I'll Be There

I'll Be There
By Holly Goldberg Sloan
Little, Brown and Company, 2011. 392 pgs. Teen fiction

When Emily Bell's father makes her sing a solo of "I'll Be There" in church, it sets off a chain of events that changes her whole life. Emily doesn't have a good singing voice and doesn't want to sing the solo; during it, she focuses on the very back of the church, or more specifically, the boy sitting in the back of the church. Sam likes music and has attended church that day to hear the music. When an embarrassed Emily runs out after her performance, he follows. But their romance isn't easy, though in some ways it's completely simple. Sam's crazy criminal of a father has taken him and his unhealthy younger brother Riddle all over the country, stealing and lying everywhere he goes. Sam and Riddle are just trying to survive, and they've never connected with anyone before. That changes with Emily, but all too soon, their father creates problems that leave them fighting to stay alive.

This was a completely gripping story. I was so anxious, waiting to see how things would turn out for Sam, Riddle and Emily. I didn't necessarily care for the side story of Bobby Ellis, a boy who is obsessed with Emily, but I did appreciate the way the author did tie the details together. (So, Bobby was a necessary, if somewhat annoying, part of the story.) The writing style is sort of lyrical, lulling you in further and further as the chain of events unfold. It's a little bit different--but I liked it a lot.

4.5 stars. A very little bit of language.

Dragon Castle

Dragon Castle
By Joseph Bruchac
Dial Books for Young Readers, 2011. 346 pgs. Teen fiction

Many years before, Rashko's ancestor, Pavol was the sole survivor when his family was killed by an evil sorcerer. Pavol, keeping his identity a secret, trained intensely to be able to defeat the sorcerer, but he acted the part of a fool to keep himself nonthreatening. After his success, his kingdom had been left alone for years, living in peace. Now, however, Rashko's parents, who are pretty foolish themselves, mysteriously disappear, and Rashko is left with his foolish older brother Paulek to protect their home from the dark force advancing toward them. Rashko knows his brother has a good heart, but he seems taken in by their sudden "guests," while Rashko recognizes that they have only evil in mind. Although Rashko is wise, he doesn't know if he will be enough to save his family and his home.

Drawing on Slovakian culture, Bruchac has created a warm fantasy world. With adventure, a tiny (really, really tiny) hint of romance, humor, and the interweaving of Rashko's and Pavol's stories, this book is a lot of fun to read. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to fans of The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner.

4 stars. Clean read.

Back When You Were Easier to Love

Back When You Were Easier to Love
By Emily Wing Smith
Dutton Books, 2011. 296 pgs. Young Adult

When Joy moved to Haven, Utah, she quickly started dating Zan, who was cooler than everyone else there: he was so "above" the silly Mormon or Latter-day Saint (LDS) culture, with the Sprite drinking and Disney-movie-watching-parties and "Modest is Hottest" t-shirts, and Mormons in general, since they aren't concerned about real issues and think they're better than everyone else. In Zan, Joy finally felt like she was somebody, but when he completed his GED and took off to California to go to college, Joy's world fell apart. Now she's desperate to get "closure" (which really means she's desperate to get Zan back), and she convinces Zan's friend Noah to drive her to California, even though she can't stand, since he's king of the Soccer Lovin' Kids--so cool and handsome he can even make being a Mormon okay. They confront Zan, and Joy has to realize what that maybe she hasn’t been seeing things clearly.

I'll start of my review with a disclaimer: I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (a Mormon), so maybe I'm more sensitive than a lot of readers would be. But, as a member of the group being mocked here, I also feel like I have every right to be sensitive about how my religious group is being represented.

Joy's attitude can be really hard to take: even though she is LDS, she's so disdainful towards Haven (from the library, to the school, to the people) and toward Mormon culture (she likes the belief, just not the culture), and even toward her friends. For example, she says of her best friend, “If Zan is the world’s biggest cliché, then Mattia is Haven’s biggest cliché. She’s smart but not too smart, peppy but not too peppy, pretty but not too pretty. She’ll go to Brigham Young University like forty percent of our class, she’ll major in psychology (a subject she’s been obsessed with for as long as I’ve known her), and she’ll meet the perfect recently returned missionary. They’ll get married, have 3.5 children, and get family pictures taken up the canyon every autumn. It’s so easy for people like her” (p. 51). One of the things she doesn’t like about Noah and his friends is that they won’t have girlfriends before they go on their missions—and it also bothers her that he’s nice to everyone. (Yeah, what a rotten guy, Noah.) Joy DOES come to realize that she’s been a jerk (although I would have liked to see a little bit more realization and remorse), and some of it stems from her own insecurities. However, even after she has started to have some sense of her own snobbery, she still is very stereotypical in her assumptions about people—for example, she says, “Even though Noah hasn’t told me much about his family, I can still imagine them in a silver minivan, the girls dressed up like Cinderella and Snow White, watching Aladdin on DVD” (p.239-240). Okay, maybe that’s not the worst thing to assume about a Mormon family, but still, it’s like she’s so wrapped up in her ideas of what the quaint little Mormon life is like that she doesn’t entertain the possibility that Noah’s life could be any different. (I don’t think Joy, at least on the pages, even knows if his parents are still married, or both alive, or anything. So she might want to be a little more cautious in her assumptions, even if she thinks it’s a nice one, since she’s been so badly misjudging everyone all along…). And, even with her remorse, she still can’t put aside her own ideas enough to respect Noah’s: at the end, their car breaks down in Vegas, they go to a motel and can only afford one room, and all that’s available is one with a double bed. Yeah, sleeping together is a no-no in Mormon culture, and even though Joy is certain nothing will happen (and it’s doesn’t), she still tells Noah, even though he’s clearly uncomfortable, that it’s okay for them to share a bed, which to me, especially since she has a track record of thinking she’s better than everyone around her, shows that she still thinks her ideas are better. Why can’t she just be respectful of Noah’s standards and not push the limits?

So, yes, Joy does come to realize that she’s not better than anyone and that no one is better than anyone, but I have to say, that for me, the realization might have been too little, too late. Joy’s attitude made it hard to be sympathetic, which in turn makes it hard to care what happens to her.

I don't know, maybe I'm just grumpy. Maybe I didn't read it the way the author intended (Tangent: I'm not so sure an author can say a book should be a read a certain way, since everyone comes at a book with his or her own life experiences and opinions and such; it might be too much for any author to think that everyone's just going to be able to read a book the way that he/she "intended".), but overall, I think the book made me sad: sad to see my culture and people mocked, and even with Joy's (kinda) change of heart, I didn't feel like it fully repaired the damage it did. You know what? It's okay to like Sprite, it's okay to have Disney parties rather than drug and alcohol induced parties, and there are LOTS of Mormons who care about real issues and who DON'T think they're better than everyone...and I hope readers realize that, but I'm not sure the author really conveyed that strongly enough.

So...I don't think I'll give this book a rating. Maybe I'm overly sensitive; maybe the author would think this review is a joke. I don't know. But I'm not sure I can fairly rate it, so I won't.

Not quite a 100% clean read: it says the "h" word a couple of times, and, as mentioned, Joy and Noah do end up in the same bed (although he leaves and sleeps on the floor).

Crossed

Crossed
By Ally Condie
Nov. 2011. 367 pgs. Teen fiction (I read the ARC)

Cassia finds a way to get to the Outer Provinces, where she is intent on finding Ky, despite the fact that he's been given a work assignment that is almost certain to kill him. However, he manages to escape into the Craving, a series of canyons that could lead to freedom. Ky is just as set on finding a way to get back to Cassia. However, when the two mind each, Ky realizes that Cassia has found out about the Rising, a rebellion against their Society--something Ky doesn't want to be a part of and would like to keep Cassia out of as well.

I think fans of Matched will like Crossed as well. It can be a bit slow; there's a LOT of time spent in the canyons, both before and after Ky and Cassia are reunited--and they don't find each other until over halfway through the book, so that made things seem a little slow as well. I didn't necessarily love the first book, and again, this one was just likeable for me, but I think fans will enjoy it--and I might like it better if I weren't totally burned out on dystopias and love triangles.

3 stars. Clean read.

Roadside Assistance

Roadside Assistance

By Amy Clipston

Zondervan, 2011. 278 pgs. Teen fiction

Summary:

Emily’s mother died from cancer and the medical bills ended up costing her and her father their home and his business. Left with little to their name, they move in with Emily’s aunt Darlene and her family, including her cousin who is everything Emily isn’t. Emily just wants to work on cars—her favorite hobby—but she feels pressured by her family to be something she’s not. While the boy next door, Zander, proves to be a good friend, Emily is frustrated by his deep faith; since her mother died, she hasn’t been able to pray or find any solace and she doesn’t want anyone to preach to her.

Review:

I enjoyed reading about Emily’s struggle to re-find her faith; I think her feelings are realistically portrayed. I also enjoyed watching her developing friendship with Zander. My only complaint was that sometimes the language didn’t seem fitting for a teenager; there were places where it was oddly formal. Overall, though, this is a good choice for those looking for Christian fiction.

3 stars. Clean read.

Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto

Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto

By Paul B. Janeczko

Candlewick Press, 2011. 102 pgs. Poetry

Summary and Review:

This is a collection of brief poems that describes how the Nazis herded Jews into the Terezin ghetto before shipping them off to the death camps. The poems show the view point of the Jews, as well as the SS guards and the non-Jewish people who were removed from their homes in order to build the ghetto. It’s a slim collection of poems, but it’s definitely moving, showing lost love, broken lives, and more.

3.5 stars.

Changing My Ratings...

I decided I needed to change my rating system; there were a whole lot of 3 and 3.5 star books and not a single 1...which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I think I felt bad rating any books that low. My ratings were probably a bit skewed, so I've re-rated...and interestingly enough, there were actually a couple books that I gave a HIGHER rating to.

As a guide, this is how I'm going to define the stars:
1: didn't like it
2: it was okay
3: liked it
4: really liked
5: amazing