I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had : My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High, by Tony Danza

A perfect view of what it's like to be a brand-new teacher facing a sea of teenaged faces in an inner-city school. We really have GOT to fix the educational system in this country.

Torment, by Lauren Kate (on CD)

Title pretty much describes this book. I want to smack this little Bella-like dweeb in the nose. Reading Part 3 is unlikely.

Fallen, by Lauren Kate

Book one in the Fallen Trilogy. Book three got great reviews, so I figured I should start from the beginning. This is a pretty typical YA novel, similar in outline to the dreaded Twilight books, but "starring" angels instead of vampires, et al. Lucinda transfers to a reform school after she is involved in a tragic and deadly event at her former boarding school. Sword and Cross is not a typical prep/reform school: untidy, ugly, weird-but-not-criminal kids, and apparently lots of very hot guys, one of whom is quite charming and attentive, another of which seems to hate her on sight.

Of course, she is drawn more to the latter boy, who ends up being more attentive than he seems while Mr. Charming turns out to be a...well, demon.

War breaks out, her best friend turns out to be mortal after all, and the librarian, while not at all stereotypical, is definitely a villain.

Book Two awaits!!

Happyface, by Stephen Emond

Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver

Sort of a "Groundhog Day" for teens--only it's set up at the beginning with a fatal car crash. Pretty good portrayal of what it means to be a teenager nowadays, and how perilous 'popularity" is, and how random certain parts of life can be. Also a treatise on how life is under our own control--or not.

School Days, by Robert Parker (on CD)

I *heart* Spenser! He is hired to find a way to prove innocent a teen who, along with another kid, entered a school and shot several people, holed up in the library, and later turned himself in. He has admitted doing it, but won't speak otherwise about the day. It becomes obvious quickly that he actually isn't innocent of the crime, but Spenser bulldogs through to find out why the shooting happened.

Despite similarities, this is not about Columbine. Thank you, Robert Parker. Seriously.

Catalyst, by Laurie Halse Anderson (on CD)

I may have to read more by this author. And the reader was AWESOME!

Columbine, by Dave Cullen

Much to consider in this book. Much that was reported at the beginning is inaccurate.

Fruits Basket 1, by Natsuki Takaya

I can now say that I've read a manga from beginning to end, from back to front.

I don't think I 'got' the whole story, but at least I have an inkling of what the attraction is now.

Ridiculous/Hilarious/Terrible/Cool : A Year in an American High School, by Elisha Cooper

A loving portrait of what it means to be in high school nowadays. Cooper managed to capture about 8 kids' school years at Walter Payton High School in Chicago. Most of them were seniors, but there were a couple of juniors as well. Not all are exceptional students, but Cooper brings each them out in a perfectly lovely way that brings the reader into their lives. One is an athlete, one is driving to be a politician, one is a dancer, one is a slacker, one is a player, one is an immigrant....

The one problem with this book is that it moves so quickly that there really isn't enough focus on each student to get to know them beyond the sketch, similar to the sketches throughout the book. The good side is that this is a VERY quick read.

American Band : Music, Dreams, and Coming of Age in the Heartland, by Kristen Laine

Calling all Marching Band Geeks! If you had a band director like the one I had in high school, this book will bring it all band: the practices, the shouted commands from above to "START OVER--THAT WAS AWFUL!", the exhaustion, the all-weather marching...the pride when things come together at competition.

This book follows the Concord (IN) Minutemen as a group and as 5 or 6 individual members. It's really fascinating to see all the different strands of the season weave together. There's also an awful lot of church-related stuff that I could certainly relate to, but the focus rarely wavers on the question of what makes a leader in a group. Is the most important member the teacher, the popular kid, the hard-working quiet kid, the one who doesn't pull it all together until the week before the end of the season?

Good book. Highly recommended.