Best Teen & Young Adult Substance Abuse Fiction eBooks
Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award An ALA Best Book for Young Adults An ALA Quick Pick A Los Angeles Times 2005 Book Prize Finalist A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age A 2005 Booklist Editor’s Choice A 2005 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year Before. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). Ominous chapter headings (40 days before, 10 days after) reveal that something tragic may happen. The teen becomes captivated by his new friends who spend as much energy on sex, smoking, drinking, and cutting-up as they do on reading, learning, and searching for life's meaning. Listeners will be riveted as the friends band together to deal with the catastrophic events that plague their junior year, and rejoice at their triumphs. This story belongs in all collections for older young adults, especially those who like Chris Crutcher, David Klass, and Terry Trueman.— JoAnn Carhart, East Islip Public Library, NY Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you’re reading reviews instead of reading the book then stop being lame and go read it."
"I didn't enjoy this as much, probably because it was most about the "why" the event happened, and I had already figured it out."
"I loved the way it was set up, starting with “one hundred thirty-six days before…” and continued moving closer to whatever was going to happen. The story evoked a wide range of emotions, from laughing hysterically at some of the kids’ pranks to deep sadness at the consequences of some of the same. It covered sensitive topics, such as substance abuse, sex and death, directly and with honesty."
"In the book it sets up the book as a predictable love story or falling for the girl story but has many changes in the plot that may catch you off guard but overall thrill and excite you."
"His books go so into detail and can reach out to young teens with his words through the story."
"I highly recommend this book as it allows you to read and think about what is happening."
"I wanted to give this book less stars, but I realized it was for a personal reason."
"Vast, beautiful, full of discovery and awe inspiring."
2 Crank
Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. Her decision to keep the baby slows her drug use, but doesn't stop it, and the author leaves the reader with the distinct impression that Kristina/Bree may never be free from her addiction. In the author's note, Hopkins warns "nothing in this story is impossible," but when Kristina's controlled, high-powered mother allows her teenage daughter to visit her biological father (a nearly homeless known drug user), the story feels unbelievable. Although she tries to reconnect with her mother and her former life as a good student, her drug use soon takes over, leaving her "starving for speed" and for boys who will soon leave her scarred and pregnant. –Sharon Korbeck, Waupaca Area Public Library, WI Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is by far one of my favorite authors, and this book doesn't disappoint!"
"This book was very good."
"Its a huge book and people are always like I can't believe you can read all that and then I show them and they understand."
"I finished the book while traveling to vacation and am near finishing the second book Glass while traveling home from vacation. My sister just sent me an email that she is on the 2nd book already and has the same "addiction" to reading it."
"Very eye opening book about someone struggling with drugs, relationships and families."
"I didn't think I'd like the free verse style, but I loved this book!"
"I laughed, I cried, at times I couldn't put it down, and at other times I had to put it down because it's so intense every emotion I never knew I had was being ripped wide open."
"Amazing book series."
Alice. USES DRUGS. Despite a few dated references to hippies and some expired slang, Go Ask Alice still offers a jolting chronicle of a teenager's life spinning out of control.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book is amazing."
"Great book."
"Book left me speechless."
"It might not be a true story but.. it could happen.."
"It is a great story to read."
"My girlfriend loved this book growing up and her name is Alice."
"It really makes the reader understand how people think when they get involved in drugs."
Best Teen & Young Adult Drugs & Alcohol Abuse Fiction
A gorgeous collector's edition of the critically acclaimed debut novel by John Green, #1 bestselling author of Turtles All the Way Down and The Fault in Our Stars A perfect gift for any fan, this deluxe hardcover features a stunning special edition jacket and 50 pages of all-new exclusive content, including: Girls will cry and boys will find love, lust, loss and longing in Alaska’s vanilla-and-cigarette’s scent.” –Kirkus Reviews , starred review. “Alive with sweet, self-deprecating humor.…like Phineas in John Knowles’s A Separate Peace , Green draws Alaska so lovingly, in self-loathing darkness as energetic light.” –School Library Journal , starred review. · A 2005 Teens’ Top Ten Selection. · An ALA Best Book for Young Adults Top 10. · An ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Readers. · A Booklist Editors’ Choice. · A Kirkus Best Book of 2005. · A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. · A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"His books go so into detail and can reach out to young teens with his words through the story."
"I wanted to give this book less stars, but I realized it was for a personal reason."
"Vast, beautiful, full of discovery and awe inspiring."
"I LOVE John Green's writing. This story was very different from what I usually read."
"You are a potential buyer of said book I am reviewing. Because I see no other fit way for the review of this book. You see, by the end of this book, Miles is a changed person."
"A quote Alaska contemplates throughout this book is “how will I ever get out of the labyrinth of misery?” I believe Alaska didn't think she deserved to escape the labyrinth and that’s why she rebelled so much and she wanted Miles to rebel with her because she was so lonely."
"LOOKING FOR ALASKA, had excellent characterizations of the title character (Alaska Young), the protagonist (Miles "Pudge" Halter), the protagonist's clever roommate (Chip "Colonel" Martin), and their Asian sidekick (Takumi)."
"The merits of John Green's novel stand in the way it starts conversations about big issues in the small universe of a campus."
Best Teen & Young Adult Poetry eBooks
Though Dr. Seuss is known for his peerless work in books for children, this comical look at what it's like to get older is ideal for Seuss fans of advanced years. Subtitled A Book for Obsolete Children , this unusual item in the Seuss canon doesn't really belong among the children's books. Written to celebrate the nonsense master's 82nd birthday, it follows "you" (an elderly gent in a suit and white moustache) through a physical check-up in some fiendish geriatric clinic.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"True Seuss style, Colorful drawings, but; really still a bit too juvenile for adults of a certain age."
"I bought this as a gift for a friend who was retiring."
"Bought this as a gag birthday present for our young daughter and she read it to us as if we were the students and she was the teacher."
"Quickly shipped and provided lots of laughs for a 75th birthday."
"Brother's 80th birthday present.....he loved it ...."
"Bought for a retirees party."
"My friend loved this book for her 50th birthday."
"Added to gifts for the girls."
Best Teen & Young Adult Depression Fiction eBooks
The first ten lies they tell you in high school. "Speak up for yourself--we want to know what you have to say." Since the beginning of the school year, high school freshman Melinda has found that it's been getting harder and harder for her to speak out loud: "My throat is always sore, my lips raw.... Every time I try to talk to my parents or a teacher, I sputter or freeze.... Could it be due to the fact that no one at school is speaking to her because she called the cops and got everyone busted at the seniors' big end-of-summer party? While Melinda is bothered by these things, deep down she knows the real reason why she's been struck mute... Laurie Halse Anderson's first novel is a stunning and sympathetic tribute to the teenage outcast. The triumphant ending, in which Melinda finds her voice, is cause for cheering (while many readers might also shed a tear or two).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I didn't think I'd be so gripped by this book but the author captures the pains and troubles of everyday high school life with such honesty and emotion that I couldn't help recognize half the characters from my own high school days."
"The story is written from the perspective of a high school girl."
"I thought this was a great book."
"Melinda rings true as a normal but depressed teen-ager, and I loved that the book depicted Melinda as a multi-facted person - someone dealing with having been raped, but who isn't defined by it. But the thing I loved the very most about this book was that it was so honest. A lot of YA fiction seems like there's a tragedy involved but only as the backdrop to a story which is ultimately a cheap fantasy - everyone rallies around the selfless, popular, and beautiful heroine."
"The author was spot on, I feel, with Melinda's voice."
"Just wanted to slap her parents, who seemed dysfunctional, and have them notice their child needs help."
"If you are a parent and your school is not having students read this book I would recommend you read this book first to see if you think your tween/teen is ready to handle the content."
"This was extremely thought provoking and I really think everyone should read it."
Best Teen & Young Adult Diseases, Illnesses & Injuries Fiction eBooks
-Millions of copies sold-. #1 New York Times Bestseller. #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller. #1 USA Today Bestseller. #1 International Bestseller. Amazon Best Books of the Month, January 2012 : In The Fault in Our Stars , John Green has created a soulful novel that tackles big subjects--life, death, love--with the perfect blend of levity and heart-swelling emotion. The two are kindred spirits, sharing an irreverent sense of humor and immense charm, and watching them fall in love even as they face universal questions of the human condition--How will I be remembered? To help her deal with this, her doctor sends her to a weekly support group where she meets Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor, and the two fall in love. After announcing he would sign all 150,000 copies of this title’s first print run, it shot to the top of Amazon and Barnes & Noble’s best-seller lists six months before publication.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"So many interactions between Gus and Hazel are interactions which, plain and simple, just would not happen between real, emotional, scared, awkward, virgin teenagers, let alone ones with cancer who have been socially cut off for much of their lives." After treatment, many of us find the things most teens (and sometimes adults) are worried about are trivial. And, it is emotional and scary, but we learn to tell it like it is, without the normal fluff and awkwardness. They try to keep the family together and functioning, in spite of the effects of treatment, fevers and midnight trips to the emergency room, 3 weeks of the month spent in isolation, jobs in jeopardy, birthdays and holidays interrupted, not to mention talks that parents never want to have with their child. My mom said their jobs become about doing whatever it takes, travelling all over the country (which is very common), researching new studies, and new medicines, all to help us survive and thrive with grace and dignity. It is also their job to prepare, if treatments don't work, to help us die with just as much grace and dignity."
"Green wrote this sad, tragic, yet beautiful story, it brings tears to my eyes."
"Both Hazel and Augustus suffer with some form of cancer, they have been robbed a joyous childhood, fun and games replaced by painful treatments and operations. I was not fond of the beginning,but Augustus tenacity won me over and the reader will fall in love with Gus's loyalty and companionship as deeply as Hazel. Together, Hazel and Augustus carve out a pocket of time to discover the sweet perfection of loving a person so much life seems meaningless with out them. This book reminds us that we are all here for a reason, no matter how much time we have, or what we accomplish, rich or poor, successful or not, that a rut in the road of life has been created with a lasting impression that will be there forever."
"Hazel & Gus' love story is inspiring and heartbreaking all at the same time. And both Hazel & Gus' parents play big rolls in the book. There are not enough words to describe how wonderful this book is and nothing I can say will give it the justice it deserves."