Crossover Book Review: Tamar, by Mal Peet

Usually when I write a review of a crossover book, I'm reviewing an adult book I think children ages twelve and up will like. This time, however, I am reviewing a book marketed to teens that adults will appreciate--Tamar, by Mal Peet. (Tamar won the 2005 Carnegie in the U.K.)

To be honest, I am not sure why Tamar is a Young Adult novel. Some sections of the book are narrated by a fifteen-year-old girl, but the vast majority of passages concern adult resistance workers in World War II. To miss Tamar, subtitled A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal, because it's located in the Young Adult section is a betrayal, indeed.

Tamar opens with a conversation between a father--William Hyde--and his adult son. The son's wife is expecting and the father has an usual request: If the child is a girl, will his son please name her Tamar? The father gives no reasons for the request, but the son likes the name and agrees.

The reader then travels back in time to when the father (and soon-to-be-grandfather) is working for the British Secret Service with the Dutch Resistance in a small town in the Netherlands. He is one of two men working under assumed names: Tamar, the resistance organizer, or Dart, his code transmitter. Both men love the same woman, Marijke, whose house serves as a base for the young resistance workers, but only Tamar has a relationship with her.* Two men in love with the same woman, fear, starvation, and a rogue resistance worker, who rebels in spectacular fashion against Tamar's command, lead to ultimate betrayal and loss for World War II-era Tamar, Dart, and Marijke.

Interspersed with accounts of Tamar, Marijke, and Dart's lives in Nazi-occupied Netherlands are passages in which modern-day Tamar, the fifteen-year-old granddaughter of "William Hyde," tries to understand why her grandfather committed suicide just months before, when already an old man. He leaves her a box of clues--clues that will lead to the truth about his past.

Tamar is a detective story and a meditation on the meaning of truth. It's a great novel for children, sure, but it's also an important story for adult readers as well. And, good news: A little research tells me the paperback edition is out in the U.S. on September 9.
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* Yes, Tamar is biologically young Tamar's grandfather. The question is, who was William Hyde, the grandfather Tamar knew and loved in 1990s England.

Non Fiction Monday: Real Life Meets YA Lit

For this Non Fiction Monday, I bring you (instead of a review) a real-life story that concerns Young Adult fiction.

Let's just say I know a thirteen-year-old girl. She's a good kid: a great student, kind to others, and interested in the world.

All of a sudden this thirteen-year-old girl does something entirely out of character: She attempts to steal a candy from a convenience store. She's caught and read the riot act. At home, she's grounded beyond grounded.

When questioned with a "what the heck were you thinking?", the girl answered that almost every book she's read lately (Young Adult fiction) contains an episode of shoplifting. And that she just wanted to try it once.

Obviously the mother did not buy this argument, nor did it sway her in any way. But, still, it's interesting, isn't it? I mean, if we all got out our notebooks to emulate Harriet, or made bread out of walnuts a la Little House on the Prairie, could we also not copy other behaviors?*

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* And, don't worry. I'm not saying we should ban, or restrict, or water down any book. I do believe every child should read what he or she wants to read. This is just the first time I've encountered a child who has copied a negative behavior from a book.

Crossover Book Review: What Was Lost, by Catherine O'Flynn

Recently I complained about the adult fiction I've been reading. I kvetched about my weariness with the 20th century anti-hero. In brief, I'm tired of the over-educated, New York-living male hero who is alienated from his family and from the world.* Susan, of Chicken Spaghetti, recommended What Was Lost, a first novel by Catherine O'Flynn, and not only did I find What Was Lost a fantastic and restorative read, but I also think it is a book teenagers will enjoy as well.

What Was Lost is a novel no less ambitious than any of the top-10 New York Times reviewed novels of 2007 or 2008. Catherine O'Flynn uses many protagonists to tell her tale, most prominent among them a 10-year-old girl and two mall employees--all from Birmingham.# The novel opens in the voice of Kate Meany, 10-year-old girl detective. Kate is an orphan and she spends her days watching people in the shops and at Green Oaks--a new shopping center. She's sure she's about to catch a criminal in the act when she disappears.

The narration then skips forward twenty five years and is primarily in the voices of Kurt, a Green Oaks security guard, and Lisa, a manager at the mall's music store. Lisa has a connection to Kate: Her elder brother Adrian was a friend and mentor to Kate at the time Kate disappeared. Kate's disappearance leads, of course, to Adrian's own hiding, even though he was innocent. Kurt also has a connection to Kate, although he doesn't remember it at first. He saw Kate, on her last day in Birmingham, when he was about her own age. Kurt doesn't remember his sighting until a series of hallucinations visit him when working at the mall in the middle of the night.

What Was Lost is ostensibly a mystery--how and why did Kate Meany disappear? But it's also the story of finding your way when you're a young adult stuck in the soulless world of a suburban mall. Will Lisa be able to dump her manager's job at Your Music and her even lamer boyfriend Eric? Will Kurt be able to come to terms with his father--who hated the mall, but worked there as a janitor because there were no other jobs left for him in the city--and move on? These are real questions ninety percent of the reading public face and Catherine O'Flynn presents them with humor, grace, and intelligence.

But let's not forget our heroine who opens the story. Kate Meany, girl detective, is quite possibly the most authentic 10-year-old girl I've read in years. She's smart, vulnerable, naive, and believes in truth and justice, even in her run-down neighborhood in Birmingham. Children like Kate, who have nothing, always have hope--hope Kurt and Lisa have lost, but must find again in order to remake their lives.

I highly recommend What Was Lost to all readers ages twelve and up. Tweens and teens will be drawn to Kate's story, and the multiple points of view will challenge them. Anyone who has ever worked a dead-end job in a mall will recognize Kate's world. What Was Lost is a not-to-be-missed novel.

Thank you, Catherine O'Flynn, for restoring my faith in the "literary" novel.
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* Seriously, novelists: Stop this.
# Did you hear me? TWO MALL EMPLOYEES. They have lives too! Who would have known?

Book Review: Just Henry, by Michelle Magorian

I don't know if you've noticed, but the world isn't the most cheerful of places to be lately. Economic misery. Food shortages. War. Genocide. If I were a kid today, I'd want a good book to take me away from it all. Michelle Magorian's Just Henry is also set in a difficult time--in post war Britain (1949), when rationing is still in effect, when houses still standing are lived in amongst the ruins, when people's fathers are called deserters or heroes, regardless of the evidence.

Henry Dodge's father is one of the heroes--a man who saved another solider, but died in the effort. Henry now lives with his mother and his stepfather, Bill Carpenter, in Swansea, but Henry misses his real father terribly. Indeed, Henry wants to be just like his father: he aims for manual labor, instead of book learning; he despises his stepfather, who goes for a High School Certificate despite the fact he works on the trains; and Henry shuns the boys whose fathers are not so heroic--the sons of deserters and the illegitimate.

But everything changes for Henry when he enters his last year of school. First of all, he has a teacher, Mr. Finch, who is interested in him and his fellow last-formers, even though they've been written out of higher education because of poor exam results. Mr. Finch gives them a project--they can research whatever they're interested in, but they must research the topic as it was in the Victorian Era. Henry is obsessed with film--he works at the local grocery to earn money to go to the cinema--so, of course, chooses early cinema as his topic. Too bad the other two boys, who also choose film, are the sons of a deserter and an illegitimate boy.

Henry's world soon turns upside down. His Gran, who lives with Henry, Henry's mother and stepfather, warns Henry against associating with these two boys. But Henry's teacher and a new friend--an intelligent and independent woman named Mrs. Beaumont--tell Henry he must work with the social outcasts. Henry soon learns that his assumptions of others are ill-founded and that the world is changing. Henry must face the old world in order to live in the new.

There are many twists and turns in Just Henry's plot, so there's no point in outlining them all. This is a book whose pages you'll have to stop yourself from turning . (Or reread, if you just can't help speeding ahead.) Henry is a great character--one who grows up, adapts to the times, and finds his own way. There's much wish fulfillment in Just Henry. All the young people find a place in the new Britain. But, maybe, wish fulfillment and Just Henry is exactly what young people need today.

Just Henry is highly, highly recommended for all people ages ten and up.
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Just Henry was one of three books I wanted to find during my 12 days in the U.K. I checked every major bookstore I could find in the Highlands. Nothing! It was backordered. Finally I found an independent bookstore in Banchory where I picked up an autographed copy.

I checked re: U.S. publication dates and could find nothing.
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Michelle Magorian is author of one of my top-10 books for children: Goodnight, Mister Tom.

Book Review: Love & Lies: Marisol's Story, by Ellen Wittlinger

Eighteen-year-old Marisol Guzman knows what she wants out of life and how to get it. She came out two years ago and is ready for adult life and true love. Marisol's been accepted to Stanford, but has deferred for a year to write her first novel. She's found a job in an old-school cafe in Harvard Square, signed up for a writing class, and moved into a rundown apartment with her best friend Birdie. Marisol is ready: Let life begin!

Only life's not that simple, is it? First Marisol falls prey to her older, glamorous writing teacher, Olivia Frost. Then Birdie brings a new (and large) boyfriend and a few scruffy pets into their already crowded apartment. Marisol's new friend Lee, a sweet teen from Indiana who is living temporarily with her sister in Boston, falls in love with Marisol, while Marisol just wants to be Lee's friend and mentor.

It's a teenagery mess, isn't it? But what makes Love & Lies: Marisol's Story stand out from the crowd is Wittlinger's characterization and unflinching eye for the truth. Marisol is no shrinking violet and never sells herself short, even when uncertain. She's not even scared on the first day of writing class when she's the youngest student in the room. Comparing herself to another student, Marisol says, "I'm a confident person, so I recognize a fellow egoist, and my ardent hope was that this guy couldn't tell a pronoun from an adjective." It's a pleasure to read a Young Adult novel with a protagonist as forthright and as confident as Marisol. Sure she makes mistakes, but she's always on the lookout for a new experience and something to write about.

And speaking of writing, the first novel plays a big role in Love & Lies. As Marisol writes her first novel, she finds she puts a lot of her own life in her scribblings. And by following Olivia's writing advice (which all turns out to be plagiarized), Marisol learns she has a story to tell even though she's just eighteen years old. Highly recommended.

Love & Lies: Marisol's Story is a companion book to Wittlinger's Hard Love (2001).

Love & Lies: Marisol's Story will be out in July 2008 from Simon & Schuster.
Review copy

Book Review: The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine

Everything seems to be happening to Dylan Fontaine. He ends up in jail for carrying two bags of underwear out of a store before paying in an effort to avoid a chance meeting with his mother. Dylan's home life is a disaster: Mom's left home, Dad's working 24-7 as usual, and Dylan's older brother Randy is smoking more and more pot. To make matters worse, the members of Randy's rock band have moved into the Fontaine home turning it into a smelly (and loud) pigsty.

