Realistic YA/ Friendship

Benway, Robin	Audrey, Wait Sixteen-year-old Audrey Cuttler wants to set the record straight despite what you might have read in the tabloids or seen on Entertainment Tonight! She wants her private life back, to attend her classes at high school instead of sitting in the office all day, to go to concerts and hang out with her bff, Victoria. Her life was turned into tabloid fodder when her garage-band musician ex-boyfriend wrote a song about their breakup that shot to the top of the charts in a meteoric rise. Now she’s hounded by paparazzi, people across the country are weighing in online about her on message boards, she can’t even go on a date with her new crush and her best friend wants her to take advantage of her fifteen minutes of fame. High literature this is not, but it’s a step above some of the trashy pop-culture series that are popular among teenage girls. It is often laugh-out-loud funny, features a hip, likable heroine, who, get this, actually likes her parents and comes with its own playlist as each of the chapter names are songs. Band names and albums are also included in the title so the reader might gain a multimedia experience by reading with music apropos to the mood of each chapter. This one won’t sit on the shelf. It is sure to be passed around. There is some language and situations to deal with however. Loads of f-bombs and assorted curses routinely heard among young people are sprinkled liberally in the dialogue as well as reference to sexual activity without details and underage drinking.
Brashares, Ann	The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Four girls claim to be best friends since before any of them were born because their mothers were all in the same pre-natal exercise class. This summer will be the first summer where each girl will go separate ways. One of the girls bought a pair of used jeans in a thrift shop and was about to throw them out when, on a whim, each girl tried them on and they fit everyone perfectly even though they were all differently sized. The girls decided that the pants were magic and they would mail them to each other through the summer.
Brashares, Ann	The Second Summer of the Sisterhood The pants were stored in Carmen's closet after the first summer. After all, they are magic and there was that "no washing" rule. This time Tibby is going away to film camp, Lena and Carmen are staying home and Bee is running away from herself and the events of last summer. Relationships are more complicated in this book and I enjoyed it very much.
Brashares, Ann	Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood It's a pleasure to have the girls and pants back for the summer. This time, it's the summer after high school graduation and before each goes to a different college. Bee is going to Brown, Lena to Rhode Island Art Institute, TIbby to New York University Film School and Carmen to Williams, her dad's alma mater.
Castellucci, Cecil	Boy Proof Victoria, aka Egg is a gifted high school senior, daughter of an actress mother and special effects make-up artist father. She is brilliant, driven, edgy, rude and totally into science fiction and old films. Her life is also totally under control except that she might be failing trig and Max Carter waltzes into her life. She just doesn't have room for him, for friendship or romance. She has worked very hard to make herself boy proof and likes it that way.
Ehrenhaft, Daniel	Ten Things to Do Before I Die Sixteen-year-old Ted Burger lives in New York City, has two high-powered ad executive parents who don't know him and two best friends, Nikki and the wild, spontaneous Mark. Nikki and Mark also date and Burger is secretly in love with Nikki. He is content to live life vicariously through his two friends and avoid conflict; but they are encouraging him to be more spontaneous while sharing their usual hamburger special (Nikki eats the coleslaw, Mark eats the burger and Burger eats the fries) at their favorite hangout, a diner. They are making a list on a napkin of ten things Burger needs to do before he dies when a disgruntled, recently fired fry cook threatens everyone in the diner with what turns out to be a water pistol. No one knew this until Mark heroically tackles the man. Burger leaves the diner with his list and feeling weirdly nauseous and later discovers that the cook also poisoned the oil used to cook the french fries and that he has twenty-four hours to live. What would you do if you knew you had twenty-four hours to live? This rollicking if uneven novel presents one possible scenario. Some may find parts of the novel offensive given the fact that losing his virginity is first on the list. But while there is a great deal of talk and no action, some foul language and underage drinking; the novel also asks the reader to ponder some interesting life questions.
Fredericks, Mariah	The True Meaning of Cleavage Sari and Jess are best friends since forever, a united front against the Prada Mafia at their exclusive alternate school in New York City. They are entering their freshman year and very nervous. Sari is hot and Jess is not. Jess is fine with that until Sari catches the attention of the king of the senior class. Unfortunately for Sari, there is a queen of the senior class whom the king has no intention of giving up. Jess is faced with a dilemma as her best friend makes unwise choices and keeps secrets. Laugh-out-loud funny at times. Nothing explicit.
Going, K.L.	Fat Kid Rules the World I really liked this book, it is heavy (bad pun), but funny and I recommend it for students in grade 8 and up. Troy is nearly 300 pounds, feels like everyone hates him and/ or is staring at him. The book grabs you on the first page as Troy is contemplating suicide by jumping in front of a subway. He is imagining the newspaper headlines, "Fat kid jumps in path of subway..." and decides he would be too embarrassed, even in death by the headlines reporting his suicide. Unbeknownst to him, Curt McRae, legend in Troy's high school but, a homeless punk rocker and pill popper has been watching him. Curt decides to "rescue" Troy, then begs a meal off of him. By the end of the meal, they have formed an unlikely friendship and a band in which Troy, now nicknamed, Big T will be the drummer. P.S. Troy does not play the drums. While primarily a story of friendship and acceptance of oneself, Troy's father and brother set unreasonable expectations of Troy.
Hinton, S.E.	That Was Then, This is Now Bryon and Mark are like brothers. They were best friends from way back and when Mark's parents shot each other dead when Mark was around nine, Bryon's mom just took him in. They do just about everything together, but Bryon is beginning to grow up a little, then meets a girl he feels serious about and the dynamic between them begins to shift.
Hinton, S.E.	The Outsiders I had read The Outsiders when I was in high school and loved it. (Yes, it is that old!) While not quite timeless, it is still an engaging story of friendship, brotherhood, class and loyalty.
Koertge, Ron	Boy Girl Boy Larry, Teresa and Elliot, boy girl boy, have been best friends forever with no room for anyone else except Elliot's many girlfriends. They have outgrown their small Illinois town and plan on heading out to California together as soon as they graduate high school. The story is told in shifting points of view and we learn about Teresa's abandonment issues and secret crush on the fantastically gorgeous Elliot. Elliot's ultra-religious parents do not approve of his friendship with Larry who is out but still coming to terms with his homosexuality. While Larry does have to deal with blatant and disguised homophobia and ends up in a hospital, this novel is not issue driven, but more like a slice of life story about best friends and how to outgrow them.
Minter, J	The Insiders An eighth-grader recommended and loaned this book to me saying that it was like the Gossip Girls series but from a guys point-of-view. Now, I haven't read any of the Gossip Girls books yet. This book was breezy and easy to read. It centers around five, filthy rich best friends who live and live to shop and party in New York City. They occasionally attend school but are mostly on the look-out for the next party and hook-up. There is lots of under-age drinking and use and abuse of prescription medication as well as allusions to casual sex.
Minter, J	Pass it on (An Insiders Novel-#2) We learned in The Insiders that Jonathan is the glue who holds together his clique. He is also a little fussy about having everything just right and in its place. As Thanksgiving approaches, his mother drops several bombshells including that his long-absent father is remarrying, she's having the apartment painted and flying to France to see a college friend and he will have to stay with friends while she is away. Oh and his father probably robbed the parents of all of his best friends back in the eighties. Jonathan is a little unsettled by these events plus the passel of secrets everyone else unloads on him in the ensuing days. This breezy little novel is told in alternating third person and first person voices and is quite fun if one doesn't examine the superficial, egotistical, hedonistic, monomaniacal craziness of the boys and girls who apparently live very well in New York City.
Minter, J	Take It Off (An Insider's Novel - #3) At the end of Pass It On, Jonathan is facing spending part of winter vacation sailing the Caribbean on his new step-mother's yacht and getting to know his new step-brother. He gets to take all of his friends on this vacation and at the end of it, he and his pals fly off to spend the rest of winter break at Ocean term, sailing the Mediterranian Sea. While I am all for ready a little trash now and then, I have grown a little tired of reading about these pampered, self-centered spoiled, rich brats.
Minter, J	Some Kind of Wonderful (Inside Girl #3) The third installment of Flan's story mostly takes place on Thanksgiving break on the Island of Nevis where Flan, her two bff from Stuy and fifty other friends of the fabulously wealthy Zumberg family have been jetted. As soon as Flan deplanes, she comes face to face with her nemisis and reason why she opted out of private high school, Kennedy Pearson. It's all about name dropping, brand-name dropping conspicuous consumption and teen/ queen bee drama, but fun.
Schusterman, Neal	The Schwa was Here It has been a while since I laughed so hard and loved a book so much. Eighth-grader Anthony (Antsy) Bonano likes hanging out in Brooklyn with his friends, Ira and Howie. The boys are given the opportunity of a lifetime when Antsy's dad provides a plastic mannequin which is supposedly indestructable. The boys' mission: to prove or disprove the destructability of Manny Bullpucky which leads to some sanctioned mischief and the addition of Calvin Schwa, the invisible eighth grader. The Schwa blends in so well that teachers mark him absent, fail to call on him when his hand is raised and forget to issue him a report card. Antsy and his friends decide to quantify "The Schwa Effect" and set up scientific experiments to prove their hypothesis. And that's only the beginning. Thanks to Mrs. Mak for recommending this book to me!