Archive for July, 2012

Rock & Roll Fiction

July 30, 2012 · Filed under Fiction, High School, Middle School (6-8), Novels, Realistic · Tagged , , , , ,

It’s come up a few times on this blog—in my reviews of Ten Miles Past Normal and Raggin’ Jazzin’ Rockin’ and in my Top 10 of 2011 post—that I’m a music person.  I’m not musical myself (I wish!), but I’m a strong appreciator.  And I always seem to find myself drawn to music-related fiction.

For Trip Broody, in Guitar Notes by Mary Amato, music is a matter of life and death.  That’s how it feels, anyway, when his mom takes his guitar away as a punishment.  That’s how he ends up using a loaner guitar in a school practice room on odd days.  Even days belong to Lyla Marks, a serious cellist.  The two strike up a friendship that begins with notes left in the room and solidifies as they challenge each other to write songs and connect with music in a way that they hadn’t before.  This is a sweet story of friendship that explores the pressures that teens are under without being dark and heavy.  (Really, don’t miss this book.  It is going to make my Top 10 of 2012 list, I promise.)

Matthew Meets the Man is another light read, but this one will have more appeal to boys.  Matt wants to play the drums in a band, but there’s always something that gets in his way.  First his parents make him get a job to pay for a drum set.  Then his job doesn’t work out so well, and he’s forced to mow lawns for money.   Then he gets a girlfriend, which makes it awfully hard to save up for his drum set.   Give it to your reluctant readers with the promise of a fast, fun read.

If you’ve ever dreamed of going on tour with an indie band, you can live vicariously through the experience in The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour.  It’s the summer between high school and college, and Colby has agreed to chauffeur his best friend Bev’s band up the California coast as they play a series of shows in some out-of-the-way clubs.  They meet some interesting people and find some surprises along the way in a novel that will have appeal to those who like indie music, road trip novels, and coming of age stories.

Bibliography:

The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour. February 2012. 9780525422198. Gr 9-12

Guitar Notes by Mary Amato. July 2012. 9781606841242. Gr 7-12

Matthew Meets the Man by Travis Nichols. February 2012. 9781596435452. Gr 6-9

Blogger: Mindy R.

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Book Review: POD

July 26, 2012 · Filed under Fiction, High School, Middle School (6-8), Novels, Reviews, Science Fiction · Tagged , ,

POD by Stephen Wallenfels. 2012. 9781937007430. Gr 7-12.

An alien invasion story that doesn’t focus on the aliens?  You might say that would be a bland idea for a book, but in Stephen Wallenfels’ new book, POD, the aliens take a back seat to the plight of the humans trying to survive the invasion. The result is a tense and harrowing tale that is completely riveting.

POD centers on two main characters in different locations:

  • Josh, a typical teenage boy in Washington whose usual worries are about chemistry midterms and his girlfriend.
  • Megs, a 12-year old girl in Los Angeles who has led a more difficult life, with her mom having left an abusive relationship, embarking on a cross-country trip to escape her boyfriend.  They have little money left, and a whole lot of uncertainty in their future.

The action starts fast, and the narrative is told in chapters alternating between their individual situations.  A violent, ear-shattering screech is the first sign that something is terribly wrong.  People soon see that hundreds of spinning black spheres hover over the Earth, as far as they can see.  Josh names them PODs, in the following passage:

“I call them PODs, short for Pearls of Death.  They’re pearls because they remind me of a pair of dangly earrings I bought Mom for Christmas last year.  Each earring had a single pearl—round, smooth, and inky black.  They weren’t very big, but if you looked at them just right, they seemed to shine with a mysterious, translucent light.”

Josh comes up with that description shortly after witnessing the power of the PODs.  Looking out his window, he realizes that the aliens are “deleting” anyone who ventures out of their house.  In a blinding flash of light, he sees a neighborhood girl disappear before his eyes.

It becomes painfully obvious that all of humankind is now confined to their homes, or whatever shelter they happen to be occupying at the time of the invasion.  For Megs, this happens to be a parking garage adjacent to a hotel.  Since they didn’t have any money, her mom has gone off on a dubious job interview, and instructs Megs not to leave the car.

Josh is trapped inside his house with his protective father, as his mother had left for a business trip prior to the invasion.  Although Josh initially doesn’t take the situation very seriously, his father immediately begins formulating a survival plan, charting the POD numbers and rationing food and water.

The story quickly becomes one of survival, resourcefulness, and sacrifice.  Megs has to dodge and outsmart opportunistic thugs who take over the parking ramp and hotel, and who control the food and water supply.  Josh deals with his own issues of diminishing resources, often sharing with his father a meal of powdered milk and a can of beans.  The aliens also knock out all electronics, so the isolation becomes even greater, and Josh and his dad are forced to use candles for light and board games for entertainment.

Alien invasion is obviously not a new phenomenon in the science fiction genre.  In books, movies, and other entertainment, it has played a prominent role in the genre. From H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds (1898) to Hollywood’s Independence Day (1996), alien invasions have enthralled us.  Wallenfels’ POD puts a new spin on the scenario, and focuses on the spirit of, and relationships between, people as they struggle to survive.  So, as long as you aren’t expecting Will Smith to show up and kick the aliens back to where they came, I think you will really enjoy this book!

Blogger: Ryan H.

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Series Review: Chet and Bernie Mystery series

July 23, 2012 · Filed under Fiction, High School, Mystery, Novels, Reviews · Tagged , , , ,

I’m not necessarily a fan of mystery series, but Spencer Quinn’s Chet and Bernie Mystery series is one of my favorites. Though written for adults, it would be an excellent addition to high school libraries.

Bernie Little is the owner of the Little Detective Agency, which specializes in missing persons, and Chet, his partner, is the first-person narrator of the series. I am listening to the fourth book, and so far they have worked on cases involving missing children, show dogs, and an elephant.  Before working as a detective, Chet had gone through police training, and had actually done quite well

until the very last day.  The only thing left had been the leaping test.  And leaping is just about my very best thing.  Then came some confusion. Was a cat involved? And blood? I ended up flunking out.

Leaping?  A cat? I forgot to mention that Chet is a dog.

Now, I’m a sucker for books with animal characters.  Show me a book—novel or nonfiction—with a dog on the cover and I’m hooked.   And I like books that have a dog as a primary character. However, something is often lost—or actually added—when the dog becomes the narrator.  Either the dog understands too much, or the human in the story can practically read Fido’s mind, resulting in an unrealistic tail…er, tale.

But Quinn obviously knows dogs, because Chet is totally a dog.  He enjoys chasing balls and chewing on rawhide strips and being scratched.  Every good dog adores his human, and Chet worships Bernie.  His doggy nose and K-9 training makes him a great tracker and valuable partner (“[Bernie’s] brain and my nose: plenty of perps now wearing orange jump suits can tell you about that combo”).

But Chet is also only a dog.  He nods off at inconvenient times, like during conversations…and when Chet sleeps, he doesn’t hear what’s going on, so we the readers miss important information.  Or he gets distracted, either by scents (bacon, cats, or the female dog down the valley) or sounds:

The woman started to answer, but at that moment I heard something rustling in the bushes on the far side of the driveway.  The next thing I knew, I was in the bushes myself, sniffing around, maybe even digging, but only the littlest bit. Some kind of smell was in the air, frog or toad, or…

“Chet? You’re not digging in there, are you?”

I backed out of the bushes, trotted over to Bernie.  Oops—my tail was down, tucked back in a guilty manner.  I stuck it right up, high and innocent.

Even when he’s paying attention, Chet is still just a dog.  He doesn’t get idioms or a lot of figurative language.  He’ll obsess on one word that he hears, like when Bernie describes a town as flea-bitten:

That was what Bernie called it—flea-bitten—but I felt no fleas at all, hadn’t been bothered by them in ages, not since I started on the drops.  But the funny thing was, even though I didn’t have fleas, just the thought of them suddenly made me itchy.  I started scratching, first behind my ear, soon along my side, then both at once, really digging in with my claws, faster and—

“Chet, for God’s sake.”

I pushed all thoughts about scratching clear out of my mind.

