A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend-- Emily Horner

Things that are happening during the summer before Cass's senior year in high school:

Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad.
A badass solo bike ride from Illinois to California (kinda).
A musical which should have stared Julia, but instead stars Heather, the girl who mercilessly called Cass a dyke in front of the whole school.
Self discovery.
Two first kisses.

Something that happened in the spring:

Julia, Cass's best friend and secret (even to herself) girlcrush is killed in a car accident... and Cass's world implodes. Her hippy-liberal-Quaker parents encourage Cass to find her way out of the blackness, and Cass decides to do so by making a cross country bike trip, alone, to scatter Julia's ashes in the Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, Cass and Julia's friends decide to produce Julia's legacy, the musical she'd been slaving over "Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad."

This book is told in Then and Now passages, isn't linear, and is totally compelling. I literally couldn't put it down. Sometimes YA coming of age stories are unrealistically good (ahem, John Green), but this one really communicates how boundaries in the mind can be blurry, and how easy it can be to trick yourself into believing a lie... basically just like real life. I also found this book to be quite well written and will be keeping it in mind when it's time to select titles for Mock Printz!

Blast of Books III: Journey into Distopia

For some reason, I found myself in a black hole of dystopia last week... and this is what I read:

The Gardener-- S.A. Bodeen (May 2010)

Mason is your average teenage boy growing up in a small town. His father is out of the picture, his mother struggles with alcoholism and works nights at the local nursing home, which is owned by TroDyn. Determined to make something of his life, Mason decides to apply to TroDyn, a local scientific corporation that will pay for his schooling if he agrees to work there afterward. But when Mason visits his mother at work one day, and sees that she is not watching over senior citizens but catatonic teenagers, Mason learns there is more to TroDyn than he originally thought. All at once, he is caught up in a whirlwind of science he never thought possible, and falls hard for a beautiful girl who needs someone to project her.

The Gardener is almost more sci-fi than dystopia, and as you can tell by the cover, the Gardener isn't growing flowers in the greenhouse. And though there are massive plot holes and the character development is poor, Bodeen does a good job of showing how an altruistic idea can have sinister results when science is more highly valued than human life. I didn't enjoy this book as much as some of the others in this post, but I think teens will like it if they are looking for a fast paced sci-fi/dystopia.


Matched-- Ally Condie (November 2010)

It's the not-so-distant future and Society rules. Literally. All personal choice has been removed, and because of that, there is no war, conflict, or confusion. There are 100 approved poems, 100 approved paintings, and no one knows how to write (only type). Your career is chosen for you by your aptitude and social standing. And most importantly, your spouse is chosen for you. It's like an arranged marriage, but instead of loving families deciding what's best for their children, Society uses logarithms to scientifically make matches. And somehow no one questions this.

Cassia cannot wait for her matching day. She is thrilled when she is matched with Xander, the boy who lives next door and is her best friend. This is extremely rare and she is grateful to already know her match. But when she pops in the data disc that has more information about her match, it's not Xander's face that she sees. Instead she sees Ky, the mysterious boy who is always on the fringes. Society acknowledged the glitch in the system and tried to smooth things over. Yet other bits and pieces of Society's rigorous hold are crumbling and Cassia finds that she can't just live a quiet subdued life anymore.

Nomansland-- Lesley Hauge (June 2010)

I'm a sucker for retold mythology and from the cover and synopsis of this book, I thought this would be a retelling of the story of the amazon women... you know, the women who cut off a breast so they could use their bows and arrows better, and spend their lives on the back of a horse. However, it's vaguely inspired by that myth and really focuses more on the post apocalyptic plot.

Something has happened and the world we currently know is gone. A group of women survive the apocalypse on an island and recreate society to survive this new reality. When we meet Keller, the world we live in now is a distant memory. She lives with other women in a strict, almost archaic feeling society and is training to be a tracker. When her friend Laing finds an old dwelling (most likely from the around our current time, so maybe 2020 or so?) buried under the earth, she and the other girls are introduced to a society they never knew. They try on lipstick, look at beauty magazines, and marvel over barbie dolls. But when the women governing their society discovers their secret hideaway, the results are nothing less than tragic.

This World We Live In--Susan Beth Pfeffer (April 2010)

This is book three in The Last Survivors series (the first being Life as We Knew It) and because of this, I won't spend too much time on it. Basically This World We Live In takes the characters we met in the first two books and places them in a situation where their worlds unite. I would think fans of the first two books will be happy to read this, to me it felt uninspired and kind of like an afterthought.

Scott Pilgrim: A side note

So here's some randomness for y'all.

Just over a week ago I was rambling on about how much I loved Mercury by Hope Larson. Then, over the weekend, I decided to read the first 5 volumes of Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley since the movie is coming out soon. Then I noticed one of the volumes was dedicated to Hope Larson. And then in another volume, I see that she is his wife. Ooooohhhh, synchronicity.

