Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly

I had no intention of liking this book.  The cover didn’t grab me and the jacket made me think this was going to be an “issues” book.  It’s one of my required readings for the GSTBA ballot and I actually tried to pawn it off on someone else!  But I picked it up and started reading and discovered that it’s ok to be wrong sometimes because this was one great book.

Sixteen-year-old Drea has bounced around from place to place, home to home, while her mother chased boyfriends who never seemed to stick around for very long.  They finally end up at her grandmother’s house in Washington.  There, Drea meets Naomi and Justin, two people who love music as much as she does.  But after being diagnosed with ADHD and what her mother deems “a touch of Asperger’s”, Drea has a hard time believing that anyone could simply like her for her.  Why does being “normal” have to be so hard? 

Drea’s story isn’t necessarily new or even told in a groundbreaking way.  We’ve read tons of books about people who have a hard time fitting in.  What makes it special is how nuanced it is.  How rich the characters are.  Take Drea’s mom.  She’s man-crazy.  She’s had boyfriend after boyfriend.  Yet, she’s not your one-dimensional selfish, neglectful mother.  She has faults, but she also loves Drea like crazy.  She comforts Drea.  She’s doing the best she can to take care of her.  And you reallyfeelthat.  And that is what makes the difference.

Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly
Young Adult | 278 pages | Henry Holt & Co. | May 2010 | 080509010X | Library copy

 

 

The Pregnancy Project by Gaby Rodriguez

Gaby Rodriguez decided early on that she wouldn’t be another stereotype.  Even though her mother and older sisters had babies while they were teenagers, Gaby realized that she wanted more and worked hard in school to ensure that her future would be bright.  So it was quite a shock that for Gaby’s senior project she decided she was going to fake her own pregnancy.  

Telling very few people the truth, Gaby perpetuated a pregnancy in order to find out what it was like to be a pregnant teen.  Would all of her accomplishments be negated because of this one mistake?  What would people say about her?  Who, if anyone, would offer their support?  The implications would go much deeper and spread far wider than Gaby could have ever dreamed.

Gaby’s story is told in a straight-forward, easy-to-read manner that I think will be appealing to teens, but for me it fell flat in places.  It was hard for me to connect emotionally to her writing.  Her tone is reflective and puts distance between the reader and the events.  Other than that, I think she has a strong message on an issue that has become something of an epidemic in this country and a real heart for those in need.

The Pregnancy Project by Gaby Rodriguez
Young Adult – Memoir | 218 pages | Simon & Schuster | January 2012 | 1442446226  | Library copy

2012 TBR Challenge – Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

One down, eleven to go! 

I’ve completed my first book of the 2012 TBR Challenge (for my previous post on the challenge, go here).  Little Women is a book I’ve wanted to read forever.  When I was growing up, I remember my mom had an abridged version up in the hall closet that I would pull down every once in awhile and attempt to read.  For some reason, I never got much past the first chapter.  I’ve seen the movie more than a dozen times (the Winona Ryder and Susan Sarandon version – which I LOVE), but I knew I would be missing out on a some sort of literary rite of passage if I didn’t read the book. 

The book is huge.  That abridged version I had as a kid did nothing to prepare me for the 400+ page volume I hefted around for a week.  Clearly there was going to be a lot more than they were able to show in the movie.  As paged my way through, I fell in love with the March girls and their charming New England world all over again. 

SPOILER ALERT! (But really, who doesn’t know this story????)
One of the parts I found most moving was the scene where Jo rejects Laurie.  It was much more powerful in the book than the movie.  I felt like we really got to see the depth of longing and hurt that Laurie experienced and it just about broke my heart.  About to embark for Europe to get over his heartbreak, Laurie goes next door to say good-bye to the March family:

When the parting came, he affected high spirits, to conceal certain inconvenient emotions which seemed inclined to assert themselves.  This gaiety did not impose upon anybody, but they tried to look as if it did, for his sake, and he got on very well till Mrs. March kissed him, with a whisper full of motherly solicitude; then, feeling that he was going very fast, he hastily embraced them all around…as if for his life.  Jo followed a minute after to wave her hand to him if he looked round.  He did look round, came back, put his arms about her, as she stood on the step above him, and looked up at her with a face that made his short appeal both eloquent and pathetic.

“Oh Jo, can’t you?”
“Teddy, dear, I wish I could!”

That was all, except for a little pause; then Laurie straightened himself up, said, “It’s all right, never mind,” and went away without another word.  Ah, but it wasn’t all right, and Jo did mind; for while the curly head lay on her arm a minute after her hard answer, she felt as if she ahd stabbed her dearest friend; and when he left her without a look behind him, she knew that the boy Laurie never would come again.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Juvenile fiction | 528 pages | Barnes & Noble Classics | March 2004 (orginally published 1868) | 9781593081089 | Personal copy

 

 

 

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

“Find the bird.  In the loop.  On the other side of the old man’s grave.  September third, 1940.”  I nodded, but he couldn’t see that I didn’t understand.  With his last bit of strength, he added, “Emerson – the letter.  Tell them what happened, Yakob.” (p. 33)

Jacob Portman believed he was destined to live an incredibly ordinary life.  But then his grandfather is tragically killed, spewing the above disjointed jibberish as he lay dying in Jacob’s arms.  Could this cryptic message have anything to do with the strange photographs his grandfather used to show him when Jacob was younger about the magical children’s home he lived in on a small island off the coast of Wales?  Jacob had long ago dismissed his grandfather’s stories as rubbish, but now he’s not so sure.  In order to make sense of everything that’s happened, Jacob and his father travel to Wales.  Cairnholm is shrouded in fog and mystery, but Jacob is determined to honor his grandfather’s last request and find out the truth about Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

Riggs’s debut novel is unique in that he blends Jacob’s story with some fantasically creepy photographs borrowed from collectors around the country (including himself).  Unfortunately, I felt some of the fantasy elements of the story could have been explained better and that, at times, the story was written to complement the pictures and not the other way around.  Readers who are looking to be thoroughly creeped-out may be disappointed as the story is not nearly as scary as I thought it would be.  Overall, though, I was impressed with the writing and was intrigued enough to read it all the way through.  The ending seemed like it might lend itself to a sequel, though I probably wouldn’t be interested in reading it.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Young Adult fiction | 352 pages | Quirk Publishing | June 2011 | 1594744769 | Library copy

The Luck of the Buttons by Anne Ylvisaker

“You’re such a Button.”

Tugs Button has heard this more times than she can count.  Her family is known for being unlucky.  They aren’t good at sports or art.  They aren’t talented musicians or exceptional cooks.  They certainly never win anything. 

But all that changes at the 1929 Fourth of July picnic.  For the first time ever, Tugs partners with cool girl, Aggie Millhouse in the three-legged race – AND WINS!  Then her essay on “progress” wins first prize in the essay contest!  And finally, Tugs’s ticket is chosen as the winner of brand new Brownie camera in the raffle.  Tugs Button, the awkward, clunky, much-less-than-graceful tomboy, could possibly turn her luck around.

But Tugs is plagued by the new man in town, Harvey Moore.  He says he’s here to bring a newspaper back to Goodhue with the help of monetary investments by the townspeople.  Everyone in town is enamoured with this dapper gentlemen – everyone, that is, except Tugs.  What will come of Tugs’s suspicions?  Has her short streak of luck already run out?

Ylvisaker’s novel is a an utterly charming look at small-town life in Iowa in the 1920s. 

The Luck of the Buttons by Anne Ylvisaker
Juvenile fiction | 224 pages | Candlewick Press | April 2011 | 0763650668 | Library copy

Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet

In this darling and beautifully illustrated biography, Melissa Sweet introduces readers to the creator of the floats we all know and love that parade around New York City on Thanksgiving Day.  Tony Sarg began his career by making marionettes that were known for their incredibly lifelike movements.  His work attracted the eye of R.H. Macy’s department store in Herald Square and Sarg created holiday window displays for them.  When Macy’s decided to have a holiday parade for their employees, they knew Sarg was the man for the job.  Sarg worked with a company that made blimps to bring his ideas to life.  After some design tweaks, Sarg was able to create stunning balloons that have dazzled audiences since 1928.

Balloons Over Broadway:  The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade by Melissa Sweet
Picture book | 40 pages | Houghton Mifflin | November 2011 | 0547199457  | Library copy

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

“Stories are the wildest things of all, the monster rumbled.” (p. 35)

A Monster Calls left me breathless.  Speechless.  And completely incapable of producing a coherent review.  All I had were a bunch of words tumbling around in my head, an ache in my heart, and one charge:  READ IT.  Below, see my best attempt at captivating what this book meant to me.

 A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Young Adult fiction | 224 pages | Candlewick | September 2011 | 0763655597 | Library copy

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

“This is what happens on journeys – the things you find are not necessarily the things you had gone looking for.” (p. 235)

Hazel and Jack are best friends.  Highly imaginative and having both suffered loss in their home lives, Hazel and Jack seem inseparable.  Until a shard of glass from a magic mirror falls in Jack’s eye and pierces his heart with an impenetrable coldness.  Suddenly he wants nothing to do with Hazel and soon he disappears into the woods with the White Witch.  Despite Jack’s brush-off, Hazel goes after her friend, for this is what best friends do.  In the woods, things are not what they seem.  Hazel encounters wolves, wizards, and woodsman, all of whom try to distract her from her mission.  After trudging deeper and deeper into the cold, Hazel finally finds the Witch and the slightly underwhelming showdown (but a showdown nonetheless!) begins.  Based on Hans Christian Andersons story, “The Snow Queen”, Breadcrumbs is a fairy tale retelling that blends contemporary and traditional tales, along with realistic and fantasy elements.

I just have one word to describe Ursu’s writing:  enchanting.  I thought the writing was brilliantly beautiful, with passages that beg to be read aloud.  I found Hazel to be a believable and relatable character and her issues with her parent’s divorce, fitting in at a new school, growing up (and growing apart) were realistic.  I was completely drawn into the first half of the book…and then lost a little bit of interest in the second.  Maybe it’s just the fact that I prefer realistic fiction over fantasy that I had a harder time swallowing the second half.  I also thought the story got slightly repetitive and that the climax was a bit anti-climactic, but even with those hang-ups I was still overall delighted by Breadcrumbs and would recommend it to young and old alike.

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
Juvenile fiction | 313 pages | September 2011 | Waldon Pond Press | 0062015052  | Library copy

Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

“‘Master Jefferson has done a lot of great things…he was a leader in the war.  He wrote that declaration thing.  He made us a new country.  And then he went to France, and he was president…so, does all that mean he’s a great person?  White folks seem to think so.  If you’re great enough in some areas, does it make up for the rest?’

Maddy asked, ‘Would a great person sell someone else’s son?'” (p. 254-255)

How would you feel if your father was the President of the United States, but no one could know about it?  Or if your father was also your owner?

In Jefferson’s Sons, Bradley tells the story of Thomas Jefferson’s other children-those he had with his slave, Sally Hemmings.  Beverly, Harriet, Maddy & Eston get better treatment than the other slaves at Monticello, but they are still slaves.  Beverly, Harriet & Eston are light-skinned enough that at age 21, when they receive their freedom, they’ll be able to enter white society, but it’s a decision that will mean never seeing their mother or Maddy again.  Bradley explores complex issues of slavery, identity, equality, freedom, and family while maintaining a certain measure of innocence by telling the story through a child’s eyes.  The story dragged a bit towards the middle, but press on through that because the ending is incredibly powerful and brought tears to my eyes.

Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Juvenile Fiction | 368 pages | September 2011 | Dial | 0803734999 | Library copy

Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) by Sue Macy

“Let me tell you what I think about bicycling.  I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.  I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel.”  -Susan B. Anthony (1896)

Wheels of Change:  How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) documents the rise of the bicycle in American culture and the social impact it had on women.  Cycling was fun, good for your health (once they fixed the design so you wouldn’t take a header!), and provided a newfound sense of freedom for women around the country.  Not everyone was a proponent of women and cycling, though; opposers  like Charlotte Smith believed the bicycle was the “devil’s advange agent” and would cause young ladies to plummet into a moral downward spiral.  Thankfully, those ideas petered out rather quickly.  I found it fascinating how much influence the bicycle had on everything from fashion to sports to health and how far women were travelling (hundreds of miles at a time!).  This was definitely a great read whether you’re a sports fan, cycling enthusiast, or woman’s history buff.

Wheels of Change:  How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) by Sue Macy
Young Adult Nonfiction | 96 pages | January 2011 | National Geographic Children’s Books | 1426307616 | Library copy