Not just a flash in the pan: Vengeance Road, Erin Bowman

Vengeance Road
Erin Bowman
HMH Books for Young Readers, 2015
978-0544466388

You guys. It’s well documented by now that I’m a sucker for a cross-dressing, historically fiction-y, adventure with a twist of romance squeezed over the top novel. I’m looking at you, Bloody Jack, Song of the Lioness Quartet, and most recently, Gold Seer books (I read the second one; it was an awesome albeit at time crushing finale - read it!). The later is totally appropriate to end that aside with, because there’s a bit of a Western element to it, which ties nicely to this one, the truly, madly, deeply, Western you never knew you were missing.

Do Not Say Knope Thank You to Yes Please

Yes Please

Amy Poehler

Dey Street: New York, 2014

ISBN: 9780062268341

Yes, yes, I know it has been forevermanytrillion moons (that’s a real measure of time, I’ll have you know) since I last wrote some reviews.  Shame. Or not so much.  I’ve been busy, like, doing other librarian things like being a first year director, commuting, being lazy, whining about snow, being lazy, and eating, lazily.  As you can see, my dance card has been set to busy.  But one of my many goals this summer is to tell you all what you should read like my bossy spirit animals command you to (The Notorious RBG, Tami Taylor, Mrs. President, Missy Elliot, the real Mrs. President, etc.)  With no further adieu, yes, please, pull up a slice of couch and let me tell you all about a book I just finished reading roughly ten minutes ago, written by another of my favorite bossy lady spirit animals, Amy Poehler:

Half Bad, by Sally Green: Wholly Good

Half Bad

Sally Green

Viking: New York, 2014.

ISBN: 978-0670016785

ARC provided by publisher on NetGalley

Imagine a young British man with magical powers.  He is unique, monitored by his government for it, parentless, and disliked by most members of his family.  His name?  It's not Harry.  In this magical title, the grit is grittier, the dark darker, and the protagonist less of a crowd pleaser than in a certain other series about a young wizard.  Nathan a half code - the only person to have Black and White witch parentage.  He is consequently constantly monitored and tracked by the powerful White witches, whose ministry places ever tightening restrictions upon half codes.  In this England, White witches fear and hunt all Black witches.  Nathan's White witch mother is dead, and his at-large father is the most powerful Black witch alive.  As the edicts become more and more austere, Nathan is placed in a cage somewhere in the Welsh wilderness, and his family and the girl he loves - a forbidden White witch - punished for associating with him.  This gripping first in Green's new series is a start to finish, high stakes adrenaline rush, where good and evil aren't just that.  Thought it will appeal to fans of a certain other English wizard, it is much more gritty, crass, and violent, and is recommended to older teens and adults.  

Any more words seem unnecessary, and will slow you down in your quest to acquire and commence your magical reading experience.  It is one of the books I've most enjoyed reading in 2014.  You will not be able to put this one down.  Get at it, yesterday, team.

One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories, by BJ Novak

One More Thing
BJ Novak
Knopf: New York, 2014
ISBN: 978-0385351836

I don’t read a lot of short stories, for no other reason, I suppose than it not being habit, though I do appreciate a shorter format every now and then.  When I came upon BJ Novak’s book, I knew I had to give it a crack.  This is the guy who wrote for The Office, after all!  Plus – we’re from the same hometown (badass Newton, Mass.)  Now, bear with for a moment.  Though I totally loved reading this book,  I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to having moments I did not totally love, due to Novaks occasional moments of awkward cringe and wince humor, much like on The Office.  The stories in this book are truly zeigeist works.  Novak aptly embraces and skewers a whole American generation (as well as those generations on both sides) – which perhaps causes those awkward, hard, societally introspective looks that caused me to wince in recognition. His stories entertain as he speaks truth through fiction, and he explores what seem to be generationally pervasive themes like hopefulness, dissatisfaction, selfishness, altruism, searching for self and love, the precarious balance between apathy and excitement, and the pervasive obsession with socializing through the Internet.  

Roomies, by Tara Altebrando and Sarah Zarr: Minifridge vs. Microwave - let the negotiations begin!

Roomies
by Tara Altebrando and Sarah Zarr
Little Brown: New York, 2013
ISBN: 9780316217491
ARC reviewed provided by publisher

The summer before you go to college is a big one – you’ve got to pack your room up, say goodbye to your oldest friends, leave your childhood behind, and you’ve got to figure out which roommate is going to bring the mini-fridge.  Elizabeth and Lauren are about to start their freshman year at UC Berkley and have received the news that they will be roommates.  Elizabeth reaches out to Lauren, and the girls strike up a conversation that spans the course of a summer that is filled with personal growth, the challenges of change in family ties and childhood friendships, the increasing complexities of adult decisions (and not just about that minifridge), and romance.  Though they’ve never met, they rely on each other to get through it all – nervous as they are about their own burgeoning friendship not working out.  This is a strong recommendation for adult female readers for the nostalgic reasons (remember when?) and for high schoolers looking to make their own leap into the vast world of college roomie-dom (or college kids in it!)!

This is such a fun book you guys.  I really enjoyed reading it!  There’ s a lot to love as a book pusher for teens (the frank way old bonds get tested by new challenges, how its okay to realize you may not be bff’s forever, interracial dating, dating, sex, complex family decisions, parenting your parent, etc. etc.), but there’s also a lot of just sheer enjoyment of walking down memory lane.  I mean, many of us went to college/university, and many of us can recall the nervous feeling you had when you found out who your roommie was going to be – let alone if they’d be a friend!  It’s a fun exploration of a really pivotal time of life.   

Two thumbs up – and a great gift idea for that high school senior in your life if you are last minute holiday shopping…

Swamplandia, by Karen Russell: Even alligator wrestlers grow up

Swamplandia!
Karen Russell
Vintage Books: New York, 2011
ISBN: 9780307276681

The indomitable Bigtree family has owned and operated Swamplandia!, an alligator wrestling amusement park in the Everglades for decades.  But changes come, as they must, when Hillola Bigtree, matriarch of the current tribe, dies suddenly of cancer, leaving her husband the Chief and their three teenage children, Kiwi, Osceola and Ava to continue running the fading park.  Kiwi, self-proclaimed genius, runs away to the mainland to work for the rival amusement park, ostensibly in the hopes of paying down the mounting debts of Swamplandia!, while Ossie becomes obsessed with the spirit world, convinced she can commune with her ghostly boyfriends.  Chief Bigtree heads to the mainland for an extended business trip leaving Ava and Ossie to run things in his absence.  Meanwhile, Ava, the baby of the family, struggles to accept her mothers death and to understand Ossie.  When Ossie runs away to elope with the ghostly Dredgeman, Ava sets out on a journey to save her that will challenge them all.  Part coming of age tale and part quest, to say this work sparkles with gorgeous descriptive language and crushes you with the sadness of a childhood ending is a vast understatement of Russell's considerable talent as an author.  A Pulitzer Prize finalist, the work is strongly recommended for older high school aged teens and adults for content, complexity in language, and some adult themes.

Quintana of Charyn, by Melina Marchetta: Can't we all just get along? Call me, maybe?

Quintana of Charyn (The Lumatere Chronicles)
Melina Marchetta
Candlewick: Somerville, 2013. 
ISBN: 9780763658359 (ARC reviewed)
Available in the USA/Canada April 23, 2013. 

When last we left them, the titular characters in Melina Marchetta’s Chronicles of Lumatere trilogy had left their readers on the edge of a gravina (aka a cliff). Not literally – it was just the bestworst kind of cliffhanger.  What a way to leave the readers hanging, with our two favorite nations, Charyn and Lumatere, on the verge of letting misunderstanding and deep-seeded grudges steer them in a course of hasty war!   We pick up where we left off, and though the action thankfully shifts, there are several dozen pages of will or won’t they agony, coupled with the fear of the survival of both Froi and Quintana.  All these important questions, plus some you didn’t even realize you had, are summed up in Marchetta’s presumptive finale to the series.  Characters travel great distances, searching for answers and for each other, and prejudices and fears must be tested and unlearned.  Politics, family, forgiveness, and love are the powerful and pensive themes in this title.  Though the course is agonizing, and to go into detail would be to spoil SO many of the myraid plot points, Quintana of Charyn is a deeply satisfying read.  Deep breathing technique practice is optional, yet encouraged.  It is a strongly recommended book for older teens and adult readers, and for all libraries with a vested interest in smart, well-crafted fantasy.  If you own the first two and are reconsidering, what are you, monsters?  

The Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson

The Name of the Star
by Maureen Johnson
New York: Putnam Juvenile
ARC reviewed; publishing date 9/29/11 

Rory Deveaux is spending her senior year at a posh London boarding school in this supernatural series from Maureen Johnson.  If adapting to a new boarding school and country isn’t hard enough, someone is precisely reinacting all the Jack the Ripper murders, down to the date, time, and method, and modern-day London is hooked.  Sneaking out with her roommate to another dorm, Rory becomes the only witness to have seen and talked to the prime suspect, despite not having been alone at the time.  With a romantic prospect and new friendships on the horizon, the last thing Rory needs is to be seeing people that aren’t there.  Is Rory going crazy?  Who is the modern-day Ripper? And more importantly, is he coming for her next?   Fans of Johnson will not be disappointed.  While there is some drinking in this book (legal in the UK), it is filled with great historical details about the original crimes.  More importantly, it serves as a thoughtful look at modern media sensationalism.  This is an imaginative and fun thriller, best suited for high school aged teens. 

Book Talk Hook:  Read the original facts of the case “On the X of September, 18XX, so and so was brutally murdered etc. On the X of October,  ditto, etc. etc.  The most famous unsolved crime ever was committed and the legend of Jack the Ripper was born.  On the X of September, 2011 , so and so was brutally murdered etc.”  Then give a tiny summary of the book.  The facts of the case really do the selling for you.  Methinks you won’t have to do too much convincing, especially for Johnson fans.

Jasper Jones, by Craig Silvey: Australian YA for the win, rave #4320

Jasper Jones

by Craig Silvey

New York: Alfred A. Knopf

ISBN: 978-0-375-866661

Thirteen-year-old Charlie Bucktin is sick of his small Australian town and looking forward to spend his summer writing and hanging out with his best friend. However, the moment he awakens from a midnight knock on his window and opens it to find the local teenage pariah Jasper Jones seeking his help, his plans and life derail. Charlie, not wanting to seem immature, agrees and climbs of out the window into the night.  In doing so, he becomes privy to Jasper's horrible discovery: a body hanging from a giant hollow eucalyptis in the isolated grove that Jasper hides in when his alcoholic father gets to be too much.  To protect Jasper from taking the blame for a crime he did not commit, the boys hide the body, vowing to find the killer on their own.  Holding onto this unspeakable knowledge, Charlie is catapulted too soon into adulthood in a town filled with fear, racism, and finger pointing, experiencing first love and the agony of both keeping secret this terrible and unraveling a few more in the process.  This timeless coming of age tale is haunting, and charged with emotion, humor, and the unbearable sadness of growing up and away your own childhood.  Skillfully written, this novel often operates from very nostalgic, almost adult voice, and is strongly recommended to teens grades 9-12 who will best understand this way of thinking. 

Book Talk Hook:  Summarize the sitch.  Then ask what they would do.  If you have AV capabilities (are we still calling it that?), show the below book trailer to do the dirty for you. 

Okay, peoples.  Maybe it is the fear of imminent death due to everything being poisonous that prompts Aussie authors of YA to write like every book is their last, best, book.  Maybe there is something in the Australian water.  I like the first explanation best.  Irregardless.  I know I rave about it a bit, but the YA coming out of Australia is just so. so. good. you. guys.   Jasper Jones, by Craig Silvey is no exception to this rule.   But enough with my Aussieloveparade.  I also think that the book trailer for this movie is one of the best, if not the best I've ever seen:

This book.  Is seriously fantastic.  After moping my way through Monsters of Men being horribly overlooked for American awards this past year, I don't know if I'll be able to contain my rage if this one doesn't get any nods stateside.  Seriously.  Let me tell you all the reasons I scribbled down illedgibly on a post-it while reading it to remember exactly what captivated me about it:  

No and Me, by Delphine de Vigan: Sacre bleu my mind with a translation done right!

No and Me
by Delphine de Vigan  (Translated by George Miller)
New York: Bloomsbury, 2010
 ISBN: 978-1-59990-479-5

 Precocious and bright Parisian thirteen-year old Lou is both intelligent enough to have skipped several grades and to realize that she is less mature than her older classmates.   Scientifically minded but shy, Lou panics when forced to publicly announce her plans for a class presentation and announces she will be interviewing a homeless woman, though she knows no homeless people.   Lou takes to the task like one of her scientific product tests, and soon has found her subject: No, a homeless young woman she meets at the train station.   No, and the interviews with her, open Lou's eyes to the heartbreaking world of the homeless that is hidden in plain sight as she comes to realize, visible only to those who choose to see it.   Having suffered a family loss, Lou's mother has been recovering from a deep depression for years, leaving just her often busy father to care for her, thus opening the door for naive Lou to throw herself into what becomes a near scientific obsession with trying to save No, going so far as to convince her parents to let No move in and get back on her feet.  As one may suspect, things don't go exactly as planned, but while there are some hard lessons learned and Lou's childish naivete is shattered, this gorgeously translated, thoughtful, and carefully constructed novel does not fall into cliches and is a testament in many ways to the qualities of hope, perseverance, and unflinching love.  It is strongly recommended for all collections, teens mature enough to understand the complexity of the issues (grades 8-12) and would be an easy sell to many adults as well.  

Remember when I went on and on about how I thought the translation of The Invisible was...okay?  Well, THIS, my friends, is a translation done right.  The language is gorgeous and moving, almost melodic.  As a former language major, I can assure and reassure you that translating words is easy - translating the feelings and emotions behind them and maintaining the original beauty is a tremendously difficult thing to do.   Behold:

 Sometimes I leave her there, in front of an empty beer glass.  I get up, sit down again, hang around, try to find something to comfort her.  I can't find the words.  I don't manage to go.  She looks down and says nothing.

And our silence is filled with all the world's impotence.  Our silence is like the return to the origin of things, their true state. (51)

I mean, DAY-YUM, shiver me timbers.  That's some weighty prose for a book marketed to kids.  That's not even the best of it; I'm just too lazy to search for more.  Mad snaps for George Miller, who has made me want to learn French just to read this in the original too!  But regardless, this book is wonderful because it takes what could turn into a totally cliched everyone's-feeling-sadface story (homelessness, depression, awkward teenage years, feelings of abandonment all around) and doesn't do exactly what you would expect with it in all cases.  Yes, it is not a "we saved a homeless girl, high fives all around" happy ending.  Unless you are possibly a teenager reading this, you realize there is more going on with why No is homeless than just that she has no home and nobody to care for her.  It's easy enough to spot how Lou is both scientifically obsessed with finding a cure for homelessness, starting with Lou, and how No is also filling an emotional void in Lou's life, left when her infant sister passed away and her mother disappeared into a very serious and long lasting depression.  Part of growing up, though, is realizing that not everyone wants to or can be rescued; as de Vigan says "things are always more complicated than they seem," (72).  Despite the potential to tie this story up with a shiny ribbon (and Lordy, Lordy, do I like things tied up), I found the "there is no one solution to this problem" ending quite satisfying, even refreshing because it recognizes that there is no one simple solution to a huge societal problem, but that it is one that we cannot ignore.  Perhaps my favorite passage in the whole book sums this one up, one which both foreshadows what Lou already may know in her heart and yet doesn't realize due to her youth:

Dogs can get taken in, but the homeless can't.  I thought to myself that if everyone took in a homeless person, if everyone decided to look after just one person,  to help him and be with him, perhaps there'd be fewer of them in the streets.  My father told me that wouldn't work.  Things are always more complicated than they seem.  Things are what they are, and there are lots of things you can't do anything about.  You probably have to accept that if you want to become an adult.  We can send supersonic planes and rockets into space, and identify a criminal from a hair or a tiny flake of skin, and grow a tomato we can keep in the fridge for three weeks without getting a wrinkle, and store millions of pieces of information on a tiny chip.  Yet we're capable of letting people die in the street. (71-72)

Double DAY-YUM.  Doesn't the optimism and teenage idealism just shank you right in the heart?  Don't you want the solution to be so simple?  And when you put it in those terms, it really is bananas that there is no solution, until, as Lou points out (and learns), you realize as an adult (or really with-it teen) that there are more factors in play than just the obvious problem.  This book takes what is at best a complex, philosophical, societal, moral, ethical, insert a few more descriptive words in here, problem and presents a story that is moving, yet not preachy, and more importantly, frames it in a way that is accessible without dumbing it down or pretending that there is an easy solution.  Well played, Delphine de Vigan! I will certainly be adding this to my collection and encourage all libraries, especially those serving privileged kids, to do so as well.

The Piper's Son, by Melina Marchetta: Down Under Down-to-Upper

The Piper's Son, 
Melina Marchetta (ARC - Official release March 2011).
Candlewick: Boston. ISBN 978-0-7636-4758-2

In this follow up to Saving Francesca, five years have passed since Thomas Mackee became friends with Frankie Spinelli and the other girls from St. Sebastians. Following the tragic death of his uncle in the London terrorist attacks and subsequent implosion of his family, Tom has grown apart from the group in a downward spiral of self-medication and self-loathing. Kicked out of his apartment, Tom moves in with his single, pregnant aunt Georgie, equally distraught over the death of her brother and fighting her own demons. Tom can’t forget his feelings for one of the girls in particular, or forgive himself for how he left things with her. But just as Tom starts to get back on his feet, working in a pub and playing music with his old friends, his alcoholic father returns and moves into Georgie’s too, and Tom and Georgie are forced to face some of their demons and try to move forward. This beautifully written story is much more adult than Marchetta’s earlier works, if only because our protagonists themselves are adults. Her themes of love, friendship, forgiveness, and recovery are prevalent but don’t feel forced. She has crafted a gorgeously tangible tragicomic world with realistically troubled but inherently lovable characters. Best for older teens and adults. Can be read as a stand-alone, but having read Saving Francesca makes the change in Tom all the more poignant.

And now I gush: This book is bloody brilliant. I mean, pretty much everything Melina Marchetta has written falls into the bloody brilliant family. But my gosh. It is gorgeous, filled with comedy, rage, fear, heartbreak, and ultimately love at the heart of it all. This story doesn’t feel phony or even plotted, nor do the personal tragedies large (London terrorist attack, Vietnam, cheating, out of wedlock kids) and small feel contrived as plot devices to make us emote. Rather, it’s as though these characters are really out there, wandering the streets of Sydney, pulling pints at the pub, playing music, taking their kids to the park, going grocery shopping. It makes my heart sing, and makes me want to call up my friends and tell them how wonderful they are, and then get them to read this book so we can talk about it. You might say I loved it, and you might be right. Fans of some of Marchetta’s earlier stuff will enjoy a squee-worthy shout out to a certain other book. I totally did a reading triple take, and then proceeded to giggle for about ten minutes. Loved it! There really isn’t much else to say, except please keep writing, Melina Marchetta. I will keep reading for as long as you keep writing. And then I will keep foisting your books off on others in the hopes that they will love your books as much as I do. It’s a win win for both of us! Also, if you come to Boston to promote this book, my fangirl heart may not survive the excitement. BUT DO IT ANYWAYS. I cannot wait to make this book a member of my super cool First Editions Shelf. March 2011, you cannot come soon enough!

* As an afterthought three days after writing this, I'd like to give some serious kudos to Melina Marchetta for what she's done here. As much as I love revisiting old characters, I'd rather revisit said old characters in a completely new context. Sure, it felt lovely that we get to know that Frankie & family are great, the girls are all doing well, and that the boys minus Trombal are not so great. Sad face. BUT. Well played on not rehashing every little thing, constructing a completely new story, showing that theirs is a friendship that lasts the test of time, and giving us even more closure. The only thing remaining unsorted is Jimmy Hallier. What's up with him? DO I SMELL A SEQUEL TO THE SEQUEL (pleaseohpleaseohplease?)??