Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The Eternal Ones: What if Love Refused to Die?

by Kristin Miller

Summary:
Haven has had dreams about Ethan for as long as she can remember.  Dreams so vivid they almost feel true. When she sees mega rich playboy Iain Morrow on TV she realizes that the dreams may not be true, but Ethan certainly is, and his name is now Iain.  As Haven sets off to find him so that she can unravel the dreams that have plagued her for her entire life, she will find not only her life is on the line, but that her soul is the ultimate prize. 

Review:
When I first picked up The Eternal Ones I was expecting a silly book about soul mates.  Instead Miller has written an engaging book that connects with the desire to find someone who will love us for all eternity, and find us no matter what the obstacles.  The book itself keeps us guessing about who the real Ethan is, and cleverly brings up the past lives of the characters to enliven the search.  One of the interesting parts of the book is how she explained that some innate skills are a result of our past lives.  For example
Overall, the book will keep older tweens engaged (though admittedly the beginning of the book is a bit slow).

Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Age Level: 9th Grade
Series Information: The Eternal Ones: What if Love Refused to Die?, All You Desire

Delirium


by Lauren Oliver

Summary:
Love is a disease.  When you're in love it can make you spacey, irrational, completely useless.  When you're not in love any longer it can make you angry, upset, a menace to society.  But what if all those negative side effects of love could be eliminated, and instead you could live your life like a completely rational human being?  Lena has never had to worry about this.  The government has found a way to completely cure people of falling in love, of the delirium that strikes those who contract this disease.  She is only 95 days til she gets the surgery that will forever protect her from being hurt, from ever having to suffer from the disease like her late mother.  But then she meets Alex, and everything she ever believed about love is questioned. 

Review:
One of the reasons I liked Delirium was that unlike in other dystopian novels where the populace is simply compliant with the governments wishes without a real reason, this population all undergoes a surgery to rid them of their more emotional sides and leaves them rational and compliant.  This factor helps to explain why the surgery continues and why the cycle is perpetuated without much complaint, as all the 'cureds' simply believe that the 'uncured' children will lead better lives without emotion and become much easier to handle, which they do.  Oliver has created not just a love story in a world where love is forbidden, but a story about how something as natural as love has become the enemy.  The premise of the book is, at first, fairly out there, but as the book progresses you find yourself wondering which side is really going to win in the end.  Very well written and engaging.

Genre: Dystopian
Age Level: 9th Grade
Series Information: Delirium, Pandemonium, Requiem

Friday, May 18, 2012

The Other Half of My Heart

by Sundee T. Frazier

Summary:
Keira and Minna aren't just best friends, they are twin sisters.  They aren't completely alike, Keira is outgoing while Minna is shy, Minna loves to read but Keira isn't as gung ho about school.  And well, Minna is white like her father, while Keira takes after their African American mother.  But that never really bothered them until their grandmother enters them in the Miss Black Pearl beauty contest.  As Minna learns what it's like to stand out as the only light skinned girl in the contest, she realizes that life hasn't always been that easy for her sister.

Review:
Frazier's novel addresses questions of prejudice and justice.  Of what it is like to fit in and what it's like to be the only one like you.   Both girls must learn to understand what it's like to be different, and of the importance of standing up for each other no matter what.  The book is genuinely interesting and a good read for younger tweens.

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 4-5th Grade

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

by Gabrielle Zevin

Summary:
Imagine waking up to discover that you couldn't remember the last 4 years of your life.  Not birthdays, algebra,  learning to drive, the names of your best friend, that you have a boyfriend, that your parents are divorced, that your mom has remarried and you have a 3 year old half sister.  Who knew hitting your head could mean having to relearn your life, and discovering that maybe you weren't living that great a life to begin with.

Review:
Zevin's novel about 16 year old Naomi, a girl who hits her head and becomes an amnesiac, is witty and enjoyable.  Naomi is a very relatable character.  As she relearns her life and rediscoveres friendships she finds herself wondering why she might have acted differently before the accident. What is interesting in the novel is watching Naomi try to really understand her actions before the accident and strives to be a better person. 

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 9th grade

What I saw and how I lied

by Judy Blundell

Summary:
Now that the war is over and her stepfather Joe is back, Evie is thrilled that life is getting back to normal. No more rationing or not being able to buy new things.  Joe is even taking her and her mother down to Palm Beach for a proper vacation.  A vacation where she can finally meet a boy to fall in love with.  Peter is everything she could dream of in a man.  But she's about to find out that things aren't always how they appear, and that she might not really know what even the people she loves the most are truly capable of.  Terrible things don't just happen in war.

Review:
A historical fiction novel, What I saw and how I lied, combines a WWII story with lessons of prejudice and doing the right thing.  Evie is a girl who can't wait to grow up, but when her parents go to trial for killing Peter, she learns that growing up is not all black and white.  She has to make the choice about whether to tell the truth about what she knows, or to lie to save her parents from jail.  The book talks about wartime injustices as well as war looting and profiteering (which is how Joe made his money).  Evie must struggle with seeing her first real examples of prejudicism, when friends are kicked out of their hotel for being Jewish, and rectify that with her belief that that problem should have been over and done with now that such a huge war had been fought.  It's a well written book that will hold ones attention.

Genre: Historical Fiction
Age Level: 7-8th Grade

Matched

by Ally Condie

Summary:
Cassia has always followed the rules.  Of course it's not like she's ever really had a choice.  Everything she or her parents do is dictated by the government.  When they eat, where they sleep, when they die, where they work, who they marry.  When Cassia attends her Matching ceremony, where she and others her age will learn who they are going to marry, she is thrilled to find out that she has been matched with her best friend Xander.  She at least knows that they get along well and will do good together.  But when she goes home that night and plugs in the chip which will give her more information on the matching process she sees not Xander's face, but that of another boy. But society doesn't make mistakes like this.  Who is she really supposed to be matched with?

Review:
Matched presents a different take on the dystopian novels that are so popular right now.  In this society order is key.  Everything down to what a person wears is dictated by society, and everyone seems to be completely ok with this.  This seems to be the biggest downside of the book. The complete absence of any sort of rebellion by people is a bit hard to swallow, though Condie tries to explain that their compliance is due to the fact that many take the 'calming' pill given by the government, though that pill is not used by all.  The interactions between Cassia and Xander, and her new love interest Ky, are well written and believable. The story as a whole is a good read.

Genre: Dystopian Novel
Age Level: 9-10th grade

Series Info: Matched, Crossed, Reached

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Keeping Corner

by Kashmiri Sheth

Summary:
Leela's had a lucky life so far.  Her parents spoil her, her brother loves her, and her husband and his family seem like they will truly treat her well when she goes to live with them in just a few months.  You see Leela has been betrothed since she was a baby, was married at 9, and now that she is 13 she's not far from her anu, the ceremony which sends her from her parent's house to that of her husbands.  But when her husband dies, all of that disappears.  Now a widow, she is condemned to live the rest of her life alone and on the fringes of society.  Her first year as a widow is a year of mourning, a year keeping corner inside her home.  What she learns from a year inside might just give her the courage to break free of tradition and live a free life.

Review:
An interesting window into traditional Indian customs and life, Sheth's novel shows India on the brink of it's transition from British colony to free state.  Ghandi features prominently in the book, not only because he was important at the time but also because his teachings are what help Leela see the world as a bigger picture and want to be a part of it instead of just a widow.  The book addresses the clashes between modernization and traditions and the difficulty many have with melding the two.

Genre: Historical Fiction
Age Level: 7-8th Grade

You Against Me

by Jenny Downham

Summary:
Rape is an ugly thing.  It tears up not only the victim, but their family and friends.  But the family of the perpetrator, what about them?  What is their family supposed to do?  When Mikey's sister claims she was raped, Ellie's brother is the one accused of it.  As he goes to jail, and then is released, she stands by him because that's what sisters do.  But what if the claim is true?  Who can she stand by then?

Review:
"You Against Me" is interesting because it not only looks at the aftermath of rape from the point of view of the victim's family, but also of the perpetrator.  The book addresses the shame and fear experienced by the victim, but also the social and emotional repercussions that those related to someone who commits a terrible crime face.  Both Ellie and Mikey have to come to terms with the face that the other's family is not the enemy, and have to learn that regardless the truth is the only thing that is really important, even if it is what tears one of their families apart.

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 10-11th Grade

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Looking for Alaska

by John Green

Summary:
Miles didn't exactly know what to expect when his parents sent him to Culver Creek Preparatory School, a boarding school in Alabama.  But from the moment he walks into the dorm room he will share with his new roommate Chip, Miles knows that there is something different about this place.  There's something about their friend Alaska, a girl who's confidence and love of life knows no bounds, that keeps everyone coming back for more.  But life can't stay perfect always. When a car crash interrupts, Miles and the rest struggle to come to terms in their own roles in the wreck.  And learn to live after others are gone.

Review:
Green's book is a study in before and after a tragedy.  Miles and the rest of his group at school are not bad kids, but they break the rules they want to.  They aren't exactly models of clean living but they never do anything really terrible.  But a tragedy that could have been avoided cuts through all of their lives.  We watch him and his friends try to come to terms with it, as well as with their own roles in it.  It is a well written book about loss and survivor's guilt, as well as the necessity of moving on.

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 9th Grade

Beneath a Meth Moon: an Elegy

by Jacqueline Woodson

Summary:
Nothing could prepare Laurel for the loss of her mother and grandmother.  The last thing they told her as she drove for high ground with her father and brother was that they would see her soon.  But Hurricane Katrina changed all that.  It may be 2 years later, but for Laurel it might as well have been yesterday.  So when her new friend T-Boom offers her a bit of something to take the pain away, she figures it can't hurt.  But when that thing turns out to be meth, it turns out it can do a whole lot more than take away the hurt.  It can take away her entire life.

Review:
Told through Laurel's perspective, the book starts with her living on the streets begging for money so that she can buy her next hit.  We meet Laurel in the throes of drug addiction, where she is aware that her life is only going downhill but she can't find the strength to care about anything but her next hit.  The book attempts to really demonstrate the power drugs like meth have over the lives of those who take them, and the damage these drugs wreck over not only the addicts themselves but anyone around them. 

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 8th Grade

The Agency

by Y. S. Lee

Summary:
Mary Lang's life wasn't easy.  That's why when she is sentenced to death for stealing, she takes it as her due.  Perhaps dying at 12 is easier than living as a beggar and thief any longer.  But when a stranger offers her the opportunity to skirt the gallows and attend Miss Scrimshaw's Academy for Girls, Mary Lang takes Quinn's place.  And this Academy teaches it's girls more than the usual skills.  This Academy sets it's girls up so that when they are ready they can take their places in the Agency, London's premiere women only spy house.

Review:
The Agency series is an entertainingly written novel about a mythical spy agency run by women.  Mary Quinn (Lang) is an interesting character who's history is revealed slowly through the three novels.  Her Chinese heritage is only hinted at in the first novel, but becomes more and more intriguing during the following ones.  The books are a great spy read.

Genre: Historical Fiction
Age Level: 7-8th Grade

Series Information:
Book 1: A Spy in the House
Book 2: Body at the Tower
Book 3: Traitor in the Tunnel

Thursday, May 3, 2012

The Way We Fall

by Megan Crewe

Summary:
It starts with an itch, a cough here and there, no worse than a cold.  Then you start to feel better, you want to socialize with your friends and family, see as many people as you can.  And then you get worse, much worse, with a fever and hallucinations.  And then you die.  No one knew what the virus was, but as it sweeps through Kaelyn's small island town, she and everyone else is forced to try and survive as the world around them abandons them to their fate. 

Review:
Having just seen the movie Contagion, this book really resonated with me.  Kaelyn and her family and friends are simply trying to survive.  Others in the community use the virus as an opportunity to take control and seize supplies.  Others still are trying to find a way off the island.  The book is a cautionary tale about the lengths people go to try to save themselves, and the fear that unknown illness inspires in people around it.  The book is written in diary format, which adds to the novel as we learn about the disease and its discovery and the losses through her point of view. 

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 8-9th Grade

Trafficked

by Kim Purcell

Summary:
When you come from nothing and a great opportunity presents itself, you'd be a fool not to take it.  At least that's what Hannah thinks.  She's a poor nobody from Moldova, an orphan living with her grandmother and barely making ends meet.  But then she's offered a chance to go to America.  She would be a nanny, able to go to school and live the kind of life she's only seen on TV.  She's not stupid, she knows that there are bad people out there who might take advantage of her, but these people seem different, better even.  But once she makes it to America she's going to find out that nothing is how it seems.  And in a place where no one knows who or where she is, there's no one to protect her.

Review:
Trafficked highlights an all too common issue in this day and age.  Even with all the literature and information available to warn people about the dangers of human trafficking, be it for sexual or slavery reasons, the problem still exists.  While Hannah's situation is, in the scheme of things, not the absolute worst, she still finds herself alone and without recourse as she is abused by the family she 'nanny's' for.  Hannah had known before hand that situations like hers could exist, but never thought she would be one of those girls who was trafficked.  It is a definite warning book that girls should read, a nicer version of the movie Brokedown Palace.

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 10th Grade

Before I Fall

by Lauren Oliver

Summary:
What would you do if you knew you were going to die today?  Would you do the same things you've done every day before?  Would you spend the whole day with family and friends?  Would you try and right the wrongs you've done in your life?  Samantha didn't know it would be the last day of her life when she work up on February 12th.  But she did know the next day, and the next, as she kept waking up to repeat the day.  You see Samantha keeps dying on February 12th, and it's up to her to figure out how to break the cycle.

Review:
Samantha is the pretty popular girl everyone loves to her face and hates secretly.  She and her friends are the ultimate mean girls.  But as she is forced to relive the day she dies over and over again, Samantha realizes the harm that she's done in her life and tries to rectify it so that she can break the cycle she's stuck in and move on to whatever is next, even if it means her death.  This was a great novel about coming to terms with ones life and making the right choices even when they are hard.  Samantha is a character that you start out hating but end up really sympathizing with and liking. The ending was both sad and poignant. 

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Level: 10th-11th Grade