Tag Archives: young adult

Holes by Louis Sachar

Posted by melydia on August 26, 2010 1 comments

Holes by Louis Sachar: Stanley Yelnats is wrongfully convicted of shoe theft and sent to a juvenile detention camp to dig holes in a dry lake bed. Little does he realize, but he is about to be caught up on intertwining stories spanning several generations of his family and friends. Though I figured out how it would end early on, I still had lots of fun getting there. I loved how neatly everything tied together and how realistic most of the characters were, despite their rather silly names, like Armpit and Mr. Sir. I’m not surprised this won so many awards – it does a good job of storytelling without unnecessary conflict or controversy. Thumbs up.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Posted by melydia on August 24, 2010 1 comments

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry: It’s interesting how many novels about the Nazis are written from the point of view of a child. This is no exception: Annemarie is a 10-year-old girl living in 1943 Copenhagen, which Germany invaded years before. Her best friend Ellen is a Jew, and one day her parents flee to avoid “relocation.” Annemarie’s parents take in Ellen and have her pose as their daughter. There’s quite a bit of tension every time the Nazis show up; I doubt I could have been that calm in the face of such danger at that age. Don’t skip the afterword, which explains what parts of the book were based in fact; a surprising amount of details and twists turn out not to be just clever literary devices. It’s a good glimpse of history, and unlike most books written about this time period, I didn’t cry even once. Which was a nice change.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Posted by melydia on August 23, 2010 4 comments

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt: Winnie Foster meets the Tucks, a family accidentally made immortal by a strange spring in the forest. I’m always interested in stories about immortality. Many of the common motifs involve the ability to be killed (Highlander, vampires) or stipulate that the immortality is only as long as the individual is rejuvenated with some sort of elixir of life. Here, the Tucks not only don’t age or get sick, they cannot be killed. Drinking from the spring is completely irreversible, and they will be around until the end of time. Which is a pretty scary prospect, if you think about it, and the dilemma is handled well here. The ending is bittersweet and satisfying. Now I want to go find a toad of my own.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Posted by melydia on August 18, 2010 None comments

Looking for Alaska by John Green: Miles is the new kid at Culver Creek boarding school where he meets the alluring, mysterious, and infuriating Alaska Young and instantly falls for her. The story follows his junior year, with each chapter titled “[such-and-such] Days Before.” This is actually a good technique, because it prepares the reader for The Pivotal Event. I actually predicted it during the second chapter, but knowing what was coming did not detract from its impact. And even with the sad bits, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Miles and his friends drink, swear, smoke, have sex, and pull pranks – in other words, they’re real teenagers. I loved them all, but had a bit of a crush on The Colonel. Part of me wishes I’d read this when I was a teenager (though of course it wasn’t written yet), but the rest of me is glad I got to read it at all. I’m so glad a friend of mine recommended Green (read: shoved the book into my hands). I’ll definitely be seeking out his other works. His characters are so funny, likable, and most importantly real that I just don’t want to let them go, and I’m always ready to meet more of them.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld

Posted by melydia on July 22, 2010 None comments

The Secret Hour (Midnighters #1) by Scott Westerfeld: In Bixby, Oklahoma, time stops for an hour at midnight every night (though how they know it’s exactly an hour isn’t clear). Only a handful of teenagers experience this “secret hour” and treat it like their personal playground – until Jessica Day shows up and turns the whole thing on its head. Suddenly it’s dangerous, and the “slithers” and “darklings” that used to leave people alone are attacking en masse. Each person has their own special power, and much of the book is spent attempting to discern Jessica’s. I enjoyed this one. It’s the first of a trilogy, but there’s still a decently satisfying end while keeping the way open for more story. I would read the other books were I to find them.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Leaving Fishers by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Posted by melydia on July 19, 2010 None comments

Leaving Fishers by Margaret Peterson Haddix: A teenager named Dorry gets sucked into a religious cult, and eventually leaves. (That’s not a spoiler, given the title of the book.) It was reasonably interesting, but the cult wasn’t very believable. It starts as something akin to Campus Crusade for Christ and then suddenly it’s all fake and dangerous and even criminal. There’s too little build-up, and too little frank discussion of religion. I suppose the author was trying not to offend anyone, but the tip-toeing around certain passages of scripture was a little frustrating. I will say that I liked Angela, even if she was a tad over the top to be truly scary. All in all, it was a decent way to pass the time, but not something I’d necessarily recommend to anybody.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Posted by melydia on June 8, 2010 None comments

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton: Ponyboy Curtis is a Greaser, a member of a gang, an enemy of the Socs (short for Socials). I kind of wish I’d read this back in middle school before I’d encountered a hundred other stories just like it. The rival social groups, the brawling that goes too far, and even the killing off of characters rather than having them face the difficult (and potentially interesting) consequences of their actions – nothing came as a surprise. It’s even told from the point of view of the character who is unusually smart and bookish, a stereotype which detracts a bit from the realism for me. I understand why this shortcut is so often taken by authors (who are often smart and bookish) to elicit sympathy from the reader (who is also often smart and bookish), but I would have rather heard from Soda or even Two-Bit, Greasers who were more participants than observers. The teenager narrative voice is realistic, which is kind of to be expected considering how much has been made of the fact that the author was only 16 when she wrote it. I’m not saying this is a bad book – far from it. It’s certainly something I would recommend to young adults. I just felt like I’d read it before, that’s all.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Fire Within by Chris D’Lacey

Posted by melydia on April 30, 2010 None comments

The Fire Within by Chris D’Lacey: David rents a room with a somewhat eccentric potter and her young daughter who is obsessed with squirrels. The back of this book talks about dragons at great length, but there’s far more about squirrels than dragons in this brief novel. Which is fine, since I like squirrels. The dragons in question – small ceramic creations that made me think of Pocket Dragons – were pretty predictable, but charming nonetheless. I wonder if the subsequent books in this series explain why all the dragons had names that started with G. Anyway, I’m rambling. In short, this would be a nice book for a younger reader. I found it to be pretty generic overall.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant

Posted by melydia on March 31, 2010 None comments

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant: I’d heard this movie was pretty bad, but when you’re on a fourteen-hour flight your movie-watching standards tend to go through the floor. But you know, it was actually a lot better than I’d feared. Two teenage best friends – one the perfect son and student, the other a trouble-making son of drunken and abusive parents – attend a freak show called Cirque du Freak. The perfect kid is obsessed with spiders; the troublemaker is obsessed with vampires. This isn’t brought up early enough in the film, and is in fact presented like an “oh by the way” to explain things that have already happened. Anyway, spiderboy steals freakshow spider, spider bites vampireboy, spiderboy has to make a deal with vampire to save vampireboy, serious rift forms between spiderboy and vampireboy. What saves this from sinking into cliche hell is that it is extremely self-aware. The teenagers and the freaks all know about horror movie stereotypes, and make some great comments that save the moment from turning to complete melodrama. The only unforgivably silly element is the vamp factions: the ones who drink blood without killing people are called vampires, and the ones who kill their victims are called vampaneze. Yes, it’s true to the book, but every time they said it I was all, “Really? I mean, really?” So while it was more than entertaining enough for a long flight, it’s not the sort of thing I would go out and rent. I am, however, interested in reading the books now.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Posted by melydia on March 2, 2010 2 comments

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan: The paths of two teenagers, both named Will Grayson, cross one fateful night. Their stories are told in alternating chapters, and their personalities (and writing styles) are different enough that it’s easy to keep track of who’s narrating. But despite the title and narrators, this book is in many ways more about the larger-than-life Tiny Cooper and his struggles with identity, love, and musical theater. I loved and empathized with all the characters. I was at times horrified and delighted at the various twists and turns in the plot, always wanting more more more. And this is one book I wish came with a soundtrack so I can actually hear all the songs in Tiny Dancer/Hold Me Closer. In short, I was completely and utterly sucked in. This was my gym book – that is, the book that lived in my gym bag to be read while on the exercise bike – and I found that I didn’t want to get off the bike when my thirty minutes were up. Now that, my friend, is the mark of an engrossing book. I’ve already added pretty much the entire combined catalogs of Green and Levithan to my wish list, and I hope fervently that they write another book together. Highly recommended.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

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