2 for the price of 1!

Two wonderful young adult authors collaborated to write this book, in alternating chapters, each author covering a boy named Will Grayson.

John Green's character lives in Evanston and is a timid but intelligent and well-read friend of an outgoing and huge boy (who happens to be gay) nicknamed Tiny. David Levithan's character lives in Naperville and is an "angry young man" who is coming to the knowledge that he is gay. Though a girl named Maura is always trying to draw him out, and would probably like to be more than a friend to him, his best friend is someone from Ohio that he met online, Isaac, with whom he spends hours chatting in IM.

The Evanston-based Will likes a girl named Jane who hangs out with Tiny - but he's too afraid of rejection to take a chance on asking her out. Tiny has written a musical, and gets both the Gay/Straight Alliance and the Student Council at school to sponsor it.

Somehow all of these characters eventually meet in downtown Chicago as their lives surprisingly intertwine. The book shows off both authors' strengths, and fills the bill as a typical young adult novel caught up in the angst that both Will Graysons experience as they try to come to terms with what life throws at them, and with who they are.

3 out of 4 stars

A Boy and his Dad at War

Liam has grown up with the critical voice of his dad always harping on his multiple failures, to the point that Liam knows what a screwup he is. He can't do anything right. He makes poor choices. He isn't smart, and his chances for future success at anything are pretty much nil. And the sad thing is, Liam absolutely believes this, and the first words out of his mouth whenever he interacts with his dad are an apology and a promise to try harder. Liam admires his dad, who is a CEO of an important company, a well-recognized success story. Who wouldn't admire such a man?



Liam has gone too far this time. Caught drunk and in the midst of having sex in his dad's office with a girl he doesn't even like, Liam is sent off to live "for a while" with his dad's brother -- whom he hasn't seen since he was about 7 years old. That was when "Aunt Pete" showed up in drag, dressed in a gorgeous red ball gown, at Liam's mother's retirement party (when she gave up her successful international modeling career). Liam's dad and his ultra-strict grandparents were horrified, threw Pete out, and haven't spoken to him nor seen him ever since. So as Liam starts a new life at a new school, he is hoping to do whatever it takes to get back home, which would mean earning his dad's respect. So instead of continuing as "Mr. Popularity," he figures, he should become the least popular kid at school. Focus on academics. Join an unpopular club. Avoid the "cool kids." And if he can only get Darleen, the dorky neighbor girl whom everybody has predicted will earn the label of "Class B*tch" in the yearbook, to like him, his dad will surely see how hard he's trying to be a serious student.

I loved the message of this book. Liam learns some important life lessons, and so do we. But I can honestly say I've never met such a one-dimensionally hateful father in any of the books I've read. Even though the author was trying to make a point, it's hard to believe that there were never any redeeming qualities or some reasons that he was as mean as he was. Otherwise, why would Liam's mother have stayed with him? That was never explored, and that gap was a flaw in the book.

But Aunt Pete and his gay friends were well-drawn, without stereotypical limits, and Liam's changes, though extreme, were believable.
I give "King of the Screwups" 2 1/2 out of 4 stars.

Another girl with a secret past

This book reminded me a lot of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, in that it involves a girl who starts the school year being ostrasized by everyone because of something that happened at the end of the previous year. Although a successful model and a good student, Annabelle has no friends -- although some of that isolation is self-imposed. In flashbacks we read about her life from about age 11 on, up to the pivotal event which changed everything. We see her through changes in best friends, and events in her family such as her mother's depression, her two older sisters' careers as models, and one sister's eating disorder. Annabelle does have one new friend -- another kid isolated by everyone else: Owen, an angry and sometimes violent kid who sits by himself at lunch. He DJ's a radio show on Sunday mornings at a local station, and introduces Annabelle to a wild variety of musical styles. And she is able to be honest with him about her opinions of his musical taste -- but not about anything else.

Kind of good, but nothing new or earth-shattering. I give it 2 out of 4 stars.

A Girl With Serious Problems

This book was OK. Not wonderful. Not terrible. Somewhat mysterious -- where did she go? Why? Is she dead or alive? Quentin ("Q") has grown up next-door to Margo Roth Spiegelman (always referred to by full name), and when they were nine, they found a dead man under the tree at the park. Q's parents are therapists, and they "talked him through his feelings" - but Margo's parents are painted as less-involved, less-tolerant, and less-loving. So what happened when they were just about to graduate from high school might have been caused by that early trauma.

Q has loved Margo from afar since their worlds spun apart years ago -- hers into popularity, and his into nerd-dom. One night about a month before their graduation she appears at his bedroom window and lures him out to a night of pranks, adventure, and revenge. And then she disappears, leaving clues that seem meant just for Q to follow.

