Age: 4th-middle school
Tough issue: inner city violence, gangs, child soldiers

This graphic novel just asks to be read in the classroom, posing an incredible amount of relevant questions to today's violent city warfare between gangs and the manipulation of children to commit horrible acts of violence. The end feels a little too neatly wrapped as the narrator's brother up and leaves his gang without any discussion about how incredibly difficult that would be.

I still can't believe how long it took me to read this. Bryson is a comedic genius and a brilliant writer, interweaving history, environmental preservation and admiration, and hilarious side stories throughout.

His friend Katz is the shining beacon of delight in this story, and I lost a bit of interest whenever he wasn't included.

Age: Middle school-High school

A dystopian novel with an eerily potential future that has devastating effects on women's rights. When a synthetic hormone in meat causes the majority of U.S. women past puberty age to contract ovarian cancer, the remaining girls are left to be cordoned off and bartered off by the male population for breeding purposes. As horrific as that sounds in such a simplified statement, the male politicians and figureheads make the young girls believe that it is for their own good, keeping the girls from anything that could ruin the powerful's investments.

The main character is one such girl and finds herself sold to a rich, abusive man for a high asking price. An interesting relationship in the book is between the main character and her father who sells her to this man. There is complexity while the main character still loves her father but seeks independence from this crazy system. How would you respond if your father did that, within the confines of this new order?

Age: 4th grade-high school

A great premise that felt bogged down by the secret wishes of a Harry Potter fanatic, ie. Dumbledore says he loves Harry, Snape has his final goodbye words of wisdom, etc. However, I would absolutely love to see this on a stage because so much is lost without the emotional interpretation of the actors.

Age: Middle School-High School
Tough Issue: Recovery after mother's death

An interesting enough premise, I just wasn't feeling realistic fiction when I listened to it.

"Matt wears a black suit every day. No, not because his mom died—although she did, and it sucks. But he wears the suit for his gig at the local funeral home, which pays way better than the Cluck Bucket, and he needs the income since his dad can’t handle the bills (or anything, really) on his own. So while Dad’s snagging bottles of whiskey, Matt’s snagging fifteen bucks an hour. Not bad. But everything else? Not good. Then Matt meets Lovey. She’s got a crazy name, and she’s been through more crazy than he can imagine. Yet Lovey never cries. She’s tough. Really tough. Tough in the way Matt wishes he could be. Which is maybe why he’s drawn to her, and definitely why he can’t seem to shake her. Because there’s nothing more hopeful than finding a person who understands your loneliness—and who can maybe even help take it away."

Age: Preschool-Kindergarten
Concept Skill: Colors

Panda, Penguin, and Zebra invite the reader/listener to tour their black and white factory with ZERO color and NO surprises. When a bit of color appears out of nowhere (how I wish it had an origin story) the tour guides try and initiate damage control with the help of the reader, only to make matters worse. This book excels at its invitation to participate but leaves a lot of unanswered questions.