Head Games

Does My Head Look Big In This?
Randa Abdel-Fattah

Orchard Books 2007

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Read it if: You're in middle or high school, love your friends, Cosmo Magazine and coffee shops, and are thinking about issues of spirituality and difference.

Best for: Girls who are looking for a quick read that's funny and thoughtful

If you like it try:  

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicholson by Louise Rennison

Rating: 2.5/5

While watching Friends on the last week of vacation, Amal has an epiphany: she wants to start wearing her hijab full time. Amal Nasrullah Abdel-Hakim is like every other student starting the eleventh grade - scared about how hard the next year is going to be, devoted to her friends, trying to get her crush to notice her and thinking about what she wants to do with her life. But on top of those concerns, Amal is also navigating how to be a devote Muslim in an Australian community where her faith is often misunderstood and mistrusted, despite her being born and raised there. Often lighthearted, but unafraid to tackle heavy subjects, this is the story of a girl trying to do what she feels is right in a complicated world.

Although I feel the term is both misused and overused, this book is probably best classified as "Chick-Lit". It has the light tone and pop-culture referencing of the genre. It also has a focus on friendships, relationships and personal trials and tribulations. What makes this novel unique rather than formulaic is the portrayal of a protagonist who is deeply religious. Amal's first person narrative explores the implications of her following her faith, and how her own decisions affect those around her. Never preachy or patronizing, this book is not didactic - rather, it explores how personal relationships are affected by and interact with a spiritual relationship.  

There were times where I wanted this novel to go further and explore the issues it raises more deeply. Some of the conclusions Abdel-Fattah comes to are too pat and easy. The dialogue is often wooden and not indicative of the way high school students actually speak. However, Does My Head Look Big in This also has a major strength: it successfully blends the style of popular, light reads for a girl-oriented audience and adds a weighty issue into the mix, creating a read with plenty of food for thought.

Stealing Hearts

The Book Thief
Markus Zusak

Knopf USA 2005

Genre: Historical Fiction

Awards and Recognition: 2007 Michael L. Printz Honor

Read it if: You are looking for a complex and moving historical novel

Best for: Older teens; some violence, mature themes

If you like it, try:

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusack

Lisa by Carol Matas

Rating: 5/5

The winter of 1939 changes everything for Liesel Meminger. Sent to live with a foster family after the death of her younger brother and the ruin of her mother, she arrives in the tiny German city of Molching with two possessions: a small suitcase and The Gravedigger's Handbook, stolen from her brother's graveside. A stranger to the community, grieving her brother and unable to read, the stolen book becomes the catalyst for Liesel's transformation into a book thief. With the help of her chain smoking, accordion playing foster father, Liesel learns to read. Her growing passion for words drives her to find books wherever she can, from Nazi book burnings to private homes.

Amongst the characters on Himmel street, from her gentle foster father and foul mouthed foster mother, to Rudy Stiener, the fast-talking, faster running boy next door, Liesel finds a home and gains a family. As the war wears on and comes closer to the world of Himmel street than she could ever imagine, Liesel learns about the real power words have to free and to enslave.

Markus Zusak's The Book Thief is a powerful, unusual book. Written from the perpective of a German community in World War II, the novel forgoes the usual formula often inherit in WWII historical fiction. A surprising narrator, lyrical style and the most real characters I have read in a long time make this book gripping. Zusak tells a complex story, using thieving as a metaphor to explore life's paradox: what we take, be it books, or friendship or power, we can never really keep.

 Intelligent and difficult in many ways, this book will appeal to readers looking for a provocative, transformative read. The Book Thief won a Printz honor in 2007 and garnered much critical praise when it was released - all of it much deserved.

Welcome to YA Reads

YA Reads is a review site for Young Adult literature. As a Future Librarian, I am keeping this reading log for my Young Adult Services class, to help me understand the huge range of sources available to teens today. I will be reading widely in young adult literature, from romance to sci-fi, historical to hi-lo. I'll also occasionally venture on to magazines, movies and music. Each post will contain a brief summary of the book (no ruining the ending), and evaluative comments that I think might be useful to readers, other librarians, and whoever else might venture through.

Let's talk YA

The criteria I use for evaluation is not scientific by any means. When I'm reading, I look for things like writing style, appeal and content. Mostly I am looking for smart, well written books that I think would connect with teens today (and other readers too! After all, YA is for everyone).  I've rated items from 1-5, one being a really poor resource and five being an excellent one that addresses all the above criteria.

This is an assignment, but its also a blog. So leave comments! Tell me what I should read (or listen to or watch) next! Argue with me about how I undeservedly slammed your favourite YA book, or h

ow I praised something you think is truly awful. Books deserve discussion, so lets start the conversation on the current world of YA.