The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She's not comforted by the news that she'll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run?

As she struggles to cope with crutches and a first cyborg-like prosthetic, Jessica feels oddly both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don't know what to say, act like she's not there. Which she could handle better if she weren't now keenly aware that she'd done the same thing herself to a girl with CP named Rosa. A girl who is going to tutor her through all the math she's missed. A girl who sees right into the heart of her.

With the support of family, friends, a coach, and her track teammates, Jessica may actually be able to run again. But that's not enough for her now. She doesn't just want to cross finish lines herself—she wants to take Rosa with her.
Author talks about the book
Video Book Talk

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

This is a novel from 16 year old Hazel Grace Lancaster's point of view, a girl who has terminal lung cancer and has been battling cancer since she was thirteen. She has an oxygen tank attached to her via the tubes through her nose because in Hazels' words "My lungs suck at being lungs". When she attends a Cancer Children Support Meeting and encounters Augustus Waters, her life changes dramatically.
Augustus provided much needed companionship, humour, and reminded Hazel not to let the cancer consume her; to not let it take away her hopes, dreams and social life. He also showed her what it felt like to be unconditionally loved. His bravado and swagger was very much like how a young male might handle situations, but he was also not afraid to let Hazel (and the reader) see his vulnerable side. The witty and thought-provoking conversation between the two really helped the flow, and lightened the mood of a novel surrounding a rather serious topic. They ask the questions that relates to all of us: Will I be loved? Will I be remembered? Will I leave a mark? (http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/may/04/fault-in-our-stars-john-green-review)

Video Book Trailer
Booklist interview with author John Greene

Morris Gleitzman

These were some really serious books to start the summer with. But they were really good books.

Once I escaped from an orphanage to find Mum and Dad.

Once I saved a girl called Zelda from a burning house.

Once I made a Nazi with toothache laugh.

My name is Felix.

This is my story.

Everybody deserves to have something good in their life.

At least once.

Video Book Talk
Video Book Talk
Author Morris Gleitzman talks about Once
Listen to part one read by Morris Gleitzman

Then is the second story of Felix and Zelda. They escaped from the Nazis, but how long can they now survive when there are so many people ready to hand them over for a reward? Thanks to the courage of a kind, brave woman they are able to hide for a time in the open, but Felix knows he has a distinguishing feature that identifies him as a Jew and that it is only a matter of time before he is discovered, which will mean death for them all. Even though he promised Zelda he would never leave her, he knows he has to, before it is too late . . .

Video Book Talk


And More is coming...