Turning Pages Reads: MS. BIXBY'S LAST DAY by JOHN DAVID ANDERSON

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

While I love John David Anderson's books, I was scared to read this one, because "last" is a word for me that contains expectations of OTT emotion and pathos. But, then, I remembered who I was dealing with. John David Anderson writes books with heart, but they are always, always, always, in tiny, screwball ways, or in ridiculous, massive, exploding building fashion - funny. So, content commentary for this book: Some may need tissues, others might only feel heart pinches and not need them. Most young readers I would expect will come away feeling a bit melancholy, but Anderson artfully ends the novel with its beginning, to help keep the focus on the theme of the story, and to bring the question back to the reader: what would make for your perfect last day?

"We all have moments when we think nobody really sees us. When we feel like we have to act out or be somebody else just to get noticed. But somebody notices, Topher. Somebody sees. Somebody out there probably thinks you're the greatest thing in the whole world. Don't ever think you're not good enough."

MS. BIXBY'S LAST DAY, pp. 232-3

Synopsis: Topher, Steve and Brand are sixth graders in Ms. Bixby's class at Fox Ridge Elementary. They're thoroughly different - Steve is Japanese American and the genius of the group, with his eidetic memory and a head full of stats and detail. Brand is the biggest - calm, serious, full of smart, made-up words, and could probably beat up Trevor Cowly, or even a seventh grader, if he put his mind to it. Topher is the artistic one - full of wild stories and amazing drawings. On the surface, the three of them don't have that much in common, except pizza, video games... and Ms. Bixby. But, a look beneath, and Steve, wilting under the sky-high expectations of his parents is a lot like Topher, withering under the busybusybusy-lack-of-attention from his, who is just like Brand, who is struggling with a father who fell down, but lost the heart to get up again.

When their favorite teacher lets the class know that she's withdrawing from school to fight the cancer she's just been diagnosed with, the three boys - so different, and so much the same - don't know how to manage. To each of them individually, Ms. Bixby has been Their Person - the one who sees something good in them, cheers them on, only minimally rolls her eyes when they're being doofusy, and who never gives up on them. Without her, who are they? When on the day of the planned class farewell party, they arrive at school to find a substitute teacher, they embark on The Plan - a plan to bring the party to her, to make it a perfect last day of school with three of her favorite students. They plot to cut school - which makes Steve's knees shake - and go see her in the hospital. Topher's already imagining chases with police and truant officers. Brand is making detailed lists. The genius is that The Plan will to give Ms. Bixby back everything that she's given to them.

It's ...a disaster.

It's also, perfect.

Observations: I can't say much about The Plan without ruining the story, but I think the genius here lies in the character shading. Anderson takes the time to explain why Brand would pick Steve's nose for him - (it made sense at the time. Kind of) that gives us insight into the rigid rules that Brand is locking himself into. That, in turn, explains at least in part why Steve kind of couldn't stand Brand for a long, long time, and there's another part of Steve that isn't all the way filled yet, at least not by Steve. Topher, whose easy acceptance of Brand is hard for his best friend Steve to accept, likes lots of people and lots of different things, and has a running screenplay in his head that makes him imagine himself to be a lot of other people, all the time. Who wants to be just himself, when he could contain multitudes? All three of these aspects of the boys' characters enlarge the story and help make it memorable.

Conclusion: There really are no perfect books, but this book has both wit and emotional resonance. The imperfection of its characters - and even of Ms. Bixby - step it back from being a overly-sweet paean of tribute to being a slice-of-life-ordinary, rare-and-extraordinary love story between a group of students, and one of The Good Ones; an excellent teacher.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my personal library. You can find MS. BIXBY'S LAST DAY by John David Anderson at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Thursday Review: AS BRAVE AS YOU by Jason Reynolds

Synopsis: This Coretta Scott King Honor Book is the first one I've read by Jason Reynolds. I've been wanting to read one of his for a while now—he is someone who is clearly well regarded by other authors online. Now I can safely say that, if he's anything like his narrator Genie, he's full of character, curiosity, humor, and heart.

In this middle-grade novel about family, brotherhood, and what it means to be a man, the story is told through the eyes of eleven-year-old Genie. Genie's dominant personality trait is inquisitiveness: he is constantly asking (often inadvertently hilarious) questions, and when he can't ask them or Google them, he writes them down in his notebook for later. These days he has to write down a lot of his questions because his fourteen-year-old brother Ernie has no patience for them, and mom and dad are arguing all the time. And now, while their parents work out their troubles, Genie and Ernie have been sent from their home in Brooklyn to their grandparents' place in rural Virginia for the summer—where there's NO INTERNET.

Of course, a new environment means a whole new set of questions for Genie—questions like, why is Grandpop blind, and how does he navigate the house so well when he can't see? Even more confusing to Genie is, why does Grandpop never leave the house? And why, if he can't see, does he have a gun?

Observations: Of all the questions Genie asks, the meaning of manhood is really the central Big Question in this book. Genie really looks up to his older brother, which is why, when the time comes for Ernie to "be a man" and learn to shoot, he can't understand why Ernie is so reluctant. When Genie looks at the men in his life—his dad, his Grandpop—he realizes that manhood is a lot more complicated than he first thought. And, as Genie himself learns to deal with the problems of his own making, and figures out how to own up and solve them, he gets a few more clues about what it means to be a man and an adult.

Something I really liked about this book is that the problems and obstacles are all realistic and believable, and the issues Genie is faced with are things he can face down because they're…not so much that they're kid-sized problems, but they are issues that any reader can relate to: what to do if you break something with sentimental value to someone else; whether or not to keep a secret. At the same time, these more everyday-sized problems are stand-ins for real, adult-level issues that are being dealt with by the grown-ups in the picture, and so Genie's questions—and his solutions—have weight.

Conclusion: Genie is such an earnest, busy, lively guy, and he's easy to root for (and cringe for, too). This is an outstanding addition to the realm of MG novels about family and trust, as well as MG literature by and about people of color.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find AS BRAVE AS YOU by Jason Reynolds at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Cybils Finalist Review: TRASHED by Derf Backderf

Synopsis: This is my last Cybils 2016 graphic novel finalist review! Last but not least is Trashed by Derf "Not His Real First Name" Backderf, an edutaining chronicle of the life cycle of garbage, and the trials and tribulations of a garbageman (apparently loosely based on a job the author actually held for a while).

Observations: I enjoyed the blending in of factual sequences describing the job details of a garbage collector and the journey garbage takes from curb to landfill and into the environment. It's bound to make readers think more about the trash they produce and about garbage as a global issue. As an older reader and homeowner, it was eye-opening to see things from the garbageman's perspective, and how we might not think twice about dumping random crap in the trash but it is truly somebody's job to deal with it, and it may have ramifications beyond just the mess in your garbage can.

The comic-strip style of this one was also enjoyable--plenty of humor in both the writing and the images, distinctive character art, and easy-to-understand diagrams in the educational portions. Having said that, because it IS distinctive, it won't be to everyone's taste; I wasn't sure if I'd like it at first because the characters have a weird blockiness to them that was a little off-putting, but it grew on me. (Which, in retrospect, seems like a terrible word choice for a book about garbage...)

Conclusion: There was plenty of hilarity here, in an old-school comic strip kind of style, and it offers an intriguing, humanizing window into the life of a garbageman as well as the life of garbage itself. The combination of educational elements with slice-of-life stories about the protagonist J.B. and his buddies was well done. The characters, of course, of necessity are adult characters, so that part doesn't feel very YA, I suppose, but older young adults might enjoy this one.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. You can find TRASHED by Derf Backderf at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Thursday Review: HIGHLY ILLOGICAL BEHAVIOR by John Corey Whaley

Synopsis: It might not be easy to picture a story that takes heavy stuff—mental illness, coming out—and weaves them into an often-hilarious, totally recognizable story of friendship and love. Highly Illogical Behavior (which takes place in, of all conceivable locations, UPLAND, which is very close to where I lived as a child) uses the alternating viewpoints of Solomon Reed—who is agoraphobic and hasn't left his house in three years, ever since one fateful day in eighth grade—and Lisa Praytor, who seems to be his polar opposite in just about every single way. Lisa is extroverted, ambitious, and she just happens to want to get into the second-best psychology program in the country.

Through happenstance, Sol's situation falls across Lisa's radar, and she gets a possibly brilliant, audacious, and definitely ethically questionable idea: she will make Sol her project. She'll fix his agoraphobia. And then she'll write about it in her application essay, thus demonstrating her prodigious psychological talents. Unsurprisingly, neither her best friend Janis nor her boyfriend Clark think this is such a good plan, but that doesn't stop Lisa.

Of course, as she gets to know Sol, and over time becomes his friend, things get a lot more complicated than she anticipated. This is, after all, someone's LIFE, someone's mental well-being. And because she, too, has grown to care very much about Sol, her straight-out USING him to pad her college application becomes even more painful to witness, more and more thorny and entangled and questionable. And yet it's undeniable: Sol is changing. Does the end justify the means? Is their friendship a true one? And can the reader finish this story without wanting to SLAP Lisa across the face just one time? (I would guess, no.)

Observations: This book does so much to show that panic and anxiety disorders, including agoraphobia, are not what defines a person or their character. It's a critical point that those of us who suffer from this type of mental issue will recognize: the need to truly understand and accept that you are not your illness. Getting that message across to those readers who may be just starting to realize they have a real issue? And setting them on the path to understanding and accepting themselves? It could be lifesaving.

The message comes across so clearly in part, I think, because of how recognizable these characters are—it's easy to see and KNOW the ambitious, obsessively college-bound, driven Lisa Praytor. Sol is just as familiar, especially to anyone who has ever experienced social anxiety on any level, but also as a human being with desires and hopes and interests of his own. The characters are all rounded and complex, and it's refreshing to see that Sol—the one with the mental issues—is the one with the MOST functional and loving family. His parents and his grandmother support him and love him unconditionally, and they aren't relegated to bit parts, either.

It drives home the point that mental illness is not a decision that you can simply will yourself out of; that sufferers should not face blame for their condition; and that there is a biological component, meaning that you can have a good life and a happy family but still suffer from a mental illness—Sol's home life and family circumstances are not at fault for his situation.

Conclusion: Though a few aspects of the story stretched credibility—mostly, it seemed, to keep with the book's sense of humor and overall madcap kind of tone—I ended up loving these annoying, sweet, and ultimately very real characters.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find HIGHLY ILLOGICAL BEHAVIOR by John Corey Whaley at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Monday Review: REALITY BOY by A.S. King

Synopsis: I picked this one up (and got it signed; woot!) at the most recent Kidlitosphere Conference in Wichita—somehow I missed it when it came out a few years ago, but I'm so glad I went back for it, because it's up there with my favorite A.S. King novels.

Picture one of those awful, Nanny 9-1-1 reality TV shows that were so popular there for a while. Now, imagine being a teenager, and having been one of the luckless kids who was featured on such a show as a toddler, too young to have any say about it. Imagine you'd been acting out your anger at your manipulative older sister in all kinds of sad and horrible ways, but thanks to oblivious parents and heartless TV studio execs, you're the one who takes the blame. That's what happened to Gerald Faust. Now seventeen, he's biding his time until he graduates, working a job at the local sports arena and still working on his anger issues. You'd be angry, too, if all the kids at school knew you as "the Crapper" and your awful sister was still living in the basement, making your life hell.

Gerald feels very much alone at the beginning of this novel, but it is those who dare to reach out to him that begin to truly open him up to the world: his boss at the arena, who is everything his mom isn't; and Hannah, a girl with enough troubles of her own that she doesn't seem to care about Gerald's past. In tiny ways, and then in more pronounced ways, his walls start to come down, and his life starts to change. And, to his surprise…he finds hope out there beyond the walls.

Observations: This story was incredibly gripping, told as it was in alternating sections: Gerald's childhood on the TV show, and his experiences with the TV nanny, are juxtaposed with his present-day life and tribulations with schoolmates and family. Some of his problems are new, and some of them just never went away…and through it all, he struggles with his anger and powerlessness. Overcoming his anger, and realizing the power that he DOES have, is one of the core themes of this book. Feeling powerless, feeling like you're subject to the whims of your family and those around you—it's basically a childhood/adolescent truism, but Reality Boy takes it to heretofore unexplored heights.

I had so, SO much sympathy and righteous anger on behalf of Gerald—how could parents do something like that? How could they raise their children in such a dysfunctional way?—and yet these types of small tragedies happen every day, albeit not necessarily in such visible ways. Still, the presence of the media panopticon in this story is frighteningly relevant.

Conclusion: A.S. King does such an incredible job of telling Gerald's story here, making us feel for him AND feel his anger—and making us root for him to heal. Fans of her books won't want to miss this.

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I purchased my copy of this book from Watermark Books in Wichita. You can find REALITY BOY by A.S. King at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Monday Review: NEED by Joelle Charbonneau

I think this is a pretty effective cover.

Synopsis: Need, which I randomly picked up as part of a recent library haul, is a suspenseful thriller with a topical premise—the insidious power of social media and the questionable ease of online interactions—but it also asks timeless questions about ethics, peer pressure, what we want vs. what we truly need, and how far individuals will go to get what they want.

When sixteen-year-old Kaylee finds out about Need, the new social media site for students of Nottawa High School, she is initially skeptical, and understandably so. Sure, it sounds too good to be true that all you'd have to do is invite a few friends or complete a simple task, and then you'd get to make a request. But then people start getting things like new phones, new computers…and Kaylee decides to take a chance and ask for what she really DOES need: a new kidney for her younger brother DJ, from a donor who is a good match.

Then things start to get sinister. People start to get hurt. The tasks assigned by Need aren't so harmless anymore. Pretty soon someone winds up dead. Kaylee starts questioning who's behind it all—and suddenly it's a race against time as people are picked off, one by one.

Observations: One of the strengths of this book is the level of suspense created as the reader watches helplessly while everyone descends into a sort of Lord-of-the-Flies, everyone-out-for-herself game of survival, wondering who is pulling the strings. It's definitely a page turner, as the viewpoint shifts between several characters, each of whom has their own needs and wants—and some of whom will go to any extreme to get it. What do we choose when faced with temptation, with a devil's bargain? Which of the seemingly normal people around us might be a hidden sociopath? What happens when we allow ourselves to be manipulated? These are all fascinating questions explored by this story.

I did have a few minor issues, though. As for who is pulling the strings, I unfortunately guessed pretty early on because, realistically, the options for whodunit were limited. I also found the whydunit problematic—the villain struck me as a bit over-the-top, a bit of the typical madman sort with no conscience and abundant megalomania. Lastly, I did find myself questioning the believability of the overall premise: how realistic is it to think that a harmful and manipulative social network would escape the notice of adults or the outside world for long enough to cause this level of havoc? BUT—I don't think these are questions that are going to bother most readers, and they don't keep the book from being an engaging, interesting, and fast-paced story.

Conclusion: Fans of contemporary thrillers will want to check this one out—it tackles topically relevant issues in a very compulsively readable way, and definitely hits frighteningly close to home in our internet- and social-media-saturated society. It might also prove thought-provoking for readers growing up in a world where social media has always been a fact of life—and get them to ask the right kinds of questions when the next new thing comes along.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library. You can find NEED by Joelle Charbonneau at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Monday Review: THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING by Robyn Schneider

Summary: It takes some serious stones to start a story off with a decapitation. But I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say that, yes, in some ways that WAS the beginning of everything for narrator Ezra Faulkner. It wasn't fatal for HIM, obviously, but that day when he and his best friend Toby were twelve years old and witnessed something horrific and gruesome was the day their lives were changed forever. And, life being the way it is, it wasn't the last life-changing moment, either.

Fast-forward about five years. Ezra and Toby aren't close any more. Ezra, in fact, is kind of the King of School these days—varsity tennis champ, popular crowd, keggers every Friday night, and so forth. Until one night, he leaves one of his tennis teammates' keggers and his car is hit by another vehicle that blows a stop sign. His leg is shattered, as is his tennis career, and he finds out how easy it is for everything he knew in his comfortable life to fall apart.

Don't get me wrong; this isn't the kind of story where the narrator's life does a total 180. One of the things I like about this book is that the changes are realistic and believable. Ezra may not have a picture-perfect family life, but he has a comfortable upper-upper-middle-class existence to fall back on. He may have lost his brawn, but he actually does have brains and is fine with using them, especially now that his free ticket to college is kaput. And, after all these years, he has his friend Toby. They haven't been close, but they've stayed on decent terms, and now Toby's got what Ezra lost: a group of loyal true friends and a sense of his own core self. And so, what seemed like the end may in fact be another beginning. Especially when the new girl, Cassidy, comes along…

Peaks: Like I said, I enjoyed the fact that the life-changing moments in this story were believable and human-scale, and didn't go all the way over the line into Major Tragic Emo. Those types of stories don't appeal to me and I generally don't read them. I guess I prefer stories that deal with the everyday sorts of tragedies, the kind that might happen to someone you know—the kind in, say, a Sarah Dessen novel.

I also got a lot of pleasure from the depiction of the Southern-California setting in this book. I've written about very VERY similar settings because it's where I grew up and went to high school—not quite in the OC, where this story takes place, but basically 30 minutes east. The palm trees decorated with Christmas lights, the Santa Ana winds, the ability to drive out to the beach or into L.A. in about an hour, give or take…it's a very particular growing-up experience, and it was portrayed well.

Valleys: If there are any weaknesses here, it's that some of Ezra's previous jock-and-cheerleader friends are sometimes a little two-dimensional, but having said that, the author does make sure that the most important characters are well-rounded—namely, Ezra's ex-girlfriend Charlotte, who is not simply a hot-mess megabeeyatch but a real person, albeit quite flawed.

Conclusion: I recommend this one for fans of the contemporary coming-of-age tale, done realistically, with a focus on friends and school relationships. Because the characters are high school seniors, there's definitely mature language and behavior—it's not a "young YA" story. Again, if you like Sarah Dessen, or (I feel like such a dork for tooting my own horn here, but I really did think about the similarities) my second book Underneath, I'd suggest picking it up. Good male narrator, so there's guy interest here, too.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING by Robyn Schneider at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Thursday Review: THE DIVINE by A. Hanuka, T. Hanuka, and B. Lavie

Summary: This story of ancient spirits in a war-torn Southeast Asian country—the fictional land of Quanlom—is a fast read, saturated with the brutality of war's aftermath and its effects on children who no longer are given the luxury of a real childhood. I'd deem it a crossover title in terms of content and characters both; the story's protagonist here is Mark, an explosives expert with a pregnant wife and a solid job, a steady life. That is, until his old buddy Jason offers him a top-secret military contract in Quanlom, rigging up some explosives. The money sounds too good to be true…and then Mark discovers that not only does he have to contend with the moral and ethical horror of child soldiers, he also must face a land imbued with—and protected by—ancient spirits… and then decide whose side he is really on.

A quick disclaimer for adult language with this one—there are a few instances of strong language, because one of the main characters is a military-type guy with a monster attitude. That's the main reason why I'd consider this a crossover title, good for YA and above but certainly not below unless you want kids to ask uncomfortable questions about the C-word (the female one). As a story of war, it's also got its share of violence.

Photo by Apichart Weerawong. Source: NY Times

Peaks: I love the fact that this story was actually inspired by a real-life photograph of two twelve-year-old twins from East Burma who had fought to defend their land by leading an army of refugees. Their story was surrounded by legends, but the kids were (and are) real, and the photo exists (it's reprinted at the end of the book). It's kind of a what-if-the-legends-were-real story, and it's also a painful reminder of the realities of what went on in Southeast Asia, the ground still seeded with land mines and permeated with past violence. It's a history that's easy to forget or ignore, and stories like this help us remember.

Click to embiggen

Valleys: As mentioned above, this one isn't for every reader, due to violent content and language. That aside, I found myself wanting to know more about the mythology—there's a dragon-like creature, his soldiers that look like Buddhist tomb guardian figures, but not much in the way of background culture. Nevertheless, the art in those sections is atmospherically rendered, and does reward those with some existing understanding of the visual references.

Conclusion: This is a great one for guy readers, and particularly, I think, reluctant guy readers. It's fast-paced and action-packed, with cool supernatural elements and video-game violence. From a moral standpoint, the ending was also quite satisfying. And if it gets readers interested in the story behind the story, so much the better.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the publisher, First Second. You can find THE DIVINE by Asaf Hanuka, Tomer Hanuka, and Boaz Lavie at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Thursday Review: THE WAY BACK FROM BROKEN by Amber J. Keyser

Summary: Full disclosure: Amber Keyser is an author I met at a past KidLitCon; her editor Andrew Karre at Carolrhoda Lab I also know from KidLitCon (a different one) and I'm in contact with both of them online. They sent me my review copy of The Way Back from Broken.

OK, business now out of the way.

When I sat down to think about it, there really aren't that many "guy books" that deal with emotional issues. There are general "issue books" with male protagonists, but compared to the number of books with female protags that place emotional recovery front and center? The guy books aren't as numerous, that's for sure. The Way Back from Broken is one of those rare books with a male main character that foregrounds grief and recovery, friendship and love, and does it in an authentic and believable way, because yes, teenage boys deal with their emotions differently, but that doesn't mean they don't HAVE them.

Rakmen Cannon, the protagonist, is a good kid who's had bad things happen to him. He's still recovering from the grief of his baby sister's accidental death, his parents' marriage is crumbling before his very eyes, and he has to suffer the indignity of going to art therapy in a basement with a bunch of other grieving kids while his mom goes to the mother's support group upstairs. Things get even worse when ten-year-old Jacey, the new girl at art therapy, latches onto him and seems to think he can help her somehow. Oh, and Jacey's mom is one of Rakmen's teachers at school.

Rakmen has no idea what he could possibly do to help. He doesn't even want to talk about his own feelings; what can he do for a ten-year-old girl? And yet…she seems to look up to him. Almost like a brother. He hasn't had that feeling in a long time, but he's forced to confront it when his mom sends him along with Jacey and her mother on a summer wilderness trip. It's when the three of them leave the cabin and go au large--French Canadian for "on walkabout"—with just their packs and canoes, that they are forced to really start depending on one another…and that's when the walls start coming down.

