Teen Review: Things That Are and Things Hoped For

Our whole family enjoyed Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements so much that I borrowed its two sequels from the library, Things That Are and Things Hoped For. I enjoyed both books, although they’re not typical sequels.

Both books include the main character from Things Not Seen, Bobby, a fifteen-year old who wakes up one morning to find that he’s invisible. However, Bobby’s not the narrator – nor the main character – of either of the sequels.

In Things That Are, Bobby’s friend Alicia is the narrator, and two years have passed since she helped him when he turned invisible. Alicia has been blind for the past four years and has her own challenges to deal with every day. At the start of the novel, Bobby is away in New York City auditioning for college, and he meets another invisible person, William, who follows him back to Chicago. Bobby suspects the stranger may be dangerous, and he and Alicia worry about what to do about William.

Here, Alicia has her first conversation with William:

I whisper, “You and Bobby talked last night, about three in the morning, right?” I don’t know why I’m whispering.

“Ah – so he told you about that. It was closer to four. And, yes, we had a talk. More like a shouting match. And he jumped into a cab with his suitcase before I got to tell him what I think is happening, before I convinced him how much I need his help. I’ve got to help him understand what’s going on.”

And, even though I’ve got my hat and coat on, I shiver. Because I’m picking up this deep agitation, almost a hunger in the man’s voice.

This follow-up novel has the same elements of mystery, suspense, and science fiction as the first book, but this time we get to see the situation from Alicia’s perspective, as she worries about her relationship with Bobby and struggles to figure out the right thing to do about the William situation.

Things Hoped For follows a similar path. This time, the story takes place in New York during Bobby’s audition visit, and is told from the perspective of Gwen, another music student auditioning with Bobby. This novel deals with the same situation – Bobby’s encounter with the invisible William –but this time we see the inside story of what happened while Bobby was in New York, as narrated by Gwen, an intriguing narrator with her own challenges to deal with.

Both sequels feature Andrew Clements’ well-known talent for portraying real-life kids – older teens this time – in difficult situations. The mix of mystery, suspense, and science fiction makes these novels even better. If you liked Things Not Seen and want to read more about the characters, then you’ll enjoy both sequels.

Middle-Grade Review: Alabama Moon

Even though our sons are now 11 and 14 years old, we still love to read aloud as a family. The book we finished this week, Alabama Moon by Watt Key, ranks as one of our all-time favorites!

Ten-year old Moon has been brought up by his father, known as Pap, deep in the woods of Alabama, with little contact with other people or the outside world. Pap has a deep mistrust of the government and raised Moon on his own in their forest shelter ever since Moon’s Mom died.

When Pap dies suddenly, Moon is left on his own. His Pap taught him how to live in the woods independently and told Moon before he died that he should make his way to Alaska to find others like themselves. So, although he’s not sure exactly where Alaska is, Moon sets out to find it. But the outside world doesn’t approve of a 10-year old boy living and traveling on his own, and, before he knows what’s happened, Moon is in the midst of all sorts of trouble.

This book has all the elements of a great story: adventure, suspense, humor, and plenty of heart. Moon is a very likable character with amazing wilderness survival skills, but he’s completely unprepared to deal with constables, jail, orphanages, and lawyers. He makes some friends along the way, as he tries to figure out where he belongs in the world. Here, some of the other boys at the orphanage ask Moon about himself:

“They’ve got you all over the TV. We watched it in the rec room. They said you beat up a constable.”
“I didn’t beat him up good enough. He still got me. Threw my wheelbarrow in the swamp. Threw my hat in the road. Took my rifle and all my livin’ stuff.”
“Do you really live in a cave?” another boy asked me.
“No, it’s a shelter that’s built low to the ground.”
“What did you eat out there?”
“Coons and deer and stuff we grew. Things that came out of the forest.”
“Did you have to go to school?”
I shook my head. “Pap got me some books. I learned with him.”
“Can you read?”
“Yeah.”
“Write?”
“Yeah. Morse code, too.”
“They gonna take you to jail, or you stayin’ here?”
“I’m gonna bust out as soon as I find a way.”

The details of how Moon survives on his own in the forest are fascinating, and his escapades with the law are exciting and suspenseful. Moon is one of our favorite characters we’ve ever encountered in a book – spirited and independent but also kind-hearted. You’ll be rooting for Moon to find what he’s looking for: a place to belong.

Middle-Grade/Teen Fiction Review: Pendragon

Pendragon, by D.J. MacHale, is a fantasy adventure series so compelling that my husband and I are as hooked on it as our 14-year old son, Jamie (who began reading the series when he was 12). I sat down to read the first book several years ago so that I could review the series for Family Fun magazine, and I ended up tearing through the first four books!

Bobby Pendragon is an ordinary 14-year old until his Uncle Press leads him to a secret tunnel that moves them through time and space. Bobby’s life is never the same again as he learns that he and his uncle are Travelers, representatives of Earth who work with Travelers from other territories to fight the evil Saint Dane. Instead of worrying about his next basketball game, Bobby is suddenly responsible for nothing less than the fate of the universe.

Each of the ten Pendragon books (nine so far; the final book in the series will be released on May 12) takes Bobby to a different territory, where he and other Travelers try to thwart Saint Dane’s latest scheme to create chaos and rule the world. I recently finished reading Book 6: The Rivers of Zadaa and Book 7: The Quillan Games, and I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

With fast-paced plots, extraordinary locales, and a touch of humor, these books will keep kids (and adults!) captivated.

BOOK 1: BOXED SET:

BOOK 10:

Middle-Grade Fiction Review: Waiting For Normal

In Waiting For Normal by Leslie Connor, twelve-year old Addison (Addie) wants nothing more or less than a normal life with a normal family, but that dream seems far away right now. Addie’s father died long ago, and her mother and stepfather have recently split up. Her stepfather, Dwight, got custody of her two little sisters, but Addie ended up with her very distracted and unreliable mother, with little means of support for the two of them. Dwight has given them a trailer to live in in downtown Schenectady and sends them monthly support checks; it’s not ideal, but it’s the best he can do for now. Despite her scrappy home and reliance on toast dinners, Addie is at heart full of hope and optimism, always trying to see the good in those around her. She makes some new friends, both at school and near her home, and tries to make the best of things. What she really yearns for, though is normal:

“I just want…normal,” I said. “What’s normal?” Mommers squinted at me. “Things are always changing. I mean, how does anyone know if they’ve got normal?” I thought for a second. “I’ve felt close to it before,” I said. “Normal….is when you know what’s gonna happen next. Not exactly what, because probably nobody gets that. But normal is being able to count on certain things. Good things. And it’s having everyone together – just because they belong that way.” I realized I was making a circle with my hands as if I was holding onto a tiny world. “I keep waiting for it to happen to us,” I told Mommers. “But we – we never seem to get all the way to normal.”

Addie is an endearing narrator who tells her story with warmth and humor. Although her life is at times bleak, she always manages to find joy in it and never loses hope for a better tomorrow. I listened to the audio version of the book and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was a little bothered at first by the slight southern sound to Addie’s voice – after all, she’s supposed to be from my own home state of New York – but I quickly got over that minor point because the young actress does a wonderful job of portraying Addie. Driving in my car down the New Jersey Turnpike, I found myself both laughing out loud and crying real tears. At one point, I was crying so hard, I almost went off the road trying to find the box of Kleenex! Keep it close for this wonderful, ultimately uplifting story. 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local

 

Or you can order Waiting for Normal from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Young Adult Fiction Review: Magic Street

Orson Scott Card is one of my favorite authors. I didn’t think I liked science fiction much until I read his fabulous series that begins with the renowned Ender’s Game, which is also a favorite of my 14-year old son.

Card’s young adult fantasy novel Magic Street is very different from the Ender books but is still a worthwhile read. The central character of this unique urban fantasy is Mack Street, a boy who lives in an affluent African-American suburb of Los Angeles. Mack began his life in a very unusual way: he was found as a newborn in a plastic shopping bag, left in an empty field in the neighborhood where he would eventually grow up.

Another boy in the neighborhood, Ceese (short for Cecil), finds the baby and brings him to his next-door neighbor who is a nurse:

“What is it?” she said. “I got no time right now for – “
Seeing the baby changed her whole attitude. “Please God, let that not be yours.”
“Found it,” said Ceese. “Covered with ants up in that little valley on Cloverdale. Mama said take it to you.”
“Why? Does she think it’s mine?” said Miz Smitcher.
“No, ma’am,” said Ceese.
Miz Smitcher sighed. “Let’s get that baby to the hospital.”
Ceese made as if to hand the baby to her.
She recoiled. “I got to drive, boy! You got a baby seat in your pocket? No? Then you coming along to hold that child.”
Ceese didn’t argue. Seemed like once he picked that baby up, he couldn’t get nobody else to take it no matter what he said or did.

That’s the beginning of a unique bond between Ceese and Mack, who is adopted by Miz Smitcher and babysat each day by Ceese. They grow up like brothers, but when Mack starts to notice that his dreams have a strange sort of magical power, he keeps that to himself. As a young teen, Mack discovers an entryway to a magical world that only he can see, and his explorations lead him to discover things about himself. Ultimately, Mack finds himself at the center of an epic battle between good and evil.

Magic Street, like other Card books, is a suspenseful novel populated by memorable characters, but its urban setting in LA and Shakespeare-inspired fantasy set it apart. Card explains in his acknowledgments that he created this book especially for a friend who complained that there were too few African-American heroes in novels. While Card does create likeable and heroic characters in both Mack and Ceese, his black street-talk dialogue often seems artificial and silly, especially in the setting of a prosperous African-American community filled with professionals and middle to upper-class citizens. Despite this flaw, the book is a clever and compelling fantasy tale; both my teen son and I enjoyed it very much.

Middle-Grade Fiction Review: Found

Wow. Found, the first book in Margaret Peterson Haddix’s latest new series, The Missing, has it all: a fast-paced plot that pulls you in and doesn’t let go, an intriguing mystery, and realistic characters who you come to care about so much that you wish you could protect them from the dangers they’re facing.

My 5th-grader’s teacher is reading Found out loud to his class, and my 14-year old loved the book, so I decided to see for myself what all the fuss was about. I wasn’t disappointed.

The prologue opens with a strange scene in an airport, as Angela, a new airline employee on her first day on the job, sees an airplane suddenly appear at the gate out of nowhere. No one knows where the plane came from or how it got there, and Angela discovers there are no adults on the plane at all, just 36 babies.

The main action of the novel centers on three kids: 13-year old Jonah, who was adopted; his younger sister, Katherine; and their neighborhood friend, Chip. Jonah gets a mysterious letter in the mail one day that they all agree must be a silly prank, until that evening when Chip comes back over in a panic:

“I got one, too,” Chip said. He was clutching his face now, almost like that kid in the Home Alone movie.
“One what?” Jonah asked.
“One of those letters. About being missing.”
Chip pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. Jonah could tell that Chip had already folded and unfolded it many times: the creases were beginning to fray. Chip opened it once more, and Jonah could see that it was just like the letter he’d gotten, six typewritten words on an otherwise blank sheet of paper:

YOU ARE ONE OF THE MISSING.

The action moves quickly forward as the three of them try to figure out what the letters mean and where they came from. The more they learn, the less they understand as they encounter FBI agents, more mysterious letters, and people who seem to appear and disappear at will.

Margaret Peterson Haddix is also the author of the popular series, The Shadow Children, though I had never read any of her books before. I ignored all my work this afternoon because I couldn’t bear to put this book down without finding out what happened. How will I ever wait until August when Book 2 is released?

NOTE: Although this book and series are written for middle-grade readers, teens and young adults who like fast-paced suspense novels will enjoy it, too.

Middle-Grade/Teen Fiction Review: Things Not Seen

“It’s a Tuesday morning in February, and I get up as usual, and I stumble into the bathroom to take a shower in the dark. Which is my school-day method because it’s sort of like an extra ten minutes of sleep.
It’s after the shower. That’s when it happens.
It’s when I turn on the bathroom light and wipe the fog off the mirror to comb my hair. It’s what I see in the mirror. It’s what I don’t see.
I look a second time, and then rub at the mirror again.
I’m not there.
That’s what I’m saying.
I’m. Not. There.”

How can you go wrong with an enticing beginning like that? Andrew Clements’ book, Things Not Seen, starts with this unusual morning for 15-year old Bobby, as he wakes up and discovers he is completely invisible. After a bizarre conversation with his parents about his new condition, Bobby’s family agrees that they’ll have to figure this out on their own. They’re afraid that if they tell anyone or ask for help, Bobby will become the latest sensation and may even be taken away for scientific study.

So, Bobby tries to learn how to get along as an invisible person. His new life is lonely, since he can’t go to school and can’t tell anyone what has happened to him. Then he meets Alicia at the library. She’s blind: the perfect friend for an invisible boy. Bobby trusts Alicia with his secret, and, together, they search for answers as both of them grapple with life as someone who doesn’t fit in.

Andrew Clements is a popular author of kid’s fiction (one of my fifth-grader’s favorite authors), but he usually writes books for elementary ages. This was his first book for older kids and teens. Our whole family – two sons, ages 14 and 11, and my husband and I – listened to it on audio during a recent car trip, and we were so engrossed in Bobby’s story that we brought the CD inside and finished it when we arrived home. 14-year old Jamie said it was one of the best books he’d ever heard/read.

Andrew Clements does here what he does best – presents full, realistic characters in difficult situations – only this time for an older audience with an unusual sci-fi kind of twist and even a bit of romance. Bobby’s predicament might seem improbable, or even impossible, but all good science fiction requires a little suspension of belief. We highly recommend this book – to read or listen to – for ages 10 and up.

(NOTE: Andrew Clements has written two sequels: Things That Are and Things Hoped For, each with some of the same characters from Things Not Seen and an aspect of invisibility. I just borrowed Things That Are from the library, so I’ll let you know what I think!)




(Audio versions are also available for download)

Middle-Grade Fiction Review: Lionboy

Charlie Ashanti is a normal 11-year old boy, except for one unique talent: he can talk to – and understand – cats. At the start of the Lionboy trilogy, Charlie’s mostly ordinary life is suddenly shattered when his scientist parents are kidnapped.

A whirlwind adventure follows as Charlie travels through Paris, Venice, Africa, and the Caribbean in search of his parents and the powerful forces behind their abduction. Along the way, Charlie becomes friends with a group of lions and an odd assortment of humans who aid him in his quest. Here, he meets and speaks to a lion (at the circus) for the first time:

Without thinking, Charlie came up beside the lion and said, in Cat: "Hello."
The lion turned swiftly to him, his sad expression changed in an instant to amazement and - yes - fear. How could a lion be scared of me? thought Charlie. I'm just a kid. But the lion was scared of him.
"What?" said the lion.
"I said hello," said Charlie.
"I heard you," said the lion. "It's just - you're talking Cat."
"I know," said Charlie.
"Humans don't talk Cat," said the lion.
Charlie had never come across this before. All the cats he knew at home knew him and knew about his peculiar ability. He'd learned not to mention it to human strangers; but he hadn't thought that a cat stranger - a lion stranger - would be just as surprised.
"I'm sorry." said Charlie. "I didn't mean to surprise you. I've always known Cat."

This imaginative and compelling story was created by a 12-year old girl and her mother, writing together under the pen name of Zizou Corder. My husband and I read all three Lionboy books to our sons, when they were 11 and 7, at bedtime. The four of us were riveted by the fast-paced story, memorable characters, and exotic locales. The unique settings featured in the books inspired many trips to the Internet and the atlas, to print out photos of Venice and see where exactly Essaouira is located. We all cheered for Charlie and wished that he and the lions were our friends, too. You don’t want to miss this exciting journey!

Recommended for ages 9 and up; ages 7 and up as read aloud.

Nonfiction Review: Chasing Lincoln's Killer

Celebrate President's Day with this excellent book:

James L. Swanson’s book, Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer, has been at the top of the best-seller lists for a long time, but I hadn’t gotten around to reading it yet. I was thrilled to hear that he’d recently published a young adult version called Chasing Lincoln’s Killer.

“This story is true. All the characters are real and were alive during the great manhunt of April 1865. Their words are authentic and come from original sources: letters, manuscripts, trial transcripts, newspapers, government reports, pamphlets, books, and other documents. What happened in Washington, D.C., that spring, and in the swamps and rivers, forests and fields of Maryland and Virginia during the next twelve days, is far too incredible to have been made up.”

Swanson begins his tale with these words, and his book lives up to them. A true historical account of the assassination of President Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth in 1865, Swanson’s book reads like a fast-paced suspense novel. Although I learned a lot about Lincoln, Booth, and the Civil War as I read this book, it is about as far from a textbook as you can get.

The story begins on March 4, 1865, at President Lincoln’s inaugural address, after he was re-elected President of the United States in the midst of the Civil War. Readers get an inside view into the mind of John Wilkes Booth, as he plots revenge on Lincoln for causing the downfall of his beloved Confederacy. The events leading up to the assassination unfold at a fast pace. It is amazing, from our view of security in the modern world, to think that Booth simply walked into the theater, shot the President of the United States, and escaped moments later.

From then on, the book follows two tracks: Booth and his accomplices as they flee from the city and head south, and the people investigating the murder and following their trail. The story is as exciting and suspenseful as any good thriller. Interspersed among the story are real photos, drawings, and documents from that time.

I was fascinated by this book. I learned a lot, but I also enjoyed a good story along the way. You can’t make this stuff up – sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.
(This book is recommended for middle-grade readers through adults).

Middle-Grade Fiction Review: 11 Birthdays

Imagine the movie Groundhog Day from a kid’s perspective. That’s the basic set-up for the warm and witty new novel 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass.

Amanda is dreading her 11th birthday because she and her best friend, Leo, who shares her birthday, still aren’t speaking to each other. Not only is she miserable without her buddy, but she and Leo have had a joint birthday party every year since they were 1-year olds, so she just knows her solo party will be a bust.

Somehow, Amanda makes it through the awful day, only to wake up the next morning to find that it’s her birthday again. In Groundhog Day, Bill Murray woke each morning to Sonny & Cher on the radio. For Amanda, Spongebob becomes her daily reminder that her nightmare continues. Here’s her reaction the first time she wakes up on her birthday:

I reach out to turn off my alarm, open my eyes, and scream! Someone’s standing in the middle of my room. He’s short and squat, and his arms and legs are waving wildly. It’s too dark to see anything clearly. Safety tips run through my head. Stop drop and roll? That doesn’t seem helpful. Duck and cover? That one’s better. I throw the covers over my head and lie still. After a few heart-pounding minutes, I force myself to peek out from the top of the blanket. With one quick move, I flick on my lamp.

Huh. Okay, so it’s not a person. It’s a Spongebob Squarepants happy birthday balloon with streamers for arms and legs. My parents must have snuck him in while I was sleeping. That’s a heck of a thing to do to someone!

Stuck in this single, horrible day, Amanda finally realizes she needs to fix things with Leo if she ever hopes to reach the age of twelve. Along the way, she and Leo uncover an old family mystery and repair their friendship.

I read this book in one big gulp, over the course of a sick day, and I loved it. The writing is realistic and engaging, the main characters are likable, and the novel is brimming with a wonderful sense of humor.

Teen/YA Fiction: Go Ask Alice

I must be the only the person on earth who was a teen in the 70's and never read Go Ask Alice, the anonymous account of a teen girl who becomes addicted to drugs, but it's true. I recently picked up the audio version of the famous book at the library and listened to it for the first time during several car trips.

I was stunned by the power and emotional impact of this story, as I suppose many people have responded to it since it was first published in 1971. So, I was equally stunned and sorely disappointed to discover that it is now widely assumed to be a work of fiction. I just finished reading a summary of Go Ask Alice on scopes.com, the go-to place on the web for debunking urban legends. I was crushed to find out that the book is not the real-life diary of a teen, as it is presented.

I do tend to be gullible in these sorts of things, mainly because I'm an optimist and idealist; I just want to believe that people are incapable of deception, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary! I tend to take things at face value.

However, while this particular deception is disappointing to me, it doesn't change my opinion of the book overall. I found much of the "diary" to be quite realistic, even reminiscent of my own high school journals, especially in the way that the narrator vacillated between cheerful optimism and dark despondency. Isn't that the essence of being a teen?

Perhaps the format I chose impacted my experience as well. Maybe the diary entries would have seemed less real if I were reading them rather than listening. The young narrator of the audio book did a great job expressing the highs and lows of the teen's high school life and her shame at her descent into drug addiction. When she talked, in a low monotone, about the horrible things that happened to her while she was high and living on the streets, my heart broke for her, and when she was back with her family and happily trying to put her life together, I cheered for her.

Despite its controversies and deception, Go Ask Alice remains a touching and disturbing portrait of how drug addiction can destroy the life of a smart, sweet young girl. Certainly, even if this account is fiction, the things that happen in the book do indeed happen to real people. I think all teens (and all parents) should read this book. It affected me deeply.

AUDIO:

Middle-Grade Fiction: Rules

Rules by Cynthia Lord is a book for middle-grade readers that will also appeal to teens (and adults, too!). Twelve-year old Catherine tries to navigate her pre-teen life while also living with her 8-year old autistic brother. She sets rules for him to follow, to help him seem more normal to the outside world. When Catherine befriends a 14-year old paraplegic boy who can’t speak, she is forced to reassess her ideas about what is normal.

Catherine is a funny, warm narrator, and this book is a must-read for anyone who knows someone with autism. I listened to the audio version, with a wonderful reader who perfectly captured Catherine (my full review of Rules will appear in a spring 2009 issue of Family Fun magazine).

AUDIO:

Teen/YA Fiction: The Book Thief

Although The Book Thief by Markus Zusak was published as a Young Adult book, one of my grown-up book groups recently read it for our September selection. The response was unanimous - everyone loved it! As soon as I finished it, I lent it to my neighbor, who was similarly impressed and then recommended it to her friends. That's the way it goes with a unique and well-written book.

And The Book Thief is certainly unique. The story is narrated by Death. Yes, you read that correctly, and Death is a surprisingly sympathetic and endearing character who tells this story from a unique perspective. While this choice of narrator seems strange at first, it works quite well.

The book thief of the title is a young girl named Liesel who lives in Nazi Germany at the time of World War II. Death first encounters Liesel when she is just 9 years old and her brother dies. He sees Liesel take her first book, The Grave Digger's Handbook, even though she can not yet read. Liesel goes to live with foster parents in a very poor section of a small town and encounters all sorts of characters, some friendly and some more sinister. While going to school, taking part in Junior Nazi activities, and helping her family harbor a hidden Jew, she continues to encounter both Death and stolen books, and both have a significant impact on her life.

Anyone who loves to read will appreciate the positive role of books in Liesel's life and in the lives of those she cares about. In fact, it is a book - her own hand-written life story - that ultimately saves her life. This is one of those books that takes you through every emotion imaginable. And after all, isn't that the point of a really good book: to make you feel something? The Book Thief does that and more.

Due to its subject matter and setting during the Holocaust, The Book Thief is most appropriate for teens or adults.

Teen/YA Review: Three Little Words

Ashley Rhodes-Courter lived in fourteen different foster homes in nine years. Her memoir, Three Little Words, chronicles her childhood spent as a victim of a badly broken foster care system, yet she sees herself as more of a survivor and advocate rather than a victim.

Ashley’s story begins with her earliest memories (based in part on stories told to her by her family). Her mother was only seventeen when Ashley was born. They lived for awhile with her mother’s sister, then with a boyfriend and a new baby brother. When Ashley was just three years old, and her brother Luke still a baby, police removed them from their house, and the progression of foster parents began.

Ashley and Luke were bounced from one foster home to another, sometimes together, sometimes apart. She stayed in some homes for years and in others for just a day or two. For years, no one explained to her why this had happened, where her mother was, or what she could expect in the future. Some of her foster parents were caring, kind people; others were indifferent, crowding too many children into small homes. One foster mother was as evil as any fairytale stepmother, mentally and physically abusing Ashley and the other fourteen children in her care.

Fortunately, Ashley was an intelligent and resilient child and eventually escaped the foster care system that was responsible for so much pain in her life. She is now a college-educated twenty-two year old who is a vocal advocate for adoption and foster care reform. Simon & Schuster published Three Little Words within their teen division, but the memoir is fascinating and compelling for readers of any age. From the adorable picture of Ashley dressed as an angel on the cover to the acknowledgements, notes, and photos at the end of the book, I could scarcely put it down.

P.S. The three little words aren't the ones you're thinking of!

Teen/YA Fiction: Click

I just read the recently released young adult novel, Click, by David Almond, Eoin Colfer, Roddy Doyle, Deborah Ellis, Nick Hornby, Margo Lanagan, Gregory Maguire, Ruth Ozeki, Linda Sue Park, and Tim Wynne-Jones. Yes, you read that correctly; this novel has 10 authors!

The concept behind Click was to start with ten bestselling, award-winning writers. Each one wrote a single chapter in the novel. As you can imagine, each chapter has its own unique style, but it works. The end result is a novel that tells a story, but with many surprising twists and turns. It’s part character-study, part mystery, part teen angst, part comedy, with a bit of science fiction thrown in.

The novel opens with two siblings, Maggie, middle school-age, and Jason, a high school senior, struggling in their own ways with the recent death of their Grandpa “Gee”. Gee was a famous photographer who traveled all over the world, and he left each of his grandchildren with a puzzling gift: an old camera and a box of photos for Jason and a handmade box of seashells for Maggie.

The story unfolds as Maggie and Jason each come to terms with Gee’s death and their own changing lives, while they try to make sense of what Gee has left them. Within the format of the book’s changing authors, some chapters deal with one child or the other, some address Gee’s past, and some are actually about the subjects of certain photos that Gee left to Jason. The threads are all gradually woven together, as Maggie and Jason each find their own path to the adults they will become.

More character driven than action-oriented, this book will probably appeal to teens and young adults (and grown-ups, too!). Though the changing authors and various story threads might be distracting to some readers, I thought the editing process was effective, producing a book that tells a full story from different perspectives.

Click was a quick and pleasant read for me, and I enjoyed sampling the writings of ten different authors (I had only read one of them before). In fact, the book has inspired me to check out other offerings from some of these writers. As an added bonus, all proceeds from Click are being donated to Amnesty International.

Middle-Grade Fiction: The Roman Mysteries

My 11-year old son, Jamie, was assigned to read a mystery book and an historical fiction book for his 6th grade Reading class. Browsing the shelves of the library, we came across a single series that met both requirements, and we discovered a new household favorite.

Imagine if Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys traveled back in time to Ancient Rome, and you have a sense of Caroline Lawrence's The Roman Mysteries series. The books succeed on two levels. They are fast-paced, suspenseful mysteries that keep you turning the pages way past bedtime, as well as fascinating and accurate accounts of life in ancient Rome.

The first book, The Thieves of Ostia, takes place in 79 AD in the Roman port city of Ostia. Twelve-year old Flavia, the daughter of a sea captain, meets her three new friends in this book: Jonathan, son of a Jewish doctor; Nubia, an African slave girl rescued by Flavia; and Lupus, a mute beggar boy. Yes, it seems like an unlikely group of friends, but it works. Lawrence makes the characters seem real and worthy of our attention.

Like most young sleuths of fiction, the four children encounter new mysteries to solve in each book, from determining who is killing neighborhood dogs in the first book to tracking down kidnappers and missing children in The Pirates of Pompeii to finding the source of a plague in The Enemies of Jupiter.

While the mysteries are exciting, it's just as compelling to read about the children's daily lives. Woven into the books are many details of food, clothing, architecture, and culture. In book #2, Secrets of Vesuvius, we experience the famous volcanic eruption with the children; in The Gladiators of Capua, we witness the games and shows of the new Colosseum. The books also offer a broadening world view as they deal with issues like slavery and religious tolerance.

Lawrence's books have been acclaimed for their accurate historical portrayal. In some cases, this means dealing with issues that are violent or otherwise distasteful to our modern sensibilities, like the realities of slavery or the gory fate of many of the participants at the Colosseum. To counter these sometimes gruesome details, the main characters tend to react in ways that we would today - sickened by mistreatment of slaves or the "games" at the Coliseum, for instance. Some critics have complained that the main characters' actions (and, indeed, their unique friendship) mars the historical accuracy, but I like the way Lawrence deals with the unsavory aspects of the time by providing admirable heroes and heroines that modern kids can relate to and respect.

When we go to the library, Jamie immediately heads to the L's to see if any of Lawrence's books are available (they're often all checked out). He and I have both enjoyed reading this unique series, and Jamie is very excited about studying Ancient Rome in Social Studies now.

(1/09 Update: The series has become so popular that the author is now planning to write 17 books in in the series, rather than the original twelve. BBC has created a highly-acclaimed television show based on the books that currently airs in the UK and Australia (not yet in the U.S. or on U.S.-formatted DVD). The author has also published two volumes of mini-adventures (for younger readers), several quiz books, and a travel guide. Besides being a hit with kids, these books have become favorites of many teachers because of their historical accuracy in describing daily life in Ancient Rome. )

P.S. If you're a Roman Mysteries fan, check out the website and the author's blog.



Latest Release 1/09 - #16

Middle-Grade Fiction: The Underland Chronicles

Life has been especially hectic lately, so I haven't had much time to myself for reading. One thing we always make time for, though, is our nightly ritual of reading to our two boys. At 8 and 11 years old, Craig and Jamie are both proficient readers on their own. In Jamie's case, voracious might be a better descriptor; he devours books in big, hungry bites, one after another. Even though both boys can now read independently, my husband and I still read to them at bedtime. Our selections over the years have evolved from Dr. Seuss and Richard Scarry to lengthy chapter books, often infused with adventure and magic.

For several months now, all four of us have been thoroughly engrossed in The Underland Chronicles, a five-book series by Suzanne Collins. We have been so taken with this exciting, well-written series that I reviewed it for FamilyFun magazine (see the review in the May 2006 issue).

In the first book, Gregor the Overlander, Collins introduces us to the series' unlikely hero. Gregor is a typical 11-year old boy until the day that he literally falls into the Underland, a whole world existing underneath New York City. The Underland is populated by pale-skinned, violet-eyed humans, as well as human-sized bats, rats, and cockroaches.

I know what you're thinking...if anyone had told me I'd enjoy books filled with enormous creepy-crawlers, I'd have thought they were crazy. Besides having a fabulous imagination, Suzanne Collins is a talented writer, filling her books with suspenseful fast-moving plots, in-depth characters, and enough humor to offset the fright factor. In fact, I not only enjoy these books along with my boys, I've even come to care about many of the oversized critters.

Gregor and his two-year old sister Boots find themselves pulled into the conflicts of the Underland. Along the way, Gregor discovers he is a legendary warrior and joins an unusual team of Underlanders to fulfill a prophecy and find a clue to the mysterious disappearance of his own father.

In Book 2, Gregor and the Prophecy of the Bane, Gregor and Boots return to the Underland to help the humans head off a possible coup by the rats. Gregor has his own personal motivation for helping the Underlanders in Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods when a member of his own family is affected by a deadly plague in the Underland. In Gregor and the Marks of Secret, Gregor again fulfills his role in the Underland prophecies by helping the humans defend themselves against attacks by the rats. Through all of the action-packed books, Collins keeps us caring with her realistic portrayal of the young hero and keeps us laughing at Boots' typical toddler antics. At our house, we can't wait for bedtime to find out what happens next.
Recommended for ages 9 and up (there is some violence and death in all of the books, especially the 5th one).

(1/09 Update: The 5th and final Gregor book was published in 2008: Gregor and the Code of Claw. Our family loved the entire series, and the Gregor books remain among our favorite books of all time!)



Complete Series in a Boxed Set:

Middle-Grade Fiction: Peter and the Starcatchers

I just finished reading PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. I had finished my last book and was searching the house for my next conquest. I have a stack of books I want to read on the bookcase in my bedroom but none seemed to fit my mood. I wandered into my son's room to check his bookcase. We receive a lot of middle-grade books to review, so he always has a stack of new arrivals. Actually, he usually plows through each book as soon as it arrives, and I'm usually lagging behind. I ended up ignoring some of the review possibilities to read this one just for fun.

PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS is a prequel to J.M. Barrie's PETER PAN. As the story goes, Ridley Pearson (a popular fiction writer) was reading PETER PAN to his daughter one night, and she asked him how Peter got to be Peter Pan. That got him thinking, and he ended up teaming up with Dave Barry to create their version of how Peter Pan came to be.

The book was just what I was looking for: an enjoyable escape. I loved how the book filled in the gaps of the well-known tale of Peter Pan, explaining why he can fly, how he got to the island, and how he made an enemy of the famed pirate. I thought that Ridley and Barry's imaginative pre-story was just right and fit J.M. Barrie's famous tale well. In fact, reading this book made me want to read the original PETER PAN, as I'm embarrassed to admit I'm only familiar with the Disney and Hollywood versions.

PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS is an excellent book for middle-grade readers (and grown-ups, too!), building on a well-loved character and filled with adventure, magic, and a touch of Dave Barry's signature humor. It was a pleasant and satisfying read.

(NOTE: Since this review was written, Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson have written 2 sequels: Peter and the Shadow Thief and Peter and the Secrets of Rundoon).