Promiscuities

by Naomi Wolf
Review by Brynn Haley, grade 10

Promiscuities is a book about what it's like to grow from inexperienced girls to sexually mature women in our western culture.  The pressures and problems we run into, the experiences we have, and the feelings and confusions we encounter along the way are all in the stories in this book.

Promiscuities is filled with real-life stories from women about their experiences growing from girls into women, and everything they went through.  As a teen girl, I can easily relate to the stories, and this book gives a lot of insight from women who have been where I, and all teenage girls, are at one point.

I found Promiscuities to be a very interesting read.  I enjoyed it a lot and learned from it too.  If you're a teenage girl, there is no doubt you can relate to these women in Promiscuities and can learn from them too.

Shiver

by Maggie Siefvater
Review by Amber Morehouse, grade 11

This is book one of a triology (3 in a series).  The main characters are a werewolf, Sam, and the wolf-obsessed, Grace.  Sam saved Grace when she was a child from a wolf attack and they have been in love with each other ever since.  Grace didn't know that it was Sam who saved her, so she was just a person with a favourite wolf.  Grace meets Sam for the first time in high school at a bookstore.  Everything elevates from there.  There are rogue wolf attacks and Grace cures Sam of his werewolfism by injecting him with a meningitis infection.

I would recommend this book if you like a teenage romance that often changes perspective.

Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing our Daughters from Marketer's Schemes

by Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown
Review by Brynn Haley, grade 10

Packaging Girlhood is a non-fiction book about the images the media sells to girls, and the categories that it squeezes girls into at such a young age.

Packaging Girlhood explores the effects that the messages of gender roles in the media have on young girls, and those effects aren't good.  They range from low self-esteem and self-worth to underachieving and setting low standards for themselves.

According to Packaging Girlhood, girls are categorized into narrow groups such a "diva, shopper, boy-crazy, mean-girl, cute, hot, or pretty."  These concepts don't take into account the girl's entire personality, therefore they disregard girls as entire persons with unique traits and quirks.

These messages are found all over the place in our media, from movies to books to advertisements to music, sometimes in the most unexpected places.  Packaging Girlhood shows us how to recognize these hidden messages.

I really enjoyed this book and agree with its message.  I recommend this book to anyone concerned with children's wellbeing and messages in the media.

We're on CanLit!

http://www.canlitforkids.com/article;story,13;School-Library-Blogs-–-wonderful-resource-for-school-library-staff-and-students

CanLit, the go-to distributor of Canadian books for school libraries has featured our Blog on their mainpage!!

Go nerds go!!!!

Luna

by Julie Anne Peters
Review by Brynn Haley, grade 10

Luna is about a transgendered teen struggling to come out as what he really is- a girl.  Liam was born with a male body, but all his life has felt he is a girl, born with the wrong body.

Luna is Liam's true identity.  She only shows herself in the safety of her sister's room at night, hidden from the outside world and the rest of her family.  The story is told through Luna/Liam's sister's point of view, because she is Luna's confidante. 

This book is a beautiful, heartwrenching story of a person trying to break free and find acceptance.  It's a story not only of Liam/Luna's transformation as a person, but her sister's growth and learning to accept Luna for who she is as well.

Luna is an inspiring story for anyone who's ever felt they don't fit in, and shows that it's possible to find acceptance and to let their true self show through.

Witchlight - Night World Series

by L.J. Smith
Review by Amber Morehouse, grade 11

This is the story of Raksha Keller, Iliona Sominick and Galen Drachco.  Keller is a shifter, Iliona is the lost witch child and wild power and Galen is a royal shifter.  According to a prophecy, Iliona has to marry into shifter blood so that shifters will work with the witches in the millenium.  Iliona is to marry Galen but Galen's soulmate is Keller.  Eventually all this works out but it is a harrowng journey to the teenagers.
I would recommend this book if you like paranormal romances.

Mysterious Skin

by Scott Heim
Review by Brynn Haley, grade 10

Brian Lackey's past is a complete mystery to him.  Pieces of his childhood are blanked out from his memory, erased as if those entire passages of time never even happened.  Brian needs to learn the truth about why-and what-his mind won't allow him to remember, and he can't move on until he does.

Neil McCormick remembers his childhood like it was yesterday.  He especially remembers secret meetings with his former baseball coach when he was only eight years old.  Today, Neil is a criminal and a hustler, exploring his sexuality with the older men he hooks up with each night.  Almost nothing fazes Neil after the things he's seen as a child.

Mysterious Skin is a story of two very different boys who share a very similar childhood, who come together to learn from each other.  This is a story of growing up and discovering oneself.

Mysterious Skin has also been adapted for film.  Check out the movie after you read the book!

Fat! So?

by Marilyn Wann
Review by Brynn Haley, grade 10

Fat! So? is a non-fiction book about self-acceptance, no matter your body size.  This book is a body-positive and very fun guide to loving yourself and to stop putting your life on hold until you lose your extra pounds.
Fat! So? is filled with trivia, pictures, quizzes, rhymes, and real-life stories of people struggling to accept their bodies.  And because this book is such a breeze to read, I recommend it for reluctant readers and book-lovers alike.
This book is definitely a self-esteem booster, but more than that it will change your mind on how you view your body altogether.  What it brings is a very welcome concept that there's nothing wrong with you, in a society that tells us to look a certain way.
So, no matter your size, take a big step towards loving yourself and pick up this book!

Library Guild Meeting

We will resume building our Medieval Castle at our meeting on Tuesday Feb 15th at 12:50pm.

Be there or be square(r).

Ms. Carson
HHS Librarian

S.E.X.

by Heather Corinna

Review by Brynn Haley, grade 10

S.E.X. is a complete, comprehensive sexual education guide that covers every topic you could ever think of, and answers just about every question you could (or have been too afraid to) ask.  From in-depth anatomy lessons to relationship advice, self-esteem to contraceptives, this book has left absolutely nothing out.

S.E.X. is inclusive of all genders, sexual identities, and sexual orientations; it leaves no one out.  And since this book is directed toward a young adult audience, it's fresh and welcoming in its design and language.  Everything is easy to understand, and it isn't clinical in nature like some sex ed. books seem to be.

Heather Corinna, the author of S.E.X., is the founder of one of the internet's most popular sex ed. websites: http://www.scarleteen.com/

S.E.X. is basically the entire website jammed into one book.  Check out the website, it is full of important info and advice.

I recommend S.E.X. to anyone, regardless of age, gender, or sexual orientation.

Being Sixteen

by Allyson Braithwaite Condie
Review by Chaya Pattison, grade 11

This book is about a girl who was excited about turning 16.  She expected that her 16th year would be the best year of her life up until that point.  She was wrong.  She spent most of her year watching out for her little sister who had an eating disorder.  It was the year she played on the varsity team in her favourite sport, basketball.  It was the year she made a new friend.  It was her year of change.  It was also the year she almost lost her best friend.
Read the book to find out what challenges she went through and what she accomplished.  Read to find out how Juliet survived being 16.
I would recommend this book because it teaches you about the struggles people go through when they have an eating disorder.  It is also a good story.

Dark Angel: Night World Series

by L.J. Smith
Review by Amber Morehouse, grade 11

This book is about the "lost witch" Gillian.  Gillian hears a child crying in the woods and drowns.  Her "Guardian Angel" lets her go back and she is rescued by her crush David Blackburn.  David is going out with Tanya, a two-faced girl who is sweet to your face but horrible anywhere else.
Gillian is a shy girl but with Angel's help she becomes really popular.  Angel helps Gillian get David as a boyfriend, but when she tries to put a stop to the rumors by casting a spell everything goes downhill fast.  Gillian's Guardian Angel is actually a ghost named Gery and he wants he wants her to be included in the "Night World" (which is a world of vampires, shifters, witches, etc...).  Gillian just wants a normal life with David who turns out to be her Soulmate. 
(Spoiler Alert!)  In the end, Gery gets forgiven and David and Gillian live happily ever after with "Circle Daybreak."  I would recommend this book if you like a light romance and the supernatural.

No Impact Man

by Colin Beavan
Review by Ms. Carson, HHS Librarian

I admit I was skeptical picking up this book.  "No impact" seemed kind of, well, inflated and egotistical.  I'm not the only one who had reservations.  The New York Times initially saw Beavan's blog as a sensationalistic marketing device for his book.  And what's a historian living in a NYC apartment know about environmentalism anyway?  How often does he dig around in the dirt?

I watched the documentary, and while I found it emotionally moving (and an interesting study on modern marriage), it wasn't particularly shocking or inspiring.

But then I actually sat down and read the book and I got it.  Beavan is terrified.  Not just of water running out and global warming and asthma and pollution.  He totally sees the fragility of life.  He knows it first hand.

Some of us experence death, sickness and loss at such an early age that it imprints on us the dreaded knowledge that everything we know and love can be taken from us at any minute and there is nothing we can do about it.  So we must learn to live with uncertainty.  And often that results in an obsessive-compulsive drive to control the world around us in an attempt to ward off our despair.  But all this running around trying to make all these rules (no electricity or else I am guilty of contributing to the deaths of children in Africa!) without examining the horror that underlies our "magical thinking" will drive us (and everyone around us) insane.  And Beavan, thankfully, took the time to climb onto his meditation cushion and ask, "How shall I live?", "How shall I serve?" and "Why the heck am I driven to try so hard when everyone else is sitting in grid-lock traffic eating fast food with the AC blasting?",

The book becomes an interesting exploration of these questions and the answers Beavan self-consciously arrives at.  It is not a manifesto about how to live without toilet paper.   Read it and ask yourself, "How shall I live?"