Elizabeth Scott and Me

I've been spending some time with Elizabeth Scott lately. Not literally, but I'd read that she is the current readergirlz Author in Residence.  I looked and found that we had only two of her books, Stealing Heaven and Living Dead Girl, which was one of the 2009 YALSA Best Books for Young Adults.  I ordered several more, including Bloom, Something Maybe, and Love You, Hate You, Miss You.  

She seems like a pretty important YA author to be keeping up with, so last weekend I started reading the books.  I started with Stealing Heaven.  It is the story of an 18 year old girl, Danielle, who works with her mother as a professional thief.  They travel the country breaking into fancy homes and stealing silver.  They settle in for a big heist in a beachfront town called Heaven and Danielle ends up making real friends which is absolutely against the rules. 

I enjoyed Stealing Heaven.  Danielle is a likable character.  It is easy to relate to her desire for a "normal life" with regular friends and family.  And though I won't give it away, I do like the way it ends.  My issue with the book is that it just seems implausible that the daughter of a criminal who has never been to school could grow up so well adjusted, but once I got past that I was able to get into it. 

But I have to admit the book I liked even more was Something, Maybe.  It was an accident that I chose this as the next Scott to read.  I was actually more intrigued the the description of Bloom, but I ended up with Something, Maybe because of Sarah Dessen's quote on the cover: "The best love story I've read in ages."  Just last week someone asked me for a love story and I'm on the lookout for books that girls who want more books like the Nicholas Sparks novels.  So Something, Maybe it was, and I was skeptical.  The story of a teenage girl, Hannah, whose mother had a short-lived acting career and now her only job is maintaining an online website where she chats with men all over the world while wearing almost nothing (though never fully nude) and a Hugh Heffnerish father seemed too far-fetched to me. 

My initial thought was, why are the parents in these teen books always so outrageously crazy!  Is it not possible to write a book for teens where both the teens and the adults are realistic?  But surprisingly I found that the story worked. Most people are at least a little embarrassed of their parents and can relate to the cringe-worthy qualities of the parents in these books, even if they are over the top.  I liked the main character and found the dialog to be really good.  The love triangle between she, her alternative-boy crush and her jock friend is really good.  It was a good lesson about how the boy you think you should like isn't always the one that your really do like.

There is one thing that bothers me about Something, Maybe though.  One of Hannah's big concerns in the book is that if she ever does actually kiss a boy she'll be overtaken by her sexuality since her parents are so oversexualized.  I think this kind of questioning is good, useful, and real.  But I don't think the way Hannah responds to her feelings when she finally does have her first and then her second kiss is explored and it felt like it should have been.

I'll return to Elizabeth Scott soon (I hope), but we just got in a batch of amazing new books and my attention has been pulled to some other authors.  I'm especially intrigued by the Alex Award winning The Kids are All Right.

Teen's Top Ten

Here are the winners.  I've highlighted the ones I've read.  My goal is to read the rest of these by Christmas.  (That is if I ever finish reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle).  

• Paper Towns by John Green (Penguin/Dutton)
  
• Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
  People love this book.  I'm looking forward to this one.
  
• City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry)
  
• Identical by Ellen Hopkins (Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry)
  I fear this one...a novel in verse about the horrors of drug addiction.  A big hit with the 8th grade right now.
  
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins)
  Does it count if Greg reads it and just tells me if I should like it.  I guess not.
  
• Wake by Lisa McMann (Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse)
• Untamed by P.C. and Kristin Cast (St. Martin's Griffin)
• The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (Disney-Hyperion)
• Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Harcourt/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

The Summer I Turned Pretty

I have to admit I removed the book jacket while I read this book in public.  It is just embarrassing for an adult to read a book with this title and teenagers on the cover.  I have to say though, there is much to like in this book.  The characters are likable and the story is fun and romantic, but not shallow.  There's a love triangle (actually it grows into more than a triangle) and I grew weary of the "who will she choose" back and forth, but I think others will like the struggle (its like the Edward/Jacob issue and though the boys are not vampires and werewolves, one is dark and the other is safe, yadda, yadda). 

This is Jenny Han's second book.  I noticed on her website that the publisher provides a "soundtrack" to accompany the book.  That would have been fun and made the book feel even more summery while reading.  I'll definitely try to listen to the recommended playlist when I read her first book, Shug. 

Don't Be Such a Massie

There comes a time in every YA librarian's life when she has to read The Clique.  I've avoided it because it seemed there was more high quality stuff out there, but really these books are so popular among the girls, I really should see what it is all about.  At lunch today I got 28 pages into the first book.  As I expected, it is the Sweet Valley High of the new era.  But this new era is richer and mean-girlier, but we'll see if there are life lessons to be learned among these pages. 

Posionwood Bible -- Read it Again, JA

I'm reading Poisonwood Bible not because so many of the teens in my library are so hot about it, or even because it is required reading for St. Mary's seniors, but instead I'm reading it because it is the pick for a book club which I've just joined.  No matter though, cause I think it fits.  PB was listed by the Nashville Public Library as an "Adult Book with Teen Appeal."  (A Prayer for Owen Meany was also listed and it is also a past favorite that I need to reread ASAP.)

It feels cosmically connected that I'm joining a reading group that chose Kingsolver, as she ranks high on my favorite authors list. (Her novel The Bean Trees was an important component of my coming of age.)  I read PB about eight years ago (I think).  I remember starting it on my bed in my little house in Wilmington and I also have fond memories of reading it on the deck of the cabin on the White River.  I loved it then and I'm enjoying it again. 

Reading it with the book club in mind, I'm wondering what I'm missing.  I've mostly been wondering about the name of the "bad guy" Eeben Axelroot.  The names in the book seem so significant, surely this name means something.  I looked around a bit, but didn't find anything that explained it for me.  Maybe my bookclubbers can help me out!

Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Reading Impossible taught me a valuable lesson, or maybe just reminded me of one.  Liking something and realizing that something is good are two different things.  This is a good book.  I know this.  The characters are good, the writing is strong, the story is interesting.  Reviewers note that the main character Lucy is "spunky and unique and fiercely independent"  and that the book is a "fast paced, compelling read" (Voice of Youth Advoates). While I think all of these things are true about the book and I honestly believe that lots of readers will love Impossible, for me it was only ok.  

As the story got closer to its conclusion I found myself liking the book less and less.  I felt disconnected from the characters search for solutions to the three "tasks" that Lucy had to accomplish to break the curse.  While I felt Zach became a deeper character, I felt we lost Lucy some toward the end of the book.

Most importantly this book has a great message, which I think the reviewer for Booklist articulated beautifully, "no destiny is unalterable, especially not when faced with tender love," which Lucy had in spades from her foster parents and Zach.

Impossible is a book that will appeal to readers in middle grades, but it does have very complex situtations, including date rape and teen pregnancy.

Watch a trailer for Impossible | Read an excerpt of Impossible

120 pages into Impossible by Nancy Werlin

I picked Impossible of this year's list of Teen Top Ten nominations. The book took a darker turn than I was anticipating, but Werlin is handling the difficult subject matter nicely.  I'm not a huge fan of sci-fi or fantasy, so the supernatural elements of this book are tricky for me, but I'm very curious to see the complete puzzle put together.  The main character and her neighbor/friend/maybe boyfriend are incredibly likable characters and that's making it more enjoyable for me.