Books2Ubooktalker
Multnomah County Library
Books2Ubooktalker's Completed Shelf
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Dec 28, 2017
Summary:
When her mother tells her to, "Get out!" 14 year-old Newfoundlander Bun O'Keefe squeezes through the piles of trash bags and hoarded junk and leaves the family home, arriving in St. John's in November with no coat. Seeming to be without funds, common sense, street smarts, or social skills, she is scooped up by a busking young guitar player and taken home to a run-down building occupied by a family of outcasts: a drag queen former medical student, a Catholic school girl with guilt and secrets, a First Nations young man with a debt to repay, and a dishwasher with dreams of becoming a chef but currently a student at the culinary school. The attic-dwelling landlord is creepy and Bun is warned to steer clear of him. As the weeks go by, readers learn more about each of the characters. Bun finds friendship and acceptance in this loving family who nurture her in many ways. Readers cheer not only Bun, but her friends too, who are all struggling to find acceptance and a place to live their real lives. At the end there is hope for better things in 1987.When her mother tells her to, "Get out!" 14 year-old Newfoundlander Bun O'Keefe squeezes through the piles of trash bags and hoarded junk and leaves the family home, arriving in St. John's in November with no coat. Seeming to be without funds,…
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 24, 2012
Summary:
Autobiography. Brent Runyon was 14 when he poured gasoline on his bathrobe and set himself afire. Book details the year that follows with intensive care and rehab, family therapy and eventually returning to high school. Descriptions of depressed and violent thinking that continue well past the fire.Autobiography. Brent Runyon was 14 when he poured gasoline on his bathrobe and set himself afire. Book details the year that follows with intensive care and rehab, family therapy and eventually returning to high school. Descriptions of depressed and…
Suitability
Contains Frightening or intense scenes
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 24, 2012
Summary:
13 year-old girl from Nepal is sold into sexual slavery in Calcutta. Brutal hopeless conditions for the girls. Brothel owners keep them, discard when ill. Corruption keeps police at bay. Story based on true facts of the terrible conditions for girls sold by fathers, brothers, uncles, mothers and kept as slaves until too sick to work.13 year-old girl from Nepal is sold into sexual slavery in Calcutta. Brutal hopeless conditions for the girls. Brothel owners keep them, discard when ill. Corruption keeps police at bay. Story based on true facts of the terrible conditions for girls…
Suitability
Contains Sexual content, Frightening or intense scenes
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
A home run by Paterson.
Summary:
Angel cares for her spoiled younger brother and wishes for her daddy to come home from prison. Instead her mama leaves them with great-grandma. On the farm she discovers a quiet astronomer who shows her the universe bit by bit.
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Rachel Spinelli Punched Me in the FaceRachel Spinelli Punched Me in the Face, Book
by Acampora, PaulBook - 2011Book, 2011
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
Zach is 14 but the story feels like something for a younger student.
Summary:
After his mother leaves for an exciting life on a cruise ship, Zach and his dad leave Colorado and start a new life in Connecticut. Neighbor girl and her older brother, Polish couple who own the ice cream shop, music teacher and others welcome in this duo. May-August goes by and finally Zach gets punched and his mom comes to visit and they begin to sort things out.After his mother leaves for an exciting life on a cruise ship, Zach and his dad leave Colorado and start a new life in Connecticut. Neighbor girl and her older brother, Polish couple who own the ice cream shop, music teacher and others welcome in…
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Summary:
Story follows DeShawn, a boy in the projects, who lives with his sister and grandma in a neighborhood short on hope and long on teen pregnancies, gangs, drug use, crime and early death. We start with a DeShawn who still admires a local police officer and who avoids the gangs, and end up with a young teen desperate to provide for his family and willing to do anything for them, even becoming head of the gang.Story follows DeShawn, a boy in the projects, who lives with his sister and grandma in a neighborhood short on hope and long on teen pregnancies, gangs, drug use, crime and early death. We start with a DeShawn who still admires a local police…
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
Can I just say that although this is a powerful and engaging story, it is also very truthful about cancer and a real downer if you know anyone with cancer or have lost someone to the disease. It was very hard to read this and probably more frightening to me than to many other readers. Have a kleenex in hand. I guess a good story for kids who are losing parents to cancer but can't say it would be very pleasant reading... Cancer sucks. It is a monster.Can I just say that although this is a powerful and engaging story, it is also very truthful about cancer and a real downer if you know anyone with cancer or have lost someone to the disease. It was very hard to read this and probably more…
Summary:
Heavily illustrated with dark, realistic sketches. Conor suffers with terrible nightmares of a monster, deals with bullies and isolation at school, and tries to believe his mum when she says her cancer treatments are working. Then the giant yew tree out in the yard becomes a monster who haunts Conor with daytime dreams, telling him 3 parables and requiring Conor to tell the 4th story - his own - himself.Heavily illustrated with dark, realistic sketches. Conor suffers with terrible nightmares of a monster, deals with bullies and isolation at school, and tries to believe his mum when she says her cancer treatments are working. Then the giant yew tree…
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Summary:
Iqbal is sold by his parents to a carpet factory where he is chained to a loom for most of the day, let off only to sleep in a dark shed with other child workers. Eventually he revolts and tries to attract attention to the plight of child carpet weavers. Based on a real boy who advocated for reform of child labor practices and who was later run down by a car.Iqbal is sold by his parents to a carpet factory where he is chained to a loom for most of the day, let off only to sleep in a dark shed with other child workers. Eventually he revolts and tries to attract attention to the plight of child carpet…
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
Hopeful ending.
Past BOOKS 2 U book.
Summary:
Arranged marriage in India brings grief and a succession of changes to a young girl's life. Vivid descriptions.
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
BOOKS 2 U book.
Summary:
Starving families send sons from Mexico to the USA in hopes they will find work and send home money.
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
Past BOOKS 2 U book.
Summary:
British sisters live with their much-loved but mentally ill mother who has a lot of tattoos. Sometimes life is happy, other times they are neglected. Older sister eventually contacts their (more stable) father and plans to leave and live with him. Younger daughter worries about who will look after her mother if she goes too.British sisters live with their much-loved but mentally ill mother who has a lot of tattoos. Sometimes life is happy, other times they are neglected. Older sister eventually contacts their (more stable) father and plans to leave and live with him.…
Ties That Bind, Ties That BreakTies That Bind, Ties That Break, Book
by Namioka, LenseyBook - 2000Book, 2000
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
Past BOOKS 2 U book.
The Perks of Being A WallflowerThe Perks of Being A Wallflower, Unknown
by Chbosky, StephenUnknown - 1999Unknown, 1999
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
Seems like a very real life and we love Charlie by the end, even if he cries all the time. Then we find out why he cries, and that made me cry. Absolutely brilliant book. I can see why some adults have banned it, but what's there is real and teens will know it.Seems like a very real life and we love Charlie by the end, even if he cries all the time. Then we find out why he cries, and that made me cry. Absolutely brilliant book. I can see why some adults have banned it, but what's there is real and teens…
Summary:
After learning of the suicide of another student, "Charlie" writes letters to ??? and tells us about his life as a lonely HS freshman. Sadness, loss and past mental health issues. He makes friends, learns about smoking cigarettes, spliffs, and LSD. Drinks and eats fast food. He experiments with girls and experiences kissing one boy and always loves Sam(antha), his good friend. He reads awesome books and tells us about them and has ups and downs with friends.After learning of the suicide of another student, "Charlie" writes letters to ??? and tells us about his life as a lonely HS freshman. Sadness, loss and past mental health issues. He makes friends, learns about smoking cigarettes, spliffs, and LSD.…
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
Serious book but totally engaging, a real page-turner. Often books with multi-characters are confusing but the story line flowed in their poems making it easy to remember what had happened last to each one. I'm sure that many teens have had exactly these lives and the quickness of their fall and the bleakness of their situation - at age 15, 16, 17 - makes it hard to imagine anyone ever getting out alive.Serious book but totally engaging, a real page-turner. Often books with multi-characters are confusing but the story line flowed in their poems making it easy to remember what had happened last to each one. I'm sure that many teens have had exactly…
Summary:
600 pages. Amazing book all in poem form. Follows 5 teens from Western US. Each travels a rocky route and ends up prostituting themselves in Vegas. Good Pentacostal daughter who had a boyfriend is sent to off to repent at wilderness religious retreat. Gay Midwest teen finds sugar daddy, gets bored, turns tricks on the side. Spoiled and ignored Santa Cruz teen girl wants love & boyfriend and ends up unwittingly meeting a pimp, getting hooked on heroin, pimped out in Vegas. Oldest daughter flees after being pimped out by her skanky mom, slowly remembers all the other times this has happened. Handsome teen boy turns to online gambling to pay family bills and loses a fortune. He's not gay, but he's soon turning tricks in Vegas. Glimpses of redemption for some at end.600 pages. Amazing book all in poem form. Follows 5 teens from Western US. Each travels a rocky route and ends up prostituting themselves in Vegas. Good Pentacostal daughter who had a boyfriend is sent to off to repent at wilderness religious…
Suitability
Ages 16
Contains Sexual content, Frightening or intense scenes
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
BOOKS 2 U book.
Summary:
A meteorite hits the moon, moon's orbit shifts closer to earth causing massive tidal surges, volcanic activity, early winter. Miranda & family stock up on food, wood, and try to survive cold, starvation, disease.
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Summary:
Grieving teen isolated with feelings accompanies estranged father to South Africa where her older sister was murdered. Journey to memorial helps girl sort out her feelings about her sister, dad, life, the ceremony, the future. South Africa political interest.Grieving teen isolated with feelings accompanies estranged father to South Africa where her older sister was murdered. Journey to memorial helps girl sort out her feelings about her sister, dad, life, the ceremony, the future. South Africa political…
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
BOOKS 2 U book.
Summary:
Short stories about boys and girls in Fresno, California who all sort of don't fit into their families or fit their parents' expectations.
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
BOOKS 2 U book.
Summary:
Rachel's mother has abandoned the family, but she and her father stumble along and eventually find peace and a new life without her.
Mom walks out on the first page. She is bipolar. We learn about her and the dad who stays behind in poems written by their only daughter, who learns to adjust over the period of a year. Dad & daughter bond. Powerful emotions. Not much sympathy for mom…Rachel's mother has abandoned the family, but she and her father stumble along and eventually find peace and a new life without her.
Mom walks out on the first page. She is bipolar. We learn about her and the dad who stays behind in poems written…
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Summary:
Short stories about Hispanic boys and girls in Fresno, California and their small forays into crime.
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
Exciting, but..
Summary:
13 year old "Asta's Son" flees his village after being tagged a "wolf's head" and nearly being killed. He learns his real name is Crispin and finds a huge friend named Bear to guide him through the countryside to the truth about his birth.
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
Slow story. Ending is disappointing.
Summary:
1850's boy's father is arrested for debt, sent to prison. Story of traitors, artillery secrets, espionage, plots and the mystery of who is really who and who is the real villain.
So Now You're A ZombieSo Now You're A Zombie, BookA Handbook for the Newly Undead
by Austin, JohnBook - 2010Book, 2010
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
Sounds great funny but I don't think it would get more than a couple of looks. Fun idea but I didn't think the book itself was very fun. Reading level definitely HS and above. Very wordy, although tweens will like paging past the illustrations.
Summary:
A tongue-in-cheek guidebook. How to tell if you are a zombie, how you move, what you want to eat, how you find food. Ways to break into a house, a car, escape. What can kill you.
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
Happy ending. Fast paced. Doesn't dwell on disaster or depression. Cheerful community.
BOOKS 2 U book.
Summary:
Based partly on the author's husband. 11 year-old boy in 1946 loses his left hand in a meat grinder accident. Spends a year adjusting, learning to play baseball again. Mom pushes him hard, Dad is guilt-ridden.
Borrowed NamesBorrowed Names, UnknownPoems About Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madam C.J. Walker, Marie Curie, and Their Daughters
by Atkins, JeannineUnknown - 2010Unknown, 2010
Books2Ubooktalker's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2012
Comment:
If you love biographies and know about these famous women then you will enjoy the verses. If you don't know much, then you might be happier with a detailed biography.
Summary:
Fascinating poems tell the life stories of three pairs of moms & daughters: Laura Ingalls Wilder & Rose Wilder Lane, Madame CJ Walker and her daughter, and Marie Curie and her oldest daughter. Very interesting lives that separate and then return.
Comment: