An Abundance of Katherines

Title: An Abundance of Katherines
Author: John Green
Publisher: Dutton Books
Copyright: 2006
ISBN: 9780525476887

Reading Level: Grades 7-12

Genre: Coming-of-age

Reader’s Annotation: Colin Singleton, former child prodigy, has been dumped 19 times, all by girls named Katherine.

Review
Colin Singleton believes himself to be a genius, but he worries constantly about doing something to earn recognition as such. So far all he's done is win a game show for child prodigies. He is a fount of trivia and a compulsive anagrammer, but the "eureka moment" that will produce work of enduring greatness eludes him--as does relationship success. Colin has only one close friend, Hassan, and though Colin's dated a lot of girls--all 19 of them, oddly enough, named Katherine--they've all dumped him. Usually in short order.

His most recent rejection by a Katherine has left him in a pathetic state. Hassan convinces him that a road trip is the cure. The two land in the crappy town of Gutshot, Tennessee, lured by its unlikely claim to be the final resting place of Archduke Francis Ferdinand. The two friends fall in with a group of local teens whose lives are intoxicatingly different from theirs.

Another important element (though not a big source of excitement story-wise) is Colin's work on his Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he believes will be his ticket to fame and glory. In it he seeks to mathematically represent all his past Katherine romances and use the resulting function to predict the outcome of any new relationship. The math behind this is explained in an appendix contributed by the author's mathematician friend. Furthermore, the book is peppered with footnotes, ostensibly factual asides from Colin's busy brain.

The results of all this eccentricity are a bit uneven. Colin has a singular and sometimes very funny voice, but he can also be whiny and unsympathetic. More problematically, the plot is a bit sketchy and rather slow. But the hilarious bits about devious feral pigs, including an epic chase scene, cover a multitude of sins.  

Challenge Issues: Language, teen drinking, teen sex (nothing graphic)

Beauty Queens

Title: Beauty Queens
Author: Libba Bray
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Copyright: 2011
ISBN: 9780439895989

Reading Level: Grades 9-12

Genre: Black comedy

Reader’s Annotation: Teen beauty queens crash-land on an island; they practice pageant routines and survival skills; chaos and occasional hilarity ensue.

Review
My enduring impression of Beauty Queens is one of frustration. The setup (teen beauty pageant contestants stranded on a desert island) is ripe for comedy, and as a sendup of Lord of the Flies the book is sometimes very clever. There are some nice girl-power moments. But the book is very sloppily written (lines attributed to characters who are not supposed to have arrived on the scene yet, inconsistencies in characters' backstories) and the author is more interested in hammering home messages than developing characters. The plot is pure silliness--dreamy boys playing at pirates for a reality show arrive on the scene; the drawn-out, frenetic ending, in which the girls rescue themselves from the clutches of an evil corporation, is almost impossible to follow.

More gripes: out of the ten or so beauty queens who are major characters, only one is in pageants because she actually likes them. All the others have ulterior motives, manipulative parents, and/or something to prove. Though a mix of motivations among contestants is realistic, this ratio seems ridiculous. And to elaborate on the character vs. message problem: each girl represents an issue. There's the transgender contestant, the lesbian, the handicapped (deaf) girl, the hyper-religious/emotionally abused/sexually repressed one, etc, etc. Way too many issues, no subtlety. And I found the author's treatment of teen sex frankly stupid. One character gets badly burned when she has sex with a guy she barely knows, but she doesn't take this as any kind of indication that in future it might be better to be more cautious. The hyper-religious/emotionally abused/sexually repressed character (why must YA authors insist on treating religiosity as an affliction? There's so little thoughtfulness around religion in the genre, as a rule) finally realizes the folly of her mother's teachings. When she has sex with a man she's just met, the encounter turns into an epic love story that lasts a lifetime. GIVE ME A BREAK.

I see that I've complained a lot. It may look like I hated the book. I did not hate it. What makes the book so frustrating is that it has a lot of potential. Bray is a talented, imaginative, funny writer. With more vigorous editing this book could have been great, but instead it was mostly irritating.    

Challenge Issues: Language, teen sex (not very graphic), death of teenage beauty queens treated flippantly, all adults portrayed as clueless, incompetent, and/or evil

Anna Dressed in Blood

Title: Anna Dressed in Blood
Author: Kendare Blake
Publisher: Tor Teen
Copyright: 2011
ISBN: 9780765328670

Reading Level: Grades 9-12

Genre: Horror

Reader’s Annotation: A teenage ghost killer sets out to eliminate the murderous ghost of a young girl.

Review
This book starts off promisingly. The premise is interesting: some ghosts haunt the places they died and kill living people who happen by. Seventeen-year-old Cas has a special calling, inherited from his murdered father, to destroy them. He and his mother move all over the country, following stories of mysterious deaths. Cas researches the local haunting, seeks out the ghost, kills it, moves on.

The story centers on Cas's quest to subdue Anna Dressed in Blood, a particularly murderous ghost who haunts a Victorian mansion in the small town of Thunder Bay, Michigan. Anna is a truly terrifying creation, and Cas's first encounter with her is very, very scary. Her backstory, too, is disturbing and compelling, though it owes so much to Carrie that I find it completely mysterious when reviewers gush about the book's "originality."

The book loses focus about halfway through, when it becomes clear that another ghost has followed Cas to town. Though there are certainly some tense moments in the second half, I think the author would've done better to make the story all about Anna and tightened it into a single novel. (The sequel, which appeared in 2012, is called Girl of Nightmares.) One more complaint: for a kid with a most unusual life, Cas has a disappointingly generic, unmemorable voice.  

Challenge Issues: Gore, child abuse, language

Everything All the Time

Title: Everything All the Time
Artist: Band of Horses
Label: Sub Pop
Copyright: 2006
ASIN: B000E6GBV2

Description and Critical Evaluation
Band of Horses has two modes—driving rhythm, thick instrumentation, and heavy reverb (which often make the lyrics hard to understand), and slow and intimate. Everything All the Time, their first album, is about evenly split between these two modes; several songs alternate between them. I’m partial to the slower songs, which tend to have a beautiful wistful quality to them, but the more energetic ones provide needed balance. Regardless of the mode, lead singer Ben Bridwell pours his soul into his singing. He’s not the most nuanced singer I’ve ever heard—he belts out almost every song—but he has a great voice and an admirable intensity to his singing. After a while the songs begin to sound pretty similar. The guitar often emerges prominently out of the texture, playing pretty riffs that are usually repeated too long with too little variation. Nevertheless, there are a lot of great songs here.

The first track on the album, called simply “The First Song,” features the lush sound of ringing guitars. Though it starts slowly, there are sections of driving rhythm, and the words are obscured. “Wicked Gil,” the second track, has a sound to match its title—the heavy bass guitar and frequent cymbal clashes combine to produce an evil (or at least nasty) mood. Track 4, “The Funeral,” opens with a repeated guitar riff with fancy little slides. This motif alternates with loud, driving sections. In some of the quiet sections, band members sing harmony on the syllable “ooh.” (Nonsense syllables crop up frequently in Band of Horses’ lyrics—when they run out of words they tend to switch to “ooh” or “la-di-da.”) “Part One” is the first of the true slow songs, with a wistful sound and lyrics: “I didn’t know you/Everything I do/Done badly.” “The Great Salt Lake” is a standout, one of the most memorable songs on the album. It picks up the momentum again, with words that are somewhat easier to make out but nonsensical (or poetic, depending on your point of view):

Back of the boat was painted wrecking ball
There was country music playing but he don't like it all
And red fire poppin’ on the rained-down woody
There was whiskey bottle spilling and a lake it was made of salt.

