The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Witty, smart, mischievous, highly addictive and well written. Lockhart employs all the right narrative techniques, hooking the reader immediately and then taking her time in introducing Frankie. Things really pick up as Frankie is driven to further scheming and mayhem to prove… what? That she can be one of the good Old Boys. That she is better. And yet, when she finds it impossible, she must accept it.
There is an element of fight club in here and I believe this will also appeal to fans of John Green’s Looking for Alaska. Definitely a read of the high school and up audience. This has been one of the most enjoyable reads of the year. I’m only sorry it took me so long to get to it! A National Book Award Finalist and a 2009 Printz Honor Book.
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH (March 25, 2008)
What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
I’m certainly catching up on great historical fiction for teens lately. It’s taken a while, but I finally got around to reading the national book award winning What I Saw and How I Lied. Have I mentioned that I don’t often gravitate toward historical fiction? Well, that might change.
There are plenty of great reviews out there: The Guardian and NYPL. I agree with both of these. I read this book in one sitting because I simply could not put it down. I had to know. And then I found out, but it wasn’t what I thought, and then Evie lies and the story shifts again. But then it ends, and I felt like I was holding air. So good.
This is definitely one of the more accessible historical fiction books for teens and I can’t wait to recommend it.
Locomotion and Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
Lonnie C. Motion, aka Locomotion, became an orphan when his parents perished in a house fire. Lonnie and his younger sister survived but were separated into different homes afterward. Told through a series of Lonnie’s poems assigned by his teacher, we learn all about the tender-hearted Lonnie and his sweet sister in Locomotion.
Through Lonnie’s optimistic and honest perspective, we glimpse the heart of an honest child making his way through a world that seems set against him, not in obvious or purposeful ways, but in all the subtle ways that can tear a child apart. And Lonnie knows what he’s up against, “…alotta those people are white. Maybe it’s that if you’re white you can’t see all the whiteness around you” (p13). But Lonnie is strong. He affects those who would wish him absent (his sister’s new ‘mother’) or silent (his ‘mother,’ Miss Edna), changing them for the better, and sees straight through those with evil intent (the drug store guards who are suspicious of him because he is black, p 7). He clings to those who build him up: his sister and his teacher. Locomotion was a National Book Award Finalist and a Coretta Scott King Honor winner.
In Peace, Locomotion, Lonnie writes to his sister. He doesn’t send the letters, but writes them “because I love writing and I love you and when me and you are together again, I’m gonna want us to remember everything that happened when we were living apart” (p 8). Just wonderful writing. Genuine, insightful, and beautifully optimistic even when dealing with the horrors of war, loss, and separation. A Printz Award nominee that could go the distance.
Read more at: BCCLS
Monthly Reads
I need to start keeping track of all the books I read and a short summary. It’s getting to be too much to keep in my head!
Story of a Girl: Sara Zarr – When she is caught in the backseat of a car (Buick) with her older brother’s best friend – Deanna Lambert’s teenage life is changed forever. Struggling to overcome the lasting repercussions and the stifling role of “school slut,” (though she hasn’t slept with anyone since) she longs to escape a life defined by her past. She takes a job at a pizza dive where she ends up working with non other than Tommy (the best friend). She dreams of moving out of her parent’s house with her older brother, his girlfriend, and their infant daughter. *2007 National Book Award Finalist*
Touching Snow: M. Sindy Felin – Karina’s life is spiraling into misery. She and her siblings are too busy dodging their step-fathers hammering blows to build their own lives. After “the daddy” nearly kills the eldest girl, Karina, he is taken away on child-abuse charges that don’t stick. This story reveals many real-life social issues facing Haitian immigrant families. Written in retrospect, Karina reflects, “The best way to avoid being picked on by high school bullies is to kill someone.” A difficult book to read (becuase ”the Daddy” is so brutal and the children so helpless), the promise of “justice” is all that kept me from total frustration. Well written. *2007 National Book Award Finalist*
Just Listen : Sara Dessen- “Last year, Annabel was “the girl who has everything”—at least that’s the part she played in the television commercial for Kopf ’s Department Store.This year, she’s the girl who has nothing: no best friend because mean-but-exciting Sophie dropped her, no peace at home since her older sister became anorexic, and no one to sit with at lunch. Until she meets Owen Armstrong. Tall, dark, and music-obsessed, Owen is a reformed bad boy with a commitment to truth-telling.With Owen’s help,maybe Annabel can face what happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends.”
I couldn’t put this book down and I’ve just checked out two more Dessen books. Her characters are realistic (esp. the sister dynamic – their interactions struck a chord with me). Sophie, Annabel’s former (fake) best friend, was also well done. She was just the right part manipulative and addictive. I’ve known girls like her!
Dragonhaven : Robin McKinley- This longwinded story follows Jake, a 14-year-old boy living in Smokehill National Park – one of the last dragon havens in this contemporary alternate reality. Beth Wright of School Library Journal writes, “Once readers get through Jake’s overdone teenage diction in the first few chapters, they will be engaged by McKinley’s well-drawn characters and want to root for the Smokehill community’s fight to save the ultimate endangered species.”
Well, I didn’t find myself rooting for Jake or his squawking dragenlet, Lois. The series seems to drag on and on (perhaps because the sentence structure is torturingly bad!). Twice the length it should be, the narrative hints of a middle-aged woman not a teen boy. I enjoy fantasy (and there were some unique aspects of this take on dragons), but if there is a sequel (and there are threats of one), I will pass.
The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney : Suzanne Harper- Sparrow is the seventh daugther or a seventh daughter. She is a psychic but it is a talent she keeps well hidden. It is her mission to fit in now she has the chance. When the school district lines are redrawn, Sparrow transfers to a new school, where no one knows her sisters are local psychics and (in her opinion anyway) oddities. But her “just fit in” task is made difficult by her three mentor spirits and the appearance of Luke, a spirit who persists on being heard.
Great cover, good story, an overabundance of quirky characters. Gladly, it does not delve into teen angst macabre but remains heart-felt. An enjoyable read… but there may be some *uproar* over the psychic element (as it is taken as absolute truth).
Dragon Academy: The New Kid at School : Kate McMullen, Bill Bisso (Illustrator) – Monty Pyhton meets Wart in this goofy take on Dragon slaying!
