Teen

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!

The Big Crunch: Intelligent, Funny and Real

| Tasha

The Big Crunch

The Big Crunch by Pete Hautman

June is constantly moving because of her father’s job.  She has a system when she enters any new school. She wanted to join the kids who were cool, but not too cool.  Wes noticed June that first day, mentally dubbing her Aqua Girl because of her sea-green eyes and wide mouth.  The two of them are attracted to each other, but not in the way you read about in most teen novels.  There was no overwhelming burning desire, no sparkling in the sun.  Instead they noticed each other, orbited each other, dated other people, and eventually realized that they might have something special between them.   This is a book about how love really is, how strange, how dull, how powerful, how amazing, and how filled with anguish.  It is a book filled with humor, wit and a wonderful intelligence.

Hautman has managed to capture the reality of teen romance in a book.  Yes, there is natural attraction, but it is not a story of epic love.  Rather it is charming in its ordinariness.  By telling the story from both June and Wes’ perspectives, Hautman really allows readers to see that love stories are told in small moments of regular life rather than passionate embraces.  Both characters are people that are intriguing and funny.  They have distinct voices, attitudes and reasons for being with one another. 

Hautman’s writing lingers on those small and important moments, because so does the mind of the characters.  Wes thinks about June’s face again and again, the small things that make her unique and intriguing to him.  These are the pieces that fit together into love, that these characters build their realistic relationship from.  And that is not to slight their love and passion for one another, which are tangible and lovely throughout the story. 

A realistic book on teen love that is uplifting, funny and a delight.  I appreciate the cover being more than just a shot of two heads or worse two headless torsos together.  This reflects the book and the feel of it well.  Get this in the hands of kids looking for a romance with fewer teeth and more tenderness.  Appropriate for ages 13-17.

Reviewed from ARC received from Scholastic.

William C. Morris Award Finalists

| Tasha

Here are the five finalists for the 2011 William C. Morris Award for a debut author of a book for young adults.  I’ve only read two of them, but really enjoyed them both.

  

Hush by Eishes Chayil (my review)

Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey

Crossing the Tracks by Barbara Stuber (my review)

 

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride

The Freak Observer by Blythe Woolston

Blank Confession

| Tasha

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Blank Confession by Pete Hautman

This book begins with Shayne Blank entering a police department to confess a murder.   The question for readers is how this kid who is new to school got into the situation.  Mikey is a kid whose mouth always gets him into trouble.  Though he thinks he wants to blend in and be invisible at times, he dresses in secondhand suits that make him stick out from the regular high school crowd.  When Shayne seems interested in being his friend, Mikey has just ticked off his sister’s boyfriend, drug dealer Jon by dumping a bag in order not to be caught in a sweep of the school.  Jon now says that Mikey owes him $500 and that he will pay it back.  As the tension grows throughout the novel and the damage done by Jon and others gets more intense, readers will be caught in flashbacks looking for the trigger to the murder.  A riveting and tense story about truth, friendship and what one is capable of, this slim novel will hook many readers.

Hautman has written a novel with a structure that creates tension all on its own.  Add in some evil drug dealing teens, a mouthy unusual teen who tells the bulk of the book in his voice, and the natural vibe of the police department, and this is one pulse-pounding book.  Additionally, Hautman puts the characters in situations where murder is not only possible but likely.  This adds to the taut nature of the book even further.  The characters are interesting, especially Shayne who is very bright, very tough and a complete mystery.  Mikey is a character who would be easily unlikeable but because much of the book is shown through his perspective becomes understood at least by the reader. 

That said, the book is not perfect.  The ending was brilliant, twisting away from the twist I had expected to my great delight.  But the book should have ended a chapter earlier than it does.  It should have left us hanging a bit, figuring it out for ourselves.  With the final chapter added in, the mystery of Shayne is revealed and it is all a bit too neatly resolved.  I’d have much preferred the mysteries and questions to remain.

A book that teens will relate to and be unable to put down, this is a tense and thrilling ride from confession to deed.  Appropriate for ages 16-18.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

Anna and the French Kiss: Romance in Paris

| Tasha

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Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna is not happy that she’s been sent to boarding school in Paris just because her bestselling author father decided it.  She doesn’t speak any French at all, is missing out on her senior year in Atlanta, and just connected with a cute boy who works with her.  Anna quickly meets a group of kids at the school who have been attending it for years.  Most of them are American seniors, but one boy is part French, part English, part American and entirely perfect.  Unfortunately, he is in a serious long-term relationship and Anna does have that boy back in Atlanta.  So Anna and Etienne become good friends, watch movies together, and struggle to make sure that their relationship stays just friendly.  Filled with lots of romance and plenty of romantic tension, this book is hot, never heavy, and pure bliss.

Perkins has captured the streets of Paris, creating the vibe and feel of a European city seen through the eyes of an American teen.  Readers will enjoy discovering the city with Anna and will love living vicariously through her adventures.  Perkins has also created teens who talk like teenagers, tease like bright teens, get drunk, get angry, lose control, but don’t destroy their lives.  She has written authentic teens who react to real life as real people.  Add to this mix of breathtaking setting and authentic voice, a beautiful love story and you have a winning read.  Perkins has managed to avoid the cliché of the love triangle, instead focusing on two people who are drawn to one another but aren’t available. 

Anna is a protagonist who grows throughout the book in many ways.  She becomes more confident as she leaves her dorm room and walks the streets of Paris.  She also becomes a lot more honest with herself, about the boy back in the states, her best friend in Atlanta, and her true feelings for Etienne.  She is a wonderfully drawn protagonist who is filled with emotions but also plenty of self control.  It makes for a dynamic and fascinating character.  Etienne is equally well drawn with his great hair and handsomeness.  He is not perfect though, he tends to be overly cautious, is desperately scared of heights, and is a tad short. 

Highly recommended, this romance is much more than fluff but has plenty of heady romantic moments too.  Appropriate for ages 15-18. 

Reviewed from ARC received from Penguin.

Sapphique: A Stunning Sequel

| Tasha

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Sapphique by Catherine Fisher

Published December 28, 2010.

This stunning sequel to the amazing Incarceron continues the story set in motion in the first volume.  Finn has escaped the prison of Incarceron and has discovered that the Outside is not what he expected at all.   His identity as the lost prince is called into question when another young man appears claiming that he is the prince.  The other person certainly seems more princely than Finn, who struggles with his continuing blackouts and still has no memory of his time before waking up in Incarceron.  Claudia, the warden’s daughter, also questions her own beliefs about Finn.  Could it be that he is not the prince after all?  And meanwhile in the prison, Keiro and Attia are trying to find their own way to escape.  And they just may have found it in the Glove.  That is if the glove they have is the real magical glove that Sapphique once wore.  But Incarceron itself wants the glove too, so they must battle with weapons and wits to find their way out, if there even is a way to escape the prison of Incarceron.

An exciting mix of fantasy and science fiction, this book really built on the first in the series.  Fisher has built a world that is clever and amazing.  Her living prison is frighteningly real, and the violence and danger are heart-poundingly close at times.  Fisher continues to expand on the world that she brought to life in the first book.  The pleasure here is seeing even more of her world.  Nicely, she does not deviate from what was put forth in the first book.  This is an expansion of her original vision not a rewriting of the world, which is done in far too many fantasy sequels. 

Fisher’s characters are also well drawn.  She has created heroes that are human, contrasted starkly with those in power who don’t understand that things are changing both in the prison and Outside.  Finn is a magnificent hero, crowned with royalty and yet questioning his role, his sudden turn of fortunes, and his allegiances.  Keiro continues to be as arrogant and unlikeable as ever, yet he does grow on the reader.  Attia and Claudia are heroines with backbone and plenty of great ideas.  They are more alike than the male characters are, since Claudia has become less haughty and Attia has grown in confidence. 

There are some pacing issues in the first half of the book.  The final half sails and flies past, with the final hundred pages racing by at breakneck pace.  I could not turn the pages fast enough.  The first half was slower and less gripping.  The story is wonderfully deep and that layered complex storytelling does lead to slower pacing.  I just wish it had been more consistent throughout.

I must also mention the attention to detail throughout the book.  The legends of Sapphique are well built and fascinating, including the paragraphs that start each chapter.  Drawn from documents, they purport to be snippets of conversations about Sapphique and Incarceron.  The synopses of the cobbled together books that the inmates of Incarceron refer to are also a delightful glimpse at what our fairy tales and legends could become if mashed up.  These and other small moments round out the building of the world.

Highly recommended, this is a wonderful and very worthy sequel to the first.  I keep waiting for this series to launch the way that Hunger Games did, perhaps the time will be right with this second book.  In any case, it will delight fans of The Hunger Games, so get it into their hands.  Appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from ARC received from Penguin.

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Zombies vs. Unicorns: How Short Stories for Teens Should Be Done!

| Tasha

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Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier

Before opening the book, I was firmly a Team Zombie type of gal.  Rotting flesh captures my attention a lot more than lovely white horses.  Sick, I know.   But by the end of this anthology of short stories, I’m leaning more towards those lovely and vicious white horses.

Created from a conversation on Holly Black’s and Justine Larbalestier’s blogs, these stories answer the age-old question of whether zombies or unicorns are better.  A group of bestselling authors of teen fiction joined the battle with their short stories.  The book reads in alternating stories.  One zombie, the next unicorn.  I was impressed by the level of the stories in the collection, offering such a range of takes on zombies and unicorns.  This book is sure to fly off of the shelves thanks to the zombies, the unicorns, and the tantalizing authors involved.  Those authors include, Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, and Meg Cabot.

Just as with any short story collection, there are some stories that stick with the reader longer.  Carrie Ryan’s Bougainvillea is a zombie story set in a world where the zombies have taken over almost completely.  Iza’s father took her and her mother to the safety of an island where he became dictator and kept the population alive.  The story is about control, heritage, and of course, life and death.   There is a wonderful tone to this story, an anchored feeling that remains even as the zombies emerge.  Another of my favorites is The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn by Diana Peterfreund.    Wen saw her cousins slaughtered by a unicorn, now when she sees a captured unicorn at a side show, she is shocked to find herself connecting with it.  She returns the next day, drawn by something and ends up saving a new born unicorn from being killed.  Now she has to figure out what to do with the adorable but deadly creature.   Peterfreund builds a great story effortlessly here, offering a wry tone and another look at her take on killer unicorns.  Scott Westerfeld’s Inoculata offers a zombie tale with a twist.  Here the humans are barricaded against the zombie onslaught again, but something happens that changes everything.  Westerfeld is master of horror mixed with science and that is evident in this story as well.   The Third Virgin by Kathleen Duey tells the story of a unicorn who heals but also steals years of life away.  He is an addict, unable to stop killing or shortening lives.  He meets two virgins who bring him deeper into connection with emotions and happiness, but loses both of them.  Now he is seeking a third virgin.  He hopes that this one can either stop his pain altogether or kill him.  It is an achingly beautiful story with a cunning twist. 

A delight of a short story collection.  It turns out it doesn’t matter if Team Zombie or Team Unicorn wins the battle.  The people who really have won are the readers of the stories.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from copy received from McElderry Books.

Reviewed across the blogosphere with far too many to link to. 

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Behemoth

| Tasha

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Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

This second book in the Leviathan trilogy continues the riveting steampunk story.   Deryn, a girl masquerading as a boy in the British Air Service, serves aboard an immense living ship called the Leviathan.  Alek, the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian empire, is masquerading as a commoner aboard the same airship.  The two of them are fast friends, though both are hiding their true identity from one another.  Now the Leviathan and her crew find themselves up against an amazing new weapon wielded by the German forces: a Tesla cannon that fires electricity.  Driven to Istanbul to shelter and resupply, the Leviathan must finish its business in only 24 hours before she will be forced to leave.  Alek and his protectors are desperate to leave the Leviathan while there, hoping to disappear to safety off of the ship.  But things never go as planned, including Deryn’s covert mission to open an access way for the behemoth monster to attack.   A brilliant setting for Westerfeld’s novel, Istanbul offers a spicy new space to further explore the wondrous world he has created in this series.

Westerfeld is one of those authors where readers can simply relax, knowing they are in good hands.  He is a skilled world builder, where his vision is clear, detailed and beautifully rendered.  I love the interplay of the steampunk with the Darwinist beasties, a natural tension that really works as a framework for war.  He also excels at creating characters who are deeper than expected and richly drawn.  Deryn is a strong female character who belays off of airships without hesitation, rescues others with ingenuity, and puts herself in harms way as only a hero can.  Yet she is also bothered by regrets, first love, and the horrors of war.  Alek too is a well-drawn hero, a great counterpart to Deryn.  He is highly educated, very bright, and a natural problem-solver and mech driver.  What a pleasure to have a book with two such heroes side-by-side.

Make sure that you have read Leviathan before picking up this second book.  This is a trilogy in every sense of the word.  Westerfeld does a find job of bringing readers who may have read Leviathan awhile ago up to speed with the world and the story again.  It is handled in a subtle way so that readers enjoying them back-to-back will not be bothered at all. 

Highly recommended, this book is a great second part of the trilogy.  Get it into the hands of happy fans and convert new fans to this amazing blend of fantasy and science fiction.  Appropriate for ages 12-15.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon Pulse.

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