Peaks: Besides what I already mentioned about how it's great to have another book for boys (and girls) that delves into the inevitability of both grief and recovery, another thing I found noteworthy about this book is that the protagonist Rakmen is of mixed race—he has a black father and Latina mother—and it's clearly portrayed but also just as clearly Not An Issue. It just is, and Rakmen is who he is, and there are a few ramifications there, but this isn't the central plot point by any means. (Did you hear that? His race doesn't define him! He is a Complex Individual!) That was really well done, in my opinion. And the girl he kind of likes, Molly—a girl in his support group—happens to be white, but that isn't a Thing. What hangs over them isn't race, but sadness.

Ironically, it's what they share that keeps them isolated. Being able to open up can't just be done on command, though, and in this case, it takes an experience that gets Rakmen outside his own head. I've seen this to be true so often, and I like that it happens in this story. I also like that everything isn't tied up in a neat bow at the end, but is realistically a bit messy. Progress is made, there is hope, but you can't bring back the dead, and some things can't ever be quite healed.

Valleys: I have to admit, I wanted this to be a bit more of a survival story, when they got to their journey au large in the Canadian wilderness. There are scary moments and physical danger, but I never quite felt that life-threatening terror that I was, for some reason, expecting. I don't know that it's a problem with the book so much as with my expectations, though. And there's certainly enough emotional tribulation to go around without having to take their physical endurance to its limits.

Conclusion: This is the kind of story I'd put in the hands of a Chris Crutcher fan—because that's whose books this reminds me of. It's about love and loss and that elusive "learning to be a man" that can be so difficult and confusing, especially when you feel like you're supposed to control or hide your emotions. It's a really heartfelt story, with believably flawed characters, including the adults. This was a debut, and I look forward to reading more of the author's books in the future.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the author and publisher. You can find THE WAY BACK FROM BROKEN by Amber J. Keyser at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

TURNING PAGES: THE LEVELLER, by JULIA DURANGO

There's a lot of information in the news on how female gamers aren't really thought about, or marketed to in the video game industry, so I was interested, reading the description of this book, in the female protagonist. The author didn't touch on any hot button issues particularly, but this quick-paced story will engage even non-gamers who love an adventure.

Summary: Phoenix "Nixy" Bauer is a gamer with a plan: play hard, work hard, make money, go to college, and someday, unlike her wage-slave parents, BE THE BOSS. With her buds Moose and Chang, Nixy is not terribly politically correct, a little aggressive, a lot straightforward, and really, really good at MEEP games, thus good at her job ... which is to gank unsuspecting kids out of the MeaParadisus, Inc. world known as MEEP. MEEP is a fully immersive virtual reality gaming world where people - especially teens - spend hours building and buying, fighting and flirting. They actually go under, leaving their bodies - and their ability to hear their scolding families - behind.

Nixy's parents both work for MeaParadisus, her father in programming, her mother in scripting - so in the spirit of entrepreneurship, Nixy creates a job for herself as a freelancer who benefits from the company. Retrieving MEEP playing kids who have bought a timer hack and stayed in their own little worlds longer than the allotted four hours is a great gig, and Nixy does it for a much lower price than the official "Safe Return Specialists" from MeaParadisus. "Nixy Bauer, Home in an Hour" is her tagline, and kids -- she only works with kids now, not scary loser adults -- hate to see her coming. Who would have ever thought that one of the kids who'd hate to see her show up would be Wyn Salvador, son of MeaParadisus gadzillionaire developer, Diego Salvador. But, he's been in the MEEP for four days, and Nixy's actually been hired to drag his rich, slacking backside back to reality - and a pretty cushy reality it is, at that. After all of her negotiation with the big boss for the big bucks, what with the sharks and all, it's too bad there's no way she's going to get her "home in an hour" bonus...

Peaks: For readers who appreciate a fast-paced plot, danger from a nebulous "them," confronting one's own fears and a character who goads others and battles herself into and out of trouble, this book will work well. It will appeal to guys as well as girls who have an interest in adventure - neither have to be gamers to enjoy this.

Nixy is somewhat unlikeable -- sarcastic, prickly, touchy and not really at home with her own emotions, and in her own skin. In YA fiction, there is often a surfeit of sweetness in teen girls, and a ridiculous level of mental balance and personal maturity, so Nixy is an antidote to that. She's confident to the point of swagger, believes that she can pretty well control every thing that comes across the net, and melts down completely when she can't. I loved that touch of realism. I thought it was interesting that for all of Nixy's aggression, Wyn is depicted as much more of a lover than a fighter, which I wondered at, and would have liked to see him remain aggressive and confident as well.

Valleys: While not necessarily a "valley," per se, there were things I wished had been more thoroughly explored in the novel, things which would have created greater emotional resonance for the reader. For instance, it seemed that the author may have deliberately diminished opportunities to explore Nixy's emotions. I wanted to know whether or not Nixy was proud of, or ashamed of being a gamer, whether or not she knew any other girls who gamed, whether or not she was ever given guff for it from the boys of her acquaintance, other than Moose and Chang. As Nixy and Wyn become close, we wonder if this is her first relationship? Does she wonder what her guy friends will think of this? Does she worry about what happens in MEEP-land crossing the consciousness barrier and coming into the Real World at all? Though not crucial to the adventure, these touches would have grounded the book in the here and now a bit more, and given more depth and emotional resonance.

Nixy is sarcastic and makes cracks about people's appearance, most notably women's appearances - and she and her father seem to glory in the chaos they cause, ignoring Nixy's mother, Jill, as some kind of order-bringing killjoy. And yet, Nixy learns to respect her mother's work a bit. I wish there'd been more exploration of that - Nixy feels briefly and vaguely guilty about realizing her mother is Somebody and she's ignored her - but we don't see the aftermath of this, and her character doesn't necessarily change and grow because of her revelation that her mother's work is important.

For me, the novel ended a little abruptly - Nixy has had a MAJOR wrench in her belief system and her loyalties - and I would have liked to know how it affected her emotionally. What happened was serious, and we are left hanging, wondering how it's going to affect everyone. Instead of a real conclusion, readers are given more of Nixy's nascent romance with Wyn, which felt inevitable instead of intriguing.

Conclusion: A fast-paced adventure for lovers of mystery and suspense, this book will appeal to gamers and non-gamers of whatever gender who need that one last book to escape to before school starts in earnest.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the public library. You can find THIS BOOK by This Author at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

TURNING PAGES: TRAIL OF THE DEAD, by JOSEPH BRUCHAC

I have a tiny addiction to Joseph Bruchac's KILLER OF ENEMIES books, as you'll note from my original review, the review of the ROSE EAGLE novella, and the fact that I do cover reveals for the KILLERS series - which I don't often even notice are going on, with other books. In between books in this series, I generally make a nuisance of myself, poking around Tu Books and pressing my face to the glass. (Metaphorically.) Where other post-apocalyptic books are literally the stuff of nightmares, and I find myself depressed by them, or rushing through the awful parts, the characterization in these novels make the nightmare-monster-filled desert a place that seems ...kinda homey. In a terrible way. Like, I could do without the flying monkeys...

Unlike many books which bridge the first and last bits of a trilogy, there is important story happening here - with the action slowed (but not by much - still plenty of varmints that need killin'), we get to know a different Lozen, one who is still struggling with newly discovered powers and trying to learn to rely on them like she would her own five senses, we see her weaknesses and challenges and we're introduced to a terrifying, soulless evil that always returns...

I'm happy to have read this sequel, and while you're waiting to get yours (October 1, 2015), you might go back and start at the beginning of the series while you wait. It's worth your while.

Summary: Lozen keeps waiting to feel like there's been... victory. Everyone is standing upright. Nobody's dead. Even some long-lost people she respected have caught up to she and her newly reunited family. Hussein is still right beside her, and together, they're on the way to the Valley where the rest of the Chiricahua in their group was left behind -- so why does she feel like the bottom is about to drop out of the universe? And, why does she feel so... dark? So empty? The nightmares are the worst, and she keeps listening, looking, calling silently for Hally - but he's nowhere to be found, now.

Everyone looks to Lozen like she's the girl with the plan, but how did she end up in charge of this ragtag bunch of survivors? And, what is she supposed to do, when it turns out that the Valley on which she pinned all her hopes isn't a safe place at all? Her finger's are twitchy on her guns - and she's hurting beings who doesn't deserve it. Coyote isn't to be trusted - yet he's lurking, and there are hostile eyes, all around them. Lozen feels brittle -- like she's going to break -- and the feeling of being stalked increases. Something's got to give, but they're running out of time.

Peaks: There are ...pop culture references in this novel that Lozen doesn't understand, but which are little gifts for the reader, spoken by The Dreamer and Hally. Sometimes it's other books which pop up and wave, and there was a Robert Burns reference that gave me a little twinge of unexpected poignant loveliness. There's a very funny battle of wits with Coyote that I enjoyed especially - and I think the odd bits of comic relief put in when Lozen can hardly smile are important because she cannot smile. She cannot laugh. She cannot lay the battle down and pick up hope -- because Warrior Mind - or PTSD - makes it feel like you're going to be fighting a war forever.

The feeling of utter defeat after having to kill not just monsters but people? Is one that shouldn't be downplayed. This is why Lozen isn't characterized as just some noble-profiled superheroine, but a real person. All of the running around and leadership and powers-having GETS OLD. All of the people who have lost because of her, have been hurt, because others were gunning for her, or manipulating her - all of this weighs on her soul. I also appreciated that while Lozen may be struggling, when she finds help, it's not Insta-Help. The relief is immediate, but Lozen acknowledges immediately that one cannot live on a mountaintop, nor stay in a place of healing - warriors have to go down again and take up the fight, but the trick is carrying the place of peace and healing along with them.

Cover Chatter: I love that the model for the first and second books remains the same, and I can't wait to see what the final looks like.

Conclusion: Slightly slowing to let us see a bit more of Lozen's world, her soul, and her struggles, this second volume in this KILLER trilogy gives us more Chiricahua stories - and a Bedu one, too - more enemies to worry over, and more to love to in this crazy post-apocalyptic version of America. Your readers will want to finish this and then go right back to the first one like I did.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of Tu Books. After October 1, you can find TRAIL OF THE DEAD by Joseph Bruchac at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

TURNING PAGES: THE THORN OF DENTONHILL, by MARSHALL RYAN MARESCA

While this adventure isn't technically YA nor marketed as such, the protagonist is a young man in a magical "university," but given the sort of Olde English wording in some spots and the kind of feel of the story, I think "university" might be a catch-all word for "boarding school;" Veranix certainly doesn't seem much older than maybe seventeen and perfectly relate-able for most teens.

Summary: A student by day, Veranix Calbert is a Robinhood-style hustler by night, out to shut down the drug trade in the neighborhood of Dentonhill, and utterly ruin the crime lord who runs it. It's not a minor goal, and it's one which would be made a lot easier if a.) he could inform the Constabulary of his plans, and b.) they would take him seriously, and c.) work with him, but he's a student, young and impulsive - and some of the Law is pretty crooked. No matter - Veranix has his gang lieutenant cousin to watch his back, his friend Kaiana to sew him up and shake her head at his stupidity - and an information source in his roommate Delrin - and that's all he really needs. He also has the loot from an intercepted forty-thousand crown drug deal that turns out to be a rope... and a cloak. He has no idea what a drug lord was doing with them, nor does Veranix have any intention of giving them back - and soon, he realizes it would be dangerous to do so. Veranix, with a handful of magic and a head full of revenge, soon becomes as notorious as legend, and soon the street gangs, and even mages from outside the University all want a piece of his hide. He's used to scrapes, going without sleep, burning the candle on both ends, but it's all been worth it, to be a thorn in one man's side... But it's a lot harder than you'd think to be a thorn and not get yanked out.

Peaks: I could read about magic schools all day, and students who are meant to be studying, but who are doing EVERYTHING else instead - that's a cross-cultural, cross-genre trope that always plays well. The setting in the novel, a kind of Renaissance-era, quasi-familiar, somewhat "olde worlde" magical universe seems also to be where we've been before, but this Maradine has an underlying structure which intrigues - gangs fight for territorial holds on various streets, street kids below, block captains above - some of whom operate hand and glove with the crooked Constabulary, which in some neighborhoods can be bribed to look the other way. The "hoods" are about difference - the walled University, the respectable working folk of Aventil, the Waterstreet Bridge which crosses into the scrabbling underclass of Dentonhill - and what makes them the same. Interestingly, the gang life isn't glossed over as "bad people" who live on the underbelly; we get a real sense of the family ties and loyalties and pride which hold them together - and the anxieties of living on the edge of violence and hunger, in a crooked city where wealth and magic might just go hand and glove - and fist. With no real justice coming from above, an anti-hero like Veranix can rise from the ranks into greatness - if he's allowed to do so, and if he's supported by the people. I like that he has a legitimate grievance against the drug lord of his neighborhood -- this isn't some idealistic "people shouldn't do drugs" campaign, but a quest for justice which holds Veranix by the throat. He isn't going to give up. Though he is young and distracted by food and dodging authority as most students, his single-minded focus makes him unlike many fictional guys his age, and makes a refreshing change in a main character. The pacing is fast, the action is sometimes harrowing, and there is so much going on that the reader is plunged in, and really has to sink or swim.

Valleys: This is an adventure novel with a strong protagonist, supported by a strong female friend, yet I was disappointed that more time isn't spent on the positive depiction of female characters in this novel. Veranix has a mother - but she's not present in the novel. One of his best friends is female, Kaiana, but because she's a "Napa" girl - dark-skinned, and the only female on the groundskeeping staff at the university - (no reason given why she's not a student, but maybe the magical university only takes boys, or numina only comes to boys? - this is not sufficiently explored) she's discounted in many ways, even by her alleged friend Veranix. Unhappily, all the other women in the novel are drug using prostitutes or poverty-stricken former prostitutes... Women don't seem very smart, nor do they seem to have agency - they must either be protected or rescued, or, as in the case of Kaiana, they make incredible sacrifices to rescue Veranix by playing to the stereotypes about them, and are subsequently abused for it. Eventually, through zero effort on Veranix's part, Kai's sacrifice is "rewarded," -- and her "reward" is that nothing changes for her - she's still brown-skinned, still sleeping in a carriage house and working for a bigot within a sexist system, still without justice for her story or any audience for it (we are never told details, but learn Veranix's ad nauseum, so why is she helping him? How is that fixing things for her?), living on the edges and fringes and ...yay? I wanted more for her, and from Veranix, and from the world -- but I also realize that this book has sequel(s) and maybe there will be more depth, but I'm also aware that people don't necessarily demand gender and ethnic parity of their fiction, so maybe not.

