Month: February 2010

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors

| Tasha

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork

Released March 2010.

Stork returns with his second teen novel after Marcelo in the Real World.  D.Q. and Pancho could not be more different except for their focus on life and death.  D.Q. is dying of cancer and trying to understand how to hold onto life.  Pancho is healthy but everyone in his family has died, and he is now planning to murder someone.  When Pancho meets D.Q., he wants nothing to do with him.  But he gets paid to help D.Q. and when D.Q. is sent for treatment to Albuquerque, Pancho is eager to go along because the man he is hunting for lives there.  As he spends time with D.Q. and Marisol, a girl at the recovery facility, Pancho finds himself changing but will it be enough to prevent him from taking a life?

As with his first book, Stork excels at character development and the creation of people who are damaged, fascinating and vividly human.   Pancho is a boy filled with anger and denial who has so much going for him, but is unable to see it.  D.Q. is reaching the end of his battle to live but seizes every day with a fierceness and vigor.  This book is an exploration of two boys and their unique friendship that ends up changing them both.  It is a celebration of life, an honoring of death, and a tribute to faith in the broadest sense.

Fans of his first book will adore this second book.  This is another novel to linger in, dwell with and savor.  Appropriate for ages 13 and up.

Reviewed from Advanced Reader Copy received from publisher.

 

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Tunnels – The Movie

| Tasha

According to /Film, the film adaptation of Tunnels will be directed by Vincenzo Natali, director of Cube and Splice. 

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Milo Armadillo

| Tasha

Milo Armadillo by Jan Fearnley

Tallulah wants a pink fluffy rabbit for her birthday.  But it wasn’t easy to find a pink fluffy rabbit.  They could find other pink stuffed animals, but not a rabbit.  They could find rabbits, but not a pink one.  Then her grandmother had a great idea!  She would knit Tallulah one.  She started with pink fluffy yarn, when she ran out she added other colors, and in the end she had created something very different from a pink fluffy rabbit.  She had created Milo Armadillo.  Tallulah was disappointed, but got to know Milo.  When she got together with her friends, they all had pink fluffy rabbits along and Tallulah longed out loud for one too.  Milo heard her and tried to be more bunny-like but it didn’t work, so he left.  Will Tallulah realize the value of Milo before it’s too late and he’s gone forever?

Fearnley has created a book that is a delight to read.  Her illustrations and text work seamlessly together, both working to tell the complete story.  She tells a real story without being too wordy.  The pacing is nicely done with just enough humor to keep it moving in a sprightly way.  The pages where Grandma creates Milo are very funny and will have anyone who knits or has failed at knitting laughing aloud.  Fearnley’s illustrations are a brilliant combination of mixed media featuring cut paper, paint and fabrics that really support the story and offer a vibrant and creative look.

A book about individuality, creativity and favorite toys, this is a book that will speak to a lot of children.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Planet Esme and Young Readers.

Race You to Bed

| Tasha

Race You to Bed by Bob Shea

Shea returns with another silly, zany picture book.  Readers race to bed with a white, fluffy bunny as he runs uphill, drops downhill, makes lots of noise, and escapes a wide variety of traps and troubles.  Young readers will be laughing aloud at the manic rhymes, fast pace, and pure silliness of this book.  Perfect for children who don’t want to go to bed and would much rather be running around.  The ending is charming and provides the perfect button to the book. 

Shea excels here at writing verse that is strong, fast and funny.  It is also beautifully short which adds to the fast pace and will keep young listeners very happy.  Make sure that you keep control of the pace as you read, because the illustrations offer a lot of the humor and are worth slowing down for.  The illustrations are done in Shea’s trademark simplicity that has a great graphic quality to it.

Perfection for bedtime or pajama story times, this book is pure fun.  Race you to see who can read it next!  Appropriate for ages 2-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Smile

| Tasha

Smile by Raina Telgemeier

Based on personal experiences, this graphic novel will speak to those of us who are teenagers and those who have survived that age.  Raina just wants to be a normal kid.  But one evening, she falls when running, tripping and damaging her front teeth.  This sets her on a journey of braces, dental surgery, and headgear.  On top of her dental issues, Raina also deals with the normal teen issues of friends, bullies, and crushes on boys.  Readers get to watch Raina grow up from a sixth grader to a high school student as she learns about acceptance, self-esteem, and the importance of good dentists.

Written with lots of humor, this book has a feel for what makes being a teenager both funny and painful.  Telgemeier’s writing is refreshing and fast paced.  Her art is friendly and silly.  With her art and writing combined, she has created a book with a fresh feel that has universal appeal.  While speaking of her own issues with teeth, she speaks to all of our strange teen situations and what each of us dealt with or is dealing with. 

A fresh, funny look at being a teen, this book will easily find a readership and be eagerly passed from person to person.  Appropriate for ages 11-14.

Reviewed from Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) where most of the illustrations were not yet in color.

2010 Audie Award Nominees

| Tasha

The Audio Publishers Association has announced their nominees for the best in audio books.  Here are the nominees in the children’s and teen categories:

 

Ages Up to 8

A Dog on His Own by M. J. Auch, narrated by William Dufris

Arabel’s Raven by John Aiken, narrated by Sneha Mathan

Friend or Fiend with the Pain and the Great One by Judy Blume, narrated by Kathleen McInterney and Judy Blume

Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems, narrated by Mo and Trixie Willems

Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken by Kate DiCamillo, narrated by Barbara Rosenblat

 

Ages 8-12

A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck, narrated by Ron McLarty

Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen, narrated by Tom Parks

The Midnight Charter by David Whitley, narrated by Simon Vance

Operation Yes by Sara Holmes, narrated by Jessica Almasy

Timothy and the Dragon’s Gate by Adrienne Kress, narrated by Christopher Lane

 

Teens

Going Bovine by Libba Bray, narrated by Erik Davies

In the Belly of the Bloodhound by L.A. Meyer, narrated by Katherine Kellgren

Mississippi Jack by L.A. Meyer, narrated by Katherine Kellgren

Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson, narrated by Dion Graham

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, narrated by Jeannie Stith

2009 Cybils Awards Announced

| Tasha

Cybils- The 2009 Cybils Winners_1266176320287

The 2009 Cybils Awards have been announced!  I served on the judging panel for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy.  I am so proud of our decision and the great discussions that led to it.  Thank you for the nominating panel who gave us such great titles to choose from too!

Bleeding Violet

| Tasha

Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves

Hanna has never really fit in.  She is distractingly beautiful, uses sex as a weapon, has been diagnosed as manic depressive, and hears her dead father in her head.  After bashing her aunt in the head and leaving her for dead, she heads to the home of her mother whom she has never even met.  But Rosalee is cold and aloof, nothing like the mother that Hanna pictured.  Rosalee gives her two weeks to see if she can fit in with the other people in town, or she will have to leave.  Hanna heads to school and immediately finds herself surrounded by bloodthirsty monsters, glass statues that used to be people, and other teens who dismiss her as a transient.  But Hanna is determined to find a place for herself in this odd town that just might be even more strange than she is.

Hanna is a character who is easy to dislike immediately, but throughout the book readers get to see beyond her outer shell and to the girl who is desperate for a mother who cares for her and for a place where she belongs.  Reeves writes with a flair for horror.  This book glories in gore, is filled with eye-widening moments, and will have readers turning the pages breathlessly.  This horror is right in your face and almost tangible.  The pacing is also done very well, with moments of stillness nicely contrasted by frenetic action scenes.  The world Reeves has created will remind readers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but Hanna as heroine takes the novel in a different direction.

I must also mention after so many questions about YA covers and protagonist’s skin tones, that Hanna is bi-racial.  The is half Finnish and half African-American.  On the cover, her skin is a caramel which is just right. 

Get this into the hands of Buffy and Twilight fans and they will be delighted with a new heroine who isn’t afraid to get her hands bloody.  Appropriate for teens aged 14-18.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Also reviewed by TheHappyNappyBookseller, Pure Imagination, Frenetic Reader,

Plus you can see an interview with Dia Reeves at WriterJenn or you can visit Dia Reeves’ blog.

Breaking Dawn in Two

| Tasha

Cinematical has the news that the principal stars of the Twilight movie franchise have been signed to do a fifth film.  That was the major stumbling block in having Breaking Dawn broken into two films. 

Summit films is also said to be looking for “high-end” directors to do the final movie. 

So Twi-hards, what do you think of two films?  And what dream director would you love to see tackle the final films?