The Giver by Lois Lowry is about a boy named Jonas.  Jonas is growing up in a society where there is no color or feelings.  It is a society where you do as your told and obey the rules or you will be released.  Each person is given  their assignment at age 12 which is what they will du for the rest of their lives.  A mate is chosen for them and two children a boy and a girl are chosen for them.  Jonas finds out at his assignment that he will be the Reciever of Memory.  Jonas is overwhelmed by the memories that he recieves.  The reciever of Memories has all the memories of the people the good and the bad.  The others in the society do not have feelings, see color or have memories.  One day the Reciever who is training Jonas allows him to see his father release a newborn twin baby boy right after it is born.  He then realizes that releasing means that the  his father kills the baby.  Jonas is distraught.  He then takes the baby that his family had been nurturing and runs away.  The book ends and Jonas and the baby are near death yet you do no know if they find the place they are looking for.

The book kept me interested and wanting to know what exactly was going to happen next.  I did not get what was meant by being released until Jonas watched his father.  The worst was that I want the book to have an ending, even though this ending should make me think about the different ways it could end.

Dear Juno by Soyung Pak is a story of a young Korean boy whose grandmother still lives in Korea.  His grandmother sends him letters, but he cannot read Korean.  His grandmother sends him a picture and a dried flower.  He knows she has a new cat from the picture and has a flower garden from the dried flower.  Juno sends his grandmother pictures that he draws.  From his pictures grandmother knows he wants her to visit.  She then sends him a small airplane letting him know she is coming to see him.
This would be a great book to show students that there is many ways to communicate with other people.

 

Frankie is a girl who blossoms into a real smart and imaginative lady in The disreputable History of Frakie Landau-Banks.  E. Lockhart writes a story about Frankie who goes from a girl that noticed to dating the most popular guy at the private boarding school that she attends.  Frankie wants to be more to Matthew than just a pretty girl on his arm.  Frankie finds out that Matthew is a member of the Bassett Hounds a secret all male society.    She then secretly infiltrates the Bassett Hounds and masterminds pranks all over the campus.  Frankie's charactar is a strong female who believes that she  is capable of anything.  There are a lot of interesting relationships in this book.  I am sure that Frankie even though a good role model is not always correct in how she treats everyone.  Still a good book for young girls to read.

Juana and Lucus by Juana Medina is a great read.  Juana is a girl form Bogota, Columbia and Lucus is her furry best friend.  Juana finds out that she will be learning English in school, and she is not very excited about it.  She struggles with English and really doesn't see the importance of lerning it.  Then she finds out that if she does well that she will get to go to Spaceland in the United States.  With the help of her family and Lucus she conquers Engish and does a great job while in the United States.  The book is sprinkled with Spanish words with are easy to figure out.  
Juana is a funny child and she reminds me some of Romona in Beezus and Ramona.  

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher is a interesting book.  TJ is multiracial boy who is being raised by adoptive parents.  He attends a mostly white school and has issues with the jocks at the school.  This book show how bullies can can affect students.  TJ starts a swimming team to help out one of his favorite teachers.  This book shows the struggle of TJ personally and and with the jocks as he stand for what he believes in.  It is a humorous book yet, it is about some serious issues.  This is definitely a book for older students I would say high school. I again, was not really prepared for the ending of this book.  
I was personally interested in this story because i have raised a son that we adopted.  My son is bi-racial and we were very lucky that he never encountered problems like TJ when he was growing up. 

The Fault in Our Stars was written by John Green.  The love story of two teenagers Hazel and Augustus.  It is not an ordinary love story but a story about love and cancer.  The two meet at a cancer support group meeting and become friends.  The book is about their journey as they fall in love and battle cancer.  Their emotions and the connections to their family as they come to terms together yet in different ways with their illness.  The book is tearfull yet amusing at the same time.  I liked reading their stories and felt connections to each person.  I just wish the book had ended differently.  

I have never rode in a city bus.  Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de le Pena takes you to that seat on the city bus.  From the bus driver to the blind man and his dog you see what CJ and his grandmother see.  As CJ and his grandmother journey from church to the soup kitchen you listen to  CJ question his grandmother and you love her answers.  This a a great book to use to show students that we all have something to offer those less fortunate.