Update 10/27/08

Hello everyone, I have finally finished the foloowing novels, and will be writing up reviews like crazy as soon as I can.

Blades of Mars
Barbarians of Mars
Tithe (YA novel)
Extremly Loud and Incredibly Close (class assigned, one of the reasons I am busy)
Record of Lodoss War Graphic Novel (pt 2 & 3)

Updates

Hi everyone, things are quite busy at the moment, so future updates may be a little while coming. I have alot of reading for school to do this week, as well as some proposals. Proposals are not my favorite thing to write, but you do what you got to do.

Any ways, just letting everyone know that I am still active and will be posting when I can. Upcoming titles will be:

Blades of Mars

Barbarians of Mars

Tithe (YA novel)

Extremly Loud and Incredibly Close (class assigned, one of the reasons I am busy)

Record of Lodoss War Graphic Novel (pt 2 & 3)

Star Wars: Force Unleashed Graphic Novel

Blankets (Graphic Novel)

and many more as time permits.

Again, sorry for the lack of updates, but sadly work before play. Unless you can make your play your work, in which case it is no longer play.

“Warriors of Mars” by Michael Moorcock (aka Edward P. Bradbury)

Annotation:

Physicist Michael Kane finds himself inexplicably transported to an ancient Mars. With no way back to Earth he resigns himself to his fate, forever changing the face of Mars.


Summary:

The author, “Mr. Bradbury” happens upon one Michael Kane while on an ocean cruise. Kane seems disturbed, and opens up to the author about why he seems out of sorts. Michael Kane proceeds to tell the author about what has happened. This same exact plot device was used by Edgar Rice Burroughs in The Moon Maid, but since this a pastiche of/tribute to Burroughs, it works and it makes the vital connection to suspend belief for the audience.

As he relates his tale, Michael Kane finds himself upon Mars, or Vashu as the locals call it, and makes the acquaintance of the beautiful (most Martians appear human) Shizala, princess of the city-state Varnal. She tutors him in the Martian dialect and customs, soon Kane falls in love with her. It is not to be however, as she is betrothed to the prince of an allied kingdom. Kane has little time to sulk though, as the Argzoon, 12-foot tall, blue giants lay siege to the Green City Varnal.

After much fighting and swashbuckling, Kane presses the attack to the giant’s camp using an ancient flying machine only to find out that a human woman is somehow coercing the giants to attack Varnal. No sooner does she get away, than Kane discovers that Shizala has been kidnapped. On he presses to the caves of the blue giants.

After several more capture/escape/capture/escape scenarios, Kane rescues Shizala, reveals that her betrothed was actually a traitor, and is about to marry her, when he is somehow returned back to present day Earth by his colleagues.


Review:

Let’s establish this from the beginning, this is not Moorcock’s finest work, but it isn’t meant to be. It knows what it is, a tribute to pulp sci-fi Mars stories. That said the book is fairly enjoyable as a pure adventure story.

The book starts off with realistic, in-story technology and ideas. The transportation to a Mars millions of years ago is original and allows for greater creativity by escaping the contemporary Mars which would have been overshadowed by Burroughs’ Barsoom stories. The creatures, people, and cultures are fairly interesting, and the Argzoon (blue giants) are also an interesting addition.

The addition of an ancient and advanced race, the Sheev and the Yaksha, that disappeared from ancient Mars even further back adds to the mystery of the planet. Unfortunately these threads are never fully explored.

Ratings system:

I would like to have a 5 star rating system, but I don’t know how to put the stars on here yet, so instead I will give a score out of 5 until I figure out the stars. I will also justify my rankings. If you disagree, please comment, I won’t change my rating, but it will be fun to discuss these things.


1) Readability/Pace - Warriors of Mars was a fairly quick read, and interesting enough to finish rather quickly. 5/5 Stars. The language is also fairly easy to understand, and the text is not too dense. It was pretty enjoyable read.

2) Plot – There was not a large amount of plot, more or less it borrowed many plot devices from the pulps. The outlander assimilating into the alien culture, falling in love (usually with a princess), and having many captures and escapes. He also manages to befriend an enemy in typical fashion, this friend ends up to assist the hero at the most unexpected time. All in all, a pretty good take on a very Burroughsian plot.

For fans of the Sword and Planet Genre, or someone who has never read one, I would give this 3.5/5, but for anyone looking for a great piece of literature probably 2/5. It’s an adventure story through and through, don’t expect anything else.

3) Characters – Michael Kane’s only real growth is in learning the customs of Mars. His background is also fairly interesting since it explains how he happens to be an expert swordsman. Michael Kane is not terribly well developed character-wise, he is somewhat of a typical action star in a Schwarzenegger movie. Characterization, I’ll give 2.5/5 because many characters seem to fit into the genre’s archetypes.

4) Random Trivia – Since this is a tribute to Burroughs, theoretically, one could pull a “Den Valdron” and even mesh this story in with Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom, especially with information given in later novels.

Firstly, Michael Kane is a scientist working on a sort of teleportation machine. Now in Burroughs’s actual stories, I did not see any such device, but in Mahars of Pellucidar by John Eric Holmes, there is a teleportation machine that is being made. Could they be related? It would be interesting to further explore the links.

Secondly, the main character relates his “true” story to the author, who then publishes it as fiction due to the unbelievably of the tale. In this case, Kane meets “Bradbury” on an ocean cruise, much like in Burroughs’ Moon Maid.

Lastly, the riding animals that are used, daharas, are described as something like an ape-like creature. Since this Mars is millions of years in the past, one could argue that evolution causes these creatures to become the Rykors used by the Kaldanes in Burroughs’ Thuvia Maid of Mars. This is speculation at this point.

There could be more trivia related to other Mars fiction, so if you can point it out, that’d be great to see.

NEXT TIME: Blades of Mars

Still Under Construction!! Futher Details

All of the reviews will be based on my own opinions. I admit that I have a particular bias, so there are going to be points where you and I disagree. Here is a break down of what this Blog will accomplish:

Title of the Book

annotation: Brief, catchy description of the book's plot

Brief summary of story

Review, discuss what I like, and did not like.

Rating of the following pieces. This will be on either a 1-10, 10 being the best, or a 5 star scale.

1) Readability/Pace - Did the book keep my interest? Was it fast paced? Did it seem to take forever to read it.

2) Plot - how was the plot?

3) Characters - Are the Characters interesting? Annoying? Do they have growth?

4) Interesting Facts/Trivia - ANy interesting trivia that I can find

See you soon!

!!!Under construction Notice!!!

Hi everyone, thanks for checking out my blog, and hopefully past blogs as well. I have just finished my Young Adult Literature class, hopefully with a good grade. That said, I will continue to review books on this blog, but the format will change. I will start to focus on several facets of greatness while writing a review. Here's what you can hope to expect soon:

* a wider focus on novels apart from YA titles. There will still be review of those, but there may be less.

* I plan to read a wider variety of novels, but for a time at least, I will be focusing primarily on Science Fiction, fantasy novels with a particular focus on Sword and Planet, Star Wars, and Vintage 1930's - 1970's Science fiction.

* I will also review comics. This includes undiscovered talents from the online comics world, because darn it, they need to be recognized!

* I will also try to squeeze in actual literature as well.

* I may be doing other blogs about restaurant reviews, movie and music reviews, and Other things.

* I will also try to review up and coming undiscovered gems.

* Lastly, things being reviewed will not necessarily be the latest and greateset, but will also encompass "Blasts from the Past," and underappreciated releases from a while ago that you may have missed.

OK, that's it for now. I will be contemplating review criteria, if you have any suggestions for a review criteria, let me know. I have some ideas, but nothing solid.

See you soon!

Passionate Plea Fiction

I most passionately plea that you read and vote for Jumper, by Steven Gould. Each page that you turn, will only pique your interest to read the next one. Gould’s narrative keeps you guessing, and raising the stakes ever higher. As Davy gains control over his powers, his challenges become greater. He first escapes from his father’s abuse and from being raped by truckers by teleporting accidently. But as he learns to control his powers, he escapes from police detection, robs a bank and eludes detection for a time. At this point his biggest risk is his girlfriend or the police discovering his ability. During this time, he is also growing from a young man to full self sufficiency as he consciously decides to stop relying on his father’s support (Davy uses his power to facilitate food theft) and hack it on his own.

After a family catastrophe, Davy trains to develop his powers to take on terrorists, but as he becomes a nigh unstoppable force for vengeance, the NSA begins to hunt him down. As this part of his growth unfurls, his girlfriend is held hostage to ensure his compliance. In the midst of all of these breathtaking events, Davy struggles to find his identity and independence. He searches for maturity, and struggles with his morality.

Jumper is as much about Davy’s growing up, and leaving the shadow of his abusive past as it is about his ability to teleport. Jumper hits the highest amount of developmental flags of all the books I’ve read this semester. It’s also got the protagonist going against steep odds, and a large sense of uncertainty. Read Jumper, you won’t regret it.

Passionate Plea Non-Fiction

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor truly has it all. Being Bruce Campbell’s autobiography, his voice rings true when reflecting on his younger years while successfully bringing us to his adulthood. Bruce begins with his childhood in suburban Michigan highlighting some of his adventures from childhood and adolescence. Along the way, he hits several of the developmental areas, chief among them being independent at such an early age. Some of his hijinks include an elaborate fort/tunnel system, wanton destruction of green army men, and using paper lanterns to create a UFO sighting. These adventures lay the foundation for his further life, that of becoming an actor.

During his adolescence, he and his friends over come the odds and make an 8MM film for their local community. With their quasi success, they are inspired to go further and make an actual feature film in their early adulthood. Bruce and Co. raise money, find actors, film in grueling conditions, lose actors, and must gain more money to distribute the film. In short, they overcome huge odds to make and sell their film, Evil Dead. The remainder of the book focuses on Bruce’s struggles to make a living as an actor.
While the early half of the book focuses on the developmental areas, and becoming independent, the second half serves as a great roleplaying experience for teens to read. Acting is not always glamorous and it’s definitely not easy. Reading about it from the eyes of an “everyman” like Bruce Campbell, with a relatable growing up experience, Bruce makes the life of an actor something anyone can relate to.

"Witness" By Karen Hesse

Annotation:

Small town in Vermont takes on dramatic changes when the KKK slime their way into authority by using their most common weapons. Fear and intimidation. Perseverance, and mercy are the only weapons to fight back with.

Justification for a Neutral Stance:

Leanora Sutter, and Esther Hirsch; African-American, and Jewish teens respectively are already eyed suspiciously by the townspeople, except a few kind souls in the town. When the KKK worms their way into town, they become the targets of hate, and discrimination.

The Klan also affects many other people in the town, many do not wish to be a part of it, but some jump at the chance. One, a grocer, decides to join as a way to boost sales in his store, despite his wife's protest. The other, the local Reverend of all people joins for his own reasons.

Through several plot twists, an unlikely assassin makes an attempt on Esther's father, while another is ordered to poison the well water at Leanora's place, but due to an attack of conscience cannot bring himself to do it. The insanity of the Klan's reign of terror come to an abrupt end when Calvin Coolidge is elected president.

This book I can neither reject, nor nominate for several reasons. First I will do the unpleasant thing, and announce it's shortcomings. The story of "Witness" is a bit hard to follow, it's obvious how the Klan comes to town, but I could not really determine why. Second, the Klan leave with no reason that I could discern in one reading. Third, as a YA novel, it does not delve much into the adolescent developmental process. Lastly, the story didn't really "grab me." It's a good story, but in my opinion it was not great.

The things this book does well, is it offers up a few interesting characters, and there are some themes that while not Young Adult themed, should be learned by YA. First, the characters, Iris Weaver, the local booze runner, is interesting as a free spirit but appears to have no actual purpose in the story, or with the Klan.

Merlin van Tornhaut is kind of sympathetic, but not very. He gets implicated as a murder suspect in a shooting case, but he couldn't have done it. He was about to poison some body's well that night, luckily he didn't make it. His only redeeming quality is that his cnscience kept him from being an effective Klan member.

The preacher was just a creep, mainly because a Christian man should be preaching peace, but he was a hatemonger, and pedophile.

Esther, by far my favorite character, was incredibly innocent, and she was just an endearing presence of love in a maelstrom of hate.

I think the themes in this book also are a redeeming quality, and may be of interest to YA. Firstly it will allow them to explore how ignorant racism is, and show that victims of hate could be someone like you or me. Second, "Witness" shows what happens when peer pressure gets out of control until reason has left everyone.

Although there are some good themes addressed in this book, and some of the characters are of note, "Witness" is a good book that could have been better. The characters and situations are a great start for a great story, but the story feels like it's missing a few things. It failed to draw me into the story in any significant way, and resolved events too cleanly and quickly. I cannot nominate this book for our award because it lacks many qualities that it should possess, but nor can I reject it because it does bring up some pertinent issues.


Genre: Verse novel, Historical fiction

“Fat Kid Rules the World” by K.L. Going

Annotation:

Super-self conscious “Fat Kid,” meets apathetic skinny street-rat. Skinny Kid saves Fat Kid and hi-jinks, near beatings, illness(s), and punk music ensue.

Justification for Nomination:

Troy Billings, New York “Fat Kid” extraordinaire is tired of people laughing at him for being fat, so he decides to do something about it. He contemplates suicide by jumping into the path of a subway, but is rescued by quasi-homeless Punk Rock genius, and fellow student, Curt McCrae. The two discuss things over dinner, and before long, a friendship has grown. Troy’s father at first doesn’t approve, but decides to give Curt a second chance. Soon, Curt decides he wants Troy as a drummer.

Curt smooth-talks Troy into skipping school on Mondays to go practice, their first session takes them to the home of Curt’s mother. They listen to old albums until it begins to get dark. Curt bolts out of the house leaving Troy alone in a strangers house. Troy barely escapes without being caught. Throughout the next few weeks, Curt is somewhat unreliable nearly getting Troy into trouble. Eventually real practice starts, and Troy must balance doing the right thing by going to school, and meeting Curt’s random schedule for practice. They eventually play a gig, with not-so-good results.

Troy sinks into depression and refuses to have anything to do with music, until he finds out that Curt has been sleeping on the streets near him. He finds Curt, and agrees to get back together for the band, but Curt soon falls seriously ill. Troy helps Curt to get well, and overcome his drug addiction, leaving only time to tell if Curt truly recovers, and they go on to become punk rock legends.

Nearly everything in this book is Troy’s narration, or observation, and he is incredibly honest. Troy has a self deprecating wit, and seems to have come to terms with who he is as “Fat Kid.” He even has come to a point where he can laugh at himself, and is not afraid to describe himself when he huffs, and sweats. He is very real, and as such it is easy to relate to him, and empathize with him.

Troy’s father deserves some credit, being an ex-marine, and into athletics, especially with his active son Dayle. He decides to support Troy’s decision to get into music, despite not approving at first. He eventually caves in and even buys Troy a drum set.

This book is nomination worthy because it hits many of the developmental YA areas. Troy is aware of who he is, but at the same time is discovering things about himself that never dreamed of, such as his ability to play drums. Troy also has an idea of who he is in relation to everyone else; to other kids, he is a joke; to his dad, a disappointment; to girls, a repulsive sight; to his younger brother, an embarrassment. Despite this, he also discover something new about himself like his ability to play drums, to “live” the unpretentious punk life, to actually be popular to others because of his talents.

“Fat Kid” also hits the point of a quest, in that Troy has a quest to become a sufficient drummer. Troy doesn’t seem idealistic, at least in the sense that he can “do anything,” quite the opposite in fact, he is convinced that he has no redeeming points. He does however stick to what he believes in. He stops skipping school for practice, and desires to at least respect his father. To me, that is pretty idealistic in our day.

Troy also has incredibly high awareness of his sexual development, noticing just about every hot girl, which shows that he is developing. Troy is also extremely self conscious, and introspective. Troy also tries to solve Curt’s problem of homelessness and illness, is uncertain about his musical ability, and eventually overcomes the odds to become a decent drum player. In short, Troy is a very realistic teen character that I found easy to empathize with.

Suggestions for improvement:

This book is pretty good, but the amount of swearing was pretty high, in addition Curt’s possible drug use was kind of alarming. In a sense though, this is art imitating life, and Going definitely uses these two points to make believable characters. Descriptions of things could have also been better, but since it’s the observations of a teen, who is preoccupied with a lot of other stuff I think it’s excusable. In this case, I name Troy an unreliable narrator, and cannot place the fault on the author.

"Monster" by Walter Dean Myers

Annotation:

Steve Harmon, 16 year old, black, male. On trial for his alleged role in a robbery which resulted in the murder of the store owner. Did Steve do it, and is he a man, or a monster?

Justification for Nomination:

Scared for his life, teenage Steve Harmon is on trial for a murder he may or may not have helped perpetrate. Once behind bars and in the courtroom he is struck by how unreal everything seems. To cope, he documents the trial as a movie script. Although the experience is new and shocking for him, he records that it is not so for others. His life is on the line, but notes that the stenographer hopes for a long case because he/she needs the money.

The trial begins, and witnesses come forth and give testimony about him and King, the other on trial. Some of these witnesses are suspect because they are seeking a deal to lessen their own sentences by turning in someone else. One of the least convincing testimonies is one from a man trying to avoid being raped in prison, so he rats out either King, or Steve. Although some witnesses imply that Steve was the lookout man for their “getover,” no one can say with any certainty what his actual role, if any, was.

As more witnesses testify, Steve records the drama. In between trial scenes while in jail, Steve reflects upon his feelings, and his fears about his life. The brutality and stupidity of prison life get to him, and the fear is quite evident in his reflections. Eventually defense witnesses come forth, most cannot even confirm he was at the crime scene. Those that can, cannot say for certain that he actually was a look out for their getover. The drama builds, and the verdict is reached. Guilty or innocent, the verdict that is reached forever impacts Steve’s life and choices. Whether or not he is truly guilty or not is never revealed, regardless his life choices will forever be affected by this trial.

“Monster” takes a teenager, someone too young to even be in the visiting are, and thrusts him into jail, and the criminal justice system. So, this book has earned my nomination because Steve is in a completely adult situation, far beyond anything anyone his age should have to face. At this point, he is completely free from any adult influence, save for the agents of the law, which we are all subject to.

This story also should let teens know that no matter how hard their life is because they had a zit on prom night, or their dad won’t let them borrow the car, they are at least living a normal teen life. Steve at this point cannot even remember what normal is. The story also captures uncertainty in Steve’s life. All of the witnesses give testimony that either damns or saves him. The damning evidence is unfortunately very compelling in Steve’s mind, and causes him a great deal of uncertainty to his fate.

Steve also can serve as a good role model for teens because we get such a great look at the fear in Steve’s mind, and the cruelty in the prison system. Any teen reading this book will see how uncool it is to be on trial for a crime, and may think twice before committing a crime. Even should they by some miracle escape jail, the road to find that answer is gut wrenching, and wildly uncertain. Steve in this respect is a good rolemodel.

>SPOILER ALERT<

Other developmental markers Steve reaches are that he deals with his situation using creative energy to write a script. Steve also reaches some great points of introspection regarding his situation. Whether or not he actually did the crime is never overtly stated, but if he did, he was found not guilty. I sincerely believe, that if he did it, he will think twice about doing it again. In this way, this trial serves as a great learning experience for him.

One last note, since by reading this book, I am unwittingly a jury member, I find Steve Harmon not guilty. Based on the right we all have to be innocent until proven guilty (except Louisiana where it’s opposite). Due to this, I feel that the prosecution did not provide evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Steve Harmon did anything to aid the robbers. Although the exchange on page 50, which was not presented as evidence seems pretty questionable regarding Steve. Based on what we hear, this is nothing more than some folks sitting around talking trash. It could be that later on King decided to actually hookup with a crew and do something about it.

Suggestions for Improvement:

Really none, except did Steve really do it or not?

Genre: Thriller, Edgy, Mystery

“Agnus Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging” By Louise Rennison

Annotation:

Obnoxious, superficial, British teenager writes an irritating, vapid diary detailing the following: “I think I’m ugly, I want to die, this guy is really cute, I hate my best friend, my parents are stupid, I hate school because I would rather think about boys, am I a lesbian, and my sister is gross.” Repeat as necessary for 200+ pages in varying order, and this is Georgia’s life.

Justification for Rejection:

Georgia, teenage British girl keeps a diary of just about every detail of her life, and I do mean every detail. She writes her feelings about her friends, guys she likes and wants to date, guys she doesn’t like but ends up dating, and how horrible her life is. Except her life isn’t really that horrible, she’s just an average girl who worries far too much about things that are not terribly important in the grand scheme of things. These things are normal for some teens to worry about, but Georgia does so to the extreme. But the second something else comes along, her emotions can either go up or further down. She’s an emotional roller coaster, and a pretty convincing example of a teen taken to extremes.

Georgia helps her friend scout out local produce boy, Tom, only to discover he has a much hotter older brother whom she has dubbed “Sex God.” When her friend Jas and Tom hit it off, she becomes bitter and jealous and works hard to destroy Tom and Jas’ relationship. Throughout her conflicting feelings for Jas, and Sex God Georgia has to be bothered with going to school, finding out her dad may be a transvestite, and other overly dramatized common occurrences. Of course these things ruin her life beyond repair, and she writes things like “I could kill myself,” or “I could kill Jas.”

Georgia proceeds to go on dates with a couple of guys, though she doesn’t like them, she is just holding out for SG. I have to presume she is just dating them to waste time until her plan to get SG comes to fruition. As relationships between her and her circle of acquaintances change rapidly, her dad moves to New Zealand, she thinks her mom is having an affair, and she conspires to get SG broken up with his current girlfriend so she can have a crack at him. A difficult story to summarize, as there is not a huge amount of story to relate, just “this person did this, I did that, and I hate so and so.” The book becomes merely her overly charged emotional reactions to events, and criticisms of other characters. It is however, a somewhat realistic look into the sick mind of a superficial teenager.

Let’s start off with what the book does well. For starters, the author really gets into the mind of a teen girl, and really seems to hit a lot of developmental themes by doing this. The use of British slang was also fun. OK, that’s about the only redeeming quality of the book in my opinion, because Georgia’s character is such a tosser, that all of these things only served to make the book more painful to read. I don’t think the book was written poorly, it’s just that I cannot tolerate the character doing what I mentioned in my annotation for 200 pages. Georgia is a vapid, superficial, whiny prat, which in my mind disqualifies this book for a nomination. If this book had a story, instead of just internal thoughts, and more than a formulaic girl meets boy, boy is with someone already, suffer-suffer-connive-and-suffer, end up with boy at the end story I could have nominated it. I think the author did a great job making a despicable character, but I certainly don’t think the book qualifies as excellent YA lit. In fact, this should be an instruction manual of how not to be a teenager.

The book started out funny at first, but after 20 pages of hyper-charged hormone harping, it began to get repetitive. I thought that once she had covered this ground, she would move on with her life, but no she stayed there for 200 pages. Quite frankly, I despised Georgia and had to force myself to read this thing from cover to cover. Once I started to despise Georgia, I tried to rethink my mindset, by changing my view to who I was at fourteen or so. No dice. Even as a teen, I would not have liked this book or character. In high school, I avoided girls, and other people like Georgia.

My last thought, (Spoiler alert) this story could have been better if SG, and Georgia actually had some common reason to “fall in love” with each other, but they don’t. They just both think the other is hot, and so have no solid basis for any sort of relationship. If they had anything in common, such as polo, or chess, or even music/movies anything, getting together would make sense. The whole relationship thing with these two comes off as very stilted. She notices him, they hate each other for a while, then just magically end up together. This kind of sends the wrong message to teens, as it shows the only basis you need for a relationship is physical attraction. If the book continued another 50 – 100 pages, I would guess that Gerogia would either A) lose her virginity, or B) break up with SG within a month due to lack of anything in common.

Genre: Humor

“Cycle of the Werewolf” By Stephen king

Annotation:

A werewolf plagues town, only wheelchair bound ten-year-old, Marty Coslaw knows the truth. Alone against a vicious hellbeast, can Marty stop it before it’s too late? Read it next full moon, and find out.

