Rebel Angels

by Libba Bray. New York: Dleacorte Press, c. 2005, pbk. 548 pages. ISBN 978-0-385-73341-0

Second book in the Gemma Doyle trilogy. It is near Christmastime and Gemma and her friends are looking forward to time away from Spence Academy. But their time of celebration is clouded by the dangers brought on by Gemma's recent actions in the Realms. Now the magic is loose and many are after its power. It is now up to Gemma to find the Temple and bind the magic to restore order to the Realms. But who can she trust when so many thirst for the power?

This book is a must read for fans of the first book, A Great and Terrible Beauty. Not only is this book full of mystery and fantasy, but Bray also gives the reader an opportunity to ponder racism, classism and the roles of women in Victorian England.

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

A Northern Light

Title: A Northern Light
Author: Jennifer Donnelly- Narrator: Mattie Gokey
Publication date: 2003
Number of pages: 396
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction
Geographical Setting: Adirondack Mountains (New York State), North Woods
Time Period: 1906
Series: N/A

Plot Summary: A talented and budding writer, Mattie Gokey has promised her dying mother that she will always take care of her father and younger siblings on the failing family farm. This entails her missing school often and possibly giving up her dreams of moving to New York City and studying to be a writer. She has the chance to save up money for her enrollment at Barnard College when she gets a summer job at a fancy hotel in the Adirondacks. Here she enjoys freedoms to live the life of a young woman but feels the pull from her family responsibilities and her new romance with the handsome Royal Loomis. Royal is not interested in her books and words but he has awakened feelings in Mattie which she has never experienced. When the body of hotel guest Grace Brown is found in the lake and her male companion missing, Mattie discovers the truth about Grace’s life and death in the letters she left with her.

Subject Headings: young adult, Adirondack Mountains, abortion, murder, first love, farm life, young motherhood, feminism, poverty, racism, family

Appeal: Named a Printz Honor Book by the ALA, author’s first young adult novel, historical details, struggle/suffering, hopeful

Similar Authors and Works (Fiction): Theodore Dreiser- An American Tragedy, novel was inspired by the Chester Gillette murder case.

Similar Authors and Works (Nonfiction): Grace Brown- Grace Brown’s Love Letters, the victim’s letters to her murderer (currently out of print).