Adolescent Lit. 7/14/08 D, PR, C

It's been a "Power Read" weekend for me! I completed the follwoing books:
Flinn, A. (2001). Breathing underwater. New York: HarperCollins.

Haddix, M. P. (2005). Double identity. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for
Young Readers.
Johnson, A. (2003). The first part last. New York: Simon & Schuster Books
for Young Readers.
The first book I tackled was First part last a young adult novel by Angela Johnson, deals with the subject of teen pregnancy. The story is told from the father's perspective, which sets it apart from most books on teen pregnancy. Bobby and Nia, the child's parents, are urban upper-middle-class African-American teenagers. This book talks about Bobby being a father at the age of 16. Bobby raises his little girl, Feather, on his own and realizes how hard it truly is to be a parent. Bobby is just an impulsive teenage at the beginning but, by the end of this quick-read, he is in the process of making the right of passage and "coming-of-age". Becoming a parent at any age is terrifying and being sixteen the reality of it can be extremely life-shaking!

The second book was an exhilarating thriller by, Margaret Peterson Haddix, who crafts a sci-fi story so full of twists and turns, readers will be gripped until the startling conclusion. Cloning is the subject and what teenager would want to find out they are not the only one like them. This goes against everything they ever heard from the big purple dino on tv that, "they are special, they're the only one, the only one like you!" Bethany is approaching her thirteenth birthday and mom and dad are acting even weirder if that's possible. This was also a "quick-read", however; it took more than half the book to get to the cloning part but, over-all I thought it was great character/climax set-up.

And for the final book, I finished at 11:56 pm on Sunday night just making the weekend curfew, The story of 16-year-old Nicholas Andreas, a wealthy Miami teen who is sent to anger management because his girlfriend, Caitlin, takes out a restraining order against him. Ordered by the judge to write about his relationship, Nick tells of falling in love with her, and the eventual time when his anger took over. Breathing underwater by Alex Flinn is set in Miami and Key West, Florida and is well deserving of it's ALA pick as a Top-10 Best Book for Young Adults for 2001. I started it and found it hard to put down. Flinn an excellent job of describing a teenager and how he thinks. This book is worth the journey!