Plot Summary:  Only at Manderley Academy to please her parents, if being away from home and super hard classes were not enough, the “new girl” is faced with reminders of the girl whose place she took–Becca.  She is in Becca’s room, she has feelings for Max Holloway, the love of Becca’s life and strange hints of what might have happened to Becca who just disappeared one night.  She doesn’t want Becca’s life, regardless of what roommate Dana thinks, but what will happen if Becca comes back?

Critical Analysis:  A little contrived in places, this re-telling of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier mostly works.  Most of the contrivances take place at the beginning.  I wish the author could have figured out another way to get the new girl into the story and at the boarding school…her parents remember her 8th grade wish and apply as a surprise?  And she doesn’t tell them that she doesn’t really want to go so goes anyway for her senior year?  Hard to buy, especially since she spends so much, especially at the beginning, longing for home and family and friends.  I also found some of the re-imagining/re-telling to be a little, well, literal.  A costume party where Dana Veers convinces the new girl to wear the same costume as Becca–straight out of the original.

And yet, the whole cruelty and cattiness between some of the girls really works, as does the isolation and independence of boarding school.  As with the original, the character of Becca and the mystery of what happened to her overshadows everything–the new girl can’t escape.  And still, the new girl manages to overcome, to be herself, to like her life, her situation and to realize she is more than just some girl from Florida, or some new girl who took a popular girl’s place.  I think teens girls will really like this, and if other blog reviews are any indication, they won’t have read the original but perhaps now they will seek it out–and maybe the movie too.

Readalikes: Breathless by Jessica Warman–Katie didn’t expect to like the boarding school, she didn’t want to be away from her older brother Will.  She can just be one of the girls, and focus on swimming and schoolwork.   So why then does she tell everyone he’s dead?

Looking for Alaska by John Green–Miles “Pudge” Halter is abandoning his ordinary life, leaving for boarding school where he is surrounded by friends whose lives are everything except ordinary. When tragedy strikes the close-knit group, Pudge realizes that life is to be lived and love to be given freely.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier–the inspiration for the story, which has great teen appeal in its own right.

Reviewed from publisher provided advanced e-galley.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Plot Summary:  Mickey Bolitar is not having a very good year.  His dad is dead, his mom is in rehab, and Mickey is forced to change schools and live with the uncle he doesn’t really know.   When his new girlfriend doesn’t show up to school one day, Mickey grows worried and with the help of his new friends decides to look for her.

Critical Analysis:  I am a fan of Harlan Coben’s Myron Bolitar series.  I think that he has a knack for combining quirky characters with real pathos and lots of dry wit added in for good measure.  When I heard there was going to be a young adult series about Myron and Win, I was interested but wondered how that would work, as they did not meet till college. and Win is, well, not a character you would think belongs in many teen books.  So I was glad when the series about Mickey was announced.

Mickey is actually introduced in the last Myron book, Live Wire.  The beginning of Shelter is the ending of Live Wire from Mickey’s point of view.  I have been disappointed lately in bestselling adult authors who have written young adult books just to capitalize on this growing market.  (I was going to name names, but decided most people would be able to think of at least one…)

So it is both a relief and a delight to report that this is a good beginning to what I hope will be a long running series.  (I was going to be mad at Coben if that weren’t the case.  There are not enough books in this genre being written for teens today but we don’t need poorly written ones either.)

Despite sharing a talent for playing basketball, wisecracking  and a deep love for family, Mickey is not Myron.  I bet Myron wishes he would have thought to yell “Homework” whenever his parents were giving him grief.  Perhaps it is because he is a teen, but Mickey feels things more deeply, and is trying to find the balance between being independent and taking help from others.  Mickey’s friends are great, moving beyond the stereotypes they represent as are the stereotypical jocks who have it in for him.  (Shades of Myron again who just can’t seem to keep his mouth shut around meatheads.)  The secondary storyline about the Bat Lady who says his father might still be alive is intriguing and appears to be a thread that will run through at least the first part of the series.

I hope teens find their way to Shelter, and perhaps to the Myron books as well which aside from a great deal of violence are teen friendly.

