Leesniveau: A: Young reader

Schooltype: VO onderbouw 1-2 vmbo/havo/vwo

Leeftijdscategorie: 12-14 jaar

Blackbirds zijn speciaal geselecteerde Engelse leesboeken van topauteurs. Je kunt ze lezen voor je lijst of gewoon voor jezelf. Elk schooljaar verschijnt een nieuwe set van drie Early Blackbirds. De Blackbirds zijn afgestemd op de niveaus van Novellist. Deze boeken zijn geschikt voor de leeslijst voor de onderbouw vmbo/havo/vwo.

Inhoud set

• Jonathan Safran Foer Extremely loud and incredibly close
• David Yoon Frankly in love
• Malorie Blackman Pig-heart boy

Extremely Loud

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is Jonathan Safran Foer's heartrending New York novel. In a vase in a closet, a couple of years after his father died in 9/11, nine-year-old Oskar discovers a key...The key belonged to his father, he's sure of that. But which of New York's 162 million locks does it open? So begins a quest that takes Oskar - inventor, letter-writer and amateur detective - across New York's five boroughs and into the jumbled lives of friends, relatives and complete strangers. He gets heavy boots, he gives himself little bruises and he inches ever nearer to the heart of a family mystery that stretches back fifty years. But will it take him any closer to, or even further from, his lost father? Moving, literary and innovative, perfect for fans of Lorrie Moore and Nicole Krauss, Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was made into a major film starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, released in 2012.Jonathan Safran Foer was born in 1977. He is the author of Everything is Illuminated, which won the National Jewish Book Award and the Guardian First Book award, and Eating Animals, and the editor of A Convergence of Birds.

Frankly in love

Two friends. One fake dating scheme. What could possibly go wrong?

Frank Li has two names. There's Frank Li, his American name. Then there's Sung-Min Li, his Korean name. No one uses his Korean name, not even his parents. Frank barely speaks any Korean. He was born and raised in Southern California.

Even so, his parents still expect him to end up with a nice Korean girl--which is a problem, since Frank is finally dating the girl of his dreams: Brit Means. Brit, who is funny and nerdy just like him. Brit, who makes him laugh like no one else. Brit... who is white.

As Frank falls in love for the very first time, he's forced to confront the fact that while his parents sacrificed everything to raise him in the land of opportunity, their traditional expectations don't leave a lot of room for him to be a regular American teen. Desperate to be with Brit without his parents finding out, Frank turns to family friend Joy Song, who is in a similar bind. Together, they come up with a plan to help each other and keep their parents off their backs. Frank thinks he's found the solution to all his problems, but when life throws him a curveball, he's left wondering whether he ever really knew anything about love—or himself—at all.

Pig Heart Boy

'That's all I ever did - watch and listen. I was always a spectator, never a participant. I didn't call that living. I was alive - but that was all.'

Cameron is thirteen, and all he wants is a 'normal' life - friends, swimming, school, family.

But his life is far from normal. Not every thirteen-year-old desperately needs a new heart because theirs doesn't work properly.

Finally, one doctor offers hope. Cameron could - if he and his parents agree - take part in a radical and controversial procedure involving the transplant of a pig's heart into his human body.

It's risky. And it's never been done before...

While Cameron comes to terms with the idea, he finds the world around him is much less accepting.

But surely everyone will understand that it's better to have a pig's heart that works than a human heart that doesn't - won't they...?