Blast from the Past - Geography Club by Brent Hartinger

So, I have to read this book for a comparison paper that I am writing for my young adult literature class. I read this book a LONG time ago, back when it first came out and I was really getting into LGBTQ YA lit. There are so many thing that I love about this book including two of my favorite characters:
Min: The main character Russel's best friend, who is bisexual! There aren't enough bi characters in YA lit. Or in any lit really.
Belinda: The straight girl who wants to join the Geography Club because she likes geography! yay geography!

I love how realistic this book is. The main characters, all who are gay to some degree, aren't perfect. The do spend a good portion of the book complaining about how it's hard to be gay in a society that devalues homosexuality. But unlike some gay teens in YA lit, they don't become dumping grounds for morality. They make mistakes and are assholes to other kids, which is totally real. (not very nice, but real). I'm specifically thinking of how they treat another student named Brian Bund. Brian is the school loser, and gets teased and assaulted on a daily basis. While some of the members of the club (Min, Belinda) think they should invite Brian to their club (even though they aren't sure if he is gay) others don't want to risk further alienation from the student body. And this sucks! But it's realistic to how teenagers are. Which I like alot. And I love how they start out this way, but grow and change over the course of the book. Yay for growing and changing! Hartinger writes teenagers as they actually would be, not how we, as readers (especially adult readers) want them to be. Good stuff.

Freaks and Revelations by Davida Willis Hurwin

Freaks and Revelations – What a book. Seriously. This sat on my shelf for a really long time, I’m not sure why. Maybe I wasn’t ready to read it, maybe I was a little scared, the subject matter is super intense, and even more than that, it’s based on a true story. Hurwin tells the story of two boys, Jason who is 13 and Doug who is 17, whose very different lives are on a collision course towards each other, tragedy and inevitably growth. Jason is a gay hustler in San Francisco and Los Angeles. He didn’t choose this life, it was thrust upon him after his mother kicked him out for being gay. Doug is unhappy with his life and his family, and is slowly sinking into the depths of drugs, punk music and white supremacy. (the ultimate trio!) The majority of the book chronicles the two years of their lives before they meet. And that meeting is what changes their lives forever.
I don't want to give away to much, but the book flap, as well as the amazon.com review, both describe the event as a hate crime or a gay bashing. So basically Doug gay bashes Jason to within an inch of his life, and both are traumatized. The amazing part is what happens when they meet up again, twenty years later. And the amazing thing about it is that it's true! It really happened! Hurwin takes some liberties with the storytelling aspect, and the narrative portions of the two years leading up to the event are all fiction, but the events are true and here are some links describing the history.
http://www.independent.com/news/2008/mar/27/museum-tolerance-speakers-address-youth-los-prieto/

http://wthrockmorton.com/2009/04/16/hate-2-hope-the-story-of-tim-zaal-and-matthew-boger/


I think it is pretty amazing that two such differing people are able to learn from their history and in Doug's case, mistakes, and come together to teach others about hate and intolerance, as well as love and acceptance. I also think it is amazing that Hurwin turned this into a ya novel, it is such an important aspect of LGBT history, and a wonderful story to tell, and Hurwin tells it extremely well. Her dialogue, is sharp, witty and heartbreaking, especially Jason's, who is forced to claim a persona of a someone much older and street-wise. And she manages to imbue in Doug enough sadness and tragedy so that the reader feels connected to him, and although his actions were awful and hateful, is able to feel happiness at his ultimate redemption. This is a wonderful book and I recommend it to anyone who likes stories about love, friendship, hate, betrayal, redemption, as well is readers interested in the history of punk and the LGBT struggle.

