A Monster Calls

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Sonia Gensler

The monster comes just after midnight.

13-year-old Conor is confused — this is not the nightmare he was expecting. The monster at his window is wild and fierce, but nowhere near as scary as the dark dream that has plagued him lately.

Conor’s world is falling apart. His mother isn’t responding well to cancer treatments. His father is in America with a new wife and family. Conor’s friends have betrayed him, and his enemies bully him. The burden of his present and future solitude weighs heavily upon him. A monster who wishes to tell him three stories, and demands one in return from Conor, is the last thing he needs.

Fortunately, the monster is persistent.

Some might say this is a good book for children coping with impending loss and grief. I say its appeal is much broader than that. A Monster Calls is gripping on many levels and appropriate for various age groups. It is a story of loss and healing, but it’s also a mystery with mythic qualities and a realistic portrayal of a contemporary teen’s struggle for autonomy and stability. Add gorgeous illustrations to this complex narrative and you have a very memorable book indeed.

Be sure to start with the author’s note from Patrick Ness. Once you’ve read that and the first chapter, you won’t be able to put the book down. Just be sure to keep your tissues handy.

Back From the Dead

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Anne Greenwood Brown

First, an apology. I have been silent since August and not intentionally so. The truth is, I’ve been so consumed with sequel writing, and revsions, and deadlines, more time passed than I knew. When I went to check the date for my next post, I realized I’d missed two! I’m now out of my time warp. I hope you’re all doing well!

POSSESS

No. That’s not another excuse; that’s the title to Gretchen McNeil’s debut YA novel which came out during my absence. Okay, so I guess that plays into my apology a little bit because it certainly was a distraction from the rest of mylife.

Here’s an excerpt from the book flap copy:

Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her over-protective mom, by Matt Quinn, the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, the voices are demons–and Bridget possesses the rare ability to banish them bak to whatever hell they came from. Literally.

Terrified to tell her friends or family about this new power, Bridget confides in San Francisco’s senior exorcist, Monsignor Renault. The monsignor enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession, but just as she is starting to come to terms with her freakish new role, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons.

For me, I love the Catholicism of the book, the side references to Irish step dancing (a personal interest), and the general Buffy-ness of it. Nothing like a girl in a plaid school uniform kicking butt on the powers of hell.

McNeil also has a lot of stage experience both as an actress and a soprano, and that is evident in the well-detailed scenes and overall drama of the novel.

I give it 5 grisly demons.

Who’s that girl?

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Sonia Gensler

Everyone is raving about Daughter of Smoke and Bone, the latest YA novel by National Book Award finalist Laini Taylor (Lips Touch, Three Times) – and I’m no exception!

Karou leads a double life. At the outset, we see her as an art student in Prague trying to shed herself of a worthless boyfriend. Before long we see her secret life – perhaps her truer life – in which she speaks multiple languages, works minor magic, and travels the world procuring teeth for Brimstone, the unearthly creature who reared her from birth and is the only family she knows. Karou understands that Brimstone uses the teeth for a deeper magic, but doesn’t question further. Not at first, anyway.

This changes when ominous black handprints appear on the doors leading to her secret realm. Karou’s violent encounter with one of the winged creatures responsible for those handprints leads to revelations that fracture her understanding of the world. These revelations also allow her true journey of self-discovery to begin.

In the past I have steered away from stories of angels and demons, not to mention protagonists who are so achingly beautiful that it hurts to look at them. That stuff was too outlandish for me. Too over-the-top. This novel is over-the-top, but in a really fabulous way. The prose is exquisite, the characterization nuanced, and the pacing grabs you by the throat. Add to this a hauntingly gorgeous setting and an epic romance (literally EPIC) and you have the makings of an unforgettable first novel in a potentially stunning series.

I can’t stop thinking about this book!

Please Read (if at all possible): The Girl Project

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Jodi Lustig

Like StacyJ, I’m a new kindle convert. And having just spent a weekend out of town, I had a much-lighter carry-on bag to remind me why I’m a devotee. No longer one of the poor hunchbacked souls who hauled a small library around on her travels to ensure she never was stranded without a “right-feeling” book to match whatever mood came over her, with my kindle I could have my library and my good posture, too!

But when I came home, I fell into a book that makes it clear why the kindle shouldn’t put her older sister out to pasture altogether. Please Read (if at all possible) couldn’t exist in any other form. Photographer Kate Englelbrecht began The Girl Project in 2007 to discover if the vampy, hyper-sexualized girls she saw on TV meant their real-life counterparts were as far removed from her own experience as she feared. She sent disposable cameras and questionnaires to teenage girls throughout the country and found more than 5,000 of them eager to express their own visions of themselves and the world around them. The title is taken from the front of one of the participant’s returned cameras. Offered as an apology for the camera’s late arrival, the (polite) command followed by the self-effacing dodge captures the push-me/pull-me, in-between-ed-ness of adolescence perfectly.

For many of the girls, this was the first time they had taken a picture on film. They could only capture what they saw in front of them–not what they could check on a digital display and retake or delete. I was struck by the difference between what the girls submitted and what I expected to see. There are artful shots, shots that prove girls today are as proud of their messy bedrooms as they were in my day, and shots of body parts that break your heart. (“Never good enough” in marker on a leg. “I love my body” on a belly my inner teen couldn’t help hoping was just a little more curvy.) Sometimes I wished that things had changed more …

The images are striking, but maybe because I’m a word person, I found the text just as interesting. Answers to the questionnaires are reproduced in the girls’ own handwriting, and seeing how they write is as telling as what they write. The microscopic scrawl. The bubble letters and smilie faces. The thoughts and second thoughts and afterthoughts. Englebrecht sent the girls the Proust Questionnaire, a series of questions thought to reveal the subject’s true personality. Some appear in their entirety. Many are gathered together as a collective answer to the question posed. Graphically, the arrangment is powerful. I can only imagine what it might feel like for a girl to see just how many people answered the question, “What are you afraid of?” with “being alone.” I know I hope it makes them feel less so.

A Trouble Shared

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Sonia Gensler

In The Day Before, the latest YA novel-in-verse from Lisa Schroeder, a young woman’s life is on the verge of a dramatic change. The details and significance of this change are unclear at first. All we know is that Amber has claimed a day just for her, no friends or family allowed. On this day before everything changes, she goes alone to the beach.

Turns out she’s not the only one taking a day. While at the beach, she meets Cade and immediately senses a kindred spirit. The two drift toward each other and end up spending their day together. We learn fairly quickly what Amber is trying to escape, but Cade protects his story for a while longer. His reticence lends a touch of mystery and suspense to this coming-of-age story of family conflict, compassion and burgeoning romance.

Schroeder’s verse style is streamlined and accessible, with a lovely sense of immediacy. It felt as though I were experiencing the story as a participant — breathing in each fragile burst of joy and reeling at each blow right along with the characters. Amber and Cade are authentic and dynamic protagonists, and their story will pull your hearstrings in all the right ways. Just make sure to have a box of tissues at hand!

If you enjoy The Day Before (and I know you will!), there’s plenty more where that came from. Lisa Schroeder’s debut novel, I Heart You, You Haunt Me is a gripping and poignant ghost story that I devoured in one sitting. Far From You and Chasing Brooklyn are sitting on my shelf, waiting for my next free afternoon. (It’s nearly impossible to read her books in bits and pieces.) If you’re looking for a beautifully told story with a lot of heart, you can’t go wrong with Lisa Schroeder.