Teen

Recovery Road: Stunning Honesty

| Tasha

recoveryroad

Recovery Road by Blake Nelson

Madeline is in rehab at Spring Meadows.  She has been moved to the halfway house where they are allowed to go to a movie once a week.  What starts as a protest and a joke, becomes a habit for Madeline even after her only friend at rehab leaves.  She meets Stewart there, a gorgeous boy who is also at the halfway homes.  The two of them connect immediately and even though there are strict rules about associating with the opposite sex, they manage to start a relationship.  Madeline leaves rehab to continue high school, leaving Stewart to finish his time in rehab.  Now the question is whether their relationship live without the intensity of rehab and in the cold light of real life.

Nelson has captured the intriguing mix of boredom and intensity of rehab.  He explores addiction and recovery with an unflinching honesty that forces readers to see the reality of the situation.  Through his two main characters of Madeline and Stewart, readers can see the different paths that recovery can take. 

I don’t want to make this seem like a clinical look at recovery.  Rather, it is filled with emotions and connections and failures and humanity.  It is that humanity that makes the truth so brutal at times.  Madeline is a great protagonist: a person who has made many mistakes but is striving to fix their impact on her future.

One quibble I have about the book is the sudden change of Madeline’s opinion about going to college after high school.  While it is a choice that makes perfect sense, her rapid change of a strong opinion happened a bit too quickly for me.  I found myself thinking about how it would have made much more sense delayed by a chapter or two as Madeline continued to grow and learn.

This is a superior book about addiction and recovery that is honest and human.  Appropriate for ages 14-18.

Reviewed from ARC received from Scholastic.

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Chime: Breathtakingly Beautiful

| Tasha

chime

Chime by Franny Billingsley

Released on March 17, 2011.

Briony believes that she is the source of her family’s troubles.  She blames herself for her stepmother’s death and for her twin sister’s brain damage.  Her only solace is the swamp, where she can see and speak with the Old Ones.  But she can tell no one about her gift because it means that she is a witch, and witches in her village are hanged.  Everything changes when funny, gallant Eldric comes to live with them.  He is golden, lion-like and best of all, he appreciates Briony for just being herself.  However, Briony is filled with guilt and secrets that may be the death of her.  Unknown to her though, there are further secrets that need to be revealed, to everyone.

The writing here is so lush, so inventive, so layered that its language creates a unique world all on its own.  Billingsley uses unique metaphors that are arrestingly descriptive.  In fact, the writing is so lovely that my book is marked with many small bookmarks for amazing passages.  Wonderfully, the character of Briony also plays with language and words, using them as a game, a tool and a weapon.  It is this layering of imagery and wordplay that makes the reading of the book such a special one.

Right from the beginning, readers will know that something is amiss with Briony’s version of the events.  One wonders if the Old Ones are actually real, emerges confused by the relationship of the stepmother with her stepdaughters, examines the events of the library fire, and tries to follow the breadcrumb trail of details to figure out this puzzle of a book.  Briony is a great example of an unreliable narrator, leading readers through past events and present events with her own personal lens.  Delightfully, readers will struggle to remove the vividness of Briony’s perspective and view the world without it. 

Highly recommended, this is a book that mature teen readers will enjoy thanks to its blend of fantasy, romance and mystery.  My hope is that we see it winning some awards when award season rolls around.  It is definitely a winner of a read for me.  Appropriate for ages 15-18.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.

Scars Is Being Challenged!

| Tasha

Sigh.  It always seems to happen to the best of the teen books.  The ones that really reach out to the teen experience, the ones that explore darkness, the ones that carry truth.

So it should come as no surprise that Scars by Cheryl Rainfield has joined the ranks of other incredible teen books being challenged.

What does come as a surprise is that it’s happening in a Public Library rather than a School Library.  At the same time, we must realize that a challenge does not mean removal.  It means that someone wants it removed and that the library must consider the challenge seriously, listen to the complaint, and then decide if it is in the right place in the library or should be moved.

With Scars as with other teen titles there is much to frighten overly-protective parents.  But that does not mean that it is not beautiful, powerful and exactly what teens should be reading. 

I encourage people to contact Boone County Public Library and make sure they know that there are people expecting them to do what is right for teens in their community.  As a librarian, I know that it would give me strength and energy to have people stand with me in defense of a book.  But hey, I’m from Wisconsin where we are definitely finding our power in action and community.

Cryer’s Cross: Thrilling Fun

| Tasha

cryerscross

Cryer’s Cross by Lisa McMann

The tiny community of Cryer’s Cross has been witness to a tragedy when Tiffany disappears without a trace.  Because the town is so small, 16-year-old Kendall knew Tiffany though she was several years younger.  Returning to their one-room high school, Kendall needs to tidy the desks and room before a new school year begins thanks to her OCD.  Kendall returns to her areas of comfort, playing soccer, dreaming about leaving Cryer’s Cross for Juilliard, and her boyfriend Nico.  When Nico begins acting strange and then disappears, the community enforces a curfew.   After Nico disappears and soccer is cancelled, Kendall’s OCD becomes much worse.  She only finds relief when playing soccer with Jacian, a new boy in school who manages to both bother and intrigue Kendall.  When Kendall starts hearing Nico’s voice when she sits at his desk and receiving messages through the graffiti scratched into its surface, she is drawn into the horror that lives in her small town.

This thriller has great teen appeal.  It is creepy, frightening, but not fully horror.  Just right for teens who want a little scare but not too much.  The romance is nicely built in the book as well.  I liked that it was not instantaneous but rather built as they got to know one another better. 

The pacing is well done, drawing out the scary moments and allowing the story time to build.  I found it nearly impossible to put down, my mind kept working on unraveling the mystery even when I was not reading.   The conclusion was exciting, frightening and great fun to read.  It was also nicely foreshadowed in the book, making it very satisfying.

A thrilling, fun read that is sure to appeal to McMann’s fans.  The cover is eye-catching and will welcome additional readers too.  Get this in the hands of teens who want a jolt of terror in their reads.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon Pulse.

Also reviewed extensively throughout the blogosphere.

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Five Flavors of Dumb: It Rocks

| Tasha

5 Flavors of Dumb

Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

Winner of the 2011 Schneider Family Teen Book Award

High-school senior, Piper has been invisible in her school for years.  Until one day, she gets herself a lot of attention for cheering for a band.  Not that unusual?  Well it is for Piper, because she’s deaf.  And now her mouth has gotten her involved with the band as its manager.  Now the girl who can’t hear the music has to figure out how to get the band ironically named Dumb paying gigs.  And she has to do it in a month.  Piper is tired of being invisible to her classmates and her family, so being a band manager comes at exactly the right time for her.  It will take her getting to know the members of the band, understanding a lot more about herself, and learning to feel the music before she can discover her inner rock and roll. 

John has written a book with protagonist who has a disability but does not let it dictate her life.  Piper is a great character who is filled with self-doubt but does not allow it to stop her from moving ahead.  She is at times jealous, manipulative, pushy and self centered, and it all makes her that much more human and relatable.  Throughout the book she is one amazing, powerful female character.  Nicely, the book also has other great girl characters of different types. 

This book just feels real.  John uses music and humor in the book to create a beat that moves the story forward.   Small touches make sure readers know they are in Seattle.  Piper’s entire family is vividly dysfunctional but equally believable and filled with love for one another, though they have problems showing it.  The growth of the characters, including Piper’s parents, has a natural feeling. 

Highly recommended, this is a great teen book that is certainly not dumb.  It just rocks.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.

Words in the Dust

| Tasha

reedy words

Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy

This is the wrenching tale of Zulaikah, an Afghani girl who lives with a cleft palate that has earned her the nickname of Donkeyface from the bullies in her neighborhood.  It is a modern story, set after the defeat of the Taliban.  Zulaikah lives with a harsh taskmaster of a stepmother, her beloved older sister, and two younger brothers.  Despite her face, she is the one her stepmother sends to the  market for supplies, giving the other children a chance to mock her.  With the Americans in town, Zulaikah is offered the chance to have her face repaired.  She also meets Meena, an old friend of her late mother who offers to teach her to read.  These are immense opportunities for her, but will she be allowed to take advantage of them?

Reedy is a debut author  who served in Afghanistan with the National Guard.  Zulaikah’s story is based on a girl he met in Afghanistan.  Reedy has created a marvelous lens for readers to better understand Afghanistan, its culture and its people.  The day-to-day life shown here is so very different from our own, that one never forgets that this is a different country.  Yet Zulaikah’s hopes and dreams are universal.  So this book manages to offer a view of a foreign country at the same time it is showing our united humanity.

Zulaikah is a heroine who has seen unthinkable things, lives with a very visible disability, and yet remains hopeful about the future.  She is a girl living in a culture that devalues women and girls, and while she searches for someone to teach her to read, she is not straining against the culture she is a part of.  That is a large part of what makes this book so successful.  This is a girl who is a product of her family and culture, yet radiant with inner beauty and always hope.

This is a particularly timely book that offers a perspective of modern Afghanistan.  It also offers a very human character who will have you viewing news of Afghanistan differently, now with a spirited girl to inspire understanding.  Appropriate for ages 11-13.

Reviewed from ARC received from Scholastic.

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Across the Universe: Stellar Science Fiction

| Tasha

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Across the Universe by Beth Revis

What a pleasure to read some great science fiction for teens!  At age 17, Amy joins her parents on the trip of a lifetime, or many lifetimes, as they are frozen for a voyage of 300 years to a colonize a new planet.   Flash ahead several hundred years and the ship Godspeed that carries the frozen bodies has created its own society over the centuries.  16-year-old Elder is the next leader of the ship, chosen from when he was an infant to lead.  He has been raised and taught by Eldest, the current leader.  But something is going wrong.  There are secrets everywhere he turns, and no one will give him the answers he needs to be the next Eldest.  To make things worse, someone has begun attacking the frozen people, and it just might be the people Elder trusts most.  This taut thriller of a novel marries mystery, science fiction and romance into a gripping read.

Revis has written a genre-bending novel that will attract many different types of readers.  Her building of the world inside the ship is amazing in its attention to detail.  The complexities of this small world flying through space are solid and fascinating.  Readers will slowly come to understand the secret horrors of life aboard the ship and are guaranteed feel claustrophobic as the metal walls seem to close in. 

Amy is a heroine with plenty of spunk and attitude.  Elder is a more subtle hero, filled with self-doubt and sometimes self-loathing, he is a complex character who has been living with lies entire life.  It is Elder that is the amazing creation in this novel.  A boy who is destined to lead but doesn’t see how. 

I do have one quibble with the book, but it comes so close to the end that I don’t want to ruin the novel for anyone.  It was one twist too many for me and a breaking of literary conventions.  I came away frustrated by the ending but blown away by the novel itself.

An enticing blend of genres, this book would be an ideal book talk choice for librarians looking for a title that will appeal to most teens.  It has an amazing opening chapter that makes it impossible to put down.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from copy received from Penguin.

Rot & Ruin: Terrific Terror

| Tasha

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Are zombies the next big thing?  With this amazing novel, they just might be! 

Fifteen-year-old Benny has grown up in a zombie-infested world, where his town is fenced in to protect the living from hordes of undead.  Cared for by his older brother who Benny despises, Benny tries to find work in his small town.  Unable to find a job, Benny reluctantly agrees to be his brother’s apprentice, even though his brother is not nearly as cool as the other bounty hunters who head out into the wilderness to slay zombies.  As Benny begins to work with his brother, he discovers that there is much more to killing zombies than he thought.  There are also a lot more ways to be human too. 

Maberry has melded the zombie apocalypse world with a coming of age story.  The combination makes for a zombie book with plenty of action and blood, but also one with lots of heart.  Benny is a great lens to view this world through, allowing the reader to discover along with him the truth of the world he lives in.  Maberry’s writing is wonderfully varied.  At times pausing to linger on points, view the wildness of the landscape and storms, and at others rushing into battle scenes with a whipping pace that will have readers breathless. 

The characters here are well crafted, motivated in understandable ways, and have a variety of reactions to this world they have found themselves in.  The reactions are real, honest and believable.  The world building really works well too.  While there are many questions left unanswered about what brought about the zombies rising, those are questions that are deftly built into the story line.  It works well even with the questions.  We can look ahead to more books in the series that could begin to answer them. 

The cover alone will sell this book, but it is also a great choice for teen book talks.  Set the stage of the zombie world and you will have teens lining up to read this one.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

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Diversity in YA Fiction

| Tasha

Diversity in YA Fiction is a new project to celebrate all sorts of diversity in teen fiction.  There is both a website and a book tour that features some truly amazing authors! 

The site has monthly lists of new middle grade and young adult releases that include diversity.  If you take a look at January’s list, it is a beautiful visual of diversity in novels.  Just having the covers of the books with so many different colored faces makes a great impact. 

This is definitely a site worth following, filled with books and authors worth reading.  Enjoy!