Diamond Willow by Helen Frost

There’s more to me than most people see. Twelve-year-old Willow would rather blend in than stick out. But she still wants to be seen for who she is. She wants her parents to notice that she is growing up. She wants her best friend to like her better than she likes a certain boy. She wants, more than anything, to mush the dogs out to her grandparents’ house, by herself, with Roxy in the lead. But sometimes when it’s just you, one mistake can have frightening consequences . . . And when Willow stumbles, it takes a surprising group of friends to help her make things right again. Using diamond-shaped poems inspired by forms found in polished diamond willow sticks, Helen Frost tells the moving story of Willow and her family. Hidden messages within each diamond carry the reader further, into feelings Willow doesn’t reveal even to herself.

Identical by Ellen Hopkins

Kaleigh and Raeanne are twins who live in California with their father, who is a judge, and their mother, who is running for Congress. Their home life appears to be perfect, but is just the opposite. Daddy is sexually molesting Kaeleigh. Raeanne does drugs, is sexually promiscous and bulemic. Mother is never home and Daddy is controlling. It is not until Kaeleigh tries to commit suicide that the reader discovers what really happened one night that changed all of their lives. Very mature.

42 Miles by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

Jo Ellen lives 42 miles from her father's farm. She and her mother live in Cincinnati during the week. She lives with her father on the farm during the weekends. She has two very different lives, even two names, Joey on the farm and Ellen in the city. She feels like she has two personalities and doesn't know who she really is. She decides she is going to become her own person. She takes the best of both worlds and combines them to become JoEllen. This book is a novel in verse.

Diamond Willow by Helen Frost

Willow is a young girl who lives in Alaska and has sled dogs. She was named for the willow stick that forms diamond shapes when the branches fall off. Most of the story is written in verses shaped in a diamond shape. Willow wants to take the sled dogs to Grandma and Grandpa's by herself. It's only twelve miles. Her parents finally decides that she can and she makes the trip successfully, but on the way back, she is going too fast. A tree has fallen on the path and she doesn't see it in time. The dogs run into the tree and Rory, the lead dog, is blinded. She gets him back home, but the vet doesn't think he will ever see again. Willow's parents are trying to decide whether to put Rory to sleep when Willow finds out. She tries to take Rory to her grandparents and she and Kaylie, her friend from school, are caught in a blizzard when they lose the path. Willow finds out that she was actually a twin. Her twin sister was named Diamond and only lived four days. Her ashes were spread where the girls spent the night. Her sisters ashes and Rory who has Diamond's spirit protect them and keep them safe. Rory is saved and becomes a house dog. Only Willow knows that Rory is able to see again and run with the other dogs.

Beanball by Gene Fehler

Luke "Wizard" Wallace is a great baseball player. He is popular, good looking, and talented. The team plays better when Luke is there. Life is good for him until the day he is hit in the face by a fastball. The ball crushes his eye and knocks him unconscious. He loses the sight in his left eye. This novel in verse relates how Luke's injury affects him and the people around him, his coach, the team, his friends, his family, the students at his school, the other team, the other coach, the players on the other team. It reads quickly and has a good ending. Luke decides he will try to play ball again. He becomes friends with a girl who cares about him and is an inspiration to his team.

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

Three teenagers meet at a treatment center called Aspen Springs in Reno, Nevada. Each of them has attempted suicide. Vanessa cuts herself whenever she is stressed. Her mother is Bipolar and she has inherited her disease. She finds her mother on the floor after her mother has committed suicide. She cuts her wrist severely and almost dies. Connor is a preppie. His mother and father are wealthy, but his father has always been gone and his mother has never loved him. They have always pushed him to be the brightest, and the best. He has had an affair with his English teacher. When she confesses, he tries to shoot himself and is sent to Aspen Springs. Tony is a street kid. He thinks he is gay. He has been forced to have sex with his mother's lover and killed him. After six years in juvenile detention, he is taken in by Phillip, a gay man who is dying from AIDS. After Phillips death, Tony is devastated. He takes a half bottle of Valium. The three meet at Aspen Springs and become good friends. Vanessa and Tony fall in love. Connor ends up committing suicide.

Who Killed Mr. Chippendale? a mystery in poems by Mel Glenn

This mystery novel in verse begins with Mr. Chippendale, an English teacher at Tower High School bumping into a student as he gets ready for his morning run. A few minutes later, Mr. Chippendale is shot as he runs around the track. The rest of the novel/poems are written by different students and teachers, explaining how they feel about Mr. Chippendale. Some students felt like he was a great teacher, some hated him. Angela Falcone, the guidance counselor, is a major character as she interacts with students, teachers, the police detective, and the principal. The book climaxes in a memorial service for Mr. Chippendale after which one of the students confesses to Ms. Falcone that he was the murderer. There is an epilogue poem at the end telling where the characters are 13 years later as a new English teacher enters the building.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

Billie Jo age 14. lived with her ma and Daddy in the panhandle of Oklahoma, during one of the hardest times in American History.

We will struggle with her through her sorrows, disappointments, and the never ending dust, and drought.

Her Daddy worked his wheat very hard hoping to have a good harvest and the end of the season. Many times the harvest was lost due to the dust and no rain.

Billie Jo watched her friends and her family leave the panhandle to search for a better place to live, only to find the same, no work. dust, and drought.

Billie Jo loved to play the piano, until there was a accident , and her hands were damaged.

One day when the children arrived at school, they had to dig out 2 feet of dust to get to their desks.

Billy Jo began thinking of that train that went through the panhandle heading west. One night she decided that she had to get out of the dust.... She walked through the calm night under the stars and headed to where the train stops long enough for a long legged girl to latch on and climb into the box car headed West.

Did she climb into the box car, where she could get Out of the DUST?
by Abi Chase
(from Nancy Keane's booktalking course)

Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate

Kek is a new immigrant from Africa whose family was killed in a raid on their village.  He comes to stay with relatives in Minnesota where he learns about snow, school, grocery stores, and buses.  He goes to an ESL class where he meets a girl named Hannah.  They become friends and Hannah helps him learn about America.  Kek has been a herder of cows in his country.  As he comes to Minnesota he sees a cow in the country and later goes to the farm and gets a job taking care of the cow.  When the lady who owns the farm decides she must sell, Kek and his friends take the cow to the petting zoo.  The book is written in free verse and has wonderful examples of similies, metaphors and other figures of speech.  Metaphors and similes pp. 34-35, p. 127.  Washing dishes story on p. 95 is very funny.