What I Call Life, by Jill Wolfson

When Cal Lavender makes a mistake and lets her mother Betty have an episode in the Public Library, Cal gets sent to the Pumpkin House (a foster home) under the care of the Knitting Lady. There she learns a lot about adoption, the ways that other kids deal with trauma, and a little bit about knitting. And while the reader will quickly recognize some truths about Cal's life that she has trouble recognizing herself, none of it will matter in the end.

Interesting mild critique of the foster care system written by a woman who apparently usually writes about it from the inside as non-fiction. It's a good story with decent characters but I wanted, in the end, to see more happen to Cal -- at the very least to see her develop more. Maybe not so realistic, but more fulfilling.

Dolores: Seven Stories About Her, by Bruce Brooks

Dolores is not your typical girl. She doesn't care what you think of her. She isn't afraid of strangers. She likes the yoyo. And odd obscure music. And she can handle herself in a Lexus with a horny guy lusting after her ample chest. And she does the best cheers. That's about all you need to know about Dolores.

This very short book is actually seven short stories, that share Dolores in common, although they take place in different moments of her life. Some of the stories are absolutely hiliarious, while others will leave you scratching your head. That makes for an uneven read, but the ones that are good, are REALLY good, and Brooks does wonders at blowing the top off of YA conventions.

If you thought Criss Cross rocked, you'll like the non-story flow of this book for the same reason. But if you thought Criss Cross was pompous trash (like I did) then you'll still like this collection.

I Am Not Esther, by Fleur Beale

One day, out of the blue, Kirby's mother announces that they are moving away. But before they even reach their destination, Mom admits that she's really leaving Kirby off with some distant relatives that Kirby's never heard of before, and leaving to go overseas for a few months. Before Kirby has had a chance to adjust to this news, she's thrust into a family in an austere Christian cult. Confused and hurt by her mother's abandonment, Kirby (now called Esther) has to find the inner strength to survive.

Gripping and entertaining, this is good escapist fiction. Nothing here to really mark it as a classic or even as a particularly strong book, but it has good entertainment value. The writing is smooth, the characters interesting, although the ending is a bit rushed and I found it a bit disappointing.

Holly's Secret, by Nancy Garden

When 12-year-old Holly's family moves to Massachusetts from the Big Apple, she decides to implement The Plan -- changing her name to Yvette and creating a glamorous vision of herself as more feminine, bolder with boys, and interested in things like cheerleading and ear piercings. But most of all, the new Yvette will have a normal family -- with a Mom and a Dad -- instead of Holly's two Moms.

A book obviously intended with a political message -- or to feed a market for people who read books for a political message, and thus a hard book to read for its own merits.

Putting that aside, we end up with a fairly straightforward middle reader story about how lying can come back and bite you and how good friends don't judge you for stupid things. Both of these messages good ones for kids to read about. The story has good pacing and good characters, albeit the good guys are a bit too good and the bad guys a bit too bad. There isn't much room for gray when you have a mission to accomplish!

Predictable but functional.

Child X, by Lee Weatherly

Jules life is heading along swimmingly. She tries out for a part in Northern Lights and gets the lead. Her biggest problems are the mean girl at school who bullies her and the fact that her parents keep fighting. But then one day her father moves out and won't talk to her. She knows it's her mother's fault but for some reason her father keeps holding it against her as well. And then the media starts to show up.

A bit on melodrama, but this is a pretty gripping story about a pretty normal English schoolgirl whose life gets very turned upside down by legal controversy and paparazzi. It's a good fun read, although a bit devoid of deep substance (that's OK, not everything has to have substance!).

All Rivers Flow to the Sea, by Alison McGhee

Rose and Ivy were in a car accident and Rose survived. Ivy ended up nearly brain dead and kept alive with ventilators -- not quite dead and not quite alive. In the months after the accident, Rose tries to piece together her life, but all she can find is a textbook about wars, a series of boys who she tries to use to take her pain away, and an older man who has also suffered loss, and teaches her to drive.

Beautifully written, but largely pointless. My synopsis does more credit to the plot than it deserves as this is largely an exercise is writing pretty prose, not really in telling a story. Be prepared to snoooooooooooooooze.

The Queen of Second Place, by Laura Peyton Roberts

Cassie believes everyone has a talent. Whether it's Quentin's ability to find parking places, Fitz's ability to find the longest line, or Casiie's own talent at always coming in second place. But those ideas are all about to come under serious fire when Cassie meets Kevin and decides that she will be his girlfriend, even so uber-sexy Stirling has already set her eyes on the guy.

