Book review: "Navigating Early" by Clare Vanderpool

Title: Navigating Early
Author: Clare Vanderpool
Publisher: Delacorte Press, 2013

After his mother dies suddenly, Jack Baker is sent to a boy's boarding school in Maine, far from his home in Kansas, his distant father who has just returned from the warfront, and all of his memories of life before. He doesn't feel at home at Morton Hill Academy and tries to fit in with mixed results until he meets Early Auden, "that strangest of boys." It becomes clear that Early's brain works differently than most people's, and this eventually leads both boys on an adventure in the Maine wilderness, up the Appalachian trail in search of something. Whether it's the end of the story of the number pi, the great Appalachian black bear, or something a little less attainable, Jack and Early go and seek it out.

I enjoyed this 2014 Printz Honor title much more than I thought I would. It is a grand adventure, with pretty real danger, a fully human cast of characters (with perhaps the exception of the bear and dear old Bucky the frog), and grief in many forms. I think every character deals with some sort of grief, and each processes it in a different way.

I'm not sure I completely liked the parallel of Early's story of Pi, who is a character with his own tale, and Early and Jack's story. There was just a bit too much suspension of disbelief that these two stories so closely mirrored each other, mostly with the Ancient One part. It just felt off to me. But it's a small quibble, because in the end everything comes together beautifully, with some nice twists and turns in the journey, much like the Appalachian Trail itself.

Take a look at this book if you like a tale within a tale, reading about the Maine wilderness, mystery, quests, or a good old-fashioned adventure story.

Disclaimer: I received a free galley of this book from the publisher... a year ago. Sorry it took so long!

Book review: "Will in Scarlet" by Matthew Cody

Title: Will in Scarlet
Author: Matthew Cody
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2013

Will Shackley has grown up in a life of privilege, the son of a lord and sole heir to his father's household and keep. He spends his free time causing mischief, but must grow up quickly when he is forced to flee the only life he knows for one of uncertainty, danger, and revenge. Luckily, he is captured by a band of outlaws known as the Merry Men, who hope to gain a ransom for the young lad on such a fine horse.

Will, who renames himself Will Scarlet after a childhood nickname, manages to extend his life long enough to convince Much (a girl disguised as a boy), John Little the giant, and Rob, the band's drunk, to join him on a raid of his former home with the promise of a treasure. Of course, things don't go according to neither Will's nor the Merry Men's plan, and life gets even more interesting.

You really have to go into this book not expecting a straight-up Robin Hood retelling. This is much more of an origin story, before Robin was heroic and confident, before Will Scarlet was part of the Merry Men, before the Sheriff of Nottingham was the low and dastardly man we know. It really gives us a different way of looking at the characters, and as an adventure story it's very good, though a bit slow in the beginning. If some of the part about Will in his childhood home (also a castle) were trimmed a bit, I think it would be easier to get into. Yet once the action started I flew through it. 

I'm hoping there will be a follow up, since I'd like to hear more about these characters and their history. Plus, we haven't gotten to Friar Tuck just yet, and Maid Marian only has a not-even-really-passing mention. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good medieval adventure tale with swords and trickery and good-hearted thieves. Knowing the Robin Hood tale is a plus, but if you're a huge fan just keep an open mind and stick with it because it won't be what you expect.

Disclosure: I received this e-galley from Edelweiss as a librarian reviewer. NetGalley rejected my request, boo.

Book review: "If I Ever Get Out of Here" by Eric Gansworth

Title:  If I Ever Get Out of Here
Author: Eric Gansworth
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2013

If I Ever Get Out of Here opens right before Lewis Blake begins seventh grade. He is used to being one of the only Indian kids in his class at school, but he is tired of the loneliness; despite his attempts to fit in, he still struggles to be noticed and accepted. Then he meets a new kid from the air force base, George, and things start to change a bit.

George is Lewis's new connection to the white world, though he knows he can't invite his new friend to his home (his mother forbids it, as they live in poverty), and that he still has to deal with all kinds of prejudices at school and in town. Set in the late 1970s in upstate New York, Lewis tells his story about life growing up on the Tuscarora Reservation, going to a mostly white school, and trying to balance out two worlds in a place where loyalties are expected on one side or another. This is a book about friendship and acceptance of self and culture, especially when faced with extremely difficult and unfair situations.

I'm guessing that because this is a book about a boy on an Indian reservation who is one of the few non-white people in his class, it's inevitable that it will get comparisons to Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. But that, I think, is selling both works short. Gansworth's novel focuses on racism, injustice, and a semi-forbidden friendship, all wrapped up together with music (mostly Wings, The Beatles, and Queen). Alexie's is not presented as historical fiction and has more humor and tragedy than Gansworth's work. If I Ever Get Out of Here is more middle-school-friendly in terms of language and content, though it is still a bit hard to read emotionally speaking.

As I was reading this, I kept thinking how important it is to see how others are treated because of heritage or class. It might not be as blatant in our country as it was 30 or 40 years ago, but it still exists and it's important to see it through the target's eyes. It's also important if the reader has been a target him- or herself to see someone else in their same situation and how they handle it.

