BLOB by Frieda Wishinsky

After working all summer at an unpleasant job in a convenience store, Eve is about ready to start high school carrying some unwanted weight.  Fast food and junk food were plentiful in a convenience store, and Eve ate her fair share.  Now she is barely fitting into her baggiest jeans and raiding her father's closet for shirts that will cover up her bulging tummy.

On the first day of school, Eve overhears Zoe describing her as a "blob".  It's upsetting but mostly because Eve realizes she might be right. 

Using the wonderful world of the internet, Eve finds a diet that looks promising.  Day 1 - eat as much fruit as you want.  Day 2 - eat as many veggies as you want.  It doesn't look too bad until Day 4 - eat only bananas and drink milk.  Eve thinks bananas are ok, but she hates milk.  She gives the diet a try, but all she thinks about is food, food, and more food.  When she finds herself beginning to cheat, she gives up.

Can her mother's compliments and encouragement keep her on track?  Maybe joining the Mentor Club will give her the incentive to lose those unwanted pounds. 

BLOB by Frieda Wishinsky examines a very common struggle.  Everyone seems to battle the issue of weight at least once in their life.  Teens are especially vulnerable to the peer pressure associated with looking just right.  Wishinsky's character feels the frustration of dieting but learns to handle her situation in a healthy way, both physically and mentally.  She provides teens with a positive role model for dealing with a weight issue.

COMEBACK by Vicki Grant

Ria's perfect world is crumbling around her.  It comes as a total shock when she hears her parents are divorcing.  Sure, her father was usually busy with his career as a stockbroker, but now she's living with her mother and her little brother and only seeing her father on the weekends.

Shortly after the separation, Ria's dad shows up at her school driving a vintage convertible.  He offers her and her boyfriend a ride, and after returning them to school, even offers to let the kids use the car for the weekend.  That's the last time she sees him before she learns he has disappeared in a plane crash.

Thinking he is dead is a big enough shock, but then Ria starts learning further information that indicates he may not have been the father she has grown to know and love.  News of his disappearance is included in all the news broadcasts, and people she's thought of as family friends and acquaintances are making strangely rude remarks. 

Ria's reaction to all the chaos is to pack up her little brother and run.  With only pocket money and a tank of gas, she takes off without a thought as to where they will go or how they will survive.

Author Vicki Grant takes readers on a frightening ride in COMEBACK.  She captures the disappointment and frustration Ria feels when the life she's always known takes a dramatic turn.  This fast-paced read is perfect for reluctant readers.

WICKED GIRLS by Stephanie Hemphill

If you are looking for a story about some of the original "mean girls", look no further.  WICKED GIRLS by Stephanie Hemphill is about a group of young girls in Salem, Massachusetts, who began identifying their own village neighbors as witches.  They accused many and the result was the hanging deaths of countless innocent victims.

Led by Mercy Lewis, Margaret Walcott, and Ann Putnam Jr., this group of girls, aged 8-18, devised a game to accuse various village members of witchcraft.  The girls became known as the Seers and were said to be afflicted and given to fits and fainting whenever a witch was present.  The girls all reported pinches causing bruises and welts, saying those they accused had used the Devil's power to inflict the injuries.

Amazingly, the men of the village church and the village council believed the girls and set about holding hearings and trials for the accused.  Upon the testimony of the girls, innocent people were found guilty, imprisoned, and later put to death.

According to Hemphill's author's note, research didn't really reveal the reason behind the girls' plan so in this fictionalize account, she speculates as to the motivations for their behavior.  Much like modern day, the story illustrates the power of the bully and the mindless followers that become part of such groups.

Readers interested in this era of our history will find the book a unique presentation of the topic.  Even if history is not a reader's area of interest, the story is still a fascinating one.   Written in verse that alternates from one girl to the next, WICKED GIRLS presents the events of a year in a small village and the amazing craziness that will forever be known as the Salem Witch Trials.

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WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON by John Green and David Levithan

Seeing the name of either of these authors on a book cover would have me heading to the nearest bookstore, but to see them both - Wow! I simply couldn't wait to read this one.

Will Grayson would love a girlfriend.  His best friend since elementary school is a guy named Tiny and he's anything but - tiny that is.  Together they have a friend named Jane.  Tiny has thought for a long time that Will and Jane would be good together, but being gay and have pretty awful luck in his own love life doesn't exactly qualify him to know what's best.

Will Grayson would love a boyfriend.  He is friends with Maura, but is about to find out she is guilty of a huge lie that is going to result in his humiliation.  His life is complicated - no father figure, an over-protective mother who doesn't know her son is gay, and a tendency toward chronic depression which so far fairly manageable with medication. 

Yes, there are two Will Graysons.  Hard to believe, but within driving distance of Chicago, there are two teens named Will Grayson, both struggling with issues of love and friendship.  Only Green and Levithan could come up with something so unique.

WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON starts out as a novel about frustrated love, but it turns into something much bigger.  Both Graysons learn the importance of good solid, dependable friendships when it comes to surviving everything life sends your way.  Told in alternating personalities, the story unfolds in bits and pieces and when it connects, becomes absolutely amazing.  In my humble opinion, this is the best for both authors and how cool that it all happens in one book.

LAWN BOY RETURNS by Gary Paulsen

LAWN BOY RETURNS is the sequel to Paulsen's hilariously funny LAWN BOY.  The same cast of wonderful characters returns to continue Lawn Boy's unique business venture.  There's his wacky Grandmother, Arnold his stockbroker, Joey Pow the prize fighter, Pasqual his business partner, and many more.

The whole thing started with an old riding lawn mower that belonged to his grandfather, and what started as an attempt to earn money for a new inner tube for his bike tire, became an amazing business that has made him rich beyond his wildest dreams.

In this new adventure the lawn mowing continues, but new situations develop at every turn.  More people are hired to help run the growing enterprise and keep track of the money and off-shoots of the company.  Lawn Boy's parents seem to have taken off on a well-deserved vacation, but while they are gone he is faced with the threat of law suits and possible tax problems.  It's almost more than he can handle.

Author Gary Paulsen writes part two of this crazy adventure with one eye on humor and another on presenting some interesting business information.  Readers will be entertained, but at the same time, benefit from witnessing the ambition and entrepreneurial skills of Lawn Boy and his business associates.  It was great fun reading the first book, and this one didn't disappoint.

HOW TO BUILD A HOUSE by Dana Reinhardt

HOW TO BUILD A HOUSE by Dana Reinhardt is a fun book.  It has a little bit of everything - romance, generous community service-type work, and plenty of family issues.  I borrowed it from the public library but quickly decided I needed to purchase a copy for my classroom.

Harper has found a way to escape the problems she doesn't want to face at home.  Her mother died when she was two, and she freely admits she doesn't remember much about her.  Her family problems involve her father remarrying, bringing a terrific step-mother and several siblings into Harper's life, and then messing things up enough to cause a divorce that took all those things away.  Dealing with the new form her family relationships are taking is more than Harper can handle at the moment.

Summer is just beginning and so is a unique opportunity for Harper.  She is headed from her home in California to Tennessee where she will be helping a family rebuild their home after a devastating tornado.  It's hard to believe she would be swinging a hammer and using power tools to create a house from the ground up.

Harper's experience is one she will never forget.  She not only learned about what it takes to build a house, but she also made terrific new friends, met a great guy, and came to better understand the events that so recently changed her life.

Author Dana Reinhardt creatively combines the Tennessee building project with the troubles Harper is facing at home by alternating scenes from both locations.  She fills out her cast of characters with a variety of easy to relate to teens who have also given their summer to help those in need.  Readers will find the novel entertaining and at the same time informative as it showcases the benefits of community service.