The Chicken Dance Review

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The Chicken Dance ReviewHow do you go from being an unknown in Horse Island to becoming famous? It's simple -- win a chicken judging contest. The minimum age for entering the contest has been lowered to eleven this year. Don Schmidt sees this as his opportunity to become more well-known and to make a difference in his normal ho-hum life. He rents all kinds of different books from the library and becomes a chicken "expert."
The chicken judging contest is only the beginning of the many changes in Don's life. He lives with his Mother and Father; they don't want him to ever call them Mom and Dad. They are an unusual family who always eat TV dinners. Mother even surprises Father and Don when having a dinner party, but it is quite a hassle getting all the potatoes out of those foil trays. Don is caught looking at some papers in his parents' room, and finds out that his real name is Stanley. Mother and Father are always talking about his sister Dawn, who disappeared around the time that Don was born. Don is always living in her shadow. No mention of whether she is dead or was kidnapped intrigues Don, so he decides to go search for her.
Don does such a great job at judging chickens that he is chosen to attend the regional chicken judging event in Baton Rouge. He learns from a dancer that Dawn has been seen dancing at a club in the same town. He enlists the help of one of his friends and the boys set out on the streets and find her. Its one discovery after another while on the trail of Dawn.
This is a very exciting book with its many twists and turns. There is a certain amount of mystery involved as well as an intriguing storyline with often times very humorous portions. This is a must-read for those tweens who enjoy a story where an ordinary boy makes himself known and sets his boring life on a more exciting track. This book would definitely be enjoyed by girls as well as boys, though. There will be portions where you will be cackling with laughter. You will never do "the chicken dance" the same way again.
Reviewed by: Lori P.The Chicken Dance Overview

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Kissing the Bee Review

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Kissing the Bee ReviewKathe Koja, Kissing the Bee (FSG, 2007)
While Kathe Koja is one of those authors who can do no wrong, that is not to say that Koja's work has not had varying degrees of rightness over the years. Kissing the Bee is the rightest, in its earnest and seductive way, since Straydog five years ago.
Dana is a high school senior working on a project about bees. Her best friend is Avra, high school culture's version of a queen bee, with all the qualities that entails. Avra's boyfriend is Emil, the somewhat disaffected hipster who never quite fits in, but is all the more popular for it. The three of them are a unit unto themselves within the boundaries of that high school culture, but their unit is straining; Avra is champing at the bit to run away from home, and is planning on leaving straight from the prom. She expects Emil to go with her, though has never actually asked whether he will. Dana and Emil, both of whom are friendlier with Avra's parents than she is, are the only people who know. And Dana is in love with Emil. How can things not fracture?
Among the many strengths that have marked Kathe Koja's writing for the past decade and a half, the greatest has always been her ability to create simple, understated, completely real characters. She usually sticks them in more fantastic situations, as seen recently in The Blue Mirror; in fact, she's trod this very road before, in the fantastic adult novel Kink ten years ago, though with a much more dark-fantastic spin on things than can be found in this almost grittily realistic novel. Dana is my favorite Koja lead since Grant Cotto (Strange Angels); she rarely comes right out and says what she's thinking (and when she does, it's usually to throw us a curveball), but Koja lets us know through her actions. And (for the most part, though the whole toasting-of-the-bees scene does get a little heavy-handed) we're not talking about the whole Hollywood heavy-lidded stare thing here, either. Small jumps of muscle or cocks of eyebrow, to continue that parallel-- to put forth an example, when Dana wants to express her frustration with the events around her, she picks up the wings from Avra and Emil's prom costumes, puts them in her car, and drives around all night. I mean, come on. Even Dana doesn't know what she means to do by this-- but by this point in the book, you will. And that's what makes Kathe Koja such a powerful writer.
I was sad when I found out that Kathe Koja would no longer be writing adult novels, but she has certainly translated her talent wholesale into the young adult arena. And it has rarely shone the way it does here. **** ½
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