You begged, and you pleaded... okay no, you really just googled*... but because it won the first annual Cybils award (YA), and because I loved it, here are a few of my favorite quotes from Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan):

"You haven't missed me for one fucking minute. You have never for one single second in your entire pathetic life missed me. You might have missed fucking with my head, and you might have missed the satisfaction you so clearly got from demolishing me, but those are your emotions you're missing, not mine. I'm afraid I can't help you" ( Norah telling off her ex, p. 40).

"I'm on a date with a good guy and I've given him more mixed signals than a dyslexic Morse code operator" (Norah 57).

"I know you probably think I'm a horrid bitch from the planet Schizophrenia, but I"m honestly not trying to mess with your head. I"m just messing with my own head and i seem to have dragged you along for the ride. I think you're nice to me and that scares the fuck out of me. Because when a guy's a jerk or an asshole, it's easier because you know exactly where you stand. Since trust isn't an option, you don't have to get all freaked out about maybe having to trust him. Right now I am thinking about ten things at the same time, and at least four of those things have to do with you" (Norah 63).

"I don't know if Nick and I are going to friends or lovers or if he's going to Will and I'm going to be Grace, which will be disappointing along with boring, but whatever Nick and I are going to be to each other, it can't be -- it won't be -- just a one-night-stand thing. I know this" (Norah 155).

"I open my mouth and she opens her mouth and it's like she's breathing right through me. And her body is wet and it's right against mine and I want, I want, I want... I want, I want, I want." ( Nick 157)

It would have been incredibly easy to simply quote the entire novel -- the writing is that good, but I have a feeling that would probably be a copyright violation. But, if you're looking for more quotes, check out some other reviews (like Jen Robinson's)

Update (10/4/08): I posted a few more quotes and some recommended reads in honor of the release of the movie!

*Seriously, one of the most frequent searches that I see on my blog's statcounter is "quotes nick and norah's infinite playlist."

The Wish House by Celia Rees

I must apologize for posting so sporadically recently -- the last two weeks have been absolutely crazy with work stuff and personal stuff (interviewing for a promotion*, taking the GRE**, trying to get DSL installed and actually working***), and fighting a cold on top of all of that. So I was afraid that anything I posted would be absolute gibberish. But things are beginning to calm down now, so I'm going to try to get caught up on reviews.

The year is 1976, and Richard is spending the summer camping in Wales with his family when he and his best friend stumble upon the Wish House, a cottage now inhabited by a family of Bohemians. J.A. Dalton (an artist) and his wife (Lucia) and his daughter Clio welcome Richard into their lives. But everything is not as it seems -- and Richard stumbles into a web of corruption.

I actually really enjoyed this one -- maybe I was just a weird kid who liked that kind of stuff -- but it reminded me a lot of Kathryn Reiss's books, which were some of my favorites when I was in middle school (and arguably, too young to be reading them). The corruption theme may be too much for some readers. But I think it might actually be good for teens to see that even in a world where adults are corrupt, that they themselves don't have to be.

I liked the mood and the setting and I really felt like I was there in the English countryside with them. In this case, the setting was really more important than the time period (so while it takes place in the 70s, I'm not sure if it's really historical fiction)

*and I got the job :D

**and apparently, I have completely forgotten math since high school -- but my vocabulary isn't too bad.

***It took 3 calls to Verizon, but it is finally up and running. So I can now post to this blog from home.

And the cybils winner for Young Adult Fiction is....

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

by

Rachel Cohn and David Levithan!!!!

See here for the complete list of winners.

Loving Will Shakespeare by Carolyn Meyer

The summer after my sophomore year of high school, I went on a trip to England with my choir. It was one of the best experiences of my life (and not only because I met the guy that I've now been dating for over 5 years*). But while we were there, we went to Stratford-upon-Avon home of the one and only William Shakespeare, which was incredibly exciting, since, even at 15, I was a bit of a Shakespeare dork. Seriously, my roommate and I were walking through Shakepeare's house gushing because he might have walked on that same floor or touched that same wall.

Sadly, this seems to be only picture that I took that day. (I guess I should have been flirting less, and photographing more). But at least you can see the thatched roof which is so common there.

While I could talk about England for days -- I did intend this post to be about Loving Will Shakespeare... so let me get on with that

Loving Will Shakespeare is story of Anne Hathaway, the girl who would become Shakespeare's wife. The story begins when Anne is 9 and she is attending the christening of the Shakespeare family's new baby -- baby William. As the story progresses, we watch as they both grow up, and very gradually fall in love. Because of all the time Will spends in London, this really is Anne's story and it presents an interesting picture of what life was like for girls in the late 16th century.

Carolyn Meyer has obviously done a lot of research into Shakespeare's time, and it shows, but in a good way. The reader almost experiences Stratford and Anne's life without getting bogged down in historical detail. I would highly recommend this to both Shakespeare fans and historical fiction fans.

* He likes to tell people that we met in England, so they'll think I'm Brittish. Truth is, we were in the same choir -- and I knew who he was before -- but we really got to know each other on the long bus rides through the English countryside. (though we didn't start dating until a year later). Look how young we were (I was 15, he was almost 14)!

Cybils Winners Announced... TOMORROW!!!

When it comes to February 14th, most people fall into one of two camps -- those that love Valentine's Day and all that it implies (namely, chocolate), and those who think that it is a conspiracy created by Hallmark to make single people feel bad. But those of us in the kidlitosphere have a different reason to celebrate on February 14th...

(drumroll please)

The winners of the first ever Children's and YA Blogger's Literary Award (CYBILS for short) will be announced.

And I already know who the winner is for the YA category, but I can't tell you because I've been sworn to secrecy. I will tell you however, that I'm very happy with the outcome -- but since I was really happy with our shortlist, that probably doesn't tell you very much.

But to refresh -- we (the YA panelists: Jackie, Little Willow, Tadmack, Mindy, and myself) started with a list of 80 nominations (we actually had 81 at one point, but a book that appeared to be a historical mystery turned out to have aliens in it, so we sent it over to the SF/Fantasy committee). If you're curious about some statistics on the nominees, check out this post of Jackie's)

After much e-mailing and group chat, we finally came up with a shortlist of five titles:

Shortlist (in alphabetical order)

Book Thief, The
written by Markus Zusak
Knopf Books for Young Readers

Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life, A
written by Dana Reinhardt
Wendy Lamb Books

Hattie Big Sky
written by Kirby Larson
Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
written by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Knopf Books for Young Readers

Rules of Survival, The
written by Nancy Werlin
Dial

Check back tomorrow for the WINNER!!!!!

Grist by Heather Waldorf

Since I have the day off, and the next week is looking pretty crazy, I think I’ll try to get at least a little bit caught up. So – Grist…

In other reviews recently, I’ve mentioned the cover of a book, especially when the cover just didn’t seem to fit the story. The cover of Grist is certainly one of those cases. Looking at the cover, I was convinced that the person (who I wasn’t even sure was female) was some sort of monster rising out of the lake and that we should ship this title off to the fantasy committee. It is, in fact, not quite half of a girl’s face (the other half is on the back cover and looks decidedly more human).

And the blurb on the front cover: “Char’s boyfriend is hot, but he soon turns out to be a lot more than she bargained for – in ways she could never have expected.” While this is all basically true to the plot of the novel – it gives a completely false impression of the real heart of this novel. It made me think that there was going to be something seriously wrong with the new “boyfriend” – like that he was a psycho ax-murderer or something – when he turns out to simply be…. (you didn’t actually think I was going to tell you? I don’t give away spoilers!). But he is a good guy, I promise!

But despite all my complaints about the cover, the novel itself was quite good. Charlie (Char) is sixteen and her world seems to be coming apart. Her father has just started dating again and is planning to spend the summer in Toronto with his new girlfriend and her three sons. Her best friend, Sam (who she has more than a little crush on), is moving to Australia with no idea how she feels about him. And, to top it all off, her creative-writing teacher refuses to give her an A on her final writing project because her writing lacks grist, or real life experience – and then proceeds to have a heart attack.

So, when she is given the opportunity to spend the summer with her grandmother in Lake Ringrose – she jumps at the opportunity. There, she meets Kerry (the boyfriend mentioned earlier) and begins to find out more of her family’s secrets.

Grist was much more well-written than I expected, and I found myself caring about Charlie and her family. I did keep expecting a ghost or something supernatural to pop out of somewhere – but I think that was just the spooky-ness of the cover. And now I’m definitely going to have to go find Heather Waldorf’s first novel (Finding the Current, 2005)

Goy Crazy by Melissa Schorr

Rachel Lowenstein is at a hotel for her younger brother's bar mitzvah, and not very happy about it, when she happens to meet Luke Christiansen. And she falls head-over-heels in "love".

The problem? Luke happens to be Catholic (does the name perhaps give that away?) and attends St. Joseph's Prep School.

Rachel, believing that her parents (and grandmother) would never approve of her dating a "goy," starts seeing him secretly. Instead, she tells her parents that she is going to the dance with Howard (the nice Jewish boy next door who is actually just giving her and Luke a ride)

While a bit predictable, this novel is pure fun. I mean, as soon as Schorr even mentioned Howard, I was pretty sure how it would all turn out. But it was fun getting there, nevertheless.

One little gripe, however -- the cover. It looks like a page out of yearbook, with Rachel and Luke next to each other which makes no sense because 1. yearbooks are usually in alphabetical order, and 2. they don't even go to the same school!

Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

When the blurb on the back of a book tells you to "Clear some space in your schedule: You won't want to be interrupted as you read this nail-biting drama". You should heed their advice. You should not start reading it at 10 pm when you have to get up early for work the next morning. Okay, I don't know about you, but I really should have known better.

I asked the library to order Life as We Knew It back in October, and it just finally came in yesterday. (I do find it interesting that a book I've been waiting for ages just happens to show up several days after it makes the BBYA list -- especially since the same thing happened with Princess Academy and the Newbery Honor last year... but I digress...)

So, I checked it out last night at work, went home, took a shower, made myself a cup of apple cider, and started reading. Bad idea. At midnight, I figured I should probably go to sleep, so I put the book on my nightstand, lay there for a few minutes, realized there was no way I was going to fall asleep without finishing it, and picked it back up. I was able to finish it by about 1, but then it still took me a little while to get to sleep. So, now I'm at work, and it just happens to be the one day of the week that I work 11 hours... and I'm really tired. But it was so worth it.

Life as We Knew It is written as a series of journal entries, beginning as Miranda is finishing her sophomore year of high school. She writes about her classes, and her grades, and her summer plans, and "that moon thing" that is about to happen.

"That moon thing" is that an asteroid is going to hit the moon -- which, while cool to watch, shouldn't be that big of deal. But the asteroid is more dense than anyone expected, and when it hits the moon, the moon shifts off its axis, causing all sorts of changes on the earth. For example, since the moon controls the tides, almost immediately, there are huge tidal waves covering much of the east and west coast -- the Statue of Liberty even washes out to sea (This is really what freaked me out the most -- since my boyfriend goes to school in New York City).

As soon as this happens, everything changes for Miranda and her family (younger brother Jonny, older brother Matt, and their mother) -- everyone begins stockpiling food, gas prices start sky-rocketing, schools close because they are running out of food to feed the students. And every time they think it can't get any worse, something else happens... keeping Miranda and her family desperately fighting for survival.

What is really scary though, is how suddenly it all happens -- this novel isn't set hundreds of years in the future -- the journal entries have dates, but not years, and Miranda's early journal entries make her seem like an average teenage girl of today. And we know that things like this can happen -- though on a smaller scale -- we've seen what Hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans, we watched the footage of the Tsunami in Indonesia and Thailand.

And most of us have just enough experience with storms and power outages to have some idea of how this would be. Personally, I remember hurricane Isabel (2003), when we lost power for three or four days, and I had to eat cold ravioli out of a can, and we didn't have air conditioning, and all of the stop-lights were out. And that is absolutely nothing compared to what Miranda goes through -- but remembering it makes it just a little bit easier to imagine her suffering.

Life as We Knew It terrifies me and makes me want to start hoarding canned goods -- but I still loved it and want to recommend it to everyone who might possibly enjoy dystopian or end-of-the-world type fiction. But please, beware, once you start this one, you won't want to put it down.

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga

One of the best parts of the holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas... yes, I know I'm seriously behind and that it's almost February) is that some of my best friends from high school come home to visit their parents, so a bunch of us get together, go out to dinner, have coffee, and more or less have a mini-reunion. This year, over dinner, we got to discussing our ten year reunion, and I scared everybody by pointing out that it's only five years away!*

So, in honor of the five year reunion that we're not actually going to have, I want to take this moment to thank my fellow PAHS alumni (class of '02!) for making high school a fun (and safe) place to learn. Thank you for not humiliating me, bullying me, or torturing me, and for making it hard to me to believe that such things could actually take place in any high school.

Fanboy's high school experience, on the other hand, not so good. From the boy in his P.E. class who punches him repeatedly, to his "best friend" who only hangs out with him when his other friends aren't around, Fanboy finds himself repeatedly abused by his peers. His teachers are no better. The gym teachers stand idly by while he is bullied and his history teacher knows so little about the subject matter that she actually believes a story that he makes up off the top of his head in class.

As an outlet, Fanboy inhales comics and graphic novels -- and even starts working on his own. (Drawing everything on his computer with his mouse!!! I seriously wanted to call the poor boy and offer him the use of my graphics tablet -- I mean, he was DRAWING COMICS WITH A MOUSE!!). One day, he receives a mysterious e-mail asking him why he allows himself to be bullied in gym class. Eventually finds out that the e-mail is from Kyra -- also known as Goth Girl, and they begin an unusual friendship.

There's a lot going on in this novel -- and I hate writing plot summary (oh wow, my high school English teachers really did brain-wash me.... it was drilled into our heads... "don't write plot summary. write analysis. don't write plot summary". Suddenly, it all makes so much sense!). But what I really liked about the novel was how so much of the abuse was actually in Fanboy's head.

So many novels like this have a teenage protagonist who is picked on at school, and then somehow everything gets better, but for Fanboy, a lot of what he sees as abuse is simply that his classmates don't know him -- and haven't bothered to get to know him. (But he's so stuck in his little "everybody hates me" mindset, that he has never tried to get to know them either). And he realizes this when he actually goes to a party and finds out that he's famous for the story he made up in history class. This, to me, seemed very true to life (One of my best friends is convinced that I hated him in middle school, when really, I think I only had one class with him in 6th grade, so I didn't get to know him until we had classes together in high school.)

Okay, I think it's time for me to stop reminiscing about high school.

*Senior year of high school, a couple of my friends were really bored in English class and started drawing a picture of what everyone would look like at our ten year reunion. For example, one couple who had been dating forever was drawn as Siamese twins with the caption "They got the operation, now they really are 'joined at the hip'. For some reason, they drew me sitting in a corner with a stack of books up to my head on either side of me. How did they know?

At the Sign of the Star and A True and Faithful Narrative by Katherine Sturtevant

I could have sworn I had already reviewed these two... but apparently not...

Since A True and Faithful Narrative was a cybils nominee, and I can be a little bit anal about series, I just had to read At the Sign of the Star first.

At the Sign of the Star

In At the Sign of the Star, we meet Meg, the only daughter of a widowed bookseller in Restoration London. She spends most of her time in his bookstore, helping him -- but then he remarries, and his new bride has different ideas for the proper upbringing of a young girl.

To me, this novel seemed almost like an extended prologue for A True and Faithful Narrative, introducing us to the characters, setting, and time period. But it is a very sweet little novel (only about a hundred pages) -- and an enjoyable read. (Also, of note -- while this is shelved as YA -- it would be completely appropriate for middle grade readers -- though the sequel is more challenging)

A True and Faithful Narrative

In A True and Faithful Narrative, we find our heroine, Meg, three years older, and now with several younger brothers and sisters -- not to mention two different suitors.

When Edward (her best friend's older brother) comes to tell her that he is leaving for Italy (and to hint that he might be interested in marrying her when he returns), Meg flippantly tells her that he should get captured by pirates so that he'll have stories to tell her when he comes home. But when her words come true, Meg feels horribly guilty and works tirelessly to get the ransom money to bring him home.

Edward does finally return home, but he is a changed man, having experienced so much, and he asks Meg to write his story for him.

This is a fantastic work of historical fiction -- I knew very little about this time period -- but Sturtevant has described it in such wonderful detail and really brought it to life, as good historical fiction should do.

And I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a sequel!

Estrella's Quinceañera by Malín Alegría

Estrella's Quinceañera by Malín Alegría

In the list of cybils nominations, there were several books that deal with multicultural issues, including Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet (which I reviewed a few days ago), Goy Crazy (which I will review soon), Nothing But the Truth (and a few whtie lies), and Estrella's Quinceañera.

Malín Alegría's first novel, Estrella's Quinceañera tells the story of Estrella, a girl from a Hispanic family who goes to a prestigious private school -- and who wants to keep those two worlds as separate as possible. But unfortunately, she's about to turn 15, which is a pretty big deal when your family is from Mexico. Estrella's mom is hellbent on giving her daughter the best quinceañera ever, while completely ignoring what Estrella wants for the big day.

Estrella's school friends on the other hand, not knowing anything about her family's plans (since she doesn't want them to), decide to throw her their own party for her birthday, and to set her up with a cute boy from school... but as always happens in these sorts of books, things don't go quite as planned. Add in Estrella's two former best friends (from before she went to the prep school), and Speedy, a very cute boy from the barrio... and you're in for a very fun ride.

While a little predictable, Estrella's Quinceañera is a fun introduction to Hispanic culture. I especially enjoyed the definitions of the Spanish words at the beginning of each chapter -- which not only define the term, but also contain Estrella's rather sarcastic comments about her family.

King Dork by Frank Portman

King Dork by Frank Portman

While he was home on "winter break", my boyfriend and I were having a discussion about the books we like to read. Generally, he makes fun of me for reading "teen" books (which, as you know, I do), and I make fun of him for reading "basically-the-same-book-over-and-over-again" (He likes looooonnnnnng epic fantasy series like Wheel of Time and Sword of Truth)*.

He had just finished the Sword of Truth series and I was trying to practice my readers advisory skills on him, so I could find out what he likes about them (hey, a girl sometimes needs gift ideas ;) ), and he started talking about how "real" they are.

Okay, now you're probably thinking what I was thinking -- real? fantasy? Those two words don't normally go together, but in this case what he meant (and I'm paraphrasing here), is that within the fantasy world of the series, everything that happens fits into the reality that the author has created -- that the world, and the characters in it are three dimensional, and so, to the reader, they seem "real".

I realized that in my own reading recently, that quality of "real"-ness to be that one important, indescribable thing that separates a really good book from a book that I absolutely adore.

And I adored King Dork because it was real to me.

I've been thinking about this review for a long time, mainly because some of my fellow cybils committee members strongly disliked it (see Jackie's review here ) -- so I really wanted to justify my love, nay adoration, for this novel.

But I should probably tell you at least a little bit about the basic plot first -- Tom Henderson (also known by a variety of nicknames such as King Dork and Chi-Mo) is your average high-school misfit, highly intelligent, not many friends, we all know the type. His father died when he was very young, his mother has remarried, and he knows very little about his father. He and his best friend, Sam Henderson, are in a band; or rather, they enjoy coming up with band names and album names and song titles and lyrics and hoping that someday they might find an actual drummer.

One day, Tom goes looking in the basement for a copy of Catcher in the Rye and finds, not just a copy, but one that belonged to his father, with something that looks like a code in it (along with a stack of other books with similar nonsensical notations). He begins investigating this code in hopes that it will tell him something about his father.

What I loved about the novel, though were Portman's humorous descriptions of Tom's life -- and how on-point they were. My AP (and IB) teachers really did have us make collages, someone in my eleventh grade English class actually pronounced "wanton" like "wonton" (though not the teacher, thankfully!), and Tom's step-father and his lectures just reminded me so much of my own*.

Oh, and how could I forget the Catcher cult -- like everyone, I read Catcher in the Rye in high school, and I just couldn't see what all the fuss was about. I kept trying to find the symbolism and the deep meaning -- and it just wasn't there for me. (I do want to re-read it someday though -- I think I might enjoy it more if it wasn't an assignment).

This novel probably isn't for everyone. In fact, I'd be just like the members of the Catcher cult if I said it was -- but it was just so much fun. I did listen to the audio version, and I was laughing out loud while driving to work (which is always a good thing) -- and I do have to recommend the audio version, if only because of the recordings at the end of Frank Portman singing songs based on or from the novel such as "Thinking of Suicide" and "I Want to Ramone You." (Though I just discovered that some of those tracks are also available to listen to on Amazon ).

*But when you've been dating someone for 5 years... you can get away with making fun of them. And I know I'd probably like the long fantasy series too (I read a couple Wheel of Time books and really liked them), but I'm terrified of getting sucked in and not having time to read anything else.

*who once spent a five minute drive explaining to me why I needed to have my lights on while driving at dusk (after I had already turned them on), by repeating the same sentence over and over and only slightly rearranging the words. "You need to have your lights on so people can see you. People need to be able to see you, so you need to turn your lights on. It's hard to see at this time of day, so it makes it easier for other people to see you if you have your lights on"... and so on...

Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet by Kashmira Sheth

Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet by Kashmira Sheth

Now, I know it's wrong to judge a book by its cover, but seriously, this cover is too gorgeous to resist. (and interestingly, both Little Willow and TadMack have been discussing covers recently)

Jeeta, at 16, is the youngest of three sisters growing up in Mumbai, India. She watches as her mother arranges marriages for her two older sisters. She has always assumed that such a match would be made for her as well (though her mother has always told her that because of her dark skin it will be harder to find a match for her). However, when she "meets" a boy at the neighborhood swimming pool, she begins to have different ideas. (And I put "meet" in quotes because she only talks to him once -- at least at first -- but I don't want to give anything away). Jeeta also deals with family problems (such as her oldest sister's marital difficulties).

In Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet, Sheth presents her readers with a glimpse into a foreign culture, while Jeeta's emotions will be immediately familiar to teen readers. I'm definitely looking forward to Sheth's next book!

The Unresolved by T. K. Welsh

The Unresolved by T. K. Welsh

You know you're way behind on reviews when you look at your google documents and see that some of the posts were "last edited*" 6 weeks ago. (And when I say "you", I really mean "I").

So, I must apologize for my recent lack of reviews. I could blame my boyfriend (especially since I know he'll never read this), for being at home on winter break and distracting me, (and now he's back at school -- over three hundred miles away -- sob!), but I was perfectly willing to be distracted, so I have to take some of the blame.

But, back on topic -- The UnResolved is the story of one of the greatest disasters in New York City History (which oddly, I'd never heard of), a fire aboard the General Slocum.

Welsh chooses to tell this story through the ghost of one of the victims, a 15 year-old girl named Mallory Meer. We see the grief of her family and friends, and we see the attempts to find justice for the victims (both an official inquest, and a second community one).

While this could have easily become a rather depressing novel -- the ending is hopeful (though I won't give anything away here).

*"Last edited" in this case means "created links and posted a picture of the cover and planned to do everything else later"

Cybils YA Finalists!

Announcing the 2006 Cybils (Children's and YA Blogger's Literary Awards) finalists for Young Adult Fiction:

Book Thief, The
written by Markus Zusak
Knopf Books for Young Readers

Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life, A
written by Dana Reinhardt
Wendy Lamb Books

Hattie Big Sky
written by Kirby Larson
Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
written by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Knopf Books for Young Readers

Rules of Survival, The
written by Nancy Werlin
Dial

(note, the links go to my earlier reviews of these titles -- I didn't review The Book Thief because I read it several months before starting this blog -- though it is an amazing book and I very highly recommend it!)

It might have taken almost three hours of online deliberations -- but we (the nominations committee -- Little Willow, Jackie, Mindy, Tadmack, and myself) were finally able to a consensus and we're all quite happy with our little list. (I still wish we could have included An Abundance of Katherines -- but there's only room for so many books.) And, check back later in the week -- we're planning a big joint blog posting about all of the nominees!

Also, I must say a huge thank you to Jen for including me on the nominations committee, and to Anne and Kelly for coming up with the idea and organizing it so quickly and so well. And now, I must go read from the other committees' short-lists (I am especially excited about being able to read Fantasy again).

Plenty Porter by Brandon Noonan

Plenty Porter by Brandon Noonan

A couple weeks ago, I was reading Rules of Survival, and I was a little shocked when one of the minor characters suddenly moved to Virginia Beach (my home town), since I don't think I've ever seen VB mentioned in print like that before, so imagine my surprise when I started reading Plenty Porter, and discovered that it takes place about 15 miles from my mom's hometown!

My mom grew up in Monmouth, IL (which I like to refer to as Pleasantville), population 9000, which is just 15 miles south of Alexis (population 900!), and most of our family still lives in the area. One of my cousins even recently bought a house in Alexis. And when I showed the book to my mom, she realized that when she was teaching preschool there in the late 70s, she actually had a student with the last name Noonan -- and in a community that small, he would almost have to be related to the author in some way!

But onto the book itself: Plenty is twelve years old, and the youngest of eleven siblings (thus her name), and when her oldest sister, Marcie, starts acting strange and losing her hair, it is up to Plenty to figure out what's bothering her. In the process, Plenty finds that she has a valuable place in her family -- despite being the youngest.

I really wanted to like this one so much more than I did. I think part of it was the fact that I kept getting distracted by the setting, and trying to figure out if it was actually accurate. (I do seriously doubt that there was an Alexis Middle School in the 50s -- it probably would have been Alexis Junior High, but I don't know for sure). But I also found myself getting confused by Noonan's writing, and the order he would tell his story in. For example, he would tell the reader at the beginning of the chapter what was going to happen in the chapter -- so the rest of the chapter seemed like he was just filling in the details. I'm pretty sure this was his first novel, however, and I'll definitely be interested to see what he'll write in the future!

This is the public library in Alexis -- it was closed the day we were in town, so I took a picture.

Find Plenty Porter in a library near you!

Eva Underground by Dandi Daley Mackall

Eva Underground by Dandi Daley Mackall

A couple years ago, in a Russian History class , we got a little bit off topic, and my professor asked us what our earliest historical memories were.* Most people mentioned the beginning of the First Gulf War (1991), or possibly the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989). If we define historical fiction as fiction taking place outside of living memory, then really, for today's teens, that constitutes anything before 1995.

However, this more recent history rarely makes it into the classroom (perhaps because parents and teachers don't think of the 70's and 80's as history), and so I was especially impressed with Dandi Daley Mackall's Eva Underground.

The novel begins with a tense scene at the Polish border, and the reader is immediately swept into Eva's story. The year is 1978, and Eva Lott is looking forward to starting her senior year of high school, when her father suddenly announces that he has accepted a teaching job in Poland, and Eva has no choice but to go with him, but not willingly. But after she arrives and meets her father's students (including the very handsome Tomek), she begins to get swept up in the revolutionary cause.

My only complaint (and I have to echo Jackie on this one), was that the novel ended rather suddenly -- and I just wanted to keep reading. Sequel? Please?

*Mine, though I didn't say this in class, was watching the Tianamen Square protests on the news, and asking my mom what was going on. Her explanation, as I remember it, was something about how in some parts of the world, people don't have the freedom to say or think whatever they want to. I was four years old.

Bad Kitty by Michelle Jaffe

Bad Kitty by Michelle Jaffe

Jasmine Callihan has been obsessed with forensics since she was six. She knows how to dust for fingerprints using various types of make-up, and she has a set of three amazing side-kicks in her best friends Roxy, Polly, Tom (who all have their own special talents).

When a little boy and his cat suddenly get her involved in a possible mystery, and the cute guy who keeps turning up everywhere might be a suspect, Jas just can't help but try to solve the case (even if her father might ground her for life). Celebrities, Las Vegas hotels... it's easy to imagine what chaos will ensue.

A very cute, and slightly over-the-top mystery, this one will appeal to fans of Meg Cabot (and maybe even fans of Janet Evanovich).

The Braid by Helen Frost

The Braid by Helen Frost

The third verse novel on the cybils nomination list, The Braid tells the story of two sisters, Jennie and Sarah. Their family is exiled from their village in Scotland and forced to emigrate to Canada. While Jennie leaves for Canada with her family, Sarah secretly stays behind with her grandmother. Both sisters face hardships in their new lives.

Frost tells the sisters stories in an intricate series of poems, weaving them together like a braid. This is a beautiful little book and will appeal to fans of historical fiction and poetry.

If after reading this, you find yourself interested in Canadian history, I would highly recommend any of Janet Lunn's YA novels, especially Shadow in Hawthorne Bay (a favorite of mine)

A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life by Dana Reinhardt

A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life by Dana Reinhardt

Just as Simone is beginning her junior year, her parents drop a bombshell on her: her birth mother has called, and wants to meet her. While Simone has known her entire life that she was adopted but has no interest in learning anything about her family history. She has too many other things on her plate, finding extracurricular activities at school, learning her SAT words, and trying to run into Zach, the cute guy who works the coffee counter at the local organic market.

After a conversation with a friend (who is also adopted), she decides to make the call to her birth mother, Rifka, who as it turns out, is (or was) a Hassidic Jew. Simone slowly begins to learn her family's story, and, more importantly, to realize that it was something she needed to know.

I absolutely adored this book. Though I have two small complaints:

1. The Title -- I never really believed that Simone thought her life was impossible. She was quite possibly the most well-adjusted teenager I have ever read about. Every time she complained about something that was happening in her life, she would also mention the things going on in her friends' lives.

2. I listened to the audio version, which was really good, but the narrator was the same one who did Speak (Laurie Halse Anderson) and I kept getting confused. Moral of the story -- listen to this on audio, but read Speak (because it's just one of those books that everyone should read!)