Young Adults Choices 2005

AC Index - by Author

A - B - C - D E - F G - H I - J K - L - M - N - O P - Q R - S - T U - V W - X Y Z

Young Adults Choices: F, G

Falk, Dan	The Universe on a T-Shirt
	Traces scientists' quest to find the elusive unified "Theory of Everything" from ancient Greece to the breakthroughs of Newton, Maxwell, and Einstein, to the excitement over string theory and today's efforts to merge quantum theory with general relativity.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	This book covered a lot of material and did a very good job of it. After reading it, I better understood the things I already knew and had a basic understanding of thinbs I had heard of.


Farmer, Nancy	The Sea of Trolls
	After Jack becomes apprenticed to a Druid bard, he and his little sister Lucy are captured by Viking Berserkers and taken to the home of King Ivar the Boneless and his half-troll queen, leading Jack to undertake a vital quest to Jotunheim, home of the trolls.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	It was long but in a good way. It was realistic. I grew fond of some characters and disliked others. there wasn't many dull moments. It was fun to read. I'm glad I picked this book.
2	If you liked the book Eragon, then you should like this one.
2	I really liked the characters in this book. I also thought it had very good word choice. It's very easy to understand and I would highly recommend this book to people who liked Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter or any other fantasy.
2	An awesome book with a blend of facts and history blended with fantasy and everyday life.
2	I liked the suspense in the book. It kept me wondering what would happen.
2	My favorite part was when the queen lost her hair.

Findlay, Jamieson	The Blue Roan Child
	Eleven-year-old orphan Syeira flees the stables of King Hulvere of Haysele with Arwin, a wild Arva horse who communicates through smells and breath, in a convoluted and mysterious quest to recover her two colts from Lord Ran of Stormsythe.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
0	I couldn't finish it. I got halfway through and it was so boring I stopped. There were things in it like Sir Geymund that didn't need to be there. There wasn't anything captivating in it.
2	It is a very exciting book with lots of tense scenes.

Fisher, Catherine	Oracle Betrayed
	After she is chosen to be "Bearer-of-the-god," Mirany questions the established order and sets out, along with a musician and a scribe, to find the legitimate heir of the religious leader known as the Archon.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	I really enjoyed this book. A bunch of things happened.
2	I loved the plot to overthrow the rulers! Exciting!
2	Some of the details were cool like the mask and the scorpion thing; I wished it had ended differently, though.

Fisher, Catherine	Snow Walker
	The Snow-walker's son, The empty hand, and The soul thieves. The snow-walker Gudrun came from the swirling mists and icy depths beyond the edge of the world to rule the Jarl's people with fear and sorcery, but a small band of outlaws will fight to the death to restore the land to its rightful leader.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	I really enjoyed this book. I would read it again. This was one of my favorites.
2	This was an excellent read. I enjoyed the characters and the plot immensely. A good attention-keeper.
1	Wonderful story except the tale lacked powerful emotional development in the characters.

Fisher, Len	Weighing the Soul: Scientific Discovery from the Brilliant to the Bizarre
	Explores the strange and ridiculous paths science can take, describing bizarre experiments, discoveries, and figures.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
0	This book was hard to read and I found it almost impossible to concentrate on it. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME.
1	Some of the terms I disliked, but mostly the book was amusing and interesting. Weighing someone's soul was the most interesting formula.

Flake, Sharon	Who am I Without Him?
	So I ain't no good girl -- The ugly one -- Wanted: a thug -- I know a stupid boy when I see one -- Mookie in love -- Don't be disrespecting me -- I like white boys -- Jacob's rules -- Hunting for boys -- A letter to my daughter. Presents ten short stories about teenage girls struggling with issues of self-worth.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	I liked how the author wrote about real life situations that you could connect with. The stories about boys and girls are ones you hear about every day.
2	Good girl book.
2	I liked it because it shows what a bad relationship is.
2	This book helped me figure out the stupid things boys do.
2	It's real. Kids can relate to the stories.
2	I really liked it; I learned something from each story; very unique.
1	I liked the first story, but some were a bit boring.
2	I thought it was hard to read. It was also frustrating, but that's what made it good.
2	Yet again it has amazed me how girls let men treat them because the men are popular...or what a guy will do to fit in the get the rich girl to like him.

Flinn, Alex	Nothing to Lose
	A year after running away with a traveling carnival to escape his unbearable home life, sixteen-year-old Michael returns to Miami, Florida, to find that his mother is going on trial for the murder of his abusive stepfather.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	The book was written very well. The author went back and forth and gave you bits of information. You slowly put the puzzle together. A very good read!
2	Really good book - but it kind of confused me in a couple of spots with "this year" - "last year." If you don't pay attention to them you have no idea what you read about.
2	I could not put the book down. It was very exciting.
2	I loved this book. I do strongly recommend this to anyone who loves reading murder, tragedy stories.
2	That was a very interesting book and had a good surprising ending.
2	I really enjoyed this book because it had a lot of emotion and suspense.
1	I thought the book was pretty good. I liked how it went back and forth between the past and present. It helped move the book along at a quick pace.
2	Great plot twists. The author described every aspect of the main character, and, by the end, I felt emotionally attached to him.
2	Loved it!
2	The book had a really good plot line and twist at the end.

Fogelin, Adrain	The Big Nothing
	A middle-schooler struggles to cope with major family problems, including a brother who might be heading for the Persian Gulf, but finds an escape in piano lessons and the dream of a romance with a popular girl.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	It was a great story. I would like to read more like it.
2	A great demonstration of how a kid lives his life.
2	Great wtory. Hope they come out with a sequel.

Frank, Hillary	I Can't Tell You
	While fighting with his best friend and college roommate over a girl, Jake says something he regrets, then begins communicating only through notes and letters, but when he wants to tell the girl how he really feels about her, his silence and penchant for puns get in the way.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	The format was really unique. But parts were really hard to understand.


Fredericks, Mariah	Head Games
	Two teenagers connect online in a role-playing game which leads them into their own face-to-face, half-acknowledged courtship.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	The book was exciting and I really enjoyed it. I wish this author would write more books.


Fridell, Ron	Decoding Life: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Genome
	How far should we go? -- Privacy and justice -- Engineering nature. Looks at advances that have been made in decoding and understanding the human genome, discusses ways in which scientists hope to use that information to cure and prevent disease, explores some of the moral and ethical issues involved in genetic manipulation, and examines the application of such techniques to plants and animals.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	I loved this book partly because I like science. It was VERY interesting.
2	I really liked this book. The possibilities are introduced in this book fascinated me. I liked the way the author told about both the good and bad in the testing that they do. I would definitely recommend this book.

Funke, Cornelia	Dragon Rider
	After learning that humans are headed toward his hidden home, Firedrake, a silver dragon, is joined by a brownie and an orphan boy in a quest to find the legendary valley known as the Rim of Heaven, encountering friendly and unfriendly creatures along the way, and struggling to evade the relentless pursuit of an old enemy.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	I really liked how they combined the real world and the fantasy world. She made the characters come to life, jump off the pages.
1	It wasn't all that exciting.
2	A mixture of fantasy and reality; I liked the brownie. They were trying alchemy.
2	Extremely adventurous. I liked how the dragons found ways to avoid people. I really enjoyed this.
2	I really enjoyed the book because it shows that dragons are not always dangerous creatures.

Fusco, Kimberly Newton	Tending to Grace
	Cornelia, a high school student, is forced to confront the truth about herself and her mother after her mom runs off with a boyfriend, leaving her in the care of an eccentric aunt.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
1	The ending was horrible! It made me confused, too - hanging off the cliff that I fell off! Did Agatha die? Otherwise it was a good book to the end.
2	It was inspirational and interesting; I loved Agatha and Cornelia.
2	I really enjoyed this book.
1	Just OK
1	I like how the book talks about how life goes - but the vocabulary was a little confusing.
2	This is now my favorite book. Loved it! Even my mom loved it after she read it.

Gallo, Donald R.	First Crossing: Stories about Teen Immigrants
	Stories of recent Mexican, Venezuelan, Kazakh, Chinese, Romanian, Palestinian, Swedish, Korean, Haitian, and Cambodian immigrants reveal what it is like to face prejudice, language barriers, and homesickness along with common teenage feelings and needs
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	It was a very interesting book. I mean for being non-fiction. It wasn't boring. It was actual stories of people.
1	It must be hard to go from a country you love to an unknown one.
2	Some of the stories are good, especially Marco wanting to be honored like his father.
2	This book talks about different problems that teenagers have. Strict parents, religion, etc., and how teenagers respond to all of this.
2	The only thing bad about the book is sometimes they didn't translate some sentences they said in a different language.

Garfield, Henry	The Lost Voyage of John Cabot
	A fictionalized account of the voyages of explorer John Cabot, particulary his 1498 journey to the New World from which he and two of his sons never returned, inspiring his middle son Sebastian to eventually make his own voyages of exploration looking for the northwest passage to Asia and for some trace of his long lost father and brothers.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	Great historical fiction. Interesting story. I recommend it.
1	This was a pretty good book explaining how shipping waa in the distinct time period, but it didn't have a very good story line. The ending could have been better as well.

Gaskins, Pearl	I Believe In __: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Young People Speak About their Faith
	The author draws on personal conversations with young Christians, Jews, and Muslims and discusses topics such as peer pressure, dating, gender roles, and worship in relation to their particular religious beliefs.
Student Rating:	Student Review:



Goldstein, Margaret	Irish in America
	Examines the history of Irish immigration to the United States, discussing why the Irish came, what their lives were like after they arrived, where they settled, and customs they brought from home.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	It was nice surrounding myself in my heritage. The potato famine pushed my family to America.

Goobie, Beth	Flux
	Deep in another reality, while using her ability to travel to parallel worlds, Nellie uncovers a conspiracy to abduct children for an experimental laboratory.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	Very touching!
1	It was slow in parts and I didn't get some things, but some people might like it.

Grant, Vicki	The Puppet Wrangler
	Twelve-year-old Telly, sent to stay with her aunt, a puppeteer, while her parents deal with her outrageous older sister, finds her own adventure when she discovers that Bitsie, one of the puppets in her aunt's show, is alive
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	I like how the story used different examples to explain what was happening.
1	The book was somewhat humorous in some spots. The book was intended for a younger audience - the characters were not very deep.

Graydon, Shari	In Your Face: The Culture of Beauty and You
	Examines the culture of beauty and its effects on young people, looks at how perceptions of beauty have changed over time, and offers advice on how to sift through the messages that glorify beauty and learn to put them in perspective.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
1	I liked the book because of the pictures and how they show how women have suffered to be beautiful since the beginning of time.
2	It was really good to read especially for a teenage girl! I REALLY like it.

Griffin, Peni R.	11,000 Years Lost
	Fascinated with the archaeological dig that is going on near her Texas home, eleven-year-old Esther magically travels back in time to the Pleistocene era and discovers first-hand how people lived at that time. Includes a list of sources and author's notes.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
2	I liked the history.
2	The beginning was kind of boring, but once I got farther into the book I got hooked.

Grimes, Nikki	Tai Chi Morning: Snapshots of China
	Presents a collection of poems by Nikki Grimes inspired by her 1988 visit to China, complemented by Ed Young's illustrations of his native land.
Student Rating:	Student Review:
1	It was kind of slow; a lady travels around China writing poems.
1	The names were confusing but how they lived was kind of interesting.
1	This book was so much fun to read. I can see sights I wouldn't ordinarily see through the words.