The Gates of Zion by Bodie Thoene

Thoene, Bodie. The Gates of Zion.

Bethany House; 1986.

ISBN: 0871238705

Reader’s Annotation

In 1947, a young American photojournalist, Ellie Warne come to Jerusalem and gets caught up in a dangerous web of intrigue, even as thousands of misplaced Jews from all over Europe look for a place to call home.

Plot Summary

After World War II, thousands of displaced Jews across Europe had no place to call home.  Having endured the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust, they looked toward Jerusalem.  Under the control of the British Mandate, Palestine was a powder keg of tension.  One young American woman, Ellie, is a photojournalist who recently arrived in Jerusalem to stay with her archeologist father.  When some Bedouins arrive one day at their house when Ellie’s father is out, they show her some scrolls they have found and want to sell to the doctor.  Ellie can’t make that decision, but she does photograph the scrolls.  She unwittingly just stepped into a web of conspiracy and intrigue that will threaten her life as “someone” tries to get those pictures.  Meanwhile, David, her American military pilot, sometimes boyfriend, comes to Jerusalem to pursue Ellie.  David claims to love Ellie, but she is torn between David and Moshe, a handsome Jewish archeologist who works with her father.  As the story goes on, the events connected with the scrolls become linked with the events surrounding the founding of the State of Israel. 

Critical Evaluation

Many people are unfamiliar with what happened after World War II and to all the Jews who survived the Holocaust.  Thoene’s remarkable talent for description brings the story alive so that the reader feels like an actual witness.  The Gates of Zion, which is book 1 in The Zion Chronicles, almost immediately captures the reader with the exciting intrigue around Ellie photographing the mysterious scrolls.  As the novel progresses, that is the main storyline.  However, the historical events and background themselves are just as compelling as the storyline. Descriptions of life under British Mandate are eye-opening, and they provide a little more understanding of current events in that region.  Told with an admittedly pro-Israel bent, The Zion Chronicles are an adventure in the purest historical fiction tradition.  A great follow-up read for The Zion Chronicles is Herman Wouk’s The Hope and The Glory.

Information about the Author

Bodie Thoene (pronounced “Tay-nee”) claims that she has always wanted to be a writer.  However, early in school it was discovered that she suffered from the learning disorder, dyslexia.  Thoene’s mother refused to take the diagnosis lying down, and instead retained a young teacher to work extensively with Thoene.  Born in Bakersfield, CA, Thoene was a political science/journalism major when she attended college in San Jose, CA.  She covered much of the unrest in the Bay Area during the turbulent Vietnam era for U.S. News and World Report.  After Bodie married Brock and settled in Waco, TX, where Bodie attended Baylor University, she kept writing.  Bodie describes how she had the opportunity to speak to John Wayne in 1978 about her interest in the event surrounding the rebirth of Israel, and that she’d someday like to write a novel about it.  He told her,  "That’s one you ought to do. It’s the story of the Jewish Alamo!"  For more information, go to Thoene Books. 

Genre

Adventure

Historical Fiction

Curriculum Tie-ins

History

Booktalk Ideas

1. Discuss how the Jewish people were treated by the British under the Mandate.  Do you think those laws were fair?
2. Moshe or David?
3. What did you learn about history that you had never heard before?

Reading level/Interest age

Adult Crossover

Challenge Issues/Challenge Response Ideas

Relgion/Christian Fiction

Why I included this work

This series has a lot of little-known historical background describing what happened to the Jews after the Holocaust.  It also has an exciting plot of intrigue and danger, with a little romance thrown in!

ECPA Gold Medallion Award (Fiction,1987)

Great Quote from the Book:

"Hope" is knowing the truth and acting on it.”

Secrets of My Hollywood Life by Jen Calonita

Calonita, Jen. Secrets of My Hollywood Life.

Little, Brown and Company, 2006.

ISBN 978-0-316-15442-0

Reader’s Annotation

After 12 years of working as a TV child star, Kaitlin Burke needs and break, and a chance to experience “normal” life, but her plan affects more people than she anticipated, including Evan, a boy she dates who has no idea of who she really is.

Plot Summary

Sometimes being a celebrity is just plain exhausting.  For 16-year-old Kaitlin Burke, the stress (and the competitiveness of her costar Sky Mackenzie), have her wondering what it would be like to just be an ordinary teenager for a few months.  She devises a plan to enroll in the same high school as her friend Liz, and for a few weeks enjoys the simple joy of being liked just for who she really is (or rather, who she appears to be).  Only the principal of Clark Hall High School and, of course, Liz knows Kaitlin’s true identity.  Because she has been working since she was four years old, Kaitlin savors the simple things that she’s never experienced before.  Taking the name Rachel Rogers, and student visiting from England for two months, Kaitlin indulges in things like math class that she loves, and serving on the dance committee.  Kaitlin even begins a relationship a great guy named Evan, who ironically has a slight crush on the famous Kaitlin Burke.  When, at a school dance, Sky cattily “unmasks” Kaitlin, her friends and Evan feel betrayed.  Will Kaitlin be able to save her new-found friendships?

Critical Evaluation

Who doesn’t secretly wish that they could be a celebrity—to live a glamorous life and be the center of attention.  Secrets of My Hollywood Life puts a new spin on that daydream, giving readers a fresh perspective on what that kind of life might actually be like. The fact that Kaitlin has been working since she was four clues you in that she is searching for her identity just like every teen does.  And most teens don’t have a pushy agent, stage mom, and a competitive costar to contend with.  Kaitlin’s relationship comes across as a honest breath of fresh air for Kaitlin, even though you know that it can’t last.  While the premise of the story is as old as the Prince and the Pauper, Secrets of My Hollywood Life is a very entertaining, fun read, and is the first of a six-book series.

Information about the Author

Jen Calonita knows what she writes about.  Uniquely qualified to write celebrity, Calonita worked as a Senior Entertainment Editor at Teen People, and has also written for TV Guide, Glamour and Marie Claire, has interviewed countless young stars.  Calonita live in Merrick, NY with her husband and two sons.  For more information, go to: Jen Calonita.

Genre

Reality Fiction

Chick Lit

Curriculum Tie-ins

None

Booktalk Ideas

1. Did reading Secrets of My Hollywood Life change how you view celebrities?  Why or why not?
2. Discuss Kaitlin’s relationship with Liz.  Compare what that friendship meant to each of them.

Reading level/Interest age

Young Adult (ages 13 +)

Challenge Issues/Challenge Response Ideas

None

Why I included this work

Yalsa's Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults

Winner of the Louisiana Young Readers Award

Great Quote from the Book:

“What if? Your picture was taped inside teenage boys’ lockers across America, your closets were bursting with never-worn designer clothing, and the tabloids constantly asked whether you were losing your “good girl” status?”

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

Horowitz, Anthony. Stormbreaker. 

Philomel Books; 2006,

ISBN: 0142406112.

Reader’s Annotation

Alex knows that his Ian was a spy killed in the middle of a dangerous mission to stop a terror attack against Britain’s school children—now he finds out that he must take over where his uncle left off.

Plot Summary

When Alex rider gets word that his Uncle Ian had been killed in a car accident, and that he hadn’t been wearing his seatbelt, Alex is immediately suspicious.  His uncle/adopted parent always wore his seat belt.  After a little investigating, Alex discovers that Ian Rider was murdered.  Alex gets a visit from Alan Blunt and Mrs. Jones form Mi6, who proceeds to explain that not only was Ian Rider a spy, but he was killed in the middle of an assignment.  They want Alex to pick up where his uncle left off.  Alex’ uncle has trained him for years in skills that would serve a spy—Alex can speak five languages and is a black belt in karate.  Alex agrees, and finds himself investigating Herod Sayle, an Egyptian billionaire who is donating, supposedly out of the goodness of his heart, Stormbreaker Computers to school children all over England.  Sayle is set to give the computers in a ceremony with the Prime Minister, who will then activate the computers.  Mi6 creates a ruse to get Alex into Sayle’s home in Cornwall.  There, using clues left by his uncle, Alex finds a secreat computer manufacturing facility where computers are being tainted with the small pox virus, which will be spread when the PM presses the button to activate the computers.  When Alex is discovered, Sayle leaves him in a giant tank with his deadly, pet Portuguese man-o-war.  Alex manages to escape, and makes his way (via a stolen airplane) to the ceremony.  But will Alex be in time to stop the virus from being released?

