A Complex Cowgirl Comes of Age: The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

The moment twelve year old Cameron Post learns that her parents have been killed in a car accident, her initial reaction is relief: relief that now they will never find out that only a few hours ago she was kissing her best friend Irene.   Somehow the two seemingly unconnected events become intertwined as they mark the simultaneous moment when everything in Cameron's life shifts forever.  Her beloved parents are dead and her old fashioned grandmother & her Christian evangelical aunt become her guardians.  And while Cameron & Irene's friendship falls apart, Cameron can't forget how right it felt to be kissing a girl.  A few year later and Cam has survived her grief and started to quietly figure out the girl she's becoming when the arrival of beautiful cowgirl Coley Taylor throws her tenuously balanced world out of whack.

 After reading a variety of reviews, including an extremely positive one by great YA lit author and blogger Malinda Lo, I was highly curious and eager to read this coming of age novel from debut author Emily M. Danforth.  Happily, my high expectations were far from disappointed.  Miseducation is a gorgeous, heartbreaking, and hopeful story about girl stumbling her way through adolescence and into the brave new world of adulthood.  Every piece of Cameron's life growing up in Miles City, Minnesota during late 1980s and early 1990s comes to life through Danforth's evocative and detailed prose.  From the first page, the reader is fully immersed in the sounds, smells, images, and emotions buzzing through Cam's external and internal worlds.  Danforth excels at capturing moments and moods; the whole novel evokes the experience of looking through a series of beautiful, spare photographs--sepia toned with slightly curled up edges.

Cam is a wonderfully developed character with fresh and unique voice.  She is perceptive, sarcastic, defensive, sensitive, and passionate;  I loved her from the novel's opening chapter and found myself completely absorbed in her story, cheering for her fiercely the whole time.  The supporting cast of characters are all equally well crafted but it's Cam's story through and through.

While the Miseducation has been marketed as a young adult novel, it reads more like adult fiction with a highly authentic adolescent protagonist and narrator.  This fact can be viewed as both an advantage and a disadvantage.  The novel might be more challenging to promote to a mass audience of teen readers or it might instead simply have a great deal of crossover appeal to adult audiences.  However, I feel sure that for the right readers--both teens and adults--Miseducation's complex characters, rich story, and emotional depth will resonate powerfully.

5/5 STARS

Battle of the Sexes: Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

The battle of the sexes is a theme going back a long time in literature and in her sophomore novel Kody Keplinger draws on one of the classic examples: Aristophanes' Lysistrata.  In this Greek comedy, Lysistrata gathers together the women of the warring cities Athens and Sparta and convinces them to withhold sex from their husbands until a peace treaty is signed.  Keplinger transplants this situation from ancient Greece to high school in small town America, creating a funny romantic comedy that also takes a very honest look at the conflicting and confusing messages young women and men receive about sex today.  

Book Bites: Keeping Reviews Short and Sweet

I can read fast, especially given extra chunks of free reading time.  However, I do not blog fast. I am still learning how to write up reviews and posts well and within a personal timeline; completing my master's degree in a year did not help matters.  This summer when my homework reading load was down but my work hours were up, I found that I could get back into my more normal pattern of reading at least one to three or more books a week (depending on the book's length and level of interest).  But I could not seem to make my blogging keep up with my reading.  


I thought of the one-minute book talk assignment I had done earlier this year in my children's resources class: could I do the same thing in a blog post and cover a few books all at once? Around the same time that this idea occurred to me, I noticed that the fabulous blogger and librarian GreenBeanTeenQueen had begun doing something similar, calling them 'Flash Reviews.'  So I was inspired by these two ideas to come up with my own new occasional blog feature: Book Bites.  Here's the first edition, a general hodgepodge of titles I read over the past few months.


Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack 

by Shannon and Dean Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale 5/5 STARS

What happens when you combine a feisty heroine with super-powered hair and attitude, a well-meaning trickster, a classically cruel villain, and a magically enhanced Wild West? A rollicking and absolutely delightful adventure, that's what! I love fairytale reboots and this pair of companion graphic novels are now two of my all time favorites.  Shannon and Dean Hale create a fantastical world full of magic and adventure, brought to life by Nathan Hale's bright, active, and elegant illustrations.  Rapunzel and Jack are wonderful characters and I was thrilled to follow them on their personal quests for justice.

  Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson
  4/5 STARS


Scarlett Martin's life sounds like quirky but popular movie: she grew up in the Hopewell Hotel in the center of NYC with her parents and three siblings, Spencer, Lola, and Marlene.  But so far, the summer of her fifteenth birthday is looking to be far from cinematic: the hotel is falling apart--and so are the Martins.  Between her siblings' problems, a bizarre new guest, and a gorgeous young actor, Scarlett's summer suddenly turns into a wild adventure full of enough drama, subterfuge, and romance to fill several Broadway plays. And like Scarlett, I was thrilled go along for the ride! A classic Maureen Johnson adventure: quirky and madcap with well-drawn characters and delightfully witty writing.     

 My Invented Life by Lauren Bjorkman   
3.5/5 STARS


Sisters Eva and Roz have always been in competition but they have also always been incredibly close.  But out of nowhere, Eva cuts Roz out of her life and Roz cannot figure out why. So Roz, for whom all the world is truly a stage, is determined to discover the secrets her sister is keeping from her with a dramatic plot worthy of the Bard himself.  Bjorkman's debut novel takes its inspiration from Shakespeare's 'As You Like It,' one of my favorite plays, and it takes the vitality of that story and applies it to the twenty-first century's diverse world of love.  I'm always looking for novels that present a more flexible and fluid picture of sexuality and this one does so wonderfully.
  

 How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford
 4.5/5 STARS


Bea AKA Robot Girl meets Jonah AKA Ghost Boy through the public school system's obsession with alphabetic order.  Despite Jonah's resistance, the two form a unique and deep friendship based on a shared affinity for late-night radio shows and an overwhelming sense of alienation.  As they alternatively heal and push each other away, Bea and Jonah develop a relationship that isn't quite a romance but is definitely full of love.  This story of the deep connection between two people searching for meaning in a confusing world is as lovely and quirky as its excellently drawn characters.  A beautiful book about the complex world of an intense, true friendship.       

   

Another Kind of Cowboy by Susan Juby

Another Kind of Cowboy 
Susan Juby


For both Alex and Cleo, dressage represents a chance for escape.  When Alex changes into his riding pants and dances his horse out into the ring, he can leave behind the macho cowboy image-and his father's expectations that go with it.  Meanwhile, for Cleo, dressage seems to be an opportunity to start over at a new school-and maybe to find love again.  But Alex and Cleo both have secrets and it will be a rough ride that will either end in true friendship or deep hatred.  


Another Kind of Cowboy is an enjoyable story set an interesting world: the world of competitive riding.  The story is told by Alex and Cleo in alternating chapters and follows their bumpy journeys to self-acceptance and adulthood.  


The novel is full of quirky and generally likable characters and the two protagonists act as interesting contrasts to each other in terms of personality and situation.  However, some of the characters, although fun, remain a little flat; Alex's martial arts loving twin sisters are a good example.  They're funny but sometimes feel a little too much like a sitcom gag.  Additionally I found the protagonists to be a little uneven.  While I immediately loved Alex, I found it much more difficult to feel sympathetic for the spoiled Cleo.  


However, it's always refreshing to find a novel with LGBTQ characters that works the discovery or exploration of that identity into a larger story; certainly the story is about Alex coming to terms with his sexuality but it is not only about his sexuality.  Also, I really liked being immersed in the exciting but, to me, foreign world of competitive riding; this aspect might open the book's appeal to teen riders who would likely enjoy seeing their passion reflected in a story.  


