Favorite Books of 2009

These aren't necessarily the books that I think were the best - as if it's that easy to decide, right? - but they were certainly my favorites.  I'm looking only at the books that were first published in the United States in 2009.  Also, some of them are not YA!  But, I don't think that they are so not YA that teenagers didn't read them or wouldn't be interested in reading them.  Okay, no more rambling.

Oh yeah, and I think I'm also going to rank 'em.

10.The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen

9.  Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork

8.  Charles and Emma by Deborah Heligman

7.  When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

6.  Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd

5.  If I Stay by Gayle Forman

4.  The Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore

3.  Columbine by Dave Cullen

2.  The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelley

1.  Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

Honorable mentions

Little Bee by Chris Cleave, After by Amy Efaw, Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice by Philip Hoose, Stitches by David Small

FYI, in 2009 I read exactly 130 books!  A good mix of adult, YA, and juvenile literature, though not so good a mix of fiction and non-fiction.  I read 32 adult titles, 60 YA, and 38 juvenile titles (I only count juvenile chapter books and up because counting picture books is just ridiculous); likewise, 111 fiction books, 14 non-fic, and 5 graphic novels/manga.  Just a few more than last year, about a dozen more than the year before that, and well, before that I wasn't keeping track.  Let's just say that prior to officially becoming a full-time librarian, I never read 100 books for pleasure in a year.  Because I was always a student.  Doing homework.  Yeah, don't miss that so much!

I think my list reflects the diversity of my taste and how much some of the things I do to torture myself (like making sure I've read the National Book award nominees for Young People's lit before the award is announced) actually pay off.  I truly loved reading Charles and Emma and the book gave me such an appreciation for who Charles Darwin and his wife Emma were, in their own time.  It was also really sad!  I'm glad to have finally read a Lorrie Moore book so that I'm clued into her genius, and I'm glad that I managed to squeeze Zeitoun in this year, reading the book in one long sitting a few days ago.  With a sub-zero windchill outside, I found myself completely and utterly lost in this one man named Zeitoun's true story, and will be recommending this book to everyone.  It was not only my favorite book of the year, but one that I think captures all the qualities of what makes a book truly remarkable and a "best book" kind of books.  It's not only that Dave Eggers chose to tell this story, but the truth in the way that he chooses to tell is that makes it so remarkable.  Never mind that it's so heartpoundingly (okay, not a word, but I don't have time to edit now!) real that you just can't put it down.

Looking back over what I read this year, I have to say that 2009 was another really good year for fiction, particularly children's and adults.  For some reason, when I look over what I read in '09 for YA, I feel kind of lackluster.  I wonder if it's one of those years where I somehow missed the amazing books because I was so intent on reading those written by my favorite authors.  

Anyway, as usual, I can't wait for the Printz and Newbery announcements.  Which reminds me... I have some work to do on reading the Morris Award nominees before January 18.

Yeah, I think I've got my work cut out for me... again.

Best Christmas present ever (for a librarian)

My boyfriend gave me a Carol necklace!  I guess it was featured on BoingBoing sometime this fall, so he's been holding onto it since then.  I am wearing it right now!  The dental hygienist thought it was an owl, but I made sure she knew it was Carol from Where The Wild Things Are!  Sadly, it's sold out, but maybe Elaine Ho will make some more.

Book Review - After by Amy Efaw

No one expected this from Devon, a straight-A soccer player destined for Division-I sports glory. And you could say that Devon didn't expect it either.

But now she's in juvenile hall, awaiting a judge's decision on whether or not she will be tried as a juvenile or as an adult for attempted murder and other charges, for putting her newborn baby in the dumpster behind her apartment.

Amy Efaw's compelling second novel, After, is the kind of book you can't put down, no matter how much some aspects of it disturb you. Was Devon aware that she was pregnant before giving birth? How could she not have been? Was she a manipulative liar, covering up her pregnancy, which went undetected by her mother, friends, classmates, everyone? The complexities of the story shed light on something most only know as a statistic and helped me, at least, see the issue from other angles. Devon is an utterly authentic character and reading the book, I completely felt sucked into her story, in such a way that I found the book really challenging to read at some points. By the end, I was relieved I had finished, if only to get on with my way less complicated life.

RIYL: harrowing tales, problem novels like Go Ask Alice, gritty stories about problems that real people face every day

Teens' Top Ten...REVEALED

More than 11,000 teen voters (a lot of them, evidently, were Nerdfighters) chose John Green's Paper Towns as their favorite book in the 2009 Teens' Top Ten! Here's the full list of the top ten.

• Paper Towns by John Green
  
• Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
  
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
  
• City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
  
• Identical by Ellen Hopkins
  
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
  
• Wake by Lisa McMann
  
• Untamed by P.C. and Kristin Cast
  
• The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
  
• Graceling by Kristin Cashore
  

The Homewood Library owns all of these titles, so come check 'em out!

Book Review - Going Bovine by Libba Bray

It's one of those mad cow disease road trip books, you know?

Ummm.
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To say that Libba Bray's newest book, Going Bovine, is hard to categorize is an understatement. A meaty book, clocking in at just under 500 pages, it's the story of sixteen year old Cameron, an ordinary, kind of losery guy whose life has been pretty unremarkable ever since his near-drowning at the It's A Small World After All ride at Disney World when he was five. Unremarkable, that is, until he finds out he has mad cow disease. Mad cow disease, a.k.a. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, gives Cameron these crazy hallucinations that really weird him out. Once doctors diagnose him, he's hospitalized and given a short time to live.

But that's when things just start to get interesting. Before he knows it, he's breaking out of the hospital to find a Doctor X who can save the world, hanging out with a hot punky angel, and setting off on a roadtrip with a dwarf named Gonzo and a yard gnome come to life who might just be a Viking, named Balder. Cameron and his assortment of pals trek from Texas to New Orleans to Florida in one of the most entertaining and bizarre road trip novels I've ever read.

I finished it last night and I'm still not sure what else to say about it, except that it's hilarious, poignant at times, and reminiscent of the episodic odyssies you take in feverish dreams. Yeah, it's something like that.

RIYL: Libba Bray's other books, John Green, Don Quixote

Book Review - Stitches by David Small

People in the library and publishing worlds were pretty stunned last week when David Small's graphic novel Stitches was nominated for the National Book Award in the Young People's Literature category, stunned because the book was published by an adult imprint/press. You may remember David Small as the Caldecott-winning illustrator of such classics as Imogene's Antlers. Well, forget all about that because Stitches is not to be confused with children's picture books.

This graphic novel memoir tells the grim and harrowing story of David Small's childhood and young adulthood. He grew up in a dysfunctional family, with parents that didn't engage with their children, and a brother who could've cared less about him. His father was a doctor and since David was a sickly child, his father performed radiation on him for his sicknesses-- an accepted practice at the time, but something doctors wouldn't think of in a million years, today. As a result, David developed a growth on his vocal chord, a growth that his father knew much about, all of which he kept hidden from David. As a teenager, David went into the hospital for surgery thinking he was getting a malignant growth removed, only to come out to learn that he had cancer AND that he could no longer speak. One of his vocal chords was removed.

I had a chance to hear David Small discuss his memoir at the annual ALA conference in July, and I'll never forget it. His story, a perfect fit for the graphic novel form, is unforgettable. A grim tale that ends with a lot of hope. As Mr. Small shared with us at ALA, writing and publishing the book brought him back in touch with his estranged brother.

* * * * *
five out of five stars
RIYL: Art Spiegelman's Maus and Gipi

Book Review - Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice

Everyone knows about Rosa Parks, but have you heard of Claudette Colvin? At age 15, Claudette refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. This happened nine months BEFORE Rosa Parks did the same. Philip Hoose's brilliant National Book Award-nominated nonfiction book Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice, shares the story of a lesser-known hero of the civil rights movement. For refusing to give up her seat, Claudette was handcuffed, forcibly removed from the bus, and arrested. Around the same time that Claudette was arrested and stood trial, the NAACP had been trying to plan the right time, place, and person, to test the bus segregation. However, Claudette wasn't quite the person they had in mind. She was from a lower-class family and soon after her arrest, became pregnant by an older man. While we all know from history classes that Rosa Parks became the symbol of ending bus segregation, Hoose sheds light on a teenager whose story and brave challenge preceded the more famous one, and who made further contributions to the civil rights movement in a lesser-known but important case.

* * * *
four out of five stars
RIYL: true stories about teens who stood up for their beliefs and made a difference

Book Review - Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia

Three girls, one day, one fight, one book. Rita Williams-Garcia's National Book Award nominee, Jumped, is a short book with a lot of impact. Peek into one day in the life of three high school girls: one athlete, one struggling student, one artistic diva. Leticia busts her acrylic nail in gym class; Dominique would love to bust a nail on court, but she's gotta earn the grades before coach'll put her back in; Trina envisions eyes following her [butt's] every move, and all eyes will be on her by the end. Between the short chapters and changing views, and the fact that it's a slight 160 pages, you can read through this one in an afternoon.

* * *
three out of five stars

RIYL: Kimani Tru books, other titles from Rita Williams-Garcia, books by Coe Booth

and this year's nominees for the National Book Award are....

I'm a few days late at posting this, but this year's nominees for the National Book Award in the Young People's Literature category are:

Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
Stitches by David Small
Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia

You can currently find all of them at the Homewood Library, except for Lips Touch, which should arrive shortly. Also, check back for reviews of all 5 titles!

The National Book awards will be announced at the 60th National Book Awards Benefit Dinner and Ceremony on November 18.

Book Review - Crash Into Me by Albert Borris

Owen. Frank. Audrey. Jin-Ae. Four teens that would not know each other if not for the one thing they have in common, the one thing they've all tried to do, the one thing that's bringing them together for a road trip across the country. Their common interest: ending their own lives. Brought together online by their sad and honest confessions, they set off on a road trip one summer to visit the resting places of celebrities who've committed suicide: Anne Sexton, Kurt Cobain, Ernest Hemingway, and more. Their final, final destination: Death Valley.

Narrated by Owen, whose depression stems from his older brother's death when he was just a kid, this is an exhilarating road trip novel that is hard to put down. Poignant, intensely sad, and amazingly revelatory, it's a book you won't soon forget.

* * * *
(four out of five stars)

RIYL: Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why, Ellen Hopkins' books

Book Review - Andromeda Klein

Finally, punk musician Frank Portman's follow-up to his acclaimed first book King Dork has hit the shelves at the Homewood Library, and I've had the chance to read it. Andromeda Klein follows the titular character, a magic-obsessed high school junior, as she tries to understand her best friend's death, fight the "Friends of the Library" at the International House of Bookcakes (her nickname for the library where she works as a shelver), and navigates the sometimes treacherous terrain of high school, made even more treacherous because of her interest in the occult. This is the kind of book you might have to read carefully, as there's a lot of namedropping and nicknaming to keep up with, but it all comes together at the end. If you've ever belonged to a secret club, spent hours poring over tarot cards, or have been curious about either, this just might be the book for you.

* * * *
(four out of five stars)

RIYL: magic + magic history, King Dork

Also, Frank Portman is also releasing music to go along with the book!

Book Review - TTYL by Lauren Myracle

In honor of Banned Books Week, which runs through this Saturday, I read one of the books from this year's list of the top ten banned books in the United States, TTYL by Lauren Myracle. This is not the first year that Myracle's Internet Girls series has appeared on the list. Written entirely in IM conversations, the first book in the series follows Maddie (mad maddie), Angela (SnowAngel), and Zoe (zoegirl) through the beginning of tenth grade. The three best friends want to make sure that nothing gets in the way of their friendship -- they've heard that high school drama can break up close friendships -- but of course that's exactly what happens, as the threesome take on their individual challenges, whether it's boy troubles, teacher troubles, or friend troubles.

Since it is written in IM speak, this is one of those books where you're zipping through the pages and wanting to read the next one, before you even realize it. Maddie, Angela, and Zoe, are super honest and as familiar as your own friends. There's plenty of laugh-out-loud and cringe-worthy moments in this one, but the girls will have you rooting for them and their friendship through the last page.

* * * *
Four out of five stars
RIYL: other Lauren Myracle books, E. Lockhart, Sarah Dessen

Book Review - The Sweetheart of Prosper County

At the no-Jesus Christmas parade in her small Texas town, 15-year-old Austin Gray decides she's had enough of being the butt of Dean Ottmer's jokes. Next year, if she has any say in it, she'll be the one in the velvet dress atop a parade car. Reminiscent of Catherine Gilbert Murdock's Dairy Queen, Jill S. Alexander's debut novel The Sweetheart of Prosper County, is another book with a rural setting featuring characters with a whole lot of heart.

With her new goal in mind, Austin sets out to start making marks on her checklist, and the first thing on it is acquiring an animal-- a chicken named Charles Dickens. In order to get in with the FFA (Future Farmers of America) in-crowd, she'll need to step out of her comfort zone, and in many more ways than just acquiring a feathered friend. Along the way, she discovers her similarities with her deceased father and learns to stand up to the malicious Dean Ottmer.

RIYL: Catherine Gilbert Murdock or Sara Zarr's books, and/or getting a taste of the South
* * * *
four out of five stars

Book Review - Twenty Boy Summer

If you're back in school and already wishing it were summer (or if the weather's got you fooled into thinking maybe it is still summer), pick up Twenty Boy Summer by debut author Sarah Ockler. This hot title has been checked out constantly this summer, but with the arrival of fall, maybe it will be on the shelf a bit more.

Anna, Matt, and Matt's sister Frankie have been friends and neighbors forever. But after Anna's birthday party, Matt surprises her with a kiss, and it looks like maybe two of them have always had stronger feelings for each other. Sneaking around, Matt and Anna find time for moments between just the two of them. They'll tell Frankie, when the time is right, but for now it's a secret. But their plans are shattered when, in an instant, everything changes. With Matt gone, Anna's left with the secret, but can she really tell her best friend that she's been secretly dating her brother for the past month?

Flash forward to a year later. Anna still hasn't told Frankie, and she's been invited to go out to California with Frankie and her parents, who are practically extended family to Anna. Frankie's changed a lot since her brother's death, and she's got a plan for how they'll spend three weeks on the beach in Cali: twenty boy summer. But is Anna ready to move on? Can she let herself fall for someone that's not Matt and never will be? And what can she do about the secret she's kept from her best friend for a whole year?

Find a spot in the sun and soak up what's left of the summer weather with "Twenty Boy Summer," the kind of book you can devour in an afternoon. Sarah Ockler is a new author to watch, and fans of Sarah Dessen, Susane Colasanti, and Deb Caletti, should check this one out.

* * * 1/2
(three and a half stars)

Book Review - Nation by Terry Pratchett

I'm making my way through the Printz honors of 2009, and I have to say that this might be one of my favorites. Terry Pratchett is best known for his Discworld books and supposedly his hardcore fans might be disappointed with Nation just because it's not a Discworld book. But, if you're like me and you're not a huge fantasy reader, this just might be the best way to dip into Terry Pratchett's world. Nation starts with a catastrophe. A tsunami kills an entire island village while Mau, it's sole survivor is off becoming a man. He returns to find utter devastation -- everyone he knows is dead -- and a ship. Daphne, a royal heir, is also shipwrecked on the island. The baffling collision of their two worlds -- the small island nation and the British empire -- provides for many interesting encounters between Daphne and Mau, who have no choice but to get to know each other, in spite of their language barriers and a world of differences. As other survivors from nearby islands make their way to Mau's island, the novel builds towards another collision of differing factions, this time with Daphne and Mau on the same side.

By the time I finished Nation, I had fallen completely under the spell of Terry Pratchett. His writing is clever and entertaining, and in the right moments, completely tender and heartfelt. As I closed the book, I had to marvel at his talent, and I almost wanted to start all over at the beginning and enjoy it again.

* * * * *
Five out of five stars

RIYL: Terry Pratchett, survival stories, just plain old great books

Vote your choice!

Voting is underway for this year's Teens' Top Ten, the only reading list with titles nominated and voted on by teens. Vote for your favorite book from the last year. The winners will be announced in a webcast at www.ala.org/teenstopten during Teen Read Week, Oct. 18-24.

Book Review - "Along for the Ride" by Sarah Dessen

Anyone who reads this blog will know that I'm a pretty big Sarah Dessen fan. I read her blog every day and it's quite possible that she is the reason I became a teen librarian. Anyway, Along for the Ride is her latest and I bought it at a bookstore the day it came out.

It's the summer before Auden heads off to college at Defriesne, a prestigious university assumed to be not too far away from her hometown in North Carolina. She planned to spend it at her home -- she's been living with her mom, a well-known and well-admired professor at the U since her parent's divorce -- prepping for her fall classes, but an email from her dad's new wife and new mother changes everything. Auden opts out of the expected and enters the unexpected -- moving into her dad's beachside house in Colby with the stepmom and new little sister, Thisbe.

An insomniac looking to explore her temporary hometown, Auden keeps running into Eli, who she learns is a former biker who hasn't been riding since the accident that killed his best friend. They strike up the kind of friendship only two insomniacs can have -- meeting nightly at the Gas/Gro, then letting the evening take them to whatever's open that late. But then something more develops (a Sarah Dessen book is not complete without a romance) as Eli leads Auden to do all those thing she missed by being an overworked brainiac in high school.

But a person can't just change overnight (pun not intended). When a familiar scenario startles Auden in her new environs, she reverts back to her old ways, distancing herself from the one person she'd become real close with in Colby. But there's still time left in the summer for things to change, and a beachside fake prom.

Like all of Sarah Dessen's books, this one offers a world you wouldn't mind stepping into, that's familiar to your own, but somehow a little better.

* * * *
Four out of five stars

RIYL: Susan Colasanti, Sara Zarr, Elizabeth Scott, contemporary realistic fiction

Trio of Book Reviews!

Intensely Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
It's the summer before Alice's last year of high school, and it starts off just like all the others, with the gang hanging out at Mark Stedmeister's pool. But this summer turns out to be full of surprises, both exhilarating, challenging, and devastating. Alice's cousin Carol is getting married in Chicago, which just happens to be where Patrick is starting school (at MY alma mater, the University of Chicago), so Alice visits him on campus. Lester busts out of town for a week, allowing Alice and her friends to stay at his place, and of course, this doesn't go exactly as planned. And at the end of the summer, something happens that no one expected, that changes the gang forever. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor does it again with the latest Alice book, a compulsively readable book for fans of the series, and one that could certainly pique interest for those that don't know every detail about Alice McKinley...yet. YA FIC NAY

Queen of Everything by Deb Caletti
Watching the evening news, do you ever wonder about the grisly lead stories, the ones where a seemingly normal person does something you can't even comprehend. Do you wonder, who was this person, and what kind of family did he/she have? Well, this is one of those ripped-from-the-headlines stories, told from the perspective of the headline-maker's daughter, Jordan. Jordan's parents have been divorced for awhile. Her mother runs a bed and breakfast, and her dad's your average eye doctor... until he meets Gayle. Jordan notices that her dad's become completely unlike himself ever since he met Gayle, and not in a good way. Gayle has taken his life by storm, and Jordan's unsettled. As his behavior becomes more erratic, one wild, stormy night changes everything. Jordan's life will never be the same. Fans of Deb Caletti's other work will appreciate her realistic, nuanced take on a story like this -- though it's not my personal favorite of hers. Recommended also to fans of Sarah Dessen's books. YA FIC CAL

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
I'd been hearing a lot of buzz about this one, so I devoured it last night watching the Red Sox-Yankees game. Thirteen year old Kyra has grown up in an isolated, polygamist community, where no one questions the authority of the Prophet, even as he leads his community's members to do what anyone else would consider, horrible, reproachable things. But Kyra has recently started to come into her own, first when Joshua, a guy around her age, shows interest in her, and in her trips to the library bookmobile. (Her community had a cleansing years ago when they burned every book there, except for the Bible.) She has passing thoughts about wanting to leave, but they become more serious when the Prophet comes to visit her family. She has been chosen to marry Hyrum, her sixty year old uncle. The rest of the book oscillates between Kyra thinking she can escape, and realizing how difficult, and potentially suicidal it could be. The gripping end will keep you on the edge of your seat, or at the very least, up past your bedtime. The writing is spare, at times poetic, and completely true to the thirteen year old narrator. Recommended for those who read Sister Wife and are fascinated by the reality of polygamous compounds existing in certain areas of the United States right now. YA FIC WIL

Book Review - The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart

If you liked The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks but weren't totally intrigued by the covers of E. Lockhart's other books, try them anyway! I'll admit I found the covers of the Ruby Oliver books a little girly for my taste, but over the weekend, I took the plunge and found out I have a new favorite author = E. Lockhart.

Sometimes, it's a good idea to make a list of things. Like, when you're going to the grocery store and you don't want to forget an item. Or, let's say you are packing for a trip and want to remember underwear. But if you're going to make a list of every boy you've ever had feelings for, liked, kissed, etc..., well, Ruby Oliver might advise you to, um, NOT.

You see, Ruby made such a list, of more than a dozen guys, from the guy she liked in early elementary school, to the guy who once grabbed her boob at the movies, to her most recent boyfriend--now, her ex, Jackson. But her list somehow got into the hands of a former friend, and now everyone at Tate Prep has their idea of what the names on the list mean, and they have a new name for Ruby Oliver, and it isn't a nice one. So you can imagine why Ruby might be having panic attacks in the bathroom, and why she might want to go to a shrink twice a week.

The Boyfriend List is a hilarious book-- two parts Georgia Nicolson, one part Megan McCafferty, one part John Green -- that makes you think about who your friends, and boyfriend(s) really are. It's also spawned two sequels: The Boy Book and the upcoming Treasure Map of Boys.

* * * *
(four out of five stars)

Book Review - Two Parties, One Tux, and a Very Short Film About the Grapes of Wrath by Steven Goldman

Sometimes, all you need for a great book are some hilarious characters, funny yet plausible scenarios, and potty humor. That's what Steven Goldman's first novel, Two Parties, One Tux, and a Very Short Film About the Grapes of Wrath offers, and it was more than enough to keep me cracking up on the train. Mitchell Wells is a kind of cute, kind of nerdy, guy who passes most of his time with his baseball jock best friend David, his constantly flirting with older guys sister Carrie, and Carrie's best friend M.C. But everything's kind of thrown for a loop when David comes out to Mitchell. What does it mean?

We never really get into what it means for anyone besides Mitchell because, let's face it, Mitchell's just a little bit hung up on his own problems. Like, when will the class hottie Danielle ever notice him. And if he's really going to get into trouble for the Claymation film supposedly about "The Grapes of Wrath" that he, in classic last-minute fashion, turned in for his English class in place of the paper. (Let's just say he never got past the first few pages of the Steinbeck classic, but that the film is hi-larious.)

This breezy, funny novel will hold appeal for fans of John Green, Barry Lyga, and Tim Tharp. (Also, yes, the cover is kind of lame, but the book is NOT!)

* * * 1/2
(three and a half/five stars)

Book Review - The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963 by Christoper Paul Curtis

I had the amazing opportunity to hear Christopher Paul Curtis speak last Friday; he gave the annual Zena Sutherland lecture at the Chicago Public Library. Sitting in the audience, I realized I was maybe the only one there who hadn't read any of his books. So I rectified that immediately, reading his first novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963 in one sitting yesterday.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret -- historical fiction can be funny and casual and anecdotal all at the same time. In some ways, the beginning of the book reminded me of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. You've got your main character, Kenny (read: Greg), being somewhat tortured and threatened by his big brother, Byron (read: Rodrick). The author completely sucks you into the world of these characters (1963 Flint, Michigan) by showing you their day-t0-day life, whether its toiling in school, snowball fights, or dinosaur wars. The real heart of the book is explored more in its second half, which follows the weird Watson family as they pile into their car and head south, to Birmingham, Alabama. And it's there that Kenny really starts to grow up. His mom told him and Byron that things were different down south for African-Americans, but it doesn't fully hit him until he hears the sound. A bomb hitting a church full of African-American children. What happens next is something only a very deft writer can accomplish, but it's the lump-in-your-throat kind of ending that really tugs at your heartstrings, the same way the beginning had you laughing out loud.

Christopher Paul Curtis was awarded the Newbery Honor, as well as the Coretta Scott King honor, for this, his first book, and it's easy to see why.

Recommended to: fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, anyone who's interested in learning more about the 1960s, and fans of Walter Dean Myers and Jacqueline Woodson

Book Review - If I Stay by Gayle Forman

It's rare that a tearjerker is this good, but that's a testament to what Gayle Forman achieved with this book, If I Stay, her second novel. Mia's a high school senior, an accomplished cellist, and the girlfriend of the lead singer/guitarist of the band Rising Star that's just gotten their huge break. A tiny snow storm--okay, a snowflake-- in Oregon means a day off from school, which gets Mia, her mom, her dad, and her younger brother Teddy out of the house. They're on the way to Mia's parent's friend's house when absolute tragedy strikes. In an instant, Mia's mom and dad are deceased, her brother is injured and Mia--well, Mia's suddenly an on-looker, looking down on this horrible scene and trying to understand what just happened. Is she dead? Is she alive?

It turns out that Mia is in fact in a coma, hanging on the precipice between life and death, and it also turns out that it's her decision: if she stays. Does she want to stay in a world that took away her incredible mother and father?

As Mia shares, in that perfect, anecdotal story kind of way, more about her family and her life, you start to realize everything she's lost, and I'm probably not alone in saying, it hits you in a very real place. Her parents are unique, idiosyncratic people, and their absence will make life enormously hard for Mia, if she chooses it.

I don't want to give away the ending, but I hope it's clear at this point how much I absolutely loved this book. Good luck finding it on the shelf. It made its debut on the NYTimes Bestseller list, and you can make your holds online.

Book Review Blitz

I've gotten behind in my book reviews - so much reading! - so here's a quick run-down of some recommended reads I've just cleared off my pile, meaning you can find 'em in the library now!

Me, The Missing, and the Dead by Jenny Valentine YA FIC VAL
This brief British novel presents an interesting questions: what would you do if you happened upon an urn in a taxi cab office, and you felt a voice calling out to you from it? Sixteen year old Londoner Lucas Swain finds himself in such a position, and finding a home for the deceased Violet helps him solve a few mysteries of his own. A slight novel that you can tear through in a few hours.






Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson YA FIC AND
Laurie Halse Anderon's much-anticipated latest book is intense and not for the faint of heart. High school senior Lia has been anorexic for years, in and out of hospitalization, with little overall change. But when her best friend who also suffered from an eating disorder, is found dead in a motel room, everything starts to change. Lia's wracked with guilt over the fact that the night of Cassie's death, she didn't pick up her phone, and now Cassie's haunting her. With poetic writing, Laurie Halse Anderson takes readers to places they may not have been since Speak. The author has a pretty large fan base, but this one is also recommended to fans of Ellen Hopkins.


Marcelo and the Real World by Francisco X. Stork YA FIC STO Like Wintergirls, Marcelo and the Real World is poised, in my opinion, to be on everyone's short list for the Printz come 2010. Unlike Wintergirls, this one's a little easier to digest. Marcelo's a special case, a teenager that most would say falls on the autism spectrum. He's been attending a special school, Paterson, where he gets to care for the ponies, and he's awaiting his senior year of high school. But it turns out his father has other plans for him. He'd like Marcelo to work in his law office in Boston, to join the "real world" for the summer, and as long as Marcelo cooperates, he can choose if he wishes to attend Paterson for his senior year, or go to public school. Marcelo couldn't be less keen on the idea; the real world baffles him. He's expected to understand everyone's euphemisms and allusions and body language, and get around the city by himself. Working at the law office in the mail room, he meets Jasmine, a beautiful young woman from Vermont, and things look up when a male intern offers something like friendship. But things in the real world are never so simple, and Marcelo finds himself in situations where he's got to make the tough decisions. This is a brilliant, touching, fascinating book. Not to be missed.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney JH KIN
And, to end things on a lighter note, I finally read the most recent DOAWK. Yeah, weird acronym. The latest (mis)adventures of Greg Heffley are covered in Kinney's third book in the series. From his New Year's resolutions -- to help everyone else be a better person, since he's already pretty much perfect -- to failures in team sports, you'll be laughing through this whole book. Personally, it's my second favorite in the series, after the first one. Again, a light read that will make you laugh out loud... a lot.

Hungry for the next one?

Fans of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games won't have to wait quite as long as expected for the sequel. Catching Fire's publication date has been moved forward to September 1!

Manga review - Emma by Kaoru Mori

Preparing for this week's first ever teen MANGA SHARE tomorrow, I took home a stack of manga to read. In a mere 30 minute train ride, I devoured the first volume in Kaoru Mori's Emma series, and felt myself transported to a different time and place than I ever expected manga would take me. Emma is essentially the manga version of historical fiction, and while the narrative version may have bored me, Emma had quite the opposite effect. You see, Emma is a mere maid in Victorian London, which isn't a desirable fate exactly, but Emma is lucky. Emma is beautiful, and she has all sorts of suitors with way more money than her family ever had.

In the first volume, her main love interest is William Jones, a member of the landed gentry whose father would be crushed to find out his son is actually in love with a maid.

But no good love story comes without complication, or in the case of this volume, a bit of a love triangle. William's friend Hakim Atawari, is visiting from India and staying with the Jones when his gaze falls on Emma. It's anyone's guess who she will end up with, and volume one is just the beginning.

While this may be not the right manga for our Naruto fans, it could definitely interest fans of the popular historical romance series by Anna Godbersen that begins with The Luxe and other readers of shojo (girl) manga.

FYI - Emma manga has a cult following in Japan, and even spawned a maid-themed cafe in Shinjuku (a section of Tokyo).

Book Review - Guardian by Julius Lester

I'll be the first to admit I don't read a lot of historical fiction, but when it sounds compelling and it's only 130 pages, well, I'm there! The esteemed Julius Lester's latest (I say this because this author has written Newbery Honors, won the National Book Award, and much more) offering was at times heartbreaking, infuriating, and painful, but a completely important book. Set in 1946 in a rural southern town, it is the story of a lynching. (FYI, a lynching is when a mob violently punishes someone, outside of the law. Lynchings have been illegal in the United States since 1922.)

Beginning as a quiet tale about a Caucasian boy Ansel and his African-American friend Willie, who hang out outside Ansel's father's stores and ponder their future, Guardian weaves you in and out of other happenings in the town on the same day, a day that will change Ansel's life forever. The laconic start to story filled me with dread, knowing that at any point, the whole tone of the book would change. In one dramatic incident, everything does, and the person least likely to commit the crime is accused and punished before everyone's eyes. Some may turn a blind eye, but nobody tries to change the outcome.

It's painful to read about the past, both through this fictionalized past in this brief novel, and in the appended tables at the end, statistics compiled of lynchings in the United States from 1882 to 1968. Only three states in the continental United States have no recorded lynchings, and Illinois is not among them.

* * * * (four out of five stars)
RIYL: Julius Lester's other books, historical fiction, tales set in the deep South

Book Review - Sister Wife by Shelley Hrdlitschka

Imagine never having used the Internet. If you're female, imagine that you've never worn anything besides long dresses, and that you're very concerned with modesty. Starting to feel like you've stepped into a historical fiction book? Think again. This book is set right now. Confused? Now imagine that you've just turned fifteen, and your husband has been picked out for you. He's in his forties, and already has several wives.

As Celeste approaches her fifteenth birthday, her impending marriage to a man (not a guy her own age, mind you, but a much older man) is constantly on her mind. Celeste lives in Unity, a rural polygamous community. It's all she's ever known, outside of brief trips into town to go shopping with her father. While Unity itself is fictional, the kind of story it tells is real. In the United States and Canada, there are thousands of people living in polygamous communities, just like Celeste.

Celeste knows she has other options, because many teenage guys have left Unity, and there are stories of women who have. But could she leave her family behind, leave behind everything she's ever known?

Sister Wife is a fascinating yet quick read that really considers what it would be like to live in Unity. Told from two other viewpoints in addition to Celeste, Sister Wife allows you, the reader, to step into the mind-frame of Celeste's younger sister Nanette, who can't wait to become a sister wife, and Taviana, an outsider who found an unlikely safe haven in Unity. It offers no easy solutions to Celeste's predicament, and keeps you wondering until the very end about what she will do.

* * * 1/2 stars (out of five)
Read if you: are interested in learning about the hot topic (the subject of today's Oprah!), are curious about other lifestyles, or want an engaging book about a person in a real predicament

Book Review - Kendra by Coe Booth

Have you ever felt like just because your parents made a mistake, you were somehow destined to make the same mistake? That's how Kendra feels, only it's really complicated. Kendra is fourteen, which is the same age her mom was when she had her. The thing is, Kendra is her mom's mistake. She's grown up living with her grandmother while her mom finished high school, college, and now graduate school. Her mom's finally received her PhD and now Kendra's wondering when she's actually going to live with her. In the meantime, Nana's kept a close watch over Kendra, determined not to let her granddaughter repeat her mother's mistake.

But things are complicated. Kendra's never really shared more than a kiss with a guy, but now there are two guys at school that seem interested. There's Darnell, the shy, nice guy who works with Kendra in the stage group... and then there's Nashawn, the hot baseball star her cousin Adonna's crushing on, whose locker is right next to Kendra's.

When Kendra's mom accepts a job teaching in the city, Kendra assumes that she will finally live with her mom. And then her mom get a studio apartment; there's no way she could live there too. Disappointed, enraged, and lonely, Kendra turns to one of these guys, with results that disappoint Nana, but bring her much closer to her mother.

Like Coe Booth's first book Tyrell, winner of the L.A. Times Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction last year, this is a gripping, realistic, and sometimes emotional book with an urban setting.

* * * *
(Four out of five stars)

RIYL: Tyrell, anything by Walter Dean Myers or Paul Volponi, the Kimani Tru series

Book Review - Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Laurie Halse Anderson's Twisted is another gripping, realistic story in the vein of her best-selling Speak. Tyler Miller is a senior in high school, and in his head, he pictures himself as a dog on a leash skittering around on a thinly iced-over pond. This image comes from everyone in his life perpetually telling him that he's "on a short leash" and "on thin ice." But things weren't always that way. Tyler had been your average kind of small, kind of nerdy guy, but over the summer his idea for a prank at the school -- a spray painting incident featuring some poor spelling -- led to him having a parole officer and being the bane of his father's existence. Just before school starts, Tyler accidentally assists in breaking his (and everyone else in his high school's) dream girl's leg, which turns out to be not as bad as it sounds. For example, at school, she (Bethany) now acts like she knows him. And she asks him to meet her at the homecoming game!

But things are never that simple or that easy, as we well know, and with Tyler, the complicating factor is his father. His dad is constantly stressed out about work and generally unhappy, and the fact that his boss is Bethany's dad doesn't make things any easier. (It turns out it is preferred if your son is not involved in your boss's daughter breaking her leg.) The tension between Tyler and his father builds towards a riveting conclusion that really starts to make you think about how much you are beholden to your family.

****
(Four out of five stars)

Recommended to: fans of Laurie Halse Anderson's other books, anyone who's fed up with their parents (this book might make you feel better), anyone in search of a really good guy book

Write... or die!!!

This link is for all those writers out there who really want to write, who sometimes do write, but who can't seem to stop all that procrastinating before writing. You are not alone, you know, and there's a website out there that will kick your procrastinating habits in the butt. It's called Dr. Wicked's Write or Die Writing Lab, and it's a website that makes you set your own goals re: word count and how long you want to give yourself. Once you hit start, it doesn't let you slack off. I tried it out myself to see how it worked. Anytime you stop typing for a few seconds, the background darkens into a deeper red until BEEEP. It beeps at you. And it's kind of creepy and you want it to stop, so you write some more. You can set it to different "grace period" levels, such as forgiving, strict, and evil. I tested the strict mode.

Who knows, maybe it's exactly what you need to keep writing!

Predictions turn into reality

The winner of the Michael L. Printz award for 2009 is:

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Printz Honors go to:

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Volume II, Kingdom on the Waves by M.T. Anderson
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Nation by Terry Pratchett
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

(I was 3 for5 in my predictions--not too shabby. Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book is a pretty big deal as well. It won the Newbery Award!)

Book Review - Forever Princess by Meg Cabot

It's finally here, ::gulp::, the very last Princess Diaries book. Picking up nearly two years after the last one, the final book in the series starts with Mia Thermopolis's (Princess of Genovia's) last day few weeks of school, leading up to the prom. Readers will recall that in book nine, Mia started dating JP, formerly known as the guy who picks the corn out of his cafeteria chili, and became depressed over her break-up with Michael (her best friend's brother, and her boyfriend of more than a year).

A lot has happened in two years, the biggest thing being that Mia has penned a romance novel. She's been getting rejections left and right for her book, having sent it out under a pen name to ensure no one's picking up publishing rights based on her being famous. Meanwhile, she's been accepted to every college she applied to, even though she bombed the math part of the SAT.

But there are bigger crises in Mia's life, largely that she's lying about everything. No one except her family knows she was accepted to all these colleges; she told everyone at school that she only got into the University of Genovia. And she also told everyone that her senior project was on the history of Genovian olive oil pressing, circa 1254-1650 -- not a romance novel! The biggest lie she's told, it turns out, is one she told herself. If she really loved JP, how could she be losing sleep over Michael's reappearance. If she really loved JP, then why does the smell of Michael's neck send her into a tizzy?

The final book will surely please Princess Diaries fans. It has some twists and turns I didn't see coming, plus those laugh-out-loud moments you've grown so used to having Mia Thermopolis provide.

* * * *
Four stars

Recommended to: the vast Meg Cabot and Princess Diaries fanbase

Printz buzz...

We're just two days away from the announcement of the Michael L. Printz award winner and honor books for 2009. To be eligible, the books must have been published in 2008. Clearly, this is exciting for some people. Imagine being woken up at the crack of dawn to find out that your book won one of the biggest awards for teen literature! It's almost as exciting as getting that phone call the morning the Oscar nominations are released and finding out you're nominated. This is also, of course, exciting for librarians but especially readers. I maybe dreamed last night about my short-list for who I thought would win the Printz award.... and maybe I shouldn't have shared that.

Anyway, there is one winner and up to four honor books (non-fiction is eligible too). Here's who I think has a really good chance of winning (i.e. my predictions). In recent years, the Printz committees have gotten pretty darn excited over Australian and British authors. (Unlike the Newbury award, for children's fiction, you don't have to be an American to win the Printz.) Last year's winner The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean came as a pretty big surprise to, well, everyone. So, I'm trying to think of what would be unexpected in preparing my predictions. Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan has a good shot - it's below the radar popularity-wise, but has been getting tons of critical acclaim. The London Eye Mystery, a posthumous release by Siobhan Dowd, came out earlier this year. It's on the younger end of the age spectrum, but it's definitely one that could make it as an Honor. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman was very well-received, and Neil Gaiman's due for a big award. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins made a lot of short lists, but some people don't think it is original enough -- it was certainly hugely popular. The first part of Octavian Nothing was a Printz honor a few years ago when I attended the awards ceremony, and the second volume has been met with resounding acclaim. Can M.T. Anderson do it again? Could he take home the big kahuna? Then there's the books that were nominated for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Last year, there were no overlaps between the award, but I've got a hunch there could be this year. I was not the only one uber-impressed with E. Lockhart's The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and think E. Lockhart could definitely be getting that early morning phone call. Then there's John Green, whose only two books have been Printz winners and honors. Talk about a winning streak. His third book Paper Towns was also met with acclaim, but some didn't think it was as strong as his earlier books. Could he be in the mix? And Cory Doctorow had a huge hit this summer with Little Brother, a prescient sci-fi/nerd read that got a lot of people talking. But some didn't think it was well-written enough (I disagree!). Then there's Terry Pratchett's latest offering Nation that's been popping up on best of 2008 lists. GAAAAH! So many books to choose from. Who will the Printz committee choose?!?!

Alas. My predictions:

Winner:

Margo Lanagan, Tender Morsels


Honor books:

M.T. Anderson, Octavian Nothing: Volume 2, Kingdom on the Waves
Cory Doctorow, Little Brother
E. Lockhart, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
Terry Pratchett, Nation

Check back here on Monday for an announcement of the winners, or tune into the live broadcast of the winners at 7:45 AM Mountain Time, 8:45 AM Central Time.

Got a prediction? Share it in the comment section!

Book Review - The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

This is kind of embarrassing for this librarian to admit, but this was her first time reading anything by Neil Gaiman. He's most well known for his landmark graphic novel series The Sandman and his book Coraline has been made into a feature film that should be out very soon. The Graveyard Book has been getting accolades all over the place, so I figured I'd better check it out. The story behind the book is that Neil Gaiman wrote one of the chapters as a short story, and his daughter liked it so much and wanted to learn more about what happened before and after that he wrote the whole book.

***

A baby is alone in his room. The man Jack enters his house, killing both parents and his sister. The baby slips out, walks down the street alone, and into a graveyard, peopled by the dead from a year ago to hundreds of years ago. The people of the graveyard take in the baby, name him Nobody -- Bod for short -- and raise him. But as Nobody gets older, he starts wanting to venture outside the bounds of the graveyard. He's the only living person he interacts with on a daily basis, and he's curious. But the man Jack is still out there, and he's still looking for Bod...

The Graveyard Book is a spellbinding story, beautifully illustrated (illustrations at the beginning of each chapter) by Dave McKean, and filled with endearing characters of all ages, both dead and alive. Neil Gaiman fans have probably already read this one, but it's never too late to become a Neil Gaiman fan, as I learned reading this book.

**** 1/2
(Four and a half stars)

Recommended for: Neil Gaiman fans, those who like to read about the undead, readers of all ages looking for a fantastic, gripping, at times action-filled story

Here's the trailer for the book (Neil Gaiman is the speaker):

Book Review - "someday this pain will be useful to you" by Peter Cameron

It's hard to talk about James Sveck (the main character in someday this pain will be useful to you without comparing him to Holden Caulfield, the original intelligent, quippy, observant, but most markedly disillusioned and angsty teenager. Phew! Okay, now that that's out of the way, I have to say that this books really impressed me. I wasn't surprised to find out that Peter Cameron has written several acclaimed adult books -- the writing is really outstanding -- but I was surprised by how spot-on he captured New York and New Yorkers. Having known a lot of New Yorkers, I felt like I knew James. The thing is, on the outside James' life is not hard. He's just graduated from Stuyvesant, practically the best public school in the United States, and he's headed off to Brown in the fall. But on the inside, well, the real problem for James is that he's all stuck in his inside. He's a loner and he's been trying to surround himself with all these arguments for why he needs to be a loner, why it's actually a good thing. He thinks the purity of a thought is gone the moment you try to put it into words and share it with someone else, which is to say, he likes to keep his thoughts to himself. So, you have to wonder, how is a character like James going to lead you through an interesting story, given that he's a loner and he keeps his mouth shut a lot?

Well, here's how. Something happened to James when he went to a high school civics retreat in D.C. This event is alluded to in every way possible before you (the reader) finally find out what happens, in one of James's therapy sessions. It makes you reconsider James, this quietly cocky upper-class New Yorker, and see him for what he really is. I don't want to tell you what's really going on with James, but I will admit this. I read the book in one day, really two sit-down intense reading sessions. This is a book that will make you chuckle, but it will also make you think, think and empathize, and try to understand someone who may be very different from you, or maybe not.

* * * * *
Five stars
Recommended for: high-schoolers who like John Green's books, especially those headed off for college, readers looking for a quiet, thoughtful story that's also on the brief side at just over 200 pages

New contest for teen writers

Regardless of whether you're already a fan of author Sonya Sones, if you're a writer (especially of poetry), you should check out this unique contest she's running.


Gotham Writers' Workshop has teamed with Sonya Sones, Simon & Schuster, and Teen Ink to offer the What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know Writing Contest.

Here's what you have to do to enter:

1. Read What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones.
2. When you get to the last poem, write a continuation of the story, but write this part of the saga from Sophie's point of view (sort of a What My Boyfriend Doesn't Know). Tell us what happens next. Keep it short, but sweet - no more than ten pages of 1,000 words. And make sure to write it in the same style as What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know, in a series of poems.
3. If you’re looking for some writing tips that might help you win the contest; check out the Writers Only page on Sonya’s website!

The prize:

A free six-week online writing class from Gotham Writers' Workshop and Teen Ink. Sonya Sones will also post the winning entry on her website. Ten runners-up will receive a year's subscription to Teen Ink. The winner and the runners-up will also recieve a personalized copy of What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know signed by the author.

You can enter the contest online, so click here.

Good luck!

Book Review - Bliss by Lauren Myracle

You know what name you really wouldn't want to have? Bliss In The Morning Dew. Yeah, that's one heck of a hippie name, but then again Bliss, the title character of Lauren Myracle's newest book Bliss, did spend most of her life on a commune. It's the late 1960s, but Atlanta's no San Francisco, so Bliss is completely out of place when her parents send her to live with her Grandma and begin school at an uppity prep school. It doesn't help that on her first day at aforementioned new school, Bliss hears voices in her head. Is it the voice of a girl, Liliana, that fell to her death at the school, years ago?

Bliss is different than the other Myracle books you're used to - ttyl, ttfn, etc. - but that's not a bad thing. This thriller definitely treads on the creepy at times, particularly as Bliss befriends school loser Sandy, and visits an elderly woman in a nursing home who was close to Liliana. Fast-paced and intriguing, this is one that will be hard to put down. Those interested in learning more about counter-culture and how the culture clashes of the 1960s were experienced in the Deep South should also check it out!

* * * 1/2
(Three and a half stars)
Recommended to: fans of Lauren Myracle, those who can rabidly consume a good thriller, history buffs