Globalization
Ellis, Deborah. Lunch with Lenin and Other Stories. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Limited. 2008. ISBN-13: 9781554551057 Drug Conflict
Deborah Ellis's first collection of short stories explores the lives of children who have been affected directly, or indirectly, by drugs. Sometimes touching and often surprising, the stories are set against backdrops as diverse as the remote north and small town America to Moscow's Red Square and an opium farm in Afghanistan This is an unforgettable collection of stories that will elicit discussions about the toll drugs take on the lives of teenagers and their families.
McCormick, Patricia. Sold. Hyperion Books for Children. 2008. ISBN-13: 9780786851720 Human Trafficking
Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut on a mountain in Nepal. Though she is desperately poor, her life is full of simple pleasures, like playing hopscotch with her best friend from school, and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family's crops, Lakshmi's stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family. He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid in the city. Glad to be able to help, Lakshmi journeys to India and arrives at "Happiness House" full of hope. But she soon learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution. An old woman named Mumtaz rules the brothel with cruelty and cunning. She tells Lakshmi that she is trapped there until she can pay off her family's debt-then cheats Lakshmi of her meager earnings so that she can never leave. Lakshmi's life becomes a nightmare from which she cannot escape. Still, she lives by her mother's words-Simply to endure is to triumph-and gradually, she forms friendships with the other girls that enable her to survive in this terrifying new world. Then the day comes when she must make a decision-will she risk everything for a chance to reclaim her life?
Na, An. The Fold. Penguin Group . 2008. ISBN-13: 9780399242762 To Be “American”
Joyce never used to care that much about how she looked, but that was before she met JFK—John Ford Kang, the most gorgeous guy in school. And it doesn't help that she's constantly being compared to her beautiful older sister, Helen. Then her rich plastic-surgery-addict aunt offers Joyce a gift to "fix" a part of herself she'd never realized needed fixing—her eyes. Joyce has heard of the fold surgery—a common procedure meant to make Asian women's eyes seem "prettier" and more "American"—but she's not sure she wants to go through with it. Her friend Gina can't believe she isn't thrilled. After all, the plastic surgeon has shown Joyce that her new eyes will make her look just like Helen—but is that necessarily a good thing?
Scholosser, Eric & Charles Wilson. Chew on This. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2007. ISBN-13: 9780618593941 Fast Food Nation
It is a revealing look at the fast food industry and its effect on the health of our children. The chapters on the meat industry alone will likely keep anyone who reads it out of fast food restaurants forever. The impact of sugary soft drinks and the gigantic servings has increased obesity across all ages, and especially affected our children. Fast food hasn't only influenced the American diet, but has spread to cities around the world. What is really frightening is that Americans spend more money on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, and recorded music combined. It is statistics like this that may influence YA readers to become healthier eaters, but it's the grossness of the chapters on livestock and chicken raising and slaughtering that may actually get them to change their habits.
Deborah Ellis's first collection of short stories explores the lives of children who have been affected directly, or indirectly, by drugs. Sometimes touching and often surprising, the stories are set against backdrops as diverse as the remote north and small town America to Moscow's Red Square and an opium farm in Afghanistan This is an unforgettable collection of stories that will elicit discussions about the toll drugs take on the lives of teenagers and their families.
McCormick, Patricia. Sold. Hyperion Books for Children. 2008. ISBN-13: 9780786851720 Human Trafficking
Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut on a mountain in Nepal. Though she is desperately poor, her life is full of simple pleasures, like playing hopscotch with her best friend from school, and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family's crops, Lakshmi's stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family. He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid in the city. Glad to be able to help, Lakshmi journeys to India and arrives at "Happiness House" full of hope. But she soon learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution. An old woman named Mumtaz rules the brothel with cruelty and cunning. She tells Lakshmi that she is trapped there until she can pay off her family's debt-then cheats Lakshmi of her meager earnings so that she can never leave. Lakshmi's life becomes a nightmare from which she cannot escape. Still, she lives by her mother's words-Simply to endure is to triumph-and gradually, she forms friendships with the other girls that enable her to survive in this terrifying new world. Then the day comes when she must make a decision-will she risk everything for a chance to reclaim her life?
Na, An. The Fold. Penguin Group . 2008. ISBN-13: 9780399242762 To Be “American”
Joyce never used to care that much about how she looked, but that was before she met JFK—John Ford Kang, the most gorgeous guy in school. And it doesn't help that she's constantly being compared to her beautiful older sister, Helen. Then her rich plastic-surgery-addict aunt offers Joyce a gift to "fix" a part of herself she'd never realized needed fixing—her eyes. Joyce has heard of the fold surgery—a common procedure meant to make Asian women's eyes seem "prettier" and more "American"—but she's not sure she wants to go through with it. Her friend Gina can't believe she isn't thrilled. After all, the plastic surgeon has shown Joyce that her new eyes will make her look just like Helen—but is that necessarily a good thing?
Scholosser, Eric & Charles Wilson. Chew on This. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2007. ISBN-13: 9780618593941 Fast Food Nation
It is a revealing look at the fast food industry and its effect on the health of our children. The chapters on the meat industry alone will likely keep anyone who reads it out of fast food restaurants forever. The impact of sugary soft drinks and the gigantic servings has increased obesity across all ages, and especially affected our children. Fast food hasn't only influenced the American diet, but has spread to cities around the world. What is really frightening is that Americans spend more money on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, and recorded music combined. It is statistics like this that may influence YA readers to become healthier eaters, but it's the grossness of the chapters on livestock and chicken raising and slaughtering that may actually get them to change their habits.