Dylan grew up in his brother's shadow: Randy, Dylan thinks, is smarter and a better musician than he is. But now Dylan is watching Randy self-combust. Randy's band only plays covers, instead of Randy's original music. Someone in the band, Dylan thinks, is dealing drugs. Could it be Randy?

Dylan's a confused mess when his best friend Angie shows up in his life again. A student taking a NYU film course, she wants Dylan to help her with a film project. Before long the film is about Dylan and is titled "The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine." In the midst of all this chaos, it's time for Dylan to come into his own. Angie sees it. A girl in his art class, who critiques Dylan's drawing, saying "I think Dylan is at a point in his artistic career where he should...find his own style," sees it. Finally, Dylan sees it too.

The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine is a quick read, but one with lasting impact. Dylan is a normal kid with interests in music, sports, and art--"an ordinary dude...taking a few chances, finding humor in the world, and discovering who he is." Highly recommended.

The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine
by April Lurie
Delacorte Press
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Other blog reviews:

Becky's Book Reviews
Hope's Bookshelf
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Crossover Book Review: In the Woods

I'm always in the market for a good mystery, so when Tana French's In the Woods won a 2008 Edgar Award for best first novel by an American author, I ordered it right away from audible.* From the first pages I knew In the Woods is a novel teen readers will love as well.

Rob Ryan is a young detective on the Dublin murder squad. When the body of a 12-year-old girl is found in the woods outside Dublin, he's called to investigate. The situation is eerily familiar to Ryan: When he was twelve he also disappeared in the same woods with two friends. When he was found, he was covered in blood and had no memory of what happened. His two friends never returned.

Now, obviously, Ryan should have removed himself from this case, but finds he can't. He begs his partner--the wonderful Cassie Maddox--to keep his secret in the hopes that his past will help them to solve the case. While investigating Ryan is haunted by partial memories, neighbors from his past, and faulty judgment. As a reader, you don't trust Ryan, who narrates In the Woods, from the very beginning. You do, however, find his motivations and story undeniably compelling.

Dark fairy tale themes and the unreliability of childhood memories haunt Ryan and In the Woods, making this a mystery teens will love. The detectives are young and live young lives--solving cases together while eating and drinking well into the night. Ryan's partner, Maddox, is a kickass heroine--smart, hardworking, and tough. And the victim, a young ballerina, and her family will appeal to young readers, especially when compared to our hopelessly unreliable narrator.

Best of all? I thought I had In the Woods all figured out by the time I was halfway through reading. But I wanted to finish this mystery anyway because of the interesting characters and narration. The bonus? I was completely wrong in my armchair sleuthing. In the Woods is highly recommended for readers ages fourteen and up.
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*What is going on with audible and audiobooks these days? None of the new books I want are coming up on audible or on iTunes. No new Rick Riordan for the little one and I have a list of about 15 books recently released I want to read and not one of them is available. Where is that reader's bill of rights? I want to choose audio or text format for each and every book I buy. I mean it.
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And, Tana...if you ever stumble upon this post...I hope your next book will star Cassie Maddox on the domestic abuse squad.

Graphic Novel Review: Life Sucks

Life Sucks takes a long hard look at the life of a teen vampire and finds it's not what the mythology promised. The glamour, the cool clothes, the superpowers--they're all missing from teen vampire Dave's life. Instead Dave works at an all-night convenience store for a terrible vampire boss in Los Angeles and whiles his days away sleeping and watching Mexican soaps.

When a super hot Goth girl walks into Dave's convenience store, he's smitten. But even under the best of circumstances asking a girl out when you're a vampire is not easy. And the best of circumstances end early for poor Dave. He's challenged by his much cooler vampire "brother" Wes (they were bitten by the same Romanian vampire boss Dave works for) to a dating duel. Dave knows he's at a disadvantage: He's a sensitive, geeky guy, while Wes is a big blond surfer Dude who just happens to be completely amoral and will stop at nothing to win Goth girl's admiration.

Life Sucks plays with vampire stories, class and race relationships in Los Angeles, and teen stereotypes. Writers Jessica Abel and Gabriel Sora get teen speak right--which means it's not always politically correct and self aware, especially when the loathsome Wes opens his mouth. Illustrator Warren Pleece's panes are moody, dark and beautiful--they'll draw that teen reader right in to the story. Life Sucks is highly recommended for teens ages fourteen and up.

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Other Blog Reviews:

A Fuse #8
Ich Liebe Comics
Comics Worth Reading
Precocious Curmdugeon
Shuffleboil
Read About Comics
TangognaT
Beaucoup Kevin
Finding Wonderland
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This is part two in a two-review celebration of Vampire Month. You can check out all the festivities at First Second's blog!

Book Review: What I Was, by Meg Rosoff

Count me amongst Meg Rosoff's fans: I appreciate her off-kilter view on the world, her odd protagonists, and the room she leaves in her novels for the reader to think while events unfold.

What I Was is Rosoff's third novel and the second with a male narrator. This narrator tells his tale from the vantage point of old age, though his story concerns a brief period in his life while a student at a sub par boarding school in the 1960s. St. Oswald's is the type of institution that takes boys who have failed elsewhere. It is a grim establishment with gates, gray food, cold dorms, rats, and cruel boys. It's not surprising, then, that the narrator--Hilary--becomes distracted by Finn, a boy his age who lives by himself in a hut on an island.

Finn is entirely self-sufficient and no one knows he lives alone in his hut by the sea. Hilary visits as often as he can, bringing food and supplies, enduring Finn's silences because Hilary simply can't help himself. He's attracted to Finn, wants to be Finn. Hilary sneaks out of school, violates curfews, and lies to his roommates--all to be with Finn. Hilary's movements don't go unnoticed, however. One of his roommates is as attracted to Hilary as Hilary is to Finn.

What I Was is a quiet story of adolescent obsession until events come to a head. Finn falls seriously ill and Hilary must decide whether or not to alert authorities, a violent storm floods the hut and kills Hilary's schoolboy stalker. And Hilary learns something about Finn that he (and the reader) never suspects.

Hilary is not a sympathetic narrator. He's distant--to himself and to others. But he does narrate the truth and his story is one worth reading. What I Was is highly recommended for teen and adult readers.
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Other Blog Reviews:

BookLove
In the Tower
Monsters and Critics
Lewiston Public Library
Slacks for Ella Funt

Review: A Little Friendly Advice

Being a best girlfriend isn't easy. Having a best girlfriend isn't easy either. When one girlfriend experiences a crisis, the entire friendship is in jeopardy. This is the premise of Siobhan Vivian's A Little Friendly Advice, a smart Young Adult novel for readers ages thirteen and up.

16-year-old Ruby runs in a pack of four: There's artistic Ruby, smart and social Beth, basketball star and hothead Katherine, and flirtatious, boy-crazy Maria. But Beth and Ruby are best friends within this group and have been since grade school. In fact, Beth has been Ruby's best friend since Ruby's dad disappeared, leaving the family for good.

On the night of Ruby's 16th birthday party, the girls get together to have birthday cake and then head out to drink a smuggled bottle of champagne. And that's when Ruby's dad Jim shows up for the first time in years. Jim's arrival sets of a week-long crisis for Ruby during which Ruby tries to understand why her parents split up, why her dad left, and, most important, why her best friend Beth is keeping secrets from her about Jim.

During this week of turmoil, Ruby also meets her first real boyfriend, tries to come to terms with the volatile Katherine and Katherine's own family problems, and tries to stay afloat at school. But, the heart of the novel is Ruby and Beth’s friendship and what it means to be a best friend: When should you tell the truth, when should you shield your friend from potentially stressful information, and when you should you offer just a little friendly advice?

Told in Ruby's voice, A Little Friendly Advice explores rocky family relationships, first kisses and experiences with alcohol, and, most of all, best friendships. It's a not-to-be-missed honest read for teen girls.
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Other Blog Reviews:

Bildungsroman
Teen Book Review
The Page Flipper
Page Numbered
YPulse
The Book Muncher
Propernoun.net

If I've missed your review, please leave me a comment and I'll update.
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My sun overdose continues. I burned myself yesterday and it was wonderful.

Book Review: Sweethearts

Sara Zarr's Story of a Girl (review here) was one of my favorite Young Adult novels of 2007. Now Zarr is back with her second book, Sweethearts (out February 1), and it is even better than her first.

Now that we're working with a second novel, we can talk about what's so wonderful about Zarr's writing: straightforward prose, emotional honesty, and fully drawn characters make Zarr's Young Adult novels stand out from the pack.

Sweethearts begins with the following premise: What if your childhood best friend--in fact, your only friend--disappears without saying goodbye. Shortly thereafter you hear a rumor at school that he--Cameron Quick--has died, a rumor your own mother confirms. Jennifer Harris suffers from her best friend's disappearance so much that by high school she has turned herself into an entirely different person.

True, other changes in Jennifer's life have contributed to her metamorphosis. She acquires a kind stepfather named Alan, switches schools, and gets her eating habits under control. In addition, her mother--who was so busy finishing nursing school and working at a diner when Jennifer was in elementary school--is now gainfully employed in a professional career and working semi-regular hours. Life is good for the now teenage Jenna. She's updated her name, is popular and thin, and even has a cute boyfriend.

And then Cameron Quick walks back into her life.

Cameron's reappearance causes Jenna to reexamine her current life and her past. Are her new friends as real and true as Cameron was? Do they accept her for who she really is? Why did Cameron leave and why is he back? Does he remember what happened with his father on Jenna's 9th birthday?

Sweethearts is about confronting your past and learning from it. Jenna, Cameron, Jenna's mother and stepfather, and some of Jenna's new friends are complex characters who make difficult and honest decisions. Sweethearts isn't a novel that operates on YA cliches--you won't know ahead of time how Jenna will come to terms with her past, present, and future. You won't be able to guess how her friends will behave and react to Jenna's situation. Even Jenna's parents are drawn with a finely-tipped brush, acting as people, not stereotypes, do.

Sweethearts is Young Adult fiction at its very best. Zarr has crafted an original and compelling story enhanced by unflinching emotional honesty and characters worth your time and care.

Don't miss Sweethearts.
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Other blog reviews:

The Page Flipper
Bildungsroman
Jen Robinson's Book Page
The Well-Read Child
Young Adult (&Kids) Book Central
Bookshop Girl
Kate Messner
Charlotte's Library
Teen Book Review
Bookami
A Patchwork of Books
Kids Lit
Booktopia
Shelf Elf (just posted!)

If I've missed your review, please let me know.
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Sara's on a blog tour at the moment and will stop by here next week. I'll have a roundup of the interviews for you at that time.

Review: Thirteen Reasons Why

Okay, so Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why is, indeed, all that: It's a thought-provoking, compelling, and ultimately touching read for the YA audience.

For those of you who haven't read it yet, here's the set up: High school student Hannah Baker has killed herself. A few days later, Hannah's classmate Clay Jensen receives a box with seven audio cassettes--each side labeled from 1 to 13. Clay pops Tape 1 into a tape player and hears, "Hello, boys and girls. Hannah Baker here...I hope you're ready, because I'm about to tell you the story of my life. More specifically, why my life ended. And if you're listening to these tapes, you're one of the reasons why."

As Clay listens to the tapes, he follows Hannah's map around town--a map showing where she experienced indifferent or hostile treatment from the 13 people on her tapes. Clay--as does the reader--races through the tapes to understand why Hannah killed herself and what role did he--the valedictorian, the good boy--play in Hannah's death.

Asher's narrative skills are particularly strong. Hannah becomes increasingly serious and depressed as she describes what she experienced and witnessed in the days before her death. And, Clay begins to understand why and how Hannah shut down and gave up hope. While I do wish Clay had recognized that, ultimately, Hannah was responsible as well in choosing to kill herself, it's probably more realistic that he comes to the conclusions he did: that Hannah saw and experienced more than she could handle, lost hope, and, upon not receiving support from her high-school community, gave up.

Thirteen Reasons Why is a stand-out Young Adult title of 2007. Clay's conclusions (and I don't want to give anything away) are life-changing and, simply, beautiful. Every teen fifteen and older should read Thirteen Reasons Why.

Mom Review: A Swift Pure Cry

While on the road this summer, I read and loved Siobhan Dowd's A Swift Pure Cry. I never did get around to reviewing it and then Siobhan Dowd passed away at the desperately young age of 47 and I lost heart. Fortunately, my mom read A Swift Pure Cry as well and here is her review:

This review was written by Alice Herold

A Swift Pure Cry is set in 1984 in southern Ireland. Shell (whose real name is Michelle) is fifteen and strong, courageous, and wild-spirited. She also acts as the caretaker for her younger brother and sister.

A Swift Pure Cry is a story full of causes and effects:

1. Cause: Shell's mother dies. Effect: Shell's father spirals out of control into drunkenness, poverty, and insanity.
2. Cause: The family is destitute. Effects: Shell's siblings have to do without proper medical care, warm clothes, and store-bought Christmas presents. Dad, in desperation, collects money for charity and keeps some back for himself, hiding the money in the top of the piano.
3. Cause: Shell "goes with" a local boy named Declan Ronan. Effect: Her "curse" doesn't come. Months pass before she realizes she's pregnant.
4. Cause: A young priest--Father Rose--moves into town. Effect: Shell feels sure that the priest is Jesus. She suddenly begins to see visions of her dead "mam."

Read to discover what happens to Shell and the baby. (Declan, unaware he is a father, has left for America.) A Swift Pure Cry, although fiction, was inspired by a true story. I loved Dowd's description of southern Ireland. I could see the starkness of the landscape, feel the cool mist, and hear the haunting cry of the birds.

Review: If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period

Gennifer Choldenko's If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period is a book that packs a punch on two different levels: one) its midpoint plot twist comes as a complete and total surprise to the reader; and two) its textual simplicity belies the deep and important truths central to the novel.

If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period is narrated by two seventh-grade students attending a prestigious private school--Kirsten McKenna and Walker Jones. Kirsten begins the school year suffering from the usual seventh-grade problems: her parents are on the verge of divorce and her best friend Rory has fallen in with the popular crowd. Moreover, Kirsten has suddenly gained 30 pounds and is uncomfortable in her larger body.

Walker is a new student to the group. He earned a scholarship to the private school and is the only African-American student in the seventh grade. Within weeks, he establishes himself at the very top of his class. The pressure on Walk is huge. Every day his mom, Sylvia, reminds him, "Brothers can't make it in this world unless we work twice as hard as everyone else."

Kirsten and Walk become friends when Kirsten realizes Rory and the popular girls (headed by a truly vile specimen, Brianna) are only pretending to be friends with her. Kirsten, resilient despite the problems at home and at school, seats herself at Walk's table and becomes fast friends with him and his crowd. Then a secret is revealed.

If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period is wonderful book. Kirsten and Walk's voices are distinct. Kirsten is a good-natured girl, just trying to find her place in the world. She does so despite quarreling parents and the machinations of the it-crowd. Walk is such a great kid--one who welcomes Kirsten with open arms into his group of friends--that you feel deeply for him when he learns a difficult truth about his life.

Choldenko has achieved the near impossible with If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period. This is a book any fifth grader can read, but it is also one with life-changing truths. Don't miss it.

Review: Dragon's Keep

Another book I read on an airplane this summer was Janet Lee Carey's Dragon's Keep. And, thank goodness. Dragon's Keep kept the nerves away as we bounced through the Midwest on the edge of a thunderstorm in a tiny CRJ.

Dragon's Keep is set on a fictional Wilde Island in 1145. Carey explains why the setting is significant to the story in an interview with Cynthia Leitich Smith at Cynsations:

"I faced a number of challenges with Dragon's Keep because I wanted the fantasy to be set during the time of England's civil war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda. The story takes place on Wilde Island, a fictitious English prison colony, but the historical events occurring in England are significant because the central character's mother is convinced Princess Rosalind will wed Empress Matilda's son. The conflict of England's civil war mirrors the mother/daughter conflict on Wilde Island and the dragon's interference heats things up all the more."

Told from Princess Rosalind's point of view, Dragon's Keep begins as Rosalind's mother, Queen Gweneth, trims the nail on the fourth finger of Rosalind's right hand. Rosalind is nearly of marriageable age and the Queen has big plans for Rosalind--that she'll become Queen of England as predicted by Merlin himself. The only problem is Rosalind's fourth finger. It's a dragon's claw.

The Queen attempts to cure Rosalind by hiring all manner of healers and Rosalind is subjected to brutal treatment. The claw is dangerous not only because it could hurt Rosalind's chances for marriage, but also because the colony has been terrorized by a dragon for years. Moreover, it seems as if the claw is cursed: anyone who catches glimpse of it dies within a day.

When the envoys from Empress Mathilda arrive and kill the female dragon who has feasted off Wilde Island, Rosalind's life changes overnight. First, she finds herself drawn to the young dragonslayer, a boy named Kye. Second, while at the celebratory feast, she helps the male dragon save a clutch of dragon eggs, for it turns out that the dragon claw gives Rosalind the ability to communicate with the dragons and the female dragon's partner seeks her help. Rosalind finds herself charged with saving the dragons and Wilde Island.

Dragon's Keep is an exciting tale and Rosalind a true hero. Not only is she brave and ready to take action, but she also sacrifices her own safety and comfort on the behalf of the people of Wilde Island. Most impressive is the feel of Dragon's Keep. Carey has brough 1145 to life for young readers in all its vitality, darkness, and brutality.

Dragon's Keep is highly recommended for children ages twelve and up.

Review: The Decoding of Lana Morris

I read many books while I was overseas, a fact my sporadic blogging this past month does not reflect. This week, I hope to review a few of the books that have stayed with me for one reason or another. The Decoding of Lana Morris, by Laura & Tom McNeal, was one of those books. (And, if you're looking for a great adult read, so was Restless, by William Boyd.)

Lana Morris is a 16-year-old foster kid, who has bounced from place to place in the system. Her case worker, Hallie, cares about her, but is realistic as well. Hallie understands she won't find perfection for Lana.

And, she hasn't. Lana's latest home is with the Winters, a couple who host quite a few foster kids, more for the money than for a love of service. Lana's not surprised by the generic, low-cost food and Veronica Winters' extreme lack of concern for her charges. Lana is worried, however, by the fact that she's the only teen in the home who is not developmentally delayed. The special needs kids (SNKs or Snicks, as Lana calls them) are sweet, but Lana finds herself in charge more than she'd like. And, the town "cool" kids treat Lana cruelly, teasing the Snicks and ignoring Lana herself.

On one such outing with the cool kids (Lana rides in the trunk), Lana purchases an old drawing kit in curio shop. Soon she discovers that what she draws on this paper comes true. The McNeals' use of magical realism in The Decoding of Lana Morris is masterful--the magical drawings only enhance the story and in no way do they become the focus of the book. Through her drawings Lana understands herself and others better--including her mercurial foster mother, Veronica--and they help Lana make decisions for herself and the Snicks wisely and compassionately.

The Decoding of Lana Morris is a quick read--the McNeals' style is light and colloquial. But Lana Morris is also original, thought-provoking, and, ultimately, very rewarding.

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Other blog reviews:

Bookshelves of Doom

Crossover Monday

When I began blogging about children's books, I mostly reviewed picture books and Middle Grade fiction. Over the years, however, I've been increasingly drawn to Young Adult literature as well, a category I did not read as a teenager. Part of what interests me about Young Adult fiction, is a simple question: When is a book meant only for the teens and when is it meant exclusively for adults? What differentiates one market from the other? Well, sometimes, it's hard to tell. Today I'm reviewing two books--one marketed as YA, the other as adult fiction--that cross age boundaries and can be enjoyed by all readers approximately ages 13 and up.

First up is Nancy Crocker's brilliant and heartfelt Billie Standish Was Here. Marketed as Young Adult fiction and meant for readers ages 14 and older, it would be a shame if this book were not read by adults everywhere.

Billie Standish is a self-sufficient only child, born to farmers in Cumberland, Missouri, in 1959. Because she's a girl, Billie's parents ignore her, leaving her to run the household, when they are off working the farm. (The irony being, of course, that Mom works alongside her husband, as much a farmer as he is.) When the novel opens Billie is eleven and is wandering a deserted town. Frightened and intrigued, she asks her neighbor--an elderly woman named Miss Lydia--what's happened. The dam is overwhelmed and a warning has been issued. Most of the town's residents fear flood, but Miss Lydia and Billie's parents have decided to remain put.

Billie benefits, however, by making a new friend in Miss Lydia. Miss Lydia hires Billie for a variety of small tasks, paying her with dinner and a dollar. Billie enjoys the older woman's company and conversation. There's only one downside to this new arrangement--Miss Lydia's vile, loutish son, Curtis. Billie, an intelligent girl, is stunned by Curtis and can't believe how different he is from Miss Lydia:

"I stared at my bedroom ceiling that night thinking about how every single person on earth, no matter who they turned out later, started out as somebody's baby.

Everybody started out as a blessing or a disappointment. A prayer that had been answered or nothing more than another mouth to feed. All by the time they'd drawn their first breath. "

Billie should know. Her mother had desperately wanted a boy, and Mom got Billie.

The unthinkable happens, changing Miss Lydia and Billie's burgeoning friendship. Curtis drags Billie into a truck and rapes her. Almost immediately, there's a town scandal: Miss Lydia has shot her son, thinking he was an intruder. From that moment on, Billie and Miss Lydia are more than friends--they're conspirators. Over the years, their friendship develops and even widens as they admit a third person--Billie's classmate, Harlan--into their midst. Miss Lydia teaches Billie and Harlan about current events, inspires them both to go to college (especially Billie, who she makes her heir), and teaches them love, compassion, and loyalty.

Billie Standish was Here is a testament to unlikely friendships and how much they can change your world. Nancy Crocker's 1960s lower Midwest dialect never falters in the book, never seeming false or folksy. As a result, her characters walk off the pages. This book is a gem--don't miss it. (And, if you don't believe me, check out Jules' rave review over at Seven Impossible Things About Breakfast.)

I'm far too antisocial and impatient to belong to a book group myself, but Billie Standish was Here is the perfect book group selection. There's so much to discuss in its pages--a friendship that transgresses age boundaries, the turbulent 1960s, terrible children born to good people, and, most importantly, coming of age. Recommend Billie Standish was Here to as many adult readers you know. It's one they shouldn't miss, just because it's shelved in the Young Adult section of the library or bookstore.

Now for a personal transition to this review post. (Hey, talking about me, me, me is what makes blog reviews different, remember?)

As much as I loved Billie Standish was Here, I didn't give it to my 11-year-old daughter because of the rape scene. I may still change my mind about this. While the rape scene is not graphic, it is emotionally powerful and not easy to forget, and my daughter, while an excellent reader, is immature in many ways. One book she did read--twice in a row--is a book I picked up from the adult shelves of Waterstones. This book--My Latest Grievance, by Elinor Lipman--is one many a teen will appreciate, even though it's not shelved in their section.



My Latest Grievance is told from 16-year-old Frederica Hatch's point of view and it's a hoot from start to finish. Frederica, an only child like Billie, has lived a coddled life, born and raised in the dorms of a college campus where her parents are both professors. Her view on the world is precocious, skewed, and downright hilarious. Here, for example, is how she sees her parents:


"My father, who commuted by bike the three-tenths of a mile across campus to his classes, was one of those daft-looking professors who cinched his trouser legs and kept his helmet on until he reached his second-floor office. My mother walked to class, rain or shine, under a wool or plastic poncho, taught in sneakers, eschewed the elevator for the stairs."


Having lived most of my adult life on or around college campuses, I can assure you that Frederica's parents are real. My Latest Grievance is filled with Frederica's sarcastic, 16-year-old observations, my favorite being, "not everyone's mother painted nipples on her daughter's Barbie doll for the sake of anatomical correctness."

Frederica's loving parents have raised her as an adult and allow her to participate in every and all family conversations, no matter how inappropriate. As the novel opens, Frederica finds out about a rare family secret--her father has been married before, to a flighty, glamorous woman named Laura Lee. Laura Lee, like Frederica's parents, is also a type--a flaky drama/dance type who wears vintage clothing and bats her eyes in front of every man, eligible or no. Before long, Laura Lee is invited to campus as a housemother and life is never the same again for Frederica or her parents.

It's not the plot that makes My Latest Grievance a true and funny read. It's Frederica's views on the world and her growth as a character that carry the reader along. Her coming of age is less dramatic than Billie's in Billie Standish was Here, but it's no less earth-shattering. Frederica must come to terms with the fact that she has been silly, dismissive of her parents, and taken in by false glamour and brilliance.

My Latest Grievance, like Billie Standish was Here, should be shelved in two sections and enjoyed by readers of all ages.

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The U.K. cover of My Latest Grievance is much better than that U.S. sunglasses version. I'm not even sure to what the glasses refer to in the novel. Laura Lee, perhaps?

Review: Not Like You

It's now Thursday and I still am without a computer. I am devoting the rest of this day to tracking it down in Edinburgh, which is no small task when you don't have a phone. If I am unsuccessful, I think there is a fair chance I'll be institutionalized.

However. One of the benefits of being without my true love is the forced hiatus its absence has caused me. This break has provided me some room to think on some of the books I've read recently. *

Take, for example, Deborah Davis' Not Like You, out July 16 from Clarion. On the surface of things, Not Like You is like many a Young Adult novel--the protagonist, 15-year-old Kayla, has grown up with no known father and an alcoholic mother who keeps them on the move after each bender lands her in trouble. The novel opens with one such move--to a hardscrabble town in New Mexico.

Kayla doesn't expect much from Rio Blanco, New Mexico, and she's not disappointed. Mom falls in with an organization called New Horizons and promises a new start. Rio Blanco has little to offer in terms of entertainment and Mom has rented an awful, tiny trailer as their new home. The trailer is owned by a lazy landlord named Redbone, who not only does not fix their water heater, but also plies Mom with booze each time he drops by the trailer. Despite such inauspicious beginnings, Kayla, an industrious girl, gets her dog-watching business up and running within a week of arriving to Rio Blanco. Soon, she's earning 10-15 dollars an hour training and caring for ill-behaved canines during her summer days.

During one such training gig, Kayla meets the 24-year-old son of her wealthy boss. The young man is a rock musician named Remy, a boy as full of promises as Kayla's wreck of a mother. Over time, Kayla turns to Remy instead of her mother for emotional support and follows him to Denver--stealing money from another set of employers in the process. Once in Denver, Kayla discovers that Remy isn't as interested in her as she thought.

Not Like You easily could have been a cliched novel based on easy redemption and radical character transformation. But, it's not. Instead, Kayla, despite her thievery and inclination for falling for the wrong guys, carries on bravely and with spirit. While Kayla never realizes that Remy is just like her mother, in his propensity for "borrowing" money and making easy promises, the reader knows Kayla will figure this out and soon. Why? Because Kayla is the type of person who learns from her mistakes and strives to do right by herself and others. Kayla's mother, Marilyn, doesn't become a saintly, abashed character--pure in a new sobriety. Rather, she remains a wounded, immature woman who is determined to stay clean and help her daughter grow up.

Deborah Davis' straightforward, clean prose suits the world and characters it portrays in Not Like You. This is a novel that makes you think--days after you've read it--about what will become of its characters and about the amazingly real world it depicts. Not Like You is highly recommended for readers ages 14 and up.
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* I did handwrite this review. If I ever receive my computer, I'll take a photo of the scribbled pages so you can see what I'm working with.

Speaking of handwriting--your comments yesterday on longhand vs. computer were so very interesting! I'll reply as soon as I'm able.

Review: Girl Overboard

Are you looking for a little fun? Then grab your sunscreen, your beach bag, and a copy of Aimee Ferris' Girl Overboard. It's the perfect beach fare--think Marian Keyes for the teenaged set.

In the summer before her senior year of high school, Marina Gray has some serious thinking to do. A smart girl from a small town in Vermont, she's interested in studying marine biology in her dream program at the University of Hawaii. But, she's been part of a couple for years and her boyfriend, Damian, loves skiing and snowboarding and plans to remain in Vermont for college. Moreover, Damian's mother is in remission from breast cancer and, so, he doesn't want to leave her for school (and Marina feels guilty even asking him to leave with her). Marina has decide whether or not to follow her dreams or remain with her first love.

This conundrum seems, on the surface of things, trivial, but, honestly, isn't it one of the most typical big decisions every girl has to make? Marina decides to sign up for a summer program at sea--a dream program devoted to marine biology on a cruise ship. Students will be working with dolphins in the Bahamas, whale sharks in the Bay Islands, and sea turtles in the Dominican Republic. While working with her fellow students, Marina saves a baby dolphin, swims with a whale shark, and learns quite a bit about how marine biologists work around the world. (Hint: it's not all glamorous.)

What I liked most about Girl Overboard is the serious thought Marina affords her decisions. She understands that, at age 18, she could easily make a mistake and end up abandoning her dreams for a boyfriend. She also understands that pursuing her dreams means comes with a cost. Call it junior rom-com with a conscious, or beach book with a bite, but, in the final analysis, you’ll have to call Girl Overboard a delicious summer read.
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Review: Parrotfish

Ellen Wittlinger's Parrotfish is a good-natured, compassionate novel about gender identity and growing up. Aimed at the Young Adult reader, Parrotfish is told in first-person narration from high school junior Angela's point of view. At the start of the novel, Angela--around Christmas-time--decides to change her name to Grady and her gender identity from female to male. This decision, needless to say, is not without its repercussions. Everyone in Grady's life reacts one way or another, and not always in the way he expected.

Dad, for instance, hardly blinks and eye when Angela becomes Grady. He's just happy that he still has the kid who enjoys doing the types of things he likes to do. Younger sister Laura is too obsessed with makeup, boys, and making it in high school to spend time building things with dad. And the youngest kid in the family, Charlie, is a computer-game addict who lives indoors. Charlie, like Dad, isn't too troubled by Grady's transformation. It takes Mom, however, some time to come around and Laura is afraid Grady will ruin her precarious reputation as a high school freshman.

Grady's friendships are altered as well. His best friend from childhood--Eve--has fallen in with the popular crowd and is freaked out by Grady’s new status as a boy. The school nerd Sebastian, however, takes Grady under his metaphorical wing and teaches him a lot about friendship and being one's self. Having always been an outsider and a genius, Sebastian's learned quite a bit about identity and self-worth before reaching high school.

These shifting relationships form the story of Parrotfish. But central to the novel as well are Grady and the other characters' considerations of what makes us male or female. When Grady's baby cousin is born, for example, he reflects:

"I knew the first question Mom asked Gail was, Is it a boy or a girl? Because, for some reason, that is the first thing everybody wants to know the minute you're born. Wouldn't want to mistake the gender of an infant! Why is that so important? It's a baby! And why does it have to be a simple answer? One or the other? Not all of us fit so neatly into the category we get saddled with on Day One when the doctor glances down and makes a quick assessment of the available equipment."

This is the heart of Parrotfish: What makes a human male or female? What does it mean if Grady is attracted to girls and not to boys? And what does physical attraction have to do at all with biological gender? Ellen Wittlinger handles these issues with sensitivity and, actually, no sexual content beyond high school crushes. Unusually, there are no real villains in the novel. Even the characters who act badly (high school bully, principal) have reasons for their behavior or rethink their points of view. Even mom, who is sad because she loses her Angela, learns to accept Grady wholeheartedly by the end of the novel. In the end, Grady finds his issues and struggles to understand himself to be universal: "Things change. People change. We spend a long time trying to figure out how to act like ourselves, and then, if we're lucky, we finally figure out that being ourselves has nothing to do with acting. If you don’t believe it, just look at me, the kid in the middle of the football field, smiling." Parrotfish is highly recommended for readers ages thirteen and up.