The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp
Sutter Keely lives in the moment. He spends most days of his senior year cutting class, drinking whiskey and smoking pot with his best friend Ricky, cruising around town, and enjoying the beauty that life has to offer. Most days are spectacular. When beautiful Cassidy dumps him because he can’t even follow her simple request to think about her feelings before he does something, he’s a little bit lost. On top of that, Ricky begins dating Bethany, who doesn’t find a lot of humor in Sutter’s drunken antics. Luckily for Sutter, there’s Aimee, the girl who finds him sleeping on a neighbor’s lawn early one morning and offers to help him find his car. As the two learn more and more about each other’s lives, an emotional attraction forms; only Sutter knows that it’s not going to last.
This National Book Award finalist offers some truly spectacular writing. Sutter seems to have a way with words that is both charming and frustrating. :: For concerned adults, the alcohol abuse is part of Sutter’s life, but it certainly isn’t glorified or condoned by his friends or his family. In many ways, Sutter knows that he is the one sabotaging his own future and his own happiness. ::
This book serves a dose of deep, with a light, accessible presentation, and should be recommended to all high school readers.
Sweethearts by Sara Zarr
Cameron Quick was Jennifer Harris’s only friend. They stood by each other when other kids called them weird (Cameron) or fat (Jennifer), and they really believed that they didn’t need anyone else in order to be perfectly content. One day in third grade, Jennifer goes to Cameron’s house after school, and what Cameron’s dad makes them do changes both of their lives. And then Cameron and his dad disappear. The kids at school tell Jennifer that Cameron is dead, and Jennifer has no options left except to become Jenna and be a survivor. But what has really become of Cameron?
Sweethearts is, in many ways, a typical teen problem novel. But rather than being overly-dramatic or stuffed too chock-full of issues, there is nothing in this story that exists just to shock readers or pull at their heartstrings. Instead of focusing on the “issues,” this story is about how Cameron and Jenna live their everyday lives, dealing with any problems in the best ways they can, and learning to live with or without each other.
The Compound by S. A. Bodeen
Are you prepared in the case of a nuclear disaster? An escape route, food, shelter, and ensured safety for all of your loved ones? Billionaire Rex Yanakakis, head of “the biggest computer manufacturer and software developer in the world,” has thought of everything. The Compound is an underground shelter built specifically for the Yanakakis family, a pretty close replication of the mansion that existed in their lives before the nuclear attack. One thing that Rex didn’t count on, though, was leaving his son Eddy, Eli’s twin brother, behind.
At fifteen, Eli has survived six years in the Compound. He’s let his hair grow long so that it covers his face, he refuses to touch anyone or be touched by anyone in his family, and he barely talks to anyone if he can help it. He misses Eddy, is reproachful of his sisters, and seriously distrusts his father, who is withdrawn, erratic, and secretive. When Eli discovers a connection to the outside through wireless internet access, everything changes. What if there was no nuclear disaster? What if Eddy and Gram are still alive and well? What if this was all just a game?
This title will certainly appeal to fans of Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life As We Knew It and the dead & the gone, Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games, and other apocalyptic fiction. There are plot twists that may be upsetting to some readers, but many will be enthralled by this action-packed survival adventure. The underlying reality of the whole scenario is disturbingly exciting.
Katherine Vasilik, Teen Librarian
Franklin Lakes (NJ) Public Library
tel: 201-891-2224 x105
fax: 201-891-5102
email: vasilik@bccls.org or kate_thelibrarian@yahoo.com
blog: http://katethelibrarian.blogspot.com