My Life in…

I’m of two minds about this book. It was very cute and the characters were likeable. However, there seemed to be both very little plot and very little character resolution. Gorgeous prose, but sometimes feels a bit anachronistic. What was up with Mi-Su and BT in the beginning anyway? Better than Eggs overall, but of course, not as strong as Stargirl (although that’s an unfair comparison since that is my favorite book of all time.)

Grade: B+
Book #47 of 2008

Peeled is another great book by Joan Bauer.  I loved the plotline and Hildy.  I like how Bauer doesn’t shy away from having her teens interact with adults in her books.  There is such a sweetness to this book in addition to its power.  Bauer is the master of the quiet novel.

Grade: A-
Book #45 of 2008

BookEval Review: Emil is having trouble coping after his mother dies of cancer and his 19 year old brother leaves without a trace. When he goes through his brother’s room he finds the key – the legacy key at his prep school that opens up any door and is passed down each year to a deserving senior. Rather than share the key with his best friend Soma and play pranks on the school, Emil uses the key to hide at the school when his father goes away on business. He meets the daughter of his art teacher working on ceramics in the studio and all he knows is that he wants to spend more time with her. The story seems ordinary at first, but Emil is likeable and you will want to know more about what is happening in his life. There is a lot of drug use in this book as well as some cursing and a non-graphic sex scene. It feels like a lesser Looking for Alaska at first, but quickly you begin to care about Emil and his story.

Grade: A-
Book #44 of 2008

Dylan has known that she is a lesbian since puberty hit and has been dealing with her identity issues and her attraction to her best friend Jocelyn ever since. Joc has a boyfriend and Dylan is dating Cam, a popular jock who is a great guy. Dylan hasn’t had any problems hiding her true feelings until she is inspired to create a display for her school library. She creates silhouettes of a man and a women and covers them with book titles appropriate to the part of the body on which they are placed. When the principal decides the titles on the groin areas are inappropriate, Dylan prefers to cover the areas with black censored bands. When it comes out what was really underneath the bands, Dylan is forced to confront her feelings, not only about herself but also her best friend. This coming out story is extremely well written. Graphic language (including gay slurs) and some sexual situations are used throughout the book but they are perfectly in keeping with the text and not gratuitous. Although published by Orca Book Publishers like many of Goobie’s previous works, this one will be less appealing to reluctant readers due to the length and the depth of the prose. Librarians will appreciate the positive portrayal of two librarians, the many book titles used and the explanation of what makes Foxfire and the Once and Future King so significant.

Grade: A-
Book #43 of 2008

BookEval Review: Not Like You begins with the 15 year old protagonist Kayla in the middle of an extremely uncomfortable though not particularly graphic sex scene with a guy who is clearly using her. There is little time to dwell on this however as the narrator returns home to find that her mother is packing them up again and moving them to New Mexico where she has found her estranged mother in a nursing home. Kayla’s mother is an alcoholic and moves them around to avoid bill collectors since even with Kayla contributing most of her money from dog walking and training, there still isn’t enough to make ends meet. Kayla’s mother claims that this time its different and begins to cut back on her drinking and joins a counseling group to start getting her life back together but for Kayla it’s too little, too late. A dog-walking job leads her to a new relationship with 24 year old Remy whom she likes because he respects her boundaries but she finds has been in trouble before for dating another underage girl. When Kayla has finally had enough she betrays two of her close friends, abandons her mother, and runs away. The novel is full of quirky characters and the writing is excellent. Although the book sounds like a typical YA novel, the characters bring the story to life.

Grade: B+
Book #42 of 2008

BookEval Review: What would happen if the character actors at Disney World went on strike? In this novel, they are replaced by high school students and recent grads who are looking for something to do for the summer. Ella takes on the job when her parents basically abandon her following her brother’s death and Luke is trying to do something fun before he returns home to join the family business at the insistence of his father. Told in alternating chapters, the two protagonists deal with their respective significant others, their jobs as Cinderella and Dale (of Chip and Dale), their difficult pasts and futures, and their growing interest in each other. The story is at times humorous. The book has a large supporting cast of people who do not really factor into the story line and even the main characters are weakly drawn. As in their previous standalone title, Scrambled Eggs at Midnight, the book and characters fall just short of being compelling. The pink cover is attractive, but may put off male readers who would enjoy this story almost as much as the girls.

Grade: B
Book #41 of 2008

Please please will someone at Random House read this and send one along?  Email me for the address.

I am only a little embarrassed to resort to begging, but I haven’t heard back from the 1Bruce1 contest, and I truly am the biggest Sweet Valley High fan ever.  I have read every SVH, SVU, Senior Year, and Elizabeth book ever published and the vast majority of the Twins ones – I kept reading them until I was 20 and only stopped because they’ve stopped publishing them.

I liked this one a lot. Very honest. A great continuation of the first book. I would have liked to see some of the issues brought a conclusion a bit before the final pages though.

Grade: A-
Book #40 in 2008