Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

In this gripping novel in verse, Hopkins tells what happens to three suicidal teenagers who meet in a clinic for “troubled youth” in Nevada.  First there’s Conner, who seems to have the perfect life if you don’t look too closely.  He lives in a mansion in an exclusive part of town and is very popular at school. Along with this, however, he has parents with impossibly high expectations who are always comparing him to his “perfect” twin sister Cara.  Then we meet Tony, a street kid who’s been in the juvenile detention system since he was a young child, but readers won’t learn why until much later in the book.  We just find out that he’s gay and been a prostitute on and off just to survive.  Lastly is Vanessa, the beautiful girl with a secret so dark the only way she believes she can relieve her pain is by cutting herself.  These three patients slowly become friends as they find they have more and more in common with each other.  Sharing their pasts is excruciating, but carefully they reveal their darkest mysteries to each other, learning to trust and love in the process.

This book is full of bleak topics: sexual abuse, self-mutilation, drug abuse, parental neglect, mental illness and suicide. Like all of Hopkins’ books, the author has done her research, and presents her characters in a realistic, if depressing fashion.  I found this book engaging, yet sad.  It didn’t really matter that I read it after I read Perfect, as there was only one character in common.  I would highly recommend this to teen readers who like realistic fiction and fans of Hopkins’ other titles.

Click HERE to see the review of the companion novel Perfect.

 

Hush by Eishes Chayil

Hush by Eishes Chayil

This fascinating book gives readers an inside look at the sheltered ultra-orthodox Jewish community living in Brooklyn, New York.  Gittel is a seventeen-year-old girl, about to graduate high school and be matched up with her future husband by a local matchmaker, or ” shadchen” as they are known within the Community.  She will probably ending up teaching to support her family while her husband spends his days studying the Torah.  As long as she add lots of children to this equation, she will be considered a righteous woman and a success in her community.  The rules in her insulated Orthodox community have been the same for hundreds of years, developed originally in the shetels of Poland.  Nothing ever changes, and the modern world is viewed as evil and unseemly.  The beginning of the book explains Gittel’s Chassidic culture and lifestyle for readers, many of whom will be unfamiliar with it.

Her story is told in alternating voices: the ten-year-old child who witnesses a horrifying tragedy,  and the young woman at seventeen about to be married.  When the book begins, the reader meets Devory, Gittel’s best friend.  The girls were born on the same day in the same hospital and are more like sisters than friends.  During a sleepover when they are 10, Gittel sees Devory’s older brother climb in her bed and push on her under the covers.  Although the naive Gittel doesn’t really know what she’s witnessed, Devory’s behavior become more and more disruptive over the next few weeks until she finally breaks and commits a her last desperate act.

Because of what she saw, Gittel is convinced that she somehow caused her best friend’s eventual suicide.  No one will listen to her when she tries to tell what she saw Devory’ brother do; sexual abuse simply does not exist in their community, especially if it is never even acknowledged.  In the second half of the book, the married Gittel tries to bring the crime to light, but can’t get anyone in the Orthodox community to listen to her or bring the issue out in the open.  Readers’ hearts will wrench as they watch her inner struggle and growth as she learns that she has to listen to her own heart if she is to survive emotionally.

Even though this was a difficult book to read, I adored it.  Although I am familiar with the Orthodox Jewish community and admire it in many ways, I found Gittel’s life fascinating, a true glimpse into a world not many of us see first hand.  I recommend this title to readers interested in stories about growing up and readers interested in stories about sexual abuse.  Readers of Push and A Child Called It will be engaged in this powerful story.

Scars by Cheryl Rainfield

Scars by Cheryl Rainfield

For me, this story of a young teen’s sexual abuse and self-harming (cutting) behavior was mesmerizing.  It’s told in the first person perspective by high school freshman Kendra.  The readers learn in the first few pages that Kendra has been abused, can’t remember who her abuser is, thinks he is currently stalking her, and has a therapist to help her cope with all these related issues.  She remembers phrases from what her abuser said, like, “I will kill you if you tell.”  When she hears these things in her mind, or remembers flashes of his hands grabbing her, the only thing that calms Kendra down is when she cuts her self with a utility knife she hides in her room and begins carrying in her backpack.  Although Kendra keeps the scars on her arm a dark secret, her emotions come out in her artwork, which is strong, violent and emotional.  Although her mother only criticizes her art, their close family friend Sandy supports her and tells her how talented she is.  In fact, he helps her show and sell some of her paintings in a local coffee house when her parents tell her they can no longer afford her therapist Carolyn.  Frighteningly, Kendra is remembering more and more of her abuse, and getting closer to identifying the abuser.  At the same time, this means she’s cutting herself more and more.