2.5/5 STARS   

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

Whew! It has been one crazy month! I'm so sorry to have disappeared on you, dear readers.  Grad school hit crunch time and being a novice blogger, I was not prepared for balancing school work with blog writing.  But I've been reading some fabulous books so I'm going to catch up on my reviews over the next month! Plus I've made an early New Year's Resolution to find a better time management system for the spring. In the meantime, here is my review of Rampant, which is officially my favorite book about unicorns ever. 


Rampant 


Diana Peterfreund


SUMMARY: Astrid wants nothing more than a normal life. She wants to go to prom with a cute boy, babysit for some extra cash, and get into a good college; more than anything, Astrid want to get away from her mother's crazy obsession with unicorns, creatures which she claims are bloodthirsty monsters driven into extinction by virgin huntresses descended from Alexander the Great.  But then Astrid's sort-of boyfriend is mauled by a vicious unicorn right in front of her and her mother is triumphantly planning Astrid's new life as a unicorn hunter and shipping her off to Rome to attend unicorn hunting bootcamp.  Suddenly Astrid's dreams of normalcy seem very far away and she finds herself swept into a whirl of archery, romance, intrigue, and, of course, unicorns. 


ONESMARTCUPCAKE THINKS: Wow! I had a feeling that this book would be amazing when I saw Tamora Pierce's very enthusiastic blurb on the back cover and happily, my trust in the great Ms. Pierce was heartily confirmed! I love discovering a new and unique fantasy world and reading Rampant was one such thrilling introduction.  Peterfreund's premise gains its initial kick from its reversal of  a popular cultural image: the conception of unicorns as sweet and innocent.  In less capable hands, the novel would never get beyond this novelty.  However, Peterfreund's thrilling plot and brilliant characterization prevent Rampant from being anything even close to a one trick pony. Instead, the novel stands out as a great story that combines all the best qualities about good fantasy while also remaining unique.  


Astrid is a wonderful narrator and heroine.  She's spunky but vulnerable and pragmatic yet passionate.  Her commentary on her strange and sudden change of situation is full of sarcastic bite and emotional openness.  Astrid's initial disbelief and resistance   to her new life add to the realism of her characterization; after all, wouldn't most of us react in much to the same way to such a huge shift in our senses of reality?  The supporting characters are equally well formed.  The plot moves quickly and Peterfreund writes great action sequences and lovely emotional moments with equal talent.  I could not put this book down; I read it far past my bedtime because I simply could not go to sleep without knowing Astrid's fate.  And the best part? There's a sequel, Ascendent!  


Rampant is thrilling, action-packed, romantic, and fantastical. I would recommend this novel for readers who like Tamora Pierce's or Kristin Cashore's novels of warrior women. 


5/5 STARS

The God Box by Alex Sanchez

The God Box


Alex Sanchez


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.  


3 1/2 / 5 STARS

Devilish by Maureen Johnson

Devilish 


Maureen Johnson


SUMMARY:  All Jane Jarvis wants to do is survive senior year at St. Teresa's Preparatory School for Girls and carry her best friend Allison Concord along with her. Jane and Allison have always been a little bit too unique and unusual to be in the popular crowd at St. Teresa's.  But they've been together and so far, that's been enough.  However, after Allison has one publicly embarrassing moment too many, she comes to school transformed.  Suddenly, Ally doesn't need Jane to protect her; instead she's got the perfect new hair and wardrobe and will barely speak to Jane.  Meanwhile Jane seems to have picked up a unusually serious and knowledgeable freshman stalker named Owen and Allison has started dating Jane's ex-boyfriend.  Soon, Owen helps Jane discover the unbelievable truth: her best friend has sold her soul to a demon.  Now it's up to Jane to try her best to save Allison and stop the mysterious Poodle Prom from changing the world as she knows it forever in the most negative of ways. 


