Inside the Crips: by Colton Simpson and Ann Pearlman

Colton Simpson family background is vast and great. His father was a baseball player for the California Angels, his uncle works as a high class lawyer and his grandmother is a respectable citizen in the community. But great family background doesn't always determine future success. Colton only wished to be a high profile celebrity and found it as ghetto star. He started to hang out with the wrong people after he moved in with his grandma Louise in South Central Los Angeles. He plunges into the world of gang politics and becomes part of LA's imfamous gang the Crips. His new family replaces his old and he starts to prove to them that he deserves to be a part of the gang and he starts to make a name for himself as Lil Cee Loc.

Cee gets wrapped up in a struggle of who he wishes to be, the simple and obedient grandson Colton or the hard core gangster who constantly breaks all the rules. Cee turns to a dark path full of violence, drugs and death. This is Colton's story of life on the streets in South Central LA.
RH

Crushed By: Laura & Tom McNeal

This novel helps you wonder, because of all the secrets behind the three main characters. They are three best friends in High School Audrey, Lea, and C.C. These girls have their own personalities, and backgrounds as the story flows along this novel. As the reader gets through more pages in the story it reveals so clearly what can happen to three close friends, who long to finish High School, get a boyfriend, and eventually get married. The novel's subject is so familiar that it can be haunting to the reader.

What changes the theme of the story is the underground school newspaper called The Yellow Paper.

I liked the book very much, and I believe any female teen would be entertained by this novel.


LRD 2/14/06

Seeing Emily. By Joyce Lee Wong

This novel deals with a teen girl Emily torn between two very different cultures, and how she deals with it. This story is written in verse, which in my frame of mind is easier to read. The two cultures are Chinese, and American. Emily is born in the United States of Chinese parents. When Emily is 16, her parents send her to Taiwan to spend the summer with her Little Aunt to increase her knowledge of the Chinese language.

Many Chinese traditions are mentioned in the book. For instance, birthday noodles, which have to be unbroken strands that symbolize a full long life. A picture, or carving of a phoenix brings Chinese luck. Chinese parents want their sons to become dragons, which means they have achieved their fullest potential. The twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon,snakes, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog, boar.

The novel was good in my opinion, but I am personally interested in any Chinese information.

LRD 2/13/06

Teach Me By R.A. Nelson

Carolina a.k.a "Nine" is infatuated with her new English teacher Mr. Mann. They become friends and then become a couple. This goes on for a few months until suddenly Mr. Mann breaks up with her and marries Alicia Sprunk. This breakup sends Nine down a road she has never been down before. She stalks Mr. Mann and Alicia at their apartment, their wedding, at a poetry reading he is speaking at, and even tries to confront Mr. Mann at school. She also goes to see Alicia's father to get some information, but that doesn't go well. As Nine searches for answers about why he broke up with her she finds out what his life was like in high school and in college. It is only after he saves Nine and Schuyler from her car during a flash flood that he tells her the reason why he broke up with her. A fast paced novel that grabs your attention and holds it to the very last page.

Tom Burnham

Red Rider's Hood - By Neal Shusterman

Red likes to ride around his tough urban neighborhood in his mustang. One day his mother asks him to take some "bread" (money) over to his grandma's house. When he arrives to discover her house has been broken into by a gang known as the Wolves, and his grandma mugged by them. After this happens Red decides to befriend Cedric, Marvin, and the other Wolves and joins them as a pledge. As the days go by Red learns that the members of the Wolves gang are actual werewolves. He learns that his grandmother is a werewolf hunter who helped rid the town 40 years ago of a group of werewolves lead by Cedric's grandfather. He also learns the real reason why his grandfather died. Can Red, his Grandmother, and Marissa (Marvin's sister) defeat the wolves? Or will Red betray his Grandmother and join the Wolves?

Tom Burnham

An Innocent Soldier by Josef Holub

The year is 1800. Napoleon has just called a draft for all able bodied men ages 17 and older to form a grand army and march on Russia. A sixteen-year-old orphan farm hand is taken to the draft by his wealthy farmer and substituted for the farmers 17-year-old son. The bewildered young man soon finds himself with a new name, a uniform and training. From the outset there is a sargeant who harasses and bullies him. Due to his familiarity with horses he is soon assigned to be a servant to a young lieutenant no older than himself. For the pair this invasion becomes more survival from the illnesses and lack of food, water, clothing and other supplies that plague the too big, undersupplied army. It doesn't take long for the pair to become close friends though one is wellborn and the other is poor. The lieutenant can use his influence to help the duo through some bad spots and Adam has skills as a thief and farmhand that go a long way towards helping them survive. These two friends witness all the horrors of war from those who died from grievous wounds to those who steal from those in need for their own bounty to abused horses, people and animals dead of starvation, freezing, cholera. Adam is very practical about his situation and the story is even funny in places. These two teenagers are quite likeable. If you know history you know how badly Napoleon misjudged this invasion, if you don't this book is a good way to learn a little history. jdw 1/31/06

Crackback by John Coy

Miles Manning isn't that coolest guy in school, or the guy that gets all the hot good looking girls but there is one thing that Miles is good at, in fact he may be the best at it, football. He is so good that he made the varsity starting squad in his sophmore year. His best friend Zach plays on the other side with him and everbody is counting on them to take state.

Miles thinks this is going to be the easist thing to win since their school is rated the best in the state, their star quaterback is one of the best players on the team and their defense is the envy of every school in the state. Then everything changes for the worst, first head coach gets sick and has to step down and the replacement coach is not too fond on the style and play of Miles, then his best friend is trying to get him to use performance enhancer to help him get better physically. But the worst thing of them all is Miles' father, who gives him the hardest time and is difficult to please. Can Miles stick it through and finsh the season as champions as pridicted?
RH

Come Back to Afghanistan By:Said Hyder Akbar

Someone has commented that this novel is our passport to the battle for for the soul of Afghanistan . The author of the book travels, leaving the comforts of home, which is California; venturing where few dare to go on a trip. This novel offers profound truths about U.S. policy in the Middle East.

This book deals with post taliban government. Later on, the author's father of the book becomes governor of a province that borders on Pakistan. Tonight as I watch CNN live, I feel I was actually living over again this novel. We see live shots of Afghanistan, and bombed out buildings. I learned that hospitality is a big culture tradition in Afghanistan.

No wonder the U.S. cannot catch Al Qaeda in Afghanistan . The country is called the graveyard of empires; there's no way anyone could conquer the areas that are so rugged, and very dry.

This book is so interesting, and true to today's politics it makes you wonder why we as U.S. supporters we didnot pay attention sooner to Afghanistan needs.

This book is an excellent read.

LRD 1/16/06