YA fiction – Page 2 – Peaceful Reader

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

I’m an even bigger fan of Donnelly’s now that I’ve read this book. I read Revolution (a newer book) first and then heard from many people about the fantastic-ness of A Northern Light, which prompted me to check it out from the library. I finished it last night and sighed and smiled.

It’s 1906 and Mattie Gokey is the oldest daughter in a family of four other girls. Their mother has died recently leaving them all with fresh sadness. Mattie’s been the one in charge of chores, taking care of her siblings while her father runs the farm. Mattie loves words, making her standout as a student when she is able to attend, and she looks up a new word in the dictionary every day. She has two best friends; Weaver, an African American young man who is set on going to Columbia to be a lawyer, and Millie, who left school last year to get married and gives birth to twins.

Mattie has dreams to attend Barnard College and received a scholarship to attend-she just needs money to ride the train, a place to stay and books. When the family mule dies her father needs help financially and agrees to let Mattie work at one of the local hotels. A whole new world opens up to Mattie as she discovers the wealthy lives of the people staying at the hotel and the mystery of a young lady who hands her a stack of letters.

I just can’t tell you any more. You should read all about the mystery yourself. This book has much to say about the beginning of the women’s movement and what it was like for women, like Mattie’s teacher, Miss Wilcox, who chose a life of their own. We take it for granted now; like it’s always been that way, even though it’s only about three generations ago that things began to change. This book blends a love of words with mysteries about her teacher, the young woman at the hotel as well as Mattie’s own dilemma as she sorts out what her own path will be.

Mattie is a wonderful heroine who doesn’t disappoint us in her choices and uses what she comes to understand from her work at the hotel, through her friend, Millie, and her own mother’s decisions as well as her relationship with Royal Loomis and everything he has to offer. This one deserves to be pulled out of the stacks and read.

Awarded in 2004 the ALA’s Michael L. Printz’s Award for Excellence Honor Book-the list. The First Part Last by Angela Johnson took the prize and understandably so.
Jennifer Donnelly’s website

Other thoughts:
Best Books I Have Not Read
Emily at Las Risas
Erin Reads

Maggie Stiefvater's new book, The Scorpio Races

I stumbled across a new blog post by Maggie Stiefvater where she talks all about her new book, The Scorpia Races. I love her creativity and the post describes how she and her sister recorded music/sounds to go with the book and how this book is the closest book to her real self. Read her post on Goodreads.

Oh, and did I mention she’s hosting a giveaway for 3 ARC’s of The Scorpia Races.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Soon after reading Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver I picked up Forman’s If I Stay. I found both books had similar themes of resurrection and death. The most glaring difference, for me, was personalities; Sam Kingston was a follower and her focus was on popularity~she does grow as she tries to fix things in her life.

If I Stay’s main character, Mia was lovable just as she was~she grows as she learns to live without her family. Her life was lovely; she had funky and interested parents, she was a talented cello player and had a funny and supportive best friend. And the boyfriend, Adam, just as lovable as Mia but scruffier.

Synopsis:

Mia chose life in If I Stay and this second book, told through Adam’s perspective, tells us about his journey without her. The band he plays in, Shooting Star, has taken off and he and the band are playing big shows with groupies and fans trailing after them. He always wanted to make it big but it isn’t what he expected at all because now it’s not really about making music and getting their groove on; it’s a show and it’s bigger than them. His band has always been like a family and now they are broken pieces linked but not happily. He is popping pills and smoking cigarettes just to make it through the day.

One night in NYC Adam is out wandering the streets and passes by Carnegie Hall as people are going in for a performance. It just so happens that Mia is playing and he buys a ticket. Through word-of-mouth Mia learns that Adam (he is a major rock star now and recognizable) is in the audience and sends for him at the end. They meet and talk for a few minutes and it doesn’t go well. Adam has all these things he wants to say to her and they just don’t come out. He wants to know why she let him go, why she stopped answering his emails and taking his phone calls. Adam leaves Carnegie in frustration and Mia follows him and tries to talk more. The second half of the book recounts this night together as they argue and slowly come together over what happened when Mia’s family died.

My thoughts:

I liked this one but I missed Mia’s eclectic parents. In the first book you get a real sense of family from them; a coziness and in this one we meet Adam’s parents and while they are both there they are not as interesting as Mia’s were. I loved Adam’s interaction with her family and it added a lot to the characters. Listening to Adam and Mia’s dad talk about music helped us get to know Adam. He wasn’t just a guy playing in a band-he had potential.

We do get to hear all about Shooting Stars rise, crash and rise to fame again after Adam has a writing epiphany. We get to understand why he’s been in crisis and I was a bit bummed his band didn’t understand this more. His story was interesting but it got much more exciting once Mia and he were talking-even if at times I found it frustrating and wanted to talk for them!

Both these books are worthy and I like that it is a two-book set and I haven’t heard anything about another one. I felt the ends were tied up nicely and I could let them go. And they made me weep!

Read my review of Lauren Oliver’s Before i Fall.
Reading Rants reviews Where She Went.

Here’s a trailer but I wanted Adam’s voice to sound different.

Weekend Cooking without the cooking; Food For the Soul

It is blisteringly hot here. We just rode our bikes to the library. It was Groovy Girl’s idea…oh, it was hot, hot, hot especially for a little girl to pedal a bike without gears. We did pick up quite a few tasty nuggets while we were there though so I present to you today a combination Library Loot and Weekend Cooking; a mixed bag of ~~greens~~ books!

Food for the Soul:

1. In The Green Kitchen; Techniques to learn by heart by Alice Waters (2010).

Alice is a food queen, to me! I’ve briefly paged through this handy book and know I’m going to enjoy it. She highlights chefs known for their love of local food and each shares a cooking tip and a recipe. As I open the book at a random page, David Chang is the featured chef , and his tip is “Pickling Vegetables” (81) where he writes about using salt and sugar for quick pickling to serve watermelon, radishes, daikon radishes and cucumbers as appetizers. Right now this sounds like an excellent idea as it doesn’t involve turning on the oven. I may have to request this for my birthday which is just around the corner (Aug. 3rd).

2. Mama Panya’s Pancakes; A Village Tale from Kenya by Mary and Rich Chamberlain; ill. by Julia Cairns (2005).

This is a delightful book from one of my favorite publishing companies, Barefoot Books. Adika and his mother head to the market. As they travel Adika, always one step ahead of his mother, invites all the friends they meet to join them for his mother’s delicious pancakes. He brags and she worries! Mama knows she only has two coins in her pocket to buy flour and a hot pepper. Adika keeps telling his mother it will all work out and as their friend’s arrive for the pancake feast they each have something to share.

The watercolor illustrations are filled with the bold colors of Africa and the end pages have tons of related information including a map of Kenya! I love when a book about a country does that; it makes it so much easier to share that information quickly with students as you read the story. Great choice. Of course, the pancake recipe is included. According to the notes pancakes are eaten around the world and it shares the names-Scotland-bannocks, France-crepes, Mexico-tortillas, Indonesia-dadar gutung and China-bao bing. Now I’ll know how to order one of my favorite foods.

Find other food-related posts at Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking post.

What else did find at the library, you ask?

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (read yesterday’s post and find out why I was happy to find this one on the shelf.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman-It was on the hold shelf for me and it will be my next read after I finish One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus.

A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper-This one just practically jumped off the shelf at me as I perused the YA new shelves.

Now I’m grabbing my book and I’m off to the local water-~~ing hole~~ park to join Groovy Girl and her friend.
Have a blissful weekend whether you’re cooking or not!

ps. I found this great blog, Sweet Mama Jane while perusing for a photo of Alice’s book. Click there to read a full review of In The Green Kitchen.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly and Pink Floyd

You know how when you are working on something intently but then you get distracted…

That happened to me yesterday while working on my last homework project. I stopped and checked my
emails (this is not the distraction, I do this all the time) but an email from Any New Books? for YA/children’s books and I clicked on it (first mistake) and scrolled down where Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly caught my eye and I clicked on it (second mistake) and it took me right to an Amazon page that told me to click (YES!) one more time to read the first chapter. Of course, I hesitated for a second, okay, maybe half a second and then clicked to read (third mistake)!

But then I was swept away. I was able to read five chapters in and am hooked!
Got to find the book so I can keep reading…
Need to know more about Andi.

Also I love it when a book takes me to music which it did by mentioning David Gilmour. I had to stop and google him (distracted from a distraction!?) to see if he was real and yes, yes he is real and happens to be the guitarist for Pink Floyd (my husband would be a bit embarrased that I had to google this fact…) but the song is good maybe even great. I listened to it while I read the fifth chapter, which I must now, well you know, find because it wouldn’t give me anymore chapters. Just checked on-line and my local library says it’s available-I’m in luck. Never mind that I already have four books checked out-this is how distractions work.

I’m off to the library after I proofread my paper and electronically submit it!
Click here for the synopsis from GoodReads of Revolution, NOT my paper…

P.S. Groovy Girl just looked over at me as I was typing and said “Mommy, I thought you were supposed to be finishing your homework NOT a blog post…hmmm”
She even said it a little snarky with emphasis~ and she raised her eyebrows at me!

Which led to a little discussion about distractions…
and the cycle continues.

What’s distracting you today?

Before I fall by Lauren Oliver

I’m doing my best to catch up some YA reading this summer. People talk about these books all year long and I tend to save them for summer. This book was on my to-read mental list and while we were in DC we stopped by my husband’s old neighborhood, Adams Morgan. I went right to the lovely little used bookstore-the name of which escapes me-but a little magic happened and I found Before I Fall on a shelf with a $6 price tag inside. It was a sign.

I pushed back my major beach read, A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand, and started reading, right after we visited the National Zoo, which by the way was missing most of its animals the day we visited. Disappointing. It was hot.

Before I Fall

Lauren Oliver

470 pages

2010

Samantha Kingston has it all; the world’s most crush-worthy boyfriend, three amazing best friends, and first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High-from the best table in the cafeteria to the choicest parking spot. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life. (inside front cover)

It sounds like quite the life but it took only a few pages into the book to realize Sam leads a crazy life-one that was a little scary for me; a mom of a young girl that will one day soon be a teen. Sam’s a mean girl-she wasn’t always but became one in order to hang with Lindsay and be well, popular. As the reader you know from the beginning of the book that Sam is going to die in a car crash after a party but it gets snagged up in time and she relives that day seven different times, trying to get it right…or at least a little better.

While the characters and their ability to be visciously mean to other people scared me I did enjoy getting to know the characters and the degree to which Sam Kingston is allowed to grow into a more thoughtful person. It’s as if she goes through seven stages of Dante’s Hell in order to get to heaven. While she’s learning we get a peek into what makes the other characters, like Lindsay, mean.

It’s good to know, according to Lauren Oliver, that bullies are basically insecure and choose to lash out due to their own lack of self-esteem. Mentally it is good to know this but it doesn’t help when you are the one made to feel like crap everyday of high school because some other h.s. student has decided to thrash on you. As Sam figures out how to make things better she notices the intricate threads that bind us all together. Beautiful lesson for teens to learn.

The writing is eloquent with lots of gentl emetaphorical comparisons. I loved Kent McFuller-he was a wonderfully written cool-geek! This is a snippet of conversation between Kent and Sam:

…”You remember my old house on Terrace Place, right?” The smile is back. It’s true: his eyes are exactly the color of grass. “You used to hang out in the kitchen and steal all the good cookies. And I chased you around these huge maple trees in the front yard. Remember?”
As soon as he mentions the maple trees a memory rises up, expanding, like something breaking the surface of water and rippling outward. We were sitting in this little space in between two enormous roots that curved out of the ground.like animal spines. (142)

This book should be read by parents as much as its intended young adult audience. There is a ton of drinking, smoking and sex in the book-I know it happens in high school but for this group of friends it was all part of their scene. As a mom all I could think was “please don’t let my child act this way…”

Other thoughts on Before I Fall…

The Brain Lair
Slightly Bookish…she even has a playlist set up for this book.
Fate is Kind Book Review

Lauren Oliver’s website.

Indie Bookstore

If The Witness Lied by Caroline B. Cooney

It’s been years since I read any of Cooney’s popular titles but I picked up this title as my husband and I browsed for books for Teenage Boy to take on vacation. I’ve griped about this before but he does not like to GO TO the LIBRARY anymore…!? I hope his senses will return to him one day but as I expect him to read-we get him the books, he picks out a few that he “deems” somewhat interesting and he reads them. He read this one over vacation and when I asked him how it was he looked at me and shrugged very nonchalantly (if you have teenagers you know what I mean) and said it was okay in a very flat line voice. So I had to pick it up and read it just to see what that meant.

And guess what…it was okay but only okay with a shoulder shrug…

The story was predictable.The characters were flat.
The candle on the cover doesn’t fit-Jack Fountain on a bike, a television camera, a little boy in a Jeep-any of these would have worked.
It never fully adds up and Cooney doesn’t give me a good reason for Aunt Cheryl.
It was kind of sad to think no one cared about these kids to look deeper into their tragedy! Come on neighbors down the street!

Can you feel my shoulders shrug?

Read The Compulsive Reader’s post if you want a different perspective.
Benjamin at Teen Reads talks about it .
Goodreads synopsis

My husband tells me that I never read books I don’t like because all my reviews are positive so this one’s for you, honey.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

(2009)

Fantasy

471 pages

I just finished and am overwhelmed with how wonderful this book was to read. Cashore created a world of kingdoms ruled by kings where two people, Katsa and Po, meet and become friends in the truest sense. Both Katsa and Po are graced with a special talent far beyond what others can imagine. Katsa, orphaned at a young age lives with her uncle, King Randa, who has control over her and uses her killing grace to his advantage but through her own rebellious feelings she forms a council to right some obvious wrongs. On one of the council’s missions she meets Po, a prince from one of the seven kingdoms, and things begin to change in her world as Po teaches her that no man, especially Randa, can control her; that her control always lies within her.

I don’t want to go into detail as much of what was great about this book took me by surprise; points I don’t want to now hand to you, if you haven’t read it. I like fantasy and I thought Cashore built a believable world with very likeable characters. I liked how the characters from part one were not forgotten as I liked Raffin and Helda. I want to know more about Po’s family, Katsa’s decisions and Bitterblue’s struggles.

Last night we drove for two hours home from a music fest and I couldn’t put the book down, even though my head was nodding, begging for sleep and I was reading with a tiny book light. I woke up this morning, picked the book up again, read, made breakfast, read until I turned the last delicious page. I think I will probably be at the library when the doors open tomorrow morning to get Fire.

After Thoughts: I’m a little perturbed because I did some research about Fire, the “sequel” to Graceling and it’s about a different character and as much as I can gather does not further Katsa and Po’s story. (How many of you already knew this…?) I will still read it but am not racing to the library to get it.
I also read a few other reviews and want to comment. The whole relationship issue was believable to me…this is something many people grapple with today and marriage is complex. Can you marry someone and not feel a little “owned” even when you love that person? Yes, but it’s not always easy and the book makes that argument. Katsa and Po are not high school teenagers either and Katsa hasn’t had any positive guidance in this area either. She knows she doesn’t want someone to be in charge of her life. I think it is a worthy debate and thought the example of love was done well; showing depth from both characters.

I did think the book ended quickly but I didn’t think it let the story just drop off. I was ready to read about Katsa’s lessons with Bitterblue and Po’s journey home. I think Katsa and later Bitterblue offer strong female characters for readers and great examples of friendship and self-esteem exist in the book.
Find Kristin Cashore at her blog, This Is My Secret.
Find Graceling at an Indie Bookstore near you.

Bitter End

by Jennifer Brown

(May, 2011)

354 pages

Goodreads Summary:

When Alex falls for the charming new boy at school, Cole, a handsome, funny, sports star who adores her, she can’t believe she’s finally found her soul mate-someone who truly understands her and loves her for who she really is.

At first, Alex is blissfully happy. Sure, Cole seems a little jealous of her relationship with her best friends, Zack and Bethany, but what guy would want his girlfriend spending all of her time with another boy? But as the months pass, Alex can no longer ignore Cole’s small put-downs, pinches, or increasingly violent threats. As Alex struggles to come to terms with the sweet boyfriend she fell in love with and the boyfriend whose “love” she no longer recognizes, she is forced to choose – between her “true love” and herself.

My Thoughts:

The story is very honestly told from Alex’s point-of-view as she experiences the overwhelmingly new feelings of falling in love. I was drawn into the story because I liked Alex’s character-she’s thoughtful, she’s a poet, she’s nice to her friends and a hard-worker and I felt terrible as she got pulled further into this destructive relationship, which ultimately alters her original redeeming qualities.

Even though I knew from the blurb that this was about an abusive relationship it still took me by surprise, which is how it happens in real life. (I know a little from personal experience-it is never pretty and they never get better. ) Alex is very excited when Cole notices her, asks to read her poetry and flirts with her. The middle of the story is filled with her anxiousness and I cheered when she started listening to others. Her family annoyed me, especially her dad, because they weren’t paying attention. Her dad has had his head buried since mom took off years earlier. Georgia, Alex’s boss at The Bread Bowl, is the one who seems to understand on a deeper level what Alex is experiencing. Her friends want to help, try to help but keep losing out in the conversation. It becomes an “us” or “him” game that has no good ending.
I’ll admit it. I cried. I cried. I cried.

It’s very well-written and the author’s end note sums up just how she knows so much about abusive relationships…and it isn’t how you think but it gave the book even more credence.

If you have the chance, take time to read Jennifer Brown’s Bitter End, it is worth it!

Read Janssen’s review of Hate List -makes me want to read it, even though it will be emotional as well.

I received my advanced reader’s copy from the publisher, Little, Brown and Company, but this did not reflect in anyway on my review. I truly loved it and finished it in two days because I couldn’t put it down. I look forward to other books by this new author.

Along for the Ride

Sarah Dessen

2009

383 pages

     I’ve now read all of Sarah Dessen’s books and as soon as I was feeling good about this, my friend Tina gave me the news-Dessen has a new one coming out in the Spring. Bring it on, Ms. Dessen-I’m ready for it.
     This is the story of Auden and her dysfunctional family. Both parents are college professors, accomplished writers but short on emotions. She has one older brother, Hollis who seems to have used up all their parental energy leaving none for Auden. This is the story of her summer; the big one set between high school graduation and her freshman year at a prestigious university. Her parents are divorced and she chooses to spend it with her father, his new wife and their baby. Luckily they live in a house on the beach and there is an extra room for Auden.
     It is a perfect time for some reflection as Auden prepares to make the leap to college student, away from her mother. She is a complex character, silently suffering from her parent’s divorce. She doesn’t have a set of girlfriends to hang with and she seems to just be waiting for college and the comfort books and studying bring to her. She’s is a night-owl, a loner and smart beyond her years. Her stepmother, at first glance, is flighty, girlish and struggling with her new role of mother and wife. Her dad is a self-centered poop who shuts himself off from those at home, those closest to him, making the same mistakes he made during his first go-round as a parent.
    Auden spends her time running interference between her dad and her stepmother, Heidi, and trying to comfort the colic-y Thisbe-who knew this would be just like her own parent’s marriage.   To get away she spends time on the boardwalk. During one of these late night wanderings she meets Eli, a night time loner as well.   I enjoyed the casual relationship between Eli and Auden, which develops more as they understand each other better. Eli has layers; he is worth getting to know which makes it difficult on both of them as neither is interested in spilling their sad secrets.
     I loved the surprises many of these characters hold in store for the reader, making it easy to understand how not to judge a book solely by its cover or a person by their first impression.  Speaking of book covers; the cover art on this one is cute, adorable-love the pink polka-dot dress BUT…who is that boy on the cover…that is not Eli, who is described “a tall guy with longish dark hair pulled back at his neck, wearing a worn blue hoodie and jeans.”(41) Bike-riding guys tend to be leaner, less muscle-y in their arms and Eli is usually wearing a dark hoodie. Maybe it’s just that Eli appeared to me in a different way and the guy on the cover seems more Jake than Eli. That’s about the only thing I disliked about this book. What I liked: the shop girls at Clementine’s, the quest to fulfill Auden’s lack of normal childhood experiences and Heidi’s transformation back to independent can-do woman. If you haven’t read any Sarah Dessen books yet you are missing out on an author who really sees things from a teenager’s angle.

Random Quote:

“In truth, I hadn’t expected my mom to care whether I was around for the summer or not. And maybe she wouldn’t have, if I’d been going anywhere else. Factor my dad into the equation, though, and things changed. They always did.” (19)

Click Sarah Dessen for her author website.
Another point of view review:

Missie at The Unread Reader.
and Samantha reviews it at Someone like Samantha.
Find it at an IndieBound book store near you…Along for the Ride