The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka (2011)

LAST DAY

Some of us left weeping. And some of us left singing. One of us left with her hand held over her mouth and hysterically laughing. A few of us left drunk. Others of us left quietly, with our heads bowed, embarrassed and ashamed (p 105).

The Buddha in the Attic begins with boat full of Japanese women making their way to California to be wives. The husbands, misrepresented to their brides, await them at the docks. The white community never truly accepts them. Their meager wages and accomodations endured without complaint. The pride and self-respect exuded. The few who found easier lives, in brothels or with generous employers. In the end, all are forced to leave as World War II casts suspicion on anyone of Japanese decent living along the coast. By framing her sotry thus, Otsuka brings her readers fill circle.

With sparse and rythmic prose, Otsuka gives readers a glimpse into another time. In just a handful of words she conveys much, sets the tone, and hoks readers into continuing.

This is America, we would say to ourselves, there is no need to worry. And we would be wrong (p 18).

One of my favorite books of 2011, I highly recommend it!

Library copy | August 23, 2011 | Alfred A. Knopf | ISBN 978-0307700001 | Adult | 144 pages | $22.00

Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones (2011)

Look up at the Plaza Regent, Blink, in the shivery morning light. Count the floors – take your pick (p 3).

Blink lives on the street. He sneaks into hotels and steals food from the room service trays. One morning, while scrounging, something weird happens inside a hotel room. A crash… then a thump, padded by silence. Three rough-looking men leaving with another. A Suit. They ditch the room key, which Blink uses to enter the room and a world of weird. He takes the wallet containing a wad of cash and a picture of a beautiful girl. Perhaps foolishly, he takes the smart phone.

Caution can’t forgive herself for murdering her brother, Spencer. She’s sentenced herself to death by magic. Merlin, a dealer and thug, is her executioner. She’s living out a death sentence, until she takes Merlin’s stash and runs. Confident he will find her and finally kill her, she believes she is getting what she deserves.

Their stories converge as Blink attempts to unravel the mysterious crime he witnessed that shivery morning and Caution runs from her abuse boyfriend.

The suspense starts immediately and lets up only enough for the two characters to have brief flashbacks, explaining the circumstances that led to their current dire state. The language is mostly lyrical, with a fine cadance and only a few missteps with over-expounded storytelling or cliché lines such as, “Anyway, the only law on your side right about now is the law of survival” (p 63).

On occassion the convoluted plot had me skeptical but I was invested in the characters. So I suspended by disbelief and went along for the ride. I’m glad I did.

Read other reviews:
A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
Annette’s Book Spot
Eve’s Book Addiction
Kirkus (starred)
National Post (a pretty close to perfect review)

Library copy | ISBN 978-0763639839 | Ages 14 and up | 342 pages | $16.99

Read Alikes:

Dragon Castle by Joseph Bruchac (2011)

The Dark Lord raised his hand, his palm glowing as if it were a burning hand. He lowered it and great gouts of lightning came pouring down from the black cloud (p 23).

Rashko and Paulek are princes in a very peaceful kingdom. Then their benevolent but slightly bemused parents disappear in the middle of the night, a herald brings an enchanted letter announcing the arrival of The Great and Honorable Baron Temny and a large, well-armed host of men arrive at the castle gates. Rashko seems the only one worried as the pixilated Paulek lowers the drawbridge.

In alternating chapters, we learn the history of the magical castle, Hladka Hvorka, and the hero of its people, Pavol.

This charming fantasy with a slew of interesting characters, smooth prose, and whimsical anicdotes was just what I needed. It is a gentle read appropriate for ages 12 and up.

Library Copy | Dial Books for Young Readers | Ages 12 up | 333 pages | ISBN 978-0803733763 | $16.99

The Kingdom of Childhood by Rebecca Coleman (2011)

I rose to stand, lifting my lantern, and I thought: as surely as one of these lanterns can light the next, so has the fire in him rekindled the fire in me. Where once I died down to nothing, I was alive again, and all was his doing. I was afire with him, and for once the thought was not terrible (p 197).

Stuck in a loveless marriage, Judy enters into a sensual affair with sixteen-year-old Zach, a new student at the Waldorf school where Judy teaches kindergarten. What begins as a mutually titillating experience soon becomes destructive.

The story begins in Germany when Judy is a ten-year-old child. She finds solace from her mentally ill mother and adulterous father in a neighbor’s barn. There she is befriended by an older farm boy, Rudy, with physical prowess. As they bond over sled rides and their mutual dislike of German fairy tales, a subtle sexual undertone emerges and the two share an overly friendly kiss.

But it isn’t until Judy’s self-medicated and disassociated husband, Russ, uncovers Judy’s dark passenger that the reader begins to understand Judy is malicious and unstable.

Coleman’s language, the novel’s pacing and alternating perspectives combine to make an engrossing read. There is a depth to Judy’s character that had me at turns commiserating then chastising then sympathizing all over again. Her logic, at the beginning, seems rational. When she pinpoints the moment she becomes a child molester (forcing an unwilling Zach), the reader is tempted to agree – forgetting she has been molesting him from the first.

While Zach’s persepctive was interesting, he really never rose about ‘horny teen’ in my estimation. Not to say his brutality didn’t give the book more dimension. But he was in a circumstance he had little control over and was every bit the victim. Altogether a fascinating, well-structured and evenly paced read.

School Library Journal’s blog “Adult Books 4 Teens” recommends it to high school students.

Read other reviews:
Jenn’s Bookshelf
Dreaming in Books
Good Books and Good Wine
Write Meg!

Library copy | MIRA | ISBN 978-0778312789 | Ages 18 + | 338 pages | $15.95

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles (2008)

As many other bloggers have pointed out, the strength of this novel is in its romance. Elkeles handles the uptown girl/downtown boy cliché with finesse. The attraction between Brittany and Alex is convincing, the scenes between then charged and unforced. The dialog (ok, foreplay) is excellent and keeps the book moving forward. I found myself eager to get to the next interaction.

What many have failed to point out are the weaker aspects: the prose (too much tell) and the plot (very sappy in parts). Booklist got it though, saying “An idealized epilogue drains away some of the book’s realism, but if the ‘romance’ angle isn’t pushed too hard, this is a novel that could be embraced by male and female readers in equal measure.”

The novel’s mystery surrounding the death of Alex’s father unfolds predictibly and seemed more like a sidebar until it forces Alex into great peril at the conclusion. I would have been just as happy if it had remained a mystery.

This is a good book to indulge in, though, and I’m sure many teens will. It’s highly readable and it has a great cover.

Library copy | December 23, 2008| Walker Childrens | ISBN 978-0802798237 | 368 pages | Ages 15-19 | $17.99

Read other reviews:
A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
Book Obsessed
Book Scout
Persnickety Snark

If you enjoyed this, I recommend:

The Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan (2011)

Percy nodded. “Who is Gaea, anyway?”
Hazel’s mouth went dry. Just hearing that name… It was all she could do to keep her knees from buckling. She remembered a woman’s soft sleepy voice, a glowing cave, and feeling her lungs fill with black oil.
“She’s the earth goddess.” Nico glanced at the ground as if it might be listening. “The oldest goddess of all. She’s in a deep sleep most of the time, but she hates the gods and their children.”
“Mother Earth… is evil?” Percy asked.
“Very,” Nico said gravely (p 63).

Percy Jackson has spent months with Lupa, the she-wolf. Bereft of his memory, he has been retrained and sent forth to find Camp Jupiter – Camp Half-Blood’s Roman counterpart. Along the way, he is dogged by two gorgons, Euryale and Stheno. Their ability to reform so quickly after being killed puzzles and exhausts Percy.

Finally, he reaches the entrance to Camp Jupiter, and with the help of two campers, Frank and Hazel, and a goddess in disguise, he makes it safely across their border. Juno reveals Percy’s parentage and charges him with a quest: Free Death. Thanatos, Pluto’s right-hand man, has been bound by the jeweled giant Alcyoneus in Alaska, the land beyond the gods. The Doors of Death are controlled by Gaea; her servants reborn again and again.

The Son of Neptune introduces two new, highly-enjoyable characters, Hazel and Frank. Hazel is Pluto’s daughter, a compassionate girl suffering under a curse and a secret. Frank isn’t especially proud of his father, Mars, but his mother descends from a proud and gifted line that can be traced back to the Argonauts. Both will prove invaluable to Percy as the three make their way to the frozen north.

Predictably, the book ends with Jason Grace and the Greek force arriving to unite with Percy and his Roman force. Juno’s efforts to united all demigods has succeeded. Whether the gods, lead by a proud Jupiter, will unite with the demigods to defeat the powerful Gaea is yet to be seen.

Readers will enjoy Riordan’s humorous prose, solid character development, colorful friends and foes, and well-paced action. There are some shocking revelations and some cliff-hangers that have excited much anticipation in this reader.

Read other reviews:
Roof Beam Reader

Library copy | October 4, 2011 | Disney Hyperion Books | 544 pages | Ages 9-16 | ISBN 978-1423140597 | $19.99

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma (2011)

I know all about being ashamed of a family member – the number of times I’ve wished my mother would act her age in public, if not in private. It’s horrible, being ashamed of someone you care about; it eats away at you. And if you let it get to you, if you give up the fight and surrender, eventually that shame turns to hate (p 39).

Seventeen-year-old Lochan has been the man of the house since his father ran off to Australia with his lover. For five years, he’s taken care of three children with the help of his sister. Maya, thirteen months his junior, has always been more like a friend to Lochan than a sister. While their alcoholic, childish mother neglects them, Maya and Lochan babysit, cook, clean and basically run the household.

Stressed-out with only each other to rely upon, Lochan and Maya to become inseparable and eventually, the two begin an incestuous relationship. Hyper aware of the taboo they are breaking, they try - unsuccessfully – to keep their physical relationship mild.

The Kirkus review of Forbidden calls Suzuma’s lengthy exposition, heavyhanded and I couldn’t agree more. This novel could easily lose a hundred pages. It’s the kind of wordiness and verbal garbage the Twilight fans love but that I find so loathsome. Hemingway said, “If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water.”  This novel is all above water, so to speak.

Not that the books is without its poignant scenes, among them Lochan’s panic attack and Kit’s little rebellions. I agree with Kirkus’s assessment that Kit is the best developed character and, not surprisingly, we see very little of him. I found the ending somewhat unsatifying. The mother showing up on cue, stealthily and lucid? Lochan’s actions… I can almost buy into. He clearly had problems but Maya seemed a little overly dramatic, though I suppose everthing is the end of the world to teenagers. Lochan should have taken the lawyer. I can’t see a kid as smart as he apparently was passing on a chance for representation.

Overall, an uneven read in need of a lot of editing but I can see the teen appeal. Read instead: Tales of the Madman Underground by John Barnes, Doing It by Melvin Burgess or Teach Me by R. A. Nelson.

Read other reviews:
Afterglow Book Reviews
Kirkus
Novel Novice
Portrain of a Book
The Compulsive Reader

Advance Reader Edition | June 28, 2011 | Simon Pulse | 464 pages | ISBN: 978-1-4424-1995-7 | $16.99

Wild Wings by Gill Lewis (2011)

At first, all I could see was the head of a bird above a pile of sticks, a creamy head with a brown stripe across the eye. Then the rest of the bird appeared. It was huge, with dark brown wings and a white belly. There was something prehistoric about it, like a beast of a lost world, too big for this landscape (p 28).

The first time Callum saw Iona McNair, she was standing as if frozen in a cold river.  Moments later, she plucks a trout out of the water with her hands. Callum’s friends Rob and Euan recognize her though, and send her away. Torn between his mates and a girl he finds intriguing, Callum doesn’t always do the right thing. But she has shared a secret with him. Osprays have returned to Scottland and they are nesting on Callum’s farm.

This story had shades of Bridge to Terabithia and Flipped to it but the characters here are never as fully endeared to the reader as they are in those excellent books. However, characters are clearly draw and their interactions realistic, though unsentimental and blunt in their portrayal.

The writing is stronger when the author tackles nature and the animals therein; therefore, readers will eagerly follow the female osprey, Iris, whose journey from Scotland to Africa and back again is tracked by Callum, his buddies and eventually their whole school. Some of my favorite chapters were those intermittent ones told from Iris’s perspective.

The novel includes beautiful illustrations by Yuta Onoda. It has received a starred review from Kirkus.

Library copy |  Antheum Books for Young Readers, a division of Simon & Schuster | 304 pages | May 24, 2011 | ISBN 978-1442414457 | $15.99

No Passengers Beyond this Point by Gennifer Choldenko (2011)

Ever since I found out they kicked Pluto out of the planets, I have not been feeling so sure about a lot of things (p 26).

Twelve-year-old Finn has noticed his mother struggling but it comes as a surprise when she informs Finn and his sisters, fourteen-year-old India and brainy little Mouse, they must leave California to live with their Uncle Red in Colorado. With their house repossessed by the bank, the siblings have no choice. Finn must abandon his basketball team. India must part with her best friend Maddy, and Mouse can’t take her explosion equipment. Their mother, staying behind to finish teaching out the school year, will join them later.

But the children don’t arrive in Colorado. Instead, they travel down the proverbial rabbit hole when their plane lands in Falling Bird, a seemingly nonsensical world where the children find their dream houses awaiting them, crowds cheering their arrival, and an idealized version of a mother or father attending them (reminiscent of Coraline).

This is an enjoyable adventure for early chapter book readers exploring the importance of family, individuality, and responsibility. It’s twilight-zonish conclusion provides a quick but somber explanation.

The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan (2010)

Bruce hesitated. “Annabeth’s okay. You gotta cut her some slack. She had a vision telling her to come here, to find a guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to her problem.”
“What problem?” Piper asked.
“She’s been looking for one of our campers, who’s been missing three days,” Butch said. “She’s going out of her ming with worry. She hoped he’d be here.”
“Who?” Jason asked.
“Her boyfriend,” Butch said. “A guy named Percy Jackson” (p 31).

The gods of Olympus are in trouble again. This time the demigods at Camp Half-Blood must work together with Jason, a demigod of Roman decent, to not only find Percy but to save Hera, Zeus’s wife and goddess of the hearth and family.

Riordan jumps right into the action, introducing readers to three new demigods in much the same fashion as their introduction to Percy in The Lightning Thief.

Jason wakes on a school bus with no memory, holding hands with Piper, his girlfriend. Leo, their best friend, is also aboard. Soon the trio is under attack from a venti, a storm spirit. Saved by their teacher and whisked away to Camp Half-Blood by Annabeth, the three learn the truth of their parantage.

Almost immediately, they set out to save Olympus. In the wake of the Titan’s War (Percy Jackson and the Olympian series), a greater evil has stirred – older even than the Titans.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Riordan has a winning way with middle grade readers and he’s stuck to his formula with The Lost Hero, introducing the Roman adaptations of the Greek gods and goddesses as well as new characters unique to Roman mythology. Some critics take umbrage at the liberties Riordan takes with the myths, but I see it as good fun.

While Percy is only mentioned and Annabeth has a small role, it is clear the two will play a much larger role in the sequel, The Son of Neptune, due out on October 11, 2011.

Riordan also has the ability to write well from both male and female perspectives. The chapters alternate between our three main heroes: Leo, Piper, and Jason. All are equally engaging (and perhaps that is due to the third person narration).

This is the first time I’ve split my reading of a book between text and audio. I noticed the audio gave the book a slightly campy feel.

Fans of Riordan’s other series, Percy Jackson and The Kane Chronicles, will enjoy this offering.