November 8, 2008
Palace of Mirrors- Margaret Peterson Haddix
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Cecelia is not a normal peasant girl. Actually, she’s the real princess, raised up in this remote village so as to keep her safe, while Princess Desmia is merely a fake used to trick the people who killed her father and mother, the King and Queen.
But when Cecelia goes to claim the throne, she meets with challenges she had never imagined.
I approached this book with caution. I wasn’t sure what to expect, because I’d read Just Ella, which took place in the same universe (and which focuses on Ella Brown, who reappears in this book), I found it boring. Even now I remember it as predictable and not very impressive.
But Palace of Mirrors surprised me. The plot was entertaining and diverting, and the characters intriguing. It’s the sort of book that has both nice parts and parts that don’t seem to fit. The ending seemed too happily-ever-after, and the explanation didn’t seem quite possible. Yet, I think the idea was a good one, and almost pulled off.
Cecelia’s a good narrator, and it was interesting to revisit Ella Brown. It’s not a must-read, but it would be a nice read all the same.
October 5, 2008
Sweethearts-Sara Zarr
by Sara ZarrJennifer Harris and Cameron Quick were best friends. They were the outcasts of class, each other’s only friend. But then Cameron left, and everyone told Jennifer he was dead. And heartbroken, Jennifer believed that she’d lost her only friend, the only person who ever understood her.
Now Jennifer’s in high school. Known as Jenna, she’s popular and fun, with lots of friends and even a boyfriend. But then Cameron reappears, a shocking resurrection, and both have to confront things they’ve done their best to forget.
I read this entire book in one sitting. My original idea was that I’d read one chapter, then leave the rest for the next day, but instead I couldn’t close the book. I usually avoid such readings, because I find it slightly unhealthy, but I couldn’t put it down. Sweethearts was an intriguing, quick, yet deep read.
I had mixed feelings about the end. It seemed to fit the book, and yet I felt like there was more to know. Sweethearts is about love, and just like love, it seems simple initially, until you discover that it isn’t simple at all.
September 20, 2008
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie-Jordan Sonnenblick
by Jordan Sonnenblick
Of all the annoying things in Steven’s life, his little brother Jeffrey is the worst. Not only is he several years younger and succeeds to embarrass Steven in front of his crush, he also adoringly follows Steven around.
But suddenly, Jeffrey gets a nosebleed and it won’t stop. He’s rushed to the hospital, and Steven is confronted with horrible news: Jeffrey is sick-terribly sick. All of a sudden, Steven is forced to deal with all the stuff he’s taken for granted before, along with a lot more.
I did write a previous review about this book, but I found it stupid and decided to start again. That said, I have two things to say:
1. I possibly would not have finished this book if it was not my required reading for Language Arts, and
2. I am absolutely glad I did read it, and that I read it all.
I think, initially, that I was put off this book because of Steven’s excessive complaining. And also, perhaps, because Steven was a boy and I don’t usually read books narrated by boys, so his world was a little alien. But I really liked Jeffrey, and I suppose Steven grew on me. I’ve never experienced anything near to what Steven did, but I now I guess I know a little of how it would feel.
So this isn’t a favorite book. But it is a memorable book. And I am glad I read it.
September 13, 2008
Princess Ben- Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Benevolence (Ben) is the niece of the king of Montagne. But when the king and Ben’s mother is killed in a mysterious attack, and Ben’s father disappears, Ben becomes the heir to the throne, because Queen Sophia, her uncle’s wife, has not produced any children.
The conninving Queen Sophia becomes the queen regent, and Ben, being the heir apparent, is subjected to torturous princess training.
But Ben, locked up in a tower at night, discovers a secret room, where she teaches herself magic. She is certain that her father and mother where attacked by the Drachensbett, the neighbors and enemies of Montagne. And she will avenge her parents.
Initially, when I started reading, I had a strong feeling this was just another novel about a tomboy princess. But it wasn’t. I was pleasantly surprised.
I loved the way the story mixed in elements from fairy tales. And I really enjoyed Ben’s first-person’s narrative. It’s one of those old-fashioned-y narratives that include words not used very much anymore but not quite archaic yet.
Ben was fun, this book was fun. I really enjoyed reading it.
August 23, 2008
Nobody’s Princess-Esther Friesner
by Esther Friesner
She’s Helen, princess of Sparta, destined to become the queen. But Helen finds the tasks women are supposed to do-weaving, embroider, etc.,-boring. Instead, she wants to learn how to fight, how to battle, like her older brothers.
