Heidi's Book Picks

Georgia Peach Book Award list 2015-2016

We Were Liars - E. Lockhart ***WINNER of the GPBA***

Everything Leads To You - Nina LaCour

I’ll Give You The Sun - Jandy Nelson

Far From You - Tess Sharpe

Free To Fall - Lauren Miller

A Death-Struck Year - Makiia Lucier

Nearly Gone - Elle Cosimano

Are You Experienced? - Jordan Sonnenblick

Jackaby - William Ritter

Faking Normal - Courtney C. Stevens

Fake ID - Lamar Giles

Say What You Will - Cammie McGovern

Killer Of Enemies - Joseph Bruchac

When I Was The Greatest - Jason Reynolds

Caged Warrior - Alan Sitomer

Hostage Three - Nick Lake

Phoenix Island - John Dixon

The Scar Boys - Len Vlahos

What I Thought Was True - Huntley Fitzpatrick

Girls Like Us - Gail Giles *****

We Were Liars - E. Lockhart

“A beautiful and distinguished family.

A private island.

A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.

A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.

A revolution. An accident. A secret.

Lies upon lies.

True love.

The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.

And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.”

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I found this to be a haunting book that stayed with me long after I read it. The clues were all there, even the bits I didn’t understand were clues - and I still didn’t manage to put them all together until the author revealed all at the end. What a surprise twist I never saw coming.

When I Was The Greatest - Jason Reynolds

“In Bed Stuy, New York, a small misunderstanding can escalate into having a price on your head—even if you’re totally clean. This gritty, triumphant debut captures the heart and the hardship of life for an urban teen.

A lot of the stuff that gives my neighborhood a bad name, I don’t really mess with. The guns and drugs and all that, not really my thing.

Nah, not his thing. Ali’s got enough going on, between school and boxing and helping out at home. His best friend Noodles, though. Now there’s a dude looking for trouble—and, somehow, it’s always Ali around to pick up the pieces. But, hey, a guy’s gotta look out for his boys, right? Besides, it’s all small potatoes; it’s not like anyone’s getting hurt.

And then there’s Needles. Needles is Noodles’s brother. He’s got a syndrome, and gets these ticks and blurts out the wildest, craziest things. It’s cool, though: everyone on their street knows he doesn’t mean anything by it.

Yeah, it’s cool…until Ali and Noodles and Needles find themselves somewhere they never expected to be…somewhere they never should've been—where the people aren't so friendly, and even less forgiving.

Girls Like Us- Gail Giles

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This book grew on me slowly. It is told in two perspectives and both characters speak "in dialect", which was difficult at first. After reading a few pages, it helped me see further into the heart of these girls. How uneducated, through no fault of their own, these girls were. The school system failed them by thinking they were unimportant because they were special ed. They are special because of who they ARE, though.

Through the story, I was able to see friendship and understanding grow. At first, through a forced closeness, then shared tragedy and eventually blossoming into true friendship and family.

Highly recommend this book to help shatter the stereotypes of Special Education people.

Heidi Y.