The Popularity Papers

The Popularity Papers: Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldbatt and Julie Graham-Chang by Amy Ignatow. Grades 4-7. Amulet Books, 2010. 208 pages. Review copy provided by my local library.

Sixth grade is coming. And best friends Lydia and Julie are getting ready! They've both seen Lydia's older sister go through middle school, ending up a social pariah, and they're determined that their fate will be different. They will be popular! So they devise a plan to observe the most popular girls at their school and write down what they do so they can try it. Some tactics backfire, like Lydia trying to bleach a blonde streak in her hair using the bleach she finds underneath the counter. (Note to self: that bleach will burn off a chunk of your hair.) But the girls will persevere... until it starts getting in the way of their friendship. Why is being popular so important anyway?

We're talking about funny books this month in our Reading Wildly book discussion and this has been a popular series since I bought them for the Children's Room last year, so I knew I wanted to pick up the first book. It's no mystery why these are popular. The cartoony, handwriting-y format is reminiscent of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and the myriad of funny cartoon diary books that have sprung up in its wake. Full color illustrations makes this series stand out. But, more than that, Amy Ignatow hits the nail right on the head with her dual tween narrators. As I was reading, I could totally imagine myself starting a notebook like this with one of my best friends in 5th-7th grade.

It's easy to mess up dual narrators, even when handwriting styles can help the reader differentiate, but Ignatow gets it right. She's created two distinct characters here, passing the notebook back and forth as they record their adventures in popularity. She also gets bonus points for diversity (Lydia and her sister are raised by just their mom and Julie has two dads, a fact that's obvious throughout the book but also no big deal).

The book is laugh-out-loud funny and I found myself wanting to continue reading the series purely for my own enjoyment (not because I had to for our book discussion).

Readalikes: Obviously the cartoon diary format and the humorous tone is going to make this a readalike for all those Wimpy Kid-esque books (Big Nate, Dork Diaries, etc.).

I'd also suggest Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf by Jennifer L. Holm for the format. I think the full-color told-through-stuff format might appeal to kids who like all the full color cartoons in The Popularity Papers.

I might also try Smile by Raina Telgemeier. This graphic novel is full color, so format is one appeal factor. Smile also deals with a girl trying to navigate the tricky waters of middle school and the story is sometimes funny and sometimes poignant.

The Popularity Papers is on shelves now! And don't miss the further adventures of Lydia and Julie in subsequent books (book 5 just came out this spring!).

Lola and the Boy Next Door

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins. Grades 8+ Dutton, September 2011. 338 pages. Reviewed from ARC snagged at ALA.

Things are going pretty well for Lola Nolan. She's got a loving family, good friends, a hot, rocker boyfriend, and big plans to create a splash at the winter formal with a Marie Antoinette-inspired gown she's making herself. And then her next-door neighbors the Bells move back in. Lola kinda had a thing for Cricket Bell, but it all blew up and then he moved away. But now that Lola's actually happy with her life, Cricket's back and suddenly everything is very complicated indeed. Lola thought she had moved on, but has she really?

I enjoyed Stephanie Perkins's debut novel, Anna and the French Kiss, and my expectations were high for this companion novel. I liked Lola and the Boy Next Door. I liked it, but I didn't love it... The love triangle romantic tension* was not entirely successful and I spent a lot of the book being frustrated by Lola. That's about as much as I can say without spoilers, I think.

HOWEVER. (And this is a huge however.) The last quarter of the book made up for almost every frustration I had with the first bit. And there was a lot that I loved about this book. Stephanie Perkins creates swoon-worthy characters and sensual scenes that aren't sexually explicit. She perfectly captures how the touch of a finger on a wrist can be so electrifying.

I also loved the details about the characters that brought them to life and made them into real people. I love Lola's costume stuff, I love that Cricket is into science, I love that Andy bakes pies. I also loved the glimpses of San Francisco and Berkeley that Ms. Perkins weaves into the story. And she gets definite bonus points for giving Lola gay parents.

Of course, fans of Anna and the French Kiss are going to be rabid for this one, so make sure it's on your radar. Anna and Etienne have a small part in this book! And I will definitely be following Stephanie Perkins and picking up whatever she writes (a third companion book, Isla and the Happily Ever After, is slated for Fall 2012 release).

Lola and the Boy Next Door will be on shelves September 29!

* Awkward, awkward phrasing, but Stephanie Perkins is pretty adamant that her book's not about a love triangle. I guess I don't know what else to call it, though.

Ten Things We Did

Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski. Grades 9-12. HarperTeen, June 2011.  357 pages. Reviewed from ARC snagged at ALA Midwinter.

It started with a lie to her parents (#1). When her dad announces they're moving to Cleveland, April convinces him to let her move in with her friend Vi. Two fake email addresses later, April's dad never has to know that Vi's mom is out of the state on an acting job and not likely to be home any time soon. And pretty soon, that leads to skipping school (#3), buying a hot tub (#4), and throwing a crazy party (#8). Somehow, April's gotten in over her head and suddenly everything she thought she could count on is falling apart. She's going to have to figure out how to put everything together again.

Suspend your disbelief and buy the premise and you're in for a madcap story of first loves, friendship, and one girl figuring things out on her own. I needed something to read for the plane down to New Orleans and this turned out to be the perfect thing - funny chick lit with some meat to it.

First, the funny. The book's divided into little sections with headings that add to the humor. The layout of the book really adds to its humor and I found myself chuckling along as I'm reading. April's mishaps as she tackles living on her own also bring some laughs. She's written very realistically, and the mistakes she makes as she figures out running the dishwasher, grocery shopping, and the joys of pet ownership are the mistakes many of us have probably made.

Now, the meat.

ETA: Hey, I've been alerted that what I'm about to tell you might be a little bit of a spoiler. I still think there's much to enjoy about this book, even if you read the paragraph below, but if you are sensitive to spoilers, be warned!!

Along with living alone, April's dealing with her boyfriend of the past two years, and the decision of whether to lose her virginity to him. She weighs this decision very carefully, plans in advance... and somehow winds up with an STD. I really like that this bit was included because I can't think of any other YA titles (there must be some, right? Help a girl out) that deal with teens getting STDs other than AIDS. I liked Mlynowski's treatment of this topic and safe sex in general and I think it manages to educate without being didactic. (Win!)

I would definitely hand this title to fans of chick lit with a little meat on its bones. Think Sarah Dessen, Ann Brashares, and others in that ilk.

Check out more reviews at Galleysmith, Novel Novice, and Read This Instead.

Ten Things We Did is on shelves now!

Audiobook Review: The Secret Language of Girls

The Secret Language of Girls by Frances O'Roark Dowell, narrated by Michele Santopietro.  Grades 4-6.  Random House/Listening Library, 2004.  3 hours, 52 minutes (4 discs).  Reviewed from library copy. 

Kate and Marilyn have been best friends since they were little kids, but now they're starting 6th grade and things are changing.  Kate wonders when Marilyn started getting so interested in makeup and cheerleading.  Marilyn wonders when Kate will start to grow up.  Told in vignettes throughout their sixth grade year, The Secret Language of Girls alternates points of view between Kate and Marilyn (with a little bit of Marilyn's brother Petey thrown in for good measure).

In 2009, I read The Kind of Friends We Used to Be, which is actually the sequel to The Secret Language of Girls.  I loved Friends and I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to pick up this book.  If Friends is "a story about girls beginning to become the people they want to become", then The Secret Language of Girls is a story about girls starting to realize that things can't stay they same, that they can't stay the same, even if they want to.

This is a coming-of-age story reminiscent of the Judy Blume books I read and loved as a tween.  These are the kind of stories that will always be written because they're always needed by girls who are starting think about growing up.  The story is told alternately from both Kate's and Marilyn's points of view (with a little bit of Marilyn's younger brother Petey thrown in there, too).

One thing that stuck out to me about this book was the strength of the supporting characters.  As I listened to the story, I found myself wanting to know the story from Petey's point of view or from Flannery's point of view, and so on.  To me, that speaks to the development of even minor characters.  They're interesting enough that I wondered what the events would look like through their eyes.

The main characters of Kate and Marilyn are well-developed, too, and they're nice reflections of best friends who suddenly realize that they don't have as much in common as they thought.  I got a comment from a tween reader on my review of The Kind of Friends We Used to Be and she said that she felt that she was like Marilyn and her best friend was like Kate.  Certainly not all tweens will identify with either Marilyn or Kate, but I'm betting many will.

I listened to the audio recording, narrated by Michele Santopietro.  She has a strong, clear reading voice and though she does slightly different voices for the characters, hers is a narration that lets the story speak for itself.  She does the story justice by not over-voicing or over-acting.  It's a quiet kind of story and the simple narration really works for it.  Santopietro gives the characters just enough variation that you can tell them apart.

Hey, I'm an Audible affiliate, which means that if you purchase items after clicking links on my site, I may receive a commission! 

Sequins, Secrets, and Silver Linings

Sequins, Secrets, and Silver Linings by Sophia Bennett.  Grades 6-9.  Chicken House/Scholastic, January 2011.  Originally published as Threads in the UK in 2009.  281 pages.  Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher.

When 14-year-old Londoner Nonie and her best friends discover a genius fashion designer, it's up to them to help her out.  Crow's a 12-year-old Ugandan refugee and her family's still in Uganda, danger threatening at all times.  Her father sent her to England to study and thinks she should be concentrating on "serious things", but Nonie and her besties think they can figure out a way for fashion to come to the rescue!

Calling all fans of Project Runway and Top Model: this book's for you!!

This is a very sweet story with a lot of heart and it’s perfect for tweens who like chick lit with a little meat on its bones.  True, a lot of the book is about fashion, designers, outfits, runways, and red carpets.  But it’s very nicely juxtaposed with Nonie and her friends’ concern about what’s going on in Uganda and how they can help.  Sophia Bennett gets her ratio of fluffy, girly stuff to serious stuff just exactly right, which is one of the reasons I loved this book.

Nonie’s growth as a character was another thing I loved.  Nonie narrates our story and she’s got two best friends – Edie is studious and hopes to attend Harvard, and Jenny is a teen actress who just wrapped up her first major film.  They’ve each got big things going on in their lives and sometimes Nonie feels a little bit… adrift.  Sure, she has a passion for fashion, but she’s not really sure where that’s going to take her (except maybe serving tea to Vivienne Westwood).  In Nonie, readers have a character to root for as she takes stock of her situation and tries to help.  Nonie’s not perfect, but she believably grows throughout the novel and that was a very nice thing to see.

I also loved what Ms. Bennett did with Crow.  At first I thought it was going to be impossible to feel like I knew Crow at all.  She’s mostly silent.  She’s been through things that she’d rather not talk about.  But by the end of the book, I felt like I knew Crow just as well as the rest of the girls, and that’s not an easy feat when a character has very little dialogue. 

