Adult Books for High School Students

Adult/High School–Eugene “Huge” Smalls is a short, smart, blond going-on-13 outcast with anger-management issues, a stuffed-frog alter ego, a homemade tricked-out ride called the Cruiser, and a Philip Marlowe attitude. What Huge lacks in stature is made up for by his intense emotional reactions and overactive imagination. He lives in a boring small town in 1980s New Jersey where his father has abandoned him, his waitress mother, and his hot older sister to fend for themselves. While on a visit with his dearly beloved and somewhat senile grandmother at a retirement home, she hires him to solve his first real detective case. As he gathers clues, he tells about his past transgressions and feelings, a lost friendship, and various crushes and clashes including those involving retirement-home workers, his sister’s friends, and a special girl his own age. Huge’s coming-of-age musings seem mature for a sixth grader, yet these contemplations and Fuerst’s portrayals of teenage relationships and experiences will resonate with older readers. Using humor and a narrative similar to Raymond Chandler’s hardboiled detective novels of the 1940s, Fuerst entertains and draws readers into all the mysteries Huge tries to solve on his own, including those involving self-control, fantasy, friendship, and maturity.–Melanie Parsons, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

Adult/High School–Military Police Sergeants Sueño and Bascom are pitted against the Seven Dragons, gang lords of Itaewon, the red-light district of Seoul, in this sixth volume in the highly praised and popular crime series set in 1970s Korea. The plot is crisp, the characters are fully portrayed, and the dialogue is convincing. But perhaps the author’s greatest strength is his richly rendered atmosphere. With a full palette of sights, sounds, smells, and tastes, he creates a window into another world, a foreign culture (for most American readers), and a set of circumstances fraught with intrigue, danger, hope, and passion. The two sergeants of the United States 8th Army Criminal Investigation Detachment are called upon to find the bones of a G.I. named Moretti, who was murdered some 20 years earlier but whose body was never found. Now, some two decades later, his bones become restless, apparently stalking a fortune-teller, Aunti Mee. She calls upon the resourceful team of Sueño and Bascom to find the bones and send them back to the United States, so that both the dead and the living can get some peace. The sergeants pursue the case, against the wishes of nearly everyone in positions of authority and power. A subplot involves an Army officer’s teenage daughter who goes missing, and who is determined to free herself from the shackles of her overbearing parents. That’s an old story, but one that is given a new setting and new consequences in Limón’s gritty, always entertaining novel.–Robert Saunderson, formerly at Berkeley Public Library, CA

Adult/High School–Two doctors have written a breezy and entertaining, yet relevant and scientific, book full of facts with which to “prove our mothers wrong.” Divided into six sections, each comprising approximately 10 “myths” in two pages each, the book covers issues about disease, sex and pregnancy, babies and children, what we eat, and “controversial” topics. No, it is not necessary to drink eight glasses of water a day. Eating turkey does not make you sleepy. The authors also set the record straight on the five-second rule, the connection between dog hair and allergies, and the dangers of waking a sleepwalker. The final “controversial” section includes the causes of autism and the connection between the Superbowl and the abuse of women. It is easy to imagine teens browsing through and sharing fun tidbits with one another. In fact, with its offhand tone, liberal use of expressions like “sucks” and “BS,” the occasional gratuitous gross-out story, short chapters, and compact paperback format, the book reads as if it were written with teen appeal in mind. At the same time, the authors demonstrate clear research and documentation, including more than 40 pages of references. The introduction explains the difference between association and causation, the trials needed to prove the truth, and why so many misperceptions exist.-Angela Carstensen, Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City

Adult/High School–Broad thematic areas–environment, finance, culture–and specific topics within them–e.g., water, voting, music–are addressed on spreads covered with charts and graphs, archival photos, perceptive and concise comments tightly focused on important details, and Web resources. Intended to be bias free, the volume is highly successful and will appeal to nonfiction, fact-addicted browsers, teen researchers, and activists. Updating brings it through the 2008 U.S. Presidential election but by considering the world as a whole, and not a specifically U.S. perspective, this volume serves as an authentic window on experiences beyond Americans’ own. Web sites noted for further research on each page are well evaluated and are comprised mainly of international government bodies, like the World Health Organization, and high-profile news resources, like the BBC. Scope and depth require that this book be updated as frequently as biannually, but today’s teens will feel at home with its references to Facebook, iPhones, and current major league sports teams. This book deserves a place in both reference and circulating collections.–Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia

Adult/High School–An informative history starting with the Coast Guard’s beginnings in the 18th century, written in straightforward prose. The emphasis is on the fifth armed service’s record during the 20th and 21st centuries, especially its unparalleled effectiveness and heroism during Hurricane Katrina. Readers will discover the avenues into its officer corps through its academy in Connecticut (a no-cost education). Helvarg notes particularly how the Coast Guard stresses command opportunities for its junior officers earlier than the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines for their second lieutenants and ensigns. He provides insights into enlisted careers open to young people. The marked differences in primary missions among the five services are accented–the other services underscore combat and the Coast Guard highlights mainly rescue and law enforcement. The author writes: “In addition to saving lives, the Coast Guard conducts port and waterfront security patrols, directs port traffic, responds to water pollution and oil spills, seizes illegal drugs and migrants at sea…licenses mariners, maintains and repairs…aids to navigation…,” and so on. This is an excellent title for students interested in the Coast Guard, especially as a possible career choice.–Alan Gropman, National Defense University, Washington, DC

Adult/High School–From the colonial period to the present, the focus in this winning collection is on works that are “essential” to a full appreciation of our national culture and character. Pockell’s aim is to present canonical verse, with an eye toward multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multigenerational selection. In this he is mostly successful. Readers will find the golden nuggets of such giants as Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Robert Frost, and works from what some might consider a second tier of poets: John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Edgar Lee Masters, and Lowell (three Lowells, actually). And then there are the entries that make this book stand apart from similar collections: poems and lyrics with little or no literary merit. Among these are “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” “Go Down Moses,” “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” “Casey at the Bat,” Robert Johnson’s “Cross Roads Blues,” and Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.” Some welcome surprises are Eugene Field’s “Little Boy Blue,” Amy Lowell’s “A Decade,” and “Sound off Marching Cadence Count.” There are also some questionable selections: “Amazing Grace” by John Newton (he was English); two poems by Robert W. Service (an Englishman who wrote about the Yukon); and, most notably, T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. Also, one could take exception to the inclusion of four poems by Anne Bradstreet but none by Phillis Wheatley. These criticisms aside, this volume deserves a place in most poetry collections.–Robert Saunderson, formerly at Berkeley Public Library, CA

Adult/High School-In this intriguing report, Sekulich examines the past and present state of piracy around the world and dispels the notion that it resembles the romanticized version of pirates portrayed in movies and books. With fascinating historical accounts of notorious individuals such as Blackbeard and Captain Kidd, as well as some lesser-known brigands; numerous detailed facts and figures drawn from the author’s research with international maritime and shipping organizations; and firsthand accounts from shady characters, victims, and even a former pirate, this chronicle will engage teens. It tells how piracy has changed from ancient and colonial times and how and why it has had such a large resurgence in modern times. Sekulich sums up its prevalence as due to three basic elements: greed, lawlessness, and targets of opportunity. He provides current documentation to support his view, along with heart-wrenching stories from people he has met who live and work in highly pirated areas, including the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Guinea. This book is a useful reference guide for research as well as an interesting read on a timely and newsworthy topic.–Melanie Parsons, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

Adult/High School–This work serves as a companion to J. K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” books (Scholastic). It begins with a brief list of abbreviations that are used throughout the series and an explanation of date usage in the Lexicon. The remainder of the book contains alphabetical entries explaining characters, wizarding terms and phrases, and geographic locations (both real and fictional). Each entry has a brief description and a reference to the first time the term is mentioned in the novels. Character entries also include dates relating to the characters’ lives and important positions they may have held, if known. Additional descriptive information beyond the connection to Harry Potter is included in italics when the term’s origin outside of that universe is included or if further noncanonical explanation is required. It should be noted that the Lexicon is not a complete “Harry Potter” encyclopedia as many of the characters’ fates remain undisclosed to preserve the experience for first-time readers. That being said, this volume will serve as a quick reference guide for enthusiasts of the series and as a good companion for teens writing fan fiction.–Kelliann Bogan, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH

Adult/High School–Wells recounts his rigorous education and on-the-job training as a vet in rural South Dakota and then in a Rocky Mountain community in Colorado. As the junior member of a practice, it was Wells who had to answer the late-night emergency calls. His 36 stories range from treating circus animals to miniature pigs to yaks, along with a host of cat, dog, and horse anecdotes. Wells writes with compassion, humor, and wonder, and does a compelling job of engaging readers. No amount of education prepared him for the kinds of situations he faced, many of which were challenging, frightening, and often dangerous. Difficult situations that include euthanasia are included and yet, throughout his memoir, Wells’s love of animals and the personal satisfaction he feels shine through. Because mixed-animal practices are hard to find, readers learn of an almost lost profession. Teens who love animals or have enjoyed James Herriot’s books are the obvious candidates for this one. The short, down-home stories filled with heartfelt emotion and laugh-out-loud incidents will resonate with reluctant readers as well.–Jane Ritter, Mill Valley School District, CA