Disconnect

March 1, 2013

Gr 6-10-These hi/lo books focus on the hazards and misuse of social media. In Disconnect, Daria has not been able to adjust to her family's move so she stays in constant connection with her old friends through texting and Facebook. Her addiction is so severe that it affects her interaction with everyone around her: she is at odds with her mother, resistant to making new friends, and chooses her cell phone over watching the children she babysits for, leading to an almost fatal accident. This last incident finally leads to parental intervention. In Oracle, eighth-grader Owen is seriously crushing on mean-girl Kamryn. He finds out that she has a crush on his older brother, Kyle, a star on the high school basketball team who uses his popular jock status to charm girls and later dumps them. In a desperate effort to save Kamryn from hurt and try to win her over, Owen anonymously sets up a blog on a dating site called The Oracle, which doles out advice and predicts the future of the relationships being discussed. To stir up interest, the featured relationships are in existence in his middle school. It is Owen's wish to convince Kamryn to take The Oracle's advice in choosing him over Kyle. The students' freedom to use personal devices on school property and during school hours make the real-world issues of ethical and responsible usage of social media a prevailing theme. Although geared for reluctant readers, the topics will interest more competent readers, and the books will serve as quick reads for discussion groups.-Sabrina Carnesi, Crittenden Middle School, Newport News, VA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2012
Grades 7-10 The Orca Currents series is aimed at teens with low reading levels, but the best titles, like this one, could easily be picked up by any teen with a yen for a straightforward, uncomplicated plot. Daria, newly moved far away from her longtime BFFs, only seems to feel good when she is glued to her phone. Her texting is constant. Another new girl at her school, Cleo, a potential friend, thinks Daria's dependence on technology amounts to an addiction. It takes an accident involving a child Daria babysits to jolt the teen. Forced to give up her phone, and working on a class project with technophobe Cleo, Daria begins to see her problem and slowly reengages face-to-face with the world again. Don't look to this high-low book for description and digressionthe plot flows along the surface only. But it is an effective, up-to-the-minute look at a very real problem that will resonate with the vast majority of teens in love with their communication gadgets and social media.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)