And, speaking of the Scott Pilgrim GNs; they're awesome! Although my library has the series cataloged as YA, I really think it's more for people in their 20s. The characters are in their mid 20s and there are lots of references back to 90s area videogames and bands. The series is perfectly appropriate for teens; I'm just not sure of the appeal. I wonder if teens will be drawn in by the forthcoming movie...

...And speaking of this movie, is it just me, or does Michael Cera have a monopoly on the ya book to movie roles? He's been in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Youth in Revolt, and now Scott Pilgrim. I can't say that I am happy about this choice, but I'll hold me judgment until I actually see the movie.

Mercury-- Hope Larson

This beautifully illustrated graphic novel details two young women's coming of age in Nova Scotia, but in vastly different time periods.

1859: Josey lives on a farm with her parents, and one day a traveling salesman type gold prospector, Asa, stops by. He lures in her father, and before she knows it, Asa has integrated himself inextricably from their lives... and Josey's heart. Asa has in his possession a unique necklace that has a bead of quicksilver in it, which ends up in Josey's hands at a key moment in time.

Present Day: Tara loves nothing more than the rickety old farm house her family has owned for generations. But when a tragic fire decimates their home, Tara's mother is forced to sell the land in order to make ends meet. But when Tara hears a rumor that gold is buried on their property, she feels like this is her only chance to save her childhood homestead.

Josey and Tara's stories are told in alternating sections, and Larson does a beautiful job of making each story distinct, but overlap in a way to make the story cohesive. Along with the storyline, details about the girls' lives are included to flesh out the details and make the reader feel involved with coming of age.

I would recommend this book to fans of graphic novels, particularly the stand-alone type, or fans of historical fiction who are looking to expand their reading selections. Fans of Stitches by David Small, Blankets by Craig Thompson, or American Born Chinese by Gene Lee Yang might like this for its coming of age/memoir-esque format.

White Cat-- Holly Black

This book surprised me. I didn't expect to like it, but it kept getting high marks from review sources I value... so I gave it a chance.

And what do you know? I really enjoyed it!

In this tale of an alternate reality that highly resembles real life, there are curse workers. Curse workers are basically people who can use magic but only to do one thing. For example, Cassel's mother can control people's emotions, his brothers can control memories and even bring about death. Somehow, though his whole family was blessed with the skills to use this magic, Cassel is the one dud. He can't do anything magical, so his mobster family shipped him off to a boarding school where he won't get in their way-- so he thinks.

But there's this white cat who stalks his dreams. And one night this cat causes him to sleepwalk onto the roof of his dorm and come within seconds of plummeting to his death. And somehow he feels a little more awake now, like fuzz has been removed from his head, and he is learning things about himself, and his family, that he never thought possible.

This book is realistic fantasy with action and a little bit of romance. I think a variety of teens will like it, and it's the first in a promising series. I would give this book to fans of the author, Holly Black, or teens who enjoy authors like Melissa Marr, Charles de Lint or any other urban fantasy author.

Every Little Thing in the World-- Nina de Gramont

Sydney's 16 and a goody two-shoes... and pregnant. Her BFF Natalia just found out her parents are really her grandparents and that her older sister is really her mother. The only person who knows about Sydney's pregnancy is Natalia, and all of a sudden her views on abortion just got really complicated.

When Sydney and Natalia get busted attending a kegger, Sydney's parents send her on a long canoeing camping trip in Canada. They don't know she's pregnant and think the nature excursion might help her find what really matters in life. At the last minute Natalia finagles a spot in the group, and over the course of the summer both girls learn more about themselves and each other.

In typical summer camp fashion, other friendships and close bonds are developed, adventures are had, and tough decisions need to be made. But when the summer comes to a close, will Sydney listen to Natalia's pleas to keep her baby, or will she get the abortion that seems like the most logical choice.

Honestly, I was surprised by this book. I was so worried that it would be schmaltzy and unrealistic. I think de Gramont captures what it feels like to be a teen, invincible yet extremely fragile all at once. I would give this book to people who read Sarah Dessen, and fans of Jumping Off Swings.

After Ever After-- Jordan Sonnenblick

Jeffery Alper is a leukemia survivor. He beat the disease into remission when he was five years old, but the chemo, radiation, and strong medications have left their mark. He has trouble concentrating, walks with a limp, and feels abandoned by his older brother who took off for Africa for a year.

On the first day of 8th grade, a beautiful accident happens. He notices a girl struggling to pick up her spilled backpack and they hit it off instantly. The next thing he knows, Lindsay from L.A. is his girlfriend and his only real friend besides BFF Tad, another cancer survivor.

Throughout the book we learn about Jeff's coming of age as a cancer survivor, how he is treated by others, and which boundaries he tries to break on his own. After Ever After is a sequel to Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, but it's totally stand-alone (I never read the first book and didn't feel I was lacking for anything plot-wise). Sonnenblick writes an authentic 8th grade voice, and this is a good book to have in your pocket for that younger teen or tween who doesn't want baby-ish books but isn't ready for bawdy teen lit.