Tag Archives: Book Review

Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland

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Title: Nantucket Blue

Author: Leila Howland

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Release Date: May 7th, 2013

Cricket is psyched to spend the summer on Nantucket with her best friend Jules’s family. After all, she’s basically adopted them as her own.  She has her heart set on sandy beaches, parties, and a whole summer to make Jay Logan her boyfriend. Then Jules’s mother dies suddenly and not only is she uninvited for the summer, but Jules doesn’t want anything to do with her at all. Cricket finds a job and goes to Nantucket anyway, hoping to save her magical summer but nothing turns out as she plans.

Let’s start with a positive. Nantucket Blue truly delivers on setting. The reader can easily imagine themselves walking along quaint beachfront streets with Cricket and digging toes in the sands of beautiful beaches.

If this book had been a straight-up romance like the cover suggests that might have been one thing, but Nantucket Blue tries to be a book about grief, growing up, and family. Sadly, it leaves us well in the shallow end of ocean so to speak. Nothing is really explored deeply enough, and that lack of development is why this book just didn’t work for me.

In Kelly’s post about unlikable characters she notes that privilege often plays a role in making characters unlikable. That is certainly the case here. The problem is not so much that Cricket is unlikable, plenty of good books have flawed heroines, but that I get the impression we aren’t supposed to hate her guts. Despite turning 18 she is selfish and immature. Cricket is more worked up about the loss of her job-free party summer than a woman she claims is like a mother to her. She outright resents her three year old stepbrother because he has emotional problems as a foreign adoption and therefore needs a lot of adult attention. This is an eighteen year old, not another young child.

The hardworking woman who actually has to clean hotel rooms for a living instead of for a beach vacation is met with derision for wanting to do a superior job.  No worries though, since only rich people go to the island there is no crime there……(Wow, really? is Chappaquiddick that far from Nantucket?). These are Cricket’s bonus activities when she’s not busy fat-shaming and slut-shaming most of the other girls she pays any attention too.  To be fair, near the end of the book Cricket almost catches on that this is a bad idea but like everything else it’s just no developed enough to be a satisfying change of heart.

 

Winger by Andrew Smith

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Title: Winger

Author: Andrew Smith

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release Date: May 14th, 2013

It’s an urban legend than men think about sex every seven seconds, but you wouldn’t know it from being in the head of Ryan Dean West, known to his rugby teammates as Winger. Ryan Dean’s year is off to a bad start. If it wasn’t hard enough being a 14 year old junior he’s landed himself in O Hall; the dorm where his fancy private school locks up the trouble makers.  He’s madly in love with his best friend Annie, but that doesn’t stop him from perving on nearly every other female he comes in contact with. Things are changing fast for Ryan Dean, though, and if he can change with them and grow up a little he might just be able to handle all this year has in store for him: both the wonderful and the horrible.

The majority of Winger is laugh out loud funny, though not without moments that will make you wince and break your heart. The text is supplemented by clever comics and graphs including “Ryan Dean West Loser Score Tally” and “Things Ryan Dean West is Afraid Of”.  Ryan Dean’s voice is so strong it pulls you completely into his world. Only at the age of 14 can such a smart person be such a dumbass a lot of the time, and Smith does an amazing job of capturing the see-saw nature of Ryan Dean’s maturity. For example, though Ryan Dean befriends a gay classmate he quite often has to remind himself to ignore how he’s been socialized to think about people who are gay.

Despite a large cast of secondary characters each is as distinct and complex as their role allows. Though we only have teases of their backstory Annie and Joey are especially rich characters who feel like real teens with authentic motivations. Seanie is that one kid in every school that is just slimy and smart enough to creep you out. The only cliche comes in the form of the angry and homophobic football player, who is of course in the closet himself.

Though Winger is the very definition of a character driven novel in this case Ryan Dean’s development does not mean a lack of action plot wise.  The start of Ryan Dean’s junior year is a whirlwind of rugby games, fist fights, late night shenanigans, quasi-romantic escapades, and most importantly shifting loyalties.

The only thing that might keep Winger from being the total package is the pacing. The entire story takes place between the start of the school year and Halloween. Ryan Dean changes so much in a short period of time it’s not hard to believe that when the worst happens, at the very end of the book, he nearly shuts down from emotional overload. His entire world view has just been changed in just two months.

This one may depend on some booktalking and reader’s advisory to get it moving, but I suspect it will gain some buzz once it’s in the hands of readers. The cover is suitable for the “very important life lesson” side of Winger, but will not attract readers who will enjoy the “teen sex comedy” aspects of the book. Winger is a great choice for fans of Brent Crawford’s Carter series, and the cartoons and unexpected depth make it a good match for readers of Stephen Emond’s Happyface and Winter Town as well.

*Digital ARC provided by publisher

How Zoe Made Her Dreams Mostly Come True by Sarah Strohmeyer

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Title: How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True

Author: Sarah Strohmeyer

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Release Date: April 23rd, 2013

Zoe and her cousin Jess have landed sweet summer jobs as interns at Fairyland Kingdom. Nice weather, hot guys, and a chance to win the $25,000 each girl really needs if they are ever going to get out of Jersey. If only it was that easy. No fairytale characters for Zoe, instead she’s assigned as the evil queen’s personal assistant. Early morning dog-walking, late night errands, and catching fruit before it hits the queen does not a dream summer make.

Then Zoe is rescued by a prince in a part of the park where nobody is allowed to be. Things get even more complicated with crazy rogue princesses, demanding pop stars, and handsome guys that Zoe isn’t sure she can trust. Can Zoe and Jess still make their summer dreams come true?

There are a lot of things that make Zoe a great pick. Zoe is very much an every-girl kind of main character, and it’s easy to root for someone who tries her best and works hard even when she’s given the worst job in the park. While the romantic plot is not the primary one  it is quite enjoyable and there are certainly some swoon-worthy moments as things develop for Zoe and her own personal Prince Charming.

Zoe is motivated both by her loyalty to her cousin Jess and by the memories of her mother bringing her to Storytown, the low-budget predecessor to the current park.  Zoe finding some closure around the death of her mother and the supportive sisterly relationship between her and Jess serve as the emotional anchors in an otherwise light and fluffy book.

There is a quite a bit of world-building as far as Fairyland Kingdom is concerned, and it’s fairly effective in making the setting feel closed off from the rest of the world. The reader is drawn into the culture and politics of Fairlyand far enough to understand what Zoe’s daily life is like without getting bogged down in details or giving away too much of what is revealed at the end.

There are a few things that don’t work quite as well. The twist at the end seems to come a little more out of nowhere than these things should. The little bits of mystery that served well in moving the plot forward seemed to be leading to at least a slightly more dramatic climax than the one we get. The secondary characters are pretty one-note and it seems like several of the male characters could have been combined, particularly in the contingent of princes.

Despite these flaws How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True has a huge amount of teen appeal and makes for great summer read. The romance, theme park setting, and a great cover upgrade from the ARC are sure to make this one fly off the library shelves.  Give this one to fans of Stephanie Perkins and Jennifer E. Smith.

*Digital ARC provided by the publisher.

 

 

 

 

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle

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nateTitle: Better Nate Than Ever

Author: Tim Federle

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Nate would rather practice show tunes and run scenes with his best friend Libby than win sports trophies like his brother the local hero. When Nate hears about auditions for E.T. the Musical he figures this is his chance to leave his crummy life in Janksburg behind so without telling his parents he hops on a bus to New York City. Clueless to the world of theater and life outside of Janksburg Nate carves out his own path with hilarious results.

Better Nate Than Ever is not only heartwarming, but it is laugh out loud funny as well. Nate is the classic misfit looking for the place he belongs and also a dead on depiction of a small town middle school boy. He’s bullied for being gay, which he feels is especially unfair. As Nate says, “Hey jerks, I’m thirteen, leave me alone. Macaroni and cheese is still my favorite food–how would I know who I want to hook up with?”  While there are hints to his true feelings Nate is so charmingly naive it’s unclear to the reader if he’s even aware of his own thoughts.

