Complicit by Stephanie Kuehn

Right from the get-go the reader knows one thing: someone in the book is complicit, thanks to the title by Stephanie Kuehn.

As the book opens we learn that Jamie Henry is very concerned. His sister, Crazy Cate, is getting out of juvenile detention where she has been for the past two years after to confessing to burning down the neighbors fancy horse barn. Jamie knows that Cate will come back for him and he is not sure that he can cope with her reappearance. In fact, weird old symptoms come back. Symptoms that used to plague him when he was younger. He also recovers some lost memories, memories from life before their adoption. He even begins to wonder if he was complicit in Cate's crime.

UNRELIABLE NARRATOR

Jamie is the quintessential unreliable narrator. The reader knows that all the information is not available and Jamie, who had recently stopped taking his prozac cold-turkey, seems confused about the details himself. It is nearly impossible to tell the truth from the delusions. Cate's role in the story is tantamount to a chess game and it is her move up next.

Kuehn’s second novel, after her Morris Award–winning Charm & Strange,powerfully examines how mental illness can turn into family tragedy that ripples far and wide beyond a single event. The prose is as hallucinatory as the madness Jamie seeks to uncover in a novel that’s tense and ambiguous from start to finish.- Children's Book Review, Publishers Weekly

 Hang on. The ending is both surprising and shocking. Is "check" or "checkmate?' Read it and find out for yourself.

30 books Summer Reading Challenge

23 / 30 books. 76% done!

Gum...Ewwww

Gum under tables. Ewww. Who does that?

Today, as I was moving tables around the library, I discovered, to my horror, that the tables each had its own disgusting batch of chewed gum on the underside. Ew..ww.w.w.

While scraping it off, I wondered about the degenerates who would deposit their gum for someone else to discover years later. Perhaps, I thought, they think sticking gum under tables is funny. Afterall we live very near Seattle which does have the ultra disgusting gum-wall. Or perhaps the gum-depositors are mean-spirited or barbaric. Most likely, however, they are just lazy. Which is double irritating.

I felt like I was in a movie... a bad comedy. At the moment where I, the star of the movie, discovered the cache of chewed gum, the whole audience lets out a collective "ewww..w.w.w.w."

Aren't you delighted that I shared this wonderful moment from my life with you?

Bookish (and not so bookish) thoughts, August 27

These are my bookish thoughts ...

1. Books in a series.

So, this week I spent a few hours in the car with my daughter. She was listening to the audiobook of The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. I read it in 2011, the year it was published. After enjoying it immensely I had to wait for each of the sequels, Days of Blood and Starlight (2012) and Dreams of Gods and Monsters (2014.)   With the start of each sequel I'd struggle to remember the characters and the plot lines from the previous book(s). It was so frustrating. As I listened to the book as a captive audience with my daughter, I realized that I had forgotten so many of the details from the first book that would have helped me in understanding subsequent action in later books. It made me think that I should have reread the first book before starting the second, and so on. Who has time for that?

This is not an isolated case. With the popularity of books in a series, I find this to be true with just about everyone I attempt to read. Carly, my daughter, refuses to read books UNTIL the series is complete. That is why she is starting The Daughter of Smoke and Bone now. The third book in the trilogy came out this Spring so now she can safely read one book after the next, if she likes the first book.

I don't know what to do. I want to read the "hot" YA titles so I can be a "hip" librarian, but I don't want to spend all my time reading and then rereading them before I move on.

What do you do about books in a series?

2. Book Challenges

Summer is rapidly coming to an end and with it comes the end of my own 30 Books Summer Challenge.
I am currently reading and listening to three different books which means I'm working on books 25-27 toward the challenge. Not that it matters, but I do like to accomplish what I set out to do and it sure doesn't seem like this one is going to get done.

I'm just barely working on any of my other challenges, too. Why do I sign up for them (or start them myself) when I know how much stress they put on my life?

How about you? How do you handle book challenges? Do you participate in them. Any secret tips you've got for me that will help me avoid them in the future?

3. Can you tell that I am gearing up for school to start next week? You'll notice that my blogging rate goes way down in September, it has already started.

This meme is hosted by Bookishly Boisterous.

Sunday Salon, August 24

Weather: Gorgeous. What am I doing inside?

This week: the last week of summer, though I will likely  be back at school nearly or every day.

1500 textbooks, again: Last week my daughter and I "accepted" over 2000 new textbooks to our library system. It was such a relief to finish that task. I didn't go into to school for a few days and when I went back there was a new pile of books waiting for attention. It looks like the same number as we had before. *Sigh. Now I have another pile of over 1500 books to accept. This time I will be working with teachers running in and out of the library as they always do the week before school. *Double sigh.

Seattle: I drove up to Seattle with my daughter on Friday so that she could travel in the HOV lane. She is volunteering at the crisis call center. I read and blogged at Starbucks for two hours, then shifted to Barnes and Noble for another two hours. I have no trouble "hanging out" for four hours. Afterwards we did do a little shopping at Nordstrom Rack and found a few bargains. In fact, Carly is wearing the new dress she found right now and I'm wearing my new earrings.

Classic Club Spin book, Update #1: I am reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez for this event. I had thought I would blog once a week on my progress with the book. After starting it and finding the book a bit confusing I changed my mind. I will just report my progress here. Currently on audio disc four, page 113 of 448. My goal per week is 60 pages so I am a few pages off.

Books read this week:

• Complicit by Stephanie Kuehn---a surprising ending keeps the reader on toes. I'm still digesting it.
• Power of ICU by Danny Hill---related to school management. It has some powerful suggestions to change the way things are done.

Currently reading:

• One Hundred Years of Solitude---as I already mentioned. I am listening to the audiobook.
• Going Over by Beth Kephart---about the Berlin Wall.
• In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson---Germany 1933-38. Another audiobook. I'm on disc 6 of 11.

Blessings: in church today the sermon was about how we need to bless those we have contact with every day. So today, blog friends, I send out a blessing to each of you. May your life be fulfilling and may you find ways to be a blessing to others, too!

The What? The Golem and the Jinni.

The Book: The Golem and the Jinni

Author: Helene Wecker--- who was raised Jewish, married to an Syrian-American man. The book combines elements from these two traditions.

Published: Harper Publishing, 2013; Blackstone Audio, 2014.

Summary: Set in New York City in 1899 where two unlikely creatures, a golem and a jinni become friends as they try to live among the human immigrants of the city. It blends mythologies from both Jewish and Arab cultures. The golem was created to be her master's wife, but he dies aboard the ship before it arrives in New York, leaving the golem alone. The jinni is trapped inside a copper flask for a thousand years before being released by a tinsmith in Manhattan's Little Syria. They are both named by their human hosts. The golem is named Chava by a kind rabbi who befriends her. The jinni is named Ahmed by the tinsmith, who takes him on as as an apprentice. Neither Chava nor Ahmed need to sleep so they end up discovering each other as they wander the streets of New York in the night.

The What? Golems are creatures made from clay. Golems are mentioned in the Bible (Psalms 139:16) and refer to an unformed bodies. The most famous golem in literature was created by a rabbi, was named Josef, could make himself invisible, and could summon the dead. A jinni  is a supernatural creature from Islamic mythology. We usually spell it genie. Neither creature was aware of the existence of the other creature until they met each other.

Awards: Winner of the Mythopoeic Award for works in fantasy and mythology; Nominated for a Nebula Award for excellent fantasy/science fiction books; Nominated for Goodreads Choice Awards for Fantasy and for Debut Author.

What reviewers had to say about the book and author:

• Wecker "writes skillfully, nicely evoking the layers of alienness that fall upon strangers in a strange land."-Kirkus Reviews 
• "And this impressive first novel manages to combine the narrative magic of “The Arabian Nights” with the kind of emotional depth, philosophical seriousness and good, old-fashioned storytelling found in the stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer."---Patricia Cohen, New York Times
• Wecker has written a novel of ideas, touching on issues from faith to free will, that’s also as entertaining as the fantasies she herself enjoys reading.---Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal

Length: Most reviewers mentioned the length of the book and how the details became tedious especially when dealing with the jinni's backstory. I didn't mind all the details I just thought that listening to over 20 hours of one story was too much. I should have picked up the print version of the book so I could read ahead faster. (However, George Guidall did a masterful job reading it.) Like in a lot of fantasy books, the details that add length, also add depth and complexity.