As I said, the mystery is somewhat interesting. But the characters and descriptions are over-the-top, beyond believable, and overly dramatic. That really lost me after a while. I just kept reading to see what would happen, but this is not on my top-ten.
Rating: 2 out of 4 stars

Uglies, Pretties, Specials - a whole new world

Tally Youngblood is almost 16, the age at which teens in The City have the surgery to make them Pretty. In this world, young kids are known as littlies, and pre-16-year-old teens are called Uglies. Their noses are too big, their skin might be flawed, they may be under- or over-weight, their eyes too squinty -- or some other imperfection may mar their "perfect" appearance. All of that is corrected in the surgery. Pretties live in Prettytown having nothing but fun -- drinking, partying, having sex, and doing outlandish stunts. During the summer before her 16th birthday, after hef best friend Peris has left for Prettytown, Tally meets a new friend, Shay, who introduces her to the idea that she needn't have the operation - she could remain Ugly but free. She tells her about the Smoke, a group of people living in the wild. Shay runs away to live with the Smoke, but Tally really wants to be Pretty. Just as she is in the hospital awaiting the surgery, she is taken instead to the headquarters of Special Circumstances, the police force for The City. They are convinced that she knows where Shay has gone, and force her to follow Shay into the wild in order to betray the Smoke. Thus begins the big conflict for Uglies, which is followed by at least two sequels (Pretties and Specials) as the free-thinking Smokies continue to recruit new rebels from the City, and Special Circumstances continue to try to trap and capture all the rebels and control their minds and bodies through the surgeries they can order to be done. And somehow, through all these books, Tally Youngblood is in the middle of the action.
I just read these books over Spring Break, and couldn't put them down. The way that so many of the characters idolized good looks and popularity was way too similar to our society. I loved the inventions that the characters use -- like when they dash through the forests on their hoverboards (mostly solar-powered!), leap off tall buildings wearing bungee jackets, choose their clothes from a revolving closet that brings them whatever they ask for, and stuff like that. There was romance, suspense, intrigue, and friendships. The series has spun off into websites, online forums, and the first movie in the trilogy will be released in 2011. How would you like to be cast as one of the Uglies?!

• 4 out of 4 stars

Everybody Does Something They Regret . . .

... and everyone deserves a second chance. Three years ago, when she was 13, Deanna's dad found her having sex with Tommy, her brother's best friend, in the back of his car. Dad hasn't really looked at her since, and Deanna has been labeled the "school slut." She longs to live a life that's not defined totally by her past - but nobody at school or at home makes that easy. Her brother lives in the basement with his girlfriend and baby. They work opposite shifts at Safeway. Dad was laid off after 17 years at the paper company, and now has a job working for a 20-year-old manager at an auto parts store. Mom works all the time, too. Deanna's whole life seems hopeless, with no future. But she has a best friend Lee, and her oldest friend Jason, who now happen to be dating each other. An awkward triangle, once Deanna starts to wish that Jason could me more than a friend. The story takes place during the summer after sophomore year, when the only job Deanna can find is at a run-down pizza place in town, and discovers that Tommy is the only other employee - and he still thinks of her as easy prey.

3 out of 4 stars

TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY

LONG time, no update! Since October, I have finally finished reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. It's a LONG book. Very interesting, very descriptive, intriguing characters, and a lot about animal training and about dog behavior (and dog mental states -- does that sound weird?). I was into the story, wishing it were a little better edited (it's so LONG -- did I mention that?), but still hanging in there. And when I got to the ending, I tried to figure out why that ending was necessary. Did it resolve a character, or a theme, or did the author just not have any other ideas of what could happen next? It was totally an Oprah book ending, and I was a combination of disgusted, disappointed, and depressed. Why invest that much time in a book to end it with no hope, no uplifting message, no real resolution for the problems that the characters had wrestled with throughout the book??? Why, why, why?
Rating: 2 out of 4 stars. Some good phraseology, but yuk on the construction of the story/and the ending.

Anyway, as you can see from the image posted above, I just read another book -- Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher. It was a pretty quick read -- well, if you decide to do without sleep, read during an entire three-hour car ride, and ignore people around you, which was my process. The premise is that Clay receives a box with no return address which contains several numbered audiotapes. When he begins to listen, he hears the voice of a girl from his school, Hannah, who had committed suicide a short time before. He hears that he has received the tapes because he is one of thirteen people who needs to hear why she killed herself, and he may be one of those reasons. What follows is an agonizing step-by-step journey through some painful interactions she, Hannah, had with other people, and we, the witnesses to her story, are forced to acknowledge that what we say and do really DOES make a difference -- sometimes in ways we can't foresee or imagine. I usually cringe if a book is too melodramatic (my objection to the Twilight series,) but this one gets a pass because the emotion is too real and raw. This book provides a lot of ideas to think about, and would be a good one to discuss with others. If somebody else reads this, please seek me out so we can chat.
Rating: 4 out of 4 stars