Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Something to Do by David Lucas


If Harold and the Purple Crayon and Not a Box had a baby (and somehow bears got mixed up in it), it might be this book. Something to Do starts out with a little bear complaining that there's nothing to do. That prompts a journey into imagination that really captured my eye. The cover is quite striking and stood out on a crowded shelf; the minimal illustrations and text will give parents and children lots to talk about. A great book for children who love exploring and creating imaginary world - as well as those who often complain that there is nothing to do.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Not a Box by Antoinette Portis
Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers
Let's Do Nothing by Tony Fucile

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville

I think this book is one of the most straightforward titles I've ever read. What happens in this book? Well, Jeremy Thatcher hatches a dragon. Jeremy is twelve, and likes to draw. He's trying to escape bullies when one day he stumbles into a magic shop that he's never seen before. That's how he ends up with a dragon's egg - or how the dragon's egg ends up with him. He must quickly out how to care for his dragon while keeping her a secret - which is not easy as she grows bigger and bigger...

For some reason, I thought that this book had a lot of similarities to Hanging on to Max. Has anyone ever read Jeremy Thatcher as a teenage father? Keeping it a secret, trying to take care of something tiny and defenseless, parents not understanding, having to figure out if you can keep it or not, and (in the end, spoiler alert) ultimately giving the baby/dragon up for a better life, and the depression that follows.


Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Hanging on to Max by Margaret Bechard
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Dodger and Me by Jordan Sonnenblick
How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

Monday, March 29, 2010

Sweethearts of Rhythm by Marilyn Nelson

One of the things that I love about finding new non-fiction picture books is that they often feature topics that I didn't even know I wanted to learn about. That's exactly what happened with Sweethearts of Rhythm, the story of the greatest all-girl swing band in the world. It's a mixture of history, culture, race, sex, and music. The story unfolds through poems that centre around the instruments in the band. It took a few poems to get used to how the book was going to work, but I liked how the poems could capture a snippet of a moment, a fragment of a story. I just kind of let the words wash over me as I experienced the book; I definitely think that it's a book I could return to again and get more out of. I really appreciated that there were materials at the end that helped to explain the band in terms of history, geography, and where America was at the time, and I would love for someone else to pick up this story and write it as a straight-up non-fiction book, and then they could serve as great companion pieces.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
Almost Astronauts by Tanya Lee Stone
Claudette Colvin by Phillip Hoose
The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phalen

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Blue Plate Special by Michelle D. Kwasney

Madeline spends most of her time mothering her own mother, who's an alcoholic; she spends the rest of her time trying to fill up her emptiness by eating. Then she meets Tad, and her world starts to change. Desiree does not get along with her mother and fends off unwanted advances from her mother's boyfriend - but one day he overpowers her and forces himself on her. Ariel loves spending time with Shane, her boyfriend, even though she doesn't have much time for the other things in her life. Then her mom gets a call from her mother, who Ariel has never met; her grandmother has cancer, and Ariel and her mother decide to go and visit her in the hospital. Madeline (in the 1970s), Desiree (in the early 1990s) and Ariel (in 2009) each must face difficult relationships and consequences - and they all have the blue plate special in common.

This book was not what I was expecting, and I was very pleasantly surprised by it. I enjoyed settling in to the realities in the three different time periods, and getting used to the different styles of writing. I loved what the book has to say about how life shapes people and how people react differently to difficult situations. This was an incredibly satisfying book for me to read; I was spurred on to read it because it was a 2009 Cybils finalist, and I'm really glad that I did.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Tales of the Madman Underground by John Barnes
Impossible by Nancy Werlin
Outside Beauty by Cynthia Kadohata
Hate List by Jennifer Brown
Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Candor by Pam Bachorz

Everything is perfect in the town of Candor, Florida. That's what the people pay for, after all. Oscar Banks is the son of the town's father, and is viewed by everyone in Candor as the golden boy, the perfect child, the one that everyone should act like. That's what everyone thinks. They have no idea that Oscar has an underground business sneaking teens out of Candor, giving them subliminal messages of his own that counteract the ones that are being piped through Candor. Then he meets Nia, a new girl in town, and he is willing to risk everything that he's worked for in order to make sure that she gets out. This time, though, there are complications that could be fatal for everyone involved.

I found Oscar to be a really intriguing character. He's bright, charming, entrepreneurial, and has a dark edge to him. I wasn't really sure why he was willing to risk everything for Nia, the mysterious newcomer, given how little they knew about each other and how she acted with him. The book does ask you to accept a lot of things without really thinking about them (maybe this is true of dystopian fiction? I haven't read a lot of it). But I really liked the concept of how a place like Candor could come to be, and how people would react to it. One of my favourite characters is Oscar's ex-girlfriend, a former beauty pageant contestant who occasionally finds her old/true self bubbling to the surface.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Feed by M.T. Anderson
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson

Friday, March 26, 2010

The Missing Wedding Dress Featuring Barbie by Karen Krugman

(This week I'm doing my first series, and it's books that I found delightful. I mean this in the best possible way: books that filled me with delight. This came about organically; I realized I was using 'delightful' to describe a lot of the books I was using, and rather than reaching for a thesaurus I'm going to embrace it.)

The delight in this book comes from the fact that I found it again after only having a memory of it for many years. I definitely remember reading it as a child, but I'm not sure if I owned it or it was housed in a church playroom or something like that. Anyway, this is a Little Golden Book, featuring Barbie. It's her friend Tracy's wedding, and Barbie (the maid of honor) and Skipper (the flower girl, even though she looks to be about twelve years old) are helping her get everything ready. On the day of the wedding, though, an unfortunate incident with Barbie's cat means that Tracy's dress needs mending. When they go to pick up the dress, though, they end up with a boxful of shoes instead of the wedding gown! Can Barbie follow the clues and figure out where Tracy's dress is in time for the wedding?

The book itself isn't that remarkable, but I remember really loving the illustrations (done by Laura Westlake in what looks like bright pencil crayons). It was incredible to open the book again and have those memories come flooding back to me. I remember studying one image of Barbie in particular, trying to mimic her hand gesture (now an interesting thought in the ways that people study and construct ideas of beauty and femininity).

Read it with:
Barbie: Four Decades of Fashion, Fantasy, and Fun by Marco Tosa
Feminism and Pop Culture by Andi Zeisler
The Case of the Cat's Meow by Crosby Newell Bonsall
The Lime Green Secret by Georgia Graham

Thursday, March 25, 2010

The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors by Chris Barton

(This week I'm doing my first series, and it's books that I found delightful. I mean this in the best possible way: books that filled me with delight. This came about organically; I realized I was using 'delightful' to describe a lot of the books I was using, and rather than reaching for a thesaurus I'm going to embrace it.)

When I think of Day-Glo colours, I think of one person: Claudia Kishi. Now, though, I will think of Bob and Joe Switzer, the brothers behind the development of Day-Glo colours. Bob wanted to be a doctor, but an accident left him unable to memorize all of the scientific info he needed for medical school. Joe wanted to be an entertainer, and worked at perfecting illusions using light and dark. Together they used each others' strengths to develop Day-Glo paint - and the colour world would never be the same again!

This is just a great book. I loved learning about the people behind Day-Glo, and all of its practical uses. While at times it seemed to run a bit to hyperbole (the book stops just short of saying that without Day-Glo paint, the Nazis would have won WWII), the energetic, informative tone was perfect for the subject matter. The illustrations and colouring by Tony Persiani added a fun layer to the text: the pictures start out in black and white, but as the brothers develop their paint yellow, green, and orange Day-Glo colours are added to the illustrations. There's a bit of information about Day-Glo colours at the back of the book, along with places for more information. If you think your reading needs a bit more colour, definitely check this one out.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Moonshot by Brian Floca
It's a Snap! George Eastman's First Photograph by Monica Kulling
The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of Philo Farnsworth by Kathleen Krull
Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Me Hungry by Jeremy Tankard


(This week I'm doing my first series, and it's books that I found delightful. I mean this in the best possible way: books that filled me with delight. This came about organically; I realized I was using 'delightful' to describe a lot of the books I was using, and rather than reaching for a thesaurus I'm going to embrace it.)

This little boy is hungry - but his parents are too busy to find him some food. He decides to go off on his own adventure to find something to eat, but it's not as easy as it looks! He tries different approaches, but in the end he might have found something even better than food.

Jeremy Tankard's illustrations are what really set this book apart. The detail, the colouring, and the expressions give it an extra dimension. The text is simple and repetitive and perfect for toddlers. And the fact that the little boy's name is Edwin just tickled me with delight. Definitely keep an eye out for this one.





Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Tall by Jez Alborough
Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard
A Good Day by Kevin Henkes
Ug: Boy Genius of the Stone Age and His Search for Soft Trousers by Raymond Briggs

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

All-Of-A-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

(This week I'm doing my first series, and it's books that I found delightful. I mean this in the best possible way: books that filled me with delight. This came about organically; I realized I was using 'delightful' to describe a lot of the books I was using, and rather than reaching for a thesaurus I'm going to embrace it.)

I'd never heard of this book until it appeared on A Fuse #8 Production's list of Top 100 Children's Novels, but I found it (you guessed it) delightful. Written over fifty years ago and set about a hundred years ago, it tells the story of a Jewish family in New York City. The parents were immigrants and the children have embraced life in America. They love thinking about the candy they can buy with their pennies and they really love the library (and the kind library lady who works there). I learned a lot about Jewish holidays and observances from this book. I wasn't expecting to really enjoy this book as much as I did, but its tone, spirit, and content just really got to me. I wish I'd read it years ago, but I'm glad I found it now.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Gravity by Leanne Lieberman
Karen's Wish by Ann M. Martin
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary

Monday, March 22, 2010

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood

(This week I'm doing my first series, and it's books that I found delightful. I mean this in the best possible way: books that filled me with delight. This came about organically; I realized I was using 'delightful' to describe a lot of the books I was using, and rather than reaching for a thesaurus I'm going to embrace it.)

Penelope Lumley, a fifteen-year-old recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, has just received her first job as a governess. She is dispatched to Ashton Place to be the governess for the three Incorrigible Children: Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia. It's not long before she realizes that there is something unusual about the Incorrigible Children - they were raised by wolves in the wilderness and Lord and Lady Ashton would like Miss Lumley to civilize them. Or do they? Lady Ashton would be quite happy to be rid of them altogether, and it seems like Lord Ashton is hiding some mysterious secrets of his own...

I was thoroughly charmed by this book from the first time that I saw the cover art, and actually reading it only confirmed my instinct. Miss Lumley's determination, idealism, and confusion make her the ideal protagonist for this kind of mystery. I think this is a perfect book for young people who don't yet know that they will love Jane Eyre or Northanger Abbey, as well as those who already do. Everything about this book, from the ending to the big "Book 1" note on the spine, point that this will be the first book in the series, and I can't wait to see what happens in the next book.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
When I Met the Wolf Girls by Deborah Noyes

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Grace loves to watch the wolves that gather around her house. She feels a connection them that other people can't understand. She was attacked by wolves once when she was little, but remained unhurt. Could one of them have been protecting her? The one with the yellow eyes that watch her? When a local boy is attacked and killed by wolves the town decides that the wolves need to be stopped...permanently. But what will that mean for Grace, and for Sam - that yellow-eyed wolf who is not always a wolf after all...

It's inevitable that Shiver is often talked about in terms of Twilight; when considering supernatural books for teens, we're in a post-Twilight world, with all that that means. I liked Grace a lot more than I liked Bella, although she really has a lot more in common with Clare Abshire from The Time Traveler's Wife than Bella (a childhood encounter, dealing with loving someone who has some kind of physical anomaly, waiting around in the 'real world' for the one you love to return to you). But getting back to Shiver. The internal logic of the bookwas sound, and some questions that stuck in my mind (such as why didn't the wolves just go somewhere warm?) did get answered, and I can't pretend that I wasn't anxiously awaiting the ending to find out how it was all going to end (or 'end,' as a sequel is going to be released later this year). Definitely worth checking out, as is Maggie Stiefvater's website.


Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern

Saturday, March 20, 2010

The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School by Candace Fleming

Puns are the name of the game in this book by Candace Fleming. How punny? The Librarian is named Paige Turner. Each chapter shows a different version of an Aesop Fable, but updated and modernized, featuring middle school children. For me, a little of these stories went a long way, but they are amusing and cleverly written. It might be a good book for dramatizing, too, if anyone is looking for a book that could be adapted into skits or a play.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom by Louis Sachar
The Cat Ate My Gymsuit by Paula Danziger
Backpack Stories by Kevin O'Malley
The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

Friday, March 19, 2010

Gender Blender by Blake Nelson

The students at George Wilson Middle School are studying gender issues, and sixth graders Emma and Tom are about to get an up-close-and-personal look at the differences. Small, scholarly, competitive Emma finds herself in the body of her former friend Tom, and the slacker, base-ball playing, easygoing Tom finds himself in Emma's body. Can they figure out what caused them to switch bodies - and if they can ever switch back?

This book doesn't shy away from frank portrayals of puberty: Emma-as-Tom gets an erection, and Tom-as-Emma experiences her period. Many of the findings might come off as a bit simplistic, but it's a good book for middle grade readers and a good starting point for some further conversations.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
Freaky Monday by Mary Rodgers and Heather Hach
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
The Cat Ate My Gymsuit by Paula Danziger

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Lucy Scarborough has never really known her mother. She sees her sometimes, on the street (that's where Miranda, her mother, lives), and knows that Miranda has been in and out of mental institutions. She's grown up with foster parents who love her, and is looking forward to the prom. But things go terribly, tragically wrong at the prom, and soon Lucy realizes that she is pregnant - just as her mother was at eighteen. With the help of her neighbour, Zach, Lucy learns about a terrifying curse that's been placed on her family: each Scarborough woman will give birth to a daughter at eighteen, and then go insane. With only a few months left until the birth of her own daughter, can Lucy unravel the curse and figure out how to break the spell, or will she end up like her mother - and all of the women who have gone before them?

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. After reading the plot summary, I wasn't sure how much fantasy to expect (while I'm trying to branch out more in my reading, I'm still not that used to reading fantasy books). But this one is grounded in reality, even though it quickly moves into fantastical territory. Some parts of the story went really quickly, as if they were being glossed over, but as a whole the book made sense according to its internal logic, and it was a fun read. It's a good book for people who like to crack puzzles, or who are interested in adaptions of folklore.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Nightlight by The Harvard Lampoon


Belle Goose is a new student in rainy Switchblade, but it's not long before she discovers the mysterious Edwart Mullen. Convinced he is a vampire and her soul mate, Belle finds herself in the middle of a creepy campaign to convince Edwart that they should be together.

This book is for people who either really love or really hate Twilight. I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, or as much as I wanted to. There's so much in Twilight that is perfect for spoof or satire, but for me, a lot of this just missed the mark. There were times when it was riffing on what it would be like for a real vampire to be your boyfriend, and those parts were particularly strong. The rest of it kind of dragged - and when I think of reading the first Twilight book, I particularly remember how I flew through the pages.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Whales on Stilts! by M.T. Anderson

Lily's father doesn't know why Lily and her friends Katie and Jasper are so interested in his job - he has a perfectly regular job at a perfectly regular place that makes stilts and other accessories for whales. Lily discovers that her father's boss has plans for a whale invasion - and she and her friends are the only ones who can stop it! But will they be able to figure out how to stop them in time to save the world?

I found this to be a delightful little book. The wordplay is clever and there are funny little additions throughout the book. It's a fun book for kids who like action, a creative book for kids who like science, and a great story about the importance of being yourself and staring in your own story.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Billy Twitters and his Big Blue Whale Problem by Mac Barnett
Amos and Boris by William Steig
The Age of Alterton by Mark Dunn
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Monday, March 15, 2010

Crazy Beautiful by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Lucius Wolfe has two hooks where his hands should be; he blew them off in an explosion. Aurora Belle is new at school, too; her mom has passed away and she's about to be swept into the 'cool' group of kids at school. They can't help but notice each other - they both kind of stand out. Slowly, they start a friendship that both of them really needs and work at pulling away the layers of defenses that each have built up.

Lucius and Aurora take alternating chapters in this book, so we get to see a bit into each of them, and how they see each other. The last third of the book kind of comes out of nowhere and is really rushed, and the ending seems kind of hurried, but at the same time, I was sort of glad, because I didn't want to dwell on that part of the plot. It's an interesting idea for a teen novel, to set Beauty and the Beast in high school.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Beauty and the Beast by Max Eilenberg
By the Time You Read This I'll Be Dead by Julie Ann Peters
Shark Girl by Kelly L. Bingham

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone

When NASA was created, certain rules were put in place that meant that only men could become astronauts. Were these rules justified? Did women have the capabilities of going into space? Some people wanted to find out. But before they could get too far into their research, NASA ended the program, and it would be decades before an American woman went into space.
Find more in this account of the women who had the right stuff at the wrong time. Almost Astronauts won the 2010 Sibert Informational Book Award.


Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Moonshot by Brian Floca
Almost Heaven: The Story of Women in Space by Bettyann Kevles
Elizabeth Leads the Way by Tanya Lee Stone
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Philip Hoose

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan

Blake likes the way things look through the lens of his camera. He's known in class for taking pictures that are gritty. His friend Marissa, on the other hand, likes to take pictures of things that are pretty. Speaking of pretty, Shannon, Blake's girlfriend, seems ready to keep things progressing with Blake. But when Blake takes a picture of Marissa's mom - now a meth addict who lives on the street - he finds himself caught up in something that he's not really sure how to explain. Blake's always heard that actions have consequences, but he's about to find out exactly what that means.

I was afraid that Blake's voice (he's the narrator of the story) was going to wear on me; it took me awhile to get used to his Juno-minus-topical-references-plus-lots-of-puns way of talking. Shannon was a lot more like-able than I thought she would be, which was a pleasant surprise. I really liked Blake's relationship with his older brother, too; it reminded me of a brother-brother version of the brother-sister relationship in Into the Wild Nerd Yonder.

Flash Burnout
was the winner of the 2010 William C. Morris Award.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Feed by M.T. Anderson
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Doctor Who: The Visual Dictionary by Jacqueline Rayner
The Morgue and Me by John C. Ford
Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern

Friday, March 12, 2010

Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher

(I feel like I should preface this review by saying that there are spoilers ahead. And by spoilers, I mean that there's a 'twist' that one character learns in the course of the novel. I'm not sure how much of a 'twist' it is for the reader; I knew it going into the book, and it's easily findable in the subject headings. It's what the book is about, but it's not revealed for 100 pages (of a 300+ page book). It's been awhile since I've struggled with how to talk about a book like this - Liar might have been my last time where I wanted to talk about a book without really talking about it (and that's why it's in the 'read it withs' below). I think it does say something about how much I believed the characters that I feel this conflicted about a 'secret.' The read it with section, though, features other books with similar plots and characters, so stay away from there if you want to be completely unspoiled.)

(Side note: how do other book bloggers deal with 'twisty' stuff like this? On the one hand, I don't want to ruin the reading experiences of others, but at the same time, sometimes I want to talk about books that I have read.)

Anyway: on to the book!

Logan lives in a small Missouri town. He and his mom share a trailer but never really see each other; he’s still not really over his last girlfriend, and he’s not sure how he feels about starting college in the fall. Then he meets Sage. There’s an immediate attraction between them, because Sage is unlike anyone he’s ever met: loud, self-possessed, confident. Over the course of the first 100 pages they grow closer, but Sage has a secret that will make Logan question everything he’s ever thought about himself.

I enjoyed this book and found myself wanting to know what happens next; I really cared about both Logan and Sage. I haven’t read many teen books about this topic (although I’ve studied it in other ways), but now I want to see what else is out there – and what will be out there in the years to come.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger
Luna by Julie Ann Peters
Monsieur D'Eon is a Woman by Gary Kates
The Blonde of the Joke by Bennett Madison
Diary of the Madman Underground by John Barnes
Liar by Justine Larbalestier

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

The Blonde of the Joke by Bennett Madison

Valentina leads the kind of quiet existence where teachers don't even really know her name. Then she meets Francie - wild, loud, blonde Francie - and suddenly Val's life is completely different. Now it's filled with excitement, shoplifting, and a new look that shocks the few people who did notice her before. But beneath it all is a dark emptiness, an unease that threatens to ruin everything.

First - I have to be honest. One of the major reasons why I picked up this book is because of the picture and the author blurb of Bennett Madison in the back of the book. There's a reason why people work so hard at book design - you never know what might grab a reader. That aside, though, there's a reason why 'good girl meets wild girl and change ensues' is such an enduring story. How much will she change? Is it permanent? How far will she fall? There's something voyeuristic about it, almost, watching it all play out. I enjoyed this book quite a bit and really liked the ending, the last third of the book especially.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Klepto by Jenny Pollack
A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker
Deadville by Ron Koertge

Monday, March 8, 2010

By The Time You Read THis, I'll Be Dead

Daelyn Rice has decided: in 23 days, she will be ready to die. She's had enough of the bullying, the tormenting, the misery. Growing up, she was ugly, fat, friendless. Her parents don't understand. They don't understand how she felt. They don't understand how she feels. They don't understand why she has attempted suicide. And they don't understand how close she is to trying again. 23 days. What can happen in 23 days? Well, to start with, she can meet Santana, the boy who lives near the school...

This is a very, very difficult book to read. Daelyn's pain is gripping, and her story is interspersed with information from a suicide website that she consults. Various methods of suicide are discussed (and rated, according to pain and effectiveness), and other site users share stories of what has led them to that point. Santana, too, has pain of his own, and while I didn't know what to think of him at first, as a character he really grew on me.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Crash Into Me by Albert Borris
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers
Brutal by Michael B. Harmon
Blubber by Judy Blume
Thinandbeautiful.com by Liane Shaw

Sunday, March 7, 2010

The Next Competitor by K.P. Kincaid


Alex Grady has been training his whole life for the Olympics. He knows he can be - no, he will be an Olympic champion. Now he’s an 18 year-old American figure skater who has followed his coach to Toronto to train. That’s where he meets Matt, a Canadian pairs skater. Alex knows that he needs to be focused on this Olympic season…so then why is he spending so much time thinking about Matt?

I still have a hard time believing that this book exists, because I never expected so many things that I love to come together in one book. Figure skating? Positive gay characters (where their sexuality is not an ‘issue’ that the story focuses on)? Young adult genre? Canadian author? Set in Toronto? My head almost exploded with excitement when I started reading this, but I’m glad it didn’t, because then I wouldn’t have finished it. It’s an incredibly timely book that is especially interesting when looked at against the 2010 American Men’s Olympic team, as well as the Olympic medal results. I didn’t always like Alex as a person, but I was always intrigued by him as a character, and not since The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second have I wanted a relationship to work out as much as I wanted Alex and Matt to work out. This is my favourite book of 2010.

Find it at IndieBound.

Check it out at Prizm.

Visit K.P. Kincaid's site.

Read it with:
The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second by Drew Ferguson
Summer's End by Kathleen Gilles Seidel
A Skater's Life by Brian Orser
Ice Cream by Toller Cranston

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

Audrey thought that by dumping Evan, she'd get him out of her life. Little did she know that his last words to her - "Audrey, wait!" would also be the title of Evan's band's world-wide smash hit song. Suddenly, Evan is famous...and so is Audrey. But they only know her as the girl who dumped Evan, and there are so many lies, rumors, and half-truths out there. They're ruining her life, or what used to be her life. Will things ever get back to normal? Will her life ever be normal again?

This book made me realize that I wasn't a teenager anymore. When I was reading it, I often thought that I could handle situations better than Audrey could - and then I remembered the age difference between us. Still, Audrey was an amusing stand-in for some of music's other famous muses, willing and un-willing: The Knack's Sharona, Plain White T's Delilah, Eric Clapton's "Layla" (Pattie Boyd), and many, many more. It's an interesting question - when a moment happens between two people, who owns that moment? Can either of them 'use' it? Is there a difference between music and print, in terms of sharing information about other people? And then, once information is out there, do you have a public responsibility to...anyone? I have no idea.


Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott
The Karma Club by Jessica Brody
Debbie Harry Sings in French by Megan Brothers
Wonderful Tonight by Pattie Boyd

Friday, March 5, 2010

The Nature of Jade by Deb Caletti

Sometimes, late at night, Jade likes to watch the internet feed of the elephant webcam at the zoo near her house. That's where she first sees a young guy with a baby - a guy that she feels will be an important part of her life. With her father barely a presence in her life, her mom being more popular at high school than she is, and panic attacks that threaten her sense of security, this might be something positive that Jade can have in her life. But when she does get to know him, she realizes that a real person comes with a lot more complications than an image on the screen.

It was refreshing to read about a main character who had an interest in something like zoology - it gave Jade depth as a character. I enjoyed the (at times strained) family dynamic that she had with her parents and her younger brother, as well as the brief appearances by other zoo employees. I was curious about Sebastian, the boy with the baby, and while I didn't quite fall for him the way Jade did, I did enjoy the book's journey.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Elephant by Ian Redmond
Hanging on to Max by Margaret Bechard
Waiting for You by Susanne Colasanti

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The Cat Ate My Gymsuit by Paula Danziger

Marcy Lewis is only thirteen, but she hates a lot of things. She hates gym. She hates being fat. She hates her father. She also hates that her principal tried to fire her English teacher, Ms. Finney. Ms. Finney (as yes, that's Ms., not Mrs. or Miss) was the best teacher she'd ever had; she was a teacher who taught Marcy not only grammar and poetic devices, but also about expression, communication, and self-acceptance. When Ms. Finney is removed from her class for her unconventional ways and her refusal to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, Marcy's hate turns to anger, and together with several other classmates she works to find a way to get Ms. Finney back in the classroom.

I had never read this book when I was a child. It was never even on my radar, which is strange, because I think I could have related to Marcy in many ways. It's quite a different experience to read it now, both because of my age and because the book was written so long ago. Particularly intriguing to me was the family dynamic. For example, rather than 'allow' Marcy and her mother to go to a school board meeting, her father dismantles the engine of their car. What? But the mother had expected this (or something like it), and arranged for a ride from a friend. There are very interesting gender politics at work here. Not having read many (any?) Paula Danziger is a huge hole in my reading background, and I will try to fix that in the future.


Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Blubber by Judy Blume
There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar
Bettina Valentina and the Picasso Club by Niki Daly
Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Gravity by Leanne Lieberman

Ellie Gold lives in Toronto with her parents and her older sister. She is an Orthodox Jewish teen who takes her religious and familial responsibilities seriously. While spending the summer at a cottage with her grandmother, Ellie meets someone: Lindsay, a bold, sexually charged teen girl also from Toronto. Ellie is confused by her feelings for Lindsay and starts to question her identity, her religion, and her sexuality.

I really liked the way that this book explored questions of identity and faith. It made it seem more weighty than a regular relationship novel. While not caring for Lindsay as a 'person,' I enjoyed her as a character, particularly because of what she prompted in Ellie. I liked seeing Ellie's relationships with her mom, dad, sister, and grandmother (all very different) and how those grew and changed over the course of the story. And on another note, it's always great to see novels set in Canadian locations (such as Toronto).

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Rumspringa: To Be or Not To Be Amish by Tom Shachtman
A Brief History in My Impossible Life by Dana Reinhardt
The God Box by Alex Sanchez
Ash by Malinda Lo

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The Kids Are All Right by Diana and Liz Welch with Amanda and Dan Welch


Amanda, Liz, Dan, and Diana Welch never did lead an ordinary life. Their mother, Ann Williams, was an actress who appeared on several soap operas. Their father, Bob, was a successful businessman who was able to finance a comfortable life for the family. Then every started to fall apart. Their father was killed in an automobile accident; subsequent investigations revealed that his company was in rough financial shape and there were many, many creditors. There was even a rumor that he had been assassinated. That same year, their mom was diagnosed with cancer; she died shortly after. Amanda, the oldest, was only 19 at the time. Now orphans, the children scattered: Amanda to college, Liz to Europe, Dan to boarding school, and Diana to a new family (who tried to erase all connections to her 'previous' family). It would be several years before they all came together again.

Told in alternating and sometimes conflicting voices, the kids are all right. This is their individual story but it's also a story of a family at a point in their lives where they're not sure how to be a family anymore. Some points are happy, some are very sad, some are infuriating, some are funny. This is a book that could have a lot of crossover appeal between teen and adult audiences.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
If the Witness Lied by Caroline B. Cooney
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Monday, March 1, 2010

I Am A Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want To Be Your Class President by Josh Lieb

Oliver Watson is one of the most powerful people in the world. Sure, he might look like your average elementary school student, and he might seem like he has below-average intelligence, but it's all just a cover. Really, he is a genius of unspeakable evil intent on controlling just about anything he wants. And, right now, what he wants is to be class president. It might take some international espionage, some blackmail, and some covert operations, but Watson has just one message for you: don't ever underestimate him.

I don't always pay attention to who gives blurbs for books, but this one, with reviews by Jon Stewart, Judd Apatow, and Mike Reiss on the covers, definitely convinced me to give the book a try. It's funny and clever, dark and a bit twisted, but always engaging. There are definite moments (where Oliver is questioned as to why he's trying so hard for his father's approval) of emotional honesty, and that grounds the book when it veers off into cartoon-like antics (but funny cartoon-like antics). At just over three hundred pages it might seem like a long book, but it reads very quickly, and the story format (with lots of footnotes and picture plates) was one that I enjoyed. It would be equally at home either in a middle grade or young adult collection.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Standing for Socks by Elissa Brend Wiessman
There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar
Dodger for President by Jordan Sonnenblick
Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks