Young Adult Unit

Speak
This was an amazing book about a girl, named Melinda, who began high school with no friends all because she called the cops when she was raped at her first high school party. Nobody knew why she called the police and no one cared enough to ask her why. Melinda's parents, teachers, counselors, and peers knew that she was acting strange by not talking to anyone and by avoiding people at all costs. The only person that took the time to talk to Melinda was her art teacher, who taught her that nothing is perfect and that is what makes it realistic- talking about her art project and her life. At the end of the book she tells an "ex-friend" that she was raped and Melinda was called a liar. I loved when Melinda wrote on the bathroom stall and other people wrote nasty things about Andy, the boy who had raped her. I also really enjoyed the ending when Andy tried to attack Melinda again and she stopped him by holding a shard of glass up to his neck until the lacrosse team found them and kicked Andy's butt.

Stargirl
This was another great book about a girl that had been home schooled until high school. Stargirl was very different from all of the other kids at Mica High who all tried to fit in and be normal. Stargirl was very unusual in the way that she dressed and the way that she acted- always singing to people on their birthdays with her ukulele and giving people treats on every holiday or special occasion and doing kind things for people without taking credit. Stargirl helped attract students to go to sporting events and was greatly disliked when she cheered for the other team and rushed out onto the court to see if the other team's star player was okay. Her boyfriend, Leo, really liked her but did not like being shunned by his classmates due to their hatred of Stargirl, so he attempted to change her and make her normal. When she tried to be normal, she was still hated, so she went back to her old self. Leo began to ignore her and finally she left the school forever and told no one where she was.

The Austere Academy
This book was about the three Baudelaire orphans that are being chased around by a man named Count Olaf because he wants their fortune. The kids are sent to a boarding school where they are forced to live in a shack filled with crabs and fungus and have teachers that make them remember the measurements of weird objects and remember the tiniest details of their stories. The kids are told they will be safe, but Count Olaf finds them and disguises himself so that only the children know who he really is. In the end, the children are safe, but Olaf flees and takes the Baudelaire's only friends with him.
This was a good children's book. I don't personally like how the story is told, but I can understand why children would like it and how it would be very helpful to kids. I would prefer that there were no interruptions by Lemony Snicket in the story; however, it is good because it teaches the definitions of rather large words and explains how the word is being used in the context. The input by Lemony Snicket is also good because it gets you to think about what is going to happen next and helps kids understand the idea of foreshadowing.

Links:

I used to love Captain Underpants! On this website, the author talks about how he came up with the stories. A fun idea for kids would be to write their own super hero comic book devoted to themselves. http://www.pilkey.com/

I would always read the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary. This website has a map that includes all of the characters from Cleary's stories and also lists all of her books, full character descriptions, and fun book trivia quizzes. http://www.beverlycleary.com/index.html