1. Alder, Elizabeth. King's Shadow

2. Alford, Jan. I Can't Believe I Have to Do This

3. Bauer, Joan. Rules of the Road

4. Bloor, Edward. Tangerine

5. Cooney, Caroline. The Terrorist

6. Cooney, Caroline. What Child Is This? A Christmas Story

7. Danziger, Paula & Ann Martin. P.S. Longer Letter Later

8. Fleischman, Paul. Seedfolks.

9. Fleischman, Paul. Whirligig

10. Gilbert, Barbara Snow. Stone Water

11. Greenberg, Jan & Sandra Jordan. Chuck Close Up Close

12. Holt, Kimberly Willis. My Louisiana Sky

13. McDonald, Joyce. Swallowing Stones

14. Pullman, Philip. The Golden Compass

15. Sachar, Louis. Holes

16. Shusterman, Neal. Dark Side of Nowhere: A Novel

17. Skurzynski, Gloria. Virtual War

18. Soto, Gary. Buried Onions

19. Tillage, Leon Walter. Leon's Story

20. Tomlinson, Theresa. The Forestwife

1.   Alder, Elizabeth. King's Shadow

From Booklist , July 19, 1995
Gr. 7^-12. Eleventh-century Britain is the background for Alder's finely written account of a slave who becomes the chronicler of Harold, last of the Saxon kings. When Evyn is brutally attacked and rendered mute, his hopes of becoming a storyteller and escaping his life as a serf are shattered. Sold into slavery, he joins the household of Lady Ealdgyth, the common-law wife of Earl Harold of Wessex. Illiterate, mutilated, and feared by the thralls, Evyn becomes known as Shadow. When he is sent to a monastery to be educated

2.  Alford, Jan. I Can't Believe I Have to Do This

From Kirkus Reviews , August 15, 1997
A 12-year-old gets a tutorial in the consequences of irresponsible behavior and the dangers of bad company in this earnestly cautionary novel. At his mother's behest, Dean keeps a journal of what turns out to be a traumatic year, beginning with a parental interview after he threatens his tattletale little sister and ending with a community service sentence for joy-riding with a drunk, high, underage driver. In between, his bike is stolen and the family dog gets run over--both consequences of his own carelessness--he is caught lying and shoplifting, and he watches his best friend Aaron and a new buddy drink beer, act stupid, and throw up. Newcomer Alford takes on a catalog of other issues too, as topical as ear-piercing and as timeless as dealing with bullies. The journal entries are only a pretext, readily abandoned; Dean's comments generally take up no more than a few lines at the head or tail of each chapter, and are mostly of the whiny variety, while the real stories emerge in the paragraphs of first-person narration. It's not entirely a tale of woe: Dean wins a student council seat, has a first date, and gains more wholesome friends, but some readers will wilt under the barrage of lessons. (Fiction. 10-12) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --

3.  Bauer, Joan. Rules of the Road

From Booklist , February 1, 1998
Gr. 6^-10. It's downright wonderful these days to find a teenage protagonist who is smart, moral, funny, confident (mostly), and open-minded about grown-ups. Not that hulking Jenna Boller doesn't have her share of problems. A strapping five foot eleven with a strong work ethic, Jenna is an outsider at school. The fact that she spends most of her time selling shoes at Gladstone's shoe store (and loving it) doesn't help in terms of a social life. But it's her alcoholic father who is her main concern. When he suddenly comes back into her life, drunk as usual, she's not sure she can handle it. Lucky for her, rich, curmudgeonly Mrs. Gladstone, who is 73, needs someone to chauffeur her to Texas to a stockholders' meeting and help her check out the Gladstone stores along the way. It seems her son is engineering a company takeover that is breaking her heart. Like Squashed (1992), this has its introspective side as well as its share of sad moments that show the long-term damage alcoholism has on families and individuals. But it's also a warm, funny, insightful story about ordinary people who look beyond age to the things they have in common and the wisdom they can share.
Copyright© 1998, American Library Association. 

