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.