November 30, 2014 Titles

Abawi, Atia. The Secret Sky: A Novel of Forbidden Love in Afghanistan. Born of Afghan parents and inspired by the author’s time spent in Afghanistan as a foreign correspondent, Abawi tells the story of Fatima, an Hazara girl whose destiny is to remain barely literate and marry someone she does not know. That all changes when after three years in an Islamic religious school, Samiullah, her best friend since childhood but Pashtun, returns a grown man.  Their society, cultures, family, and friends fight to keep them apart. Multicultural literature.

Lockhart, E. We Were Liars. The Sinclairs are old money and spend their summers on their very own private island off the coast of Massachusetts until a fire destroys their old world life. Johnny, Mirren, Gat, and Cadence are cousins who are called the Liars. They can lie to their relatives; they can lie to each other, but they can’t lie to themselves. Mystery thriller.

Lubar, David. Extremities: Stories of Death, Murder, and Revenge. The title says it all!!

Myers, Suzanne. Stone Cold Island.  When seventeen year old Eliza Elliott begins to investigate the decades old murder of Bess Linsky, everyone on the island seems to want to hide the story. She has no clue that not only the entire island of Stone Cove Island is involved, but both her father and her mother are involved. She soon finds out that the island people will go to any length to keep the secret buried.

Rowell, Rainbow. Eleanor & Park. Sixteen year olds Eleanor & Park couldn’t possibly be right for each other, but love doesn’t always allow us to choose.  This is a heartrending tale of love and hope for two misfits who make a lifetime connection. Language.

Rutkoski, Marie. The Winner’s Curse.  Seventeen year old Kestrel, daughter of the Valorian general, knows that she has only two choices when she turns twenty—become a wife or a soldier. Defying custom, she is sucked into a political rebellion when she buys an Herrani slave and falls in love with him. Although Arin is one of the leaders of the uprising, she defies the demands of society and is determined to do what she thinks is right. Follow Kestrel’s struggles in the second book of the trilogy, The Winner’s Crime which is due out in March of 2015, when she is forced into an engagement with the emperor’s son and charged with treason. Fantasy.

Wallace, Rich and Sandra Neil Wallace. Babe Conquers the World: The legendary Life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Bullied by competitors, snubbed by teammates, harassed by family, Mildred Elda Didrikson was a naturally talented athlete driven to become the best. Meticulously researched, this book tells the story of Babe Didrikson Zaharias who fought not only to become the greatest woman athlete of the twentieth century but fought for women’s rights. Nonfiction.

OELMA Conference Presentation: October 24, 2014

OELMA CONFERENCE: October 24, 2014

YA TITLES YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS

presented by

Krista Taracuk,

Retired high school librarian/State Library of Ohio Board Member

1.      Alexander, Kwame.  Crossover.  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 978-0-544-10771-7. On-the-court action is interspersed with real life tensions in this novel in verse. Twins Josh and Jordan Bell are basketball phenoms. As they grow older, they begin to grow apart. One shaves his head; one has long locks. One is more serious; one is more immature. One has a girlfriend; one is jealous of the girlfriend. Reluctant readers.

2.      Anderson, Laurie Halse. The Impossible Knife of Memory. Penguin Group. 978-1922182227. Hayley Rose says, "It was enough to make me want to flee into the mountains and live out my life as a hermit, as long as I could find a hideaway that had a decent public library within walking distance.” Hayley and her war hero father have hopscotched from town to town and have finally settled in one spot, but both live with the constant pain of her father’s PTSD.

3.      Armentrout, Jennifer L.  Don’t Look Back. Hyperion. 978-142317512-4. High school senior Samantha Franco was found wandering along the roadside. Bloody and dazed, she has no recollection of her previous life as a “Mean Girl.”  Most importantly, she has no idea where she left her best friend Cassie. Even when Cassie’s body is found, Sam can not remember anything—but the killer does. And he doesn’t want Sam to remember. Mystery thriller.

4.      Binns, Barbara A.  Minority of One.  AllTheColorsofLove Press.  9780988182127. Alone and lonely, Neill and Sheila are looking for someone who understands them when they connect in the least likely place, French classroom. Sheila is trying to find her way around her father’s suicide while Neill is trying to overcome his boyfriend’s rejection. Barbara Binns is one of the featured authors at this year’s OELMA conference.  LGBT. Reluctant readers.

5.      Brown, Pierce. Red Rising. Del Rey. 978-0-345-53978-6. For generations, the Reds have been told that they are the pioneers of Mars, making way for habitation. Sixteen year-old Darrow and his family know no other life than mining and Darrow is a highly touted driller called a Helldiver. After the death of his wife Eo, Darrow has the opportunity to seek revenge and finds out that for five hundred years his people have been slaves mining for fuel for all of mankind. For fans of The Hunger Games. Science fiction.

6.      Cardi, Annie. The Chance You Won’t Return. Candlewick Press. 978-0-7636-6292-9. Alex is struggling trying to keep the family together because her mom has had a nervous breakdown and thinks she’s Amelia Earhart. To top it off, she needs help passing driver’s ed.

7.      Casella, Jody. Thin Space. Simon Pulse/Beyond Words. 978-1582703923. Marshall Windsor is devastated over the loss of his twin brother in a car accident where Marsh was the driver.  Marsh has been trapped in a foggy haze of grief and remorse since that fateful night. The tension builds as Marsh frantically searches for that sliver of space between the living and the dead to meet up with Austin once again and make things right.  Identical twins often switch places so all Marsh has to do is convince Austin to switch places with him one more time.  Buy multiple copies of this supernatural thriller! Jody Casella is one of the featured authors at this year’s OELMA conference.

8.      Coben, Harlan.  Missing You. Dutton. 978-0-525-95349-4. For twenty years as a cop and a daughter, Kat Donovan has searched for her hero father’s murderer. Little does she know that a case involving almost 40 missing people will bring her to the very doorsteps of the killer. The reader won’t guess the identity of the killer until the very end of the book. Good choice for older readers (as well as adults) because of the size of the book.

9.      Cotugno, Katie.  How To Love.  Balzar + Bray.  978-0-06-221635-9.  Serena Montero has always loved Sawyer LaGrande, but has never let him really know.  She has also always wanted to travel and write, but those dreams are put on hold when sixteen year old Serena becomes pregnant with Sawyer’s baby. Addicted to pain killers, Sawyer suddenly leaves town and disappears completely. Just as Reena is finally getting her life together, Sawyer returns after an absence of two years.

10.  Ford, Gabrielle with Sarah Thomson.  Gabe & Izzy: Standing Up For America’s Bullied.  Puffin Books. 978-0-8037-4062-4.  Gabrielle Ford lived a normal until the age of 13 when she was diagnosed with the rare Friedreich’s Ataxia, a life-threatening disease of the nervous system. This book is for the bullied, the bully, a witness to bullying, or dog lovers in general as Gabe takes her story on the road.

11.  Grant, AnnaLisa. The Lake.  Layla has been orphaned twice and is once again relocating, this time from Florida to North Carolina to live with her unknown aunt and uncle. Although the main character, Layla Weston, is a 17 year old senior, the content and the situations of this book are very appropriate for a freshman. She falls in love with the first boy she meets in this simple romance. First book in the Lake Trilogy. Reluctant readers. FREE DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON.

12.  Landers, Melissa. Alienated. Hyperion. 978-1-4231-7028-0. The term foreign exchange student takes on a whole new meaning when that person is a Liehr alien. Two years ago Liehr made contact with Earth; now they want to set up a student exchange program. The Liehrs need human emotion while humans need the scientific advances provided. Cara Sweeney has earned a scholarship and been chosen as one of the hosts but she must fight HALO (Humans Against Liehr Occupation). Can love overcome treachery and paranoia? Readers will eagerly anticipate the sequel. Science fiction.

13.  Maciel, Amanda. Tease. Balzer + Bray. 978-0-06-230530-5. So what’s the big deal that during junior year new student Emma Sluts-A-Lot Putnam killed herself? “Everyone” knew she was a boyfriend-stealing bitch and even after her death, she’s ruining Sara Wharton’s life. Sara doesn’t understand why she and four of her classmates have been charged in the death of Emma.  Now Sara must spend the summer before her senior year meeting with lawyers, seeing a therapist, attending summer school, and defending herself to the entire town.

14.  McGovern, Cammie. Say What You Will. Harper Teen. 978-0-06-227110-5. High school senior Amy has spent seventeen years trapped in a body because of cerebral palsy while Matthew has disabilities on the inside. Trapped by his obsessive compulsive behavior, Matt becomes an aide for his classmate Amy. What starts out as a job for Matt grows into friendship with each overlooking the physical and emotional hurdles in each other.

15.  Nelson, Jandy. I’ll Give you the Sun. Dial Books. 978-0-8037-3496-8. Inseparable twins Jude and Noah are torn apart by the tragic death of their mother.  The story is told in two parts, first by Jude and then by Noah. Each is hiding secrets from the other and they struggle to maintain their closeness. LGBT. Language. Situations.

16.  Oliver, Lauren. Panic.  Epicreads.  978-0-06-201455-9. Graduating seniors in the small town of Carp hold an annual challenge with a prize of $67,000. With the chance to escape their stifling small town, the contestants are challenged to such tasks as a walk across a plank between two water towers. Secrets, alliances, and fear will overcome the entire town as candidates are pushed to their limits.

17.  Prestsater, Julie. So I’m A Double Threat. Freshman Megan Miller and her three best buddies are super excited to start high school and experience everything it offers, especially when they make it into the IN crowd by being both smart and popular. Unfortunately, they hadn’t figured on the daily angst involved in high school life.  Language and realistic situations. Reluctant readers. (First book in Double Threat Series) FREE DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON.

18.  Roberts, Robin with Veronica Chambers. Everybody’s Got Something. Grand Central Publishing. 978-1-4555-7845-0. Her mother always said, “Everybody’s got something, but they also have something to give.” Robin Roberts does just that by giving us a glimpse into her fight with breast cancer five years ago, the loss of her mother, and her fight with a rare blood disorder. Robin is a former college athlete, a former ESPN announcer and anchor, and now anchor for the number one morning show, Good Morning America.  In this wonderfully uplifting memoir, she talks about her faith, her family, her gay partner, and her friends. Memoir.

19.  Scott, Elizabeth.  Heart Beat. Harlequin Teen.  978-0-373-21096-1.  Seventeen year old Emma, the valedictorian candidate who always did the right thing, has realized that none of that matters.  All that matters is that her stepfather is keeping her dead mother hooked to give birth to their unborn son. Emma is barely operating through the fog of her grief when she runs into bad boy, Caleb Harrison, who is wading through his own struggle with anger and grief.

20.  Scottoline, Lisa.  Keep Quiet. St. Martin’s Press. 978-1-250-01009-4. Jake Buckman is hoping to reconnect with his 16 year old son, Ryan, and lets him illegally drive home from the movies. After Ryan hits and kills a woman, Jake decides that they should leave the scene and not tell anyone what happened. Mystery thriller.

21.  Shecter, Vicky Alverar.  Curses and Smoke: A Novel of Pompeii. Arthur A. Levine Books. 978-0-545-50993-0.  Lucia is a pawn in her father’s plan to get out of debt, while Tag is a slave whose only dream is to become a famous gladiator. The childhood friends are reunited as the city is beset with tremors of the forthcoming earthquake.  Historical fiction.

22.  Wolitzer, Meg. Belzhar.  Dutton. 978-0-525-42305-8. Devastated by the death of her boyfriend Reeve, Jam (short for Jamaica) is overcome with grief. Because they are unable to reach Jam during the following year, the Gallahue family has run out of options and sends her to The Wooden Barn to recuperate.  Jam has been assigned to the legendary class Special Topics in English with four other students.  The five students are assigned readings and journal writings on Sylvia Plath for the first semester. With no Internet and nowhere to go, the students delve into their journals, only to find another world opens to them. Fantasy.

New Titles

ADDITIONAL TITLES:

DeWoskin, Rachel. Blind. At age 15, Emma is blinded in a freak accident when she is struck by a defective bottle rocket so instead of being an average freshman girl, her life revolves around her white cane. Once she was the invisible child in a large family; now everyone stares. With the suicide of a classmate, Emma must decide that her life is worthwhile after all.  Language.

Recommendations from Ann Pechacek, Head YA Librarian at Worthington’s Northwest Library and committee member of the 2016 Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature:

Auxier, Jonathan. Night Garden: A Scary Story. Irish orphans Molly, fourteen, and Kip, ten, travel to England to work as servants in a crumbling manor house where nothing is quite what it seems to be, and soon the siblings are confronted by a mysterious stranger and secrets of the cursed house. Follow-up to Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes.  Victorian ghost story.

Blankman, Anne. Prisoner of Night and Fog. In 1930s Munich, the favorite niece of rising political leader Adolph Hitler is torn between duty and love after meeting a fearless and handsome young Jewish reporter. Historical fiction.

