Turning Pages Reads: SERPENTINE (Kingdom of Xia: Second Series #1), by Cindy Pon

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Synopsis: SERPENTINE begins with a familiar feel -- a mistress and a handmaiden, brought up as close friends, often playing games and once spying on the monastery - and a cute monk - which was utterly forbidden. Skybright would do anything for Zhen Ni, but spoiled Zhen Ni often makes thoughtless comments, as if there's no real difference between the two. Skybright, however, can never forget the gulf that lies between them. At least Skybright can dream about the handsome monk she met in the woods, Kai Sen, even though nothing will ever come of that relationship. When Zhen Ni finds love and Skybright's place within her household seems threatened. In time, a secret is revealed: it turns out that all along motherless Skybright was the daughter of someone very important -- except her legacy is not in the human world, but of the mythical Underworld. Now that Skybright knows she's a daughter of the Underworld -- and that her mother was a queen of temptresses - she's not sure who she's supposed to be, and Zhen Ni is discovered to have secrets of her own. As demons and discovery threaten everything Skybright knows, she's backed into a corner of evasions, half-truths, and outright lies, trying to protect herself, and her mistress. Are there any right choices left?

Observations: Readers who enjoy retellings and new spins on mythological tales from other cultures will enjoy this novel. The setting is rich in detail and meaty with diversity. Like many fairytales, there is, from both Skybright and her mistress, a deep longing for something, but instead of that longing being to find a handsome prince or whatnot, their desire is for nothing to change -- to go on as they are, as close as they are. Of course, this doesn't happen - and as a metaphor for growing up, what happens to Skybright seems both monstrous and terrifying but also exciting and freeing - she seems at her most alive and engaged in the novel when she is in the forest, less passive and accepting, and more master of her own fate, which is something which will resonate with American readers. The sensuous language describing Skybright moving through the forest at night also spoke of the potential pleasures to be had when one accepts change and stops fearing it as The End of All Things, which is a great little secondary meaning whether the author intended this to show up in the narrative or not.

I was glad to see that this novel is the first in this series, because there were a lot of unanswered questions for me. SERPENTINE felt short - almost a blur of detail, worldbuilding, set-up and setting with a few teasers waved in front of the reader about the contents of the next book. Readers will easily root for Skybright, worry for Zhen Ni, and wonder what their future holds. Skybright's romantic choices felt a little hurried to me, and readers may not understand her choices. Skybright's tremendous sacrifice at the novel's end, because the ending is a little abrupt, doesn't have quite the sense of momentousness it should have, and we don't get her feelings about her choice - but that just means that readers can't predict, even a little bit, what happens next. Thus we curiously await the sequel...

Conclusion: Though I wasn't as pulled in as I could have been by the passive main character or her romance, there is so much richness that I wanted more time to linger in the fantastic and mythical, mystical world. If you enjoy retellings featuring ancient mythology, gods and demons and want a fresh take on a fantasy tale, you may enjoy this first book in the Kingdom of Xia series.

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

Turning Pages Reads: UNDER THE DUSTY MOON, by Suzanne Sutherland

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Victoria Mahler is the reluctant daughter of a has-been star, one Micky Wayne, who once fronted the band rising indie rock band, Dusty Moon. That was a long time ago, now, as the band broke up shortly after Victoria was born. Micky now works at a bar and does gigs every once in awhile, but their lives are pretty much hand to mouth as Micky has recently moved them back to the big city as she waits for her next big break. Victoria's well aware that she was great, once - it's kind of inescapable since she still has fans who show her their Dusty Moon tattoos, talk to her in grocery store aisles about how that one song of hers gave their lives total meaning, and post rumors and gossip - even all these years later - of Dennis, the one who walked away from the band, the one who no one knows is dead or alive. The one who might -- maybe -- be Vic's father. At sixteen, though, Victoria's too tired of the hoopla to care much. She just wants a life where her mom is her mother, and not a star, where she has a boyfriend she's not terrified to talk to, where she has a friend who actually likes her - just a life that is...normal. Is that too much to ask?

Observations: The addition of diversity of all kinds might have added additional depth and interest to the novel, though I did note that Victoria's crush did not have a stereotypically muscular male body, being described as having a soft belly and a round, full face. Readers interested in being band groupies or what it might be like to be the kid of a rock star will find this book interesting if not entirely realistic. I was initially sympathetic to Victoria, who is frustrated with Micky to the point of hiding the truth even from herself, and lying about who she is to new friends. However, Victoria is at times outright mean and whiny with her unhappiness - granted, as anyone would be, playing second fiddle to a Great Talent - but I felt unable to relate to her deliberate and disastrous choices. She continually ran down her mother for doing what she set out to do - moving them to a larger city, getting noticed, going on tour, and getting her musical career back on track. While Victoria may not have agreed to this plan, she was tacitly on-board until it started to happen.

Victoria's father - maybe - is brought out in the beginning of the novel as a possible mystery. I expected her to use the prodigious digital resources most teens can access to try and find him - if not at home, then at a public library, at least. Instead, she simply wonders if he's dead or alive, resents that he's not there and resists her mother taking up with another man. He never reappears in the narrative, unfortunately. Victoria doesn't seem to have a lot of reasons behind her behavior which makes her hard to understand. In the end, there isn't much change or growth in Victoria's life - but she's coping, and she and her mother are speaking again, which, after all the self-induced chaos, feels a little like a victory.

Conclusion: For readers deeply interested in celebrity novels, and behind-the-scenes tales of the real and fictitious in rock music, this novel may be a winner. There's a little bit in the novel about girls designing games, which is a bonus, it's got a nice cover, which is another bonus.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the Publisher. After February 16th, can find UNDER THE DUSTY MOON by Suzanne Sutherland at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

January 27th is Multicultural Children's Book Day!

At Finding Wonderland, we have always been committed to reviewing a wide range of diverse and multicultural books, which is why we're very excited to see that this year the folks at Multicultural Children's Book Day are making a supreme effort to get the word out and provide all kinds of opportunities for bloggers, authors, teachers, and parents to do so as well.

Bloggers can sign up to review a book, donated by publishers eager to support this effort--go read more about it here.

Authors, and other interested individuals, can donate to the cause via sponsorship and get a little love in return--here's that info.

Lastly, don't miss the TRULY MASSIVE amount of information and links to diversity book lists for kids and other resources.

And, of course, stay tuned for the upcoming celebration! In the meantime, did you know you can check out all of our multicultural and diverse book reviews in one place (well, two places)? Thanks to the magic of tagging, you can read all of our reviews tagged with Multicultural Fiction or with Diversity just by clicking those links right there.

TURNING PAGES: SORCERER TO THE CROWN by ZEN CHO

This is my favorite book so far this year. Seriously.

Though this novel isn't marketed to YA or as YA, this is a crossover I need you to read. If you like Regency novels, tales of the fey, Jane Austen, or 19th century anything, you want this. Buy it online, visit a bookstore, reserve it at your public library. Go on, I'll wait.

