Spine Label

Girl Meets Boy

edited by Kelly Milner Halls

$16.99 / 14+

Release date: December 28, 2011

About four years ago, I went on a first date with a guy I met on the Internet. We had exchanged a few e-mails and decided to meet up for coffee. Our coffee date turned into going to see a movie, and then that led to even more coffee (served by a surly waitress) at a 24-hour diner. It was a pretty epic first date.

While I got in my car after saying goodbye not thinking any one thing in particular, my date got in his truck and said to himself, “Well, I’ll never see her again.” He thought I hadn’t liked him.

In fact, I did like him and he did see me again. Actually, we got married a couple of months ago.

There are two sides to every story, the concept explored in Girl Meets Boy: Because There Are Two Sides to Every Story. 12 YA authors teamed up present a love story from both sides, so the reader gets the “whole” story. Short story collections don’t do very well at my library, so I tend to ignore them, but the unique approach and inclusion of popular authors convinced me to give this a go. I was pleasantly surprised.

The diversity packed in to 200 or so pages is kind of amazing– characters identify as Native American, gay/transgendered, and Muslim (living in Iowa, no less). An interracial couple rounds things out. Suffice it to say, there’s something for everyone, and that makes it a good fit for most collections.

The first two stories are a bit steamy, which will either pull readers in or put off a reader looking for something a bit more chaste. Fortunately, the beauty of a short story collection is that one doesn’t need to read the entire thing. This will be an easy sell for fans of the contributing authors or teens who enjoy dual perspectives. [If this is an odd thing to note, I had a teen who came the library regularly a few years ago that was always looking for titles told from both points of view. She usually referenced Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen.] To that end, it pairs nicely with Pete Hautman’s The Big Crunch, which is also a romance told from both character’s point of view. It might also work for female fans of guy-centric contemporary fiction, such as Carter Finally Gets It, Swim the Fly or Seth Baumgartner’s Love Manifesto.

Check out the book trailer for Girl Meets Boy here.

Reviewed from ARC provided by the publisher.

Various Positions by Martha Schabas

Trapped between the hormone-driven world of her friends and the discontent of her dysfunctional family, fourteen-year-old Georgia is only completely at ease when she’s dancing. When she is accepted into Canada’s preeminent ballet school, Georgia thinks it is the perfect escape. Artistic Director Roderick Allen singles her out as a star, subjecting her to increasingly intensive training, and Georgia obsesses about becoming the perfect, disciplined student. But as she spends more and more time with Roderick, it’s not so clear exactly what their relationship means. Is he her teacher and mentor, or is there something more? These blurred lines will threaten both Roderick’s future at the academy and Georgia’s ambitions as a ballerina. (description from amazon.com)

Bunheads by Sophie Flack

As a dancer with the ultra-prestigious Manhattan Ballet Company, nineteen-year-old Hannah Ward juggles intense rehearsals, dazzling performances and complicated backstage relationships. Up until now, Hannah has happily devoted her entire life to ballet. But when she meets a handsome musician named Jacob, Hannah’s universe begins to change, and she must decide if she wants to compete against the other “bunheads” in the company for a star soloist spot or strike out on her own in the real world. Does she dare give up the gilded confines of the ballet for the freedoms of everyday life? (description from amazon.com)

Leap by Jodi Lundgren

Finally, Natalie’s turned fifteen.  She’s officially a grown-up (just tell her mother that) and ready for anything.  School is out, and she and her best friend Sasha are going to be practicing with their dance team all summer. Dancing is Natalie’s passion — it’s what got her through the break-up of her parents’ marriage, and her father’s move halfway across the country. Now she needs it more than ever as she tries to navigate the unpredictable world of older boys — specifically Kevin, Sasha’s older brother — and learn the difference between love and lust. When her friendship with Sasha goes on the rocks, her relationship with Kevin goes too far, and her mother reveals a shocking truth, Natalie finds strength in her dancing. Will it be enough? And what will happen when a new teacher introduces her to the world of modern dance–will she find the confidence to take it on? (description from amazon.com)

Audition by Stasia Ward Kehoe

When high school junior Sara wins a coveted scholarship to study ballet, she must sacrifice everything for her new life as a professional dancer-in-training. Living in a strange city with a host family, she’s deeply lonely-until she falls into the arms of Remington, a choreographer in his early twenties. At first, she loves being Rem’s muse, but as she discovers a surprising passion for writing, she begins to question whether she’s chosen the right path. Is Rem using her, or is it the other way around? And is dancing still her dream, or does she need something more? (description from amazon.com)

A Girl Named Faithful Plum: The True Story of a Dancer from China and How She Achieved Her Dream by Richard Bernstein