All of which makes this novel sound like a vacuous boy-crazy book, which it really isn't. Roberts's writing is great and witty and Cassie is so much the best friend that you wish you had in school. That makes her trials and tribulations really fun to follow her through and the payoff in the end when things end up...well, end up pretty much as you have to expect them to (enough said!). It's a pretty long read, but it's a good one!

Half and Half, by Lensey Namioka

When Fiona Cheng has to indicate her race on a class registration form, she doesn't know which box to check. She's half Chinese and half Scottish. And as the Folk Festival comes up, Fiona gets an opportunity to explore her notions of her own identity and those of her friends as well.

Fairly basic by-the-numbers middle reader about racial identity. No major crises, Fiona solves all of her family's problems, and everyone is very happy in the end. It's warm, it's caring, it may even teach a valuable lesson or two, but it doesn't really have much substance behind it and the clunkiness of the prose will keep this out of the limelight.

Light Years, by Tammar Stein

Maya leaves Israel to come study in Virginia, but she is leaving more than her homeland, she is leaving behind the place where her first love, Dov, was murdered by a suicide bomber. Unable to cope with the grief from that loss (and her role in causing it), she retreats into nightly runs and her love of astronomy.

An almost certainly autobiographical look at being a foreign student in the US and coming to terms with a homeland that offers both beauty and pain (whether the dead boyfriend actually happened or not is irrelevant), Stein creates a world that is probably unknown to most Americans. The chapters that take place in Israel, in particular, portray a world that will be fascinating to anyone who has never been there.

My major reservation is that I don't think this is really a YA book. It will probably be most of interest to younger adults, but most likely in the 18 and up category. That doesn't mean that kids shouldn't read it (and won't enjoy it), but as a story that begins when Maya is already 18 and out of school, people will enjoy this book as an adult book.

Bittersweet, by Drew Lamm

Taylor has always had plenty of ideas for pictures, but after her grandmother is taken to a nursing home, Taylor can't deal. She loses all inspiration and falls into a slump where she can't manage to draw a thing, and where she loses interest in life itself, casually accepting whatever comes her way, whether it is her friends or a guy hitting on her.

This is a soul wrenching rumination on loss and how we cope with it. It starts off very strong and ends on a predictable sad note. But in between, the story meanders, not that much unlike Taylor's own depression. The problem is that a meandering plot just isn't all that interesting to read. There's very little dramatic arch and characters wander in and out without sparking much interest. A distant father suddenly becomes less distant and then just fades away from the story, as if life going well isn't worth living or talking about. Aimless and in need of serious editing.

Missing Abby, by Lee Weatherly

When Abby goes missing and Emma realizes that she's the last one who's seen her, it triggers a torrent of memories -- about the fun they used to have together, and about how Emma ran away from their friendship because Abby got too embarassing to be with (with her Goth fantasies and other non-trendy stuff). As days turn to weeks, and the chances of finding Abby diminish, Emma comes to the realization that she's lost a real friend.

Moderately predictable, but satisfying story with an edge of suspense (about as much danger as Brit YA Lit ever seems to allow -- have you ever noticed that the kids in UK children's lit are on such tighter leashes than the Yanks?). Some nice unorthodox friendships (where things don't necessarily work out) and less unusual parents (who go rather abruptly from being unreasonable to being totally cool). A mixed bag, but not a wasted read.

Peaches, by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Reluctantly, three girls (Birdie, Leeda, and Murphy) find themselves spending Spring Break and then the entire summer together at the darlington peach orchard, where they learn a lot about boys, peaches, and friendship.

The novels reads like a movie treatment and perhaps it would make a good one, but it's all a bit too distant and I never found myself getting inside any of the main characters. I kept being told what they were feeling or deciding, but never quite understanding it for myself, and so I found myself cut off. It might be the multitude of characters or the third-person style, but in any case, not really so much fun to read. Great ideas, occasionally funny bits (especially all the cute random asides), but ultimately unfulfilling.

If We Kiss, by Rachel Vail

Charlie starts the year off with her first kiss. That ought to be a good thing except that the boy (Kevin) then starts to date her best friend Tess. And Kevin's father starts to date Charlie's Mom. And when it couldn't get any more confusing and complicated, it seems that Kevin still wants to kiss her...and she wants to kiss him too.

Both predictable and cliche, yet fun and original, Vail does a wonderful job at producing a realistic story. It doesn't break new ground, it won't teach you life's lessons, and it won't shock the schoolboard, but it is entertaining and fun to read. The literary equivalent of comfort food.

Locked Inside, by Nancy Werlin

Marnie has learned to be very careful how she opens up. It was an important survival technique as soons as she was old enough to realize the way that people would try to use her because of her famous mother. But when she is kidnapped, she must confront that decision to stay closed up, and learn to trust the right people in order to survive.

A thriller. Not my usual choice of genre, but I'm trying to branch out. The whole thing was a bit too long and rambling for my taste, with very little long-term redeeming quality to it, but it was entertaining. The characters never quite sucked me in but the novel wasn't a bad experience. If you like thrillers and mysteries, this one is not bad.

Just Like That, by Marsha Qualey

Hanna breaks up with her boyfriend, blows off her friends' party invite and takes a walk out to the lake during a bitterly cold Minnesota night. What happens next triggers a series of event that compound with others to create a story of sorts as Hanna separates herself from her friends, finds new ones, and seeks out lost family relations for herself and others.

This is an odd book. On its face, it's very poorly organized. Plot twists show up out of the blue, usually with only a few pages foreshadowing (important character information is presented after the fact to justify these twists). It all reeks of bad writer. Yet, this is well-written and one suspects that the poorly announced plot twists are something of a style. That particular style may or may not appeal. I'll give it points for originality, but I'm not so sure it works for me.

Splintering, by Eireann Corrigan

In the aftermath of a random act of violence against a family, the individual members of the family must recover and rebuild. Each one struggles with their own demons and none of them can quite figure out a way to reconnect. Through a series of prose poems which are alternating visions of what brother and sister feel, Corrigan brings to life their conflicting feelings.

Some poetry collections work, while others become excuses for fragmented writing. This is an example of the latter. It doesn't help that the poetry isn't really that good. Long rambling free verse, the language is basically prose written in snippets. That's really an abuse of the form, as if Corrigan can't connect the dots between the various scenes or find a way to connect her characters. Yes, as the title implies, being splintered and disconnected might be the point here, but this is pretty turgid reading. The characters mostly mope around, not really realizing anything about themselves or others, and end up pretty much where they started. Very little payoff here.

Sandpiper, by Ellen Wittlinger

Sandpiper Hollow has a confused relationship with boys. She picks up a new boyfriend, stays with him for a few days, and drops him when she tires of him. But then she meets Walker and his secrets and her life changes. But not before her past catches up with her. Each chapter is interspersed with poetry that expands upon the themes that the chpater before has just introduced.

A fairly explicit and violent story about teenage sex, jealousy, and love, placed in a very realistic and believable setting. When the heroine starts describing giving her boyfriends blowjobs within the first twenty pages, you know you aren't reading Catcher in the Rye anymore! This is thoughtful and respectful fiction, just the type of thing that narrow-minded people like to ban. But while it will give the adults gray hairs, I think YAs will like it.

Overnight, by Adele Griffin

Caitlin's birthday sleepover is the high social event of the year for the Lucky Seven -- the in-crowd at school. But when one of them gets abducted, the whole thing falls apart. By the end of the evening, the old alliances will be permanently broken.

Told from several viewpoints, Griffin captures the pettiness of sixth-graders well. Whether this makes for a good read is a matter of debate. If I was a sixth grader, I'd probably take offense at how shallow and cruel everyone is portrayed. But most of all, too many things were left unanswered, and that's frustrating. I like a few loose ends, but an awaful lot at the end is left unanswered.

The Nobodies, by Julianna Baggott [N. E. Bode]

In this sequel to The Anybodies, Fern and Howard go to summer camp, where the Mole (a.k.a. BORT -- sorry! no underlines!) has turned everything wrong. It is up to Fern, Howard, Corky Gorsky (secret agent!), and Good Old Bixie to thwart his plot. And with some help from everpresent empty bottle of diet lime fizzy drink, they will do it...that is, unless the author is killed by her ex writing teacher first!

More silly fun here, although of course not as striking the second time around. As sequels go, this isn't bad, but I don't imagine this story line has much left in it. Still, good for a silly chuckle. The storyline is so ridiculous that it really isn't worth following, but it will make for a fun bedtime read.

Ostrich Eye, by Beth Cooley

Ginger is initially distrustful of the stranger in the park who is watching her and her friends, but then she notices how much he looks like her biological father who left so many years ago. Now that she knows who she is, she opens her life to him and helps him figure out a way to confront her mother about her Dad's reappearance into her life. But everything is not quite what it seems.

A functional, but largely by-the-numbers story about family, trust, and a couple other things that I can't reveal because it would ruin the ending, this is a Delacorte prize winning story. I'm not quite sure it lives up to the hype, mostly because the ending is a bit too predictable, but it is a good read.