SUMMARY: After the death of her beloved mother, Aisling feels terribly alone, even with her grieving father and familiar home. Then her father comes home from a visit to the capital with a new wife and two new step-daughters. While Ash is not thrilled, life doesn't seem hugely different. But then her father also becomes ill and dies. Now Ash is at the mercy of her bitter stepmother who decides that she will pay for her late father's debts by becoming the household's primary servant. Miserable, Ash yearns for her mother even more and when she encounters the strange and frightening fairy Sidhean, Ash thinks she might have finally found her route of escape. But then she meets the King's huntress Kaisa and Ash slowly stops wishing to disappear as their growing friendship reawakens her desire to live and to love. Now Ash must choose between fairy magic and the powerfully human magic of love and connection.
ONESMARTCUPCAKE THINKS: I've been wanting to read this novel for months! I was so excited to finally get a hold of it this past week and my anticipation was nicely rewarded. Ash is a great debut novel from Malinda Lo that successfully combines several little subgenres of YA fiction into a lovely and enjoyable narrative. First, Ash joins the ranks of other great fairytale retellings and for me, it is up there with Ella Enchanted in terms of favorite 'Cinderella' rewrites. But also, Ash takes another popular fantasy concept-dark and dangerous fairies-with equal success. So the novel is firstly a fun fantasy combining a familiar narrative outline with well known ideas like frightening fairies as well as the solid human experience and conflict that grounds all good fantasy novels. Ash is a sympathetic heroine and so the story's focus is neither the magic nor the fairytale aspect but Ash's very familiar struggles to grow and develop in difficult circumstances. Her fears, griefs, weaknesses, and strengths are evoked clearly through Lo's gentle and spare but descriptive prose.
The other highlight of the story is Ash's blossoming relationship with the Huntress Kaisa. Ash's initial interest in the role of the Huntress grows into an attraction to Kaisa herself as the two young women begin spending more and more time together. Kaisa teaches Ash to ride and hunt; Ash learns that the possibility for love still exists in the world. The sweet, slowly developing love between the two women fits perfectly into this delicate and unique fairy-tale of a novel. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to teens who enjoy other fairy-tale retellings.
SUMMARY: In his senior year of high school, Paul feels like he's got the perfect life. He's been dating Angie since middle school and beyond being his girlfriend, she's also his best friend. They sing together in church choir, are active members of Bible club at school, and enjoy just hanging out together. But then Manuel transfers to school and suddenly Paul's life doesn't seem so perfect. Manuel is the first openly gay teen to come to town, let alone attend Paul's high school. But on top of that, Manuel also claims to be a committed Christian--just like Paul and his friends. His increasing conversations with Manuel have Paul questioning not only his faith but also the feelings he has pushed away for years. But others have taken notice of Manuel's openness and their reactions are very different. When the tension at school boils over into a nightmare, Paul must decide who he is and where he stands.
ONESMARTCUPCAKE THINKS: I read Alex Sanchez' Rainbow Boys books a couples of years ago and found them enjoyable and insightful despite occasionally clunky or imperfect writing. My reaction to The God Box goes along the same lines. Sanchez has crafted a very readable book with appealing and relatable characters and good story infused with a keen awareness of current issues in teen's lives. Sanchez's writing is straightforward rather than lyrical but he captures the range of emotions experienced by his protagonist with clarity and compassion. The novel addresses the ongoing tensions between religion and sexuality without attempting to over-simplify or become preachy; instead Sanchez emphasizes the way this conflict affects real kids, like Paul and Manuel. Because of the subject matter, biblical analysis and theological debate play a large role in the story; kids who do not have an interest in such subjects may find these aspects of the novel annoying or uninteresting--although Sanchez has woven them into the narrative quite naturally. The novel also contains an upsetting and violent event (although the attack itself is not graphically described, the aftereffects are), so be just aware when recommending it.
I read this book pretty compulsively, drawn in by my concern and compassion for the likable protagonist and his friends as well as my interest in the larger topic of religion and sexuality. The God Box stands out for its generally unique subject matter in the growing world of LGBTQ fiction for young adults. It gracefully and bravely addresses topics frequently left untouched by other current writers in the sub-genre, such as being gay and religious or coming out within a certain ethnic and cultural context (in this case Mexican and American Hispanic). This novel would be a good fit for interested teens of the high school age range. I also think that it touches on an important but frequently unaddressed topic and so would be a good read for librarians, teachers, or parents as well.
I'm back! Somehow I've managed to plow through a few more of my books for review in between grad school work, interning, and my small attempts at a social life and so I allowed myself to grab a few more on a recent library visit. So I am able to once again join in the In My Mailbox party! IMM is a fantastic meme in which bloggers list the books that they received over the last week via mail/bookstore/library. It's hosted by the lovely Story Siren over at her awesomeblog. For more info, look here. So this week in my "mailbox," I got:
All of my IMM picks this week come from one of my lovely local libraries.
I'm very excited about these books; they've all been on my radar for a while now and it's great to get my hands on them at last! Look out this week for reviews for a few of my past IMM books, such as The God Box and Forget-Her-Nots. What was in your mailbox this week?
