Dreams from the Endz by Faïza Guène

Dreams from the Endz by Faïza Guène (translated from the French by Sarah Ardizzone)

Note:  Not published in the US!  (but totally worth the postage for inter-library loan)

Ahleme lives with her father and younger brother in the suburbs of Paris.  Her mother died when she was 10, and she and her younger brother (then just an infant), moved from their village in Algeria to live with the father they never knew.  Years later, their father has had an accident, leaving him brain damaged, and Ahleme, at 24, is responsible for caring for both him and her now-teenage brother.  She struggles with finding (and keeping a job), dealing with her friends and their romances, and her regular visits to the immigration office. 

Written in first person and filled with urban slang, Guène's narrative is easily accessible and gives readers an otherwise unknown glimpse into the life of immigrants in France.  At the same time, Ahleme's struggle to figure out her identity and her place in society is a universal one.

I will make one note about the slang however -- if you can read in French (and I definitely cannot!), do read it in French.  The original text contains verlan -- a type of slang that involves reversing the letters or syllables in words.  There is no true equivalent to this in English, so translator Ardizzone uses urban Brittish slang in its place.  And of course, for an American reader, even the Brittish slang is hard to understand at times. 

While not published as a teen novel and with a slightly older protagonist, Dreams from the Endz will still appeal to older teens, and I would recommend for high school and college students -- especially those interested in learning about other cultures.

Readers may also enjoy:
Guène's first novel, Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow (published as Just Like Tomorrow in the UK)
Does my head look big in this? by Randa-Abdel Fattah
Ask Me No Questions by Marina Budhos

Around the blogs:
Bookwitch,  Les lectures de Liyah (en français), Doble Pirueta (en español),  Wrath (en français),Lectures de Turquoise (en français)

Lost in Austen by Emma Campbell Webster

Remember that Choose Your Own Adventure series that you read back in Elementary school?*

Lost in Austen is very similar to those books... but better! Instead of taking place in outer space, or during the revolutionary war, it takes place inside Jane Austen's novels. As the protagonist, you begin the adventure in Pride and Prejudice, but, depending on your choices, you may end up detouring into Emma or Persuasion or Northanger Abbey. Along the way, you can earn (or lose) points based on your choices.

Interestingly, the author is an Austen scholar, and at times in the novel, I felt that she was trying to prove a thesis about Jane Austen's work -- perhaps that courtship in Austen's time was a complicated game. But this did not detract from my enjoyment in any way (and I'm getting back into a student mindset, so that may have been part of it).

I would highly recommend to any Jane Austen fans (and you'll completely get it, even if you've only seen the movies!) And, while this is not a teen book, per se, I know there are plenty of teen readers who have devoured Austen's books and will thouroughly enjoy this (I know I would have!).

One quick warning -- about the points -- I realized this about halfway through, but I don't think you're supposed to go into negative numbers. So, if you get to zero, don't take off any more points. And if you manage to end up with 400 intelligence points at the end -- let me know (I honestly don't think this is possible)

*Or, like some of my co-workers, you may have read them when your children were in elementary school.

You may recall that last month, I posted about my love of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, and how excited I was that she was coming here to my library system for National Library week.

So, I had intended to post some pictures from her talk , and then our internet filtering began, and I couldn't get on Flickr at work.... but anyway... without further ado:

Her talk was, of course, wonderfully funny and interesting. And, for a wee little bit of gossip: she did mention something about a possible graphic novel deal in the works....

Secret Society Girl: An Ivy League Novel by Diana Peterfreund

Amy Haskel is a junior at Eli University (a fictional member of the Ivy League), and expecting to be tapped for the Quill & Ink -- a not-so-secret literary society -- when she receives a call, simply telling her to go to a certain room at a certain time. Still assuming she's going to her interview for Quill & Ink, she hurries over there, but that's when things start to get fishy.

Her interview panel -- which seems to be all male - also seems to know absolutely everything about her life. They know all of her former teachers, even back to elementary school.. they want to know why she got a B- in her African Literature class... and she starts to wonder if perhaps this isn't Quill & Ink... but Rose & Graves doesn't tap women, does it?

Amy's descriptions of her college and her friends are fun and witty, and she often makes asides to the reader -- like the following comment:

"Strange. With most men, admission of unrequited love is a little wishy-washy. Forget Cyrano de Bergerac, forget Romeo Montague, Act One, Scene One. Girls only go mushy for those men in fiction. In real life, we like a little hard-to-get. Show me a pining man and I'll show you a pussy"(217).

And it is Amy's voice that really engages the reader.

Secret Society Girl may not technically be a YA novel, but it is everything good YA chick-lit should be. The only reason for the "Adult" label, as far as I can see, is the fact that the protagonist is in her early twenties, rather than her teens.* The novel is no more racy than most teen novels, despite its adult label: Amy does talk about her sexual history (but she's 21, it's not unusual that she would have one), but the closest thing to a "sex scene" ends with the closing of the bedroom door. I'll definitely be looking for the sequel (Under the Rose) when it comes out in June!

*This may be the first time I've ever read an adult novel where the protag was younger than I am -- oh no, I must be getting old!!