High School Book Club 2009

High School Book Club

This new book club is open to students from Grade 8 - 12 and will run from October until May. We will meet on the first Friday for most months during the school year from 5:00 – 6:00. Participants will be able to choose books from our book club selection (coming soon) or read one of their own choices. Join us for book discussion; learn about the authors and information behind the books. We will also write short reviews of the books we have read, these can then be published on our library’s webpage.·

Please be aware that the book club will be limited to 12 participants. As result those who wish to join should make a commitment to come to every meeting and to read from the book selection. Stay tuned – registration forms and book selection list will be available very soon!

Meeting dates - We will meet from 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm. A small fruit or veggie snack will be provided. Free pizza for our December and May book clubs!

October 2^nd November 6^th December 4^th January 8^th

February – No book club

March 12^h(not the 5th as previously noted) April 2^nd May 7^th

June 4th - Last meeting until September (Come to Imaginarium, the drop-in program for youth where you can explore all things creative whether it be writing, photography, art or imrov!)

	FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury For Guy Montag, a career fireman for whom kerosene is perfume, this is not just an official slogan. It is a mantra, a duty, a way of life in a tightly monitored world where thinking is dangerous and books are forbidden. In 1953, Ray Bradbury envisioned one of the world’s most unforgettable dystopian futures, and in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the artist Tim Hamilton translates this frightening modern masterpiece into a gorgeously imagined graphic novel. As could only occur with Bradbury’s full cooperation in this authorized adaptation, Hamilton has created a striking work of art that uniquely captures Montag’s awakening to the evil of government-controlled thought and the inestimable value of philosophy, theology, and literature. Including an original foreword by Ray Bradbury and fully depicting the brilliance and force of his canonic and beloved masterwork, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is an exceptional, haunting work of graphic literature.
	CITY AT THE END OF TIME by Greg Bear Starred Review. In his triumphant return to large-scale SF, Nebula and Hugo–winner Bear (Quantico) links three young drifters in present-day Seattle with an unimaginably distant future. When the drifters answer an odd newspaper advertisement, they soon find themselves caught up in a war between mysterious and powerful forces. Two not-quite-humans, creations of a million-year experiment, have discovered that their ancient fortress/city, perhaps the last refuge of intelligence in a dying universe, is about to fall before the onslaught of chaos. They have been chosen by beings evolved far beyond mere matter to undertake a dangerous mission to preserve the universe's last vestiges of consciousness. Somehow the two groups engage in telepathic communication despite the eons that separate them. Something of an homage to William Hope Hodgson's classic The Night Land, this complex, difficult and beautifully written tale will appeal to sophisticated readers who prefer thorny conundrums to fast-paced action.
	A IS FOR ANGST by Barbara HaworthA is for Angst, B is for Boobs (either breasts or idiots) . . . This is the teen alphabet according to 14-year-old Theresa Tolliver. Growing up is complicated for a girl who can’t quite decide if Barbie dolls are age appropriate (and what’s with those perfect plastic Barbie boobs?) and who spends a great deal of time deconstructing the high school class system: Normals (Ns) like Theresa are careful to do nothing to stand out; Above-Normals (ANs) are the blessed ones who have perfect breasts (see Barbie above), boyfriends and the right clothes; Sub-Normals (SNs) are what every N fears becoming. Then there’s Achingly Adorable Adam (AA), Theresa’s almost boyfriend, though he doesn’t know it yet. A nd there’s Theresa’s family. What do you do with a pregnant mother, a socially phobic father, a domineering older sister, a jerk for a brother and eccentric grandparents on both sides?
	DEADLINE by Chris Crutcher Just before his senior year, Ben Wolf is diagnosed with a rare, incurable leukemia. At 18, he has the legal right to keep the news to himself until he's ready to reveal it. With only his doctor and therapist in on his secret, Ben sets out to live an entire lifetime in a year: There are insects that pack it all into a day, he reasons. His goals are to join his brother on the football team; learn everything he can; and ask out gorgeous Dallas Suzuki. Crutcher fits far too much into this ambitious novel, which includes subplots about incest, pedophilia, manic depression, and intellectual freedom, as well as a Jesus-like character who appears in visions. And readers may feel distanced from Ben, whose first-person voice and reactions never quite feel authentic. But, as usual, Crutcher writes vivid sports action scenes, and teens' interest will be held by the story's dramatic premise, Ben's unlikely turn as a football hero, love scenes with Dallas (including some mildly explicit sex), and Ben's high-gear pursuit of life's biggest questions.
	ANOTHER KIND OF COWBOY by Susan Juby Alex Ford wishes his father had seen the movie Brokeback Mountain. Because then he might understand that it's possible to be a gay cowboy. Trouble is, Alex doesn't even want to be a cowboy; his dream is to ditch Western-style riding and take up dressage. But with his mother long gone, his father ensconced in an RV in the driveway, his messy Aunt Grace the Hair Stylist installed in the kitchen (whose cooking tastes like her hairdressing smells), and his Kung Fu-obsessed younger twin sisters, Alex knows that his dream is highly unlikely. So when he does get the chance to try the meticulously intricate art of dressage riding and then bumps into the supremely self absorbed Cleo at a competition, it's a whole new world for Alex.
	CHOICES by Deborah Lynn Jacobs If Kathleen had been able to drive the night her best friend got drunk, her brother, Nick, might have lived; he was killed driving to pick her up. Grief stricken, Kathleen begins to doubt her sanity. Did she get high with the outcasts last night or watch movies? Is her mom drinking all day or going to work? Then, along comes Luke, who claims to have been Nick's friend. He reveals that, like himself, Kathleen is a switcher (a person who can shift between parallel lives). When Kathleen discovers how to control her switching and that Luke actually caused Nick's death, she searches for the universe where Nick is still alive. In the meantime, she falls for Luke and finds herself facing a choice between her brother and her new love. The supernatural premise makes this book about choices and consequences stand out, and although Kathleen's conflicted emotions about Luke are too easily dealt with, readers will root for a couple so clearly drawn together.
	FROST by Nicole Luiken Johnny Van Der Zee is a talented hockey player and seems to have everything going for him in the town of Iqaluit, Nunavut. But his friend Kathy knows something is very wrong. Why did Johnny deliberately crash his snowmobile? Why do mysterious accidents befall anyone Johnny gets close to? What is the secret Johnny is so desperate to tell, if only someone would listen? And who is the stranger with the cold eyes and silver hair? The one Johnny knows only as Frost … In this supernatural thriller, Johnny’s friends and brother must piece together the reason for his strange behaviour to save him – and all of mankind – from Frost’s plan for a new ice age.
	GIRLSPOKEN: FROM PEN, BRUSH AND TONGUE by Jessica Hein et. Al Grade 10 Up—This collection of personal stories, poems, and art by young Canadian women is a true testament to the power of the arts in girls' lives. The selections give expression to teens' struggles and joys. The themes are universal: "voices: telling truths about ourselves and our girlhoods"; "beauty: rants & reflections on love, desire & the beauty beast"; "strength: speaking out about our struggles & calling for change"; and "becoming: tales of where we've been & visions of where we're going."
	I.D. by Vicki Grant When Chris finds a wallet on the street he tries to return it to its owner. In trouble at home and at school, he is struggling to do the right thing. However, as circumstances slowly start unraveling and his whole life appears headed down the drain, Chris realizes that the person who owns the wallet looks a lot like him and has a life he would do almost anything for. What if he switched identities? What if he became someone else?
	MISTIK by Martha Brooks Grade 8 Up—In a prologue, readers learn that in 1981, three teenagers died while joyriding on frozen Mistik Lake in Manitoba. Sally was the sole survivor. The story then alternates between Odella, Sally's oldest daughter, beginning when she is nine; Sally's Aunt Gloria, Odella's beloved great-aunt; and, later, Odella's boyfriend, Jimmy. Summers are spent at Mistik Lake, where Gloria has a cottage that she never uses. There, Odella, a perceptive girl, becomes attuned to her mother's sadness and alcoholism. Sally leaves her husband and daughters for an Icelandic filmmaker when Odella is 15, and the devastated family struggles to function without her. However, they continue to vacation at the lake, where Odella meets Jimmy, leading to a romance that helps sustain her in the aftermath of her mother's sudden death. Much of the mood is pensive as characters suffer but eventually break through. Gloria, whose homosexuality has been kept a secret, eventually brings her partner to meet Sally's girls; and Odella starts to forgive her mother and begin an adult life. Jumps back and forth in time and perspective make reading somewhat bewildering at times, but they do allow more intimate characterization. Smooth writing contributes much to a story that will enable readers to care about Odella's coming of age. Readers seeking a love story situated in family difficulties will find a realistic choice here.
	NEW AND IMPROVED VIVIAN LEIGH: DIV IN CONTROL by Yvonne Collins All right, so she blew it! The last time she was in front of the camera, she acted like a total diva and ended up losing the gig. But now the new and improved Vivien Leigh Reid is back in L.A. and determined to make it right. While helping her mother plan for her wedding, Leigh unexpectedly lands a featured role in a new television series, and this time she is going to keep her inner diva in control. It may not be easy as she hoped, though. The all-male cast of Freak Force, an action-adventure series about superhumanoids, isn''t exactly thrilled to have a girl on board. Add that to the demands of her mother, who is quickly turning into Bridezilla, and a wicked soon-to-be stepsister, and Leigh''s newfound cool may really be put to the test.
