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Tuesday, June 03, 2003

Compiled by Bob Hoover, Post-Gazette Books Editor

Here are excerpts from the some of new books written for the "Young Adult" market that are more risque and more tightly roped to contemporary events than in the past. Industry experts say that's why they are so successful.

"Jake Riley: Irreparably Damaged" by Rebecca Fjelland Davis. Harper Tempest. $19.95

Ninth-grader Lainey and high school freshman Jake team up to shoot farm pests when they're not attending their rural school but when the older boy starts to find Lainey attractive, difficulties arise:

" 'Wait," he says softly. 'You feel nice. Hey, you have a bra on. How come you only wear one some of the time?'

"'None of your business, Jake. Let me go.'

"He traces my bra line with his finger. I smash my arms against my sides so his finger can't go any farther around me than across my back.

"'Wanna be my girlfriend?' he says.

"'Jake,let me up.'

"'You never wore a bra last summer,' he says."

"Three Girls in the City: Self-Portrait" by Jeanne Betancourt.Scholastic. $4.99

Teens Maya, Caroline and Joy become friends while taking a summer photography course in the East Village. Manhattan is their back yard for plenty of adventures:

"As the three girls walked away from the AIDS memorial, they came to a towering upside-down cross of charred wooden beams held up by metal fingers.

"'It's in honor of dead firefighters,' said Maya. 'The pieces came from a fire.'

"Photos of firefighters, notes,flowers and candles clustered around the base of the cross. These, Carolyn knew, were to honor firefighters lost in the World Trade Center. She'd seen street shrines like that on television after 9/11."

"After" by Francine Prose. HarperCollins. $16.99

A Columbine-like shooting at a high school 50 miles away brings a wave of paranoia to Central High School where Tom Bishop, 15, is a solid student and budding basketball star:

"School officials turn into arbitrary dictators and snoops while rumors of detention camps for malcontents called Operation Turnaround are rife. Soon, people are missing. It's not 'Sweet Valley High' anymore.

"The principal addresses the students:

'"Students should also know that we have conferred with the town council and we have been empowered to pass this curfew as a law. Which is why the state troopers and the police will naturally be involved...'"

"You Know You Love Me: A Gossip Girl Novel" by Cecily von Ziegesar. Little, Brown. $8.95

Seniors at an exclusive all-girls high school in New York spend Daddy's money, plan parties and chase boys. In this scene, Jennifer comes upon soccer practice where the players are all hot -- and not from running around:

" 'Want to come hang out with us for awhile?' Nate asked as they shook hands. Jennifer had such a sweet face, and she'd tried so hard to kick the ball,well he couldn't resist.

"'Um...,' Jenny said, deliberating. As she did, Nate noticed Jenny's chest. Man, was it ever huge. He couldn't let her get away, not without Jeremy and the other guys getting a chance to check her out."

Bob Hoover can be reached at bhoover@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1634.