Fiction+-+Issues

=// New Fiction Books at Cal Young ~ 2009-2010 //=

//** Making sense: issues, change, problems, loss, laughs… **//
FIC Abd Abdel-Fattah, Randa //**Ten Things I Hate About Me**// 2009. Lebanese-Australian Jamilah, known in school as Jamie, hides her heritage from her classmates and tries to pass by dyeing her hair blonde and wearing blue-tinted contact lenses, until her conflicted feelings become too much for her to bear.

FIC Abd Abdel-Fattah, Randa //**Does My Head Look Big In This?**// 2007. Year Eleven at an exclusive prep school in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, would be tough enough, but it is further complicated for Amal when she decides to wear the hijab, the Muslim head scarf, full-time as a badge of her faith -- without losing her identity or sense of style. //YRCA nominee 2010//

FIC Ale Alexie, Sherman 2007. Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. //National Book Award 2009; YRCA nominee 2010//
 * //The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian//**

FIC Alm Almond, David //**The Savage**// After his dad's death, Blue Baker finds comfort in writing about a savage living alone in the woods near his home, but when the savage pays a night-time visit to the local bully, boundaries become blurred and Blue begins to wonder where he ends and the savage begins. //A 2009 Best Book for Young Adults//

FIC And Anderson, Laurie Halse //**Wintergirls**// 2009. Eighteen-year-old Lia comes to terms with her best friend's death from anorexia as she struggles with the same disorder. //MC/8th grade or parent permission//

FIC Ben Benway, Robin //**Audrey, Wait!**// 2009. While trying to score a date with her cute co-worker at the Scooper Dooper, sixteen-year-old Audrey gains unwanted fame and celebrity status when her ex-boyfriend, a rock musician, records a breakup song about her that soars to the top of the Billboard charts. //MC/8th grade or parent permission// //A 2009 Best Book for Young Adults//

FIC Bin Bingham, Kelly L //**Shark Girl**// 2007. After a shark attack causes the amputation of her right arm, fifteen-year-old Jane, an aspiring artist, struggles to come to terms with her loss and the changes it imposes on her day-to-day life and her plans for the future.

FIC Blu Blundell, Judy //**What I Saw and How I Lied**// 2008. In 1947, with her jovial stepfather Joe back from the war and family life returning to normal, teenage Evie, smitten by the handsome young ex-GI who seems to have a secret hold on Joe, finds herself caught in a complicated web of lies whose devastating outcome changes her life and that of her family forever. MC/8th grade or parent permission //A 2009 Best Book for Young Adults//

FIC Bro Brothers, Meagan //**Debbie Harry Sings in French**// When Johnny completes an alcohol rehabilitation program and his mother sends him to live with his uncle in North Carolina, he meets Maria, who seems to understand his fascination with the new wave band Blondie, and he learns about his deceased father's youthful forays into "glam rock," which gives him perspective on himself, his past, and his current life. MC/8th grade or parent permission //A 2009 Best Book for Young Adults//

FIC Bro Brooks, Martha //**Mistik Lake**// 2007. After Odella's mother leaves her, her sisters, and their father in Manitoba and moves to Iceland with another man, she then dies there, and the family finally learns some of the many secrets that have haunted them for two generations. //MC/8th grade or parent permission YRCA Nominee 2010//

FIC Cal Caletti, Deb //**The Fortunes of Indigo Skye**// 2008. Eighteen-year-old Indigo is looking forward to becoming a full-time waitress after high school graduation, but her life is turned upside down by a large check given to her by a customer who appreciates that she cares enough to scold him about smoking. //MC/8th grade or parent permission// //A 2009 Best Book for Young Adults//

FIC Cle Clements, Andrew //**No Talking**// 2007. The noisy fifth grade boys of Laketon Elementary School challenge the equally loud fifth grade girls to a "no talking" contest. //YRCA Nominee 2010//