Fleming, Candace. The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia. He was Tsar Nicholas II of Russia: the wealthiest monarch in the world, who ruled over 130 million people and one-sixth of the earth's land surface, yet turned a blind eye to the abject poverty of his subjects. She was Empress Alexandra: stern, reclusive, and painfully shy, a deeply religious woman obsessed with the corrupt mystic Rasputin. Their daughters were the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Marie, and Anastasia: completely isolated and immature, girls who wore identical white dresses and often signed joint letters as OTMA, the initials of their first names. Their only son was Tsarevich Alexei: youngest of the Romanovs, heir to the throne, a hemophiliac whose debilitating illness was kept secret from the rest of the world. In a world of starving peasant farmers, the factory workers toiling long hours for little pay, and the disillusioned soldiers fighting in the trenches of World War I, follow the Romanovs from opulent upbringings, to the crumbling of their massive empire, and finally to their tragic murders. Non-fiction.

Portes, Andrea. Anatomy of a Misfit. The third most popular girl in school's choice between the hottest boy in town and a lonely but romantic misfit ends in tragedy and self-realization.

Whaley, John Corey. Noggin. Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 978-1442458727. After dying of cancer at age sixteen, Travis Coates' head was removed and frozen for five years before being attached to another body, and now the old Travis and the new Travis must find a way to coexist while figuring out changes in his relationships. Science fiction.

Woodson, Jacqueline. Brown Girl Dreaming.  This is the moving story of Woodson’s childhood in mesmerizing verse. Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child's soul as she searches for her place in the world.

New Titles!

1)                  Anderson, Laurie Halse. The Impossible Knife of Memory. Viking Juvenile. 978-0670012091. After being on the road for five years, Hayley Rose Kincaid and her father Andy have finally settled in a small town where Hayley will attend school full time and hopes to find a normal life, but both Hayley and her war hero father live with the constant pain of PTSD.  Hayley says, "It was enough to make me want to flee into the mountains and live out my life as a hermit, as long as I could find a hideaway that had a decent public library within walking distance.

2)                  Bascomb, Neal. The Nazi Hunters. 2013. Arthur A. Levine Books. 9780545430999. The hunt for Adolf Eichmann, Nazi leader responsible for organizing the deportation and extermination of millions of Holocaust victims.  Includes background information about Eichmann and the establishment of Israel and the Israeli Mosad. Winner of the 2014 Excellence in Nonfiction Award.

3)                  Binns, Barbara A.  Minority of One.  AllTheColorsofLove Press.  9780988182127.

Sheila is the new kid in town while is Neill is an openly gay orphan with an ex-boyfriend who has gone straight.  Sheila’s father ran an international Ponzi scheme that cheated hundreds of their money. While Neil wants to become a teacher, Neill’s brother wants him to become a doctor like him. Both Sheila and Neill are struggling to find happiness—and then they are confronted with a mystery that will break them or make them stronger.  Barbara Binns is one of the featured authors at this year’s OELMA conference. GLBTSA (Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender, and Straight Alliance). Reluctant readers.

4)                  Casella, Jody. Thin Space. Simon Pulse/Beyond Words. 978-1582703923. Marshall Windsor is devastated over the loss of his twin brother in a car accident where Marsh was the driver.  Marsh has been trapped in a foggy haze of grief and remorse since that fateful night. The tension builds as Marsh frantically searches for that sliver of space between the living and the dead to meet up with Austin once again and make things right.  Identical twins often switch places so all Marsh has to do is convince Austin to switch places with him one more time.  Buy multiple copies of this supernatural thriller! Jody Casella is one of the Ohio authors featured at this year’s OELMA conference.

5)                  Chan, Crystal. Bird. Bound Galley.  9781442478794. Nothing matters but Bird, the five year old brother who died on her birth date. Twelve year old Jewel constantly lives in the shadow of Bird in a house filled with anger, superstition, emotional pain, and personal demons, Jewel must try to find her place in the world.  When she suddenly meets a boy who is visiting his uncle and coincidentally has her dead brother’s name, the world crashes in. Readers will empathize with the constant bewilderment and heartbreaking loss felt by Jewel who just wants a normal family.

6)                  Chiaverini, Jennifer. Mrs. Lincoln’s Rival.  Dutton. 978-0-525-95428-6. Kate Chase is the beautiful, well-educated, and politically savvy daughter of the Presidential hopeful and member of Lincoln’s cabinet, Salmon P. Chase. Described as the “most brilliant woman of her day,” Kate established a salon in their home to rival all others, becoming the queen of Washington political society, but gaining the jealousy and enmity of the infamous Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln. Kate married William Sprague, the governor of Rhode Island, only to courageously divorce him after 20+ years of his alcoholic abuse and infidelities, even legally reclaiming the Chase name. Historical fiction.

7)                  Culbertson, Kim.  Catch A Falling Star.  Point (Scholastic) 978-0-545-62704-7.  During the summer before her senior year, Carter Moon expects to spend a relaxing summer hanging out with her friends and working at her parents’ restaurant.  Her plans are disrupted by the arrival of a movie company with star and teenage heart throb Adam Jakes. When she is hired by the company to act as Adam’s girlfriend during the shoot to help clean up Adam’s nightmare image, Carter must decide what’s real and what’s for the rolling cameras. Released on April 29, 2014.

8)                  Fantaskey, Beth. Buzz Kill. HMH Books. 9780547393100. While investigating a story for her high school paper Millie stumbles upon a dead body, the head football coach and her dad the mayor is the main suspect. Millie, a Nancy Drew fan, decides she is going to solve who really murdered the coach. Fun, light mystery.

9)                  Ford, Gabrielle with Sarah Thomson.  Gabe & Izzy: Standing Up For America’s Bullied.  Puffin Books. 978-0-8037-4062-4.  Gabrielle Ford lived a normal until the age of 13 when she was diagnosed with the rare Friedreich’s Ataxia, a life-threatening disease of the nervous system. This book is for the bullied, the bully, a witness to bullying, or dog lovers in general as Gabe takes her story on the road.

10)              Grant, AnnaLisa. The Lake.  Layla has been orphaned twice and is once again relocating, this time from Florida to North Carolina to live with her unknown aunt and uncle. Although the main character, Layla Weston, is a 17 year old senior, the content and the situations of this book are very appropriate for a freshman. She falls in love with the first boy she meets in this simple romance. First book in the Lake Trilogy. Reluctant readers. FREE DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON.

11)              Johnson, Jaleigh. The Mark of the Dragonfly. Delacorte Books. 9780385376150. A new steampunkish fantasy set in an alternate world. Piper is trying to survive and save as much money as she can to get out of the Meteor Fields and move to Dragonfly territory to revenge her dad’s death. The last meteor storm brings her more trouble than she ever bargained for and now she is on the run with a young woman who can’t remember who she is or how she got to the fields.

12)              Kerr, Philip.  The Winter Horses. Alfred A. Knopf. 978-0-385-75544-3.  Kalinka’s entire family has been killed by the Nazis; she has barely survived the horrors and the dangers of 1941 as she wanders through the Ukraine trying to keep one step ahead of the Germans. On her way, she is befriended by two Przewalski’s horses, a rare and almost extinct breed of wild horse from Mongolia, who are also being hunted by the Nazis.  Middle school girls who love horses will especially appreciate this story. Holocaust literature.

13)               Longshore, Katherine. Manor of Secrets. Point Press. 9780545567589. Charlotte is bored with tea parties and banal talk about the weather. Janie is fine with her position downstairs in the kitchen. Their lives intersect when Charlotte challenges the boundaries between the upstairs and the downstairs.

14)              Miranda, Megan. Vengeance. Bloomsburyteens. 978-0-8027-3503-4. Falcon Lake is not one to forgive and forget or give up its dead.  In Fracture, Delaney was rescued from Falcon Lake; the Lake had reluctantly given her up but grabbed another. Now the Lake is searching for another. When Decker’s dad dies and Decker realizes that Delaney knew but did not tell him, he can’t seem to forgive her.  Language.

15)              Oppel, Kenneth. Boundless. Simon & Schuster Books. 9781442472884. Will and his father take the maiden voyage on the biggest train ever built, Boundless. As the train heads west across Canada Will witnesses a murder and to stop the next murder, his own, he hooks up with the circus troupe hooked to train.

16)              Patterson, James. First Love. Little, Brown, and Co. 9780316239998. Axi is a good girl. She doesn’t skip class or cheat but she also knows she is running out of time with her best friend Robinson. Axi decides it is time to take the trip of a lifetime with Robinson and out they head on the next great adventure. Will it be her last and will Robinson ever find out she is in love with him?

17)              Philbrick, Rodman. Zane and the Hurricane: a story of Katrina. Blue Sky Press. The very first time Zane visits his long lost Great Grandmother, Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans. He and his dog Bandy are stranded in Ward Nine when the wind and rain kick in. Short quick chapters. Middle school appropriate.