Lewis also has to deal with a pretty brutal bully, and coupled with the way the adults treat him because he is from the reservation, the situation turns from one of physical assault to that of abject hostility from every corner, especially school teachers and administration. The amount of strength and gumption Lewis has just astounds me, to be so brave and demand justice even when it seems so utterly hopeless.

I hope If I Ever Get Out of Here is widely read, though I'm not sure younger readers will stick with it long enough to finish. I hope I'm wrong about that, because there's a lot in here, and it might just have been me having trouble getting through it because of how sad it made me. Still, I'm really glad I read it and bought it for my library. We'll see if I can get a few kids to pick it up!

Disclosure: I received an e-galley from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

 

My review of audiobook "Three Times Lucky" by Sheila Turnage is on The Broke and the Bookish

Title: Three Times Lucky
Author: Sheila Turnage
Publisher: Penguin Audio, 2012 (print available from Dial)
Narrator: Michal Friedman 

I really liked listening to this audiobook, the print version of which nabbed a Newbery Honor this year. Mo LoBeau, rising sixth grader and our narrator, finds herself and her small NC town of Tupelo Landing in the middle of a murder mystery that ends up being years in the making.

To see my full review, visit The Broke and the Bookish here.

Hint: I liked it! And the audio was really great.

Book review: "The Magic Thief" by Sarah Prineas

Title: The Magic Thief
Author: Sarah Prineas
Publisher: HarperTrophy (an imprint of HarperCollins), 2008

This is a fun fantasy for younger readers, around middle grade and possibly a bit younger, as well as of course anyone else who likes MG fantasy. It's the story of Connwaer, a gutter thief who lives in the Twilight (a rough part of the city of Wellmet). He tries to steal a wizard's locus magicalicus, which is basically like a wand but in the form of a stone, and that's where the adventure starts. He ends up the wizard's apprentice, sort of by accident, and ends up trying to save the city from losing all of its magic, as well as its lifeblood.

I really enjoyed this first book in the series. Conn is a great character, tricky and thieving when he needs to be, but loyal and truthful down to his core. Nevery, the wizard, is a grump, but a grump with a heart of gold. And the secondary characters are just as enjoyable.

The story is fun, too, though this first adventure is really just a gateway into the rest of Conn's apprenticeship in my opinion. Here, characters are established, Conn's ability is revealed, and an open ending leaves the return of villains an almost certainty.

I look forward to the next books in the series. I'd recommend this to fans of the Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud and Megan Whelan Turner's books.

Audiobook review: "See You At Harry's" by Jo Knowles

Title: See You At Harry's
Author: Jo Knowles
Publisher: Candlewick on Brilliance Audio, 2012 (print available from Candlewick)
Narrator: Kate Rudd

Twelve-year-old Fern feels invisible most of the time. Her parents run a restaurant, her older sister Sarah is taking a gap year before going to college, and her older brother Holden is absorbed in his own problems as a freshman who is figuring out his own life. Three-year-old Charlie, the baby of the family, is the only one who seems to notice Fern, though it's not always a welcome attention. In fact, Fern is usually the one who ends up watching Charlie when her parents and siblings are too busy to take notice, to her great annoyance.

But soon a terrible tragedy turns everything upside down, and Fern has no idea what to do or how to deal with it all. Guilt, mixed in with denial and intense grief, invade her life and her family's. Together, they must find a way to heal in a world that will never be the same for them.

This is an excellent audiobook, and an excellent story. Jo Knowles based a lot of it on her personal experience of growing up in a family-run restaurant, and also having an older brother who is gay. It all feels very genuine, especially when tragedy strikes and the family is thrown into the depths of grief and sorrow. It feels very personal and intimate, and tells the heart-wrenching and ultimately hopeful journey through all that, plus all the other crap that can happen in middle and high school. Fern and Holden have to deal with some incredibly nasty bullies, both peers and adults.

I listened to the audio, and Kate Rudd does an excellent job in her narration. She IS Fern. Her acting skills are never too much, yet we hear all of the emotions, the tiny catches of breath and yells, everything. I didn't want to shut my car off after reaching each destination because I wanted to hear what happened next. Another cool thing the producers did was layer Rudd's voice on words and phrases that people speak together, which is something I've never heard before.

There are so many pieces to this story, and I'm amazed at how well Knowles is able to give us all the information we need, show the subtleties in each character, craft the developing relationships, show us how Fern is growing up, illustrate how not one of these people is anywhere near perfect yet leading us to care for them, and to do it all with such beauty. I'm hoping this will win at least a Newbury honor. This is my first book I've read by Knowles, but it won't be my last.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this audiobook from the publisher. This in no way influenced my reaction to the book or my review.

Book Review: "Ungifted" by Gordon Korman

Title: Ungifted
Author: Gordon Korman
Publisher: Balzer + Bray, 2012

Donovan Curtis has always been one to act before thinking. He'll just get this urge and act on it, and then he'll have to deal with the consequences afterward. But when his impulses lead to the accidental destruction of the middle school gym, he knows he's made a huge mistake this time. Luckily for him, an error works out in his favor and sends him to the Academy of Scholastic Distinction and away from the wrath of Superintendent Schultz, who has conveniently forgotten the name of the student he caught red-handed. Unfortunately Donovan is decidedly not gifted in the same ways his new classmates, all with extremely high IQs, are. Yet despite how clear it is he doesn't belong, he manages to figure out just what the self-described nerds need. He just needs to be able to fake his way through the Academy in order to stay there and out from under the watchful eye of the man looking for him.

This was a really fun look at what might happen if an average kid was thrown in a group of supersmart ones, though it was not without its flaws. Donovan really throws a wrench into the relatively normal proceedings of the Academy, which is admittedly far beyond what you would see in a regular middle school. I really liked how Donovan highlights this; the smart kids get all sorts of advantages and a very nurturing environment in which to work and learn, as opposed to the dismal surroundings and equipment found at his old school, Hardcastle Middle, where each grade has about 300 students. Korman shows how the way students are treated and the tools they have can really make a huge difference.

This story was told with lots of humor, too. This is my first book I've read by Korman, but I hear this is pretty typical of his work. The situations that Donovan gets himself into, and that the Academy students end up in, are pretty funny to read about. Plus the characters themselves are funny, both in manner and in the things they say.

One of the things I most appreciated about this book was how Korman wrote about a realistically pregnant woman in Katie, Donovan's very pregnant sister who ends up being a huge part of the plot. He does not shy away from the physical discomforts about being pregnant, such as the constant need to go to the bathroom, swollen ankles, the difficulty of moving around, etc. She is grumpy about her situation, and the fact that she misses her husband who is serving in Afghanistan only adds to her character and fueled my sympathy. It's rare that I read about a pregnant character who is engaging in the way Katie is, and who kids might be able to relate to. No, they might not be able to relate to the baby stuff, but her relationship with her brother is something any kid with a sibling can get. Plus, now readers will know a bit more about Human Growth and Development.

Yet this novel had its flaws too. I had trouble with the incredible stereotypical image given to the kids at the Academy. All are smaller and shrimpy, physically weak, and pasty from lack of sunlight. I understand that Donovan and his "normalcy" are at the heart of the book, but it kind of gives the message that supersmart people are all supposed to look and act a certain way. I'm also unsure as to the amount of diversity in the book, though there was little to no physical description of the characters so that could be left up to the reader to decide the ethnicities of the students—mostly all I had to go on was "pasty," which doesn't really lend me to think there are many (if any) students of color. I wish there had been more description, and character development actually. Only a handful of people had more to their character than how smart they were and their special talents. We occasionally got a first-person perspective from secondary characters, but many are left completely undeveloped.

Despite the issues I had with the characters, Korman manages to tell a fresh, fun story about how a person's ungiftedness might actually be his gift. It's a story of teamwork, friendship, and robots, which are always fun to have around.

Disclosure: I got this book from my local library.

Book review: "My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece" by Annabel Pitcher

Title: My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece
Author: Annabel Pitcher
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company, 2011

Though his sister Rose died five years earlier in a terrorist bombing, Jamie's family can't seem to get past it. His mother has abandoned him, his older sister Jas, also Rose's twin, and their father for another man; his father has descended into alcoholism, drinking heavily in the morning and passing out for most of the day. The only person he has is Jas, despite his hopes that his mother will come back to them some day soon. As he begins school in a new place after they move to the Lake District, Jamie soon meets Sunya, the only Muslim in his class and the only person who seems to want to be his friend. His father hates Muslims because they killed Rose, but Sunya throws Jamie off balance with her kindness, when she sticks up for him at school, and with her attempts at friendship. Though this all confuses him, he tries his best to figure out the best way to act, how to get through each day, and how he can get his family to be a family again.

This is quite a heavy book. We start with the specter of a dead, and therefore perfect, sister who is basically worshipped by a grieving father, leaving his other two children ultimately invisible. It's really a story about a broken family, bad parenting, and the effects they have. Jamie and Jas must learn to live on their own and take care of themselves, as their dad cannot seem to function and certainly can't take care of his family in the constantly drunk state he lives in. For most of the book Jamie stays in the same Spider-Man T-shirt, and I could not believe no one made him change or at least take a shower. And poor Jas must live with being the remaining twin, unable to make a change in her appearance without getting hell for it from her parents who feel the need to cling to whatever part of Rose they can.

There is so much to this novel. Racism, eating disorders, bullying, alcoholism, abandonment, grief, loss. Yet all of it comes from Jamie, a 10-year-old boy who doesn't even remember the sister that is gone. He doesn't grieve for Rose, but rather for the mother he has lost and the father who can't make himself get out of bed in the morning as a result. Jamie can't even feel comfortable being friends with Sunya for a long time because of the incredible hatred his father feels toward every Muslim no matter who they truly are inside.

