REVIEW: In a Glass Grimmly

Gidwitz, A.  (2012).  In a Glass Grimmly.  New York:  Dutton Children's Books.

314 pages.


Appetizer:  In the companion to A Tale Dark & Grimm, Gidwitz weaves more fairytales together as cousins Jack and Jill (and a talking frog!) weave their way through and among elements from classic folktales like the Emperor's (or in this case, the princess's--new clothes, Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack the Giant Killer, and other tales.

As I read, I found myself thinking back more fondly upon A Tale Dark & Grimm, which seemed a little more intricate with slightly higher quality writing.

Don't get me wrong, the writing quality of In a glass Grimmly is still very good...it just felt, I don't know, rushed or a little less revised.  The voice of the narrator also felt as though it wasn't adding as much to the text as it did in A Tale Dark & Grimm.  On the plus side, this novel included more references to familiar folktales and rhymes, making it easier for the reader to make connections to the classic tales.  There was also a lot of humor and clever trickery.

As the narrator threatens, there are some uncomfortable moments in the book.  In the adaptation of the princess who wears such fine silk that it can't be seen (AKA she's naked!), I found the fact that the man designing her invisible dress, who looked at her with "heat and danger," to be more than a little unnerving.

Overall, a fun and enjoyable read.


Dinner Conversation:

"Once upon a time, there was a kingdom called Marchen, which sat just next to the modern countries of England, Denmark, and Germany." (p. 5)

"At this point, I ought to make something clear.  There are three versions of this story:
There is the kiddie version, where they kiss.  Obviously false.
There is the Grimm version, where she throws him against the wall, and then they get married.  Which is, if you ask me, even more ridiculous than the kiddie version.
And then there is the true version.  What actually happened." (p. 20)

"But you're right.  As far as fairy tales go, it wasn't very horrible.
Don't worry.
Things get worse." (p. 23

"Once upon a time there was a little girl who had the most wonderful mother you could possibly imagine.
Go ahead.  Try to imagine the most wonderful mother you can.
Have you?
All right.  Not good enough.  Not even close." (p. 27)

"Now, at this point, perhaps you think you know this story.  And I'm sure you've heard some version of it, mangled and strangled and made almost sweet by years and years of telling it to little children.
But the way you know it is not the way it happened.
The real way is...different." (p. 37)

"Yet another time, the boy invented a song.  It went, "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick."  Because the boy's name was Jack.  Then he actually tried to jump over a candlestick.  He knocked it over.  The house burned down.  Completely.
As the years went by, Jack remained a dreamer.  But he became something else, too.  He became a follower." (p. 57)

"Once upon a time, there was a beanstalk.
It started as a tiny shoot, peering up from the black soil where the bean had been planted, tender and green in the bright moonlight.  Next it was a plant, small but sturdy.  Then it was the size of a young tree.
All in a matter of seconds.
Soon, the beanstalk was as thick and as tall as an oak.  And still it grew and grew and grew.  Thick branches began to shoot out from its trunk, over every few feet, twisting upward around the great green stalk.
A little boy named Jack looked at a little girl named Jill.
"Don't do it,: warned a three-legged from named Frog.  'Don't even think about it.'" (p. 79)


Tasty Rating:  !!!


On a personal note, I'll be leaving the country for several weeks.  I don't know to what extent I'll be able to read for fun or update.  So, chances are good, if I'm in a position to update, it'll be a personal post.

Have a wonderful summer!

REVIEW: The Madness Underneath ("Never get stabbed--it makes everything awkward")

Johnson, M.  (2013).  The Madness Underneath.  New York:  G.P. Putnam's Sons.

290 pages.

Appetizer:  After the traumas she experienced at the end of The Name of the Star, Louisiana native, Rory, is recovering in Bristol and seeing a shrink several times each week.  She wants nothing more than to return to Wexford, her school in London, return to her kinda-sorta boyfriend, Jerome, and return to the secret government organization that hunts troublesome ghosts and that demanded her silence before disappearing.  But, Rory has to get into contact with that organization after confirming her dangerous new ability--the ability to destroy any ghost with a single touch.  Even after she gets her wish and returns to Wexford, adapting to her old routine will be far from easy, especially with new ghostly murders occurring and final exams for the winter semester approaching.

With many touches of humor and insights into London, The Madness Underneath is certainly an enjoyable read.  I got into just as easily as I did the first book and had a "welcome back" feeling.  I had flashbacks to my own time in London and was left wishing I could be there now.  Yayz!  I love a book that can do that.

There were aspects of The Madness Underneath that I did find disappointing though.  Mainly, I had an issue with this book's villain.  From the very first descriptions of the character, I knew this person was up to no good (and I believe, ideally, the reader wasn't supposed to be completely clued in to that fact).  Being a book and movie nerd, I often do suspect evil-doing characters long before they're revealed, but this villain was still a little too obvious, even for those usual suspicions.  So, with each conversation with this character and especially when Rory eventually makes choices that involve taking this villain's advice, the "No!  Don't open that door!" or the "He's right behind you holding the knife.  Turn around, you idiot!" feeling wasn't satisfying or empathetic.  It was more of a "You're an idiot.  You will regret this.  Such an idiot.  I told you so, idiot." moment.  Not quite on the level of throwing the book through a closed window a la Silver Linings Playbook, but close.

I missed some of the themes and issues that were in the first book, like the emphasis on seeing and being seen.  Although, the discussions of recovering from trauma and seeking empowerment were a nice touch.  I think Johnson did a wonderful job of presenting how Rory was dealing with this.  I also liked the attitude Rory eventually had towards her relationship with Jerome.  I was still left expecting and wanting a little bit more.


