(Please note that you may not read any of the Gossip Girls, Angus Thongs, or American Girls series).  Although they are fun to read, they lack the depth of themes & literary devices necessary for this unit.)

 

Mental Illness

 

Student Suggestions

  • Petey
  • Are You In the House Alone?
  • Cut
  • Stick Figure
  • Stuck In Neutral
  • Kim: Empty Inside
  • Girl Interrupted
  • Damage – football star struggles with depression.   
  • Checkers by John Marsden - Speaking from a mental hospital after a nervous breakdown, the narrator recounts the events that occurred when her well-known father, suspected of unethical business practices, is pressured by the media to come clean.
  • Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy by Sonya Sones
    An older sister has a mental breakdown and has to be hospitalized. A younger sister is left behind to cope with a family torn apart by grief and friends who turn their backs on her.
  • Saint Jude by Dawn Wilson.   Taylor Drysdale is devastated when her mother commits her to St. Jude's Brick House, an outpatient program for teens with "problems." High-strung Taylor is convinced her divorced mother is just tired of dealing with her troubled daughter. Diagnosed as bipolar, Taylor hates her condition, fights depression, has setbacks.
  • Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser.  In her compassionate debut novel, Terry Spencer Hesser explains exactly what obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) feels like, as well as the effects it has on surrounding friends and family. Tara Sullivan first encounters her compulsive behavior at age 11, when she hears of the sidewalk game "Step on a crack, break your mother's back."  
  • When She Was Good by Norma Fox Mazer.  Most of fourteen-year-old Em's life has been spent placating Pamela, her frighteningly mentally ill older sister. The book is at its best when showing Em's tentative grasping for a new life of her own after Pamela's death.
  • Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher.  Eighteen-year-old Eric's success on the swimming team and the weight loss that is the by-product of his strict physical regimen are so threatening to his longstanding friendship with Sarah Byrnes -- who, at the age of three was severely burned on the face and hands when her father pushed her into a wood stove -- that he forces himself into gluttony in order not to jeopardize it.
  • Daughter by Ishbel Moore.  In this fairly convincing portrait of a teenager coping with her mother's onset of Alzheimer's disease, Sylvie,14, has always been an excellent student, even through her parents' divorce. Her grades begin to slip, however, as her beautiful, talented mother, Marianne, starts behaving in dangerous ways. 
  • Flip-Flop Girl by Katherine Paterson.  Raging with grief at the death of her father, nine-year-old Vinnie finds herself out of control. She can't stand her little brother, Mason, who gets attention because he won't speak; she hates that the family has to move in with her grandmother in a small Virginia town. She's an outsider at her new school, except for Lupe, whose father is in jail for killing her mother.
  • Hunger Point by Jillian Medoff.  Like My Sister's Bones, this novel is about a girl with a sister who has an eating disorder. But unlike Billie, Frannie (the narrator of Hunger Point) is about as obsessed with food as her anorexic sister Shelley. After Shelley is checked into a hospital for her disease, Frannie discovers her own self-destructive tendencies.
  • Lisa Bright and Dark  by John Neufeld.  Lisa Shilling feels as though she is going mad. Her parents will not listen to her - they think it is "just a phase." This touching book allows readers to feel the fear and aloneness that Lisa experiences.
  • Dancing on the Edge by Han Nolan.  When Miracle McCloy's father "melts" and disappears completely, she becomes obsessed with contacting him in another world to bring him home. The more immersed she becomes in her ideas, the less of a grip she has on reality.
  • Brothers By Julian Thompson.  When he finds out that his older brother, and hero, Cam has disappeared from a mental hospital – he sets off to find him, and come to terms with his mental illness.
  • Aimee- Accused of playing a role in her best friend’s suicide, a young woman struggles to cope. 
  • The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath – A young woman on the brink of madness & suicide (mature readers only).
  • The Best Little Girl in the World – Girl’s battle with & triumph over anorexia. 
  • Catalyst- 18 year old runner & star student doesn’t get accepted at any colleges and her life spins out of control. 