ONESMARTCUPCAKE SAYS:  After my introduction to Maureen Johnson's fiction in The Bermudez Triangle, I was pretty sure I would enjoy basically anything she wrote.  So far, my suspicions have been confirmed.  Devilish was a delightful reading experience, portraying the horrors of high school with supernatural twist.  Jane makes a great narrator, with her smart and sarcastic observations and her heartfelt determination to rescue her friend.  I loved her spiky hair, her sometimes equally prickly disposition, and her attempts to remain logical in the face of bizarre situation.  She's spunky but also human in her fears and small weaknesses.

Johnson does a great job of balancing the supernatural aspects of her narrative with the more everyday, earthly aspects.  She crafts an interesting and darkly humorous world where Hell is structured like any other big corporation and the boy's school across the street is a former satanic temple. Lanalee, a demon working her way up the evil corporate ladder, is the ideal antagonist for the story; she offers people escape from the pain of being different or unhappy in exchange for their souls and so is a villain that fits in perfectly with the desperate world of high school.  She's confident and cruelly manipulative, making her suited to lure in girls like Allison, whose own lack of confidence triples with every embarrassment.  Plus she uses cupcakes in her evil schemes, which just adds a new layer of amusement for me at least!

At its root, Devilish is a story about friendship and the value of individuality.  It prompts questions about what values or people are worth fighting for.  The novel highlights the very real pain of feeling like a freak and power of feeling like an insider.  In the end, Jane and Allison's friendship becomes the key motivation for both girls to fight against the seduction of having a perfect life in order to have their own lives instead.

In Devilish, Maureen Johnson combines dark humor and good characters in a smart and fantastic story with definite heart. If you're looking for a fun quality read, pick this one up asap!

4/5 STARS

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend

Emily Horner


SUMMARY: Cass and Julia had been best friends since they were kids; even Julia discovering her theatrical destiny at drama camp and getting a boyfriend hadn't changed that.  Throughout their junior year, Julia claimed to be at work on a secret project.  But before she could reveal it to Cass or her drama club friends, Julia was killed in a car accident.  Still reeling from the unexpected tragedy, they discover that the secret project was in fact a musical titled "Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squads" and led by Julia's devastated boyfriend Oliver, the group decides to make Julia's dream come true by producing the musical.  But Cass has never felt like she truly fit in with Julia's theater crowd.  And she doesn't think she can take a summer of painting sets and hearing Julia in every line of the play. Especially when Heather, the girl who bullied her in middle school, has somehow been cast in the lead role. So, Cass sets out to undertake the cross-country trip she and Julia had planned--alone on her touring bike with Julia's ashes in tow.  When Cass returns in August, she realizes that she's changed in big ways. But then so has Heather. But through all the drama, the show must go on.


ONESMARTCUPCAKE THINKS: This book has been on my 'to read' list for quite some time.  The title intrigued me and then seeing that it could work towards my Debut Authors Challenge pushed it way up on my list.  Overall, I enjoyed A Love Story.  The novel is divided into two distinct alternating settings: the recent past of Cass' bike journey and the current events since her return.  While I normally don't mind such a format, I felt it worked less effectively in this novel.  Although both sections were significant in exploring Cass's development through the course of the story, the shifts between them occasionally felt awkward and sudden.  However, I did enjoy the gradual revelations about Cass's growth as the two portions of the story played out simultaneously.  The concept of a solo cross country trip on a bike is a bit of a unique take on the classic road trip story and Horner utilizes details about this style of the travel to tie the reader into Cass's experience more closely.  Also, the solo and self-reliant aspects of biking allows for an extra emphasis on self-discovery and reflection on Cass's part.  The obvious connection between Cass' physical actions and her emotional journey shines strongly with the more transparently physical bike as well.   


I liked that Cass's process of understanding and embracing her sexuality worked hand in hand with her coming to terms with Julia's death.  The difficulties of grief and identity development are interconnected in the story of Cass' entrance to the complex adult world.  I also enjoyed the romance between Cass and Heather.  Their rehabilitated friendship blossoms into a new chance at a happy, open relationship for each girl.  Also, their contrasting pasts reveal two different but equally challenging paths to self-acceptance.  

Overall, A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend was an enjoyable and touching read about the sometimes painful process of growing up. 


3/5 STARS

Boy Toy by Barry Lyga

Boy Toy  

Barry Lyga

SUMMARY: For the past five years, Josh Mendel has worked hard to be invisible by doing the easy things: being the best hitter on the baseball team, continuing his streak of straight A's, and hanging out with his best friend Zik.  However, as hard as he tried, Josh knows that he will never be invisible because he has a secret: when he was twelve, his seventh-grade history teacher Evelyn Sherman sexually abused him.  But, after the trial and the online leak of Mrs. Sherman's detailed confession, Josh's secret is far from truly hidden or private.  All Josh needs to do is survive long enough to escape town on a college scholarship.  On top of his recent college worries and his long-term anger control issues, he has to deal with the sudden reemergence of Rachel, an old friend he thought he'd lost forever ad the most important baseball game of his life.  Worst of all, Eve has been freed from prison early.  Can Josh ever find a way to understand the events from five years ago and so start running towards his future instead of away from his past?

ONESMARTCUPCAKE THINKS: Holy moly, did this book blow me away! Boy Toy is a powerful, upsetting, and compelling force of a novel.  I assumed from the subject matter (sexual abuse between a teacher and a student) that it would be emotional and intense book but I was not prepared for the reality.  Boy Toy is a very well crafted novel from its construction to its excellent writing.  It manages to pack a big emotional and intellectual punch without ever becoming melodramatic or maudlin.  The novel makes a great attempt to deal honestly with the tangled and complex reality of sexual abuse, from a perspective that frequently remains unheard: that of a young male victim.

Why is Boy Toy so great?  One huge reason is that Josh is such a wonderfully formed character.  He combines intense anger and cynicism with vulnerability; his narration contains sarcastic bite and wit as well as deep unhappiness, fear, and joy.  Josh's three-dimensionality makes his story even more heart-breaking and powerful for a reader.  From the first chapter, I felt as though I knew Josh; his complexity makes him real and knowable in such a way that I felt as though I was experiencing the emotional roller coaster with him.  His confusion, fear, and desire all come through with clarity and potency.  The secondary characters were equally well-crafted, especially the two pivotal women in Josh's life: Rachel and Eve.  

As I said above, Boy Toy is also brilliant for taking on such difficult material in such a respectful yet honest way.  Lyga does not shrink away from somewhat graphic or harsh scenes but instead uses these situations to place the readers even more firmly in Josh's head.  The unflinching look at the after effects of sexual abuse demonstrates that old writing motto: show, don't tell.  Through Josh's narration, Lyga shows the harsh and unsettling reality of a victim's long recovery process; he does not need to tell us about the many ways in which Josh is struggling because they are clearly illustrated through the plot and Josh's internal commentary.  

So, to conclude: I could not put this book down.  I read for a few hours straight, completely immersed in Josh's world and psyche.  The whole time I was cheering for Josh to overcome his many challenges.  Overall, reading Boy Toy was a powerful experience and I recommend the book to older teens and adults who are looking for a great story with emotional and intellectual impact.  Also, Barry Lyga speaks eloquently about his reasoning behind writing Boy Toy at his website's FAQ page.


5/5 STARS

The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson

The Bermudez Triangle

Maureen Johnson

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!

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

John Green and David Levithan

SUMMARY: In two separate Chicago suburbs, there are two high school boys who share both a certain sense of dissatisfaction with their lives and a name. Will Grayson and will grayson are going about their separate lives, unaware that each is spiraling towards an unexpected but somehow fated encounter with the other. That one significant meeting in the famous Chicago adult bookstore Frenchy’s causes the boys’ lives to intersect in exciting and disruptive ways.

