Jason & KyraDana Davidson
copyright 2005
number of pages: 352
Jason Vincent is Cross High School's most popular star basketball player, a secretly talented writer, and a boy with a troubled relationship with his verbally abusive father. Super-smart Kyra Evans dresses slightly funny and doesn't do much to tame her hair, but she has a loving family and doesn't care what people think of her, least of all the popular group that Jason runs with. Their lives were not supposed to cross in high school at all…until a fateful English research paper project brings the two of them together, first as partners, then as friends, and finally as something more. Much more.
Jason finds that he can tell Kyra secrets that he's never told anyone. Kyra, rather inexperienced in the boy department, finds the perfect boyfriend in Jason. Both teenagers discover what love really is in their remarkable relationship, a relationship that, when first announced, brought the entire school to its feet in uproar. A Super-Jock and a Super-Brain, going together? It was unheard of. Impossible. It would never last.
Jason and Kyra's relationship may be magical, but they must withstand many obstacles thrown their way, particularly their different opinions over sex and the malevolent plans of Jason's ex-girlfriend, Lisa, the most popular girl whom he dumped for Kyra. Lisa has a plan to separate the couple and get back together with her rightful boy-property. Can Jason and Kyra's love for each other withstand hurtful assumptions?
Dana Davidson's voice is easy to read and extremely touching. Her characters are relatable, and not confined by cultural issues that sometimes stymie other readers when reading books by colored writers. Nevertheless, it is refreshable to have protagonists that don't fall in the typical middle-class, white category. Readers will find themselves sighing wistfully for a relationship as beautiful as the one Jason and Kyra share. Fans of Jacqueline Woodson and just plain romance will definitely reach for this book.
Played
Jason Vincent is Cross High School's most popular star basketball player, a secretly talented writer, and a boy with a troubled relationship with his verbally abusive father. Super-smart Kyra Evans dresses slightly funny and doesn't do much to tame her hair, but she has a loving family and doesn't care what people think of her, least of all the popular group that Jason runs with. Their lives were not supposed to cross in high school at all…until a fateful English research paper project brings the two of them together, first as partners, then as friends, and finally as something more. Much more.
Jason finds that he can tell Kyra secrets that he's never told anyone. Kyra, rather inexperienced in the boy department, finds the perfect boyfriend in Jason. Both teenagers discover what love really is in their remarkable relationship, a relationship that, when first announced, brought the entire school to its feet in uproar. A Super-Jock and a Super-Brain, going together? It was unheard of. Impossible. It would never last.
Jason and Kyra's relationship may be magical, but they must withstand many obstacles thrown their way, particularly their different opinions over sex and the malevolent plans of Jason's ex-girlfriend, Lisa, the most popular girl whom he dumped for Kyra. Lisa has a plan to separate the couple and get back together with her rightful boy-property. Can Jason and Kyra's love for each other withstand hurtful assumptions?
Dana Davidson's voice is easy to read and extremely touching. Her characters are relatable, and not confined by cultural issues that sometimes stymie other readers when reading books by colored writers. Nevertheless, it is refreshable to have protagonists that don't fall in the typical middle-class, white category. Readers will find themselves sighing wistfully for a relationship as beautiful as the one Jason and Kyra share. Fans of Jacqueline Woodson and just plain romance will definitely reach for this book.
Played
copyright 2007
number of pages
Ian Striker desperately wants to join the FBI, an ultrasecret group of the coolest, most popular guys in and out of Cross High School. To do so, he and the other "recruits" must complete some tests. For Ian, he has to make a random girl, Kylie Winship, agree to sleep with him within three weeks.
Ian Striker desperately wants to join the FBI, an ultrasecret group of the coolest, most popular guys in and out of Cross High School. To do so, he and the other "recruits" must complete some tests. For Ian, he has to make a random girl, Kylie Winship, agree to sleep with him within three weeks.
At first Ian thinks his test is a royal pain. Kylie isn't even that good-looking, and she was definitely not the kind of girl Ian wanted his friends to see him with. But as he grudgingly hangs out with Kylie in order to make her fall for him, he begins—much to his horror—to have feelings for her as well.
Kylie knows very well the type of player Ian has always been. But every time they kiss and every time he looks into her eyes, she is pretty sure she sees something in him, an emotion that's pure and real. What will become of the two young people when Ian's task is revealed and Kylie is humiliated?
Once again Dana Davidson writes an easy-to-read, easy to relate to novel about young people nowadays. She is without a doubt one of the most accessible African American writers for young adults, and her books should not be missed especially by romantics!
Review submitted by Stephanie Su
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