Doing It by Melvin Burgess

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Burgess, Melvin. Doing it. Square Fish, 2012 (reprint). 352 pages. $9.99. 978-0-312551353.

This angsty, humorous novel follows the romantic happenings of best friends Dino, Jon, and Ben; as they discover what they do and do not want in their respective relationships.  Dino, gorgeous, popular, and conceited, constantly pressures Jackie into having sex she isn't ready for. Jon has difficulty coming to terms with his attraction to overweight Deborah, which makes him a target for ridicule among his friends.  Ben has been harboring a secret for the last few years: his relationship with their teacher, Miss Young, who becomes steadily more unhinged as the story progresses.

While the sexual content itself is abundantly obvious, the copious amounts of British slang may cause confusion for American audiences, making familiarity with foreign vocabulary somewhat essential to fully understand the text.  Still, given the nature of the text, curious teens will likely continue on, in spite of the unfamiliar word choices, and laugh throughout the book.  However, given its raunchy subject matter, professionals may be wary of recommending this Burgess novel, and teens themselves will be secretive while seeking it.

Summer of Secrets by Paul Langan

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Langan, Paul. Summer of Secrets. Townsend Press, 2004. 160p. $3.99. 978-0-439-90491-9.

Secrets are consuming Darcy Wills.  Her parents are fighting a lot, but will not tell her why.  Her sister, Jamee, has been lying about where she's been lately.  Darcy herself has dark secrets of her own.  She can't sleep or focus, and can't bring herself to tell her friends and family why.  Her anxiety multiplies when her old friend Brisana gets romantically involved with an older boy who does not seem to care about her at all, but when Brisana finally comes to her for help, will there be an easy solution?  This summer off from Bluford High just might be their most difficult one yet.

Readers will be totally immersed in this fast-paced summertime drama, written in an engaging, yet no-frills style by series editor Paul Langan.  Summer of Secrets does not skimp on the excitement, letting the tension build up until the very end.  Occasional typos and spelling mistakes may temporarily distract the reader, but they will continue eagerly to find out what becomes of Darcy and Brisana.

A must-read for fans of the TV series Degrassi: the Next Generation.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

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Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Little/Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009. 229p. $13.50. 978-0316013697

Growing up on the Spokane Indian reservation in Washington state has been no easy task.  In Arnold Spirit Junior's fourteen years, he has seen the harsh reality of poverty, alcoholism, and hopelessness through his friends, family, and fellow tribe members.  Life has never been easy on the rez, where depression and drug abuse run rampant, and no one is exempt from the cycle of violence.  Born with water on the brain, Junior was left with a stutter, seizures, and a general gangliness that the rest of the rez saw fit to mock him for.

On his first day of high school, Junior realizes just how hopeless everything really is on the reservation.  He throws his "new" 30-year-old textbook across the classroom, hitting his teacher, and is promptly suspended.  When the teacher shows up at his house, begging Junior to make something of his life by leaving the rez, he makes the bravest decision of his life: to go to a mostly white school in a farm town away from the home he's always known.  But which is worse: to be a stranger in a strange land, or a stranger in your home town?

Junior's brutal honesty about life on the reservation will make readers cringe and cry out in sympathy.  His determination to change his life, no matter how the rest of the world protests, is both encouraging and enlightening.  Through his explicit narrative, Alexie reveals to us that even those who are supposed to have the strongest bond with us can also be the most detrimental to our livelihood.  We do, however, stand a chance at hope when we take our futures into our own hands and plow through the opposition and keep moving forward.

Highly recommended to those readers that are unafraid of serious subject matter (racism, addiction, and violence), appreciate humorous, honest narration; and anyone who roots for the underdog.