Now. Check out The Book Smugglers guest blog post with author Zen Cho wherein she talks about the influences that shaped this book. It is, and she is, sixty kinds of genius. I read this book slowly at first, trying so hard to roll the situations over my tongue and savor them... and then I looked up and I'd finished it already. Drat. I wanted to start over and read it again, but I equally wanted to thrust it into Tech Boy's hands and stand over him until he started it. Sadly, my selfishness ruled the day.

This is SUCH an excellent story. It's ostensibly about magic in England -- but a half step deeper into the narrative, it becomes about such very real things as microaggressions and this relentless, "hail fellow, well met" community racism that just dissolves the soul. At times I snickered aloud, other moments made me feel like I had to clutch my chest and recover from a punch to the solar plexus. The author shapes her characters with a charming affection and they charm the reader in return. This is a BUY series, which for me, eternal haunter of the library, woman of far too many books and far too many book boxes (and veteran of far too many moves), is rare and special. But, don't take my word for it...! Read it, read it, read it, read it.

This has been a public service announcement.

Summary: At eighteen, Prunella Gentleman has run out of classwork, the options of her class, and out of time. Her future as a mixed race Englishwoman of gentle breeding and no antecedents means staying at the boarding school for gentlewitches that she's been at since she was tiny and trying to find a way to fit... while being groomed for a life of staying in the background, hiding her magic, stopping the younger girls from dueling with theirs, miding her "betters" and doing all the work. It is a decidedly unpalatable future for someone so brilliant and sassy, and she's not having it. It's a rare stroke of luck that brings the Royal Sorcerer to her school. He's high up in government and must be quite well connected. If she can just get him to help her, she could escape the hand that Fate has dealt...

In a stroke of incredibly poor timing, Zacharias Wythe's mentor has died, leaving him in he unwanted post of Sorcerer Royale. To complicate things, Zacharias has been enjoined to do his bit for the English government in a matter touching on another country's political conundrum - just when it's being noised about that he killed his predecessor and adoptive father, Sir Stephen, in order to take the magical staff of The Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers and succeed him in his position. It would be wonderful if Zacharias could do what the government is asking him to do - but it's against his conscience and his ethics, and also, it's potentially impossible. Then there's the matter of Sir Stephen's missing familiar -- and the fact that England seems to be leaking magic like a vast and shiny sieve. There are major problems afoot in the Unnatural Society, and the old guard is certain that it must be the fault of that upstart African who thought to set himself above the sorcerers of English blood that the country has come into so much difficulty, right? It is unjust - and cruel - to blame Zacharias for being elevated to a position he doesn't want, on the grave of someone with whom he had a complicated and obligatory relationship -- but silence and obligation are a part of Zacharias' life, and a part of the duty he's embraced for years. He suffers the outrageously cruel remarks people make in silence... because that's how it is, after all. One doesn't make a fuss, or at least, one doesn't directly confront one's accusers -- what accusers, after all, and of what could he be accused? His crime, such as it is, is obvious - once a slave, now a sorcerer, and the color of his skin has indicted him. Despite the tenuousness of his position as the King's magician, Zacharias is a brilliant sorcerer and a very stubborn and ethical -- and, deep down, very hurt, lonely, and angry -- man. And one headstrong young woman, a Fairyland full of stubborn fey, witches in revolt, and a bunch of racist English magicians can't stop him from doing right, and making things right, no matter the cost.

Peaks: Both characters are Other within their society; a gentlewoman with magic when women are not meant to show any vulgar knowledge of the aforementioned; slightly brown when the flower of English womanhood is milk white, a woman of no family when England rises and falls on family trees. Zacharias' troubles, as a former slave, are numerous, and the cruel kindness of being saved from that world - and thrust into another on which there is a brightly lit stage, expectations, and a magician's staff -- he, too, is Other and resented for it.

The political issues are squarely about the rights of women. I won't say anymore but -- go, women!

I mentioned Jane Austen -- Zen Cho is a Malaysian write and not an Englishwoman from the 18th and 19th century, but by golly if she hasn't reanimated an Austen hero. Zacharias Whyte is ... so ... constipated with duty and hemmed in with rules and chained to obligation. He's perfectly Darcy, only he's too realistic to have any overweening pride. Instead, he knows what he owe. And he owes, and he owes, and he owes, and he takes what he isn't owed right in the teeth and never loses his composure - just his sleep and his sense of peace. Zacharias holds up such a perfect mask of civility that when he's insulted to his face, people can't tell that the barbs hit, and that he bleeds. As a character, and an example to Prunella, he's larger than life.

Meanwhile, Prunella is zany and delightful - and privileged and completely blind to it, which may cause a few eye rolls in some readers at first. Watching her learn her own mind, as well as come into a better understanding of the world around her is a lot of fun, because as much as Zacharias accepts -- she does not. She asks questions, she makes observations, she throws herself wholeheartedly against the strictures the world puts up to bind her -- and does not mind a little disorder in the cause of freedom. She's a burden and a pest and a trouble to Zacharias from the moment they meet. What I enjoy is that in the end, Zacharias actually learns something from her, and empowers her to do more and be more.

Valleys: These are observations, not valleys: the action is sometimes a little quick, and readers may find themselves rereading to figure out what just happened. As mentioned, the language is Regency, so readers may need to read carefully until they catch the cadences. This is also the first in a trilogy, I believe - and we've no way of knowing how long until the second book emerges, though this one was published in September. However this is a fully told story - beginning, middle, end and no cliffhanger - so read away.

Conclusion: This is a brilliantly-written book featuring a half-Indian heroine, and African hero, and it is written by a Malay woman. Were you seeking in 2016 to up your diversity in reading, this might be one to pick up. If you're just looking for a brilliant story to lose yourself in with a pot of tea and a duvet, this is what you want, for sure. Happiest of reading New Year's.

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I devoured my copy of this book courtesy of the public library. You can find SORCERER TO THE CROWN by Zen Cho at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Congrats, Mr. Ambassador! Celebrating Gene Luen Yang

Photo courtesy of the author and First Second

From the press release: The Children’s Book Council (CBC), Every Child a Reader (ECAR), and the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress (CFB) have announced the appointment of Gene Luen Yang, Printz Award winner and two-time National Book Award finalist, as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.

The Kidlitosphere's own Betsy Bird was part of the selection committee, and having met Gene on a few occasions, I know it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. We're longtime fans, and we've featured his books here on Finding Wonderland several times (with a review of his latest, Secret Coders, still upcoming); we've hosted him for interviews, too. In honor of his appointment as the 5th Ambassador, here's a roundup of our posts featuring Gene and his books:

Interviews:

Kids Comics Q&A Blog Tour: Interview with Gene Luen Yang  - 5/11/2015

Diversity in YA Kicks Off Tour at SFPL - 5/9/2011

Summer Blog Blast Tour Kick-Off: Gene Yang - 6/16/2007

Reviews and such:

Reviews in Tandem: THE SHADOW HERO by Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew - 6/30/2014

Waiting on Wednesday: Some GENE LUEN YANG Love - 2/13/2013

Thursday Review: LEVEL UP by Gene Luen Yang - 5/26/2011

May Graphic Novels Roundup, Part Two: Prime Baby, Mercury, and Stitches - 6/6/2010

Two from :01 (The Eternal Smile) - 6/26/2009

Learning Your ABCs (American Born Chinese) - 2/1/2007

CONGRATULATIONS, GENE!

To Another Year of Reading and Writing

From Writers on Writing, Volume II

TURNING PAGES: THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS by MARIEKE NIJKAMP

This is less of a book review than a book reaction, and is a little more self-indulgent than the way I usually book talk here in the Wonderland tree house. However, after reading just this morning that there's a thirteen day period where PTSD is catching and stressed people are more apt to copycat violent actions, and after a week in which two nasty and violent incidents occurred in our country, I am thinking seriously about the topic touched on in this book, thus this response is my attempt at being as thoughtful as possible.

We can state for the record, that this novel is carefully written, the multiple characters are voiced realistically in terms of dialogue and interaction, and there is obviously incidental diversity of character (though one of them presents as a refugee, and I found myself wanting to know more about how he'd ended up in Opportunity, how he'd ended up friends with a trouble-maker, how long ago he'd emigrated, etc.). This is more of a plot-driven novel than a character-driven read, as the reader doesn't have much time to connect with individual characters; the teens as individuals seem not to be the point of the novel. Some readers may find the multiple voices slightly confusing, but again; the characters aren't as much the point. The narrative is bolstered and carried by a violent individual, the storyline is shouldered forward by his violent actions, and the reader is simply dragged along for the ride, like a unfortunate rider hanging from the stirrup of a runaway horse.

Summary: Two girls, whose post-graduation plans are topics bringing both longing and pain, attend an assembly with their classmates. Two boys, whose desire for information exceeds their good sense, skip the assembly and rifle through the files in the principal's office. JROTC runners, excused from the assembly, are finishing up an exercise period. When the assembly is over, the doors are locked, shots are fired, and there's an incident ongoing in the bizarrely named Opportunity, Alabama. This novel chronicles the fifty-four minutes of panic, terror and violence which change both the town and the school, forever.

Discussion: A striking cover and a succinct précis gives readers an immediate sense of what is going to go on -- a fast-paced, harrowing narrative. If the novel's purpose is to make the reader feel that they are "there;" if it is to tell a story "ripped from the headlines," it does fulfill its purpose in spades. But, my question is, "why?"

Not, "Why did this author write this book;" because that is a baseless question. A writer's rights extend to the narrative creation of any tale that he or she wishes or likes, and the purpose of a book can be nothing deeper than entertainment. The teens who will enjoy this book may simply be after a frisson of drama or, more likely, are people who, perhaps without being able to articulate it, want to explore their emotional response to the idea of violence in a school situation in a way which is safe, because the victims and the aggressor are fictional. Fictionalizing the horrendous allows a reader to imagine themselves on both sides of the fence, to posit a "what would I do?" conversation into one's ethical universe. This is A Good Thing. However, the "why" I want to touch on is slightly bigger than the individual writer, and the reader both... and deals with the nonfictional aspects of the incident which the novel mirrors, the appalling and horrific phenomena that is mass murders carried out in American schools. I think my question is, "why should I look at this repellent thing any more closely?"

Social media has made it virtually impossible to miss tragic events. In this novel, there's a very realistic -- and intrusive -- reporter asking all the wrong questions at the wrong time to people not even on campus, trying desperately to get a "scoop" as breaking news of the school shooting is reported. All too realistically callous is his treatment of the terrified students and family members, waiting for real news from someone, anyone. We have post-traumatic solidarity down to a science - change your Facebook avatar, use a hashtag, be ready to offer information on how the trauma affects you, troubles you, angers you, grieves you; we are primed to react personally and sometimes politically. But this novel touches down on not just individual reactions -- and individual terror from students being in a room wherein classmates are dying. It includes a troubling look at an unreported assault - then takes an unfortunate turn of trying to examine the motives of the shooter from the perspective of his resentments and prejudices... The sadistically grinning Tyler, casually gunning down teachers and students alike is like an evil cartoon - his disordered behavior easily explained by specific things in the novel which basically boil down to rabid homophobia and prejudice. I feel this doesn't well serve the readers for whom this book is intended, for not only can we not comprehend anyone's true motives unless they tell them to us, providing readers an "explanation" for them writes them off as nearly normal -- "well you know what those racist homophobes are like. They'll pick up a gun and kill us all, right?" -- Actually... no. Every single human being on earth, racists and homophobes included, have more nuance and depth than we may ever know. As Mark Twain said, we only ever see one side of the moon. The novel simply didn't allow us time to know the characters well enough for their actions and reactions to be shown and not simply told to us with the expectation that we'd believe.

Conclusion: I found the book fast-paced and harrowing, all things the author likely intended, but also found myself looking for places where the reader bearing witness to this violent fifty-four minutes -- being at this school, seeing the shooter, seeing his victims - made a difference, revealed something, explained something, caused me to think. I was looking for the "why should I look at this repellent thing more closely" and didn't quite find a complete answer. Had the novel more narrative scope and taken more time and more pages to allow the reader to know the characters and understand their psychology, motivations and character as well as their relationships, this novel might have been more successful. Readers seeking a realistic understanding of violence, and its outbreaks in school settings might be better off reading nonfiction; those seeking a dramatic story with a chilling and riveting storyline should look no further.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of Source Books. After January 5, 2016, you can find THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS by Marieke Nijkamp at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Anticipation....

There's a very special day coming up, and I wanted to drum up a little buzz--I'm talking about New Year's Day, yes, but it also happens to be CYBILS SHORTLIST DAY, a red-letter day around the kidlitosphere. January 1st is when all 10 Cybils Award categories announce their shortlists to the world. These shortlists are an invaluable tool for parents, librarians, and booksellers who are interested in the grassroots blogging world's favorite titles of the year. Personally, I find them amazing for gift-giving as well as for my own reading enjoyment.

Of course, after that comes the Round 2 judging process, when a second slate of judges in each category picks a winner (heh heh...sorry) to receive the 2015 Cybils Award. Those will be announced on Valentine's Day. Tanita and I are excited to be serving together on the Round 2 panel for YA Spec Fic--we read a lot of the same stuff, but we also encounter plenty of different books in our reading explorations, so it will be a lot of fun to booktalk the same titles this time. I suspect you might see a few tandem reviews in the future...

Anyway, go to the Cybils site on Friday to check out the shortlists! And you can always peruse a selection of nominated titles reviewed on the Cybils blog by hardworking volunteers.

Happy Merry Holidays!

May you and yours enjoy the tastiest and most wonderful joys of the season--with love from Finding Wonderland!

TURNING PAGES: SILVER ON THE ROAD by LAURA ANNE GILMAN

Another Western with a youthful protagonist, Laura Anne Gilman's novel is the first in a sweeping new series. I read it -- passed it along to Tech Boy who also read it and said, "Wow, it just... worked." What's harder to say is... why. And we aren't the only ones - NPR's book reviewer had the same reaction: wow, this is cool, wonder what makes it so? In some ways, it's a simple Hero(ine)'s Journey adventure... and in other ways, not so much. This novel isn't marketed to YA, but can be considered another crossover for older readers not afraid of reading a book with big ideas and sturdy vocabulary, and who enjoy adventurous females who dream bigger for themselves than they imagined.

Summary: Izzy has turned sixteen, which means the indenture into which her parents sold her as an infant is... over. She's lived in the tiny frontier town of Flood in the Territory - the acres of land bought as The Louisiana Purchase in our world - for her whole life and worked for her keep in the Boss's gambling den and saloon, serving drinks, wiping up spills, dodging hands and making sure that the Boss knows what he needs to, in order to keep running an honest house. Oh, sure, she knows the gospel sharps - like card sharps, only they're kind of itinerant preachers who promise salvation and occasionally disappear with the offering plate - call him the devil, and she knows that he makes Bargains with everyone, and that they sometimes live - or don't - to regret them, but it's been a good, if safe and bland life. She could have more of the same, but... now that her indenture is over, she has... choices. She can leave Flood, go and see the world beyond - maybe someplace out of the Territory, like the United States. Maybe she can find her parents...? She feels there's a sense of ...something calling her to do something. Maybe it's just to know what's really going on, so she makes a Bargain that is both terrifying and exciting -- she signs up to work for the Boss, in hopes that she'll maybe someday work up to being his Right Hand in the business. Unfortunately what the Boss wants her to be is his Left Hand -- the one no one sees coming. He sends her off with a Rider - an itinerant lawman of sorts - called Gabriel, to learn the Territory, and to learn her job. But, Izzy -- or, rather more maturely, Isobel is still only sixteen. Sure, she's a canny sixteen, but what does she know about the wide-open spaces of the Territory and the monsters that live there? What does she know about sentient silver, dust-mad magicians, talking rattlesnakes, the Native dream walkers who don't speak and their fellow tribesmen who appear and melt into the hills without a sound? All she knew was the saloon -- but Isobel is discovering that there's a whole big world out there, and the Boss needs her to take her place... or live to regret her Bargain like all the rest.

Peaks: The worldbuilding here is immense. Just a discussion of the magic and the monsters in the Territory could take me an hour. The setting of the Old West is often, as I've said, problematic, but Gilman escapes a lot of the nonsense of "cowboys and Injuns" by simply rewriting history and highlighting some crucial differences. First, in this new version of the American expansion, the Native tribes haven't been lied to and betrayed, because The Devil's Agreement, by which the Boss holds the Territory, doesn't take from the Native people but is a literal agreement, with signatures and boundaries and law. As is often said, the devil runs an honest house. Second, the skirmishes between settlers and Native persons aren't part of this history, as the Native people have no need of the settlers nor need to constantly defend themselves and their lands, and the settlers know their place -- as immigrants. This means that the two groups have not much to do with each other, which is a happier fate all round. Third, the settlers aren't city-slickers from the East; in this version, they have come from Spanish held Mexico and parts Southeast, which means that their languages, religions and myths are vastly different. It's delightful, really.

Isobel is walking into an adventure in the grandest tradition of adventures, but she's also having to stand alone, as a single girl in the adult world. She may have the Boss behind her, but out on the road, she's the one to stand down monsters and magicians and horrible encounters with them that lead to ghost towns. She is, as she is named, the quick knife in the darkness, the cold eye, the final word. She has to do what has to be done... but how do you learn to do that? This book is about that, too. And immigrants, and political power of churches. And faith. And magic, and mystery. It's just a huge book, and I'm really glad to see that it's going to be a series.

Valleys: Honestly, I'm still just dazed at finding myself finished with the book... I really found I couldn't find valleys. It's nice to read a book where the storytelling just draws you in that quickly.

Conclusion: Though this is the first novel in a series, it ends as if it's the entire story told - which is a lovely extra. Isobel is a confused, conflicted, resentful, hopeful, frightened girl who is just driven to do a good job, and teen readers will relate with her desperate desire to be seen as an adult and capable, and not one of the kids anymore. I am eager for the next book in this series.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the public library. You can find SILVER ON THE ROAD by Laura Anne Gilman 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!

TURNING PAGES: A WAKE OF VULTURES by LILA BOWEN

To begin with, this isn't a YA novel. It's a crossover adult novel, recommended for older YA readers due to some violence and disturbing interactions and attitudes. Lila Bowen is a pseudonym for Delilah Dawson, a familiar YA author. If you like stories of the Old West and enjoyed Moira Young's BLOOD RED ROAD or Patrick Ness' CHAOS WALKING series, you might find you really enjoy this. I honestly didn't think I would like it. Frankly, Westerns - the whole "cowboys and Injuns" thing -- is so problematic as to have been leeched of any enjoyment. But, I found this book sneakily got in under my radar, and I was riveted. It's weird as heck and oddly ...fascinating.

Summary: Nettie Lonesome has put away her femaleness, because what good does it do her? Having observed covertly, she knows females get to be only wives or whores, and she's not into either role. Half Native, half black, she lives as not-quite-a-daughter, but not-quite-a-slave, in a strange halfway place on a hardscrabble farm outside of town. Until one night, a well-dressed stranger insinuates himself onto the property -- intent on taking the one thing Nettie has that's hers. She's not going to let him, of course. An uncommonly strong girl, since she's the only one on the farm who works, Nettie fights for her life -- and nothing stops him, until by chance she hits him in the chest with a spike of wood... and then he turns into cold black sand and an empty suit of clothes with a hole in the shirt... Wait, what?

Even without the evidence of a body, anybody even half Black remotely suspected of doing violence to a white person is going to hang. Nettie makes tracks -- shoving her braid under the man's conveniently abandoned hat -- to the large ranch up the valley - because the lazy slobs for whom she works will miss her and raise a fuss... but they're not that bright. Posing as a boy called Nat and getting work is easy enough, but violence is following her - violence, and the spirit of a wet horse. There's something Nettie has to do to now -- some deaths to revenge -- and she has to keep moving, before the violence in her past overtakes her, and ruins her future.

Peaks: The setting was really amazing, and one of the best things about the novel. The author wrote that she binge-watched "Lonesome Dove" when she was a kid. It shows; the Western sitting just sings. The magic is bizarre and weird and it works. And, Nettie isn't just a girl, she's a girl who sometimes feels like a boy, who sometimes likes boys, who sometimes likes girls. She isn't a slave, she's not only Native, but both. Her identity is fluid and unsettled, and while everything surprises her for awhile, she unsentimentally just accepts what is, and moves on. Mostly. Eventually. She's funny and kind of abrasive.

Nettie is also angry - furiously so - and terrified. Having been treated as garbage her whole life, it's hard for her to come to grips with change, and with trusting the people she must trust to do the things she must do. WHY did her parents abandon her? WHY was she being raised by awful, abusive people who basically kept her as a slave? Why is she being hunted and haunted and tracked across the world? The big question of "why me," which we all ask so often, is answered in an unusual way. Though a kind of Bildungsroman for Nettie, as the story deals with her becoming and accepting herself the way the brother-and-sister duo with whom she travels accepts her, this novel is also fast-paced and gallops along through the empty desert in a really enjoyable way. Imagine a kind of folkloric Louis L'Amour with a female lead and chupacabras. Good times.