ONESMARTCUPCAKE THINKS: So, I’m going offer full disclosure here. I am GIGANTIC fan of John Green and David Levithan. When I heard that they were publishing a book together, I had nearly died from the potential awesomeness overload. Even the thought of such a combination gave me a young adult literature awesomeness attack! So, needless to say, I’ve been looking forward to this book for a while. I had to wait until I got access to my former high school library (where I’m working this summer) to get my hands on it. And then I saved it for the right moment to read. But about two weekends ago, that moment came. I read the entire novel in about two to three hours on rainy bus rides to and from Philiadelphia with my ipod blocking out the combined noise of Rocky and giggling teenagers. But Will Grayson, Will Grayson (WGWG for short) was worth the wait.

I greatly enjoyed this book. It seems to combine the best of both of these brilliant authors and yet result in a unique novel that feels like a true collaboration, not a simple cut and paste job. WGWG does not quite shine as brightly as the very best of either author’s individual work; instead it stands out as something new and unique. Green and Levithan’s witty characters and honest representation of emotions blend well together, maintaining a single, cohesive story throughout their separately written, alternating chapters. I loved both Will and will as well as the variety of other supporting characters, especially the geek goddess Jane and will’s mother. However, I must admit (like nearly every other reviewer) that the brilliant and bedazzling Tiny Cooper completely steals the show in this particular novel. The creation of the fabulous Tiny somewhat epitomizes the collaboration going on here; he fits into the familiar but distinct worlds of both authors’ bodies of work while also demonstrating the themes usually highlighted by both. Tiny is a completely original individual who sees no need to change himself in order to fit in or meet the approval of others. Even in his most vulnerable moments Tiny refuses to lose the confidence and pride in himself that he has obviously worked hard to gain. Additionally, he demonstrates the great optimism about humanity and the power of human connections and relationships that Levithan and Green seem to illustrate in their previous novels.

This book left me with the happy, sort of floating feeling I usually get from wonderful stories. The novel manages to explore the messy and frequently painful realities of all kinds of relationships while also illustrating the beautiful moments of true understanding and connection possible within them. WGWG is elegantly written in a combination of sardonic humor, quirky wit, and transcendent simplicity. But then, would we expect any less from these rock stars of the YA lit world?

4 ½ / 5 STARS

King of the Screwups by K.L. Going

King of the Screwups

K.L. Going

SUMMARY: Liam Geller appears to live a golden life. He embodies the concept of ‘Mr. Popularity:’ well dressed, very well liked, and attractive. But while Liam is able to gain the attention of the most beautiful girls in school, keep his wardrobe impeccably fashionable, and remain loved by his classmates, he constantly manages to screw up in ways that upset and anger his demanding CEO father the most. When Liam is actually kicked out of the house right before his senior year begins, it is his father’s brother—a gay, glam-rocking DJ—who takes Liam into his trailer in upstate New York and introduces him to a whole new world. Liam decides to use this unexpected turn of events to his advantage and attempts transform himself into the studious, successful ‘nerd’ his father obviously wants him to be. However, his ‘Aunt’ Pete has struggled to be true to himself his entire life and refuses to allow Liam to erase his real personality and interests simply to please someone else.

ONESMARTCUPCAKE THINKS: I’m pretty sure this book has been on my ‘to read’ list for about a year. And I’m so glad I finally remembered to grab it out of the stacks last week! King of the Screwups is a delightful read with an unconventional male protagonist and a great take on the classic “to thine own self be true” narrative. Liam is an endearing character—a golden boy with a good heart and a complete lack of confidence in his own abilities. Liam’s popularity hasn’t made him arrogant but instead given him the idea that being likable is his only talent. Meanwhile his father’s inability to see beyond his own standards for success and happiness have placed Liam in an inescapable position; he wants desperately to please his father but his father’s constant pressure and displeasure has made Liam gives up. While Liam is quite a lovable character, his father is the opposite: a completely hate-able character.

