60) My World 2.0

Title:   My World 2.0

Artist:  Justin Bieber

Label: Island Records
Year: 2010

Genre: Pop

Interest Level: all ages

Awards: 

Debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200

Sold 283,000 its first week

Tracks: 

• Baby
• Somebody to Love
• Stuck in the Moment
• U Smile
• Runaway Love
• Never Let You Go
• Overboard
• Eenie Meenie
• Up
• That Should Be Me                 

Review:  Over the last few years Justin Bieber has become the next big thing.  His YouTube videos were discovered in 2008, and he was soon signed to RBMG and a recording contract with Island Records.  My World 2.0 is the second half of his debut album; it was determined to release his debut in two parts.  The biggest hit of the CD is “Baby” and features rapper Ludacris.  The album features collaborations with Sean Kingston as well.  The theme of the CD is young love and will be very popular with tween girls.  While the radio singles are very popular, the other tracks are also good. 

Artist’s Website:  http://www.justinbiebermusic.com/believe/

59) Sparks Fly

Title:   Sparks Fly

Artist:  Miranda Cosgrove

Label: Columbia Records
Year: 2010

Genre: Pop

Interest Level: ages 9 and up

Tracks: 

• Kissin U
• BAM
• Disgusting
• Shakespeare
• Hey You
• There Will Be Tears
• Oh Oh
• Daydream
• Brand New You
• What Are You Waiting For?
• Adored
• Beautiful Mess  

Review:  This is Cosgrove’s debut album.  The songs are mostly about new love and losing one’s first boyfriend.  The songs are mostly pop, with a few slow songs.  There is not really a big dance feel to the album.  It’s more of a CD that one could play in the background as they are doing homework or getting ready for school.  The only single to come off of this CD is “Kissin U” and most promotion of this CD was done through music videos on Nickelodeon.  My favorite song on the CD is “Shakespeare.”  The song is a girl asking a boy if he likes the same things she likes.  I feel like this is the most honest song on this CD and the one that many girls will relate to as they get to know boys.

Artist’s Website:  http://www.mirandacosgroveofficial.com/us/home

58) Monte Carlo

Title:  Monte Carlo

Writer:  Kelly Bowe

Producers: Nicole Kidman, Denise Di Novi, Arnon Milchan; & Alison Greenspan

Director:  Thomas Bezucha

Year:  2011

Plot:  Texas senior, Grace and her friend Emma work as waitresses and have saved enough money for a trip to Paris after graduation.  Grace’s stepfather offers to pay for the trip if her stepsister, Meg, will also attend.  In Paris, the girls are left by their tour on top of the Eiffel Tower.  As they try to make their way back to the hotel, it begins to rain and they seek shelter in an upscale hotel.  At the hotel, Grace is mistaken for a British Heiress and flies off to Monte Carlo to take the heiress’s place.  The girls are able to fool the hosts in Monte Carlo and are find out more about who they really are.   

Review:  This is a movie that tween girls will fall in love with.  Grace, Emma and Meg get the chance to see a part of the world and explore their true identities through a small case of mistaken identity.  When the girls arrive in Paris they are disappointed by the rush of the tour and the state of the hotel they have taken.  Then the girls are left behind and their lives are changed forever.  The heiress, Cordelia, is a snob who decides to that she would rather spend time with her friends then help at a charity event for a school in Romania.  After a night in Cordelia’s hotel suite in Paris, the girls are flown on a private jet to Monte Carlo.  In Monte Carlo, the girls each meet someone that teaches them about what they really desire in life.  Emma realizes that her longtime boyfriend in Texas is the one for her, Meg meets Riley who helps her overcome the loss of her mother, and Grace meets Theo who shows her that people with money are willing to help those without money.  The storyline is great and the love stories are innocent.  Tween girls will love this movie and want to watch it over and over again.

Genre: Movie/Humor/Coming of Age

Interest Level: ages 9 and up

Related Shows: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants; Bride Wars; Raise Your Voice.

Starring:

Selena Gomez as Grace Ann Bennett/Cordelia Winthrop Scott

Leighton Meester as Mary Margaret "Meg" Kelly

Katie Cassidy as Emma Danielle Perkins

Pierre Boulanger as Theo Marchand

Catherine Tate as Alicia Winthrop Scott

Luke Bracey as Riley

Cory Monteith as Owen Andrews

Andie MacDowell as Pamela Bennett-Kelly

Brett Cullen as Robert Kelly

Giulio Berruti as Prince Domenico Da Silvano

57) Faking Faith

Bibliography: Bloss, Josie; Faking Faith; Flux; New York; 2011; 240 pages; ISBN 978-0-73872-757-8.

Plot:  After a humiliating sexting incident and horrible breakup, Dylan has become an outcast at her high school.  Everyone ignores her and she has been abandoned by her two best friends.  Dylan’s only escape is reading the blogs of homeschooled fundamentalist Christian girls.  She figures she can pass as one of them and starts up her own blog as Faith.  She soon becomes very close to another girl, Abigail, and asks if Abigail’s family will host her for a couple weeks during summer vacation.  While staying with Abigail and her family, Dylan learns things about herself and learns the consequences of her actions as a false identity. 

