Young+Adult+Books!

J.K. Rowling 4th grade and up!
 * Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone **

When Harry Potter finds out he is a famous wizard and he has been accepted into Hogwarts wizardry school, his whole world changes. Harry grew up with his aunt and uncle and was told his parents were killed in a car accident. However, he later finds out the truth when strange things begin to happen and he is visited by a big man name Hagrid. Hogwarts is just the thing Harry needs to unlock his true potential, and for the first time in his life he has friends, and feels like he is cared for. Peculiar things begin to happen at Hogwarts. Harry and his friends soon start to put little pieces of the puzzle together and they worry that Voldemort, a dark wizard who killed Harry’s parents, maybe trying to get his hands on something very valuable that is hidden in the school. The Sorcerer’s Stone has the power to turn anything into gold and make a person live forever. On top of all this information, Harry learns that he may be in great danger as soon as Voldemort gets his hands on that stone. The problem is convincing the other professors at Hogwarts that the stone is not adequately protected. Will Harry and his friends be able to keep the stone out of the hands of Voldemort?  *I have never read this book before. I was very impressed with this story and now I finally understand why kids like it so much. It’s entertaining and it’s a great adventure story. - EP

Laurie Halse Anderson
 * Speak **

“Speak” tells the story of Melinda Sordino who is just starting high school. The reader knows something happened the previous summer, but we don’t know exactly what it is that happened. We do know that Melinda is deeply troubled, and her close friends from middle school no longer speak to her. Everyone knows something is wrong with Melinda, but not even her parents or guidance counselor can figure out what exactly is troubling Melinda. The book gradually reveals that Melinda was raped by a senior the summer before at a party. She called the cops, but left before they came, and now everyone at the school thinks that Melinda was just trying to bust the party. It seems that no one except for her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, really cares to know why Melinda isn’t talking. Will she ever open up and tell her secret?

This is an interesting book that I really liked reading. Something I really liked about it was the fact that it was not broken up in paragraphs. It read more like a journal which was really cool. I could use this book as an example in my classroom of the different ways of writing. - LP  Laurie Halse Anderson 9th grade and up!
 * Wintergirls **

“Wintergirls” by Laurie Halse Anderson is a book about one girl’s struggle with an eating disorder. Lia is a senior in high school. At the beginning of this book she has just found out that her best friend has been found dead in a hotel room by herself. Cassie had called Lia thirty three times that night, and because they were fighting Lia did not answer. Lia and Cassie had been best friends since third grade. Growing up Lia and Cassie’s struggles with food, weight, and self image fed off of each other’s bad habits. Now that Cassie is gone, Lia is determined she is going to be strong. She wants to be the skinniest girl at school. For awhile, it is easy to deceive her workaholic parents and step mom. After the second return from a treatment center she has learned how to say what they want to hear to get them off her back. She also has other tricks up her sleeve that give her parents the idea she’s eating. When her step mother weighs her on a weekly basis, she wears a robe that she has sown quarters into the pockets. In this book Anderson, does an amazing job getting behind the thought process of girls with eating disorders. It is also a very suspenseful story and it was hard to put down.- EP