A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass & Splendor by Anna Godbersen

I just finished A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass. This was a quick read and a great book. It is about Mia, who finds out the colors she sees is a real condition called Synesthesia.

Brief summary: "Afraid that she is crazy, thirteen-year-old Mia, who sees a special color with every letter, number, and sound, keeps this a secret until she becomes overwhelmed by school, changing relationships, and the death of her beloved cat, Mango. "


I am currently reading Splendor by Anna Godbersen. It is book 4 in the Luxe Series and I am addicted! I can not wait to crack open this book and bury my nose. I have refrained from reading the spoilers which is so unlike me because usually I can not wait. I just hope everything works out the way I want it to!

Brief summary: "In 1900 New York City, fashionable debutante Diana Holland and married soldier Henry Schoonmaker risk their place in society to be with one another."

The Luxe and Rumors by Anna Godbersen, Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan,

The Luxe
By: Anna Godbersen
In 1899 Manhattan, the drowning of beautiful Elizabeth Holland, daughter of New York society's ruling family, brings to the surface the scandalous behavior of several teenagers of varying social class.

First in a saga: The Luxe, Rumors, Envy, Splendor
5 STARS


Rumors
A Luxe Novel: Book 2
By: Anna Godbersen

After the death of Elizabeth Holland, all of New York speculates about her unfortunate demise and wonder what role her mischievous sister, Diana, and notorious cad Henry Schoonmaker played in the events leading up to her death.

5 STARS

I am in love with the Luxe novels. I am currently reading Envy and find myself wanting more and more. I can't wait to get to Splendor. This series has everything: high society, secret love affairs, back stabbing, gossip, and more! This series takes place in New York City, year 1899, in the midst of high society so both language and vocabulary are quite advanced giving the series high Lexile scores.


Boy Meets Boy
By: David Levithan

Paul's simple high-school life is confused by his desire for another boy who seems unattainable, until Paul's friends help him find the courage to pursue him.

3 STARS

This is a cute well written story with some memorable characters! (Long live Infinite Darlene!) Although I think the city/school setting is a bit unrealistic (it is basically a gay utopia and working in a school setting most of my adult life I know that isn't always the case) the premise of the book has good bones and the comic relief alone is worth the read!


Do You Know the Monkey Man?
By: Dori Hillestad Butler

While searching for the father who left her and her mother ten years ago, thirteen-year-old Samantha begins to believe that the twin sister who supposedly died when they were three years old is still alive.

Sequel: Yes I Know the Monkey Man

3 STARS


This is a good mystery easy read. Reminds of The Face on The Milk Carton. I am looking forward to reading the sequel.

Evernight by Claudia Gray

When her parents both take teaching jobs at Evernight Academy, Bianca is forced to attend school there. Bianca is focused on two things: finding out the secrets of Evernight Academy and finding a way to get out. That all changes when she meets Lucas and a series of secrets are exposed including the fact that there are vampires walking around Evernight Academy. As the secrets unravel Bianca and Lucas are forced to evaluate their feelings for one another.

This was a great book; 5 stars. It kept me turning the pages and wanting more. There were twists and turns that I didn't see coming more than once through the book. This is a must have and must read for anyone that enjoys vampire fiction. The sequel is STARGAZER.

Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt and Stolen Children by Peg Kehret

Keturah & Lord Death by Martine Leavitt

5 stars. I loved this book! A very well paced love story. This will appeal to girls but has enough suspense and intrigue for boys as well.

When Keturah gets lost in the woods and Lord Death comes to claim her life, she charms him with her gift of storytelling and is granted a reprieve from death to find her one true love.


Stolen Children by Peg Kehret

5 stars. This book was great! A faced past suspense mystery great for guys and gals!

Amy accepts a babysitting job that is sure to be easy money until a couple of criminals break into the house and kidnap both her and the little girl and hold them for ransom. Amy must use her quick wit and skills to save them both before it is too late.

Wake & Fade by Lisa McMann, Boys Are Dogs by Leslie Margolis, Welcome to Wahoo byDennis & Elise Carr,

Instead of reviewing EVERY book I read this summer I decided to do one posting with all the books I read this summer and give them a short and simple rating.

Wake by Lisa McMann

Fade by Lisa McMann

Both of the books are great, 4 stars. However, they are a little mature for middle school so they will be moving to their new home in a high school library.

Boys Are Dogs by Leslie Margolis

4 stars. Very cute, the main character cracked me up with her comparisons between training a dog and "training a boy"...which by the way is a theory I have had for YEARS...so I totally related to this book. Great chick lit.

Welcome to Wahoo by Dennis & Elise Carr

4 stars. I like the premise of a spoiled primadonna princess teen that gets pretty much anything she wants being thrown into a middle of nowhere Podunk town with no money to spend and nothing to rely on but her own good wits. She really learns her lesson in more ways than one. (Side note...Can I do this with my own teen daughter? Is that legal?) I will say that I predicted the ending a little before what I believe the author intended but it did not detract from the funny story. Great chick lit.

All We Know of Heaven by Jacquelyn Mitchard

All We Know of Heaven
By Jacquelyn Mitchard

Bridget and Maureen, the best of friends, are practically inseparable. When the two sixteen year old girls, who strangely resemble one another, are in a tragic car accident that leaves one of them dead and the other in a coma both families are left reeling. Maureen’s family mourns the loss of their daughter while Bridget’s family sits by her bedside waiting for her to come out of the coma. Weeks later after dental records confirm that it is, in fact, Maureen that is still alive leaves both families lives in upheaval. As Maureen makes a remarkable recovery she is forced to deal with the aftermath of being the one to survive.

This novel is deep and complex as it not only deals with the horrible tragedy and mistaken identity but the aftermath that follows. Maureen, the survivor, once a pretty, smart, and confident girl is now dealing with physical, mental, social, and academic battles. She desperately misses her best friend, can’t control her thoughts or speech, has to use a cane to help her get around, and is falling in love with her dead best friend’s boyfriend. While Maureen’s family works tirelessly to help rehabilitate Maureen, Bridget’s family is growing bitter and falling apart. The book earns the “YA” label for several reasons including the topic, a few instances of “bad” language, and the relationship between Maureen and Danny which becomes increasingly physical and although it isn’t graphic or explicit it is obvious that their relationship has become sexual. This book is good for mature strong readers 7th grade and up.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The Graveyard Book
By: Neil Gaiman

When a small boy is orphaned after his family is brutally murdered, he toddles his way to a nearby graveyard and is taken in by the graveyard inhabitants and renamed “Bod” Nobody Owens.

Bod grows up in the graveyard and learns most of his life lessons from ghosts, ghouls, witches, and a nocturnal guardian named Silas that ensures Bod has food, books, and anything else he might need from the world of the living.

As Bod gets older he begins wondering about his history as well as the world outside of the graveyard. After making a human friend and eventually venturing from the graveyard he begins to crave more from the human world. However, each time he strays from the safety of the graveyard he finds new dangers as well as leading the man that killed his family closer to finding him.

This book begins with the grisly account of Bod’s family being murdered then settles down into the premise of the book. It picks up by chapter four and from that point on the book takes on a life of its own and is completely unable to be put down. Readers will certainly enjoy Bod’s adventures (as I did) and all the characters that take part in his upbringing. My personal favorite was Liza, the witch buried in Potter’s Field, an area saved for criminals, witches, and other unsightly types. Each characters portrayal is richly detailed but the plot still moves at a swift (“What’s going to happen next?” anxiety building) pace. This book is a little fantasy, a little mystery, a little scary all rolled into one and readers will enjoy experiencing all of it with the little boy called Nobody.

Click

Click
By: Linda Sue Park. Deborah Ellis, Ruth Ozeki, Eoin Colfer, David Almond, Roddy Doyle, Nick Hornby, Margo Lanagan, and Gregory MacGuire

When Jason and Maggie’s grandfather dies and leaves them each a seemingly bizarre inheritance the two begin to see the whole world in a new light.

This novel, a compilation of ten different authors blends writing style with story to make this book more of a fictional collaboration than a collection of stories. “Gee” Keane, a famous photojournalist dies leaving his grandson Jason a collection of autographed sports pictures and his granddaughter Maggie a wooden box filled with shells. At first the two are confused by the inheritance but it is Maggie’s determination to solve the puzzle her grandfather left behind.

The interesting component behind this book is that it isn’t a “start at point ‘A’ finish at point ‘B’” story. In fact, some of the chapters do not even involved Maggie and Jason at all but might instead be the story behind a fragment of another story. For example, Maggie is left a beautifully carved box by her grandfather and one of the chapters is the story of how that box came into existence and how her grandfather came to own it. It was very cleverly written with twists and turns including a variety of writing styles and genres.

One last interesting fact about the book is that all royalties of the book will be donated to Amnesty International, a charitable organization dedicated to protecting human rights.

The Reminder

The Reminder

By: Rune Michaels

Daisy has never recovered from her mother’s death and refuses to discuss her grief with her therapist. She often believes she hears her mother’s voice which turns out to be home movies her dad plays when he can’t sleep. When she decides to surprise her father at work she hears her mother’s voice again. This time what she hears isn’t a home movie but a conversation between her father and someone that sounds exactly like her mother. Confused and scared, Daisy hides until her father leaves and what she finds is more terrifying than she could have ever imagined. Daisy must now decide how to handle the secret and how far she is willing to go to protect the last tie to her mother.

The book is a great blend between drama, mystery, and science fiction. It explores how we handle death and grief when we lose our loved ones and what we might do, if it were possible, to hold on to those we love after they are gone. This book is a great page turner with a twist at the end that you won’t see coming!

Desert Crossing

Desert CrossingBy: Elise Broach
*Most appropriate for mature strong 7th grade readers and grades 8 +

Fourteen year old Lucy, her eighteen year old brother Jamie and his friend Kit are driving from Kansas to Phoenix to spend time with the father for Spring Break when an unexpected bump in the road takes a grisly turn for the worse.

While driving through a blinding rainstorm in the New Mexico desert the three teens hit something in the road. After turning back to investigate what they think was a coyote they are sickened to find a teen aged girl dead on the side of the road. They reach out to the nearest neighbor, Beth, a thirty-something artist that lives alone to help them contact the authorities. As the investigation progresses Jamie is riddled with guilt that he caused the girl’s death and finds comfort in the arms of Beth and the two begin a May-December romance. The three teens are eventually cleared of any wrong doing but because of Jamie’s new found feelings for Beth they decide to stay a little longer. While Jamie and Beth are occupied with their new found affair, Lucy is determined to solve the crime and find the girls murderer. As she and Kit begin a love/hate flirtation she persuades him to help her investigate the death of the girl on their own.

The encompassing mystery is full of suspense and is a real page turner. I did feel that the relationship between Jamie and Beth was a little quick moving for the feelings they claimed to have developed for one another. I was also a little irritated at the on again/off again love/hate flirtation between Lucy and Kit but I secretly hoped that he would redeem himself and they would end up together. While the two developing relationships were subplots to the mystery they were very insightful as to the things we do and the people we turn to in times of stress, grief, and fear. Overall this was a great read for young adults.

Eleven Birthdays

Eleven Birthdays
By: Wendy Mass

Since the day they were born Amanda and Leo have been best friends. After celebrating their birthday together every year for nine years the two have a falling out right before their tenth birthday party. They haven’t spoken for a year and their eleventh birthday is drawing near. What they don’t know is that they are destined to repeat their eleventh birthday over and over again until they can make things right.

Amanda and Leo’s parents meet at the birthing center the day both kids are born and think they will never see one another again. Under strange circumstances a year later they both end up at the same party place. The two babies meet and become fast friends. They spend every year celebrating their birthday together until their tenth birthday when Amanda is hurt by Leo. They stop speaking for an entire year and as their eleventh birthday approaches they begin wondering what it will be like to spend the first birthday apart from one another. When her dreaded day has finally ended Amanda is glad to go to bed only to wake up the next day to find it is her birthday all over again. She continues to wake to the same day until she realizes that the cycle won’t end unless she and Leo make things right again. This is a cute story that is reminiscent in plot to the movie Groundhogs Day but geared towards pre-teens/young adults. I especially enjoyed Amanda’s voice as she tried to rectify her wrongs only to find that what she thought she needed fixing wasn’t really what was wrong at all.

The Willoughbys

The Willoughbys

By: Lois Lowry

The Willoughbys is a hilarious parody of themes found in classic literature centering around four precocious children that are determined to become “deserving orphans” after their horrible parents (who are as equally ready to rid themselves of the children) set out for a dangerous around-the-world adventure, leaving the children in the care of a nanny.

Timothy, the twins Barnaby A and Barnaby B (because coming up with more than one name was too much work for the parents) and little Jane spend many hours reading “old fashion stories” such as The Secret Garden, Mary Poppins, and Huck Finn where they find themselves obsessed with the thought of being orphans. Tim takes charge over the children making them play silly games he invents with rules he creates. When they find a baby on their doorstep and their mother simply won’t let them keep such a “beastly” thing they leave her on the doorstep at the home of a rich, old depressed man with a note that all rewards should be sent to them. They then hatch a plan to rid themselves of their parents so that they can become orphans. At the same time the parents hatch a plan to rid themselves of the children leaving them in the care of a nanny. Once the nanny arrives and takes charge the children bond with her and they eventually find the home they always wanted just like in the “old-fashioned stories”.

While this book is very unlike any of Lois Lowry’s other books (and honestly that is part of the intrigue and appeal) this is one of the cleverest books I have read in awhile. It is very funny; quick paced, and has hilarious dialogue. It also holds a large vocabulary (complete with ‘glossary’ in the back) as well as a witty ‘bibliography’ of the classic literature (“old fashion stories”) it is constantly referring to.

The Tale of Despereaux - the movie

The book was a wonderful intertwining of four key story lines: Princess Pea and her overwhelming sadness, Roscuro the rat born into darkness, Miggery Sow the peasant girl that wanted to be a princess and Despereaux, the mouse born to be brave. I had high hopes that the movie adaptation would stay true to the story and build the four story lines until they would inevitably be linked within one another. I was pleasantly surprised that the movie adaptation stayed pretty true to the book.

The King and the Princess Pea were every bit as sad and pathetic in the movie as they were in the book and Despereaux was just as adorable as we imagined him being. I was also very happy to see that they did have a narrator in the movie as the voice of the narrator played such a big part in the book.

A few key points which were changed in the movie version that did the plot a disservice were:

Roscuro the RatBook version: Roscuro was born in the dungeon and craved light because it was something he never had. He was jealous of anything or anyone that was able to leave the dungeon. It was that jealousy and coveting that led to his hate and bitterness and ultimately the decision to harm the Princess Pea. He was an utterly unredeemable character throughout the entire book until the very end when the Princess Pea forgave him. It was only after she offered her forgiveness that Roscuro repented and then shared his knowledge about Miggery Sow and the prisoner.

Movie version: Roscuro was a ship rat that was accidentally left ashore and through a series of unfortunate events he came to live in the dungeon. He began as a good character but after being imprisoned in the dungeon he turned bitter and was led astray by an evil rat leader therefore he was viewed as a redeemable character. He was redeemed in the end and found his way back to a ship. The entrance and exit of the movie centered on Roscuro which was misleading because he certainly wasn’t the lead or main character.

Miggery Sow:
Book version: Miggery was born into a loving family and was only given away at the age of six after her father could no longer care for her. She was then later traded at the age of twelve and taken to the kingdom to become a servant. She was inherently unintelligent and therefore received a number of clouts to the ear by the family raising her which was ultimately what led to her ear deformity and deafness. This was a key point to her story because it was her belief that she was unloved by her birth family and unloved and abused by her adoptive family that led to her sadness, despair, and desire to be someone else. Miggery’s father was also revealed to be the prisoner that shared his sins with Roscuro.

Movie version: Miggery wasn’t as big of a character in the movie as she was in the book. The movie left out the clouting and abuse she received which was understandable since it was an animated children’s movie. Additionally, Miggery’s father was revealed to be Gregory the prison guard which was a plot change that made little or no sense, to me at least.

Lastly, the introduction of the imaginary friend (or as I call him “Vegetable man”) of the chef (who was a female and referred to as “cook” in the book version) was a completely mute point that had no relevance to story, character, theme, or plot. I have been told that the “vegetable man” is in the graphic novel version of The Tale of Despereaux but that was one change that should have been left out of the movie version. I will say, however, that the rats jumping up and trying eat away at the “vegetable man” served as a source of great humor for every three and four year old boy in the theater.

I really enjoyed this movie and felt that it adapted well to the screen. Overall, the screen adaptation stayed pretty true to the book and I was happy with the film.