Wings

Laurel has always been a little strange...all she really likes to drink is Sprite, she is never hot or cold, and she can't ever remember bleeding. Her parents had always homeschooled her until, at fifteen, Laurel starts going to high school. Then things get really weird. She meets David, a sweet guy who she begins to be interested in but then she sprouts a flower from her back, meets handsome Tamani who tells her that she's actually a fairy, and finds out that her DNA shows that she's actually a plant.

I listened to this on my Ipod (by Aprilynne Pike) and I liked it well enough. A different fairy mythology than any I have read about before. The typical but sweet love triangle between Laurel and her two suitors was satisfying. Sort of very tame urban fantasy. I think it was just good. Not fabulous, but enough to keep me occupied when driving between Maryland and New York.

Magic Study (YA Challenge #12)

I enjoyed Maria Snyder's sequel to Poison Study almost as

much as I liked Poison Study itself. Yelena Xaltana has been exiled from Ixia and is now studying magic at the Magician's Citadel in Sitia. She has been given a year to harness her magic or be killed. As she discovers the extent of her magical talents, a series of brutal murders, the hatred of her brother, and the clandestine arrival of her lover Valek complicate her training.

I often find the middle book of a triology difficult to get through; however, this one was definitely a page turner. Yelena's relationship with Valek adds the perfect amount of romance to a story that contains some pretty intense violence. I was definitely ready to get to the third book once I finished this one.

Ten Cents a Dance (YA Challenge #11)

Christine Fletcher's novel about a taxi dancer during World War II is both painful and compelling. Ruby Jacinski is only fifteen when she drops out of school to work in a meat-packing plant so that her family can survive. When Ruby sees the chance to escape bottling pickled pigs feet she jumps at it. She signs on at the Starlight Dance Academy where men pay ten cents for a dance with one of the "instructors." As Ruby enters the world of dancing, music, men, favors, and corruption, she must decide if the things she wants are worth the price she must pay to have them.

Ruby seems like a very real girl. Her naivety about the wider world is sad but makes her character feel honest. She makes some horrible decisions but somehow her heart seems to be in the right place.

Megiddo's Shadow (Y.A. Challenge #10)

I haven't read a book about World War I for years. Bodie Thoene wrote some which I liked but they were mostly about adults. Arthur Slade's book tells the story of Edward Bathe, a sixteen year old Canadian boy who enlists in the English military after his old brother was killed in France. Edward eventually becomes a cavalryman and travels to Palestine with his horse Buke to fight the Turks. During his training in England he met Emily, a nurse who he writes to as the war progresses and with whom he falls in love.

Reading the part of the book about his time in Palestine was interesting to me for more than just the story, I lived there for a few months back in 2000. The setting is described is very similar to what I remember...the area it seems hasn't changed all that much.

Edward seems to encompass all that soldiers can be. He enlists with a very proud sense of being on the side of right but the brutality and horror of war affect him. Through his relationships with his friends and enemies, many of the different personalities that seem to come out in truly trying times become apparent. War is a hard thing to read about but Slade was able to balance the war, romance, friendship, and family in Edward's story.

Wildwood Dancing (Y.A. Challenge #9)

I could not put this book down. I love this fairy tale anyway but Marillier made it completely new. Juliette Marillier wrote Daughter of the Forest, one of my very favorite fairy tale retellings of the Grimm's Brother's Wild Swans stories. Wildwood Dancing is based on another fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses only in this case there are five sisters, Tatiana, Jenica, Paula, Iulia, and Stella who go dancing in a magic kingdom.

The second daughter, Jenica, narrates the story of the wonders and danger of traveling between worlds. During each full moon, the five sisters use a portal in their bedroom to visit the Other Kingdom. During one of their visits, Tatiana meets and is instantantly attracted to Sorrow, a young man who seems to be one of the Night People who feed on human blood. This isn't even the beginning of their problems.

Jenica and Gogu, her enchanted frog, must figure out a way to keep the secret of the Other Kingdom safe and also keep the sister's ill father's business out of the hands of Cezar, their grasping cousin.

The Light-Bearer's Daughter (Y.A. Challenge #8)

This is the third in the Chronicles of Faerie series by O. R. Melling. The books don't have to be read sequentially but I think I having read the first ones gave me a better understanding of the setting and the ins and outs of the Faerie Court.

