Art Spiegelman presents Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here my Troubles Began, a graphic novel about his father's experiences at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Germany during the Holocaust. Semi-autobiographical, Art draws himself as he requests that his father, Vladek, tell him more about his experiences during the war. His father recounts the endless tragedies that occurred to both himself and his family. Told in a vivid voice of a first person account, this true tale is poignant and emotional because most of these events happened to over six million Jews. Vladek's report is heartbreaking as he is separated with his love and depicts the acts of bravery and courage concentration camp victims had to endure to stay alive.

Spiegelman draws each page with precision, detailed drawings, and worded descriptions. His father is narrating the graphic novel, though the cartoon boxes contain dialogue as well. Spiegelman draws each character as animals with a different type assigned to each nationality. He portrays Jews as mice, the polish as Pigs, Germans as cats and Americans as dogs. Though the novel is depicted in black and white ink, Spiegelman makes it clear to the reader when the events are in the past by creating gloomy, dark, and heavily marked up panels. Spiegelman received the Pulitzer Prize fo his praiseworthy work. Though the subject matter is mature, students ages older than 12 are recommended to read this book to gain perspective of a Holocaust survivor.

One of my favorite Young Adult books is called What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones. Ninth grader Sophie tells her story of love, friendship, and maturity. Living in suburban Massachusetts, Sophie deals with high school, boyfriends and familial relationships. Sophie meets Dylan and falls helplessly in love. She daydreams constantly about kissing him or holding him and they meet up for secret rendezvous' near school or wherever they can. Soon Sophie realizes there is a difference between instant love and lust. While her best friends are away on vacation, Sophie strikes up a friendship with Murphy, the class nerd. Although she is nervous that her friends with make fun of her, Sophie becomes aware that she genuinely likes Murphy.

Sones tells this story from Sophie's point of view and in beautiful, flowing poetry. While most conventional books are broken down into chapters, this book is a compilation of one to two page poems that tells the story. The titles of the poems describe its content and the text of the poems creates an honest, somber mood as Sophie learns life's hard lessons from her experiences. Sones sporadically surprises the reader by ending a poem with a shocking feeling of joy and laughter.

This very moving work of literature is also aesthetically pleasing to the reader. Combined with the attention-grabbing language, the chosen font and layout is easy to read quickly, clearly making this a page turner. Occasionally, the fonts will switch to connote a change in speaker which makes it very understandable to the reader. In the last twenty pages of the book, a small sketch of a man and woman dancing appears in the lower right hand corner. This sketch correlates to the text of the story when Sophie is speaking about a flip book. When one thumbs through these pages quickly, the sketch appears to be moving and the man is giving the woman a kiss. This work is suggested for girls and boys embarking on their high school experiences, but this timeless tale, with unique storytelling capabilities, would be appreciated by any young adult or adult reader.

Chick-Lit is a contemporary description of literature aimed especially for women and girls. They are usually about a woman who just wants to fall in love and have a successful relationship. Her work problems and family crisis are thrown in their as well. And they usually have an outrageously wealthy best friend. The novels I read in this genus usually have to do with fashion and journalism. Sometimes the protagonist is a fashion writer at a fictional magazine. One of my favorite books that fit this genre is "How to Sleep with a Movie Star" by Kristin Harmel.

I'll admit that it was the title that grabbed my attention. Some people judge books by their covers, but I judge them on how catchy the title is. I knew this book would be just the type I like to read.

The main character, Claire, works at Mod Magazine and is always interviewing Hollywood hotties. Claire's world becomes complicated when she mixes pleasure with business when she strikes up a friendship with one of Tinseltown's most eligible bachelors, Cole Brannon. When the photographers snap pictures of Claire leaving Cole's apartment, aspects of their ?relationship' is misconstrued in tabloid fodder. Claire feels that her job is in jeopardy as well as her reputation.

Any romantic driven female will definitely appreciate this book. They will relate to Claire on all levels and fall deeply in love with the book's main hunk, Cole. It is definitely the type of book you never want to end.