Today's Podcast 10/31/2010

• Stork, Francisco X. MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD

  Stork, Francisco X. MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLDNew York : Levine Books, 2009IL YAISBN 0545054745Meet Marcelo, a 17 year old boy with autism-like behavior. Follow Marcelo as he struggles to answer the questions, “What is truth?” “How do you tell right from wrong?” “What if a good person does a bad thing; does that make him bad?” Marcelo has the answers to these questions and more when he spends the summer in the “real world” of his father’s law firm. Here he meets Jasmine, his beautiful and surprising coworker, and Wendell, the son of another partner in the firm. Here he learns about competition and jealousy, anger and desire, and romance and injustice. These experiences truly connect Marcelo to the “real world.”Prepared by: Sarah Trani, Media Specialist, Fairfield Central High School for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees, 2010-2011

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Today's Podcast 10/30/2010

• Forman, Gayle. IF I STAY

  Forman, Gayle. IF I STAYDutton Books, 2009Seventeen-year-old Mia has a lot going for her – her musician boyfriend Adam, a possible scholarship to Juilliard, and her quirky but close knit family. Her biggest worry is leaving friends and family behind after graduation to pursue her passion for the cello. On an unexpected snow day in February, Mia’s family decides to take a short day trip to visit relatives in a nearby town. Once in the car, they have their usual battle over choice of radio stations, ultimately deciding to take turns. Mom’s choice, NPR news, is first. After the news, it’s Mia’s turn, and she chooses the classical station. As she hears Beethoven’s Cello Sonata no.3, a piece she is currently working on, Mia closes her eyes and imagines herself playing along on her cello. Suddenly, the horrifying impact of a four ton speeding pickup truck shatters the calming melody. The noises are deafening, and the car explodes like it was hit by a bomb. Suddenly, everything is quiet except for one sound: Beethoven’s Cello Sonata no. 3 continues to play on the radio. Mia can hear it, so she must still be alive. Looking around for her younger brother, she spies a hand sticking out of a nearby ditch. Reaching the outstretched arm, she realizes she is looking at her own bleeding, badly damaged body. As Mia’s life hangs in the balance, her life prior to the accident is told through a series of flashbacks. Mia knows her life is changed forever, and doesn’t know if she is strong enough to face a life of painful losses. Should she stay… or should she go? Read If I Stay by Gayle Forman to see what Mia decides.Prepared by: Karen Tisdale for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees, 2010-2011

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Today's Podcast 10/29/2010

• Collins, Suzanne. THE HUNGER GAMES

  Collins, Suzanne. THE HUNGER GAMESScholastic Press, 2008Maintaining control is never easy, but the government of Panem has discovered a way of subduing dissidents. Each year, two people from each of the twelve districts are chosen to participate in The Hunger Games – a fight to the death for all but one contestant. This year, Katniss steps up to take her younger sister’s place. Once the selection is made, Katniss and Peeta (the male participant from District 12) are caught in a whirlwind of preparation. There are lessons in defense, survival, and television appeal. The game requires each participant to outlast, outwit and out-maneuver the other contestants – while the entire country watches on their television screens each day. Brutal tasks, unbearable situations, and manipulated settings test each contestant to his or her breaking point. The only way out? Personal death or the murder of the rest of the group. What possible plan can Katniss and Peeta develop that guarantees their survival and their safe return home? Read The Hunger Games to see what happens to this pair of warriors.Prepared by: Beth Pace, Spartanburg School District One for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees, 2010-2011

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Today's Podcast 10/28/2010

• Reinhardt, Dana. HOW TO BUILD A HOUSE

  Reinhardt, Dana. HOW TO BUILD A HOUSENew York : Wendy Lamb Books, 2008IL YAISBN 0375844538Volunteering, community service, and mission trips are important in many teenager’s lives. Some high schools or high school organizations require some form of community service. This information may also tip the scale toward acceptance on college applications. Harper Evans of Los Angeles, California joins a volunteer program to build a house over the summer. She and a number of other high school students from all over the country will spend twelve weeks with “Homes from the Heart” building a home for the Wright family in Bailey, Tennessee, to replace the one destroyed in a tornado. The family consists of Mom, a nurse; Dad, the high school football coach and English teacher; Teddy, a recent high school graduate; and 9 year old twin sisters. With this organization, a family member is required to work on the building as well - that would be Teddy, since his parents are working in the community. Harper is completely unfamiliar with the steps required to build a house. She and the others learn to work as teams, doing a variety of jobs from digging the footers for the foundation to putting on the roof. She even becomes concerned when she learns about some of the shortcuts that were taken to cut costs. For instance, instead of digging a basement, the organization purchased a prefabricated tornado room to keep the family safe in case of another tornado. By summer’s end, Harper and her new friends have learned a lot about building, not just houses, but friendships, dreams and plans for the future.Prepared by: Eleene Levander, School Librarian, Retired for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees, 2010-2011

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Today's Podcast 10/27/2010

• Lockhart, E. THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS

  Lockhart, E. THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKSHyperion, 2008Frankie Landau-Banks is a sophomore at the elite Alabaster school. She has a popular senior boyfriend, people seem to like her, she gets good grades, etc. She should be happy with her life, right? Well, not so much. Frankie is tired of accepting the roles society has chosen for her. When her boyfriend says she’s adorable, she wonders why he doesn’t say that she’s brilliant. Anyway, Frankie knows that her boyfriend and several other of the school’s most popular guys are members of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, a secret all-male society in which her father was a member during his days at Alabaster. Frankie is tired of being left out of the club’s dealings, so she decides to infiltrate it and pose as their leader. It works, and these guys have no idea that she’s the one pulling their strings. Of course, as is the way of things, chaos inevitably ensues, and Frankie and the Bassets must face up to what has been going on. Will Frankie be exposed in her quest for power? Will she go back to being a docile little girl content with her place in the world? What will happen to the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds? Read The Disreputable History of Frankie-Landau Banks to discover the damage an ambitious, brilliant, angry high school sophomore can wreak on the unsuspecting world around her.Prepared by: Kelly L. Knight, Media Specialist, Woodmont High School for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees, 2010-2011

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Today's Podcast 10/26/2010

• Holt, Simon. THE DEVOURING

  Holt, Simon. THE DEVOURINGBoston: Little, Brown, 2009IL YAISBN 0316035734Reggie was just an average 15 year old girl, until her mother left her and her timid 8 year old brother with a workaholic dad. Now, she has to do all the cooking and cleaning while taking care of her brother. Reggie enjoys scary things whether it’s movies, books, or pranks. But one day, at the bookstore where she works part time, her whole world changes. She finds a book called “The Vours.” To Reggie it’s just another scary book, but as she reads it to her brother one night, she realizes that the story could be true. The next day, she notices her once scared nice brother is now a mean, scary, little jerk. And when Reggie and her best friend, Aaron, try to save her brother from the Vour inside of him, they learn dark secrets about the Vours. They will have to face their greatest fears to save the soul of her brother that was stolen by the Vour. His body is there, but not his soul; will Reggie ever get her brother back?Prepared by: Taylor Schultz for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees, 2010-2011

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Today's Podcast 10/25/2010

• McKernan, Victoria. THE DEVIL'S PAINTBOX

  McKernan, Victoria. THE DEVIL'S PAINTBOXNew York : Knopf, p2009, c2009IL YAISBN 0375937501If you enjoyed playing the computer game Oregon Trail, The Devil’s Paintbox by Victoria McKernan is for you. It takes the grainy greenish picture of the old game and paints a vivid picture of what life on the Oregon Trail might have been like. The book chronicles a young man’s journey into adulthood in the Wild West, starting at age 15, poor and destitute, eating a grasshopper a day if lucky to stay alive- into turning into a man working off a debt to himself and others. Aiden relentlessly tries to protect and at the same time allow for his sister to grow up. Aiden, during the journey, befriends some unlikely candidates and in the end is forced to go against his white society in aid of his Native American friends in the struggle against smallpox -- the devil’s paint. Aiden and his younger sister Maddy endure hardships unknown to readers of today, all the while maintaining an ever-present desire to move onward and upward. The book is not so much uplifting as is it insightful, and even inspiring. The Devil’s Paintbox is a gripping historical fiction that does not gloss over events of old, rather tells of life as an everyday struggle to survive, and survive knowing that you did what you had to do.Prepared by: Jen Seay for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees, 2010-2011

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Today's Podcast 10/24/2010

• Love, D. Anne. DEFYING THE DIVA

  Love, D. Anne. DEFYING THE DIVANew York : Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2008IL YAISBN 1416934812Haley Patterson’s freshman year was off to a great start. She has two best friends and her dream job of working on the school newspaper. But when an article she writes for the newspaper’s gossip column offends school diva and resident mean girl, Camilla Quinn, her year goes from good to bad. Camilla launches a campaign of hurtful gossip and rumors against Haley. Embarrassing and frightening anonymous notes are being placed in her locker and on her desk. She is even sent email encouraging her to commit suicide and put an end to her misery. Friends abandon her, fearful of becoming gossip victims themselves, leaving Haley alone and miserable. Keeping a low profile, Haley chooses not to tell anyone including her parents about the humiliation she is enduring at school. For Haley, when summer arrives, it cannot come soon enough. She is sent out of town, while her parents are traveling in Europe, to stay with an aunt in a small resort community for the summer. Haley gets a job at the local country club but has trouble making new friendships. She finds that she is still dealing with a lack of self-esteem and needs to gain the confidence and courage to trust others despite her worries about returning to school in the fall. Will Haley be able to stand up to the Diva? Will her classmates continue to treat her as an outcast? When another becomes the target of the diva, will Haley let history repeat itself?Prepared by: Dee Robinson, Librarian, Richland County Public Library for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees, 2010-2011

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Today's Podcast 10/23/2010

• Pfeffer, Susan Beth. THE DEAD AND THE GONE

  Pfeffer, Susan Beth. THE DEAD AND THE GONEHarcourt, 2008Alex Morales is a good kid. He’s seventeen, living in New York City, and works at a pizza parlor when he’s not attending school at St. Vincent de Paul Academy. He also looks out for his two younger sisters and studies hard so he can go to college. One especially overcast day, Alex and his sisters arrive to an empty apartment to find the power is out, along with the cable TV and radio. With his mother working at the hospital, his father in Puerto Rico attending a funeral, and older brother Carlos serving with the U. S. Army, it is up to Alex to assess the situation and reassure his sisters. Little does Alex know that his world is about to change forever. As in the author’s previous book, Life As We Knew It, an asteroid has hit the moon and knocked it off its orbit, wreaking havoc on the world. But in New York City, only those with money or connections will be able to escape the chaos. And Alex has neither money nor connections. He soon realizes that he will be the sole provider and caretaker for his siblings. As days roll by, and essentials for living are harder to come by, Alex will be forced to “bodyshop” – stealing warm clothing and other items he can trade for food from those unfortunate beings left lying in the streets. Throughout the nightmare, the Morales’ strong faith, and the faith and help of other survivors keep them going. But for how long? The Dead and the Gone is a terrifying tale, especially in the setting of New York City, the scene of other horrible tragedies. It is so realistic that you may find yourself re-thinking your own emergency survival plans.Prepared by: Karen Tisdale for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees, 2010-2011

