As the weather outside turns cold and snowy what better way to spend the afternoons and evenings then by curling up with a good book? Follow us over the next few weeks as we highlight books from the 2020-2021 Soaring Eagle Nominee list.
The Soaring Eagle Nominee list is a list of 10 books picked by teens, 7th-12th grader, in the state of Wyoming. These are titles that other teens have said are amazing and should be read. This year’s list includes nonfiction, novels in verse, realistic fiction, fantasy, and mystery.
Our first three are quick reads. Shout and Solo are novels in verse, meaning the story is told in poetry format. Game Changer is told through text messages, emails and script like dialog.
Shout
By Laurie Halse Anderson
Twenty years ago, Laurie Halse Anderson wrote a book. It was a book about Melinda, a 9th grader who is hated at her new high school because she called the police to an end-of-summer party. Melinda, bullied and cast out, becomes unable to use her voice. Only farther in the story do we learn the real reason she called the police, the real reason for her silence. Twenty years ago, Speak, a book about rape and its aftermath, offered teens who had experienced sexual assault a place where their pain was understood.
In Shout, Melinda becomes “me” as Laurie Halse Anderson tells the story of her own rape at age 14, during a time when the culture blamed victims and exonerated the perpetrators. As the #MeToo movement has allowed women and men to speak about the unspeakable, Anderson adds her voice, this time in powerful, gut-searing verse, to their stories of shame.
But Anderson’s voice also trembles with rage, as she relays stories of her career as a writer, as the author who wrote “that book,” as her work is censored, and her speaking engagements cancelled because she speaks honestly with teens about sexual violence. Through Anderson’s hard-hitting poetry, we learn that not much has changed since her own rape in the 1970’s, or even in the twenty years since Speak was published.
Solo
By Kwame Alexander with Mary Rand Hess
Blade has it all. By material standards anyway. His family is rock and roll royalty with the mansion, cars and disposable income to back it up.
But when the ground he stands on is rocked to the core by betrayal, uncovered secrets and one too many unkept promises, Blade is left searching for something well beyond the material.
Float along on the rhythmic journey of this book in verse as Blade travels across the world and across his soul to find the things that aren’t really things that make life worth living. Be there when he realizes he really does have it all, not just by material standards.
Game Changer
By Tommy Greenwald
Walthorne Wildcats stick together: they win as a team and they lose as a team. Wildcats stand together no matter what, especially when one of their own falls into a coma after an injury at the football training camp. As Teddy’s family, team and community gather round him to support his recovery, the question comes up again and again; what really happened to Teddy that fateful day on the field?
Game Changer is a story told in multiple formats; dialogue, texts, articles, interviews and Teddy’s inner thoughts. Fans of football and sports will love reading about sticking together as a team and coming together when one of your own is hurt.
To find these titles, stop by the Teen Room or your school library. Haven’t heard of one you might like? That’s okay; next time we’ll be talking about series, or stop by the library and we can give you other recommendations!