Now, I’m not sure I completely buy that these characters were 12 and 14 years old (they seemed older), but I am sure that I loved the book enough to suspend my disbelief. 

I’d hand this in a heartbeat to all the fashionistas in your teen section and I’d also try it on kids who like chick lit with a more serious side (think Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants).

Check out another review at Forever Young Adult. 

Sequins, Secrets, and Silver Linings is on shelves now!

The Sweetness of Salt

The Sweetness of Salt by Cecilia Galante. Grades 7 and up. Bloomsbury USA, November 2010.  320 pages.  Reviewed from ARC scooped up at BEA.

Julia's doing everything right. She's just graduated valedictorian of her high school class. She's landed an internship in a law office for the summer and in the fall she's off to college to start her pre-law studies (she's got a full ride to Pitt). Then it'll be law school... but is studying law Julia's dream or is she just following in her father's footsteps?

When Julia's older sister Sophie comes home for her graduation, she reveals a family secret that changes everything. Suddenly Julia's not sure what she wants or who she can trust. So Julia heads to Vermont to spend the summer with her sister, helping her renovate an old house into a bakery and, hopefully, getting some answers to her questions. Over the course of the summer Julia will get to know her sister and she'll realize that you have to take the salty along with the sweet.

I enjoyed this book and it reminded me most of Sarah Dessen (whom I love, so that's a compliment!). What I liked best was the journey that Julia undergoes. She's lived this sheltered life, never a toe out of line, aiming for the goal she thinks she should have. Now that everything's changed, Julia has to figure out what she wants and how to go after it. The change comes about gradually and in a totally believable way.

There are a handful of those small-town quirky characters, who I found somewhat interchangeable with the notable exception of Aiden - a dreamy older artist that Julia starts talking to. And there's a little superfluous romance, but it's not the main focus of the book.

It's a book about sisters and family. It's a book about figuring out who you are. It's a book about a time in your life when things start to change and you'll never be the same. I think Julia's journey will resonate with many teens who are teetering on the precipice of adulthood.

The Sweetness of Salt will be on shelves November 9.

Mostly Good Girls

Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales.  (Grades 8+)  Simon Pulse, October 2010.  347 pages.  Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher.

Violet Tunis has plans for her junior year at the Westfield School, an elite prep school for girls.  She wants to get a perfect score on her PSATs, improve the literary magazine, spend lots of quality time with her best friend Katie, and make Scott Walsh fall in love with her.  But even as she goes through her junior year making witty observations about her classmates, speculating about a certain teacher's smiley face tattoo, and lusting after Scott like she's always done, little things are beginning to change.  Maybe it starts when Katie gets a perfect score on her PSATs and doesn't tell Vi...

Holy cats, this is an awesome book!

So... I've had this one on my TBR pile for quite awhile.  I think I snagged my ARC at BEA back in May.  And I kept putting it off and putting it off because, to be brutally honest, I hate the cover.  To me, it doesn't look young or funny.  It looks like adult chick lit.  But then I kept reading positive reviews of it.  Kelly of Stacked started gushing about it and I knew I had to pick it up.  I'm so glad I did!!!

Leila Sales's debut novel is hilarious and touching at turns.  The way it's written... some people have described it as vignettes, but to me it felt more like a journal (although it's not actually written like a journal).  And okay, not only does Violet have this awesome sarcastic wit that kept me laughing out loud, but she felt so real to me.  At one point, no joke, I was reading and Violet made a comment about something seeming like it was from a young adult novel and I actually thought to myself, "Ironic!  Violet's commenting about young adult novels when she's in a young adult novel!".  Yeah, I had forgotten that the book was written by an author.  I had forgotten that Violet was made up.

The book's about friendship.  It's about relating to your best friend and how sometimes that's hard, especially when you're in school and you have a million things pressuring you all at once.  It's about how things start to change and maybe they can't be the way they were and dealing with that.

Funny, serious, realistic, and absolutely un-put-down-able.  Mostly Good Girls is one of my favorite books of the year.  This is Leila Sales's debut novel and I will definitely be looking for more from her!

I'd recommend this to fans of the Jessica Darling series by Meghan McCafferty (although Violet's definitely... nicer than Jessica) and fans of authors like Sarah Dessen, Jenny Han, etc.

Leila Sales shares her thoughts about the cover over at Melissa Walker's Blog and you can read more reviews at Stiletto Storytime, Presenting Lenore, The Crooked Shelf, and Sarah's Random Musings.

Mostly Good Girls is on shelves now!

Nice and Mean

Nice and Mean by Jessica Leader. Grades 4-7. Simon & Schuster Children's, June 2010. Review copy provided by author. 261 pages.

Marina is your quintessential mean girl. When her best friends all get into the school play without her and her friend Rachel begins flirting with the boy Marina sorta likes, Marina knows just how to get back at Rachel. She'll film a parody of the hot fashion show Victim / Victorious for her Video class and cast Rachel in the role of Fashion Victim. Her plan is perfect except for one thing...

Sachi, voted Nicest Girl in last year's school poll. She's risked everything to be in the Video class this year and she can't believe her bad luck in being paired up with Marina. Marina only wants to do things her way and Sachi can see her dream of a provocative documentary about students' attitudes toward different nationalities disappearing into thin air.

Can the Nice Girl and the Mean Girl work together to get their project done? Or will it be a total disaster, ending in tragedy for them both?

The first thing I noticed when reading this middle-grade debut was the authentic tween voices. Both Marina and Sachi narrate in first-person, alternating chapters in each voice. The characters are totally believable and I definitely bought that they were seventh-graders. While I do wish that Marina's and Sachi's voices had been a little more distinct from each other, that tween voice can be tricky to nail down, and Jessica Leader has done an excellent job.

Ms. Leader gets props for including a cast of diverse characters, something you'd expect to see in a New York City middle school. Of our main characters, Marina is white and Sachi is Indian, emigrating with her family when she was five years old. Of their friends and teachers, Asian and African-American characters are included. I really appreciated the thought that went into that.

I also appreciated all the details that made the story pop. Marina's thing is fashion and the story's peppered with details about outfits and fashion. I love that it's so NOT done in a designer-name-dropping kind of way, but it's definitely an interest of Marina's. Sachi's interested in fashion too - namely trying to figure out how kids know what's cool and who decides what's "in" and what's "out". Also included are details of the video-making process. Sachi's chapters are preceded by an imagined film scene, while Marina's chapters are preceded by entries in her Little Black Book. Sachi has an interest in making documentary films and we're not only told that, we're shown it throughout the book.

Another nice thing about the book is that it's a squeaky clean book about mean girls, popularity, and culture. It's firmly in the middle-grade category. I'd hand it to fans of Peace, Love, & Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle  and Shug by Jenny Han.

Check out more reviews at Green Bean Teen Queen, The Book Scout, and Reading in Color, and check out all the posts from Jessica Leader's blog tour!

Nice and Mean is on shelves now!

The Summer of Skinny Dipping

The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells. Grades 8 and up. Sourcebooks Fire, June 2010. Review copy provided by publisher.

Mia Gordon is excited for this summer. Her family's finally going back to the Hamptons where Mia's eager to reconnect with her cousin Corinne - the two used to be close, but lately Corinne's not returning her texts. When Mia arrives at her cousin's house, she's surprised to see that Corinne's changed. She's no longer the adventurous companion that Mia remembers. Now Corinne's a party girl, hanging with the right crowd, and Mia feels completely left out. Until she meets Simon, a boy spending the summer at one of the houses next door. At first Mia's not impressed, but the more time she spends with Simon, the more she likes him. But then everything changes forever, making this a summer that Mia will never forget.

Guys, I have to admit that I didn't finish this one. I just wasn't that into it and I put it down after about 100 pages. My problem was that I didn't connect with Mia and the story was just taking too long to get where it was going. I had no patience for Mia's problems, which seemed to be the same problems featured in so many other YA novels.

Now, while I didn't make it to the end, I did read some spoilers, so I'm aware that the ending is not what you might expect from your typical summer coming-of-age story. But even the promise of plot twists wasn't enough to make me want to finish the book.

What can I say? I just wasn't that into it. It's quite possible that it's not the book, it's me, so I think you'd better check out some reviews from people who actually did finish the book:

Pop Culture Junkie, Mother-Daughter Book Club, Stacked, The Story Siren, YA Librarian Tales, and The Book Cellar (among many others)

So, if it sounds like something you'd like, pick up The Summer of Skinny Dipping and give it a try. It's on shelves now!

48HBC: Revolution

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly. Grades 9-12. Delacorte Press, October 2010. Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher. 472 pages.

Andi isn't just floundering, she's drowning. Two years ago, her 10-year-old brother was killed and Andi blames herself. She wasn't there to take care of him. And now he's gone. Her father's left and her mother's sinking deeper and deeper into her own madness. It's all Andi can do to make it through each day and the only thing that gives her any pleasure is her music. When her father finds out that she's failing her classes, he takes her with him to Paris so she can work on her senior thesis. And when Andi discovers a hidden diary written by a girl during the French Revolution, her life will change forever.

You know... I'm finding it hard to review this book because it wasn't what I wanted it to be, which isn't fair. But here goes...

Jennifer Donnelly is a very talented writer. I connected with the character of Andi right away, even though she's not necessarily someone I would identify with. Her grief seeps off the page, but it's done in such a way that I immediately sympathized with her. Her pain hurt me, too. I was very intrigued by the beginning and I didn't want to put the book down.

And then there was the whole diary thing. Andi finds a diary written by Alexandrine, a 17-year-old girl who was intimately involved with the royal family during the French Revolution. And because Alexandrine was a caretaker for the dauphin, the French prince who was the same age as Andi's brother when he died, Andi identifies with her and comes to care about her as she's reading the diary entries. The problem? I just never cared very much about Alex. I didn't care for how her story unfolded in the diary entries - I felt distanced from her and I would have preferred for the Alex parts to be told in straight first-person like the Andi parts.

And then the last bit went to kind of a strange place and I wasn't really on board with it. I guess my problem is that it felt like three different books that were kind of mashed together. And it went on for so long (almost 500 pages), that I started to lose my patience with Andi.

Now. All that said, I did love Andi. I cared about her. I loved her passion for music and I loved all the information about music that came through in the story. I was rooting for her as a romantic element was introduced. The novel's also fantastically researched and I can only imagine how much work that was. Ms. Donnelly includes an author's note as well as a comprehensive bibliography. And while it wasn't exactly my cup of tea, it's a very well-written and well-thought out book. It'll have fans. Many of 'em.

48 Hour Book Challenge Update

Time spent reading: 12.5 hours
Time spent blogging/networking: 2.5 hours
Books read: 4
Pages read: 1059

And I drank two Cokes, so I should be good to go for awhile tonight. ;) Next up will be something short, though...

The DUFF: Designated Ugly, Fat Friend

The DUFF: Designated Ugly, Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger. Grades 9 and up. Poppy (an imprint of Little, Brown), September 2010. Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher.

When Hamilton High School's most promiscuous male deems Bianca the DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) of her group, Bianca throws her Cherry Coke in his face. But later it occurs to her that, between Casey, the modelesque cheerleader, and Jessica, the curvy blonde, maybe Bianca is the DUFF... And when things start to fall apart with her parents, Bianca is horrified to find herself swept up in a fling with Wesley the jerk. She hates absolutely everything about him... except for the way his kisses help her escape the stress in her life. But when Bianca finds herself thinking about Wesley more and more, she'll have to decide - when is enough enough?


I found this book to be unexpectedly delightful. 


For some reason, even though it's been getting a fair amount of buzz around the KidLitosphere, I wasn't that intrigued by The DUFF before I picked it up. Maybe that stemmed from negative impressions of the cover (which definitely does not depict someone ugly or fat) or maybe it was the idea of an 18-year-old author that gave me pause. I figured I'd pick it up since Little, Brown sent it to me, and I'm so glad I did! 


The DUFF is not just another fat-girl book (like maybe I'd suspected). In fact, The DUFF isn't a fat-girl book at all. It's a book about a normal teenage girl who's going through some issues and trying to deal with her stress. And she ends up choosing a somewhat destructive way to deal with her stress (as some teens are wont to do). But nothing's black and white here. As Bianca's fling with Wesley proceeds, they both begin to change their minds about each other. I love that Ms. Keplinger doesn't shy away from the complicated emotions that Bianca is feeling. She's able to explore this relationship without getting message-y and while providing a satisfying conclusion. 


And my qualms with the cover dissipated as I read the story. The book's not really about a fat girl. It's about those feelings that everyone has from time to time - feeling like you're not pretty enough, not thin enough, not smart enough... As Bianca works through her issues in the book, she comes to realize that everyone feels like they're the DUFF at some point. Though Bianca might perceive herself as ugly and fat, that doesn't necessarily make it true. 


I'd recommend this book to fans of Elizabeth Scott for the realistic characters and complicated emotions. I'd also recommend it to fans of Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles for the unlikely (and somewhat steamy) romance element. 


Kody Keplinger's definitely a debut author to watch and I certainly hope she finds time between her college classes to keep writing YA novels! 


The DUFF will be on shelves September 7, 2010.

Book Review: The Unwritten Rule

The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott. (Grades 7+) Simon Pulse, March 2010. Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher.

Sarah has been best friends with Brianna since they met in kindergarten and Brianna saved Sarah from the clutches of a five-year-old Mean Girl. Sarah has been Brianna's loyal sidekick ever since. But there's one thing Sarah's never told Brianna - how she feels about Brianna's boyfriend Ryan. Sarah has liked Ryan since the eighth grade, but now Ryan and Brianna are together and Sarah knows that she can never tell Brianna her true feelings. 

Except that... Ryan and Sarah kissed. 

And now Sarah's falling harder than ever. There's an unwritten rule: you don't fall for your best friend's boyfriend. And Sarah's broken it. 

Sometimes you're in the mood for werewolves. 
Sometimes you're in the mood for girl football players. 
And sometimes you're in the mood for a romance story with teen characters so real they're practically jumping off the page - and for that last one, you'll pick up The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott. 


One of Elizabeth's Scott's great strengths are her characters. It was one of the first things I loved about her books. Sometimes I want to shake her characters, sometimes I want to hug them, and that's because they feel so real to me. Sarah, Brianna, Ryan, and the rest of the characters in The Unwritten Rule are no exception. 


Of course, I was rooting for our protagonist here - Sarah's a sweet girl in a tight spot and there's no win-win solution for her. But the character that really fascinated me was Brianna. It'd be easy to write Brianna off as a kind of frenemy, an obstacle to Sarah's destiny. But, like real people, Brianna's complex. And, okay, maybe she does mean things sometimes, but you can absolutely see why she is the way she is, and why Sarah has to keep quiet about her feelings for Ryan. It's a tribute to Ms. Scott's writing that she can make the reader feel empathy for Brianna, even as we're rooting for Sarah to get the guy. 

This is a sweet romance story and I'd definitely recommend picking it up if you enjoy Sarah Dessen or Jenny Han. (Can I also just say that I love the cover? It's so pretty and purple!)


Read more reviews at GreenBean TeenQueen, Not Enough Bookshelves, Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf, and The Book Owl (among others). And check out this videoblog of Elizabeth Scott talking about The Unwritten Rule for Readergirlz (thanks to bildungsroman for the link!):






The Unwritten Rule is on shelves now! Go pick it up for your spring break (or anytime) reading!

Catching up...

And here I am, catching up on my to-review pile with three short reviews of books I've picked up lately. 


Epitaph Road by David Patneaude. (Grades 5-8.) Egmont USA, March 2010. Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher.


In 2067 the virus came. Elisha's Bear. It only affected males and it was deadly. Almost every male on earth was wiped out. Now, thirty years later, Kellen is one of the few boys on earth. When Kellen hears that there might be another outbreak of Elisha's Bear near where his father lives, he knows he has to warn him... whatever the cost. But what he'll discover on his journey will change everything. 

It's an interesting premise and usually post-apocalyptic teen novels are right up my alley, but this one didn't do it for me. I liked the author's device of explaining the changes that brought about the current government through newspaper headlines. But it just took forever for the plot to get to where it was going. By the time Kellen undertook his journey and started figuring out the hidden truths, I had long lost patience. Plus, I understand from other Good Reads reviews that the premise has been done (and possibly done better) in The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper. 

Flawed Dogs by Berkeley Breathed. (Grades 4-6.) Philomel Books, September 2009. Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher. 


This is the story of Sam the Lion, a pedigreed dachshund with a rare Duuglitz tuft. Meant to be a show dog, he soon escapes the clutches of the overbearing Mrs. Nutbush and elects to follow an orphan named Heidy who is going to live with her uncle. But when Sam steals the attention away from the champion standard poodle Cassius, Cassius will get his revenge. What ensues is a wild and wacky adventure as the flawed dogs decide to claim what is rightfully theirs. 

Now, this one I didn't expect to like as much as I did, but once I started it I found myself getting into it. The book reads like an animated feature and I could really see everything happening as the story unfolded. Plus, the voice of Sam, the scrappy dachshund, is hilarious. I'm not totally sold on the kid appeal because I've had a hard time selling books with animal protagonists to middle-graders, but parts of the book might be a little disturbing to younger kids. This might make a good family or classroom readaloud, though. 

The Summer Before by Ann M. Martin. (Grades 2-5.) Scholastic Press, April 2010. Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher.  

Before there was the Baby-Sitters Club, there were four girls - Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey. This is the story of the summer before they got together to form the BSC. That summer they were all going through things. Kristy was missing her dad and rebelling against her mom's new boyfriend Watson. Mary Anne was struggling with her father's strict rules. Claudia was discovering boys and feeling much more mature than her two best friends, Kristy and Mary Anne. And Stacey was dealing with her former best friends who dumped her. 

The Summer Before is exactly what you'd expect from a Baby-Sitters Club prequel. It definitely matches the tone and writing of the series and fans will be glad to get some more insights into their favorite characters. I don't know that it will necessarily attract new fans to the series, though. What I loved about the BSC books is the friendship between the girls and their babysitting stories, both of which are somewhat scarce in this prequel. That said, it'll please current fans. And I guess I'll hold off on weeding out BSC books just yet... ;)

Book Review: A Match Made in High School

A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker. Grades 9-12. Razorbill, February 2010. Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher.

**Spoiler alert! I, myself, am not too sensitive to spoilers, but just in case you are, I want to warn you that this review contains information that some might consider to be a spoiler.**

When all the seniors at Fiona's school are forced to take a marriage education class in which they are pretend-married, Fiona is horrified that she's partnered with uber-jock (and uber-jerk) Todd Harding. They're forced to do activities together outside of school and work together on projects for the class. To make matters worse, Todd's bitchy girlfriend (and Fiona's arch-enemy) Amanda is paired with Gabe, the guy Fiona's been crushing on for years. But just when Fiona thinks her senior year couldn't get any worse, she just might manage to turn it around. 

Ahhhh, the pink books. 
This is a pink book extraordinaire. In fact, it's my favorite kind of pink book - light and funny and fun, but with heart and a little substance. 


(Do you know what I mean when I say "pink book"? Basically, a light 'n fluffy chick lit read... usually romance, usually humorous.) 


My favorite thing about this book? Well, about a hundred pages in, I was ready to put the book down and pick up something else. Fiona was getting on my nerves. She was being completely self-centered and obnoxious and she was totally oblivious to everyone around her. And it turns out that that's the point. 


Imagine a comedic romance in which the protagonist realizes that she's being an ass and decides to turn things around, decides that she can change and actually follows through. Yeah. 


The other thing I really liked was that, while the plot was somewhat predictable, it wasn't totally predictable. I think there are a lot of ways the ending could have gone and I would have been completely happy with it. 


Also, I dug Fiona's snarky humor. 


So, if you like pink books, you won't want to miss this one. (And if you find yourself annoyed by unlikeable protagonists, power through!)


Read more reviews at Lost in Ink, Books by Their Cover, and The Book Blogger. 


A Match Made in High School is due out on February 4!

Book Review: Boys, Girls, and Other Hazardous Materials

Boys, Girls and Other Hazardous Materials by Rosalind Wiseman. GP Putnam's Sons, January 2010. Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher.

Charlie couldn't wait to be done with eighth grade. After discovering that her best friends were actually frenemies, mean girls of the highest order, and after what they did... well, Charlie's ready for the fresh start that Harmony Falls High School offers. Starting her freshman year is exciting and nerve-wracking, but Charlie's soon plunged into the thick of it. She meets cute boys, joins the newspaper staff, and makes some real girl friends. But when the athletic boys she's crushing on start to behave badly, Charlie will find that it's not only girls who can be mean.

I mean, this book was okay. I finished it. My main complaint is that I don't see that it offers anything new to the YA shelves and it wasn't compelling or enjoyable enough to get away with it.

I did like the interesting supporting cast of characters - namely Charlie's best friends Sydney and Nidhi. But the dangerous thing about that is that Charlie seemed boring in comparison. I think either Sydney's or Nidhi's story would have been more interesting. I wanted to know more about them!

I also liked the angle of having Charlie and Nidhi on the newspaper staff and I think if that had been a bigger focus, the story might have been a little more unusual.

So, for me, this one was a miss. I'd skip it and recommend Elizabeth Scott's Something Maybe (if you're looking for boy-meets-girl) or Alyson Noel's Cruel Summer (if you're looking for queen bees).

But what do I know? Kelly over at Stacked loved it. And check out another review at Pirate Penguin's Reads.

(And for the record, the picture at top is the ARC cover and the picture at bottom is the cover being published on the actual book. I prefer the ARC cover [which is why I included it]. Which one do you like??)

Book Review: Dani Noir

Dani Noir by Nova Ren Suma. Grades 4-8. Aladdin, September 2009. Review copy provided by publisher for Cybils consideration. (This book is a Cybils nominee and my review reflects only my opinion, not necessarily the opinion of the panel!)

If there's anything I've learned from noir movies it's that everyone lies about something. And if you lie about one thing, what's to say you didn't lie about it all?

Thirteen-year-old Dani is not looking forward to the summer ahead of her.

Not only is she dealing with her parents' awful divorce (her dad was cheating and now lives with another woman and Dani doesn't think she can ever trust him again), but her best friend moved away and isn't calling (even though she said she would). It seems like everywhere Dani turns, someone is betraying her trust.

Which might be why she identifies so much with the film noir being shown at the local art house movie theater this summer. You never know who's going to be the bad guy. You can't trust anyone. And the femme fatale can handle whatever is thrown her way.

When Dani senses a mystery brewing (is yet ANOTHER person turning out to be untrustworthy?), she can help but investigate. And along the way, she'll discover a few surprises and start dealing with some issues.

I really, really liked Dani Noir.

First of all, Dani's a likeable character with a dry wit that keeps the tone from veering into depressing. It would be easy for a book about film noir and divorce and abandonment and betrayal to be dark, but Dani Noir isn't. It's not dark and it's not depressing. (Thank goodness.)

Which leads me to the second reason I really liked Dani Noir. Although Dani's dealing with situations that have been done (divorce, changes in friendship, etc.), it all feels fresh because Dani's seeing it through this film noir lens and comparing her own life to the movies she loves. It puts a fresh spin on things and adds a lot to the story. It made me want to watch all of Dani's favorite movies, too.

I'd highly recommend this book for tweens that are looking for a little something different.

Read more reviews at Semicolon, Shelf Elf, Welcome to My Tweendom, Reading Rants!, and educating alice.

Also, don't miss the Winter Blog Blast Tour interview with author Nova Ren Suma.

Book Review: The Kind of Friends We Used to Be

The Kind of Friends We Used to Be by Frances O'Roark Dowell. Grades 5-7. Atheneum, January 2009. Copy from my local library.

(This is a 2009 Cybils nominee and this review reflects only my personal opinion of the book, not necessarily the opinion of the panel!)

Kate and Marylin had been best friends since preschool until they had a falling out last year in sixth grade. Now Marylin's a middle school cheerleader and Kate is writing songs to play on her guitar. The two of them are in a strange place, not enemies but not all-the-time friends either. As they navigate the strange waters of seventh grade, both girls will start the arduous process of figuring out her place in the world.

I haven't read The Secret Language of Girls, to which this book is the sequel, but I don't think it mattered. I loved it anyway. In fact, it made me want to go back and read the first book, which is a mark of a really good sequel.

This is a quiet sort of book. It's a story about girls beginning to become the people they want to become. Kate decides to become a guitar-playing girl. Marylin starts to look at her cheerleading "friends" and weighs whether popularity is worth putting up with them. Both girls find new interests and new friends. Both girls start to see beyond the surface of people they thought they knew.

The writing is quietly beautiful and I love Ms. Dowell's descriptions. Here's one example from when Kate goes into a neighbor girl's room for the first time:

It had been a long time since Kate had been here, and it looked a lot different from how she'd remembered. Last year around this time Flannery's room had had lots of stuffed animals and pink stuff. Now the walls were still pink, but they were covered with posters of bands who looked very, very mean, like they hoped you would fall down and die that very second. (pp 12-13)

I love that in those few sentences you get not only a sense of the physical space, but a sense of the changes that have taken place over the past year.

Appearance is a major theme in the book. Marylin is into fashion and she wishes Kate would let her make her over. But as the seventh grade progresses, Marylin starts to realize that beauty on the outside doesn't make you a good person. And perceived ugliness on the outside doesn't make you a bad person.

Both Kate and Marylin experience a lot of personal growth over the course of the book. It reminded me of nothing so much as Judy Blume's Just as Long as We're Together, which was a favorite of mine in sixth grade.

Book Review: Paris Pan Takes the Dare

Paris Pan Takes the Dare by Cynthea Liu. Upper Elementary, Middle School. Putnam Juvenile, June 2009. Copy purchased.

(This is a 2009 Cybils nominee and this review reflects only my personal opinion of the book, not necessarily the opinion of the panel!)

Paris Pan knows her new Oklahoma town is small, but she's not expecting her seventh grade classroom to consist of ten kids. Total.

Since she's used to being the new kid, she's used to being the outcast and she's determined not to let that happen this time around. So when queen bee Mayo tells Paris that she has to take The Dare, Paris knows she has no choice. It's either take the dare or resign herself to a live of loserdom.

But the more Paris finds out about the dare, the less she wants to do it. Can Paris find the strength to stand up to Mayo and do the right thing?

This is a solid middle grade read with a bit of a mystery to it and I think kids that enjoy authors like Mary Downing Hahn will find a lot to like in this book. It's not a ghost story in the strictest sense, but as Paris and her friends investigate the supposed murder of a girl on the Pans's new property, the story has some of the same elements as those supernatural thrillers.

It's also a story of being the new girl, figuring out the social situation and dealing with family troubles. I loved that the Pans are Asian and that's not the main focus of the book. Paris deals with the same problems that many seventh grade girls face every day. She's the youngest kid, so her older brother ignores her and her older sister yells at her every time Paris wants to use the phone. At her school, kids are immediately branded and there are clear outcasts, even in a class of only ten kids.

I'll definitely be looking for more from Cynthea Liu!

Read more reviews at Shelf Elf and Charlotte's Library, and read an interview with Cynthea at Cynsations.

Bobby vs. Girls and Umbrella Summer

Here are a couple of middle-grade Cybils nominees! (They're getting mini-reviews because I didn't sit down and review them right away and didn't take enough notes to have a whole lot to say about them. I enjoyed both books and think they'll both find a wide audience on elementary school and public library shelves.)

(These are 2009 Cybils nominees and this review reflects only my personal opinion of the books, not necessarily the opinion of the panel!)

Bobby Versus Girls (Accidentally) by Lisa Yee, illustrated by Dan Santat. Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary. Arthur A. Levine Books, September 2009. Copy purchased.

Bobby Ellis-Chan and Holly Harper have been secret best friends since they were little kids. Why secret best friends? Because at their school, boys and girls do NOT hang out together. It's never been a problem for them, but lately Holly's been acting weird. She's been acting like... well, like a girl. And it's kind of driving Bobby crazy. Still, he never meant to start a battle of the sexes... it just kind of happened. And now Bobby's got to figure out how to make it right.

I really enjoyed this funny, realistic book. I think it'll appeal to fans of Andrew Clements and other school stories. I liked that supporting characters are diverse and well-developed. The writing was excellent in that it disappeared and I felt like I could see the story unfolding before my eyes. This'll definitely be popular on your middle grade shelves.

Read more reviews at The Reading Zone, Kids Lit, 100 Scope Notes, Fuse #8, and Shelf Elf.

Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff. Upper Elementary. HarperCollins, June 2009. Copy from the Louisville Free Public Library (because libraries are awesome).

Helmet? Check.

Knee pads? Check.

Elbow pads? Check.

Ace bandages (to prevent sprains)? Check.

Band-aids (covering scratches to prevent infection and eventual amputation)? Check.

Annie's ready to bike to the store. To buy some vitamins. Vitamins are very important to maintaining your health. And where last year she might have jumped on her bike and whizzed down the hill to the store, she decides she'd better walk her bike down the steep parts. It's better to be careful, right?

Ever since her brother Jared suddenly died, Annie's been living under a self-imposed protective umbrella. She constantly worries about potential threats to her health. After all, no one knew about Jared's rare heart problem before it killed him. But when a new neighbor moves in, Annie will begin to realize that if you live your life under an umbrella, you never get to feel the sun on your face.

Underneath her hypochondriac tendencies, Annie's just a girl on summer vacation. She's a girl struggling to deal with the unexpected death of her older brother. It's a loss that has thrown her entire family into turmoil. Author Lisa Graff deals with this turmoil realistically and with a lot of heart. The book reminded me most of the second Moxy Maxwell book - a spunky, likeable (and imperfect) protagonist and a plot that delves into the serious side of things.

Plus, what an incredibly cute book cover! I want an umbrella like that!

Read more reviews at Becky's Book Reviews, Literate Lives, and A Year of Reading.

Book Review: Also Known As Harper

Also Known As Harper by Ann Haywood Leal. Grades 4-7. Henry Holt, 2009. Copy provided by my local library. Because libraries rule and where would we be without them?

(This is a 2009 Cybils nominee and this review reflects only my personal opinion of the book, not necessarily the opinion of the panel!)

Harper Lee Morgan loves words. It's a love she inherited from her mama, a lady so in love with To Kill a Mockingbird that she's read it at least 36 times and named her firstborn child after its author. Yes, Harper loves words, and she's certain that she's going to win her school's poetry contest. The only problem is that she and her mama and her little brother Hemingway have been evicted from their house, so getting to school has become a problem. But Harper's determined to get to school for the poetry reading, just as determined as she is to rid herself of any memory of her whiskey-soaked daddy who told her that her words weren't worth anything.

This book opened my eyes. Maybe it's because I've recently relocated to a community where homelessness, unemployment, and underdevelopment are staring me right in the face. Maybe it's because Harper was a character that leaped off the page with her poetry notebook and her frank observations of the world around her.

You're sitting at a computer right now, reading these words. Imagine if you not only didn't have a computer, but didn't have a home or an office in which to sit. Now, imagine you're a child that doesn't have a home. You might be transient because you're traveling to stay with various family members. You might be avoiding social services for fear that they will break up your family. You might be expected to stay out of school to watch younger siblings.

How would you ever get to school and get the education to get yourself a decent job and a stable home? To me, it seems insurmountable. Even Harper Lee Morgan, a child so passionate about getting to school that she tries to hop on the first school bus she sees, can't seem to manage it.

So, that's what I loved about this book: it brings the issue of homelessness to light. It's certainly a conversation-starter. And it's a good read, too. I loved all the different characters. I normally find it somewhat annoying when a book character is a writer and includes their own poetry or stories, but it worked for me in this book.

I'd hand this to any kid who likes books like Waiting for Normal, Home and Other Big Fat Lies, and others in that ilk. (In fact, I know one of my staff members would love this book and I'm going to hand it to her as soon as I can remember to bring it to work with me.)

Do check out other reviews over at Shelf Elf, A Patchwork of Books, Literate Lives, Becky's Book Reviews and A Year of Reading. And you might be interested in Ann Haywood Leal's blog, her guest post at Harmony Book Reviews about untangling her mind, and an interview with her over at Wagging Tales.

Also Known As Harper is on shelves now, so go check it out!