Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach

Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach

Sixteen-year-old Felton can’t figure out what’s going on with his body.  He can never get enough to eat, and yet never feels full.  He’s sprouting hair in places he’d rather not even think about. And, he’s outgrowing his clothes so fast he doesn’t have any jeans that are even close to long enough.  To add to all this, suddenly he can run “stupid fast,” and the track and football team coaches are eyeing him to try out.  Due to his crazy meditation attempts in his younger days, he’s been known as Squirrel Nut since elementary school.  But things might be changing as the jocks start to find his ability to run “fast like a donkey” valuable to their teams.

His home life isn’t much calmer; his mom can only be called a retrograde hippie.    When he was only five, Felton found his dad’s dead body hanging by one of the beams in the garage.  Although Felton and his younger brother barely remember their professor father, their mom has burned all his belongings in an effort to start fresh.  Partly due to his strange family, Felton has been bullied by the other students and only has one good friend Gus, who is gone for the summer.  Now that Felton has to take over Gus’ newpaper delivery route, he sees a beautiful girl his age playing piano at the crack of dawn as he makes his paper deliveries.  And she doesn’t know he’s viewed as smelly, hairy squirrel nut by the kids at school;  and their romance begins.

This book surprised me by being so readable.  I know young men will love it because it speaks to sports and all the physical and mental changes boys go through as they become men.  I think girls will also enjoy it’s exploration of growing up differently from the rest of the crowd.  I highly recommend this book to all teen readers as a fast and engaging read.

I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter

I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter

Cammie, a sophomore at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, narrates this story of her adventures at school, which secretly trains girls to be spies.  The outside world, including the local town of Roseville, Virginia, believes the girls are all rich and spoiled snobs. As part of their training, they learn multiple languages, intensive world history, cultures, assimilation techniques and covert operations. On a practice operation in town, Cammie realizes a local boy sees her, even though she’s known as Cammie the Chameleon because of her skill at hiding in plain sight. When he starts paying attention to her, Cammie struggles between building a relationship with him and concealing her true identity. I loved the way Ally Carter made this story funny and seem like it could almost be true. This title is the first of five in the series, and I can’t wait to read the rest of them!

Reviewed by Ms. Goldstein-Erickson

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

When Valerie’s boyfriend brings a gun into the high school Commons, he kills six people and injures a number of others.  In fact, he shoots Val in the leg as she’s trying to get him to stop his rampage.  Although she had no idea what Nick had planned, the students he targeted were people on the hate list Nick and Valerie wrote together, including all the students who had bullied them, and even people (like their parents) who had simply gotten on their nerves.  Valerie saw it as a way to express her frustration with being called Sister Death by her classmates, and her sadness about her parents’ constant bickering.  It never occurred to her that Nick’s talk of death,  wanting to be like Romeo and Juliet and maybe “leaving it all behind” had even an ounce of seriousness behind it.

Even though Valerie helped bring the shooting to an end, saved one girl by standing in front of her in the process and was injured herself, it seemed like the whole town blamed her for what happened.  Even when the police investigation cleared her, her own parents were still afraid of who she was and what she might do next.

Val’s pain and guilt throughout the book are easy for the readers to feel, making this a compelling read.  Even though it’s a little over 400 pages, I found it difficult to put down and finished it in just a few days.  I highly recommend it to all teen readers who like realistic fiction.  I think fans of Ellen Hopkins and Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why will devour this book.

Here’s a book trailer you can see from home:

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

This engaging teen romance is the perfect book to read in the spring, as the pink blooms start opening on Shattuck Avenue here in Berkeley.  I found it totally fun and a perfect escape from all the “deep” realistic fiction I’ve been reading lately.  It takes place in the world’s most romantic city, Paris.  Anna’s been sent there to boarding school for her senior year by her father, who’s become rich writing “these novels set in a Small Town Georgia about folks with Good American Values who Fall in Love and then contract Life-Threatening Diseases and die.”   The last thing Anna wants to do is leave Atlanta, her best friend Bridgette and the hottie she works with at the local multiplex movie theater.  Imagine being forced to spend a year in Paris?

