Here are the contenders, in no particular order (all summaries have been pulled from Amazon & Google Books). Please respond to the poll at the end. Thank you!
School Days by Patrick Chamoiseau
Through the eyes of the boy
Chamoiseau, we meet his severe, Francophile teacher, a man intent upon
banishing all remnants of Creole from his students’ speech. This
domineering man is succeeded by an equally autocratic teacher, an
Africanist and proponent of “Negritude.” Along the way we are also
introduced to Big Bellybutton, the class scapegoat, whose tales of
Creole heroes and heroines, magic, zombies, and fantastic animals
provide a fertile contrast to the imported French fairy tales told in
school.
In prose punctuated by Creolisms and
ribald humor, Chamoiseau infuses the universal terrors, joys, and
disappointments of a child’s early school days with the unique
experiences of a Creole boy forced to confront the dominant culture in a
colonial school.
Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon
A wildly successful first novel made Grady Tripp a young star, and seven years later he still hasn’t grown up. He’s now a writing professor in Pittsburgh, plummeting through middle age, stuck with an unfinishable manuscript, an estranged wife, a pregnant girlfriend, and a talented but deeply disturbed student named James Leer. During one lost weekend at a writing festival with Leer and debauched editor Terry Crabtree, Tripp must finally confront the wreckage made of his past decisions. Mordant but humane, Wonder Boys features characters as loveably flawed as any in American fiction.
A wildly successful first novel made Grady Tripp a young star, and seven years later he still hasn’t grown up. He’s now a writing professor in Pittsburgh, plummeting through middle age, stuck with an unfinishable manuscript, an estranged wife, a pregnant girlfriend, and a talented but deeply disturbed student named James Leer. During one lost weekend at a writing festival with Leer and debauched editor Terry Crabtree, Tripp must finally confront the wreckage made of his past decisions. Mordant but humane, Wonder Boys features characters as loveably flawed as any in American fiction.
standing on the fringes of life offers a unique
perspective…but there comes a time to see what it looks like from the
dance floor.
since its publication, stephen chbosky’s haunting
debut novel has received critical acclaim, provoked discussion and
debate, grown into a cult phenomenon with over a million copies in
print, and inspired a major motion picture.
the perks of being a wallflower is a story about what it’s like to travel that strange course through the uncharted territory of high school. the world of first dates, family dramas, and new friends. of sex, drugs, and the rocky horror picture show. of those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . . After. Nothing is ever the same.
Please vote on the online poll (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WMBB55H) by October 19. Thank you!
the perks of being a wallflower is a story about what it’s like to travel that strange course through the uncharted territory of high school. the world of first dates, family dramas, and new friends. of sex, drugs, and the rocky horror picture show. of those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.
Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . . After. Nothing is ever the same.
About a Boy by Nick Hornby
Nick Hornby's second bestselling novel is about sex, manliness and
fatherhood. Will is thirty-six, comfortable and child-free. And he's
discovered a brilliant new way of meeting women - through single-parent
groups. Marcus is twelve and a little bitnerdish: he's got the kind of
mother who made him listen to Joni Mitchell rather than Nirvana. Perhaps
they can help each other out a little bit, and both can start to act
their age.
No Beverly Cleary books? Boo.
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