Teen Read Week

What did you read for Teen Read Week? These were my two choices!
-The Teacher's Calendar, 2008-2009

Patterson, Valerie O.
The Other Side of Blue.
October 2009.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Source: Review copy provided courtesy of publisher

Summary from Barnes & Noble:

Cyan was named after a shade of blue, her artist mother's favorite color. The color of the sea. Since her father's death last year, she’s felt just as mercurial and dark as her namesake, and the distance between Cyan and her mother has grown as wide as an ocean. Now they're returning to the island of Curaçao in the Caribbean, where her father's mysterious accident occurred, and joining them will be Kammi--who may soon become a stepsister. Haunted by the secrets of the past, Cyan will explore all the depths of her blueness this summer, discovering the light, the darkness, and the many shades in between that are within her—and within us all.

This was one of those books that once you start reading, you can't put it down! It was that moving and incredible! Prior to reading this book, I never considered looking at the "shades" of my life - meaning colors. But, after reading and now that I've given it a great deal of consideration, I can totally relate to this idea of quantifying your life in terms of color shades. Lately, I guess lately (overall) you could say my life shade would be crimson - red - depicting anger, frustration (all having to do with my grandma's dementia which has taken a turn)... Today however, I think I'd go with Cyan - I got out of the house, enjoyed myself, actually saw some sunshine in this dreary NY fall. It's really interesting to consider your life in terms of colors!

Beam, Matt.
Last December.
October 2009.
Boyds Mills Press.
Source: Review copy provided courtesy of publisher

Summary from Inside Jacket Cover:

Fifteen-year-old Steven needs to explain something - everything - to his sister, Sam. She needs to know about Jenny from his new high school and how the freckles on her arm make his synapses go crazy. She needs to know about the Toronto Maple Leafs and trying out for the school hockey team and the crazy thing Steven did to number 11 on the ice. She needs to know about Trevor's crooked eyebrow and what the Jar is and why it's not even close to righteous Rastifari. She needs to know about eighteen-year old dropout Byron, all his fascinating ideas about chaos and coolness and trying to keep it together. And she definitely needs to know about what drastic measures Steven is now considering and why. But there are two major problems: his sister isn't even born yet, and Steven is seriously struggling with the why part. In fact, Steven doesn't even know why his mother's having Sam in the first place... and if Sam's actually a she. Whatever happens, though, Steven knows one thing: he needs to get this all down, so that someday Sam'll know what happened to him - to all of them - last December.


If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com.