The Watch That Ends the Night

See that cover? That is a glorious cover. THAT is the Titanic about to go under. This blog post might be coming a bit early because the 100-year anniversery of the sinking of the Titanic is April 12, but I can't hold back. I'm a Titanic junkie, absolutely obsessed with the tragedy of near a century ago, and Allan Wolf has captured the humanity of the tragedy in this most excellent novel-in-verse told from Titanic victims' points of view. Some of the narrators I knew would not survive--history tells us so--but others I fretted over. Would the lesser-known characters make it or succomb to the icy waters of the Atlantic? So many characters populate this novel, from the captain to the cardshark to the immigrant girl experiencing first love to the tailor who has kidnapped his sons from his wife to the baker to the ship rats to the architect who designed Titanic, and even, in some very creepy poems, the Iceberg that took the great ship down. Really, the iceberg's pages are the eeriest. I could have lived without the rats, but even they had found a small place in my heart by the story's end.The reader knows what's coming, but no one on board can imagine that the mighty Titanic could ever sink. Which is why it was so hard (heartbreaking!) for people to leave the ship and get into the lifeboats. By the time they realized they should have done it, it was far too late. The author painstakingly researched this novel, and the end notes, explaining which parts were completely historically accurate and which were embellished in the name of good storytelling and understanding the human factor, were fascinating. Particularly tragic were the poems showing the dozens of "Marconi-grams" from ships ahead of Titanic, all ice warnings that, sadly, went pretty much ignored.

I expected this to be a potential Printz honor if not the winner, but the winners were announced Monday and this book was not among them. (The Printz winner, incidentally, was Where Things Come Back, a worthy title and one our Mock Printz group chose as an honor title.) If you're interested in the Titanic, you need to read this beautifully written book.

family

my hands are streaked with blood that is not my own.

my hands are streaked with blood, and there is screaming.

somewhere in the house. . .

The reader knows from the start of family that something terrible is happening to seventeen-year-old Melinda. But what? Whose blood is on her hands? As the novel winds back and forth through time, the story is slowly revealed in all its horror.

The reader understand pretty quickly that Mel is troubled, especially since her first words in the book are "i have always been broken. this is something i have known forever." It's not a great surprise when Mel runs away from home--home is nothing but a sexually abusive stepfather and a disconnected mother who turns a blind eye. Homeless and starving on a bench in the Haight (an area of San Fransisco where lots of displaced teens wound up in the sixties) Mel is swept into the orbit of a mesmerizing young man named Henry. He finds her on that bench and he offers her the world. Henry "collects broken people" and brings them to a ranch in Death Valley where they live a supposedly Utopian lifestyle of free love, peace, and harmony. There Melinda finds "sisters," girls like her who all worship Henry. In fact, one of them tells Mel straight out, "Henry is Jesus Christ." The warning signs are there--Henry's "family" is not as perfect and peaceful as it seems, and the power he holds over his followers is frightening--but Mel is so hungry for acceptance and love that she ignores those signs. Slowly Henry's message of love turns to one of venegeance. By this time, Mel is caught in the middle of it, the fly in Henry's spider web.

family is a beautifully written novel, told in free verse. I know novels-in-verse turn off some readers, but even for those uncomfortable with poetry, family is a good read. The few drawbacks of the book had nothing to do with the poetry, actually. For me the negatives were these: sometimes the time line of events is confusing and sometimes phrases are repeated ad nauseum. However, if you pay close attention, you can understand the time line. And if you think about the point of the repetition (isn't that something cults do to their new members?) you accept it.

I think I am going to nominate this book for our annual Mock Printz award discussion. I really enjoyed family, though "enjoyed" isn't quite the right word considering all that blood on Melinda's hands. . .

Because I Am Furniture

Odd title, good read. This novel in verse should appeal to fans of Ellen Hopkins. High school freshman, Anke, lives in an abusive home. Her father beats her brother and molests her sister. But Anke is ingored. Sometimes this is a relief and other times Anke wishes for negative attention, just so she knows she's not as easily overlooked as a piece of furniture (hence the title.) When she starts high school, Anke finds her own ground as she joins the high school volleyball team and becomes a valued member of a group. Soon though, things at home can no longer be ignored. As the family dynamic worsens, Anke must find the power to become visible if she ever hopes to change her family's situation.

I Heart You, You Haunt Me

I wish this book had a better title. I Heart You, You Haunt Me? I mean, seriously? With a title like that, the potential reader can’t be blamed for thinking this book might be a light-hearted, supernatural romance. Actually it’s a much more serious book about how a teenage girl handles the grief of her boyfriend’s unexpected death. Told in a series of free verse poems, the book opens with Ava attending her boyfriend Jackson’s funeral. Understandably, Ava is depressed, and she sinks further in depression, withdrawing from her friends and family, as the book progresses. Though the reader does not learn why until about the middle half of the book, Ava feels responsible for Jackson’s death. When his ghost begins appearing—only Ava is able to see him—both in glimpses in the mirror and then in her dreams where they can hold one another again, Ava feels relieved that he isn’t gone from her life forever. But over time, the haunting begins to feel less like a blessing and more like a curse. And Ava still can’t let go of her guilt. . .

This is a fast read. Some of the poems are more effective than others, but mostly they work together to draw the reader into the story. The first half of the book got a little repetitive for me, as though the author was stuck in a series of “Ava-is-really-sad” poems that dragged the pace down, but the book picks up for the reader willing to hang in there. All of the poems are from Ava’s point of view, which was a nice switch from many novels-in-verse which tend to rely on ever-shifting perspectives to tell the complete story. Since this book is about Ava’s guilt and grief, it only seems right that she narrate it. The ending was satisfying though I felt like I was getting a few pat lessons about living life to the fullest, which I could have done without. Thankfully, the lesson learned portion was pretty light-handed and didn’t spoil the whole thing. A quick read with a slight supernatural touch, this book is really about how a person deals with personal tragedy.

My First Post!

Better Late than Never! Having worked as a Youth and Teen Librarian with Glendale for nearly 9 months, I am finally contributing to Book Obsession.

Next week the ALSC Youth Media Awards discussions will take place in Chicago and the winners will be announced on January 14th. Most of us don't get to attend the real thing, so last week a bunch of youth and teen librarians from the valley got together to hold Mock Caldecott, Newberry, and Printz discussions. Karen was part of the Mock Printz discussion group (YA books) and I was part of the Mock Newberry discussion (Youth Books). I thought I would take a minute to talk about the books that my group decided were the very best in youth literature from 2007.

I know what your thinking, why talk Newberry on a teen literature blog? Well... It is not unusual for a teen book or a book with teen appeal to receive the Newberry Medal or Honor. For example, Criss-Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins won the Newberry in 2006. In our discussion it was easy to see that most of the front runners this year would appeal to an older audience. Of the 3 books we chose for our Mock Newberry awards, one was written for teens and can be found in the teen section, and the other 2, though in the Youth Department, have teenagers for main characters and discuss situations that are pretty intense. They are worth looking at.

Our Mock Newberry winner is Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate. This book is just beautiful all around. Written in free verse from the perspective of Kek, a teenage boy from Sudan. He has come to the United States as a refugee from the slaughter in his country. Having lost almost everything that he knew, loved, and understood Kek comes to the American Midwest to stay with his Aunt and Cousin, also recent refugees. A depressed cow aids Kek's transition into his new world. Coming from a long line of Cattle Herdsman, Kek is able to hold onto a piece of his own identity through his love for the old cow he meets on his first day in America. Kek is thrown into a world completely alien to him(apart from the cow). He's never seen snow, gone to school, shopped at a grocery store, or used a dishwasher and yet while still trying to cope with the loss of his family, Kek adapts to his new world. The story is, as you must have guessed, very sad but it is also completely hopeful and ends on a high note. If this one doesn't at least get a Newberry Honor I will be miffed!



Okay, the next one on my list is Blackbringer by a new fantasy author named Laini Taylor. This one was written for teens and is shelved in the teen department. I know there are lots of people out there who cringe at the thought of another fairy book, but I am not one of them. Faeries in Blackbringer are not of the cutesy Disney variety, nor are they the slightly sinister slightly sexy faeries of Tithe by Holly Black (also a good read). Magpie and the other faeries of Dreamdark are a somewhere in the middle. Magpie, is a young faerie (by faerie standards anyway) who travels around recapturing devils that have been set loose by clueless and curious humans (Unfortunately devils were imprisoned in bottle, and the genie story is reeking havoc). An open bottle with the seal of one of the world's creators has been found, and the race is on to discover what deep dark sinister demon was important enough to be sealed in that bottle, and how he can be stopped before his darkness devours the living world. The plot is complex but fast paced and the characters are well developed. But what really will attract fantasy readers, aren't the faeries so much as the intricate world that Taylor created. The world is both geographically and politically complex, it has a real sense of history, it is full of the wonder and oddness one expects from a fantasy world, and I felt like I was there. I don't know that it will really win any awards (fantasies seldom do), but it's a winner in my book. Oh, and you'll love the cigar smoking crows!



Last but certainly not least is When I Crossed No-Bob by Margaret McMullan. Addy O'Donnell is a 12 year old girl in the post civil war south. A true Hillbilly from a violent and inbred family, Addy is in desperate straights. Dirt poor, half starved, and abandoned at a wedding she wasn't even invited to, Addy finds herself at the mercy of a newly wed couple who might be the first decent people she has ever had a relationship with. Mr. Frank a farmer and school teacher is dubious about an O'Donnell's ability to make anything out of herself but her loyalty, intelligence, and willingness to work wins him over in the end. Just when Addy is actually happy for the first time in her life, horror hits her world. While Addy watches helplessly, the Ku Klux Klan attacks an African American Church, worse still her own family might be involved. Still reeling from the sadness of this event, her father, turns back up to claim her and drag her back to the No-Bob, the land of O'Donnells, where she is sure to be abused, neglected, and married off to a cousin. Fiercely loyal Addy is now torn, who should she be loyal to? As the events of this book progress, Addy is faced with difficult decisions that she handles with ingenuity and integrity. This work of historical fiction is deeply moving, and incredibly interesting, bring to light a part of our nation's past that we seldom discuss or remember.

Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall

In Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall, sixteen-year-old Tessa finds herself in heaven after she's beaned on the head during an unfortunate dodge ball incident in gym class. Heaven looks familiar since it turns out to the mall. (Hey, that's my version of heaven too!) With both of her parents working at the mall, Tessa has grown up as a "mall brat," so she knows it inside and out. But this heavenly version isn't quite the same, and when Nail Boy (a teenage genius who tried to drill a bit into his head in an effort to find enlightenment) shows up, he tells Tessa she's got to figure out the answer to her question before she can move on.

What question? Huh? Tessa doesn't even know she has a question, much less what it is or how to answer it, but she realizes she's supposed to go on a journey to her past and figure out some important things about herself. She can't leave the mall until she does. Thus begins a flashback to Tessa's life from babyhood to current teenage status.

I ended up really liking this book, especially the character of Tessa, whom I cheered for all the way through. Tessa is overweight, she does things that are morally questionable and absolutely hilarious, she's got a bad attitude--and yet she's completely likable and sympathetic. She's fun to read. In fact, she might be one of my favorite characters of the year. And I am lucky I stuck with the book to find this out because the beginning was a bit bumpy for me. I finally figured out the problem. This book has a totally unnecessary supernatural framework. The set-up--getting to the heavenly mall, meeting Nail Boy, and all that otherworldly jazz---is smoke and mirrors, seemingly there only to entice the kind of reader who liked The Lovely Bones. But if feels too cute, too aware of itself. It feels utterly contrived. When the author gets past the supernatural crap (and normally I love supernatural crap!) to the story of Tessa, the book takes off. And it's really, really good. I felt like I truly knew Tessa by the end of the book. She was our heroine, warts and all. I loved seeing her grow up, watching her social foibles and fumbles, and laughing at the outrageous things she would do. Tessa feels real. The Heavenly Mall/otherworldly hijinks don't. They lend very little to this tale, and in fact just clutter it up. This should have been a straightforward book about a girl growing up. Those are the parts (luckily, the majority of the book) that work. At the end of the tale when Tessa is back in the mall and telling Nail Boy, who is kind of her Ghost of Christmas Past, all about what she's learned, I again lost patience.

I'd highly recommend this book despite my problem with the supernatural setup. Tessa's voice was strong, likable and engaging. I enjoyed it so much I read it in an afternoon--it's told in free verse so this helped speed things along--and I'll be looking to read more of Wendy Mass's writing. (This is something like her seventh book. Other titles of hers include Leap Day and A Mango Shaped Space. ) Has anyone else read Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall?