Tag Archive | friendship

Withering Tights, by Louise Rennison (fiction) – theater camp, boys, and more drama

Dec2

Performing arts school!
Taught by real actresses and dancers!
Far in northern England, on the Yorkshire dales…

It’s Fun Friday, as Tallulah searches for her time in the spotlight, on stage, away from her silly little brother. She’s off to Dother Hall and a chance to audition at the end of summer for a permanent spot at the school.

Such *dramatic* drama instructors… and weird improv exercises… and strange interpretive dance classes. How is it that she suddenly can’t dance or sing or act?

Throw in a brooding mother owl, the nearby boys’ school, various odd villagers, worries about casting for Dother’s all-girl version of Wuthering Heights, and Tallulah’s concern that her legs will keep growing (and the interesting parts never will), and you can see why Georgia’s cousin (as in the hilarious “Confessions of Georgia Nicolson” series) is a just trifle worried about passing her audition.

So what will Tallulah be doing on stage next? Watch for book 2, A Midsummer Tights Dream, due out in February 2012.
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Book info: Withering Tights (Misadventures of Tallulah Casey #1) / Louise Rennison. HarperTeen, 2011 [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

Recommendation: Tallulah knows that summer drama school will be better than bug sandwiches with her crazy little brother. With her parents overseas pursuing their own interests, it’s certainly time for her to dance and act in Yorkshire. Her just-older cousin Georgia promises to write with advice about boys – surely, there are boys nearby…

Rooming in the village with the wacky Dobbins family (they’re keen on squirrels), she and Vaisey (staying with the pubowner’s family) walk past millions of sheep on their way to Dother Hall, where improvisation and dance and art and the rest of the students live.

The full-time girls perform strange plays with confusing dialogue, the handyman plays heavy metal music in the workshop, and the instructors tell the girls to act without any scripts. Their modern version of Wuthering Heights is, um, uh, different.

Things start looking up when the boys from Woolfe Hall invite Tallulah and friends to the cinema. The school director says it will help them look through the inner darkness; the girls just want to be with the boys.

A local band is performing at Dother so they can get a live recording – and village badboy Cain is the lead singer. How many hearts will he break over the summer? If he’d just stop harassing the owl nest and killing foxes…

Will Tallulah pass her auditions to become a permanent student at Dother Hall if she can’t tap dance or sing? Can a knobby-knees girl who’s waiting for the rest of her body to grow up to match her 14-year-old heart find happiness on stage? Is a first kiss too much to ask of this summer?

More laugh-out-loud fun from the author of the Confessions of Georgia Nicholson series, who brings readers along on Tallulah’s bumpy ride through a summer that’s much more dramatic than she dreamed it could be. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

I Am Tama, Lucky Cat, by Wendy Heinrichs (book review) – legend retold for all

Nov20

Wait a minute… a picture book on a YA blog?

Yes, of course! Picture books are great for all ages and every interest. That’s why Picture Book Month reminds us of the wide range of stories where the pictures make the tale come alive, from Where the Wild Things Are to Grandfather’s Journey.

Today’s picture book theme celebrates folktales, so we look to a Japanese legend. Now you can discover why Lucky Cat became the friendly image that so often greets you in Chinese restaurants and oriental markets.

A charming book to spice up your world geography report or to share with younger friends. What do you wish the Lucky Cat could bring to you?
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Book info: I Am Tama, Lucky Cat / Wendy Heinrichs; illustrated by Yoshiko Jaeggi. Peachtree Publishers, 2010. [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Book Talk: Arriving at an old Japanese temple, the bobtailed cat raises his paw in greeting. The monk brings him in from the snowstorm and calls him a lucky cat. So Tama strives to make life better for the monk in this beautiful retelling of the lucky cat legend. But with no money, how can Tama and the monk repair the temple and help its worshippers?

Watercolor images of the flowering trees and carp pond surrounding the rundown temple evoke the serenity of its setting near a holy mountain. This beautiful picture book for all ages includes short historical notes about the legend’s origins.

You’ll look for new details in the illustrations every time you read about Tama, and you’ll smile every time you see a ‘lucky cat’ in a store window or restaurant, his paw raised in traditional greeting. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Future of Us (fiction)

Nov18
Oooh, tell me about my future!!
I’ll have hundreds and hundreds of friends!?
I’ll look like that in 15 years?
I’ll be incredibly… miserable?

Seeing into the future is a form of time travel, and best friends Josh and Emma have stumbled onto a window into their own destinies through an AOL disk and a dial-up modem.

Somehow, the view from 1996 (when getting online is new to most teens) into their adult lives isn’t as rosy as they’d hoped. Emma decides to try and tweak her future by making some changes right now, checking that Facebook thingie to see how it works.

There are two distinct voices in this book, as Carolyn Mackler writes Emma’s chapters and Jay Asher writes Josh’s, alternating to tell their story.

You can become a fan of the book on Facebook, of course! The Future of Us is being released on Monday, November 21, 2011, and Warner Brothers has already purchased the film rights.
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Book info: The Future of Us / Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler. Razorbill, 2011. [Jay’s blog] [Carolyn’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

Recommendation: Events from 15 years in her future are the last things that Emma expects from her new computer in 1996! A birthday gift from her dad and stepmom, it even has an internal modem to dial-up and “get online” so her best friend Josh brings over an AOL install CD-ROM.

After dialing up on mom’s phoneline, Emma gets an AOL “welcome” message and something called Facebook with pictures of all these people she doesn’t know. Curious, she searches for other Emma Nelsons on the Facebook and finds one, someone who went to her high school, who has the same birthday, whose picture looks exactly like Emma…15 years older! This Emma has a rotten husband – you can tell by her messages to her “friends” (who could have hundreds of friends?). And the future Josh is married to the most popular girl at their high school! Josh, who’s too shy to talk to anyone except Emma and his best friend Tyson?!

Getting ready for the track meet, telling her boyfriend Graham that it’s all over, Emma wonders if she’s been pranked somehow with this Facebook thing. But when she tears up her application to the college that the future Emma attended, suddenly the Facebook entries are different. The future Emma is less-stressed about her husband (a different one!), but unhappy about her work… hmmm.

As Emma’s updates on the Facebook site change, Josh decides that he’d better start making his big-house-and-a-boat future come true, so he gets up the nerve to ask beautiful Sydney on a date. Never mind his long-hidden feelings for Emma and that awkward try at kissing her a few months ago.

So, can Emma completely alter her own destiny just by changing a few things now? Is Sydney going to be the best thing that ever happened to Josh? Do they really want to know ahead of time about their futures or would they rather go back to the way things were before?

Josh and Emma react to their view into the future in alternating chapters written by Jay Asher (Thirteen Reasons Why) and Carolyn Mackler (Vegan Virgin Valentine and The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things) – would you want to know about your future? (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Hothouse, by Chris Lynch (book review) – dead firefighters, heroes or reckless?

Nov15
book cover of Hothouse by Chris Lynch published by Harper Teen

Hero dads?
Reckless heroism?
Negligent heroes?

Losing your dad is difficult at any age; losing the dad you idolized and emulated, just as you’re about to join him in an amazing career together is terrible.

But to have your hero dad suddenly called a villain by the same people he protected and served as a firefighter his whole life? Devastating.

How will Russ and DJ cope with the loss of their firefighter dads during their senior year, especially now that the whole town has turned against them?

Hothouse packs so much emotion into its 208 pages that this intense story has been included on several recent booklists for older teens – catch it at your local library or independent bookstore.
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Book info: Hothouse / Chris Lynch. HarperTeen, 2010. [author interview] [publisher site] [book trailer/recap]

My Book Talk:  Two dads – best friends forever, their sons named for each other, firefighters together, dead in a flash.

Their sons must start their senior year of high school without them, their wives wish they could hear the phone ring again from the “Hothouse” fire station. Their community honors the memory of David and Russell as “Outrageous Courageous” heroes and treats sons Russ and DJ like heroes, too.

Russ had always planned to be a firefighter like his dad, practicing his skills at Young Firefighters, ready to graduate from high school, enter the Fire Academy, and work alongside his dad to keep their city safe.

But a house fire rescue gone wrong has changed that, at least the part about working with his dad. No one at school knows how to talk to Russ about it, and now the investigation into the firefighters’ deaths is raising questions about whether they were really fit to work that rescue call.

What is courage?
When are heroes not heroes?
How can Russ keep going when old questions get new answers?

The danger and stress that firefighters face every day can be so hard on them and their families. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

I Lost My Mobile at the Mall (fiction)

Nov11

Cellphone lost at the mall.
Home computers stolen.
How can Elly cope with losing constant contact with her friends?

Elly’s terrible luck doesn’t make high school life easy in her all-things-British Australian suburb, as she’s not sure where her surfer boyfriend is after school, she doesn’t know when friends are getting together for pizza, and she has to use the public computer to log on to her favorite social sites… finding out everything – good or bad – well after everyone else does.

Well-known for her humorous adult books, Australian Wendy Harmer is spot on with Elly’s dismay over being out of touch with the rest of Oldcastle High School in her first young adult novel on our Fun Friday. Hope to see more of Elly in future books!
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Book info: I Lost My Mobile at the Mall: Teen on the Edge of Technological Breakdown / Wendy Harmer. Kane Miller Children’s Books, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] [author video]

Recommendation: When she loses her cellphone at the mall (again), Elly can’t even report it missing until her Mum gets home from some fancy event she’s organizing – no landline at home, of course. When her parents refuse to buy Elly another cellphone, she finds herself completely out of the loop, unable to text her friends or send photos or talk to her cute surfer boyfriend. Time slows down to a crawl with every minute that she’s out of contact…

Not that life in Oldcastle is at all exciting. Everything in their Australian coastal town has a British name – the shops, the pubs, even Elly and her sister and her parents and her pets! With the Pickering family coat of arms hanging on the bathroom wall, who can take all this seriously? Now, not having a cellphone in ninth grade – that’s serious! She can’t even talk to her best friend about it – no mobile phone means no calls to far-off Queensland where Carmelita moved last year.

When the family’s home computers are stolen, Elly feels fully cut off from everyone as planning for the ninth grade dance goes into overdrive.

Why do her big sister’s new silver sandals fit Elly better than they fit Tilly? What is boyfriend Will doing in that photo on Bianca’s phone? Does her grandmother really want to learn how to use a computer? When will Carmelita’s advice letter arrive? And where’s the Post Office anyway?

Australian comedienne Wendy Harmer’s first book for young adults brings the effervescent Elly to life as a “teen on the edge of technological breakdown.” (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Payback Time, by Carl Deuker (book review) – football, journalism, secrets

Nov10

What’s going on at Lincoln High?
Coach is keeping a talented player on the bench?
A gifted athlete refuses interviews?
His “previous school” history is… blank?

Mitch, stuck as sports reporter instead of newspaper editor his senior year, is puzzled about the new guy on the football team after accidentally witnessing his amazing catches and footwork at the park. Coach says to forget that and just feature the quarterback in every story to help his college scholarship chances.

Trying to find out the truth stirs up more than Mitch could have imagined.
Can he and newspaper photographer Kimi stay out of danger? Is he right about Angel’s past? Is Coach covering up so they can win the state championship?

A compelling mystery-action story that you’ll enjoy, whether you’re a sports fan or not, especially as we go into high school football playoff season, just like Lincoln High…
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Book info: Payback Time / Carl Deuker. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010 (paperback Feb. 2012). [author’s website] [publisher site] [book recap video] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Book Talk: Sports reporter instead of editor? Mitch isn’t sure he wants to work on the school paper his senior year, even though he’s planning to major in journalism in college. Well, he can write some great articles for his portfolio since Lincoln High is predicted to have a winning football season. And as photographer, Kimi will be with Mitch on most assignments. Maybe it’s time for him to lay off his parents’ fabulous bakery creations and start doing a little running…

When a new transfer player stays on the practice squad despite his obvious talent and the football coach won’t comment, Mitch’s reporter instincts sense a deeper story. Injuries during a crucial game bring Angel off the bench, and he leads the team to victory. But the next game, he’s riding the bench again – is he an undercover cop?

As Mitch and Kimi investigate the story, they receive anonymous threats and begin to worry for Angel’s safety. Lincoln’s football team is headed for the State playoff game, and the midnight caller promises that Angel won’t make it home on the team bus…

Full-contact football games, hard-hitting news investigations, and a cute girl who actually talks to Mitch – will everyone come through safely, now that it’s Payback Time? (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Morpheus Road: The Light (fiction)

Oct31

Happy Hallowe’en on this Mysterious Monday…

A monstrous creation becomes real.
The created stalks its creator with malign intent.
[cue eerie, spooky music and more than a few nightmares]

The graphic novel character that Marshall invented visits him in his dreams, then in the dark corners of night, and then…his best friend Cooper disappears and is presumed dead. Marsh knows that Coop’s not dead – ghosts just don’t lie about such things.

This is the first book in D.J. MacHale’s frightening Morpheus Road trilogy. Marshall’s adventures (and nightmares) continue in The Black (book 2) and The Blood (book 3) – find all three at your neighborhood library or independent bookstore. And be sure to have a flashlight near your bed at night – who knows when Gravedigger might visit your dreams?
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Book info: Morpheus Road: The Light / D.J. MacHale. Aladdin, 2010. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

Recommendation: Graphic novel fan Marsh creates “Gravedigger”– long black coat, pickaxe over his shoulder, grinning white skull. Drawing helps him forget just a little how his photographer mother died 2 years ago, trapped in the ancient temple she’d just captured on film. Her assistant brought back her photos and this golden glass ball covered in weird designs, but couldn’t bring her back.

Sketches packed away as school ends, Marsh looks forward to summer with his wild friend Cooper. But Coop has done one crazy thing too many, and his parents take him up to their old lakehouse – no cell phone, no computer, lots of time to get his act together.

When Marsh’s dad is out of town, eerie things start happening – a breeze that traces patterns in the powder on the counter when no windows are open, a gravelly voice on the phone that says “You must journey along the Morpheus Road,” Gravedigger luring him to the deserted gym with blood-covered walls…

Gravedigger is just a character from his own imagination, right? But that bony hand on Marsh’s shoulder felt too real, and Gravedigger keeps showing up, talking about the Morpheus Road.

Coop disappears from the lakehouse, so Marsh and Coop’s sister head up there to help search. When Sydney starts seeing Gravedigger too, then maybe Marsh isn’t just imagining this, and they all might wind up dead! 352 pages for those who love to be frightened… (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Belladonna (fiction)

Oct12

World Wednesday takes us to Cornwall in the 18th century, where the war between Britain and France is a backdrop to the drama of a young woman separated from her last friend.

Ling must find her white circus horse before it’s too late.
Thomas must find a profession after eye problems shut him out of school.
Both must stay clear of the “crimpermen” who would send Thomas off to war and the constables who would send Ling to the hangman.

Noted artist George Stubbs’ lifelike paintings of horses inspired the setting for this captivating novel in which Stubbs himself plays a major role.

Author Mary Finn says that this young groom with noble horse reminds her of Thomas, while Ling’s jockey disguise looked like the outfit worn by Gimcrack’s rider in another famous Stubbs painting which recently sold for a record price.

Enjoy this priceless story of friendship at your local library or independent bookstore.
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Book info: Belladonna / Mary Finn. Candlewick Press, 2011. [author interview] [publisher site]

Recommendation: Beautiful circus horse Belladonna has been sold away, and her acrobat-rider is desperate to find her. Thomas has abandoned school after months of trying to make sense of letters and words, returning to work in his father’s wheelmaking shop, sketching maps and animals in his spare moments.

Rambling the paths near his village, he discovers the young French rider seeking the horse butcher rumored to have bought Belladonna. Even though England and France are at war in 1757, Thomas decides to help Ling search for her beloved mare, entranced by her stories of their circus performances, leaping and dancing through the air.

It turns out that Stubbs the horse butcher is really an artist studying horses’ bodies and beauty for his paintings. Belladonna did not stay with Stubbs, but has been passed on to a nobleman’s stables. The artist offers Thomas work as his assistant, detailing horse anatomy and improving his drawing skills. Ling’s impatience to find Belladonna grows as winter sets in and Stubbs cannot remove the mare from her new home.

Will Ling try to rescue Belladonna by herself? Will English soldiers find the young French girl, even if she stays hidden in the countryside? Can Thomas settle down to a village wheelmaker’s life after learning about art and beauty and dreams from Stubbs and Ling?