So Helen sets out to do what she wants, counting on sheer determination rather than her looks or the gods. And while her attitude may alienate some, they also earn her some invaluable friends.
This book is about the girl who would become Helen of Troy, the girl who would eventually bring about the destruction of a great city with her beauty.
I found a few faults with this book. One, I think, is because this Helen was different from what I’d expected. The Iliad basically portrays Helen as nothing more than a pretty face quickly overcome by Paris with Aphrodite’s help. The Helen of Nobody’s Princess, by contrast, was intelligent and fierce with a big temper. So maybe I was prejudiced, but Helen of Nobody’s Princess didn’t seem to be able to become the Helen of the Iliad.
Another thing might be because I’m a little bored of princess who want to do the stuff boys do. While it’s been some time since I picked up such a book, and this book was definitely unique, I still found a rebellious princess like Helen a little bit of a cliche.
So I wouldn’t recommend this book to someone tired to such princesses, like me. And now that I think on it, I probably wouldn’t recommend it to anyone one very pious because of the easy use of Greek gods in this novel. But to someone who likes those adventurous, girl-power novels? This book was descriptive and fun. I’d say, “Go for it!”
August 16, 2008
Lock and Key- Sarah Dessen
by Sarah Dessen
Ruby has been abandoned by her mother. For months she’s lived alone in her yellow house. But now she’s been discovered and she’s transfered to her sister’s house, with her sister and her sister’s husband: Cora and Jamie. Now she has to go to a new school, with new people, with nobody whom she knows except maybe Nate, the friendly neighbor boy.
But Ruby doesn’t want to change. She wants to be by herself, like before. But unfortunately, that’s not happening.
I’m not completely sure about this book. I liked the writing, and I liked Ruby, but there was something about it that I really couldn’t get into. I’m guessing it was because Ruby’s situation and reasoning was just really different from mine. A lot of Ruby’s actions I just couldn’t really reason with.
There wasn’t anything wrong with the writing, and I could tell it was well thought out. I really liked Olivia (Ruby’s eventual friend) and Jamie (her brother-in-law). I liked other characters too. But I’ve never experienced anything like what Ruby or Nate did, so it was a little hard there understanding them completely.
Lock and Key, I think, is about a girl understanding that life isn’t always what is expected. It’s about the fact that anything can happen if you try, and that everyone does what they think is best-although sometimes it’s good for you, and sometimes, sadly, it’s not. It’s about helping others, and how you shouldn’t be afraid to let others help you. These are big themes, and I think Sarah Dessen did a good job trying to express it.
August 8, 2008
Stargirl-Jerry Spinelli
by Jerry Spinelli, read by John Ritter
The description on the back:
Stargirl. She’s as magical as the desert sky. As strange as her pet rat. As mysterious as her own name.
From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of “Stargirl, Stargirl.” She captures Leo Borlock’s heart with just one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with just one cheer. The students of Mica High are enchanted.
At first.
Then they turn on her. Stargirl is suddenly shunned for everything that makes her different. And Leo, panicked and desperate with love, urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her: normal.
I enjoyed this story. Stargirl is a wonderful, bright, eager girl. Once or twice called Leo Borlock an idiot for doing what he did, yet I could understand why he did it. I think everyone would be able to.
I think that Stargirl was a creature of imagination. But at the same time, she was real. I think Stargirl is the person some of us would be if we dared. Except, like Leo, we don’t dare. And it’s our loss.
Stargirl is a role model. She’s the most unaware among everyone at Mica High, and they shun her for it. They almost destroy her, but luckily Stargirl is stronger than that. And in Stargirl’s journey, she drags Leo along too—albeit unwillingly.
This is a sweet, sweet book. I like the end. A flicker of hope toward the positive, and only another surprise with Stargirl Because of who she is, and who we are, it is. But really? it shouldn’t be.
So yes, I recommend it. It questions who we are. And not who we think we are; who we are inside. There’s a difference. In Stargirl, there’s no difference.
July 9, 2008
Uprising
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Here is the blurb that’s on the back of the cover:
New York City, 1910.
Bella, newly arrived from Italy and desperate to send money home to her family, is one of the hundreds of workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory who endure grueling conditions and brutal labor for meager wages.
Yetta, a Russian immigrant who also works at the Triangle factory, is an outspoken advocate for labor rights who becomes one of the leaders of the strike.
Jane, a society girl unhappy with the stifling limits of her existence, also gets involved in their cause.
As the strike drags on, the lives of the three girls become intertwined. All of them are in the factory one fateful day in March when a spark ignites some cloth. The resulting fire became one of the worst workplace disasters ever.