My review: I loved this book. It delighted me on so many levels. When I was a young girl I was completely captivated by the 101 Arabian Nights stories. This book, with its mythology and supernatural creatures, reminded me so much of those stories. I recommend it anyone who enjoys a touch of magic in their reading selections.

30 books Summer Reading Challenge

21 / 30 books. 70% done!

Snapshot Saturday...Watermelon eating dog

Muffy, the watermelon-loving dog. We hold the rind for her to eat off the bit of red left on it. She has learned to use her front teeth for this task and she takes it very seriously.

Snapshot Saturday is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey by Nick Bertozzi

Sir Ernest Shackleton's odyssey to Antarctica in 1915 is one the most legendary survival stories of all time.
When his expedition arrived aboard the Endurance in Antarctic waters in January 1915 they planned a transcontinental trek. Instead the Endurance got stuck in the ice. Now his party had to wait through the whole winter and hope the ship would survive to transport them home. It didn't. In October, the Endurance broke up in the ice and the men were forced to save themselves making camp on the ice and by dragging the lifeboats until they reached open water. In formidable conditions they navigated two boats to Elephant Island where half the party wintered. Shackleton and several others braved an additional 800-mile trek through stormy seas to reach South Georgia Island, which was inhabited by a few whalers. In all not a single man was lost or died. It is truly an amazing survival story, one we would expect to read about in a novel, not real life.

Now Nick Bertozzi has brought the Shackleton story to life again through his excellent graphic biography. He wanted the book to not only tell Shackleton's story but wanted it to honor all the men on the expedition and their contributions. It was amazing how they helped each other to stay positive and cheerful is the face of the gravest situation. They played games, acted out plays, and hunted. One of the men was willing to go back on board the Endurance, even though it was clear that it was breaking up, to rescue the deck of cards.

Nick Bertozzi's drawings bring Shackleton's story to a new generation. Can you imagine why anyone would have answered this ad, run in the London papers in early 1914 to join him as crew on the journey?
"MEN WANTED: FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. SMALL WAGES, BITTER COLD, LONG MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS, CONSTANT DANGER, SAFE RETURN DOUBTFUL. HONOUR AND RECOGNITION IN CASE OF SUCCESS. -SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON"  Yet 28 men did answer the ad. Bertozzi honors their stories as well. They all survived and everyone credits the sheer force of will of Sir Ernest Shackleton.

For more on the voyage of the Endurance, check out this website.

My only complaint about the book probably says more about me than about the artwork. I wished that the words were larger in the text boxes. Ha! Guess you can tell who has aging eyes.

30 books Summer Reading Challenge

20 / 30 books. 66% done!

Friday Memes---August 22

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Participants don't select their favorite, coolest or most intellectual books, they just use the one they are currently reading. I'm reading---

Book: Going Over by Beth Kephart

Book Beginnings:

We live with ghosts. We live with thugs, dodgers, punkers, needle ladies, pork knuckle. We live where there is no place else to go.

Friday 56:

I'm not supposed to be here with Savas, but he is beside me, my warrior boy on my best friend's bike, trying to be brave and fearless. Is fear here?

My thoughts: The book is set in both West and East Berlin in 1983. Savas is a preschooler who has run away from home and the narrator is a teen who is railing against presence of The Wall. It has taken me about 50 pages to understand how the book is organized, with alternating chapters and points of view. I'm hoping to learn more about Berlin and how the wall separated the city.

50th Anniversary---Beatles in Seattle

August 21, 1964 The Fab Four visited Seattle.

My sister's best friends sister went to the concert. Even as a seven year old I was jealous. I remember asking her all the details of the concert when she got back home.

The ticket price for the concert was $5. Ah, those were the days!

Bookish (and not so bookish) thoughts, August 20

Lots of bookish things to talk about this week.
Bookishly Boisterous is the host of this meme.

1. Both my book clubs met this week. The SOTH book club discussed MY STROKE OF INSIGHT written by a young woman with a PhD in brain anatomy, Jill Bolte Taylor, who has a stroke at age 37. We had a gal in our church who is still recovering from a stroke and she is 35. She joined us for our club and the brought a lot of examples and life experiences to the fascinating topic and discussion. We all got something out of the book and will recommend it to others.

2. My second club, RAM LADIES, discussed Fannie Flagg's The All-Girl Filling Station's Reunion here at my house earlier today. I served lemon poppy seed cake, lemonade, and limoncello liqueur. Catch the theme? (I bought, but forgot to serve lemon gelato.) I found the information about the W.A.S.P. (Women Airforce Service Pilots) of WWII to be the most interesting part of the book. Over 1000 women flew planes in service to the country during WWII but were not granted veteran status until 1977. In fact, most people don't even know about their service because the records were sealed for 35 years after 1944.

3. I've started listening to another audiobook about WWII, this one is a nonfiction account of the early days of Hitler, In the Garden of Beasts: Love Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson. I seem to have an insatiable appetite for books about WWII. This book covers the time period of 1933-8 about American Ambassador Dodd and his family.

The William Dodd family

4. I finished listening to The Golem and the Jinni, which took over 20 hours but I LOVED the book...it is sort of a fairy tale, Arabian Nights, historical fiction.

5. I watched the movie Napoleon Dynamite today while I was making the lemon cake. That has to be the quirkiest movie ever. "Napoleon, give me some of your tots." I love tater tots, so I always laugh at that line the hardest.



6. My daughter has been watching Dr. Who on BBC America. This part of the series started in 2005 but before that it was on TV from 1963-1989. The 12th doctor will be revealed on Saturday. I admit that the show is rather addicting.

7. The GKHS library is a lovely, sunny spot in the school. I have several large plants that love it there and grow and grow. I pruned one of the plants way back earlier this summer because the weight of the leaves, hanging over the side of the shelf, were actually pulling the pot over. Several other plants have gotten to the point of just being ugly, scraggy things. With that in mind I dropped by a local nursery yesterday and purchased a few new plants to replace the ugly ones. Now I have to haul some dirt up to school to repot them. Often, when students catch me watering the plants, they exclaim that they thought the plants were fake because they are so big.

Plants ready for transport: croton, dragon plant, dieffenbachia

TTT: Book people tell me I must read

Here is my list of books people and friends have told me to I should read:

1. A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry---I've actually told people to read this book yet I haven't read it myself.

2. Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien---students have been telling me to read this series, this is #1, for years.

3. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry---I've actually read about 100 pages of this book but so many people have told me to read it, I know I must finish it.

4. Goldfinch by Donna Tartt---Several people have said they like this book but honestly I doubt I will read it because it is so long.

5. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston---once again, I started this book several years ago and didn't finish it. My sister is encouraging me to read it because it is such beautiful imagery.

6. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King---I was assured that this book isn't scary by my blogging friend who recommended it.

7. American Gods by Neil Gaiman---Students and other teachers have been telling me to read this book since I became a librarian.

8. The Wheels of Time series by Robert Jordan---there are lots of fanatics for this series out there.

9. The Game of Thrones by George R R Martin---so many people are watching this show and the book is popular, too. But I am not watching the show so I don't know what all the fuss is about.

10. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Beauty by David Eggers---It has been on my list for so long I can't even remember who told me to read this book.

Sunday Salon...August 17

Weather: Light breeze, temperature in the high 70s, beautiful blue skies, humidity low.

On our trip to Italy we bought the lovely etching which reminds us of the Italian countryside (see above.) We just hung it on the wall in the dining room and sighed, happy and content in our memories.

Dog Days of Summer: where did that phrase come from? It is such an odd saying that doesn't seem to relate to anything. I looked it up. Don't you love the Internet for things like this? Dog days run from July 6 to August 17 (some calendars say from July 24-August 24) and are associated with the rising of the dog star, Sirius. These are typically the hottest, driest days of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. These are the days that I am reminded of a Barbara Kingsolver quote about the flowers looking tired of growing.

2200 books plus: I went in to school every day last week and starting processing the 2000+ that the district has sent to the school over the summer for the new English curricula. I not only have to scan the books in to accept them, but also must find space for them on the textbook shelves. No easy task.

Family vacation: the week before last we spent a family-full vacation in Central Oregon. The weather was warm (not too hot) and the fellowship was wonderful. We suspect that this will be the last such vacation with my parents since they are the ones who have cobbled together all the vacation points to make this level of vacationing possible. In the photo, below, I am reading driving the golf cart while my husband and brother-in-law are playing golf.

Summer reading challenge: making progress on my goal of 30 books. I am currently reading book #22, and listening to #23. Summer ends on Labor Day. It will be a push to finish 8 books in two weeks, can I do it? Go. Go. Go.

Classic Club Spin: I joined the spin this year because I want to force myself to read more of the classics. The directions were to create a list of 20 classics and then on October 11 there would be a spin to determine which number would be the book to read. It was suggested to choose books from the list from those highly desirable and also dreaded ones.  I added a few of those "dreaded" books and even identified one book, One Hundred Years of Solitude, as one I especially dreaded. Guess which one I got? Correct. I will now be reading One Hundred Years of Solitude and hope to have it finished by October 6th. Look for my weekly updates.

Books read this week:

• Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy by Kate Hattemer---my favorite YA book read this summer. Check out my review here.
• The Gospel of Winter by Brendan Kiely---A YA novel about the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic church. A tough topic. Read my review here.
• The Golem and Jinni by Helene Wecker---I finally finished this book after listening to over 20 hours of the audiobook. Review pending.
• Shackleton: An Antarctic Odyssey by Nick Bertozzi---a graphic biography of this famous explorer and his famous trip to Antarctica in 1915. Review pending.

Currently reading:

• Complicit by Stephanie Kuehn---another YA novel about a troubled teen.
• In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson---nonfiction about an American diplomat in Germany as Hitler is coming to power.
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez---here I go. 10 pages down out of 490.

I totally want this: Encyclopedia Britannica 61 volume set of classics of Western culture. So booky of me.

Love the message of this hymn: For the Beauty of the Earth. Here is verse four which reminds me of the week I just spent with my family:

For the joy of human love, 
brother, sister, parent, child, 
friends on earth and friends above, 
for all gentle thoughts and mild; 
Lord of all, to thee we raise 
this our hymn of grateful praise.

Have a lovely week!

The Gospel of Winter covers a tough topic---Sex Abuse in the Church

The Gospel of Winter by Brendan Kiely is not one of those feel-good YA books. In fact, it is quite possibly the exact opposite. Yet it touches on a very important topic not often addressed in literature---sexual abuse in the church.

Aidan's whole world is crumbling around him. His father has left home to live with his mistress abroad. His mother is so embroiled in her own pain that she doesn't even seem to pay any attention to him. Lucky for Aidan he has his faith and Father Greg. But when he goes to church both Father Greg and Father Dooley both seem upset with him and want him to leave. Aidan finds solace in the alcohol he finds in his father's old study and in the prescription pills he finds in his mother's cabinet. At his mother's annual Christmas party he bumps into friends from school and the four kids forge a new friendship.

As the sex abuse cover-up in the Catholic church starts hitting the news media, Aidan tries to push aside thoughts of Father Greg and what he has done in the name of "love." No amount of drugs can quiet the demons that reside in his head. When Mark, one of his new friends, makes a revelation, Aidan pushes him away, too. It takes a near tragedy for Aidan face his demons and tell someone what has been going on.

The author is very courageous in taking on a tough topic but parts of it just didn't work for me. The scene where the Father was chasing Aidan through a golf course; drugs, drugs, drugs with few consequences; and the ease that moved into a new social circle at school just didn't seem realistic. On the other hand, the conclusion shows tremendous growth in the main character and also how difficult the decision to speak out must be for those who were abused. The folks over at Teen Librarian's Toolbox say this about The Gospel of Winter:

[It] is a light shining bright on a shamefully dark part of our psyche and history.  It is horrifically uncomfortable to read, emotionally draining and disconcerting, but it ends on a redemptive note as the teens involved make life changing decisions to help themselves and each other. Profound, revealing, and expertly told,

They go on to say that it is a must-read for everyone. I'm not sure I would go that far, but I will say that I am glad it was written. It is a book that teens can turn to if they are navigating similar or difficult life decisions.

One thought came into focus for me as I finished the book, individuals who were abused by priests not only lose their innocence, they also lose God, or God as they knew him. What a sad, double or triple tragedy.

30 books Summer Reading Challenge

19 / 30 books. 63% done!

Cue the music... I did it!

Cue the Rocky music and celebrate with me....



When I realized that I was going to finish The Golem and the Jinni today, the music from the movie Rocky kept running through my head.

You see, I have been listening to the audiobook of the The Golem and the Jinni since early June, with breaks for vacation time. With 22 discs, it was over 20 hours of listening. I loved the book but it was a gargantuan task to listen to any one book for that length of time. Ordinarily I would have just abandoned the audiobook and picked up the print book (because I can read so much faster than listen) but I didn't have one and there was a queue for it at the library. I soldiered on, completing it just minutes ago.

I will post a true to life review soon, but in the meantime let's just celebrate for a minute, shall we?

Friday memes, August 15

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Participants don't select their favorite, coolest or most intellectual books, they just use the one they are currently reading. I'm reading:

Book: Complicit by Stephanie Kuehn

Book Beginnings:

My phone is ringing.
It's 3:29.
In the morning.

Friday 56:

"If it were up to me, he wouldn't have anything to do with her. But my brother doesn't think rationally when it come to your sister. He never has. Guess Danny's not so smart for a college guy, is he?"

My thoughts: I love these Friday memes. They force me forward in my reading. I haven't started this book, yet now I have cracked it open and I am ready to begin reading it.

Bookish (and not so bookish) thoughts, August 14

BOOKISH (AND NOT SO BOOKISH) THOUGHTS

1. I have 19 days to finish 13 books toward my 30 book summer challenge. I seriously don't think I have it in me. Especially since I am in the middle of a VERY long audiobook, The Golem and the Jinni, so I can't double up by doing an audio and a print book at the same time. I'm ready to move on to another book but I want to know how this one turns out.

2. I went back to my school library today fully intending to actually WORK. We have received over 2000 books from the district this summer that need to be "accepted" into the system check and tucked away until students check them out with their classes. I got essentially nothing done before the custodian was locking up the school. Guess I'll have to start earlier in the day tomorrow.

3. I am currently reading a YA novel about sexual abuse in the Catholic church. It is not a cheery topic, needless to say. I know that books have to have some sort of problem or issue to be resolved but sometimes I wish I could just read something much less serious. If I was a kid I wouldn't touch a book like this with a ten foot pole. Just sayin'...

4. I'm pretty trashed about the death of Robin Williams. I think some pretty good stuff has been published about the situation, though. I do worry that others who are just hanging on by a thread will use this as an excuse to kill themselves. Sigh. There is such sadness in our world.

5. On a lighthearted note. Last Saturday I rode along while my husband and brother-in-law played 18 holes of golf. It wasn't a good day for either of them, especially my husband. When I saw this clip where Robin Williams is explaining how the Scots invented golf I shared it with them (and now you.)


6. I'm thinking I should get off the computer and get back to reading. See #1.

Have a good week.

Evergreen Teen Book Awards 2015 Nominees

The Evergreen Teen Book Award is sponsored by the Washington Young Adult Review Group (WashYARG), a group comprised of school and public librarians from the state of Washington. The award was created to give teens in the state a voice in deciding the best literature aimed at their age group. In order for the books to be considered they must be available in paperback. Students can vote online or mail in their ballots. Winning books are announced in April of each year. The winning book in April of 2014 was Divergent by Veronica Roth. 

The 2015 Evergreen Book Award nominees are:

1. 1 Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
2. 2 The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
3. 3 Ask the Passengers by A.S. King
4. 4 Ten by Gretchen McNeil
5. 5 Cinder by Marissa Meyer
6. 6 Wonder by R.J. Palacio
7. 7 Boy 21 by Matthew Quick
8. 8 Bomb: The Race to Build - And Steal - The World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin
9. 9 The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
10. 10 Drama by Raina Telgemeier

(Click on the hyperlinks for more information on each book. All the information on this post is from the Evergreen Teen Book Award Homepage.)

Note: If you are teen librarian from another state (other than Washington) I'd love to hear from you and get the link for your state teen book award name/list.

I did a little research and found a link to all the state book award links. Take a look at The Horn Book: State and Regional Awards. Though I haven't opened up more than a few of the hyperlinks on the list it appears to me that most states use some similar selection process as Washington State. Books on the nominated list are not from the current publication year. For example, the nominees for the California Young Reader Medal Young Adult Award books for 2015 are: The Fault in Our Stars (2012); Daughter of Smoke and Bones (2011); Legend (2011).

 

The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy by Kate Hattemer

Allow me to gush for a few paragraphs. I have finally read a YA book this summer worthy of gushing.

Oh-me-oh-my The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy by Kate Hattemer has everything which is good about YA novels. It has an unexpected storyline, both unique and evolving. Just when you think you know where the story is heading it veers off in a new direction. I like being surprised and delighted by books, this one delivered both.

It has four likable main characters, the kind of kids who actually roam the halls of high schools. They are talented, insecure, cocky, and funny. Their dialogue is realistic and complex. They want to make something of their lives and they want good things for their school, too. They are inspired by good teachers and take lessons to heart. They are disappointed by poor teachers and suspicious of administrators, especially those who don't seem to have the school's best interest in mind.

When their art-focused school, Selwyn Academy, agrees to be part of a reality-TV show called For Art's Sake and invite eighteen students to compete for the final prize, Ethan (the narrator), Luke, Elizabeth, and Jackson have to do something to bring their school back from the abyss of greed and celebrity. They employ the use of the long poem to communicate with their classmates their concerns. Along the way the reader also learns about the long poem, "The Cantos", by poet  Ezra Pound. I'm a sucker for books that actually use poetry in the text of the story.

The English teacher, BradLee, makes the point that a person's life decisions doesn't or shouldn't affect how we feel about their art. Ezra Pound led a very controversial life yet his art remains worthy of consideration. It was odd timing to read this as the world learned about the suicide of Robin Williams. The way he dealt with his life shouldn't alter the way that we view his art. He was tremendously talented and now he is gone, but his art remains. Ars longa, vita brevis, art is long, life is short.

My gushing is almost done, but not quite. Debut author Kate Hattemer used to teach high school Latin classes. Inserting latin words into the text of the novel added to my delight with the book and it wasn't even a stilted use of the dead language. Hattemer actually knows latin and shared tidbits to enhance the readers experience.

The Vigilant Poets of Selwyn Academy: where art and life intersect beautifully.

30 books Summer Reading Challenge

18 / 30 books. 60% done!

TTT: To Read or Not to Read

The Broke and Bookish

To read or not to read, that is the question.

I own all of these books yet I am not sure if I really want to read them. What do you think? Do you think I should read any/all of these books?

1. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I read the second book in the series, The Year of the Flood, out of order. Now do I go back and read the first?

2. Drift by Rachel Maddow. I am a Maddow fan but I have put this book aside for so long I am not sure if it will be worth the effort.

3. Hate List by Jennifer Brown. Weirdly I lost this book after I bought it for my library so I had to buy a new one out of my own pocket. I found it a year later in a bag in the closet. Now it sits on my bookshelf untouched.

4. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore. I really liked Fire and Graceling but I am not very interested in attempting this book after so much time.

5. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. I bought this book for book club then the club decided to NOT read it. Should I read it anyway?

6. Thunderstruck by Erik Larsen. I really enjoyed Larsen's The Devil in the White City. This one sounds like it is nonfiction murder mystery. What's not to like?

7. Bonk: the Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach. I found Roach's book Stiff to be so interesting and surprisingly funny. I didn't like her book Spook at all. This one sounds good but I'm not sure I want to take the time.

8. Cross Roads by Wm. Paul Young. The author of The Shack, which I liked. This book has been languishing on my bedside table for two years.

I'm sure there are other books tucked here or there around the house, so far removed from me that they really aren't on the TBR pile anymore.

Classics Club Spin number is announced...

The Classics Club Spin number was announced this morning

The number is...

17

Of course it is 17 because that is the one book on my list that I was dreading the most.

See my original list and info about the Classics Book Spin here.

I will now read

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

and hopefully finish it by October 6, 2014.

The version of this book in my school library is 458 pages long.

My goal is to read 60 pages a week so that I can finish by the deadline. 

I will post weekly updates of my progress.