Valleys: Though the use of the word "Injun" and "Indians" appears frequently, the author deals respectfully with her Native characters, having made a commitment to diversity which I applaud. I am always leery of books which drag out folklore and characters from a culture which don't belong to them, but Bowen makes an attempt to do her best to research and describe things with accuracy and knowledge. Nettie is described as likely half-Comanche, according to the author in her notes, while Dan and Winifred are Chirichahua. The characters from Comanche myth, the skinwalkers and two-natured folklore she discovered through research. She also apologizes in advance for what she didn't get right.

Conclusion: This is a weird and wonderful first book in a new series, and I loved how it ended - you could stop with this book and be happy, because this adventure is over, with no cliff-hanger. However, it's a lovely thought to think there will be another strange and wild book late next year!

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the public library. You can find A WAKE OF VULTURES by Lila Bowen at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Thursday Review: THESE SHALLOW GRAVES by Jennifer Donnelly

Pretty cool cover, except the tagline is kind of uninformative.

Summary: I like me a good period mystery, and I enjoyed Donnelly's award-winning book A Northern Light, so I was excited to find this one in my library's ebook collection. I also tend to be interested in books that engage issues of social class, as this one does, and in a way that makes for an absorbing and page-turning read. These Shallow Graves, though primarily a mystery set in the Victoria era, has plenty of suspense and action, and even a bit of romance, so it has something to offer a wide range of readers, along with really solid storytelling and a plucky heroine.

About our heroine: Narrator Jo Montfort is a member of one of the honorable old New York families. She's wealthy, all but engaged to her equally wealthy friend Bram Aldrich, and wants for nothing…except maybe to become a newspaper reporter like Nellie Bly. Then she finds out her father is dead, allegedly due to an "unfortunate accident" while cleaning his gun. Jo immediately becomes suspicious: her father was nothing if not conscientious and safe with his weaponry. When she overhears a reporter voicing a theory that it was suicide, Jo becomes bound and determined to find out what really happened to her father. In the process, she finds out more than she ever wanted to know about her family's shipping fortune, encounters plenty of danger and dastardly doings (and more dead bodies), and, of course, falls in love with a boy from the wrong side of the tracks.

Peaks: This was a well-crafted mystery. I like stories that keep me guessing, and while I did guess correctly a few times, there are plenty of twists and turns to make things interesting. I also thought there was a vivid cast of characters, especially the narrator, Jo, and her new friends from the seedier side of town. Jo is, as I said, plucky, and too clever and curious to be just another wealthy society wife. Once she sets out on the trail of the mystery, it's easy to stay right there with her as events unfold. There is, of course, the constant threat of discovery by her staid mother and friends or the nosy butler, and this maintains an ongoing tension throughout the book that culminates in a surprising, frightening turn towards the end of the book.

As I mentioned, one of the most interesting parts of this book was its depiction of social class, which ends up being a major theme, as Jo ends up repeatedly slumming it in less savory parts of town and meeting a wide range of new friends who humanize for her the aspects of life that she would normally never encounter in her sheltered existence. That transition from sheltered to (all too) worldly happens in a way that is true to the genre of historical Victorian fiction but still remains plausible, and it's most satisfying when Jo is proactive about it, taking responsibility for her own mistakes and her own personal growth.

Valleys: I wouldn't say the story goes too far beyond existing tropes of this genre, but in my opinion, that's what makes it fun. I can't even call it a guilty pleasure because it's hard to feel guilt for reading a solidly written mystery with three-dimensional characters who don't rely too heavily on Victorian "types" like the wilting flower, ambitious young reporter, or patronizing paternal figure. The book plays off of such tropes rather than duplicating them, which is nice.

Conclusion: I found this one to be a page-turner—I cared about Jo and wanted her to find out the truth about her father's death, and bring the bad guys to justice. And kudos to the author for ultimately not making it a love triangle, which is a refreshing change.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find THESE SHALLOW GRAVES by Jennifer Donnelly at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

TURNING PAGES: ALL AMERICAN BOYS, by JASON REYNOLDS & BRENDAN KIELY

I would have gotten to this book eventually, I think, but because Linda Sue Park mentioned it on her Beacon St. TEDx talk (and if you haven't had a chance to watch, please do) which was so full of good thoughts, I bumped it immediately to the top of my TBR list.

I laughed at some guy on Goodreads saying "police brutality is not my usual thing" - um, no, it should be NO ONE's usual thing, duh. A book in which I KNOW someone is going to be badly hurt is not something I want to read on a normal day, but I knew I needed to, as I've sort of eavesdropped on the chatter going on in the Twitter kidlitosphere and realized how many people are too terrified to talk about things honestly, how many people are sitting around waiting to leap to conclusions and point fingers at people who do try to talk honestly, how often emotions are invalidated, and how few people are able to listen and are able to hear and not be offended, or let another person's truth guilt them into lashing out. In short, we are a hot mess when we talk about race, even in the kidlitosphere. I wanted to read this book so I could suggest it to others.

More personally, I wanted to read this book because I think it was written, in part, for someone like me. I grew up with a heavy emphasis on respectability politics, was given "the talk" on how to navigate situations with law enforcement repeatedly. The basics? You're already in the wrong if somebody looks at you sideways; shut up, keep your hands where you can see them, and keep your head down. Like Rashad's father, I had this idea that racism could be reasoned with, if you just wore the right clothes, didn't sag your pants, did your hair nicely, or didn't wear too flashy of a manicure. However, the many, many, many, many people for whom this did not prove to be true - from Rodney King onward - slowly began to convince me otherwise. And, with that crutch of an idea gone, everything felt crazily... unsafe.

I imagine many teens are feeling like that now, and I want to hand them this book. I want to hand it to their parents. No, it doesn't have the answer within, but it's valuable because it begins the discussion on racism and injustice in a clear and calm way that many people are too hysterical - too fearful, too hostile, or too passive to think about without being primed. This book is an excellent primer.

Summary: JROTC cadet, basketball player, and Friday afternoon relieved Rashad - his mind on anything but trouble - is squatting down to pull his phone out of his bag in a corner store when a white lady trips over him. Possessions go flying, glass breaks, and he's accused of theft. The police officer who happens to be in the store has him down in a headlock before he knows what's up. Protesting his innocence - writhing in pain and being mistaken for someone resisting arrest - Rashad is --

-- someone who looks familiar to Quinn, being beaten to a bloody pulp, right in front of him. Frozen like a deer in headlights, Quinn hopes Paul - his best friend's big brother, who's been looking out for him since his Dad died overseas - doesn't know he's there, watching him beat down that black kid. Quinn just wants to get out of there, blow it off. NBD, right? Only it is a big deal. It turns out it's the biggest deal there is.

In alternating voices, Rashad and Quinn narrate the aftermath of an ugly incident, while they navigate an equally ugly truth: that there is no respectability which will save us from racism, it's the uneven, pitted surface upon which American society uneasily rests, it didn't disappear after the Civil Rights marches, and it's not going to go away if we ignore it.

Peaks: This is an excellent conversation starter which I believe will challenge and inspire readers. It's in many ways a straightforward, almost simplistic story, but in other obvious ways, there's nothing simple about injustice. Rashad and Quinn, standing in for everyman, may be lost as individuals to some readers, and secondary characters definitely ghost in and out, as if they're characters in a play -- so some of the conventions of storytelling are done away with. Some may find this problematic, while others will find enough points where their emotional truths overlap to make up for this novel being more about concepts than characters.

I related in various moments to both characters -- their desire at times to just not talk about any of this "race" stuff anymore, the realization that some people have the privilege to shut that off and walk away, and others don't; the feeling of being angry that you're angry about something you have no control over -- all of these truly genuine feelings of helplessness and rage and resignation are there, and really resonate.

I'm always really happy to learn a new thing from a novel. Rashad is an artist who likes old Bil Keane cartoons and mentions artist Aaron Douglas -- which prompted me to look up the artist and his stupendous work.

Valleys: This is less a valley than a choice - the authors chose younger readers as their audience, and chose to make Rashad blameless - ROTC, involved in a school sport, decent student. As a character, he is easily "defensible," in some ways: he doesn't do many things which a lot of kids do which people who indulge in casual racism can tick off as "problems;" Rashad doesn't wear dreadlocks, doesn't have friends who are gang affiliated, doesn't shoplift, doesn't have a record of any kind, never has so much as a Swiss Army knife in his pocket -- so he is clearly not at fault in the incident, and the police officer who beat him down is easily described as having a history of violence despite his clean-cut "good guy" ways, so he is clearly at fault -- clear, even from the perspective of someone who believes law enforcement personnel have superpowers and are always right. For some people, this may seem to be smudging an important point: that no matter WHAT, the penalty for shoplifting, back talk to a police officer, criminal trespass, etc., is not a white policeman beating up a black person of any age. I would hope that these finer points would be raised by adults reading along with a teen, but some people may feel the authors didn't go far enough. As a door-opener, I feel this amount of information is plenty for a reader, and can too easily tip into being heavy-handed.

Cover Chatter: I really like this cover - for multiple reasons. Backlit, the cover model is anonymous, yet striking. I like that you can't tell the color of the person standing below the title - he's simply a creature of light and shadow, anonymous. On a quick glance, this might look like a sports or music star raising his hands, limned in light on the field of victory... but those are the wrong kinds of lights.

A funny thing about light -- while it illuminates this kid in some respects, it also washes him out, erases his individuality -- and makes him just another brown kid, in the police spotlight... Much is conveyed in this subtle imagery.

Conclusion: You know that average person who thinks that they have nothing to do with race or racism; who believes this whole black/white thing that's been on the news recently is just uncomfortable and awful and we need to go back to "normal?" This is a book for them.

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I checked out my copy of this book from 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!

Review: MS. MARVEL VOL. 2: GENERATION WHY

Summary: Some time ago I reviewed the first collected volume of the new (and surprisingly awesome) Ms. Marvel comic, starring the rebooted main character Kamala Khan: an ordinary American teenage girl from Jersey City who just happens to be a Pakistani-American from a Muslim family. As someone who has Muslim family (my dad's side), I was thrilled to see a realistic, sympathetic, and positive portrayal of American Muslims, and in today's social climate it's something we need more than ever. So I was happy when my friend Ross lent me the next volume in the graphic novelization, entitled Generation Why, which collects issues #6-10 and covers Ms. Marvel's continuing adventures defending her city from the mysterious giant-robot-building villain known only as The Inventor.

Peaks: There is so much to love about this comic series—and this is coming from someone who is admittedly not a huge fan of superhero comics in general or of Marvel characters in particular. Sorry; I guess I've just always been more of a DC girl (Vertigo, if you must know.). Anyway, one of the storylines I DO like in the Marvel universe is the X-Men, and, lo and behold, there was a cameo appearance by He of the Huge Ackman, the Wolverine himself. This was a very cool part of an even cooler plot arc in which we learn more tantalizing hints about Ms. Marvel's origins, get to see her charming, heartwarming, often hilarious interactions with her family, and watch her bring all kinds of entertaining and clever smackdowns on The Inventor's giant homicidal robots.

click to embiggen

This episode also focuses, for its moral message (because don't superhero comics usually have one? I find they do), on youth issues and the empowerment of the current generation beyond the stereotype of them being clueless, apathetic drones with smartphones grafted onto their hands. If you think about it, superhero comics have often been message-y, so I'm not going to pass judgment on that aspect because it just is what it is, but I will say that it's a message well suited to an audience of young readers, and I like the idea of this comic being able to appeal to a wide range of readers and interest a new generation in traditional comic-book heroes. Honestly, what's not to like? A butt-kicking girl hero, plenty of diversity, lots of humor and hilarity, and a giant, lovable, slobbering telepathic dog. Go read it.

One other thing which I didn't notice before that I just adored: Ms. Marvel's outfit. If you look carefully at it, it's actually a shalwar kameez, and instead of a cape she has a dupatta (shawl). It's pretty awesome, and it's featured prominently on the cover of this collection. The cultural aspects are well done, again, in this episode, and readers not as familiar with Pakistani culture or with Islam will see typical family interactions and learn, for instance, that dogs aren't considered to be clean animals you'd let live in your house. (This was a Thing when I was a kid, and as a kid who wanted a dog, it was not a thing I liked. However, having been to India since then, and seeing the sheer number of stray dogs all over the place, I kind of understand it more…) There's also a GREAT visit by Kamala to her imam at the mosque, who gives her very wise advice. Another really important scene, to me, given the number of people who have no idea what an imam really is or does beyond what they see on TV.

click to embiggen

Valleys: I honestly don't see any real valleys to this one. There was a change in artist starting from issue #8, and I wasn't sure about it at first, but the new artist grew on me after a while. I guess if you're the type of person who has trouble with reboots, and can't cope with change, it could be hard to get used to. I was never much of a Marvel reader in the first place, so it bothered me not at all.

Conclusion: I really think comics fans should read this one. Girls, boys, grown-ups. It is just so much fun, and is a great reboot for reflecting the diverse time in which we live. Stay tuned for my review of Volume 3: Crushed, which is also in my TBR pile.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of a friend. You can find MS. MARVEL VOL. 2: GENERATION WHY by G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, and Jacob Wyatt at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

TURNING PAGES: ASH & BRAMBLE, by SARAH PRINEAS

Some people decide to read more books written by women and underrepresented writers. Others decide to try and read fewer YA novels featuring rail thin girls wearing big, foofy dresses on the cover... but, yeah. YA. Foofy dresses. It's a Thing. Less so in this novel, however, as the dress isn't quite what it's meant to be. Sarah Prineas describes it as kind of a Marxist thing, taking on fairytale ...slaves, a magic sweatshop, and evil Godmothers. Though Prineas is a familiar writer for middle grade, this is her first YA novel.

Summary: The Godmother is a powerful and terrifying being who is in charge of Story. She owns slaves, which she pulls from the Nothing and sets them to work - the Spinsters of Straw Into Gold, the Jacks of All Trades who can make anything, the Shoemakers and the Seamstresses. Together, under the lash of the Overseer and the iron hard fist of the Godmother... dreams come true. The Godmother's dreams, anyway. The Fortress where her makers live supplies her with endless magic to make Story come alive -- but to make the magic, she steals lives.

When Pin arrives from the Nothing, somehow she comes with a thimble clutched in her hand. It's... something from Before, and it reminds her daily that there is something more out there. Though others have been broken in the fortress, Pin hides her secret self. Like Shoe, the green-eyed, stubbornly resilient shoemaker who was lashed thirty times for making a single, tiny mistake, Pin doesn't cry when the switch falls. She grits her teeth and stubbornly decides to endure. She makes a plan. She prepares-- and then she escapes, taking Shoe with her.

But, life on the outside of the fortress isn't as easy as it might be. For on one side of the wall are the storymakers, but on the Outside, there's Story. And it's strong. And it's forcing Pin - now Penelope - into a prince-marrying-Godmother-loving Lady -- no one she'd ever be in truth. Though many loving hands reach out to help, Pin/Pen once again proves that one can best save oneself.

Peaks: I loved the idea of Story as first encountered in Pratchett novels, as a chemical element in its own periodic table which sluices through the Universe and effects things. Story here is absolutely sinister, more in line with Story in Mercedes Lackey's 500 Kingdoms novels, since it blithely ignores your will and creates your endings for you. Unlike those books, Story has no one fighting against it but one girl. This novel twists Cinderella and also contains elements of Sleeping Beauty. There are also references to Twelve Dancing Princesses, The Princess and the Pea, etc.

Some YA novels struggle to portray aging and various classes, but Prineas does well with this. It may surprise some readers to find that Story was trying to create a romance with a Princess who wanted to love another Princess - and this may help explain how insidious story really is. It is also such a strong force that even "good" people would often say, "But, I could be happy like this. Isn't this good enough?" Self-actualized characters, and characters who insist on being the heroes of their own tales are really rare, and you'll find them here.

Those who hate a Wicked Witch being blamed for everything in fairytales will be mollified to learn that the Godmother and the Witch kind of swap roles here.

Valleys: Though I found this an intriguing premise, personally, this novel and I didn't click. The Godmother's slavery was hopeless and grinding, and Pin simply... gets up and walks away from it. Not without consequence, but her inability to be turned away from determination, and the subtle assistance that she got from everyone around her didn't ring true for me. It seemed like the kind of magical thinking that makes people say that slavery wasn't so bad, because if it was, the slaves, who outnumbered masters and overseers in the American South, would have just gotten up and done something about it. The emotional toll wasn't really apparent in Pin. I tend to believe evil isn't disembodied so Story wasn't a villain I could believe in - I guess I'm programmed to dislike a mind behind evil, and the Godmother was pretty awful. I found the romances - all of them - unnecessary, and not really resonant.

The novel is divided into three, and the first section was my favorite, even with the many questions I had. I was okay with the not-knowing, but felt myself flailing a bit in the middle of the novel, as some of my confusion persisted and was exacerbated by new characters, a wealth of description and a whole different set of changing scenes. I found my feet a bit at the last, but not in enough time to feel fully immersed in the narrative.

Conclusion: This novel has an intriguing premise, but at the end I had big picture Questions which were never fully answered... I always wondered where the thimbles came from, and why Pin had one. I wondered where Godmother and Story - in all its people-powered strength - came from. I wondered that Pin came from the Nothing, but unlike others, she was so self-actualized, had this verve and attitude that she was looking people in the eye, poking into things, and being noticed. Why was she a Special Snowflake, immune to the ruinous depredations of slavery? Without revealing too much, I also wondered why she was contented to be Pen, and not know more about Pin - that drove me kind of crazy. I also wondered if anyone was looking for the many, many, many kidnapping victims from the Kingdom - were they only coming from one? It didn't need to be a CSI novel, but it did seem somewhat significant that people could appear/disappear without much ...concern.

A cover that piqued my interest - finally, a foofy dress getting snagged! - this was a reasonably entertaining novel which fairytale lovers might enjoy on a damp autumn afternoon.

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I checked out my copy of this book courtesy of the public library. You can find ASH AND BRAMBLE by Sarah Prineas at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Pictures of Cool Typewriters

Since I still don't have a book review ready to post, I hereby shamelessly fill this space with writer porn, aka pictures of cool typewriters from the Museum of American History in Washington, DC, which I saw a few months ago. Here you go:

A cool-looking old-timey typewriter

Lawrence Ferlinghetti's typewriter!

And that's all I have. Happy Monday...

TURNING PAGES: INHERIT THE STARS by TESSA ELWOOD

I don't often like to review a book waaaaay before it comes out, so this is less of a review, and more of a squee with a few salient details you could find on the back of the novel. I posted this review for the first time in August, because I Could. Not. Wait. Not even a little bit. I'm happy to reread this book this month, and I really enjoyed this book; it was unashamedly a love story -- but a love between sisters and extended family first -- even when the family didn't extend very far. This holiday season, Tessa Elwood's INHERIT THE STARS is going to be a little early gift you give yourself... stop shopping or worrying about shopping, stop sniffling and whinging about your cold. Make yourself the perfect pot of tea, and snuggle in.

Yeah, I know that doesn't sound like anything you want to do when it's 82°F. But you will want to, months from now. Trust me.

Summary: Fane, Westlet, Galton. Three households, all alike in dignity, in the fair interplanetary space where we set our tale... but this isn't Romeo and Juliet in space -- it's quite possibly even more contentious.

Fane is in trouble. Not that you'd know it - the royal house of Fane never sags, never falters, never does anything but stand tall and smile. At least, not since Asa's mother left them for the Lord of Galton when Asa was three -- taking some of Fane's vital resources with her. That was years ago, but things have gone downhill in the sixteen years since, and Fane's people are rioting, fed up with the austerity measures which have left them all low on fuel - freezing - and starving. Wren, Asa's eldest sister, and the Heir, always smiled for the cameras -- no matter what. But now Wren is comatose, having been caught in a bombing, middle sister Emmie is being sold off to Westlet in marriage to their Heir, in return for food shipments and Asa's father... is going to make it so Em being the eldest and his Heir ...is the literal truth.

The overlooked and patronized youngest, her hair prickly and thin on her recently-shorn head, Asa is no one's choice for a solution to life's problems. She's been passed over for looks, is gangling, clumsy, and talks too much when she's scared - which is a lot, lately. She's also been told she's just like her mother for too long. Part of the mess they're in is her fault -- and she's determined to fix it. She's Fane - no matter the cost. The first thing she needs to do is take Emmie's place with the arranged marriage... and all the rest should fall into place after that. Right?

Peaks: It's not often that a novel written in the first person still manage plot twists. Though we have eyewitness accounts and firsthand seeing of everything, the reader still finds some surprises. Asa's gift is that she doesn't quite understand herself, thus the reader is able to be caught off guard by various things.

There are few YA novels which tell the true repercussions of war and feature differently abled bodies and prostheses without some sort of practically super-power witty banter or compensatory good looks to make up for it -- that's not the case here.

The tension in this book just doesn't let up. From the first moment, there's chaos and trouble. Asa is a well-meaning girl with a good, loving heart -- but sometimes love isn't enough, unless it's coupled with cunning and braced with quick thinking. Asa makes every sacrifice count -- and does her utmost to plug all of the leaks, but Fane has been in isolation for thirteen years -- it's too much to expect for Fane and Westlet to make a perfect treaty. There is treachery threatening from every direction...

Another unexpected positive is the character descriptions - unexpected diversity.

Valleys: While I had no problems, some readers find rather cinematic narrative descriptions lacking in continuity and difficult to follow. They become confused, because of the amount of action in the first several chapters. I had to track back to find ages of the daughters, which seem to be obscured deliberately, but otherwise had no real issues. Some of what Asa thinks and says is metaphoric instead of literal, and at times, when the narrative to me could have used being more detailed and descriptive, in terms of the technology, for instance, there's a bit of fuzziness about what will and won't work to save everyone -- it goes a little Star Trek fuzzy there, but because I'm not particularly technical, I could suspend my belief for that.

Despite three houses and planets, it seems that most characters are described in the novel as some version of "American standard," - and though I liked the cover, I found myself wishing I knew a little more of the planetary history and how humans had gotten there -- but I was also okay not knowing that.

Conclusion: I love mystery, politics and romance all in one novel, and Asa is an awkwardly young, earnest, and at times completely wrong-for-it heroine who really works. With its romance limited on a very innocent beginning, I can see this being a big, swoopy romantic favorite for older middle graders looking for a challenging plot, too.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of Running Press in Philly. After December 8th, 2015, you can find INHERIT THE STARS by debut author Tessa Elwood at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Happy Monday, Guerrilla Girls Style

I don't have a new review for you yet, but I do have this photo that I took while in Australia, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. Enjoy your wry yet biting art-world commentary:

For more great stuff by the Guerrilla Girls, check out the Gallery of NSW.

TURNING PAGES: NOT IF I SEE YOU FIRST, by ERIC LINDSTROM

This book is a gem and a gift, and in order to avoid spoilers I'll say up front: Parker is blind. The dots on the cover are Braille. And now you know ...except, it's not a big secret. Really, Parker would be the first to say, "So? And get over yourself." It is Parker's voracious desire to be sure of EVERYTHING in her life - from your reaction to her intelligence - that makes this novel ring so terribly true for me. Tight friendships, believable middle school angst that spills over into high school, and some deep truths which might make you cry - this eminently readable book is that "YA type" that does well and gets the movie deals. You'll see this story somewhere again.

NB: This novel has a secondary storyline about suicide which isn't exhaustively dealt with, but it's there.

Summary: Parker treats her blindness like more of an inconvenience than a disability, her limitations like suggestions, and her friends like the chosen family that they are. Without them, she'd have nothing, now that her father has died. The accident which claimed her sight as a little girl also claimed her mother's life, and the aunt and uncle and cousins now reluctantly inhabiting her house - and haunting her life - are just strangers preventing her from being who she is. And, her relatives, like the whole load of newcomers to Parker's high school from the one that closed across town, don't know The Rules. Don't take advantage of her blindness, trick or, or treat her like a joke. Don't help, unless she asks for it. Don't touch her unexpectedly. Don't be weird, and treat her like she's damaged. Don't expect to EVER be forgiven if you screw up: you get ONE chance. All Parker wants people to understand is that she's brilliant and capable - that blindness doesn't change that. But the world has just a long, long way to go - except for a few people. Coach Underhill even thinks she can take her morning jogging habit - a thing she started with her dad years ago - and take on track meets at school. If Parker can get over feeling exposed and find a decent running partner who understands The Rules, it might just work out. Meanwhile, she and her bestie, Sarah, have ridiculous high school romances to sort out and a lot of newbies to inform about The Rules. It's necessary that everyone learn them.

The Rules came to life in junior high after her trust was shattered by someone Parker considered her best friend. To Parker's horror, she discovers not long after school begins that this ...enemy has transferred back to her school. He actually tries to speak to her - and Parker shuts THAT noise down quick - she's not stupid or forgetful, just blind, all right? But it scares her -- and she can't keep her brain from returning to the hurtful scene over and over and over again. And then Parker discovers that she doesn't know everything about what happened that terrible day when her friend Scott tricked her -- nor does she know all that happened the day that her father died. Finding out is both terrifying, gut-wrenchingly painful and disorienting, as Parker's True North for a long time has been first her best friends, and next... Parker herself. And Sarah's acting funny, and as for herself... if she can't believe in what she doesn't see - if she no longer can plumb the depths of her own heart - what CAN she believe? The truth has never been harder to see.

Peaks: This is a differently abled person who is a BIG SARDONIC JERK. And she doesn't do it to be "refreshing" to your perceptions of the differently abled, but thanks for playing. She does it because she's frankly kind of cynical and disillusioned and afraid to acknowledge that, so yeah snark is easier. I get that. I am that. You might be, too.

The voice in this novel is compelling, sharp, and witty; Parker has a ferociously lively, biting wit -- a is a character whose friendships ring true (I want an entire other novel about Molly, Mr. Lindstrom. Just putting that out there). The diverse cast of characters seems to have evolved to surround Parker organically, and even the hapless D.B. fits.

Parker's insistent belief in the infallibility of her own brain makes the novel's characterization achingly real life, and makes the out-to-sea-with-no-horizon feeling she suffers when she's wrong sharply realized - and terrifying to the reader as well. In this poignant and sharply bittersweet novel, you may find yourself and your best friend -- ugly cry hard enough to lose all your gold stars for the month - and hopefully be heartened to find that true believers in the gift of friendship, if they hold true to it, receive strength and love reflected back to them a thousandfold.

Valleys: These may be a valley to no one other than me, but I'm cynical enough that my mind struggles with characters in YA novels who are more cinematic than real. Parker is larger than life, and her dialogue reflects a mind that can craft the perfect comeback with 99% accuracy - readers may find themselves wishing to be her, except for That One Thing. Scott is also amazingly good, quite a bit too-good-to-be-true, both as an 8th grader and as a high school sophomore. The drama may be exhausting for some readers, and the situations at Parker's high school - also larger-than-life, give this novel moments of being a high-stakes, high-emo romance - but fans of John Green and novels of that contemporary type may take to this like catnip for a kittybeast. As always, your mileage may vary. /p>

Conclusion: I snort-laughed, and teared up repeatedly; this novel is full of all the raw, edge-of-the-blade feelings that make a year of high school, intense bravado hiding insecurity, fearlessness hiding abject terror. Less of an issue novel about blindness than a reminder that jumping to conclusions is sucky exercise, the smart-mouth Parker and her cohort provide a roaring start for this debut novelist, and I'm sure we'll hear more from him soon.

Edited to add: Disability in Kidlit co-founder Kody Keplinger reviewed the book and then and interviewed the author.

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Enter to win a copy of this book! You have until November 30th, 2016. Check out the giveaway on Goodreads!

I received my copy of this book courtesy of Little, Brown & Co's Poppy imprint. After December 1 - the first holiday gift to yourself? - you can find NOT IF I SEE YOU FIRST by Eric Lindstrom at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

A Turkey Everyone Can Love

Vegetarian or vegan, kosher or carnivore, this is one turkey we can all get behind, especially book lovers and paper fetishists such as myself. Thanks to Reading With Scissors for this one:

Happy Thanksgiving, all! See you next week. In the meantime, check out my book review posts over at the Cybils blog, posted every MWF.