Teen/YA review: Monsters of Men

I finished book 3 of the Chaos Walking series, Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness, back in December. I considered just skipping the review, since I had already reviewed book 1, The Knife of Never Letting Go, and book 2, The Ask and the Answer. Even though it took me a few months to find the time, I still want to review this third and final book of the trilogy because I found it so compelling and thought-provoking. So, I promise a short review with no spoilers…and if you’ve already read this novel, please leave your thoughts in the comments section because I am dying to discuss it!

The Chaos Walking trilogy begins in an unknown time and place where everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts (the never-ending internal cacophony is known as Noise). In books 1 and 2, some details are slowly revealed about how and why this society developed. In this third book, Todd and Viola are back (two very endearing and strong – though young - main characters).  This final book is all about war, as you may have guessed from the title. The evil Mayor Prentiss is still seeking as much power as he can take, a group of rebels is using more and more violent methods to stop him, and a third party, the Spackle, are joining in the battle (you’ll have to read books 1 and 2 to learn more about them). Against this backdrop, the ever-present Noise continues, as Todd and Viola move toward adulthood and have to make decisions that could affect the future of all of their fellow citizens.

Like the first two books, book 3 is action-packed, filled with violence, battles, and increasing horrors. But this trilogy is so much more than action/adventure in a mysterious dystopian/science fiction environment. Ness fills the series – and especially this final book – with thoughtful and thought-provoking complications. In this case, both Todd and Viola are constantly facing serious, life-changing decisions with deep moral implications. They wrestle with issues that have plagued mankind for centuries: Does the end justify the means? Is violence for the right reasons any better than violence for the wrong reasons? If you choose the lesser of two evils, is it still evil?

The backdrop of war makes all of these issues very real and imperative for the two young heroes. Through it all is the constant stress and chaos of the Noise echoing in everyone’s heads. Like in the best dystopian fiction and science fiction, the author makes us think about our own society. Ness certainly wants us to consider the moral implications of both war and terrorism, and I think the Noise is a symbol of what’s occurring in our own world right now – the ever-present, nonstop flow of information from multiple sources every moment of every day.

I highly recommend this series to teens, young adults, and adults of all ages. It is a fast-paced, interesting, compelling story that is also thoughtful. This is my favorite kind of dystopian fiction – the kind that gives you insight into our own society and makes you think – in a similar vein as The Hunger Games trilogy (especially book 3, Mockingjay, which also focuses on war) and the Unwind series. I can’t wait to read more from Patrick Ness.

603 pages, Candlewick Press

 

Teen/YA Review: Code Name Verity

I have been reading rave reviews of Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein ever since its release in 2012, and I finally had a chance to read it myself. It’s a unique teen/YA historical novel that focuses on the role of women in World War II.

As this unusual novel opens, it becomes clear that the text is being written by one of the characters. She explains in the first pages that she is a captive of the Nazis in occupied France and that she has agreed to write down everything she knows in exchange for small bits of comfort (like getting her clothes back) and staying alive. It is clear that she is a young British woman, but other details of her background and life come out slowly, in the course of her telling her story.

The narrative that she writes is not what the Nazi officer in charge of her expected. Rather than write dull lists of types of airplanes, British airfields, and other wartime details, she writes a story. The officer allows her to do this because he can see that she is a good storyteller, and he is somewhat amused by her unusual methods.

She starts at the beginning, several years ago, with much of her story focused on a young female pilot named Maddie. In fact, it isn’t immediately apparent to the reader exactly who the writer is at first. She describes her friendship with Maddie and how they both became part of the war effort. Along the way, she includes the kinds of details that the Nazis are looking for, but it is certainly a long and convoluted story.

The details of women’s role in World War II as pilots and spies are fascinating; it is an aspect of this much-written-about period of history that is typically overlooked. The story itself is also engaging, about two young women who become friends during this very difficult time in history and how one of them came to be captured by the Nazis (though those details come much later).

The novel is suspenseful and compelling, and the details of this little-known aspect of the War are intriguing. There are plenty of unexpected twists and surprises along the way (though I guessed at the major plot surprise fairly early on). This is a difficult book to read in some ways because it includes details of the narrator’s capture and torture by the Nazis. As my son reminded me when I cried while listening to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas on audio: “Mom, it’s about the Holocaust. You have to expect it to be sad!” As a result, this novel is best for older, more mature teens and young adults.

332 pages, Hyperion

A companion novel by Elizabeth Wein, Rose Under Fire, was just released in September. It also deals with women pilots in World War II, about a young woman pilot who is captured by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp.

 

Teen/YA Review: Rotters

Ever since I was about halfway through the audio book of Rotters by Daniel Kraus, I have been thinking about how I would review it because it is such a complex and contradictory novel. It is a wholly unique story – a coming-of-age tale wrapped up with grave robbing – that is dark and disturbing yet compelling.

Sixteen-year old Joey lives a fairly normal life in Chicago with his single mother: he plays the trumpet in the school band, works hard to be a good student, and has one good friend who helps him contend with the typical trials of high school. Joey’s life falls apart, however, when his mother is killed in an accident, and he is sent to rural Iowa to live with a father he didn’t even know he had. Ken, his father, isn’t any happier to see Joey than Joey is to be there.

Quickly, Joey’s ordinary life turns into something from a nightmare. He has lost his mother, and his only remaining family member clearly doesn’t want him there. He moved away from his only friend (who quickly moves on with his life) and has no friends at his new school, where he is bullied relentlessly, not only by fellow students but also by a sadistic teacher. To make matters worse, Joey discovers that his mysterious father makes his living robbing graves. Although the people in town don’t know the exact nature of his occupation, they all sense that it is something underhanded and illegal, and they ostracize Ken…and now Joey, too.

Things just keep getting worse for Joey, until it seems like you just can’t bear to hear (or read) about one more horrible thing. He is bullied, neglected, starved, and ridiculed. Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. Meanwhile, Joey very gradually learns more about his father’s life as a Digger, as they are known, and the history and details of grave robbing.

If all of this sounds depressing and macabre, well…it is. Rotters is a very dark and disturbing novel that only gets worse (and worse).  The ending does offer some hope, but it is a long road to get there. It took me 2 months to finish listening to Rotters on audio, in part because it is a long novel and in part because I couldn’t listen to it for long periods – I needed breaks from the sad, angry atmosphere of the book. As I said at the beginning of this review, it is compelling – I was certainly rooting for Joey and wanted to see how things turned out for him. I also felt, though, that it was a bit too long; that may have been partly due to my disjointed way of listening to it. Rotters won the 2012 ALA’s Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production, and I agree that it was very well done – perhaps that is part of why it is so disturbing, because the characters felt real. Just be forewarned that it is a long and sinister journey.

Listening Library/Random House Audio

Paperback:    Audio:

Teen/YA Review: Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am

I have a large number of middle-grade, teen, and YA books on my TBR shelves, and I tried to do a bit of end-of-the-year catching up. One of the teen/YA novels I recently read was Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am by Harry Mazer and Peter Lerangis. It is a unique story about a young man who comes back from Iraq with a brain injury that leaves him with no memory of who he is.

Ben Bright is the star of his senior class in high school – a good student, the lead role in his high school play, and a longtime girlfriend named Ariela whom he plans to marry. All of his friends are going away to college next year, but Ben has other plans. He enlists in the army, much to his family and friends’ dismay. His parents don’t understand, his best friend, Niko, is angry with him, and Ariela is afraid he won’t come back. Ben explains to them that he feels a deep need to give back and help support and protect his country, and he reassures them that he won’t be going overseas.

Those who care about him reluctantly support Ben, but things change and he is sent overseas, to Iraq. The phone call they have all been dreading finally comes: Ben has suffered a severe brain trauma in an explosion, and doctors are unsure what his prognosis might be.

The rest of the novel follows both Ben and his family and friends as they all try to support Ben with his new challenges, as he slowly recovers in the hospital. He doesn’t remember any of them nor his old life nor even who he is. Ben’s journey back to life is a slow and tedious one, and his friends and family members each react differently, as he struggles with his daily challenges.

This is a very brief novel – only 148 pages – about an important topic that is rarely covered in teen/YA fiction, young people in the military and the long road to recovery for those with brain injuries. I liked that this book showed all sides of a complicated issue: readers see Ben’s determination to do the right thing and support his country but also the crazy randomness of violence in war and the difficulties for soldiers returning home injured or incomplete.

Ironically, I chose to read this novel now because I was looking for something brief, but it felt a bit too brief to me. I wished there was a little more. I think that tells you something about the story. It was well told and compelling, with very realistic characters that I came to care about. I’m glad I read it, and I still think about it.

148 pages, Simon & Schuster

 

Teen/YA Review: Between Shades of Gray

Like most avid readers, I have been hearing rave reviews of Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, a teen/YA historical novel, since it was first published in 2011. When it came time to choose a birthday gift for my 14-year old cousin who loves history, I decided to give her two of the best YA historical novels I could find. She is especially fascinated by the World War II period of history and loved The Diary of Anne Frank, so I chose The Book Thief and Between Shades of Gray for her. In her thank you note to me, she said she was in the middle of reading Between Shades of Gray and never wanted it to end. I decided I needed to finally read this acclaimed novel for myself, so we can talk about it when I see her at Thanksgiving next week. This compelling novel about a little-known historical tragedy deserves all of the praise it’s gotten.

In 1941, fifteen year-old Lina is living a typical teen life with her family in Lithuania, which has recently been occupied by the Soviet Union. Her family is close and loving, she loves to draw and paint, she and her cousin enjoy sharing their dreams and wishes with each other, and she is even beginning to notice boys. Then her world is shattered when the Soviet secret police burst into her home one day and force her and her mother and younger brother into a train car headed for an unknown destination. Lina’s father was taken the day before, and the family has no idea where he is.

The Soviets separate the women and children from the men, and they are forced into crowded freight train cars, where they struggle to stay alive with little food or water. Eventually, Lina, her mother, and her brother arrive at a Soviet work camp. Conditions are inhumane, and they are made to work at hard labor for 12 hours or more a day, with a food ration of just a piece of bread for each person each day. Lina struggles to remain hopeful and to find a way to find her father and get word to him of where they are being kept. Although she knows it is dangerous, she draws pictures of their experiences and hides them, in the hope that someday their story will be told. She surreptitiously draws coded pictures that she passes along from one person to the next, hoping they will eventually arrive at the prison camp where her father is being held.

This is a beautifully written and emotionally powerful story. Lina and her fellow captives come alive on these pages, and it is impossible to set this book aside – or forget its characters – once you start it. Behind this moving story are real-life facts that are astonishing and that most people, myself included, have never heard before. While most of the world was watching Hitler and the Nazis in Germany, the Soviet Union was quietly deporting hundreds of thousands of people from the Baltic countries of Latvia, Estonia,  and Lithuania (as well as Finland) to Soviet labor camps and prisons in Siberia, some further north than the Arctic Circle. These people were deemed anti-Soviet for one reason or another and included doctors, engineers, teachers and university professors, librarians, and more. Many of them, including children, were held prisoner for 10-15 years in Siberia, under horrifying conditions.

It was stunning to me that all of this went on, and I’d never heard about it before. It seems that few people did. Even after the prisoners were returned to their hometowns (more than a decade later!), their beloved countries were still a part of the Soviet Union, and they were warned that if they ever spoke of their experiences, the secret police would immediately deport them and their families back to Siberia. This forced silence continued until the Soviet Union was disbanded in 1991 and the Baltic countries once again regained their names. Thankfully, some people – like Lina in the novel – wrote or drew about their experiences and buried or hid their journals and drawings to be found decades later.

This novel just blew me away. Between the fascinating historical backdrop and the engaging characters, the story as a whole was absolutely compelling. A week after finishing it, I still can not get it out of my mind. Everyone should read this amazing book and learn about this mostly unknown tragedy. I can’t wait to talk to my cousin about it next week!

338 pages, Philomel Books

Listening Library

NOTE: Like many Holocaust novels, this book describes some horrible events and includes a fair amount of tragedy and death; however, it also sends a message of hope and love, showing how people can survive and maintain their spirits under the most atrocious conditions. It is best for teens and young adults (and adults); parts of the book may be too disturbing for younger children.

If you want to hear more about the book and the history that it is based on, check out the author’s video on the book's website.

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Middle-Grade/Teen Review: Tell Us We’re Home

 Tell Us We’re Home by Marina Budhos is a unique novel aimed at older middle-grade or teen readers about three girls who are daughters of maids and nannies in a wealthy town where most of their classmates are from the families for whom their mothers work. It’s an interesting perspective on immigrants that I’d never considered before, and I enjoyed the novel.

Jaya, Maria, and Lola were all born in different countries but now live in the same small town in New Jersey. Each of them felt alone and isolated until she met the other two, and the three of them became instant friends because they had so much in common in spite of their vastly different cultural backgrounds. Their mothers all work for local families as maids and nannies, which leaves the girls each feeling very different from most of her classmates. The three become fast friends, saving coins to buy a milkshake to share, walking back from school together, and confiding in each other about the difficulties of being poor in a wealthy town.

Finding each other was a turning point for each of the girls, but life proves to be even more challenging than they expected. Jaya’s mother is accused of theft and loses two of her jobs. Maria is worried about her cousin, who is embroiled in a battle over the local playing fields where he and his friends want to play soccer – a battle that threatens to involve the entire town. Lola worries about her father’s unending depression and his inability to find work as an engineer, as he had back in Slovakia, while the bills pile up and her mother’s health worsens. Although the three friends share a lot with each other, each of their own problems threatens to pull them apart and get in the way of their friendship.

I enjoyed this novel for several reasons. It deals with a topic that I’d never really thought about before – what life is like for recent immigrants in the U.S. today, especially kids who are dumped into an unfamiliar environment at a time in their lives when they are struggling with ordinary adolescent issues, like self-image, confidence, and identity. I also liked that it didn’t over-simplify the issues. There are no easy answers to the complex problems that plague these three friends and no tidy happily-ever-after at the end. Certainly, they do resolve some of their worst problems and come to realize they can rely on each other, but deeper cultural and community issues remain, just like in real life.

My only complaint about Tell Us We’re Home was some uneven editing throughout, and especially toward the end. There were minor inconsistencies, places where the action suddenly jumped somewhere else, and other petty annoyances. For instance, in one chapter, the girls are drinking hot chocolate and then a sentence later it says that one girl held her hot mug of tea. Like I said, these were minor problems, indicative of sloppy editing, that were easy for me to overlook since the story itself was so engaging.

All in all, this is a warm, tender, thought-provoking story about immigrants, cultural differences, community, and mostly, friendship.

247 pages, Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster)

 

Teen/YA Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

In celebration of Banned Books Week, I read a classic teen/YA novel that is always high on the list of banned books, The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I don’t know how I missed this wonderful novel for so long! I devoured it in just a few days and felt like I got to know the characters intimately and lived in their world.

The entire novel is written through a series of letters that the main character, Charlie, writes to an anonymous “friend.” This is someone Charlie doesn’t know personally but overhead a classmate talking about, and he starts writing to him to ease his anxiety over starting high school. Charlie has good reason to feel anxious. His only real friend from middle school committed suicide, leaving Charlie mourning, confused, and alone.

Charlie describes his days at high school in a way that is familiar to anyone who went to high school…the cliques, the social pressures, the desire to be liked, and the insecurities. He also talks about his family – his mom, dad, older brother who has just left for college, and his older sister who is a senior in high school. Charlie’s family seems very ordinary; he loves them and they love him, but they can drive him crazy at times. His descriptions of holiday dinners with extended family are especially amusing for anyone who has a dysfunctional family of their own!

One evening at a football game, Charlie recognizes a boy from his shop class, a boy known by his classmates as Nothing. Charlie sits down next to him and begins talking with him (finding out his real name is Patrick) and gets to know his stepsister, Sam, too. Although Charlie can be very quirky at times, Patrick and Sam have their own reasons for not quite fitting in, and they all become friends, eventually pulling Charlie into their own group of friends until he finally feels like he belongs.

Charlie himself admits that one of his problems is that he thinks too much, and that is part of what makes his narration so irresistible. He analyzes everything (who didn’t in high school?), wonders about everything, and questions everything. His English teacher, who gives him extra books to read all year long, tells him he needs to participate in life more, but Charlie feels there are some advantages to being a wallflower, always quietly observing the world around him.

This quintessential coming-of-age novel follows Charlie through his entire freshman year, as he experiences all those things familiar to many high schoolers: dances, first dates, the ups and downs of friendships, drugs and drinking, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Adding to the fun are ample references to music (mix tapes – it’s set in 1991!), movies, and literature. He writes to his anonymous friend with open candor about his hopes and fears, all that is happening around him, and all that confuses him. Along the way, he grows and learns more about himself and how to feel comfortable in the world. And the reader goes along for the ride, laughing, cringing, crying, and, ultimately, caring about Charlie on his wild ride through his first year of high school.

213 pages, Gallery Books (Simon & Schuster)

Why has it been banned? Ah, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a censor’s dream! It has a bit of everything – sex, drugs, yup – rock ‘n roll, too! There is also homosexuality, swearing, and sexual abuse. All of it is dealt with in a very frank, almost innocent, way, as Charlie tries to figure things out for himself.

P.S. Now that I’ve read the book, I want to see the movie, though I am a bit leery after loving the book so much. I can see from the movie photo on the cover that the characters don’t look as described in the book which drives me crazy in a book adaptation…but I have heard that the movie is excellent (including from my son!), so I look forward to giving it a try.

 

Teen/YA Review: The Ask and the Answer

It usually takes me a while to find time to read a sequel, even when I really liked the first book, but I started The Ask and the Answer, book 2 in the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness, just a couple of weeks after finishing book 1, The Knife of Never Letting Go, because I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen next. It worked out well because this was another long book to add to my Big Book Summer Challenge. This series continues to be fast-paced and exciting with a unique plot full of surprises.

I don’t want to give too much away for those who haven’t read book 1 yet, so this will be tricky. Todd, the main character from the first book, is back. He and his friend Viola have been captured by their enemy, Mayor Prentiss, and separated. The Mayor tells Todd that the only way to keep Viola safe is to comply with everything he says and become a part of his new regime. Todd is constantly worried because he has no way of knowing if Viola is safe or even still alive, as he struggles to keep her safe while doing things for the Mayor that he knows are wrong.

With this page-turning beginning, the story continues against a backdrop of increasingly disturbing changes the Mayor is making to the society he is now ruling, and increasing violence against the Mayor’s regime by a rebel group called The Answer. Where The Knife of Never Letting Go had more of a post-apocalyptic feel to it, with Todd and Viola fleeing from their enemies, The Ask and the Answer is decidedly more dystopian, focusing in on the new society that the Mayor is trying to create. Of course, both books are still in the sci-fi realm, with plenty of action, adventure, and suspense thrown in. It’s an enticing combination.

Like the first novel in the trilogy, The Ask and the Answer is a very violent story, with similar fighting and combat but also plenty of bombing in the mix from the rebel group. However, this second book introduces lots of thought-provoking ethical questions, about war and violence, torture and terrorism. Ultimately, it investigates an age-old question that applies as well to our own world as it does to Todd and Viola's: do the ends justify the means?

The action and suspense build to a final stand-off between the rebels and the Mayor’s organization, but once again, the book ends with a surprising twist that left me yelling, “What?? No, not that!” Now, I can’t wait to read the third and final installment of this exciting trilogy.

519 pages, Candlewick Press

 

Teen/YA Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go

My son and my husband both raved about the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness, so I finally found time to read Book 1: The Knife of Never Letting Go as part of my Big BookSummer Challenge last month. Though this unique series has been marketed as teen/YA fiction, it seems to be loved just as much by adult readers. I enjoyed it so much that I started reading Book 2: The Ask and the Answer this week.

I am going to tread lightly with plot description here because it’s obvious the author intended for the novel’s secrets to be gradually discovered by readers. Todd is a boy just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man. He lives in a society where everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts, creating a continuous stream of Noise. Though Todd is an orphan, he has had a decent life, brought up by two close family friends who care for him.

One day, Todd and his dog, Manchee (whose thoughts Todd can also hear), encounter an odd patch of silence on the edge of town.  This strange discovery leads to the uncovering of some dark secrets that have been kept from Todd, in spite of the Noise. Certain people in town are so committed to keeping the town’s secrets that they go after Todd, forcing him and Manchee into life on the run, leaving his little town for the first time in his life.

This novel is full of action and adventure, as the bad guys chase after Todd and Manchee and a friend they meet along the way. It’s an unusual mix of science fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction, and even some dystopia. And through it all, the Noise adds a unique element. Can you imagine a world where you know what everyone else is thinking?

I loved this book just as much as my husband and son did. Todd is a very likeable character, and Manchee provides a touch of humor, with his doggie thoughts being constantly broadcast to Todd. Although it is a longish book at almost 500 pages (hence its inclusion in my Big Book Summer plans), it is a fairly quick read, with a fast pace and plenty of suspense to keep you reading long past bedtime. So far, Book 2: The Ask and the Answer is just as good.

479 pages, Candlewick Press

 

Teen/YA Review: The Far West

After years of my son urging me to read Patricia C. Wrede’s Frontier Magic trilogy, I finally read TheThirteenth Child and Across theGreat Barrier in quick succession. He was right! It’s an excellent series that crosses the Old West with magic. I recently finished the final book of the trilogy, The Far West, and found it just as good and a fitting end to a great series.

For those who haven’t read the first two books yet, I will avoid any spoilers. The author does a good job of filling in essential information for new readers, but I would still recommend reading the series from the beginning. The story focuses on Eff who is now a young woman and finished with her schooling. Eff loves the wilderness west of the Great Barrier Spell, which keeps out dangerous wildlife – both magical like swarming weasels and Medusa lizards as well as nonmagical species. She has already made several trips out there in the previous novels, as an assistant to the professors of the local college.

Eff gets another chance to head out west at the start of this novel as part of a government-sponsored expedition, but this trip will be even more dangerous than previous ones because they’ll be attempting to travel further west than anyone has ever gone (and returned from). Her family is not happy with this plan, but Eff knows that this is what she wants to do with her life. Traveling with a large group of scientists, magicians, and soldiers, Eff encounters new and dangerous wildlife, learns more about her own unique kind of magic, and discovers more about herself. When the team encounters something that could threaten the entire continent, they will need all of their skills – including Eff’s – in order to avert disaster.

This series succeeds on so many different levels. Wrede has created an intriguing fantasy world, populated by strange and wondrous creatures and talented magicians, but the novel is also set against the fascinating backdrop of the pioneer West in a U.S. that is quite similar – though with subtle differences – to our own history. Finally, it is populated by in-depth characters whose lives you come to care about, and is a coming-of-age story of young Eff, as the series follows her from a small child to a grown woman who knows what she wants from her life. All of these elements are wrapped together in an exciting, fast-paced adventure story.

378 pages, Scholastic

NOTE: If, like me, you are fascinated about where the action in the Frontier Magic trilogy takes place relative to our own version of the nation, click on this link and scroll down to the bottom for two maps of North Columbia and the Mill City area.

In this brief video, Wrede talks about why she loves writing, with references to her Enchanted Forest series:



 

Teen/YA Review: Across the Great Barrier

I enjoyed The Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede so much that when I finished it, I immediately picked up the second book in the trilogy, Across the Great Barrier. I flew through it and loved it just as much as the first book. Wrede’s world of the Wild West with magic added in is fascinating and peopled by real, in-depth characters

In this second novel, Eff finishes high school and continues working for a professor at the Northern Plains Riverbank College in her town. Because of her experience the previous summer, she is asked to join a scientific expedition heading West, past the Great Barrier Spell, to further identify flora and fauna in the unexplored areas and check on regrowth after a devastating insect infestation in the settlements the previous year. Eff is thrilled to be heading back out into the wilderness, though her mother fears for her safety.

Meanwhile, Eff’s brother Lan (who is a seventh son of a seventh son and therefore a very powerful magician) and their best friend, William, continue their studies in magic in great eastern universities. Eff continues to be wary of her magical powers. She now knows that there is nothing inherently unlucky about being a thirteenth child, but she is still having trouble getting past the mental roadblocks that have been in place since early childhood.

Out West, Eff and the rest of the expedition discover things they’ve never even known could exist, struggle against obstacles (including saber cats and Columbian sphinxes), and try their best to help the settlements when unforeseen dangers crop up. As in the first book, Across the Great Barrier is filled with adventure and magic in the setting of the Wild West. Through the hardships and mysteries they encounter, Eff continues to grow not only physically but emotionally and magically as well, as she learns more about her own particular brand of magic and how to control it. It is an exciting, fast-paced story full of likable characters that I finished quickly. Now I am ready for book #3 – I can’t wait to see what happens to Eff and Lan next!

339 pages, Scholastic

NOTE: As with the first book in the series, Across the Great Barrier is marketed toward teens but is perfectly appropriate for older middle-grade readers as well, especially those who enjoyed the Little House and Harry Potter books!

    

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: The Thirteenth Child

Ever since my son read The Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede in 2010, he has been telling me, “Mom, you just have to read this book – it’s so good!” With my overflowing piles of books waiting to be read, it took me a while, but I finally found time to read it at the end of 2012. My son was right, as usual! It is a well-written and unique novel, a sort of combination of Harry Potter and Little House on the Prairie that I enjoyed so much that I immediately started reading its sequel when I finished.

Eff (don’t ever call her by her full name, Francine) was the thirteenth child born in her family, a circumstance that is considered not only unlucky but disastrous in her culture. Her twin brother, Lan, born just a few minutes later, was not only the fourteenth child in the family but the seventh son of a seventh son which makes him not just lucky but also gives him extra-special magic powers. While her entire community discriminates against Eff from the very start of her life, Lan is treated with reverence and even a bit of fear.

As enticing as that beginning sounds, the setting of this novel is even more fascinating. It is set in the United States during the time of pioneers and western expansion, but it is an alternative history, where magic is an integral part of everyday life. Certain facts of history are the same as our own history but other aspects differ. For instance, there was still a war between the states, but it was known as the Secession War, and it occurred several decades earlier than our own Civil War.

The Great Barrier Spell protects all of the states and territories east of the Mammoth River (aka Mississippi River) from both natural and magical wildlife. The bears and mammoths, sphinx cats and steam dragons, and all the other dangerous wildlife are unable to cross the barrier, allowing people to live peacefully and without fear.  But, after the war, westward expansion booms as the nation’s need for more space grows, and more and more families join settlements west of the Great Barrier Spell. Each settlement is required to have its own magician, someone professionally trained to help maintain the settlement’s protection spells.

In that setting, Eff (living in a town just east of the Great Barrier Spell, on the edge of the western frontier) struggles to overcome the challenge of her birth order, with her family’s support. She and Lan go to school, become friends with their next-door neighbor, and learn magic, but Eff is constantly worried that something terrible will happen to her or those she loves.

This novel has everything: adventure, magic, friendship, and family, with details of pioneer life added in. It is fast-paced and exciting with a warmth and depth uncommon in many adventure stories. Kids that enjoyed the Little House books or Hagrid’s Care of Magical Creatures class in Harry Potter will especially love Eff and Lan’s world. And when you finish The Thirteenth Child and are dying to hear more, there are two more sequels already released to keep you reading happily.

NOTE: The Frontier Magic trilogy is officially labeled as teen fiction, but I’m halfway through the second book and think they would be perfectly appropriate for older middle-grade readers, too.

344 pages, Scholastic

 

Middle-Grade Review: Young Fredle

It is easy to understand why Young Fredle by Cynthia Voight was named an Odyssey Honor Book for Excellence in Audiobook Production.  It is a warm, wonderful story, performed by a talented actress.  Though it is aimed squarely at middle-graders, it is so well done that parents will love it, too, making it perfect for family road trips!

The main character, Fredle, is a mouse, a house mouse to be more precise.  He lives behind the pantry walls in Mr. And Mrs.’s farmhouse with his large mouse family.  They live a quiet life, sleeping in communal nests during the day and cautiously foraging for food in the dark kitchen at night, though Fredle wishes he were braver, like his cousin Axle, and wonders what’s outside the world of the kitchen.  One night, Fredle and Axle find something strange and wonderful (a Peppermint Pattie!) on a top pantry shelf, and Fredle finds himself in a situation that requires all of his courage.

One thing leads to another, and Fredle ends up outside, alone for the first time in his young life.  He encounters all kinds of exciting new experiences but also many dangers – things he’s never even heard of like snakes and owls and raccoons.  Fredle is immersed in new things he doesn’t even know the name for, until a young mouse from a family of field mice befriends him and teaches him about things like grass and flowers and stars.  Fredle gets all the adventures he ever wanted and also has a chance to consider what home really means.

I know this sounds like a strange way to describe a novel about a mouse, but it really is a coming-of-age story.  While Fredle is out among friends and enemies of the outdoor world, he grows up.  He thinks about what is really important to him and makes some life-changing decisions that affect him as well as other mice.

Though a story told from a mouse’s perspective might get a bit gimmicky with a lesser writer, Voight’s story of Fredle is told with warmth and sincerity, full of gentle humor and plenty of mouse-sized adventure.  Actress Wendy Carter reads the novel with considerable talent, bringing us into Fredle’s world and adeptly managing the different voices of all the creatures he meets (though I’m not entirely sure why raccoons speak with a Jersey accent, but they sure were amusing!).  All in all, Young Fredle deserved its award and is perfect for families to listen to together.  And as much as I loved the audio production, it looks like the paper book has adorable illustrations, so either format is a winner!

Listening Library

Recommended for Ages 8 and up.

P.S. Oddly enough, I had never even heard of Cynthia Voight until earlier this year, when I read her Newberry Medal-winning novel Dicey’s Song, which I also loved!

Listen to an excerpt: 

 

AUDIO:            BOOK:    

Teen/YA Review: The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls

I requested a review copy of The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher simply because the author is from Delaware and the novel is set here as well, a rarity given that I live in the second-smallest state in the US (such is the low profile of our tiny state that one reviewer on Amazon incorrectly stated that this book takes place in Maryland - we are here, guys, right next door!)  I didn’t have many expectations for the book, but I was pleasantly surprised – I ended up loving this unique, realistic novel for teens.

Sixteen-year old Adrienne Haus knows this will be the worst summer ever.  Because of a serious knee injury, she is left at home while her best friend (well, her only friend) goes off to camp without her.  To make matters worse, her mother came up with the brilliant idea to have a mother-daughter summer book club, to help Adrienne and a few of her classmates do their required reading and get ready for their AP English class in the fall.

It is a disparate group of girls thrown together in this involuntary book club; the only thing they have in common is that none of them (except Wallis) wants to be in it, as explained on the back cover:

“…But we weren’t friends.  We were not a sisterhood, and we didn’t share any pants.  We were literary prisoners, sweating and reading classics and hanging out at the pool.  But, of course, that’s not the whole story. “

The book is written as Adrienne’s summer AP English assignment, with different chapters addressing not only the books read but what happened to the girls in between.  I just loved the unique approach, and the fact that the novel is not at all what you would expect.  The girls don’t fit easily into stereotypes and they don't all become best friends or learn to love literature.  The characters feel like real people, with plenty of real problems that are not easily solved.  Their summer reading parallels the course of everything else they go through that summer, and the girls grow and learn a lot about themselves and each other.  In fact, the book inspired me; I would like to read some of the books the girls in the novel read during their unbearable summer.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and look forward to reading more from Schumacher.

230 pages, Delacorte Press

 

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: Dicey’s Song

Apparently, the Tillerman series by Cynthia Voight is quite well known and has been enjoyed by generations of young (and not so young) girls.  I knew none of that, only that the second book in the series, Dicey’s Song, had won the Newberry Medal and that the series had been recently re-released by Simon & Schuster’s Atheneum imprint.  So I read this warm and tender novel with few expectations and was pleasantly surprised.

In the first book of the series, Homecoming, the four Tillerman children are abandoned by their mother, who is lost in her own misery, so they set off from Rhode Island and make their way all the way to Maryland, to a grandmother they’d never met.  It didn’t matter that I hadn’t read the first book; the relevant details are woven into this story seamlessly.  Twelve-year old Dicey is the oldest of the four children and has gotten used to being responsible for…well, for everything.  So, though they are all happy to be living with Gram, it is a big adjustment for Dicey to go back to being a kid and to share the heavy load of her responsibilities with someone else.

The novel begins the day before school starts, so all four children have a lot of new things to adjust to – new school, new classmates, and new challenges.  Things are difficult at first; each of them has his or her own problems that they must work together as a family to solve.  Besides all this newness, Dicey is facing the additional changes of growing up and entering adolescence.

I really loved this gentle, well-written story with surprising emotional depth for a teen novel. I think this novel will appeal to older middle-grade readers as well (not to mention adults like me!).  Though it seems set slightly in the past, the issues and challenges that the children face are relevant to today’s kids.  I am looking forward to reading more about the Tillerman’s.

247 pages, Atheneum

 

Middle-Grade Review: Glory Be

--> I really enjoyed Glory Be, a middle-grade novel by Augusta Scattergood, set in the summer of 1964 in Mississippi, amidst the growing civil rights conflicts.  It’s kind of like The Help or Mudbound, only told from the innocent perspective of a twelve-year old girl.

Gloriana June Hemphill, aka Glory, has been looking forward to this summer when she finally turns twelve.  She plans to have her birthday party at the community pool, like she does every year, and can’t wait for her southern town’s annual Fourth of July celebration.  But everything seems different this year.  Her 14-year old sister, Jesslyn, who used to be her close friend, is now ignoring her to hang out with her pep squad friends.  Glory’s best friend, Frankie, is acting strangely and repeating things his brother and father say about the black residents of town that make Glory feel uncomfortable.  And the whole town is in an uproar over the northerners staying in their town who are in favor of desegregation.

Glory doesn’t know much about civil rights, but she knows that she loves their colored housekeeper, Emma, like a second mother, and she likes her new friend, Laura, who is from Ohio and visiting with her mother, one of the “northern troublemakers” everyone is talking about.  When her beloved pool closes for no good reason, Glory feels like the summer is ruined, and she can’t figure out why all the adults around her are so upset about the visitors.

I loved this novel.  Glory is a likable main character, and her innocence and naiveté provide a different perspective to the civil rights movement, though the novel also deals with classic growing-up themes.  This is Scattergood’s first novel, and I look forward to reading more from her.

199 pages, Scholastic

Teen/YA Review: An Abundance of Katherines

I have been meaning to read a John Green novel for a very long time; I keep hearing people rave about what a wonderful writer he is and how he is one of the best YA authors out there.  So, even though I have stacks and stacks of teen/YA books here at my house, waiting to be read, I detoured to the Teen section of our library last week to search for John Green.  None of his better-known award-winners were on the shelf (I have a feeling they rarely are!), but I found one book, An Abundance of Katherines, that I brought home and read.  I enjoyed this heartfelt, humorous novel very much.

Colin Singleton has just graduated from high school, but he is not celebrating.  He has just been dumped by his girlfriend, Katherine, one in a long string of break-ups with Katherines – nineteen to be exact.  Colin is a child prodigy who started to read at age two.  The problem is that he feels like everyone else has caught up to him now, and what is a child prodigy who is no longer a child?  He fears he is no longer special and will never do anything that really matters in life.

To cheer him up – and amuse himself – Colin’s best friend, Hassan, suggests a road trip to get Colin’s mind off the latest Katherine.  Hassan is an overweight Muslim who was as much of an outcast as Colin when the two met in middle school and became each other’s first – and only – best friend.  So, the two set off in Satan’s Hearse, their name for Colin’s enormous Oldsmobile, and leave Chicago.

They encounter new friends, a town in the middle of nowhere Tennessee, a dead archduke’s grave, and a feral hog, but Colin is still obsessing over the break-up and his long, bleak history with Katherines.  He decides to approach the problem mathematically, coming up with a Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability that he hopes will allow anyone to predict the course (and eventual demise) of any relationship.  Then, maybe, he will have done something that matters.

This novel has a great sense of humor, and the witty repartee between Colin and Hassan is endlessly amusing.  But there are also plenty of solid, real-life emotions here, as both boys grapple with their insecurities and grow emotionally during the summer.  The issues here are those that every young person deals with – the meaning of friendship, the quest for love, and battles with self-doubt.  Overall, it was a very entertaining and satisfying novel.  I look forward to reading more John Green books!

215 pages, Dutton Books

 

Teen/YA Review: The Girls of No Return

Erin Saldin’s debut novel, The Girls of No Return, caught my eye for several reasons: as an outdoor lover, I liked the idea of a book about a wilderness school for teen girls, and it sounded like it had some emotional depth to it.  My first impressions were correct, and I read this compelling novel in just a few short days.

At the start of the novel, it’s not entirely clear why Lida’s father and stepmother are sending her away to the Alice Marshall School for Girls, deep in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area, but it is obvious that she must have some serious emotional problems.  In fact, Lida holds her problems and her emotions very tightly inside her, even when all of the other girls at the wilderness school are beginning to share their feelings during Circle Share time.  As the girls hike, canoe, go to classes, and talk about their problems, Lida remains hesitant to let anyone in, so it is a big deal when the new, glamorous and mysterious girl, Gia, chooses Lida above all of the girls as her best friend.

All of the girls have their secrets, their Thing that landed them at Alice Marshall in the first place. With Gia, Lida finally begins to open up and share some of what she is feeling, but it makes her increasingly uncomfortable that Gia doesn’t seem to reciprocate.  Meanwhile, there are other girls who would like to befriend Lida, but she doesn’t want to let them in; it is clear she has been badly hurt in the past.  The tension builds to the exciting climax when it is time for the girls to go on their solo overnight backpacking trip.

I really enjoyed this book about teen girls facing their inner demons. The wilderness setting is unique and each of the girls has a distinctive personality and past. I found it engaging, suspenseful, and interesting, and I look forward to reading more from Erin Saldin.

345 pages, Arthur A. Levine (imprint of Scholastic)

 

Teen/YA Review: Divergent

Divergent by Veronica Roth was the hottest new dystopian release of 2011.  My 17-year old son read it as soon as it came out and kept saying, “Mom, you have to read this!”  I also read many great reviews of it and watched with interest as it showed up on many Best of 2011 lists. I finally found time to read it last week and discovered that all that hype was well-deserved; Divergent is an exciting, original novel.

Among the decrepit buildings of Chicago and the enormous swamp that used to be Lake Michigan, the community has been rebuilt into five factions, each with their own unique role in society:  Abnegation (the selfless who govern), Dauntless (the brave who defend the city), Erudite (the intelligent who pursue knowledge), Amity (the peaceful who grow food), and Candor (the honest who always tell the truth). 

At age 16, each person must choose their faction.  While most choose to stay within the faction they were born to, some change factions at this time.  It is a decision with life-long consequences, determining whom they will live with, what kind of job they will have, and even their core beliefs.  Beatrice has lived happily and peacefully in Abnegation with her brother and parents her whole life, but she isn’t certain it is where she really belongs.  She is worried about her aptitude test and the Choosing Ceremony the following day and has no idea which faction she will choose.

I don’t want to say anymore about what Beatrice chooses or what the consequences of that choice are – no spoilers here!  But things are not quite as simple as they first seem in this new kind of society, and there are some conflicts brewing behind the seemingly peaceful surface.  As Beatrice goes through her initiation (whether you are born into a faction or transferred in, you must go through initiation when you become an adult), she learns things that are disturbing and makes some new friends as well as some enemies.

Divergent is a fast-paced, action-packed story with lots of surprising plot twists.  I remarked to my son that it was more violent than I’d expected, and he rolled his eyes and teased, “Mom, you are such a girl!”  Yes, I am!  And yes, some of the violence did surprise me, though it is a very common element of dystopian fiction.  Despite that, I was totally absorbed into this story and hated to set the book down to go to bed each night.  I finished it yesterday and was immediately ready to read its sequel (Insurgent, which is due to be released May 1, 2012).  And that is the sign of a good book.

496 pages, Kathryn Tegen Books (imprint of HarperCollins)

Can't get enough of Divergent?  Check out the Divergent fan site.

P.S. I was just as fascinated by the author’s backstory as I was by the book itself.  Veronica Roth is a very young author, just out of college, with a very big success with her first novel!  Read more about her at her blog.