Poudre Good Reads

Amiri & Odette: A Love Story
by Walter Dean Myers

Kirkus Review (December 15, 2008)

The acclaimed author uproots the 19th-century classical ballet Swan Lake from its enchanted world of mist-filled lakes and palaces and plunks it solidly down into the dark, danger-filled Swan Lake Projects. The courtly Prince Siegfried morphs into the basketball player Amiri, and the beautiful Odette, turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer in the original, is now under the thralldom of Big Red, the local drug dealer. Myers tells the tale in rap-inspired verse, which appears on the page in different sizes and colors placed for their design values and not for ease of reading. However, Steptoe's collage-on cinder-block paintings are powerful, haunting and worthy of multiple viewings. His Odette is truly luminous.

Blackbox by Julie Schumacher

Booklist starred (November 1, 2008 (Vol. 105, No. 5))

Elena and her older sister Dora are opposites—Elena is quiet and stoic; Dora is funny and unpredictable—but they are still best friends. After Dora is hospitalized for depression, Elena can’t understand why she didn’t confide in her. While her parents spend their nights arguing, Elena does her best to deal, finally striking up a quirky relationship with the school bad boy, Jimmy, who says his older brother went through the same thing. Dora returns from the hospital a different person, one who skips class, hoards her pills, and lies to her parents. Elena can’t reconcile this new sister with the one she’s always known, especially when glimpses of the old Dora surface, but she’s determined to save her, even if that means taking responsibility for Dora upon herself. Schumacher beautifully conveys Elena’s loneliness and guilt as she tries to protect her sister without betraying her, as well as the emotional release she experiences upon finding someone to trust with her own feelings. The spare prose is loaded with small, revealing details of the relationships that surround Elena and how they change through Dora’s illness. This novel is a quick read, but it will leave a lasting and ultimately hopeful impression.

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Horn Book starred (July, 2009)

Lia, an anorexic and cutter, hears that her estranged friend Cassie was found dead in a motel room--after leaving Lia thirty-three messages. Cassie's death tips the already fragile Lia into a vortex of self-destruction. Anderson conveys Lia's illness vividly through her dark, fantastic thoughts. This stream-of-consciousness, first-person, present-tense work is tangled and illuminating.

If I Grow Up by Todd Strasser

Library Media Connection (August/September 2009)

Rudyard Kipling captured the essence of all the "what ifs" in the world with his classic poem "If." This gripping novel about urban life follows a similar thread. Even though staying out of a gang didn't enter Kipling?s mind, it is the most important "if" in DeShawn's world. He's a smart kid, but the lure of material possessions dazzles him. An important look at the cycle of poverty, this is a significant book with a message about how life isn't the same for every one.

Among the Brave by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Horn Book (Fall 2009)

His promising football career kaput after a knee injury, sixteen-year-old Cody drops out of high school. After learning of ex-girlfriend Clea's disappearance from her elite Vermont boarding school, Cody sets off to investigate. Danger looms as he interacts with locals and rich boarding-school kids and uncovers secrets. Abrahams has crafted a suspenseful mystery with well-drawn characters.