BOOKTALK

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BOOKTALK 3FOR HIGH SCHOOL READERS

• December 2007

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Untitled Inheritance 3

• Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers to
  publish book three of Christopher Paolini's 1
  bestselling Inheritance series September 23,
  2008. Series will be expanded to include a fourth
  full-length novel.
• Christopher Paolini, the 1 New York Times
  bestselling author of Eragon and Eldest, the
  first two books in his Inheritance series, will
  write an additional, fourth novel about his hero
  Eragon, it was announced today by Nancy Hinkel,
  Publishing Director of Alfred A. Knopf Books for
  Young Readers, an imprint of Random House
  Children's Books. Originally planned as a
  trilogy, Inheritance will now include four
  complete novels written by Paolini and be named
  the Inheritance Cycle.

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I just read
Lauren Myracle
Stephenie Meyer
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National Book Award 2007

• Young people's literature Sherman Alexie's
  semi-autobiographical novel, The Absolutely True
  Diary of a Part-Time Indian, about a young
  Spokane Indian who abandons his impoverished
  reservation. The judges called it "disturbing,
  uplifting, tragic, and laugh-out funny."

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GREAT NEW BOOKS 2007
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Love, Stargirl byJerry Spinelli

• Still moping months after being dumped by her
  Arizona boyfriend Leo, fifteen-year-old Stargirl,
  a home-schooled free spirit, writes "the world's
  longest letter" to Leo, describing her new life
  in Pennsylvania.  

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General Winston's DaughterbySharon Shinn

• Seventeen-year-old heiress Averie Winston travels
  with her guardian to faraway Chiarrin, a country
  her father's army has occupied, and once she
  arrives and is reunited with her fiance, she
  discovers that her notions about politics,
  propriety, the military, and even her intended
  have changed.  

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First Daughter Extreme American Makeover
byMitali Perkins   

• During her father's presidential campaign,
  sixteen-year-old Sameera Righton, who was adopted
  from Pakistan at the age of three, struggles with
  campaign staffers who want to give her a more
  "all-American" image and create a fake weblog in
  her name.  

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Huge a Novel bySasha Paley   

• Thrown together as roommates at a "fat camp,"
  Wilhelmina and April have nothing in common until
  they are both humiliated by the same person.  

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Harlem SummerbyWalter Dean Myers  

• In 1920s Harlem, sixteen-year-old saxophonist
  Mark Purvis struggles to advance his jazz career
  while working as a gopher for the new
  Africa-American magazine, "The Crisis," and
  becoming involved with mobster Dutch Schultz.  

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Hiroshima DreamsbyKelly Easton  

• Lin O'Neil, a talented but shy girl growing up in
  Providence, Rhode Island, develops a close
  relationship with her Japanese grandmother, who
  shares Lin's gift of precognition.  

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Wilderness byRoddy Doyle

• As Irish teenager Gráinne anxiously prepares for
  a reunion with her mother, who abandoned the
  family years before, Gráinne's half-brothers and
  their mother take a dogsledding vacation in
  Finland.  

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. Evolution, Me Other Freaks of
NaturebyRobin Brande

• Mena, ostracized at church, home, and school for
  writing a letter of apology to a gay teen who was
  harassed into trying to kill himself by her
  fundamentalist friends, struggles to find her way
  when new friends and school experiences force her
  to think about what she really believes.  

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TakenbyEdward Bloor

• In 2036 kidnapping rich children has become an
  industry, but when thirteen-year-old Charity
  Meyers is taken and held for ransom, she soon
  discovers that this particular kidnapping is not
  what it seems.  

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What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know   bySonya
Sones

• Artistic Robin Murphy is so unpopular at high
  school that his name is slang for "loser," so
  when he begins dating the beautiful and popular
  Sophie, her reputation plummets.  

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How to Take the Ex Out of Ex-boyfriend
byJanette Rallison   

• Giovanna rashly breaks up with her boyfriend,
  Jesse, when he refuses to help her twin brother
  with his campaign for Student Council president,
  and fixing her mistake may be more difficult for
  her than she realizes.  

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Yellow flag byRobert Lipsyte

• When seventeen-year-old Kyle reluctantly succumbs
  to family pressure and replaces his injured
  brother in the family racecar, he struggles to
  keep up with his trumpet playing while deciding
  how--or if--he can continue making music with a
  brass quintet and headlines as a Nascar racer.  

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The Noah Confessionsby Barbara Hall

• Instead of a car for her sixteenth birthday,
  Lynnie receives a manuscript from her father in
  which her deceased mother writes about family
  secrets, helping Lynnie to understand more about
  her parents and the complexity of growing up.  

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November BluesbySharon M Draper   

• Shortly after her boyfriend Josh is killed in a
  pledging accident, November Nelson learns she is
  pregnant and fears she has no one to turn to,
  until she finds solace in the arms of Josh's
  cousin Jericho.  

Ask for "HOLD"
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DeadlinebyChris Crutcher

• Given the medical diagnosis of one year to live,
  high school senior Ben Wolf decides to fulfill
  his greatest fantasies, ponders his life's
  purpose and legacy, and converses through dreams
  with a spiritual guide known as "Hey-Soos."  

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Diamonds in the Shadowby    Caroline B. Cooney

• While his mother and father help a family of
  African refugees, Jared learns that the people he
  counts on for doing good deeds are not always
  praiseworthy and is faced with a decision which
  may have implications for all.  

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Black Tuesday bySusan Colebank.   

• An over-achieving Phoenix high school student's
  life changes dramatically when she is responsible
  for a car crash that kills a child, and she goes
  from honors classes and tennis team captain to
  doing community service and rebelling against her
  controlling mother.  

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Thirteen Reasons Why a Novel by  Asher, Jay.

• High school student Clay Jenkins receives a box
  in the mail containing seven cassette tapes
  recorded by his crush, Hannah Baker, who
  committed suicide, and spends a bewildering and
  heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town,
  listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events
  leading up to her death.  

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Does My Head Look Big in This? byRanda
Abdel-Fattah

• Year Eleven at an exclusive prep school in the
  suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, would be tough
  enough, but it is further complicated for Amal
  when she decides to wear the hijab, the Muslim
  head scarf, full-time as a badge of her
  faith--without losing her identity or sense of
  style.  

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PeakbyRoland Smith  

• A teenage boy attempts to be the youngest person
  to reach the top of Mount Everest.  

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The Off SeasonbyCatherine Gilbert Murdock

• High school junior D. J. Schwenk staggers under
  the weight of caring for her badly injured
  brother, her responsibilities on the dairy farm,
  a changing relationship with her friend Brian,
  and her own athletic aspirations.  

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Summer BallbyMike Lupica   

• Danny must prove
• himself all over again
• for a disapproving
• coach and against new
• rivals at a summer
• basketball camp.  

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Strange relationsbySonia Levitin   

• Fifteen-year-old Marne is excited to be able to
  spend her summer vacation in Hawaii, not
  realizing the change in her lifestyle it would
  bring staying with her aunt, seven cousins, and
  uncle who is a Chasidic rabbi.  

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Open CourtbyCarol Clippinger   

• A thirteen-year-old tennis prodigy grapples with
  her seemingly incompatible desires to be an
  exceptional athlete and a normal teenager.  

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Someone Like Summerby   M. E. Kerr

• An upper-middle-class white girl from Long Island
  and an immigrant worker from Colombia fall in
  love despite objections from both their families
  and their community.  

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The Other Half of Meby Emily Franklin

• Feeling out of place in her athletic family,
  artistic sixteen-year-old Jenny Fitzgerald, whose
  biological father was a sperm donor, finds half
  sister through the Sibling Donor Registry and
  contacts her, hoping that this will make her feel
  complete.  

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Sara's Face  by Melvin Burgess

• Seventeen-year-old Sara wants so much to be
  famous that when a legendary, plastic-surgery-addi
  cted rock star offers to take her under his wing
  and pay for her to have surgery too, she jumps at
  the chance despite her misgivings.  

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Mendoza's Guide to Getting Lost in Mexico by
Malín Sofi Alegría

• When Southern California high school senior Sofi
  Mendoza lies to her parents and crosses the
  border for a weekend party, she has no idea that
  she will get stuck in a Mexican village with
  family she has never met before, unable to return
  to the United States and the easy life she
  knew.