Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

Author: Beth Fantaskey
Year: 2009
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Pages: 351
Reading Level: Young Adult

Genre: Fantasy/Romance
Location: Pennsylvania and Romania
Time Period: Present Day (2009)

Plot: On the first day of her senior year, Jessica is surprised to meet Lucius Vladescu, the prince of a powerful Romanian vampire clan, who claims that Jessica is Antanasia, his betrothed vampire princess. A mathlete with an exceedingly rational mind raised by hippies, Jessica finds Lucius' claims hard to believe. She couldn't be a vampire princess--she doesn't even have fangs! Besides, what about Jake Zinn, the cute farm boy next door? As she gets to know Lucius, Jessica struggles with her budding attraction to him and with the idea that vampires are real. SPOILER! When Lucius is severely injured by a horse, Jessica sees Lucius healed by drinking blood. She can no longer deny that he's a vampire, and she can no longer deny that she cares for him. On seeing Jessica's reaction to his injuries, Lucius realizes that Jessica is too tender-hearted to be a vampire princess and that she would be an easy target for their enemies. He tries to push Jessica away in a number of ways: by dating the most popular girl at school, deciding he's not going to honor the betrothal, and eventually returning to Romania without her. Jessica, knowing the horrors that await Lucius if he returns to Romania without a bride (a war between his vampire clan and hers), follows Lucius to Romania. Jessica forces Lucius to acknowledge his love for her by proving that, although he is a ruthless vampire, he could never harm her.

Comments: I didn't realize how dark this book was until I started writing the plot down--and I skipped the attempt the high school kids make to stake Lucius. When I finished the book, my overall reaction was that it is one of the better Twilight knockoffs out there. Then, as I wrote this review, almost talked myself out of that idea.

As much as I liked the story's sense of humor and I liked the chemistry Jessica and Lucius share, there is the glaring problem of the fact that the Jessica/Lucius plot comes to a dead stop right in the middle of the book. I liked Lucius for the first 150 pages. I thought he had a good sense of humor (mostly revealed in his letters home) and I liked how his respect for Jessica actually encouraged her to have some respect for herself. Then, right in the middle, he declares that he's no longer interested in Jessica and thus starts 150 pages of Lucius being a jerk and Jessica trying to get him back. This sudden switch made the plot come to a screeching halt for me, and it took awhile to get going again.

Also, for some reason, some of the names were hard for me to read. I kept reading "Antanasia" as Anastasia. And Jessica's kind-of boyfriend, Jake Zinn, will always be Zake Jinn to me.

Despite the glaring plot problem, this may still be one of the better Twilight knockoffs out there. The writing is still smarter than most. The dialog is witty, and the characters are fleshed out. Lucius is funnier than Edward ever could be, and Jessica is much smarter and more self-confident than Bella. This book is also shorter, which is a mercy.

Red Flags: Some swearing, fighting, an attempt to stake a vampire, vampires biting each other.

Multicultural Elements: Lucius is a Romanian vampire.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Author: Salman Rushdie
Year: 1991
Publisher: Viking
Pages: 219
Reading Level: Young Adult

Awards: 1992 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature

Genre: Fantasy
Location: On Earth, in a city that has forgotten its name in the mythical country of Alifbay; Also, the mythical moon Kahani
Time Period: Once upon a time (but in the near past)

Plot: Rashid Khalifa is a storyteller who is so good at his craft that people clamor for his stories from miles around. However, when his wife leaves him and his son, Haroun, Rashid loses the will to tell another story. Alarmed, Haroun decides to go on a quest to restore his father's storytelling ability. With the help of the water genie Iff and his mechanical Hoopoe bird Butt, Haroun flies to the moon Kahani, where the source of all stories, the Ocean of the Streams of Story, is located. There, Haroun finds trouble is brewing. The evil villain Khattam-Shud is poisoning the streams of story, and plotting to put a stopper in the wellsprings of the ocean. Khattam-Shud has also captured Princess Batcheat, and he is threatening to sew up the lips of her and her rescuers in an attempt to rule the world and turn it into a place of eternal silence and darkness. It is up to Haroun and his friends to defeat Khattam-Shud before it becomes too late. SPOILER! Haroun and his friends succeed when Haroun manages to get the moon to start turning again, assuring that no one will ever be in complete darkness forever. Khattam-Shud's evil lairs of ice and shadow are ruined in the sunlight. Because Haroun has helped save Kahani, the people of Kahani offer Haroun a boon. He wishes for a happy ending, and arrives home to find that everyone is happy, Rashid's powers of storytelling have been rekindled, and Haroun's mother has come back home.

Comments: I read this book for book club, and it was interesting to see the different opinions people had about it. One person loved it. Another person couldn't stand the writing style. The book had many elements of a classic hero adventure tale, which is something I love, but I could see where the person who didn't like the book was coming from.

Rushdie's writing style is very epic and exotic. He frequently repeats the same idea three times in three different ways. For example, Rashid the storyteller is an Ocean of Notions, the Shah of Blah, given the Gift of Gab, etc. The repetition sets the tone of the story nicely, but it also has an edge of humor in it. This is, after all, designed as a child's tale. The humor can be somewhat off-putting because it is sometimes silly, but it is something that children should love.

This is a story that I think adults would appreciate too. Despite the sometimes silly humor and repetition, there are many layers of meaning to the story. What goes on in Kahani can be directly related to what is going on down on Earth below. The book also tries to raise the question, "what's the use of stories if they're not real?"

Haroun is a likeable character whose braveness is fueled by his love for his father and by his yearning for Rashid to be happy. Most of the other characters are somewhat cookie-cutter characters, but that works for this type of story.

I liked the story a lot, and I would recommend it to others. The ending left a little something to be desired because it all ended so suddenly and so neatly, but it is the classic happy ending that a tale of good vs. evil should have.

Themes: The power of Storytelling, Good vs. Evil

Red Flags: Haroun's mother leaves Rashid for the upstairs neighbor, who ends up being Khattam-Shud.

Multicultural Elements: Although this is a fairy tale, the characters and storytelling elements are very much influenced by an Indian/Asian storytelling influence.

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Author: Ally Carter
Year: 2006
Publisher: Hyperion
Pages: 284
Reading Level: Young Adult

Genre: Action/Adventure
Series Information: First of the Gallagher Girls novels
Location: The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women in Roseville, VA
Time Period: Present (2006)

Plot: Cammie Morgan is a second generation Gallagher Girl. She attends a top secret school for spies in Rosemont, Virginia. The residents of Rosemont think Gallagher is en elite private school for socialites, and they look down on anyone who goes there. When Cammie meets a cute town member named Josh while on a secret assignment, she can't tell him who she is. Josh likes Cammie because she not like any of the other girls at the local high school, and Cammie likes Josh because she gets to play the part of a normal girl instead of a genius spy in training. Things quickly get out of hand, however, and Cammie must decide where her loyalties truly lie: with her new boyfriend, or with her fellow classmates. SPOILER! Cammie eventually decides that she is tired of living a lie with Josh. She knows he won't like her if she tells him who she really is, so she decides to break up with him. She sneaks out of the school to talk to him, and is "kidnapped" in front of Josh by her covert operations teacher as part of the sophomore class final. Josh immediately tries to save Cammie, and learns the truth. The book ends with Cammie knowing that she truly belongs at the Gallagher Academy, but whether she and Josh can get back together remains uncertain. It is implied that Josh has been slipped a memory modification drug that will cause him not to remember the truth about Cammie.

Comments: This was a fun read. More adventure story than romance, teens will like the idea of a teenage spy who takes classes about how to blow things up instead of the usual subjects like art and history. The book has a good message as well: be true to yourself and your friends.

A book like this could be either very engrossing, or very badly written. The writing style was a little campy, but also fun and frivolous. Cammie, Josh, and Cammie's friends were all believable characters, even though they were put in unexpected and unfamiliar surroundings. An easy, light-hearted book that makes for great pleasure reading.

I did a little research on this book, and found that it's been optioned as a movie, so it may come out soon. The possible directors also directed The Princess Diaries and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which I believe are good read-alikes for this series.

