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Nothing prompts a favorite books of last year post like July.

Seriously, I was going thru some drafts of things that didn't get posted and found this. Better July than never, right? So I revised this a little so it wouldn't' say stuff like "As 2007 draws to a close."

Ahem.

2007 was a year of great books. And it must be a law; no matter how many books I read (over 200 in 2007), there are still so many books I haven't read yet really, really want to. To catch up on my reading would require an isolated cabin, no Internet (and severe blogging withdrawal!), and a personal chef. And even then…

Without further ado, here are some of my personal favorites and why I like them.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, 2007. Alexie's first book for teens mixes humor and tears as Junior leaves the Spokane Indian reservation for high school. A few miles in terms of geography; a million miles in terms of lives and expectations.

Alice in Sunderland, by Bryan Talbot, 2007. I love this mix of history and art, and how the story of one town is so rich and full. I googled my way through this book, wondering "is that real? Did that really happen?"

Beige by Cecil Castellucci, 2007. Dad's a punk rock musician; his daughter could care less about him and about music. Great story of a girl trying to figure out who she is, especially since she didn't realize she didn't know she didn't know.

Bloodsong by Melvin Burgess, 2007. A retelling of the Volsunga saga, set in the future. Bloody, violent, honest, heartless, breathtaking.

Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb, 2007. Is there a cure for heartbreak? How do you go on when your mother dies?

Daisy Kutter: The Last Train by Kazu Kibuishi, 2005. Daisy is a fantastic heroine. Combine Veronica Mars and Kiki Strike and set her in a Serenity-type Old West world. I want a sequel, and I want it NOW.

Dramarama by E. Lockhart, 2007. Drama loving teens go to theatre camp, fall in love and struggle with friendship and the realities of having talent and lacking talent. I kept on thinking, what if the lead character in Dramarama had been the daughter in Beige? Imagine if a punk rock Dad had a musical loving kid?

Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande, 2007. A book about religion and faith and being strong; about questioning and being true to oneself.

Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce, 2007. If I had a crush on a book, it would be this one. "Love is all we Desire. Will is all that we must Do." Flora Segunda reveals only a fraction, only a shadow, of a complex alternate world and society.

Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex, 2006. Poetry for all ages; but especially for fans of classic horror movies. The Phantom of the Opera being driven crazy because of the songs that are stuck in his head? Classic.

Gilda Joyce: The Ladies of the Lake by Jennifer Allison, 2006. Gilda continues to be confident enough to wear wigs and costumes as she solves mysteries. Nothing gets in her way, not even ghosts.

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz, 2007. What can I say, Schlitz had me at "medieval." Poetry and prose tells the stories of everyone from beggar to knight's son. Plus, a map!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K.Rowling, 2007. Team Rowling. That's all I'm saying.

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes, 1943. I’m as shocked as you at my love for this book, and for obnoxious, arrogant Johnny.

Lessons From A Dead Girl by Jo Knowles, 2007. What hurts more than being bullied and abused? Realizing the bully has been just as hurt by life.

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, 2006. Asteroid takes out the moon. I'm thinking of stocking up on staples and putting in a wood burning stove.

Long May She Reign by Ellen Emerson White, 2007. No one does dialogue and humor like White. The 700 plus pages are not enough; you finish wishing for 700 more.

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan, 2007. I cannot afford to live in NYC; so instead, I read Naomi and Ely and pretend I'm cool and hip and young and know something about music.

New Policeman, The by Kate Thompson, 2007. I thought I was running out of time because of a move and a new job and writing deadlines; after reading this, I suspect it may be something else. A slow, dreamy Irish tale of time and gods and music.

Notes from the Teenage Underground by Simmone Howell, 2007. Art saves lives. Also, sometimes it's a good thing to break up with friends.

Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger, 2007. Grady McNair, born Angela; brave enough to come out as transgendered in the middle of the school year.

Professor's Daughter, The by Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert, 2007. A Victorian professor's daughter falls in love with one of her father's mummies. Favorite part? No explanation as to how or why the mummy is alive.

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr, 2007. Deanna has been "that girl" for longer than she'd like; the slut who had sex. At 13. And was caught by her father. Deanna struggles with the questions of whether she was victim or not; and whether she can move beyond that moment in her life.

Talented Clementine, The by Sara Pennypacker, 2007. Ah, Clementine, how I love thee. I didn't read the first book and I'm told it's even better than this one.

Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher, 2007. Hannah leaves behind 13 cassette tapes; 13 reasons why she committed suicide. By the end, we know there is no reason why. Just the loss of a depressed, confused, hurting child.

Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R.L. La Fevers, 2007. Picture the movie the Mummy; imagine the adventurer and the librarian had a daughter. That's Theodosia.

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt, 2007. This has everything from Shakespeare to baseball. A turn of the page brings laughter; and quiet pain at the desperation found in 1960s suburbia.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks, 2006. Who doesn't love zombies? First thing I did in my new house was figure out what to do when the zombies attack here.

One thing you may notice; about half of these books haven't been reviewed in full on this blog. Guess what just got added to my to-do list?

Made with the LOLCat Builder at I Can Has Cheezburger, but probably not funny to most of the people who visit that site, so I posted it here.

Poetry Friday (will be edited tonight to add round up information ) The Round Up is at Literary Safari.

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz. Illustrated by Robert Byrd. 2007. Library copy. One of my personal Best Books 2007.

The Plot:

Inhabitants of a medieval village, from nephew of the Lord to beggar, provide a look at their lives via poetry and prose.

The Good:

Made of awesome.

There is a map of the village (a Medieval Manor, England, 1255) with plenty of details to linger over, from the various walls and fields, including the characters in the book.

Each person speaks once; tho characters sometimes mention once another, giving a fuller picture of each individual and the village itself. While most speak in varying forms of poetry, there is some prose; and there are also historical notes to explain things. For example, the son of a knight mentions the Crusades as he would see it; the note provides more detailed information on the Crusades.

How would I classify this book? Poetry? But it's got more than poetry, and will history lovers find it there?

History? The people are made up; and while there is an amazing bibliography (four pages worth!!), so I trust the history included, made up people saying things, even saying things based on historical fact, is, in my never to be humble opinion, fiction.

Fiction? While I love how this conveys a world, and a world view, there isn't really a plot or a main character.

Final words: great for teaching or classroom use, at home and at school, because in addition to the history aspect, the poetry is written to be read, like a play. So, a fun way to practice memorization and speaking skills.

More final words. It's illustrated by Robert Byrd, and he captures a medieval style and also includes tons of details for readers to pore over.

Anyway, here is a bit from

Otho, The Miller's Son

Father is the miller
As his father was of old,
And I shall be the miller,
When my father's flesh is cold.
I know the family business --
It's been drummed into my head;
How to cheat the customer
And earn my daily bread.

Oh, God makes the water, and the water makes the river,
And the river turns the mill wheel
and the wheel goes on forever.
Every man's a cheater, and so every man is fed,
For we feed upon each other,
when we seek our daily bread.

The rest of the poem is in the book.

Candlewick, the publisher, has these sample pages online, which also show Byrd's illustrations. Here are two more poems, with footnotes.

Links:

Lois Lowry likes it
Betsy Bird's review can be found at ForeWord: Shelf Space

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks. Library copy.

The Plot:
Zombies. They attack. They almost win. Now, a decade later, an oral history has been assembled, from the doctor who treated "Patient Zero" (the first documented Zombie) to the American soldier who fought at the Battle of Yonkers, from the feral child who survived on her own to the South African who invented the notorious plan that ensured human survival at the cost of millions of lives.

The Good: Zombies!!

What else? Since the war is over and the survivors are being interviewed, we know that people lived. But how? At what cost? And how exactly do you survive when a zombie attacks?

Part of what I liked is how both the "back story" of those with knowledge is told, along with the suburban mom who didn't realize the threat until the Zombies came thru the living room window. As with other oral histories, the book moves from narrator to narrator.

Would you survive? According to the official web site, I have about a 35 percent chance of survival. The website keeps up to the "real" attitude of the book by including podcasts of those "interviewed" for the book.

This isn't a zombie gore-fest; it's rather a fear-fest, and I guarantee you by the end of the book, you'll be contemplating a home renovation to include steel doors, shatterproof glass, and disappearing stairs.

Who would like this? It's for fans of horror, science fiction, adventure, and survival fiction.

Brooks is the author of The Zombie Survival Guide. Which, according to the book jacket, "formed the core of the world's civilian survival manuals during the Zombie War."

It was published last year, making it one of the Best Books Read in 2007.

Links:
The review at Rock and Roll Librarian.
The Zombie Survival Guide Website.
Movie info (it's been optioned for a film; I think a miniseries on HBO or Showtime would be best.)

Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger. Advance reviewer copy from author. Publication date: July 2007.

The Plot: Angela remembers being age six and the swim teacher saying, "boys in one line, girls in another." Angela was puzzled: "why did everybody think I was a girl?" Ten years later, Angela realizes that "inside the body of this strange, never-quite-right girl was hiding the soul of a typical, average, ordinary boy."

Angela picks a new name: Grady. And with short hair, bound breasts, and a boy's wardrobe, Grady quietly yet proudly comes out as transgendered and starts living life as a boy, both at home and at school.

The Good: Do you know how hard it was to write that plot description without using "her" or "him"? Wittlinger avoids those difficulties by having Grady tell his own story, in first person.

Reviewing a book so far ahead of its publication date is tricky. As with Beige, I'll hold off being too spoilery.

I began the book thinking Angela/Angie/she, as that is what the main character is called. But then Angela announces choosing Grady for a name; I quickly began thinking "Grady" (Angie's family had used Angie for sixteen years, I had only used it for a few pages) but found myself thinking she, she, she until about page 200 when I started thinking he, he, he without even realizing it. About that same time, I stopped picturing a girl dressed as a boy and started picturing a boy. As a reader, my journey was mirroring the journey of the people in the book.

This is not a message book about being transgendered; this is a coming of age book about Grady, who happens to be transgendered. Grady learns what is needed to be a real friend, sibling, child; and to be all those things, he has to learn how to be himself. That's a common teen journey. And that alone is reason enough for this to make my Best Books Of 2007.

Grady is strong; but he doesn't realize how strong he is. To start dressing as a boy, changing one's name in the middle of the school year, and honestly telling everyone requires strength; a weaker person would have continued to be quiet, on the sidelines, and waited for a new school year.

Grady is now in high school; but he, along with his sister Laura and brother Charlie and best friend Eve, was homeschooled. Homeschooling is not portrayed as a negative; Grady and Laura are now in high school because a, their mother decided they had gotten beyond what she could teach, b, socialization. As for socialization -- the kids went to soccer, swimming lessons, and the like; Grady specifically says that "socialization" really means that "they hoped that being around boys would make me act like more of a girl." So this is NOT saying homeschooled kids aren't well socialized! It's saying these parents, suspecting something was up with their child, yet not being sure what, thought that going to school would change Angela.

I also have to point out the humor in this book. Think transgendered teen, and you think angst and depression. Not so! Wittlinger not only doesn't make this a "if you are transgendered it's all sad" book, she also adds humor that had me laughing out loud (and thinking this would make a great movie.) For example, Grady lives in "that house." You know, that house -- the house in the neighborhood that is so over-decorated for Christmas that you wonder about their electric bill and how people find the time to put together something so extravagant. Grady's father has everything from reindeer to a nativity scene to bears; the family actually dresses up in Victorian clothes. This, despite the fact that Mom is Jewish.

I want to repeat this book is as far from a didactic message book as one can get. Which, to me, would mean a fiction book that is really a non-fiction book dressed up with a story, resulting in thin plot and thinner characters. Here, at all times the story -- Grady's story -- is what drives the book, as it should be with any good book.

The book's title comes from the parrotfish, an animal that can change its own gender. Beyond that, this book stays away from religion, politics and other arguments about transgendered people, concentrating instead on the story of one boy's struggles. Certain issues are dealt with: changing for gym, bathrooms, breasts. They are things someone would wonder about, so they have to be addressed, but it's done briefly and matter of factly.

I also want to say that there is so much more I want to talk about; but it'll wait until a few months after publication. What else can I safely say now? Wittlinger surrounds Grady with a mix of supportive and non-supportive people; but at all times the supporting characters are well rounded. None are one-dimensional; none are used solely to spout things in either opposition to or in support of Grady.

Thanks to Gail Gauthier and her post, Why Blog Reviews Are Important. Yes, we bloggers sometimes post about new and upcoming books. But we post about books eight months and eight years and twenty eight years after publication, too. It's important for authors; but I also think it's important for readers. Depth in reading (and reviewing) is important.

Which is why my Best Books 2007 list is going to incorporate any book read in 2007, and I'll start noting the publication date.

Beige by Cecil Castellucci. ARC supplied by publisher, Candlewick. Publication date: June 2007. (Amazon says May).

Notice: Yes, this is a long, long way away. But this book is so fabulous that I must blog about it now. Like many of my fellow bloggers, I'm being a total booktease, in that I'm saying I love it yet not going into any details now, but will do a follow up post once this has been on the shelves six months or so. It's one of my Best Books for 2007.

The Plot: Katy, 15, is a nice, good girl who gets along with her mother; she dresses like a prep and likes boy bands. Mom is headed off to an archaeological dig in Peru for two and a half weeks; Grand-maman is in an old age home; so Katy leaves Montreal for LA to visit her father, the Rat. She hasn't seen Beau "the Rat" Ratner since she was seven. Needless to say, she isn't happy about this at all. Picture Rory from the Gilmore Girls shipped off to the Osbournes.

The Good: I am trying to be very, very good about spoilers.

While at first glance it seems the Rat is called the Rat because Katy hasn't seen him since forever, it's actually his punk name. Y'see, the Rat is the drummer for the "famously unfamous" band, Suck.

This is not one of those books where a girl goes to LA and has a Pretty Woman shopping experience when she meets her rich and famous father. C'mon, Castellucci is better than that (tho if she wrote that type of book it would kick ass because Castellucci is that good of a writer.) Because Suck is "famously unfamous" (i.e., they never made it big) the Rat lives in an apartment and has a day job to pay the bills.

Beige does not use the "famous Daddy" teen formula as an excuse to go shopping or teach us a life lesson about being rich. The Rat is not a musician so that Castellucci can show us the life styles of the rich and famous; the Rat is a musician because it is his life, it is his world view, it is the reason he's alive. For Katy, music is something that plays in the background. She likes boy bands. How do two people, related by blood yet total strangers, create a relationship when they have nothing in common?

What else can I say without significant spoilers? As you know, I am very tough on the absentee Dad becoming devoted Dad for no good reason. Here, the Rat has a great reason for not seeing Katy for all those years: he was a heroin addict. He is now a recovered addict.

What works, again without being spoilerific:

Katy's anger and distrust of her father; Katy's deep attachment to her mother; the mother changing her life from drugged out teenage groupie knocked up by famous drummer to respectable mother earning a PhD. (Imagine Penny Lane from Almost Famous, but in the early 90s punk rock scene; she gets pregnant and leaves the whole rock'n'roll world behind.)

What also works is that Castellucci knows and respects the punk rock scene. Every chapter is headed by a song name and band.* Katy is a fish out of water -- "beige" in this land of people who live for music -- yet Castellucci shows Katy (and the reader) a thing or two or three about punk rock. (And whether it's music or something else, who hasn't felt beige every now and then? You haven't? Just me? Oh.)

Final words: Castellucci at all times respects Katy and respects the Rat. There is no "good" person or "bad" person; no right or wrong way; only finding what is one's own way.

Final, final words: While I cannot give any specific examples without being a spoiler girl (I am such a booktease!), one of the things I love about Castellucci is that she leaves things to the reader to figure out. She doesn't spoonfeed it to you. There are parts here, things about the parents, Katy, the music scene, that I am dying to talk about.

Words after the final, final words: Age: teen. Is it OK for middle school? Depends on your community. C'mon, people it's punk rock! The word f*ck appears (but much less often than Nick and Norah.) Someone gets a boner. And Katy is result of a groupie and musician hook up. The Rat and Katy's mother are now sober, but this book honestly looks at their drug use in the past and the consequences, without being all Afternoon Special about it. I think it would work in a middle school in all but the most conservative towns, but read and judge for yourself.

More words after the final, final words. I know I am old when I'm older than the parents** in the teen books I'm reading. But that aside, while I love Castellucci's YA books, given that she never falls for the "parents are evil" trap and creates well-rounded, very human people, I would be the happiest person in happydonia if she ever wrote a grown up book.

*I'm a librarian. I cannot resist a list. I knew 10 of the 45 song titles.

** Actually, older than the mom but not the dad.

Links: Beige is Punk: Essential Punk Rock songs
The Chasing Ray review
Cecil Castellucci....Between the buns at Bookburger
Win an ARC contest: Deadline February 20, 2007
The Goddess of YA Literature review