Room on the Shelf

The Dreaded First Page

2011-03-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

Let's discuss the bane of every writer’s existence: Your first page.

1. Plant your hook: While in a bookstore or library, chances are that the reader is going to give your novel the one-page test. If you don’t grab them in the first page, you’re done. Maybe your manuscript gets incredible on page 37, but if they don’t read page one, they’ll never get there. You MUST have something that makes your reader say, “Why?” or “How?” or, if you can do it very very well, “What?!” (The “What?!” approach is what made me read The Book Thief. The first page was pretty, but made no sense. I had to read more. I don’t recommend this for most authors, but like I said, if you can do it well…)

2. Set the genre of your novel: You can hope that the publishing company gets it right and gives you a title and cover that will clue any reader into what genre you’re in. But I don’t trust anyone when it comes to that kind of information, and since I have little to no control over titles or covers, I want to make sure my readers are not duped on the first page. If it’s a romance, bring in something romantic. If it’s science fiction, make sure we see something scientific-y. If it’s fantasy, we need to see some hint of magic. Think this isn’t important? Think back to all the novels you started but didn’t finish. Why? Usually it’s because the first page made you expect something that was not delivered in the novel itself. Don’t become the book that gets returned to the library before the reader hits page 50.

3. Don’t start with a dream: One of the most commonly broken rules. But let me tell you why. It has to do with Rule #2. Many times, these are designed to fool your reader. You start with an intense nightmare, tons of action, lightning-fast pacing…then the reader is dumped into a quiet book about a lonely girl in the Midwest who likes to pick dandelions. There’s a ditched book waiting to happen. And it’s a problem in two ways: first, the readers that pick it up will never finish it, and therefore never recommend it to friends, because they want what the book promised. Second, the readers that would like a quiet book about a Midwestern flower picking girl will never pick it up, because they’ll see a first page that looks like it dropped out of a James Bond movie. When you fool your reader on the first page, no one wins.

4. Don’t start with a flashback: This has to do with the fact that kids like to read “up.” They almost always prefer a book with a main character who is just a few years older than themselves. So if they open your novel and find it’s about a four-year-old, there’s a good chance they’ll just toss it. Tell us who your character is now, not who they were then. Now, is there ample opportunity to show us their life history later on? Absolutely. But leave it off the first page.

5. Ditch the prologue: I know. We can all name at least twelve books off the top of our heads with prologues. But there are very few prologues that are necessary, and even fewer that are done well. Prologues have many problems. For one, many prologues are just a lazy way to info dump, to tell us in long, dragging soliloquies about the world so that they don’t have to find more creative ways to actually work it into the manuscript. Or it’s a sneaky way to work in a flashback at the beginning, which is against Rule #4. Or it’s a way to fit in what is essentially a short story that happened in your world centuries ago, and has little to nothing to do with your character…but it’s fast paced and exciting, and it will keep your reader reading in order to find where that story ties in. My advice? Save the short story for your website. Don’t fool your reader into thinking that the characters in the prologue are main characters in your story. And don’t hide important information in the prologue, because studies have shown that most teens will just skip it anyway.

6. Introduce characters slowly and clearly, and keep your pronouns straight: You know your characters backwards and forwards, and you know that Riley is a girl who happens to be a tomboy. But your reader doesn’t. Be particularly careful if you have gender-ambiguous names, or characters that are doing activities not necessarily associated with their gender. I’m not saying that readers are sexist, but when we don’t have strong reason to believe otherwise, we will always fall back on stereotypes. And if you throw in more than three characters on the first page, I can almost guarantee that your reader will get lost. First pages are not normally read carefully. I always speed through the first page, because I want to know where the novel is going. And if your reader is not going to be careful, you have to be. Make it very clear who is who, and your reader will soon fall as in love with them as you are.

7. Avoid driving, sleeping, watching TV, or eating: This is a pretty easy one to fix. These are all passive activities. And in case you didn’t know, passive=boring. These activities are pretty boring when you do them in real life, and they’re definitely boring to read about. Now, at some point, your character will probably have a need to do some, if not all, of these things. That’s fine. But keep it off the first page. And when you take them out of the car or off the couch, you’ll be amazed at how interesting your character suddenly becomes.

Above all, have fun! The worst first page you could possibly have is a blank one. As long as you write something, anything, you’re on your way to an incredible story.

Haven't signed up for the WIFYR newsletter yet? Make sure to get on the list! www.wifyr.com

Author Interview: Claudia Mills

2011-03-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to all of our winners! I will be contacting you within the next couple of weeks. But for right now, I would like to post an interview I conducted with the brilliant Claudia Mills, who I am honored to assist at this year's Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference in Sandy, Utah.

Claudia has a Ph.D in philosophy from Princeton and is a professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She is the mother of two boys, and has written over 40 books for children. And all of her books have been written between 5 and 7 in the morning with a mug of Swiss Miss at her side. She is one of the most brilliant and genuine people I have ever had the privilege to meet.

But enough of me. Read the interview so you can fall in love with her yourself.

Could you tell us the story of your first rejection letter?

It came in seventh grade. I had written a love poem to my first sort-of boyfriend, and I gave it to him. Shortly thereafter, he broke up with me, and I happened to see a list he had written of things he wanted in a girlfriend: “Not blond. Not emotional. Does not write poetry.” So I count that as rejection letter number one. After that there were too many to remember, all run together in my memory, but then came the one I remember best. I was in my mid-20s, working in NYC as a secretary/editorial assistant at Four Winds Press/Scholastic. Weary of uninformative standard rejection slips from all the other New York publishers, I decided to try sending one of my manuscripts to my own house, under a pseudonym, so I would have a ringside seat to watch the proceedings. Like all my other submissions, it was rejected. But this time I was the one who had to type the rejection letter.

You have a Ph.D in philosophy from Princeton, which is, to say the very least, no easy feat. How do you feel your educational background has affected your writing?
Well, it really hasn’t affected it in the way most people, including me, would have expected. If I heard that some children’s book writer had a Ph.D. in philosophy, I would expect that person to write high fantasy, epic struggles between the forces of good and evil, each page studded with nuggets of deep philosophical wisdom. I don’t write that kind of book. I write books like 7 x 9 = Trouble!, where a third grade boy is struggling against . . . the times tables. Still, in all my books I care about the small, central truth about the universe that my character discovers by the end of the story. And writing an opus as major as a doctoral dissertation made me able to believe that however daunting the writing task, if you just keep writing one page, and then another, and then another, at some point it really will get done.

Since you work basically two full-time jobs (as a professor at the University of Colorado and the mother of two boys), your writing time must be very limited, yet you manage to produce a steady stream of novels. How do you manage to maximize the writing time you have so that it's as productive as possible?
You cannot allow yourself to spend very much of your precious writing time on delay, denial, and self-doubt. It took me twelve years to write my dissertation, and of that entire span of time, literally two months was taken up with actual writing. The rest was spent telling myself I couldn’t do it, that it was impossible and hopeless, that it would never be finished, that I would go to my grave with the dissertation undone – including weekly visits to a therapist who specialized in working with people who couldn’t finish their dissertations, etc. Now when I write my books, that’s the part of the writing process I try to eliminate. Well, yes, but how? For me, what helps most is what I call “trusting the process,” which also means “trusting my writing group friends.” I just write the chapter, and then let them tell me whether it’s working or not. I heard one grownup-book author give a talk, and he told the audience that he had revised one scene of his book 88 times. The audience gasped with awe. I was unimpressed. “Don’t you have a writing group?” I asked him. “Well, no,” he said. “Well, they would have saved you 80 of those revisions,” I told him. And I was right.

I've heard that you write with a pen and notepad instead of on a computer. What does this do for your writing process?

This is going to sound a bit strange, but it’s almost as if my pen is a magic wand. Truly, I don’t think about my writing when I’m not actually doing it; when I sit down to write each day, I don’t have the unfolding scene planned out in any detail more than, e.g. “Sierra confronts her father” or “Second encounter with Luke.” Everything that happens in the book happens only as I actually write it. And it’s my pen that makes it happen. I don’t think it would happen on the computer. It doesn’t have that same magic power. I also love the coziness of curling up with pad and paper on the couch. Computers don’t seem as cozy.

You started writing when you were very young, and never stopped. What do you feel are some of the best strategies for inspiring children to write?

I think the two things children need to be inspired to write are opportunity and encouragement. I was lucky enough to have parents and teachers who prioritized writing and who praised me for my early successes at it. I was going to leave my answer at that, but then yesterday I saw the best strategy for inspiring children to write that I have ever seen in my whole entire life. While I was meeting with a fellow writer at a local café, in came an entire class of third graders, wearing their idea of beatnik garb (tie-dye shirts, hippie beads), and carrying notebooks. I inquired: it was a third grade class trip from a nearby elementary school – the kids were there to sit in the café, with their hot chocolate and croissants, and write poetry. And for the next hour, that’s what they proceeded to do. What child in that classroom would NOT be inspired to write?

You manage to jump effortlessly from writing for one age group to writing for the next. How do you deal with the difficulties of writing for different age groups?

I have the same process and approach in writing for any age group. I think we’re all the same, really, whatever our age. When I teach freshmen at the university, I tell myself, they’re just big fifth graders. And graduate students are just VERY big fifth graders. And kindergartners are just very little fifth graders, or maybe fifth graders in the making. At any age, we want to connect with characters we care about, and with a story that matters to us because it matters to them. And I think we also want to come to see the world just a little bit differently from how we saw it before we began reading.

What is your very favorite recent read in middle grade novels?

Well, my favorite author in the world, Carol Lynch Williams, has been mainly writing YA lately, so this isn’t a recent book of hers, but I will always love If I Forget, You Remember for its dazzling ability to blend hilarity and heartbreak on the same page, sometimes even in the same sentence. I thought last year’s Newbery, When You Reach Me, was the best Newbery in years . And I’m a huge fan of Jeanne Birdsall’s Penderwicks series.

BIGGEST BOOK GIVEAWAY EVER!!!

2011-02-12T11:10:00.000-08:00

50 BOOKS!

That's right, I said 50. I am giving away 50 books. 50 amazing young adult books.

I am also giving away SIGNED copies of the New York Times bestselling novels Matched by Ally Condie and Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. Yes, SIGNED. I watched them do it. :)

Here are the ways to enter:

1. One comment will get you one entry. Yay!

2. Promoting my blog (must include http://cherylynne.blogspot.com/ )will get you one extra entry for each venue you promote it on (twitter, facebook, blog, etc.) You must include links! you can only promote it once on each venue, though.

3. Promoting the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers conference (a.k.a. WIFYR) will get you TWO extra entries for each venue (must include http://www.wifyr.com/ or the link to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kgQp9FocO4) Again, you must provide links.

4. If you have signed up for either a morning workshop or the afternoon workshop at WIFYR, you will get an extra FIVE entries!!! Please note, the fee for the conference is non-refundable.

5. If you have signed up for Claudia Mills' morning workshop (my class!) you will get an extra TEN entries. That's right. Because it's my contest, and I say so.

The contest will end at midnight on February 26th. *

EDIT: Due to some extenuating circumstances, I'm now extending the contest for two more weeks! The contest now ends March 12th at midnight. So get those entries in!

Because there are so many ways to get extra entries, however, I do need to put a limit on how many books one person can win. Each person can win up to five books.

And here's the list of books you can win! I feel obligated to say that this list is subject to change, although I doubt it. If anything, it might get longer if I find other books that I have to give away.

Good luck!

Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters by Natalie Standiford

Love Drugged by James Klise

Perfect Shot by Debbie Rigaud

Losing Faith by Denise Jaden

The Girl Next Door by Selene Castrovilla

After The Kiss by Terra Elan McVoy

Sweet, Hereafter by Angela Johnson

Butterfly by Sonya Hartnett

Abe in Arms by Pegi Deitz Shea

Myself and I by Earl Sewell

Addicted to Her by Janet Nicholas Lynch

Sweet 15 by Emily Adler & Alex Echevarria

China Clipper by Jamie Dodson

Flying Feet by James McCann

Rhythm and Blues by Jill Murray

Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins

Survivor's Leave by Robert Sutherland

The Man of Mystery Hill by Tracy L. Carbone

Compromised by Heidi Ayarbe

Joe Rat by Mark Barratt

Anxious Hearts by Tucker Shaw

Rose Sees Red by Cecil Castellucci

The Daughters by Joanna Philbin

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork

Life, After by Sarah Darer Littman

The Secret to Lying by Todd Mitchell

The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride

Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart

Ghost Dog Secrets by Peg Kehret

The 10 p.m. Question by Kate De Goldi

Runaway Storm by D.E. Knobbe

So Over My Head by Jenny B. Jones

Every Little Thing in the World by Nina de Gramont

Beat the Band by Don Calame

Those Girls by Sarah Lawrence

Call Me Yubbie by Joe Wojcik

Bright Blue Miracle by Becca Wilhite

Cum Laude by Cecily von Ziegesar

Stringz by Michael Wenberg

The Fiddler's Gun by A.S. Peterson

The Summer I Got A Life by Mark Fink

The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells

The Heart is Not a Size by Beth Kephart

Scars by Cheryl Rainfield

Wildthorn by Jane Eagland

Change of Heart by Shari Maurer

Something Terrible Happened on Kenmore by Marci Stillerman

Relaunching...again.

2011-02-09T18:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am once again relaunching my blog. I'd promise that this is the last time, but I can't guarantee it.

But this time, the relaunch is coming with a HUGE giveaway. I mean HUGE. Details to come this weekend.

In the meantime, you can get an extra entry into said giveaway by commenting on this post BEFORE Saturday. Just a comment. I'd love it if the comment said something about how beautiful, intelligent, and just plain amazing I am, but any comment will do.

And since I don't want this post to be a complete waste, here's some information that you may find useful. Remember the incredible conference I was at last year? It's back again. Utah's Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference will be held in Sandy from June 13th-17th. It's an all-star cast this year, and spots are filling up fast, so if you want to get in, you'd better hurry. http://wifyr.com/

And if you're more a video person, you might remember this one from last year:

Incredible Synchronicities

2011-01-05T08:47:00.000-08:00

synchronicities: 1. the quality or fact of being synchronous

2. the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events (as similar thoughts in widely separated persons or a mental image of an unexpected event before it happens) that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality —used especially in the psychology of C. G. Jung

--Merriam-Webster Online

This list of similarities and coincidences among the 2010 Cybils YA Fiction nominations is humbly submitted to you by the 2010 Cybils YA Fiction Panel. It is no way to be considered completely exhaustive, as we are certain nominated books and coincidentals will have been missed. This list was originated out of amusement as the seven panelists read their way through the 182 titles. If you know of a nominated title that should be included in one of the synchronicities below, please feel free to submit it in the comments! To get the entire list, you’ll have to visit all seven of the panelist’s blogs.

Featuring a Car Named Holden:

A Little Wanting Song

Butterfly

Featuring Twins:

The Twin’s Daughter

Dangerous Neighbors

Will (not ‘featured’, but reappearing)

Jackie’s Library Teen Events

Fiona Apple:

A Little Wanting Song

and ???? (we know there's one more...help, readers!)

Finding a Friend’s Dad’s Impressively Large Porn Collection:

Exit Strategy

Half Brother

Grandparents as Caregivers:

Harmonic Feedback

The Sky is Everywhere

What Mama Left Me

Sellout

When I was Joe

Historical:

The Agency 1: A Spy in the House

The Agency 2: The Body at the Tower

Anxious Hearts

The Brothers Story

Butterfly

Bright Young Things

Cate of the Lost Colony

City of Cannibals

Crossing the Tracks

Dangerous Neighbors

Faithful

Firefly Letters

The Fiddler’s Gun

Folly

Freaks and Revelations

Half Brother

Hellie Jondoe

Joe Rat

Life, After

Prisoners in the Palace

The Red Umbrella

Revolution

Something Terrible Happened on Kenmore

Three Rivers Rising

The Twin’s Daughter

We Hear the Dead

Wicked Girls

Wildthorn

Woods Runner

Homelessness Caused by Mother Relying on Boyfriends for Housing:

Harmonic Feedback

Sorta Like a Rock Star

IEDs:

Things a Brother Know

Sweet, Hereafter

In-n-Out Burger Love:

Harmonic Feedback

Amy and Roger

Isabel Allende:

Split

This Georgeous Game

“It is what it is” as a coping phase:

Myself and I

Stringz

Want to find out how many featured snake bites in Australia? Stockholm Syndrome? Lunchtime oak trees? Go check out the rest of the list! There are some surprises on there, I promise....

Amanda (#1-10)

Book Review: Lynn Visible by Julia DeVillers

2010-12-05T20:16:00.000-08:00

DeVillers, Julia. Lynn Visible. New York: Penguin Young Readers Group, 2010.

There we were. Taylor smiling, in the outfit I’d put together, looking very happy.
And me, also looking very happy. In my navy-and-white plaid shirt. And my hot pink tutu skirt that flared out superwide. Belted with a wide black leather belt. I also wore my navy-and-white knitted knee socks. On my head was a vintage black fedora wwith a large hot pink bow. And on my feet, sneakers that I’d hacked up and filled in the holes with tulle I’d trimmed off my skirt. And a necklace I’d made from old pink-and-red Polly Pocket shoes.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. That’s what she’s wearing the first day of school?
You won’t be the only person thinking that today.

When it comes to fashion, Lynn is either a genius who is decades ahead of her time, or she's crazy. If you asked the popular girls in school, they'd tell you the latter.

But that doesn't stop Lynn from dreaming about being the new It girl in the new GlITter Girl competition....the prize being featured in the hottest fashion magazine in the world. Will she face the same rejection she's dealt with her whole life? Or will she finally be validated?

Cute, very cute. Great for the tween girls that are really into fashion. Predictable? A little. But still, you can’t help but cheer for the main character and all the shenanigans she gets herself into.

Perfect for girls that are still a little young for Meg Cabot, but too old for Fancy Nancy.

Book #17

Buy this book now!

Nameless Book Review #6

2010-12-05T20:08:00.000-08:00

Book #13
Set in a historical period that FASCINATES me, I had high hopes for this one. But no. It spends a ridiculous amount of time avoiding conflict and instead focusing on the historical facts. Worth reading if you want to read a textbook, but otherwise…

Book #14
I am so disappointed in this novel. It started with an AWESOME premise. AWESOME. I thought this would be one of my top favorite books this year.
Then, about halfway through, I discovered a subplot. A subplot that the author obviously wanted as the main plot. Except that it was too boring, so she had to demote it. And as soon as she introduced it, the main plot unraveled. The resolution was BORING. After all that build-up, for nothing? And the subplot took over. And guess what? I DON’T CARE.
So, read the first half, and write your own second half.

Book #15
Definitely full of fun and girl power. But it went a little over-the-top. Oh, what the heck. It went WAY over-the-top. Really cute idea, but then it went crazy. Anything that wasn’t over-the-top was a complete cliché. If it were me, I would have knocked down the character’s age by a few years and marketed it to 8-year-olds. But for YA? It’s a failure.

Book #16
I should have loved this novel. I really should have. The main character could have been based on me. And this is a dream I’ve had most of my life.
But I didn’t. Because quite frankly, it was kind of dumb.

Best Hunger Games Video EVER!

2010-12-01T20:40:00.000-08:00

I think my title says it all. I could just watch this video over and over and over again.

If you're wondering where my reviews are, they're coming. I promise. I'm on book #60 of the Cybils and I'm reading about 4 hours a day...I just haven't had time to post the reviews. BUT I WILL!

And stay tuned...publishers are sending me more free books than I know what to do with, so sometime in the new year I will be having a HUGE giveaway. At least 50 or so books. :)

How Many Have YOU Read?

2010-11-25T07:54:00.000-08:00

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.

*Bold those books you've read in their entirety.

* Italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read only an excerpt.

*Bold and italicize books you have read more than once

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible (Old Testament Only)

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma -Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Inferno - Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistr

87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Book Review: Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

2010-11-14T17:42:00.000-08:00

Donnelly, Jennifer. Revolution. New York: Delacorte Press, 2010

"Take it down," I said, my voice cracking.

Dr. Becker held up his hands. "Okay, Andi, If you would like me to take the picture down, I will."

"Now."

"Damn it, Andi! Who do you think you're talking to?" Dad shouted.

"I can't do it right now," Dr. Becker said. "I need maintenance to do it. But I give you my word that it will come down, all right?"

I nodded stiffly. It was something. Some small win. I couldn't protect my mother from Dr. Feelgood but at least I'd saved her from Thomas Kinkade.

The traffic jam gives a bit. We pick up speed and few minutes later, we're on the outskirts of Paris. The road to the city is lined with shabby stone houses, used-car lots, falafel dens, and hair salons, their signs all shining garishly in the dark.

"It might do you good, you know," my father is saying as we hit the Boulevard Peripherique. "It might take your mind off things."

"What might?"

"A change of scenery. Paris."

"Yeah. Sure. My brother's dead. My mother's insane. Hey, let's have a crepe."

We don't talk for the rest of the ride.

After Andi's brother died, her family essentially fell apart. So when her father swoops back in and sends her mother to a psych ward and drags her off to Paris, she is not happy.

Then she discovers a guitar that’s over two centuries old. And with it, a diary that reveals a side of history that no one has ever heard before.

Brilliant concept. I LOVED the diary parts. As well as the music reports. The character is smart and creative, and it’s difficult not to adore her, even though she can be pretty snarky.
I wasn’t thrilled with the way it ended, but overall, it’s definitely worth your time. And if you love European historical fiction, you can’t miss out on this book.

Buy this book now!

Book 12--done!

Book Review: Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

2010-11-12T19:49:00.000-08:00

Godbersen, Anna. Bright Young Things. New York: HarperCollins, 2010.

The faces of each guest turned toward the bride, and though some of them tried to smile, their eyes seemed to say, I know what you’ve done.
Lest their looks cut her, Cordelia reminded herself that she was only half one of them. While her mother had been raised in Union, the other half of Cordelia came from some glittering, far-off place, and like Letty, she was too big for the town she’d grown up in. Letty was right, Cordelia now realized with some relief, to have insisted on a veil. Not only to protect her from the guests’ stares and the judgment in their expressions, but also because of John, who was now reaching for her hands. His eyes were shining, but she couldn’t meet them. She didn’t want any memory of the happy, expectant way he was gazing at her.

Cordelia and Letty believe that their destinies lie far beyond the dull small town they've been raised in....they belong in New York City. Letty is going to be an actress, a singer, a star. And Cordelia is determined to find her father.

Beautiful prose. And I love that it's a historical fiction set in the 20's, we don't see much of that. Lots of twists and turns, you're never quite sure what's going to happen next. The characters were just reckless and stupid enough to make me happy...it made them real. Especially since they admitted they were being stupid. Then did it anyway.

If that doesn't ring true as a teenager, I don't know what does.

If you're a huge fan of Chicago, then this is a great book for you. I can't wait to see what happens in the rest of the series.

Buy this book now!

Yay for Book #12! I'm so excited to be liking books again!

Nameless Book Review #5

2010-11-11T19:44:00.000-08:00

Yep...I was right about Book #11.

The first twenty pages were so abominable that there wasn’t much chance of it being redeemed. Don’t get me wrong, it tried. The middle parts were decent. But then the ending got all screwed up again. That whole incest subplot? It did NOT work for me. It came out of the middle of nowhere, and had no reason to be there. Nothing was even remotely resolved. When you write a novel from alternating POVs, there must be a REASON. Especially if you’re just going over the same old ground over and over again. There was no reason for the POVs, and there was no reason for the novel in general.

I've heard good things about Book #12, though...

Nameless Book Review #4

2010-10-21T20:23:00.000-07:00

Book #10

Not impressed….the slang constantly took me out of the story. Also, I didn’t realize the setting until I was halfway through the book. The plot was fairly uninteresting, though it did pick up a little at the end. And why were there three mini-climaxes? I want one big climax! Come on, people, give me a solid story arc!

Nameless Book Review #3

2010-10-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

Okay...so I can't tell you what I didn't like about Book #9, because that would give away what book it was.

I'll just say this...It's been awhile since I've been this excited about a concept, and I was SO disappointed. *sigh*

Books #10 and #11 aren't looking too promising either, but I'll push through!

Book Review: The Twin's Daughter by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

2010-10-17T21:19:00.000-07:00

Baratz-Logsted, Lauren. The Twin’s Daughter. New York: Bloomsbury, 2010.

I could her her step growing closer to the doorway, and I rose from my seat thinking to go to her, to warn her somehow first—although warn her of what exactly, I couldn’t say—but her energetic glide was too quick for me and as she blew into the room, the woman who had been seated across from me rose as well.

I stood between them looking from one to the other: the one who was dressed and coiffed in a way that showed she had every advantage in the world—my beautiful, gorgeous mother—and her mirror image, but dressed and coiffed far differently. I can say with near certainty that I am the only child in the world who can claim she was there the first time her mother met her twin.

My mother fainted dead away.

Lucy’s mother and her Aunt Helen were separated at birth…but now Aunt Helen has found her twin, and is determined to find her rightful place in society.

But there are darker motivations at work…and if Lucy fails to uncover them, she could become the next victim.

Another one that I loved!! It’s sort of like Little Women meets Edgar Allen Poe. Creepy. Twisted. Brilliant.

I kept thinking I had it all figured out. I kept being wrong. It had my favorite feature of a well-written novel…not one wasted word. Everything was there because it was essential to the climax. This is the first novel of this length that I’ve ever seen do that. It was so incredibly impressive to me.

I loved the characters I was supposed to love, I hated the characters I was supposed to hate, I was confused about nearly everyone else…just as the author intended. I fell for every red herring, like I was supposed to. It was amazing, knowing that the author could control me the way she did. Brava, Lauren Baratz-Logsted.

Yay for Book #8!

Buy this book now!

Book Review: Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian

2010-10-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

Vivan, Siobhan. Not That Kind of Girl, New York: Push, 2010.

“Hey! Come on, Natalie. I’m only kidding with you.” His smile lengthened into a sneer. “You could never give me a hard-on. You’re like…dick repellant.”

Anger burned hot through my body, and I gripped the sides of my chair. Mike Domski wanted to hurt me, and the best way he knew was to call me ugly. I hated that, despite the fact that I would rather eat vomit than touch a hair on Mike’s head, it worked. It took all my self-control not to hock the biggest, wettest ball of spit right between Mike’s eyes.

Natalie has the perfect plan for senior year. She’s going to get elected to student body president, still get perfect grades, and get into every college she applies to. She and Autumn will stay just as close as ever. And no boys will get in the way.

Then Spencer comes along…a girl who isn’t even remotely afraid to show off her sexuality. And Natalie finds herself wanting to save her, to show Spencer what people are saying, and convince her that taking your shirt off in the middle of a crowded hallway is the wrong way to get attention. Which should be easy—if Natalie could stop getting distracted by a boy that is wrong for her in every way.

I loved this novel, and I’m not sure why. I know I definitely related to the main character…but I’m pretty sure that to most people, Natalie would be sort of unlikeable. Hmm. I’m not going to think about what that says about me.

Also, I loved the take on feminism. Both sides of the argument are brought up, and I think they’re dealt with well. It’s clear that the author is on one side of the fence, but I think you can read it and not cross over.

The voice was vibrant, the characters are memorable, and the overall plot is done well. I had some trouble putting this one down. As a warning, there is some sexual content. I thought it was tasteful, but I can definitely see some controversy for conservative areas or younger readers.

Back on track with Book #7!

Buy this book now!

Nameless Book Review #2

2010-10-14T20:15:00.000-07:00

Book #6

Ugh. That's all I have to say.

I'm just kidding. I always have more to say.

It was predictable, it was BORING, and it was utterly unoriginal. Nothing I hadn't read before. I finished it, just to see if it would redeem itself...it didn't. I was so happy to get to the last page. It reads like a first draft, and I'm wondering if an editor ever got a chance to even glance at it.

Seriously, how do these books get published?

Nameless Book Reviews #1

2010-10-13T20:24:00.000-07:00

I didn't love the last two books that I read for the panel. I'm not going to tell you which books they were...but I am going to say what I didn't like.

Book 4:

Well, first off, I wasn’t thrilled with the character’s voice. I thought it was weak, especially at the beginning. And I know that she’s supposed to be all depressed and detached from everything, but I don’t think that’s an excuse to not have voice. Also, the plot was cliché, and a little didactic at times, to be perfectly frank. When are we going to see a well-done bullying plot?

One of the biggest problems for me, though, was how in-depth it went with tips on suicide. Don’t get me wrong, I hate censorship, but when I find myself deciding which method is best for me, something is wrong. Teens are much more susceptible to that kind of suggestion than I am.

Another thing I didn’t like was that the character wasn’t saved by any realization of her own, but by other characters that decided to like her, and not back off no matter how badly she treated them. Most teens won’t have that, and by not having it, will decide to go through with killing themselves.

I did find myself relating to the main character, though. I liked her. I thought she was sad without being annoying, and I liked that. Love interest was also very likeable. Every girl’s dream.

Basically, potential, potential, potential, and nothing more.

Book 5:

Again, lack of voice bothered me. It’s told from three different points of view. If you’re going to pull that off successfully, the voices need to be RADICALLY different. I could kind of tell, a little bit, but…not enough.

Also, the title promised more than it delivered on. I needed something juicy, something unexpected, something that would make me gasp. None of that happened. It was cute, it was interesting, but it wasn’t exceptional in any way.

It did have an EXCELLENT premise. It was the mystery that pulled me through the entire thing. It was just the execution that bothered me.

Let's hope I do better with Book 6!

Book Review: Stolen by Lucy Christopher

2010-10-11T16:46:00.000-07:00

Christopher, Lucy. Stolen. New York, Scholastic, 2010.

“I had to take you.”
The bed creaked and my body rose a little as you sat down on the mattress. I dragged myself away. I tried pushing my legs to the floor, but still they wouldn’t go. The whole world seemed to turn around me. I was going to slide off. I pointed my head away and expected to be sick at any moment. It didn’t come. I hugged my legs toward me. My chest was too tight for crying.
“Where am I?”
You paused before answering. I heard you take a breath, then sigh it out. Your clothing rustled as you changed your position. I realized then that I couldn’t hear any other sounds, anywhere, other than yours.
“You’re here,” you said. “You’re safe.”

At first, Gemma thought Ty was cute. It was flattering, really, to have a hot older guy hitting on her.

Then the world started to get fuzzy. And when she woke up, she was so far from home that she might as well have disappeared from the face of the earth.

Brilliant. Utterly brilliant. This is now on my list of all-time favorite books. Every word counts, subplots and descriptions double as foreshadowing and symbolism. The storyline is gripping, pulling you through every single page…and since there aren’t any chapters, it’s easy to lose track of time.

Ever since I finished it (in one sitting) I’ve been thinking about it. Over and over and over again. I can’t get the characters out of my head. I’m DESPERATE to talk to someone about it, debate about the ending, the meaning, the themes…what fantastic discussions you could get out of this.

Basically…YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK.

Wow, how is it possible that each Cybils book I read is better than the last? This streak has to end sometime.

Book 3—Done!

Buy this book now!

Book Review: Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel

2010-10-09T23:05:00.000-07:00

Oppel, Kenneth. Half Brother. New York, Scholastic, 2010.

Some of this I’d heard before, but it did sound exciting. It was like something from a sci-fi movie. One day people would read about it in Popular Science, and I could be a part of it. I caught myself nodding as Dad carried on, his eyes bright, his hands grasping at the air for emphasis.

“And that’s why the project’s whole design is so radical,” he said. “We’re trying to teach another species our language. Human language. So we need to raise Zan like a human baby, so he can learn language just like a human would. No cages. No labs. He’s one of us now. He has a crib and clothes and toys. And most important, he has a family. He has a mother and a father—and a big brother, too.”

Ben’s father is a renowned behavioral psychologist who’s just gotten his big break. Finally, a university willing to fund his experiment—to try teaching a chimp sign language. But in order for that to happen, the chimp must be raised as a human, which means Ben finds himself with a new baby brother.

Brilliant. This is one of those books that rings true in every way. The characters, the family dynamics, the emotions…I feel as though I’ve lived through this. I didn’t think there was any way Oppel could steer around animal rights discussions without sounded didactic, but he did. All sides of every argument were presented flawlessly. He manages to work in deeper themes without ever losing the tension.

This is great for discussions, perfect for book clubs. I would rate it as 13+ due to a few (very) mild sexual references.

Definitely a book to put on your "to be read" list. Go ahead and try not to fall in love with Zan. Really. I dare you.

Book 2 of the Cybils....Done!

Buy this book now!

Book Review: Girl, Stolen by April Henry

2010-10-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

Henry, April. Girl, Stolen. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 2010.

"Who the hell are you?" His voice broke in surprise.

"What are you doing in Danielle's car?"

Their words collided and tangled. Both of them speaking too fast, almost yelling.

Sitting up, she scrambled back against the door, the one farthest from him. "Stop our car and get out!"

"No!" he shouted back. The engine surged as he drove faster.

Cheyenne realized she was being kidnapped.

But she couldn't see the guy who was kidnapping her or where they were going.

Because for the last three years, Cheyenne had been blind.

Cheyenne was just supposed to wait in the car for a minute while her stepmother ran in to pick up a prescription. Instead, she ended up being kidnapped and held for ransom.

The story picked up fast and didn't let down for a minute. I loved the twist of the kidnapped girl also being blind. Everything, literally, was working against her. And yet she was still strong, a great role model for girls. Cheyenne has that Nancy Drew-ness about her, always analyzing her situation and finding the best way out.

I also loved the complexity of Griffin. Great character. I absolultely fell in love with him. (Should I say "He can kidnap me any day?" No, I shouldn't. Okay. I won't.) I love the way April Henry shows us his character...instead of saying "he wanted to be a better person than his father" she has him clean the kitchen, something the father would never do.

This is perfect for fans of Caroline B. Cooney and Lois Duncan. It's a thriller, fun of action and thought-provoking situations.

And Book 1 of the Cybils is finished!

Buy this book now!

Cybils 2010!

2010-10-08T12:53:00.000-07:00

So, for those of you who don't know, I've been chosen as a panelist for the 2010 Cybils award on the Young Adult Fiction panel.

*uncontrollable shrieking and jumping up and down*

Ahem. Yes, I'm very excited.

So, let me tell you a little about how the Cybils are going to work. First, people nominate books. And by people, I mean YOU. If you haven't nominated your favorite book of the past year yet, then you need to. Just click here. You have until October 15th!

Then we read, read, read. We've already started. This is the part I plan on chronicling here. Every book nominated is required to be read by at least two people, and at least 50 pages need to be read. After that, we battle it out to come up with a shortlist of 5-7 titles.

Those titles go to the Round Two judges. They have to read all of the books shortlisted, and then they will make a decision about the winner.

Are you all psyched? I'm psyched! This is going to be awesome!

Why Edgy Books BELONG in Young Adult Fiction

2010-09-27T15:52:00.000-07:00

In celebration of Banned Book Week, I thought I'd talk about why teens should (not just "should be allowed to" but "should") read edgy books.

Let's face it, the teenage years are difficult. You feel like an adult, but adults treat you like a child. You're supposed to make decisions that will affect the rest of your life before you've even figured out what kind of person you're going to be. Peer pressure is a constant in your life, and everything that you either give into or walk away from determines your reputation, and your reputation is everything. Add to this the fact that your hormones are completely psychotic and over-the-top, and...well, let's just say that you couldn't pay me enough to relive those years.

Now, I can see why parents don't want their children reading certain books. They're trying to protect them, keep them from learning about particular evils in the world, keept them as pure as possible for as long as possible.

I hate to break it to you, though, but teens have already been exposed. Unless your child never leaves the house, never speaks to peers, never watches TV or listens to music, they've been exposed. I was hearing explicit sex jokes in the third grade. Being fairly innocent, I didn't know what they were, and just laughed along with everyone else in order to fit in...I didn't actually understand those jokes until years later.

"Well, I can't stop that kind of exposure, but books are something I can control, so I should control it." I disagree. The difference between books and movies or lewd jokes is that books generally work themselves out. They take these issues and work through them. Edgy YA that is done well is a constructive way of working through these kinds of problems. Even if the character makes the wrong choices, we are able to watch it, from a safe distance, and point out exactly what they did wrong.

Now consider how much more likely a teen is to make the right decision when they've essentially "lived through" the wrong decision.

No matter how much we would like them to, teenagers are VERY unlikely to come to adults to figure out their problems. They want nothing to do with adults. How limited will they be if they only have the advice from their peers? I admit, edgy YA books are a hidden way of getting teens to take advice from adults. And as long as the moral isn't heavy-handed or didactic, TEENS WILL LISTEN.

I really think we need to change our views on edgy young adult fiction. It's not damaging our teens. It's giving them an opportunity to work through bad decisions and difficult times without negatively affecting their lives.

The Other Views: Love Triangles in YA

2010-09-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

http://karenmkrueger.wordpress.com/2010/05/20/in-love-with-love-triangles/

"After all, why have one boy when you can have two?"

http://sueysbooks.blogspot.com/2009/09/on-love-triangles.html

Fun list of the top ten YA love triangles of all time.

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/04/bizarre-love-triangles

A student comes one day with a "Team Jacob" water bottle and the next day with a "Team Edward" shirt...

http://www.loveromancepassion.com/the-1-reason-women-love-triangles-in-romance/

The #1 reason women love triangles in romance. I think that says it all.

http://www.persnicketysnark.com/2010/05/love-triangle-are-we-gender-biased.html

"We want the protagonist to choose the right guy...for her. Sometimes we get confused and like the right guy...for us."

Book Review: Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

2010-09-15T01:00:00.000-07:00

This review is based on an uncorrected advance galley, and the author may make changes before the book goes to press.

Cremer, Andrea. Nightshade. New York: Penguin Group, 2010.

I sighed. "The Keepers have been on you too?"
Ren pulled his gaze from mine. "Efron expressed some concerns about my...habits. Worried that you'd be unhappy or concerned about fidelity." He chewed on the last word like a piece of gristle.
I doubled over laughing. For a minute he looked chagrined.
"Serves you right, Romeo." I aimed my fingers at his chest, miming a cocked pistol. "If you weren't Emile's son, your pelt would already be nailed over a fireplace belonging to the father of some brokenhearted girl."
Ren flashed a wicked smile. "You're not wrong." He put his hand against the locked just above my shoulder. "Efron has visted our house once a week for the last month." His grin didn't fade, but his eyes looked troubled.
Fear curled my fingers around his shirt, pulling him closer. "Every week?" I whispered.
He nodded, passing a hand through his espresso dark hair. "Don't be surprised if he's packing a shotgun at the union."
I smiled, but my breath caught in my throat as he leaned down. His lips brushed against my ear. I pulled away. The Keepers took this purity thing seriously, even if he didn't.
"I think they're worried the next generation might not fall into line. But I'd never leave you at the altar, Lily."

Calla (nicknamed Lily) has never questioned her destiny. She's an alpha, a Guardian, a werewolf, destined to form a new pack with Ren as soon as they both come of age. And with Ren promising to do away with his playboy ways and the two packs willing to tolerate one another, everything is falling perfectly into place.

Until she saves a boy that should have died. And suddenly, everything she thought she knew about the "myth" of love comes crashing down around her.

Everyone knows I don't like werewolves, but I liked this. (I keep saying that, don't I? Maybe I should give in. This is the third werewolf novel I've liked.) Great love triangle. I'm totally Team Ren, by the way...not sure if this is one of those series where we need to pick sides, but just in case. I love a playboy that's willing to dedicate himself to me and only me.

One of my main concerns was that not enough would happen, that it would just be 450-ish pages of sexual tension. But that's not true. There's action, there are twists I didn't see coming (the cave! The cave!) and there's plenty of "I might be a girl, but I can handle anything" attitude from Calla.

Overall, phenomenal debut novel, and I will be very surprised if this doesn't hit the New York Times bestseller list when it comes out in October.

Pre-order this book now!

Love to Hate Them: Love Triangles in Young Adult Literature

2010-09-12T16:06:00.000-07:00

I'm Team Peeta, Team Damon, and Team Zane...and I will stand by those choices until death do us part, and in some cases, even past that (seeing as technically, Damon's already dead.)

The power of love triangles is astonishing. It turns sister against sister, mother against daughter, friend against friend. I myself have created an eternal family feud that will persist through the generations with a Team Gale-er. And there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to my choices...sometimes it's the bad boy, sometimes it's the nice guy, and sometimes it's just the underdog. But I always manage to make a choice--then change my mind about five times--then make another choice by the time the book ends and I find out what really happened.

I love to hate love triangles. I really do. Because it's so heartbreaking when she finally has to choose, and it tells you so much about her character. And I've grown to love or hate the boys along with her. Do you know why I loved "The Notebook?" (The movie, not the book.) Because they made both of those boys so compatible with her. It was her choice, it was her growth, and it was choosing the road less traveled by.

That, to me, is the best way to do a love triangle. Make both of the choices appealing in different ways. And don't, for the love of all that is sacred in romance, just kill off one of the boys. That doesn't help us (or your character) at all. It's just a cop-out. Making her choose is the most important thing you can do for her, because it lets us see what honestly matters to her. Each boy should represent a different ideal. Will she choose passion over comfort? Love over status? Desire over duty?

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go build up some of my defenses around the fortress...the Team Stefan-ers seem to have breached security. I might need some back-up here.

Why Utah Loves Young Adult Fiction

2010-09-07T18:47:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my last post that our store was the top-selling store in the top-selling district for Mockingjay, and it started me thinking...why does Utah love YA?

There are a couple easy answers, so let's start with those:

First of all, there are a lot of kids in Utah. Let's face it, Utah families just tend to be bigger than in other states. That means there are more teenagers in Utah than in other areas.

Another easy answer is the strong religious influence in this area, which means that people are often looking for "clean" literature. Now, just because something's in teen, does that mean it's "clean"? No. But most people don't know that. And so they think they can read anything YA without fear of too much swearing or sex. These people I kindly steer away from anything I would describe as "edgy...."

But I think Utah County's obsession goes deeper. As much as I see the two groups I already mentioned, there are two even bigger groups: housewives and college students.

Here's my theory: Young adult fiction moves faster than adult fiction. It doesn't waste a single word. Even literary young adult fiction has to be interesting, while literary adult fiction, unfortunately, often just has to sound pretty.

College students are busy and in general, don't have time for fiction. So if something is going to drag them from their studies, it had better generate constant suspense and never slow down enough to let them think, "I should really be studying right now..." Another thing, it should be smart, so they don't feel like it's just brain candy. With the example of Hunger Games, it can both keep them frantically flipping pages, as well as provide them with sociological aspects that they can correlate with all that, you know, "smart stuff" they teach you in college.

Now the other group is housewives. Let me tell you, housewives are the busiest, most harried people I see in the store. Business professionals? Naw, they've got their whole lunch hour. But mothers are juggling a crying baby, a toddler who just learned how to run and climb bookshelves, and a whining middle grader who doesn't understand why he has to do a book report on a biography instead of a fantasy.

How these women find time to read is beyond me. But they do. And they make the time for YA lit. I think part of it is the same reasons as the college students...it's intelligent and fast-paced. But I think another part of it is the natural escapism that is in YA. With things like adult sci-fi and fantasy, you have to really be paying attention to figure out the government, the terrain, the maps, and sometimes even the language...not the easiest thing to do while multi-tasking. But YA will take you far away into incredible storylines and fantasies without making you memorize too much. It can make you relive all the good and bad parts of high school without (re)traumatizing you. Hopefully.

Those are my thoughts on it...what do you guys think? Are there other reasons that YA does well in this area?

Sequels: The Sequel

2010-08-24T20:06:00.000-07:00

So last week I talked about how every fantasy book seems to have a sequel…and if you need to write a sequel, here’s a collection of the some of the worst problems that I see.

First of all, I think any first novel should be a standalone. But if you have a larger storyline in mind, make it a standalone like Hunger Games. Answer your main story question.

Let me say that again: Answer your main story question.

This is a problem I’ve seen with a lot of new series. They bring up a problem and don’t answer it in the course of the book, because they “need” a sequel. THIS IS WRONG. It completely ruins the arc. Just don’t do it! For example, if it’s a paranormal romance, we need to know what kind of creature the romantic lead is, and why they’re where they are instead of in another realm, or planet, or dark forest somewhere. You cannot leave that for the second book. And yes, there is a bestselling book out there right now that does this.

Also, make sure the stakes are high enough in the second and third novel. Granted, if they already saved the world in the first novel, this will be hard to do. But what would be more important than saving the world to your character? Is there someone who, if you’ll excuse the cliché, means “more than the world” to them? That would be raising the stakes. And what a great chance for character development, to see how they deal with pressure closer to the heart.

Another thing you need to be careful about is the world-building. If you built the world correctly in the first novel, there will be clues planted there that can be expanded on in the second novel. Shannon Hale does this really well in her Books of Bayern series. The plot for the sequel should not come out of nowhere. The foundation should have already been laid in the first novel. On the flip side, don’t write your first novel assuming you will get a sequel…it’s not a guarantee. But a well-written novel will always have ideas and concepts the can be spun into full fledged books. A sentence here, a comment there…these are the kind of things that you can use to support an entire second novel.

The hardest part of a novel, I think is the character arc. If your first novel was written well, then your character developed throughout the story, transformed into a (hopefully) better person. This is the starting point for your second novel…which can be difficult. You have to keep the same tone as the first novel, but you can’t take your character back to square one. It’s necessary to find something that the character can continue to develop into.

And the most important part of writing a sequel: Don’t recycle your plot. If it took the entire first novel for the two love interests to get together in the first novel, don’t break them up in the first chapter of the second novel and make us watch them get together again. If we wanted to see them get together again, we’d reread the first one. Love changes, develops, grows…there must be something more creative that you can do than break them up and make them fall in love again. Apply this to whatever the plot of your first novel was.

Does this sound hard? It should! A sequel should be hard to write. You already have characters that you can’t mold to your every whim, you have certain rules you have to stick to, and you have a tone you have to match. It has to be more exciting, more daring, more creative than your first novel, which was previously the best thing you were capable of writing. A good sequel is not just a way to get more money out of your fan base. It’s a necessity that grows from a character whose story isn’t quite finished.

Oh, and have fun. (That was implied, right?) You get to live through new adventures with your character!

Room on the Shelf (maybe): Sequels

2010-08-17T17:38:00.000-07:00

Today I had someone who was building up a teen library, and she wanted popular books. So I walked her around, showing her this series and that series…then she asked, “Are there any popular books that aren’t part of a series? In case I don’t get remember to come back for the rest of them.”

Huh.

Now, normally, I get the other side of the question…everyone is desperate for teen series, books they can get hooked on.

But a popular, bestselling book that isn’t part of a series? At first, I couldn’t think of a single one. Then a few started coming to me, like Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, or Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. For the most part, it seems, all bestselling fantasy books have a sequel (whether or not The Book Thief should be considered fantasy is debatable, I know...)

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that nearly all of the bestsellers right now are paranormal or fantasy. But is it essential for fantasy books to have sequels?

The case for sequels: Like I said, it’s great getting teens addicted to a series. And with fantasy, you spend so much time building up the world in the first book, you need the rest of them just to enjoy what you already know. It’s all about branding, about a character everyone knows and loves. And of course, for the writer, if the first book is successful, it’s almost a guarantee that you’ll do at least moderately well with the rest of them.

Let’s take the example of Hunger Games. It’s a trilogy, of which the final book comes out this Tuesday (YAY!!! And yes, the Orem Barnes & Noble is having a midnight release party.) Now, could the first book have stood on its own? Absolutely. The main story question was answered. Would we have wanted it to stand on its own? NO. We needed more from those characters. It wasn’t just a story we were interested in now, it was a life, a history, a world. That is a series we couldn’t live without.

The case against sequels: When it comes down to it, are all of them necessary? Or is the writer just milking a good idea for all it’s worth? I’m sure we can all think of examples of a great book or movie which was followed by sequels that were just sort of…blah. And let’s face it, these sequels give a bad name to series everywhere.

So what separates a good sequel from a bad one?

Yep, you’ve guessed it, I have some ideas. Unfortunately, as I started to write them down, I realized that it was getting too long for one post. So stay tuned for next week’s post- Sequels: The Sequel.

I promise I did not do this on purpose.

Book Review: The Frog Princess by E.D. Baker

2010-08-12T10:24:00.000-07:00

I shook my head. "Sorry, I'm not interested in kissing a frog."

"I've been told taht kissing a frog is good for the complexion," he said, sidling toward me.

"I doubt it. anyway, my complexion is fine."

"What about the old saying, kissing a frog would bring you luck?"

"I've never heard that saying. It can't be too old. I think you just made it up. All kissing a frog would bring me is slimy lips." I shuddered and backed away. "The answer is no, so quit asking!"

Baker, E.D. The Frog Princess. New York: Bloomsbury, 2002.

Princess Esmeralda isn't pretty and dainty like a princess should be...she has a laugh that shakes the birds from the trees and a walk that's more like an elephant than a kitten. But she's smart. Smart enough to know that kissing a frog, even a talking frog, won't turn him into a handsome prince.

Right?

They say that this was the book that inspired "The Princess and the Frog" by Disney. Good movie. Great book. Quite frankly, I don't see much similarity between the two. Yes, both were based on a fairy tale, but they took radically different paths.

This book was adorable. I loved it. The dialogue, the characters, the plot...such a fun story. I had trouble putting it down, even though I already knew the ending. Great chemistry between the two characters, which doesn't always happen. The voice is lively, energetic, and just plain fun.

It's perfect for tweens, because it's squeaky clean, but still exciting and lots of fun. If they loved Gail Carson Levine, this is a great, slightly older series to move on to. Also great for the kids that loved The Sisters Grimm, but aren't quite old enough to tackle Shannon Hale (though as soon as they are old enough, Shannon Hale is a MUST!)

If you want a new twisted fairy tale, this is a series you've got to try!

Buy this book now!

Good Books Becoming Bad Movies: Can It Increase Sales?

2010-08-09T16:23:00.000-07:00

We’ve all seen it happen: A beloved book gets turned into a terrible, low-budget, poorly acted and poorly directed movie. It’s so bad that we have to tell our friends (or, in my case, customers) that even if you hated the movie, you’ll still the book, because it’s amazing!

And so it begs the question—is it better to have your book turned into a bad movie, or just stay on the shelf as a good book?

I bring this up because I recently changed my mind about the answer. And the reason I changed my mind was because of the brilliant Gail Carson Levine.

I went to meet Ms. Levine (pronounced Le-VEEN, I learned that from her…I was pronouncing it Le-VINE before, like a grapevine) when she came to the King’s English for a signing.

Now, we all know about the amazing Gail Carson Levine. Newbery Honor winner for one of my all-time favorite books, Ella Enchanted. We also all know about the movie that was made from this incredible book.

Ahem.

I should say that it isn't the worst adaptation that I've ever seen. I really enjoyed Anne Hathaway, like I always do, and I loved seeing the way someone else imagined the world. But not everyone was quite as happy with it.

Well, someone in the audience asked Ms. Levine how she felt about the movie. Reading between the lines, you could tell there were some things that she wasn’t crazy about. She said, “I asked them, did we really need an evil uncle and a talking snake? Apparently we did, because they ignored me and put them in anyway.”

But then she said something that amazed me. “I’m very grateful to them for making the movie. Sales of my book increased in leaps and bounds.” And then she passed around a picture of herself with Anne Hathaway and added, “Yes, Anne Hathaway hugged me, so if you touch me, you’ll have touched someone who touched Anne Hathaway.”

(Um…If I touch you, I’ll have touched GAIL CARSON LEVINE!!!! She’s so modest.)

Anyway…I always thought I would be one of those authors that would be really extra protective of my books, never letting a director touch them until I was certain he’d love them as much as I did. But then I started watching sales. And Ms. Levine is right. Books do better when they’re made into movies, even bad movies. I can’t believe that Ella Enchanted ever had trouble selling, but she would know better than me.

I tried it out as an experiment on some of my customers (yes, sorry, if you come in, I’ll probably be experimenting on you one way or the other, that’s just how it goes.) I’d try to pitch a book (like Ramona or Beastly), something that I really loved, and see how they were taking to it. I’d get a lot of side to side head movements, hems and haws, etc.

Then I’d say the magic words, “Oh, and it’s being made into a movie.”

Suddenly, the customer will desperately try to snatch it out of my hands, and I have to jump back for fear of being bitten by the venomous fangs they’ve just sprouted.

I don’t know what it is. Really, I don’t. But it even affects me. When I heard Pretty Little Liars was being made into a TV show, I finally decided I had to read it (and I’ll say that it’s because customers will be asking about it, and I have to know what I’m talking about…though everyone knows I’m a liar. I just want to read the books.) I’m not the kind of girl that reads the last chapter of a book before the first, and I actually get really upset if someone spoils the ending, but I always want to have read the book before I go see the movie. Always. It would drive me crazy to have it the other way around. Or I want to read the book to decide if I want to see the movie.

So my new opinion? A bad movie will increase sales of your book. There is absolutely no way that it will decrease sales of your book. Movies become household words, and it’s all about the branding. So when someone recommends your book, people will be more likely to remember it, because they knew of the movie, for better or for worse. And they’ll be curious to see just how badly the director messed up something that was so beautiful to begin with.

For the love of jelly bellys, will someone think up a sign-off for me? It goes right HERE!

Oh, and P.S. Ms. Levine said that a teacher once read a story of hers and wrote that she was "pedestrian." It made her stop writing for years.

Listen to the squeak in my voice, right here, it's funny: "Gail Carson Levine? PEDESTRIAN?!?!?"

So to all of you "pedestrians" out there...Keep writing.

The Other View: Mystery and Horror in YA

2010-08-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

Here's what other people are saying about mystery and horror in YA:

Monster Librarian:
http://www.monsterlibrarian.com/horrorfictionlistya.htm

I think this might be my new favorite website. Fantastic reviews of all that's new and scary in young adult literature, as well as mentioning content.

Familial Dysfunction in Young Adult Horror Fiction:
http://www.ils.unc.edu/MSpapers/3127.pdf
Here's my true geek coming through...I actually think this is fascinating! A study in how young adult horror novels almost always have a dysfunctional family, and resolving the family issues is the real resolution of the novel.

So You Want to be a Horror Writer?:
http://www.darkecho.com/darkecho/horroronline/wannabe.html

This is someone who completely disagrees with me, and thinks that selling a horror novel (especially if it's your first) has astronomical odds. Still, of all the horror novels sold in the year she refers to 21% were young adult...and I just think that number will keep rising.

Horror for Readers:
http://www.conknet.com/~fullerlibrary/ReadersAdvisory/Horror%20Kathleen%20Sipling.htm

Gives great definitions and examples of horror and its subgenres.

A New Era of Gothic Horror:
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6600683.html

Great article from 2008 that agrees with me...horror's coming back.

Mystery Genre Study:
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6600683.html

A series of questions to ask yourself about your mystery novel.

Writing Young Adult Mysteries:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/114390/writing_young_adult_mysteries.html

Quote: Young adult mysteries are often better-written, more exciting and more unique than adult mysteries.
Darn right they are!

The Edgars:
http://www.theedgars.com/

And of course, the award every mystery writer wants to win, the Edgar Allan Poe award.

Book Review: The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson

2010-08-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

"One, two, three!" Patrick said. "Careful, now."

The body was stiff, in full rigor, and as it rolled the hair fell forward to cover the face in a chestnut-colored web; gently, her father removed it, and then his eyes grew wide. "Oh, no," he said. "Oh, God, please no."

And then Cameryn saw the perfect oval face and the eyes staring blankly, and she felt her hand fly to her mouth and tears blurred her vision until she couldn't see anymore.

Ferguson, Alane. The Christopher Killer. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Cameryn Mahoney has always been fascinated by forensics. If it involves death and decay, she's there. And since her father is the coronor in their town, she manages to convince him to let her join him as his assistant.

But then a serial killer comes to town.

Great storyline. For any teen that loves CSI, this is the perfect novel. It's incredibly well researched and thought out. Be warned that some of the descriptions do get fairly graphic, but if I can handle it, I'm pretty sure most people can (I have very low tolerance for blood and guts.) The characters are fantastic, and everyone is thrilled when they find out that there are four (with a fifth one promised!) in the series. Alane Ferguson is a great author to get kids "hooked" on, and one of the few YA mystery authors actively publishing.

Buy this book now!

Room on the Shelf: Upcoming Trends

2010-08-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

We all know that, as writers, we have to write the story that we’re passionate about writing, rather than the “trends” or “cycles” that are happening in the world.

But it can’t hurt to talk about them, right?

Here are the two genres that I, in my infinite booksellerly wisdom, think should be making a comeback in the next five years: mystery and horror.

Horror is already well on its way, with the resurgence of the Darren Shan books and Rick Yancey’s new Monstrumologist series. Keep in mind, I do not count Twilight (or similar books) as horror. Those are paranormal romance. When I say horror, I mean scary vampires. Blood and guts. Serial killers. The kind of book that made you leave the lights on and lock the doors and windows when you were a kid.

Horror was huge back in the 90’s with R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike, Stephen King, etc. Now, Stephen King has stuck it out, but we all know that horror just hasn’t been selling well since then. But I get kids coming in all the time, asking for books that will scare them. Really scare them. And from what I’ve heard, this isn’t just a request from teens. Apparently editors and agents the world over are searching for the next Mary Downing Hahn (Wait Till Helen Comes.) It’s just a matter of time before a new horror writer takes the kids world by storm.

Mystery is probably one of the most commonly requested genres. For younger kids, it’s not hard, there are plenty of older series, like Boxcar Children, Encyclopedia Brown, and Nancy Drew. But these are a bit antiquated, and it’s hard for kids to relate. There are a few new series sneaking in, like The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Name of This Book is Secret, and 39 Clues. And so far, kids are eating them up, especially boys. And we all know that anything that appeals to boys is going to do well.

So the next focus will be in young adult. Quite frankly, what we need are more books like Alane Ferguson’s Forensic Mystery series. I can’t tell you how often I have teens coming in looking for mysteries that love CSI, and want murder mysteries with science and forensics tied in. Authors that are getting reprints right now are Lois Duncan and Caroline B. Cooney. So if your book is similar to theirs, you’ve got the right idea.

Again, make sure you write the book you’re passionate about. But if you’re passionate about two books, and one is “Twilight but with ______” and the other is a terrifying serial killer murder mystery with a fantastic twist, I’d recommend going with the second one.

I really need a sign-off. “And that’s my two cents!” “You heard it from the bookseller!” Wow, I’m terrible at this. Can anyone think of a good one?

Until then—

Me:

The Life of a Book in a Bookstore

2010-07-27T19:32:00.000-07:00

So it's come to my attention that the way "returns" work between bookstores and vendors is sometimes misunderstood, even by professional writers. Keep in mind, this is just how things work in my particular store. Other stores might have different policies. Here's how it usually goes:

A book is published. Yay! It's returnable, it's in our warehouses, it's available to bookstores everywhere.

With some books, our buyer (a person who rarely, if ever, comes to our store or even our state) will order certain titles into the stores, predicting how many we'll need based on what we've sold in the past of that genre or that author. With other books, we will read the description and look at the cover and decide on a case-by-case basis whether it will do well in our store.

Then the book comes in. We display it in our "New in _______ (Teen, Fiction, Non-Fiction, etc.)" section. In general, we keep it for 90 days to see if it sells.

After that, things can get difficult. If it doesn't sell at all, we'll return all copies to the vendor. If it sells slowly, like one a month, we'll all copies to the vendor. If it sells one every two weeks or so, we'll probably keep one copy. If it sells twenty a week, we'll give it its own display.

Pretty simple, right? Here's where it gets tricky.

After the 90 days, the computer gets a say in what stays in the store and what goes, regardless, sometimes, of sales within the individual store. These are called "due outs." The computer pulls up a list of books every month that are doing poorly on the national level, and requests that we return them to the vendor.

This is where I can sometimes step in. If a book does poorly on a national level but really well in our store, I can take those sales figures to the manager and request that we keep it. It's not a guarantee, but it can help.

On the opposite end of the scale, we have what is called "modeling." This is the best thing that can happen to a book. Modeling occurs after about 6 months, when the computer predicts how many copies of that book our specific store will sell every two weeks. Then, whenever we sell below that number, we are automatically sent more copies. With unmodeled books, we have to manually reorder when we run low...and it can be easy to forget those books sometimes.

Now, for the question every author asks: "Why isn't my book on the shelf?"

Unfortunately, it is all about the money. It's not personal. As with any other product, if it's in the store, it is taking up the space that could be given to something that would sell. Yes, I do fight for my local authors. But I can't keep a book in the store if there aren't sales to back it up. So if you want your book on the shelf, don't let your fans buy books online! Books purchased in a store will stay in stores, and books purchased online will stay online.

Book Review: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

2010-07-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

Or maybe I wanted someone to point a finger at me and say, "Hannah. Are you thinking about killing yourself? Please don't do that, Hannah. Please?" But deep down, the truth was that the only person saying that was me. Deep down, those were my words.

Asher, Jay. Thirteen Reasons Why. New York: Penguin, 2007.

Hannah Baker's suicide is still haunting Clay Jensen. Was there something he could have done? Were there signs he could have caught? While desperately trying to assure himself of his innocence, he receives a box of cassette tapes. From Hannah. Sent to the thirteen people who led her to commit suicide. Unable to listen to the horrifying story, and unable not to, Clay tortures himself with one question: Is he the reason the girl he loved killed herself?

One of the most chilling stories I've ever read. This is the kind of story that could change a teen's perspective on life. I think this should be required reading in all schools. It points out the things to watch out for, and things that no human being should ever do to another, no matter how insignificant it seems at the time.

What's amazing is that you can watch the way a series of small incidents can lead someone who is beautiful and talented to believe she has no other options. Was Hannah looking for excuses to kill herself? Yes. But could something have been done about it? Yes. This is the perfect opportunity to teens to evaluate the way they treat people.

Besides that, it's simply brilliant writing. Jay Asher goes back and forth between Hannah and Clay just enough to keep us interested in both stories. I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire time. I could not put this book down for a second. I ate a bag of chips for a meal because I didn't want to stop reading long enough to make a sandwich. It was absolutely heartbreaking with characters who were so vivid that I sometimes talk about them like they were real people.

This was quite honestly the best novel I have read in quite some time. Next time you want to read a book in one sitting, pick up this one. Just have some tissues ready. And a ready-to-eat meal, if you don't feel like chips.

Why Kid and Young Adult Bookstores Will Never Go 100% Digital—Part Two

2010-07-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

Let me preface this by saying that I have a nook, and I LOVE IT. I feel like I read even more than I used to, because it’s so convenient. There are thousands of books available for free, and others that go on sale periodically for less than five dollars. I can download books from my local library and read them on my nook for up to 14 days, then it automatically goes back.
I’m going to start with the young adult genre, because this is the most likely to go digital. Teens love technology. I bought my younger sister a nook, and she is madly in love with it, reading longer than she ever has before. So, what’s the problem? Why won’t teens go completely digital?
Book covers. I have to say, the young adult publishing industry is doing a phenomenal job with their covers. Every week, I see new ones that are even cooler than the ones the week before. They have finally figured out the benefit of a good cover, and they’re willing to spend money getting a good one. Look at recent bestsellers such as Hush, Hush, Fallen, and Incarceron. All have phenomenal covers, and I see teenagers picking up these titles every day because of it.
Now, does the nook show covers? Yes. It will show the cover in black and white on the full screen, and in color on the touch screen. But is it enough to draw someone into a book that they might not otherwise have picked it up? I don’t think so. Especially with a cover like Incarceron, which is iridescent, or Fallen, which is made of a material that feels almost like suede.

So moving on to the middle grade age. The covers are still a big deal for them, but not quite as much. They’re still at the age where they are required to read from particular genres, but get to choose the books themselves. Therefore, for many of them, they just need descriptions. Also, they have more series, as opposed to the trilogies that rule young adult. The series in middle grade can get up into the hundreds, like “The Boxcar Children.” So younger kids are just anxious for the next in the series, no matter what the cover is.

However, that’s not the biggest problem with middle grade. The biggest problem is that they’re still kids. They drop things. They spill things. They break things. No parent wants to give them a $200 device if they can help it, even if they did get the protection plan.

And for our grand finale…picture books. I don’t think anything will ever replace hardcover picture books. Yes, I have seen picture books on the nook. They’re cute, but they’re in black and white. And yes, I’ve seen them on the Ipad. It’s like looking at a computer screen. For me, that’s not conducive to a bedtime story. And bedtime stories are one pastime that I don’t think I’m ready to leave behind.

Let me say one more time that I love my ereader. It has completely replaced paperbacks for me, because let’s face it, I only buy paperbacks because they’re cheap. And if they’re even cheaper on the nook, then why wouldn’t I get them there? On the other hand, books that I want in hardcover I will still buy in hardcover (hello, Mockingjay!)

Why Kids and Young Adult Bookstores Will Never Go 100% Digital--Part One

2010-07-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

In this installment, I want to discuss the .com issue…both Amazon and the websites of physical bookstores. In next week’s installment, I’ll discuss ebooks.

So….the websites. Let’s face it—they’re convenient. And cheaper. No overhead. Just straight from the warehouse to you. You can instantly see what other customers thought of the book, you can compare to other books, and you have a search engine that you can type in the “almost title” or “almost author” spelling and get the book you’re looking for. Very useful.

Well, at least it’s convenient for adults. We know what we’re looking for most of the time. We heard about it from a friend, or a blog, or a newspaper. And if we’re kind of iffy about it, there’s the customer reviews to make up our minds.

But it’s not like that with kids. Not most of the time, anyway. Kids are still trying to figure out what they like. And they want to see the different options. They want to hold the books in their hand and see the covers, the length, the size of the font, how much white space each page has. These kinds of things make a difference.

This hands-on approach becomes even more important with picture books. You can tell, right away, if a kid lights up when they open a picture book. You can tell if this is going to be their new bedtime book that you have read three times a night, every night, for the next two years.

And…sorry, I have to say it…websites can’t replace booksellers. They just can’t. They can tell you what other people have purchased when they purchased your book, or lists that other people recommend. But it’s not truly personalized. And as of yet, book ratings aren’t standardized. If there is something you don’t want your child to read, you have to find someone that’s read it. You need a bookseller.

Now, I’m a specialty bookseller, so I’m the exception, but I work very hard to stay well-informed about everything that’s big in kids and teen. I read for two hours every day. I spend at least an hour networking, watching all of the major authors on Twitter to see what they’re working on, when their books are coming out, what the new books are about. I also use that time to read all of the newsletters from all of the major reviewers (like Publisher’s Weekly, School Library Journal, and New York Times.)

Also, when I’m reading, I try very hard to keep track of which swear words are used (i.e., whether it’s the “biblical” swear words or the harder ones) as well as how frequent they are. I also keep track of the sexual activity. These are the kinds of things that parents need to know, and computers can’t always tell them. Now, are some websites, like Common Sense Media, making great strides toward this? Yes. But it’s not perfect, and sometimes you really need to know what another actual person thought.

Another thing that I work on is knowing what grade level a book is on. When you have a fifth grader on a second grade reading level, you need a bookseller to show you the books that won’t make them look like a baby. And when you have an eight-year-old that is on a ninth grade reading level, you need a bookseller to show you the books that will appeal to her without any bad content whatsoever. Websites can and do separate books out by ages…but that doesn’t help when you have kids ahead or behind their reading level. You need a bookseller.

Another thing booksellers can do that a computer never can… “So, I started reading a series a few years ago, and there are five girls in it…or maybe four…or maybe six…Anyway, I know there were 12 books in the series. Though maybe there are more now. I don’t remember part of any of the titles, I don’t remember anything about the author’s name, and I don’t remember anything about the plot.”

Believe it or not, I actually figured that one out…Beacon Street Girls.

Score one for the bookseller.

Book Review: The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

2010-07-08T16:18:00.000-07:00

I put down my fork. The hunk of meat loaf in my mouth felt like Styrofoam when I swallowed. "I saw Daniel today."

Mom glanced up from trying to prevent James from chucking his food across the table. The look that said, We don't mention that name in this house, passed over her eyes.

We discussed just about everything around our kitchen table: death, teen pregnancy, politics, and even religious injustice in the Sudan--but there was one topic we never talked about anymore: Daniel.

Dad wiped his mouth with his napkin. "Grace and Jude, I could use both of you at the parish tomorrow afternoon. We've had a great response to the charity drive. I can't even get into my office, it's packed so full of canned corn." He gave a slight chuckle.

I cleared my throat. "I talked to him."

Dad's laugh strangled off, almost like he was choking.

"Whoa," Charity said, her fork paused halfway to her mouth. "Way to go with the revelations, Grace."

Jude slid back his chair. "May I be excused?" he asked, and put his napkin on the table. He didn't wait for a response and walked out of the kitchen.

I glanced at Mom. Now look what you did, her eyes seemed to say.

Despain, Bree. The Dark Divine. New York: Egmont, 2009.

Grace Divine is from a perfect family. Her father is the local pastor, her mother is a homemaker, and her brother Jude is the hottest, sweetest, and most popular boy in school. But there's one secret that they never talk about--Daniel. A boy who lived with them for awhile, then disappeared after a tragedy involving Jude. A tragedy that no one has ever disclosed to Grace. So when Daniel reappears in town, she wonders if everything has been exaggerated, and if there's any chance that forgiveness will find its way into her family's heart again.
Loved it. Seriously loved it. Is it just a paranormal romance? No. It's also a retelling of the prodigal son. Fascinating. I've heard some people say that they felt the religion was overdone--I disagree. I think the religion was perfect. I feel like I understand Grace Divine, and her struggle to exist in a world where she is seen as a "walking morality barometer" simply because she's the preacher's daughter. That is essential to the story.

I loved these characters. For once, we have subplots and minor characters whose lives are just as interesting as characters in the romance. I loved Jude! What a complex character he is. He had so many layers, and we just kept getting peeling the onion. Incredible. I could understand Daniel and all his bad boy-ness. I felt for him. I fell in love with him. Why? Because he actually screwed up in the past. No, really! It wasn't some misunderstanding, it wasn't justified or rationalized, he really and honestly and truly screwed up! YAY! Just like real people do!

And the ending was the way it should have been. I HATE HATE HATE when the first book in a series ends in a cliffhanger. Actually, I hate it when any book does that, but particularly first books should be standalones. The way Suzanne Collins did it in the first Hunger Games was correct: Leave the reader wanting more, but not needing more. In the Dark Divine, you find all the answers you were looking for, but there's a new problem that arises at the very end of it that leaves you wanting more. It's one of those "Oh, I'm glad we figured that out. Wait...holy crap, what are we going to do now?"

All in all, for a novel trying to walk that fine line between being popular and being well written, it does great. It works on both levels. Whether you like literary or commercial fiction, it's definitely worth a try.

Marketing: An Interview With the Brilliant Bree Despain

2010-07-05T17:12:00.000-07:00

True story: I went to work one day last year, thinking everything was going to be normal.

First phone call of the day- "Do you have The Dark Divine by Bree Despain?"

I checked. We had four come in (a typical number for a new, unknown author) and ALL FOUR were already on hold. Unheard of for a debut author.

I offered to order it in, and wrote it off as a fluke. Maybe all four were on hold by the author herself, I figured. Stranger things had happened.

Half hour later- A customer walks in, wandering through the teen section. "Do you have The Dark Divine by Bree Despain?"

Sigh. It's always a long day when I know I'm going to have a long line of unhappy customers.

Long story short, by the end of the day, I'd ordered 15 copies to come in (on top of the ones that customers had ordered for themselves) and our community relations manager was frantically searching for a way to contact Bree to get her to come in for a signing.

Nowadays, Bree is a sensation nationwide with her book trailer appearing before Eclipse showings throughout Utah. That's right. A book trailer. In movie theaters.

Looking at the evidence, I have to say that Bree is one of the most brilliant marketers I have ever seen. Lucky for us, she agreed to share with me some of her secrets to success.

1. You're a well-known author now, but what did you do to get excitement for The Dark Divine before it came out?

Well I tried to do a lot of things. I started a blog and twitter account and joined a few networking sites specific to books and reading. That helped start to get the word out. The best group I joined was the Tenners, a group of authors debuting in 2010 to both network and help cross promote each others books.

After the blog had a bit of a following, I recruited followers to be on a Street Team to help me spread the word. They received bookmarks, stickers, t-shirts and advanced copies of the book and went out to different events helping to pass out the materials. We had a lot of fun and I think it was a good way to generate excitement. Of course we did a lot of other things together with my publisher, like developing the TDD nail polish or previewing the first six chapters via the Romantic Times blog, to name a couple.

2. What did you do to make your book signings successful?

Mostly I am just enthusiastic about the events when talking about it with my twitter followers and on my blog. But we also passed out printed invitations to all our family and friends with a bottle of our TDD nail polish before my debut party. I think this helped to have them, in turn, talk about the signing with others. I was also lucky enough to be reviewed by some local newspapers that published a couple of my first signings along with the review.

3. What other events do you do? Are there any events that you turn down?

I have done everything from speaking on a author panels with local writing organizations, online chats with different groups of bloggers, teaching a class at conferences, flying out to Washington DC to participate in the American Library Association (ALA) conference, to visiting book clubs and book groups. Basically the only time I've turned an event down is when I just don't have the time to go.

4. What, if anything, have the publishers done for you that required zero effort from you?

Really, I have been highly involved in most of the marketing and promotions- whether it was initiated by me or by my publisher. But Egmont has done a lot on their own as well. For example, they placed some advertisements on Publisher's Weekly, Justine Magazine, Perez Hiltion's blog, and The Romantic Times. They are also currently doing a summer beach bag promotion that lets you listen to the first chapter of three of their Paranormal Romance books (including The Dark Divine of course).

5. How important are online networking sites (i.e. Facebook, blog, web site, Twitter)?

Extremely important. This new age of social media offers authors a new medium for reaching potential readers that they didn't have before. I am able to connect with readers all over the country and even in other countries quickly and easily. However, these sites shouldn't be used just to advertise or spam followers with constant "buy my book" speech. It is a place to converse with the book community and make connections and develop relationships. If it wasn't for my blog and Twitter, I can guarantee I would not have sold as many books as I have.

6. What is the most effective thing you've done to promote your book?

This is a tough question. I've just talked about the importance of the social media efforts, but if I take that out of the running, perhaps I'd say the nail polish. It has been a great give-away because, unlike a book mark or a business card, it is something that people will keep and use. And I've found its an incredible talking piece. People constantly ask me about where I got the great color, giving me a chance to talk about TDD. I have heard several similar anecdotes from my friends and fans telling me about how often they end up talking about my book with their friends because they've asked about the nail polish.

Overall though, its been a matter of trying to keep the momentum going by keeping an open mind and always trying new things. I am just so excited about it, and I want to share that with as many people as possible... and hopefully they will love the book as much as I do.

Speaking of trying new things-- I've just launched an awesome contest to help share a the new official The Dark Divine book trailer that you and your readers should totally check out. So far it has been a lot of fun. You can check it out here.

I just want to weigh in on a few things that Bree talked about. First of all, that Street Team is a work of absolute genius, and I honestly think that it is because of them that we had such a huge response on the first day The Dark Divine came out.

Secondly, I want to point out that she was involved with nearly all of her promotions, and I firmly believe that that is why she is so successful. One mistaken idea that many authors have is that bookstores or publishers will do your advertising for you.

THIS IS FALSE.

When you are going to do a signing at a bookstore, we are only providing a venue. YOU are in charge of promoting your own signing. I have run dozens of signings, and I can tell who promotes and who doesn't.

Bree is successful because she takes charge of her signings, and she makes them successful. Believe me, this is a good thing! Your signings no longer have to be a matter of luck! YOU can make them amazing.

And since you're all dying to see it, here's Bree's incredible trailer!

Book Review: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter

2010-07-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

In honor of tween week, I thought I'd post about my FAVORITE tween series by Ally Carter.

Carter, Ally. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You. New York: Hyperion, 2006.

I was just starting to get into the rhythm of our little game, when Mr. Solomon said, "Close your eyes," in Arabic.

We did as we were told.

"What color are my shoes?" This time he spoke in English and, amazingly, thirteen Gallagher Girls sat there quietly without an answer.

"Am I right-handed or left-handed?" he asked, but didn't pause for a response. "Since I walked into this room I have left fingerprints in five different places. Name them!" he demanded, but was met with empty silence.

"Open your eyes," he said, and when idid, I saw him sitting on the corner of his desk, one foot on the floor and the other hanging loosely off the side. "Yep," he said. "You girls are pretty smart. But you're also kind of stupid."

Cammie Morgan goes to a school for spies...though to the rest of the world, it looks like a school for girl geniuses. She speaks fourteen languages fluently, she could kill a man in seven different ways, and she could probably hack her way into any CIA computer.

What don't they teach at Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women? How to talk to boys.

So when Cammie meets a boy, she knows how to analyze his trash, follow him while staying "invisible," and write detailed reports about his behavior and what it means...but isn't quite sure how to talk to him.

This has to be one of the most adorable series out there right now. I freaked out when it took a whole day after the fourth book came out (which was Tuesday, by the way) to get it on ebook. Seriously, I started researching who to call at the publishing company to right this kind of injustice.

The characters definte the word "loveable," and the plot line is phenomenal. My favorite parts are when Cammie writes up detailed "summaries of surveillance" about Josh. I was honestly laughing out loud. And the best part? It's cute and sweet and absolutely, 100% squeaky clean. That, more than anything, is what makes me classify this as a perfect "tween" book. Will older teens love it? Of course. It's the perfect blend of "Alias" and "Princess Diaries." But it's also appropriate and accessible to younger girls that are looking to read up.

If you haven't read this series yet, I strongly recommend it. Straight fun from beginning to end. Also, don't miss Ally Carter's other equally fun series Heist Society.

Buy this book now!

Room on the Shelf: Tween Books

2010-06-30T15:14:00.000-07:00

This post is also featured on Throwing Up Words blog.

I have heard recently from three different editors that they are not looking for, nor accepting, “tween” books…If your protagonist is 13, they advise either making him or her 12, and therefore middle grade, or 15, and therefore young adult.

I’m here to tell you that I think the editors are wrong.

We all know that kids read up. So for a true middle grade child, someone who’s around nine or ten, they want to read about a 12-year-old. And for a young teen, someone who’s 14 or 15, they’ll want to read about someone who’s 16 and up.

I hate to break it to you, but there is such a thing as a 11, 12, and 13-year old tween. And they like to read. And they’d love it if there were books for them.

Believe me, I know more than anyone what the problem is. There isn’t a place to shelve these kinds of books. And libraries and bookstores aren’t going to build a section for them…at least not until a huge blockbuster comes along that forces them to do so.

But in the meantime, half of the books are in the middle grade section and half of them are in young adult. The trend I’ve seen is that normally, the tween boy books are kept in middle grade (Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan, Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, Bartimaeous Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud) while the tween girl books are shelved in young adult (Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter, Frog Princess by E.D. Baker, Once Upon a Time series by various authors.)

The root of this discrepancy, I think, is what I discussed in my last post: The fact that there are plenty of older middle grade books for boys, but a shocking lack of choices in young adult. The reverse is also true. There are not very many books available for older middle grade girls, but an incredible oversaturation of girly young adult books.

I think it’s time to change this. What will it take? A new S.E. Hinton (who is usually credited with creating the young adult genre.) We need an author that will take the tween world by storm.

Now the hard part is just writing it. Here are some pointers for what tweens are looking for:

1) Content: The content must still be just as squeaky clean as middle grade. These parents do not want their kids exposed to the “teen” world just yet. I recommend no swearing (no, not even a little!) and no mention of sex. If it’s a girly book, a few chaste kisses are fine.

2) Subplots: Include them. Normally there is a main plot and one subplot in middle grade, and there can be up to four subplots in teen (though four is really pushing it.) I would have two or three in a tween book. These kids are smart. They can handle it.

3) Character arcs: This is an essential. Most of middle grade has nice, friendly characters that tend to accomplish a life goal rather than change their actual personality. It works, because younger kids need to like the characters right away. In young adult, however, you often have characters that change so drastically that you can barely tell it’s the same voice. This works too, considering that teens change their personalities as often as they change clothes. But tweens? They’re still figuring out who they are, even more than teens. They don’t even know which “clique” they belong to yet. A character that reflects that uncertainty—and finds a way to resolve it—will find the respect of that crowd.

4) Humor: Quite frankly, I would not try to do anything edgy with this group. Someday, somewhere, I’m sure someone will pull it off. But for right now, I would try to steer clear and instead try to make them laugh. Tweens love sarcasm. That’s why the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books are still popular with them, even though that series is on a third grade reading level. I think appealing to their funny bone is a brilliant marketing move.

5) Action: And let me say it again: ACTION. This is not the place to get bogged down with pretty descriptions and detailed theme analyses. You are competing with the internet (which they probably just recently gained access to) and video games (many are now allowed to start buying the games rated “Teen.”) Your story has to be more compelling than either of those.

Now, does this give you an excuse to call your editor and tell her she’s an idiot for making you change than age of your protagonist? NO. Unfortunately, they probably still can’t sell your tween manuscript. But here’s hoping that someday soon someone will figure out a brilliant marketing move that will make Tween a legitimate genre.

The Other Views: Boys Reading YA

2010-06-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

Now you’ve heard my opinion…want to know what other people are saying about boys reading? Here’s a few links.

When did YA books become YAwns for Boys?
http://bostonbookbums.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/when-did-ya-books-become-yawns-for-boys/
Great article about how publishers are only publishing teen books for girls.

Guys Read by Jon Scieszka
http://us.penguingroup.com/static/packages/us/yreaders/guysread/index.html
A site put together by Jon Scieszka, tackling this issue head-on. However, on the recommend list, there are very few books for teens.

Boys and Reading: Tips for Making Reading “Boy-Friendly”
http://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/weblog/2009/08/boys-and-reading-tips-for-making-reading-%E2%80%9Cboy-friendly%E2%80%9D.html
Even though this is more for younger boys, it still has useful tips (boys are visual learners, that’s why they like comics and manga…I never thought of that.)

Reading is for the boys (and girls)!
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/676
An in-depth, scientific look at why boys don’t read, and what teachers can do about it.

YA Novels Teen Boys Will Like
http://www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org/resource/readlist/favya1.html
A look at some lesser-known titles that boys would read if they just knew about them from the Children’s Literature Network.

Library Thing: Do boys read?
http://www.librarything.com/topic/45803
If you want to join in a discussion about boys reading, here’s a good one.

Changing the Cover of YA books for Boys
http://tabwriter.blogspot.com/2010/03/changing-cover-of-ya-books-for-boys.html
A post about how boys won’t pick up covers with girls on them…Thank goodness they didn’t put Katniss on the front of Hunger Games, huh?

Keep Boys Reading
http://ink-spells.blogspot.com/2009/12/keep-boys-reading.html
This has an excellent list, reading levels included, for boys (though again, mostly for the middle grade group.)

Gender and Reading Habits Part One: Let’s Hear it For the Boys
http://www.comixology.com/articles/41/Gender-and-Reading-Habits-Part-One-Lets-Hear-it-for-the-Boys
Fascinating article comparing boys and YA with girls and comic books: boys don't read YA books, so YA books aren't created for them; girls don't read comics, so comics aren't created for them.

What Is It With YA Book Covers?
http://www.liakeyes.com/?p=1880
Another blog post bringing up the fact that no boys would be caught dead buying the girly covers seen on most teen books.

Thanks for participating in the discussion this week! Let me know if there are any great articles that I missed!

Book Review: Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

2010-06-24T15:19:00.000-07:00

In keeping with the week's theme, I thought I'd post a review of my favorite teen boy series, Alex Rider.

Horowitz, Anthony. Stormbreaker. New York: Penguin, 2000.

"The police said he wasn't wearing his seat belt." Alex turned to look at Jack.

She nodded. "Yeah. That's what they said."

"Doesn't that seem strange to you? You know how careful he was. He always wore his seat belt. He wouldn't even drive me around the corner without making me put mine on."

Jack thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Yeah, it is strange," she said. "But that must have been the way it was. Why would the police have lied?"

Alex's uncle Ian was killed in a freak car accident. Or at least that's what he's been told.

But if it was a car accident, why are there bulletholes on the side of the car?

