Adult Books for High School Students

Adult/High School—For advanced teen readers with an appreciation of history, The King's Rifle pulls back the curtain on a theater of World War II long neglected by historians and writers alike, Burma (now called Myanmar). What Bandele reveals is a vivid, brutal, surreal, sometimes funny, tangled world described in language that can be as beautiful and mysterious as the Burmese jungle. This is not a book to be lightly undertaken, as characters have multiple names and complex backgrounds, and speak in dialects. Ali Banana is the Nigerian protagonist who is 17…no, 16…no, 13, actually, as he confesses when pressed by his new commanding officer. He is a boy in the man's world of the Chindits, the rapid-reaction groups formed by the British Army to rattle the Japanese by beating them at their own specialty of jungle warfare. Ali accepts the "invitation" of "Kingi Joji of Ingila"—King George of England—to fight in "Boma." He is told that "wanting to be a man is no sin" and that "killing men does not make a man of you," but in the end, when he must do his comrade one last great favor, he looks like a man of 50. A sophisticated, evocative, and haunting coming-of-age story.—Kate Dunlop Seamans, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH

Adult/High School—In this sixth volume in the series, the protagonist is as delightfully eccentric and unpredictably clever as ever. The national coroner of Laos, 73-year-old Dr. Siri Paiboun, may dream of a carefree retirement, but he knows he will enjoy neither peace nor quiet anytime soon. While hounded and threatened by overly zealous bureaucratic bean counters, Dr. Siri is presented with the corpse of a beautiful young woman from the remote hill country. The examination of the body reveals several unaccountable details and one clear conclusion: she was brutally murdered. Further investigation points to a serial killer targeting women in remote villages. Readers learn in detail the means by which the murderer sets up his prey, but not the identity of the killer until Dr. Siri assembles all the pieces of the puzzle. Cotterill provides a detailed look at the life, customs, and political realities of a place and time unfamiliar to most Americans: Laos in the 1970s. And again he does this with his trademark combination of crisp plotting, witty dialogue, political satire, and otherworldly phenomena (although not as much in evidence here as in previous books). The Merry Misogynist is a suspenseful, informative read.—Robert Saunderson, formerly at Berkeley Public Library, CA

Adult/High School—This novel not only tells one man's story, but Sweden's as well. Christianity was still a new religion to this region in the 1100s, and it is through the protagonist's experiences that readers see how cultures clash, merge, and change. Saved from certain death by the grace of God and the promise of his mother to give him to the Church, young Arn Magnusson is sent to be raised by the monks of Varnhem. He is taught all the monastic skills and learns archery, swordplay, and horsemanship. His exceptional talent in all of these areas makes it clear that Arn's vocation lies outside the monastery. And so he is sent home. Right from the start he falls prey to the greed, lust, and politics of common people. Every action he takes directs his destiny and creates the circumstances that force him and his true love, Cecilia, into 20 years of penance and sets him literally on the road to Jerusalem as a Knights Templar. The politics are challenging and tribal life is described within the context of its time. Offer this book to students who are interested in big, fat historical novels, who like to ponder big ideas, for whom discussions about Christian theology would be intriguing, or who are interested in military fiction and strategy. The Swedish names can be confusing, but the maps, plus the list of characters, help to sort things out.—Connie Williams, Kenilworth Jr. High, Petaluma, CA

Adult/High School—Somewhere, somewhen, human DNA mutates radically. Some humans, called somatics, develop wings, fur, or other physical traits of animals. Others, like Soryk/Sorykah, are "traders," humans with the ability to shift back and forth, physically and emotionally, between sexes. Objects of curiosity and scorn, somatics and traders hide their mutations to blend into "normal" human society. Far in the wilderness, however, lives a researcher obsessed with finding a way to reverse the mutations, and he has the money and the power to pursue his goal ruthlessly. When he kidnaps Sorykah's twin infants, who are also traders, to use in one of his brutal vivisectionist experiments, she sets out to rescue them and to destroy him and his laboratory. The journey takes Sorykah/Soryk from barren ice fields to an underground city of somatics, and on to a pleasure palace beyond the sea. To succeed in rescuing the children, Sorykah and Soryk must learn to live as a single person rather than as two individuals inhabiting the same body. Told in a quiet, sometimes almost dreamlike style reminiscent of fairy tales (though at times disturbing ones), Ice Song will appeal to teens interested in questions of identity and difference.—Sandy Schmitz, Berkeley Public Library, CA

Adult/High School—In this final title in the series, Jessica Darling is now a professional at age 25. The series began with her as a sophomore, continued through her high school years, then college (and her long relationship with Marcus Flutie), and ends with her as the founder of a program in which she travels the country working with teens to encourage their creative expression. This episode begins with Jessica frantically running through the airport to catch a flight to her friend's wedding. She literally runs into Marcus, misses her plane, and spends the rest of the day (and evening) reconnecting with her old love. McCafferty employs some surprising literary devices, including an entire chapter told in haiku. This series has had a loyal group of followers, and though many were disappointed in books three and four, fans will be satisfied with this last installment. Though a bit predictable, the breezy style, great vocabulary, and wry humor make it an enjoyable, quick read. For libraries that have the previous four books, this is a must purchase and for those who do not, this book will stand alone and find a wide audience.—Jane Ritter, Mill Valley School District, CA

Adult/High School—Sixteen-year-old Jesse is angry. His mother took off, his father is brain damaged after a mugging, and his older brother is dead. He lives with his uncle and hangs out with the local kids, but does not really seem to have friends. One night, Jesse participates in vandalizing a synagogue and is the only one caught. The judge sentences him to community service and assigns him to assist an elderly Jewish man, a Holocaust survivor, who lives in a nursing home. The novel focuses on Jesse's growing relationship with Mr. Ebban and with the teen's fixation on finding his father's attacker. That these two strands of his life will connect is inevitable. The story is told in the first person, but Jesse's voice does not come across consistently as a teen's. Occasionally there is a sentence that sounds more like an adult looking back than a teenager expressing his feelings: "But the old man's aggrieved expression lingered in my mind, and I left his presence with a troubled heart." Nevertheless, Jesse is an interesting character, and his struggles with the concepts of vengeance, forgiveness, and faith will strike a chord with thoughtful readers.—Sarah Flowers, formerly at Santa Clara County Library, CA

Adult/High School—This extensively researched historical novel is engrossing and readable. Spanning three decades and two continents (from 1930s China to Los Angeles in the 1950s), the book explores universal themes: adolescence, family relationships, secrets, immigration, and discrimination. Readers meet Pearl and May as teenage sisters in prewar Shanghai. They revel in modern ways and defy the wishes of their parents by modeling for "Beautiful Girls" calendars and staying out until the wee hours. Pearl's narration has a confiding tone in the early chapters—she discusses clothes, make-up, parental restrictions, and love interests. As the story develops, See balances Pearl's personal revelations with evocative descriptions of people, places, meals, and Chinese customs, as well as several suspenseful episodes of action and drama. The well-drawn characters face realistic hardships, some personal (lost love, business failures) and others global (Japanese atrocities in China, World War II, communism). Vivid descriptions of life at Angel Island Immigration Station, the development of L.A.'s Chinatown, filmmaking in 1940s Hollywood, and the 1950s Confession Program convey the stress, excitement, and longing for home that many Chinese immigrants experienced in the United States. This book will appeal to readers of historical fiction, and may be of special interest to those with ties to the Chinese community.—Sondra VanderPloeg, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH

Adult/High School—This collection of bloglike entries is not, as the title would have readers believe, a series of just-so stories, although occasional essays explain such everyday phenomena as why the other line always seems to move faster. More often, though, they are constructed around implausible hypotheticals (what if a soccer league changed scoring rules retroactively?) or end before fully explaining real-world implications. As the selections accumulate, however, it becomes clear that Barrow is interested not in how "math explains your world," but something more subtle: how the world illuminates math. Each piece is an access point to a different aspect of math: probability, trigonometry, algebra, calculus, and much more, but this is not a dry collection of derivations and theorems. Barrow's enthusiastic willingness to use any excuse (however slim) to employ math quickly becomes infectious, and the brevity that at first seems to truncate topics instead serves his holistic view of math as a joyous investigation of the world. As probably the largest population using higher-level math on a regular basis, teens are uniquely positioned to understand and share Barrow's enthusiasms. For those who find something mysterious and intriguing in solving an equation, this collection is a fascinating look into the mind of a professional mathematician and the way in which math can be not simply a row of numbers but a way of looking at the world.—Mark Flowers, John F. Kennedy Library, Vallejo, CA

Adult/High School—Popular with her classmates and loved by her adoptive family, African-American Sarah Culberson has never truly felt that she belonged. After graduating from high school and moving away for college, she began to seek the truth about her biological parents. She eventually hired a private investigator and learned that while her mother was a white woman, now deceased, her father is African royalty—the chief of a Mende tribe. She eventually traveled to Sierra Leone and saw firsthand both the poverty and the beauty that exist in the war-torn nation. Interspersed with Culberson's story are chapters chronicling her father's life in a village ravaged by rebels. She describes his years as a refugee in a crowded and unsanitary city and the return and rebuilding of his home and school. This eloquently written memoir covers the isolation an African-American child can feel in a predominantly white environment; the technical aspects and emotional turmoil of a search for biological parents; and the contrast between American wealth and African poverty. The author realizes the high expectations placed on her by her father's tribe, not only because she is an American, but also because she is their princess. Teens will relate to her search for a balance between her ancestry and familial obligations and her life in the United States. The narrative style keeps the memoir moving forward yet the historical and cultural information it imparts is as significant as its entertainment value.—Karen E. Brooks-Reese, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA

Adult/High School—Who will be the next Tiger Woods? Echikson profiles the lives of many promising teenage golfers. The behind-the-scenes look at these young people, with their dedicated instructors, overzealous parents, and elite golf academies, provides a glimpse into the psyche of each of the players. To be a part of this select group, many parents are either wealthy or put second mortgages on their homes to provide their son or daughter with the chance of being named Player of the Year by the American Junior Golf Association, becoming a professional golfer, or at the very least earning an athletic college scholarship. Besides time and sacrifice, parents spend tens of thousands of dollars on tournament fees, golf academies, travel, and the latest equipment. Echikson also compares the American junior golf program with those of other countries. Most notably, Sweden has taken the sport as a family event. With the AJGA's approval, the author examines the strategies and determination of many of the finest junior golfers at various tournaments. This excellent book will appeal to golfers, sports enthusiasts, and teenagers who enjoyed H. G. Bissinger's Friday Night Lights (Da Capo, 2000), Larry Colton's Counting Coup (Grand Central, 2000), or Michael D'Orso's Eagle Blue (Bloomsbury, 2006).—Gregory Lum, Jesuit High School, Portland, OR

Adult/High School—Jack, author of Red Herrings and White Elephants (HarperCollins, 2006), branches out from explaining grammatical lore to exploring some of the most famous mysteries of the past 200 years. From Loch Ness monsters to Marilyn Monroe's apparent suicide, he covers a wide variety of topics, some with more detail and evidence than others (the origin of raining frogs takes up a mere page and a half, while Monroe's story occupies more than 10). The book makes for interesting, browsable reading—students and teachers alike can pick up one story at a time. Jack offers a nice dose of quick nonfiction that would appeal to students, including reluctant readers.—Sarah Krygier, Fairfield Civic Center Library, CA

Adult/High School—Just weeks before she graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, Kane suffered an AVM, an arterio-venous malformation, or hemorrhagic stroke, affecting the right side of her body. As a dancer and an aspiring teacher, she was thrown for a loop as she had to learn how to walk, how to use her left hand, and just generally how to cope as a disabled person. It was first eating, and then cooking, that brought her back to a real sense of self. This is a memoir with recipes, and it is often as much about memories of food as it is about recovery from a stroke. Kane started a successful catering business in Berkeley and began blogging. Each chapter begins with a recipe for a dish mentioned in it. The recipes are fairly simple, but flavorful and focused on local, seasonal foods. The stories about food and the stories of the author's life blend seamlessly in what is essentially a narrative about finding one's own place in the world.—Sarah Flowers, formerly at Santa Clara County Library, CA

Adult/High School—This compilation of questions and answers taken from the "Last Word" column of New Scientist magazine includes many that may seem lightweight, ridiculous, or downright gross, but the answers are always dealt with in well-reasoned scientific terms, sometimes with a twist of humor. Answers often come from subscribers, the majority of whom are associated with respected institutions such as the American Institute of Physics, University of Glasgow, University of Sussex, University of Sydney, and Trinity College (Cambridge). A United Kingdom perspective is evident, particularly in the abundance of pub-related questions. Some of the questions seem to spring from a childlike curiosity: Do elephants sneeze? What causes "pins and needles" in arms and legs? Other questions are just gross and disgusting: What is the volume of snot produced during an average cold? Why is poop from breast-fed babies less odorous than that of bottle-fed infants? And then there are the downright silly questions that come from people with too much time on their hands: How long would it take an average cow to fill the Grand Canyon with milk? The random nature of the questions makes the book more of an amusing entertainment than a source for research assignments. However, it will have great appeal to adolescent boys, science geeks, trivia buffs, and reluctant readers. And finally, we have an answer as to whether it is more fuel efficient to drive with the windows down or with the air-conditioning on.—Paula Dacker, Charter Oak High School, CA

Adult/High School—In alphabetical order, with the occasional sidebar that seems unrelated to the immediate peril under discussion, the authors describe about 75 specific ways by which individuals can meet their demise. The causes range from the sadly ordinary (stroke) to the much-publicized but rare (alligators), the old-fashioned (hemlock poisoning), and the usually uncharted (playing professional sports). Each entry discusses the mechanics of the particular death (or extensive damage just short of death) the agent causes, as well as the likelihood of succumbing through this means. Data on death rates, parts of the world most afflicted, and notable victims ushered out by the method end each two-page write-up. Also included for each is a "horror factor" gauge that takes into consideration dread, likelihood, and gore, and a brief but useful list of "grim facts" that put the agent of death into place in history or current events. Illustrations are simple thumbnails—no gore. The potential audience for this book includes list lovers, horror fans, and even students engaged in history or science research. Sadly, there is no index.—Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia

Adult/High School—In Richmond's capable hands, the world of anime becomes highly accessible and engaging. The author covers a set of canonical films; popular anime television series; creator and director mini-bios; technical terms described accessibly and with reference to the 50 canonical titles; and includes many two-tone stills from adventure, romance, children's interest, suspense, and historical anime productions. Sidebars are used generously and to good effect to amplify brief information in entries that may be worthy of further investigation. Teens who love anime will find this guide validates their interests, and library staff can turn to it as a reliable way to learn the vocabulary, icons, and plots of a good variety of examples of the popular art.—Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia

Adult/High School—"I can hear the mosquitoes buzzing around my ears and feel the leeches sucking the blood from my calves. I think of planting rice shoots in the paddies with my bare feet deep in the mud. I'm only 33, but I've faced enough for a hundred lifetimes," says Shen, describing her poverty-stricken childhood in rural China. In an effort to move up in life, she got into college, only to find that it was a vocational-type two-year teachers college from which she was placed in a backwoods village school. She soon followed her love to southern China to better her status, moving to increasingly better-paying (but sometimes unethical) jobs using her English, and moving on to other men. She thought she was plain and ordinary, but from others' reactions, readers know she was pretty and smart, and see her using those attributes to take control of her life. Young adults will respond to the authenticity of the author's language and her drive to move away from the primitive village to a modern, luxurious lifestyle in the city. Eventually, she reached the United States, where she graduated with honors from Wellesley College and was offered a job in a prestigious firm in Boston. Shen's spirit, wit, and drive draw readers faster and faster through the pages of this bird's-eye view of China at the brink of modern-day capitalism.—Ellen Bell, Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton, CA