Bazan Librarians Review...

This is an old time favorite young adult novel.  I read this a long time ago when it came out and instantly fell in love with the story.  I hadn't read a novel so unique for teens.  Every Day is about a being that wakes up as a different person each day since it can remember. The story is told through A, the teenager who's soul, for lack of better phrasing, inhabits different bodies every day. A has gotten accustomed to this lifestyle.  Over the years, A realizes that it is best to wake up as that being and live a life that does not interfere with that person's life. Things change on the morning he wakes up as a teenage boy named Justin.  He follows a typical morning Justin would have normally followed and instantly falls hard for Justin's girlfriend Rhiannon. The first chapter sets the stage for what to expect having your main character hop from body to body.  The rules are set and the reader is ready to embrace the rest. The book follows A desperate...

The Giver is a children's dystopian novel that tells the story of Jonas, an eleven year old who is soon turning twelve and given his life assignment that will shape his adult life.  Jonas lives in a controlled community with his father, mother, and sister.  He looks forward towards attending the ceremony of twelve, where all twelve year olds are no longer considered children and are on track to becoming adults.  This community controls the placement of professions, population, climate control, meals, and anything that could potentially lead to individuality.  Jonas is inquisitive, compassionate, and has a better understanding of love than anyone in the community.  This is clear later in the novel when he meets and cares for Gabriel. Jonas is selected to be the next Receiver of Memory.  The Chief of Elders lets Jonas know that it is very rare to be selected since there is only one Receiver, who will now train Jonas as his successor.  The Chief of El...

One of my favorite young adult novels is Thanks for the Trouble by Tommy Wallach.  I came across this book when I was working at McCreless Library Branch a few years back.   I remembered receiving the book and shelving it in the New Book shelf, away from my Young Adult section.  I was in need of wanting a young adult romance and found it.   I read the back summary of the book and decided to take it home to read.  It sat on my coffee table that week until I picked up for reading that Friday afternoon. The book tells the story of a teenage boy named Parker Sante who experienced a traumatic car accident resulting in his father's death, and the spawn of his new form of communication...silence. After the accident, Parker spends most of his time downtown San Francisco in the Palace Hotel, where he people watches and picks pockets.  The story starts with Parker introducing himself (writing about himself) and letting the reader know that he will share th...