Dinner Conversation:

"Back at Wexford, where I went to school before all of this happened to me, they made me play hockey every day.  I had no idea how to play hockey,, so they covered me in padding and made me stand in the goal.  From the goal, I could watch my fellow players run around with sticks.  Occasionally they'd whack a small, very hard ball in my direction.  I would dive out of the way, every time.  Apparently, avoiding the ball isn't the point of hockey, and Claudia would scream, "No, Aurora, no!" from the sidelines, but I didn't care.  I take my best lessons from nature and nature says, "When something flies at your head--move."
I didn't think hockey had trained me for anything in life until I went to therapy." (p.9)

"I'd tried to make a new friend, and I had blown him up.
I'd been told to keep quiet, and I had.  But it wasn't going to work anymore.  I needed, Stephen, Callum, and Boo again.  I needed them to know what was going on with me.  I had bade a few efforts to find them in the last week.  Nothing serious--I'd just tried to find profiles on social networking sites.  No matches.  This much I expected.
Today I was going to try a bit harder." (p. 28)

"'In my opinion, I feel...very strongly...that Rory should be returned to Wexford.'
I seriously almost fell off the sofa.
"I'm sorry?" my mother said.  "You think she should go back?"
"I realize what I'm saying may run counter to all your instincts," Julia said, "But let me explain.  When someone survives a violent assault, a measure of control is taken away.  In therapy, we aim to give victims back their sense of control over their own lives.  Rory's been removed from her school, taken away from her friends, taken out of her routine, out of her academic life.  I believe she needs to return.  Her life belongs to her, and we can't let her attacker take that away." (p. 34)

"So you are the only terminus.  Then I saw what happened to you...I needed to show Thorpe that there was one terminus left.  I also needed a good reason to bring you back.  I was never comfortable with you being sent away like that, on your own, with no support.  This solved both problems.  We'll be allowed to keep going for a while now that he's seen." (p. 65)

"The room and I had been broken, and we had a similarly shaped reminder of what had happened to us.  And if the Ripper came back, which he wouldn't, I would blast him into a giant ball of white light and smoke.  One brush of my hand, and that was all it would take.  I was empowered, literally.  That's what I had to remember.  I was bigger and badder than any ghost that crossed my path.  That hadn't occurred to me before.  They needed to fear me.  I'd never been fearsome before." (p. 87)

"I just wanted to go back to bed and wake up when I was twenty-five." (p. 197)


Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW: Lulu Walks the Dogs

Viorst, J., & Smith, L.  (2012).  Lulu Walks the Dogs.  New York:  Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

144 pages.


Appetizer:  Lulu is back after her adventures with a dinosaur.  This time she wants money for something that not even her eager-to-please parents can provide.  So, she'll have to earn and save the money herself.

As the title reveals--a point the narrator also points out--she decides on dog walking; walking three dogs to be precise.  Things do not exactly run smoothly for strong-willed Lulu, and whether she wants his help or not, the perfect Fleischman is going to insist on helping her.

Lulu Walks the Dogs is an amusing early chapter book with a lot of humorous moments and illustrations (I'm seriously thinking about making a collage of some of Lane Smith's pictures from this series).  There is good use of repetition, varying font sizes, narrator interruptions, and emotions that young readers will relate to.  Having typed that though, I didn't find that this book tickled me as much as Lulu and the Brontosaurus did.  Perhaps it was because the first book was a little more fantastic or because I approached this one knowing what to expect.

There are still a lot of great take-aways from Lulu Walks the Dogs though.  I like how Lulu's goal (the one she's saving all her money for) is so lofty and that she struggles to save her money (a brief mini-lesson on the importance of saving money from a young age, anyone?).  I won't reveal what it is, since this is a secret throughout most of the book.

I also like the way Lulu gradually learns to care for the dogs.  After seeing how Fleischman handles the three "savage" beasts, Lulu's approach to do the same is to buy the cheapest toys/treats possible.  This struck me as being something very true to what an actual new dog walker with Lulu's disposition would do.

The heart of this story is the developing friendship between Lulu and Fleischman.  From what I remember of second and third (and fourth, and fifth, and sixth...) grades, dealing with the frustrations and quirks of a potential friend was a central part of my daily drama.  Reading about Fleischman and Lulu's disagreements and steps to slowly become friends was giving me flashbacks.  Eventually, while both characters try to make compromises and help each other, I like that neither one attempts to change who they are.  After all, Lulu would never want to be boring.


Dinner Conversation:

"Lulu--remember Lulu?--used to always be a big pain, till she met Mr. B, a lovely brontosaurus.  Now she is just a sometimes pain, and not nearly as rude as before.  But unless what she wants is utterly, totally, absolutely, and no-way-Jose impossible, she's still a girl who wants what she wants when she wants it.
So, what is it, exactly, that our Lulu wants?  Right now I'm just saying it costs a lot of money.  Furthermore, he mom and her dad, who give her almost everything she asks for, said to her--with many sighs and sorries--that they couldn't afford to buy it for her and that she would HAVE TO EARN THE MONEY TO GET IT." (p. 3)

"Lulu went home and thought and thought, and then she thought some more, trying to figure out what her jobs should be.  But since the name of this story I'm telling is Lulu Walks the Dogs, you already know, of course, what she decided." (p. 15)

"On Sunday, Lulu met three different dogs at three different houses, all in Lulu's neighborhood.  Her mom went with her to every house, waiting outside on the sidewalk00just as she always did on Halloween--in case the people inside were witches or ogres.  None of them were." (p. 23)

"Jimmy, Johnny, Joseph, Jake.  How much money will I make?  Laurie, Lucy, Lynne, LaVerne.  How much money will I earn?  Money!  Money!  Money!  Money!  Money!" (pp. 32-33)


Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW: Drama

Telgemeier, R.  (2012).  Drama.  New York:  Scholastic.

233 pages.


So, after getting stranded in reading In Darkness for months and after going through getting the chance to act in a production of Five Women Wearing the Same Dress at my local community theater, Drama seemed like the perfect graphic novel for me to jump back into reading and blogging with, especially since I enjoyed Telgemeier's debut Smile so much.


Appetizer:  Callie and her friends work back stage in all of her school's drama productions at Eucalyptus Middle School.  As they prepare to put on Moon Over Mississippi, their final production of the year, just as much drama occurs backstage as on stage as crushes, in-likes, dislikes, realizations about sexual orientations, and fights unfold.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel.  The structure of the book mirrored that of a performance with an overture, acts and an intermission.  I also really liked that the focus was on the people who work behind the scenes of a musical instead of on the actors (which is what the audience usually focuses on).

Telgemeier does an excellent job of bringing the experience of middle school to life (I remember being equally impressed with this in Smile).  There's the crushes, new relationships, and heartbreaks of realizing your crush is interested in someone else (so much unrequited love!).  There's the embarrassing family members who you still love dearly.  There's the commitment to a club and the ceaseless effort to get it right.

I liked Callie as a character and her commitment to set design.  I think it could really encourage readers to think about what they're passionate about.

As Callie makes new friends with twins Jesse and Justin, I found that keeping the twins straight was the biggest difficulty of reading this story.  They do have different hair styles, but I found myself wishing that they didn't both have names that began with J's.

I also struggled a little with the character of Bonnie, a mean girl who auditions for one of the main roles in the musical.  There is no redemption for her.  Since so much of the story was about revealing who you are and what you want, I was hoping that at some point there would be more insights or empathy for why Bonnie was the way she was.