Twelve year-old Dana grew up in Ireland with her dad - her mother dissapeared when she was 3. Her father was Canadian born and he decides to leave Ireland and head back to Canada, a plan which Dana vehemently disagrees with. When Dana meets a strange lady in the forest she is sent on a quest to deliver a message to the Tanaiste, the second in command to the High King of Faerie. If she fulfills her charge she will be granted a single wish...and what Dana wants more than anything is to find out what happened to her mother.

I have to admit this one didn't thrill me as much as the first two...I really liked Hunter's Moon and the story didn't hold me the way that one did although I really enjoyed the twist at the end.

Magic Lessons (Y.A. Challenge # 7)

Magic Lessons is the second book in the Magic or Madness Trilogy by Justine Larbalestier. In the first novel, titled Magic or Madness, a fifteen year old Australian girl named Reason learns that she has the ability to do magic. Unfortunately for her this means that she will either die very young (if she uses her magic) or go insane if she doesn't. Her mother chose the second option and is institutionalized while her grandmother has figured out a way to extend her life by using tiny bits of magic regularly.

Reason befriends Jay-Tee (a girl from New York) and Tom (who is being trained by her grandmother) and the three of them must stay ahead of Jason Blake, an evil sort of guy who wants to drain them of their magic while a frighteningly, impossibly old man seems to want Reason for reasons of his own.

Since I read Magic or Madness I liked how magic functions in Justine Larbalestier's world, how it seems not to be a good thing...something that only brings danger. There is also an interesting little love triangle development between Tom, Reason, and Jay-Tee's brother Danny and I always like a little romance, even though it is very little in this case. The only thing about this book that I found myself not liking was Jay-Tee's constant harping on Reason about her use of Australian slang. It got sort of repetative. But I did like the story and will for sure read the last one.

The Dream-Maker's Magic (Y.A. Challenge #6)

In an unnamed kingdom there are people with unusal gifts - the Truth-Tellers who cannot lie, the Safe-Keepers who cannot reveal the secrets that are told to them, and the Dream-Maker (there is only one at a time) whose very presence can make a person's strongest wishes come true. The third in a trilogy by Sharon Shinn (The Truth-Teller's Tale and the Safe-Keeper's Secret are the first two), The Dream-Maker's Magic begins with the story of Kellen. Kellen is a girl but her mother is absolutely convinced that she gave birth to a son and treats Kellen like a boy in every respect. Kellen's father gives up her mother and Kellen and her mother struggle to make it on their own, eventually opening up their house to boarders to make ends meet.

When Kellen begins school she meets Gryffin, another outcast who has deformed legs but a sharp mind. Their relationship develops as they both try to make their way in the world.

I enjoyed all three novels in this trilogy. Kellen and Gryffin were both likable and flawed - believable. While the Kellen and Gryffin certainly had their trials, there was not much suspense for me - I never wondered whether or not everything would turn out okay for them. The end was predictable; however, I really enjoyed the journey to get there.

briar rose (ya challenge #5)

i think jane yolen is one of the truly great ya authors. this "sleeping beauty" story is truly a tale of victims of the holocaust - specifically victims not usually mentioned in general holocaust literature. rebecca's grandmother, gemma, is constantly telling her the story of sleeping beauty...but it is not the traditional story she and her sisters read in books or hear from their friends. as gemma is dying, she tells rebecca, "i am briar rose." this leads rebecca on a journey to poland to find out about her grandmother's past.

as rebecca tries to puzzle out what happened to her grandmother during world war II, yolen explores some of the less discussed aspects of the holocaust - the persecution of homosexuals and the existance of extermination camps such as chelmno.

i was intreguied by the idea that a fairy tale could play into something as horrifying as the holocaust...how a holocaust survivor could be sleeping beauty. but as i learned gemma's story...even though it is a fictional one, i believe that she could have been.

larklight (ya challenge #4)

i heard mixed reviews about phillip reeve's larklight before i read it and could see for sure how it's a sort of love/hate book...though i have to say i was right about lukewarm for it. art and his sister myrtle (young teenagers) live with their father (their mother is dead) in a spaceship/house called larklight. when their cozy home is invaded by gigantic spiders art and myrtle have to leave their father behind to save themselves from the unusally intelligent arachnids. art and myrtle encounter various alarming and alternately helpful and horrifying aliens and a space pirate named jack havock who happens to be a teenager only a little older then myrtle. the siblings, as well as jack and other friends they meet along the way must solve the mystery of the white spiders and save the british intergallatic empire along the way.

the story is written for the most part with arthur narrating the adventure though when he and myrtle are separated, he inserts excerpts from her diary to fill in her story. i think the tale is very clever and big sci fans will probably enjoy it more than i did. i thought art and myrtle's relationship was very believable - overwhelmingly antagonistic but with a little respect and love thrown in too.

memoirs of a teenage amnesiac (ya challenge #3)

i chose this book because i really liked elsewhere by gabriel zevin and i was not dissapointed in memoirs. after naomi falls down the steps of her school and bangs her head, she has lost all memory of the past four years. naomi has forgotten her boyfriend, her best friend, her parents divorce, the girls she eats lunch with...everything. as naomi learns, through her friends and family, about her past she sorts through the things she thinks and feels now and the way people tell her she acted before. she also has to come to terms with her feelings for ace, her boyfriend, and james, the new senior who is the first person she sees when she comes to after her accident.

i wonder how i would feel if i was a teenager reading this book. naomi and her relationships with will, ace, and james are so perfectly high school. the passion, the pressure, the fleeting nature of adolescent feelings whether they be love or infatuation. looking at it from 11 years post high school the intensity and drama of it all makes me alternately nostalgic and so grateful that i am not there anymore. but i am sure that most teenager girls will relate to naomi and her convoluted feelings for the guys in her life.

as i read memoirs, it was interesting to think how i would look at my life this minute if i couldn't remember the things that happened to me in the last year, two years, even longer. i would wonder how my relationships developed, how i ended up in the house i'm in now, how my daughters could be as old as they are. memory can be both a blessing and a curse. in a way, naomi is given a new beginning by the loss of the last four years.

it kind of reminds me of this absolutely fantastic dave wilcox song called when you're ready. sometimes memories keep us from being able to be the person we want to be...they sort of chain us to who we are...but we can always choose to be different. to forgive ourselves and others and move on.

hush: an irish princess' tale (ya challenge #2)

donna jo napoli's hush tells the story of melkorka, a princess living in medieval ireland. she is used to being taken care of by servants and much of her family's wealth is dependant on slave labor - something that melkorka has no problem with. when her brother's hand is cut off by a norseman, melkorka and her sister brigid are sent away by her parents as they put into motion a plan of revenge upon their brother's attackers.

as melkorka and brigid travel, they are captured by russian slave traders. melkorka and brigid never speak a word to their captors. through brigid is lost to melkorka, melkorka travels with the slave traders, always remaining silent. this silence gives her a sort of power over the russians and the leader believes that she is magic and allows her a certain amount of freedom she would not otherwise have.

as she adapts to life as a slave she, not surprisingly, changes her views about slavery. she comes to a kind of acceptance about her fate without giving up home that someday she might escape.

i had hoped for a little more closure than this book gave me. there are so many questions unanswered but considering the story it seems appropriate. i was drawn to melkorka's strength. she fiercely clings on to the one thing no one can take from her - no one can make her speak. they can do all kinds of things to her but to use her voice is a choice she continues to make. she manages to remain, inside herself, royalty though to everyone around her she is and always will be a slave.

dairy queen (y.a. challenge #1)

i started this book on the elliptical at the gym and by about 1am i had finished it...along with all the other stuff i have to do during the day. catherine murdock did a fantastic job in making d.j. a likable protagonist and making red bend, wisconsin a memorable setting. as d.j. works her father's dairy farm (he's injured) and navigates through her feelings about her family, football, and brian (the quarter back of the rival high school's football team). d.j. had the tone, the awkwardness, the emotions, and the shining moments i remember having when i was fifteen. the ending (which i will not give away) was really satisfying. a really fun read.

just too tempting - young adult challenge

so this challenge is right up my alley. read 12 young adult books in 2008. how can i resist?






here is my list

1. dairy queen by catherine murdock

2. larklight by philip reeve
3. magic study by maria v. snyder
4. magic lessons by justine larbalestier
5. wildwood dancing by juliette marillier
6. the dream-maker's magic by sharon shinn
7. hush by donna jo napoli
8. the light-bearer's daughter by o. r. melling
9. ten cents a dance by christine fletcher
10. briar rose by jane yolen
11. megiddo's shadow by arthur slade
12. memoirs of a teenager amnesiac by gabrielle zevin