Also, I found it ...maybe not surprising, but wearying that in this vibrant new universe the author created, prejudice is still based on skin pigment. Disappointing.

Conclusion: With a fast-paced plot and a driven protagonist, we're introduced to a magical world with a lot of familiarity but with a lot of "new things per page" to keep readers engaged. Readers will be glad they read this, and eager for the companion novel/sequel, which is already out from DAW.

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I received my copy of this book through my own purchase. You can find THE THORN OF DENTONHILL by Marshall Ryan Maresca at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Monday Review: MAGISTERIUM: THE COPPER GAUNTLET by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

Summary: Just out this month is the second volume of the middle-grade fantasy Magisterium series by the extremely talented Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. The Copper Gauntlet is that book, and it is not only a very satisfying second installment but will leave you eager for the next book—that is, if you loved the first book as much as I did. A magical school, the fight against evil forces, the often-stubborn bonds of friendship and the fear of having family and allies turn against you—all good stuff. Oh, and a Chaos-ridden wolf. But he's really just a big old softie.

Peaks: This second book really ramps up the tension in main character Callum Hunt's life. Call has now spent a year at the secret school of magic known as the Magisterium. He's made friends, he's acquired a rather unusual pet, and he's found out some rather alarming secrets about his own identity (minor spoilers, if you haven't read book one)—he's supposedly harboring the reborn soul of the evil Chaos magician Constantine Madden. So he's constantly on the lookout for signs he might be turning into an Evil Overlord, which is both hilarious and sad.

As if that isn't enough, Call comes home one day to find that his wolf, Havoc—whom his father was never really comfortable with—has been locked up in the basement, possibly for the purposes of some awful ritual. And he finds incriminating evidence of something scary going on: the plot to steal a powerful magical object (the copper gauntlet of the title). Is his father trying to kill Havoc? Or worse, is he trying to kill Call? For their own safety, Call and Havoc decide that Back to School should happen just a tad bit early this year…but of course, even being back with his friends Aaron and Tamara and their teacher Master Rufus is no guarantee of safety.

I love how the friendships (and even the frenemies, like Jasper) are portrayed in this book. There is a strong message of loving your friends for the people they ARE, rather than fearing them because of what others say they're supposed to be. And there is another important take-away, which is that you can be allies with someone even if you aren't friends with them…and even if you don't particularly like them.

Valleys: I guess this is one of those where I have to say the only drawback is the next book isn't out yet.

Conclusion: This is another action-packed read which should appeal to fantasy readers of any gender (boys and girls alike get to do cool and exciting things), and particularly to fans of the early Harry Potter books and Tamora Pierce's novels for younger readers. It's a wonderful blend of fantasy and humor, is both fun AND just a bit scary, and it plays off both authors' strengths in terms of infusing magic into a contemporary setting.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the publisher at ALA 2015; all comments are based on the uncorrected review copy. You can find THE COPPER GAUNTLET by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Thursday Review: LAST MAN 1: THE STRANGER

Summary: A collaboration by French comics and animation luminaries Balak, Bastien Vivès, and Michaël Sanlaville, Last Man 1: The Stranger is the first installment in a series that's been popular in France and is now being released in the U.S. by First Second (who kindly provided a review copy). I always really enjoy reading graphic novels from various countries, and this was no exception.

Peaks: The unique setting was, for me, one of the most intriguing aspects of the novel. Early on, we are introduced to Adrian Velba's world, a sort-of-medieval town where the annual gladiatorial games are the most anticipated event. But these are not your run-of-the-mill jousts or sword fights—the games are magical, and competitors fight in teams for the prestige, honor, and riches of the gold-filled winning cup.

Adrian goes to a magical fight school, but he's…kind of the youngest and smallest right now. But he's excited and optimistic anyway, and when he ends up partnered with the mysterious new-hero-in-town Richard Aldana, he thinks he might just have a chance. Aldana, meanwhile, is a bit of a nomad, but despite his fighting prowess, he's clearly in a different world here—a world with some unexpectedly magical forces flying around. But he does notice that his fighting partner Velba's mom sure is hot…which might be a good perk if she wasn't so protective of her son. There's a fair amount going on here with all three of these characters, and several interesting side characters, but the story never gets confusing, though it's a bit surreal at times.

click to embiggen

The style of the drawing here is loose, flowing, and dynamic, with the only color being flat areas of black, white, and gray. It works well for conveying a sense of movement in the action sequences (of which there are many) while also making sure the reader can still tell what's going on in each panel. I liked it; there's something simple and appealing about it, even as it stylistically owes a bit to the Japanese manga style.

Valleys: This is so much a serial it isn't even funny. If you can't deal with total middle-of-the-action cliffhangers, then you might want to make sure you have book 2 at hand when you finish this one. Just sayin'. Not everyone has a problem with this, but I crave instant gratification when it comes to books. I require resolution.

Conclusion: I suspect fans of other popular kids' manga series will enjoy this one, and fans of The Last Airbender and other series that combine action and fantasy. The adult characters have as much screen time (and character development) as the kids, so I see this one as having crossover appeal as well.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of First Second. You can find LAST MAN 1: THE STRANGER at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

TURNING PAGES: HARRISON SQUARED by DARYL GREGORY

I guess you know I'm not a "real" old-school Science Fiction person - "real" Science Fiction people can make it through H.P. Lovecraft. I can't. I've tried. It's not his labyrinthine sentence structure and 19th century word choices - I've read a lot of 19th century British and American lit; I can deal with that. It's just that I find his intense, twisted, and morbid work a little hysterical, gruelingly dark, and at the end of the day, I don't find that style of dramatic, gimmicky horror compelling. I get bored. What I like are books with a hint of Lovecraftian style -- novels that leaven Lovecraft's weighty Gothic sensibilities with just enough quirk to let us know it doesn't take itself too seriously. This novel is one of the best examples of the Lovecraftian I've read - and one of the few with a young adult protagonist. While not technically marketed to YA perhaps, I think this crosses over beautifully and am calling it early - this one needs to be a Cybils nominee.

Summary: Harrison Harrison - H², as his mother calls him - is the fifth male of that name in his family - H²5. Harrison the Fourth was killed in the accident that lost H²5 his leg when he was just a toddler and their boat overturned somewhere on the California coast, and from that accident, Harrison remembers... tentacles. And rings of pointy teeth. That's entirely wrong, of course. A piece of metal practically sheered off Harrison's leg, there aren't any toothy, tentacled monsters in California, regardless of what he remembers...and regardless of the lingering terror of water which it seems will haunt him for the rest of his life.

Aside from an irascible grandfather and an incredibly flighty aunt, most of H²'s family is in Brazil and his mother is all he has left. When she's in Absentminded Professor Mode, which is most of the time lately, he fends for himself, which is why he's come along to Massachusetts on her latest research venture. Harrison and his mother are trucking across country to the grim little Northeast coastal village of Dunnsmouth, because there have been sightings of something ginormous in the water - possibly a giant squid. Dr. Harrison's just going to set out buoys at certain GPS coordinates, buoys which will ping back information to the computers at the research center in San Diego. Only, Harrison isn't feeling like Dunnsmouth is an entirely healthy place. The kids in the junior class all look the same - pale with dark hair, like an extensive cult of sun-avoiding vampire zombies. The teachers are another lot of weirdies, the villagers scuttle about bearded and gloomy like something out of Melville or The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and some weird half-fish dude - no, seriously, he was slimy and he had gills - stole Harrison's comic book. Exactly WHAT is going on in this freaky little town? And, why does his stump hurt here all the time? When Harrison's mother vanishes - the mysterious little town turns deadly. All Harrison wants is some straight answers and his mother back, - NOW - but it will take heart, determination, and the team of total misfits he's gathered to help him.

You KNOW you want to read an excerpt, so here, have one.

MORE BONUS HARRISON CONTENT! A FREE Harrison Squared choose-your-own-adventure game!! Try not to kill him before you read the book, though...

Peaks: The obvious WEiRdNeSS in this novel just sells it for me, from the tentacle-festooned cover onward. It spools out from the first scenes like a fisherman's line, hooks the reader, and drags them seamlessly beneath waves of odd. Strange, strange people - with descriptions that liken them to sea life - descriptions of the grayish little town with its clammy weather, depressing architecture and utterly bizarre school. I loved this dry humor, the references to Dr. Harrison's Terena ancestry and H²5's biracial Presbyterian-Terena ancestry (according to Harrison, “like 'eggshell' and 'ivory,' 'Presbyterian' is a particular shade of pale”) being cause for concern in the very white, very backwards village - an oppositional poke to H.P. Lovecraft's blindly virulent racism - and how in general racists become a little joke poked at repeatedly. It's interesting how Harrison's fatal flaw - a rotten temper - works for him and against him. He's truly a take charge of things in his own life, and makes them work kind of character.

Harrison's voice is confiding, snarky and bewildered by turns. He's slightly delusional in the beginning of the novel, but unlike many YA heroes, he's never self-deceiving. I love him as a character because he KNOWS there's stuff going down in Dunnsmouth, and he's not afraid to look at it and find out. Also, because he's hilarious. To wit: "Mom once said Selma wasn't a woman but an ad in a women's magazine: glossy, two-dimensional and smelling like a perfume insert." Snark! The zingers are a great deal of fun, even the dumb science jokes and the manga references. Each chapter begins with a piece of Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," which is another lovely thing that will make readers feel smart - especially if you were a reader assigned this for school and never enjoyed it before - you will now! All together, this novel is sheer enjoyment.

Valleys: This is only a valley to ME, but this book is actually a prequel to an adult novel, WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE. If we all buy this book, maybe we can talk the author into writing more for YA? It's worth a shot, isn't it? This novel has a messy ending - no shiny bluebirds flying around the HEA, but a grimly determined monster hunter, having been tried in the fire, stands ready to use the power of science to make things right... which is a good thing, since evil never sleeps... Frankly, I want more of KID Harrison, not adult Jameson Jameson, who is apparently Harrison under a pseudonym. This also makes me want to pick up WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE, which I can't guarantee is a YA crossover but will undoubtedly be interesting!

Conclusion: You know I am a wuss about horror, yet I cannot properly convey to you the charm of this book, which is ...kinda horror. Just pick up a copy. This is a great book for anyone who loves adventure and horror-lite, and is a quick, engaging read that will leave you craving more.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of Tor. After March 24th you can find HARRISON SQUARED by Daryl Gregory at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Cybils Finalist Review: THE DUMBEST IDEA EVER! by Jimmy Gownley

Summary: This book has got a great title. Rest assured the premise lives up to the promise. This was one of my personal favorite titles from this year's excellent crop of Cybils graphic novel finalists. The autobiographical story of how the author decided to become a cartoonist and start drawing comics, The Dumbest Idea Ever! is also one of the funniest books ever--Jimmy is a relatable narrator who endures the usual bumbling toward adolescence that anyone who has ever been a tween will recognize.

Peaks: Creative kids and teens in particular will really relate to Jimmy's story. For the sake of those readers, not to mention the younger me, I loved the final message about not giving up, and being humble enough to know where you still need to learn and to ask for help when you need it. But this is obviously not just a story with a moral message—it's also the story of a regular kid who comes up against obstacles (the normal ones like sports and girlfriends, as well as a few curve balls) and muddles through. He battles his own ego (and its inverse, the nasty voice that tells you you aren't good enough).

Click to embiggen

I was impressed by the accurate portrayal of the teen characters in all their awkward, poor-impulse-control glory, the highs and lows of teen life in a small town. Also, the role of the parents and other adults in the story is not minimized, but the focus remains on Jimmy and his quest. And, again, there's a great underlying theme/message of persistence despite obstacles in order to achieve your dream. The visual style is simple and traditional, easy to read as well as very, very funny.

Valleys: There were a few moments here and there when the story's timeline jumped and I was momentarily confused, but that was my only quibble. An all-around excellent title.

Conclusion: This book is so hilarious and endearing and inspiring, too. I laughed out loud many, many times. Really. I keep trying to think of people I can shove this onto, besides my 10-year-old nephew, who is definitely getting a birthday copy. (Good thing he doesn't read this blog!)  If you like graphic novel memoirs, especially ones like Smile by Raina Telgemaier or El Deafo by Cece Bell (this year's Cybils winner), read it.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library. You can find THE DUMBEST IDEA EVER! by Jimmy Gownley at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Catching Up: Book Blurbs of Fall/Winter, Pt. 1

I've gotten incredibly far behind on my reviewing, so it's that time again: time to cut to the chase and offer quick, no-nonsense book reviews before I completely forget everything about these stories. This past fall was a real bear as far as staying caught up on ANYTHING, so I read a lot of books (for relaxation/escape) but lacked either the time or energy for my reviewing to keep up with my reading. I tried to temper this by reading some adult books here and there, but I nevertheless got very behind, and some of these books date back to about mid-September in terms of when I added them to my Goodreads. Anyway, some quick impressions:

All the Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry. This one held a lot of surprises. From the cover--both artwork and blurb--I had assumed it was a contemporary YA, but it turned out to be a sort of unspecified historical setting (could be anywhere colonial/pioneer-ish). That was my first shock, but it was a positive thing for this story. The tension created by the gritty, bare setting makes narrator Judith's situation all the more horrific as the mystery unfolds. After Judith's return from a two-year abduction, her tongue cut out, her own mother forbids her to expose her shame to their small, judgmental village by speaking. But Judith still has allies as well as enemies, and soon, the twin forces--equally powerful--of love and war force the village to recognize the inevitable changes that are already occurring in their midst. This one held a surprising amount of suspense, along with plenty of redemption to balance the terrible wrongs that pile up in the earlier parts of the story. Quite a powerful book, all in all.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find ALL THE TRUTH THAT'S IN ME by Julie Berry at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

The Iron Trial (Magisterium, Book 1) by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. This is one that will surely satisfy and entertain anyone going through Harry Potter withdrawal. Of course, the story is rollicking and fun and much more than simply "Harry Potter American style." It's full of interesting and diverse characters, including narrator Callum Hunt, who has been warned away from magic at all costs by his father. Unfortunately, Call is summoned to take the entrance exams for the magical Magisterium, and despite his attempts to deliberately botch it up, he is admitted as an apprentice to the great (and enigmatic, and sometimes infuriating) Master Rufus. Along with two fellow apprentices, Call is plunged into the fantastical and dangerous underground lair of the magical school, which is peopled with wildly imaginative creatures and intriguing forms of magic that are quite distinct from Harry Potter. Master Rufus tasks them with seemingly endless zen-monk-like challenges to hone their magical skill, which of course makes his students desperately impatient and drives them out to explore on their own--and get into trouble. I don't read a ton of middle grade fiction, but this was a wonderful first book in a new series, and I'm eager to read more.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find THE IRON TRIAL by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Lemonade Mouth by Mark Peter Hughes. This was another surprise title for me, and a fun, funny take on the whole "Battle of the Bands" idea. The band Lemonade Mouth forms, Breakfast-Club style, in detention, when five completely unlikely bandmates are stuck together and end up in an impromptu jam-out with a radio commercial. When supervising teacher Mrs. Reznik (who is, in fact, the music teacher) encourages them to actually meet up and try playing some music, at first it seems like a ridiculous, horrible, doomed plan. Five losers? New kid, nerd, social outcast, fat guy, daughter of a convict? Until they decide to have a little fun, and they end up becoming the voice for all the misfits of the school. Music just might change their lives for the better...but can they challenge Mudslide Crush, the school's current most popular student band? And can they succeed in bringing back the basement lemonade machine? There's a wonderful combination of the ludicrous and serious in this book, and that rings true. The story is told from the alternating viewpoints of each of the five characters, and each one is a unique individual with a fascinating backstory who brings something different and entirely themselves to the band. I didn't realize until partway through this book that the Disney Channel made a movie out of this one, and I still haven't seen the movie, but I can see why it was chosen--it has that heartwarming/funny/caper/success-against-impossible-odds feel, and has fun with many of the tropes of teen movies without taking itself too seriously--yet the characters, again, are three-dimensional and feel real. This ended up being one of those "gee, I wish I'd written that" titles.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find LEMONADE MOUTH by Mark Peter Hughes at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Thursday Review: COMPLICIT by Stephanie Kuehn

This cover is really awesome.

Summary: Protagonists whose past is hidden--even, sometimes, from themselves. It's something author Stephanie Kuehn does well, if you've read her first book, Charm & Strange. Complicit is another suspenseful read, in which protagonist Jamie Henry's life is turned upside down (again) when he finds out his sister Cate is getting out of juvie. Cate is...well, everyone knows she's a psycho, and everyone knows Jamie as the psycho's sister, so nothing good can come of this. After all, before she was put away, she set fire to a barn and almost killed someone.

It's two years later, and now Jamie's seventeen, with his life more or less in a routine. His home life with his adoptive parents is okay, but not great. He's seeing a therapist, but he still doesn't remember a lot about the traumas in his past. He's avoided by most people at school, but the new girl seems to like him. He struggles with a mysterious neurological thing--a cataplexy--that seems to be stress-induced: his hands go completely numb and paralyzed, but it doesn't happen that often. Until, of course, his sister comes back into the picture, prompting not only the return of Jamie's physical symptoms but a whole host of questions and unpleasant flashbacks about their traumatic childhood. But she's the only one who really knows what happened the night of the fire, and in their past. So Jamie will have to confront the truth--and his sister--if he wants closure.

Peaks: The suspense created by the structure of this story--movement between the past, before the fire, and the present--is very effective, and makes this a real page-turner. The author does an amazing job treading the balance between what the reader knows (or suspects) and what the protagonist knows (or suspects). One of my pet peeves in books where the protagonist unconsciously knows more than s/he consciously knows is when it's obvious to the reader, and therefore it feels like I'm being manipulated as I read, which boots me out of the story faster than you can say "obtrusive storytelling."

In Complicit, though, the mystery is heightened by the fact that Jamie knows there are things he doesn't know. He's trying to figure them out, and we know trauma has made him not remember. I didn't feel deliberately misled because I felt very close to the character as he fumbles his way toward the truth, frightening as it is. He's relatable, and the stark contrast with his troubled sister, Cate, elicits even more sympathy.

Valleys: This was a really good book. I don't have any major criticisms--I was impressed by how the author handled the slow reveal of information and clues, so that the reader (well, this reader) only begins to suspect what truly happened as we near the end of the story. And I don't think it's really a negative criticism to say that a book's ending made me exclaim "WHY!! Why did you do this to me?" (I shan't elaborate, for fear of spoilers, but that's what happened.)

Conclusion: Fans of mystery and suspense, as well as dramatic family stories, will really enjoy this one, I think. If you liked her first book, Charm & Strange; if you liked E. Lockhart's latest; if you like Swati Avasthi and Laurie Halse Anderson (particularly her latest, The Impossible Knife of Memory, which I think I still need to review), I recommend Complicit.

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I purchased my copy of this book from an independent bookstore at KidLitCon. You can find COMPLICIT by Stephanie Kuehn at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Blog Tour: BATTLING BOY: THE RISE OF AURORA WEST

Attention, residents of Blogosphere-opolis: This is no ordinary review. This is a very special blog tour review, organized by First Second, who kindly supplied me with review copies of the new superhero graphic novels created by Paul Pope: Battling Boy and The Rise of Aurora West (which is a sort of prequel/companion book to the first volume). In addition to the usual review, I'm also thrilled to draw your attention to some ORIGINAL, EXCLUSIVE ART provided by the artist of The Rise of Aurora West, David Rubin. That's what those amazing sketches are down there: drawings of Haggard West, Aurora's superhero father.

Anyway, on to the review.

Summary:The Rise of Aurora West is just out this month, and it’s the second volume in the series that began with Battling Boy, though each one stands alone pretty well and, honestly, you could read them in reverse order and be just fine. You'll find some overlapping characters, of course—most notably Haggard West, who is city of Arcopolis's main line of defense against the Monsters. Which monsters? Basically all of them, and they steal children. In Battling Boy, readers were introduced to Haggard; Aurora, his daughter and superhero-in-training; and the god-boy sent down by his Thor-like father to help them: Battling Boy. He's basically on his training mission, a rite of passage he must complete to achieve full god-like status. Unfortunately for him, fighting the monsters of Arcopolis proves a bit more difficult than he'd thought, even with the help of Haggard and Aurora.

Battling Boy is, unsurprisingly, the story of Battling Boy. In The Rise of Aurora West, we get some backstory on Aurora and her father, which makes it feel like a prequel more than simply a standalone volume. How did Aurora get to be the butt-kicking almost-fully-fledged superhero she's portrayed as in Battling Boy? How did her mother die, and what does it have to do with her father's monster-fighting mission in life? Though Haggard tries to be a protective father (making sure, of course, that she has proper training in such superheroic areas as monster-mauling and proper jetpack use, and doesn't go out after curfew when the monsters roam), Aurora has a mind of her own and is determined to figure out what her father's not telling her about what happened to her mother.

From Battling Boy - click to embiggen

Peaks: These two volumes are fun, funny adventures that reward readers who are familiar with the tropes of superhero comics—they both adhere to and lightly mock many of the conventions of classic comic series. The writing is clever, and the artwork is engaging, with plenty of atmospheric detail in the city itself (reminiscent of, say, Metropolis or Gotham City) and villainous monsters who are just the right amount of ooky and creepy without going unnecessarily overboard.

Valleys: I found it a little more difficult to distinguish what was happening in the action scenes (especially with multiple monsters) in the monochromatic The Rise of Aurora West--it was easier to tell what was happening in the full-color version of Battling Boy. Overall, though, that wasn't a huge issue; it didn't seem to be too important to my understanding of a fight scene to know exactly where Aurora just kicked which monster. (In his…um…monster junk?)

Conclusion: Basically, I'd call this one a super-fun (pun intended) hero series that pays homage to a lot of classics of the genre, and would appeal to both boys and girls who like adventure comics as well as adult readers who like superhero comics (oh, I KNOW you are out there and I am friends with some of you, so don't bother with the denial!).

For the full blog tour schedule complete with links (and more awesome exclusive art), visit Macmillan Teen.

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You can find Battling Boy by Paul Pope and The Rise of Aurora West by Paul Pope, JT Petty, and David Rubin at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!