Anderson's: Fever: 1793

There is nothing more horrific than that which has actually happened. Laurie Halse Anderson relates the details of Philadelphia's yellow fever plague of 1793 through the eyes of a fictional teenager Matilda Cook who is forced to grow up before her time in her novel Fever: 1793. The blood-sucking villain she faces is more terrifying than any fictional vampire or werewolf. Her villain actually exists to this day and made a ghost town out of the largest city in the United States. Is it possible for this villain, or another one like it to strike the United States again? Do we know enough to protect ourselves, not only from the villain itself but from what follows after such a disaster? Matilda finds the courage to defend her family and home from robbers and murderers. This novel may cause today's teenagers to question what they are prepared to do in the face of extreme and sudden adversity.

McCormick's: Sold

McCormick's Sold is a gripping tribute to the millions of children who have been sold into the sex-slave trade throughout the world. This heart-wrenching tale pulls readers into a wretched world where young girls are sold by their families, tortured for years, and then tossed away into the filthy gutters of Calcutta. A poetic and entrancing voice leads us on a journey from hopefulness to despair and misery where each daily survival is a triumph of spirit over circumstance. This truly remarkable work, funded through a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts will likely make our more sophisticated teen readers thankful for everything they have in their lives.

Selznick's: The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Part novel, part storyboard, part picture book, Brian Selznick creates an historical fiction page-turner in The Invention of Hugo Cabret, a survival story of a resourceful youth named Hugo who lives hidden in the walls of a French train station. Engaging, suspenseful, and a quick read, the story takes readers back to 19th century France at the time of the Paris World Exposition. The marvelous mechanical inventions of the time which become the centerpiece of the story are no less a wonder more than a century later. The reader will no doubt want to learn more, after the very clever ending, about many of the things mentioned in the story. This endeavor will be facilitated by the author's notes included in acknowledgements and credits.

Paulsen's: Hatchet

A story of a young teen learning to survive his parent's divorce quickly turns into a story of true wilderness survival for the boy and his one tool, a gift from his mother, a Hatchet. Gary Paulsen's Newbery Honor Book bumps along clumsily, in and out of a what passes as a teen voice back and forth between first and third person. What will capture the reader are the passages of problem solving and near disaster-avoiding adventure. Run-ins with wild life, trial and error lessons in the search for basic necessities, and face-to-face interaction with the force of nature are enough to make this a satisfying quick-read. Oh yeah, and a plane crashes. Although Paulsen's main character learns completely on his own, he is not quite as engaging as Jean Craighead George's Sam Gribley.

Another review