Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

14 year old Isabel is a slave during the Revolutionary War literally fighting for her freedom. She and her sister thought they were going to be freed when their master dies, only to actually end up becoming the property of one the meanest couples in New York. Isabel does everything she can so that she and her sister can become free, including putting her own lifein danger.
The study of slavery has always been my favorite time period to study in history, so I was excited to get to read Chains, and let me tell you it did not disappoint. With the main character being a young girl I didn't really expect there to be as much excitement and danger as there was. I fell in love with Isabel's strength and determination and sense of family. This is another great book by Laurie Halse Anderson and will one I pull off the shelves to recommend to students, boys and girls alike.

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

Terra is a tall, thin, blonde beauty, that is until you see the port wine stain that covers her entire right cheek. And if that isn't enough she has the lamest boyfriend ever, he all but ignores her in public, but wants to be physical when the two of them alone. And still if that isn't bad enough her dad is a big jerk too. He never seems to find a polite or kind word to say to Terra or her mom, it's verbal attack after verbal attack. All Terra wants to do is go away to college where people will maybe know her for more than just her face, but her father puts a halt on that as well. Finally some good come to Terra when she meets Jacob. When Terra and Jacob and their moms take a trip to China, who would have thought it would be the trip that changes everything?

I loved the emotion North of Beautiful brought out in me. I found that I REALLY REALLY hated Erik, like everytime he opened his mouth I wanted to slap him. And then there was her father, I don't know if I was more irritated with him or the fact that her mother just "took it". I wanted to climb into the book and be Terra's friend and fix everything for her. I would for sure recommned this book, again to my 8th graders and high school kiddos.

The Juvie Three by Gordon Korman

Douglas Healy is the kind of man we need more of. He's the kind of man who takes a chance on kids other people have given up on . In the book The Juvie Three, Gecko is a teen in juvie for grand theft auto, accessory to robbery and driving without a license, Arjay is behind bars for convicted of manslaughter and Terrence is typical gangbanger together the three of them are going through Mr. Healy's experimental "program". The three boys are as different as night and day, but due to an serious accident the boys have to bond together in order to stay in the program and inevitably stay out of juvie.
I was hooked in the very first paragraph of this book. The action hits right off the bat, and there is no looking back. The Juvie Three is fast paced and easy to read. The characters are easy to get to know and I found myself really understanding them. I would highly recommend The Juvie Three to a good majority of my boys. A definite two thumbs up!

Evernight by Claudia Gray

Evernight Academy is a peculiar place, but the longer Bianca is there the more peculiar it becomes. Everyone at Evernight seems entirely too perfect, including Bianca's new room mate, Patrice and her circle of friends. The only bright spot in Bianca's day is Lucas

he doesn't seem the Evernight type at all. The romantic tension between the two is not the only thing Bianca needs to be concerned with the secrets that both she and Lucas are keeping could cause some serious problems. I'm really not a Vampire-y type of girl, not really into the super natural, but I really enjoyed Evernight. I hooked me right from the beginning. The whole scene of how Bianca and Lucas meet made me giggle with school-girl-crush-excitment! I would recommend this to most of my middle school aged students, it has issues they deal with on a daily basis (in addition to the vampires and such), like being the "new kid", social cliques, and fitting in. Good book and a very easy read.