Gone to Amerikay, by Derek McCulloch, Colleen Doran, José Villarubia Remember several posts back when I wrote about Mangaman (Barry Lyga)? Well, if you enjoyed Colleen Doran’s artistry as much as I did, you will not be disappointed in Gone to Amerikay. There are three storylines that intertwine as you follow the main characters from the beginning of the tale to its end. It is just as well-written as it is well-drawn. Find it at your local comic book shop!

Remember several posts back when I wrote about Mangaman (Barry Lyga)?  Well, if you enjoyed Colleen Doran’s artistry as much as I did, you will not be disappointed in Gone to Amerikay.  There are three storylines that intertwine as you follow the main characters from the beginning of the tale to its end.  It is just as well-written as it is well-drawn.  Also, Jose Villarubia is the colorist as he was for Gone to Amerikay!  Find it at your local comic book shop!

Get Jiro! By Anthony Bourdain, Joel Rose, Langdon Foss, José Villarubia

Imagine if power was divided up among the best chefs in the area.  Get Jiro!, written by renowned chef Anthony Bourdain, envisions a future where if you are do not display the utmost loyalty to a given chef and constantly eat at his or her snazzy restaurant in what is supposed to be a future Los Angeles, your life is generally lacking.  But Jiro, a master sushi chef, is a quiet sort, who runs his restaurant out of a strip mall.  One day, the two rival chefs of the city learn of his existence and a race ensues in which they go to whatever extreme lengths necessary to get him on their respective sides…

This is a great read for readers 17 and up.  The artwork is amazing, and the concept is unlike anything I have ever heard of, which is why I picked it up in the first place.  Happy reading!

The 4th Stall, by Chris Rylander

What if a mafia was operating right out of your school bathroom?  Mac and his right-hand man Vince have a tidy operation going in the wing of the school that no one ever really frequents.  Their main objective?  Tickets to the Cubs game.  Their main problem?  It’s the one week where everyone has come to Mac with problems that might be too big for him to handle, and one of them is the school syndicate’s impending takeover by a local high school dropout.  Mac has some tough lessons to learn about biting off more than he can chew. 

I would recommend the The Fourth Stall to readers 12 and up.  The story deals with some serious situations.  What I like about it is that the main character is forced to make hard choices about what he’s doing and consider the ethical aspects of his decisions.  Boys may go in for this book more than girls, but I am always supportive of a person reading outside of his or her “comfort” zone.

Disclaimers!

All images courtesy of Google.com.

The opinions contained herein are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the opinions of Linden Tree Books (Los Altos, CA) nor the opinions of any of its employees.

All These Things I've Done, by Gabrielle Zevin

What if we lived in a time when caffeine and anything made with caffeine was illegal contraband?  Heaven forbid-I could not live without my tea and chocolate!!!  But this is the setting for our story: a world where the crime lords smuggle caffeinated food items from place to place.  Anya Balanchine is the teenage daughter of the Russian mafia’s now-dead boss, and she is trying to live as normal a life as possible in addition to taking care of her two siblings and passing high school.  But sometimes relatives just don’t leave well enough alone, especially when she is the perceived heir to the Balanchine legacy, and she finds herself entangled in her extended family’s doings.  Throw in the interesting new boy at school whose father happens to be the new assistant District Attorney (and intent on dismantling the big caffeine criminal organizations), and you’ve got yourself a quirky, fun read!  For ages 15 and up.

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte & Jane, by April Lindner

Okay, here is the deal: read the original Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte first before you read April Lindner’s re-imagining of the story.  I first read Jane Eyre when I was 12 years old, and I LOVED it.  It was one of those days when I was done with all my library books and needed something new to read, and had to raid my mom’s and dad’s bookcase.  I did not have any problems understanding the language or the plot, and when I read it again a few years later for English class, I understood what was going on even better the second time.  I loved it!  In my mind, it's one of the greatest love stories ever told.  Jane by April Linder takes place in the 20^th century and substitutes a rock star for Mr. Rochester (appropriate, I think, since the original Mr. Rochester is a VIP in his own right) and is pretty much the same story, but for a teenage audience (15 and up).  It’s still a fun book, though, and what I would call a “beach read”.  

The Chaos Walking trilogy, by Patrick Ness

I have yet to read the final installment, but I can assure you that The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer are both incredible reads.  Patrick Ness has written a thrilling and thought-provoking science fiction trilogy that, to paraphrase his wording, raises questions about the amount of information available to us today and the ways in which it is controlled. Todd is the only boy left in his small town on a planet far away from the original Earth.  To become a man, Todd must undergo a kind of initiation ceremony, the details of which he is unaware.  What’s more, there are no women in this town, and all the men can hear each other’s thoughts 24/7.   Todd believes that the so-called “Noise” germ killed the women but only infected the men when they arrived on this planet.  He has been brought up by two men he calls his uncles, and one day, soon before he is to become a man, they tell him to take  run away to the next town and find other people, because the leader of the town has a very sinister objective in mind.  On the way, he discovers a crash-landed spaceship…and a girl, still alive.  Todd has never seen a girl before.  He knows he cannot leave her behind.  Furthermore, he cannot hear her thoughts at all…but she can hear his.  For readers 14 and up (there is violence, but it is not gratuitous).