After
Amy Efaw
Devon doesn’t exactly know what’s happening to her, but she knows it isn’t anything good. She hates screwing up and she’s pretty sure that this time she screwed up big. But she wishes that everyone would leave her alone for now so that she could deal with it later. She’s so tired, and it hurts so much.
This story opens with Devon lying on the couch in the apartment she shares with her mom. She stayed home from school so she’s home when her mom gets in from the graveyard shift at Safeway. She’s still there when the cops knock on the door asking questions about a newborn baby found tied in a garbage bag in the dumpster in the alley behind the apartment building. And she doesn’t move until her mother snatches away the blanket that Devon had wrapped herself in that morning. The blanket that was supposed to absorb some of the blood.
Prepare for a horrifying fictional read based on the very real experiences and situations of some teenage parents of “dumpster babies” throughout the country. And as horrifying as it all is, steel your emotions in order to meet and get to know the sympathetic and sometimes infuriating Devon — the teenage girl who is smart, strong, and terrified. Discover who she is, what she loves, and how she could possibly deny her pregnancy and throw away her baby girl.
Recommended to high school teens and each and every adult.
Page by Paige
Laura Lee Gulledge
Paige Turner (yup, her parents are writers; no pressure) is missing the natural beauty of her Virginia home and isn’t immediately digging the craziness of her new New York City lifestyle. Her parents are concerned that she’s having trouble adjusting to the new environment, but Paige really just wants to be left alone. Armed with her sketchbook, she begins to follow her own rules for survival, starting with an actual social life. And luckily there is a small group of independent-thinking friends willing to take her under its wing.
The story and illustrations found within the pages of this graphic novel are absolutely gorgeous. Getting to know Paige is a pleasure, and the inspiration to find your own way within your unique circumstances is unmistakably endearing. Recommended to all readers, young and old, artist, writer, and observer.
Mission Control, This is Apollo : The Story of the First Voyages to the Moon
Andrew Chaikin
Whether or not you already know some about America’s space missions to and from our moon, here you’ll learn fascinating tidbits of history, science, art, and humankind. Following an introduction of sorts about all that led to the development of the Apollo missions, there is an overview of each Apollo mission, set up from the viewpoint of the astronauts directly involved. Complete with photographs, paintings, and inserts about all sorts of things (like, how do the astronauts go to the bathroom in space?!), the reader is treated to the whole picture of space travel — from before Neil Armstrong’s first step, to the many missions and achievements that followed.
Andrew Chaikin’s words are supported by awesome images of the people, places, and things associated with the Apollo missions as painted by Alan Bean. As the reader learns through an introduction as well as image captions and text within the book, Mr. Bean has spent a good part of his life as text pilot, astronaut, and artist, and was aboard the mission that landed him on the moon’s surface in 1969. Alan Bean’s space suit and many more artifacts from the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions can be seen at the National Air and Space Museum.
Recommended for all ages: to learn the most interest things about space travel and the moon, and to gain the motivation to discover even more.
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Katherine Vasilik, A/YA Librarian
Piscataway (NJ) Public Library
telephone: 732-463-1633 x6
email: kvasilik@piscatawaylibrary.org or kate_thelibrarian@yahoo.com
blog: http://katethelibrarian.blogspot.com
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