Sideways takes on prom — from misfits to mosh pits is a look at three of the recent YA novels that deal with prom: Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson, 24 Girls in 7 Days by Alex Bradley, and Mosh Pit by Kristyn Dunnion.

Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson (0-670-05974-9) is a book that honors “normal” kids. Kids who don’t excel at school or sports, who don’t drive sports cars and are not the most popular kid in class. Ashley is not interested in going to prom with her boyfriend. They have better things to do, like planning on getting an apartment together after she graduates from high school. But then a math teacher steals the prom money and Ashley is drawn into helping her best friend scrape together a prom with no funds. As Ashley starts to participate, she begins to see that there is life beyond her own plans and that she is worthy of having larger dreams.
It is Ashley’s voice that carries this book. Her very normal teen activities, her lack of caring, her lack of self esteem all combine to create a vivid character who everyone can relate to. Actually, it is striking after reading this book how few normal teens serve as the protagonist in books for girls. This is a wonderful choice for girls and is far more than a fluffy book about prom, looking into the life of a girl that we can all relate to.

Runny Babbit is a new book from my favorite children’s poet, Shel Silverstein. The entire concept is an exchange of letters from one word in a line to another. I know that if I had just sat down and read this myself, I would have tired of the concept quickly. But luckily, I have a poetry-loving eight year old to share books with. We shared this one over the course of several bedtimes, decoding the real meaning of the poems after happily reading the mixed-up versions aloud.
So our final verdict? A perfectly billy sook perfect to kare with shids who whether they pove loetry or not.

Boy Proof by Cecil Castellucci is one of my favorite books of the year. Egg is a geeky girl who adores the science fiction movie Terminal Earth so much that she has modeled herself on the main character. She has shaved her head, wears a cloak, and insists on being called Egg, the same name as the main character. Egg is a prickly person, unable to let others close to her.
This books is a character study that all teens who have felt separate and strange can see themselves reflected. Egg truly comes to life on the pages in all of her complexity. Her conflicting emotions, her strange obsessions, and her clarity all meld together to form a fascinating girl. This is a book that needed to be written for all of the girls who are not interested in being with the popular clique at school, but are finding it difficult enough just to make a few friends. Top it all off with the fantastic cover art (I used a large image so that you could really see it) and this is a perfect package. Gorgeous and necessary.

VOYA’s 2004 List of the Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror is now available on their website. Filled with goodies for teens that range from the strange to the magical to the terrifying, this would be a great list to print out and just have available for teens to choose from.

Flamingnet is a great resource for kids’ book reviews. It offers book reviews written by kids from middle school through college age. From new advance reviews to classic books, it covers a wide range of book types.

The Safe-Keeper’s Secret by Sharon Shinn.
Sharon Shinn is the author of the Archangel series for adults. I enjoyed the first several books in the series, but after that it got stale. I think that this book for young adults really returns to the freshness of her first Archangel books. The society she has created is unique and vivid. Her characters, including the adults, are complex and real. This is a real gem of a book where the reader may guess the secret from the beginning, but becomes the safe-keeper of the secret as well. It is a moving and magical book.
This would be a good booktalk book with its themes of secret keeping and dream making. Encourage girls who enjoy light fantasy in their books to try it. Also kids who like medieval stories will enjoy this one, because the touch of fantasy and magic is not overwhelming.

Guji Guji by Chih-Yuan Chen is a newish book that I used for the first time with a story time this week. It is the tale of a crocodile, named Guji Guji, who is raised by a family of ducks. He is surprised to be told by three other crocodiles that he should be eating ducks, not living with them. The crocodiles tell him to bring his duck family to the bridge and have them dive into the crocodiles’ mouths. But Guji Guji comes up with a plan to save the ducks.
I shared this book with two classes of kids: four year olds and Kindergarteners. Both classes adored it. Often at this young age, books with complete stories in them are too wordy, but Guji Guji moves along at a brisk rate that is just perfect for kids this age. My own toddler son shared it with his grandma and couldn’t wait to tell me all about the wonderful story.
This one is highly recommended and goes on my list of great read alouds for this age group.

Overbooked has a handy list of Youth All Stars 2004. These are the books that got at least three starred reviews last year from one of the following journals: Booklist, The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, School Library Journal, Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, or Horn Book. Overbooked also keeps an ongoing list of current starred reviews, but so far this year it has not been updated.