A True Reality

Book Review: Honey

2014-03-07T17:16:00.000-06:00

How far would you go for the perfect body? What if there was a miracle drug that let you achieve rapid weight loss without exercise or dietary changes? People taking it are happier than ever...but the drug is harvested from unsuspecting endurance athletes whose lives are shattered as a result.

The plot of Honey is told through a courthouse setting with the details emerging in trial-like fashion. I was intrigued by the moral and ethical dilemma presented, as well as the concept of a miracle drug that lets ordinary people become extraordinary athletes. A thriller, mystery, and science fiction all rolled into one, Honey kept me interested from beginning to end. I can see Honey appealing to a broad audience - young and old, male and female. I look forward to reading more stories from Daniel Erwin.

**Full Disclosure: My brother-in-law wrote the book, my sister is on the cover, and I just re-used the review that I posted on Amazon. That being said, I honestly think this is a terrific read that would appeal to the young adult crowd. Plus, it is only $2.99 in the Kindle store!**

All Good Children

2013-01-29T20:47:00.002-06:00

Title: All Good Children

Author: Catherine Austen

Rating: B+/A-

Set in a dystopian future (can you imagine anything else from a YA novel?), All Good Children follows the story of a teenage boy named Alex. At first, he enjoys a relatively privileged lifestyle among the country's wealthiest residents; however, everything changes when the government starts injecting students with a mind-controlling serum that changes the entire student body to well-behaved "zombies". Fortunately, Max and his friend are able to escape the injections - thanks to some help from Max's mother (who is a nurse.) Now, Max and his family must hide among the zombies while formulating an escape from the watchful eye of Big Brother.

The Good: Although this book is difficult to get into (I really have to force myself to read the first 100 pages!), the second half more than made up for the slow start. I found this to be an interesting story - and it's nice to see a YA author that can actually tell a story in one single volume!

The Bad: As I mentioned above, the only real negative aspect of this book was the slow start. I also found the references to 1984 and "pod people" a little too obvious. However, overall, this was a very enjoyable novel.

Beta

2012-12-12T17:34:00.002-06:00

Title: Beta

Author: Rachel Cohn

Rating: B+

Set in the future on idyllic island for the world's wealthiest people, Beta centers around a newly "born" clone, who is the first in a new class of "beta" teen clones. Due to the relaxing nature of the island's atmosphere, human workers are deemed inappropriate for servitude; fortunately, science have solved the problem by creating a race of working clones from the bodies of the recently deceased. Elysia, the newly "born" teen, is an attempt to perfect the teenage model - something that has given scientists trouble in the past (apparently puberty does not agree with the cloning process.)

Elysia is purchased by a wealthy family to serve as a plaything for a bored mother and her children. However, problems start to occur when Elysia realizes she still has memories of her "first" life, before the cloning processes. She must now guard this secret to prevent from being destroy as a "Defect" clone. She soon discovers that she is not the sole "Defect", but that there are many more out there campaigning for clone rights. In the middle of all this, Elysia develops two romances: one with another clone, and one with her "first's" true love.

The Good: The story is a fast-paced, easy read that kept my attention from beginning to end. Although I'm not usually a big fan of series books that aren't read as stand-alones, this is actually a fairly good start to a series. The dramatic plot twist at the end definitely left me wanting book #2.

The Bad: I really only have one "major" complain (and one minor issue.) First, I didn't really like the amount of drug usage in the book. At first it seems a little gratuitous, but I'm hoping it somehow serves a point in the plot of book #2. As for the minor complaint, I didn't care for some aspects of the "clones." Apparently, clones are basically robots that have been programmed with a very specific set of instructions. I might be dating myself (and proving myself to be a big ol' nerd) with this reference, but the clone's speech reminded me a lot of Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Their inability to understand humor or slang became annoy after the first couple chapters.

What I've Been Reading

2012-07-20T15:12:00.000-05:00

I've been reading like crazy this summer, so I thought I'd mention a few of my favorite titles so far:

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
Part fantasy, part historical fiction, this book tells the story of Ismae Rienne who escapes from an abusive marriage by joining the convent of St. Mortain in 15th century Brittany. There she becomes a handmaiden of Death and trains in the arts of fighting, poisons, and seduction. She is assigned an important task in the royal court, and there she becomes involved in danger, political intrigue and double-crossing, and of course, romance. I LOVED this book. Probably my favorite of the summer so far.

Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas
This is actually somewhat similar to Grave Mercy in that the main character ends up involved in the political machinations of the castle where she's staying. Celaena Sardothien is the kingdom's deadliest assassin, and in order to win her freedom from hard labor, she trains in the palace for a royal competition (if she wins, she wins her freedom). There's a paranormal element, secrets, murders, and a yummy love triangle (will she end up with the prince or the captain of the guards?). So good, but now I'm regretting that I read the ARC because I'm dying for the second book and the first hasn't even come out yet.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Orphan Alina Starkov is a cartographer in the King's Army. She is going across the dangerous Shadow Fold with the rest of the army when she is attacked by the viscous winged creatures who live there. A burst of bright light comes from Alina, and she soon discovers that she is a Grisha, one of the elite members of the Second Army who practice magic at the behest of the Darkling. Since she is a rare Sun Summoner, she is taken under the protection and guidance of the Darkling to help to finally destroy the Shadow Fold. But there are many plot twists ahead! I read it in one day.

Partials by Dan Wells
The Partials were engineered to be like humans but more indestructible so that they could fight wars in humans' stead. Naturally, that didn't go too well, and now there are only a few thousand human survivors living on Long Island. Cut off from the rest of the world, they know only that these never-aging Partials are out there surrounding them and are now their enemies. The Partials also involuntarily released a virus, RM, which kills all human babies. So the remaining humans are aging and can't reproduce. The protagonist, 16 year-old Kira, is determined to find a cure for RM, even if it means illegally leaving the security of Long Island to bring back a Partial for study. I read this one because three of my students told me how much they liked it when they turned it in. I don't know if I liked it as much as they did, but I did quite like it.

The Selection by Kiera Cass
Set in a future where the U.S. is now ruled by royalty and divided strictly by class lines, America Singer is selected from her district to compete in a high stakes reality show - the winner will win marriage to the hunky Prince Maxon. Kind of a futuristic, YA "The Bachelor." I enjoyed it quite a bit, although she better end up with Maxon! I really liked America and Maxon together, but maybe I would have also liked the book if we didn't know who to root for, if we liked and knew about several of the candidates (ie. we didn't just get America's viewpoint).

A few older titles I just got around to reading and really enjoyed: Blood Red Road by Moira Young (can hardly wait for the second book!), Legend by Marie Lu (thank goodness I didn't read it when it came out because I'm already overly anxious to read the next book, which isn't out until the end of January), and The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han (The girls all LOVE this book, and I can totally see why - at least as good as anything by Sarah Dessen, if not better. That's saying a lot.).

Zombie Kid Diaries: Playing Dead

2012-07-20T14:29:00.001-05:00

Zombie Kid Diaries: Playing Dead by Fred Perry and David Hutchison isn't my usual reading fare. It's more middle grade oriented, and it's heavily illustrated. It's about wimpy middle schooler Bill Stokes who suffers from normal middle school insecurities and bullying. To add to those issues, Bill's mom one day feeds him something for breakfast that, he eventually figures out, is slowly turning him into a zombie. He has terrible BO (from his rotting zombie flesh), pussy pimples, and a taste for rotten meat. You might think becoming a zombie would help him in his battle against the school bullies, but you have to remember that zombies don't exactly run very fast. His best weapon might be his terrible odor. Oh, and he's trying to win a local video game tournament.

It's rather hard for me to give an opinion on this book because I know I'm not the target audience. I found it kind of dull and gross, but I'm not a middle schooler. The gross descriptions and pictures of "zombie zits" would probably appeal more to them than they did to me. I imagine with the popularity of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and zombies, it would be popular with the middle school crowd. The sequel, Zombie Kid Diaries: Grossery Games, comes out at the end of the month.

The Death Cure

2012-03-30T07:47:00.003-06:00

Title: The Death Cure
Author: James Dashner
Rating: D

Although I was somewhat disappointed with the first book (The Maze Runner) in this series, I was pleasantly surprised by the second book (The Scorch Trials) and had hoped that this series would end on a high-note. Sadly, this book failed to meet those expectations.

After the first two books' long drawn-out series of adventures with few explanations for the mysteries surrounding the Maze, the Flare, WICKED (the list of unanswered questions in the series could continue for quite some time), I was hoping this last book would magically take all these random puzzle pieces and create some amazing unforeseen conclusion. Instead, the novel wandered aimlessly while neither answering the questions raised in the previous books nor creating a solid conclusion to the story-line.

The basic plot is that a portion of the "maze" group from WICKED's research project managed to escape and return to the outside world (to Denver of all places.) The remainder of the book is largely a back and forth asking, "Is WICKED good or evil?" Although the teens (or subjects as WICKED would call them) never really learn the true answer to that question, they eventually have to pick a side during the final battle between WICKED and a resistance group.

The Good: Perhaps the best part of the book is the fact that it finally ends The Maze Runner series (I really wish I had just stood with my original decision not to read the last two books - dang you Overdrive for your limited collection of YA downloads!) The book does at least answer a few of the questions from the first books (though surprisingly most of the real questions weren't even answered until the epilogue, and only then with merely sentence or two in passing...)

The Bad: While I have obviously not been a huge fan of this series, the first two books were at least fairly well-written, fast-paced adventure stories; this book was all the more disappointing in the fact that is lacked both the pacing and organization. (At the halfway point, I was really asking myself, "Isn't something more going to happen in this book?") This book failed to address many of the questions raised throughout the series, while only providing a quick (and seemingly poorly thought-out) ending to the overall storyline.

The Scorch Trials

2012-02-24T21:53:00.003-06:00

Title: The Scorch Trials
Author: James Dashner
Rating: B

When I first read started this series a couple years ago, I was so disappointed with the first book that I swore I wasn't going to read the rest of the series. However, with my lack of reading options, I got desperate and decided to give Dashner another chance.

Fortunately, I did enjoy the second book in this series. The series continues right were the last book left off (which is not surprising since the last book had a little in the way of conclusion.) For the second book, the children of the maze find themselves forced to face another mysterious challenge designed by WICKED. Set in the future, the world has been ravaged by two different disasters: first, a massive sun flare radically changed the climate of Earth (making the the majority of a the planet uninhabitable.) Then, to make matters worse, a new deadly disease, which causes people to lose their humanity and go crazy, breaks out.

For the second trial, the children are released into the quarantine zone for the infected people and given just two weeks to fight their way across to safety. As with the first book, there are many questions posed about the mysteriousness of WICKED and these trails; however, Dashner again offered very few answers. In addition to the workings of the trial, Thomas (the main character) now finds himself in a love triangle with Teresa (from the first book) and Brenda, an infected girl who helps them cross the quarantine zone.

The Good: The book is a fast-paced read and generally an enjoyable read. It definitely has several key elements that all YA books seem to require nowadays (a dystopian society, a love triangle...the only thing missing is a little wizardry!)

The Bad: Again, I really wish that these books would function more as stand alone novels. I don't like how the storyline seems to run continuous throughout the three novels with very little division. I think this would have been a perfect single novel, but as three separate works it just annoys me.

Juxtaposition

2011-11-27T12:50:00.002-06:00

Herman Cain's message to Americans: "We need a leader, not a reader."

Barack Obama's choice of where to shop on "Small Business Saturday": a bookstore. And might I personally commend his choice of books, including The Invention of Hugo Cabret, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia?

(On a side note, can you imagine if you had to factor into your choice of books that it was going to be published (and cared about) by news outlets around the world? Would probably make me choose a little differently, kind of the way some people fudge their Nielsen rating reports with more PBS and Discovery Channel shows than is probably strictly accurate.)

All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

2011-09-24T09:19:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted in forever. (1) I was in Poland most of the summer. (2) This has been the craziest busy year yet. (3) I haven't really read anything that inspires me to post anything.

But . . .

I just finished Gabrielle Zevin's All These Things I've Done and it has inspired me to do a post. Anya Balanchine is living in New York City in 2083. This is a NYC that is different from the NYC we know today, but it is also extremely familiar and recognizable. The streets and the major places are all there, but water and other natural resources (like energy and paper) are scarce. Places like Central Park and The Met are still around, but the park is completely denuded and ugly, and The Met is a ramshackle building converted into a nightclub. People deal with rolling blackouts and rampant corruption. Also, chocolate is illegal; the caffeine is a drug.

Anya's family is a leader in the black market chocolate business. Her mother and father are both dead before the story begins due to their mob involvement, so Anya (a junior in high school) tries to keep a low profile. Her older brother Leo is mentally child-like due to the car crash that killed their mother, so Anya is pretty much in charge of taking care of herself, Leo, and their younger sister Nattie. In the course of the story, Anya finds it harder and harder to keep a low profile and out of the family business as her cousin recruits Leo to work at the family headquarters and Anya falls for the new boy at school, Win, who is the son of the assistant DA (who has aspirations to run for DA and "clean up" the city).

If the story were set in present-day NYC, it would still be a good story, but the future setting that is different but not completely "futuristic" to the present really makes the story for me. The idea of chocolate as the forbidden substance is intriguing. I love all the references to places in New York that have been repurposed or changed because of the scarcity issues (wait til you read about the Statue of Liberty!). I really liked all the subtle ways Zevin referenced the ways that people had to deal with scarcity. For example, when Anya has a terrible day at school, she uses her last quarter to splash water on her face. People have to carry change around to get water. The setting was just really well-done and turned a good star-crossed lover story into something much more intriguing. Plus, it's not just a romance story. Anya is a very tough and complex girl who has a lot to deal with and issues way beyond what most teenagers would or should ever have to face. Not to mention she never knows just who she can trust.

Be sure to take the jacket off the book so you can see how the cover looks like a bar of Ballantine Special Dark chocolate!

Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels

2011-03-30T18:30:00.006-06:00

This book of poems by Kevin Young tells the story of the Amistad slave rebellion in 1839 and the subsequent trial in the U.S. There are several poetic forms in the voice of various real historical figures associated with the event, along with Bible verses and excerpts from primary sources. It is amazing.

But it's not a YA book. I say this for two reasons. First, it's pretty challenging. I can't think of any students I know right now who would read it without being required to. Second, there is one poem that has a lot of cussing. It's only one poem in the entire book, and normally I would barely notice and would certainly not bother to mention it, but I read this book for our district's "literature committee." I was hoping to do the involved paperwork to get it approved for use in our high school English classes. But with that one poem, I know it won't get approved. *Sigh* Well, I am certainly going to be recommending it to our English teachers at every possible opportunity so they can use excerpts.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

2011-03-30T18:13:00.006-06:00

Rhine lives in a future U.S. wherein the course of genetic engineering has brought about a virus that kills males at the age of 25 and females at the age of 20. When the story begins, sixteen year-old Rhine is abducted from New York and taken to a mansion in Florida with two other girls (Jenna, 18, and Cecily, 13). Although they are captives who find out they are to be married to 21 year-old "Governor Linden," they are actually somewhat lucky because many of the other girls who were initially rounded up with them were all executed.

The girls are treated relatively well in one sense. They have young indentured servants who wait on them, they live in a luxurious mansion, and though they have no freedom and only limited privacy, they are not otherwise maltreated. Linden's father, it turns out, masterminds the entire house operation and controls and manipulates Linden. Linden is actually quite kind and believes the girls were all "rescued" from an orphanage. Despite Rhine's growing understanding and affections for Linden, she still despises his father, resents Linden because she misses her twin brother and her freedom, and she has developed feelings for one of the servants, Gabriel.

The plot essentially follows the development of these characters in the house, trying to figure out exactly what "mad scientist" things Linden's father is doing in the basement in pursuit of a cure, and wondering if and how Rhine will escape. It reminded me quite a bit of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Although I liked the writing quite a lot and was very interested, I felt let down by the ending. It was just anti-climactic for me. Also, I kept having questions about the genesis and maintenance of the weird multiple-marriages arrangements that seem to be common but not the only types of marriages (but all of those do require enforcement?). I don't know, that whole situation just never really got explained in a way that fully made sense to me.

The cover is gorgeous. I didn't really get the "chemical garden" aspect of the novel, but maybe that's to be revealed in later books.

"Asians in the Library"

2011-03-22T17:11:00.004-06:00

If you haven't heard about or followed the incident involving the UCLA student who posted a racially offensive You Tube video blog post entitled "Asians in the Library," you can read a bit about it here on the Hunnfington Post. She's certainly not the only one to find it rude and/or distracting for people to talk on their cell phones in the library. It's quite unfortunate that she brought the racially offensive remarks into it. Of course, there is the library element to the story in that it started with her comments about library etiquette, but this is also an example of where it's important for students to learn and think about the long-term and quite weighty consequences of what they post on the internet.

Lots of hilarious and interesting response videos on You Tube.

My Great Plan Has Potential

2011-03-19T13:09:00.004-06:00

Do you remember back when I had time and actually posted on this blog and I had My Great Plan? The one where Mari Mancusi and Liz Maverick wear costumes to TLA and then Judy Blume comments here on how it's totally inappropriate? Well guess what: Mari Mancussi is going to be at TLA this year. It's only been four years, but now she finally has the opportunity to pull out the scandalous clothes and diminsh the respectability of YA authors everywhere (hey, she should take this opportunity to go shopping and buy some NEW scandalous clothes! I know I would.). I'll be there with students (covering their eyes, of course). But mine will be wide open, just waiting for scandal to erupt! I'm also hoping a swan hat will be involved.

Saving Nikki by Joyce Pierce

2011-03-19T08:22:00.005-06:00

It has been a few months since we have done a book review here on ATR. Cody is off teaching English in Korea, Sheryl is busy building her dream house, and I have been caught up in preparing my students for their state mandated tests. However, I recently read a book that I enjoyed so much that I felt it warranted a review on our poor, neglected blog.

Saving Nikki by Joyce Mosley Pierce is story of a young girl with a troubled life. Abandoned by her mother, ignored by her father, and treated cruelly by her stepmother, Nikki is just looking for someone to love her. She meets the seemingly perfect guy whom she hopes will give her the love and attention she so desperately craves.

This book hooked me with the first chapter. Nikki is a likable character and the I was really rooting for her. It is a quick read and I stayed interested the entire time. The story is all about choices and the consequences of those choices...something I think many teenagers would benefit from reading!

Full disclosure: I do know the author personally (and I think she is fabulous), but that only prompted me to read the book. I enjoyed it fully on its own merits!

What I Read Over Winter Break or Why the Kindle is so Awesome

2011-01-05T08:40:00.004-06:00

Usually, I really miss my old job at the public library, but getting two and half weeks off for Christmas reminds me that being a teacher has its perks! I did a lot of reading on my Kindle this break, mostly Amanda Hocking's stuff. I read both books in the Trylle trilogy (eagerly awaiting the third and final installment on January 15th) and four books from the My Blood Approves series. I really enjoy Amanda Hocking's writing style and the price can't be beat. Although my husband did question all those $2.99 charges from Amazon. Side Note: Torn (Trylle Trilogy #2) had so many typos in the Kindle version. It drove the English major in me nuts!

I also read Lauren Kate's Fallen, but was so disappointed it in that I didn't bother reading the sequel. I really like her book covers, though.

One thing I love about the Kindle is that the prices for young adult books are so reasonable. I wish the adult fiction prices were as low. I just can't bring myself to pay more than $5.00 for a book that I can get from my library for free.

Switched (Trylle Trilogy#1)

2010-12-07T15:00:00.005-06:00

I received a Kindle for my birthday this past weekend. I love being able to fit so many books in my purse. My husband loves that he doesn't have to deal with all my books sliding off the dash during road trips. However, as a former librarian, I don't love having to pay for books. So, I have mostly been downloading the free or very cheap books off Amazon. One book in particular caught my eye. Switched by Amanda Hocking. It had a lot of great reviews and I couldn't beat the price (.99). I am so glad I purchased it!

Switched is the first book in the Trylle Trilogy. Trylle are trolls...which is what the book is about. The Trylle take their children and switch them out with human children at birth. Then, when their powers began to develop, they bring them back home to their little Trylle community. When I think of trolls, I think of ugly, squatty things, but in this series, the Trylle are beautiful if not a little cold. Switched has a lot of action, suspense, and even romance (including one hot and heavy make-out scene). I found the story to be completely fascinating and I was really surprised that our public library system does not carry any of Amanda Hocking's books. Which means I now have to pay for the second part in the series and it isn't as cheap! I also plan on downloading Ms. Hocking's other series, My Blood Approves, even though I am getting a little burnt out on vampires. If the writing is as entertaining as Switched, then I am sure it will be worth it!

High School Library Changed Into Coffee Shop

2010-11-26T09:24:00.004-06:00

My friend sent me this article about a Houston high school that changed its library into a student-run coffee shop. The print books were removed and replaced with ebooks, 35 laptops, and the coffee shop.

Of course, I'm appalled that there are no more print books. I seriously doubt they have e-manga for students to read. Maybe some e-YA fiction, but I'm not sure. I think ebooks actually make a lot of sense for research, but I'm not sure we're at a point where we can provide all pleasure reading in electronic format. I know my library isn't anywhere near that point, even if we bought tons of ebook readers to circulate. Certainly without that, very few students would be accessing ebooks for pleasure through the library. Yeah, I have a few who do (either through the library or on their own), but not many. I also think about a lot of our really cool books that circulate that aren't available in electronic format. It makes my librarian heart ache to think that these books aren't/wouldn't be available to students. We're also fooling ourselves if we think there is anything resembling equitable computer/internet access for students.

On the other hand, I think a lot about this coffee shop project is cool. It probably will bring in students who wouldn't use a "library." If this is the "library," then it could change the meaning (possibly in a positive way) of making "lifelong library users." If students do access ebooks and databases from laptops, it could help them think of doing the same later in life (or even now) when they're at, say, Starbucks. I wouldn't mind that at all. (Of course, if they go to a traditional library, they'll have to figure out things like navigating the catalog and using print books.) Lamar High School is a HISD magnet program for business, so having students run the coffee shop seems like a great idea. It will probably give them a lot of ownership and they'll probably have great ideas for what to do with it.

I don't know if this is a great reconceptualization of "the library" that will help it to survive and thrive or a sign that the library isn't valued and is on its way to obsolescence.

Article from The Houston Press here

Play Dead Movie

2010-11-01T19:38:00.002-06:00

According to Variety, Ryan Brown's Play Dead is going to be adapted for a movie. One of my students picked up the novel today and was going to check it out, but then when he was holding it at the circulation desk, he turned it over. When he saw the picture of Ryan Brown on the back, he decided not to check it out just because, according to him, "he [Brown] looks like his name should be Chaz."

The Story Behind the Photo

2010-10-31T11:11:00.003-06:00

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had an article entitled "Does Her Face Foretell Her Fate." The article explains that this photo ("Lucille Burroughs, Daughter of a Cotton Sharecropper. Hale County, Alabama") is one of 95 portraits chosen for the NYPL's photographic exhibition "Recollection." I found the article really interesting for many reasons, but (a) I'm actually surprised that in talking about the photo's power and history, no one mentioned that it graces the cover of Karen Hesse's Newberry Award-winning Out of the Dust, and (b) I never really thought about the photo as historic. I guess I never gave it that much thought at all, but I certainly never realized it was part of an effort to document the Dust Bowl in photographs.

I think it would be interesting to have students talk or write about the photo and to hypothesize about things like where she lives, what her name is, who took the picture, why they took the picture, and what became of the girl when she grew up. Then they could compare their hypotheses to the actual Lucille Burroughs in the picture.

Bitter Melon

2010-10-23T16:46:00.002-05:00

I came across a mention of the upcoming book Bitter Melon by Cara Chow. I need to read this! The main character competes in speech, and I read that Chow also had a positive experience with her speech coach in high school. I myself was in forensics and was a speech coach before becoming a librarian, so this is right up my alley. I'm not Chinese like the main character, but my high school debate partner is. Wonder if I can get my hands on an ARC somehow...

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

2010-10-19T21:39:00.003-05:00

The cover attracted me to this book, and the description sounded promising, both scary and with the potential for some romance. Even though it wasn't particularly scary, I wasn't at all disappointed.

Mackie is a teen boy who has always known that he is a "replacement." When the "real" Malcolm was four years old, he was taken by a shadowy figure in the middle of the night and replaced with Mackie (similar but not quite the same as the original). His origin isn't quite known, but Mackie does know he is allergic to iron and metal. His pastor father has always impressed upon Mackie the importance of blending in and not drawing attention to himself (the whole family knows Mackie is a replacement, though). Even though the town seems to know strange things like baby abductions and deaths happen, they don't seem to want to acknowledge it. This state of affairs can't last at the point when the book's narration starts, however, because (a) Mackie is getting sicker, (b) he is confronted with other other-worldy beings who want to claim him, and (c) another baby dies. There is a lot of suspense, but I wouldn't say it's as creepy as the cover might lead one (ie. me) to believe. And there was a bit of romance, which I liked. Over all, I'd say it's certainly worth purchasing and reading. It is similar enough to other paranormal YA books that it will have an audience, but it's different enough to be worth reading and will likely hold the reader's attention.

National Books Awards

2010-10-14T18:08:00.001-05:00

Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker was nominated for a National Book Award. Yay! I loved it.

トワイライト

2010-10-04T05:08:00.005-05:00

In an effort to embarrass myself in as many international bookstores as possible, I decided to hunt down and photograph the Twilight series last week when I was in Japan. (I can't even express how difficult it is to locate a specific book when you don't speak the language or even understand the script!) I was actually kinda' surprised at how little was devoted to the Twlight series...it basically on a discount shelf (or at least that's what I'm assuming it was.) In fact, this was the only Western YA book I recognized (but then again they may have had more somewhere I didn't see...)

What was amazing was the fact that almost half the bookstore (and it was a large bookstore) was devoted to Manga. I had hoped to visit one of the Manga museums, but sadly, I didn't have time for that on this visit.

My new favorite author

2010-10-03T14:04:00.002-05:00

I love hearing authors speak, and just when I start to get jaded about hearing them ("oh, ho hum, just another author panel"), I hear someone I've never heard before and love them. LOVE them. Like, I must have them at my school, or I have an author crush on them, or, in this case, I want them as my best friend. I went to the Austin Teen Book Festival yesterday, and there were several great authors I'd never heard before. But one of the authors I was really looking forward to hearing was Susane Colasanti, and she did not disappoint me one little bit. In fact, she was awesome! I think she should be my ABFF. Her books are really popular at my school, and she seemed very cool from her website (I mean, anyone who loves Jon Stewart is smart and fun, right?). She was really funny and entertaining during the panel presentation. She seems like she would be really fun to hang out with.

Gatsby

2010-09-30T18:39:00.002-05:00

Just heard that there's a new The Great Gatsby movie in the works to be directed by Baz Luhrmann. I love remakes like this. I think it's important to update them every few decades or so.