1. 'An Abundance of Katherines', by John Green. This book made the cut as one of our new additions to the Battle of the Books competition about to begin here at OHHS. I like it for teens for a few reasons: a. it is about being awesome at math, which you rarely see in literature aimed at young adults; b. it uses footnotes to explain certain words, phrases or historical references not necessarily pertinent to the plot of the story, but interesting nonetheless; c. there is a funny friend who has a great vocabulary. The story is that of Colin, a 17-yr-old child-prodigy who dreams of becoming a genius (the difference between the two is key to the development of the plot). By the time he graduates from high school, Colin just so happens to have dated nineteen girls named Katherine. Weird? Yes. But so is Colin. When K-19 breaks up with him before going to camp, he is devestated, love-lorn, and lonely. To cheer him up, his BFF Hassan takes him on a road trip and along the way Colin begins to develop a mathematical theorum about love, claiming that romantic relationships can be charted and graphed. 
2. 'Flight', by Sherman Alexie. Sherman Alexie can be my boyfriend, if he wants. Lord knows I have spent enough time defending his honor to my work parents lately.* I read 'Flight' in a few hours on Christmas Eve, and maybe because of this and the fact that I read partly by the light of the Christmas tree, I found it to be ripe with Dickens-esque ghosts and visions. As per usual for Alexie, we find ourselves confronted with a hero who is himself extremely fragmented. In this case, he is fifteen, half-American Indian and half-Irish, a victim of the corrupt foster system, and beset with one of the worst cases of adolescent acne imaginable. Thus the self-esteem-boosting nickname "Zits" with which our young protagonist has been saddled. Zits is tired of the cruelty he has encountered in his life and eventually turns to violence. At the very moment he is about to commit an extreme act, he is somehow transported into the past and begins skipping around time, occupying the bodies of people who have been victims of and participants in horrific acts of violence. Through it all, Zits sees how he has had a role in the destruction of his own life and finds himself begging to be returned to the present, where he can boldly accept the judgement for the act he thinks has already occurred. Powerful take on redemption and grace. And, like I said, a few good nods at Scrooge.
3. 'The Last Song' by Nicholas Sparks. This was our book-club pick for January and reads like a Disney Channel Original movie. Which I enjoy, actually. But mostly when I can watch it while folding laundry and not as much when I have to read it. The movie is coming out soon too, I think, and features Hannah Montana. What did I like about it? The setting: North Carolina beach town and lots of nights spent looking at the stars while gaurding turtle eggs. You don't see that every day.
*For months I have, along with the support of some of my dear colleagues, been working on a book adoption for Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. We have faced, for lack of better description, challenges. However, I see success on the horizon...
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