Here’s our complete list of Shelf Respect Teen Lit Book Club titles for our 2011-2012 meetings.  We meet at 7pm the second Wednesday of every month unless otherwise noted.  Join us!

9/14: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
10/12: The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith
11/9: Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher
12/14: Girl Genius by Phil & Kaja Foglio
1/11/2012: The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
2/8: Going Bovine by Libba Bray
3/14: Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden
4/11: The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman
5/9: A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio
6/13: The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
7/11: The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
8/8: The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti

Every month on the second Wednesday, at the Brookline Main Library, our young adult lit loving alliance of teens and adults are uniting for book club and fight crime!  Errr - maybe we will leave the crime fighting to the protagonists - but if you love to read, wonder what all the cool teens and adults are reading, and want to chat, rant, or rave, come on down!

We welcome ladies and gentlemen ages 13-113, but do advise parents that some titles may contain mature topics and language. 

Dash & Lily's Book Of Dares, Rachel Cohn; Alfred A. Knopf

“I’ve left some clues for you. If you want them, turn the page. If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”

So begins this tale from the authors of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.

SPOILERS

Dash picks up a red notebook at his favorite New York City bookstore, the Strand, and the dares begin. Both teens are alone in New York City for the holidays – Dash told his mother he’d be with his father, and told his father he’d be with his mother. Lily’s parents are on a 25-year delayed honeymoon in Fiji. Lily has lived a rather buttoned-up life heretofore; she is captain of the soccer team (not that any of her teammates talk to her), she gets good grades, and makes money as a dog walker. She is looking for a little adventure. Lily’s brother Langston, the one who suggested she hide the notebook, is more interested in spending time with his new boyfriend, Benny. Grandpa is in Florida, wooing Mabel. Lily and Dash trade reminiscences, dreams, quotes from favorite books and poems, and secrets in alternating chapters. Of course, each one wonders about the other. Dash refuses to sign his name, so Lily, based on what her cousin Mark (who works at the Strand) tells her, dubs him Snarl. Dash’s best friend, Boomer, serves as a go-between. Dash begs him for information about Lily’s looks, but Boomer isn’t talking. Dash’s ex-girlfriend is visiting New York for the holidays (she lives in Spain) and he finds that he likes her more now than when they were going out. Sofia also gives Dash good advice about not making Lily out to be more than she is. For the scariest dare, Lily puts on her Great Aunt Ida’s majorette boots, a crushed gold velvet dress, and red tights and goes out to a club to see the band Silly Rabbi, Tricks are for Yids, where Dash has written a clue on the bathroom stall’s walls. Lily dances her tuchus off, endearing her to the punk hipsters at the club. She chooses not return the notebook, and, Cinderella-like, steps out of one of her boots. Lily has a fleeting flirtation with the boy who killed her gerbil and earned her the name Shrilly (she wrote about this seminal event in her life in the notebook). In an it-could-only-happen-in-a-book coincidence, Dash is friends with the gerbil killer. When Dash and Lily finally meet, she is drunk, and mortified. They run into each other again when she is walking Mark’s friend’s dog, Boris. Boris gets loose, Dash grabs the leash and is pulled by Boris, who is heading for a group of children. Boris knocks a baby out of her mother’s arms and Lily makes a miraculous save, only to be called a ‘baby stealer.’ Dash and Lily end up at the police station. Finally, they get locked into a room at the Strand, and share their first kiss. The reader senses what started as a fun adventure has turned into something more, but that something would not exist without Dash and Lily first sharing their thoughts and wishes via the notebook.

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins; Scholastic Press

“Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. Let the Games begin.”

In the future, the United States has imploded, and the country of Panem has risen in its place. People who are lucky enough to live in the new Capitol, located in the Rocky Mountains, have plenty to eat and access to the best technology. The twelve other Districts that comprise Panem exist only to support the Capitol. In retribution for a past uprising, the Capitol stages the Hunger Games each year, pitting twenty-four ‘tributes’ (two from each District) in a televised battle to the death. The winner earns enough food for his or her family for life.  Katniss Everdeen, a sixteen-year old who supports her widowed mother and younger sister by illegally poaching game and gathering edible plants outside of the fence of District 12, volunteers for the Hunger Games when her sister Prim’s name is drawn in the ‘reaping.’  The other District 12 tribute is Peeta Mellark, a baker’s son who has been in love with Katniss since he was five years old. They will need to match wits with bigger, stronger tributes who have been training for the Hunger Games their whole lives. Then there are the Gamemakers, who keep the tributes on edge and the viewers entertained by introducing variables such as fires and extreme weather. In this fast-paced survival story with a surprising romance, the themes of government oppression and personal independence and interdependence are always just below the surface of the plot. Don’t start the The Hunger Games at night if you need your sleep! Reviewed by Carolyn Dooman

Reviewed as part of the Shelf Respect Teen Literature Book Club

My Most Excellent Year: A Novel Of Love, Mary Poppins, And Fenway Park, Steve Kluger; Dial

What makes a family? Is it the one into which you are born, or the one you choose to make for yourself?

SPOILERS! Three smart, funny, and articulate high school juniors look back on their most excellent year – ninth grade – for a school report. This is the story of T.C. (Anthony Conigliaro) Keller, Augie Hwong, his best friend and “brother,” and Alejandra (Alé) Perez, the object of T.C.’s affection.  It’s a coming-of-age story that also explores the themes of what makes a family. Is it the one into which you are born, or the one you choose to make for yourself? The story is told in alternating chapters ‘written’ by the three main characters. The novel comprises diary entries, emails, instant messages, and letters to theatre divas, government officials (T.C. and Alé take on two social causes) and to T.C.’s dead mother.  Along the way, the kids produce an over-the-top talent show, Augie realizes he is gay and falls in love with Andy, and the three friends meet and mentor a quirky deaf child. Reviewed by Carolyn Dooman

Reviewed as part of the Shelf Respect Teen Literature Book Club

Tales Of The Madman Underground, ; Penguin USA, Inc.

Karl Shoemaker just wants to be NORMAL.

Karl “Psycho” Shoemaker has all sorts of reasons for being messed up. Still, his goal for his senior year of high school (the story takes place over the first six days of school) is to avoid being sent to the “Madman Underground,” an ongoing therapy group at school of which he has been part since fourth grade.  His beloved dad, the former mayor of his blue-collar Ohio town, died a couple of years ago, leaving him with his hippie-wannabe mother who has a serious drinking problem and who flits from man to man. She also steals Karl’s earnings from his five jobs. He has the jobs because someone needs to be the adult in their house. Their house is home to countless feral cats, all of whom have names like Starlight and LoveJoy. The cats eschew the use of a litter box, so Karl keeps a snow shovel handy to pick up after them. Despite his wanting to avoid therapy, the members of the group are his friends, including his best friend, Paul. These kids, who are regularly abused, molested or neglected, look out for and protect each other. The book is long (over 500 pages) but the narrative is compelling so that you don’t notice its length. The kids’ language is R-rated, but it can also be laugh-out-loud funny. Karl is a smart kid and readers sense that he is going to make something of his life. Tales of the Madman Underground tells the tale of young people with dysfunctional lives who refuse to suck on the lemons that life throws their way, and form their own support system. At the center of story is Karl, a young person you cannot help but like. Reviewed by Carolyn Dooman

Reviewed as part of the Shelf Respect Teen Literature Book Club

How To Say Goodbye In Robot, Natalie Standiford; Scholastic

Ghost Boy and Robot Girl have no words to describe their relationship.

Once again, Beatrice’s family has to move for her father’s job as a biology professor. To protect herself from the upheaval of constantly moving and her parents’ troubled marriage, Bea has developed a persona she calls “Robot Girl.” The family’s latest move has her starting senior year in the suburbs of Baltimore at a small private school where most of the kids have known each other since kindergarten. To everyone’s surprise, she starts hanging out with loner Jonah, a boy who has pulled even more into himself since the death of his mother and twin brother when he was eight. Jonah is known as “Ghost Boy,” a name given him years ago by cruel classmates. Bea also seems to fit in with the school’s ‘in crowd’ and she starts making other friends and attending parties. Still, she is drawn to Jonah. At his suggestion, Bea becomes a regular listener and sometime caller to Night Light, a late-night radio show that seems to bring out Baltimore’s oddest characters.  Bea and Jonah’s relationship is a very intense, platonic friendship that often runs hot and cold, usually because of Jonah. When Jonah learns that his father has lied to him about something very fundamental to his identity, he enlists Bea to help him set things right. Bea senses that no matter how much she loves Jonah, she cannot help him overcome his emotional problems. There is no happy ending here, but readers get the sense that both Bea and Jonah are able to move on from and learn from their time together. Staniford tells a compelling story of two misfits who find friendship, love, and comfort in one another.  Reviewed by Carolyn Dooman

Reviewed as part of the Shelf Respect Teen Literature Book Club

If You Come Softly, Jacqueline Woodson; Puffin

A modern-day Romeo and Juliet story

When fifteen-year olds Jeremiah, who is black, and Ellie, who is white, meet on the first day of classes at their private school in New York City, the attraction between them is immediate. As their story unfolds, told in alternating chapters from Ellie’s and “Miah’s” points of view, readers learn that they are both dealing with difficult family situations. Miah is the only child of celebrity parents; because his father left his mother for a neighbor, he shuttles between apartments. Ellie, the youngest of four, lives with her parents in a large apartment where the three inhabitants barely seem to connect with one another. Ellie has a strained relationship with her mother, who has abandoned the family twice. As Ellie and Miah spend more time together, these sweet and articulate teens find in each other the security they are missing in their home lives. As a mixed-race couple, they must also cope with the subtle and not-so-subtle reminders from others in their communities that the world hasn’t changed as much as Ellie would like to believe it has. Ellie is heartbroken to learn that her favorite sister is a racist, and they become estranged. As Ellie and Miah work through their difficulties, individually and together, their love grows and readers sense the mature contentment the teens seem to find. Still, there is a sense of foreboding in the story. When the story ends tragically, the underlying theme that time is fleeting comes to the fore. If You Come Softly tells a gentle story of first love with well-drawn characters and situations. Readers will find that this book may challenge their thoughts on race: Ellie is genuinely surprised that people don’t accept their relationship, while Miah’s lifetime as a black man in a white world has made him aware of the realities of race in this country.  Reviewed by Carolyn Dooman

Reviewed as part of the Shelf Respect Teen Literature Book Club

Looking For Alaska: A Novel, John Green ( -1757), Green, John; Dutton Children's Books

“I may die young, but at least I’ll die smart.”

Miles Halter, a sixteen-year-old whose hobby is memorizing the last words of famous people, leads a boring, friendless life in Florida. In search of what the poet Rabelais calls the “Great Perhaps” of his life, Miles leaves home to attend boarding school in Alabama. There he quickly falls in with a group: his roommate, “The Colonel,” a scholarship student with a photographic memory and an interest in smoking, drinking, and executing elaborate pranks; Takumi, a video game whiz and aspiring rap star; and the beautiful, smart, and worldly Alaska Young. Alaska can be an energetic ringleader and optimistic student of the world (her room is full of books that she is going to “spend her life reading”) but there is also a deep sorrow in her that leads to moodiness and self-loathing. She quotes Simon Bolivar more than once about getting “out of the labyrinth” and readers sense that she is doomed. When she is gone, her friends find their own ways to grapple with the truth. Miles’ theological musings over concepts from his religion class adds depth to his searching for why Alaska did what she did. The characters are well drawn, and their banter (especially the conversations between Miles and the Colonel) ring true. Through Miles’ sweet, funny, and articulate narration and introspection, Green’s writing shines, making Looking for Alaska a better-than-average “coming of age” read.  Looking for Alaska won the 2006 Printz Award for excellence in Young Adult Literature. Reviewed by Carolyn Dooman

Reviewed as part of the Shelf Respect Teen Literature Book Club

Ostrich Boys, Keith Gray; Random House Children's Books

“It’s not really kidnapping, is it? He’d have to be alive for it to be proper kidnapping.”

Before he died in a bicycle accident, Ross Fell was a writer who wanted to experience all life had to offer. On his list of things to do was to visit his ‘namesake’ town, Ross, Scotland. After Ross dies, his three best ‘mates,’ tough Sim, whose hobby is memorizing the collective nouns that describe groups of animals; sensitive and shy Kenny; and the funny narrator of the tale, Blake, are devastated. They also do not care for the funeral and find the hypocritical outpouring of grief by students and teachers who previously didn’t care for Ross insulting. After pulling destructive pranks on people who made Ross’ last few days difficult, they kidnap his ashes and make their way from England to Ross, Scotland, to give him a proper service. Along the way, Kenny loses much of their traveling money; they use borrowed motorcycles to elude police; they spend a night in a haunted house; Kenny falls in love with a Scottish girl; and Blake bungee jumps for the first time. Secrets finally come out that each boy had ‘let down’ Ross in the last few days of his life, and Sim abandons the previously inseparable trio. At the very end, they learn that Ross’ death was not as they had first thought. Ostrich Boys is much more than a ‘road trip’ story – it is a tale of friendship among three flawed but likable boys, about grief and self-discovery.  Reviewed by Carolyn Dooman

Reviewed as part of the Shelf Respect Teen Literature Book Club

The Love Curse Of The Rumbaughs, Jack Gantos; Farrar, Straus And Giroux

Nature vs. Nurture: is who we are determined by our DNA or by our upbringing?

