Daughter of Venice

Napoli, Donna Jo (2003). Daughter of Venice. New York: Laurel Leaf.

Summary:  Set during the Renaissance, Daughter of Venice tells the adventures of 14-year-old Donata, who feels trapped in her wealthy family's palazzo and longs to explore beautiful Venice before she is made to move to a nunnery, the fate she expects with dread. She manages to find an escape by disguising herself as a poor fisherboy and makes daily jaunts into the city.  Her experiences change her more powerfully than she had anticipated.

Additional comments:  Daughter of Venice's strong-willed and courageous female protagonist is based on a true historical figure, who challenged unbending gender roles to achieve her education.  Donata's relationship to her family, especially her twin sister, her domineering father, and her protective brothers, will also intrigue readers. 

Very Young Girls (DVD)

Schisgall, David (2007).  Very young girls [motion picture]. New York: Showtime.  

Summary:  Very Young Girls exposes the realities of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking that happens right here in American neighborhoods.  This documentary interviews about a dozen young women aged 12 -21 who have been victims of sexual exploitation and then criminalized. Their tragic stories challenge general public perceptions of prostitution as a choice between consenting adults.  The film shows that the average age of a prostitute is 13 years old and the children, most of whom are already under the care of social services or the justice system, enter the sex industry by being lured or kidnapped or sold and then raped by pimps often twice their age.  The documentary follows the counseling work and advocacy done by GEMS, Girls Education and Mentoring Services of New York. 

Additional comments:  Viewers of this documentary will never again dress up for a "Pimps and Hoes" party and will be so moved to talk anyone from knowingly glamorizing an industry that enslaves young girls.  One of the most poignant moments of the film was the acceptance speech by Rachel Lloyd, the founder and Executive Director of GEMS, of the Reebok Human Rights Award. She scolded the Academy Awards for the performance of "It's hard out here for a pimp", which glamorizes prostitution and the debasement and violence against women.  This film will profoundly move young adults and force them to question the lyrics of hip hop and other projections by the media.

Cuba 15, by Nancy Osa

Osa, Nancy (2003). Cuba 15. New York: Delacorte Press.

ISBN: 9780385732338 / 0-385-73233-3

Summary:  First time novelist Nancy Osa relates a light-hearted and entertaining coming-of-age novel about 15-year-old Violet Paz, whose Cuban grandmother insists on throwing a quinceanero—a traditional celebration to mark a girl’s transition to womanhood. Violet, whose father is Cuban and whose mother is Polish, initially opposes the festivity, feeling out of touch with her Cuban roots and reproachful of having to wear a fancy dress. But, she concedes to appease her abuela. 

Additional Comments:  Osa draws partially from her own experiences connecting with her Cuban heritage to create Violet, a spunky, comical American adolescent who is introduced to family customs and history and is developing a stronger sense of cultural identity. Female readers will particularly relate with Violet’s feelings towards friendships and family relationships while learning about Cuban culture and history.

Juno (Soundtrack)

Messina, Matt (2007). Music from the motion picture "Juno" (Audio recording). Rhino Records.

Summary:  This quirky film tells the story of a high school girl, Juno MacGuff,  who gets pregnant and finds a couple to adopt the baby.  The deluxe soundtrack is a collection of 35 songs from contemporary independent artists, such as Belle and Sebastian, Cat Powers, and Kimya Dawson, as well as "oldies but goodies", like Buddy Holly, the Velvet Underground, the Kinks, and Sonic Youth.   

Additional comments:  The music is often playful with simple rhyming lyrics, such as "Anyone else but you" by the Moldy Peaches and "Me and You" by Barry Louis Polisar, and childlike xylophones, like "The Lorings" by Mateo Messina and "All I want is you", by Kimya Dawson, which also has a baby crying in the background.  The music helps to keep the movie light-hearted and optimistic, despite the heaviness of the topic of teen pregnancy.  

Habibi, by Naomi Shihab Nye

Nye, Naomi Shihab (1997, 1999). Habibi. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks.

Summary:  14-year-old Liyana is just going into high school—and just experienced her first kiss—when her parents break the news that the family, consisting of her younger brother, Rafik, and her American-born mother, Barbara, and her Palestinian “poppy”, Dr. Abboud, will be moving from their home in Missouri to her father’s homeland, Palestine. Liyana must let go of her American home and adopt a place where she has never been. When she arrives in Israel / Palestine, she is confused by the religious and political tensions, and she is torn between her American ways and the Palestinian values that are being thrust on her. Liyana is introduced to an enormous family in Palestine with whom she cannot communicate at all, and she enrolls in the Armenian school in the Old City of Jerusalem where she is the only “outsider” (non-Armenian). Liyana and Rafik become friends with two children who live in the Palestinian refugee camp down the road from their new home. During weekly visits to her grandmother’s village in the West Bank, they learn about the mistreatment and oppression that Palestinians face under Israeli occupation.  But, when Liyana sparks a romance with a Jewish boy, her family has the opportunity to take a personal step towards peace.

Additional comments:  Habibi takes a very controversial and heated topic and breaks it down into a way that creates optimism and hope.  The Palestinian perspective is more heavily conveyed through the events of the story, such as the Israeli destruction of Liyana's grandmother's house, the unprovoked shooting of their young Palestinian friend, and the infuriating arrest of her father.  However, the negative depiction is balanced a bit by Ome, who represents Jews who strive for peace, reconciliation, and cross-cultural understanding.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares

Brashares, Ann (2001). The Sisterhood of the traveling pants. New York: Delacorte Press. 

Summary: Four best girlfriends spend their first summer apart from each other. On the eve of their separation, they ceremoniously designate a pair of "magical" jeans that fit all four of them perfectly as a way to connect them despite the distance.  They agree to take turns wearing the jeans and to mail the jeans along with a letter.  The story follows different plot lines to follow each girl's adventures:  Bridget falls for a soccer coach at her camp in Mexico, Lena tries to avoid a handsome young Greek man while staying with her grandparents in Greece, Tibby stays home in Washington, D.C. to work at a drugstore and surprises herself by befriending a young girl who is dying of leukemia, and Carmen's greatly anticipated summer alone with her bachelor father in Charleston is destroyed when she learns upon her arrival that her father is engaged and is living with his new fiancee and her two children.  

Additional comments:  Don't be turned off by the silly and melodramatic list of rules for the jeans at the beginning.  This "chick lit" gets better as it goes until you're flipping through the pages without pause and with tears streaming down your cheeks.  The well-developed characters show raw emotions and unpredictable behaviors as they are put into sad, challenging situations. Readers can continue on the characters' journeys by reading the three sequels in this series and catching the recent movie versions on DVD.

Sloppy Firsts, by Megan McCafferty

McCafferty, Megan (2001). Sloppy firsts. New York: Three Rivers Press. 

Summary: Jessica Darling is devastated that her best friend, Hope, moved away from Pineville, New Jersey shortly after her brother's drug overdose.  Jessica struggles with intense emotions and depression as her relationship with her family is strained, as she secretly loathes her friends at high school and chooses to sit with them in high school only to avoid being alone, and as she harbors a strong crush on an upperclassman on her track team. Her life takes a bizarre upswing when she begins a secret friendship with a "Dreg", who was friends with Hope's older brother.

Additional comments:  Jessica is an intelligent girl who wallows in her misery that her best friend is no longer in her everyday life, and she feels misunderstood and excluded by everyone else, particularly her family.  Jessica must come to terms with the way others--and herself--can be fake to others and can, thereby, be hurtful.  You might as well find a copy of the sequel, Second Helpings, because their is no real resolution at the end, only another dissatisfying problem. 

Go ask Alice

Anonymous (1971).  Go ask Alice. New York: Simon Pulse. 

Summary: Based on the diary of a 15-year-old girl who becomes increasingly dependent on marijuana and LSD, runs away from home, tries to break her addiction, suffers a nervous breakdown, and eventually dies from an overdose.  Originally published in 1971 and briefly set in San Francisco, Go Ask Alice provides insight into the 1960's counter-culture movement as well as showing one person's emotional struggle with drug addiction.

Additional comments:  Go Ask Alice is written in a diary format form the point of view of a melodramatic and depressed teen-aged girl. The reader is taken on a psychological journey through the girl's internal conflicts between what she wants to do versus what she ultimately can't resist doing. Though seemingly realistic in the beginning, the book takes on a didantic tone midway through as lack of self-control brings on ill consequences and eventually her self-destruction.