Florida Teens Read

We are in the middle of our reading for the Florida Teens Read program, and there are rarely any books left on the shelf! It is a very popular list this year. One student has already read all 15 titles, and several students are getting close.

Here is the list:
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie.
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Generation Dead by Daniel Waters
Gym Candy by Carl Deuker
Homeboyz by Alan Sitomer
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Last Exit to Normal by Michael Harmon
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
The Market by J.M Steele
Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham
Shift by Jennifer Bradbury
Suck It Up by Brian Meehl
Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson
Three Little Words: A Memoir by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
Unwind by Neal Shusterman

My prediction? (So far I've been 3 for 3!) The Hunger Games followed by Unwind. Voting is the month of April so we'll see if I'm right!

Last Exit to Normal by Michael Harmon

It's not my fault my father is gay, but sometimes it seems like it. He realized he was gay when I was fourteen, ruining my life and causing my mom to walk out the door. Now, three years later, we're sitting in a small town in Montana of all places, just becasue I made a teny little mistake that got me arrested. Montana, where my dad's boyfriend was from, the same town he was run out of for being gay. How is a punk skater with his hair in spikes going to fit in in this redneck, backwards town?

Things get worse in a hurry. Our neighbor is extremely homophobic and is mad at us for calling the Sheriff on him because he was beating his eleven year old son. Somehow I've made an enemy of the town bully, and I fell in love with a beautiful girl who has a huge, muscular, over-protective borther. To top it all off, there's not a decent place to skateboard in the entire town!

How am I ever going to fit in and survive in a place like this? Honestly, the Last Exit to Normal is anything but!

Florida Teens Read Voting

It is now time to vote for your favorite Florida Teens Read book! Go here to vote. Voting is open until April 30th. You must have read a minimum of 3 of the following books in order to vote: Avalon High, Boot Camp, The Christopher Killer, City of Bones, Deadline, Firestorm, Incantation, Life As We Knew It, A Long Way Gone, The Nature of Jade, Street Love, Thirteen Reasons Why, A Thousand Splendid Suns, What Happened to Cass McBride, and Wicked Lovely.

Which will be the winner of this coveted award? You decide!

Florida Teens Read 2008-2009

What a great list we have for Florida Teens Read this year! Unfortunately, I was unable to be at the final meeting where we narrowed down the list due to the birth of my daughter, but all of the books are very strong choices. Here they are:

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
A Long Way Gone (Mature Themes) by Ishmael Beah
Avalon High by Meg Cabot
The Nature of Jade by Deb Caletti
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Deadline by Chris Crutcher
The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson
What Happened to Cass McBride? by Gail Giles
Incantation by Alice Hoffman
A Thousand Splendid Suns (Mature Themes) by Khaled Hossani
Firestorm by David Klass
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Street Love by Walter Dean Myers
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Boot Camp by Todd Strasser

We currently have several titles, and mulitple copies of all the FTR books will be arriving next week. Remember, once you have read 3 books, you may vote for your favorite online in April. Come let me know which is your favorite!