A Blast of Books II

So every now and then I get so behind on my blogging, I have to blast you with a bunch of books at once... and heeeeeeeere we go!

Flash Burnout-- L.K. Madigan

Blake is a photographer who captures the gritty and hideous in a beautiful way. His photography pal, Marissa, is just the opposite... she takes beautiful things and makes them quirky and interesting. One day Blake captures the image of a drugged out streetperson... who ends up being Marissa's missing meth-addicted mother. This book is an emotional journey about friendship, family, growing up before your time, and the power of art. Bonus: it takes place in Portland, OR.





Stitches-- David Small


For whatever reason, I really love GN memoirs... and David Small's is just another to add to my list! Poignant, honest (brutally at times), and deeply revealing, this book is just as well-written as it's well-drawn. Small tells of his struggle with cancer, his abusive parents, and how he overcame both and finally found his voice.






How Beautiful the Ordinary-- Edited by Michael Cart


In this collection of short stories, we get to read works by YA author superstars including Francesca Lia Block, David Levithan, Julie Anne Peters, William Sleater, Emma Donoghue and more. It's a collection of coming of age stories, mostly coming out stories to be precise, and for the most part it's quite a good read. Is it memorable? Not really. Still, there are lots of teens out there that hunger for honest tales of growing up and I think this book will have a fairly wide audience.




Tangled-- Carolyn Mackler



Told from the perspective of four different teens, all in alternating chapters, we learn that life isn't perfect for anyone, despite outward appearances. Contrived and unoriginal at it's worst, touching and relatable to teens at it's best, I think Mackler's fans won't be toooooo disappointed in her latest effort. At least it has a good message that isn't nauseatingly heavy-handed.





Lips Touch: three times-- Lani Taylor

I have to admit that this was my favorite out of the bunch. It's a collection of three stories, all based on a traditional tale or poem, and illustrated by her husband. I will confess that I am biased about this because the first story was based on Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market" which is my favorite Victorian poem. But still, the writing was amazing, and the stories were strange, creepy, and just plain good. This would be a great book to recommend to the teen who thinks they only like adult books because YA books aren't well-written enough. Oh and it was nominated for a National Book Award in 2009.

Tricks-- Ellen Hopkins

Guess what? Ellen Hopkins will be visiting my library soon! To prepare, I thought I would read her latest book, Tricks. I made the mistake of reading it before bed... and let me tell you, this is not a cheery bedtime read.

Tricks is a verse novel, just like her other works. It's the story of five teens from all over the USA. Even though each teen is vastly different and was raised in a unique way, they're stories all have a similar theme: sometimes sex isn't just about love... sometimes it's about power, freedom, money, punishment, torture, individuality, exploration, or intimacy. And somehow, in the end, the teens' lives intersect in a mostly tragic but slightly hopeful way.

I can't say that I loved this book... I struggle with the verse novel format, and to be honest, I had a hard time keeping the characters straight at first. Still, I know why teens love her: Hopkins writes about real hard living. Some teens are really drawn to the gritty realism she so clearly writes. I would recommend this book to boys or girls who like verse novels, edgy topics, or want to read something about teen prostitution (don't laugh, I've totally been asked for this!!).

After-- Amy Efaw

Devon is a straight-A Student. She is an Olympics-worthy soccer player, and takes care of her emotionally immature mother. She has a handful of close girlfriends, but stays away from boys. Devon's mother had her when she was a teen herself, and Devon wants nothing to get in the way of her dreams of success.

But if Devon has it all together, why would she be sitting in a jail cell waiting for a meeting with her court appointed lawyer? Why is she bleeding profusely? And why, WHY did she throw her baby in dumpster outside her apartment building only moments after giving birth on her own in her tiny bathroom?

In this horrifying novel, Amy Efaw paints us a picture of Devon's life and how she could possibly convince herself that she wasn't pregnant even at 9 months. Though she never justifies Devon's actions, the reader does feel sympathy for her (or at least I did). This is a tough read, and I think it will be a tricky sell to teens. Some girls will really embrace this tale of angst, trial, and desperation. Others will be too horrified by Devon's actions. Personally, I was sucked in by the story, but was really left wanting for more. Efaw did an okay job of telling the story, but to me, she ended it before I was satisfied with the conclusion... not in a "leave the reader hanging" kind of way, but IMHO a "couldn't figure out where to go next" kind of way.

Rage: A Love Story-- Julie Anne Peters

So there I was in my office, opening my big stack of mail and low and behold, a big stack of ARCs (Advance Reading Copies of books... you know the sneak peaks of books librarians sometimes get) had arrived! AND ever better, there was a book by one of my favorite YA authors, Julie Anne Peters! I audibly yelped for joy and then proceeded to read the book cover to cover on an airplane over the weekend... but remember folks, just because a book is a page-turner doesn't mean it's amazing...

Johanna is a smart, responsible girl. She took care of her mother when she was sick and dying, she constantly watches out for her party-girl best friend, works hard for good grades and pocket money, and hopes to go to college and get on with her life. Honestly, she's pretty vanilla-bland-whitebread, except for her secret fantasies about Reeve Hartt.

Reeve is fierce, uglybeautiful, violent, passionate, and basically the opposite of Johanna. When Johanna gets conned into tutoring Reeve's brother, Johanna pursues Reeve until she just can't say no any longer. Their relationship is tumultuous to say the least, and full of challenges due to Reeve's abysmal home life and violent, erratic behavior. Don't expect a picture perfect happy ending (who would, with a title like Rage: a love story?), but the book does resolve itself in an acceptable way.

So what's my problem with this book? I just didn't love it. I feel like Peters is starting to rely on some old familiar tricks. I saw a lot of similarities between this book and Define Normal (the tutoring, the alternative chick, the "normal" chick etc) and also Far From Xanadu (the wild amazing pixie girl love interest). Also, although the story is narrated by Johanna, I couldn't get a good mental picture of who she was. I did, however, feel very intrigued by Reeve's story and would have preferred to hear about it from her perspective. Am I let down because I have too high of standards for this particular author (I *loved* Far From Xanadu), or was the book just not that great?

I would offer this book to teens who want books with gay characters (that isn't a coming out story), less than perfect love stories, or books about screwed up families.

The Chosen One-- Carol Lynch Williams

The Prophet is not questioned. The Word Of God is not disputed. The Prophet only speaks words that God has given him in a vision. God told The Prophet that 13 year-old Kyra is to be her 60 year-old Uncle Hyrum's 7th wife.

Kyra has spent her entire life in an isolated community of fundamentalists. She spends her days working their tiny plot of earth, taking care of her 20 brothers and sisters, and finding moments to sneak away and discover herself. One day she happens upon the Ironton County Mobile Library on Wheels... and she learns there is a world beyond the fences that surround their property. When The Prophet decrees she is to marry her Uncle Hyrum, everything in Kyra's mind and body rebels. But no matter what she does, her plan to escape this fate is thwarted. When she is left with the choice to either destroy her family but save herself, or stay and marry her old uncle, she is more than conflicted. Who could choose rationally when faced with violence, abuse, and the though of losing everyone and everything you know forever.

I have to say, I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was well-written and very engaging. There were parts of the plot that were semi-unbelievable, but that is to be expected out of a book that covers such taboo topics. I would recommend this book to teens who like the T.V. show Big Love, and who enjoyed books like The Patron Saint of Butterflies.

School for Dangerous Girls-- Eliot Schrefer

It's pretty straight-forward, actually. If you're a bad girl, you're gonna get in trouble. And if you keep getting in trouble, you'll get kicked out of school. And when you get kicked out of school, there's only one place for you to go: Hidden Oak aka the School for Dangerous Girls.

Hidden Oak. Doesn't that sound like a summer camp? Unfortunately for Angela and her classmates, there is nothing quaint about Hidden Oak. It's the last chance for all the girls who attend, and they have one month to prove to the administration that they're reformable. Girls who have a spark of change are "gold thread" and girls who are too rebellious and bad become "purple thread". Gold thread girls live a normal-ish reform school life... but the purple thread girls are locked in the tunnels under the school and left to Lord of the Flies-esque self-ruling.

Angela isn't really a bad kid... she has made some mistakes, responded to abuses inflicted upon her at a young age, and is unendlingly loyal. It's this loyalty combined with a strong stubborn streak that gets her thrown from gold to purple thread... and when she is left in a life or death situation, she has to make tough choices or die trying.

I have to admit this book was pretty unrealistic. Still, it was a page turner. I didn't love it, but found myself compelled to finish it quickly because of Angela's sassy, honest voice. Teen girls will like this book, especially those who want to read about the "bad girl" or who enjoyed Todd Strasser's Boot Camp.

Everything Beautiful in the World-- Lisa Levchuk

Set in the 1980s and told from the unreliable perspective of Edna, Everything Beautiful in the World is a story about finding love in the midst of pain. Edna's mother is hospitalized with cancer, and every time she tries to visit her mother, Edna's body totally shuts down and she becomes terribly ill. Once a highly intelligent girl, she can now barely piece together logical sentences and is basically flunking out of school. The one class she excels in in ceramics... taught by Mr. Howland.

Edna and Mr. Howland have a secret place in the woods the like to visit. The also have a secret place in the back of his office, and even in his house. When friendships fail her, and her father no longer speaks to her, Mr. Howland is the only light in Edna's life. Until he isn't.

To be frank, I had a really hard time with this book. This is Levchuk's first book and honestly, it shows. The metaphors were cloyingly heavy-handed, the characters more like caricatures, and the plot never delivers any strong points. Also, thought the book was set in the 1980s, this had zero importance to the plot and almost seemed arbitrary. If you have a request for a teacher-student romance then I guess this would fill that need, but it pales in comparison to Barry Lyga's Boy Toy.

Because I am Furniture-- Thalia Chaltas

Anke is invisible. No, she really is. She has two siblings, and they are not invisible, not one bit. In fact, her father can see them so well he never seems to leave them alone. Ever. Anke's sister Yaicha is a genius with makeup. Maybe she will go to cosmetology school when she grows up. Or maybe she has covered up so many bruises and scrapes, she has become an expert by default. Anke's brother Darren is a daredevil and popular at school. He's also tough, but never tough enough to keep his father at bay. Their father is an alcoholic, physically and sexually abusive. And their mother just looks away.

No one knows why Anke is invisible to her father. He literally never speaks to her, never visits her room in the middle of the night, never uses her face as a punching bag. And the sad, sad thing is that Anke is so desperate for someone to love her, so desperate for human touch, she almost wishes he would... well... anything would be better than being invisible, right? Anything would be better than being a piece of furniture.

This is the debut work by Thalia Chaltas, and though I am not fond of the verse-novel format, I know it's popular with teens. This is an unflinchingly realistic tale of abuse, silence, and the need for human contact. Although the words are sparse, the reader really feels a connection to Anke. Teens will relate to Anke's strength and suffering, and I can't wait to recommend this to girls who are fans of Sonya Sones, Ellen Hopkins, Laura Wiess's Such a Pretty Girl, and Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak.

This book will be published in April 2009.

Living Dead Girl-- Elizabeth Scott

Without a doubt, this is the most gut-wrenching, painful book I have read this year. Maybe ever... I had nightmares last night after I finished it... not because it was gory or gruesome in the way some YA horror can be, but because I know abuse like what is portrayed in Scott's novel exists in this world... which makes it much scarier than a ghost story.

Living Dead Girl is told by 15 year old "Alice". She was abducted when she was in elementary school on a field trip, and has been help captive by Ray, a man who abuses her in every way imaginable. Because he prefers her to look young, he literally starves her, makes her wear the same frilly nightgowns she wore when she was a small child, and goes through drastic measures to stave off her puberty. Ray murdered his last "Alice" when she was 15, and the current Alice, the protagonist of this story, considers herself a living dead girl: not only is she totally dead inside because of years and years of horrific torture, but she knows that any day now she will be murdered to make room for a new and younger "Alice".

As you can tell from the plot summary, this book addresses some serious issues (sexual abuse, kidnapping, pedophilia, etc). However, the most powerful parts of this novel come from Alice's descriptions of the way other people treat her. When she goes into the esthetician for her full body waxing, the esthetician can see all the bruises on her starved body. Does she reach out to help her? No. Alice talks about how the people in her apartment building just look the other way, and on the bus they would rather see right through her than help her.

It made me think about how many people exist in our society that are just waiting for one person to offer them help... just one person to help them navigate their way from hell back to earth again. Then, on the way to work, I heard a special on NPR about Oregon's statute on limitations on child molestation and got angry all over again...

This is a powerful, horrifying, extremely well written book. It is not for the faint of heart.