What I've Read Lately - September

September was an incredibly busy month for me, and has left me thinking that maybe I have acquired one too many hobbies.  I thought I was going to get through the remaining books that I checked out two months ago and then get an early start on some Halloween picks, but I only managed to finish the five I already had on my shelf.  (Actually, I didn't even finish the last one until it was already October, but I read most of it in September and I hadn't finished this post yet, so I figured I'd just throw it in here.)

 So the first book of the month started out pretty well, but ultimately ended up as a bust.  If you want to know why I didn't really care for Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge, by Lisa Jensen, read my review here.

Belle's Song, by K. M. Grant was pretty interesting.  I was a bit skeptical at first, because it was set in the Middle Ages and the main character was an obsessive daydreamer with OCD, which just seemed weird.  Of course, I'm sure there were people living during the Middle Ages who had OCD, but I guess - maybe because nobody has decided to pair up the two ideas before - it just felt kind of strange.  But once the story really got going, it was quite enjoyable.  It is about a girl who joins the pilgrimage that Geoffrey Chaucer is taking to Canterbury.  But it's not just a modern retelling of The Canterbury Tales.  In fact, the stories that the pilgrims tell are really a minor part of the book, which is actually full of political intrigue (who knew Chaucer passed on secret messages for the king?) and a quirky sort of love triangle.  It is a great pick for fans of historical fiction, but even those who don't really care for stories set in the past will probably enjoy it because it has a strangely modern feel to it as well.  (Reading Level: 5.0 / Upper Middle Grades)

The Darkest Legacy, by Alexandra Bracken, is an add-on to The Darkest Minds trilogy.  It is just as good as the the original books, with non-stop edge-of-your-seat action/adventure and witty banter, and  just enough self-reflection peppered throughout to bring depth to the story.  It continues with the same fantastically original concept combined with skilled writing that gets books turned into movies.  It gives us four amazingly strong heroines as a diverse set of role models, explores the way relationships change over time, and examines both the obstacles to and the different ways people try to bring about lasting change in society.  Truly fantastic.  The only thing I didn't like about the book is the blatant race politics she throws in during the latter part of the story.  For example, the author has one of the heroines tell the other to watch out because they won't hesitate to shoot a brown girl with a gun.  Well, in every scenario given to us in this book where our heroes have a gun, nobody is going to hesitate to shoot any of them, regardless of their color.  That's the way the story is set up.  At another point she writes that a white guy is looting a computer store.  I get that she is attacking the stereotype of looters, but the way she phrases it is so different from anything else she writes that it just jumps off the page at you.  It's really kind of off-putting.  For the entire book, she makes a point of describing the characters in ways that show the reader that they are all different races and ethnicities.  The heroes come in all colors, the kids with powers come in all colors, the parents who gave them up come in all colors, the parents who didn't want to give them up come in all colors, the citizens for and against rights for those kids come in all colors, and the bad guys come in all colors.  The message is that, regardless of color, we are all people, and people are good and bad regardless of their race or ethnicity.  That is a nice, unifying message, presented in a natural, not-in-your-face manner.  I wish she would have just kept things positive, instead of throwing in divisive rhetoric.  Anyway, you should definitely read this book, but not until you've read the previous titles in the series or you'll be scratching your head enough to ruin the enjoyment.   (Reading Level: ? / Upper Grades)

Savannah Grey is the second book by Cliff McNish that I've read, and let me tell you, that guy knows how to write creepy/scary stuff.  General narration and dialogue involving characters, not so much.  So this book is a mix between horror and science fiction.  Kinda weird, but okay I guess, even though I am much more into the horror part so the science fiction stuff put a bit of a damper on my enthusiasm.  I like science fiction well enough if it is well-written, but I think I feel pretty strongly that you shouldn't mess with my creepy stuff by mixing the two together.  Anyway....the book starts with a PHENOMENAL description of a Horror traipsing along on a mission to observe the heroine of the story.  I was absolutely enthralled by the writing.  Then, we meet the characters.  And they are boring.  Not only that, but every time a new character is mentioned, McNish puts their first and last name in the sentence.  For like the first six or seven times they are mentioned.  Who does that?  It was just plain weird, and in a really annoying way.  So I was like, oh no, am I going to have to give up on this book?  But then, the author brings the Horror back into the story, and those parts are so good, it made me keep going.  Then the author starts developing the whole science fictionish part and I was like, meh, I'm not so into this, but then things started to get suspenseful and McNish does an awesome job with the intense action and whatnot, and I'm like, okay, I think I can ignore the stuff I don't like, because the stuff I do like keeps coming pretty regularly.  So.  If you just took the parts with the fantastic writing, I would say that McNish could hold his own alongside the likes of Neil Gaiman.  Yes, I just said that.  But if you take the parts I didn't like, I hate to say it but it was pretty darn bad at times.  So, If you balance out the 4 to 5 star material with the 2 star material, I would say that leaves the book in the range of 3 stars, which is worth reading.  It's probably a great pick for the middle to upper middle grade reader (even though the library has it shelved in young adult), and a great book for the upcoming Halloween season.  (Reading Level: 5.2 / Upper Middle Grades)

Dreams of Gods & Monsters is the final book in Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy (see my mini-reviews of the first two books here and here), and I have to tell you, folks, it was 613 pages of the Best Stuff Ever! You know how actors get Oscars and stars on the walk of fame, and the Queen bestows knighthood on guys who do special stuff?  Well, there really ought to be some kind of equivalent for writers like Laini Taylor.  Her writing is so good, I don't even have words for it.  It's like there is an inverse correlation between her ability to put together words and my ability to put together words to describe her superb ability at word-putting-together.  So I'll just sum it up like this:  before I had even finished reading this book, I already wanted to read it again.  And I will be receiving my very own copies of the trilogy in the mail this afternoon, so I can do just that whenever I want. If you haven't yet heeded my advice and started reading this series, you seriously need to get your act together and do it already.  (Reading Level: 6.3 / Upper Grades)

Fairly Disappointing Tales

I have never been a really big fan of fairy tales. I could always just take 'em or leave 'em.  I am, however, quite a big fan of fairy tales that have been retold.   Whether the new versions are attempting to get back to the roots and present an actual earlier version, or, imagining what the inspiration for the story may have been, presenting it as historical fiction, or whether they are twisting a tale into something funny or dark, I love them all the same.  Well, let me clarify - I love them as long as they are not boring or dumb or poorly written.

I came across a book recently that was a take on the Alice in Wonderland story.  I know, not a fairy tale in the true sense, but still a magical story that takes place in an imaginary land, which most children have become familiar with, so.  Being so similar, I think it would be okay to lump it in with the rest.  Anyway, the book I came across was Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes.

This is not the story of the Wonderland we know. Alice has not fallen down a rabbit hole. There is no all-knowing cat with a taunting smile. This is a Wonderland where beneath each smile lies a secret, each tart comes with a demand, and only prisoners tell the truth.

Dinah is the princess who will one day reign over Wonderland. She has not yet seen the dark depths of her kingdom; she longs only for her father’s approval and a future with the boy she loves. But when a betrayal breaks her heart and threatens her throne, she is launched into Wonderland’s dangerous political game. Dinah must stay one step ahead of her cunning enemies or she’ll lose not just the crown but her head. 

Evil is brewing in Wonderland and maybe, most frighteningly, in Dinah herself. 

This is not a story of happily ever after. 

This is the story of the Queen of Hearts.

I thought the blurb sounded fantastic.  I thought I would like this version way better than the original, which I never particularly cared for.  I thought it would be super interesting to read in the format of a novel, especially because the villain was now the main character.  All those things I thought?  I thought wrong.  It turns out that Queen of Hearts is another example of a book that had a great idea that was poorly executed.

So, lets talk a little bit about the characters.  The heroine, Dinah, the future Queen of Hearts, was actually pretty likable.  She was sufficiently developed to get a sense of her character, and, due to her circumstances, you can't help but feel sympathetic toward her.  Unfortunately, the writing didn't make us love her.  Most of her thoughts were simplistic and sometimes even contradictory.  And I don't know why the blurb told us that evil was brewing in her, because that wasn't even in the story.  Annnd, the author could have done a much better job with her dialogue.

Pretty much the rest of the characters were extremely flat and hyper-stereotypical, making them beyond boring.  Except for the Mad Hatter.  I liked what the author did with him, making him less mad and more of an autistic savant, but she pretty much eliminates him from the story by the end of this book, which, I discovered about three quarters of the way through, is actually book one in a trilogy, so, so  much for that bright spot in an otherwise bland lineup.

And then there is the romance portion of story – which actually pops up quite often.  Dinah is in love with her childhood friend, who now works in the stables but is training to be something much more important.  She is planning to marry him when she is queen, but he seems to be completely uninterested in her in a romantic way.  Until, that is, the very end of the book, when he suddenly seems to be just as much in love with her.  Granted, the narrator does not go into any of his thought processes, but you would think the author could have given him actions or expressions that would give the reader more of a hint as to his real feelings toward her.  Of course, the writing is pretty simplistic, so I guess that explains that.

As for the plot elements, what can I say, a lot of them were kinda weird?  For example,  Dinah's father’s advisor shows her a secret tunnel under the castle that not even the king knows about.  This was obviously necessary because Dinah later uses the tunnel to get to the Black Tower (the prison) to interrogate one of the prisoners.  For the rest of the story, said advisor seems to be pretty much completely on the side of the king (which is to say, NOT on Dinah’s side), so we are left wondering what his motivation could possibly be to have shown her the tunnels.  It is pretty obvious that the author just needed a way for the princess to find them.  And about that trip to the prison - the entire thing was completely ridiculous from start to finish. I don't even want to waste the energy explaining all the things I didn't like about it, so you'll just have to take my word for it. 

To top it all off, some of the things the author writes are just plain dumb.  For example, near the very end of the book it says:

She looked back at Morte, following several hundred yards behind, his ears pressed flat against his head.  Even the deadly Hornhooves feared the Twisted Wood.  Fear churned the insides of her stomach.  Dinah drew her sword, and with that, the former Princess of Wonderland and her black devil steed disappeared into the Twisted Wood, leaving nothing behind but a false trail and the distant whiff of a crown.

So, her scary horse thing is following her from several hundred yard behind, which is like the length of four football fields end to end, and she can see that his ears are flattened to his head.  And if she draws her sword and 'with that' they both enter the forest, how is that even possible when he is so far behind her?  That false trail?  The way it is described (a few paragraphs back) that she went about making it sounded like anyone trying to track her could just follow the whole thing right to where she was, so maybe a bit more research (or even some thought) should have gone into that one.  And what's with that 'whiff of a crown' line?  Uuuugghhh.

Okay.  I am done talking about this book.  I'll just finish up by saying that, overall, the story seemed to be grossly underdeveloped.  It seemed to be primarily narration, but without that special feel and depth to the writing that makes that sort of thing work.  It wasn't a very long book, so perhaps giving it 400 pages or so could have fixed much of the problem, but then again, maybe not, since the author just may not have the talent to pull off something better.

And now, another fairy tale retelling.  But guess what?  You probably shouldn't read Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge, by Lisa Jensen, either.

They say Château Beaumont is cursed. But servant-girl Lucie can’t believe such foolishness about handsome Jean-Loup Christian Henri LeNoir, Chevalier de Beaumont, master of the estate. But when the chevalier's cruelty is revealed, Lucie vows to see him suffer. A wisewoman grants her wish, with a spell that transforms Jean-Loup into monstrous-looking Beast, reflecting the monster he is inside.

But Beast is nothing like the chevalier. Jean-Loup would never patiently tend his roses; Jean-Loup would never attempt poetry; Jean-Loup would never express remorse for the wrong done to Lucie.

Gradually, Lucie realizes that Beast is an entirely different creature from the handsome chevalier, with a heart more human than Jean-Loup’s ever was. Lucie dares to hope that noble Beast has permanently replaced the cruel Jean-Loup — until an innocent beauty arrives at Beast’s château with the power to break the spell.

I was originally going to recommend this book as an alternative to Queen of Hearts, but after reading it, I just couldn't come up with enough to say about it to write an extended review.  Then I read the author's note at the end.  And I was like, nope.  I've got some stuff to say about that.  And then that got me thinking more about the story, and I was like, maybe I do have something to say about this after all.  (So just a bit of warning; my comments may contain spoilers, but since I am strongly suggesting that you not bother reading the book anyway, it probably won't matter if you continue reading this.)

The book starts out telling the story of a housemaid working in the chevalier's chateau.  The author uses her to illustrate what a horrible person he is, and it is his actions toward her that cause him to be cursed.  I like this part.  It was a very promising start.  There was nothing wrong with the writing and it was well-paced and pretty interesting.  But then ...

Things started to fall apart and it is all because of what the author wrote in her note at the end:

Who doesn't love Beauty and the Beast?  It's irresistible, the tale of tragic Beast and the brave girl who sees through the outer monster to the noble soul within. 

But the moment that all thinking women dread is the climax when the marvelous Beast transforms back into the bland, handsome prince. . . 

So why is it the prince who gets the "reward" of Beauty's love?  And why is Beauty so ready to forget the Beast she says she loves and marry the prince?  Doesn't Beast himself deserve to be the hero?

Okay.  Hold on a second.  First of all, who ever said that the prince was bland?  I don't think he was supposed to boring at all.  (Incidentally, in this book he is portrayed as being far, far, from bland.)

Second, I most definitely consider myself a thinking woman, and I can assure you that I never once, in all the times I watched the Disney version of this story, dreaded the part where the prince gets to be human again.

And third, which would explain her own dread, I think the author has completely missed the point of the fairy tale.  Beast and the prince are not two different characters.  The prince is still the prince, he has just had his outward appearance transformed into a physical manifestation of his beastly character.  As a punishment for being a beastly man.  He can no longer beguile people with his outward appearance, and is punished by having to be alone.  The punishment is supposed to change his character.  Only then, when his heart and mind are no longer beastly, can he be free of his beastly appearance and become handsome once again.  What does the girl falling in love with him have to do with anything?  Well, that is the proof that he has really changed.  Because she won't be swayed by his good looks.  Duh.

This book really has three things wrong with it.  First, when the chevalier (prince) is transformed into Beast, he completely forgets who he is.  He is just now a completely different character who is pretty much nice and noble from the very beginning.  So there is no transformation of character, really, to accompany the symbolic transformation of body.  You just have the awful chevalier and the noble beast.  So the moral of the story has been completely erased.  Along with this problem, you have two girls.  Lucie, the housemaid, who seems to really like Beast, and the Beauty, who agrees to  marry him, not because she loves him, mind you, but actually for his money.  Once again, so much for fairy tale as morality story.

The second thing wrong with this book is that Lucie keeps going back and forth and back and forth between I really want to watch Beast suffer (because after all, he is really Jean-Loup) and I really like Beast and hate to see him suffering.  I mean, she goes back and forth with this for half the book.  Then she starts going I don't want you to have to be beastly forever, but we can't let Jean-Loup come back, because he is a horrible person and the only thing I live for is to have my revenge and watch him suffer.  Which, I guess, all goes back to the fact that the author has somehow not realized that the point of the fairy tale was that love can transform a person.  (Never mind the fact that, if beast is a totally different 'person' there is no Jean-Loup suffering!)  This really became quite tedious and annoying.

The third thing wrong with the book was the way the author kept throwing in parts that were almost exactly like the Disney movie version of the story.  Look, if you're going to change up the beginning, ending, and major premise of the story, how about you just make the whole thing original instead of inserting parts that read like a narrative of the movie?  I think this is what made the book the worst.  Because I hate stories like that.  (You know, we all say the book was better than the movie, but it doesn't seem to work out so well for the book when the movie comes first.)

So now, just like that time when I read a terrible pirate novel and decided to be on the lookout for a good one, or that time when I couldn't seem to find a decent dystopian story, I'm going to have to find a different fairy tale that is actually good.  If you know of any, let me know.  And if you don't, well, while I try to find a new one, you can have a look at my Fairy Tales book list and read one that I've read in the past and approved of.

What I've Read Lately - August

August seemed to stretch on and on and on, like FOREVER.  And yet, I couldn't seem to get through my reading selections very fast at all.  Maybe because most of the books I chose weren't super great.  Maybe because I really didn't spend all that much time reading this month.  Probably a little bit of both.  Here's what I managed to get through:

Mira, Mirror, by Mette Ivie Harrison, is a story about, you guessed it, the fairy tale magic mirror.  The book begins with a brief sort of backstory to the wicked queen and her mirror, and then spends the majority of the time trying to develop the theme of sisterhood.  But instead of subtly weaving it into the story, she gives us a long and tedious rambling about the two teenage girls she is traveling with.  Near the end it looks like this might be a mashup of (sort of) Snow White and Beauty and the Beast, because there is a vaguely beastly nobleman finding his bride, but then it just sort of drops that and goes back to the whole sister thing, which, if done well would have made a nice ending, but instead came off as being remarkably unbelievable.  It took me a whole week to read this book, and it wasn’t even very long.  And I didn’t enjoy it.  I only finished it because I abandoned so many books last month.  If you are looking for a (very) different take on the Snow White story, read Donna Jo Napoli’s book Dark Shimmer instead.

Sasha Dawn likes to write books about missing people and buried bodies and maybe-murders.  Her first book, Oblivion, was absolutely fantastic (see my review here), and her second one, Splinter, was nothing special but still well done (see my mini-review here).  Her latest book, Blink, is about a guy who lives in a small town where a little girl went missing twelve years ago, who meets a girl who may have a connection to that other missing girl.  It took me about half the book to get into it, because the first part was mostly about football and the guy's relationship with his terrible mother (oh, and it had its fair share of bad behavior - see this review), but then it started to fall into the groove of the mystery and it got a lot better.   (Reading Level ? / Upper Grades)

Almost three years ago I wrote a post called Give That Author a Second Chance!  Well, guess what?  I have now given Trisha Leaver her second chance and I think I might very well be done with her.  I actually started Sweet Madness last month.  It is supposed to be about Lizzie Borden, the infamous axe murderer (murderess?), and I thought I would like it because A) - I haven't come a cross a book about this before and B) - I love historical fiction.  Then I noticed that it was written by the same author as another book that I've read, and really didn't like, so I was like oh great.  And then I noticed that the picture on the cover is the exact same picture as used on a book published four years earlier and I was like, extreme eye roll.  But I decided to give it a try anyway.  It was SOOOOoooo boring.  And I had already struggled through and abandoned several books in a row.  So I set it aside to give a try later.  Well, now it's later and I decided to just not bother.  If you want a good book that is historical fiction with a murder, skip this one and go to my Historical Fiction Book List  and do a keyword search for 'murder.'

Don't be fooled by the blurb inside the front cover of this one - it is not a scary creepy story.  It is actually quite absurd.  Lucky for me, when it comes to books, I love the absurd.  There is just something about stories like The Willoughbys, A is for Aarrgh!, A House Called Awful End, The Fall of Fergal, and A Whole Nother Story that I find too, too funny.  Wax, by Gina Damico, was one of those books, but like, for older readers.  It is about a girl whose town is being taken over by a century-old couple who keep reincarnating themselves inside wax replicas.  Since the girl is the only one who knows what is really happening, it is up to her to save everyone.  The book reads like a full feature film length version of one of the sketches from the Disney Channel show So Random! (If you haven't seen it, check out this video.)  It takes a couple of chapters to really get into its groove, but after that - super entertaining.   (Reading Level ? / Upper Grades)

Unbound, by Neal Shusterman, is a companion novel to the Unwind series that I previously reviewed here.  So, I say it is a companion novel, even though I guess it is actually a series of short stories, because the original books were written in a way that followed different characters, some of which overlapped with others at different points in the story.  So the story was divided into 'chapters' that switched back and forth between those different characters, and at times seemed like a bunch of different stories all mixed up together.  That's kind of how this book feels as you get further into it.  I say as you get further in, because near the beginning the 'stories' focus more on the backstory for certain characters in the series, then it presents more details to parts that took place in the original books (you know, like scenes that were cut from a movie), and finally, it moves into things that happened after the fourth book in the series ended.  Kind of like the next chapter in the story.  So, what did I think of it?  Was it as good as the original four books?  Well, at first I wasn't very in to it.  But the farther along I got, the more I liked it, and by the last story it felt like I was reading an extended version of the fourth book.  Interestingly, the series is being scripted for film right now, and the ending to Unbound adds what would be a much better ending for a movie, so maybe that was part of the idea behind publishing it.  Overall, if you liked the first four books you should like this as well.   But I wouldn't read it as a stand alone - it won't make a lot of sense and so won't be enjoyable.  (Reading Level 5.5 / Middle Grade+)

I LOVED Munmun by Jesse Andrews.  It was absolutely brilliant.  Too bad for you I'm not going to say anything else about it right now.  Stay tuned for a longer review coming up later this month.   (Reading Level 6.6 / Upper Grades)

Boy Oh Boy

As I was working on a recent book review, it dawned on me that the book had a main character that was a boy, yet there was nothing in the descriptive tag that indicated that.  And I started thinking, well, anyone who visits my book list pages (at the bottom of the menu in the sidebar) may not necessarily know when the main character of those books are boys either.  Why does this matter?  Well, to be honest, if I were a guy, especially one who didn't read very much, I don't know if I would want to read some of those books where the main character is a girl.  Because sometimes those girls are so annoying that I don't even want to read about them.  And sometimes it's just nice to read a book where you can relate to the protagonist.  So here is a sampling of my favorite books where the main character is a guy, and you can find a complete list of all titles over on the right under "Book Lists." (BTW, I chose to only include books in this post that I haven't already reviewed, so I had to leave some of my favorite ones out!)


Books for Younger Readers

Worth by A. LaFaye

This is a fantastic novel about two boys: the injured son of a farmer, and a boy chosen from the orphan train to take on the work he can no longer do.  It is one of my all-time favorite books.  It is perfect for teaching about theme, the history of the orphan train and range wars of the late 1800's, and that all people have value, regardless of their background, current circumstances, or disability.  Perfect for lower middle grades to read on their own, but also a quick, enjoyable read for those who are older.  (Reading Level: 4.5 / Middle Grades)

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

This book is just packed with action and mystery.  Set in the Middle Ages, it tells the story of a boy who is chosen along with three others to compete for the chance to be passed off as the newly found long-lost prince.  Not only is it a fantastic read, but it is the first book in a trilogy, so the good stuff just keeps coming.  (Reading Level: 5.1 / Middle Grades)

A House Called Awful End by Philip Ardagh

This is the first book in a very funny series that follows a boy on his ridiculously absurd adventures through 19th century England.  Although the reading level is quite high for a book intended for middle grade readers, it also quite short, making it more than manageable.  (Reading Level: 6.3 / Middle Grades)

A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck

Here is another super funny book that readers of all ages will love.  It is told by a boy who remembers all the crazy things that happened every summer during the 1930's when he and his sister would visit their larger-than-life grandmother.  Although it is probably intended for readers in, say, the 5th grade, my son read it in his second grade class at school and loved it.  I read it at the same time and loved it as well.  And guess what?  There are two companion books that are just as funny as this first one!   (Reading Level: 5.0 / Middle Grades)

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

This is another fun book that is part one in a series.  It is about a boy who has to move Alcatraz because his dad gets a job there.  Part history, part humor, part the story of a boy growing up with an autistic sister, this book has a lot going for it.   Add to that the pretty low reading level, and it should be a winner for even the most reluctant reader out there.  (Reading Level: 3.5 / Middle Grades)

Don't You Know There's a War On? by Avi

I'm starting to see a pattern here, as this is the sixth historical fiction book I'm recommending.  (What can I say?  Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants type stuff just isn't my thing!)  This one takes place during WWII and is about a boy being a boy in 1940's New York, and also about his plan to save his teacher from being fired.  I liked it so much I bought a copy for my home library.   (Reading Level: 3.8 / Middle Grades)

Holes by Louis Sachar

This is another one of my all-time favorites for younger readers.  It was very popular in the early 2000's - I taught it at school and it was even made into a movie.  It is a super original tale of a boy who gets sent to a juvenile correctional facility where all they do all day is dig giant holes.  The reason for the madness is slowly revealed in seemingly unrelated interspersed chapters that take place in the past, and the reader gets the joy and excitement of putting together the clues until the final AHA! moment when everything is tied together.   (Reading Level: 4.6 / Middle Grades)

Sidekicked by John David Anderson

Finally, a book with nothing whatsoever to do with history!  Instead, this one is about a boy with superpowers who is a secret sidekick to a super hero.  It's a great action/adventure story intended for middle grade readers, but at 384 pages it is a full-blown novel, not just the fluff you get in a lot of the series out there.  Guaranteed to please anyone who picks it up.   (Reading Level: 5.4 / Middle Grades)

Books for Upper Middle Grade Readers

A is for AARRGH! by William J. Brooke

This is a super funny book about the caveman who supposedly invented language, leading to all sorts of new things for humanity.  Although this book get a recommended age level of Middle Grade on the Accelerated Reader website,  the two things that make it so funny are the use of English term like 'past participle,' as well as they way it describes the emergence of all the things familiar to modern society (like science, fashion fads, political power struggles and money), so younger readers might not appreciate the humor as much as someone a bit older.  In fact, I would wager that most adults would get a total kick out of reading it, so maybe this would be a good one to read with your kids (if you have them).    (Reading Level: 5.9 / Middle Grades)

Voss by David Ives

This is another book that is recommended for the middle grades, but that I think would be more appreciated by someone with a few more years under their belt.  Jam packed with humor, it tells the story of Vospop "Voss" Vsklzwczdztwczky, an Eastern European immigrant, who has all kinds of crazy adventures immigrating to America.  It has a hilarious way of helping us hear the character's accent: 'We have smoggled ourselves aboard a great big sheep . . . [and] are headed for dip dip trobble." (I imagine the accent like this clip of some guys from Moldova) Too, too funny.  (Reading Level: 4.0 / Middle Grades)

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

This is a quick, action-packed read about a teenage boy who finds out that he is actually a survivor of a war on another planet.  On top of that, his enemies are out there trying to find and kill him.  The whole time I was reading it, I was thinking to myself, Wow, they ought to make this into a movie!  Well, it turns out they did, although I've heard that it wasn't all that great (go figure).  The book IS great, though, and there are six more in the series, (some with male main characters and some not) so if action and adventure is what you're looking for, this is the perfect book to pick up and read.  (Reading Level: 4.4 / Middle Grade+)

King of Ithaka by Tracy Barrett

This is a historical fantasy novel about the 16 year old son of Odysseus who decides to go searching for his long-lost father.  The great thing about this being told in a historical fantasy format is that it presents all the mythological aspects of Homer's story as being real (the guy's best friend is a centaur), all while presenting the story as a plausible speculative history.  Barrett's writing, as usual, doesn't disappoint, and at part adventure, part coming of age, there is not a boring part to be found.  (Reading Level: 5.5 / Middle Grade+)

Scrawl by Mark Shulman

I read this book years and years ago, not longer after I stopped teaching at an inner-city middle school.  It really resonated with me - I could see so many of my former students in the main character.  Written in the form of a journal, complete with notes from his teacher, it tells the story of a bully who is sentenced to a protracted series of daily detentions, and given the task of writing to pass the time.  Honest, enlightening, and funny, the character's amazingly authentic voice makes this a book that is definitely worth reading.  (Reading Level: 4.3 / Middle Grade+)



Books for Older Readers

I Am the Weapon (alternate title: Boy Nobody) by Allen Zadoff

The first book in a trilogy, this one follows a teenage assassin as he attempts to complete one of his missions.  Fast paced and full of action, this is another book that reads like a movie.  And with the low reading level, it is perfect for reluctant readers or anyone who doesn't have a lot of time or wants to finish it quickly.  (Reading Level: 3.6 / Upper Grades)

Doppelganger by David Stahler Jr.

According to this novel, a doppelganger is not just someone who looks just like someone else, it is actually a monster who kills and then takes the skin of that person.  This amazing story follows a teenage doppelganger as he goes out into the world for the first time.  It isn't just a story about violence, however.  It is deep, and poignant, with soul-searching and the examination of what it really means to be a monster.  Riveting.  Fantastic.  Read it.   (Reading Level: 4.5 / Upper Grades)

Variant by Robison Wells

This is the first book in a two-book series abut a boy who has grown up in foster care who gets a scholarship to an elite boarding school.  When he gets to the school, however, he finds out that, not only are there no adults, but the students are actually being held prisoner.  This is an interesting, fast-paced thriller that, although it isn't a mystery per se, is chock full of characters trying to figure out what the heck is really going on.  (Reading Level: 4.5 / Upper Grades)

Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

This book follows a group of teenagers who are on a school bus when the world as they know it comes to an end.  The bus driver crashes them into a big box store, where they hole up and not only have to survive on their own, but they have to take care of the little kids who just so happened to be on the bus with them.  There are actually three books in the series, with the third having the narration split between two characters, one of which is a boy.  It is post-apocalyptic survival at its finest, so if you like that sort of thing you should definitely read this one.  (Reading Level: 4.0 / Upper Grades)

Noggin by John Corey Whaley

This is a super original science fiction story about a 16 year old boy who, when dying of cancer, agrees to have his head frozen until the time when science figures out how to do head transplants.  Of course, everyone thought this would come YEARS into the future, but after only five years they bring the kid back.  There is plenty of humor in the book as the boy tries to get used to his new body, but there is also some more serious stuff going on with everybody else (parents, former girlfriend, best friend) who have spent the past five years mourning and moving on.  A nice, well-rounded novel I think most would enjoy.  (Reading Level: 4.5 / Upper Grades)

Rotters by Daniel Kraus

This is a fantastic book - one of the few that I have rated with higher than three stars.  I read it like eight or nine years ago, so I don't remember a lot of the details, but I do remember being blown away by it, mostly because it is so incredibly original.  I can't really tell you what it's about, other than it is about a teenage boy who's mother dies, and he has to go live with his father, who he does not know.  And then his life gets turned completely upside down.  That's all I can say. Except that it has an evil dwarf.  Goodreads labels this novel as Horror, but I don't think it really fits into that genre.  I think it pretty much needs its own genre.  Just to warn you, it is quite long (448 pages), but this is one of those books that you get to the end of and still actually wish it was longer.  (Reading Level: 5.7 / Upper Grades)

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

This is another book that I loved for its originality.  It is about a teenage boy who is actually a Changeling raised by a human family.  Although he has tried his whole life to fit in as human, when his friend's little sister goes missing, he has to go into the underworld/otherworld from which he came to try to get her back.  If you read the numerous reviews of this book that other readers have posted online, you will see that a lot of people hated it, a lot of people loved it, and a lot of people just thought it was mediocre.  So.  If you've found that you seem to like the same books that I do, then I think you will really, really like this one.  (Reading Level: 5.2 / Upper Grades)

Genre Stew

I am once again struggling with the concept of genres.  Back in 2016, when I was just getting going with this blog about books, I wrote a post about the difficulties of placing books into genres that were specific enough to help the reader predict exactly what type of book they were getting.  (You can read that post here.)  Well, here I am just over two years later, and I am STILL feeling angst over the whole thing.

My new predicament deals with Alternate History.  I guess I just never came across a book that fit into this category, except for a few books that could clearly fit into the Steampunk category, so that was easy.  Well, I just read a book that is only mildly steampunk-ish, but I think if I stuck it under that list, people who really love reading steampunk would be somewhere between vaguely and terribly disappointed (probably depending on how much they enjoy the actual history).  Any of the other books I read that were a take on history but not actual history, easily fit into the Historical Fantasy category.  This new one, not at all, because to me there has to be some magic in place, and I don't think the voodooed penny the girl wears around her neck really counts.

So, once again, I'm back to: Do I just lump it all under Speculative Fiction?  Do I take some of the books that I've placed into the Paranormal/Supernatural category out and move them over?  Do I lump Alternate History into my Historical Fiction/Historical Fantasy book list?  Do I go more general, using only major genres, or do I go more specific, using as many sub-genres as I think necessary to give an accurate picture of what the book is really like?  Oh, and my favorite, whose definition of all those genres is actually the right one, anyway?

Well, this afternoon I came across an online discussion about labeling genres, and someone called BruceB had this to say:

I’m one of those people often willing to point at several different taxonomies and say “I like ’em all, I’ll make stew.”

You know, that's exactly what I've been doing all along, only now, hearing it put so eloquently (ha ha), I feel so much better about it!  So I guess I'll just keep labeling the books with any (and every) sub-genre that seems to fit, and you'll keep seeing those books again and again on multiple book lists over there in the side bar.  And hopefully, instead of irritating my readers with too many labels, I'll make them glad that they can find just the thing they're looking for.  Happy reading!

What I've Read Lately - July

This month I read some books that I really hated.  Luckily, I also read some books that I really liked, so it all balanced out.  We're just over halfway through the year, and I am three books ahead of schedule for the reading challenge (did I mention in January that I had to cut my goal this year from 100 to 90 because I only managed to get through 85 last year?)  Anyway, here's what I read (or attempted to read in some cases):

Well, my first book of the month turned out to be a bust.  There was nothing particularly wrong with the first eight chapters of Gates of Thread and Stone, by Lori M. Lee, (which is how far I managed to read before I abandoned it); it was more like the sum of all its parts just couldn't keep me interested.  There was no real problem with the writing, but it didn't really entice me to continue reading.  The setting was kind of dumb (futuristic city with an elite sector and then varying degrees of slums, including a whole section made of piled up freight cars, all in the middle of a vast wasteland rumored to be populated by gargoyles), as were many of the details thrown in (for example, the girl from the slums somehow has a job that allows her to enter the elite sector to deliver mail - never mind the question of who was sending mail since they lived in the only known city in a vast wasteland, and it's highly doubtful anyone in the slums is in correspondence with any of the elite).  I guess this book just seemed like a mediocre fantasy novel with too many uninteresting or dumb details to bother with finishing.  I recommend you try something else.

Queen of Hearts, by Colleen Oakes, is supposed to tell the story of the queen before she became queen.  It isn't supposed to follow the whole Alice in Wonderland story in detail, and it doesn't.  When I read the blurb inside the cover of the book jacket, it sounded like it was going to be an awesome, dark version of the story.  Unfortunately, it was not. Not awesome, that is, by any stretch of the imagination.  Read my post here to find out why.

Verdigris Deep (alternate title: Well Witched), by Frances Hardinge, is about three kids who, needing bus fare, steal coins from an old wishing well.  They are then compelled by a water witch (or something) to grant the wishes themselves.  Sounds like it would be good, doesn't it?  Nice and original.  And Frances Hardinge has a unique way of describing things that I usually enjoy.  Not so much this time.  I made it through page 82 before I gave up on it.  It was written in the third person, the main character was only eleven years old (don't know why the library had it shelved in the teen section) and his two friends were twelve and thirteen.  It wasn't bad; I just found it incredibly boring.  A younger reader who hasn't become accustomed to reading young adult fiction might find it more enjoyable.  (Reading Level 6.2 / Middle Grades)

After three failed books in a row, I needed something good, so I picked up one by an author that I love.  Woohoo!  Another Five Star book!  I am super excited about Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races because I very rarely give a book five stars.  I know, I've been lucky enough to come across a few in the last several months, but overall, I've only rated about 1.5% of the almost 1000 books I've read with five stars (I actually did the math, so yeah, that's not very many).  You can read my longer post here to find out what I liked about it.  (Reading Level 5.5 / Middle Grade+)

When I first started reading Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies, by Lindsay Ribar, I didn't think I was going to like it very much.  Which was going to be a shame, because I really liked the concept:  there is a family, who have a kind of magic, where they use objects left under a tree by the townspeople on May Day to reach inside and steal things (thoughts, emotions, physical traits) from those people and somehow use those things to keep the cliff above the town from crashing down and killing everyone.  So anyway, I didn't think I was going to like it because there was way too much daily drinking and hanky panky going on, and I didn't like the main character AT ALL.  But the farther into the story I got, the more it focused on the magic stuff and so the more interesting it got (much more), and there were some family secrets and a bit of a mystery, and it started to look like maybe we weren't actually supposed to like the main character anyway, and then as everything spiraled toward the conclusion I ended up not not liking him anymore.  So.  I wouldn't give this any more than three stars, but that's still better than the one or two I was considering during the whole first half of the story.  Overall, not bad, so go ahead and give it a try yourself.  (Reading Level ? / Upper Grades)

Fox Forever is the last book in a trilogy by Mary E. Pearson (see the  mini-reviews of the first two books here, and here).  It was just as good as the first two books.  It had less of the thought-provoking ethical questions, but more action type stuff, and it is hard, hard, hard to put down.  I think I might have finished this in a day because you always want to read just one more chapter.  This trilogy is a great choice for, actually, just about anyone out there, so if you haven't given it a try, you definitely should.  (Reading Level 4.8 / Middle Grade+)

Night of Cake & Puppets, by Laini Taylor is a companion book to the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy.  It has been out as an ebook for some time, but now is finally available in print - Yay! - because I don't read books if they aren't in print.  I wasn't sure if I was going to like it - it just tells the story of a specific thing that happened one night with one of the characters from the other books, and I was like, that sounds like it would make a dumb story.  Which was dumb of me to think, because I happen to love that character and I also happen to love Laini Taylor's writing.  So guess what?  Loved the story.  Don't read it if you haven't read at least the first two books in the main trilogy, but if you've read those and are thinking this story will be dumb, well, don't listen to yourself.  If you liked the other ones, you'll like this one too.  (Reading Level ? / Upper Grades)

Just look at that cover.  The dripping red stuff.  The words: DO NOT TRAVEL FROM THE PATHS. DO NOT LINGER AFTER DARK. DO NOT IGNORE THE CALLING.  Even the font - I was sure this was going to be an amazingly scary (or at least creepy) story.  Nope.  The Wood, by Chelsea Bobulski, was actually a fantasy novel about a girl who is the guardian of a wood that has time travel portals (doorways to other times and places on earth).  It has Old Ones (Faye), and a time traveling boy, and missing parents, and mother daughter relationship problems.  What it doesn't have is great writing.  Not even really good writing.  The worst part about it is that the author kept throwing in dumb stuff, and then, as if knowing that the reader would think it was dumb, would then have one of the characters explain the rationale behind it.  Which was .... even dumber.  I don't know if it was bad enough to tell you not to read it, but if you can't find the time to cover at least two books a week like I do, there are probably better books out there to spend that time on.   (Reading Level ? / Middle Grade+)

I got through about six pages of When the Sea Is Rising Red by Cat Hellisen before I abandoned it.  I know, I really do usually try to give a book more of a chance than that, but I didn't think I was going to be able to stand finishing it, and I didn't want to waste any more of my month on not-good books. It was all about a girl from a once important family whose friend was being married off and failed to meet her for a final goodbye.  She then decided to visit the city that bore her family name, but where nobody recognized her.  I don't know why it was even on my list of books to read, because the blurb on the inside of the book jacket says stuff like "In Pelimburg...magic is power" and "leaving behind everything she's ever known, including the means to practice magic" and "becoming fascinated by the strange, thrilling magic of vampire Jannik" and "the upper class with their scriven are powerless ..."  Not that I don't like books about magic, but I've found that when magic is really the main point of the story, I tend not to like it.  So.  I'm not saying that this book is bad, I only read six pages for goodness' sake, just that I didn't like what I read so far.  Maybe you will.   (Reading Level 5.2 / Upper Grades)

Dread Nation, by Justina Ireland was really, really good.  It is kind of a swashbuckling adventure, but without the swash or the buckler, or for that matter, pirates, which is how we've come to think of the term. What it does have, however, is zombies.  In the days after the Civil War.  In Baltimore. And the wild west.  If you want to know more about it, read my upcoming post (don't worry, it's already half written so it should be up in about a week!)  (Reading Level ? / Upper Grades)

I Should Have Known!

One of the very first posts I wrote for this blog was about The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. If you've read that review, you will know that I have to come to think of Ms. Stiefvater as a writing genius.  (If you haven't read that review, you can find it here.)  I've been aware of some of her other books/series for quite some time now, but I have been reluctant to read them.  Why, you ask?  Well, this is going to sound a bit silly, but, since I'd kind of placed her on a pedestal, I've been afraid that maybe some of her earlier works wouldn't be as good, and then she would get, well, knocked off. And I guess I wasn't ready for that.  But I was at the library the other day without a list of books to check out, so I was just looking through all of the books the librarians had displayed on the shelves facing forward, and I saw one of her books and thought, Well, I guess I'll get it over with.  And, silly me, it turned out to be so amazing I felt like this kid:

And I almost conked myself on the forehead like they did in those old V8 commercials, because I was like Duh, I should have known!  So which book did I read?

SOME RACE TO WIN.

OTHERS RACE TO SURVIVE. 

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. 

     Some riders live. 

     Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them. 

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

I don't know why, but for some reason I was thinking this was going to be some futuristic post-apocalyptic horse racing adventure.  Well, once again, I should have known better, because it so definitely was not.

The book is set in a sort of made up place in a not-very-specific time, which was actually one of the things I liked best about it.  If you piece together the clues, you can get a rough estimate of both, but there was something about not having specifics to tie everything down that made it feel sort of timeless, but in a nostalgic sort of way.  If that makes any sense.  Even though I liked that, I still felt like I had to figure it out anyway, so in case you're wondering ....

Clues about the place: 

     It is an island that has a coast on the Atlantic ocean.  

     They have a church named St. Columba.  

     Puck says St. Columba was martyred there.  

     The people call the horses by a Gaelic name.  

Put those together and you figure it is somewhere off the coast of Scotland.

Clues about the time:

     Men are wearing bowler hats.

     Some women are wearing dresses, but Puck wears pants and breeches (covered with a smock  when she goes to confession).

     Reporters have cameras with giant flashbulbs.

     The family owns a Morris (a car company that made cars between 1905 and 1948).

     The family also has a pony cart.

     The visiting American is wearing a white v-neck sweater.

     At another point the American is wearing a three piece suit and mentions a pocket watch.

     The reporters say something about the suffragist movement.

So, this could take place any time from probably the 1920's to possibly the 1950's.  You can visit this blog I found just now (literally, like ten seconds ago) that explains in more detail what I had figured out on my own (I did minor in History in college, so it wasn't too hard). 

Anyway, the setting made perfect sense when I figured out that the horses had a Gaelic name, because this story is closely tied to Celtic folklore.  Once again, I should have known!  So that was another reason I loved this book, because I am a big fan of Celtic folklore. 

Remember how I said above that this wasn't a post-apocalyptic horse racing adventure?  Well, we've cover the post-apocalyptic part of it, but the horse racing adventure part?  Well, that would be a yes and a no.  There is horse racing, and although there isn't really any adventure, there is some action and suspense, and that is a major part of the story, but it is also so much more.  For one thing, the horses are water horses (as in Celtic mythology).  Which changes everything.  Really, because I don't like books or movies about animals (I know, I'm probably a terrible person but I never have.  I read Black Beauty as a child and hated it, which is funny now that I think about it, because I liked horses in general and even rode them myself).  But I loved this book, so yeah, not really about horses in the usual sense, but if you are a horse lover, you will probably love this book, because there are actually regular horses in it too.  I know that was a lot of rambling, so back to my point - the story is so much more, because it is a story about a boy (young man, really) and a girl (young woman I guess) just as much as it is about the horses or the horse race.

The young man, Sean, is very serious and grown up well beyond what you would expect from a 19 year old.  There is a sort of purity and dignity to his character that draws the reader to him, but he is also sort of mysterious, not only because he somehow has a connection with the 'magic' of the water horses, but also because he is a very private person, who is pretty  much only ever presented in the context of his interactions with the horses or the people involved with the horses, or with the race, until later in the story where he begins to interact with Puck.  That makes the reader want to know more about him.  So it's kind of weird because you love him, but not because of his winning personality or witty banter, but I guess because he is so noble, almost in an untouchable sort of way.

Puck, the other main character, is also pretty serious, and mature for her years, even though she has that fiery streak that comes with red hair (which, of course, she has).  You would think that with two main characters who are so serious the book would be an absolute bore, but it's not.  These characters are so real, with such a depth to them ...it's a testament to the author's skill that she could pull this off.  I've never read anything like it.

There is one other character I would like to mention, which is Puck's brother, Finn.  He is clearly on the autism spectrum.  Having spent a considerable portion of my life living with a family member with Asperger's, I love coming across autistic characters in a book.  I guess you could say they are near and dear to  my heart.  Here are just a few quotes from the book that highlight Finn's 'quirks.'

Now that I know to look for it, I can see that he's crawling out of his skin with excitement.  Finn never looks more excited - he just gets faster.  Finns are generally slow-moving creatures.

and

"Where's Finn?" I break in.
"Washing his hands, of course," Gabe says. "It may be decades."

and

"Finn," Gabe says..."This storm that's coming - how long will it last?"
Finn's eyes are bright in the backseat, and he's so incredibly pleased to have been asked that it hurts me.
"Just tonight and tomorrow."

So, that last one, not only is it commenting on the fact that Finn can predict the weather (he somehow knew days earlier that the storm was coming), but leads me into the final thing I would like to comment on about this book:  The writing.

The Scorpio Races has the kind of writing that I've really come to appreciate, and I don't run across it all that often.  It's the kind of writing that is uniquely expressive; the kind that tells you things without actually telling you.  And it's the kind where characters' thoughts sound and feel like real thoughts (you know, how sometimes your thoughts are tangled up and wander off in tangents).  And it's the kind where you don't just know, but feel.  And it's the kind that makes you feel like you are actually there, watching everything happen.  That quote above shows us how much Puck loves Finn, without the author ever having to tell us that she loves him.  Here are a few more passages from the book that show what I'm talking about:

She stands in the doorway, one of her eyebrows arched.  She's wearing a dress that looks like she stole it.  It has lace sleeves and Dory Maud does not have lace sleeve arms.

and

"What I don't understand," she says, "is why such a clever and useful girl as yourself, Puck, would waste so much time looking like an idiot or being dead?"
Finn smiles at his biscuit. 

and

It's so dark that I can hear the sea better than I can see it.  Shhhhh, shhhhhh, it says, like I'm a fretful child and it's my mother, though if the sea were my mother, I'd rather have been an orphan. 

and

"You look in fine spirits."
"Do I?"
"Well, your face looks like it remembers a smile," Holly says.  He looks down at  my clothing; I'm wearing the island all over  my left side.

and

"Puck," she says, her voice soaked in lemon juice.

and

I hear a wail, and at first I think it is a scream, but then I hear my name.  "Where's Kendrick?"
Someone is about to die. . .
In the surf, the dun pony is chest deep in the water and the white stallion rears before her, hooves slicing down toward the girl.  The girl jerks the dun mare off balance, sparing them both from the hooves but delivering the girl into the frigid water.
And that was what the capall uisce, a fearful dull Pegasus with disintegrating wings of sea foam, wanted.  His teeth flash, the color of dead coral, and his great head smashes against the girl as her head comes up above water . . . 

The Scorpio Races is one of those books that you can read again and again, even though you already know what is going to happen.  Which is why I have ordered a copy for my home library, even though I am already out of bookshelf space.  And if you haven't already read it, you should pick up a copy as soon as you have time.  Trust me.  I should have known better than to put it off, and now that I've told you how great it is, you should too.


Rating:  5 Stars
Reading Level: 5.5
Age Appropriate: Middle Grade +
Page Count:  404
Genre:  Fantasy
Keywords: Celtic folklore, horses, family relationships, orphans