In “I Go to the Barn Because I Like The,” close vocal harmony takes center stage. In the foreground is the whispery harmony line, with Bridwell’s usual ringing sound behind on melody. It’s a beautiful effect and a beautiful tune. “Monsters” has a distinctly Southern feel. Sounding vaguely reminiscent of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama,” one of the guitars imitates a banjo and another contributes electric slide effects. Although this is a nice combination, at over five minutes the song is too long. The last track, “St. Augustine,” is my favorite. The two-line vocals are done in the same style as in “Barn,” though here there are long stretches of unison singing and occasional three-part harmony. The lyrics, melody, and acoustic guitar accompaniment are all lovely:

If I stayed behind
Would you let your hair grow?
I will forget
The favors that you owe
I'm dreaming of car wrecks and thunderstorms bright
Let's bury ourselves
And go haunt someone tonight 

I know you tried
I know you're cursed
I know your best was still your worst
When hollywood was calling out your name 

Saint Augustine...

My only complaint is that it is too short.

Why is this title included?
This album will appeal to teens who like their rock thoughtful but intense. It's also a good choice for teens whose tastes aren't too adventurous, but who don't want to listen to the same old radio selection everyone else does.

10 Things I Hate About You

Title: 10 Things I Hate About You
Director: Gil Junger
Studio: Touchstone Pictures
Copyright: 1999
ASIN: B00000K31Q

Age Level/Interest Age: Grade 7 and up

Genre: Comedy

Viewer’s Annotation: In this modern take on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, Kat (Julia Stiles) refuses to date until Patrick (Heath Ledger) wins her over.

Plot Summary
Kat and Bianca are sisters, but they could hardly be more different. Kat, a senior, has just been accepted to Sarah Lawrence. She is a staunch feminist, listens to alternative music, and has exactly one friend at school. She is uninterested in dating. Bianca, a sophomore, is beautiful (and vain), popular, and eager to date. Though the girls don’t get along very well, they’re united in their frustration with their father. He won’t allow Kat to go to Sarah Lawrence and he won’t allow Bianca to date. He finally relents slightly with a new rule: Bianca may date if and when Kat does.

Meanwhile, Cameron, the new kid in school, has fallen for Bianca and arranged to tutor her in French (even though he doesn’t really speak French). When Bianca tells him about her father’s rule, he comes up with a plan. He convinces Joey, a rich, popular senior who’s also interested in Bianca, to pay someone to date Kat. But first they have to find someone crazy enough to do it. Enter Patrick, an outsider with a reputation for wildness. With some coaxing, he gets Kat to go out with him a few times. Bianca starts dating Joey, but Cameron is still looking for his chance with her. Unflattering revelations about both of the sisters’ beaux lead to a dustup at the prom. 

Critical Evaluation
Though 10 Things I Hate About You doesn’t avoid all the teen movie clichés, it is still smarter and funnier than most of what passes for teen romantic comedy. It also wins by having a female lead who has interests and aspirations beyond beauty and boys, and by not forcing her to change to get the guy. (Okay, she changes a little bit. But just by opening up to people.) Julia Stiles is very appealing as Kat, playing her as unusually serious for this type of role. Heath Ledger as Patrick is a very cute, warm-hearted bad boy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cameron is funny and endearingly dorky. Less successful are the stock side characters, especially the overprotective father and the geeky AV kid, who are more annoying than funny. There many shout-outs to the source material, from characters' names to actual quotes from Taming of the Shrew. The overall effect is one of earnestness. One other quibble: though the movie is set in Seattle, it never rains. Realism FAIL.

Curriculum Ties: English--Shakespeare--The Taming of the Shrew

Booktalking Ideas: N/A

Challenge Issues: Language, alcohol, sex talk

In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I'll include a positive review from the Edinburgh University Film Society, mixed reviews from The New York Times and Roger Ebert, and negative reviews from The San Francisco Chronicle and The San Francisco Examiner.

About the Author: N/A

Why is this title included?
This smart comedy has appealing leads. It's very re-watchable.

The Kite Runner

Title: The Kite Runner
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Publisher: Riverhead
Copyright: 2003
ISBN: 9781573222457

Reading Level: Adult
Interest Age: Grade 10 and up

Genre: Historical--World Historical Fiction--Twentieth Century

Reader’s Annotation: Amir carries the guilt of having failed his friend with him his whole life. When he learns there may be a way to make things right, he returns to Afghanistan, now under Taliban rule.

Plot Summary
In the first part of this three-part novel, Amir and Hassan are growing up together in Kabul. Amir is the son of a wealthy businessman, and Hassan is his father’s servant’s son. Despite the differences in their lives—Hassan is Hazara and Amir is Pashtun, Hassan waits on Amir and has to work instead of going to school—the two boys are very close. Their world darkens when an older boy, Assef, begins threatening Amir. Hassan frightens him off with his slingshot, but Assef vows revenge. Some months later Amir wins a kite battle, and when Hassan runs the last kite down for him, Assef corners, attacks, and rapes him. Amir does nothing to stop the assault, and to get rid of the reminder of his guilt he treats Hassan so badly that he and his father leave Kabul.

The second part of the book brings even greater changes to Amir’s life. He and his father flee Kabul in the wake of the invasion by the Soviet Union. They go to Fremont, California, where they find a large Afghani immigrant community. Amir’s father works at a gas station and Amir finishes school. He falls in love with another Afghani immigrant, Soraya, and they marry just before Amir’s father dies of cancer.

In the third part, Amir answers a summons to return to Afghanistan to make things right with Hassan. Hassan and his wife have been murdered by the Taliban, and his son is in a Kabul orphanage. Amir sets out to rescue the boy from the hell Kabul has become.

Critical Evaluation
I found this book disappointing, primarily because I had heard so many good things about it. I didn’t think it lived up to the hype. I had also read several books in a row in which the reader is told that something horrible is going to happen long before it does, and I was sick of it. I find this technique is rarely effective; it’s better to just tell the story and use tone and subtle foreshadowing to induce foreboding in the reader. (The Book Thief is an exception in which giving away the ending early works well.)

I have a few more complaints, too. I found Hassan unrealistic and underdeveloped—too saintly and subservient. I also got tired of listening to Amir talk about how guilty he felt. The fact that he starts doing it long before the cause of his shame actually happens didn’t help. Furthermore, the final section stretched my suspension of disbelief a little too far. I found the plot twists involving Hassan’s son too dramatic for credibility.

On the positive side, the book is elegantly written, and Amir and his father are interesting, well-rounded characters. We see Amir’s father go from proud, intimidating business magnate to gas station clerk. He regains some of his old dignity when he’s among other Afghan immigrants, but it is further taxed when he is diagnosed with cancer. It’s touching to see how Amir comes to see his father as a person through these hardships. In Afghanistan, Amir longed for his father’s approval but regarded him with an awe that put him at an emotional remove.

Probably my favorite thing about the book is the amount of detail it gives about Afghanistan’s ethnic groups, languages, cultures, and history. I learned a great deal, for example, that Farsi is one of Afghanistan’s major languages.

Curriculum Ties: History/government--Afghanistan, Taliban, war in Afghanistan

Booktalking Ideas
Describe Amir and Hassan as boys.
Describe how Amir and Baba's lives changed when they fled to California.

Challenge Issues: Language, violence

In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I'll include positive reviews from Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and Booklist and mixed reviews from Amazon.com and the New York Times Book Review.

About the Author
Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. His father was a diplomat with the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother taught Farsi and History at a large high school in Kabul. In 1976, the Afghan Foreign Ministry relocated the Hosseini family to Paris. They were ready to return to Kabul in 1980, but by then Afghanistan had already witnessed a bloody communist coup and the invasion of the Soviet army. The Hosseinis sought and were granted political asylum in the United States. In September of 1980, Hosseini's family moved to San Jose, California. Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University where he earned a bachelor's degree in Biology in 1988. The following year, he entered the University of California-San Diego's School of Medicine, where he earned a Medical Degree in 1993. He completed his residency at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Hosseini was a practicing internist between 1996 and 2004.

