Skunk Girl Review

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Skunk Girl ReviewPlot: Girl notices Hottie. Sometimes in these sorts of books, the heroine has an interest besides boys, but not really here. So you expect the book to be mostly about getting the guy. Usually, the formula for these books go: Girl notices Hottie. Girl comes up with some kind of scheme to snare the Hottie. Wacky misunderstandings result. Girl gains self-respect and winds up with a guy who is not nearly as hot, but more compatible. There are variations, but these kinds of books have been around forever. This is not that kind of book.
Nina, the heroine is likeable and sympathetic but passive. If you are expecting there to be some kind of hookup or drama, you will be waiting quite awhile. For example, there is a Queen Bee ordered straight from central casting, and she and the heroine don't get along, so you expect that there will be some kind of confrontation. Which there finally is - on page 176. Then there's the hookup which only lasts a chapter. I kept waiting for Nina to do something proactive instead of just pine after the Hottie. I waited in vain for her to sneak around behind her parents' back, or for her to confront her parents, or her older sister to drop a bombshell, like that she's a lesbian or is dating a white guy. Something, anything to put some drama in the story. By page 90 or so, I wasn't picky. To mix mediums, I wish she were more like the girl in the movie "Bend it Like Beckham," who was also a Pakistani Muslim teen (I think) and who defied her traditional family so that she could play on a women's soccer team. Books are not usually written about people who follow the rules almost all the time. If they did, there would be little drama and even less story. Teens of every ethnicity get embarrassed by their parents, feel their parents don't understand them, etc., etc. While reading about another culture is fascinating, there has to be something more to sustain the story.
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Everything Beautiful in the World Review

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Everything Beautiful in the World ReviewIf you combined the family strain and personal search from The Pursuit of Happiness by Tara Altebrando with the forbidden teacher-student relationship from Teach Me by R.A. Nelson and added a pinch of the melancholy from Lisa, Bright and Dark, by John Neufeld, you would get Everything Beautiful in the World, a stunning debut from Lisa Levchuk.
Set in New Jersey in 1980, the story is that of seventeen-year-old Edna, an only child whose mother has recently been diagnosed with cancer and hospitalized in New York City. Edna can't (or won't) visit her mother, with whom she fought shortly before the diagnosis was revealed. She can't get that unfinished fight out of her head and feels guilty, as though her words caused the illness. As Edna pulls away from her father, she falls for her sculpture teacher, a married man in his early thirties who "sees beauty in things that other people take for granted," including her. Edna keeps their developing relationship a secret as she continues her day-to-day routine, attending school and working at a pharmacy where she occasionally steals objects and works for a middle-aged man who thinks he looks like Elvis Presley.
Though Edna is initially consumed by her relationship with Mr. Howland, the story becomes more layered as time goes on, especially with revelations related to her family's past. Her parents insist that she begin seeing a therapist, so she does, but she still can't manage to visit her mother. In one memorable scene, she and her father set out for the hospital, but Edna gets physically ill to the point that they must make multiple stops, then ultimately turn around and head home.
Told in vignettes titled after the locations or goings-on ("Another Night at the Pharmacy," "A Party at Patty's House"), with realistic references to the time period (the music of Bruce Springsteen, the aftermath of the Vietnam War), this coming-of-age story will appeal to fans of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson as well as those who lived through the actual era and/or read young adult fiction written in the eighties.Everything Beautiful in the World Overview

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Don't Look and It Won't Hurt Review

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Don't Look and It Won't Hurt ReviewA readers first impression of Don't Look and it wont Hurt by Richard Peck, is if you are a teenager, you could identify with the normal problems teenagers do. This is a book of suspense and courage. This is a great book and I encourage you to read it. Claypitts, known as the "Pearl of the Prairie," is where the Patterson's live. Liz the youngest, Carol in the middle, and the oldest is Ellen. Claypitts is the kind of town you drive right through and don't even notice. Even thought it is small it still has its share of problems. Kids using drugs and teenagers getting pregnant. Carol Patterson is a girl in the middle; in the middle of her sisters, in the middle of her adolescence, and in the middle of her families many problems. At Carol's high school her shyness and ragged clothes maker her outcast. When Carol and Liz get together her shyness goes away. They let their imaginations take them places they've never been before. An unexpected turn happens in Carol's life when she finds out her older sister Ellen is pregnant. Through it all Carol changes in a way she has never changed before. Don't Look and it won't hurt; in my opinion is a great book. Anyone could read it even if you aren't the best of readers. It has a satisfying ending which you will love. Don't Look and it Wont Hurt will touch you with its honesty and sensitivity.Don't Look and It Won't Hurt Overview

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Pretty Little Liars #5: Wicked Review

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Pretty Little Liars #5: Wicked ReviewIan Thomas is in jail awaiting trial and the girls are able to relax and return to their lives. Or can they??? Just when the reader thought that the mystery of A has been solved at the end of UNBELIEVABLE, more bizarre events await the girls of Rosewood.
Hanna, Spencer, Emily, and Aria slowly try to settle back into their normal lives. Hanna is working through the trauma of learning that her best friend tried to kill her. She tries to live with her soon-to-be step-sister, Kate, and build up new friendships at school. Spencer is dealing with the cold shoulder she is receiving from her family. And through her grandmother's will, Spencer has just learned that she might be adopted. Aria has ventured to an art exhibit on her own, only to learn that the guy she was maybe flirting with was the artist himself. And finally Emily has met a boy. A boy that sends tingles through her.
The four girls still meet to discuss their grief and pull themselves together for the trial that is about to begin. But when Ian is released on bail to attend to his dying mother, the mysterious text messages start again.
Each girl receives messages that are more haunting than the ones before Ian was arrested. Now, the sender seems to be stalking them. The messages are sent at the most inopportune times, and some even come with photos attached; photos that were taken mere moments before the text arrived.
As the trial looms nearer, the girls are again thrust together trying to piece together the life that was Alison DiLaurentis. In WICKED, the reader gets a glimpse of the past and how the five girls initially became friends. The story hints at the Time Capsule and the flag pieces that bring the girls together.
In WICKED, Ms. Shepard brings the reader even deeper into the intrigue that is Rosewood. Told in alternating voices by each of the girls, the pieces of the puzzle slowly start to come together.
The wonderful thing about the PRETTY LITTLE LIARS series is that Ms. Shepard is able to lead the reader down one path, only to leave the ending wide open and wandering off in a different direction. With the shocking ending of WICKED, the reader will be waiting anxiously for the next installment, KILLER, due out in June 2009.
Reviewed by: JaglvrPretty Little Liars #5: Wicked Overview

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Jump Review

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Jump ReviewForget the School Library Journal review above... Teen (and tween) girls LOVE this novel about living life in another girl's (or, guy's) skin. My daughter and her friends are passing this one around at school and enjoying a great read. Be sure to check out Rue's other title, too... Brand New Emily.Jump Overview

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Freaks and Revelations Review

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Freaks and Revelations ReviewOne crisp Thursday evening in Los Angeles in 1980, a young gay male, living on the streets as a prostitute, is beaten nearly to death by a gang of Neo-Nazi skinhead punks. At a decisive moment during the fray, the leader of the punks and the young victim lock eyes. Twenty-five years later, that moment uncoils across a table at a coffee shop when both men, now employees of the Museum of Tolerance, meet to discuss a class they are to teach and they recognize each other.
The true story of these events flickered briefly across the media during 2005. The story rose and then died like all media tales as a surprising outcome to what the world saw as yet another act of violence among the blind and the frightened.
Novelist and drama instructor Davida Wills Hurwin saw the incident as a moment in human experience that stands out clear and pure as a silver bell; one that needed to be rung again and more loudly. She met with Matthew Boger and Timothy Zaal and told their stories. The result is Freaks and Revelations.
Freaks and Revelations retells the story in fiction, starting 15 years before the 1980 event. Told separately from the point of view of the two young men, the tales flows from the first pages like two rivers rushing towards a confluence, each event in these young men's lives descending through rapids that carry them decisively into each other's paths. The tales descend not just as random flotsam on some bigger flow, but as young men who build lives and communities and world views that shape their course and their ideas and create their experiences.
The choice to tell their stories in fiction was a result in part of the creative process Hurwin went through to develop this book. But in greater part it was a result of two things. First, that it is difficult to convey the immensity of human experience through nonfiction narratives. The greatest nonfiction as we know it now is drawn together with fictional tissue - some measure of the decision-maker, the actor, the victim - that we might understand the impulse and flow of events, rather than just see the milestones.
Second, the truth is victim not just to memory but to the fears and emotional strata of the players, especially young ones, and even more so, those who have lived through trauma. Our world view, our ability to build and retain a context is not only evolving in youth, but creates a false and narrow narrative for our actions. Trauma adds a layer of misdirection and encapsulation that is impossible to breach without the tools of fiction.
The telling is as gritty as their days and nights, as dark and as light as their hopes and dreams. Although Scholastic is a young adult book publisher, this story is told without the circumspect and moral overtones of most YA fiction. Sex, drugs, and violence take their proper place in these young men's stories. Hurwin has reached inside these characters and their times to let us live two lives in full surround - in taste and smell and sound.
Although the opportunity for moral heavy-handedness lurks through the entire tale, Hurwin lets the characters and events speak for themselves. The result is one of the most compelling books that frames tolerance in many years. This book rises to the category of books like The Diary of Anne Frank and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, books that immerse us in lives that help us see our experience in a broader, more accepting context. Freaks and Revelations does the only justice a book can do to that Los Angeles night in 1980.
Matthew and Timothy continue to work side-by-side at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. They now call themselves friends. Their road since their encounter 25 years after Matthew's beating has been rocky. But their example is a shining one. It is a privilege to read their story in Freaks and Revelations.
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Tale of Two Summers Review

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Tale of Two Summers ReviewI wish that a novel like this had been around when I was in high school. Author/director/screenwriter Brian Sloan (WTC View, I Think I Do) writes a satisfyingly dense story of a summer in the lives of two bets friends: gay (and newly out) Hal, and Chuck, the straight "wonderboy."
I'm not usually one for books written entirely in emails, letters, diary entries etc. but it works in this book; the heroes are corresponding via a blog, they get more detailed when explaining what's going on in their lives.
The novel is also notable because it explores the friendship between a gay teen and his straight friend. This is such a rare phenomena to depict, it makes the book feel ex. I did relate in many ways as this book reinded me so much of a one of my most important friendships, right down to Hal's neediness. Sloan really gets it. I think Hal may have been just slightly better developed a character than Chuck, but that may just be because part of me was more interested in his tale.
This an excellent, frank and very readable novel. I read it in two days because I kept wanting to see what happened next. The best thing is that nothing works out the way I thought it would. Despite this being targeted for the Young Adult age bracket, I'd recommend this for us "grown-ups" as well. When a book's this good, everybody should take a chance and read it.Tale of Two Summers Overview

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Recovery Road Review

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Recovery Road ReviewI won this book from the first-reads program on Goodreads, and I am so happy I did.
I read this book in one afternoon. I just couldn't put it down. It is the story of Madeline, or Maddie, a 16 year old girl who goes to rehab for drinking and a plethora of drugs, as well as anger issues. While there, she falls in love with 19 year old Stewart. She leaves rehab before him, and they promise to meet up afterward. The rest of the story is about her struggle to really connect with Stewart, finish high school, get into college, and face the pressures of everyday life in a world where most teens at least drink.
I definitely don't want to spoil this book at all by saying what happens, but I will tell you what some of my fears were. I was terrified that she would end up right back in rehab or at least back to partying all of the time. I was sure she was going to end up pregnant with Stewart's baby, and Stewart was going to either die or just abandon her. I was sure her friend from rehab, Trish, was going to die (she was too obsessed with wanting people to love her). After her guidance councilor told her there was no way she would get into any kind of good college, I was sure she was going to give up. I was also worried that every character would end up 100% turned around, no bad repercussions from the horrible choices they had made. That last fear was because I know, in reality, life doesn't work that way, so I didn't want the author to make it that way.
I wanted the author to show a person who really wanted to get better and succeeded while still having to deal with the choices she made and not ending up with life absolutely perfect. That would show readers that drugs and drinking and other addictive issues really mess up your life, but if you are in that situation, you can do something to make life better in the end.
I am not going to tell you if any or all of my predictions and fears were right. That would ruin the point of reading this story. Also, there is a lot more going on in this story, including another young girl who has taken over Maddie's role of party girl, Maddie's new formed friendships with seemingly random people, and characters hitting rock bottom and either overcoming or succumbing (both things happen, not going to say to which characters).
So in the end, I absolutely recommend this to almost any teen. This is for teens who wonder what partying might be like, teens who wonder what goes through the head of other teens that take things a little too far, teens who feel stuck in their party lifestyles, teens who are dealing with addictions, and teens who might not be too addicted yet. And of course I recommend this to people like me, people who are definitely no longer teens.(lessRecovery Road Overview

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How To Steal A Car Review

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How To Steal A Car ReviewKelleigh Monahan is not your typical car thief. In fact, she is anything but a car thief. She shrouds herself in a mix of black and gray, and she would rather hide than talk to someone she doesn't know. She has her best friend, Jen, in which everything is shared, including their co-boyfriend Will. Kelleigh also has the typical lawyer father and a mother who goes all out on cooking and cleaning --- and, occasionally, drinking. What's even more atypical of a car thief is that Kelleigh isn't even old enough to drive. She just received her learner's permit and is forced to drive around with an adult in the passenger seat. But that one day at the mall will change everything.
As Kelleigh and Jen are sitting outside the shopping center eating ice cream, Kelleigh sees a man drop his keys and walk away without noticing. Kelleigh picks up the keys, thinking that she would return them, but something stops her. She never planned on taking his car, but by mere coincidence she finds out that he lives only a few blocks away. Surely he won't notice that his boring car, a Toyota or a Honda or something, is missing for a few minutes as she takes it around the block for a quick ride? While everything is returned as it was, Kelleigh walks away with a newfound addiction that she can't quite shake.
And if you can steal a car once, Kelleigh figures, you can steal a car twice. The second time is less of a joy ride and more of a revenge-motivated debacle. A little more effort is needed to duplicate keys and trick the owner, but, in the end, Kelleigh succeeds in her plan. How and why it ends up at the bottom of the local pond you will have to read to find out.
And if you can steal a car twice, you can certainly steal a car three times. When Jen calls in a panic, Kelleigh doesn't hesitate to borrow the neighbor's car (they were conveniently on vacation) and rescue her best friend. The whole police chase on the way home doesn't help matters, but Kelleigh manages to evade the cops and inform her parents about the declining nature of their neighborhood.
And if you can steal a car three times, why not start stealing cars for money? It's all been leading up to this: her parents' failing marriage, her strained friendship with Jen, and the uncertain future between her and Will. Some girls might act out by drinking, sleeping around, or doing drugs, but Kelleigh gets her thrills from stealing cars. Is she going too far? And what will it take to stop her before she hits the point of no return?
Most people think of car thieves as reckless, desperate, or down on their luck. Kelleigh, though, is an extremely relatable teenage girl with the same teenage problems that we all go through at some point, but she chooses to deal with them in her own unique way. The author's reasoning for why Kelleigh would steal cars not only makes sense, but he makes it seems so easy and practical that it may be a little dangerous for those already teetering on the edge. With HOW TO STEAL A CAR, National Book Award winner Pete Hautman has created another hilarious look at teenagers, and I know that I'm going to double-check where I put my car keys the next time I leave the mall.
--- Reviewed by Benjamin BocheHow To Steal A Car Overview

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