Wide-Eyed Reader

   Title:  Code Talker Author:  Joseph Bruchac Category:  Multicultural Ned Begay, a Navajo boy who has spent the last several years in a government boarding school known as a "mission school" designed to teach him to act as white citizens would, joins the marines upon finding out that they are recruiting Navajos who speak fluent English. Once past training, Ned finds that he has been recruited to send messages in a code developed by other Navajo men from the language he grew up speaking--the Navajo language that the mission school had attempted to beat out of him. The novel follows Ned through his service in the Pacific theatre of WWII. I found this book to be written very simply, with very little character or emotional resonance. However, Buchac very obviously did a great deal of research in writing it, and as a result the novel is more fact--descriptions of battle strategy, the events of the war, and anecdotes about code talkers--than anything else. I think this could be u

  Title: Fruits Basket, vol. One Author: Natsuki Takaya Category: Manga Teenage Tohru Honda has lost her mother - dead just this last summer. Until recently, Tohru was living with her father's father, but began living in a tent in a field when he decided to remodel his house to prepare for other family members joining him. Then, Tohru is discovered living in her tent by a boy who goes to her school and his older cousin. Her tent is on their property, and upon realizing that she could help them keep house - a task they are very bad at - and that she needs a proper home, the cousins offer Tohru a place to live. She isn't there long when she discovers a secret held by their whole family. To be fairly honest, I didn't enjoy this book very much. However, I knew ahead of time that manga isn't a genre I am fond of, nor am I familiar enough with it to understand its conventions. This likely had impact on my reaction to this story. I did find the premise intriguing, however. For

  Title:  Ketchup Clouds Author:  Annabel Pitcher Category:  Edgar Award Winner British teen Zoe (not her real name) sits the garden shed at night writing letters to an American Death Row prisoner, a way for her to confess to someone who doesn't know her. You see, last year, she was dating a boy called Max while secretly in love with his older brother Aaron. When Max found out--drunk, and in a rainstorm, the boys fought. The night ended with one of them dead. But now the boys' mother keeps coming around, wanting Zoe to share in her grief, and Zoe is far too weighed down by guilt for that. So she writes. This book was quite good! I must admit I was unsure about it at first, but was quickly drawn into the story and writing style employed by Pitcher. Zoe is quite a relatable character for many teen girls, I think, especially ones dealing with first relationships and love. However, I must hope that no girl who reads this will emulate Zoe. I would use this novel with teens both as e

  Title: Born a Crime Author: Trevor Noah Category:  Biography/Autobiography/Memoir Trevor Noah, born in South Africa under apartheid to a black mother and a white father, relates stories from his childhood growing up a world very much divided. He relates his feelings of being an outsider in his community, the complications of race and growing up among black people when the world he lived in didn't consider him black, and the abuse his stepfather inflicted upon him and his mother. He also talks about his schooling, skills, and dating, and one time he spent a week in jail. I greatly enjoyed reading this book. I found Noah's writing style to be relatable and conversational, not hard to understand, and often quite funny! His stories, while often angering me with the circumstances of apartheid and racism, are often entertaining. I feel that this could be used for teenagers to teach them a little about apartheid, as it happened so recently, and to give a perspective on a part of the