Critical Evaluation

A little bit like James Bond meets Harry Potter, Alex Rider makes for a fun, adventurous character.  Definitely larger than life, the story is really character driven and fortified with cool escape maneuvers and high-tech gadgetry.  Still, the use of a network of donated computers as a means of terrorist attack is cleverly done, and brings the action to a personal level for teen readers.  Stormbreaker is book 1 in the Alex Rider series.

Information about the Author

From the time he was eight, Anthony Horowitz knew that he wanted to be a writer.  Born in England in 1956, Horowitz was part of a wealthy family.  When Anthony’s father faced bankruptcy, however, he put the family wealth in an account under a pseudonym.  He died before he told anyone, and the family was never able to find the money.  Horowitz, overweight and lonely as a child, loved to read.  When he was sent to boarding school, he would entertain he schoolmates by telling them his favorite stories, especially Frankenstein and Dracula.  He graduated from the Univeristy of York with a B.A. in literature in 1977, and he now lives in London with his wife Jill, and two sons.  For more information go to: Anthony Horowitz.  

Action/Adventure

Curriculum Tie-ins

Booktalk Ideas

1. Discuss the significance of Yassin’s appearance at the end.  What do you think will happen next?
2. Do you think an agency such as the CIA or Mi6 would ever really employ teens?

Reading level/Interest age

Young Adult (ages 12+)

Challenge Issues/Challenge Response Ideas

Some violence

• Present the library’s selection policy
• Refer to ALA Intellectual Freedom resources

Why I included this work

• New York Times #1 Children's Bestseller
• School Library Journal Best Books
• YALSA Best Book
• ALA Notable Book

Great Quote from the Book:

The assassin Yassin: "Believe me, It would be better if we didn't meet again. Go back to school. Go back to your life. And next time they ask you, say no. Killing is for grown-ups and your still a child."

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

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

Hyperion Paperbacks, 2006.

ISBN 978-1423100041

Reader’s Annotation

Cammie Morgan, daughter of the headmistress of the top-secret Gallagher Academy for Girls, is already trained in the art of espionage, but what will she do now that she has fallen for a boy who has no clue of her secret identity?

Plot Summary

At the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Girls, students learn the fine arts--such as how to speak in 14 languages, or how to kill a man in seven different ways with her bare hands, and these elite girls even get extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class.  Cammie Morgan is the daughter of the top secret boarding school’s head mistress and a spy father who recently died while on a mission.  Now Cammie faces one of her most challenging (and funny) lessons--what to do when she falls for a Josh, a local boy who has no idea about Cammie’s secret life.  The ensuing maneuvers are filled with laugh-out-loud humor, cool gadgets, and interesting characters.

Critical Evaluation

In a time when too many books for teens have female protagonists who are needy and vulnerable, Ally Carter creates female characters who are strong, smart and highly capable.  Her characters don’t push others away though.  In fact, like Cammie Morgan for example, they are leaders.  In I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You, Carter brings 21^st century feeling into her stories with the high-tech gadgetry and technology.  On the more sensitive side, Cammie, who has earned the nickname “the Chameleon”, finds that the local boy, Josh, seems to really see her, the real Cammie, like no one else ever has.  Cammie is unnerved by this, because outside of the Gallagher Academy, no one can know her identity—even while she longs to come clean and tell Josh everything.  This book is part of the Gallagher Girls series.

Information about the Author

Ally Carter doesn’t like to release too much information about herself because as she admits, “Well, I’m paranoid that way!”  However, she was born and raised in Oklahoma, graduated from both Oklahoma State University and Cornell University.  Her first book, Cheating at Solitaire was published in 2005, and was then closely followed by her first book for young adults in 2006, I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You. For more information, go to Ally Carter.

