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Seeing Emily. by Joyce Lee Wong. 2007. Abrams. 288 pages. ISBN: 9780810992580

Emily is a Chinese-American  teenager who is an artist, a good student, and a hard worker in her parents' Chinese restaurant. Though her immigrant parents don't approve of her dating, wearing lipstick, or defying their rules, when Emily meets Nick, she begins trying on different identities and getting a feel for life as Nick's girlfriend. She likes how it feels when he kisses her, until she realizes Nick only sees her ethnicity, not who she truly is. 

The book jacket makes it sound like this is a story about a prim and proper young woman who throws caution to the wind and becomes a rebel in order to impress her boyfriend. The story inside the cover is quite different. This is not a wild romance, or a tale of teenage rebellion. Rather, it is a story about identity, and about coming of age as one's true self. At the start of the book, Emily is struggling to create an "interior self-portrait" for her art class. She is meant to draw an interior space that represents who she is, but everything she draws comes out darker than she expects. As the story progresses, Emily explores that darker side of her personality, not as a meaningless demonstration of her independence in the face of strict parents,  but as a personal journey of discovery. Emily ends up exactly where she belongs, in the end, but not until she has satisfied her curiosity about those sides of her personality she has not yet uncovered.  

I appreciate the subtlely of Wong's style. She addresses many issues in the three sections that comprise Emily's story, but she doesn't draw clear conclusions for the reader. Nick's behavior toward Emily - and his father's reception of her - are certainly examples of pretty egregious racism, but the author lets the reader figure that out based on context clues. She lets us understand, from Nick's words and Emily's reaction to them, that she is uncomfortable in the relationship, and that his behavior is unacceptable, but she doesn't give a lecture to the reader. This kind of open-endedness makes this a great book for discussion about cultural identity, and about the subtleties of human relationships that sometimes make it hard for girls to realize when they're in a bad one. Some readers might be turned off by the uncertainty of not being told what to think about various events. Myself, I had some trouble with the ending, which, while happy, does not tie things up that neatly or satisfyingly. Still, I can't imagine a different ending working better. Wong remains true to her style all the way through her book, and what emerges is a portrait of one girl doing her best to grow up into the person she is meant to be. 

Seeing Emily will appeal to female young adult readers from all backgrounds, especially those who feel at odds with their parents' ideals, and those who have been in relationships with boys who don't really see their true selves. It would also make a great addition to high school poetry lessons. There is a lot of beautiful figurative language throughout the book that would provide interesting opportunities for analysis, while also allowing students to enjoy a relevant and interesting story.

I borrowed Seeing Emily from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Make Lemonade. by Virginia Euwer Wolff. 1993. Henry Holt and Co. 200 pages. ISBN: 9780805080704

This distinctive novel in verse tells of two young women - LaVaughn and Jolly- whose lives intersect when fourteen-year-old LaVaughn answers seventeen-year-old Jolly's ad for a babysitter. LaVaughn needs to make as much money as she can so she will be able to get out of this neighborhood and go to college. Jolly needs a babysitter because though she is not yet eighteen, she has two little ones at home. What starts out as a mutually beneficial employment situation evolves slowly into much more, as LaVaughn helps Jolly to see herself in a new way and to seek the help she needs to make a life for herself and her children.

There is no other book in all of YA literature like this one. Each of the characters is fully three-dimensional. Jolly, in particular, comes to life as a person, rather than just a statistic, and the reader is able to really empathize with her and understand her worries and suspicions about welfare and going back to school. Though LaVaughn is an outside observer for much of what happens to Jolly, she, too, is remarkable, because she goes above and beyond a babysitter's call of duty. Even though her mother - herself a presence looming large on the edges of the story - suggests time and again that LaVaughn would be better off away from Jolly, LaVaughn feels such sympathy for her she can't let go until she knows she  will be okay.

Books like this often have the misfortune of being "issue" books. It's easy for an author to become preachy and start using his or her books to caution kids against the dangers of pre-marital sex and teen pregnancy. Though this book certainly didn't make me want Jolly's life, it also didn't read like a cautionary tale. This book isn't just about the path down which our mistakes can send us. It's also about the unlikely people who can make differences in each other's lives, through the most unusual of circumstances.

This book is amazingly well written. Not only is the language beautiful, but I think the poetry makes it easier to get lost in the world of the story. Poetry gets at the heart of LaVaughn's feelings for Jolly, and also captures the rhythm and flow of how  each of the characters sounds to LaVaughn. There is also a beautiful metaphor of a lemon tree that is mentioned many times throughout the story.  LaVaughn tries to help Jeremy plant a lemon tree, but no matter what they do, it just can't bloom until, finally, his mother gets her life together.

The story also doesn't draw any easy conclusions, making it a great one to discuss in high school English classes or in book discussion groups. Does LaVaughn take advantage of Jolly when she takes the babysitting job? Is it wrong for Jolly   to place such heavy burdens on  LaVaughn? Would the average teen have the strength and courage to help someone like Jolly? The author provides no answers, but the readers' love for the characters prompts them to consider the morality of the entire story, and to consider what the truth is for them.

Make Lemonade is one of the best young adult books I have ever read, and I recommend it very highly. I loved it so much, I am almost afraid to read the sequels - True Believer and This Full House - because I'm afraid they might not measure up. Still, I care so much about these characters now, I think I will have to take the risk just to find out what happens to them going forward. Make Lemonade contains mature content and will be best appreciated by readers who are prepared to grapple with difficult questions and who can maturely respond to discussions of sexual violence, poverty, and teen parenthood.

I borrowed Make Lemonade from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Relish: My Life in the Kitchen. by Lucy Knisley. April 2, 2013. Macmillan. 192 pages. ISBN: 9781596436237

Lucy Knisley's mother is a chef, so naturally, Lucy grew up around food - first in New York City, then in the more rural Hudson Valley. The result of Lucy's childhood is not just a great recipe collection, but also a collection of wonderful food-related memories that shape Lucy into her adult self. In this memoir, Lucy recalls the times she and her mother stood in the kitchen and ate cherry tomatoes right from the bowl. She reflects on the disagreements she and her parents have had over junk food,  and waxes poetic about a croissant she has never been able to replicate. Each chapter is topped off with a detailed recipe, explained in words and pictures with a touch of humorous commentary.

I initially chose to read this book because I wanted to get back into reading graphic novels, and the cover art caught my eye on NetGalley. I had no idea that the author had actually lived in Rhinebeck, NY, not far from Poughkeepsie, where I attended college and only an hour or so from where I actually grew up. Though I did not recognize the specific places Lucy had visited, I still enjoyed feeling that personal connection to the book, which is part of what motivated me to read it.

While I enjoyed the concept of this book, I didn't connect with the episodes from Lucy's life as well as I would have liked to. I am not a cook, nor am I a particularly adventurous eater, so the details of all the food didn't necessarily excite me, and I was disappointed that I couldn't connect with Lucy and the other "characters" of her stories through another avenue. I got some glimpses into Lucy's family life - such as the fact that her father misses her mother's cooking and still occasionally eats meals with her - and into her longest friendship, with the friend who moved to Japan and helped her explore Japanese food - but I wanted to feel more invested in her life, and that never quite happened.

On the other hand, the artwork is everything the cover promises. I enjoyed the detailed lines in each panel, and though I skimmed much of the text of the recipes, I loved the way she included a visual component for each ingredient and each step in the cooking process. I'm not sure these would be the most practical recipes to follow in the kitchen, but I thought including them as part of the story was a unique and effective approach.

Relish is most likely to appeal to readers who love food as Lucy does. Teens who aspire to be chefs or bakers will find a kindred spirit in Lucy, and all readers will be inspired to reflect on the ways food has shaped their identities. Most of the content in the book is appropriate for middle grade readers, but I think the tone is more YA, and at least one chapter includes content mature enough that parents might not want their nine-year-olds to read it just yet. Recommend this book to teens who loved Raina Telgemier's Smile, and also consider it as a read-alike for Ayun Halliday's Peanut and The Crepe Makers' Bond by Julie Crabtree.

I received a digital ARC of Relish: My Life in the Kitchen from Macmillan via NetGalley.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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The Perfect Guy. by Ann Herrick. 2013. Books We Love, Ltd. ASIN: B00BB2E0U2

The Perfect Guy is a new edition of a young adult romance novel previously published in 1989 and again in 2005. Like Twisted Window by Lois Duncan and Fog by Caroline Cooney, this book has apparently been modernized from its original form in the hopes of reaching a new, 21st century teen audience. The main character of the story is Rebecca, whose mother has just remarried to the father of Rebecca's crush, Pres. Rebecca is naively convinced that this new family dynamic is sure to cause Pres to finally in love with her. She keeps trying to make up reasons to spend more time with her stepbrother, but despite her best efforts, he always seems to respond in a brotherly way. What Rebecca doesn't realize, though, is that another guy in her life is ready to give her everything Pres won't.

I have to confess that I could tell right away that this was a not a brand-new contemporary novel. Even before I learned that it was originally published in the 1980s, I noticed that all the modern-day technology in the story felt out of place. I also thought the characters' names - Pres, Celeste, and Rebecca - sounded nothing like names that teens commonly have in 2013. This isn't necessarily a flaw, but for me, these things were slight distractions. I also questioned whether it was necessary for Rebecca to be in love with her stepbrother, as I don't know how common a problem that truly is for real teens.

That said, the story itself is easy to read, with straightforward writing, lots of dialogue, and short, fast-paced chapters. Herrick captures that sense of obsession some girls develop when they have crushes, and very realistically portrays how  blind they can become to the reality of the boys' lack of interest in them. Middle school girls - and even some high schoolers - who are reluctant to read will enjoy the interpersonal drama that emerges as the story progresses, and they will be just as pleased with the happy ending, even if they will see it coming a long way off. The story also offers a lot of sympathy and comfort for girls adapting to new stepfamilies, which is always a relevant topic for this age group.

Learn more about  Ann Herrick and her books at her website.

