Great Reading: Bookmark It!

Volume 32, Number 1, October 2004

Kathleen Odean

YA Fiction Bookmark

Nonconformists

Messenger . Lois Lowry. Houghton Mifflin, 2004. $16.00. 0-618-40441-4. Grades 6-10. Returning to characters from The giverand Gathering blue, this moving story explores the price paid for living an authentic, simple life. Teenager Matty, though tempted by his village’s new fascination with trading, reaffirms his beliefs during a dangerous journey.

The outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place . E.L. Konigsburg. Atheneum, 2004. $16.95. 0-689-86636-4. Grades 6-9. Margaret Rose, Connor's sister in The silent bone, relates her experiences defying convention as a 12 year old. Her nonconformity means she doesn't fit in at summer camp, but also gives her the courage to try to save her uncles’ eccentric artwork.

Singing the dogstar blues . Alison Goodman. Viking, 2003. $16.99. 0-670-03610-2. Grades 7-11. In this science fiction thriller, Joss and her partner in school, an alien, are learning to time travel. But an assassin and puzzles from the past threaten their future.

The slightly true story of Cedar B. Hartley (who planned to live an unusual life) . Martine Murray. Scholastic, 2003. $15.95. 0-439-48622-X. Grades 5-8. Australian Cedar Hartley and her new friend, the son of circus performers, plan a neighborhood circus. Twelve-year-old Cedar, a narrator with a fresh, funny voice, also slowly solves two family mysteries.

Vote for Larry: A novel . Janet Tashjian. Henry Holt, 2004. $16.95. 0-8050-7201-2. Grades 8-12. After 17-year-old Josh Swenson became famous for his web “sermons” against commercialism, he disappeared as if dead at the end of The gospel according to Larry. But now he’s back with his principles intact and, against all odds, he’s running for president.

Kathleen Odean: Librarian, speaker and author of Great books for girls (revised 2002) and other guides. Rhode Island. email: kathleenodean@hotmail.com web site: www.kathleenodean.com