Literary/Magical Realism
The Magician's Assistant
Ann Patchett
Harcourt Brace 0151002630
Newly widowed, Sabine, a former magician's assistant is just not ready to talk to the lawyer about the estate she has inherited from Parsifal, her late gay husband who was a magician and fine rug seller. She is not worried because she knows that there is plenty of money that had been left to Parsifal, the love of her life, by Phan, the love of his life. When the lawyer does beard her in her den, so to speak, she finds to her total surprise that Parsifal was really named Guy Fellows and that contrary to what he told her about being orphaned he had a mother and two sisters in Nebraska. Sabine finds herself strangely drawn to Parsifal's family after his mother and sister Bertie come out to see his grave. She takes them up on their invitation to visit Nebraska where she finds out that Parsifal's life was stranger and much more painful than she could have imagined.
Dreams where Phan helps her accept Parsifal's demise and their lives before it add a magical flavor to the story. Not a fan of literary fiction, I did find enough in this to keep going. There were enough fascinating things happening that it moved the story along even though it was not long on plot. It is beautifully written, evocative and lyrical.
Young Adult/Fantasy /Time
Travel
Time Like a River
Randy Perrin
Orca 157143061X
Thirteen year old Margie has a busy life, she spends lots of time with her parents who she actually likes and her best friend Isabel. She is also preparing for her Bat Mitzvah and working on a history project for school. When her veterinarian mother becomes deathly ill with an undiagnosed illness she is frantic with worry. She and Isabel go to a local history library where she finds a diary kept by a Chinese veterinarian in 1894 who became ill with the same symptoms as her mom and died and who's son then took up the journal. When she finds out that Isabel has found a method of time travel in the research materials she was looking at she decides she has to go into the past to see if she can find out anything from the death of Lee Chou Wing. Trying out the method (somewhat like that used in Matheson's Bid Time Return ) she is whisked back to 1894 where she meets Daniel Lee and his family.
Young
Adult/Contemporary/Violence
Edge
Michael Cadnum
Viking 0670873357
Zachary is drifting aimlessly along, getting in rumbles with his pals fighting other kids. One night when the cops tear gas them he finds a .38 on the ground and takes it home and buries it. The next day he goes to take his GED, then to work delivering hot tubs, and then onto the police impound lot, driven by his girlfriend's mom to pick up his car that had been stolen and then recovered by the police. At that point his life changes drastically he finds out that his beloved father has been shot in a car jacking an is in intensive care at the hospital. He takes up vigil at the hospital with his mother and his father's new sex-kitten wife. When the perpetrator is apprehended he is happy even though his father is going to be paralyzed but when the villain is let off he remembers the gun buried in the back yard.
This is a realistic portrayal of a smart kid without much direction who finds he must make a moral decision.
Young
Adult/Historical/Adventure
Ghost Canoe
Will Hobbs
Morrow 0688141935
This satisfying old fashioned adventure is sure to please. Fourteen year old Nathan MacAllister works hard helping his father run the lighthouse at Cape Flattery off the Washington coast. When replacements arrive for the workers who had run off he is sent to the mainland with his mother who has been growing sicker in the dampness of the island. His one friend is Lighthouse George, a fisherman of the Makah tribe who also carries mail out to the island. He spends a lot of time exploring and trying to find clues to answer the puzzle of mysterious footprints that were seen on the beach after a shipwreck where all aboard were reported dead.
Full of interesting lore about the Makah and nineteenth century Washington, Ghost Canoe is also filled with suspense and adventure. Hobbs is the author of several adventure novels for young adults including Bearstone and Beardance.
Juvenile/Siblings
Her Blue Straw Hat
C.S. Adler
Harcourt Brace & Co. 0152014667
Twelve year old Rachel is all set for a perfect summer at the beach with her mom and stepfather Ben, her very own teacher whom she introduced to her mom. Her plans go awry when she discovers that they have to stop at the airport in Boston to pick up Ben's biological daughter Tina. Tina isn't alone though, she has in tow thirteen year old Carlos who's father has run off to California with Tina's mom. There is instant antipathy between Rachel and Tina but when Rachel's mom has to be rushed to the hospital they all pull together.
This is a terrific middle reader book but not a good choice for teens due to the youth of the characters.
Young
Adult/Contemporary/Violence
Buried Onions
Gary Soto
Harcourt Brace & Co. 0152013334
Nineteen year old Eddie can't find a real job and he is under pressure from his Aunt to find and kill the guy who killed Eddie's cousin. Amidst the violence and gangs of Fresno he just tries to get along. He rides around on his bike stenciling address numbers on curbs for a few bucks. One man offers him some odd job type work but when the man's truck is stolen when Eddie takes a load of refuse to the dump he doesn't return to work. His friend Jose( who has made a good life for himself is stabbed when he and Eddie see the stolen truck on the street.
It is really great to see a nonstereotypical Mexican American and to find a YA novel with a nineteen year old protagonist.