A brief chapter in my impossible life

 Do you know anyone who has been adopted?  Simone was and always knew she was adopted.  She never had any interest in finding her birth parents – she thought she already had the perfect family.  One day her parents tell her that her birth mom wants to meet her.  They encourage her to meet her, but Simone must work through a process before she’s willing to meet this stranger.  Learn about this chapter in Simone’s life by reading this insightful book. 

Sold by Patricia McCormick

This story of 13 year-old Lakshmi will grab your heart from the first pages.  Her world extends no further than the village in Nepal when a monsoon destroys their home and crops.  Lakshmi thinks that she is going with an “auntie” to the city to work as a maid for rich people so that she can send money back to her family.  She has actually been sold into prostitution in Calcutta by her stepfather.  This is her story of a young girl who tires to keep hope when faced with a world that she never even knew existed.  How did you feel when you read this book?

Dairy Queen

No, we’re not talking about the kind where you buy a Blizzard or a DQ Dude!  That’s what I was thinking about when I heard the title, but it is actually about a 15 year old girl that lives on a dairy farm with her family.  Once her father hurts his back, D.J. (the dairy queen) is responsible for A LOT more of the work.  She’s also pretty good at football, having played with her older brothers all her life.  The coach from an opposing team, who is also a family friend and knows how talented she is, asks her to train their quarterback over the summer.  D.J. realizes how much she loves football and decides to try out for her own town’s team in the fall.  Will she make the team?  Her decisions lead to lots of twists and turns in the story.  This Dairy Queen is no dude – but a girl learning a lot about life and following your passions. 

Tayshas Books Annotated list

Here are the books for this year’s book list:

http://www.txla.org/groups/yart/tay0708a.pdf

What’s a tayshas goodie?

These are YA books that are recommended reading selected by a group of Texas librarians using the following criteria:

has potential for teen pleasure reading

reflects strong literary standards

recognizes the diversity of teen readers in Texas

reflects strong literary standards

offers a range of genres, including nonfiction

recognizes values expressed in the Library Bill of Rights

contains no more than two titles from one author; and

considers various reading abilities

 I’m going to focus on the 2007-08 Tayshas list on this blog and hope to hear your comments about your favorite books on the list.