Personalized Reading Recommendations for Jaycie PART 5

This is my last post for this series that I created to explore the recommendations my professor of Adolescent Literature, Dr. Ellington chose for me according to  my personal preferences. So far I have only had the time to read a few of these suggestions, but I have placed them all on my “To-Read” list on Goodreads and plan to read them this summer. As for the ones I have read, I think that Dr. Ellington did a great job finding books tailored just to me!

The description of this book on Goodreads is one sentence long! Yet from that one sentence I am just itching to read this Coretta Scott King Award for Author Honor (1995)! Lena has problems, but so does Marie, being the only black child in her class. I am curious to see how both girls work together to overcome their issues presented in this book. Goodreads gives the book a 3.82 out of 5.00 stars.

“Marie, the only black girl in the eighth grade willing to befriend her white classmate Lena, discovers that Lena’s father is doing horrible things to her in private.”

The Nature of Jade by Deb Caletti sounds perfect to me. Not only does the story sound mysterious and captivating, but I already feel like Jade and I have a lot in common since I was diagnosed with severe social anxiety disorder. Mine doesn’t seem as serious as Jade’s is described, but I can relate to the panicked feeling that you’re going to die from a distressing situation. I am fascinated by Sebastian’s character already too. I may have to move this one up on  my list to read soon. This novel receives 3.87 stars and a South Carolina Book Award Nominee for Young Adult Book Award (2009).

“I am not my illness. “Girl with Anxiety,” “Trauma of the Week” — no. I hate stuff like that. Everyone, everyone has their issue. But the one thing my illness did make me realize is how necessary it is to ignore the dangers of living in order to live. And how much trouble you can get into if you can’t.Jade DeLuna is too young to die. She knows this, and yet she can’t quite believe it, especially when the terrifying thoughts, loss of breath, and dizzy feelings come. Since being diagnosed with Panic Disorder, she’s trying her best to stay calm, and visiting the elephants at the nearby zoo seems to help. That’s why Jade keeps the live zoo webcam on in her room, and that’s where she first sees the boy in the red jacket. A boy who stops to watch the elephants. A boy carrying a baby.

His name is Sebastian, and he is raising his son alone. Jade is drawn into Sebastian’s cozy life with his son and his activist grandmother on their Seattle houseboat, and before she knows it, she’s in love. With this boy who has lived through harder times than anyone she knows. This boy with a past.

Jade knows the situation is beyond complicated, but she hasn’t felt this safe in a long time. She owes it all to Sebastian, her boy with the great heart. Her boy who is hiding a terrible secret. A secret that will force Jade to decide between what is right, and what feels right.

Master storyteller Deb Caletti has once again created characters so real, you will be breathless with anticipation as their riveting story unfolds.”

Laurie Halse Anderson, the author of Speak, which I really enjoyed, also wrote this book Wintergirls, which is also recognized with an abidance of literary awards: Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award (RT Award) Nominee for Best Young Adult Novel (2009), An ALA/YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (2010), ALA Teens’ Top Ten (2010), Milwaukee County Teen Book Award (2010), Michigan Library Association Thumbs Up! Award Nominee (2010), Iowa High School Book Award Nominee (2011), Abraham Lincoln Award Nominee (2014), Goodreads Choice Nominee for Young Adult Fiction (2009), Cybils Awards Nominee for Young Adult Fiction (2009). This novel describes an issue that is not uncommon amongst young girls, though maybe not as severe as the case of Lia and Cassie. Cassie dies?!? That’s what I’m getting from the description anyway, and Lia has to live with the fact that a stupid, and yes I mean stupid, competition killed her best friend… 3.98 stars; I can see why.

““Dead girl walking,” the boys say in the halls.
“Tell us your secret,” the girls whisper, one toilet to another.
I am that girl.
I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through.
I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.

Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend’s restless spirit.

In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the multiple-award-winning Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia’s descent into the powerful vortex of anorexia, and her painful path toward recovery.”

Have you read any of these books?!