And though we know everything that Chet does, Bernie doesn’t.  If they get separated and Chet sees or smells something, Bernie doesn’t automatically intuit what his partner knows.   Bernie is smart and loyal, but there are no super powers and mind melds.   Just a man and his dog.

Or, if you prefer, a dog and his human.

The first book of the series, Dog on It, received starred reviews from Library Journal, Booklist, and Publisher’s Weekly, and the rest of the books have all been highly reviewed.  For those who prefer audiobooks, Jim Frangione has given Chet an excellent voice.  Funny, suspenseful, and full of heart, this series is not just for dog lovers.

Series in order:

Dog on It : A Chet and Bernie Mystery. 9781416585848. 2009.

Thereby Hangs a Tail : A Chet and Bernie Mystery. 9781416585862. 2010.

To Fetch a Thief : A Chet and Bernie Mystery.  9781439157084. 2010.

The Dog Who Knew Too Much : A Chet and Bernie Mystery.  9781439157091. 2011.

A Fistful of Collars : A Chet and Bernie Mystery. Coming out on September 11, 2012.

Blogger:  Tracey L.

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Road Trip Fiction

July 19, 2012 · Filed under Fiction, High School, Realistic · Tagged , , , , , , ,

Right now I’m on vacation in Utah and will be driving back to Minnesota tomorrow.  In honor of that cross country trip, I thought I would do a post all about road tripping titles.  Whether to give a horse its freedom, or to grieve over the loss of a loved one, these titles reflect on the great changes a road trip can make.

Finding Somewhere by Joseph Monninger.  November, 2011.  9780385907897.  Gr. 8-12.

Hattie and Delores always planned on going on a road trip out west. When Hattie finds out her favorite horse Speed is about to be put down in his old age, the friend’s road trip turns into a quest to save Speed and give him one last taste of freedom. Stealing him in the middle of the night, the girls make their way west in search of rangeland where Speed can live out his last days wild and free. But as their trip takes unexpected twists and turns, the girls must face the reasons they wanted to leave home in the first place.

In Honor by Jessi Kirby.  May, 2012.  9781442416970.  Gr. 9-12.

Three days after her brother’s funeral, Honor receives a letter he sent from the army before he died.  Included with the letter are concert tickets and a request that she tell pop star Kyra Kelly about her handsome older brother.  Honor takes the request to heart, determined to drive to California to attend the concert, but she doesn’t plan on her brother’s obnoxious and recently distant friend Rusty insisting on joining her.  The two make their way from Texas to California encountering new people and new experiences that help Honor cope with the loss of her brother.  As secrets are revealed and feelings discovered, Honor learns to accept her brother’s death and move toward a brighter future.

Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson.  May, 2010.  9781416990659.  Gr. 9-12.

After Amy’s father dies in a car crash, her brother is sent to rehab and her mother takes a job in Connecticut and arranges for Amy to drive out there from California as soon as her junior year ends.  Still afraid to drive after her father’s accident, her mom has Roger, the 19-old-year son of an old family friend, drive with her.  The two quickly decide to ditch the mother’s planned itinerary in search of more adventure and spontaneous detours to places such as Yosemite and Graceland.  As with In Honor, the road trip and the people she meets help Amy come to terms with her loss.  In addition to the regular narrative, Matson also includes playlists, pictures, receipts, and menus to give the book a scrapbook type of feel.

Lindsey L.

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What’s your point of view?

July 16, 2012 · Filed under Fiction, High School, Middle School (6-8), Novels, Realistic · Tagged , , , , , , ,

The Publisher’s Weekly review of Kelly Milner Halls’ short story collection Girl Meets Boy: Because There are Two Sides to Every Story says “. . . it’s impossible to know everything someone is thinking and feeling—even when you are in a relationship together.”  This got me to thinking about point of view in the books I’ve read recently, and how they’ve explored various perspectives.

Those multiple points of view were the real strength of Wonder  by R.J. Palacio, which I chose as a Promising Bloom in November of last year.  Now it seems everyone is talking about it—and for good reason!  This is the story of August, who has a facial deformity and is starting school in fifth grade for the first time after being home-schooled.  Readers get to view a nuanced situation from the eyes of several of the characters, which allow us to see August as more than an idealized character—as people with disabilities are often portrayed in fiction.  It was in the eyes of his family and friends that he was able to be a complex character that we wanted to root for no matter what.  Perhaps you can tell, I loved this book!  :)

In Winter Town by Stephen Emond, we see childhood friends Evan and Lucy reunited after a year, only to find that they have grown apart.  We read Evan’s point of view first, and we see Lucy as completely changed.  Evan’s frustration and confusion come through clearly.  But then we switch to Lucy’s side of the story in which we can see why she seems so drastically different. In addition, we also see Evan’s fantasy comic that parallels the drama taking place in their lives.  This is a thoughtful story that may appeal to reluctant readers.

Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby uses occasional secondary points of view to really bring the setting to life.  First Portia is left at the McGreavey Home for Wayward Girls, which is a hopeless place.  When tragedy strikes, Portia flees while she can.  As a runaway, she finds herself in an even more unusual place: a circus sideshow.  Interspersed between Portia’s narration are short passages from the various “freaks” that populate the sideshow—who are at first suspicious of Portia but who eventually become her allies.  This is a fascinating historical novel that peeks into the secret world of 1930′s freak shows, with an unusual cast of supporting characters and a strong heroine at the center.

So, there you have it, three books that start with the letter “W.”  I mean, that have multiple points of view.  Well, whatever.  Happy reading!

Bibliography:

Girl Meets Boy: Because There are Two Sides to Every Story by Kelly Milner Halls. January 2012. 9781452102641. Gr 9-12

Winter Town by Stephen Emond. December 2011. 9780316133326. Gr 9-12.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio. February 2012. 9780375969027. Gr 3-6.

Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby. March 2012. 9780547599809. Gr 8-12.

Blogger: Mindy R.

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Book Review: I Hunt Killers

July 12, 2012 · Filed under High School, Horror, Novels, Reviews · Tagged , , , ,

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga. April 2012. 9780316125840. Gr 9-12.

Many kids look up to their fathers and want to grow up to be just like them.  Others want to blaze their own trail and aim to be the polar opposite of their father.  Jasper “Jazz” Dent is definitely in the latter category.  His father, Billy Dent, is the nation’s most notorious serial killer, having foiled authorities for years and killed over a hundred people, all while blending into society in the sleepy town of Lobo’s Nod.  Now that his father is behind bars, Jazz lives his life under the wary gaze of the townspeople who are (justifiably?) nervous that Jazz will follow in his infamous father’s footsteps.

Not only did Jazz’ father commit heinous crimes, but he enlisted Jazz as a junior partner, exposing the young Jazz to strategies and methods of stalking and murder.  Jazz, now a teenager who hasn’t seen his father in years, sees himself as a ticking time bomb.  He knows that his father’s manipulation and influence have shaped him, and he realizes that he shares characteristics with other serial killers; he can charm people, he knows how police operate, and he can get inside people’s heads.  He has to constantly remind himself not to become his father.  So, when bodies start showing up in Lobo’s Nod, Jazz uses his knowledge of a murderer’s mind to help police track down the killer.

Barry Lyga is the author of other highly-regarded young adult novels that, like I Hunt Killers, don’t shy away from dark and heavy topics.  In The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, he tackles the topics of bullying, depression, and suicide.  Boy Toy, his second novel, deals with child sexual abuse.  So it is no surprise that he delves into the dark recesses of the human mind to explore serial killers and psychopathology.  While this topic is likely very interesting to many teen readers, the underlying theme and debate of nature versus nurture is apt to make them reflect upon their own lives and relationships.  Are we pre-programmed to become who we are, or are we free to become whoever we want to become?

I Hunt Killers is a thrilling, heart-pounding, roller coaster of a book.  It certainly isn’t for the faint of heart, as there are gory and grotesque scenes.  However, Lyga does a nice job of lightening the mood with Jazz’ best friend, Howie.  Howie provides needed comic relief as a hemophiliac sidekick that helps to humanize Jazz’ character.  Lyga heightens the mystery as the story progresses, and keeps you guessing throughout.  This is a dark and violent story, so I recommend this one for older readers only.  This is the first title in a planned trilogy, and I Hunt Killers ends with enough loose ends and hints of what is to come that I can’t wait for the next book in the series!

Recommended for fans of CSI, true crime, Dexter, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and books that keep you up at night!

Blogger: Ryan H.

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Rescue Me! : Shelter Dogs

July 9, 2012 · Filed under Intermediate (3-5), Nonfiction, Picture Books, Primary (K-2), Social Studies · Tagged , , , , , , , ,

We are definitely dog people and have almost always had two of them at a time.  Though we have had purebreds (got them free from a friend), most of our dogs (and other pets) have been rescue animals.

We found Aayla, a three-year-old Lab-husky mix, at a local shelter.  She had been rescued from a puppy mill, along with her nine puppies.  She thinks she is a lap dog, climbs our chain link fence, and will eat anything that is in her reach—including a roll of toilet paper.  Here I have just scolded her for trying to eat my sandwich, and she is too ashamed to look me in the eye.

Lucy, a four-month-old border collie-spaniel cross, had been rescued with two of her siblings; they had been tagged with gang symbols and abandoned at a garbage dump.  We found out about her on Petfinders.com and adopted her from a local rescue group.   She is definitely the boss of the two, rearranges the couch cushions until they are just right, and naps on the couch with her feet in the air and her head hanging off the side.  In the picture, my younger son Nathan is sleeping on the couch after getting his impacted wisdom teeth removed—and Lucy took care of him all that day.

The books below are great books for other young dog lovers, whether they already have a canine companion of their own or their families are contemplating getting one.  The first title is about dogs in general, but the others focus on shelter dogs.

It’s a Dog’s Life : How Man’s Best Friend Sees, Hears, and Smells the World by Susan E. Goodman (ill. by David Slonim). 9781596434486. 2012. Gr 1-4

Just what do all those sounds and sniffs and looks from your dog mean?  Well, let’s get the answers straight from the horse’s—I mean, dog’s—mouth.  The dogs in this picture book are delighted to tell you all about themselves—why there are so many different kinds of dogs, what it means when they wag their tails, what they can see and smell, and why they have to pee so many times on their walks.  A “Woof/English Dictionary” is included, as well as some information from a human’s point of view, and the illustrations and speech bubbles are very entertaining.

Stay : The True Story of Ten Dogs by Michaela Muntean. 9780545234979. Gr 1-4

Luciano was a circus juggler and acrobat from a long line of circus performers.  But when he fell off the high wire, his days of doing stunts were over. Luciano didn’t want to leave the circus; in fact, he had a great idea for a new kind of act—but he would need some partners.  And since this would be a second chance for him, he wanted to give his partners a second chance as well.  So Luciano found dogs that everyone else had given up on.  He watched them closely to find out what they already liked to do, and he trained them to do those actions in his circus act.  Most of all, he loves them.  This heart-warming tale would be a great read-aloud, though kids will want to pore over the colorful photographs of Luciano and his Pound Puppies.

No Shelter Here : Making the World a Kinder Place for Dogs by Rob Laidlaw. 9780986949555. 2012. Gr 4-6

Rob Laidlaw, long-time animal advocate and international champion of dogs, provides information about the challenges dogs face around the world.  With examples from Canada, Japan, India, and several other countries in addition to the United States, he exposes the plight of these abandoned and often abused animals.  Urging readers to get involved, he relates the stories of children and young people around the globe who saw a problem and became Dog Champions.  Kids have created documentaries, raised money, and helped to make lawmakers aware of dog abuse.  This book is great for reluctant readers, dog lovers, or kids who need to do a service project.

Blogger:  Tracey L.

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Book Review : Legacy of Tril: Soulbound

July 5, 2012 · Filed under Fantasy, Fiction, High School, Middle School (6-8), Novels, Reviews · Tagged , , ,

Soulbound (Legacy of Tril #1) by Heather Brewer.  9780803737235.  2012.  Gr. 7-12.

Do you ever go through a lull where the books you read are good but not great? Or you finish a book that leaves you apathetic? And then all of a sudden you read a book that totally engrosses you. A book you can’t put down until you finish and even though it ends with a tantalizing cliffhanger, you don’t even care because it was so good. I was going through such a lull when I received an ARC of Heather Brewer’s Soulbound, the first book in her Legacy of Tril series.

In the world of Tril, there are Barrons and Healers. A Barron and a Healer are bound together for life. Kaya is the daughter of two Barrons, but she is a Healer. Her parents escaped the Barron-run Zettai Council, but after an unfortunate incident, Kaya’s family is discovered and she is forced to attend the Shadow Academy. There she is bound to a Barron, the sweet but rule-following Trayton, and forced to learn the Healer arts. But in this life of rules and strict protocol, Kaya is unsatisfied with her status as a Healer, treated as being beneath Barrons. She wants to learn to protect herself and fight. She needs someone to teach her and she knows that Trayton would never break the rules that severely. So she is left with Darius, the moody and irritable weapons instructor. As Darius trains Kaya to fight, it changes the course of both their lives.

As I said before, this book totally engrossed me. It was fast-paced, and it got to the point where I couldn’t put it down until I finished. Kaya is a compelling main character. She’s forced into this society that she never wanted to be in, required to follow rules she doesn’t believe in. But amidst all that, she holds on to herself and fights to remain the person she was before coming to the Shadow Academy. Trayton and Darius make good love interests. Although I am tiring of love triangles in YA fiction, Brewer writes it well, and I found myself rooting for both Trayton and Darius at various points in the book.

I would recommend this book to any fantasy readers, and I can’t wait for the next one to come out!

Lindsey L.

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Finding Family

July 2, 2012 · Filed under Fiction, High School, Novels, Realistic · Tagged , , , , ,

What does it mean to be family?  Do you like your family?  What would you do for them if you had to?  If you pose these questions to teens, I think you’d get a wide range of responses—probably including some strong opinions on parents or siblings.  If you posed the questions to the teen characters in the following novels, I think you would get some strong opinions as well. But their answers at the beginnings of the books will likely be different from those at the end.  Perhaps the same might be said of your teens?

In Blood Wounds, Willa feels like her family is perfect.  She lives with her mom, step-dad, and two step-sisters, and their blended family seems about as happy as families can get.  Then an unthinkable tragedy changes everything—the father Willa has never known murders his new wife and daughters. Willa is faced with questions about her father and his crime, about the family she didn’t know, and about the hidden cracks in her blended family that explode in the face of a difficult situation. Throughout all of her confusion, Willa holds her own, and teens will probably relate to her angst.

Jennifer Brown takes on the sibling relationship in her latest novel, Perfect Escape, which has a brother and sister taking off on a cross-country trip only to find that the other isn’t quite what they’d always thought.   The book takes on mental illness, cheating, and more, but it is the relationship between Kendra and Grayson that takes center stage in this emotional novel.  Brown writes in an author’s note of her own siblings.  She says,

“The sibling relationship is one of the most intimate and complex relationships that could ever exist. Who else in your life can you have, over a lifetime, utterly despised, thrown shoes at, tattled on, cried over, laughed with, taken baths with, shared clothes with, cussed at, fought with, and loved?”

Kendra finds that her attempt to foil her brother’s “issues” by being the perfect child wasn’t the perfect plan, and perhaps Grayson has more to offer than she thought.

I don’t want to leave out extended family in this look at family-related fiction.  In Curveball, Jordan Sonnenblick brings his usual blend of humor and drama to Peter’s freshman year of high school.  Everything seems to be changing—he can’t play baseball anymore after an injury and his grandfather seems to be in serious decline mentally—and it’s all secret.  Peter doesn’t want to disappoint his best friend by telling him that he won’t be on the team this year (or ever), and Peter’s grandfather has sworn him to secrecy about his episodes.   Neither of the issues are going to go away, though, and Peter has to figure out when and how to let secrets out.

Teen readers will leave these books pondering the sacrifices they make for their family and what their families have done for them.

Bibliography:

Blood Wounds by Susan Beth Pfeffer. January 2011. 9780547496382. Gr 8-12

Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip by Jordan Sonnenblick. March 2012. 9780547496382. Gr 7-10

Perfect Escape by Jennifer Brown. July 2012. 9780316185578. Gr 9-12

Blogger: Mindy R.

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