Seven-year-old Ivy loves her single mother so much, she often panics just thinking that they might not always be together. Her mother has never told her who her father was, and Ivy has no curiosity on that subject – her little universe of two suits her just fine. She spends many hours with her elderly twin uncles who run the pharmacy across the street and the twins (people in town don’t bother trying to tell Adolph and Abner Rumbaugh apart) dote on Ivy. The Rumbaughs are award-winning taxidermists, and Ivy spends hours viewing their elaborate vignettes of minks, squirrels and other wildlife posed in human settings, wearing elaborate costumes. One day, Ivy discovers a bizarre secret about the twins, which instead of repulsing her, as it would most seven-year olds, fascinates her. When she tells her mother about the secret, her mother already knows about it and alludes to the Rumbaugh curse. Through the generations, the curse has caused some Rumbaugh sons to become overly devoted to their mothers. Because she is related to the twins, Ivy worries that she may have inherited the curse. Then, just as quickly, she thinks that because she adores her mother, the curse may not be a liability. Eugenics, nature vs. nurture, small-town secrets, and the nature of free will: this story has creepy elements and interesting questions to spare. From Ivy’s discovery of the twins’ secret, through her growing interest in taxidermy, to her learning on her sixteenth birthday the identity of her biological father, the novel’s ending is fairly well telegraphed, but readers will follow along with the perverse curiosity that the scenario demands. The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs is one strange story: with its elements of horror, an odd sex scene, genetic and human experimentation, and hints of incest, it is not for every YA reader. However, if your tastes run towards the macabre or the gothic, you may enjoy it. Reviewed by Carolyn Dooman

Reviewed as part of the Shelf Respect Teen Literature Book Club

Food, Girls, And Other Things I Can't Have, Allen Zadoff; Egmont USA

“People don’t see Andrew – they see big.”

Andy, the second fattest kid at Newton High School, has plans to make his sophomore year better than his disastrous freshman year. He meets a pretty girl at one of the events his mother caters, and thinks that he might have a shot with her. That’s before the resident bully starts with him; he finds he can’t fit into the chairs in AP History; and before an unfortunate chain of events at gym class that leaves several kids injured, and Andy in his tightie-whities, earning him the name “Jurassic Pork.” Andy’s best friend Eytan has big plans for the two of them to rock the Model UN as representatives of Estonia, but once Andy is recruited by the charismatic QB of the team to play football, their relationship becomes strained. At home, Andy’s family is falling apart – his parents, who are divorcing, fight over everything. His mother fills the house with tasty food, yet worries about Andy’s weight, while his younger sister may be anorexic. Andy can’t help but notice that his stock with his workaholic, distant father goes up when his Dad learns that Andy’s on the football team. Andy negotiates the land mines that make up high school with good-natured humor, and some of his observations are laugh-out-loud funny. Going from ‘outsider’ to ‘insider’ relatively quickly, Andy is smart enough to know that popularity comes at a price. When he learns that he has been manipulated by teammates and the coach, he comes to a decision that, while true to himself and his interests, ends up plummeting him back to the realms of high school “untouchable.” Food, Girls and Other Things I Can’t Have addresses issues of first love, body image, and the desire to fit in, with a very likable protagonist. Reviewed by Carolyn Dooman

Reviewer’s note: Includes some offensive language about Asian-American girls.

Reviewed as part of the Shelf Respect Teen Literature Book Club

Check out our new feature of reviews and recommendations on teen literature from our Shelf Respect Teen Literature Book Club.

As a new feature to help readers find the best in teen literature, members of the Shelf Respect Teen Literature Book Club will be posting book reviews here at the Brookline Public Library Teen Library blog.  All of the reviews will also be cross-posted to our Facebook page.

Tiger Moon, ; Amulet Books

A thief-turned-hero, a ‘talking’ white tiger, and a beautiful girl.

Set in India in the 1900’s, this is the story of Farhad, a petty criminal. He is called upon by the god Krishna to rescue his daughter Safia, who will likely be killed by her new husband, Mudhi. At her new home, Safia befriends a eunuch servant and tells him a tale of a young thief, Farhad, his talking, sacred white tiger companion, and their quest to retrieve the fabled bloodstone which can be used to secure the freedom of a princess from a demon king. They only have a month in which to perform the rescue, which adds to the urgency of their mission. Farhad begins the journey as an unwilling coward, but with guidance from the brave and wise tiger, becomes a hero. The two stories intertwine and eventually come to a satisfying conclusion. Weaving together Indian history, culture, mythology, and geography, Tiger Moon is a sweeping and intriguing fairy tale and story-within-a-story. Reviewed by Carolyn Dooman

Reviewed as part of the Shelf Respect Teen Literature Book Club