Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I am probably the last person on earth to have read this novel. The buzz surrounding it has been massive and sustained ever since it was released. It's one of those books that has been responsible for so many adults turning to YA books as recent reading trends would indicate. Everyone I know who has read it absolutely raves about it. And perhaps all of this combined to raise my expectations to insupportable levels but I just didn't love this book. I found it simplistic and didn't find myself wowed to my great disappointment.

Set at some unspecified time in the future, in the place where the US (and possibly Canada and Mexico) used to exist, this teenaged dystopian novel weds the current fascination with reality tv and brutal, to-the-death competition. Every year The Capitol chooses by lottery a boy and a girl to represent each of the remaining 12 Districts (District 13 is apparently a wasteland after their unadvisable rebellion against The Capitol) in the Hunger Games. The idea is that these kids will fight to the death, leaving only one standing and reminding the Districts of the futility and high cost of further rebellion. To the winner and to the District from which the contestant comes will accrue many accolades and perks. Katniss is from District 12, one of the poorest districts, a place that has known famine and desperation almost its entire existence. Her father was killed in a mine explosion when she was small and she has turned to hunting illegally to help her mother and sweet-natured younger sister survive. When her sister Prim's name is during the reaping as the female tribute to the Games, Katniss volunteers to take her place. The male tribute from District 12 is Peeta, the baker's son who once upon a time saved Katniss from starving and who has long had feelings for her.

And so the two presumed sacrificial teens (District 12 almost never produces a winner) head to The Capitol to take part in the pomp and gore of the pre-Games and Game themselves. Their handlers present them spectacularly and market them as a love story, hopefully earning them sponsors who will help them during the Games with potentially lifesaving gifts. And then Katniss and Peeta must face the murderous intent of the other competitors, all of whom are in the fight of their lives, killing or being killed. As they hunt each other down, alliances are formed and broken, survival skills are tested, and inner strength is made manifest.

The characters, aside from Katniss and Peeta, are mere sketches and very few of the other tributes are ever even mentioned by name or distinguished in any way. The handlers and previous District 12 winner are all given a few tantalizing comments but those hints of interest are never elaborated on (and a friend said that they are not followed up on in the following two books either) and so their motivations remain in shadow. Although the premise is that the tributes have to fight to the death, Katniss is saved from having to kill anyone she cares about and in fact, is given a mercy killing to perform, exempting her from most of the moral quandry that she seems to suffer anyway. I didn't find her a particularly likable character and her connection with Peeta seems almost entirely selfish. The political situation which has given rise to the Hunger Games remains a question as if it is enough to know that the situation exists without knowing anything else. However, that makes is rather hard to know what exactly it is that Katniss and Peeta are fighting against besides generalized inequality. Although this is but the first of a trilogy, I don't have any great burning desire to find out what happens to Katniss and Peeta as they continue to battle The Capitol as they surely must. I thoroughly liked Collin's younger reader series starting with Gregor the Overlander and found it far more original and intriguing than this one although countless numbers of folks disagree (including my entire bookclub).

Review: Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

Who needs more teen angst? Certainly not me given that I am living with a teenager and a pre-teen at the moment and at any given day the sky can be falling in on one or both of them. So despite having had this on my shelf for a very long time, I kept putting it off and putting it off. But I have looked at it consistently for more than a year, intending to finally read it. I am so glad I did. Jessica Darling is good fun and this book is delightfully entertaining.

The book opens with Jessica's best friend Hope having moved away and the book is presented in journal and letter form as Jess struggles with feeling newly alone. The journal is for those things she can't even tell Hope and the letters to Hope reinforce and illuminate some of the social and personal situations at school. Hope was really her only real friend and she is now marooned with a clique of girls with whom she's grown up but whom she can't really stand. She is frustrated by her friend Scottie's ongoing crush on her and she is mildly tormented by the school's slacker druggie suddenly latching onto her and calling her out for her superficial behaviour. Jess is a straight A student and a very gifted runner but she is moody and angry, lashing out at her parents and erecting a prickly wall that few people are willing to try and break through. When a new girl moves to school, she and Jess start to hit it off but everything is not as it seems.

