Gossip Girl (TV Show)

Gossip Girl, Creators: Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, The CW, 2007
Actors: Blake Lively, Ed Westwick, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford.

Plot Summary: An American television show based upon the books by Cecily von Ziegesar. It revolves around the lives of the rich and famous privileged teens from Manhattan's Upper East Side.  Throughout each episode the unseen blogger 'Gossip Girl' narrates about the lives of these teenagers.  The series centers around Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf.  Other characters are Chuck Bass, Dan Humphries and Nate Archibald.  Money is no worry for these characters and they all have secrets and love lives that are never dull.
Critical Evaluation: Currently in its fifth season Gossip Girl could be considered the soap opera of the CW.  This show does not have much substance, but it has become the guilty pleasure of thousands of teens. Most teens that watch this show do not have lives like these Upper East Siders, but it is always fun to watch a television series about it.  The series stars up and coming actors and teens can't get enough of shows that have out of this world characters and scenarios.  The plot lines usually showcase love relationships and scandals with money. 

Genre: Drama, Romance, Teen television series

Curriculum Ties: N/A

Booktalking Ideas: N/A

Reading Level/Interest Age: 15+

Challenge Issues: Teenage drinking, sex, and parties.  If this tv show was challenged I would go to, ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials.

Why included? I have to admit this is a guilty pleasure of mine, so I included it. 

Twilight

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, ISBN 978-0316160179, Little, Brown and Co., 2005.

Teaser: Bella Swan moves to Forks, Washington where she meets and falls in love with a vampire named Edward Cullen.
Plot Summary: 17 year-old Bella Swan does not want to move to Florida with her mom, so instead she moves in with her father in the rainy, dark town of Forks, Washington.  She meets Edward Cullen and begins to fall in love with his style and charm.  He is a very old fashioned guy.  She learns that he is a vampire, but he tells her that his vampire clan are "vegetarian vampires" and they only drink the blood of animals, so she feels safe and decides it is okay to fall head over heels in love with Edward.  There love seems to be going well until a rival vampire learns of Bella knowing about the vampires and he wants nothing more than to bite her and kill her.  The Cullen clan attempt to protect Bella by breaking up her and Edward.  Bella goes to Phoenix to hide, but she is tricked into believing her mother is kidnapped by the evil vampire, James.  She goes to try to save her mother and is confronted by James.  Edward eventually comes to save the day and they are able to make it back to Forks to attend their prom and Bella says she wants to become a vampire. 
Critical Evaluation:   This book has sold millions of copies and has teenage girls swooning all over the place for Edward Cullen.  I liked the character of Edward because he was an old-fashioned gentlemen. Since his character grew up during early 1900s in a different time, Edward has different values and characteristics. All those add up to make him the perfect heartthrob. The only downside to this story is the fact that Bella is not a very strong character, she is very weak and has to be rescued all the time, but that means more Edward, so I think that is why Bella loves Edward so much and wants to become a vampire.  She wants the one person that will never let her down.
Author Information:  According to http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/ "Stephenie Meyer's life changed dramatically on June 2, 2003. The stay-at-home mother of three young sons woke up from a dream featuring seemingly real characters that she could not get out of her head.
"Though I had a million things to do, I stayed in bed, thinking about the dream. Unwillingly, I eventually got up and did the immediate necessities, and then put everything that I possibly could on the back burner and sat down at the computer to write—something I hadn't done in so long that I wondered why I was bothering."Meyer invented the plot during the day through swim lessons and potty training, and wrote it out late at night when the house was quiet. Three months later she finished her first novel, Twilight. With encouragement from her older sister (the only other person who knew she had written a book), Meyer submitted her manuscript to various literary agencies. Twilight was picked out of a slush pile at Writer's House and eventually made its way to the publishing company Little, Brown where everyone fell immediately in love with the gripping, star-crossed lovers.
Meyer has also written three sequels to Twilight and she wrote The Host, her first adult novel. Stephenie lives in Arizona with her husband and three sons.
Genre: Fantasy/Teen Romance
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Booktalking Ideas: Talk about how Bella's friendship with Jacob Black affects her relationship with Edward.
Reading Level/Interest Age: 14+
Challenge Issues: This book may be challenged due to vampires. 

If the book was challenged I would go to, ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials.

Why included? This is one of the most popular teen books ever written and it re-launched the vampire romance genre.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling, ISBN 9780545010221, Arthur A. Levine Books, 2007, 784 pages

Teaser: The seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series.

Plot Summary: This book finds Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger deciding to go on a quest to hunt the rest of the horcruxes so that they can ultimately defeat Voldemort.  Before leaving on their journey the three are given gifts from Dumbledore's will and these three items will help them solve the puzzle of the horcruxes.  As the trio attend Ron's brother Bill's wedding to Fluer they encounter a close call with the death eaters and know they must use every bit of magic they know to avoid capture by Death Eaters. Once they are on their journey they spend a lot of time thinking about where the horcruxes could be.  By spending so much time together and by carrying around the locket horcrux , the three start to argue and eventually Ron leaves the group, much to Hermione's dismay.  So Harry and Hermione are left to trudge on without Ron.  They decide to go to Godric's Hollow to look for more clues because it is where Dumbledore grew up.  Once in Godric's Hollow the two have a nasty encounter with Voldemort's snake Naginni and they barely escape.  Eventually Ron comes back and helps Harry destroy the locket horcrux.  Hermione realizes that the book she was given by Dumbledore holds the key to why Voldemort is chasing them.  Voldemort is after the Elder wand.  As hard as they tried to avoid capture, they do eventually get captured and are taken to Malfoy Manor.  Hermione has jinxed Harry's face so the Malfoy's ask Draco to verify that the captured boy is indeed Harry Potter.  Malfoy is not completely sure and the three escape and end up at Bill and Fluer's house.  From their they devise a plan to break into Gringotts and go into Bellatrix's vault to get one of the horcruxes.  After this long journey many deaths have occurred and Harry has one last battle with Voldemort at the Hogwarts castle, but Harry is not alone and he gets help from Snape and many others as he fights to end Voldemort.   
Critical Evaluation: The final Harry Potter installment is one of Rowling's best books.  It is amazing how she weaved so much detail from all of the books into this final book.  It is a bittersweet ending to the Potter series.  I truly loved how she wrote the character of Severus Snape.  Throughout all of the books, Snape, was undercover for both sides of the War and no one could pinpoint which side he was on.  That was until the sixth book came out and Snape killed Dumbledore and everyone believed Snape to be on the Death Eater side, but in the seventh book we learn differently.  We find out that Snape grew up by Harry's mother Lily.  He had always loved her and he made a promise to Dumbledore to protect Harry because of his love for Lily.  For the true Harry Potter fan they will need a box of tissues while they read this book as I shed a few tears while reading. 

Author Information: According to http://www.jkrowling.com/en/index.cfm “Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born in July 1965, in England and grew up in Chepstow, Gwent. She went to Exeter University where she earned a French and Classics degree, her course including one year in Paris. As a postgraduate she moved to Lond and worked as a researcher at Amnesty International among other jobs. She started writing the Harry Potter series during a delayed Manchester to London King’s Cross train journey, and during the next five years, outlined the plots for each book and began writing the first novel. Jo then moved to northern Portugal, where she taught English as a foreign language. She married in October 1992 and gave birth to a daughter Jessica in 1993.  When the marriage ended, she and Jessica returned to the UK to live in Edinburgh, where Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone was eventually completed.  Jo married Dr. Neil Murray in 2001, and a brother for Jessica, David, was born in 2003. A sister, Mackenzie, followed in 2005.” The Potter series has sold over 400 million copies.

Genre: Fantasy

Curriculum Ties: N/A

Booktalking Ideas: Read chapter 33: The Prince's Tale and discuss Snape's influence in the outcome of the series.

Reading Level/Interest Age: 12+

Challenge Issues: Magical themes, witchcraft and wizardry.  If this book was challenged I would go to, ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials.

Why included? This is one of my all-time favorite books!

Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard, ISBN 9780060887322, HarperCollins Publishers, 2006, 304 pages

Teaser: Everyone has secrets, but what happens when a mysterious person starts blackmailing you about your secrets.

Plot Summary: In Rosewood, Pennsylvania, Allison is the most popular 7th grade girl and the one that holds all her best friends secrets.  One day Allison mysteriously disappears and her four friends, Spencer, Hanna, Aria, and Emily are somewhat glad that their secrets are save, until they begin receiving messages talking about their secrets from someone known as "A".  Its been three years later and the four friends have drifted apart, but they are brought back together when Allison's body is found and they realize that someone out there knows their dirty little secrets. 
Critical Evaluation:  This book really delves deep into the world of elite privileged high schooler's lives.  I knew right away that bad things were going to happen when I read about the four girls' secrets.  They were too juicy to be kept secret.  I liked how Shepard portrayed the characters.  She left them vulnerable and they are not as perfect as they want everyone to think they are.  This was a real page turner and I could not put this book down until I was finished.  I loved how each chapter was from the perspective of one of the four main characters.  I kept earning to find out who the mysterious "A" was, but I did not find out as this is the first book in the series.  At least Shepard knows how to keep the reader hanging and wanting more!

Author Information: By looking in the back of the book Pretty Little Liars and by looking at her website, http://sarashepardbooks.com/bio.php, I learned that Sara Shepard graduated from New York University and earned a MFA in Creative Writing from Brooklyn College.  She now lives with her husband and three dogs near Philadelphia, PA.  The Pretty Little Liars series is somewhat based on her upbringing in Philadelphia's Main Line. She has also written adult novels including  This Visibles and All the Things We Didn't Say.

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Curriculum Ties: N/A

Booktalking Ideas: Talk about the consequences of keeping secrets.

Reading Level/Interest Age: 14+

Challenge Issues: If this book was challenged I would go to, ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials.

Why included? I was recommended this book by a classmate from this class and it is also a popular ABC Family television show.

Maus

Maus by Art Spiegelman, ISBN 0141014083, Penguin Books, 2003.
Teaser: A graphic novel about how author Art Spiegelman's parents survived the Holocaust.
Plot Summary: The Complete Maus brings both Maus and Maus II together in one complete novel.  It is the story of how Art Spiegelman's parents survived the Holocaust.  Spiegelman portrayed Jews as mice and Nazis as cats.  The graphic novel shows how Spiegelman would go to his aging father and record his talks about his experience in WWII to be made into a graphic novel.  While interviewing his father the reader is taken back to Poland as the author depicts his father's answers.
Critical Evaluation: This is a graphic novel that brought comic books into the realm of literature.  Instead of a lengthy worded novel Spiegelman brings life into the characters with his unique drawings. By making this story into a graphic novel, the reader is engaged in a new way that only pictures can do. Spiegelman used his own family history to right this emotional graphic novel. The graphic novel also shows the intense father and son relationship.  Art did not always understand why his father acted so stubborn, but after learning what his father went through in the Holocaust, Art has a new appreciation for his father.  This is a graphic novel that is for mature teenagers.  The material is very emotional and intense and is not for everyone.
Author Information: Art Spiegelman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning Artist/Illustrator, and the author of Maus. His parents wanted him to become a dentist but he did not want to, so he began drawing professionally at the age of 16. He studied art and philosophy at Harpur College before becoming part of the underground comix subculture of the 60s and 70s. In 1992, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his masterful Holocaust narrative Maus, which portrayed Jews as mice and Nazis as cats.
Booktalking Ideas: Talk about how Art Spiegelman used animals (in particular, mice) in his drawings instead of people.
Curriculum Ties: WWII and the Holocaust, Art/Drawing
Genre: Graphic Novel/Adult Crossover/Historical Fiction
Challenge Issues: This graphic novel might be challenged because of it being about the Holocaust.  If this graphic novel was challenged I would go to, ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials.
Why Included? Many teenagers like graphic novels and this one is one that big time graphic novel/comic book fans will want to read.  It is for very mature older young adults.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, ISBN 978-0439023481, Scholastic Press, 2008 384 pages.

Teaser: Two young people from each of the 12 districts go to the Hunger Games and fight to the death with only one survivor.

Plot Summary:  Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12 and each year two kids are chosen to participate in the Hunger Games.  The Hunger Games is a game devised by the Capitol to showcase kids fighting to the death with only one survivor winning.  Each district must watch the games on televsion.  When Katniss's sister, Prim, is chosen as a tribute, Katniss volunteers herself to go in place of Prim.  Katniss and the other tribute, Peeta Meelark are whisked away to the Capitol with their mentor, Haymitch.  They prepare for the Hunger Games and when the Hunger Games finally come they are both terrified.  During the Hunger Games they both go their separate ways and use their own strengths to go far in the game.

Critical Evaluation:  Suzanne Collins writes an excellent book and she writes very strong characters.  Katniss is the kind of hero every girl should look up to, she is strong and fearless, but human at the same time.  She feels sadness and does not like the meaning of the Hunger Games.  She only volunteered because of her love for Prim.  She wants desperately to come back to see her family one more time.  The other tribute, Peeta, is also a great character.  He does not want the games to change him.  If he is going to die, he wants to die on his own terms and be remembered for the way he was before the games.  His character brings love and common sense into the novel.  He is a great partner to Katniss.

Author Information: According to http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/bio.htm

“Since 1991, Suzanne Collins has been busy writing for children’s television. She has worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows, including the Emmy-nominated hit Clarissa Explains it All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. For preschool viewers, she penned multiple stories for the Emmy-nominated Little Bear and Oswald. She also co-wrote the critically acclaimed Rankin/​Bass Christmas special, Santa, Baby! Most recently she was the Head Writer for Scholastic Entertainment’s Clifford’s Puppy Days. While working on a Kids WB show called Generation O! she met children’s author James Proimos, who talked her into giving children’s books a try. Thinking one day about Alice in Wonderland, she was struck by how pastoral the setting must seem to kids who, like her own, lived in urban surroundings. In New York City, you’re much more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole and, if you do, you’re not going to find a tea party. What you might find...? Well, that’s the story of Gregor the Overlander, the first book in her five-part fantasy/​war series, The Underland Chronicles.
She currently lives in Connecticut with her family and a pair of feral kittens they adopted from their backyard.”  Her Hunger Games series has sold millions of copies and the first book is currently being made into a movie that will be released in 2012."
Genre: Science Fiction
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Bootalking Ideas: Talk about why it is so important to advertise the tributes before the games.
Age Group/Interest Level: 12+
Challenge Issues: This book will most likely be challenged due to violence. 

If the book was challenged I would go to, ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials.

Why Included? I read this book in preparation for this class and absolutely loved it . I can see why it is one of the most popular books for teenagers.A great thrilling read for any teenager!

Little Brother

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, ISBN 9780765319852, Tor Teen: Tom Doherty Associates, 2008, 382 pages

Teaser: A computer hacker is mistakenly taken for a terrorist in his hometown.  

Plot Summary: Little Brother is the story of hacker teen, Marcus, who thinks he knows the system and how to work around it.  For example he knows that the school cameras track your particular gait, so he devises a plan to fool the computer by walking differently when he passes a camera so the camera can't detect his natural gait.  Then one day Marcus and his two friends are in the wrong place at the wrong time.  They are playing a hacker game when San Francisco is hit with a terrorist attack.  The Bay Bridge has been blown up.  Marcus and his friends are captured by the Department of Homeland Security and kept for questioning for several days.  When Marcus finally gets out he decides to use technology to reclaim democracy from the DHS. Along the way he meets his girlfriend Angela and she helps him design a makeshift internet with his game console.  Marcus and his friends learn a lot about growing up and facing the government in this book.
Critical Evaluation:  Doctorow does a great job of turning his characters into realistic teens with realistic hopes and dreams.  We see Marcus as a typical teen, just a boy that wants to get laid and knows a lot about technology and wants justice and revenge.  Older teens will be able to identify with the characters and their desire to take it to the man and defy authority. 

Author Information: According to http://craphound.com/bio.php "Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger -- the co-editor of Boing Boing (boingboing.net) and the author of Tor Teens/HarperCollins UK novels like FOR THE WIN and the bestselling LITTLE BROTHER. He is the former European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. Born in Toronto, Canada, he now lives in London."

Genre: Science Fiction, Distopian Literature

Curriculum Ties: N/A

Booktalking Ideas: Talk about how the characters ban together in the wake of a terrorist attack.

Reading Level/Interest Age: 14+

Challenge Issues: This book may be challenged due to teenage sex, terrorism and brutality towards young adults.  If the book was challenged I would go to, ALA's Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials.

Why included? I usually do not read books about hackers and such, but this book was required for class and I surprised myself by enjoying my time reading it.