The Graveyard Book

Author: Neil Gaiman
Illustrator: Dave Mckean
Year: 2008
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 320
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 2009 Newbery Medal, 2009 ALA Notable Books for Children, 2009 ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 2008 Horn Book Fanfare Award

Genre: Gothic fantasy
Location: A forgotten graveyard in Britain
Time Period: Present Day (2008)

Plot: When a baby boy hides in a graveyard while a man named Jack murders the rest of his family, the inhabitants of the graveyard agree to adopt him. They name him Nobody (Bod) Owens, and bestow on him the power of the graveyard, which allows him to fade from sight, walk through walls, and see in the dark. Bod spends the next fourteen years in the graveyard. He makes friends with the inhabitants, learns to read by deciphering gravestones, and learns English history from people who lived it. While Bod wants to learn all he can about the world, his not-quite-dead and not-quite-living guardian, Silas, warns him that the man Jack is still out there, searching for him. SPOILER! When Jack discovers where Bod is, he and his band, the Jacks of All Trades, infiltrate the graveyard. It will take all that Bod has learned and the help of all of his friends in the graveyard to defeat this mighty foe. However, when this is done Bod no longer needs the protection of the graveyard, and he is allowed to leave the graveyard and seek his fortune in the world.

Comments: I did something I don't normally do when I read—instead of actually reading the book, I listened to the book on CD, which is narrated by the author. Gaiman is a great storyteller, and it was fun to hear the story come to life in his telling of it. He gave different inflections to most of the characters in the book, sounding young and youthful whenever Bod spoke, ghostly and ethereal when a character from the graveyard spoke, and deep and harsh whenever the man Jack spoke. My favorite voice, however, what the Scottish accent Gaiman used whenever Bod's only living friend, Scarlet, was on the scene.

The story itself is interesting, and it grabs your attention from the very first sentence: "There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife." Although the wording and the setting are both dark and tense, Gaiman keeps this book light, allowing the reader to experience Bod's wonder and pleasure in the world around him. The book follows Bod's adventures as he grows up, and for awhile I wondered if the tense scene at the beginning with the man Jack would ever be referred to again. The time Gaiman takes in telling the story pays off, however, when Bod uses the knowledge he gained from almost every chapter before when the man Jack finally makes another appearance.

It's the small touches Gaiman adds to this book that really make it great. With every new character introduced, the epitaph on their gravestone is read. Bod is a precocious main character, and he learns life lessons that even adults will find interesting and applicable. Even though Bod is in a situation that would never really happen, it seems completely natural that a boy in this situation wouldn't find death scary or frightening at all, which makes the book more believable. Oddly enough, despite all that happens in this book, the scenario I had the most trouble accepting was that fact that Bod was allowed to leave the graveyard and seek his fortune at the young age of 15. This is a fact that will be appealing to younger readers, however, and it's not a hinderance to the story.

I really enjoyed this book. My only regret from having listened to the book instead of reading it is that I missed Mckean's dark, jagged drawings, a few of which I have seen and which I think would add just as much character and life as Gaiman's inflections added. I'll just have to read the book again, won't I?

Themes: Murder, Family, Definition of Home, Seeking one's Fortune, Destiny, Standing up for what you believe in.

Red Flags: Bod deals with bullies, Silas gets run over by a car (but that's okay, because he's not alive), the book contains (good) werewolves, goblins, ghouls, murderers, and other creepy things that go bump in the night.

Coraline

Author: Neil Gaiman
Illustrator: Dave McKean
Year: 2002
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 162
Reading Level: Young Adult

Awards: 2003 ALA Notable Children's Book, 2003 ALA Best Books for Young Adults

Movie Adaptation: Coraline

Genre: Suspense/Adventure/Horror
Location: A large house which has been renovated into apartments
Time Period: Present Day (2002)

Plot: When Coraline goes exploring in her new home, she finds a door that leads to nothing—the room behind it has been bricked up. However, weird things are happening, and Coraline is hearing strange noises coming from that door. When Coraline investigates, she finds that the door is suddenly not bricked up any more. Instead, what's behind it is an exact replica of her own house, only better and more exciting. An exact replica of Coraline's mother and father are there too, and they're happy to see her. There's just one problem. Coraline's Other Mother and Other Father and all of the other living beings in that world have black buttons for eyes. Coraline thinks this other world is wonderful, but in order to stay, she must replace her eyes with buttons too. SPOILER! When Coraline refuses the Other Mother's offer, the Other Mother takes revenge. She kidnaps Coraline's real parents, and is keeping them and the souls of other children she has captured in hidden places throughout the Other house. It is up to Coraline to find the souls of the other children and her parents before the Other Mother successfully steals Coraline's soul as well. With every soul Coraline finds, the Other Mother gets more and more vengeful. And when Coraline succeeds, she still must get through the bricked up door before she gets trapped in the Other World forever.

Comments: I have never read Alice in Wonderland, but this seems like a more menacing version of the Alice series. With that said, this may seem like an extremely terrifying book, but the scariness factor was mostly okay for me, and I don't do very well with scary. It obviously helped me that this is a horror book written for children, but I think older children should be fine with it as well. Coraline is definitely a braver, pluckier heroine than I would ever be, but that's the point. You have to be that strong when you are facing evil forces.

If this book was all about the scariness of the situation (see below for examples), I definitely would not have liked it. However, there were a few good morals/important points that helped me like the book and helped me see a point for the strangeness of it all:

1. Coraline realizes that the witch and the scary things around her don't really have any power. In the words of the book, the Other Mother "could only twist and copy and distort things that already existed" (p. 118).
2. Coraline realizes that giving in to the Other Mother will not make her happy: "I don't want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted? Just like that, and it didn't mean anything" (p. 120). Ah Coraline, you are so wise.
   

Themes: Importance of Family, Sticking up for What You Believe In, Confronting Fears, Learning that Immediate Happiness is not always the Best Kind of Happiness, Using Your Head to Think Through Problems

Red Flags: Battling a Witch, Humans turning into Blobs, Disappearing Parents, A Man who always has Rats up his Sleeves/Under his Hat, Sinister Plots, People with Buttons for Eyes, An Animate Yet Disembodied Hand Chasing Coraline. (For the Movie: A Claymation/Digital Lady who is Mostly Naked)

Genesis Alpha

Author: Rune Michaels
Year: 2007
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Pages: 193
Reading Level: Young Adult

Genre: Science Fiction/Mystery
Location: Anwhere, USA
Time Period: Present Day (2007) or very near future

Plot: When Josh was born, he saved Max's life. Max was dying from cancer, and in desperation, his parents turned to InVitro Fertilization. Josh was the fertilized egg whose DNA was the closest match to Max's. Josh was born, and the stem cells from his umbilical cord were injected into Max to cure him from the cancer. In Josh's mind, this makes him and Max more than brothers. Even though Max is now away at college, the two keep in touch by playing an online game every Saturday called Genesis Alpha. One Saturday when Max doesn't show up for their weekly game, Josh is blown over when he learns that Max has been arrested for raping and murdering a fellow college student. Suddenly, Josh is faced with large moral questions: Does he believe Max could have done such a horrible thing? If Max is guilty, is Josh also responsible for the girl's death since he saved Max's life all those years ago? Will Josh also turn out to be a killer since the two of them are so close both socially and genetically? SPOILER! Josh is forced to confront all of these questions when Rachel, the murdered girl's sister, shows up at Josh's house insisting that Max is guilty. Rachel and Josh find evidence that Max really did commit the murder. Then Josh finds out that he is not only a close DNA match to his brother, but he is actually an illegally made clone of his brother. Josh must come to terms with both of these revelations in order to realize that he and his brother are not the same person, and his fate is his own.

Comments: This psychological thriller is a real page-turner. I couldn't put it down. Michaels isn't afraid to ask some very hard questions, but she does so with morality that wouldn't keep me from recommending it to younger teenagers. I think young adults are curious about subjects such as cloning, nature versus nurture, destiny, morality, and many of the other issues Michaels brings up. Readers follow Josh on his moral quest through Josh's first person narration. The pace of the book was slightly slower than I expected, but it keeps the reader's attention. Josh is a very believable character, and his voice rings true. I had more trouble with believing Rachel would do some of the things she does, but her methods are definitely effective. Because of the red flags listed below, I wouldn't recommend this book to people who are especially squeamish, but I think young adults will appreciate the way Michaels brings up age-old questions with a modern-day twist.

Themes: Stem Cell Research, Cloning, Morality, Destiny, Social Gaming

Red Flags: Rachel cuts herself with a knife, rusty screws, and anything else she can find, but there isn't much description about it.

Victory

Author: Susan Cooper
Year: 2007
Publisher: Aladdin
Pages: 224
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 2007 National Social Studies Trade Book

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Historical Fiction
Location: Connecticut, England, H.M.S. Victory
Time Period: 1803-1806/Present Day (2006)

Plot: Molly Jennings is an English girl who lives in 2006, while Sam Robbins is a farm boy who was pressed into service on H.M.S. Victory back in 1803. Their stories are told simultaneously, and each character has a different yet similar problem to face. While Sam has to learn about the perils of life on the sea and is involved in the famous battle of Trafalgar, Molly also has to deal with homesickness and loneliness when she moves to Connecticut, where her new father's job is located. Molly and Sam's lives are connected when Molly finds Robert Southey's book Life of Nelson at a nautical souvenir shop. Pasted inside the cover of the book is a scrap of the flag that covered Lord Nelson's body after he died. Sam had been given that piece of flag, and passed it on to his children, who pasted it into the book. SPOILER! Molly and Sam's lives truly converge when Molly goes back to England for a week in an attempt to get over her homesickness. While there, her grandfather takes her to Portsmouth, where they take a tour of H.M.S. Victory. There, Molly reconnects with Sam and experiences through Sam's eyes the battle of Trafalgar and the death of Lord Nelson. Molly later discovers that the reason she had such a vivid experience is because she is actually a descendant of Sam's.

Comments: The idea of two people being connected through time is an interesting one, and Cooper does a good job of helping you feel the connection between these two individuals. I think this story would have worked just as well if Cooper had focused solely on Sam's experience aboard H.M.S. Victory, but the addition of Molly's story adds depth of feeling to the plot. The hard issues of death, war, and Molly's depression over her homesickness and her father's death, make this a book I wouldn't recommend to younger readers, but it might be an interesting way for older readers to learn about one of England's most famous battles.

Themes: Battle of Trafalgar, Sea Voyages, Homesickness, Separation from Loved Ones, Coping with Trauma

Red Flags: Description of Battle Scenes, Death, Description of Poverty in the 1800s, Extreme Homesickness

Hoot

Author: Carl Hiaasen
Year: 2002
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Pages: 292
Reading Level: Young Adult

Awards: 2003 Newbery Honor Book

Film Tie-ins: Hoot, New Line Cinema, 2007

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Location: Coconut Cove, Florida
Time Period: Present (2002)

Plot: Roy Eberhart has just moved to Coconut Cove, Florida, from his beloved Montana, and he's not enjoying the sunny weather or the warm temperatures. Instead, Roy is too busy dealing with being the new kid—again—and dealing with the school bully, Dana Matherson. One morning when Dana is terrorizing Roy on the bus, Roy notices a barefoot boy about his same age running in the opposite direction of the school bus. Intrigued, Roy is determined to figure out who this free spirit is. He follows the boy's tracks across town and stumbles across a problem much bigger than any bully—a Mother Paula's All-American House of Pancakes is being constructed in an area where some endangered burrowing owls have made their home. Roy, his new friend Mullet Fingers, and Mullet Fingers' sister Beatrice unite together to try to save the owls. SPOILER! Roy and his friends find a way to save the owls after getting media attention by holding a demonstration at the Mother Paula's groundbreaking ceremony. The public learns of the endangered owls and Mother Paula's is no longer allowed to build a pancake house in Coconut Cove.

Comments: My grade: B- It's always difficult to write a novel with a message without hitting the reader over the head with that message. For the most part, Hiaasen succeeds in writing a funny, engaging novel that gets the message of environmental protection across without being too preachy. My main complaint about the novel is that the characters are a little too black and white. The bad people are obviously bad and somewhat dim-witted, and the good people are good and smart and strong. This typecasting does make for some engaging reading and for some fun situations, but it may be a detraction to older audiences. Those who are bothered by overarching generalizations should be cautioned to skip the Epilogue, which details how all the bad guys got their comeuppance and how all the good guys were rewarded.

Themes: Bullies, Owls, Environmentalism, Franchises

Red Flags: Description of pranks involving poisonous or dangerous animals, Fist fights, Mooning

Breaking Dawn

Author: Stephenie Meyer
Year: 2008
Publisher: Little Brown
Pages: 760
Reading Level: Young Adult (12 and up)

Genre: Fantasy/Vampire/Young Adult
Series Information: Last book of the Twilight Saga (book #4)
Location: Forks, Washington
Time period: Present Day

Plot: In this last installment of the widely popular Twilight series, Bella Swan and Edward Cullen finally get married. SPOILER!: An unexpected honeymoon pregnancy puts Bella in danger when they find out that the baby is half vampire like Edward, and half human like Bella. In order to survive a hard labor, Bella must become a vampire, violating the treaty between Bella’s new vampire family and the local werewolf pack. The treaty is reinstated when Bella’s longtime werewolf friend (and the alpha leader of the pack), Jacob, imprints on Bella’s new baby daughter, Renesmee. But all is not well yet. The Volturi, the ruling family of the vampires, find out about Renesmee and come to destroy the child, thinking her to be an illegally created vampire baby. The Cullen family and the werewolves must band together once again to confront the Volturi. When the Volturi are finally convinced that Renesmee is harmless, they leave the new family alone, finally able to pursue their own version of happily ever after.

Comments: If I were to grade this book, I would give it a C. When I originally wrote this review a few weeks ago, I gave the reason I have used for every other book in the series: Meyer is a good storyteller, but she's not really a good writer. Also, there were a few elements of the story (for example, the mutant baby named after the Loch Ness Monster) that didn't really sit very well with me. That's not the main point, though. I agree with Publisher's Weekly's criticism of Breaking Dawn: "Essentially, everyone gets everything they want. . . . Nobody has to renounce anything or suffer more than temporarily." This is a good happily ever-after story, but there isn't much in the way of character development or growth.

Red Flags: This book spends a lot of time describing the passion Bella and Edward feel for each other. Although not explicit, the number of love scenes in the book makes it one that I would not recommend to most of the young adult readers (read: 12 year olds) who are fans of the series.