Carpe Diem, by Autumn Cornwell

Vassar is a master of planning (from a family of planners) and she's got it all figured out: HS Valedictorian, attend Vassar College (hence, the name!), get PhD, win Pulitzer, and so on. But when her Grandma Gerd (the family flake) invites her to come to Southeast Asia for the summer for less than two weeks' notice, Vassar gets the surprise of her life when her parents insist that she go! Never mind what plans it will ruin. Something is definitely up, but to find out what it is, Vassar will have to go and learn a lot more about Grandma, Asia, and herself than she could have ever possibly imagined.

Long-ish, but entertaining, with a nice mixture of self-discovery, romance, adventure, and some minor suspense. You know how it is all going to end (especially with the amazingly exaggerated beginning), but you have to credit the book for being a decent read. It doesn't drag and you do get caught up in it. Now, why anyone thinks that going to Vassar is their life-long ambition is beyond me (been there, have the AB cum laude to show for it!), but I guess it is better than calling her Barnard!

Song of the Sparrow, by Lisa Ann Sandell

In this verse retelling of the story of the Lady of Shalott, we cover some of the basic foundations of the Arthurian Myth -- Arthur's rise to be king, the drawing of the sword, the marriage of Gwynivere, and more. But the retelling is from the perspective of the women and this creates a different point of view, as they play a much more integral part in the story than usually befalls their characters.

Telling the story in verse is a bit lazy (it saves the trouble of transitions or deep character development) and the research a bit spotty (who ever heard of mending chain mail [!] with a needle and thread?), but the story is decent and the pacing good. As an adventure, this works fairly well and is a quick read. But it is a bit thin though and I would have preferred a meatier story (perhaps like that recent retelling of Orphelia's role in Hamlet?).

For Now, by Gayle Friesen

In this sequel to Losing Forever, Jes is still blurting out whatever pops into her head at the most inopportune moments, but her life is evolving. Her Mom has become pregnant and blending Cal and his yoga-meditation fanatic daughter Angela into the family is proving trying. Jes's friend Dell is swept away by a creepy boyfriend and Jes herself needs to figure out if she wants to date boy-next-door Sam or not.

Mildly humorous and generally well-written, the biggest problem with this story is that it really isn't about anything. In a fairly realistic way, events happen and people change, but it is mostly about getting from where the book started to where it ends. In a serial, that would make for a decent book, but taken by itself, this story does not have much of a purpose.

The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney, by Suzanne Harper

When Sparrow gets a chance to transfer to a new bigger high school, she jumps at the chance. Anything she can do to get to a place where no one knows her or her wacky family, the better! You see, her family are spiritualists (mediums to the spirit word) who make a living out of contacting the dead. And Sparrow, the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, doesn't want anything to do with it. She's been hiding her own talents since she was 5 in an attempt to simply be normal. But a boy at school and an annoying ghost are doing everything they can to change all of that.

Clever and funny, with lively characters and a fast-moving storyline, this is a good read. It falls into the category of a guilty pleasure for me, because it does not have a great deal of substance, but it's still fun. While there are a number of underdeveloped elements in the story, nothing will grate on you if you want some light entertainment.

Girl At Sea, by Maureen Johnson

Clio is forced to leave her great incipient job at the galaxy art store, working with boyfriend-to-be Ollie, and spend the summer in Italy on a boat. But before you roll your eyes and tsk tsk about Clio being some sort of spoiled brat, keep in mind that Clio's absent Dad previously got her nearly killed and later on got her a big tatoo on his arm, so he's not the wisest of Dads in the package. And this summer jaunt is some sort of ultra secret mission involving sunken treasure, men with guns, and a love triangle. So, it's not exactly fun in the sun!

Johnson writes well and combines an engaging heroine and a lot of drama into her stories. It's taken me a while to in fact become familiar with her style, which combines typical teen angst (parental conflict, fighting with friends, and insecurities about the opposite sex) with action sequences that start normal and then quickly veer into melodrama. It really shouldn't work and if you tried to explain this book to a friend, they would look at you like you were nuts (too touchy feely for boy readers and too much action for the angsty Judy Blume graduates), but it really does work. A truly enjoyable and fun read with satisfying emotional depth.

The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean

Sym has always been a bit obsessed by Antarctica, and under the tutelage of her doting Uncle Victor, she has learned a great deal about it. Victor has little tolerance for formal schooling and a lot of influence with Mum (ever since her Dad died), so when he proposes a trip to Paris in the middle of exams, but that trip to Paris quickly becomes a trip much further south. And, in the land of her dreams, Sym discovers that her uncle is a bit different than she imagined. But inside herself, she her a friend - the ghost of Capt Oates of the ill-fated Scott expedition to the Pole. Will it be enough to save her in the bitter wilderness of Antarctica?

Yes, it's this year's Printz winner, so it deserves a lot of respect, but it's hard for me to take seriously anyone who idolizes Scott (one of the greatest fools who ever explored - a point carefully ignored by the Brits who can't stand the idea that a Norwegian did it better by not being an arrogant twat, but I digress....).

British children must either be incredibly gullible and trusting of adults, or the people who write these books want to believe they are. It seems something of a trademark to have a child who lets horrible things happen to them simply because they believe that the grownups will take care of them. American teens (or the adults who write about them) are more cynical. In a post-Nixon America, no one buys the idea that the grownups will take care of you. Rather, we know that you can't trust anyone over the age of 18. This is no small matter. Much of the story centers around Sym's blind faith in her uncle and the horrible (and utterly telegraphed) fact that he is letting her down. That she finally realizes this around page 307 is utterly unbelievable, but if you can't believe it, the book is a hard slog.

Holding aside that tragic flaw, the book has decent writing and once you get used to Sym's precious dialog with the ghost of Oates (I tended to gloss through it because of the sheer tedium), you do get into a good roll. I'll even admit that I had trouble putting the book down once I hit page 150 or so, but that's because it is a decent adventure story and I'm a sucker for Antarctica.

Decent enough read? Yes. Clever story telling? Perhaps. Best YA book of 2007? Not even close.

Derby Girl, by Shauna Cross

They say that a writer should write about what they know, so if you are a kick-ass roller derby star in L.A. who comes out of the Lone Star state, then your first novel is going to be about a young woman in Texas trying to break out of her parochial small town to become a kick-ass roller derby star. Bliss is said small-town roller wannabee, condemned to years of trying to please her mother on the pageant circuit. And while neither her town or her family understands her, Bliss knows what she wants and with the help of some friends, she is going to get it.

Clever and witty, and written in a very colloquial style, this book is an easy read. It's also fast-paced and manages to avoid tiring you out. The slang and constant cool nature of the characters does run the risk of getting old, but as it does, even Cross makes fun of her heroine's heavy reliance on a few choice words. I will take the author to task for never really showing her character struggle (no problem weighs Bliss down for long), but escape lit is supposed to be fun and this one delivers like a whip.

Bad Girls Club, by Judy Gregerson

In their family, Destiny is the one who keeps things together and protects her little sister from their mother. There's no help from Dad as he cannot accept what Destiny tells him (how Mom tried to kill them) and cannot deal with his problems. Destiny's friends try to help as well, but in the end Destiny knows in her heart that she must fix everything. No one loves a bad girl.

I'm not a big fan of the niche of YA lit that puts the characters through endless suffering and less of what I have to think of as a teen fantasy (what if...my parents really were certifiably crazy?) about abusive/neglectful parents. But what usually bothers me in those stories is the gratuitous depiction of suffering with no attempt to escape -- the literature of victimization. This book is very different.

From nearly the first page, we see that Destiny is a strong and able young woman (maybe sometimes even too strong?) who fights for what she believes in. But we also see how she gets sucked down by trying to care for a mentally-ill parent. We also get a good sense of what she is fighting for and why she endures such a terrible situation. We come to believe in what we are seeing and thus to care for the people involved. The result is extremely moving (and disturbing) reading. I can't say that I enjoyed reading this book but it left me with a better understanding of abuse and mental illness.

Love, Stargirl, by Jerry Spenelli

Stargirl has moved away from Arizona to Pennsylvania. It is a lonely place. She's back to being homeschooled and misses the folks back in the desert. In her loneliness, she starts a letter to Leo that fills the entire book. In this letter she describes her new friends (talkative six-year-old Dootsie, agoraphobic Betty Lou, feisty Alvina, distant delinquent Perry, and others) and her attempts to keep her wagon full of pebbles.

The writing maintains its sweet melancholy, but as the narrator's perspective shifts from Leo to Stargirl, the appeal of the story fades. In Stargirl, there was a worshipful distance between us and Stargirl, a sense of mystery, and a sadness of the narrator realizing that he never really appreciated her. Stargirl may have been put on a pedestal, but it was a beautiful view. Switching the story to Stargirl's perspective in this second book cuts away at that mystery. Instead, Spinelli relies upon quirky outside characters to enliven the story. Stargirl loses much of her quirks as she loses her mystery. In the end, she becomes more than Opal in Because of Winn-Dixie (an excellent book to be compared with, I might note), but she isn't really Stargirl anymore. And even she knows it.

