Book Review: Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly

Book: Angel Burn
Author: L.A. Weatherly
Published: 2011
Source: Review copy provided by publisher via NetGalley.com

There's a new cult sweeping the nation, the Church of Angels. The angels have come to earth to bring peace and goodwill to humanity, and everyone who encounters an angel in person comes away changed, at peace, and wanting nothing more but to devote their lives to the angels forevermore.

Only Alex Kylar knows the truth: that these angels want a little something in return. Namely, human life force, which they suck away from their victims, leaving them dazed, confused, and in too many cases mentally broken or physically damaged. He's been on the road since the age of five, hunting and killing any angel he sees, but there are too few angel killers and too many angels.

Then he's sent after Willow Fields. She's psychic, she fixes cars, oh, and she's part angel. But only part, and she doesn't know a thing about her angelic half or even that angels exist. But for some reason, she's Public Angel Enemy #1. Alex starts to suspect that there's something big going down, and Willow Fields might just be the key to humanity's survival. No pressure or anything.

I was really behind this book about halfway through. It hit a lot of my interest spots. Smart, practical, slightly quirky girl? Check. Competent, cynical boy with the added mystique of wandering warrior, doing battle against the forces of evil all by himself? Check. A good amount of reluctant sexual tension between the two aforementioned? Check. Serious upending of a trope? Checkity check. (Eeeevil angels. Say it with me. Eeeeeeeeeeeeevil angels.)

Then Willow and Alex got together and confessed their love and it was sweet and all, but after that it was 50% lovey-dovey times. And I'm fine with lovey-dovey times, but there are some eeeeeevil angels out there to nuke, okay? Let's get on that.

And then at the very end . . . well. I had a rant about that, but it's spoileriffic. I'm just gonna say, long series may be the thing, but I don't think this book needed it, with all the build-up. 460 pages and you left it that wide open? I'm annoyed. I need some sort of pay-off.

Still, I think this book is worth reading, if only for the uniqueness of the premise, and I'll pick up the next one hoping for some resolution. But no more lovey-dovey times, okay? Smooch and move on to deep-frying the evil angels.

Reading Roundup August 2011

By the Numbers
Teen: 11
Tween: 12
Children: 10

Sources
Review Copies: 8
Swapped: 3
Library: 15

Standouts
Teen: The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Just another dead-sister book . . . except it's not. Lennie's grief takes her all sorts of unexpected places as she attempts to create a new life, one where she has no sister's shadow to hide in.
Tween: The Death-Defying Pepper Roux by Geraldine McCaughrean
There's a real Forrest Gump vibe about this book, as the doomed Pepper Roux stumbles from one identity to another on borrowed time, and learns in the process that life is not about waiting to die.
Children: Captain Nobody by Dean Pitchford
After living a life in his brother's shadow, Newt Newman turns to alter ego Captain Nobody to cope when his brother has a life-threatening accident. Seriously not as angsty as it sounds.

Because I Want To Awards
Awesomest History Book Evah!: The Smart Aleck's Guide to American History by Adam Selzer
98% Fabulous: The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty
There may be a blog post upcoming about this, but basically, I got to the climax and went, "Wait. What?"
Tailor-Made for 12-Year-Olds: Sir Fartsalot Hunts the Booger by Kevin Bolger
Throwback of the Month: Any Which Wall by Laurel Snyder
Reads exactly like the Penderwicks, Edward Eager, and all those other old-fashioned kids books, which can be bad or good depending on your mood.

Sorry, Y'all . . .

My August Reading Roundup is going to be delayed until tomorrow, due to acute brain-fried . . . ness. Argh.

Hunger Games Teaser is a Teaser

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music

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Wooohoo! Yes, it's short and teasing. Cuz it's a TEASER, y'all. But you know what I love best? There's nothing about the big luuuuuurve triangle. It's all about our badass Katniss. Which was the focus of the books.

Oh, man, I can't wait.

Book Review: Where the Streets Had a Name by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Book: Where the Streets Had a Name 
Author: Randa Abdel-Fattah
Published: 2010
Source: Local Library

With her beloved grandmother’s health failing fast, Hayyab has decided that what she needs is soil from her home. Luckily, it’s only a few miles away. Unluckily, those miles lie in Jerusalem, across the wall between Palestine and Israel, through bullets and soldiers, riots and checkpoints. But she knows she must face it . . . not only for her grandmother’s sake, but her own.

I knew this wouldn’t be a cute romp when I picked it up. It takes place in a war zone. But what I wasn’t prepared for was the masterful way that Abdel-Fattah shows everyday life in the midst of death and fear. Sisters argue, grandmothers fart in bed, kids cut school.

But the war makes itself felt in everything. A journey of five miles, half my one-way commute to work, takes most of a day, due to various checkpoints, delays, and other artifacts of living on the border of two warring factions. Near the end of the book, a joyous wedding procession is interrupted and the whole wedding party must climb out of the car to be examined by checkpoint soldiers. And Hayyab's journey is not only one of distance, but one through her own fear. A terrible loss in her past is hinted at throughout her quest and it's not until she's ready to confront it that we're allowed to find out what it is ourselves. Fair warning, it's devastating.

My favorite parts were the religious question, or rather the lack of one. Jerusalem is a wild mix of faiths. Hayyab herself is Muslim, but her best friend is Christian. They meet Jewish people that they come to respect and admire. For a conflict so mired in religion, this attitude drives home the basic pointlessness of arguing over God.

Abdel-Fattah wisely stays out of right and wrong, and goes for the human impact. More than an us/them book, Where the Streets Had a Name is a good hard look at the consequences of growing up in an active war zone, and the thorny questions that surround not only this conflict but every war.

Book Review: Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt

Book: Okay for Now
Author: Gary Schmidt
Published: 2011
Source: Review copy from publisher, via NetGalley

Doug Swieteck is moving to a podunk little town in the middle of nowhere and he’s not looking forward to it. For one thing, he doesn’t think his nasty father and brother will be any nicer in upstate New York than they are in Long Island.

He’s right, they're not. But this podunk little town has riches galore for this tough, savvy, yet vulnerable kid. In the local library, he discovers the artwork of John Audobon. In his part-time job, he discovers the joy of being respected and valued as a hard worker, and in his boss’s daughter, he discovers the joys and woes of being friends and possibly (gulp!) more with a girl.

But these new joys in his life don’t mean all the darkness has vanished.

In some ways this is a challenging book. Schmidt doesn’t stop to explain anything, trusting that his readers will keep up. Not only that, what Doug says and what he does and what he really thinks are often three radically different things. We don’t need the words, “I’m a punching bag for my father and brothers” to understand that this is the case. Doug speaks to us directly, as if we are some invisible audience to his changing world, and he’s exactly as prickly and guarded as he is when speaking to the inhabitants of his real life.

In The Wednesday Wars, Schmidt told the story of a boy learning to use Shakespeare as a lens through which to understand the world. He does something similar in Okay for Now, but with art instead of literature. Doug, who lives a life so layered with things he can’t talk about, finds that in the unspoken tragedy and beauty of John Audubon's bird paintings, he can make sense of his senseless world. His brother Lucas, a double amputee back home from Vietnam, is angry and embittered. But Doug, who was struck by the terrible pain of a hopeless and dying bird in one of the Audobon prints, sees the same pain in his brother’s eyes, and finds a way to push through his shell and drag him back to life. Remember that this is one of the same brothers who regularly beat him up. Doug is learning empathy for his tormentors and enemies as well as his friends. People, he is finding, are so much more complex than they seem.

This isn't a book you read for the intricate plotting, unless your definition of plot refers to emotional intricacies and slow revelations. That's why I was so surprised to find myself staying up until after midnight to finish it. But Doug pulled me into his world and wouldn't let me go until he was good and ready. This book has been getting awards chatter ever since the first ARCs started slipping out, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see some kind of shiny sticker on this book come January.

Book Review: This Gorgeous Game by Donna Freitas

Book: This Gorgeous Game
Author: Donna Freitas
Published: 2010
Source: Local Library

Olivia's life is looking pretty good right now. Not only is she the first-ever winner of a prestigious young writer's award, the contest's sponsor has taken a special interest in her. Father Mark, a Catholic priest and a famous novelist, is everything Olivia wants to be, and his attentions make her dizzy. Special meetings to talk about writing, invitations to prestigious literary events, presents chosen just for her.

Then the attention gets to be so marked, and so focused, that Olivia's inner voice starts to whisper that something is wrong. What could be wrong, though? Father Mark is wonderful, kind, generous, a literary genius. He just wants to help her . Everyone loves him. Why can't Olivia? Why do the sight of his letters, his emails, and his texts suddenly make her sick to her stomach? She has to be imagining it.

She just has to be.

So let's get this out of the way now. Yes, Father Mark is a Catholic priest. Yes, he is abusing his position of power over Olivia. No, this is not a book about the eeeeeevil Catholic church overlooking pedophiles. In fact, everyone that Olivia turns to at the end are staunch Catholics, and they say without blinking, "This ain't right." As a Catholic, I love this because my church has taken enough beatings, and as a reader, I love this because it becomes a much more universal story about a girl in a terrible situation, threatened by someone in power over her.

This is a short book as YA books go these days, only about 200 pages, and yet I had to keep putting it down and walking away for awhile, especially as I got closer to the end. Freitas does a masterful job of slowly twisting Father Mark's behavior from flattering to smothering to ultimately terrifying. There are hints of his darker nature even at the beginning--seriously, who arranges a meet-up with a seventeen-year-old girl at a bar?--but Olivia willfully blinds herself to them because she is so dazzled and flattered.

Father Mark gives Olivia two poems, close to the end of the book, that are such shattering love poems that I wobbled around going, "Wow" after I read them. One is Pablo Neruda's Sonnet XVII, the other a poem from Thomas Merton (that unfortunately I wasn't able to find online, pooey), and they both knocked me flat on my butt. But in this context, from this person, they ratchet up the creepy by a factor of 100, if not 1000. These poems speak of a love that Olivia isn't ready for, and knows she isn't ready for, and yet that Father Mark seems convinced she feels the same as he does.

Like all stalking relationships, it really is about power, not love. Father Mark's positions as a priest to a faithful Catholic, as a professor to a student, as a published and lionized author to a promising novice, and as an adult to a teenager, all make it terribly difficult for Olivia to even admit to herself that what he's doing is terribly wrong and she doesn't want it to continue. Those are also the reasons why she must. I said it in my roundup a few months back and I'll say again now: this is the book for every girl who's ever ignored the little voice inside that says, "This isn't right." This is also the book for every girl who might hear that little voice in the future.

Book Review: This Girl is Different

Book: This Girl is Different
Author: J.J. Johnson
Published: 2011
Source: Review copy from publisher, via NetGalley.com

After eleven years of homeschooling, Evie is looking forward to spending her senior year in a typical public high school. When she meets Jacinda and her gorgeous cousin Rajas just before the first day of school, she’s even more sure that she’s going to love it.

When she gets to school, however, Evie is troubled by the various social inequities that she sees all around her. When a teacher publicly humiliates a student, Evie decides it’s time to do what she’s been taught all her life and speak out. But what started out with pure intentions quickly spirals into a seething mess of hurt feelings and anonymous bullying that ultimately shreds her friendship with Jacinda and her fledgling relationship with Rajas.

Evie wanted to change the world, but never like this.

This girl is different, and so is this book. I went in expecting a wacky tale of a hippie fish out of water that ultimately makes everybody see how wrong they are and clasp hands around the flagpole singing "Kumbaya." Luckily, that wasn't the case. The one who learns and changes the most is Evie herself as she learns that her idealism doesn't really allow for the shades of grey that exist in the real world.

Except in the case of Evie’s mother (a rather standard-issue anti-corporate, anti-authoritarian type) Johnson handily gives the stereotypes a miss and surrounds Evie with complicated people colored in shades of gray. Jacinda is a cheerleader, occasionally ditzy, and involved but she’s also sweet, compassionate. Rajas is cute, charming, but doesn’t want to “label” their relationship, a tendency that sets off my alarm bells. These shades of grey mean that when they learn and change as well, it's more satisfying.

Even the villains aren’t as terribly villainous as they seem at first glance. Johnson scores points with me by not making the school principal an opponent, but a compassionate adult who sympathizes with Evie’s feelings while trying to educate her about the consequences associated with taking a stand, and how facing up to those is as much an act of social activism as taking that stand in the first place.

Reading Roundup: July 2011

By the Numbers
Teen: 11
Tween: 8
Children: 7

Sources
Review Copies: 5
Swapped: 1
Purchased: 1
Library: 17

Standouts
Teen: TIE Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan AND Say the Word by Jeannine Garsee
While these are two very different stories, for me the reason they stood out was the same: the main characters. One is a boy making all the wrong choices in his first two profound attachments to two different girls. One is a girl struggling with her mother's recent death and all the choices that same mother made in her life. They can both be jaw-droppingly selfish and short-sighted, but still managed to be sympathetic enough to keep me reading. Well done, both authors.
Tween: The Last Invisible Boy by Evan Kuhlman
Don't let the Wimpy-Kid-style drawings fool you. This is a quiet and reflective book on the death of a parent, or more accurately, a boy getting used to the loss of a parent, that really takes the time to explore all the different emotions.
Children: Clover Twig and the Magical Cottage by Kaye Umansky
After that title, I was expecting something so twee my teeth would fall out. What I got was a hilarious and quirky fantasy with a stridently down-to-earth heroine who handles anything comes her way, be it a back-talking front gate, an evil witch, or an incredibly dirty house she's just been hired to clean. I want more Clover Twig!

Because I Want To Awards
Tongue-Firmly-in-Cheek: The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity by Mac Barnett is an especial treat for people who've read more than their lifetime recommended allowance of Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries.
Okay, Did They Even Read It?: Luv Ya Bunches by Lauren Myracle, infamous for being excluded from Scholastic Book fairs at schools because a character has two moms, contains more discussion of Islam than it does of lesbians. On the other hand . . . hmm.
Way Too Cool: Where Else in the Wild? by David M. Schwartz is perfect for Where's Waldo lovers who also enjoy science and animals.

Reading Roundup, June 2011

By the Numbers
Teen: 23
Tween: 9
Children: 8

Sources
Review Copies: 8
Purchased: 1
Library: 28

Standouts
Teen: This Gorgeous Game by Donna Freitas
To everyone else, he's the most perfect and amazing person in the world. But to her, he's the one she most adamantly doesn't want. This story of obsession should be read by every girl who's ever ignored that little voice inside.
Tween: After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick
Kiddie cancer patients just warm the friggin' cockles of your heart, don't they? Sonnenblick shows us what life is like for the ones who beat it: the physical effects of the medicine, the trauma to the family members, and the ever-present fear that it'll come back. It could be angst-o-rama, but he combines it with a pitch-perfect story of a mostly typical young teen trying to find his place in the world.
Children: Junonia by Kevin Henkes
If you've ever known or been a sensitive and introverted child, you'll recognize Alice, her dismay at the changes in her beloved summer hideaway, her hopes for the all-important tenth birthday, and her quest to find the rare junonia shell.

Because I Want To Awards
Most Harrowing: The Enemy and The Dead, by Charlie Higson
Yep, It's That Good!: The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger
Best Possible End: Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? by Louise Rennison
Marvelously Gross: Crust and Spray: Gross Stuff in Your  Eyes, Ears, Nose, and Throat by C.S. Larsen

This 'n' That

I have a few different things to natter on about today. Well, three.

• You guys, you guys! KidlitCon '11 is in the works! September 16-17 in Seattle. More deets needed? Check out Chasing Ray for the lowdown. I love this conference and I've been at every one so far. The best part is meeting all the cool people I know in cyberspace.
• So what's the final word on the #48HBC? See MotherReader's wrap-up post for a global view. As for me, my final donation tally is 11 books read x $5 per book, and 23 comments left x $1 per comment, for a grand total of (drumroll) 78 dollars to Make Way for Books, a Tucson-based literacy organization. Who ever heard of donating 78 dollars? I'm making it an even 80.
• Finally, this made me happy: an SLJ interview with Sir Terry Pratchett, one of my favorite authors on the planet even before he started writing books specifically for children and teens. Quotes like this are why: "Amazingly, I find that children understand rather more than their parents think they do." So true.

48-Hour Book Challenge . . . Met!

So, another 48-hour Book Challenge, come and gone. I think I've got my technique down now. I pick books I'm excited about to keep up my energy. I use the audiobook option to give my eyes a break and let me do things that I can't do with a book in my hand. I keep Twitter and Google Reader open so I can dip into the Internet and see how other challengers are doing. I use a stopwatch-and-spreadsheet technique to keep track of my time. Yes, I'm a nerd. Shut up. So this was a pretty good year!

Here are my totals.

Books read: 10 (not bad, considering that I worked all day Saturday)
Audiobooks: part of one. I'll count it as a round one.
Time reading (including audiobook time): 14 hours, 33 minutes, 22 seconds
Time blogging, including this post: 4 hours, 31 minutes, 52 seconds
Time social-networking: 1 hour, 38 minutes, 45 seconds.
For a total time of . . .

20 hours, 44 minutes.

Wowwwwwwwwwwww.

Since I pledged five dollars for every book read, that's 55 dollars for Make Way for Books so far. I'll wait until Monday night to tally up the replies on my posts (a dollar apiece) and see how much the final donation will be.

One of the things I take away from this every year is, "Boy, are there a lot of nuts out there." Um, I mean, "Cool people who love the same things I do." The other thing is how quick it is to write a blog entry. I get re-energized and into a pattern of reviewing. Maybe this time it'll stick, what do you think?

Thanks again for another great year, MotherReader and all my fellow challengers!

Audiobook Review: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Book: Anne of Green Gables
Author: L.M. Montgomery
Narrator: Laurie Klein
Published: 1908
Source: Local Library

Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert thought they were getting a sturdy, sensible little orphan boy who would help Matthew around the farm. What they got instead was Anne Shirley, a sensitive, imaginative, red-headed orphan girl who will bring breath and life into the stagnant Green Gables.

Like the Stones say, you can't always get what you want . . . but sometimes, you'll get what you need.

Time: 3:01:48 (partial)
Why I Wanted to Read It: I love audiobooks, but have a hard time listening to ones that are new to me, so I tend to pick books I've read before. It's been entirely too long since I spent time with Anne.

So this is a partial review, since I've only listened up to the first meeting with Diana Barry. I'd forgotten how long it takes for Anne to ease into Avonlea society. After all, we can't imagine one without the other. But then, the other thing I'd forgotten was how weird and wild Anne is to the staid and prosaic people of Avonlea, not least the Cuthberts. Full of imagination and romantical fantasy and plopped down in a practical and hard-working farming community, this is a fish out of water and no mistake. Maybe the reason Anne has to exist in Avonlea (and vice versa) is that they are so different they function as two sides of the same coin.

Reading this as an adult, I find myself horrified by Anne's life before Green Gables, and profoundly grateful for the mix-up that landed her there. As sensitive as she is, it couldn't have been too much longer before the lack of love and the constant exploitation would have destroyed her. Or maybe I'm being pessimistic and her sturdy imagination, which creates friends out of reflections and echoes, would have shielded her into adulthood. Luckily, we'll never know.

The other part of reading this as an adult is that Anne is hilarious. Like many a starry-eyed teenager, she takes things she's heard and barely understands, mixes them up, and spouts them forth. And yet, she's not being pretentious. She genuinely loves the romantic poets of her era (she seems to exist somewhere in the 1870's or 1880's) and is open to the joys of nature. Some of the stuff she comes out with could be seen as manipulative if written in a modern book, especially when she talks despairingly of what a trial she is, or how frightfully badly she should be punished. But we all know Anne is simply not like that.

The narrator, Laurie Klein, annoyed me a little bit at first, because she seemed to be a little over the top herself. But either I got used to her style or she settled into it. I'll go on reading this, definitely, and remembering why this girl still resonates with kids and adults over 100 years later.

Book Review: The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis by Barbara O'Connor

Book: The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis
Author: Barbara O'Connor
Published: 2009
Source: Local Library

Nothing ever happens to Popeye. Living out in the country along with his shifty Uncle Dooley and his overburdened grandmother, Velma, each day is the same as the last and next. He longs for changes and adventure. Then he meets Elvis.

Well, not that Elvis.

Elvis Jewell is the oldest of five children. He lives in a Holiday Rambler that's just gotten stuck in the lane that leads to Popeye's house. He's the president of the Spit and Swear club, and just like Popeye, he's ripe for an adventure. But it'll have to be a small adventure, because they've only got a few days until his parents manage to un-stuck the Holiday Rambler and then he'll be gone.

When Popeye and Elvis find boats made out of Yoo-Hoo containers floating down the creek, bearing cryptic messages, they know this is the small adventure they've been looking for. But is there time to have it before Elvis has to leave again?

Time: 0:23:47
Why I Wanted to Read It: With only about an hour and a half left of the 48-Hour Book Challenge, I wanted a very short read, and I've liked Barbara O'Connor's books in the past.

There's a timelessness about this book. It makes no reference to cell phones or the Internet, to anything that anchors it to any particular time beyond now-ish. It's about two bored kids in a long, hot summer, longing for excitement and challenge in lives that don't offer much of either.

Although it's clear that all the characters are living in what comfortable suburban kids would consider abject poverty, O'Connor makes no effort to address or correct this. It is what it is, it's their life, and they're living it.

What is there to take away from such a short, odd little book? What I closed it with is the sense that friendship, no matter how fleeting, is something to be treasured, and adventures, no matter how small, are something to be pursued.

Book Review: A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee

Book: A Spy in the House
Author: Y.S. Lee
Published: 2010
Source: Local Library

One step from the gallows, Mary Lang was rescued and given a new lease on life by Miss Scrimshaw's Academy. Five years later, at the age of seventeen, the rechristened Mary Quinn is recruited for the secretive Agency, a collective of female operatives who do all the dirty jobs that their male counterparts can't.

Her first job is in the Thorold household. Apparently, there's something fishy going on with Mr. Thorold's company, and in the guise of serving as a companion to his spoiled daughter, Mary is to keep her ears and eyes open for any hints as to what.

There's plenty afoot in this house. Why is Thorold's secretary, Michael Grey, so flirtatious? Why is Mrs. Thorold so sickly sometimes and so assertive others? What's with the clever and sarcastic James Easton sticking his nose in everywhere? Mary's got a lot on her hands, sorting out the truly dangerous from the merely seedy, and she's got to do it fast.

Time: 1:55:40
Why I Wanted to Read It: Victorian girl spies! It's like the Gallagher Girls, but with crinolines!

Except not. Oh well.

Mary was so far removed from the central investigation that I couldn't quite grasp the nature of the mystery, and her efforts at finding out more just seemed like recklessness instead of taking initiative. Honeypot, you're a trainee spy, serving as a backup to the central agent in the investigation. This is not the time to boldly declare your independence and go tearing off to screw up said agent's careful plans, especially when you have no idea what they are. Aside: and why is a trainee spy thrown into an investigation without support beyond one or two cryptic notes from the head of the Agency? Also, why didn't we ever find out the identity of the central agent? I was waiting to find out that it was somebody really cool and heretofore unsuspected and . . . nothing.

I did like the setting. Mary's London is so seamy that you half-expect the Artful Dodger to pop up, and she's so comfortable in it that you'd expect her to say, "'Allo, gov," to said famous pickpocket. Lee also touches on the plight of minorities in Victorian London. Mary, it transpires, is half-Chinese and considers this a terribly shameful secret. I wish we'd witnessed the treatment of Asians before that, just so her position wouldn't be so cringe-inducing to a modern reader.

I also liked James, conducting his own investigation and constantly running afoul of Mary's work, and she of his. The sparkage was interesting, which makes me hope that we'll see him again, even though his final appearance in the book would seem to deny that possibility.

Less Gallagher Girls, more straight-up historical mystery. I'll read the next book for the setting, and the interesting premise, and hope that the things that frustrated me this time around will be corrected.

Book Review: Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones

Book: Enchanted Glass
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Published: 2010
Source: Local Library

Aiden Cain is in a pickle. Orphaned by the sudden death of his gran, he's also being stalked by strange creatures, which has gotten him kicked out of at least one foster home. His gran always told him he could go to Jocelyn Brandon, of Melstone House, who would know what to do about him. But when Aidan arrives at Melstone, he discovers that Mr. Brandon is dead and the new owner, Mr. Brandon's grandson, doesn't have any more idea what to do than Aidan does.

Andrew Hope is likewise in a pickle. He's inherited his grandfather's field-of-care, the responsibility for the magical well-being of a huge area of land. It's been far too long since his childhood lessons with his grandfather, which he's starting to realize were more than just the imaginative play that he told himself they were. He's also starting to realize that Aidan is a lot more than just an orphaned relative.

As magical enemies gather on the horizon and high summer looms, Andrew and Aidan are going to need to keep their heads cool and their wits about them if they hope to come through this one alive.

Time: 1:57:18
Why I Wanted to Read It: Please. Did you see who wrote it?

One of my favorite parts of this, and of most of Jones' work, is how high magic and legendary creatures exist alongside prosaic English country life. Soccer games are witnessed by sanguine weredogs, friendly giants eat unwanted vegetables, and gigantic cauliflowers grown by magic are made into cauliflower cheese. (I had to look this up. Yecccch.) In fact, in many ways this is a book that could never have been written by an American, because the base of it is a particularly English-countryside mindset of ownership and responsibility for the land and the people in it.

There was some discussion about Andrew being at least as strong a main character as Aidan, if not stronger. Conventional wisdom holds that kids only want to read about other kids, but then, Jones never seems to pay much attention to "conventional wisdom" when it comes to her books. (Witness the success of Howl's Moving Castle, which has one child character, and that a secondary one.) It didn't feel at all jarring to me, and I think we don't give kids enough credit for being interested in a good character no matter their age.

Basically, this book is classic Diana Wynne Jones. Mayhem, narration filled with biting wit, outrageously flawed adults and children, magic, more mayhem, coolly threatening villains, and main characters who despite being woefully unprepared for the task at hand, roll up their sleeves and plunge in. If you're already a fan, this won't disappoint. If you're not, this will make you one.

Book Review: Forget You by Jennifer Echols

Book: Forget You
Author: Jennifer Echols
Published: 2010
Source: Local Library

Zoey Commander's life kinda sucks at the moment. Her dad is marrying his pregnant twenty-four-year-old mistress in Hawaii and her mom is in the loony bin. Not to mention, she can't seem to get away from brooding Doug Fox, who calls her a spoiled brat and blames her for all his problems.

Then the wreck happened, and everything changed. Doug is suddenly acting like they're something special to each other, and her actual boyfriend, Brandon, is nowhere to be seen. But what is responsible for this sudden change? Because try as she might, Zoey can't remember a thing about that night. And she doesn't dare let anyone know, because she's terrified that she might get locked up alongside her mother. But how can she discover the truth without anybody figuring out that's what she's after?

Time: 1:50:34
Why I Wanted to Read It: I really loved Going Too Far. Unfortunately, this book didn't live up to the promise.

My major problem with this book was the main character. Frankly, Zoey annoyed the daylights out of me. With her life in a shambles, she's clinging desperately to what little she does have control over, then accuses Doug of lying to, manipulating, and controlling her. Character-wise, that makes sense, but god, was it exasperating! Probably the thing that annoyed me most was her insistence on holding Doug at a distance because she was with Brandon . . . a guy she had stupid, impulsive sex with once, didn't like it, doesn't think much of him, and yet he's the love of her life? Whatever.

I realize this sounds like I think this is the worst book ever committed to paper, but it's not. I did feel for Zoey, confused and lost and looking for answers in all the wrong places. I also felt for Doug, who is as confused in his way as Zoey, but at least it's obvious he cares for her. There was just so much that drove me batty about Zoey that I can't completely endorse it as a romance. I'll read Echol's other books, because she is awfully good, just as long as she doesn't come up with another character who's this much of a mess.

Book Review: The Reinvention of Edison Thomas by Jacqueline Houtman

Book: The Reinvention of Edison Thomas
Author: Jacqueline Houtman
Published: 2010
Source: Local Library

Edison Thomas knows all sorts of things, like the Latin name for his pet rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), how many grams there are in a pound (453.59237), and the hardest substance in the human body (tooth enamel). What he doesn't know is how people work. For instance, why does Mitch, who has been his friend since childhood, always say strange things and laugh when he's around? What is the meaning behind the ketchup packets that are suddenly turning up in all his things? (They're certainly not his.) And what does it mean that new people, like geeky Justin, science-fiction fan Terry, and musician Kip, are suddenly talking to him?

As he struggles to create an invention that will solve the problem of a dangerous intersection near the school, Eddy finds himself reassessing the nature of friendship. Of the two, the second is the far thornier problem.

Time: 0:57:14
Why I Wanted to Read It: Duuude! Science!

I have a great affection for scientific kids in fiction, such as Calpurnia Tate and Phineas L. McGuire. They approach the world in a logical and orderly fashion. Of course, very often the narrative conflict comes from the refusal of people to act in a logical and orderly manner, and that's certainly the case with Eddy. I loved seeing him slowly recognize the unhealthy nature of his relationship with Mitch, and start to build on better ones with new people who appreciate him as he is and overlook or gently correct his quirks.

While never explicitly stated in the text, Eddy does seem to have Asperger's or some other form of high-functioning autism. He's terribly sensitive to sudden noises, tends to fixate on random facts, and goes to specialized counseling sessions. But neurotypical kids will recognize his quagmires, even if his methods for dealing with them would differ from their own.

I would have liked to see a stronger comeuppance for the poisonous Mitch, but otherwise, I won't hesitate in recommending this book for anyone who wants a unique and interesting book about friendship, science, and the intersection of the two.

Book Review: Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Book: Bumped
Author: Megan McCafferty
Published: 2011
Source: Review copy provided by publisher via NetGalley

In a near-future America, a virus has sterilized everyone over the age of twenty, meaning that fertile teenagers are suddenly the hottest commodities in the free market.

Melody was the first of her classmates to sign on as a pro, getting contracted to deliver a baby to an infertile couple who would pay richly upon delivery. But due to pickiness on the couple's part regarding the potential sperm donor, she's sixteen and still hasn't yet "bumped," or conceived. Although that's not her fault, she's facing derision from her pregnant classmates. Plus she's afraid that her best guy friend, Zen, is drifting away from her. Not to mention the horrible thing that happened to her best friend, Malia, when she gave birth. Oh, and there's the matter of the long-lost twin sister that suddenly turned up on her doorstep . . .

Harmony is a runaway from a conservative religious sect that deals with the fertility problem by arranging marriages at thirteen. She's come to her sister, hoping to bring her to God and also feel a little less like an outcast herself. She's out of touch and dazed by the secular, sinful world she finds herself in now, but also a little exhilarated at the unaccustomed freedom, especially after she's mistaken for her sister and swept off to get inseminated by the most beautiful boy she's ever seen. Besides, she can't exactly go back. Because she's left more than a few secrets behind her . . .

Told in alternating viewpoints over just a couple of days, both girls are forced to confront the beliefs of their differing worlds, and how those beliefs don't mesh with what's inside them.

Time: 1:42:30
Why I Wanted to Read It: While I never read the Jessica Darling series, I wanted to see how this particular spin on the dystopia craze would play out.

McCafferty makes the preggy-crazy society entertaining as all hell, with pop songs about insemination and accessories that imitate a pregnancy belly. Harmony's world, mostly told and not shown, is a little more standard-fare, repressive patriarchal religious cult, ho-hum.

As the story unfolds, we realize the far-reaching damages that both societies inflict. Late in the book, we meet an eleven-year-old girl in a birthing center, and not to visit. In both cases, sexual choice is removed from the teenagers' control. I say teenagers and not teen girls because the boys are part of it too. The more genetically desirable boys are encouraged to procreate, some of them even becoming professional inseminators, and the less desirable are called "worms" and reduced to being the designated driver at the orgy. Again, there's less of Harmony's world shown, but if you've read one repressive-patriarchal-religious cult book, you've read 'em all, and you know what to expect.

I feel as if this book didn't quite do what it set out to do, but it's still thought-provoking. Both girls feel out of place in their worlds, seemingly for different reasons but actually for the same one. They're being told what to do with their bodies. Have as much sex as possible, wait for the assigned mate. Get pregnant, pop 'em out, for reasons forced on them from the outside. Neither sister will be happy until they take control and make the choices instead of having them made for them.

So much for individual choice. But my cynical side says, "Yes, but . . . society's got a point. Without the teen pregnancies, there would swiftly be no human race." It's the free-market aspect of it that's so entirely horrifying.

My strongest complaint is the end. So the two sisters have gone through their separate journeys and arrived at the same conclusion and come together as sisters, oh! hugs and puppies! All of a sudden out of left field there came this weird sequel-begging, he-said/she-said Big Misunderstanding denouement. It was kind of annoying, because it felt as if the story was going somewhere else entirely and then someone decided we needed a series. I'll read it, because this was entertaining and I want to see where Melody, Harmony, Zen, Jondoe, and Ram end up in their messed-up world, but I feel like it could have been done in one book.

Book Review: The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

Book: The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
Author: Tom Angleberger
Published: 2010
Source: Local Library

Dwight has to be the weirdest kid in school. He's been known to answer yes-or-no questions with colors, wear really long socks with shorts, and basically be counted on to be the oddest person in the room. But the strangest thing about him may be the Origami Yoda he carries around on his finger, who gives advice. The yet weirder thing? In general, it seems to be good advice.

But Tommy, who's been advised by Origami Yoda to ask the girl of his dreams to dance at the School Fun Night, needs better proof than that. He gathers anecdotes from every kid who's ever gone to Origami Yoda, compiles it into a file, and studies it all with commentary from steadfast doubter Harvey and doodles from Kellen. Is it really just a folded piece of paper and a weird voice? Or is Origami Yoda the real deal?

Time: 0:30:39
Why I Wanted to Read It: Another one that everybody and their sister was talking about.

Remember middle school? Angleberger does. Sucked, didn't it? He remembers that too. He brings middle school roaring back with all the confusion, doubts, clumsiness, and general hideous angst of being twelve. The things that happen in this book would be considered small, but in the world of tweendom, they're huge and loaded. Who likes who? How can I stop being mocked? How can I stay out of trouble?

Origami Yoda's answers reflect the worldview of an observant outsider who is still a kid. But sometimes you will find yourself wondering if he's more than just a folded puppet, and that's the magic.

The doodled pictures will probably make this a hit with the Wimpy Kid set, and the short, gulpable chapters make it a further draw for reluctant readers. What fun, and I'm looking forward to more from this author, whether it features Origami Yoda or not.

Book Review: The Enemy by Charlie Higson

Book: The Enemy
Author: Charlie Higson
Published: 2010 (US)
Source: Local Library

Ever since the first teenager walked the earth, adults have been the enemy. But now, when a mysterious ailment has transformed everyone over the age of sixteen into a mutated, cannibalistic creature, it's the truth. Kids have banded together for survival, battling the grown-ups, scavenging for food, and praying to make it to tomorrow without becoming lunch.

For a little group holed up in a Waitrose supermarket, despair is encroaching fast. So when a mysterious boy turns up with the news that there's a substantial community of kids not only living but thriving at Buckingham Palace, they decide to take the chance and journey through London to the shimmering possibility of safety.

But when they arrive, the leader of the Palace kids seems an awful lot like a power-hungry madman. Now they have to ask themselves . . . are the grown-ups the only enemy?

Time: 2:16:57
Why I Wanted to Read It: I kept hearing such good things, from bloggers I trust.

Zombie books are one of those things I have a conflicted relationship with. On the one hand - ooo, post-apocalyptic! Fighting! Danger! High-intensity drama! And, duh, zombies. On the other hand, bloody depressing, and I mean that literally.

This isn't precisely a zombie book: after all, the grown-ups aren't dead, although they're certainly not what they were. But it shares much of what makes true zombie books so depressing: the feeling of insurmountable odds, not being able to trust anybody even when you desperately want to, seeing the people you loved and depended on either reduced to monsters or killed by those same monsters.

Higson doesn't pull punches with the deaths, y'all. In general, authors tend to kill off secondary characters, but Higson brings the horror home by spending time, even telling pieces of story from a character's point of view, and then killing them off. The end result is that even when good things happen, or hope flickers, there's a cynical little worm in your head saying, "This kid's gonna bite it." And half the time you're right. It brings you into the wearily fearful mindset of the characters more powerfully than any other technique.

Higson also uses his setting to explore human nature, in all its power-hungry, cowardly, underhanded, generous, loving beauty. Anybody who's ever thought that kids are somehow morally superior to adults will have that notion struck down, and anybody who's ever thought the reverse will have the same experience.

It's a disturbing book in a lot of ways, not for the sensitive. The Nick-and-Rachel sequence will give you the severe jimjams, and the way the kids use "mothers and fathers" to refer to the attacking grownups makes you both sad and a little queasy. But I couldn't put it down, and the only reason you're seeing this post now instead of sometime very late last night is because I had to work today. I have the prequel The Dead as an e-galley, and given the ending of The Enemy, I'm looking forward to a sequel soon. Very soon. You hear me, Higson??

Book Review: Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? by Louise Rennison

Book: Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me?
Author: Louise Rennison
Published: 2009
Source: Local Library (downloaded onto my Nook!)

Georgia Nicolson is back, and so are all her fab mates. Not to mention the Luuuuurve God, and of course Dave the Laugh. And if both those lads are hanging about, you know Georgia's in turmoil. Because who wouldn't want a beautiful Italian like Masimo? He's, y'know, beautiful, and, um, Italian, and - oh, I've got it! He kisses like a dream. Although it must be said that when Georgia wants to laugh and hang about and feel most like herself, it's not Masimo she turns to, but instead Dave the Laugh. Hmmmmm. Odd, that.

Now Masimo wants to go live in London with his band. Should she ask him to give up the opportunity for musical famousosity and stay with her? Should she go with him? Or should she send him away to pursue his pop-star dream, with a stiff upper lip (and a gently quivering lower one)?

Possibly, there is a mysterious Option D. Although it's only mysterious if you are as thick as an extremely thick thing in Thicky-A-Gogo-Land.

Time: 1:35:22
Why I Wanted to Read It: I've been reading these books for years. One of my first reviews on this blog was Away Laughing on a Fast Camel. After the last one, however, I said, "Enough of this!" because the series was just going on and on and on. But this landed back on my list when Ms. Yingling mentioned it was the last one, and things actually got settled, and all really quite well. Plus, after Scars, I really needed to laugh like a mad laughing thing.

And I did. Oh, how I did. I fully expect the nice men with the white coats to turn up on my doorstep, called by the long-suffering neighbors. (It's okay, they know their way here quite well by now.) Georgia is in fine form, with all the silly dances, dirty jokes, and snarky commentary we've come to expect from her.

If I were one of the adults in her life, I might well strangle her. She's impulsive, snotty, irreverent, insensitive . . . in short, she's a fifteen-year-old girl, which is why she's so enormously appealing. Those moments when the basic goodness shines through, such as her patience with her sister Libby and her treatment of the first-formers who idolize her, make her someone you want to spend 150 pages with.

As for how the series wound up, I have to say, I knew it all along. As I said above, Georgia's appeal is that she's still a goofy, impulsive, silly teenager. Throughout the series, she's been trying to be fabulously cool and sophisticated for the sake of the older boys she dates. Which really is not her at all. Ending up with the boy who loves her when she's most herself is the best ending I could have picked in a million years.

I love recommending this series, and one day I will listen to them all on audio, because the writing is just made for reading aloud. Of course, given that I listen to audiobooks in my car, that could prove incredibly dangerous.

Book Review: Scars by Cheryl Rainfield

Book: Scars
Author: Cheryl Rainfield
Published: 2010
Source: Review copy from the author

Believe it or not, fifteen-year-old Kendra is actually in a better place than she was six months ago. Sure, she's in therapy and sure, she's cutting herself to let out the bottled-up pain. But six months ago, repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse began to rise to the surface . . . which is how she landed in therapy and started cutting in the first place.

But although he lurks in the shadows of every painting and sketch she creates, Kendra still can't remember the face of her abuser. Even attempting to do reduces her to terror. All she knows is that it was a trusted man in her childhood life. Worse yet, he's still around - somebody's leaving her notes and messages, warning her not to tell or he'll kill her.

The only sunny spots come from her relationship with a new girlfriend and the warm reception that her artwork, always derided by her artist mother, is beginning to garner from others. A new life is within Kendra's grasp, if only she can muster up the courage to discover and face the man who destroyed her old one.

Time: 0:17:13 (partial because I started reading this yesterday and wasn't done yet)
Why I Wanted to Read It: I'd been hearing about this book for some time. Cheryl is a Kidlitosphere pal and I knew it was a deeply personal story, drawn from her own experience. In fact, her arm is the scarred limb shown on the cover. When she emailed to offer me a review copy, I leapt at the chance, even though I knew it wasn't going to be a book full of hugs and puppies.

The good news is, this is definitely worth the read. Sometimes you get the "thinly veiled autobiography" feeling with books based on the author's experience, but Kendra felt real and alive to me, and I couldn't stop turning the pages to follow her slow blossoming, in spite of the pain that seethed under her skin. I did flip to the end to find out the identity of the abuser, because I'm terrible like that, and it was exactly who I thought it would be.

One of the things I appreciated was the portrayal of a family life that made the abuse possible. Her mother's willful ignorance and incredible self-involvement, plus her father's need to be at the center of the family's attention at all times, made it credible that nobody would have noticed what was going on and that Kendra would have thought so little of herself as to believe that she deserved the abuse, and that nobody would listen to her if she told.

I would have liked to see a little more from the time that the memories started to resurface, especially how the break-up with her first girlfriend affected or prompted them. I also thought the climax was unexpectedly dramatic for a book that had been all about the inner emotional journey up until that point. I did see the need for Kendra to face and conquer her abuser, so it worked in that way. It was just startling.

As I said, it's not a hugs and puppies kind of book. But it is a well-told and deeply affecting one, and the cutting aspect is included as just that, an aspect of the pain that Kendra is experiencing.

Sixth Annual 48-Hr Book Challenge Starts Now!

I was going to start in the morning, but then I decided that I couldn't wait! My bookshelf has so many books I've been looking forward to reading that I'm just going to go ahead and start. I do have to work all day tomorrow (curses!) so it'll be a smaller year than usual, but I aim to have a blast anyway. My audiobook will be Anne of Green Gables, so I'll listen to that as I drive to work, cook, take knitting breaks, exercise, and do other things that require two hands for.

For every book I read and review (because the reviewing's half the fun, dontcha know!) I'll donate five dollars to Make Way for Books, a local literacy organization. For every comment on a review, I'll add a dollar. If you're coming here from MotherReader's starting line post, check out my more recent reviews and updates. Also, you can follow me on Twitter or Find me on Facebook.

My first book will be a partial one, Scars by Cheryl Rainfield. I started reading this yesterday and thought I'd have it finished, but it's been a busy couple of days. Since I was getting the "gotta-review" feeling about it anyway, I decided this was going to be my first book.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about ("She wants to do what for 48 hours?"), drop by MotherReader's blog and find out! If you have a blog of your own (or were always meaning to start one), join in!

Reading Roundup: May 2011

By the Numbers
Teen: 16
Tween: 7
Children: 4

Sources
Review Copies: 7
Library: 19

Standouts
Teen: Shine by Lauren Myracle
Myracle tends to be hit or miss with me. This book, about a damaged girl coming back to life as she peels back the layers to reveal the nasty underbelly of her small Southern town, was a monster hit.
Tween: Where the Streets Had a Name by Randa Abdel-Fattah
Hayyaat is on a quest to bring her ailing grandmother soil from her home. Sounds simple, right? Until you factor in that the soil is in Israel, and Hayyaat is a citizen of Palestine. This book gives readers an up-close-and-personal look at the devastating effects of drawn-out conflicts, and also the terribly complex nature of that conflict.
Children: TIE Pearl Verses the World by Sally Murphy
As her grandmother weakens and finally dies, Pearl struggles to make sense of it all through her own particular brand of poetry, which is not what they're being taught in school. Quiet, reflective, and never maudlin, this slim book stands out in the life-after-death genre for first-to-third graders. (Coming out Aug. 23.)
The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Kids might not realize this is a fictionalized account of the childhood and youth of Pablo Neruda until the very end, but that's okay. Neftali's struggle against an overbearing father and his desire to create his poetry on his own terms are all relayed through a magical-realism style that will keep them turning pages.

Because I Want To Awards
Yanked Me Out of My Reading Funk: For Keeps by Natasha Friend
For the Pacifists Among Us: Truce by Jim Murphy
Reliably Excellent: Glitter Girls and the Great Fake-Out by Meg Cabot

Preparing for the 48-Hour Book Challenge

So, as you may have divined from my title, I'm preparing for MotherReader's famous 48-Hour Book Challenge, this year taking place from June 3 - 5. One of the Kidlitosphere's most believed bits of masochism, this is MR's sixth foray into randomly declaring one weekend for everyone to read until their eyeballs fall out. And we totally do it, y'all. Last year, even the adult book bloggers got into it. Why? Because it's a great community-builder, because it's a a great way to kickstart or re-energize your blogging, because many people pledge money to charity, because you discover and connect with so many neat people and most of all, it's fun. I swear.

I've fiddled with my work schedule, picked the charity to whom I will donate (local literacy organization Make Way for Books, in case you're interested), chosen my pizza toppings, written the first draft of my grocery list (how many flavors of Mountain Dew are there, anyway?). Now comes the most important . . . deciding what to read.

I am aware that there are people who just sort of dive in and grab books from their shelf and away they go. I contemplate this for myself and my brain breaks a little bit. I have to pace myself. I have to balance funny books with serious, long with short, realistic with books that require Golden-Gate-Bridge levels of suspension of disbelief. Y'all, I hafta select just the right audiobook, cuz I only get one, and what if it's the wrong one?!?

It's this whole thing, I tell you.

Last year I read books that I'd promised to read, and it wasn't entirely successful. There were some books I looooved and some I . . . didn't. So I've decided that this year I will only read books that make me jump up and down with excitement. This will ensure that when I'm starting my fourth book at 11 pm, I can still go, "Well, hey, I wanna read this, and not, y'know, sleep or anything."

So I'm trawling through my ~800-item LibraryThing wishlist, pulling out the books that make me go, "Oooooo!" and ordering them from the library. Bonus: several of them are in ebook form, so I can download to my Nook (favorite toy! Lub my Nook!).

Are you in? Have you done this before? What do you plan to read? Most importantly, do you have any suggestions that will make me go, "Hot damn!"?

Sexism in Children's Books?

I feel the need to weigh in on this, or at least to fling it out there. So apparently there's a new study out that says children's books are inherently sexist because of the disparity between female and male heroes. It was conducted at Florida State University and reported in the Daily Mail. Clippage? Don't mind if I do.

Overall, 31 per cent of the best-sellers featured a female lead character, compared to 57 per cent featuring a male. The remainder gave equal weight to a male and female protagonist, or had a gender-neutral character.

Hmm. Damning numbers, those. And yet, we've been bewailing the dearth of "boy books" for awhile now.

What to think? I think it's too late at night to be reasonably coherent about this, especially on the same day as a major program (head-to-toe pinata paste here, people. Hot tip: pack extra clothes).

Those of you in the trenches with me (hi!), be my brain. What do you think? Is sexism alive and well in the children's section? And here's more: do you think there are differences between different age levels? Are picture books more or less sexist than chapter books? Are different genres more or less sexist?

Reading Roundup: April 2011

By the Numbers
Teen: 19
Tween: 6
Children: 12

Sources
Review Copies: 8
Swapped: 4
Purchased: 3
Library: 20

Standouts
Teen: Broken Soup by Jenny Valentine
Reeling from the sudden death of her older brother and the subsequent implosion of her family, Rowan is just drifting along. Then Bee and Harper come separately into her life, and force Rowan to confront the pain and the joy of life again.
Tween: Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt
In this indirect sequel to The Wednesday Wars, Schmidt tells the story of another young man learning new ways to see the world as it changes around him. Review soon, if I can form coherent thoughts about this book.
Children: The Exiles by Hilary McKay
Before she did the Casson series, McKay wrote this blisteringly funny tale of four sisters shipped off to their unsympathetic grandmother's house. Everything's a battle of wills and nobody comes out the victor, except maybe the reader, and even they're exhausted from laughing.

Because I Want To Awards
So Much Better Than I Expected: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
Surprisingly Good Fit: Troy High by Shana Norris
How Did I Miss This All These Years?: Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery
Gutsy Topic: Muhammad by Demi
Just a Hoot: Binky the Space Cat by Ashley Spires

Book Review: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Book: Paranormalcy
Author: Kiersten White
Published: 2010
Source: local library

Evie is an anomaly in the International Paranormal Containment Agency for any number of reasons. She can see the true form of paranormal creatures, and remains unaffected by (most) glamours. She’s one of the few humans in her social circle. But the thing that makes her the weirdest? She’s the youngest in the IPCA by oh, about forty years.

When she captures a strange paranormal creature and realizes he’s a teenage boy, then the trouble really starts. Who is Lend? Why was he sneaking around the IPCA, disguised as Evie’s boss? What’s with all the paranormal creatures suddenly turning up dead? Why is the ominous faerie Reth, who's tried to manipulate her before, suddenly dropping ominous hints that he knows much more about her than Evie herself does?

What's a girl to do? If you're Evie, you lace up your zebra-print boots, grab your sparkly pink taser, and set about determining whose butt to kick.

I’ll be honest: I was skeptical about this one. See my grumblings a few weeks back about how tired I am of paranormal. The cover didn’t help. Girl with wind-blown hair and swirly pink dress and semi-tragic expression? Whatevs. Fifty pages and I’m outta here.

Then I met Evie, who wouldn’t be caught dead with a tragic expression. (The swirly pink dress would have been fine.) She’s someone that Veronica Mars and Buffy Summers wouldn’t mind hanging out with. They’d be comparing taser brands before you got out of the room. (Oh, trust me. You’d want to be out of that room.) She’s snarky, sweet, enjoys being a girl, and even more enjoys kicking paranormal behind. And when her world goes to hell in a handbasket, she doesn’t waste time whining about it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Kiersten White for not making Reth a viable candidate for Evie’s heart. She’s pulled to him, but she knows he’s bad news. If this boy was any more bad news, he’s be the headliner on the Peter Jennings hour. Evie knows it, and fights it, and doesn’t trust him one tiny little bit, even when she’s forced to depend on him. Awesomeness.

Lend, while sweet, is also kind of bland, and I got the sense Evie likes him for his normal life, something she’s always craved. But he’s a good guy, and I’m hoping to get some interesting things out of him in upcoming books. He certainly has a thought-provoking backstory, rife with opportunities for conflict.

But the main reason I'm looking forward to the rest of this series? I want to spend more time with Evie. She's a girl worth getting to know better.

Book Review: From Anna by Jean Little

Book: From Anna
Author: Jean Little
Published: 1972
Source: Paperbackswap.com

The youngest in her family, Anna is also the clumsiest and ugliest. She sees no reason to hope that things will be different in Canada than they were in Germany as they flee the Nazis. But Canada brings her to Dr. Schumacher, who realizes something nobody ever noticed before and changes her life for the better.

Why do I love ferocious little girls so much? Mary Lennox of The Secret Garden was one of the first, but my reading life has always focused with particular affection on the stubborn, angular, not-all-that-charming child who could probably navigate the world a little better if she was sweet and compliant, but seems constitutionally unable to be so.

Anna’s ferocity is easy to understand. Because of her visual difficulties, nothing has ever been easy for her to learn. She's not exactly graceful, either, simply because she can't see the thing she's about to fall over. It also doesn't help that she's not a sweet-faced blond angel like her siblings. Joan Sandin's illustrations really bring this out. Being called stupid, clumsy, and ugly all her life has understandably created a shell to rival that of a Galapagos tortoise.

Bless Jean Little for not immediately making her life sunshine and puppies, bestowing the love and approval of her family upon her when she gets glasses. While things are improving, her family still dismisses her because it’s so entrenched in her mind that this is silly, clumsy little Anna, and it takes a strong demonstration of her intelligence and capability to change their minds.

If you’re looking for a fleeing-from-the-Nazis story, this really isn’t it. Except for discussion of a changing Germany in the beginning as they prepare to leave their country, and an ongoing stubbornness over language in the remainder of the book, this might as well be the story of any family forced to relocate. From Anna is the story of a fiercely guarded girl finally coming into her own and forcing her family to recognize her as such.

Book (Series) Review: Soul Screamers by Rachel Vincent

Book series: Soul Screamers (My Soul to Take, My Soul to Save, My Soul to Keep, My Soul to Steal)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Published: 2009-10 (with more to come)
Sources: Library (Books 1-3), electronic ARC from NetGalley.com (Book 4)

Kaylee Cavanaugh doesn't have the best life in the world. Her mom is dead, her dad is AWOL, and she has to live with her obnoxious cousin. But she's doing okay. Except for the sudden urge to scream uncontrollably at the strangest moments. Even worse, when she screams, somebody dies. Well, crap. That won't do much for her popularity . . . or her sanity rating, if you want to be honest about it.

But what Kaylee thinks is a one-way ticket to the looney bin (been there, thanks, and she doesn't want to go back) is actually a gift. She's not human, she's a bean sidhe, or banshee, born with the ability to capture human souls with her screaming song to make sure they get where they're supposed to go. Even stranger, the one person who can clue her in on the ins and outs of her bean sidhe heritage is popular and gorgeous Nash Hudson. Hmmm.

Kaylee Cavanaugh doesn't have the best life in the world, but it's looking up.

I'm getting a little paranormal'd out here, people. Just a tad bit weary of Ordinary Girls with Extraordinary Powers, and the Mysterious, Beautiful Boys who seem to Know Everything (and Won't Quit It with the Ominous Hints, God, Just Tell Her What the Hell is Going On Already! It's called Communication with the Chick who can Save Your Heiney, helllllooooo). (Okay, that was a long and probably unnecessary parenthetical aside. But funny, I hope. Please tell me I'm funny and validate my existence.)

I'm also not entirely delighted with the number of adult authors hopping the bandwagon to YA. Said bandwagon being pulled by the Harlequin horse, and said authors being many, many romance novelists. I do love a good romance novel, but they're different genres for different audiences and skillz aren't necessarily transferable. Maybe I'm a bad person, but they definitely have to row hard to convince me to like these books.

All that being said, I'm really, really appreciating the Soul Screamers series from Rachel Vincent.

First, Vincent's really thought out her world. Her Netherworld and the people who slide back and forth across its boundaries are constructed with more stability than I've been seeing lately. Every time you think you've figured out the depths of the Netherworld (ha, see what I did there? I am funny!), you find out more, but the more is logically thought out and holds up next to what's been previously revealed.

Second, things from earlier books come back in later ones. Yes, teenagers can read analytically and they do remember details. And the books rarely end with Kaylee Saves the Day and everyone gets to go eat Cherry Garcia. Yes, the day is generally saved, for a certain value of saved, but there are people that can't be fixed, loose ends flying around, all this stuff that means Kaylee may have saved this day, but tomorrow is probably going to have to be saved all over again, in new and horrible ways.

Third, I love the Nash-and-Kaylee relationship. You see my cynicism up there about Mysterious, Beautiful Boys? I'm just so friggin' sick of Insta-Lurve and riding off into the sunset, and lucky for me, Vincent gives that a miss. There's a little Insta-Lurve in the first book (in fact, the first book is in a lot of ways the toe-dipper, and you don't really get the meaty stuff until the second one), but in later books, Kaylee and Nash don't just have snuggly-wuggly lovey times, they have a relationship. With problems. With issues. With real stuff that comes between them and you're not sure it can be fixed.

Finally, this series is going somewhere. The Big Bad (that's it; I'm cutting off my supply of capital letters) that's been around since the second book is clearly playing the long game, and just as clearly intends to make Kaylee one of his pawns. I have to believe she's a match for him, but it's a pretty even race, and that means that I'm waiting with bated breath for the next one. And you should be too.

Book Review: Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Practicing the Piano (but she does love being in recitals) by Peggy Gifford

Book: Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Practicing the Piano (but she does love being in recitals)
Author: Peggy Gifford
Published: 2009
Source: Local Library

Moxy is back, and more Moxy-ish than ever. This time, she’s got a big, big, big piano recital coming up. She’s all ready. She’s got her glittery crown, her fake-ermine-trimmed cape, her sparkly shoes, and of course, her bow. Yep, this is going to be the best piano recital ever, and even the fact that Moxy hasn’t exactly practiced all that much isn’t enough to dim her excitement.

Reading this, I was struck by the fact that the series, while merely called Moxy Maxwell, is really about Moxy and her mom and the relationship that they have. In this one, Mrs. Maxwell is just back from Africa, where her twin sister fell off a ladder (yes, really). Jet-lagged to within an inch of her life, Mrs. Maxwell nevertheless is on the case, frosting 150 cupcakes, keeping the kids from using The Sharp Scissors, discerning whether Moxy does, in fact, know how to stop playing “Heart and Soul”and most of all, being there for Moxy when (as it does) stage fright inevitably strikes.

Balancing out poor Mrs. Maxwell’s world-weary (and sometimes just weary, poor woman) point of view is Moxy’s wild enthusiasm and grand ideas, which will strike a familiar chord with anybody who is or was a kid with more energy than experience.

Bravo for Moxy, three cheers for Mrs. Maxwell, and plentiful huzzahs for Peggy Gifford. I can’t wait for more.

Reading Roundup: March 2011

By the Numbers
Teen: 18
Tween: 4
Children: 9

Sources
Review Copies: 4
Swapped: 3
Purchased: 2
Library: 21

Standouts
Teen: Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd
Armed with a red wig, foster teen Holly takes to the road as Solace, the daring, sexier, and more adventurous side of herself, on a quest to find the mother who gave her up. But will Solace endure when Holly's real memories start to surface? Even though I knew Holly was about to crash and burn emotionally any second, I couldn't put this down.
Tween: Here's How I See It - Here's How It Is by Heather Henson
Thirteen stinks any way you look at it. But June's summer stinks more than most. Her mom has moved out, her dad seems to be having a midlife crisis, and her special role in the family theater is being usurped by an annoying outsider. This first novel impressed me with its razor-sharp recall of just how bad the middle school years could be.
Children: Stage Fright by Meg Cabot
Allie Finkle and her rules are back, and this time she's navigating the tricky waters of friendship vs stage rivalry. What's a girl to do when her very, very best friend wants the exact same part in the class play that she does? I always say that Meg Cabot is just about the best writer of the modern girl character of any age, and this one did not prove me wrong.

Because I Want To Awards
Most Interesting Main Character: The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell
Not Nearly as Light and Fluffy as It Sounded: Donut Days by Lara Zielin
Will Remind You That Love Has Jagged Edges: Ballad: a gathering of faerie by Maggie Stiefvater
Gotta Read the Next One: Leaving the Bellweathers by Kristin Clark Venuti
Took the Entire Premise of the First Book and Turned It Inside Out: Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund