Spells

Last year I wrote a fairly glowing review of debut author Aprilynne Pike's enchanting teen novel Wings. Today I'm pleased to announce that she's managed to craft an equally stunning sequel!

In the last book, 15-year-old Laurel discovered that she isn't human. Instead, she is a fairy placed in the human world so that she can grow up as a part of the family who owns the land that houses on of the world's many gates into the fairy realm of Avalon. The fairies hoped that in time Laurel would inherit the land from her human "parents," ensuring that the gate would remain both secret and secure. Unfortunately, the fairies aren't the only ones who want control of this gate.

As Spells begins, Laurel makes her first journey into Avalon to begin her studies at the Academy, where she hopes to learn the skills she needs to protect her friends and family from the trolls who wish to control her family's land. During her time on Avalon, Laurel not only learns to make useful potions, but also has her first exposure to the fairies' strict class system. When her eight weeks in Avalon are up, however, Laurel is left with even more questions. Will she be able to hone her powers in time to protect the ones she loves? When the time comes, will she choose to live in the human world or in Avalon with the fairies? Which boy - David, her loyal human boyfriend, or Tamani, her childhood fairy friend who has loved her from afar for years - will she give her heart to? Is she able to trust Kea, a fully-loaded and very strong woman who seems to know an awful lot about trolls?

When I reviewed Wings I said that this was a book that you could easily give to fans of Twilight. This remains true as the core elements of the book remain similar. However, it seems that while the epic love triangle and supernatural themes live on, this series will stand proudly on its own two feet. Laurel is an exceptionally well-drawn character and the way that she is torn between the human and fairy worlds - not to mention her somewhat selfish reluctance to make a firm decision between the two - is so real. You don't spend the duration of the book wanting to just tell Laurel what the right decision is. As a reader, you instead get sucked into Laurel's place and find yourself feeling just as torn and uncertain as she is. Author Aprilynne Pike seems to have also grown a bit as a writer. I can't put my finger on exactly where I see the differences, but I think that her writing was a bit smoother and stronger in her second novel.

I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment. Next May can't come soon enough!

Overall Grade: A

Awesome Quote

At work it sometimes take a few months for one of the journals that we use to help us select books to make its way to me. After all, I tragically don't get to actually do much ordering. But that's a sad tale for another day. The point is that as I was reading the January 2010 issue of School Library Journal, the cover story by YA author John Green (delightful author of, amongst other things, An Abundance of Katherines) had the most ridiculously cool quote about children's librarians:

Adult librarians are like lazy bakers: their patrons want a jelly doughnut, so they give them a jelly doughnut. Children's librarians are ambitious bakers: You like the jelly doughnut? I'll get you a jelly doughnut. But you should try my cruller, too. My cruller is gonna blow your mind, kid.

Awesome. And now I want to eat some form of pastry.

In the spirit of this quote, I'd like to encourage everyone to go out and read something new. Something you wouldn't normally think to try. Need help coming up with something? Ask your librarian for a suggestion. He or she is probably awesome.

Time Warp Trio

I've been reading lots of books with tremendous boy appeal lately. Admittedly, I'm doing a bit of research for a bibliography I'm trying to put together targeted at this demographic. Often when people think of "boy books," they think of something with lots of action and/or an overabundance of gross/toilet humor. Neither of these traits is ever a bad thing though, and there are plenty of books out there that use these attention-grabbing themes is amazingly clever ways. Take, for example, today's featured series: The Time Warp Trio.

In the series' first book The Knights of the Kitchen Table, Joe receives a birthday gift from his magician uncle. It's a mysterious book with ornate writing. Before he quite realizes what's happening, Joe manages to use the book to transport himself and his friends Sam and Fred back in time to King Arthur's court. How will the three boys get home? More importantly, how will they manage to defeat the dragon and the giant who have besieged the castle?

The series continues to document Joe, Sam, and Fred's adventures through time. The formula is actually kind of similar to the beloved Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne, but funnier, wackier, and just a little bit edgier. The books are super quick and painless to read, making them great for relatively new readers or older reluctant readers alike.

Overall Grade: A

Cosmic

Holy cow, I've been away for too long. Many apologies - life got crazy.

Fortunately, that means that I've had some time to read! I've got a backlogged list of books that I'd like to share, starting with Frank Cottrell Boyce's latest book, Cosmic.

Liam is a boy trapped in a man's body. At the age of twelve, he goes through a series of growth spurts and is regularly mistaken for an adult. Sometimes this is great, such as the time when he was the only kid tall enough to go on the Cosmic theme park ride, or the time when he was mistaken for a teacher at school. But sometimes Liam just wants to be treated like a normal kid instead of having everyone expect him to act like an adult just because he looks like one. But Liam decides to use his adult appearance to his advantage when he wins a contest for the world's greatest dads, convincing schoolmate Florida to pose as his daughter. The prize? A chance to go on the greatest thrill ride ever: A trip into outer space. What could possibly go wrong?

I liked this book well enough when I read it, but it's really grown on me over time. At first I just didn't quite buy the fact that Liam could carry on this deception for so long (someone would eventually catch on...right?), but I now appreciate this gimmick as an artful way of making commentary on the nature of childhood and adulthood. Because that's really what this book is about: Age and expectations. What does it really mean to be an adult or a parent? Is it really just about filling out boring forms and making your kids do things they don't want to do? What does it mean to be a child? Isn't adulthood wasted on adults, who don't seem to understand why it's important to visit all of the Waterloos the world over? Adults will appreciate Liam's awkward transition into "adulthood" (I know I saw a bit of myself in it) and kids will enjoy Liam's crazy adventures, both on Earth and in space. Everyone will love this book for its interesting characters.

Besides, it's a space adventure. What's not to love?

Overall Grade: A

Whip It

Excitement abounded when I managed to track down a copy of the recently released DVD Whip It, staring Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore. The film is based on the book Derby Girl by Shauna Cross, which I reviewed here on this blog a few weeks ago.

Overall, I was pleased with the movie. It was actually a good adaptation of the book, staying true to the plot through most of the film. The film actually did a much better job than the book of explaining exactly how roller derby works - what the rules are, what a bout is like, all that good stuff. Yes, there were plenty of moves shown in the film that, while exciting for the sake of cinematics, would never be allowed in actual roller derby. But oh well.

My only complaint is that they majorly changed Bliss's character. In the book she's very sure of herself, very indie rock and tough in her own way. She's an independant spirit who knows what she wants, even if she isn't always sure exactly how to get it. The character was altered in the film to be more doe-eyed, unsure of herself who uses roller derby as a means of finding her own strength. Roller derby isn't another form of rebellion - it's her only form of rebellion. Frankly, I liked the tough Bliss better. Despte this change, however, the central theme of finding your own place in the world and the excitement of the derby shine through.

Not a terrible choice for a fun, laid-back movie night.

Overall Quality of the Film: B+
Overall Faithfulness to the Book: A-

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Minli lives in the village of Fruitless Mountain, named so because nothing grows there leaving the village's residents in poverty. Minli can tell that her mother would like nothing more than to overcome their misfortune, so she takes a page from one of her father's stories decides to venture forth to see the Old Man on the Moon and ask what she can do to improve her family's fortune. Along the way, Minli befriends a dragon, speaks to goldfish, and hears story after story which guide her through her journey.

I've been anxious to read Where the Mountain Meets the Moon for some time, especially after seeing that it had won a Newbery Honor. I was not disappointed. Author Grace Lin has created a lovely, captivating tale that weaves together the stories told in traditional Chinese fairy tales in an intricate and interesting fashion. The stories within the story are interesting, and Minli's own journey takes her to a number of interesting places and situations. Both the writing and the illustrations found in this book are beautifully crafted, and I imagine that this would be a great story to read aloud and share.

Overall Grade: A+

Derby Girl

Last weekend I had the coolest experience ever: I went to see some roller derby. The concept of the sport is to score points by flying around a track on roller skates faster than your opponent. However, both teams also have a series of blockers whose job is to get in your way, knocking you to the floor if possible. It's exciting and intense and a whole lot of fun to watch.

Part of my excitement comes from the fact that several months ago I was able to read the awesome teen novel Derby Girl by Shauna Cross, which features roller derby within its pages. In this story, Bliss is totally indie rock, but her mother is totally a pageant queen. She feels like nothing exciting will ever happen to her in her small Texas hometown, which is way too lame for her sensibilities. Bliss finally thinks that she's found everything she's looking for when she discovers roller derby in Austin, where the girls have tattoos, awesome costumes, and wicked names like Malice in Wonderland. There's even amazingly hot guitar-playing boys around to enjoy. But will she be able to hide her love of the derby from her mother? How will she balance the derby and her new boy toy with her best friend? And what will happen when said boy toy leaves to go on tour with his band?

This is a fun, fast read that, while fairly generic in its themes (mother/daughter conflict, teen rebellion, betrayal of best friend, first love) is nonetheless edgy and interesting. This book was my first exposure to roller derby and while I really wish that the book would have shows us more of the action on skates and explained the rules a bit more clearly, it gave us just enough to pique my interest. But to really discover roller derby, take it from me: Go and see it yourself! It's something that really does need to be experienced in person.

Overall Grade: B

Will the movie Whip It (staring Ellen Page) live up to the book's expectations? Surpass them? I'll let you know soon, pending the upcoming release of the film to DVD.

2010 ALA Youth Media Awards

It's that time of year again! Just a few days ago the ALSC, the children's division of the American Library Association, announced their choices for their prestigious awards. I'd like to take a moment to recognize the great titles that won the two big awards, the Newbery and the Caldecott Medals. To see a full list of winners for all of the awards, including the awards for easy readers, non-fiction, and audiobooks, check out this link.

Newbery Medal
The Newbery Medal is awarded every year to, "the most outstanding contribution to children's literature." A few weeks ago I tried to predict who the winners in this category would be. Exciting news - I called the big winner! The gold medal went to Rebecca Stead's wonderful novel When You Reach Me, a story of a girl in 1979 who goes through a strange series of events involving her former best friend, a mysterious letter, and perhaps even time travel. This was definitely a great choice for the award as it was captivating and beautifully written, giving a bit of a nod to well-loved favorite A Wrinkle in Time.

While I did not manage to predict ANY of the honor books (and in fact somehow managed to miss reading several of them) the books selected are, from what I've heard through the grapevine, worthy choices. The honor books are:

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick

Caldecott Medal
The Caldecott Medal is given every year to the, "most distinguished American picture book for children." This year's big winner is a stunning piece of work - The Lion and the Mouse by highly acclaimed author and illustrator Jerry Pinkney. This wordless retelling of Aesop's popular fable features gorgeous pencil and watercolor illustrations and invites readers to tell the story in their own words.

The honor books are:

All the World, illustrated by Marla Fraze and written by Liz Garton Scanlon.

Red Sings from the Treetops: A Year in Colors, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski and written by Joyce Sidman.

My Thoughts
This year's selection of winners are all excellent. The one big surprise that I saw was in awarding the Newbery Honor to The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg. While an excellent book in its own right, I really thought that certain other books were better written and more worth of the award. But oh well - surprises like this keep things interesting.

Congratulations to the winners!

Shiver

When she was very young, Grace was attacked by wolves that lived in the forest behind her house. She survived, seemingly rescued by a yellow-eyed wolf from the pack. Ever since she has had a bit of an obsession with the wolves, especially with her yellow-eyed savior. When another boy from her high school is attacked by wolves, Grace worries that her wolves will be in danger. And then she finds a boy with the same eyes as her wolf on her back porch, shot by hunters...

Sam is a werewolf. During the summer he takes on his human form, and when the weather grows cold he becomes a wolf again. Unfortunately, as time goes on his time in his human body becomes shorter and shorter. It seems likely that this will be his last summer before he remains a wolf forever. Will he and Grace be able to find a way for him to hold on to his humanity so that they can be together?

This book plays on the popular themes of supernatural romance. Maggie Stiefvater's novel contains many elements that will appeal to Twilight fans - a dreamy boy who struggles to maintain his humanity despite his life as a supernatural being, a girl who has largely uninvolved parents and does a lot of cooking, and an incredible amount of romantic tension between the two that, with the exception of one fade-to-black scene, is largely chaste. Plot is unfortunately somewhat lacking as much the the middle of the book focuses on Grace and Sam's budding romance, and the characters are not as strong or developed as they could be. The good news - the end of the book is excellent and everything comes together perfectly. This is the first in an expected trilogy, and I'm hopeful that the upcoming sequels will be a bit more interesting and focus more on the wolves now that the characters have all been introduced.

Overall Grade: B

Speak

While most of Syracuse's 14-year-olds are excited about starting high school, Melinda is dreading it. She has lost all of her friends after calling the police at a huge end-of-summer party just a few weeks before classes started, becoming a social outcast. Since things aren't going well, Miranda builds a hideout in an abandoned janitor's closet, begins to skip classes, and becomes more and more silent as time goes on. Her only solice is in her art class, where her teacher Mr. Freeman encourages her to add emotion to her work.

But as time goes on, Melinda can no longer ignore what happened to her on the night of the party. When her former best friend Rachel begins dating Andy, the boy who was involved in the incident at the party, Melinda realizes that she needs to warn her about what kind of person Andy really is. But will she find the strength to speak out? And if she does, will Rachel - or anyone else - believe her?

This is a book that I've been meaning to read for a long time, but had a difficult time actually picking up. There are plenty of awards and five-star reviews to recommend Speak (acclaimed YA author Laurie Halse Anderson's debut novel), including a Prinz Honor medal. But due to the content, I just never wanted to pick up the book. It seemed depressing and difficult. And in a lot of ways, this book is difficult - not in terms of language, but in terms of the complicated issues that it deals with. However, this is really an important book, probably because of the difficult issues that it deals with. And even if it is hard to get through at some points and your heart aches as Melinda struggles to deal with her depression and isolation, the writing is so beautiful that it will ease readers though Melinda's flood of emotions. There's plenty of great symbolism to be found that reflects Melinda's state of mind, and I don't know that I've cheered so hard for a character to do something as deceptively simple as speak. This book made me feel stronger for having read it because of the challenged it provided. A definite must-read for any teen.

Overall Grade: A+