The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause

Klause, A.C. (2010). The silver kiss. New York, NY: Delacorte Books for Young Readers.  ISBN 978-0385734226   Paperback, $8.99    (First published in Hardcover in 1990).

Cover photo courtesy of Goodreads.com

Annotation: Simon is a 300-year-old vampire who needs Zoë's help to give meaning to his existence. But Zoë is struggling to accept the loss of her best friend, who is moving, and her mother, who is dying of cancer.

Booktalk: Who understands death better than a vampire? 16-year-old Zoë and 300-year-old Simon meet by chance one night as Zoë flees the loneliness of her empty house. Her dad has stopped paying attention to her, going so far as to tell her to stay away from her mother’s hospital room. She knows that he’s only trying to shield her from the pain her mother is fighting as she dies from cancer, but Zoë still feels lost and alone. On top of that, she just found out that her best friend since childhood, Lorraine, is moving out of state.

Loneliness is a feeling that Simon has endured for centuries. But, when he meets Zoë and discovers that his vampire charms don’t work on her, he realizes how badly he wants to make a connection. After 300 years on his own, the loneliness becomes overwhelming. Simon knows what has to happen to end his pain, but he needs Zoë’s help to make his plan work. Does he dare to ask her for help when the plan would put her in danger?

Zoë doesn’t understand what’s happening to her. She’s losing her parents and her best friend all at once but she can’t stop thinking about Simon’s kiss. She had no idea that it was possible to “rush into your death unknowing, inviting, enjoying the ecstasy of it” (p. 132). Still through it all, the pain persists. When Lorraine leaves Zoë is overcome and takes it out on her father, blowing up in anger. Can Zoë move past the anger and pain? Will she be able to move past it? Will helping Simon with his plans ease her loneliness? Or, is the silver kiss just one more step on a dangerous path to death?

Awards:

• 1990 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
• 1993 Sequoyah Book Award 
• 1993 South Carolina Book Award for Young Adult Books 
• ALA Best Books for Young Adults

Enjoy this short Booktalk for The Silver Kiss:

Read an interview with the author about her involvement with writing and librarianship.

Annette Curtis Klause also has her own iMDb page.

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

Okorafor, N. (2011). Akata witch. New York, NY: Viking Books for Young Readers.  ISBN: 978-0670011964  Kindle, $12.99.

Cover Photo courtesy of Goodreads.com

Annotation: Sunny and her friends must learn to harness their juju (magical abilities) and work together to save not only their home, but the balance of nature itself.

Booktalk: What would you do if you saw the end of the world in the flame of a candle? What if that vision was real? For Sunny Nwazue, it is real. She saw the end of the world and knows it’s coming, but she doesn’t know what to do about it. Born in America to Nigerian parents who moved back to Nigeria when she was 9, Sunny is confused and hurting years later. As an albino with yellow hair, hazel eyes, cream-colored skin and Nigerian features who must always carry an umbrella to protect herself from the sun, Sunny is still looking for a place to fit in. The other students laugh at her and beat her up in the schoolyard, calling her an “akata witch.”

The thing is, in some ways that name is true. Sunny may not be an akata – a bush animal – but she does have magic, or “juju” as the Nigerians call it. She is a Leopard Person, someone with the ability to use juju, she just doesn’t know it yet. What Sunny does know is that she doesn’t fit in anywhere and her town is being stalked by a ritual killer named Black Hat Otokoto. What will Sunny do when she finds out she is among a tiny group of Leopard People destined to fight Black Hat Otokoto?

Awards:

• 2011 James Tiptree Jr. Award Nominee
• 2011 Andre Norton Award Nominee for Young Adult Science Fiction

Book trailer for Akata Witch:

Join the author's Goodreads community.

See what Okorafor's up to here on her official website.

Follow her on twitter.

The First Part Last by Angela Johnson

Johnson, A. (2003). The first part last. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.  ISBN 0689849222   Hardcover, $15.95

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Annotation: 16-year-old single father Bobby reflects on raising his daughter alone and the events that led him to this situation.

Booktalk: When sixteen-year-old Bobby looks into the eyes of his tiny, newborn daughter, Feather, he concludes that if the world made sense, humans would get to “do the first part last.” We would be born full of the wisdom we need to live our lives and get to die peacefully innocent. Sadly, that’s not how life works. We all get thrown a curveball or two.

On Bobby’s 16^th birthday he gets a huge curveball when his girlfriend Nia tells him she’s pregnant. Months later, Bobby’s life is not at all what he had planned. A single father and still in high school, Bobby loves Feather fiercely, but he knows that life will never be the same. He can’t escape the fact that he’s still a kid himself. He can’t help that he still wants to be irresponsible and goof off with his friends and that he still wants to dream of going to college. Mostly, though, Bobby just wants a good night’s sleep.

Can Bobby survive this particular curveball? Can he do what’s best for Feather and still have a life of his own? Bobby just wants to do what’s right but how does he figure out what that is? When the first part comes first, how do you figure out what the last part should be?

Awards:

• 2004 Michael L. Printz Award 
• 2004 Coretta Scott King Award 

Book Trailer for The First Part Last:

** Be aware if you try to Google her, that there are several famous Angela Johnson's out there! There's a singer/songwriter, a famous blogger, and even a state farm agent!**

Check out Johnson's official website.

Read a short biography of the author.

See what her publisher, Simon & Schuster, has to say about her work.

Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different by Karen Blumenthal

Blumenthal, Karen. (2012). Steve Jobs: The man who thought different. New York, NY: Feiwel and Friends.    ISBN 978-1-250-01445-0    Paperback, $8.99

Cover photo courtesy of Goodreads.com

Annotation: An account of the highlights of Steve Life's professional and personal lives.

Mini Book Review: Did you ever wonder who first thought of combining your phone, TV, calendar, and computer into one device that you could fit into your pocket? Do you dream of changing the world on a grand scale? Have you ever wondered if that’s even possible? The answer to all these questions is simple: yes, it is possible and Steve Jobs has already done it! Blumenthal’s biography of Steve Jobs will give you a glimpse into the man behind the legend that is Apple. It is very readable and stays focused on interesting facts from his life, without ever getting technical or boring. He’s been called a visionary, a genius, and an icon, but did you know Jobs was also college dropout who could go months without a shower and lived in a house without furniture because he could not answer the question, “What is the purpose of a sofa?”

Warning: you may come away with a very different picture of Jobs than you have now. Yes, Jobs was a visionary and a genius who was forced out of Apple when it became super successful then came back to save it years later. But, he was also an absent father, a greedy and selfish friend, and a driven boss who bullied his employees relentlessly. This book is enhanced throughout with pictures of Jobs and his colleagues and family. There’s a timeline, a bibliography, a glossary, an index, and author’s notes at the end to give supplemental information and further reading suggestions. Recommended for the YA biography section of any junior high/high school or public library, this book would be useful for both school assignments and as entertainment for anyone interested in technology, computers, business, or people.

Awards:

• YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction, 2013 finalist 
• ALA Children's Notable List 
• Booklist Editor's Choice list, 2012

Book trailer for Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different:

Read more about Jobs' life.

Read Apple's official page in remembrance of Jobs.

This interesting article discusses Jobs' legacy and the two recent films chronicling his life.