I really liked this book. It is a book about friendship and rights, about life and death. It’s serious and honest and bittersweet. It’s not completely realistic, and there were some places where I sat back and thought, Yeah, sure. (Sarcastically).
Because they didn’t seem correct. They just really didn’t. And yet… I really liked this book. In spite of the things I hardly believed and couldn’t believe and just didn’t believe, I still enjoyed this book. I think it’s not so much about the writing but more about the content. I found this book confusing, as if the time and stuff were unstable, but I liked it all the same. I don’t think I like it because of the literature (although the writing was okay) or the plot, but rather what was inside, about how everyone matters, no matter how little they do.
And it was a little scary. All those girls… not even twenty, not even old enough to go to college. I think Yetta was only sixteen. It impressed me how its ending was a little like, ‘Things happen, but life goes on. You can’t relive the past; you learn how to live with it and be grateful for whatever happens.’ I really felt like that as I was reading it, and yet it really wasn’t over condescending or corny or clichéd.
I enjoyed this book. I really did. It’s not on my favorites list, but it’s definitely on the memorable list.
July 3, 2008
Keeping the Moon
by Sarah Dessen
Colie is spending the summer with her eccentric aunt in a remote town where no one knows her. Which is okay, because that means that they definitely don’t know her as the former fat girl, the unpopular one, with nicknames such as Easy or Hole in One.
But she somehow gets a job at the Last Chance Dinner and meets two waitresses, along with her aunt’s tenant, who teaches her a lot more than she expected to learn.
I have to say, I was a little disappointed in this book. It was definitely different from the other books by Sarah Dessen that I’ve read. It’s short and to the point, which is different; I’m used to Sarah Dessen skipping and backtracking in a way that is easily followed.
Colie strikes me as a realistic character, and her situation seems realistic too. I also really love Isabel and Morgan, the waitresses–and Norman, the tenant.
But.
It seems like Colie changes too fast; in a way it seems slightly superficial, as if she’s doing it only because Isabel and Morgan are there, and they’re motivating her and pushing her.
And as for the romance… I do like romance; it’s sweet and I usually like the couples in Sarah Dessen’s books, but in this one, I don’t know. It seems it would make more sense if Colie and [insert person she ended up with] ended up as friends. As a couple, it seems kind of rapid, too fast, and not completely rounded.
So I have to say that I didn’t really like this book. I liked it; it was fun to read, but afterward it’s not really the sort of book that seems to stay with you, that you remember and can quote from memory. I liked Colie; I really did, I only liked her as a mild acquaintance, not as a long term one.
June 29, 2008
Outside Beauty
by Cynthia Kadohata
“My mother had four daughters, by four different men.”
Shelby and her sisters know their mother well. Their mother collects men (along with gifts and money) all the time. But that’s fine: they’re used to it. In fact, it’s the only life they’ve ever known. Shelby doesn’t want any other life.
But maybe she’ll have to have one. A midnight phone call scatters Shelby and her three sisters to their respective fathers. But they will find a way to get back together.
I have to say, I first chose this book because of the author, because I loved Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata. I picked the book after I saw the author’s name (plus, it has an awesome cover); then read the blurb and expected something totally different; then I read the book and was instantly reminded of Kira-Kira.
Outside Beauty, in its tone and humor, is a lot like Kira-Kira. And despite what one might expect, after reading the blurb, it’s a family book, in its own way. I enjoyed reading it, and I liked the plot, but I was disappointed.
For one thing, it wasn’t very capturing. I mean, I was interested enough to keep reading, but if I had to, I was well able to set it down for however long was wanted. It was the sort of book you read halfheartedly: caring, but not really.
And I didn’t really like the ending. It didn’t seem realistic to me. It didn’t seem to me like it would happen in real life, that the characters truly said that. It seemed to me that the ending was a little too much resolved, too easily resolved.
I think what I enjoyed most were the fathers. The fathers of Marilyn, Shelby, Lakey and Maddie who were all well-rounded, realistic people, despite their not-so-realistic daughters. As for their mother, well she was definitely believable, but I didn’t really go for her. I tend to like characters who remind me of myself. But their mother did not, in any way, remind me of anyone I knew, and more than that, I definitely did not approve of her actions, which made her a little hard to be liked.
But yes, I do believe it’s a family book, in its own way. Not the normal kind of family book. But it encourages family, and what’s more, it does it in a way different from other family books, which makes it interesting. This was a nice book, and while it’s not a favorite, it’s special in its own way.
Books With Wings 
