Demon Princess: Reign or Shine

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by Michelle Rowen
ages: 12+
First sentence: “‘That guy is staring at you.'”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy sent to me by the publisher.

To tell the truth, I was hoping this book would be really bad. It would be so easy to make fun of: Nikki just turned 16, and has discovered that her father — who left her mother soon after Nikki was born — is the demon king of the Shadowlands, the border lands between the human world and the Underworld. There’s a budding forbidden romance with one of the Shadow people as well. It’s the kind of hip, supernatural stuff that’s all the rage right now, no thanks to Stephenie Meyer, and I was primed to mock it.

Yet, it didn’t suck.

Sure, that’s not the same as saying it was really good, but still. The whole thing kept me entertained while I was on the elliptical for several days running. Granted, once I was done, I didn’t really think about it until I got back on again. But it did make the workouts fly by.

I think much of my problem with it — if you can call it a problem — was that it took itself too seriously. I think I would have liked it better if there more tongue-in-cheek humor, something to say that this is fun, this is not to be taken seriously. Which is kind of what the cover suggests. Except there’s issues, problems — like domestic abuse and almost date rape — as well as political overtones, and evil family members. I wanted it to be a romp, a laugh, and while it was entertaining, it wasn’t that.

Sigh.

At least it didn’t end in a cliffhanger.

As You Wish

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by Jackson Pearce
ages: 12+
First sentence: “All I’ve learned in today’s Shakespeare class is: Sometimes you have to fall in love with the wrong person just so you can find the right person.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Viola has a problem: seven months ago her boyfriend of two years (and best friend since they were little) broke up with her after admitting to himself that he was gay. Even though they’re still friends, Viola’s crushed. The fact that she doesn’t feel like she fits in at school anymore just adds to her depression. All she really wants is to belong.

She inadvertently wishes for this so strongly that she summons a jinn. Who then grants her three wishes. Which is all fine and good — the jinn just wants to grant the wishes and get back to his home in Caliban, after all — except that Viola can’t decide what to wish for. In the process of deciding, and making those wishes, she discovers that the one thing she really needs to make herself more complete is the one thing she can’t have.

I’ve been eagerly waiting for a chance to this book, ever since Abby raved about it ages and eons ago. And, as she pointed out, it does not disappoint. Pearce has written a captivating first novel, one full of humor, angst, friendship, magic, and romance. I just ate it up. (Seriously: it’s been forever since I sat down to read a book and didn’t get up until I was done.) For me, there wasn’t a single misstep: it wasn’t just about the plot, which was basically a clever twist on a generic romantic comedy. It was more about the characters. They were so vividly drawn that I couldn’t help but care what happened next.

I understood Viola’s insecurity and appreciated that Pearce had her — eventually — find that wholeness comes from within and not from without. I loved her best friend/ex-boyfriend Lawrence; you really couldn’t hate him, he was just so earnest, and he did love Viola, just not in that way. And Jinn… let’s just say that he provides everything needed for the epic romance Viola was pining about at the beginning of the book.

I’m sure there are flaws in the book — no book is absolutely perfect — but let’s just say that I hit this at the perfect time. Sigh and swoon, indeed.

Book to Movie Friday: Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

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When I reviewed Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging, Bobbie at ‘Til We Read Again commented that her girls liked the movie. Wait… there’s a movie?

Well, friends, yes there is. A little British production, probably never saw screen time here in the US, but there it is. The hilarious diaries of Georgia Nicholson out there for everyone to see.

Except… they weren’t so hilarious on screen.

While many of the choice plot elements were there — the pimento olive costume or shaving of the eyebrows or the kissing lesson, for example — the movie ditched the tongue-in-cheek observations of Georgia’s diary for a more sweet teen-romance. Not that I minded the whole romance bit; they made Robbie and Tom a bit younger than in the book (which was good; an 18 year old dating a 14 year old was a bit much for me) and I have to admit that Aaron Johnson is a cutie. But, it wasn’t funny. The book was celebrating the awkwardness of being 14 and not exactly knowing quite how to deal with boys. And without the funny it just becomes well, just awkward and embarrassing.

It also didn’t help that I found Georgia and her friends to be completely and utterly annoying. Perhaps this was less of the fault of the actresses and more of the “it’s just not funny” line. Whatever the reason, I found myself cringing when they talked and giggled, and not at all sympathetic to their troubles and problems. I rolled my eyes more often than I did in the book, where Georgia was annoying, but somewhat sympathetic by the end.

Speaking of the end, they completely changed the book. I’m not sure I minded much that there was a big, huge birthday party in a club and that Lindsey totally got her comeuppance (though yanking her false boobs out of her dress was a bit harsh). But still, in this case I will complain that it wasn’t the book.

Verdict: Just read the book. (Though if you saw the movie first, the book is SO much better.)

Kaleidoscope Eyes

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by Jen Bryant
ages: 10+
First sentence: “I wake up every morning to Janis Joplin.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

It’s the summer of 1968, and 13-year-old Lyza Bradley has had enough of death and abandonment. It’s been two years since her mother disappeared, and with the Vietnam War raging, boys in her small South Jersey are coming home in coffins more than she’d like. So, when her Grandpa dies, it’s almost more than she can bear.

Except… Grandpa left something just for Lyza: three maps and a mystery to solve. With her two best friends — Malcom and Carolann — Lyza unravels the mystery of the maps to discover that famed “reluctant pirate” Captain William Kidd possibly buried treasure right in their town. The question is: can they find it?

I have no idea what I expected when I pulled this off the shelf. I was intrigued by the title: what would a book that quotes a phrase from a Beatles song be about? Turns out that it’s much like a kaleidoscope: a lot of little bits and pieces of a lot of things working together to make a patchwork story. There isn’t an issue of the late-1960s that doesn’t make a passing reference: racism — Lyza’s best friend Malcom is African American, and has to deal with racism; the Vietnam War and all that entails from the fighting to the protests to the draft and all that entails; hippies — Lyza’s older sister Denise and her boyfriend Harry certainly qualify; and drugs — at one point, Lyza’s father thinks she’s doing drugs, even though what she’s really doing is digging up buried treasure.

It’s not heavy-handed, though, which, at the beginning I was afraid of. Once the maps come into play, however, the issues fade to the background. They were a part of life in 1968; it would have felt odd not to have mentions of Dr. King’s or Robert Kennedy’s death. But the primary focus of the story was the adventure and discovery of the kids. And because of that, it became also a homage to freer times, when three 13-year-olds could go all over a town (and to other towns) without adults knowing more than just the bare minimum.

The format also helped: it’s a novel in verse, and the way some of the poems reflected the mood of the characters, or the events was clever, but not distracting. And, again, they had a kaliedoscopic effect: a lot of little pieces that came together to make a nice story. Which is really rather neat.

Library Loot 2010-12

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Y’know, one of the things the library is good for is when you own a book, and you have a daughter who wants to read it, but then you realize that you’ve loaned it to your dad… oops. I’m just glad our library is awesome that way.

This week’s loot:

Picture Books:
The Jellybeans and the Big Book Bonanza, by Laura Numeroff and Nate Evans/Illus. by Lynn Munsinger
Sir Charlie Stinky Socks and the Really Big Adventure, by Kristina Stephenson
Little Cloud and Lady Wind, by Toni Morrison and Slade Morrison/Illus by Sean Qualls
Louise the Big Cheese and the La-di-da Shoes, by Elise Primavera/Illus by Diane Goode
Paulie Pastrami Achieves World Peace, by James Proimos
Smile!, by Leigh Hodgkinson

Middle Grade Fiction:
Peter and the Sword of Mercy (Starcatchers), by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
The Farwalker’s Quest, by Joni Sensel
Hachiko Waits, by Leslea Newman
The Storm in the Barn, by Matt Phelan

YA Fiction:
As You Wish, Jackson Pearce
I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President, Josh Lieb
The Stonekeeper’s Curse (Amulet, Book 2), by Kazu Kibuishi

The roundup is either at Reading Adventures or A Striped Armchair. Obligatory FTC note: the links are provided through my Amazon Associates account. If you click through and actually purchase one of these books, I’ll get a teeny, tiny payment. But, since no one ever does, and it’s SO much easier using the associates account to put up these links, I’m going to keep doing it.

March 2010 Jacket Flap-a-thon

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Shall we forgo the usual blather, since I’ll have a Library Loot post going up later, and just jump into this month’s books? I think so.

The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook (Bloomsbury): “What do a secret squirt watch, a pair of spring-loaded super-boots, and the incredible Kablovsky copter have in common? They’re all inventions of the Secret Science Alliance. This trio of gadgeteers is hard at work in a secret lab, tinkering with technology that’s definitely too cool for school! But when an evil scientist steals their blueprints and hatches a deadly plan, the Secret Science Alliance springs into action. Can three young inventors, armed with their crazy creations, defeat this criminal mastermind? Strap on your welding goggles and get ready for a high-tech adventure from comic supergenius Eleanor Davis!”