18)              Prestsater, Julie. So I’m A Double Threat. Freshman Megan Miller and her three best buddies are super excited to start high school and experience everything it offers, especially when they make it into the IN crowd by being both smart and popular. Unfortunately, they hadn’t figured on the daily angst involved in high school life.  Language and realistic situations. Reluctant readers. (First book in Double Threat Series) FREE DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON.

19)              Ross, Elizabeth. Belle Epoque. 2013. Delacorte Books for Young Readers. 9780385741460. Maude wants to escape her small village for a new life in Paris but once she arrives she finds that it is not as easy to make a living as she thought. To survive Maude answers an ad for a position at the Durandeau Agency and ends up chosen to be the “plain friend” to a young woman of society.

20)              Scott, Victoria. Fire & Flood. Scholastic. 978-0-545-53746-9. Hoping to improve her brother’s failing health from a mysterious illness, Tella Holloway’s family moves from Boston to the middle of nowhere in Montana. But someone has found Tella in the middle of nowhere and sent her a mysterious blue box with an invitation to be a Contender in the three month Brimstone Bleed, a race through the four ecosystems of the desert, ocean, mountains, and jungle. Tella would give anything to see her brother healthy again and now she has that chance as the winner will receive a cure for any disease for any one single person.  For fans of The Hunger Games.  Released March 25, 2014.

21)              Sheinkin, Steve. The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights. Roaring Brook Press. 9781596439832.  During World War II, African American soldiers were allowed to be in the military, but they weren’t allowed to have jobs other than in the kitchen.  They were not allowed in combat, though their bravery had been proven over and over again.  After a disastrous explosion in Port Chicago (in California) killed more than 300 servicemen and when survivors were transferred to a new base, 244 servicemen refused to work unless unsafe and unfair conditions were addressed.  The Navy called this mutiny.  194 backed down.  50 did not.  Descendants are still trying to clear their ancestors’ names.  Impeccably researched and sourced.

22)              Smith, Lindsay. Sekret. Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan Children's. 9781596438927. It is the 1960s the Cold War is as cold as ever. Kennedy is in office. Khrushchev is head of the Soviet Union and the space race is on. One day Yulia comes back from trading at the market to find her mother and brother have vanished and the KGB wants to use her for her psychic skills. She along with a small group of teens with psychic ability are thrust into the world of espionage, betrayal and devastating power.  First book in the Sekret trilogy.

23)              Strasser, Todd. No Place. Simon & Schuster. 9781442457218. Dan seems to have it all. He is a star on the high school baseball team, has a popular girlfriend and some great friends. His life turns upside down when his family loses their house and end up homeless living in the town’s tent city, Dignityville. High school readers.

24)              Tougias, Michael J.  & Casey Sherman.  The Finest Hours: The True Story of a Heroic Sea Rescue.  Henry Holt & Co. 978-0-8050-9764-1. In 1952, two oil tankers collided off the coast of New England. In a tiny rowboat, four members of the Coast Guard set out to rescue anyone they can find in one of the worst storms of the century.  They end up rescuing 30 people in a death-defying struggle. This middle school adaptation of the original nonfiction book will be made into a major motion picture by Disney Studios.  Middle school readers.

25)              Winters, Cat. In the Shadow of Blackbirds. 2013. Amulet Books. 9781419705304. Mary Shelley Black’s world is in chaos; her father has been arrested for treason, her childhood sweetheart is in Europe fighting in WWI, the Spanish Flu has already taken thousands of lives and now she is on her way to San Francisco to stay with her aunt. Mary’s life in San Francisco is filled with ghosts, séances and possible murder. The black and white photos included in the book are haunting.

26)              Yocum, Robin.  The Essay.  Arcade Publishing. 978-1-61145-766-7. James Leland Hickam comes from a long line of social outcasts known for their exploits on the wrong side of the law. Because of that history, Jimmy Lee is so low in the social strata that he’s not considered “white trash.” He’s a dogger, a resident of Red Dog Road that leads to the county’s dump. Raised by parents who are appallingly nonchalant in their neglect, Jimmy Lee only has hopes of being the first of his family to possibly graduate from high school and finding a steady job in the mines of Vinton County. School is not important because it leads nowhere, just like his life and the lives of everyone around him. Students who liked The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie will be mesmerized by this tautly written, powerful, and insightful book.  Language.  Highly recommended. Robin Yocum is one of Ohio’s featured authors at this year’s OELMA conference.