Young Adult Books

TenNapel, Doug. Cardboard.1 August 2012, GraphixCam's father Mike is out of work and out of money, and all he can bring back home for Cam's birthday is a cardboard box. It's not just any box, however-- the weird guy who sold it to the father says there are two rules to it. They can't ask for more cardboard, and they have to bring all of the scraps back. The two soon find out why. A boxer that they make out of the cardboard comes to life, and they let it mow their yard, bringing it to the attention of creepy bully neighbor boy Marcus. He steals the cardboard machine Mike and Cam have made to manufacture more cardboard, and when his parents are out of town, Marcus goes crazy making more cardboard creatures... who of course, start taking over his house and imperiling the neighborhood. Adding to their problems is the fact that Cam's mother has passed away, and Mike refuses to acknowledge that the nice woman next door might be interested in him. Can Cam and Mike stop the Cardboard-pocalypse?Strengths: Strong story, and the text and illustrations work well together. This is the difference between quality graphic novels that are conceived as a whole and graphic novel versions of things cobbled together. Glad I picked this one up in a Scholastic order.Weaknesses: The side story with the father's unemployment and the neighbor lady is pretty intense, and my readers of graphic novels will probably not care that much. Still, makes it interesting on several levels.

Stone Junction: An Alchemical Potboiler Jim Dodge Rebel, Inc. 1997 Everybody has a few books which make a deep and lasting impression on them. Books which they read at just the right time, in just the right mood to ensure a well-worn copy remains on the nearest shelf for decades to come. Books which will inevitably worm their way into every single conversation about literature, no matter how tenuous the connection. For me there are three: Catch-22, my first ever 'serious' book and catalyst for my ever-strengthening pacifist views; Bad Wisdom for it's utterly compelling honesty and insanity; and Stone Junction: An Alchemical Potboiler, an indescribable wonder whose lack of general recognition both saddens me and makes me happy to belong to 'the club'. It is a masterpiece of magical realism, verging at times on urban fantasy and exhilarates as much as it breaks your heart. That it is one of only four volumes published by Jim Dodge (among them a collection of poems and a short children's book) makes it all the more precious. Stone Junction is the story of Daniel Pearse, a young man emerging from a strange and wondrous childhood. Daniel finds himself adopted by the mysterious AMO, the Association of Magicians and Outlaws, an organisation his mother served throughout his early years. What follows is a coming-of-age story as Daniel finds himself passed from mentor to mentor through the ranks of the AMO, learning every imaginable trick of the trade along the way. From alchemy to card-sharking, he leaves no stone unturned in his quest for knowledge. Daniel is not just after an unorthodox education however; powering every step is his desire to finally discover what really happened on a pivotal night years before. Throughout the course of his schooling Daniel is deposited with a number of unforgettable father-figures, some more than willing to take on a temporary apprentice, others less so. Here Dodge plays with the idea of Daniel's lack of a real father-figure, having never actually known his own. No matter how the mentors feel about their new charge, their vignettes are invariably as entertaining as they are inspiring and informative. Dodge draws on his own experience of inhabiting all manner of insalubrious worlds to paint each scene with enviable authenticity and warmth, suggesting an uncanny familiarity with everything from safe-cracking to drug ingestion. Even an extended game of Lo-Ball during the cards section is magically imbued with a level of interest and tension which should, given the subject matter, be impossible. When I first read this book back in university I even found myself hovering around the card games shelves in Waterstone's, pondering the feasibility of a career in Vegas (thankfully I had a combination of common sense and sloth to save me). During the course of his training, Daniel begins to uncover his own hidden talents as well as honing those he has learnt and soon rises through the ranks of the AMO. Before long he is involved in the search for the Faith Diamond, a jewel of incredible size and purity which captures the imagination of all those who cross its path. Daniel is drawn to it instinctively and as time wears on it becomes more and more clear that the hunt for the diamond holds the answer to the fate of his long-lost mother and that which may await him as well. Jim Dodge’s great strength is the warmth and authenticity which he manages to bestow on such a fantastical epic. You know you’re immersed in a world where magic is real, alchemy works and ornery old mules can speak but your disbelief remains suspended throughout. This is largely due to the strength of the characters themselves. Despite their otherworldly talents they remain the most down-to-earth, utterly real people you could hope to meet. You’ll find echoes of them in your own family and acquaintances and will even miss them once the story moves on and leave

Too many secrets. Not enough time. Nick Merrick is supposed to be the level-headed one. The peacemaker. Since it’s just him and his three hotheaded brothers against the world, that’s a survival tactic. But now he’s got problems even his brothers can’t help him survive. His so-called girlfriend, Quinn, is going quick as mercury from [...]

TITLES TO TEMPT YOU MAID OF SECRETS by Jennifer McGowan (From Goodreads) Seventeen-year-old Meg Fellowes is a wry, resourceful thief forced to join an elite group of female spies in Queen Elizabeth’s Court. There she must solve a murder, save the Crown, and resist the one thing that will become her greatest freedom–and her deadliest peril. For Meg and her fellow spies are not alone in their pursuit of the murderer who stalks Windsor Castle. A young, mysterious Spanish courtier, Count Rafe de Martine, appears at every turn in the dark and scandal-filled corridors of the Queen’s summer palace. And though secrets and danger are Meg’s stock-in-trade, she’s never bargained on falling in love… MAID OF SECRETS is receiving great reviews on Goodreads and Amazon! I am really looking forward to delving into this book! I am a big fan of historical fiction! We want you to have a chance to read this book, too! So be sure to enter our giveaway below for your chance to win a hardcover copy of MAID OF SECRETS! Here are some helpful links: Check out Jennifer’s website Like Jennifer on Facebook Jennifer McGowan on Twitter You can also check out MAID OF SECRETS on Goodreads and Amazon on the links above! Giveaway Rules: 1. You must be 13+ years old to enter. Void where prohibited by law. 2. You must be able to provide a US mailing address. 3. You must complete the required tasks on the Rafflecopter below. All other tasks are optional but will earn you extra entries. Only entries on Rafflecopter will count. (If you do not see the Rafflecopter below, try refreshing the page or view it with a different web browser.) Good Luck and Happy Reading! ~Donna a Rafflecopter giveaway

Seven Night Stand by Nicole Helm Publisher: Entangled Release Date: February 6, 2013 Pages: 217 Source: Publisher Buy the Book: Amazon | B&N Rating: 4 stars Reality TV scout Vivvy Marsh loves her job, but she’ll lose it if she doesn’t find a hit. When she’s sent to Kansas to scout a show, it looks like a bust…until she meets sexy pilot, Nate Harrington. His family would make the perfect show to save her career. Nate can’t deny his attraction to Vivvy, but no way can he let this show take off. The Harrington family is riddled with secrets, and she wants it all out in the open. For the next seven days, he’s going to stop at nothing to keep her out of his family’s business, even if it means keeping her distracted in his bedroom. Seven-Night Stand is a super cute romance between two dedicated and spunky characters. I love the role of family in Seven-Night Stand – it is really nice to see a book where family is still the center and very much important. Seven-Night Stand also has a bit of a different setting than most romances, which was refreshing. Both Vivvy and Nate were great together – the sparks just fly off the page and they both are so dedicated to what they do. Definitely a great read from Nicole Helm – I didn’t want to put it down once I started. Related posts: Making Waves by Nicole Leigh Shepherd Book Review One Night With a Hero by Laura Kaye Book Review + Giveaway The Best Night of Your (Pathetic) Life by Tara Altebrando Book Review

Welcome to Second Hand Saturday! In an attempt to clear our bookshelves, and pass on great used books to our stalkers followers, we have decided to hold weekly giveaways of some of the books on our bookshelves! Every Saturday, we will post the books available, and the following Saturday, we will announce the winner and our next challenge. The winner will get to choose a book

Title: Such a Rush Author: Jennifer Echols (Twitter) Publisher: MTV Books Publish Date: July 10, 2012 Genre: YA, Contemporary Pages: 325 Source: Publicist Heaven Beach, South Carolina, is anything but, if you live at the low-rent end of town. All her life, Leah Jones has been the grown-up in her family, while her mother moves from boyfriend to boyfriend, letting any available money slip out of her hands. At school, they may diss Leah as trash, but she’s the one who negotiates with the landlord when the rent’s not paid. At fourteen, she’s the one who gets a job at the nearby airstrip. By the time she’s a high school senior, Leah has become a good enough pilot that Mr. Hall offers her a job flying a banner plane. It seems like a dream come true...but turns out to be just as fleeting as any dream. Mr. Hall dies suddenly, leaving everything he owned in the hands of his teenage sons: golden boy Alec and adrenaline junkie Grayson. And they’re determined to keep the banner planes flying. Leah doesn't have an idyllic life, and she's okay with that - so long as she can take to the skies, escape reality and find her peace every chance she gets thanks to the generosity of Mr. Hall. When he dies unexpectedly though, Leah's already tumultuous life is thrown off balance once again. Enter Alec and Grayson Hall, Mr. Hall's twin sons, who are ready to run the business together. But Leah knows something is up when Grayson starts pushing his own dubious agenda on her, coaxing her toward Alec and blackmailing her when she protests. Will she be able to escape the warring brothers, or will she just remain caught in the crossfire? There's a subtle beauty to Such a Rush that really shone through for me, making this one of those standout contemporary novels in terms of honesty. Author Jennifer Echols has this innate ability to write flawed characters, grasping at their weaknesses and transforming them into these beings that we can relate to, we can root for and we become invested in. With immense skill, we're pulled into a story of a girl who's grown up in the school of hard knocks, and she's learned to never let anyone in. Yet, Such a Rush slowly but surely draws us into the heart of this hardened character, and we witness as she transforms from the inside out. At first, I'll be honest, I didn't know what to think of Leah. I thought her tough-girl facade was phony and disingenuous and, though I empathized with her situation, I had a hard time actually feeling anything for her. However, as Leah's home situation is revealed throughout Such a Rush, it becomes apparent that this facade acts as her shield, protecting a very sensitive and tender person who has had to grow up far too fast simply to compensate for her absent and neglectful mother. I also hated Grayson at first. His character was so manipulative and surly, and when I saw how he used Leah for his own means with no true explanation as to why, I was immediately on my guard. Ever-so-slowly though, we watch as his anger melts away into a semblance of vulnerability, which reaches Leah on her own level, giving us something to root for. The attraction between them isn't immediately apparent, but there's definitely emotion smoldering beneath the surface. At first, it's red-hot rage, then a slow-burning anger, which eventually leads to a level upon which the two can actually relate and we can sense their overall character development, which sends the story flying from start to finish. I do think that Alec's character was a bit under-developed in terms of how Leah and Grayson's were though, and that frustrated me to no end, especially when their interactions caused a few lags in the plot. All in all, I really enjoyed Such a Rush despite a few hiccups along the way. It's a fast-paced read that had me hooked from start to finish. I give it a 3.5 out of 5, and I definitely recommend it to fans of YA, especially those who enjoy contemporary fiction. I rec

Saturday Situation is hosted by both Lori at Pure Imagination and myself. It's a linky for you to link your book related Giveaways and Reviews (and whatever neglected posts you may have). You'll find the same linky's at Pure Imagination, so don't enter them twice! Keep in mind that you can add your links through the entire week. You can find the newest Saturday Situation posts by the tab at the top of my blog labeled Saturday Situation. document.write(''); document.write(''); Thanks for subscribing!

Rgz SALON member Lyn Miller-Lachmann has been the Editor-in-Chief of MultiCultural Review; the author of the award-winning multicultural bibliography Our Family, Our Friends, Our World; the editor of Once Upon a Cuento, a collection of short stories by Latino authors; and the author of Gringolandia, a young adult novel about a refugee family living with the aftermath of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. Her most recent novel, Rogue--a spring/summer Junior Library Guild selection for middle school--is out this month!We're honored to have Lyn here as part of the rgz SALON, a feature where top kidlit experts clue us in to the best YA novels they've read recently. Today, she discusses The Language Inside by Holly Thompson:"Emma Karas is a 'third culture kid.' Her parents grew up in the United States, but she calls Japan home even though she is not ethnically Japanese. When her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer and decides to return to the U.S. for treatment, Emma is uprooted from her Japanese friends and her efforts to help survivors of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and dropped into a world that she doesn’t understand. The stress causes her to suffer severe and frightening migraines. To take her mind off her mother’s health, her parents’ separation due to work, and her loneliness, she volunteers at a nursing home near her grandmother’s house in Massachusetts. There, she meets Samnang, a volunteer of Cambodian heritage with a troubled past, and Zena, a middle-aged poet with 'locked-in' syndrome. As she becomes comfortable in her new surroundings, she feels guilty that she is not helping her friends in Japan as they rebuild from the tsunami. Ultimately, this thoughtful, good-hearted teenager finds herself torn and having to make choices that weigh her own needs and the needs of others."Thompson is a poet and novelist from the U.S. who lives in Japan, Her second novel in verse is a strong follow-up to the acclaimed Orchards, which mostly takes place in her adopted home. The elegant and heartfelt poetry in The Language Insideallows the reader to explore Emma’s internal transformation as she navigates different cultures and the people in her life. Emma writes, 'it’s not just losing / Japanese words / and phrases / it’s as if I’ve lost / half of myself here / but no one knows / because I’m a white girl' There is very little dialogue, but through Emma’s eyes we see other characters clearly and Emma’s changing relationships with them. The most original aspect of this powerful and compelling story is Emma’s interaction with Zena via poetry, as we see the growing friendship between two people who, in distinct ways, understand that 'lonely is when the language outside / isn’t the language inside.'"

With 17 books under his belt, I have a lot to catch up with Pete Hamill. I have recently bought North River and Forever and started the former. The story is simple enough: a stroller with a three-year-old boy was left at the door of James Delancey’s walkup on asnowy morning. The boy, Carlito, is his grandson. His mother left for Barcelona to look for her revolutionary husband who was a member of the Mexican Communist Party. So the beleaguered doctor who ministered to the poor and the down-and-out now has one more person under his roof, a little boy who needs more than just nourishing—an emotional upbringing and a safe home. Hamill’s New York is one that is cottage industry in literature and film—the Irish misery. But the ground has been covered so often at this point that it risks cliché. Presumably the only trick left is to go even farther than your predecessors did, pile on the misery even thicker. At 77, Hamill is at his best when he writes about his city. He knows New York present and past, and he is able to make us taste the early-20th-century time frame of “North River”, which is the Hudson River.