The Plain Janes

Castellucci, Cecil. The Plain Janes. Ill. by Jim Rugg. New York: DC Comics, 2007.

After being injured in a bomb attack in her native Metro City, Jane and her parents move to suburbia where Jane’s parents feel safer about living. Jane becomes bored and avoids being friends with the “popular” crowd and instead actively seeks out the friendship of three social outcasts, also named Jane. At first, Jane is met with a frosty reception by the other Janes, but eventually wins them over with her idea to develop P.L.A.I.N. or People Loving Art In Neighborhoods. Together, the four girls commit “art attacks” in order to get people to stop and take notice. After a few of the attacks, the student body begins to rally around the idea, while the local authorities are anxious to stop the perpetrators. Jane also deals with her overbearing mother, continues to write to a John Doe (also hurt in the bombing) and manages a new love interest, all while trying to make a statement in the culturally conservative new town.

In Janes, author Castellucci makes an effort to let the reader know that an dramatic event has had a effect on its main character, forever changing her perspective. In doing so, she allows the reader to understand the foundation in which Main Jane stands on, giving the character the ability to keep the momentum from the initial change go on and grow throughout the graphic novel. By making this decision, Main Jane is fully realized character, with the reader understanding her motivation and history. This attention to character development is imperative for this age group, but the in-depth rendering only seems to be extended to the main character, Main Jane. Other characters within the book, specifically the other Janes, read as caricatures or stereotypes. While their characters are given specific qualities and well-defined traits, the definitions serve to pigeon-hole the characters. Jesse Karp comments on this in Booklist: “The book has its share of stereotypes – the science geek…the irrepressible gay teen.” Even so, having such detailed depictions of supporting characters only serve to highlight the attention that went into developing the main character.

Illustrations within the novel lend well to the stark, dark and foreboding nature of the work. The terrorist attack in which Jane was injured lingers over the whole novel; the black and white illustrations are a reminder of the bleak beginning of Jane’s transformation. By making the illustrations an accompanying element of the text, instead of the focus, allows the reader to engage with the text first, then view the pictures fully. The illustrations, devoid of any color, are afforded the ability to be severe, supporting the gravity of the text. Jane’s mother becomes overprotective and worried after the attack, checking in with Jane constantly. Jane says, “Mom doesn’t see the beauty in anything any longer. She only sees the danger. I want her to stop worrying and love the world again, because if she can, then I can.” Words that carry such weight should be supplemented by illustrations that also carry substance and significance, which this novel does effortlessly.

Book jacket found on: http://www.comicbookbin.com/theplainjanes001.html

Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy

Sones, Sonya. Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy. New York: HarperCollins, 1999.

It was Christmas Eve when her big sister went crazy and now Cookie (as she is referred to) is dealing with the fallout of her older siblings’ sickness. Cookie’s father and mother are fighting with more frequency and her sister’s empty bed is a constant reminder that her sister is no longer herself. She is hesitant to tell her friends about what has happened, because she is afraid of how they will react. When she does let them know they act concerned; then it is revealed that they are making fun of her and her sister, passing notes about what Cookie had told them in confidence. Cookie has a great dislike of visiting her sister in the asylum where she is staying and is confused by her sister inability to get better. Eventually, Cookie figures out there is a new normal in her life. She makes a new friend, finds a boyfriend and her home life with her parents begins to stabilize. While things will never be like they were, things can get better from what they were at the beginning.

In her first verse novel, Sones creates a world in which poetry comes to the forefront easily and logically. Using poetry in a linear format, she relates the story of a girl dealing with the mental breakdown of her sister (which is based on the author’s own experiences). The poems differ in length, format, rhythm, tone and sound. All of these elements help to increase the forward movement of the reader as they follow along with the story, giving them little pause to become bored or uninterested. What is most striking is the emotion conveyed throughout the work; the reader feels the complex emotions that Cookie deals with in the poems. From uncertainty about how her friend will treat her once they know the truth about her sister (“If I told them that my sister’s nuts/they might act sympathetic/but behind my back/would everyone laugh?”) to her fears about ending up like her sister (“If I stay/any longer/than an hour/I’ll see that my eyes/have turned into her eyes”), Cookie’s voice and emotions are the focus of the work. The reader gets the voice of the character through the poems, not just words and phrases. It does seem, however, that taken out of the context of the collection, the poems may be difficult to understand.

In a verse novel, the idea of organization is of utmost importance, as each poem leads to another conclusion or enlightment. The way that the poems are put together in the work is done is such a way that the reader can immediately engage and follow the story. Kirkus Reviews notes the power of the collected poems, stating, “[i]ndividually, the poems appear simple and unremarkable…[c]ollected, they take on life and movement, the individual frames of a movie that in the unspooling become animated, telling a compelling tale.” The topic of the novel is made clear through the tone and style of the poems and the language used supports the work. It truly feels as if a teen is relating their issues to the reader, not as if it is forced by the author for a work.

Book jacket found on: http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/cgi-bin/vlib.sh?enqtype=RLIST&rlist=45&doc=doctype.teen

Rapunzel's Revenge

Hale, Shannon & Dean. Rapunzel’s Revenge. Ill by Nathan Hale. New York: Bloomsbury, 2008.

In this graphic novel, the story of Rapunzel is retold and reinvented, with the classic elements of the story remaining intact. Rapunzel is a young girl living with her very strict mother behind a wall that separated her from the rest of the world. As she grows up, her curiosity of what lies behind the wall becomes greater. One day she decides that she will find out what is on the other side of the wall and when she does she is quite shocked. Her surroundings are green and lush, but the rest of the land governed by her mother is bleak and desolate. She finds slaves getting water and realizes she knows one of them. This female slave is, in fact, Rapunzel’s real mother. Rapunzel was taken from her because her husband had stolen some lettuce from the garden owned by the evil woman who Rapunzel knew as her mother. Upon learning this Rapunzel confronts her “mother”, who then traps her in a tree far beyond the reach of wooded floor. Years ago by and Rapunzel grows, as does her hair. Once it is long enough, she uses her long locks to free herself from her tree prison. After escaping, she runs into Jack (who we later in find out is Jack of Jack and the Beanstalk), who becomes her traveling companion. The duo traverses the land in hopes of stopping the evil mother and freeing the real one from captivity. Along the way, they meet the various inhabitants of their homeland, each with a different perspective. Finally, Rapunzel is victorious over the evil mother (but not before her hair is chopped off), is reunited with her long-lost mother and finds a love companion in Jack.

What makes this story more interesting than a regular written version is the fact that striking pictures are included. In fact, some of the panels in the novel are truly without words, meaning that the picture speaks for itself. Reading a story in this way, the graphic novel version, will also be more intriguing to some children that may be uninterested in reading a chapter book. It is an easy way to introduce a longer story to some readers that could be overwhelmed or intimidated by chapter books. Kirkus Reviews agrees with this assessment saying that the “art…provides a snazzy counterpoint to the text.” Tina Coleman in Booklist also comments about Nathan Hale’s art saying that it “matches the story well, yielding expressive characters and lending a wonderful sense of place to the fantasy landscape.” The use of pictures in telling the story also makes the reader feel like they are reading a more adult work, rather than just a picture book. This feeling can give the reader a sense of accomplishment.

Transforming a traditional story can be difficult, but the authors do a lovely job of incorporating the old elements of the story with new fantastical ones. They do not forget the essence of the story, but they make sure to give Rapunzel her own voice and identity. School Library Journal’s Cara von Wrangel Kinsey comments that “the dialogue is witty, the story is an enticing departure from the original.” By making this effort, the reader is shown that Rapunzel is not a victim or passive, but rather an active participant in her destiny. Dialogue between the characters is humorous which lends to ease of readability. The authors and illustrators truly work together in order make the new Rapunzel and her journey come to life.


Book jacket found on: http://thebooksmugglers.com/2009/08/joint-review-rapunzels-revenge-by-shannon-hale.html

Hitler Youth: Growing Up In Hitler's Shadow

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing Up In Hitler’s Shadow. New York, NY: Scholastic, 2005.

Adolf Hitler harnessed the power he saw in children and young adults for his advantage during his reign in Germany. In Hitler Youth, the stories of young people that fell under the spell of the well-spoken and dynamic, yet ruthless leader are told and examined. At first a voluntary organization, the Hitler Youth program grew into a political and war machine. As Hitler grew in power, the Hitler Youth did as well, teaching children the tenants of the Nazi beliefs, heralding intense nationalism, instilling a sense of narcissism about their race and building foundation of military knowledge. All this education began at the tender age of 7, so early that did not allow children to fully understand what they were participating in or to refuse. Children were brought through the program as they grew and once the war was under way, some of them even served in combat. Some children rejected their parents’ ideals for a peaceful Germany and followed their new leader with fervor. There were even some children who turned in their parents and loved ones for speaking ill of the Nazi regime, leading to their arrest (and possible death). Not every young person followed blindly, however; in the case of the Scholl siblings, some young adults fought against the things they believed to be wrong. The book follows the story of the growth and demise of Nazi Germany in chronological order.

Much is written about World War II Germany and the Holocaust, but the fact that this book looks at the war from the point of view of children is a marked difference. A student that is 12 who reads this book can identify with the pictures and stories of the people that are including in the work, as 12 year old boys and girls were active participants in Hitler-era Germany. It allows a child that reading the work to recognize their own self within the subjects in the book. Hazel Rochman speaks of this in Booklist stating, “What was it like to be a teenager in Germany under Hitler? Bartoletti draws on oral histories, diaries, letters, and her own extensive interviews with Holocaust survivors, Hitler Youth, resisters, and bystanders to tell the history from the viewpoints of people who were there.” Often, children and young adults feel as if their voice is not being heard, but the stories of how children of all ages spoke up against injustice can reinforce the idea that young people can make a remarkable difference. School Library Journal’s Andrew Medler relates that “[t]he book is structured around 12 young individuals and their experiences, which clearly demonstrate how they were victims of leaders who took advantage of their innocence and enthusiasm for evil means… Bartoletti lets many of the subjects' words, emotions, and deeds speak for themselves, bringing them together clearly to tell this story unlike anyone else has.” Being written from the perspective of a child in this time will surely draw readers that would otherwise be disinterested in the topic.

Vocabulary within the book lends itself nicely to a wide variety of age groups. Pictures, although black and white, are stark reminders of the time period. Each photo is clearly and succulently captioned, and every photo is in support of the information included in that particular section of the work. Most importantly, Bartoletti makes certain that the reader knows where her information was gathered. A lengthy bibliography, which includes notations for source that may be of interest to young readers, is broken up into categories. Quotes used in the book are also cited. A timeline specific to the growth and function of the Hitler Youth and index is also included. All of these items will relate that the author did her best to ensure the information she was presenting was accurate.

Book jacket found on: http://www.isbnlib.com/list/shadow?page=24

Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. New York: Knopf, 2005.

It is the late 1930’s Nazi Germany and Liesel Meminger and her brother are being taken to live with a family in the town of Molching, Germany by their mother when he unexpectedly dies on the way. When she arrives to her foster parents’ home, she only has one book, The Gravedigger’s Handbook, which she finds as they are burying her brother. Soon after she arrives, Liesel begins to have nightmares and her kind foster father wakes up to take care of her, teaching her to read during the nighttime interruptions. Liesel begins to get into a routine, going to school, helping her mother in her laundry business and befriending a neighborhood boy named Rudy. Liesel and Rudy grow up together as the war increases in violence, getting in trouble along the way. The war continues to rage on, with the family having to take on the added worry of bombing attacks. Liesel’s foster mother’s business decreases, while her foster father has trouble getting work because he is not a member of the Nazi Party. To further complicate matters, her foster family helps to hide a Jewish man, with whom Liesel becomes close. Liesel, who has become an excellent reader along the way, devours and longs for book so much so she begins to steal them from the large library of the mayor’s wife. The story culminates in the sudden bombing of Liesel’s street, devastating and demolishing the life to which Liesel has grown to love.

A novel replete with lavish vocabulary, rich with themes and seeped in history, The Book Thief gives the reader an opportunity to learn about World War II by using the voice of a young girl. Focused and calculated, the story is flowing and intense. The text reads with intent given to every sentence, lending to the purposefulness of each word. School Library Journal’s Francisca Goldsmith speaks to this fact: “Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax, causing readers to deliberate over phrase and lines.” The consideration given to the manuscript allows the author to truly create a specific and all-encompassing style and setting that contributes to the novel in innumerable ways.

In using a different voice (a child instead of an adult, a German instead of a Jew) the story is able to tell a tale, so many times told before, from an unusual perspective. The author is then able to show the struggle of a young person trying to find herself amid the chaos by which she is surrounded. Narrated by Death himself, Liesel is faced with the struggles of girl coming into adulthood, but also one who is coming aware of what is happening in the world. She and the people in her life have not completely bought into the Nazi regime, but they do what they have to in order to get by and not bring attention upon their family. This open-ended aspect allows Liesel to freely make up her own mind about how she feels about the war, instead of her family deciding that for her. This allowance gives the author an opportunity to invest time in creating personal triumphs and tensions for Liesel without the added pressure of accepting a life her foster parents have created for her.

Using the time period he did, Zusak is able to use the war and its conflicts to create a setting that becomes a second character. The war is a distant concern, until it becomes real by the promise of possible bombings and having to run to underground shelters with nearly her entire street. In doing this, the war becomes a character with the same sort of growth and development as a main character. Battles and clashes seem like a faint distraction in the beginning, but as time goes on and the war escalates the formerly far-away unease becomes localized and the sense of impending death grows. By giving the war an ever-increasing prominence, a sense of reality is given to the work. At the beginning of the Hitler administration, his rule trickled down little by little, until Germany was completed immersed in his thoughts and ways. In writing about the slow progression of the war’s effects on the people of Germany, the story reads as genuine, authentic and truthful.

Book Jacket found on: http://www.fanpop.com/spots/the-book-thief/images/3262339/title/book-thief-photo

A Northern Light

Donnelly, Jennifer. A Northern Light. Boston, MA: Harcourt, 2003.

Growing up in the woods of mid-1900’s northern New York, Mathilda "Mattie" Gokey is in charge of taking care of the motherly duties after her mother’s death. An aspiring and gifted writer, Mattie longs to attend school every day and go to college, but her father is more concerned with her assistance in running the family farm. Mattie is charged with taking care of her younger siblings and tending to farm duties, however her love of words is never far away. Each day she picks a different word out of the dictionary her mother bought and commits it to memory, cheering on her sisters to do the same. Ms. Wilcox, the teacher at the local school, encourages Mattie to further her schooling so Mattie can achieve her dream of becoming a writer. Mattie is not alone in her desire to go to college; her friend, Weaver Smith, has gotten accepted to Columbia. She finds out that she is accepted into Barnard and struggles with her desire to go off to school and her promise to her dying mother to take care of her family. Her personal distress is complicated by the fact her gruff father does not support her leaving. Nearly resigning to staying in her town, marrying handsome Royal Loomis and being a housewife, Mattie gets the opportunity to work at a local hotel, where she begins to save money. There she meets Grace Brown, a woman who is later found drowned in the lake. Grace has entrusted Mattie with destroying personal letters, which Mattie is unable to do before Grace’s body is found. After uncovering some truths about herself, her family, her town, Grace and her beau, Mattie comes to the realization that she can no longer stay put and must move on and go to college.

A Northern Light creates a story around the true life murder of Grace Brown; a story that attracted a great deal of attention in the time it took place. The story is not in chronological order, going back and forth from present to the recent past, showing how Mattie ended up working at the hotel. Donnelly could have merely made a Grace a secondary character, but by allowing Mattie to play a role in the context of the situation. Giving Mattie the ability to read and glean knowledge from Grace’s actual letters, Mattie is able to draw conclusions about her own life. This historical element allows Mattie to make the internal change she needs to in order to make the decision to go off to school, which is what she desires to do the entire novel. Lisa Prolman in School Library Journal also indicates this in saying that “Grace’s story weaves its way through Mattie’s, staying in the background but providing impetus.” Mattie learns from Grace’s story and that fact is related to the reader, but not in a harsh or pointed way.

Adding to the realism of the unfolding events and Mattie’s connection to them is the fact that the author words and descriptions are steeped in the time period. From depictions about daily house and farm work, to the imagery about the clothes and food, Donnelly creates a world in which Mattie grapples with the same issues that modern teens face. Though the exterior and time is different, Mattie’s own longing to be her own person and the strain of defining herself rings true even today. Booklist’s Gillian Engberg agrees saying that “many teens will connect with Mattie’s deep yearning for independence.” This balance of creating an authentic environment for Mattie to live in and her universal struggle to be herself is delicate and well-thought out.

Through the realization that life is fleeting and that things are not always as they seem, Mattie is allowed to make the critical change needed of any main character. The interweaving of the two stories also allows for the plot to show the main struggle, between what Mattie wants and what other people want from her. Grounding the story in a factual event, the author was able to give Mattie insight by way of a cautionary tale. In the end, as Mattie waits on the train that will take her to her new life, she is filled with a mix of anxiety and excitement. Standing on the train platform Mattie thinks, “I am standing, frightened but resolved…Is there a word for that? Feeling scared of what’s to come but eager for it too? If there is I mean to find it.” In particular, this sentence has a resonance of truth for a reader regardless of time period.


Book Jacket found on: http://thebooksmugglers.com/2009/09/book-review-a-northern-light-by-jennifer-donnelly.html

Twilight

Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight. New York City: Little, Brown, 2005.

Bella Swan is new in town. After her mother’s minor league baseball player is traded, Bella has to move in with her sheriff father, who she does not know very well, all the way in Forks, Washington. Forks is quite a change from her old town, Phoenix, but Bella tries her hardest to get used to her new school and life. Some teenagers from family called the Cullens, catch Bella’s interest, especially Edward Cullen. The only problem is that Edward acts like Bella is the most repulsive thing he has even come across. After a little investigating and some inquisitions, Bella and Edward become friendly and their mutual attraction becomes prominent. Being that close to Edward and his family, Bella begins to take notice of some distinct eccentricities and after some research comes to the conclusion that Edward and his family are vampires. Questioning Edward, he confirms Bella’s theory, noting that his family is “vegetarian”, because they do not consume human blood. After she meets his family and begins to get comfortable, they are confronted by a group of nomadic vampires, who have been killing people in the area in and around Forks. James, the lead vampire wants to kill Bella, but Edward and the Cullen’s do their best to protect her. After a flight from Forks to Phoenix to keep Bella safe, she is captured by James and nearly murdered, but Edward and a few other Cullens come in at the right moment and save her from certain death.

Bella is the type of heroine with which modern fantasy readers can identify. She is flawed, awkward and suffers from an unrequited crush on what could be considered an unattainable, uninterested male figure. However, Bella eventually discovers that as interesting as she finds Edward, she has special points intriguing to him in the same way. Edward has the ability to read everyone’s thoughts, but is completely unable to read Bella’s. With this addition, Meyer gives Bella a characteristic that makes her special, like any good fantasy main character. Meyer also cuts in to some of the heavier parts of the story to giving Bella some humor, lightening up her desperately in love, almost too serious protagonist. In regard to finding an appropriate outfit to meet Edward’s family, Bella notes, “I doubted there were any etiquette books detailing how to dress when your vampire sweetheart takes you home to meet his vampire family.”

Meyer’s writing is simplistic and modern, with an easy to follow story arc. This writing style affords the reader the ability to get involved with the story, without having to decipher too many plot turns and overreaching vocabulary. The School Library Journal not only said that “the pacing is appropriate for teens who want to learn all the details in this suspenseful tale”, but also that the writing was “realistic, subtle, succinct and easy to follow.” Meyer also gives great focus to the surroundings in the story, detailing the landscape as if it were another character in the story. Meyer’s imagery illustrating the often gloomy, rainy Washington days, fits in with the darkness of the tale, adding to the mystique of the setting.

Reluctant readers or those indifferent to the genre may have be grabbed by the flow of the wording and substantial romantic interludes; the tying together of love, the unreal and danger makes for a story that appeals to a wide variety of readers. The sheer popularity of the novel goes to further accentuate the fact that the work can be enjoyed by reader with different interests. Though the work is easy to read, it can be said that first-time writer Meyer’s inexperience shows in pieces of the work. Particular adverbs and descriptions are used ad nauseam (Bella’s reference to Edward being “beautiful” and “striking” occurs quite often, nearly every time she sees him), to the detriment of the story. By varying phrases and tightening story elements, Meyer’s fantastical world of good and bad vampires, future werewolves and regular humans would shine a bit brighter.

Book jacket cover found on: http://www.nassaulibrary.org/SyoTeensBlog/2009/05/-3-apples-book.html

Elsewhere

Zevin, Gabrielle. Elsewhere. New York City: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.

Somehow Elizabeth Hall (also known as Liz or Lizzie), has woken up on a cruise ship with a stranger for a roommate. The ship is headed for Elsewhere, but all Liz wants to do is go home. It takes her a little while (and some revelations by her shipmates) to understand that she is dead, not just dreaming, and cannot go back home. Once she arrives on Elsewhere, she is met by her grandmother who passed away before Liz was even born and is sent to orientation to get to know her new home. Everyone on Elsewhere ages backward from the age they died, then when they are 7 days old they get sent back to Earth. Liz cannot believe her luck; just shy of 16, she will never get to drive, fall in love, go to prom, go to college or do anything else. Initially, Liz refuses to acclimate to her new situation, preferring to watch what her family on Earth is doing and rejecting the tenets of Elsewhere. After an attempt to contact her brother on Earth, which is forbidden in Elsewhere, Liz realizes that she needs to make an effort to create a life in her new home. She finds a job working with animals, giving them an orientation to their new lives, like the one she had, connects deeply with her grandmother and even finds love. Liz learns that a life is a life, no matter where you live.

By beginning the story in the world of the living, Zevin communicates with the reader one of the basic and most important elements of fantasy works: the reader is going to follow the main character on a journey beyond this world. How Zevin accomplishes this what is worth note, as she talks about the death of Liz through the eyes of her Earthly canine companion. Lucy, the dog, sets the tale that the reader is about to enter, in a fun and original way. Just that brief interlude provides the necessary and critical transition between the actual world and the world of Elsewhere. The plot points within the book so vital to the success of the work are inventive and afford the author to create essential growth in Liz, making her likeable and further emphasizing the theme. Liz, hesitant to embrace or commit to her new life, begins to understand and realize that there is a cycle to life and she is cycling through, just like everyone else. Whereas before she laments that she’ll “never go to college or get married…or live on my own or fall in love or get my driver’s license”, Liz comes to recognize that “there will be other lives.” This maturing of her character, deepening of her self-awareness through coming to grips with her death, allows her character to be understood, liked and well-received by the reader.

Zevin takes the topic of the afterworld and creates a setting that has its foundation within the actual world. In doing this, Zevin gives the reader a frame of reference in regard to what Liz’s world may actually look like. To readers that are uncertain or disinterested in this genre, having mystical elements grounded in reality may be more appealing. In Booklist, Jennifer Mattson also notes that “the setting is an elaborately conceived afterlife called Elsewhere, a distinctly secular island realm of surprising physical solidity (no cottony clouds or pearly gates here).” By scattering some magical elements throughout the story, like the ability to use binoculars to view Earth or speaking to animals, Zevin skillfully reminds where the story is taking place, but does so not to overwhelm the reader with that fact.

Book jacket found on: http://www.iowa-city.k12.ia.us/schools/city/LMC/CityReads/BookGroup/BookGr.htm

Life As We Knew It

Pfeffer, Susan Beth. Life As We Knew It. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2006.

Living on the outskirts of a small town is not 16 year-old Miranda Evans’ idea of excitement, but she does the best she can to keep herself entertained. Her typically quiet town is abuzz with the news of the upcoming meteor that is supposed to strike the moon; her teachers even give her extra assignments all in honor of the moon. Everyone gathers outside to watch the asteroid hit and when it does, Miranda instantly understands that something has gone wrong. Scientists got the measurements wrong and the moon is knocked out of orbit, causing the weather patterns to change. Natural disasters, like tsunamis that completely decimate every coast, begin to pop up around the world. Soon, electricity begins to become sporadic and the price of gas skyrockets. The Evans’ family begins to eat less and less, trying to conserve the now-dwindling stockpile of food they gathered. Winter comes early and hard, causing Miranda and her family to live in a single room of her house. As supplies continue to deplete, friends and strangers begin to die and her family faces what could be a fatal illness, Miranda struggles to hold herself and her loved ones afloat. Near desperation, entirely exhausted and emaciated, Miranda continues to care for her family and chronicle their journey, which ends with just a little hope.

Adhering to the general rules for Science Fiction novels, Life As We Knew It does a fantastic job of creating a plot that is both plausible and scientific. Natural disasters are something that exists in the current world and even if scientists can predict or throw conjecture at one of these events, it is still possible for something tragic to happen. John Peter agrees with this in School Library Journal, saying that Pfeffer “crafts a plausible account of the local effects of a near-future worldwide catastrophe.” Not only does the plot hold fast to Science Fiction rules, it also does not forget the general YA plot rule; what Miranda and the other characters in the story face is one of self versus nature. Nature, in this case, also assumes a clear identity within the text. In fact, nature is defined so distinctly, it becomes a character in the story. It is almost as if the hero of the novel battles against the weather and the things that nature throws again her. This characterization of nature and its elements rounds out main conflict in the story, making the Evans’ struggle even more dire, since they have absolutely no control over their situation. This characterization and subtle personification of nature lends well to build the theme of the novel; science and nature can have significant, irrevocable and devastating effects on one’s life.