Before he knows it, Alex is swept up in his uncle's world of secrets and espionage.

This series defines the term "action-packed." The pages just fly by. By the third chapter, you're trapped in a car that's about to be crushed into a cube. Phenomenal. It's sort of like a teenage James Bond.

Now, probably some of you are thinking, "Yeah, I saw the movie...not impressed." This is a perfect example of when the book is better than the movie. Don't let the movie stop you from reading this incredible, incredible book.

This is perfect for every single teenage boy out there. Reluctant readers, voracious readers, all of them. There are eight books in all, so it's a fantastic series to get them started on.

Buy this book now!

Room on the Shelf: YA Books for Boys

2010-06-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

Every few days, I have the exact same conversation. A teenage boy comes in looking for recommendations. He’s read Percy Jackson, Fablehaven, and Harry Potter.

My first suggestions are always novels in the same genre, things like Suzanne Collin’s Underland Chronicles, Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl, or Rick Riordan’s new Kane Chronicles.

Then I get this response: “Yeah…you know, Percy Jackson was great when I was twelve, but I’m actually sixteen now. Do you have anything…older?”

Short answer? Not really.

Here’s a quick list of the YA books that boys are buying:
1. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. Maze Runner by James Dashner
3. Maximum Ride series by James Patterson
4. Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz
5. Cirque du Freak series by Darren Shan
6. Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer

And that’s it. Really.

Now, I’ve heard a number of people say that teenage boys aren’t reading. I don’t think that’s true. They’re just not reading YA, because there aren’t enough books for them. They go straight from Brandon Mull to Michael Crichton, James Patterson, John Grisham and Robert Ludlum.

YA, on the other hand, is oversaturated with books for girls, particularly paranormal romance. And even the books that boy should like (Uglies, anyone?) have covers that look so ridiculously girly that no boy would be caught dead reading it.

What we’ve got to remember is that teenagers are all about appearance. Their entire existence revolves around “looking cool.” This is where I think e-readers can come in handy. No girlish cover, no dog-eared paperback, just the newest gadget. But that’s a discussion for another time.

What am I trying to say? Authors, editors, agents, we need books for teenage boys. Not just any books, but fantasy packed with action. Think about what someone would want to read after finishing Percy Jackson. Eragon used to fit the bill, but Christopher Paolini has taken so long between books that his audience has grown up.

In short, there’s room on the shelf. So get writing!

Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference 2010

2010-06-20T19:09:00.000-07:00

Some of you may be wondering where I've been for the past week, and why the blog has suddenly gotten a facelift. Here's your answer!

Hint: You may or may not be able to see me sitting next to the brilliant Alane Ferguson, as her assistant, and you may or may not be able to see me demonstrating my hidden (and rightly so) talent of ribbon dancing.

Book Review: Airhead by Meg Cabot

2010-05-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

Cabot, Meg. Airhead. New York: Scholastic, 2008.

"It's time to stop messing around. Who did this to you, Nikki? And be honest. Was it Al Qaeda?"

"Brandon!" Lulu shrieked from the kitchen.

"Well." Brandon shook his head. "If they want to strike a blow against freedom, why not go after the Face of Stark, one of America's most beloved models?"

"Al Qaeda doesn't know how to give people AMNESIA," Lulu declared, from behind the black granite-topped island. "Only the Scientologists have the technology to do that."

Brandon looked at me gravely. "Was it the Scientologists, Nikki?" he asked.

Em Watts is smart, funny, and...invisible. The only person who seems to even care that she exists is her best (and very cute) friend, Christopher. And even then, it's like she's nothing more than a fellow video gamer.

But then Em Watts is killed in a freak accident. When she wakes up again, she's no longer in her own body, but in that of supermodel Nikki Howard, surrounded by celebrities, rivals, round-the-clock paprazzi, and a boss who isn't above murdering his employees to get what he wants.

Suddenly, being invisible is the best lifestyle she could possibly imagine.

Took a little while to get going, but once it did, WOW! I loved the premise. I couldn’t put it down. It ends on a cliffhanger, so we have to wait for the next installment to get any satisfaction. Girls will love the fashion and the romance and the concept that someday they could wake up and be the most beautiful girl in the world.

One of my favorite aspects about it is the way she deals with popularity and beauty. Beauty, surprisingly, isn't looked down on. It's also not glamorized as the end-all be-all. It's an added bonus to a strong, bright protagonist. How much harder would it be to discover one's inner self-worth when the world judges you exclusively on your appearance? Once again, Meg Cabot has taken chick lit to a new level, and proved that you can have comedic romance with substance.

Buy this book now!

Book Review: Cirque Du Freak #3: Tunnels of Blood by Darren Shan

2010-05-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

This book is the third in a series. To read my review of the first novel in this series (A Living Nightmare), click here. To read my review of the second novel in this series (The Vampire's Assistant), click here.

Shan, Darren. Cirque du Freak #3: Tunnels of Blood. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2003.

“Well?” she asked.
“Well what?” I replied.
“Aren’t you going to ask?”
“Ask what?”
“Ask me to go to a movie,” she said.
“But you just—”
“Darren,” she sighed. “Girls never ask boys out.”
“They don’t?” I was confused.
“You’re clueless, aren’t you?” She chuckled. “Just ask me if I want to go to the movies, okay?”
“Okay,” I groaned. “Debbie—will you come to the movies with me?”
“I’ll think about it,” she said, then unlocked the door and disappeared inside.
Girls!

Mr. Crepsley, Darren, and Evra the snake boy decide to take a little vacation from the Cirque Du Freak. For Darren and Evra, everything seems perfectly normal; Evra develops a disguise that will let him shop during the daytime, and Darren meets a girl.... But the two soon discover that Mr. Crepsley has darker ulterior motives for taking a break.

I'm liking this series more and more all the time! Such fun concepts. And now we finally get to see a little more of Crepsley's past, which up until now has been pretty much non-existant. We also get to see a little more of the vampire world, including the hierarchy and the rogue vampires (we all knew they must be around, right?)

There is still a considerable amount of violence. This is not a series for those who get nauseous at the thought of blood (i.e. me!) But if you have a teenage boy who shoots zombies down all day on the Xbox, these novels will be perfect.

Buy this book now!
Or buy the first three books in one volume!

Book List: My Fantasy Teen Recommends

2010-05-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

Young Adult:
Fantasy:
Books of Bayern by Shannon Hale (currently four in series)
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (currently 4 in series)
Once Upon a Time series by various authors, including Cameron Dokey
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
Beastly by Alex Flinn
The Dark Divine by Bree Despain
Vampire Diaries series by L.J. Smith (currently 5 in series)
Airhead series by Meg Cabot (currently 2 in series)
Mediator series by Meg Cabot (6 in series)
Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

Book List: My Comtemporary Teen Recommends

2010-04-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

Teen
Contemporary:

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
Everything is Fine by Ann Dee Ellis
Foresenic Mystery series by Alane Ferguson (currently 4 in series)
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher
Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz (currently 8 in series)
Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan
I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You series by Ally Carter (currently 3 in series)
Heist Society by Ally Carter

Book List: My Middle Grade Fantasy Recommends

2010-04-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

Fantasy:
The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins (5 in series)
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George (currently 3 in series)
The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley (currently 7 in series)
Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale (currently 2 in series)
Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson (currently 3 in series)
Hidden Talents by David Lubar (2 in series)
How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell (currently 6 in series)
Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan (currently 7 in series)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan (5 in series)

Book List: My Middle Grade Contemporary Recommends

2010-04-22T17:27:00.000-07:00

Grades 4-6:

Contemporary:

Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls by Meg Cabot (currently 4 in series)
Football Genius by Tim Green (currently 2 in series)
Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (currently 3 in series)
Million Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica
The Adventures of Hashbrown Winters by Frank Cole (currently 2 in series)

Book List: My Chapter Book Recommends

2010-04-19T21:02:00.000-07:00

Chapter Books (Grades 1-3):
Contemporary:
Ivy + Bean by Annie Barrows (currently 6 in series)
Mercy Watson by Kate DiCamillo (currently 6 in series)
Stink by Megan McDonald (currently 4 in series, with one Special Edition)
My Weird School by Dan Gutman (currently 21 in series)
Roscoe Riley Rules by Katherine Applegate (currently 7 in series)
Calendar Mysteries by Ron Roy (currently 4 in series)

Fantasy:
Magic School Bus Chapter Book Series by various authors
Beast Quest by Adam Blade (currently 13 in series, with one Special Edition)
Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo by Nancy Krulik (currently 32 in series, with 5 Super Specials)

Book List: My Picture Book Recommends

2010-04-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

Well, another six months have passed, which means it is once again time for the Barnes & Noble Educator Reception! If you're a pre-k through 12 teacher, librarian, or homeschooler, then you need to be at our reception at the Barnes & Noble in Orem at 6:00 TONIGHT! Carol Lynch Williams will be our guest speaker, discussing ways to inspire kids to read and write.

And most exciting about the Educator Reception is the fact that I get to update my recommend list! Today I'm sharing my favorite picture books of late. These are all books that you absolutely have to check out, because they're all amazing in one way or another.

Palazzo Inverso by D. B. Johnson
Actual Size by Steve Jenkins
Pingo by Brandon Mull
Birdie’s Big Girl Shoes by Sujean Rim
Dinotrux by Chris Gall
Cat the Cat by Mo Willems
I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll
Just Me and 6,000 Rats: A Tale of Conjunctions by Rick Walton
Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel

P.S. And looking back at my list from six months ago, did I call it or did I call it on "The Lion and the Mouse?" I so called it. Palazzo Inverso is definitely one of my top contenders for next year's Caldecott, and the year's barely even started!

Book List: If You Loved Hunger Games...

2010-04-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd change it up a little and try to do a list of recommends instead of the normal book reviews. These are in no particular order.

If you like Hunger Games, you might also like...

1. Maze Runner by James Dashner
2. Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
3. Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines
4. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
5. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
6. The Giver by Lois Lowry
7. Unwind by Neal Schusterman
8. Gone by Michael Grant
9. Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
10. Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
11. City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau

Any that I'm missing?

Book Review: Cirque Du Freak #2: The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan

2010-04-06T18:22:00.000-07:00

Shan, Darren. Cirque Du Freak #2: Vampire's Assistant. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2000.

“Come,” he said, standing. “The night is young. We will go find a rabbit or a fox for you.”
“You don’t mind me not drinking from him?” I asked.
Mr. Crepsley shook his head. “You will drink eventually,” he said. “When you are hungry enough.”
“No,” I said silently behind him, as he turned to walk away. “I won’t. Not from a human. I’ll never drink from a human. Never!”

Darren is slowly adjusting to life as a vampire's assistant. The hardest part isn't dealing with a cranky vampire or never being able to see his family again, though. The hardest part is having to live without any friends.

I liked this one even better than the first one. Lots of interesting ideas about the life that Darren is now forced into living. Still no improvement with the exclamation points, though. And this is the novel that starts to get really violent. I was shuddering all over the place.

For anyone 13 and over, it would probably be okay, but for the younger group, I recommend parents reading it first to see if it's appropriate for their child.

Buy this book now!

Book Review: Cirque Du Freak #1 by Darren Shan

2010-04-05T15:18:00.000-07:00

Shan, Darren. Cirque Du Freak #1: A Living Nightmare. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2000.

"Do you think the Cirque Du Freak is a real freak show?" I asked.

Mr. Dalton studied the flyer again, then shook his head.

"I doubt it," he said. "Probaby just a cruel hoax. Still," he added, "if it was real, I hope nobody here would dream of going."

"Oh, no, sir," we all said quickly.

"Because freak shows are terrible," he said. "They pretended to be like proper circuses but they were cesspits of evil. Anyody who went to one would be just as bad as the people running it."

"You'd have to be really twisted to want to go to one of those," Steve agreed. And then he looked at me, winked, and mouthed the words: "We're going!"

Darren Shan and his friends are just looking for a fun adventure, a forbidden circus held in the dead of night. But when Darren decides to steal a vampire's pet, he discovers the consequences could be eternal...

What a fun series. Really. I decided I needed to read this series when I saw that J.K. Rowling had a blurb for it (which I have never seen before or since...has anyone else?) And I am enjoying the series immensely. Fun characters, fun storylines, fun take on vampires. And in case you're confused, yes, Darren Shan is the name of the author and the main character, because it's a "true story."

On the other hand, it's no Harry Potter. I mean, you see J.K.'s recommendation, and you kind of assume it's going to be outstanding and phenomenal, the best of its kind....it's not. There are WAY too many exclamation points, which makes it feel almost like a younger reader, even though it's a YA. And don't make the mistake of giving it to someone that's too young. Even though the first book isn't bad at all, the next couple get fairly violent (someone's arms get ripped off, one character's stomach is eaten, etc.) It's in teen for a reason.

But if you're a horror seeker, this is definitely a book you'll have to check out. Boys will especially love it. I'm so excited for the future of horror!

Buy this book now!

Book Review: Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey

2010-03-31T17:48:00.000-07:00

This quote and review are based on an advanced reading copy and uncorrected proof, courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Fantaskey, Beth. Jekel Loves Hyde. New York: Harcourt, 2009.

"Your grandfather suffered from dementia in his final days." Dad overrode me again, actually reaching across the table and clasping my arm. I suppose the gesture was meant to be reassuring, but he held too tightly, and it came off as confining, almost threatening. "Those 'crimes' he confessed to--they never happened. There was no 'evil alter ego.' No late-night forays that ended in violence. No 'blackouts' for God's sake."

"But--"

Dad squeezed harder, his finger surprisngly powerful, given that the only exercise they ever got was turning the pages of his academic texts. "The Case of Jekyll and Hyde was a novel, Tristen," he said, boring into my eyes. "A work of fiction. A good book, with some admittedly interesting insights into man's dual nature. But a tall tale. And we are, quite obviously, not descended from a fictional character. It's ludicrous!"

I stared at my father's eyes, which were a peculiar metallic gray. Eyes the color of two padlocks and nearly as impentrable. I had inherited my mother's brown eyes. Sometimes when I looked in the mirror, I could almost see her in my refecltion. I loved and despised those moments.

Where was Mom?

A chemistry duo of Jekel and Hyde sounds like a gimmick, a cheap way to win a chemistry scholarship. But with Jill Jekel's mother barely gripping reality and Tristen Hyde's father growing stranger every day, Jill feels she has no choice. She must find out what her father's last project was before he was murdered--and Tristen Hyde is the only one desperate enough to help her.

I have definitely seen Beth Fantaskey's growth since Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side. She's using fewer cliches and her characters are more well-rounded. This is a fascinating, original story.

It starts slow, I have to admit. It took me nearly a week to get through the first few chapters. Little Jill Jekel has a way of putting me to sleep. But Tristen...oh Tristen! Now that's an interesting psyche, even if it is rather Edward-esque. And the idea of a monstrous alter-ego as a symbol for emerging sexuality was beautifully done.

Now, was it flawless? No. Like I said, Jill's a bit on the dull side and Tristen is a little too perfect. But Twilight fans will love it. Anyone who's feeling the paranormal romance genre right now will love it. If you're putting together your summer reading list, make sure this one is on it.

Pre-order this book now!

Book Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

2010-03-30T18:46:00.000-07:00

Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. New York: Random House, 2007.

Still, it's possible that you might be asking, why does he even need a vacation? What does he need distraction from?
Which brings me to my next point.
It's the leftover humans.
The survivors.
They're the ones I can't stand to look at, although on many occasions I still fail. I deliberately seek out the colors to keep my mind off them, but now and then, I witness the ones who are left behind, crumbling among the jigsaw puzzle of realization, despair, and surprise. They have punctured hearts. They have beaten lungs.
Which in turn brings me to the subject I am telling you about tonight, or today, or whatever the hour and color. It's the story of one of those perpetual survivors-an expert at being left behind.
It's just a small story really, about, among other things:
* A girl
* Some words
* An accordionist
* Some fanatical Germans
* A Jewish fist fighter
* And quite a lot of thievery

I saw the book thief three times.

Narrated by Death, The Book Thief takes place in Nazi Germany and follows the story of a German girl who falls in love with literature, at one point even risking her life to save a book from the Nazi book burnings.

Don’t expect a happy ending, but it is a beautifully written novel. The writing is absolutely outstanding, one of the best examples in the entire teen genre. Anyone who says that all YA is fluff is disproven by this novel.

One thing I found interesting was how he gave away the ending. Repeatedly. I knew what was coming, and maybe that's what made it a little easier to accept it when it happened (though trust me, if you're the kind that tears up, you'll be crying.) On the other hand, stupid hopeful reader that I am, I kept hoping that Death was somehow mistaken or just pulling my leg and we'd somehow come to a happy ending anyway.

Yeah, there are no happy endings in WWII stories. At least, no completely happy endings. But this does give you a sense of resolution. You're not left screaming "Whyyyyy?" to a lightning-ridden sky.

Fantastic book club book, fantastic historical fiction, fantastic everything. I do recommend it for the 14+ group, though. It's a little intense for anyone younger.

Buy this book now!

Book Review: Football Genius by Tim Green

2010-03-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

Green, Tim. Football Genius. New York: HarperCollins, 2008.

Troy knew it was wrong. It was wrong to sneak out of the house after midnight. It was wrong to take something that wasn't yours. And, even though he wasn't that kind of kid, that night, he was doing both.

Troy has the unique ability to predict football plays before they happen, and he knows if he can just get the coach from his favorite team, the Atlanta Falcons, to listen to him, he’ll be able to help them win.

I picked this up, saw that Tim Green was a football player, and thought that surely, it was going to be terrible. Some football player trying to relive his youth or something stupid like that.

I was so wrong. I hate football, but I loved this book. The writing is interesting, the plot draws you in, and there's just enough of everything to keep you reading. It mixes the sports talk (description of plays, etc.) with the real plot enough to make someone like me actually enjoy it. And yet since there is plenty of the sports stuff in there, football fans will love it too.

This is the perfect choice for reluctant readers that love sports. A great choice for Mike Lupica or Matt Christopher fans (and in my opinion, better than either of them.)

Buy this book now!

Book Review: Finding Daddy by Louise Plummer

2010-03-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Plummer, Louise. Finding Daddy. New York: Delacourte Press, 2007.

Sarah’s smile is gone. She reads the caption aloud: “Daddy will never let anyone take his girl away from him.” She winces. “Why would he write that?”
“Well, it fits the picture, don’t you think? I mean, look how I’m struggling against him.” Her serious expression unnerves me a little. “What?” I ask.
“It should say, ‘Daddy will never let his little girl get away from him.’” She leafs back a few pages and then returns to the last one. “This page is different. The caption is so much longer than any of the others, and he’s different.” She sounds as if she’s talking to herself. “His smile—“ She’s reluctant to describe it. “It’s not a smile, really—It’s fake.”
I move in closer for a better look. “That’s because he’s trying to hold down a screaming two-year-old.” What is her problem? “It’s hard to smile when you’ve got a—“
“Look at the little cast on your arm.” She closes the album and forces a smile. “Sure, you’re right,” she says, but she’s not convincing.

Mira has wondered her whole life about her father. All she knows is that her parents decided when she was young that her life would be better without him. But what if it was just her mother's decisions? If that were the case, doesn't her father have a right to know her?

I loved this story. Horrifying. Suspenseful. Disturbing. And psychologically accurate. She captures the emotions and relationships perfectly. And guess what? There is sacrifice at the end. You screw up, you pay for your mistake, and Mira certainly does. However, I do feel like there should have been a little more closure with the romance. Maybe the ambiguity is so that we can imagine our own ending...I’d imagine the happier one.

This will definitely be a big hit with the horror fans. It made me scared to be alone for a few days. A great story.

Book Review: Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls #1 Moving Day by Meg Cabot

2010-03-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

Cabot, Meg. Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls #1: Moving Day. New York: Scholastic 2008.

Science has a lot of rules (like the one about gravity). So does math (like that five minus three will always be two. That is a rule).
That’s why I like science and math. You know where you stand with them, rulewise.
What I’m not so crazy about is everything else. Because there are no rules for everything else.
There are no rules, for instance, for friendship. I mean besides the about Treat your friends the way you’d want them to treat you, which I’ve already broken about a million times. I like earlier today, when my best friend, Mary Kay Shiner, and I were making the strawberry frosting for her birthday cupcakes...

Allie Finkle likes rules. And since friendship doesn’t have rules, she decides to start writing a collection of rules for being friends. Rule #1: Never stick a spatula down your best friend’s throat.
Then Allie’s parents announce that they’re moving. New school, new friends, new house. Well, actually, it’s a disgusting old house that her parents want to fix up.
Shouldn’t there be a rule against that?

My favorite, Meg Cabot, writing a middle grade series. Instant love. Now, the reading level on the back says that this is on about a fifth grade reading level, but the main character is only in fourth grade. That means it's a great choice for the younger girls that are on a higher reading level.

This novel is fun and funny. Girls will love it. It's perfect for the crowd that loved the Junie B. Jones and Ramona books. Allie is witty and fun to watch. I adore her. Now, she is a little sassy and a little bratty, but not more so than Junie B.

The only real problem I had with the book was one of the rules that kept returning as a running gag:

Always wear a helmet when you’re skateboarding because if a car hits you, your brain will splat open, and kids like me will spend their time waiting for the cars to go by so they can cross the street looking for bits of your brain the ambulance might have left behind in the bushes.

I thought this might be a little graphic for the younger crowd. She jokes about it, and tries to make it funny, but I didn't think it was.

But aside from that, I loved it. I really did. This is one of my top recommends for this age group.

Buy this book now!

Book Review: Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines

2010-03-23T17:28:00.000-07:00

Haines, Lise. Girl in the Arena. New York: Bloomsbury, 2009.

--Seven? The guy laughs. –I bet I’ve seen you on VH1, right?
--Not really, I say.
--No, no it’s ESPN. I know who you are. We’re talking real Glads, right? Swords, shields, heads flying, arms lopped off? Not that TV show with a bunch of batons and cargo nets, right?
--Mortal combat, Allison confirms with a polite smile, --though not always to the death.
--That’s what I mean, he says. –Mortal combat.

Lyn is the daughter of seven gladiators and a mother who has made a career out of being a gladiator’s wife. But when Lyn’s latest and favorite stepfather, Tommy, goes into the arena against an up-and-coming gladiator, she fears that this might be his last fight.

Intriguing. At first I thought I would hate the dashes in place of quotation marks, but they grew on me. I liked the main character, she definitely never took the easy way out. Sometimes I wondered why she didn’t, particularly at the end…but I was okay with it. I’m loving these alternate reality books. I don’t think this one is supposed to be set in the future, but in an alternate version of 2009. And the romance came out of nowhere and shocked me—but I liked it. I wish we could have seen more of it.

The biggest problem I had with the novel was the clumsy world building. She would introduce something right before it became important…which means pretty much zero foreshadowing. It makes the big reveals sort of anticlimactic. Also, I wish she would have gone deeper with some of the issues she brought up. She put her character into some tough situations, and I would have loved to see the girl work things out a little more. Maybe she will in the sequel, if there is one.

This is a great novel for those that liked the Hunger Games. It was similar in tone and plot. Not as well written, perhaps (could anything be as good as Hunger Games, though?), but still enjoyable.

Buy this book now!

Book Review: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

2010-03-18T18:45:00.000-07:00

It's Megan Whalan Turner week on Chersti Nieveen's blog!

Turner, Megan Whalen. The Thief. New York: HarperCollins, 1996.

“I saw you at your trial,” he said finally.
I didn’t say that I’d noticed him there as well.
“You’re thinner.”
I shrugged.
“Tell me,” said the magus, “have you found yourself reluctant to leave our hospitality? You said at your trial that not even the king’s prison could hold you, and I rather expected you to be gone by now.” He was enjoying himself.
I crossed my legs and settled deeper into the chair. He winced.
I said, “Some things take time.”
“How true,” said the magus. “How much time do you think it’s going to take?”
Another half an hour, I thought, but I didn’t say that either.

Gen was imprisoned after stealing the king’s seal and flaunting it. But now the king needs him. The magus believes he knows the location of an ancient artifact, but only the greatest of thieves could steal it. And Gen, despite his lack of manners and big mouth, is the greatest thief that they have ever seen.

Wow. That was my reaction after closing the book. Just…wow.

Let me tell you something. I usually skim or completely skip over talk of politics and geography in books. In most stories, it’s only important if you’re trying to draw a map. And I generally just don’t care enough.

Big mistake. If I can give you any advice when reading this book, it’s PAY ATTENTION TO EVERY DETAIL. It matters in the end, it really does. When I hit the twist at the end (which Shannon Hale called “the greatest twist in all of young adult literature”) I just about went into shock. Having heard what Shannon Hale said about it before, I knew a twist was coming. I predicted a few. I thought I was seeing all kinds of foreshadowing for a bunch of different endings.

I WAS SO WRONG.

And yet I didn’t feel cheated. The signs were all there. Foreshadowing was solid. It was just all stuff that I didn’t pay attention to, because I didn’t realize what they were leading up to. It’s definitely one of those books that you need to buy, because you have to read it more than once.

In short, if you haven’t read this book yet, you need to. Gen is fun and witty, the kind of person that you just love to cheer for. The plot is made up of mystery, adventure, action, history, and just a touch of fantasy. It’s everything that anyone could want.

And if you’ve already read the whole series, then you’ll be happy to hear that the fourth book, A Conspiracy of Kings, comes out March 23rd. *squeal*

Buy this book now!

Book Review: Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher

2010-03-16T18:22:00.000-07:00

Crutcher, Chris. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.

"You have to call her by her whole name. Sarah Byrnes. She only answers to Sarah Byrnes."
Laurel stares at me blankly.
"When we were in junior high," I tell her, "Sarah Byrnes got sick of every new Einstein at school thinking he was the only genius in the world to figure out the great pun about her last name and her condition. She hated waiting for them to get it, so she made everyone call her Sarah Byrnes. If you just call her Sarah, she won't answer."
Laurel nods. "I'll tell the others. That's important. Is there anything else?"
"I don't think so."
"Well, I'll leave you tow alone. Just talk with her about things that might jar her."
"Remember Crispy Pork Rinds?" I whisper into her ear when Laurel is out of sight. If anything should get a reaction, that should.

Eric Calhoune and Sarah Byrnes were both outcasts. Eric was fat, and Sarah was covered in horrific scars. Together, they discovered that their combined intelligence and courage could run circles around nearly anyone. His sense of loyalty made Eric is willing to stay fat and unattractive even after joining the swim team so as not to lose Sarah Byrnes. But now Sarah Byrnes is in an institution, and it’s up to Eric to figure out what put her there, or risk losing her forever.

Wonderful. Just fantastic. Chris Crutcher is known for capturing a male YA voice. If you're trying to write a YA novel with a male protagonist, you have to read Crutcher's books. Everything about this novel is great, the symbolism, the characterization, the plot. Everything works. The voice is pitch perfect, witty, and just plain fun to listen to. It's a good balance for the darkness of the plot.

Some may object to some of the topics brought up in this book...it covers everything from abortion to child abuse. It's definitely a book to read before your teen does. It does provide a great opportunity to discuss some of these topics with your child.

Book Review: Whales on Stilts by M.T. Anderson

2010-03-11T18:05:00.000-08:00

Anderson, M.T. Whales on Stilts. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

“Oh, great, great. Where you planning on going?” asked Larry, opening the fridge, and pulling out a large vat of green brine and lifting it over his head.
“We’re going to go visit Lily’s grandmother in Decentville.”
“You from there?” asked Larry.
“My wife.”
“Oh great, great,” said Larry, dumping the vat of brine over his head so it soaked his grain sack and his suit. He put down the empty metal vat. “Oh, wait a second. Wait a second, Gefelty. Just thought of something. By then, I will have taken over the world, and Decentville, er, you know…” Larry made a noise that sounded like several large futuristic lasers blowing up the Decentville police station and the Bijou Theater and the rest of the town being engulfed in flames and destruction as car alarms went off and deserted burning alleyways.
Lily’s father bit his lip. “Aw, shoot,” he said. “Well, we’ll reschedule.”

When Lily goes with her father for Career Day, she discovers his crazy boss is possibly a whale and planning on taking over the world by bringing whales on land and giving them lasers to destroy entire cities.

Wacky books, sort of a parody of action adventure novels. Adults are utterly clueless, and it’s up to Lily and her two already-famous friends to save the day. These books are tons of fun, backed by solid writing that we expect from an award-winning author like M.T. Anderson. For the kids that love Louis Sachar's humor and Rick Riordan's adventure, these are perfect books.

Book Review: Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

2010-03-10T18:55:00.000-08:00

Sanderson, Brandon. Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians. New York: Scholastic, 2008.

My name is not Alfonso, Alan, or Alfred. Nor is it Alejandro, Alton, Aldris, or Alonzo.

My name is Alcatraz. Alcatraz Smedry. Now some of you Free Kingdomers might be impressed by my name. That's wonderful for you, but I grew up in the Hushlands--in the United States itself. I didn't know about Occulators or the like, though I did know about prisons.

And that was why I figured that my parents must have had a twisted sense of humor. Why else would they name thier child after the most infamous prison in U.S. history?

On my thirteenth birthday, I received a second confirmation that my parents were indeed cruel people. That was the day when I unexpectedly received in the mail the only inheritance they left me.

It was a bag of sand.

Alcatraz Smedry is not a nice person. In fact, he's a cruel person, with no particular talents, unless you count his ability to break things. But when a crazy old man claiming to be his long lost grandfather shows up, everything Alcatraz knows about the world changes.

This book is a blast and a half. It is laugh out loud funny the whole way through. It's witty and clever and fun, and I couldn't put it down. And I know it sounds like it's pure silliness, but there are solid sci-fi themes running through it. Sanderson is a brilliant writer, and it shows. Even though he's just having fun, he knows how to build a world and develop a story.

There are a few times when the storyline goes a little over-the-top, where things seem to go a little too far. I mean, really, who would set a fire and then walk into the other room to look at something else? It barely makes sense. But because it fits with the general feel of the novel, we're willing to let it slide.

This novel is absolute perfect for reluctant readers. It's action-packed and funny, which will keep everyone's attention. If you are struggling to get your child to read, get them this book!

Buy this book now!

Book Review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

2010-03-09T20:17:00.000-08:00

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New York: Penguin, 2006.

I wasted the last weeks of August watching bad cartoons. I didn’t go to the mall, the lake, or the pool, or answer the phone. I have entered high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I don’t have anyone to sit with.
I am Outcast.
The kids behind me laugh so loud I know they’re laughing about me. I can’t help myself. I turn around. It’s Rachel, surrounded by a bunch of kids wearing clothes that most definitely did not come from the EastSide Mall. Rachel Bruin, my ex-best friend. She stares at something above my left ear. Words climb up my throat. This was the girl who suffered through Brownies with me, who taught me how to swim, who understood about my parents, who didn’t make fun of my bedroom. If there is anyone in the entire galaxy I am dying to tell what really happened, it’s Rachel. My throat burns.
Her eyes meet mine for a second. “I hate you,” she mouths silently.

Something horrific has happened to Melinda over the summer. So horrific that all of her friends, and tons of people she doesn't know, have turned on her. And she has turned into herself, refusing to speak to nearly everyone.

Incredibly witty, even though it deals with such a dark and depressing subject. This is one of the defining novels in the YA genre. YA voice doesn't get any better than this. It's a character-driven novel, but the suspense is never lacking. I couldn't wait to get to the next page. I loved Melinda as if she were one of my best friends. I never got tired of listening to her. She is a smart, sharp girl going through a terrifying experience. I related to her. I loved her.

I would definitely recommend this to older kids, though (13+), considering the reveal at the end. Also a wonderful choice for book clubs. Will boys read it? Probably not, unfortunately. But girls will eat it up, and I think it's a great novel for helping them to work through their own issues.

And of course, if you're serious about studying YA literature, you have to read it. It's one of the standards.

Buy this book now!

Book Review: Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

2010-03-01T14:20:00.000-08:00

Fisher, Catherine. Incarceron. New York: Penguin Group, 2010.

He froze. He couldn't move. her fingers were cool and clean, and she had touched him on his skin, between the torn sleeve and the glove, and she was looking at the tiny tattoo of the crowned bird.

She frowned. "That's not a Civicry mark. It looks like..."

"What?" He was alert at once. "Like what?"

A rumble miles off in the Hall. The chains at his feet slithered. Bending over them the man with the cutters hesitated. "That's odd. This bolt. It's loose..."

The Maestra stared at the bird. "Like the crystal."

A shout, behind them.

"What crystal?" Finn said.

"A strange object. We found it."

"And the bird is the same? You're sure?"

"Yes." Distracted, she turned at looked at the bolt. "You weren't really--"

He had to know about this. He had to keep her alive. He grabbed her and pulled her to the floor. "Get down," he whipsered. And then, angrily, "Don't you understand? It's all a trap."

Finn is a prisoner, believed by most to have been a product of Incarceron itself--though he doesn't believe it for a moment. Even if he can't can't remember his past, he knows he had one before the prison. Claudia is the Warden of Incarceron's daughter, destined to be the next queen of the world Outside, where new technology is forbidden and the populace is kept in specific Eras. All she knows of Incarceron is that it is a centuries-old experiment, a utopia created to keep all the convicts and madmen out of the way.

What a brilliant novel. The writing is exciting, the plot fast paced, and the characters vibrant. If you're feeling the dystopia genre right now, this novel is a must. However, if you're looking for romance, not so much. There's less romance here than there was in Hunger Games. Not that that's a problem, it just seems that many people reading teen right now want romance.

On the other hand, the lack of romance means that this is a great choice for boys. I know it's been hard to find anything for all the kids that loved the Eragon series, and this is it. It's definitely written in the style of high fantasy, but it has all the excitement of teen dystopias.

One thing I particularly loved about it was the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. In Inkheart-style, Fisher has chosen made-up quotes from ancient texts, folk songs, diaries, and letters to start off each chapter. And each one relates to what is happening in the chapter, providing information that is essential for us to know. Also, I loved the cover art. It's just dark and abstract enough to capture the feel of the novel, yet doesn't give anything away. Plus, it's shiny, and I like shiny things...

Buy this book now!

Book Review: Everything is Fine by Ann Dee Ellis

2010-02-26T15:53:00.000-08:00

Ellis, Ann Dee. Everything is Fine. New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 2009.

“How’s your mother?”
“Okay.”
“Really okay?”
“Yeah.”
That’s when I looked at Norma’s face again and she had a gigantic mole that I hadn’t really had time to look at closely before. There was a hair in it.
“Does she need anything?”
“Nope.”
The hair was long. But not that long because I hadn’t noticed it before. And it was blackish brown like Norma’s hair-ball head.
“Can I come and see her?”
Silence.
No.
No, you cannot see my mom. No, you can’t, you fat fat lady with a red car and no cats.
“I don’t think so,” I said.

Mazzy's fine. Her mother, even though she's been practically catatonic since a family tragedy, is fine. And her father is fine, wherever he might be. Everything is fine. As long as no one outside the family asks too many questions, that is. And as long as Mazzy can figure out a way to bring the light back into her mother's eyes, and bring her father home.

Absolutely outstanding. Every character, even minor characters, were perfectly fleshed out. Everything Mazzy said and did was believeable, and her voice was so incredibly real I could almost imagine her jumping out and talking to me. Even though the story is dark, dealing with death and mental disorders, Mazzy was so bright and quirky that she made it bearable. Which also made the fact that she was able to deal with everything herself believeable.

Also, although it's told from the point of view of a child, there are enough clues that we can see what's really happening. We can see how people are just trying to help her, we can see how she's turning to art to express her emotions. We can see the real story, even with a (somewhat) unreliable narrator. It's a perfect balance.

Even though it's rather short, I don't recommend this for some younger readers. There are a few parts that are a little dark. For anyone else though, a great choice. This would make a wonderful book club book as well.

Buy this book now!

Book Review: The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen D. Randle

2010-02-24T18:56:00.000-08:00

Randle, Kristen D. The Only Alien on the Planet. Illinois: Sourcebooks, Inc., 2009.

"I'd forgotten how pretty he is until I saw your face this morning," Hally was saying as she dug for a book in the bottom of her locker. "I guess I should have warned you, but I really didn't even think of it."

"Is there--" I asked, trying to read her attitude, "--something wrong with him?"
"Some people think he's autistic," she said, pulling the book out and shoving everything else back in. She stood up, trying to balance all the books she had stacked up on her notebook. "Myself, I wouldn't know." She slammed her locker shut. "Mr. Leviaton--I think you've got him--fifth period, World History. Yeah, you do, see? Smitty's kind of a pet of his. He says it's no way autism." She gave the lock an absent spin.
"Smitty."
"Smitty Tibbs. Sounds like a name you'd give a puppy or something, doesn't it? Come on." She started off down the hall. "Anyway," she went on, "something's seriously wrong with him."

Ginny's just beginning to adjust to her new school and her new life when she meets--him. Smitty Tibbs. Or, as he's known to most of the students, Alien. The boy who doesn't speak. Ever. To anyone. And yet it's common knowledge that he's a genius.

Ginny becomes convinced that deep down, Alien can hear and understand everyone, and she's determined to bring him out of his shell. But when she starts to see results, she wonders if she's doing irreparable damage, and whether she should push harder or back off.

I loved it. Absolutely loved it. I thought the characters were fascinating, the romance was pitch perfect, and the dialogue was fun. Beware, this is NOT a paranormal romance. For a minute or two, I thought it might go that direction. It doesn't. And I'm glad. It didn't need anything at all. I thought Ginny's reactions were brilliant. What does a teenager know about abnormal psychology anyway? And the fact that she realizes she could be screwing up someone's life forever made me love and respect her.

The only issue I had with the novel was whether or not this could happen. Now, I'm not a psychology major, but this seems a little unusual. I guess it's hard for me to believe that so much evil could exist in one person (I won't tell you which person, I promise). I wish I had a little more reason to believe that.

But really, this is an outstanding novel. I highly recommend it to anyone who's looking for a good contemporary fiction. I think it might even be a boy friendly novel, because so much of it focuses on how boys think, act, and react. It's definitely great for girls, because there is a romance in it. Wonderful "discussion" book for book clubs and things like that. It's just great all around.

Book Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

2010-02-23T18:08:00.000-08:00

Stiefvater, Maggie. Shiver. New York: Scholastic, 2009.

I was never afraid of him. He was large enough to tear me from my swing, strong enough to knock me down and drag me into the woods. But the ferocity of his body wasn’t in his eyes. I remembered his gaze, every hue of yellow, and I couldn’t be afraid. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.
I wanted him to know I wouldn’t hurt him.
I waited. And waited.
And he waited, too, though I didn’t know what he was waiting for. It felt like I was the only one reaching out.
But he was always there. Watching me watching him. Never any closer to me, but never any further away either.
And so it was an unbroken pattern for six years: the wolves’ haunting presence in the winter and their even more haunting absence in the summer. I didn’t really think about the timing. I thought they were wolves. Only wolves.

Grace has always been obsessed with the yellow-eyed wolf that rescued her as a child. And when she discovers that the wolf spends his summers in human form, it seems like everything is perfect. Except that Sam's time as a human is getting short, and unless they can find a cure, the two will soon be separated forever.

Phenomenal concept. Werewolves that transform based on temperature rather than the moon (although it is colder at night, so it still fits with our mythology). The writing was good, sort of lyrical, fun to listen to. The characters were smart and enchanting.

If you love to read paranormal romance, this is a great book for you. It's unique and familiar all at the same time, and it's almost impossible not to fall in love with Sam.

Buy this book now!

Book Review: Heist Society by Ally Carter

2010-02-18T18:26:00.000-08:00

Carter, Alley. Heist Society. New York: Disney Hyperion, 2010.

Another sip. Another smile. But this time he didn't meet her eyes. "You wanted to see if the rumors were true," he said, and Kat felt her face burn in the cold wind. "So, who told?" her father asked. "Uncle Eddie? Hale?" He shook his head and spoke through gritted teeth. "I'm gonna kill that kid."

"It wasn't his fault."

"Like Barcelona wasn't his fault?"

"Yeah, well..." Kat heard herself repeating Hale's words: "We all agreed that that monkey seemed perfectly well trained at the time."

Kat is trying to get out of the family business. Unfortunately, the memebers of her family aren't jewellers or art collectors or bankers--at least, not exactly. Kat is from a family of thieves. And now someone has accused her father of stealing a valuable painting, which he didn't steal. Unless Kat can figure out who actually stole the painting and get it back, she could lose everyone she cares about.

This was so much fun! Like everything Ally Carter writes, her protagonist is fun, smart and witty. The plot is essentially like Ocean's Eleven with teenagers, except that George Clooney has been replaced with a loveable girl, and Brad Pitt is put to shame with an incredible male lead (Hale, who is even hotter than Brad).

There are also a lot of interesting quirks in the characters. They aren't just cookie cutters. Hale, for instance, is a billionaire, someone who "could buy a Monet and yet couldn't resist stealing a Vermeer." And I'd tell you what is so surprising about Nick, the second love interest, but it'd give something away, and I don't want to ruin the surprise. You'll just have to read it.

Overall, this novel has strong themes of family and trust. But Ms. Carter pulls it off in a way that doesn't come off as preachy or didactic. She doesn't tell you the message she wants to get across, she makes you feel it. And somehow, she makes you laugh about it at the same time.

Tons of fun, and as always, squeaky clean (one of the only ones in all of teen to be so). If you have a teenage girl, she should be reading this book.

Book Review: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

2010-02-17T18:45:00.000-08:00

Stead, Rebecca. When You Reach Me. New York: Random, 2009.

Back when I still walked home with Sal, it was easier to pretend that the laughing man didn’t scare me, because Sal was pretending too. He tried not to show it, but he freaked when he saw the laughing man shaking his fist at the sky and kicking his leg out into traffic. I could tell by the way Sal’s face kind of froze. I know all of his expressions.
I used to think of Sal as being a part of me: Sal and Miranda, Miranda and Sal. I knew he wasn’t really, but that’s the way it felt.

When Miranda receives a strange note in her book, she assumes it was a fluke, a weird coincidence that it seems to be talking to her. But when the notes keep coming, she realizes the person knows all about her...and knows her future. So when the note reader asks her to write a letter, telling her story, she finally decides to do it. And the story, she decides, starts on the day that her friendship with Sal ended.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. Amazing. Incredible. Phenomenal. I don't even have enough words to describe how much I loved it. Every single word is exactly where it should be. Everything that I thought was around for symbolism actually has an essential part of the plot. It is totally flawless, tying everything together in a way that I would never have thought possible.

The characters make sense, the plot works out, and she ties in A Wrinkle in Time, which just makes me happy in general. The only problem was that the grammar is sometimes a little weird. Part of it is in second person, part is in present tense, and the rest...I don't even know. I kept getting confused. I think on the second reading, it might work out, but just be prepared to get lost a few times.

And even though the cover art looks totally blah, never fear. There is a science fiction twist in it. You'll love it. I promise.

Book Review: A Dance for Three by Louise Plummer

2010-02-12T10:39:00.000-08:00

Plummer, Louise. A Dance for Three. New York: Laurel-Leaf, 2000.

Milo wasn’t the first boy to kiss me but he was the first one to bite me. I said “Ouch,” and he said, “Let me lick it better.” It was when his mouth was on my shoulder and his hands tugged my camisole down that I knew I would go all the way with him. I would lose my virginity with Milo in the back of his Toyota 4Runner parked above the cemetery with the lights of Salt Lake City below. Not that we were looking. I kissed him fiercely. Too fiercely. He said, “Slow down; it’s better slow.”
Did I do it because I loved him or because he was so persuasive? Did I do it because I knew Mama wouldn’t approve? Did I want a baby? Or maybe it was the madness taking hold inside me.

Hannah has just discovered that she is pregnant with Milo’s baby. But it’s okay, because Milo makes everything okay. He always knows what to say, and how to fix the situation. She knows that he’ll marry her and take her away from her mother, who is teetering on the edge of insanity ever since Hannah’s father died. Milo will fix everything.

So intense. The entire first third of the book, you can see exactly where it’s going, but it’s like when you’re driving a car and an accident’s just about to happen…you only have the presence of mind to cringe. Then it still surprises you.

The characters were over-the-top, maybe, but they felt so real. Ms. Plummer KNOWS her characters, she knows exactly what they would do when put in those situations. Brilliant novel. I could hardly put it down, regardless of anything else I had going on that day. I highly recommend it as one of the best novels dealing with teen pregnancy. It's also a wonderful example of a book that incorporates religion without letting it take over the storyline.

Book Review: The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

2010-02-10T16:16:00.000-08:00

Stewart, Trenton Lee. The Mysterious Benedict Society. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2007.
“That’s true,” he said. “Sticky, if you didn’t use the arrows, how did you get through?”
Sticky shuffled his feet and said, “I just kept trying one door after the other, until finally I found the staircase. It was sheer luck.”
“And you found it more quickly the second time? That’s the really lucky part, I guess.”
“Oh, no, that part was easy,” Sticky said. “I just remembered how I got through the first time: First I took a right, then a left, then straight ahead, then right, then right again, then left, then left again, then right, then straight ahead, and so on, until I came to the staircase. I didn’t have to waste time scratching my head over those panels, or worrying they were going to turn the lights off, or any of that stuff. I just hurried through exactly as I did before.”
“Exactly as you--,” Kate began, then just shook her head. “That’s incredible. “
Reynie laughed. “You did it the hard way, Sticky!”
“What’s the easy way?”
“Follow the wriggly arrows.”
“Oh,” said Sticky thoughtfully. “That would have been useful to know.”

When a special ad appears in the paper looking for gifted children, thousands show up for the test. But only four are chosen. Four orphans, who are all geniuses in their own right. Reynie can solve any puzzle, decipher any clue, and figure out the answer to any dilemma. Kate, with her trusty bucket (literally) of tricks, can get into, out of, or around any obstacle in her path. Sticky has the ability to memorize anything the first time he sees it. And Constance? Well, she can be…stubborn.

These four children create an incredible team. And their first mission is to go undercover at an Institute for gifted children to stop a man who is trying to take over the world by sending messages over TV waves.

Brilliant. Just brilliant. One of my absolute favorite series for kids. There are tons of brain teasers and puzzles through the book, so you get to test yourself along with the characters to see how smart you are. I wasn’t very smart, but you might be! The writing is excellent. And they actually have a good reason for sending kids into danger, which I LOVED. Authors like to feed us crap about how they need kids because they’re “pure” or something like that. No, these kids have to go because the Institute only accepts children. Makes sense.

The characters and bright and fun and oh-so-loveable. The story is fast paced and keeps you interested, even if it is rather long for a young reader. This is the perfect novel for the kids that devour every book you give them in a matter of hours. At 485 pages, it’ll keep them entertained as well as keeping them busy for a few days. Also great for adults who want to read with their kids, because many of the brain teasers are at an adult level. So much fun!

Book Review: Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan

2010-02-03T15:28:00.000-08:00

I join Marissa in the pizza line. "What's up with Shannon?" she asks.

"I don't know. I guess I forgot to call her for the hundredth time, or something." Then I instantly feel like a traitor. "Nah, we just had a misunderstanding."

Marissa's so easy to talk to, I sometimes wish we had hooked up. But it's not that way with us. We're always going to be just friends. I still remember our first assignment in intro photo: shoot and print a series of black-and-white portraits of another member of class.

As the only ninth-graders, Marissa and I were paired up by default. We took the city bus up the hill to Washington Park, where we shyly pointed cameras at each other. Studying her through the lens, I realized that she had the most heartbroken eyes I'd ever seen. You don't notice them most of the time--she's usually smiling.

Madigan, L.K. Flash Burnout. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2009.

Blake is trapped in the place no guy wants to be--between a jealous girlfriend and a friend (that's a girl) who needs him. He feels an obligation to his friend Marissa, since he was (sort of) a catalyst to the life crisis she's in, but on the other hand, he's pretty sure he's in love with Shannon.

The writing is incredible. The character is witty and engaging and insightful. I loved it. The decisions he has to make are difficult, almost impossible at times, but his choices are consistent with his character and the overall plot. It's laugh-out-loud funny at times, but I was shocked or nearly moved to tears at others. And even though it's a woman writing it (kudos to L. K., by the way, for pulling a J.K. and hiding the fact that she's a woman so boys will want to read it too) it's very much a male voice, reminiscent of Chris Crutcher style. And the character is just so darn likeable. It's hard to make male protagonists likeable unless you don't let them make any mistakes. Blake makes plenty of mistakes (PLENTY) and yet we're still cheering for him, and we still love him.

But then we come to the end. *sigh* That has to be the most unsatisfying ending I have ever read in all my life. Seriously. Everyone is sad or pissed off or something. And then it's just over. That's it. I started checking around me on the floor, trying to see if some of the pages had fallen out. They hadn't. That's just the way it ends. So plan on taking some time after you read it to write your own ending. I did. And everyone lived happily ever after in mine, because I wanted it that way.

Book Review: The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

2010-02-02T17:03:00.000-08:00

Yancey, Rick. The Monstrumologist. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009.

"Why are you here, boy?" he asked suddenly, giving my shoulder a hard squeeze. "This is no business for children."

"My parents died in a fire, sir," I answered. "The doctor took me in."

"The doctor," Erasmus echoed. "They call him that — but what exactly is he a doctor of?"

The grotesque, I might have answered. The bizarre. The unspeakable. Instead I gave the same answer the doctor had given me when I'd asked him not long after my arrival at the house on Harrington Lane. "Philosophy," I said with little conviction.

When Will Henry takes his father's place as apprentice to Dr. Pellinore Winthrop, he soon realizes the job entails more than just staying up late with the lonely doctor and fetching tools or making meals. It's a job that may require him to risk his own life in order to protect the entire New England coast.

This book will be a huge hit with the teens that enjoy the macabre. Dark, and tons of violence. If you get squeamish at the thought of blood, this is not the book for you. The writing is excellent, as well as the monsters, who go by the name of Anthropophagi. The Anthropophagi are man-eating, headless monstrosities that can crush a human skull between their hands--and often do. Luckily, there's a very good reason for them being where our protagonists just happen to be. Plot and character development are solid. It's definitely a step out of the ordinary teen books we've been seeing lately. Even though there are monsters, we get to hate them the way we were meant to, and there is zero romance.

Some parts do drag, just a little. We're supposed to be reading a diary, but I didn't get that "in the head of the character" feeling that I usually get with diary novels. It was much more narrative than it should have been. Well-written narrative? Absolutely. But not as gripping as it could have been. And yes, it's predictable, but that's because we always know that good triumphs over evil in horror stories (unless you're Stephen King, in which everyone usually ends up miserable in some way or another) and we know that Will has to survive because we saw him as an old man in the beginning of the book. Still, well worth reading if you want to be creeped out.

And feel free to celebrate, horror lovers, because this is the first in a series. Let's hope this is the novel that reawakens a love of horror stories, like the good old days when Stephen King, Lois Duncan and R.L. Stine were at the top of their game.

Book Review: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

2009-06-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

DiCamillo, Kate. The Tale of Despereaux. Cambridge: Candlewick Press, 2003.

“Eat,” said Merlot.
“I couldn’t possibly,” said Despereaux, backing away from the book.
“Why?”
“Um,” said Despereaux. “It would ruin the story.”
“The story? What story?” Merlot stared at him. A piece of paper trembled at the end of one of her indignant whiskers. “It’s like Pa said when you were born. Something is not right with you.” She turned and scurried from the library to tell her parents about this latest disappointment.
Despereaux waited until she was gone, and then he reached out and, with one paw, touched the lovely words. Once upon a time.
He shivered. He sneezed. He blew his nose into his handkerchief.
“’Once upon a time’” he said aloud, relishing the sound. And then, tracing each word with his paw, he read the story of a beautiful princess and the brave knight who serves and honors her.
Despereaux did not know it, but he would need, very soon, to be brave himself.

Despereaux has never quite fit in with the rest of his mouse family. But when he falls in love with a human princess, it is simply too much for the mouse world. He is thrown out and sent to be eaten by the rats.

What a beautiful story. It felt so magical. The only part that was difficult for me was the constant switching of point-of-view. I just wanted to stay with one story. I guess that's the way it had to be, and I did enjoy it once I got to the end. I loved the characters. All the rat names were a little confusing to me for some reason, but maybe I just need to read slower. This was one of those books where it feels like every word is in place. It's the perfect novel for anyone who loves fairy tales, and maybe even for some that don't.

Book Review: The Giver by Lois Lowry

2009-06-17T19:54:00.000-07:00

Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1993.

“Tell me about the celebration.”
“Well, there was the telling of his life. That is always first. Then the toast. We all raised our glasses and cheered. We chanted the anthem. He made a lovely good-bye speech. And several of us made little speeches wishing him well. I didn’t, though. I’ve never been fond of public speaking.
“He was thrilled. You should have seen the look on his face when they let him go.”
Jonas slowed the strokes of his hand on her back thoughtfully. “Larissa,” he asked, “what happens when they make the actual release? Where exactly did Roberto go?”
She lifted her bare wet shoulders in a small shrug. “I don’t know. I don’t think anybody does, except the committee. He just bowed to all of us and then walked, like they all do, through the special door in the Releasing Room. But you should have seen his look. Pure happiness, I’d call it.”
Jonas grinned. “I wish I’d been there to see it.”

Jonas lives in a dystopia world where everything is perfect. No sickness. No death. No poverty. Nothing but cheerfulness, polite manners, and...mysterious disappearances.

But Jonas has been selected as a Receiver, the highest honor given in their community. But what he must "receive" is more horrifying than anything he could have ever imagined.

I loved it. What else can be said about it? Everyone loves this novel. My husband, who hates to read more than anything in the world, loved this book. It's outstanding. I wish they would get rid of that horrible cover with the old man. That cover kept me from reading this novel for 22 years. If you can just get a kid to ignore the front cover and read a single page inside, they will be hooked. Plus, it can be a boy book. (Are you kidding me, a Newbery winner that boys will actually read???)

If you haven't read this book, you are depriving yourself. Drop whatever you are reading and run, don't walk, to the nearest bookstore to pick it up.

Book Review: If I Forget, You Remember by Carol Lynch Williams

2009-06-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

Williams, Carol Lynch. If I Forget, You Remember. New York: Delacorte Press, 1998.

“Granny, this is Elyse.”
“Who?” Granny seemed really surprised, like I should be Addie.
“Me. Elyse. Your granddaughter.”
“I’ve dialed the wrong number. Who’d you say you are?”
“Elyse Donaldson, Granny.”
“I haven’t called Addie Webster?”
“No ma’am. You’ve reached your daughter’s house. And this is your granddaughter. “
Granny was quiet; then she said, “But what about that dirty old man? I tell you I’ve seen an old man staring in at me every time I look out the window.” Granny sounded like she was getting scared.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I think you’re seeing your reflection in the window. There’s no way an old man could climb up your apartment building wall, not even if he had Spider-Man suction cups on his hands and feet.”
Granny took in a deep breath. When she spoke I knew she wasn’t scared anymore. She was just plain angry.
“Addie you can rot in hell. I am no one’s granny, as you say. I am as young as you are. In the prime of my life and you know it. You’re saying those nasty things because I won Miss Strawberry Days and you didn’t.” Granny slammed down the receiver. There was silence.

Elyse has the perfect plan for the summer--she's going to write a brilliant novel, with each chapter written in a different color. But then Granny moves in with them. At first, Elyse is thrilled, and ready to have long, fun conversations like they used to. However, she quickly realizes that Granny's mind is growing further and further away from the present.

This story made me so sad. But there was a lot of humor too, like the chapter headings. Great characters, great obstacles. It felt very real, I think it affected me so strongly because I could so easily see my own grandmother (who, thankfully, does not have Alzheimer’s, knock on wood) in the same position. This novel is able to grip the emotions without sinking into sentimentality, a true sign of quality writing.

Book Review: Adeline Street by Carol Lynch Williams

2009-05-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

Williams, Carol Lynch. Adeline Street. New York: Delacorte Press, 1995.

I felt as if we were being disloyal to Kelly. I like Christmas and all, but Kelly went wild over it. She just liked giving. She'd save all her money for months. She'd make gifts at school ir sit in our walk-in closet, working on stuff for me and Momma and Daddy and papa. She would hide the presents in secret places, all wrapped up. Then, when you were right in the middle of a good show on TV, she'd say, "I know what you're getting for Christmas," in a singsong voice. It used to irritate me. Now I wouldn't mind if she'd do it just one more time.

Since her sister Kelly's death, everything has seemed different to Leah. She wakes up from nightmares she doesn't remember, only to see her younger sister's empty bed and realize the nightmare hasn't stopped just because she's awake.

Really interesting structure. The first half of the novel felt like a collection of short stories, just little moments that stood out, whereas the rest of it flowed more like a typical novel. I thought that mirrored the grieving process well, it was like a little lesson in psychology. There were some great sense of place moments. And I was surprised by how much I got into certain parts. Like when the wind was blowing and then just stopped, I started freaking out. “Holy crap, get the heck out of there! I’ve never even been to Florida and I know something’s wrong with that!” Yeah, I yell at my books. It’s not usually a problem unless I’m reading during class. Anyway, this is an excellent book for middle graders dealing with the death of a family member.

Book Review: The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

2009-05-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

Williams, Carol Lynch. The Chosen One. New York: St. Mark's Griffin, 2009.

But instead I have a horrible thought.

I see each of my sisters married to the oldest man in the Compound, Brother Nile Anderson. Married to him. He has to be 150 years old. In my head, I can see his spotted hands, yellowed nails, and those fat blue veins that look like they might pop any second. This comes into my mind because of last night. Of course it does. Because that is what our lives are, I realize, holding on to my little sister.

We are here for the men.

I try to make my mind remember the last time there was a marriage of a young man and a young woman. I can't think of any, not any, not for a long time. It seems all the old men are marrying the young girls.

Like my uncle and me.

13-year-old Kyra has been raised in a polygamous community with her three mothers and twenty (soon to be twenty-two) siblings. But she has a number of sins on her conscience, including reading forbidden books (which is all books but the Bible), secret, unchaperoned meetings with a boy, and even idle thoughts of killing their Prophet. This, she believes, is the reason God is punishing her. Her punishment? The Prophet has had a revelation: Kyra is to marry her sixty-year-old uncle, an apostle and a cruel man who already has six wives. And the more she resists, the more violence and persecution comes upon her, her family, and all those she cares about.

Horrifying. Chilling. Brilliant.

There is not a single word wasted or out of place. The prose is as perfect as the concertos that Kyra loves to play on the piano. Carol Lynch Williams opens the door to a dystopia that exists within our own society. With such a huge cast of characters, it seems inevitable that a few will be left two-dimensional--but they aren't. Even when the villians are at their worst, we believe that they think they are the hero of their own story. And because of the loving family Kyra is born into, we are able to see why this kind of society has been able to function, as well as being able to see how things are changing, and why a new regime would cause a sudden onslaught of rebellion. Certain aspects of the novel are absolutely horrifying. For instance, the God Squad, a task force in charge of ensuring that everyone is behaving properly, is as terrifying as the Spanish Inquisition.

Ms. Williams also makes use of symbolism and foreshadowing in poignant ways. For instance, when the Prophet speaks of his revelations and talking with God, he always points upwards--but never towards heaven. He points instead to lightbulbs and ceilings. To me, this is almost an allusion to Shakespeare's famous lines from Hamlet: "My words go up, my thoughts remain below/Words without thoughts never to heaven go." Prophet Childs may believe that he is God's mouthpiece, but we know he isn't, because as Joshua (the boy Kyra is in love with) says, "God would never demand this."

I could go on in this same vein, but I'll stop here and leave the analyzing to the English majors for years to come.

Written in present tense, this gripping story makes you feel as though you are there, watching every moment as it unfolds. And it makes you desperate to get to the next page. I began reading just before getting ready for bed, and I literally had to have my husband read it out loud to me while brushing my teeth, because I couldn't bear to put it down for that long. I had to continue reading until it was finished. These characters get under your skin, into your head, and refuse to let go. Even after I finished the novel, I tossed and turned for hours wondering about what happened next. I know I am one of many that hopes for a sequel.

One word of warning: This is very much a young adult book. It may be short and relatively easy to read, but the emotional impact may be too intense for children. When something is labelled as "young adult" for themes, it usually means it includes of one three things: sex, violence, or bad things happening to good people. I'll say this--it has no sex. But for those that are able to handle this emotional ride, it will be well worth it. Carol Lynch Williams manages to drag us through the depths of hells and yet somehow--somehow--leaves us believing in heaven.

I've debated over which rating to give this novel. I've read "perfect" novels before, but I've never read anything that is both this well-written and courageous. And when I look at the other novels I've given a four star rating to, I realized that they all are lacking in comparison to The Chosen One, either in writing style or emotional intensity. So I'm breaking my own rules, and giving The Chosen One a rating of its own. Never before has a novel rocked me to my very core like this one has.

Book Review: How to Train Your Dragon by Cowell Cressida

2009-05-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

Cowell, Cressida. How to Train Your Dragon. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2003.

"Hiccup will be leading you, although he is, admittedly, completely useless, because Hiccup is the son of the CHIEF, and that's the way things go with us Vikings. Where do you think you are, the REPUBLIC OF ROME? Anyway, that is the least of your problems today. You are here to prove yourself as a Viking Hero. And it is an ancient tradition of the Hooligan Tribe that you should--" Gobber paused dramatically--

"FIRST CATCH YOUR DRAGON!"

Ohhhhhhh suffering scallops, thought Hiccup.

Hiccup Haddock the III is the son of the Viking tribe's chief, Stoick the Vast, but he is not your typical Viking hero. To the dismay of his father, instructor, and the tribe in general, Hiccup dislikes being mean or cruel to anyone, including the pet dragons that each boy is supposed to be training. He decides to take a different approach to training, which includes speaking Dragonese, a language known only to dragons. Unfortunately, it doesn't work as well as he had hoped, since his dragon, Toothless, is lazy and rude. But when it comes to life or death, can Toothless be trusted?

This was a cute little book. Predictable, sure, but so much fun. I kept hoping that “heroic” type things would happen to poor Hiccup, but no, they didn’t really. He made everything happen. And little Toothless…what a great character. I’m glad it’s hard to train a dragon without yelling at it, and it’s not actually easier. I was worried that’s where the whole thing was going. My little brother is a reluctant reader, but he eats up these books. How can he not, with character names such as "Dogsbreath the Duhbrain?"

Book Review: Pretty Like Us by Carol Lynch Williams

2009-05-06T18:11:00.000-07:00

Williams, Carol Lynch. Pretty Like Us. Atlanta: Peachtree, 2008.

“Alane, Beauty,” Mr. Borget said. “Beauty, Alane.”
“Beauty?” Alane said. “That’s your real name?”
I nodded. In slow motion I started across the classroom floor, as if my eyes were pulling me in for a better look. She was so small. And shriveled. Like fruit left outside. Like she was seventy years old.
“How cool,” Alane said. “My name means almost the same thing, ‘fair one,’ or ‘beautiful.’”
I tugged at my shirt, stretching it down the way Grandma always tells me not to. Her? Beautiful? If anyone in our class found out what Alane’s name meant, well, she was done for. They would sacrifice her to the teasing gods without a second thought. “That’s great,” I said.
I heard him wrong, I thought. He must have said this is Alane’s grandmother.
Now I was close enough to see her hands. They were tiny, like her whole self—small and frail—except for the knuckles. Those were knobbly and swollen looking. And her fingers were all crooked, like they had lost their way growing.
I wiped my own damp hands on my blue jeans.

Alane has progeria, a rare disease that causes her twelve-year-old body to age too quickly. When she moves to Beauty’s town, Beauty finds herself desperate for a new friend, to the point where she attempts to overcome her shyness in order to talk to Alane.

There were some powerful moments in this story, particularly in the mother-daughter relationship. I even got teary-eyed at a few parts, which almost never happens. Great writing, great character development, as always. I do wonder if there is a sequel coming, though. Some parts of the story didn’t quite feel finished.

Book Review: Kelly and Me by Carol Lynch Williams

2009-05-05T17:58:00.000-07:00

Williams, Carol Lynch. Kelly and Me. New York: Yearling, 1993.

“Ohmyheck,” I said, and stood up.
Papa was back out the second-story window, Spider-Man fashion, and using Momma’s good sheets as a rope. Momma was not going to like that at all. We ran over to where he was inching his way down the clapboard and looked up at him. Lots of people say Papa is pretty darn spry for a seventy-two-year-old man, and I guess that they’re right.

Leah and her ten-year-old sister, Kelly, are having a summer of adventures down sunny Florida. Egged on by "Papa," their recently widowed grandfather, Leah and Kelly do everything from driving to skinny dipping to attempting a mystical cure for warts. But tragedy is on the horizon for the Orton family, when everything is about to change forever.

Great writing, like always, loveable characters, fun anecdotes. It honestly feels like you’re down on the beach in Florida for summer vacation, free of all worries. Nice and relaxing until the end, when you’re thrown a twist you never saw coming. I think kids would have a lot of fun with the antics, and it's a great discussion starter for death and loss.

Book Review: The True Colors of Caitlynne Jackson by Carol Lynch Williams

2009-04-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

Williams, Carol Lynch. The True Colors of Caitlynne Jackson. New York: Delacorte Press, 1997.

Cara doesn't know her crying at night wakes me up. And there's not a lot I can do, 'cause I'm scared, too.

Caitlynne and Cara live in perpetual terror of their abusive and unpredictable mother. And when their mother abandons them for the summer in order to work on her novel without distractions, Caitlynne is torn between fear of being alone and relief at not worrying about her mother's mood swings. Left with nothing but a refrigerator of food and forty-three dollars to live an entire summer on, Caitlynne and Cara must rely on each other to survive.

A balancing act between the horrifying and the downright fun. I think juveniles always love the idea of being left on their own, and there are some fun things that happen during that time. But the mother is terrifying. I wish we could have seen a little more of her being kind. Her past kindness is alluded to, but I wonder if the narrator is just unreliable,because she truly does love her mother. It seems to ring true of how kids trapped in a abusive homes really are. I liked the question of what kind of person the grandmother is, that gives the reader some room to debate. And I love the boy. He’s adorable. I wonder sometimes if the neighbors were irresponsible, but I suppose it makes them more realistic. People rarely want to get involved in other people's problems. There are plenty of things to keep you thinking long after you finish the last page.

Book Review: The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

2009-04-27T12:06:00.000-07:00

Hale, Shannon. The Goose Girl. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2003.

Then the queen said, "Do not fear that this sad day means more than the end of this king's life. We will go on. I will continue as your queen and keeper of the realm. An in that distant day when you will carry my body to this place, my noble and capable son Calib-Loncris will be ready to take up the scepter and crown."

Ani looked up, her mouth slightly agape. Selia at her side pinched her arm.

"Did you hear that, Crown Princess?"

Ani shook her head slowly. "She made a mistake. She must be...she is confused in her sorrow, that's all."

"Calib doesn't look confused," said Selia.

The Goose Girl is a retelling of a lesser-known Grimms's fairy tale. Ani is the crown princess of Kildenree, trying desperately to overcome her natural affinity for animals to please her mother and become accepted as the future queen. But when her mother betrays her and ships her off to be a strange prince's bride in a neighboring country, she realizes that she will need whatever skills she has to save herself from the onslaught of betrayals that will come from those she once trusted.

My new favorite book. I loved it. Yes, the ending was obvious, yes, of course he was the prince (duh) but I don’t care. I wanted a happy ending and I got it. Talk about escapist fantasy. And I love that Ani wasn’t a tomboy being forced to be a princess. She was a sweet smart girl that wanted to be princess, and wanted to be a good one. I can relate to that. I’m not a tomboy, I hate princesses that are like that. And Shannon was able to explain the politics of the society without boring us to tears, which is what usually happens in fantasy. Sleeping Beauty used to be my favorite fairy tale…I think I’ve changed my mind. Shannon has such a lyrical style, I honestly felt like I was in bed listening to my mother read me fairy tales again. Simply beautiful.

Book Review: Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

2009-04-14T16:17:00.000-07:00

Hale, Shannon. Princess Academy. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005.

14-year-old Miri has never been allowed to work in the quarry. She believes it is because of her small stature, and is jealous of her sister and all the others that go and contribute to the village. But when the kingdom's priests divine that the prince will marry a girl from Miri's village, a tutor is sent out to prepare the girls for the more "civilized" world of the lowlands. And now Miri finally has the chance to show her own talents, and perhaps even marry a prince. But with her newfound knowledge comes secrets that the kingdom has hidden from the village for centuries. Secrets that could change everything.

Interesting. Hard to put down. I liked that being a princess wasn’t the happy ending. It’s nice to know that heroines can be happy without getting the prince. I liked that I didn’t know exactly what the happiest ending would be until I got it. I was so torn for so long, and then BAM! We discover the only possible happy ending. Fantastic. Definitely a teenage girl book.

Book Review: My Angelica by Carol Lynch Williams

2009-04-13T17:01:00.000-07:00

Williams, Carol Lynch. My Angelica. New York: Delacorte Press, 1999.

Angelica performed CPR on her Indian lover. His lips were blue. Both of his eyes were closed. At least, Angelica thought they were. One eye was covered by a bearskin eye patch. The other lay limply in its socket.
Angelica's perfectly curled hair trembled with fear. Her white-gloved hands looked even whiter on her lover's bare chest. "Get up, 247 Bears. Get up!" Angelica yodeled like an American Indian banshee.
Suddenly the piece of deer meat spewed forth from his mouth. The dark-haired man breathed deeply, then stood on his own two feet.
Angelica, he signed to her. You have saved me. Will you be my squaw?

15-year-old Sage's mother is a famous romance writer, and Sage knows that writing is her destiny too. She also knows that her character, Angelica, will be her claim to fame, the smart, strong, sexy character that will rocket her to the top. But George, Sage's best friend, knows something that Sage doesn't...her writing is atrocious. He puts up with it patiently for years, but when Sage announces she plans to enter her novel in a writing contest at the school, George knows he must find a way to stop her before she is humiliated.

Quite literally could not put it down. Usually I don’t like clueless girls, but Sage is so loveable. I think maybe it helped that we saw her through George’s eyes, and he showed us the good side of her. I loved George! What a sweetheart. And Angelica! Oh, Angelica! I would feel bad about laughing at her so much, but I know that the first female president would simply wipe away a sensitive tear with a gloved hand without disturbing any make-up and run to her eye-patched lover and press passionately against his perfect chest—without, of course, disturbing a single strand of her perfect curls—and all would be well. So I feel no guilt at laughing at Angelica all I want. Williams's humor will keep you laughing the whole way through. A phenomenal book for teenagers.

Book Review: Surrender by Sonya Hartnett

2009-04-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

Hartnett, Sonya. Surrender. Cambridge: Candlewick Press, 2005.

I remember my first sight of him - the sound and scavenger look of him - surrounded by summer; I remember the stillness of the day and the density of the air. Neither of us was older than nine or ten. I was skimming a car along the garden fence when Finnigan crossed the brink of my vision. At first I feigned ignorance or disdain of his presence, but the car beneath my fingertips bunny-hopped and soon stalled. I slid a glance at him. At school we had seen a wildlife film projected onto a wall, and the boy who was watching me was a hyena. His dark eyes were set apart and seemed to have no arena of white. He didn't move or say a thing but I knew, just from his watching, that he could sever my arm. We were the same height and same age and built along similar leggy lines, but he was a hyena while I was a small, ashy, alpine moth. From the footpath side of the fence he stared at me, and my gaze floated grudgingly from the toy. He swiped a fly from his face. "You're that boy," he said.

". . .What boy?"

"You know. That boy. You know. What you did. Everybody knows."

At twenty years old, Gabriel is on his deathbed, looking back on his childhood. When he was only a child, he made a pact with a wild child named Finnigan...Finnigan would be all bad, and Gabriel would be all good. But when a series of arsons begin to break out around their small town, Gabriel begins to realize how dangerous and out of control Finnigan really is.

This is the novel I’ve always wanted to write. I figured out the twist by the second chapter, but the dog threw me for awhile, I couldn’t figure out who was taking care of him. That was clever. And even though I knew he must have murdered someone, I was shocked to find out who. Great climax, I was taken by surprise. She has a great style of writing, but I wonder how accessible she is to teens. I know adults and supersmart teens would like reading it, but what about the rest of them?

Book Review: We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier

2009-03-17T10:16:00.000-07:00

Cormier, Robert. We All Fall Down. New York: Laurel Leaf, 1991.

They entered the house at 9:02 P.M. and trashed their way through the Cape Cod cottage. At 9:46 P.M. Karen Jerome made the mistake of arriving home early. Thrown down the basement stairs, Karen slips into a coma. The trashers slip away.

But The Avenger has seen it all.

Jane Jerome and her family arrive home one night, only to discover their house has been vandalized and 14-year-old Karen Jerome thrown to the bottom of the stairs, in a coma. The vandals are no where to be seen. But one person, The Avenger, saw it all, and is determined to make the vandals pay. In struggling to recover from the invasion, Jane finds herself falling in love with Buddy Walker, who, unbeknownst to her, is one of th vandals.

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Robert Cormier at his best. Evil teenagers that are too smart for their own good, a psycho “Avenger,” and a boy that causes evil and regrets it falls in love with the victim of the evil…wow, it’s got everything to keep me going. I would get disappointed every time he would change POV because I wanted to know more of what was happening with that situation, but then I’d immediately get all excited again because I had wanted to know what happened in this situation. There were some moments when he would switch POV back and forth and it didn’t work too well. And I know when you read Cormier, you can expect a depressing and surprising ending, but in this case, I think he misled us. He built everything up for a happy ending, then doesn’t give it to us. I think I’m just going to pretend that I didn’t read the last chapter and imagine my own ending.

Book Review: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

2009-02-26T13:09:00.000-08:00

Spinelli, Jerry. Maniac Magee. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1990.

And another question: Why did he stay here? Why Two Mills?

Of course, there's the obvious answer that sitting right across Schyulkill is Bridgeport, where he was born. Yet there are other theories. Some say he just got tired of running. Some say it was the butterscotch Krimpets. And some say he only intended to pause here but that he stayed because he was so happy to make a friend.

Maniac (born Jeffrey Lionel) Magee is an orphaned child that can run faster than anyone, untie any knot, and see past any skin color. According to legend, that is. When he runs away to Two Mills, he finds himself bridging the gap between the racially divided town, and fighting to show everyone that the two races are not as different as they think.

One of my favorite books of all time. A kid that really and truly doesn’t need adults, what more can you ask of a YA hero? Maniac can do anything, isn’t afraid of anyone, and has a heart of gold. Apart from this, there is an incredible subplot of racism. There isn’t a wasted word in the entire story, it’s brilliant. This novel is a masterpiece.

Book Review: Heroes by Robert Cormier

2009-02-16T18:50:00.000-08:00

Cormier, Robert. Heroes. New York: Delacourte Press, 1998.

Oh, I have eyes because I can see and eardrums because I can hear but no ears to speak of, just bits of dangling flesh. But that's fine, like Dr. Abrams says, because it's sight and hearing that count and I was not handsome to begin with. He was joking, of course. He was always trying to make me laugh.

If anything bothers me, it's my nose. Or rather, the absence of my nose. My nostrils are like two small caves and they sometimes get blocked and I have to breathe through my mouth. This dries up my throat and makes it hard for me to swallow. I also become hoarse and cough a lot. My teeth are gone but my jaw is intact and my gums are firm, which makes it possible for me to wear dentures. In the past few weeks, my gums began to shrink, however, and the dentures have become loose and they click when I talk and slip around inside my mouth.

I have no eyebrows, but eyebrows are minor, really. I do have cheeks. Sort of. I mean, the skin that forms my cheeks was grafted from my thighs and has taken a long time to heal. My thighs sting when my pants rub against them. Dr. Abrams says that all my skin will heal in time and my cheeks will someday be as smooth as a baby's arse. That's the way he pronounced it: arse. In the meantime, he said, don't expect anybody to select you for a dance when it's Girls' Choice at the canteen.

Don't take him wrong, please.He has a great sense of humor and has been trying to get me to develop one.

I have been trying to do just that. But not having much success.

Francis has no face. He has just returned to him hometown from the war in which he threw himself on a grenade. Using his anonymity, he seeks out his old mentor, Larry LaSalle, who is also a war hero. But Francis is not there to rekindle a friendship. He is intent on revenge. He is going to kill Larry LaSalle.

Brilliant, as always. The characters were possibly his most intriguing yet. I don’t know where he gets his ideas. Everything his characters think seem so over the top until you find out why it is that way, and then everything just falls into place. The ending isn’t really open for interpretation, but it is open enough that I can pretend it has a happy ending. The suspense is so intense, it's almost impossible to put down. There are a number of more mature themes throughout, so I would recommend reading it before giving it to younger children.

Book Review: The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier

2009-02-10T20:17:00.000-08:00

Cormier, Robert. The Rag and Bone Shop. New York: Laurel Leaf Books, 2001.

The last person to see Alicia Bartlett alive?

Except for the murderer, of course, Detective Lieutenant Braxton quickly added.

The Rag and Bone Shop is Robert Cormier's last novel, published posthumously. It centers around the murder of a 7-year-old girl, found battered to death not far from her house. The police have no leads, but local politics pressure them into finding the murderer...and fast. So they bring a "confessor," a man named Trent who is more concerned with getting confessions than finding the truth. The suspect? A boy named Jason, the last one to see the murdered girl.

If you think you can predict the ending of this novel, you're wrong. You may be able to predict the climax, sure, but not the ending. The best short story writers are able to make the whole story hinge on the last line. Robert Cormier does this with a novel. You can’t believe that what is happening is really happening, but it is. It’s impossible to stop reading. The psychological thrill is exhilarating. And yes, it's Robert Cormier, so it will leave you horrified at the inner workings of the human soul--or as he would say, "Down where all the ladders start/In the foul rag-and-bone-shop of the heart."

Book Review: I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier

2009-02-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

Cormier, Robert. I Am the Cheese. New York: Laurel Leaf Books, 1977.

At home, I didn't wave goodbye to anybody. I just left. Without fanfare. I didn't go to school. I didn't call anyone. I thought of Amy but I didn't call her. I woke up this morning and saw an edge of frost framing the window and I thought of my father and I thought of the cabinet downstairs in the den and I lay there, barely breathing, and then I got up and knew where I was going. But I stalled, I delayed. I didn't leave for two hours because I am a coward, really...But at the same time, I knew I would go. I knew I would go the way you know a stone will drop to the ground if you release it from your hand.

The world in this novel is muddled, confused, much like in Adam's mind. It's difficult to figure out where each story fits in time. Is he talking the the doctor (or is he a doctor?) before he goes to see his father? Where are his parents, anyway? And where is Adam, for that matter? We don't know. All we know is that we are pedaling, pedaling to Rutterburg, Vermont, and it is essential that we get this package to his father, and figure out what has happened on the way, if we possibly can.

The story is so passionate. The little stories and clues fit together so well, and build up such an incredible feeling of suspense. It’s as though you’re compelled to turn the page. The character is shy and sensitive without being annoying, which can be difficult to do. The prose is just beyond description. There are a few things we never discover, possibly because Adam will never discover it, and that bothered me. After a quest for answers, I feel like I deserve more than I got. On the other hand, the journey is well worth it.

Book Review: Holes by Louis Sachar

2009-02-06T20:11:00.000-08:00

Sachar, Louis. Holes. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1998.

Stanley was not a bad kid. He was innocent of the crime for which he was convicted. He'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It was all because of his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather!

He smiled. It was a family joke. Whenever anything went wrong, they always blamed Stanley's no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather!

Supposedly, he had a great-great-grandfather who had stolen a pig from one-legged Gypsy, and she put a curse on him and all his descendants. Stanley and his parents didn't believe in curses, of course, but whenever anything went wrong, it felt good to be able to blame someone.

Things went wrong a lot. They always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Everything about this story is amazing. The way he handles backstory, bringing everything together at the last minute…It's difficult enough to do that in a short story, and Louis Sachar was one of the few that is able to pull it off in a novel. I love that feeling when all the puzzle pieces fit together and makes a happy ending. And on top of all of that, it’s witty and funny and just plain fun to read. This novel won nearly ever major award for children's books in 1999.

I've heard some people say that although this book is funny, it didn't deserve to win the Newbery, particularly in light of the book that won the Newbery Honor that year (A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck). I disagree. I believe that more books like this should win the Newbery. It's gotten to the point that if a book has a Newbery medal on it, you can almost guarantee someone will die. I think books that are considered "distinguished" should be so because they appeal to teens, rather than just being "good for them." It doesn't matter how many "good for them" novels you shove down their throats if they hate every single one of them. Instead, we need to seek out well-written novels that teens will actually read.

Book Review: Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

2009-02-03T20:01:00.000-08:00

Cleary, Beverly. Dear Mr. Henshaw. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1983.
Dear Mr. Henshaw,
I wish somebody would stop stealing the good stuff out of my lunchbag. I guess I wish a lot of other things, too. I wish someday Dad and Bandit would pull up in front in the rig ... Dad would yell out of the cab, "Come on, Leigh. Hop in and I'll give you a lift to school."

Leigh Botts has been writing to his favorite author, Mr. Henshaw, since he was in the second grade. Now he is in sixth grade and dealing with the divorce of his parents. Through his letters and journal entries (which are still addressed to Mr. Henshaw) we learn of his fears, concerns, and fun adventures.

What a powerful, moving story. And brilliantly told. I want to write to an author. This story just inspires me to start writing, it reminds me of all that is good and beautiful in it. And the personal story is phenomenal. There is so much characterization in such simple words. No one can capture the juvenile voice quite like Beverley Cleary can. There is just enough humor to keep kids interested, and just enough drama to keep the adults riveted. Another Newbery winner, this book is living proof that simplicity is something the most moving.

Book Review: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

2009-02-02T19:51:00.000-08:00

L’Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in Time. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1962.

"Okay, hold it, you two," came a voice out of the shadows. Charles Wallace stepped into the moonlight. "I wasn't spying on you," he said quickly, "and I hate to break things up, but this is it, kids, this is it!" His voice quivered with excitement.

"This is what?" Calvin asked.

"We're going."

"Going? Where?" Meg reached out and instinctively grabbed for Calvin's hand.

"I don't know exactly," Charles Wallace said. "But I think it's to find Father."

Meg and Charles Wallace's father disappeared years ago on a top secret government trip. Now, a trio of unusual old women have blown into their neighborhood. The women convince Meg and Charles Wallace, along with their new friend and Meg's love interest, Calvin, to go with them on an adventure to rescue their father. However, the trip will take them further than they could have ever imagined.

How many stories can really start out with "It was a dark and stormy night" and still turn out successful? You have to be a genius to come up with that, and Madelein L'Engle clearly is. A woman that imagined planets outside our solar system and a fifth dimension before scientists could, L'Engle has an imagination that still grips us. While some parts of the story go a little over the top, the characters are simply amazing. It is so easy to relate to Meg, as are her relationships with Charles Wallace and Calvin. I simply love reading what they’re going to do next. She also does a good job of dumbing down the science for those of us that don’t understand things like tessaracts. Or even dimensions, for that matter.

Book Review: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

2009-01-30T19:42:00.000-08:00

Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989.

"You girls walk a different way to school. Promise me, Annemarie. And Ellen will promise, too."
"We will, Mrs. Rosen. But what does it matter? There are German soldiers on every corner."
"They will remember your faces," Mrs. Rosen said, turning in the doorway to the hall. "It is important to be one of the crowd, always. Be one of many. Be sure that they never have reason to remember your face." She diappeared into the hall and closed the door behind her.
"He'll remember my face, Mama," Kirsti announced happily, "because he said I look like his little girl. He said I was pretty."
"If he has such a pretty little girl, why doesn't he go back to her like a good father?" Mrs. Johansen murmured, stroking Kirsti's cheek.

Annemarie Johansen is a 10-year-old girl living in Denmark during the Nazi occupation. But when the Nazis begin the relocation of the Jews, Annemarie must find a way to help her friend Ellen, no matter what the risk.

Absolutely brilliant. Quite possibly the greatest Newbery winner thus far. Engaging characters, fascinating situation. It’s really nice to read a WW2 story with a happy ending. And it was educational, there were many things in it that I never knew before. It made me cry, which is almost impossible to do. It's the kind of story that will stay with you forever.