Ex Libris

Jim Henson's The Storyteller - Nate Cosby

2012-02-04T20:01:00.005-05:00

Title: Jim Henson's The Storyteller
Author: Nate Crosby
Publisher: Archaia Entertainment, 2011
Length: 112 pages
Genre: Children's/Young Adult/Adult; Graphic Novel
Started: February 4, 2012
Finished: February 4, 2012

Summary:
From the publisher's website:
The much-loved, live-action/puppet combination TV show is now a graphic novel series! Archaia and The Jim Henson Company are proud to present ALL-NEW tales of fantastic wonder and extraordinary myth, as told from the tongue of The Storyteller and his loyal canine companion! Witness worded wonderment from a cavalcade of craft creators, including Roger Langridge (The Muppet Show comic, Thor the Mighty Avenger), Marjorie Liu (Black Widow), Ron Marz (Green Lantern, Artifacts), Jeff Parker (Thor, Thunderbolts), Francesco Francavilla (Detective Comics), Chris Eliopoulos (Franklin Richards) and Janet Lee (Return of the Dapper Men). Plus: a never-before-seen story adapted from a screenplay by The Storyteller’s original author, Academy Award® winner Anthony Minghella (The English Patient).

Review:
When my husband and I first got Netflix in our house, one of the titles we came across was a Jim Henson series called The Storyteller from the late 80s that neither of us had ever seen before. We adored it, it's all little vignettes based on myths and legends acted out in live action with muppets. The Storyteller figure is an old man who sits by the fireplace and reads the stories out of books, all while his muppet dog interacts with him. It's wonderful in that it's appropriate for all ages, aside from the usual violence typical of fairy-tales. In this particular graphic novel, various artists illustrate 9 different stories: Old Nick & The Peddler, The Milkmaid & Her Pail, An Agreement Between Friends, Old Fire Dragaman, Puss in Boots, The Frog Who Became An Emperor, The Crane Wife, Momotaro The Peach Boy, and The Witch Baby (the bonus story). All the stories are wonderful, so any favourites I have are as a result of the artwork, and my absolute favourite is Puss in Boots illustrated by Marjorie Liu and Jennifer L. Meyer. The panels are done in gorgeous tones of light blue and silver and it just has a wonderful ethereal quality to it. The Japanese-inspired stories are also nicely illustrated in typical Japanese styles, which I always enjoy.

This is listed as 'volume 1', so I certainly hope there are more installments, I'll certainly be picking them up if they do make any more.

Recommendation:
An excellent all-ages graphic novel that would be at home in any classroom or home library. A must for anyone that likes old-fashioned storytelling.

Thoughts on the cover:
Nice illustration of The Storyteller and his dog, i like how the outlines are recessed into the cover so there's a textured feel to it. The gold and brown colour scheme is very classical too.

Money-Smart Kids - Gail Vaz-Oxlade

2012-02-04T19:27:00.005-05:00

Title: Money-Smart Kids
Author: Gail Vaz-Oxlade
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2011
Length: 80 pages
Genre: Adult; Nonfiction
Started: February 3, 2012
Finished: February 3, 2012

Summary:
From the publisher's website:
Want to teach your kids to see money as a tool, not a trap? Determined to help them avoid the mistakes you made?

As a parent you want the best for your kids. You work hard to provide every advantage you can. You want them to be safe, smart and healthy. Yet, when it comes to money, it’s a whole different story. If you’re like most people, you’d rather run a mile through a desert with a camel on your back than talk financial realities with your children.

Your parents told you that talking about money just wasn’t polite. Look where that left you! A healthy, balanced attitude towards money begins when kids are just toddling, so pull your head out of the sand and roll up your sleeves.

Gail Vaz-Oxlade, Canada’s #1 personal finance expert, will teach you everything your children need to know. Gail believes that building confidence and money skills starts with an age-appropriate allowance. In Money-Smart Kids, she’ll show you how to start an allowance and use it effectively to help your kids:

-make saving a habit
-learn the difference between a need and a want
-use the “magic jars” to balance competing goals
-create life-long money management skills

What better gift could you give your kids than the confidence to control their money, rather than letting their money control them? Let Gail help you raise Money-Smart Kids.

Review:
I'm a big fan of Gail Vaz-Oxlade, my husband and I end up watching her shows to make ourselves feel better about our finances, the same way we watch Hoarders to make ourselves feel better about not cleaning the house as often as we'd like. Her approach of financial planning and budgeting is very common-sense, but the one aspect that I always wanted more clarification on was money matters where children are involved. By the time I graduated high school I had a pretty good grasp of money matters, so the outcome was good but I always felt things could've gone better along the way. Now that I have my own child, I wanted to know how to better approach money with her.

I like Gail's way of dealing with money with kids. She believes in giving kids an allowance without it being attached to chores or grades since kids need to learn about money and they can't learn about it if they don't have any. I like this concept because chores should just be a given in a household, unless there's something over and above the normal ones that a child would like to do to earn extra money. She talks about making sure parents explain money matter to their kids, from where the money in the ATM comes from, to how long mommy and daddy have to work to afford certain things. She also talks about using the jar system from her show with kids: one for saving, sharing (donations), planned spending, and mad money, and allocating a child's allowance every week to each jar. I personally wouldn't use all four categories with my child, at least not right away, I would simply use saving and spending until they get the concept of savings as emergency money and have the willpower to save for something over a planned period of time (planned spending).

The chapter on credit was especially good, which I think is needed for some kids that have a hard time understanding the concept of credit cards (I didn't growing up, but I know a lot of young kids do and then have big credit card issues once they get their first card at 18).

Recommendation:
Wonderful little book for parents that want some guidance in how to teach their children about money. This is especially timely considering how many kids and young adults these days have no considerable concept of budgeting or credit.

Thoughts on the cover:
Keeps in theme with Gail's other books with the image of her, except instead of against a clear backdrop she's against a chalkboard background. The title in chalk with the $ as the s is a nice touch.

Cinderella Ate My Daughter - Peggy Orenstein

2012-01-30T15:35:00.005-05:00

Title: Cinderella Ate My Daughter
Author: Peggy Orenstein
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2011 (Hardcover), 2012 (Paperback)
Length: 245 pages
Genre: Adult; Nonfiction
Started: January 28, 2012
Finished: January 30, 2012

Summary:
From Amazon.com:
The acclaimed author of the groundbreaking bestseller Schoolgirls reveals the dark side of pink and pretty: the rise of the girlie-girl, she warns, is not that innocent.

Pink and pretty or predatory and hardened, sexualized girlhood influences our daughters from infancy onward, telling them that how a girl looks matters more than who she is. Somewhere between the exhilarating rise of Girl Power in the 1990s and today, the pursuit of physical perfection has been recast as a source—the source—of female empowerment. And commercialization has spread the message faster and farther, reaching girls at ever-younger ages.

But, realistically, how many times can you say no when your daughter begs for a pint-size wedding gown or the latest Hannah Montana CD? And how dangerous is pink and pretty anyway—especially given girls' successes in the classroom and on the playing field? Being a princess is just make-believe, after all; eventually they grow out of it. Or do they? Does playing Cinderella shield girls from early sexualization—or prime them for it? Could today's little princess become tomorrow's sexting teen? And what if she does? Would that make her in charge of her sexuality—or an unwitting captive to it?

Those questions hit home with Peggy Orenstein, so she went sleuthing. She visited Disneyland and the international toy fair, trolled American Girl Place and Pottery Barn Kids, and met beauty pageant parents with preschoolers tricked out like Vegas showgirls. She dissected the science, created an online avatar, and parsed the original fairy tales. The stakes turn out to be higher than she—or we—ever imagined: nothing less than the health, development, and futures of our girls. From premature sexualization to the risk of depression to rising rates of narcissism, the potential negative impact of this new girlie-girl culture is undeniable—yet armed with awareness and recognition, parents can effectively counterbalance its influence in their daughters' lives.

Cinderella Ate My Daughter is a must-read for anyone who cares about girls, and for parents helping their daughters navigate the rocky road to adulthood.

Review:
Now that I have a daughter I find myself a little worried over how good a job I'll do to help her grow up a well-rounded woman. When I started teaching, I paid attention to the little girls (and eventually older ones) in my classes and noticed that the tv shows and toys they admired and adored were a lot different than the ones I had as a child...and not necessarily in a good way. The girls in their tv shows were ditzy and dumb and seemed to be proud of it, and their toys looked like something you'd find on a street corner at night than in a little girl's toy chest. This book speaks to adults who are a little disturbed by the trends found in marketing towards girls that leads to the early sexualization of said girls, starting with Disney Princesses through Bratz and Monster High dolls to Disney's television shows. From the onslaught of the colour pink (that I called the pink hoarde when my daughter was born), to the limited options girls are offered in toys geared specifically towards them (kitchens, flowers, jewelry, clothes), this book addresses the current state of raising a girl and makes a person aware of these things that sometimes go unnoticed.

Although the observations are quite entertaining and sometimes insightful, one thing I noticed was that the author doesn't really offer any solutions to this problem, no scripts to instigate teachable moments (good thing I have quite a few on hand from encountering this stuff in my teaching). So I was kind of expecting that...even examples of how she combats this with her own daughter, which she didn't really offer either. The things she addresses and anecdotes about her own daughter were quite entertaining though, which really is the point of the book it seems, just a person reporting things she's observed, sometimes quite wittily.

The paperback version of this book is out this week, so rather than spend the money on the hardcover, you'd be better off with the cheaper paperback or borrowing it from the library first to see if it floats your boat.

Recommendation:
If you've been around young girls frequently in the past few years, either as a parent or an educator, there's not much here you won't already have figured out for yourself. If you suddenly find yourself the parent of a daughter and have had no exposure to children since you were one, you might want to give this a read. Don't expect any solutions to the observations being made here, but it is an entertaining ride nonetheless.

Thoughts on the cover:
Very appropriate considering the subject matter. I love the swirl of sparkles leading from the girl's wand to the little text bubble at the bottom.

Anticipated Reads for 2012

2012-01-02T17:20:00.012-05:00

Since I finished my list of my favourite reads of 2011, I thought I'd look forward to my long list of anticipated reads for 2012. The list for this year is longer than last year's, mainly because a lot of my anticipated titles are continuations of series I began reading this year.

Without further ado:

Insurgent - Veronica Roth, sequel to Divergent

Bitterblue - Kristin Cashore, sequel to Graceling and Fire, been waiting for this one for years

Fever - Lauren DeStefano, sequel to Wither

Enshadowed - Kelly Creagh, sequel to Nevermore

Fear - Michael Grant, 5th in the 'Gone' series

Cinder - Marissa Meyer, a new book that's been getting a lot of hype, a cyborg version of Cinderella

Bewitching - Alex Flinn, a prequel to Beastly, this one focuses on Kendra, the witch that transforms Kyle

Winterling - Sarah Prineas

The Enchantress - Michael Scott, 6th in the Nicholas Flamel series

Thumped - Megan McCafferty, sequel to Bumped

And these are the listings with no cover pics as of yet:

- Ebon by Robin McKinley, sequel to Pegasus
- Crown of Embers by Rae Carson, sequel to A Girl of Fire and Thorns

End of the Year Review - Best of 2011

2011-12-20T19:39:00.007-05:00

Continuing from my post back in June where I posted on the best books from the first half of 2011 , this is a list of the best books I've read in the second half of this year. Again, since I read more YA than other genres, there will be more of those listed than in any other category. Since I don't have a rating system (ratings are subjective anyway), you'll have to skim the reviews to see if these will impress you as much as they did me. These are in no particular order, and the books aren't all necessarily published in 2011 (but most are), I just happened to read them in 2011.

Children's

1. Breadcrumbs - Anne Ursu

2. One Crazy Summer - Rita Williams-Garcia

3. A Tale of Two Castles - Gail Carson Levine

Adult

1. When She Woke - Hillary Jordan

Young Adult

1. A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness

2. Marcelo in the Real World - Francisco X. Stork

3. Nothing - Janne Teller

4. Cleopatra's Moon - Vicky Alvear Shecter

5. Forbidden - Tabitha Suzuma

6. Bumped - Megan McCafferty

7. The Girl of Fire and Thorns - Rae Carson

When She Woke - Hillary Jordan

2011-12-15T17:56:00.004-05:00

Title: When She Woke
Author: Hillary Jordan
Publisher: Harper Collins, 2011 (Paperback)
Length: 341 pages
Genre: Adult; Dystopian Fiction
Started: December 3, 2011
Finished: December 15, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
I am red now. It was her first thought of the day, every day, surfacing after a few seconds of fogged, blessed ignorance and sweeping through her like a wave, breaking in her breast with a soundless roar. Hard on its heels came the second wave, crashing into the wreckage left by the first: he is gone.

Hannah Payne’s life has been devoted to church and family. But after she’s convicted of murder, she awakens to a nightmarish new life. She finds herself lying on a table in a bare room, covered only by a paper gown, with cameras broadcasting her every move to millions at home, for whom observing new Chromes—criminals whose skin color has been genetically altered to match the class of their crime—is a sinister form of entertainment. Hannah is a Red for the crime of murder. The victim, says the State of Texas, was her unborn child, and Hannah is determined to protect the identity of the father, a public figure with whom she shared a fierce and forbidden love.

A powerful reimagining of The Scarlet Letter, When She Woke is a timely fable about a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate an America of the not-too-distant future, where the line between church and state has been eradicated, and convicted felons are no longer imprisoned but chromed and released back into the population to survive as best they can. In seeking a path to safety in an alien and hostile world, Hannah unknowingly embarks on a journey of self-discovery that forces her to question the values she once held true and the righteousness of a country that politicizes faith and love.

Review:
Yay, first review post-baby! I picked this book because it received a lot of hype during the summer and it peaked my interest. Even though it's adult and I don't tend to enjoy reading many adult books, I couldn't turn down the dystopian plot of this one, and I was pleasantly surprised by it.

When She Woke is a creative re-imagining of Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, in which heroine Hannah Payne's skin is dyed red to mark her crime of murder (abortion). Hannah's world is a futuristic USA, one marked by a horrific STD outbreak that essentially renders women infertile. With this outbreak, church and state become closely infused, and abortion becomes a crime. Under the new penal system, convicted criminals have their skin dyed different colours depending on their crime: red for murder, yellow for misdemeanors, and blue for crimes against children, among others. This eliminates the need for prisons since most Chromes find themselves at the mercy of the outside world after conviction and their life spans greatly shortened. After Hannah's release from the Chrome Ward, she must find a way to live as a Red; rejected by society, her family, and the father of her aborted child.

I liked the world-building and themes of When She Woke, a place where church and state are nearly one in the same, where women's rights have gone back a hundred years, where Hannah questions the religious values that she's been brought up to believe. The elements from The Scarlet Letter were woven in quite nicely, so that aspect was well done.

The only thing about the book that I wasn't fond of was the fact that it loses steam towards the end, it rushes into the ending and doesn't have the same feel as the first half of the book. Up until Hannah leaves the Henley's cloistered little halfway house for Chromes the pacing was great and took its time to explore and savour all the elements that make the novel great (the religious hypocrisy and cruelty, the dystopian elements), but afterwards when she ends up on the little Underground Railway-esque journey to Canada (yay for Canada being the cliche safe haven yet again) things feel rushed and the care taken to explore things in the first half just isn't there in the second half.

Recommendation:
Love the premise and the set-up, but things start to fall apart towards the end. Still an excellent book though, and the Scarlet Letter elements are nicely integrated into this dystopian tale.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like it, the black background works well with the red profile view of Hannah's face, it's a very sophisticated cover.

Sorry things have been slow, but here's my cute reason why...

2011-11-19T14:45:00.004-05:00

Hello all,

First off, I apologize for the lack of reviews recently. I know I haven't been up to my usual pace, but pregnancy did a number on my eyes and by the time I had down time at the end of the day, sleep won the battle over reading ^^;

Then, on the day I posted my most recent review, I found out i was going to be induced the next day at the hospital, and my baby daughter was born the day after that ^__^

So things are going to be slow for the forseeable future until I get used to my new routine and learn to work things like reading back into my schedule, but in the meantime, here's a picture of my daughter, Anastasia, to tide you over (hopefully the cuteness will make up for the lack of reviews ^_^)

The Son of Neptune - Rick Riordan

2011-11-08T17:22:00.005-05:00

Title: The Son of Neptune (Book 2 in The Heroes of Olympus series)
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Disney Hyperion Books, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 513 pages
Genre: Children's/Young Adult Fantasy
Started: October 31, 2011
Finished: November 7, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,
To storm or fire the world must fall.
An oath to keep with a final breath,
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.

Percy is confused. When he awoke from his long sleep, he didn't know much more than his name. His brain fuzz is lingering, even after the wolf Lupa tol him he is a demigod and trained him to fight with the pen/sword in his pocket. Somehow Percy manages to make it to a camp for half-bloods, despite the fact that he has to keep killing monsters along the way. But the camp doesn't ring and bells with him. The only thing he can recall from his past is another name: Annabeth

Hazel is supposed to be dead. When she lived before, she didn't do a very good job of it. Sure, she was an obedient daughter, even when her mother was possessed by greed. But that was the problem - when the Voice took over he mother and commanded Hazel to use her "gift" for and evil purpose, Hazel couldn't say no. Now because of her mistake, the future of the world is at risk. Hazel wished she could ride away from it all on the stallion that appears in her dreams.

Frank is a klutz. His grandmother says he is descended from heroes and can be anything he wants to be, but he doesn't see it. He doesn't even know who his father is. He keeps hoping Apollo will claim him, because the only thing he is good at is archery - although not good enough to win camp war games. His bulky physique makes him feel like an ox, especially infront of Hazel, his closest friend at camp. He trusts her completely - enough to share the secret he holds close to his heart.

Beginning at the "other" camp for half-bloods and extending as far as the land beyond the gods, this breathtaking second installment of the Heroes od Olympus series introduces new demigods, revives fearsome monsters, and features other remarkable creatures, all destined to play a part in the Prophesy of Seven.

Review:
Althought I haven't been nuts about Riordan's other current series, The Kane Chronicles, after reading The Lost Hero earlier this year, the first book in the new series continuing the Percy Jackson story, I found this was one sequel series done right.

The Son of Neptune picks up on the other end of the spectrum from The Lost Hero. In The Lost Hero we see Jason who's originally from the Roman camp go to Camp Half Blood in the place of Percy, who has gone missing, and lead the new group on their quest. In The Son of Neptune, we finally get to see Percy and where he's gone, which is to the Roman camp (can't remember a thing, just like Jason) to lead the new group from the Roman camp on their own little side quest. I love the additions to Percy's group this time around, Hazel and Frank. Hazel is biracial (her mother was black) and Frank is Canadian (wooooot!), from Vancouver, specifically of Chinese background. I like how the author is trying to inject a little more multicultural influence into the newer series (biracial characters, different ethnicities), it's really nice to see. Although I liked Hazel's story, I really took to Frank's, i felt for the poor guy.

I can't say a lot about the plot for fear of spoilers, but I can say that if you liked the original Percy Jackson series or if you've already read The Lost Hero and liked it, it's a no brainer that you'll like The Son of Neptune.

Recommendation:
Excellent continuation in this new series, if you liked the previous installments, you'll love The Son of Neptune.

Thoughts on the cover:
A little more dynamic than the cover for The Lost Hero, I like it.

Liesl & Po - Lauren Oliver

2011-10-27T15:51:00.006-04:00

Title: Liesl & Po
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: Harper Collins, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 307 pages
Genre: Children's Fantasy
Started: October 22, 2011
Finished: October, 26, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
Liesl lives in a tiny attic bedroom, locked away by her cruel stepmother. Her only friends are the shadows and the mice—until one night a ghost appears from the darkness. It is Po, who comes from the Other Side. Both Liesl and Po are lonely, but together they are less alone.

That same night, an alchemist's apprentice, Will, bungles an important delivery. He accidentally switches a box containing the most powerful magic in the world with one containing something decidedly less remarkable

Will's mistake has tremendous consequences for Liesl and Po, and it draws the three of them together on an extraordinary journey.

From New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver comes a luminous and magnificent novel that glows with rare magic, ghostly wonders, and a true friendship that lights even the darkest of places.

Review:
I'm not the biggest fan of Lauren Oliver's YA books, she's got a beautiful writing style, but there always seems to be something missing from the plots and storylines that make the overall package not as impressive as it could be, so I thought I would try out her new children's novel and see if there was any difference (some authors do write differently from one genre to another). Sadly, this trend continues with Liesl and Po...it's a beautiful little book with wonderful themes and gorgeous writing, but there's just something about it that keeps it from actually being as impressive as I want it to be.

Liesl and Po takes place in a depression era or Dickensian kind of world with factories and smog and poverty. Liesl's family was fairly well off, her mother died when she was little and her father recently remarried and has just died. Liesl's stepmother keeps her locked in the attic in order to claim Liesl's inheritance from her father since she can't actually do away with her completely. One night, Liesl is visited by Po, a ghost from the Other Side, and Bundle, some sort of animal ghost that always seemed like a dog in my head. Liesl asks Po if it can find her father and deliver a message to him, which Po does, relying back to Liesl that her father can rest if his ashes are laid to rest with her mother back in their old home out in the country. At the same time, Will, the alchemist's assistant, is delivering a box filled with the alchemist's greatest magic but gets it mixed up with the box containing Liesl's father's ashes. So when Po helps Liesl escape with her father's remains they're actually running away with the magic box, which leads the alchemist and the Lady Premiere to go running after them to retrieve the right box.

I love the themes of rebirth that the author chose to incorporate in this novel, and she writes them in quite well. The thing that irks me is that by the time I got to the end of the story and realized where everything was going, there ends up being several characters and plot deviations that really could've been cut out completely because they don't add anything to the story at all. The Lady Premiere was essentially a nothing character that could've been cut out, the alchemist could've functioned fine on his own. The lady on the train was pointless too. On the other hand there were some things I wish were fleshed out, like Mo's sister and Po's background before it became a ghost (it's brought up very abruptly right at the end). Plus I wish the main characters like Liesl and Po and Will were fleshed out more themselves character-wise, they seem very flat at certain points. I know it's a children's book, but this felt like it either had to be shorter like a fairy tale that just states facts and people believe them, just make it longer to flesh out the stuff that's already there.

Recommendation:
Beautiful writing with wonderful themes, but again there's something missing along the way that just prevents it from having that extra "wow" factor.

Thoughts on the cover:
This book has gorgeous illustrations both throughout the book and on the cover. The best part is that the full version of the image of Liesl, Po and Bundle on the dust jacket is extended on the actual cover underneath, it's soooo pretty.

Breadcrumbs - Anne Ursu

2011-10-21T19:36:00.003-04:00

Title: Breadcrumbs
Author: Anne Ursu
Publisher: Walden Pond Press (HarperCollins), 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 312 pages
Genre: Children's Fairy Tale/Fantasy
Started: October 17, 2011
Finished: October 21, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
Once upon a time, Hazel and Jack were best friends. They had been best friends since they were six, spending hot Minneapolis summers and cold Minneapolis winters together, dreaming of Hogwarts and Oz, superheroes and baseball. Now that they were eleven, it was weird for a boy and a girl to be best friends. But they couldn't help it - Hazel and Jack fit, in that way you only read about in books. And they didn't fit anywhere else.

And then, one day, it was over. Jack just stopped talking to Hazel. And while her mom tried to tell her that this sometimes happens to boys and girls at this age, Hazel had read enough stories to know that it's never that simple. And it turns out, she was right. Jack's heart had been frozen, and he was taken into the woods by a woman dressed in white to live in a palace made of ice. Now, it's up to Hazel to venture into the woods after him. Hazel finds, however, that these woods are nothing like what she's read about, and the Jack that Hazel went in to save isn't the same Jack that will emerge. Or even the same Hazel.

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen," Breadcrumbs is a story of the struggle to hold on, and the things we leave behind.

Review:
I have been so lucky with my recent books, they've all been ones I've been dying to read and have all really impressed me, and Breadcrumbs continues this trend.

Breadcrumbs is a modern fairy tale retelling of "The Snow Queen", and is one of few fairy tale retellings that is amazingly well done. Hazel is 11 years old and doesn't really fit in anywhere. She was adopted from India as an infant by her white parents who have recently divorced, and is quite conscious of the unspoken questions on people's faces when they see her with her mother. She is highly imaginative (having read lots of stories), and very in tune with her emotions; she doesn't get self-conscious about twirling around in a snow fall in her pajamas, savouring the magic of falling snow, a behaviour that most children reign in around that age. The only person she fits with is Jack, her best friend since forever. Since Jack and Hazel now attend the same school, she depends on his friendship even more to help her transition from a private school that valued her imagination to a normal public school that just wants her to act grown up. Jack has his own issues as well; his mother is deep in the throes of depression to the point where she is like a non-entity, and his father does his best to keep life as normal as possible. At the age where boys and girls begin to have more romantic feelings for each other rather than platonic friendships, Jack has to carefully balance his relationship with Hazel and that of his male friends, and they begin to break apart. Hazel's mother lovingly tries to get Hazel to form friendships with other girls, but Hazel is adamant that Jack needs her as much as she needs him, and in a way she's right.

Whereas the first half of the book sets the stage for Hazel and Jack and shows their day-to-day existence as relatively innocent children dealing with heavy stuff, the second half is the journey that is growing up that both Hazel and Jack go through in their own way. Incorporating the 'Snow Queen' elements, Jack is struck in the eye by a ice shard that penetrates to his very heart, making him cold to Hazel and changing his personality from a boy that loves stories and make believe to a boy that loves the unbreakable truth of mathematics. He goes off with the snow queen/white witch herself to her ice palace, and once Hazel finds out where he's gone she packs up and ventures into the woods, deciding she must rescue him. I loved the ice metaphor for growing up and changing (for the worse) as we grow, the little lines dropped by the various inhabitants of the woods reinforce that the witch's realm is a cruel one and that she's always there but everyone just tries to ignore the fact that she is so they can be happy. The second half is filled with fairy tale tropes and images from the woodsman and the wolves to The Little Match Girl, and as such is written much more surreally and lyrically than the first half (though the writing is just as beautiful in the first half, just not in that 'other-worldly' quality of the second half). Some of my favourite quotes out of this book come from this second half; both of the witch speaking to Hazel when she comes to rescue Jack:

"You know you'll never get him back," she said. "Not really. Even if you take him, it won't be the same." (pg. 281)

"Know this," she said, her voice as clear as a shard of glass. "If you take him away, he will change. And someday he will be a man, and you will not even know him, and he will only think of you with a passing smile."
At least he would think of me, Hazel wanted to say...It was not supposed to be this easy. This was to be the final confrontation. There was to be struggle, torment, despair. But the witch-who was the only person in the woods who wanted nothing-was not what Hazel had to defeat." (pg. 282)

I love these, they're not complicated quotes by any means, but convey meaning in a writing style that is very rarely targeted towards children. The first thing I thought of when I got a sense of the author's style was that this felt more like some surreal story for adults that remember childhood clearly, but then I changed my mind that it is for children too, it's just rare to find an author that will write a middle grade novel in this manner that doesn't talk down to kids. So if nothing else, read this just for the writing, it is truly beautiful on so many levels.

I loved Hazel, it's hard not to, she's portrayed so sympathetically; she also reminded me a lot of myself personality-wise at that age (just minus the male best friend). On a superficial level, I appreciated that she wasn't white; children's books need more multicultural, varied characters than what they usually get, so that aspect pleased me. I also liked the way Hazel's mother was portrayed. Usually parents aren't painted in the best light in children's literature, but Hazel's mom, although she really doesn't understand her daughter, she truly loves her and really tries her best to help in what ways she can, and that comes across clearly. At least this helps perpetuate to kids that yes, a lot of adults/parents won't get you, but there are those that still love you and honestly want to help you and not screw you around. I also loved the addition of Adelaide's Uncle Martin, the one adult that is grown up but still retains the personality of one of the kids, and gets mocked for it; it was another example of growing up, but one where growing up can be done on a person's own terms (ie. I can be grown up in the mature sense but not lose the magic and wonder).

There was only one detriment that I could really think of, and that's that the ending felt rushed and incomplete. I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting, but the ending I got left me a little unsatisfied....not quite sure what I would even suggest in its place, I just know it didn't fit...

Recommendation:
Stunning, beautiful, and wise; this is a practically perfect offering that is simply enchanting. Gorgeous writing, realistic situations and characters, and a seamless blending of the fairy tale elements into a modern story. Just read this, you won't be disappointed, it's one of the best children's books I've read this year, and it's one that adults will fall in love with too.

Thoughts on the cover:
I'll admit, I had cover lust for this book when I first saw it. The winter forest scene at sunset with the whites, oranges, pinks, and purples is beautiful eye candy; and Hazel off to the side with the wolves in the background are placed just right so your eye is drawn into the core of the forest.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns - Rae Carson

2011-10-17T17:54:00.006-04:00

Title: The Girl of Fire and Thorns
Author: Rae Carson
Publisher: Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins), 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 423 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy
Started: October 15, 2011
Finished: October 16, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.

Elisa is the chosen one.

But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can’t see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he’s not the only one who needs her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.

Most of the chosen do.

Review:
This book has been on my radar for a while, mainly because it's gotten so much positive hype. Thankfully for me, the book lives up to the hype more or less, I sat down with it over the weekend and couldn't put it down because I got so engrossed in it.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns is high fantasy, and takes place in the kingdoms of Orovalle and Joya d'Arena, where God chooses one person every hundred years for an act of divine service to the people, marked by a divine gem called a Godstone. Elisa is the 16-year-old younger princess of Orovalle, ignored both because she is a girl and because she is not a clone of her older sister Alodia. However, Elisa possess the Godstone, lodged in her navel by a beam of light when she was only a baby (I couldn't help from thinking of Carebears every time this came up despite the serious and non-fluffy nature of the whole idea). She is constantly told of her wonderful destiny as God's servant, but is kept ignorant of what exactly that entails. She is hastily married off to Alejandro, king of Joya d'Arena, in the midst of both countries planning for a war against the common enemy, the Invierne. Not only does Elisa have to learn to navigate the very different world of her new husband's home of Brisadulce, she must also prove herself a worthy queen despite her self-esteem issues. Elisa is later kidnapped by revolutionaries who inform her of a traitor in her new husband's midst, who has allied with the Invierne for his own benefit at the expense of the forgotten hill peoples. Because Alejandro is a coward as a king (but a good man otherwise), the revolutionaries believe that Elisa, as the bearer of the Godstone, is their only hope to save their people.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns does an amazing job of capturing the reader right away, the world-building is remarkably well done and the plot moves along quite nicely, so there's no boring lags to plow through. Elisa is a wonderfully sympathetic character, she's got some insecurity issues from being motherless (and blamed for said act by her older sister), ignored by her father, kept in the dark about what being a bearer really means, and to top it off, she's overweight too. I loved the fact that Elisa was portrayed as a heavier girl, you don't see that explicitly stated in YA books (except ones that revolve around weight loss) and hardly ever in a heroine. Though she does end up losing some weight as the book progresses (not consciously), she's still not portrayed as a stick, so the author gets some respect from me for that. Elisa starts off pretty meek and spineless (though quite a cunning strategist), but eventually does grow into a very confident and self-assured young woman, so there is noticeable character growth for those people that don't like it when their heroines aren't super strong right off the bat (I personally don't mind a spineless character in reasonable circumstances so long as they noticeably grow as the novel progresses).

There were only a few things about this book that irked me. I would have liked to see Elisa not go through the physical body change before having her worth realized...I know the author probably didn't intend it as such and based on the plot it was kind of a natural progression, but it still alludes to the idea that a person who's heavy isn't of value until they conform to the widely held idea of real beauty. Would it be so bad to have a kick-ass heroine who happens to be a little heavy? I know some real-life heavier set ladies that are as healthy as skinny-mini girls, if not more so, and who can give a lot of people a run for their money physically, I'd just like to see this reflected once in a while in mainstream media. Also, the romance aspect wasn't really given a lot of spotlight. That's not a big problem for me, I can live without a romance, but the time they did devote to it wasn't enough, it wasn't very believable. Granted, this is the first book in a planned trilogy, so there might be some new, believable development on the romance front in forthcoming books. Lastly, the book could be viewed as preachy if one chose to read it as such...it's easy to ignore the obvious connections because magic is mentioned (though not as often as the God references and other faith based stuff), so for someone that likes their fantasy without something so closely resembling mainstream religion it did irk me every so often, but again it's easy to ignore.

Recommendation:
One of the best fantasy titles I've read this year. Wonderfully well-written with an excellent and engrossing plot that will have you glued to the pages long into the night, and a strong, sympathetic heroine that you can truly admire. I'll definitely be picking up the rest of the series when it's released, so read this!

Thoughts on the cover:
Compared to the proposed cover, this new one is much more appropriate. Elisa is described as dark skinned and heavy, whereas the ARC cover portrays a skinny girl who is anything but dark-skinned. This new cover focuses more on a forest scene with Elisa's face half hidden in the Godstone in the centre. I think some desert imagery would have been more appropriate than a forest scene, but oh well...

Bumped - Megan McCafferty

2011-10-14T20:23:00.006-04:00

Title: Bumped
Author: Megan McCafferty
Publisher: Balzer + Bray, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 323 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Dystopian Fiction, Science Fiction
Started: October 11, 2011
Finished: October 14, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society. Girls sport fake baby bumps and the school cafeteria stocks folic-acid-infused food.

Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and have never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Up to now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend, Zen, who is way too short for the job.

Harmony has spent her whole life in Goodside, a religious community, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to convince Melody that pregging for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.

When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.

From New York Times bestselling author Megan McCafferty comes a strikingly original look at friendship, love, and sisterhood—in a future that is eerily believable.

Review:
I've been wanting to read this for a long time and a copy finally came in at my library, which was good for me since this is once of the more intriguing novels I've read recently.

Bumped takes place in 2036 a dystopian universe where a virus destroys fertility in both males and females beginning between the ages of 18-20. With reproductive technologies being useless in this area, couples wanting a child turn to teenaged boys and girls as sperm and egg donors/surrogates for their children. So to say that in this world, teenage girls are highly valued is a bit of an understatement. I love the feel of this book right off the bat. You hit the ground running in Bumped, you're thrown right into this world where teenage pregnancy is encouraged and exploited rather than shamed, it's kind of like a huge celebrity scene where the best surrogates and sperm donors are asked for autographs and have their own agents and receive multi-million dollar contracts from clients. Because the author throws you into this world with no info-dumping at the beginning, it does take a little while to get used to the world and the terminology before you begin to really understand where the author's going with all this.

Amidst this whole crazy world that encourages sexuality in young girls are Melody and Harmony, 16-year-old identical twins separated at birth and adopted out into two completely different set of circumstances. Melody goes to a family that primes her to be a professional surrogate from an early age, whereas Harmony is adopted into Goodside, a religious community separate from the teen pregnancy-obsessed culture that is Melody's life. The book opens with Harmony and Melody meeting for the first time after having discovered the other upon investigation of their adoption records. Harmony intends to try to make Melody see the error of her ways and to try to bring her back to Goodside so she can be an honest wife and mother. Melody on the other hand is caught up in maintaining her exclusive contract with the Jaydens, a couple whose child she will bare once a suitable sperm donor is found. Right away the two worlds are juxtaposed, Harmony's uber religious life is messed up something fierce, but so is Melody's in a different way, it really highlights the fact that the situations both girls are coming from are bad on both ends of the spectrum.

I love how pregnancy itself is at first shown to be this happy, bouncy kind of thing that all these girls want and that their government wants them to want, and you see the propaganda that the girls are shown on a daily basis. But as the book unravels you see how things aren't as wonderful as they seem: the girls are given drugs to prevent them from bonding with their babies so they can easily give them up at birth, and anyone who somehow isn't affected by the drugs or doesn't take them is taken away to a remote facility. Girls suffer pregnancy complications and are affected for the rest of their lives for an action that not many of them give too much thought to because their world doesn't want them to consider the risks involved. The practice of eugenics is also widely used, which harkens back to some serious Nazi Germany mental images. So the author doesn't completely promote the idea of teen pregnancy for anyone who's worried that that might be an issue.

There were a few things that I noticed though. If fertility is destroyed sometime between the ages of 18-20, I can get why reproductive technology like IVF and such wouldn't work on older people (I'll ignore the fact that the virus causing all this is never really explained, but I'm used to that in these types of books), but why wouldn't they be able to use such technology on the teenagers themselves, thereby removing the act of sex altogether? They make this whole big deal over the act itself, whether that's to get the kids interested or whatever, but you'd think to ensure success they'd simply make it more clinical rather than rely on the act to just work....unless the author's trying to shown how corrupted and soulless this world is, which if that's her game she succeeded. Also, I think for a reader to actually get the full extent of the "teen pregnancy isn't as awesome as it seems" bit, they'd have to have a lot of knowledge about pregnancy. There's a lot of specialized terminology thrown around that assumes the reader understands the depth to, but your average young adult reader wouldn't (most teenage girls I teach don't have a freaking clue about pregnancy beyond the basic stuff), I understood because I currently am pregnant and have practically memorized sections of pregnancy books, but I fear a lot of the stuff mentioned will fly over the heads of targeted readers, which is kind of sad because the beauty is in these subtle details that get thrown around. One thing that's completely personal, I hated Harmony and felt she was very unrealistic. I get that she was raised in a very sheltered environment but falling for every guy that pays her the slightest bit of attention and then running off with the guy she knows is supposed to bump with her twin sister? Sorry, not quite believable in my eyes. She does redeem herself in the end and I appreciate the point of view shown through her, but as a character she just annoyed the crap out of me.

As an obvious note, there's a lot of sexual innuendo and sexual language in this book, there's pre-teens talking about sperm donors in such a sexual manner that it made me uncomfortable, and again I know it's to show how they're idealized like celebrities, but it's still super creepy. It completely blows your mind in terms of how we're conditioned to think about kids and young adults and sex, so obviously this is something you'd give an extremely mature reader, one that can understand the subtleties that the author is trying to do here.

Recommendation:
Excellent book that explores the idea of teen pregnancy in a witty and subversive way that's well written with an incredible amount of world-building. Given that, the sexual content contained here means this book should only be given to mature readers that will understand that the author is not in fact glorifying anything here.

Thoughts on the cover:
Simple but appropriate.

Anastasia's Secret - Susanne Dunlap

2011-10-09T19:08:00.005-04:00

Title: Anastasia's Secret
Author: Susanne Dunlap
Publisher: Bloomsbury Books, 2010 (Hardcover)
Length: 330 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Historical Fiction
Started: October 5, 2011
Finished: October 8, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
For Anastasia Romanov, life as the privileged daughter of Russia's last tsar is about to be torn apart by the bloodshed of revolution. Ousted from the imperial palace when the Bolsheviks seize control of the government, Anastasia and her family are exiled to Siberia. But even while the rebels debate the family's future with agonizing slowness and the threat to their lives grows more menacing, romance quietly blooms between Anastasia and Sasha, a sympathetic young guard she has known since childhood. But will the strength of their love be enough to save Anastasia from a violent death?
Inspired by the mysteries that have long surrounded the last days of the Romanov family, Susanne Dunlap's new novel is a haunting vision of the life-and love story-of Russia's last princess.

Review:
I'll admit, I've had this on my radar for some time, mostly because I'm about a month away from giving birth to our daughter whom we've named after the youngest Russian princess/duchess, so anything with the name Anastasia in it tends to capture my attention.

In spite of my love of all things Romanov, this book fell a little flat for me. The premise of the story is that Anastasia had a romantic liaison before her death at the age of 17 (the author imagines a young guard as the boy in question). However the whole situation regarding the romance seemed very unrealistic and implausible. The author sets up the story and atmosphere of turn of the century Russian nicely and you can tell she's really done her research regarding the parts that have a basis in actual history. When it comes to the imagined parts regarding the romance though, it just doesn't seems to fit. Sasha and Anastasia never seem to have a believable reason why they would get together (the author doesn't really have them together often enough to explain why they like each other), but I can almost forgive that seeing as how Anastasia was guarded and sheltered most of her life and I can believe that she would fall for the first boy that she got to know beyond an acquaintance level. However, the other aspects aren't believable either. I can see her slipping away to see Sasha before the family was placed under house arrest during the revolution, but afterwards I don't buy it; the family was heavily guarded and I find it hard to believe that Anastasia was able to be alone with a random solider undetected long enough for hanky panky. That and the fact that people know how Anastasia's story ends, I find it hard to believe that she or her love interest would allow her to meet such an end like Sasha did...and if she really loved anyone in a romantic way I think she would've tried to escape given the chance like in the book. It almost seems as if this story would have been better off as more fiction than historical based, where the author writes it so that Anastasia actually survived and went off into the sunset with said romantic interest and lived happily ever after or however they want to word it.

Recommendation:
If you like novels based on the Romanov family, you might want to skip this one. The writing and setting are well done, but the romance angle doesn't really seem plausible at any point, and there are better novels with different plot lines out there that work better as an historical fiction piece.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like the look of the model but probably would've liked if they'd picked someone who actually looked like the real Anastasia. The details like the lace on the dress and the pearl necklace are nice touches though.

Forbidden - Tabitha Suzuma

2011-10-05T19:59:00.005-04:00

Title: Forbidden
Author: Tabitha Suzuma
Publisher: Simon Pulse, 2011 (Hardcoer)
Length: 454 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Realistic Fiction
Started: September 29, 2011
Finished: October 5, 2011

Summary:
From the publisher's website:
Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives--and the way they understand each other so completely--has also also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.

Review:
I have to admit, I love taboo subject matter, I drink it up, there's not much that immediately turns me off. Forbidden was right up my alley, it's a book that's insanely taboo and controversial, and on a subject we don't often see: incest...consensual incest at that.

Lochan (I had no idea how to pronounce his name so in my head I always called him 'Lochlan", since it was the closest name to his that I knew how to say) and Maya are the two oldest siblings in a very difficult situation. Their mother first got pregnant with Lochan as a teenager and doesn't hide the fact that this is the only reason she married their father (a polar opposite of her). After having a total of 5 children (Lochan, Maya, Kit, Tiffin, and Willa), their father abandons the family and remarries. Their mother drinks and is frequently absent from the home, leaving Lochan and Maya with no choice but to take over responsibility for the whole family. With such a heavy burden placed on them at such an early age, it's no surprise that Lochan and Maya never saw each other as siblings, but rather as equal partners in a household, almost functioning like a husband and wife or father and mother in their roles to their younger siblings. In the midst of all this, Lochan and Maya come to realize their mutual feelings for each other...and this is where I can see a lot of people throwing the book out the window because of the incest issue. But I caution that, because this book; although extremely controversial because it not only shows incest, but incest that is consensual at all stages; is one where such subject matter is beautifully portrayed.

The book is told in alternating first person points of view (Lochan and Maya) and the difference between the voices is handled well. Lochan takes after his father, an academic, and his voice is wonderfully crafted with eloquent descriptions and metaphors. Maya's voice is also well done, slightly more colloquial and down to earth, but nonetheless deeply in touch with her feelings. I think this book could've only worked in a first person point of view because seeing into their heads is the only way to truly understand their situation and the depth of what they feel for each other, even though they know what they feel is considered disgusting and wrong. You see them struggle with the responsibilities of running a household with 3 younger siblings (ages 13, 8, and 5), trying to make sure their mother comes home often enough to give them enough money to survive, all the while trying to get good grades at school to improve their futures for their sake as well as their siblings'.

Through all this, you tend to agree with Lochan and Maya, that they don't really act or function as brother and sister, that they are only related through an accident of biology as they say. This idea doesn't necessarily make the act of incest okay, that's not what I think the author is saying, but it does get readers to consider that there's more to love than the norm that we all think of in our heads. Just because most people would be disgusted by the idea of having relations with a blood sibling, doesn't necessarily mean it's 'wrong'. A lot of people believe homosexuality is wrong, but just as many believe that so long as both individuals are consenting adults that aren't hurting anyone, really who are we to judge? I'm not even talking about the issue of having children in an incestuous relationship, because for genetic reasons that is obviously irresponsible and cruel, but leaving that out of the picture, can anyone give a valid reason (aka not going into bible thumping or vague morality statements) as to why the relationship itself is wrong? After reading Forbidden, I honestly couldn't give a reason, it really made me think, which is why I think this book is amazing.

The characters speak for themselves I think. Lochan is tormented and only blossoms within the comfort of family, Maya is more outgoing but is still tormented by her feelings. Kit is probably the one sibling that I was really intrigued by, especially due to his actions at the very end...he's 13, so very much a typical angsty ball of teenage rage, but his actions are both understandable and detestable at the same time. Tiffin and Willa weren't explored much, but I did like how they showed the effects of an extremely dysfunctional family on young children, if nothing else it made me have more sympathy for the situation these kids found themselves in. The writing is beautifully done, and the voices are appropriate for the feel of the book. The ending I have mixed feelings over, not necessarily of the outcome ('cause really you know it's not going to end up all rainbows and fluffy unicorns), but rather how things are tied up in the final chapter...I thought it was a little too easy and there should have been some more exploration regarding Maya and her choices (can't say anything else for fear of spoilers). Other than that I think the book is a mind-blowing little package and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a reader mature enough to handle what's in it.

Recommendation:
Amazingly well done, I never thought I would ever classify a book on this topic to be beautiful, but I do. Obviously due to the incestuous content, and the surprisingly graphic sexual content that goes along with it, this book is not for anyone that's not mature enough to handle it. Normally with books with sexual content in it I'd have no problem giving it to a 14-year-old and up, but I'd caution giving this to anyone under 16 unless they were extremely mature readers. I could have read this at 14 or 15 and it wouldn't have scarred me for life, but not all kids are as equipped to handle tough issues as I was.

Thoughts on the cover:
The image used for this review is of the UK cover (originally being published in the UK) since I couldn't find a decent enough image of the North American cover. The domestic cover is essentially the same image of the barbed-wire heart, just with a red cover and the tagline "Sometimes love chooses you". I like the tagline of the domestic cover better than the UK one because I think the UK one focuses too much on the taboo of the whole book rather than getting to the heart of the issue, which is what I think the domestic cover's tagline does wonderfully: the idea that you can't really choose who you fall in love with and you're damned if you try (but you can choose how you react to it).

Then - Morris Gleitzman

2011-09-29T21:38:00.005-04:00

Title: Then (sequel to Once)
Author: Morris Gleitzman
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company, 2010 (Hardcover)
Length: 198 pages
Genre: Children's Historical Fiction
Started: September 28, 2011
Finished: September 28, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
Felix and Zelda have escaped the train to the death camp, but where do they go now? They're two runaway kids in Nazi-occupied Poland. Danger lies at every turn of the road.

With the help of a woman named Genia and their active imaginations, Felix and Zelda find a new home and begin to heal, forming a new family together. But can it last?

Morris Gleitzman's winning characters will tug at readers' hearts as they struggle to survive in the harsh political climate of Poland in 1942. Their lives are difficult, but they always remember what matters: family, love, and hope.

Review:
I fell in love with Once last year because it was so poignant and the writing was beautiful (thanks mainly to Felix's voice). Then takes off where Once left off, Felix and Zelda jump off the train headed toward the concentration camp and realize they need to find a place where they'll be taken care of. They come across Nazi soldiers at a mass grave of Jewish children and flee to the neighbouring town where they are taken in by Genia. Genia's an interesting character because she is anti-Semitic and yet hates the Nazis more because they hurt children. Felix and Zelda must take on new identities in the town and blend in as much they can to prevent from being discovered, and with Jews tormented and killed everyday, the possibility that they might meet the same fate grows more apparent.

Then has the same unique innocent yet not quality of writing that Once had. Felix is more aware in this book as opposed to the previous one, he's already lost his innocence, but he holds back for Zelda's sake, and softens things without completely sugarcoating them, it's an interesting balance.

Recommendation:
Beautiful, just like it's predecessor. The ending might be a bit much for sensitive readers, so be aware (as much as I can say without spoilers).

Thoughts on the cover:
Grittier and bolder than the Australian cover of Once from my previous review, the domestic covers obviously underwent an overhaul to make them more appealing. The cover of Once was also redesigned to match this one: the Once cover features just Felix on the barbed wire against a gray background.

Hourglass - Myra McEntire

2011-09-20T21:18:00.006-04:00

Title: Hourglass
Author: Myra McEntire
Publisher: Egmont, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 390 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy, Science Fiction
Started: September 16, 2011
Finished: September 20, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
One hour to rewrite the past . . .

For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn’t there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents’ death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She’s tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.

So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson’s willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.

Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he’s around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?

Full of atmosphere, mystery, and romance, Hourglass merges the very best of the paranormal and science-fiction genres in a seductive, remarkable young adult debut.

Review:
I have to admit, I picked this book up purely because of cover-lust, it's absolutely gorgeous. Sadly, the actual book wasn't quite as satisfying even though I really really wanted to like it.

Emerson is 17 years old and since her parents passed away 4 years ago, she now lives with her brother and his wife. Since her parents' death, she's also been able to see what she thinks are ghosts from past time periods, and her brother has been trying to find someone to help her deal with this ability. When her brother hires Michael for the job, Emerson falls for him hard and fast. He belongs to an organization called Hourglass, and explains to Emerson that what she's seeing aren't actually ghosts per se, she's seeing time rips, images of people from the past while they were still alive, kind of like poking your head through into an alternate universe while still walking around in ours. He also drops the bomb that she can see these rips because she can travel back in time, just as Michael can see time rips from the future. When the two are combined, in a very cheesy "we were destined to be together" cliche, they can travel to the past or the future. Michael convinces Emerson to help him save the life of his mentor, who was killed 6 months ago, but there are risks they need to face...

This book has a decent enough concept, I'm all for a unique spin on time travel, but this whole plot seemed rushed from the start. Since it felt rushed with not a lot of information given or fleshed out, the plot seemed unrealistic and unbelievable. You have some decent powers that relate to time travel but then lead in with a cheesy romance where the girl and guy fall for each other way too quickly for it to be believable, and the guy is obviously hiding things from the girl and she knows it and she doesn't kick him to the curb for it! Plus the 'special powers' school screams 'X-Men', which, although I love X-Men, I hate it when every special school portrayed in fiction falls into that cliche without some personality of its own to stand on.

However, there were a few things I did like. Emerson seemed like a pretty good character at first, but she suffers once the romance element is introduced, she completely turns into that YA spineless, senseless heroine that I hate, which is unfortunate, I thought she was pretty spunky in the beginning. I also was really intrigued by Kaleb, not necessarily by his role as the other guy in the love triangle, but just himself as a character since he is an empath and was portrayed very sympathetically (plus he's a bit of a playboy, but a goodhearted one, so he's okay in my books).

Recommendation:
Not as good as I was hoping for, but there were some good points. I will probably pick up the sequel to see if things improve in the next installment.

Thoughts on the cover:
It's sad the book itself was disappointing, 'cause the cover is freaking beautiful. I love the curve and angle of the cover model, how it looks like she's suspended in motion as a gust of wind whipped through her hair and clothing (I had to turn the book around to "get" the clue in the picture).

D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths - Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire

2011-09-15T16:01:00.006-04:00

Title: D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths
Author: Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire
Publisher: The New York Review of Books, 1995 (Hardcover) (originally published in 1967)
Length: 154 pages
Genre: Children's Classic/Fantasy
Started: September 13, 2011
Finished: September 15, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
The Caldecott medal-winning d'Aulaires once again captivate their young audience with this beautifully illustrated introduction to Norse legends, telling stories of Odin the All-father, Thor the Thunder-god and the theft of his hammer, Loki the mischievous god of the Jotun Race, and Ragnarokk, the destiny of the gods. Children meet Bragi, the god of poetry, and the famous Valkyrie maidens, among other gods, goddesses, heroes, and giants. Illustrations throughout depict the wondrous other world of Norse folklore and its fantastical Northern landscape.

Review:
I must've been deprived as a child because I only discovered the D'Aulaire mythology books as an adult. I stumbled upon the Greek Myths one years ago when I first exposed my nephew to the Percy Jackson books and he was into anything related to Greek Mythology. When I found out there was a Norse Myths book as well, I kept my eye out for it since I knew I'd want to add it to my collection. We're big on mythology in this household...we named our dog Freya and my husband briefly jokingly considered naming our child Thor ^^; I grew up on versions of the Greek myths but never was really exposed to the Norse myths until university, so although I do prefer the Greek/Roman myths I do think the Norse stories are pretty awesome too.

The D'Aulaire mythology books are just stunning to say the least. The illustrations are vibrantly colourful with a texture quality that you just don't see in modern picture books. Like the D'Aulaire Greek Myths book, the stories in the Norse Myths are presented in a somewhat linear fashion, each one is connects to the stories placed before and after it in the book. It's not a style you see often in mythology books (I find they tend to be written in entries like encyclopedias or in one-shot stories where all the backstory is either completely left out or explained in full), but I find that I like it done this way, it naturally flows from one story to another.

There's not much to say about this book aside from the fact that it's a classic for a reason and that everyone who read it as a child has fond memories of it. We recommend these books to our students when they do research projects on mythology, which considering that these books are from the 1960's is a pretty amazing thing. I now have both D'Aulaire mythology books in my collection now, which will eventually go on my daughter's bookshelf, and I can't wait to pass these on to her.

Recommendation:
If you're looking for a classic book of mythology stories for your child, or even for an adult to enjoy, look no further. It's probably not the best idea to give this to a very young child though, I noticed the paper quality is a bit thin, so in order to avoid ripped pages you might want to wait until they are school-aged and more gentle with things.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like how the darker gray-blues of the Norse Myths cover contrast with the bright yellows and oranges of the Greek Myths cover. The image of Odin riding Sleipnir is a nice dynamic one.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Vol. 1 - Naoko Takeuchi

2011-09-13T22:06:00.005-04:00

Title: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Vol. 1
Author: Naoko Takeuchi
Publisher: Kodansha Comics USA, 2011 (Paperback)
Length: 236 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Graphic Novel, Manga
Started: September 13, 2011
Finished: September 13, 2011

Summary:
From Amazon.com:
Usagi Tsukino is a normal girl until she meets up with Luna, a talking cat, who tells her that she is Sailor Moon. As Sailor Moon, Usagi must fight evils and enforce justice, in the name of the Moon and the mysterious Moon Princess. She meets other girls destined to be Sailor Senshi (Sailor Scouts), and together, they fight the forces of evil!

This new edition of Sailor Moon will feature:

- An entirely new, incredibly accurate translation!
- Japanese-style, right-to-left reading!
- New cover art never before seen in the U.S.!
- The original Japanese character names!
- Detailed translation notes!

This version of Sailor Moon will be completely true to original. Join us as Sailor Moon returns to the U.S. for the first time in years!

Review:
Cheesy as this is, this was a must-buy for me. I was a huuuuuuuuge Sailor Moon fan when the show first came out (I was 12 then), and that was the first of many events that eventually led to a university degree in Japanese Studies and being fluent enough in Japanese to keep shelves of Japanese comics and novels that aren't there for show.

For those not familiar with the issues surrounding the Sailor Moon manga in North America (or if it was just before your time), I'll give you a quick synopsis (I'm assuming I don't actually need to summarize the plot of the manga itself, I'll let you find that on your own if need be).

The manga was created by Naoko Takeuchi in Japan in the early 1990s and ran until the series was completed in 1995, resulting in 18 volumes. The anime television show began in the middle of all that, ending in Japan in 1997 after the 5th season. Domestically, the television show first aired in 1995, with the English manga release soon following in 1997. However, North American licenses tried to make the show more marketable to younger viewers, so they had to amend and censor a lot of the show's mature content (turning the lesbian characters into 'kissing cousins'), and the same happened in the English language version of the manga. Plus this was back in the day when translators thought that North American readers couldn't handle the right-to-left format of Japanese comics or foreign names, so all the artwork was flipped and the characters' names were changed, and not in clean equivalent versions of their Japanese names either. Plus, English speaking viewers never got to see the final arc of the series (Sailor Stars) in the show due to the gender bending issues surrounding the Starlight characters, they figured once again that North American audiences couldn't handle some magical transvestite action. The Sailor Stars arc of the manga was eventually released in English, but I never read them before they went out of print (I had my Japanese copies by that point so I never bothered), so I don't know if the content of that arc was censored.

Anywhoo, moving on. In 2003 in Japan, the Sailor Moon franchise got a revival in the form of a live-action tv show called Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (previously called Pretty Soldier). The manga series was re-released at the same time into 12 condensed volumes (from the original 18), the artwork was cleaned up, new cover art was created, it was altogether a very nice release (I have the Japanese volumes sitting on my shelf now, they're quite pretty). Most people assumed that North America would never see a proper Sailor Moon translation after the English-language rights expired in 2005, but this release took me by surprise, I must say (in addition to the fact that the same company is releasing the Sailor V manga in English as well, the prequel to the Sailor Moon series).

This release is essentially identical to the Japanese re-release from 2003. The cover art is the same, volume for volume, the translation is spot-on to the original, we even get the colour pages included in the Japanese release (which manga readers know is something not guaranteed in English versions). The only thing not included in this release is the stickers that came in the Japanese first-press copies (granted, I figured we wouldn't be getting those). With that aside, anyone that was only familiar with the North American version of the series (television or print) will be a little shocked, this version of Sailor Moon is not intended for little kiddies. The translation has not been censored or dumbed down in any way, so even though this was a children's comic series in Japan (Japanese kids are given much more mature material than we give our kids of the same age), I wouldn't give it to anyone younger than 13 or so, especially given the darker content later in the series.

Recommendation:
Not your mother's Sailor Moon, which in this case is a very good thing. True to the Japanese re-release, this is a translation that English-language fans can be proud of (plus they kept it pretty to boot). Again, not meant for little kids due to mature content (alternative lifestyles, sexual content, violence, etc.), but this'll be tame stuff to the average teenager.

Thoughts on the cover:
The overall presentation isn't as pleasing as the Japanese version (I'm just biased though, I like the look of the Japanese dust covers), but still quite nice. The cover image itself is identical to the Japanese cover, and from what I can tell, the rest of the volumes will follow suit (volume two is Sailor Mercury, 3 is Mars, 4 is Jupiter and so on). The English release cover is glossy plastic, so the colours aren't quite as soft as the Japanese matte cover.

Cleopatra's Moon - Vicky Alvear Shecter

2011-09-08T11:22:00.004-04:00

Title: Cleopatra's Moon
Author: Vicky Alvear Shecter
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic), 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 343 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Historical Fiction
Started: September 5, 2011
Finished: September 7, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
Princess of Egypt, Prisoner of Rome

Cleopatra Selene is the only daughter of the brilliant Queen Cleopatra of Egypt and General Marcus Antonius of Rome. She's grown up with jewels on her arms, servants at her feet, and all the pleasures of a palace at her command, and she only wants to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a great and powerful queen.

Then the Roman ruler Octavianus, who has always wanted Egypt's wealth, launches a war that destroys all Selene has ever known. Taken to live in Octavianus' palace in Rome, she vows to defeat him and reclaim her kingdom at all costs. Yet even as she gathers support for her return, Selene finds herself torn between two young men and two different paths to power. Will love distract her from her goal-or help her achieve her true destiny?

Epic in scope and ravishing in detail, this novel reveals the extraordinary life of a girl long hidden in history: the remarkable Cleopatra Selene.

Review:
I picked this up purely because I hardly ever see YA historical fiction based in this period of history, and definitely not on this particular subject. My husband was a history and classics major in university, as were most of my friends, so I love these types of historical fiction stories. Luckily for me, Cleopatra's Moon was a joy to read: wonderfully evocative and thought-provoking.

The story opens up in 25 BCE with Cleopatra Selene at age 16 as she grieves the death of her twin brother Alexandros Helios. The story then backtracks to Selene at age 7 in Alexandria, Egypt, where readers get a snapshot of her life at the palace with her mother, father, and brothers (Caesarion, Alexandros Helios, and Ptloemy Philadelphios). We see through conversations that Octavianus, Julius Caesar's heir apparent (but not biologically), is preparing to wage war on Egypt and eventually achieves that when Selene is 11. Overwhelmed and vulnerable, Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra both commit suicide (Antonius doing this in front of Selene), and Caesarion is killed to remove his claim to succession (Caesarion is the child of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar). In a carefully balanced show of Rome's political goodwill towards its conquered countries, Octavianus takes Cleopatra's 3 remaining children back with him to Rome as prisoners of war. Living in Octavianus' compound with his sister Octavia, wife Livia and all their children, always being reminded of her family's demise and subject to constant insults about her mother, Selene vows to somehow regain control over Egypt and defy Octavianus.

Some reviewers have criticized the novel as being too slow at times, and that Selene's narration is too old and mature considering the various ages she progresses through. I didn't find the novel slow in any parts, but granted I liked all the detail of her early life in Egypt, so it might be just me. As for the narration, I think what most of these reviewers failed to realize is that Selene is looking back on the events of her early life at the age of 16/17, so of course her narration will sound like an older teenager's even though she's supposed to be 7 at the time, because she's reflecting, kind of like a memoir. Those are a few common complaints that I found kind of moot.

I love the feminist undertones woven throughout the whole novel. Selene is used to an Egyptian society that values women, and is surprised when she encounters other faiths and societies that don't (first the Jewish population in Alexandria and then Rome itself). Selene is like her mother: fiery, determined, and willing to do what she must for the good of Egypt. Although she holds onto the fact that the Goddess Isis will show her her destiny, it takes Selene the better part of the book to realize that she must make her own decisions and not base them on what she thinks the Goddess wants for her or what her mother would have done. The love triangle element in the book really isn't a huge focus like in typical YA, which was nice to see, and isn't really a triangle, since Selene makes it clear early on that she desires only one choice while she would use the other purely for political gain (I had to smile at that part). Selene is a very strong female character, and I have to commend the author for not only presenting a well-written and researched piece of historical fiction, but one that contains inherently strong female characters that she balances between historical fact and added details to flesh out their personalities.

Recommendation:
Rarely explored subject matter for YA, amazingly well-written, incredibly well-researched, and a strong female character to boot, what more could you ask for? An excellent novel, one I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thoughts on the cover:
Love it. The black and gold colour scheme is beautiful (especially the fact that the gold parts are shiny in some areas), and the whole layout of the cover and the pose of the model is simple yet elegant. I also like how the model looks like Cleopatra Selene would've looked like, so yay for no whitewashing in this cover!

Ruby Red - Kerstin Gier

2011-09-05T20:17:00.005-04:00

Title: Ruby Red (Book 1 in the Edelstein Trilogy)
Author: Kerstin Gier (translated from the German by Anthea Bell)
Publisher: Henry Holt, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 322 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy, Science Fiction
Started: August 31, 2011
Finished: September 4, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
Gwyneth Shepherd's sophisticated, beautiful cousin Charlotte has been prepared her entire life for traveling through time. But unexpectedly, it is Gwyneth, who in the middle of class takes a sudden spin to a different era!

Gwyneth must now unearth the mystery of why her mother would lie about her birth date to ward off suspicion about her ability, brush up on her history, and work with Gideon--the time traveler from a similarly gifted family that passes the gene through its male line, and whose presence becomes, in time, less insufferable and more essential. Together, Gwyneth and Gideon journey through time to discover who, in the 18th century and in contemporary London, they can trust.

Review:
Yet another time travel book, which I'm always happy to see. Ruby Red started off pretty slow, but picked up about 100 pages in once the plot actually delved into something beyond Gwen and Charlotte.

Gwyneth's family inherited a special gene that allows certain members every few generations the ability to travel back in time (with certain restrictions). Along with a few more similar groups, the individuals who throughout the years could travel through time make up a group of 12 that all have codenames based on gemstones. When it's discovered that Gwyneth is the final person in this group of 12 (and not her cousin Charlotte as previously thought), the circle is now complete, and when that event occurs and certain conditions are fulfilled, that group will unleash a power that is yet unknown, and some people don't want that to happen and try to sabotage the time travelers. Ruby Red is essentially Gwyneth trying to uncover her past and the mystery surrounding her family, and working with Gideon to try to meet the certain conditions for the circle to be completed and running into issues along the way.

The book did start off really slow, to the point where I wasn't sure that I wanted to read on, but at about the 100 page mark, things picked up and I was much more pleased with the book after that point. A lot of other reviewers point out that Gwyneth comes off as much younger than nearly 17-years-old, which I did notice, but I chalked that up to character personality and cultural differences; this book is written by an international author, and teenagers in Europe do act differently than those in North America. The thing that kind of irked me is that, at least in this book, the time traveling is more of a plot device to account for the whole "blood in the chronograph" part of the plot and there's nothing really substantial that comes from Gwyneth and Gideon time traveling other than dressing up in pretty costumes and going to a certain time for a set number of hours purely to avoid random, spastic time traveling. I do love the gemstone theme woven throughout the series, and it includes something else I love: family trees and diagrams! The series shows a lot of promise by the end of Ruby Red, so I'll definitely be picking up Sapphire Blue when it comes out next year.

Recommendation:
Starts off slow, but picks up eventually and results in a nice start to what is hopefully a great trilogy, I will definitely be keeping my eye out on this one.

Thoughts on the cover:
Love it. The curlycues with the ruby gemstones and Gwyneth's picture at the top make this whole cover a wonderful piece of eye candy, and the shade of red is quite nice too. Hopefully we'll get some continuity in the covers for Sapphire Blue (book 2) and Emerald Green (book 3).

Drink, Slay, Love - Sarah Beth Durst

2011-08-18T20:59:00.005-04:00

Title: Drink, Slay, Love
Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (Simon & Schuster), September 13, 2011 (Hardcover) (Review copy is an ARC from the publisher)
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy
Started: August 11, 2011
Finished: August 18, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
Pearl is a sixteen-year-old vampire... fond of blood, allergic to sunlight, and mostly evil... until the night a sparkly unicorn stabs her through the heart with his horn. Oops.

Her family thinks she was attacked by a vampire hunter (because, obviously, unicorns don't exist), and they're shocked she survived. They're even more shocked when Pearl discovers she can now withstand the sun. But they quickly find a way to make use of her new talent. The Vampire King of New England has chosen Pearl's family to host his feast. If Pearl enrolls in high school, she can make lots of human friends and lure them to the King's feast -- as the entrees.

The only problem? Pearl's starting to feel the twinges of a conscience. How can she serve up her new friends—especially the cute guy who makes her fangs ache—to be slaughtered? Then again, she's definitely dead if she lets down her family. What's a sunlight-loving vamp to do?

Review:
Sarah Beth Durst is one of my favourite YA authors. I've read her more recent books Ice and Enchanted Ivy (Ice which I liked with some reservations and Enchanted Ivy I just loved), and knew she was one of those authors that I would just read anything they wrote. When I found out what her new book was about, I was kind of hesitant, mainly because it was a vampire story, and vampire stories automatically seem cliched to me now (thank you Twilight). However; Drink, Slay, Love pleasantly surprised me in a few areas and reassured me that it was not your average YA vampire book.

Pearl comes from a prominent vampire family who's hosting a once-every-hundred-year feast for the Vampire King of New England, which to say the least is a big deal. At the same time, Pearl is being stalked and gets staked by a unicorn...yup, a unicorn. After surviving said attempted murder by the unicorn, Pearl discovers that she can walk around in daylight without being burned to a crisp. In response, her family assigns her the task of finding a food source for the feast...requiring her to attend human high school, which makes Pearl begin to see humans as more than just a food source. Drink, Slay, Love portrays vampires in a more traditional sense: gritty, cruel, bloodthirsty (forgive the bad pun); and Pearl only deviates from this when she develops a conscience. This portrayal was refreshing compared to the sparkly, almost too-human way that vampires are portrayed in YA novels today, I grew up with vampires being frightening, and I expect vampire characters to invoke fear, or at least be bad-ass, not sparkle like cheap glitter makeup. Aside from the obvious digs at Twilight in the book and the traditional portrayal of vampire characters, I also liked that although it did include a romance, the supernatural character was female and the romantic interest (Evan) was human. So often I find the female characters are put in a passive role in supernatural romances by being the human in the relationship, but Pearl is the opposite: spunky and hard-edged with a chip on her shoulder, but still vulnerable in her own way (just not physically so) due to her changing mental perspective on humans. I also love how it shows Pearl transitioning to the world of high school, it's like watching a documentary about an anthropologist studying indigenous peoples in some remote land, that's how Pearl analyzes and adjusts to the human world.

One downside of the book for me was its pacing. Things dragged on and didn't happen nearly fast enough for me, although they did pick up, but not until past the midpoint. I had real issues sustaining my reading for this reason, but granted I have pregnancy-induced brain-drain, so it could be just me.

Recommendation:
Not my favourite book by this author, but definitely worth the read. It's a unique vampire novel, which is hard to pull off in YA these days, which I think alone makes it worth reading.

Thoughts on the cover:
I love it. The fact that the face is hidden so you can only see the lips with blood-red lipstick, and the blood in the red bottle with the straw is a nice touch.

The Unwanteds - Lisa McMann

2011-08-11T22:29:00.006-04:00

Title: The Unwanteds
Author: Lisa McMann
Publisher: Aladdin (Simon & Schuster), August 30, 2011 (Hardcover) (Review copy is an ARC from the publisher)
Length: 390 pages
Genre: Children's Dystopian Fiction/Fantasy
Started: August 6, 2011
Finished: August 10, 2011

Summary:
From the publisher's website:
Every year in Quill, thirteen-year-olds are sorted into categories: the strong, intelligent Wanteds go to university, and the artistic Unwanteds are sent to their deaths.

Thirteen-year-old Alex tries his hardest to be stoic when his fate is announced as Unwanted, even while leaving behind his twin, Aaron, a Wanted. Upon arrival at the destination where he expected to be eliminated, however, Alex discovers a stunning secret--behind the mirage of the "death farm" there is instead a place called Artime.

In Artime, each child is taught to cultivate their creative abilities and learn how to use them magically, weaving spells through paintbrushes and musical instruments. Everything Alex has ever known changes before his eyes, and it's a wondrous transformation.

But it's a rare, unique occurence for twins to be separated between Wanted and Unwanted, and as Alex and Aaron's bond stretches across their separation, a threat arises for the survival of Artime that will pit brother against brother in an ultimate, magical battle.

Review:
I love dystopian stories, and finding ones written for middle grade readers are harder to come by (as opposed to YA), so I was happy to preview this title. Unfortunately, the book didn't meet the expectations I had for it, though it was still a decent little read.

The book is being marketed as a cross between The Hunger Games and Harry Potter, and granted, on the surface this seems quite appropriate. Quill is a dystopian world where children are divided into three categories at the age of thirteen: Wanted, Necessary, and Unwanted. The Wanteds are skilled in math, science, engineering etc. and are destined for university and spots in the government or military (cutely called the Quillitary). Necessaries are just that: necessary workers that make up the majority of the population. The Unwanteds are those that excel in creative arts: writing, drama, music, dance, and visual arts...they are sentenced to death. Children are sorted into said categories based on their skills and "infractions" they commit (merely drawing in the sand with a stick will doom a child to an Unwanted fate). Alex has potential as an artist and is therefore sentenced to die with all the rest of the year's Unwanteds, but soon discovers that the "death farm" is really an alternate dimension/world called Artime, where the Unwanteds are rescued each year to hone their talents and learn to use magic (ergo the Harry Potter reference). That's where the references end sadly.

The book seemed rather rushed to me in some areas. I felt that there wasn't enough world-building established before rushing into the main plot, which was a shame because the premise of Quill had lots of potential (it was amazingly brutal and cruel, which I love to see in my dystopian worlds) and I would've loved it if the author delved into it more. Once the kids get to Artime they're thrown right into their creative lessons and magical training and even that passes by comparatively quickly, I would've loved to get more detail about the spells, the community of Artime itself, the creatures, and the arts lessons (to the kind of detail that the Harry Potter books delve into). The spells especially were extremely creative (turning paper clips into lethal scatterclips, enchanting origami dragons to actually attack and breathe fire), and I was dying to get more detail on other spells, but was left hanging. I think this rushed feeling could be contributed to the fact that this is a middle grade novel (and therefore things are sped up to accommodate younger readers with shorter attention spans that need things moving at a quick pace) and not the first in a series by the looks of things, so it could be excused thusly, but I think this could've benefitted from being either longer with more detail in the appropriate areas, or as a series.

There were a couple of areas in the book I felt could've been delved a bit deeper, but got what I thought was a "cop-out" resolution to these areas. First off, the idea that creative children are punished by death in an authoritarian dystopian world is awesome, but rather than explain to readers that creative people in all disciplines question the status quo and are a threat to governments that demand blind obedience, the author instead sticks to the idea that the label of "creative" only applies to the arts, and that maths and sciences are exempt from this designation. I hate this idea personally, I think it does a disservice to kids to perpetuate that you can only be "creative" if you write stories or draw pictures, I've seen creative minds in science classrooms as well as in math, and I always tell kids that creative means that you produce or contribute something by thinking outside the box no matter what subject you're working in. I think the whole "creativity only belongs to the arts" is a major cop-out, and would've preferred to have seen the idea explained as I have above, I don't think such a concept is something that middle grade readers couldn't understand. Another thing that bothered me was the point in the plot where Mr. Today and Alex's teachers hold back his magical warrior training because they think he'll use it to reunite with Aaron. They've got the kids under surveillance and see that the lack of magical warrior training is making Alex miserable and therefore thinking more about his twin than if he had been allowed to do his training with the others, which makes no sense if you think about it, so I think it was just put in unnecessarily to create conflict in the plot, which was just dumb in my opinion, if you're going to create conflict, do it in a way that's realistic. Last thing in this area...the whole idea of an actual war with Quill and Artime could've been prevented in a very simple way (won't say more for fear of spoilers), but it's so stupidly simple, you'll want to smack the characters upside the head for not doing it in the first place, which just frustrated me as a reader, I felt the whole battle and everything was just completely pointless.

Also, although the characters did have distinct personalities I would've liked to see them developed a little more, especially the girls Meghan and Lani (Alex and Samheed I felt had some pretty decent development throughout the book). The secondary characters like the adults and the creatures (I loved Simber) were pretty interesting as well, another area that could've been better explored if this had been a series instead of a one-shot.

Recommendation:
I wanted to like this, I really did, and it has a lot of potential in some areas: the premise, the spells, the arts lessons, the magic of Artime itself, and the characters. However, the feeling of being rushed through what good parts there were and being dragged through a climactic battle that didn't need to happen in the first place really affected my enjoyment of the book (again, perhaps my expectations were a bit too high). Also that whole "creativity only belongs in the arts" idea really bugged me, but that irked the teacher in me, so that might not bother all readers. It's a decent middle-grade novel, but I think there are definitely better ones out there that don't dumb down things for kids and assume that middle grade readers can indeed have some sophisticated stuff in their books.

Thoughts on the cover:
I do like the cover, I think it's nice and dynamic, a perfect fit for a middle grade novel. I like how Simber is the main focus of the cover, with the kids at the bottom as well as their origami dragon spells (I loved those!).

The Hidden - Jessica Verday

2011-08-05T17:50:00.006-04:00

Title: The Hidden (Book 3 in The Hollow Trilogy)
Author: Jessica Verday
Publisher: Simon Pulse, September 6, 2011 (Hardcover) (Review copy is an ARC from the publisher)
Length: 389 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy
Started: August 3, 2011
Finished: August 5, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
Abbey knows that Caspian is her destiny. Theirs is a bond that transcends even death. But as Abbey finally learns the full truth about the dark fate that links her to Caspian and ties them both to the town of Sleepy Hollow, she suddenly has some very hard choices to make. Caspian may be the love of her life, but is that love worth dying for?

Beautifully spun, emotionally gripping, and irresistibly romantic, The Hidden will leave you breathless.

Review:
I fell in love with The Hollow and The Haunted when I read them last year, so I was literally on the edge of my seat waiting for The Hidden to come out. Thankfully I had the opportunity to read it early thanks to the publisher's Galley Grab program, so I am a very happy bookworm right now ^_^

After the events of The Hollow and The Haunted, Abbey is faced with a decision after finding out exactly what Caspian's deal is: accept her destiny and follow through with what must occur to allow her and Caspian to be together forever, or decide to stay alive without Caspian. With Vincent Drake stalking Abbey to make certain that she and Caspian are not completed (for reasons which are revealed later), and Caspian beginning to fade, Abbey and the Revenants have their work cut out for them in this installment. Although nothing earth-shattering happens in terms of the plot until closer to the end when all the plot threads come together and are resolved, the author has this wonderful way of writing about seemingly mundane slice-of-life events (Abbey at school, Abbey and Caspian interacting) that just sucks you in and keeps you reading. It could be because of the author's writing style or it could just be that I fell in love with these characters from the very start, but I loved The Hidden just as much as the previous two books.

Abbey and Caspian are adorable as ever, and although they had instances reminiscent of Twilight's "I love you but I don't want you to die and give up your wonderful mortal life just to be with me" argument, I think Abbey and Caspian handled it rather well. Abbey was actually introspective and gave some serious thought about what her choice would mean for everyone involved, and once she made her choice Caspian actually respected her decision and didn't try to interfere or change her mind; and I respect the author a lot for having her characters make such mature decisions. I love how the author handled the romance between these two, although I still think the sensual scenes from The Haunted are my favourite, there were some definite contenders in The Hidden.

There were a few things I wish were explained a little better; like Vincent's motivation seemed a little too super villain-y superficial to me, and I wondered how exactly they pulled off that thing with Kristen at the end, and how I really really wanted a little more to that epilogue than what we got (but was still satisfied with what was there), the series wrapped up quite well in my opinion, and I'm sad to see one of my favourite series come to an end. I can't wait to see what else this author decides to produce in the future, because I will gladly read whatever that might be.

Recommendation:
Pick up The Hollow, The Haunted, and The Hidden (when it comes out in September) and read them all if you haven't already, this series is truly addictive and satisfying.

Thoughts on the cover:
My copy of The Hollow is the domestic release, The Haunted is the UK release with the same cover elements just executed differently, and although I'll probably pick up the paperback release of The Hidden to match my paperbacks of the previous two, I have to admit I really like the domestic cover for The Hidden. The colour blends are awesome, and the ring isn't such a cliche image as the necklace was in The Hollow.

A Tale of Two Castles - Gail Carson Levine

2011-08-01T13:04:00.005-04:00

Title: A Tale Of Two Castles
Author: Gail Carson Levine
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 328 pages
Genre: Children's Fantasy
Started: July 28, 2011
Finished: July 31, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
Elodie journeys to the town of Two Castles to become a mansioner-an actress-but the master of the troupe turns her away. Brilliant dragon Meenore takes her in, then sends her on a dangerous mission within an ogre's castle. There, disguised as a kitchen maid, she plays the role of a lifetime, pitted against a foe intent on murder.
Black and white cats, a handsome cat trainer, a greedy king, a giddy princess, a shape-shifting ogre, a brilliant dragon...Elodie must discover which of them is kind, which is cruel, and, most of all, which is the one who deserves her trust.
Newbery Honour author Gail Carson Levine weaves an entrancing tale of a fearsome ogre, a dragon detective, and a remarkable heroine who finds friendship where she least expects it, learns that there are many ways to mansion, and discovers that goodness and evil come in all shapes and sizes.

Review:
I hadn't read a Gail Carson Levine book since Ella Enchanted ages ago, but I remember liking the author's style, so I decided to give her newest book, A Tale of Two Castles, a try.

Elodie is a 12-year-old farmer's daughter, and leaves her home for Two Castles to apprentice herself to a mansioner (actor). Unfortunately, free apprenticeships have recently been abolished and Elodie cannot afford to pay the troupe leader to take her in. Thankfully, the dragon Meenore takes Elodie in as ITs apprentice (only dragons know their own gender, so they are referred to as IT by everyone else), and sends Elodie to the castle of the ogre Count Jonty Um to help uncover who is stealing from him. Eventually they both discover that the Count's life is at stake, and Meenore and Elodie must work through the mystery of who is at fault before the ogre meets a gruesome fate.

I loved this book, mainly because it is so incredibly charming and engaging. The author draws you in to the world-building quite quickly and then gets on with the plot at hand, all the while building up the character development until you fall in love with the main players. Elodie is typically pure of heart and spunky, but it's hard not to like her because she's just so endearing. Meenore stole the show for me, the author portrays IT as kind yet not obviously so, like an old master grooming an heir to take over their trade, and the interactions between IT and Elodie were funny and cute at the same time. Jonty Um is the ogre who everyone in town hates but is so incredibly sweet you forget that he's an ogre. He can shape-shift at will, but surrounds himself with dogs to ward off the town's cats, the only thing that can force him to shape-shift against his will (usually into a mouse so he could be eaten). The shape-shifting element is what makes the murder plot so creative; nobody's sure if the Count is still alive or not (since he could have shifted into another animal since then), or who was responsible for setting the cats on the Count in the first place. I liked the mystery focus of the book; Meenore teaches Elodie to think like a detective and not be duped by people who appear to be sweet and innocent, which leaves Elodie questioning everyone, including Meenore ITself.

Recommendation:
Excellent plot and premise, great world-building, and incredibly charming characters. A Tale of Two Castles is a wonderful read that I thoroughly enjoyed, so read this!

Thoughts on the cover:
I like how Elodie is portrayed, and how you get to see the detail in Meenore's wings. I really like the way the title font is symmetrically displayed on the bottom of the cover, it's very eye-catching.

Trapped - Michael Northrop

2011-07-27T17:39:00.005-04:00

Title: Trapped
Author: Michael Northrop
Publisher: Scholastic, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 232 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Realistic Fiction
Started: July 26, 2011
Finished: July 27, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
The day the blizzard started, no one knew that it was going to keep snowing for a week. That for those in its path, it would become not just a matter of keeping warm, but of staying alive....

Scotty and his friends Pete and Jason are among the last seven kids at their high school waiting to get picked up that day, and they soon realize that no one is coming for them. Still, it doesn't seem so bad to spend the night at school, especially when distractingly hot Krista and Julie are sleeping just down the hall. But then the power goes out, then the heat. The pipes freeze, and the roof shudders. As the days add up, the snow piles higher, and the empty halls grow colder and darker, the mounting pressure forces a devastating decision....

Review:
I saw this book and thought "oooh, surviving a massive snowstorm locked up inside your high school with 6 other kids, this should be awesome!"...famous last words. Normally I love survival stories, but this one just didn't measure up for a lot of reasons.

First off, and this could be biased because I'm Canadian and well, we have our fair share of snowstorms (but not any more than some places in the northern USA), but the whole reason why these kids find themselves trapped in the school in the first place just reeks of stupidity, like unrealistic stupidity. The school closes early due to the storm (which is normal in insane winter weather), and the buses take all the kids home. Scotty, the main character, and his friends Pete and Jason, decide to stay late at school to work on a go-kart and have a parent pick them up later....hello?! you know it's snowing and it's intensifying and yet the school closing early isn't enough of a sign that you should get your assess home? Plus, with weather reports as they are, where I live most parents and teachers warn their kids the day before or the day of an anticipated major storm to get their buts home safely. Also, the kids have cell phones and they don't think to text or call their parents a little before the massive pile-up of snow? I don't know, maybe again this is because I'm Canadian and we're over cautious about any major snow storms, but the behaviour of these kids is just plain stupid, as in "you deserve to freeze to death stupid". And it's not like they're from a place that never sees any snow either, so I can't even contribute it to that.

The writing style was grating and annoying. The novel is narrated by Scotty in the first person, but his narration is written like dialogue strung together, it sounds like listening to a bunch of low-achieving 15-year-olds in the cafeteria. I know this "written like teens talk" style is great for certain types of readers, like a lot of boys that are reluctant readers, but I personally prefer my books not to treat me like I'm illiterate and can't handle a more sophisticated style of writing (heck even a lot of teen readers prefer a more sophisticated style than this had). Also, the characters aren't developed at all, it's pretty much Scotty's understandings of the other characters that we see, since the characters don't really have deep conversations, which you think they would with nothing better to do.

Recommendation:
Good premise, but poorly executed and disappointing.

Thoughts on the cover:
Meh. Not horrible, but granted there's not much of a cover you could make differently for this type of book.

Nightspell - Leah Cypess

2011-07-25T19:44:00.004-04:00

Title: Nightspell (Companion novel to Mistwood)
Author: Leah Cypess
Publisher: Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins), 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 326 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy
Started: July 22, 2011
Finished: July 25, 2011

Summary:
From the publisher's website:
Here be ghosts, the maps said, and that was all.

In this haunted kingdom, ghosts linger—not just in the deepest forests or the darkest caverns, but alongside the living, as part of a twisted palace court that revels all night and sleeps through the daylight hours.

Darri's sister was trapped in this place of fear and shadows as a child. And now Darri has a chance to save her sister . . . if she agrees to a betrothal with the prince of the dead. But nothing is simple in this eerie kingdom—not her sister, who has changed beyond recognition; not her plan, which will be thrown off track almost at once; and not the undead prince, who seems more alive than anyone else.

In a court seething with the desire for vengeance, Darri holds the key to the balance between life and death. Can her warrior heart withstand the most wrenching choice of all?

Review:
When I read Mistwood a year ago, I fell in love with it, mostly because the author not only knows how to write an awesome story, but she's a great writer too. Thankfully Nightspell, although only a companion novel and thus not including any elements from Mistwood (except one, but that'd be spoiling things), shines in the same areas that made Mistwood amazing.

Siblings Varis and Darri are the prince and princess of Raellia, traveling to Ghostland to marry Darri off to Prince Kestin and to exchange her for Callie, their younger sister who'd been sent off to the Ghostland court four years ago at the age of ten as a prospective future wife for Kestin. All Darri wants is to save her sister and bring her home, but unbeknownst to her, Varis has other plans she isn't privy to, and when they arrive and realize circumstances have changed, she'll need to go to extreme measures to follow through on her plan. But what if Callie doesn't want to leave....or can't?

Nightspell is a different book than Mistwood, it's completely darker and less romantic, but still wonderful. The author draws you into the world and the plot really quickly and gets you hooked right away. Nightspell is deliciously dark in a really creative way. Ghostland is populated by living subjects as well as dead ones, but the dead ones aren't quite ghosts, they can appear to have solid bodies and eat and can make their bodies respond in human ways, and what's even better is that no one can really tell the difference between who's living and who's dead (the dead can't even always sense that someone else is dead). In the midst of all this is the fact that someone in Ghostland is trying to kill Varis, Darri, and to some degree Callie. It's wonderfully creepy to read about them walking into an empty room and then having a ghost materialize behind their backs and put a knife to their throats. The plot twists are unexpected (at least for me they were), and really helped to make things more interesting.

Recommendation:
If you read and liked Mistwood, read this! Even if you haven't read Mistwood, give Nightspell a try (you don't need to read Mistwood first to enjoy the story), the premise is creative, the plot is well done with lots of twists, and the author writes wonderfully, need I say more?

Thoughts on the cover:
Even though the two books aren't really related, I like the continuity between the covers for Mistwood and Nightspell (especially the use of purple). I love the image of the Ghostland castle at the bottom, the lighting and sunset around it make the picture look so cool. The image of Darri (I'm assuming it's Darri) at the top is integrated nicely among the stars.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs

2011-07-22T18:40:00.005-04:00

Title: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Author: Ransom Riggs
Publisher: Quirk Books, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 348 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy, Mystery
Started: July 16, 2011
Finished: July 21, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here—one of whom was his own grandfather—were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.
A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

Review:
As soon as I first saw this book listed months ago, I knew I had to read it. The premise seemed just the right amount of creepy and cool. I think my expectations might've been a bit too high, 'cause I felt a little disappointed by the time I finished reading.

Jacob grew up listening to his grandfather's stories from when he lived in a children's home in Wales during WWII. His grandfather also speaks of the children that lived in the home with him, and how 'peculiar' they were, each seeming to have a special talent or ability that was the stuff of tall tales. Jacob started to believe the stories less and less as he got older, but when he's 16 years old and receives a frantic call from his grandfather and witnesses a tragedy upon investigating it, he begins to doubt his own sanity. Jacob eventually finds his way to the island in Wales where the children's home was, and digs deeper into his grandfather's stories. What he finds there will challenge everything he thought he knew about his grandfather and himself.

This book has an amazing premise. The old creepy house, the weird kids, the photos interspersed throughout the book that are woven into the story, it has the potential to be awesome. Unfortunately, the execution didn't go quite as well. The plot started out great in the beginning, but once the home and the children fully came into the picture, things started to go south; the plot wasn't realistic in some spots despite the suspension of disbelief that readers need for this type of book (the logic behind the time loops didn't always make sense, and the whole ending between Jacob and his dad was so unrealistic). Jacob's character was mature and smart while being naive and clueless at the same time, so he felt disjointed half the time. The peculiar children weren't really developed in terms of character, which was sad because some of them (Enoch and Millard) seemed interesting and I would've liked to see them developed more. The whole romance between Jacob and Emma was just ewwwwwww for reasons I can't explain cause then I'd be spoiling things, but it was just icky and didn't work, there wasn't even enough build-up for it to be believable in my eyes.

All in all, I loved the photographs, I think they were woven in quite nicely, and I give the author credit for integrating such a weird collection of photos into the story. The whole book as a package is very visually appealing, it's just too bad the story and character development fell flat for me, because I really wanted to adore this, I really did.

Recommendation:
Great premise and quite attractive visually, but the story just doesn't deliver unfortunately.

Thoughts on the cover:
I love all the visuals they've used for this book, and the cover is not different. The picture of the girl who appears to be levitating conveys just the right amount of creepy.

A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness

2011-07-17T20:08:00.005-04:00

Title: A Monster Calls
Author: Patrick Ness (From an original idea by Siobhan Dowd)
Publisher: Walker Books, 2011 (UK, Hardcover)
Length: 215 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Realistic Fiction, Fantasy
Started: July 13, 2011
Finished: July 15, 2011

Summary:
From the author's website:
The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do.

But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming...

The monster in his back garden, though, this monster is something different. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.

It wants the truth.

Costa Award winner Patrick Ness spins a tale from the final idea of much-loved Carnegie Medal winner Siobhan Dowd, whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself. Darkly mischievous and painfully funny, A Monster Calls is an extraordinarily moving novel of coming to terms with loss from two of our finest writers for young adults.

Published May 2011 in the UK, and September 2011 in the US.

Review:
This book's reputation precedes itself. It isn't even out yet in this continent and every review has been glowing. Plus, it's by Patrick Ness, whom I love, so this was a must buy for me; and I knew I couldn't wait until the domestic release in September, so my copy is the UK version. I was blown away by A Monster Calls, the hype is completely warranted. As is usual of Patrick Ness' work, it's brilliant, though the writing has a different kind of quality from his Chaos Walking Trilogy. It's a bit simpler and less post-modern, but in this case, less is more I think.

Conor is 13 years old, and his mother is undergoing cancer treatments. His dad lives in America with his new wife and family, so when he visits for the first time in years, in conjunction with his grandmother coming in to help, Conor knows things are going downhill. He gets bullied at school, he feels like his grandmother's ruining everything, plus he's struggling to deal with his feelings and grief about his mother's illness. He is visited one night by a creature made of a yew tree (think of the massive tree creatures from Lord of the Rings), who demands Conor's truth in return for three stories. Each of the stories the monster tells Conor, each one on a subsequent night, contain elements that relate to Conor's situation in real life, which make him think about the aspects of his grief. When the monster finally demands the truth from Conor, it forces him to come to terms with his deepest fears.

This is a book about grief and loss, and it's heavy duty. Not only have I been through grief in my personal life, but also in my classrooms, so this book hits hard, and I can guarantee that it will make you cry because it just gets everything right. It's wonderfully written, the monster weaves lessons that aren't really lessons in his stories which convey subtle truths to Conor to help him through the horrible mess that he's living in. The monster itself is an amazing element too: it's horrible but not nightmarish, and it actually has a sense of humour. The entire setup is so imaginative you can't help but be ensnared by the book and enchanted by it. This is a novel that everyone should read, especially since it deals with aspects that everyone faces in their life, plus the fact that it's all done so incredibly well.

Recommendation:
One of the best I've read so far this year, truly brilliant. I'm probably not explaining things in a way that does the book justice, but trust me, just read it, it'll blow you away too.

Thoughts on the cover:
I love the illustrations that are peppered throughout the book, they add to the whole experience, especially since they're in black and white and there's so many different textures you can see in them. The cover is just ominous enough with the right amount of creepy to set the mood.

Ashes, Ashes - Jo Treggiari

2011-07-14T19:33:00.005-04:00

Title: Ashes, Ashes
Author: Jo Treggiari
Publisher: Scholastic, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 341 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Dystopian Fiction, Science Fiction
Started: July 6th, 2011
Finished: July 11, 2011

Summary:
From the author's website:
A thrilling tale of adventure, romance, and one girl's unyielding courage through the darkest of nightmares.

Epidemics, floods, droughts--for sixteen-year-old Lucy, the end of the world came and went, taking 99% of the population with it. As the weather continues to rage out of control, and Sweepers clean the streets of plague victims, Lucy survives alone in the wilds of Central Park. But when she's rescued from a pack of hunting dogs by a mysterious boy named Aidan, she reluctantly realizes she can't continue on her own. She joins his band of survivors, yet, a new danger awaits her: the Sweepers are looking for her. There's something special about Lucy, and they will stop at nothing to have her.

Review:
This is more of a post-apocalyptic survival story rather than a typical dystopian, and I love those types of stories, but I found I was disappointed by this one.

Lucy is a survivor in futuristic New York City that has been decimated by global warming floods, followed by a virulent strain of plague that seems like smallpox mixed with bird-flu that manages to wipe out all but one percent of the world's people. Surviving all by herself in what remains of Central Park, she soon realizes she can't continue on her own when the park is further flooded, destroying her camp. She joins up with Aidan's group of fellow survivors, all children and the elderly, who are frequently attacked by teams of Sweepers that kidnap people and take them to an island health facility, never to be seen from again. When it becomes obvious that the Sweepers are looking for Lucy specifically, for a reason she's not aware of, she and Aidan and what remains of the group are determined to go and rescue their imprisoned friends.

This book started out leaving me unsatisfied. When the narrator is explaining Lucy's backstory and how things got to this point in the world, I felt rushed, like I was being brought up to speed in a recap of stuff already previously explained but actually wasn't. So there was no real world-building here, which I would have liked to see more of, or just done better. Next, the plot seems so spastic, the author goes from focus to focus to the point where I wasn't sure what the point of the story was. At first Lucy is surviving by herself, which was cool to see, then she goes to Aidan's community and commune living stuff happens, then the sci-fi stuff at the end about the blood and vaccines. I'm sure the plot could have remained as is without changes, but it definitely could have flowed better. The characters fell flat for me, there was more time spent on plot than character development, so I really didn't give a damn if Lucy lived or not because I wasn't emotionally invested in her, or Aidan, or any of the group, especially Del since she was petty and annoying. Because the characters weren't developed, in my opinion, the romance didn't work, which wasn't a big part of the book anyway.

All in all, this book really fell flat for me, which is sad because I think it had the potential to be awesome based on the basic plot alone, it just wasn't executed all that well. The author's writing style wasn't bad either, so perhaps this was just poor plotting.

Recommendation:
Sadly, not all that great, which was disappointing.

Thoughts on the cover:
I love the ruined buildings with the flood waters and the position of Lucy and Aidan looking out towards them. I don't like how the characters are supposed to be ragged and dirty, yet the models, especially Lucy's, are wearing almost perfect clothes with decent hair...c'mon, it's said they ran out of detergent and can't wear plant fibres, at least make them look like they're desperate in the clothing department.

I Am J - Cris Beam

2011-07-05T21:31:00.005-04:00

Title: I Am J
Author: Cris Beam
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 326 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Realistic Fiction
Started: July 2, 2011
Finished: July 3, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
J always felt different. He was certain that eventually everyone would understand who he really was; a boy mistakenly born as a girl. Yet as he grew up, his body began to betray him; eventually J stopped praying to wake up a "real boy" and started covering up his body, keeping himself invisible - from his family, from his friends...from the world. But after being deserted by the best friend he thought would always be by his side, J decides that he's done hiding - it's time to be who he really is. And this time he is determined not to give up, no matter the cost.

An inspiring story of self-discovery, of choosing to stand up for yourself, and of finding your own path - readers will recognize a part of themselves in J's struggle to love his true self.

Review:
I've read a fair bit (though still not nearly enough) of YA books with gay and lesbian characters, but I've never come across one that involved a transgender character until now.

J was born Jenifer, a girl, but ever since he was little he's identified as male and struggled with the consequences of trying to be true to that. He constantly gets picked on by people that think he's a lesbian, and it doesn't help when he gets a crush on his female best friend, who doesn't understand his situation. In addition, J's ethnic Puerto Rican/Jewish family refuses to accept his desire to be true to himself, and they keep insisting that he act more feminine and won't even listen to him when he tries to suggest that he wants to sign up for testosterone injections to help make his transformation more authentic. When J's finally had enough, he decides to make it on his own whether his family or friends support him or not.

I love that there's finally a YA book about a character who is transgendered (an FTM specifically in this case). What J goes through is realistically portrayed, and I like how the author made J from an ethnic family, since that kind of circumstance is unique in itself (I'm from an Italian family and growing up we knew the worst thing you could be was any variety of GLBT because of how the family would react). His struggles are wonderfully real and I like how J wasn't the nicest person, cause really, enduring that kind of treatment day to day wouldn't exactly make a person warm and fuzzy.

Recommendation:
Excellent book about the issue of transgendered teens and some of the struggles they face.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like how the cover looks like J's layered clothing that's talked about in the book, it's an interesting choice of image.

Nothing - Janne Teller

2011-07-04T20:34:00.006-04:00

Title: Nothing
Author: Janne Teller
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster), 2010 (Hardcover)
Length: 227 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Realistic Fiction
Started: July 2, 2011
Finished: July 2, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
"Nothing matters."

"From the moment you are born, you start to die."

"The Earth is 4.6 billion years old. You'll live to be a maximum of one hundred. Life isn't worth the bother!"

So says Pierre Anthon when he decides that there is no meaning to life, leaves the classroom, climbs a plum tree, and stays there.

His friends and classmates cannot get him to come down, not even by pelting him with rocks. So to prove to him that there is a meaning to life, they set out to build a heap of meaning in an abandoned sawmill.

But it soon becomes obvious that each person cannot give up what is most meaningful, so they begin to decide for one another what the others must give up. The pile is started with a lifetime's collection of Dungeons & Dragons books, a fishing rod, a pair of green sandals, a pet hamster -- but then, as each demand becomes more extreme, things start taking a very morbid twist, and the kids become ever more desperate to get Pierre Anthon down. And what if, after all these sacrifices, the pile is not meaningful enough?

A Lord of the Flies for the twenty-first century, Nothing is a visionary existential novel -- about everything, and nothing -- that will haunt you.

Review:
Good lord...it's kind of hard for me to say something about this book without getting emotional. This book is depressing as heck, I was in a complete funk for about a day after I read it, to the point where I had to watch a cute, fluffy movie to get over said funk. Granted, I think it's brilliant, but still depressing.

In a small town in Denmark in the early 90s, a group of grade 7 students (so between 13- 14 years old according to the Danish system) attempt to convince a fellow classmate that there are things that matter in life. Pierre Anthon one day proclaims that nothing in life matters in the end, climbs a tree and stays there. He harasses his classmates as they pass by the tree each day on their way to school, so as he depresses everyone more and more, they all decide to make a huge pile of things that have meaning to each of them. Each classmate is told by another what they must give up to the pile, and that person in turn dictates to the next person what they must sacrifice. They start out pretty innocently enough: a pair of favourite shoes, a set of Dungeons and Dragons books, all material things that have significant meaning to each child. Then the kids start getting ruthless, they demand something more than just material possessions, to the point where your jaw drops at what the next child demands. I can't say much without giving away the whole thing, but I think it's safe to say you will be shocked (they weren't kidding when they compared this to The Lord of the Flies). But despite the shock, it's easy to see the brilliance in how the message is conveyed, I can totally see this being assigned reading in a philosophy or ethics class, it would be a discussion goldmine.

Recommendation:
I won't lie, it's pretty disturbing. But if you can stomach the disturbing stuff, you've got a wonderful introspective read here.

Thoughts on the cover:
Again, can't say much for fear of giving it away, but the cover fits the theme of the book perfectly.

One Crazy Summer - Rita Williams-Garcia

2011-07-03T17:57:00.005-04:00

Title: One Crazy Summer
Author: Rita Williams-Garcia
Publisher: Amistad (Harper Collins), 2010 (Hardcover)
Length: 215 pages
Genre: Children's Historical Fiction
Started: July 2, 2011
Finished: July 2, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile, abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. Even though her father and Big Ma will send them from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to stay with Cecile for the summer. And even though Delphine will have to take care of her sisters, as usual, and learn the truth about the missing pieces of the past.

When the girls arrive in Oakland in the summer of 1968, Cecile wants nothing to do with them. She makes them eat Chinese takeout dinners, forbids them to enter her kitchen, and never explains the strange visitors with Afros and black berets who knock on her door. Rather than spend time with them, Cecile sends Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern to a summer camp sponsored by a revolutionary group, the Black Panthers, where the girls get a radical new education.

Set during one of the most tumultuous years in recent American history, one crazy summer is the heartbreaking, funny tale of three girls in search of the mother who abandoned them—an unforgettable story told by a distinguished author of books for children and teens, Rita Williams-Garcia.

Review:
This book felt a little different to me than most. Everyone who's read it has loved it (and for obvious reasons, it is excellent) but for me it excelled in its characters, not necessarily for the story or plot portrayed.

Delphine is 11, and is in charge of taking care of her sisters Vonetta (9) and Fern (7) while they are shipped off from Brooklyn to Oakland, California for one month during the summer of 1968 to meet their mother for the first time since she abandoned them seven years ago. The sisters have never really known their mother, so of course they have fabricated ideas of their mother in their head in spite of their father and grandmother's remarks. The girls aren't completely naive, the girls know they were abandoned and Delphine doesn't sugar coat it, they have a mother who gave birth to them, they don't have a mommy that takes care of them. Once they get to Oakland and actually meet Cecile, who also goes by her poet name Nzila, they realize she still isn't the mother they imagined. She's involved with the Black Panthers and cares more about her poetry than taking care of the girls, she would barely feed them if Delphine didn't insist that she do so (even though it's take out food all the time). During the day, she sends the girls to a breakfast program and summer camp run by the Black Panthers, and lets the girls fend for themselves during the weekends. It isn't until the end of the book where Cecile gets some redeeming moments, not to the point where she's anything other than a horrible mother, but more to the point where the girls realize she is what she is and she's not a horribly evil person, just that she wasn't cut out to be a parent.

Delphine makes this book, she's only 11 years old and is remarkably precocious and well-spoken for her age. She's street-smart to a certain extent (she lives in Brooklyn), but the racial climate of Oakland and the Black Panthers throws her for a loop at first because she hasn't experienced racism to that particular degree. Delphine's narration is wonderful, you get to know herself as a character, as well as her sisters, her mother, and the political climate of Oakland in a mature, but still childlike point of view. Every chapter focuses on one particular idea or plot point or character, and everything weaves together as you go along. I liked the focus on names and naming, 'cause I'm big on that myself, and it was interesting why Cecile chose the names she did for the girls, including what she chose for her alias for her poetry as well.

The ending kind of threw me for a loop, it didn't seem realistic and was rushed, but all in all, this was a really engaging story, purely because the characters were so wonderful.

Recommendation:
Excellent novel, I can see why it was a Newbery Honor Book.

Thoughts on the cover:
I love it, it's quirky like the girls' summer, but still shows their personalities. I like that you can see the Chinatown motifs and the teal font used for the title, plus Vonetta's pose behind Fern is so like her character it's funny.

Marcelo in the Real World - Francisco X. Stork

2011-07-03T17:01:00.004-04:00

Title: Marcelo in the Real World
Author: Francisco X. Stork
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic), 2009 (Hardcover)
Length: 312 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Realistic Fiction
Started: June 28, 2011
Finished: July 1, 2011

Summary:
From the back of the book:
Marcelo Sandoval hears music no one else can hear--part of the autism-like impairment no doctor has been able to identify--and he's always attended a special school where his differences have been protected. But the summer after his junior year, his father demands that Marcelo work in his law firm's mailroom in order to experience "the real world." There Marcelo meets Jasmine, his beautiful and surprising coworker, and Wendell, the son of another partner in the firm.

He learns about competition and jealousy, anger and desire. But it's a picture he finds in a file -- a picture of a girl with half a face -- that truly connects him with the real world: its suffering, its injustice, and what he can do to fight.

Reminiscent of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" in the intensity and purity of its voice, this extraordinary novel is a love story, a legal drama, and a celebration of the music each of us hears inside.

Review:
I can't remember why I finally decided to pick this book up, but I'm soooooo glad I did, this is one of those amazing YA books you come across that you just become an advocate for, not that it really needs it, but I'm sure the book would appreciate it.

Marcelo Sandoval is 17 years old, and is on the highly functioning end of the autism spectrum (so more Aspergers than Autism I suppose). His mother and sister are very supportive, but his father, who is a co-partner in his own law firm, denies that his son has anything wrong with him that deserves a label. His father insists that Marcelo spend his summer working in the mail room at the law firm instead of working with the therapy horses at the special private school Marcelo attends, thinking this will help expose his son to the 'real world' instead of the protected environment of the special school. Marcelo is highly functioning, so he acclimates to the law office without any hassle, helped by his co-worker Jasmine, but he does question the things he sees. When he discovers proof that his father's firm is helping cover up evidence of a manufacturer of faulty products which led to human injury, he feels very conflicted as to what he should do. His religious nature tells him that he must do the right thing to help the girl in the photograph he found, but he knows that in the process he will also hurt his father and affect other good people that work at the firm. Marcelo must also come to terms with what he wants to do with his life, to follow the internal music he hears to its end without being influenced by the opinions of others.

This book is beautifully written, mainly as a result of Marcelo's narration. Marcelo is a highly functioning autistic, and if you've ever had exposure to this type of person (I've taught autistic children of various levels of functionality), the first thing you'd notice is how realistically he is portrayed and yet how the author manages to make his character stand out. Some of Marcelo's quirks are typical of a highly functioning autistic: difficulty in adjusting to changes in routine without doing so gradually, avoiding looking people in the eye, and also the various social aspects. Marcelo is highly intelligent, as well as religious (not in the bible-thumping kind, it's more that he is very well versed in all kinds of religions). He also lives in a tree house (so cool), and wants to work in therapy for special needs children.

Once you get to know Marcelo, you really become involved in his exposure to the evils of the real world; things that are black and white to Marcelo (this is right, this is wrong), are all shades of gray to everyone else, which puzzles him. He's kind of naive too, and doesn't realize for example that people use sex for evil purposes, or hurt animals just for fun. Essentially Marcelo learns that everyone has to determine what their own morality is and how they're going to respond to it; will they do the right thing regardless of the consequences or will they turn a blind eye and continue to act in a way that benefits them? This message of doing the right thing in a world that encourages self-serving behaviour at the expense of others would seem a little forced if the character was anyone but Marcelo, but because Marcelo is who he is, the message and how it is conveyed is just beautiful, I cannot stress this enough. I actually cried towards the end of this book at a scene where Marcelo is talking to a female rabbi that he frequently meets with; the dialogue and how things are resolved just hit you and disarm the barriers people put up to avoid being affected by all the hurt we witness every day.

Recommendation:
Trust me, just read this. It's beautiful and lyrical and genius all wrapped up in a book-like package, you will adore this novel.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like it. The night sky with the tree house and Marcelo walking with Jasmine is a really pretty image.

The Mid-Year Review - Best of 2011 (Thus Far)

2011-06-29T13:50:00.006-04:00

In my typical fashion, since it's the end of June, I thought I'd compile a list of the books I've read so far this year that really impressed me. Keep in mind that there'll be quite a few more YA titles than in other categories, simply because I've read more of them in terms of volume compared to adult and children's books. Since I don't have a rating system (ratings are subjective anyway), you'll have to skim the reviews to see if these will impress you as much as they did me. These are in no particular order, and the books aren't all necessarily published in 2011 (but most are), I just happened to read them in 2011.

Children's

1. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making - Catherynne M. Valente

2. Forge - Laurie Halse Anderson

3. The Lost Hero - Rick Riordan

4. The Thirteen Treasures Series - Michelle Harrison (The Thirteen Treasures, The Thirteen Curses, and The Thirteen Secrets

Adult

1. The Weird Sisters - Eleanor Brown

Young Adult

1. Revolution - Jennifer Donnelly

2. Grace - Elizabeth Scott

3. Some Girls Are - Courtney Summers

4. Blood Red Road - Moira Young

5. Fall For Anything - Courtney Summers

6. Plague - Michael Grant

7. Hush - Eishes Chayil

8. Divergent - Veronica Roth

The Dark and Hollow Places - Carrie Ryan

2011-06-25T19:53:00.005-04:00

Title: The Dark and Hollow Places (Sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead-Tossed Waves)
Author: Carrie Ryan
Publisher: Delacorte Press, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 374 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Dystopian Fiction, Horror
Started: June 20, 2011
Finished: June 25, 2011

Summary:
From the author's website:
There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister's face when she and Elias left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the horde as they found their way to the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life. But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left her for the Recruiters.

Annah's world stopped that day and she's been waiting for him to come home ever since. Without him, her life doesn't feel much different from that of the dead that roam the wasted city around her. Then she meets Catcher and everything feels alive again.

Except, Catcher has his own secrets—dark, terrifying truths that link him to a past Annah's longed to forget, and to a future too deadly to consider. And now it's up to Annah—can she continue to live in a world drenched in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escape from the Return's destruction?

Review:
I fell in love with The Forest of Hands and Teeth when I read it back in 2009, and knew I had to see the trilogy to its end. I was slightly less pleased with The Dead-Tossed Waves when I read it last year, but I attributed that to the complete change in character focus from Mary to Gabry, that and I wanted to smack Gabry upside the head for being almost stupidly naive all the time. Thankfully, The Dark and Hollow Places takes our focus to yet another character who is more tolerable, in my opinion, than Gabry was.

At the end of The Dead-Tossed Waves, we found out that Gabry wasn't Mary's biological daughter at all, and that she was actually a twin. The Dark and Hollow Places takes readers to the Dark City where Gabry's sister Annah escaped to with Elias after leaving their village in the Forest of Hands and Teeth 10 years before. Annah is scarred all over her body from an accident involving barbed wire, and combined with having to care for herself for years after Elias joins the Recruiters, Annah becomes a very hardened young woman, the complete opposite of Gabry at the beginning of the last book. Annah has issues about her appearance due to her scars, plus she's still pretty broken up about abandoning Gabry (whose real name was Abigail) in the Forest when they were children, and those self-esteem issues make her a difficult character to like. But for all that annoys me about Annah, I had to admire her for being self-sufficient and independent, which was what bugged me about clingy, whiny Gabry.

The plot is The Dark and Hollow Places is similar to the last two books: the Unconsecrated/Mudo/plague rats (aka zombies) overrun the area where the characters live, forcing them to flee to a safer area. The Dark and Hollow Places is slightly different in that it reunites the characters from the last book and brings Gabry, Catcher, Elias, and Annah together in what is potentially the last safe place in the continent. But the Recruiters who run the Sanctuary know they have nowhere else to go, and force Catcher to do their bidding or else they threaten to injure the other three, which prompts Annah to find a way out, or else face a kinder fate: death.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth is still my favourite of the three books, but I was pleased that The Dark and Hollow Places was an improvement over The Dead-Tossed Waves. The Dark and Hollow Places was deliciously dark like the title implies, and the focus on Annah and Catcher was a nice way to end off the series.

Recommendation:
Not my absolute favourite in the series, but still a good installment. Annah was a more likable character than Gabry in the last book, which was enough to make this book better in my mind.

Thoughts on the cover:
I don't like the weird dramatic model poses that were used for this cover and the finalized cover for The Dead-Tossed Waves, I think it conveys a completely different atmosphere than the books are striving for, but oh well.

Divergent - Veronica Roth

2011-06-19T11:20:00.005-04:00

Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins), 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 487 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Dystopian Fiction
Started: June 18, 2011
Finished: June 19, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

Review:
This is one of the better books I've read recently, and I honestly don't know why I didn't pick it up immediately after it's release date in May rather than waiting almost two months to crack open the cover.

Divergent takes a fairly familiar dystopian setup (newly reorganized world, different classes at odds with each other, the whole 'your future is decided at 16' kind of thing) and turns it into something unique. In this newfound Chicago, people have split into 5 different groups based on what they think caused the world's problems, and each group values a virtue that they think will remedy things in their new world order. Abnegation are the selfless, who think selfishness causes the world's problems. Since they only think of others and not themselves, they run the government as well as the health care system. The Dauntless are the brave, who think cowardice caused the world's problems, and act as the defense sector. The Erudite are the intelligent, who think ignorance caused the world's problems, and act as the teachers and scientists. Candor are the honest, who think deception caused the world's problems, who act as lawyers and form the justice sector. Lastly, Amity are the peaceful, who think that humanity's unkindness caused the world's problems. They are the artists and form the agricultural sector.

Beatrice is Abnegation, who has lived her whole life trying to be as selfless as her family reminds her to be. When it comes time for her to choose which faction she'll be part of, she struggles with her choice. If she chooses Abnegation, she'll be denying the other facets of herself. If she chooses another faction, she'll be leaving her parents and older brother behind. When Beatrice (who is now called Tris) goes through the initiation process, she struggles with the cutthroat tactics she sees around her. In addition to that, Tris is Divergent, showing aptitudes for not one, but three different factions. If her status is discovered, she will be killed, so she struggles to keep her impulses towards the other virtues hidden. As she progresses through the initiations and the rankings, she realizes that things aren't all right with the world: Erudite is trying to change public opinion towards Abnegation, and the Dauntless aren't brave in the admirable sense like Tris thought they'd be. In typical dystopian fashion, Tris gets thrown into the political fire and her Divergent status is the key to saving them all.

Divergent moves along nice and quick, there's always something happening with no boring lags in the plot. Beatrice is a wonderfully real character (it helps that she can kick ass like nobody's business), and her narration really gets you inside your head. She isn't always kind, and can be downright ruthless when she needs to be, but that struggle between survival and concern for others is what makes her remarkably human. I love the message that's conveyed a few times through Tris and Four, that people can't value one trait over another, that all the virtues the individual factions value are all interrelated and we need to cultivate all of them to be good, well-rounded people.

Divergent is an action-packed story with an engaging plot, well-developed characters, and a wonderful message. This is part of a series, and the second book, Insurgent, comes out next year, which I'll be picking up as soon as it comes out.

Recommendation:
Divergent is one of the best books I've read lately, and practically everyone who's read it has loved it (and for good reason), so read this!

Thoughts on the cover:
I like it, finally a YA cover that doesn't have to have a girl on it. I like the Chicago city-scape with the Dauntless symbol in the centre, hopefully they keep the continuity with the rest of the series and have the other faction symbols on future books.

Dead Reckoning - Charlaine Harris

2011-06-15T10:04:00.006-04:00

Title: Dead Reckoning (Book 11 in the Sookie Stackhouse series)
Author: Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Ace Books, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 325 pages
Genre: Adult; Fantasy
Started: June 13, 2011
Finished: June 14, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
With her knack for being in trouble's way, Sookie witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte's, the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is now known to be two-natured, suspicion falls immediately on the anti-shifters in the area. But Sookie suspects otherwise and she and Sam work together to uncover the culprit - and the twisted motive for the attack.

But her attention is divided. Though she can't 'read' vampires, Sookie knows her lover Eric Northman and his 'child' Pam well - and she realises that they are plotting to kill the vampire who is now their master. Gradually, she is drawn into the plot -which is much more complicated than she knows.

Caught up in the politics of the vampire world, Sookie will learn that she is as much of a pawn as any ordinary human - and that there is a new Queen on the board . . .

Review:
These books are my guilty pleasure read, I consider them recreational drugs for my literary brain: you know they're bad for your health, but you sure enjoy the experience. After a slightly disappointing last book, Dead In The Family, I figured this book would have to be better, and fortunately it was, but only marginally so.

There's a couple of things going on in this novel plotwise: Sookie is being targeted yet again (really, what else is new?), and Eric is hell bent on killing Victor so that he can be free of his influence (as the book progresses you realize these two things are technically related to the same plot, but oh well). There's also a lot of relationship angst. Eric is distant for reasons Sookie discovers later, and Sookie in turn decides to remove the bond that she and Eric share, which pisses off Eric to no end. It seemed like the author decided to just throw all of Sookie's old flames at her in this book, Alcide randomly shows up naked in her bed, and there's even a a lot of interaction with Bill, who makes it very apparent that he still loves Sookie. Not that Sookie's old boyfriends didn't randomly show up trying to win her back in previous books, it just seemed like overkill in this one.

These books haven't been very impressive for the past two installments, I don't know if these are just the low point before things gear up, or if the series is starting to just lose steam. Characters seemingly show up randomly without any real relevance to the plot, the plot points seem thrown together haphazardly, and the characters just seem to act out-of-character for no obvious reason. Also, I sense that the CD item introduced in this book could be a major cop-out, but I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt and see how she uses it. I'll still be reading these because I do love the characters, and I want to see where things go, but I hope the next book is better, I'm not ready to give up my guilty pleasure read just yet.

Recommendation:
A little better this time around, but still not feeling the same magic as with the earlier books.

Thoughts on the cover:
I've never liked these covers very much, but at least the last few have been obviously related to something in the plot, I just don't get it with this one.

Haunted - Joy Preble

2011-06-12T09:56:00.004-04:00

Title: Haunted (Book 2 in the Dreaming Anastasia series)
Author: Joy Preble
Publisher: SourceBooks Fire, 2011 (Paperback)
Length: 290 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy
Started: June 8, 2011
Finished: June 12, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
Anne is trying her best to live a normal life, but she's still got some power sparking inside her. She's hearing and seeing things that she tries her best to ignore-like being haunted by a Russian sea nymph that claims the princess Anastasia is still alive.

That's when Ethan Kozninsky-he of the stunning blue eyes, thick brown hair, and former immortal status-returns. Anne soon realizes that everything she's been trying to forget might be impossible to bury.

Review:
After I read Dreaming Anastasia in the early days of this blog, I liked it and did end up buying it and putting it away for our future daughter (who we would name Anastasia) like I said I would. So when this sequel came out a short time ago, I knew I'd have to read it.

Things are different for Anne this time around. She still has power coursing through her, and it's only gotten stronger since Anastasia was freed from Baba Yaga instead of the other way around. She's being haunted by Rusalkas, the weird Russian equivalent of mermaids-women killed near water under mysterious circumstances. It's the Rusalkas who tell her that Anastasia is still alive somehow and that Anne's job is not yet finished. Ethan comes back to help Anne figure all this out. Plus, there's this one Rusalka who looks very familiar....

Haunted starts off slow compared to Dreaming Anastasia. We know the basic premise of the plot-things aren't as they should be and there's freaky Rusalka ladies around trying to drown people, and this somehow all relates back to Baba Yaga, Anastasia, and Viktor. But it takes until you get about 200 pages in for any of this to really go anywhere. The good thing is, once you hit that 200 page mark, the last 90 pages go by so fast and things pick up pretty quickly.

The book is narrated in the same way as the previous one, minus Anastasia's interludes, so chapters alternate between Anne and Ethan's point of view. This can get a little confusing unless you look at the headings so you remember who's talking. The book still has the same wonderful characters as the first one, and the writing is well-done.

Recommendation:
Takes a while to get into, but if you stick with it, it does get better.

Thoughts on the cover:
I don't know why, but I love these covers. Brownie points for continuation from the first cover to this one, we have the Rusalka in the violet gown on the cover with maybe Anne's face at the top? I like the purple colour scheme this time around, and they kept the warped font for the title.

The things I find in online newspapers...

2011-06-09T09:42:00.008-04:00

I swear, sometimes I think that literate, thinking individuals and parents are an endangered species.

While browsing through today's issue of Shelf Awareness, I came across an article (Deeper Understanding: The Dark Is Rising), written in response to a Wall Street Journal piece about the plethora of darker story lines in YA literature. Give both a read, though I warn you that the original Wall Street Journal article isn't very well researched (as most articles in this case tend to be).

The Wall Street Journal article follows a woman who, wanting a book for her 13-year-old daughter, was turned off by the darker story lines she saw on the YA shelf at her bookstore: "vampires, suicide and self-mutilation" specifically, so she didn't buy anything for her daughter. The article then goes on to explain how story lines in YA lit have gotten darker since the days of Judy Blume and S.E. Hinton, even hinting at the idea that some of the themes of self-mutilation, anorexia, suicide, etc. could serve as triggers for teenage readers. This is just my paraphrasing of the article, so read the whole thing for yourself and you'll see what I mean.

For one thing, the author obviously hasn't read any of the books she's criticizing: she rags on The Hunger Games for being too violent, but then in the same article goes on to recommend Ship Breaker for young male readers. WTF? Anyone who's read both books will know that Ship Breaker has just as much violence to take offense to, if not more than The Hunger Games: Nailer's father is abusive and beats him on a regular basis, whereas the premise of The Hunger Games is violent, yes, but Katniss abhors that violence and refuses to take a life except to defend herself. If the author of the article actually read The Hunger Games, she would realize that the positive messages of the book outweigh the dark premise of the story.

I think everyone is aware of my take on books for children and teens: I'm a teacher and fully believe kids and people in general should be allowed to read whatever they want (within reason obviously, I wouldn't let a 7-year-old read a book that deals with rape because they aren't developmentally mature enough to process that content), but once a child hits the age of 13 or 14 or so, almost anything is game. The thing is though, with that freedom comes responsibility for the parents to talk to their kids about what they read. I bought The Hunger Games for my 12-year-old nephew and made sure I told him (and my sister-in-law), to talk to me or his parents if he had any questions about the story because it might seem a little scary to him. I knew my nephew could handle it (honestly, he's 12, he's seen and heard worse things), but still directed him to mom and dad to talk about the bigger issues that might arise in his mind when he read the book. This is responsible parenting: give your child age-appropriate material but still engage with them about that material whether it's a tv show, movie, book, or even something that happens on the news, make it a teaching moment to explain that yes, these types of things happen in the world, we can't escape that, but it's up to your child to form their own opinions about their morals and your family to impart how you feel about those same issues.

We can't shelter our kids forever. By the time I was 16 years old, just through the experience of attending high school (my home life was wonderfully tame and secure by comparison), I had experiences with: suicide, several friends who self-mutilated, abortion, teen sex, classmates passing away due to terminal illnesses, bullying, drugs, alcohol, you name it, and I went to a school in the 'good area' of my city. Your kid will experience the world's rough stuff just by nature of being out in the world, and it starts when they're young, sometimes a lot younger than we would prefer them to be. I wish my teenage self had books like the ones I review, it would've made me understand why my friends cut their arms to shreds, or why my gay friend had to leave school to save his life and his mental health, or why I felt so out of place all the time. I'm glad YA books tackle these kinds of topics as well as the fluffy happy kinds of stories that have and will always be around. Kids will read what they are capable of reading, a child won't read something they don't like (unless we force them to in school), if they are reading a book that's dark, they want to read it for a reason, no one's holding a gun to their head. And plus, if my child is going to encounter a "big issue" through association, I'd rather their first exposure to it be in the relative safety of a book where they can go back and question things and take time to reflect and research what they read, rather than having a friend call them up suddenly tell them "I want to kill myself" or "I just got raped at the party, I need help"....if I had a choice I'd rather ease my kids into things like that gradually as opposed to the 'trial by fire' experiences that happened to me and my friends so many times in high school.

The key thing is that parents are important: adults can't blame the book industry or authors for producing stories that kids obviously want to read and do nothing to prepare their children for those stories or experiences. That leaves us with children that aren't emotionally equipped to deal with the crap they will eventually encounter in their adult lives. I was very lucky in that I had parents that loved talking to me about big issues and as such I was very open-minded and well-rounded even as a kid, but I've met lots of adults (and children/teenagers that I see following in the same pattern) that are emotionally stunted when it comes to certain things or issues...then those people go on to reproduce and aren't prepared for those scenarios that they might experience with their own children.

And that leaves teachers like me fearing for the future of our children, not because of the books they read, but because of the radical shifts in parenting attitudes. Don't blame the books, people; blame yourselves.

Here's one of my favourite YA authors Laurie Halse Anderson's take on the article, as well as another one that's equally well-put.

A Tale Dark and Grimm - Adam Gidwitz

2011-06-07T17:04:00.006-04:00

Title: A Tale Dark and Grimm
Author: Adam Gidwitz
Publisher: Dutton Children's Books (Penguin), 2010 (Hardcover)
Length: 251 pages
Genre: Children's Fairy Tale/Fantasy
Started: June 5, 2011
Finished: June 7, 2011

Summary:
From the author's website:
Reader, beware.

Warlocks with dark spells, hunters with deadly aim, and bakers with ovens retro-fitted for baking children lurk within these pages.

But if you dare,

Follow Hansel and Gretel as they walk out of their own story and into the wilds—where magic, terror, and a little bit of humor shine like white pebbles lighting the way.

Come on in. It may be frightening, and it’s certainly bloody, but, unlike those other fairy tales you know, this one is true.

Once upon a time, you see, fairy tales were awesome.

Review:
I liked the sound of this book when I heard about it just recently, and immediately fell in love with it once I started reading. It's a wonderfully creative concept: the author takes several separate Brothers Grimm fairy tales (plus some extra added on that are Grimm-inspired), and connects them into one larger overarching story. Since so many fairy tales use similar elements, and the children included in them rarely have names, the author connects everything to Hansel and Gretel, and everything fits together pretty seamlessly.

The tales are the original versions too, not the sugar-coated versions we tell the kiddies, so there's lots of violence and blood (but the fairy tale kind, not the gory horror movie kind). The author actually remarks on that numerous times, using a Princess Bride-like special author narrative where he addresses the reader and frequently warns them about the upcoming violence (in a funny kind of "I'm warning you but you're gonna read it anyway"), and to warn them to shoo any small children out of the room if they're reading this out loud. I know some people who read this didn't like the tone of the author-narrator's voice and the interjections in general, but since I'm a teacher and I look at kids books from the point of view of a 10-year-old, I think kids would eat this up, the tactic where you warn them what's coming to the point where they're just sitting on the edge of their seat in anticipation waiting for the bloody parts.

The story itself reads very well, and I finished it quickly since it was very engaging and it just screams "keep reading!". The author interjections are hilarious, and the nature of the book makes it the prefect book for boys and kids in general that just love good ol' kid-appropriate violent stories.

Recommendation:
A perfect fairy tale book for modern kids that like their stories with some edge. Traditional but not sugar-coated. There is violence and blood here like the author warns, but nothing your average 8-year-old couldn't handle (but might be a tad scary for the preschool set, so best to save this for the middle grade readers). I would use this as a read-aloud book for that age range in a heartbeat, and it's going on my "to-keep" list for our future kids.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like it. The characters and animals done in silhouettes/outlines against a night scene with very little colour other than blue and black really bring out the feel of the story (spooky in the kid-friendly way). I love how the dragon wraps around the cover from front to back.

The Warlock - Michael Scott

2011-06-06T17:32:00.005-04:00

Title: The Warlock (Book 5 in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series)
Author: Michael Scott
Publisher: Delacorte Press, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 376 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy
Started: June 1, 2011
Finished: June 6, 2011

Summary:
From the author's website:
The twins of prophecy have been divided-the end has begun.

Alcatraz:
Although their ally Dr. John Dee has been declared utlaga, Machiavelli and Billy the Kid will follow the plans the Elders have laid before them: they will loose the monsters of Alcatraz on the city of San Francisco, thereby triggering the end of the humani race.

Danu Talis:
The Shadowrealm that Scatty and Joan of Arc have entered is far more dangerous than they could ever have imagined. And they haven’t landed here by chance-the warriors were called for a reason. So were Saint-Germain, Palamededs, and Shakespeare. The group was summoned because they must travel back in time to Danu Talis and destroy it. For the island of Danu Talis, known in humani myth as the lost city of Atlantis, must fall if the modern world is to exist.

San Francisco:
The end is finally near. Josh Newman has chosen a side, and he will not stand with his sister, Sophie, or with the Alchemyst, Nicholas Flamel. He will fight alongside Dee and the mysterious Virginia Dare. Unless Sophie can find her twin before the battle begins, all is lost – forever.

In the fifth installment of this bestselling series, the twins of prophesy have been divided, and the end is finally beginning.

With Scatty, Joan of Arc, Saint Germain, Palamedes, and Shakespeare all in Danu Talis, Sophie is on her own with the ever-weakening Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. She must depend on Niten to help her find an immortal to teach her Earth Magic. The surprise is that she will find her teacher in the most ordinary of places.

Review:
For anyone who's not familiar with this series thus far, take a look at the first part of my review for the last book, The Necromancer, which will give you a bit of an idea of what this series is about.

On to this installment in particular. Since this is the second-last book in this series, we're gearing up for the big finale, so unfortunately this book suffers from the usual lag that tends to happen with series as things build up for the end installment. Dee and company are trying to unleash the monsters on Alcatraz, Scatty and company are trying to destroy Danu Talis, and Sophie and the Flamels are in San Francisco trying to save Nicholas and figure out their next move. Not much actually happens in this novel in terms of action, no big action or fight scenes, it's very sectional where each group is doing their own thing and all those plot threads come together right at the end to set the tone for the final book. Instead of action, we get a lot of backstory and flashbacks as the groups gear up for the big finale, we find out the relationships between a lot of the Elders and immortal humani, as well as information about Danu Talis back in the day.

This installment does end on a huge cliffhanger, which makes the year wait for the next and final book all the more frustrating, but I'm pretty sure that the last book will be amazing after all the setup in this one.

Recommendation:
For those of you that haven't read this awesome series yet, go read all 5 books thus far so you can join the club of anticipation for next year's finale. For those of you that are already fans of the series, this book isn't as amazing as previous ones were, but you need the info here to gear up for the last book.

Thoughts on the cover:
This series does a great job with continuity between all the covers. This time we have a gold colour scheme (it's shiny!) with a touch of blue-green lightning with all the symbols. I'm guessing they're going for Josh and Sophie's auras for these last books, so I'm going to guess that the last book will have a silver colour scheme since this one was gold for Josh.

Small Acts of Amazing Courage - Gloria Whelan

2011-06-05T12:40:00.007-04:00

Title: Small Acts of Amazing Courage
Author: Gloria Whelan
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 209 pages
Genre: Children's Historical Fiction
Started: June 3, 2011
Finished: June 4. 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
How can kindness get you into so much trouble?

Ever since the death of Rosalind's brother, Edward, Rosalind's mother hasn't been the same. Rosalind's father is away at war, and his wish is for Rosalind to live in England and get a proper British education. England is home to Rosalind, but she has never been there. As an English girl in India in 1919, Rosalind is alone.

Rosalind awaits the return of her father from the war, and more and more she ventures out into the streets. It is there that she learns of a man named Ghandi and hears talk of how India must be free to rule itself. Then late one night, she makes a fateful discovery. She knows that seeking out the beggars who live under the bridge near the river is not where she should be, but she wants to help, even if her parents will never understand.

National Book Award recipient Gloria Whelan weaves a captivating story of love and family, secrets and sisterhood, and most of all, identity.

Review:
This book caught my attention a while back, and it turned out to be a really enjoyable short read.

It's 1919 in India and Rosalind's father is returning from the war more intent than ever to have his 15-year-old daughter shipped off to England for schooling like all the other British children born in India during colonial times. Since Rosalind's brother Edward died while at school in England before Rosalind was even born, her mother was insistent about keeping her remaining child in India, and has succeeded in getting her way up to this point. Edward's death also affected Rosalind's upbringing in other ways: Rosalind was raised with her ayah's daughter, Isha, so Rosalind identifies more with her than the other British girls, and truly loves India as her homeland. Rosalind has also been allowed to go gallivanting around the bazaars in town with Isha, something her father definitely would not have approved of had he been home and not off fighting in the war. When her father returns and sees exactly how unruly and independent his daughter has become in the years he's been away, he insists on sending her off to England. But along the way, Rosalind learns to stand up for what she believes in, taking a cue from Ghandi's philosophy, which in this case is supporting Indian independence and doing what is right instead of what is considered "proper".

I think the target age for this book might have been classified incorrectly. I loved the story and got the subtle elements and such, but in order to appreciate the story, you really need to have the background knowledge about British colonization and India's history under British rule, which not a lot of middle grade readers are going to have unless they're extremely well-read (heck, most of the kids I teach don't even know that Canada was a British colony at one point, let alone India). So I think slightly older readers with more historical knowledge might get more out of this book than the younger readers it's targeted to, but that's just my opinion.

The book is well-written, and Rosalind is a really admirable character based on all the 'small acts of amazing courage' she performs throughout the book. Rosalind really comes into her own and makes decisions based on what she believes is right, even though it alienates her from her family, which is a good lesson for kids to learn, to make decisions that you are happy with and not decide things based on what parents/friends/significant others think you should do. The imagery of India is really well portrayed here, the lush landscapes and the colours really come alive in the author's writing, and readers begin to love it as much as Rosalind does.

Recommendation:
Very enjoyable well-written book with a good message. Younger readers might not understand or appreciate it without background historical knowledge, but that's easily taught.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like it. The flowers and ferns in the pink and orange colour scheme are very vibrant, and the hands at the bottom are a nice touch.

Desires of the Dead - Kimberly Derting

2011-06-05T12:09:00.005-04:00

Title: Desires of the Dead (Book 2 in The Body Finder series)
Author: Kimberly Derting
Publisher: HarperTeen, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 355 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy, Mystery
Started: May 30, 2011
Finished: June 1, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
The missing dead call to Violet. They want to be found.

Violet can sense the echoes of those who've been murdered—and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life.

As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession. Normally she'd turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on her hands as she wonders where things went wrong. But when she fills the void by digging into Mike's tragic family history, she stumbles upon a dark truth that could put everyone in danger.

Review:
After liking The Body Finder when I read it a year ago, I knew I would be picking up the sequel. Desires of the Dead is a much cooler title this time around, and still has the same slight supernatural feel combined with romance and mystery, but the plot just didn't have that same sense of urgency as the first one did.

In the first book, Violet uncovers a serial killer who in turn comes after her. Combined with the emerging romance and angst from friend/boyfriend Jay, and you've got a book that demands to be read. This time around in Desires of the Dead, Violet and Jay are established and are so cute they cause cavities, so not much angst there. The mystery element has Violet tracking two separate killers in two different cases that don't really affect her until the very end, so you never really feel that her life was in danger like in the first book. I mentioned in my review of the first book that it felt like a romance novel disguised as a mystery, even though I really enjoyed it. I felt that even more so with Desires of the Dead...the mystery wasn't much of a mystery, you never really feel that Violet's in any real danger, and the whole "my freaky talent being discovered by the FBI" bit could've had some more urgency to it, like the threat of Violet actually being taken to be studied or something.

Recommendation:
I liked the first book, The Body Finder, much better than this installment purely because of the urgency to the plot and the mystery, which just didn't deliver in this one.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like the continuity from the blue "echo" of the first cover to a pink one on this cover. They're kinda plain, but it works.

Huntress - Malinda Lo

2011-05-30T16:12:00.003-04:00

Title: Huntress (Companion novel to Ash)
Author: Malinda Lo
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 371 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy
Started: May 25, 2011
Finished: May 27, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
Nature is out of balance in the human world. The sun hasn't shone in years, and crops are failing. Worse yet, strange and hostile creatures have begun to appear. The people's survival hangs in the balance.

To solve the crisis, the oracle stones are cast, and Kaede and Taisin, two seventeen-year-old girls, are picked to go on a dangerous and unheard-of journey to Tanlili, the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage, thrumming with magic, and Kaede is of the earth, without a speck of the otherworldly. And yet the two girls' destinies are drawn together during the mission. As members of their party succumb to unearthly attacks and fairy tricks, the two come to rely on each other and even begin to fall in love. But the Kingdom needs only one huntress to save it, and what it takes could tear Kaede and Taisin apart forever.

The exciting adventure prequel to Malinda Lo's highly acclaimed novel Ash is overflowing with lush Chinese influences and details inspired by the I Ching, and is filled with action and romance.

Review:
Huntress is a companion novel to the author's first book, Ash, released back in 2009; so it takes place in the same universe, but in a different time period and with different characters. I adored Ash when i read it last year, so I knew Huntress would blow me away before I even read it.

In the world of Huntress, set hundreds of years before Ash, things are out of balance, and the humans believe the solution lies with the fae (called the Xi). When the king receives an invitation to the Xi queen's court at Taninli, he sends his son, Con in his place. Traveling with the prince are several guards, as well as Taisin and Kaede, two 17-year-old girls from the Academy of Sages, whom have been prophesied to accompany them on their journey. Kaede (I know it's supposed to be pronounced Kay-dee, but I'm used to the Japanese pronunciation Kah-eh-day) is the daughter of the advisor to the king, an upper class girl who is facing an arranged marriage she does not want, as well as a career at the Academy that she is not suited for. Taisin is the daughter of farmers, admitted to the Academy based on her amazing magical talent. Kaede is tough and spunky, having grown up with a slew of older brothers as well as Prince Con. Taisin is much more reserved and proper, who blushes at almost everything, which I found adorable.

The book can be divided into two sections in terms of plot: the journey leading up to Taninli (which is almost 3/4 of the whole book), and the events that happen after Taninli. Most books that focus so heavily on the journey aspect tend to lose my attention fairly quickly since I usually just want things to progress to the main point, but this one was different. The events in the journey leading up to Taninli are so important for character development (plus they do contribute to the plot) that I often forgot why they were journeying to Taninli in the first place because I was so caught up in the character interactions (for me this is a good thing). The build-up leading up to Taninli was wonderfully done, but then the events that occur after Taninli happen so quickly that it feels like a let down, plus things felt like they came into place a bit too conveniently.

Huntress and Ash both come under a slight bit of controversy because of the lesbian relationships in them, even though the depiction of the romance isn't offensive or inappropriate. The two main romances in Huntress are Taisin and Kaede, and Con and Shea, and both are very tame and portrayed in a very sweet manner. In terms of the development of the romance itself, I think I liked Ash better in that regard since we get to see the romance develop very clearly, whereas in Huntress I never really got a sense of the point where the two girls fell madly in love with each other to the point where they'd sacrifice their lives for each other, although the author did a really great job in describing the physical reactions of first love (the blushing, the electric tingly feeling when you make contact etc.). Also, I kept thinking that since Taisin had visions of Kaede before she even knew her, I kept thinking that Taisin's feelings of love for Kaede weren't really real since she kind of had that window into the future, so I thought it felt like a cop out on Taisin's end....but I did feel that Kaede's feelings were genuine.

Recommendation:
Beautiful and wonderfully written. After reading Huntress, I have to say that I prefer Ash, but that's not to say Huntress isn't worth reading.

Thoughts on the cover:
Awesome. I like the purple accents this time compared to the mauve-y pink from Ash. I'm pretty sure that's Taisin on the cover (both girls were described kind of similarly, so it was hard to tell), and I love the symmetry with the pole/wooden practice sword (couldn't exactly tell what that was supposed to be).

The Girl Who Was On Fire - Leah Wilson

2011-05-25T18:09:00.006-04:00

Title: The Girl Who Was On Fire: Your Favourite Authors on Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games Trilogy
Author: Leah Wilson (Editor)
Publisher: Smart Pop, 2011 (Paperback)
Length: 224 pages
Genre: Literary Criticism
Started: May 22, 2011
Finished: May 25, 2011

Summary:
From Amazon.ca:
Katniss Everdeen’s adventures may have come to an end, but her story continues to blaze in the hearts of millions worldwide.

In The Girl Who Was on Fire, thirteen YA authors take you back to Panem with moving, dark, and funny pieces on Katniss, the Games, Gale and Peeta, reality TV, survival, and more. From the trilogy's darker themes of violence and social control to fashion and weaponry, the collection's exploration of the Hunger Games reveals exactly how rich, and how perilous, protagonist Katniss’ world really is.

• How does the way the Games affect the brain explain Haymitch’s drinking, Annie’s distraction, and Wiress’ speech problems?
• What does the rebellion have in common with the War on Terror?
• Why isn’t the answer to “Peeta or Gale?” as interesting as the question itself?
• What should Panem have learned from the fates of other hedonistic societies throughout history&mdashand what can we?

The Girl Who Was On Fire covers all three books in the Hunger Games trilogy.

Review:
This has been on my to-read list since I saw it advertised in Shelf Awareness a few months back. Apparently this publisher has put out a few of these type of books with essays on popular children's and young adult series written by other authors, but this is my first foray into it.

There are 13 essays in this collection on practically every in-depth aspect of the Hunger Games trilogy you can think of. There are essays on Team Katniss (Hunger Games fans know what this is), love as a political weapon, reality versus unreality, why the trilogy is so popular, surveillance in the series, and the reality television aspect, among others. The various YA authors, among them Sarah Rees Brennan and Carrie Ryan, present some very well written pieces here, although some of the essays are more effective than others purely because of the topics presented. Some of the essays weren't as insightful as I was hoping, like the ones on surveillance, reality versus unreality, and the science fiction elements being closer to reality than we think; but I think that's just because those are some of the base themes that anyone who's read all three books and given some depth of thought to them would realize, hence my reaction of "yeah, I already got that" when I read those particular essays, but there are plenty of others that will stop and make you reconsider things about the series you thought you understood.

My favourite essays were: Team Katniss by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Your Heart is a Weapon the Size of Your Fist by Mary Borsellino, Panem et Circenses by Carrie Ryan; Bent, Shattered, and Mended by Blythe Woolston, and The Inevitable Decline of Decadence by Adrienne Kress. The collection greatly surprised me in that all the essays were quite well written and put-together (I would actually use some of these as examples of well-written essays in a classroom, especially for writing introductions and conclusions), so the favourites of mine are purely because of the topics presented. This collection covers all three books in the trilogy, and sometimes an author will reference all three books in one essay, so it is essential that someone reading these essays be familiar with all three books. The authors do paraphrase events in the book when they are brought up in the essays, but not necessarily in enough depth for someone who hasn't read the books to understand.

Recommendation:
A must read for anyone who's a Hunger Games fan. All well-written pieces, but some topics will impress you more than others.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like how this one resembles the first Hunger Games cover: the black and yellow colour scheme, the font (though the smoke is a nice added touch). The arrow across the cover is a nice choice of image rather than the Mockingjay since it represents Katniss just as well, plus the Mockingjay is kind of overused.

Numbers: The Chaos - Rachel Ward

2011-05-22T15:17:00.005-04:00

Title: Numbers: The Chaos (Book 2 in the Numbers series)
Author: Rachel Ward
Publisher: Chicken House (Scholastic), 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 339 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Science Fiction
Started: May 17, 2011
Finished: May 18, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
When he was just a little boy, Adam learned about the numbers. The first ones he saw were Jem's. That was how he knew she was going to die. Adam inherited his mother's curse. With a vengeance. When he stares into someone's eyes, he not only sees the date of their death, he feels the searing, shocking pain of it.

Orphaned, Adam has grown up by the sea with his great-grandmother, Val. But as rising tides flood the coast, they flee to London. The city is an alien, anarchic place. Most disturbing of all, Adam can't help but clock how many people's numbers are in January 2027; how many are on New Year's Day.

What chaos awaits the world? Can Adam and his damaged friend Sarah stop a catastrophe? Or are they, too, counted among the "twenty sevens"?

Review:
After reading the first Numbers book last summer, I knew I had to pick up the sequel once it came out here.

The Chaos picks up years after the events at the end of Numbers: Jem and Spider's teenaged son Adam has inherited Jem's ability to see the dates of people's deaths in his head, in addition to seeing and feeling the pain and circumstances surrounding their death. With Spider long dead, and Jem having passed away when Adam was only 8 (a death he foresaw and even told his mother about), Adam is raised by Spider's grandmother, Val. In 2026, global warming and climate change has decimated much of England's coastline, forcing Adam and Val to move from the seaside to London, exactly where Jem didn't want her son to be. Adam notices a lot of people's numbers are the same: January 1, 2027. Like his mother before him, he notices there's something up with the numbers and knows some cataclysmic event will occur. Adam struggles with the decision to either listen to his mother and save himself and never tell anyone about his ability and what he knows, or to try and save people by trying to warn them about what lies ahead. Plus there's Sarah, who doesn't see the numbers but has visions of the catastrophe that will befall London on New Years Day, 2027. After being raped and impregnated by her father, Sarah's only concern is to keep her newborn daughter away from the family that failed to protect her, which is almost impossible to do in London's high security society.

The Chaos didn't impress me as much as Numbers did. The plots are similar: the teen who can foresee something that's going to kill a lot of people and deciding what they want to do about it. I liked Adam's and Sarah's stories on their own, but when the two intersected it just didn't have the same effect as when Jem and Spider came together in Numbers. The Chaos still has that same writing style and pacing that makes it a wonderful thriller, but the characters really made the first one, and they didn't quite deliver in the same way as the first. That being said, I loved both Adam and Sarah, the author did an especially good job capturing Sarah's feelings towards her pregnancy and her baby Mia, Sarah's story was particularly powerful.

Recommendation:
Not as amazing as the first one, but still pretty good.

Thoughts on the cover:
Not as horrendous as the first one, or maybe I'm just used to the freaky eyeball, but I'm sure the position of the eye is more appealing this time.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making - Catherynne M. Valente

2011-05-16T17:48:00.006-04:00

Title: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
Author: Catherynne M. Valente
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan), 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 256 pages
Genre: Children's/Young Adult; Fairy Tale, Fantasy
Started: May 14, 2011
Finished: May 16, 2011

Summary:
From the publisher's website:
Twelve-year-old September lives in Omaha, and used to have an ordinary life, until her father went to war and her mother went to work. One day, September is met at her kitchen window by a Green Wind (taking the form of a gentleman in a green jacket), who invites her on an adventure, implying that her help is needed in Fairyland. The new Marquess is unpredictable and fickle, and also not much older than September. Only September can retrieve a talisman the Marquess wants from the enchanted woods, and if she doesn’t . . . then the Marquess will make life impossible for the inhabitants of Fairyland. September is already making new friends, including a book-loving Wyvern and a mysterious boy named Saturday.

With exquisite illustrations by acclaimed artist Ana Juan, Fairyland lives up to the sensation it created when the author first posted it online. For readers of all ages who love the charm of Alice in Wonderland and the soul of The Golden Compass, here is a reading experience unto itself: unforgettable, and so very beautiful.

Review:
After reading glowing reviews from fellow bloggers (and receiving some impeccable perfect scores), plus being the recipient of the Andre Norton award for its category, I knew I had to test this baby out for myself to see if the hype was well-deserved. And hoo boy, is it ever! There are no words that can describe how magical and charming this novel is, and how blown away I was by it, but I'll sure as heck try.

September is 12 years old and living in Omaha, Nebraska in a time period echoing back to WWI-WWII. The Green Wind comes to her and beckons her to Fairyland, where she agrees to steal back a spoon from the evil Marquess and then ends up doing a task for the Marquess in order to save her own head. Along the way, September meets a variety of colourful characters and travels the furthest parts of Fairyland for her quest. As with all stories like this, it's a coming of age story where the child character goes through considerable growth illustrated through their journey, and this one is no exception. September is valiant, plucky, likable child that is loyal to the friends she makes in Fairyland, and has no problem standing up for herself (as much as you would expect a 12-year-old to do so in Fairyland). The supporting characters are equally charming: A-through-L, a wyvern whose father is a library (officially making him a Wyverary); a Marid named Saturday that eats stone and salt, plus the plethora of other characters that the group encounters in each chapter.

The novel is a subversive one written in an old fashioned, lyrical style highly reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and traditional British children's stories in general. The language and vocabulary the author uses isn't dumbed down in any way despite being written for a modern audience, so I would give it to slightly older kids and teenagers (10+) that are more likely to understand the language, unless you have younger children with some seriously advanced vocabulary. I love how the novel incorporates traditional fairy tale elements but still manages to make them unique without destroying their charm like so many urban fantasy type books do today. Again, I can't get over how utterly charming this book is, the author gets the formula dead-on that makes for a magnificent story. This is one of those special books that remains with a person for a long time, that evoke memories of being read to in front of a fireplace in winter, or the one thing that made you feel better when you were sick (The Princess Bride was always my go-to book whenever I was under the weather for those reasons). This is a book that will wait on our bookshelf until our kids are old enough to have it read to them, that I will buy and put away to give to my friend's toddlers in a few years time when they're older, that I'll give to my book-loving nephews, and I'll do as a read-aloud the next time I teach in a junior level class as school. The author has the first 8 or so chapters posted on her website (the entire novel was available as a free ebook until the rights were bought by the publisher about a year ago), so please feel free to check it out to get a feel for the atmosphere and the language, I can guarantee you'll be hooked.

Recommendation:
Stunning. Beautiful, lyrical, charming, and so many other adjectives that I could name. Everyone I've encountered who has read this has been mesmerized by it, and so will you. Adults and kids will adore this, plus it just smacks of the type of wonderful book to read aloud to your kids at bedtime. Read this, just trust me on this one.

Thoughts on the cover:
I am so glad this book has illustrations throughout it. The pictures add to the whimsy and help the story along without giving anything away. The cover image is a modified version of one that appears in the book, except in beautiful colour. I like the choice of image too, of September and the Wyverary, plus the red tones on the cover just look gorgeous.

Hunger - Jackie Morse Kessler

2011-05-13T18:24:00.005-04:00

Title: Hunger
Author: Jackie Morse Kessler
Publisher: Graphia (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), 2010 (Paperback)
Length: 177 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Realistic Fiction, Fantasy
Started: May 12, 2011
Finished: May 12, 2011

Summary:
From the back of the book:
Lisabeth Lewis has a black steed, a set of scales, and a new job: she’s been appointed Famine. How will an anorexic seventeen-year-old girl from the suburbs fare as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

Traveling the world on her steed gives Lisa freedom from her troubles at home: her constant battle with hunger, and her struggle to hide it from the people who care about her. But being Famine forces her to go places where hunger is a painful part of everyday life, and to face the horrifying effects of her phenomenal power. Can Lisa find a way to harness that power — and the courage to battle her own inner demons?

Review:
Apparently the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are alive and well, some of them not technically alive, and when they die, they choose replacements. Lisabeth Lewis, anorexic and damaged, is chosen by Death, who apparently looks like Kurt Cobain, to be the next Famine. The author uses a bit of the paranormal (and what's better than the Four Horsemen, really?) to follow Lisa and her growth from suffering anorexic to girl in recovery.

I really liked the Four Horsemen aspect: the personalities and depictions of Death, War, and Pestilence were bang on for their characters; and although Death can appear as whatever he wants, having the author describe him as Kurt Cobain is pure awesomeness. I wish the author had elaborated on the Four Horsemen part a little bit and why they choose the people they do, since they kind of get dropped on the reader in a "Huh? Horsemen? They recruit people?" kind of way. That I think was the only real detriment for me, the lack of some background on the Horsemen (at least this author's vision of them).

The author herself suffered from an eating disorder, so the depiction of the illness itself is really well done and very authentic, with the Thin Voice that invades Lisa's consciousness and can't help listing the calories for every single food she comes across. It's powerful in that Lisa witnesses the consequences of famine around the world in her role as Famine, and that leads to her accepting that she has a problem and that with all the food available to her, she chooses to starve herself, and she realizes she wants to change that and make a decision to live again. I've read better YA books dealing with eating disorders, but this one is still well done.

Recommendation:
Definitely give this one a read, but don't get too frustrated with the lack of background info on the Horsemen and how they operate. There's a second book in this series already out as well (Rage, dealing with the person chosen as War), so I'll be picking that one up eventually as well.

Thoughts on the cover:
Shiny cover = good. I also like the focus on the implement of the Horsemen, in this case, the balance scales. The background image and design behind the scales is very nice too.

The Hunt of the Unicorn - C.C. Humphreys

2011-05-13T17:03:00.003-04:00

Title: The Hunt of the Unicorn
Author: C.C. Humphreys
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf (Random House), 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 341 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy
Started: May 11, 2011
Finished: May 12, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
Elayne thinks the old family story that one of her ancestors stepped through a tapestry into a world of mythical beasts makes a great fireside tale. But she lives in the real world. In New York City. And she's outgrown that kind of fantasy.
Until she finds herself in front of a unicorn tapestry at the Cloisters museum and sees her initials woven into the fabric. And hears a unicorn calling to her. And slips and falls—into that other world.
Suddenly the line between fantasy and reality isn't so clear. But the danger is real enough. Almost before she can think, Elayne is attacked by a ferocious beast, rescued by a unicorn, and taken prisoner by a tyrant king. Each of them seems to have an idea about her—that she's a hero, a villain, dinner!
But Elayne has a few ideas of her own. She wants to overthrow the king; she wants to tame the unicorn. She wants to go home! And she's willing to become both hero and villain to do it.

Review:
The Hunt of the Unicorn takes a typical fantasy story and gives it a bit of unique spin. However, despite the cool premise and the plethora of medieval monsters and creatures, some horrible dialogue and slightly flat characters made it another one of those YA books with so much potential that it just about makes you cry when you realize that the end result just didn't wow you.

The Hunt of the Unicorn, besides being a slightly awkward title in my opinion...makes me think it should be just The Unicorn Hunt, starts off really well. We meet Alice-Elayne, who goes just by Elayne, as her dad is about to go into the hospital for cancer treatment. Before he leaves, he asks his daughter to read from their family history, a story written by the first of many girls named Alice-Elayne (kind of an unfortunate name to be saddled with). Elayne reads about their first ancestor, who grew up in a parallel world called Goloth, or the Land of Fabulous Beasts since it's crawling with griffins, manticores, cockatrices, and unicorns, among others. When threatened, the original Alice-Elayne escapes through a tapestry into the world as we know it (but the medieval version) with the help of a unicorn named Moonspill. Alice-Elayne promises if Moonspill ever needs help, either herself or her future generations will answer the call. When present-day Elayne goes on a field trip to the Cloisters museum the next day, the tapestries call out to her. Using the unicorn's horn passed to her from her father (and from generations before that), she steps through the tapestry to Goloth and meets Moonspill and discovers that he needs her help to overthrow the present king and reunite with his mate. But when Elayne comes into the company of the king, called Leo, will her mission be jeopardized?

I loved the premise with the generations waiting to repay the favour, the parallel worlds, and all the creatures. What really bugged me was the dialogue. Sometimes the characters would speak in a way that sounded out of character, like Elayne's dad talking very properly and formally; sometimes the dialogue sounded forced, like when Elayne would bring out the slang-y teen speak. And other times a character would switch between different ways of speaking, like when Elayne would switch randomly between ye olde English and modern speech, it was really annoying and awkward. The characters weren't really well developed, you felt for them on the surface but didn't bond with them. That, and Elayne wasn't really a strong character...she does a lot of waiting around. I get that she's only 15 and literally thrown into the situation, but c'mon girl, grow a spine! She does get better towards the end, but it still bugged me.

Recommendation:
Lots of potential but didn't deliver.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like the colour scheme, but the position of Elayne and Moonspill seems at a bit of an odd angle, Moonspill looks just weird.

Angelfire - Courtney Allison Moulton

2011-05-09T17:09:00.005-04:00

Title: Angelfire
Author: Courtney Allison Moulton
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins), 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 453 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy
Started: May 9, 2011
Finished: May 9, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers - monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell - she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul.

A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie's powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her - an assassin who has already killed her once.

While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie's soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian's most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives - including truths that may be too frightening to remember.

Review:
Man, the whole fallen angel thing is really popular in YA urban fantasy, 'cause here's another title with 'em. I'll be comparing Angelfire to Hush, Hush and its sequel Crescendo a bit, mainly because that series first comes to mind when I think of the whole fallen angel theme.

Angelfire's plot is nothing to write home about, it's pretty standard to the fallen angel thing, but with a few exceptions. Ellie is a fairly normal girl, but on her seventeenth birthday, a mysterious boy that she feels a pull towards awakens her sleeping powers. Will reveals to Ellie that she is a reincarnation of the Preliator, an ancient warrior fighting on the side of the heavens to help smite demons and reapers and the like. Will is her immortal guardian and bodyguard, and has been with her through every incarnation. Super badass reaper shows up wanting to do away with Ellie since she's uber pwoerful, and tries to employ a secret weapon that will banish her soul to the point where she won't be able to reincarnate anymore. Ellie and Will work together to foil the reaper's plot, while trying to train Ellie and maintain her human life at the same time.

Some things I liked: Unlike Hush, Hush, the heroine is actually an active force in the book. Ellie is really powerful, more than she even realizes, so she can take care of herself, to the point of beating up Will the odd time when she gets out of hand. Also, Will wasn't a complete ass like Patch is in Hush, Hush; yes he's stoic and removed a little bit, but not to the point where he's detestable. Their relationship together is handled really well, it's taken slowly and things get a little angsty, but Will and Ellie interact well together and make a really good team throughout the novel. Complete opposite of the relationship in Hush, Hush. This is a debut novel, and the writing reflects that at points, but I'm sure it will improve with future installments (this is the first of a planned trilogy).

All in all, this is probably one of the better fallen angel type books I've read, which granted I haven't read a ton of them, but it's definitely the best one I've read yet. The plot is standard but the characters are quite likable, and the romance is cute, plus Ellie is admirable as the heroine, very human with faults but strong at the same time.

Recommendation:
If you're in the mood for a fallen angel type story but weren't nuts about Hush, Hush, read Angelfire, if you're anything like me, you'll find it more entertaining and less objectionable than the former.

Thoughts on the cover:
Eh, it's okay. The author's website has some awesome character concept art that's absolutely beautiful, so look at those instead.

The False Princess - Eilis O'Neal

2011-05-09T16:22:00.005-04:00

Title: The False Princess
Author: Eilis O'Neal
Publisher: Egmont USA, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 319 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy
Started: May 7, 2011
Finished: May 8, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
Princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor, Nalia has led a privileged life at court. But everything changes when she learns, just after her sixteenth birthday, that she is a false princess, a stand-in for the real Nalia, who has been hidden away for her protection. Cast out with little more than the clothes on her back, the girl now called Sinda must leave behind the city, her best friend, Kiernan, and the only life she’s ever known.

Sent to live with her only surviving relative, a cold, scornful woman with little patience for her newfound niece, Sinda proves inept at even the simplest tasks. Then she discovers that magic runs through her veins – long-suppressed, dangerous magic that she must learn to control – and she realizes that she will never learn to be just a simple village girl.

Sinda returns to the city to seek answers. Instead, she rediscovers the boy who refused to forsake her, and uncovers a secret that could change the course of Thorvaldor’s history, forever.

Review:
I came across this a few months back and decided to give it a go, especially since YA fantasy tends to surprise me sometimes (in a good way). The False Princess isn't a book I went nuts over, but it wasn't horrible and I quite enjoyed it.

Nalia is Thorvaldor's princess, but just after her sixteenth birthday, her parents reveal that she isn't really Nalia at all. She is Sinda, taken as an infant to replace the real Nalia because of suspected attempts on her life due to a prophecy. The real princess has been raised in a convent without any clue as to her real heritage, the same situation Sinda now finds herself in. Brutally dismissed by the King and Queen, Sinda is sent to live with her aunt, who isn't exactly warm and fuzzy herself. When Sinda's long sealed magical ability comes out with a vengeance, she travels back to the city to seek guidance in how to control the magic that frightens her. Afterwards, she uncovers a conspiracy that only she and her friend Kiernan are privy to, and thus set out to set things right.

The False Princess had a bit of everything: magic, adventure, romance, traipsing about in libraries, oracles, you name it. The plot started off really well and grabbed me right away. The little suspenseful twists were well done too, I wasn't expecting them. The plot started to lag towards the climax, which was a drag, but the ending was satisfying enough that I can overlook it. I wish the author had spent more time on the magic in this universe, it kinda came out of left field all at once like "oh yeah, did we mention the random magic we have here?" kind of thing. I liked Sinda and Kiernan, they had completely opposite personalities that bounced off each other well, and although Kiernan was a bit of a playboy, it wasn't to the point where he was an obnoxious ass, and he's so devoted to Sinda that you just find him sweet. It was an entertaining novel, but just didn't have that little extra push that makes me fall in love with a story.

Recommendation:
A very well put-together fantasy story with something for everyone. Not astounding, but still worth the read.

Thoughts on the cover:
I can't figure out if the girl is Sinda or if Sinda is the image in the locket....slightly confusing. I like the colour scheme of gold and purples though.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Hidden Gallery - Maryrose Wood

2011-05-07T16:06:00.005-04:00

Title: The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Hidden Gallery (Book 2)
Author: Maryrose Wood
Publisher: Balzer & Bray (HarperCollins), 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 313 pages
Genre: Children's Classic/Historical Fiction
Started: May 6, 2011
Finished: May 6, 2011

Summary:
Of especially naughty children it is sometimes said, "They must have been raised by wolves."

The Incorrigible children actually were.

Thanks to the efforts of Miss Penelope Lumley, their plucky governess, Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia are much more like children than wolf pups now. They are accustomed to wearing clothes. They hardly ever howl at the moon. And for the most part, they resist the urge to chase squirrels up trees.

Despite Penelope's civilizing influence, the Incorrigibles still managed to ruin Lady Constance's Christmas ball, nearly destroying the grand house. So while Ashton Place is being restored, Penelope, the Ashtons, and the children take up residence in London. Penelope is thrilled, as London offers so many opportunities to further the education of her unique students. But the city presents challenges, too, in the form of the palace guards' bearskin hats, which drive the children wild—not to mention the abundance of pigeons the Incorrigibles love to hunt. As they explore London, however, they discover more about themselves as clues about the children's—and Penelope's—mysterious past crop up in the most unexpected ways...

Review:
After reading the first book in this series last year, I was so charmed by the book that I knew I had to pick up the subsequent books whenever they came out.

Picking up after the events of the first book, Penelope, the children, and Lord and Lady Ashton decide to spend some time in London while Ashton Place is being repaired. Questions are raised about the children's parents and Penelope's past, which are the main plot points driving the series right now, plus we see the addition of a nice potential love interest for Penelope, as well as some indication in regards to what happens to Mr. Ashton during a full moon. The children, although more civilized now thanks to Penelope, still get into hilarious situations like growling at the Buckingham Palace guards because of the fur hats.

The book is written to come off across like a classic governess story, but with more humour. The series so far is incredibly charming, I can't stress that enough, I literally melt as I read them because you just don't see modern children's books written in this type of style anymore. The plot does move fairly slowly, so I think it'll take at least one or two more books before we see major developments in the plot (though it's not hard to guess where things are going, this is a middle grade novel after all). I can't wait for the next installment, and will be waiting for it next year.

Recommendation:
Kids will love this. I can completely picture myself reading this to my future child when they're about 8-9 years old. Heck, I love reading this even as an adult, it's so incredibly charming.

Thoughts on the cover:
The illustrations for the cover and those interspersed throughout the novel are done by the same illustrator from the first book, so more 60s-esque kitschy drawings, which I love.

Ship Breaker - Paolo Bacigalupi

2011-05-05T19:05:00.006-04:00

Title: Ship Breaker
Author: Paolo Bacigalupi
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2010 (Hardcover)
Length: 323 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Dystopian, Adventure
Started: May 1, 2011
Finished: May 5, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
In America's Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being broken down for parts, Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota--and hopefully live to see another day. But when, by luck or chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life: Strip the ship for all it's worth or rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life. . . .

In this powerful novel, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi delivers a thrilling, fast-paced adventure set in a vivid and raw, uncertain future.

Review:
This book won the Prinz award and has been on my to-read list for a while (the library finally got a copy in). I gotta give the author some credit where it's due, he does some awesome world-building and has the writing skill to really place readers in that world.

Nailer, a small teenage boy, lives in the Gulf Coast area in a gritty, dystopian future where people depend on the seas and oceans for their livelihood. Since he's so small, Nailer can still work light crew, part of a team that scavenges grounded ships for copper wire and any other small items that can be resold. Between the cutthroat world he lives in where it's rare to find a person who won't screw you over to benefit themselves, and his abusive father, Nailer knows he needs to escape to find a better situation. When he finds a grounded clipper ship after a hurricane with his friend Pima, they find Nita, a swank (aristocratic) girl that is the only survivor. Nita is Nailer's ticket out, but only if he helps her get back to her family. But with Nita being pursued to be ransomed back to her wealthy father, Nailer's visions of a better life is going to be a lot harder to achieve than he first thought.

The author has created a wonderfully unique world here. The ships, the scavenging, the beaches, the shacks, the storms, the atmosphere just comes alive as you're reading. The writing style compliments the tense environment that Nailer experiences, again it just really allows the reader to be fully immersed in Nailer's world. The plot's nothing much to write home about: Boy meets girl, girl needs help, boy helps girl, gets into scrapes along the way etc., it's kind of predictable, but the author handles it well with the details and the whole plot revolving around ships and nautical stuff was unique enough to keep me reading.

The only thing that didn't win me over completely was the characters. Nailer's gone through some tough stuff, and I felt for the guy well enough, but I still didn't see a lot of development to the point where I got emotionally invested in what happened to him. Same with Pima and Nita and the rest. One thing about the characters I did like was the fact that they're multicultural and (I'm presuming) bi-racial: they're all described as having dark skin and dark hair, and Nailer's the odd one out because he has those features as well as blue eyes.

Recommendations:
This is a must-read purely for the atmosphere, the author did an amazing job with the world-building. If you're big on character development you might feel something's lacking here.

Thoughts on the cover:
This does a great job of evoking the feel of the environment: the gritty metal, the rust, the colours...makes you feel like you're on a ship with Nailer.

The Iron Thorn - Caitlin Kittredge

2011-04-30T14:39:00.006-04:00

Title: The Iron Thorn (Book 1 in the Iron Codex series)
Author: Caitlin Kittredge
Publisher: Delacorte Press, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 492 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Steampunk, Dystopian Fiction, Fantasy
Started: April 29, 2011
Finished: April 30, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
In the city of Lovecraft, the Proctors rule and a great Engine turns below the streets, grinding any resistance to their order to dust. The necrovirus is blamed for Lovecraft's epidemic of madness, for the strange and eldritch creatures that roam the streets after dark, and for everything that the city leaders deem Heretical—born of the belief in magic and witchcraft. And for Aoife Grayson, her time is growing shorter by the day.
Aoife Grayson's family is unique, in the worst way—every one of them, including her mother and her elder brother Conrad, has gone mad on their 16th birthday. And now, a ward of the state, and one of the only female students at the School of Engines, she is trying to pretend that her fate can be different.
Her future seems bleak. Until one day she receives a letter that reads simply: Find the witch's alphabet. Save yourself.
Aoife knows the letter is from Conrad, but the last time she saw her brother was the day he lost his mind and attacked her before going on the run from the Proctors. Could it be that he is sane somewhere and warning her to get out while she still can-or is the note simply a message from a rambling madman?
To save herself, Aoife must find her brother. And to do that, she must leave Lovecraft and venture into a world of Heretics and air pirates, night creatures and dark family secrets...before thr clock winds down, and she too succumbs to the necrovirus.

Review:
An alternative, dystopian, steampunk 1950s world, complete with fairies and magic...this book is nothing if not ambitious. The plot intrigued me: a virus that causes madness, a girl trying to change her own fate, all wrapped up in 3 different genres, I was set. Unfortunately the book just didn't grab me. Flat characters, writing that takes forever to get to the point, and the book being far too longer than it needed to all made this read more tedious than enjoyable.

Aoife (which is a really awkward name that took a lot of getting used to) is nearing 16 and that very fact worries her. Her mother went mad at 16 and has spent the years since then in various asylums. Her brother Conrad shared the same fate and Aoife hasn't seen him since her tried to cut her throat and ran from the Proctors two years ago. When the academy where she is studying Engineering expels her just before her birthday, Aoife receives a letter from her brother that instructs her to go to their father's estate, called Graystone. There she will find the answers that will allow her to save both her brother and herself from the madness that threatens to consume her.

It was interesting how the author melded three genres into one. I've seen dystopian and steampunk together before, but never with fantasy elements like magic and fairies as is done here. Although it was admirable to see the attempt, the ensuing plot was fairly predictable, taking cliche elements from each of the three genres and combining them...it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where things were headed. The characters, especially Aoife, weren't very well developed. Cal was to a certain extent, but after a while Aoife and Dean become more of a focus rather than Cal, and they were so flat that I thought it would be more interesting if Aoife did descend into madness because at least then I'd get some sort of reaction out of her. For a book that's nearly 500 pages long with a plot that in my opinion was fairly simplistic once it got going, the writing gets to the point of verbal diarrhea at times. There were sections where I skimmed pages at a time and didn't miss much. I prefer books where you can't skip a single sentence because every word is carefully chosen and so loaded with meaning. This was not one of them. If the writing had been more concise, the book could've probably been cut by at least a hundred pages or so, which would've been a lot less tedious in the long run.

Recommendation:
Didn't absolutely hate it, but didn't fall in love with it either....not quite sure what to make of it except for the fact that it tested my patience.

Thoughts on the cover:
I don't get this cover. Aside from being all moody and dark and such, it doesn't have much to do with the story. This cover image depicted here is slightly different from the actual cover in that Aoife's peasant top/shirt is higher up on her shoulder in the actual cover, but her right hand is still clasped as if she's trying to hold her shirt up. I don't know why the initial image had her shirt halfway off her shoulders, it doesn't really have anything to do with the story, and the sexualized image where it needn't be is probably why it was changed.

Hush - Eishes Chayil

2011-04-29T17:44:00.007-04:00

Title: Hush
Author: Eishes Chayil
Publisher: Walker Publishing Company (Bloomsbury), 2010 (Hardcover)
Length: 359 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Realistic Fiction
Started: April 27, 2011
Finished: April 28, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
Inside the closed community of Borough Park, where most Chassidim live, the rules of life are very clear, determined by an ancient script written thousands of years before down to the last detail and abuse has never been a part of it. But when young Gittel learns of the abuse her best friend has suffered at the hands of her own family member, the adults in her community try to persuade Gittel, and themselves, that nothing happened. Forced to remain silent, Gittel begins to question everything she was raised to believe.
A richly detailed and nuanced book, one of both humor and depth, understanding and horror, this story explains a complex world that remains an echo of its past, and illuminates the conflict between yesterday's traditions and today's reality.

Review:
Hush is, to say the least, a very powerful novel. Some people have had issues with it because they believe it encourages anti-Semitism based on how the Orthodox Jewish sect is portrayed, but the author never fails to condemn the act and the abusers, not necessarily the community that shelters them, because if there's one thing we know it's that abuse happens everywhere, as well as cover-ups.

Gittel lives in the area of Borough Park in modern day New York where her whole community of Chassidic Jews live. As an orthodox sect, life is very different: everything must be kosher, the kids don't watch tv, boys and girls are separated from an early age, arranged marriages at age 18 are the norm, and families are willing to turn a blind eye in order to save their reputation. The story is narrated via alternating chapters by present-day Gittel as she's about to be engaged and married at age 17/18, and also reminisces back to when Gittel was a child. When 9-year-old Gittel discovers that something horrible is happening to her best friend Devory (but she can't really identify it because the girls are so sheltered sexually that they don't realize what's happening is sexual abuse), she's not really sure how to help her, and all the adults around them ignore or punish Devory for her recent irregular behaviour. When things get even worse and Devory commits suicide, Gittel is devastated. When she tries to explain the reason why Devory did what she did, the adults tell her to keep quiet, mainly so as not to cause more humiliation for Devory's family, and also not to tarnish her own family's reputation. 10 years later, Gittel still suffers from witnessing Devory's sexual abuse and suicide, which affects her ability to have a healthy relationship with her new husband. It is only when she receives some support and finally reveals what she witnessed does she begin to heal.

I think what really makes this book amazing is Gittel's dual perspectives as a child and an adult. Although this book is so haunting, it also made me laugh while reading the chapters with Gittel as a child because the voice is so genuine. As a teacher, I know exactly how kids both big and little think, act, and speak, and this author got it hands down. As far as people complaining that the author is purposefully bashing the Chassidic community, I honestly don't think she's doing that here. Number 1, the author's name is a pseudonym, and explains everything in such detail that leads me to think that she either grew up in a Chassidic community, or still lives in one now. Not that someone that grew up in a certain type of community doesn't end up bashing that community as an adult, but the author also describes the good aspects of the community like Gittel's amazing father. It only shows that the community is just that: a community...you could replace the Chassidic community with any other and the abuse scenario could still happen. In this case the abuse happens to occur in a Chassidic community, but that's just the author's experience so that's what she chose to write about.

One thing I should caution readers about that did bother me a bit. Again, I'm coming at this from a non-Jewish perspective and mean no disrespect, but this story does caution against the blind faith and tradition of religion. The girls' lives revolve around religion to the point where they aren't allowed to do anything that isn't sanctioned. Their skirts must be so many inches below the knee (I'm all for modest clothing but there's a limit), their hair must be covered once they're older (I'm sorry but the hair on a woman's head isn't a sex symbol, it's just hair), they are forced into arranged marriages when they're barely legal, are so sexually sheltered, and if it isn't in their vocabulary it doesn't exist (like sexual abuse). The comments about never trusting a non-Jewish person and that a non-Jew would kill and poison them if given the chance were insulting but more funny at the same time...I teach my students that religion doesn't make or break a person, and that good people can be from all walks of life and a person's personality and actions should dictate whether they are a good person or not...and I teach in a Catholic school. I'm of the mindset that religion sometimes must change with the times, and this book, in addition to exploring the issue of covering up abuse no matter what community it occurs in, also explores the damage done to a person when they are not given the ability and knowledge to think for themselves.

Recommendations:
Haunting and beautiful at the same time, this is an amazing book that needs to be read. The book does deal with rape and suicide of a young child (granted not explicitly), but it's still there, so readers beware.

Thoughts on the cover:
Very simple but very appropriate considering the themes of the story.

Plague - Michael Grant

2011-04-28T17:22:00.004-04:00

Title: Plague (Book 4 in the Gone series)
Author: Michael Grant
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins), 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 492 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Dystopian Fiction, Science Fiction
Started: April 24, 2011
Finished: April 27, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
It's been eight months since all the adults disappeared. GONE.

They've survived hunger. They've survived lies. But the stakes keep rising, and the dystopian horror keeps building. Yet despite the simmering unrest left behind by so many battles, power struggles, and angry divides, there is a momentary calm in Perdido Beach.

But enemies in the FAYZ don't just fade away, and in the quiet, deadly things are stirring, mutating, and finding their way free. The Darkness has found its way into the mind of its Nemesis at last and is controlling it through a haze of delirium and confusion. A highly contagious, fatal illness spreads at an alarming rate. Sinister, predatory insects terrorize Perdido Beach. And Sam, Astrid, Diana, and Caine are plagued by a growing doubt that they'll escape - or even survive - life in the FAYZ. With so much turmoil surrounding them, what desperate choices will they make when it comes to saving themselves and those they love?

Plague, Michale Grant's fourth book in the bestselling Gone series, will satisfy dystopian fans of all ages.

Review:
After reviewing Gone, Hunger, and Lies last year, I knew the Gone series was a freaking knockout one. I adore these books, the author doesn't suffer from what you normally see in a series where one or two of the books are amazing while the rest just seem like fillers while you're waiting for the end. Every single novel in this series is action-packed, continues with the ongoing plot as well as subplots that are relevant, and each one is just plain amazing. Honestly, I can't recommend this series enough.

Plague, like all the previous novels, has a bunch of different events going on all at once that all come together in the end. Sam, Dekka, and Jack are sent by Albert to the north end of the FAYZ to investigate new sources of water. Sam and Astrid have a falling out over a decision regarding sex. A mysterious illness that literally causes kids to cough up their internal organs is devastating the population. A hoard of mutant bugs use the children's bodies as nesting grounds, ripping their bodies in half as they emerge. Drake/Brittney escapes from the dungeon prison and creates chaos in Perdido Beach. Astrid is trying to deal with her murderous thoughts towards her little brother. Caine and Diana are hanging out on their island paradise and not causing trouble for the most part.

The unique thing about Plague that you didn't see with the three previous novels is a bit of a deviation in the narration. The majority of the novel is still in third person that addresses each character's perspective as it focuses on each person, but you also get a first person narration from Little Pete every so often. This was really interesting since Little Pete is autistic and we've never really heard anything from his perspective before.

The main issue in Plague is of course the two plagues that the children face: the coughing sickness and the bugs that bury themselves in human bodies. This upgrades the squick factor in this novel as opposed to the previous ones, things get pretty descriptive and gruesome and there is a lot of death and general suffering. In addition you have the search for water, the development with Drake's escape and the gaiaphage, plus the subtle moral issues. I think one of the reasons I love these books so much is the issues they face: Drake/Brittney is deluded by the gaiaphage and believes it to be a god that requires a certain human sacrifice, which the characters have to admit is wrong regardless of whether a god tells them to do it or not. Astrid and Sam have the issue around sex; Astrid refuses to commit that sin but at the same time is tempted to kill Little Pete because she thinks killing him will get rid of the FAYZ...yeah, these kids have issues. Also, I was waiting for the point where the older kids would resort to rape, and it was mentioned here. Nobody actually raped anyone, but it was threatened, so things are getting more realistic. There's also consensual sex, but saying between who would be spoiler territory.

Just like the previous books, the ending will raise more questions than it answers, so yet again, I'll be waiting with bated breath for the 5th book next year, which I'm pretty sure is called 'Darkness'.

Recommendation:
This series is pure gold, it's made of so many kinds of awesome I can't describe them all. If you've read the previous three novels, then pick up Plague, it's just as good if not better. If you haven't read this series, pick up Gone, Hunger, Lies, and Plague, and read them!

Thoughts on the cover:
I'm pretty sure the girl on the front (the same girl on the cover of Lies) is supposed to be Lana. I think the boy on the front is Drake, the boy on the back is Sam, and the girl on the back is Brittney.

Deadly - Julie Chibbaro

2011-04-24T18:27:00.004-04:00

Title: Deadly
Author: Julie Chibbaro
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 293 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Historical Fiction
Started: April 23, 2011
Finished: April 23, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
mysterious outbreak of typhoid fever is sweeping New York.

Could the city’s future rest with its most unlikely scientist?

If Prudence Galewski is ever going to get out of Mrs. Browning’s esteemed School for Girls, she must demonstrate her refinement and charm by securing a job appropriate for a young lady. But Prudence isn’t like the other girls. She is fascinated by how the human body works and why it fails.

With a stroke of luck, she lands a position in a laboratory, where she is swept into an investigation of the fever bound to change medical history. Prudence quickly learns that an inquiry of this proportion is not confined to the lab. From ritzy mansions to shady bars and rundown tenements, she explores every potential cause of the disease. But there’s no answer in sight—until the volatile Mary Mallon emerges. Dubbed “Typhoid Mary” by the press, Mary is an Irish immigrant who has worked as a cook in every home the fever has ravaged. Strangely, though, she hasn’t been sick a day in her life. Is the accusation against her an act of discrimination? Or is she the first clue in a new scientific discovery?

Prudence is determined to find out. In a time when science is for men, she’ll have to prove to the city, and to herself, that she can help solve one of the greatest medical mysteries of the twentieth century.

Review:
I love learning about plague, disease etc., call it a morbid fascination of mine. Deadly is historical fiction based on the figure of 'Typhoid Mary' in the early 1900s in New York City.

Prudence Galewski is 16 in 1906 and manages to find a job working for epidemiologist Mr. Soper, who is investigating a recent outbreak of typhoid fever. When they finally pin down what they believe is the source of the outbreak, they are faced with a moral dilemma: do they quarantine Mary Mallon, an otherwise healthy person who doesn't even realize she's a carrier of the disease, or do they respect her liberty and allow her to remain free and continue to infect everyone she cooks for?

I really liked how Prudence was very different from most girls of that time period. Her parents encouraged her to learn and think for herself, and specifically to learn about science. Ever since her older brother Benny died of infected wounds, she has had an obsession with figuring out how people get sick and how that spreads. The writing is excellent, written in the form of Prudence's diary entries, so the vocabulary reflects the language of the time period quite well. I also liked the sub plots of Prudence's little crush on Mr. Soper and finally grieving for her father, those two actually tie in together in the end and it makes sense why the author included them. The moral dilemma is really well expressed through Prudence, who assumes that if she can't make a decision for the good of society, then she doesn't have the constitution necessary to become a doctor like she wants to be.

Recommendation:
Excellent historical fiction, especially if the subject matter interests you.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like the little germ images in the woman's silhouette, but the yellow and black colouring is kinda bleh.

Timeless - Alexandra Monir

2011-04-23T16:25:00.004-04:00

Title: Timeless
Author: Alexandra Monir
Publisher: Delacorte Press, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 280 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Science Fiction, Historical Fiction
Started: April 22, 2011
Finished: April 22, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
When tragedy strikes Michele Windsor’s world, she is forced to uproot her life and move across the country to New York City, to live with the wealthy, aristocratic grandparents she’s never met. In their old Fifth Avenue mansion filled with a century’s worth of family secrets, Michele discovers a diary that hurtles her back in time to the year 1910. There, in the midst of the glamorous Gilded Age, Michele meets the young man with striking blue eyes who has haunted her dreams all her life – a man she always wished was real, but never imagined could actually exist. And she finds herself falling for him, into an otherworldly, time-crossed romance.

Michele is soon leading a double life, struggling to balance her contemporary high school world with her escapes into the past. But when she stumbles upon a terrible discovery, she is propelled on a race through history to save the boy she loves – a quest that will determine the fate of both of their lives.

Review:
I have to admit, this book surprised me in a good way. I honestly didn't think I would like it at all, and went into it expecting the worst. Granted, I wasn't completely blown away by it and I still have issues with certain things, but all in all I have to say it's an entertaining novel that I'll definitely be picking up the sequel to.

Michele and her mother Marion live a bohemian lifestyle in California. When her mother dies in a car accident, Michele is sent to live with her mother's parents in New York City. Her grandparents are the Windsors, one of the oldest and richest families in the city, and Michele has never met them before. While trying to adjust to life as a blue blood and coming to terms with her mother's death, Michele discovers a key that accompanies an old diary that belonged to a previous Windsor girl named Clara in 1910. The key and diary allow her to travel back in time to 1910 where she meets her female ancestor as well as Philip Walker, a boy with blue eyes that she's dreamed about for years. When Michele and Philip begin to fall in love, they must come to terms with what their relationship means and how, if at all, they can make it work.

First off, the things that bugged me about the novel. The time traveling was strange, Michele could only go back in time if she had an object relating to the year or the specific date (the diary entries, Lily's record albums, letters, etc.) I'm pretty sure this was created to conveniently fit into the plot, but oh well. Also, when Michele travels back in time she can only be seen by Philip and whatever female ancestor is around her age during that time....which made no sense at all. Again, it seems to exist purely to work conveniently into the plot, but it still didn't make much sense. The romance between Philip and Michele happened a little too quickly, but there was a fair bit of build-up so I could see how they could get to that point. Also, Philip didn't act like a well-bred boy from 1910 at all, so suspension of disbelief didn't happen there.

On to what I liked. I loved how the author had Michele travel to 3 distinct time periods: 1910s, 1920s, 1940s. The history behind each time period was well explored and I was really satisfied with what Michele had to learn/accomplish in each time period. I liked the music aspect: Michele writes lyrics, Philip composes, Lily sings, you could tell the author has music in her background since the characters speak so passionately about it. Though some people I'm sure would disagree with me, I kinda liked how the romance between Philip and Michele progressed and how it was resolved (not going to say more due to massive spoilers). Granted this all led to the most infuriating cliffhanger ending of all time, so needless to say, I'll be needing the sequel.

Recommendation:
A book about time traveling and history that pleasantly surprised me. Huge cliffhanger ending, so you might want to keep in mind from the get-go that there will be a sequel.

Thoughts on the cover:
Eh, your typical YA cover with a girl on it...the curve of her shoulder really bugs me for some reason. I do like the back cover with who I'm assuming is Philip looking up at the moon.

Warped - Maurissa Guibord

2011-04-22T12:23:00.005-04:00

Title: Warped
Author: Maurissa Guibord
Publisher: Delacorte Press, 2011 (Hardcover)
Length: 337 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy
Started: April 21, 2011
Finished: April 21, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
Tessa Brody doesn't believe in magic. Or fate. But there's definitely something weird about the dusty unicorn tapestry that she discovers in an box of old books. The wild, handsome creature enchants Tessa, and frightens her too.

Soon after the tapestry comes into her possession, strange things begin to happen. Tessa experiences vivd dreams of the past filled with images from a brutal hunt-one that she herself may have played a part in. When Tessa pulls a loose thread from the tapestry, she releases a terrible secret. She also meets William de Chaucy, a young sixteenth-century nobleman with gorgeous eyes, an odd accent, and haughty attitude to spare. Will's fate is inextricably tied to the tapestry as Tessa's is. And though Will might be hard to get along with, he's equally hard to resist.

Together, Tessa and Will must correct the wrongs of the past. But time is running out. The Norn sisters, also known as the Fates, have stepped in and begun to make a tangled mess of Tessa's life. Unless she does their bidding and defeats a cruel and crafty ancient enemy, everything, and everyone she loves will be destroyed.

Review:
I am probably not the best person to review this book because it essentially fits my checklist for an almost perfect fantasy book, incredibly cliched though it may be.

Tessa, the heroine complete with a crazy-weird 'real' name, comes into possession of an old tapestry through an auction that just happened to previously belong to a witch-like character named Gray Lily, who wants her property back. In the meantime, Tessa dreams of a medieval unicorn hunt where a girl that looks eerily like herself is the virginal bait for the mythical creature. Tessa is drawn to the tapestry in ways she cannot explain, and when she pulls a thread from it, she releases the unicorn from his prison...and it turns out he's not really a unicorn at all. William de Chaucy, imprisoned for hundreds of years, must now adjust to Tessa's world while they try to figure out how to avoid the wrath of Gray Lily. Then it turns out Gray Lily has powers she obtained in a less than honest manner, so the Fates (the mythical sisters with the scissors that cut people's threads of life) demand that Tessa defeat Gray Lily or else they will cause her life to crumble around her.

I liked how Tessa had a past life connection with Will, it made their relationship more than just the usual fantasy fare, especially because of the trust issues involved. I got Tessa's character, but Will's fell a little flat, I would have liked to see something more about him, especially about him adjusting to Tessa's world, doesn't matter if he did spend hundreds of years as a unicorn, I don't buy that he adjusted so well to 21st century life without some issues that Tessa might have had to help him with. Same with their romance...it happened a little too fast and I would have liked to see a little more development before they gushed the I love you's.

In spite of all these little annoyances and the cliche storyline, I really enjoyed the book. I'm a sucker for fantasy stories with a 'guy from another time period' element, so I loved Will, although I could've loved him more if he'd been more developed. The inclusion of the Fates sisters and previous lives subplots I think really added to the depth of the story. There's even a unique type of weaving magic in the novel that Gray Lily and Tessa to a certain extent can do. It was really original and I wish the author had given some more detail, especially about Tessa's ability to do the magic.

Recommendation:
Typical fantasy plot at first, but enough originality to make it stand out in the end. Despite my annoyances with some aspects like the romance and character development, I really enjoyed the novel, and I think others will too.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like how the image of the girl is a painting and not a photograph, and how the image of the tapestry bleeds into the girl's face so they almost blend together.

XVI - Julia Karr

2011-04-22T11:22:00.004-04:00

Title: XVI
Author: Julia Karr
Publisher: Speak (Penguin), 2011 (Paperback)
Length: 325 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Dystopian Fiction
Started: April 18, 2011
Finished: April 21, 2011

Summary:
From Amazon.com:
Nina Oberon's life is pretty normal: she hangs out with her best friend, Sandy, and their crew, goes to school, plays with her little sister, Dee. But Nina is 15. And like all girls she'll receive a Governing Council-ordered tattoo on her 16th birthday. XVI. Those three letters will be branded on her wrist, announcing to all the world - even the most predatory of men - that she is ready for sex. Considered easy prey by some, portrayed by the Media as sluts who ask for attacks, becoming a "sex-teen" is Nina's worst fear. That is, until right before her birthday, when Nina's mom is brutally attacked. With her dying breaths, she reveals to Nina a shocking truth about her past - one that destroys everything Nina thought she knew. Now, alone but for her sister, Nina must try to discover who she really is, all the while staying one step ahead of her mother's killer.

Review:
I don't know what it is with my dystopian choices this month, but like The Water Wars, XVI is a novel with a really awesome premise and themes but is just poorly executed.

Nina is about to turn 16 and lives in a world where people are grouped into a caste system of tiers and women have few rights. Every girl gets an "XVI" tattoo on their wrist when they turn 16 to signify that they are legal and officially sexually available. The media uses propaganda to make girls want to be a typical "sex-teen", essentially turning teenage girls into whores. With very few options as a low tier-two family to advance themselves, Nina doesn't want to end up in FeLS, a program only for lower tier girls that are still virgins, mainly because nobody knows what happens to those girls after joining the program. When her mother is killed and tells Nina a secret, it unravels everything she knew about her parents and her life. While trying to keep her little sister safe, Nina must also get a message to her father that can make a big difference in their lives.

The premise and themes here are amazing. Nina and her friend Sandy are leered at by men constantly and are asked to show their wrists, you just wonder what would happen if they actually had their tattoos at the points when they were asked, would they be raped, assaulted? Is there any ramification for rape? The idea that the media essentially wants these girls to be oversexed is so close to our reality now it's scary. Girls are targeted with sexual messages at younger ages even now, and XVI just shows us how twisted these practices can be when done in extremes. The girls mention at one point that men have first rights when it comes to their biological children, just one of the many cases where women in this world have had many of their rights removed. It never really says how things got this way, either the lack of women's rights or the tier system, and it would have been nice to know how it all happened and how the justice system got so muddled.

Although the themes are really relevant and thought-provoking, the execution of them left me unsatisfied. The plot threads seem to be thrown together to the point where half the time I didn't know exactly what was going on detail-wise. It also took my forever to figure out that "trannies" meant cars/vehicles....it shouldn't have taken that long to figure out the slang. The world-building wasn't nearly explained enough to make me invested emotionally, as explained above. The characters aren't very well-developed. Nina's mom and grandparents seem very one-sided and almost too perfect, the love interest Sal seemed so flat...even Nina's reactions seemed unrealistic at times, and I could accept that perhaps they would be considering the world she grew up in if I'd been given more information about that world to see how someone would react, all back to the world building.

Recommendation:
Good premise and themes but poorly executed.

Thoughts on the cover:
If the girl on the front is supposed to be Nina, she seems too dolled up to be her considering how much Nina rejects those kinds of things.

200+ reviews, woot!

2011-04-18T20:10:00.005-04:00

Wow, I've been in such a reading frenzy this past week I didn't even notice that I surpassed the 200 review mark! I hit my 100 review mark at the end of June 2010, so it took about 10 months to double it, which I'm relatively happy with.

Thanks to everyone who reads, comments, follows, and links/recommends the blog to others, you guys are the best ^_^

Fall For Anything - Courtney Summers

2011-04-18T18:44:00.005-04:00

Title: Fall For Anything
Author: Courtney Summers
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 2010 (Paperback)
Length: 230 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Realistic Fiction
Started: April 18, 2011
Finished: April 18, 2011

Summary:
From the back of the book:
When Eddie Reeves’s father commits suicide her life is consumed by the nagging question of why? Why when he was a legendary photographer and a brilliant teacher? Why when he seemed to find inspiration in everything he saw? And, most important, why when he had a daughter who loved him more than anyone else in the world? When she meets Culler Evans, a former student of her father’s and a photographer himself, an instant and dangerous attraction begins. Culler seems to know more about her father than she does and could possibly hold the key to the mystery surrounding his death. But Eddie’s vulnerability has weakened her and Culler Evans is getting too close. Her need for the truth keeps her hanging on… but are some questions better left unanswered?

Review:
After reading Some Girls Are a couple months back, I was excited to pick up the author's new book, Fall For Anything. Luckily, the author's reputation for pure awesomeness precedes her, and Fall For Anything was nothing short of amazing.

When 17-year-old Eddie Reeves is the first one to discover her father's body after he commits suicide, it plunges her into a downward spiral of grief. Her mother shuts down, her mom's bitchy best friend takes over managing the household, and Eddie is consumed with the question "why?". When she meets Culler Evans, her father's 20-year-old photography student, they bond over their shared experiences of Eddie's father, and discover that Mr. Reeves he left a final message at the locations of the last places he photographed. They embark on a road trip to said locations to finally get an answer to why her father killed himself, and Eddie learns that sometimes, regardless of what answers we may or may not find, it doesn't change the outcome of a certain situation, and that some things are better left alone because they'll drive you crazy trying to uncover them.

The author's depiction of Eddie's and her mother's grief are remarkably well explored here. Eddie appears fine on the outside, but is so grief-stricken that those around her can't really tell how badly she's suffering. Eddie's mother shuts down and literally goes into zombie mode in a housecoat all day, so Eddie really only has her best friend Milo to rely on. I like how Milo knows details of the night Eddie found her dad and refuses to tell her because he's suffering too and doesn't want to talk about it, it shows how people can be affected by grief even though the connection to the person might not be as strong as that of a spouse, child, or relative. I love books that show the various ways people grieve a loss, I think they're necessary to show that there's no correct way to grieve and that people need to be tolerant of the ways a person can express grief. The author does a wonderful job of conveying Eddie's strong yet vulnerable voice, and even gives a well developed voice to Milo and Eddie's mom even though they don't get as much spotlight as Eddie does. Appropriate for the story, the ending isn't really resolved, cause really, there's no way to really resolve Eddie issue, but we do see her coming to terms with her dad's suicide and coming to accept what it means for her life now that he's gone.

Recommendation:
Like Some Girls Are, Fall For Anything deals with some pretty heavy stuff, but is a must-read, incredible on all counts.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like how the photography element is worked into the cover, and quite nicely I might add.

The Water Wars - Cameron Stracher

2011-04-18T18:07:00.005-04:00

Title: The Water Wars
Author: Cameron Stracher
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire, 2011
Length: 240 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Dystopian Fiction, Adventure, Science Fiction
Started: April 17, 2011
Finished: April 18, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
Would you risk everything for someone you just met? What if he had a secret worth killing for?

Welcome to a future where water is more precious than oil or gold...

Hundreds of millions of people have already died, and millions more will soon fall-victims of disease, hunger, and dehydration. It is a time of drought and war. The rivers have dried up, the polar caps have melted, and drinkable water is now in the hands of the powerful few. There are fines for wasting it and prison sentences for exceeding the quotas.

But Kai didn't seem to care about any of this. He stood in the open road drinking water from a plastic cup, then spilled the remaining drops into the dirt. He didn't go to school, and he traveled with armed guards. Kai claimed he knew a secret-something the government is keeping from us...

And then he was gone. Vanished in the middle of the night. Was he kidnapped? Did he flee? Is he alive or dead? There are no clues, only questions. And no one can guess the lengths to which they will go to keep him silent. We have to find him-and the truth-before it is too late for all of us.

Review:
I loved the concept of this book when I first read it, a dystopian novel based on a world where water is a rare resource. In spite of the fact that it turned out to be more of an adventure story than dystopian, I was disappointed with what I read. The concept and the world presented here hold a lot of promise but the execution falls short.

We meet our narrator, Vera, and her brother Will right away, as well as Kai, the mysterious boy whose behaviour baffles them. Almost as quickly, we find out that Kai has been kidnapped for some reason, and Vera and Will make the hasty decision to go after Kai and rescue him. After encounters with friendly pirates, world governments, and evil corporations, things wrap up rather conveniently with a happy ending...all in less than 250 pages.

Needless to say, the world has a wonderful concept: water shortages, rations, rampant sickness, synthetic food, political turmoil; but nothing is developed enough to make it believable or make the reader invested in the outcome. Vera, Will, Kai, and the other characters are very one-dimensional. I couldn't care less about Kai being rescued, and after a while, I thought Vera and Will were morons for running off after him without knowing a heck of a lot about him. Everything happens way too fast and falls oh so conveniently into place, I had a really skeptical look on my face the whole time I was reading it. Plus, the whole thing was more of an adventurous romp rather than a more serious take on the themes (water as a precious resource, political control over water), and I think I'd have had more respect for this book if the wonderful themes had been handled more appropriately.

Recommendation:
Wonderful premise, but really poorly executed. I would love another author to take this on.

Thoughts on the cover:
Really pretty and eye-catching. Ironically, the cover is the best part of this novel.

All You Get Is Me - Yvonne Prinz

2011-04-17T13:36:00.006-04:00

Title: All You Get Is Me
Author: Yvonne Prinz
Publisher: HarperTeen, 2011
Length: 279 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Realistic Fiction
Started: April 14, 2011
Finished: April 14, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
A summer of love, loss, and justice.

Things were complicated enough for Roar, even before her father decided to yank her out of the city and go organic. Suddenly, she’s a farm girl, albeit a reluctant one, selling figs at the farmers’ market and developing her photographs in a ramshackle shed. Caught between a troublemaking sidekick named Storm, a brooding, easy-on-the-eyes L.A. boy, and a father on a human rights crusade that challenges the fabric of the farm community, Roar is going to have to tackle it all—even with dirt under her fingernails and her hair pulled back with a rubber band meant for asparagus.

Review:
When I read The Vinyl Princess by the same author last summer, I loved it to pieces, so picking up her new title was a no brainer.

Aurora, called Roar, already has had to deal with her mom abandoning the family and her dad deciding to move to the country to become a farmer. This summer starts out with Roar and her dad witnessing a car accident where an illegal immigrant was killed, leaving behind a husband and child. Roar's dad, a former human rights lawyer before turning farmer, decides to take on an unprecedented case where an illegal immigrant sues a US citizen for wrongful death. Then Roar happens to fall for the son of the woman responsible for the crash, which complicates things further....not to mention how the farming community is all up in arms about her dad's case, so they're receiving threats as well.

I didn't love this book as much as Vinyl Princess, but purely because of the subject matter. The book is still wonderfully written, and the characters are quirky, but the plot just didn't grab me. I liked the subplot about Roar's mom, but the whole thing with the illegal immigrant workers and the trial and the forbidden love thing with Forest just didn't make an impression. Maybe it's because we don't have illegal immigrants in Canada....well we do, just not to the extent that the States does. We have issues with people resenting legal immigrants for taking away jobs and such, but most people are aware that the jobs that our legal immigrants do are jobs no one else wants and therefore no one has the right to complain. So all these issues about illegal vs. legal citizens in the book didn't make a lot of sense to me because people here wouldn't have an issue with an immigrant sueing someone for the wrongful death of his spouse, so it's probably just a mindset difference. I have a feeling that people that lived in or are familiar with southern California would get a lot out of this book: the farming, the hippy qualities, the all-natural lifestyle, I'm sure the author did it justice, but again, not something I can appreciate from growing up in an ethnic area of Ontario where vegetarians still aren't all that common.

Recommendation:
Not my cup of tea plot-wise, but still a very entertaining book. There's a little bit of sexual content (Roar does lose her virginity), but even though it's not explicit that might be an issue for some.

Thoughts on the cover:
I love how they pictured Roar with her camera, it's a very natural pose, very appropriate for the book.

The Weird Sisters - Eleanor Brown

2011-04-14T17:14:00.004-04:00

Title: The Weird Sisters
Author: Eleanor Brown
Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books (Penguin), 2011
Length: 318 pages
Genre: Adult; Realistic Fiction
Started: April 12, 2011
Finished: April 13, 2011

Summary:
From the author's website:
The Andreas sisters were raised on books – their family motto might as well be, ‘There’s no problem a library card can’t solve.’ Their father, a renowned, eccentric professor of Shakespearean studies, named them after three of the Bard’s most famous characters: Rose (Rosalind – As You Like It), Bean (Bianca – The Taming of the Shrew), and Cordy (Cordelia – King Lear), but they have inherited those characters’ failures along with their strengths.

Now the sisters have returned home to the small college town where they grew up – partly because their mother is ill, but mostly because their lives are falling apart and they don’t know where to go next. Rose, a staid mathematics professor, has the chance to break away from her quiet life and join her devoted fiance in England, if she could only summon up the courage to do more than she’s thought she could. Bean left home as soon as she could, running to the glamour of New York City, only to come back ashamed of the person she has become. And Cordy, who has been wandering the country for years, has been brought back to earth with a resounding thud, realizing it’s finally time for her to grow up.

The sisters never thought they would find the answers to their problems in each other, but over the course of one long summer, they find that everything they’ve been running from – each other, their histories, and their small hometown – might offer more than they ever expected.

Review:
This is probably one of the most human, charming stories I've read in a long time, I loved this book.

Rose, Bean, and Cordy are all failures in their own way: Rose is afraid of change and is tied down by the perpetual responsibility of being the eldest and taking care of everyone. Bean was fired from her job and has come home in shame to figure out what to do next. Cordy finds herself pregnant after traipsing around the country like a nomad, so decides to return home to plan her next move as well. The sisters, in their late twenties to early thirties, don't exactly get along well either, but they band together in compromise temporarily when they're all home to help care for their mother who is diagnosed with breast cancer. As each sister suffers her own problems in silence, they each begin to uncover the reasons why the other sisters have come home and the overdue sisterly understanding and bonding kicks in.

This is a book that thrives purely because of the characters, since not much actually happens in terms of plot except for the developments in their mother's illness and Cordy's pregnancy. Each sister has a completely developed personality that's wonderfully explored with plenty of quirky anecdotes from the past, and how they interact with each other is hilarious. I loved how their dad was a Shakespeare prof and named them after heroines from the plays, not to mention their family way of communicating in random quotes from the plays that relate to what they're discussing. I also liked how each sister was messed up in ways that were believable: Rose is afraid to leave the familiar despite being well into her thirties, which eerily reminded me of a friend of mine. Bean has screwed up royally but got lucky, and doesn't know what direction to take next. Cordy is pregnant and barely feels able to take care of herself and decides she needs to finally grow up at the age of 27. Each sister finds closure in their own problems by helping each other, as well as picking up the slack regarding their mother's care, so the book is not so much about the end result (you know things will end well), but more about the journey it takes to get there.

Recommendation:
Utterly charming. If you're looking for a character-driven read that's heartwarming and soul-searching, read this!

Thoughts on the cover:
Kinda boring, but then again it is an adult cover, they're not exactly known for being dynamic. I do like the shade of green used for the title font and the vines growing out of it.

The Ice Princess - Camilla Lackberg

2011-04-14T16:00:00.005-04:00

Title: The Ice Princess
Author: Camilla Lackberg
Publisher: Free Press (Simon & Schuster), April 2011 (Paperback) (Review copy is an ARC from the publisher)
Length: 389 pages
Genre: Adult; Mystery
Started: April 10, 2011
Finished: April 11, 2011

Summary:
From the back of the book:
In this electrifying tale of suspense from an international crime-writing sensation, a grisly death exposes the dark heart of a Scandinavian seaside village.
Erica Falck returns to her tiny, remote hometown of Fjallbacka, Sweden, after her parents' deaths only to encounter another tragedy: the suicide of her childhood best friend, Alex. It's Erica herself who finds Alex's body-suspended in a bathtub of frozen water, her wrists slashed. Erica is bewildered: Why would a beautiful woman who had it all take her own life? Teaming up with police detective Patrik Hedstrom, Erica begins to uncover shocking events from Alex's childhood. As one horrifying fact after another comes to light, Erica and Patrik's curiosity gives way to obsession-and their flirtation grows into uncontrollable attraction. But it's not long before one thing becomes very clear: a deadly secret is at stake, and there's someone out there who will do anything-even commit murder-to protect it.
Fans of Scandinavian greats Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell will devour Camilla Lackberg's penetrating portrait of human nature at its darkest.

Review:
I put in a request for this title when I saw it advertised in Shelf Awareness mainly because I figured if I liked Stieg Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, then I might like this one.

Erica is 35 years old and has returned to her small seaside hometown of Fjallbacka to settle her parents estate after their death. Trying to deal with her parents' deaths and her younger sister's abusive marriage is bad enough, but then Erica discovers Alex's body and gets caught up in what ends up being the investigation of her murder (they quickly realize it's not a suicide). There's a ton of subplots going on aside from solving Alex's murder, so there's a lot of material to keep readers from possibly getting bored with the main storyline, and they're all practically related to the building and breakdown of relationships and marriages.

The main plot of the story (Alex's murder) isn't too difficult to figure out, but it's all the subplots which really make the story shine, even though some of those are easy to figure out as well. The story is very dependent on the relationships between the primary and secondary characters actually, and is almost more focused on those than the plot (in that way it's very different from Stieg Larsson's books). If you're a fan of Stieg Larsson and want to explore some more Scandinavian true-crime/mystery novels, you might like this, but be prepared that it is a very different experience: the focus on the relationships more than the plot, it's easy to figure out what's going on, and the nature of the crimes and the motivation behind them are nothing astounding (I guess watching Law and Order and Criminals Minds has desensitized me to the usual crimes and reasons for them). This was still an enjoyable novel nonetheless, and one I'd recommend.

Recommendation:
If you're looking for a Stieg Larsson clone-book, you might be disappointed; but if you're looking for a decent mystery with a lot of subplot and great characters and relationships, read this!

Thoughts on the cover:
It's okay all things considered. A silhouette of Alex laying slack in the bathtub against a black/blue background with some frost effect would have been better though.

Illyria - Elizabeth Hand

2011-04-10T13:32:00.006-04:00

Title: Illyria
Author: Elizabeth Hand
Publisher: Viking (Penguin), 2010
Length: 135 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Historical Fiction
Started: April 8, 2011
Finished: April 8, 2011

Summary:
From the inside cover:
Madeline and Rogan are first cousins, best friends, twinned souls, each other's first love. Even within their large, disorderly family—all descendants of a famous actress—their intensity and passion for theater sets them apart. It makes them a little dangerous. When they are cast in their school's production of Twelfth Night, they are forced to face their separate talents and futures, and their future together.

This stunning short novel, winner of the World Fantasy Award, is the perfect introduction to Elizabeth Hand's singular voice. Her many novels offer a window into what it means to create art, to experience it, to feel passionately about the world. Illyria throws her talent into high relief-it is magic on paper.

Review:
I can really appreciate novels like these that are very short but still manage to pack a proverbial punch.

Maddy and Rogan are first cousins growing up in the 1970s in upstate New York, more like half siblings since their fathers are twins, which makes the love factor in this story a little more icky. Although the whole family's descended from a great actress, Maddy and Rogan are the only ones to really inherit any of that love and talent for the theatre. And even then their respective talents are different; Maddy is a more conventional actress, whereas Rogan is literally passion on fire, a bit of a flight risk. When Maddy and Rogan are cast in their school's version of Twelfth Night, their family has different reactions to their performances, which leads them to separate the two, both out of concern for their growing affection for each other and to encourage one and ignore the almost unworldly talent of the other.

This novel is wonderfully written, and in a style you don't often find in YA novels, which works really well here. It gives off a fantasy feel in a story that isn't really a fantasy. The author captures Maddy and Rogan's passion, both for the theatre and each other, beautifully. The whole love affair between the two of them is handled quite well, not explicit at all, but portrayed with a deep intensity. I love how the author portrayed Rogan's character, how being so artistically gifted is seen as a gift but also as a curse.

Recommendation:
If you're looking for a short novel that makes a big impression, or if you're a big theatre buff, read this!

Thoughts on the cover:
The guy doesn't really look like Rogan, but the girl could pass as Maddy. I like how they're shrouded and the title font is all blurry.

Out Of My Mind - Sharon M. Draper

2011-04-08T10:12:00.007-04:00

Title: Out Of My Mind
Author: Sharon M. Draper
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster), 2010 (Hardcover)
Length: 295 pages
Genre: Children's Realistic Fiction
Started: April 7, 2011
Finished: April 7, 2011

Summary:
From Goodreads.com:
Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school—but no one knows it. Most people—her teachers and doctors included—don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can't, because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write.
Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind—that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice . . . but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.

From multiple Coretta Scott King Award winner Sharon M. Draper comes a story full of heartache and hope. Get ready to meet a girl whose voice you'll never, ever forget.

Review:
I love it when books focus on sensitive issues, especially when they're written for kids. Out of My Mind reminded me of Terry Trueman's Stuck In Neutral, which some of our schools use for our grade 7s and 8s. The story is similar if anyone's familiar with Stuck In Neutral, except Melody in Out of My Mind doesn't have to worry about a parent wanting to 'put her out of her misery' like the boy in Stuck In Neutral.

Melody has cerebral palsy, and as such, she can't walk, talk, and has limited control over her body movements. However, Melody's incredibly smart, and has a photographic memory. The only thing is, nobody knows this except her. Even her parents, who suspect she's quite bright, don't know exactly how smart she is. Melody suffers through dumbed-down lessons in her special education classroom and yearns to be able to speak her mind. When her aide Catherine comes across a machine that will allow Melody to speak by selecting words they program into it, Melody knows this is her opportunity to be able to express herself. But with Melody able to prove how smart she really is, will she be accepted by the other kids, who can't see past her disability?

This book shines in a few areas, but I have issues with some things. The author does a wonderful job of describing Melody's limitations on a day-to-day basis and her frustration with it: not being able to feed herself, needing someone to help her in the bathroom, and the limitations of her communication board. Melody's education experience isn't very realistic in my opinion as a teacher. I understand not every school board practices inclusive environments for special needs kids (I work for a Catholic school board, so we do), but even so, Melody making progress with one teacher's methods would've been documented in her IEP (Individual Education Plan), which forthcoming teachers cannot ignore like the 3rd grade teacher she mentions not reading the records. Plus her file would be reviewed on a yearly basis to accommodate her growing needs and understanding, so there'd be no excuse for Melody's frustration with doing the alphabet in grade 5 if she's at the level where she could do novel studies with accommodations. So that part wasn't really believable as far as I was concerned. The antagonists were really bad cliches that were pretty one-dimensional, which I get that the focus is on Melody, but kids need to know that people that they think are mean aren't always so one-dimensional, that they might have a reason for feeling the way they do that's at the root of their actions. I really liked the crisis with the quiz team at the end, it shows that people can indeed be cruel and there's no excuse for it, and people need to be called out on when they're cruel to others. The incident with Melody's sister at the end I could've done without, it seemed like the author was just adding to the drama with more drama and it felt like overkill at that point.

This is a wonderful book that shows our biases about what we think certain people are capable of, and that when we underestimate people, we should be prepared to have our biases thrown back in our faces.

Recommendation:
Read this. It's truly a wonderful book that will change how you view people. A must-have for classrooms too.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like the image of the fish purposely jumping out of the bowl, which Melody mentions in the book, it fits with the story quite well.

Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones

2011-04-07T18:20:00.006-04:00

Title: Howl's Moving Castle
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books, 2009 (Originally published in 1986)
Length: 302 pages
Genre: Children's Fantasy
Started: April 2, 2011
Finished: April 7, 2011

Summary:
From the back of the book:
In the land of Ingary, where seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, Sophie Hatter attracts the the unwelcome attention of the Witch of the Waste, who puts a curse on her. Determined to make the best of things, Sophie travels to the one place where she might get help - the moving castle which hovers on the nearby hills. But the castle belongs to the dreaded Wizard Howl whose appetite, they say, is satisfied only by the hearts of young girls...

Review:
I read Howl's Moving Castle eons ago and decided to read it again since the author recently passed away (which is a loss the literary world will mourn).

Howl's Moving Castle breaks down like so: in a world that looks a lot like Victorian-era Europe where witches and wizards exist, Sophie is the eldest of three and set to inherit the family business as a hatter until the Witch of the Waste curses her, turning her into a 90-year-old woman instead of an 18-year-old girl. Trying to find a new situation, Sophie becomes Howl's cleaning lady after bargaining with his fire demon, Calcifer that she will break his enchantment if he'll break hers. So she gets tangled up in Howl's life of multiple personas to match the many places the castle's main door can lead to, masquerading as his mother in front of the King, and cleaning up after the insanely vain wizard.

As much as I love this book for the sheer imagination, setting, world-building, and writing, I still think the Ghibli anime movie version from 2004 is an amazing adaptation, and it's probably one of the only times I'll admit to liking a film version better than the actual book. The changes to the plot make for a much more exciting story with more urgency to it, versus the book version I find is more of a fun romp.

My favourite parts, even after so many years, are Howl's hair-dye incident and his resulting tantrum; and when he catches a cold, he's such a typical crybaby male when he gets sick.

Recommendation:
If you're looking for an amazing fantasy with wonderful characters, unique setting, and excellent writing, read this!

Thoughts on the cover:
I love the cover redesigns that all the author's books got a few years back, these are nice and dynamic and whimsical at the same time.