YA Book Reviews for April 21, 2010
From CRBSLS
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
This year's Newbery winner, here is a book that provokes discussion. The author gives credit to Madeleine L'Engle, who is clearly the inspiration behind this intriguing story set in NYC some time in the past. But the precise year doesn't matter, because here we are examining "Time" and "Space" in much bigger/deeper ways. Told in the voice of 6th grader Miranda, on the surface this is an appealing middle school tale of friends and petty jealousies, of a girl's relationship with her mother and the mother's boyfriend Richard. But from the very first chapter the reader understands that Miranda is receiving messages from someone who can somehow predict the future. These eerie notes are the whole reason Miranda is writing her story. When odd things go missing--a key, a shoe--Miranda at first doesn't read the clues. But hiding in plain sight is the truth about time travel. What's amazing about this book is that it manages to embrace fantasy, physics, family relationships and love on many levels. Recommended for 5th through 7th graders who are sophisticated readers.
Reviewer: Ann Sayers
The Ghost Map: A Street, an Epidemic, and the Two Men Who Battled to Save Victorian London
by Steven Johnson
This is an adult book that will grab any high schooler interested in the history of disease, medicine, and/or epidemiology. It is written in a breezy style, filled with mind-boggling facts and some amazing coincidences. The reader cheers for John Snow, the quiet but determined anaesthesiologist who set about to prove that cholera was not caused by breathing bad air, but rather by contaminated water. Snow had to battle against prevailing opionion that "Miasma" somehow caused the epidemics that killed hundreds of people in sudden violent bursts. This book reads like a detective novel. Great stuff!
Reviewer: Ann Sayers
The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
A companion to The Forest of Hands and Teeth, this sci-fi thriller is a must for adventure-seeking, blood-thirsty guys and gals. Gabry, our main character is a flustered, do-right girl who doesn't want to break the rules of their community-- especially since these rules are supposed to protect their closed-off community from attacks by Mudo, or the Unconsecrated who will infect you with a scratch or bite. Yet, when she does venture past the community walls, something goes horribly wrong. Not only is the group attacked, but some have already turned and are attacking their friends. With the entire book centering around finding out the mysteries of the past, how the Mudo were created and keep "alive" and what their community can do next. (Reviewed by Alicia Abdul, Albany High School)
Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
The sequel and second book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series, Stiefvater uses Linger as a transition to bigger problems to come, which is why it is truly lackluster. Gone is the love story between Sam and Grace; now it's about the pack, it's about why Grace hasn't changed and why Cole wanted to change. Grace becomes different in reaction to the events in Mercy Falls, sometimes rebellious but always in the best interest of her relationship with Sam. (Reviewed by Alicia Abdul, Albany High School)
NERDS by Michael Buckley
Fans of the Pseudonymous Bosch books (The Name of This Book Is Secret; If Your’re Reading This, It’s Too Late; This Book Is Not Good for You) will enjoy NERDS. It’s short for National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society. Jackson Jones, the protagonist, has always bought his status in school with cheap shots at the very pack of nerds he is forced to join when he becomes the metal-mouthed “Braceface,” the NERDS’ latest recruit. Victims of allergies, asthma, hyperactivity, and buck teeth, this group of kids isn’t happy at the top echelon’s choice to expand their ranks. What Dickens, Scrooge, and A Christmas Carol do for greed, NERDS does for bullying, with a lot more fun. Though the setting is an elementary school, my middle school guys eagerly read this booger-infested, humor-riddled book enthusiastically.
Reviewer: Donna Phillips, Oneida Middle School
A Whole Nother Story by Dr. Cuthbert Soup
Weird author pseudonym, campy cartoon cover, espionage element—there’s a pattern here. One change-up from Pseudonymous and NERDS, the protagonists are not spy kids but kids pursued by spies of several kinds—industrial, political, and just plain strange. Their father has invented a time machine. They hope it will help them reunite with their mother, who was murdered by one of the spies pursuing their father’s invention. I was charmed at first by the playful language, which became tiresome and repetitive. I hoped for a thematic richness from Dad’s seeming insanity at moving them every time the family terrier growls (as the owner of two terriers, I know how insane that really is). But take the book at face value and give it to your young guys who enjoy laughs and action.
Reviewer: Donna Phillips, Oneida Middle School
Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan
I got curious about this book when I caught a student who was supposed to be working at a computer reading Suburbia on the sly instead. I could see what the attraction was the minute I saw the deep-sea diver on the cover and the doodles on the flyleaves, partially a sneak preview of the stories inside, but ever so much more. The creative blend of visual and verbal wit introduces us to a tragicomic cast of characters from Eric, the leaf-like exchange student to the two prosaic brothers who set out to find what happens at the edge of map 268 that lacks a “joins map 269” reference. The book is a series of short journeys that readers can take quickly, but will be tempted to take again in order to savor the small pieces they initially missed.
Reviewer: Donna Phillips, Oneida Middle School
Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka
Here’s one final winner for the goofy young guys, but one that works equally well for those of us not-quite-geriatric goofs who remember growing up in the late 50s and early 60s. It’s a Mark Twain-like book, mostly a true memoir of his childhood, but with a few stretchers thrown in, and no reason to worry about which parts are which. I shared with my colleagues the chapter about the four Halloween costumes that constituted the Scieszka holiday wardrobe. We didn’t have to be male, or kids, or from a big family with a small amount of discretionary to cash to laugh loudly and long, though having those additional facts in your background might add to the delight. The book’s short stand-alone chapters would make a terrific read-aloud for students of any age.
Reviewer: Donna Phillips, Oneida Middle School
The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) by Barbara Kerley
Speaking of Mark Twain, here’s a biography / memoir not to be missed. Kerley (The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins) had been thinking about a Twain biography and found her angle when she learned of Susy’s biography. “Having been the parent of thirteen-year-old myself,” she writes, “I know they tend to call it like they see it. Susy did not disappoint me.” The book incorporates Susy’s exact words in small books-within-the-book labeled “Journal.” Along with the Edwin Fotheringham’s whimsical illustrations, these journals augment Kerley’s more traditional biographical style. Teachers should consider using the book as a tool to explore the strengths, shortcomings, and richness of variations in the genre.
Reviewer: Donna Phillips, Oneida Middle School
