Looking for Alaska - John Green

Another hit by John Green. The first book I read by him was The Fault in Our Stars which was recommended to me by a friend and was so heart breakingly lovely that I couldn't help but try and find every other book he's written and read them all. Looking for Alaska was just as well written, and the twist at the end had me sobbing.

Looking for Alaska is written from the perspective of Miles Halter, or "Pudge" a teenager looking for "the great perhaps". Pudge convinces his parents to send him to Culver Creek boarding school in Alabama where he meets the two people who will be the most important additions to his new life. There's his roommate Chip or "the Colonel" and the beautiful, outgoing Alaska Young. At Culver Creek pranks are the life blood of the student body. They play them regularly and on an escalating scale. Pudge's introduction to this particular aspect of life at Culver is to be wrapped in tape and thrown into the lake on campus.

The book is filled with typical teenage angst and tension, but it is really beautifully written and John Green has quickly become one of my favorite Young Adult authors.

Enjoy!

Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher

This book is so sad. If you don't like to read sad books perhaps it would be best to take a pass, however, it is also a really deep and emotional look at the consequences of bullying and how deadly they can be. Asher's novel is particularly apt for Canadians right now as there have been string of recent teen suicides.

The book begins with our protagonist Clay arrives home from school to find a package addressed to him and filled with cassette tapes on his front porch. The tapes were recorded by Clay's classmate and crush Hannah who committed suicide days earlier. On the tapes she outlines the thirteen reasons (people responsible) for her suicide. 

This book is so intense that I am struggling to find the words with which to describe it. Hannah's struggles are those faced by most teens today and I think that the book really brings home how small acts can have a huge impact both good and bad on the people around you. Certainly none of the people who Hannah names on her tapes would have felt responsible for her death had they not heard her describe her feelings in the aftermath of their interactions.

Well worth a read

Enjoy

Unwind - Neal Shusterman

Unwind by Neal Shusterman was a scary read. In it the United States have had a second civil war between pro- choice and pro- life armies. The compromise that was created in order to end the conflict was that life is sacred up until the age of 13, but when the child is between the ages of 13 and 18 their parents can choose to have them Unwound. Being unwound basically means that the unlucky teenager is dismembered, with their body parts and organs being donated to those in need or those who simply aren't happy with their eyes, hair etc. Thus the members of government who created the legislation and the parents who choose to have their children unwound are alleviated of their guilt, since the child is not really dead, they are just living a different existence. 

The premise seems a bit silly at first, I mean who would possibly think that it is acceptable to end the lives of thousands of teenagers simply because they're behaving badly, or are a financial burden. But, Shusterman has crafted Unwind  in such a way that the entire story seems totally plausible. 

The story focuses on three very different teenagers who are being unwound for very different reasons. Connor is an out of control teenager whose parents decide to have him unwound so they won't have to deal with him any longer ( I do have to say though that one would think having the threat of being unwound hanging over your head would be enough to stop you from rebelling against your parents...). Risa who was abandoned by her parents and became a ward of the state and is not quite talented enough at the piano to warrant the government paying for her survival. Finally there is Lev, who is a tithe, which means his parents conceived him for the express purpose of having him be unwound. I really liked all three characters, though I do have to say that I felt that Lev really went through the biggest range of development and certainly he changed the most out of our three main characters. 

There are sequels which are likely well written and enjoyable, but I think that Unwind reads well as a stand alone novel. A really interesting read.

Enjoy!

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part- Time Indian - Sherman Alexie

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part- Time Indian is a really interesting read. It tells the story of Junior who lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Junior is an intelligent young man who happens to have been born prematurely and the resulting effects cause him to be bullied by both his peers and adults on the reserve. Junior takes solace in drawing his own cartoons which pepper the book and add wonderfully to the story. 

Junior finally realizes that school on the reserve is not going to get him where he wants to go in life and he makes a momentous decision to go to high school off the reserve. This decision certainly doesn’t make his life on the reserve any easier he is now trapped between people on the reserve calling him a traitor and shunning him, and the students at his almost entirely white school excluding him because he’s from the reserve. 

His life is really hard and the book is difficult to read but it really is an uplifting story about a young man who makes really difficult choices so he can do what’s best for himself and his family.

An excellent read.

Enjoy!

Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein

Code Name Verity is hands down one of the best Young Adult books I have read in a long time. Elizabeth Wein has created a story that is both engaging and heart breaking. It is a story of friendship and loss, with the stories of two best friends so perfectly interwoven that the end, when it comes, is completely unexpected.

Code Name Verity  begins in England just after the beginning of the Second World War. We are introduced to our two young protagonists through the writings  of a young woman who has been captured by the Gestapo (Nazi secret police) in occupied France. She describes the unlikely meeting between two even unliklier friends. Maddie, is a young woman who wants nothing more than to spend her life in the air, flying any kind of airplane she can get her hands on. From rural England Maddie has spent her childhood living with her Grandparents who have encouraged her to make use of her natural mechanic ability. Once the war begins, England needs every pilot they can get their hands on and Maddie begins flying with regularity, saving the behinds of several male flight crews and gaining the respect of everyone she works with and the notice of Air Transport Auxiliary  who need pilots to ferry British spies.

Queenie is a member of the Scottish aristocracy who because of her innate ability as an actress and her perfect German has been recruited as a spy. The first half of the book is written from her perspective, and it is from her that we learn everything we know of Maddie and their relationship. We also learn of how Queenie ended up in occupied France and why she is writing down the story of their friendship. 

To be perfectly honest the beginning of the book with difficult to get into, however once the story begins to emerge it caught me hook, line and sinker and I couldn’t put it down. The facts were so well researched that they faded into the background, allowing the reader to concentrate on the story rather than on the historical background. Elizabeth Wein has certainly outdone herself with this book. I highly recommend the read. It is certainly a difficult subject though so keep that in mind if picking the book.

Enjoy!