A Great and Terrible Beauty

A Great and Terrible Beauty (First in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy) by Libba Bray

High school students who enjoy fantacy fiction will delight in the way the girls escape their ordinary lives in Victorian London, for the majical, and occassionalyy dangerous world of the "realms". A Great and Terrible Beauty will especially appeal to teenage girls who are stuggling to create an identity that lets them be comfortable in their own skin. whenyellowleaves

School Library Journal An interesting combination of fantasy, light horror, and historical fiction, with a dash of romance thrown in for good measure. On her 16th birthday, Gemma Doyle fights with her mother. She wants to leave India where her family is living, runs off when her mother refuses to send her to London to school, has a dreadful vision and witnesses her mother's death. Two months later, Gemma is enrolled in London's Spence School, still troubled by visions, and unable to share her grief and guilt over her loss. She gradually learns to control her vision and enter the "realms" where magical powers can make anything happen and where her mother waits to instruct her. Gradually she and her new friends learn about the Order, an ancient group of women who maintained the realms and regulated their power, and how two students unleashed an evil creature from the realms by killing a Gypsy girl. Gemma uncovers her mother's connection to those events and learns what she now must do. The fantasy element is obvious, and the boarding-school setting gives a glimpse into a time when girls were taught gentility and the importance of appearances. The author also makes a point about the position of women in Victorian society. Bray's characters are types--Felicity, clever and powerful; Ann, plain and timid; Pippa, beautiful and occasionally thoughtless; Gemma, spirited and chafing under society's rules. --Lisa Prolman, Greenfield Public Library, MA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Rebel Angels

Rebel Angels (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy Book #2)

by Libba Bray

Even if fantacy fiction isn't your genre, you'll enjoy this story about young girls who dare to venture into the unknown for a cuase larger than themselves.

whenyellowleaves

From School Library Journal– At the end of A Great and Terrible Beauty (Delacorte, 2003), Gemma Doyle was determined to rebuild the Order and find and destroy Circe. Now the teen finds that she must do one more thing–find the Temple and bind the magic she released into the realms when she destroyed the runes. Her task will not be easy; Kartik and the Rakshana have their own plans, which threaten her; a mysterious new teacher may be Circe; and Christmas in London challenges the careful facades that Gemma and her friends Ann and Felicity have built. Dark things are stirring within the realms, including a possibly corrupted Pippa, and the only guides are Gemma's horrifying visions of three girls and the gibberish of a girl confined to Bedlam. Like the first volume, this is a remarkable fantasy steeped in Victorian sensibility; even as the girls fight to bind the magic, they are seduced by London society and the temptation to be proper young ladies. Gemma and her friends are pitch perfect as young women in a world poised for change, uncertain of their places. In many ways, this volume surpasses the first. The writing never falters, and the revelations (such as Felicity's childhood of abuse, discreetly revealed) only strengthen the characters. Clever foreshadowing abounds, and clues to the mystery of Circe may have readers thinking they have figured everything out; they will still be surprised. This volume does not stand alone; however, any collection that doesn't already have the first should just get both volumes.–Karyn N. Silverman, Elizabeth Irwin High School, New York City Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time

by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Three Cups of Tea makes you want to leap out of your chair and discover how you can change the world. It begins slowly but ends with a very enthusiastic...YES! Everyone who cares about this earth should read this book.

whenyellowleaves

From BooklistOn a 1993 expedition to climb K2 in honor of his sister Christa, who had died of epilepsy at 23, Mortenson stumbled upon a remote mountain village in Pakistan. Out of gratitude for the villagers' assistance when he was lost and near death, he vowed to build a school for the children who were scratching lessons in the dirt. Raised by his missionary parents in Tanzania, Mortenson was used to dealing with exotic cultures and developing nations. Still, he faced daunting challenges of raising funds, death threats from enraged mullahs, separation from his family, and a kidnapping to eventually build 55 schools in Taliban territory. Award-winning journalist Relin recounts the slow and arduous task Mortenson set for himself, a one-man mission aimed particularly at bringing education to young girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Readers interested in a fresh perspective on the cultures and development efforts of Central Asia will love this incredible story of a humanitarian endeavor. Vanessa BushCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reviews:

An inspiring chronicle . . . this is one protagonist who clearly deserves to be called a hero. -- People Magazine Greg Mortenson’s dangerous and difficult quest . . . is not only a thrilling read, it’s proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world. -- Tom Brokaw Mortenson’s mission is admirable, his conviction unassailable, his territory exotic. -- The Washington Post

No Choirboy by Susan Kuklin

No Choirboy: Murder, Violence and Teenagers on Death Row Book Trailer

by Susan Kuklin

Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles

Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles

Caleb Becker just got released from Juvenile Detention, after doing time for driving drunk, hitting a pedestrian and leaving the scene of a crime. He's hoping to return to his life and be a normal teen. Maggie Armstrong is trying to leave Paradise, after being maimed by Caleb and spending a year in rehab. She would like to be anonymous and pretend that she is normal. They are thrust together in a strange turn of events. Told in alternating chapters, can these two get back some level of normal or will they need to leave Paradise?
An Abraham Lincoln Nominee 2010.

The Heretic's Daugther-by Kathleen Kent

I thought this book was a nice companion piece to The Scarlet Letter. It was interesting and paints a vivid picture of Salem, Mass. in 1692.--J.Asmus

School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Told from the point of view of young Sarah, the daughter of one of the first women to be accused, tried, and hanged as a witch in Salem, this novel paints a vivid and disturbing picture of Puritan New England life. Based on fact and the author's family history, the story portrays Martha, Sarah's mother, as a strong-willed nonconformist who knows she is a target of the zealots who pit family members against one another with their false accusations. All but one of the siblings end up imprisoned with their mother, and much of the story is told from the inhumane and corruptly run jail. When Martha is finally executed, her husband "would stand for all of us so that when she closed her eyes for the last time, there would be a counterweight of love against the overflowing presence of vengeance and fear." History is brought to life as readers learn of the strength of Martha's convictions and the value she places on her conscience. They will also appreciate the themes of family love, repression, intolerance, and persecution in this beautifully written and compelling first novel.-Jane Ritter, Mill Valley School District, CA

Leaving Paradise
By Simone Elkeles

"A romance and tragi-tale bursting out of these pages--pick up a copy and read! "

"Please sit down Caleb," orders a woman wearing glasses and a stern look on her face..."I swear the scene is out of a bad movie. Seven people sitting behind six foot long tables in front of one lone metal chair. "Meeting with is parole officer Damon, he is instructed to not contact his victim. Wasn't he a victim too? Of course he bumps into Maggie, now "crippled" by the hit and run accident where he was found guilty of driving under the influence, hand-cuffed and incarcerated as a juvie for one year.
From Maggie's perspective, since the accident she has a limp, she no longer is an athlete and loses a scholarship to go to Spain where she wanted to "get away" from Paradise. She used to eat lunch with the popular girls and now she is a loner. She no longer is friends with Leah, Caleb's sister, who has turned Goth since the accident. She and Leah used to be friends. They used to see each other every day. But Leah is Caleb's sister---Caleb who hit her, Caleb who was once her secret crush is now the one she hates!
Everything has changed since the accident and now the tension of Caleb being released from jail after only one year is mounting in her and in the community of Paradise. Will things get back to normal?
Can Maggie and can Caleb every hope for things to get back to normal in Paradise? Will he have to leave Paradise? Will she? How can it when he is forbidden to contact her but circumstances by chance bring these two together despite their efforts to avoid one another? When Caleb's community service and Maggie's after-school "job" happen to bring them together under Mrs. Richards roof they begin a journed to heal through Mrs. Richards guidance. She has a different outlook from others. A book about forgiveness and its ability to help individuals restore their lives and hope.

Something extra: Want to chat about the book? Go to the author's website--its awesome! Go to the "Official Simone Elkeles Discussion Group", create a log in and participate in a discussion with the author----couldn't be better!

Genre: Fiction-Realistic Fiction, Romance-Fiction, Alcohol-Fiction, Handicap-Fiction, High School-Fiction, Self-esteem-fiction, even includes some sports, elderly characters and family relationships.