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Fans of Buffy will love that Izzy’s relationship with her mother is complex and believable, that she almost immediately aligns herself with the school outcasts (who are all awesome), and that Hawkins turns the usual P.E. dodge-ball scene on its head when Izzy gets ticked off and accidentally dislocates a bully’s shoulder.
Pretenders, by Lisi Harrison: For some reason, when I picked this one up I thought it was a new Sara Shepard book. (Despite Lisi Harrison's name on the cover, yes. I'm going to go ahead and blame all of this past year's brainmelt on my new job. Though, as you may have noticed, I've gotten back into the swing of posting regularly, so it looks like the brainmelt is receding, which, YAY. Anyway.)
So, The Pretenders. If I'm remembering correctly, there are five narrators, and they're all up for some sort of award, and there is cheating and dramz and romance and so on. Stronger than Harrison's Clique books, and a bit more mature, and while it clearly wasn't all that memorable, I do remember it being a fun, popcorn-y read.
Page Morgan’sThe Beautiful and the Cursed marks the first time I've seen a gargoyle as a romantic lead, and the fact that the heroine is almost more drawn to Luc Rousseau’s gargoyle side than to his human side gives it a nicely gothic flavor. There are some steamy scenes that are quite effective, the sense of time is interesting—a scene that focuses on one character is often followed up with one about another character during the same period of time—and...wow. I’ve run out of nice things to say.
Despite the book’s disappointing spiral into inanity in the third act, the introduction of a totally extraneous love triangle (and when I say "extraneous," I’m referring to BOTH romances), AND the fact that it ends on a deflating TUNE IN NEXT TIME TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS note, I enjoyed my time with the heroine so much that I’ll very probably pick up Book Two.
It's a story that could have gone in any number of unimpressive directions—trite, preachy, insipid, black/white—but doesn't. Kokie doesn't shy away from Matt's less-than-politically-correct and sometimes less-than-empathetic feelings—and even when he's exhibiting them, he's still a sympathetic character because of all of the pain and confusion and anger he's feeling—and she always, always stays true to her character.
But she revels in fighting the fae, full stop. She can be covered in blood, half of it her own, and rather than bemoaning her fate, she’ll grin in delight. In fighting, she has power, and in fighting, she wrests control from beings that are bigger and stronger than she is…which is exactly what seems so impossible when she’s wearing her public face.
It stars a cast of likable characters, and it’ll be a good pick for fans of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and the like, but while it’s an enjoyable read, it’s also a somewhat forgettable one.
If you haven't read any Ibbotson, you're missing out -- while I'm sure that's something you've heard before about a plethora of authors, it really is true in this case. She writes the sort of old-fashioned children's stories that make you smile all the way through and then make you happily cry at the end.
The flashbacks are an economical way to dole out the back story—while there aren’t a whole lot of strengths here, it can’t be said that it isn’t tight—and they’re integrated seamlessly into the main narrative. What doesn’t work is anything having to do with an emotional arc: which, unfortunately, is most of the rest.
Just like Ruined (or, you know, what I remember of it), Unbroken reads like part-paranormal-mystery-romance, part travelogue. In addition to loads of details about New Orleans (past and present) and lots of information about the various communities and cultures and subcultures that populate the city, there's some discussion about gentrification and a bit of conversation about preserving history versus quality of life. While much of it definitely reads like the author had some travel guides open at all times as she wrote, for the most part, the information is integrated smoothly and in a non-infodumpy manner.
Celia is smart, creative, curious, sensitive, loves reading, and loves words, but she doesn't talk like someone reading a Diablo Cody script. When she mouths off to one of the jerks at school, she keeps it simple ("You're stupid and mean, and you suck at basketball"; "Keep marching, hate parade"), and in so doing, the moment isn't about the words she chooses, but about the fact that she chooses to to speak up. When she speaks up in defense of others, it comes off as realistic and as real-world possible, rather than as something you'd see in a movie: and that makes it all the more inspiring.
It’s a thrill ride, with explosions and escapes and danger, chases and betrayals and unlikely alliances; and London’s descriptions of the vision-based technology made me think of bothMinority Report and Feed. It isn’t just about the action or the neat technology, though: It’s also a story about trust and redemption, responsibility and forgiveness; about how far people are willing to go to get what they want, and how far they will bend their own moral code in order to justify it.
I enjoyed it so much -- Amal has a great voice, whip-smart and ornery and passionate and laugh-out-loud funny* and sensitive. While the book occasionally does veer into Preachy Land, I think that Amal's character makes it work. I mean, really -- find me a teenager who doesn't get a little self-righteous now and then**. I actually found the subplot about Simone's weight issues more heavy-handed and irritating than any of Amal's railings against Muslim stereotypes.
A gothic storyline AND spiritualism!? How could it get any better? Well, I'll tell ya: three-dimensional characters written with subtlety and compassion and a FANTASTIC villain. Good one, Laura Amy Schlitz. I will very definitely be watching for your next book.
You know what got me about The Fault in Our Stars more than anything else? What made me, on more the one occasion, laugh out loud even while I was bawling**? It wasn't the witty banter or the poetry or the philosophizing or the mullings-over of mortality. It was Hazel's empathy.
Aria Morse is an Oracle, blessed—or cursed—with the gift of prophecy. Ask her anything, and the truth spills out immediately. But Aria’s answers sound like nonsense, even to herself… just as they did at Delphi 2500 years ago. To cope, Aria has perfected the art of hiding in plain sight—until Jade Price, the closest person she has to a friend, disappears. All of a sudden, everyone around her has questions. The “nonsense” Aria spouts becomes a matter of life and death. She may be the only one who can find out what happened to Jade. But the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she comes to being the next target of someone else who hides in plain sight. Someone with a very dark plan. (Amazon)
She doesn’t want to hear the questions so that she won’t blurt our the answers. She avoids the questions by putting in her earbuds and cranking up her playlst.
Aria’s First Day of School Playlist
Music is so important to Aria, the main character in ASK ME. It’s what she uses to shield herself from the world. Each of the chapter titles in the book is a song that she would have been listening to during the chapter in question. But, what would she have listened to on her first day of school? This is what I think it would have been:
Definitely believe that which you stated. Your favorite justification
seemed to be at the net the easiest factor to consider of.
I say to you, I definitely get irked while people consider issues that they plainly do
not know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the highest
and outlined out the whole thing with no need side-effects , people can
take a signal. Will probably be back to get more. Thank you
In 2012, I listed 102 YA books written by authors of color. This year, 81. I’m certain I’ve missed some.
For example, in September I missed Antigoddess by Kendare Blake.
Old Gods never die…
Or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health. Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra—an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god.
These days, Cassandra doesn’t involve herself in the business of gods—in fact, she doesn’t even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning. Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get, because immortals don’t just flicker out. Every one of them dies in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All of them rage against their last breath.
The Goddess War is about to begin.
But still, Why are the numbers of books written by authors of color continuing to decrease? Why is it still difficult for parents, librarians and teens to find YA books that feature teens of color?
December Releases
Cy in Chains by David Dudley; Clarion Books, 17 Dec Cy Williams, thirteen, has always known that he and the other black folks on Strong’s plantation have to obey white men, no question. Sure, he’s free, as black people have been since his grandfather’s day, but in rural Georgia, that means they’re free to be whipped, abused, even killed. Almost four years later, Cy yearns for that freedom, such as it was. Now he’s a chain gang laborer, forced to do backbreaking work, penned in and shackled like an animal, brutalized, beaten, and humiliated by the boss of the camp and his hired overseers. For Cy and the boys he’s chained to, there’s no way out, no way back.
And then hope begins to grow in him, along with strength and courage he didn’t know he had. Cy is sure that a chance at freedom is worth any risk, any sacrifice. This powerful, moving story opens a window on a painful chapter in the history of race relations. (Amazon)
Control by Lydia King; Dial Books; 26 Dec Set in 2150 — in a world of automatic cars, nightclubs with auditory ecstasy drugs, and guys with four arms — this is about the human genetic “mistakes” that society wants to forget, and the way that outcasts can turn out to be heroes.
When their overprotective father is killed in a terrible accident, Zel and her younger sister, Dylia, are lost in grief. But it’s not until strangers appear, using bizarre sensory weapons, that the life they had is truly eviscerated. Zel ends up in a safe house for teens that aren’t like any she’s ever seen — teens who, by law, shouldn’t even exist. One of them — an angry tattooed boy haunted by tragedy — can help Zel reunite with her sister. (Amazon)
Oh, I’ve thought about blogging. I had a great post prepared last Friday and it disappeared when I clicked ‘publish’. Twice it did. I hope this one saves!!
It’s crunch time with BFYA and that is my #1 priority over the next few months. Well, that and the Indiana Council of Social Students and ALAN/NCTE presentations I’m doing this month. And laundry, grocery shopping and keeping up with General Hospital.
I’ve got a few great posts in mind. I won’t be completely gone, but I will be posting even less than I have been. I’ve got a few good interviews that I’m working on. I’m enjoying doing interviews, giving a little more exposure to authors and their works. I’m always looking for new authors to interview. I’m also working on a post about how librarians contribute to diversity as it applies to literature for young adult readers. I was reading a very interesting piece which Jason Low published interviewing literary agents on the issue of the ethnic diversity gap in children’s books and it caused me to look inward. I have to ask what librarians can and should be doing.
In the meantime, it’s November and I have new books to post!
A Translated from Arabic by the Lebanese author, the rapid present-tense narrative is a powerful take on the Cinderella story. Never simplistic, the story’s twists and turns are surprising.
Ash escaped THE SAVAGE FORTRESS . . . but can he survive THE CITY OF DEATH?
As I was leaving my apartment this morning, I picked up a package that contained The Servant by Fatima Sharafeddine (Groundwood/House of Anansi). Sharafeddine was born in Lebanon and raised in Sierra Leona. In the past 10 years, she’s written over 95 books. The Servant was released in April, 2013.
I also managed to miss Sarwat Chadda’s City of Death (Arthur A. Levine) which was released in October. This is book #2 in Chadda’s Ash Mistry series and it is on the current BFYA list.
And what about November, you ask? Here they are. All FIVE of them.
Angel de la luna and the 5th glorious mystery by M. Evelina Galang; Coffee House Press, Nov. As a baby in her mother’s womb, as a schoolgirl in Manilla, and as a reluctant immigrant to Chicago at age sixteen, Angel burns with a desire to be an activist, but learning truths about her mother and grandmother help her find peace. True Story by NiNi Simone; KTeen/Dafina, 26 Nov. That’s the plight of eighteen-year-old Seven McKnight. Her freshman year at Stiles University turned out to be a tug of war for her heart and her sophomore year promised more of the same. Just when she’d sworn off her ex-boyfriend, Josiah Whitaker, and thought she’d never love him again, he boldly stepped back into her life, with no regard that she’d moved on with Zaire St. James, her new boyfriend. Championby Marie Lu; Putnam Juvenile, 5 Nov. June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps Elect while Day has been assigned a high level military position. But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them once again. Just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything he has. With heart-pounding action and suspense, Marie Lu’s bestselling trilogy draws to a stunning conclusion. The Trap by Andrew Fukuda; St. Martin’s Griffin; 5 Nov. After barely escaping the Mission alive, Gene and Sissy face an impossible task: staying alive long enough to stop an entire world bent on their destruction. Bound on a train heading into the unknown with the surviving Mission girls, Gene, Sissy, David, and Epap must stick together and use everything they have to protect each other and their only hope: the cure that will turn the blood-thirsty creatures around them into humans again. Now that they know how to reverse the virus, Gene and Sissy have one final chance to save those they love and create a better life for themselves. But as they struggle to get there, Gene’s mission sets him on a crash course with Ashley June, his first love . . . and his deadliest enemy. He Said, She Saidby Kwame Alexander; Amistad, 19 Nov.
Sparks will fly in this hip-hop-hot teen novel that mixes social protest and star-crossed romance! He Said, She Said is perfect for fans of Walter Dean Myers and Rachel Vail alike.
He says: Omar “T-Diddy” Smalls has got it made—a full football ride to UMiami, hero-worship status at school, and pick of any girl at West Charleston High.
She says: Football, shmootball. Here’s what Claudia Clarke cares about: Harvard, the poor, the disenfranchised, the hungry, the staggering teen pregnancy rate, investigative journalism . . . the list goes on. She does not have a minute to waste on Mr. T-Diddy Smalls and his harem of bimbos.
He Said, She Said is a fun and fresh novel from Kwame Alexander that throws these two high school seniors together when they unexpectedly end up leading the biggest social protest this side of the Mississippi—with a lot of help from Facebook and Twitter.
Henry Bushkin, attorney and former right-hand man to Johnny Carson, has written a book about what life was really like with his famous friend. It’s a deeply personal account filled with scandalous details, including the real story on why his relationship with Carson ended.
Yet despite the book’s obvious potential, Bushkin actually had a hard time getting it published. In Mediabistro’s latest installment of So What Do You Do?, Bushkin talks about the media’s reaction to his writing, his thoughts on the proposed NBC miniseries and the process of publishing:
In the book’s acknowledgments, you explain how the impetus for the book came in 2008 from fellow (and subsequent) Carson attorney Ed Hookstratten. Can you explain a bit how you got from there to here?
Some time ago, I was about to self-publish the book. The book that has come out this week is essentially the same book. Frankly, when I was going to do it on my own with a small staff, it became apparent that Carson wasn’t relevant in the eyes of New York publishers vis-a-vis New York editors. They thought he was just irrelevant.
When I had the manuscript in polished form, I sent it to a friend of mine in New York. She then immediately sent it to a friend of hers at Vanity Fair, and then she asked if she could send it to a friend of hers, an agent in New York. I said yes. And all of a sudden, there were five publishers bidding for it. So it had quite an evolution that took quite some time, with the book going through several gestation periods.
It is 1739. Young Jem has been rescued from slavery and finds himself at Fort Mose, a settlement in Florida run by the Spanish. He is in the custody of an ornery and damaged woman named Phaedra, who dictates his every move. When Jem sets out to break free of her will, an adventure begins in which Jem saves a baby owl, a pair of runaway slaves, and, eventually, maybe all the residents of Fort Mose.
While Jem and the other characters are fictitious, the story is based on historical record. Fort Mose was the first legally sanctioned free African settlement in what is now the United States. In 1994 the site was designated a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2009, the National Park Service named Fort Mose a precursor site on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Invasion by Walter Dean Myers; Scholastic October
Josiah Wedgewood and Marcus Perry are on their way to an uncertain future. Their whole lives are ahead of them, yet at the same time, death’s whisper is everywhere. One white, one black, these young men have nothing in common and everything in common as they approach an experience that will change them forever. It’s May 1944. World War II is ramping up, and so are these young recruits, ready and eager. In small towns and big cities all over the globe, people are filled with fear. When Josiah and Marcus come together in what will be the greatest test of their lives, they learn hard lessons about race, friendship, and what it really means to fight. Set on the front lines of the Normandy invasion, this novel, rendered with heart-in-the-throat precision, is a cinematic masterpiece. Here we see the bold terror of war, and also the nuanced havoc that affects a young person’s psyche while living in a barrack, not knowing if today he will end up dead or alive. My basmati bat mitzvah by Paula Freeman; Amulet Books, October
During the fall leading up to her bat mitzvah, Tara (Hindi for “star”) Feinstein has a lot more than her Torah portion on her mind. Between Hebrew school and study sessions with the rabbi, there doesn’t seem to be enough time to hang out with her best friend Ben-O–who might also be her boyfriend–and her other best friend, Rebecca, who’s getting a little too cozy with the snotty Sheila Rosenberg. Not to mention working on her robotics project with the class clown Ryan Berger, or figuring out what to do with a priceless heirloom sari that she accidentally ruined. Amid all this drama, Tara considers how to balance her Indian and Jewish identities and what it means to have a bat mitzvah while questioning her faith. With the cross-cultural charm of Bend It Like Beckham, this delightful debut novel is a classic coming-of-age story and young romance with universal appeal. Champion by Marie Lu; Putnam; October
The explosive finale to Marie Lu’s New York Times bestselling LEGEND trilogy—perfect for fans of THE HUNGER GAMES and DIVERGENT! Ehrich Weisz chronicle: Devil Island by Marty Chan; Fitzhenry & Whiteside, October
When young Ehrich Weisz – the future illusionist, Harry Houdini – follows his brother, Dash, through a strange portal, he is thrust into an alternate New York where the immigrants aren’t just different ethnicities but different species. He finds work in this strange steampunk world as a Demon Hunter, tracking down dangerous otherworldly visitors that threaten the city’s safety, while hiding his own foreign origins. A curious medallion, his only clue to finding his brother, leads Ehrich to a mysterious woman caught up in interdimensional intrigue, and he must learn who to trust as he unravels the truth if he ever wants to find his way home. Killer of enemies by Joseph Bruchac; October, Lee and Low
October Years ago, seventeen year old Apache hunter Lozen and her family lives in a world of haves and have-nots. There were the Ones (people so augmented with technology and genetic enhancements that they were barely human) and there was everyone else who served the Ones. Then the Cloud came, and everything changed. Tech stopped working. The world plunged back into a new steam age. The Ones’ pets — genetically engineered monsters — turned on them and are now loose on the world. Lozen was not one of the lucky ones pre-C, but fate has given her a unique set of survival skills and magical abilities. She hunts monsters for the Ones who survived the apocalyptic events of the Cloud, which ensures the safety of her kidnapped family. But with every monster she takes down, Lozen’s powers grow, and she connects those powers to an ancient legend of her people. It soon becomes clear to Lozen that she is not just a hired gun… Lozen is meant to be a hero. Tiger girl by Mary-Lee Chai; GemmaMedia,
Nea Chhim, the spirited heroine of Dragon Chica, struggles with college. Nightmares of war flood the waking memories of this 19-year-old survivor of the Cambodian Killing Fields. Nea decides she must confront the past to overcome her fear and begin her own life in America. Without telling Ma, she hops on a cross-country bus in Nebraska to see her biological father in Southern California. There Nea comes face to face with a man wounded by survivor’s guilt who refuses to acknowledge the family’s secrets. Nea determines to revive his struggling donut shop and help him recover. Her tireless efforts attract a mysterious young man’s attention—is he casing the place for a gang? It is up to Nea to find out the truth: about her family, the war that nearly destroyed them, and herself. Tiger Girl weaves together Cambodian folklore and its painful past with contemporary American life to create an unforgettable novel about love, war, and acceptance.
Zero Fade by Chris Terry. Curbside Splendor, 10 SeptZero Fade chronicles eight days in the life of inner-city Richmond, Virginia, teen Kevin Phifer as he deals with wack haircuts, bullies, last year’s fly gear, his uncle Paul coming out as gay, and being grounded.
Mira in the present tense by Sita Brahmachari; Whitman Press, 1 Sept Twelve-year-old Mira comes from a chaotic, artistic, and outspoken family in which it’s not always easy to be heard. As her beloved Nana Josie’s health declines, Mira begins to discover the secrets of those around her and also starts to keep some of her own. She is drawn to mysterious Jide, a boy who is clearly hiding a troubled past. As Mira is experiencing grief for the first time, she is also discovering the wondrous and often mystical world around her. An incredibly insightful, honest novel exploring the delicate balance–and often injustice–of life and death. But at its heart, it’s a celebration of friendship, culture–and life.
Chasing shadows by Swati Avasthi. Alfred A. Knopf, 24 Sept Chasing Shadows is a searing look at the impact of one random act of violence.
Before: Corey, Holly, and Savitri are one unit—fast, strong, inseparable. Together they turn Chicago concrete and asphalt into a freerunner’s jungle gym, ricocheting off walls, scaling buildings, leaping from rooftop to rooftop.But acting like a superhero doesn’t make you bulletproof…
After: Holly and Savitri are coming unglued. Holly says she’s chasing Corey’s killer, chasing revenge. Savitri fears Holly’s just running wild—and leaving her behind. Friends should stand by each other in times of crissi. But can you hold on too tight? Too long?
Inheritance by Malinda Lo. LIttle, Brown and Co. When teens Reese and David are kidnapped after revealing that they were adapted with alien DNA, Reese is forced to reconcile her new love for David, a human, with feelings for Amber, an Imrian, and make a world-changing choice.
Once we were: the hybrid chronicles by Kat Zang. Harper Collins, 17 Sept In this riveting sequel to What’s Left of Me, Eva and Addie struggle to share their body as they clash over romance and join the fight for hybrid freedom. With a powerful voice, an intense sibling relationship, and a sweet romance against the odds, this second novel in the Hybrid Chronicles is perfect for fans of Ally Condie, Lauren Oliver, and Scott Westerfeld.
Addie and Eva escaped imprisonment at a horrific psychiatric hospital. Now they should be safe, living among an underground hybrid movement. But safety is starting to feel constricting. Faced with the possibility of being in hiding forever, the girls are eager to help bring about change—now. The answer seems to lie within a splinter group willing to go to extremes for hybrid freedom, but as Addie and Eva fall ever deeper into their plans, what they thought was the solution to their problems just might be the thing that destroys everything—including their bond to each other.
A quartet of girls go to a co-ed summer camp together for five years, they love each other, support each other, swear undying loyalty and unending friendship...but then grow apart once they hit high school. Three years later, the four now-17-year-olds return to Camp Nedoba for a reunion, and amidst much drama, airing of old grievances and healing of heartache, they reconnect. It stars a cast of likable characters, and it’ll be a good pick for fans of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and the like, but while it’s an enjoyable read, it’s also a somewhat forgettable one.
Speaking of P.E., in order to help Izzy pass as a normal teenager, her mother buys a whole ton of television boxed sets of CW-esque shows. Understandably, Izzy finds them all totally addicting, but also understandably, not remotely helpful in understanding the life of the average American teenager: ...in all the TV shows Mom had gotten me, people usually just spent P.E. talking under the bleachers, or meeting up with their secret boyfriends.
Page Morgan’s The Beautiful and the Cursed marks the first time I've seen a gargoyle as a romantic lead, and the fact that the heroine is almost more drawn to Luc Rousseau’s gargoyle side than to his human side gives it a nicely gothic flavor. There are some steamy scenes that are quite effective, the sense of time is interesting—a scene that focuses on one character is often followed up with one about another character during the same period of time—and...wow. I’ve run out of nice things to say.
I love the love story, which is the antidote to instalove. Without getting too spoiler-y about it—there IS a love triangle, but as we’re dealing with an arranged marriage, the triangle works because it allows us to see Verity really, truly, make her choice—it’s a love that grows slowly and steadily, and Salerni highlights the joy of falling in love with an extended family as well as with a future mate.
There are aspects of Rain’s character that are bound to trouble some readers, and she very definitely makes some choices that those same readers will find equally troubling. Other readers—myself included—will root for her throughout, and find her especially appealing since, unlike the stereotypical Fiery Redhead, she’s capable of playing the long game: First and foremost, she’s a survivor, and as we all learned from Katniss Everdeen, survivors are not always all that easy to like.
The author never comes close to condescending to her audience. As I've already mentioned, she doesn't pull punches in regards to sexual content—Charles II's court was full of scandalous scandals, and he, himself fathered at least a dozen children (all illegitimate) with seven (or eight?) different mistresses—but it should also be noted that she never resorts to infodumps, either (readers will either get the joke about Caligula or they won't). And, despite the assumptions that some peoplemake about the YA, the vocabulary is joyous.
Yes, it sounds suspiciously like The Breakfast Club. Yes, they do do some bonding. Assumptions are made based on appearances, and those assumptions are proved wrong. (It's rather fitting that they spend so much time by the pool. You can see to the bottom, so you think you know everything about it, but that's never really true, is it?*) But the tone is very different, and while in The Breakfast Club, the characters Get It All Out There and by the end, There Are No Mysteries, this book does not answer all questions raised.
August offers quite an eclectic select of books! From Milati Perkins comedic collections by authors of color to Margarita Engle’s story of a mountain rescue dog, this month has a lot to off middle grade and young adult readers!
Open life: Riffs on life between cultures edited by Mitali Perkins; Candlewick; August Listen in as ten YA authors — some familiar, some new — use their own brand of humor to share their stories about growing up between cultures. Henry Choi Lee discovers that pretending to be a tai chi master or a sought-after wiz at math wins him friends for a while — until it comically backfires. A biracial girl is amused when her dad clears seats for his family on a crowded subway in under a minute, simply by sitting quietly between two uptight women. Edited by acclaimed author and speaker Mitali Perkins, this collection of fiction and nonfiction uses a mix of styles as diverse as their authors, from laugh-out-loud funny to wry, ironic, or poignant, in prose, poetry, and comic form.
Sunday you learn how to box: a novelby Bil Wright; Scribner; August “Sunday You Learn How to Box”: presents an unforgettable portrait of fourteen-year-old Louis Bowman in a boxing ring- a housing project circa 1968- fighting “just to get to the end of the round.” Sharing the ring is his mother, Jeanette Stamps, a ferociously stubborn woman battling for her own dreams to be realized; his stepfather, Ben Stamps, the would-be savior, who becomes the sparring partner to them both; and the enigmatic Ray Anthony Robinson, the neighborhood “hoodlum” in purple polyester pants, who sets young Louis’s heart spinning with the first stirrings of sexual longing. Blending quirky humor and clear-eyed unsentimentality, Bil Wright deftly evokes an unrelenting world with lyricism and passion.
Chasing shadows by Swati Avasthi. Alfred A. Knopf; August Chasing Shadows is a searing look at the impact of one random act of violence. Before: Corey, Holly, and Savitri are one unit—fast, strong, inseparable. Together they turn Chicago concrete and asphalt into a freerunner’s jungle gym, ricocheting off walls, scaling buildings, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. But acting like a superhero doesn’t make you bulletproof. After: Holly and Savitri are coming unglued. Holly says she’s chasing Corey’s killer, chasing revenge. Savitri fears Holly’s just running wild—and leaving her behind. Friends should stand by each other in times of crissi. But can you hold on too tight? Too long? (Amazon)
If you could be mine by Sara Farizan; Algonquin, August In Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death, seventeen-year-olds Sahar and Nasrin love each other in secret until Nasrin’s parents announce their daughter’s arranged marriage and Sahar proposes a drastic solution.
Mountain dogby Margarita Engle; O. Ivanov; A. Ivanov; Henry Holt and Co., AugustWhen his mother is sent to jail in Los Angeles, eleven-year-old Tony goes to live with his forest ranger great-uncle in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where Tony experiences unconditional love for the first time through his friendship with a rescue dog.
If I ever get out of here by Eric Gansworth; Arthur A. Levine; August Seventh-grader Lewis “Shoe” Blake from the Tuscarora Reservation has a new friend, George Haddonfield from the local Air Force base, but in 1975 upstate New York there is a lot of tension and hatred between Native Americans and Whites–and Lewis is not sure that he can rely on friendship.
Danny Blackgoat: Navajo prisoner by Tim Tinge; 7th Generation; August Danny Blackgoat, a sixteen-year-old Navajo, is labeled a troublemaker during the Long Walk of 1864 and sent to a prisoner outpost in Texas, where fellow captive Jim Davis saves him from a bully and starts him on the road to literacy–and freedom.
Kizzy Ann Stampsby Jeri Hanel Watts; Candlewick; August n 1963, as Kizzy Ann prepares for her first year at an integrated school, she worries about the color of her skin, the scar running from the corner of her right eye to the tip of her smile, and whether anyone at the white school will like her. She writes letters to her new teacher in a clear, insistent voice, stating her troubles and asking questions with startling honesty. The new teacher is supportive, but not everyone feels the same, so there is a lot to write about. Her brother, James, is having a far less positive school experience than she is, and the annoying white neighbor boy won’t leave her alone. But Shag, her border collie, is her refuge. Even so, opportunity clashes with obstacle. Kizzy Ann knows she and Shag could compete well in the dog trials, but will she be able to enter?”
Burn for burn by Jenny Han and Sioban Vivian; Simon and Schuster; August Three teenaged girls living on Jar Island band together to enact revenge on the people that have hurt them
Little brother of war by Gary Robinson; 7th Generation; August Sixteen-year-old Mississippi Choctaw Randy Cheska lives under the shadow of his brother who was a football hero, later killed in Iraq, until proves himself to his parents and others through the ancient game of stickball.
Oh, snap! by Walter Dean Myers; Scholastic, August: When their journalistic counterparts at a school in England begin to add incriminating photographs to their articles, the Cruisers and students at Harlem’s DaVinci Academy realize that words and pictures do not always tell the whole story.
Alvin Ho: allergic to babies, burglars and other bumps in the nightby Lenore Looke; LeUyen Pham; Schwartz and Wade Books; August: When fearful seven-year-old Alvin Ho learns that his mother is expecting a baby, he develops a sympathetic pregnancy–adding to his worry about the burglar who is targeting Concord, Massachusetts.
I loved it for Greg, who—unlike many a boy in books about cancer—is not wise, thoughtful, mature, sweet, generous, or even all that nice, but is real, relatable, slappable**, and hilarious. I loved it for Earl, who is just plain wonderful—and who, even though Greg is so self-absorbed that he hardly even knows him, comes off as a real, believable person. A real, believable, hilarious person.
Zenn Scarlett has a great sense of place, both physical and political; wonderfully described alien species that aren’t at all anthropomorphized; a likable heroine, tight pacing with lots of chapters ending on exciting old-timey serial cliffhangers, and a good amount of humor. I enjoyed it hugely...with a few minor caveats. (You totally knew that was coming, didn’t you?)
Celaena is a swaggering, smart-mouthed heroine—with a secret past, naturally—who hides her pain and fear behind a smirking exterior. She’s comfortable in her own skin and with her own sexuality, and her vanity is strangely charming. She holds grudges and is quick to lash out, but those who are lucky enough to call her “friend” know her loyalty and warmth.
But while the writing itself is actually really decent, Razorbill’s packaging of The Innocents is the most exciting thing about the book. The drama isn’t particularly dramatic—more angst than action—and the shocking behavior of the characters looks almost wholesome compared to what went on in Beverly Hills, 90210 over 20 years ago.
Katherine Longshore’s depiction of Catherine Howard is quite well-rounded. She’s manipulative, tempestuous (behind closed doors), power-hungry, selfish and short-sighted, but it’s always worth remembering that she’s also 16 years old. She’s married to an ailing, sad old man, and she longs for romance. That she would chafe at her lack of freedom is easily understandable, that her power would occasionally go to her head is easily believable, and the rare glimpses we get of her sadness and her fear are affecting. It’s a darker, more nuanced portrait than the Sexy Nose Hair cover art implies.
Trust me? Add this to your list. Don’t trust me? Add it to your list anyway. Fan of historical fiction? Espionage? World War II stories? Add it, add it, add it. Even if your tastes don’t usually tend in that direction, you need to pick it up anyway. It will make you dissolve into a puddle, and then, once you’ve recovered, you’ll immediately read it all over again. That’s what I did.
Before the story even starts, there’s a map and a list of intriguingly named soldier types like “Tidemakers,” “Alkemi” and “Heartrenders.” Among those factors and the cover, I was predisposed to like this book before I even started reading it. And, overall, I did... with a few reservations.
The parts about the Hollywood high school are priceless, Aunt Max is awesome, and like What My Mother Doesn't Know, it's predictable, but not in a bad way. Oh, and she's a big reader, so there are a couple of poems that are basically reading lists of awesome YA books. Rad.
Ariane’s narration is funny and thoughtful, and her paladin tendencies make her immediately likable. In order to disappear into the background, she observes human behavior (and high school culture) very closely, and her habit of constantly second-guessing each action with an “Okay, what would a regular human do?” keeps her perspective fresh while also evoking all of Dexter Morgan's most entertaining moments.
Aspects of it work. Fans of Emily Dickinson—well, those who don’t find the basic premise vaguely sacrilegious*—will definitely appreciate the requisite bee, gingerbread and coconut cake cameos, but more especially the poetry that MacColl uses in the chapter headings and directly in the narrative. Newbies, meanwhile—although Emily is 15, I’d peg this book as an upper middle-grade/lower-YA crossover—will hopefully discover how easily accessible and enjoyable Dickinson’s poetry can be.
Teen readers will not only be enthralled by the storyline and the romance, but also relate to feeling controlled and out of control, to Sloane’s struggle to hide her pain and to the desire to please one’s parents while also wanting to break free of them.
Cool premise, action-packed, nice post-apocalyptic western vibe (Jackal is rarely seen without his ankle-length duster), but with slim characterization and weak dialogue. It’s very definitely got an audience, and fans will be happy with it, but I’ll be sticking to Richelle Mead’s Bloodlines as my vampire series of choice.
When I wrote about Josephine Angelini’s Starcrossedearlier this week, I listed “Lack of Love Triangle” as being one of the many things in its favor. Because, really. Who among us is not suffering from Love Triangle Fatigue?
You know where this is going, right? Right: I should have kept my big trap shut.
The Girl in the Clockwork Collar suffers from the same problem as TheGirlintheSteel Corset—it’s insanely repetitive. This time, instead of being treated to various iterations of the phrase “ropey red hair,” all the characters stand around quirking their eyebrows at one another.
Pushing the Limits is a she-said/he-said romance about a couple of high school seniors who discover two things: opposites attract, and sometimes those who appear to be completely different on the outside are actually very similar on the inside. (So, really, opposites aren't really opposites? Or something. Maybe I'm overthinking this. ANYWAY.)
Is bullying an important issue, relevant to the target audience? Of course. Are child abuse/neglect, rape, depression, poverty and teen suicide also important? Duh, yes. Are the messages that Keep Holding On promotes—hope and survival—things that teens need to hear? Of course. So although the storyline was a surprise, I could have easily gotten past that if the book had been, well, better.
Crackling, believable dialogue, and a storyline that features moments of such tension that my skin is crawling just thinking about them. Despite the brevity of Daniel's voice, the complexity of the familial relationships is top-notch.
It’s very, very rare that I read something that forces me to type (or
worse, utter) the three words that I regard as the Most Insipid
Descriptors Ever. I’m going to go ahead and get them out of the way
right now: Keeping the Castle is DELIGHTFUL and CHARMING and LOVELY.
Cinematic action, romance, politics, extremely sketchy medical
experiments, some possible Soylent Green-ish doings (<--that one is
extremely unlikely, but sicko that I am, I can't help but hope for it),
codes, cage fights, and a couple of seriously shocking-ass moments... Legend is fun stuff.
As it has a number of similarities—a rotating focus on various teenagers suddenly left alone in a mysteriously empty and hugely dangerous world—Michelle Gagnon’s Strangelets is likely to appeal to fans of Michael Grant’s Gone series. As in Gone, the characters have to decide who will lead and who will follow, to work towards an understanding of what caused their predicament while also finding a safe haven and, above all, to survive their environment and each other. Like Gone, the premise will require some suspension of disbelief, and both books are far more plot-driven than character-driven, though the multinational cast of Strangelets makes for a broader variety of perspectives, belief systems and outlooks.
At page eight, I was completely and irrevocably in love with Mojo, and more specifically, with the voice of its narrator, high school junior Dylan Jones. I didn’t fall in lurrrve with the boy himself—instead, I developed something far more rare: a sort of awe at what a fully realized character he is. I believed in him unreservedly from the very first page—through crazy situations and plot twists—and, even as I watched him make mistake after mistake, felt nothing but affection for him.
There’s plenty of humor—the official Kirkus review called it “hilarious,” though I found it more subdued than that—but I had a lump in my throat for almost the entire 400 pages. It’s written with such emotional honesty that it’s impossible not to empathize with Hartzler’s young self: regardless of whether he’s writing about his Big Questions about God and religion or getting caught in a lie about buying the Pretty Woman soundtrack.
That’s when the pacing changes, and The Obsidian Blade goes from low-level-Ray-Bradbury-subtly-weird to off-the-wall-Jasper-Fforde*** crossed with The-Matrix-on-47,000-pounds-of-Sweet-Tarts-hyperweird. Plus some serious meditation on faith, religion and destiny, madness and vanity. Basically, it gets nuts, in the best possible way. And, in addition to being a rip-roaring adventure on its own, it sets the stage for some epic weirdness to come.
It's got family drama that's so realistic that I spent entire pages on the verge of tears, not because it's a sad sort of book, but because Dessen perfectly captures the push-pull between an estranged mother and daughter, without ever making either one into the bad guy. They both make mistakes, and they certainly don't—sometimes won't—understand each other, but they're both real people.
July!! I haven’t worked during the summer since the 1970s. I’m pretty sure that having to do so this summer is why it just doesn’t feel like summer at all to me. I keep waiting for… I’m not sure what; just something to happen to signal that it has indeed begun.
Nonetheless, we’ve passed the Longest Day of the Year and the corn should be knee high by tomorrow. Summer is here! And, here are the summer books by authors of color. First, a more complete listing of the June releases followed by the July books about authors of color.
The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata. Atheneum, 4 June Ask my mood ring how I feel by Diane Lopez. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 11 June Underneath By Sarah Jamila Stevenson; Llewellyn Worldwide; 8 June The girl of his dreams by Amir Abrams. K-Teen/Dafina, 25 June Dork Diaries 6: Tales from a Not-So-Happy-Heartbreaker by Rachel Renee Russell. Aladdin, 4 June Curse of the ancients by Matt de la Pena; Scholastic, June (MG) Charm and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn; St. Martin Press 11 June Since you asked by Maureen Goo; Scholastic, JulyFifteen-year-old Holly Kim, the copyeditor for her San Diego high school’s newspaper, accidentally submits a piece ripping everyone to shreds and suddenly finds herself the center of unwanted attention–but when the teacher in charge of the paper asks her to write a regular column her troubles really start.
Star Power (Charly’s Epic Fiasco) by Kelli London; Kensington, 30 July Charly St. James is on top, and she’s determined to keep it that way. That’s why she and the producers have come up with a plan to take The Extreme Dream Team to the next level–by turning loners into VIPs. After all, how can you enjoy your new digs if your life is jacked up?
But when Charly meets her first makeover, Nia, she knows she’ll have to do more than dress her up and boost her self-esteem. Nia is living in the shade of her twin sister, who is luxuriating in a major case of pretty girl syndrome. And the more Charly tries to get Nia to shine, the more her twin sabotages her mission. Good thing Charly loves a challenge, ’cause these twins’ troubles are more than skin deep. . . Gaby, lost and found by Angela Cervantes; Scholastic 30 July “My name is Gaby, and I’m looking for a home where I can invite my best friend over and have a warm breakfast a couple of times a week. Having the newest cell phone or fancy clothes isn’t important, but I’d like to have a cat that I can talk to when I’m home alone.”
If I ever get out of here by Eric Gainsworth; Arthur A. Levine; 30 July Lewis “Shoe” Blake is used to the joys and difficulties of life on the Tuscarora Indian reservation in 1975: the joking, the Fireball games, the snow blowing through his roof. What he’s not used to is white people being nice to him — people like George Haddonfield, whose family recently moved to town with the Air Force. As the boys connect through their mutual passion for music, especially the Beatles, Lewis has to lie more and more to hide the reality of his family’s poverty from George. He also has to deal with the vicious Evan Reininger, who makes Lewis the special target of his wrath. But when everyone else is on Evan’s side, how can he be defeated? And if George finds out the truth about Lewis’s home — will he still be his friend?
Way too much drama by Earl Sewell; Kimani Tru, 30 July Maya is ready to put the fabulous back into her life—and that means getting her manipulative cousin, Viviana, out of it. Bad enough that Viviana is living under the same roof and tried to claim Maya’s boyfriend, Misalo, for herself. Now she’s going to Maya’s high school and she’s part of the quiz team competing on a TV show…alongside Maya, Keysha and Misalo.
Maya has no sympathy when Viviana finally starts to feel the pressure of fitting in to her new world. That’s until her cousin does something drastic…and dangerous. Maybe Viviana isn’t as tough as everyone thought. Maya could be the only person who can help bring her back safely. Question is…does she want to?
More easily accessible and not quite as gritty as Gentleman,
but still realistic and truthful. But I know that the burning question
in your mind—it was the one in mine, at any rate—is probably this: IS
THIS A CRYING BOOK? Well, that's a pretty major spoiler. So I shall
leave the answer to that question in the comments section.
While it’s not a title that has inspired me to gush, it’s a solid debut
and a solid book: I have absolutely no complaints. Lexi’s narration is
clear and honest, her guilt about what happened back in New York is
understandable and palpable, and the friendship storyline is given just
as much weight as the romance. Howard shifts back and forth between past
and present so smoothly that, by the time Lexi's past catches up with
her, the groundwork has been laid to allow for a reaction worthy of one
of her beloved Regency romances...while still being emotionally
believable.
While I liked the basic premise of Stung—bees die out, which
basically causes the apocalypse (no bees, no food; no food, people freak
out; scientists try to save the bees and accidentally create a rage
virus; the haves create a governmental structure that is focused on
their own survival, and to hell with the have-nots)—I couldn't get over
my issues with the main character. The issues, though, are somewhat
spoilery, so if you're planning on reading it, I'd suggest skipping the
rest of the post.
Martha Wells’ Emilie and the Hollow World is so entertaining,
so compelling, SO MUCH FUN that it made me do something that I haven’t
done since the fourth grade: When my lunch break was over, I just kept
on reading by super-stealthily hiding my book under the desk. Which
would have been less obvious if I’d been sitting in my office rather
than the library’s circulation desk. Happily, judging by all of the
smirks I caught, my patrons apparently approve of the appearance of my
(usually Inner) Bad Librarian.
Beyond Jazz, who's such a fabulous narrator that I'd recommend the book
for his voice and characterization alone, everything else here is
straight-up, flat-out super. The mystery and investigation, the
friendships, the secondary characters, the depiction of media and its
view of Jazz as a commodity, the pacing, the atmosphere, everything.
There's a wonderful balance between dark humor and actual gravity,
between real life and epic drama.
[Azure] definitely dominates, and she's also much harder to like, mostly
because her behavior is so hypocritical: she's supposedly hugely
open-minded and stridently opposes People Judging Each Other, but she's
very dismissive of people who have opinions different than her own, and
she judges other people on the basis of their appearance on a regular
basis. BUT, realizing that is a big part of her personal journey.
The technical details about the investigation (especially the methods of
the dive team) are worked in naturally, and fans of procedural/forensic
mysteries are bound to like those elements. Similarly, fans of The Mentalist will
like the subplot that deals with the faker psychic lady. Oh, and it's
worth noting that John Robertson is creepy as all get out, but while
there's certainly an implied threat of sexual assault, nothing like that
ever happens onscreen.
Enjoying No Safety in Numbers will require some suspension of
disbelief and for readers to avoid thinking too hard about details.
You’d think, for instance, that a mall large enough to house a
rock-climbing gym and an ice rink would, A) have some showers somewhere,
if not an actual gym, and B) have at least a bare-bones custodial staff on hand during the day. But, no. Not this one.
The original characters—Carver's peers, their adoptive parents, the
Pinkerton detectives—read more like stock characters than real people,
but Teddy Roosevelt and Alice, especially, really shine. I didn't form
emotional attachments with anyone, but some of their relationships were
affecting: Carver and Finn's sloooow journey from enemies to allies was
especially well done, in that it was organic and subtle. Also, although
Carver is mostly an Everyboy Type, he's not perfect, which always makes
for more interesting reading. The mystery itself is spun out very well,
and the climax/reveal is fabulous: yes, I guessed where it was going,
but not because of any missteps on the author's part. I'M JUST THAT
SMART.
Note that in June 2011, I listed 11 books written by authors of color.
The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata. Atheneum, 4 June. MG Summer knows that kouun means “good luck” in Japanese, and this year her family has none of it. Just when she thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong, an emergency whisks her parents away to Japan—right before harvest season. Summer and her little brother, Jaz, are left in the care of their grandparents, who come out of retirement in order to harvest wheat and help pay the bills.
The thing about Obaachan and Jiichan is that they are old-fashioned and demanding, and between helping Obaachan cook for the workers, covering for her when her back pain worsens, and worrying about her lonely little brother, Summer just barely has time to notice the attentions of their boss’s cute son. But notice she does, and what begins as a welcome distraction from the hard work soon turns into a mess of its own.
Having thoroughly disappointed her grandmother, Summer figures the bad luck must be finished—but then it gets worse. And when that happens, Summer has to figure out how to change it herself, even if it means further displeasing Obaachan. Because it might be the only way to save her family. (Amazon)
Ask My Mood Ring How I Feel by Diane Lopez (who I am so glad to see writing again!) Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 11 June. It’s summer before eighth grade, and Erica “Chia” Montenegro is feeling so many things that she needs a mood ring to keep track of her emotions. She’s happy when she hangs out with her best friends, the Robins. She’s jealous that her genius little sister skipped two grades. And she’s passionate about the crushes on her Boyfriend Wish list. And when Erica’s mom is diagnosed with breast cancer, she feels worried and doesn’t know what she can do to help.
When her family visits a cuarto de milagros, a miracle room in a famous church, Erica decides to make a promesa to God in exchange for her mom’s health. As her mom gets sicker, Erica quickly learns that juggling family, friends, school, and fulfilling a promesa is stressful, but with a little bit of hope and a lot of love, she just might be able to figure it out. (Amazon)
The Girl of His Dreams by Amir Abrams. K-Teen Dafina, 25 June. YA That’s the motto 17-year-old heartthrob Antonio Lopez lives by. Since his mother walked out, Antonio’s father has taught him everything he needs to know about women: they can’t be trusted, and a real man has more than one. So once Antonio gets what he wants from a girl, he moves on. But McPherson High’s hot new beauty is turning out to be Antonio’s first real challenge. (Publisher)
Dork Diaries 6: Tales from a Not-So-Happy-Heartbreaker by Rachel Renee Russell. Aladdin, 4 June. MG It’s the biggest dance of the year and Nikki Maxwell is hoping her crush, Brandon, wants to be her date. But time is running out. What if he doesn’t want to go with her? Or worse—what if he ends up going with Mackenzie?!! (Amazon)
Emma's narration never really gels into a consistent, believable voice. She ranges from snarky-casual to super-duper stiff and formal (with the occasional infodump), and there's a lot of telling rather than showing, especially when it comes to the interactions and relationships between the characters. Michelle's storyline (along with the student protest and the alternaprom and the end of Dr. Overbrook's arc) never completely integrates with the rest of the story, and so it feels at best, like it should have gotten its own book, and at worst, extraneous. (And, in terms of plotting, very afterschool-specially.)
Like so many Mysterious Vampire Heroes before him, [Kanin} is cold and aloof, but betrays his carefully hidden feelings through regular Eyebrow Quirks and Faint Smiles. He’s fond of long-winded exposition, tortured by a guilty past, doomed to forever obsess about righting the wrongs he’s done, says things like “My road must always be traveled alone,” and probably wears a lot of black silk shirts.
While the atmosphere really is wonderfully done—Araby's narration fittingly shares that muffled, deadened quality—and I very much appreciated Griffin's writing, I can't say that Masque of the Red Death was an entirely enjoyable read. (Which isn't necessarily a necessity in a book, of course. But, you know. It's a factor in recommending it to other people.)
America is infinitely slappable, as are BOTH love interests. (Duh. OF COURSE Maxon falls for her, so there's a love triangle!) The characters act more in keeping with what is convenient for the storyline—for instance, when America tries to warn Maxon about the super-duper bitchitude of one of the other contestants, he pulls the I'M ROYALTY AND YOU'RE NOT, THEREFORE YOU CAN'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT routine, even though up until then, he'd sought out her opinion about stuff like that—than with their own personalities, and most of America's major decisions seem to be based more on who she's angry with at the time than in any sort of logic.
If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you know I’ve spent the morning searching for and posting new POC releases. I didn’t find many for May.
I did find a few to add for April and they’re posted on the Pinterest board for April. I probably post new titles to Pinterest before I do anywhere else, it’s just easier! When I post there, I quickly tweet or post my finds to FB.
I’ve continue posting new POC books to Pinterest since last year and there is one for May. And, there is always my annual list of books as well. I’ll catch up the April titles on my annual list later; I have a graduation party at the Islamic Center to attend this afternoon!
Medeia,
I agree!
Evelyn,
I scour Amazon and bn.com. Sometimes, I go through publishers catalogs or visit authors sites. Voya can be a good source, too. There is no one place to look. You’d think Amazon or bn.com would be a one stop source, but it can be difficult to search.
I LOVED THAT THERE ISN'T A ROMANCE. There is a new friendship—and maybe possibly the possibility of a romance (with a different character), or at least the possibility of someone crushing on Danielle—but not a romance. Romantic lurrrve is not portrayed here as curing grief, or loneliness, or being misunderstood, or anything else.
Suma didn’t win me over in her first few chapters—at first, descriptions like “her long hair woven with brambles, with sticks and leaves and other indecipherable things gummed up and glimmering through the glass” felt more self-consciously literary than lush, lyrical and poetic—but then, either she found her groove or I found my way into her rhythm. Regardless, something clicked, and suddenly everything about the book worked for me: character, voice, storyline and, yes, prose.
Ricki Jo, herself, is a likable, believable heroine who reads the Bible (almost) every night, but who makes mistakes and sees the sexiness in Song of Songs. When she makes mistakes, they're almost always especially cringeworthy because she knows that what she's doing is wrong, and so at times, it's a painful, painful read. In a good way.
I’m getting behind! My pile of BFYA books is growing! Still, it’s a pleasure to look at that pile because they all stand a chance of being a really good read. The books in that pile have been nominated by BFYA committee members or by the general public as titles that should be on the annual list. The titles nominated are announced each month and the committee members get busy locating copies of the books so that they can be read before each of the ALA conventions.
What don’t I like about the process? The very few titles by authors of color – or featuring characters of color – that we receive. The number is even smaller than the number of the books that are published.
What do I like? I like broadening my reading selections. I avoid monsters, paranormals, werewolves… at all costs, but I cannot avoid them this year! I don’t like reading about murder as entertainment and hate to see that trickle into YA but, I’m reading these books and developing new perspectives. Closing one’s self off from situations isn’t a way to grow.
I also like being able to help get teens reading with the books. I’m getting LOTS of them and am looking for good ways to get them where they’re needed. Please email me if you have suggestions. I’ve been thinking about shipping them down to Henryville, getting them to some of the high schools around here or even taking them to ALA to give them to high schools there. One thing I’ve learned is that schools in small communities are quite conservative, so not all will appreciate some of these books.
I put off posting the new April releases, thinking I might still find a few more titles and maybe I still will. Looking for new books is really getting interesting. I usually go to Amazon to look and every month, struggle with search terms to find new books that have been released by authors of color for teens. I had seen Walter Dean Myer’s latest book, but in searching for it using his name, the title did not come up for me. I had to use the title of the book to find it. I’ve had this happen with other authors as well. Have you?
Last month, I found the following after posting March releases.
Fat Angie e.E. Charlton-Trujillo; Candlewick, March: Angie is broken — by her can’t-be-bothered mother, by her high-school tormenters, and by being the only one who thinks her varsity-athlete-turned-war-hero sister is still alive. Hiding under a mountain of junk food hasn’t kept the pain (or the shouts of “crazy mad cow!”) away. Having failed to kill herself — in front of a gym full of kids — she’s back at high school just trying to make it through each day. That is, until the arrival of KC Romance, the kind of girl who doesn’t exist in Dryfalls, Ohio. A girl who is one hundred and ninety-nine percent wow! A girl who never sees her as Fat Angie, and who knows too well that the package doesn’t always match what’s inside. With an offbeat sensibility, mean girls to rival a horror classic, and characters both outrageous and touching, this darkly comic anti-romantic romance will appeal to anyone who likes entertaining and meaningful fiction.
Lightning Dreamer by Margarita Engle; Harcourt, March: “I find it so easy to forget / that I’m just a girl who is expected / to live / without thoughts.” Opposing slavery in Cuba in the nineteenth century was dangerous. The most daring abolitionists were poets who veiled their work in metaphor. Of these, the boldest was Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, nicknamed Tula. In passionate, accessible verses of her own, Engle evokes the voice of this book-loving feminist and abolitionist who bravely resisted an arranged marriage at the age of fourteen, and was ultimately courageous enough to fight against injustice. Historical notes, excerpts, and source notes round out this exceptional tribute.
Darius and Twig are an unlikely pair: Darius is a writer whose only escape is his alter ego, a peregrine falcon named Fury, and Twig is a middle-distance runner striving for athletic success. But they are drawn together in the struggle to overcome the obstacles that Harlem life throws at them.
The two friends must face down bullies, an abusive uncle, and the idea that they’ll be stuck in the same place forever in this touching and raw new teen novel from Walter Dean Myers, award-winning author of Monster, Kick, We Are America, Bad Boy, and many other celebrated literary works for children and teens.
Young Elijah was sitting on the porch of the Ruidoso Store when fourteen-year-old Beth Delilah and her father climbed down from the stage coach. Blond with lovely pale skin, big blue eyes and “dressed from boot to bonnet in black” in mourning for her mother, she was the prettiest, most exotic thing he had ever seen. And when she bent over to pick up a horned toad, which she then held right up to her face in complete fascination, Elijah learned that it’s possible to feel jealous of an amphibian. In the last years of the nineteenth century, in the western territory that would become New Mexico, the two young people become constant companions. They roam the ancient country of mysterious terrain, where the mountain looms and reminds them of their insignificance, and observe the eccentric characters in the village: Mr. Blackwater, known as “No Leg Dancer” by the Apaches because of the leg he lost in the War Between the States and his penchant for blowing reveille on his bugle each morning; their friend, Two Feather, the Mescalero Apache boy who takes Beth Delilah to meet his wise old grandfather who sees mysterious things; and Senora Roja, who everyone believes is a bruja, or witch, and who they know to be vile and evil. Elijah has horrible nightmares involving Senora Roja, death and torture. And when the witch enslaves a girl named Rosa, the pair must try to rescue her from her grim fate. Together, Elijah and Beth Delilah come of age in a land of mountains and ravens, where good and evil vie for the souls of white men and Indians alike.
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It's a vision of Old Hollywood that both creates and dispels fantasy: it's got the glamour and the clothes and the glitter, but it also shows the ugliness behind the magic. And there's a whole lot of ugliness. Loads of TWISTS and TURNS, and there are clearly some BIG THINGS TO COME in future installments...
Whenever the analytical part of my brain complained, the rest of me shushed it: because Escape Theory is entirely entertaining. Sure, Devon won’t be competing in the Detection Olympics any time soon, but the mystery is still engrossing, and even better, the emotional core of the book—her new friendships, but especially her relationship with Hutch—is ultimately quite affecting.
Scowler deals in true suspense and psychological horror—Kraus never resorts to the cheesy jump scare—and the constant unease and shifting alliances reminded me of the carjacking episode of Six Feet Under and parts of Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects. If you're more inclined to be convinced by the name-dropping of a modern classic, it also made me think of In Cold Blood.
A Monster Calls isn't a fable that features Everyman Characters To Make A Point: It's a story about people. Conor isn't just a stand-in for any random person experiencing heartbreak. He's a real, three-dimensional boy, with a real, three-dimensional life. His grandmother is a real person, as is his mother and his mostly-absent father and the people at school and everyone else in the book.
Judging by the description alone, Cross My Heart has loads of potential—setting, time period, mystery, murders, class and gender issues, secret freaking societies—but ultimately, unfortunately, it reads like...eh. It’s got a plotline standard to any number of movies you’ve seen and forgotten—girl attempts to solve her sister’s murder, gets involved with a shady secret society, falls in love with someone unsuitable—and neither the characterization nor the narration is a particular stand out.
I’ve been looking forward to Josh Berk’s GuyLangman: CrimeSceneProcrastinator for months. Not because I’m dying to read it. I already have. It’s because I’ve been dying for everyone else to read it. I read an advanced copy of it last October while my car was getting worked on, and I laughed so much and so hard that the receptionist gave me The Eye.
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