Kepler's Dream. Juliet Bell. 2012. Penguin. 256 pages.
It was the middle of the night, and that's not a time when you want to be hearing strange noises. I don't care how brave you are. No one wants to be restless and almost-sleep, then rustled awake by a thudding overhead and the feeling that someone is trying to get into the room.Ella, our heroine, is visiting a grandmother she's never met, her paternal grandmother. Her father, whom she barely knows, does not get along with his mother. But Ella has to spend the summer with someone since her mother will be undergoing treatment for her leukemia. (She'll be receiving a bone marrow transplant, I believe.) And her grandmother is her last option, her only option.
Ella's first impressions of her grandmother, of her grandmother's house, are priceless. But through the course of a summer, the eccentricity and quirks of her grandmother have become familiar and comfortable. And she's made other friends as well.
Kepler's Dream is about a dysfunctional family who has a rather unique opportunity to heal, to mend, to come together. Could Ella help bring her father and grandmother together again? Perhaps. For Ella who has never really known her grandmother and does not really know her father, it's an unique opportunity, for she'll get a chance to get to know them, to get to love them, to make them a part of her family.
But Kepler's Dream is also a mystery. And Ella's curiosity and determination to solve the mystery, to learn WHO stole her grandmother's precious book, Kepler's Dream, is the beginning of that opportunity. This mystery is the catalyst for a family to come together again.
I liked this one. I definitely liked it. There were places I just loved it. I liked the narrative voice, how Ella's reading influences her as a narrator. I love her grandmother's bookish lifestyle, and how she's always getting book deliveries. I liked how these relationships, friendships, happened naturally--nothing forced, nothing instant, nothing magical. I loved getting to know Ella at a very vulnerable time in her life. The thing I absolutely LOVED about this one were Ella's letters to her mom.
Read Kepler's Dream
- If you like bookish heroines
- If you like children's mysteries
- If you like family books, plenty of drama but heart as well
© 2012 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
Irises. Francisco X. Stork. 2012. Scholastic. 304 pages.
From the prologue:
Kate had finally agreed to pose under the willow tree.From chapter one:
Kate and her father sat in the shade of the willow tree, side by side in two wooden chairs. It was unusually hot for an April day in El Paso. Kate and Mary are sisters. Kate, 18, dreams of being a doctor, dreams of going away to Stanford for her college education. Mary, 16, is an artist, an artist struggling to recapture her initial joy perhaps, but a very talented, very dedicated artist nonetheless. In the first chapter of Irises, both girls receive a bit of a shock: their father, a pastor, dies. Arguably he knew the end was near for he has a great heart-to-heart with his daughter, Kate, urging her to look to her soul, mend her faith, take care of the family, etc. He tells her: "
Love makes everything that is heavy light" (4). Kate, of course, not realizing the gravity of the situation, perhaps just thinking that her oh-so-strict father is just in an odd mood, quickly leaves the house and goes to study with her boyfriend, Simon. It is Mary, ever-sacrificing Mary, who is left behind to care for their Mom, who is in a vegetative state going on two years now, who discovers that her Dad has died in his sleep. While the two sisters have an aunt who lives in California, both girls know that more than likely they'll be on their own. Aunt Julia isn't exactly the most-nurturing type, after all. And Kate and Aunt Julia are like oil and water. The girls are facing at least half-a-dozen BIG, BIG decisions. And coming to agreement may not be easy...
The facts:
- Mary and Kate have very limited funds, in part because their father's insurance is being denied; the insurance company will not make good with his insurance policy after his death.
- Kate is having to make a decision about college; she's received a scholarship to Stanford, but taking it will mean leaving her mother and sister behind. Is it fair to leave the care and to some extent the expense of caring for a mother in a vegetative state to a sixteen year old girl? A job that is emotionally, psychologically, financially, physically challenging for anyone.
- Mary secretly wishes that there was a way for the family to stay together but she's afraid to disappoint Kate.
Irises may not appeal to every reader, but, I liked it all the same. Was it too heavy or too heavy-handed? I'm not sure there is a right answer to that. Some might feel it was in-your-face with a somewhat potentially controversial (at least in some circles perhaps?) issue. The issue of when is it "right" or "ethical" to take someone off of life support. Some might feel there was too much God-talk. A few might feel there is not enough God-talk.
Irises is almost by necessity a serious-minded novel. It explores many questions while not necessarily giving ready-made answers to those questions. At least not ready-made-answers for every-single-person. What does it mean to be in a family? Who is in your family? Can you walk away from family without looking back? Is it right to ever turn your back on your family and put yourself first? What is love? How do you know you love someone? Does love always mean making sacrifices? Can you love someone and by your choices cause them hardship? Can you love someone and still love yourself more? By always putting yourself and your needs and wants first are you selfish? Is it always wrong to be selfish? What's the difference between being true to yourself and following your dreams and ambitions and being a horribly selfish self-centered person? Does being honest about how selfish yo
The List. Siobhan Vivian. 2012. Scholastic. 336 pages.
From the prologue: For as long as anyone can remember, the students of Mount Washington High have arrived at school on the last Monday in September to find a list naming the prettiest and the ugliest girl in each grade. This year will be no different.The List has an interesting enough premise. It is a novel with eight narrators. The prettiest freshman, ugliest freshman, prettiest sophomore, ugliest sophomore, prettiest junior, ugliest junior, prettiest senior, ugliest senior. Each girl, of course, has a name, but at least at first, names and personalities don't matter oh-so-much. The focus is on the label, the judgment. It is a question-driven novel, in a way.
How do others see me? Is that how I see myself? Do I care what everyone else thinks? Who is this 'everyone' else anyway? Do I feel prettier or uglier than I did the day before the list was posted? Am I going to let the list change me? Am I going to let myself be defined and objectified by others?
One of the strengths of the novel is showing that every single person on the list is a human being. No matter the appearance, no matter the popularity ranking. A pretty girl can have just as many problems and issues going on in her life as the next person. Being pretty doesn't mean living life problem-free without a concern or care in the world. The prettiest junior girl, for example, has an eating disorder. This problem popped up over the summer. And others may see her as beautiful, as pretty, as having everything she could possibly want or need. But all she knows is that food is the enemy, that fat is the enemy, that eating means that she will no longer be beautiful. She cannot accept herself or see herself as she truly is. She doesn't love herself. Her daily life is a torment to her in many ways. Yet she is supposed to be thrilled, happy, ecstatic that she is the most beautiful girl in her class.
I think at least five or six of these characterizations would have been strong enough to carry an entire novel. With eight narrators, little justice can be done to each story. So at times it was all a little too much.
The ending. I didn't really like this ending at all. I thought the last fifty or so pages of this one was a mess. Yes, books can have tricks; twists or turns that you aren't supposed to see coming. But. I felt that the ending would ruin any rereading of the novel. (Of course, I haven't tried it myself.) It's just that the semi-big-reveal doesn't feel right to me. It doesn't feel natural to how the character was presented up until that point. If it had just been a story or conflict between these two characters--the prettiest senior and the ugliest senior--if the whole novel had been about these two, then I think it might have worked better. It could have shown the necessary depth. These two were friends--close friends--in junior high. But before the start of high school, the prettiest dumped the ugliest. This relationship--past and present--could have been explored more. I think that just enough was revealed to create a spark of interest, but then it all ends right there.
Have you read this one? What did you think?
Read The List
- If you like high school dramas set during Homecoming Week
- If you like realistic YA
- If you like books about mean girls and/or bullies
- If you are looking for 'issue' books (bullying, eating disorders, etc.)
© 2012 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
The Survival Kit. Donna Freitas. 2011. FSG. 368 pages.
I found it on the day of my mother's funeral, tucked in a place she knew I would look. There it was, hanging with her favorite dress, the one I'd always wanted to wear. "Someday when you are old enough," she used to say. Is sixteen old enough?I LOVED this one. I just LOVED it. I don't always love realistic fiction, I tend to prefer other genres. But. The Survival Kit is a must-read. It's a beautifully bittersweet novel about the grieving process.
Rose Madison is grieving the death of her mom, the cancer came back, the miraculous recovery just didn't last. Her older brother is away at college, for the most part, and her dad is losing it. Though perhaps the distinction is
obviously losing it. Her dad has become a drunk, he's losing the ability to function, to take care of himself and his daughter. He's become more than an embarrassment, he needs help, more help than she can provide. But. Rose is losing it in a different way. Her way might not be obvious, but the pain, in a way, is the same. Rose, for example, has shut music out of her life. She will not tolerate music playing in her life. She knows that music will invite emotions and feelings and memories. Music will unwrap the pain. With music comes reminders of life, of love, of loss. She's not ready to feel anything yet which makes her relationship with her boyfriend an impossibility. He's patient, to a point; understanding, to a point. But he's not perfect. He is tired of Rose being the new-and-unfeeling Rose. The Rose that will not respond to his kisses, to his touch. The Rose that doesn't care about his football games. The Rose that doesn't seem to care about anything anymore. The Rose that doesn't laugh or smile.
Truth be told, Rose is tired of the new Rose too. But she's just not sure when she'll be ready to start letting go, to start feeling again, to start living again. She knows that it would be good for her to surrender to her mother's "survival kit" a kit prepared just for this occasion, a loving gift from mother to child. But is she brave enough to start the process?
In her loss, Rose notices someone for the first time...someone that DOES understand her loss, her pain, because he's lost a parent himself...
The Survival Kit is a book about family, friendship, life, love, loss, grief, and pain. It's an emotional read, very compelling, and impossible to put down!
Read The Survival Kit
- If you are looking for a bittersweet yet compelling read about grief
- If you are looking for an authentic story about how cancer can effect a family
- If you are looking for a sweet-yet-not-too-perfect romance
© 2012 Becky Laney of
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Becky Laney,
on 3/15/2012
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The Grand Plan to Fix Everything. Uma Krishnaswami. Illustrated by Abigail Halpin. 2011. Simon & Schuster. 272 pages.
Dolly Singh's fabulous face floats across the screen of the TV in the family room. Two happy sighs float off the couch, one from Dini and the other from her best friend, Maddie. Dini is a Dolly fan. She has been forever, from the time she discovered that Dolly's first movie, in which she was just a kid, came out the day--the very day!--that Dini was born. You can't be more closely connected than that. Maddie is a fan because best friends share everything.
If you like quirky books, then I'd definitely recommend Uma Krishnaswami's The Grand Plan to Fix Everything. There is something odd and playful about the storytelling in this middle grade novel. There are many, many books about moving for this age group. Though not all moves are such big moves--from America to India. There are books about the struggles of best friends staying best friends after the move, and about how bittersweet it is to start to make new friends. But how many 'moving' books are as quirky as this one?!
Dini is more than a little obsessed with the actress Dolly Singh. And the only thing keeping her spirits up after she learns the news that her family will be moving to India for several years is the dream that maybe just maybe she'll meet her favorite actress when they move to India. True they'll be staying in a very small town or village. True, that village isn't exactly near Bombay (yes, she knows it's not called Bombay anymore, but that's how she'll always think of it) where the star lives. But anything is possible, right? And with two girls wishing so very hard...it has to improve the chances, right?!
There are so many characters in this novel! So many intersecting stories or coincidences. It's a very silly, very playful, yet at the same time heartfelt story about life.
Read The Grand Plan to Fix Everything
- If you're a fan of Indian movies or musicals
- If you're a fan of multicultural stories
- If you love quirky stories that are odd and delightful all at the same time
- If you don't mind coincidences
- If you're looking for a book with playful monkeys
© 2012 Becky Laney of
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By:
Becky Laney,
on 3/13/2012
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Under the Mesquite. Guadalupe Garcia McCall. 2011. Lee & Low. 225 pages.
I am standing just insidethe doorway, watching Mami talkto the television screen.As the latest episodeof her favorite telenovela unfolds,the soap opera drawing her in,the skins from the potatoesshe is peelingdrop into her apronlike old maple leaves...Lupita is the heroine of Guadalupe Garcia McCall's verse novel Under the Mesquite. It's an emotional coming of age story. Lupita struggles with the ordinary things of growing up, it's true, but she does it all the while watching her mother die of cancer. She does it while trying to be both mother and father to her younger sisters and brothers. She becomes an adult all too soon as she tries to cope with the devastating news--the diagnosis, the treatment, and the cure that just didn't last long enough. Where does she find the strength to face the day? How does she hold it all together? How does she keep things together enough with her family? Well, it's a mystery to her too. But taking those drama classes sure does seem to be helping. And her coach wonders why she can cry on demand...
If you're looking for an emotional 'cancer' book that is more than just a cancer book, then Under the Mesquite may be just what you're looking for.
Read Under the Mesquite
- If you're looking for a good multicultural read
- If you're looking for an emotional book with very human characters
- If you're looking for a good verse novel
© 2012 Becky Laney of
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By:
Becky Laney,
on 2/29/2012
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The Name of the Star. Maureen Johnson. 2011. Penguin. 384 pages.
The eyes of London were watching Claire Jenkins. She didn't notice them, of course. No one paid attention to the cameras. It was an accepted fact that London has one of the most extensive CCTV systems in the world. Considering the genre, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this one. I wouldn't necessarily say I loved it. But. If you judge a book based on
your need to finish it, then it was well worth it!
The heroine of The Name of the Star is Rory, a teen girl from Louisiana, who decides to give an English boarding school a try when her parents get an offer to go to Bristol for a year to teach American law. Rory chooses a London boarding school. She never could have predicted--who would have?!--the danger she'll face in that particular neighborhood. For around the time she arrives, there are a series of murders in the style of Jack the Ripper. The murderer is obviously duplicating almost every little thing about the murders, and so the murders follow a certain pattern, a certain schedule. But that doesn't make the neighborhood any "safer." As Rory learns when she catches a glimpse of the killer.
So The Name of the Star isn't quite my genre. It's a paranormal horror novel! And I still am not a fan of the genre. I'm not. It's just not the way I like to spend my time. But this novel kept me reading.
Read The Name of the Star
- If you love ghost stories, OR I-can-speak-to-ghost stories
- If you love horror novels or thrillers. This one isn't so much a mystery--although I suppose it has mystery in it--but it's more of a chasing novel where the heroine is at risk of becoming a victim than a detective novel with a mystery to solve. I prefer mysteries.
- If you are interested in anything/everything Jack the Ripper
- If you like stories with a boarding school setting
© 2012 Becky Laney of
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By:
Becky Laney,
on 2/28/2012
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Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip. Jordan Sonnenblick. 2012. Scholastic. 304 pages.
The first picture is a wide-angle shot, taken through the chain-link fence of the backstop behind home plate. There's a boy standing on a pitcher's mound in full uniform: green and gold. His cap is pulled low over his eyes, and his unruly black hair sticks out below the brim in all directions. He leans in toward home plate, his throwing arm dangling loose at his side. He must be looking in to get his sign from the catcher.
