Mo’ Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Ben Greenman

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Thompson, Ahmir “Questlove,” and Ben Greenman. Mo’Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2013. Print. ISBN-13: 9781455501359. Hardcover. Cost: $26.00.

Awards:
-None

Annotation:
How do you get started in the music business while making sure you still love what you do and are good at doing it? Here, Questlove can tell you.

Mini-Review:
Chronicling the life of iconic hip-hop musician Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Mo’ Meta Blues is a memoir that is told in a most unique manner, reflecting the very name that Mr. Thompson has chosen for himself. Follow the growth of a virtuoso drummer as he becomes a founder of the “last hip-hop band on Earth,” and finally part of the house band for a late night talk show. Both a music history and a reminder of an accomplished life lived at a young age, Mo’ Meta Blues makes it clear that it is likely only the beginning of an influential career that most people are unaware they are being influenced by.

Whether you are a music lover, fan of the Roots or hip-hop, enjoy a fun story, or someone who simply wants to know more about the band doing all of the funky songs and antics on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (now The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon) this book should be a must-read. Young adults will relate to the constant feeling young Ahmir had of being a new kid on the outside of a society he did not fully understand, while gaining an insight into life growing up in a very unique family during the 70s and 80s. At the same time, any musician or lover of music will appreciate the reverence with which Ahmir describes the music he experienced throughout his life. This book would make a sterling addition to a biography, special music book, or general non-fiction collection that teen readers would enjoy because of the familiar references to the culture they know as well as being able to discover a culture their parents would remember fondly.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

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Clare, Cassandra. Clockwork Angel. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010. Print. ISBN-13: 9781416975861. Hardcover. Cost: $19.99.

Awards:

- Winner of the 2011 YALSA Teens Top Ten Award

- Winner of the 2011 Silver Inky Award

Annotation:
Tessa Gray only traveled to Victorian London to find her brother. Instead she finds a whole new world of trouble.

Mini-Review:
Orphaned 16-year-old New Yorker Tessa Gray embarks on a journey to find her brother Nate in Victorian London. Instead she finds herself captured and thrust into a chaotic underground world of supernatural creatures and an ancient fight for humanity’s freedom. Rescued by two young demon-slayers, Tessa must discover her place within this unfamiliar world of Victorian customs and intrigue. After displaying a mysterious power soon after her arrival, it is clear she is involved in all of this somehow. Amidst learning more about her lost family and her own strength, Tessa also gets a crash course in how to be a proper young lady in London. If she happens to fall in love with one of her two rescuers along the way, then they will have to deal with that after the fighting is over.

Clockwork Angel is provides a thrilling insight into a young woman’s experience in Victorian London, while also introducing the supernatural Downworld of the Shadowhunter universe. Serving as the first book in the prequel series to Clare’s modern day Mortal Instruments series, the story of Tessa Gray quickly changes from a mundane rendezvous with her brother into a sinister and world-changing kidnapping. I would recommend this book for teens as a fun example of learning about history, in this case Victorian society, while enjoying a fantasy that is at once familiar as well as extraordinary. Tessa’s moral and personal questions are also instructive. She discovers things she never knew about herself, while struggling to trust Will, Jem, her brother Nate, and the feelings she is having about all of them.

Teen Quote:
Becky M, age 14: "I like romances, mysteries, some fantasy stuff. I only read it if I like the relationships, if no one is falling in love, then I’ll read something else."

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

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Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders. Platinum ed. New York: Speak/ Penguin Group, 2006. Print. ISBN-13: 9780142407332. Paperback. Cost: $10.00.

Awards:
- New York Herald Tribune Best Teenage Books List, 1967

- Chicago Tribune Book World Spring Book Festival Honor Book, 1967
- Media and Methods Maxi Award, 1975
- ALA Best Young Adult Books, 1975
- Massachusetts Children’s Book Award, 1979 

Annotation:
Ponyboy knows he has a hard life, but takes comfort in the friends he has around him. What happens when his friends aren't around to help?

Mini-review:
Following teenage Ponyboy Curtis and his six close friends, The Outsiders provides a glimpse into the world of these young men, each on the precipice of adulthood in their own way. Labeled “Greasers” by their community because of their looks and the social class they can’t seem to escape, the gang of boys is relentlessly bullied and beaten by a rival group of rich kids from across town called the “Socs” who abuse the opportunities their status gives them. Ponyboy and his friends navigate the challenges set before each of them, depending on one another as they become men living on the outside of society.

The Outsiders is, to my mind, the model young adult novel to compare current coming-of-age novels against. Although The Catcher In the Rye is considered an earlier YA classic, it was written for adults, whereas Hinton wrote The Outsiders as a teenager for teenagers. This makes this book the most accessible of early YA fiction, as we currently understand it. I would recommend this book to any teen that feels apart from their society, who values friendship but does not feel fully connected to those around them. The diverse main characters exist at different points in life that allows anyone to find a character they can relate and connect to, even though Ponyboy is the one focused upon the most. The violence and upheaval of the book only serves as an example of what certain choices could result in for teens in 1967, and can still be learned from today.