Young Adult

More Cybils

2 Comments / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Fiction, Queer, Young Adult /

Chester’s Back was a bit of a disappointment. I just don’t get that kind of humor and I’m not sure picture age kids get it either. But then again, maybe they do and I’ve just forgotten?

The Savage was too much “book” and not enough “graphic novel”. I see now why Liz could not get into it – particularly after just finishing Rapunzel’s Revenge. Too many white pages full of text and no graphics – too “savage” of a story.

Skim was excellent and I’m glad Liz read two pages and put it down. It’s too old for her. I wish RJ would read graphic novels, I think she’d like the story quite a bit.

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Skinned

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

RJ and I were talking about books one day and for some reason or another she mentioned Skinned. I thought it was a title on the Cybils finalists list so I told her I wanted to read it. She brought me her copy and it was then that I realized it wasn’t on the list at all. So, I didn’t read it. It’s been sitting on my desk for a month.

When I finished the Percheron Saga and had no book waiting for me on the library shelf, I picked it up.

And I hated it.

I read 20 pages, put it down and bugged TW. I picked it up and read 30 more pages. Put it down and ranted about what a horrible book this was.

The next day, I read 20 more pages and wanted to call RJ to ask her why in the hell she liked this book. I read 50 more pages and told TW I did not want my brain cut up into pieces and downloaded so it could be put inside of a machine body. She questioned my decision because she apparently thinks this sounds like a good idea. She. Is. Whacked.

I read 30 more pages and went to bed.

The writing isn’t great. The characters have no redeeming qualities. None. Not one.

I finished it today and it was only in the last 30 pages that I found myself enjoying it – wondering what would happen next to these people I don’t like even a tiny bit.

All of that writing and only the last 30 pages made me glad I read the thing? Ugh. I don’t think I’ll bother with the rest of the series – unless RJ talks me into reading them.

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I Know It’s Over

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Queer, Young Adult /

I think I need to take a break from the Cybil YA books, they’re all going to pale in comparison to Disreputable History etc… Take I Know It’s Over, for example.

Damn good YA relationship book. No pulled punches on the abortion issue and a fairly good job with the gay issue. But, I was bored and I think it’s because I kept thinking “it’s nowhere near as good as Disreputable History….” I bet if I head read it before Disreputable History… I’d be raving about how good this book was.

But I’m not.

So no more Cybils YA for me for awhile. Middle grade fiction and graphic novels, here I come!

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My two favorite Cybils

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

When TW was reading The Disreputable History of Frankie Ladnau-Banks she made it sound like just another coming of age story… turns out, it’s a hell of a lot more than that. It’s not even just another girl dates one boy but likes another, boarding school, coming of age story.

This little book is one of the best pieces of YA I’ve ever read. Ever. But, then again, it speaks to the feminist in me.

I see that my behavior disrupted the smooth running of your patriarchal establishment.

Heh.

I’m buying it. A couple of copies actually. Maybe one of our girls will develop just a little bit more “Frankie Landau-Banks-ness” if they read it.

After I finished DHoFLB, I picked up the middle grade, Diamond Willow written by Helen Frost (whose Printz Honor book, Keesha’s House, I loved.) I was a little worried about it because it’s prose… written in diamond shape…with bolded words that tell another mini story.

I worried for nothing.

I loved this book. Totally different from Keesha’s House.

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Jellaby

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

Jellaby is the graphic novel that Liz picked up rather than finishing Into the Volcano. She finished it pretty quickly and when I asked her about it, she never even mentioned the boy who was a primary character in the book. She talked about the girl and the really scary man (that really scary man was something she mentioned quite a bit, I’m surprised she didn’t dream about him herself!)

Anyway, I read it – and yes indeed, there is a scary man. There’s also a couple of weird kids and a weird purple monster and a dysfunctional mom and bullies at school and wow, that’s a lot of stuff happening in a really short graphic novel that has fewer words than a lot of graphic novels I’ve read.

It’s a busy little book and it ended with a cliffhanger, so now I have to go and get the next Jellaby book for Liz – but not for me, I don’t care enough to read anymore of them and besides, she’ll tell me what happens.

PS. Liz still says Chiggers is the best graphic novel we’ve read this year.

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The Graveyard Book

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

The Graveyard Book is indeed worthy of the Newberry (whatever that means) – it’s excellent. An excellent story, excellently written. It is significantly better than Coraline.

But – I could not persuade any of the kids to read it.

Prince J looked at it and said “interesting, maybe I’ll read it this weekend” – but he didn’t. I wasn’t interested and only said that to appease me.

RJ took the book from TW and said she’d read it – after TW told her she MUST, it was THAT GOOD and after I told her that she had 24 hours to read it because I would want it… she read a couple of chapters, put it down and picked up Dracula instead. She even chose to re-read bits of Breaking Dawn for the 800th time rather than read more of The Graveyard Book.

This, I’m afraid, is one of those books we’ll have to force our kids to read – and they’ll like it well enough, but it won’t be until they’re 25 that they’ll really appreciate the mastery of the story or the characters or the writing. It’s a shame. It’s the best Newberry winner I’ve read in a long time.

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Blood Roses

2009, Books in Bed, Fiction, short stories, Women, Young Adult /

Ah Francesca Lia Block…. Blood Roses was not your best but it wasn’t bad either.

I pulled it from the shelf at the library just because I miss Michelle Belle and also to remind me that I never sent her the books that I swore I had bought for her for Christmas… and then couldn’t find.

Short stories about a bunch of girls. Typical Block ie fantasy, dark thoughts, deep feelings. TW couldn’t finish it, which is not surprising.

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Ironside: A Modern Faery’s Tale

2 Comments / 2009, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I don’t know how we missed the release of Ironside in 2007 but we did. If I hadn’t taken RJ to Barnes & Noble a couple of weeks to spend her Christmas gift card (thanks Mom!) I never would have known she had written another book in the series. I was just sitting there on the floor in the YA section discussing the merits of the various pirate and vampire series’ with RJ and there it was – staring at me from the shelf.

No I did not buy it. I put a note in my iPhone to remind me to reserve it at the library, duh.

And now I’ve ready it.

Wonderful. Ten times better than Valiant and as good as Tithe. Characters from both are in Ironside and they’re brought together perfectly, seamlessly even. Holly Black writes YA dark faery stories fabulously.

Now, a question – if you were a changeling, would you tell YOUR mother?

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Cabinet of Wonders

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

I loved, loved, LOVED The Cabinet of Wonders! I started it last night and could easily have just read it straight through. But, sleep is important to us old folk so I didn’t. As soon as I finished it, I handed it to RJ telling her she must, must MUST read it right this second. I hope she likes it as much as I did.

What great characters – I want Iris’s power, errr curse, errr power, lol. Acid is cool. Petra is fabulous. I want Astrophil. And the marbles… now wouldn’t those come in handy?

Fantastic story – just the right length and pace. Perfect. Good Cybils finalist! Great, even.

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Audrey, Wait!

2 Comments / 2009, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Young Adult /

I didn’t expect to really love Audrey, Wait! but that’s what happened. I think I loved it simply because I’ve survived two teenage girls (with two more to go.) Audrey’s life is like the normal teen girl x10.

I laughed out loud, over and over again, because it was all so totally believable to me. With all of the musicians Michelle-Belle was with, one of them could totally have written a song about her and BAM – instant fame – and instant chaos because teen girls don’t handle stuff well, heck nobody handles fame well without help. And you know what teens are like when it comes to asking parents for help… hahaha.

Will the YA target audience love Audrey, Wait! as much as I did? I have no idea. They’ll probably roll their eyes a lot, debate the merits of the songs included in the heading of each chapter, and head to their favorite band’s fan site and talk trash about the lead singer’s ex-girlfriend or something.

Hah.

Should this be a Cybils finalist? Hmmm, maybe. I’ve certainly read better YA fiction but I’ve also read worse. It’s always good to have solid female characters in YA books. OK yes, I’m good with it being a finalist.

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