Books of the Week
YA / Contemporary
God of Beer
Keizer, Garret
HarperCollins 0060294566
After a discussion in class about Ghandi and his comments on how if God came to India, the only meaningful way would be to come as bread, the teacher asks the class in what form God would have to come to their rural Vermont high school. Kyle blurts out beer. His friends Quaker Oats, a non-drinking pacifist and Diana LaValley, a six foot four star basketball player think it is brilliant. They decide to start a protest movement to lower the drinking age, raise the drinker's awareness, destroy the non-drinker's stigma. Meanwhile David, a backwoods hunting friend of Kyle, who is the oldest student at the highschool and in special ed comes into conflict with Diana's drunken former Californian boyfriend. Kyle has never been able to let Diana know that he is in love with her. They consider each other to be siblings. Then a terrible tragedy stikes the community. Activism seems to be reappearing in teen lit. I suspect that fans of The Gospel According to Larry will find much to enjoy and ponder in this book.
YA / Contemporary
Flipped
Van Draanen, Wendelin
Alfred A. Knopf 0375811745
Told from Julianna’s and Bryce’s alternating points of view, the life of next door neighbors from 2nd grade through 8th. Excellent characterizations add to the enjoyment of this fast paced read. Teens are already commenting on this. Teen Comments.
Science Fiction /
Adventure / Aliens
A Deepness in the Sky
Vinge, Vernor
Tor 0812536355
Set 30,000 years before Fire Upon the Deep, a civilization of spider-like sentients has been found when ships from a trading culture and those from a slaver culture converge on a planet that orbits a bizarre OnOff star that forces the inhabitants into hibernation for years at a time. Vinge is one of the greatest sf writers of our time. His tale of three disparate cultures comes to life through brilliant characterizations. This definately was worthy of the Hugo award for best novel that it won in 2000.
YA/ Contemporary/ Problem
America
Frank, E. R
Atheneum 0689847297
America at age 15 is in a psychiatric facility after attempting suicide. His life has been hell for the most part. When he was little he had a great foster mom but when he went on a home visit his addict mother never returned him. At 5 he ends up with living with his brothers after his mother abandons them. He cannot find a way to get back to his foster family Later as a runaway he is found and returned to his foster mom who is now elderly and in poor health where he is sexually abused by her step brother. Gritty and realistic.
YA/Contemporary/Coming of
Age
Stoner & Spaz: A Love Story
Koertge, Ron
Candlewick 0763616087
Ben Bancroft, is a sixteen year-old orphaned film buff with CP who lives with his overprotective grandmother who dresses him in preppy style clothes. Colleen Minou is a major stoner who doesn't see Ben's CP as a handicap, only as a difference. As she tires to fight her addictions he tries to live like a teen. With the mentoring of a neighbor, he makes his own movie. Another terrific book filled with truth from a favorite YA author.
Horror// Dark Fantasy
Magic Time
Zicree, Marc Scott and Barbara Hambly
Eos 0061050687
A secret government project unleashes a force that stops all things electrical one day at 9:17 am. Planes fall from the sky, cars stop where they are, backup generators don't kick on, battery driven watches stop and some people begin to mutate into strange creatures. An evil lawyer becomes a dragon, a young ballerina becomes translucent and shines with inner light. A young lawyer and a maintenance woman along with a Russian physician/ hotdog vender, and a homeless psychic escape New York. Meanwhile a secret service agent looks for the downed plane of an agent who was bringing essential information about “the Source” to the president on the fateful day.
Crime/ Amateur Detective
The Hearse Case Scenario
Cockey, Tim
Hyperion 0786867116
Hitchcock Sewell, Baltimore's favorite undertaker receives a gurgley telephone call from Shrimp Martin, a sleazy club owner to tell him that Hitch's old sadsack pal Lucy has shot him. The shooting isn't fatal but when someone stabs Shrimp to death in the hospital all suspicion falls on Lucy who has disappeared. Shrimp's step-brother has also gone missing. As Hitch tries to save Lucy by finding the real killer he teams up with private-eye Pete Munger and runs into a larger than life painter named Bigg, a tiny woman with the last name of Child, Shrimp's unsavory secret partner, and a nineteen-year-old basketball phenom. Great quirky fun, affectionately depicted characters, and a mystery that plays fair all make the Hitchcock Sewell series one not to missed.
