Kelly Jensen's Blog, page 144
June 2, 2013
30 Days of Awesome: The Wrap-up
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Artwork by John LeMasey
I'm indulging in one more post for Show Me the Awesome.
While at BEA this week, School Library Journal picked up the project and wrote this really wonderful piece, spotlighting it on their home page.
What started as a project we began as a means of letting people show off what it is they're good at and what it is they're passionate about grew beyond our expectations in the best possible way. The posts in this series highlight not only the smart, savvy, and talented individuals who make up this profession, but it highlights, too, just how wide-ranging librarianship is. There are beginners sharing their new ideas and there are seasoned pros talking about their favorite, most proud moments. These posts are for fresh out of library school grads and those who have been serving as librarians for a long time.
There is something for everyone in this series.
I'm exceptionally proud of what Liz, Sophie, and myself did with #30Awesome. It might be the project I am most proud of at this point in my career.
Why is that?
The project stemmed from a place of conversation that's been happening for a long time now, and that's about gender and recognition. It's about respect for and with our fellow librarians and what it is they do and are passionate about.
The project was our means of letting people talk about the things that fire them up and do so in a way that could reach a wide audience and that would remind those within and outside librarianship how dynamic this field really is.
We have posts about gender here. We have posts about children's librarianship, about technology, about teen reading programs, service learning, being an expert inside and outside the classroom, about the value of speaking up and out. We have posts that are practical how-tos because as a profession, we pride ourselves in not just talking about what our own achievements are, but we thrive on sharing those insider tips with others.
We are a profession of sharing, of engaging, and of encouraging one another to become better and better.
Rather than spend our time as a profession throwing barbs at one another and cutting one another down, this project was meant to unify librarians. It's easy to take the other route -- it is much easier to cut someone down or denigrate their passions than it is to stand up and not only own your awesome but to celebrate and share the awesome of other people. Even if we're all serving different communities in different environments, we're all reaching for the same thing: a little recognition for our hard and selfless work of serving other people.
This project was meant to serve us. To show off just what it is that makes us individuals and to be celebrated and shared and encouraged for that very thing.
Thank you to everyone who took part, either by writing a post or sharing a post. I hope that you've been as inspired and motivated to try things as I have been. I hope you've discovered a ton of new voices and blogs and people to keep you thinking and you've found a network of intelligent, eager librarians to learn from.
For me, the ultimate outcome of this project is the simplest one: it's about sharing. Rather than worry about who is getting what, it's a reminder of how awesome it is to share not only what it is that makes other people awesome, but how awesome it feels to share these things because it makes me feel good.
I'll end with a link that caught my eyes this week, and it's one that sort of sums up a lot of what I've learned in the last month (and beyond): it's about shine theory and why it's so valuable to lift other women up, rather than to cut them down. It's applicable across the gender spectrum, since the point is we further ourselves and become more awesome only when we're willing to encourage other people.
June 1, 2013
Get Genrefied: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Every month, we're highlighting one genre within YA fiction as part of Angela's reader's advisory challenge. We've talked about horror, science fiction, high fantasy, mysteries and thrillers, and verse novels. This month, it's my favorite genre: contemporary realistic fiction.
Since this is a topic I talk pretty extensively about already, I'm going to be a little self-indulgent and link to some of the stuff I've written on this topic.
First, what is contemporary realistic fiction? I wrote about defining contemporary, realistic, and historical fiction last year. I still stand by what I said, even if I'm a little wild in delineating a time frame that distinguished "contemporary" from "realistic." In short: contemporary fiction takes place in the recognizable world during the present time. Realistic is a little broader, in that it takes place in the recognizable world but may show elements of aging -- think things like pay phones, MySpace appearances, a lack of cell phones, and references to older bands or television shows. I like to think of contemporary as a subdivision of realistic fiction, much as there are contemporary fantasies, contemporary romances, and other "contemporary" genres.
Novelist doesn't divide contemporary from realistic in its definition. Their official definition of realistic fiction is "real life set to fiction. It’s about anything that can happen in real life -- good, bad, and in-between. It’s real emotions and behaviors in real settings and encompasses the experiences of characters from all different backgrounds. It can also include extremes, both positive and negative, from high living with a focus on wealth, designer clothes, and private schools to the darker extremes of drug use, family breakdowns, and sexual assault. The only limit is reality, which, depending on one’s point of view, is either a jump-off point into the fantastical or just where it starts to get interesting all on its own."
Realistic fiction can encompass other genres -- plenty of mysteries and romances are perfectly realistic and/or contemporary in their own right. The topics explored with realistic/contemporary YA span from the dark to the light and humorous. It's a genre that has a book for all kinds of readers, and it takes reading a wide range of books to understand how diverse and rich it is. These aren't all sad stories. They're not all stories rife with pain and angst. They're not all "fluffy romances." There is a range of voices, stories, storytelling styles, and more within contemporary/realistic.
Over the last couple of years, I've made it my goal to highlight the exciting and interesting aspects of contemporary fiction. I put together a contemporary YA week in 2011, and I revisited this with another series on contemporary YA in 2012. Both series included extensive reading lists and suggestions, arranged thematically. I've blogged about contemporary series books, with extensive additional suggestions in the comments. I am in the midst of writing a book for VOYA press on contemporary/realistic YA fiction, too -- I could talk over 200 pages worth of thoughts on the genre, which is why I wanted to have it put on paper. I also have an annotated book list in the June 2013 issue of VOYA magazine covering some recent contemporary/realistic titles that are more than worth reading.
I'm going to try to highlight some of the titles out in the last year, as well as a handful of forthcoming titles and hit on those which I haven't talked a whole lot about either here or in other venues. I'm also not including the obvious titles here -- though I have included the new Sarah Dessen. These are very current books. I want to showcase the range of stories within the genre, so these cover a little bit of everything -- family relationships, friendship, survival, grief, mental illness, and more. A number of these are books I've read already, and I've included relevant links. All descriptions are from WorldCat or Goodreads.
These are separated out, so these first books are out now (or coming out this month) and the second batch are titles coming out later this year. I've also included a handful of 2014 titles I am looking forward to, and I've noted where authors included in list have titles coming out in the next year.
The Book of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler: Jude has learned a lot from her older sisters, but the most important thing is this: The Vargas brothers are notorious heartbreakers. But as Jude begins to fall for Emilio Vargas, she begins to wonder if her sisters were wrong.
Bruised by Sarah Skilton: When she freezes during a hold-up at the local diner, sixteen-year-old Imogen, a black belt in Tae Kwan Do, has to rebuild her life, including her relationship with her family and with the boy who was with her during the shoot-out.
Burning Blue by Paul Griffin: When beautiful, smart Nicole, disfigured by acid thrown in her face, and computer hacker Jay meet in the school psychologist's office, they become friends and Jay resolves to find her attacker.
Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn (available this month): A lonely teenager exiled to a remote Vermont boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy must either surrender his sanity to the wild wolves inside his mind or learn that surviving means more than not dying.
Criminal by Terra Elan McVoy: Eighteen-year-old Nikki's unconditional love for Dee helps her escape from her problems, but when he involves her in a murder Nikki winds up in prison, confronted with hard facts that challenge whether Dee ever loved her, and she can only save herself by telling the truth about Dee.
Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos: A sixteen-year-old boy wrestling with depression and anxiety tries to cope by writing poems, reciting Walt Whitman, hugging trees, and figuring out why his sister has been kicked out of the house. Reviewed here.
Golden by Jessi Kirby: Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she's about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap--one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery--she decides to take a chance.
Falling for You by Lisa Schroeder: Very good friends, her poetry notebooks, and a mysterious "ninja of nice" give seventeen-year-old Rae the strength to face her mother's neglect, her stepfather's increasing abuse, and a new boyfriend's obsessiveness.
Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley: Told in alternating voices, an all-night adventure featuring Lucy, who is determined to find an elusive graffiti artist named Shadow, and Ed, the last person Lucy wants to spend time with, except for the fact that he may know how to find Shadow.
If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin: A love story spanning the history of two teenagers' lives and all the moments when if one little thing had been different, their futures would have been together instead of apart.
The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr: Sixteen-year-old San Franciscan Lucy Beck-Moreau once had a promising future as a concert pianist. Her chance at a career has passed, and she decides to help her ten-year-old piano prodigy brother, Gus, map out his own future, even as she explores why she enjoyed piano in the first place. Reviewed here.
The Milk of Birds by Sylvia Whitman: When a nonprofit organization called Save the Girls pairs a fourteen-year-old Sudanese refugee with an American teenager from Richmond, Virginia, the pen pals teach each other compassion and share a bond that bridges two continents.
Over You by Amy Reed: A novel about two girls on the run from their problems, their pasts, and themselves. Max and Sadie are escaping to Nebraska, but they'll soon learn they can't escape the truth.
Permanent Record by Leslie Stella: Being yourself can be such a bad idea. For sixteen-year-old Badi Hessamizadeh, life is a series of humiliations. After withdrawing from public school under mysterious circumstances, Badi enters Magnificat Academy. To make things "easier," his dad has even given him a new name: Bud Hess. Grappling with his Iranian-American identity, clinical depression, bullying, and a barely bottled rage, Bud is an outcast who copes by resorting to small revenges and covert acts of defiance, but the pressures of his home life, plummeting grades, and the unrequited affection of his new friend, Nikki, prime him for a more dangerous revolution. Strange letters to the editor begin to appear in Magnificat's newspaper, hinting that some tragedy will befall the school. Suspicion falls on Bud, and he and Nikki struggle to uncover the real culprit and clear Bud's name. Permanent Record explodes with dark humor, emotional depth, and a powerful look at the ways the bullied fight back.
The Reece Malcolm List by Amy Spalding: When her father dies suddenly, Devan is shipped off to Los Angeles to live with her estranged mother, Reece Malcolm, a bestselling novelist with little time for a daughter, and Devan navigates her way through her new performing arts school. Reviewed here.
Spalding's second contemporary book, titled Ink is Thicker Than Water will be available in December.
The Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality by Elizabeth Eulberg: Sick of living in the shadow of her seven-year-old pageant queen sister who is praised for her looks, Lexi resolves to get a makeover when she determines her personality just isn't enough to garner the attentions of boys.
Rotten by Michael Northrop: When troubled sixteen-year-old Jimmer "JD" Dobbs returns from a mysterious summer "upstate" he finds that his mother has adopted an abused Rottweiler that JD names Johnny Rotten, but soon his tenuous relationship with the dog is threatened. Reviewed here.
Send Me A Sign by Tiffany Schmidt: Superstitious before being diagnosed with leukemia, high school senior Mia becomes irrationally dependent on horoscopes, good luck charms, and the like when her life shifts from cheerleading and parties to chemotherapy and platelets, while her parents obsess and lifelong friend Gyver worries. Reviewed here.
Schmidt's second contemporary book, Bright Before Sunrise, will be out in February 2014.
The Space Between Us by Jessica Martinez: Seventeen-year-old Amelia feels like her life might be getting back on track after a bad break-up when her younger sister's pregnancy gets them both banished to Canada, where new relationships are forged, giving Amelia a new perspective.
Starting From Here by Lisa Jenn Bigelow: Sixteen-year-old Colby is barely hanging on with her mother dead, her long-haul trucker father often away, her almost-girlfriend dumping her for a boy, and her failing grades, when a stray dog appears and helps her find hope.
The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen: During her last summer at home before leaving for college, Emaline begins a whirlwind romance with Theo, an assistant documentary filmmaker who is in town to make a movie.
The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis: Wealthy, seventeen-year-old Anna begins to fall in love with her classmate, Abel, a drug dealer from the wrong side of town, when she hears him tell a story to his six-year-old sister, but when his enemies begin turning up dead, Anna fears she has fallen for a murderer. Reviewed here.
This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith: Perfect strangers Graham Larkin and Ellie O'Neill meet online when Graham accidentally sends Ellie an e-mail about his pet pig, Wilbur. The two 17-year-olds strike up an e-mail relationship from opposite sides of the country and don't even know each other's first names. What's more, Ellie doesn't know Graham is a famous actor, and Graham doesn't know about the big secret in Ellie's family tree. When the relationship goes from online to in-person, they find out whether their relationship can be the real thing.
Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown: Talked into sending a nude picture of herself to her boyfriend while she was drunk, Ashleigh became the center of a sexting scandal and is now in court-ordered community service, where she finds an unlikely ally, Mack.
Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker: Taking the family sailboat on a summer-long trip excites everyone except sixteen-year-old Clementine, who feels stranded with her parents and younger sister and guilty over a falling-out with her best friend.
Wanted by Heidi Ayarbe: Seventeen-year-old Michal Garcia, a bookie at Carson City High School, raises the stakes in her illegal activities after she meets wealthy, risk-taking Josh Ellison.