Review:  This is such a great book.  I had tried reading Bloss' "Albatross" before, and was unable to get into it, but this book grabbed me.  It is told in first person narrative, giving the reader an inside look into Dylan's actions.  The story begins at a start of the year party where Dylan makes out with one of the popular boys.  Her actions lose are not supported by her two best friends and in the end Dylan alienates herself from them.  While her relationship with the popular boy does not last, her life is changed forever by dating him.  Her junior year of school ends in shambles.  Dylan is lonely and has been named the "school slut."  She has no friends and feels that the only thing worth value in her life is the internet.
Dylan stumbles upon the blogs of some homeschooled fundamentalist Christian girls.  She finds the life these girls’ leads fascinating and starts her own blog and a new identity.  Through her new identity, Dylan learns how to deal with the mistakes she made and is able to reconnect herself to the real world.

This book was so awesome!  Bloss shows the reader the importance of finding oneself.  This is a great book for young teens to read to inspire them.  The relationship that Dylan develops with Abigail is so interesting.  It gives Dylan the opportunity to re-evaluate her situation and come to realize her life isn't as bad as she believed it was.  The time that Dylan spends with the Dean family is so interesting.  Getting to learn a new viewpoint on the world is a great asset of the book.  While the book ends on a good note, I actually felt sad for Abigail and Asher.  I was hoping all through the book that Dylan would be able to influence Abigail into finding a different life.  Unfortunately, Abigail is devoted to her faith and the story ends with her devotion intact.  I would love to see what happens to Dylan and Asher in the future.  Bloss definitely left me wanting more on these two characters at the end of the book.

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction/Coming of Age

Interest Level: age 12 and up

Related Books: Relative Strangers by Jean Ferris; Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden; Best Foot Forward by Joan Bauer

Reader’s Advisory:

When Dylan finds herself an outcast in her high school, she reaches out to find a new identity through blogging.  Blogging shows her a world she would have never experienced otherwise.

Author’s Website: http://josiebloss.com/

56) Dead End in Norvelt

Bibliography: Gantos, Jack; Dead End in Norvelt; Farrar Straus Giroux; New York; 2011; 341 pages; ISBN 978-0-374-37993-3.

Plot: Eleven year old Jack Gantos’ plans for an awesome summer are put on hold when he accidentally shoots his father’s Japanese sniper.  However, Jack has played with this rifle before and he knows all about gun safety, so how did a bullet get into the gun?  To get Jack out of the house, his mother loans him out to the neighbor, Mrs. Volker, who suffers from horrible arthritis and needs someone to pen the town obituaries.  Even though his mother thought working for Mrs. Volker will be even more punishment, Jack actually enjoys his job and gets to learn more about his favorite topic, history.  A gang of Hell’s Angels moves into town and before too long, it seems like someone is poisoning the original resident’s of Norvelt.  Surprisingly, this ends up being one of the most memorable summers of Jack’s life.

Review:  This novel is loosely based on true events that happened to Jack Gantos growing up in Norvelt, Pennsylvania.  Even though he is grounded for life, Jack is able to still experience some great changes that are happening in his town.  He is growing up in a town that was founded by Eleanor Roosevelt during the Great Depression.  However, the town is no longer prospering and is slowly being run into the ground.  There are a small few residents that were around when Mrs. Roosevelt first developed the town and are content to see it stay the way it is, including Mrs. Volker.  Mrs. Volker is determined to make sure that Norvelt will remain.  When the original members of the town start dying though it seems that her wishes will not last much longer. 

Jack is a very peculiar kid.  Since there are very few new members of Norvelt, he is one of a very small number of youngsters in the town.  He loves history and spends most of his time being grounded reading history books that his mother gets for free from the school.  He also has an issue with nose bleeds.  Anytime he gets scared or startled it starts flowing like a river down his face.

This is a very interesting novel.  Since it is loosely based on true events, the reader will be interested in guessing what is true and what is fiction.  The mystery part of this novel eluded me.  I kept waiting for more suspense, but I was let down.  I would actually suggest this novel to readers looking for humor.

Genre: Humor/Coming of Age/Historical/Mystery

Interest Level: age 9-12

Related Books: The Teacher’s Funeral by Richard Peck; Grounded by Kate Klise; Okay for Now by Gary D Schmidt.

Awards:

ALA Notable Children's Books - Older Readers Category: 2012

Newbery Medal: 2012

Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Award

Author Information: http://www.jackgantos.com/

55) The Wednesday Wars

Bibliography: Schmidt, Gary D; The Wednesday Wars; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Boston/New York; 2007; 264 pages; ISBN 978-0-547-23760-2

Plot: Holling Hoodhood has just started seventh grade and his teacher, Mrs. Baker hates him.  On Wednesday afternoons Catholic students go to Catechism class and Jewish students go to Hebrew class.  Unfortunately, Holling is Presbyterian and will be the only remaining student for Mrs. Baker to look after. The first few Wednesdays Mrs. Baker makes Holling do classroom chores including cleaning erasers, cleaning the coat room, and cleaning out the rat cage.  Unfortunately, the rats get loose and Mrs. Baker realizes that Holling should learn something during the time they have together and assigns him Shakespeare plays.  Despite Holling’s first impression of Mrs. Baker, it doesn’t take long for the two to become close friends.  Taking place during the Vietnam War, readers will get a firsthand look at the issues that U.S citizens faced. 

Review:  This is a great story.  There is humor, drama, and a real life family dynamic.  Readers will be able to relate to Holling.  He is under the impression that his teacher hates him, just because of his inability to choose his religion.  When the story starts, Holling is forced to clean erasers and run various errands for Mrs. Baker.  It seems that he really is being tortured by Mrs. Baker when she makes him clean out the rat cage.  Despite his best efforts the rats escape and end up living in the ceiling tiles.  This is the first time readers see the vulnerability of Mrs. Baker.  It’s refreshing to see, since most teachers try to show they are infallible. 

Eventually, Mrs. Baker decides that the chores are doing nothing to break down Holling’s spirit and thinks that learning Shakespeare will help.  Holling is forced to read several plays by Shakespeare with Mrs. Baker instead of the chores, however, he ends up enjoying the various characters of the plays and he thinks that he has beat Mrs. Baker at her own game.  Through their Wednesday’s together, Mrs. Baker and Holling develop a deep kinship.  She helps him train for the cross country tryouts and he helps her get through the hardship of having a loved one away at war.  By the time the novel ends, readers will realize the impression a great teacher can make on a person’s life. 

This is a humorous novel, with glimpses into the impact the Vietnam War made on America.  Readers will be touched by the relationship between Holling and his friends, including Mrs. Baker.  They will also find themselves cheering for Holling as he fights to discover his true identity.

Genre: Coming of Age/Historical/Humor

Interest Level: age 9 to 12

Related Books: Where Have all the Flowers Gone? By Ellen Emerson White; The Agony of Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor; War & Watermelon by Rich Wallace.

Awards: 

Newberry Honor Book: 2008

ALA Notable Children's Books - Older Readers Category: 2008

Booklist Editors' Choice - Books for Youth - Older Readers Category: 2007

Oprah's Kids' Reading Lists - New Releases: 12 Years and Up

Texas Lone Star Reading Lists: 2008

Author Information: http://www.hmhbooks.com/schmidt/

54) Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicholson

Bibliography: Rennison, Louise; Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicholson; Harper Tempest; London; 1999; 234 pages; ISBN 978-0-064-47227-2.

Plot: Georgia Nicolson has fourteen days left before summer holiday ends.  She has to figure out how she is going to wear “natural” looking makeup, fix her unibrow, correct her reputation from a costume party, and help her best friend get the boy of her dreams.  She ends up shaving off her eyebrows right before school starts and wonders if she will have to spend the term locked in her house for eternity.  Right before school starts her brows return and Georgia meets Robbie at a greengrocer.  However, Robbie has a girlfriend and Georgia begins her exploration in having a boyfriend through a couple of boys that only want to “snog.”  The book is told through Georgia’s journal entries, and readers will be laughing at the crazy predicaments that she finds herself in and her crazy family.

Review:  Georgia Nicolson is hilarious and the book reads like a young adult Bridget Jones.  Georgia’s family is enough to drive any tween or teen girl crazy.  Her Uncle and father think they are hilarious and try to include Georgia in their crazy ideas.  Her mother is trying very hard to keep her youth; however, she is only an embarrassment.  Georgia’s cat Angus is part wild and is constantly terrorizing the neighbor’s yappy dog.  Then there is Georgia’s baby sister Libby that is super cute but also a complete handful. 

Just like any other fourteen year old girl, Georgia finds her first crush in Robbie.  Unfortunately, Robbie is older and in a relationship.  Georgia refers to Robbie’s girlfriend as a “wet wally.”  Some of the British terms will stop readers, but thankfully there is a dictionary included.  A “wet wally” is defined as a drippy, useless, nerdy idiot that has no clothes sense.  In order to get over Robbie, Georgia starts seeing Peter, who only wants to make out with Georgia.  After Peter, Georgia starts seeing Mark who is another boy interested in nothing more than kissing.  Just when Georgia realizes that boys aren’t all that they are cracked up to be, she starts having to deal with friend trouble. 

Readers will love this book and luckily the first novel ends quite abruptly, making readers anxious to see what happens next. 

Genre: Humor/Coming of Age

Interest Level: age 12 and up

Related Books: Truth or Diary by Catherine Clark; The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot; Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen by Dyan Sheldon.

Awards:

Printz Honor Book for 2001

Nestle’ Smarties Book Prize

Series Information: This is the first book in a ten book series about Georgia Nicolson.

Author Information: http://www.georgianicolson.com/meet.html