Aa is a type of lava....

A Artificial

When a book is written alphabetically, rather than any other convertional narrative technique.

B but

However.....

C Compelling

When something, like The Encyclopedia of Me by Karen Rivers, holds your attention.

This is the story of Isabel "Tink" Aaron-Martin as told by her in encyclopedia format.  However, it works.  This story manages to encorporate first love, the family dynamics of an autistic older brother, and the pain of junior high friendship loyalty shifts, all in alphabetical order. Told in the voice of a tiny almost thirteen-year-old, she faces the trauma of junior high with her quick sense of humor.

She talks frankly about feeling forgotten, insignificant, and treated like a baby.  All issues with which most junior high students can identify.  And, I like who she is when she comes through it.

For the reluctant reader....

I've heard of reluctant readers, but never one so adamantly opposed as Charlie Joe in Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading by Tommy Greenwald.  In this humorous telling, Charlie Joe admits that he has never read ANYTHING entirely.  He reads the beginning and the end, and then "pays" a friend to summarize the rest.  His perfect plan is thrown out the window when his friend suddenly decides he's tired of doing it for him.  We not only follow the extraordinary ends to which he will go to NOT read, but learn his 25 tips on not reading.    

I enjoyed that it was not only funny, but had a bit of a deeper message.  Don't worry, though, it does't end with a syrupy sweet conversion to a love of reading.  In fact, without giving away too much, this is this last tip:  WHEN FINISHING A BOOK, NEVER LOOK AT IT AGAIN.  So, there.

Disappointed

BeforeI started Ninth Ward, by Jewell Parker Rhodes, I had high hopes.  It is a Coretta Scott King Award honor book, it is about hurricane Katrina, and I was told the main character could see dead people.  Sounds compelling and exciting.....unfortunately, it was neither.

It is about twelve-year-old Lanesha, who has been raised by Mama Ya-Ya in New Orlean's Ninth Ward.    Mama Ya-Ya is a local healer, but not her birth mother .  Lanesha's mother died giving birth to her.  In fact, that is one of the dead people she sees....her mother, on the birthing bed.  What should be creepy, soon became a bit dreary.  Because Lanesha was born with a cowl covering her, she has always been held as different.  The part of the story that deals with her isolation and response to it is the one uplifting part of this book.  Unfortunately, even riding out Katrina in one of the worst-hit parts of New Orleans is sort of anti-climatic.  

I can't say I hated this book.  It was well-written, and I liked Mama Ya-Ya and Lanesha, it just was a bit dull.....disappointing.

Deeply.....Odd

I took a break from reading young adult literature to read the newest in the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz, called Deeply Odd.  Now, I should preface this review with the fact that, in general, I am not a fan of Koontz.  The exceptions are this series and the Frankenstein series.  

Odd Thomas is the given name of the main character of the series.  He is a barely 20 young man that is quite satisfied to work as a fry cook, oh, and he can see dead people and other supernatural phenomenon.  his "gift" helps him solve murders and sometimes allows him to sense when terrible things will happen.  The books are usually exciting and funny....Elvis and Frank Sinatra have made appearances as well as a ghost dog named Boo.

Unfortunately, I found this book just way too....well.....deep.  There was way too much time spent discussing the nature of evil, of being blue and smooth (don't ask), and moping over his lost love.  Blech.  If you cut out the moping and the deep conversations, it's an exciting story.  Odd gets one of his premonitions that a flashy trucker is intent on murdering children.  He starts a wild chase to find him before it happens.  On the way he meets a mysterious old woman in a limo, crosses into hell, and runs afoul of a Satanic cult!  

I suggest you not start with this book if you haven't read any other of the Odd Thomas books.  Not only will you be lost, this would not give you the best opinion of the series.

It's all true

I had heard all sorts do good things about Once by Morris Gleitzman.  Sometimes, I'm afraid to read a book after so much positive hype for fear it can't possibly live up to it.  Nearly every book recommended by Oprah's book club comes to mind.  Fortunately, this book did not disappoint.  It is a story of the Holocaust, told from the point of view of a young Jewish boy in Poland who doesn't quite understand what's happening.  Much like the young boy in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, he has been protected from the truth.

Felix was brought to a remote Catholic orphanage years ago by his parents, who were owners of a book store.  Felix has an incredible gift for storytelling and has made up a whole notebook of stories about his mother and dad and their adventures trying to save authors so they will have books for their bookstore.  Then he receives a sign and he is sure his parents are coming to get him.  However,  before they can get there, he sees soldiers burning books, and sets off to find his parents' bookstore, which he believes is just closed for now.  He intends to hide the books, saving the store.  What he finds, unfortunately, is much different than his stories.  He runs right into the heart of Nazi brutality in Poland.

This is a journey of a young boy from innocence to stark reality.  However, it focuses, instead on his hope and bravery.   It is followed by three more books: Then, Now and After.  I can't wait to read them!

This book is difficult to place for for appropriate interest level.  It is fairly easy to read, and yet, contains some brutal details and images. I am placing it at Junior High because if a younger person reads it, be prepared to discuss the brutality that occurred during the Holocaust.

This is from the front flap of the book:

"ONCE I escaped from an orphanage to find Mum and Dad.

ONCE I saved a girl called Zelda from a burning house.

ONCE I made a Nazi with a toothache laugh.

My name is Felix.

This is my story."

Is it possible for a romance to be too contrived?

I was looking for a literary "quickie," so I used Overdrive and perused the romance section.  I decided on Mr Darcy Forever by Victoria Connelly.  It was set in Bath, during a Jane Austen festival.  I like Jane Austen, why not give it go?

From the beginning, it had a little more substance than I thought.  The two main characters, Mia and Sarah, are sisters who each identify with the Dashwood sisters of Sense and Sensibility: one practical, one impetuous.  As they each prepare to attend the Jane Austen Festival, it becomes clear that something terrible happened between them and they haven't spoken in years, despite having been so close.  What adds an odd twist is that Sarah reveals she suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Already, not you average fluffy romance.

As the sisters attend events, they each dread/hope they will run into one another.  As the current story progresses, we slowly learn what happened between them, and, of course, it involves a man.  Even that story ends up sort of "twitchy," not your usual romance fair, other than he turns out to be a cad of the worst sort.

Without giving away too much, Mia, Sarah, and Mia's friend Shelley, all meet men, and GASP, fall in love.  Plus, of course, the sisters reunite (I assumed that would happen).  This sort of contrivance is expected in Romance, however, for heaven's sake, Sarah manages to find a fellow OCD sufferer!  The Cad shows up, secrets are revealed, and in the end, no one really learned anything from the terrible thing that happened.  The ending may have worked in a fluffy romance, but there was a serious tone that is at odds with the "happily ever after" ending.  It wasn't carefree enough to satisfy my guilty pleasure, and wasn't serious enough to live up to the problems.

I post mostly teen and children's lit reviews.  This book was written with an adult audience in mind, but there is no objectionable content.  It would be fine for teenagers, but might not appeal to them....too fuddy-duddy in tone, perhaps.

Arrrgh........watch out for the Jolly Robin (yes, I do mean Robin)

I had gotten the book The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate by Scott Nash on a whim....I was a bit skeptical about a pirate story to begin with, let alone one in which the pirates are birds.  I must say, however, it was captivating, funny, and full of all the swashbuckling a pirate book requires.

Captain Blue Jay of the dread pirate ship Grosbeak is "generally the most bloodthirsty and fearsome pirate to sail the high skies."  Because of this reputation, most ships surrender their booty without even a fight.   This suits Jay just fine, as he is really quite caring and concerned about his crew.  His one obsession, besides treasure, is his collection of unusual eggs.  A battle with raccoons leads to a rare egg, like none Jay has ever seen.  Imagine his surprise when one of the crew, Junco, is inspired to SIT on the egg.  Her vigil is ultimately supported by the crew, and out hatches.....a goose.  Geese are considered "sky gods" and Jay can just imagine the value one would be on the crew.  The Captain and the crew begin to raise the homeless gosling, teaching him to be a pirate.  As the ship crashes and is stolen from them by the evil crow, Teach and his mob of thugs, Jay must inspire the lost goose, a mole, and the peasant sparrows to plan a daring rescue and escape.

There is so much that is appealing a out this story:  amazing illustrations, non-stereotypical roles, great plays on words.   Great fun for all to read!