The characters are all really well developed. I loved Sunya, who is incredibly strong for going up against every kid in their Catholic school with a spark of mischief in her eye and a way at getting back at people for their misdeeds. Jamie, our narrator, is complex and has complex emotions about what has happened to his family, showing himself to be a victim of terrible circumstance and the grief of others. Jas is a wonderful sister, though not perfect. She takes care of Jamie as best as a 15-year-old can, but she still wants her own life and not one that she must share with a dead girl. Even Jamie's father, deadbeat that he is, has depth.

One thing I am unsure of is how middle grade readers will respond to this. Some will race through the pages once Jamie's forbidden friendship with Sunya begins, as I did, but I'm sure some will find it too heavy to stick with for long. Maybe I'm selling the intended audience short on this, but I guess I just feel like this wouldn't have been something I would have picked up when I was 12.

Has anyone else read this? What were your thoughts? How do you think middle grade readers will respond?

Disclosure: I got this book from the library.

Book review: "The Grimm Legacy" by Polly Shulman

Title: The Grimm Legacy

Author: Polly Shulman

Publisher: Puffin Books, 2010

Elizabeth's new job is one she never thought she'd have. She works at the New York Circulating Material Repository, a lending library of sorts that loans out objects instead of books. She's delighted with her new position as page, one she got on the recommendation of her social studies teacher after she writes a research paper on the Brothers Grimm. And being the new girl at school coupled with a new stepfamily who treats her as a lesser, she is happy to have a place to spend her time. Soon she is let in on the secret, special collections that are kept in the basement, objects that come straight from the land of what she once thought was fiction. But all is not well in the magical world, and Elizabeth, along with her fellow pages, set off on a dangerous quest to stop the evil from destroying the Repository.

This book was recommended to me as a read-alike for A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, but now that I've read it I'm not sure why. The only similarities are the fantasy elements and the quest story, in addition to the main character's self disgust of her looks. However, I did really like the premise, and it's a great one: the Grimm fairy tales (along with other myths and folklore) actually did happen, and the Repository has some of the objects in its special collection, the Grimm Collection. Unfortunately, the execution left much to be desired for me.

I found the writing style overly simplistic, with a lot of explanation of the magical world, and the job of page itself, told through dialogue in the form of Elizabeth asking somewhat ridiculous questions and giving us the benefit of the answer. For example, when explaining the job of page, Elizabeth asks her coworker Marc something along the lines of, so am I a dishwasher or something? Marc rightly looks at her likes she's crazy, and she goes on to say it's because she was asked if she washed dishes at home in her job interview. Other things like this happen throughout the book, and it just made me crazy, especially at the beginning.

The exposition really bugged me too, which went mostly as I mentioned above. We learn that Elizabeth's mother passed away and her father, who remarried, is using all his money to put her stepsisters through college without leaving much for Elizabeth. I hated the way her stepfamily is the stereotypical fairy tale stock characters, pretty much straight out of Cinderella. This was most likely done on purpose, but I found it mostly unneccesary unless you count needing a reason for Elizabeth to not have her parents present at all in the story.

I also didn't really understand why Elizabeth disliked herself so much. She had no friends at all, as her best friend had conveniently moved to California, and she was often getting down on herself. This coupled with her irritating propensity to misunderstand pretty much everything (EVERYTHING) made me want to stop reading early on.

However, I kept at it, and it did eventually turn around a bit. The best part is by far the Grimm references and all of the objects from the tales, and the adventure portion is pretty good too. Elizabeth dials back the annoying-ness, and the ending doesn't have all the loose ends tied up quite yet (though most of them are). Once I got about halfway through the book it was pretty easy to finish, and I'm glad I did get all the way through.

This was a fun story with a great premise, just a bit of a lackluster execution. I'd say this is a good book for middle schoolers looking to read about teens and magic. It's all very tame, both in romance and violence, with enough to interest and engage.

Disclosure: I got this book from my local library.

Audiobook Review: "Chomp" by Carl Hiaasen

Title: Chomp
Author: Carl Hiaasen
Publisher: Listening Library, 2012 (print available from Knopf Books for Young Readers
Narrator: James Van Der Beek

Wahoo Cray lives in the Everglades on what most people would call a zoo. His dad, Mickey Cray, is an animal wrangler, and takes care of animals like raccoons, snakes, and gators, including the enormous Alice. It is Alice that gets the attention of the survival reality TV show, Expedition Survival! They want to do an Everglades episode, and Wahoo takes the job on behalf of his dad. They need the money since Mickey got knocked in the head by a frozen iguana and started getting debilitating migraines and double vision as a result. And so they put up with Derek Badger, the show's idiotic, spoiled, and phony host. But things start to get out of hand when Derek insists on doing the show in the actual wild. Wahoo and Mickey meet and bring along Tuna, a girl with an abusive father who really wants to find her, and Derek ends up bitten by a bat and runs off into the Everglades on his own. It will be a miracle if they all get out of this alive.

