ICCAL » Coming of age

Life: An Exploded Diagram

Book Importer — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:24:10 +0000

In 1960s Norfolk, England, seventeen-year-old Clem Ackroyd lives with his mother and grandmother in a tiny cottage, but his life is transformed when he falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy farmer in this tale that flashes back through the stories of three generations.

Blood Red Road

Book Importer — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:23:50 +0000

Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That’s fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba’s world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.

Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she’s a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization.

Butterflies

Book Importer — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:06:00 +0000

Katherine is almost eighteen. Severely burned when she was three, she dreams that one day she will look like everyone else. Be like everyone else. Achieve her dreams. But Katherine won’t be seen as a victim. Her life is filled with fun and humor and friendship, as she faces her first “real” date, arguments with her mum, and decisions about her future.

An extraordinary story of a journey where pain and trauma become triumph and a passion for living, “Butterflies” is a coming-of-age story that celebrates the fighter in all of us.

Nicholas Dane

Book Importer — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:39:34 +0000

When fourteen-year-old Nicholas Dane’s mother dies, social services sends him to a home for boys where intimidation and violence keep order. After a number of fights and brutal punishments, Nick thinks that life can’t possibly get any worse . . . until he realizes that the home’s respected deputy head, who has been grooming him with sweets and solace, has something more frightening in mind. Acclaimed writer and truth-teller Melvin Burgess brings us, with Dickensian scope and compelling narrative drive, his most ambitious book yet.

Pieces of Me

Book Importer — Mon, 24 May 2010 22:31:27 +0000

A coming-of-age tale follows 14-year-old Mirabelle, a talented artist from a broken home, who befriends the free-spirited and confident Catherine whose friendship brings Mira out of her shell and teaches her about boys. Mira soon learns that her newly found confidence can be shattered in an instant.

The Year of the Dog

Book Importer — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:05:05 +0000

It’s the Chinese Year of the Dog, and as Pacy celebrates with her family, she finds out that this is the year she is supposed to “find herself.” Universal themes of friendship, family, and finding one’s passion in life make this novel appealing to readers of all backgrounds.

American Born Chinese

Richard Clift — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:52:35 +0000

A tour-de-force by rising indy comics star Gene Yang, American Born Chinese tells the story of three apparently unrelated characters: Jin Wang, who moves to a new neighborhood with his family only to discover that he’s the only Chinese-American student at his new school; the powerful Monkey King, subject of one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables; and Chin-Kee, a personification of the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, who is ruining his cousin Danny’s life with his yearly visits. Their lives and stories come together with an unexpected twist in this action-packed modern fable. American Born Chinese is an amazing ride, all the way up to the astonishing climax.

Awards
2007 Michael L. Printz Award

Take a closer look at American Born Chinese as examined in WOW Review.

From Somalia with Love

Book Importer — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:49:21 +0000

Safia Dirie is a teenage girl living in East London with her mother, Hoyo, and two older brothers, Ahmed and Abdullahi. Though she was born in Somalia, she doesn’t remember much of it — Safia’s a London girl, through and through. But now, after 12 long years, her father, Abo, has returned to the family from war-torn Mogadishu. Safia knew things would change, but nothing could have prepared her for the reality of dealing with Abo’s cultural expectations. Or that Ahmed, her favorite brother, would start to run wild. And she herself certainly didn’t expect to find her cousin’s party-girl lifestyle so tempting. Safia must come to terms with who she is — as a Muslim, as a teenager, as a poet, as a friend, but most of all, as a daughter to a father she’s never known. Rooted in Somali and Muslim life, this poignant and beautifully written novel about one girl’s quest to find her own place in the world strikes a chord with young readers everywhere.

Escaping into the Night

Book Importer — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:01:02 +0000

Thirteen-year-old Halina Rudowski narrowly escapes the Polish ghetto and flees to the forest, where she is taken in by an encampment of Jews trying to survive World War II.Based on historical events, this gripping tale sheds light on a little-known aspect of the Holocaust: the underground forest encampments that saved several thousand Jews from the Nazis.

Sacred Shadows

Book Importer — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:01:02 +0000

When her German hometown becomes part of Poland after World War I, Lene, a young German Jew, struggles to come to terms with the anti-Semitism and anti-German hatred that seems to be growing around her.