September 1997
Volume 2 # 9
Fantasy/Arthurian Legend/Contemporary
The Broken Sword
Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy
Tor 0312862830
I didn't read The Forever King to which this is a sequel
but since this stands alone it didn't matter. I will read it
though, because The Broken Sword offers a rare blend of
action, adventure, and history not found every day or even every
year. Arthur is the young reincarnation of the once and future
king and his guardian Hal was once Galahad. In a middle eastern
marketplace a former American president is shot but then
miraculously healed by a humble cup that rolls into the hands of
Beatrice who had been blind from birth but suddenly can see.
After further attempts on them Arthur and Beatrice stowaway on a
ship bound for America with Taliesin. Hal swept away in a strong
current eventually finds himself shepherding the rowdy knights of
the round table who have been released into this reality to New
York to try and save Arthur from once again losing his life to
evil forces.
This is a fabulous book. Readers of fantasy, adventure, or Arthurian legends should love it. In some ways it reminded me of Katherine Neville's The Eight.
Fantasy/Human Condition
Larque on the Wing
Nancy Springer
Avon 0380767422
Larque can make dopplegangers, sometimes even without doing it
consciously. When she creates Sky, who has a surprising solidity
and is who she was as a child her life begins to change. When Sky
disappears her talent for decorative painting that keeps the
family financially afloat disappears too. On her search she finds
the bizarre Popular St. with odd collection of shops and a gay
nightclub. She also meets Shadow who gives her a makeover that
turns her into the studly young Lark with all the accouterments
normally found on a healthy young man but she does not change her
woman's heart or soul which leaves Lark attracted to men as was
Larque. When she discovers that her mother has the ability to
blink someone into her own reality she realizes that she is in
terrible danger of losing herself.
This complex novel, winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, is a stunning tour de force giving the reader much to ponder while at the same time being wildly entertaining. It is a great choice for open minded book groups.
Young Adult/Suspense/Mystery
Murdered, My Sweet
Joan Lowery Nixon
Delacorte 0385322453
Jenny Jake's mom Madeline is a famous mystery writer who
sometimes she gets caught up in other people's fantasies that
make her out to be a sleuth herself a la Murder She Wrote.
The two of them are invited to San Antonio for the reading of
wealthy Cousin Arnold's will and the prereading banquet and
festivities since there hasn't been a death, yet. Surprisingly it
isn't the elderly Arnold who is murdered but needless to say with
a title like this one knows there will be someone or two who is.
Jenny and gorgeous weekend bellhop Carlos find themselves in the
middle of things keeping Madeline's image afloat as they try to
solve the mystery.
It is no wonder that Nixon has already won four Edgar awards for her young adult mysteries for as she seems to have cornered the market with her enticing stories.
Young Adult/Suspense/Supernatural/Short
Stories
The Hitchhikers
Joy Cowley
Scholastic 0590739042
Cowley shows off her variety of styles in this enchanting
collection featuring a dozen stories set in New Zealand. Some of
them feel like folklore set in a distant past, others are modern,
most are weird but I like weird. The title story "The
Hitchhikers" is about a couple of storytellers who have the
ability to warp reality with their tales. "Totara Hill"
sounds and feels like a familiar fairy tale but at the same time
I know I've never heard or read it before. It will be of
particular interest to spinners. The contemporary ghost story
"The Cottage by the Sea" makes the landscape of a
girl's dream all too real.
I'll be watching for more Joy Cowley stories.
Young Adult/Historical
Sarny
Gary Paulsen
Delacorte 0385321953
Sarny, the young girl from Paulsen's Nightjohn,
grows into a wonderful woman in this tale that takes up her life
as the Civil War is winding to a close. Her husband is killed by
overwork and just six days before freedom arrives with the Union
Army, Sarny's beloved children are sold South. She and Lucy set
out to find young Delie and Tyler. Her reading skills lead her
toward New Orleans after she discovers evidence that it was their
destination. On the way she meets the beautiful, rich, and
powerful Miss Laura who has a secret background. Through Sarny's
life story we step through the mist of history and relive
Reconstruction and the terror brought by the Klan and other
racists. Sarny is an amazing character, resilient, resourceful,
and strong, facing adversity and turning her back on riches to
educate Black children. Sarny is sure to be
popular.
Go the the Table of Contents
Science
Fiction/Nanotechnology
Bug Park
James P. Hogan
Baen 0671877739
Eric Heber has created a neural interface for controlling tiny robots that his teenage son Kevin and pal Taki play around with to create a new type of entertainment. This revolutionary technology may just be enough to kill for and who know which side the different players are on? When the boys inadvertently overhear Kevin's stepmother plotting with the head of a rival firm they start some sleuthing on their own leading them and their tiny alter ego mechs into deadly peril.
This terrific fast-paced read would make a fabulous movie.
Young Adult/Adventure
The Terrorist
Caroline B. Cooney
Scholastic 0590228536
A year in England turns into a disaster for the Williams family when eleven year old Billy is killed by a terrorist bomb. Sixteen year old Laura who has never been interested in much beyond the next dance decides to learn all she can about politics and world affairs so she can find and punish the terrorist who has robbed the world of her exceptional younger brother.
Cooney has once again hit the bullseye with this exciting thriller.
Young Adult/Romance/Contemporary/Coming of
Age
Screen Test
David Klass
Scholastic 059048592X
Because Liz is gorgeous and talented she ends up in a Hollywood movie but is the glitzy life for her or should she return to New Jersey to finish high school? In a refreshing change from most YA novels we find a heroine who is centered and confident.
Young Adult/Physical Challenges
Peeling the Onion
Wendy Orr
Holiday House 082341289X
Coming home from winning a karate competition Anna's life is shattered along with her body when an other car crashes into the one her new boyfriend is driving. As her body slowly heals she finds she must rethink her ambition to be a P.E. teacher and her relationship with the steadfast Hayden.
Go the the Table
of Contents
Gen Y/Young Adult/Coming of Age/Crime
Wannabe
Shelley Stoehr
Delacorte Press 0385322232
Like the talented Francesca Lia Block, Stoehr writes challenging books for people who are actually young adults, college age and juniors and seniors in high school. Not for the timid or for the middle school audience that so much young adult literature falls into, Stoehr tells about contemporary issues as they are. In Wannabe, Catherine, a native of New York's Little Italy takes a job waiting tables at the local mobster's private men's club. She plans to go onto college and tries to keep her older brother from falling in with the gangsters but finds that she is falling in love with a gangster herself. She is also developing a real addiction to cocaine. It is impossible to stop reading this book until it reaches its satisfying conclusion.
Young Adult/Romance/Coming of Age/Humorous
Girl Gives Birth to Own Prom Date
Todd Strasser
Simon & Schuster 0689804822
Nicole who sees the importance of "popularity" and her neighbor Chase who doesn't end up finding out a lot about the other side of the coin when Nicole's dream date for prom asks another girl and she decides to remake Chase into the perfect prom date. The theme of popularity is also to be found in Richard Peck's Princess Ashley.
Young Adult/Supernatural/Ghosts
Deal With a Ghost
Marilyn Singer
Henry Holt 0805047972
Deal has a knack, a knack for making boys like her even if they already have girlfriends. Her mom has the knack too and has dumped her with her grandmother while she goes to make a new life with a new boyfriend. Deal decides to be different and to not just steal a boyfriend just because another girl makes her mad but it may be an encounter with a mysterious ghost that really lets her know the possible consequences of her actions.
Young Adult/Contemporary/Sexual Identity
Whistle Me Home
Barbara Wersba
Henry Holt 0805048502
Independent and alcoholic, Noli has her own style that the new guy, the gorgeous TJ finds fascinating. As Noli falls more and more in love TJ tries to control her appearance and is his hands off policy a matter of respect or does she just not turn him on?
This thought provoking read is Wersba at her best.
Young Adult/Supernatural/Ghosts
Ghost Story
Julian Thompson
Henry Holt 0805048707
Fourteen year old Anna isn't too thrilled about her family's move to Vermont to run an inn but then again she hadn't been too thrilled with her old life either. She ends up on the housekeeping staff and does find a couple of friends, Caleb the one-handed dishwasher who is cute and a terrific basketball player and Roxy, the ghost of a girl who had her same job almost 200 years ago. The inn is visited by a varied assortment of illustrious guests including a photographer who wants Anna to model. Hmmm. Will Anna keep her wits? Will Roxy fulfill the onus that keeps her tied to the inn? Read Ghost Story and find out.
I am not Julian Thompson's biggest fan but if he keeps writing books like this I will be. This was a delightful read, just the thing for a hot summer afternoon.
Young Adult/Nonfiction/History/Picture Book
The Aztec News
Philip Steele
Candlewick 0763601152
I read this on the recommendation of an incarcerated eighteen year old and was glad I did. It is a beautifully illustrated history told in a newspaper type style in a picture book format. The news stories and features were fascinating and the ads added a dimension of real life in a humorous way.
Nonfiction/Autobiography
On My Own
Sally Hobart Alexander
FSG 0374356416
Sally tells of adjusting to life on her own after going blind in her 20's. Her career as a third grade teacher over, she runs into conflicts with the sighted administration when she goes to work in a school for the blind and eventually returns to graduate school.
Reader's who enjoyed Butterflies Are Free and If You Could See What I Hear and other autobiographies of strong willed individuals triumphing over disabilities will enjoy this memoir.
Juvenile/Fantasy/A Beastiary/Shapeshifters
Foxspell
Gillian Rubinstein
Simon & Schuster 0689806027
Tod, lonely living at his grandmother's with his two sisters and mom after the family is abandoned by his father starts to hang out around an abandoned quarry and becomes fascinated by foxes. As a gang tries to recruit him he finds friendship with the spirit of the foxes and learns to shift into a fox form.
Young Adult/Historical
The Garden
Carol Matas
Simon & Schuster 0689803494
This offers a glimpse into the lives of some of the young Jews who did not die in the Holocaust and went on to Palestine after the war where they found themselves fighting a war around the creation of the modern state of Israel. It is told from the viewpoint of fifteen year old Ruth who is a member of the Haganah. This is a sequel to Matas's After the War that stands alone.
Young Adult/Contemporary/Homelessness &
Foster Living Arrangements
Secret Star
Nancy Springer
Philomel 0399230289
Tess Mathis is pretty happy taking care of their tiny home with her disabled stepfather but she begins to question why she has no memories before the age of ten and why she can't remember her real parents when Kamo, a disfigured boy turns up claiming to be possibly her brother.
Springer, an astonishing writer, has once
again written a knock out of a book.
copyright 1997 Diana Tixier Herald All rights reserved.