SUMMARY: Nina Bermudez, Avery Dekker, and Melanie Forrest have been an inseparable trio known as the Bermudez Triangle for years.Now, the summer before their senior year of high school they will be spending a significant amount of time apart for the first time.While Nina goes off to Stanford for a ten-week summer program, Avery and Mel stay at home in upstate New York and begin jobs waitressing at P.J. Mortimer’s Fine Food and Drinks Emporium.Within those ten-weeks, some big events happen in the separate lives of the Triangle.Nina falls for the sweet eco-activist Steve but must also face the fact that he lives in Oregon and so she likely won’t see him after the summer until they hopefully both end up at Stanford the next fall. Meanwhile, Mel has finally had a real kiss—with Avery.When the trio is reunited, relationships will change and the next year will be full of confusion, revelations, and division.Can the Bermudez Triangle survive?
ONESMARTCUPCAKE THINKS: I’ve been planning to read Maureen Johnson for a while. Actually, I feel slightly ashamed that I haven’t been reading her since she first started publishing.But being an English lit major for four years limited my recreational reading time.So I’m still playing catch up on awesome YA fiction.
Anyway, I’ve finally started reading Maureen Johnson and I’m definitely not going to stop anytime soon! The Bermudez Triangle was a great, fun, and unique read.The characters are all individuals with three-dimensional personalities and emotional lives.Also, it does something I really appreciate; it tells the ‘after’ story. What do I mean by that vague phrase? Well, in many movies and books, the story builds up to an important event; the heroine falls in love or gets her first kiss.But here, Johnson places these big moments at the beginning of the narrative and then spends the majority of the novel exploring what happens afterwards.The story expands on life after that first kiss and the struggles of making summer love work in the real world.Also, she allows the relationships to be messy and imperfect, which I also greatly appreciate.
The Bermudez Triangle also does a wonderful job portraying the complexities of teen sexuality and romantic relationships.The novel’s characters are diverse and the narrative spends equal time on the straight, gay, and questioning characters.Johnson treats each girl’s journey through love, heartbreak, and recovery with balanced details and obvious sympathy.I loved reading a novel where sexual identity plays a role but does not become a single identifier of a character’s role or personality.Also, Johnson works to explore the universal difficulties in maintaining friendships and balancing relationships with friends and lovers. Johnson’s story is a pretty successful attempt to show the lives of three young women with honesty and respect.I felt emotionally invested from the first few pages and thoroughly enjoyed the entire reading experience. Also, Johnson writes with great humor and elegance and so her writing, like all good writing, is a pleasure to read.
4 ½ / 5 STARS
Now, I can’t close this post without noting the controversy that has surrounded this book in recent years.Although I had been planning to pick up at least one of Maureen Johnson’s books this summer, I picked this book first because I heard about the censorship issues it faced in 2007.I first heard about the Bartlesville, Oklahoma challenge to this book via catching up on John and Hank Green’s Brotherhood 2.0/Vlogbrothers videos.On a side note, they’re hilarious and awesome and everyone should watch them; I’m proud to say I am a belated but now devoted Nerdfighter! Anyway, back to The Bermudez Triangle challenge.In April 2007, the Bartlesville school district decided to pull The Bermudez Triangle from the shelves of the Mid-High school library.The objections seem to be primarily that the book “has no moral fiber” and promotes immoral actions, such as homosexuality. It should be also noted that the book contains essentially nothing sexual beyond kissing between girls or between boys and girls. Maureen Johnson recounted the saga that followed in detail here on her blog so I won’t go into all the details—better to hear from the witty author/blogger herself! But if you don’t already know the story and you care about teenagers, books, and our first amendment rights, please go and check it out; you can trace the story through her archives beginning in April 2007. The conclusion to the so-called ‘Battle of Bartlesville’ was that the book was allowed to stay in the library but only on a reserve shelf where it could be checked out for school use with a parent’s permission.So, as Johnson wrote on her blog, the ending was sort of success (in that the book is still on the shelves) but in more significant ways it was almost worst than a full banning.I mean, because this fun and touching novel contains a romantic relationship between two girls, it has been relegated to a separate shelf.What kind of message does that send to a confused and nervous young woman or man who is thinking about her or his sexuality?How would that make even an openly gay teen feel? Situations like this are the reason that I am perhaps very sensitive and a little hard-line about censorship.
In conclusion, if you haven’t read The Bermudez Triangle or any of Maureen Johnson’s other YA fiction, you should remedy that as soon as possible! I for one am glad that I did!
So since I’m new to this whole blogging thing, I’m also new to the idea of online reading challenges.I can’t believe the fun I’ve been missing out on! So I’m going to be jumping onto two 2010 challenges very late in the game this week in an attempt to get into the swing and so be ready to go all out next year. The first challenge I’m joining is the GLBT Challenge 2010.
The Challenge is located at the Blog That Dare Not Speak Its Name, which was developed specifically to house this challenge and accompanying informational posts and mini-challenges by Amanda of The Zen Leaf.The challenge began in January 2010 and runs through December 2010.It also has three levels of participation:
-Lambda Level: Read 4 books.
-Pink Triangle Level: Read 8 books.
-Rainbow Level: Read 12 or more books.
Also, overlap with other reading challenges is acceptable.
Because I’m entering late, I’m going to aim at the Pink Triangle Level of 8 books.Because I’m not required to post a list when I begin the challenge, I’m just going to jot down some possibilities here; I promise to post a final list at the end as well as keep track as I go along!
I coincidentally just completed a great YA book with GLBT themes and characters and so it will be my first review for this challenge.Look out for a review of Maureen Johnson’s The Bermudez Triangle likely tomorrow to start this challenge off!
Ash
by Lauren Myracle
by Diana Peterfreund
by Malinda Lo
