Cathy Nelson (TechnoTuesday Blog) has tagged me for the High School Daze to Praise MEME.

My initial reaction of a book that has rapidly caught on at my high school is Twilight by Stephenie Meyers, but you have to have been living under a rock if you aren’t aware of the popularity of this book with teens (both MALE and females) as well as with parents. Every other day I get asked when the next installment will be out? (Answer: August 2nd!) To me, books that get kids reading and begging for more is what makes books (and authors) great.

Since everyone already knows about this one, I though I’d blog about my second [but by no means a lesser choice since this is one of my FAVORITE new teen books/series] Bloody Jack: being an account of the curious adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, ship’s boy by L.A. Meyer.

“Life as a ship’s boy aboard the HMS Dolphin is a dream come true for Jacky Faber. Gone are the days of scavenging for food and fighting for survival on the streets of eighteenth-century London. Instead Jacky is becoming a skilled and daring sailor as the crew hunts murderous pirates on the high seas. There’s just one problem: Jacky is a girl…”

Jacky learned at a young age how to survive on the streets, but at least there she was a girl. Trying to keep her gender a secret while learning to be a ships boy AND falling in love with Jamie, a fellow ships boy, makes her time on the HMS Dolphin precarious at best, especially for a girl who believes she’s not very brave.

So far there are five books in the series. The books haven’t been as popular with my guys. Once they realize “Jacky” is a girl, they usually return the book without giving it a try. However, the girls I convince to give it a try all clamor for the remaining books in the series. Jacky is a strong character who doesn’t like lying about who she is but does what she must to survive. Full of humor, adventure, bloody battles, and a little romance, Bloody Jack is one I highly recommend to alleviate the high school daze.

The rules for Meme: High School Daze to Praise:

• Select and briefly review one teen novel, classic or modern, which is a sure antidote to the daze of high school.
• Title your post Meme: High School Daze to Praise
• Include an image with your post.
• Tag four blogger colleagues. Since I don’t have a network of folks yet (or at least ones I feel comfortable tagging) I’ll just leave this open for anyone who is reading my blog and is in either an educational or library setting and say “Tag, your it!”