By: Robin Friedman
Publisher: Flux
Publish Date: 2008
ISBN: 073871304X
Page #: 232
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Fiction
Age Level: Older Teen
Series Titles: n/a
Subjects: Eating Disorders, Eating Disorders in Boys, Bulimia

Reader's Annotation: Everyone always thinks its just the girls who worry about their weight. Meet Parker, who seemingly has it all, but for him the pressure results in a secret that has him ill inside and out.

Synopsis: Parker is in high school. He is on the track team, he is gearing up for college, and he even has a girl who he likes more then just a little. It seems like he has it all, but his father is overbearing (planning out his future to be a doctor) but never really asks Parker what he wants to do. Parker is uncomfortable in his skin and doesn't like the way his body looks. Under the pressure of school, family, and image issues, Parker turns to food for comfort. He eats until he can barely stand it and then releases it into the abyss of the bathroom toilet. His sister, though jealous of the attention her brother gets, begins to suspect that things aren't right with Parker and she is faced with how to help her brother (or if she should even confront him at all). Parker is definitely not ok. His body is weak, and his personality is becoming more and more irritable. Nothing is a stunning book for both boys and girls to read. It deals with issues that are even harder to talk about then drugs and death. A shaming disease, eating disorders are something that in our culture have risen to un-calculated heights and Nothing is one step in the right direction. It is a book that can appeal to both the sufferer and the people around them as it gives a heartfelt but realistic window into a taboo subject.

Notes: Inspiration for Novel: By Robin Friendman

I met an old friend from college years after we graduated, and he mentioned in passing that he had an eating disorder when we knew each other:

“An eating disorder?” I said.

“I didn’t know that.”

“Nobody did.”

“But you’re a guy!”

“So?”

“Guys get eating disorders?”

“Yup.”

That’s all it took.

Read the first Chapter here http://www.robinfriedman.com/books/chapters/firstNothing.html

Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green, David Levithan

Title: Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Author: John Green, David Levithan
Publish Date: April 6, 2010
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Pages: 304
ISBN: 0525421580

Classification: Fiction
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Range: Young Adult
Price: $17.99
Annotation: Two famous young adult authors collaborate to create two characters. Both characters have the name Will Grayson. They meet and their lives become intertwined in a revealing way.

Summary: Two boys living in Chicago are about to meet. What's special about that? They both happen to have the same name: Will Grayson. Completely different in nature, these two Will Graysons, once crossed, intertwine and change each others lives in deep and meaningful ways. Told in alternating Will Grayson perspective, we follow the two boy as they work through their problems through the funny and the emo and the epic high school musical!

Evaluation: Both David Levithan & John Green are top notch authors. I was thrilled to see the collaboration and couldn't wait to read it! It didn't disappoint! It was funny, smart, and really meaningful. The flux of emotions was visceral-at times I actually laughed out loud! Others I was crushed; it was vicariously painful.

Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: Self-realization, homosexuality, Sadness/Depression, love, loss, true friendship

Reason this book was chosen: For the authors and their collaboration. Also, it really deals with friendship issues, the angsty years as we try to figure out who we are, and the gay issues are poignant. Also, teens that deal with depression may find this book relatable in both it's black humor.

How Beautiful the Ordinary, by Michael Cart

Title: How Beautiful the Ordinary
Author: Michael Cart (Editor & Contributor)
Publish Date: 2009
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 368
ISBN: 0061154989
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Short Stories
Age Range:Young Adult
Price: $16.99

Annotation: A compilation of Short Stories from many top young adult writers that deal with LBGTQ issues, love, and identity.

Summary: An anthology of beautiful stories told in many unique fashions geared for the unique and amazing world of first love, identity, and so on for LBGTQ teens. Here are authors such as Francesca Lia Block, David Leviathan, Julie Ann Peters, and many many more big names and accomplished YA authors. In Happily Ever After we have a graphic novel where love not magical genies fixes romance. And in other stories we have different perspectives. A boy mistaken for a girl refused to wear a dress, and a mother writes to a daughter she hasn't seen in over a decade. These stories are brought to you from a place of "now" while the travel in either the past or present or both to see the beautiful, distinct perspective of sexual identity for teens who

Evaluation: Michael Cart was formally an ALA president of YALSA and it's clear in this compilation that he is intimate with amazing authors and their work and what they have to offer. He is aware of the need for controversial topics to be honored and published, as well as the voice of the teen. I really enjoyed going through this book, getting to know authors I haven't read before (it's kinda like a buffet of authors), and seeing through brief windows of identity.

Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: Indentity, Love, LGBTQ

Reason this book was chosen: Both for what it attempts to accomplish, as for the authors included. But, mostly I wanted to see what YALSA's Michael Cart edited and had a part in getting these important voices out into the world on these equally important issues!

Peak Inside: http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780061154980

Publisher Website:

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061154980/How_Beautiful_the_Ordinary/index.aspx

Boy Meets Boy, by David Levithan

Title: Boy Meets Boy
Author: David Levithan
Publish Date: May 2005
Publisher: Random House Childrens Books
Pages: 192pp
ISBN: 0375832998
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Range: 14 and up
Price: $17.99

Annotation: In boy meets boy, the boy is Paul. This boy meets another Boy, Noah. And in a town where love between boys is actually ok, Paul falls for Noah. But in Paul messes up he has to fight to get him back. And Paul isn't gonna give up.

Summary: Paul is gay and its ok in his town. Thus sets the scene for a typical love story. Boy meets girl. they fall in love. Boy looses girl. Boy wins girl back. This story is just your typical love story. Only difference? Boy meets boy.

Evaluation: The best thing about this book is the simplicity and fairytale world in which Paul lives. his town is accepting, even if his friend's town isn't, but where he lives it's ok to be gay outloud! It's your typical love story. But with a modern twist. I breezed through this bopok with a smile on my face thinking the whole time, "I bet there are two love stories going on here. One between the boys, and the other with the fantasy of hoping one day the world can be this way." And it's doesn't forget about the world today, with the Tony you meet a boy who is struggling with a very familiar plight: coming out to an unaccepting world.

Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: Coming out to un-accepting audience, LGBTQ issues, Self-Awareness, and Self-Identity, Accepting who you are

Reason this book was chosen: A gay story that puts the "gay" back into gay!