Plans for (the brief) Winter Break

Some books I hope to read before the Spring semester starts…in no particular order...

1. The Grounding of Group Six by Julian F. Thompson, c.1983 (finishing this up…)

2. To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies, and the Art of Extreme Tourism by Chuck Thompson, c.2009 (from my LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers, review to follow…)

3. Daughters of Eve by Lois Duncan, c. 1979

4. American Gods by Neil Gaiman, c. 2001 (seems to be many people’s favorite..)

5. Happy Endings are All Alike by Sandra Scoppettone, c. 1978 (one of the first/the few novels about teen lesbians…in the 70s)

6. My Darling, My Hamburger by Paul Zindel, c.1969

7. Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp by C.D. Payne, c1993 (had meant to read this so long ago, now the movie is about to come out…yikes! Have to read before that…)

I may be a little ambitious……

My Booky Wook

A Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Stand-Up by Russell Brand. New York: HarperCollins, 2009. UK edition: Hodder & Stoughton, 2007. 353 pages.

My Booky Wook is a confessional full of embarrassing and oftentimes disturbing events and choices in Brand's life eventually leading him to rehab for drugs (and later sex addiction). While Brand constantly desires to become famous, he continually commits one self-destructive act after another. Everything is presented for you, the reader, in Brand's clever and (somewhat) literary voice. Brand is perceptive, irreverent and too funny.

City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960s-'70s

by Edmund White. New York: Bloomsbury, USA, c. 2009, 297 pages.

(from my LibraryThing's Early Reviewers)

White's memoir begins when he he arrives in New York City from the Midwest where he followed his lover instead of going on to Harvard. He is is not a writer yet and these two decades are a formative time in his literary career.

As a gay man, White was still hoping to be "cured" as he regularly (like many other gay men at the time) saw a therapist. In 1969, as the gay movement began with Stonewall, White began to embrace his own identity--and he had little choice when, in 1977, he famously co-authored "The Joy of Gay Sex."

The reader is invited to hear White's tales of the famous artists and literary figures he surrounded himself with and his many lovers and experiences before and in the early days of AIDS. This book is gossip and at the same time revelation. This is a social history of New York at that time told by an insider.

Exposure

by Mal Peet. Candlewick Press, c. 2009, 430 pages.

This is a modern spin on the tragedy of Shakespeare’s Othello and set in South America. Otello is a black soccer star recently traded to the country’s racist south. He falls in love and marries quickly Desmerelda, the country’s striking white pop star (and daughter of a powerful and conservative politician). The glare of the paparazzi‘s cameras can be blinding and enemies can appear to be one’s confidantes and friends.

Young Adult fiction. The story is divided into five acts. Knowledge of Shakespeare’s Othello is not a necessity but allows for comparison of the texts and a contemporary examination of the original by younger readers. There is sympathy for Otello and for the life of a celebrity but this is not a celebrity-worship story. There is racism, poverty and murder. There is grittiness. There are distinct lines between wealth and poverty in this unnamed South American country and the distinction is a huge divide.

Recurring character of Paul Faustino (a sports writer) in two other Peet books.

Winner of 2009 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize the only award judged by Children’s authors (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/guardianchildrensfictionprize ) and A Junior Library Guild Selection (http://www.juniorlibraryguild.com/)

Catching Fire

by Suzanne Collins. New York: Scholastic Press, c. 2009, 391 pages.

Katniss and Peeta have survived the televised battle to the death of the Hunger Games and have returned as victors to their home of District Twelve. They should return home to lives of ease and plenty but a visit from the sinister President Snow reveals that it will not be so simple. The president expects Katniss to play the lovesick girl at Peeta’s side—not out with her longtime friend Gale. Soon Katniss and Peeta are on the mandatory victory tour through the nation of Panem as rumors of uprisings in other districts follow them.

This is the second book of the Hunger Games trilogy. This is mandatory reading for fans of the first book and most should not be disappointed. There is a lot of action and suspense leading up to the conclusion leaving the reader anxious for the last book (not due out till 2010). At times Katniss’ love triangle dilemma can become a little exhausting and frustrating. Maybe boy trouble can seem necessary for a young adult book and it can be done successfully. However in this book Collins doesn’t fully explore the relationships and dynamics between the three and this may be because there is no room in the book. This too often happen in the middle books of trilogies. While not as strong as the first book, here’s hoping the final book may be able to redeem it.

The Graveyard Book

by Neil Gaiman with illustrations by David McKean. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, c.2008. 312 pages.

Nobody Owens, Bod for short, is a very alive boy who happens to call a graveyard home. After his family was murdered when his was only a baby, Bod found himself adopted by ghosts and given the freedom of the graveyard. This freedom not only lets him explore things the living never could but also keeps him safe from the man who killed his family and still looks to finish his job—murdering Bod! But this is only inside the gates of the graveyard, outside is a whole alive world where Bod cannot be protected.

The 2009 Newbery Medal. Winner of the Booktrust Teenage Prize 2009 (UK). Suggested ages are from 8-12 but this book could easily be enjoyed by teens.

Audiobook on CD read by Neil Gaiman, 7 discs, 7 hours & 45 minutes

The Eyeball Collector

by F.E. Higgins. New York: Feiwel and Friends, c. 2009. 251 pages.

Hector Fitzbaudly gets his wish to experience the seedier side of Urbs Umida when his father is blackmailed with a secret form his past. Finding himself penniless and homeless, Hector realizes this is not the life he wants and he decides to seek revenge. Unfortunately, the Eyeball Collector is a master of disguise! This book is called a “polyquel” by the author, as it contains elements from both The Black Book of Secrets and The Bone Magician as well as its own mysteries.

The Bone Magician

by F.E. Higgins. New York: Feiwel and Friends, c. 2008. 273 pages.

Pin Carpue is orphaned in the in the crime-ridden city of Urbs Umida after his father runs off, accused of being a murderer. Pin finds work as a corpse watcher, ensuring that the dead are truly dead before they are buried. Eventually Pin ends up living in the same boarding house as a bone magician and his assistant—who seem to be able to raise the dead! This book is dubbed as “paraquel” by the author—the story occurs at the same as the tale in The Black Book of Secrets.

The Black Book of Secrets

by F.E. Higgins. New York: Feiwel and Friends, c. 2007. 273 pages.

Ludlow Fitch is running away from his past (and some tooth-thieving parents!). He finds himself in a remote village where he becomes the assistant to a mysterious pawnbroker, Joe Zabbidou. This pawnbroker specializes in people’s secrets and Ludlow is charged with transcribing them in the Black Book of Secrets. Lucky for Ludlow and Joe, this village is full of people with dark and dangerous secrets to pawn. For fans of historically-based fiction and notably that of late 1800s in England with its many gruesome details of teeth pulling (and selling) and grave robbing.

Three Girls and Their Brother: a novel

by Theresa Rebeck. New York : Shaye Areheart Books, c2008. 341 pages.

After one very successful photo shoot for The New Yorker, three gorgeous, red-headed sisters find themselves as the latest "It Girls" (think "Hilton sisters" plus some literary roots). Their brother in turn finds himself taking on the protector role against the unscrupulous and moral-lacking members of the entertainment/modeling world, the paparazzi and the hungry-for-scandal public. Told in four parts by each sibling. An Alex Award winner for 2009.

Ironside

Title: Ironside; A Modern Faery’s Tale

Author: Holly Black

Publication date: 2007

Number of pages: 323

Genre: Young Adult fiction

Geographical Setting: New York City & New Jersey

Time Period: present, 2000s

Series: yes, third book of the Faerie series, more of continuation of the first book Tithe

Plot Summary: Pixie changeling Kaye is in love with the king of the Unseelie Court. There is war brewing with his kingdom and the rival Seelie Court. Kaye finds herself in the middle as the possible key to bringing peace and stopping death on the faerie and human side. She also struggles with the desire to tell her human mother that she is not the daughter she gave birth to while her best friend, the human Corny, joins her on this quest.

Subject Headings: coming of age, faeries, supernatural, homosexuality, fantasy, love, first love, betrayal, loyalty, war, urban fantasy

Appeal: exciting addition to the Faerie series; tackles issues facing young adults like first love, homosexuality, identity; fantasy set in modern times and location

If you liked Ironside, you might enjoy: Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones, Charles de Lint’s Little (Grrl) Lost, Herbie Brennan’s Faerie Wars

end of summer semester...

In the past couple of weeks I have completed the summer semester and moved. I have not been able to get as much reading done as I would like but I have read a couple of books. Below I give some brief intros to two young adult books.

Destroy All Cars by Blake Nelson (2009, 224 pages, hardcover)

Diatribe by a teen boy on the wastefulness of American consumer culture mixed with the angst of first love and its loss. This book is a fun and quick read for male readers especially reluctant readers and any teens into environmentalism or with leanings to activism. It is in diary/manifesto-style and interspersed with the protagonist’s AP English essays.

Tags: environmentalism, Pacific Northwest, Portland, Oregon, books for boys, consumerism, suburbia, first love, first person.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson (2006, 368 pages, hardcover)

Historical fiction of Revolutionary America mainly told from the diary of Octavian, a black youth raised in Boston and given a classical education. Octavian is a research subject studied by the radical philosophers of the The Novanglian College of Lucidity. As he matures and uses the observational skills he has been taught, he begins to decipher his purpose within the College and in America as a man’s property. This book is not for the causal teen reader. The historical nature of the language may take some readers more than a few chapters to acclimate to however, the reader is greatly rewarded with a moving and exciting tale. Winner of the National Book Award and Michael L. Printz Honor Book.

Tags: historical fiction, slavery, American Revolution, diary, African American, survival

Uglies Trilogy (books 2 & 3)

Title: Pretties
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publication date: 2005
Number of pages: 384
Genre: young adult science fiction
Geographical setting: North America, possibly in the area of California
Time period: far into the future
Series: second in the Uglies trilogy

Plot: After her surgery to make her a Pretty, Tally Youngblood struggles against the brain lesions that work to keep her “bubble-headed” and unquestioning. She has forgotten her promise to test out the cure from the Smokies—until the delivery of the pills and the letter Tally wrote to herself. Too afraid to take the pills alone, her new boyfriend Zane convinces her to share with him. As they begin to stay focused more and more, plans are made to escape their city and find the New Smoke. Tally’s escape leads to frightening discoveries of what the Specials have been doing in the name of human progress and preservation.

Title: Specials
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publication date: 2006
Number of pages: 384
Genre: young adult science fiction
Geographical setting: North America, possibly in the area of California
Time period: far into the future
Series: final book of the Uglies trilogy

Plot: Sixteen year old Tally Youngblood has had the surgery that has made her a part of the elite and extra-special clique, the Cutters. The Cutters have superfast reflexes and strength—and sport frightening “surges” making them look more fearsome than the regular agents of the secret police, Special Circumstances. Tally finally fits in but she still feels like something is missing. She soon finds herself struggling between what the City has made her to be and what she once was, now buried deep under all of the surgeries and manipulations.

Appeal: post-apocalyptic series for young adults; questioning of the price of popularity and fitting in/conformity; exciting descriptions of future technologies and luxuries; the Cutters slice themselves with ritual knives in order to enhance there already super-tuned reflexes and strength

Tags: brainwashing, survival, troubled teens, dystopia, science fiction, cutting, body image, plastic surgery, conformity, cliques, self-induced starvation, series, post-apocalyptic, overconsumption

If you liked Uglies Trilogy, you might enjoy: Lois Lowry’s Gathering Blue, Rodman Philbrick’s The Last Book in the Universe, John Christopher’s White Mountains, Peter Dickinon’s Eva

Unwind

Title: Unwind
Author: Neal Shusterman
Publication date: 2007
Number of pages: 352
Genre: young adult dystopian fiction
Geographical setting: North America
Time period: undated future, post “Heartland War” (the Second Civil War)
Series: N/A

Plot: To make peace and end the Heartland War, the federal government has outlawed abortion-- but with a catch. Parents can choose to have their children “unwound,” a retroactive abortion. The compromise is that every part and organ of the “unwind” must be used so that they are not really dead, but rather live on in a “divided state” in the many bodies of those who need their organs and limbs. Seen as a trouble maker and a hotheaded teen by his fed up parents, Connor is set to be transported to a “harvest camp” to be unwound. When he makes a daring escape, he begins a dangerous journey cross-country with fellow “unwind” Risa, a state ward. The only things that can save them from being unwound are living in hiding and making it to their eighteenth birthdays.

Appeal: Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (2008); ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers - Top Ten (2008); ALA Best Books for Young Adults (2008); fast-paced; Shusterman presents a terrifying future that does not seem so impossible.

Tags: survival, dystopia, abortion, civil war, science fiction, organ harvesting, runaways, orphans, troubled teens

If you liked Unwind, you might enjoy: Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and Other Stories, Gail Giles’ Right Behind You, Mary E. Pearson’s The Adoration of Jenna Fox

So Yesterday

Title: So Yesterday
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publication date: 2004
Number of pages: 240
Genre: young adult fiction
Geographical setting: New York City
Time period: present, early 2000s
Series: N/A

Plot: Seventeen-year-old Hunter stalks and tracks “cool.” Or to put it better, he is a “cool hunter.” When he notices the originality of how a girl in the park ties her shoelaces, he knows he has met an Innovator. This encounter with Jen James leads to a fast-paced adventure as amateur detectives where they try to rescue a possibly kidnapped friend and attempt to unravel a plot to sabotage the consumer culture in which Hunter is an important player.

Subject headings: mystery and detective stories, fashion, coolness, fads, consumerism, advertising, literature for boys, kidnapping, focus groups

Appeal: first person narrative, references to popular fashion and culture, detective story for modern teens, science fiction elements of the re-wiring of people’s brains and ways of thinking through gadgets and subliminal advertising

If you liked So Yesterday, you may enjoy: M.T Anderson’s Feed; Connie Willis’s Bellwether

Twisted

Title: Twisted
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Publication date: 2008
Number of pages: 250
Genre: young adult fiction
Geographical setting: suburban Ohio
Time period: 2000s, 21st Century
Series: N/A

Plot: Tyler Miller commits "The Foul Deed” and soon he is transformed from a nobody to a tough guy. Advances from his crush, one of the most popular girls in the school, do not come without their consequences. Tyler’s home life doesn’t get any easier either as fights with his distant father increases. As the pressure builds around him, Tyler begins to wonder if ending his own life is his only choice.

Subject headings: identity, fathers and sons, suicide, bullying, sexual assault, popularity, cyberbullying, peer pressure, coming of age

Appeal: told in first person; literature for boys, identifiable protagonist especially for boys questioning the idea of what it takes to “be a man”; family troubles are realistic without seeming too stereotypical as the “dysfunctional family” type.

If you liked Twisted, you might enjoy: Chris Crutcher’s Whale Talk, Blake Nelson’s Rock Star Superstar, Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War, Michael Laser’s Cheater: A Novel

The Road to Damascus - A Brief Review

from Early Reviewers for LibraryThing

Road to Damascus by Elaine Rippey Imady

This is a pleasant memoir about a Western woman’s life married to a Syrian man and living in the Middle East. I appreciated the mainly positive accounts and stories about life in Syria and the personal histories the author presents for the reader. Favorable depictions of Middle Easterners and Muslims are few in popular literature; however, I found little in Imady’s writing to hold or grip me to her story. There is a genuine love and caring in her story but I simply could not care very much. I feel that if she had written some of this book earlier in her life and closer to when some of the events had happened there would have more life and passion to her writing.

The Hunger Games

Title: The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Publication date: 2008

Number of pages: 384

Genre: Young Adult dystopian fiction

Geographical Setting: North America, now made up of 12 districts and ruled by the Capitol

Time Period: post-apocalyptic future

Series: book one, book two expected to be released September 2009

Plot: Katniss of District 12 is sixteen and a very adept hunter. Now her hunting skills will be tested as she volunteers in her young sister’s place for the country’s annual Hunger Games. A fight to the death is demanded by the Capitol and its citizens. Two tributes from each of the 12 districts are entered in the Games. Peeta, the baker’s son, is chosen as the male tribute from District 12. He has been in love with Katniss since the age of five and now must enter the arena prepared to kill—and it is all televised.

Subject Headings: dystopia, war, hunger, poverty, survival, death of a parent, first love, coming of age, reality television

Appeal: New York Times Notable Children’s Book 2008, Cybils Award for YA Fantasy and Science Fiction 2008, 2009 ALA Best Books for Young Adults Top 10, New York Times Bestseller, and numerous other award and best lists; film adaptation set to begin production in 2011; strong female character who is smart and ruthless, romantic subplot, thrilling pace, cliffhanger ending.

If you liked The Hunger Games, you might enjoy: Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Kristin Cahsore’s Graceling, Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, Ann Halam’s Dr. Franklin’s Island, Sonia Levitin’s The Goodness Gene, Meg Rosoff’s How I Live Now.

Jellicoe Road

Title: Jellicoe Road (Australian title: On Jellicoe Road)
Author: Melina Marchetta
Publication date: 2006
Number of pages: 419
Genre: Young Adult fiction
Geographical Setting: Australia
Time Period: present (early 2000s)
Series: N/A

Taylor Markham is visited many nights by a young boy in her dreams. She tells him her stories, stories about the children at her school and the manuscript Hannah has written about five friends. Hannah found Taylor when she was eleven and abandoned by her drug-addicted mother on Jellicoe Road. At seventeen, Taylor has been chosen as the leader of her boarding school dorm and their leader in the territory wars with the Cadets and the Townies. Soon Taylor’s memories and questions about her past begin to overtake her duties and she finds herself relying on some of her sworn enemies for the answers.

Subject Headings: identity issues, abandonment, orphans, boarding schools, drug addiction, death of a parent, first love, coming of age

Appeal: 2009 Michael L. Printz Award; war game of the Territory Wars at first gives the story a sinister almost dystopian feel but as the story progresses, the reader begins to understand how the “game” began; story of first love rings very true and the pains of separation; nontraditional families.

If you liked Jellicoe Road, then you might enjoy: John Marsden’s So Much to Tell You, John Green’ s Paper Towns

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

The Disreputable History of Frankie-Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (2008), 342 pages, 2008 National Book Award Finalist

my review:

Elite boarding schools often provide a popular backdrop for young adult novels. They also provide the young adult novelist numerous opportunities to create situations where parental involvement and adult supervision is lacking; money and resources may abound for the characters. Many times, these characters live in a world that most young readers have never experienced--that of a life of privilege and status. All of these elements are a part of The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks but the title character of Frankie is such an odd (in a smarty, funny way) girl that she is more realistic and relatable for many readers than the usual prep or boarding school characters.

Frankie becomes obsessed with her plans to infiltrate and be a part of the all male secret society (the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds) at Alabaster Prep. At the same time, she is experiencing her first love and a relationship where she struggles to not lose her own identity. More than just a pretty girl, Frankie fights for her place in the academic institution and in the world where the “Old Boys Club” rules.

The Disreputable History… is filled with clever wordplay and even more boarding school and college pranks, ideas of interventionist art, subverting the institutions of power and notions of gender roles and breaking the rules (whether written or just understood). Written in the third person, the narration is a welcome change from the usual first person narratives of many young adult novels. This is a coming of age book that defies many of the conventions of this genre.

2009 Michael L. Printz Honor Book

Little Brother

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (2008), 384 pages
a book review also available on my LibraryThing profile

From technology activist, Creative Commons proponent and self-proclaimed geeky guy Cory Doctorow is Little Brother. This is a realistic sci-fi novel for young adults that is packed with action, techno-speak and a scary but optimistic look at a possible near future for American citizens.

Marcus Yallow, our narrator, and his friends are able to sneak out of school by tricking the gait-recognition system and other surveillance tools the schools and city officials have implemented-- including a frighteningly invasive public that uses their phones and the Internet to snitch on possible truant students.

Skipping school to participate in an ARG (alternate reality game), they are caught at the site of a terrorist attack in San Francisco. Marcus and his friends are held by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at a secret prison. They are interrogated, terrified and treated like they are guilty. After this attack, paranoia, surveillance and distrust are amplified. California has become a police state. Marcus finds himself making choices that may endanger him, his friends and other citizens in his pursuit to take back the civil liberties and freedoms promised by the U.S. Constitution that the DHS has taken away.

This is a dystopian future, but not a future too far from now. It is easy to believe that all of these surveillance technologies are available today to those in power--and maybe they already are. Many of us- as Marcus points out- are guilty of not understanding the technologies all around us. We do not have them working for us.

At first I questioned how realistic this narrator is. Would a 17 year old boy be this advanced in computers, computer code writing and programming? And then I realized how old I am and more importantly, how dated my own experience with technology must be. Marcus is not so far-fetched. There are so many teens and young adults with these capabilities, experience and drive to tweak and hack and crack so many of the tools used on us and by us every day.

This book will be great for high school age and young adult readers and technology-literate and illiterate adults will enjoy it also. The book is jammed full of interesting ideas, questions and history. It could be very useful for discussions about privacy, terrorism and technology and surveillance and the role of a citizen in our democratic society.

Cherry Heaven

Title: Cherry Heaven
Author: L.J. Adlington
Publication date: 2008
Number of pages: 458
Genre: Young Adult fiction, dystopian fiction, science fiction
Geographical Setting: the New Frontier (on another planet, not Earth)
Time Period: the future
Series: sequel to The Diary of Pelly D

Plot Summary: In the New Frontier, people are supposed to be able to live in peace, no matter what the genetic ID stamp says on their wrist. Kat and Tanka have arrived from the war-torn City Five to start over. Their new peaceful home is amongst an old cherry orchard but there is a terrible past in their new home. They don’t believe in ghosts but something or someone has come to show that the New Frontier may not be the perfect society.

Subject Headings: dystopia, science fiction, war, racism, genetics, future, orphans

Appeal: story is told in alternating fashion between Kat’s experiences and Luka’s narration; in this future, humans have already populated a new planet and have been genetically altered to have developed gills, people can breathe underwater and enjoy time in water; themes of racism, totalitarianism and slavery.

If you liked Cherry Heaven, you might enjoy: Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, Bernard Beckett’s Genesis, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, John Wyndam’s The Chrysalids

Tattoo Machine

The following is a review for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. You can see more of my reviews by clicking on "my library" to the right. Tattoo Machine: Tall Tales, True Stories, and My Life in Ink by Jeff Johnson is nonfiction and should be available July 2009.

I have a feeling that there will be numerous uninspired blurbs about the book Tattoo Machine hailing it as the tattoo industry’s Kitchen Confidential. I wouldn’t go so far. Jeff Johnson does invite his readers into some of the seedier and funnier stories about his life as a tattoo artist and offers up some second hand stories that may cause you to laugh and/or cringe. Johnson has a clever and visual way with words and the book is a quick, enjoyable read. I appreciated getting a glimpse of who he was as a child and young man and how this has lead to who he is now. He is successful nowadays and drives a BMW--which he chose to point out. But his writing is somewhat disjointed and near the end of this read, I was left wanting a little more depth to his stories and a little less of what came off as slick and “cool” business owner-speak.

I had some high hopes for this book. I have spent some time in a few tattoo shops as someone who dates a tattoo artist. So I am nowhere near an expert on this “industry” but I have seen and heard a bit. My opinions may be colored by my relationship and interactions with other tattoo artists and customers. One thing I can’t help but mention is the use of illustrations to introduce parts of the book. They are some on the poorest and amateur drawings and I was surprised that someone like Johnson, who does appear to be a good artist, would allow them into his own book. Overall, I would recommend "Tattoo Machine" to someone who likes a fun memoir but I don’t think I can wholeheartedly recommend it to the tattoo artists I know.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Title: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Author: Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith
Publication date: 2009
Number of pages: 319
Genre: Classical Zombie Literature, Literature Mashup
Geographical setting: England countryside, village of Meryton
Time period: early 19th century
Series: N/A

Plot Summary: A plague has caused the dead return to life—and they are hungry for human brains! Luckily the town of Meryton has the Bennet sisters, trained in the deadly arts, to help defend the people of England against the “unmentionables.” Elizabeth Bennet has a duty to vanquish the spawn of Satan but she is soon distracted by the handsome, but arrogant, Mr. Darcy.

Subject Headings: 19th century England, zombies, romance, heartbreak, sisters, martial arts, classism, ninjas

Appeal: literature mashup of public domain work and zombie and ninja elements, comical and violent elements alongside original scenes of Austen’s work; illustrations; farcical reader discussion guide included; well received by critics; possible movie adaptation in the works

If you liked Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, you might enjoy: S.G. Browne’s Breathers: A Zombie Lament, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, stories of Edgar Allan Poe, Zadie Smith’s On Beauty

The School for Dangerous Girls

Title: The School for Dangerous Girls
Author: Eliot Schrefer
Publication date: 2009
Number of pages: 341
Genre: Young Adult fiction
Geographical setting: Colorado
Time period: 2000s
Series: N/A

Plot summary: Most of her life Angela has been labeled “hyper,” a “troublemaker” and other not very nice things. Her parents don’t like her boyfriend and after her behavior seems to have led to a terrible accident, she is now labeled a “criminal” and “dangerous.” She is shipped off to a last chance school, Hidden Oak where she and the other dangerous girls began to realize the reasons their new school is so isolated—and these secrets just may cost them their lives.

Subject headings: boarding schools, reform schools, troubled teen girls, authority figures, mother/daughter relationships

Appeal: strong-willed teen girls fight back and resist being labeled what society may decide they are; twist on the boarding school genre; suspenseful

If you liked The School for Dangerous Girls, you might enjoy: Alex McAulay’s Bad Girls, Rita Williams-Garcia’s Jumped, Judy Blundell’s What I Saw and How I Lied

I Am Rembrandt's Daughter

Title: I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter
Author: Lynn Cullen
Publication date: 2007
Number of pages: 292
Genre: Young Adult historical fiction
Geographical Setting: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Time Period: 1660s
Series: N/A

Plot Summary: Cornelia van Rijn’s mother has died of the Plague. As the daughter of the famous Rembrandt, one would expect to be living the life of a wealthy and prestigious young woman. This is not the life Cornelia has been given. Rembrandt is going mad and refuses to paint what will please the wealthy patrons. The budding friendship with the well-to-do and handsome Carel begins to stir passion in Cornelia’s heart. But the Westerkerk bells that toll death begin to ring again—and family secrets best kept hidden may come to light.

Subject Headings: the Plague, painters, father/daughter relationships, illegitimate children, adultery, gender roles, poverty, artist-as-genius, coming of age.

Appeal: story based on real characters; flashback chapters; descriptions of some of Rembrandt’s paintings and novelist’s imaginings behind their depictions; love triangle; fictional telling of Rembrandt’s daughter about whom very little is known.

If you liked I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter, you might enjoy: Katherine Sturevant’s A True and Faithful Narrative (historical fiction, takes place in London 1680s). Tracy Chevalier’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. Shannon Hale’s Book of a Thousand Days.

What I Saw and How I Lied

Title: What I Saw and How I Lied
Author: Judy Blundell
Publication date: 2008
Number of pages: 284
Genre: Young Adult historical fiction
Geographical Setting: Palm Beach, Florida
Time Period: 1947, post-WWII
Series: N/A

Plot Summary: Fifteen-year-old Evie Spooner’s stepdad Joe has survived his tour of duty in Europe during World War II. Before Evie and her gorgeous mother, Beverly, can enjoy this happy homecoming, Joe takes them on a sudden trip to Florida. In Palm Beach, Evie meets and falls for a young ex-GI, Peter--someone Joe is not too happy to see. Soon secrets surface and whispers start to be heard. Everything Joe has tried to keep hidden may soon be discovered.

Subject Headings: post-WWII, racism, prejudice, Noir, first love, espionage, mystery, coming of age, mother/daughter relationships, stepfamilies, adultery

Appeal: National Book Award Winner (2008); suspenseful, nourish drama set in a post-WWII Palm Beach, Florida, where Jews are not welcome; young woman living in the shadow of her mother’s beauty and allure; stylish, retro dialogue; author of Star Wars novelizations

If you liked What I Saw and How I Lied, you might enjoy: Mary Downing Hahn’s Look for Me by Moonlight, Siobahn Dowd's Bog Child

The Year the Gypsies Came

Title: The Year the Gypsies Came
Author: Linzi Glass
Publication date: 2006
Number of pages: 254
Genre: Young Adult historical fiction
Geographical setting: Johannesburg, South Africa
Time period: 1960s
Series: N/A

Plot Summary: Twelve year old Emily craves affection from her constantly quarreling parents. She is tomboy with few friends, only her kind older sister and their Zulu servant, Buza who tells her stories of wisdom and magic. When a mysterious family of wanderers comes to stay, Emily finds a kindred soul in one of the houseguests as she learns of the pain and struggles of those all around her in apartheid South Africa.

Subject Headings: apartheid, South Africa, 1960s, abuse, Zulu, rape

Appeal: Buza the servant as the true caregiver of Emily; the realization by Emily of her privilege and the South Africa of apartheid, racism and police brutality; class and race relationships of the time period; author was born and Johannesburg and many of the Zulu stories and folklore told by Buza are from her childhood memories; Afrikaans and Zulu glossary; Nelson Mandela’s speech in court recounted.; abuse led to the brain damage of a child.

If you like The Year the Gypsies Came, you might enjoy these nonfiction books: Alexandra Fuller’s Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood, Peter Godwin’s Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa.

The Book Thief

Title: The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak

Publication date: 2005

Number of pages: 550

Genre: Young Adult historical fiction

Geographical setting: Nazi Germany, town of Molching

Time period: WWII

Series: N/A

Plot Summary: Liesel is a young orphan sent to live with her foster parents in a small town in Nazi Germany. Death (or if you would like to call him, the Grim Reaper) recounts her story and the lives of those around her, including the young Jewish man hiding in her basement. Her stolen books and the words she learns to fill her stories become some of the few salvations in her life on Himmel Street.

Subject Headings: Germany, Jews, World War II, Holocaust, survival, war, Death, orphans, foster families

Appeal: allows readers to see a different side of this time in history as the story of the Holocaust period is told from the lives of Germans, everyday people trying to hide Jewish friends, resisting the Nazis as much as they could and still be safe and live their lives; the rifts between father and son when ideologies clash; Liesel’s parents are not examined too much but enough to know that they were at least branded communists and one may assume her parents did not fare well under Hitler; creative use of illustrations; Death, as the narrator, is at times poetic and lyrical in his descriptions and saddening in his exhaustion of his taking of souls during the war; love of adoptive and foster parents for children they take care of; book thievery of Liesel and her love of words as a stark contrast to the censorship, banning and control by the Nazis over books and words.

If you like The Book Thief, you might enjoy these fiction books: Jerry Spinelli’s Milkweed, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, Mary Ann Shaffer’s The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Radioactive Boy Scout

Title: The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor
Author: Ken Silverstein
Publication date: 2005
Number of pages: 209
Genre: Young Adult Nonfiction/Biography
Geographical setting: suburban Detroit
Time period: early to mid 1990s
Series: N/A

Plot Summary: As David Hahn was earning his Atomic Energy badge for the Boy Scouts, he was also fueling his obsession of nuclear energy. Posing as a Physics professor, 16 year-old Hahn persuaded the U.S. government and industry experts to provide him with information on reactors. He also consulted an out-dated textbook to aid him in his pursuit of constructing a nuclear reactor in his backyard tool shed.

Subject Headings: biography, breeder reactors, gifted boys, Boy Scouts of America, nuclear energy

Appeal: Hahn is child of divorced parents—very distant father, mother suffered from depression and alcoholism, author presents history of nuclear power including some of the reported danger and benefits, past accidents and the culture surrounding the use and fears of nuclear energy, some history of the Boy Scouts, reveals some of the danger of gifted children who are neglected or not encouraged (or guided by professionals or experts) to explore their strengths and interests in a safe environment.

If you like The Radioactive Boy Scout, you might enjoy these fiction books: Michael Simmons’ Finding Lubchenko, Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, Mark Walden’s H.I.V.E.: Higher Institute of Villainous Education, Catherine Jinks’ Evil Genius.

Give Me My Father’s Body: The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo

Title: Give Me My Father’s Body: The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo

Author: Kenn Harper
Publication date: 1986
Number of pages: 320
Genre: Biography

Geographical Setting: Greenland and New York
Time Period: late 19^th Century and early 20^th Century
Series: N/A

Plot Summary: Six-year-old Minik is one of six Eskimos brought from Greenland as “specimens” to New York City by Arctic explorer Robert Peary in 1897. Soon Minik is an orphan in a strange land. As he matures to adulthood, he is stranger in his homeland of Greenland and his adoptive home of the United States. Minik’s plight to claim his father’s body from the American Museum of Natural History for a proper burial and his wanderings and eventual death are traced in this biography of marginalized “curiosity.”

Subject Headings: Eskimo, Inuit, racism, prejudice, Arctic, North Pole, exploration, biography,

Appeal: biography of an orphan and exile, photographs included, written by Canadian Historian who has lived over thirty years in Inuit communities and speaks the language, the book helped to publicize the wrongs done to the Inuits by the American Museum of Natural History and led to the eventual return of their bodies to their homeland and people.

If you like Minik, you might enjoy: S. Allen Counter’s North Pole Legacy: Black, White and Eskimo, Jennifer Owings Dewey’s Minik’s Story, Robert M. Bryce’s Cook & Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved.