Bronxwood by Coe Booth

The long-awaited sequel to Coe Booth’s Tyrell is finally here and it does not disappoint. With his little brother in foster care and his mom unable or unwilling to get the family back together, Tyrell has been living with his drug-dealing friends, doing his best to stay out of the game and take care of his family. Now that his dad is out of jail and up to the same business that got him locked up in the first place, Tyrell knows that everyone expects him to move back home and step down as man of the family. But Tyrell can see what’s coming as everyone falls back into their old patterns of behavior. He has a lot of important decisions to make in the last few weeks of August - decisions about friendship, love, and family that will have serious consequences.

With sharp prose and excellent observation, Booth paints a gritty, gripping portrait of survival. Readers are drawn to Tyrell’s voice and his lived experience because it is so stunningly rendered. Students who enjoy the work of Walter Dean Myers, Allison Van Diepen, Ni-Ni Simone, and Sharon Draper will enjoy this fast-paced glimpse back into Tyrell’s life in Bronxwood. -- Regan Schwartz

Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughn

This graphic novel is drawn with vivid colors and beautiful detail. From the moment you open the novel until the very end, the intricate specificity behind every character and scene found inside will compel you turn the page. The story, almost deceptively simple, briefly skims the surface of deeper themes, like the fight for oil in the east, the bombing of Baghdad, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. For better or worse, the story touches on these issues so briefly that those without prior knowledge will not feel excluded from the main plot. The story follows a pride of four lions who manage to escape the Baghdad Zoo during the invasion of Iraq. As the reader trails their journey across the city, they encounter other animals, some wild and others who have also escaped the zoo. The pride’s internal struggle forces them to break up and eventually brings them back together through the progress of their journey. Although it may sound like a long story, it is rather short and very satisfying. Mostly though, this is a visual feast. --Claudio Leon

Please note there is suggestive sexual content in two sections of this graphic novel.

Vaughn, Brian K. Pride of Baghdad. New York: Vertigo Comics, 2006.

LeBron James: Basketball Legend

This extremely slim volume will grab the attention of basketball-loving browsers. Six short sections familiarize readers with LeBron James, the popular basketball star. Most pages have two sentences each and all text appears opposite a large color photo. The writing is simple and never moves in the direction of depth or interesting details, but we do learn the basics of James’ birth, childhood, and early NBA career. The sections are followed by a brief timeline, glossary, and index which makes this title a solid non-fiction pick for emergent readers with an interest in basketball. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Worthy, Shanya. LeBron James: Basketball Legend. New York: Gareth Stevens, 2010.

Two the Hard Way by Travis Hunter

When Romeo’s older brother Kwame gets released from prison, Romeo has to adjust to having him around again -- and it isn’t easy. Especially not with all the other drama in his life: his girlfriend is upset about another girl’s accusations, their mother is back on the scene after a long crack-addicted absence, and the home they share with their grandmother is burglarized. And while Kwame might be feeling freedom for the first time in a while, life isn’t easy for him either as he transitions back into the old neighborhood. Told in alternating chapters from the brothers’ points of view, this is a young adult departure for Travis Hunter, author of a long list of urban books for adults. It’s a good choice for fans of Ni-Ni Simone -- written in a similar style with the appeal of modern slang and dialogue. This is a fast-paced urban story sure to satisfy readers looking for drama; a few lessons about being a man are weaved in as well. --Anja Kennedy

Hunter, Travis. Two the Hard Way. New York: Dafina Books, 2009.

Spotlight Interview: Claudio Leon

Welcome back! September 6th kicks off a new school year for us at Passages and we have two library team members we'd like you to meet if you don't know them already. First up is Claudio Leon, who first joined our team in early 2008.

JFS: Can you tell our readers a little bit about your background and what you've been up to?

CL: I was born in Dominican Republic, migrated to the United States when I was 10 and found my love for everything digital at around the same time. Later on, in high school, I discovered my passion for reading and writing. I was in the service for 4 years, and had been employed by the Department of Records as an Assistant Systems Administrator. These days you can find me working on a few small independent projects as well as providing technology services for those who need it. Currently, I am finishing my undergrad in Computer Information Systems Technology, yes it is a mouthful.

JFS: What is your favorite thing to read and your favorite place to read?

CL: Favorite thing to read will have to be anything science fiction, especially graphic novels, just love them. I have two favorite reading places, the subway and my bedroom before going to bed.

JFS: What was your favorite book when you were a teenager?

CL: Favorite book... tough choice but it would have to be The Three Musketeers, "One for all and all for one!"

JFS: What do you like to do for fun when you're not reading?

CL: I normally like to catch up on technology trends in my spare time, but that involves reading, so video games would be my second favorite hobby.

The Power of Birthdays, Stars, & Numbers: The Complete Personology Reference Guide

“When is your birthday?” A favorite ice-breaker during bookcart service, this hefty volume has never yet failed to interest a prospective reader. Crawford, a numerologist, and Sullivan, an astrologist, have combined forces to co-author this paperback reference work. The book devotes two pages to each of the 366 days of the year. Each spread contains a three- or four- paragraph summary of the personalities of individuals born on that day, followed by sections labeled “Your Secret Self,” “Work and Vocation,” “Numerology,” and “Love and Relationships.” Sidebars address fixed stars, the date’s primary star’s influence, and a list of dates likely to be the birthdate of “your special someone.” Opening chapters introduce the novice to astrology, fixed stars, and numerology with a fair amount of detail, and an appendix of fixed stars is provided for those wanting to know more. Most readers, however, will dive right into locating their birthday, and after that, a loved one’s birthday, or a potential date’s birthday. An interesting starting point for inquiry projects on numerology, astrology, and human psychology and personalities, a tool for explaining the concept of a reference book, and a resource for birthday card writers, office parties, and individuals engaged in correspondence. In a place full of anonymity, The Power of Birthdays offers readers a chance to consider self-knowledge, or a text to take an authoritative stance against. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Crawford, Saffi and Geraldine Sullivan. The Power of Birthdays, Stars, & Numbers: The Complete Personology Reference Guide. New York: Ballantine Books, 1998.

Top Ten Books In Your Facility: What are they?

Amy Cheney, the programming goddess who works in Cali, recently asked those of us on the Yalsa-lockdown listserv “What are the 10 most popular titles right now?” While I can’t speak for the entire school as I am only serving youth at one site this summer, I can say that at that one site, Horizon, the most popular books seem to be:

1) Anything at all by Walter Dean Myers (he just visited and there is nothing on the carts which is driving everyone crazy)

2) Tyrell by Coe Booth

3) Street Pharm by Alison Van Diepen

3) Homeboyz by Alan Sitomer

4) 16 on the Block series by Babygirl Daniels

5) Where’s Waldo

6) The Power of Birthdays

7) Rikers High by Paul Volponi

8) Played by Dana Davidson

9) Anything at all by Ni Ni Simone

10) Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

We'll do an official school-wide list this fall. What are *your* top ten? Post in the comments!

Programming Spotlight: Walter Dean Myers

Lucky.

I think that’s how many of us felt yesterday to be in the presence of the inimitable godfather of young adult literature, Walter Dean Myers. Thanks to YALSA’s Great Stories CLUB, the NEA, Lainie Castle at ALA's PPO office, Anne Lotito Schuh, Phoebe Yeh at Harper Collins, and the author himself, almost all the students present yesterday at Horizon Juvenile Detention Center had the chance to hear from the author of Dope Sick, Monster, Carmen, and the recently released We Are America to name a few of the titles from over one hundred he has penned. Disarming as ever, he spoke about second chances, showed students some of his tools as a working writer, and talked about the joys of making a living using one’s mind. If that wasn’t already enough (and it was!) he even sat down and autographed well over a hundred books to be given as gifts to students, teachers, administrators and staff. I am filled with gratitude. He and Phoebe left us with some prizes for readers-- stay tuned!

Dope Sick by Walter Dean Myers

If you could go back in time and change just one moment, what would it be? Where would you start over from? Lil’ J has been shot in the arm by a police officer and fears a cop shooting will be pinned on him as the story opens. He pushes his way into what seems to be a deserted building while looking for an escape, thinking he’ll try the roof. Instead, he runs into not-quite-human-or-is-he? Kelly. Using magical realism, dialogue, first person narration and flashbacks, Myers reveals the context of this life-or-death-or-prison moment in Lil’ J’s life and invites the reader into a critical dialogue via Kelly and Lil’ J’s conversation. How does one shift one’s perspective from blaming outside sources to making one’s life “your own fault?” About once a week a student tells me or another student that Dope Sick is “fire,” which pretty much sums up the popular appeal.

Myers, Walter Dean. Dope Sick. New York: Harper Collins, 2009.

The Barrio Kings by William Kowalski

Rosario thinks he’s got his life pretty straight: he's got a beautiful girlfriend, Connie; an apartment for the two of them and the baby they’re expecting; and a solid legal job while he wraps up his high school diploma. He’s put his past with the Barrio Kings behind him. Or so he thinks, until his homeboy, Juan, shows up, freshly released from prison and itching for revenge against the Barrio Kings’ arch rivals, the Vandals. What’s a reformed gangbanger to do? Flat characters are superceded by quick pacing, white space, larger font and a plot that some will find familiar and/or compelling. This reader is certainly interested in hearing from anyone else whose read titles from Orca Publishing’s “Rapid Read” series. Recommended for striving readers who are looking for realistic fiction to help them anticipate life after re-entry. Or just a quick read or a new series along the lines of the Bluford High Series.

Kowalski, William. The Barrio Kings. Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 2010.

MAUS by Art Spiegelman

“When did you first hear about Auschwitz?” “Right AWAY we heard … even from there – from that other world – people came back and told us. But we didn’t believe.” (conversation between Art and Vladek Spiegelman). Maus is one of those books that will leave you speechless. It follows the life of Vladek Spiegelman, the father of the author, through his horrific survival story of Nazi occupied Poland during WWII. The graphic novel is beautifully written and drawn by using cats to represent the Nazis and mice as the Jews. Although there are comical moments, the story never loses its grittiness even as it switches back and forth between Vladek’s story and Art’s. Spiegelman writes the story showing the reader how he created it, giving the reader a behind the scenes feel to the complexity of his relationship with his father and the challenges he faced as he listened to Vladek’s survival story. Whether you liked graphic novels or not, this one is a work of art that deserves to be read.--Claudio Leon

Passages Academy Visits the Big Easy

Tomorrow two of us (Jessica and Anja) will head down to New Orleans to learn and share at the world's largest librarian conference. You can find us at YALSA's pre-conference on programming for reluctant readers on Friday, ASCLA's President's Program on Prisoners' Right to Read on Saturday at 10:30am, meeting up with a group of librarians serving incarcerated and detained youth all over the country on Saturday night, and at ALA-OLOS & ASCLA's panel on model services for incarcerated and detained populations bright and early Sunday morning. If you're in town, please stop by and say hello! --Anja and Jessica

The Yo Momma Vocabulary Builder by Justin Heimberg and Steve Harwood

“Yo momma’s so execrable, her family planned her funeral with alacrity.” As an educator and librarian, and especially when working with troubled populations and youth, I do not encourage students to sling insults at one another; that being said, The Yo Momma Vocabulary Builder has made me reconsider this precedent. Specifically designed to speak to students who want to perfect the art of the insult and fueled with succulent vocabulary, The Yo Momma Vocabulary Builder tempts students to outsmart and out-versify their opponents. A handbook of vocabulary and wit, the title offers definitions and real world applications of vocabulary words, as well as pronunciation guidelines and viscious examples. An appendix puts students' understanding of the newly vanquished words to test with multiple choice reviews and "quizzles" interspersed within the text. This is an ideal book to rope students into the power of vocabulary, and if they take a liking to the power of eloquence, they can be referred to Blake Harrison and Alexander Rappaport's Flocabulary: The Hip-Hop Approach to SAT-Level Vocabulary Building. --Lisa Buckton