Nate’s naivete is the source for most of the humor in the book. For example upon arriving in New York City Nate is incredibly excited by the prospect of the huge urban Applebees outside Port Authority and is fascinated by the selection at Duane Reade.  It does raise the question of whether young readers with similar backgrounds to Nate’s would see all the humor in the book that is apparent to more sophisticated readers. Still, there are many other humorous elements for readers of all ages including Nate’s struggles with wardrobe and hygiene and the intense theater kids and parents he encounters at the audition.

The book also packs an emotional punch. Totally unprepared for New York and the audition process Nate refuses to give up and the plot consists of Nate overcoming all of those obstacles, from a lack of formal training to getting something to eat,  in his own very individual way. Nate believes in the possibility of his dreams so fiercely you can’t help but root for him. Adult readers will be nostalgic for the time before we started censoring our ambitions with reality, and young readers will be inspired to follow dreams of their own. After all, even in real life walking in to the right audition for the right person can still change your life.

Give this one to your Glee fans. Nate fans should check out Drama by Raina Telgemeier and older readers who love Nate should try Dramarama by E. Lockhart.

 

 

Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos

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Title: Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets

Author: Evan Roskos

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

I try to write summaries like short booktalks that I would use to promote the book. In this case I can give you no better appreciation for Dr. Bird’s Advice to Sad Poets than to quote the opening paragraphs

From Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets:

I YAWP MOST MORNINGS to irritate my father, the Brute. “Yawp! Yawp!” It moves him out of the bathroom faster.

He responds with the gruff “All right.” He dislikes things that seem like fun.

I do not yawp like Walt Whitman for fun. Ever since the Brute literally threw my older sister, Jorie, out of the house, I yawp at him because he hates it. My father says reciting Walt Whitman is impractical, irrational. My father says even reading Walt Whitman is a waste of time, despite the fact that we share his last name. My father says Walt Whitman never made a dime, which is not true. I looked it up. Not on Wikipedia but in a book that also said Walt used to write reviews for Leaves of Grass— his own book!— under fake names.

Who does that? Walt does!

The perfect poet for me. I’m a depressed, anxious kid.

James is 16 and struggling. Depressed and anxious he gets no support from his emotionally and physically abusive parents and has few friends at school where he is lucky to drift under the radar when not being made fun of.  Without Jorie, one of his few confidants, James is lost.

James is a wonderful, round, flawed, honest character.  In addition to his frankness about his problems he is also all teenage boy when it comes to trading insults with his best friend or noticing when he might get a peek down a girl’s shirt. Like most teens James is very self-aware about some things, like his need for therapy, and totally oblivious to others.

The secondary characters, most notably Jorie and James’s best friend Derek are quite well developed as well.  Jorie obviously cares for James, but years of abuse have taught her to put her survival first. Life outside her parents’ control is not an easy path and she’s learning to cope with that just as James is learning to cope with her absence. Derek, who seems so happy and successful to James has issues of his own after the death of his father.

James’s isolation is clearly felt throughout the book. Though not a plot driven story the narrative moves forward as a result of James’s quest to find people he can connect to. He connects with Walt Whitman, he mistakenly tries to fix his connection to Jorie by trying to get her back in school, he longs to connect to Beth and succeeds to a point through his poetry and photography, he tries to be a good friend to Derek, he longs for a real therapist rather than the imaginary Dr. Bird.  Realistically not all the problems are solved by the end of the book, but readers are left with hope that James is on the path to getting what he needs.

The writing itself is in turns both bleak and poetic, but not inauthentic to the sixteen year old brain.

He’s not a very strong man. Jorie’s not a very strong girl. Their movements were jerky, vulgar. It’s not the way bodies were supposed to move together. But there it was.

and

I celebrate the hope of medicine and the hope that I will not need it, even when I feel like I need it. I celebrate the process of deciding; I celebrate the ability to take my time to know, despite yearning for calm during long nights of unprovoked anxieties.

Still, this is not a character or a story without humor.

At least I’m famous, right? (How many people in history have thought “At least I’m famous!” for doing something stupid? Probably tons, thanks to YouTube.)

Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets is an excellent debut and readers will be on the look out for more of Roskos work. Give this one to fans of  Laurie Halse Anderson, AS King, and Chris Crutcher’s emotionally struggling but not humorless teens.

 

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