Small Town Sinners by Melissa Walker

Lacey Anne Byers is a junior in high school, has always listened to her parents, and never doubted her faith. As her church's annual Hell House approaches, Lacey Anne brims with excitement over the prospect of bringing people into the church with this outreach. What she doesn't expect, however, is to meet a boy whose very presence in her town causes her to question every belief she's ever had about her faith.

Small Town Sinners was not a book I was expecting to love. The premise and subject-matter had the potential to get a little too preachy for me. Matters of faith and religion in books and conversation are always met with trepidation and this book was no different.

But something extraordinary happened. I actually found this an insanely page-turning story. I became so invested in the main character's faith-journey that I couldn't stop reading. Lacey Anne showed such maturity and poise for her age and through her struggle.

Melissa Walker did a masterful job of proving her point in this novel, which is that people aren't all good or all bad. As much as we don't like to admit it, life is full of gray areas. Despite the fact that there were some characters in this novel that you wanted to think of as pure antagonism (like Lacey Anne's father for one), you can't help but be pulled in different emotional directions in how you feel about them.

The most fascinating aspect of this novel was that it introduced me to the concept of Hell Houses which I had never heard of before. The inspiration for this book was this article that Melissa Walker wrote for Elle Girl back  when she was the features editor.

Despite the fact that this is a contemporary work of fiction, in some ways it read like a dissertation on faith. I felt like this book could be an argument for why doubt and not having all answers is actually good for the health of your relationship with God. I've always thought that certainty in any religion is what breeds intolerance. Being humble enough to say, "I am only human and I don't have all the answers but I believe in your plan for me Lord," is what helps us to empathize rather than judge each other. Despite the fact that this story is fictional, it was a great thesis on how doubt is actually helpful in faith, as contradictory as that sounds.

Small Town Sinners by Melissa Walker
Published: July 19, 2011 by Bloomsbury
Pages: 259
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: Young Adult

Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge

Paige Turner (her parents are writers) is struggling to adjust to life in New York City, where she and her parents just moved from Virginia. With such a drastic change of scenery, Paige decides to turn to her sketchbook for inspiration and solace. Paige soon meets a group of new friends, and despite their loyalty to her and admiration of her talent as an artist, she still struggles with confidence in her ability.

So Paige decides to make a list of goals that she hopes to accomplish by year's end, which she documents in her sketchbook.

Page by Paige is full of gorgeous drawings that convey tons of meaning and symbolism. For those people who scoff at graphic novels and say that they keep the reader from having to use their own imaginations, well then they need to read a book like this. The story itself is rather unremarkable and overdone: girl moves to a new place, girl worries about whether she'll fit in, girl makes new friends... But what makes this book remarkable is how the drawings symbolically show Paige's worries and insecurities more than words ever could.

Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge
Published: May 2011 by Amulet Books
Pages: 192
Genre: Graphic Novel
Audience: Young Adult

The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski

Sheridan Wells is known around town and by her classmates as Cake Girl because she spends more time in her family bakery decorating cakes than hanging out and being social. Her mom also had a great gift for cake baking, but she has been gone for many years, having abandoned Sheridan and her father for another man.

Sheridan still hasn't gotten over the sting of her mom leaving, especially since she and her dad seem to be growing further and further apart. Now her father, a well-known and highly respected chef, has been offered his own TV show and must move to New York to take the job. Sheridan, convinced her mother will soon return for her, refuses to go with him and even manages to come up with a scheme to find her mother and convince her to come back before her father leaves for New York.

The Sweetest Thing was a roller-coaster ride of a novel. Sheridan is quite the persistent little protagonist, and by midway through the novel, gets to be persistent to the point of delusional. Her compulsion to find her mother is so strong that it gets to be irritating. But I'm sure that was all by design so you can see her growth by the end.

I enjoyed the food and baking aspect of this novel for obvious reasons, but I felt there was a tiny flaw in the logic of the plot. The network that wants to hire Sheridan's dad is insistent that he move to New York in order to make his reality food show. What I don't understand is, if he's making a reality show, why can't he just stay where he is? Wouldn't it be more realistic for him as a well-known chef to stay at his restaurant and do the show from his home town? Plus, having watched Food Network almost incessantly for the past six years, I can tell you that not all their talent lives in New York. It is helpful to live in NYC, but it is not  a deal breaker if you don't. Melissa D'Arabian who won Next Food Network Star lives in Seattle and flies in to NYC to tape all the episodes for one season of her show in a matter of days. Paula Deen films her show in her very own kitchen in Savannah, Georgia. So if this fictional network is so insistent that Sheridan's dad move to New York, I want to know why because not all celebrity chefs in real life do.

And yes, I know I'm being nit-picky since this is fiction and not real life, but still. It was just one of those things that bothered me personally. If you don't have Food Network on in the background 24/7 like I do (Heck, I have it on right now as I write this!), then something little like that will probably go by unnoticed. As for me, it's the one thing that held me back from absolutely loving this novel.

The major aspect of the novel that I enjoyed was watching Sheridan's impression of her father morph and grow. When we first meet her father, the reader is led to believe that he's a jerk who cares little for his daughter and only about his growing career. This is where the unreliable first-person narrator comes into play because the more her father is in the novel, the more you see that unreliable narrator facade start to crack. 

Overall impression? A really enjoyable page-turning debut that that kept me engaged and entertained the entire time. There was never a point in the novel where I felt a lull in the plot, which in this case was good and bad. It was good because it kept me turning the pages, but it was bad because it did make for a bit of a  predictable plot. The reason being is that as you slowly wend your way inside the story, you start to see that every scene clearly is important to the outcome of a future scene and when that happens, you start making easy predictions as to why the author put that scene in the book. Still, the story had great closure and Sheridan shows some definite growth by the end. Plus for YA, it was a wholesome story that would be a great gateway book to move those younger kids who are ready into YA lit.

The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski
Published: May 2011 by Egmont
Pages: 352
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: Young Adult/Middle Grade

Audiobook Review: Die for Me by Amy Plum

From Goodreads:

In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.

When Kate Mercier's parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life--and memories--behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.

Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate's guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he's a revenant--an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.

I'm not a usual fan of paranormal romance, but the fact that this novel is set in Paris is what made me want to read it. And the Parisian setting didn't disappoint me. It kept me intrigued and interested. There's no doubt that Amy Plum is a gifted writer. It is clear that she has a great love for Paris and writes of the city almost like it's a character in the novel. The main story structure was a little too Twilight-y for my liking, but the dreaminess of Parisian setting is really what redeemed the flaws in the structure. 
 

 A note on the audio production: Julia Whelan was the narrator and she was amazing. Her French accent sounded authentic and her voices for the different characters were varied and believable. I continue to applaud Harper Audio for choosing narrators for their productions who fit the book's style and main character perfectly.


Die for Me by Amy Plum, narrated by Julia Whelan
Published: May 2011 by Harper Teen and Harper Audio
Pages: 341
Audiobook Length: 9 hours, 20 minutes
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Young Adult

Note: Audiobook received from publisher

Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris

Kate Grable appears to be just your typical geeky high school girl - except she's not. As an aspiring medical student, she serves as an assistant to the football team. But when she discovers that the coach is injecting players with steroids, she immediately wants to find a way to out him for putting his players in danger. But steroids would have been a blessing compared to what Kate discovers has been injected into these players - some sort of virus that turns them into zombies! It is up to Kate to find a cure for this zombie virus or soon her entire school will be full of flesh-eating zombies. 

First off, I just want to get this out of the way: I hate zombies. I don't watch zombie movies and I certainly don't read zombie novels. But two things gave me pause and made me want to read this one. First off, Carrie Harris is from Michigan and I like supporting authors from my home state. Secondly, I have heard that this is not your run-of-the-mill zombie novel. And it's not. It's funny, it doesn't take itself too seriously, and it has a smart and quirky main character. 

Despite normally hating zombie novels, Bad Taste in Boys defied convention and kept me turning the pages, desperate to know how the heroine was going save her all classmates from turning undead and turn the already undead alive again. The only thing that kept me from completely loving this novel  is that I have a very weak constitution and the gore factor, no matter how funny, was just a little much for me. Having said that, if you think you are not a zombie person, I guarantee that this book will still keep you entertained and turning the pages well past your bed time. 


Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris
Published: July 12, 2011 by Delacorte Press
Pages: 201
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Young Adult

Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez: ARC Review

Seventeen-year-old Carmen Bianchi is a violin prodigy and is constantly being pushed by her mother, a former opera singer who was forced to cut her own career short due to the deterioration of her singing voice. She now relives her career vicariously through her daughter, who must take prescription medication in order to calm her nerves when she performs. Clearly Carmen is a ticking time bomb.

We meet Carmen a few days away from a very prestigious violin competition where she meets Jeremy, the gorgeous Brit who is her main rival for the title. Instead of staying away from him like she knows she should, she attempts to get closer and closer to him. But will her attempt to befriend Jeremy be the demise of her own career?

I want to start off first with a thank you to Jessica Martinez. It isn't very often that I can find a young adult novel that is "clean" enough to recommend to my sixth graders.Yet despite Carmen's issues and need to medicate herself in order to be at top performance level, this really is a book that I would consider appropriate for younger junior high students looking to delve into more mature plots.

The prologue starts the story off with a bang, jamming us right into the climax with no context for what is happening or why Carmen is acting in such a way. You are immediately intrigued and want to keep reading.

However, once you are jammed into the prologue, the first few chapters meander along and don't get really interesting until Carmen and Jeremy begin their "forbidden" relationship.

Carmen and Jeremy's relationship was surprisingly endearing to me. It begins for Carmen as a way to spite her mother, but the more she's with him, the more stable and comfortable in her own skin she becomes. You're actually rooting for Carmen to run off with Jeremy instead of stay with her oppressive mother. As someone who doesn't usually favor stories where running of with a gorgeous male character is the "solution" to the conflict, I'd have to say this is one of those stories where I was kind of hoping it would happen. Whether or not she does is obviously for you to figure out by reading the story, but I will say that if you're a person who enjoys stories about the competitive world of music, or are fascinated with children who have insanely competitive stage mothers, then this is the book for you.

My only criticism of the book is that I don't think Martinez gave us enough exposition behind why this competition was so important to Carmen and her mother. This is a girl who has already won a Grammy, has been accepted to Julliard, and plays a $1.2 million Stradivarius. It seemed to me that this competition was chump change compared to what she had already accomplished. I needed to understand what was so special about this particular competition and I never really felt like that was explained enough. This perhaps could be because I don't live inside the world of classical music, but then again, most people don't. Still, I played classical piano for 13 years so I'm not a complete heathen when it comes to classical music. I'd say I'm probably more educated about it than the average YA reader and even still, I couldn't see the significance of the competition for Carmen given all that she'd already accomplished.

Other than that though this was an engaging read and definitely recommended for anyone who read and loved Sara Bennett Wealer's Rival. This book is set to be released October 18th so pre-order your copy today!

Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez
Publish Date: October 18, 2011 by Simon Pulse
Source: Simon & Schuster GalleyGrab
Pages: 304
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: Young Adult

Moonglass by Jessi Kirby

From Goodreads:

Anna's life is upended when her father accepts a job transfer the summer before her junior year. It's bad enough that she has to leave her friends and her life behind, but her dad is moving them to the beach where her parents first met and fell in love- a place awash in memories that Anna would just as soon leave under the surface.

While life on the beach is pretty great, with ocean views and one adorable lifeguard in particular, there are also family secrets that were buried along the shore years ago. And the ebb and flow of the ocean's tide means that nothing- not the sea glass that she collects on the sand and not the truths behind Anna's mother's death- stays buried forever.

What I loved about this book were the characters. When you first meet characters like Ashley and Jillian, you assume that they're going to be typical catty girls who find a way to hate the main character and spend their whole presence in the novel just being all-around hateful. I love it when assumptions get squashed. It means the author is thinking and keeping us on our toes and not just writing the typical cliched story arcs.

I loved all the characters in this book and while the story itself isn't all that distinctive, I am one who clings to characters more than stories anyway. So even though I probably won't remember what happened in this story, I will definitely remember the characters.

Cover Comments: Looking at this cover on a computer screen does not do it justice. The book jacket itself has a gorgeous shimmer to it which makes this cover much more stunning in person. Every time I went to pick the book up, I'd just run my hands across it because it's just so pretty. I can only imagine how giddy Jessi Kirby must have been when she first saw the finished product.

Moonglass by Jessi Kirby
Published: May 2011 by Simon & Schuster
Pages: 232
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: Young Adult 

Audiobook Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Goodreads Summary:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue - Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is - she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are - and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves.... or it might destroy her. 

This is going to be a rather short review because, well frankly, I just didn't care for this book. I know I am one of the few voices of dissent because most of the reviews I've read about this book have been glowing (though Clockwork Reverie wrote a well-thought out, amusing review on the side of dissent too).  

Many people have compared this book to The Hunger Games, and while there are certainly similar elements, it doesn't come close to creating the magic of the dystopian world that Suzanne Collins created. The violence in The Hunger Games felt justified because it was forced upon them by The Capitol. And in the end, (HG SPOILER ALERT) the main character finds a way to "stick it to the man" so to speak. In Divergent, however, the violence felt senseless and gratuitous. I never really quite understood the purpose of all the "tests" the Dauntless had to go through and never really got a sense as to who the enemy was. It became a bit more clear by the end, but the antagonizing force in this novel was much more ambiguous than in other dystopias I've read and enjoyed. 

As far as the audiobook production, I think that is what kept me from abandoning the book. Emma Galvin was the narrator and she did a superb job of interpreting the grave tone of the story, and yet despite the graveness, she still had a pleasant timbre to her voice that made me want to keep listening. 

Despite enjoying the audio production, the story did not engage me enough to continue on with the series. 


But here are some others who will because they loved the book so much:
Good Books and Good Wine
The Story Siren
Pure Imagination

Divergent by Veronica Roth, narrated by Emma Galvin
Published: May 2011
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books and Harper Audio
Pages: 496
Audiobook Length: 11 hours, 11 minutes
Genre: Dystopia
Audience: Young Adult
Source: acquired from publisher

Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer

Brooke and Kathryn used to be best friends, but now they're bitter rivals. Brooke is the all-powerful queen bee from a well-to-do family,  while Kathryn is the studious, hard-working wallflower from a more blue collar family. Both girls are star singers in the honors choir at their high school and often compete against each other for parts. But soon they will be competing against each other for something even bigger: a $25,000 prize at the prestigious Blackmore vocal competition. 

This novel is told in first-person point-of-view, alternating between Brooke and Kathryn. We start off the narrative during their senior year, with these two ladies already hating each other. The reader is left to puzzle the pieces together to figure out why they hate each other so intensely. While the novel ping-pongs back and forth between Brooke and Katrhyn as narrators, it also sections back and forth between junior and senior year so we can start to see the unraveling of their friendship and how they came to the point of contention. I especially loved that each section was met with a musical term that related to what was going to happen in that section such as dissonance, capriccioso, crescendo, etc. I thought that was a wonderful way to foreshadow for the reader what was coming up. 

I thought Rival was a perfectly addicting debut novel  with just the right amount of character development and plot excitement. I also enjoyed the "protagonist is also antagonist" approach Wealer took with the plot. As I continued to read, my opinion of each girl changed depending on who narrated.  I couldn't decide whose side I was on more: Brooke's or Kathryn's, which I'm sure is exactly how Wealer designed the novel. I loved that the prose read with such ease and facility, and kept you turning page and after page, convincing yourself, "Just one more chapter, then I'll go wash the dishes." This was especially true as you get to the part of the book where you finally figure out why Brooke hates Kathryn so intensely.

Lovers of classical music/opera will devour this book, along with those who eat up stories of catty girls. Though, I have to warn you, this book delves much deeper into the cattiness than just your normal fluff read.While this is Sara Bennett Wealer's first novel, I certainly hope it will not be her last!

Cover Comments: I like the striking red flower in the foreground with the piano keys behind it, but I almost wish the piano were a more prominent part of the cover. You almost have to be looking for the piano keys to know that's what they are - or be like me who played the piano for 13 years and can spot piano keys from a mile away. 

Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer
Published: February 2011 by Harper Teen
Pages: 327
Genre: Realistic fiction
Audience: Young Adult

Wither by Lauren DeStefano: ARC review

From Goodreads:

What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

This book stayed off my radar for quite some time.  I noticed lots of book blogs talking about it, but it didn't seem like a story that would interest me.  And truth be told, I judged the book by its cover and felt like it would be a dystopia that was all fluff and no substance.   

Oh how wrong I was.

I was wrong about so much when it came to my initial judgment of this book.  

In addition to making incorrect assumptions about the quality of the writing, I also assumed as I began to read that most of the characters in this book would be antagonistic toward Rhine.  I guessed that Linden would be a jerk of a husband and that the sister wives would be unbearable to live with.  

So I guess what I'm saying is that Lauren DeStafano does an amazing job at subverting assumptions.  You look at the cover of this book with the fluffy dress and the fluffy hair and assume that the book is going to be less about the writing and more about the swoon-worthiness of the story.  You assume that the characters will be simple rather than complex.  You assume, you assume, you assume.  

But then just about every assumption gets completely crushed to bits.  

And you know what?  I LOVED that!  I loved that I had no idea what was going to happen next and that I was always guessing.  I loved that all of the characters (except for Vaughn) had something redeeming about them, because your initial reaction at the beginning is that the conflict will be Rhine vs. everyone else.  

This story is so much more complex than that.  And the complexity is what keeps you reading.  

And let me just say how much I love the name Rhine for a female protagonist.  I never would have thought of Rhine as being a female name but now that I've heard it, if I ever have a daughter, I might consider that for a baby name.  Just like the name Isabella exploded after Twilight came out, I wonder if the same thing will happen with Rhine.   

Cover comments: Though I think the cover is stunning and I personally love this new trend of beautiful girls in pretty dresses, I think some of these books with glamorous covers are preventing guys from becoming interested in possibly reading them.  Don't get me wrong, I think a lot of pretty dress covers are books that most guys wouldn't pick up anyway, but Wither is a book that I think guys would enjoy if it had been marketed differently.  This does not strike me as a "girly" story,  and yet the cover has lumped it into the category of chick lit with one sweeping move of a beautiful model in a frilly dress. 

I look at The Hunger Games series which has a female protagonist and could have easily been targeted only toward females, but the simple black and gold cover prevented gender stereotyping, and now you have boys as well as girls reading the books in droves. I'm thinking Wither could have been a book that was of interest to both genders had they created a more gender neutral cover.  
 

What are your thoughts?  Do you agree?  Disagree?
   
Regardless of the cover, I thought this was an amazing debut for this brilliant new YA author.  I hope to be reading her books for years to come!


Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Publish Date: March 22, 2011 by Simon & Schuster
Pages: 356
Genre: Dystopia
Audience: YA

The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander

Do you need something? Mac can get it for you. It's what he does - he and his best friend and business manager, Vince. Their methods might sometimes run afoul of the law, or at least the school code of conduct, but if you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can pay him, Mac is on your side. His office is located in the East Wing boys' bathroom, fourth stall from the high window. And business is booming.


Or at least it was, until one particular Monday. It starts with a third grader in need of protection. And before this ordeal is over, it's going to involve, a legendary high school crime boss named Staples, an intramural gambling ring, a graffiti ninja, the nine most dangerous bullies in school, and the first Chicago Cubs World Series game in almost seventy years. And that's just the beginning. Mac and Vince soon realize that the trouble with solving everyone else's problems is that there's no one left to solve yours. - taken from dust jacket

So I think my girl-bias might have skewed my impression of the story a bit. I didn't LOVE this book, but I think that's because this is definitely a book written for boys. And you know what? I'm perfectly OK with that. I need to find more books for my classroom that appeal to boys and this one fits the bill.

I liked how tongue-and-cheek the whole story is with being a spoof of The Godfather, all the way down to the cover art. Though I think adults will get more of a kick out of this than the kids since I'm assuming most 11 and 12 year-old boys haven't seen The Godfather (Truth be told, neither have I, but I'm old enough to know a great deal of facets of the story since it's so much a part of American pop culture). Still, reading this book made me consider for the first time my need to actually watch this movie. I've never had any desire up until now to see The Godfather, but now I feel like some really hilarious scenes in this book probably went right over my head since I've never seen the movie.

The writing in this book was really simple, but I'm sure that was by design. Rylander was clearly targeting boys for this story, and middle-grade boys like clean, no-nonsense writing. As I was reading all I could think was, "Why didn't he describe this character more?" or "Why didn't he describe this setting in more detail?" but the more I read the book, the more I realized the sparse descriptions were all a part of the boy-appeal. 

The ending of the story wraps everything up nicely, yet still leaves you hanging in a big way.  A lot of times cliffhangers just make me frustrated and angry.  This one, however, made me think to myself, "Ooooh!  Does that mean there's going to be another book?  There HAS to be another book!  He can't end it like that and not write another one!"

Now that I'm finished, I will definitely be handing this off to some of my sixth grade boys. I'm sure they'll get a huge kick out of it.  


The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander
Published: February 8, 2011 by Walden Pond Press
Pages: 314
Genre: Realistic fiction
Audience: Middle grade


Review copy provided by publisher

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.
Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming. - from Goodreads

I'm not going to write a formal review of this book because so many have done this already, and much more eloquently than I ever could.  I just want to add my two-cents to the discussion.

Revis describes this book as science fiction for people who don't like science fiction. I'd have to say that's a fair description because equally important to the story is the mystery that Amy and Elder must solve which is twofold: 1) who has been thawing out the frozen bodies and 2) What is Eldest (the leader of the ship) hiding?

This is a great book to use to talk about climax (with high school students anyway - this book is too mature for middle school) because the climax of this story is extremely obvious and perfectly paced. 

Another great thing Revis does in this book is make you feel that sense of claustrophobia it must have been like to be traveling hundreds of years on this ship without a planet in sight. If you don't get anything else from this book, I would say the one thing you will take away is a feeling of gratefulness to be living here on this planet, even with all of the problems and the injustices we face.

I will say this - if you've seen this book around and have chosen not to read it because you don't like science fiction, give it a try anyway, especially if you like mysteries. Yes, this is a science fiction, but the science part of it not as prominent as other science fiction novels. This book is more about the people than the science.


Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Published: January 2011 by Razorbill
Pages: 398
Genre: Science fiction/dystopia/mystery
Audience: YA 

2011 Debut Author Challenge

The Story Siren is hosting a 2011 Debut Author Challenge for middle grade and young adult books. If you're interested in joining, check out her FAQ.

This will be my first year participating in a Debut Author Challenge so I'm really excited!

The purpose of the Debut Author Challenge is to read at least twelve books from new, up-and-coming authors.

These are the books I'm hoping to read in 2011:

January debuts:
The Latte Rebellion by Sarah Jamila Stevenson
Choker by Elizabeth Woods
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Timeless by Alexandra Monir
The False Princess by Eilis O'Neil

February Debuts:
The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander
Haven by Kristi Cook
Here Lies Bridget by Paige Harbison
Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

March Debuts:
Like Mandarin by Kirsten Hubbard
Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O'Roark Dowell
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

May Debuts:
The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski
Sparrow Road by Sheila O'Connor

I'm sure there will be more, but there's not a lot of info about the books coming out after June, so I'm sure this list will get longer as 2011 progresses.