Dinner Conversation:

Tasty Rating:  !!!!

REVIEW: In Darkness

Lake, N.  (2012).  In Darkness.  New York:  Bloomsbury.

337 pages.

I'm not gonna lie, ya'll.  I got stuck in this book.  Like crazy cartoon nightmare stuck:  The floor and walls all turned to sticky bubblegum and every time I tried to move or read I became more tangled and it turned into a suffocating mess that gets so complicated that you wake up screaming, "I'll never leave gum on the bottom of a desk again!"

Except in this case, it was having to read and not wanting to read and thinking of all the other things I should be doing.

It was bad.

Arguably, my struggles with In Darkness are not solely the book's fault.  I was adjusting to a first year in yet another new job, living in a new town, auditioning at the community theater and trying to act for the first time since middle school, etc.  But, now that it's summer vacation and given the fact that it still took me longer than it should have to finish this book, I let that stand as evidence of how little I cared for it.

Appetizer:  Switching back and forth between narratives of "Then" and "Now," In Darkness shares the stories of Shorty, who is trapped in the rubble of a hospital that has collapsed in the 2010 Haitian earthquake and how he got to be there, long ago separated from his twin sister with whom he thinks he shares a soul.  It also takes on retelling some of the biography of Toussaint l'Ouverture as he led a rebellion to free Haitian slaves.  The two protagonists dream of one another, impacting their choices in their own times.

Here's a dramatic retelling of my thoughts as I began each new chapter of this book:

A now chapter:  "Hmmm, he's stuck in the dark, I wonder when he'll get out."
A then chapter:  "I do not connect with this character.  Hopefully this chapter will be over soon and I'll be able to read about the present."
A now chapter:  "Huh, he's still in the dark.  Surely, something will happen soon and he'll get out.  Otherwise this might become boring, despite the flashbacks to when he was younger.
A then chapter:  Ugh.  Man, Toussaint was older when this is being depicted.  I can't even connect with him as being a young adult character."
A now chapter:  "I am so sick of him being in the dark.  This chapter feels like filler so that stuff can happen in the other chapters.  How much longer until this chapter is over and I can read about someone else?
A then chapter:  "I am so bored.  I would skim, but that goes against everything I believe in, especially when reading a Printz award book.  Plus, I'd hate to miss the moment when this story becomes engaging.  Is this chapter over yet?  I'd rather read about Shorty being stuck in the collapsed hospital.
A now chapter:  Jebus, he's still trapped.  Man, there's a lot of dark and serious stuff in this book.  I feel nothing for most of these characters and wish this book would be over already.
A then chapter:  I feel nothing.
A now chapter:  Lalala.  My eyes are scanning the page, but I aaam elsewheeeeeere.
A then chapter:  LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
A now chapter:  I'm sorry, the connection has failed.  Please, try again.  Please, try again.  Please, try again.  Please, try again.  Please, try again.  Please, try again.
And so forth.

I don't want you to think that the writing was bad or the story wasn't well told.  My reasons for not liking this book are all due to me instead of the story itself.  It just didn't speak to me.  And the fact that this book was, in part, depicting a recent tragedy in Haiti and won the Printz award somehow grated on me--like the book was awarded to draw attention to the Haitian earthquake instead of saying this was the best book of 2012.  It was a well-written book on an important topic, but it didn't win me over.

From what I could tell, Lake did his research.  Admittedly, I'm no expert.  But I was left with a deeper understanding of aspects of Haitian culture than any textbook or newspaper has evern given me.  Granted, I did find myself wishing for more English translations of some of the French and Kreyol phrases and songs.  But nonetheless, a student could learn a lot about Haiti from this book, beyond what is presented in the media.


Dinner Conversation:

"I am the voice in the dark, calling out for your help.
I am the quiet voice that you hope will not turn to silence, the voice you want to keep hearing cos it means someone is still alive.  I am the voice calling for you to come and dig me out.  I am the voice in the dark, asking you to unbury me, to bring me from the grave out into the light, like a zombi.
I am a killer and I have been killed, too, over and over; I am constantly being born.  I have lost more things than I have found; I have destroyed more things than I have built.  I have seen babies abandoned in the trast and I have seen the dead come back to life." (p. 1)

"I don't know what happened.  I was in bed minding my own zafe, then everything shook and I fell and the darkness started.  Or maybe everything else fell." (p. 3)

"On the night that rebellion caught like a flame in Haiti, the slave named Toussaint swung down from his horse.  It was a good horse--it had been a gift to him from his master, Bayou de Libertas, and despite its age it still served him well.  It was, Toussaint reflected, a fitting horse for him to ride.  He, like his horse, was old and had served his master well.
Soon, though, there would be no more masters, and no more slaves.  Or so Boukman hoped." (p. 37)

"I can see the whole of Port-au-Prince--the palace, the homes of the rich, the open-air prison of Site Soley.  It's all collapsed.  The palace is just dust and rubble, the homes are destroyed.  Only Site Soley looks the same, and that's cos Site Soley was a ruin to begin with." (p. 54-55).

"Biggie, he was the general of Route 9, and before that he was the right-hand man of Dread Wilme and a big dog in the Site.  He did all the shit the government should have done in the slums.  He funded the schools, provided security.  He punished thieves and rapists.
He sold drugs and killed people.
He made me what I am today.
I have not forgiven him for that, not yet." (p. 71)


Tasty Rating:  !!

REVIEW: Boy 21 (A #Cybils Award Finalist!)

Quick, M.  (2011).  Boy 21.  New York:  Little, Brown and Company.

250 pages.

Appetizer:  Finley doesn't say much.  The two things he's passionate about are basketball and his girlfriend, Erin.  He and Erin live in Bellmont, PA.  Gang wars and the Irish mob impact all aspects of life there.  All Erin and Finley want to do is escape and a basketball scholarship would save them both.

When his coach asks Finley to help convince a new boy to try to join the basketball team, Finley will have to choose between the team and his own future as he finds his starting position in danger of going to Russ, the new boy.  Russ has experienced a trauma recently, one that has left him broken and believing that he is from space, with the name Boy21, and destined to leave the planet to soon.  Despite Russ's break with reality, Finley may have more in common with the new basketball player than he can imagine and their developing friendship may bring up memories he has long refused to speak of.

When I first started reading Boy21, I was a little worried.  I'm not a big sports novel person, but after Russ/Boy21 was introduced, the book appealed more.  I loved the tension that Finley felt about wanting to help Russ and maintain his spot on the team.  I also initially liked the gang tensions and how it impacted the daily lives of characters who wanted nothing to do with that lifestyle.

I liked Finley's voice.  There are a lot of wonderfully rich descriptions throughout the novel that I really liked.

There's also a Harry Potter sub-plot that amused me.

But having said that, about 2/3 or 3/4ths of the way through the story, the plot took a turn that I wasn't crazy about.  And from that point forward, the book pretty much lost me.

I am very excited to have a book recommendation for my students who play basketball.

Dinner Conversation:

"Sometimes I pretend that shooting hoops in my backyard is my earliest memory." (p. 1)

"And then one day a girl appeared in my backyard.  She had blond hair and a smile that seemed to last forever.
"I live down the street," she said.  "I'm in your class."
I kept shooting and hoped she'd go away.  Her name was Erin and she seemed really nice, but I didn't want to make friends with anyone.  I only wanted to shoot hoops alone for the rest of my life."  (pp. 2-3)

"In my memory, she hits dozens of shots before I get the ball back, but she doesn't ever leave my backyard--the two of us keep shooting for years and years." (p. 3)

"'My friend Russell and his wife were murdered last February.'  The word murdered gets stuck in my ear and suddenly it feels like someone is jabbing a finger into my throat.  I begin to cough a little, but Coach keeps talking.  It takes a few minutes for my mind to process the rest of his words.  "The details aren't important right now.  But the event has had a dramatic effect on Russell junior.  He's spent some time in a group home for kids who suffer from post-traumatic stress.  The Allens here in town are his closest relatives and even though they don't feel quite up to taking on a troubled teenage boy, because Russell requested it, they have agreed to care for him until he goes to college next year."
I suddenly realize that Russell will be eligible to play for our basketball team.  And even though Coach is talking about the aftereffects of a murder, I'm ashamed to admit that Immediately begin worrying about my starting position." (p. 27)

"'Russell isn't exactly going by the name Russell at this moment in his life.' Coach glances out the windshield with this vacant look on his face.  "Russell now likes to be called Boy21."  He nods a few times, as if to say he isn't joking.
"Why?" I say, noting that twenty-one is my basketball number.  Could this night possibly get any weirder?
"The people at his group home and his local therapist have both recommended that we all call him Boy21 out of respect for his wishes.  They say he now needs to exert control over his environment in some small way, or something like that.  I don't know anything about therapy, but I think after all that's happened the boy could sure use a kindhearted friend.  That's what this is about. We'll call him Boy21 tonight and work on getting him back to Russ before school starts." (pp. 30-31)

"'You are an Earthling?' Boy21 says to me.
I swallow and nod.
"I am programmed to treat all Earthlings with kindness.  Greetings.  I am Boy21 from the cosmos.  I am stranded here on Earth, but I will be leaving soon.  Enter into my domestic living pod." (p. 37)

"'You don't talk much, do you?' Boy21 asks, looking over his shoulder.
"No."
"Did something happen to you?" he asks.
Truth is, many things have happened to me, both good and bad, stuff that would take a lot of words to explain, too many words for me.
There's part of me that wants to discuss my past, why I don't talk much, outer space even, everything, but it's like my mind is a fist and it's always clenched tight, trying to keep the words in." (p. 41)


Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW: The Theory of Everything (A #Cybils Award Finalist)

Johnson, J.J.  (2011).  The Theory of Everything.  Atlanta: Peachtree.


334 pages.

Appetizer:  To say sophomore Sarah Smith is going through a rough patch would be a understatement.  Left reeling from the death of her best friend, Jamie, in the school gymnasium, finding a deer in said gymnasium who needs to be put down, brings out many bad memories and emotions.  Sarah can't seem to turn off her snarkbox or openly share with her loved ones what she is going through.  She's worried she's going to love her long distance boyfriend, Sten, forever.  Her parents are running out of ideas of how to help her and all they can think to do now is prevent Sarah from getting her driver's license, take away her beloved wild dog, Rubie, or continue to ground her.  Jamie's twin brother want nothing more than to hear the story of how his sister died from Sarah's lips.  Sarah alone must find a way out of her tailspin.

The main aspects that drew me into this realistic YA novel was Sarah's voice and the various charts and graphs that were featured at the start of each chapter.  (The latter factor means I'm going to be recommending this book to my many mathematically-inclined students...even though Sarah herself never expresses any preference for the subject matter.  It was still interesting to see her represent her life experiences in such varied ways.)

Since the book is serious, and since Sarah spends much of the novel not expressing herself aloud, I was kind of reminded of Melinda from Anderson's Speak.  Although, the books' conflicts are very different.

My one concern with Sarah's voice was the fact that she made a lot of references and allusions to Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica,  and some movies from the 1980s.  As a mmpha-year-old adult, I can appreciate and enjoy all of these references, but I'm not so certain they'll appeal to some of the teenager readers, who will at best maybe be familiar with two of the shows or movies.  (I know, I know, that gives them a reason to try and see the other shows and movies mentioned.)  I just felt it made the book a little dated...it's not the 14 to 16-year-old crowd I hear running around still saying 'frak.'  (Let's be honest it's my group of friends.)

I also wasn't initially crazy about the character Captain Possum/Roy.  Sarah's multiple interactions with him early in the novel seemed a little too convenient to be a coincidence in realistic fiction.  Eventually, his story line won me over.

Aspects of the ending of The Theory of Everything left me unsatisfied, although, one of the scenes (Sarah's prank!) was my favorite in the book and made me laugh out loud.

Overall, I enjoyed The Theory of Everything, but I didn't *love* it.  It was the kind of book I could put down and didn't mind coming back to several days later.


Dinner Conversation:

"Eight years ago, when we were seven, my best friend Jamie gave me a kaleidoscope.  It sounds lame, but I loved that thing.  So did Jamie.  The girl kept stealing it back until I gave her one of her own.  We would just lie there in my backyard, staring up at the sky through them.  Prisms turning, colors changing.  White cloud crystals, blue sky fractals.
Trippy, in a wholesome, Hugs Not Drugs way.
Well.  My whole life is like that now--it's trippy and turny and there are no drugs involved, unless Zoloft counts." (p. 2)

"I sigh.  I'm not really a badass, I'm just pissed off.  I hate Mrs. Cleary being sad and the deer being hurt.  Not to mention that the last time a cop asked me questions like this, my best friend had just died right in front of me." (p. 10)

"Sarah,
I want to know what happened.  How Jamie died.
Please.
--E.
Well.  I have two responses to that.
1.  Holy.
2.  Crap.
Actually, three.
3.  No, frigging way.
Sub-divided into
    A.)  No way could he still not know.
    B.)  No way am I going to tell him.
    C.)  No way is this happening." (p. 18)

"'Mom and Dad were talking about how you're becoming such a deadbeat in school.  You don't care about anything anymore, so they don't have any leverage.'
"Leverage?"  What does that mean?
"Anything to bargain with.  Convince you to turn your crap around."
"You mean like, to threaten me with?"
"I guess you could call it that."  He shrugs.
"But Ruby, and Stenn..." My heart freezes.  "And driving.  They wouldn't take them away from me?  They can't."
"Calm down, Freak Show.  I don't think they're planning on it tomorrow.  And I bet they'd start with driver's ed before moving on to the big guns." (p. 37)


Tasty Rating:  !!!.

REVIEW: Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl (A #Cybils Award Finalist!) "I am like the Joseph Stalin of narrators"

Andrews, J.  (2012).  Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl.  New York:  Abrams.

295 pages.

Appetizer:  Greg Gaines has a difficult goal of surviving high school without any confrontations, enemies, or a group of friends.  He and his friend Earl make videos that they won't allow anyone to see.

This goal is complicated when Greg's mom informs him that a girl Greg has some history with has been diagnosed with Leukemia and that Greg has been recruited to re-befriend her.  This could cause trouble for Greg and Earl's future as filmmakers.

From the first page, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl amused me.  It opens with Greg contemplating how difficult it is to write a good first sentence for a book.  It's a passage I already plan to share with my future "Teaching of Writing" classes.  I love meta-narratives.  I could eat self-aware narratives for breakfast every morning for FOREVER.  So, the book had me amused from the get-go.

Then, THEN, a few more pages in, I realized that the book was set in the area around the Shadyside and Squirrel Hill districts of Pittsburgh.  I spent two years in that area while working on my MFA.  The familiar places and memories were also a nice introduction to the book.

I really enjoyed Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.  It was a "stay up late and read just one more chapter...one more chapter...one more...laugh out loud...read one more chapter" kind of book for me. 

I also liked the characterizations of Greg's family.  The conflicts within the family were some of the most amusing moments for me.

I also liked the many forms that were included (screenplay, texts, lists of people's comments, etc.)

I did wonder what everyone thought about the way race was depicted.  I did feel like Earl was an original character, but I worried that the way his family was presented could be seen as stereotypical (an angry family...absent step-father...Earl being in a special needs classroom).  I'm still not certain how I feel about these characterizations.

Dinner Conversation:

"I have no idea how to write this stupid book.
Can I just be honest with you for one second?  This is the literal truth.  When I first started writing this book, I tired to start it with the sentence "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times."  I genuinely thought that I could start this book that way.  I just figured, it's a classic book-starting sentence.  But then I couldn't even figure out how you were supposed to follow that up." (p. 1)

"I do actually want to say one other thing before we got started with this horrifyingly inane book. You may have already figured out that it's about a girl who had cancer.  So there's a chance you're thinking, "Awesome!  This is going to be a wise and insightful story about love and death and growing up.  It is probably going to make me cry literally the entire time.  I am so fired up right now."  If that is an accurate representation of your thoughts, you should probably try to smush this book into a garbage disposal and then run away.  Because here's the thing:  I learned absolutely nothing from Rachel's leukemia.  In fact, I probably became stupider about life because of the whole thing." (pp. 2-3)

"So in order to understand everything that happened, you have to start from the premise that high school sucks.  Do you accept that premise?  OF course you do.  It is a universally acknowledged truth that high school sucks.  In fact, high school is where we are first introduced to the basic existential question of life:  How is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad?" (p. 5)

"This was the second brain-punchingly insensitive thing I had said in about thirty seconds, and again I considered closing my cell phone and eating it." (p. 45)

"Earl and I are friends.  Sort of.  Actually, Earl and I are more like coworkers.
The first thing to know about Earl Jackson is that if you mention his height, he will windmill-kick you in the head.  Short people are often extremely athletic.  Earl is technically the size of a ten-year-old, but he can kick any object within seven feet of the ground.  Additionally, Earl's default mood is Pissed, and his backup default mood is Mega-Pissed." (pp. 61-62)


Tasty Rating:  !!!!

REVIEW: Beautiful Creatures

Garcia, K. and Stohl, M.  (2009).  Beautiful Creatures.  Boston:  Little Brown and Company.

563 pages.

Appetizer:  Ethan Wate wants nothing more than to leave Gatlin, South Carolina where his family has lived for almost two centuries.  But as a sophomore in high school, an escape to college is a long way off.

When a new girl named Lena arrives to town, she'll cause controversy that will force Ethan to choose between his comfortable place in the Gatlin community and Lena, who may prove to be both magical and dangerous.

After years of hearing this was a good series, and after adding the book to the To Be Read Mountain several years ago, I finally got around to reading Beautiful Creatures in light of seeing the movie previews.

Starting the book was a complete surprise.  I'd assumed the novel would be from Lena's perspective.  (And the book does include her perspective for a key segment near the end.)  Based on the movie previews, I would have bet good money that Lena narrated the entire story.  But as a change from many paranormal young adult novels, Beautiful Creatures is narrated by Ethan.

I also liked that the YA novel had a Southern setting.  The small town experience that the book provided was both interesting and frustrating.  While I'd like to argue that some of the behaviors of the people in Gatlin were hard to believe, I suspect there are people like the Gatlin mean girls and town crazies out there.

To get through this book, I decided to listen to the audio book (since all of my actual reading time must go to the books I teach and the Cybils award finalists).  The audio book used a lot of sound effects, which was a nice touch.  Some of the effects could have been more dramatic.  The narration describes this huge dramatic moment of a window breaking and the sound that the audio book used was less than impressive.  But other sound effects really added to the story.  The audiobook actually included multiple versions of the "Sixteen Moons" song.  The main version kept getting stuck in my head.   (Apparently you can download the song as a free podcast on iTunes.)

The story is engaging, but I can't say that it amazed me or kept me on the edge of my seat.  Whether because I've seen the movie previews or because I'm just that awesome of a reader, I found that the mystery elements were either predictable or obvious.  I also found Ridley, Lena's cousin, to be a ridiculously annoying character.  Just about every scene with her made me want to roll my eyes or cringe.  Ugh.

I also thought that Ethan should have had more of a reaction to learning that magic was real.  He pretty much just accepts the revelations as they come instead of acknowledging that his worldview has been shaken.  Call me crazy, but if I start to have a telepathic link to the person I have a crush on, it's going to raise some questions and lead to a doctor's visit.

Overall, I found the book enjoyable, but it wasn't anything to go crazy or lose sleep over.  I may continue reading the series...but it won't be anytime soon.