From Kirkus Reviews , January 1, 1998
A high-school student with a passion for selling shoes may be a hard sell to teenagers, but Bauer (Sticks, 1996, etc.) makes 16-year-old, too-tall Jenna Boller a convincing narrator in this story of love and loss in the shoe business. President and owner of shoe stores from Chicago to Texas, the elderly Mrs. Gladstone appoints Jenna, who works in one of the stores, her personal driver. As the Chicago skyline recedes, Jenna and her companion head for the Lone Star state and a stockholders' meeting, taking in shoe stores from Peoria to Little Rock, where Mrs. Gladstone uncovers not only a decline in the quality of shoes being sold, but her son's plot for a company takeover. Sharp dialogue and caustic commentary from Jenna mark the journey, which lags somewhere around Kansas; revitalizing the plot is the entrance of Harry Bender, world's greatest shoe salesman. Through him and others, Jenna learns much more than the rules of the road (``Never eat at a place called MOM'S, because it's a safe bet Mom's been dead for years'') and business acumen. Jenna's alcoholic father hovers in the background, more plot manipulation than fully realized character, but his presence throws Jenna's new maturity into relief. It's an unlikely hero's journey, and Bauer's dry humor assures readers that all's well that ends wellif not in corporate takeovers, at least in the business of growing up. (Fiction. 12-15) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, 

4.   Bloor, Edward. Tangerine

From Booklist , May 15, 1997
Gr. 7^-10. Although Paul needs thick glasses to enable him to see well enough to do things other kids do, his instinctual vision isn't impaired. It's 20/20, allowing him to "see" behind the facade of Tangerine County, Florida, where his family has recently moved. He chronicles his adjustment to this bizarre new place, describing his triumph at soccer, making new friends, and tending a tangerine grove. He also unravels the horrible truth about his disturbed, menacing older brother. There's a lot going on in the story--perhaps too much--and with the exception of Paul, the characters are little more than intriguing, shadowy shapes. Paul's musings occasionally seem too old for his years, as well. Still, the book has a lot going for it, especially the atmospheric portrait of the eerie community, where lightning strikes more often than it does anywhere else and a school is swallowed by a sinkhole. One thing is for sure: this dark debut novel proves that Bloor is a writer to watch. Kathleen Squires
Copyright© 1997, American Library Association. 

From Kirkus Reviews , February 1, 1997
A legally blind seventh-grader with clearer vision than most wins acceptance in a new Florida school as his football-hero older brother self-destructs in this absorbing, multi-stranded debut. Paul's thick lenses don't keep him from being a first-rate soccer goalie, but they do make him, willy-nilly, a ``handicapped'' student and thus, according to his new coach, ineligible to play. After a giant sinkhole swallows much of his ramshackle school, Paul is able to transfer to another school where, with some parental collusion, he can keep his legal status a secret. It turns out to be a rough place, where ``minorities are in the majority,'' but Paul fits himself in, playing on the superb soccer team (as a substitute for one of the female stars of the group) and pitching in when a freeze threatens the citrus groves. Bloor fills in the setting with authority and broad irony: In Tangerine County, Florida, groves are being replaced by poorly designed housing developments through which drift clouds of mosquitoes and smoke from unquenchable ``muck fires.'' Football is so big that not even the death of a player struck by lightning during practice gets in the way of NFL dreams; no one, including Paul's parents, sees how vicious and amoral his brother, Erik, is off the field. Smart, adaptable, and anchored by a strong sense of self-worth, Paul makes a memorable protagonist in a cast of vividly drawn characters; multiple yet taut plotlines lead to a series of gripping climaxes and revelations. Readers are going to want more from this author. (Fiction. 11-15) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the 

5.   Cooney, Caroline. The Terrorist

From Kirkus Reviews , June 1, 1997
Fans know what to expect from Cooney (The Voice on the Radio, 1996, etc.): bullet-train pacing and entertaining prose. This accessible offering opens as Billy Williams, 11, accepts a package from a passerby and is blown up in a London tube station. The action is full steam ahead as the Williams family mourns and attempts to go on, except for Laura, 16, who embarks on an absorbing and obsessive journey to find her brother's killer. The novel isn't perfect: Laura's transformation from a self-involved ``ugly'' American abroad to vengeful paranoiac is fairly convincing, although readers may have trouble getting past their initial dislike of her and her self-satisfied oblivion. While most of the characters are as real as their grief--making human choices, and suffering the consequences--others simply fade out of the story, and the culprit is based more on a stereotype than on logic. If the novel requires a few big leaps of faith, readers will be glad they stayed with it, and will be caught up in exciting, compulsive reading. (Fiction. 12+) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.  

6.   Cooney, Caroline. What Child Is This? A Christmas Story

Book Description
Not everyone is lucky at Christmas. Some people would call 16-year-old Liz Kitchell and her family truly fortunate, but it doens't feel that way to her. It seems that only a miracle can give 8-year-old Katie her holiday wish. She wants a family, something she does not have as a foster child. As for 17-year-old Matt, he too is in a foster home and is finally letting himself feel a sense of belonging. When he allows himself to do a good deed for Katie, he doesn't realize what would happen. Is the spirit of Christmas strong enough to grant the impossible?

Synopsis
Three individuals whose lives are intertwined at a time of year when miracles seem within reach are at the center of this special holiday book. Thoughtful and inspiring, What Child Is This? is a story about selfless giving and the ways in which love can and does make a difference. 

From the Publisher
"A heart-tugging story with an upbeat ending...Cooney allows the characters to speak for themselves, eventually weaving their lives together into a fitting climax. A moving, fast paced novel, sure to appeal to Cooney's fans."
--School Library Journal

 7. Danziger, Paula & Ann Martin. P.S. Longer Letter Later

Elizabeth and Tara*Starr's junior high school world is one of corny jokes, words like "gazillion," and awkward moments (a New Year's Eve kiss happens at 12:08, and "it was sort of gross because the Chee-to in his mouth ended up in my mouth"), but it's also a world where both girls are dealing with their evolving--and sometimes derailing--families. Danziger (writing Tara*Starr's letters) and Martin (writing Elizabeth's letters) are friends in real life, and both have done a masterful job of creating the distinct, realistic, endearing voices of their characters; developing a profound, emotional, and ever-changing relationship between two young girls; and crafting a page- turning story to boot. Young readers--half-laughing, half with lump in throat--will "totally relate" to this feisty pair! (Ages 9 and older)

8.   Fleischman, Paul. Seedfolks.

From Booklist, May 15, 1997
Gr. 4^-8. Kim, a Vietnamese girl mourning her dead father, is the one who begins the garden. In a vacant lot near her Cleveland home, she scratches six holes in the dirt and plants six seeds, hoping to attract her father's spirit. She definitely catches the eye of Ana, an elderly white woman who has watched the ethnic makeup of the neighborhood change. Ana assumes Kim is burying treasure, but when she realizes her mistake, she makes it her mission to ensure that the girl's plants are watered. The perspective changes with each chapter--Kim narrates first, then Ana, then Wendell, who is sent by Ana to water "the Chinese girl's" plants and decides to do some planting of his own. Others follow: Gonzalo's grandfather sees the garden as an opportunity to be productive without being humiliated because of his inability to learn English; black body builder Curtis uses his tomatoes to help him rebuild his romance with Lateesha. Neighbor by neighbor, the garden grows, with the once-vacant lot eventually becoming a varied and vibrant community of its own. Each voice is distinct. Each character springs to life, complete with attitudes, prejudices, and opinions, and as the viewpoints shift, Fleischman shows how the different members of a multi-ethnic urban neighborhood overcome the barriers of language and background to enrich one another and forge new connections. The characters' vitality and the sharply delineated details of the neighborhood make this not merely an exercise in craftsmanship or morality but an engaging, entertaining novel as well. Susan Dove Lempke
Copyright© 1997, American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Kirkus Reviews , May 1, 1997
Using the multiple voices that made Bull Run (1995) so absorbing, Fleischman takes readers to a modern inner-city neighborhood and a different sort of battle, as bit by bit the handful of lima beans an immigrant child plants in an empty lot blossoms into a community garden, tended by a notably diverse group of local residents. It's not an easy victory: Toughened by the experience of putting her children through public school, Leona spends several days relentlessly bulling her way into government offices to get the lot's trash hauled away; others address the lack of readily available water, as well as problems with vandals and midnight dumpers; and though decades of waging peace on a small scale have made Sam an expert diplomat, he's unable to prevent racial and ethnic borders from forming. Still, the garden becomes a place where wounds heal, friendships form, and seeds of change are sown. Readers won't gain any great appreciation for the art and science of gardening from this, but they may come away understanding that people can work side by side despite vastly different motives, attitudes, skills, and cultural backgrounds. It's a worthy idea, accompanied by Pedersen's chapter-heading black-and-white portraits, providing advance information about the participants' races and, here and there, ages. (Fiction. 9-11) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved

9.   Fleischman, Paul. Whirligig

From Booklist , April 1, 1998
Gr. 7^-10. A nonlinear narrative spun out from actions, both good and bad, and their ever-circling consequences, Fleischman's latest is an unusual construction, its parts fitting together in delicate balance, much like those of the whirligig of the title and the story's central metaphor. Driving home drunk from a party, Brent tries to kill himself by letting go of the wheel but instead kills another teenager. Her grief-stricken mother doesn't seek revenge; rather, she hands Brent a 45-day Greyhound bus pass and tells him that, since her daughter Lea loved whirligigs, she wants Brent to build four, each with Lea's face and name, and plant them in the four corners of the U.S.--Washington State, California, Maine, and Florida. Brent's journey of expiation across that summer alternates with beautiful, quicksilver stories, told in different time frames, of how the whirligigs that he builds and leaves behind profoundly affect the lives of a too-studious eighth-grader and her best friend in Maine, a Puerto Rican street sweeper in Miami, an adopted Korean boy in Washington, and a teenager and her dying grandmother in San Diego. Brent never becomes quite real; his struggle with tools, directions, and sorrow sometimes is pulled under by its own weight, but the story as a whole and the inner sense of self that Brent achieves through his experiences are mesmerizing. The language of the whirligig stories gleams and soars: a metaphor of movement, dance, laughter, and irrepressible life. Like the ritual journey in Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons (1994) and Uncle Ob's whirligigs in Cynthia Rylant's Missing May (1992), loss, fear, and guilt in Fleischman's story find a universally recognizable shape. GraceAnne A. DeCandido
Copyright© 1998, American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Kirkus Reviews , May 1, 1998
At once serious and playful, this tale of a teenager's penitential journey to four corners of the country can be read on several levels. While attempting to kill himself on the highway after a humiliating social failure, Brent causes a fatal accident for another motorist, Lea Zamora. His sentence requires a personal act of atonement, if the victim's family so desires; Lea's mother hands him a bus pass and tells him to place pictorial whirligigs in Maine, Florida, Washington, and California as monuments to her daughter's ability to make people smile. Brent sets out willingly, armed with plywood, new tools, and an old construction manual. Characteristically of Fleischman (Seedfolks, 1997, etc.), the narrative structure is unconventional: Among the chapters in which Brent constructs and places the contraptions are independent short stories that feature the whirligigs, playing significant roles in the lives of others. Brent encounters a variety of travelers and new thoughts on the road, and by the end has lost much of the sense of isolation that made his earlier aspirations to be one of the in-crowd so important. The economy of language and sustained intensity of feeling are as strongly reminiscent of Cynthia Rylant's Missing May (1992) as are the wind toys and, at least in part, the theme, but Fleischman's cast and mood are more varied, sometimes even comic, and it's Brent's long physical journey, paralleled by his inner one, that teaches him to look at the world and himself with new eyes. (Fiction. 12-14) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

10.   Gilbert, Barbara Snow. Stone Water

From Booklist , December 15, 1996
Gr. 5^-9. When Grant's beloved grandfather suffers a catastrophic stroke and is left with little hope of recovery, it is, the 14-year-old realizes, "time to grow up." Time, in fact, to decide whether he will honor the old man's request to help end his life. Gilbert, a practicing attorney, is to be praised for tackling the thorny subject of assisted suicide with courage and candor; she does a good job of exploring Grant's ethical and moral dilemmas, but, unfortunately, she doesn't do as well in presenting them as artful fiction. The characters are too often stereotypical, and some of the situations--Grant's confession to a priest, his finding a girlfriend, and, worst of all, the very resolution of the plot-driving dilemma--seem somewhat contrived. Nevertheless, the novel will stimulate thought and invite discussion of an important issue much in the news today. Michael Cart
Copyright© 1996, American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Kirkus Reviews , October 15, 1996
A 14-year-old is faced with the hardest decision of his life in this outstanding, sensitive exploration of a topic ripped from the headlines. When his beloved grandfather, Henry, suffers a stroke and is transferred to the rest home's Skilled Personal Care Unit, Grant opens an envelope he had been holding for that eventuality, and reads a request from the old man to help him die. Knowing that he dare not share the plea--most especially with his parents, who are already committed to authorizing heroic measures to keep Henry alive--Grant discreetly looks into the legal, ethical, moral, and religious implications of assisting a suicide, balancing them against his love and respect for someone who is closer to him than his own father. To his well-defined world of school, sports, and friends, Grant adds regular visits to Henry's bedside, where he talks, remembers, and tenderly helps with the nursing duties, quietly hoping that time will make the decision for him. No such luck--but when the crisis comes and Grant makes his agonized choice, Henry regains consciousness long enough to hold the drugged cup himself: It's not absolution, but mercy, and a fitting resolution to a compassionate story. Rather than a premise impelled by didacticism and hung about with tiny plot elements, Gilbert--in her first novel--crafts a rich, absorbing story of believable situations and intelligent characters. No reader of any age will remain unmoved. (Fiction. 12+) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

11.   Greenberg, Jan & Sandra Jordan. Chuck Close Up Close

From Booklist , March 15, 1998
Gr. 4^-7. In a new joint venture, the authors of The Painter's Eye: Learning to Look at Contemporary American Art (1991) focus their attention on one of America's better-known contemporary artists. References to Close's wife and daughters, his learning disability, and the paralysis that put him in a wheelchair are here, but this is not a strictly chronological catalog of the specifics of his life; rather, it is a sketchy, somewhat uneven profile, but one that is full of energy and spirit, thanks in part to the inclusion of Close's own words. The real focus seems to be the artist's work (he's best known for his gigantic portraits) and what led Close to his particular choices of subject and style. As in the best adult art books, the pages here are slick and shiny, and the reproductions are excellent and intriguingly varied--from a striking detail taken from a self-portrait and a full-page head shot to a thumbnail sequence of photos picturing the artist at work in his studio. Broadening the value of the book for both budding artists and teachers is a brief discussion of portraiture, contributed by the authors. A tantalizing introduction to both the person and the art, this will leave readers eager to find out more; a short bibliography will help them get started.
Copyright© 1998, American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Kirkus Reviews , January 15, 1998
On the heels of John Guare's biography for adult readers, Chuck Close: Life and Work 19881995 (1995)--which covers Close's work since 1988, when a collapsed spinal artery left Close paralyzed below the shoulders--comes a biography from Greenberg and Jordan (The American Eye, 1995, etc.) that profiles the artist's entire life. As a child, art rescued Close from the frustrations of learning disabilities that made school a struggle; he developed ``painstaking discipline'' that helped him paint later in life, even when physical disabilities threatened to end his career. As in their other collaborations, the authors meld the artist's biography with their readings of his art. Close's feelings for his friends are conveyed through his gargantuan portraits of them and his multiple interpretations of their photographs. Full-color illustrations show both finished works, and the processes through which they are made, including scenes of Close on the forklift he uses to move around the canvas. In closing with a chapter on the history of portraiture that compares Close's works to those of other painters, the volume captures both the originality of Close's artwork, and the steady gifts of its creator. (glossary, bibliography) (Biography. 14+) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

12.   Holt, Kimberly Willis. My Louisiana Sky

From Kirkus Reviews , May 1, 1998
In her first YA novel, Holt gives a fresh theme sensitive and deliberate treatment: The bright child of ``slow'' parents comes to terms with her family's place in the community. Tiger Ann Parker is smart; she's gotten straight A's and won the spelling bee five years in a row. People in her rural 1950s Louisiana community can't figure out where she got her brains, because everyone knows that her parents, are mentally challenged. Her mother has the capabilities of a six-year-old, while her father, a good steady worker at the nursery down the road, can't manage writing or simple math. Tiger loves her parents, but as she enters middle school she becomes increasingly aware that she's socially ostracized by her classmates; her affection for her family becomes mixed with shame and anger at their differences. When Tiger's loving grandmother, who has always run the household, has a fatal heart attack, Tiger is invited to live with her glamorous Aunt Doreen in Baton Rouge. Tempted to move away and reinvent herself, Tiger ultimately comes to appreciate her parents' strengths and her own as well. Tiger, with her warring feelings, is a believable and likable narrator, and while the offerings of big-city living are too patly rejected, a well-developed setting and fully-realized characters make this an unusually strong coming-of-age story. (Fiction. 10-14) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved

13.   McDonald, Joyce. Swallowing Stones

From Kirkus Reviews , July 1, 1997
The best day of Michael Mackenzie's life becomes the worst when the bullet he exuberantly fires into the air during his 17th birthday party comes down a mile away and kills a man. When he hears the story on the radio, the news hits him like a lightning bolt. Numbly following the advice of his best friend, Joe, he buries the rifle and tries, without much success, to get on with life. So does the victim's 15-year-old daughter, Jenna, who had been present when the bullet struck. Switching between Michael's point-of-view and Jenna's, McDonald (Comfort Creek, 1996) sends the two teenagers dancing slowly toward each other, using mutual acquaintances, chance meetings at parties and the community pool, and glimpses at a distance. Both go through parallel phases of denial, both are tortured by remorse, exhibit behavior changes, and experience strange dreams; both eventually find ways to ease their grief and guilt. When the police close in, Joe takes the blame, giving Michael the nerve to confess. In the final chapter, McDonald shifts to present tense and brings Michael and Jenna to a cathartic meeting under a huge sycamore said in local Lenape legend to be a place of healing--an elaborate and, considering the suburban setting and familiar contemporary characters, awkward graft in this deliberately paced but deeply felt drama. (Fiction. 11-13) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

14.   Pullman, Philip. The Golden Compass

From Booklist , March 1, 1996
Gr. 7^-12. In the first of a planned trilogy, Pullman has created a wholly developed universe, which is, as he states, much like our own but different in many ways--a world in which humans are paired with animal "daemons" that seem like alter egos, only with personalities of their own. The story begins at Jordan College in Oxford, where young Lyra Belacqua and her daemon, Pantalaimon, are being reared and educated by the Scholars. Although a lackluster student, Lyra possesses an inordinate curiosity and sense of adventure, which lead her into forbidden territory on the night her uncle, Lord Asriel, visits. He's there to solicit funds for a return journey to the distant arctic wastes, where he has observed and photographed strange goings-on, including a mysterious phenomenon called Dust that streams from the sky and a dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora, or Northern Lights, that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. After he leaves, Lyra finds herself placed in the charge of the mysterious Mrs. Coulter and in possession of a rare compasslike device that can answer questions if she learns how to read it. Already shocked by the disappearance of her best friend, Lyra discovers Mrs. Coulter's connection with the dreaded children-stealing Gobblers and runs away, joining a group of gyptians bound for the North to rescue missing children. Lyra has also learned that her uncle is being held prisoner in the North, guarded by formidable armored bears. Filled with fast-paced action, the plot involves a secret scientific facility, where children are being severed from their daemons; warring factions; witch clans; an outcast armored bear, who bonds with Lyra; and more. It becomes evident that the future of the world and its inhabitants is in the hands of the ever-more-resilient and dedicated Lyra. A totally involving, intricately plotted fantasy that will leave readers clamoring for the sequels. Sally Estes
Copyright© 1996, American Library Association. All rights reserved

15.   Sachar, Louis. Holes

From Amazon.com
"If you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy." Such is the reigning philosophy at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention facility where there is no lake, and there are no happy campers. In place of what used to be "the largest lake in Texas" is now a dry, flat, sunburned wasteland, pocked with countless identical holes dug by boys improving their character. Stanley Yelnats, of palindromic name and ill-fated pedigree, has landed at Camp Green Lake because it seemed a better option than jail. No matter that his conviction was all a case of mistaken identity, the Yelnats family has become accustomed to a long history of bad luck, thanks to their "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather!" Despite his innocence, Stanley is quickly enmeshed in the Camp Green Lake routine: rising before dawn to dig a hole five feet deep and five feet in diameter; learning how to get along with the Lord of the Flies-styled pack of boys in Group D; and fearing the warden, who paints her fingernails with rattlesnake venom. But when Stanley realizes that the boys may not just be digging to build character--that in fact the warden is seeking something specific--the plot gets as thick as the irony.

It's a strange story, but strangely compelling and lovely too. Louis Sachar uses poker-faced understatement to create a bizarre but believable landscape--a place where Major Major Major Major of Catch-22 would feel right at home. But while there is humor and absurdity here, there is also a deep understanding of friendship and a searing compassion for society's underdogs. As Stanley unknowingly begins to fulfill his destiny--the dual plots coming together to reveal that fate has big plans in store--we can't help but cheer for the good guys, and all the Yelnats everywhere. (Ages 10 and older) --Brangien Davis

