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Our Featured Title this week is Because I Am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas, and in her post, Thalia describes "the frustratingly beautiful ache" of the puzzle of putting words in verse, poetic vignettes, together to tell a story.

Look what arrived for me today! Yay!

If you're not familiar with Beth Kephart, you can read my interview here. And over at My Friend Amy's blog, Amy and Lenore throwing a book drive party with fabulous prizes. They are trying to get 200 sales for Beth through their blog, so if you haven't bought the book yet, do it through their link.

I've enjoyed interviewing authors on my blog, and I have to say, I've noticed a trend...these friends of mine are doing well, winning awards and gaining momentum in the marketplace. And who, you may ask, is this happening to? Well, since being interviewed on my blog:

• Jessica Burkhart's Canterwood Crest series has been optioned for a TV series or movie, and the first book of the series has gone to reprint.

• Thalia Chaltas was named as a Flying Start author by Publisher's Weekly. Her book, Because I am Furniture, is also going into a second run.

• Val Hobbs' book Sheep was chosen as this year's California Young Reader Medal winner for intermediate readers. Sheep was extremely popular in hard cover and was reprinted in paperback in April.

I love success stories. I'm so excited for all of them and thrilled that I got to share their stories here on my blog. Now, I'm off to the sofa. The kids are gone, the house is clean, and I can't wait to read Nothing but Ghosts.

Have a great weekend!

Abuse is such a difficult topic to take on for both middle grade and young adult novels. There are few authors that have taken on the subject and produced a truly successful piece of work that really conveys the emotions and pain the individual suffering abuse has faced. It's either too graphic, to difficult to read emotionally, or just lacking something important to bring out that character emotion. Unfortunately, this latest book I've finished, Because I Am Furniture, has fallen into that last category.

Though author Thalia Chaltas has created a very well written book, in poetry form, the emotions and overall storyline were just not getting to me in the way I wanted them to. Anke is our narrator and her father is the abuser. He does not, however, abuse her, he takes his beatings and sexual molestation out on her siblings, and in a strange way, this makes Anke feel left out. She may not want to be beaten on, but it would be nice if she was more than just a block of wood in the house, wanting just simple attention from her dad.

When she joins the volleyball team at school, she first uses it as only an escape from her home life, but soon she gains confidence in herself and her ability to play, resulting in a growth of personal confidence as well. As she learns to stand up for herself on the volleyball court, she also stands up for her family, against the man that is ruining all of their lives.

I guess I have to use the dreaded "b" word in describing this book. It was a bit boring. Though it had a great concept and a message that anyone being abused could stand to hear, it left me disinterested, just wanting to finish the last page and be done...I didn't need more of Anke's story once the book was over and that was a let down.

Disappointing, but that happens every once in awhile to every reader I suppose!

To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon.

Because I Am Furniture
Thalia Chaltas
368 pages
Young Adult
Viking Juvenile
9780670062980
April 2009

I have two giveaways going on right now...click HERE to enter to win Recycle This Book and a set of Nellie's Dryer Balls and click HERE to win a huge set of picture book ARCs from Penguin.