Traveling through pages

When I’m flying, and I don’t have portable DVDs I have to arrange, snacks I have to distribute, cups of juice I have to fill up, feet I have to keep pushing off the seat in front of them, and screams I need to tone down….

I can actually READ (and even sleep a little).

I finished 2 books on my flight to and from Philadelphia without the kids. They’re Young Adult books to review for my grad project, and they both were wonderful.

Laurie Halse Anderson is back at the top of her game with her newest novel Twisted. If you loved Speak (and I don’t know anyone who didn’t), then you will enjoy this story of a high school boy just as much. She writes it in the same sarcastic style and does not try to sugar-coat what actually goes on with boys in high schools today.

Cynthia Lord's book Rules is a well-crafted story of what it is like to live with an autistic sibling. The main character struggles to be a "normal" teenager, while also trying to protect her brother who most kids just think is "strange."


And this book wasn’t one I read this weekend, but one I read recently that was beautifully written, but hard to “digest.” Sold, by Patricia McCormick details one young girl's experience as she becomes the victim of sexual exploitation in India. It’s absolutely heartbreaking, but important to read.

If you haven’t discovered Young Adult literature for your adolescent or yourself…I highly suggest you pick up one of these texts and (re)discover the joy of a good book!