	POWER PLAYS by Maureen Ulrich Fourteen-year-old Jessie moves to a new city and learns teamwork, self-reliance and a new kind of friendship when she joins the girls'' hockey team. Jessie has left the close friendships she''s had since her childhood and isn''t having an easy time fitting into her new Grade Nine class. An older girl, Kim, takes a disliking to her, pushing her around and setting her up to be attacked by a group of really rough kids who land her in jail. It looks like life is going to be downhill from now on. Then, because she used to play ringette, Jessie is invited to try out for the girls hockey team. She doesn''t expect to like it, but as her skills grow, she makes new friends - girls who respect each other and rely on each other''s strength and hard work. Some even help her resist the bullies, until she can stand up for herself - stand up to Kim, who''s a pretty good hockey player herself, although not as good as she thinks she is. A fast-paced story about hockey, peer pressure and finding yourself.
	SKETCHES by Eric Walters Dana met Brent and Ashley when she first arrived in town, a scared runaway with nowhere to go. The three of them are like family: they take care of each other; they share the money they beg, borrow, and steal; and they protect each other from the more ruthless street people they come upon. Still, life is lived day-to-day. It’s hard to think about tomorrow when you’ve got no money, no food, and no place to live. And as for the past … well, that’s what they ran away from. It’s what all of them—and especially Dana—are trying hard to forget. Eric Walters’s new novel is a gritty, gripping tale of street kids, an unblinking portrait of what it means to live on the streets and, more importantly, what it takes to find the way off.
	THE BLACK SHEEP by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout Fed up with her parents and all their ridiculous rules (they keep a binder full of them), fifteen-year-old Kendra Bishop writes away to The Black Sheep, a reality TV show that offers the chance to swap families with another teen. But when the camera crew shows up at her Manhattan apartment, Kendra starts to have second thoughts.
	THE NIGHT WANDERER: A NATIVE GOTHIC NOVEL by Drew Hadyden Taylor A sleepy native reservation. A troubled teen girl. A vampire returns home.Nothing ever happens on the Otter Lake reservation. But when 16-year-old Tiffany discovers her father is renting out her room, she''s deeply upset. Sure, their guest is polite and keeps to himself. But he''s also a little creepy.Little do Tiffany, her father or even her astute Granny Ruth suspect the truth. The mysterious Pierre L''Errant is actually a vampire, returning to his tribal home after centuries spent in Europe. But Tiffany has other things on her mind: her new boyfriend is acting weird, disputes with her father are escalating, and her estranged mother is starting a new life with somebody else. Fed up and heartsick, Tiffany threatens drastic measures and flees into the bush. There, in the midnight woods, a chilling encounter with L''Errant changes everything... for both of them.
	THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW ITby Lesley ChoyceAsked to write something for English class that expresses who he really is, 16-year-old Carson takes pleasure in blistering the page with hate for everything in his life. Stuck in a private school for kids who have repeatedly flunked out elsewhere, Carson knows he’s got nowhere lower to sink to. "Flunk Out Academy" is the last resort for Carson and his classmates, in a small town where its deeply troubled students are decidedly unwelcome.Then Carson meets someone who is even less optimistic than he. Christine struggles to get by, living in a trailer by herself, abandoned by her mother and father, so desperate that she has become almost immune to the pain and loneliness.Confronted by her deep sadness, Carson starts to care for her and she for him. Once focused on someone other than himself, he begins to notice the world around him and realize that there is beauty as well as hopelessness, love as well as hate. Together the two teenagers struggle to work out how they are going to live in an imperfect world. There are no easy happy endings, but somehow the journey eventually makes the pain worthwhile.
	THE SPACE BETWEEN by Don AkerJust dumped by his girlfriend, Jace Antonakos has recorded a proclamation in a notebook his English teacher made him take on his winter vacation to the Mayan Riviera: I’m going to Mexico to get laid. The fact that he’s only days away from turning 18 and still a virgin has Jace spooked, and he figures that Playa del Carmen’s golden beaches draped with equally golden girls should increase his odds of success. On the other hand, the fact that he’s travelling with his mother, his aunt and his nine-year-old autistic brother just about kills that bet. Then he meets Kate, who he thinks might be just the person to help him with his problem. If only he knew what to say to her. In a story that is by turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Don Aker once again captures an actual teenager, wrestles him to the page and compassionately reveals him as a character who is equally smart and stupid about sexuality, sex, telling the truth and hiding the lies. With his incredible high-wire talent for balancing sensitive subjects with sardonic, teen-friendly humour, Aker delivers another brilliant must- read novel.
	THE WARRIOR’S DAUGHTER by Holly Bennett Luaine is daughter to the greatest of Irish warriors, the legendary Cuchulainn. Although known throughout Ireland as the most fearsome of killers, to Luaine he is a loving playful father who amuses her with his exciting tales and marvelous feats. When the unthinkable happens-Cuchulainn returns from war injured nearly to the death-it is the first intimation of the hero''s downfall, and Luaine''s first painful step toward an adult life unlike anything she has imagined. As she faces loss, betrayal, suffering and fear, Luaine must find a strength that comes neither from the sword nor from her proud parentage, but from her own courageous spirit.
	THE WAY LIES NORTH by Jean Rae Baxter This young adult historical novel focuses on Charlotte and her family, Loyalists who are forced to flee their home in the Mohawk Valley as a result of the violence of the "Sons of Freedom" during the American Revolution. At the beginning, fifteen-year-old Charlotte Hooper is separated from her sweetheart, Nick, who sympathizes with the Rebels. The war has already taken the lives of her three brothers, and it is with a sense of desperation that Charlotte and her parents begin the long trek north to the safety of Fort Carleton. Along the way they are joined by other Loyalists who have been burnt out. The novel portrays Charlotte’s struggle on the difficult journey north, and the even more difficult task of making a new home in British Canada. In her relationship with Nick, the novel explores the complexity of the ideals of the American revolution and how these ideals were undermined by a revolutionary ethos of violence and manifest destiny.
	THE WHIRLWIND by Carol Matas Grade 6 Up–Benjamin Friedman, a 15-year-old Jewish boy, fears for his life in Nazi Germany. Fortunately, his family is able to escape Hitler, arriving in Seattle in the summer of 1941. Ben is relieved to be there but is upset and confused by his experiences. He blames his father for not taking action earlier as well as for his inability to secure American visas for the boy's grandparents. The teen tries to settle into his new life but faces bullying because he is German. He is afraid for John, his Japanese-American classmate, and tries to convince his friend and his own family that America is not safe and that they must flee to Canada. No one understands Ben's concerns–they believe he is ill–and this only makes him more determined to take matters into his own hands. After John's family is sent to an internment camp and the Friedmans' house is attacked, Ben runs away to Canada. It is not the safe haven he imagined, and he realizes that perhaps he was mistaken about many things. This unique and thought-provoking story shows what prejudice and indifference to suffering and wrongdoing can lead to. It imparts an understanding of the Holocaust and World War II without the explicitness present in other books on the subject
	TIN ANGEL by Shannon Cowan (ages 13 - 17) The picturesque Raven's mountain lodge has been in Ronnie's family for generations, allowing Ronnie and her sister to grow up surrounded by nature. But with fewer and fewer tourists coming to the lodge each summer, their father is forced to look for investors, and is killed in an accident on a business trip. The situation leaves Ronnie's mother with no choice but to sell the lodge to Louis Moss – a man Ronnie blames when her idyllic life is turned upside down. Uprooted from their home in the mountains, the family struggles to get by in a dingy apartment, where Ronnie's fragile mother quickly succumbs to depression and alcoholism. The one bright spot in Ronnie's life is Lee, an outsider like herself. Ronnie offers Lee safe haven at her family's former lodge, but a chance meeting with Louis Moss at the Raven's ends in disaster. The lodge burns to the ground, with Moss inside. Ronnie is the police's only suspect, and as the dramatic court case unfolds, some portray her as a monster who killed a generous man, while others see her as a minor whose rights were violated by detectives. This riveting novel, set in 1969, was selected for the Quill & Quire "Best Books of the Year" list.
	VISIONS by Carol Matas Jade is having nightmares. It's been a few months since the episode at the synagogue--a few months since she discovered her strange new "powers"--and she's pretty sure that a dream is no longer just a dream. Especially these dreams. How else do you explain seeing someone in your sleep who ends up on the front page of the morning paper--the victim of a murder? And what happens when one of the intended victims turns out to be someone a little too close to home? This time, Jade is more than willing to use her abilities to solve the murder. But will she figure it out in time?
	The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S.KingIn the late seventeenth century, famed teenage pirate Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping the pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with 'the dust of one hundred dogs', dooming her to one hundred lives as a dog before returning to a human body - with her memories intact. Now she's a contemporary American teenager and all she needs is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica.