The Bar Code Tattoo

Fiction by Suzanne Weyn
Reviewed by Jenn C.
Not in the NVHS Collection as of this post


In the year 2025, life is very different, especially for seventeen year old Kayla Reed. In this future society, it is a policy that you get a bar code tattoo on your wrist when you turn eighteen. This tattoo becomes your identity in a sense that you when you go out and buy something, when you get pulled over, or if you wish to do something legal like get married, all you do is scan your tattoo. The bar code is supposed to make life easier, and make you happier. But, for Kayla and many others, the code threatens to ruin their lives. Kayla has not yet gotten hers, and she is putting it off for as long as she can. She just doesn’t want it. She doesn’t want to be labeled into the conformity, plus the fact that it is the cause of her father’s suicide. For some unknown reason, it ruined his life and took him of everything he was worth. So, what if you say no and refuse the tattoo? What if you don’t want to become a code? These are the questions that Kayla can not answer, and her choice to refuse it sends her life into a whirlpool. She becomes a freak and an outcast in her high school, her friends reject her, and her family is threatened. Kayla can’t hide anymore, no, she has to run for her life.

The Bar Code Tattoo is an exciting read about one girl’s fight with society, highlighting individuality verses conformity and freedom versus control. Weyn does an amazing job of showing this fight to a point where you are feeling the pain and state of confusion that is Kayla’s life. This book is a page turner that leaves you hungry for more each time you put it down. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an adventure story and who also enjoys reading attempts at overcoming some sort of struggle. The Bar Code Tattoo is a liberating and captivating book for all readers.

Glass

Fiction by Ellen Hopkins
Reviewed by Mel W.
3 available - check it out of the NVHS Library


By eighteen, Khristina is already a single parent with no job, whose living at home with her mother. As far as anyone knows, Khristina is “attempting” to get her life back together. And for a while she is. That is, before the monster comes knocking at her door. Will she fight for her and her baby, or is her heart destined to the monster?

Loosing her baby, she finds a man to restart her life, and start her family. But the monster doesn’t give that luxury. After being almost entirely abandoned, she has lost everything. Everything except the monster.

Hopkins rights of one girl’s journey through triumph and heartache of being a single mother addicted to crystal meth. Throughout this semi-fictional novel, you feel the emotional struggle Khristina gets while living her life around the monster. The hurt she feels, and the disappointment she gets when she knows she can’t give it up, not even for her baby. The hurt shoots through you like lightning, feeling the disappointment her family feels when they realize they’ve lost their daughter to drugs, and the only way they can help is if she wants help.

I rate this book a five out of five, for anyone who has experienced being lost, or loosing a loved one to drugs. Ellen Hopkins writes with an understanding passion. This book has moved me, as it has many others. Glass is a passionate novel, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading.

Al Capone Does My Shirts

Fiction by Gennifer Choldenko
Reviewed by Hillahn S.
1 available - check it out of the NVHS Library


Al Capone, machine Gun Kelly, and escapee Roy Gardner are not your normal neighbors. Not unless you are Moose Flanagan and his family. Moose’s dad was a great electrician and he competed with a lot of other men to get the job on Alcatraz Island. Moose and his mentally slow sister have the job of living on the concrete island and getting to know everybody. First they have to find a school for Natalie the sister and she can’t just go to any normal school. Natalie’s mind is still like a ten year old even though she is 16. Moses mother keeps making Natalie’s birthday her tenth one. When they do find a school for here she refuses to go and ends up howling the whole night causing her self to be expelled on her first day. Such is life with Moose Flanagan who also has to go to school and get on the baseball team and deal with the boss’s daughter Piper.

Piper is your average boss’s little bratty daughter. She gets Moose in trouble all the time for what she has done; she makes up moneymaking ideas that involve the convict’s names to get money. For example she made a sign that said “ Let Al Capone do your laundry, its only five cents!” Many kids bought the trick and Piper raised a lot of money. However when the Boss found out about it she blamed Moose and got him and his friends in trouble. Moose has bigger problems then that though to deal with. He has to find a school for Natalie so she can be taught and learn to be normal. A new school is opening that specializes in the case that Natalie has. Moose knows only one person who can help him get Natalie in. He writes a letter to Al Capone and Piper delivers it because she reads all the convicts mail. Then one day the family gets a call from the school saying that they have accepted Natalie into their program. Moose is ecstatic. Then one day as he is putting on a freshly cleaned shirt, a piece of brown paper falls out and all it says is “DONE.”

This book is a very good read and I would recommend it for any one. It’s a little hard to understand Natalie’s problem but at the end of the book you get what happened. It’s a simple 225-page book and its great for book reviews. Moose shows all the characteristic of a good brother standing up for his sister.

The New Rules of High School

Fiction by Blake Nelson
Reviewed by Tricia S.
Not in the NVHS collection as of this post


Max Caldwell is the star writer for his school newspaper and has managed to receive straight A’s all through his high school career, but during his senior year everything seems to change. Max’s overachiever personality stoops to an all time low once he starts hanging out with the kids downtown, who don’t exactly put their smartest thinking into action when making choices. Yale is the college in mind but a car crash after driving home drunk might be the end to that dream. To top all this off Max is faced with conflict in his love life. Cindy and him had been going out for two years and all of a sudden everything changes between them and he has to decide what in his life takes priority. The Owl consumes nearly all of Max’s free time, since he became the editor of the paper. A mysterious and bold freshman takes her role as the writer for the social column, which everybody loves. She brings out a side of Max that he tries to hide for the longest time but cannot succeed.

Blake Nelson really portrays the mysterious life of an everyday American teenager to his best ability. This fiction really taught me a lot about how quickly the world can change around you if you let something slip. Not only did, The New Rules of High School give me advice on how to deal with these problems and the consequences while being a teenager, but it opened my eyes to the toll it can take on my future. I am recommending this strong and powerful novel to anyone who is interested in how to deal with problems they are having whether it be in school or outside in your family life.

To Catch A Pirate

Fiction By Jade Parker
Reviewed by Kathleen B.
Not in the NVHS Collection as of this post


Annalisa Townsend, daughter of the soon to be Governor of Mourning, set off with her father to settle the small, little-known island in the Caribbean. All was going well; she was pleased with her father’s accomplishments and excited to help him with the new city. That was until their ship was attacked by ruthless pirates who were under thecontrol of a captain named Crimson Kelley. During the attack, a pirate named James Sterling, armed and ready with his razor-sharp dagger, found her hiding below deck. When he tried to take her necklace, her only remembrance of her recently passed away mother, she begged him not to. Trying to trick him out of taking it she asked him to take her ring. Sterling accepts a kiss in exchange for the necklace, “A fair trade, m’lady,” he tells her before disappearing.

A year later, Annalisa, determined to hunt down the awful James Sterling and reclaim her fathers treasure, set off with a forged letter of marque. While looking for James to help her find the ivory chest filled with gold, she is in danger of him stealing something far more valuable this time: her heart. To Catch a Pirate, by Jade Parker is and marvelous book filled with romance, action, and betrayal. Parker does a wonderful job of bringing out the individual personalities of each character. I recommend this book mainly for teenage girls. This is an excellent book about pirates with a astonishing romantic twist.

Friday Night Lights

Fiction by H.G. Bissinger
Reviewed by Levi S.
2 available - check it out of the NVHS Library


In a small town in Texas called Odessa, the Permian Panthers football program is something to be extremely proud of. Everybody wants to be part of this legendary team, which has a chance of going to the state championships and bringing home a state title. In Booby (James) Miles case, it wasn’t just a dream but a legacy. Booby is the team’s star player and the heart and soul of the team. Mike Winchel is the Panthers quarterback and a fabulous one at that. Every year before a playoff game Permian High School holds a pep rally called The Watermelon Feed. This particular pep rally was for the students and the players to get extremely pumped for the big game. Booby loved the attention of the students he received and he loved showing off. On Friday night, the panthers faced Midland Lee for semi state and 25,000 people flowed into, the Panthers football stadium, Odessa’s pride and joy. With a three touchdown lead, Permian was going into the fourth quarter and their coach was trying to show off Booby with a huge touchdown, but Booby got hurt by a huge hit by the linebacker. He injured his knee the whole stadium was quiet, except the wails of Booby Miles. What will happen to Booby and the rest of the team? Will they bring home a state title, or will the loss of their star running back have a devastating blow on the rest of their season?

This is an excellent book for sports lovers and anybody looking for adventure. It is a thrill ride and very exciting. You will be shocked at the ending. However, you have to give it time because it starts out slow.

TTYL

Teen fiction By Lauren Myracle
Reviewed by Andrea T.
Not in the NVHS Collection as of this post


The “winsome threesome” have been the best of friends since seventh grade. Now that they’re in tenth grade, Angela, Zoe and Maddie are determined to have the best school experience of their lives until some unfortunate events. The guy of Angela’s dreams turns out to be the wrong one, Zoe’s relationship with her teacher Mr. H gets a little weird and Maddie leaves the other two for the most popular girl in school, Jana. Together the three of them work through their problems with school, boys and each other.

This book is written completely in instant messenger (IM) format, even with IM lingo. Although this book is very interesting, it doesn’t have a very complex story line. But if you’re looking for a quick read that you can easily relate to, then this book would be good for you. Since this book is written in a modern day format, it is also about modern day problems that girls can relate to.

I would recommend this book to girls between the ages of twelve and fifteen. The girls in the story are fifteen years old so girls around this age group would enjoy it most. In addition, this age group would probably enjoy the IM format more that any other age group. Read more to find out what happens with Zoe and Mr. H, who Angela ends up with, what horror Jana does to Maddie and what fun trip the girls have for thanksgiving vacation.

Bull Catcher

Fiction By Alden R. Carter
Reviewed by Stephen G.
2 available — check it out of the NVHS Library


Neil, also known as Bull, tells us of his journey through baseball, and also high school. Bull’s best friend, Jeff, also loves baseball. They both live for the sport everyday of their lives, and also want to go pro. This book takes place in Shipley, Wisconsin. In the book, Bull lives with his grandfather, an old man that likes to party a lot, because his mother works in LA and he does not want to move away. There are many obstacles in this book, including girls, friends he has troubles with, and even death.

Throughout ninth and twelfth grade his baseball team has been very good, but cannot beat the school Caledonia. In his senior year, they make it to the championship, against the great Caledonia. Many scouts are there watching. Will they win the game? Will his speed affect him from playing college ball?

I enjoyed reading this book. It was very exciting and Alden Carter's writing was very descriptive. I recommend this book to any individual that loves the sport of baseball. I rated it 4 out of 5 stars because I felt it got a little boring at times. But overall, it was a great read.