FIC Cru Crutcher, Chris //**Deadline**// 2007. When he is given the medical diagnosis of one year to live, Ben Wolf decides to fulfill his greatest fantasies, ponders his life's purpose and legacy, and converses through dreams with a spiritual guide known as "Hey-Soos." MC/8th grade or parent permission //YRCA Nominee 2010//

FIC Del De la Cruz, Melissa //**Girl Stays in the Picture : a Girl Novel**// 2009. On a movie set in Saint Tropez, France, several teenaged members of the Hollywood elite come together in an explosion of scenes shot and reshot, friendships formed and cast aside, and romances begun and destroyed, all duly reported by paparazzi. //MC/8th grade or parent permission//

FIC Des Dessen, Sarah 2009. When Auden impulsively goes to stay with her father, stepmother, and new baby sister the summer before she starts college, all the trauma of her parents' divorce is revived, even as she is making new friends and having new experiences such as learning to ride a bike and dating. //MC/8th grade or parent permission//
 * Along for the Ride : A Novel**

FIC Dio Dionne, Erin //**Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies**// 2009. Overweight thirteen-year-old Celeste begins a campaign to lose weight in order to make sure she does not win the Miss HuskeyPeach modeling challenge, in which her mother and aunt have entered her -- against her wishes.

FIC Fre Freitas, Donna //**The Possibilities of Sainthood**// 2008. While regularly petitioning the Vatican to make her the first living saint, fifteen-year-old Antonia Labella prays to assorted patron saints for everything from help with preparing the family's fig trees for a Rhode Island winter to getting her first kiss from the right boy. //MC/8th grade or parent permission//

FIC Fro Frost, Helen 2008. In a remote area of Alaska, twelve-year-old Willow helps her father with their sled dogs when she is not at school, wishing she were more popular, all the while unaware that the animals surrounding her carry the spirits of dead ancestors and friends who care for her.
 * //Diamond Willow//**

FIC Gab Gabel, Claudia 2008. Former best friends Marnie and Nola are both caught up in their high school dating and social scenes, but are not sure whom they can trust.
 * Friends Close, Enemies Closer: An In or Out Novel**

FIC Geo George, Madeleine //**Looks**// 2008. Two high school girls, one an anorexic poet and the other an obese loner, form an unlikely friendship. //A 2009 Best Book for Young Adults//

FIC Gra Grant, Michae //**Hunger: A Gone Novel**// 2009. Conditions worsen for the remaining young residents of a small California coastal town isolated by supernatural events when their food supplies dwindle and the Darkness underground awakens.

FIC Har Harrison, Lisi 2009. Massie, hurt that friends have caught the eyes of boys she was interested in, hires actresses to pretend to be her new friends while Claire, who feels somehow responsible, makes a dramatic move to set things right.
 * Boys R Us : A Clique Novel**

FIC Hub Hubbard, Amanda. //**Prada & Prejudice**// 2009. During a school trip to England, fifteen-year-old Callie buys a pair of Prada shoes in an effort to impress the popular girls, a scheme that backfires and sends Callie back to 1815.

FIC Hur Hurley, Tonya //**Ghostgirl, Homecoming**// 2009. When Petula becomes deathly ill, her sister Scarlet seeks help from former classmate Charlotte, for whom the afterlife has become burdensome, leaving her just as insecure and isolated as she was while she was alive.

FIC Joh Johnson, Maureen //**Suite Scarlett**// 2008. Fifteen-year-old Scarlett Marvin is stuck in New York City for the summer working at her quirky family's historic hotel, but her out-of-work actor brother's attractive new friend and a seasonal guest who offers her an intriguing and challenging writing project improve her outlook.

FIC Kad Kadohata, Cynthia //**Outside Beauty**// 2008. Thirteen-year-old Shelby and her three sisters must go to live with their respective fathers while their mother, who has trained them to rely on their looks, recovers from a car accident that scarred her face.

FIC Kor Korman, Gordon //**The Juvie Three**// 2008. Gecko, Arjay, and Terence, all in trouble with the law, must find a way to keep their halfway house open in order to stay out of juvenile detention.