YA/ Adventure/
Survival
Red Midnight
Mikaelsen, Ben
HarperCollins 0380977451
On the night that soldiers burned their village and killed almost everyone, Santiago grabbed his four year old sister Angelina and ran into the Guatemalan jungle. His dying uncle told him to go to his village that was far away and take his cayuco and sail to the United States of America. Their harrowing journey, including battling the sea, fleeing soldiers and pirates, nearly starving, and fighting valiantly for survival makes for a page turning adventure. Mikaelsen, author of last year's wildly popular Touching Spirit Bear, has penned another riveting tale.
YA/ Short Stories/ Coming
of Age
Dolores
Brooks, Bruce
HarperCollins 0060278188
Connected short stories about Dolores, an exceptional girl. The first story features her at age 7 in the classic urban legend of a kid being kidnapped at Wal-Mart and in the last story at 16 she escapes a kidnapper at age 16.
Fantasy/ Urban Fantasy
The Onion Girl
De Lint, Charles
Tor 0312873972
Jilly Coppercorn, Newford's favorite artist is struck down in a hit and run accident leaving her in a coma in this world but allowing her to wander in the spirit world, or dreamlands. Her physical injuries are not the only ones that are keeping her down, ancient hurts done to her are also playing a role. The narrative moves from character to character and also tells the horrific story of Raylene who has discovered how to travel to the dreamlands in a the guise of wolf in her quest for the thrills she gets from chasing and slaying unicorns. De Lint is a master of fantasy, each of his works not only providing a captivating read but also a thought provoking spiritual experience. Through his fantasy he tells truth.
YA/Supernatural
Stones
Bell, William
Doubleday Canada 038565829X
Garnet loves restoring antique furniture for his family's antique shop and does not want to go to college preferring to find an apprenticeship in fine furniture building. He meets Raphaella when they are assigned opposite sides in English class in a debate over the validity of love at first sight. She claims that sometimes one can sense things about a person that cannot be observed by rational means. the two become friends even though Raphaella's mother does not want her to have any male friends and there is a scandal involving her changing schools in senior year. When Garnet's mom, a journalist, goes off to cover a story in a war torn country he moves into a trailer near an abandoned African church and soon begins to hear voices at night. He and Raphaella discover several ghosts and come up with a way of setting them to rest.
Crime/ Woman
Detective/ Caper
Love Her Madly
Smith, Mary-Ann Tirone
Henry Holt 0805066489
Director of the FBI's crime lab, Poppy Rice, having rooted out all the corruption and sloppiness in her department now has time on her hands to follow up on old cases that were mismanaged before her watch. She dives headfirst into the case of Rona Leigh Glueck, a diminutive angelic looking death row inmate in Texas who had only been seventeen when sentenced for a horrendous axe murder. Believing that Rona Leigh would not have had the strength to repeatedly swing the axe and knowing that her department (long before her time) had brushed off a request of assistance by Rona Leigh's public defender she heads to Texas just nine days before the execution is to take place and finds herself on a wild ride involving politics and religion. First rate entertainment with some of elements that have made Mary Willis Walker and Patricia D. Cornwell so popular. Readers will rejoice that Smith is working on a second Poppy Rice adventure.
YA/ Contemporary/
Problem
Breaking Point
Flinn, Alex
HarperTempest 0066238471
Paul Richmond's life is hell. His recently divorced mother has taken a job at a private school so that he can attend for free but it is not just the adjustment of switching from home school that is so bad -- the mostly wealthy students are downright mean. His only friend is Binky, a girl who has refused to kowtow to the popular Charlie who runs the school but Paul is quick enough to dump her when he becomes Charlie's new best friend. As his best friend it falls on Paul to do things for Charlie, things that he never would have done otherwise. Flinn the author of last year's most talked about YA novel, Breathing Underwater, is one of the hotest new authors on the teen book scene. She gives readers a shockingly realistic view of what can lead a good kid to do very bad things.
YA/
Contemporary/
One Night
Qualey, Marsha
Dial 0803726023
Nineteen year old Kelly Ray works for her Aunt Kit, a radio talkshow host and former war correspondent (which is why she has a silvery claw instead of one of her arms). When a famous singer is bumped off the show one day while Kelly is in an NA meeting, Kelly must pick up the pieces. Kelly takes a rare old children's book as reparation to the singer who is staying in a local hotel under tight security and meets Tom, the young prince of a wartorn country when his body guards attack her in the hallway. The singer, the prince, and the recovering heroin addict go on a romp that takes them to the former home of the author of the children's book and leads to a nightlong friendship between Tom and Kelly who both come to realizations of what is really important and what they need to do in life. Qualey has a web page for this book at http://www.marshaqualey.com/Night.htm complete with a photo album of locations in the book. While this book will not be out until June it is definitely one to watch out for.
Historical Fiction
The Twentieth Wife
Sundaresan, Indu
Pocket Books 0743427149
Starting off with a bang, this historical novel follows the life of Mehrunnisa from her birth in a ragged tent near Qandahar in 1577 while her Persian parents were fleeing the Shah's court through her wedding to the great Mughal Emperor Jahangir who as a youth was called Salim. Along the way, a stroke of good fortune places her father in the royal court in India. Politics and the hidden power of the women of the royal Zenana are illuminated as Mehrunnisa catches the eye of the Empress and informally becomes her companion. As her father rises in status, Mehrunnisa is married off to a much older soldier who saved Salim from a tigress. Uprisings and conspiracies abound with danger lurking at every turn. This well told romantic tale will thrill readers who enjoy well researched historic fiction with an exotic setting. Fortunately readers will have a sequel to look forward to reading that will continue the riveting story of Mehrunnisa'a life as Empress.
General Fiction/
Coming of age
Motherland
Vijayaraghavan,
Vineeta
Soho Press 1569472173
Compelling coming of age story about a 15 year old Americanized Indian girl, Maya, who is sent to live with relatives on a tea plantation in rural India for the summer after being in a car accident with her boyfriend who had been drinking. Staying with her aunt and uncle, grandmother, and 10 year old cousin, she has discovers just how different life in India is as she is looked at for an arranged marriage and hides secrets about her British-Indian cousin and a local servant. Set just after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi the political turmoil leaves everyone under the scrutiny of the government that is looking closely at anyone who may be a Tamil tiger.
General
Fiction/Contemporary/Coming of Age
Goats
Poirier, Mark Jude
Talk Miramax Books 0786866802
A look at Southwestern culture through the eyes of Ellis who was raised in Tucson by a New Age Yuppie mom and Goat Man, the always baked pool man who knows everything there is to know about Cannabis and goats. When Ellis is sent off to prep school in the East he experiences a totally different kind of life and is exposed to people with values and behaviors that are alien to him.
Fantasy/Romance
Son of the Shadows
Marillier, Juliet
Tor 0312848803
Sorcha’s daughter Liaden is kidnapped by the painted men and comes to see the legendary outlaws in a different light. She falls in love with Bran, the leader, and bears him a child but after Eammon, her suitor tortures and imprisons him she must go into his mind to bring him out of a catatonic state. Some more of the best fantasy of the year. Stand alone sequel to Daughter of the Forest.
Fantasy/Quest
The Ill-Made Mute
Dart-Thornton, Cecilia
Warner 0446528323
Epic fantasy of a young woman who through an accident looses her memory, identity, face, and voice but finds friendship, treasure, and love on a quest devilled by wights both seelie and unseelie as she tries to regain what she has lost.
YA/ Historical
The Land
Taylor, Mildred D.
0803719507
Outstanding tale of Paul-Edward Logan the ancestor of the characters from Taylor’s award winning Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry is a sometimes graphic fictional retelling of the author's own ancestor who was the son of a plantation owner and a slave who had to make his way between two worlds when he belonged to both and neither at the same time.