Doesn’t this book sound like great fun? I didn’t really love it, but I have to admit that this flap copy made me want to read it!

Shine, Coconut Moon (Margaret K. McElderry): “Seventeen-year-old Samar — a.k.a. Sam — has never known much about her Indian heritage. Her mom has deliberately kept Sam away from her old-fashioned family. It’s never bothered Sam, who is busy with school, friends, and a really cute but demanding boyfriend. But things change after 9/11. A guy in a turban shows up at Sam’s house, and he turns out to be her uncle. He wants to reconcile the family and teach Sam about her Sikh heritage. Sam isn’t sure what to do, until a girl at school calls her a coconut — brown on the outside, white on the inside. That decides it: Why shouldn’t Sam get to know her family? What is her mom so afraid of? Then some boys attack her uncle, shouting, “Go back home, Osama!” and Sam realizes she could be in danger — and also discovers how dangerous ignorance can be. Sam will need all her smarts and savvy to try to bridge two worlds and make them both her own.”

This sums up the book nicely, but doesn’t give away too much of the conflict. Can I mention, though, that I didn’t notice the guy on the cover of the book? And that I really am very tired of headless teen girls on covers??

Heist Society (Hyperion): “When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre…to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria…to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own–scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a normal life proves harder than she’d expected. Soon, Kat’s friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat’s father isn’t just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help. For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it’s a spectacularly impossible job? She’s got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in history-or at least her family’s (very crooked) history. “

Okay, so I guess I was in a “fun” mood this month: this one, too, makes the book sound like a huge amount of fun. Which it was.

Other books read this month:
Frankie Pickle
Scarlett Fever
Angus, Thongs, and Full-frontal Snogging
Howards End
Sugar
Over Sea, Under Stone
The Truth About Forever
Candor
Sea Glass
Open: An Autobiography
Swiftly Tilting Planet (DNF)
Timekeeper’s Moon
Marching for Freedom
The English American

Running Total: 42
Adult fiction: 8
YA: 15
MG: 9
Non-fiction: 5
Graphic Novel: 5
Didn’t Finish: 2

Marching for Freedom

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Walk Together, Children, and Don’t You Grow Weary
by Elizabeth Partridge
ages: 10+
First sentence: “The first time Joanne Blackmon was arrested, she was just ten years old.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I’m sure this was on my radar before SLJ’s Battle of the (Kids) Books began, but the decision of Gary Schmidt prompted me to delve into it.

And he’s right: it’s a remarkable book.

It’s the story of the Selma, Alabama marches in 1965 as told through the eyes of the children and teenagers that were involved. Partridge’s words and photographs from the time paint a vivid picture of the stories of these children, their parents, and the general plight of African Americans in the south before the mid-60s. The sacrifice that these people made to get what many people now take for granted is awe-inspiring. Sure, the civil rights leaders show up — Dr. King, Rosa Parks, among others — but the real heart and soul of the book are the children that faced the billy clubs, cattle prods, tear gas, and were consistently arrested and rearrested. It’s enough to bring one to tears.

Honestly, two thoughts kept going through my mind while I was reading. First was that I think that this book couldn’t come at a better time. Sure, it was 40 years ago, but I think we need to constantly be reminded of, and remember to teach our children about, the sacrifices that were made. I think — and this just may be me talking — that we tend to become apathetic about what we have, and forget all the people that worked to make it all possible.

Second was that if I wasn’t a voter, I’d be very ashamed. In fact, the next time someone tells me they don’t vote, I’m going to hand them this book. It’s a right, it’s a privilege, and — dang it — we should take advantage of that.

Enough soapbox. The book really is worth your time.

Timekeeper’s Moon

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by Joni Sensel
ages: 11+
First sentence: “The moon refused to hush or come down, so Ariel Farwalker was forced to climb up.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.

A little while ago, Charlotte reminded me how much I loved The Farwalker’s Quest, and reminded me that I really wanted to read the sequel. So, off the shelves it came, and (as I expected) I was not disappointed.

Ariel has been plagued by the moon speaking to her. She, initially thought she was going crazy, but as the voices in her head become more insistent, she’s realized that she needs to heed what the moon — and her feet — are saying. That she needs to go, somehow, and find the sender of the telling darts that were the starting point of her first journey. So, she and Scarl — her father figure, friend and protector — head south, with only Ariel’s instincts and a vague map/calendar to guide them, not knowing what they’ll find.

Like Farwalker, much of the joy in this book is in the world that Sensel has created. Going south gives her a reason to introduce us to more of this world, including a swamp village, Skunk, where Ariel finds friends, traveling companions, and even a first love. They discover more remnants of the world before the Blind War, and find that perhaps not everyone has completely forgotten the old ways. And, in a very interesting use of fantasy conventions, they do find the answers to the questions that led them on this journey.

Sensel is not only a gifted world-builder, she has a knack for involving the reader in her world, for making us care about the characters and the situations. She is also a master at keeping us — or at least me — as readers engaged. It’s a lyrical book, but it’s never slow, and full of enough twists and turns to keep me guessing as to how it will all turn out. My only quibble is with the ending — it seemed a little too… convenient. Pat. And yet, confusing. I knew what was going on, but I had to read it through twice to fully “get” it.

Still, that’s a small quibble, and it doesn’t ruin the book at all. If you haven’t experienced the world that Sensel has built, do. It’s thoroughly captivating.

Sunday Salon: Interacting With Books

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Good morning, all! I meant to get this up earlier, but stayed up really late last night watching Back to the Future with M and C. You know what? It’s still a good movie 25 years later.

So, a few days ago, Hubby and M got into a discussion. Here’s the gist of it, if I remember right: Hubby started by asking why there weren’t, if JK Rowling was “right”, more magical people in the world? Then he branched out: how does one come by magical powers? Is it genetic? If so, how does one get the gene? M really got into the discussion; it ranged all over from genetics to the idea of cultural pressure to general world-building techniques — Riordan and Tolkien were both brought up at one point — as well as trying, very hard, to justify the small numbers of magical people in Rowling’s world.

I participated a bit, but mostly I sat mystified, thinking, “Guys…. it’s just a book.”

Hubby and I talked about it afterward: he asked if, say, I had ever stopped to wonder how rich Elizabeth Bennett was after she married Darcy. And I honestly had to admit that no, I haven’t. I read books, I enjoy books, I write about books, I talk about books, but I don’t actually think about the world in the books. The most I can admit to is getting crushes on men in books, or wanting to live next door to a particular family, but even those don’t last long after I shut the pages. I just don’t interact with books that way.

Which leads me to today’s question: do you? Do you wonder about the small intricacies in the world that a particular author has created, whether it be fantasy or contemporary fiction? Do you see yourself in that world? Do you want to interact with the people in it?

Heist Society

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by Ally Carter
ages: 12+
First sentence: “No on knew for certain when the trouble started at Colgan school.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Why is it that we, as normal people, love stories about thieves? About good people who live just outside the law? Or, even better yet, about good-looking, rich people traveling the world doing things, buying things, that normal people can’t even dream about doing.

You make those people teenagers, and you’ve basically got the idea of what this book is about. Though don’t get me wrong: this book is a LOT of fun. Impossible, improbable, sure. But unputdownable fun.

Kat has walked away from the family “business” of stealing things. Robbing museums, banks, mansions, you name it; she was the grease man, the inside man, the go-to girl. Then, in her biggest con, she got into an exclusive boarding school. She wanted, needed a normal life. However, it turns out that she can’t get away from family. Three months into her self-imposed exile, she gets kicked out because of a prank she didn’t pull (she was framed!). Turns out that her father is in trouble; he was framed for a job he didn’t do, and now a powerful mobster is out to get him. And it’s Kat who has the know-how, and her friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, who has the resources, to get him out of trouble. Even if it means traveling the world, trying to find the trail of the real thief. Even if it means robbing a famous high-security museum in England.

It takes an incredible suspension of disbelief to make this book work — really? 16-year-olds popping all over the world? Right… — but, suspend it, and you will have fun. There’s action, adventure, suspense, thrills, laughs, hot guys (both British and American, take your pick), and romance. It’s about family; sure they’re mostly dysfunctional, but hey: they care.

The ending was a bit abrupt for my taste; there’s one string left hanging that I wish would have been wrapped up. I suppose it was for the best though, to leave a little mystery. While I don’t think there’s a need for a sequel, I sure wouldn’t mind hanging out with Kat and her gang some more.