Amy Cheney
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YA Underground: A Different Kind of Rating System
After surveying the kids in my facility, I created the following system to rate the books that they're reading: one star = Wack, two stars = Bootsy, three stars = Koo, four stars = Clean, and five stars = That book Go! A book that’s “clean” is “real.” A book that “goes” has action. For my readers, a book is ideally both action-packed and real. What makes a book either or both? As usual, it’s not that straightforward, but here’s one attempt to decipher the question.
Sentenced to Life at Seventeen: The Story of David Milgaard
Gr 7 Up—Milgaard is one of several high-profile cases of wrongful conviction in Canada...
Crush. Candy. Corpse.: What Really Happened in the Forty-First Hour?
Gr 9 Up—Sunny is on trial, accused of manslaughter...
YA Underground: Books for Teens You Might Have Missed
Although I didn’t come up with this column's name—YA Underground—I'm appreciating it more and more. The kids I serve are living underground both metaphorically and literally. My library is in a 350-bed lockdown facility Amy Cheney juvenile cellthat serves adolescents ages 11 to 19, and it's in one of three rooms with windows. I have the only room with windows that are at eye level. The sunlight streams in and looking out, you can see trees, grass, clouds, sky, and sunsets beyond the barbwire. When Jonas (not his real name), an avid manga fan, was in the library on his every-other-week visit, I heard him describe the library as “a lonely bright spot.” He was talking about books—but aren’t books windows?
Top Book Choices for Youth in Detention (2013)
I guess we’re going make this an annual thing. Last January, SLJTeen ran my top choices for 2011, and here I am again with my 2012 picks. As you may remember, Coe Booth’s Bronxwood and Simone Elkeles’s Chain Reaction were on last year’s list. In a blog post, Booth wrote that she purposefully deleted the new novel she was working on. That takes courage and commitment. Her novels show her dedication to excellence, and teens respond. Elkeles is working on a new four-book series about football entitled Wild Cards. When I asked if there were also girls and guns in it, she replied, “There are always girls and romance and guys with lots of testosterone! No guns in the first book, but it gets gritty in the second when one of the boys gets caught up in gang activity.”
Living Violet
Gr 8 Up—Biracial Samara works at Buncha Books, where a girl making out with coworker Caleb one minute collapses in the parking lot the next...
On the Come Up
Gr 8 Up—DeMarco, 16, is tired of Juvie, even though he has three meals, clean clothes, and a much nicer living environment than he has at home...
A Kid from Southie
Gr 8 Up—Aiden O'Connor, a South Boston Irish kid, is fighting his first boxing match-and he's losing...
All the Things You Are
Gr 6—8—Carly Wheeler goes to a private school; has a best friend, Annie; and a mom who is a stylist for the cool Lovelock Falls soap opera...
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