Okay, so September might not be your favorite month of the year. For one thing, it’s time to go back to school, and, believe me, I sympathize. When I was a teen, I hated September for the following reasons:
1. Classes, especially math class. I still wonder why I was forced to suffer through trigonometry, as it has yet to be useful to me.
2. Homework, especially math homework. Again, trig remains useless as far as I can tell.
3. Cross-country practice. Seriously, only crazy people run that much that far on purpose. Count me in.
4. Getting up early. I mean, seriously, who can conjugate Latin at 7:30 a.m.? Not me!
BUT, there are some good things about September, too. Like catching up with friends and getting to ogle your crush on a daily basis again. Not to mention the barrage of fresh books set to hit BookPeople shelves this month. My favorite September books for 2008 are as follows:
How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier
A lot of people at New Avalon Sports High have fairies – Charlie knows people with shopping fairies and fairies that help them play water polo and even loose change fairies. But Charlie, who can’t drive and hates cars, has a parking fairy. Fiorenze even has an all-the-boys-like-you fairy, which Charlie would give anything to have, especially since her new crush Stefan only has eyes for Fio. Charlie is set to do anything she can to ditch her fairy and get a new one, but she may be getting herself in over her head!
P.S. Ms. Larbalestier will be visiting BookPeople on November 19! Keep your eye on our events page for details!
Bliss by Lauren Myracle
Bliss – full name Bliss InTheMorningDew – was raised on a hippie commune. At fourteen she is sent to live with her wealthy, uptight grandmother in Georgia who sends her straight to a fancy prep school. Bliss wants desperately to fit in, but she has befriended the least popular girl in school and seems to be hearing an angry ghost near one of the old buildings. Backlit by the Manson trial, as well as the racism of the recently integrated Atlanta, Myracle’s new mystery will give you the chills – and a lot to think about!
The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman
You may have been hearing a lot about global warming – this book takes environmentalism to a whole new level. Honor Greenspoon lives in a future where the polar ice caps have melted and all of Earth’s people have colonized the remaining islands. Honor has been recently relocated to Island 365 where she is having a hard time at school since her rebellious parents never taught her about Earth Mother, climatology, or New Weather. When the Corporation strikes close to home, Honor has a choice to make: to fit in or stand up for her family.
Impossible by Nancy Werlin
When Lucy Scarborough was born, her birth mother, Miranda, fell into madness and left her in the care of foster parents. Every once in a while, Miranda shows up, leaving behind a wake of emotional destruction. But what Lucy doesn’t know is that Miranda has been trying to warn her. When on prom night the unthinkable happens and Lucy winds up pregnant, only Miranda’s teenage diary can save her from the fate of madness that has befallen not only her mother, but all of the Scarborough women for generations.
Hero-Type by Barry Lyga
Kevin doesn’t think he’s much of a hero, but whole town considers him one since he saved a girl at school from being kidnapped by “The Surgeon” (a brutal serial killer). People are fickle, though, and soon the town is up in arms over the “Support the Troops” magnets that Kevin refuses to put on his car. He starts a debate, one he is sure to lose, and before long Kevin sees that proving his point about free speech is more important than he could have imagined. So is confronting the ugly truth about the night that he saved Leah.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Katniss Everdeen has grown up in extreme poverty. Her father died in a mining accident when she was 11, leaving her mother depressed and unable to take care of Katniss and her sister Prim. Annually the Capitol runs an event called The Hunger Games for which a boy and girl from each district are chosen by lottery to participate. The Hunger Games are a fight to the death, and when, against all odds, Prim’s name is drawn, Katniss does the unthinkable – she volunteers. In the arena, Katniss and the male “tribute” from her district, Peeta Mellark, are set to do their best with the hope that they might return home the victor. But there can only be one winner, and Katniss isn’t sure she can kill another human being, let alone Peeta, a boy whose past is strangely intertwined with hers.
Madeline
Meghan
juliewbp
Hey man, no hatin’ on trig! That shiz be all up some kinds of useful in alignin’ the LHC with them mink padded science types, yo.
Yeah, no matter how you put it, trig is always kind of boring.
Nice post Em, I’ll keep these in mind next time I’m shopping for my cousins (and me!) (:
P.S. Is it jst me or do a lot of these books have parental disregard as one of their premises?
Not entirely. One of the reason the protagonist succeeds in Impossible is because she has parental figures in her life.
But, yes, many kid novels have as one their premises a disregard for parental strictures. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to have their adventures in the first place.
What Madeline said! In a lot of YA/kids books they have to get parents out of the way for the wild hijinks.
But, there are some really great books where the parents play a supporting role, like in Impossible.