Tag Archive | art

P is photo-vigilante now herself Endangered, by Lamar Giles (book review)

Apr18

book cover of Endangered by Lamar Giles published by Harper TeenClick! A compromising photo.
Click! A clever caption.
Click! Posted for all to see and mock and condemn.

Biracial ‘Panda’ makes herself unremarkable at school, submitting just-average work in digital photography class, ensuring that no one can link her to the scandalous photo-blog showing the worst sides of hypocritical students who pose as model citizens.

But someone knows that Panda is Gray Scales, and that someone has decided that mere cyberbullying isn’t enough punishment for those students at all!

This sometimes-uncomfortable look at the fine line between justice and revenge will be published on Tuesday, April 21, so ask for it at your local library or independent bookstore.
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Book info: Endangered / Lamar Giles.  Harper Teen, 2015.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher via Edelweiss/Abovethetreeline.

My book talk: Anonymously using her photo skills to expose classmates whose fine reputations belie their true bad behavior, Lauren finds herself being stalked by ‘Admirer’ who threatens to unmask the Virginia teen’s identity.

Mocked in elementary school for her appearance, Lauren was comforted by the panda stories told by her German mom and black father. But her chosen nickname of Panda stems from an attack on her reputation in early high school, which started her quest for justice through her anonymous photo-blog.

Even her best friend Ocie (nicknamed by Panda for her OCD tendencies) doesn’t know that Gray Scales is Panda; they boo the good-on-surface baddies who are exposed there and cheer for their half-black selves (Mei is half-Chinese).

When Panda’s latest post results in more than just the predatory teacher being fired – because the “Admirer” who discovered Gray Scales’ identity physically attacks the girl involved – the stakes suddenly get much, much higher.

Deleting the Gray Scales website doesn’t stop the Admirer…
Listening to the ideas of the first guy she shamed doesn’t seem so bad…
Going from overlooked at school to being held responsible for a death she didn’t instigate is awful…

When does a quest for justice become an excuse to attack? The Admirer makes sure everything is final!  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

D for Heather Demetrios – I’ll Meet You There (book review) – choose love or escape from sad hometown?

Apr4

book cover of I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios published by Henry HoltEndure dead-end hometown one last summer,
escape to art school and freedom…
if only it were that easy.

Skylar can’t leave her alcoholic mother now, doesn’t want Josh to face his PTSD alone, but how can she give up her dream of college?

This strong novel tackles questions of responsibility and abandonment, duty and fear, almost-good-enough and too-good-to-abandon as Sky’s narrative is punctuated with Josh’s often-anguished thoughts.

Don’t miss the author’s letter to the reader here and the book’s first chapters that she shares for free.

Have you known a serviceperson who returned from war-front duty unchanged?

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Book info: I’ll Meet You There / Heather Demetrios. Henry Holt, 2015.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: As Skylar endures one last summer before college, her growing attraction to a young Marine disabled overseas and her mother’s inability to cope with life could strand the teen artist in her rural California hometown.

Math-genius Chris and artistic Sky have vowed to escape this agricultural backwater, heading for opposite coasts on big scholarships in just a few months. It’ll be hard leaving best friend Dylan (who’s never known that Chris adores her) and her baby, but it would be unbearable to stay in Creek View.

Sky and Chris drop by the as-usual-drunk weekend party to welcome home her former co-worker just returned from Afghanistan, but no one told her that brash, womanizing Josh had left his leg behind, as well as his self-confidence.

Counting down the days until she leaves for college, Sky is stunned when Mom loses her fast-food job and crawls back into the booze bottle where she’d retreated for so long when Dad died in a drunk-driving wreck.

Josh begins working at the Paradise hotel with Sky again, between therapy appointments, and they fall into an uneasy companionship that could become something more. Motel-owner Marge’s son died in the war before she moved here, so she understands when Josh suddenly freezes as a car backfires nearby.

The parts are coming together in the collage that Sky’s creating for Marge – more of the ‘California quirky’ that’s making the Paradise its own destination – but Sky can’t put her mom’s life back on track, can’t figure out where she and Josh fit into one another’s lives, and can’t see how she can give up her dreams or go after them either.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Sketch! by France Belleville-Van Stone (book review) – draw what you see, no lessons required

Mar14

book cover of Sketch! by France Belleville-Van Stone published by Watson GuptillYou truly want to draw,
but haven’t had art lessons.
News flash – you don’t need lessons at all!

This author-artist transplanted from France to the USA didn’t have art classes available in school after junior high, doodled designs during high school, then decided that she really wanted to draw after her university days and just did – over and over.

The subtitle highlights what’s important about this book: inspiration (an idea alphabet fills the last third of the book), technique (not how you must draw, but the many ways that you can draw), and drawing daily life (from photos, on the go, while you wait).

So grab some paper and pencil (or sketchbook and pen, or tablet and stylus), open your eyes to the shapes around you, and just Sketch!
**kmm

Book info: Sketch!: the Non-Artist’s Guide to Inspiration, Technique, and Drawing Daily Life / France Belleville-Van Stone. Watson Guptill, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher, through Blogging For Books.

My book talk: Yes, you can draw what you see around you without formal art lessons or being an artistic genius – practice, trying new tools and techniques, and more practice are what non-artist and avid sketcher Belleville-Van Stone demonstrates in Sketch!

No step-by-step boring lessons, no assignments to draw shapes before attempting real things – just encouragement and technique ideas and reviews of drawing tools, papers, and technology. Get loosened up with contour drawings, try a different paper or app on your tablet for 10 minute drawing, take your sketching tools with you everywhere, and draw whenever you have a moment.

Drawing is a process and a state of mind, the author-artist believes, so giving up the idea of a perfect product and enjoying the act of drawing can be liberating and also lead to clearer perceptions of the objects and people around you.

Start sketching now (the waiting room, your shoe), keep drawing what you see (a banana isn’t just a yellow crescent), and celebrate your improvement over time as your hands, your favorite tools and techniques, and your artistic eye are freed to just Sketch!  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Opposite of Love, by Sarah Scheerger (book review) – goodbye letter, forever? help!

Feb19

book cover of The Opposite of Love by Sarah Lynn Scheerger published by Albert WhitmanGone. Just… gone.
No forewarning, phone disconnected,
How can the love of your life disappear so completely?

Chase and Rose are very imperfect people, but they are so right together – until Rose vanishes, and her adoptive parents have no clue where she went.

The author provides an excerpt of this bittersweet story’s first chapter here for free. Check your local library or independent bookstore so you can read it all.

When you can’t keep the only thing keeping you sane in the face of abuse and indifference, what next?
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Book info: The Opposite of Love / Sarah Lynn Scheerger. Albert Whitman, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Meeting through mutual friends, artistic Rose and kid-magnet Chase fall in love, but struggle to keep parents and their pasts from tearing apart their future together.

When Chase’s long-gone abusive dad demands visitation rights and Rose’s adoptive parents lock her in the house to keep the Native American teen out of trouble, the high school couple’s plans to leave behind their California town go up in smoke.

How will Rose locate her real mother now?
How can Chase protect his little sister when he’s away at Walter’s?
Why does Rose stop answering texts and calls from Chase and her friends?

Flashing back and forth between Chase’s frantic quest to Rose now before it’s too late and their earlier days of meeting, teasing, and learning to love, this story of choices and possible redemption follows two flawed people as they try to rewrite the dismal future that others predict for them.

 

Chopsticks, by Jessica Anthony & Rodrigo Corral (book review) – love story mystery in pictures

Feb12

book cover of Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral published by RazorbillPiano prodigy,
demanding dad,
no room for spontaneity, for love?

While the story of an almost-talented parent pushing their extraordinary child to perform far longer than s/he wants to is not new, this novel’s presentation of Glory’s life, talent, found love, and lost joy is entirely unique.

There’s not a single chapter (or paragraph) of traditional novel text in this book, as we learn of Glory’s talent, Frank’s family history, and their growing love for one another through newspaper clippings, text messages, old photos, concert programs, and notes slipped under the door. This novel has a website and app with bonus material, as well as a two-minute whirl through Glory and Frank’s story with this book trailer.

You’ve seen many of the book covers designed by Rodrigo at your local library or independent bookstore – now find this fascinating 2012 novel-graphic-novel-not-cartoons there, too.

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Book info: Chopsticks: A Novel / Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral. Razorbill, 2012. [novel tumblr]  [Rodrigo’s site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Surely, Dad understands that there’s more to Glory’s life than performing… but as he demands that the piano prodigy tour overseas, away from her new boyfriend Frank who appreciates her for herself, things begin to fall apart.

Perhaps if Mom hadn’t died in the wreck when Glory was young, she would have kept Dad’s ambitions in check, allowing some interludes of real life into the teen’s strict regimen of homeschool, practice, performance, and more practice.

Frank’s family knows that attending a good school in the US will prepare him better for their winemaking business in Argentina, but fitting in at a ritzy school is difficult for this intelligent guy pigeonholed into ESL class and demeaning worksheets.

As neighbors, Glory and Frank become friends, become more than friends. Glory’s days have non-classical music seeping in; Frank’s occasional sketches become works of art dedicated to their love.

When her dad whisks Glory out of the country on an extended concert tour to get her away from Frank, she begins falling apart, playing only the simple melody of “Chopsticks” instead of her unique creative interpretations of piano classics. Can she ever recover her gifts? Can Frank find her again when all seems lost?

Conveyed completely through newspaper clippings, photos, text messages, and drawings, Chopsticks  is a unique portrait of love, loss, and hope. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Looking back at crazy school days

Aug23

Did you read every BooksYALove recommendation this summer? No?

Well, be sure to check out these two very different books about school that you might have missed (click on the title link to open its page in a new tab/window):

book cover of Target Practice: Cleopatra in Space by Mike Maihack published by Graphixbook cover of Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy by Kate Hattemer published by Knopf Books for Young ReadersTarget Practice,  by Mike Maihack – Great combo in this graphic novel with talking cats, aliens, and the Queen of the Nile as a curious teen.

Kate Hattemer’s Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy pits those who think “For Art’s Sake” reality show is their path to success against the kids who think it’s ruining their school.

Remember that you still have time to enter the free giveaway for an autographed copy of The Green Teen Cookbook from Zest Books. Go to my original recommendation here and comment by 11:59 pm Central Daylight Time on Sunday, 31 August 2014 to be entered. I’ll toss all the comments into Randomizer when I get back from #IASL2014 in Moscow, and we’ll see who the lucky winner is!

p.s. Do either of these schools resemble yours?
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Portrait of Us, by A. Destiny & Rhonda Helms (book review) – different art styles, masterpiece together?

Jun21

book cover of Portrait of Us by A Destiny and Rhonda Helms published by Simon PulseShe’s a nerd, he’s a jock.
Her family is well-off, his struggles to get by.
Her art is classic in perspective, his is post-modern slashes and blotches.
They’re like oil and water – how can they make collaborative artwork?

Meet Corrine and Matthew here at the art studio in chapter 1 (free!) as they find out about the big art contest, then see other Flirt series “first love, first kiss” books here.

Ever fall for someone who was your opposite?

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Book info: Portrait of Us (Flirt series) / A. Destiny and Rhonda Helms. Simon Pulse, 2014.  [Flirt series site]   [author site]   [publisher site]   Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: To win the prestigious young artists’ competition, Corinne and Matthew must get past bad first impressions to mesh their wildly conflicting art styles into a masterpiece.

Corrine is so happy to be in Teni’s studio this summer, but thinks the artist-in-residence wants her to abandon her controlled painting style by partnering the Chicago teen with Matthew, all bold and raw visuals, for the big contest.

Jock guy and nerd-perfectionist girl have a long way to go before they can even begin to put paint to canvas, so different are they in every way.

After several false starts, Corrine and Matthew begin to see how they can create a joint work of art for the national competition, and Corrine begins to fall for Matthew! But what if he’s ready to move on after they finish their summer project?

Part of the Flirt series from Simon Pulse, this Portrait of Us reflects Corrine’s first experience with something she can’t control – love.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Fan Art, by Sarah Tregay (book review) – just admiring his own best friend, or more?

Jun17

book cover of Fan Art by Sarah Tregay published by Katherine Tegen BooksTo prom or not to prom?
Stay quiet or speak up?
Let love slip by or be bold?

Jamie’s last semester of high school is fraught with problems as the quiet guy tries to support artistic freedom in a conservative school district and realizes that he has a huge crush on his best friend.

