The Wee Free Men

In the Chalk, the sheepherding country of the Discworld, nine-year-old Tiffany Aching knows she wants to be a witch. Just in time, too. Since her Granny Aching died, the Queen of Fairyland has been testing the borders between their worlds, and will soon grow bolder without a local to protect it. Tiffany doesn’t know if she’s got the right skills, but when her brother is stolen, she has to get him back – even if she doesn’t like him much – because he belongs to her. She soon meets the Nac Mac Feegle (the Wee Free Men of the title), who have adopted her as their new “hag.” The Feegles are red-haired, blue-skinned, 6-inch high men who know what they do best: “stealin’ an’ drinkin’ an’ fightin’!” Though they have many amusing battle cries, their most common is “Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna be fooled again!” Short on complex thought but big on loyalty to the local hag (an’ stealin’ an’ drinkin’ an’ fightin’), the Feegles agree to help Tiffany find her brother. Although their help is invaluable, Tiffany comes into her own and is able to retrieve what she seeks and learns quite a bit about being a witch on the way. (It often has to do with noticing things other people miss!)

As a longtime fan of Pratchett’s adult Discworld novels, I was more than pleased with this story, which was published as a teen book. It is a less aggressive but lovely introduction to Pratchett’s work, full of fun with commonly held concepts (why does the witch have to be wicked?) and wordplay. I’m looking forward to the next two books that follow Tiffany and the Feegles, A Hat Full of Sky and Wintersmith.

Keys to the Kingdom series

Garth Nix is amazing. I'm not sure how he does it, but I thoroughly enjoy and am glued to any of his books I happen to pick up. Long ago, I read the Abhorsen trilogy on my brother’s recommendation, and it has become a favorite. Late last year, I started Nix’s other YA series, The Keys to the Kingdom. It had been written for a slightly younger audience, I believe, but is just as gripping.

Arthur Penhaligon is new at his school, and is reluctant to push the issue of his asthma with the pushy gym instructor, and so begins the cross country run planned for the day. Unfortunately, his lungs simply cannot keep up and an attack begins. Close to death, Arthur sees two strangely dressed men – one of which hands over “the key” to make him the “rightful heir.” Arthur’s life is saved, though, when two friendly classmates help him use his inhaler and call for medical help. The men have been thwarted – they meant only to hand over the key until Arthur died, then take it back. Arthur learns that the man who gave him the key is the slothful Mister Monday, one of seven trustees of the House which rests in reality, while Earth and the countless other Secondary Realms are outside it. Monday and the rest of the Morrow Day trustees have broken apart the written manifestation of the Architect’s Will, and Arthur must defeat each of them to set things right and stop the denizens of the House interfering in the affairs of the Secondary Realms.

Fantasy reviews are so difficult to do – there is an entire mythology behind every one that includes vocabulary and ideas that work with gradual introductions (the book) but sound like gobbledygook when referenced (the review). Suffice it to say, this is good stuff. I’m up to the last published volume, Sir Thursday and each installment is as exciting and innovative as the last. Thankfully, Lady Friday was JUST published (Amazon says Jan. 17) and although it will be awhile before the copy I ordered for the library will be in, the metropolitan library I live near should have it now or soon! If you have time to speed through volumes 1-5, get a hold of Mister Monday. You won't want to interrupt yourself until Lady Friday is finished.

Blind Faith

Well, school is finished for the semester and I'm back. I have read lots of great books in the last few months, but we'll see if I get them all back-blogged. The most recent one I've finished is Blind Faith by Ellen Wittlinger. I actually met Wittlinger when I was at the ALAN workshop (a two-day extravaganza for teachers and librarians all about YA lit.) in Nashville. She spoke in a breakout session about beauty, and was very funny and insightful. This is her newest work.

In Blind Faith, 15-year-old Liz watches her mother throw herself on her grandmother's casket, and the spiral shifts downward from there. Liz loved her grandmother, Bunny, who was full of verve and life, but Liz's mom, Christine, had a special relationship with Bunny, one that is very different than the one Liz has with her own mother. After Bunny's death, Liz feels terrible, but Christine sinks into a deep depression, not getting out of bed or wanting to open her pottery shop, much less work on pots. Soon, though, she gets cleaned up to go to Singing River, a Spiritualist church. There, ministers mediate between the living and the dead, and Christine believes she is receiving messages from Bunny, much to the aggravation of Liz's father, who is staunchly against organized religion. Liz, trying to please her mother, agrees to attend one Saturday, and isn't sure what she believes. It all seems like a big hoax, but the ministers do seem to know some things they couldn't without Bunny's help.

A family, meanwhile, moves in across the street with the crabby old lady who lives there. Courtney, a younger girl, quickly introduces herself enjoys spending time with Liz and her two dogs. Her older brother, Nathan, is Liz's age, but he seems moody and unhappy to be living with his grumpy grandmother. Soon Liz finds out why she hasn't seen their mother: she has leukemia and has come back to her estranged mother's house to die. Neither she nor Nathan, though, can find the courage to tell Courtney. As the relationship between Liz's parents worsens, Liz is more and more confused about death, grieving, relationships with her mother, father, and Nathan, and the changes she sees in her familiar world as a result of growing older.

This is a beautiful story, showing the nature of mother/daughter relationships and the ways in which we grieve, as well as the normal but excruciating evolution everything familiar seems to undergo as we grow from child to adult. Wittlinger always seems to find the right words to create an entirely believable teen world that reflects the experiences of the "good kids" rather than the stereotypical problem teens.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

I did this review for class so I figured I may as well post it! I did it in the style of a review journal I use frequently: VOYA (Voice of Youth Activists). Here is a link to their website, which explains the Q/P rating system.

5Q • 4P • S
Cohn, Rachel, and David Leviathan. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Knopf, 2006. 183 p. $16.95. 0-375-83531-5.

Nick is the straight bassist in the Hoboken-based queercore punk band playing at tonight’s show. Norah is the privileged niece of the club owner, daughter of a music exec, and is only out tonight to make sure her friend Caroline doesn’t die in a drunken stupor. In a panic, Nick asks Norah to be his five-minute girlfriend when he sees his recent ex and her new fling headed his way. So begins our eight-hour glimpse into a budding romance set on the backdrop of Manhattan and its punk music scene. Told in alternating chapters from both perspectives, we learn that Norah’s thrown away an acceptance to Brown to be with a boyfriend for whom she’s never been good enough, Nick pines for a girl who never took their coupledom seriously, and that both are ready (and perfect) for each other. The skill of both authors create a depth which shows even Caroline and Nick’s ex as three-dimensional, and our heroes’ realizations about life, love, music, and drag queens never seem scripted. Allusions to vintage and modern punk will seem like gifts to teens in the know, and may create a new generation of rockers. Sexual scenes and strong profanity may restrict at least your recommendation to older teens, but the situations are realistic. This reviewer was gratified to see that these two ultra-cool characters are “straight-edgers” and prefer to enjoy their club scene without drugs or drinking. Destined to become a cult favorite, Nick and Norah will steal readers’ hearts.

My South Park Self

Cool, huh? I haven't had time for much of anything, but I did start a catalog of books I've read. You can see it at www.librarything.com/catalog/acajjou. I may begin adding my reviews there, but I'm so busy this semester I can't promise anything...

Peter and Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

This delightful book seeks to set the record straight about Peter Pan’s origins. Peter, a young boy living in an awful orphanage in England, is sent with several younger boys to the ramshackle ship, the Never Land. The cruel first mate tells them that they are being sent to King Zarboff the Third's court to work as servants, since he and his man-eating snake go through servants so quickly. Once aboard, Peter snoops around for more edible food and meets Molly, the aristocratic young girl who becomes his friend. It is through her that Peter learns about “starstuff” and the noble “Starcatchers.” The mysterious starstuff falls from the sky periodically and gives strange powers, including the power of flight. Obviously, dishonest people can become dangerous if they get their hands on it, so a group of guardians called Starcatchers formed to find and dispose of the starstuff. A large trunk of it somehow got on the Never Land, and now the infamous pirate Black Stache is after them!

This book is tons of fun, as one would expect from the humorist Dave Barry. I’d not previously read Ridley Pearson’s books, but he is a popular adult writer. The twists and turns that explain the origins of many of Barrie’s fantastic features such as the mermaids and, of course, the fearsome crocodile are inventive, and a reader familiar with Barrie’s work will have some satisfying “Oh, yeah, I think I know where this is going” moments, though the overall story is not predictable. This is a great book that is appropriate for the whole family, and would make a great read-aloud.

Inheritance Series, books 1 and 2

Over a year ago, now, I read a book that lots of teens were talking about, and that I’d hardly seen since it was always checked out. That book was Eragon, written by Christopher Paolini. I’ve just now finished listening to its sequel on CD and figured I’d review them together, since most of the plot points I’ll mention come from the first book. Paolini was merely 15 when he wrote Eragon, and boy, did it show. He borrows heavily from the symbolism, culture, and atmosphere of Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Anne Perry’s Dragonriders series, and other fantasy epics. The prose is crowded with adjectives that mostly sound like they’ve come from a thesaurus. The title itself is a semi-obvious rip on Tolkien’s hero, Aragorn. Despite its flaws, however, the story has a lot of action, adventure and drama and because it is drawing heavily from really great works of fantasy literature, has fascinated a new generation of readers who have not had previous contact with these works and therefore cannot judge it against them. Recently, I picked up the second book, Eldest, on audio, read by Gerard Doyle. The writing style had by that time matured, though the heavy influences remain. The story was better, and I can see the potential for Paolini to become a decent writer in about five or ten years’ time. What really kept me going, though, was the reading. Doyle was excellent. I believe he has narrated many audio books, and I am eager to find more.

In any case, the story of the first book involves the teen Eragon, an orphan who lives with his uncle and cousin in a small village on the edge of the Spine, a mountain range into which most humans won’t venture. Eragon, of course, does, and finds a funny blue stone, takes it home, and it hatches into Saphira, his very own dragon with whom he has a telepathic bond. The king of the land is a mad-evil-dragonriding-magician who had wiped out the other dragons and dragonriders and stockpiled the remaining eggs. Saphira’s egg was stolen and he is desperate to get it back. He sends awful creatures – the Razak, similar to the Nazgûl in spirit – to hunt Eragon. He flees the village with the wise village storyteller Brom to find the rebel faction, the Varden. Magic, battles, strange acquaintances, etc. later, they reach it and the end of the first book.

The second book, Eldest, takes right up where Eragon left off, and now Eragon is accompanied by an elf-girl with whom he’s falling in love and a gruff but friendly dwarf. They are all off to the elf stronghold to finish Eragon’s training and the face-off against the mad king commences as the 2^nd book ends. I’ve glossed, I know, but it would take much more time to give a better accounting. If you’ve read many fantasy novels, you already have a general idea of what’s going on and what to expect next.

These books are okay if your expectations haven’t been set too high (as mine had). Hopefully, I’ve set them fairly low for you, and there’s no where to go but up. I hope, if you decide to read it, you enjoy it much more than I did.

Lack of Posts

Apologies to all anxiously waiting for further book reviews! I had two ultra-busy weeks at work, enjoyed the third week on vacation, and this past week I've been catching up. Fortunately, I have been busy reading AND knitting in the past four weeks, so I have lots to share. These catch up reviews will be quick and dirty, but maybe you prefer that anyway...

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler

Virginia Shreves thinks she must have been switched at birth. She is blonde, unpopular, overweight, and can’t speak French. The rest of her family (mom, dad, older brother and sister) is dark, beautiful, thin, popular, and speak fluent French. Furthermore, Virginia’s best friend is away for the year and she’s all alone at school. She’s begun an unfulfilling and secret relationship with a classmate that she can’t even speak to in school. When her mother decides to be more proactive about her weight problem and under the pressure of disapproving parents and cruel classmates, Virginia begins a dangerous starvation diet. Before it goes too far, though, her brother Byron is sent home from college under allegations of date rape. Virginia is shattered and must reevaluate her idea that Byron and the rest of her family are perfect. She returns to overeating for comfort but with a little help slowly finds herself as a confident individual who’s come to terms with her imperfections.

The glittery cover and weird title initially put me off of this book, but I was interested in reading it as a Printz Honor book (the Printz is like the Newbery award for teen books) and one that has recently been banned in several school libraries around the country. Virginia is a good narrator – funny, self-depreciating, and ultimately strong, and any girl who is or was unhappy with her image will see some hope there. Supporting characters such as Byron and Froggy Welsh the Fourth (her secret boyfriend) are complex and we learn more about them as Virginia does.

Issues include: body image, date rape, eating disorders, sexuality, rebellion, dysfunctional families, occasional profanity.

Feed by M.T. Anderson (Audio)

Titus is a typical teen in the US in some unspecified time in the future. There are flying cars, vacations to outer space, domes over underground houses and subdivisions that control the weather and light, conceptionariums for custom test-tube babies, and a host of other technological advances that have contributed to a planet maimed by pollution and resource stripping. However, the most pervasive advance is the Feed – an internet-like system that is surgically implanted into children’s brains and grows up with them. Titus goes to the moon with some friends for spring break and meets Violet, the strange but beautiful girl who actually reads and writes, is interested in the news, and wants to go to boring places like the mountains. She tags along with them to a night club where a political hacker gets into their system and they must go to the hospital for tests before being reconnected to the Feed. In the hospital, Titus and Violet get to know one another and embark on a romance. Life soon returns to normal for Titus, but a Feed malfunction in Violet’s system wreaks havoc on their relationship, their lives, and their perception of the world around them.

I took the advice of others on the listserv YALSA-BK (you can join, too! See info at http://lists.ala.org/wws/info/yalsa-bk) to listen to Feed before reading it. It was good advice. Much of the book is dialogue, and the rest is told from Titus’ perspective, so just begs to be heard. The performer, David Baker, perfectly emulates the bored teens’ slang, tone, and timing, which turns out to sound somewhat like the “Valley Girl” and “Surfer Dude” slang of the 80s, and underscores the teens’ disconnection from real life. (Interestingly, Titus’ parents also use this slang, but in more mature voices, and this also shows that the suburbanites of mainstream America are also unaware or uncaring about the state of their country and their world.) This was a disturbing and thought-provoking read. I would love to do a book discussion with it and see what others think!

Issues include: technology, pollution, big business, advertising, world politics, some sexuality, realistic profanity, conformity, illness, class division, consumerism, alcohol use, drug use.