This sucks

So Ellen Hopkins has been banned again. This time from a Teen book festival in Texas. Here is a link to her discussion on livejournal: http://ellenhopkins.livejournal.com/11666.html. In response to this, Pete Hautman and number of YA authors have dropped out of the festival in protest. http://petehautman.blogspot.com/2010/08/nasty-thing-in-corner.html Hopkin's novels, written in verse, deal with very serious topics including drug addiction, teenage prostitution, suicide and sexual abuse. She doesn't beat around the bush and her novels are raw and intense. It is understandable that some people might be offended by these topics, which is fine, they don't have to read them. But when the put their personal views upon the general population, specifically the teenage audience, they are doing an extreme disservice to readers everywhere. Two things really upset me about this.
1) The initial complainer was a librarian. Librarians are supposed to support free speech, intellectual freedom, and are under no circumstances supposed to encourage banning books. WTF? It is one of the specific statements, in the American Library Association code of ethics, that "We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources." Additionally, "We distinguish between our personal convictions and professional duties and do not allow our personal beliefs to interfere with fair representation of the aims of our institutions or the provision of access to their information resources." What this librarian did was wrong and in direct violation of her post. And I can't believe that the superintendent didn't take into consideration ANY of the other opinions, except hers and a few parents. OI.
2) Kids really like Hopkins books. While censorship is always wrong and should be frowned upon intently, sometimes the books that are opposed to aren't in wide circulation. But Hopkin's novels have a large audience, and I have met literally hundreds of kids who eagerly await her newest books. To deny them what could be a life changing moment, where they get to meet this esteemed author, is wrong. I remember when I was growing up I met two of my favorite authors, Lois Lowry and Yoko Kawashima Watkins, and what a profound affect this had on me as a child. These poor kids will never experience that.

Also, while I totally support the other authors who dropped out in protest, and I think they are doing the right thing, I can't help but feel so bad for the children and teens who are now missing out here. What message are we sending to these readers? Who is really being hurt here? Certainly Ms. Hopkins is saddened by these events, but the young adults who her visit would affect are the real losers in this situation. WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

Pink by Lili Wilkinson

Alright, first of all, how awesome is this cover! I love the contrast between the pink and the black. But aside from the cover, this is probably the best book I read all summer, and I work at a bookstore and am in library school, so I read a lot of books this summer. (We will exclude Mockingjay for the moment, as it is not yet August 24th...) Pink tells the story of Ava, who transdfers schools and joins the school musical in an attempt to fit in with the "normal" crowd. She quickly learns that no one is normal, and that might not be a bad thing. So, the back of this book does not make any mention of the fact that Ava is a lesbian and is in a long term relationship with a girl named Chloe. I both like and dislike this editorial/marketing choice. This is not a coming out story, but it also kind of is. Ava struggles with her sexuality at various points in the novel, but for the most part, she is very happy in her relationship and her family is very supportive. I like the fact that Ava's sexuality, while certainly an important aspect of the novel, is not the MAIN point. It is nice to see LGBT characters that fit into the story fluidly and whose sexuality is just another awesome aspect of their character.
And the characters in this story are awesome. Wilkinson is a great writer and all of her characters are fully developed. Ava makes friends with the popular kids and with the stage crew kids (called screws) and Wilkinson manages to make the reader fell like he/she really knows these kids, without providing extensive backstory. My favorite was Alexis, who starts out as a vapid (albeit incredibly smart and talented) popular girl, but who ultimately becomes incredibly endearing and hilarious. That's another thing I loved about this book. Althought it deals with serious issues, identity, belonging, sexuality, death, it isn't super serious, and it is HILARIOUS. Good job Ms. Wilkinson. It is not preachy in the slightest! The only issue that arises, is the fact that there is no mention of Ava's sexuality at all. I can understand why they didn't include it in the blurb, as it is not THE ISSUE in the novel, but it is central to her character, and readers who pick up the book expecting the traditional coming of age story might be in for a little shock. But that isn't really a big deal and it could change before the book actually gets released. So read it!

This book will be released Feb 8th, 2011, from Harper Collins. but I loved it so much I had to review it right away! Thanks for the review copy Anne!

Obligatory BEA 2010 Post

Like hundreds of other bloggers (and publishers, authors, teachers, librarians, shnorrers) I took went to the Book Expo America last week. This was my second year going and unlike last year, my boyfriend decided to stay home this time, leaving me to carry a million pounds of heavy books all on my own! This year was pretty crazy compared to last, the whole show was on one floor instead of two, which made it seem as if there was three times as many people, and they condensed the floor show down to two days instead of three. Last year I went in with a kind of sketchy plan of where I wanted to go and what I wanted to see, also last year I didn't have the same ridiculous knowledge of upcoming YA titles that I do now. (I'm not bragging, I'm lame, I have every book release marked in my day planner. Also, I have a day planner.) This year I recognized a lot more upcoming stuff and was able to plan better which authors I wanted to meet. Some of the more exciting things that happened to me, in a convenient numbered list. (because I cannot figure out how to make bullets)

1. Speed dating with Children's book authors where I met some favorite authors including:
- Bryan Collier (Illustrator for many picture books including Rosa, Barack Obama and the upcoming Dave the Potter which is super beautiful)
- Karen Gray Ruelle (The Grand Mosque of Paris)
- Diana Peterfreund (Rampant!)
- Lauren Kate (Fallen and the upcoming sequel Torment)
- Charlie Higson (The Enemy)
and a lot more, but those were pretty exciting.

2. I got to hang out with my friends Jenny and Sarah from Foreveryoungadult.com, best site ever! yay! and we ate pretzel croissant's from City Bakery, the most delicious thing ever. I also ate a lot of beef short ribs.

3. Meeting tons of other bloggers including Steph Su, Angie,
angela
gaby
and Tania

4. Seeing American Idiot on Broadway, YAY GREEN DAY!

5. Meeting Patti Lupone as she signed her new book (actually she signed a two page excerpt that had a book plate on it, lame! but it was still amazing)

6. Being able to cross off a ton of the books on the previously mentioned, upcoming books section in my day planner! Although I didn't go crazy like some people (I still have the elbow marks in my side to prove it) Also a lot of the hot ARCS that were out had already come into my bookstore, yay! Although I didn't get Cassandra Clare's new book, but I bet the hardcover will totally be worth it and then it can match my hardcover Mortal Instruments BOXED SET HOLLER.

7. Meeting the people from Rowand and Littlefield, the publisher's who created my favorite line of non-fiction, library related textbooks about ya novels, including The Heart Has It's Reasons about LGBT YA novels.

There were a lot more fun things but I am tired right now, I can only hope next year will be just as awesome and I will see you all there as well!

The Grand Mosque of Paris by Karen Gray Ruelle

So I am not the hugest fan of picture books, who knows, maybe when I have children of my own I will develop a deep appreciation for them and the stories they tell, but right now the are just kind of meh. However, I recently read this awesome book because the author, Ruelle, will be attending one of the events I am signed up for at the BEA (wahoo! book expo!) This is one picture book that she be read by everyone (except actually, little children, because there is a ton of text on each page, It's probably better for late elementary school and onward). Ruelle tells the story of a group of Muslims who joined together to provide sanctuary to a large number of Jews in Paris during the Holocaust. They let Jewish people hide in the Mosque and provided escape routes for them to take them to safe places. Additionally, they created false papers for the Jews that could "pass" as Muslim and helped them stay safe too. I had never heard of this story before which surprised me. As a pretty well educated Jewish girl from the suburbs, I was exposed every single year of my public school education to Holocaust studies. Additionally, I read a lot on my own. Now I have heard plenty about the Righteous Gentiles, or the Righteous Among Nations, people (non-Jews) who risked their lives to help Jews stay safe, but I was unfamiliar with this particular story.
There is a lot of discord today between Jews and Muslisms, especially in the Middle East. It makes me sad to read about and witness all the hatred between the two groups that I see frequently. But it gives me hope that it doesn't always have to be like this. History proves that Jews and Muslims (and other people too!) can get along, and if we truly are doomed to repeat the past over and over again, at least this story shows us that's not all bad.

The Fold by An Na

I bought this book a while ago at my bookstore, for some reason I put it on my shelf and forgot about it. About a month ago I saw the bright green cover and grabbed it to read on my break. The Fold is about a high school student named Joyce who is faced with the dilemma of whether or not to accept plasic surgery from her aunt to change the shape of her eyes. The idea of Korean women getting the fold put into their eyes, so that they might look more Caucasian is not something that was new to me. I can remember writing a paper in my freshman writing class at NYU about an MTV special I had seen on the topic hosted by Su Chin Pak (who is awesome!) I also recently watched the surprisingly awesome show, Jessica Simpson's Price of Beauty, where she went to Japan and met with a woman who was considering the surgery.
So while the surgery might not be national news, it is talked about in pop culture, especially on MTV. The book was great. Joyce was kind of aggravating sometimes, but the author more than made up for a lackluster main character with awesome supporting characters. My favorite was Joyce's sister Helen, who throughout the course of the book goes through a huge transformation of her own. The whole family is effected by both Joyce and Helen's dilemmas and that is what I loved most about this novel, it's description of family.
A lot of YA novels leave out important stuff that every day, real life teens experience. There is a great post on what's missing in YA at http://stephsureads.blogspot.com/2010/04/whats-missing-in-ya-lit-contemporary.html who is one of the best bloggers out there. There was also a recent NY Times article about parents in YA literature and how they mostly fit ridiculous sterotypes, there just arent any YA books with normal families. Now, I know that isn't true, and YA lit with well rounded families do exist, but they are far and few between. And while I wouldn't necessarily say that Joyce's family is completely normal, they are well rounded and realistic, and this is a breath of fresh air. I love reading about real families and the struggles they go through, and An Na does a great job of telling the story of this family.

In My Mailbox

So I said that I wasn't going to keep doing all of these posts because I feel bad and I don't want this to become all about the books I get at my awesome job. BUT I am super excited about one particular book that I got this week from Little,Brown and I wanted to share my excitement. YAY! So Roger, the LB rep, was kind enought to get me an arc of... Beautiful Darkness!!! I am so excited for this book, I loved Beautiful Creatures so much and when I heard there was a sequel coming out I got so excited. Everyone should read these books, yay! Thanks Roger!

The Watsons Go To Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis

I LOVED this book as a child. I know it isn't new or anything, but I want to review it because it is just an incredible book that deals with an important piece of history that I personally, did not really know a lot about. The book deals with various hilarious incidents on the life of the main character Kenny, who is around eleven years old. Kenny has an older brother Byron who is a little bit of a bully and a younger sister Jo that he adores. Most of the book focuses on the crazy antics that Kenny gets up to and the relationship he has with the rest of the people in his family. Byron is pretty mean to Kenny and picks on him a lot, but he also stands up for him when it is necessary and gets in to some pretty crazy situations himself. Most of the books is funny and light, any middle schooler reading it would think it's funny and hilarious and it is. However, towards the end of the book, the whole family takes a trip down to Birmingham (like in the title!) While the trip starts in the same vein as the rest of the book, (crazy pranks and angry parents) it takes a much more serious turn when Kenny's sister Jo is at the 16 street Baptist Church on the day it gets bombed in a vicious hate crime. Here is some information about the bombing if you want to know more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Street_Baptist_Church_bombing

Suffice to say, the book takes a slightly more intense turn (although it ends on an upbeat note) and we the readers are introduced to an event in history that is often overlooked.

I think it is great that there are books out there that cover this lesser known historical events. It might surprise some people out there that a lot of schools today don't cover things that seem really important to us. When I was in New York recently I was shocked that people my own age had never heard of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, so it is great that this particular event is being represented in a way that is extremely accessible to children. Are there other events out there that need a bigger presence in YA literature?

My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger

I am not going to lie. Part of why I love this book so so so much is that it takes place in Boston, where I live and I enjoy reading a book and shouting out "I've been there!" multiple times per chapter. But I also love this book because it is probably one of the most well written, witty young adult books I have ever read in ANY category, not just books with LGBT characters. This book also has many other things that I enjoy, here is a list:

Musical Theater
Julie Andrews AND Mary Poppins
Deaf Culture
Baseball
International Intrigue (ok, just a the daughter of an ambassador)
Dreams coming true
Unrealistic jaunts to NYC
Happy Endings

So much awesome stuff right? The book focuses mainly on three characters, T.C. Augie and Alejandra (the aforementioned daughter of an ambassador). T.C. is trying to get Alejandra to date him, Augie is coming to terms with his sexuality and Alejandra is trying to break free from her parents rigid expectations. It all culminates in an awesome musical theater production and other fun stuff that is too spoilery to talk about. There is also a really great subplot where T.C. befriends a deaf orphan who he (T.C.) thinks is a baseball savant. It might seem that the Boy rescues sad orphan from horrible future plot would be cheesy and overplayed, but it is totally heartwarming and touching.

This book is great for everyone to read, students, teachers, random adults, bloggers, everyone ever. Just go read it. Now.

Where My Interests Lay

One of the reasons I have decided to make some changes to my blog is because of my specific interest in LGBT YA literature. I can't really remember what started my interest in this genre of books, but when I was in graduate school, getting a Master's degree in education, I focuses mainly on books with LGBT characters or by LGBT author's during my studies. As a former educator in the NYC public school system, I noticed that they read a very wide variety of books either as a whole class, or in small groups. Additionally, a large part of my college education focused specifically on bringing multicultural books into the English classroom. Obviously I feel that books by and about POC are extremely important for teens and middle grade students to read, I hope to focus on lots of those books in upcoming posts. But I have noticed, that even as schools trend towards reading more and more diverse titles, books by and about LGBT characters are still far and few between.

**LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. I realize that the acronym has grown to include QQIA [Queer, Questioning, Intersex and Allies] but for the purpose of this site, I think LGBT will suffice, let me know if I should change that.**

I think it is really important for the English classroom, and schools in general, to be more inclusive spaces. Many schools are already extremely supportive in creating safe spaces for their students and faculty, but I think many middle school and high school students, especially in areas that aren't major cities, are still sometimes fearful of being who they truly are. I would like for all students to feel safe and comfortable in school, school should not be a place where you are afraid. Hopefully this blog can show students and teachers good books to use in creating a more inclusive space for all.

Does My Head Look Big In This? by Randa Abdel Fattah

Alright, here goes with my first review after lots of exciting changes! Ok, not that many changes but I AM going to try reviewing more books by POC and LGBT authors, liked I just said, one post ago.

This book is great, I can't really think of many other books that deal with the issues Muslim teens face, or actually any at all besides this one and Fattah's other book "Ten Things I Hate About Me." I read this book while I was sitting in my furnitureless apartment in the middle of Borough Park, Brooklyn. I had all hardwood floors and I repeat, NO FURNITURE. I sat on the floor for four hours, waiting for my bed to be delivered (damn you sleepy's) and read this book the entire time. So basically this book saved my sanity and boredom, but not my aching spinal chord.

The main character in this book, Amal, makes the decision early on to start wearing a hijab (head scarf) full time. Her decision is met with a lot of negativity, from her friends, her schoolmates, and even her family, but she sticks to her guns and doesn't let them bring her down! Ok, it's not as easy as that and she goes through a lot of inner turmoil and angst (my favorite) as she comes to terms with her decision.

Backing up Amal are a super duper cast of supporting characters, her four entertaining best friends, some cute boys, some bitchy girls, and her hilarious family.

Like I previously mentioned, the issues that Muslim teens face are not extremely prevalent in YA literature. I wish there were more books in general that dealt with teens facing religious issues and questioning their beliefs or their parents beliefs, or not questioning it, but embracing it and loving it. I don't have any particular religious ideal to push, but I think that many teens are struggling with these topics in real life and just like other things YA (sex, family, friendship, etc) religion is an important part of growing and forming your identity (for some, not all). Let's have some more of these books people!!!

Changes

So I haven't been keeping up with my blog as much as I'd like. I don't want to this to just become a dumping ground for me to post all the books I get for review and I have decided to make a change. Tonight at dinner my friends and I were talking about the political role blogs can play, and while it is definitely not necessary for a blog to be political or discuss controversial topics, it is a good place for these topics when they arise. One of the things I am most interested in the study of YA literature are the voices that have typically been silenced. There has been much discussion about the lack of books, and book reviews, of YA lit by or about POC (People of Color), as well as other groups of people who are oppressed or minoritized (which isn't a really word, but it means what it sounds like.) Specifically I am talking about books by and about LGBT people. Lots of blogs don't want to focus on books that fall specifically within this category which is totally valid, I mean not everyone has focus on a 'very important issue' but I have decided I want to.

So this is where the changes come in, I am going to try to review mainly books by or about POC and LGBT people (or both!) I already have some books that fall into that category, but now I will hopefully have a lot more! Of course, if I read something that I consider to be "the best book ever" and it doesn't fall into that category, I am still going to review it.

My hope is, as a teacher and a future librarian, one day we won't need to have specific places to go to discuss these types of books, that the literature students, teens and everyone reads is just naturally diverse. But until then, here goes!

In My Mailbox (6)

I got some good stuff from Random House this week! I also bought a couple of very exciting books including

Bought:

Runaway by Meg Cabot
The Exile of Gigi Lane by Adrienne Maria Vrettos
The Metal Children - Adam Rapp
Utopian and Dystopian Writing for Children and Young Adults by Carrie Hintz and Elaine Ostry


Review:

Nancy and Plum by Betsy Macdonald
Notes From the Blender by Trish Cook and rendan Halpin
Rich and Mad by William Nicholson
A Crack in the Sky by Mark Peter Hughes
Museum of Thieves by Liam Tanner

Very exciting stuff!

In My Mailbox (6) or Why I am Obsessed With Dystopian YA Literature

So right now I am reading the Nought's and Crosses series by Malorie Blackman and I am loving it. It's basically a retelling of the civil rights movement in America, only it is set in England and the Black people (Crosses) are the ones with all the power, while the White people (noughts) are the ones who are struggling for civil rights and equality. So interesting! Blackman does not go easy on the reader, there is a lot of death and violence and although the main characters are all very well developed, at times they are all extremely unlikeable. However, as unlikeable as they can be, I never stopped caring about them and about their stories, which I think is a true testement to Blackmán's incredible writing and storytelling.
Which leads me to the books I got this week, I went on a kind of insane dystopian book buying amazon binge. Now, I love my bookfair, but it's hard to beat amazon marketplace, especially for these older books which my store doesn't carry anyway. So here goes:

The entire Nought's and Crosses series by Malorie Blackman including:
Black and White (this is the American title of the first book)
Knife's Edge
Checkmate
Double Cross

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

The Children's Story by James Clavell

Flux and Fixed by Beth Goobie

Genesis by Bernard Beckett

and

Sapphique (The sequel to Incarceron which I ordered from the UK!) by Catherine Fisher


Additionally, I somehow managed to end up with three copies of Knife's Edge... so if anyone wants one just leave your email in the comments section and I'll mail it to you.

In My Mailbox (5)

This is a weekly post inspired by Kristi from Thestorysiren.com go check out her new blog layout!

This week I bought a few books:

The Secret Under My Skin by Janet Mcnaughton
Keep Sweet by Michelle Dominquez Greene
Pedro and Me by Judd Winick

And as I mentioned last week I got a bunch of books for review from my store:

The Billionaire's Curse by Richard Newsome
Sincerely by Courtney Sheinmel (I loved her first two books, Positively and My So Called Family)
Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon
The Steps Across the Water by Adam Gopnik
Red Moon Rising by Peter Moore
Home is With Our Family - by Joyce Hansen
Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel

well that's it for this week! Thoughts?

Liar by Justine Larbalestier

Well, this book was certainly a trip. It was kind of like watching The Sixth Sense and Fight Club at the same time. A lot has been said about the two different covers of the book. Bloomsbury sent out the advanced reader's copies (arc's) with the cover on the left, but there was such an outcry of rage, considering the main character is Black, that they changed it the cover on the right. (even though that model looks nothing like the way the main character Micah describes herself) The main point of this book is that you can't trust anything Micah says, and it is really hard to read a book where the narrator never tells the truth. One of the interesting things I thought about the original cover, is that that since it depicts Micah as white, does that mean she is lying about being biracial? Larbalestier says no, she says that her race is on of the only things Micah actually tells the truth about and while I am all for a larger range of POC (people of color) in YA fiction (and everywhere) I think it would be extremely interesting if that was something Micah was in fact lying about. It is confusing, at points, trying to figure out Micah's racial identity. I am thinking specifically of a point towards the end of the book. Now I can't really go in to what happens without giving away a HUGE SPOILER, so if you haven't read the book and you plan on it, and you hate spoilers, stop reading.






SPOILER: NO REALLY, A HUGE SPOILER WHERE I RUIN THE ENTIRE BOOK, STOP READING.
When she is talking to Pete, the new wolf that goes to live with her family upstate, she mentions that she is the only Black wolf on her father's side and the rest are white, even though her father is Black. Huh? I am pretty sure that her whole "I and generations of my family before me are werewolves", is a huge delusion and she is really just a psychopathic killer trying to justify murdering her boyfrienD and the entire story pretty much takes place in her mind. So if that were the case, she would basically be saying she is the only Black person in her family which I'm pretty sure is biologically impossible. So what does it mean?



END OF SPOILER













Is she lying about her race? Larbalestier says no, but that's the great thing about literature; once a book is published, it becomes open for a million interpretations and responses from the readers, some which the author might never had intended. Does that make them any less valid? That depends on which literary theory you believe in, and if you believe in reader response than my response and analysis is just as valid as anyone elses. But that's a whole other discussion. This is a great book, but it is very confusing. Read it if you are willing to scratch your head numerous times and go huhwhat?

In My Mailbox (4)

This week I bought The Immortal Life of Henrietta Sparks by Rebecca Skloot about the woman behind the immortal HeLa cells and what her family went through. I also picked up a bunch of books for review, however I left work early because I was sick and I left them there. So instead of posting about them, I will post about five upcoming books I am really excited to read that are currently sitting on my shelves waiting for me.

1. The Enemy by Charlie Higson

2. The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller

3. The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell

4. The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell

5. Bruiser by Neal Shusterman

So that's what I am excited about and next week I will do a double post about what books I got.

Truancy by Isamu Fukui

Ok so listen up: when I first started reading this book I looked at the author's name and naively assumed it was a translation of some middle aged Japanese author. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I totally love all middle aged Japanese authors. But I was wrong. Surprisingly, Fukui is a college sophomore (!) at my alma mater, NYU. He wrote this book when he was 15 but the only hint that the author is not all grow'd up is that he actually manages to completely, and perfectly capture the disenfranchised teenager voice.
In "Truancy," an evil mayor of a nameless city rules the city and subsequently the educational system with an iron fist. Reading about how the students are treated by their teachers made me cringe, and I had HORRIBLE school experiences. Combating the evil government are "The Truancy" who will stop at nothing (even mass murder) to end the current regime. Caught up in the crossfire is Tack, who after the death of someone close to him, joins up with the Truancy to exact revenge. And holy moly does he kill a lot of people. This book is not for the faint of heart. As evil as the goverment, and as much as they deserve the horror rained down upon them by the Truancy, at times all the violence seems a bit excessive, which is something Tack realizes early on. This book is dystopian to the nth power and reminds me of my absolutely favorite book, The Hunger Games. I can't wait to read the sequel "Truancy: Origins" and then the third book comes out in August of 2011 (so far away!) I love this book so much it has inspired a new label. Top Book. I will hencetothereforth give this label to any book I consider an absolute must read for anybody, anywhere, anytime. I can't wait to keep reading.

In My Mailbox (3)

This post is inspired by The Story Siren and it shows some of the fun books I got this week.

Bought

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler
Broadway Lights: Secrets of My Hollywood Life by Jen Calonita

For Review

Kiss It by Erin Downing
The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood
Take Me There by Carolee Dean

That's about it! Time to get ready for the Oscar party!in