Recent Reads - Young Adult

So, I went to Iowa this weekend and took some books along to keep me occupied on the plane trip. I finished the first one the night before I left.

HIGH SCHOOL BITES by Liza Conrad, this is a new version of an old story...Lucy finds out that she is a descendant of the Lucy that the Dracula of Bram Stokes time was obsessed with, as was her mother before her...but with high school, friends and boys, who wants to worry about Dracula coming after her? Her best friend Mina is also involved in this long time obsession...and the boy she likes may also be involved...what is a girl to do? This was a cute story and a quick read! I enjoyed it!

Then, my reading took a turn, the next three books are a little more on the serious side. The first one, LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL by Jo Knowles, talks about a friendship between two girls, one of them has died and the other is looking back at their friendship and the lessons learned from her dead friend. This really discusses the difficulties of wanting to be liked and what you may be willing to overlook to be accepted. I was so fortunate not to have a situation like this in my life, but I know some girls who experienced the pressure of being liked and gave up some of their freedoms to be accepted.

My next read was about a 13 year old girl who is sold into prostitution by her family...but she thinks she is being sent to the city to become a maid...from her mind, she doesn't understand what is happening to her...you meet her family, very poor and just barely surviving, her mother has remarried and feels fortunate to have a man in their lives...you meet the other girls and those who would manipulate her into thinking what she is doing is helping and she is paying off a debt. The chapters are short and most of the story is told from a poor 13 year old's point of view, innocent and not knowing what the world is really like. SOLD by Patricia McCormick is an incredible read!

My last one is TAMAR by Mal Peet. I have always loved books about World War 2 and this isn't any different...a 15 year old girl has been named by her grandfather, and he has just committed suicide. He leaves her a box and it is up to her to find out what he was trying to tell her. The book bounces back and forth from present day to World War 2 where men and women are trying to form a resistance to the German army. This book keeps you on the edge right up until the last page!