The AIDS Update

Title: The AIDS Update
Author: Alvin and Virginia Silverstein and Laura Silverstein Nunn
Publisher: Enslow Publisher, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0766027466

Recommended for Grades 7 and up
Genre: Non-Fiction

Reader’s Annotation:
A lot has changed about AIDs since the disease was first discovered. This book gives an updated look at AIDs and its effects on the world in order to help the reader to understand the disease more clearly.

Plot Summary:
Put together in a straight forward and easy to understand manner with numerous pictures, this book makes it easy for young adults to learn facts about AIDs and HIV. Published in 2008, The AIDs Update presents current information about how AIDs has spread, what has been learned about it, and the work that is being done to find a viable treatment and cure. The book provides basic information about the disease, what effects it has on the human body, how it is spread and how it can be prevented. A glossary, index and list of references are included to further understanding of the topic.

Evaluation:
The book provides insightful and current information about the battle against HIV and AIDs. It helps teens to learn the truth about these diseases that continue to take lives all over the world.

The Arrival

Title: The Arrival
Author: Shaun Tan
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
ISBN: 0439895294

Recommended for Grades 6 and up
Genre: Fiction-Fantasy

Reader’s Annotation:
Needing to find a better life for his family, one man sets off to a new country. Here he must learn a new language and culture with only the kindness of others to help him through.

Plot Summary:
In this wordless graphic novel, the reader follows the journey of a man as he leaves his home and family to make a new life in a new country and prepares to have his family come and join him. He is overwhelmed by the new culture, language, and way of life. He is assisted by other immigrants and learns why they came to this land. Later, when his family joins him, his daughter is seen assisting a new immigrant find her way as others helped her father.

Evaluation:
By telling the story without words, this book will help teens feel what immigrants feel when they leave their home and family behind to make a new life in a strange land. It will help to teach tolerance for immigrants that they may meet.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Title: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Author: Roald Dahl
Publisher: Puffin Books
ISBN: 0141301155

Recommended for Grades 6 and up
Genre: Fiction-Fantasy

Reader’s Annotation:
Poor Charlie Bucket only gets one chocolate bar each year, and only on his birthday. When chocolate maker Willie Wonka announces that five golden tickets to his factory are hidden in his chocolate bars it would take a miracle for Charlie to win.

Plot Summary:
Charlie Bucket loves chocolate more than any other food. Unfortunately his family only has enough money to buy him one chocolate bar every year on his birthday. When Willy Wonka, the owner of the local chocolate factory, announces that he has hidden five golden tickets in his chocolate and those who find the bars will be allowed to tour the factory, Charlie knows that it will be a miracle if he wins. But luck is on Charlie’s side.

Inside Mr. Wonka’s factory are a number of marvelous rooms, and his fantastic employees, the Oompa Loompas. What starts out as an exciting tour soon turns more sinister as each of the other four children start to disappear before Charlie’s eyes. Each one of them is a victim of their vices and as they disappear, the Oompa Loompas warn the remaining children of the dangers of each vice in turn. With only Charlie left he wonders, how long before he disappears to?

Evaluation:
The four other children who tour the factory and the consequences of their actions, plus Charlie’s reward, help to provide a positive role model for young readers.

Notes:
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator is the sequel to this book.

Two theatrical adaptations have been made of this book: the 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory put out by Paramount Pictures and 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory released by Warner Brothers.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Title: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Author: J.K. Rowling
Publisher: Scholastic Press
ISBN: 0590353403

Recommended for Grades 6 and up
Genre: Fiction-Fantasy

Reader’s Annotation:
Four little words just changed Harry Potter's life forever: "Harry-yer a wizard."

Plot Summary:
On Harry Potter's 11th birthday, he does not expect anything. He lives with his aunt, uncle and cousin who treat him like a servant and he has never had a proper birthday. That is until a giant man named Hagrid breaks down the door and reveals Harry's wizard heritage to him. Harry begins studying at the Hogwarts School of Witch Craft and Wizardry. Harry learns that his parents, who he always thought died in a car crash, were murdered by the dark wizard Voldemort who was destroyed while attempting to kill Harry. But Voldemort is not dead, and the first thing he wants to do on his return is kill Harry Potter.

Evaluation:
Harry Potter has become a worldwide book phenomenon. Teens will relate to Harry as he struggles for acceptance and his own identity.

Notes:
There are 6 other books in the Happy Potter series:
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

In 2001 Warner Brothers released a film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

How to Draw Manga

Title: How To Draw Manga
Author: Katy Coope
Publisher: Tangerine Press
ISBN: 0439317452

Recommended for Grades 6 and up
Genre: Non-Fiction- How-to-Draw

Reader’s Annotation:
16 year-old Katy Cooper creates a book about creating manga specifically for the young reader.

Plot Summary:
Katy Cooper creates straight forward and easy to understand instructions on how to draw manga characters. She focuses on figure drawing and helps the reader to understand how to create characters that are in proportion. She also has instructions on how to pose the figures. The hand drawn appearance of the pictures in the book gives it the feel of looking into a person's sketch book, and the casual and fun instructions make it feel like you have a personal instructor.

Evaluation:
Because this book was created by a teenager, it is easy for teens to understand, follow and relate to. All of the final pictures still show the texture of the color-pencils and are not professionally cleaned-up. This makes the images a more achievable goal for those using the book.