The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I have enjoyed all of John Green's books, so I just knew I would like this one before I even got it in my hands. I was not disappointed. I remember wanting to read An Abundance of Katherines because I was intrigued by the idea of a guy trying to use a mathematical formula to understand why he always gets dumped by girls name Katherine. After reading Looking for Alaska, I was hooked.

After reading the synopsis, a co-worker of mine said this book sounded depressing. I get that - I mean the book is about teens who have cancer. But the characters lift the story above what could be a dark tale. They are trying to be regular teens who not defined by their disease. This is not always easy when they have frequent doctor visits, constant physical limitations and parents who, out of love and concern, hover over them with worried expressions and fear of what may happen to their children.

At the center of the story, we have Hazel who needs assistance to breathe because her lungs are very weak. She meets Augustus at a support group. Their growing relationship drives the story. They become closer through Hazel's favorite book that leaves her with too many unanswered questions. Contacting the author to find those answers becomes a key point for them. Through it all they deal with a disease that could turn on them at any point.

Click here for more info about this book from the Indianapolis Public Library. 

Dark Parties by Sara Grant

Neva believes there is something beyond the Protectosphere, the large clear dome that covers the Homeland. The government denies that anything exists beyond the dome, but Neva's grandmother (one of the Missing) told her of the old days and what might be outside their world.

Neva and her friend Sanna want answers and plan to stage a small rebellion. They know things are changing. People disappear with no explanation and procreation is encouraged to help sustain the population.

And then there is Ethan who has not been the same since he was taken away by the police. He is no longer the guy Neva liked so much. For him, questioning the government is no longer an option. The attention of Braydon, Sanna's boyfriend, only confuses Neva more.

Is there another world beyond the Protectsphere? Neva hopes so, but she is not sure she has the courage to go that far.

For more info about this book from the Indianapolis Public Library catalog or visit Sara Grant's website.

The Death Cure by James Dashner

This was a great end to this trilogy. The problem for me is that I cannot say too much specific about this book without spoiling it for you, and you really need to start at the beginning with the first book, the Maze Runner.

In Maze Runner, a group of kids live in a large field enclosed by high walls. They are not there by choice and have no memory of ever living anywhere else. The field is part of a large maze that is inhabited by large frightening creatures designed to kill. Escape is the hope that drives some of the kids to become runners and face the obstacles in the maze.

The second book, the Scorch Trials, finds some of the kids making their way across a barren landscape and avoiding those who have caught a horrible disease called the Flare that drives them mad.

By the third book it is hard to know who the main characters can even trust. They have been manipulated so many times and had their memories erased. When things finally seem to be going their way, something always seems to happens to hamper their attempt to finally be free of the horrible world they have been living in.

Click here for more info about this book from the Indianapolis Public Library.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

In 2045, the OASIS is the virtual escape for almost everyone living in the bleak real world. The OASIS is a vast world created by James Halliday who on his death launched a game to find a hidden egg within the world. The winner will inherit Halliday's fortune.

The world wide search is on and Wade (avatar name: Parzival) is ready for the challenge. He (like so many others) studies everything about Halliday and his life - every movie, tv show, album and video game Halliday ever liked in hopes of finding a clue. Individuals (called Gunters) like Wade race against an organized corporation to get the egg and control of the OASIS. For five years, no one even reaches the first level, but when someone does the game truly begins.

Halliday was a teen in the 1980s, so OASIS and the game are filled with references to that time period. Being a teen in the 80s myself, I was fascinated by this part of the story. The author does an incredible job capturing the 80s even in brief snippets throughout the story.

OASIS is also like living in a big video game with battles to be fought and prizes to be won. It is a place that seems like it could exist in our futures (hopefully without the dismal real world).

I thoroughly enjoyed the world the author created. Anyway who likes video games or the 1980s might want to check this one out.

Click here for more info about this book from the Indianapolis Public Library.

The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

It is 1996 and the internet is a new thing for high school students. Emma gets her first computer and finds that she can log into this strange website called Facebook. She quickly realizes that she is looking at her own life 15 years in the future. Her neighbor and longtime best friend Josh is not so easily convinced and believes it is just a prank. He totally changes his mind when his Facebook page reveals that he will marry one of the hottest girls in school.

No explanation is given as to why Emma can see her future Facebook page, but it has always been my personal philosophy that if you give me a premise I will go along. I only have problems when you stray from the original premise.

Facebook is used here as a way to make these two characters think about what they are doing in the present. Knowing what could happen to them in their futures is powerful and confusing. Should they look up their friends to see what happens to them (and then tell them)? Should they stop looking at Facebook once they realize their current day actions can actually change their future lives? Emma and Josh deal with these questions and a lot more (including the romantic tension between them).

Click here for more info about this book from the Indianapolis Public Library catalog.

Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez

Whenever I read one of Alex Sanchez's books, I am reminded that teens, no matter what their sexual orientation, struggle with of the many of the same issues. They want to date, hold hands, have that first kiss, and find the special someone. That want to be accepted and respected by their parents and fellow students. They just want to be treated fairly.

This story follows the lives of three high school boys who are gay.

Nelson is out to everyone. He often does things (like dye his hair green) that draws attention to himself. He just wants a relationship and makes impulsive choices in hopes of finding acceptance.

Kyle is confused. He knows what he feels, and has told a few people. He has a crush on the popular jock. He also is afraid what his parents will say when he finally tells them.

Jason is in total denial. He is the football star with the beautiful girlfriend. He questions his feelings and what it would mean if they are true.

If you like this book, there are two sequels: Rainbow High and Rainbow Road.

Click here for more info about this book from the Indianapolis Public Library catalog.

Shooting Star by Frederick McKissack, Jr.

This is another one of those books where I wanted to ask the main character, "What are you doing?" Not that I want to make light of the issues addressed in the book. I'm sure these situations are real ones that teens and adults deal with frequently. Sports are huge in our society, so athletes are under a lot of pressure to perform.

To the story: Jomo is good at football, and he wants to be better. He is constantly reminded that he is small and needs to be bigger to have a real shot at college ball and the training program he is on is not working fast enough for him.

Jomo is smart and has a lot going for him, but football is what he wants the most. So, in my head, I am begging Jomo not go to call the guy that can 'hook him up' or to meet the guy who can get him the performance enhancing drugs.

Never having been an athlete, I will not pretend to know what Jomo must be going through. I hope those who do have dreams of making it big in sports take the time to read this book and at least think about what Jomo has done in the name of being better.

Click here for more info about this book from the Indianapolis Public Library.

The Chamber of Five by Michael Harmon

This book is from a sub-genre of realistic fiction that I call cruel school. You hope that your school is not anywhere near is bad as the place described in the book.

Jason attends the prestigious Lambert School. His dad is an influential state senator and alum of the school and is the reason Jason is there. Due to his connections, Jason is chosen for the elite Chamber of Five, a group of students who unofficially rule the school. Jason wants no part of it. He is not like his dad and doesn't like the cruel things the Chamber of Five does in the name of power.

The really smart kids who earned their way into the school are powerless and have no say in anything. Jason wants to change all of that which will not be easy because the head of chamber is used to getting his way and will resort to blackmail and violence to get it. These methods are just part of the chambers methods. Jason will have to risk everything to change the system from the inside.

Click here for more info about this book from the Indianapolis Public Library catalog.

Now Playing: Stoner & Spaz II by Ron Koertge

This the sequel to Stoner & Spaz which I read several years ago. I worried that I might have forgotten important things, but I was quickly reminded how much I liked the characters and found no trouble picking up the story where it left off. I would recommend reading the first one, but I don't think that is necessary if you choose not to.

Ben has cerebral palsy which means his left side is not much use to him and causes him to walk with a limp. His dad died and he was abandoned by his mother a long time ago, so he was raised by his grandmother. Because he spent so much time at the local theater, the Rialto, Ben is an expert on all things about movies. He even made his own documentary about his classmates that was shown at a Hollywood art gallery.

Ben might have stayed in the dark of the theater and the solitary world of his room watching movies forever if he had not met Colleen. She is the kind of girl that seems like the total opposite of Ben. She is a tattooed, drug user who has no problem telling people exactly what she thinks. She is also attracts the attention of any guy who sees her. She and Ben connect on a level that often amazes him.

As the story continues, Colleen is trying to stay clean and help Ben reconnect with his mother while Ben attracts the attention of another girl who shares his interest in film making. This story is all about Ben and Colleen and the people in their lives more so than any plot. I hope you like reading about them as much as I did.

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

With Banned Books Week coming at the end of September, I have been discussing challenged books with teens. I was thinking about one of my favorite books, Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers that happens to be on the list. I will not go into the reasons some people have requested that this book removed from libraries or schools. Suffice it to say that it is about young soldiers in war and that war is not pretty.

When I was in library school, I wrote about this book because it touched me emotionally. I am reprinting what I wrote here because I know that it is better than anything I could write now about this powerful book. Here is what I wrote then and still believe now:

My Uncle Bobby died in Vietnam. He was killed in action on August 19, 1969. For his actions he was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. Bobby Joe Likens served in Vietnam for 16 days.

“The real question was what I was doing, what any of us were doing, in Nam.”

Fallen Angels is the story of young army soldiers in Vietnam in 1967-1968 as seen through the eyes of Richard Perry from Harlem. There is no real plot and no climatic battle. This is a story of young Americans thrown into a hellish situation in a foreign land. Who will live and who will die? The soldiers are not perfect. They question their leaders. They fight with each other. They use fowl language and racial slurs. They make mistakes. They just want to get back to ‘the World.’ They want to see their homes again. Perry wants to go back to Harlem and see his mother and brother Kenny even though he knows he will not be the same when he returns.

“I didn’t want to say that I had a feeling that I wouldn’t get back home.”

I felt Bobby on every page. Did he live the lives of these soldiers? Did he have days of boredom while waiting for orders? Did he tease and curse and embrace the men who served with him? Did Bobby pray to himself? Was he scared? Did he see one of his buddies die? Was he afraid to write home to tell his family what was really happening around him and to him? Did he question those who lead him into battle? Did he kill anyone? Did he feel the shrapnel? Did he know it was coming? Did he wonder why he was there?

“The neat pile of body bags was waiting for the rest of us.”

I was born in 1970, so I never knew Bobby. His brief time in Vietnam is a mystery to me. As a child, Vietnam was just the place where my uncle died. After reading this book my question has gone from “What did he do there?” to “Did he do this or that?” Ultimately, I am left with more questions than answers, but I feel this book has given me some insight into Bobby’s life.

At the end, Perry finds out that a nurse he had met has been killed. He says nobody back home “would know about her, how this part of her life had been, what she had seen, or how she had felt at the end. They would get a telegram, and a body, but they wouldn’t know.” So true.

Click here for more info about this book from the Indianapolis Public Library.