Maxine Banks is Getting Married by Lori Aurelia Williams

“So we really gonna do this? You’re sure?”

Seventeen-year-old Maxine Banks has her mind set on marrying her long-time boyfriend, Brian, after her best friend Tia gets married and moves away. Maxine thinks of marriage as a way of escaping her mother – a woman who neglects her while only paying attention to whichever man she happens to be involved with at the moment. After convincing Brian to become her husband, she fabricates a pregnancy to persuade her mom and Brian’s dad to give them their blessing. Married life for Maxine and Brian is short-lived after she finds out he was unfaithful. After kicking him out of the house, she is frightened at the prospect of having to move back in with her mother. A seemingly perfect solution comes about when Brian’s dad offers to let her stay in a house he owns and provide her with money if she agrees to look after his wayward thirteen-year-old niece, Demonee. Maxine has her hands full as she struggles to keep Demonee in check while trying to finish up her senior year of high school.

This book is full of drama and tackles a variety of issues affecting teens. If you seek a quick read with a unique storyline and well-developed characters, then this is the book for you. It is sure to generate a lot of discussion among those who give it a try.

Red Hats by Damon Wayans

“Alma opened the box and pulled out a beautiful, large brimmed, red-feathered hat accented with gorgeous strawberry-red brocade.”

Alma is a bitter, sharp-tongued woman who refers to her husband, Harold, as her “has been”. She has a hard time showing him any affection, even though she misses what they once had. One afternoon, angry at Harold for something trivial, Alma mutters under her breath that she wishes he would die. To her shock and disbelief, he succumbs that evening to a heart attack leaving Alma all alone and guilt -ridden. She is about to commit suicide when ladies from the Red Hat Society intervene and help her get back on her feet. She enjoys spending time with them, but becomes angry when they present her with her very own red hat and ask her to join them. She calls them a cult and shuts them out of her life. But, when tragedy strikes, Alma finally learns about the power of friendship, love and forgiveness. This touching tale is one that stays with you long after you’ve finished reading it. What impresses me even more is the author, comedian Damon Wayans of “In Living Color” fame. Who knew that such a raucously funny man could write such an intimately moving book?

Dirty Little Secrets by C. J. Omololu

Everyone has secrets. Some are just bigger and dirtier than others.

When sixteen-year-old Lucy was in elementary school one of her friends found out her family’s secret and told the entire class. Lucy was humiliated and suffered the taunts and name calling by her classmates until her mother agreed to send her to a new school. Ever since then, Lucy has fought hard to keep anyone from finding out about her mother’s extreme hoarding. She never invites friends over for fear that will not want to be her friend anymore for living in a house that is cluttered from floor to ceiling with junk. She can barley move around due to the tall stacks of newspapers, piles of clothes and garbage strewn about. When her mother dies unexpectedly, Lucy must figure out a way to keep her living conditions private. There is no way she wants her friends, neighbors and especially the media to know her dirty little secret.

This is a timely book about a subject that is getting a lot of attention due the popular reality television shows “Hoarders” and ”Hoarding.” Readers will be immediately drawn into this story as they sympathize with Lucy and her drastic efforts to keep others from seeing how horrible her house is. Omololu’s descriptive writing helps you to easily imagine how awful the house must smell and how horrific the sight of mold and mountains of junk would look like. Dirty Little Secrets provides great insight into the issue of hoarding and how it affects families and is not one to be missed.

Party by Tom Leveen

What’s the go?

It’s Saturday night and the big end of the school year party is going down. Everyone will be there and each of them has different expectations for the night. Some want to spend one last night of fun with classmates before summer vacation, while others just want to get drunk. A few more just want to get noticed while some just want to make a friend. Party focuses on eleven different teens at the party and each chapter is written from one of their points of view. Their stories connect and intersect as we read about their problems, fears and dreams. Leveen effectively explores loss, friendship, dating, sex and racism in this compelling read that will appeal to both boys and girls alike. Adults will even appreciate this one as it will remind them of classic teen cinema such as “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles.”

Liar by Justine Larbalestier

I will not tell a lie. I will not tell a lie. I will not tell a lie. I will not tell a lie.

Seventeen-year-old Micah readily admits that she is a liar. She explains that she lies to hide the family secret (which I will not divulge so as to not give away too much of the story). So, when she is a freshman at a private New York high school and everyone thinks she is a boy because of her name and short hairstyle, she goes along with it. When questioned on that fib, she leads her classmates into thinking she was born a hermaphrodite. She also lies that her father is an arms dealer. Micah’s lies come back to haunt her when popular student, Zack is murdered. When everyone finds out that Micah and Zack had a secret relationship the whispers and gossip begins. Could she be Zack’s killer? After finishing this book, the ending is so ambiguous that I’m not sure that she did or didn’t. For those who desire an original premise and like speculative fiction, this one is definitely for you. Because of language and mild sexual situations, I recommend this one to older teens.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

If you want to make it, all you have to do is try.

When William Kamkwamba was fourteen he had to leave school after his parents could no longer afford to pay his tuition. To help his family earn money, he assisted with the planting and harvesting of their crops of corn and tobacco. All the while, Kamkwamba remained hopeful that he would return to school and took it upon himself to visit the his local library every day so that he could continue to study. During one visit he discovered a book on electricity and became inspired to learn all that he could. In no time he was building and repairing radios for his neighbors. With this success, he was encouraged to build a windmill, something that would be of great help to his family. He envisioned having light and being able to listen to the radio after dark. He also was eager to set up a pump that would bring clean water to his family from a nearby river. Although many in his village thought him to be a mad man and he faced many obstacles, Kamkwamba never gave up.

One of the strengths of this book for me is the description of the flood, drought and famine that plagued Malawi in 2002 and how desperate everyone felt as their food supply dwindled. I was also fascinated with Kamkwamba’s description of Malawian social life and customs. This book was about so much more than windmills and I loved it.

A Girl Named Mister by Nikki Grimes

First it was Mary, then it was M.R. Mister is all anybody calls me now.

Mary Rudine, nicknamed Mister because of her initials, has always been a “good girl.” She attends church every Sunday, sings in the choir, and does well in school. When she meets Trey the feelings she has for him throw her for a loop and she forgets the promise she made to God to save herself for marriage. She thinks she loves Trey and has sex with him. After she ends up pregnant, he abandons her. Feeling all alone, she begins to question whether God still loves her. She discovers a book of poetry about the Virgin Mary which helps her to truly discover the depth of God’s love. This quick and easy read is a novel written in verse and is sure to be inspirational to its intended audience.