Review Excerpts: “Shelter begins one of the oddest—and most appealing spinoff series in recent years….[T]he youngster copes with some adult-sized problems, including his father’s death, his mother’s drug abuse problems, switching high schools, and his new living situation. Everything seems less pressing, however, than the mysteries surrounding the disappearance of a new girlfriend.”–Barnes and Noble

“Edgy and action-filled, the novel has interesting, likable characters, and it should fly off the shelves.”
—School Library Journal

“Crackerjack pace and multi-layered plotting…”—Kirkus Reviews

“Coben’s semi-noir style translates well to YA, and the supporting cast is thoroughly entertaining. It’s a strong start to the series.”—Publishers Weekly

“Quite satisfying and points to a good deal of potential for what might come next.”—Booklist

Reviewed from publisher provided advanced copy.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Bibliography: Offill, Jenny and Nancy Carpenter. (2006).  17 Things I’m Not Allowed to Do Any More. New York: Schwartz and Wade.  ISBN: 9780375835964 (hc) 9780375866012 (pbk)

Plot Summary:  A mischievous little girl has a lot of seemingly good ideas but they all seem to get her in trouble.

Critical Analysis:  Books like this one make me miss being a children’s librarian and seeing new picture books and reading them at story time.  This one is so much fun, and such a marriage between the text and the artwork to tell the story, communicate the emotion to the reader.  The pictures, a combination of pen and ink drawings and digitally manipulated images on crumpled paper not only fill in some of the details, but also are the kind that children will want to examine even after the story is finished.  In addition, the text leaves room for the reader or listener to come up with their own ideas about what happens.  Or in my case, to think about other great ideas that might not turn out so well.  ”I had an idea…”

Review Excerpts:  ”Ingenious artwork–a flawless marriage of digital imagery and pen-and-ink–is indisputably the focus of this winning title….striking and subtle–real wood grain, blades of grass, the chrome-plated details on classroom furniture–all are seamlessly integrated around a winsome cast of well-drawn characters….just about picture-perfect”–School Library Journal

“The title is terrifically cheeky, and Carpenter…outdoes herself in these mixed-media illustrations….Kids will be intrigued by the pictures’ playful sense of composition as well as the heroine’s brazenness….”–Publisher’s Weekly

“Our mischievous but delightful heroine is the kind of kid who makes parents and teachers old before their time, but still makes us laugh….Carpenter combines a lively pen and ink black line with naturalistic colors and digital media….The mottled look of the paper is achieved by crumpling it and filing with an emery board; Adobe Photoshop is used to rescan and manipulate the type; bits of photo collage are added for a fresh visual look. The glue she is smilingly squeezing from the bottle on the jacket has an attractive three-dimensional quality.”–Children’s Literature

Reviewed from public library copy.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Plot Summary:  Esme may be the only white Jewish lesbian teen in her Minneapolis suburb, but she has found her place with her 3 best friends performing in Sister Mischief, laying down hip hop beats and rhymes.  The girls decide to protest when the school sets a policy against any rap or associated clothing or paraphernalia.  When Esme realizes she has feelings for Rohini, part of her crew, she must come to realize that love, sex, coming out and culture can make matters of the heart complicated.

Critical Analysis:  It took me a few chapters to really get into this book, there is so much going on.  (Too much?)  It isn’t enough to have a white lesbian hip hop artist, let’s put her in Minnesota.  And make her Jewish.   And have her mom leave.  And give her a reason to protest her school administration.  And use texts and tweets and notes in a notebook to tell the story.  And then, somewhere around Sister Mischief’s first concert and meeting with the principal to protest the new policy against rap and hip hop culture, I fell for Esme and her crew.

I identified with them, I felt what it is like to be on the fringes, to be different and know it.  I felt the wonder of Esme and Rohini’s exploration of their feelings and of each other.  I felt both their pain when the romance ended.  I felt the empowerment behind their 4H meetings and their music.  I felt the love and unconditional acceptance that Esme and her dad shared.

It would be easy to say this is a good GLBTQ book for teens, which it is.  But more than that, this is a book for all teens who have ever felt like outsiders, like they were going against the stream to get to some other destination.  I just hope that those teens who need this story will wade through the beginning to settle into the rhythm that is Esme and her crew.

Review Excerpts:  ”Debut novelist Goode shows she’s as much of a “word nerd” as her characters….Goode knows her stuff. The girls have an encyclopedic knowledge and deep love of hip-hop, and Esme’s emotionally charged rhymes flow freely. If ever a book needed a soundtrack—or a beatbox—this is it”–Publisher’s Weekly

“[R]eaders will applaud heroine, Esme, and her band of friends. This debut novel is a funny and tender coming-of-age story. It reminds us to stand by our friends.”–VOYA

“Snappy dialogue, likable characters and an original concept make it hard to entirely dismiss this one, but the message overwhelms the good stuff.”–Kirkus Reviews

Reviewed from publisher provided advanced copy.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Plot Summary:  When her veterinarian dad dies, 16 year old Iris goes to live with her Aunt Sue and Cousin Book  she has never really met.  They don’t understand Iris, a vegetarian and animal lover.  When Iris sets two baby goats free to prevent their slaughter, her aunt forces her cousin to beat Iris to teach her a lesson.  Sue and Book go to jail and Iris enters the foster care system, but she’ll risk anything to make sure the animals at her aunt’s are being cared for.

Critical Analysis:  This is a solemn, unrelenting, even dark book made darker by the fact that the author got the idea from an actual newspaper article about a girl who had been beaten.  It begins from a place of grief and goes down from there.  Iris is the focus, so we don’t get to really know what might be the motivation behind her aunt or cousin’s behavior, but we know that there is no excuse for what they end up doing.  I really identified with Iris, she tried so hard to make the best of  a bad situation, and she bonds with her aunt’s goats and dog, and manages to connect with a few students at her school.  Her aunt and cousin seem to make no effort to understand her.  Perhaps that is why the beating seems even more brutal,  because there is such a disconnect.  The author does not shy away from realistically portraying the beating of a baby goat or Iris, so this book may not be for everyone.  However, readers who stick with Iris will rejoice when she works from her foster home to find a way to continue to take care the goats when her aunt is in jail.

Review Excerpts: “Watkins displays his expertise as he creates a heroine who is broken and yet refuses to stay down. Secondary characters are equally well-developed and engaging. Beautifully written, this story is an unflinching look at the cruelty of life as well as the resilience of the human spirit.”–Kirkus Reviews

“The story moves at a gentle pace, slowly pulling readers into Iris’s cheerless world. The teen is realistically emotional and stubborn, and the secondary characters are well developed. Give this one to teens who enjoy dramatic plots with rays of hope at the end.”–School Library Journal

“Details about farm life, softball, goats, and cheese making, as well as high school (some underage drinking, pot smoking, and bullying), hold the reader’s interest, but Iris’s detachment keeps the reader—and the people who try to befriend her—at a distance.”–VOYA

“…a story of hope and self-knowledge, speaks to all teens….The reader, with Iris, grows in empathy and self-knowledge through this book.”–Children’s Literature

Reviewed from publisher provided advanced copy.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Bibliography

Plot Summary:  Prom is supposed to be the best night of your life, right?  Not for popular Bliss who catches her BFF and boyfriend making out.  Not for bad girl Jolene who can’t believe that she is dressed in pink ruffles risking her rep for a guy who is late.  Not for Meg who just wanted a night to be a normal teen but whose date stood her up. Each existing in her own circle of high school, they find each other on this less than magical night and decide to get revenge–throw in a few frat parties, karaoke, breaking and entering, a trip to the emergency room, a makeover and a stop at Dairy Queen.  Three girls who couldn’t be more different realize they might have something in common after all.

Critical Analysis:  This novel reads like the best teen prom movie that you’ve never seen.  Hear that, Hollywood?  Someone should buy the rights ASAP.  Frothy and fun and full of girl power, McDonald hits all the right notes.  Her characters maybe a little true to type, but in this case, it works perfectly with the madcap plot of revenge they concoct and carry out together.  Each learns something about herself and the others over the course of the night.  And if the ending is a little too good to be true, what’s the harm in providing hope that three very different girls from different worlds might come to be friends through sharing an intense series of adventures?  Light and frothy fun, perfect for prom season and teen girls dreaming about prom and prom haters alike.  I love McDonald, her three young adult novels each  little different but wonderful in their own right.  Please write faster!

Extras: In collecting stories about the American prom experience (being from Britain, McDonald didn’t have the American prom night), McDonald was surprised to hear from many teens that they felt pressure and stress surrounding the event.  So she set up PROMyourway.com “to encourage a ‘prom-positive’ message, and help teens make prom an experience that matters to THEM. You don’t need to buy into the stereotypical image to have a good time - prom can be whatever you want it to be : a way to give back to your community; a force for social change, and – yes – an amazing party where everyone’s invited!”

Check out Aimee Ferris’ site for her book, WillWorkForPromDress.com to see pictures of young adult authors in their prom best.

Review Excerpts:  ”…[T]he novel is lightly wicked fun in formal wear, filled with bickering, breaking and entering, and quick getaways. The girls basically play to type, but grow enough to make their journey an amusing diversion.”–Publisher’s Weekly

Reviewed from publisher provided advanced copy.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Bibliography

Plot Summary:  Tasked to perpetuate a scientific fake for a class assignment, Missy calls best friend, cousin, and look alike Claire to come to her high school as a long lost twin.  In an interview for the school morning news,  both girls start to realize there is no hoax, and when the story goes viral, three different families are forced to face the choices from their pasts.

Critical Analysis:  A black swan is an event that is hugely important, rare and unpredictable, and explicable only after the fact.  This idea forms the core of Cooney’s compelling plot.  It hooks you and keeps you reading through some improbable scenes to the satisfying conclusion.  Multiple viewpoints take some sorting out, and the writing, well, it could be tighter.  But the story of cousins for whom discovering they are actually twins is only the beginning of uncovering a series of secrets about themselves and their families somehow hits most of the right notes, and teen girls will speed through the pages and hope, that as with Janie (from The Face on the Milk Carton) there might be another chapter to this saga.

Companion Read: The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Taleb.  If teens find the idea of “black swans” intriguing and they can get past Taleb’s arrogant tone, they may enjoy his explanation of how black swans are responsible for most things in our world.

Review Excerpts:  ”Cooney’s psychologically probing story darts among multiple characters, forming a complex web of mistrust, economic stress, and parental sins that will keep readers guessing.”–Publisher’s Weekly

“The story moves at breakneck speed, successfully walking the fine line between over-the-top melodrama and realistic fiction.”–VOYA

“Cooney devises copious explanations to give her tale credibility, but it’s a hard story to swallow. However, the ending, full of good intentions yet unresolved and uncomfortable feelings, is thoughtfully realistic.”–Kirkus Reviews

“Far fetched? Perhaps, but for any girl with a best friend who seems like a sister, this will be a riveting read. Although less tightly constructed than the classic, and similarly identity-based, The Face on the Milk Carton (1990), the entwined stories…will attract and hold Cooney’s many loyal fans.”–Booklist

Reviewed from public library copy.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Plot Summary:  Things happen when Danica is around.  Cars crash into poles, people get hurt.  She can’t control it, and so she can’t get close to anyone,  just in case.  Things change when she is goes to Delcroix Academy–an anal roommate, gossipy girlfriends, and not one, but two cute boys who want her attention.  Melancholy Jack , sure the academy is a front for something, tries to get Danica to help him figure it out.  Cute and wholesome Cam wants her attention too, but he might be in on the secret himself.  Who will Danica choose?

Critical Analysis:  This is rather light and innocent as far as paranormal romances go, and I think that is a good thing, as paranormal romance for older teens have taken off, and younger readers are a ready audience, but maybe not ready for Twilight.  And it is refreshing to read a paranormal that is not about vampires or werewolves or even angels.  Yes, we have seen these set ups before, but I did enjoy the character of Danica, someone who can thinking for herself and on her feet and while she has two guys in her life, doesn’t see her identity IN them.  So here’s hoping  Scott has a sequel and works a little on building her world and rounding out her secondary characters.

Readalikes:  David Lubar’s Hidden Talents features an alternative school for kids who are losers and failures.  But they discover they each have a special hidden talent.

In Welcome to the Ark by Stephanie Tolan, four freakishly smart freaks live together as a family and discover their strength lies in working together to reach out to others like themselves to solve the problem of violence that threatens to destroy their world.

Like Danica, Janie tries to go unnoticed rather than tell others her secret–that she gets sucked into other people’s dreams.  But when she enters a nightmare beyond her imagination, she decides she can’t remain silent in Wake by Lisa McMann.

Review Excerpts: “While nothing about Scott’s premise is especially groundbreaking, the plot is quick and gratifying, and Dancia is much more empowered than the female protagonists in some other popular supernatural thrillers.”–School Library Journal

Reviewed from public library copy.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Bibliography

Plot Summary:  The pixies Zara and her friends imprisoned at the end of Need (including pixie king, Zara’s father) were not the only ones to worry about.  Rival pixie kings are after his territory–and his daughter.  Astley is one of them, but he is not like any pixie Zara has known, challenges her preconceptions, promising she will be his pixie queen, but only when she wants it.  Zara’s friends are less convinced, but when boyfriend and were Nick is injured, will Zara do anything to save him, even turn pixie?

Critical Analysis:  First, the good.  Again, Jones has created a quick moving plot featuring the genuine friendship of an unlikely group of teens.  Some of the best parts of the book deal with Devyn and Issie and the possibility that Devyn might like someone else, will they please get together already?  The scenes with Zara reacting to being near pixie king Astley are also on point.  Imagine being a teen, with hormones and physical changes and acne and more.  Then imagine being half pixie, skin turning blue, passing out around iron, and more embarrassing changes you can’t control.   I also enjoyed the friends banding together to research what is happening and trying to work out what to do.  These relationships and scenes play off the conventions of high school and being a teen in a tongue in cheek kind of way.  I would have loved even more of these scenes.

But the book is taken up with Zara and Nick.  Somewhere between book 1 and book 2 Zara lost her spark and her spunk.  What happened to the girl who listed phobias and wrote letters for Amnesty International?  She seems to have been swallowed up by her relationship with Nick, and her whole identity and being are now tied to him.  I don’t want to spoil the plot, so I won’t go into details, but I was disappointed with the way things played out.

I also felt like the Norse addition to the plot was one thing too many.  Pixies and weres and witches are not enough?  Okay, well how about Valeryies and Norse Gods and warriors and Valhalla?  It matters little, fans of the first book will gobble this up and ask for the sequel.

Review Excerpts: “Readers will enjoy the fast-moving plot, action scenes, and lots of Zara’s inner dialogue as she tries to come to terms with what she must do if she is to save Nick, while staying true to her own self.”–Children’s Literature

“Funny dialogue, lots of action and suspense, and an unexpected ending will leave readers clamoring for the next installment.”–VOYA

“The best aspect is Zara’s band of loyal friends: hottie Nick, sometimes wolf; pal Devyn, sometimes eagle; zippy Issie, altogether human; grandma Betty, kickass EMT and occasional tiger….Neither the best nor worst of supernatural romance, but the fusion of self-sacrifice and burning love will fully slake the thirst of eager Need fans.”–Kirkus Reviews

“This entry successfully delivers expected characters, tensions, and romance. Norse lore adds a new dimension, but feels extraneous rather than integrated into the story. Still, fans will rejoice in the familiar.”–Booklist

Reviewed from public library audio book.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Bibliography

Plot Summary:  In many ways, Melody is just like any other 10 year old girl.  She likes music and books, craves fastfood  burgers, makes jokes, wants to have a best friend to share secrets with, loves her parents and adores her little sister and the family dog.  But Melody has cerebral palsy and her lively mind is locked inside her body which is bound to her wheelchair and those who care for her.  She is frustrated with her limited ability to communicate with those around her, and is thrilled when she gets a talking computer.  Melody starts to feel like a normal kid, making friends and joining the school quiz team.  But other barriers and obstacles are harder to remove, and Melody must decide whether to speak out.

Critical Analysis:  This is a beautiful and heartwrenching story.  The reader sees the world through Melody’s vivacious and energetic spirit, incredible in spite of, because of, her situation.  She is compelling and smart and funny, different from other kids in many ways that aren’t about her disability and just like other kids in many other ways.  She makes brings a smile to your face and tears to your eyes and you want her to succeed in whatever she tries.  Draper’s genius is in creating such a compelling and distinctive voice for Melody, as the entire story is through her eyes, and in doing so, causing readers to think about their prejudices and preconceptions about the differently-abled.

The audio book version may be even more compelling, as the reader has  particularly pleasant tone to her voice.  I think this book deserves to be shared and discussed, and I hope that it finds it’s way into the hands of older readers who might not normally pick up a book featuring a 10 year old.

Review Excerpts: “This book is rich in detail of both the essential normalcy and the difficulties of a young person with cerebral palsy.”–Kirkus Reviews

“Melody’s triumphs and setbacks as she strives to become a socially accepted classmate and team member are vividly described in this inspirational novel, which will appeal not only to middle school readers but also to anyone who wonders what might be going on in the minds of individuals with severe physical handicaps.”–VOYA

“Uplifting and upsetting, this is a book that defies age categorization, an easy enough read for upper-elementary students yet also a story that will enlighten and resonate with teens and adults.”–Booklist

“Draper, whose daughter has cerebral palsy, writes with authority, and the rage behind Melody’s narrative is perfectly illustrated in scenes demonstrating the startling ignorance of many professionals (a doctor diagnoses Melody as “profoundly retarded”), teachers, and classmates.”–Publisher’s Weekly

“Kids will benefit from being introduced to Melody and her gutsy, candid, and compelling story. It speaks volumes and reveals the quiet strength and fortitude it takes to overcome disabilities and the misconceptions that go with them.”–School Library Journal

Reviewed from public library copy.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.