Teen/YA Review: UnWholly

One of my favorite books read for Dangerous Reads Month was UnWholly by Neal Schusterman, the sequel to his popular and highly acclaimed Unwind, which my husband, son, and I all loved. This super creepy dystopian thriller kept me up way too late reading every night!

The setting of this trilogy is a United States just slightly into the future, where a second civil war, The Heartland War, has been fought over reproductive rights. The pro-lifers and the pro-choicers finally ended the war with the Unwind Accord that says that life is inviolable starting at conception;  however, unruly or disagreeable teens (is there any other kind?) can be “unwound,” whereby all of their organs and body parts are transplanted into others so that life does not officially end. So, a kid who gets bad grades or rebels against his or her parents may wake up one morning to find officers from the National Juvenile Authority ready to take them to a harvest camp because their parents signed an Unwind Order. I know – super creepy, right??

In Unwind, Schusterman created a chilling but compelling story about a group of teens who, in various ways, escaped their unwinding. Connor escaped from the Juvies on the way to harvest camp and was officially declared an AWOL. During a car accident, he took Lev, a tithe (yes, a kid born to be unwound), as an unwilling hostage to help him escape.  Risa, an orphan and ward of the state also escaped when she was sent to a harvest camp to relieve overcrowding in her state home.

Don’t worry – no spoilers here for those who haven’t read Unwind yet! In the second book, these teens’ stories continue as they try to stay alive, evade the Juvenile Authorities, and help other Unwinds to escape. The story alternates between each of the main characters’ perspectives (plus a few new ones), providing a wide range of points of view of this frightening world. A new teen character is also introduced: Cam, a new kind of person who must come to grips with his own strange history and who learns a startling truth about unwinding.

Although the novel is action-packed from start to finish and filled with suspense, Schusterman also delves more deeply here into the ethical issues that arise from this strange new world (as all good dystopian stories do). The characters grapple with all kinds of moral issues, as the events from the first novel reverberated through society. Does the good done by providing much-needed transplant organs and tissues make up for the evil of unwinding? Should the needs of the many outweigh the rights of the few? What makes someone human and defines life? Although horrifying, this world is also compelling; Schusterman himself said that he intended Unwind to be a stand-alone book, but he just couldn’t stop thinking about the world he’d created there.

While the gripping story and intricate plot kept me turning the pages, I also enjoyed the thought-provoking nature of the novel. Schusterman has created a world that is unfathomable and yet eerily similar to our own. The unthinkable act of unwinding is rationalized in frighteningly calm and logical ways. The teen characters in this trilogy are realistically portrayed and feel like old friends by the second book. The third and final book of the trilogy, UnSouled, will be released next week – my husband, son and I can’t wait to see how it all ends!

401 pages, Simon & Schuster

 

It's Monday 10/28! What Are You Reading?

Thank goodness it's Monday - I need to recover from my relaxing weekend. ha ha Seriously, we had a very good weekend. Too often, our weekends turn out to be just work around the house, but this time, my husband and I went out to dinner with our oldest friends Saturday night, and we drove to our favorite pumpkin farm on Sunday with both sons (and a friend) along - it was nice to have the whole family together (our oldest is in college).

So, a good weekend though exhausting for me! We enjoyed some good reading last week, too:

• I finished Unwholly by Neal Schusterman, a teen/YA dystopian thriller and the sequel to his highly acclaimed Unwind, about a future world where wayward teens can be "unwound," with all of their body parts transplanted in other people so that they are officially still alive. Chilling and perfect for Dangerous Reads Month! I can't wait to read the final book in the trilogy, Unsouled, which will be released next week.
• Now, I am reading one last book for Dangerous Reads Month, In the Woods by Tana French. I bought it (and later, the next two in the series) for my husband, and he's been telling me I have to read them. He was right - in some ways, it is a classic murder mystery, but with a twist and with excellent writing. Some passages read more like literary fiction than a typical mystery.
• I am listening to Rotters by Daniel Kraus, a teen/YA novel on audio. The audio book won the Odyssey award a couple of years ago, and it is excellent so far. It's also a fit for Dangerous Reads Month since it is about grave robbing...though I was surprised to find out that it is also about bullying.
• My husband, Ken, read Blood Red Road, a teen/YA post-apocalyptic novel that my son and I both liked. The main character narrates the book in an unusual slang-type style but, like me, he soon got used to the odd writing style and enjoyed the book. Book 2 in the Dustlands series, Rebel Heart, was just released this month, so all three of us are looking forward to reading it.
• Last night, Ken started Ghost Man by Roger Dobbs, another gift from me. This is a thriller written by a first-time author, and I've heard it is excellent.
• Jamie, 19, has been very busy at college with mid-terms, so he hasn't had much reading time. He said he is still working on Shadows Edge by Brent Weeks, book 2 of the Night Angel trilogy, and it is excellent so far. We bought him the first book for his birthday this summer, and he loves the series.
• Craig, 15, is still reading Beowulf for Brit Lit class.

I posted two reviews (both good Dangerous Reads books, if you want to get into the Halloween spirit!) last week, plus some other fun posts:

Review of The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, a supernatural coming-of-age tale by a master storyteller.

Review of In the After by Demitria Lunetta, a teen/YA post-apocalyptic and dystopian novel that I listened to on audio.

Weekend Cooking post, featuring some of the highlights of our last few weeks.

First peek at The Book Thief movie trailer - I can't wait!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.)

And, remember, Book By Book is now on Facebook, so you can get updates and join in some fun bookish conversations there. 

Our family at our favorite pumpkin farm

Teen/YA Review: In the After

Continuing the creepy fun in Dangerous Reads Month, I listened to the teen/YA audio book In the After by Demitria Lunetta. This suspenseful story combines both post-apocalyptic and dystopian elements into a fast-paced novel full of surprises.

Amy is fourteen when They come and change the world. Gruesome green-skinned monsters, They have a taste for human flesh and quickly take over the world. TV news coverage shows Them arriving in a ship, before all forms of media disappear. Amy is fortunate to live in a high –security house that helps keep Them away and her safe, but her parents – who were out when the attack began – are missing. The creatures seem to have a poor sense of sight and smell but excellent hearing, and Amy quickly learns to live a very silent existence, especially on those dangerous occasions when she must leave the house for supplies. On one of those excursions, Amy discovers a scared and battered toddler, all alone in a deserted grocery store, so she takes her home and calls her Baby.

Amy and Baby live together for several years in the safe house, using their own form of sign language to communicate and rarely seeing other human beings. They become very close, and their life together falls into a routine, though danger is still lurking just outside the fence.

Then one day, they are saved! A community called New Hope finds them and takes them into the safety of their compound where many others are living safely and peaceably together.  Finally, Amy can relax, and they can both get used to not being alone anymore. It takes a period of adjustment, but they both make new friends, start school, and settle into life in New Hope. But certain things just don’t seem right to Amy, and the more she learns about New Hope, the more concerned she becomes.  Besides Them outside the compound, she now worries about new dangers possibly lurking right inside their new home and how to keep herself and Baby safe.

Throughout the story – through both the post-apocalyptic beginning and the dystopian second half – the suspense and tension are maintained.  I listened to the book in record time. Like another post-apocalyptic novel I recently finished, AMatter of Days, this one also contains some unlikely coincidences – Amy’s father was an environmentalist who installed solar panels so they could live “off the grid” and her mother had a super-secret government job that required an electric security fence around their house – that ensured the main character’s survival in the frightening post-apocalyptic world. As with that book, I just accepted those contrivances as necessary to the story and went along for the ride – and it was a wild ride! It sounds like there might be a sequel coming…ah, yes, I see on the author’s blog that In the End will be released June 24, 2014. I can’t wait!

Listening Library/Harper Children’s Audio

If you want to listen to a sample of the audio, click on the amazon link below - there is a "Listen" button just below the photo of the cover. 

The Book Thief Movie Preview!

I'm so excited!!

One of my all-time favorite books, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, has been made into a movie! I've read the book twice myself and recently gave it to my 14-year old cousin who loves historical fiction and is fascinated by World War II for her birthday. Check out the official movie trailer:



I think it looks sooo good! I can't wait to see it....January!

What do you think? Does the trailer look good to you? Will you see the movie?

It's Monday 10/21! What Are You Reading?

Happy Monday!

It is a happy Monday for me, as I am finally feeling better after being sick for over two weeks. I turned the corner last week just in time to go to my neighborhood book group's 125th book celebration! It was so good to be out among friends  - and talking about books, too! So, today feels like a fresh start, with a new week ahead and feeling like my old self again.

With all that time spent sick, I've had plenty of reading time:

• I finished City of Women by David Gillham in time for my book group discussion/dinner. It's an emotionally powerful, raw story of women living in Berlin during World War II - ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, as the author says. I really enjoyed it, as did most of the others in my group.
• I also finished my audio book, a teen/YA novel called In the After by Demitria Lunetta, part of my Dangerous Reads Month. It's a post-apocalyptic story about a teen girl and a toddler trying to survive an invasion of flesh-eating monsters, but the second half is also dystopian. I enjoyed the original story and the suspense.
• I started another teen/YA dystopian novel for Dangerous Reads Month, Unwholly by Neal Schusterman. This is the sequel to Unwind, Schusterman's novel about a future world where abortion is illegal but parents can choose to "unwind" unruly teens between their 13th and 18th birthdays. All parts are used and implanted into other people, so the theory is that the child is still technically alive. Oh, yeah...super creepy stuff! The sequel is just as good as the first book - I can't wait to read book 3 which was just recently released.
• I also started another teen/YA audio book, Rotters. Like Unwholly, this one has been sitting on my shelf for a long time. I was hoping my teen sons would agree to listen to it with me during our road trip this summer, but they say they are done with that (sniff, sniff). It won an Odyssey award for audio book excellence and is very good so far. It also fits in with Dangerous Reads Month, as the story includes grave-robbing (though I haven't gotten to that part yet).
• My husband, Ken, just finished NOS4A2 by Joe Hill last night and said it was very good and very Stephen King-ish (Hill is King's son)...i.e. super creepy! I'm not sure what he's going to read next - like me, he has a big stack of books waiting to be read.
• It's mid-term time in college, so Jamie, 19, hasn't had much time for reading, though he did start Shadows Edge by Brent Weeks, book 2 of the Night Angel trilogy.
• And Craig, 15, is still reading Beowulf for British Lit class.

After I started to feel better at the end of the week, I finally managed a few blog posts and reviews - Woohoo!

BookPage's list of 13 Creepiest Books for October - if you want to get into the spirit of the season, this list is a great place to start!

Review of City of Women by David Gillham, historical fiction set in Berlin in 1943.

Review of A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer, a teen/YA post-apocalyptic audio book.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.) 

And, remember, Book By Book is now on Facebook, so you can get updates and join in some fun bookish conversations there.

Teen/YA Review: A Matter of Days

I like post-apocalyptic novels. Whatever the cause of the apocalypse, it is intriguing to see how the characters survive in a world that is our world but dramatically changed. In the case of A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer, the cause is a weaponized virus.

The story opens on Day 56 of the Blustar Pandemic, a virus that killed 95% of the world’s population. Sixteen year-old Nadia and her younger brother, Rabbit, have watched their mother finally succumb to the virus and are now left on their own. They need to make their way across the U.S., from their home in Seattle all the way to West Virginia, to meet up with their uncle and grandfather, who are their only remaining family.

So, this falls into the category of a journey/road trip sort of post-apocalyptic adventure, which is one of my favorite kinds. The two kids head out from their home, past all the empty houses in their neighborhood, as Nadia very quickly learns to drive. As they make their way across the U.S., they face survival situations – needing to find food, shelter, and stay healthy – but they also face other remaining survivors, many of whom are desperate and/or violent. Along the way, they do meet up with some others, including a neglected dog, a small child, and a guy who grew up on the streets of Los Angeles, whom they aren’t sure they can trust.

I was pulled right into this suspenseful plot with likeable characters. I listened to the audio book, which was well done and engaging. The book is written in first-person in Nadia’s voice, and the narrator did a good job with it. My only criticism is that there were some convenient coincidences to help the story along: their uncle is a disease specialist in the military so he was able to send them vaccines for the virus, their father was also in the military and a survivalist, so he taught them all kinds of tips on how to survive (“be the cockroach”), and their grandfather is a paranoid anti-government person who happens to have a well-stocked survivalist compound. Then again, maybe the story wouldn’t have worked otherwise.

Despite these little contrivances, I fully enjoyed the story, and its fast pace kept me interested and entertained. I came to care about Nadia and Rabbit and cheered them on as they made their way across the deserted country, amid plenty of suspense and danger. I would like to read some of Kizer’s other novels – this is the first one I’ve read.

Listening Library

Listen to an excerpt:


 

It's Monday 10/14! What Are You Reading?

I was hoping for a fresh start on this Monday morning, but I still I am still in bad shape. I've been down and out for a couple of weeks now, and last week was the worst. I think I was exposed to a virus (probably the cold my son had a few weeks ago!) that triggered a severe flare-up of my immune disorder that has now developed into bronchitis. I was feeling a bit better yesterday after a few days on antibiotics, but I probably did too much and woke up today feeling totally wiped out again. So, I am resting (again) and trying to recover (still).

I was so bad last week that I couldn't manage a single review, but I did accomplish one thing: I started a Facebook page for Book By Book! Check it out, click "Like", and you'll get updates on new reviews and blog posts, the chance to interact with other book lovers, and plenty of reading fun! I have lots of ideas for fun, interactive features using this page.

The only good thing about being so sick is having an excuse to read a lot:

• I finished my first book for Dangerous Reads Month, Unbroken by Paula Morris, a teen/YA ghost story set in New Orleans and sequel to Ruined. I enjoyed both books very much, and Unbroken set the perfect spooky mood for this month!
• A kind neighbor went to the library for me so that I could begin our book group selection for this week, City of Women by David Gillham. I chose this one, and I am loving it so far! It's about women in Berlin during World War II, when most of the men were off fighting the war. Lots of twists and turns; I am totally engrossed in the characters and the story. My husband told me last night to stop talking to the book because the characters never listen to me!
• I am listening to a teen/YA post-apocalyptic novel on audio, In the After by Demitria Lunetta. This is another engrossing story and another one for Dangerous Reads Month, with a teen girl trying to survive and take care of a toddler after human-eating aliens attack the earth.
• My husband, Ken, is reading NOS4A2 by Joe Hill, a gift from the kids and I for Father's Day. He says it is very Stephen King-like so far (Hill is King's son). I've heard this one is super creepy, so it is a perfect choice for Dangerous Reads Month!
• Jamie, 19, was home from college yesterday for a few hours and said he'd finally had time to finish the book he was reading when he started school in August! He's been sick a bit lately, too, so he also had some reading/resting time this week. He finished Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling, book 1 of The Nightrunner series.
• Now, Jamie is reading Shadows Edge by Brent Weeks, book 2 of the Night Angel trilogy that he started this summer while we were on vacation.
• Craig, 15, is still reading Beowulf for his British Lit class.

Just two quick posts last week:

October is Dangerous Reads Month!

Book By Book Now on Facebook

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.) 

October is Dangerous Reads Month!

Just like last year, Tanya Patrice over at Girlxoxo has inspired me to celebrate October with spooky, seasonal books. She has declared this October Dangerous Reads Month, and I am joining in on the fun here! Thanks - as always - for the inspiration, Tanya, and for the very cool image!

I've been trying to read lots of TBR books this year since my shelves are overflowing, so I searched through my many bookcases when I read about Dangerous Reads Month. I don't have a lot of classic horror novels waiting, but I've come up with several dangerous choices to squeeze in among my book group books this month and most of them are teen/YA novels:

• Unbroken by Paula Morris - what better way to kick off a spooky month than with a teen/YA ghost story set in New Orleans? Loving it so far!
• Unwholly by Neal Schusterman, the second book in his teen/YA dystopian trilogy about a society that can "unwind" a teen before they turn 18. This one's been waiting patiently on my shelf for a year now, and book #3 comes out next month. Very creepy premise.
• I am currently listening to In the After by Demitria Lunetta, a teen/YA post-apocalyptic novel about a teen girl and a toddler trying to survive in a world that's been taken over by human-eating aliens - ew!
• On the grown-up side, I have a couple of Laura Lippman novels to choose from - I figured that a good murder mystery is plenty dangerous, and my husband has read a few of these that I haven't gotten to yet.
• And I encouraged my husband to join the fun - he's just started NOS4A2 by Joe Hill, a Father's Day gift that I gave him - I've heard it's super-creepy.

So, those are my plans. How about you? What will you read for this spooky, dangerous month?

It's Monday 10/7! What Are You Reading?

Whew - rough week last week. Another busy one and my chronic illness was flared up most of the week, so I had to rest a lot and cancel many of my plans. One of the things we had to cancel was a camping weekend we were all looking forward to. That was disappointing, but after 11 years of living with chronic illness, we are used to last-minute changes and going with the flow! I'm doing a little better today and am hoping for a better week...though the calendar is chock full again!

The one benefit of feeling poorly is plenty of quiet reading time! Here's what we read last week:

• I finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, the classic teen/YA coming-of-age novel. It was amazing! It was a great choice for Banned Books week - check out my review.
• Next I went back to Dreams of My Russian Summers by Andre Makine and finished it finally! It's a slow read - literary fiction - but it was a good story, and I was glad I stuck with it. I'm sorry I missed the book group discussion, though - I've found that my enjoyment of more difficult books is really enhanced when I can discuss it with others.
• Before my next book group read, I wanted to squeeze in a teen/YA novel. I have been reading Unbroken by Paula Morris, sequel to Ruined. It's a ghost story set in New Orleans, and a perfect way to kick off October!
• I also started a new audio book last week and am already halfway through it - amazing progress for me! I am listening to In the After by Demitria Lunetta, a suspenseful post-apocalyptic teen/YA novel.
• My husband, Ken, finished Time and Again by Jack Finney, a classic time travel novel that he and I both enjoyed. He noted that it was slower-paced than he expected, and I agree - it reads more like historical fiction than science fiction.
• Now, he is reading a Father's Day gift I gave him: NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. I'd heard that this supernatural thriller written by Stephen King's son was a good one, so I hope he enjoys it.
• Craig, 15, is still reading Beowulf for Brit Lit, and Jamie, 19, is still too busy with college to have any free reading time!

 I posted two new reviews last week:

Review of Hope's Boy, a memoir by Andrew Bridge.

Review of The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, a teen/YA classic.

And a summary of Books Read in September.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.) 

I spent a relaxing weekend reading on the deck!

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.

 

It's Monday 9/30! What Are You Reading?

Today is our 24th wedding anniversary! We had another busy week but a nice weekend, and I'm looking forward to our dinner out together tonight. It's especially nice when your kids are old enough that you no longer need a babysitter!

Some good reading at our house last week:

• I worked steadily on Dreams of My Russian Summers by Andre Makine, but then I wasn't well enough to go to my book group discussion on Wednesday evening (my chronic illness was flared-up). I was about halfway through the novel and enjoying it, but I decided to set it aside and go back to the book I had to set down to read this one! (are you following this?)
• So, I picked up my Kindle and finished I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. This first memoir by the famed poet just blew me away - it is warm, intelligent, funny, and heart-breaking. I loved it and can't wait to read her other memoirs. I read this book in honor of Banned Books Week.
• Now, I am reading another book for Banned Books Week, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky. Another gem! This YA novel is fabulous so far.
• My husband, Ken, is still reading Time and Again by Jack Finney, a classic time travel novel that I enjoyed.
• Craig, 15, is still working his way through Beowulf for his British Literature class.

To celebrate Banned Books Week last week, I posted:

An Introduction to Banned Books Week

List of Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books from 2000-2009

Review of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.)

24 years ago today!

Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books from 2000 - 2009

In honor of Banned Books Week, here is the American Library Association's Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books from the last decade (from 2000 - 2009). I have read 27 of them so far and plan to read two more this week (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and The Perks of Being a Wallflower).  How many of them have you read?

(Seriously? Someone banned In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak? Apparently a lot of someones - crazy).

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
11. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
12. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
13. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
15. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
16. Forever, by Judy Blume
17. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
18. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
19. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
20. King and King, by Linda de Haan
21. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
22. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
23. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
24. In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
25. Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan
26. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
27. My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier
28. Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
29. The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney
30. We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier
31. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
32. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
33. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
34. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
35. Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, by Louise Rennison
36. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
37. It’s So Amazing, by Robie Harris
38. Arming America, by Michael Bellasiles
39. Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane
40. Life is Funny, by E.R. Frank
41. Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher
42. The Fighting Ground, by Avi
43. Blubber, by Judy Blume
44. Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher
45. Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly
46. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
47. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby: The First Graphic Novel by George Beard and Harold Hutchins, the creators of Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey
48. Rainbow Boys, by Alex Sanchez
49. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
50. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
51. Daughters of Eve, by Lois Duncan
52. The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson
53. You Hear Me?, by Betsy Franco
54. The Facts Speak for Themselves, by Brock Cole
55. Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Green
56. When Dad Killed Mom, by Julius Lester
57. Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
58. Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
59. Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
60. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
61. Draw Me A Star, by Eric Carle
62. The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard
63. The Terrorist, by Caroline B. Cooney
64. Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park
65. The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
66. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor
67. A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
68. Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez
69. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
70. Harris and Me, by Gary Paulsen
71. Junie B. Jones (series), by Barbara Park
72. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
73. What’s Happening to My Body Book, by Lynda Madaras
74. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
75. Anastasia (series), by Lois Lowry
76. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
77. Crazy: A Novel, by Benjamin Lebert
78. The Joy of Gay Sex, by Dr. Charles Silverstein
79. The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss
80. A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
81. Black Boy, by Richard Wright
82. Deal With It!, by Esther Drill
83. Detour for Emmy, by Marilyn Reynolds
84. So Far From the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Watkins
85. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher
86. Cut, by Patricia McCormick
87. Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume
88. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
89. Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissenger
90. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle
91. Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
92. The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar
93. Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard
94. Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine
95. Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix
96. Grendel, by John Gardner
97. The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende
98. I Saw Esau, by Iona Opte
99. Are You There, God?  It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
100. America: A Novel, by E.R. Frank

Celebrate Banned Books Week 2013!

Banned Books Week is this week, September 22 - 28, 2013, so join in the fun!

The American Library Association explains this annual weeklong celebration:

"Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community –- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular."

I like to join in the celebration by choosing a couple of frequently banned books - one for adults and one for kids/teens/YA - and read and review them this week. I chose my books last week but am running a bit behind now because I had to switch to a book club group book to finish up for Wednesday!

The books I chose for this week are:

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Aneglou
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky

These are #6 and #10, respectively, on the ALA's List of Banned/Challenged Books 2000-2009. I am about halfway through Angelou's memoir and can't believe I've never read it before! It is just wonderful so far, and I hated to set it aside.

You can also look at Top Ten Banned Books lists by year at the ALA website, so check those out, too, and then choose YOUR book to read to celebrate these fabulous books and the freedom to read anything we want.

What are you reading for Banned Books Week?

It's Monday 9/23! What Are You Reading?

Rough start on a Monday. I came downstairs this morning to start my day, and the power went out! Beautiful clear day with sunny skies. My oatmeal was only half-cooked, and I didn’t have time to make my tea. I need my Tangerine-Orange Zinger to start my day! I keep starting to do something and then realize it requires electricity – no laundry, no tea, no internet!! Besides, Cher was on the Today Show this morning with her big comeback concert – I was planning to watch that while I ate breakfast.

Anyway, we had another crazy busy week, with soccer practices and games and another houseful of weekend visitors. So, not as much reading time as we’d like, but we managed some:

• I finished Hold Fast, an amazing middle-grade novel by Blue Balliet. It combines a mystery with the story of a family who unexpectedly becomes homeless – a clever, warm, suspenseful book that I loved.
• Next, I decided to choose a couple of books to read for this week’s Banned Books Week celebration, so I started I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou’s famous memoir. I am loving it and can’t believe I waited so long to read it! This is also my very first book downloaded to my new Kindle.
• Unfortunately, I had to set the memoir aside this weekend and get started on the book for one of my book groups that meets this week: Dreams of My Russian Summers by Andre Makine. I’m having a little trouble getting into this one, possibly because its pace and tone are so different from Angelou’s memoir and maybe because I really hate to switch books before I finish one! I need to get moving, though, because I have to finish it by Wednesday and so far, my progress has been very slow!
• My husband, Ken, is still reading Time and Again by Jack Finney, a classic time travel novel that I enjoyed.
• Craig, 15, is working his way through Beowulf for his British Literature class – he says it isn’t too bad so far!
• Jamie, 19, was home from college this weekend to see his grandparents - he says he hasn't had any time at all for fun reading, but there are so many books he wants to get to!

I had little blogging or writing time last week, with our heavy schedule, but I did squeeze in two reviews on Friday:

Review of The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh, a historical novel set in 1877 South Africa.

Review of Hold Fast by Blue Balliet, a powerful middle-grade novel.

I also managed a Weekend Cooking post before everyone got up on Sunday morning!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.)

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: Hold Fast

For over a decade, I have been hearing great things about Blue Balliet’s mystery novels. My son read one of them when he was a middle-grader, but I never got around to it myself. I just finished her latest novel, Hold Fast, and absolutely loved it! What took me so long? This novel – appropriate for older middle-grade readers and teens (and adults!) – combines a mystery with a realistic story about a family who suddenly finds themselves homeless, all from the perspective of an eleven-year old girl. It is exciting and suspenseful but also brimming with emotional depth and insights into a world that many young readers know nothing about.

Eleven-year old Early loves her life. She is part of a close-knit family in Chicago, living in a tiny, one-room apartment with her parents and her four-year old brother, Jubilation (Jubie for short). She knows her family doesn’t have much money, but they have love and dreams and books. Early’s parents – and especially her father Dashiel – love to read and share books with their children. Dash also loves to play with words and works as a page at the Chicago Public Library. He dreams of one day getting a degree in library science, and the whole family dreams of one day having a house of their own.

This happy, loving family is shattered when Dash disappears suddenly one icy winter evening on his way home from work. The police aren’t much help – they seem to think Early’s dad left on his own – and before long, Early, her mom, and her little brother lose their apartment and are forced to move to a city shelter. Early’s life falls apart as she is torn from her school, her friends, and the only home she has ever known, all while worrying about her beloved father.

Dash taught his daughter well, though, and Early begins to look for patterns and rhythms in what has happened that might help her find her father. She unravels tiny clues left behind in a desperate search to bring her family back together. As the days turn into weeks and months, though, she is forced to take on more responsibility as her mother falls apart and gives into despair and hopelessness, and the three of them struggle to adjust to life in a shelter.

This incredible novel packs a lot into a few hundred pages. It is a heartwarming (and sometimes heartbreaking) story about family and the meaning of home. It is a suspenseful and complex mystery, filled with surprising twists you will never see coming. It is a realistic portrayal of what life is like for the estimated 30,000 homeless children in Chicago (that’s just in one city!). And it is a love story that attests to the power of words and books. I loved Early’s family and never wanted their story to end.

274 words, Scholastic Press

NOTE: Although this book is marketed to a wide range of middle-grade readers as young as 8, it is most appropriate for those in middle-school or older. The mystery at the heart of the story is fairly complicated, as are the emotions evoked by the plight of the main characters. I also think this book will appeal to teen readers who like realistic fiction, even though the main character is only eleven. And, as an adult, I loved this book and never felt I was being talked down to. I can’t wait to share it with some of my young cousins and nieces. Highly recommended.

 

It's Monday 9/16! What Are You Reading?

We had a busy week and a fun weekend. My dad and his wife came to visit this weekend, and we enjoyed watching my son's soccer game Friday night, playing games with the kids, and eating lots of good food! The guys played golf on Saturday, while my step-mom and I visited a lovely natural garden that features local flora.

We also enjoyed our books last week:

• I finished The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh for my neighborhood book group and enjoyed discussing it. Most of us liked it but didn't love it, though there were some outliers on each end of the spectrum! It's set in 1877, about a young British woman who must emigrate to South Africa. I found the historical context fascinating, as I knew nothing at all about South Africa's distant past.
• Now that I am caught up (temporarily!) on book group reads, I am reading Hold Fast by Blue Balliet, a middle-grade novel that is part mystery and part realistic story about a family that suddenly find themselves homeless. It is an amazing novel, with plenty of emotional depth and suspense.
• I started - and finished! - a new audio, The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. It normally takes me a month or more to finish an audio book, so this is remarkable! True, it is a short novel, but it is also riveting and kept me listening during every spare moment. It helped that my own (old) car was in the shop last week, so I was driving the newer car with the iPod dock.
• My husband, Ken, is reading Time and Again by Jack Finney, a classic time travel novel that he gave me one Christmas.
• Since they were here this weekend, I'll include my dad and his wife in our weekly update. They were reading novels by Lee Child and Sandra Brown on their Kindles this weekend. They left with a stack of books rescued from my charity give-away box on Saturday! We all love to share our books.
• Craig, 15, is reading Beowulf for his Brit Lit class. I remember my older son having trouble with this one at that age - I've never read it myself! Maybe I should download it onto my new Kindle and give it a try while my son is reading it.

I didn't have much writing or blogging time last week but managed a few posts:

Review of Charlie Bumpers vs. The Teacher of the Year by Bill Harley, a great start to a new series for younger middle-grade readers.

Wrap-Up of Two Writing Challenges

Books Read in August 2013 summary

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.)

Books Read in August 2013

August was a good reading month, with plenty of relaxing vacation time, but I didn't read a lot of books. That's because I was focused on longer books for my 2013 Big Book Summer Challenge, so I spent half of the month just working on one book! I also see in looking back at my July 2013 Summary that I cheated a bit (gasp!) - I included an audio book that I ended up not finishing until mid-August.

So, here is what I (really) read in August:

• The Twelve by Justin Cronin, the Big Book that kept me busy all during my vacation (Iowa)
• The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness, Book 2 in Chaos Walking trilogy and another Big Book
• The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, on audio - that was my cheat - oops! (England)

• Charlie Bumpers vs. The Teacher of the Year by Bill Harley, a new middle-grade series

And that was it for August, just four books. I spent most of the month reading those first two books. They were both well worth the time investment! My favorite? Hmmm...tough one...probably The Ask and the Answer because I am really enjoying that series - can't wait to read Book 3!

Update on 2013 Reading Challenges:
I added only one new state (Iowa) to my 2013 Where Are You Reading Challenge. I read two more books off my TBR shelves (my Big Books all tend to be from the TBR shelves because I set them aside until I have time to read them!), bringing the total up to 13 so far this year for my 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge.

Which books did you most enjoy reading in August?

Middle-Grade Review: Charlie Bumpers vs. The Teacher of the Year

We are big fans of Grammy Award-winning Bill Harley in our family; he is a singer, storyteller, author, and all-around entertainer. Even though my sons are now in their mid to late teens, listening to a Bill Harley story can still make them laugh out loud – and he has the same effect on my husband and I!  I previously reviewed another Bill Harley middle-grade novel, Night of the Spadefoot Toads, and his Dear Santa picture book remains among our favorite holiday books. So, I was thrilled to hear he’d written a new middle-grade novel, Charlie Bumpers vs. The Teacher of the Year, which is also the start of new series. I loved this novel; reading it is like listening to Bill Harley tell his stories in my head!

Charlie Bumpers is a normal kid, getting ready to start fourth grade. As the novel opens, he is frantically trying to clean his room before his mom comes home (he ends up clearing the mess out from the closet and moving it under the bed). His big brother, Matt, is always on his back and loves to tease him. His little sister, Mabel, can be cute sometimes, but she’s also very loud and can not keep a secret! Charlie’s room-cleaning comes to an abrupt stop when his mom gets home and announces that she found out who Charlie’s teacher will be this year: Mrs. Burke.

Charlie’s mom is excited because Mrs. Burke was named Teacher of the Year last year, but Charlie knows he is doomed. What his mom doesn’t know is that there was an “incident” last year when Charlie ended up throwing a sneaker that hit Mrs. Burke in the head (it’s a long story). Now, he knows she hates him, and fourth grade is ruined. Even worse, his best friend, Tommy, is in a different class.

Charlie does his best to make a good impression on Mrs. Burke and start the year off right, but things never turn out the way he intended. Somehow, Charlie always ends up in trouble – with Mrs. Burke, with his classmates, and even with the new gym teacher, Mr. Shuler, aka General Shuler, Intergalatic Supreme Commander of Soccer Balls. How will Charlie ever survive the whole year when he can barely get through the first week?

The writing and story in this novel are pitch-perfect for younger middle-grade readers. Charlie and his friends feel like real kids, struggling with real problems. As always, Harley captures childhood perfectly, with a nice dose of his trademark humor and plenty of warmth. This series is sure to be a hit with kids who like reading about real-life kids like themselves and fans of the Horrible Harry series who are a little older now.

138 pages, Peachtree Publishers

Check out Bill Harley's Charlie Bumpers website, including a book trailer. 

If you have never heard Bill Harley perform before, listen to him tell one of his classic kid stories, Zanzibar:



 

It's Monday 9/9! What Are You Reading?

Ahhh....Monday, and all is quiet here at home. I enjoyed my first week alone last week, with the kids back at school and tried hard to keep the stress levels down and the vacation mindset alive! I did a lot of writing (check back tomorrow when I will recap how I did in two writing challenges) and tried to get caught up on a lot of things that I got behind on during the summer. I also spent a lot of time out on our deck, manages a couple of walks, and finally began watching some of the TED talks my husband has been telling me about - I'm hooked!

We enjoyed plenty of reading last week:

• I finished Hope's Boy by Andrew Bridge, an excellent memoir about a boy who grew up in foster care. It was an emotionally moving book, and I can't wait to talk about it at my library's book discussion group this week.
• I also finished A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer, the teen/YA audio book I've been listening to this summer. It's a post-apocalyptic tale of a teen girl and her younger brother making their way across the country after a viral pandemic kills 95% of the population. I really liked it and enjoyed the audio production.
• I am now reading The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh for my nieghborhood book group, also this week. It's about a young British woman in the 1870's who emigrates to South Africa to marry a man she barely knows. I'm enjoying it so far, but I better start reading faster if I want to finish it by Wednesday!
• My husband, Ken, finished Break No Bones by Kathy Reich. This was the first Reich novel that any of us have read - this series is the basis for the TV show Bones - and Ken said it was very good though different from the TV show.
• He just started Time and Again by Jack Finney, a classic time travel novel that Ken gave me for Christmas one year. I hope he likes it as much as I did.
• Jamie, 19, probably hasn't had much personal reading time at all lately - he is busy with college and friends!
• Craig, 15, got his reading list for this year's Brit Lit class. He's not too excited, but I am! Lots of excellent novels on the list, both classics and modern, and I think he may actually enjoy some of them (though he'd never admit that). So far, they are discussing their summer reads, The Lord of the Flies and The Housekeeper and the Professor. And guess what? His first writing assignments are blog posts for their classroom blog! I like this teacher.

My writing challenges kept me busy with other writing projects, but I managed a few book blog posts:

Review of The Time Machine, a new audio production of H.G. Wells' classic story.

Snapshot Saturday, in case you want to see pictures of my recent vacation in Cape Cod and Maine.

Wrap-up of My Big Book Summer Challenge - if you were participating in the challenge, be sure to link your own wrap-up post to the challenge page. There is also a separate list of links for reviews of Big Books. If you didn't participate, check out some of the reviews listed to get some ideas for your own Big Book reads!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.)

It's Monday 9/2! What Are You Reading?

Happy September! Fall is my favorite season, so I am happy that September is here. We had another very busy week, capped off by a frantic Friday after my college son spent much of the previous night/early morning in the ER. Just stupid college stuff! Thank goodness, his injury isn't quite as bad as first thought, and it looks like he won't need surgery, but he has a torn tendon in his finger that needs to be kept splinted for 6 weeks. Both he and his brother spent the holiday weekend at the beach with friends, so my husband and I had a lovely, quiet respite for a few days - just what we needed! They both return today (college son only long enough to do laundry and refill his medicines), so we will be returning to the real world, but we enjoyed our quiet downtime together.

Not a lot of time for reading last week, but we all managed some:

• I finished The Ask and the Answer (see my review) by Patrick Ness and loved it as much as the first book. This Chaos Walking YA trilogy is fabulous! I can't wait to read the third and final book.
• I squeezed in a short middle-grade novel before turning to my book group obligations for September. I read Charlie Bumpers vs. Teacher of the Year by Bill Harley, one of our all-time favorite authors/singers/storytellers. It was excellent - reading it was like listening to Harley tell one of his stories from his own childhood.
• I am now reading Hope's Boy by Andrew Bridge, a memoir for my library's discussion group. The author was taken from his young, mentally ill mother at the age of 7 and grew up in foster homes and horrible child welfare institutions. Amazingly, he grew into a caring, intelligent adult who is devoting his life to helping abandoned and foster children. I'm a little more than halfway through, and it is both horrifying and hopeful.
• I am still listening to a teen/YA audio, A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer, the post-apocalyptic journey of a teen sister and her younger brother across the country to find their remaining family. It's been excellent all the way through - I'm on the last CD now!
• My husband, Ken, finished Secrets to the Grave by Tami Hoag and enjoyed it.
• Ken is now reading Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs, one of the novels that inspired the TV show Bones (a favorite in our house). We've been meaning to try the series for ages and found a couple of Reichs' novels in the bargain bin on vacation.
• Jamie, 19, is still reading Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling, book 1 of The Nightrunner series. I doubt he had much reading time this weekend at the beach with all of his best friends! Now that he's back at school, his reading time will be filled with chemistry and calculus instead of fantasy.
• Craig, 15, finished The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa just in time before school started on Wednesday! He didn't love it, but he said it was OK- I want to read it when he's done using it for school. He won't read anything unless it is assigned to him, so I am hoping his Brit Lit teacher this year will come up with some good novels for his class!

Thanks to school starting up again, I was able to get back to some writing this week, including these posts:

I signed up for Two Writing Challenges to help jump-start my fall writing season (kids back in school - yay!)

Book Adaptations on TV - looks like a good season coming up!

Weekend Cooking, with a couple of quick, healthy dinner ideas for back-to-school time.

 Review of Defending Jacob, a suspenseful and disturbing legal drama.

Review of The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness, book 2 in the Chaos Walking YA trilogy.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.)

If you have been participating in the Big Book Summer Challenge, summer is officially over after today! Be sure to add your links for any Big Book reviews to the review link list on the challenge page. Later today or tomorrow, I will post a summary post with another link list for your own wrap-up posts.