The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

A National Book Award Winner, The Penderwicks was also chosen for the Texas Bluebonnet award for 2006-2007.

A sweet story about 'four sisters, two rabbits, and a very interesting boy.' The Penderwick sisters (along with their father and ever-faithful dog Hound) find themselves staying for the summer holiday in a guest house on the grounds of a posh mansion occupied by a very snooty woman named Mrs. Tifton and her not-so-snooty son Jeffery.

Once the girls and Jeffery become friends, then the summer hijinks begin! From an encounter with a bull to escaped rabbits...the five become fast friends.

Like I said, it's a sweet story, kinda fluffy, adventurous without being scary, and not too hefty on the issues it deals with...I'd recommend for grades 3-5. It reminds me of the Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner somewhat...the Penderwicks might make a nice series.

The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer

Wrede, Patricia C. and Stevermer, Caroline. 2006. The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc.

The sequel to The Grand Tour (which follows Sorcery and Cecilia) this third novel offers another adventure of cousins Kate and Cecy (and by now their families) ten years later. The story is told through letters to each other and is about how England is being transformed by the new railway system. James and Cecy must track down a missing German railway engineer (and magician) who disappeared quite suddenly (and rather suspiciously). While they are looking into it, they notice that the new railways are disturbing the natural magic in the area, which if not fixed could spell disaster for England!

Meanwhile, Kate is busy looking after all of their children...until one is kidnapped and when she and her husband Thomas find him they find another missing child who they take under their wing. Who is she they don't know and neither will the child talk to tell them and yet somehow all of these strange events are tied together...

A very satisfying read from two well known YA authors, Ms. Wrede (pronounced REE-dee, and here I've been saying it wrong all this time!) is known for the Enchanted Forest Chronicles while Ms. Stevermer is more known for her novel River Rats as well as other fantasy novels. The book is a nice blend of magic, adventure, and mystery - although I don't know if I'd try to keep them going since they've aged their characters so much now. I think it would have made a nicer series if they had continued with their characters a bit closer together where they'd left them off at in the last book.

Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick

Sonnenblick, Jordan. 2005. Drums, girls, & dangerous pie. Waterville, ME: Thorndike Press.

When his five-year-old younger brother, Jeffery, is diagnosed with leukemia, thirteen-year-old Steven tries to deal with the complicated emotions, his school life, and his desire to support his family both emotionally and financially.

The story is told from Steven’s viewpoint and gives a very realistic view of the life of a family dealing with crisis. Steven’s Dad basically shuts down and shuts people out, his Mom becomes the sole caregiver for his brother, and in the whirlwind Steven is left to cope on his own. School is no longer a priority and his grades go from above average to failing very quickly. Music becomes the only thing that really matters to him and he looses himself in it.

However the story is saved from being overly melodramatic by the wit, complexity, and realisticness that Sonnenblick infuses his characters with. All the horrors of dealing with cancer are there, from chemo to vomiting; yet there is also love and hope and the lesson that even in the middle of tragedy life will go on – sometimes for the worst but also for the best.

The Canning Season by Polly Horvath

Horvath, Polly. 2005. The Canning Season. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

A National Book Award winner for 2003 The Canning Season by Polly Horvath, is a novel about a thirteen-year-old girl, Ratchet, who is unceremoniously dumped by her mother into the care of two old, distant, twin great aunts, Tilly and Penpen, that live in Maine in a very large remote house surrounded by blueberry bogs and bears. Supposedly Ratchet is going to stay just for the summer while her mother attends to more important things, like gaining entry to the country club and her new boyfriend, but Ratchet ends up looking after and caring very much for Tilly and Penpen. When an unwanted teenage girl, Harper, shows up on the front porch, the household dynamics change somewhat, but Ratchet and Harper become friends in caring for the older women, learning the ways of rural Maine, and dealing with a shared sense of abandonment.

This book was so-so for me...I object to the use of the "F" word in the story...it seemed that she was going for shock value instead of just telling the story, I feel that she could have used some other expletive and still gotten the point across. It's a book that I would recommend for older teens because the themes are a bit obscure I think for younger students.

Stop Pretending by Sonya Sones

Sones, Sonya. 1999. Stop Pretending: what happened when my big sister went crazy. New York: HarperTempest.

A younger, 13 year-old, sister has a difficult time adjusting to life after her older sister has a mental breakdown. The story is told in a sequence of short and intense poems that detail the younger sister's feelings of isolation, disbelief, despair, and hope. Beginning with the shock of her older sister suddenly transformed into a stranger on Christmas Eve to the horrors of visiting her in the psychiatric hospital, it details very real feelings of worrying what friends will think when they find out or if she too could become crazy, to poignant memories of what life was like before the breakdown. As her sister begins to recover, the girl begins to find hope and happiness in herself and in her own life.

At the end of the novel, there is an author's note where we learn that many of the poems found in this novel detail the true experiences the author when one of her older sister's went crazy and was diagnosed as manic-depressive. She explains some on how the book came to be and offers a list of places where one can seek help and support if your worried about yourself or someone you love being mentally ill.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan

Shan, Darren. 2001. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, book 2. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

The second book in the Cirque du Freak series, Darren returns to the freak show - Cirque du Freak - after traveling with Mr. Creapsley, the vampire that turned him into a half-vampire. The sequel deals with Darren's issues of not being able to make 'normal' friends, which is why they return to the freak show. Mr. Creapsley thinks that being around others that are in a similar situation will help Darren to cope. Darren learns more about being a vampire in this book and fights his need to drink human blood, thinking it will make him evil if he does.

I'm still not loving this series, maybe because the books seem so simplistic (I checked it out today and finished it this evening) and the forshadowing is everywhere, making it easy to second guess what will happen - at least as an adult. I've come to the conclusion that this would be a great creepy series for reluctant readers and can even go a little younger than the 'young adult' age range - say maybe 4th grade level. As the series develops, I would like to see Darren develop more as a character, so far the narration from him seems superficial and without much depth. There are some moments that are jarring emotionally for him and it would be nice to see some character development from them, as it is, Shan leaves the ending hanging just enough so that you'll want to go check out the 3rd one just to see what will happen to Darren, Mr. Creapsley, and the Cirque du Freak next.

Give credit where it's due...

Just a note to give titlewave the credit for supplying the photos of the covers of the books in the reviews below. Thanks!

Also...a thanks to Dr. Hilbun for bearing with all the html links in my document I turned in - I only just figured out how to do them and now that I know I love it! :-) Isn't technology grand?

night~
klm

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Ishiguro, Kazuo. 2005. Never Let Me Go. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

An Alex Award Winner for 2006, Never Let Me Go, is a book about a woman, Kathy, and her being reunited with old school friends from Halisham, a private school. Upon getting back together, they are forced to face the truths of their existance. I could leave it all murky and dark...and if you hate spoilers then read no further...but the meat of the story is that Kathy and her school mates are all clones, created by the government for the sole purpose of organ donations.

Ugh! I almost evoked my right to put this one down and pick a new one. If I hadn't read the verso page I would have been clueless as to what was coming in the book. As it is, you have to stick with it all the way to page 81 before any light dawns and things are even partially explained. It doesn't get too detailed, and certainly isn't forthcoming in information as to what is going on and why, so it is unclear if the clones are randomly created just as an organ supply or if they are created for certain people who want to prolong their own lives with organs from their personal clone. I think that the central idea is a great one and could have been explored better with a more straight-forward plot that doesn't wander back and forth from one point in the past to a different one to the present.

I don't particularly care for this book, I think the writing style is very meandering, and frankly I'm surprized it is considered an Alex award for 2006 considering how casually sex is treated and the confusing, meandering plot. I don't think this would keep a YA's attention at all...it barely kept mine.

Cirque Du Freak: the saga of Darren Shan by Darren Shan

Shan, Darren. 2001. Cirque Du Freak: the saga of Darren Shan, book 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

Two boys who are best friends, Steve and Darren, visit an illegal freak show, where encountering a vampire and deadly spider forces them to make life-altering choices.

The first book in this series is poised to grab the horror-loving audience who are tired of the R.L. Stine Fearstreet type books and are looking for something new in the dark and twisty category. A fast-paced read, I could not put it down - I think I read it in a day. While the spider part did gross me out, it was never so gross to where I couldn't stand reading it, besides the twists and turns of the plot made me read on. The characters could be more well developed and don't always give reasons for why they feel or act a certain way but maybe that will be explored better in the following books. It definitely leaves the reader hanging and thirsting for more...the end is only the beginning.

Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher

Crutcher, Chris. 1991. Athletic Shorts. New York: Greenwillow Books.

Athletic Shorts is a collection of six short stories, five of them feature characters from Crutcher's other books and one (the first one) is an original short story that appeared in Connections by Don Gallo. Each story is prefaced with a note from the author that gives some background on the story or tells why he chose that particular character to expand upon with a short story.

I love how Chris Crutcher doesn't shy away from the realities of life. His characters are well-developed and often based on real people or real situations. Also, his humor appeals to me - just the title alone Athletic "Shorts" cracks me up! The majority of the characters here have been in his other novels, but that isn't a restriction; you don't have to have read the other novels to enjoy this book. These stories are able to stand on their own. His themes in this book have great appeal for young adults and adults alike and range from racism to insecurity to father-son friction. He is dynamic on delivering the feelings of the young adult male and yet making the stories approachable for the female reader too. If anything, Athletic Shorts will give you a taste making you want to get to know the characters better through the books that feature them.