“The term “cognitive disorder” implies there is something wrong with the way I think or the way I perceive reality. I perceive reality just fine. Sometimes I perceive more of reality than others.”

There’s so much in the news these days about the mysteries of the autism spectrum, many may wonder what it might be like to step into the mind of someone with one of these disorders. Meet Marcelo, diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. At 17, he has led a sheltered life at a special school where he has come to feel extremely comfortable. His father, well intentioned but ambitious, wants to challenge him to do more, so Marcelo spends a summer working in the mailroom at his Dad’s law firm where he learns hard lessons about competition, jealousy, anger, desire and surprisingly, begins to connect with the real world.

If you like this book, you may also enjoy:

• Are You Alone on Purpose? by Nancy Werlin
• A Wizard Alone by Diane Duane
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
• Ten Things Every Child With Autism Wishes You Knew by Ellen Notbohm
• Born on a Blue Day; Inside the Mind of an Autistic Savant by Daniel Tammet
• Episodes: My Life as I See It by Blaze Ginsberg
• Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin
• Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern

Global Community Health.

 The slogan on their official stationery reads: “If you think your life sucks, it probably does. Do something about it.”

Their mission? “Our jurisdiction covers three districts. Last year was a rough one; we had two suicides and at least one major racial incident. We need to get some prevention going.  We also work with kids who have run into hard luck or ones with a fragile emotional makeup.”

Their newest employee? Noboru Nakatani, “Mr. Nak.” Over the years, he’s seen it all and still thinks he can help.

His group? Angry Management, named in honor of a former student who had every reason to be furious, right up until the day that he put an end to things.

The students? Sarah Byrnes, dealing with abandonment and body image issues. Montana West, an outspoken liberal who has good reason to hate her step-father. Marcus James, targeted by racist football players who hang a pink noose on his locker.

They all deal with bullying. “I walk around this school in somebody’s cross-hairs most of the time.” They all get mad and some of them strike back …

If you like this book, you might also enjoy:

• Other titles by Chris Crutcher
• The Luckiest Girl in the World by Steven Levenkron
• Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn
• Aimee by Mary Beth Miller
• Cruise Control by Terry Trueman
• Rash by Pete Hautman
• Burn by Suzanne Phillips
• Dreamrider by Barry Jonsberg

Katniss Everdeen and fellow District 12 tribute, Peeta Mellark, have won the Hunger Games by outsmarting their opponents and the Capitol. They want nothing more than to return home to enjoy the good fortune their victory has brought them. However, their rebellion in the arena has incited a similar movement throughout the country and citizens everywhere are rallying to resist the government’s cruel hold over them. With the mockingjay as their emblem and Katniss as their heroine, the poor people of Panem are fighting back. Katniss herself can’t decide whether to lead this rebellion or flee to safety with her family and loved ones. As the time nears for the next Hunger Games to begin, the Capitol announces new rules and Peeta and Katniss learn they are to return to the arena to fight again …  and this time, odds are, they won’t return.

This anxiously awaited sequel to The Hunger Games will not disappoint fans of  author Suzanne Collins. Familiar characters like Katniss and Haymitch are satisfyingly developed as is the continuing love triangle between Katniss, Gale and Peeta.  Panem the country is realistically described and the reader feels a growing sympathy for its residents and their hardships. The tension leading up to the games is palpable as is a growing sense of dread as characters we have all come to love enter the arena once again to do battle against forces they cannot surmount.

Readers will be nervously anticipating the third and final installment in this series, due to be published next year. In the meantime, try reading the following:

• Unwind by Neal Shusterman
• House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
• House of Stairs by William Slater
• The Lost Conspiracy by Frances Hardinge
• The Ingenious Edgar Jones by Elizabeth Garner
• The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
• The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
• Salt by Maurice Gee
• Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson

Honesty may be the best policy, but parents often believe that they are justified in keeping secrets from their children, especially if the truth is extremely frightening. So Sarah’s mother and father protected their children from the fears they felt as Jews living in Paris in 1942. When the roundup began that morning, Sarah, in turn, tried to protect her baby brother by hiding him away in a cupboard, intending to return shortly to release him. Placing the key carefully in her pocket, it never occurred to Sarah that she would not be allowed to come back at all … 

Many years later, the French people are still reluctant to acknowledge their role in the annihilation of nearly 10,000 Jewish men, women and children that began that day in 1942.

Many Holocaust stories have been told. This one will stay with you for a long, long time. 

If you like this book, you may also like: 

• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
• Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
• Night by Elie Weisel
• Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally
• Malka by Mirjam Pressler
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

When I started this blog, I hoped it would become a forum for an ongoing conversation about great books.  So far, though, it’s just me writing about what I like. I know people have been reading the blog because the counter at the bottom of the page tells me so. Won’t some of you please join the conversation and share your thoughts about literature? It’s so easy to do …  just click “Leave a Comment” or if you’d like to contribute your own book recommendations, speak to me directly or email me at bakerm@marlboroschools.org.

