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The Ghosts of Kerfol This is a young adult ghost story, told in five parts, beginning in the year 1613 and ending in 2006. The writing is gorgeous, smart, and the common threads that link the stories are eerie. After reading this, I want to go back and read everything Deborah Noyes has written. Pure pleasure. |
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Genesis Set in the far future, this brutal dystopian novel looks at the past events of the 21st century. A young historian, Anax, is being put through her paces with an examination required for acceptance into The Academy – an organization of philosopher rulers. Her topic of expertise is a historical figure, Adam Forde, and his imprisonment with an advanced robot. A gripping exploration of the meaning of life and the nature of consciousness. |
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The Earth Hums in B Flat In this young adult Welsh story of mystery, murder, madness, and family dysfunction, the writing is gorgeous and the story delves deep. The protagonist has an unusual imagination and is nearly unflappable as she navigates the minefield that is her mother and the mystery taking place in the town in which she lives. The story makes you think and pay attention as you read so you won’t miss anything. The details rise up purposefully. A very unusual and gritty story. The author is a 60+ year-old librarian from Wales, and this is her debut. Bravo! |
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Bog Child 18-year-old Fergus and his uncle are digging peat in a bog in Ireland when they find a body. The mystery of the bog child unwinds with the 1981 hunger strike in Ireland as the backdrop. Fergus’s older brother, Joe, is one of the strikers inside the prison. The novel is about love, loss, and moral choices. The storylines echo off each other throughout the book making for a satisfying and complex read. |
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Princess Ben This is a young adult fairy tale. When her parents are murdered, Ben (Benevolence) moves into the castle to be trained by her brutal aunt, the ruling queen. As princess, she is supposed to show disinterest in food, but Ben’s appetite is insatiable. She has no interest in social graces and her behavior causes disgust among neighboring kingdoms. Ben is difficult and spoiled. Nothing about her speaks of royalty. She stumbles her way through royal life finding adventure at every turn and suffers hardships along the way that bring on maturity. Readers may need to stop and look up a word from time to time. |
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The Chosen One From the first sentence, this book grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go until the end. A thirteen-year-old girl, living in an isolated polygamist community, pushes back against the system. She reads books that are forbidden and secretly sees a boy. But when she’s told, by the Prophet, that she is to be the seventh wife of her sixty-year-old uncle … reader, hang on to your chair. The author doesn't flinch from the tough stuff. Absolutely gripping. |
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The Uninvited In this young adult thriller, a New York college student retreats from the problems in her life to a cottage her father owns in remote Canada. She's surprised to find a young man, Jay, already living in the cottage. Jay is on edge because something sinister has been taking place in the house. From there the story twists and turns to the very last page. The Uninvited is a masterfully woven story that's stoked with suspense and amazing setting detail. The lives of the characters are connected in unexpected ways and the convergence that results doesn't disappoint.
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The Redheaded Princess This is a first-person retelling of Queen Elizabeth I, beginning when she was nine years old and subject to the whims of her father, Henry VIII, who was ill and dying. Her mother, Ann Boleyn, has been beheaded. Elizabeth and her half-sister, Mary, are in conflict over who is next in line for the throne after their half-brother, Edward. The author conveys the complexities of these dangerous times and how easy it was to be sent to the Tower for beheading, even if you were a princess. Danger was everywhere and Elizabeth was constantly in fear for her life. This would be a good companion piece, in a classroom, to the non-fiction work, Behind the Mask: The Life of Queen Elizabeth I, by Jane Resh Thomas.
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Wintergirls This young adult story takes the reader on a journey deep into the minds of girls suffering from eating disorders. Lia suffers from anorexia and is haunted by the ghost of her best friend, Cassie, who died from the affects of bulimia. Lia's descent as she tries to work through all the difficulties of life, loss, parental divorce, and lack of attention is palpable. The author treats the girls in her story with respect and brutal honesty. I loved the way she uses a class in Physics as a backdrop to communicate the unbending consequences of this kind of suffering. |
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Black Box This book is about as perfect as they come. The characters are so real and the struggle is so believable it brought me to tears. The chapters are short and they end perfectly, at times with just two words that evoke such an emotional response. The book could easily be read in one sitting and it's worth setting aside the time. It's about the younger sister of a depressed teen and the family's struggle to deal with it. There's a secondary character that is so quirky and interesting ... and surprising. |
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Mercy on These Teenage Chimps With wacky humor, Soto tells the story of Ronnie and Joey, best friends who feel that since they've turned thirteen they've become awkward, long-armed, big-eared, apple-and-banana-eating, chimps. When Joey is humiliated in front of a special girl he decides to live in a tree - as the ugly chimp that he is. Ronnie is determined to rescue his friend by finding this special girl and pleading Ronnie's case. His journey takes quirky twists and turns with a satisfying resolution. Soto expresses the thoughts of these boys in a fresh and funny way. Great friendship story. |
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The Amaranth Enchantment A fantasy historical YA novel that echoes Cinderella—but grittier, more sophisticated. The banter between Lucinda (the main character) and Peter (her antagonist), reveals her strong character. A goat, named “Dog”, gives trickster-like comic relief for Lucinda’s, struggle. The storyline weaves back and forth, intertwining the characters' lives. The specific details of the place and time ground the story and give it great texture. The twists were satisfying and made for a fast and fun read. |
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The Last of the High Kings J.J. Liddy, the curious boy and musician in The New Policeman, is all grown up with children of his own in this sequel. Married to Aisling, his children Hazel, Donal, Jenny, and Aidan are free-spirited and just as full of curiosity as he is. The music J.J. brought with him from his sojourn in Tir na n’Og has made him famous world over. In fact, he’s tired of traveling and he’s curious about his children, so he may just stay home for awhile. Jenny is an unusually perceptive child. She sees the puka, a mythical creature, and talks with it because he seems to understand her restless ways. The puka has an agenda, however, and he wants something from Jenny, something she doesn’t quite understand. Donal is watchful of everyone. Old beyond his years, he cares for all of his siblings. He is also friends with Mikey, a very old neighbor with delightful and scary stories of days gone by. Donal realizes he has much to learn from this man, even if he doesn’t always understand what Mikey is telling him. All of these disparate parts converge upon a wild plain, upon a mountain topped by a hill of stones. History is played out there, unpredictable and sad, beautiful and weary. Bargains have been made and secrets kept, and now it all comes together with the Liddy family in the thick of it. Lyrical, entertaining, in the best tradition of Celtic storytelling, this is a majestic book. |
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Climbing the Stairs Once in awhile I’ll pick up a book that fully captures my attention, causing me to stop working, stop thinking about anything other than the book, and stay up very late to finish it because I must know what happens. Climbing the Stairs is one of those few books that makes me want to push it into everyone’s hands. So few books give us the opportunity to experience life in another country, another culture, another time. Set in Bombay and Madras during the 1940s, this is a book about nonviolence, living in an occupied country, family ties, first love, and a fierce spirit of independence. From its very beginning, this is a world I had not experienced before. The author’s gift for writing draws the reader comfortably into the sights, sounds, tastes, and textures of life in India. Vidya’s family is of the Brahmin caste, but her parents have rejected the caste system and old notions about female subjugation. Vidya is a girl of determination, conviction, and spunk. She is unafraid to speak her mind. Her father is a doctor but he is also a freedom fighter, believing wholly in Gandhi’s message of pacifism. Vidya’s mother is nervous, knowing just how dangerous her husband’s actions are. When the unthinkable happens, and the family must go to live with their extended family under one roof in Madras, everyone feels confined by rules and expectations.Vidya is a believable heroine, learning to life with herself and her ideals. Set against the backdrop of World War II, which affected everyone throughout the world, this is an ideal book to give to readers looking for something new. |
