YUMMY: THE LAST DAYS OF A SOUTHSIDE SHORTY by G. Neri

Eleven-year-old Robert Sandifer--nicknamed "Yummy"--made national news in 1994 for shooting an eleven-year-old girl named Shavon on the street in Southside Chicago.  We learn about Yummy's life and what leads up to this murder.  Yummy usually stays with his grandmother who tries to take care of about 20 other grandchildren, so Yummy turns to a gang to find a family.  The story is told through the character of Roger, another eleven-year-old who knew both Yummy and Shavon.  Roger tries to understand what happened.

This graphic novel is a very powerful retelling of this tragic event.  We see Yummy as both a monster and a child, a murderer and a victim.  Only the illustrations are black and white.

REVOLUTION by Jennifer Donnelly

Andi Alpers lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is a senior at a very exclusive private high school for very wealthy students.   But Andi's life is in shambles.  She is haunted by the death of her younger brother, Truman--a death for which she feels responsible.  Since Truman's death, Andi's parents have divorced, her father has a young girlfriend, and her unstable mother does nothing but paint pictures of Truman.  Despite Andi's intelligence and musical talent, she will not graduate unless she finishes her senior project.   Andi's father decides to take Andi with him to Paris to stay at the home of some old friends.  Here Andi discovers a hidden journal written by a girl who lived through the French Revolution in the 1790s.  So we follow two stories:  Andi struggling to accept her brother's death, her distant father, and her unstable mother.  And  Alex, the caretaker of the King of France's young son, who is doomed.

This is a beautifully written book!  The contrast between Andi's life and Alex's life is striking, yet they both struggle with devastating losses.  Would be a great read for Western Civilization class.

NUMBERS by Rachel Ward

Like many teenagers, Jem struggles.  Since her drug addicted mother died of an overdose, she has lived in a series of foster homes in London.  But Jem is different from other people as well.  When she looks someone in the eye, numbers appear to her.  Her mother's number was 10102001.  When her mother died on Oct. 10, 2001, Jem realizes that the numbers she sees reflect the day that the person will die.  Jem becomes friends with Spider, a boy from school.  One day the two ditch school and visit a tourist attraction with a huge crowd.  As Jem looks at each person, they all have the same number--today's date.  She knows that they will all die that day.  She convinces Spider to run from the center, and witnesses hear her say that something is going to happen to all of those people.  When a terrorist bomb goes off and all of those people do die, the police begin a search for Jem and Spider.

The premise of a character knowing when others will die is an intriguing one; interestingly, the book presents some contemporary issues in a very realistic way.  Jem's isolation and loneliness is touching.

THE MAZE RUNNER by James Dashner

Thomas wakes up in an elevator and can remember nothing about himself or his life except his name.  When the doors open he is delivered to a world inhabited by teenage boys who, like himself, can remember nothing about their lives before they were delivered to the Glade.  The boys have organized a life for themselves with set jobs and set schedules.  Some boys are assigned the job of runner and explore the maze that surrounds the Glade everyday before the stone doors to the maze shut every night.  The boys think that if they solve the maze they will be able to escape the Glade.  The boys were expecting Thomas when he arrives, but they were not expecting Teresa, the girl who arrives the next day.  They begin to suspect that things are about to drastically change in their world.

The book is written in short chapters--every episodic.  It has lots of action and suspense.

ROOM by Emma Donoghue

Jack is a typical 5-year-old.  He likes reading books, watching cartoons, and playing with his mother.  But Jack's life has been anything but typical.  He has lived his entire life in a single room.  In Room, he tells us, he sleeps in Wardrobe, jumps on Bed, and plays on Rug.   But nightly visits from Old Nick terrify him and his mother.  The reader soon realizes that Jack's mother was abducted by Old Nick 6 years before, and Jack was born in this room and has never left it.  But Jack's mother soon picks up on clues that Old Nick will not be able to keep them much longer and she plans their escape.

This is a wonderful book!  Jack's voice as the narrator is believable, endearing, and heart-breaking.  

MATCHED by Ally Condie

Cassia is excited about her Match banquet.  What 17-year-old girl wouldn't be?  It is at this banquet that Cassia will find out who she will marry.  Usually, the matched couple have never met, and they spend some time getting to know each other before they marry, but Cassia is lucky, she knows her match.  In fact, she has been friends with Xander for most of her life.  He is a perfect match.  Or is he?  Why, for just a second, does she see another boy's face on the matching screen?  Cassia knows this boy, Ky, as well, and she finds herself drawn to him in ways that she is not attracted to Xander.  But Society does not allow people to make choices like this.  When Cassia shares a poem with Ky that is not one of the 100 approved poems, the two of them become involved with each other and with a political movement that questions the predetermined life that Society has created for them.

Readers who liked The Hunger Games series will enjoy this book as well.  Matched is the first book of a planned trilogy.