In 1977, when Zhongmei Lei was eleven years old, she learned that the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy was having open auditions. She’d already taken dance lessons, but everyone said a poor country girl would never get into the academy, especially without any connections in the Communist Party of the 1970s. But Zhongmei, whose name means Faithful Plum, persisted, even going on a hunger strike, until her parents agreed to allow her to go. She traveled for three   days and two nights to get to Beijing and eventually beat out 60,000 other girls for one of 12 coveted spots. But getting in was easy compared to staying in, as Zhongmei soon learned. Without those all-important connections she was just a little girl on her own, far away from family. But her determination, talent, and sheer force of will were not something the teachers or other students expected, and soon it was apparent that Zhongmei was not to be underestimated.
Zhongmei became a famous dancer, and founded her own dance company, which made its New York debut when she was in just her late 20s.  In A Girl Named Faithful Plum, her husband and renowned journalist, Richard Bernstein, has written a fascinating account of one girl’s struggle to go from the remote farmlands of China to the world’s stages, and the lengths she went to in order to follow her dream. (description from amazon.com)

What’s up with all the ballerina books?! These are all on my to read list, though I’m probably most anxious to dive into Bunheads since it is a Cybils finalist.

This past weekend I attended KidLitCon in Seattle. I had a great time; I left feeling more invigorated about blogging (and obviously my blog needs some love!) and I’m excited to put into practice what I learned over the course of the conference.

Aside from enjoying a few days in sub-90-degree temperatures, some things that have stuck with me:

- On the Bloggers and Writers and Pubs! Oh My! panel, it was stressed that a critical review doesn’t affect the relationship between the blogger and relationship. I think this is super important, and it was actually something that came up more than once over the course of the conference. Often, a publisher can learn more from a critical review than one that simply heaps praise on the title.

- One is Silver and the Other’s Gold: A Discussion on Blogging Backlist vs. New Releases, and Why It Doesn’t Have to Be Versus further convinced me that blogging backlist (roughly, titles that are 6 months or so past their publication date) is good and sometimes even better than blogging new releases. There’s the potential to review the series as a whole [I recently plowed through the Ruby Oliver series by E. Lockhart, so I'm contemplating doing just that], the chance to draw attention to titles that weren’t very buzzed about, and the opportunity to be a bit different when everyone else is talking about the same four titles.

- Perhaps my favorite session was The Fantastic New World of Book Apps for Children. Despite being an iPhone/iPad user and an individual generally interested in children’s literature (in any form), I had never even looked at a book app. The panelists gave a great run-down of aspects to consider when evaluating an app and provided some good and bad examples. My (very talented) fiance is an app developer, so we had an interesting discussion when I got home. I may even dip  my toes in the pool of book app reviews.

- I also enjoyed the discussion in Managing the Privacy Line: Your Blog, Your Kids, Your Readers, and You. I blog and tweet under my (real, full) name, mostly because I do this as an extension of my professional activities and it would seem pointless to NOT do it as myself. But it did have me considering how much information I would reveal about my future children, or if I do already put too much information out there.

- And, of course, Kelly and I, along with Abby and Janssen joining in virtually, presented Going Deep: The Hows and Whys of Blogging Critically. Thanks to everyone who attended our session. I don’t think we covered even half the material we had prepared, which was good because it meant people were discussing and asking questions. It was great to read some of the tweets that resulted from our session, like this one. For some insight into what we discussed during the session, check out Abby’s post Why It’s Critical to Review (and Read) Critically.

Finally, huge props to Jackie and Colleen for organizing such a fabulous conference. Everything was so perfect I can’t imagine the amount of time they spent putting it together. Job well done!

If you ever have the opportunity to attend, KidLitCon is worth every penny.

Pregnant Pause

Han Nolan

$16.99 / 14 +

Release date: September 20, 2011

Eleanor Crowe is 16, rebellious, and pregnant. Faced with the option of following her missionary parents back to Kenya and allowing her older sister to adopt her child or marrying her underachieving boyfriend, Lam, she chooses the latter. The newlyweds set up house for the summer at Lam’s parents’ summer camp for overweight kids. In exchange for room and board, the two are required to help out. Eleanor approaches the situation with a negative attitude. She’s not thrilled about living in a cabin in the middle of the woods, having to put her bathrobe on to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, or working with the campers. She’s also convinced that her in-laws are out to get her, as they are less than thrilled with the recent turn of events in their son’s life.

As expected, Eleanor’s new husband isn’t a shoo-in for father of the year. Between his choosing to go out drinking with friends on their wedding night and cheating on Eleanor with another counselor, Eleanor quickly realizes she married a loser. Fortunately, she develops friendships with some of her fellow counselors and even becomes close to one of her campers, a girl named Banner. The time Eleanor spends leading dance classes and helping out in the crafts cabin helps her to realize that she actually does like kids and is, in fact, pretty good with them. Eleanor vacillates between wanting to keep her child and knowing she doesn’t have all the resources to provide for it, particularly with Lam being the way he is.

A tragic accident on the day of Eleanor’s scheduled c-section is the catalyst for a series of disappointments that force Eleanor to stand up for herself and her baby and make her own (unexpected) way in life.

This book almost has a little bit too much going on (unplanned pregnancy + loser boyfriend + absent parents + accident + special needs baby) for me. I really hated Eleanor’s parents. Who goes back to Kenya (twice!) when your 16-year-old daughter clearly needs you?! Lam’s parents weren’t much better, but seemed to have a better understanding of the situation. I did like that Eleanor had such a strong personality. It was easy to see how that got her into trouble but in the end it was also the thing that saved her. I was glad she could pull through numerous disappointments without completely breaking down. While this is more a middle of the road offering for me (I wish one or two of the dramatic elements at the end had been cut; it would have made the story more believable), I think teens who like their contemporary fiction with a side of drama will eat this up with a spoon. And hopefully stay away from loser boys afterwards.

Source: Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher/ NetGalley

Hooked

Catherine Greenman

$16.99 / 14 +

Release date: August 9, 2011

17-year-old Thea Galehouse is eking out an average existence in New York City. She lives with her mother, a former nightclub owner turned real estate agent, and tolerates weekends with her father, a recovering alcoholic and investment banker. She doesn’t have much interest in school work (or attending college), but does persuade her best friend, Vanessa, to teach her how to crochet.

Thea meets Will Weston (a senior with one good eye) during a fire drill in February of her junior year. Will has, apparently, harbored a desire to meet Thea ever since he saw a picture of her sleeping during homeroom in the yearbook. Their first date quickly turns into a relationship, which leads to the pair becoming sexually active. When Thea’s mom catches the two in bed together after she arrives home early from a real estate conference, she offers Thea the chance to get birth control pills. But Thea isn’t terribly religious about taking her pills, and discovers she’s pregnant as Will is settling into his freshman year of college at Columbia.

Thea decides to have an abortion, but ultimately can’t go through with it. After the initial drama of telling their parents, the families combine resources to ensure Thea and Will can both continue school and raise their baby in a comfortable environment. And although everything initially seems like it will work out, an accident when Ian is still a newborn threatens to destroy everything. Thea finds comfort and support in the most unlikely of places (her father), and pursues her own off-beat path to success.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the drama of MTV’s hit shows 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom (and Teen Mom 2). Hooked was a title I looked for specifically at Midwinter in San Diego and I was pretty thrilled to get a copy. I resisted the urge to read it until closer to the publication date. While it didn’t really live up to my (probably high) expectations, there were a couple of elements that I did really enjoy.

After Vanessa teaches Thea how to crochet, Thea visits a yarn store and an employee helps her draft a pattern for a crochet bikini based off of one Thea’s grandmother made for her as a child. Her new hobby brings her comfort in the uncomfortable last days of her pregnancy and the frustrating first days of motherhood. When Thea returns to the yarn store, the employee is wowed with the results and suggests Thea sells the finished product. Thea is inspired by her success, but her father still pressures her to pursue the more traditional 4-year-college path, until numbers convince him otherwise. I loved this aspect of the plot because not everyone needs to go to college. This ideology has led to the devaluation of the 4-year degree, even though there are certainly many ways to be successful (and fulfilled) without one. Thea stumbles upon a non-traditional career (one she’s good at!) and knows she’ll be successful because she has to be, for Ian.

While the drama between Will and Thea was quite unfortunate, it was, at least, realistic (watch an episode of 16 & Pregnant and you’ll see). While young couples often think they have everything figured out and it will be okay, that is rarely the case. Will and Thea had the support of their parents and their own apartment (which is more than most teen parents probably have), and they still didn’t get a fairy tale ending.

As much as I think Hooked is a fairly realistic portrayal of teen pregnancy, I didn’t find Thea or Will to be all that believable. Both come from well-to-do families (Will’s dad is a financial analyst who consults for big banks but only works two days a year while eating dinner out every night with his wife; Thea’s father has a beach house with a caretaker, as well as a housekeeper in the city that he shares with Thea’s mom) and yet both come across and immature and unpolished. Maybe their immaturity is what made the rest of the plot realistic, but they didn’t come across as completely believable for me as two teenagers who most likely have a lot of resources at their disposal. [Do I think teens will pick up on this? Probably not.]

Overall, Hooked is a good story about evolving familial relationships and coming out ahead even when everything is stacked against you. Recommend to teens with an affinity for drama.

Disclosure: Reviewed from ARC provided by the publisher.