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Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers Scholastic, 2008 ISBN 9780439916240 I have a hard time understanding war. That people allow situations to get so out of hand that they must kill each other to resolve them—well, I suspect that the killing rarely solves the problem. It seems like something to do while decisions are being made. And it seems incredibly callous to kill the sons and daughters of fathers and mothers who will forever ache for their lost opportunities. I sense that Walter Dean Myers has those same feelings. In Sunrise over Fallujah, he has written a book about Robin Perry, a new Army recruit from Harlem, who is sent to Iraq as the war begins, feeling as so many did that it would be a matter of weeks and everything would be over. Many of the soldiers were there because they were angry about all of the people killed in New York City and they wanted to do something to help. This is a day-by-day examination of the way in which recruits from different backgrounds and cultures learn to trust each other, learn to think as one person, and learn that war makes little sense. Robin is a very likable and sensitive young man. His observations are keen and his feelings grow more complex as time goes on. War is not simply a matter of right and wrong, the author seems to say. There are so many layers that it is nearly impossible to sort them out. Soldiers do what they are told but they have questions that need asking. This book is powerful. In fact, I have added it to my list of The Ten Best Books I’ve Read in the Last Ten Years. If you’ve ever wanted to understand war from a soldier’s viewpoint, this is the book to read. |
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Beowulf: A Hero's Tale Retold by James Rumford Houghton Mifflin, 2007 ISBN 9780618756377 The 2007 film by Director Robert Zemeckis has re-introduced the epic poem Beowulf back into popular culture. Considered to be the oldest surviving piece of English literature, many versions of this classical tale of a hero overcoming a great beast paint a bloody tale of battles and victory. James Rumford’s prose version is different. Beowulf: A Hero’s Tale Retold is more about the language and less about the blood, guts and gore of the original Anglo-Saxon poem written sometime after 720 A.D. Rumford relies on the original text of Beowulf as well as many critical essays and modern translations to create his text. He chose to use only words that could be traced back to the ancient Anglo-Saxon roots of the original poem; some words go back even further to Latin and Greek. Three words: “their”, “they” and “them” come from Old Norse. The book’s back page tells a bit about Rumford’s research and provides a brief history of Anglo-Saxon as well as a pronunciation guide to names. Inspired by the work of Arthur Rackham (1905 Rip Van Winkle) and Edmond Dulac and Edmond Dulac (1907 the Arabian Nights), Rumford’s pen and ink illustrations are finished in watercolor and emulate the artwork of ancient Celtic and Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. Three distinct parts of the story are delineated by different color backgrounds: green, blue, and yellow. The dragon lurking behind the panels of the first two sections foreshadows Beowulf's eventual fate, death. This version of Beowulf is a very accessible retelling that could easily be used as a read-aloud or as a text for an English class studying etymology (the origin of words). |
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Hidden on the Mountain: Stories of Children Rudi, age 13—Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass), November 10, 1938. “Early this morning the Gestapo—Nazi secret police—arrested Papa and took him away. After that, a mob gathered in front of our building. Ten Nazis broke down our door and used their axes to destroy everything” Hidden in the Mountain is a collection of stories gleaned from interviews with survivors of World War II who were sheltered in the small Teachers who are looking for stories that show the hardships Jewish children faced during World War II will find this book much to their liking. DeSaix and Ruelle have designed and written a book that can be easily read and understood by readers in middle grade and up. Be aware that it is not a “cuddle up in a blanket and escape” kind of read. It is a sad, funny, heartbreaking, and inspiring book, but probably is best read in short spurts. Hidden in the Mountain joins many other books written about the Holocaust, but it stands apart because it has been written especially for young readers. Rudi, age 19—Le Chambon, September 1944. “It’s over! The Germans are on the run! French soldiers came through Le Chambon today in tanks. I’m safe at last!” |
