Book Report: Plus One

Today's Book Report comes to us from Paige the (former) Page, a member of Wood Library's Teen Advisory Board. Paige is just wrapping up her Junior year, and I'm looking forward to hearing her sing along to Les Misérables later this month.

Without further ado, here's Paige's review of Elizabeth Fama's new novel Plus One.

Plus One By Elizabeth Fama

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars 

What first enthralled me about this book was the cover. I mean, isn't it absolutely beautiful? When I saw it, I knew I need to know what was inside. I know, I know. Don’t judge a book by its cover, but I had to recognize its beauty before I begin the proper review. Halfway through the book though, to my surprise, I had read a book by Elizabeth Fama, and hadn't particularly enjoyed it. Last year I read Monstrous Beauty hoping to find a good, clean mermaid young adult romance. I wasn't asking for much, right? Sadly, I was left confused and not particularly satisfied. In some ways, Plus One, left me wanting more and a tad confused, but I liked it a whole lot more than Fama's last book!

The book has a very interesting premise. Following the Flu Pandemic of 1918, society is divided into people that live either during the day, Rays, or those who live during the night, Smudges. This story is all set against the back ground of this dystopic Chicago. The Rays are allowed outside only during the day, while the Smudges only during the night. The Rays are exalted, while the Smudges are seen as inferior. This book tackles issues such as discrimination through this division of the Smudges and the Rays. Obvious a relationship between a Smudge and a Ray would be seen as taboo, forbidden even, which makes for a good romance.

I loved the main characters. Sol, a Smudge, was real and impulsive. She had real motives and deep loyalties that blinded her at times. She wasn’t perfect for once. And I liked that. On the other hand, D'Arcy, a Ray, was perfect (in a swoon worthy way!) which I was okay with because Rays are supposed to “better.” They’re polar opposites.... almost like night and day. 

Our main character firsts meet when Sol purposely injures herself so she can get into the hospital to steal her estranged Ray brother’s baby so her dying grandfather, Poppu, can hold her one time. Sol falls under a Ray medical apprentice’s care while she is in the hospital: D'Arcy. Soon he is entangled in her mischief and they are swept up in an adventure as they unearth a conspiracy that will rock their whole world.

This book was overall an enjoyable read, but it is not without its flaws. If you go into this book expecting romance of the bat, you will be disappointed. The romance doesn't start until about three-quarters of the way through, but you won’t be disappointed! It’s sizzling! But there are intercalary/flashback chapters that some times threw off the flow of the book for me. Fama's writing also at times tries to hard to be poetic than switches to frank, plain statements. This book is a little choppy. Also, everyone speaks French? But it’s set in Chicago? That really confused me. In addition, the tech talk and the medical talk was nonsense to me. It wasn’t needed. I also wished the ending gave me more. I loved these characters and felt a tad robbed.

I feel though the good outweighed the bad I have mentioned thus far in Plus One. This book is worth the read and deserves a chance. 

Happy Reading!
PG

The 2014 Middle School Summer Reading List is Alive!

Happy Friday. For the 2nd year in a row, an ambitious (and charming) public librarian and a brilliant (and noble) school librarian have come together to bring you the ultimate Summer Reading list for grades 6-8 (and beyond). Behold:

The Great Canandaigua Middle School Summer Reading List

Here is the lists' logic: organized alphabetically by genre, then by author, all the way from Adventure to Steampunk. We strive to pick new books, published in 2013-2014, so that each year's list is always fraîche. 

Find these books at your local library. All. Summer. Long.

Kelley Blue, Teen Services Librarian @ Wood Library, Canandaigua

Melanie Dyroff, School Library Media Specialist @ Canandaigua Middle School Library

Book Report: Grasshopper Jungle

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Like, wow.

"All good books are about everything, abbreviated" (Grasshopper Jungle, p.332).

Austin Szreba has a healthy preoccupation with the intersection of histories. He believes that the roads of coincidence cross back and forth across time, right in front of us. As a self-made historian, he writes these observations down. Grasshopper Jungle is Austin's recording of the end of the world. While the world is ending, our narrator is also authentically struggling to separate hormones from love and friendship, and human stupidity from beauty. It happens like this...

A gang of total oafs beat the crap out of Austin and his best friend, Robby, in the nowhere town of Ealing, Iowa, in an alleyway affectionately referred to as the "Grasshopper Jungle". Later that night, the same gang of total oafs breaks into the office of Austin's boss, an office that Austin and Robby have also just broken into. Inside they have discovered the most messed up treasure trove of Cold War era stuffs ever seen. While Austin and Robby are smart enough to stand in fear and awe of the glowing blue orb of "Contained MI Plague Strain 412E", the total oafs decide it would be fun to take it for a stroll...

It was not a good idea. You know what I mean.

The joy of the rest of this book is in letting Austin tie all the ends together while hell breaks loose in Ealing. In his own meandering, often gross, and truly funny way, Austin discovers what MI Plague Strain 412E is, what it does (bad stuff), and where it came from (totally bizarre). While he's figuring this all out, he has the unfortunate fate of being a teenage boy made horny by nearly everything, which is inconvenient when the world is ending. Incessant male teenage arousal can also be inconvenient when you're trying to figure out your feelings for your girlfriend and possibly your best friend, too. Female characters, like Shann, seem a big thinly drawn, but that may be appropriate considering the narrator, who happens to be preoccupied by unstoppable, giant mantises bent on devouring the entire human race. And other stuff.

This book is anticlimactic (in a good way!), hilarious, and somber all at once. It is certainly the most unique end-of-the-world fiction I have read in maybe ever. -Kelley, (Your) Teen Services Librarian

View all my reviews

Don't Drink the Tea! (Book Report: Midwinterblood)

Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm seeing the phrase, "I don't get it" out there when it comes to this book. It's not that I don't get it, I just don't get why it is YA. (Midwinterblood, as many may know, won the Printz this year for excellence in young adult fiction.)

I hope I am not selling teen readers short, but this book will be "just right" for only the rarest of porridge eaters. When I tried to explain the plot to one of my most avid and adventurous teen readers, she just smiled and nodded at me politely. Now, maybe that's my fault, but the entire time I was reading Midwinterblood, my Teen Librarian brain kept asking, "where's the teen appeal here?" (Also, it is false advertising to throw "vampires" and "vikings" around when talking up this book, because that's not what's really going on here.)

That said, I believe Midwinterblood is a rewarding read for that right reader. The chapters are broken up into pithy, digestible bites that make it a quick read. There are seven interrelated vignettes going back in time sequentially; so, we begin in 2073 and end before recorded time. Starting in 2073 was a good choice for me; Sedgwick's version of the future coupled with the creepy, timeless qualities of Blessed Island really pulled me in. (Also, screaming "just stop drinking the tea!" got me engaged with the first story in a very active way.)

The sections are interrelated by just a few elements, and picking up the threads of how is the real pleasure of this book. I often found myself going back to a previous vignette when I realized a connection. Man, this book is smart! The threads are woven masterfully. For example, not each element appears in each story; rather, they are peppered, and sometimes so different that you don't immediately catch them.

I can't delve too much further because I would give away all the lovely weirdness. I said this book didn't have immediate teen appeal, but I think it would make for an excellent discussion with older teens about the concept of self (Are we more than just this? Are we greater than ourselves? Is there such a thing as destiny? Do we have any control over it?). Deceptively simple, there is a lot to ponder here. Or just leave it be and enjoy this haunting Ouroboros of a novel.

Bonus factor? This book got me to use "Ouroboros" in a sentence.

Second bonus factor? This book was partially inspired by this crazy painting.

View all my reviews

Facebook, Time Machine, Pop-Tarts

Hey all. I'm very excited to announce that the Wood Library Teen Scene has finally taken a time machine to 5 years ago and established its very own Facebook page. While the library has had its own FB page for a while now, I was feeling kind of guilty for flooding it with teen stuff all the time. So, I've struck out on my own. Check it:

Wood Library Teen Scene

Give us a like if you, like me, love to read posts about YA reads, movies, fandom, geekdom, pop-culture, cats in people clothing, and pop-tarts. Or any combination thereof. -Kelley (Your) Teen Services Librarian

List Love: Teen Read Week

Happy Teen Read Week, everybody! 

YEAH!!!

The purpose of TRW is to e-specially single out teens and get them excited about reading and libraries. As if reading and libraries weren't already exciting to all the teens in the world, right??? This week is just for you, and the theme is "Seek the Unknown"... via sci-fi, fantasy, adventure, or any combination thereof. How tantalizing.

Here's a quick list of suggested, YA-friendly titles that will help you celebrate Teen Read Week, for all your unknown-seeking-needs. Apologies that this list leans heavily sci-fi. Books marked with a * are some of my personal favorites.

Pure (Pure Trilogy #1) by Julianna Baggott*

In a post-apocalyptic world where those undamaged by the cataclysmic events are kept safely inside the Dome, a young girl on the outside teams up with a boy on the inside to search for his missing mother. 

Losers in Space by John Barnes

In 2029, hoping to bypass the exams and training that might lead to a comfortable life, Susan, her almost-boyfriend Derlock, and seven fellow students stow away on a ship to Mars, unaware that Derlock is a sociopath with bigger plans.

Ready Player One by Ernst Cline*

Immersing himself in a mid-twenty-first-century technological virtual utopia to escape an ugly real world of famine, poverty, and disease, Wade Watts joins an increasingly violent effort to solve a series of puzzles by the virtual world's creator.

The Reluctant Assassin (W.A.R.P. #1) by Eoin Colfer

In Victorian London, Albert Garrick, an assassin-for-hire, and his reluctant young apprentice, Riley, are transported via wormhole to modern London, where Riley teams up with a young FBI agent to stop Garrick from returning to his own time and using his newly acquired scientific knowledge and power to change the world forever.

For the Win by Cory Doctorow

In a future where poor children and teenagers work for corrupt bosses as gold farmers, finding valuable items inside massively-multiplayer online games, a small group of teenagers work to unionize and escape this near-slavery.

Eve & Adam by Michael Grant

After being in a car accident, a patient recovering in her mother's research facility is given the task of creating the perfect boy using detailed simulation technologies.

Insignia (Insignia #1) by S.J. Kincaid

Tom, a fourteen-year-old genius at virtual reality games, is recruited by the United States Military to begin training at the Pentagon Spire as a Combatant in World War III, controlling the mechanized drones that do the actual fighting off-planet.

Planesrunner (Everness #1) by Ian McDonald

When fourteen-year-old Everett Singh's scientist father is kidnapped from the streets of London, he leaves a mysterious app on Everett's computer giving him access to the Infundibulum--a map of parallel earths--which is being sought by technologically advanced dark powers that Everett must somehow elude while he tries to rescue his father.

Itch: The Explosive Adventures of an Element Hunter by Simon Mayo

When fourteen-year-old Itchingham "Itch" Lofte discovers a new radioactive element, he must use all of his wits and scientific knowledge to stop a top-secret government agency, his greedy teacher, and an evil corporation from getting hold of it.

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer*

As plague ravages the overcrowded Earth, observed by a ruthless lunar people, Cinder, a gifted mechanic and cyborg, becomes involved with handsome Prince Kai and must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect the world in this futuristic take on the Cinderella story. 

The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Jenna Fox Chronicles #1) by Mary Pearson

In the not-too-distant future, when biotechnological advances have made synthetic bodies and brains possible but illegal, a seventeen-year-old girl, recovering from a serious accident and suffering from memory lapses, learns a startling secret about her existence.

Starters by Lissa Price

To support herself and her younger brother in a future Beverly Hills, sixteen-year-old Callie hires her body out to seniors who want to experience being young again, and she lives a fairy-tale life until she learns that her body will commit murder, unless her mind can stop it.

Redshirts by John Scalzi

Enjoying his assignment with the xenobiology lab on board the prestigious Intrepid, ensign Andrew Dahl worries about casualties suffered by low-ranking officers during away missions before making a shocking discovery about the starship's actual purpose

Unwind (Unwind Trilogy #1) by Neal Shusterman

In a future world where those between the ages of thirteen and eighteen can have their lives "unwound" and their body parts harvested for use by others, three teens go to extreme lengths to uphold their beliefs--and, perhaps, save their own lives.

Stung by Bethany Wiggins

When a vaccine to save endangered bees causes their sting to turn children into ferocious killer beasts, the uninfected build a wall to keep the beasts out, but Fiona wakes up on the wrong side of the wall.

Happy seeking! -Kelley, (Your) Teen Services Librarian

The Internet Don't Lie

Dude, I knew I would end up being a stupid Hufflepuff. For the record, I was one point away from Ravenclaw. 

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?