I expected Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip to be good--really good. Why? Well, Jordan Sonnenblick rarely--if ever--disappoints. He's an amazing writer; he's great at writing characters that I just love. His stories tend to be emotional and compelling. Though almost always they have a lightness to them as well. Curveball The Year I Lost My Grip did not disappoint. While I'm not sure that it is my favorite, favorite Sonnenblick novel--he's written so many that I just love!!! It is easy to recommend this one.
The hero of Curveball is Peter Friedman. The summer before his freshman year in high school, he plays his last baseball game. The injury in his arm is so severe that doctors tell him he'll never, ever be able to play the game he loves so much. So who is he if he's not a great pitcher and catcher? Who is he if he's not a great athlete? Well. He'll have plenty of time to figure that all out.
One of the main characters in Curveball is Peter's grandfather. I just LOVED him. I think there aren't enough--could never be enough--YA books that highlight the special relationship between grandparent and grandchild. Inter-generational stories make me happy, very happy. Even when they're sad. Even when they're bittersweet. Peter and his grandfather are incredibly close. And so it's not all that surprising that Peter's interest in photography becomes all that much stronger. (His grandfather was a professional.)
So Peter's interest in photography leads him to take a class where he meets a girl that wows him...
This YA book has it all. Great characters, good storytelling. It's just an enjoyable read!
Read Curveball The Year I Lost My Grip
- If you're interested in baseball
- If you're interested in photography
- If you like realistic romances
- If you're a fan of Jordan Sonnenblick
- If you like coming-of-age stories with a strong emphasis on friendship
© 2012 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
Awaken. Katie Kacvinsky. 2011. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 320 pages.
My mom gave me an old leather-bound journal for my seventeenth birthday. At first the blank pages surprised me, as if the story inside was lost or had slipped out. She explained sometimes the story is supposed to be missing because it's still waiting to be written. Leave it to my mom to give me something from the past to use in the future.Is
Awaken a science fiction novel? Perhaps if you consider all books set in the future to be science fiction. Awaken is set in 2060. If I were to tell you the novel reads more like social commentary, would that frighten you away?
The premise of Awaken is simple. Maddie, our heroine, lives in a world where EVERYTHING is digital. Everyone--no matter your age--is always plugged into technology. If you're going for a walk with a friend--chances are, it's not a real walk, and you're not seeing your friend face to face. If you're meeting your friends at the coffee shop--same thing. And book club. And on those rare occasions when you do leave your house, when you do meet people, your technology isn't all that far away from you. You can be in the same room with someone and still be miles away from them--if your focus remains elsewhere.
The premise of Awaken is that people have forgotten how to LIVE their lives. They have forgotten what it was like to really feel, to really experience, to do. People have gotten comfortable--too comfortable choosing what is convenient, what is safe, what is known.
So the novel focuses on what happens when Maddie decides to start living life, what happens when she chooses to go out of the house, to start meeting people, to start hanging out with others. Of course, it's a bit more complex than that! Maddie's father isn't just anybody. He's SOMEBODY. And the strict rules are there for a reason--even though readers may not learn that for quite a while.
Read Awaken
- If you like reading novels set in the future--like Rash, like Scored, like Surviving Antarctica: Reality TV 2083.
- If you like reading books that challenge you to think
- If you like your dystopia with a focus on education
- If you like your dystopia with a hint of romance
© 2012 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
The Way We Fall. Megan Crewe. 2012. Hyperion. 320 pages.
Sept 2Leo,It's about six hours since you left the island. The way things have been, I know you wouldn't have expected me to come to see you off, but I keep thinking about how you waved and waved from the dock five years ago, when I was leaving for Toronto.The Way We Fall reminded me of Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life As We Knew It. Not that the catastrophe's are that similar. They're not. (I still haven't decided which is
more devastating...) Perhaps it is the personal touch of the narrators that make them similar. Miranda writing a personal journal that might--one day--be shared with others; Kaelyn writing specifically to an ex-best-friend, Leo. (She wanted to be more than friends, he didn't. There was awkwardness, silence, and avoidance.)
So The Way We Fall is set on a small Canadian island. Kaelyn's father is a doctor, a specialist, whose expertise is about to become essential. For there is a virus, a very deadly virus, spreading through the island. Within a week or two the island will be under quarantine to keep people from spreading the virus to the mainland. The survival rate is almost non-existent, out of hundreds of cases, only a handful have survived. (I can't remember if it is five or eight--but it is a SMALL number.) Once people start showing the symptoms, that's it, that's the end of hope and the beginning of misery. Because in the first few days, victims KNOW what's happening, true, they forget by the time the illness has progressed, and by the time it reaches the final stages they're beyond caring, but still, it's NOT a pretty way to go. The dust jacket says it all, "it starts with an itch you just can't shake. Then comes a fever and a tickle in your throat. A few days later, you'll be blabbing your secrets and chatting with strangers like they're old friends. Three more, and the paranoid hallucinations kick in. And then you're dead."
So The Way We Fall is a the personal account of our young heroine, Kaelyn. Through her eyes we witness the best and worst of humanity--as the island's society collapses a bit. As some people in the community go out of control...
Read The Way We Fall
- If you're a fan of survival stories like Life As We Knew It or Ashfall
- If you're a fan of dystopias, this one is plague/virus driven
© 2012 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
I'll Be There. Holly Goldberg Sloan. 2011. Little, Brown. 392 pages.
The days of the week meant nothing to him. Except Sunday. Because on Sundays he listened to pipe organs and pianos.How resilient is the human spirit? How powerful is love? I'll Be There is a wonderfully bittersweet novel that answers those two questions. Readers meet Sam and Riddle Border, the two sons of a horrible, horrible man. Riddle has been sick most of his life--and needlessly so since medicine could greatly improve his life--what joy he has he gains from drawing extremely detailed mechanical pictures. His older brother, Sam, doesn't believe in God but takes comfort in church music whenever, wherever he can. They move a lot. His father is more than a little anti-government, anti-society (and that's just the start of it.)
One Sunday, Sam slips into the back row of a Unitarian church. There is a singer, Emily Bell, who is trying her best--and not really hiding her nerves--to sing "I'll Be There." She's decided to focus on one person, one face on the back row. And guess who that would be?!
Sam feels that Emily (though of course he doesn't know her name just yet) is singing this song just for him. And what they share in those few minutes changes everything...
Sam is strange--to be sure--especially to Emily's family and friends. He won't talk about his Dad. He doesn't have a phone. He won't give anyone his address. He won't talk about his past...at all. He doesn't go to school. He doesn't say much of anything about himself...but there is something about him that Emily loves and treasures.
This novel is bittersweet, it goes to some dark places before the end. But it was worth every intense moment...
What a great book! Very emotional, very touching!
© 2011 Becky Laney of
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By:
Becky Laney,
on 10/12/2011
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A Year Without Autumn. Liz Kessler. 2011. (October 11, 2011). Candlewick Press. 304 pages.
"Stop the car!""What?" Dad swivels around in his seat. The car swerves."Good grief, Tom!" Mom squeals, gripping her armrest as she pulls a wad of tissues out of her purse."Stop the car!" I repeat. It's going to be too late in a minute. I grab the tissues and shove them over Craig's mouth.Time travel. Need I
really say more?! For me, that was enough--more than enough--to seek out this one! Jenni is best friends with Autumn. These two friends are quite different from one another, but they have a few things in common. They both have little brothers. Jenni is big sister to Craig and Autumn is big sister to Mikey. Though the two don't attend the same school anymore, they've sworn to be best friends forever. And they mean it. Of course they mean it! What could ever come between them?! It does help that the two see each other every year the last week of August. The families vacation together at the same place, each has a time-share condo. The vacation is just getting started when IT happens...
Jenni impatiently decides to take the old elevator up to visit her best friend. She saw the owner fixing the old elevator, so she's relatively sure it's working again. But the truth is this old elevator has been out of order for many decades and it isn't really for guests' use. It takes Jenni a few hours to realize the truth of the matter...she learns it when she arrives back at her place and everyone--including herself--is a year older. Where did the year go?!
A Year Without Autumn is dramatic, very dramatic. For SOMETHING happens in that 'missing' year that changes everything. Jenni will have to put the pieces together herself--for the most part--because asking questions may not be an option. The more she tries to explain about what happened, the crazier she sounds. Can Jenni find the answers to her questions? Can she find a way to go back in time? Can she get her life back?
As I said, A Year Without Autumn is dramatic. It's a very compelling read. I think Jenni is a LOT braver than I would be in that elevator. Especially once she learns the truth of it--what it does. But she's determined and loyal and I can't help liking her for that.
© 2011 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
Huge. Sasha Paley. 2008. Simon & Schuster. 272 pages.
"Faster, faster!" Wil Hopkins's trainer, Heather, yelled over the sound of crashing waves.Huge is the story of two girls at fat camp. Wil Hopkins who is understandably angry, bitter, rebellious, and generally unpleasant to be around, and April Adams whose issues may be a little less obvious. Both girls are at Wellness Canyon for the summer. Wil against her will; April because she has worked and worked and saved and saved. The two, of course, are roommates. Their "success" at the camp depends on their ability to work together as a team, to work through any issues, to learn to trust one another, etc. But how do you do that when you can't stand the other person?!
The cover reads, "at fat camp even the drama is huge," and that gives you a fair description of what to expect. Two teen girls who are first brought together when they compete for the attention of a guy, Colin, and then brought together by the need for revenge when that guy turns out to be a big jerk. Perhaps because of the "boy drama" going on, Wil forgets temporarily that she desperately wants to gain weight at fat camp so her parents can't have the satisfaction of her success. So by the end of camp, Wil has lost weight too.
Huge has two narrators. And to be completely honest I had a hard time liking either of them. Wil, the richer of the two, seems to be the biggest pain. She's angry, bitter, rebellious. She acts out--speaks out--in anger a good deal of the time. And she seems to like being rude and hurting people. But her pain is obvious to anyone who's ever been there. Her parents have hurt her repeatedly--hurt her with their words, their actions, etc. What she's hearing is that she's not good enough as she is, that they are ashamed of her, embarrassed of her, etc. She feels that her parents just don't love her, accept her, understand her. I think the more her parents force the issue, force her to try to feel ashamed about her body, the worse it will be for her. I think FORCING her to go to fat camp against her will, forcing her to deal with her weight when she's clearly not ready to deal with it, may not be the best in the long term. Losing weight is a LOT more complicated than it might appear.
If you're expecting "Biggest Loser" insights--break down moments where they get it, they
really get it...then you'll be disappointed.
As for April, I think she's lost in her own dream world. She's equated being skinny with being perfect, being popular, being happy. She doesn't really seem to realize that she'll still be herself when she's lost the weight. She can't escape her issues just by losing weight. I think she desperately wants to be someone else. I think her shallowness may be hidden by her cheerfulness. I think she's able to hide her issues easier than Wil. But April has her own troubles, and they are revealed to a certain extent by the end of the novel.
The drama didn't exactly wow me. It was light and fluffy, a bit silly. The "
Alice in Time. Penelope Bush. 2011. Holiday House. 208 pages.
"I'm not wearing it.""Yes you are.""No, I'm not." Repeat those last two sentences about fifty times and you'll get some idea of what I'm up against. I'm trying to get my little brother into his page-boy outfit so that we won't be late for Dad's wedding, but I've been trying for the last hour without success.I picked up
Alice in Time because I was interested in the time travel premise. Alice, our heroine, is fourteen and miserable. She thinks her life is ruined, and it just happens that everyone else is to blame for all her woes. Her parents are divorced. Her relationship with her dad and his new wife, a bit awkward. And her brother, well, he's a bother and then some. Her mom is the worst of all. Even Imogen, her best friend, doesn't understand her. It seems the whole world is against her...
One late night in the park, a spin on the merry go round, a little accident ends up changing Alice's life forever. She wakes up from the accident as a seven year old. Her teenage memories are intact, but she's now seven again. She's forgotten how to be a kid, though, which makes this transition a bit tricky. Her mom definitely does NOT like the new Alice, who has turned mean and disrespectful and disobedient. What happened to her little angel that loves playing with Barbie and needed help brushing her hair and braiding it?
Alice soon decides that she'll try to "fix" all the problems of her life. She'll try to stop her cat from getting run over by a car. She'll try to warn her Grandma about the cancer. She'll try to warn anyone and everyone about her mom's postpartum depression. She'll try to stop her mom from throwing her dad out of the house, etc. The question becomes what should she do with her classmates? Should she make the same decisions? Should she choose Imogen over Sasha? Or Sasha over Imogen? Or should she choose a new path altogether? What if she could change her life for the better by choosing a whole new set of friends?
Of course, Alice doesn't really know what the consequences of any of her actions will be... One thing is for sure, this new-new Alice will be a different girl.
I liked Alice in Time. I didn't love it; I didn't hate it. I thought it took a little too long to get to the merry go round. Though that could be just me, since the time travel element is what I was most interested in. And Alice wasn't very likable. She was a brat. A full-time brat. But as she began to grow up a little (by growing down), I began to like her more and more.
© 2011 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
Are You Going To Kiss Me Now? Sloane Tanen. 2011. Sourcebooks. 368 pages.
I should start at the beginning, four months ago, on the night of the senior prom. I wasn't a senior, or a prom person, so the fact that I hadn't been invited wasn't bothering me...much. I mean, I didn't want to go, but it would have been nice to be invited. I picked up
Are You Going To Kiss Me Now? because I wanted to see how it compared with Libba Bray's
Beauty Queens. Each book has strengths, of course, and each has its own weaknesses.
The premise of this one is simple. What if a private plane carrying five celebrities, one contest winner, and one semi-famous blogger went down in the ocean near a small African island. Could these people ever learn to get along and work as a team? Would anyone know what to do? What are their chances of surviving it all?
The heroine, Francesca, is the contest winner. She wrote a little essay all about loss for Seventeen magazine. Her sob story about losing her dad in a car accident? So not true! She's just REALLY, REALLY angry that he's getting remarried. She never expected to win--never expected it to be published--so now she may just have to face the consequences.
The good news is that after the plane goes down, well, the people in her life might be so happy to see her again that they'll forgive her for her lies...
The other people on the island are Joe Baronstein, a middle-aged actor who supposedly got his start starring in Small Secrets, a sitcom about a psychic family living in Texas, and it was a musical too; Jonah Baron, the illegitimate son of Joe, a famous singer in a Christian boy-band; Milan Amberson and Eve Larkin, two actresses that hate, hate, hate one another, of course, each has flaws; Cisco Parker, the oh-so-dreamy actor who isn't as perfect as he appears. And then there's Chaz the gay blogger who is obsessed with all things celebrity. His site is all about publishing gossip, gossip, more gossip.
The good news is that Sloane Tanen did a good job with her characters; they are all developed. Especially when comparing them to the more stereotypical characters found in Beauty Queens. I can't say that I particularly loved--or even liked--any of the characters. They are all--in their own way, perhaps--so deeply flawed. Their personal lives are so messy--hate, anger, bitterness, pain, confusion, doubt, frustration, shame, etc. What Francesca learns is that everyone has issues, that no one is perfect. That celebrities are no better or no worse than anyone else.
Francesca (and to a certain extent Chaz) are good at mocking people. And both, I think, take a little enjoyment out of seeing the world in this way. How can I make a joke out of this or that. How can I get my
one line in. And even when the person being mocked doesn't really mind at all, it can grow annoying after a while.
The story isn't as over-the-top as Beauty Queens. Yes, there were places I found it a stretch--the person who discovered them, his using Francesca--or trying to use Francesca, all the big "reveals" as they laugh about having all their deepest darkest secrets out of the closet now because of their time together on the island. And the ending, well, it felt a little too happy. But it still wasn't as crazy, over-the-top as Beauty Queens.
I didn't love the story. I have to be honest. I didn't really like--at all--or appreciate may be the better word, the way that Christianity was presented, discussed, mocked, etc. It's not completely unexpected. This book won't be the first or last to present Christianity in a false way and to depi
By:
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on 7/14/2011
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Withering Tights. Louise Rennison. 2011. HarperCollins. 288 pages.
Wow, this is it. This is me growing up. On my own, going to Performing Arts College. This is good-bye, Tallulah, you long, gangly thing, and helloooooo, Lullah, star of stage and ...owwwwooo. Ow and ow. The train lurched and I've nearly knocked myself out on the side of the door. I'm bound to get a massive lump. Oh good, I can start college with two heads...Tallulah, our fourteen-year-old-heroine, is such a delight. She is on her way to a performing arts summer program in Yorkshire. As she was the last to sign up for the course, she won't be staying in the dorm, there wasn't enough room, but a local family, the Dobbins, has welcomed her into their home. As a reader, I must admit, I'm GLAD there wasn't room for her in the dorm. Else we would have missed out on this quirky family and the squirrel slippers. And Tallulah may not have caught so many glimpses of local bad boy, Cain, outside her window. Not that
she likes him likes him.
So what is Withering Tights about? It's about her summer. It's about her going to summer school and taking all these classes. It's about her failing to make a great impression with the teachers, and making a funny impression on her classmates. It's about her making some GREAT friends: Jo, Vaisey, Flossie, Ruby, etc. It's about her meeting a couple of guys and getting her first and second kiss...not that either is perfect. Are the guys worth swooning over? Maybe. There's local bad boy, Cain, whom Tallulah does NOT like in that way, not even a little bit. There's Charlie and Ben, two friends of Jo's crush. There are a group of guys that like hanging around with this group of girls. (No one is exactly pairing up and getting serious.) And then there is Alex. He is THE ONE that makes Tallulah swoon the most. He turns her silly--or should that be sillier. He's also Ruby's older brother.
What did I love about Withering Tights? Well, I loved Tallulah. I just loved her. She was such a fun person to spend time with. I did enjoy Alex. And Cain. And Charlie. (Ben didn't thrill me all that much.) I loved Tallulah's friends. I think Ruby may just be my favorite--she is a bit younger than Tallulah. But there was just something about her that made me smile. The great thing was that none of these friends annoyed me. (One of my biggest annoyances with the Georgia Nicholson series was Georgia's friends. I'm not sure if I found them annoying because Georgia found them annoying. Or if they were just super-obnoxious all on their own.) I loved the humor! I did! For example, ONE of the assignments in this drama school was for them to put on a musical based on Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights.
Here's one of the songs she writes:
I'm out on the moors, the wild moors,
Let's roll about in rockpools.
Oh, it gets lonely without you,
I hate you, I love you.
It's Cathy, trying to get in your Windoooooow ow ow ow... (171)
and
I'm out on the moors, the windy moors,
Let's roll about in mud pools,
Or sheep poo, I hate you, I love you, tooooo.
Heathcliff, it's me, tap-tapping on your windooooow. (220)
Of course, that's just a small part of the Bronte humor!
So I'd recommend Withering Tights for anyone who loves fun
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Trauma Queen. Barbara Dee. 2011. Simon & Schuster. 272 pages.
I am standing outside homeroom in yellow flannel monkey pajamas.Everyone else is dressed normally: jeans, track pants, sweaters, whatever.Apparently because today, Monday, February 3, is not Pajama Day at Crampton Middle School. Also apparently I am the only one who is celebrating Pajama Day, because I am the only one whose mother told her it was Pajama Day. Marigold doesn't always
love her mom. You see, Marigold's mom is a performance artist. She does crazy, crazy, embarrassing things in front of people...on purpose. Sometimes Marigold wishes her Mom could really stick to one performance: normal, sane, ordinary mother of two. But that's a role she rarely does.
Trauma Queen is about new beginnings. Marigold's family is starting over--again. The last town, well, it didn't end so well. On the positive side, Marigold made a friend--a really good friend--a girl named Emma. And things seemed to be going well until Emma's mom met Marigold's mom. Then it got UGLY, UGLY, SUPER-UGLY. Now Emma isn't allowed to speak with her...at all. So it's just as well, I suppose, that they did start over in a new town. But some things Marigold can't really forget.
One of the things that I LOVED about Trauma Queen were the characters. I thought they were well-developed. I loved how we get to know Marigold's family: her mom, her sister, Kennedy, her Gram. I especially loved to see the conversations between Mari and her Gram. I did. I loved how we get to know Marigold's classmates. Those that like Marigold (Layla, Ethan, Brody, etc.). And those that don't (Jada). WE get to see the tensions in her class. And it's so well done! It felt very authentic. I thought the author did a great job with showing not telling.
It was easy to love Marigold. It was easy to sympathize with her. But it was also easy--at least for me--to see the Mom's strengths. I couldn't not like the Mom. I couldn't. And when she started working with some of Marigold's classmates in an after school program, well, I admired her all the more. Was she perfect? No. Of course not. But she was not "the enemy" out to ruin her daughter's life. Seeing Gram, Mom, and Marigold together, well, it felt right. This novel has substance and depth.
I would definitely recommend Trauma Queen. I've also read
This is Me From Now On.
My favorite quote:
But how do you know you're seeing things through your own eyes? Maybe you think you are, but really, you're just collecting other people's points of view. Maybe you're seeing the world through their eyes, and you don't even know it. (211)
© 2011 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
Miles from Ordinary. Carol Lynch Williams. 2011. St. Martin's Press. 208 pages.
There are mice.Lacey, our heroine, is holding on to hope. Hope that everything is going to be okay. Hope that her mom will be able to handle her new job at the grocery store. Hope that she'll get to volunteer at the local library as she's planned. But with Lacey's mom, it's hard to be certain about anything. So much depends on what her Granddaddy tells her momma.
The novel opens with a bad dream, but one could argue that Lacey's bad dream is nothing compared to her real life, the daily trauma of living with a mother who is mentally ill. It's a painful life, a lonely life, having that much responsibility, feeling the weight of the whole world on her shoulders.
In the quietest of moments, Lacey dreams of simple things: having a friend to talk and laugh with, having some time to herself--time for herself, I should say. No one is taking care of Lacey. No one is helping her, supporting her.
Miles from Ordinary is the story of one day--just one day--in the life of a troubled family. On this one day, her mom will start her new job, she'll start her new volunteer job for the summer at the library, she'll talk to the cutest guy in the neighborhood, Aaron, and maybe just maybe make a real friend. Of course, that is just the part of the day that goes well...
Miles from Ordinary is a compelling read, dark yet powerful. It's well written, and oh the characters! Especially Lacey and Aaron.
Carol Lynch Williams is also the author of
The Chosen One and
Glimpse.
© 2011 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
Front and Center. Catherine Gilbert Murdock. 2009. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 256 pages.
Here are ten words I never thought I'd be saying...Dairy Queen and
The Off Season.
D.J. Schwenk, our heroine, is excited to be going back to school. (No, it's not August or September.) But she's been away from home tending to one of her older brothers, Win, after he was seriously injured playing college football. What excites D.J. most--besides returning to a familiar routine--is the fact that it is basketball season. She loves the game, she does. And when she's not worried about pleasing her coach and her family and her teammates and herself and any college coaches or scouts that may be watching her every little move, she's quite good at it. But it's not without pressure. For her coach--wanting only what is best for her--is encouraging her to start looking ahead to college, to start calling different coaches at different universities and seeing what scholarship possibilities there may be for her when the time comes. Yes, she's only a junior, but the time to act is now. If she puts it off until next year, well, chances are that there will be fewer opportunities. But what bothers D.J, what bothers Coach K, what bothers her brother, Win, is D.J.'s inability to vocalize on the court. She sees what needs to be done, but she doesn't speak up. She has all the skills needed to be a great player, but there is something holding her back. And the sooner she finds her voice, the better.
D.J. doesn't like being the 'front and center' of attention. She doesn't like the way one of her best friends, Beaner, is looking at her. He wants more from her than friendship. And while part of her wants a distraction from her heartbreak--her disappointing relationship with Brian Nelson--another part of her knows that she could never, ever feel anything close to romantic love for Beaner. He's great for laughs, great for hanging out with, he's a good guy, a nice guy, but. He's no Brian. Now she tries to talk herself into the relationship, using his very differences from Brian to show that he has to be a better match for her. But still. D.J. knows that it won't really work out.
I loved all three books in the series. I loved D.J. I loved her family. I loved how these novels were about D.J. finding herself and getting to be more comfortable in her own skin. Each book we see a vulnerable D.J. get just a little bit stronger, a little bit better, a little more confident. These novels have heart. They may be about sports--football and basketball--but they are character-driven too!
© 2011 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
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