  tags: podcasts stateawards southcarolina blueduke

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Today's Podcast 10/22/2010

• Gehrman, Jody. CONFESSIOINS OF A TRIPLE SHOT BETTY

  Gehrman, Jody. CONFESSIOINS OF A TRIPLE SHOT BETTYNew York : The Penguin Group, 2008IL YAISBN 0142412686“Great. So much for my summer. I should have known. School’s not even out yet, and Operation Girlfriend is already in tatters. Amber, Hero, and I were going to be glorious; armed with big sunglasses and supersized ice mochas, we were supposed to take the crazy, tourist-trap, sun-and-wine-soaked town by storm. … But what are we doing instead? Enduring awkward pauses and thinly veiled snarkiness. Fabu, Just what I had in mind.”Geena is a skater Betty, working with her best friend Amber at the tiny coffee shack known as Triple Shot Betty’s. Hero, Geena’s extremely sheltered boarding school cousin, is coming home to spend the summer in wine country Sonoma with her dad. Geena is psyched about the three of them being best friends and painting each others toenails, but it doesn’t really work out that way. From the minute Hero steps into Triple Shot Betty’s life, Amber hates her, and Geena doesn’t really know why. And, of course, that’s not all. Amber is infatuated with John Jamison, the super popular and cocky class president and half brother of PJ, the Prince, Jamison. John, however, doesn’t care about Amber. He wants Hero, the new girl in town. But Hero has eyes only for Claudio, the hunky Italian boy visiting to work in the vineyards whom only she can communicate with. And then there’s Ben, PJ’s best friend. Ben and Geena have been arguing nemeses sense the fifth grade, always trying to one up each other. And, alas, even more goes wrong. John is up to no good, Amber does something she’ll regret, Hero’s reputation gets destroyed, and Geena gets pulled into everything. The girls, along with some other broken hearts, plot to take down the evil, and sadly horribly attractive, John. So, how’s it all going to end for the Bettys? Prepared by: Harriet Boatwright for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees, 2010-2011

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Today's Podcast 10/21/2010

• Venkatraman, Padma. CLIMBING THE STAIRS

  Venkatraman, Padma. CLIMBING THE STAIRSNew York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2008IL YAISBN 0399247467The year is 1941, the place, India. Vidya is 15 years old, and unlike other girls her age who are consumed with the idea of impending nuptials, she dreams only of attending college. Being the outspoken, willful, and adventurous girl she is, she unknowingly pulls her father into a protest march that turns violent where he is brutally attacked and rendered brain damaged. Now Vidya and her close-knit family are forced to move into her paternal uncle's traditional household where the women are expected to be subservient to men and are married off as soon as possible. This shatters Vidya's dreams of attending college. Vidya’s heart is heavy with her sense of responsibility for her father's disability, her changing role as a young woman in a traditional family, and the pressures she now feels to accept an arranged marriage. While taking care of her aunt’s baby as one of her chores, Vidya breaks the rules and sneaks up the stairs into the library that is off limits to women. Not only does she find refuge there, she meets a young man named Raman. She is surprised to discover she is attracted to this young man who treats her as an equal and encourages her to pursue her intellectual interest. Read Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman, and go with Vidya into an unknown and uncertain future.Prepared by: Carol Ross for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees, 2010-2011

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Today's Podcast 10/20/2010

• Doyle, Marissa. BEWITCHING SEASON

  Doyle, Marissa. BEWITCHING SEASONNew York : Henry Holt , 2008IL YAISBN 0805082514Mr. Carrighar sat back in his chair. “I met them today” he said abruptly, dropping his gaze.“Met whom?” Miss Allardyce took another sip of wine, trying to drag her attention away from memories of Michael’s – er – Mr. Carrighar’s infectious laugh.“Your pupils. Persephone and Penelope.”“What!” Miss Allardyce nearly dropped her wineglass. “Where? Are they all right?”“They’re quite well, and very charming girls. My master was quite taken with them.”Mr. Carrighar was still staring at the table.“What were you…?” A horrible suspicion began to creep over her. “No. You can’t drag them into this, I won’t let your use them --------“Mr. Carrighar held up one hand. “No one said anything about using them, Miss Allardyce. They need not have anything at all to do with this -------““----- if I accede to your blackmail and give what you want,” she finished. The delicate wine she was sipping with such pleasure – the wine Mr. Carrighar had brought for her – seemed to sour in her stomach. She made a gesture and the glass disappeared.“That is a crude way to put it” Mr. Carrighar’s voice was steady, but his hands betrayed him by curling into fists.“Nonetheless, it’s true” Miss Allardyce rose and took a few jerky, hesitating steps, them whirled back to face Mr. Carrighar. “How could you?” she shot at him. “They’re innocent children.”He rose too, “They’re trained witches like you.”Prepared by: Cheryl Roycroft for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees, 2010-2011

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Today's Podcast 10/19/2010

• Supplee, Suzanne. ARTICHOKE'S HEART

  Supplee, Suzanne. ARTICHOKE'S HEARTNew York : Dutton Books, 2008IL YAISBN 0525479023To say that it was not the best time of Rosemary Goode’s life would be an understatement. At home, her mother and her aunt nagged her about losing weight. At school, she was the brunt of the thin, beautiful girls’ jokes. Even her Christmas presents, motivational books from her aunt and a treadmill from her mother, were disappointing. But Rosemary was resourceful, and she had a plan. The treadmill proved to be a great place to air dry clothes that she had washed in an effort to stretch them out. And each time she ate because she was hurt or angry or wanted to prove she was in control, she vowed that she would not eat all the waffles or attack her stash of chocolate again.Life, though, does not always go according to plan. Rosemary had hoped to return to school after Christmas vacation a few pounds lighter, but when she stepped on the scales on the fateful January morning, she saw something she had never seen before. She had actually managed to gain ten pounds, and now she weighed in at 200 pounds! To make matters worse, she’s fighting with her aunt more than ever, and her mother has cancer. There are new worries at school, too. Why is Kay-Kay Reese, one of the prettiest, most popular girls in school, suddenly being nice to her? And could that handsome athlete that Rosemary has secretly been watching in study hall actually want to date her?Join Rosemary as she embarks on a journey of life changing discoveries and nurturing relationships, both old and new. No one has a perfect life, and everyone has problems, but with the support of family and friends, anything is possible, even when the journey takes us to places we don’t expect to go. Share Rosemary’s trials and triumphs. Read Artichoke’s Heart by Suzanne Supplee.Prepared by: Melissa Mixon, Media Specialist, Chesterfield High School for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees, 2010-2011

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Today's Podcast 10/18/2010

• Mitchard, Jacquelyn. ALL WE KNOW OF HEAVEN

  Mitchard, Jacquelyn. ALL WE KNOW OF HEAVENNew York : Harper Collins, 2008IL YAISBN 0061345784Best friends Maureen and Bridget, often referred to as twins or look-alikes, drive to cheerleading practice when Maureen accidentally slides on the icy roads, crosses the dividing line and hits an 18-wheeler. Rushed to the hospital, Maureen dies while disfigured Bridget lies in a coma. One family grieves and prepares a funeral for Maureen while the other readies mentally, physically and financially for the months of therapy that lie ahead. While the families make their preparations, a dental surgeon checks various records and discovers that a terrible mistake has been made--the teens have been misidentified.Prepared by: Karen Olson for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees, 2010-2011

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Today's Podcast 10/17/2010

• Westerfeld, Scott. LEVIATHAN

  Westerfeld, Scott. LEVIATHANNew York : Simon Pulse, 2009IL YAISBN 1416971734The world is on the brink of its first world war, but it’s not exactly how you've learned about it. Sure, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife have been assassinated, and a global conflict is brewing. But this one is between two very different factions: The Clankers, who build war machines; and The Darwinists, who rely on the development of new species. Young Prince Aleksander, the would-be heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne, is pulled from his bed in the middle of the night following his parents’ murder. As a Clanker, he pilots a war machine – the Cyklop Stormwalker – to escape his own followers who have turned on him. Facing enemies at every turn, uncovering loyalties or foes becomes even more difficult when he meets Deryn, who has recently joined the air service and is serving aboard the Leviathan, the Darwinists’ flying whale ship. Like Aleksander, Deryn is also in constant danger. She has disguised herself as a boy in order to join the service, and is in constant fear of being discovered. Although from different factions, is it possible for these two teenagers to be more than enemies? The answer is found in a fantastical voyage in a very different world history. (Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award nominee, 2011)

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Today's Podcast 10/13/2010

• Small, David. STITCHES : A MEMOIR

  Small, David. STITCHES : A MEMOIRNew York : W. W. Norton, 2009IL ADISBN 0393068579David Small was born in Detroit in 1945. He was born anxious, angry, and sickly. His sinuses and digestive system didn’t work right. But his dad was a doctor, and he knew what to do. He prescribed medicines, shots, osteopathic manipulations (also known as neck-crackings), and Xrays … many, many X-rays. Then, when David was eleven, his parents noticed a growth on his neck. A doctor diagnosed him with a harmless cyst, and a few more years went by before the growth was surgically removed. This operation revealed that the growth was, in fact, a very serious form of cancer. David woke up from his surgery to find out that the surgeons had removed his thyroid gland and one of his vocal cords, leaving him literally voiceless. A horrifying black track of stitches on his neck was a constant reminder of what happened to him. How did he find his voice again? This shocking, memorable, and moving memoir is told in a graphic novel format, with pictures complementing David’s account of his life from age six to sixteen. If you like reading graphic novels or memoirs such as The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, you won’t be able to put this one down! (Amy Pickett) (Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award nominee, 2011)

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Today's Podcast 10/12/2010

• Kamara, Mariatu. THE BITE OF THE MANGO

  Kamara, Mariatu. THE BITE OF THE MANGONew York : Annick Press, 2008IL YAISBN 1554511593This is a powerful true story of a young girl, Mariatu Kamara, who suffered atrocities at the hands of rebel soldiers in her homeland of Sierra Leone during the 1990s. She had a typical happy childhood in her rural village, but then when she is 11 years old, militant soldiers invade and she is forced to watch them torture and murder people she knows. Mariatu is finally allowed to go free—but only after boy soldiers chop off both her hands with a machete: “We want you to go to the president and show him what we did to you. You won’t be able to vote for him now” they tell her. Mariatu survives a long, arduous walk to get medical care and while in the hospital she finds out that at 12-years-old, she is pregnant. Mariatu is reduced to begging on the streets, but then foreign journalists come to Sierra Leone and help her begin to rebuild her life. This raw narrative will touch readers’ hearts. (Patty McClune) (Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award nominee, 2011)

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Today's Podcast 10/08/2010

• Efaw, Amy. AFTER

  Efaw, Amy. AFTERNew York : Viking, 2009IL YAISBN 0670011835Who would leave their own newborn baby in a trash can? Surely not someone like fifteen-yearold Devon, who studies hard in school, keeps her nose clean, and devotes her time and energy into being the best soccer player she can be. Basically, she focuses on being everything her mother isn’t. Her mom flirts with everything that walks, thinks of no one but herself, and has a low-paying, meaningless job. But one mistake Devon makes as she is falling in love with a boy changes all of that. She broke her own rules, and now she finds herself being charged with attempted murder, and she can't even remember how it all came to be. Is she really the girl in the papers that everyone is talking about? (Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award nominee, 2011)

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Today's Podcast 10/02/2010

• Abrahams, Peter. REALITY CHECK

  Abrahams, Peter. REALITY CHECKNew York : Laura Geringer Books/HarperTeen, 2009IL YAISBN 0061227676“Except for football Fridays, Cody Laredo’s favorite day of the school year was always the last.” That’s because aside from football, there isn’t much about school that Cody really likes. Make that football and his girlfriend, Clea, the smartest, prettiest, sweetest, and richest girl at school. They even make it through a summer apart when Clea’s father decides to send her overseas to Hong Kong. But then Clea drops a bombshell: she is headed to boarding school in Vermont. As if school wasn’t bad enough without Clea, a torn ACL stops Cody’s football career cold. As the weeks drag on, Cody stops bothering to show up at school at all. Then he sees this newspaper headline: “Local Girl Missing.” It seems Clea went out for a horseback ride at her new school and never came back; she vanished without a trace. With just a recent letter from Clea to provide clues, Cody sets out on a cross-country road trip to Vermont to join the search party. His quest to win back the girl of his dreams turns into a frantic race to save both of their lives. This is a pageturner with plenty of suspense, red herrings, shady characters, and even some great football scenes in the mix. (Amy Pickett) (Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award nominee, 2011)

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