I haven't read much of Hiaasen's work, just Hoot, but I already have an idea of the flavor of his writing. I'm guessing his adult novels are similar, with more mature subject matter and probably less animals. What I love about Hiaasen's writing is the fullness and roundness of all of his characters. He gives almost every character who enters into the story a background and a reason why they are the way they appear in the novel. Mickey is probably my favorite character out of them all—sure, he's Wahoo's dad, but he is such a part of the novel in a way that you don't necessarily expect adults to be in literature for children. Wahoo often has to watch after his father because he tends to let his mouth run when he sees something he doesn't like, but Mickey is also a very smart man with a strong desire to protect those who need it.

The story itself is something of a survival story, though not in the way the characters expected. With his signature humor, Hiaasen takes Wahoo, Tuna, and Mickey, as well as all of the other characters they meet along the way, on a thrilling and dangerous adventure full of tension and suspense.

James Van Der Beek does the narration, and he does a great job. It wasn't the very best narration I've ever heard, but it is certainly a job well done and very enjoyable. I appreciated how he didn't really give Tuna a high voice that sounded fake, and he did the accents pretty well. He really did a great job giving the different characters different sounding voices, especially one character named Link. There were just a few spots where I wish there were more pauses, but I think that had more to do with production and editing than with Van Der Beek's performance. Also, Dawson read me a story.

All in all, a very enjoyable audiobook experience with great characters and action. I'll be picking up another of Hiaasen's audiobooks for younger readers soon.

Disclosure: I got this audiobook from my local library.

Book Review: "The Boy on Cinnamon Street" by Phoebe Stone

Title: The Boy on Cinnamon Street
Author: Phoebe Stone
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2012

After a traumatic experience she can't remember, 13-year-old Louise moves in with her grandparents, quits gymnastics, changes schools, and starts calling herself Thumbelina. As someone who is only four-foot-seven, she feels she connects with that story best—and she can no longer be Louise. But when she begins to get notes and signals from a secret admirer, it opens up feelings that Louise isn't sure she understands, and might lead to some very well buried memories.

I have not read many novels that deal with memory blocking as the result of a traumatic experience, but I am glad I was briefly brought into this world through The Boy on Cinnamon Street. We are very slowly told what happened to Louise and her family, and why she can't remember it, through a day-to-day plot line of trying to figure out who Louise's secret admirer is and what she and Reni try to do about it.

On the surface, it's a fairly normal circumstance for young teens: someone thinks someone else likes you, and you need to figure out if you like them back and how to let the other person know you do. Louise, however, is a special case. She says she has never had a crush before except on Frosty the Snowman when she was 6, and so she is unsure if the feelings she has for who she thinks left the note are truly a crush, or if it's something else. We get hints throughout that there is more to this story, and we obviously know from the beginning that there is more than what is on the surface, but we must be patient and continue with the characters as they stumble through adolescence with the added burden of hidden grief.

Siblings Reni and Henderson are well rounded as supporting characters. Henderson is especially captivating. A nerd in the best sense possible, he is not ashamed or embarrassed of his intelligence, desire to learn, or his passion for writing. He is gentle and always smiling, and I would love to have someone like that in my life. Reni is a warm, kind, loyal, and Justin Bieber–loving (not everyone is perfect) best friend to Louise. Reni thinks she knows everything there is to know about crushes and takes the secret admirer mystery to a whole different level when she gets behind the wheel. There is also a lot behind both siblings, who have their own quiet issues to deal with at home. Reni is overweight to the point where diabetes is a threat, and she must live in the shadow of her older sister, a talented painter and poet who gets most of their parents' attention. Henderson in turn looks out for Reni when no one else really does, where it counts. It's a sweet relationship, and I really appreciated the added fullness to the story.

Somewhere in the middle of the story I was starting to get tired of waiting for the big revelation of what really happened on Cinnamon Street, where Louise used to live with her parents. I had a guess, but I was getting a bit impatient with Reni and Louise getting all hung up on a particular suspect, and I had doubts that younger readers would stick with it. It was certainly worth the wait in the end, though—what a powerful crescendo that led to the beginning of Louise's path toward healing. This is definitely a book you'll want to read near a box of tissues.

Disclosure: I got this book from my local library.

Review: "Princess Academy" by Shannon Hale

Title: Princess Academy
Author: Shannon Hale
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA, 2007

Miri and her family lives near the quarry on Mount Eskel, and have lived there for generations. She desperately wants to prove she is useful and work in the quarry alongside her sister and father, but he won't allow her to set foot inside it. Things in their day-to-day village life change, however, when it is announced that Mount Eskel is where the next queen will come from. All of the girls between the ages of 12 and 18 must attend the Princess Academy, a time-honored tradition in the kingdom, where they will get a basic education and learn how to be proper ladies. One of these girls will be chosen by the crown prince as his bride. Though the girls and their families resist at first, eventually all those of age head to the academy, a 3-hour journey in a building that had been abandoned years ago. Tutor Olana, their appointed teacher, is overly strict and quick to punish, quickly making the rest of the girls resent Miri when she causes them to miss an anticipated visit home. But despite all this, the girls begin to get excited about the possibility of becoming a princess, and though Miri tells herself she just wants to prove that mountain girls can be intelligent when she throws herself into her studies, a part of her wonders too.

When I heard the title Princess Academy, I kind of rolled my eyes a little. It sounded like something fluffy that I wouldn't be interested in, but it was chosen for the library's middle school book club. I'm so glad it was, or it never would have been on my radar despite its Newbery Honor. What a fantastic story! The world Hale creates is enchanting, though for a fantasy there is not a whole lot of magic or fantastic incidents (with the exception of the mountain people's ability to communicate via a sort of mental telepathy), so it's more like a fairy tale than a fantasy in that respect.

One of the biggest themes in this novel is the value of a good education. The girls have no idea how to read or write, or even what the value of the linder (a type of stone, the descriptions of which brought to my mind a type of marble) they mine from the quarry is. Miri is fascinated by all this, and begins to try to figure out a way to use it to the village's advantage. I love that this was pretty much the main theme; it doesn't matter where you were born or how you were raised, the potential for intelligence just needs to be nurtured and it will begin to make a difference in the lives of the learners and their loved ones.

Miri was an incredibly strong character, too. She has a strong sense of what's fair, and she knows she and the other girls are bright. She wants the very best for her family and her village, and though she feels like she is too small and therefore useless in the quarry where everyone she knows makes their living, she still grasps for ways she can be useful to her community.

One other thing I really liked was how the girls weren't sure if they were interested in actually marrying the prince. It's nice how the prince isn't this mythical Prince Charming figure for them; he is just a guy, albeit one with enormous power. For them, it was more the idea of a different sort of life than the one they know they will be leading if they don't get chosen.

There is a lot of tension throughout the novel, too. Miri is ostracized for a good portion of the book by the other girls because of her misstep at the beginning of their academy education, causing her to become friends with the "outsider" of the group, a lowlander (someone not from the mountain) named Britta, who has her own problems, namely being an outcast even before the academy. The competition is high for the title of Academy Princess, awarded to the girl who gets the highest marks right before the ball where the prince is supposed to choose his bride. And there is the matter of the high suspense that happens toward the end of the book, which I will refrain from going into detail here because of spoilers.

All in all, I highly recommend this book to fans of Hale's other work, strong female characters, and fairy tale stories. It certainly deserved its Newbery Honor. AND I just found out a sequel is due out next month! I can't wait to see where Miri's story goes next.

Top Eleven (sort of) Readalikes for "A Wrinkle in Time"

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week we take a look at Top Ten Readalikes for whatever book you choose. My very favorite book is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, so I figured I'd give that a shot.

1. Below the Root by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. This series is out of print, but it is probably available from your local library. A fabulous fantasy series set in a different world, with sinister secrets just, well, below the root.

2, 3, and 4. The rest of the Time Quartet. Cheating a bit here, but they are three separate books, after all. I promise not to pick any more L'Engle books though. :) They are A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and Many Waters. Each of these books deals with the Murray family, continuing their story and adventures in time and space.

5. The Giver by Lois Lowry. I don't know if I associate these books because they were my favorites growing up or what, but for some reason I feel like if you liked A Wrinkle in Time you'll like this one. And its sequels, Gathering Blue and Messenger, of course. I hear there is also a fourth one coming out, which I'm very excited about.

6. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. Of course I have to have this one on the list. Stead uses A Wrinkle in Time as something of a muse, having her main character Miranda read the book over and over and borrowing the time travel theme.

7. The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett. Not exactly the same idea and the writing style is a bit different, more quirky and whimsical, but it has great charm and a fascinating world. Of course, if you've read any Discworld novels, you know what I'm talking about.

8, 9, 10 (and 11). The Dark Is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper. Yes, a bit more cheating, but again, four separate books! Another fantasy series with plenty of old charm akin to the L'Engle books, staring with Over Sea, Under Stone and continuing with the book the series is named after. There are four books in all, and the borrow heavily from Welsh mythology. Very fun, with a rich setting and great world building.

There you are! If you have any more to add to this list, please feel free to mention them in the comments. If I haven't read them, I'll be sure to seek them out!

Also, if you're interested, I made this short video celebrating the 50th anniversary of A Wrinkle in Time. 

Review: "The Other Side of the Island" by Allegra Goodman

Title: The Other Side of the Island
Author: Allegra Goodman
Publisher: Razorbill, 2008

Honor, born in the eighteenth year of Enclosure, has just moved to Island 365 after living with her parents in the Northern Islands for most of her life. Now that they are under the watchful eye of Earth Mother and her Watchers, they cannot act as freely as they did when they were on their own, before they were found and brought to their new home. They can't sing out loud, they must follow the rules, they must stay away from the ocean, and they cannot own any books at home. They must not be Unpredictable. But the problem for Honor is her family is Unpredictable, and they are very different. Her parents have another child and refuse to give him back to the government, they sneak out at night and don't come back until morning. Honor and her friend Helix find out that bad things happen to people who don't fit. They disappear, and they never come back.

In a literary landscape full of dystopian literature, it's nice to come across a book with a more original premise that doesn't have a fated love story or love triangle. It's a disconcerting vision of the future that makes one uneasy, a world where climate change has destroyed much of the earth, leaving only islands dotted here and there across the oceans. Little details here and there show how much people are aware of nature and the earth, or seem to be aware of it, such as wearing sun hats and applying sunscreen. However, in this world, weather is supposedly controlled by Earth Mother, and Enclosure, which basically means a big dome encloses each island completely. The sky is covered by an overlay with a picture of a perfect sky or a moon with seven stars, depending on time of day.

Earth Mother is something like the Big Brother of George Orwell's 1984, always in control and watching, but never actually seen in the course of the book. More immediate villains are those who uphold Earth Mother's reign, such as Miss Blessing at Honor's school. The way they treat people is chilling, be they adult or child, man or woman. And the orderlies, people whose brains have basically been rewired to do exactly as they are instructed, do all the hard work around the island, all the landscaping, cleaning, cooking, transporting, etc. They sort of reminded me of the Avoxes in the Hunger Games trilogy, unable to speak and basically slaves to those in power.

One of the most important things Earth Mother does to take power from the citizens is taking away their memories, mostly those from their childhood, but more if you are particularly unruly. Think about losing all memories of who your parents are, how you grew up, learning only what you are told in school and not being allowed to question it, or even have the ability to question it if you can't remember otherwise. That was the scariest thing about this future to me.

I was not a big fan of the writing style. Sentences were short and simple for the most part. I didn't really like the terseness, but it didn't really take much away from the book as a whole. My biggest problem was the ending, which seemed to stop too soon, with an author's note that said she did it that way to leave it up to the reader's imagination what the outcome is. I know not all books end in neat little bows, and I don't like it when they do, but stopping mid-action makes me feel like it's something of a cop-out.

All in all, a fresh take on dystopian future that is worth reading in the sea of dystopias out there right now. It's a good read for middle grade readers and strong older elementary readers, and should appeal to boys as well as girls.

Disclosure: I got this book from the library.

Review: "Jake and Lily" by Jerry Spinelli

Title: Jake and Lily
Author: Jerry Spinelli
Publisher: Balzer + Bray, 2012

Jake and Lily are twins. But they're not what you would call normal. They have this special thing, something they call goombla—they just know things about each other without having to be told. They can't play hide and seek because they always know where the other is hiding, the don't have to look at each other's journal entries because they already know what they say, and every year on their birthday they sleepwalk to the local train station and have the same dream, most likely because they were born on a train in the  middle of a tunnel, and wake up hand in hand.

But all this starts to change one summer vacation when Jake starts to hang around with some neighborhood boys who ride around and call themselves the Death Rays. To make matters worse, the leader of the gang is Bump Stubbins, Lily's archenemy. Soon Jake and Lily start to lose their goombla, to Lily's great distress. The problem is, Jake doesn't seem to mind that much. Over the course of the summer, the two will learn what it means to be individuals while still realizing they will always be brother and sister, inextricably linked together.

While this is not my favorite Spinelli book, it is a nice summer read about growing apart and growing up. Jake and Lily have always done everything together, to the point where Lily can only define herself through her relationship with her brother. When that is taken away from her, she isn't sure who she is anymore, forcing her to figure it out after a lot of grieving. Jake also has to grow up, as he realizes that his treatment of others isn't always as kind as he has been in the past. Overall, this is a book about identity, love, loyalty, and friendship, with the added bonus of a kind of twin ESP.

Lily and Jake narrate in alternating chapters, and it is clear where their stories begin to diverge. Lily's voice is full of sarcasm, anger, and sass. She is a tomboy all the way, and is surprised and insulted when she realizes she is being left out because she's a girl. She calls it like she sees it, and I found that really admirable. Jake, on the other hand, is straitlaced and calm. You can see how he is drawn into the mob mentality, but it takes a fairly serious and cruel incident to make him realize what he's becoming.

This is a nice summer story for older elementary readers and those in the younger middle grades, and a quick read. It may look really long at 335 pages, but a lot of the chapters are less than a page, so if any kids are deterred by that let them take a look through it so they can see for themselves.

Disclosure: I got this book from the library.

Audiobook Review: "The Emerald Atlas" by John Stephens

Title: The Emerald Atlas
Author: John Stephens
Publisher: Listening Library, 2011 (print version available from Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Narrator: Jim Dale

Kate, Michael, and Emma have been bounced from orphanage to orphanage ever since their parents disappeared when they were small children. All they know about their former life is that their last name is P, and that their parents will be back for them someday. Ten years after that fateful Christmas Eve when the children were separated from their parents, they are kicked out of yet another orphanage to find themselves at a creepy looking mansion, supposedly an orphanage, in a town called Cambridge Falls where they are the only orphans. After some exploring, they find a book and manage to whisk themselves into the past where a beautiful and terrifying Countess has abducted all the children in the village of Cambridge Falls in order to get the men of the village to find something in the mountains she wants. Unfortunately when they try to get to the present again, the girls accidentally leave Michael behind. In order to save him, they need to go back. But once they do, they are in for much more than they bargained for—the fate of Cambridge Falls and everyone in it rests with them.

This magical adventure fantasy is a great beginning to what I hope will be a trilogy, if the hints within this book are anything to go by. Full of magical creatures, not to mention truly evil, vile villains that you really hate, each event leads to another to keep your attention and interest in the lives of these three children and their companions.

The characters themselves were well done, too. Kate feels a deep responsibility for her brother and sister since her mother told her to take care of them the night they left, and it shows throughout the story. Every decision she makes is for their sake, or the sake of someone other than herself. She is very selfless and buries her own emotions to a point, yet it's clear she desperately wants to be with her parents again.

Jim Dale does a fantastic job as the narrator. At first I was annoyed that he had an English accent, not because I don't like them, but because Kate, Michael, and Emma are American and this whole story takes place in America. But I quickly got over that, since it wasn't a huge plot point. Dale had a different voice for every character, and all of them were fantastic.

Readers who like Harry Potter will enjoy The Emerald Atlas. It's not a book that borrows plot points from that other famous series, but it has the elements of adventure, sacrifice, and magic that made the Harry Potter series so enjoyable. This book is its own entity and an original fantasy that I'll be sure to continue when the next book is released.

Disclosure: I got this audiobook from my local library.

Review: "The Name of This Book Is Secret" by Pseudonymous Bosch

Title: The Name of This Book Is Secret
Author: Pseudonymous Bosch
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company, 2007

Technically I guess I'm not supposed to tell you what this book is about. The narrator makes that very clear in the first chapter; this is a SECRET and s/he shouldn't even be TELLING us the story. But said narrator can't keep a secret, so there you go. Basically this is the story of how survivalist Cassandra (she is always prepared for a disaster, though to date she hasn't had to deal with a real one), along with unlikely collaborator Max-Ernest (classmate and aspiring comedian), wind up trying to crack they mystery of an Italian magician's suspicious death. Along the way they find out what synesthesia and alchemy are, and why they are connected. (Yeah, I don't know either.)

This is the kind of book that you have the be a specific kind of person to enjoy. I was not one of them. I didn't like how the narrator kept interrupting the story to talk about how s/he shouldn't be telling us this, s/he was stopping, whatever. I found it irritating. I also wasn't too thrilled about the plot itself. The mystery didn't really draw me in, and I found myself skimming the last 50 pages just so I could finish it. I don't think I'd have liked this when I was a kid, either, so it's not just me being a grown-up and not appreciating it because it was written for children.

I didn't particularly like the characters, either. Everyone seemed pretty flat to me, with personality traits thrown in here and there in an attempt to round them out. It just wasn't for me.

That said, readers who enjoyed The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart might enjoy this. There's a lot about codes and logic and puzzles, which can be really fun. I know that people must buy and read this series, since there are five of them now and the keep being published, so maybe I'm missing what makes this series special. *shrugs*

Disclosure: I bought this ebook from B&N.

Audiobook Review: "Out of My Mind" by Sharon M. Draper

Title: Out of My Mind
Author: Sharon M. Draper
Publisher: Recorded Books, 2010 (print available from Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2010)
Narrator: Sisi Aisha Johnson

Melody knows thousands of words. She is pretty sure she has a photographic memory, and she has synthesthesia—to her, music has color and taste. But even though she's 10 years old, no one in her life knows any of this. She has never spoken a single word in her life and has no way of communicating to her teachers, parents or anyone else. Melody has cerebral palsy, making it impossible for her to move or speak.

Sharon Draper brings us inside Melody's mind in this novel, told from Melody's own perspective. Her struggles, frustrations, and pain grabbed hold of my heart while I listened to Sisi Aisha Johnson's lovely narration. I became really invested in Melody and her family. I got angry when people treated her poorly, I got frustrated when people couldn't figure out what she wanted, I got sad when she knew she'd never be able to tell her parents with her own voice that she loves them. When bad things happen to anyone she loves, I got sad and sick with her. Often after I shut off the car to go to work, Melody's story stayed with me and I wondered what would happen to her when I finally returned to the story.

But ultimately, this is a story of survival and of hope. There is help for Melody, and she and her family do their best to get it. Melody begins to integrate into the regular schoolrooms, not just in the special education classroom, and begins to be challenged in her schoolwork for the first time. And finally, she finds a way to communicate better than she ever has in her life, leading to a whole new set of challenges for her.

Johnson does a wonderful job narrating. She sounded like a young girl, giving distinct voices to the different characters in Melody's life. She gives Melody a voice full of yearning and anger and sorrow and hope.

Out of My Mind not only is a great book to read if you're looking for the perspective of someone physically disabled, whether you use it in a classroom or suggest it to a library patron, it also is just a great book to read, period.

Disclosure: I checked this audiobook out from the library.