-typical teenager for a lot of reasons. She wear's only black because she's mourning her generation. She's the artistic outcast at school. Oh, and she saved the President of the United States. Sam's life seems to be normal enough for her, trying to pass German but failing instead, secretly in love with her sister's boyfriend, stuff like that. But when she suddenly finds herself as the top teenager in the United States, she doesn't quite know what to do. As her social status gets sky-rocketed over night, she realizes what, and who, is really important to her.

WARNING: There are a few swear words.

Personal opinion:

I could not put this book down. It was just one of those books. It was pretty funny and totally making fun of the teenage girl, but it was written like a fifteen-year-old was telling the story. Obviously that's how it was supposed to be written, but after a while I got tired of the "she was all like..." sort of stuff. I did like it, though, and was never bored. It's a good, light read and pretty mood lifting if you're in a bad one.

Other books by Meg Cabot: The Princess Diaries Series, Nicola and the Viscount, The Mediator Series

La Línea

La Línea

Ann Jaramillo

Square Fish

Miguel is 15 years old and parentless in Mexico. His parents have fled to the United States for a better life with the plan of sending for Miguel and his younger sister Elena. More times passes then expected when Miguel finally recieves word to start his journey to America and finally cross la línea. On his way, however, he runs into trouble after trouble, the first being that Elena has followed him. Now he has to get both of them across the border but it will be hard, almost impossible.

WARNING: Not applicable for this book.

Personal opinion:

I didn't love this book and I didn't hate it either. I'm pretty neutral. There were parts that seemed realistic and parts that didn't. Overall, it was a good story, though. I read afterwards that Jaramillo wrote it for her immigrants in her middle school classes so that they could have something to identify with. It definitely is informative about some of the dangers that people have to face in making the dangerous journey. Jaramillo used Spanish words a lot. You can always tell what's going on without them, but I think that if I didn't have a background in some Spanish that I would be annoyed. But that's just me.

Shabanu

Shabanu

Suzanne Fisher Staples

Dell Laurel-Leaf

Shabanu is a young girl living in the desert of eastern Pakistan, near Bahawalpur on the border of India. Her family raises camels for a living and practice strict cultural traditions. Her older sister, Phulan, is about to be married and her whole family is engulfed in the preparations for her marriage. The book goes through Shabanu's struggles with traditions and the proper way of doing things while tragedy strikes a few days before Phulan's wedding.

WARNING: It talks about the natural things that happen when a girl becomes a woman, such as physical changes and menstrual bleeding, but not in an inappropriate way at all.

Personal opinion:

I loved this book. It wasn't very deep writing but it was full of cultural information and it was a great story. It wasn't written badly by any means, but Staples is no Robert Cormier. Anyways, I really enjoyed the story line and getting to know the customs of Pakistan people and the Islam religion. I am really itching to read the sequel, and it didn't even leave me hanging, that's how good it is.

Cherry Ames, Dude Ranch Nurse

Cherry Ames, Dude Ranch Nurse
Julie Tatham

Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.

Written in 1953, this cheesy young adult novel tells the story of RN Cherry Ames who's latest adventure involves vacationing asthmatics, rowdy teenagers, and a mysterious enemy who's certain to make Cherry look incompetent. The book goes through Cherry's experiences in Tuscan, Arizona, as a nurse on a vacation dude ranch. Cherry makes friends and enemies as she gains experience from the vacationers.

WARNING: Not applicable for this book.

Personal opinion:

This is definitely an older book and it's very apparent as you're reading it. The characters are somewhat dull and predictable, as is the story. But it was most definitely different. It was was kind of nice to get away from modern young adult literature and take a look at what teens were reading fifty years ago.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins

Scholastic Inc.

Katniss is a sixteen year old girl growing up in a poor city in the far future Appalachians. The powerful Capitol controls every one's lives, and to make sure that everyone remembers that, they hold the Hunger Games once a year. Two teenagers from each "district"or city in the futuristic country are thrown into a huge wilderness game board where they must fight to the death; the last person alive wins the game along with extreme wealth and prestige. Katniss soon finds herself slammed in the middle of this whole power trip and is forced to fight for her life and for all she believes in, even some things she doesn't.

WARNING: There are some blood-and-guts scenes but none of them are overly graphic.

Personal opinion:

I risk extreme persecution by saying this but I really didn't love this book. I didn't like Collins' writing style and the story line lacked a "wow factor," it just seemed too much like any other sci-fi book and was pretty predictable, for the most part at least. But at the same time, these are just finicky personal things and I really would recommend this book to someone who hasn't read a whole lot of sci-fi. There was more going on in the book besides just the Hunger Games so I liked that. All in all, I'd just have to say I'm neutral on this book.