FIC Kor Korman, Gordon //**Pop**// 2009. Lonely after a midsummer move to a new town, sixteen-year-old high-school quarterback Marcus Jordan becomes friends with a retired professional linebacker who is great at training him, but whose childish behavior keeps Marcus in hot water.

FIC Lec Lecesne, James //**Absolute Brightness**// 2007. In the beach town of Neptune, New Jersey, Phoebe's life is changed irrevocably when her gay cousin moves into her house and soon goes missing. //MC/8th grade or parent permission//

FIC Loc Lockhart, E. //**The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks : A Novel**// 2008. Sophomore Frankie starts dating senior Matthew Livingston, but when he refuses to talk about the all-male secret society that he and his friends belong to, Frankie infiltrates the society in order to enliven their mediocre pranks. //2009 Teen's Top Ten Nominee 2009 Printz Honor Book//

FIC Mac MacDonald, Anne Louise //**Seeing Red**// 2009. Average, normal, fourteen-year-old Frankie Uccello learns that he is not so average after all when he discovers he can dream the future, but when he dreams of his best friend in danger, Frankie is not sure he can save him.

FIC Mar Marchetta, Melina //**Jellicoe Road**// 2008. Abandoned by her drug-addicted mother at the age of eleven, high school student Taylor Markham struggles with her identity and family history at a boarding school in Australia. //MC/8th grade or parent permission 2009 Printz Award//

FIC McD McDaniel, Lurlene 2009. A high school diving champion develops bone cancer in this story told from the points of view of the diver, his best friend, his sister, and his girlfriend.
 * //Breathless//**

FIC McK McKinnon, Hannah Roberts 2009. Through a hot, dry Oklahoma summer, twelve-year-old Franny tends wild animals brought by her neighbors, hears gossip during a weekly quilting bee, befriends a new neighbor who has some big secrets, and learns to hope.
 * //Franny Parker//**

FIC Nay Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds 2008. Thirteen-year-old Kenny secretly calls himself "Cricket Man" after a summer of rescuing creatures from his family's Bethesda, Maryland, pool, which gives him more self-confidence and an urge to be a hero, especially for his depressed sixteen-year-old neighbor, Jodie.
 * //Cricket Man//**

FIC Pad Padian, Maria //**Brett McCarthy: Work in Progress**// 2008. Eighth-grader Brett McCarthy--once good student and best-friend-to-Diane, now suspended and friendless--faces school and family troubles as she grapples with her redefined life. //A 2009 Best Book for Young Adults//

FIC Pal Palmer, Robin 2009. Rich, spoiled, and popular high school senior Dylan is coerced into doing a documentary film with Josh, one of the school's geeks, who leads her to realize that the world does not revolve around her. //2009 Teen's Top Ten Nominee//
 * //Geek Charming//**

FIC Pat Patterson, James //**The Dangerous Days of Daniel X**// 2008. Summary Fifteen-year-old Daniel has followed in his parents' footsteps as the Alien Hunter, exterminating beings on The List of Alien Outlaws on Terra Firma, but when he faces his first of the top ten outlaws, the very existence of Earth and another planet are at stake.

FIC Pot Potter, Ellen //**Slob**// 2009. Picked on, overweight genius Owen tries to invent a television that can see the past to find out what happened the day his parents were killed.

FIC Pro Prose, Francine 2009.Ninth-grader Maisie's concepts of friendship, loyalty, self-acceptance, and truth are tested to their limit after a school bus incident with the three boys who have been her best friends since early childhood. //MC/8th grade or parent permission//
 * //Touch//**

FIC San Sanchez, Alex //**Bait** 2009.// Diego keeps getting into trouble because of his explosive temper until he finally finds a probation officer who helps him get to the root of his anger so that he can stop running from his past.

FIC Sch Schumacher, Julie //**Black Box**// 2008. When her sixteen-year-old sister is hospitalized for depression and her parents want to keep it a secret, fourteen-year-old Elena tries to cope with her own anxiety and feelings of guilt that she is determined to conceal from outsiders. //MC/8th grade or parent permission// //A 2009 Best Book for Young Adults//

FIC Smi Smith, Andrew //**Ghost Medicine**// 2008//.// Still mourning the recent death of his mother, seventeen-year-old Troy Stotts relates the events of the previous year when he and his two closest friends try to retaliate against the sheriff's son, who has been bullying them for years.

FIC Spi Spinelli, Jerry //**Space Station Seventh Grade2004.**// Seventh-grader Jason narrates the memorable events of his school year highlighted by hair problems, pimples, mothers, little brothers, and a special girl.

FIC Sto Stork, Francisco X. 2009. Marcelo Sandoval, a seventeen-year-old boy on the high-functioning end of the autistic spectrum, faces new challenges, including romance and injustice, when he goes to work for his father in the mailroom of a corporate law firm.
 * //Marcelo in the Real World//**

FIC Sup Supplee, Suzanne 2009. When she is almost sixteen years old, Rosemary decides she is sick of being overweight, mocked at school and at Heavenly Hair--her mother's beauty salon--and feeling out of control, and as she slowly loses weight, she realizes that she is able to cope with her mother's cancer, having a boyfriend for the first time, and discovering that other people's lives are not as perfect as they seem from the outside.
 * //Artichoke's Heart//**

FIC Vai Vail, Rachel //**Lucky**// 2008. As Phoebe and her clique of privileged girlfriends get ready to graduate from eighth grade, a financial scandal threatens her family's security--as well as Phoebe's social status--but ultimately it teaches her the real meaning of friendship.

FIC Vai Vail, Rachel 2009. Ninth-grader Allison has always been the least attractive among her sisters, but when she allows the devil to possess her cell phone in exchange for appearing to be gorgeous, she must confront the power and deceptiveness of appearances.
 * //Gorgeous//** ( Sequel to **//Lucky//**)

FIC Val Valentine, Jenny 2008. When a series of chance events leaves him in possession of an urn with ashes, sixteen-year-old Londoner, Lucas Swain, becomes convinced that its occupant, Violet Park, is communicating with him, initiating a voyage of self-discovery that forces him to finally confront the events surrounding his father's sudden disappearance. //MC/8th grade or parent permission// //A 2009 Best Book for Young Adults//
 * //Me, the Missing, and the Dead//**

FIC Wol Wolff, Virginia Euwer //**This Full House**: **Make Lemonade Trilogy ; Book 3**// 2009. High-school-senior LaVaughn's perceptions and expectations of her life begin to change as she learns about the many unexpected connections between the people she loves best. //MC/8th grade or parent permission//

FIC Woo Woodson, Jacqueline 2009. Through letters to his little sister, who is living in a different foster home, sixth-grader Lonnie, also known as "Locomotion," keeps a record of their lives while they are apart, describing his own foster family, including his foster brother who returns home after losing a leg in the Iraq War.
 * //Peace, Locomotion//**

FIC Wri Wright, Bil 2008. Adopted by white parents and sent to an exclusive Connecticut girls' school where she is the only black student, fourteen-year-old Lahni Schuler feels like an outcast, particularly when her parents separate, but after attending a local church where she hears gospel music for the first time, she finds her voice.
 * //When the Black Girl Sings//**

FIC Yee Yee, Lisa 2009. When living with her mother, an alcoholic ex-beauty queen, becomes unbearable, almost seventeen-year-old Maybelline "Maybe" Chestnut runs away to California, where she finds work on a taco truck and tries to track down her birth father. //2009 Teen's Top Ten Nominee//
 * //Absolutely Maybe//**

FIC Zuc Zucker, Naomi Flink 2009. Eleven-year-old Callie Jones tries to keep track of all the rules for fitting in that other middle schoolers seem to know, but when the town decides to replace Halloween with an Autumn Festival, Callie leads her large family in an unusual protest.
 * //Callie's Rules//**