Gimme a call

Gimme a Call by Sarah Mlynowski

We've just recieved more books yeah!!!! So I want to give you a quick peek at some of them - unfortunately I haven't had a chance to read all these titles so I'm just going to give you the book jacket info and a trailer if there is one.

Summary:

A new life is just a phone call away!

Devis' life isn't turning out at all like she wanted. She wasted the past three years going out with Bryan - cute, adorable, break-your-heart Bryan. Devi let her friendships fade, blew off studying, didn't join any clubs ... and now that Bryan has broken up with her, she has nothing left.

Not even her stupid cell phone - she dropped it in the fountain at the mall. Now it only calls one number -- hers. At age fourteen, three years ago.

Once Devi gets over the shock - and convinces her younger self that she isn't some wacko - she realizes she's been given an awesome gift. She can tell herself all the right things to do ... because she's already done the wrong ones. Who better to take advise from? right?

Food, Girls and Other Things I Can't Have

Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff

I think this might be my favourite book this summer, I don't know, there was just something about it that made me laugh, believe in the characters and cheer with how things turned out. I've got it ordered for our library, so be patient in the mean time here is the summary from the publisher.
Summary:
Food, Girls and Other Things I Can't Have is the story of a boy who doesn't fit -- in his pants, in his family, in his school or in his life. If Andrew Zansky can only be thin enough, smart enough, or popular enough, he thinks everything in his life will be perfect. His father will come back home. The pretty girl in school will fall in love with him. His Mom will be happy again.
While he is working to achieve this fantasy future, Andrew eats. A lot. He buries his problems in his mom's mini-snacks, analyzing his world while stuffing down his feelings. "When I chew loud enough," he says "I can't hear myself think. It's like a little vacation." Food, Girls and Other Things I Can't Have follows Andrew's journey to self awareness and self-acceptance (by unexpectedly joining the high school football team.) By the end of the story , Andrew stops living in his head, and starts participating in life. Perhaps most importantly, he comes to understand that feeling different doesn't make him weird or special, it makes him just like everyone else.

Page by Paige

Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge

I really enjoyed this graphic novel. The art work was fun, thoughtful, and full of double meanings (idioms galore). I think many of you will be able to relate in some way to Paige, she insecure about her art work and vunerable to criticism but she doesn't let that stop her and she becomes an inspiration to her friends and those around her. I loved some of the projects she and the Agents of Wimsy take on, it reminded me of the Random Acts of Kindness that our staff does for one another.

Here's the summary:
Page Turner has moved to New York with her family, and she's having some trouble adjusting to the big city. In the pages of her sketchbook , she tries to make sense of her new life, including trying out her secret identity: artist. As she makes friends and starts to explore the city, she slowly brings her secret identity out into the open, and process that is equal parts terrifying and rewarding.

North of Beautiful

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

This was my weekend read, which I couldn't put down - the lawn will just have to wait.

Born with a port wine-stain birthmark covering her entire right cheek Terra Rose Cooper is ready to leave her stifling, small Washington town where everyone knows her for her face. With her critical, reproachful father and an obese mother who turns to food to deflect her father's verbal attacks, home life for Terra isn't so great either. Fueled by her artistic desires, she plans to escape to an East Coast College, thinking this is her true path. When her father intercepts her acceptance letter, Terra is pushed off-course, and she is forced to confront her deepest insecurities. After an ironically, fortuitous car accident, Terra meeets Jacob, a handsome but odd goth Chinese boy who was adopted from China as a toddler. Jacob immediately understands Terra's battle with feeling different. When Terra's older brother invites her and her mother to visit him in Shanghi, Jacob and his mother also join them on their journey, where they all not only confront the truth about themselves, but also realize their own true beauty.

This is a gorgeously written, compelling book featuring universal themes of true beauty, family bonds and personal strength and love.