How To Ruin A Summer Vacation, by Simone Elkeles

Amy has hardly ever seen her Dad (the "sperm donor"). He shows up about once a year but otherwise ignores her. So, it's quite a surprise when he insists that she come with him to Israel for a summer. Amy does not quite know what to expect. She's heard enough about Israel but does not know much about it. And her reception there, meeting her father's family, is pretty rough. But over the summer, she grows out of her selfish American roots as she discovers new friends, new love, and an ancient heritage.

The book is well written but I found it hard to relate (or sympathize) with Amy, who is fairly self-centered and rude. And her transformation comes so easily that it seems either fake or simply wishful-thinking from the author. That made it hard to like the book.

Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale

When Dashti, a mucker from the steppes with the gift of singing the healing songs, comes to serve the Lady Saren, she does not realize the cruel fate that awaits her. Saren has been sentenced to live seven years in the tower for refusing to marry the evil Lord Khaser, and for holding out for Khan Tegus. But their days in the tower are simply the beginning of an epic that will take every skill and talent the girls have to survive.

A satisfying but predictable fantasy. Based on a Grimms brothers tale, but transplanted to a pseudo-Mongolian setting, the book has a pleasing combination of familiar and exotic elements. The biggest thing in an adventure book, of course, is whether it holds your interest. I found this one hard to put down, grudgingly setting it aside and eagerly returning to see what happened next. Even if the ending was pretty easy to figure out far in advance, sometimes that's a comfort and getting there is the fun.

Clementine, by Sara Pennypacker

Clementine is a third grader who doesn't understand why adults are always accusing her of not Paying Attention. She's paying attention, butjust maybe not to the things the adults want her to pay attention. And while she has a series of accidents (like cutting her friend Margaret's hair or coloring her own hair with indelible ink), she also has some pretty good ideas about pigeons.

A delightful wonderful little book, admittedly for a younger age group than I normally read. But when you need a break from the doom and gloom of YA, it's time to crack open this book. And while parents, babysitters, and teachers may cringe a bit through some of Clementine's adventures, this is a funny read. Highly recommended.

21 Proms, ed by David Levithan and Daniel Ehrenhaft

I figured that a collection of 21 stories about going to your Prom would get pretty repetitive really quickly. Boy was I wrong. From the sweetness of the poetic "Off Like A Prom Dress" to the weirdness of a teenage bacchanalia plotted by the Latin Club in "In Vodka Veritas," there's an amazing variety in these visions. Best of all, they are all short stories so (good or bad) they are over quickly and this gives the authors an opportunity to really shine. There are unusual points of views ("Shutter") and odd characters ("Mom called, she says you have to go to prom"). There are surprisingly touching stories ("How I Wrote to Toby") and pieces of social protest ("Primate the Prom"). In all there are 21 stories here and every one of them is different and strangely unique.

Short story collections can be a rough bunch and there are definitely weaker/stronger stories in this collection, but as a whole this is a wonderful collection of stories that loosely centers around a single topic. A strong recommendation. If nothing else, it provides a great view of the variety among contemporary YA writers.

Leap, by Jane Breskin Zalben

Krista has liked Bobby since third grade (when he gave her a box of chocolates), but she's always been closer friends with Daniel. Now that they are all older, Krista finds her friendship with Daniel inconvenient as she tries to attract Bobby's attention. When an accident handicaps Daniel, Krista finds that he needs her help and that changes everything. Many subplots ensue, including Daniel's mother abandoning her family, a science project, and a trip to the city to get a tattoo. Told from the perspective of Krista and Daniel in alternating chapters.

I really wanted to like this book (it came with strong recommendations) but there are so many problems with it. For an award-winning author, it was surprising how poorly written the work was. The dialogue is clunky, important background is excluded, and the plot veers dangerously all round. Zalben seems to understand what people do, but she has little-no interest in describing how they feel. At first, I thought she was simply more interested in her adult characters than the kids, but I grew to realize that she simply had no interest in any of them. There's a lot going on in this story, but I felt distanced and shut out by the lack of depth in the characters. A disappointment.

Unfinished Portrait of Jessica, by Richard Peck

In this YA classic, Jessica (granddaughter of the namesake of the title) hates her mother for driving her father away, and when she gets the opportunity to go to Acapulco to see him for Christmas, she jumps at the chance. But the fantasy she has weaved about her father falls flat as his true colors are revealed. Jessica comes to realize that while he may not love her, there are others that do.

Fairly predictable and sanctimonious story about a spoiled child who grows up. Written without much of an authentic voice, I can't help but wonder why this was once a popular novel, but it is an instructive read: a good example of what YA once was like, before authors really took teen voices seriously. An interesting piece of literary history and a quick read, but flat and uninspiring.

This Is What I Did, by Ann Dee Ellis

Perhaps better titled as "this is what I didn't do," this is a story about a boy named Logan who is incapable of doing anything. A modern day Oblomov, Logan spends a lot of time telling us what he would like to do but very little time doing any of it. He once witnessed a horrible crime that involved his best friend and that event has haunted him and prevented him from defending himself in the future. As a result, he is bullied by other boys and their friends. Only a similarly outcast girl who loves palindromes will take to him.

The book is clever enough, I suppose, and you may enjoy it, but I found Logan completely maddening and useless. Watching him get beat up for 150-odd pages is not my idea of a good time (or a good read). Without real character growth, I just found myself terribly frustrated and tired by this book.

Country Girl, City Girl, by Lisa Jahn-Clough

Phoebe has managed on her farm in Maine just fine, taking pictures and telling fairy tales to the animals. It's true that she's had to manage without a mother and that she does not have a lot of friends, but things have generally been fine. But when sophisticated Melita arrives from the Big Apple, that world gets turned upside down. It isn't just that Melita is pretty and wears fancy clothes, but Melita pushes Phoebe to break out of her shell. And as Phoebe does break out, she realizes that her feelings for Melita are becoming more than just friendship.

The surprise find of 2007 for me was Jahn-Clough's unconventional novel Me, Penelope so I was definitely looking forward to reading this earlier work. Country Girl, City Girl is a more predictable story, but does not disappoint. The characters are nuanced and real, the plot is hardly formula (but still satisfying), and there is a nice dramatic arc to the story. Phoebe's jealousy is hard to relate to (but jealousy is always a challenging emotion to make sympathetic to an outsider). I give Jahn-Clough very high marks for breaking free of traditional YA tropes. You will enjoy these characters and they will seem familiar, but they will not necessary fit the stereotypes.

Miss Smithers, by Susan Juby

OK, back to the reviews....

It's been a year or so since Alice, I Think left off, but in this sequel, Alice McLeod is still muddling through life in Smithers BC. Her younger brother may be the one who is all together, but Alice is sorting out how to lose her virginity to her boyfriend Goose, finding a pair of leather pants, learning how not to hold her liquor, and proving that even a freak can compete in the Miss Smithers Pageant. As before, Alice is a crazy mix of fantastic insight and crazed misconceptions, and you have to love her energy and commitment.

Clever and fun writing, you either love Alice or you hate her. Several of my friends can't buy her character and hate these books, but I admire her stamina and drive, and just enjoy her twisted view on life. Juby is a genius writer in my book and these quirky books are uniquely pleasing.

A Small Request

Not a book review, but more of a request to folks reading my BLOG: while I don't mind having comments on my posts (and in fact, I would welcome more discussion about the books I am reviewing), I do get tired of people posting that my comments are irrelevant because of my gender or my age.

I fully understand that my tastes may differ from people a generation removed and I acknowledge the differences between male and female preferences, but to suggest that I can't appreciate a book that is targetted towards a teenage female audience is not true. 95% of what I review here is targetted towards teen girls, and I have enjoyed the bulk of what I have reviewed (I've only panned 36 out of 420 books to date).

I will like some books that you may hate and you may like books that I pan here. That's fine and I openly welcome comments that contradict my reviews. But let's keep the discussion on the merits of the book and avoid personal attacks on the reviewer. Thanks!

Falcon's Prey, by Kristina Coia

I haven't had a chance to read much lately, but I did mange to get this slim novel in...

Ana is the princess of Prantarr, but when a natural disaster triggers a war between Prantarr and Delmaa, she and her brother must flee for their lives. Befriending a Delmish boy, they fight against merfolk, dragons, and other beasts in the course of the trek. The journey opens Ana's eyes to the truth of her kingdom and the challenges of the world.

I found this book through a strong recommendation and I wanted very much to be stunned by it on its own merits, but I'll offer this split review instead. If you consider that the author was only in 8th or 9th grade when she wrote the story, it is an amazing achievement -- a very creative story with a good attempt at character development and a deep message about transcending our differences. However, as a work of literature, Coia is still a developing author. The text is heavy with cliche and clunky. The story needed more fleshing out and revision. A writer's group and a good editor would be valuable allies. All of which is intended as praise, becuase any high school freshman who is ready for an adult writer's group is a serious asset. Expect great things to come!