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Without Warning: Ellen's Story, 1914-1918 written by Dennis Hamley Candlewick, 2007 ISBN 9780763633387 Candlewick’s Without Warning, Ellen’s Story 1914-1918, by Dennis Hamley, does exactly what I want from historical fiction. It reaches through the pages and yanks me into another time and place so convincingly, with such an engaging and reliable narrator, that when I close the book I feel like I’ve been through an intensive seminar on World War I history without even noticing. The book is written in first person, present tense, and although it is not formatted like a diary, it reads like one in that it follows the thoughts and feelings closest to Ellen’s heart as she moves through the backdrop of England in World War I. When the book opens, Ellen Wilkins, who lives in a small village, is fifteen years old. Her older brother Jack has just been recruited to go and “give the Hun a taste of his own medicine.” The book is broken into five segments, each encompassing about one year. Early in the first segment, Ellen meets a wealthy retired colonel who has his own experience of war. On recruiting day in their village, the Colonel asserts that there are good Germans, as there are good people everywhere. Ellen sneaks out to give the Colonel an early warning about the approach of an angry mob that didn’t like the Colonel’s “traitorous” public statements. At the close of that segment, Ellen recognizes that she did something good in warning the Colonel, and vows to “do something more with the years that this war lasts, and be worth my weight.” She makes good on her vow, spending the last year of the war as a nurse behind the front lines. She has a strong sense of justice and a fierce determination to do what is right, which carries her through wrenching situations at home, in her nurse training program, and out in the field. Her relationship with her brother Jack is particularly poignant, as is the conflict that the war and its consequences bring to her home and parents. The Colonel becomes an unexpected and powerful mentor who opens several unexpected doors for her along the way. Ellen is a powerful and passionate protagonist, touching the people with whom she comes in contact, even as she is bumped around by prejudice, class conflict, misogyny, and the horrors of war. She grows through the years of the war, and by the end has become a young woman who is indeed worth her weight—and more. Without Warning, in addition to being a completely engrossing good read, would be an excellent adjunct to any classroom study of war in general or World War I in particular. |
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The Off Season written by Catherine Murdock Graphia, 2008 ISBN 9780618934935 The Off Season is Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s sequel to Dairy Queen, and it’s one of those delightful sequels that leaves you hoping for another one to follow. In Dairy Queen, DJ Schwenk, the workhorse of her family’s failing dairy farm, makes the decision to stop “being a cow” and make some decisions for herself. Just in time, too, because life has some big challenges to throw at her in the upcoming months. In The Off Season, DJ’s junior year starts off like a supersonic high school dream come true. She’s playing starting linebacker for the high school football team and for the first time has the full attention and approval of her father. Like her older football-playing brothers, she gets high fives everywhere she goes. The famous brothers are playing college ball on TV every Saturday, DJ’s grades are good, and she has the beginnings of an interesting romantic relationship with Brian, the rival town’s quarterback who trained with DJ over the summer. DJ’s rough ride begins when she comes upon a bully in the hallway, calling another kid a faggot. DJ has recently learned that her best friend Amber is a lesbian. In a fast series of internal leaps over her own hesitant homophobia, DJ slams the faggot-baiting kid up against the lockers and ends up benched for the next important football game. From that point on, the dream spins downward into the beginnings of a nightmare. DJ is injured in practice, her mother has a severe back injury, the farm is sinking fast, her younger brother is lying and sneaking out, Amber stops coming to school, and Brian will only talk to her if no one is looking. All of these problems, huge as they seem, drop to nothing when DJ’s oldest brother Win is injured during a game as the family watches on TV. Next time you’re watching a game, DJ says, and someone gets hurt…remember that somewhere out there people are watching at home or in a bar…and they know that person really well, and they’re not interested one little tiny speck in the cheerleaders and stomachs and beer because all they care about is the person lying there hurt. Suddenly, DJ has to step into adult shoes. She flies to Washington to be with her brother—her mother can’t travel, and her father can’t leave her or the farm. Win has never needed help and doesn’t welcome it now. As DJ challenges Win to pull out the best in himself, she finds her own strengths that reach far beyond athletics and farming. Murdock carries the story with the unique and friendly voice of DJ, a firm grounding in the setting of small-town Wisconsin, and a solid cast of characters. DJ’s parents, friends, and all three siblings are vivid, three-dimensional, and interesting. Even the minor characters – Amber’s new girlfriend, DJ’s brothers’ friends, and other adults—spring to life with a few sentences of dialogue. DJ herself has a wonderful combination of naïveté, good intentions and mistaken ideas, and complete willingness to push herself emotionally, physically, and ethically, when circumstances demand that she step up. It’s a delight to move through DJ’s changes and challenges, and to see the world through her eyes. The Off Season is a page-turner, but even more, it’s a fabulous journey through the difficult and beautiful terrain of growing up. |
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian This year’s National Book Award winner in the Youth Category is the best book I’ve read all year. Sherman Alexie has fashioned a beautifully crafted fictional account of life on a contemporary Indian reservation for a teen audience. The story of high school student Junior is loosely based on the author’s own experiences growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Junior accidentally injures one of his teachers. The teacher sees promise in Junior despite the incident and encourages Junior to leave “the Rez.” Junior transfers to a public school 22 miles away “where the only other Indian was the team mascot.” It takes him awhile to fit in, but he eventually makes the basketball team and finds a girlfriend. Conversely, he is heaped with scorn from his former best friend and other residents of the reservation, where he still lives. One powerfully emotional incident occurs when Junior, suited up for a basketball game at the Rez school, ready to compete against his former schoolmates, walks on to the court. The reaction from everyone in the stands will catch many readers off guard. The number of books by and about American Indians for young people is ridiculously low. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is more than a welcome addition to the genre. It is a must read for everyone. |
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Does My Head Look Big in This? On her first day of year eleven at her competitive prep school in Melbourne Australia, Amal takes a step towards her own identity she knows is going to lead to trouble. But unlike kids her own age who get tattoos, pierce their nose, or go on a drug binge, Amal’s identity search pulls her towards her Muslim faith. She decides to wear the hijab, or veil, full-time. Surprisingly, this is the perfect setup for a chick lit novel. There’s lots of girl stuff for Amal to fret over. How will the kids in her class react? Her friends Leila, Jasmeen, Simone, and Eileen back her up. But what about the snotty Tia, who’s just looking to make a negative comment, especially a racist one? And what about going to the mall, taking part in the debate team, riding the bus, and all the things she does everyday, where now suddenly people see her as a symbol? Of course, Amal needs a whole new wardrobe to match her veils. And what does Adam, the boy she has a crush on, think about her decision? Abdel-Fattah uses all these situations to her advantage, breaking down stereotypes by showing readers how Amal, (and Muslims) are like everybody else – and that includes, for a teenage girl, being boy crazy, clothes conscious, and gabbing on the phone. Through Amal’s family and acquaintances, readers also see how varied Muslims are. Some are conservative, some aren’t, some are religious, some want to retain old traditions, others try to assimilate with white Aussie culture. Readers learn bits about Islam too, but in a human way, for example, when Amal remembers phrases from the Koran, or when she struggles with trying to study while fasting for a month for Ramadan. When Amal befriends her neighbor, a grumpy old Greek woman, Mrs. Vaselli, she learns that she’s not the only one feeling pressure to fit in. And her friends fight battles too: Simone gets picked on because of her weight, and Leila’s mom wants to marry off her daughter in an arranged marriage, instead of allowing her to continue her education, while Leila’s brother’s bad behavior goes unnoticed. Yes at times, adult readers may feel there’s too much girl giggling going on, but it’s refreshing to find a book where the heroine’s success comes not from getting a boyfriend or winning a popularity contest, but by deciding who she wants to be, and then becoming that person. |
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