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!