VIRGINIA READERS' CHOICE ANNOTATIONS

HIGH SCHOOL LIST 2007- 2008
Grades 9-12

Acceleration by Graham McNamee (Random, 2003)                          
Seventeen-year-old Duncan’s summer job is working in the Lost and Found Department of the Toronto Transit Authority. Not too many people come to reclaim their lost hats, scarves, umbrellas, or books, but one brown leather book looks interesting and Duncan begins to read it. He realizes that it’s the diary of a person who is ready to move from torturing animals to stalking women. Duncan tries to track down the potential killer with the help of his friends Vinny and Wayne. Suspense and tense action will keep the reader turning pages quickly! 

The Book Thief  by Marcus Zusak (Knopf, 2006)
Lately a number of protagonists are telling their stories from the grave, following their untimely deaths.  In this novel, it is not the dead protagonist but Death himself who narrates the story of “a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery.”  It’s 1939; the Nazis have assumed control of Molching, Germany.  Death’s work is hard, demanding, and relentless.  While working, Death encounters the book thief—a young girl named Liesel Meminger—yet one more time.  She haunts Death.  What is the connection?  The obsession?  He’ll tell you.  And then, he’ll show you. 

Copper Sun by Sharon Draper (Atheneum, 2006)
Amari is fifteen years old and contemplating marriage when she is kidnapped from her Ashanti village and sold into slavery.  Her perseverance and resourcefulness balance the pain of slavery and human exploitation.  Amari’s escape with an indentured servant and their journey to Fort Moses, Florida, a Spanish colony that gives sanctuary to slaves, succeeds in dramatizing the slave experience. 

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin (Farrar, 2005)
Liz Hall is fifteen years old and looking forward to the perks of “sweet sixteen.” While bicycling to the mall to meet her best friend, she is fatally struck by a taxi.  Is Liz heaven-bound?  No, she’s cruising to Elsewhere—an island populated with beautiful beaches as well as popular rock musicians, Marilyn Monroe, Picasso, Liz’s dead grandmother—all of whom are much younger than they were when they died. What is this place? And why must her next birthday be her fourteenth and not her sixteenth? Liz is bereft:  "You mean I'll never go to college or get married or get big boobs or live on my own or get my driver's license or fall in love?" Can she forget her old life and embrace this new one? This is a humorous yet subtly philosophical novel that beautifully addresses death, grief, loss, acceptance and rebirth. 

Freaky Green Eyes by Joyce Carol Oates (Harper, 2003)
Francesca “Franky” Pierson has accepted the name Freaky Green Eyes, given to her after a harrowing experience involving a boy at a party when she discovers her inner strength.  The daughter of a former football star and famous broadcaster, she cannot understand her parents’ break-up, separation, or her mother’s reluctance to accept her father’s success.  She even closes her eyes to her father’s controlling and abusive personality by siding with him during her parents’ break-up.  When her mother and her male friend show up missing, Franky must reawaken her “Freaky Green Eyes” personality by opening her eyes to the fact that her father’s abuse has led to murder.   

Inexcusable by Chris Lynch (Simon and Schuster, 2006)
When others disappoint Keir, it’s “inexcusable.”  But he excuses everything that he does by telling himself that he’s a good guy, so it couldn’t possibly be his fault.  Keir rammed a guy so hard on the football field that the opponent will never walk again, but it was an “accident.”  Vandalism?  Keir was just having a good time with his teammates.  Rape?  Another misunderstanding.  Keir would never hurt Gigi.  He loves her too much and besides, he’s a good guy no matter what.  This book explores delusion, personal responsibility and the damage that a person in denial can do to others around him.

Jason & Kyra by Dana Davidson (Hyperion, 2004)
Jason is smart, handsome, a popular basketball star, and he is dating Lisa, who everyone says is his perfect love match.  However, when the free-spirited (but plain?) Kyra enters his life as his partner for an honors English class project, things begin to heat up in dramatic ways for everyone in this romantic story.

Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar (Dutton, 2005)
Freshman year for Scott Hudson begins with a series of traumatic events: he becomes the favorite target of Wesley, the school bully; the girl next door has suddenly turned into a goddess; he is writing the sports column for the school newspaper, even though he's not an athlete; and the final indignity is that his mom is pregnant. Scott remains true to himself as he faces the obstacles of his freshman year—from the loss of his lunch money every day to the distress of the school dance.  As he progresses through the year, he begins a journal full of tips and tricks on how to survive freshman year for his expected baby brother. 

Uglies (Uglies Trilogy, Book 1) Book by Scott Westerfeld (Simon and Schuster, 2005)
Tally Youngblood, who lives in a futuristic society that convinces its citizens that they are ugly until age 16, eagerly awaits her birthday when she will undergo an operation that will change her into a "pretty."  Anticipating this extreme makeover, Tally meets Shay, another female ugly, who also enjoys hover boarding and engaging in risky pranks. But Shay also scorns the shallow values and conformity of the society and urges Tally to defect with her to the Smoke, a distant settlement of simple-living conscientious objectors. Tally refuses, but when Shay is found missing by the authorities, the cruel Dr. Cable forces Tally to find her and her compatriots-or remain forever "ugly." Will Tally betray her friend in order to receive the operation for which she has waited so long?  

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