The first in a series, McCafferty has managed to capture the misperceptions, uncertainties, and insecurities of high school in this book. She has created a smart, likable, bull-headed, and sometimes completely self-absorbed and casually mean narrator in Jess Darling. The wonder of it is that we do still really, really like her despite all her angst, her bouts of hypocritical behaviour, and her occasional obstreperousness. Even though I wouldn't go back to high school myself on a bet, I am looking forward to joining Jess on her further adventures in later books. More than just light good fun, this is a charming coming of age novel that manages to be both true to life and serve as a reminder that high school is rough for everybody, a reinforcement I'll need a mere year from now in dealing with my crew.

Review: South Beach Sizzle by Suzanne Weyn and Diana Gonzalez

I have a tween daughter who likes to read but isn't generally into the same books every other kiddo her age is reading. Vampires don't make her little heart go pit-a-pat. She's never been one for fantasy and book princesses (dressing as one herself as a small girl was another story entirely). She wants more reality but not those mean girl stories. Really what she wants is reality viewed comfortably through rose-colored glasses. She wants romance. I thought I'd pre-read a few books for her to see what she finds so very appealing. So this was the very first YA romance I've ever read, at least as far as I know. And I have to say that it was as cheesy and cringe-inducing as the Disney shows she's addicted to watching. But those are wildly popular too so what do I know anyway, old toad that I am.

Lula is starting college in the fall and she's convinced her mother to let her live with her father for her last summer before school starts. So she drives down to Miami with her gay best friend Jeff, discovers and forgives her father's immaturity, finds a job and an apartment, and falls for a guy who may or may not be trying to sabotage her in the local band competition. Lula's relationship with the gorgeous and distracting Enrique is completely predictable, from the doubts and tensions that pull them apart briefly to the expected denouement. And getting there didn't offer any surprises either. The character dialogue was flat and the characters themselves cliches. On the plus side, there aren't any adult situations to worry about for younger romance junkies. I didn't particularly enjoy the contrived plot and stilted writing but can't put up too many objections if my daughter wants to dip into this ultimately frothy and superficial read.

Review: Nothing But Ghosts by Beth Kephart

I have read several of Kephart's non-fiction offerings lately but I had never read one of her YA books until I picked this one up. It was getting a lot of pre-publication buzz in the blogging world and I didn't want to miss the boat, nevermind that YA is not my usual bailiwick.

Katie's mother recently died of cancer, leaving her alone to grieve with her father, an art restorer. His method of grieving includes locking himself away with the latest painting he has to work on, leaving his daughter adrift and mourning by herself. Not wanting to be surrounded by people either, Katie has taken a summer job working on the gardening crew of a local estate, the owner of which is an elderly woman who has locked herself away from the world for years. As Katie tries to come to terms with the new normal of life without her mother, she works to uncover the mystery of why Miss Martine, who was once a debutante, has voluntarily locked herself away from the world for so many years. Her father's latest restoration project, two brothers on the gardening crew, and a glamourous librarian all help Katie in her quest for answers and also in healing her heart a little.

The writing here is quite lyrical, making obvious the fact that Kephart is first and foremost a poet. Her descriptors and phrasing are not of the common sort and she definitely draws pictures in the readers' minds. The characters are believable and sympathetic. Katie is always age appropriate and her reaction to the continued loss of her mother will tug at your heartstrings. Ultimately though, there's very little that occurs in this novel and I had to skim back through it in order to write this review. Some of this is because I read it so long ago and didn't write a review immediately but some of it is because the story just didn't stay with me, offering me no little moments that punched their way into the permanence of my brain. That's not to say this isn't a good book because it is and I think that YA readers, both young and old, will appreciate it. It's just that it lacked that little something more for me. Maybe one of you will find it in there instead though.

Review: The Mediator 6: Twilight by Meg Cabot

I am typically incredibly finicky about reading series in order. I scowl and grump if my book club even considers picking a book that is mid-series. I rarely agree to review series books if the entire series isn't offered up for my perusal. This sounds like I'm being a snob or don't like series. This could not be farther from the truth. I thoroughly enjoy series and love the idea that when I stumble on a good one, I will have countless books and hours to spend with much loved characters. But, I like to build my relationships up slowly, to start at the beginning, and to learn the whole back story of each major character as it is revealed. So I was surprised to find that I had inadvertantly grabbed the sixth book in Cabot's Mediator series from the school library book buzz pile. The fact that the library didn't carry books 1-5 made it nigh impossible to read up on the series (well at the very least, without going to the county library and as I am trying hard to work through my own backlogged books, I didn't want to commit to reading 5 other books prior to tackling this one). So I crossed my fingers, prayed that jumping in mid-series wasn't going to be the kiss of death, and opened the book.

Luckily, plunging into this book without having read the previous entries in the series turned out to be fine. I'm sure that I would have enjoyed knowing Suze, Jesse, and Paul's earlier interactions and that would have enhanced the book but it worked decently as a stand-alone. Suze Simon, who lives with her mother and step-father, is a mediator. This means she can not only talk to ghosts but she helps them move on in the afterlife. Suze is not the only mediator around though. Paul, a boy at her school, and his ailing grandfather, are also mediators. But Paul's moral compass is not exactly aligned with Suze's and they are incredibly adversarial and contentious with each other. Their touchy relationship isn't helped by the fact that he's trying to discover a way to go back in time to prevent Suze's ghostly nineteenth century boyfriend, Jesse, from ever becoming a ghost, thereby winning Suze for himself. Suze is torn, wondering if Paul preventing Jesse's murder is the right thing and if she's being selfish wanting to preserve her meeting with Jesse 150 years after his death. It's a race between Suze and Paul to figure out how to travel backwards in time and either let history repeat itself or change the outcome entirely.

Cabot has written a fast paced and entertaining book with an interestingly unique premise. The tension between Suze and Paul is biting but realistically teenaged. Suze is perhaps a bit too good but her strict and somewhat simple moral center is nicely balanced by the fact that Paul is multi-dimesional, shades of black and white, and not easily dismissed as the stereotypical villain. Ghostly Jesse is a little thin but the real story swirls around him rather than centering on him. I suspect that knowing the full backstory would have rounded out the characters better for me, especially Suze's relationship with her dead father, but over all it was okay not to have the full disclosure in my reading past. Teens who like un-creepy paranormal reading will fully appreciate this one and may want to start with book one.

Review: Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You

My daughter is a dancer so when I stumbled across this book in the pile of books awaiting parent reviews in the middle school library Book Buzz stack, I snagged it. I personally have two left feet but I have now watched enough dance classes, recitals, and competitions to feel like I know a little something about the whole thing. Cirrone did a nice job using the dance world to highlight teenaged body image issues and societal expectations and pressures surrounding bodies, especially but not limited to girls'.

Sixteen year old Kayla is a ballerina. She works hard and is quite good. But Kayla doesn't look the expected part of a prima ballerina. In short, she is very busty. Her dance instructor at school suggests a breast reduction, even going so far as to give Kayla the name of a surgeon. And Kayla is passed over for a plum role in the production of Cinderella, reduced to the comedic roll of an ugly stepsister because the outside choreographer refuses to look past her shape and recognize her talent. As Kayla agonizes over whether or not to submit to surgery that would allow her to better chase her dream of a career in dance, she is also faced with a typical teen fledgling romance with Gray, the good-looking new boy in school, and the usual girl conflict with a fellow student exacerbated by the competition for parts.

While Kayla battles her own insecurities, her older sister faces the censorship of her senior art project, which is partly inspired by the body issues that Kayla is facing, and red pointe shoes start showing up around school with the message that "dancing in red shoes will kill you" causing a flurry of panic and an investigation of the threats. Of course, when the shoes start appearing, no one knows yet who will be wearing the red shoes in the production but it turns out that it will be Kayla, the other ugly stepsister, and Cinderella's mother.

Cirrone ties together the various plot lines nicely with each adding to the commentary about societal expectations and body image. She manages to do this without coming across as preachy and also without making Kayla seem inauthentic for a sixteen year old. The characters are definitely left-of-center off beat but they are still kids, even with their occasionally over-earnest discussions. Although the secondary characters aren't as fully developed as Kayla and act mainly as foils to her, staying within their prescribed roles: entertaining best friend, serious and advice-laden older sister, etc., they are still enjoyable to read. The pacing of the plot is good and the resolution of the mystery, while somewhat anti-climactic, reinforces the theme of the whole.