The day to day life of Miranda and her family are retold through her diary entries. As the author does so, the reader begins to understand that Miranda is just a regular teenager that was faced with a large obstacle. She meets the grim prospects laid before her with nerve and candor. Miranda is quick to talk about how she is falling into despair or how small things help her to regain faith. Pfeffer does a solid job of equally exposing the two sides of what Miranda is feeling; Miranda finds hope and joy in small things, but is sometimes just tired of having to work so hard for so little. Another theme that the book consistently returns to is one of finding possibility in the most dismal of situations. On New Year’s Miranda makes a resolution to “take a moment every day for the rest of my life to appreciate what I have.” Even though Miranda has next to nothing, she realizes that she has more than most and even though things look bleak she can find hope. By giving Miranda a duality of emotions, Pfeffer creates a full-bodied protagonist in which readers can invest.

Book jacket found on: http://library.fayschool.org/Pages/books_scifi.htm

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

Crutcher, Chris. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. New York City: Greenwillow Books, 1993.

Chubby Eric Calhoune has always felt like he was on the outside. He finds a kindred spirit in Sarah Byrnes (who prefers her whole name), who was scarred in a mysterious accident when she was very young. Feeling like outcasts, the two begin to write an underground newspaper Crispy Pork Rinds as a way to get their feelings out. Friends since middle school, Eric (often called Mobe) and Sarah find themselves at a crossroads during their senior year. After being recruited to the swim team, the formerly rotund Eric has started to slim down, begins building a relationship with a girl and finds tension growing between he and Sarah. Suddenly, during a class one day Sarah quits talking, going catatonic. Her doctors encourage Eric to talk to her, maybe to jog her out of her comatose state, which Eric does with loyalty. Eventually, Eric finds out that Sarah is faking her silence because she is terrified of her father, who was the one that scarred her. After an altercation with her psychotic father in which Eric is injured, Mr. Byrnes is captured and Sarah is finally safe with a new family.

Crutcher writes this work around a theme that is typical of this genre; Sarah Byrnes is having a crisis and her friend is trying to solve it. Most striking about the work is that though it sounds formulaic, the way Crutcher presents the characters and plots the story creates a world inside of a world. Using vivid imagery, the author brings us inside the school, swim practice and Sarah’s hospital room without missing a beat. Descriptive sentences like, “my frozen hair hugging my head like a bicycle helmet and my breath shooting from my mouth like exhaust from a truck,” bring the reader into the story and its atmosphere. The quick language and comical situations round out the oft-heavy story line, breaking up some of the truly grave and profound obstacles the characters face. Contributing to the fullness of the story is the addition of positive adults, like Eric’s swim coach and his mother’s boyfriend. These adults intervene when necessary, are encouraging, involved and are a stark contrast to the villainous Mr. Byrnes. Such a juxtaposition of characters and actions make the lesson within the novel less preachy and more substantial.

Eric and Sarah are categorized within their high school, but are revealed to be more than the characterization given to them by their peers. The same consideration of being more than what is seen is not given to every character in the story, however. In a controversial class which the main and secondary characters share, many of the Christians in the class are portrayed as ultra-conservative, duplicitous and humorless. Kirkus Reviews also point out this bias by saying Crutcher “doesn’t always play fair in developing his themes – all the conservative Christians are dupes or hypocrites.” Should Crutcher have developed some opposites to these one-sided Christians, like he has with the adults in the story, it would seem less like he was attempting to make a point in his writing. In a work where not everything is as it seems, having typical, flat antagonists does not match with the rest of the story.

Book cover found on: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/chris-crutcher/staying-fat-for-sarah-brynes.htm

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You

Carter, Ally. I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You. New York City: Hyperion, 2006.

Cammie Morgan is not a regular sophomore. In fact, she is far from it. Enrolled at what appears to be an elite all-girls boarding school, Cammie is studying to be a spy at the Gallagher Academy, an super secret school for girls with genius IQ’s. Mrs. Morgan (a former spy) works at the school as the headmaster, so Cammie is able to learn the ins-and-out of the school – which include a LOT of secret passageways. Cammie, along with the rest of her sophomore class, are finally entering the class they have been waiting for, Covert Operations, the class that teaches you how to really work out in the field as a spy. A new professor, handsome Joe Solomon, has taken over the class and takes the girls out for their first mission. Cammie and her friends Bex and Liz are teamed up to trail one of the most paranoid teachers at the school. Losing sight of her companions, Cammie happens to run into Josh, a townie who captures Cammie’s eye. When the excursion is over, Cammie, Liz and Bex decide to take their experience beyond the classroom and investigate Josh secretly. One problem though: Cammie ends up falling for their target. After a few weeks of leading a double life, Cammie finds herself wanting to tell the truth to Josh and begins feels the weight of such a secret on her back.

I’d Tell You does a fantastic job of giving life to the school, creating the setting of the spy school and the back story of the Gallagher girls in great detail. The school is so heartily described it nearly becomes another character; secret passages and chambers, the atmosphere inside the corridors and dorm rooms gives the reader an entrance into the world in which the girls live. Cammie describes her own room as having “cool dormers and oddly shaped windows where a girl can sit with her back against the wall and listen to the thundering feet and squeals of hello.” Still other developments in the story, like the background of the academy and its esteemed alumni, round out the setting with flair. Miranda Doyle agrees with this statement in School Library Journal saying that, “the invented history of the Gallagher Girls is entertaining.” Such descriptions about the surroundings of the girls allow the reader entry into the world in which they live. By using description this way, the novel (whose premise is nearly impossible) becomes a bit more realistic and tangible to the reader.

Adding to the tangibility of the story and resounding with sincerity is the main plot line that follows Cammie falling for her target, Josh. Young readers will find that they can, to a certain extent identify with the struggles that Cammie faces when thinking about and having a relationship with Josh. While readers may not be in school to become a secret agent, they may relate with the fact that Cammie can not truly be who she is around her beau, a theme that runs throughout the story. Readers may also find the reports done by the “operatives” amusing in their self-depreciation and a nice break from the regular text. What readers may not enjoy is the lack of action: in a book about spies action is slow and suspense is non-existent. Additionally, one may find that characters are not equally developed. Macey, a new student to whom Cammie takes an instant dislike, becomes her confidant in a twist unsupported by the text. Some may find the additional characters without depth and thin.

Book cover found on: http://readingkidsbooks.blogspot.com/2007/09/id-tell-you-i-love-you-but-then-id-have.html

Dairy Queen

Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. Dairy Queen. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.

Working on a dairy farm alongside her nearly mute brother is not D.J. Schwenk’s idea of a great summer, but after her father hurt is hip, she does not have much choice in the matter. She dutifully takes care of the disintegrating farm, at the cost of failing her English class during her sophomore year, rendering her ineligible to play any sports. This is hard for D.J. to take, considering she comes from a family of jocks; her two older brothers were even town football heroes, although they never come home after a fight with their father. When the coach for the opposing team (who also happens to be a close family friend) sends over their quarterback, egotistical Brian, to work, D.J. is less than happy. After a brief confrontation and reconciliation, the two decide that D.J. should help train him for the upcoming season. Over the summer, the duo actually becomes friends and he enlightens D.J. to the fact that she is a bit of a doormat. After realizing that he may be right, she decides that going out for football is what she really wants to do. D.J. gains perspective, the ability to speak up for herself and the tenacity to go after what she wants.

The Schwenk family is not good about communicating with one another, causing several rifts between family members and making it hard for D.J. to say what she wants. Young readers may identify with this aspect of the flawed heroine, in that sometime it is hard for them to say what they are really thinking. Tense family interactions further show how the family’s communication skills (or lack thereof) have affected D.J. to her core. A quip from Brian to D.J. telling her that, “when you don’t talk, there’s a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said,” is indicative of D.J.’s reluctance to speak her mind. With a suggestion by Brian that she follows along blindly, much like the cows she tends to, D.J. begins to open her mind up to the possibility that she has the ability to do what she wants, not do what everyone else wants her to do. The reader is given a first-hand view into the journey that she takes in figuring out who she is and who she wants to become.

Most notable about the work is the fact that D.J.’s point of view and characterization is solid from beginning to end. D.J. never breaks character, saying things like "that was real nice" and never getting far from the character she actually is and was meant to be. Sometimes, when you have a novel about a character going through a change, the writer gets carried away with the metamorphosis and the character completely changes. D.J. does change and grow mentally and emotionally, but how she speaks and relates her thoughts to the reader remains the same, giving her characters' transformation more realism. In fact, her tomboy ways may appeal to a group of readers that find a lack of strong female characters like D.J. In School Library Journal, Amy Pickett is in accord with this idea saying the work may, “appeal to girls, like D.J., aren’t girly-girls but just girls, learning to be comfortable in their own skin.”

Book cover found on: http://blogs.skokielibrary.info/explorer/tag/awards/

The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things

Mackler, Carolyn. The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things. Cambridge: Candlewick Press, 2003.

Chubby, blond and unremarkable, 15-year-old Manhattanite Virginia feels completely separate from her family of dark-haired, beautiful successes. Making matter worse is the fact that her best friend has just moved clear across the country to Walla Walla, Washington, so she is alone to face her sophomore year at her very exclusive private school. Virginia has a burgeoning romance with fellow classmate Froggy, but the “Fat Girl Code of Conduct” she has written for herself prevents her from speaking with him in public. She adores and idolizes her older brother, Bryon, who is making a name for himself on his college campus. Everything is relatively normal (her mother, a prominent child psychologist, constantly brings up her weight, Virginia decides to go on a diet and her father attempts to remain blissfully ignorant), until Bryon is accused of date rape and has to move home. Virginia struggles to come to terms with the implications of what Bryon has done and the confusion that it has caused. Once bullied and overlooked by her parents, Virginia begins to make her own decisions and break out of the mold that she has developed over time, slowly becoming her own person.

Feeling as if you don’t belong, neither in school or at home, is a prominent theme in The Earth. Covered in a number of ways, you get the feeling that Virginia feels nearly invisible to her family and the other kids at school. Her brother, a former golden boy at Virginia’s school, was extremely popular and well-liked, while Virginia prefers to spend her time huddled in the restroom or helping a kind teacher in her classroom. At home she is left to her own devices, is reminded of her shortcomings by her parents and feels jealous when her best friend becomes friendly with other kids in her new town, because she is by herself. All of these elements bring together a characterization of someone who feels left out and alone, something that nearly every teen has felt at one time or another. Ilene Cooper agrees with this in Booklist , observing that readers “will immediately identify with Virginia’s longings as well as her fear and loathing.” The stylized writing, sections of the book appear in emails, instant messages and diary entries, and modern language will no doubt appeal to the young adult audience, as will the self-deprecating humor and straight-forward observations of the protagonist.

What feels a bit unlevel about is work are the number of issues that are covered and remain unaddressed in the text. Virginia engages in some self-harm, she burns her finger with a candle commenting that, “…at least the pain is concentrated in one spot rather than dominating [her] entire body” and also pinches herself so fiercely that she bruises. A kind doctor, whom her mother initially brought her to for diet advice, subtly and vaguely investigates, but no resolution is given. Additionally, Virginia’s issues with food and overeating are left mostly untouched, with the exception of her mother’s desire for her to lose weight. Bree, another seemingly perfect student, also deals with an eating disorder, but it is almost completely glossed over and is added in what appears to be an effort to give the extraneous character depth. Introducing characters and not providing them motivation, complexity or backstory causes some of them to become caricatures rather than full, rounded, active elements of Virginia’s life. Making marginal references to significant issues and neglecting to expound on their detrimental aspects will do no favors to the reader, especially to the reader who is suffering from any one of these problems.


Book jacket found on: http://www.candlewick.com/bookxtras.asp?isbn=0763619582&id=&browse=&view=jacket&jacket=./images/cwp_bookjackets/648/0763619582.jpg&bktitle=The+Earth%2C+My+Butt%2C+and+Other+Big+Round+Things

Before I Die

Downham, Jenny. Before I Die. Oxford: David Fickling Books, 2007.

Tessa Scott’s body is failing her. Diagnosed with leukemia at 12, she has fought unsuccessfully for six years to beat the disease and now the cancer is no longer responding to treatments. Before the cancer can completely ravage her already ruined body, Tessa decides that she is going to make a list of the things that she would like to do before she dies. Items like trying drugs, having sex, committing crimes and saying yes to everyone for a single day top the list that continues to grow throughout the novel. Tessa’s friend Zoey and neighbor Adam (who Tessa meets the afternoon after checking off her first item), help Tessa check off different things. Soon Tessa and Adam become mutually attracted to each other and begin a relationship. Tessa’s father, a single parent, tries to protect Tessa as much as he can, but Tessa refuses to sit still and just die. She continues to go through her list, occasionally stopped along the way by her ever-worsening disease. Eventually, after a valiant fight and lasting longer than even doctors expected, the cancer begins to take over Tessa’s body and renders her languid and lethargic. Captured in quick prose, the last chapter of the novel relates the last memories and thoughts of the teen as she leaves the world, surrounded by her friends and family.

Death is a topic not for the light of heart, but Jenny Downham does the best to create a portrayal of a teen facing the end of her life prematurely in a realistic and readable way. Tessa is given a wide range of emotions, from anger, confusion and lust to happiness, tenacity and discernment. As the reader sees Tessa through her last months, each facet of her life is shown, but the cause of her journey, the reason for her writing the list is never far from the forefront of the story. The effect of her sickness on the people in her life is also treated with a great deal of attention, giving depth and quality to the secondary characters in the novel. Occasionally, however, the characters are presented with emotions for which no motivation is given. Furthermore, Tessa’s mother is reintroduced into the picture, characterized as someone who left her family, but flits in and out of the story without much regard.

Downham has a tremendous gift in creating elegant prose that describes the scene. The Kirkus Review of the work remarks on this “lurid language [that] makes a painful journey bearable, beautiful and transcendent.” This talent is especially evident toward the end of the work; Tessa is nearing the end of her voyage and she observes she “can’t hold onto anything. Like a tree losing its leaves. I forget even the thing I was thinking.” At times though, the imagery can be too heavy handed and may lose a reader. Asides expounding on the feel of the dirt, the smell in the air and the colors of the leaves feels overly focused and often forced. Not so forced, however, is the theme of the book, which is difficult to do with such subject matter. Tessa soon realizes that is not about the things that she has done, but rather the manner in which she completed them and who stands beside her as she accomplishes these things.

Book jacket found on: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/jenny-downham/before-i-die.htm

Speak

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New York City: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1999.

Melinda Sordino is dreading her first day of high school after a summer when an event occurred that forever changed her perspective. This trauma has caused Melinda into turn into herself and rendered her nearly speechless. Her former friends are falling into new groups, leaving her behind and Melinda is infamous around her school for calling the cops during a raucous house party. She struggles not only socially but also at home; with a distracted father and overworked mother, Melinda rarely gets the support she needs. During the first week of school, Melinda cautiously makes a friend in overachiever Heather, a new transfer, whom Melinda does not really like. Unable to cope with joining her classmate in mundane activities, Melinda finds a sanctuary in a forgotten janitorial closet and makes it into a space she can sit and think. As school continues, Melinda’s grades continue to plummet (although she seems to excel in and take interest in art) and it is finally revealed that the source of Melinda’s behavior change is that she was sexually assaulted by Andy, a popular senior at the party she imploded. Disclosing this information to her ex-best friend (who is the first person she reveals this to), who is now seeing Andy, Melinda is met with disbelief and she becomes further defeated. As she is cleaning out her closet toward the end of school, Andy, her attacker, confronts her about the things she is saying, intending to force himself upon her again. Luckily, Melinda is able to shove open the door of the closet, where she finds members of a girls’ sports team have arrived to defend her.

Speak takes the form of diary-like entries following Melinda through the four marking periods in her first year of high school. Anderson does a fantastic job giving Melinda a strong point of view, creating an often witty and sometimes sorrowful outlook on the world she is forced to participate in. Reviewers in both School Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly note that Anderson writing style make the “pain” that Melinda is going through “palpable.” Teen readers will find the writing style easy to follow and the plot realistic through the character development that Melinda and other characters are given throughout the story. The reader is easily transported to the surroundings that Melinda is in everyday, with vivid, yet not overwrought, descriptions of classrooms, bedrooms and the outdoors. These descriptions lend themselves nicely to involve the reader further in the story, yet do not detract from the story itself.

What is most intriguing about the novel is the fact that not everything that Melinda is going through is revealed all at once; her story is peeled back like an onion, layer after layer, in a methodical way. Melinda is giving bits and pieces to the reader, slowly, as if she is attempting to forget the situation herself. Melinda is dealing with a weighty situation, one that she has not even come to terms with yet. She runs into her attacker saying, “IT found me again,” a sentence that is indicative of her state in confronting the issue. This writing strategy gives the work a realism that would be overlooked were all of the circumstances of her situation been given upfront. Taking on such a weighty topic could certainly cause a writer to too heavily focus on a sermon about rape and the perils of high school, but Anderson keeps a light hand in this regard. The end of the story, where Melinda is faced with her attacked yet again, feels a bit trite, but the transformation that she makes throughout the story gives a feeling tangibility.

Book cover found on :http://picsdigger.com/keyword/speak%20novel/

An Abundance of Katherines

Green, John. An Abundance of Katherines. New York City: Dutton Books, 2006.

Colin Singleton, former child prodigy, has just graduated from high school and has just been dumped by his girlfriend, Katherine. In fact, he has been dumped by every Katherine he has dated, but this Katherine was the Katherine. In the pit of despair, Colin is persuaded to go on a road trip to clear his mind by his best (and only) friend Hassan. Driving aimlessly, Colin and Hassan decide to make a pit stop in the backwoods of Tennessee to visit the grave of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Gutshot, a decision that turns into a job opportunity for the two friends. Lindsey and her mother (who owns the Gutshot General Store and the local plant that is the town’s livelihood) invite the two boys to stay with them in their sprawling pink mansion. Daily the three teens are tasked with asking every resident in the town about their history in Gutshot and the evening is left open for Colin to work on his mathematical theory that explains why he has no luck with Katherine’s (and some light reading). Eventually, through hearing life stories across the town, having some adventures (boar hunting!) and spending time with Lindsey, Colin realizes that even though he considers himself a has-been or never-was, everyone counts to someone. Though he might not be a genius and cannot predict the future, Colin can mean something to someone, even if it ends up being a Lindsey and not a Katherine.

The text of the story, written from Colin’s perspective, reads with the geekiness you might expect when going through the brain of a child prodigy. Complete with footnotes and an appendix (which might help explain Colin’s theory to those remedial in math), the novel is stocked full of anecdotal trivia; for instance, Colin explains to a townsperson that the shower curtain flies inward because a vortex is created from the shower head spitting out water. Moments like these personify the fact that Colin is knowledgeable about nearly everything and his character develops in little flashes like these. However, some readers might find all the extra information a little difficult to follow. Amy Pattee warns of this in her critique in School Library Journal. She says, “[t]he narrative is…peppered with anagrams, trivia…and interrupted by footnotes that explain, translate and expound upon the text in the forms of asides. It… has the potential to both win over and alienate readers.” Not only can the additional notes be hard to follow, but some readers may find them overwhelming or be disinterested with them altogether.

The interactions between Hassan and Colin (and Lindsey, in certain sections of the book) are believable and read genuine. These conversations also provide important comic relief to what could be an otherwise heavy scene and assist in rounding out the main characters. Cindy Dobrez agreed with this idea by stating “the…humor ranges from delightfully sophomoric to subtly intellectual, and the boys sarcastic repartee will help readers navigate the slower parts of the story.” (Booklist). Colin, in dealing with his new situation, occasionally reminiscences about some of the Katherines, a devise that further cultivates the readers understand of Colin’s history and motivations. The reader comes to understand that Colin is not just smart, but that he works hard to be that way. Colin and other major characters in the story are given depth, are multi-faceted and have attributes with which teen readers can identify. Lindsey goes as far as to tell Colin that she is never authentic with anyone; she acts and behaves differently with each group of people she is around, never getting the chance to be Lindsey. Teens can identify with the struggle of figuring out who they are and what they want rather easily.

Book cover can be found at: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/john-green/abundance-of-katherines.htm

What I Saw and How I Lied

Blundell, Judy. What I Saw and How I Lied. New York City: Scholastic Press, 2008.

Fifteen year old Evie Spooner lives with her mother (Bev), stepfather (Joe) and Joe’s mother in post World War II Queens. Joe Spooner has come back from the war and done fairly well for himself, opening up a series of appliance stores, but his formerly happy-go-lucky attitude has begun to sour. After a phone call that shakes Joe up, he gathers the family and they leave on a vacation to Palm Beach. Once they arrive, they find that the majority of the town is gone for the season, save for one hotel. Settling in, the family becomes fast friends with the Grayson’s, a husband and wife who are hoteliers back in New York. Joe makes a plan to buy the hotel with Mr. Grayson and tells the family they may eb staying for a while longer. Soon after, Evie meets Peter, a handsome young man who just happens to know Joe from the war. Joe does not seem keen on Peter spending so much time with the group, but Evie continues to seek him out, falling deeper into infatuation. Evie reads all of Peter’s body language and listens intently to his words, only to convince herself of her intense feelings being reciprocated. Eventually, she learns that Peter’s trip to Palm Beach was purposeful rather than coincidental and Joe did something during the war that he can never take back. Meanwhile, the hotel deal has fallen through, and a hurricane is whipping up nearby. Joe convinces Peter and Bev to go out on a boat before they all leave; though the water is treacherous, Peter assures Evie he is good on a boat. The storm nears and passes, but the three adults did not return before it hit shore. When Evie’s parents return, they soon learn that Peter died on the trip and Joe and Bev are implicated in the murder. Evie must step up, swallow the knowledge that she has since gained (it seems that Bev was truly the object of Peter’s affections, not Evie) and help her family overcome the situation they now face.

The language and attention to detail in regard to the setting of the novel truly casts the story in the time it was set. Clothes, shoes, hairstyles and makeup are given extra attention, as they might be when a teen girl is the narrator of the story. In 1947, Palm Beach was a highly segregated community; Jews and African-Americans were not welcome into hotel or even on the island (no deed could be given to members of either community). Returning from a rather tense dinner, Mr. Grayson is given a message and it is revealed that the Graysons are Jewish. The demeanor of the hotel manager changes dramatically, every point of which Evie notes, down to the fact that the manager now seems disgusted to even have the Graysons in the lobby. It evokes emotions in Evie that remind her of how she watched a friend mistreat a Jewish girl back home in the neighborhood. Attention to detail such as this crafts a story that has a foothold in history. Jennifer Hubert remarks on this aspect saying, “Using pitch-perfect dialogue and short sentences filled with meaning, Blundell…subtly explores issues of post WWII racism, sexism and socioeconomic class.” (Booklist)

The whole plot of the story revolves Evie’s changing perspective; she is directly in the middle of her teen years, figuring out love and having her first pangs of affection. Burgeoning womanhood is coupled with a new view on her parents. Always an obedient child, Evie is beginning to notice that not everything that her parents do is in her (or their own) best interest. She starts to comprehend the way that adults communicate with each other, sometimes in subtle undertones and that not everything is on the surface. Evie grapples with the idea of justice, truthfulness and integrity, much as a teen reader would at the same age. She is discovering that not everything is as it appears, nor is everyone the same after traumatic events. Through Evie, the reader can appreciate wrestling with something that seems to difficult, but ultimately knowing and choosing to do the right thing.

Book cover can be found on http://nicolepoliti.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/what-i-saw-and-how-i-lied-by-judy-blundell/

Seventeenth Summer

Daly, Maureen. Seventeenth Summer. New York City: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1942.

In the summer just after graduation from high school Angie, a quiet girl, sees handsome Jack Duluth at a local hangout. While she does not date, Angie finds herself thinking about Jack quite a bit. Jack’s father owns the local bakery and stops by to make a delivery one afternoon and asks Angie to spend some time with him that evening. Angie finds herself self-conscious and feeling a bit awkward on the date comparing herself to other girls she thinks that Jack may find attractive. Even so, Jack asks her to accompany her to a dance and it is there that Jack confesses how much he likes Angie and they kiss. Over the summer, Angie and Jack have a falling out, but once the pair talk they are inseparable. As time passes, Angie begins to question the strength of the feelings she is having, thinking they are too advanced for someone her age, finding herself falling in love with Jack. The end of the summer looms over them, for Angie will be leaving their Wisconsin town for school in Chicago, when Jack reveals he will be returning to Oklahoma with the rest of his family. Bittersweet and honest, Jack and Angie leave each other at the train station with Angie thinking to herself that there would “never be a summer as sweet as [her] seventeenth.”

Maureen Daly began work on Seventeenth Summer while she was still in college, which gives the novel a different feel than if an adult, completely removed from childhood, would have written the work. Daly also sets the novel in an area close to where she herself grew up, providing her the opportunity to give delightful and detailed descriptions of the lake and countryside of Angie and Jack’s hometown. The author describes the smell and taste of the summer, truly drawing in the reader to the surroundings in which Angie and her family reside. In fact, the background could easily be considered another character in the story, it is so well developed.

The story itself is written in a style reminiscent to a diary – this technique lends itself well to the narration given to the reader by Angie. Sometimes written in desperate tones, the reader feels as if they are the only one who understand how deeply Angie feels, following her through elation, disappointment, wanting, needing, anger and desire. Although the story takes place in the early 1940’s, Angie’s story reads reminiscent of many young women’s first love tales. Angie struggle to understand love and finding contentment in a relationship can be understood regardless of the generation gaps between modern day teens and 1940’s teens. The New York Times noted that the novel is “both a timeless romance and a period piece, making it an utterly enchanting book – one which rings true and sweet and fresh and sound.” Some of the terminology and struggles that the characters face (Angie wonders if it makes her seem “fast” to be kissing Jack so soon, which is something that a modern day teen may think is very old-fashioned) are going to seem foreign to the reader, but in the end, the story is about two teenagers finding first, true love, something with which any reader can identify.

Book cover can be found at http://maureendaly.com/?attachment_id=4

Princess Academy

Hale, Shannon. Princess Academy. New York, NY: Bloomsbury. 2005. ISBN: 9781582349930

Plot Summary:
High in the mountains of fictional Danland lays Mount Eskel. The people of the mountain are strong, large and hard-working, daily working to mine linder, a marble-like stone, which is their livelihood. Every capable man and woman (including teens) are put to work in the quarry, with the exception of Miri. Miri, who is smaller than girls older than she, is made to stay home by her father, making her feel as if she is missing out on something essential with her friends and neighbors. One day, a royal announcement is made that all eligible girls are going to be sent to a princess academy. At the end of the academy, the prince will choose a bride from the girls that pass.

Miri finds it difficult to be away from home, especially when the tutor at the school is strict and punishes girls for the smallest of reasons. She loses the friendship of many of the girls after a run-in with Tutor Olana and throws herself into her studies. Miri finally finds a friend in Britta, a girl who grew up off the mountain, and eventually wins the friendship and admiration of many of her classmates after she stands up to the unfair Tutor Olana. In her studies, Miri finds out how valuable linder is to the rest of Danland, helping her village to trade for things they have never had before. Additionally, she is chosen academy princess and meets the prince, who does not seem to measure up to her best friend, Peder. After the royal ball, the academy group is captured by bandits, but Miri saves the day by using ‘quarry-speech’ to call the people of her village to their aid. In the end, Miri learns that family and community is worth more than a crown or palace.

Critical Analysis:
Miri is the type of character that is not afraid to show her flaws, making the character that much more identifiable to the reader. She is strong-willed, nervous around the boy she likes and struggles with the fact that she does not work in the quarry with the rest of the village. These elements make the character real, not one that is better than anything the reader could ever attain in their lives. Other characters in the book are equally rounded and not one of them is easily explained. Each has their own secret wish or hidden desire that is revealed in due time. This helps the story root itself in realism in the midst of fantasy.

Hale draws such a distinctive picture of the village, the reader is able to get an instinctive feeling for the village. Views, houses, even beds, are described with such vividness that the reader can truly imagine how it would have felt, smelled or be seen from Miri’s perspective. In the same way, the village and villagers are described, allowing the reader to get authentic understanding of the closeness that would exist. Vocabulary used by the different characters enhances this visual, in that the children speak differently to one another than they would to an adult or the prince himself. The theme is consistent with the struggles that Miri finds during the course of the book. While speaking out is difficult, in the end it is the right thing to do.

Awards and Reviews:
“This is not a fluffy, predictable fairy tale . . . Instead, Hale weaves an intricate, multilayered story about families, relationships, education, and the place we call home." – Linda Plevak, School Library Journal

“[N]icely interweaves feminist sensibilities in this quest-for-a-prince-charming, historical-fantasy tale. Strong suspense and plot drive the action as the girls outwit would-be kidnappers and explore the boundaries of leadership, competition, and friendship.” - Booklist

2005 Honorable Mention for "Favorite Novel of the Year", Publishers Weekly's Cuffie Awards
2006 Newbery Honor Book
2006 Utah Children's Book Award
2007 Beehive Award winner
An ALA Notable Children's Book
A New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
A Book for the Teen Age by The New York Public Library
A Bank Street College Best Children's Books of the Year, starred entry

Connections:
*What is life really like for a princess? Find some famous real-life princess and what they spend their time doing. Have students work on a “week in the life” project based on the life of the princess of their choosing.
*Create a reader’s theater based on the book! This will be appealing to boys and girls alike; girls will get to be princesses and boys get the chance to be a bandit or quarrier.
*Linder is VERY important to Mount Eskel. What things are important exports for your town? Read and research the exports that help to feed and clothe the families of your hometown.

Book Jacket found on: http://bookbutterflyangel.wordpress.com/2008/06/

Going Bovine

Bray, Libba. Going Bovine. New York, NY: Delacorte Press. 2009. ISBN: 9780385733977

Plot Summary:
Cameron Smith is unpopular, has a job he hates, a popular twin sister, doesn’t do very well in school and finds it hard to communicate with his parents. He finds himself in the middle of a suburban wasteland and longs to get out. Soon after the reader meets Cameron, something inside his head begins to change. He is having trouble controlling his body and keeps having visions of fire giants along the landscape of his seemingly normal hometown. After a toaster catches fire in the kitchen and Cameron has another hallucination, his parents take him to the doctor where they find out Cameron has Creutzfeldt-Jakob – or mad cow - disease. The disease is incurable and will eventually leave Cameron without any brain function.

Soon after the diagnosis, Cameron is sent to the hospital where he shares a room with Ignacio “Gonzo” Gonzales. After a visit by a “punk-rock” angel, who tells Cameron he has to search for the cure, Cameron and Gonzo embark on a road trip to find the doctor that holds the key to cure. They stop in New Orleans, where they play with a jazz legend, get taken to a commune where there is no unhappy thought allowed, find themselves in the company of a living breathing garden gnome named Balder and make a stop at an MTV-style beach house. Along the road, Cameron and Gonzo find out different things about themselves, but are always on the lookout for Dr. X and the cure. Eventually, Cameron figures out that this journey is all a figment of his imagination and that there is no cure. While Cameron of this world passes away at the end of the novel, he finds himself living in the afterlife with the punk-rock angel.

Critical Analysis:
A work of low fantasy, Going Bovine does its best to allude to the reader that not everything is as it seems in the story. Cameron has flashbacks to the “real” world during the moments that he stops to sleep on his adventure. These include moments when he sees and hears his parents, his nurse and feels some connection to his actual surroundings. Bray does an excellent job of connecting the main character’s adventures on the road trip, to stories that Cameron has shared with the reader prior to his diagnosis. For instance, his mother would regale he and his sister with Norse tales and that translates to the inclusion of the talking gnome, Balder, in the story. This consistency in thought brings continuity to the story, amid the fantastical things that are happening to Cameron.

Cameron is identifiable to many readers of the target audience of the novel. He is on the fringe, not in the inner circle, but does his best not to care. During his expedition, Cameron figures out what how self-centered he has been his whole life, bringing a new depth to his character. Prior to this discovery, Cameron is not a character the reader may particularly care about, but his journey into understanding the importance of letting other people in makes his character admirable and likable. Clearly, the theme of this work is within the growth of Cameron’s awareness that love, living and friendship are more important than he knew.

Awards and Reviews:
“[M]eandering and message-driven at times…[s]ome teens may check out before Cameron makes it to his final destination, but many will enjoy asking themselves the questions both deep and shallow that pop up along the way.” Suzanne Gordon, School Library Journal

“Bray portrays Cameron so realistically that he is every teen struggling with his or her identity. At times, readers will both love and hate Cameron as his adventures are alternately comical, nail biting, and heart wrenching.” – Laura Panter, VOYA

“This is a huge book in every way: an epic, picaresque 480-page journey; a scathingly observed social satire of the ways in which we numb ourselves to avoid the pain and risk of actually engaging with our lives; a stay-up-late-to-finish-it page-turner; and a sprawling, hilarious, and deeply moving meditation on what it is, in the end, that makes life worth living.” Claudia Mills, Ph.D., Children’s Literature

2009 - Children's Book Sense Pick
2009 - Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of the Year
2009 - Booklist Books for Youth Editors' Choice
2010 - Michael L. Printz Award Winner
2010 - ALA Best Books for Young Adults
2010 - NCSS/CBC Notable Children's Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies
2010 - New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age

Connections:
*How does one get mad cow disease anyway? How does it affect the body? How can you prevent it? Break students into groups that answer different questions about the facts of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
*Cameron in the first chapter is very different than Cameron in the last chapter. In what ways did each character change on the trip? Compare and contrast the characters at the beginning of the journey to who they were at the end.
* What were some of the things that Cameron mentioned about his life that returned during the road trip in different ways? (Look for ways that the author included facts Cameron mentioned before the introduction of his illness into different parts of the story.)

Book Jacket found on: http://hamiltonteens.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/going-bovine-by-libba-bray/

The Green Glass Sea

Bibliography:
Klages, Ellen. 2006. The Green Glass Sea. New York, NY: Viking. ISBN: 1417820152

Plot Summary:
Dewey Kerrigan is a smart kid, but has faced many challenges in her short life. Her mom abandoned her, her father is away working and her grandmother, the only stability she has had, has just had a stroke. Dewey finds herself on her way to meet her father at a top secret location, where is working on a project for the Army, in the middle of World War II. Although Dewey is nervous about the new life she is in for, she finds she is surrounded by some of the greatest scientists in the world (who are all working on “the gadget”), much to her delight.

Along the way, the reader is introduced to Suze Gordon, a tomboy who just wants to fit in, but doesn’t quite. She is leery of Dewey, even bullying her at certain points, to show the other kids that she is nothing like “Screwy Dewey”. Eventually, Dewey must move in with Suze and her family when her dad is called away on assignment, creating a tense situation for both the girls. After the president dies, the girls find common ground and find out the other is not as bad as they may have once appeared. Each encourages the other in what they excel at (for Suze, it’s art, for Dewey, it’s building things) and find that even in the face of tragedy, they can rely on each other.

Critical Analysis:
Klages creates a mystery around what is truly happening at the site that has become known as Los Alamos, just as it would have been to the children that lived on the Hill. She focuses on the human connections that are made between children and parents, as well as between the children themselves, using Los Alamos as a backdrop. The setting is described in such a way that the reader truly gets a vision for how cut off from the rest of the world Los Alamos was in the time. Much of the description of the base is describe in detail by the characters, allowing the reader to get an account of what a child would find important about life on an army base. Vocabulary used by the characters is typical for the time period and contributes to the feeling of the novel.

Characters in the book are knowledgeable about things that kids would be, leaving what is really happening at Los Alamos to be a mystery that is revealed as the book progresses. Historical figures that lived and worked in Los Alamos are introduced throughout the course of the book, adding to the authenticity the book creates. Most of all, the characters are thoughtfully developed, growing into their own in the course of the novel.

Awards and Reviews:
Winner, 2007 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
Winner, 2007 Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature
Winner, 2007 New Mexico State Book Award (YA)
Finalist, 2007 Quill Awards (Young Adult)
Finalist, Northern California Book Awards, 2007 (Children's)
Finalist, Locus Awards, 2007 (Best First Novel)
Book Sense #1 Children's Pick - Winter 2006/2007
One Book, One Nebraska for Kids - 2009
2009 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Award Master List, (Illinois)
2008 NeNe Award List (Hawaii)
2008 Bluegrass Award Master List (Kentucky)
2007-08 Maine Student Book Award List
2007-08 Isinglass Teen Read List (New Hampshire)
2009 Rhode Island Teen Book Award List
2008-09 South Carolina Junior Book Award List
Starred Review in Publisher's Weekly
Starred Review in The Horn Book
A Horn Book Fanfare selection
A Junior Library Guild selection
A Scholatic Book Club selection

"The novel occasionally gets mired down in detail, but the characters are exceptionally well drawn, and the compelling, unusual setting makes a great tie-in for history classes." – John Green, Booklist

"Many readers will know as little about the true nature of the project as the girls do, so the gradual revelation of facts is especially effective, while those who already know about Los Alamos's historical significance will experience the story in a different, but equally powerful, way." – Steven Engelfried, School Library Journal

Connections:
*What really happened at Los Alamos? Find some historical picture books that show Los Alamos as Suze and Dewey would have seen it and share them! Look for books about what children at Los Alamos would have done in the days that Dewey and Suze lived there.
*Comic books are mentioned quite a bit in the story – find some comics from the time period the book is set in and compare/contrast them to modern day comics.
*”The gadget” is a code work for the atomic bomb, but how was it used? Using age-appropriate literature, cover the aftermath of the bomb’s invention and its use in the second World War.

Book jacket found on: http://northchicagopubliclibrary.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/the-green-glass-sea-by-ellen-klages.jpg

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Bibliography:
Speare, Elizabeth George. 1958. The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN: 0440995779

Plot Summary:
Katherine Tyler, also known as Kit, makes an impetuous decision to leave the island of Barbados where she has grown up after her grandfather dies. She boards a ship for the Connecticut colony, where her mother’s sister now resides, upon which she meets John Holbrook, a divinity student, and Nat Eaton, the son’s captain. Kit makes an impression on all she meets, first by swimming (which is known to be a trait of witches) and also by the way in which she dresses. She arrives unannounced, although not entirely unwelcome, to her aunt’s house and begins to learn about the way that they live. Puritanical through and through, Kit and her straight-laced uncle find fault with one another.

As Kit begins to get into the habit of day to day living with her new family, she finds refuge in the sprawling green sea that is the Great Meadows. There she meets and finds a kindred spirit in Hannah, the one known as the witch of Blackbird Pond. They begin to build a relationship and take care of and teach a young girl, Prudence, whose mother despises Kit, Hannah and berates Prudence. After a sickness overtakes the young of the town (leaving Kit’s own favorite cousin, Mercy, near death), Hannah is targeted as the culprit of the plague, resulting in her house being burned to the ground. Hannah escapes thanks to a quick thinking Kit, who leaves her in the care of their mutual friend, Nat. Kit herself is accused of witchcraft and is taken into custody, but is proven to be innocent with help from her friend Nat. She finds herself longing for home and makes a plan to leave, but not before seeing her two cousins married and finding love for herself in the process.

Critical Analysis:
Many different aspects of colonial life are woven through this story, but the main storyline of being a fish out of water will resonate with the young adult audience. Kit finds herself in situations that she is unfamiliar with, from clothing to church-going, and she finds she needs to learn or re-learn many aspects of her life. Use of language, such as thee and thou, as well as incorporation of terminology from the time period help to flesh out the story and create a vivid depiction of the sometimes stoic nature of the colonialists. Vocabulary and historical accuracy lend well to stylizing the story, but the author does not forget that it is a sixteen year old girl that is relating the story to the reader. The reader is able to identify with the feelings that Kit has, regardless of the fact the story is taking place in pre-Revolutionary America.

Of most importance, the story rings authentic. Kit is thrust into a very different kind of life than she was exposed to before and struggles with the newness of the situation daily. She wishes to fit in with her new surrounding, but not without forsaking her values, morals or, most of all, who she truly is. Kit makes the decision to befriend someone she finds worthy of her time, without regard to what others have said. Above all, Kit stays true to what she believes and this is something that the reader can easily see and identify with on all levels.

Awards and Reviews:
A Newbery Medal Book
An ALA Notable Children's Book
Kansas William White Master List

"Strong plot, fully-realized characters, and convincing atmosphere distinguish this historical narrative of a girl whose rebellion against bigotry and her Puritan surroundings culminates in a witch hunt and trial." - Booklist

"This book has a lively plot and excellent characterizations. The background has every dimension of reality." - The New York Times

Connections:
*What was life on a boat like? Kit had to travel a great distance on a ship, so what are some of the things she may have encounter on the voyage? Have the children do a little research on boats and life on a ship to find out the answers to these questions.
*Being accused of being a witch was serious business during the time in which Kit lived. Read true stories of witch trials (be cautious of the material, depending on the age group) and write a reader’s theater starring the kids. Ask questions that get them thinking about what they would do if they were in the same situation as Kit or someone accused of such a crime.

Book jacket found on: http://images.contentreserve.com/ImageType-100/1191-1/%7B2BCDAE51-9941-417D-89E0-45DA5DE44162%7DImg100.jpg