Dinner Conversation:

"There were only two kinds of people in our town.  "The stupid and the stuck," my father had affectionately classified our neighbors.  "The ones who are bound to stay or too dumb to go.  Everyone else finds a way out."  There was no question which one he was, but I'd never had the courage to ask why." (p. 1)

"Falling.
I was free falling, tumbling through the air.
"Ethan!"
She called to me, and just the sound of her voice made my heart race.
"Help me!"
She was falling, too.  I stretched out my arm, trying to catch her.  I reached out, but all I caught was air.  There was no ground beneath my feet, and I was clawing at mud.  We touched fingertips and I saw green sparks in the darkness.
Then she slipped through my fingers, and all I could feel was loss." (p. 4)

"'Dude, did you hear?'
"Hear what?"
"There's a new girl at Jackson."
"There are a ton of new girls, a whole freshman class of them, moron."
"I'm not talkin' about the freshmen.  There's a new girl in our class."  At any other high school, a new girl in the sophomore class wouldn't be news.  But this was Jackson, and we hadn't had a new girl in school since third grade." (p. 17)

"There she was.  Lena Duchannes.  The new girl, who would still be called that fifty years from now, if she wasn't still called Old Man Ravenwood's niece, handing a pink transfer slip to Mrs. English, who squinted to read it." (pp. 33-34)

"Sixteen moons, sixteen years
Sound of thunder in your ears
Sixteen miles before she nears
Sixteen seeks what sixteen fears.... (p. 37)

"There was someone in the road!
I pulled on the wheel with both hands, as hard as I could.  My body slammed against the side of the door.
Her hand was outstretched.  I closed my eyes for the impact, but it never came.
The Beater jerked to a stop, not more than three feet away.  The headlights made a pale circle of light in the rain, reflecting off one of those cheap plastic rain ponchos you can buy for three dollars at the drugstore.  It was a girl.  Slowly, she pulled the hood off her head, letting the rain run down her face.  Green eyes, black hair.
Lena Duchannes." (pp. 42-43)


Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW: The Eternal Ones

Miller, K.  (2010).  The Eternal Ones.  New York:  Razorbill.

411 pages.

Appetizer:  Seventeen-year-old Haven Moore is haunted by dreams and memories of another life, of a girl named Constance who loved a boy named Ethan.  While watching TV with her uber-religious and controlling grandmother, Haven happens to see a celebrity gossip report of a rich playboy named Iain.  She faints at the sight of him, certain that she is the love she lost in the 1920s.

Haven's grandmother conspires to prevent her granddaughter from travelling to New York City, the scene of all her memories.  As her grandmother's religious overtures grow more intense and as Haven becomes more and more ostracized by the other students in her small town in Tennessee, her only means of escape to New York may include a strange society that is focused on helping people who believe they have been reincarnated.

But, even after Haven does escape to New York City, she learns that everything may not be as they appear and that the love she has trusted through multiple lives may be her greatest betrayer...time and time again.

I really liked the idea of The Eternal Ones, but the execution of the story left a lot to be desired.  Plus, despite liking this initial premise of finding a love from a previous life and trying to find him, I realized that it had already been used previously.  Dead Again is a movie from over 20 years ago and it does a much better job of establishing a mystery...if you can manage to look beyond all of the early 1990's styles:

The novel felt like a rough draft for a great mystery.  It felt like all the ingredients to a recipe had been thrown into a bowl, but very little mixing had taken place.  Plus, the story should have been tightened (say to 280 or 300 pages instead of 411 pages).  The Eternal Ones spent way too much time in Snope City with Haven being bullied by various characters.  As I read the first 120-ish pages, I thought the book would appeal much more if the novel opened with Haven arriving in New York. Let her past and purpose be a mystery to be unraveled as the reader gets further into the story, as opposed to having to witness Haven faint many times and go back and forth about deciding to leave or not leave.  Ugh.

As a character, there was nothing really striking or engaging about Haven's love interest, Iain/Ethan.  In fact, after he meets Haven, I almost immediately started to dislike him.  Gentlemen of the world pay attention:  If you want to turn-off a girl and send her running, be sure to refer to other girls as "props" (p. 163), and make her feel as though you're ordering her around (p. 179).  So unsexy.


Dinner Conversation:

"Haven was back.  She glanced across the familiar little room.  Silver clouds hovered over the skylight high above a rumpled bed.  A candle sat on the edge of the vanity, waiting for her sun's weak rays to finally fade.  Her gaze returned to the mirror in front of her.  She smoothed a strand of her blonde bob and tucked it behind one ear.  The reflection in the mirror wasn't hers, but she knew it as well as her own." (p. 3)

"Haven Moore stood on top of the footstool, gazing out the open window in front of her and willing herself not to fidget.  Over the winter, the anticipation had been building inside of her.  Once the weather turned warm, she found herself unable to sleep or stay still.  It felt as if every cell in her body were dancing.
Beyond the tall mountains that surrounded Snope City, something was waiting for her" (p. 5).

"Haven's eyes glanced up at the action.  A tan, handsome young man slid out of a black Mercedes as camera flashes sparkled in the car's windshield.  For a moment, he stared back at the paparazzi, his face dark and unreadable.  Then, unexpectedly, a corner of his mouth curled into a grin.
"Ethan," Haven whispered.  A blaze ignited at the tips of her toes.  As it began to burn its way upward, Haven felt her knees buckle beneath her." (p. 8)

"Suddenly she was no longer just Haven Jane Moore, daughter of Ernest and Mae.  If the notes were to be believed, she had once been someone else.  A girl named Constance.  And her visions weren't fantasies or hallucinations.  They were scenes from a past that was every bit as real as the present." (p. 43)

"'Well, I think I might be having the visions for a reason.  I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to find Ethan.  That's what I told my dad when I was little.'
"Ethan?  You think he's still around?  Wouldn't he be awfully old for you by now? I mean, even if he is real, at the very least he'd be pushing a hundred and ten--"
Haven cut him off.  "I had another vision last night.  There was a fire.  That's how Constance died.  I think it killed Ethan, too.  And I think he's been reborn, just like me.  I have to find him, Beau.  And you have to help me.  I can't explain how, but I know he's out there." (p. 53)


Tasty Rating:  !!

REVIEW: Days of Blood & Starlight (Favorite quotation: "Kiss/Punch")

Taylor, L.  (2012).  Days of Blood & Starlight.  New York:  Little, Brown, and Company.

513 pages.

Appetizer:  After the events of Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou has disappeared, leaving her best friend Zuzana to obsess, worry, and deal with the aftermath Karou having been recorded flying over a bridge in Prague.

Tensions are mounting between the angels and chimaera and Karou and her former love (of a couple of lives), Akiva, are separated and fighting on opposite sides once more.

Strange and mysterious thefts has occurred at many museums around the world.  Someone is stealing from the large animal displays.  Someone is taking the beasts' teeth.

Although still amazingly well-written, I initially had trouble keeping my focus on this book the way I managed to dive into Daughter of Smoke & Bone.  My suspicion is that Days of Blood & Starlight jumped upon too many different characters' perspectives for my tastes.  Plus, with Karou and Akiva's love being on ice, and Karou separated from her best friend/comic relief, Zuzana, my drive to know what was happening next was lessened.

But, by mid-book, friends and love interests were interacting and the drama heightened and Days of Blood & Starlight won me over and now I'm left waiting for the final book in the trilogy.

Taylor once again manages to write beautiful prose, establish a love triangle, and deliver some surprising plot twists.  It is worth noting though, that these beautiful prose do include some difficult and dark situations (including one extensive and disturbing sexual assault scene).  Still, the second book in this trilogy does live up to the first.  Keep reading this series!


Dinner Conversation:

"Prague, early May.  The sky weighed gray over fairy-tale rooftops, and all the world was watching.  Satellites had even been tasked to surveil the Charles Bridge, in case the...visitors...returned.  Strange things had happened in this city before, but not this strange.  At least, not since video existed to prove it.  Or to milk it.
"Please tell me you have to pee."
"What?  No.  No, I do not.  Don't even ask."
"Oh, come on.  I'd do it myself if I could, but I can't.  I'm a girl."
"I know.  Life is so unfair.  I'm still not going to pee on Karou's ex-boyfriend for you." (p. 1)

"Karou didn't understand.  The world she was returning to was not the one from her memories.  She would find no help or solace there--only ash and angels." (p. 7)

"Affixed to it [a table] with a twist of silver wire was a small square of paper on which was written a word.  It was a chimaera word, and under the circumstances the cruelest taunt Akiva could fathom, because it meant hope, and it was the end of his, since it was also a name.
It was Karou." (p. 26)

"A phantom, the news anchor said.
At first, the evidence of trespass had been too scant to be taken seriously, and of course there was the matter of it being impossible.  No one could penetrate the high-tech security of the world's elite museums and leave no trace.  There was only a prickle of unease along the curators' spines, the chilling and unassailable sense that someone had been there." (p. 39)


Tasty Rating:  !!!!!

2012 #Cybils Finalists Announced!

To welcome in the new year, the finalists for the 2012 Cybils Awards have been announced.

I'll be helping to select the winner in the YA fiction category.

The finalists are:

I've already read two of them and based on my enjoyment of Code Name Verity and I Hunt Killers, my fellow judges and I are going to have some difficult but awesomely fun work ahead of us.

For more information on the winners and to see the other Cybils Award categories, check-out the Cybils website.

Let the book discussing commence!  What a wonderful way to begin the new year.  Happy 2013!

REVIEW: The Karma Club

Brody, J.  (2010).  The Karma Club.  New York:  Farrar Straus Giroux.

258 pages.


Appetizer:  It all begins when seventeen-year-old Maddy Kasparkova receives a phone call from her best friend that a profile of her boyfriend has been published in Contempo Girl.  Maddy hopes this will increase their popularity and that she's finally obtain her goal of becoming a member of the in-crowd.

Her dreams are shattered, however, when her she discovers her boyfriend in another girl's arms, those of the popular and perfect Heather Campbell.  Seeking a way to balance the scales, not only for herself, but for her two best friends, Jade and Angie, Maddy becomes interested in Karma.  Unwilling to wait decades for the universe to sort out those who have done wrong, she and her friends form a Karma Club in an effort to find balance now.

I was really excited to read this book.  As of late, I've been interested in books that explore religious and spiritual concepts in a deep, honest, and meaningful way.  Because of that goal, I found Karma Club to be very disappointing.  Essentially, Maddy forms a revenge club.  As you might imagine, Maddy's approach is a huge misinterpretation of the nature of karma.  Although she does eventually gain some wisdom about it, I wouldn't say she ever gains a real understanding of the concept.

Although some of Maddy, Angie, and Jade's adventures are amusing to escape into, I found a couple of them were hard to believe, including the quick resolution at the end of the novel.  Nonetheless, Karma Club does end on a very hopeful note.

As a character, Maddy was believable.  Despite the fact that she was a senior approaching graduation, she felt much younger, making me think I'd most likely recommend this book for 13 to 15-year-olds interested in some light and fun reading.


Dinner Conversation:

"I can tell you right now, it's all karma's fault.
Yes, karma.  You know, that unmistakable force in the universe that makes sure good deeds are rewarded and bad deeds are punished.
Like when I stole my little sister's lunch in the seventh grade because I woke up too late to make my own.  When I got to school, I found that the meat in the sandwich was actually moldy and I had to spend the very last of my allowance money on the disgusting, unrecognizable cafeteria food.
Karma." (p. 3)

"Good deeds are rewarded while bad deeds are punished.  Good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people.  That's just how Karma works.
Well, at least that's how I thought it worked.
But that was before I entered the second half of my senior year.  When everything changed.  Everything I thought I knew and everything I thought I could count on suddenly went right out the window.
I think I can trace it back to one day.
That fateful day when Angie called me up with the news.
Yes, that was definitely the day it all began.  Before my simple, little world--where up was up and down was down, and right and wrong were as different as night and day--was flipped upside down.  And from that point on, there was absolutely nothing in my life that could be described as simple." (p. 4)

"I stand in complete astonishment as I try to grasp everything that has happened in the last five minutes.  My boyfriend, Mason Brooks, featured in Contempo Girl magazine!  They even called him a "hunky dough boy."  Well, yeah, it's a bit cheesy, but so what?  This is huge!  Every girl in the country is going to see this.  Every girl in the country is going to be pining for my boyfriend." (p. 10)

"Maybe my fantasy wasn't that fare off after all.  Maybe this one little article would make us the most popular couple in school.  Maybe Heather Campbell would eventually start calling me up for advice about the new spring fashions and where she should go to get her nails done and how to snag a boyfriend as wonderful as Mason.  I really wouldn't blame her.  I mean, I'm pretty much a published magazine writer now.  Who wouldn't want advice from someone whose words are in Contempo Girl magazine?" (p. 16)

"All my life I've wanted to be popular.
I don't know where the obsession came from, but from the time I was a little girl, the life of the high school "it" crowd always seemed more glamorous than anything else I could ever imagine.
Then in the sixth grade, I met Heather Campbell and from the moment I saw her, I knew I wanted to be like her." (p. 17)


Tasty Rating: !!.

Personal Post: Turns Out I Do Live in a Winter Wonderland

A few days ago, I had some visiters enjoy brunch right outside my bedroom window at my parents' house:

I hope you enjoyed the show.

The turkeys also stopped by a little later:

Happy holidays!

Late Review: Let It Snow (Not quite in time for Christmas)

Green, J., Johnson, M., & Myracle, L.  (2008).  Let It Snow.  New York:  Speak.

352 pages.

Appetizer:  In three interconnected stories, Jubilee Dougal is stranded in a snow storm after her parents were arrested due to a dispute at a Flobie Santa Village ceramic collectibles convention and is less than excited to be separated from her boyfriend on their one-year anniversary.  When her train is stranded in Gracetown due to the worst snowstorm in 50 years, Jubilee decides to leave it try to stay warm in a Waffle House.  She has no idea what the night has in store for her.  This novella is "The Jubilee Express" and was written by Maureen Johnson.

Next up, is John Green's addition, "A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle."  In another part of Gracetown, it looks like Tobin's parents won't be able to make it home for the holiday.  Instead, he and his friends JP and Duke receive a call that they must brave the snowy and icy streets to visit the Waffle House for a chance to hook-up with cheerleaders who are stranded there.

In the final story, "The Patron Saint of Pigs" by Lauren Myracle, Addie is struggling over her break-up with Jeb, realizing that she may be a little too self-absorbed, and trying desperately to hunt down a teacup pig that she was supposed to give to one of her best friends for Christmas, all while serving on the opening shift for Starbucks the day after Christmas.

The only story that I'd read previously was John Green's.  It stuck in my mind as an enjoyable wintery tale.  (I think I'd originally read it during the spring, and it had made me excited for the wintery season.)  For several years, I'd been meaning to re-read it and finally enjoy the other two stories in Let it Snow.  This Christmas was finally the time to do it.

Sadly, after having read the book on and off over the holiday, I have to report that I was left feeling "meh," about the whole thing.

I did like the way the stories overlapped and how characters were in multiple stories.  It reminded me of Love Actually.  But some of the references and dialogue have already started to feel more than a little dated.  Plus I can't say that I actually liked all of the characters.  Johnson's "Jubilee Express" was enjoyable enough.  The parents being arrested at a Flobie riot was great.  There were a lot of wonderful metaphors and writing throughout the story, my favorite being Jubilee's narration of having fallen through the ice of a stream:

"Maybe you've never fallen into a frozen stream.  Here's what happens.
1.  It is cold.  So cold that the Department of Temperature acknowledgment and regulation in your brain gets the readings and says, "I can't deal with this.  I'm out of here."  It puts up the OUT TO LUNCH sign and passes all responsibility to the...
2.  Department of Pain and the Processing Thereof, which gets all this gobbledygook from the temperature department that it can't understand.  "This is not our job," it says.  So it just starts hitting random buttons, filling you with strange and unpleasant sensations, and calls the...
3.  Office of Confusion and Panic, where this is always someone ready to hop on the phone the moment it rings." (p. 55)

I wasn't crazy about all of Jubilee's choices though.  She struck me as being more than a little...co-dependent.  *Vague Spoiler*  I had some trouble with the fact that she was starting a new relationship with someone only hours after ending a year-long one...which she'd only realized was tragically flawed a few minutes before that.  In essence, the romance felt forced.  *End Vague Spoiler*

I still enjoyed Green's "A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle."  It stood up to the test of time, with only a few unbelievable moments and what felt like a rushed ending.

Myracle's "The Patron Saint of Pigs" on the other hand, I had a lot of trouble with.  While the character of Addie was believable, I found her to be really annoying.  The story included some hints at fantastic elements, which just didn't work in light of the fact that both of the other stories remained grounded in reality.  This story also included a bit of a quick and forced resolution as well.  By the end, I was left wishing that these were just separate novels and the authors were given more space to write whole and complete stories.

Alas, I have to declare, "Bah humbug" to "The Patron Saint of Pigs."

Off to drink hot chocolate!


Dinner Conversation:

"It was the night before Christmas.
Well, to be more precise, it was the afternoon before Christmas.  But before I take you into the beating heart of the action, let's get one thing out of the way.  I know from experience that if it comes up later, it will distract you so much that you won't be able to concentrate on anything else I tell you.
My name is Jubilee Dougal.  Take a moment and let it sink in." (p. 1)

"[Noah] promised me there would be time just for us.  He had made sure of it by helping out in advance.  If we put in two hours at the party, he promised, we could escape to the back room and exchange our gifts and watch The Grinch Who Stole Christmas together.  He would drive me home, and we would stop for a while....
And then, of course, my parents got arrested and all of that went to hell." (p. 6)

"I could stay here in the cold, dark, stranded train or I could actually do something.  I could take charge of this day that had run away from me too many times.  It wouldn't be hard to get across the road and over to the Waffle House.  They probably had heat and lots of food." (p. 26)

"JP and the Duke and I were four movies in to our James Bond marathon when my mother called home for the sixth time in five hours.  I didn't even glance at the caller ID.  I knew it was Mom.  The Duke rolled her eyes and paused the movie.  "Does she think you're going somewhere?  There's a blizzard."
I shrugged and picked up the phone." (p. 121)

"The greatest night of my life has just begun.  And I am inviting you to join me, because I am the best friend ever.  But here's the catch: after I get off the phone with you, Mitchell and Billy will be calling their friends.  And we've agreed in advance that there's only room here for one more carful of guys.  I cannot further dilute the cheerleader-to-guy ratio.  Now, I am making the first call, because I'm acting assistant manager.  So you have a head start.  I know you will not fail.  I know I can count upon you to deliver the Twister.  Gentlemen, may you travel safely and swiftly. But if you die tonight, die in the comfort that you have sacrificed your lives for the noblest of human causes.  The pursuit of cheerleaders."

"Being me sucked.  Being me on this supposedly gorgeous night, with the supposedly gorgeous snow looming in five-foot drifts outside my bedroom window, double-sucked.  Add the fact that today was Christmas, and my score was up to triple-suck.  And add in the sad, aching, devastating lack of Jeb, and ding-ding-ding!  The bell at the top of the Suckage Meter couldn't ring any louder.
Instead of jingle bells, I had suckage bells.  Lovely." (p. 215)


Tasty Rating:  !!!