Genre

Adventure

Romance

Chick Lit
Humor

Curriculum Tie-ins

None

Booktalk Ideas

1. The girls in Cammie's friend group are pretty archetypical: There's gutsy Bex, bad girl Macey, and intellectual Liz... Can you think of other books or movies that have these same types?
2. Rumors have been rampant that this book will be made into a movie.  Although that's not true at this time, who would you cast as Cammie and Josh?

Reading level/Interest age

Young Adult  (ages 12+)

Challenge Issues/Challenge Response Ideas

None likely, but always be prepared with:

• The library's selection policy
• Knowledge of other similar works in the in the collection
• ALA's Intellectual Freedom resources 

Why I included this work

This and Carter’s other novel, The Heist Society made me appreciate her characterizations, especially of the female protagonists.

Great Quote from the Book

"Number of empty Ben & Jerry's containers:3-two mint chocolate cookie, one plain vanilla (Who buys plain vanilla ice cream from Ben & Jerry's, anyway? Is there a greater waste?)"

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

Westerfeld, Scott. Pretties.

Simon Pulse; 2005,

ISBN: 0689865392.

Reader’s Annotation

Tally has everything she always wanted—she’s pretty, her boyfriend’s gorgeous, and she goes to parties every night—but it feels like she’s forgetting something…  

Plot Summary

In the sequel to Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies, Pretties picks up where the plot left off.  Tally Youngblood is pretty now, and she goes to pretty parties and thinks pretty thoughts in New Pretty Town.  Tally’s dearest wish now is to join Shay’s clique called the Crims.  When Tally goes to a party, she encounters a party crasher—Croy, someone she’s forgotten that she knew back in the Smoke.  Seeing him brings back fuzzy memories of her life in the wild before turning pretty.  Tally and Zane, the leader of the Crims, learn from Croy that the “pretty-mindedness” is caused by the lesions.  Croy gives Tally the pills with instructions to take both, but when Tally get scared, she give Zane one.  The two feel the effects right away and start to feel “bubbly” or more sharply focused.  Zane however develops terrible headaches.  They also discover that other can feel bubbly by surges of adrenaline or caffeine, so they teach the Crim how.  Through a series of bubbly pranks, Shay remembers the Smoke too, and how Tally was responsible.  She remembers that Tally “stole” David from her too.  Shay forms her own clique, the Cutters, who stay bubbly by cutting themselves.  Dr. Cable and the Specials, grow suspicious of Tally and Zane, and monitor them constantly.  Dr. Cable even offers Tally a job—with the Specials—which Tally vehemently refuses.  When Zane and Tally finally escape, Tally discovers that the best-laid plans can go wrong.  They meet up with the New Smoke, and there Tally learns that Zane was hurt because the pill she took was supposed to counteract its effects.  When the Specials catch up with New Smoke, Tally refuses to leave Zane (who cannot be moved), behind.  She and Zane are captured by a new unit of the Specials—the Cutters.  And it’s Shay who informs Tally of her fate—she will be turned into a Special too.

Critical Evaluation

The setting and tone of Pretties stand in stark contrast to the more wilderness-oriented setting of Uglies.  Westerfeld weaves a picture of vacuous self-gratification and indulgence.  What to wear to the next party constitutes the greatest problem of any given day.  The concept of being “bubbly” and thinking clearly raises interesting questions for discussion.  One of the greatest subplots of the novel is Tally’s dilemma of loving Zane and David both.  When she was made pretty, she of course, forgot David.  During that time she fell in love with Zane.  As her memories of living in the Smoke return, so do her memories of her time with David.  Tally must choose.  Tally’s broken relationship with Shay shows some of the complexity that comes with any severed friendship.  At the end of Pretties, Westerfeld again leaves you desperate to know what happens next.

Information about the Author

Born in Texas in 1963, Scott Westerfeld is the award-winning science fiction author of Evolution's Darling, So Yesterday and the The Secret Hour.  Westerfeld now divides his time between New York and Sydney, Australia.  For more information about Scott Westerfeld, go to his blog at: Scott Westerfeld

Genre

Science Fiction

Romance

Curriculum Tie-ins

None

Booktalk Ideas

1. David or Zane?
2. Discuss Tally’s decision to share the cure with Zane.
3. How do think the cutting of Shay’s clique really makes them feel better?  Do you think there are similarities to why people in our society cut?

Reading level/Interest age

Young Adult (Age 16+)

Challenge Issues/Challenge Response Ideas

None

Why I included this work

Sequel to Uglies, also, awards for Pretties include:

• CCBC Choices (Cooperative Children's Book Council),
• NYPL "Books for the Teen Age",
• Pennsylvania School Librarian Association (PSLA) "Top Ten (Or So)" Young Adult Books

Great Quote from the Book:

"Everyone in the world was programmed by the place they were born, hemmed in by their beliefs, but you had to at least try to grow your own brain"

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Westerfeld, Scott.  Uglies.

Simon Pulse; 2005,

ISBN: 0689865384.

Reader’s Annotation

If she wants to have the operation to become pretty (and she's been waiting for it for fifteen year), Tally Youngblood must make the choice of whether or not she will betray her friends--or risk being a social pariahby remaining ugly forever.

Plot Summary

Tally Youngblood is fifteen, and is ugly.  Actually, everyone is considered ugly in Tally’s society until they are sixteen, and undergo an operation to make them pretty.  Tally especially misses her friend Perris who turned sixteen, and now lives in Pretty Town across the river.  When Tally sneaks over to see Perris, to her dismay, he tells Tally that he doesn’t want to see her again until she’s pretty.  Tally meets another ugly out sneaking around—a fellow ugly named Shay.  When she and Shay discover that they share the same birthday and the same adventurous spirit, they become best friends.  However, after showing Tally how to ride a hover board, and how to sneak over to the Rusty Ruins, Shay gradually reveals that she does not want to become pretty.  Just before their birthday, Shay disappears, leaving a cryptic message for Tally if she wants to follow her.  But Tally still wants to be pretty.  On her birthday, she’s ready for her operation.  When she’s picked up, though, she finds herself not at the hospital, but at the headquarters of the ominous Special Circumstances forces.  There Tally’s informed that before she will be allowed to turn pretty, she must follow after Shay, find her way through the wilderness to the secret location (known as the Smoke) of runaways.  Carrying a tracking beacon, Tally must signal the location once she’s there.  If she refuses she will remain ugly forever.  Tally does find her way there, and meets up with Shay and David, a free-born young man who guides runaways to the Smoke.  Tally puts off signaling Special Circumstances, and come to have feelings for David.  She learns from David’s scientist parents that the operation to become pretty creates brain lesions that affect a person’s behavior, making them docile and shallow.  Finally, she tries to destroy the beacon, only to find out later that the beacon is rigged to automatically activate if anyone tries to destroy it.  That means that Special Circumstances is on the way—and it’s because of Tally.

Critical Evaluation

Scott Westerfeld creates a dystopian world in such simple and clear detail, that it seems entirely plausible.  Set in what was once the United States, places like the Rusty Ruins give testament to how human civilization got technologically carried away, and was eventually destroyed.  Besides the more obvious themes of what constitute real beauty, Westerfeld touches on themes of environmentalism and loyalty to friends.  Bearing similarities to Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy, and even to the 1970s movie Logan’s Run, Uglies is book 1 of a series.  These all examine the meaning of true freedom and to what extent government plays a part in controlling our lives.

     

Information about the Author

Born in Texas in 1963, Scott Westerfeld is the award-winning science fiction author of Evolution's Darling, So Yesterday and the The Secret Hour.  Westerfeld now divides his time between New York and Sydney, Australia.  For more information about Scott Westerfeld, go to his blog at: Scott Westerfeld

Genre

Science Fiction

Romance

Curriculum Tie-ins

None

Booktalk  Ideas

1. Describe how the concepts of “pretty” and “ugly” in the novel compare to our own concepts today.
2. If you had the choice, would you want to become pretty?

Reading level/Interest age

Young Adult (Grade 10+)

Challenge Issues/Challenge Response Ideas

None

Why I included this work

Uglies was named as "Best Books for Young Adults" 2006 by the American Library Association

Great Quote from the Book:

"I can't imagine anything worse than being required to have fun."

A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers

Rivers, Francine. A Voice in the Wind.

Tyndale; 1988,

ISBN: 0842377506.

Reader’s Annotation

The Roman army destroys Jerusalem and teenage Hadassah is captured and sent as slave to Rome, where she serves as a maid in the Valerian family, but how safe is a Christian slave in first-century Rome?

Plot Summary

When the Roman army swept in and destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D., they killed indiscriminately.  Most of those who survived were taken as slaves to Rome—Hadassah was one.  Just a teenage girl, Hadassah had lost her whole family, and was now alone.  She had her faith, but as a Christian, she had to be very careful to guard her beliefs in a time when Christians were being fed to the lions in the arena.  When Hadassah reaches Rome, she is purchased as a maid for the daughter of the household—a pampered, rather spoiled girl named Julia.  Hadassah believes that it was now her duty to do her best serving her new family.  Loyal even to Julia, Hadassah’s kind nature, generous spirit, and beautiful voice quickly endeared her to them, despite her bedraggled appearance when she first arrived.  When Hadassah meets Marcus, however, she feels less serene, and he too feel the attraction for this slave girl.  Meanwhile, Julia grows more and more petulant and self-indulgent, and she falls into a thoroughly corrupted lifestyle.  After several disastrous marriages, she plunges into an affair with a German gladiator named Atretes.  Still loyal to Julia, Hadassah does her best to influence Julia.  When Marcus finally declares his feelings for Hadassah, even knowing that she is a Christian, Julia overhears.  When Hadassah tearfully informs Marcus that though she loves him, she won’t marry someone who doesn’t share her faith, Julia becomes enraged.  Marcus leaves in anger and disappointment, but Julia devises a way to punish that slave girl for daring to reject her brother.  You see, Julia also knows that Hadassah is a Christian…

Critical Evaluation

In A Voice in the Wind, which is part 1 of the Mark of the Lion triology, Francine Rivers brutally describes the setting of the Fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.  Graphic descriptions show the destruction of the temple, men, women and child being cut down by the sword, and in one of the most chilling images in the book, a huge field with hundreds of crosses bearing people being crucified. Hadassah’s journey begins to reveal her character.  Already a shy person, she is now terrified to death, traumatized, and all alone.  As Hadassah begins her new life in Rome, Rivers’ research and attention to detail paint a picture of life in that city, and especially in an upper-class household.  The over-the-top indulgence of the upper-class citizens bears stark contrast to the harsh realities taking place all around them.  The scenes surrounding the arena—for both the gladiator fighting and those being executed for the amusement of the crowds—come alive in a horrifying way.  By the end of the book, though, Hadassah’s character bear little resemblance to the shy terrified girl—she is strong, confident and braver than imaginable.

About the Author

Long before her success as a writer of Christian fiction, Francine Rivers enjoyed great success as an established romance novelist.  She started out her career at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she received a B.A. in English and journalism. Francine grew up in a Christian home, but did not truly establish a relationship with Christ until much later in life.  At that point she turned her efforts to writing Christian fiction, and has enjoyed a highly successful career in that genre.  A mother of three grown children, Francine and her husband Rick live in Northern California.  For more information, go to: Francine Rivers.com

Genre

Historical Fiction

Christian Fiction

Romance

Curriculum Tie-ins

World History

Religions

Book Talk Ideas

1. What parallels in our society today do you see with the Roman society?
2. Discuss Hadassah’s character—do you think she was a strong person?  Do you think she made the right choices?

Reading level/Interest age

Adult crossover (ages 16-Adult) 

Challenge Issues/Challenge Response Ideas

Violence; Abortion; Christianity/religion

• Be ready with a copy of the library’s selection policy.
• Understand the history of challenges for this particular work.
• Be familiar with similar works in the collection.
• Refer to ALA’s Intellectual Freedom resources

Why I included this work

As a multiple-award winning author, Francine Rivers sets the bar at writing high-quality Christian Fiction.  The Mark of the Lion series vividly depicts life in the Roman Empire in the first century.

Although originally written for adults, this series is extremely popular with Christian teens, many of whom are drawn to the romance.

Great Quote from the Book:

"True beauty is rare, and seldom recognized by the one who possesses it."