 

Drugs (including alcohol)

1.                  Student Suggestions

·        Born Blue –

·        Gingerbread

·        Dreamland

·           A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris .  The spirited voice of 15-year-old half-Indian, half-black Rayona is but one of several alternating voices in a novel depicting three generations of contemporary Indian women struggling to find lives for themselves on and off the reservation.

·           Counting Coup: A True Story of Basketball and Honor on the Little Big Horn.  Larry Colton, former professional baseball player turned journalist, spent 15 months on the Crow Reservation in Montana to observe Hardin High School’s girls’ basketball team. One player stood out: Sharon LaForge, a talented but troubled teenager. As her story deepened and unfolded, so did Colton’s understanding of the conditions on the reservation as they affected the players’ lives and aspirations.

·           A Hero ain’t Nothing but a Sandwich. Originally published in 1973, Alice Childress's novel remains one of the most profound explorations of an addict's world ever written. This narrative technique creates a rich, heroic portrait of the social and psychological circumstances of addiction, love, and family.

·           Step from Heaven by An Na.  In poetic prose, the Korean-born protagonist of this novel recreates scenes of her childhood as an immigrant as she tries to adjust to American ways and remain a good Korean daughter despite her father's alcoholism and abuse.

·        Slam! by Walter Dean Myers.  Greg "Slam" Harris's life revolves around basketball. His game, which is formidable, is the only thing he has control over. Everything outside of the court is a struggle. Myers's book reflects difficulties faced by young kids when their dreams are all they have to hold onto.

·        Go Ask Alice by Anonymous  The torture of adolescence has rarely been captured as clearly as it is in this classic diary by an anonymous, addicted teen.

·        Imitate the Tiger by Jan Cheripko.  In Cheripko's first novel, a high school senior stubbornly refuses to acknowledge that he's an alcoholic. Christopher Serbo's grades are plunging, his girlfriend has called it quits, and home life with his aunt is a series of battles and deceptions.

·        A Door Near Here by Heather The mother of the four Donovan kids has taken to her bed and bottle, only stumbling out of her pigsty of a room occasionally in search of more vodka. Katharine, the oldest,  can't turn to their cold and selfish father for help, so the four siblings cling to their secrets--terrified that an adult will alert Social Services.

·        Martyn Pig by Kevin Brooks.  Meet Martyn Pig, a boy with a terrible name trapped in a terrible life. His mother has left him. His father is a belligerent, abusive alcoholic. It seems like his life can’t get any worse. And then it does.

·        That Was Then, This is Now.  By Hinton, S. E.  Life is about choices. Bryon and Mark make those choices.  Some were very bad and some were OK.  - choices about drugs, gangs, loyalty, and relationships?

·        Smack by Melvin Burgess. Winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Prize for Fiction, Melvin Burgess brilliantly sketches a gradual descent into drug addiction. There is no preaching here, just the artful revelation of cold, hard facts.

·        Angel Dust Blues by Todd Strasser .  Strasser's first book takes a look at drugs from the other end of the spectrum. Instead of focusing on the drug user, Strasser introduces you to the drug pusher, in this case, spoiled rich kid Alex Lazar. Alex is bored with his comfy life in his big house and his chronically absent parents.

·        Born Blue- Child of a heroin addict tries to rise above her environment. 

Violence (including suicide)

Student Suggestions:

o       Speak  -

o       Bruises

o       Dreamland

o       Driver’s Ed

o       Out of Control- sexual harassment in schools

o       Everytime a Rainbow Dies  Boy rebuilds life after witnessing a rape & interceding on the victim’s behalf. 

o       A Place to Call Home  Girl’s mother Commits suicide & she must raise her siblings alone.

o       Breathing Underwater – Boy who is abused by father begins to abuse girlfriend.  Then she brings charges against him and he must attend therapy.

·        Buried Onions by Gary Soto.  Nineteen-year-old Eddie's cousin has been murdered, and several people want Eddie to find the killer and take revenge. All Eddie wants is a future, and from the daringly ambiguous final scene, we don't even know what he finally chooses.

·        Tears of a Tiger by Sharon M. Draper.  When star basketball player Robert Washington and his three closest friends mix drinking and driving in a postgame victory celebration, Robert is killed in an auto accident. The driver, Andy Jackson, is unable to resolve his feelings of guilt and remorse.

·        Saint Jude by Dawn Wilson.   Taylor Drysdale is devastated when her mother commits her to St. Jude's Brick House, an outpatient program for teens with "problems." High-strung Taylor is convinced her divorced mother is just tired of dealing with her troubled daughter. Diagnosed as bipolar, Taylor hates her condition, fights depression, has setbacks. Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Sttrasser.  Strasser presents a passionate indictment of America's gun culture and the hierarchical system that has created a society of disaffected outsiders in America's secondary schools.  He charts the growing disaffection of Gary and Brendan, two teenage friends who dream of taking revenge on the people. (

·        Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida  by Victor Martinez's. Martinez writes with grace and humor about the summer leading up to Manny Hernandez's initiation into a gang, telling the story in a series of episodes that are poignant and harsh but also sometimes unexpectedly funny.

·        True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff.  At age 15, LaVaughn already knows that life is hard and that getting ahead takes a strong mind and an even stronger will. Surrounded by poverty and violence, she strives every day not to be just another inner-city statistic: The second novel in a proposed trilogy, True Believer picks up where Make Lemonade left off. 

·        Shattering Glass by Gail Giles.   Fat, clumsy Simon Glass is a textbook geek, and all three of Rob's posse hate him, each for his own reasons. But Rob is driven by the need to prove his power, and so he decrees that they will take on the seemingly impossible task of making Simon popular.

·        Beyond the Chocolate War by Robert Cormier..  The school year is almost at an end, and the chocolate sale is past history. But no one at Trinity School can forget The Chocolate War.  Archie Costello, commander of the secret school organization called the Virgils, has some torturous assignments to hand out before he graduates. In spite of this pleasure, Archie is troubled by his right-hand man, Obie, who has started to move away from the Virgils.

·        Ironman by Chris Crutcher.  Beauregard Brewster yearns to excel in the upcoming Yukon Jack swimming-biking-running triathlon. Seventeen-year-old Beau carries around quite a bit of attitude, however, and has just been suspended for a major run-in with his football coach and English teacher. In a series of unsent letters to TV and radio personality Larry King, the novel's main narrative device, Beau pours out his rage, his dreams, and his life story.

·        Monster by Walter Dean Myers.  Monster" is what the prosecutor called 16-year-old Steve Harmon for his supposed role in the fatal shooting of a convenience-store owner. But was Steve really the lookout who gave the "all clear" to the murderer, or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

·        Tangerine by Edward Bloor.  Paul Fisher, who is nearly blind, has an older brother who has always been the football-playing hero of the family. But when the Fishers move to Tangerine, Florida, Paul enters a place where weird is normal. And suddenly the blind can see.  Only Paul sees his brother’s violent behavior

·        We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier.  Jane Jerome and her family come home to find that vandals have destroyed their possessions, urinated on their walls, and left 14-year-old Karen in a coma at the bottom of the basement stairs. A deranged neighbor, who has already killed two people and styles himself ``The Avenger,'' has witnessed the trashing and secretly vows to track down the four teens responsible. One of the trashers. Impelled by guilt, by his parents' divorce, and by the urging of an amoral classmate, Buddy is rapidly becoming an alcoholic.

·        Tears of a Tiger by Sharon M. Draper.  When star basketball player Robert Washington and his three closest friends mix drinking and driving in a postgame victory celebration, Robert is killed in an auto accident. The driver, Andy Jackson, is unable to resolve his feelings of guilt and remorse. Neither Andy's parents nor his psychologist accurately perceive the depth of Andy's depression, with tragic results--Andy, at the end, commits suicide.

·        Chinese Handcuffs  by Chris Crutcher.  Dillon’s brother committed suicide.  Spend time with Dillon as he and Jennifer experience the ups and downs of life., and escape the secret life of abuse.

·        Breaking Point – Bullying & school Violence

·        Buried Onions – Violence & life in the Fesno barrio.

Peer Relationships

            Student Suggestions:

·        Hidden Talents

·        Any of the adolescent books by Walter Dean Myers or Chris Crutcher

·        Big Mouth & Ugly Girl – an alliance of misfits

·        Breaking Point – Bullying & school Violence

·        Bronx Masquerade – teenagers in the Bronx come together over writing poetry. 

·        Bull  Catcher – Boy has one goal on him mind – baseball but eventually is forced to rethink what matters most. 

·        Burger Wuss – Anthony seeks revenge against a school bully – humor.   

·        The Chocolate War

·        Razzle – a move forces and uncommon friendship with an eccentric teen

·        Painting the Black

·        Life in the Fat Lane

·        Crash

·        Flipped

·        If You Come Softly by Woodson a black boy & a Jewish girl face prejudice due to their relationship

·        Gingerbread

·        Hard ball – baseball archrivals are forced to spend a week together as a consequence of their violence

·        Define Normal

            Any books from the other categories that deal with peers or that are on Mrs. Cutlers 7/8 reading suggestion list.

Family Relationships

 

1 Student Suggestions

  • Life in the Fat  Lane  A pageant winning Popular girls gets a disease that makes her fat impacting her family & peer relationships.
  • A Place to Call Home  Girl’s mother Commits suicide & she must raise her siblings alone.
  • Flipped Grandfather & boy don’t get along and the boy is pressured to stay away from a girl that he likes.
  • The Secret Life Of Bees – Girls struggles with her father after her mothers death and finds sanctuary with another family.
  • Stick Figure
  • Hanging onto Max
  • Homecoming by Voight
  • Make lemonade
  • Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon Creech
  • Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer
  • If you Come Softly –By Jaqueline Woodson.       Gr. 7^-10. People stare when teenagers Miah and Ellie touch and hold hands in public. He is black. She is white. In alternating chapters, we learn about how they meet in their private high school and fall in love, and we learn a lot about their families, both of which are far from perfect.

·        After the First Death by Robert Cormier, Ben tries unsuccessfully to balance his father’s betrayal and his own failure after a busload of children is hijacked by terrorists.

·        Ironman by Chris Crutcher. Or any other teen books by Crutcher

  • Bowman’s Store – by Bruchac - Bruchac (Eagle Song, 1997, etc.) ``Sonny'' Bruchac lived with his grandparents in the Adirondack foothills of upstate New York, although his parents and younger sisters were not far away. In stories that spin out in the circular ripples of a pond, he chronicles his growing up, beginning each chapter with a First Peoples' story that illuminates what is to come.
  • April and the Dragon Lady -Gr. 7-12. April Chen, a Chinese American high-school junior, lives in Seattle with her widowed father; her brother, Harry; and her Grandma, the "Dragon Lady." Harry, the first-born son, is very much favored by Grandma, but as Grandma's health begins to fail, it is April who must relinquish important activities, one by one, to care for the elderly woman.
  • Habibi by Nye - Liyana Abboud, 14, and her family make a tremendous adjustment when they move to Jerusalem from St. Louis. All she and her younger brother, Rafik, know of their Palestinian father's culture come from his reminiscences of growing up and the fighting they see on television.
  • Annie’s Baby – Diary of Annie as she faces pregnancy as a teen.
  • Bad – Sentenced to a rehab center, Dallas faces her problems and low self esteem. 
  • A Face in Every Window
  • Ellen Foster
  • A Door Near Here