Because I Am Furniture

Author:Thalia Chaltas
Recommended Age: Young Adult
Publisher: Penguin Group
ISBN: 978-0-14-241510-8 
Year Published: 2010
No. Pages: 352
Genre: Realistic Fiction/ Free Verse
Main Character Gender: Female
Read & Reviewed by: Lisa

I don't get hit

I don't get fondled

I don't get love

because I am furniture.

Suits me fine.

  

Anke is a young girl who lives with her older siblings, and their abusive father. Her bother and sister have each suffered as a result of their father's abuse, while Anke remains untouched by him. In a strange way, she feels as though her siblings get a certain kind of attention that she will never receive. She feels unnoticed and invisible, like she is furniture. Her family doesn't like to talk about what is happening behind bedroom doors; her mother pretends nothing happens while her brother and sister never say a word. Anke copes with a newfound sport, volleyball. Volleyball gives her the opportunity to learn to use her voice. Will Anke's voice lead her to assert herself and possibly change her family's fate?

Exposed

Author: Kimberly Marcus
Recommended Age: Young Adult
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 978-0-375-86693-7
Year Published: 2011
No. Pages: 261
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Main Character Gender: Female
Read & Reviewed by: Lisa



What if something so horrible happened that you were forced to choose between your best friend or your brother? Whom would you choose?

This is a novel about sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Grayson, also known as Liz. Liz and her best friend Kate, have always been inseparable, and they couldn't imagine it any other way. At one of their regular, monthly sleepovers, the two of them have a fight which causes them to sleep in different rooms. The fight also caused some distance between the two of them. Kate avoids Liz, leaving her frustrated and confused. When Kate finally tells her that Liz's brother raped her, Liz is shocked and is forced to decide whom to trust. Her decision can either ruin her relationship with her brother, or her relationship with Kate.

What My Mother Doesn't Know

Author: Sonya Sones
Recommended Age: Young Adult
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0689855532
ISBN-13: 978-0689855535
Year Published: 2003
No. Pages: 259
Genre: Realistic Fiction/ Free Verse
Main Character Gender: Female
Read & Reviewed by: Zabrina


What My Mother Doesn't Know is a free verse novel about a fifteen-year-old girl named Sophie. She struggles like every young women with the idea of love. She falls in love with Dylan, the boy of her dreams. Soon, Sophie realizes that he isn't who she thought him to be and that she was in love with his good looks. Since his actions speak louder than words, Sophie starts an online romance in an attempt to find something else. Then she moves on to Murphy, the schools outcast. Sophie spends every minute with him but how can she tell her friends that she likes the biggest dork in the school? If she doesn't tell them, she is just like those who make fun of him. What will she do?

Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall

Author: Wendy Mass
Recommended Age: 12 and up
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0316058505
ISBN-13: 978-0316058506
Year Published: 2008
No. Pages: 256
Genre: Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Female
Read & Reviewed by: Kestrel


Have you ever looked back on yourlife; looked back at your mistakes and used them to change who you are now? Sixteen year old Tessa is forced to do the same. When hit by a dodge ball in gym class, she falls on the floor and blacks out. Instead of waking up in the hospital, she wakes up at the mall which is rather a natural place for her to be considering both her parents work there. Only when Tessa sees her reflection in a shop window does she realize she is still in her gym uniform and that her hair is still matted with blood. She realizes she must be a ghost or in her heaven. Luckily, a similar spirited boy shows up and gives her a bag of things she bought throughout her lifetime. These items enable her to relive moments in her past and reflect upon her life untill the accident. When she confronts the skeletons in the closet, she begins to change and learns to sparkle.

Sold

Author: Patricia McCormick
Recommended Age: 12+
Publisher: Hyperion Paperbacks for Children
ISBN: 978-0-7868-5172-0
Year Published: 2006
No. Pages: 263
Genre: Realistic Fiction/ Free Verse
Main Character Gender: Female
Read & Reviewed by: Zach




There are thousands of children trafficked into sex slavery every year, this novel is just one example of their stories.

Thirteen year old Lakshmi lives with her loving mother, her cruel step-father and her baby brother in a small hut in Nepal. She spends her days gathering water and doing household chores while in her spare time tending to her cucumber garden and caring for her pet goat, Tali. She excels at school, loves playing hopscotch with her friends and is promised in marriage to a young boy named Krisha.

Bad weather and her step-father's gambling addiction has made money and food scarce for her family. Lakshmi is then sold for 800 rupees to a woman from the city who promised her work as a maid. Soon, Lakshmi finds herself not even in Nepal but in Calcutta, India , where she learns the unbearable truth. She has been sold into sex slavery. While she have what it takes to survive?

What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know

Author: Sonya Sones
Recommended Age: Young Adult
Publisher: Simon & Schuster 
ISBN: 978-0-689-87603-5
Year Published: 2008
No. Pages: 291
Genre: Realistic Fiction/ Free Verse
Main Character Gender: Male
Read & Reviewed by: Zach




"My name in Robin Murphy this book is about me. It tells the story of what happens when after almost  fifteen pathetic years of being a loser, the girl of my dreams finally falls for me."

What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know is a free verse novel and the sequel to What My Mother Doesn't Know. The story picks up after Sophie decides to publicly date Robin Murphy. Robin is a great artist, an old music trivia buff and a social outcast. When Robin gets offered to audit art classes at Harvard, he feels better about himself because he makes new friends who like him for who he is. He also meets a girl who develops a crush on him and this causes him to make a mistake that could cost him what he cares about most.

I Heart You, You Haunt Me

Author: Lisa Schroeder
Recommended Age: Young Adult
Publisher: Simon Pulse
ISBN-10: 1416955208
Year Published: 2008
No. Pages: 226
Genre: Realistic Fiction/ Fantasy
Main Character Gender: Female
Read & Reviewed by: Chloe


“Girl meets boy. Girl loses boy. Girl gets boy back… sort of.”

In this free verse novel, Lisa Schroeder introduces a love story about two teenagers, Ava and Jackson. Jackson accepts a dare which turns out to be his last. Ava is understandably devastated until she catches glimpses of him in the mirror, touches him in her dreams and hears his faint whispers in her mind. People may think she’s crazy but she knows the truth. Is he really back? And does she even want this?