House of Night Series-- P.C. and Kristin Cast

What am I thankful for? I am thankful that I got to spend the weekend following Thanksgiving reading books in the bathtub! Seriously, what could be better?

The series I couldn't get enough of was House of Night by mother-daughter team P.C. and Kristin Cast. There are four books currently published (Marked, Betrayed, Chosen, Untamed), and according to their website, there will be nine total in the series.

House of Night is the name of the series, but also the name of the boarding school Zoey Redbird attends. After being tracked by an adult Vampyre, Zoey has to leave her normal, human life behind and join the other fledgling vampyres at the House of Night, where vampyres get a crash course in what to expect when they officially go through the change (transitioning from human to vampyre). We soon find out that Zoey is more than just a normal fledgling. She is chosen by the Goddess Nyx to be her high priestess, and the Goddess has gifted Zoey with the power to harness the elements to accomplish her goals. This is not your typical vampire story, and I think it will appeal to Twilight fans.

What made this series enjoyable for me was the magic and religion that was present. The vampyres practice Wicca, and although they don't officially call it that, the presence of Wiccan traditions (like casting a circle, calling the elements, etc) are central to the plot. Usually Wicca and witchcraft are terribly misrepresented in teen fiction (Rhymes with Witches by Lauren Myracle anyone? Ug.) Although the main character Zoey got on my nerves a bit with her goody two-shoes attitude, it was great to read a story with a strong female main character who is a Goddess worshiper. This is not a work of fine literature, but teens will love this series. AND it's a perfect bathtub read.

I would recommend the House of Night series to teen girls who liked the Twilight series, Stolarz's Blue is for Nightmares series, stories about romance or friendship, or Wicca and vampires in general.

Off Topic: Twilight Movie

So I can't help myself... I have to post something about the Twilight movie.

First, I will say that I have read all the books and I'm not gonna lie to you... I love them. They are not lovely examples of fine writing, but the series has done for YA lit what Harry Potter did for children's lit; Twilight brought books into pop-culture, teen boys and girls alike are gaga for the books, and kids who have never read a book longer than 100-200 pages are eating up these l-o-n-g tomes.

I have been hearing so many people rip into this movie. I have a bunch of friends in their late 20s who feel like they have the inside scoop on what makes a movie great... you know the type. These are the people who like to sit around with a glass of wine and talk about how much better it would have been if (insert obscure director's name here) had directed it. They talk about how unrealistic it is, about how stupid the vampires' makeup looked, how cheesy some of the lines were, how wooden the acting was...

But do you know what I say? I say WHO CARES! Truly. I know it wasn't a perfect movie... heck it wasn't even a great movie. But neither were the books and that doesn't stop the YA Librarian and avid teen fiction reader in me from loving them! The movie really got one thing right: it will appeal to the target audience, TEENS. Teens in the theater were swooning at every appearance of Edward (actually my 26 year old sister was swooning too), they cheered during the baseball scene, they giggled when Bella and Edward were kissing. Some of the lines from the book have become almost a cult secret language; you know, the lion laid down with the lamb stuff. Even though it was cheesy on film, it was really important to fans of the book; I'm glad they left it in.

I am happy to hear that New Moon has been green-lighted. I truly hope they get a bigger budget for the film so the special effects are more believable. Also, as I live in the Pacific Northwest, I hope they continue filming it in our gorgeous location! What I hope the most, however, is that all the adults who are tearing Twilight into shreds go easier on New Moon. It's a teen movie! I'm definitely not saying that makes it less of an art, I am just saying you can't judge it with the same criteria you use for movies with an older target audience.

What did you think??

Jellicoe Road-- Melina Marchetta

I finished reading Jellicoe Road about five days ago, but I have been waiting for some inspiration before I posted about it on my blog.

The inspiration hasn't really come to me yet.

Still, this was a GOOD BOOK. So I owe it some type of conversation, right? Then why can't I muster up excitement to spread the word about it? Hmmm.... anyway, about the book: Jellicoe Road takes place in Australia, at a boarding school. It is mostly narrated by Taylor, the protagonist, but the story of four teenagers who went to the Jellicoe School a generation prior is interspersed throughout the story. Taylor was abandoned by her drug addicted mother at a 7-11 on Jellicoe Road when she was very young. The school housemother, Hannah, took her in and raised her, yet somehow always kept her at arms length. Now a senior, Taylor is in charge of her dorm. She has been selected as the school's representative for the Territory Wars that happen ever year between the townies, boarding school students, and the cadets who participate in outdoor school/wilderness training on the Jellicoe School property. Even though she is supposed to be leading her school to victory, Taylor can't get past her mysterious family history, the emotions she feels toward Hannah and the leader of the Cadets, and her own personal drama.

Overall, this story is well-written and interesting, but somehow I don't see many teens being drawn to it. Taylor is a character teens might like, but the way Marchetta intersperses the secondary story of the four teens from the past gets a little fuzzy and confusing. Until about the last quarter of the book, the secondary story is not compelling and slows the pace of the book somewhat. That being said, I did enjoy this book (being a graduate of a boarding school high school, I always like reading books that take place in boarding schools) but would only recommend it to teens who are good readers and who like to really think about what they are reading. Teens who liked Marchetta's Saving Francesca, Notes from the Teenage Underground by Simmone Howell, and maybe Green's Looking for Alaska and Rosoff's What I Was migh enjoy this book.

Black Box-- Julie Schumacher

Black Box is one of those books that adults want teens to read... and in this case, because of the cover art and the length (under 200 pages), I'll bet that teens actually pick this book up. Black Box is told from the perspective of Elena, but it's really a story about her sister Dora who is suffering from severe depression. Elena and Dora used to be inseparable before Dora became depressed, and Elena takes it upon herself to become her sister's guardian. After Dora attempts suicide, and her parents finally take her condition seriously, Elena is forced to rediscover her own identity. She needs to separate herself from her sister's condition, and find a way to love Dora without taking on her problems. Thanks to a surprisingly supportive relationship with the town screw-up, and to the strength she finds inside herself, Elena finds her way out of the dark place she traveled while absorbing the suffering of her sister Dora.

This story is a really honest portrayal of depression. Julie Schumacher worked hard to not overromanticize depression or falsely depict it for the sake of fiction. This is definitely not an uplifting story, but it has an honestly that teens will appreciate. I would recommend this book to teens who like real life stories about hardships growing up, maybe those who like Child Called It, Ellen Hopkin's books, even Go Ask Alice (yes teens still read this!!), or Vizzini'z It's Kindof a Funny Story.

How They Met and other stories-- David Levithan

I am pretty picky when it comes to short stories... so many of them read like novels that didn't really work, so the author turned the piece into a short story. I was very pleased to find that David Levithan's collection was quite good. Levithan really seems to get what makes a short story appealing to readers. Even though some were more captivating than others, each story in How They Met had a unique tone and good character development. (My personal favorite was Starbucks Boy).

Levithan says at the beginning of this book that these are stories about love, not love stories. I would have to agree... love stories makes me think about romance, while stories about love makes me think of relationships. And, in each of his stories, relationships between friends, lovers, family, etc are the key element.

Although I am not a huge fan of his other work, with the notable exception of the two books he cowrote with Rachel Cohn (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Naomi and Eli's No Kiss List), I can easily recommend this book with few reservations. Levithan is known for writing novels with gay characters, but this book talks about all types of relationships, including hetero and homosexual, and many things in-between. Because of this, I believe this short story collection will reach a wider variety of readers than some other collections I have read in the past.

Teens who liked Julie Anne Peters' Girl to Girl, Francesca Lia Block's Blood Roses, 21 Proms and This is Push: stories from the edge (both edited by Levithan), or Meg Cabot's Prom Nights from Hell should enjoy this book. I would also recommend How They Met to fans of Cohn and Levithan's cowriten novels, readers of romance in general, and readers who appreciate not-so-mainstream lovestories.

Jessica's Guide to Datingon the Dark Side-- Beth Fantaskey

I wonder if I am going to get hate-comments about this post.

What can I say about Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side? Apparently most of the librarians on my listserves just love this book. I, however, did not love it. It is all trendy YA themes lumped into a novel: Vampires? Check. Embarrassing hippy parents? Got 'em. Slutty BFF? Yup. Weak and annoying heroine who becomes strong and self-assured at the end thanks to a man? Right here!

Maybe I am just spoiled because I have read so many good books for our Mock Printz event recently, but the last few books I have read just aren't wowing me.

Still, teens who haven't grown sick of over-played YA themes might want to take a bite outa this book (the puns, the puns, they're killing me!). I would recommend this book to teen girls who enjoy vampire fiction, specifically vampire fiction like: Fendi, Ferragamo, and Fangs, Dating for Demons, Dead is the New Black, the Mary Janice Davidson vampire books, etc.

Exodus-- Julie Bertagna

It is the year 2100. The polar icecaps have almost completely melted. The world entire world, with the exception of the tallest mountain peaks, is covered with water. And somehow, 15 year old Mara Bell must save her people from certain death as global warming has caused flooding on her tiny northern island, Wing, and there is literally no where to go but onto the open water. Mara and only one boat-load of her people arrive at New Mungo, a towering city in the sky built on what was previously known as Glasgow. However, New Mungo does not accept refugees, and they are stranded with the other poor and abandoned folks below the city. Mara, and the allies she makes called Treenesters, must somehow infiltrate New Mungo to save the poor, the young, and the refugees.

In theory, this an interesting book. With global warming affecting our climate, habitats, and yes our polar icecaps, the background for this novel is quite believable. However, the author does not give readers enough character or plot development to really entice them. Mara forms these incredibly strong bonds with people in a matter of hours, and the reader is left feeling unsure about why she would potentially sacrifice her life for them. Also, the things that are most interesting in post-apocalyptic stories like this one were totally left out. We don't really learn about how the people survived, how they built New Mungo, etc. When Mara does enter New Mungo, the technology is mind-blowing, but Bertagna does not describe it in a satisfactory way. There is nothing about this book that hasn't been done better in other books for teens.

Still, as it wasn't a terrible book, and teens might find it more interesting than I did, I would recommend it to teens who enjoyed the following books for the reasons listed:

For teens who like...

• the weather setting of Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life as We Knew it and The Dead and the Gone
• the cool hoverboard scenes in Westerfeld's Uglies books
• the technology vs. primitive living that collided in Suzanne Collin's Hunger Games
• the kids take the lead in crisis themes in Michael Grant's Gone

Be warned... the books I listed above as read-similars for Exodus will probably be enjoyed more by teen readers that Exodus will be.