Young Adult

Black Pearls (and The Woman in White)

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Fiction, Kindle, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Black Pearls: A Faerie Strand was an impulse pick up from the YA shelf at the library. Liz and I were waiting for the Prince to find his way to the audio books and while she looked at graphic novels, I looked at the new arrivals. The cover caught my eye first. The faerie tales retold theme sold me.

Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my hopes. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great. But it’s hard to re-tell classic fairy tales in a way that pleases me, I like the originals and expect an awful lot from a fairy tale re-told.

I liked Hansel & Gretel the best. I really disliked Snow White. Rapunzel wasn’t bad. Jack & the Beanstalk pretty much put me to sleep.

Also, while I’m here… I finished The Woman in White on the Kindle. Still love it.

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Foundling: Monster Blood Tattoo

2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I read Foundling (book 1 in the Monster Blood Tattoo series) because book 2 was on the short list for a Cybil. We tried to listen to book 2 on audio without having read book 1 and realized very quickly that this was a bad idea. There are a lot of made up words and a lot of words being used in ways that didn’t make sense. So, we took the audio back to the library and I reserved book 1 in print.

And it wasn’t half bad. Much easier to follow the made up words, monster types, etc… in print. The little glossary and such helped a good bit as well. Now I’ve received book 2 and we’ll figure out what happens to poor Rossamund.

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Some more Cybils

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Poetry, Young Adult /

First, graphic novel Emiko Superstar, by the author of Skim. Loved Emiko, more than I loved Skim. I’m looking forward to Liz reading it. I think she’ll like it. Also hoping there’s an Emiko sequel.

Next, On the Farm, listed in the Cybils under poetry. Errr, well yea it is, I guess. Mostly I really liked the woodcuts and ink (TW did not like them at ALL – she said the animals were creepy.)

After that, How to Heal a Broken Wing – didn’t expect to love it. Loved it. Great story. Great drawings. But, if I had a small child I would be worried that my small child would find it perfectly acceptable to pick up a dead (or injured) pigeon and eww. no. those things are dirty!

Last, but not least, a book I loved and hated. More than Friends, a YA poetry anthology written by a man and a woman, from his perspective and hers. Really interesting and pretty stereotypical – which was what I both loved and hated about it. I can’t decide if my teen girls (or young adult girls) should read it or if I should hope they never see it.

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Savvy

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I think Savvy was maybe mis-categorized in The Cybils. I think it should have simply been a middle grade fiction book because then it might have had a chance to win. Or, probably not but I’d like to think it would.

The writing isn’t exceptional. A good bit of gratuitous use of silly words and descriptors but I get why it’s written that way. It’s a fantastic story. Really excellent. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we all got our “savvy” at 13?

I love, love, love Mibs’ “savvy” (but I do NOT want to have that “savvy” for myself. I’d never be able to spend time with my big kids!) Brilliant. I don’t think there are many children’s authors who’d have taken that direction.

I think Liz will love this one, if I can convince her to read it.

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Jellicoe Road

2 Comments / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Young Adult /

Another good Cybil YA book, Jellicoe Road but there are a couple of problems with it.

First, it’s Australian. And while I like Australian books, the more modern of them can be difficult to wrap my head around. The characters confuse me – they some times seem American and other times seem European and I need them to seem Australian, whatever that means.

Second, it’s a YA problem book, which is enough to make you crazy. And the damn problems are all related to just how stupid adults can be when it comes to raising children.

OK another problem, the confusion of the characters makes for confusion in the book which causes confusion for the reader.

Once I settled into the confusion, got my bearings a little bit – I liked the story, though it was a wee bit predictable. I liked all of the characters from the beginning – except maybe the original five (which makes sense because they are the adults who screwed up the main characters in the story…)

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2 more Cybils

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Young Adult /

I finished Duel! a few days ago but didn’t feel like blogging it by itself. It’s ok but boring. In fact, I cannot figure out how you can make a duel between Burr and Hamilton boring – but after reading this… well it’s possible. Yes indeedy.

And then there was graphic novel Three Shadows. Oy. Liz read this and she really liked it. I had high hopes. And then I read it and OY! She liked this? I mean I get why a 10 year old would like a story about a father who turns into a Golem but… man… this thing was deep. And depressing. And drawn in dark dark colors, not pretty at all. And not really a happy ending, in the sense that 10 year olds generally understand happy endings.

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Two more Cybils

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Fiction, Poetry, Young Adult /

Imaginary Menagerie – wow. The pictures are fabulous. The poetry is a little ho-hum but not bad. What TW and I wonder about is how many small children have had this book read to them and then had nightmares. Hobgoblins and Trolls and the like are scary creatures and both the images and the poetry don’t soften them up any. I’ve never read The Yellow Elephant but I’m reserving it at the library now.

A graphic novel, There’s a Wolf at the Door was not bad – Liz liked it but not as much as Rapunzel’s Revenge or Jellaby. It was a little “young”, a little lightly drawn, and the wolf’s clothes reminded me of the ringmaster at the Flea Circus we saw yesterday. I kept getting distracted by that.

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What I Was

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Fiction, Young Adult /

While I waited for Liz to pick out some graphic novels, I noticed What I Was sitting on the “new” YA fiction shelf. I dropped it into my book bag, sort of expecting it to be a sequel or a prequel to How I Live Now – a book I really liked.

TW started reading it and informed me that this was not a sequel or a prequel or in any way related to that book. Huh. OK. And then, she didn’t say much more about it…

So I picked it up without any real expectations and I was loving it. Super surprised by the “boy” love story.

And then… the end came and… I don’t want to screw this book up for anyone reading this who might be interested in the book… it’s well worth reading, it is. Meg Rosoff is an excellent writer and creates fantastic characters. I should just leave it at that. And if you want to discuss my thoughts (and TW’s as it turns out) about the book, I’m happy to engage via email… because again, I really don’t want to color anyone’s reading of the book.

Just read it and find out for yourself….

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Every Soul a Star

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Feminism, Fiction, Young Adult /

The best thing about good YA and middle grade fiction (and yes I cringe every time I type middle grade) is that it’s so darn easy to read while you are in the middle of work life crazyness.

It took me quite a bit longer to finish Every Soul a Star than it should have because of that work life crazyness, but it was good to collapse into bed or escape to the back of the house for a five minute break with this book.

Nice story. Good adult characters and kid characters. Quick, easy read and I am left wondering how they all managed once they left the campground. A sequel? Eclipse chasing somewhere else, maybe? Nah, probably not.

Good Cybils choice – not sure which book won in this category, probably not this one.

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The Magic Thief

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I sure didn’t expect to finish The Magic Thief last night. The first 10 pages were pretty slow. The next 20 pages weren’t much more of a draw.

But, before I knew it, I only had 50 pages to go. Weird.

It’s not a compelling, page turner type of book. It’s a nice story with likable enough characters, and also hatable enough characters. It’s a super easy read. And quick, obviously since I picked it up late in the evening and finished it at 11pm.

Looking at the Cybils competition here – The Graveyard Book, it’s not better than that but kids may like it more because it’s an easier read. The Cabinet of Wonders, nope it’s not better than that either but again, it’s an easier read.

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