Justification for Nomination:

Beginning in the full moon of January, a werewolf begins his murderous rampage in Tarker’s Mills. Month by month, the werewolf kills a new victim who is introduced in each chapter. The terror builds within the town, while police search for a serial killer, the werewolf massacres women and children indiscriminately, that is until the July 4th. With the town too afraid to do anything on Independence Day (a full moon conveniently!), wheelchair bound Marty Coslaw celebrates by himself with a bang. The werewolf pays an unexpected visit, and not to watch Marty’s fireworks. Marty, hurls some dangerous firecrackers right at the beast’s face, causing the creature to lose an eye. Needless to say, Marty’s parents are not happy, and of course nobody believes he saw a werewolf.

Months pass, the killings of people and livestock continue, so the townspeople organize a lynch mob. While some are there just to tell bad jokes, pee in the woods and drink beers, many of them are serious enough to cause the werewolf to leave town on the night of the full moon. In the neighboring town, the werewolf encounters a resident of Tarker’s Mills who was out of town on “business” with a local prostitute. The wolf proceeds to do the obvious.

Towards the end of the book, it has been revealed that Marty has been sending anonymous letters to the werewolf. Marty used some quality deductive reasoning (more than any of the adults in the story can manage) to determine that the werewolf’s human form would be missing an eye. On Halloween, he discovered who it was while trick or treating, and has been appealing to the wolf to move, or kill himself. Eventually, Marty reveals that he knows who the werewolf is. On the night of the full moon the werewolf attacks Marty’s home, crashing through the window. Hopefully his parents’ insurance covers that. Not to be taken unawares, Marty is armed with two silver bullets, courtesy of his cool uncle. After a brief struggle, the werewolf dies revealing to the rest of Tarker’s Mills who has been terrorizing them.

Teens would love this novel, for several reasons. It’s short, it has pictures, and the one who figures everything out, thus saving the town, is the unlikeliest person. A teenage boy in a wheel chair. The book is also non-stop gore from cover to cover, and should greatly appeal to the teen’s desire for horror stories. It’s also appealing that none of the adults have clue one what they are dealing with, despite the wolf tracks and eviscerated corpses, they’re searching for a run-of-the-mill serial killer. Even after a witness, Marty, identifies the killer as a werewolf, the sheriff doesn’t believe him. Which is too bad, because he dies a month or so later. Due to this, it’s up to Marty to solve the ongoing mystery, and save the day.

Although the book doesn’t showcase developmental areas, it is a great choice because it shows a young person succeeding against the odds, and the ill-place rules to save the adults from their own stupidity. It shows that even the least likely person can stop an unstoppable hell beast with a little brain power, and some effort. In short, Marty succeeded when no one else could have.

It also explores humanity at some point, getting into the werewolf’s mind as to how (it’s human form) feels about the murders being committed. The story further explores Marty’s relationship with his parents, compared with that of his uncle. Marty is basically independent solving the problem, the story catches uncertainty, and allows Marty to overcome impossible odds.

Suggestions for improvement:

I would have to say, Marty is not really a main character. He isn’t properly introduced until halfway through the story, then he disappears from the story for a time. The book also does not deal with any teen developmental things, unless you want to be really symbolic, and say that the werewolf is a metaphor for being a teenager. They’re both going through changes, they both become monsters every once in a while, and they both feel invincible. The book could also use more character development, but I think it serves its purpose as a horror story.


Genre: Stephen King, Horror

“Good-bye, Chunky Rice” by Craig Thompson

Annotation: The sense of loss when your best friend moves away can be heart-rending. Chunky Rice is a bitter sweet look at what happens when friends go their separate ways.

Justification for Nomination:

Before we begin, let’s identify the characters so what follows is slightly more clear.

Dramatis Persona:

Chunky Rice – Titular Turtle character who is moving away for reasons unknown
Dandel – Mouse like creature, Chunky’s best friend (or is it lover?)
Solomon – Human, weird roommate/landlord
Charles – Human, weird racist boat captain.
Livonia/Ruth – Weird conjoined twins traveling on the boat with Chunky

Chunky Rice and Dandel spend a lot of time together and have a great friendship/love for each other. Sadly all good things must come to an end, and Chunky must leave the town for greener pastures somewhere far away. Chunk offers Dandel the opportunity to come with, but Dandel declines for reasons unknown.

Solomon brings Chunky to the docks to charter passage across the sea on Charles’ ship. Though Charles and Solomon are brothers, Charles seems to hold ill feelings toward his younger brother, for reasons revealed later. While boarding, Charles expresses his disdain for Chunky’s Motown music by chucking it into the sea, and steals anything else of value. They begin traveling into the sea, where Chunky meets the other passengers, conjoined twins Livonia/Ruth.

During the voyage, we see that Dandel longs to be with Chunky as evidenced by the stream of “bottle letters” Dandel throws out to sea. We also get to see where Solomon and Charles had their falling out. Their cruel father forced Solomon to kill their dog’s puppies, which causes Charles to hate his brother. Later on, their father sends the dog out to sea, never to return. Charles naively believes his father’s story about how the sea took her. Solomon tries to make amends for killing the puppies later in life by befriending an injured bird, while Charles becomes devoted to the sea.

Chunky Continues his journey, forced by Charles to be free labor on their journey. Charles later opens up to Chunky, basically revealing that the sea is now his only friend.

I wavered on this one, because at first I couldn’t see how this work related to YA. But as I reflected further, this story tugged at my heart incessantly, nearly brining me to tears with each successive reading. This is a story about loss of friendship. It’s melancholy, and bitter-sweet. I noticed deep down, a few YA themes after several readings. Firstly, the characters are all pretty idealistic in their own way. Chunky Rice thinking that moving will be the answer(s) he/she is seeking. Solomon thinks that he can keep the ill bird, Merle, as his friend. Charles thinks the sea is the only friend he needs.

The story also explores a variety of relationships between friends and family, and delves into how all of those relationships are different. The story also captures uncertainty, in the sense that friendships are usually fleeting, and shows that even the best of friends may have to part ways some day. This element really hit home for me, having been on the Dandel side of things, with many of my friends moving away. I have also been on the Chunky side, being the one moving away and ending the friendship for my own growth.

This story really focuses on the value, and finite-ness of both friendship, and family relationships, and it’s a sad story that any teen who has had to move, or had their best friend move away would relate to, and that’s why I agree with the nomination of this story. It’s an intense, yet subtle emotional piece of work focusing on relationships, and loss.

Suggestions for improvement: The only thing I would suggest is clarifying the characters and relationships. I think some of these though, may have been left vague on purpose.

Genre: Graphic Novel, Journey

"Go Ask Alice" by Anonymous

Annotation:

A horrifying, yet captivating look at the world of drug addiction. Witness the fall and quasi-redemption of a middle-American girl who suffered with drugs.

Justification for Nomination:

“Anonymous” author of an alleged “diary” talks about some of the commonplace things in her life after starting a journal. She is an average middle class girl, in an average middle class town. This soon changes once she unwittingly takes LSD at a party, and has an interesting, and elaborately described drug-trip. After this first experience, she doesn’t seem to be addicted until she expresses her desire to smoke pot, and justifies trying other drugs by thinking “I haven’t tried that yet.” She soon becomes depressed after sampling several different drugs, and talks her doctor into giving her tranquilizers. She grows more depressed though, until “by chance” a sort of friend at a nearby store gives her (what I presume to be) an upper. Why this other girl is carrying them on her person at work, I cannot say, but it only serves to send “Anonymous” further down the slope into drugs.

“Anonymous” soon gets involved with an older man, sells drugs for him, and becomes disgusted and enraged when she finds out A) that he wants her to deal to elementary school kids, and B) he is really gay/bi-sexual, and uses sex to manipulate her (and probably other young girls) into selling drugs. She and her friend sort of try to “clean up” and move to San Fran, but just one whiff of pot, and they’re back into the scene. “Anonymous” soon gets deeper into the underworld, loses some time, prostitutes herself for drugs, eventually makes her way home, and somehow decides to clean up for real.

Her efforts to clean up put her at odds with her old “friends,” the druggies, and she tells the cops on one of them which only makes things worse for her. Despite her cleanup efforts, she is secretly drugged with acid, has a bad trip, and ends up in a mental hospital. After leaving there, she stays clean, stops her diary and mysteriously dies three weeks later.

So, why did I agree with the nomination? It shows an average teen girl in the beginning worrying about being fat, etc. She is a character that teens can relate too. Since this is the case, it’s easy to see how easily “you or I” can fall pray to drugs as well. “Alice” also shows a lot of YA markers, that teens can relate to. “Anonymous” is idealistic, thinking that she can leave the world of drugs anytime, and that she would still like to have a normal life despite the depths she has sunk to. This also becomes her quest, to get “clean.” The book is also quite intense, it’s an unbelievable glimpse into hell on Earth.

Reading this book can also show teen reader that their life is better than it could be, and that they are in fact “normal.” “Anonymous” can also serve as a role model of what not to do. Alice also captures a huge element of uncertainty, and intense descriptions of the horrors of the drug life-style. Long story short, Alice can serve to show teens that drugs mess up your life, but it is done with a(n almost) believable character.


Suggestions for Improvement:


The first and most obvious thing, STOP MARKETING THIS AS A “REAL DIARY!” It probably isn’t. Snopes.com says it is not, other evidence indicates that at worst, it’s a complete fabrication on “the editor’s” part. At best it’s a composite of several girls’ lives, with elements lifted from someone’s diary. In addition, if this is a teen’s diary, the language doesn’t “feel right” in several places.

I also find it hard to believe some of the circumstances she gets into, or some of the feelings she feels. Such as, after she’s clean for a while, she smells pot, and right away she goes and smokes it., and gets into drugs again. I can’t say for sure if it’s realistic, it could be but in this “diary” it feels contrived. I have never suffered from drug addiction, but I had a friend who had, and some things he told me make this almost sound legit.

I also have come to feel that several parts of the book are preachy, and that “Anonymous’” “feelings” are just anti-drug propaganda. If these are someone’s actual thoughts, then great but some of what is said seems contrived, and feels like propaganda.

Although I tend to agree that reading can be vicarious so that something can be safely “tried on,” I can’t help but wonder how many people this book turned on to using drugs.



Genre: Edgy, Banned/Challenged

Clockwork, by Phillip Pullman

Annotation:

Stories tend to take on a life of their own. The local story teller soon finds out how true and fearsome this can be when characters from his story start appearing, and death comes with them.

Justification for Nomination:

On the verge of entering adulthood, and ending his apprenticeship with the local clock maker, Karl and his mentor go to the local tavern to celebrate. Karl though, is in poor spirits because he has not completed his final task to create a new figure for the local clock tower. By failing to do so, he has broken hundreds of years of tradition. The tavern crowd soon learns that the local story teller, Fritz, has completed his new story, and they goad him into telling it.

He does. He tells a grotesque tale, what would now be an urban legend, by asking if they all knew about the business at the palace not long ago. He then proceeds to regale them with the tale of how the king, drove his sleigh and his son home to the palace whipping his horses wildly. The only problem was that the king was stone dead. The Royal Physician finds out that the king’s arm is being driven by mechanical clockwork. The Physician then sought the help of clockwork genius Dr. Kalmenius. Fritz describes him in great detail, only to be dumbstruck when this same Doctor enters the bar.

The bar quickly vacates, except the miserable Karl who confides in Dr. Kalmenius that he has not completed his clockwork figure. Dr. Kalmenius, of course has an answer. That answer is the clockwork figure “Ironsoul.” Ironsoul, of course has a secret that sends him on a murderous rampage under the right conditions. Further characters from Fritz’s story keep popping up, notably a mechanical boy named Florian. The story ends with Karl dead, everyone else in the story is transformed. Florian becomes a real boy, and Fritz writes for politicians.

I support the nomination for this story. I would have to say this book is for the early end of YA; any younger, the reader may be terrified, any older the reader will probably be bored. That said, I think this is a pretty decent entry for YA. Although it doesn’t hit all of the developmental areas, nor is there really one central character, I think some good points are made.

The biggest thing going for it is that it is a developmental marker by itself. It’s a horror novel. Someone just entering into YA territory may feel more grown up just to be reading a taboo genre, such as horror. My wife doesn’t even like me reading horror, and I’m almost thirty. It also brings up an idea of adulthood, and responsibility for one’s actions, or lack of actions. Karl’s duty to achieve manhood was to finish a clockwork figure. He didn’t, and it not only cost him his career and future, but his life as well. Fritz also had a responsibility to finish his story, and he didn’t. His failure to act and finish his story cost someone’s life. In short it addresses who someone is in society, and shows that not performing you role can have tragic results.

This book also stands out because it shows young adults solving the problem of Dr. Kalmenius and Ironsoul after all of the adults have cowardly fled to safety. The landlord’s daughter, in her teens presumably, lets her quick thinking save the day by trying to get Fritz to end his story. He refuses out of fear. Left with no other choice, she does her best to risk her life getting Florian to safety once Ironsoul goes berserk. The book also captures uncertainty, even once she and Florian have fled, she may be in danger of falling from the clock tower. It’s not until the end that we realize she is safe. With a little bit of consideration, and after thought it becomes clear how this novel could have been nominated.

Suggestions for improvement: This book is really short, I also feel that the audience is very narrow. It is well written, and by use of symbolism, and implications I support a nomination. I think though this is tough to convince others of this because the book does not address developmental issues directly. Right now I support the nomination, and it has my vote, but if a better title comes up I could easily leave this one behind. Good book, but not really great.

Genre: Horror

Sky Burial by Xinran

Annotation:

The heart-rending tale of lost love, and the grand adventure to reclaim it. Wen’s journey demonstrates that true love can make the longest journey endurable.

Justification for Nomination:

Wen, a newly wed in 1950’s China, begins to worry when her husband, Kejun, does not return from his unit’s trip to subdue Tibet. She is a doctor, like her husband, and so joins the army and volunteers for duty in Tibet to reclaim him. Upon entering Tibet, her unit comes under attack nightly from locals. Despite this, Wen befriends a Tibetan woman named Zhuoma. Wen finds that her and Zhuoma have much in common, as Zhuoma’s true love has disappeared as well. To sue for peace with the Tibetans, Wen and others from her unit (and Zhuoma) decide to stay in Tibet. From here she continues to search for her husband.

And search she does. She and Zhuoma are taken in by a nomadic Tibetan family, and cared for. Soon Wen has adopted Tibetan dress, and begins to learn their culture. She finds that there are many differences between her culture, and Tibetan cultural and spiritual beliefs. After Zhuoma is kidnapped her hope of finding Kejun is destroyed, as she doesn’t speak Tibetan. Wen writes letters to Kejun in her book, hoping one day to be reunited with him. Years pass, she learns Tibetan, and begins her journey anew. She finds Zhuoma’s love, now a Buddhist monk, and later Zhuoma. After further traveling, she finds information about what happened to Kejun, and learns his ultimate fate. She returns to China more than 30 years after she left, presumably tells the author enough of her story to write this book, is overwhelmed by the societal changes, then disappears, presumably to Tibet.

I almost didn’t nominate this book. The book is quite interesting, and on the surface seems to be nothing but a cultural study of nomadic life in Tibet. Although it’s marketed as a love story, first glance identifies it as detailed culture book. This is all interesting even on its own, but it didn’t seem to necessarily fit as a YA work, except as a “trying on” situation. The book’s pacing is also very steady. It’s not too fast, or too slow, it just is. Almost as if it is an avatar of Buddhism. That was until I gave the book some thought for several days.

What changed my mind is that Wen, though an adult, and eventually far older, is incredibly idealistic, on a quest, and she is out of place in her environment. Her love for Kejun is so strong, and so pure. Though they were only married for weeks before his disappearance, what besides a naïve worldview would cause someone to defy all odds to search for someone literally (from a non-Tibetan’s viewpoint) in the middle of nowhere? If this isn’t a teenage style romance, and extreme idealism, I don’t know what is. Wen is also on a quest in lands unknown. Young adults identify with quests, because in a way being a teenager is the quest to adulthood. Her quest for Kejun is decades long, much like the path to maturity.

This story is also a quest for identity, in that Wen is out of place in Tibet, but after living there long enough, loses her Chinese identity. She questions who she is as a Chinese in Tibet, and later as Chinese (by way of decades in Tibet) in China. She can’t quite fit in anywhere. Wen cultivates a relationship with her host family and Zhuoma, and she goes from being an outsider to practically one of the family. Although the ending, and what happens to Wen is ambiguous, one could assume that the one thing she does find is her identity. It may not be the identity she wanted, and it is definitely not what she set out to find, but she found something on he quest. The author says that she disappeared after their interview, I would like to think that after all her time in Tibet, she found that her identity was now as a Tibetan, and she went back there to live. In this way, I think that Wen’s journey for love, her hope and enthusiasm for finding Kejun, and her ultimate realization of her identity make this a great book for young adults to read.

Suggestions for Improvement:

This book’s pacing needs to be kicked up a notch, as do the feelings of romance. I also think that the feelings in the story could have been presented better. A love story should really touch the heart, and irk some deep feelings out. Sky Burial didn’t do that a lot. I also found it hard to believe that not speaking Tibetan would hinder this brave woman’s search for Kejun for several years or decades. I would have liked to see her make her journey far sooner in life, rather than waste most of her whole life wandering the plains of Tibet. It seems to me that she kind of forgot about looking for her husband while she did chores around the campsite.


Genre: Romance/Love story, Multicultural, Epic Journey

"Jumper" by Steven Gould

Annotation:

While being abused by his father, Davy Rice discovers that he can jump. That is, he can teleport. He discovers that even with the ability to jump, the world is still a dangerous place. Even more so once the Government discovers him.


Justification For Nomination:

Davy Rice discovers that he can jump to anyplace he’s ever been, and uses this ability at first to escape his father’s abuse, and later to escape being raped by a truck driver. He moves to New York, to make it on his own, but due to his status as a minor, finds it difficult to make a living honestly. So he uses his ability to rob a bank, and gets away with it, though he is plagued by guilt and fear afterwards.

Davy at first uses the ability to jump to get ahead financially, for petty revenge, to play tricks on his father, and as a cheap alternative to airfare. He tests his abilities numerous times, and discovers that his powers do have limits. During his stay in New York, he eventually meets a girlfriend, Millie, a few years older than he, and they fall in love, but as his life progresses, he seems to be attracted to individuals intent on harming him. Davy jumps his neighbor to stop a domestic abuse, which gets the NYPD on his trail. While people at parties randomly pick fights with him.

He uses his ability to jump to find, and meet his mother, but after she dies in a terrorist bombing, Davy slumps into depression, and uses his gifts to track down the terrorists. He soon becomes the hunted though as the NSA discover that he can teleport and they hunt him down, popping up in unexpected places with tranquilizers. As they pursue him, he jumps his hunters all over the globe as revenge of sorts. Davy turns the tables by capturing his mother’s murderer, kidnapping a high ranking NSA official and negotiating the release of his girlfriend, and reaches an accord with the NSA. All while still a teenager.

Jumper gets a nomination because this book grabbed, me pulled me in, and jumped me all around the world with Davy. Written in first person perspective, the reader gets to see and feel everything that Davy does. The author crafted these internal events well. This is a character novel, not a superhero novel. In fact the author made Davy so real; I almost believed that I could teleport too. In this respect, it is a great vehicle for a teen to experience independence, as well as what it may be like for someone like them to have super powers.

The book is not only a great thrill ride, but it hits upon some developmental points, and puts Davy, a teen, into a position where he is in power. Davy gains independence from his father at 17, moving to New York. He does steal food, and messes with his father, but realizes that he’s on his own now, and should be more self sufficient. Davy resolves to take nothing else from his father’s house, unless it’s from his own room. He establishes his independence. He even paid his father back for money he took from him.

Davy also enters into a relationship with a woman a few years older than he, defying the sexist opinion of society that the man should be older. He convinces her that if he were older than her, it would be acceptable to society, but since she is older it’s not. His feelings of attraction are normal for a teenager, and his emotional reaction is believable when he reveals to Millie that he is a virgin. They have sex, and later on the relationship grows into something real. They break up briefly, which is complicated by his mother’s death, but in a very adult like fashion, he eventually makes up with her, and they continue the relationship.

He doesn’t seem to be terribly idealistic, except in his morality about killing, and in trying to avoid becoming his father. Early in the book, he had a chance to kill his father, but didn’t. He also could have killed many terrorists, but subdued them instead, and in fact felt guilty when one terrorist committed suicide by bomb. He also was tempted to jump his enemies into rough neighborhoods, but had mercy enough to merely inconvenience them. In fact, he seemed to take some pleasure at just irritating his enemies rather than harming them. One great moment of one-upmanship by Davy: he is surrounded by 5 NSA agents, they want to know who he is, and how he’s doing what he does, he says “We mean no harm to your planet.” I have never laughed so hard in my life.

The power of jumping is also kind of an allegory for the development process, whether done willingly by the author or not. Physically teens are testing out their bodies, Davy tests out his powers. Davy at first doesn’t know the limit of his powers, so throughout the book, he tests their limits, much like a teen tests the limits of what is possible for them to get away with. Once he has mastered one aspect of his ability, he comes up with another way to pioneer a new use for it. He also searches periodically for others like him; much like a teen would search out others like themselves for a sense of identity.

I would classify this more as thriller than Sci-Fi mainly because a Sci-Fi novel, would have delved deeper into the how’s and why’s of jumping. The book spends more time describing Davy’s feelings about things he has done, or considers doing, and he also is incredibly paranoid of people watching and catching him. From robbers and police, in the beginning and middle, to the NSA and terrorists at the end, someone is always after Davy.

One additional note about the book, though published in 92-93, it is incredibly relevant today, with mentions of Shiite and Sunni Muslims, terrorist hijackings and Davy’s personal war on terror, and Government officials illegally wiretapping citizens. I was surprised this book was written in 92 after reading it, because 15 or so years later, these issues have only grown in importance.

Suggestions for Improvement: none. a practically flawless novel.


Genre: Thriller, Science fiction, adventure

"Red Scarf Girl" by Ji Li Jiang

Annotation:

Caught up in a tempest of conflicting political, familial loyalties, and moral ambiguity Ji Li Jiang must decide right from wrong during China’s Cultural Revolution. Will she choose loyalty to her family, or loyalty to her country?


Justification for Nomination:

12-year-old Ji Li Jiang wants to help her country’s revolution against capitalism by joining the Junior Red Guard, and helping them rid their community of “The Four Olds.” The Four Olds are: “Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Ideas.” She is quite zealous at first, suggesting ways to rename “Old” store names, with new revolutionary names. She has good reason to, she and her family had supported previous edicts given by their “Beloved Chairman Mao,” And she feels that his most recent revolutionary idea, getting rid of the Four Olds, is by far the most relevant. Until she realizes that her family’s class status is looked down upon in the new order of things.

To back up a bit, for those who don’t know, in the early days of Chinese Communism, Chairman Mao was practically deified by the people, especially so during the Cultural Revolution. Much of the populace followed him and his orders more or less blindly. Many read his famous quotations the “Red Book” as though it were a religious scripture. This is the dangerous power that he held. His goal, as stated in Red Scarf Girl was to elevate the working class, to an equal, or even higher status than those of the upper class. In particular disdain was capitalists, “rightists,” and landlords. Ji Li’s grandfather (who died when her father was 7) was a landlord, which makes her unfit in the eyes of many to participate in the new regime, much to her dismay.

As Ji Li finds out, the class status of her long dead grandfather impacts their family’s status during this reign of terror. Her Grandmother is labeled as a “landlord’s wife,” and her father as a “rightist.” Her class-mates chastise her class status as well, and exclude her from many activities. Ji Li begins to hate her family and class status, but she soon grows to disagree with the Red Guards and Communist system as it begins to impact the people she cares about. Her family’s friends are detained for political reasons; her neighbor’s houses are searched. She soon despises, and fears just about everything going around her, once her house is searched, and her father is eventually jailed as a rightist. Her longing for a normal life has been thwarted by the government and people around her. She is utterly powerless. Taking care of her family makes her a landlord, following the government means she must break ties with her family.

