15. Life in the Fat Lane

Life in the Fat Lane. Cherie Bennett. 1999. New York. Reed Business Information.

Annotation: A perfect, popular, pretty girl named Lara suddenly develops a disease that causes her uncontrollably gain large amounts of weight.

Justification for Rejection: Bennett provides a detailed account of all characters, which was good. She did a great job of portraying her brother and parents to make the story very believable and to enhance Lara's preoccupation with being skinny. When Lara starts gaining weight, her mother does not understand, and Lara does all she can to take the weight off, but nothing is working. She eventually gets diagnosed with Axell-Crown Syndrome (which is not a real disease). It was good to see how Lara's perceptions of overweight people changed and that beauty is not all about looks. It is an issue that many young girls can identify with as they deal with their own body image issues.

The reason for my rejection is that it seems a little unrealistic. The syndrome is made up, so something like this would probably never happen to a popular girl who has it all. I know that many girls can relate, but I find it hard to believe that she still keeps her boyfriend and best friend, who do not seem bothered. In real life, I think that teens that age would get more caught up in looks and possibly distance themselves from that person.

Genre: Ya Fiction

14. The Night Room

The Night Room. E.M. Goldman. 1995, New York, New York. Peguin Books

Annotation: A group of high school juniors get chosen to be guinea pigs with an experiemental computer program, Argus. This program lets them see what their 10 year reunion will be like.

Justification for Rejection. The storyline is very interesting, involving teens that go into the "Night Room" at a University and put on this helmet contraption to see their futures. They each go in separately and it is almost like hypnosis, requiring the subject to relax completely in a dark room, and then they go into this separate, lifelike, world where they are 11 years older. The visions are based on their answers in various questionnaires and their own personal experience. For example, a self conscious Joy sees herself as a beautiful movie star. They find out soon that there are dangers associated with the Argus.

I liked the idea of the book, but I did not care for the way it was set up. The narration was in third person, which can work, but in this case it was a bit confusing. I also found the story to be quite predictable and It did not hold my attention, and I would feel the same if I were a teen reader. The characters, I did not feel were developed enough. I would forget who was who in certain chapters, and I felt they could have been described in greater detail.

Genre: YA Fiction, Science Fiction

13. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Ann Brashares. 2001. Delacorte Press

Annotation: A group of 4 friends are all separated for the summer, but pass along messages and take turns wearing a pair of pants that they all fit into.

Justification for Nomination: I found this heartwarming story to be filled with many lessons in life and great topics for teen girls to read about. It provides a separate coming-of -age tale for each of the girls as the group of friends gets separated and they must grow on their own for the summer. This is the first time they are really apart as they have all been together since they were babies. They each must go their seperate ways, one goes to Europe, one to soccer camp, etc. They stay in touch by passing along a special/magic pair of pants and a letter along with it as they share their stories. I found it very enjoyable to read and very touching as the author does a great job of portraying each character as they go through struggles and joys. The book was very readable and especially believable as each character deals with real issues and emotions that the reader can identify with.

Genre: Coming of Age, YA Fiction

12. The Virgin Suicides

The Virgin Suicides. Jeffrey Eugenides. 1994. Grand Central Publishing.

Annotation: A goroup of male teens become fascinated with a group of five sisters that all commit suicide.

Justification for Rejection: This novel takes place in the 1970's in a quiet Michigan neighborhood. The narrator and a few of his friends are obsessed with the mystery and beauty of all five of the Lisbon sisters. The sisters live a very sheltered, strange life these boys want to be a part of. When one of the sisters, Cecelia, commits suicide, it is the biggest thing to ever happen in town. Since then, the boys are even more fascinated and need to know more. They start noticing strange behavior from the house that is out of the ordinary. In this now-and-then book, it flips back and forth between the present (many years later) and the past (when the girls are still alive). The whole story is about the boys interviewing witnesses and friends to find out why all five of the sisters ended up committing suicide.

This novel was something very different than anything I have read before. It has a very unique story line that flips from past to present and has a very engaging topic of mystery and suspence. I thought some parts were fairly slow and I got bored a few times. I also did not think this book was appropriate for many adolescents, as it contained curse words, sexual references, and the disturbing topic of suicide that was graphic in some parts.

Genre: YA fiction, edgy

Passion Plea-Nonfiction-Go Ask Alice

I am writing this plea for others to vote AGAINST Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous. I know that many people have read this novel and will be voting on it during the final vote, and I hope you will vote No.

There are many reasons I feel this book does not deserve a Printz award. First of all, as many people know, it has been rumored that this novel is not true, and there is speculation that it was written as a form of propoganda to keep teens away from drugs. Having said this, I will argue that the characters are not very believable. The writer of the novel/diary is a 15 year old girl who falls into an addiction to many types of drugs and lives on the streets. Yet she still makes journal entries when she is living on the streets and sleeping on benches?? I find it hard to beleive that she writes her entries on napkins, newspaper and keeps them all in order and puts them back in her diary when she gets home. I also found her vocabulary to be a little advanced for the teen reader, and she still has a great vocabulary and writing style when she is high and doesn't know what's going on.

Her story is touching, but I never really believed in what she was writing, and it took my attention away from getting out of it what I should have. It does the job of scaring me from ever doing drugs, but I felt the story was a little confusing, especially at the end. I found the whole novel being a horror story thought up by a group of parents that wanted to keep their kids on the straight and narrow. I am not sure it adheres to it's genre of being nonfiction.

Passion Plea-Fiction-Looking for Alaska

Looking for Alaska, written by John Green deserves your vote. The book has this raw feeling to it that makes the whole storyline believable. The characters just jump out from the pages as Green puts so much life into each main character. The depth of each character is amazing, as Green gives just enough information about them without babbling. The narrator is Miles (first person) and the narration is perfect. It is also very believable as the way Miles though process pans out is very believable to a teen boy.

The whole novel is very readable, as I could not put it down. It uses the right vocabulary for its audience, but also it is interesting for adults. I really liked that there were two "sections" of the book, counting down to one huge event, and then after it happens. The titles of each chapter, such as "12 days before" create an amount of suspense as the reader gets closer and the numbers reach the final day. The plot pans out very well, as I felt not part of the book was boring or went along too slowly.

The novel fits very well with its genre. The genre is coming of age and edgy. Those of you who have read this book will definitely agree that coming-of-age is a perfect way to describe the way Miles evolves though his year at school, and most would agree that it is also edgy, as the author adds in some things that teens do, although adults or other teens may not approve.

Overall, I hope you agree that this book deserves nomination after reading over my argument as this book was amazing, moving, touching, and should win the Printz.

11. How to be Popular

Cabot, Meg. Narrator: Kate Reinders. How to be Popular. WMA Audiobook

Annotation: Stephany Landry has had a reputation to live down ever since grade school. "Don't Pull a Steph" is a phrase made famous by Lauren, the most popular girl in school. Steph devises a plan to become popular by following the advice in an old self-help book titled "How to be Popular".

Justification for Nomination: I really enjoyed the book, especially from a young adult standpoint. Any young girl that has ever felt they didn't fit in could relate to this book. She has just a couple of close friends, and they enjoy making fun of the popular kids in school, as they feel they are far more intellecutal than the "A crowd". With the help from her book, Steph shows up on the first day back to school from summer break and completely changes everyone's perspective about her. Her close friends disapprove, but Steph wants to make everyone stop saying that awful phrase and maybe even catch the attention of her crush. In the end, Steph finds out what is really important and that being popular may not be all its cracked up to be.

I think that any teen girl that has ever struggled to fit in could learn some valuable lessons from this book, and it is also very entertaining and attention-grabbing at the same time.

Genre:Audiobook, Humor, YA fiction.