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Book info: Fan Art / Sarah Tregay; illustrated by Melissa DeJesus.  Katherine Tegen Books, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site]   Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Fighting to include a gay comic in the school magazine, Jamie won’t allow himself to admit his new-found feelings for longtime best friend Mason until it’s almost too late.

He promised Challis that he’d get her manga short comic into the Gumshoe, promised Eden that he’d pose as her prom date to appease her “no daughter of ours is lesbian” fundamentalist parents, and promised himself that he’d be out of their Idaho hometown before he was out to anyone besides his embarrassingly supportive family…

But the literary magazine’s staff rejects the comic, Eden’s big brother questions whether theirs is a real date, and Jamie silently agonizes as Bahti and Mason flirt endlessly in the limo and beyond.

Why didn’t he just agree to go with Mason to the mountain condo and avoid the prom altogether?

When Jamie decides to sneak the comic into the Gumshoe final printing, he’s prepared for fallout from the other staffers, but things get way out of hand at graduation.

My Faire Lady, by Laura Wettersten (book review) – can Ren Faire cure a broken heart?

Jun14

book cover of My Faire Lady by Laura Wettersten published by Simon Schuster BFYRTankards of mead and turkey legs!
Bold knights and comely maidens!
‘Tis the Renaissance Faire, indeed!
(p.s. no cell phones in the Middle Ages!)

Trying to cure her wounded heart, Rowena leaves town to become a face painter at King Geoffrey’s Faire, discovering more about herself as she spends the summer with knights, troubadours, jugglers, artists, and musicians.

Read for yourself just how Ro gets herself out of the house and into the Faire  in this free excerpt.

Been to a Ren Faire lately?

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Book info: My Faire Lady / Laura Wettersten. Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk:  Rowena takes an out-of-town summer job to avoid seeing her cheating boyfriend and finds herself growing as an artist among Ren Faire performers, catching the eye of a handsome knight and a whip-cracking genius.

Kyle’s “I like someone else” makes Ro’s job at the small town mall unappealing, so she becomes a face painter and serving wench at King Geoffrey’s Faire, living onsite all summer, trying to stay in medieval character.

Clad in corset and flowing skirt, Ro works on her art beyond face painting, flirts with Christian the knight, and even learns to ride a horse. Her new friends Will, bullwhip performer heading to MIT, and Suze, who works in the tavern with Ro, are second-generation Ren Faire folk who show her the ropes.

Her friends think she’s just running away from Kyle , her parents think she’s looking for unique experience for her college application, and her own foot-in-mouth might  lose Rowena the summer fling that could heal her battered heart.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy, by Kate Hattemer (book review) – reality TV + high school = yikes!

May17

book cover of Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy by Kate Hattemer published by Knopf Books for Young ReadersA reality show in the arts high school?
Who really thought this was a good idea?
Who’s profiting from the TV crew’s invasion…hmm?

Inspired by their study of  The Cantos by Ezra Pound, Ethan and friends risk expulsion to get their protest Contracantos into classmates’ hands:

“The Serpent Vice betrays our cause.
He trades appraisal for applause.
True art is beauty; beauty, truth.
But For Art’s Sake is low, uncouth.
It sells our talent, vends our youth.”

Find this April 2014 release now at your local library or independent bookstore so you can decide whether “For Art’s Sake” reality show is awe-inspiring or awful, and meet fearless gerbil Baconnaise, as well.

**kmm

Book info: The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy / Kate Hattemer. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: As a reality show invades their arts high school, four friends strike back with poetic declarations against its disruptions and unethical editing.

Being somewhat talented among Selwyn’s prodigies stresses Ethan plenty, but when the reality show based at their school makes his longed-for Maura look bad for a national audience, the teen gets angry.

When Luke’s investigative article questioning Selwyn Academy’s financial arrangements with “For Art’s Sake” is banned from the Cantos school paper, he’s fighting mad.

As Luke, Ethan, Elizabeth and Jackson quietly post their Contracantos protest poems around school, the administration wants to stamp them out.

It may be up to Ethan and talented gerbil Baconnaise to make sure that the final Contracantos are published as classmates are voted off the show (“there’s just one full scholarship”) and creative editing alters every scene.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)