Heimberg, Justin and Steve Harwood. The Yo Momma Vocabulary Builder. New York: Seven Footer Press, 2007.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to have grown up in Iran? As a teen girl in Iran about forty years ago? Persepolis is a graphic novel memoir based on the teen years of Marjane Strapi, the author, and her life in Iran during the 1970s. Satrapi uses humor and art to tell her story and does a wonderful job of intermingling each with her personal story to paint the picture of what it was like to be an Iranian teen during those years. The comic-lover reader may be surprised to find answers to questions he or she may not have wondered aloud like why Iranian women wear the veil, or why men are only allowed to wear long sleeves. Strapi doesn’t just answer these questions but also demonstrates how she herself dealt with the laws as they were imposed and the perils that came along with trying to oppose them. The story ultimately showed me how little I know about Middle Eastern history and found it amazing that so much information could be packed into this magnificent graphic novel. --Claudio Leon

For a high school lesson plan utilizing Persepolis to introduce students to graphic novels from readwritethink.org click here.

Big Cats & Wild Dogs by Rhonda Klevansky and Dr. Jen Green

Ever wonder what, exactly, is the difference between a leopard and a jaguar? Or a puma and a cheetah? Where do they live? What do they eat? How fast do they run? All of these questions and more are answered in this amazing book of facts about large cats and wild dogs. Filled with many color photographs and plenty of accompanying text, the first half is dedicated to the world of carniverous canines and the second half is all about wolves and other wild dogs. Both subjects are very popular with our students, making the book a perfect choice for supplementing inquiry projects. Also use it as a follow-up to answer the many questions students will be asking after viewing David Attenborough’s Life of Mammals: Meat Eaters.

Klevansky, Rhonda and Dr. Jen Green. Big Cats & Wild Dogs. London: Anness Publishing, 2004.

The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide by Eva Talmadge & Justin Taylor

Reluctant reader or not, students are quickly swayed by enticing illustrations. And what better or more popular illustrations than tattoos? The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide goes a step further than your average tattoo anthology; it chronicles tattoos of famous and cherished lines of poetry, prose and their related illustrations on the bodies of individuals across the country. Each tattoo is complete with an image and an explanation of the significance of the literary inking. Herein lies the librarian’s mischievous plot: bait a student via interest in a literary tattoo, and then lead them to the larger body of work itself! M.’s tattoo of “I feel infinite” on her left shoulder blade, for example, will steer readers to Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Who knows? Soon troubled teens may be tripping over their appreciation of e.e. cummings and Samuel Beckett. Better yet, their enthrallment may have began with a school library and a book about literary tattoos.

*Please note that there is some nudity in this title, but nothing explicit. The book may not be appropriate for all ages. -- Lisa Buckton

Talmadge, Eva and Justin Taylor. The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide. New York: Harper Perennial, 2010.

Stay With Me by Paul Griffin

Stay With Me, the newest book from popular Passages Academy visiting author Paul Griffin due to be released this fall, follows the intense but brief relationship between two teens, Mack and Cece. At fifteen, Mack is a HS dropout and a struggling reader with a violent criminal past. But we learn of his nurturing side through his connection with abandoned pitbulls, and his innate ability to train them into loving house pets. Mack shares this gift with Cece, who overcomes her fear of dogs and falls in love with Mack while studying for an upcoming Gifted and Talented test. The two meet at Vic Too's, the restaurant where they work with Cece's mother, brother, and best friend. But when Mack loses control and lets his anger take over, the two are forced to say goodbye forever. This moving and gripping book will appeal to students requesting a love story, as well as those looking for characters that they can easily relate to.

::SPOILER ALERT::
Mack and Cece are torn apart when Mack begins a long period of incarceration at Rikers. Adult readers in facilities may spring into a censorship stance when they read the ways characters bring creativity to bear on using the materials at hand to circumvent security, but young readers won't find any new ideas they haven't heard already. Most importantly, many will be able to connect with the stressful high-stakes atmosphere of the prison.

::BONUS::
Besides sharing this exciting new book with you, I am also very excited to share the following excerpts:

From the Dedication
“...for Juan G., who dreams of happy endings.” Juan was a Passages Academy @ Crossroads student whom Paul met during a visit in 2009. He expressed his hope for a happier ending to “Ten Mile River,” and then offered how he would have ended the novel.

From the Acknowledgements
"Thank you to the librarians, teachers, booksellers, and literacy and human rights advocates that have given me opportunities to connect with their students and readers...Anne Lotito Schuh and the Crossroads family, Jessica, Ma'lis and Literacy For Incarcerated Teens..."

I feel comfortable speaking for the Passages family when I say that we wish we could so publicly acknowledge Paul Griffin for his selflessness of time and spirit when it comes to giving to our students. A day when Paul visits is an uplifting day for students and staff alike.--Anne Lotito Schuh

Barefoot Gen Volume 1 by Keiji Nakazawa

"Remember this, my little one. This is war. This is what took your father, sister and brother from us... When you grow up you must never, ever let this happen again!" Kimie Nakaoka says as she holds up her new born to watch the fireball that has engulfed Hiroshima. Love, hate, honor, pride, fear, pity, Barefoot Gen is an incredible and timely story that will summon every feeling a human can possibly muster. The story is a short manga series about the life of Keiji Nakazawa before, during and after the nuclear bomb was dropped in his hometown, Hiroshima. The story does an amazing job at pulling you in and never letting go. For those who know what happens (and most of us do), they will be at the edge of their seats waiting for the climax of the bomb drop. The drop is delayed well into the story, giving the readers the opportunity to see the hardships that the Japanese people were already going through because of the war. Unlike most mangas, Barefoot Gen is full of text but the readers are very unlikely to notice it since it is well-integrated in the old school style of animation used by Nakazawa. I found this manga to be one of the most powerful ones I've read to date and I expect it will stay with me for a long time to come.--Claudio Leon

Interested readers can learn more about Project Gen here and here. Teachers can find a lesson plan for middle grades from the Zinn Education Project (utilizing the film version) here, and a study guide which can serve as a series of discussion questions from the National Association of Comics Art Educators here.

Snake Bite by Tom Jackson

A couple of sentences per page give the reader intriguing bits of clear information in this 32-page paperback book. The text is supplemented by excellent photographs depicting venomous snakes, the “milking” of snakes, a spitting cobra (mid-spit), and humans interacting with snakes. A wonderful starting point for striving readers looking for an inquiry topic or some engaging independent informational reading. A table of contents, glossary, index, and recommendations for further reading on the web make this an ideal teaching tool for introducing non-fiction text features to this frequently requested topic. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Jackson, Tom. Snake Bite. New York: Crabtree Publishing, 2009.

Deathnote by Tsugumi Ohba, Illustrated by Takeshi Obata

Light Yagami, a teenage boy, discovers a supernatural notebook that grants him the ability to kill anyone whose name and face he knows. The suspicious chain of deaths that follow lead youthful detective L (a code name) to investigate what he believes are homicides. At the start of the story Light uses the notebook with intent to cleanse the world of all evil as if he were a god. As L begins his investigation, Light, in order to stay ahead of L, eventually has to kill more than just criminals and loses focus of his original good intentions. Suicides and homicides are all drawn with intricate detail in gorgeous black and white frames that are sure to suck in the readers time and time again. Readers may be advised: some of the frames graphically depict the death sequences. To view the official site for the manga series and anime series click here. -- Claudio Leon