No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.

- quote from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Read my review of/article about The Great Gatsby.

View all posts related to F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby at Bildungsroman. (Yes, I call him Fitzy.)

View all posts tagged as Poetry Friday at Bildungsroman.

View the roundup schedule at A Year of Reading.

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A few years ago, my friend Claire asked for a list of YA books which focused on school life. After giving her some recommendations, I typed up this list, and kept adding more and more titles until I had a booklist populated with characters in various grade levels going through all sorts of transitions.

Elementary and middle school:

The Ramona books by Beverly Cleary - Follow Ramona from age 4 to age 10.

Sixth Grade Secrets by Louis Sachar - Classic girls vs. boys story that also encourages honesty and inspires laughter.

Standing for Socks by Elissa Brent Weissman - Entering middle school, and searching for individualism.

... and, of course, The Baby-Sitters Club. Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia and Stacey are in seventh grade when the series begins. After a handful of books, they are promoted to eighth grade, at which time they gain two additional members, Jessi and Mallory, who are sixth graders. The girls stay in middle school for the remainder of the series. The original four girls finally graduated from eighth grade at the end of the final series, Friends Forever.

Between middle school and high school:
Transitioning from middle school to high school can be exciting, scary, difficult, and overwhelming. The following stories include middle school graduations.

Lucky by Rachel Vail (the first in a trilogy about sisters)

Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet by Sherri L. Smith

Freshman year of high school:
I highly recommend all of the titles on this freshman list. They get it, they really do.

The True Meaning of Cleavage by Mariah Fredericks - The separation of two best friends. Highly recommended.

Nothing but the Truth by Avi - This documentary novel chronicles the life of a ninth grade boy whose minor disturbance in class leads to a major media story.

Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar - A fantastic story, a well-written book.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson - School factors heavily into this incredibly memorable story.

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson - In this case, the freshman is the protagonist's younger sister, Hannah.

So Not the Drama by Paula Chase - Four friends navigate the high school hallways. The first in a series.

Perfect Girl by Mary Hogan - A first crush, a worldly aunt, and so much more.

The Comeback Season by Jennifer E. Smith - Grieving and healing, a girl and a boy, alone and together.

Looks by Madeleine George - One of the two main characters is a freshman, the other a sophomore.

A Map of the Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell - A freshman girl, still reeling from the loss of her older brother, must enter high school without him there to help her.

Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas - The only member of her family to escape her father's abuse, a quiet girl enters high school, finds her place on the volleyball court, and finds her voice.

Deep in the Heart of High School by Veronica Goldbach - Three best friends - three very different girls who play different instruments in the school marching band and have totally different families - march through their freshman year of high school.

Boarding school and/or private school - for elementary and middle school readers:

The Ballet School Diaries by Alexandra Moss - This cute and fun series for kids is set at a ballet boarding school in the UK.

Accidentally Fabulous series by Lisa Papademetriou - The fashionable protagonist goes to a private middle school on scholarship.
- Accidentally Fabulous
- Accidentally Famous
- Accidentally Fooled (April 2009)
- Accidentally Friends (July 2009)

Boarding school and/or private school - for teen and adult readers:

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta - Tracing the roots decades-old struggle for power between three types of kids - Jellicoe School (boarding school) students, local Townies, and Cadets from a school in Sydney - and climbing the family tree. Published as On the Jellicoe Road in Australia. Highly recommended.

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta - An all-boys school goes co-ed. Recommended.

Looking for Alaska by John Green - Coming-of-age at a modern-day Alabama boarding school. Highly recommended.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart - A fresh take on secret societies, with a young girl thwarting some smirky boys. A great book set a modern day boarding school. Highly recommended.

Breathless by Jessica Warman - After something happens to her older brother, Katie's parents send her off to boarding school, and she is surprised by how much she loves it there. The book follows her from sophomore year through graduation.

The Poison Apples by Lily Archer - Three girls at boarding school bond over their family situations: each has recently acquired a stepmother. Though it uses the fairy tale metaphor, this book isn't a fantasy, nor is it magical realism. It is realistic fiction, and it is really good. Modern day.

A Great and Terrible Beauty trilogy by Libba Bray - Historical fantasy set in a Victorian girls' boarding school. Incredibly imaginative and intriguing.
- A Great and Terrible Beauty
- Rebel Angels
- The Sweet Far Thing

Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman - Two best friends consider Pride & Prejudice and get involved in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Modern day. Recommended.

Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg - A modern-day retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, set in boarding school.

Headlong by Kathe Koja - When a new girl transfers to The Vaughn School, a private school for girls, a lifelong Vaughn student starts to see her school - and her life - differently.

The Gallagher Girls books by Ally Carter - A top-secret modern-day spy school for girls.

The Love series by Emily Franklin - Love starts going to New England boarding school when her dad becomes the principal. Modern day.

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld - Adult novel. A few decades removed from modern-day.

After high school:

The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour - the summer following high school graduation

Classics:
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Good-Bye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton
Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster

Making it through your first year of college:

The Body of Evidence series by Christopher Golden and Rick Hautala - In the first book, Body Bags, protagonist Jenna Blake is just about to enter college. The first line of the first chapter: "It was a beautiful day to grow up." There are ten books in this series, following Jenna through a good chunk of her college life.

Very LeFreak by Rachel Cohn - An intelligent but technology-addicted young woman has a difficult time balancing school and fun during her freshman year at Columbia University.

Additional stories in which school is a supporting character:

Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters - The main characters start seeing each other before school. Literally.

Innocence by Jane Mendelsohn - Oh, the scenes in the lunchroom! I love this book so much.

Swollen by Melissa Lion - Your perceptions of your classmates may differ from the truth. From their truths. From your truths.

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan - I wish all schools were this open and accepting. I wish all people were this open and accepting.

Follow a girl through elementary school, middle school, and high school in the Alice McKinley books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. The series has over twenty titles. The Agony of Alice was the first book and is set in middle school. The author has since written prequels, making Starting With Alice (third grade) the earliest story on the timeline. The Grooming of Alice describes the summer between her eighth grade and ninth grade years. Alice Alone starts off her freshman year. For the full breakdown of titles and grades, please click here.

Barthe DeClements had fun with her grade-oriented dramadies for young readers:
- The Fourth Grade Wizards by Barthe DeClements
- Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade in Fifth Grade by Barthe DeClements
- Sixth Grade Can Really Kill You by Barthe DeClements
- How Do You Lose Those Ninth-Grade Blues? by Barthe DeClements

For even more stories set in school, please refer to the categories of cheating and teacher relationships within my Tough Issues for Teens booklist.

Also check out my After Graduation booklist.

Nobody seems to hear
'Til I scream and shout
Even if you tie me down
And you blow my candle out
I'll still glow

I'll be the perfect someone
That you'll never know
I'll still glow

- selected lyrics from the song Glow by Katy Rose

Listen to the song.

View all posts tagged as Poetry Friday at Bildungsroman.

View the roundup schedule at A Year of Reading.

Learn more about Poetry Friday.

Jack London was best known for his novels, such as Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea-Wolf, just to name a few. But what if his real-life adventures were even more mind-blowing than his fiction? That question prompted authors Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon to create a series with a supernatural twist, using a young and daring Jack London as the main character.

The Secret Journeys of Jack London began last year, when the first book, The Wild, was released. The Sea Wolves, the second volume in the series, is just as action-packed as the first, if not moreso. When Jack is taken captive by pirates, he learns there's more to these bloodthirsty creatures than meets the eye...     

High seas, fight scenes, renegade scoundrels - The Sea Wolves has all that and more. The action takes place on a boat manned by ruthless men who are revealed to be werewolves. Don't consider this a spoiler, since the cover art and title reveal as much. In contrast to many modern stories in which werewolves are sympathetic characters and/or love interests for the human protagonists, the wolves on board this ship are vicious, selfish, and wild. Each man seems to fully embrace the beast within. They will stop at nothing as they jockey for position in the pack, which is led by a murderous captain known as Ghost. 

Re-imagining the life of a historical figure is a great undertaking. Golden and Lebbon have done their research into London's life and the stories he shared, both fictional and biographical, to create something both worthy of the man and engaging for readers. Let's not forget that though London's man vs. the wild novels may come to mind first and foremost, he also wrote The Iron Heel, which was one of the first dystopian novels. (Feel free to consider him to be Katniss's great-grandfather.)

Golden and Lebbon grab readers on page one of The Sea Wolves and hold on to them tightly until the very end. An example of the captivating writing:

A howl danced upon the wind, taken up and redoubled by the storm so that it seemed to echo across the ocean.

A haunting reflection on those who fell victim to the pirates:

He could picture every one of their faces - the trapper, the woman in her town dress, the man in the broken spectacles - but the one who haunted him most powerfully was the girl with the bow in her hair.

In other words, the role I would play. Sniffle.

In addition to the eye-catching covers, Greg Ruth has also created beautiful black-and-white interior illustrations for this series. Look at the picture of Sabine on page 72. She reminds me of Olivia Wilde there.

Sabine, a seer who is trapped on the boat alongside Jack, is a precursor to Firefly/Serenity's River, in a way. Ah, the gift of sight, simultaneously a blessing and a curse. While Lesya in the first volume proved to be untrustworthy, Sabine is someone you want to believe and help, someone you wish the bad guy would stop using as a tool to carry out horrible deeds. She's also the way I can talk people into reading this book who may not be into pirates or historical fiction but are into romance and tragic innocents (and innocence).

So boys, girls, librarians, historians, pirates, landlubbers - Check out The Secret Journeys of Jack London: The Sea Wolves and set sail on the ride of your life!

Check out my earlier post about the series.
Read my interview with Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon.

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

- the closing line of Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Click here to read the entire poem.

I recently saw One Week, a film written and directed by Michael McGowan, starring Joshua Jackson. That movie inspired me to post this quote this week.

My favorite Tennyson poem is The Lady of Shalott, which I first heard in Kevin Sullivan's film adaptation of Anne of Green Gables.

View all posts tagged as Poetry Friday at Bildungsroman.

View the roundup schedule at A Year of Reading.

Learn more about Poetry Friday.

As reported by Melissa Walker at I Heart Daily and readergirlz:

When Sarah Dewitz, 12, from Orlando, Florida, learned about a town next to hers that was facing a lot of hardship and poverty, she immediately thought about the kids and what they had to do without. She wondered if they had access to books.

Then she had an idea: If every child at her school donated "just one book," it would amount to 763 books that could go to the neighboring town! In her proposal to her school principal, she wrote, "I want to do this because if I was a child who did not have any books to read I would not be as smart as I am today. When I read books it makes me feel like I am an entirely different person and the world escapes my mind... If this is what books do for me, imagine what it can do for other children and the difference it would make in their lives..."

Read Melissa's entire post.

Visit just1book.com

April 2012: 20 books and scripts read

YA Recommendations
Dreamland Social Club by Tara Altebrando
Replay by Robin Brande
Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins (conclusion to the Hex Hall trilogy)
Belles by Jen Calonita
Happy Families by Tanita S. Davis

For Kids and Families
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow by Courtney Sheinmel, illustrated by Jennifer Bell (second in the Stella Batts series)

Must-Have Anthology
The Letter Q edited by Sarah Moon (highlight: the piece by Jasika Nicole)

The Play's the Thing
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

If Hermione had been American, she might have enrolled in Hex Hall. In Rachel Hawkins' wonderfully absorbing supernatural trilogy, we learn that Hex Hall is not your typical boarding school. Three years after learning she was a witch, Sophie Mercer performs a spell that lands her in Hex Hall, a reform school for Prodigium: witches, fairies, and shape-shifters. She makes both friends and enemies almost immediately as she encounters vampires, ghosts, warlocks, and strict teachers. As the series progresses, Sophie discovers secrets her family has been keeping from her and truths about her newfound friends, frenemies, and love interests.

There are many reasons why I enjoy and recommend this wonderful trilogy by Rachel Hawkins. First of all, the writing rocks. If you liked Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you will like these books. I seriously want to put these books in the hands of every single BtVS fan. Hawkins has infused her stories with a wonderful mix of humor and drama, fantasy and (fictional) reality, friendship and romance. The dialogue is witty, the individual character histories and storylines are intriguing, and the mythology and magic are well-explained.

The characters rock. There are characters you love, characters you love to hate, and characters you can't decide whether or not to trust. My favorite characters include Sophie, as detailed in the next paragraph; her roommate Jenna, who has a wonderful storyline, personality, cool hair - and, oh yeah, a set of fangs; and Cal, who drew me with his introspective demeanor and his gentle disposition, which tied in so well with his healing abilities.

The main character especially rocks. Sophie is strong, even when she doesn't know it. The books are written in first person from her point of view. Allow me to reference Buffy again, so you understand how awesome Sophie is: both of them can fire back when attacked, verbally or physically; they both fight, defy, accept, and re-form their own destiny; they are surrounded by supportive and talented friends and family; and they hold their ground, no matter what, even when the going gets tough. I admire Sophie's strength and bravery. Her journey is just great - and I love that she takes a literal journey as well as an emotional one.

The pacing rocks. I raced through these books, the second and third particularly. In fact, I waited to read the second book until the third came out so I could read them back-to-back. All three books are page-turners, and each book raises the stakes.

I am cautious of revealing too much in this review because I really enjoyed all of the surprises that appeared throughout the series. If you pick up all three books at one time - which you should - do NOT allow yourself to read the cover flaps of the second book until you've read the first book, and do NOT read the cover flap of the third book until you've finished the second book. Trust me, you're going to want to meet Sophie's friends, foes, and family at the same time Sophie does, rather than knowing about now and anticipating their arrival. There's magic in the journey and in the reveal, in experiencing the twists and turns in step with the main character.

The character names rock. Nick, Daisy, Jenna, and Sophie are some of my favorite character names ever. (If you want to know why I like these names, just ask. Each name has a story or two for me.)

Bonus points to Hawkins for including quotes from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland between portions of the books.

Really, the only thing about this series that disappointed me was the fact that each volume had each a black cat on the cover - and no such cat appeared in the story. Perhaps if I just shapeshift in a cat, I could attend Hex Hall too... Please? (Meow?)

Read all three books in the Hex Hall trilogy:
Hex Hall
Demonglass
Spell Bound

Read my interview with Rachel Hawkins.

Visit Rachel's website and blog.

Here's one of my favorite lines from the third book, Spell Bound:
...I studied my feet and tried to remember how to breathe without sounding like a hyperventilating walrus. - Page 114

This particular list features forthcoming titles I would like to read. The majority of the books listed below are young adult fiction and juvenile fiction. If I read and review an advanced copy, I link the title to my review. At the close of every month, I move that month's remaining titles from this list to my backlist of books to read.

May 2012
Alice on Board by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Confectionately Yours #1: Save the Cupcake! by Lisa Papademetriou (read, review to come)
Enchanted by Alethea Kontis
Flora's Fury: How a Girl of Spirit and a Red Dog Confound Their Friends, Astound Their Enemies, and Learn the Importance of Packing Light by Ysabeau S. Wilce
Happy Families by Tanita S. Davis
Hello, Gorgeous! #5: Do's and Don'ts by Taylor Morris
Little Wings #3: Star Bubble Trouble by Cecilia Galante, illustrated by Kristi Valiant
Rock On: A Story of Guitars, Gigs, Girls, and a Brother (Not Necessarily in That Order) by Denise Vega
See You at Harry's! by Jo Knowles
Teen Boat! by Dave Roman, illustrated by John Green (read, review to come)
The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher
Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker
Whatever After #1: Fairest of All by Sarah Mlynowski (read)
The Year of the Beasts by Cecil Castellucci and Nate Powell
The Year of the Gadfly by Jennifer Miller

Summer 2012
Little Wings #4: The One and Only Willa Bean by Cecilia Galante, illustrated by Kristi Valiant

June 2012
21st Century Dead: A Zombie Anthology edited by Christopher Golden
All These Lives by Sarah Wylie
Devine Intervention by Martha Brockenbrough
Freaks and Revelations by Davida Wills Hurwin
Gold Medal Summer by Donna Freitas
Just Flirt by Laura Bowers
Miracle by Elizabeth Scott
My Life in Black and White by Natasha Friend
Perfect Escape by Jennifer Brown
This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

July 2012
All You Desire: An Eternal Ones Novel by Kirsten Miller
The Best Night of Your (Pathetic) Life by Tara Altebrando
Eva of the Farm by Dia Calhoun
The Friendship Matchmaker by Randa Abdel-Fattah (released in Australia in 2011)
Just for Fins by Tera Lynn Childs
Small Damages by Beth Kephart
Stella Batts #3: Pardon Me by Courtney Sheinmel, illustrated by Jennifer Bell
Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan
Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson
The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee
Wicked Jealous: A Love Story by Robin Palmer

August 2012
The Fallen 4 by Thomas E. Sniegoski
In the House of the Wicked: A Remy Chandler Novel by Thomas E. Sniegoski
A by David Levithan
Eighth Grade Is Making Me Sick: Ginny Davis's Year In Stuff by Jennifer L. Holm and Elicia Castaldi
Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous by Kathryn Williams
The Stone Girl by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Fall 2012
Audition and Subtraction by Amy Fellner Dominy

September 2012
Because It Is My Blood (Birthright #2) by Gabrielle Zevin
Burn for Burn (Signs Trilogy #1) by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian
Confectionately Yours #2: Taking the Cake! by Lisa Papademetriou
Drama by Raina Telgemeier
Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini
Wild Things! The True, Untold Stories Behind the Most Beloved Children's Books and Their Creators by Julie Danielson, Elizabeth Bird, and Peter D. Sieruta

October 2012
Live Through This by Mindi Scott

May 2013
The Best After Ever by Sarah Dessen

Sometime in 2013
Always Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Signs Trilogy #2: Fire with Fire by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian

March 2013
The Second Life of Locke Jenkins by Mary E. Pearson (final volume in The Jenna Fox Chronicles, following The Adoration of Jenna Fox and The Fox Inheritance)

Spring 2013
Doll Bones by Holly Black

Fall 2013
Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Sometime in 2014
The Iron Trial by Holly Black
Signs Trilogy #3: Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian

I kept falling over
I kept looking backward
I went broke believing
That the simple should be hard

All we are we are
All we are we are
And every day is a start of something beautiful

- selected lyrics from All We Are by Matt Nathanson

View all posts tagged as Poetry Friday at Bildungsroman.

View the roundup schedule at A Year of Reading.

Learn more about Poetry Friday.