Prom By Laurie Halse Anderson

Is a funny novel, down-to-earth, and speaks to teens in a way that the teens can relate to their own experiences. This is a story about what happens when planning the prom in a high school called Caceres in Philadelphia. Ashley, one of the main characters, who cares less about a prom, is the individual who ends up getting the gala dance organized. On the other extreme, we see Natalia who heads the prom committee, and is excited about the event.

The next minute, we see the Math Teacher, Miss Crane , take the prom funds. This makes for intrique, because the prom committee wants the prom to be held.

We find that Ashley's family comes to the rescue in helping. Even Nat, who is on the prom committee gets his eccentric grandmother whose native tongue is Spanish helps with the dance. The Principal of the high school helps, and some fellow classmates too. The prom turns out as well as could be. It takes placce in the school gym that has been decorated so well noone could realy tell it is a gym. It seem more like a ballroom.

The novel is so true, and could happen to any of us at prom time.

Perfect World - Brian James

Perfect World is about a teenage girl named Lacie who lost her dad to suicide a few years ago, lives with her mom and younger brother, and Jenna, her best friend, is obsessed with sex. She doesn't fit in anywhere in the world. So when Jenna drags her along to be with two boys Lacie meets Benji, who has secrets he won't share with anyone including Avery. As Lacie and Benji's relationship grows they slowy reveal things to each other that they don't tell anyone else. They fall in love and this gives Lacie the courage to break away from Jenna and find a new best friend in a girl named Gretchen. Then Benji tells Lacie that he is moving to Portland to live with his dad. Once this happens Lacie realizes that in any world where she is loved for who she is it can be a perfect world. A very well written book. You can feel the pain and emotion of the characters through the words.

Tom Burnham

Shut the Door By: Amanda Marquit

This is a spellbounding novel written by a teenager who has a lot of potential. She captivates the reader from the begining of the novel to the end. It's a story about a family who seems so real to life in our modern world. It's a sad story, but true, how a stay home mother, and wife neglects her husband and two teenage daughters. The daughters seem to be trying to find themselves by living new kinds of lives. This of course is a dysfunctional family. The reader captures the inner world of crisis in this novel.

Lilliana and Vivian are the main characters in the book in my opinion. They are teenagers searching for their own identity in society. These two sisters have no support from their parents. Therefore, the teens take risks and disturbing transformations.

The mother, Beatrice is clueless about all her surroundings, and we see this throughout the book.
In fact, Beatrice seems to be going mad. Their father Harry no longer provides the closeness of a family unit that is needed,

The climax is when their father Harry is gone on a long business trip, and he reevaluates family roles and relationships. The choices made are earth shaking to the family. This novel reminds us of what happens when our support systems go and we become emotionally disconnected from the people we love the most.