The Downhill Lie by Carl Hiaasen

While it's true that you may need to be a golfer to know what Carl Hiaasen is driving at, (pun intended), anyone can appreciate the humor behind The Downhill Lie: A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport. Hiaasen's account of his midlife crisis return to golf is truly hilarious, but also touching. Carl's father loved the game of golf, and lucky for him, the game loved him back. When his father passes, Carl decides at age 50 plus to become a golfer. When he was in high school and college he played a few fateful rounds that led him to abandon the sport all together . . . or so he thought. He takes lessons, he buys the best equipment, he buys every little golf gimmick advertised (my favorite: the special stone that is supposed to bring you swing alignment and you wear it as a pendant around your neck). He buys it all . . . and none of it helps. He will always be a hacker, but he writes with such enthusiasm and truthfulness you can't help but love this book.

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Jamestown by Matthew Sharpe

I picked up Jamestown at a trip to Barnes & Noble with gift cards in hand. Growing up in Virginia, you get your share of Virginia state history, especially the first successful colony in Jamestown. It caught my eye for that reason alone, and once I read the blurb on the back I was intrigued. It did not disappoint. Matthew Sharpe has taken the colonization of the new world into a whole different stratosphere -- in his version, colonists come down in an armored vehicle from Manhattan (which happens to be at war with Brooklyn) in search of some friendly natives with food and fuel supply.

The whole cast of characters are represented: John Smith, John Ratcliffe, Christopher Newport, and Powhatan . . . and Sharpe presents John Rolfe's love affair with Pocahontas (that's right, Disney got it wrong. Those who know their history will attest that Pocahontas married John Rolfe, affectionately called Johnny in the story). In this almost apoplectic world Sharpe creates, Johnny and Pocahontas correspond via email and text messaging, until both lose their electronic devices and have to resort to telepathy. It all sounds strange because it is. But Sharpe makes some important points about the damaging effects of colonization to a generation who only knows it historically and writes with such wit to make this particular history relevant again.

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Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye

Fans of other great coming of age writers like Judy Blume and Jerry Spinelli will likely become admirers of Naomi Shihab Nye’s Habibi and the main character Liyana. Habibi, a Palestinian term of endearment, is exactly how you’ll feel about Liyana and all of the other characters Nye creates in the novel.

Liyana, spending the first fourteen years of her life living in the suburbs of St. Louis, finds her world turned upside down when her father, “Poppy,” announces their move to his birthplace Jerusalem. Moving for any adolescent is hard, and Liyana has to deal with larger issues like not being able to bring her “short-shorts” and whether her new home will be “safe.” She’s rebellious like any girl at her age, but soon learns it may have more serious consequences in her new environment.

Liyana particularly laments her loss of identity due to moving. In St. Louis, Liyana felt like everyone knew her, her teachers, classmates, even the grocer down the street. A strong sense of identity is so important during those coming of age years, and Liyana grieves the loss of her perceived identity but learns an important lesson about who she is and who defines that by the end.

Much like the metaphor of a flower blooming, Liyana grows and blossoms during her journey. She quickly learns there is no black and white, but there is right and wrong. She realizes the importance of family, but also that love can conquer even the longest of feuds. Liyana faces the challenges before her with grace and thoughtfulness. She is a delight to spend two hundred and sixty pages with, and readers will want to know the rest of Liyana’s story after finishing this beautiful novel.

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Doing It by Melvin Burgess

It would seem like all cult favorite teen shows, like My So-Called Life and Freaks and Geeks, kick the bucket after their first season. ABC’s Life as We Know It succumbed to the same fate, but fans of the series will always have the book the show was based on to enjoy. Doing It by Melvin Burgess follows the lives of three teenage boys who happen to be focused on one thing: sex. British author Burgess creates likeable characters in pretty boy Dino, serious and shy Ben, and neurotic Jonathan. It would seem like sex is the only thing on their minds, but readers soon learn that these young men have much more than that to worry about.

Adolescent male readers will rejoice in characters they can relate to and will enjoy reading about; adolescent female readers will love delving into the male psyche to find out what they are really like on the inside. Dino is a good-looking lothario who seems like he is only trying to get his girlfriend Jackie to sleep with him, Jackie being the only girl at their school that is his equal, and therefore who he wants to lose his virginity to. He comes off shallow, but his true colors appear once his parents begin divorce proceedings and he really just needs good friends. Enter Ben and Jonathan, what the British would call his true mates, who have their own problems that they aren’t as willing to talk about. Ben thinks he is living every schoolboy’s fantasy with his affair with a teacher, but discovers the reality of the situation is scary, and ultimately sad. Jonathan is terrified of what people will say if he starts dating the school’s “fat girl” Deborah, but happens to be completely enamored by her. While Jonathan and Deborah’s relationship progresses, so does Jonathan’s neurosis that there might be something wrong with him down below.

While the novel tends to focus mostly on Dino, Ben & Jonathan, Burgess also presents the point of view of the women in their lives: indecisive Jackie, warm-hearted Deborah, intolerant Sue and disingenuous Zoë. The girls’ outlook on the boys only enforces how spectacularly off base both sexes are about each other. Burgess creates a fresh, funny and sometimes raunchy outlook on the adolescent world. Teens will not only enjoy following the lives of these young men, but also relish in the aspects of British culture that permeate the novel. To an American teen, Burgess’ Britain would seem like a different world at first, but they will soon find out they have more in common with these teens across the ocean than they originally may have thought.

Regarded as the “Godfather of young adult fiction,” Burgess has won several awards: Junk was awarded a Carnegie Medal, Bloodtide won The Lancashire Children’s Book Award, and Doing It received the LA Times Best Young Adult Book of the Year award. As Doing It proves, Burgess has created a reputation for writing quality young adult fiction that pushes boundaries and isn’t shy about presenting what teens are really going through.

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