I received a copy of The Perfect Guy from the author.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality. by Elizabeth Eulberg. March 1, 2013. Scholastic. 272 pages. ISBN: 9780545476997

Lexi has never had very much luck with guys. She is known for having a great personality - a code phrase Lexi feels is applied only to girls who aren't beautiful. In her family, Lexi's seven-year-old sister Mackenzie is considered the beautiful one. The girls' mother enters Mackenzie into pageant after pageant, throwing away money they don't have on an activity Mackenzie doesn't even enjoy. Lexi sees through the superficiality of the pageant game, but her mother never listens to her. In fact, Lexi is expected to sacrifice time with friends, her work schedule, and even her own hard-earned money to make Mackenzie's pageants successful. This book is the story of how Lexi finally gets fed up with her life. She doesn't want to be known as just a great personality anymore, and it's time to exact her revenge.

Reality TV watchers who have seen the trainwrecks that are Toddlers and Tiaras and Here Comes Honey Boo Boo know all too well the questionable parenting and erratic behavior of some of these pageant moms. What we don't get to see on those shows, though, is how the pageant obsession might affect members of the family who don't approve of the expensive hobby, and how such a disagreement can put a strain on a family. This book, through the eyes of its teenage protagonist, shows this situation in a realistic and emotional way. Lexi is truly torn between her desire to be appealing to boys and her wish to avoid the appearance-obsessed attitudes of her mom and sister. When she suddenly starts dressing differently and wearing make-up, it does give her the results she wants with boys, but she still has trouble shaking the nagging feeling that is compromising her principles. So many times, in movies and books marketed to teens, all it takes is a little bit of lip gloss and a pair of contact lenses to turn an awkward, shy girl into every teen boy's dream. This book does a decent job of challenging that ridiculous idea and it goes deeper into issues of self image and beauty and reminds us of the value of having a great persoanlity, no matter what a girl looks like on the outside.

Lexi is a memorable character with whom I would have loved to be friends during high school. She is loyal, funny, and smart, and I rooted for her from page one. At a significant turning point in the book, Lexi's parents both do and say things they probably don't mean, and I nearly started crying, so closely did I sympathize with Lexi's feelings and her desire to break away from all that made her so unhappy. At that moment in the story, when the adults in her life let her down so terribly, I found myself making comparisons between this book and Tales of the Madman Underground, where something similar happens between Karl Shoemaker and his mom. (Both situations also involve money, which caught my attention as well.) Teens - especially those who will soon leave home - often clash with their parents, and I think this book handles that idea well, without making Lexi act like a total victim, and also without completely vilifying her mom. The psychology of this book alone is enough to make it enjoyable, and I think readers will enjoy seeing the transformation Lexi undergoes, and how this change in turn alters her family dynamics.

Fans of Elizabeth Eulberg's previous work (The Lonely Hearts Club, Take a Bow, etc.)  will not be disappointed by her latest novel.  Read-alikes for Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality include King of the Screw-Ups by K.L. Going and Big Fat Manifesto by Susan Vaught.


I received a digital ARC of Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality from Scholastic via NetGalley.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Also Known As by Robin Benway. February 26, 2013. Bloomsbury. 320 pages. ISBN: 9780802733900

Also Known As is the story of sixteen-year-old safecracking spy, Maggie Silver. She and her family receive assignments from a secret organization called The Collective. This time around, the assignment is for Maggie to go to high school (a place she has never been before) in order to befriend and infiltrate the home of Jesse Oliver, whose journalist dad is about to publish an article blowing the cover of the Silver family and everyone they work with. Maggie is sure she is ready to take on this challenge, but what she doesn’t count on is that she will make a best friend, that she will fall in love, and that she might uncover corruption in the very organization responsible for her safety.

Though this book is similar in some ways to the Gallagher Girls books by Ally Carter, the story is less plot-driven and more character-driven. There is some action, but the true story occurs within Maggie as she struggles to prove herself while also remaining true to her new friends. Maggie has a strong, precocious voice that really drives the plot and keeps things interesting. The supporting characters, too, are memorable and well-described. For example, Angelo, Maggie’s family’s personal contact in The Collective, is “like if Tim Gunn and James Bond had a baby and that baby was Yoda.” I can’t remember the last time I read such a wonderfully funny description in a YA novel. Maggie’s new friend, Roux, who is lonely in the absence of her busy parents, is another great character whose over-the-top comic relationship with her bewildered doorman, Harold, also made me laugh out loud.

This story is less of a spy novel and more of a high school romance starring a heroine who happens to be a spy. Fans of Ally Carter might like it, but it’s more likely to appeal to fans of authors like Abby McDonald, Robin Mellom, and Melissa Kantor. Some Goodreads reviews have commented that the ending ties up too neatly, and I guess maybe that is true, but it didn’t bother me. All along, I assumed that things could end only one way - unhappily, with lots of trouble and tears. It was enough for me to be taken in an unexpected direction. The happy ending also solidifies my opinion that this is more of a romance novel than an action-adventure novel.

Also Known As is the kind of story that would make a great Disney channel original movie. Though there are a handful of references to sexting and drunkenness, it is mostly a pretty tame story that will work for younger teens as well as high school students. If nothing else, readers can enjoy laughing along with Maggie’s spunky and sarcastic outlook on life, and enjoying the ways she makes the best out of a seemingly impossible situation.

I received a digital ARC of Also Known As from Bloomsbury via NetGalley.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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The Reece Malcolm List. by Amy Spalding. February 5, 2013. Entangled Publishing. 352 pages. ISBN: 9781620612408

For sixteen years, Devan has been raised by her distant dad and disinterested stepmother. When her father dies, she is sent to Los Angeles to live with her mom, best-selling author Reece Malcolm. Though Devan is nervous because she knows so little about her mother, she is also intrigued by the woman who gave birth to her and then slipped off the radar. Living with her mom is scary for Devan, and complicated, but it’s also the source of lots of excitement. In L.A., Devan attends a performing arts school, makes a group of instant friends and catches the eye of two cute California boys. She also bonds with her mom’s best friend, who is a Broadway star, and her mom’s boyfriend, who keeps both Reece and Devan from losing their minds.

This contemporary young adult novel by debut author Amy Spalding portrays one of the most interesting and well-developed mother-daughter relationships I have ever read. Though the story is obviously about Devan, Reece is also a fully realized main character, and despite Devan’s reservations, the reader can’t help but love her. Spalding does a lovely job of peeling back Reece’s layers one at a time, revealing her personality, history, and feelings for Devan at a very realistic pace that helps the reader stay invested without becoming too overwhelmed with exposition. Spalding also strikes the perfect balance between Devan’s social life at school and her complicated home life. Neither storyline is ever neglected, and often, what happens at school will inform Devan’s actions at home, or vice versa. Also wonderful are all the musical theater references. Anyone who has ever wished to sing and dance on stage can live vicariously through Devan’s experiences at her performing arts high school.

The Reece Malcolm List reads like an updated and more realistic version of The Gilmore Girls. Fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Melissa Kantor will love Spalding’s fresh, contemporary writing style, and the memorable cast of characters. Reece’s experiences especially reminded me of Kantor’s Darlings series, where one of the girls is into drama, Take a Bow, Elizabeth Eulberg’s novel about seniors at a performing arts high school, and of course, Raina Telgemier’s Drama. The family dynamics also remind me of Courtney Sheinmel's All the Things You Are, and Sonya Sones's novel in verse, One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies. This is a fantastic first novel. I look forward to seeing what else Amy Spalding will publish in the future! 

I received a digital ARC of The Reece Malcolm List from Entangled Publishing via NetGalley.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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A Ring of Endless Light. by Madeleine L'Engle. 1980. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. 324 pages. ISBN:  9780374362997

My feelings about the last three Madeleine L'Engle books that I have read have ranged from lukewarm disinterest to all-out hatred, so I was almost nervous to pick up another one. Thankfully, though, A Ring of Endless Light, published in 1980, made me fall in love with L'Engle's writing all over again. Vicky Austin is almost sixteen, and she is struggling to make sense of death. A family friend, Commander Rodney, has died trying to save a drowing teen, and Vicky's own grandfather is dying of leukemia. Vicky also spends time with Zachary Grey, the troubled young man she first met in The Moon By Night, Adam Eddington, who works with her brother John at a marine biology research station, and Leo Rodney, whose feelings for Vicky are far more romantic than hers for him. As her grandfather's condition deteriorates, Vicky comes to terms with the idea of death and works to sort out her feelings for each of the young men who desire her affections.

Because I have such an affinity for realistic fiction, it comes as no surprise that my favorites among the L'Engle books I've read have been the ones about Vicky Austin and her family. My love for this particular book, though, extends beyond just a genre preference. There is plenty of science fiction in A Ring of Endless Light, including references to farandola, discussions of Adam's role in Dr. O'Keefe's regeneration research, and the discovery that people can communicate with dolphins telepathically. The difference between this book and A Swiftly Tilting Planet or A Wind in the Door is that I connect better with Vicky's emotions than with Meg's or Charles Wallace's. Meg and Charles Wallace always feel like characters, whereas Vicky sometimes feels like a real person who has the experiences of a real teen.

There were moments in this book where I felt it was necessary to suspend my disbelief a little bit. It seemed unlikely to me that several people connected to one family would die or come so near to death in such a short time. I also thought the way Zachary Grey was brought into the story was maybe a bit too coincidental, and I wondered if it was necessary to create a connection between him and Commander Rodney's death. Even so, the way these events are described, and the way they work together to further the plot, is exceptional. Whereas in A Swiftly Tilting Planet, I felt that L'Engle made all the connections between the characters too obvious, A Ring of Endless Light is written with more subtlety, and even if the events of the story are unlikely, the overall narrative is more believable.

I am nearly finished reading L'Engle's Murry/O'Keefe and Austin books. Next up is A House Like a Lotus, and after that, only Many Waters, An Acceptable Time, and Troubling A Star are left.  I'm hoping these last few books will be as enjoyable as A Ring of Endless Light, or at least not as dismal as A Swiftly Tilting Planet.

I borrowed A Ring of Endless Light from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Nothing Special. by Geoff Herbach. May 1, 2013. Sourcebooks. 290 pages. ISBN: 9781402265075

Nothing Special is the sequel to Stupid Fast. This second book about Felton Reinstein deals with the aftermath of the physical and emotional changes he undergoes in the first book, and delves into the effects of his behavior on those around him, especially his younger brother Andrew. Felton tells the story in the form of a letter to his girlfriend, Aleah, who has taken a break from their relationship. He writes the letter on a trip to Florida, the purpose of which becomes clearer as the story he tells progresses. What we do know early on is that Andrew has run away, linked up with his dead father’s family, and caused Felton to miss football camp so that he can sort the whole thing out.

Though the story is told in Felton’s voice, it belongs just as much to Andrew. I believe it is meant to be his photo we see on the cover of the book, and “Nothing Special” refers to the way he feels about himself compared to his older, bigger, more athletic brother. Because the story belongs to both boys, the story is structurally pretty sophisticated. I give Geoff Herbach a lot of credit for switching so effortlessly back and forth between Felton’s activities at the time he writes the story and the events in the past that he is writing about. Though we never enter Andrew’s mind, Felton’s secondhand knowledge of his brother’s feelings very effectively helps the reader understand his difficulties and motivations for running away.

I have to admit that for the first few chapters, I wondered whether this sequel was such a good idea. Felton was so hilarious and so much fun to read about in the first book, and when this book wasn’t instantly just as funny, I felt myself losing interest a little bit. Things do pick up, though, and the story turns away from the sarcastic humor a little bit to show us a softer, more emotional side to Felton. Not only do we get to know more about his dead father, but we also meet a cousin who is very much like him, and we see his friendship with Gus go through some challenges and come out that much stronger. Since Felton didn’t spend very much time considering other people’s feelings in the first book, it only makes sense that he would need to repent and think about the emotional side of things a bit more in his second book.

Stupid Fast is one of the best YA novels I have ever read, and for me, it would be impossible for this sequel to live up to it. That said, Nothing Special is a strong follow-up, and readers who love Felton and the people in his life will enjoy finding out how things have turned out so far. I am looking forward to the third and final book about Felton, I’m with Stupid, whose expected publication date is May 1, 2013.

I borrowed Nothing Special from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Love and Other Perishable Items. by Laura Buzo. December 11, 2012. Random House. 256 pages. ISBN: 9780375870002

Amelia is fifteen years old, and she works at a grocery store in Sydney, Australia. Her mother struggles to work, keep the house, and raise Amelia’s little sister, while her father travels for work and fails to pull his weight. Chris is twenty-one years old, and he too, works at the grocery store, which he calls The Land of Dreams. He’s had his heart broken, badly, and in his notebooks he now documents his quest for the perfect woman, as well as his dilemma over what to do with his life after college graduation. Amelia is deliriously in love with Chris. Chris wishes Amelia were older. Can there be any hope for romance between them?

This book is one of the best contemporary YA novels I have ever read. Typically, in stories where the point of view alternates between two or more characters, there is one point of view that I prefer over the other. In this case, both main characters are so compelling, it’s impossible to choose a favorite. I related so closely to Amelia, whose longing for Chris’s affections mirrors the unrequited love of fifteen-year-old girls everywhere. Many times I wanted to shake her and tell her that there is no way someone six years her senior would fall in love with her, but at other times, I wanted it as much as she did. On the flip side, I could understand completely Chris’s desire to be out on his own, to find a woman who will love him, and to stop hanging around a grocery store filled with high school kids. Amelia and Chris represent two ends of an adolescent spectrum, both of which are part of this “young adult” category. I thought it was such a good idea to bring them together in one story, which will appeal to a wide audience, but whose meaning will change depending on the age and experience of the individual reader. If I’d read this book at fifteen, I would have loved Amelia and misunderstood Chris. If I’d read it at 20, Chris would have been the character I loved most, and I would have dismissed Amelia as annoying and immature. Reading it now, at 30, after having lived through both high school and college, my view of the story is more balanced.

Aside from the strong voices, what impressed me the most about this book was the structure. Amelia’s chapters relate events in her life one month at a time. Then we get to look at Chris’s notebook, where he relates some of the same events, and additional ones that matter to him but not to Amelia. While Amelia’s sections feel like confessions directly to the reader, reading Chris’s chapters made me feel like I was eavesdropping, getting the full story without his knowledge. Knowing in every scene that I would eventually get the other character’s side of the story kept me in almost constant suspense, and I loved the way Chris’s chapters often changed my perspective on what happened in Amelia’s chapters, or vice versa. I also thought it was great that Chris had so much more going on his life that Amelia didn’t know about, but that her crush was still so vital to her day-to-day existence.

The Australian setting was also a treat for me. It was neat to experience Christmas as a summertime holiday, for example. I also appreciated that the US edition of the book wasn’t too Americanized, though I know some changes were made, even to the title. (The Australian title is Good Oil.) I was also thrilled by the grocery store setting. I have been trying for years to write a decent story set in a grocery store, but have never been able to get the details right. Thankfully, Laura Buzo nails it.

This is a great YA novel with lots of emotional depth and detail that rings true for the high school experience and the end-of-college experience. There is some language, drug use, and drinking, but nothing too graphic. I’m pretty sensitive about stuff like that, and the only thing that gave me pause was Chris’s cocaine use, mostly because it seemed to come out of nowhere. Literary allusions and discussions of feminism and philosophy abound in Amelia’s interactions with Chris. I bookmarked many references so I could find out more about them later on. Amelia is fifteen, but I hope that doesn’t put off older teen readers, as this is a sophisticated story that deals with many important coming of age issues, from dating and love to family and careers. I truly can’t recommend this book highly enough, and I hope my readers will share it widely with teens they know and love.


I received a digital ARC of Love and Other Perishable Items from Random House via NetGalley.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Not Exactly a Love Story by Audrey Couloumbis. December 11, 2012. Random House. 288 pages. ISBN: 9780375867835

Vinnie is fifteen, and his life has undergone some recent major changes. First, he and his mom move to a new town, leaving behind the girl Vinnie has loved from afar for years. Next, his mom falls in love with his new gym teacher, and decides to marry him. Then, Vinnie starts to get interested in a girl in his neighborhood named Patsy, and he makes an obscene phone call to her house to try to get her attention. Patsy is more intrigued than horrified by the call, and soon Vinnie is calling Patsy every night at midnight and the two teens are telling each other things they’d never tell anyone else. There is just one problem with their late-night friendship. Vinnie, who is also getting to know Patsy during the day, has never revealed his identity as the midnight caller, and he’s afraid if he ever does, Patsy will no longer care for him.

Not Exactly a Love Story is set in 1977, which is what makes possible the anonymous phone calls at the heart of the story. In 2012, with cell phones and caller ID, it’s a lot harder for teens like Vinnie to make untraced phone calls to the girls of their dreams, so I imagine that this is why the author chose to set the story in the past. I hesitate to truly call it historical fiction, as it reads similarly to a lot of contemporary YA books, but some references to pop culture and clothing, along with the phone calls, give it a 70s vibe, even if the time period is not of major importance.

Vinnie is a likeable character from the very first page. This is especially important because he’s so isolated and in his own head for much of the story. Being new in school has made finding friends difficult, so there’s not the usual best friend character for him to bounce ideas off of. His mom and the gym teacher play their supporting roles well, but for the most part, the reader is in Vinnie’s head as he sorts out his phone call persona from his true self. Many sections of the story are simply debates Vinnie has with himself over what to say or do next. Thankfully, these debates are interesting and raise a lot of questions, not just about communication, but about identity and honesty. Vinnie also makes observations about Patsy, the boys she dates, and her group of friends, which are among the best parts of the book. I love the way he calls Patsy’s boyfriend Biff, and refers to one of her best friends as Brown Bunny based on how she looks.

Some story threads seemed to me to be left unresolved. Patsy reconnects with a girl named Sissy early in the book in a scene that felt significant in some way, and I kept waiting for Sissy to reappear again later on in some final twist. This did not happen, and I was left wondering why Sissy was in the story at all. I felt the same way about the girl Vinnie leaves behind at the start of the book. Why bother starting the story there, when Patsy is the girl we’re meant to care about? It’s fine to have a story that doesn’t package everything up neatly, but in this case, I felt these story lines had been forgotten rather than intentionally left ambiguous.

Not Exactly a Love Story will appeal to girls, of course, because of the romance angle, but there’s also a lot for teen boys to relate to. Vinnie is similar to other great male narrators from this year: Guy Langman (Guy Langman, Crime Scene Procrastinator), Sanskrit Zuckerman (Since You Left Me), and Felton Reinstein (Nothing Special). Fifteen year old boys from any time period can relate to Vinnie’s desire to get the girl of his dreams, and they will sympathize better than anyone with the mistakes he makes on the road to getting what he wants.

Not Exactly a Love Story was published yesterday, December 11, 2012.


I received a digital ARC of Not Exactly a Love Story from Random House via NetGalley.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Stupid Fast. by Geoff Herbach. June 1, 2011. Sourcebooks Fire. 311 pages. ISBN: 9781402256301

I am neither male nor sporty, but I have always loved young adult realistic fiction with male narrators and sports themes. How I managed to miss last year’s Stupid Fast, even after it won a 2011 Cybils Award, completely blows my mind. Thankfully, though, a representative from Sourcebooks visited my library system recently, and included in the presentation was a plug for all three of Geoff Herbach’s books about Felton Reinstein.

Felton is fifteen, and lately he’s been dealing with some changes. For one thing, he can’t seem to stop growing, and every inch of him suddenly has hair. His mom, a hippy who insists on being called Jerri, is also starting to lose her mind, a problem which may or may not be related to Felton’s dad’s suicide ten years before. Pretty much overnight, Felton discovers he is fast, and the football team suddenly starts asking him to work out with them even though he’s never played before in his life. On top of that, Felton’s best friend has gone away for the summer and staying in his house is an African-American piano prodigy, whose talent catches Felton’s eye as well as that of his little brother, Andrew, who is also talented on the piano. The entire story is told from Felton’s point of view on one night late in summer when he just can’t fall asleep.

I think the biggest thing that makes me love a book is the main character’s voice, and Felton has one of the best YA voices I’ve read. He reminded me, at times, of some of Chris Crutcher’s characters, like TJ in Whale Talk, and Moby from Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. At other times, I was sure he was channeling Karl Shoemaker from Tales of the Madman Underground or Guy Langman from Guy Langman, Crime Scene Procrastinator. Felton is self-aware and self-deprecating, funny even when he thinks he’s not, sometimes selfish, sometimes giving, very talkative, even if only inside his own brain, and messed up in the way that all people are messed up when they’re trying to survive puberty. Being inside his thoughts for 300 pages was a treat, and even now, having finished the first book and not yet moved onto the second, I am carrying Felton around with me, still sometimes seeing the world from his point of view instead of my own. His voice is infectious, and it lingers for a while after the book is over.

Plot-wise, Stupid Fast is just as engaging as its protagonist. Felton’s journey from the weird kid everyone calls “Squirrel Nut” to a confident and competent member of a sports team is interesting enough on its own, but family dysfunction and romance really add to the reader’s interest and keep the pages turning. Jerri’s slow retreat from her duties as mother and Andrew’s strange behaviors in reaction to the loss of his mother actually made me worry for their future, and concern for Felton’s relationship with Aleah after his mom makes a fool of herself in the neighborhood, kept me up until 2 AM when I finally finished the book and felt satisfied.

In addition to the 2011 Cybils Award in Young Adult Fiction, Stupid Fast also received well-deserved recognition from YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults, the Junior Library Guild, and the American Booksellers Association. It is one of the funniest books I have ever read, and a great read-alike for books by Allen Zadoff, Josh Berk, Chris Crutcher, Eric Luper, and Rich Wallace. The second book about Felton, entitled Nothing Special, was released in May 2012. I’m With Stupid, the third in the series, will be published in May 2013.

Geoff Herbach can be heard reading the beginning of Stupid Fast (with a few differences from the published text) here - it’s a great preview of the book and just as fun to listen to even if you’ve already read the whole story.

I borrowed Stupid Fast from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Hello... Wrong Number. by Marilyn Sachs. 1981. Scholastic. 97 pages. ISBN: 9780590327283 

Hello... Wrong Number is a short and sweet paperback YA novel originally published in 1981. A teenage girl named Angie intends to call the object of her affection, a boy named Jim McCone, but when she dials the wrong number, she gets a different Jim. In a series of phone calls, Angie and the wrong Jim become quite close, sharing confidences and saying things to each other they’d never say to anyone else. But they have never met face to face. Will Angie, who can be quite shallow about boys, still like Jim if he doesn’t look as she imagines?

I chose to read this book because it reminded me of a book I loved as a kid, Phone Calls by R.L. Stine. Like Phone Calls, Hello... Wrong Number is a story told almost exclusively in dialogue between the main characters. Though the story is very lighthearted and easily zipped through in one sitting, the dialogue is well-written, bringing the characters right off the page. Both characters’ voices are very strong, and I could almost hear the way they might speak to one another.

Most kids have cell phones now, and caller ID makes it pretty easy to avoid wrong numbers, so it’s hard to say if today’s teens would relate to the story or not. I certainly don’t think most high schoolers in 2012 would name KC and the Sunshine Band as their favorite band, or compare a boy they like to Elton John, as Angie does. Still, Marilyn Sachs is a great author for fans of Paula Danziger, who also always wrote short, fun, romance novels for younger teens. Hello... Wrong Number would work well in a lesson about writing dialogue, and I think it would be fun to hear kids talk about how phone calls have changed since their parents were kids. It's also just a great escapist read for anyone missing the 80s!

I purchased Hello... Wrong Number from my local used book store.
 
For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Take a Bow. by Elizabeth Eulberg. April 1, 2012. Point. 278 pages. ISBN: 9780545334747

Emme, Ethan, Carter and Sophie are students at a competitive performing arts high school. Emme and Ethan are talented songwriters and members of the same band. Carter is a former child star who secretly wishes to leave the spotlight. Sophie is a singer who uses Emme for her songs and Carter for his fame. As senior year begins, all four talented teens are focused on one thing - the senior showcase, and what their performances will mean for their futures.

Though this young adult novel is told from four different points of view, and equal time is spent on each character’s thoughts, I thought Emme was the true protagonist, and I was very invested in what happened to her. I liked the fact that she was a talented, confident, and kind person, and I thought it was interesting to see how other characters either treasured or took advantage of her kindness. I thought her relationship to the members of the band, including Ethan, was very well-developed. The affection among those characters came through loud and clear in their dialogue and made me feel the same sense of warmth and comfort Emme feels when she performs with them.

Though she was not a likeable character, I also really enjoyed reading about Sophie. Her desperation and duplicity were somewhat one-dimensional, but I didn’t really care because she was so much fun to dislike. I was nervous every time I came around to one of her chapters, because I just couldn’t wait for Emme to figure out what a jerk she was, and how terribly she was being used. I didn’t like Sophie, but I thought it was useful to have her point of view so the reader understood that she didn’t really deserve the kindnesses Emme extends to her.

Finally, I really liked the romance that emerged between Emme and Ethan. Their complicated relationship provided a lot of twists and turns in the plot of the book and it was very satisfying to see them pulled apart and brought back together again and again.

Elizabeth Eulberg’s writing is very light and fluffy, with lots of dialogue and not too much in the way of description. This makes Take a Bow a great book for busy teens with lots on their plates who want to read something quick as a means of escape. High school drama club members, and other teens who like the spotlight will see familiar personalities and situations in this book, and will likely sympathize with the pressures of their chosen career path. Take a Bow will be perfect for fans of Eulberg’s 2010 novel, The Lonely Hearts Club, as well as Allen Zadoff’s My Life, the Theater, and Other Tragedies and Melissa Kantor’s Darlings series.

I borrowed Take a Bow from my local public library. 

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New Firsts. by Diana Gallagher. August 1, 2012. Capstone. 144 pages. ISBN: 9781434245915

Best friends Monica and Claudia have survived middle school, and they are now ready to take on their freshman year. In mostly light-hearted, breezy prose, the two girls recount the events of their first few weeks of ninth grade, which include meeting new friends, flirting with boys and getting into a huge disagreement with each other. Through it all, though, the girls prove that best friends really are forever.

This book is hugely appealing because of its tone and its layout. The bright cover and the graphics at the beginning of each chapter - including the full-page dividers between chapters that show little doodles of hearts - are really eye-catching and teen-friendly. These physical characteristics of the book work with the easy-to-read, straightforward text to draw in girls who might typically shy away from books by putting them at ease. It’s easy to believe in Monica and Claudia as real teens with an interesting story to tell because their characters are contained in such an unintimidating package.

I also think the author does a great job of capturing the confusion, uncertainty, and drama of the start of high school. Not everything that happens in this book is terribly original, but I think that’s part of what might make kids interested in it. It’s familiar territory, and the story sort of helps to navigate those uncharted waters. Actually, I think the story is as relevant to girls starting middle school as it is to high schoolers, since the subject matter is very tame and focuses mainly on friendships and budding interest in boys. Stone Arch Books describes its contemporary fiction as “safe,” and I think that’s a good word for it. Reading New Firsts is a positive experience, with a focus on the good, and the healthy.

New Firsts was published on August 1. Prior to that, Claudia and Monica were also stars of their own respective series, set during middle school: the Claudia Cristina Cortez series  and the Monica series. This new book is part of a series as well, entitled Freshman Girls. There are three more books following New Firsts: Homecoming, Haunted Love, and Tested.

I received a digital ARC of New Firsts from Capstone via NetGalley.

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The Encyclopedia of Me. by Karen Rivers. September 1, 2012. Scholastic. 256 pages. ISBN:  9780545310284 

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The Face on the Milk Carton. by Caroline Cooney. 1990. Random House. 192 pages. ISBN: 9780385323284

The Face on the Milk Carton - the story of a teenage girl who realizes she is a kidnapping victim after seeing her own face on a carton of milk - was published in 1990, and I think I first heard of it just a few years later, when I was in 6th or 7th grade. I remember how popular it was with the girls in my class, even the ones who didn’t ordinarily like books, and I’m sure I read it, though I didn’t have any specific memories of the plot, or of how the ending was resolved until picking it up again recently.

Here’s what I’d forgotten: (If you’ve never read the book, these might be spoilers, but I don’t really like to worry about spoilers for books that are 22 years old.)

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Flirting in Italian. by Lauren Henderson. June 12, 2012. Random House. 336 pages. ISBN: 9780385741354

Violet Routledge is shaken when she discovers that she strongly resembles the subject of a portrait hanging in Sir John Soane’s museum. When she learns that the painting was once located in the Castello di Vesperi in Tuscany, she makes the decision to study abroad for the summer, joining a small group of girls who have signed up to study art, culture, painting, dancing, and more under the tutelage of a local Italian woman. The fourteenth century villa where she will live turns out to be beautiful, and the other girls are different, but nice. There are only two things Violet isn’t really prepared for - her attraction to a gorgeous Italian boy named Luca, and the fact that her resemblance to that portrait will put her life in danger.

Flirting in Italian is the first installment in a new trilogy by Lauren Henderson. (She also wrote the Scarlett Wakefield mysteries, which ended in 2011 with Kiss of Death.) I had trouble getting into the Scarlett Wakefield books, possibly because the series begins with a death, but found no such trouble here. I knew from hearing Henderson read a few years ago, that her prose was very poetic, and her kissing scenes extremely original, with not a cliche to be found, but this book really brought those aspects of her talent to the forefront.

The story really bridges two genres. About half the time, it’s a mystery, complete with secret passages and unexpected evildoers. The other half of the time, it’s a romance novel, where Violet tries to reconcile her logical and rational side with the side that desperately wants Luca all to herself. I wouldn’t go so far as to label it romantic suspense, since the mystery and love story aren’t 100 percent intertwined, but the book has that same tone and atmosphere.

For the most part, Henderson does a great job of handling the various cultures and languages that are such a big part of her story. Violet and one her housemates are both English, as is Henderson, so I think their dialogue seemed the most natural and the least forced. The two American characters in the story did seem somewhat stereotypical at certain points, but their accents, too, seemed mostly on point, except for one moment where one of them used the word clever in a decidedly British way. The way Henderson infuses the Italian language into the story, mostly without translating, is also a really nice addition to the atmosphere of the novel. I felt completely immersed in the Tuscan way of life. I think my only issue was the way in which the characters were sometimes compartmentalized according to their country of origin. I wasn’t sure how much of the Italian culture was authentic, and how much was just a stereotype.

This book will delight Henderson’s established fans, but will also appeal to readers who have loved Maureen Johnson’s 13 Little Blue Envelopes, and Stephanie Perkins’s Anna and the French Kiss. It’s also a nice read-alike for some of Sarah Dessen’s books, but only for readers who also like a bit of mystery and suspense.

Flirting in Italian ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, since it is only the first of three planned books, but the end of the ARC already lists the title of the second book as Following In Love i

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