Charming Ling and tall Thomas are clever young people, trying to get past war-fueled suspicions and struggles in this lyrical novel that takes us to the time and place where the real artist George Stubbs drew and painted horses with precision and affection. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

My Misadventures as a Teenage Rock Star, by Joyce Raskin (fiction) – rock music greatness, high school freshman blues

Aug5

Fun Friday, especially for anyone who’s dreamed of being in a rock band.

Alexis has a bad case of teen dissatisfaction, cured by learning to play bass guitar and being in her brother’s rock band. And skateboarding, don’t forget her skateboarding.

A rock star at 14?! It’s up to Alexis to navigate around other people’s choices (bad and good) while staying true to herself.

Joyce Raskin knows what she’s writing about since she’s a bassist with the band Scarce (back together after time off for other projects) and even has a series of beginning guitar lessons for girls on YouTube! Rock on!

A fast, fun read that demands your favorite rock music in the background.
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Book info: My Misadventures as a Teenage Rock Star / Joyce Raskin, illustrated by Carol Chu. Graphia, 2011 [author’s Facebook page] [publisher website] [book trailer]

Recommendation: Uncoolness and zits, that’s life for Alexis, until her brother teaches her to play bass guitar for his band. Eventually, she masters the bass (blisters!). Eventually, her body catches up with other teen girls (at last!). Eventually, she has a boyfriend (yay!), then a heartbreak (cry!), then some fame (wow!), and some major disappointments (parents!).

Fast-moving chapters chronicle this eventful year in Alex’s life – her skateboarding and punk rock adventures, making a record with the band at age 14, her former-hippy parents supporting her big-time before going super-strict!

Written by a former teen-rocker (who still plays in a band!), Misadventures includes getting-started information about guitars, learning chords, writing songs, and sticking to your dreams – major girl power in a small package! (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Dry Souls, by Denise Getson (book review) – drought forever, water-bringer, escape

Aug1
book cover of Dry Souls by Denise Getson published by CBAY Books

The power to bring water to dry land – any desert-dweller would want to have that gift, to create an oasis of water for drinking and crops, right?

But access to water is a powerful need, as any farmer or city manager will tell you, even today.

Imagine water-access as a political tool, as a crowd-management strategy, and you’ll see why Kira’s gift of water in the drought-stricken, devastated environment of our possible future is something that powerful people want so very badly to control.

A stunning debut novel with memorable characters and pacing worthy of a motion picture (and I mean that in a good way). Have your local independent bookstore order Dry Souls for you, and be sure to tell your library about it so they can get a copy, too.
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Book info: Dry Souls / Denise Getson. CBAY Books, 2011. [author’s Facebook page] [publisher site] [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Book Talk: A flower? Kira wonders how a non-food plant survived the pollution and planetary drought that are killing humanity. In her desperation to keep the flower alive, Kira discovers that she can bring water to the ground with her fingertip!

When Matron finds the flower and decides to send her away from the orphanage, Kira knows that it’s time to run away, to head for the Dead Lakes Region where her mother had lived. Crossing toxic streams, encountering mutant wildlife, how long can Kira make it through this desolation created by worldwide chemical and biological warfare on her own?

Meeting up with JD who’s escaping from a boys’ orphanage was a stroke of luck for both teens, as they pool their skills and resources to survive. When they have to steal algae-bars from remote outposts, Kira creates water in repayment. They hide by day, traveling at night, heading for a Biosphere where they can get more nutritionals and sunblock to counteract the pollutants in the food and air.

But officials searching for Kira have reached the Biosphere first, and the friends must find a way to escape again before she’s captured for her water-creating abilities. A blind woman reading Kira’s palm recites an old proverb about water – and that’s supposed to help them find their way to Slag?

Can JD and Kira really survive a journey through the wasteland that the Devastation left behind?
What might they discover at the far-distant Dead Lakes to make it worth the journey?
If the officials are tracking them, will they even make it to tomorrow?

This debut novel is a brilliant dystopian future-view that begs to be made into a movie, that warns us of what our future could be, that urges us to have the vision to preserve our world. (194 pages) (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

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