This book has been nominated because it shows the idealism of the young people, but more particularly what happens when that idealism has been corrupted by a absolute power given by the government. Students rebel against teachers, and their parents all in the name of a “higher purpose,” the revolution. All curriculums in the schools have been replaced with subjects of use to the government. It’s also great because Ji Li is caught up in it in the beginning, but even as she participates in the revolution, she feels something is wrong. She does things she doesn’t necessarily agree with to fit in, and support the “crusade,” but as the revolution strikes closer to home she makes a stand of sorts to stand with her family, who truly need her.

Her quest throughout the story is to support the revolution, but as the world around her spirals out of control, and her class status comes into question, her desire is to escape everyone’s notice and to be normal. Her enthusiasm is evident when she sees a “wicked landlord’s” house searched, and the occupant degraded, but this enthusiasm changes to fear, anger, and resentment as the searches target those close to her and eventually her own family. Her identity, and quest to find who she is, is called into question and changed at every step in the story. She ultimately decides that her class status will always be a barrier to being accepted in society, and chooses to remain identified with her family.

Ji Li further takes on adult responsibilities, she takes her grandmother to the doctor, she cares for her younger siblings, she shops for the family’s food, and when her mother falls ill and her father is arrested, she further takes on a more adult introspective process, along with the responsibilities. She also perseveres through uncertainty, solves many problems on her own, and she always attempts to be socially responsible until it conflicts with her family.

This book not only hits many of the teen development areas, but the author does it well. She also shows also shows clearly what happens when a society is turned upside down, when rights are infringed upon, and shows how that can affect a developing person’s decision process. A very well written book, which I cannot find any faults with. The closest thing to a perfect 10 young adult book that I have seen yet.

Suggestions for Improvement:

The ending is a little bit abrupt, but the author makes up for it with a great epilogue. It's the author's first book, so this is hardly a matter to pick apart.

Genre: Historical Fact, Autobiography, Multicultural

“If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor” By Bruce Campbell

Annotation:

B-Movie Actor, Bruce Campbell reveals “the man behind the curtain,” the dark side of the film industry, and shows that making it even as a B-actor is not as easy as you might think.

Justification for Nomination:

Bruce starts his autobiography with his childhood in Michigan, and the many adventures he had alone and with his brothers. He and his brothers burned, flooded, and other wise destroyed plastic green army men, they built forts, and shot bottle-rockets at their alcoholic neighbor. The coup-de-grace of their pranks, in my opinion, was the fake UFO they created from balsa wood, candles, and laundry bags which actually alarmed several locals. Adolescence comes not long afterwards, and he not only deals with the normal awkward teen issues, but falls in with a group of friends who have an affinity for making homemade movies.

Bruce gets bit by the acting bug while making movies with his friends that are well received by the community, and while doing local theater. His big coming of age moment is when he and friend Sam Raimi (Director of Spider-Man) procure funds, and actually make their first movie, Evil Dead. Much time is spent describing the whole Evil Dead experience. Thanks to word of mouth, and some lip service from Stephen King, the movie recoups the debt they owed. Bruce gives great details about his difficulties finding work as an actor, how difficult that really is, and the affects that this had on his marriage and personal life. After the success of Evil Dead, he had a life filled with uncertainty for several years. Despite the uncertainty of income, and livelihood, he gained roles in commercials, Coen brothers films, and films such as Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness, Maniac Cop, Congo, Mchale’s Navy, and other movies. He also describes his meetings with various actors, such as Charlton Heston, David Carradine, Tom Arnold, French Stewart, and Liam Neeson. He wraps up the book with his experiences doing TV shows, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., and Xena: Warrior Princess, as well as a summary of what it means to be an actor in that crazy pseudo-world. It’s his behind the scenes tales of movies and the people who make them.

Teens will love this book, because he starts where they have been, childhood, and then moves through his adolescence, and his change in interests. He also embarks on a quest, to be an actor and make his living by this craft. He is joined by some friends who are able to help him in this quest to become an actor. He has a coming of age moment on the quest, which is to successfully make and market his first film with his friends, and they succeed. He has failures after this, but successes too. The book is really about his ongoing quest to be an actor that can make a living, while at the same time staying sane, in an insane business. He doesn’t pull any punches, and shows that making it as an actor is incredibly tough, but rewarding in its own way. His book portrays how one man found himself, and achieved his own identity.

Bruce also depends on adults early on into his twenties to finance Evil Dead, but then later removes himself from that need. He and his friends also solve the problem of financing, making, and selling a film against steep odds anddo it successfully. The importance of his relationships with his friends is emphasized throughout his story, mainly because they usually make movies together. Finally, teens may think that becoming an actor is an easy way to make a life; sadly this is rarely the case. By reading Bruce Campbell’s autobiography teens can “try on” this life style, and see if it’s right for them, or at the very least learn more about it.

Suggestions for improvement:

In some spots his writing is confusing. At the start of one paragraph he’s doing odd jobs in Michigan, but at the end he’s a security guard in California with no real clarification as to how he had arrived there.

Genre: Auto-Biography, Film, Acting

The Last Mall Rat by Erik Esckilsen

Annotation:

Tired of rude, obnoxious customers? Hire local teens to harass them! Guaranteed revenge, or your money back! Caveat Emptor!

Justification for Rejection:

Mitch, too young to work at the mall, hangs out there instead, hence the mallrat of the title. He has sort of befriended “The Chair,” an extremely successful, and sycophantic (to the customers anyway) shoe salesman. One customer though, pushes him over the edge, and The Chair hires Mitch to get revenge by uttering the phrase, “Caveat Emptor” (buyer beware) and creep her out as she enters her car. It works, and before Mitch can realize what has happened, he has become popular at school, and the go-to-guy for revenge on customers throughout the whole mall.
Soon, Mitch gets his friends involved, including one, Jimmy Biggins. Jimmy is a trouble maker, and relishes his new “job” to torment customers. Things get out of hand quickly, as the number of incidents sky rockets, and Jimmy accidentally assaults a man and ends up wanted by the whole town. Soon, Jimmy becomes a martyr to all of the teens when he goes into hiding, which causes many teens to wonder about the mall chanting Big-gins, and freaking out customers. Mitch soon comes to the conclusion that the only way to put a stop to it is to turn himself in. He and his friends are sentenced, with Jimmy’s fate left unknown, though Jimmy may end up in juvenile detention.

OK, so why does this book get a rejection you may ask? Well, it is an entertaining read, and a good book, but it doesn’t quite meet my expectations. Although Mitch is quasi-idealistic, and takes up a quest to plague customers. The book is told in first person narrative, which starts out OK, but doesn’t really delve into the character, Mitch’s emotions. First person would be a great way to get into Mitch’s head, but the author doesn’t do it much. Instead, we get quasi-elaborate explanations of the secretary’s hair color, which he notices in the principal’s office. He suspects the principal of knowing about his “business,” and tries to look innocent in the office, and this is all that’s described. He thinks about how likely it is that he has been caught, but there is no mention of his emotions the whole time he is in the office, just descriptions of scenery. Another example is when he enters the interrogation room at the police station, we get a great description of how the room compares to those seen on TV, and what the table and lighting are like, but nothing about say, a gut wrenching, sweaty palm feeling upon entering. He then negotiates with the police captain like a grownup/seasoned criminal, which is a little hard to swallow given his circumstance. Young adult novels should show empowered teens, but this is not realistic (which the story is). To contrast, earlier in the novel, he talked about the uneasy feeling, and the excitement he got from scaring customers when he started.

The author also does little to address the character’s morality. He does get a little bit into how Mitch wonders if he’s wrong, or if his parents found out, but Mitch really has no internal conflict when he does these things. He does realize later on that he’s in trouble, and seeks to put a stop to it, before it escalates, but something is lacking. His thoughts on the matter are not portrayed that well. The first half of the novel, we get a sense of increasing danger, and thrill, but then suddenly Mitch stops the train, and the rest of the novel deals with the school kids harassing the mall, how can he help Jimmy, discussions with his father about what he should do, and how does he stop it. The remainder of the novel doesn’t really deal with the repercussions of what he did, and the thrill element is gone. I would expect the thrill to turn into panic, or something, but the story just coasts to the end. It ends with kind of a Deus ex machina ending, with the character getting off with a slap on the wrist for his crimes, and things are really no different than in the beginning.

Overall, this book is mildly entertaining to read in the beginning, but after the “let’s turn ourselves” bit, it falls short of a satisfying ending. Even after Mitch gives his statement to the cops, the drama of a trial, and Jimmy’s fate is skipped, and left open. The epilogue instead focuses on his father’s lecture about urban sprawl, and the community coming together, which was a very loose theme throughout the novel. Teens may be confused what the point of the story is, and may even think it’s a good way to earn money, especially since the kids got away with it (mostly).

In short, decent story for fun, hits a few points of teen development, but not that well. It falls short of being worthy of a nomination, because it is average. Read it for fun, enjoy it, but don’t expect award material. The one thing you should take away is be nice to the people working in the mall, you never know when someone will follow you to your car and say, “Caveat Emptor.”


Genre: Fiction, Problem Novel

Record of Lodoss War by Ryu Mizuno, and Yoshihiko Ochi

Record of Lodoss War: The Grey Witch: A Gathering of Heroes

Annotation:

Lord of the Rings meets Manga. Young Parn talks some strangers into following him on a damn-fool-idealistic crusade.

Justification For Nomination:

Lodoss, the Accursed Island, has know peace for some time after the six heroes defeated a great evil. Emperor Beld of the island of Marmo, formerly one of the six heroes, leads an army of ogres, goblins, and dark elves to conquer Lodoss. He is aided/manipulated by Karla, the Grey Witch to do so.

Parn, a young teenage-ish type of guy, starts off his quest by trying save his village from goblins. Being still a youth, the townsfolk disregard his warning. He then gets into conflict with the goblins who actually were ready to invade (imagine that, no one listens to the kid!). Parn is saved from the goblins by Etoh (his childhood friend), Ghim (a cantankerous dwarf), Deedlit (a young looking but ancient high-elf), and Sorcerer Slayn. Parn talks them all into joining him on his quest to be a holy knight, like his father before him. The party arrives in the city of Allan where they uncover a Marmo plot to kill the local royalty. In this town the thief Woodchuck joins their party. Soon fate uncovers the fact that Marmo is invading Lodoss with a sizeable army. Idealistic Parn, incensed that the Allanians will not fight, decides to lead his party to Valis to raise help there.

This graphic novel will grab teens’ attention on page 1 with great character designs, and an idealistic young hero. Teens will also relate to Parn’s quest to become a knight, because that will basically allow him to be seen by the world as trustworthy grownup, and not the child everyone sees now. Parn’s also jumps headlong into action, which is what many teens do, and when it gets him into trouble, his friends save him. This further emphasizes the importance of friendships during teen years. To sum it all up, Parn serves as an archetype for teen development. Even his wiser/older friend Deedlit the Elf, can serve as an icon for teen girls, though to a lesser extent. She is smart and thinks things through, and is also more mature than Parn, but still possessing a youthful enthusiasm despite her great age. In other words, girls mature faster than boys. Many teens will identify with these two characters at least, if not the story. It has everything teens love: heroes to identify with, romance, great character designs, a quest/fantasy story, clearly defined good vs. evil (grays are just starting to come into focus though), lastly, it is manga (teens love it right now!)



Suggestions for improvement:

Some scenes/motives aren’t that clear. Sometimes dialogue will be there, but not really apply to anything. Only upon re-reading, or looking at the pictures can some things be fully understood. Also, the lack of narration boxes is unusual, even for manga. Asied from that, this is a pretty good story, and a quick read. There are also some mini-series on DVD that are phenomonal.

Genre: Manga, graphic novel, fantasy

Bronx Masquerade, by Nikki Grimes

Annotation:

Bronx teens with little love for each other discover a common bond and empathy for each other through poetry.


Justification for Nomination:

Tyrone is a high school student at an unnamed Bronx high school；he is the central character that provides a central point for readers to identify with. Each character in Mr. Ward’s English class is given a chance to do an open-mic poetry slam every week. Each poem is read by a different student, and before they read their poem, they share their internal thoughts with the reader. Though the characters start out indifferent, or overtly hostile towards each other, through the hearing of the poems they grow to respect one another’s differences.

What makes this such a great book is that there are so many characters that get to tell their story. Each person has their own quirks, things they can’t stand about themselves, and things they think will make them happy. Lupe considers getting pregnant to become happy, because she sees how happy her friend Gloria (who is a single mom) is. It is then revealed that Gloria is not as happy as Lupe thinks. Some characters like Raul are idealistic, he wants to become an artist. Others are uncomfortable with how they look, and try to fit in with the other kids. Sheila Gamberoni, an Italian wants to be black. Another student who is a mixed race African-American wishes she was darker, and had less perfect hair so she could fit in.

Each character in this book seems like a living, breathing person. They bare their soul to the reader, and then tell a poem to the class about their feelings. The teens are idealistic, searching for an identity, trying on different roles, and becoming introspective in their thoughts and poems. The book also gets points for combining poetry/verse, with internal monologues, and inter-character dialogues. The book also addresses race relations, and does so with the characters learning to respect and accept each other. By the end of the book, color has been blurred. Lastly, these teens are in an inner city school, of various ethnic backgrounds, and I think all of them are portrayed in a positive light. It is an interesting read, that doesn’t dwell on the bitterness of inner city life, and offers hope.


Suggestions for improvement:

This book is great, I only wish that the teens’ self reflections were longer.

Genre: Poetry/Verse,

Street Love, by Walter Dean Myers

Annotation:

The acclaimed author Walter Dean Myers weaves an updated Romeo & Juliet-esque tail of forbidden romance by means of verse.

Justification for Nomination:

Damien, a youth in Harlem with a promising future; falls in love with Junice. Junice is not the average young lady, however since her mother was just sentenced to 25 years in prison for selling drugs, and she and her sister move in with their grandmother.

Damien and Junice fall in love, and begin dating each other. Damien’s mother thinks he should pursue his childhood friend Roxanne, and his friend Kevin tries to talk him out of his “infatuation” with Junice. Junice’s mother feels betrayed that her daughter isn’t trying to get her out of prison and instead is focusing on her relationship with Damien. The ending is more cheerful than Romeo & Juliet, in that they end up together, however the reader can be lead to believe that the future will not be easy.

Myers’ characters use poetic verse throughout the novel, this is done extremely well. I can almost feel the words flowing off of the page the words are so smooth. The characters feelings are dealt with through verse, as are their conversations with one another. Each character also has a different style of flow which works to convey that character’s mood. Junice’s rhymes feel unsure, while Damien’s spew forth confidence that his love for Junice is real. Junice’s social worker’s lines don’t really flow and come off as cold and uncaring.

The reason that this book deserves a nomination is because it has teens dealing with their very real feelings. Their uncertainty for the future. Damien’s idealism is so strong, it could only come from a teenager; while his disagreement with his mother’s view of Junice is ripe for testing the adult boundaries. Junice’s uncertainty about living with her grandmother, and Damien’s intentions is also conveyed. Junice is also embarrassed that she lives in the bad part of town, and that her mother is in prison, and wonders how this will affect Damien’s feelings for her. Damien’s passion for Junice puts him at odds with his mother, and gets him into a fight with a local thug.

We also have the teens stepping into the role of grownup, and not being able to go back. Junice ends up raising her younger sister because her grandmother is senile. She also tends to do the grocery shopping for the family. In many ways, Junice is more adult than most of the grownups in the story. Damien too steps up into an adult role by pursuing the runaway Junice to the Greyhound stop enroute to Memphis (from Harlem). He steps into the role by promising to provide for, and protect Junice, and her sister. Both Damien and Junice are more grown up than their parents, who offer cheap excuses, and immature viewpoints. Their parents are oblivious to the whole situation of the kids.

This book is also great because the teens in the story are so alive, and real. This is a story about African-American teens trying to get by through all of the crap society throws at them, and turn out alright. Teens will also identify how both sets of parents are out of touch with the situations of the protagonists.

Suggestions for improvement: I give the author credit for not ending on a bleak note. Although Damien, and Junice end up together, I don’t see a happy future for them, only one paved with bitterness and resentment.


Genre: Poetry/Verse