Ever pick up a book that has so many award stickers on it, your first thought is, “It can’t be THAT good?” And your follow up thought is, “If it won that many awards, there is no way I’m going to like it.”

Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give is THAT good. And I liked it. A lot.

The Hate U Give tells the story of Starr Carter, a 16 year old black girl living in the ghetto who witnesses the shooting of a childhood friend by a white cop. The story is timely to say the least, but it’s not a 444 page political rant. Yes, it’s intense and violent and heartbreaking.  It’s also a story about a loving family who believes to make a change, you need to be brave but you don’t have to be brave alone.

Starr inhabits a world far away from my own. What I knew of her world before I opened the book was based on news reports on cop shootings and gun violence on TV, and that made me nervous. Who was I to read this and could I understand it? But it only took a few pages in for me to recognize what it was about this story that was going to connect me, a middle-aged white suburban woman, to Starr’s life in the hood – her family.

Starr has an amazing family. They love, they fight, they swear at each other, they’re real. Most of all, they support each other. Dad is an ex-con/ex-gang member, dedicated to bettering his neighborhood. He pushes Starr to think for herself, at the same time teaching her how to protect herself. Mom is a registered nurse, a fierce protector of her family, a forceful voice of no-nonsense common sense. She doesn’t mother her children, but instead draws a line in the sand between acceptable and unacceptable and enforces it so no one dare cross it. Most importantly, Starr’s parents are a team, and Starr knows it. Yes, they argue, but Starr spends a lot of time describing how “cute” they are, too, and how she looks at them as the example of what she wants.

Starr’s parents are only the beginning of the family which is messy and tangled, some blood relations, some not, but all looking out for each other. It’s a family that keeps opening its arms and hearts to whomever needs to be part of it, because as Starr and her Chinese friend Maya agree, “Minorities need to stick together.”

Obviously, racism is what the book is all about, but I didn’t feel like I, the reader, was being accused of being racist or being told I had to go out and protest because I should. Instead, through sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes heartbreaking scenes, I felt I was being educated from multiple perspectives and asked to come to my own conclusions. Things aren’t always as they appear, and perhaps the thing I liked most about the book, was the feeling I was being urged to not just accept what is on the surface, but to look at things from all sides.

Yes, the book deserves all the award and accolades heaped on it. It’s about racism. It’s about gun violence and gangs. It’s about growing up, figuring out who you are and who you are going to be. It’s about the differences between black and white but also about how similar we can be as well. It’s about what it means to be a part of a family. And, it’s about how doing what is right sometimes means being brave even if it means being scared. That’s a lesson for all of us, no matter the color of our skin.

Read this one.

An interesting trend I am beginning to notice in books I’m reading set in an alternative world / timeline, is the inability to read.  In Tracy Chee’s The Reader: Sea of Ink and Gold, all the books left in the world are stored in one library, guarded by magic because the books themselves are considered dangerous and magical.  The main character is in possession of a book that records history in the form of stories and she teaches herself to read and write.  While I liked how her simple act of writing names down gave a sense of permanence to other characters, I found myself a little bored with the story.

In Sabaa Tahir’s Ember in the Ashes and A Torch Against the Night, a tale set in a desert world ruled by a militaristic government, scholars were once the learned people but are now illiterate, looked down upon and enslaved.  I found the sandy, desert setting of book one a nice change and I really liked how well the characters were written.  They are complicated and human and smart.  Their dilemmas dragged me in as if I, too, was struggling with the same problems and situations.  The plot twists are unexpected (or at least I wasn’t looking for them) and sucked me in that much more.  The love story is a sweet, believable part of an engrossing story I recommend to anyone wanting a fantasy adventure.

What I liked:

• An alternative universe where a militaristic government is in charge of the lower classes, including the Scholars, a group of people who used to be in charge of libraries but now for the most part are considered illiterate.
• Elias is the son of the military school’s Commandant.  The first book starts with him wanting to escape the violent world he is part of, but he can’t. 
• Raised by her grandparents who are killed by the military, Laia becomes a scholar slave in the Commandant’s household, spying for the rebels, in hopes of freeing her brother from prison.
• I liked Elias’ change of fate.  I found it a fitting way to help him.  It will be interesting to see what this does, though, to his and Laia’s relationship.
• I like how Laia grows / matures through the two books.  She commits to her purpose and learns how strong she really is.  Her realization of how the relationships she foster impact her life and her choices is a nice lesson for everyone.  We should all be with people who make us stronger.
• The mysteries sprinkled throughout add to the story – exactly who or what is Laia?  Who is Elias’ father?
• I enjoyed all the characters, especially Cook and Izzy – so much more there than meets the eye.  Helene is fascinating.  She is the ultimate woman warrior who has to make some tough, tough choices.  I didn’t like her much in book 1 (pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to) but loved her in book 2.  The Commandant is just evil. 

What I didn’t like:

• Because of it being written in first person, you spend a lot of time in Laia’s head hearing about how badly she feels about running, believing she could have done more.

What I would like to know before I give this to my child:

• It is violent.  Prisoners are tortured. Laia is given to Elias as a prize and it is expected for him to rape her.     

This is a good read!  Epic adventure, sweet love story, warrior women but not too girly a boy wouldn’t enjoy it  Grade 7/8 on up.

I love audio books.  Read by the right person, audio books can truly make me miss my Interstate exit or sit in my car long after I’ve parked.  It’s like bedtime stories for your car (and I spend a lot of time in my car).  My first real brush with an awesome audio book was thanks to my kids.  We checked out Click Clack Moo read by Randy Travis.  His southern drawl, mooing cows were giggle inducing.  Next came Jim Dale’s readings of the Harry Potter series.  I painted bathrooms and bedrooms and even my laundry room to his Hagrid and Dumbledore. 

Not every audio book is a good one, though, and it’s easy to ding a perfectly good read based on the sound of an actor’s voice (Mary Pope Osborne’s readings of her book series The Magic Tree House comes to mind).  Sometimes, the voice in your head simply doesn’t match the one coming out of the speaker, either.  And I find, as a listener of YA audio books, sometimes it feels like I’ve been mucking around a teenagers brain for way too long and I find myself talking back to the recording telling it to just get on with it. 

All this being said, no matter how talented, a voice actor can’t save dry, lackluster material, either, but get the right people (Wil Wheaton reading Ready Player One or The True Meaning of Smekday read by Bahni Turpin), and the right story, and you, too, will find yourself transported to mystical places without having to remember where you left your reading glasses.

For the KCLS 10 to Try Reading Challenge, I listened to David Arnold’s Kids of Appetite, a tale of love, loss, and healing.  Wonderfully sad and sometimes very funny, this is a story of saying good-bye.  

What I liked:

• While you learn everybody’s story, at its heart, this is Vic’s story.  His father has died and he’s on a mission to honor Dad’s last wishes. 
• The main characters come from loving, imperfect families and they know it.  Vic comes from a long line of folks who like PDA and his father teaches him to see with his heart.  Mad’s family is complicated but she loves her Grandmother (Jama) and cherishes the memories of happier times with her mom and dad.  There is no blaming or excuses for actions that sometimes come from situations like this. 
• This is a story of looking past what is on the surface.  Vic’s Mobius Syndrome has left his face paralyzed.  Mad’s shaved head reveals a scar, the result of the car crash that killed her parents.  Zeus does not speak, but Cocoa tells Vic if he listens, Zeus says a lot. 
• The story is told in a series of flashbacks brought on by police interviews.  Mad and Vic are tasked with stalling until the plan has been carried out.  What the plan is isn’t revealed until the end. 
• The idea of each person they help being a ‘chapter’ was cool.  Isn’t life like that?
• Frank was well done.  Annoying in the beginning, the catalyst (along with his sons) for the whole story, and the good guy when Vic needed him.  I liked that.
• I was surprised at how sad I found the end.  I knew what was going to happen and yet still, the impact hit hard – in a good way.  It showed Vic’s healing and reconnection with his mom and opened the door to the future. 
• Baz’ prologue was perfect.  Funny, touching, a great way to end the book.

 What was annoying?

• This is a bunch of very perceptive kids.  Too perceptive?  Maybe.  There were moments when I felt they were too mature for their ages, but they’ve been through a lot, so perhaps tough times made them grow up faster than normal?
• OMG, Cocoa!  She had some of the best lines, but at the same time, she’s a little brat.
• Super Racehorse got a little old.
• The ending wrapped up fast – and maybe a bit too neatly. 

 What I’d want to know before handing this to my kid:

• The story is about death.  All of the main characters have lost parents in tragic ways which is part of why they work as a group.  An affair is talked about.  Physical and mental abuse is suffered at the hands of Mad’s uncle. Stories of parents deaths are retold.  A character is murdered.   8^th grade on up.

Much like David Arnold’s, Mosquitoland, Kids of Appetite is a story about kids growing up and growing better as a result of heartbreak.  It’s one of those books I like to think of as simply a really good story. 

Ah, comic books.  One of my best childhood memories involves a box of old comic books discovered in the closet of a bedroom in a lake cottage rental.  They were probably the loved stories of a child who belonged in the cottage at one point in time or maybe the cottage owners just had the foresight to know it rained every once in a while and kids needed something to do. Either way, the dragging out of the cardboard box, the ritual sneezing from the dust, and the rediscovery of the old titles (Casper the Friendly Ghost, Richie Rich, Archie) were a highlight of the summer, rain or shine. 

Several years ago, at the elementary school library where I was working, the librarian at the time did something radical.  She created a graphic novel section.  Her reasoning?  Reading is reading, and for kids who found chapters and paragraphs daunting or just plain boring, a little color, a little humor, a story line with a visual plot might be an excellent stepping stone to bigger things.

She had something there.  This year’s Washington State Evergreen Teen Book Award includes the graphic novel Ms. Marvel, the story of a 16 year old Muslim girl living in New Jersey who is exposed to a chemical mist giving her superpowers.  And as any parent knows, with great power comes a whole lot of juggling real life with hero life – and Ms. Marvel does this really well – or not, but that’s what makes this a great read. 

What I liked:

• Main character Kamala Kahn comes from a loving, immigrant family.  She has to juggle Muslim home life with American teenagerdom and it’s not easy.  Her mom is strict, understanding and lays down the boundaries like any good mom of a superhero would.   Her relationship with her brother is true to siblinghood, overbearing but loving.  These two want the best for each other and I found myself looking forward to their interactions.
• Her superpowers are awkward and funny and just plain great!  There isn’t anything glamorous about them which makes them perfect for a teenager.
• Kamala takes ownership of her town.  She doesn’t try to save the world, just Jersey City. 
• Kamala makes mistakes, but she’s not too full of herself  to ask when she needs help.  This means, over the course of the series, the whole cast of Marvel heroes show up, but Iron Man’s role as mentor is my absolute favorite. 
• The cats!  There is one series of pictures with cats that is worth careful study.

What I didn’t Like…

• I have to wait for the next one…to be published…

 One funny note:  I had to re-teach myself how to read graphic novels!  It’s not just panel after panel anymore.  The artwork is fantastic but it sometimes means you have to take in the bigger picture or follow a circular path to get the story right.  Don’t give up though – it doesn’t take long to pick it up.

This is a series I gave to my 13 year old, superhero loving daughter to read.  She proceeded to take them to school and loan them out to friends.  I’d say that’s two thumbs up to a good read!

Audio books can be works of art.  Anyone who wants to argue with me will be pointed directly to Jim Dale’s reading of all seven Harry Potter books.  Or John Ritter reading Jerry Spinnelli’s Stargirl.  Or The True Meaning of Smekday read by Bahni Turpin or even Randy Travis’ reading of Click, Clack, Moo.  Given the right material, the right hands and good talent, an audio book can transport you into a world all in your mind while you make your way through a rainy rush hour drive.  I am happy to say, too, Rick Yancy’s The 5^th Wave, read by Brandon Espinoza and Phoebe Strole, was an audio trip I’d take again.

The 5^th Wave tells the tale of an alien invasion from the points of view of 16-year-old Cassie and her high school crush, Ben Parish.  It’s a great story full of interesting characters, snappy writing, a love story and even a couple of cockroaches dropping out of the ceiling.

What I liked about it:

• Yes, the  actors are excellent – and to be honest, I don’t want to see the movie because I’m afraid Cassie won’t sound like Cassie and Ben won’t sound like Ben.
• Written inside Cassie and Ben’s heads, told from their point of views, I really felt the urgency, the fear, the anger.
• That bear.  That awesome talisman bear.  I hope that bear makes it through all three books.
• The pop culture references were fun but some of them dated the author a bit.  What 16-year-old would describe a guy as, “The Bounty paper towel man?”
• I liked Evan’s description of what the Others are.  The Vulcan mind meld though, yeah, that had me rolling my eyes.
• Ohio?  Why in the world did they pick Ohio?
• Knowing how many Others there were, gave a sense of hope to the human survivors – as in, you actually think they have a chance!
• The reveal, while predictable (for a middle-aged mom), was satisfying and believable.
• Those trackers – from the beginning I knew they weren’t good, and it took a while to get to the bottom of them.
• Dr. Pam and Cassie’s finale – that made me smile.
• I loved that both Ben and Cassie were pledged to go back to save Sammy.
• As the story went on, both Cassie and Ben were forced to change in order to survive.  The kids they were are not the kids they are when they meet.  It put them on equal footing and I liked that.
• Ben and Cassie’s meeting was well done – it kept them true to their characters from high school.  Does Ben remember her?  No, and he doesn’t pretend to and that rings true.

What got to me:

• 12 hours of teenage angst.  ‘nuff said.
• I once had a writing partner who dinged me for using ‘chocolate’ to describe the color of a character’s eyes.  I now DING YOU Rick Yancy!
• The hair washing scene, the wet nightgown, the borrowed shirt…it had me asking, “Seriously?”
• I’m not sure Cassie ever used, “You shot me!” as an arguing point as to why she shouldn’t trust Evan and I think that’s a big one.
• The chapter endings got a little predictable after a while from the line delivered.
• Seen through Cassie’s eyes, Evan was a bit predictable and sometimes too perfect.

What I’d like to know before I let my kid listen to this:  7 Billion people die via electrical outage, natural disaster, bird spread disease, drone assassination and ultimately by deception and brainwashing humans to kill other humans.  Cassie’s mother dies from the pestilence, her father executed before her eyes, her brother abducted.  Ben and Sam are tricked into killing other humans.  Cassie is shot by someone she falls in love with.  Children are trained to be killers, some liking it.  Cassie and Evan sleep together (just sleep).  Descriptions about washing hair and wet t-shirt clinging, general teenage level attraction, but nothing more than kissing occurs.  Grade 7 on up.

Bottom line, this was a great book to listen to in audio book form.  The teenage angst and the chocolate eye reference might have been a little easier to take had I read the paper version, but the story kept my attention to the point I’m considering checking out #2 from the library.  Give it a listen – you’ll enjoy it!

I generally don’t make New Year’s Resolutions – I have a list of things I should be doing running through my head on a continuous loop all year long – but counting the number of books on my nightstand,  I feel it’s time to make one.  So here goes:

In 2016, I will write the book review the day I finish the book.  Or the next day.  Just within the same week, at least.  Seriously!

In a very apologetic effort to get caught up to the newest title I’m reading, I’m going to attempt a quick synopsis of the four books I have read in the last four months, all four of which I’d recommend!

Erika Johansen’s The Queen of Tearling and its sequel The Invasion of the Tearling.

What’s they’re about:  A young princess takes the throne of Tearling, a small country being oppressed by the Red Queen.  Book one centers on Kelsea’s decision to not bow down to the demands of the neighboring lands and instead declare independence.  Book two tells of the growing conflict between the two nations and Kelsea’s growing magical powers.

What I liked about Book One:

• In a nutshell, Kelsea.  She is a strong, independent young woman who has known from day one she is to be queen.  Hidden away in the forest as a young child, she has been brought up by foster parents whose role was to teach her how to be queen.  This wasn’t something just sprung on her.  She was raised to do this.
• She comes to power with an understanding of the politics and history behind the conflict between Tearling and the surrounding lands.
• She doesn’t always make the right decision, but her decisions are based on knowledge as well as a gut instinct for right versus wrong.  She cares for her people and she wants to protect them.
• Watching the Queen’s Guard come to accept and respect her is enjoyable.  She earns it.

What I liked about Book Two:

• When I fist started reading book two, the first ‘modern day-historical’ flashback had me wondering if my book was put together wrong.  But it wasn’t.  And these flashbacks are a fantastic, compelling story all their own.
• Kelsea’s powers are growing, and with most magic, there is a dark side and she’s not immune. Every wise ruler – and compelling fictional character – needs temptation and Kelsea is faced with it.
• As the flashbacks interweave with the present story, the timeline of then and now becomes clearer and I enjoyed putting the pieces together.

What I would like to know before I handed this to my kid:  Book one is a pretty straight forward fantasy story suitable for grade 6/7 on up.  Book two, however, becomes dark and complicated.  A husband abuses his wife physically and emotionally, including rape.  Kelsea learns to magically cut her self.  Kelsea seeks out birth control but is discouraged about obtaining it because rulers are supposed to have children, married or not.  Kelsea has sex with her guard.  Grade 8/9 on up.

Marissa Meyer’s Winter is the fourth and final book in the Lunar Chronicles and tells the story of Princess Winter (Snow White), Lunar’s evil queen Levana’s step-daughter.  Winter refuses to use her gift that allows her to glamour (mentally disguise) herself to others and take control of other people’s bodies.  As a result, Winter is mentally unstable and experiences hallucinations (which have a touch of prophecy about them).  Her Prince Charming and protector is her guard Jacin.

What I liked about Winter:

• It was awesome.  🙂  Okay, seriously, as a book to wrap up the tale of Cinder, Scarlett and Cress, this book had a big job and it did it very, very well.
• Each of the four books in the series is a re-telling of a fairy tale, and each of these women are strong in their way, independent, determined and definitely not perfect which made them all very likeable.
• Being the retelling of princess fairy tales, each tale had a Prince Charming of sorts.  Kai might be closest thing to a real prince, but despite that, each love story was sweet and genuine and believable.
• Pairing Winter with Scarlett was genius.
• Again, another story where the kingdom’s best programmer is a girl.  Cool.
• Throughout the series, each character stayed true to who she was.  Even as (spoiler) queen of Lunar, Cinder was, at heart, a mechanic, who wasn’t perfect – which made her relatable and lovely.

What I would like to know before I had this to a kid:  The Lunar army is made of genetically mutated soldiers, part wolf, part man.  Grade 6 on up.

My neighbor has been nagging me for a good year (ever since I handed her Eleanor & Park and she read it in a day) to read Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.  As part of my 2016 Reading Challenge where I had to read a book given to me by a BFF (she qualifies!), I finally picked it up.  And at the end really kicked myself for not picking it up sooner!

Fangirl tells the story of Cather, a freshman in college, who writes one of the most popular fan fictions on the web based on a Harry Potter type story.  With her identical twin sister opting to room with someone else, Cather starts college determined to remain an uninvolved hermit in her dorm room.

What I liked about this book:

• First, I know a thing or two about fan fiction so I immediately understood Cather’s world, her dedication to her fans and her stories, and how important they were to her and her self-image.
• As a sister, I understood Cather’s disbelief, her confusion, her anger and ultimately her acceptance, support and understanding of her sister’s choices.
• Cather’s mom left when the twins were 9.  Her father struggles with emotional and mental issues but is there for his girls and loves them.
• Reagan, Cather’s roommate, is awesome.  Totally reminded me of a roommate I had once who favored leather and dog collars and dyed black hair but kept the stash of harlequin romance novels her mom sent her every month under her bed.
• Reagan and Levi take Cather under their wings and sort of bully her into college life.  They don’t belittle her for her choices, either, just doggedly keep at her until she begins to come out of her shell and willingly join in.
• Levi.  He’s the boyfriend we all wanted and the first love you hope your daughter finds.

What I didn’t like about the story:

• Cather was hard to like in the beginning (on purpose, I’m sure) which almost had me putting the book down, but I’m glad I didn’t because when she comes into her own, I was totally rooting for her.

What I would consider before handing this to my kid: 

• It’s college.  While everything is handled delicately and not described in detail, sex and alcohol play a role.  Twin sister Wren parties hard to the point of alcohol poisoning.  Sex is discussed between the sisters and implied between Cather and Levi.  8th Grade on up.

Bottom line, I loved all these books and have no problem recommending any of them.  Happy Reading!