This book and the main character captured my heart.  It turns out that the author suffered through a similar situation, and the readers can feel the emotions bleeding through the pages.  I recommend this to readers  who like realistic teen fiction, teens who are drawn to titles about emotional problems,  and fans of A Child Called It and similar books.  If you know anyone suffering from sexual abuse like the main character in this book, here’s a hotline recommended by our Teen Health & Wellness database:

Break the Cycle Organization for Teens
The Safe Space
http://www.thesafespace.org

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

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:

Glimpse

Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams

Even though Hope and Lizzie were a year apart in age, they had been best friends ever since they could remember. When little sister Hope walks in on Lizzie, fourteen years old, about to shoot herself with a shotgun, her heart  “pounds so much that it hurts.”

“She fingers the

trigger.

Looks up.

My sister.

My sister just looks

up at me.

Touching

the trigger

of that gun.”

Hope can’t understand what could be so terrible that her Lizzie would want to end her life.  She goes back to beginning to start her story, when their father was killed on his motorcycle while out getting medicine. The readers see glimpses of the past, while living in the difficult present time with Hope.  Lizzie is put in a mental hospital for treatment, and Hope must contend with their abusive mother alone, an unscrupulous and exploitative woman who turned to prostitution years ago as means to support her daughters.  The mental hospital’s psychiatrist believes something has happened recently to change Lizzie’s behavior, and the reader learns along with Hope what has happened with Lizzie and how she can “save” her.

I highly recommend this book to fans of realistic teen fiction and  fans of Ellen Hopkins.  You will find it hard to put down once you get started!

Bait

Bait by Alex Sanchez

Fans of Alex Sanchez’s books (Rainbow High series and others) will not be disappointed with his newest title.  Imagine that you have an out of control temper that is about to land you in Juvie, and that no matter what you do, certain comments just make you see red and you can’t control your fists.  This is what Diego MacMann is going through and nothing seems to help.  He has good grades and should have a bright future, but he is so miserable, he even hurts himself to try to dull the pain.  He carries a terrible secret so deep within himself, that he’s put himself in a prison according to his Probation Officer, Mr. Vidas.  But surprisingly, the two bond, and the reasons for Diego’s self-hatred slowly come to light.

I loved this book!  What I especially appreciated about it was that it didn’t focus so much on the issues from Diego’s past, but his journey towards making sense of his past and healing himself so he could live a whole life.  I would especially recommend this for fans of David Pelzer’s A Child Called It and Margaret Peterson Haddix’s  Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey.

Push

Push by Sapphire

Push is such a great book; just in case you haven’t read it, I will tell you a little about it.  This book is about a young lady named  Claireece Precious Jones, and she goes by Precious.  She was just 12 when she had her first child;  she had her baby by her own father who used to molest her every night.  Her mother, was obese, and she used to beat Precious and call her names like fat, slut, and whore. Precious was also illiterate; she couldn’t read or write.  Because she was 16 and going on her next child by her father again, she decided to get into an alternative school so she could learn new things and teach her unborn baby things her mother and father never taught  her. Her mother disagreed with this plan and wanted her to stay home and collect welfare.

Towards the end of the book Precious has her second baby at age 16, learns some difficult news about her health, and makes some big decisions about how she wants to live her life.

I would rate this book as 10 because its touching and moving.  I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading it from my description.

Destiny class of 2010

Candor

Candor by Pam Bachorz

I like the concept for this book.  In a “perfect” town in Florida, everyone listens to subliminal messages that makes them “model”  people.  This is especially important for the children and teens, as this community tends to attract families with troubled kids who are guaranteed that their offspring will transform into perfect Candor children within a few weeks.  The messages are concepts like:

Academics are the key to success

Never waste our natural resources

Healthy breakfasts make for smart minds

Although the messages might seem harmless, they completely control everyone in the town; in fact, they become physically addicted to them although most people don’t know that.  But Oscar Banks is different.  While he might seem like the ideal Candor high school student, he can “hear” and tune out the messages, and has an illegal business where he sneaks the richest kids out of town before they become Candor zombies.  What’s especially ironic is that Oscar’s father is the one who designed the city, runs the place, and creates and sends out all the messages.  When Oscar falls for the newest girl in school, he wants to save Nia from becoming like everyone else, but can’t face the fact of helping her escape and having to live without her.  What’s a boy to do?

I like this book, but was expecting to love it  based on all the reviews and librarian comments I had read.  The story is engaging, just not as exciting as I had anticipated.  I DID love the ending; it was unexpected and the author didn’t take the easy way out.