Deadline by Chris Crutcher

Deadline by Chris Crutcher blew me away. Crutcher was the speaker at the 2004 Great Books program and I think he has an amazing knack for capturing teenage boy angst. The message of this book can speak to all of us at any age. What would you do if you knew your time here was almost over?

Eighteen year old Ben Wolf finds out at his pre-season physical that he has a terminal illness and he opts to forgo treatment and spend his final days really living rather than dying and he also opts to keep his illness a secret.

Ben is smart to the point of being obnoxious and gives his history teacher a royal hard time. The reader knows what the teacher doesn't know about Ben. It made me wonder what we don't know about all the obnoxious kids we deal with everyday.

The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson is a modern Nancy Drew/CSI/Patricia Cornwell mystery for young adults.

Seventeen year old Cameryn Mahoney helps her father, the county coroner, to solve the murder of a victim of a serial killer who leaves St. Christopher medals on his victims.

There's a graphic description of the autopsy and a "made-for-tv" capture of the murderer but it reads fast and I would recommend it to our older teen readers.

Eggs by Jerry Spinelli

Eggs by Jerry Spinelli is a good one for younger or reluctant Y readers. The main character, David is nine, living with his paternal grandmother; his mom died in a tragic accident and his dad works out of town during the week. "Nana" makes every mistake in the book to try to draw David out of his depression. David thinks if he follows all the rules, except for his grandmother's, his mother will come back to him.

Through some very odd circumstances, David makes friends with a 13 year old girl, Primrose Periwinkle Dufee. Her mother is a nut who lives in an abandoned garage and makes her living as a fake psychic--she sees everyone living a long and happy life. Primrose lives outside in an abandoned van that she is decorating and trying valiently to make into a real home.

As in Stargirl these kids have an adult friend, a handicapped man living in the nearby junkyard. My radar went on when the kids started hanging out with him but he is perfectly harmless and the three of them settle in and become so much like a family that the two kids start bickering like siblings.

Short, sweet and to the point and all wrapped up neatly in the end, Spinelli's latest book would make a great book discussion.

Acacia by David Anthony Durham

I found out about this book in Entertainment Weekly magazine, where it had a full-page spread in their books section. It sounded like an interesting, gritty epic fantasy, so I placed a hold. The author has written only historical fiction previous to the release of this book (Pride of Carthage, A Walk Through Darkness), so I was curious to see what he could make of the fantasy genre.

It was a bit of a slow start for me, exacerbated by my tendency to read only a few pages at a time, right before bed. This went on for a few months, until I got about halfway in--then I really wanted to know what was going to happen, and then finished it in a few days.

It is the story of 4 siblings torn apart by war, each of them growing to become very different people before re-connecting while attempting to take back their former kingdom. I am not very good at the summarizing thing, so I'll just direct you to the Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Acacia-Book-One-War-Mein/dp/0385506066/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-9523319-2248011?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190075660&sr=1-1

Of note, the author grew up in Maryland, got his Bachelor's from UMBC and his Master's at College Park, none of which I knew until I'd finished the book! Also, it is the first part of an anticipated trilogy.

I would recommend it to fans of the genre.

Catherine :-)

Stardust

"Stardust" by Neil Gaiman comes out in movie form today, so we may be about to see some increased interest in it. It's not marked as a Y-Fic book for us, but I think this would be a good recommendation for a teen looking for fantasy works. NOT for younger kids, since there's grisly violence, lots of murder, and some 'adult situations'.

The main hero is Tristan, a young man who sets off into the fairy world to find a fallen star. It's a charming "grown-up" fairy tale, not nearly as dark as Gaiman tends to be, but with a good deal of his usual humor thrown in. For example, the star, having fallen such a long distance, has a broken leg and is in a foul mood about it. There are power-hungry princes, witches who are obsessed with being young and beautiful... There's a bit of a "Princess Bride" vibe to it, which is definitely not a bad thing. It's a quick read, and very engaging.

Rachel, did you know that they're making a movie of Coraline as well? If we ever get an American Gods movie, I'll be beside myself. :)

(Everyone: good call on The Thirteenth Tale... I just finished it!)

The Book of One Hundred Truths by Julie Schumacher

I read about this book on a media specialist's blog earlier this week, ordered it and immediately read it. I hadn't really read anything since my Harry Potter binge, so I was looking for something to get me back into the swing of things.

The Book of One Hundred Truths is a story about a twelve year old girl who is staying with her grandparents (and various other relatives) at the Jersey Shore for two weeks during the summer. Her mother must have sensed before she left that she was having some adolescent issues because at the airport she gives her daughter a blank notebook and instructs her to write down 100 truths this summer. Truths are different than facts and she should expect some sort of discovery at the end of the exercise. Thea (the daughter) reacts as many 12 year olds would... with hesitation mixed with annoyance. She eventually starts writing in the notebook as she learns things about herself and the crazy family she's spending time with. You will never guess the ending until its upon you!

This book really gets better and better as it goes along. I finished it during dinner this afternoon and couldn't believe when Catherine interrupted me! This is a fast read, cataloged as Y Fic, but I really think it could be J.

The Next Thing on My List

Well yesterday was such a beautiful day that I couldn't resist spending it outside. My parents are in Costa Rica on vacation so my brother and I are home alone. Both of us are big readers, so yesterday morning we sat down on the deck with a book and the next thing I knew it was 3 p.m. and I had read a whole book! It's been a long time since I've done that and my sunburn hurts a bit, but it was worth it.

I read "The Next Thing on my List" by Jill Smolinski. This is by no means a deep book, but it is one that will make you think about your life a little, which I need. In this book, June and a woman she had just met at a Weight Watchers meeting were in a car accident in which the new friend, Marissa died. Before June returned Marissa's belongings to her family, she found a list of things Marissa had wanted to do before her 25th birthday. June decides that she needs to accomplish all the things that Marissa wanted to but didn't because she was killed. This is obviously a book I would read because of the age of the characters, the fact that they made this list which makes me feel like I should make my own list, and because of the colors of the cover. Its hard not to devour a chick-lit read, and that's what I did with this one. So I admit that at times I just need an escape-ist book and this was it.

I also started another book, Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, which is going to be a fairly easy read as well. I'm sure to finish that and maybe more on Wednesday!

Oh and my brother read "Cabin Pressure" by Scott Wolk about a man who tries to reclaim his childhood by returning to summer camp as a counselor the summer before he gets married. We're going to camp in three weeks as counselors so we're hyping ourselves up for it. This book also got a good review. Catherine is lending me another book called "Not a Happy Camper" by Mindy Schneider, which is also on my TBR list.