New Crayons

New Crayons was thought up by Susan at Color Online. New crayons is when I share what new books I got this week. This week was an awesome one for books =)

I participated in the read-a-thon this week and that was so much fun. A bit challenging, but I read for about 22 hours (my family and I went out dinner and the drive was a bit long).

From the library

A Girl Like Me by Ni-Ni Simone

She's got a voice like Keisha Cole, attitude to burn--and is the body-rockin', Bebe-sporting girl everyone in her high school wants to be...or be with. But in real life, sixteen-year-old Elite has a crack-addicted mother, no father in sight, and is secretly raising her sister and two brothers on her own. Now a radio contest has put her up-close-and-personal with mega-hot singer Haneef and their chemistry is too sizzling for Elite to stop pretending. And as the clock ticks down fast for this 'hood Cinderella, she has only one shot to save her family and make all of her dreams come true

-I've heard that Ni-Ni Simone is a good author so I'm interested in seeing if I like her work.

Now and Zen by Linda Gerber

Nori Tanaka is thrilled to be studying abroad in Tokyo, Japan, but it isn’t exactly what she had imagined. She expected tranquil gardens and swoopy-roofed houses, not concrete and neon. And everyone assumes that, with her traditional Japanese features, she’s a native instead of the naïve Japanese-American that she really is. Even Erik, a gorgeous German student, mistakes Nori for Japanese, and treats her like a personal tour guide. Nori is sure that he’ll like her for who she is once he gets to know her, so what harm can come of temporarily pretending to be Japanese? It doesn’t take long to realize that she has a lot to learn about Japan, and about herself, before she can pass for a native. But after exploring the karaoke clubs in Tokyo, the peaceful temples in Kyoto, and the tranquil heights of Mt. Fuji, Nori knows she has a good chance of finding the hidden Japanese spirit and Zen mindset within herself

-I finished this book during the read-a-thon and I liked it.

Magic and Misery by Peter Marino

Seventeen-year-old Toni Jo adores her gay best friend, Pan. He is a golden boy - gorgeous, witty, and sophisticated, so different from the redneck troglodyte teenage boys in her blue-collar town. Pan and Toni Jo are inseparable until Caspar, the thoughtful football player in their English class, enters the picture. Toni Jo has longed for a real boyfriend, but she's used to thinking of herself as a hopeless case, the girl who never gets what she wants. Naturally, she's surprised and thrilled when Caspar asks her out. But as their romance unfolds, it jeopardizes her friendship with Pan, which becomes strained and unpredictable. Toni Jo has to wonder if it's she or Pan who has changed. Tension between them escalates as the bullying of Pan leads to violence and Toni Jo is unable to help

-This book will be an off-color review. I'm eager to read it as I need to read more books about GLBT teens.

Mailed to me
Blessing's Bead by Debby Dahl Edwardson

Nutaaq and her older sister, Aaluk, are on a great journey, sailing from a small island off the coast of Alaska to the annual trade fair. There, a handsome young Siberian wearing a string of cobalt blue beads watches Aaluk “the way a wolf watches a caribou, never resting.” Soon his actions—and other events more horrible than Nutaaq could ever imagine—threaten to shatter her I~nupiaq world. Seventy years later, Nutaaq’s greatgranddaughter, Blessing, is on her own journey, running from the wreckage of her life in Anchorage to live in a remote Arctic village with a grandmother she barely remembers. In her new home, unfriendly girls whisper in a language she can’t understand, and Blessing feels like an outsider among her own people. Until she finds a cobalt blue bead—Nutaaq’s bead—in her grandmother’s sewing tin. The events this discovery triggers reveal the power of family and heritage to heal, despite seemingly insurmountable odds.

-Sent to me by Lyn. Thanks Lyn! I'm super eager to read this one.

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco Stork

When Pancho arrives at St. Anthony's Home, he knows his time there will be short: If his plans succeed, he'll soon be arrested for the murder of his sister's killer. But then he's assigned to help D.Q., whose brain cancer has slowed neither his spirit nor his mouth. D.Q. tells Pancho all about his "Death Warrior's Manifesto," which will help him to live out his last days fully--ideally, he says, with the love of the beautiful Marisol. As Pancho tracks down his sister's murderer, he finds himself falling under the influence of D.Q. and Marisol, who is everything D.Q. said she would be;

and he is inexorably drawn to a decision: to honor his sister and her death, or embrace the way of the Death Warrior and choose life

-I loved Marcelo in the Real World so I'm so excited to read Mr. Stork's next book especially because it sounds just as great (if not better) than Marcelo. Sent to me by Lyn and it's autographed! Thanks so much Lyn :)