“Born mute,  speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dog known for companionship and communication skills far surpassing those of normal animals. Edgar’s best friend is Almondine, the pride of their kennel. Now a teenager, Edgar has finally been given permission to oversee the training of his first litter of Sawtelle dogs and he throws himself into the task with enthusiasm and talent. But with the unexpected return of Claude, Edgar’s paternal uncle, turmoil and disaster strike the Sawtelle’s once peaceful lives. ” (from the book jacket)

Did you love books like Old Yeller, Big Red and Where the Red Fern Grows when you were a kid? Edgar Sawtelle is definitely a book for animal lovers, but there’s much more to it than that.  Like the best literature, this book creates a world inhabited by realistic characters embroiled in a suspenseful mystery that rushes headlong toward the most dangerous of conclusions. If you like to read and you’re looking for something that you won’t be able to put down, Edgar Sawtelle is the book for you!

If you like The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, you might also like:

• Sounder by William H. Armstrong
• James Herriot’s Dog Stories
• The Complete AKC Dog Book
• Your Dog’s Life by Deborah Loven Gray
• The World According to Dog by Joyce Sidman
• New Complete Dog Training Manual by Bruce Fogle
• White Fang by Jack London
• The Call of the Wild by Jack London
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

“Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun …  “

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twleve outlying districts. Each year, the districts are required to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.” (from the book jacket)

Do you love reality TV? Do you structure your week around Big Brother and The Real World? Here’s a book that makes Fear Factor and Survivor look like child’s play.  Katniss and Peeta are the two main characters representing their district. Friends at first, they receive glamorous makeovers then meet with personal coaches who fine tune their individual strengths and survival styles. Once the “game” begins, however, it’s every man (or woman) for himself, because to win this competition you have to be the only one to survive, and that will require you to kill everyone who stands in your way. (Sequel Catching Fire came out in early September!)

If you like this book, you might also like:

• The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• Graceling by Kristin Cashore
• Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Things haven’t really changed very much in the last 100 years or so, at least in the love lives of the rich and famous. Back in the day, there were still cliques, catty “best” friends, rivalries between sisters, handsome young men that everyone wanted and handsome young men that “proper” young ladies shouldn’t want. And there have always been well-intentioned parents pulling strings behind the scenes.

If you’re a fan of popular culture who loves to read the latest about the Paris Hiltons of the world, you’ll love The Luxe, historical fiction with decidedly modern characters: there’s “perfect” Elizabeth, just back from a year in Paris, forced into planning an arranged marriage but hopelessly in love with someone far beneath her social stature, best friend, Penelope, another socialite, unafraid to use any means at her disposal to get the man she wants, and lovely Diana, Elizabeth’s precocious younger sister, destined to be the true winner in the game they’re all playing. A notch above The Gossip Girls, but not exactly Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence either, this novel is a fun, fast read for today’s young woman.

If you like this book, you might also enjoy

• Rumors and Envy by Anna Godbersen (sequels to The Luxe)
• The Gossip Girls series by Cecily Van Ziegesar
• A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray and sequels Rebel Angels  and The Sweet Far Thing
• The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
• A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
• The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks

Cass McBride is a “resume packer”, a spoiled rich kid who pursues class offices, honors and accolades not for the satisfaction of a job well done or to help others but solely to get into the best college. She uses people along the way and thinks nothing of crushing the fragile egos of guys she thinks of as beneath her. David Kirby was one of those guys. Who knew that the way she treated him would hurt him so badly? Who knew that her thoughtlessly public rejection of him would result in his suicide? The note he left behind made it all too clear, “Words are teeth. And they eat me alive. Feed on my corpse instead.”

Kyle Kirby, David’s older brother finds the note, puts two and two together, and decides to assuage his own guilt by punishing Cass. He digs a hole. Kidnaps her. Puts her in a box — underground. And then …  the battle between them begins.

Warning: Don’t even think of reading this book if you are at all claustrophobic!!

If you like this book, you might also enjoy:

• After the First Death by Robert Cormier
• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

“When we were in grade school, most kids thought Eddie Proffit was stupid because he would ask questions no one else would think of.  I was Billy Bartholomew, smartest kid in the class …  I was supposed to grow up and rattle the world, and Eddie was supposed to grow up and run his father’s gas station. Everyone thought our friendship was odd; what was a smart kid like me doing hanging out with a kid with an IQ short of triple digits? Truth is, Eddie’s IQ turned out to be off the charts.  His mind bounces from one thing to another pretty much however it wants, though, and long before he should be finishing up one thought , he’s on to something else. Eddie doesn’t come to very many conclusions. [With some help from my Dad] Eddie did great, but he continued to ask strange questions and challenge teachers when they said something he thought couldn’t be true, and he was pretty much considered a pain in the neck.”

Within a span of three weeks, both Eddie’s Dad and his best friend Billy died in violent accidents. Eddie found them both …  and from that time on, he lost the power (or desire) to speak. Life lost all meaning for him and he gave up on his future completely …  until Billy came back.

If you like this book, you might also like:

• Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
• Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult
• The Shack by William P. Young
• Peace Like A River by Leif Enger