Reading Abounds

Title: Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have Author:  Allen Zadoff Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 37965 Description:   Fifteen-Year-Old Andrew Zansky, the second fattest at his high school, joins the varsity football team to get the attention of a new girl on whom he has a crush. Rubric Rating: Level 3: Laud It Why I Read It: The title is fantastic and the first two sentences of the book had me hooked. Lori's Notes: Andrew Zansky knows that there must be a God because he's not the fattest kid in school...he's the second fattest. Bullied, with only one friend, he's a social outcast until he joins the football team.  Although this brings him the sense of acceptance he's longed for he realizes that being part of the popular clique isn't all that it's cracked up to be.  And being popular does not necessarily mean being happy.  A very good read, with laugh out loud moments. Recommended Reader: Grade 9 and up.  A particularly good read for boys.

Title: Code Orange Author: Caroline B. Cooney Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 70170 Description:   While conducting research for a school paper on smallpox, Mitty finds an envelope containing 100-year-old smallpox scabs and fears that he has infected himself and all of New York City. Rubric Rating: Level 3: Laud It Why I Read It: I quite liked the cover of this book and I read some of Cooney's books as a teen. Lori's Notes: All Mitchell Blake wanted to do was complete his biology assignment.  Research a virus, its symptoms, treatment options, whether it can be used in bioterrorism, etc.  Mitty doesn't relish the idea of doing all of this research especially when asked to use four actual books.  When his family goes to their country home on the weekend he stumbles across four books in the library that are exactly what he needs - but they also contain something he doesn't.  Inside the pages Mitty finds some scabs from the 1902 smallpox epidemic.  Unfortunately he d

Title: Num8ers Series: Num8ers Trilogy Author: Rachel Ward Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 40680 Description: Fifteen-year-old Jem knows when she looks at someone the exact date they will die, so she avoids relationships and tries to keep out of the way, but when she meets a boy named Spider and they plan a day out together, they become more involved than either of them had planned. Rubric Rating: Level 3: Laud It Why I Read It: I have a thing for numbers and the title and cover really drew me in. Lori's Notes:  Jem is special.  She's always been special.  If she looks people in the eyes she sees numbers.  Numbers that are the date of their death.  Jem doesn't realize this when she's young and tells people their death dates but as she gets older she realizes how dangerous this information is.  So she retreats.  She hides away, avoiding people as much as she can.  One day while skipping school she meets a black boy named Spider, an incessant-talking, jump-around