Fairy Tale By Cyn Balog

Fairy Tale by Cyn Balog is about a girl named Morgan who has the talent to look into the future. This talent is extremely helpful when guessing the score of her boyfriend's football game, but when she sees herself gasping at something on his back, she becomes very concerned. It turns out that Cameron, her boyfriend, has two growths coming out of his back. They are fairy wings.

Cameron finds out that he is actually a fairy that was switched when he was a baby, and now he has to go back into the fairy world to rule his kingdom. Cameron is surrounded by fairy keepers, trying to keep him safe while he changes before his sixteenth birthday, but Morgan is set on keeping him in the human world.

I would use this book in my classroom because I thought it was very interesting and kept my attention. I probably would not actually teach from this book, but I would have it available in a classroom library. The great thing about this book has fantasy themes in it, but it is not overbearing. I usually do not like fantasy or science fiction books, but I really liked this novel.

Breaking Dawn By Stephanie Meyers !!!Spoilers!!!

The reason I chose to read Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyers was because I needed a motivation to finish reading it. I have read the whole Twilight series and this is the last book. I was having such a hard time finishing it because the first part of the book (the novel is broken up into 3 parts, Bella's story, Jacob's story and the 2nd Part of Bella's story) did not turn out the way I wanted it to. Bella ended up getting married to Edward and Jacob was forced to deal with the situation. Not only did I not like what was happening in the story, but I hated the way the first part was written. It was extremely corny. I honestly could not stand reading the book.

In the second part of the book that focused on Jacob's perspective, Bella becomes pregnant with Edward's child (and because it is part vampire, it is killing her from the inside) and Edward wants Bella to loose the baby so she could live. Edward even gives Jacob permission to have sex with Bella, because she clearly wants to get pregnant, Edward just does not want her to have his child. This made me extremely mad, because neither Edward or Jacob asked Bella if it was okay for her to be with Jacob.

I would never teacher this book. I feel that this book out of the whole series would teach young girls that men could treat them like property. The male characters in this story tried to control whether Bella was pregnant, who's child she was pregnant with, and in the end, Jacob's family takes Bella's child away. I loved the series until I read this book, so I am really disappointed in Breaking Dawn.

Tricks By Ellen Hopkins

Tricks by Ellen Hopkins is a novel in verse, like most of Ellen Hopkins books, about five teenagers dealing with the lives surrounding them. The focus in this book seems to be on sex, not only about the sex lives the teenagers have , but also the sex lives and judgments from the people around them.

The reason I started t o read this book was because I loved Identical by Ellen Hopkins. The novels in verse are very quick reads and I thought I would not be disappointed. Unfortunately, this book did not impress me as much as Identical did. I thought that having five very different characters was a little confusing to keep up with. I am bad with keeping characters straight in my head, so it was extremely hard reading this book. I had to constantly go back and see who's story I was reading.

I feel that each individual story in Tricks was very interesting. Even though I was disapointed with this book compared to Identical, it was still a good book. I would not teach it in the classroom because, like a lot of the book I have read, I feel I would have parents knocking at my door angry at me.

Identical By Ellen Hopkins (Spoilers)

Identical written by Ellen Hopkins is the best book I have read this semester! I started reading this book because I desperately wanted to read a novel in verse this semester, but I did not want to read the same book everyone else in my class was reading. I chose Ellen Hopkins because, unfortunately, she was the only author I could find in the book store who wrote in verse.

This novel is about twin sisters who are connected not only because they are twins but also in the thoughts they have (as we see in the connection in words between chapters). Kaelaigh, the twin that is soft spoken and fairly innocent, is sexual, verbally, and physically abused by her father on a regular basis. Kaeleigh is constants battling with gorging on food, cutting herself and trying to find love from her mother.

Raeanne is the polar opposite of her twin. She is tough, trying to find love from many different men becuase she can not find love from her father, and she is very strong. No one can mess with Raeanne without being told off. SHe is constantly trying to look out for her sister and is the only one who knows the families dirty secrets.

This book is extremely graphic, going into details about the sexual abuse Kaeleigh experiences. This is the only thing that makes me question whether I would choose to use this book in a classroom Like Smack, I feel I would get a lot of angry phone calls from parents. However, I think this book would be great to use as a mentor text on how to write in verse. Each poem in this novel is connected and the last word of each chapter is connected to the last word of the first poem in the next chapter. The novel is beautifully written.

I would recommend this book to anyone with the disclaimer that it is almost unbearably graphic.

Ghostgirl By Tonya Hurley

The book Ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley is the book I read after finishing Smack and it was the perfect book to read after such an intense book. Although the novel is about a girl, Charlotte, dropping dead while chasing her crush, Daemon, in her high school, the novel is not a tear jerker. It was hard for me to have very much sympathy for Charlotte while reading this book because I did not like her. She was completely self-centered and ridiculous for most of the book!

However, I feel this book would be perfect for a read-aloud book. It is an easy read and is funny. This novel also deals with teen death, being self-centered, and being lonely. These are conflicts most teenagers have to deal with.

One of the reasons I chose to read this book is because a classmate presented this book in class and the cover looked amazing. This book is a pretty book. The edges of the pages are silver, the cover is really creative and the pages in the book are white, pink and black. Also, this book has a website that is also very creative, including excerpts of the book, fun activities and horoscopes. Everyone should at least check out the link. -- http://www.ghostgirl.com/

Lastly, this book has a sequel, "Ghostgirl Homecoming". It is just as pretty as the first book and I have a very strong urge to read it!

Smack By Melvin Burgess (Spoilers)

The novel Smack written by Melvin Burgess is a story focused on two teenagers in England in the 1980's. The two main characters are named Tar and Gemma. The two are 14 years old and both run away from their parents, but for very different reasons. They meet others who have run away and learn how to squat abandoned houses in order for them to have places for them live. While living on the streets, both Gemma and Tar get hooked on the drug heroine and become "junkies". We learn about their constant battles with the drug and being on their own. The characters, although they feel like they are adults, show how childlike they really are throughout this depressing, yet informative novel.

This novel is extremely graphic. That is why I struggle with the thought about this book being taught in a classroom. I feel that if I tried to teach, i would get a lot of angry phone calls from parents. However, I still feel that this book should be taught. This text gives great examples of writing from many different perspectives because each chapter is from the point of view of a different character.

Another reason I feel that this book should be taught is because it is very informative about the risks of heroine, and drugs in general. We learn how hard it is for a person who gets hooked, to get clean. It is nearly impossible and none of the characters get completely clean in the end. Also, Melvin Burgess researched for this book. he interviewed people who lived on the streets, addicts and dedicated a lot of his time to researching this book. Although Melvin Burgess did not live on the streets himself, he worked hard to make this novel as accurate as possible.

I think it would be really hard to teach this book, but it needs to be done, because this novel is too great to be ignored.

Nothing But the Truth by AVI

Nothing But The Truth written by AVI is book that I would recommend to anyone, especially if you are looking for a quick read. I read the book in a about two hours. The one this that attracted me to this book is that when I flipped through it I noticed that it is a story written in document form. This book is compromised of letters, journals entries, newspaper article, school documents... basically it is filled with wide variety of genres.

The story in this book is about a boy, Philip, and his English teacher, Miss Narwin. Philip is transfered in Miss Narwin's homeroom, but conflict soon rises when Philip starts to hum the "Star-Spangled Banner" even though the rules when it plays over the intercom is to stay silent. Though the reader knows that the event gets blown out of proportion, we do not know who (if anyone) is in the wrong.

This book should be taught to middle school students, and it also should be read by aspiring teachers. I feel that this books give us the sense of what happens in schools with budget cuts, principle who care about how they look rather than their teachers and teachers getting caught up in following rules that may need to be changed.