But while Liam’s difficult relationship with his father is frustrating and saddening to watch, his developing relationship with his ‘aunt’ Pete is exciting to follow. Although the two clash and fight, their interactions are ultimately a source of growth for each. I also really enjoyed the little details Going wove into Liam’s narration, such as the specific fashion brands and modeling information, which build Liam into a more complete and unique character. The narrative is humorous but heartfelt. This fun novel manages to send out a positive message about identity, self-confidence, and individuality without becoming preachy or simplistic. It helps that the characters are generally individualized and well developed and the first-person narration combines winning humor, earnestness, and honesty.

This is a short review but although I greatly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to lots of people, I don’t feel the urge to gush about it for extended lengths of text. So I’ll leave it at this: if you’re in the mood for a fun and ultimately encouraging read, check out King of the Screwups.

3/5 STARS

Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns

John Green

SUMMARY: Quentin Jacobsen has spent the majority of his life in love with the brilliantly mysterious and adventure-addicted girl next door, Margo Roth Speigelman. When Q and Margo were nine, they discovered a dead body together. However, since then their interactions have been limited and vaguely friendly at best. While Margo is well-known and admired for her exploits both small and large at Winter Park High, Q is content with his safe and generally anonymous life of school days spent hanging out near the band room between classes with his closest friends Radar and Ben and weekends spent playing videogames. But Q’s comfortably predictable life is suddenly interrupted when Margo appears outside his window for the first time in about nine years. And what follows is a bizarre and thrilling night that Q hopes will be the beginning of a whole new life in which he becomes Margo’s new partner in her glamorous escapades. But when the sun rises, Margo has disappeared and gone from merely being mysterious to becoming a mystery herself. But when Q explores further, trying to understand their night together, he realizes that Margo is a mystery meant to be solved—by him. As he follows the strange, seemingly disconnected clues from Walt Whitman to abandoned trailers, Q begins to question whether he ever really knew the girl he adored for so long.

ONESMARTCUPCAKE SAYS: John Green strikes again with another smart, funny, and emotionally resonant novel. Before I fully explain why I so thoroughly enjoyed this book, I want to address some critiques of the novel.

In developing this review, I glanced around the online book world to feel out some other reactions to the novel. Paper Towns has been criticized by some readers as being too similar to Green’s earlier novels, especially in terms of characterization. Is it true that Q shares certain qualities of intellectualism and geekiness with Miles and Colin? Yes. Does this nerdy and quirky hero have an intense infatuation with a brilliant but unreachable girl? Yes, he does. However, I argue that despite such similarities, Paper Towns stands out as its own work with its own separate (albeit connected) sets of questions and themes. As in his earlier novels, Green explores the difficulty in truly knowing and understanding another human being. He continues to delve into our constant tendency to perceive others through the window of our own needs, desires, and interests and so creating images of people that usually turn out to be much further from reality than we would like to admit. But while Looking for Alaska dealt with these themes in the larger context of dealing with death and grief and An Abundance of Katherines worked with them in context of the unpredictability of life, Paper Towns examines them head-on, utilizing a detective story format to explore the big mystery of human interaction and relationships.

As usual, Green’s characters are intelligent and quirky and his novel is interwoven with a diversity of seeming unrelated but interesting topics ranging this time from music to cartography to Walt Whitman. The text also manages to capture that strange time at the end of high school when everyone is on the verge of entering a new world and a new life separated from the familiar people and places and when the resulting uncertainty can force unprecedented reactions out of a variety of people.

I really enjoyed the detective story/mystery aspect of this novel. I’m an avid mystery reader and here, Green takes the predictable structure of a traditional detective story and uses it to follow Q’s simultaneous search for Margo and for more honest relationships. I also thoroughly enjoyed the humor embedded into the narrative, especially through Margo’s ingenious plots and Q and his gang’s final, epic road trip. Green also manages to achieve some truly lovely emotional moments between his characters, especially the unsure but determined Q and the fascinating (and somewhat selfish) Margo. Overall, John Green continues to produce witty YA fiction and accordingly my massive literary crush on him continues to grow.

4 ½ / 5 STARS

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Going Bovine

Libba Bray

SUMMARY: Slacker Cameron simply wants to continue coasting through high school and life. But Cameron’s low-expectation existence is rudely interrupted by some unpleasant news: he has Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, also known as Mad Cow’s disease. So he’s going to die. Soon. Without losing his virginity or even graduating from high school. This, in Cameron’s opinion, sucks. A lot. But just as it seems like he’s going to be spending the rest of his days in the hospital turning into a sponge-brain, Cameron is given a second chance at living by the appearance of Dulcie, a kooky angel in combat boots with a mission for Cameron—a mission that could save both the world and his life. So Cameron sets out on the road trip to end all road trips in the company of a paranoid, video game obsessed dwarf, a Norse god trapped as a garden gnome, and the frustrating but fascinating Dulcie. Along the way Cameron learns to like jazz, gains real friends, falls in love, travels between dimensions, battles a mad scientist, frees the snow globes, saves the world, and finally has sex. For the first time in his life, Cameron is truly alive even as the reality of his own mortality seems to coming ever closer.

ONESMARTCUPCAKE THINKS: This novel had a lot of hype; a multitude of people wrote rave reviews and then there’s that whole Printz Award thing. Also, I had been intrigued by the premise since I first heard about it on http://www.readingrants.org/ a while ago. So I was pretty excited to finally get my hooves on a copy of Going Bovine. Then I actually read it and it more than lived up to the hype. Nothing could have prepared me for how unmistakably brilliant this quirky, hilarious, touching, and wonderful novel is.

Firstly, I fell in love with Cameron, the hilariously honest and charmingly realistic narrator. From the vocabulary to the subject matter, Cameron’s narration reads as though it is straight from the sarcastic mouth of an actual sixteen-year-old boy. I loved Cameron’s frank commentary on his family, his peers, his surroundings, and his unique situation. Moreover, I greatly enjoyed following Cameron’s development over the course of the novel as he discovered that there is so much more to life than mere survival.

Bray also deserves high praise for her ability to adapt the picaresque format and style for a modern American audience. According to the Oxford Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms, a picaresque novel can either be a novel with a picaroon (a rogue or scoundrel) as its protagonist or a narrative composed of a variety of episodes connected primarily through a protagonist who is usually undergoing a journey of some kind. In either case, this type of story is usually episodic and frequently uses first person narration. In Going Bovine, Bray has managed to utilize these structural and stylistic qualities within a new, purely American and modern context. The combination of the iconic American road trip with the traditional journey of classic picaresque is a match made in literary heaven. The physical adventure full of kooky characters and fantastical events echoes the equally compelling journey Cameron is undergoing within himself as he learns to embrace life rather than merely coast through it. The creative use of the famous picaresque novel Don Quixote throughout the narrative adds another layer of complexity and richness to an already fantastic novel. Although I have not yet read the classic Spanish novel (I’m putting on my list!), I know the significant role that questions of reality versus unreality play in the narrative. Cameron, like Don Quixote, is on a quest; but also like Don Quixote, Cameron’s journey and experience seems to be constantly shifting between the real and the unreal or the imagined due to the nature of his disease. However, as in the Spanish novel, reality as traditionally or scientifically defined is insignificant when contrasted to the significant questions posed and answered by the apparently imagined journey. Cameron might actually be lying in his hospital bed being read Don Quixote the entire length of his fantastic road trip but his growth in understanding about friendship, love, sex, mortality, and the human condition could not be more real.

Whew! That got a little philosophical! But then this book made me think just as much as it made me laugh and cry. Combining topics ranging from physics to Norse myth to jazz, Libba Bray crafts a fun and fascinating journey that consistently engages the mind and the heart; because at the center of this novel is the simple story of a boy faced with the universal struggle of learning to live with reality of death.

5/5 STARS