Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Kendall knows exactly what to expect in her small-town life. She's grown up with the same people, done the same things, and thought the same thoughts. She dreams of a life beyond Cryer's Cross - a life where she can study dance and never have to hear about potato farming again. Then Cryer's Cross is rocked by the mysterious disappearance of a young girl..and just when things are settling back into a routine, someone close to Kendall disappears as well. Everyone fears the worst, and Kendall struggles to find the strength to keep on living. One of her distractions comes from the new guy in town, Jacian,  a moody loner who gets under Kendall's skin. As she struggles to understand the mystery of long-buried secrets, Kendall herself might just be in danger.

Cryer's Cross mixes real-life things like college applications, relationships, and obsessive-compulsive disorder with an eerie, other-worldly twist. Kendall's life is made up of routines; some routines are put on her by nature, like the potato harvest each fall, while other routines are ones caused by her OCD that she must do to keep dangerous thoughts away. I can't comment on how accurately McMann portrays a character with OCD, but she did do a great job of creating a character who slips in and out of rationality. She is deliberate in her actions and precise in her words; she won't even call her best friend Nico her boyfriend because she can't promise the future commitment that that implies. As she spends time with Jacian, though, she starts opening up more of herself. The two are attracted to each other (I don't think that that needs a spoiler alert - almost any time that a guy and a girl clash so hard in the first part of a novel will have them attracted to each other before very long) but it's complicated - both Kendall and Jacian have their own issues that they need to work through. This book is for people who like the creepy, ghosty kind of supernatural more than the action-packed vampire or zombie supernatural; it would be a good read-alike for someone who likes the supernatural mysteries of Lois Duncan or Mary Downing Hahn.


Check out Lisa McMann's website.

Find it at IndieBound. 

Read it with:
Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan
Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn
Dead to You by Lisa McMann

Floors by Patrick Carman

Leo's day starts out like a pretty ordinary day. Well, that is, an ordinary day in the Whippet Hotel. Owned by Merganzer Whippet, a billionare inventor with a love for ducks, the Whippet is home to wild rooms like the Pinball Room or the Cake Room, has live ducks living in a pond on the roof, and has talking robots living within a special robot room. While dealing with the ducks, Leo discovers a mysterious purple package; it has his name on it. Inside are clues to a mysterious quest that Leo must finish in two days. But the clues are not straightforward... will Leo be able to figure it out? He'll need a little luck, a little help, and it never hurts to bring a duck.

This book won me over. I found the beginning to be a bit slow; there was lots of wacky details, but I had a hard time putting the pieces together. I read fifty pages, though, and something kept me going for the next fifty. Then I set the book down and did something else, and in the mean time I realized that I was wondering about Leo and the Whippet and the whole adventure. The book had crept into my brain! The book has its own internal logic that I still couldn't quite follow, which kept me from puzzling out too much of the story. I liked the blossoming friendship between Leo and Remi (and the moments of frustration that Leo felt rang completely true), the relationship that Leo and his Dad have, and the competence that Leo displays throughout the book. There's a pretty hiss-worthy villian in Ms. Sparks (although I tired of her pretty quickly, the book needs someone like her posing a threat to the boys) and a magically mysterious semi-presence through the specter of Merganzer Whippet. This is a good book to hand fans of other puzzling books (The Westing Game comes to mind).  Looking at the cover of the first book (and the cover of the second book, due out this September), it seems like this is going to be a series of at least three books. Bring it on!

Find it at IndieBound. 

Read it with:
Floors #2: 3 Below by Patrick Carman
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin

Elefante by Vanita Oelschlager illustrated by Kristin Blackwood

Everyone knows that elephants never forget, right? Someone forgot to tell Elefante - he forgets everything! Sometimes that's a bad thing, like when he forgets to eat lunch (and gets hungry later) or forgets to clean up his toys (and his sister trips and falls down). But sometimes it's not so bad, like when he forgets that he's scared of scared of mouse (and makes a new friend) or forgets that he's shy (and gets to be the star of the show!). Knowing what to remember and what to forget is part of growing up, and Elefante is learning how fun life can be when you forget your fears and try new things.

I was drawn to this board book because of bright orange elephant on the front. It's certainly eye-catching, and I can see how kids would be drawn to it, too. The story almost seems like it's aimed at older kids (with the multiple ideas of forgetting), but even if they can't follow the subtleties of the story the illustrations will keep kids interested in the book. On the back cover there's a note that all of the artwork in the book was created out of recycled and repurposed material, including a bubble wrap, a sponge, and a band-aid. This had me immediately flipping over and reading through the book again. In addition to starting a conversation with kids about forgetting, it could easily also spark the creativity of artistic types who are eager to create pictures out of things you have around the house.

See more at  Vanita Oelschlager's website.

I received a review copy from NetGalley courtesy of VanitaBooks.

Find it at Amazon.

Read it with:
A Tale of Two Mommies by Vanita Oelschlager
Pomelo Begins to Grow by Ramona Badescu
The Thingamabob by Il Sung Na

Freshman: Tales of 9th Grade Obsessions, Revelations, and Other Nonsense by Corinne Mucha

Annie is ready for high school...maybe. Her older brother has warned her that whatever she does in her freshman year will set the tone for the rest of her life. Annie promptly freaks out and starts wondering who she is and who she wants to be. Her friend Richie is still there for her, but her friend Beth has practically become a new person. Then she meets Katrina and they bond over field hockey (and Annie can't help but notice Katrina's hot older brother). Maybe freshman year won't be so hard after all...as long as Annie can keep it together.

I loved this book. It picks up on the smaller moments that make high school such a strange place: icebreaker assignments, spirit week, cafeteria conversations.  The small moments - looks, expressions, realizations - are able to be explored because Corinne Mucha can do so much in the details. There's a definite tone of humour running throughout the book, particularly when you consider that it was written by someone who survived high school, but I didn't feel like it made fun of the experience. It's so easy to look back at high school and think, "Wow, that was lame" or "I thought that was a big deal, but it really wasn't, and I'm so much wiser now." This book doesn't do that. The drama is given its dramatic due while things in a way that completely gets it.I think that actual freshman would respond to it, but there's also a nostalgia factor at play that makes me remember what those days were really like, so older readers of graphic novels will enjoy it, too. Definitely keep your eye out for this book.

Check out Corinne Mucha's website for more of her work.

This book was published by Zest Books. 

Find it at IndieBound. 

Read it with:
My Every Single Thought by Corinne Mucha
Jinx by J. Torres
Smile by Raina Telgemeier

Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Emerson sees things that no one else can see. They're not ghosts, exactly, but more like representations of people from the past - southern belles, soldiers, musicians. When you touch them they pop and disappear, which is an unsettling experience. Emerson has been seeing them for years - since around the time that her parents died in a terrible accident. Now she lives with her brother and sister-in-law and is trying to keep everything under control. That's when Michael Weaver enters her life. He says he can help her, but what does that mean? How does he understand her so well? And what is Emerson supposed to do about the deep attraction that she feels toward him?

Once I got into this book, I had a very hard time putting it down. Luckily, I read it during the 48 Hour Reading Challenge, so I was able to read it all in one sitting. It had come highly recommended by a librarian colleague of mine, and I can see why. It's a great mix of the supernatural and science fiction, romance and adventure. I have no idea if the science put forward in this book is even possible, but that's so besides the point (at least for me, and probably for most readers who pick it up). The southern setting, the characters, and the storyline make it a natural for a screen adaptation of some kind. I'm looking forward to picking up the sequel, Timepiece, particularly because I want to know more about Kaleb, one of the minor (but important) characters from Hourglass.

Check out Myra McEntire's website.

Find it at IndieBound. 

Read it with:
Timepiece by Myra McEntire
The Time-Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Samantha on a Roll by Linda Ashman with pictures by Christine Davenier

Samantha has a brand new pair of roller skates. She's super excited to try them out, but her mom has said "Not now." But Samantha doesn't want to wait - she wants to go, go, go! What harm could there be in just trying them on? Before long she's speeding through town and causing all kinds of havoc. Who knew that roller skates could go so fast?

This book is utterly charming. The rhyming story has a lovely lilt and keeps the momentum of the story building and building. Rhyming text sometimes feels forced to my ear, but this read in a very natural way. The illustrations were fresh and colourful and had just the right amount of whimsy. I like Samantha, a girl who's so filled with excitement and determination that she dives headfirst (or skates first) into an adventure. As a reader I had a pretty good idea that everything was going to turn out okay, but I had no idea how that was going to happen. I was a little late in finding this book (it came out in 2011), but better late than never; definitely check this one out and share it with some children who would like a vicarious adventure.

Check out Linda Ashman's website to see more of her work.

Find it at IndieBound. 

Read it with:
I Will Not Read This Book by Cece Meng
No Dogs Allowed! by Linda Ashman
Miss Lina's Ballerinas by Grace Maccarone
Bink and Gollie by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee

Little Chicken's Big Day by Katie Davis and Jerry Davis

There's so much to do in a day...and so much for a little chicken to remember! It's a good thing that Big Chicken is there to keep Little Chicken on track. But not even Big Chicken can compete with a beautiful butterfly...and soon Little Chicken is all alone!

I particularly love the cover of this book. The bright colours and high-contrast images pop right off the page. The text of the story comes in the form of Big Chicken speaking; the words float and curve all over the pages, sometimes coming from an unseen body. It effectively recreates the experience of being small and not seeing things from the same perspective as bigger, older people. Young children might also start repeating Little Chicken's happy refrain of "I hear you clucking, Big Chicken." This is great to try in storytimes, to read one-on-one with a child, or to talk about getting lost or separation anxiety.

Find it at IndieBound.

No David! by David Shannon
Little Chimp's Big Day by Lisa Schroeder
Party Animals by Katie Davis

The Twins' Blanket by Hyewon Yum

These young twins have always shared everything. They have the same house, the same birthday, and the same blanket. They've slept with that blanket every night since they were born. But now their shared bed is getting too small for the two of them, and it's time for them to each have their own big bed. But who will get to keep the blanket?

This is a very lovely book. The little girls are so sweet and expressive. The illustrations are perfectly balanced; each girl has a side, and each page has one girl's dialogue (this took me awhile to figure out, but once it clicked I immediately flipped back and started reading again). The colours are rich and vibrant. The idea of twins being two individuals isn't new, but it's an important one. Hyewon Yum touches on a very interesting area that combines growing up with growing apart. Definitely check this book out; I can't wait to read more books by Hyewon Yum!

See more at Hyewon Yum's website.

Find it at IndieBound. 

Read it with:
Last Night by Hyewon Yum
Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same! by Grace Lin
Dinosaur's Binkit by Sandra Boynton

Darth Paper Strikes Back: An Origami Yoda Book by Tom Angleberger

In The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, Tommy and Kellan created a case file to explore the authenticity of the Origami Yoda. Was the Force really flowing through the finger puppet, or was it all just a hoax run by Dwight? In Darth Paper Strikes Back, Origami Yoda and Dwight face two new obstacles: Darth Paper and Harvey. After Dwight gets kicked out of school is on the verge of attending an alternative school for problem children, Tommy is determined to find a way to help. On the advice of Origami Yoda, he starts a second case file to document all of the ways that Dwight - and Origami Yoda - has actually worked to make the school a better place. The file also has Kellan's illustrations (and Harvey's unhelpful comments), but will it be enough to convince the school board that Dwight should be allowed back to school?

The two Origami Yoda books are built on such a great premise. The books and their covers practically scream 'Read Me!' Darth Paper has great strands running through it about friendship, acceptance, honesty, tact, and authority, but it never hits readers over the head with lessons or morals. You could probably read this book without an extensive knowledge of Star Wars, or without reading the first book, but I definitely recommend reading the first one before checking this one out. The ending of the book makes it very clear that there's going to be another one, and that's confirmed on Tom Angleberger's website. I can't wait!


Check out both Tom Angleberger's website as well as the Origami Yoda website.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

Jesus: He Lived Among Us by R.F. Palavicini and Steve Cleary

The story of Jesus has been recounted in many different ways over the last 2000 years. For many people, the definitive version of his story is found in the Bible. Drawing from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus: He Lived Among Us tells the story of Jesus from his birth to his death. It explores his faith, the miracles that he performed, and the relationships that he had with his disciples. Paired with illustrations and a bit of a framing narrative, this book is told in a way that will be meaningful for young readers.

As the cover of the book makes clear, this book is based on an animated film. The illustrations inside the book are taken from the movie. It does have a bit of a feel of a companion piece, but the movie can stand on its own. I'm not sure how easy it would be to follow for someone who didn't have prior knowledge of Jesus and his life; knowing a bit about the Bible definitely helped me to keep some of the stories, people, and events straight. Similarly, someone who knows a lot about the Bible and Jesus might not find much that's new in this book, at least in terms of content. The style of the book, the accessible language, and the artwork make this a book worth exploring, especially for parents and caregivers who are looking for a book about Jesus for a young reader.

I received a review copy from NetGalley courtesy of Warner Press.

Find it at IndieBound. 

Read it with:
Meet Jesus by Lynn Tuttle Gunney
Stories from the Life of Jesus by Celia B. Lottridge
The Life of Jesus by Mary Billingsley

I Will Not Read This Book by Cece Meng illustrated by Joy Ang

One little boy has an annoucement: he will not read this book. No matter how what happens, the book will not get read. He can be hanging from a cliff, there could be a monkey involved, it could be a life-or-death situation and he would still not read this book. Is there anything that could happen to change his mind?

Books about kids who don't want to read books present a reassuring line to people who don't see themselves as readers. As much as I love to see kids enthusiastically grabbing and pouring over books, I know that there are probably just as many kids who aren't likely to pick up a book on their own. One of the strengths, I think, of the book is that (spoiler alert) it doesn't swing all the way to the other side of the spectrum at the end of the book. The boy doesn't become a passionate advocate of reading; he doesn't decide that he loves books after all. He grudgingly accepts that reading might not be so bad, especially if his mom will read with him. And to me that's a much more realistic ending for a boy like this one. The story used humour effectively and the wide-ranging scenarios that the boy imagines make it exciting and dangerous while still in a safe environment. I responded very positively to Joy Ang's illustrations and the different expressions that the boy adopts over the course of the book. I could easily see this book as an animated short movie (both in story and look). This is a fun book to share with kids - both kids who see themselves as readers (it will be absurd to see a kid go to such lengths to avoid reading) and those who do not (who might find it reassuring to know that there are other people out there who feel like they do, even if they are fictional characters).

Find it at IndieBound. 

Read it with:
Tough Chicks by Cece Meng
The Qalupalik by Elisha Kilabuk illustrated by Joy Ang
Miss Brooks Loves Books! (And I Don't) by Barbara Bottner
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

Dog Number 1, Dog Number 10 by Ami Rubinger

Ten different dogs. Ten different interests. Join these animals as they introduce themselves with their names and personalities along with their numbers. Rhyming text and strategic pauses give kids a place to shout out the answers (and a surprise visit from some felines keeps it from feeling too rote). Just as in Ami Rubinger's I Dream of an Elephant, there's a hazy dreamlike quality about this book that makes it seem like it's taking part on another planet that has a very different natural environment. I think the bold, bright colours will appeal to young readers, and the expressions and characters of the dogs themselves create a fun learning environment for starting kids on their numeracy journey.


See more of Ami Rubinger's work at his website.

I received a review copy from NetGalley courtesy of Abbeville Press.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Big Cat, Small Cat by Ami Rubinger
I Dream of an Elephant by Ami Rubinger
Ten Nine Eight by Molly Bang

When I Was Small by Sara O'Leary with illustrations by Julie Morstad

Henry knows all about his own history. He knows all about what he was like when he was (an even younger) boy. But he's curious about his mother. What was she like as a little girl? He wishes that they could have been friends. So his mother tells her what she was like when she was small.

As a fan of Sara O'Leary and Julie Morstad's previous collaboration, When You Were Small, I was quite excited to find this book peering back at me from a library shelf. The text is short and spins readers off into a gentle fantasy world. The illustrations seem both vintage and timeless. They're lovely with a whimsicality that at the same time seems entirely natural. Julie Morstad is one of my favourite illustrators. Children and caregivers can talk about the content of the book (do you think these things really happened? do you think part of it is true?) as well as the idea behind it. It's a great prompter for sharing your own family stories and personal history with kids.

It looks like this book was released in Canada in December of 2011 and seems to have a US publication date of August 2012.

Check out their websites for more about Sara O'Leary and Julie Morstad.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
When You Were Small by Sara O'Leary
Where You Came From by Sara O'Leary
Singing Away the Dark by Caroline Woodward and Julie Morstad
Oddfellow's Orphanage by Emily Winfield Martin

Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin

Sasha is a proud member of Stalin's Communist Soviet Union. He can't wait to join the join the Young Pioneers and pledge his allegiance to Stalin and his country. He wants to make his father, a member of the secret police, proud. But then his father is arrested. Was he set up by a devious neighbour? It all must be some kind of terrible mistake. Alone, with his father arrested and his mother dead, Sasha tries to find a way to convince Stalin that his father's arrest is just a big mistake. But along the way Sasha learns many hard truths about his father, his life, and his hero, Stalin.

My favourite part of this book is how it plays with perspective. This shows up literally, as the perspective in the illustrations is sometimes skewed. Adults loom scarily over children in images that look like something out of a nightmare. Of course, the entire book (which takes place over a very short period of time) looks at how Sasha's perspectives change. He develops a deeper understanding of his father, of Stalin, and the world. Yelchin's afterward about Stalin and the USSR can help readers to put the story in its historical context. I hope Breaking Stalin's Nose's status as a Newbery Honor book brings it a larger audience.

Check out Eugene Yelchin's website to see more of his illustration and work.

Find it at IndieBound. 

Read it with:
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Stalin's Nose by Rory MacLean
Seven Hungry Babies by Candace Fleming

50 Underwear Questions: A Bare-All History by Tanya Lloyd Kyi with Illustrations by Ross Kinnaird

Underwear. Most people use it, but how many of us know anything about its history? Underwear didn't always look like what we use today. It's changed a lot over the decades and centuries, and so have ideas about modesty and coverage. Do you have any underwear questions? This bare-all history has all the answers you've been looking for!

Underwear is a topic of perennial fascination to children. It seems a bit naughty, but it's also so common. With a funny, easygoing narrative style mixed with humorous illustrations, this non-fiction title has lots of reader appeal. It charts how underwear went from simple (loincloths) to elaborate (corsets, long johns, petticoats) and back to simple again (thongs), and all of the points in between. It hints at underwear's connections to ideas of politics and gender and talks briefly about the role that economics and climates play, but much of that is glossed over in favour of keeping the timeline moving (a solid directional choice, given the intended audience for the book). For interested readers, a bibliography and a list of titles for further reading might help to explore some of these themes. Annick Press has a number of strong non-fiction titles for curious readers that are well worth checking out.

Check out her website for a glimpse into Tanya Lloyd Kyi's brain. Ross Kinnaird also has a blog where you can see more of his illustration.

I received a review copy from NetGalley courtesy of Annick Press.

Find it at IndieBound. 

Read it with:
50 Burning Questions: A Sizzling History of Fire by Tanya Lloyd Kyi
50 Poisonous Questions: A Book with Bite by Tanya Lloyd Kyi
Bear in Underwear by Todd H. Doodler
The Revealing History of Underwear by Katie Daynes
Underwear: What We Wear Under There by Ruth Freeman Swain

Rocket Town by Bob Logan

Have you ever been to Rocket Town? It's home to rockets big and small. Some are short, and some are tall. There are fast rockets and slow rockets and many different kinds of rockets. Count along as this astronaut gets ready for a blastoff! If this is your first visit to Rocket Town, make sure that it's not your last!

Rocket Town has a lovely retro-futuristic look to it. Some images echo past visions of the future, like a fantasy Tomorrowland.  There's also an element of looking back at the past with an eye to technology. (The carriage rocket, for example, would be right at home in a steampunk novel.) The big, bright pictures - many of them with sharply contrasting colours - are perfect for a board book format. It combines so many great things: cars and trucks, space, rockets, countdown, a dog... how could it go wrong? Bob Logan has very quickly shot right to the top of my list of authors and illustrators that I want to see much, much more from.

Don't miss Bob Logan's website for a look at some of his illustration.

Find it at IndieBound. 

Read it with:
Sea of Bath by Bob Logan
Roaring Rockets by Tony Mitton
Trashy Town by Andrea Griffing Zimmerman

Exposed by Kimberly Marcus

Liz loves the way the world looks through her camera. She's most comfortable when she can photograph the world. Some of her best pictures are of her best friend, Kate, a dancer. One night Liz and Kate have a big fight, and before they can make it right again, everything changes. Kate is accusing Liz's brother of something terrible, and Liz is caught between her best friend and her family. Everything is blurry and out of focus, and Liz has no idea what's true - and who's right.

The verse novel format of this book seems to swirl around Liz as she struggles to make some sense of her life. She doesn't know what to think and the idea of questioning her relationships with the people she loves most is tearing her apart. The guilt of whatever role she played in "that night" weighs heavily on her, and her family seems to be falling apart even as it puts on a show of solidarity. Exposed was one of YALSA's Best Fiction for Young Adults picks for 2012. 




Check out Kimberly Marcus' website.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
You Against Me by Jenny Downham
Scritch-Scratch A Perfect Match by Kimberly Marcus
Inexcusable by Chris Lynch

Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper and Brian Bellmont

Crissy dolls. Encyclopedia Brown. Choco-diles. Seven Up Bar. The 70s and 80s had a particular flavour that is instantly identifiable. Some of the items that were so popular then continue to this day; others have been revamped and revised, and some have been discontinued altogether. They went quietly from the shelves, confusing loyal fans who have spent years trying to replicate tastes, sounds, and appearances. This book asks the question that has been on a generation's mind: whatever happened to Pudding Pops?

As a pop culture enthusiast, resisting this book was a futile effort. I eagerly paged through the book, thinking back at things I'd experienced in my own life (Connect Four, Choose Your Own Adventure, TV theme songs) and things that I've seen covered in other nostalgia-based works. Owing both to a slightly different age bracket as well as a different country of origin (Canada, which has its own lost tastes, toys, and trends), there were many things here that I was learning about for the first time (Zoom, O'Boisies, the Hal Needham stunt set). One of the limitations of reading this book was that, as a paper book, it was entirely self-contained. At many times I wished I was reading it with my laptop so I could do Google image searches, look up unknown names on IMDB, and (the biggest wish) check out old commercials on YouTube. My longing for web connections also had me thinking about my own era and if we will continue to have the same time of "What happened to...?" or "Remember the..." publications that have come before. When so many things are catalogued online and details are just a wikipedia click away, will we ever have to wonder what happened to a forgotten memory? I'm not so young that I don't remember a time before the internet, so I know the difference that finding online evidence can make in validating a childhood memory (there are still a few that I can't anyone else remembering). At any rate, Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops is a fun look back at a 'simpler time' and the stuff that has captured the imaginations of a generation of people.

Check out the blog that spawned the book, GenXtinct.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Sunshine by Norma Klein
The Official Preppy Handbook edited by Lisa Birbach
Just Can't Get Enough: Toys, Games, and Other Stuff from the 80s that Rocked by Matthew Robinson and Jensen Karp
From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century by David Mansour
Totally Tubular 80s Toys by Mark Bellomo

Artistic Impressions: Figure Skating, Masculinity, and the Limits of Sport by Mary Louise Adams

If you were to ask a random person to name the sports that they thought were the most masculine, it is unlikely that figure skating would be one of the sports that they name. In fact, figure skating would probably end up near the bottom of the list. In contrast, when figure skating was first being developed, it was an activity that was only done by gentlemen and was used as a marker of how wealthy and powerful a man was. That changed in the 20th century and figure skating quickly became associated with not only femininity, but with young women (and girls). In the mid-90s there was a movement where a number of male skaters tried to separate themselves from the popular view of the sport and instead branded themselves as 'masculine' skaters. It was that period that prompted Mary Louise Adams to write this book on the historic origins of figure skating and how ideas of masculinity have always been intertwined with this sport.

That period in the 90s was also when I first became a big skating fan, so the skaters that she wrote about (Elvis Stojko, Alexei Urmanov, Kurt Browning, Viktor Petrenko) were ones that I was familiar with. It was interesting for me to go back and look at other books on skating with an eye towards gender roles and masculinity; Christine Brennan's writing on Michael Weiss in Inside Edge, for example, talks a lot about sex and sexuality. I also started thinking about how masculinity is portrayed on the ice today and what those ideas say about the concept of masculinity. The book was quite readable for a fan of skating and very well organized. It clearly stated what it was going to cover, so even though I wish there had been topics around pairs and ice dancing, it is not a fault of the book that it wasn't there - it just means that I want someone to write another book on those aspects! This is a can't-miss for fans of figure skating and gender studies.

Click here for more information on Dr. Mary Louise Adams.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Inside Edge by Christine Brennan
Figure Skating: A History by James R. Hines
Culture on Ice: Figure Skating and Cultural Meaning by Ellyn Kestnbaum
Women on Ice: Feminist Responses to the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan Scandal edited by Cynthia Baughman

Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber

It wasn't Perry's idea to take Gobi to the prom. She is the Lithuanian exchange student living with Perry's family and while Perry was friendly with her, they weren't exactly close. But there they were, at the prom. Following a small physical altercation, they leave but instead of heading home, Gobi insists that they drive into New York City for one unforgettable evening. And between dodging bullets, staring down possibly dangerous men, and evading the police,  it will definitely be a night that Perry will never forget.

It took me awhile to get into this book because I wasn't ready (or willing) to hand myself over to it at the beginning. I kept asking questions about the story: Why doesn't Perry just stand up to his parents? Who's Gobi working for? Is this making any sense? I told myself to read 50 pages before I made any decisions, and the next thing I knew I was 130 pages in. It kind of snuck up on me and pulled me in. Information was parceled out over the course of the book, and while I wish that there was at least a bit of explanation of Gobi's motives and role earlier on, I was satisfied with what was revealed. Another thing that kept me turning the pages was that it seemed like it wasn't always adhering to common YA romance/adventure fiction conventions. People get shot. People die. There are repercussions from actions. When I expected one thing to happen, another would happen instead. This kept me on my toes while reading and pushed me to finish the book to see what happens. I read the entire book in one sitting, and I think that that was the best reading experience for the book. I can easily this being a movie because it had so many great cinematic elements (the transformation from quiet wallflower to hot assassin, chase scenes, a great ending).

Check out Joe Schreiber's blog.

Find it at IndieBound. 

Read it with:
Chasing the Dead by Joe Schreiber
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn
A Long Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan
Fat Vampire by Adam Rex