Bicycles by Nikki Giovanni

I have been inundated with requests for books of love poems.  I am happy to have this slim, enigmatic volume on hand to offer students after they have moved through the more accessible poetry of lyricists such as Alicia Keyes and Tupac Shakur.  Bicycles gets at love and longing from many different angles and in many different ways.  Friendship, family, romantic love, and hero-worship are all here, in one to two page poems in forms ranging from free verse to simple four line stanzas to paragraphs of prose poetry.  There is something for everyone inside, but it may take patience and a bit of guidance to find, especially for less sophisticated readers.  “A Substitute for You,” “Friends and Lovers,” and “Trash Pans” have all proven popular.--Regan Schwartz

Giovanni, Nikki. Bicycles. New York: Harper Perennial, 2009. Print.

Hip-Hop Biographies: Drake

Saddleback’s Hip-Hop Biographies series has drawn tremendous student interest since the moment I took the books out of the box. In Drake’s biography, the reader gets to know a little bit about Drake’s childhood in Toronto, where he was raised by his white, Jewish mother. He didn’t have much of a relationship with his father, an African American musician, until he was a teenager, but when they finally started spending time together, they bonded over music. Some readers might be surprised to learn that Drake was an actor on the popular television program Degrassi High before he made it as a singer, and this book clearly explains his trajectory from one role to the next. Also of interest is his relationship with mentor Lil Wayne and a breakdown of some rivalries Drake has had with other musicians.

The font is large and accessible, and students have enjoyed flipping through the pages and looking at the colorful pictures in these slim volumes. Other popular titles in the series are Chris Brown, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne. This series is recommended for independent reading or as a starting point for inquiry work. Additionally, each book contains a table of contents, a glossary and a page of photo credits. --Anja Kennedy

Hip-Hop Biographies: Drake. Costa Mesa, CA: Saddleback Educational Publishing, 2013. Print.

The Come Up: The World Is Mine by Lyah B. LeFlore Illustrated by DL Warfield

Blue is a junior at Silver Spring High School and he believes he is destined to become a hip-hop mogul.  His father, however, expects him to become a lawyer and his best friend, Collin, is in the same boat. Both are friends with Whiteboy, an artist who grew up on the tough streets of Anacostia.  The heart of the plot involves theft of music and the adolescents’ conflict between following in a parent’s footsteps versus forging a new path and identity.  The myriad alternating voices and short chapters provide multiple perspectives and further the building suspense in the second half make this novel a possible bridge for students ready to move beyond Ni-Ni Simone and Kimani Tru series.  English teachers will be disappointed with the editing, but developing readers may appreciate the copious illustrations, white space, and the hip-hop vibe.  While the novel is not as fast-paced as some reluctant readers may require, the ending is suspenseful enough to create a demand for the sequel, Can’t Hold Me Down.  --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

LeFlore, Lyah B.  The Come Up: The World is Mine.  New York: Simon and Schuster, 2009.  Print.

Bang by Norah McClintock

Quentin knows his best friend JD is bad news.  After all, JD just got back from a boot camp program he was sentenced to after beating up a kid who was talking about his sister, Leah.  But old habits die hard and Quentin has a thing for Leah, so he finds himself running around town and getting into minor trouble with JD until one day the trouble turns major.  A threat, a theft, a gunshot and now a man is dead and Quentin is the prime suspect.  This fast-paced HiLo offering is a compelling read touching on themes of betrayal and accountability.  While it wraps up far too neatly, and the pace of the story offers little room for substantial character growth, reluctant readers looking for action will be well-served. --Regan Schwartz

McClintock, Norah. Bang. Victoria, BC, Canada: Orca Book Publishers, 2007. Print.

Unchained by L.B. Tillit

TJ is already a bully and the neighborhood tough guy when he gets recruited by a gang at the age of thirteen. With drug-addicted and negligent parents at home, TJ has been taking care of himself for a long time; thus, the prospect of having a new “family” is enticing. But before he’s able to get too involved, tragedy strikes at home when his father dies. Against his wishes, he’s whisked away and sent to live in a foster home on the other side of town. Readers may need to pause here and suspend their disbelief because Miss Dixie’s home is one that probably isn’t too familiar to most, a foster home where everyone is kind to one another and all meals take place together around a table. In two years’ time, TJ turns his life around. Then, suddenly, his mother meets the requirements to get him back and he is forced to face the gang again.

While students may be able to relate to the feelings of helplessness that TJ experiences, the book loses momentum in the middle. Students will pick it up because of its strong cover, and it might be a hit with readers of Bluford High. --Anja Kennedy

Tillit, L. B. Unchained. Costa Mesa, CA: Saddleback Educational Publishing, 2012. Print.

Avengers Vs. X-Men

It’s battle mayhem, when Psyclops and Captain America can’t settle their differences about how to handle the second coming of the Phoenix Force.  In the past this cosmic being wreaked havoc on Earth by inhabiting Psyclops’ deceased wife, Jean Grey.  Believing that their daughter is the Phoenix’s next host, Psyclops has been training Hope for this moment.  That is until the Avengers get word of it and decide to take Hope away from her father and lock her up until they can find a way to completely eradicate the Phoenix Force.  With the entire mutant race and safety of the planet at stake, can both sides find common ground?

Readers who enjoyed Hulk Vs Wolverine or the Runaways will also enjoy Avengers Vs .X-Men.  This volume is not recommended as a starting point for readers new to the Marvel Universe.  In order to fully enjoy the the story, it requires for the reader to have knowledge about past Marvel Universe events and characters.--Claudio Leon

Aaron, Jason, Brian M. Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Jonathan Hickman, John Romita, Olivier Coipel, Adam Kubert, Scott Hanna, Mark Morales, John Dell, and Chris Eliopoulos. A Vs X, Avengers Vs X-Men. New York: Marvel, 2013. Print.

The Brooklyn Nets

Two new books about Brooklyn’s own Nets have arrived in Belmont’s library and both are slim volumes with a heavy bent on the Nets’ history.  Wyner focuses more on the team’s current incarnation and will probably appeal more to reluctant readers with its engaging narrative style.  There are some differences in points of view between the two volumes’ authors, so these might make for a useful pairing as teachers lead students into Common Core ELA Informational text standards.  Neither text contains a bibliography, but Frager’s backmatter includes a timeline, index, and glossary.  Both begin with a table of contents and contain a generous helping of pictures throughout their 48 pages.--Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Frager, Ray.  Brooklyn Nets.  Edina: ABDO Publishing, 2012.  Print.

Wyner, Zach.  On The Hardwood: Brooklyn Nets.  La Jolla: MVP Books, 2014.  Print.

Journey into Mohawk Country by George O’Connor

The journals of a young Dutch barber/surgeon traveling through what is now New York State in the 1630s to inquire with local indigenous communities about why trading at Fort Orange was dwindling may not make thrilling reading for anyone but a colonial history buff.  That was before George O’Connor got his pencils and inks on them.  O’Connor has managed to transform these informative, if inaccessible, primary documents into a dynamic graphic novel.  O’Conner’s comic illustrations bring Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert’s nearly four-hundred-year-old words to life, making them far more understandable and adding a bit of comic relief to the travelogue.   Teachers of Social Studies may find it a useful teaching aid in teaching about the fur economy of colonial North America and early relationships between Native inhabitants and European newcomers. --Regan Schwartz

O’Connor, George. Journey into Mohawk Country. New York: First Second, 2006. Print.

The Boy is Mine! by Charmaine White

Written by eighteen-year-old Charmaine White, The Boy is Mine! is chock full of high school relationship drama from an insider’s perspective.  Starring Neisha Thompson, a popular cheerleader who isn’t sure what or who she wants, this fast-paced read centers on a set of intersecting love triangles wreaking havoc in the personal lives of Wilson High’s most popular students.  While English teachers may cringe at the editing in publisher Wahida Clark’s new young adult line, teens looking for juicy drama will be well-served and those interested in writing may find inspiration in the book’s teen author.  Non-graphic sexual situations and occasional drug use recommend this book for high school and up.  --Regan Schwartz

White, Charmaine. The Boy is Mine!. East Orange, NJ: Wahida Clark Presents Publishing Young Adult, 2011. Print.

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

I Hunt Killers will make your spine tingle as the protagonist tries to navigate his relationships with other humans, while thinking of the best ways to kidnap them and kill them.  Every social interaction is an internal battle for Jazz, who was raised by the United States’ most notorious serial killer - his father Billy Dent.  Billy took Jazz on nearly every outing and Jazz witnessed almost every one of Billy’s murders.  Billy is now in prison, Jazz’s mother is nowhere to be found, and a new serial killer mimicking Billy’s murders has appeared.  Now, Jazz has a choice to make: use his experience to catch a copycat killer, or follow in his father’s infamous footsteps.  Jazz wants to be a normal teen with a normal life, but with Billy’s voice echoing in his ears, that is far easier said than done.

Readers of titles like Hell’s Horizon and The Escape From Furnace series should enjoy reading I Hunt Killers. This title is best suited for experienced independent readers looking for a riveting read. --Claudio Leon

Lyga, Barry. I Hunt Killers. New York City: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2012. Print.

East Side Dreams by Art Rodriguez

Rodriguez’s heartfelt memoir begins with the night that changed his life and led to his lengthy stay in a juvenile detention facility. Growing up in a Mexican-American family in San Jose, California, Rodriguez had a mother who was seemingly oblivious to his violent antics and a father who believed that physical abuse was the only way to set his children straight. While sometimes providing more detail than needed, Rodriguez’s storytelling makes it easy for the reader to picture his family, his neighborhood and the detention facility where he spent so much time. Rodriguez is clearly proud of the way his life turned out; he left the fighting and trouble-making for a happier life, one with a large family and his own business. Unfortunately, Rodriguez glosses over that process, and it’s never entirely clear what motivated him to turn his life around. Still, this book is likely to be popular with students who ask for books about real people who have spent time in prison.  --Anja Kennedy

Rodriguez, Art. East Side Dreams. San Jose, CA: Dream House Press, 1999. Print.

The 10 Most Outrageous Hoaxes by Judy Coghill

Want to know the truth about the famous haunting in Amityville, NY?  Or about who masterminded the Milli Vanilli scandal?  Then The 10 Most Outrageous Hoaxes is the book for you.  This slim volume is full of background information on some of the most surprising and gutsy hoaxes from the last century.  Each piece of trickery is introduced with a full-page photograph and a few paragraphs of text.  This is followed by a couple of pages illustrated with full-color photographs and sidebars, delving deeper into the hoax.  There are also short sections on mass media pranks and internet legends, as well as other hoaxes to look up.  Front and back matter include a table of contents and a thorough index.  Readers interested in the conspiracies and the unknown will find plenty to digest and discuss here. --Regan Schwartz

Coghill, Judy. The 10 Most Outrageous Hoaxes. Danbury, CT: Scholastic Library Publishing, 2007. Print.

Last Night I Sang To the Monster by Benjamin Alire Saenz

Eighteen-year old Zach wakes up to find himself living in a addiction treatment center.  He can’t remember how he got there, but does remember his clinically depressed mother, his alcoholic father, and his violent, abusive brother.  As the story unfolds, Zach narrates in his sad, sometimes Holden Caulfield-esque voice his struggles to feel his feelings and all that he is learning through the group therapy he participates in with adults.  For independent adolescent readers willing to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, this book offers perspective on the emotional world of a recovering teen alcoholic who is also attempting to heal from trauma.  Readers who appreciate emotional insight and nuance in character development will enjoy this text. Social workers may want to be aware of this one.  --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Saenz, Benjamin Alire.  Last Night I Sang to the Monster.  El Paso: Cinco Puntos Press, 2012.  Print.

2 Days by L. B. Tillit

Sixteen year old Neema tells her mother that her mom’s boyfriend is touching her and her mom kicks Neema out of their house.  Shocked and seeking safety, Neema goes to her boyfriend’s house and his family reluctantly takes her in.  Neema finds solace in her boyfriend’s arms, misses two days of birth control pills, and realizes several short chapters later that she is now pregnant.  How she handles this situation makes up the rest of the story.  A tightly paced hi-lo alternative for Bluford fans, reading specialists and ELA teachers will want to know about this title for teen girls ready for chapter books and looking to build their stamina.  An interesting compare and contrast on the theme of teen parenthood may be done with Williams-Garcia’s Like Sisters on the Homefront and Porter’s Imani All Mine, as well as Johnson’s The First Part Last.--Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Tillit, L. B.  2 Days.  Costa Mesa: Saddleback Publishing, 2012.

Blueprint for My Girls in Love: 99 Rules for Dating, Relationships, and Intimacy by Yasmin Shiraz

This year has seen an increased demand for books about relationships from girls here at Bronx Hope. Blueprint for My Girls in Love is often exactly what they’re looking for. Author and empowerment speaker Yasmin Shiraz has compiled ninety-nine rules for girls to help them keep their heads up and stay strong in the face of love and dating. Divided into three parts, Dating, Relationships, and Intimacy, Shiraz breaks it down with simple statements from the powerful, rule #12, “Self-love impacts every relationship that you will ever have” to the blunt, rule #32, “A boyfriend that hits you isn’t worth keeping.” For each of her ninety-nine rules, Shiraz describes the rule, includes a related personal anecdote to support the rule, and follows it with what she calls a “blueprint” and “your testimony.” The blueprints are usually one-liners where she models how she will take what she’s experienced and change her actions in the future; “your testimony” includes questions and sentence starters for readers to think about how they can connect their own stories to Shiraz’s rules.  Included in the back of the book is a section on who readers can talk to when they need support and, separately, information about birth control. Recommended for independent reading, especially for girls looking to make sense of their relationships with some straight-forward advice. --Anja Kennedy

Shiraz, Yasmin. Blueprint for My Girls in Love: 99 Rules for Dating, Relationships, and Intimacy. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005. Print.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Eric Shanower

"Lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!"  The yellow brick road that leads Dorothy Gale and her friends to the Emerald City of Oz is a beloved cultural icon for many.  Because the works of L. Frank Baum have been adapted countless times, in film, stage, television, book, and comic form, it is also a relatively accessible one.  This Eisner Award-winning graphic offering from Marvel is a whimsical and richly detailed work, designed to bring the land of Oz to a new audience.  

The action of the story follows the novel, with no reference to the famous MGM film, which may throw off some readers.  However, teachers of English may be interested in using this, along with the original and, possibly, the film, to address Common Core reading standards aimed at evaluating content presented in diverse media.  Since L. Frank Baum was also a playwright and stage adaptations of his work are available, it may be a good fit for Passages Academy’s drama unit. --Regan Schwartz

Shanower, Eric. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: Adapted from the novel by L. Frank Baum. New York: Marvel, 2011. Print.

Plan B by Charnan Simon

Lucy has the seemingly perfect boyfriend in Luke, a hot athlete who is currently being scouted by a big university.  Her single, working mom has been able to provide a stable and secure life for Lucy who has flourished both academically and socially.  Lucy has earned her mother’s trust and, as she gains independence, she is faced with the challenges of making decisions while alone with Luke.  As the cover of this short novel conveys, an unplanned pregnancy occurs and Lucy is forced to negotiate her options.  While Plan B does not offer readers a resolution, nor the grit reluctant readers frequently seek here at Passages, it does give pre-teen girls a chance to think about and discuss the critical topics of birth control, sex, and unplanned pregnancies. Reading specialists may be interested in using this book with developing readers. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Simon, Charnan.  Plan B.  Minneapolis: Darby Creek, 2011.

The Hand You’re Dealt by Paul Volponi

Huck Porter, high school senior, is caught in a stick up in an elevator and faces down the gunman, calling his bluff by betting he won’t shoot.  This is the opening scene of Paul Volponi’s poker novel for teens.  Set in a small town with a depressed economy, Huck’s father was the town’s reigning poker champion before his father was hospitalized for a stroke.  Mr. Abbott, Huck’s untouchable jerk of a math teacher, steals the title from Huck’s dad while he is dying in the hospital and rubs his achievement in Huck’s face.  Huck’s mission, of course, is to win the title back, in spite of not being old enough to legally gamble.  Along the way, The Hand You’re Dealt teaches the reader about reading people, emotional maturity, and friendship.  Recommended independent reading for experienced YA readers looking for more Volponi or with an interest in poker.--Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Volponi, Paul.  The Hand You’re Dealt.  New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2008. Print.

Juvenile in Justice by Richard Ross

“On any given day, approximately 70,000 young people are in juvenile detention or correctional facilities each night.”  Teaching inside juvenile facilities tends to isolate us from our colleagues throughout the city and nation in unique ways; but we are never as isolated by these facilities as are the students we teach.  Juvenile in Justice captures the loneliness our students share, ironically, with many of the 1.7 million youth charged with an offense annually in the US.  The beds, windows, clothes, doors, furniture, graffiti, and restraints are all strikingly familiar, from our own Bridges and Horizon, both featured in the book, all the way to Hawaii.  The image of a young man in Miami lying on common area seating with his sweatshirt pulled over his head and knees stunned me as penetratingly recognizable .  I know many of this blog’s readers have witnessed the same mini-retreat within one’s own clothing, an identifiable attempt at privacy or sleep.  Each image is coupled with a quote from the youth photographed, offering our students opportunities to connect visually and textually. --Anne Lotito-Schuh

Ross, Richard. Juvenile in Justice. Santa Barbara, CA: Richard Ross, 2012. Print.

Out of Print Books We Wish Were in Print

We occasionally experience the heartbreaking disappointment of finding that a beloved title has gone out of print.  We have decided to memorialize these works in a new page, “Out of Print Books We Wish Were in Print,” which you can access in the righthand menu.  We hope not to add many titles to this list, and that someday they will be published once again.