YA Pick: The Date To Save (Guest Review by Heather Jurado)

The Date To Save
by Stephanie Kate Strohm
Point
2017
288  pages
ISBN: 9781338149067

Guest Review by Heather Jurado, Library Media Specialist, Horizon Middle School, Clint ISD, Horizon City, Texas. Follow Heather on Twitter @horizonmshawks

If you wonder what might possibly happen if all the important high school events were scheduled on the exact same date and how the student body and a small high school newspaper staff could possibly cover all of the ensuing chaos, this is the book for you! Angelica is a newspaper staff writer with something to prove. She documents all the funny, sweet, romantic interactions between friends and frenemies at San Anselmo Prep High School located in California.

Readers are entertained by multiple points of view and stories pass from one character to the next. Activities and scenes are happening at the same time and it gives a real picture of how high school students who are involved in a variety of extracurricular activities handle the pressure of achievement and how they build friendships and sometimes even romances along the way.

Marching band, student government, drama, cheerleading, academic competitions and the Homecoming football game and dance are featured. Characters are believable and each one connects with their high school and their clique. Teens won't want to put this book down until they reach the DATE when all the action happens.

Follow the author at www.stephaniekatestrohm.com and on Twitter @StephKateStrohm

Recommended grade 7 and up. This book is featured on middle school book fairs.


FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review. Heather did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Guest Reviewer Pick: Disappeared

The following review is by guest reviewer Ruby Shivery, YA librarian, Indian Ridge Middle School in El Paso, Texas. Follow her on Twitter  @rivette3

Disappeared

By Francisco X. Stork

Arthur A. Levine Books

2017

336 pages

ISBN: 978-0-545-94447

Available September 26, 2017

Disappeared unfolds through two alternating voices: Sara, a reporter for El Sol, a Juarez newspaper and Emiliano, her younger brother, a high school student. Set on the Mexican border where violence is often a part of life, Sara crusades against the disappearances of a number of young girls. Her best friend disappears on her way home from work. Many of the young women are sold into sex crimes and used by the cartels. As Sara delves deeper into the story, her boss at the newspaper becomes increasingly concerned for her and her family’s safety. It is dangerous to publish stories about the violence.

Emiliano is an All Star soccer player at school. He provides for his mother and sister stepping into the role of man of the family, a role  left vacant after his father deserted them. As a Jipari (boys scout) Emiliano has created a Folk Art Business by selling piñatas to be sold across the border and made by other Jipari friends.  As corruption grows in his neighborhood, Emiliano faces a tough decision regarding his business. Will he choose the right path for himself and those that he loves and cares about or will he risk it all for financial stability?

Highly recommended grade 9 and up. This story hits very close to home for millions of Texans who share the border with Mexico. The cartel violence is all too real. The instances in this YA novel are cut from the headlines, and that makes this novel all the more important.  

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher. Neither I nor my guest reviewer received monetary compensation for this review. 

Girl Pick: Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Smart Miss Know-It-All

Tales From a Not-So-Smart Miss Know-It-All (Dork Diaries, book 5)
by Rachel Renee Russell
Aladdin
2013
321 pages

Visit the author's website and check out the fun stuff!

Once again readers check in with Nikki Maxwell and her BFFs Chloe and Zoey. This time, Nikki joins the school newspaper staff and gets to work alongside her crush Brandon and yucky, mean girl MacKenzie Hollister.


MacKenzie undermines Nikki's attempt to work with Brandon and Nikki is almost overlooked by the newspaper advisor. Mr. Zimmerman gives Nikki a chance to write the school's advice column and she takes on the pseudonym of Miss Know-It-All. She doesn't have any letters at first, but she gets help from Chloe and Zoey and they put up posters around the school and decorate letter boxes for students  to drop their pleas for help in. Miss Know-It-All's identity is a big secret and only Nikki and her BFFs and Mr. Zimmerman know who she is.

MacKenzie does her bad girl best to drive Nikki crazy and steal Brandon's heart. At first, the advice column is off to a shaky start but then the letters come pouring in...there's one from a football player who keeps his love of baking secret, another from a student who wants help with a math word problem, and one from an older sibling who can't stand his little brother...Nikki gives them all sound, and good advice. The school is buzzing with excitement over Nikki's column and even more letters are filling the Miss Know-It-All  boxes.

Nikki tells the football player to embrace his love of baking and maybe even bake his girlfriend some red velvet cupcakes and present them in a creative, romantic way. He takes her advice wrapping his girlfriend's locker in wrapping paper like a giant present and fills it with decorated red velvet cupcakes and roses. The girlfriend is so happy, but the plan backfires when all the cheerleaders are now crushing on the boy because he's so romantic.

The letter boxes begin to overflow and Nikki needs help! She spends hours each day answering letters for advice, but it pays off wehn Mr. Zimmerman awards her with the MVP award for the month. BFFs Chloe and Zoey help Nikki with her column and everyone attends Brandon's birthday party.

Highly, highly recommended for girls (and boys) and fans of the series will have to pick up a copy. Nikki Maxwell is highly entertaining and her friends Chloe and Zoey are friends that every girl would be lucky to have.

Grades 5-up. Just some mean girl behavior and a night of toilet papering MacKenzie's house.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I purchased this book for my library. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

YA Picks: Sports and Such

Payback Time
by Carl Deuker
Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt
2010
298 pages

Since grade school Mitch True has dreamed of becoming a real reporter--a hard-nosed investigative reporter like the ones he saw in the movie All the President's Men. At the beginning of his senior year, it is looking good that Mitch will become editor of Lincoln High School's paper. When Alyssa Hanson is named editor, Mitch nearly quits. She gives him "Sports." Who does she think she is? He is the most senior reporter on the paper--why does he get such a low-life job like sports?

Mitch almost quits, but sees an opportunity to break a story--maybe someone will get busted for steroids or maybe there'll be a huge story in football scholarships.

He teams up with school photographer Kimi Yon and together they find a story in a transfer student named Angel Marichal. Who is this mystery football player, and where did he come from? And what's his secret? Why is Coach McNulty hiding Angel's past? Could it be that the coach and the student are cheating for the championship? This could be the story of the year!

There is an underlying secret in Angel's past--a secret so dangerous that it will threaten the championship and change all their lives.

Carl Deuker not only writes for sports fans but anyone who loves a good read. Solid sports writing with a great story for the non-sports fan.

Not just for boys. Anyone who loves journalism will love this book.
Recommended for reluctant readers. Recommended for all YA collections grades 7-12.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I received no monetary compensation for my review, and this review was not influenced by the fact that the publisher sent me a copy. In fact, I probably would not have reviewed a "football" book at all, but since it was sent to me, I decided to read it. I found it highly interesting and will recommend it to my students to read.