The New Tech High School Rosie Projects

Each Year, the Indiana Library Federation coordinates the nomination of roughly twenty books and oversees voting by students grades 9-12 for the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award (the Rosie). This Spring, Monroe County Public Library asked the sophomores and juniors of Sarah Erb's English classes at New Tech High School to create projects to promote the reading of the 2011-2012 Rosie nominees by other teens in Monroe County. Physical projects can be viewed through July 8, 2011 on the 2nd floor of the Main Library, 303 E. Kirkwood Ave., Bloomington, Indiana. To see the virtual projects, check out the blog entries below!

Three Little Words by Ashely Rhodes-Courter

Ashley Rhodes-Courter endured nine years and fourteen foster homes, growing up in Florida's foster care system in the 90s. She missed her mom desperately and experienced horrendous placements before finally finding a family that wanted her forever. Fans of A Child Called It will find new inspiration in Rhodes-Courter's memoir.

View the New Tech student website for Three Little Words.

Radiant Darkness by Emily Whitman

Persephone lives in the most gorgeous place in the world. But her overprotective mother, Demeter, makes this paradise more like a trap than an oasis. Just when Persephone has almost given up hope of escaping the life that's been planned for her, a mysterious stranger arrives. A stranger who promises something that spurs Persephone to make a daring choice. A choice that could destroy all she's come to love, even the earth itself. In a land where a singing river can make you forget your very name, Persephone is forced to discover who—and what—she really is. This retelling of the Greek myth shows you a different view of the romance between Persephone (daughter of Demeter and Zeus) and Hades (the ruler of the underworld) and the impact that romance had on the earth and all that live on it.

Check out the New Tech Student website for Radiant Darkness.

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

On the surface, Alex Fuentes, a Latino gang member with a bad boy reputation appears to have nothing in common with his assigned lab partner, Brittany Ellis, a wealthy cheerleader. However, this urban romance goes beyond the surface to touch on the commonalities of peer pressure and family conflict to create an unputdownable read.

View the New Tech student website for Perfect Chemistry.

Maze Runner by James Dashner

Thomas wakes in the middle of a maze with no memory of his life or how he came to be in this unusual prison. He finds the maze full of teenage boys like him. No one has any memories and they all want to escape no matter what the cost.

Check out a New Tech Student website of Maze Runner.

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork

As Marcelo approaches his Senior year, his father gives him an ultimatum: work in the mail room at his law firm for the summer, or leave the sheltered world of his private school for students with special needs to attend public high school next year. Marcello's Asperger's syndrome makes learning to navigate the "real world" a challenge at first, but by the end, he finds he has a friend and the clarity and courage to make the right choices in a very complex situation.

Check out a New Tech student website about Marcelo in the Real World.

Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Saenz

Eighteen-year-old Zach does not consider himself an alcoholic, after all, he just drinks to have fun with his friends. But after his latest blackout, Zach wakes up in rehab. He doesn't remember anything about the events that led to his involuntary commitment and doesn't think he really belongs in treatment. However, as Zach begins counseling he starts to face the truth about himself, his family and his drinking.

Check out a New Tech student website with a reading of  Last Night I Sang to the Monster, and another New Tech student website with a cool movie trailer.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

In the all male world in which Todd has grown up, there area surprising number of secrets, considering the fact that all males' thoughts are audible. When he discovers a girl in the swamp, the two of them, along with Todd's talking dog, are forced to flee the thought noise of Pretistown and the sinister men whose desire for power compels them to cut a path of terror in the New World.

Check out the New Tech student website for The Knife of Never Letting Go.

The Juvie Three by Gordon Korman

Mr. Healy is a former juvenile delinquent; he knows what it's like. He hatches a plan to save three young criminals from rotting in jail. That's how Gecko, Terence, and Arjay suddenly spring from their juvenile detention centers to an experimental halfway house in New York, with Mr. Healy as their mentor. Their second chance explodes when Mr. Healy falls three stories during a fight. A head injury leaves him with no memory, of his identity or of his boys. What now for the "Juvie Three?"

Check out a New Tech Student website about The Juvie Three.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

On a snowy day, Mia and her family go on a drive that ends in heartache. After she loses both of her parents and her little brother in a car accident that has left her in a coma, seventeen year old Mia must make a choice between staying and learning to live with their loss, or following them into death. In a series of flashbacks she revisits some of the best times of her life and the history she shares with her family and her boyfriend, Adam.

View a New Tech student website, with a dramatic reading, for If I Stay.

Ghosts of War by Ryan Smithson

Instead of going to college and in response to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, seventeen year old Ryan joins the Army Reserve. When he is nineteen he is called to serve in Iraq. In his own words he tells of his year in Iraq and of the months immediately following his safe return home. This is a powerful and well written memoir.

Check out a New Tech student website for Ghosts of War, and another New Tech student website.

Fat Cat by Robin Brande

Catherine is an overweight American teenager who has decided to perform a science experiment on herself. In order to imitate the lifestyle of early hominines, she will eat an all-natural diet and forgo the use of technology. Although she allows the cooking of meat, she will give up transportation, phones and computers. How will her life and health change with these alterations?


Check out a cool New Tech student website with an "interview" with Cat, and  another New Tech student website about Fat Cat.

More Info

For more information about New Tech, check out the New Tech High School website.

To learn more about the Eliot Rosewater Award, including past winners, head over to the Indiana Library Federation website.

For more information about the Monroe County Public Library, including book reviews written by other teens, explore the MCPL website.