Themes: Spies, First Love, Families, Friends, School, Being True to Yourself

Red Flags: None

The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak
Year: 2006
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Pages: 550
Reading Level: Young Adult

Awards: 2007 ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 2007 Book Sense Book of the Year Award, 2007 Michael L. Printz Honor, 2007 Ten Best Books for Young Adults, and many others

Genre: Historical Fiction/World War II
Location: Molching, Germany (just outside of Munich)
Time Period: 1930's and 40's (World War II)

Plot: On the way to stay with foster parents in Molching, Germany, Liesel Meminger's brother dies. Traumatized by the event, Liesel has a recurring nightmare about the incident. Liesel eventually learns to deal with her grief in a number of ways: She learns to read with the help of her step-father, Hans, and a select number of books she steals throughout the story. She becomes best friends with her next door neighbor, Rudy Steiner. She visits the mayor's wife, and learns of her story. When air raids come, she reads to her neighbors as they wait together in a bomb shelter. She makes fast friends with Max, a Jew her parents are hiding from the Nazis in their basement. Leisel then writes of all of these experiences in a journal, which Death later finds, reads, and relates to the reader. SPOILER! Leisel is up late one night, writing in her journal, when the street she lives on is hit in an air raid. Everyone who lives on the street dies except for Liesel, who is eventually reunited with Rudy's father and Max.

Comments: This book may look daunting, but the author writes in a very clipped, short style that makes the book easy to get through. I never consciously sat down to read this book. I read it in stolen moments, and got through a lot of it that way.

The idea of having Death as the narrator is an interesting one. Despite all of the red flags written below, this book didn't seem too gruesome to me. It is a war story, so that must be kept in mind, but Death tries to find a kind of poetry in the world around him that makes the concept easier to deal with. However, Death is also extremely snarky, and his dark sense of humor sometimes got a little old. Take the last line of the book: "I am haunted by humans."

The best part of this book was the characters. They all seemed very fleshed out and very real to me. Liesel's step-father is so loving and kind you want to give him a great big hug. Liesel's step-mother is the typical hard-shell-on-the-outside, warm-and-caring-on-the-inside person. And Liesel's best friend, Rudy Steiner, steals the show. I kept rooting for him to succeed, even though he kept getting beaten down. Even minor characters such as the lady down the street and the mayor's wife have endearing qualities. Liesel was a real person to me, but having Death as the narrator made her not as fleshed out as she could be. I wanted to hear the story in her voice.

Although I liked the tone of the book, as set by Death's strange little asides and jokes, I also found the writing style somewhat annoying. Death is not a good storyteller. He gives away major plot points 50 or 100 pages before you even want to know them, and when you do get to the critical part, it doesn't seem as momentous because he'd already told the main points of the story eons ago, and he doesn't repeat them.

Overall, I liked the book. I liked the message, I loved the characters, and for the most part, I liked the writing style. I just wish the narrator had built up the climax a little more.

Themes: World War II, Nazi Party, Jews, Stealing, Friendship, Love, Books, Standing up for what you believe in, Death

Red Flags: Profuse swearing (mostly in German, so you can't understand it); Description of some of the lighter effects of war--a man comes back from war with a bloody stump for a hand, bombings, air raids, plane crash, Death talks about all of the casualties of war he has to pick up, etc.; Emaciated Jews are forced to march through the city streets; Death describes his job; Stealing books, food, etc.; Bullies.

Multicultural Elements: Max is a German Jew.

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)

Chalice

Author: Robin McKinley
Year: 2008
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Pages: 263
Reading Level: Young Adult

Genre: Fantasy
Location: Willowlands
Time Period: Not specified

Plot: Mirasol was a simple beekeeper until the leaders of the country, called Master and Chalice, were killed in a violent fire. Suddenly, Mirasol's bees are making fountains and fountains of honey—a sign that Mirasol is the new Chalice, destined to protect the land and help keep it whole. This is not an easy task, especially since the next Master left Willowlands seven years ago to become a priest of fire, and therefore he is now more fire than human. The people are wary of their new Master, and others are considering revolting and finding a new one. Mirasol knows that losing another Master so soon would completely destroy Willowlands, and it is up to her to keep the land together, no matter what the cost.

Comments: Robin McKinley is one of the authors I keep track of. When a new book of hers comes out, I tend to read it without even looking to see if I'll like it first. I like her continued theme of strong female characters who have to embrace their true potential in order to save the country. Even in the strangest of circumstances, her characters are believable, and the world they inhabit is believable too.

There is one thing that is sometimes off-putting to me, however, and that is the fact that McKinley's writing style is very much a stream of consciousness. This sometimes leads to large tangents in the middle of conversations, and going in roundabout ways to make her point. This style is what makes the characters believable, but there are some times when I'm reading a book, and I just wish she would get to the point.

I kind of felt this way when I started reading Chalice, but when I finally sat down and read it and just relaxed into the story, it didn't matter as much. I think I like this book more than her last few offerings, but that might be because with this book she goes back to the fairy tale feel that her last two books were lacking. Beauty and The Blue Sword will probably always be my favorite Robin McKinley books, but this one is one of my top picks too.

Themes: Beekeepers, Monarchs, Duty, Fire

Red Flags: Nothing too graphic, but there is a light battle sequence and a description of a forest fire.

Spacer and Rat

Author: Margaret Bechard
Year: 2005
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Pages: 183
Reading Level: Young Adult

Awards: 2006 ALA Best Books for Young Adults

Genre: Science Fiction
Location: Freedom Station, an asteroid that has been colonized by humans located in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Time Period: Far Future, when Earth is too crowded an people move to other planets in an attempt to survive.

Plot: Jack is a Spacer, a person born and raised on the asteroid Freedom Station. Kit is a Rat, a child who now has to scrounge for food since her parents died and left her alone at Freedom Station on the voyage from Earth to the asteroid colony Seattle Prime. Rats are particularly frowned upon by the people living in Freedom Station, who believe that if a person is not contributing to their community, they are just wasting valuable resources. Jack wants nothing to do with Kit, but when his friends try to corner Kit and turn her in for a reward, he feels sorry for her and helps her escape. Suddenly Jack finds himself involved in a problem he never expected. Before Kit's dad died on the journey from Earth to Freedom Station, he created the first sentient robot, a robot who named himself Waldo. Now different warring factions are trying to steal Waldo, hoping to use his advanced technology to create the new ultimate weapon. Jack must help Kit and Waldo escape the authorities and find transportation to Seattle Prime, where a colleague of Kit's father lives, before it's too late. SPOILER! After many close calls and daring adventures, Jack, Kit, and Waldo discover that the colleague at Seattle Prime is actually the leader of one of the terrorist groups that is trying to kidnap Waldo to make the universe's next ultimate weapon. Unsure of where to go or how to hide, Waldo decides to go off on his own and try to create other sentient robots to form his own colony. Convinced that splitting up is the best way to go, Kit returns with Jack to Freedom Station, where she will try to find a job and wait until Waldo sends her word that he's safe.

Comments: As is common with many science fiction and fantasy novels, it sometimes takes a while for the author to explain the concept of the book and do a little "world building." Bechard does a good job of world building without making the text slow down too much, but I found all of the slang a bit hard to get used to, and each time I picked the book up it took me a bit to adjust to the rhythm enough to figure out what was going on. Who knew that "spam" would be a swear word in the far future? "True fact." Once I got into the story, however, the plot flowed nicely and it built up to a very satisfying and exciting chase scene in the climax. The ending was somewhat open-ended, which made me wonder if this book has a sequel planned. While the slang may be off-putting to some people, readers who enjoy science fiction will probably enjoy this book.

Themes: Space Colonies, Sentient Robots, New Technology, War, Learning to get to know people before you judge them.

Red Flags: Mild things: Breaking in to a store; Stealing; A lot of swearing, but not with words we consider swear words; Someone is shot, but it turns out they were just hit with a stun gun instead of an actual gun with bullets.

Uglies

Author: Scott Westerfeld
Year: 2005
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 425
Reading Level: Young Adult

Awards: 2006 ALA Best Books for Young Adults

Genre: Science Fiction
Series Information: First of the Uglies series
Location: The Smoke
Time Period: Unknown Future

Plot: Tally Youngblood can't wait until she turns sixteen. Then, she will undergo mandatory intensive plastic surgery and be able to go live with her best friend Peris, who lives in New Pretty Town. New Pretty Town is a suburb of the city where all the "New Pretties" live with only one goal in mind--to have fun. Then Tally meets Shay, a girl Tally's age who scorns the idea of living in the idealistic world of the Pretties. Instead of showing up for her mandatory operation, Shay runs off to join the people who live in "The Smoke." The people in The Smoke are in hiding, and the authorities want to hunt them down. One of the authorities (called the Specials), Dr. Cable, refuses to let Tally have her operation until she follows Shay into The Smoke wearing a tracking device that will allow Dr. Cable and the Specials to hunt Shay and her friends down. Tally does as she is told, but she becomes conflicted when she meets the people of The Smoke, especially a boy named David, and she hears their side of the story. SPOILER! According to David and his parents, a beautiful body is not the only thing you get when you go in for your mandatory operation at the age of sixteen. The doctors also create lesions in your mind so you don't question authority. Tally had decided that she wanted to stay in The Smoke, but when she accidentally sets off her tracking device and some, including Shay, are captured, and when she hears of the Specials' scheme, Tally volunteers to turn herself in and become a Pretty in an effort to help David and his family undermine the Specials from the inside.

Comments: Westerfeld raises up some interesting issues in this novel. What does a perfect society look like? What would it act like? Is it worth taking away people's free agency to create this society? One appealing thing about this novel is that these issues are present, but the characters and story are strong enough that they can stand alone and the novel is not too preachy. Tally is a little whiny for me, but she's also plucky and ready for adventure. I can see why this is such a popular series.

Themes: Image, Conformity, Utopian Societies, Big Brother Societies, Rebels

Red Flags: There is some violence, but it's not very graphic, Tally wanders into a sort of orgy garden when she's sneaking into the New Pretties' area, but nothing is described.

The Arrival

Author/Illustrator: Shaun Tan
Year: 2006
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Pages: 128
Reading Level: Young Adult

Awards: 2008 ALA Notable Book, 2007 New York Times Best Illustrated award, 2008 Ten Best Books for Young Adults, and many many others

Genre: Graphic Novel/Fantasy
Location: A new land
Time Period: late 1800s/early 1900s

Plot: A man travels by steamship to a new and exotic land, where the animals, food, words, currency, and almost everything else about the place are completely unfamiliar to him. SPOILER! With the help of friendly people and the companionship of an odd gilled animal that resembles half lizard half dog, the man builds a new life in the country, and sends for his family to join him there.

Comments: This wordless graphic novel was completely different from what I expected it to be. Tan captures the immigrant experience in a somewhat disturbing, surrealistic style, but that is how a person feels when they've moved to a strange new place. The pictures are absolutely beautiful. Depicted in rich sepias and dark blacks and grays, Tan even gives the book the feeling of an old photo album by making some pages look crumpled and mold-spotted, and by including cracks and tears in the pictures. It is obvious that he spent a lot of time on this book, and I appreciated the note he included in the back that talked about all the research he did and how he tried to model his pictures after old photographs of Ellis Island, the Titanic, and other subject-appropriate depictions of the past.

Themes: Immigration, Coping with Change, New Places, Oppression, Friendship

Red Flags: Disturbing images of what immigrants to the new country have left behind: a battlefield strewn with skeletons, large men who are setting the city on fire, long tentacled arms looming over a city.

Multicultural Elements: The main character is Caucasian, but he meets many different people from many different cultures.

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.

The Chocolate War

Author: Robert Cormier
Year: 1974
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Pages: 253
Reading Level: Young Adult

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Series Information: Sequel: Beyond the Chocolate War
Location: Trinity High School
Time Period: Present (1970's)

Plot: Jerry Renault is a new freshman at Trinity High School, a Catholic private school. The unofficial leader of the school is a gang called the Vigils. Headed by Archie Costello, the Vigils terrorize the underclassmen by forcing them to complete "assignments." When the school fundraiser comes up, Jerry is given his first assignment by the Vigils: refuse to sell chocolate for the first ten days of the fund raiser. Bristling under being forced to act a certain way, Jerry decides to take a stand for himself, and refuses to sell the chocolates at all, even after the ten day deadline is up. SPOILER! The Vigils (and Brother Leon, the unofficial head of the school) are not happy with Jerry's display of defiance, and they set out to break him. It all culminates in a scene where the entire school has turned out for a fight between Jerry and Emile, a pawn of the Vigils. Jerry loses the fight right as the teachers come and intervene. The Vigils have made their point that no one should cross them.

Comments: The Chocolate War is sexually explicit, contains offensive language, and is violent. No wonder the ALA Banned Books site lists The Chocolate War as the second most-contested book in the year 2007, and it is frequently high up on other frequently contested book lists as well! (You might have to scroll down a bit to see this). Oddly enough, of all of the complaints against the book, the thing that bothered me most about it was that the adults were condoning the Vigils' behavior. Brother Leon not only stood by and allowed the Vigils to terrorize Jerry, he actually encouraged it. Another upsetting part of the book was the ending, wherein SPOILER! the bad guys win. Instead of Jerry triumphing over evil, the book focuses on a theme written on a poster in Jerry's locker: "Do I dare disturb the universe?" Some teenagers might like this book for its psychological battle with this question. The book definitely did hold my attention through to the very end. Although they are nowhere near the same, this book reminded me of Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian in both voice and theme, but The Absolutely True Diary succeeds for me where this one fails because of its hopeful outlook on life.

Themes: Dealing with Loss, Gangs, School Fundraisers, Competitions

Red Flags: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence

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

Hatchet

Author: Gary Paulsen
Year: 1987
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster)
Pages: 195
Reading Level: Young Adult

Awards: 1988 Newbery Honor Book, Other Awards

Genre: Realistic Fiction/Adventure
Series Information: First book of the Brian Saga
Location: Canadian Wilderness
Time Period: Present Day (1987)

Plot: When the pilot of a two-seater plane suddenly has a heart attack and dies, Brian Robeson finds himself flying alone over the Canadian wilderness and unable to contact any help. He manages to land the plane in a lake, and is washed on shore with only the clothes on his back and the hatchet his mother gave him as a present a few hours before. For the first few days, Brian tries to do the absolute minimum to survive, convinced that a search and rescue team will come to his aid. As the days progress, however, Brian realizes that he is on his own and he learns to adapt to his new surroundings: creating a shelter, building a fire, making tools, finding food, and learning about his environment. SPOILER! A tornado runs through the area, ruining Brian's shelter and dragging the plane from the bottom of the lake to the shore. Careful to avoid the pilot's body, Brian goes through the contents of the plane in search of supplies. As Brian is rummaging through the things he found in the plane, he unknowingly trips an emergency transmitter that sends out a signal for help. Brian is rescued 54 days after he originally crashed.

Comments: This book was recommended to me by three different people over the course of one week. After reading it, I can see why. Every day, Brian has to fight for his life. He has to relearn how to do the simplest things—things we take for granted in today's society with today's technology. I'm not sure I could have lasted as long as Brian did, or that I could have figured out how to survive as well as he did.

I did have a few problems with the book, but they were very small:

1) I'm not sure this story could happen now, simply because of the strict airline codes of our post-9/11 world. Even though Brian is flying on a private two-seater plane, I'm not sure he would have been allowed to take a hatchet with him.

2) The "Secret" that Brian worries about isn't central to the plot, and never even gets resolved. I know Paulsen introduced the Secret as a means of showing that Brian is upset about his parents' divorce, but it's completely unnecessary and detracts from the survival theme of the book.These two problems are slight, however, and I don't think they should dissuade someone from reading this book. Suspend your belief in reality when you get to these parts and enjoy the ride—you'll be glad you did.

Themes: Survival, Divorce

Red Flags: Plane Crash, Description of Injuries, Instances of Peril, Dead Body

Does My Head Look Big in This?

Author: Randa Abdel-Fattah
Year: 2005
Publisher: Orchard Books
Pages: 360
Reading Level: Young Adult

Genre: Realistic Fiction/High School
Series Information: Not part of a series
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Time Period: Present (2005)

Plot: Eleventh grader Amal is an Australian-Palestinian who has decided to display her dedication to her faith by wearing the hijab full time. But how can she convince those around her that being true to the tenets of her faith does not mean she needs to be an outcast to society? How can she overcome the prejudices people have about her faith? On top of these issues, Amal has to deal with the regular problems any normal teenager has to deal with: school, boys, bullies, friends, parents, neighbors, self-image, and more. SPOILER! At the end of the year, Amal understands more about who she is, who she wants to become, and the role religion plays in her life.

Comments: Randa Abdel-Fattah had a hard job cut out for her: how does one write a novel about a girl dealing with her Muslim beliefs in a post-9/11 world without hitting readers over the head with this fact? Yet Abdel-Fattah succeeded in her goal admirably. While Amal does have to deal with prejudice, that is just one theme in the story. Greater themes include the value of friendship, discovering who you want to be, and chasing your dreams. I felt like I could relate with Amal on a number of issues, one of them even being the aspect of explaining (and sometimes defending) your beliefs to those who do not believe as you do. I also learned more about the Muslim culture, which would probably help readers remove fears about Muslims and their beliefs. This is a well-written book that I would recommend to both young adults and adults alike.

Themes: Religion, Muslim Culture, Friends, Self-Image, Growing Up

Red Flags: Family issues, Discussion of a woman's role in society, A girl running away from home, Discrimination, Smoking

Multicultural Elements: Australian, Muslim

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Author: Sherman Alexie
Illustrator: Ellen Forney
Year: 2007
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Pages: 230
Reading Level: Young Adult (grades 7-10)

Awards: 2008 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, 2007 National Book Award for Young People's Literature

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Series Information: Not part of a series
Location: Wellpinit, WA, an Indian reservation; and Reardan, WA
Time Period: Present Day (2007)

Plot: Arnold Spirit (a.k.a. Junior) lives on an Indian reservation in the Spokane, Washington area. When Arnold takes his teacher’s advice to transfer to a school that isn’t on the reservation, Arnold suddenly finds himself friendless and in a strange environment. The people on the reservation regard him as a traitor, while the people in his new school are unsure how to treat him. The book follows Arnold as he overcomes this challenge and many others, gains confidence in himself, and dares to make a better life for himself.

Comments: I began wondering what type of book I was reading when, ten pages into the book, Arnold described how his father had to shoot the family dog because he couldn’t afford to take it to the vet. Was this book going to be one of the most depressing things I had ever read? This book does continue on in a similar vein: Arnold’s best friend refuses to speak to him. The reservation turns against him when he transfers to a white school. People Arnold is close to die. Arnold even battles with himself in wondering if he is betraying his tribe by wanting more out of his life than they can give him. Yet, through it all, Arnold never gives up hope. He cracks jokes. He draws cartoons to deal with his grief. He makes friends and discovers new talents. It all combines to give a very realistic, heartwarming view of life that anyone can relate to. The illustrations in the story are also fun, and they help lighten the tension while helping the reader relate to and understand Arnold at the same time.

Because of the language in this book, I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. The narrator is a 14 year-old boy, and he shares many of his 14 year-old thoughts. However, those willing to deal with the language and subject matter will find a simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking tale that’s worth reading.

Themes: Friendship, Families, Overcoming Trials, Pursuing the American Dream

Red Flags: light Swearing, Drinking, Death, light Sexual References/Slang

Multicultural Elements: Native Americans

Here's to You, Rachel Robinson

Author: Judy Blume
Year: 1995
Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers
Pages: 196
Reading Level: Young Adult

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Series Information: Second book in the As Long As We're Together series
Location: New York and New Jersey
Time period: Present Day (1990s)

Plot: Rachel Robinson, a gifted seventh grader who is struggling to balance school and extracurricular activities, is horrified to find out that her brother Charles, with whom none of the family gets along, has been kicked out of the private boarding school he was sent to and is coming back home. The family seems to walk on pins and needles around Charles, unsure if he will get along with the family or remind them each of their flaws. SPOILER! A sort of truce is found when the family bonds on a trip to Ellis Island.

Comments: I’m not really sure what I think of this book. It brings up some good points and Judy Blume has done a good job depicting each of the characters in the book and the problems they face. This is a very realistic story. My main complaint is that I don’t think this story has a happy ending, or even an ending at all. Although Rachel, Charles, and her father have come to a sort of truce on the trip to Ellis Island, neither Rachel’s mother nor Rachel’s sister are present, which means the family is still going to face problems. Also like in real life, although Charles’ behavior is the main problem of the book, it is revealed that every member of the family is flawed and has issues that they need to overcome. If a real depiction of family life is what the reader is looking for, then this would be a good book to give them. Final grade: B

Red Flags: Brief mention of drug use, sneaking out of the house without parental permission

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.