The one wrong note that did strike me is when the girls receive their pointe shoes for the production. While renting or borrowing the rest of the costumes for the show, it is pretty inconceivable that the local dance company would send shoes as well. Pointe shoes are very individual (my daughter, admittedly a difficult case, probably tried on 20+ in her size before she was properly fitted) and it would be very unlikely for the girls to dance in borrowed shoes that weren't fitted to their particular feet. But that's a minor quibble and those with an interest in dance or in feminist issues like the body will find much to enjoy in this middle grade novel.

Review: The Gravedigger's Cottage by Chris Lynch

The McLuckies, dad, Sylvia, and Walter, have moved to a new town for a new start hoping to leave their bad luck and overarching sadness behind them. But they've moved into the locally known Gravedigger's Cottage, ironic given their frequent losses to death: Sylvia's mother, half brother Walter's mother, and a veritable plethora of pets. The McLuckies are mostly self-contained, sheltering with each other away from the rest of the world, until Walter welcomes an odd local child into their midst as his friend. It is the advent of the outside into thier home that highlights just how thin the thread that holds them is. The story is told by fourteen year old Sylvia and is fairly unrelentingly dark. The chapters alternate between the disintegrating psychological state of Mr. McLuckie accompanied by the distress of the kids and brief vignettes about each pet they've had and how it eventually, generally accidentally, met its death. There is a creepiness and morbidity to the book that is unrelieved by the easy and redemptive ending because it is too abrupt to banish the feel of the book up to that point.

Although this is a young adult book so I am not the target audience anyway, I found it very difficult to immerse myself in the story and more bothered than anything else by the characterizations. It was hard to be sympathetic towards any of the characters. It just felt off-kilter most of the time. Perhaps the middle school audience for whom I was pre-screening it will be more receptive to it than I was.

Review: The Great Blue Yonder by Alex Shearer

I don't generally read a load of YA books but when the middle school librarian asked me to read and review some for her, I was more than happy to oblige so I picked out a whole stack of goodies and promptly ignored them. Now that the school year is starting to wind down, I thought I should get the book read, reviewed and returned in time for some of the kids to have a crack at them before summer comes and they have to wait for the fall for these particular books.

Narrated by 12 year old Harry after he is hit by a truck and dies, this is an interesting and ultimately upbeat book. Harry wanders around the Other Side, roaming through the adults who have died and meeting another young boy who has been dead for 150 years. The two pair up as Harry learns his way around the afterlife, even as he wonders about the Great Blue Yonder marked on the map he was given the day he arrived. Instinctively he knows that he cannot move on until he finishes his business on earth, notably forgiving his sister for her harsh words before he died and in turn forgiving hers back to him. Just before he raced off on his bike and was hit, his sister Eggy had told him she wished he would die and he said she'd be sorry when he was dead. Certainly not the last words you want to ever say to a loved one on either side. And so as he and his buddy Arthur zip around the Other Side trying to find Arthur's mother, Harry ponders how he can indeed apologize and free Eggy and himself. When Harry and Arthur go back to Earth, they look in on Harry's old school, his best friend, his enemy, and his family and Harry learns some truths about who he was in life and how his absence has affected everyone and it's not exactly as he's imagined it.

Shearer keeps the tone of the story light and Harry's active imagination, even post-death, is entertaining. Harry is very definitely a 12 year old boy with all that that entails and so middle schoolers will definitely relate to him and his anxieties. The other characters are really incidental to Harry's quest to make things right and we only ever see them through his immature eyes but his dawning understanding of life and his earthly relationships makes this dead character experience believable growth. The moral of the story is well handled and doesn't overwhelm the charming character of Harry or of his experiences after death on the Other Side and back on Earth. A quick read about an unusual situation, this will offer a pleasant variety to most middle school libraries.

Review: The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

Penny is completely disillusioned when she finds her boyfriend, whom she has been in love with almost her entire life, cheating on her. She's sick and tired of the way that none of the boys in her life have ever lived up to what she wants and expects. Convincing herself that all guys are jerks, she forms the Lonely Hearts Club (yes, from the Beatles song--after all, her name is Penny Lane) with herself as the founding and sole member. But when an old friend, who ditched Penny long ago for a boy, is dumped and wants to make amends for putting Ryan first, above their friendship, Penny finds herself sharing the concept. And slowly this club of one becomes the club to be in with members across all four years of high school vowing not to date for the duration of their high school careers, go to dances and social events as a group, attend Saturday night meetings, and always support their friends. But it's not that easy, with guys who are bitter about being ditched for a group of girls, a principal who is against the club, despite it not being either official or meeting on school property, and girls who are catty or just joining for the status. Hardest of all is the fact that Penny might have found a guy who's not a jerk, one who she might really like to go out with.

This is a very cute story. Eulberg has captured high school and teens pretty well. And her tale of female empowerment and sisterhood is one that so many girls these days need to hear. Penny is, of course, the best fleshed out of the characters while the rest of her friends, even her inner circle are much more superficially drawn and act mostly as foils so that Penny isn't talking to herself. Penny's parents are eccentrically simple and offbeat, being big enough Beatles fans to not only name their daughters after Beatles hits, but to become vegetarian simply because Paul is. Perhaps as would be expected, they don't figure much in the story either but the bits where they do appear, they are supportive and understanding. The burgeoning love story is sweetly handled and Penny's renewed friendship with Diane is maybe a bit too easily achieved but over all this is a nice anecdote to all the mean girl books out there. Being popular doesn't have to mean being a snot and having boys draped all over a girl. It can also mean being content with friends and happy in your own skin, as Penny is. A good lesson to share.

Thanks to Chelsey at Big Honcho Media for a review copy of this book. Also, check back here on Monday for a giveaway and more author information.

Review: This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

This YA book by Dessen has at its center, Remy, just graduated from high school, who doesn't believe in romantic love. Her own life experience tells her that it doesn't exist. Her mother is about to embark on marriage number five. Her musician father left before she was ever born, wrote her a now famous song when she was born (complete with lyrics exhorting her to not count on him), but never laid eyes on her. She's always skinnied out of any relationship that seemed like it might be getting too deep and the summer before she leaves for college should shape up to be just another in the same superficial dating scene. Then she meets Dexter, who crawls over all her barriers and makes her break all her rules. First, he's a musician and she's always had a no musicians rule because of her father. Next, she doesn't dump him for one of the myriad small reasons that she's tired of boys before. And finally, he's gotten under her skin in a way that no other boy ever has and he is persistent, not allowing her to pull back and retreat when she gets scared. So although Remy knows how a relationship goes, even to being able to predict how long it will last from first infatuation to last goodbye, nothing about Dexter is by the book for her.

Dessen has drawn very believable young adult characters, tapping into their belief that they know how the world will always work and in Remy's case, into the sad cynicism she uses as a shield so she won't ever be hurt. Although the adult characters are very secondary, Dessen skillfully uses them to help Remy grow and mature and see the world in a new way. There was only one instance in Remy's interactions with her mother that seemed a bit preachy and obvious, otherwise they were understated and subtle. While this was very obviously a teen romance, it was more than that. It was about the existence of love and the ways in which we close ourselves off from or conversely, open ourselves up to, that experience. It's not about first love or lasting love but just the willingness to accept love, with all its attendant hurts and healings, whether it lasts forever or just a short time. Readers of young adult literature will certainly appreciate this one as it is a nice representation of the genre. Teens will enjoy it too, whether they think love is ephemeral or that they have already met the love of their lives.

Review: Viola in Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani

Adriana Trigiani is very well known for her women's fiction. Viola in Reel Life, a YA novel, is quite a departure from that but there are still similarities in the writing and especially in the characterizations. Most adult reader fans of Trigiani's will have no trouble at all reading this and making it a cross-over title.

