Never Let Me Go

by Kazuo Ishiguro. Knopf (2005), Hardcover, 304 pages.

A quiet yet potent tale about three young people who are fated to brief lives because of their role in a society now free of disease. This story unfolds in an alternate version of the near past and much of it takes place in the remembrances of an idyllic (and disturbing) boarding school in a scenic English countryside. This novel is a heartbreak and the questions it leaves a reader with is why I highly recommended this book.

The Sweet Far Thing

by Libba Bray. Delacorte Press, c. 2007. Pbk. 819 pages. ISBN 978-0-440-23777-8

Final book of the Gemma Doyle Trilogy. Gemma struggles with the pressures of preparing for her debut as a young woman in London society while she works to bring order to the growing chaos in the Realms. Alliances are tested and puzzling clues cause Gemma to question who and what to trust--including her own mind.

For those who wish the trilogy wouldn't end, this 800-page plus book may satisfy. Bray leaves it open-ended and it seems possible that she may someday re-visit Gemma Doyle.

Rebel Angels

by Libba Bray. New York: Dleacorte Press, c. 2005, pbk. 548 pages. ISBN 978-0-385-73341-0

Second book in the Gemma Doyle trilogy. It is near Christmastime and Gemma and her friends are looking forward to time away from Spence Academy. But their time of celebration is clouded by the dangers brought on by Gemma's recent actions in the Realms. Now the magic is loose and many are after its power. It is now up to Gemma to find the Temple and bind the magic to restore order to the Realms. But who can she trust when so many thirst for the power?

This book is a must read for fans of the first book, A Great and Terrible Beauty. Not only is this book full of mystery and fantasy, but Bray also gives the reader an opportunity to ponder racism, classism and the roles of women in Victorian England.

The Grounding of Group 6

by Julian F. Thompson, c. 1983. Young Adult (classic) literature.

Five high schoolers are sent to (what they think) is a boarding school to get them on the right track. All of them have committed some type of misbehavior that has lead their parents to send them away--but none of them would have suspected that they were meant to be poisoned and thrown into a deep crevasse! No one expected Group 6 and their (young) advisor to make it back from their orientation camping trip alive...

While this book will seem fairly dated for today's reader, it is a lot of fun to re-visit if you read this in the 80s as a kid or teen. This is also a chilling story about parents wanting to have their children eliminated which may be a nice companion to a book like Neal Shusterman's Unwind (however Shusterman's world is infinitely scarier). There is some appeal for male readers in The Grounding of Group 6 as much of the story is revealed from the teen boy characters including quite a few (tame) passages about their sexual experiences.

Jellicoe Road

Title: Jellicoe Road (Australian title: On Jellicoe Road)
Author: Melina Marchetta
Publication date: 2006
Number of pages: 419
Genre: Young Adult fiction
Geographical Setting: Australia
Time Period: present (early 2000s)
Series: N/A

Taylor Markham is visited many nights by a young boy in her dreams. She tells him her stories, stories about the children at her school and the manuscript Hannah has written about five friends. Hannah found Taylor when she was eleven and abandoned by her drug-addicted mother on Jellicoe Road. At seventeen, Taylor has been chosen as the leader of her boarding school dorm and their leader in the territory wars with the Cadets and the Townies. Soon Taylor’s memories and questions about her past begin to overtake her duties and she finds herself relying on some of her sworn enemies for the answers.

Subject Headings: identity issues, abandonment, orphans, boarding schools, drug addiction, death of a parent, first love, coming of age

Appeal: 2009 Michael L. Printz Award; war game of the Territory Wars at first gives the story a sinister almost dystopian feel but as the story progresses, the reader begins to understand how the “game” began; story of first love rings very true and the pains of separation; nontraditional families.

If you liked Jellicoe Road, then you might enjoy: John Marsden’s So Much to Tell You, John Green’ s Paper Towns

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

The Disreputable History of Frankie-Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (2008), 342 pages, 2008 National Book Award Finalist

my review:

Elite boarding schools often provide a popular backdrop for young adult novels. They also provide the young adult novelist numerous opportunities to create situations where parental involvement and adult supervision is lacking; money and resources may abound for the characters. Many times, these characters live in a world that most young readers have never experienced--that of a life of privilege and status. All of these elements are a part of The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks but the title character of Frankie is such an odd (in a smarty, funny way) girl that she is more realistic and relatable for many readers than the usual prep or boarding school characters.

Frankie becomes obsessed with her plans to infiltrate and be a part of the all male secret society (the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds) at Alabaster Prep. At the same time, she is experiencing her first love and a relationship where she struggles to not lose her own identity. More than just a pretty girl, Frankie fights for her place in the academic institution and in the world where the “Old Boys Club” rules.

The Disreputable History… is filled with clever wordplay and even more boarding school and college pranks, ideas of interventionist art, subverting the institutions of power and notions of gender roles and breaking the rules (whether written or just understood). Written in the third person, the narration is a welcome change from the usual first person narratives of many young adult novels. This is a coming of age book that defies many of the conventions of this genre.

2009 Michael L. Printz Honor Book

The School for Dangerous Girls

Title: The School for Dangerous Girls
Author: Eliot Schrefer
Publication date: 2009
Number of pages: 341
Genre: Young Adult fiction
Geographical setting: Colorado
Time period: 2000s
Series: N/A

Plot summary: Most of her life Angela has been labeled “hyper,” a “troublemaker” and other not very nice things. Her parents don’t like her boyfriend and after her behavior seems to have led to a terrible accident, she is now labeled a “criminal” and “dangerous.” She is shipped off to a last chance school, Hidden Oak where she and the other dangerous girls began to realize the reasons their new school is so isolated—and these secrets just may cost them their lives.

Subject headings: boarding schools, reform schools, troubled teen girls, authority figures, mother/daughter relationships

Appeal: strong-willed teen girls fight back and resist being labeled what society may decide they are; twist on the boarding school genre; suspenseful

If you liked The School for Dangerous Girls, you might enjoy: Alex McAulay’s Bad Girls, Rita Williams-Garcia’s Jumped, Judy Blundell’s What I Saw and How I Lied

Looking for Alaska

Title: Looking for Alaska
Author: John Green
Publication Date: 2005
Number of Pages: 221
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Geographical Setting: boarding school in Alabama
Time period: mid 2000s
Series: N/A

Plot: Sixteen year old Miles “Pudge” Halter has left his uneventful life in Florida to attend Culver Creek Boarding School in Alabama. Immediately there is a promise of adventure as he makes friends with his prank-planning roommate, the Colonel, and the fascinating Alaska Young. Pudge falls for Alaska and is drawn into her world of danger, literature, sadness and self-destruction.

Subject Headings: boarding school, drunk driving, pranks, friendship

Appeal: Awarded the Michael L. Printz Award from the ALA. Death of a parent. Teens without parental supervision. Teen involvement with drinking, smoking, some drug use, sex. Famous last words play a prominent role. Battles between the have and have nots. Loyalty and friendship.

If you liked Looking for Alaska, you might enjoy: Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why. Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep. Gregory Galloway’s As Simple as Snow.