Avalon High by Meg Cabot

I decided to get out from under my rock and read a Meg Cabot book…what took me so long??? The Princess Diary books never really appealed to me so I decided to read Avalon High and I really liked it! The story is about a girl named Elaine who moves away from home for a year to a new town and a new school where she meets an exciting group of friends. People in her new town are strangely familiar for some reason…find out who these people really are when you read Avalon High!

Reader’s Advisory

Need help finding a book? Try some of these Reader’s Advisory sites and book lists for some ideas – keep in mind that these are books for young adults (middle and high) so we may have some titles, but not all titles are appropriate for our middle school library (but it doesn’t hurt to ask me if you see something that looks good!):

YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2008 – http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/08bbya.cfm

Other YALSA lists – http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/booklistsbook.cfm#booklists

Reader’s Robot – provides many different ways to find books you’ll like – choose a genre and click “search”. You can choose “Young Adult” and add some keywords – http://www.tnrdlib.bc.ca/rr.html

OCLC Fiction Finder – many genres also offer teen choices – http://fictionfinder.oclc.org/WebZ/html/kor/browse.html?sessionid=01-37655-394800093

NoveList and Fiction Connection from the Greenville County Public Library System – scroll down to find the purple NoveList icon or the Fiction Connection icon – you must have a Greenville County Public Library card and PIN number to use these services (they are paid subscriptions) http://www.greenvillelibrary.org/index.php/Reader-Favorites-Indiv/Reader-Favorites.html

Story Code – you have to create an account for this site, so be sure to ask your parents for permission first, kiddies. You tell the site what you’ve read and what you think about those books, answer some questions and the site gives you suggestions. - http://www.storycode.com/

ATN Reading Lists Wiki – http://atn-reading-lists.wikispaces.com/Read+Alikes

Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor

Addie’s life is full of “all or nothing” – either her mom is bugging her to death or leaves her to fend for herself for days on end. Addie is counting the cans and boxes in the pantry or there’s a fiesta in the kitchen of their tiny trailer. Addie is surrounded by a picture perfect family or is a 12 year old lonely and afraid, a life that is anything but normal.

Addie’s dad died when she was 3 then her mom remarried and it seemed that things would work out with Addie’s stepdad, Dwight, and two little sisters, the “littles”. “Mommers” could never seem to keep it together, though. Mommers split from Dwight and the littles were sent to live with Dwight after it was clear that Mommers wasn’t capable of taking care of the young girls.

When Addie goes to visit Dwight in his new home with his new girlfriend, Hannah, and the littles she sees how normal life could be…but how can she leave Mommers all alone? Have you ever been torn between someone you love and something else you really want? Addie shows how sometimes you have to make tough decisions to do what is best for yourself.