But then she meets Etienne St. Clair, who’s half British but raised by his mother in San Francisco.  He is smart, gorgeous and charismatic; but he has a long-time girlfriend named Ellie who attends the nearby Parsons art college.  Still, as the year goes by, the two become best friends, although Anna can’t deny the way she feels as she sits next to him in the dark cinema watching her favorite classic movies.

This book was a joy to read–light, funny and full of anticipation about what would happen next between Anna and Etienne.  I woudl definitely recommend it to all teen girls looking for a fun, escapist romance.  Fans of Sarah Dessen and Deb Caletti will not be disappointed.

By the way, you can search the subject heading Love Stories to find over 100 teen romances in our online catalog.

Perfect by Ellen Hopkins

Perfect by Ellen Hopkins

I haven’t read any Ellen Hopkins titles for awhile, and I forgot how emotionally wrenching they can be.  This one was certainly no exception in terms of teenagers trying to make their way in a hostile world.  Like she often does, the writer uses free verse poetry to tell four different yet overlapping stories in alternating chapters .  Cara is coping with the suicide of her twin brother Conner, who finally cracked under their parents’ unreasonable expectations for their perfect off-spring.  For Kendra, being perfect means having the perfect figure and face, even if it requires anorexia and plastic surgery.  Sean want to have the perfect future, which in his mind includes an athletic scholarship to Stanford and Cara as his girlfriend. Andre’s parents are high achievers, a plastic surgeon and an investment banker, and expect him to follow in their footsteps, even though dancing is what makes his heart sing. Here’s how we meet Andre Marcus Kane III:

“Don’t Get Me Wrong

I do understand my parents wanting only

the best for me.

Am one hundred percent tuned to the concept

that life is a hell of a lot more enjoyable

with a fast-flowing

stream of money carrying you along.

I like driving a pricey car, wearing

clothes that feel

like they want to be next to my skin.

I love not having to be a living, breathing

stereotype because

of my color.  Anytime I happen to think

about it, I am grateful to my grandparents

for their vision.  Grateful

to my mom for her smarts, to my dad

for his bald ambition and yes, greed.

Not to mention

his real intuition.  But I’m sick of being

pushed to follow in his footsteps.  Real

estate speculation?

Investment banking?  Neither interests me.

Too much at risk, and when you lose,

you lose major.

I much prefer winning, even if it’s winning

small.  I think more like my grandfather.

Andre Marcus Kane Sr.

Embraced the color of his skin, refused

to let it straightjacket him.  He grew up in

the urban California

nightmare called Oakland, with its rutted

asphalt and crumbling cement and frozen

dreams, all within

sight of sprawling hillside mansions.

I’d look up at those houses, he told

me more than once,

and think to myself, no reason why

that can’t be me, living up there.  No

reason why at all, except

getting sucked into the swamp.”

I loved this book, in fact, it’s one of my favorites from fall 2011.  I think all teens can identify with the issues these four struggle with, even though the characters’ problems are taken to pretty extreme lengths.  I recommend this to all young adult readers, with a  special shout out the the Berkeley High Ellen Hopkins fans!  By the way, this is the companion novel to Hopkins’ earlier title Impulse.

Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers

 Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers

Imagine your life is so busy that you and your mother leave notes for each other on the refrigerator as your main method of communication. Fifteen year old Claire’s mother is a doctor, and often home late or out early on call. Between school, her friends and her blossoming social life, Claire finds that she is not home often when her mother is. When Claire’s mother is diagnosed with cancer, they find more time to be together, but still use the notes as a way of saying things too hard to do face to face.  This book is a fast read, but talks about important issues we all face. I felt like I really got to know Claire and her mom, and cared about what happened to them.

Reviewed by Mrs. Goldstein-Erickson

The Unidentified by Rae Mariz

The Unidentified by Rae Mariz

Taking our corporate culture to a frightening conclusion, this book’s protagonist Kid goes to high school in a converted shopping mall.  There are no teachers, but the students learn by playing various games and moving up through the levels.  They each have an “intouch” device, which is like an super iPhone, that keeps track of everything they do and everywhere they go in “The Game,” as school is now called.  Social networking is also constant, with the kids always aware of the what the people the “follow” are doing, wearing, eating, playing, etc.  The whole time, corporate sponsors are watching the teenagers, developing new products and signing them to endorsement contracts, the ultimate prize for many of them.  Kid knows something is off about this whole system,but it’s not like she has any choice in the matter.  The plot gets really interesting when a fringe group calling themselves the Unidentified host an anti-corporation prank, that captures Kid’s attention.  While trying to figure out who they are and what they believe in, she is noticed by one of the larger corporations and “branded,” becoming a trendspotter for their development team.  The story also involves a love triangle, but that is almost an aside,taking the back seat to the themes of loss of identity, corporate influence and loss of privacy.

I recommend this book to readers who like dystopias, social networking, futuristic stories and science fiction.  It’s a fast read and certainly reflects the directions our culture seems to be taking.

Here’s a video book trailer you can watch from home:

Accomplice by Eirann Corrigan

Accomplice by Eirann Corrigan

Determined to make themselves stand out in the hyper-competitive college application process, high school juniors Finn and Chloe concoct a scheme to stage Chloe’s disappearance. She’ll be hiding in Finn’s grandma’s basement for about two weeks, then Finn will stage a rescue and they’ll both be media darlings.  At least this is their plan…  Of course, things rarely go as smoothly as we hope, even though the two best friends think they have planned for any kind of complications.  Finn is the one who has to face CNN, her friends and the community, keeping a straight face all the while acting bereaved about Chloe.  As Finn’s lies become more overwhelming, she finds herself isolated from everyone, even Chloe during her occasional visits to her in the basement.  Then Chloe’s friend Dean is accused of the kidnapping, and only the two girls know the real truth.  Readers will begin asking themselves if even the truth can save the situation Finn finds herself in after Chloe’s “rescue.”

What I enjoyed about this book was that is was told in the first person perspective from Finn’s point of view.  We feel all her tension, guilt and anxiety as the situation gets nearly intolerable for her.  The writer does an amazing job of depicting these two girls, who even though they are best friends, are very different emotionally.  The end has a small twist, which left me haunted for days.

I recommend this book to readers looking for a suspense novel or a realistic teen title.

Teenie by Christopher Grant

Teenie by Christopher Grant

Martine, known as Teenie to her friends and family, has been a hardworking student for as long as anyone can remember.  As a freshman at the technical high school in Brooklyn, she’s hoping to win a scholarship to pay for her to study in Spain for part of the next school year.  Her best friend since forever, Cherise, isn’t such a stellar student, but she’s much more socially adept, so she and Teenie complement each other perfectly.  When Cherise convinces Teenie to wear a body-hugging outfit forbidden by her strict Caribbean parents, the book smart girl starts getting attention from the star of the basketball team.  At the same time,Cherise has been having an online romance with a sugar daddy who keeps sending her gifts and now wants to meet her at Penn Station.  Teenie is sure this is some guy is some type of pervert stalker, and finally tells her father about the meeting.  When he interrupts the rendezvous with the sugar daddy who is indeed old enough to be their dad, Cherise disowns Teenie for her meddling.  Now, Cherise isn’t around to give Teenie advice when her basketball star crush starts asking for favors she doesn’t understand.

I really enjoyed this book, the writer’s first.  Grant’s main characters are fleshed out and his dialogue realistic, making the story engaging and fun.  I also liked Teenie’s strong sense of family with her parents and older twin brothers.  Grant contrasts this nicely with Cherise’s mom, who spends most of her time with her boyfriends, neglecting her daughter.

I recommend this book to all teen readers, especially fans of urban drama.  I promise that you will get caught up in Teenie’s problems, which are so typical for today’s teens.

The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci

The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci

Christopher Creed was the kid at school that everyone knew, that everyone disliked, that everyone made fun of.  But that didn’t stop him from always  tagging along, irritating people, and just being weird. In fact, he was so annoying that he was beaten up all the time.   In fact, everyone had an  “I beat up Chris Creed” story or two to tell.  That’s just the way it was. Until Chris disappeared.  When he vanished without a trace there were lots of rumors:  he ran away from home, or he killed himself, or he was getting revenge, or someone killed him.  What does turn out to be true is that he sent the principal an e-mail before he disappeared, stating that he knew no one liked him, and that he would make it easy for everyone and simply remove himself from their lives.  It almost sounded like, a suicide note, but there was no body.

Torey Adams is one of the boys who picked on Christopher story, but readers quickly learn that he had nothing to do with the disappearance.  He doesn’t believe that Chris was murdered, so decides to do a little investigating on his own.  He’s joined in his search by Ali, Torey’s childhood friend who is also Chris’s neighbor, and Ali’s boyfriend, Bo, a “boon” (shorthand for boondocks) with a juvenile record.  Some clues the teens discover are that Chris’s mother completely controlled her son’s life, that Chris created a fantasy world in his diary, and that Chris actually envied  Torey.  The more Torey finds out about Chris, the more convinced he becomes that Chris didn’t kill himself, and that he will uncover the facts.

I really liked this book and think it’s a great choice for most high school readers, especially those looking for an engaging mystery.  There are lots of plot twists and turns, guaranteed to keep readers on the edge of their seats.

Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky

Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky

When Susan Tate finds out her seventeen-year-old daughter Lily is pregnant, she is shocked.  When Lily tells her that she got pregnant on purpose, and so did her two best friends, Susan doesn’t know where to turn.  This gripping novel tells the story of a teen pregnancy pact from the perspective of the girls’ mothers, as well as their own.  While Lily, Jessica and Mary Kate thought they were taking their own futures into their hands, they had no thought as to how it would impact their mothers, who are also best friends.  What makes this especially difficult for the small Maine town where the families live is that these are “good girls,” with great grades from good families where were planning to go to college in the fall.  Add to this the fact that Lily’s mom Susan is principal of the local high school the girls all attend, and that she herself was unmarried and pregnant at seventeen.  But wait, there’s also a fourth girl who may be involved, the daughter of one of the town’s founders and owner of the company that supports most of the local economy.

This book keep me up until the wee hours of the morning reading it.  I had to know if Susan kept her job, and if Lily’s baby would be OK.  What I especially liked about this book was that it included the mothers and their feelings in the story.  I think this would be a perfect choice for fans of Jodi Picoult and Sarah Dessen.

This is a repost for those folks who don’t read the blog over the summer.  Since then we’ve also gotten some other books by the author: The Secret Between Us, Twilight Whispers and Looking for Peyton Place.

True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolfe

True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolfe

The narrator of this story, La Vaughn, is someone you just want to be friends with.  Just the way she thinks and talks makes you know she would listen to your problems the way a good friend should.  She tells her own story in such a straightforward and honest way; you feel like you are right there with her.  La Vaughn is determined to go to college, despite the financial obstacles that face her.  Although her father was killed when she was young, her mother has been saving for her college education for what seems like forever.

And on top of all the school pressure she’s been feeling from the advanced science class she got moved to, La Vaughn is also struggling with lots of other big issues: friendship, love, family and religion.  This is the second book in the Make Lemonade series and my favorite of the three.  I recommend it to readers who like books about teenagers making hard decisions, fans of urban drama, and anyone wanting a quick and engaging read.

The Perks of a Wallflower by Stepehn Chbosky

The Perks of a Wallflower by Stepehn Chbosky

This short title has long been a favorite here at Berkeley High. (In fact, I just bought two new copies to replace some falling-apart ones!)  The story’s narrator, Charlie, is a ninth grade student whose best friend committed suicide the previous spring.  As he enters high school, he becomes a loner, the “wallflower” watching and describing what he sees without much emotion.  The book is told in a series of letters Charlie writes to his “dear friend,” although the reader never learns who this is.    He writes honestly and with a a keen sense of observation, describing high school life as he experiences it.  A group of older students adopt Charlie as a friend, and through them he learns about life, both the good and the bad.  His new best friend Patrick is gay, so Charlie discovers what it’s like to live in a homophobic community.  He falls hard for Patrick’s beautiful sister, Sam, and learns about unrequited love.  Charlie has his first date is with the self-involved Mary Elizabeth, but that relationship falls apart badly when he is honest at a party about who he would most like to kiss (Samantha, of course).  Charlie also experiences casual drug and alcohol use, the ritual of the Rocky Horror Picture Show movie, and being mentored by his English teacher, who literally gives the teen his own favorite books to read and talk about later.

Even during my most recent reading, this book captured my interest from the first few pages.  Charlie’s open and naive voice reminds me of myself as a high school freshman, and many of the kids I see these days, even though many of them have a practiced veneer of  “coolness.”   I think teenagers find it easy to identify with Charlie’s emotions and reactions to his new experiences, and this is one of the reasons this book has stayed so popular even though it is over ten years old.  As of February 2011, the book is being made into a movie starring Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief) and Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame.
I recommend this title to all high school readers–it’s a short, fast read that everyone can identify with.

Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

This book didn’t sound that interesting to me, but it surprised me and was actually pretty great.  In fact, once I got into the story, I had a hard time putting it down to get other things done.  It tells about Piper, a funny, smart, sarcastic high school senior who happens to be deaf.  Although she has hearing aids, her hearing is negligible, but when she sees the winners of the local Battle of the Bands contest rocking it on the front steps of the school, she can’t help but join the crowd, and ends up being one of the last ones to leave.  When the egotistical lead singer and Piper get into a battle of the wits, she ends up challenging the band and signing on as its manager.  She has only one month to get Dumb a paying gig!  She calls the members the Five Flavors of Dumb for a good reason: they couldn’t be more different.  If she can manage to get them to listen to her and each other, they might actually be able to make the record demo they won in the contest, and get a real job.  In addition to this fast-paced, music-centered plot, there are threads about Piper’s family accepting her deafness, her quest to afford college now that her parents have spent her college fund on her baby sister’s cochlear implants, and the band’s drummer Ed Chen, who she’s known forever and now suspects he might qualify for more than just a friend.

What I especially liked about the story is the writer’s appreciation for Seattle’s favorite rock sons–Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain.  Piper and the band members learn about each fallen rocker, and begin to envision their own sound and music within the local music scene.  I highly recommend this to all teen readers!

The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

When Alex wakes up naked in a strange boy’s dorm bed, she has absolutely no idea how she ended up there. She gets out of there as quickly as she can, but she can’t understand how she had sex with a stranger, when she didn’t even do that with her ex-boyfriend.  As bits and pieces of the truth start coming back to her, the high school junior realizes she’s had non-consensual sex with Carter, and starts doing her best to avoid him around the small, New England boarding school campus.  But even that doesn’t help because Carter starts bragging about his sexual exploits to all his water polo teammates, painting himself as as irresistible stud.  To add insult to injury, the Themis Academy administration won’t  help Alex–they view their students as perfect and rarely even discipline students since they trust them to behave honorably, and just don’t “see” any other types of behavior.  Alex’s roommate and her older sister Casey encourage her to take her problem to the Mockingbirds, a semi-secret student organization that seeks justice for students through a regimented trial process.  But Alex doesn’t know if she wants to invite the entire school into her personal business.

This book kept me on the edge of my chair!  The story moved along quickly, and I got caught up in Alex’s fears and emotions as she decided to let the Mockingbirds try her date rapist.  I especially liked that the writer stressed that “Silence does not equal consent. . . . The only thing that means yes is yes.”  Writer Whitney also includes a brief afterward where she talks about her own date rape experience during college, and gives a good list of resources for students to use for further information or assistance.  This would be a great title to read after reading Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson.

Here’s a video trailer you can watch from home:

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

I defy anyone to read this book and not absolutely love the main character, Vera Dietz!  Vera goes through school working to be under the radar of the other students as she can, hence the title.  But then her best friend Charlie (who she’s been secretly in love with for years) dies under very mysterious circumstances, and she doesn’t know whether she should mourn him or be happy due to his betrayal of her six months ago.  And his memory actually keeps haunting her in the form of paper-thin ghosts, which the reader isn’t sure if she really sees or not.  In spite of all this, this book is actually hilarious, thanks to Vera’s snarky perspective and King’s great dialogue.  Although Vera is the primary narrator, we also hear from her father in chapters called “A Brief Word from Ken Dietz” and from Charlie from beyond the grave called “A Brief Word from the Dead Kid.”  King makes it easy for readers to follow because even though much of the story is told in flashback, slowly shedding light on Vera and Charlie’s lifelong relationship and his betrayal, she labels the flashback chapters as “History,” which Vera’s age at the time of the chapter.

I have to say that this is by far my favorite book so far this school year.  I found Vera so realistic I couldn’t help but identify with her, as her secrets of life unfolded in front of me.  I highly recommend this book to ALL readers.

Here’s a book trailer you can look at from home:

After by Francine Prose

After by Francine Prose

After is a chilling, terrifying, and powerful story of what happens to normality after tragedy strikes- when the tragedy isn’t your own.   Tom is a sophomore at Central High, one of the “smart jocks” a normal guy at a normal school.  And during math class, that normalcy shatters.   A school the next town over is shot up by angry students, and in the wake of this tragedy, school at Central begins to change.   Metal detectors, no gum, and no red.   At first the students make their compromises, but when those that do not comply begin to vanish, Tom realizes that nothing good can come of sacrificing freedom for safety.   Beautifully written,  After is the kind of book that leaves you thinking hours after the last page is turned.

Written by Naysomay, class of 2011

Buddha Boy by Kathe Koja

Buddha Boy by Kathe Koja

Buddha Boy is a remarkable story of unlikely friendship, art, bullying, and a very real portrayal of anger- the slow anger that boils and churns. Justin didn’t mean to befriend the new kid, Jinsen, a bald “freak” with amazing artistic gifts. But he does, and realizes he doesn’t regret it, even though the friendship carries a price. Justin must choose whether to be silent about what he knows, or to take a stand. Buddha Boy is a beautifully written story, with a voice no one will forget. A must-read for anyone who has been a part of the system – the bully, the bullied, or even, like Justin, the bystander.

Written by Naysomay, class of 2011

Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

This third and final novel in Hopkin’s Crank series brings  the meth-addicted Kristina’s story full circle.  It tells the story of her three eldest children as teenagers: Hunter, Summer and Autumn.  Although they all live separate lives, even being raised in different families, these young adults have all been impacted by their mother’s love affair with the Monster (methamphetamine) and the life path it has led her down.  They are all predisposed to addiction, and deal with anger, trust and self-esteem issues with a variety of levels of success.

From Hunter, age 19 and a college freshman at University of Nevada, Reno:

“I’VE GOT A LITTLE PROBLEM

And I’m not really sure

how to fix it.  Not really sure

I need to.  Not really sure I could.

Life is pretty good.  But once

in awhile, uninvited and

uninitiated, anger invades me.

It starts, a tiny gnaw

at te back of my brain.  Like

a  migraine, except without pain.

They say headaches

blossom, but this isn’t so

much a blooming as a bleeding.

Irritation bleeds into

rage, seethes into fury.

An ulcer, emptying hatred

inside me.  And I don’t

know why.  Life is pretty good.

So, what the hell?”

This was a great story, although very sad at times.  Kristina’s three children that are featured have so many obvious and unexpected issues related to their absent mom and various dads.  The two youngest that she was actually raising herself were no better off as she had basically no parenting skills and was more concerned with herself than her kids.  This book made me realize how so much that parents do affects their children in ways that can never be anticipated.  For me, it brought the story back to where it started, when Kristina was a teen having to make hard decisions about drugs, relationships and family.  Now her own children are having to make these same types of choices.

I would recommend this book to fans of Hopkins, fans of realistic fiction, and readers who like stories told in free verse.

Here’s a pretty good book trailer you can see from home:

Wayback Wednesday – Beastly by Alex Flinn

On Wednesday’s I thought I’d start reposting reviews of older books that our readers might not have read yet.  I thought I’d start with Beastly since this will be coming out as a new movie this coming March.  I’ve included a movie trailer at the bottom.

Beastly by Alex Flinn

For sure, it’s another take on “Beauty and the Beast,” but Flinn brings something new to her story, by making the two main characters teenagers at an exclusive prep school in New York City. Junior Kyle Kingsbury is so superficial and downright mean to his fellow students, that readers won’t be too sad when a goth-looking witch turns him into a werewolf type beast. He slowly transforms into a caring, thoughtful human being with the help of his blind tutor, housekeeper, and Lindy, a scholarship student from his old school. The changes in him and his relationship with Lindy make the book hard to put down, despite the happy ending we all know is coming.

Here’s the movie trailer you can see from home: