Book a Day

daily booktalk (summary) of materials at WRHS http://www.wrhsdailybook.blogspot.com/

2009 Heartland Award Finalists

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Budding cartoonist Arnold Spirit, AKA Junior, leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where he is the the only Native American, if you don't count the school mascot. He joins the basketball team and meets some former classmates on the court. He is left to grapple with questions of community, identity, and loyalty as the chronicles these issues with his cartoon images throughout the book.

Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher
When high school student Clay Jenson plays the seven cassette tapes he received in a mysterious package, he's surprised to hear the voice of Hannah Baker. Clay had a crush on Hannah but now Hannah is dead, having committed suicide. He's one of 13 people who receive Hannah's story, which details the circumstances that led to her suicide. Clay spends the rest of the day and a heartbreaking long night driving their town listening to Hannah's voice recounting events that lead up to her death, going to locations she wants him to visit.

Deadline by Chris Crutcher
Right before his senior year, Ben Wolf is given the medical diagnosis of one year to live, having a rare incurable leukemia. At the legal age of 18, he has the right to keep the news to himself. Only Ben's doctor and therapist know his secret. Ben sets out to live an entire life within just one year, fulfilling his greatest fantasies, ponders his life's purpose, and legacy.

Sold by Patricia McCormick
Her name is Lakshmi. She is 13 years old and she's been SOLD. She knows nothing about the world beyond her village shack in Nepal. They told her she was going to be a maid for a wealthy person in India. They said she would make a lot of money to send home to her poor family who desperately needs a new roof, clothing, and food. They said she would love living in the city.

Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
A meteor is going to hit the moon. Sixteen year old Miranda is going to watch it from the comfort of a lawn chair in her yard with family, friends, and neighbors, as if it were a lunar eclipse. However, it proves NOT to be the gentle cosmic event predicted. The moon is shifted from its normal orbit and lies closer to Earth, setting off horrific natural disasters: tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions! Society quickly shifts to a survival mode - wiping out grocery stores, gas prices soar to $12 a gallon! Who will survive?

Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill
Through a series of skillfully crafted poems, Hemphill has pieced together a collage of the life and work of the American writer. Arranged chronologically from Plath's birth to the month of her suicide, the poems are written from the points of view of people involved in her life. The voices of Plath's mother; her poet husband, Ted Hughes; and others are interspersed with those of more fleeting acquaintances, each chosen to underscore a unique aspect of the subject's fiery life and tumultuous literary career. Many of the selections were created "in the style of" specific Plath poems, while others are scattered with Plath's imagery and language.


A Brief Chapter of My Impossible Life by Dana Reinhardt
Sixteen year old atheist, Simone Turner-Bloom has olive skin and dark eyed, looking nothing like her fair-haired family. She is the beloved daughter to her adoptive parents and has a good relationship with her younger brother. It comes as a terrible intrusion to Simone when, after 16 years, her birth mother wants to meet her. After resisting the idea, Simone does decide to make contact with Rivka. Her birth mother is a 33-year-old self-exiled Hasidic Jew who is has been diagnosed with cancer. How much time will mother and daughter have together? What will Simone gain from the time with her mother?

Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin
Seventeen year old Matthew has learned how to survive living with an unpredictable and neglectful mother. Matthew and his sister Callie work to shelter their youngest stepsister Emmy from their mother's abuse. Unfortunately, their distant father and apathetic aunt don't intervene. Matt believes Murdoch, who dates his mother Nikki, will dramatically improve their situation. However, Murdoch leaves when he becomes the target of Nikki's rage. Matthew refuses to give up hope that Murdoch will help save them from their psychotic mother.


American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
As alienated kids go, Jin Wang is fairly run-of-the-mill: he eats lunch by himself in a corner of the schoolyard, gets picked on by bullies, and develops a crush on a pretty classmate. And, oh, yes, his parents are from Taiwan. This graphic novel is not only about growing up different; it's a fable for every kid born into a body and a life they wished they could escape. The fable is told through specific cultural icons: the Monkey King, a figure familiar to Chinese kids the world over, and a buck-toothed racist stereotype character Chin-Kee.

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
Liz Hall is 15. She's looking forward to getting her license, enjoying helping her best friend plan for the prom and has no worries. Her sudden death in a hit-and-run accident puts an end to her life on earth—and that's when the story begins. Liz struggles to adjust to her new situation. Love, jealousy, grief, commitment, frustration and friendship all exist "Elsewhere," making death not that different from life after all. Personal choices still make a difference and characters continue to learn and grow, despite the fact that they age backwards from the moment of their deaths.

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