Civics
Bodeen, S. A. The Compound. Square Fish. 2009. ISBN-13: 9780312578602 Ethics
Eli, the 15-year-old son of a billionaire techno-preneur, has spent the last six years with his family in the massive underground shelter his father has built, knowing that nuclear war has destroyed the world he knows-and killed his grandmother and his twin brother, who couldn't reach the compound in time. With nine years to go before the air outside will be safe to breathe again, the food supply shows signs of running out, but Eli's father has a solution-provided they jettison all morals and ethics. Repulsed and already suspicious, Eli begins investigating his father's claims, and sets up a family death match against a man who grows increasingly irrational and sinister but no less powerful. As far-fetched as the premise may be, Bodeen keeps Eli's actions true to life and uses clues planted fairly and in plain sight. The audience will feel the pressure closing in on them as they, like the characters, race through hairpin turns in the plot toward a breathless climax.
Bryant, Jen. Ringside, 1925. Random House Children's. 2009. ISBN-13: 9780440421894 Scopes Trial
The year is 1925, and the students of Dayton, Tennessee, are ready for a summer of fishing, swimming, and drinking root beer floats at Robinson’s Drugstore. But when their science teacher, J. T. Scopes, is arrested for having taught Darwin’s theory of evolution, it seems it won’t be an ordinary summer in Dayton. As Scopes’s trial proceeds, the small town pulses with energy and is faced with astonishing nationwide publicity. Suddenly surrounded by fascinating people and new ideas, Jimmy Lee, Pete, Marybeth, and Willy are thrilled. But amidst the excitement and circus-like atmosphere is a threatening sense of tension—not only in the courtroom, but among even the strongest of friends.
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic, Inc. 2008. ISBN-13: 9780439023481 810L Personal Rights vs. Government
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
DeVita, James. The Silenced. HarperCollins Publishers. 2007. ISBN-13: 9780060784621 Personal Freedom vs. Government
Marena lives in a world where everything is tightly controlled by the Zero Tolerance Party. Actions are watched; conversations are monitored; behavior is recorded, but Marena has something the Zero Party cannot take away or control—memories of the past. Some of the memories are pleasant, but others are horrifying. Marena is determined to remember more and to make sense of the violent images that surround memories of her mother. Around her, things seem to be getting worse. The one teacher who seemed like she really cared about the students has been taken away and replaced with the new minister of education. He is there, he tells them, to enforce Zero Tolerance. Marena realizes she must find a way to resist, but can she do so without endangering herself and her friends, and will resistance lead to greater freedom or Marena herself disappearing? The book keeps up a fast pace that will appeal to teen readers. An interesting discussion of freedom and control that can be used as a conversation-starter as readers grapple with the question posed to Marena and the other students: "Who do you think you are?"
Doctorow, Cory. Little Brother. Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC. 2008. ISBN-13: 9780765319852 900L Personal Rights vs. Government
In this unapologetically didactic tribute to 1984, Marcus-known online as w1n5t0n (pronounced "Winston")-takes on the Department of Homeland Security. It's only a few years in the future, and surveillance software is everywhere. Monitored laptops track students' computer use; transit passes and automated toll systems track travel; credit-card networks track consumer purchasing. A terrorist attack on San Francisco is all the excuse the DHS needs for a crackdown, and Marcus is swept up in the random post-bombing sweeps. But where arrest and torture break 1984's Winston, they energize w1n5t0n. Released from humiliating imprisonment and determined to fight those who say that the innocent have nothing to hide, Marcus becomes the driving force behind a network of teenagers fighting the surveillance state. Long passages of beloved tech-guru Doctorow's novel are unabashedly educational, detailing the history of computing, how to use anti-surveillance software and anarchist philosophies. Yet in the midst of all this overt indoctrination, Marcus exists as a fully formed character, whose adolescent loves and political intrigues are compelling for more than just propagandistic reasons. Terrifying glimpse of the future-or the present.
Hautman, Pete. Rash. Simon & Schuster Children's. 2007. ISBN-13: 9780689869044 Personal Rights vs. Government
In a cutting and comic gem, Bo Marsten is in trouble with the law: He's insulted a classmate, neglected to take his anti-anger medication and gone running without kneepad liners (required to prevent chafing). In 2076, in the United Safer States of America, it's illegal to do anything dangerous. Provoked by the smarmy rival for a girl's affections, Bo commits crime after crime, culminating in an ineffectual and feeble fistfight. For such an outrageous offense, he's exiled to juvenile prison. In a McDonald's prison colony surrounded by man-eating polar bears, Bo assembles pizzas, while a surreal artificial intelligence named Bork tries to spring Bo from jail. But Bo's prison experience has a different twist. The sadistic warden has a fetish for the illegal game of football, and the most athletic criminals get perks in return for playing the violent sport. If Bo manages to survive the bone-crushing football games, the homicidal warden and the hungry polar bears, he might just learn something.
Margulies, Philip. Devil on Trial: Witches, Anarchist, Atheists, Communists, and Terrorists in America’s Courtrooms. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2008. ISBN-13: 9780618717170
In this excellent example of nonfiction that is at once dramatic and informative, Margulies and Rosaler examine five highly emotional court cases, each of which served as a litmus test for the health of America's justice system at the time it occurred. The seminal cases are presented chronologically, starting with the Salem witch trials and ending with the recent trials of Zacarias Moussaoui. In between are the Haymarket bomb trial, which hanged four anarchists based on flimsy evidence and a climate of panic, the Scopes "Monkey" trial, which raised questions about the teaching of evolution in schools, and the trials of Alger Hiss, which started the post-World War II hunt for Communist spies. Each chapter gives historical context of the court proceeding, describes its progression in some detail, and comments on the political and intellectual aftermath. The language is straightforward, with enough descriptive details to make it colorful and engaging reading. Illustrations, including photographs, arrest warrants, and other primary-source materials, break up the text nicely: almost every spread contains a relevant image and caption. During each case, fear and prejudice came up against justice and the limits of the law. In some instances, justice prevailed; in others it did not. The questions raised are worth pondering, and readers are challenged to consider what it means to be impartial and fair in the most charged and complex situations.
Myers, Walter Dean. Monster. HarperCollins Publishers. 2001. ISBN-13: 9780064407311 Legal System.
Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon has been charged as an adult accomplice to murder. Steve resorts to his passion for filmmaking to put some order to and make some sense of his ordeal; his trial is presented as a movie. The reader feels his panic over the possibility of spending life in prison and his fears of being beaten and sexually abused there. The attorneys present their cases before the jury and the drama builds just as it would in a movie. Steve feels the surrealism of the stark reality he is facing. The reader is drawn into the trial, trying to determine, as is Steve himself, if he is the Monster that the prosecutor says he is, or a victim of circumstance. The film script concept works well on many levels. The illustrations, intermittently placed, present Steve in various ways: photos with his mother, on the drugstore surveillance camera, in a courtroom drawing, and in his mug shots. They give an added sense of reality to the narrative. This is a powerful, intense, thought-provoking story. It is great for discussions about the judicial system, pre-judging, self-perception, parent-child relationships and our prison system.
Pearson, Mary E. The Adoration of Jenna Fox. Square Fish. 2009. ISBN-13: 9780312594411 Ethics
Jenna Fox, conceived through invitro-fertilization, is the only child of a bioengineer and his house-restorer wife. Having been in a permanent coma for a year after a horrendous auto accident, Jenna at 17 finds herself living in California with limited memory of what happened. Her parents keep her hidden and refuse to answer questions about her past in Boston. Her grandmother Lily seems to resent her, while Jenna begins to search for herself only to discover a scenario that is surreal and frightening. Although the novel is set in the future, the mystery's explanation seems wildly plausible. Jenna's father has bypassed federal permission to create his daughter as she once was, physically and mentally, using a substance he created called Bio Gel and other aspects of bioengineering. Retaining only 10 percent of her original brain's memory, Jenna struggles to discover who she really is as she gradually weans herself from her overprotective parents to live as human an existence as she can.
Schmidt, Gary D. Trouble. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2008. ISBN-13: 9780618927661 Classism/Racism
Henry Smith thought Trouble would never find him and his family, as they snuggled into their New England coastal mansion. Somehow, unexpectedly, Trouble creeps into his life. One minute Henry is enjoying his family and the next minute his family is ripped apart by the devastating news that Henry’s older brother was hit by a car; he dies. The grief is compounded by Henry’s anger at his brother’s last words, an implied challenge when he told Henry that Henry would never make it up Mt. Katahdin, the cliff-like mountain they were to climb together that summer. Frustration fuels Henry to take his dog and his best friend and hitchhike to Maine. The story twists and turns as these three travelers encounter wild adventures on their way to the mountain. A friendship and level of trust flower among unexpected people, and everyone is left wanting to know what really happened on the day that Trouble found Henry’s family. Written by a 2008 Newbery Honor Book author, this story addresses what it means to be human, to struggle with racist feelings towards others and still be able to work towards responsibility and reconciliation. The protagonist is a young teen, but the complex history and rich attention to detail make this book inviting to older readers as well.
Scott, Elizabeth. Living Dead Girl. Simon & Schuster Children's. 2009. ISBN-13: 9781416960607 Criminal
Childhood is a time of innocence, a time of imagination, and a time of bliss. School should be a place of discovery filled with opportunities to explore the world through textbooks, playing, and fieldtrips. A fieldtrip shouldn't be the beginning of a five-year nightmare. But for Alice, it was that and much, much more. Ray, an older guy, abducts her from an aquarium where her classmates have abandoned her over a silly argument. The author's short chapters and vivid imagery paint a portrait of a young girl who is subjected to the cycle of abuse. When Alice's body matures, Ray demands that she find a replacement, or he will murder her family. Will Alice assist Ray with the creation of another living dead girl?
Eli, the 15-year-old son of a billionaire techno-preneur, has spent the last six years with his family in the massive underground shelter his father has built, knowing that nuclear war has destroyed the world he knows-and killed his grandmother and his twin brother, who couldn't reach the compound in time. With nine years to go before the air outside will be safe to breathe again, the food supply shows signs of running out, but Eli's father has a solution-provided they jettison all morals and ethics. Repulsed and already suspicious, Eli begins investigating his father's claims, and sets up a family death match against a man who grows increasingly irrational and sinister but no less powerful. As far-fetched as the premise may be, Bodeen keeps Eli's actions true to life and uses clues planted fairly and in plain sight. The audience will feel the pressure closing in on them as they, like the characters, race through hairpin turns in the plot toward a breathless climax.
Bryant, Jen. Ringside, 1925. Random House Children's. 2009. ISBN-13: 9780440421894 Scopes Trial
The year is 1925, and the students of Dayton, Tennessee, are ready for a summer of fishing, swimming, and drinking root beer floats at Robinson’s Drugstore. But when their science teacher, J. T. Scopes, is arrested for having taught Darwin’s theory of evolution, it seems it won’t be an ordinary summer in Dayton. As Scopes’s trial proceeds, the small town pulses with energy and is faced with astonishing nationwide publicity. Suddenly surrounded by fascinating people and new ideas, Jimmy Lee, Pete, Marybeth, and Willy are thrilled. But amidst the excitement and circus-like atmosphere is a threatening sense of tension—not only in the courtroom, but among even the strongest of friends.
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic, Inc. 2008. ISBN-13: 9780439023481 810L Personal Rights vs. Government
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
DeVita, James. The Silenced. HarperCollins Publishers. 2007. ISBN-13: 9780060784621 Personal Freedom vs. Government
Marena lives in a world where everything is tightly controlled by the Zero Tolerance Party. Actions are watched; conversations are monitored; behavior is recorded, but Marena has something the Zero Party cannot take away or control—memories of the past. Some of the memories are pleasant, but others are horrifying. Marena is determined to remember more and to make sense of the violent images that surround memories of her mother. Around her, things seem to be getting worse. The one teacher who seemed like she really cared about the students has been taken away and replaced with the new minister of education. He is there, he tells them, to enforce Zero Tolerance. Marena realizes she must find a way to resist, but can she do so without endangering herself and her friends, and will resistance lead to greater freedom or Marena herself disappearing? The book keeps up a fast pace that will appeal to teen readers. An interesting discussion of freedom and control that can be used as a conversation-starter as readers grapple with the question posed to Marena and the other students: "Who do you think you are?"
Doctorow, Cory. Little Brother. Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC. 2008. ISBN-13: 9780765319852 900L Personal Rights vs. Government
In this unapologetically didactic tribute to 1984, Marcus-known online as w1n5t0n (pronounced "Winston")-takes on the Department of Homeland Security. It's only a few years in the future, and surveillance software is everywhere. Monitored laptops track students' computer use; transit passes and automated toll systems track travel; credit-card networks track consumer purchasing. A terrorist attack on San Francisco is all the excuse the DHS needs for a crackdown, and Marcus is swept up in the random post-bombing sweeps. But where arrest and torture break 1984's Winston, they energize w1n5t0n. Released from humiliating imprisonment and determined to fight those who say that the innocent have nothing to hide, Marcus becomes the driving force behind a network of teenagers fighting the surveillance state. Long passages of beloved tech-guru Doctorow's novel are unabashedly educational, detailing the history of computing, how to use anti-surveillance software and anarchist philosophies. Yet in the midst of all this overt indoctrination, Marcus exists as a fully formed character, whose adolescent loves and political intrigues are compelling for more than just propagandistic reasons. Terrifying glimpse of the future-or the present.
Hautman, Pete. Rash. Simon & Schuster Children's. 2007. ISBN-13: 9780689869044 Personal Rights vs. Government
In a cutting and comic gem, Bo Marsten is in trouble with the law: He's insulted a classmate, neglected to take his anti-anger medication and gone running without kneepad liners (required to prevent chafing). In 2076, in the United Safer States of America, it's illegal to do anything dangerous. Provoked by the smarmy rival for a girl's affections, Bo commits crime after crime, culminating in an ineffectual and feeble fistfight. For such an outrageous offense, he's exiled to juvenile prison. In a McDonald's prison colony surrounded by man-eating polar bears, Bo assembles pizzas, while a surreal artificial intelligence named Bork tries to spring Bo from jail. But Bo's prison experience has a different twist. The sadistic warden has a fetish for the illegal game of football, and the most athletic criminals get perks in return for playing the violent sport. If Bo manages to survive the bone-crushing football games, the homicidal warden and the hungry polar bears, he might just learn something.
Margulies, Philip. Devil on Trial: Witches, Anarchist, Atheists, Communists, and Terrorists in America’s Courtrooms. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2008. ISBN-13: 9780618717170
In this excellent example of nonfiction that is at once dramatic and informative, Margulies and Rosaler examine five highly emotional court cases, each of which served as a litmus test for the health of America's justice system at the time it occurred. The seminal cases are presented chronologically, starting with the Salem witch trials and ending with the recent trials of Zacarias Moussaoui. In between are the Haymarket bomb trial, which hanged four anarchists based on flimsy evidence and a climate of panic, the Scopes "Monkey" trial, which raised questions about the teaching of evolution in schools, and the trials of Alger Hiss, which started the post-World War II hunt for Communist spies. Each chapter gives historical context of the court proceeding, describes its progression in some detail, and comments on the political and intellectual aftermath. The language is straightforward, with enough descriptive details to make it colorful and engaging reading. Illustrations, including photographs, arrest warrants, and other primary-source materials, break up the text nicely: almost every spread contains a relevant image and caption. During each case, fear and prejudice came up against justice and the limits of the law. In some instances, justice prevailed; in others it did not. The questions raised are worth pondering, and readers are challenged to consider what it means to be impartial and fair in the most charged and complex situations.
Myers, Walter Dean. Monster. HarperCollins Publishers. 2001. ISBN-13: 9780064407311 Legal System.
Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon has been charged as an adult accomplice to murder. Steve resorts to his passion for filmmaking to put some order to and make some sense of his ordeal; his trial is presented as a movie. The reader feels his panic over the possibility of spending life in prison and his fears of being beaten and sexually abused there. The attorneys present their cases before the jury and the drama builds just as it would in a movie. Steve feels the surrealism of the stark reality he is facing. The reader is drawn into the trial, trying to determine, as is Steve himself, if he is the Monster that the prosecutor says he is, or a victim of circumstance. The film script concept works well on many levels. The illustrations, intermittently placed, present Steve in various ways: photos with his mother, on the drugstore surveillance camera, in a courtroom drawing, and in his mug shots. They give an added sense of reality to the narrative. This is a powerful, intense, thought-provoking story. It is great for discussions about the judicial system, pre-judging, self-perception, parent-child relationships and our prison system.
Pearson, Mary E. The Adoration of Jenna Fox. Square Fish. 2009. ISBN-13: 9780312594411 Ethics
Jenna Fox, conceived through invitro-fertilization, is the only child of a bioengineer and his house-restorer wife. Having been in a permanent coma for a year after a horrendous auto accident, Jenna at 17 finds herself living in California with limited memory of what happened. Her parents keep her hidden and refuse to answer questions about her past in Boston. Her grandmother Lily seems to resent her, while Jenna begins to search for herself only to discover a scenario that is surreal and frightening. Although the novel is set in the future, the mystery's explanation seems wildly plausible. Jenna's father has bypassed federal permission to create his daughter as she once was, physically and mentally, using a substance he created called Bio Gel and other aspects of bioengineering. Retaining only 10 percent of her original brain's memory, Jenna struggles to discover who she really is as she gradually weans herself from her overprotective parents to live as human an existence as she can.
Schmidt, Gary D. Trouble. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2008. ISBN-13: 9780618927661 Classism/Racism
Henry Smith thought Trouble would never find him and his family, as they snuggled into their New England coastal mansion. Somehow, unexpectedly, Trouble creeps into his life. One minute Henry is enjoying his family and the next minute his family is ripped apart by the devastating news that Henry’s older brother was hit by a car; he dies. The grief is compounded by Henry’s anger at his brother’s last words, an implied challenge when he told Henry that Henry would never make it up Mt. Katahdin, the cliff-like mountain they were to climb together that summer. Frustration fuels Henry to take his dog and his best friend and hitchhike to Maine. The story twists and turns as these three travelers encounter wild adventures on their way to the mountain. A friendship and level of trust flower among unexpected people, and everyone is left wanting to know what really happened on the day that Trouble found Henry’s family. Written by a 2008 Newbery Honor Book author, this story addresses what it means to be human, to struggle with racist feelings towards others and still be able to work towards responsibility and reconciliation. The protagonist is a young teen, but the complex history and rich attention to detail make this book inviting to older readers as well.
Scott, Elizabeth. Living Dead Girl. Simon & Schuster Children's. 2009. ISBN-13: 9781416960607 Criminal
Childhood is a time of innocence, a time of imagination, and a time of bliss. School should be a place of discovery filled with opportunities to explore the world through textbooks, playing, and fieldtrips. A fieldtrip shouldn't be the beginning of a five-year nightmare. But for Alice, it was that and much, much more. Ray, an older guy, abducts her from an aquarium where her classmates have abandoned her over a silly argument. The author's short chapters and vivid imagery paint a portrait of a young girl who is subjected to the cycle of abuse. When Alice's body matures, Ray demands that she find a replacement, or he will murder her family. Will Alice assist Ray with the creation of another living dead girl?