16.   Shusterman, Neal. Dark Side of Nowhere: A Novel

From Booklist , April 1, 1997
Gr. 6^-9. Describing his hometown in the book's first chapter, 14-year-old narrator Jason says, "If boredom was a living, breathing thing, then its less interesting cousin would live in Billington." Of course, that's the first chapter, before Jason discovers that his parents are aliens, his schoolmates are secretly in training to fire strange and deadly weapons, his friend Jason didn't die of appendicitis but has been transformed into an otherworldly being, and strangest of all, that beautiful Paula, star pitcher for the baseball team, loves him. Shusterman tells a fast-paced story, giving Jason many vivid, original turns of phrase, letting the plot get weird enough to keep readers enthralled, then coming back to the human emotions at the heart of it all. The ending is less satisfying than the rest of the novel, but Jason's convincing voice carries throughout. A good choice for booktalks. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright© 1997, American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Kirkus Reviews , March 15, 1997
Shusterman (Scorpion Shards, 1995, etc.) delivers a tense thriller that doesn't duck larger issues, with echoes of the Nazi youth movement and The Wave. After Jason's friend, Ethan, reportedly dies of a burst appendix, the web of lies that has wrapped his humdrum existence in a small town begins to unravel. Jason discovers that his parents--and the parents of all his friends--were part of the advance force of an alien invasion, and that none of them--nor their offspring--are human. Now, nearly forgotten while Jason's generation grew to adolescence, the invasion force is coming, and the children are in training at the front line, while their parents scatter around the globe to prepare for the first strike. Simultaneously, the teenagers have started to metamorphose into their true alien forms; Ethan, alive after all, has already gone through the change. At first swept up in excitement, Jason begins to wonder if he really wants the invasion to succeed. Shusterman seamlessly combines gritty, heart-stopping plotting with a wealth of complex issues; this book is a natural in and out of the classroom. Jason's ultimate decision--to remain human at heart if not in form--is one with reverberations that both sophisticated and reluctant readers will want to ponder. (Fiction. 12+) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

17.   Skurzynski, Gloria. Virtual War

From Booklist , August 19, 1997
Gr. 6^-9. Diseases (the in-the-news ones such as Ebola, Hanta, and flesh-eating viruses) have wiped out most of the earth's population. Fourteen-year-old Corgan, created through genetic engineering and raised with scrupulous care, is the pride of the Council. With his exquisite sense of timing and superb physical skills, he will be one of the team of three representing the Western Hemisphere Federation in a virtual war. It is not until he meets his two teammates, a 10-year-old mutant genius and a girl his own age with brilliant decoding capabilities, that it occurs to him to question anything about his life and the choices that have been made for him. Once the requisite futuristic explanations are gotten out of the way, the story builds to a searing conclusion as Corgan must confront the gruesome spectacle of war, which Skurzynski makes vividly real, and as he faces questions of honor, duty, and purpose. Susan Dove Lempke
Copyright© 1997, American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Kirkus Reviews , May 15, 1997
Members of the Nintendo generation gain a new perspective on electronic aggression in this taut, chilling, and finely crafted novel from Skurzynski (Cyberstorm, 1995, etc.). By the year 2080, plague and nuclear war have driven the two million surviving members of the human race into a handful of domed cities, where they eat synthetic food, sleep in cramped dormitories, and wait for the world to become livable again. A few, like Corgan and Sharla, however, are pampered. Both 14, they have been genetically bred to fight in a virtual war waged among the world's superpowers: The winner will take possession of the Hiva Islands, which have become fit for human habitation. In her depiction of a society that prefers virtual reality to the real thing, Skurzynski plays a nice riff on appearance and reality: Although Corgan's team members appear fit and healthy in the virtual realm, he secretly meets them in person and discovers that the third member, Brig, is actually a crippled mutant. This discovery prompts the three of them to explore the city and discover how its genetic mutants are treated. While Corgan's team eventually wins the war, only Corgan opts to live and work on the Hiva Islands; Sharla and Brig decide to remain behind and help those less fortunate than themselves. It's an engaging, frightening realm that readers won't soon forget. (Fiction. 10-14) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

18.   Soto, Gary. Buried Onions

From Amazon.com
Eddie can always smell onions in the air--the sharp bitter odor of hopelessness and anger that haunts the poor side of Fresno. "I had a theory about those vapors, which were not released by the sun's heat but by a huge onion buried under the city. This onion made us cry. Tears leapt from our eyelashes and stained our faces." Eddie tries to escape from the poverty and gang society that surrounds him by taking vocational classes and staying away from his old "cholos," (gang friends). But when his cousin is killed, his aunt urges him to seek out and punish the murderer. To avoid the pressure building in his neighborhood, Eddie takes a landscaping job in an affluent suburb. But this too goes awry when his boss's truck is stolen while in his care. In the end, with his money gone and a dangerous gang member stalking him, Eddie's only choice is to join the military and hope that they can give him a better future than the one Fresno seems to offer.

There is no tidy closure--certainly no happy ending--to this bleak novel. But that is exactly what gives Buried Onions its strong, acidic flavor. Teens with a low tolerance for any type of pretense will appreciate Gary Soto's honesty in not trying to force a fairy-tale ending. In spare but always striking prose, Soto has written an unrelentingly grim story that teens will savor because it rings true. (Ages 13 and older) --Jennifer Hubert -

From Kirkus Reviews , August 1, 1997
Eddie, a young Mexican-American scraping by in the mean streets of Fresno, California, counts four dead relatives and one dead friend in the opening, in-your-face lines of this new novel from Soto (Snapshots from the Wedding, p. 228, etc.). In bleak sentences of whispered beauty, Eddie tells how he dropped out of vocational college and is attempting to get by with odd jobs. His aunt and friends want him to avenge the recent murder of his cousin, but Eddie just wants to find a way out. Everything he tries turns soura stint doing yard work ends when his boss's truck is stolen on Eddie's watchand life is a daily battle for survival. This unrelenting portrait is unsparing in squalid details: The glue sniffers, gangs, bums, casual knifings, filth, and stench are in the forefront of a life without much hope``Laundry wept from the lines, the faded flags of poor, ignorant, unemployable people.'' Soto plays the tale straightthe only sign of a ``happy'' ending is in Eddie's joining the Navy. The result is a sort of Fresno Salaam Bombay without the pockets of humanity that gave the original its charm. A valuable tale, it's one that makes no concessions. (glossary) (Fiction. 12-14) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. 

19.   Tillage, Leon Walter. Leon's Story

From Parents' Choice
Distilled from taped interviews, Leon's autobiographical story is a moving account of an African American growing up in the segregated south. Leon Tillage grew up on a farm outside of Raleigh, North Carolina as the second of a sharecroppers nine children. Living through injustices - some that are horrifying - that would deeply embitter most people, Leon nevertheless speaks with an unruffled calm and dignity that was forged in the fire. A scary, riveting oral history. A Parents' Choice Gold Award.

From Kirkus Reviews , October 15, 1997
Tillage, a black custodian in a Baltimore private school, reminisces about his childhood as a sharecropper's son in the South, and his youth as a civil-rights protester. He explains the mechanics of sharecropping and segregation, tells of his mistreatment and his father's murder at the hands of white teenagers out to ``have some fun,'' and relates his experiences with police dogs, fire hoses, and jail while following Martin Luther King's ideas of nonviolent protest. Tillage matter-of-factly recounts horrific events, using spare language that is laced with remarkable wisdom, compassion, and optimism. Such gentleness only gives his story more power, as he drives home the harder realities of his childhood. Although the collage illustrations are interesting, they are too moody and remote for the human spirit behind the words, and readers will regret Roth's decision--especially in light of the boy smiling so brightly on the cover--that ``even one photo would be too many for Leon Walter Tillage's words.'' (Memoir. 8-14) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

20.   Tomlinson, Theresa. The Forestwife

From Booklist , March 1, 1995
Gr. 8-12. Using the Robin Hood legends as a springboard, Tomlinson heads deep into the heart of the forest; however, the hero of this story is not the prince of thieves, but Marian, who becomes the benevolent Green Lady of the forest. Rather than marry an elderly widower who stinks of ale, 15-year-old Marian runs away to join the forest folk, who live by their own rules. Among them is her former nurse, Agnes, whose common sense and prowess at healing have earned her the mantle of Forestwife--the wise woman people come to when they are in dire need. Agnes is also the mother of a young outlaw named Robert, whom Marian dislikes at first sight. Several recent novels, Frances Temple's The Ramsay Scallop (Booklist Books for Youth Top of the List 1994) and Karen Cushman's Catherine, Called Birdie (Books for Youth Editors' Choice 1994), offer a view of the Middle Ages from the female perspective, but Tomlinson adds a dimension by primarily populating her world with women characters, including a band of renegade nuns. Cleverly, yet subtly, the author marks the extra burdens that women had to bear in a society that was fair to few of its subjects. But this is a very personal story as well, and a voyage of discovery for Marian, who finds the mother she thought was dead and a true love in Robert. In an ending that's underplayed, Marian must forfeit her wished-for role of wife to Robert for the role of Forestwife when Agnes dies. A rich, vibrant tale with an afterword that describes how various legends were braided into the story. Ilene Cooper
Copyright© 1995, American Library Association. All rights reserved 

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