YA fiction – Page 7 – Peaceful Reader

Laura Resau's Red Glass

I finally finished this book (yeah!) and I say that with real happiness because I have been trying to finish it for the last three nights, excited for where the story was taking me. I’d get a few chapters read and be really ready for bed. Am I incapable of reading well-in-to-the-night as I have for the previous parts of my life!! Hmmmm.
Back to this wonderful book.

Red Glass is the story of Sophie and one summer of bravery and adventure and more bravery. She lives in Tuscon with her mom, step-dad, Juan and her mom’s crazy Bosnian great-aunt, Dika(an amazing character). Juan is in the import/export business and has also given refuge to Hispanic immigrants from time-to-time. When a young boy (Pablo) is brought in by border patrol they find Juan’s business card in Pablo’s pocket and telephone Juan. Pablo’s parents died trying to make it across the border and until decisions are made as to what to do with Pablo, Sophie’s family brings him home with them.

Sophie loves having a new little brother and showers him with attention, even sleeps outdoors next to the chicken coop with him. Sadness encompasses Pablo even thought Sophie and Dika try to bring joy to his life. Contact is made at some point with Pablo’s family in Mexico and the family plans a trip to return him home. The original plans fall through and Dika, her boyfriend Mr. Lorenzo, Mr. Lorenzo’s son, Angel and Sophie drive in an old VW bus (what else would you drive through Mexico in but a beloved bus) to take Pablo home to visit his Abuelita and his village. Pablo will be able to choose staying in Mexico or returning home to Sophie’s family.
Choosing to go with is a major accomplishment for Sophie because she is a girl with many concerns; she is a worrier and this trip will force her to go beyond her normal boundaries. She is worried about the bus going off the road, bandits, and germs. Everyone involved in this trip has experienced deep loss as refugees and Sophie has her own self-esteem hurdles to climb. It is this amazing journey Sophie takes that causes such life-changing moments for her. The relationships she builds with Angel, Dika and even Mr. Lorenzo create a stronger more confidant Sophie. The book is interspersed with Spanish language and thanks to the author’s time in “the Mixtec region of Oaxaca, Mexico” it has a deep truthfulness to it.
This is a lovely story; one in which I fell in love with the characters, admire the courage of Sophie and want to know more…how does Sophie’s journey affect her next year in school, what happens between Sophie and Angel?? Could there be a sequal? The author’s blog and website are wonderful-take a look! I highly recommend this book for middle/high school and adult readers! Check out these otherblog reviews about this magical book: Sarah’s Random Musings, Readergirlz, and Melissa Walker.

If a tree falls at lunch period by Gennifer Choldenko

Gennifer Choldenko is coming to Iowa tomorrow (yeah!) and I hope to shake her hand and have her sign my copy of If a tree falls… I loved Al Capone does my shirts and gleefully await the second one Al Capone shines my shoes. I picked up If a tree falls, thinking it was more of a YA book but after reading I think I have several students that would enjoy it. I did! I thought the school story was good, characters were well-developed and the plot timely without being preachy.
The chapters flip back and forth between Kirsten and Walker, seventh graders at an elite private school. Kirsten is struggling with popularity, losing her best friend to a more popular clique of girls, her recent weight gain, and her parents constant fighting. This is exactly what middle school, high school is like for many students. It is more than one anxiety all the time. Hmmm, like my life now…
Kirsten’s character emerges through the course of the story to kinda figure some things out with out a big aha moment! I was so excited for her when she decided her ex-best friend, Rory was not the same person she used to be. It’s hard when friends change and make choices you never thought they would, especially at this age. Rory lies and follows her new friends places Kirsten just does not want to go in the name of popularity. She wants to be popular and to make her mom happy but who to trust is a difficult choice.
One new classmate in particular, Walker Jones seems able to give her advice that is mature and worthy. The two, as well as his friend Matteo, the “scholarship students”, treat her fairly and worry more about school than who’s butt is fatter.
Brianna is the resident popular girl bully and she plays it with flair. Lying, scheming, cheating all done to make her life easier; more painful for those around her. I’m not going to spoil what the big mystery is between Kirsten and Walk even though I figured it out pretty quickly-the major crisis does make the story intriguing and timely. I dig this author and if you haven’t read her picture book, Louder, Lili-you need too. Shy Lili learns that a loud voice is worth it at certain times in your life!!
Here’s a teen-ager’s view on If a tree falls at lunch period…Enjoy

Black Box by Julie Schumacher

I’d never heard of this author before and now I want to race back to the library and get one of her older titles. Black Box is a book about a family in crisis-real crisis not our everyday-to-much-going-on crisis). Dora is the very troubled sister and Elena, the narrator, is the stable sister, the one trying to hold it altogether. Julie Schumacher does an amazing job of creating realistic characters. There is only mom, dad, Dora, Elena and Jimmy Zenk, a teen-age neighbor, to focus on and the author weaves the story tightly around these characters. There is no fluff, no extra dialogue…not one sentence that shouldn’t be there. The opening of the book has Dora locked away at the local hospital psych ward, screaming her head off after an overdose. The rest of the family spirals around this change in daily routine as if they are looking for ruby slippers. Elena especially is left confused by her sister’s betrayal and truly feels she is the one that must save Dora. Elena just wants the life they had before; before Dora decided to be crazy. The sisters do have a special bond, which Dora, in her depression, uses to her advantage, creating more confusion for Elena. Jimmy’s odd friendship ultimately brings truth to the family and to Elena. I reread the last chapter over and over when I was finished: (little excerpt)

“I needed to be closer to the ground…..
I dropped to my knees. Cars drove past in both directions. I thought about what the Grandma Therapist had told me. ‘You learn to carry it with you. But sometimes, in the presence of a person you trust’– ‘I was supposed to save her, Jimmy,’ I said. ‘She asked me to save her.’
The traffice streamed by on either side of us. ‘I’m right here with you,’ Jimmy said. ” p. 164

This is not meant to be a spoiler but a tease and of course, the reason why all this makes such sense to me and why I will carry these lines around with me for awhile is because the rest of the book makes it all fit together so perfectly! You’ll have to read it now. Another reader who enjoyed this book as well.

Shift by Jennifer Bradbury

Shift by Jennifer Bradbury (2008)
I picked this book out again for Tristan, the 13-year-old, to read but the blurb inside the front cover had me. I finished it in the middle of the night on Sunday because I am suffering from some serious insomnia not because I was so gripped by the story. Again I liked the book but the front cover gave me a different impression or else how I read the blurb gave me a different impression, I’m really not sure (lack of sleep). I thought the book was going to be a bike ride then swing ahead into the later future where Chris discovers some amazing tale about what happened to his friend, which I guess would have been slightly more fantastical and cool. Instead it goes from bike trip to first week of college-still good. As it is Chris and Winston, two high school friends, set out on a long distance bike trek from West Virginia to Seattle, Washington. The tales along the way are interesting, their friendship is expressed in back-and-forth chapters between past, present and trip. The difference in boys is Chris comes from a loving, supportive family and Winston, a wealthy, cold family with a controlling father and vacation-happy mom. Chris becomes disenchanted with Winston and his antics and lack of responsibility and their relationship spirals out of control. The rest you will have to read yourself. One interesting fault that I had with the book was why Jennifer Bradbury had them ride so far north. She has them trek from Ohio, Indiana and Illinois up through Wisconsin and Minnesota, making note of a stop to see a statue of Paul Bunyon and his blue ox, Babe!! As a Midwest girl I kept thinking “why are they going straight north out of Iowa”- instead of cutting nw through South Dakota. Just me being a picky reader, knowing the lay of the map land way too much or very sleep-deprived. Bradbury does have a great website/blog and I enjoyed her story of how the book came to be. Also the ending (not a spoiler) to Winston’s tale is hmmm…I guess I really can’t say without spoiling so never mind. Suffice it to stay Winston’s character grew on me.

Movie Trailer

I just watched a clip of Where the Wild Things Are by Sendak directed by Spike Jonze!

This is a very treasured book at our home and we even have our own collection of lovable Wild Things my honey has collected for me over the years in celebration of birthdays and anniversaries. I love movies but don’t often spend the bucks to go sit in the theater except for special movies and this one makes that list!!
I just finished The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson, which was so unusual and well-written! I, too fell in love with Jenna and all her complexities! It raised so many questions for me of what the future holds for us humans. Second to Jenna I love Lily and their relationship, which seems cold at first but warms up as Jenna continues to question herself. I don’t want to give any of this great story away but read it because it is filled with admiration for the human spirit!
My favorite read-aloud this week is The Zoo by Suzy Lee ,
which tells the story of a young girl discovering the zoo on her own wild romp, while her parents are frantically searching for her. Ms. Lee’s illustrations are so perfectly rendered using something close to chalk, which drew my wee students into it even more. Then when I showed them the back cover many were left wondering but just a few knew about her shoe already…we had to go back into the book to show everyone else her missing shoe. Some students thought the gorilla was going to eat the shoe but those of us that got it knew he was admiring not hungry!

Chains

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I finished Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson last night and was at once elated to have enjoyed it so much but also crazy about the ending…I wanted something to occur (and I do not want to give it away)-it did not happen!! In fact the story will be continued but when….I am going to have to check on her blog to find out more information because I was really not ready to be done with Isabel’s story. I feel so proud of her for repaying her debt to Curzon.
I also finished last night the YA book Compound, which Tristan and I read in tandem. It makes me mad that I have to work out special deals in order to get my 13-year-old to read. He has been a reader but now he is an electronic dude and it is really frustrating to me. So I went to the library for him, picked him several (8) choices, brought them home, let him pick several and the Compound by S.A. Bodeen was one of his choices. We read it in about 4 days, partially because it is not a a difficult read but also because it was pretty gripping and we were both fascinated to see what would happen with this family. Really rare idea for a book topic and that is all I am going to see but we loved it. We are ready to go on to our next doom and gloom selection. He has already read The Graveyard Book…again because I went to the bookstore, bought it for him and handed it to him!!! It is tough being a reading, thinking Mama in the digital age…