The story opens with Viola feeling abandoned by her filmmaker parents at an all girls' boarding school in Indiana. Viola is completely unhappy with the situation because she defines herself as a New Yorker and an aspiring filmmaker. Being dropped off in a cornfield is not her idea of fun. She is determined to be unhappy and to make certain that everyone knows it, which does not get her off on the right foot with her roommates. Her best friend back home, Andrew, sympathizes as best as he's able through IM chats and e-mail.

Viola spends a lot of time documenting her experience at Prefect Academy and eventually realizes that she can choose to make the best of her situation or she can mope and be miserable for a year. Choosing to spread her wings, she becomes close friends with her roommates, meets a boy at the brother school, and creates a short film to enter into a big competition. Along the way, she learns that not only is life what you make of it but that there's a lot more to things than just their surface appearance. And it is this experience in delving deeper that causes her to grow as a character and a filmmaker.

This is a sweet story of a girl on the brink of growing up. There are moments when the dialogue is a bit stilted and slightly unnatural sounding, especially between the roommates but that is easily passed over. Like in Trigiani's other books, there is a fun and eccentric character, here it is Viola's wacky actress grandmother. She adds not only a bit of the "good crazies" into the plot but also offers Viola a dose of serious reality when she chooses to come out of character. The average reader will spin through this light and entertaining read. Tame enough for middle grade readers, this is a nice departure from the "mean girls" cult that YA literature has enshrined lately so those older girls who are tired of reading about back stabbing and nastiness will find this a welcome relief.

Thanks to Book Club Girl and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book so I could participate in the author interview on Blog Talk Radio.

Review: That Summer by Sarah Dessen

Haven is fifteen and her summer is turning out to be rotten. Opening with a view of her mother elbow deep in dirt gardening on the day Haven's father, a local sportscaster, gets married to the weather girl (not so fondly nicknamed "the Weather Pet" by Haven's mother) from his station, things are really not going Haven's way. Not only has her father re-married, but Haven's best friend goes away to camp and changes drastically, her sister's upcoming wedding is turning her into a terrible Bridezilla, and Haven herself feels like a freak thanks to her unusual height. When one of her sister's ex-boyfriends shows up, Haven latches onto him, thinking that the summer when Sumner was around was a golden time in their family. Alternating between her memories of that summer two years ago and the present summer, this is the story of a young girl facing major changes both outside of her control and within herself.

Dessen has nicely captured the pain and humiliation of being fifteen and her portrayal of Haven's longing for a past summer when things looked so much rosier is poignant. Some of the minor characters are a bit over the top though. Haven's sister is a selfish monster and is allowed to be a ridiculous, shrewish brat for a very long time given her age and imminent marriage herself. Haven's best friend turns from good girl to love-struck teen rebel seemingly overnight. And Haven's mother's portrayal as the newly divorced going out on the town without considering her 15 year old daughter struggling to cope with all the changes is a bit far fetched. But despite the stereotypical characterizations of these minor characters, the book will still resonate with teens, especially those who are searching for the person into whom they want to grow. Light and easily read, I can see why Dessen is a recommended read for the late middle school, early high school set. Overall, it's a nice read.

Review: Number 6 Fumbles by Rachel Solar-Tuttle

Do you remember your college days? Do you remember the soul searching and the agonizing over things that end up having no relevance to your life but seemed so important at the time? Are there bits you'd really rather forget or at least never tell your kids about? This novel is that bit of college.

Beck is the life of the party, the cute, perky one who keeps everyone upbeat and connected. So what happens when she has a breakdown of sorts, falling into and existential funk after watching the eponymous Number 6 on Penn's football team fumble an important play? She wonders how he goes on, owning this mistake made in front of so many, and as she wonders, she spirals downwards herself. Continuing to bar-hop with her friends, she drinks herself into oblivion and randomly hooks up with guys she meets in the bars, even as she manages to pull off stellar grades by writitng last minute treatises of the genius variety.

The sexual escapades, including longing for the guy who is emotionally unavailable to her, and the aimless bar scene might be entertaining for those still in college or just out but those of us who are further past this angst filled time of our lives, visiting again in this novel is painful and wearying. Solar-Tuttle has captured the experience of many college students and the feelings shared by so many as well (even if they were not the partying good-time girl that Beck is) but that doesn't mean that the book is appealing or meaningful. It was quick, light, a tad depressing, and ultimately empty. I can see late teens enjoying this but anyone else probably doesn't want to be reminded of their younger selves, wallowing in self-pity and random, meaninglessness.

Young Adult Book Challenge

In my own inimitable fashion, I read about this Young Adult Book Challenge way back in January on J. Kaye's Book Blog and decided on the spot to participate. I also decided that I'd put off signing up officially until some later date which seemed doomed never to come. But stumbling on it again just recently, I was reminded that not only can I sign up at any time (no time like the present!), I can actually count the books I had already been reading towards an unofficial completion. WooHoo! So in order to make certain that I don't wait another 7 months to sign up, in which case I would have missed the challenge entirely, I am signing up now.

Here are the rules to participate:
1. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate.

2. Read 12 Young Adult novels. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

3. Challenge begins January thru December, 2009.

4. You can join anytime between now and December 31, 2009.

And even though I don't have to offer up a list, because I am an over-achiever, albeit a late one, here's my probable list:

1. Twilight by Stephanie Meyers
2. Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras by Cathy Hopkins
3. Slam by Nick Hornby
4. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
5. The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez by Judy Goldschmidt
6. The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares
7. Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
8. Thwonk by Joan Bauer
9. That Summer by Sarah Dessen
10. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen
11. Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
12. The Alphabetical Hook-Up List A-J by Phoebe McPhee

Review: The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez by Judy Goldschmidt

Raisin Rodriguez's mom gets married and moves across the country with her new husband, taking Raisin and her little sister from Berkley, CA to Philadelphia, PA. Not surprisingly, the move is difficult. Raisin misses her two best friends, doesn't fit in with the popular girls no matter how hard she tries, and feels as if she is completely out of place in this new blended family. So Raisin starts a secret blog to keep her best friends informed about her life. And she is not necessarily nice. As a matter of fact, Raisin is overly concerned with being popular, judging people based on their looks, and just generally snarky. In short, she's a pretty average, garden-variety middle school girl. Add in the difficulty of having moved and adjusting to an entirely different culture (seriously--Berkley to Philadelphia--how much more different could the culture be?) and Raisin's fits of self-pity, her meanness towards the only person who shows her any kindness, her pettiness and general snottiness towards being a contributing member of this step-family make perfect sense. The denouement is completely predictable and of course Raisin grows as a person once she sees her writings for what they are. But the book doesn't set out to push any boundaries, just as the middle school lit we read eons ago didn't push any boundaries. It just gave us a mirror to look into, as Raisin does for the current technologically savvy set of middle schoolers today. And what Raisin learned, they will hopefully learn by osmosis rather than experience. Because it's far easier to learn from Raisin's mistakes than to make them yourself. Written as blog posts, this was cute, funny, self-aware, and altogether entertaining, as long as you aren't living with an ungrateful and mopey Raisin yourself. It should appeal to middle school girls and to some of their moms.

Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

This young adult confection is pure fun. Seventeen year old Ginny has a collection of sealed envelopes from her aunt. She is to travel to Europe and then around Europe following the instructions in the letters, not opening a new letter until she has completed the task set forth for her in the prior letter. Ginny's beloved aunt had runaway from the settled predictability of her life in order to pursue her art several years before and she wanted Ginny to have a taste of the spontaneity and experience the joy of travel that she herself felt in her last years (she has recently died of a brain tumor). Making a huge leap of faith, Ginny does indeed buy a plane ticket and head off to Europe to fuflfill her aunt's hopes for her, meeting special people in her aunt's life and people who become special in her own. She opens her envelopes one at a time, sometimes understanding the reasons behind the instructions and other times being baffled but always trying to enter into the spirit of the adventure. She learns a lot about herself through her trip through Europe and perhaps learns even more about family, love, and belonging. This is written for high school aged readers but there's very little that might be inappropriate for younger advanced readers. It was a cute read and one that almost makes me wish I had done something so completely out of character like spinning off to Europe without set plans. The ending is a bit of a surprise and while I initially wanted more, upon reflection, I think it ended just as it had to end. A sweet book and one that I'll stick on a shelf for my daughter to discover sometime.

Review: Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras by Cathy Hopkins

A cute YA book about 14 year old Lucy, who feels awkward when everyone else around her seems to have their lives together and on track to become the adults they want to be. She not only doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up, but she thinks she's losing her best friend, Izzie, to the new and infinitely more glamorous than Lucy, Nesta. She doesn't look 14 and she has had the misfortune to fall head over heels with Nesta's older, more sophisticated brother before she knows who he is. Definitely all the makings for teenaged drama here but Hopkins handles it deftly and without losing the naivete that makes her heroine sweetly entertaining. Less comedic than some similar books but also less world weary than others, this book fits in that small niche that makes this appropriate for my pre-teen daughter but also equally worthwhile for slightly older teens to read as well. This is the first in a series and while I'm not sure I'll follow the series any further, I will be offering it to the girl-child who likes real life sorts of books and I'd be happy for her to read the series if it does capture her interest.

Review: The Alphabetical Hookup List A-J by Phoebe McPhee

Oh my gawd. I, like, think I'm, like, too old for this book. Young adult literature can be just as appealing to adults as adult literature can be but this one made me grateful I'm not an angsty teen just starting college and that I was never as clueless and shallow as these characters seem to be. Three girls, who all requested singles (because freshmen ever score singles--duh) end up as roommates. They are, of course, as different as chalk and cheese and whatever third thing would be equally as different. Only, they aren't nearly as different as they think. When all of their love lives crash and burn almost immediately after stepping foot on campus (cheating boyfriend for one, dumped by long distance boyfriend for another, and clueless attraction to gay boy for the third), they band together and come up with the alphabetical hookup list where each one of them is going to try and kiss at least one guy for each letter of the alphabet, in order. The girls' friendship waxes and wanes as each one tries to fulfill her list amidst all the other distractions of college (although attending class really doesn't seem to be much of a distraction). As the title implies, this is the first in a trilogy and apparently I need to have my head examined because I bought all three of them without trying the first one. Now I have two more vacuous teen reads to slog through (I bought them and having spent money on them, I'm too anal retentive to give them away without reading them). And give them away I will because the characterization is superficial, the plot is pretty darn non-existent, and really, despite the semi-redeeming moral moment at the end of this first book, I don't think I want my daughter to read these, even when she reaches an appropriate age.

Review: Slam by Nick Hornby

Sam is nearly 16 and everything in life is going really well for him. His mom has dumped the boyfriend Sam didn't like; he's learned new, more difficult skating tricks (that's skateboarding, not ice skating--he's a huge Tony Hawk afficiando, even talking to his Hawk poster and having it talk back to him and show him his future); his teachers think he might have college potential; and he's started dating Alicia, a girl he'd thought was way out of his league. As Sam himself says in the novel, when everything's ticking along this well, it's time to go and screw it up. And this generally normal, average kid does that in spectacular, life-changing fashion. He gets his girlfriend pregnant, echoing his mother's worst nightmare for him (she had him while still a teenager as well). This is the story of Sam, how he screwed up, came to grips with his screw-up, and makes a new, unexpected and imperfect but liveable life for himself.

I'm sure there are a load of novels dealing with teenaged pregnancy but Hornby has managed to add a fantastic new one to the mix. With Sam narrating, rather than girlfriend Alicia, the reader gets a much different perspective than usual. How a soon-to-be teenaged father reacts is different than a soon-to-be teenaged mother. We are taken along in Sam's world as he battles the desire to flee without finding out if Alicia is indeed pregnant (well, he does flee but he comes back), as he tries to finish enough schooling to become something, and as he struggles through life with a new baby and a girlfriend he's not sure he wants to be with any longer. As in his novels for adults, Hornby is quite adept in drawing an adolescent boy and all the confronts him in life. Sam is realistic and sympathetic. The other characters make fewer appearances on the page than Sam does and in fact the other characters are fairly few in number. But the focus on Sam works and while this isn't the usual cautionary teen pregnancy tale, there is certainly no glorification, rather a humorous but still difficult realism. I generally tend to like Hornby's non-fiction better than his fiction but I can recommend this one as a well-written and satisfying read for young adult or even adult.