What does it take to establish one’s self in an inner city St. Louis school – as the new girl, the overweight new girl with bright curly red hair? Erica wants to be accepted like all kids, but she’s also brash. She wouldn’t get pushed around and when she’s not afraid to speak her mind, it lands her in a fight with one of the “tough girls” in the school. But the opportunity comes to save face while in the principal’s office and it’s there that Alicia makes her first new friend. This friend is in a rough crowd though. The outside activities of this crowd include assaulting random people for fun. Called the “Knockout Game”, Erica gets caught up in it for two reasons. First, she’s a good videographer and people like that love to watch themselves even more than doing the evil deed. Second, the gang leader takes a liking to her. But video of these assaults could never lead to something good. This novel is for the student who thinks tough acts are the way to go and for those who probably watch that on TV. G. Neri’s Knockout Games is not for the faint of heart. This story is somewhat sickening, but it will get circulation in most high school libraries.

The opening chapter causes the reader’s stomach to flip with dread and anxiety as the teenaged boy Eric receives a series of mysterious and creepy phone calls, followed by an email with a photo of Eric’s bedroom. As Eric has the realization that “Whoever had taken the picture had been in his room”, the reader is hooked.

Told in the third person, the story centers around three teens, Eric, Shelly, and Fatima.   The three teens, from different high schools, meet while on suspension and are attending the same bullying intervention program. The three team up to discover the anonymous caller who threatens them with revealing photos or writings from their personal pasts.  The reader is kept in suspense as to WHAT the secrets are that the three kids are trying so desperately to keep secret.

This novel is full of suspense, mystery, blackmail, and bullying.  The three teens are unlikely bullies, and the reader feels empathy for them, as they do things they hate to do but don’t feel they have a choice about.

Two of the characters are somewhat stereotypical (Eric is a jock, Shelly is Goth), while the third character, Fatima is a Muslim-American girl, and seeing the situation from her cultural viewpoint adds diversity and interest.

For those readers who enjoy this book, it is likely that there will be a sequel: the final scene sets up that possibility.

Traumatic Brain Injury – From Concussion to Coma is a concise 88 page informational text that doesn’t feel like the informational text coming from most publishers today.  Glossy cover with images and font choices that make the overall impression of the page much more relevant to teen readers, Connie Goldsmith, an RN with her master’s degree in health care administration, does an outstanding job explaining the literal “impact” concussions have on the brain and the side effects that follow.  For example, in the chapter titled “Motor Vehicle Accidents, Goldsmith writes that “It’s easy to understand why brain injuries suffered in auto accidents are so serious.  Think of it like this.  When a person inside an auto moving at 50 miles (80 km) an hour is hit by another vehicle, the brain goes immediately from 50 miles and hour to zero.  The brain slams back and forth inside the skull resulting in severe damage” (59).  Other chapter titles include “Brains in the News”, “The Traumatized Brain”, “Sports-Related Concussions”, “Assessing and Treating Concussions”, “Wounded in War”, and “Living with TBI”.  While the numbers of reported concussions is on the rise, the author states that this might mostly be due to the larger awareness and reporting of concussions by the public.  Most sports teams, both professional and amateur, conduct a pre-season neurological screening to set base line measurements.  This aids in better diagnoses as well. Most shocking to this reader is the research and development going on to both monitor and prevent concussions.  Tiny sensors are now in some U.S. army helmet and the author claims that that NFL is looking to do that as well.  Additionally, the army is developing a pill that soldiers could take before battle to help protect brains cells if injury occurs.  Overall, librarians will be impressed with this title from Lerner Publications and probably be inclined to purchase more from this publisher.

From Abdo’s series Essential Library of American Wars, Vietnam War by Martin Gitlin, is a 100 page accounting of the 20 year war as well as a brief historical account of the French-colonial rule leading up to the Vietnam War’s start in 1954.  It’s always a toss up to this reviewer whether a book such is this is meant to used as a reference source or as a book to read for pleasure.  On the side of pleasure, editors chose to take the reader right into the height of the conflict in 1968 Tet offensive.  A hook to establish the harsh realities of the war, readers then begin the chronological journey.  But because of this publisher’s choice to present a text in 10″ x 8″ size, I just don’t see many middle or high school students pulling this out on silent reading day or cuddling up with it in bed.  To the student that is not put off by its size, the combination of full color and black and white photos with size 14 or larger text and 2 inch margins make this feel like a more substantial read than it is.  This reviewer doesn’t doubt that the content is well presented and consulted upon with the help of history Professor Kenneth Heineman, Angelo State University.  It is very readable and discusses all of the main battles/concepts one has/will learn in a general history class concerning Vietnam.  But if a library were looking for a text that would have in-depth articles on such major battles/concepts, this is not the text for them.  Still if your library could benefit from a newer copyright date, this is a strong selection.

The question of “belief” is  the core of this YA novel, Believe by Sarah Aronson:  belief in one’s self, belief in a memory of the past, belief in the love of family, belief in God and the possibility of miracles, belief in a future of one’s own creation.  Janine Collins is six years old when she is thrust into the headlines as the only survivor of a terrorist suicide bombing that claims the lives of both of her parents.  Her terribly disfigured hands are a constant reminder of her past ordeal. She just wants to be ordinary, valued on her own merit not as political or religious spokesperson, not as the “special” Soul Survivor.  What is the price of being famous?  Every action must be considered as to how it would play out in the press.  Friends, her rescuer, the news media all use her fame to advance their own causes. Everyone has a preconceived notion as to what she should do with her fame, which she totally rejects.   Ordinary anonymity seems impossible.  She is confused as to what to believe in and what is true.  The pursuit of individuality makes Janine sympathetic but also selfish and narrow minded. Her envy of the ordinary seems glamorized.  The issues presented are relevant to teenagers in the angst of who they are and what they stand for. The book is a good read, with  ideas that would make for good discussion.

Pre-K – 1st grade students will get a number of chuckles out of Big Bad Baby by author Bruce Hale and illustrator Steve Breen.  The highly farcical story begins with a toddler who goes from doing multiple wrong things in his home to hypo-morphing into a giant baby that creates giant disasters in his town.  Leave it to mom to enlist the ever-calming power of the big blue baby blanket, hoisting bad baby away via helicopters back his home and in his mother’s arms.  The always collected mother says that even “Big bad babies need love too” to which baby replies “Gee-gah goo” and “…in bad, bad baby talk means…’I’ll be back.'”  A cute story becomes more worthwhile because of the illuminative illustrations, especially that of the faces of the characters.  They are so well done that this would be a great book to use to discuss the idea of reading body language and facial expression.  The fun nature of the entire story makes this a recommended selection.

The illustrated children’s book “The Cat, the Dog, Little Red, the Exploding Eggs, the Wolf, and Grandma” by Diane and Chrystyan Fox will be sure to give primary and intermediate readers a good laugh. In this book we follow a cat trying to read the story of “Little Red Riding Hood” to an action loving dog. However the dog is always interrupting and trying to add in it’s own commentary to the tale, much to the frustration of the cat. The humor in the book sets it apart from others, which switches between the dog voicing it’s own ideas for the story, to slightly critical of the “plothole’s” in “Little Red Riding Hood.” However the illustrations, while being comical and fitting for the text, are a bit too minimalistic at times with the size of the pages, so too much blank, white space is shown. The different approaches to and levels of comedy in this story make it a fun little read. While the drawings themselves, although being too small at times, add to the humor as well with some slapstick interaction between the two main characters. Primary readers will love the silliness of the dog, and intermediate readers will love the good natured criticism of the famous tale. Recommended.

The children’s picture book Beetle and Bug and the Grissel Hunt by Hiawyn Oram and Satoshi Kitamura is an interesting read, but not always in a good way. The story is told in a AA, BB rhyme scheme, about the main characters “Beetle” and “Bug,” who try to find a mysterious “Grissel,” a creature that has apparently never been seen, however they have a very specific description of what it looks like. They go to the ocean and up into space via their magic rug, finding strange and interesting creatures, but never the prized “Grissel.” The fun rhyme scheme is easy to digest and the illustrations are always eye catching. On the other hand the flow of the text simply can not redeem the disaster of the plot, and while the art style is unique it sometimes seems disconnected from the text with random everyday items just thrown in throughout the book. This fiction book takes full advantage of it’s classification, giving us a potentially interesting journey to go on looking for this elusive creature. However, halfway through it seems to drop any semblance of a plot, leaving us with no resolution in the end. The illustrations arenimaginative, but like the convoluted plot, the closer you look the less enchanting they become. Primary readers might enjoy the innovativeness of the creatures and the setting, but as they mature it will surely wain on them.

Teen girls looking for a light romance will enjoy Catch a Falling Star by Kim Culbertson.  Carter Moon is beginning to enjoy the summer between her junior and senior year when her small town of Little, California is no longer “little” with the likes of super teen throb Adam Jakes and his entourage beginning to shoot his movie there.  Carter is not the pop culture monger that her friend Chloe is.  She prefers a simple life where one can go out on the roof top at night and seek solice in the stars. Her aversion to that pop culture type of life is what makes her the perfect “character” for Carter’s manager to hire to be his new girlfriend – clean cut, earthy, non-drama queen and in need of some money to keep her brother who has a gambling addiction out of trouble.

At first both are a little stand-offish but Carter is a “tell it like it is” girl who decides to make the most of the new job.  She can’t share her secret about it being a “fake” relationship with any of her friends.  This is only one small emotional conflict though.  Of a larger scope is Carter’s decision to stop dancing the previous year.  This was an activity that could have taken her across the nation to an arts focused college but one dance teacher allowed her to drop her confidence in herself.  As Carter and Jake begin to learn more about each other, they begin to counsel one another in their issues such as Carter’s dancing future and the sparks begin to be set off onto a real romantic interest in one another.  Add in some additional words of wisdom from Carter’s best boyfriend, Alien Drake, nicknamed Alien because he too loves to study the stellar universe, and readers will be contemplating our social media driven world where no one is “…ever knows what’s real.”

Students trying to make decisions about their next step on the path after high school will relate to Carter’s crisis of her soul.  Those who pine for a soft touch romance will find it here.  Slightly “Hallmarkish”, Catch a Falling Star is an additional purchase for most libraries.

Any author that has the guts to use an opening line like “It’s midnight, it’s sweltering, and I might be high on Vicodin, but that guy — that guy right over there—that’s him” will get their reader hooked.  Thus was the case when reading Isla and the Happily Ever After.  The title gives it away, that there will be a happy ending but readers will not remember it for it’s ending — though that is fairytale-ish good too. No, it will be remembered for the intricacies of the characters Stephanie Perkins brings out.  Set at a private school in France, Isla is a junior who has kept to herself most of her freshman and sophomore year.  She is the highest ranking person in her class of only 24 elite students.  Both of the past two school years she has had a huge crush on Joshua Wasserstein.  In this opening scene, they are actually both back in New York City for the summer and Isla’s dental work has left her loopy with the confidence she’d never have had to talk to Josh. This chance and single meeting sets the spark for all of the stars to align.  The plot really picks up once they are back at school in the fall.  But it’s not all Josh and Isla.  Perkins creates a wonderful best friend companion of Isla in Kurt.  Kurt is has Asperger’s, the high functioning form of autism, that tells Isla how it is without the mush that best girl friends would have likely brought to the scenes.  Kurt is a guy who wants Isla’s attention because they’ve been friends since they were in diapers.  This creates tension, of course, but the maturity in which the characters all handle it is a lesson for all teens to learn from.  There’s passion that’s slightly graphic. But there’s drama without a lot of drama and the scenes clip along at a nice pace, especially as the main conflict begins to unfold.  For being a student who studies abroad, Isla’s insecurities don’t always ring true, but that could also be a reminder that even the most confident people on the outside have worries too.  There is the happily ever after, of course, so upper high school readers who like the Sarah Dessen, Deb Collasanti books will find another author right up their alley in Stephanie Perkins.