The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

The Plot

Junior is a Spokane Indian living on the rez. He's intelligent, creative, and a decent athlete. However, everyone he knows is pretty much a poor, hopeless drunk without prospects. When he decides to leave the reservation to go to school in a middle class white farming town in the hopes of following his dream of becoming a cartoonist, the tribe turns on him, including his best friend. Even as Junior starts to succeed in his new environment, tragedy after tragedy bring him to the realization that it's possible to move forward while still keeping your roots.

The Review

Both tragic and hilarious, the story is engaging from the very beginning. Teens will resonate with Junior's feelings of physical inadequacy and his status as the rez punching bag. The repeated sexual references will raise red flags with conservative readers, however.

The Details

• Age Range: 12 and up 
• Grade Level: 7 and up
• Lexile Measure: 600L
• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (April 1, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0316013692

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

The Plot

Sean Kendrick knows horses, whether they're the thoroughbreds he trains for wealthy kingpin Benjamin Malvern or the magical and ferocious capaill uisce that come from the sea and are ridden in the annual Scorpio Races. On the back of Corr, Malvern's prize water horse and Sean's best friend, Sean's won the race four times out of the last six. He rides because he loves it and because it's the closest he can come to owning the animal. When Malvern promises Sean a chance to buy Corr if Sean wins the race, it seems his dreams may finally come true.

Puck Connolly, on the other hand, lost both her parents to the fearsome water horses. When the impending loss of both her home and her brother force her to enter the races, she decides to run on her own small horse, Dove. Facing opposition both for her choice of mount and her gender, she finds an unlikely ally in Sean, who speaks for her. As the two train together, the two outsiders discover a kinship that blossoms into something deeper. In a race where horses and men die, will Puck and Sean be able to keep each other safe and still get what they need?

The Review

Written in alternating chapters from both Sean and Puck's perspectives, the novel is only a fantasy in the sense that the water horses of the Scorpio races are mythological creatures with roots in Manx, Irish, and Scottish fairy lore. The rest of the novel's world is ordinary, and yet magical in the way that only good descriptive writing can make it. While the novel's racing sequences are gripping, what stays with you are the love stories: the love of a boy and girl, their love for their horses, and their love of the difficult place they call home. The only jarring note is the sudden and unsatisfying ending, which leaves a few too many questions unanswered.

The Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks; Reprint edition (April 1, 2013)
• Age Range: 12+
• ISBN-10: 0545224918

ParaNorman (Feature Film)

The Plot

Norman is a middle school student with an unusual problem: he can see and talk to ghosts. When his dead uncle comes to warn him that a local legend about a wicked witch and zombie pilgrims is actually true, it's up to Norman to save the town.

The Review

The movie is full of typical stock characters: an alienated but gifted protagonist, a dumpy dopey sidekick, a brain-dead bully, a kind but clueless mother, and an embarrassed and belligerent father. The hunky, slightly meat-headed quarterback who Norman's sister has a crush on is the only surprising character when it turns out at the end of the movie that he's gay. For the most part, the movie embraces its cliches and tries to make itself into a campy spoof of the monster movie genre. Sometimes it's successful, sometimes it's just annoying. Sensitive viewers may be disturbed by some of the grosser or more startling scenes.

The Details

Rating: PG
Length: 92 minutes
Release Date: 17 August 2012
Awards: Oscar Nomination

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

The Plot

Harriet M. Welsch, an eleven year-old living in New York in the late 1960's, is an aspiring spy. She's assigned herself families to watch and takes copious notes about the daily occurrences in her life and the lives of those around her. Some of those notes are kind, but most are not. Initially, her nurse, Ole Golly, provides much-needed guidance to temper Harriet's overly honest curiosity. However, when Ole Golly moves away and Harriet's notebook falls into the wrong hands, Harriet must learn to deal with the consequences of having people know what you really think about everything.

The Review

Fitzhugh does an excellent job creating rich, three dimensional characters. Filled with subtle humor and deep insights about a tween learning about the human condition, it's no wonder that the book has enjoyed more than 30 years' worth of popularity.

That being said, there are some things that date the material. Obviously, the slang is archaic, but what really sticks out are the attitudes toward bullying and character defamation. In today's world of zero-tolerance and lawsuits, particularly as they pertain to public forums like Facebook, that aspect of the novel needs careful handling by conscientious adults who will talk to their tweens about what constitutes appropriate behavior.

The Details

• Age Range: 8 - 12 years
• Grade Level: 3 - 7
• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Yearling (May 8, 2001)
• ISBN-10: 0440416795

A Step from Heaven by An Na

The Plot

Young Ju's family immigrates to the US from Korean when she's young in the hopes of escaping to a better life. However, moving to the states only exacerbates a lot of the problems. As she grows up, Young Ju faces a lot of the challenges that confront immigrant children, such as their parents' confusing expectation that they be successful in their new country while not losing their culture of origin or having to liaise and translate in an English-speaking adult world and then submit to their elders, even if the older family member doesn't fully understand the situation. In the end, Young Ju and her family not only survive, but thrive in their new environment.

The Review

The writing is beautiful with short chapters that read more like poems than prose. The story itself is a little bleak. There isn't enough to humor to lighten the horror of Young Ju's abusive drunken father or the pain of knowing that, as a girl, she will never be enough for him.

Given that the main bulk of the story is so dreary, the ending seems unrealistically happy-ever-after. Young Ju's brother's drug problem and behavior issues as well as the family's seemingly unsurmountable status as working poor magically vanish at the end.

Because of the violence and substance abuse issues, I'd be hesitant to recommend this one to younger teens and tweens.

The Details

• Age Range: 12 - 16 years
• Grade Level: 7 - 11
• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Speak (January 13, 2003)
• ISBN-10: 0142500275