One of the many reasons why I didn’t update the original site was probably because I had to go right into the coding to update it. It took a lot of time and I think I wasn’t really happy with the layout of the site overall. So I decided to turn iheartbooks into a blog which definitely makes it easier to add to. Then I wanted to create my own design for the blog, but there are already so many awesome templates other, more creative people made for wordpress, I may as well use them. Yay!
2003. New York: Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN 0-375-82400-6
Pages: 185
Paul knew he was gay since he was 5-years old. He was the first gay student president, the founder of a gay-straight alliance in elementary school, and was a “gay food writer” for the local paper. Paul, Tony and Joni were best friends. Tony was not as “out” as Paul; his parents weren’t comfortable with it, and he just wasn’t as up-front about it as Paul, but when he’s with Joni and Paul, Tony felt great. Everything was fine until Paul met Noah, the new kid in school. It was love at first sight; they did everything together, until Paul did something he probably shouldn’t have. After that everything seemed to fall apart: Noah broke up with Kyle, Tony got in trouble with his parents because he lied about hanging out with Paul, Kyle was desperately trying to get back together with Paul, and Joni met Chuck who was pulling her away from her group of friends. All of a sudden, Paul felt alone because things were starting to change, but fortunately, these changes were all for the better. This is a wonderful and humorous story about friendship, love, and tolerance.
2000. New York: Harper Collins Publishers
ISBN: 0-06-028518-4
Pages: 114
Shawn McDaniel has a severe form of cerebral palsy that makes him completely paralyzed and prone to seizures daily. He can’t control any bodily function and instead has to wait for his brain to move certain muscles. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know what’s going on around him. Since all he can do is observe, that’s what he does best. He can remember conversations and observations down to every move and every word said. Through his eyes, he sees the struggles his family has experienced, especially those of his father, who left his wife and kids because he couldn’t handle Shawn’s condition. He began to write about Shawn and wrote this Pulitzer Prize winning poem, which made him famous and spawned this new writing career all based on children with CP. One of his main discussion points is about whether it is right to let people like Shawn go through the pain of living this way when there was no cure in the near future. Through Shawn and the rest of the McDaniels, we see both sides of the story: should Shawn live or die?
2004. New York: Harper Collins Publishers
ISBN: 0-688-16248-7
Pages: 131
In Queens, NY, Akilah impatiently waited for her true friend Victoria, to come back from her trip to Nigeria. Her mom and her would lie out on the backyard patio and talk about girl things. Mom mentioned that Akilah would be getting her period soon, but Akilah was determined that she was going to wait to get it until she was 12 and both her and Victoria would get it at the same time. But when she finally did come back, something was different. Mrs. Ojikes told Akilah that Victoria was really tired from the trip and wouldn’t be able to see her. So she waited more until the first day of school, but when she said hi to Victoria, she was quiet and barely said anything. During class, she was the same way. Akilah didn’t know what was going on; until one day Victoria sat her down and told her what happened to her in Nigeria. Her coming-of-age ceremony turned out to be something that would scar Victoria for life, physically and mentally. Even though she wanted to help her, Akilah promised she wouldn’t tell anyone and even risked her own student behavior records at school because of her promise. Akilah’s mom accidentally found out what happened to Victoria and that’s when Mrs. Ojike forbid them to hang out anymore. At the same time, Akilah was also going through her own coming of age; her body was becoming more mature as was her friendship towards Victoria.
2003. New York: Simon and Schuster
ISBN 0-689-84996-6
Pages: 264
Robin is completely in love with Chris; and that’s why when he tells her at the beginning of their “last summer” together (before he goes off to college), that he’s going to Italy to study, she falls apart. Robin’s mother sees this desperation and instead of letting her sit around their Iowa farm, she suggests to Robin to take a road trip across the country with her Aunt Dory, and cousins, Marshall and Iris. A bit hesitant, she decides to go, even though she has never really gotten along with her cousins. During the trip, she finds out that the death of her cousins’ father has affected both the kids and her aunt more than anyone knew. Going between breaking up fights with the cousins and trying to counsel Dory, Robin finds out how strong of a person she is, and that there is a life out in the world for her… with or without Chris.
2000. New York: Henry Holt and Company
ISBN: 0-8050-6403-6
Pages: 180
Judd Winick grew up in New Jersey. He always got good grades, was in clubs, and also an athlete; but the one thing he loved more than anything else was drawing. He loved art and drawing cartoons. He graduated from school and soon afterwards was living off of pennies. He decided to apply for a spot on MTV’s Real World and ended up getting asked to be on the show. This is where he would meet the most influential and important person in his life, Pedro Zamora. Pedro grew up with a huge but poor family in Cuba. When he was 8, he was shipped to Miami with his parents and some of his siblings as a refugee. His older brothers could not come because they were close to military enlistment age in Cuba. So Pedro grew up in a new country with his part of his loving family. His mother died of skin cancer when he was only 9, and that left him with a big hole in his heart. He tried to cover that hole with relationships and sex at the age of 13. When he was 17, he found out he was HIV positive. At first he was depressed about dying, but he soon realized that he had to make this change in his life for the better of all people. So he became an AIDS educator and speaker. He was also going to be on the Real World in SF. Pedro and Judd became best friends during the show. Judd became well-educated about AIDS and HIV from Pedro. Although Pedro would try to cover up his declining health, Judd and another roommate Pam, could see through the charade. After the show, Pedro’s health really started to get bad. Judd took his place at the speaking tours; he presented himself as an AIDS/HIV educator and also talked about his experience knowing someone who had the virus. This is a sad, but thoughtful story about friendship and bravery.
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