The Declaration, by Gemma Malley

It’s the year 2140 and Longevity drugs have all but eradicated old age. A never-aging society can’t sustain population growth, however…which means Anna should never have been born. Nor should any of the children she lives with at Grange Hall. The facility is full of boys and girls whose parents chose to have kids—called surpluses—despite a law forbidding them from doing so. These children are raised as servants, and brought up to believe they must atone for their very existence. Then one day a boy named Peter appears at the Hall, bringing with him news of the world outside, a place where people are starting to say that Longevity is bad, and that maybe people shouldn’t live forever. Peter begs Anna to escape with him, but Anna’s not sure who to trust: the strange new boy whose version of life sounds like a dangerous fairy tale, or the familiar walls of Grange Hall and the head mistress who has controlled her every waking thought? Chilling, poignant, and endlessly though-provoking, The Declaration is a powerful debut that will have readers agonizing over Anna’s fate until the very last page. ones we follow.


Thought-provoking and intense. The characters are developed to the point that I was rooting for some and wanted to give others a piece of my mind. Teens will gravitate to this one because it’s something that could happen, and because it’s easy to like Anna, even when she’s not standing up for herself. This one reminds us that the paths we’re placed on don’t have to be the ones we follow.

**I think it could be paired well with Unwind (Shusterman). The whole value of life debate.

Get Well Soon, by Julie Halpern

Anna Bloom is depressed—so depressed that her parents have committed her to a mental hospital with a bunch of other messed-up teens. Here she meets a roommate with a secret (and a plastic baby), a doctor who focuses way too much on her weight, and a cute, shy boy who just might like her.

But wait! Being trapped in a loony bin isn’t supposed to be about making friends, losing weight, and having a crush, is it?

In her fiction debut, Julie Halpern finds humor in the unlikeliest of places, and presents a character whose voice-and heart-will resonate with all of us who have ever felt just a little bit crazy.

I described this to my assistant as sort of an anti-Hopkins (Crank, Burn, etc.). Anna is real and honest and funny. I wish I had a wit like hers sometimes. The other characters are great—just as diverse as teenagers in a hospital like this should be. The problems they have come in with are legitimate. I love to see that not every teen with emotional issues is portrayed at the far ends of the spectrum—Anna is just depressed, she’s not cutting or being physically destructive. It does provide some hope and you do see that Anna sees the changes in herself. My only complaint is that all the kids seem to think, and never get past it, that they are there only because someone else (parents) wasn't willing to put up with them and their problems.

It would be GREAT paired with Hopkins’ Impulse. Contrasting the darker side vs the lighter side of being sent to a mental hospital.

Derby Girl by Shauna Cross

Meet Bliss Cavendar, a blue haired, indie-rock loving misfit stuck in the tiny town of Bodeen, Texas.

Her pageant-addicted mother expects her to compete for the coveted Miss Blue Bonnet crown, but Bliss would rather feast on roaches than be subjected to such rhinestone tyranny.

Bliss’ escape? Take up Roller Derby.

When she discovers a league in nearby Austin, Bliss embarks on an epic journey full of hilarious tattooed girls, delicious boys in bands, and a few not-so-awesome realities even the most bad-butt** derby chick has to learn.

(**I had to edit this phrase for language.)

Okay, I have to say it....I LOVE Bliss. She's funny, sarcastic, irreverent (not in a bad way)--she's an edgy chick in an un-edgy world. What punk girl doesn't want to push the envelope, and if you've ever seen Roller Derby--oh my "push" the envelope doesn't begin to describe them! Yet, Bliss is still just a teenage girl with all the emotions and issues.

This is a wonderful choice for reluctant readers. "Outsiders" will grab this one because Bliss is an outsider, too.

Breathe My Name, by R.A. Nelson

I need to see you.

Please come right away.

We have to finish.

Frances Robinson is in high school now. She lives a quiet, suburban life, far from her horrifying past. When she was a child, her birthmother smothered her three sisters. Through pure luck, Frances survived. Now her mother has just been released from prison . . . and she wants to see Frances.
A new boy at school called Nix charms Frances. Together, Nix and Frances embark on a clandestine journey to visit Frances' mother: to confront the monster in its lair. This trip will help Frances at last find peace-or die trying. But no matter what, Frances will discover just what it means to finish.

The intensity of the story line, coupled with a teenager’s real struggle to find herself will grab readers. The characters are well-defined and aren’t static. Even those who aren’t prime players are real and appropriate.

And I just like Frances and Nix. He's good for her when she most needs to have a strong and calming force. She's struggling to find out who she was and what that means to who she is today--and that the two aren't necessarily synonymous.

Library2Play--Thing #7, AISDCL20 #18

Google Tools and Apps

I love Google. I hate to say it..really, there's a part of me that cringes at the thought of admitting it to you, but I do love Google.

It's because I prefer my students not "google" their research. I'm a librarian, though, and I know how, well...academically dangerous googling can be. So, I push the databases that my campus subscribes to and has available. I tell them that I don't want them to go to Google the first day they're in the library researching for their projects, if it can be avoided. (Because I do realize that sometimes it can't be.) And, then, I teach them how to Google (or use Yahoo, or Dogpile, or MSN Live Search, or whatever.)

But I do suggest GoogleTools to my students. I use Google Notebook for myself at home. Honestly, that was how I started my own "jacked-up" version of an RSS feed. Then I learned about Blogrolling and then Internet Explorer came with a bookmark section just for feeds! WHEEEE! There's too many good things around!

What I really like about the Notebook though is that You can get a screen shot, and can make notes as to why you bothered to clip that info. With my bookmarks, and sometimes the RSS feeds, I go back and wonder what I was thinking when I decided to save that page. I did create a couple of new notebooks, under the guise of the "Mean Old Library Teacher." One is for things I run across while participating in Library2Play. The other is for things I collect to use while serving on the Facilities Committee for the new high school we'll be building. Both will be linked in my sidebar under "Place to go."

I opted to look at Google Scholar for the second part of this discovery activity. Of all the Google apps and tools, this is the only one I felt I had much use for that I hadn't played with yet. I like it pretty well, but feel like I might get more immediate useable information through my databases. Or that I can't print what I've pulled up. It was nice to pull up a book abstract and have it provide places to purchase the title--since not everything can be purchased on Amazon. (ssssshhhh...don't let them hear me say that!) So, while there's pros to using Google Scholar, there are cons. I think I'll stick with my databases for scholarly research.