Revenge of the Witch

Book: Revenge of the Witch (Book One of The Last Apprentice)
Author: Joseph Delaney
Audience: Grades 5 to 8
In a Nutshell: an apprentice spook accidentally lets a nasty witch out of her hole

Thomas Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son, which doesn't leave him a lot of career options. With the family land and the more desirable apprenticeships already taken by his brothers, he's left with apprenticing as a feared but needed spook- a man who takes care of witches, ghosts and other unwelcome supernatural problems in the villages. Plus, according to his mam, he is destined to fill this position. The current spook, Gregory, is a strict but fair master, and Thomas has a lot to learn quickly. Things like how to deal with witches. For the worst of the lot, you can't kill them, because they'll just come back in a more dangerous form. You stick them in a hole and keep them alive, but barely. It seems cruel to Thomas, but he soon learns the wisdom of it when he is tricked into feeding nasty old Mother Malkin a special strengthening blood muffin (or something equally disgusting), and she escapes and goes after her favorite delicacy: little children. The "Mother"nickname is ironic. And she's not the only Nasty out there. The life of a spook is a lonely one; the town and even Thomas's own family may not welcome him anymore, but they need him.

Good creepy reading, and the first of a series.

Avalon High

Book: Avalon High
Author: Meg Cabot
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: King Arthur & Co. reappear in high school form

Elaine is the new kid at Avalon High. Her professor parents have moved from Minnesota to Annapolis, MD, for their one-year sabbatical. Elaine is just biding her time, floating in the pool and waiting for the year to be over so she can go back to her own friends and school. But then she meets Will on a jog in the park, and she is drawn into a high school drama with characters that bear an uncanny resemblance to King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, and the rest.

Fun reading, even if I did guess the ending very early on; slightly more meaty than Cabot's usual fun fluff, thanks to the infusion of Arthurian legend, but still easy going.

The Dragonslayer (Bone, book 4)

Book: The Dragonslayer (Bone, Vol. 4)
Author/Illust.: Jeff Smith
Audience: Grades 4 to 7 or so
In a Nutshell: Thorn chops an arm and accepts her destiny

If you've never read the Bone series of graphic novels, by all means, do it. Start at the beginning, with Out from Boneville. They're quick reads, they're clever and funny and all-around top-shelf material. After a few pages you forget that the protagonist is a lovable little femur (or something). And one of the rat creature cronies is obsessed with not merely eating the good guys, but baking them in a quiche. That's really funny to me.

The Goblin Wood

Book: The Goblin Wood
Author: Hilari Bell
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: hedgewitch leads goblins, knight tries to catch hedgewitch, nothing is as simple as it seemed

Makenna is a hedgewitch with limited power. She and her mother's kind used to be quietly accepted and used by the villages for healing and spells. Then the Hierarch and his priests declared all non-official magic evil. The villagers killed her mother, but she escaped, flooded the village, and swore off all human relationships. The goblins, who have also been declared evil and are no longer fed and appeased nearly so often, follow her and cleverly torment her until she finally captures one named Cogswallop, which starts her friendship with the goblins.
Five years later, she has become their "general" as the goblins drive away the increasing number of human settlers coming beyond the (human-built) Goblin Wall and into their northern woods.

Tobin, an honorable young knight convicted, punished, and exiled for a crime his brother commited, has a chance to redeem himself by leading the Hierarch's forces to the "Sorceress" controlling the goblins. He is soon captured by Makenna and the goblin army and gradually discovers that the goblins are not mindless savages, Makenna is not an evil sorceress, and the Hierarch and his priests do not have the pure motives he once thought they did.

I have yet to read a less-than-really-good book by Hilari Bell. She weaves in enough complex politics within her worlds to make the story that much more interesting, but never so much as to get confusing. Makenna is a fierce and independent character, and Tobin is very likable despite his oversimplified black-and-white views of the world early on. They both change and grow and there's action and adventure and cute goblin children and ain't that just the way a good book should go down?

Blue Bloods

Book: Blue Bloods
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: blood-sucking New York socialites really are blood-suckers

Schuyler Van Alen comes from old money and an old New York family, but the money has run low, and even her historic name doesn't keep her from being an outcast at Duchesne, a prestigious private school where most of the students can trace their ancestors back to the Mayflower. She and friends Oliver and newcomer Dylan keep to themselves and prefer more of a grunge/goth look to their classmates' uber-style. But just like some of her fellow sophomores, Schuyler has begun to get prominent blue veins and flashbacks to places and times she's never been.

Turns out she's a Blue Blood, better known as a vampire. They do feed on human blood, but not to the death, and after about a hundred years in one body, they go into a sort of blood hibernation until a drop of their blood is entered into another body and they are reborn. They are fallen angels who no longer follow Lucifer, but wish to regain God's favor and re-enter heaven. The same vamps have lived over and over since the time of ancient Egypt. But now something is happening to Blue Bloods. One of Schuyler's classmates is found murdered, drained dry by another Blue Blood. The leaders don't want to admit it, but the dreaded Silver Bloods have returned to gain power through the blood strength of other Blue Bloods.

I didn't want to like this book (needed to clean up my pile quickly), and I'm not entirely sure I did, but I couldn't stop reading. The constant label- and name-dropping irritated me to no end, but I wanted to know what would happen next. De la Cruz reveals the mystery of who BB's are very gradually, darn her. The ending is a huge set-up for the forthcoming books in the series. I would recommend this for older teen vampire fans, especially those drawn to Laurell K. Hamilton, mostly because vamp readers usually can't get enough and this isn't too bad. Maybe more fashion-minded readers will like all the name-dropping more, but it just got on my nerves.

Freedom Walkers

Book: Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Author: Russell Freedman
Audience: Grades 5-8
In a Nutshell: "My feets is tired, but my soul is rested."

Every school child past the age of 10 has heard of the Montgomery bus boycott, or at least they should have. But I realized that there were a lot of interesting parts of the story that I'd never heard, or at least had long forgotten. That's the great thing about Freedman's books: even for an occasional non-fiction reader like myself, the topics he picks are always engaging, the narrative is well written, and he finds the best photos available to illustrate. He's one of the only nonfic authors whose books I will pick up based on author alone and know I will leave the experience with more interest in the topic.

The Rules of Survival

Book: The Rules of Survival
Author: Nancy Werlin
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: When your mother is dangerous and you have no one to go to for help, who do you go to for help?

Matthew’s earliest memory is of his mother, Nikki, smashing one chair after another against the kitchen wall, for no reason. Now he’s thirteen, he has two younger sisters, and the three of them live on constant high alert; say the right thing and go through the motions of being happy and normal, or she’ll snap and instantly she’ll change from loving mother to dangerous monster. Sometimes she hits them, or threatens them with a kitchen knife, or screams at them and says horrible things. Sometimes it’s worse. Matthew tries to protect his sisters by taking her anger on himself, but that doesn’t always work. He knows this isn’t living; this is just surviving, but it’s all he knows how to do.

Then one Saturday night, after he sneaks out while Nikki is off partying, Matthew meets a man-- well, “meets” isn’t the right word. He only makes eye contact for a moment. It’s right after he sees this man stand up to some jerk who’s threatening his own son. The man’s name is Murdoch, and somehow Matthew is convinced that Murdoch can help them, maybe even save them. But he doesn’t know Murdoch’s last name, or anything about him, and Boston is a big city. Even if Matthew can find him, what does he expect one stranger to do when his own father is afraid to get involved? He doesn’t really know, but he can’t let six-year-old Emmy grow up in fear the way he and Callie have. But Nikki is unpredictable and very dangerous; the price of their freedom will be high, and not just for them.

If I could’ve read this book while driving, showering, and sleeping to avoid putting it down, I would have. It’s a gripping, perfectly-paced story about abuse, the good and bad sides of fear, the difference one person can make, and the pain we cause by just standing by.

Larklight

Book: Larklight: A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space
Author: Philip Reeve (Illustrator: David Wyatt)
Audience: Grades 4-7
In a Nutshell: Victorian space adventure (yes, really!) with pirates, giant spiders, and a touch of romance

Art Mumby, his older sister Myrtle, and their scientist father live at Larklight, their old and quirky home in orbit just beyond the moon. Art dreams of adventure, and Myrtle dreams of visiting proper society on Earth- more specifically, in London, at the grand, soon-to-be-opened Crystal Palace commissioned by Her Majesty Queen Victoria. They both soon find much more excitement than they bargained for when giant white spiders attack Larklight and capture their father. The siblings manage to escape, and soon find themselves rescued by the notorious pirate Jack Havock, who turns out to be no older than Myrtle. His crew of assorted aliens are really a good sort, but then again, when's the last time you read an adventure story with pirates who were really, truly bad? The spiders haven't given up on finding Art and Myrtle; they seem to think there's a very important key to Larklight, and they won't stop chasing the Mumby's until they have it in their creepy, spidery clutches.

The action blasts from the moon, to Venus, to Mars, to the dangerous and mysterious rings of Saturn, then back to Earth, as Art and Myrtle are separated and eventually reunited as each one does their part to stay alive and save the solar system from destruction (those spiders aren't messing around). I adore Philip Reeve's Hungry City Chronicles for teens and adults, and this is just as good, plus appropriate for the grade school crowd. The action is non-stop, the world is clever and imaginative and full of great creatures like hoverhogs and the Tentacle Twins, and the characters are vivid and likable. Myrtle got on my nerves at first, being all stereotypically proper and girly, but she kicks butt in her own way by the end. Oh, and there are plenty of pen and ink illustrations, which is very helpful in trying to visualize all the fastastical creatures and places. Don't expect space and space travel to behave exactly like they do in real life, but once you hard-core realists get over it, this book is fantastic fun. If it weren't for Reeve's pesky British citizenship, I would put this on my personal Newbery Award shortlist.

Rash

Book: Rash
Author: Pete Hautman
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: things get dangerous when you put safety first

I've put off blogging this book for a long time, and I think it's because I liked it so much. I wanted to be sure to cover everything that I thought was great, and do it justice, and that has resulted in doing nothing at all. So I'm diving in.

Bo Marston has anger management issues, and it runs in the family. His father has been in a work camp for years thanks to a road rage incident, and Bo's mother is afraid he's headed in the same direction. The year is 2076, and the U.S.S.A. has hit the extremes of certain recent trends in this satirical view of the future. Renamed the United Safer States of America several years previously, American society has decided it would "rather be safe than free." Angry or aggressive behavior results in very harsh punishment. Football and all other contact sports are illegal; even running high school track, Bo must wear more padding than a hockey goalie. Not that hockey is legal. Anything that has been deemed unhealthy is also banned, including smoking, drinking, and junk food; obesity itself is illegal.

Bo's anger lands him in jail on the frozen tundra, where he's forced to work in a pizza factory, play illegal football, and survive with the help of a homework assignment named Bork. This survival adventure story has come back to mind more times than almost any book I read that year, probably because signs abound around us that being safe is becoming more important than anything else, including having fun or being free. Or maybe people are just getting stupider. The Onion thinks so too. Whatever the reason, if you like "dangerous" things like sports, junk food, and real see-saws, and want a story with lots of action, humor, and something to think about, try Rash.

The End

Book: The End (Book the Thirteenth in A Series of Unfortunate Events)
Author: Lemony Snicket
Audience: Grades 4-8
In a Nutshell: the Baudelaires are shipwrecked on an island w/ pieces of the last 12 books; and The End is not the end.

Here it is at long-awaited last: Book 13.

I liked it. It answered some questions. Left some others to the imagination. But at last, we know who Beatrice is. Did anybody guess? I didn't. But then, I'm a bad guesser.

The All-New Tenchi Muyo!

Book: The All-New Tenchi-Muyo! Vol. 7
Author: Hitoshi Okuda
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: One 17-year-old boy, some hyperactive alien women, a space pirate, a carrot-eating spaceship and more

Tenchi and his wacky group of alien girls help a girl learn to walk again; her motivation is seeing Tsunami, their tree spirit, and writing a picture book about him.

manga sub-genre: harem comedy

Storky

Book: Storky: How I Lost My Nickname and Won the Girl
Author: D. L. Garfinkle
Audience: High School
In a Nutshell: freshman guy's diary of love, Scrabble, and a fat dentist

To be honest, I read this a long time ago, and the only notes I kept were the nutshell description above, and a list of important names. And in the many months between then and now, the actual details have faded. In an effort to get caught up with posting, I'm leaving it there, so here you go:

Mike Pomerantz (a.k.a. Storky), Gina, Nate, sis Amanda, Sydney, old Duke.

I will also say that I remember it being very solidly from a teen guy's perspective, so you can guess where his mind is most of the time. Reminds me a little of Gary Paulsen's Amazing Life of Birds, where the main character spends a lot of time seeing ELBOWS everywhere, but elbows is not really the portion of anatomy he's talking about. Storky has a little older content, but they're both funny guy diaries, so maybe that's why they are connected in my mind. Some family drama with a not-entirely-welcome new father figure, and a relationship with an old guy who plays Scrabble that becomes very important in his life. That's all I've got for now.

Fruits Basket

Book: Fruits Basket, Volume 1
Author: Natsuki Takaya
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: orphan girl finds new friends with crazy zodiac animal powers

Those Left Behind (Serenity graphic novel)

Book: Those Left Behind (a Serenity graphic novel)
Author: Joss Whedon
Artist: Will Conrad
Audience: Teen to Adult
In a Nutshell: what happened between Firefly (TV) tand Serenity (movie)

If you are a Browncoat, you should read this graphic novel. If you are a Browncoat, you probably already own this graphic novel. If you don't know what a Browncoat is, welcome to the fan world of Firefly, a marvelous but short-lived western sci-fi series by the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was truly one of the best sci-fi series to come around in the last 10 years, so of course Fox gave it the shaft. But it lived on in the hearts and DVD collections of rabid fans everywhere, and by some miracle Joss Whedon actually got a theatrical movie released to follow it up. The show and the movie are very, very shiny, to use Firefly lingo. I won't go into detail, but I'll throw the term "mercenary space cowboys" out there and let you rent/borrow/buy the DVD's and fall in love with Firefly yourself.

This graphic novel fills in a story that takes place between the end of the show and where the movie picks up. Without being a critical piece of the Firefly universe, the story does manage to be very interesting and relevant to the characters. But those of us who get all starry-eyed when Joss Whedon's name is mentioned have come to expect no less.

Eyes of the Storm (Bone, Book 3)

Book: Eyes of the Storm (Bone, Book 3)
Author: Jeff Smith
Audience: Grades 4-7
In a Nutshell: Bones and humans (and a dragon) against a returning evil

This excellent graphic novel series continues with Bone, Thorn, Grandma, Phoney, Smiley, and the rest of the people (and bones) in the Valley preparing to fight the big bad evil that's coming in the form of rat creatures and some creepy hooded figure who serves the ancient, powerful, hive-minded Locusts. Ooooo...

The Last Days

Book: The Last Days
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: supernatural rock summons giant evil worms

In this sequel to Peeps, when strangers Moz and Pearl save a precious Stratocaster guitar from a fall out a window, it's the birth of their rock band. Along with Zahler on bass, Alana Ray on drums (make that paint buckets), and somewhat functional peep Minerva on vocals, they make otherworldly music with Minerva's ancient, inhuman lyrics that draws peeps (vampires) like, well, like vampires to a blood bank. Eventually the higher purpose of their music becomes clear as they team up with Cal, Lace, and the rest of the Night Guard from Peeps, who finally show up about two-thirds of the way through the book, and stage a series of outdoor concerts that draw out both the worms and the peeps to fight them.

The majority of the book is heavily descriptive of the formation of the band and the music they learn to make together. It's interesting reading if you're into music, but I've gotta say I was glad to see Cal and Co. finally show up and get the plot moving. It all wrapped up pretty neatly and quickly, seeing as how the music part took up so much real estate, but vampire fans, fans of Peeps , and rock-band-minded readers will probably like it.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 1: The Pox Party

Book: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; Volume 1: The Pox Party
Author: M.T. Anderson
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: a young boy is a slave, an experiment, then a rebel fighter in revoluntionary America

Like I've said before, I looove M.T. Anderson. And here he's written another very original, distinctive, disturbing book that sticks in your mind a long time after the last page turns, whether you want it there or not. And he won the National Book Award for it, so bravo! That said, this is not an easy read. It's written in impressively accurate 18th-century-style English, and it's long. Octavian and his mother, Casseopeia, are African slaves owned by a group of radical scientists and scholars called the Novanglian College of Lucidity. In the sober city of Boston, they live in opulence and are treated as exotic royalty, but Octavian must weigh his food and feces. When their fortunes shift and a harsh new benefactor takes control, the experiment of Octavian and his mother takes a dark turn: scientific proof of the inferiority of the African races. I won't give away the details, but some horrible things happen, and Octavian's personal account goes silent. The story picks up in secondary sources and through the letters of a revolutionary soldier as Octavian ends up with the man's unit. The history depicted is slightly alternative, but similar enough to the history books to make readers take a good hard look at what they think they know about the American Revolution.

The book is chock full of themes of human rights, freedom, friendship, and the fuzziness of right and wrong, good and bad in the American Revolution-- and by extension, the whole American experience? Or any world-changing conflict? Let's say yes. After all, that's the sort of thing they hand out National Book Awards for.

Part Two is coming (sometime) and even though I generally have little to no interest in revolutionary fiction, I can't wait.

The House Next Door

Book: The House Next Door
Author: Richie Tankersley Cusick
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: ghostly gothic love and tragedy

Emma has a funny feeling about the old abandoned house next door, but when her twin brother dares her to spend the night there alone, she can't back down. The dream she has is vivid and frightening: she's wearing old-fashioned clothes, and she is trying to run away with the man she loves. But the there's blood and a fire, something tragic is happening, and Emma wakes up in the present day. Except she's not quite alone: there's a constant presence she's sure isn't her imagination, and she woke up wearing a ring. It's the same ring that her true love gave her in the dream.

Fans of supernatural romance shouldn't miss this one. It's got tragic ghostly (and handsome) boys, haunted houses, danger, psychic connections...all the elements you've come to enjoy in this kind of book.

Romiette and Julio

Book: Romiette and Julio
Author: Sharon Draper
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: Romeo and Juliet with a modern interracial twist

Romiette is a black high school student in Cincinatti. Her best friend, Destiny, claims to have strong psychic abilities and swears that Romi will soon meet her soul mate- not that any of the boys at school really interest Romi. Then one evening in a chatroom, she logs on as afroqueen and meets spanishlover, and they really hit it off. Turns out they go to the same school.
Julio is a Latino boy who just moved to town from Texas. He hates everything about Ohio, except the amazing girl he just met. It's love at first sight for Romi and Julio. They would be floating on Cloud 9 if it weren't for the gangs at school, who don't approve of a Hispanic boy and black girl dating. Even their loving parents, who have their own racial baggage, don't accept the relationship right away. Conflict and near tragedy ensue, but love and understanding win out in the end.

I thought it was a likable, readable story, but a little uneven in quality. The dialogue is sometimes very authentic, and other times very forced. I mean, what teenager uses appositives in everyday speech? But most readers won't care about this. The romance, likable characters, the online element, and a good (if slightly overstated) message are all appealing.

Hush

Book: Hush
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Audience: Grades 4-9 or so
In a Nutshell: girl loses her friends, her home, and her name when her family enters the federal witness protection program

Her name used to be Toswiah. She loved her life in Denver, and her father loved his life as a cop. He was one of the only African-Americans on the force, but that didn't seem to matter. Then he witnessed two fellow cops killing a black boy. He testified against them, and life got hard for the whole family. Then it got dangerous. So in the middle of the night, they packed up a few small bags and moved to who-knows-where across the country. Now Toswiah's name is Evie, her sister is angry, her mother has become religious with the Jehovah's Witnesses, and her father just stares out the window all day. They may still be alive, but life as she knew it is over.


It's a lovely story, bittersweet and cautiously optimistic in the end. A pretty quick read, too.