The Silver Kiss

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Klause, Annette Curtis. The Silver Kiss. 1990. New York: Delacorte Press, 2009. Print. ISBN: 9780375857829 Paperback. Pages: 256 U.S. $8.99

Awards: Locus Poll Award Best First Novel 1991

Annotation: A love story like no other, The Silver Kiss brings together Zoe, overwhelmed by grief and anger, and Simon, undead and thirsting for human blood, revenge and understanding.

Wrap back to the title:
The Silver Kissby Annette Curtis Klause

Zoe’s mother has been in and out of the hospital and this time it seems like the cancer will be keeping her confined for good. Besides the understandable grief and sorrow, Zoe is struggling with some less recognizable emotions. She’s hurt that her father is shutting her out; she’s angry that her best friend seems more concerned with shopping and boys; and she’s not sure how she feels that her mother won’t talk to her about her impending death. To make matters worse, there is a killer hiding in her small town. When it seems like Zoe has no one to turn to she meets beautiful, mysterious, Simon and he seems to understand her pain and rage. When Simon reveals his supernatural nature Zoe rethinks her decision to trust him. Together, however, Zoe and Simon make peace with their pain, accept death as a natural part of life, and bring justice to the mysterious murderer. Stronger together, with their love to bind them, Zoe and Simon discover the power of, The Silver Kiss.

Also in this version are the short stories The Summer of Love and The Christmas Cat.

"Strangely persuasive...at once a grisly and graphic tale of monstrous death and a sweet and compelling story of love."

--Entertainment Weekly

*"A well-drawn, powerful, and seductive novel." 

--School Library Journal, starred

*"Both sensuous and suspenseful."

--Booklist, starred

"Move over, Anne Rice."

--Publishers Weekly

Click here to see if this book is available at Ericson Public Library
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The First Part Last

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Johnson, Angela. The First Part Last. New York: Simon & Shuster Books for Young Readers, 2003. Print.

Awards 

ALA Michael L. Printz Award

Coretta Scott King Award

Abraham Lincoln Book Award Master List (IL) 

ALA Best Books for Young Adults

Annotation: Bobby takes an emotional journey in this book as he balances his teenage life with his love for his infant daughter.

Open-ended:
The First Part Lastby Angela Johnson

      Am I ready to be a parent? That’s the question sixteen-year-old Bobby isn’t ready to answer until it’s too late. When he sees baby Feather he knows, whether he’s ready or not, he can’t let her go home with someone else. In this quick read Angela Johnson eloquently captures the realities of teenage pregnancy. Using short chapters and powerfully descriptive language The First Part Last captures your attention and keeps it to the very last page.

      Bobby and Nia are in love and they don’t let the news of Nia’s pregnancy get in the way of their future together. Through brief chapters alternating between the present and past we learn how this young, supportive couple became a single father raising Feather alone. The book explores Bobby’s internal struggle to be both the responsible, loving, father he wants so badly to be while still being a sixteen-year-old kid. This book will make you wonder; am I ready to be a parent?

Arielle's Recommendation: Fans of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant or Lifetime’s The Pregnancy Project will enjoy this realistic story of a teenage parent. This book definitely deserves a home on school and library shelves. Recommend The First Part Last to readers 8th grade and older that enjoy gritty and heart warming stories.

Annie On My Mind

Garden, Nancy. Annie On My Mind. 1982. New York: Ferrar Straus Giroux, 2007. Print. ISBN: 978-0374404147 Pages: 233 Hardcover U.S. $16.99

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Awards:
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
ALA/ YALSA Best of the Best
Booklist Best
Bookseller's Choice
ALA/ YALSA 100 Best Books for YA

Annotation: Annie and Liza discover their romantic feelings and how their feelings have the power to impact the world around them.

Annie On My Mind

by Nancy Garden

A revolutionary piece of GLBTQ literature, Annie On My Mind follows Liza as she realizes her feelings for Annie and how they impact her understanding of herself.

“I went downstairs to Dad’s encyclopedia and looked up HOMOSEXUALITY, but that didn’t tell me much about any of the things I felt. What struck me most, though, was that, in the whole long article, the word ‘love’ wasn’t used even once. That made me mad; it was as if whoever wrote the article didn’t know that gay people actually love each other. The encyclopedia writers ought to talk to me, I though as I went back to bed; I could tell them something about love.”

Liza has everything going for her; she’s student body president and planning on pursuing her dreams of attending MIT and becoming an architect. When she meets Annie at the Metropolitan Museum of Art their friendly magnetism quickly becomes an intense passion that neither of them had expected. For the two lovers their senior year of high school is a fairy tale story until a teacher discovers them together and everything suddenly and devastatingly falls apart.

Liza’s powerful conflict keeps the drama going to the very last page. Join Liza and Annie as they discover the definition of “love.”

"The story of two young women who love each other. It is an honest portrayal of their love with an ending that is in keeping with, and worthy of, the rest of the book."--The Baltimore Sun

"Annie on My Mind was an eye-opener (maybe 'heartopener' is a better term)."--The Milwaukee Journal

"A tender, bittersweet love story."--Booklist

"Departs from the fact-packed preachiness of the problem novel to become instead a compelling story of two real and intriguing women. There have been many books for teenagers, fiction and nonfiction, that give lots of useful and accurate information about homosexuality; here's one that tells what it feels like, one that has, finally, romance."--School Library Journal

Boolist Reviewers' Choice, Gay Book Award nominee, Golden Kite Award, ALA Best Books 1982, ALA Best of the Best 1983, Booklist Best Books of the 1982, Booksellers' Choice List 1993, ALA Best Books for YAS for Past 25 Years 1994, Mock Printz Award 1982 in contest held at ALA's Midwinter in 2002

Check out  Nancy Garden's website for a list of her books, useful links, and information about school and library visits.