While in medical practice, Hosseini began writing his first novel, The Kite Runner, in March of 2001. In 2003, The Kite Runner was published and has since become an international bestseller, published in 70 countries. In 2006 he was named a goodwill envoy to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency.  His second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, was published in May of 2007. Currently, A Thousand Splendid Suns is published in 60 countries. Khaled has been working to provide humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan through The Khaled Hosseini Foundation. The concept for The Khaled Hosseini Foundation was inspired by a trip to Afghanistan Khaled made in 2007 with the UNHCR. He lives in northern California.

http://www.khaledhosseini.com/hosseini-bio.html

Why is this title included?
Cart identifies The Kite Runner as an adult book that is a crossover hit with teens. It's also received great critical acclaim, including the Boeke Prize.

Life of Pi

Title: Life of Pi
Author: Yann Martel
Publisher: Mariner Books
Copyright: 2001
ISBN: 9780156027328

Reading Level: Adult
Interest Age: Grade 9 and up

Genre: Adventure/Thrillers--Survival Stories

Reader’s Annotation: Pi Patel survives 227 days at sea with a tiger in his lifeboat.

Plot Summary
Pi Patel had a happy childhood except for the small matter of his name. He grew up in Pondicherry, India, helping his parents and brother run the family zoo. He began life a devout Hindu and later became a devout Muslim and Christian, too. But his full name, Piscine Molitor Patel (after a swimming pool in Paris) earned him the nickname “Pissing Patel,” making his school life difficult.

At 16 Pi and his family set out for Canada, taking a few of their animals on the boat with them. A storm comes up only a few days out and the boats sinks, drowning everyone but Pi, an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena, and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. They all share the lifeboat for a few tense days. First the hyena eats the zebra (bit by bit) and the orangutan, then Richard Parker eats the hyena. Once the boy and the tiger are alone in the lifeboat, Pi decides that he would rather have Richard Parker than no company at all. So instead of trying to kill him, Pi trains the tiger to believe that he, Pi, is the alpha animal. When the lifeboat’s supplies run out, Pi uses the water desalination kits and learns to fish with the limited equipment he has. He and Richard Parker survive for months amid sharks, rain, and blistering sun, ever hoping for a sight of land.

Critical Evaluation
Pi’s voice has a distinctive blend of melodrama, pedantry, and humor. His first words to the reader are, “My suffering left me sad and gloomy.” Describing his academic career in Canada, he says, “I got every possible student award from the Department of Zoology. If I got none from the Department of Religious Studies, it is simply because there are no student awards in this department (the rewards of religious study are not in mortal hands, we all know that).” He recommends his training program for Richard Parker as a good way to deal with "major lifeboat pests."

The book is divided into three sections, the middle one comprising the bulk of the story—the lifeboat journey. This is ingeniously told. The details of how Pi managed to survive render the outrage premise almost plausible. The first and third sections describe Pi’s childhood (his naming, teasing, zoo experience, and various religious conversions) and the aftermath of his arrival in Mexico, respectively. Both feel a bit superfluous and go on too long. There is also a frame for Pi’s story—the “author’s notes”—that seem rather self-indulgent to me and don’t add much.

Curriculum Ties: N/A

Booktalking Ideas: Describe how Pi trains Richard Parker.

Challenge Issues: Some gore

In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I'll include glowing reviews from Booklist, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and The New Yorker.

About the Author
The award-winning author of four books, the most recent of which is What Is Stephen Harper Reading?, Yann Martel is one of this country's most interesting and surprising writers. Born in Spain in 1963, Yann grew up in various places as the son of diplomats. His parents now live in Montreal, where Yann visits regularly.

He won the Journey Prize for the title story in The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios. Life of Pi was shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. It was the winner of the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction as well as the Man Booker Prize. Yann lives with writer Alice Kuipers and their son, Theo, in Saskatoon.

http://www.randomhouse.ca/newface/martel.php#about

Why is this title included?
Cart identifies Life of Pi as an adult book that is a crossover hit with teens. It's also received great critical acclaim, including winning the Man Booker Prize.

Boneshaker

Title: Boneshaker
Author: Cherie Priest
Publisher: Tor Books
Copyright: 2009
ISBN: 9780765318411

Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 8-12

Genre: Science Fiction--Steampunk

Reader’s Annotation: Before Zeke was born, his father destroyed Seattle with his Boneshaker drill, freeing a gas from deep under the earth that turned much of the populace into zombies. Now Zeke is heading into the ruined city in search of redemption.

Plot Summary
In the alternate history of the Boneshaker world, the American Civil War has stretched on for decades and the Pacific Northwest has experienced a gold rush that has brought people flooding to Seattle. In the midst of it, inventor Leviticus Blue made a drilling machine, the Boneshaker, that could penetrate the arctic ice. He took it for a test drive under the streets of downtown Seattle and into the bank’s vault. In the course of his destructive ride he released the Blight, a gas that turns people into zombies. The survivors fled the city and built an enormous wall around it to keep the Blight and the zombies, or “Rotters,” in.

Now Blue’s widow, Briar, and their son, Zeke, are barely scraping by. They don’t get along very well, and Briar won’t talk to Zeke about the past. So Zeke heads under the wall with a gas mask and a few supplies to try to find out the truth about his father, whom he believes must somehow be innocent. When Briar finds him gone, she heads after him, getting a ride over the wall from dirigible pirates. There are more people living inside the wall than you would think, and Briar and Zeke meet a variety of colorful characters, some friendly and some dangerous. Everything seems to lead back to a man calling himself Dr. Minnericht, a mad scientist who seems to have an awful lot in common with Leviticus Blue.

Critical Evaluation
Boneshaker is disappointing because its setting and history are so promising—an almost-abandoned city with a few hardscrabble folks trying to stay a step ahead of the zombies seems like a place ripe for adventure and redemption. When I started this blog entry I remembered the setup perfectly, but had to refresh my memory as to what more was revealed in the course of the novel—these revelations didn’t leave much of an impression. The grim mood is sustained throughout, but the suspense lets up as the plot wanders. Priest makes other promises she doesn’t deliver on, too. The ominous black birds that hang around wherever there are Rotters are mentioned in a foreshadowing sort of way several times, but they never end up playing a role in the action. Similarly, several interesting side characters, such as the villain’s cunning enforcer, either cut out early from the action at the end or are left behind along the way. The ending is unsatisfying, perhaps because not much has changed—a couple of mysteries have been explained, but no redemption has come for old Seattle. There is enough material left for a sequel, but the ending is pretty final and no sequel has been written as yet.

Curriculum Ties: N/A

Booktalking Ideas: Explain steampunk. Then explain that this book is steampunk with ZOMBIES.

Challenge Issues: Mild gore
In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I'll include the reviews from Publisher's Weekly and Booklist (both positive).

About the Author
Cherie Priest is the author of eleven novels, including the steampunk pulp adventures Dreadnought, Clementine, and Boneshaker. Boneshaker was nominated for both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award; it was a PNBA Award winner, and winner of the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. Cherie also wrote Fathom and the Eden Moore series from Tor (Macmillan), Bloodshot and Hellbent for Bantam, and three novellas published by Subterranean Press.

In addition to all of the above, she is a newly minted member of the Wild Cards Consortium - and her first foray into George R. R. Martin's superhero universe, Fort Freak (for which she wrote the frame story), will debut in 2011. Cherie's short stories and nonfiction articles have appeared in such fine publications as Weird Tales, Subterranean Magazine, Publishers Weekly, The Living Dead 2, and the Thackeray T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities. Though she spent most of her life in the southeast, she presently lives in Seattle, Washington, with her husband and a fat black cat. 

http://www.amazon.com/Cherie-Priest/e/B001IOFIHM/ref=sr_tc_2_rm?qid=1321974639&sr=8-2-ent

Why is this title included?
Steampunk is a trendy genre. Boneshaker was nominated for or received numerous awards.

Tantalize

Title: Tantalize
Author: Cynthia Leitich Smith
Publisher: Candlewick
Copyright: 2007
ISBN: 0763627917

Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 9-12

Genre: Paranormal and Horror--Monsters--Vampires

Reader’s Annotation: Quincie's family restaurant needs a new chef and menu to go with its fresh vampire theme. But when she finds one she gets more than she bargained for.

Plot Summary
Quincie Morris is devoted to her family’s restaurant. Though she’s still in high school, she takes a lot of the responsibility for running it—she has to, since everyone who used to do the job is dead. Her parents died a few years before, and in the third chapter of the book her old family friend and chef, Vaggio, is brutally murdered in the kitchen. Only Quincie’s young uncle Davidson remains to care for the restaurant and her. Together, they’re planning a massive renovation and rebranding, changing the place from family-style Italian into a fine-dining vampire theme restaurant called Sanguini’s. The problem is that after Vaggio’s murder, no one sane wants the job of head chef. Eventually they find a suitable replacement in Johnson, whom Quincie takes to calling Bradley, a seemingly mild-mannered guy who at first cooks solid but uninspired Italian. Quincie takes on the job of prepping him for the role of the diabolical Vampire Chef while he works on designing the new menu. Meanwhile, Uncle Davidson’s creepy girlfriend Ruby wants the part, and Quincie is on the outs with her best friend/would-be boyfriend Kieren, a half-werewolf. People keep turning up dead, and more and more characters are revealed to be werepeople of various kinds. Quincie is developing a serious drinking problem, and Bradley/Johnson is turning out to be more than she can handle.

Critical Evaluation
Smith’s writing is engaging—funny, occasionally creepy, and sometimes sexy. Quincie has moments of originality and charm, as when she tastes a soup and thinks, “Blessed Mother of Minestrone.” The tone of the book is more campy than scary. After one gruesome murder Quincie chides, “ ‘You ate the police?!’ ” The settings, an affectionately described Austin, Texas and the realistically detailed restaurant, add a unique flavor.

Unfortunately, the characters are not as well fleshed out. The chapters are very short, and the dialog is routinely broken up by action, Quincie’s thoughts, and scene changes. The short bursts that remain are not enough to provide insight into the other characters. Motivations are often obscure or unrealistic. Ruby, for example, is a powerful werecat. Why would she be interested in dorky Uncle Davidson? And Uncle D himself, who’s always been a good guy, suddenly decides to let a vampire take seventeen-year-old Quincie as his bride. Similarly unclear are the rules of this fantasy world. The process by which vampires are created is never fully explained, and there are discrepancies in the time it takes people to turn.

The plot, too, stumbles. The fact that Bradley is a real vampire is obvious from early on. The ending is a headlong rush of revelations, though much important information is frustratingly left out. On two separate occasions Quincie and Bradley nearly have sex—or perhaps actually go through with it. It’s impossible to tell. Finally, there are several important plotlines left unresolved at the end.

Curriculum Ties: N/A

Booktalking Ideas: Read Sanguini's grand reopening menu.

Challenge Issues: Language, underage drinking, sexual content

In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I'll put in positive reviews from Booklist and The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, a mixed one from Kliatt, and a negative one from Children's Literature.

About the Author
New York Times best-selling and award-winning author Cynthia Leitich Smith writes fiction for everyone, but she has a particular affection for young readers, from kids to twenty-somethings. Cynthia's fiction is noted for its diversity, humor, lyricism, imaginativeness, compelling action, and mid-to-southwestern settings.

Cynthia was named one of three honored authors by “A Gathering of Readers,” an International Indigenous Youth Reading Celebration during the week of April 18-22, 2005.

Throughout summer/fall 2005, she was a visiting faculty member at the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program. She became a permanent faculty member in October 2005. Due to her heavy publishing schedule, Cynthia is currently on an extended leave from the faculty.

Her website at www.cynthialeitichsmith.com, offers articles, interviews, reading recommendations, publishing news, and annotated links. It was named one of the top 10 writer sites on the Internet by Writer's Digest, and it was recognized among "Great Sites for Kids" by the American Library Association in the "Authors/Illustrators" category.

Cynthia has worked as a popcorn popper and cashier in a movie theater, a waitress (in a Mexican chain restaurant, and at a country club restaurant and pool), an attendant at a gas station, a receptionist at a law firm, a telephone operator at a bank, a law clerk (for a legal aid, for a small firm, for a government agency, and for a federal appeals judge), and an English tutor for students of migrant farm families. She has also worked as a reporter (for small-town and big city newspapers) and in public relations (for a non-profit agency, for a greeting card company, and for an oil company). In addition, Cynthia has taught legal writing and writing for children and young adults.

Cynthia was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Her previous states of residence are: Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan, and Oklahoma. She is a tribal member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

Today, she lives in Austin, Texas, with her four cats and her husband, award-winning children's book author Greg Leitich Smith.

http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/CLS/about_cyn.html

Why is this title included?
Paranormal romance is a popular genre. Tantalize will appeal to fans of Twilight and/or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Flip

Title: Flip
Author: Martyn Bedford
Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books
Copyright: 2011
ISBN: 9780385739900

Reading Level/Interest Age: Grade 7 and up

Genre: Paranormal and Horror--Unexplained Phenomena--Out-of-Body Experiences

Reader’s Annotation: Though Flip is handsome and popular, all Alex wants to do is get back to his own body and his own life.

Plot Summary
Alex wakes up from terrifying dreams in another boy’s body, hundreds of miles from home and six months after the last night he remembers. His body is lying in a coma in a London hospital, and he is inhabiting the body of Philip, aka Flip, the son of a middle-class Yorkshire family. Alex’s soul fled his body when the doctors began talking about pulling the plug. In a process called psychic evacuation, it took over the body of someone closely linked to him (Flip and Alex were born in the same hospital on the same day). It takes Alex a while to figure all this out, of course, and even longer to figure out what to do about it. In the meantime he has to go to Flip’s school, avoid Flip’s angry girlfriends, and live with Flip’s family. Alex’s visits to his parents and best friend lead to his arrest, and when he confides in a girl from Flip’s school she thinks he’s crazy, too. He finally finds people to talk to about his situation on a web forum for psychic evacuees. When one of them, a young man named Rob, meets him in person, Alex is at first overjoyed. But it soon becomes clear that the only way Rob is willing to help is by convincing Alex to give up on his old life. Alex realizes he’ll have to go it alone if he’s to have any chance of getting his body, his friends, and his family back.

Critical Evaluation
Flip is an imaginative story with a believable, sympathetic character at its heart. The premise alone is interesting, but Alex’s vivid emotional reactions to his predicament are what make the book work. When he finds himself in Flip’s body, all he wants is to talk to his mother. When he visits his house and sees his obnoxious little brother, he’s overcome with love. He manages some empathy for Flip’s parents despite the frustration of his own situation. He also has moments of rage when he lashes out at the people around him—the people from Flip’s life.

Bedford makes Flip an interesting (though unsympathetic) character too, without ever allowing him to speak for himself. Flip’s character is revealed only in other people’s reactions to Alex in Flip’s body. Flip’s sister is scathing; his friends are slavishly eager for his approval.

The writing is solid, but not beautiful. When it slipped into incomplete sentences with odd formatting toward the end, it took me a moment to understand that it wasn’t typos but the paranormal action of the climactic moment affecting the text. However, the pacing is good and the plotting tight. The satisfying ending ties up all the loose threads in credible ways.

Curriculum Ties: N/A

Booktalking Ideas
Give character profiles of Alex and Flip, then ask, "What would happen if they switched places?"
Read the first section of the first chapter, to "Which would've been fine if he'd known anyone called Philip."

Challenge Issues: Mild language

In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I'll include positive reviews from School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Booklist.

About the Author

I grew up in Croydon and worked in a bank for a year. But this is true of so many writers it has become a cliché. So let me tell you about some of the other stuff.

My dad, Peter, was a sheet-metal worker; my mum, Marjorie, a wages clerk. I have no brothers or sisters. We never had a foreign holiday till I was 17. They took me to Belgium for a week, to prove I hadn’t been missing anything. I loved them both. They’re dead, now, but I still love them.

I went to a big comprehensive school and enjoyed my time there so much I wrote my first adult novel about a disturbed man who takes revenge on his former teachers. Made a mess of my A-levels (too much snooker, too little effort) and had to do a re-sit to get into journalism college.

Learned my lesson, though – I spent much of the journalism course drinking, playing pool or going on protest marches. “Home” was a caravan in a field with two mates from the course. Take my advice, don’t live in a caravan. Even so, it still rates as just about the best year of my life.

For the next 15 years I worked as a news reporter, football correspondent, features writer and sub-editor on newspapers all over England (and one in Wales).

Between jobs I went backpacking in Europe, North America, Australia and Asia. I taught English in Hong Kong, despite speaking no Cantonese and being unqualified to teach English (or anything else), and returned from India with dysentery, hepatitis and pneumonia, having lost a quarter of my body weight. Happy days.

All this time, through my 20s and early 30s, I wrote fiction – short stories, a couple of abandoned novels – did creative writing classes, joined a writers’ group … until it dawned on me that I wanted to be a writer more than anything. So, I quit my job and enrolled on the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia. That was where I began Acts of Revision.

I’ve been writing novels ever since – first for adults, now for teenagers – and when I’m not doing that, I teach creative writing (even though I still have no teaching qualifications.) Best of all, though, I have a wife, Damaris, and two daughters, Josie and Polly. And I don’t live in Croydon anymore.

http://martynbedford.com/bio/

Why is this title included?
I read about this book in an NPR article that identified five recent YA releases with crossover appeal for adults (http://www.npr.org/2011/08/09/137456199/hooray-for-ya-teen-novels-for-readers-of-all-ages). Its strong male narrator and engaging plot make it a good choice for reluctant (male) readers.

Nation

Title: Nation
Author: Terry Pratchett
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright: 2008
ISBN: 9780061433016

Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 7-12

Genre: Adventure/Thrilllers--Survival Stories

Reader’s Annotation: When a tsunami destroys his world, Mau sets out to rebuild it with the help of a "ghost girl," Daphne.

Plot Summary
While Mau is on his way home from time spent on an uninhabited island as part of his coming-of-age ritual, a great wave sweeps over his home (“the Nation”) and the surrounding islands. Mau returns to his home to find everyone dead. How could the gods have let this happen? Mau collects the bodies of his people, giving them proper burials at sea so they can become dolphins. But he is not alone on the island. An English girl, Daphne, whose ship was carried up onto the island survived the wreck. At first deeply suspicious of each other, Mau and Daphne (whom he thinks of as “the ghost girl”) gradually learn to communicate and come to rely on each other. Soon more people, survivors from other, smaller islands, begin arriving. Together they begin building a new society built on both the traditions of the Nation and Daphne’s rationalism. But soon this fledgling people faces its greatest challenge yet—cannibal raiders are on their way, led by the mutineers from Daphne’s ship.

Critical Evaluation
Nation starts out promisingly. The scenes of Mau’s return to his ruined home and his burial work are very powerful, and his early interactions with Daphne humorous. The writing is elegant and the setting detailed. Mau and Daphne are believable and touching as two teens who have lost everything but gather their hope and courage to try to build a good world. Unfortunately, Pratchett can’t resist hammering away on the “problem of evil.” While Mau’s questions about how the gods could allow his world to be destroyed (and his conclusion that they must not exist) are valid and thought-provoking, Pratchett allows these questions to dominate, rather than inform, the story. The priest character, who argues with Mau about continuing the religious practices of the Nation, is a cartoonish, dogmatic, lazy jerk. Toward the end of the book, Mau makes an unlikely discovery that further derails the plot. Deep in a cave he finds evidence that his people had astronomy and other sciences before Europeans did; they just forgot about them because they became too religious. This has the opposite effect Pratchett intends. Instead of showing that all of the world’s cultures deserve respect for their unique contributions, this discovery seems to say that only advanced science can put other cultures on an equal footing with the western world.

Curriculum Ties: N/A

Booktalking Ideas: What if your whole life were swept away? How would you rebuild it? Whom would you trust? How would it change you?

Challenge Issues: Anti-religious content, violence

In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I'll include reviews from School Library Journal, Booklist, Bookmarks Magazine, Kirkus Reviews, Kliatt, The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, and VOYA.

About the Author
SIR TERRY PRATCHETT: born 28 April 1948, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. Major source of education: Beaconsfield Public Library (though school must have been of some little help). After passing his 11-plus in 1959, he attended High Wycombe Technical High School rather than the local grammar because he felt ‘woodwork would be more fun than Latin’. At this time he had no real vision of what he wanted to do with his life, and remembers himself as a ‘nondescript student’.

When Terry was thirteen, his short story ‘The Hades Business’ was published in the school magazine Technical Cygnet, and two years later, commercially, in Science Fantasy. With the proceeds he bought his first typewriter. Other short stories –  ‘Solution’, ‘The Picture’ and maybe others, yet undiscovered –  also appeared in the Cygnet. Terry was in line for a bright future. Having earned five O-levels and started A-level courses in Art, History and English, he decided after the first year to try journalism, and when a job opportunity came up on the Bucks Free Press, he talked things over with his parents, and left school in 1965. While with the Press he still read avidly, took the two-year National Council for the Training of Journalists proficiency course (and came top in the country in its exams) and passed an A level in English, both while on day release.

Terry married Lyn Purves at the Congregational Church in Gerrards Cross in October 1968, by which time he had interviewed Peter Bander van Duren, my fellow director of our publishing company Colin Smythe Limited, for the Bucks Free Press about a book he had edited on education in the coming decade, Looking forward to the Seventies. At this time Terry mentioned to him that he had written a book called The Carpet People and asked whether we would consider it for publication? So Peter passed it to me. Yes. It was a delight, and it was obvious that here was an author we had to publish.

He was working at the CEGB when we published the first of the Discworld books, The Colour of Magic, in 1983.

While on tour in America in summer 2007, Terry told audiences at the National Book Festival in Washington DC (during which Terry breakfasted at the White House and dined at the Library of Congress with the other featured authors) and in New York, that he’d had a stroke, but the symptoms had been misdiagnosed, and were of a far worse illness, posterior cortical atrophy, a rare variant of Alzheimer’s disease, which was diagnosed in December.

Terry has now written fifty books (of which thirty-nine are Discworld novels) and co-authored a further fifty more. Between them they have sold over 65 million copies in thirty-seven languages, which I calculate would be a pile of books over 1,000 miles high, stretching further than Land’s End in Cornwall to the furthest tip of the Shetland Islands off the north coast of Scotland – or from New Orleans to Chicago, and then some.

The year [2008] climaxed with the announcement that Terry had been included in the 2009 New Year’s Honours List, being appointed a Knight Bachelor, ‘for services to literature’, with the press handout adding that it was ‘in recognition of the huge impact his work has had across all ages and strata of society and across the world’.
   
Terry is now an adjunct Professor at Trinity College, Dublin University, and in November 2010 went to Dublin to give his inaugural lecture and masterclasses, as he did so again in March 2011.

http://www.colinsmythe.co.uk/terrypages/tpindex.htm

Why is this title included?
Nation is on many best-of lists and has won several prestigious awards, including Best Kids Books of the Year, Washington Post, 2008; Booklist Best Books for Young Adults, 2009; Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books, 2008; School Library Journal Best Books, 2008; YALSA Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults, 2009; Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, 2009 Winner Fiction and Poetry; Los Angeles Times Book Prize, 2008 Winner Young Adult Literature; and the Michael L. Printz Award, 2009 Honor Book. Obviously other reviewers found it less flawed than I did.

Incarceron

Title: Incarceron
Author: Catherine Fisher
Publisher: Dial
Copyright: 2010
ISBN: 9780803733961

Reading Level: Grades 9-12
Interest Age: Grade 7 and up

Genre: Science Fiction--Dystopia

Reader’s Annotation: Incarceron is a sentient prison large enough to be a world unto itself, but only the Warden knows where it is.

Plot Summary
Incarceron takes place in two very different worlds. Claudia’s world is all about the politics of court and is restricted by Protocol—the requirement that everything conform to the Era. Years ago, after a war that “hollowed the moon and stilled the tides” King Endor decreed the end of human progress. All traces of modernity were removed and society was remade in the image of a pre-industrial, feudal Era. At the same time the great prison Incarceron was made, and a quarter of the world’s surviving population shut away inside forever. Incarceron is both a world—of dungeons, cities, and beautiful landscapes—and a sentient being. Finn lives in Incarceron, but he believes he hasn’t always been there. He is a “starseer” with memories (or are they just dreams?) of Outside. When Finn finds a key with mysterious powers, he sets out with a loose band of allies to follow in the footsteps of the legendary Sapphique, the only prisoner ever to Escape from Incarceron. Finn soon learns that he can communicate with Claudia, who is the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, through the key. Though Claudia is Outside and wealthy, she has problems of her own—she’s engaged to a brutish prince, and his mother, the queen, keeps sending her barely-veiled threats.

Critical Evaluation
I found Incarceron disappointing because its premise is so compelling. The glimpses into the histories of the repressive regime and the prison provided in the chapter-starting epigraphs are more interesting than the action. The beginning and end of the story feel planned and solid, but in between the plot wanders. The characters keep doing things, but they seem to be motivated more by the author’s desire to explore the imaginative settings she’s created—both inside and outside the prison—than by emotion or logic. For example, the mysterious stranger who rescues Finn et al midway through the novel later tries to poison them, then lets them go. Fisher doesn’t even try to explain his motivations. In fact, the characters, with the exception of Incarceron, are pretty flat. There’s the beautiful, spunky heroine; the cold, haughty father; the devil-may-care pretty boy; the superstitious, grumpy old man; and the sensitive hero with a mysterious past. Their voices are difficult to distinguish and they all tend to say their lines either “bitterly” or “sourly.” Also, there are timeline inconsistencies--the prison has existed for either about 80 years or centuries. There are enough interesting elements to keep you reading, but with a little more care (and better editing) Incarceron could have been much better.


Curriculum Ties: N/A

Booktalking Ideas: Read some of the epigraphs that begin the chapters. They provide insight into the history of the dystopian society of Incarceron and are without exception very intriguing.

Challenge Issues: Mild language and violence

In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I'll include positive reviews from Booklist, Children's Literature, Kirkus Reviews, and Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, along with mixed reviews from Library Media Connection and The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books.

About the Author
Catherine Fisher was born in Newport, Wales. She graduated from the University of Wales with a degree in English and a fascination for myth and history. She has worked in education and archaeology and as a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Glamorgan. She is a Fellow of the Welsh Academy.

Catherine is an acclaimed poet and novelist, regularly lecturing and giving readings to groups of all ages. She leads sessions for teachers and librarians and is an experienced broadcaster and adjudicator. She lives in Newport, Gwent.

Catherine has won many awards and much critical acclaim for her work. Her poetry has appeared in leading periodicals and anthologies and her volume Immrama won the WAC Young Writers' Prize. She won the Cardiff International Poetry Competition in 1990.

Her first novel, The Conjuror's Game, was shortlisted for the Smarties Books prize and The Snow-Walker's Son for the W.H.Smith Award. Equally acclaimed is her quartet The Book of the Crow, a classic of fantasy fiction.

The Oracle, the first volume in the Oracle trilogy, blends Egyptian and Greek elements of magic and adventure and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Children's Books prize. The trilogy was an international bestseller and has appeared in over twenty languages. The Candleman won the Welsh Books Council's Tir Na n'Og Prize and Catherine was also shortlisted for the remarkable Corbenic, a modern re-inventing of the Grail legend.

Her futuristic novel Incarceron was published to widespread praise in 2007, winning the Mythopoeic Society of America's Children's Fiction Award and selected by The Times as its Children's Book of the Year. The sequel, Sapphique, was published in September 2008.

http://www.catherine-fisher.com/about.asp

Why is this title included?
I'd wanted to read Incarceron since it came out. I saw it reviewed on Amazon.com's Best Books of the Month list and bought it for my teenage sister. It's one of her favorites. Plus, other reviewers have found it much less flawed than I did.

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging

Title: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson
Author: Louise Rennison
Publisher: Recorded Books
Copyright: 2001 (original 1999)
ASIN: B000BEVWJ8
Format: Audiobook

Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 7-12

Genre: Romance--Chick Lit

Reader’s Annotation: Georgia takes lessons from a professional kisser, pines after the Sex God she met at the greengrocer's, and tries to prevent her enormous cat, Angus, from eating the poodle next door.

Plot Summary
Georgia begins her account with a recitation of her life’s woes, among them that she has recently humiliated herself by going to a party dressed as a stuffed olive. At 14 Georgia is appearance- and boy-obsessed, but she still enjoys “mad” childish antics with her girlfriends, such as breaking into the hut of the grumpy old groundskeeper at their school. She lives with her parents; her three-year-old sister, Libby; and her unusually large and fierce cat, Angus. Early on she meets Robbie, whom she dubs “the Sex God,” at the greengrocer’s. When Georgia discovers that he’s dating the idiotic Lindsey, she starts plotting to take Lindsey down. She first hopes to beat Lindsey in a tennis tournament (but is eliminated after an unfortunate flying-racquet incident) and later stalks Lindsey as she prepares for a date with Robbie. Without fully intending to, Georgia dates first a professional kisser and then a hooligan from down the street, and inadvertently earns Robbie’s scorn at every turn. The plot thickens—Georgia’s dad moves to New Zealand, where he hopes to make a new home for his family, and Georgia suspects her mom of having an affair with the interior decorator. Events reach a crisis when Angus goes missing.

Critical Evaluation
Angus is a satire in the vein of Bridget Jones’s Diary. Like Fielding, Rennison is a master of colorful characterization and is merciless in skewering her narrator. Georgia is ludicrously self-absorbed (as illustrated by a conversation in which she yells at her mom for marrying her dad, thus cursing Georgia with his outsized nose). She is also petty and thoughtless, but grows more likable as the book goes on. She is the only one of her group of friends to take a stand against the two wild girls in their class who are always roping them into risky behavior. She is also very affectionate toward her three-year-old sister, despite the little girl’s tendency to say embarrassing things and pee in Georgia’s room. Later on in the series many of the characters gain amusing epithets—the little sister is “Mad Libby” and Georgia’s rival is “Wet Lindsey.” In fact, what really distinguishes Angus from other humorous chick lit is Georgia’s unusual style. She uses a combination of British slang and her own invented vocabulary that sometimes makes her difficult to understand, but adds greatly to the humor of the book. (There is a helpful and hilarious glossary provided at the back of the book for those of us who are not British or 14.)

Stina Nielsen, the reader for the audiobook, gives a great performance. She expressively conveys Georgia’s frequent mood swings and provides many of the other characters with distinctive voices, too. My one complaint is that her accent isn’t from Northern England (as Georgia’s should be), but since that accent is often terribly difficult to understand, perhaps it’s for the best.

Curriculum Ties: N/A

Booktalking Ideas: Read excerpts from the glossary at the back of the book.

Challenge Issues: Mild sexual content
In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I'll put in positive reviews (of the original book) from Booklist, VOYA, and Publisher's Weekly (which notes that for Rennison, no topic is sacred). I'll also include a lukewarm review from Children's Literature.

About the Author
Louise Rennison lives in Brighton, a place that she likes to think of as the San Francisco of the South Coast. Which is sad as it is nothing Like San Francisco, being mainly pebbles and large people in tiny swimming knickers who have gone bright red in the sun. Although she lives in Brighton in reality, in her mind she lives somewhere exotic with a manservant called Juan. This is because she lost her mind after Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging catapulted her into the spotlight of fame.

In her twenties, Louise lived in Notting Hill Gate, “in a one bedroomed flat owned by Roxy Music which was quite cheap… because five of us were sharing it.” After an assortment of jobs (playleader, dental nurse etc) and traveling, Louise rekindled a childhood dream and enrolled on a Performing Arts course in Brighton. However, as John Lennon famously wailed, ‘genius is pain’ and her career as a performance artist got off to a shaky start. After an audition in which Louise was asked to be an embryo, her tutor remarked, “You are obviously a very intelligent girl, Louise, but you must never go on stage again. Your performance made me feel physically sick.” Despite this, and displaying astonishing Northern grit, Louise continued to perform.

Her first one-woman autobiographical show, Stevie Wonder Felt My Face, won great acclaim and awards at the Edinburgh Festival in the 80s and millions watched the subsequent BBC2 special. Since then, Louise has continued to perform her own shows (Bob Marley’s Gardener Sold My Friend and Never Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head.) She works frequently for Radio 4 being a regular contributor to Woman’s Hour and The John Peel Show. She has also written for and with many well-known comedians (and Russ Abbott).

Louise’s research for her books requires many hours hanging around with 14-year-olds which is, as she says, “Brilliant – the best fun known to humanity. It’s all boys, make-up, laughing and, er, that’s it.”

http://www.georgia-nicolson.co.uk/events/


Why is this title included?
Angus is the first in a popular ten-book series that teens are likely to read and reread. It's on many best-of lists, including Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth, 2000; ALA Top 10 Youth First Novels, 2000; YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, 2001; and YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, 2001. It's also won several awards, including American Booksellers Book Sense Book of the Year (ABBY) Award, 2002 Finalist Children's Literature; and a Michael L. Printz Award Honor (2001).

Sisterhood Everlasting

Title: Sisterhood Everlasting
Author: Ann Brashares
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2011
ISBN: 9780385521222

Reading Level: Adult
Interest Age: Grade 9 and up

Genre: Romance--Chick Lit

Reader’s Annotation: The members of the Sisterhood are about to turn 30, and in the last few years they've drifted apart. When a reunion takes a horrifying turn, their lives are upended and threatens their lifelong friendship is threatened.

Plot Summary
Now nearing 30, Carmen, Tibby, Bridget, and Lena are leading very separate lives. Carmen has an acting career in New York and a high-powered fiancé whom none of the others likes. Tibby is living in Australia with her longtime boyfriend and has been out of contact for months. Bridget lives with her longtime boyfriend in San Francisco, drifting from one apartment to another with no real job or plans. Lena teaches art classes in Rhode Island and has become an almost complete loner. When Tibby proposes a reunion in Santorini, all of them feel it’s just what they need. But when Carmen, Lena, and Bridget arrive, they find that Tibby has drowned. Finding goodbye letters she wrote to each of them, they assume it was suicide.

After that, the three remaining friends go their separate ways, now even less inclined to contact each other than before. Lena makes a last-ditch effort to reconnect with her long-lost love, Kostos. Carmen gets a lead on a possible big part, but makes some discoveries about what she really wants on the way there. Bridget impulsively leaves Eric, only to find that she is pregnant. While she thinks about whether to keep the baby, she goes to Australia to try to figure out what really happened to Tibby.

Critical Evaluation
In many ways, Sisterhood Everlasting is just like the earlier books in the series: the writing is solid but not revelatory; tear-jerking and heartwarming moments abound. But this installment has a much darker tone than its predecessors, to its credit. The characters have aged convincingly. Things are not going perfectly for any of the four friends, no matter what they pretend to themselves. Though they’re either in careers that they love (Lena and Carmen) or with the men they love (Bridget and Tibby), they all feel a bit lost as they approach 30. They look back on the years they lived together in New York with longing, not knowing how to bring back the closeness they felt then.

Tibby’s death and the indications of suicide surrounding it are horrifying and have real emotional impact. The surviving friends’ reactions are true to character (unlike many of the girls’ decisions in the previous book, Forever in Blue). I found Bridget’s storyline especially interesting—a nice change, as she is usually my least favorite character. The ending, as always with this series, is a bit too facile and perfect, but this time it feels like the characters have earned it.

Curriculum Ties: N/A

Booktalking Ideas: Talk about just one of the four members of the Sisterhood (or perhaps each in turn). Give a little background from the previous books, then describe where she is 10 years later, when this book begins.

Challenge Issues: Sexual content, some language

In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I'll include positive reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist and the assessment from Common Sense Media (http://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/sisterhood-everlasting).

About the Author
Ann Brashares (born July 30, 1967) is an American writer of young adult fiction. She is best known as the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series of books.

Brashares was born in Alexandria, Virginia and grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She attended elementary and high school at the Sidwell Friends School in Washington D.C. After studying philosophy at Barnard College, she worked as an editor for 17th Street Productions. 17th Street was acquired by Alloy Entertainment, and following the acquisition she worked briefly for Alloy.

After leaving Alloy she wrote The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which became an international best seller. It was followed with three more titles in the Sisterhood series, the last of which, Forever in Blue, was released in January 2007. The first book in the series was made into a film in 2005, and a second film based on the other three titles in the series was released in August 2008. Brashares's first adult novel, The Last Summer (of You and Me) was released in 2007. A companion book to the Sisterhood series, 3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows, was published in 2009. A second novel for adults, My Name is Memory, was published in 2010 and has been optioned for film. She lives in New York with her artist husband, Jacob Collins, and children Nathaniel, Samuel, Susannah, and Isaiah.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Brashares

Why is this title included?
The Sisterhood series is extremely popular with teens. For years the series seemed to be over, so this new addition is very exciting.

Peeps

Title: Peeps
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publisher: Razorbill
Copyright: 2005
ISBN: 9781595140838

Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 9-12

Genre: Paranormal and Horror--Monsters--Vampires

Reader’s Annotation: Cal has a mission: hunt down his ex-girlfriends, whom he's infected with a parasite that causes vampirism, then find the woman who gave it to him.

Plot Summary
Cal Thompson moved from Texas to Manhattan for college, and within days lost his virginity in a drunken stupor to a mysterious woman. She infected him with a terrible parasite--the parasite that causes vampirism. In fact, vampires are known in Cal's world--the shadowy Night Watch organization for which he now works--as "parasite positives" or "peeps." Westerfeld cleverly explains the legends surrounding vampires as resulting from the parasite's symptoms--anathema, or hatred of things loved before the time of infection, is the reason behind vampires' supposed aversion to crosses. The short even-numbered chapters tell the stories of real-life parasites, bolstering Westerfeld's case for the vampire parasite and sneaking lessons on evolution into this otherwise fluffy read.

Since his infection, Cal has become a hunter. He is a carrier, so he is immune to the worst of the parasite's effects--cannibalism and anathema--but he does have heightened senses, super strength, and unusually good reflexes. He also suffers from heightened horniness, since the parasite is sexually transmitted and he must not act on his desires. His mission is to hunt down the ex-girlfriends he unwittingly infected and then to find his "progenitor." In the course of tracking her, he becomes involved with an attractive college student, Lace, who is too interested and clever for her own good. Cal and Lace learn that there's a conspiracy afoot among New York's clannish old families and that there may be something worse than vampires lurking beneath the city streets.

Critical Evaluation
Westerfeld’s witty first-person narrative and the creepy mood of the novel keep the reader turning pages, but the plot gets bogged down with twists, revelations, and explanations in the final chapters. The engaging combination of humor and horror is established in the first chapter, when Cal finds his ex, Sarah, lurking in an abandoned building with a horde of rats and the skulls of her victims—yuck—and uses Elvis paraphernalia, Sarah’s former passion, to trap and subdue her. “I took advantage of my slow ascent to leave a few items from my backpack on the stairs. A sequined cape, a miniature blue Christmas tree, an album of Elvis Sings Gospel” (p. 5).

The science in this book is refreshingly solid. The chapters on real-life parasites are not for the weak of stomach, but are factual and surprisingly captivating. The vampire-parasite premise is convincingly explained. Coming up with a new take on the done-to-death vampire genre is an accomplishment in itself. Characterization is competent, but the characters aren’t especially memorable.

Problems arise as the climax nears. For the first several chapters the book seems to be on track to be a satisfying stand-alone novel, but it veers off toward the end into setup for a sequel (which has yet to appear). There are too many revelations in too short a time, so the story must be put on hold for explication. The creepy mood is undermined when it turns out that the bad guys aren’t really bad. The final revelation is not as scary as it should be after all the buildup, and the final confrontation is somewhat anticlimactic. Who needs monsters when you’ve already got parasites and vampires?

Curriculum Ties: Biology--parasites, evolution

Booktalking Ideas: Read one of the descriptions of real-life parasites. Icky but interesting and witty.

Challenge Issues: Occult content, mild sexual content
In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." The reviews a will include come from Booklist (mixed), VOYA (negative), Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices (positive), and Kliatt (positive).

About the Author
Scott Westerfeld is me. I’m the author of eighteen novels. Five are for adults, and the other thirteen for young adults.

I’ve also been an occasional ghost writer, which is like driving someone else’s car really, really fast for lots of money. (I could tell you what famous authors I ghost-wrote for, but then I’d have to kill you. My name can be found on three Powerpuff Girl choose your own adventures, however.) In my artsy days, I wrote music for artsy downtown New York dancers, some of which can be found at the bottom of my video page.

I’m best known for my four sets of books for young adults. The most recent is the Leviathan trilogy. It’s a steampunk retelling of World War I, illustrated by the incomparable Keith Thompson. It features adventure, walking machines, and living airships!

My most famous works are those of the Uglies series, set in a future where cosmetic surgery is compulsory when you turn 16, making everyone beautiful. Of course, there are some people who want to keep their own faces . . . and that’s not okay with the government. The series consists of a trilogy—Uglies, Pretties and Specials—as well as a companion novel, Extras.

I was born in Texas, and split my time between New York City and Sydney, Australia. (I have more frequent flyer miles than you do.)

http://scottwesterfeld.com/about-the-author/

Why is this title included?
Westerfeld is a very popular YA author. Peeps is on the YALSA Best Books for Young Adults (2006), YALSA Teens' Top Ten (2006), and School Library Journal Best Books (2005) lists.

A Great and Terrible Beauty

Title: A Great and Terrible Beauty
Author: Libba Bray
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Copyright: 2003
ISBN: 9780385732314

Reading Level/Interest Age: Grade 9 and up

Genre: Paranormal and Horror--Occult

Reader’s Annotation: Gemma starts having visions at the time of her mother's mysterious death. After being shipped off to an English boarding school she finds a diary that entices her and her friends to explore dangerous magic.

Plot Summary
Sixteen-year-old Gemma has spent her whole life in India, but longs for fashionable London. When her mother is killed Gemma has a terrifying vision. She is soon shipped off to boarding school in England, where the visions intensify. She finds a former student’s diary that begins to explain them. But the sexy young man Gemma first saw on the day her mother died has followed her from India. He claims to be the representative of a secretive society and orders Gemma to control her visions and refrain from using her emerging powers.

At the same time, Gemma must find her place in the school’s pecking order. The two queens of the mean girls, daring Felicity and beautiful Pippa, at first torment Gemma and her charity-case roommate, Ann. But when they find out about the diary, and eventually about Gemma’s powers, the four girls band together to escape the restrictions of Victorian society and explore the magical Realms that Gemma learns to access. The girls know the magic they are dabbling in is treacherous, but become addicted to its power. Danger draws near from several directions. A malevolent being is searching for Gemma in the Realms; Felicity’s reputation is close to ruin; and the romantic Pippa is engaged to a rich but horrible suitor. When the girls try to use the magic of the Realms to influence their lives in the real world, the situation spirals out of control.

Critical Evaluation
This novel’s gothic feel is its greatest asset. The mood is dark and scary, and the intoxication that the girls feel with power and danger is strongly evoked. There are some steamy scenes, though all the girls remain technically “pure.” Characterization is also strong. Felicity, especially, is as fascinating to the reader as she is to Gemma. Felicity is the wildest of the girls. She can be cruel, but also fiercely loving. Though she admires both her heroic father and scandalous mother, she hates them for forgetting about her.

The language feels a little off. It’s not exactly period, but not exactly modern, either. Take this passage, for instance:
“‘I think you shall be very happy here, Miss Doyle.’
Translation: That is an order.
‘Spence has turned out many wonderful young women who’ve gone on to make very good marriages.’
We don’t expect much more from you. Please don’t embarrass us.
‘Why, you might even be sitting here in my position someday.’
If you turn out to be completely unmarriageable, and you don’t end up in an Austrian convent making lace nightgowns.”
As above, the shalls sound forced, and Gemma’s narration has a much more modern tone than the dialog does.

The plot has some holes and contrivances, such as the gradual doling out of information from the diary. Realistically, Gemma would read the whole thing as soon as she discovered it had something to do with her visions, but that would have unraveled the mystery too quickly. Also, the rules of the fantasy world are not well established, which is one of my pet peeves. For example, who is Pippa’s knight—a creation of the Realms? If he’s not really a person who wants to woo her, but just a magical construct sent to play out her fantasies, how can he make her happy? There are several loose ends left at the end, but they are presumably dealt with in the two books that follow.

Curriculum Ties: History--Victorian era

Booktalking Ideas: Read pages 86 and 87, from "What frightens you? What makes the hair on your arms rise, your palms sweat, the breath catch in your chest like a wild thing caged?"

Challenge Issues: Occult content, sexual content
In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I will pull positive reviews from Booklist, Children's Literature, and Kliatt, along with a negative review (that expresses disapproval of the novel's dark worldview) from The Lorgnette - Heart of Texas Reviews.


About the Author
The Straight-from-the-Author-Herself Version
What is it about writing an author bio that gives me that deer-in-headlights feeling? It's not exactly like I'm going to say "I was born in Alabama…" and somebody's going to jump up and snarl, "Oh yeah? Prove it!" At least I hope not.

I think what gets me feeling itchy is all that emphasis on the facts of a life, while all the juicy, relevant, human oddity stuff gets left on the cutting room floor. I could tell you the facts–I lived in Texas for most of my life; I live in New York City with my husband and six-year-old son now; I have freckles and a lopsided smile; I'm allergic to penicillin.

But that doesn't really give you much insight into me. That doesn't tell you that I stuck a bead up my nose while watching TV when I was four and thought I'd have to go to the ER and have it cut out. Or that I once sang a punk version of "Que Sera Sera" onstage in New York City. Or that I made everyone call me "Bert" in ninth grade for no reason that I can think of. See what I mean?

The Haiku Version
I grew up dorky,
With home perms and Led Zeppelin.
You ask why I write?

The No-Frills Version
Libba Bray was born in Alabama but moved to Texas soon after. She went to jr. high, high school, and college there. Now she lives in New York City and writes books. When she dies, we will let you know.

http://www.libbabray.com/bio.html

Why is this title included?
A Great and Terrible Beauty is a New York Times Bestseller, YALSA Best Books for Young Adults (2004) pick, and a YALSA Teens' Top Ten (2004) pick. Libba Bray is a rising star of YA literature. Her novel Going Bovine won the 2010 Printz Award.