Way to Go by Tom Ryan: Danny is pretty sure he's gay, but he spends his summer trying to prove otherwise.
What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton: The stress of hiding a horrific incident that she can neither remember nor completely forget leads sixteen-year-old Cassidy "Sid" Murphy to become alienated from her friends, obsess about weight loss, and draw close to Corey "The Living Stoner" Livingston.
When You Were Here by Daisy Whitney: When his mother dies three weeks before his high school graduation, Danny goes to Tokyo, where his mother had been going for cancer treatments, to learn about the city his mother loved and, with the help of his friends, come to terms with her death.
Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith: The discovery of a startling family secret leads seventeen-year-old Kiri Byrd from a protected and naive life into a summer of mental illness, first love, and profound self-discovery.
Winger by Andrew Smith: Two years younger than his classmates at a prestigious boarding school, fourteen-year-old Ryan Dean West grapples with living in the dorm for troublemakers, falling for his female best friend who thinks of him as just a kid, and playing wing on the Varsity rugby team with some of his frightening new dorm-mates.
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina: One morning before school, some girl tells Piddy Sanchez that Yaqui Delgado hates her and wants to kick her ass. Piddy doesn't even know who Yaqui is, never mind what she's done to piss her off. Word is that Yaqui thinks Piddy is stuck-up, shakes her stuff when she walks, and isn't Latin enough with her white skin, good grades, and no accent. And Yaqui isn't kidding around, so Piddy better watch her back. At first Piddy is more concerned with trying to find out more about the father she's never met and how to balance honors courses with her weekend job at the neighborhood hair salon. But as the harassment escalates, avoiding Yaqui and her gang starts to take over Piddy's life. Is there any way for Piddy to survive without closing herself off or running away?" -- from publisher's web site.
Freaks Like Us by Susan Vaught: A mentally ill teenager who rides the "short bus" to school investigates the sudden disappearance of his best friend.
Forthcoming Contemporary Realistic Titles
All of these are coming out between July and December of this year.
Dead Ends by Erin Jade Lange: When Dane, a bully, refuses to hit Billy D because he has Down Syndrome, Billy takes that as a sign of friendship and enlists Dane's help in solving riddles left in an atlas by his missing father, sending the pair on a risky adventure.
The Distance Between Us by Kasie West: Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers studies the rich like her own personal science experiment, and after years of observation she’s pretty sure they’re only good for one thing—spending money on useless stuff, like the porcelain dolls in her mother’s shop. So when Xander Spence walks into the store to pick up a doll for his grandmother, it only takes one glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and that he’s one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his interest won’t last. Because if there’s one thing she’s learned from her mother’s warnings, it’s that the rich have a short attention span. But Xander keeps coming around, despite her best efforts to scare him off. And much to her dismay, she's beginning to enjoy his company. She knows her mom can’t find out—she wouldn’t approve. She’d much rather Caymen hang out with the local rocker who hasn’t been raised by money. But just when Xander’s attention and loyalty are about to convince Caymen that being rich isn’t a character flaw, she finds out that money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she’d ever realized. And that Xander’s not the only one she should’ve been worried about.
Fault Line by Christa Desir: After his gilfriend, Ani, is assaulted at a party, Ben must figure out how he can help her to heal, if he can help her at all.
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick: A day in the life of a suicidal teen boy saying good-bye to the four people who matter most to him.
Freakboy by Kristin Elizabeth Clark: Told from three viewpoints, seventeen-year-old Brendan, a wrestler, struggles to come to terms with his place on the transgender spectrum while Vanessa, the girl he loves, and Angel, a transgender acquaintance, try to help.
If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan: In Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death, seventeen-year-olds Sahar and Nasrin love each other in secret until Nasrin's parents announce their daughter's arranged marriage and Sahar proposes a drastic solution.
Sex & Violence by Carrie Mesrobian: Sex has always come without consequences for Evan. Until the night when all the consequences land at once, leaving him scarred inside and out.
Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller: Abducted at age five, Callie, now seventeen, has spent her life on the run but when her mother is finally arrested and she is returned to her father in small-town Florida, Callie must find a way to leave her past behind, become part of a family again, and learn that love is more than just a possibility.
This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales: Nearly a year after a failed suicide attempt, sixteen-year-old Elise discovers that she has the passion, and the talent, to be a disc jockey.
Takedown by Allison van Diepen: After years in "juvie," Darren cooperates with the police to infiltrate a drug ring to settle a vendetta, but sweet, innocent Jessica is now in his life so when a deadly turf war erupts, Darren must protect not only his own life, but Jessica's as well.
A Few More Forthcoming Contemporary/Realistic
These titles will hit shelves in 2014 -- I don't have exact release dates, nor do I have covers for these yet, but they're on my radar and should be on yours, too.
Pointe by Brandy Colbert: A ballet prodigy's life begins to unravel when she is forced to admit to the role she played in her childhood friend's abduction.
To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters.
Goldfish by Kody Keplinger: About a teen dealing with the fallout from her failed suicide attempt and her romance with a boy with secrets of his own.
All the Rage by Courtney Summers: A 17-year-old girl’s attempt to blackmail her rich classmates results in her waking up on a dirt road with no money, no memory of how she got there and a semi-erased message she left for herself the only clue as to why. When she tries to piece together the evening before and all the events leading up to it, a dark and sinister game is revealed.
Related StoriesGet Genrefied: Verse NovelsGet Genrefied: Mysteries (+ Thrillers)An Ode to the Series, Contemporary YA Style
Since this is a topic I talk pretty extensively about already, I'm going to be a little self-indulgent and link to some of the stuff I've written on this topic.
First, what is contemporary realistic fiction? I wrote about defining contemporary, realistic, and historical fiction last year. I still stand by what I said, even if I'm a little wild in delineating a time frame that distinguished "contemporary" from "realistic." In short: contemporary fiction takes place in the recognizable world during the present time. Realistic is a little broader, in that it takes place in the recognizable world but may show elements of aging -- think things like pay phones, MySpace appearances, a lack of cell phones, and references to older bands or television shows. I like to think of contemporary as a subdivision of realistic fiction, much as there are contemporary fantasies, contemporary romances, and other "contemporary" genres.
Novelist doesn't divide contemporary from realistic in its definition. Their official definition of realistic fiction is "real life set to fiction. It’s about anything that can happen in real life -- good, bad, and in-between. It’s real emotions and behaviors in real settings and encompasses the experiences of characters from all different backgrounds. It can also include extremes, both positive and negative, from high living with a focus on wealth, designer clothes, and private schools to the darker extremes of drug use, family breakdowns, and sexual assault. The only limit is reality, which, depending on one’s point of view, is either a jump-off point into the fantastical or just where it starts to get interesting all on its own."
Realistic fiction can encompass other genres -- plenty of mysteries and romances are perfectly realistic and/or contemporary in their own right. The topics explored with realistic/contemporary YA span from the dark to the light and humorous. It's a genre that has a book for all kinds of readers, and it takes reading a wide range of books to understand how diverse and rich it is. These aren't all sad stories. They're not all stories rife with pain and angst. They're not all "fluffy romances." There is a range of voices, stories, storytelling styles, and more within contemporary/realistic.
Over the last couple of years, I've made it my goal to highlight the exciting and interesting aspects of contemporary fiction. I put together a contemporary YA week in 2011, and I revisited this with another series on contemporary YA in 2012. Both series included extensive reading lists and suggestions, arranged thematically. I've blogged about contemporary series books, with extensive additional suggestions in the comments. I am in the midst of writing a book for VOYA press on contemporary/realistic YA fiction, too -- I could talk over 200 pages worth of thoughts on the genre, which is why I wanted to have it put on paper. I also have an annotated book list in the June 2013 issue of VOYA magazine covering some recent contemporary/realistic titles that are more than worth reading.
I'm going to try to highlight some of the titles out in the last year, as well as a handful of forthcoming titles and hit on those which I haven't talked a whole lot about either here or in other venues. I'm also not including the obvious titles here -- though I have included the new Sarah Dessen. These are very current books. I want to showcase the range of stories within the genre, so these cover a little bit of everything -- family relationships, friendship, survival, grief, mental illness, and more. A number of these are books I've read already, and I've included relevant links. All descriptions are from WorldCat or Goodreads.
These are separated out, so these first books are out now (or coming out this month) and the second batch are titles coming out later this year. I've also included a handful of 2014 titles I am looking forward to, and I've noted where authors included in list have titles coming out in the next year.
The Book of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler: Jude has learned a lot from her older sisters, but the most important thing is this: The Vargas brothers are notorious heartbreakers. But as Jude begins to fall for Emilio Vargas, she begins to wonder if her sisters were wrong.
Bruised by Sarah Skilton: When she freezes during a hold-up at the local diner, sixteen-year-old Imogen, a black belt in Tae Kwan Do, has to rebuild her life, including her relationship with her family and with the boy who was with her during the shoot-out.
Burning Blue by Paul Griffin: When beautiful, smart Nicole, disfigured by acid thrown in her face, and computer hacker Jay meet in the school psychologist's office, they become friends and Jay resolves to find her attacker.
Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn (available this month): A lonely teenager exiled to a remote Vermont boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy must either surrender his sanity to the wild wolves inside his mind or learn that surviving means more than not dying.
Criminal by Terra Elan McVoy: Eighteen-year-old Nikki's unconditional love for Dee helps her escape from her problems, but when he involves her in a murder Nikki winds up in prison, confronted with hard facts that challenge whether Dee ever loved her, and she can only save herself by telling the truth about Dee.
Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos: A sixteen-year-old boy wrestling with depression and anxiety tries to cope by writing poems, reciting Walt Whitman, hugging trees, and figuring out why his sister has been kicked out of the house. Reviewed here.
Golden by Jessi Kirby: Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she's about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap--one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery--she decides to take a chance.
Falling for You by Lisa Schroeder: Very good friends, her poetry notebooks, and a mysterious "ninja of nice" give seventeen-year-old Rae the strength to face her mother's neglect, her stepfather's increasing abuse, and a new boyfriend's obsessiveness.
Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley: Told in alternating voices, an all-night adventure featuring Lucy, who is determined to find an elusive graffiti artist named Shadow, and Ed, the last person Lucy wants to spend time with, except for the fact that he may know how to find Shadow.
If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin: A love story spanning the history of two teenagers' lives and all the moments when if one little thing had been different, their futures would have been together instead of apart.
The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr: Sixteen-year-old San Franciscan Lucy Beck-Moreau once had a promising future as a concert pianist. Her chance at a career has passed, and she decides to help her ten-year-old piano prodigy brother, Gus, map out his own future, even as she explores why she enjoyed piano in the first place. Reviewed here.
The Milk of Birds by Sylvia Whitman: When a nonprofit organization called Save the Girls pairs a fourteen-year-old Sudanese refugee with an American teenager from Richmond, Virginia, the pen pals teach each other compassion and share a bond that bridges two continents.
Over You by Amy Reed: A novel about two girls on the run from their problems, their pasts, and themselves. Max and Sadie are escaping to Nebraska, but they'll soon learn they can't escape the truth.
Permanent Record by Leslie Stella: Being yourself can be such a bad idea. For sixteen-year-old Badi Hessamizadeh, life is a series of humiliations. After withdrawing from public school under mysterious circumstances, Badi enters Magnificat Academy. To make things "easier," his dad has even given him a new name: Bud Hess. Grappling with his Iranian-American identity, clinical depression, bullying, and a barely bottled rage, Bud is an outcast who copes by resorting to small revenges and covert acts of defiance, but the pressures of his home life, plummeting grades, and the unrequited affection of his new friend, Nikki, prime him for a more dangerous revolution. Strange letters to the editor begin to appear in Magnificat's newspaper, hinting that some tragedy will befall the school. Suspicion falls on Bud, and he and Nikki struggle to uncover the real culprit and clear Bud's name. Permanent Record explodes with dark humor, emotional depth, and a powerful look at the ways the bullied fight back.
The Reece Malcolm List by Amy Spalding: When her father dies suddenly, Devan is shipped off to Los Angeles to live with her estranged mother, Reece Malcolm, a bestselling novelist with little time for a daughter, and Devan navigates her way through her new performing arts school. Reviewed here.
Spalding's second contemporary book, titled Ink is Thicker Than Water will be available in December.
The Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality by Elizabeth Eulberg: Sick of living in the shadow of her seven-year-old pageant queen sister who is praised for her looks, Lexi resolves to get a makeover when she determines her personality just isn't enough to garner the attentions of boys.
Rotten by Michael Northrop: When troubled sixteen-year-old Jimmer "JD" Dobbs returns from a mysterious summer "upstate" he finds that his mother has adopted an abused Rottweiler that JD names Johnny Rotten, but soon his tenuous relationship with the dog is threatened. Reviewed here.
Send Me A Sign by Tiffany Schmidt: Superstitious before being diagnosed with leukemia, high school senior Mia becomes irrationally dependent on horoscopes, good luck charms, and the like when her life shifts from cheerleading and parties to chemotherapy and platelets, while her parents obsess and lifelong friend Gyver worries. Reviewed here.
Schmidt's second contemporary book, Bright Before Sunrise, will be out in February 2014.
The Space Between Us by Jessica Martinez: Seventeen-year-old Amelia feels like her life might be getting back on track after a bad break-up when her younger sister's pregnancy gets them both banished to Canada, where new relationships are forged, giving Amelia a new perspective.
Starting From Here by Lisa Jenn Bigelow: Sixteen-year-old Colby is barely hanging on with her mother dead, her long-haul trucker father often away, her almost-girlfriend dumping her for a boy, and her failing grades, when a stray dog appears and helps her find hope.
The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen: During her last summer at home before leaving for college, Emaline begins a whirlwind romance with Theo, an assistant documentary filmmaker who is in town to make a movie.
The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis: Wealthy, seventeen-year-old Anna begins to fall in love with her classmate, Abel, a drug dealer from the wrong side of town, when she hears him tell a story to his six-year-old sister, but when his enemies begin turning up dead, Anna fears she has fallen for a murderer. Reviewed here.
This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith: Perfect strangers Graham Larkin and Ellie O'Neill meet online when Graham accidentally sends Ellie an e-mail about his pet pig, Wilbur. The two 17-year-olds strike up an e-mail relationship from opposite sides of the country and don't even know each other's first names. What's more, Ellie doesn't know Graham is a famous actor, and Graham doesn't know about the big secret in Ellie's family tree. When the relationship goes from online to in-person, they find out whether their relationship can be the real thing.
Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown: Talked into sending a nude picture of herself to her boyfriend while she was drunk, Ashleigh became the center of a sexting scandal and is now in court-ordered community service, where she finds an unlikely ally, Mack.
Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker: Taking the family sailboat on a summer-long trip excites everyone except sixteen-year-old Clementine, who feels stranded with her parents and younger sister and guilty over a falling-out with her best friend.
Wanted by Heidi Ayarbe: Seventeen-year-old Michal Garcia, a bookie at Carson City High School, raises the stakes in her illegal activities after she meets wealthy, risk-taking Josh Ellison.
Way to Go by Tom Ryan: Danny is pretty sure he's gay, but he spends his summer trying to prove otherwise.
What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton: The stress of hiding a horrific incident that she can neither remember nor completely forget leads sixteen-year-old Cassidy "Sid" Murphy to become alienated from her friends, obsess about weight loss, and draw close to Corey "The Living Stoner" Livingston.
When You Were Here by Daisy Whitney: When his mother dies three weeks before his high school graduation, Danny goes to Tokyo, where his mother had been going for cancer treatments, to learn about the city his mother loved and, with the help of his friends, come to terms with her death.
Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith: The discovery of a startling family secret leads seventeen-year-old Kiri Byrd from a protected and naive life into a summer of mental illness, first love, and profound self-discovery.
Winger by Andrew Smith: Two years younger than his classmates at a prestigious boarding school, fourteen-year-old Ryan Dean West grapples with living in the dorm for troublemakers, falling for his female best friend who thinks of him as just a kid, and playing wing on the Varsity rugby team with some of his frightening new dorm-mates.
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina: One morning before school, some girl tells Piddy Sanchez that Yaqui Delgado hates her and wants to kick her ass. Piddy doesn't even know who Yaqui is, never mind what she's done to piss her off. Word is that Yaqui thinks Piddy is stuck-up, shakes her stuff when she walks, and isn't Latin enough with her white skin, good grades, and no accent. And Yaqui isn't kidding around, so Piddy better watch her back. At first Piddy is more concerned with trying to find out more about the father she's never met and how to balance honors courses with her weekend job at the neighborhood hair salon. But as the harassment escalates, avoiding Yaqui and her gang starts to take over Piddy's life. Is there any way for Piddy to survive without closing herself off or running away?" -- from publisher's web site.
Freaks Like Us by Susan Vaught: A mentally ill teenager who rides the "short bus" to school investigates the sudden disappearance of his best friend.
Forthcoming Contemporary Realistic Titles
All of these are coming out between July and December of this year.
Dead Ends by Erin Jade Lange: When Dane, a bully, refuses to hit Billy D because he has Down Syndrome, Billy takes that as a sign of friendship and enlists Dane's help in solving riddles left in an atlas by his missing father, sending the pair on a risky adventure.
The Distance Between Us by Kasie West: Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers studies the rich like her own personal science experiment, and after years of observation she’s pretty sure they’re only good for one thing—spending money on useless stuff, like the porcelain dolls in her mother’s shop. So when Xander Spence walks into the store to pick up a doll for his grandmother, it only takes one glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and that he’s one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his interest won’t last. Because if there’s one thing she’s learned from her mother’s warnings, it’s that the rich have a short attention span. But Xander keeps coming around, despite her best efforts to scare him off. And much to her dismay, she's beginning to enjoy his company. She knows her mom can’t find out—she wouldn’t approve. She’d much rather Caymen hang out with the local rocker who hasn’t been raised by money. But just when Xander’s attention and loyalty are about to convince Caymen that being rich isn’t a character flaw, she finds out that money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she’d ever realized. And that Xander’s not the only one she should’ve been worried about.
Fault Line by Christa Desir: After his gilfriend, Ani, is assaulted at a party, Ben must figure out how he can help her to heal, if he can help her at all.
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick: A day in the life of a suicidal teen boy saying good-bye to the four people who matter most to him.
Freakboy by Kristin Elizabeth Clark: Told from three viewpoints, seventeen-year-old Brendan, a wrestler, struggles to come to terms with his place on the transgender spectrum while Vanessa, the girl he loves, and Angel, a transgender acquaintance, try to help.
If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan: In Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death, seventeen-year-olds Sahar and Nasrin love each other in secret until Nasrin's parents announce their daughter's arranged marriage and Sahar proposes a drastic solution.
Sex & Violence by Carrie Mesrobian: Sex has always come without consequences for Evan. Until the night when all the consequences land at once, leaving him scarred inside and out.
Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller: Abducted at age five, Callie, now seventeen, has spent her life on the run but when her mother is finally arrested and she is returned to her father in small-town Florida, Callie must find a way to leave her past behind, become part of a family again, and learn that love is more than just a possibility.
This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales: Nearly a year after a failed suicide attempt, sixteen-year-old Elise discovers that she has the passion, and the talent, to be a disc jockey.
Takedown by Allison van Diepen: After years in "juvie," Darren cooperates with the police to infiltrate a drug ring to settle a vendetta, but sweet, innocent Jessica is now in his life so when a deadly turf war erupts, Darren must protect not only his own life, but Jessica's as well.
A Few More Forthcoming Contemporary/Realistic
These titles will hit shelves in 2014 -- I don't have exact release dates, nor do I have covers for these yet, but they're on my radar and should be on yours, too.
Pointe by Brandy Colbert: A ballet prodigy's life begins to unravel when she is forced to admit to the role she played in her childhood friend's abduction.
To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters.
Goldfish by Kody Keplinger: About a teen dealing with the fallout from her failed suicide attempt and her romance with a boy with secrets of his own.
All the Rage by Courtney Summers: A 17-year-old girl’s attempt to blackmail her rich classmates results in her waking up on a dirt road with no money, no memory of how she got there and a semi-erased message she left for herself the only clue as to why. When she tries to piece together the evening before and all the events leading up to it, a dark and sinister game is revealed.
Related StoriesGet Genrefied: Verse NovelsGet Genrefied: Mysteries (+ Thrillers)An Ode to the Series, Contemporary YA Style
May 30, 2013
When You Were Here by Daisy Whitney
You may remember I talked about this book a long time ago over at Word for Teens. I wrote about how sometimes, there are romantic male leads in novels that just work so, so well. Danny, in Daisy Whitney's When You Were Here, is one I talked about specifically. He's stayed with me in the months since I finished this book, and I have a feeling he'll remain on my list of favorite male characters in YA for a long time.
Danny's mom, who has toughed out five years of cancer, wants to make it just long enough to see him graduate valedictorian from high school. But before that date comes, his mom dies. Devastated by the loss, as well as the loss of his father a few years before and the loss of his adopted sister who chose to move to China to rediscover her roots, Danny is angry, broken, and confused about what the future could possibly hold. And there's also another complication, too: Holland. She's the girl he'd been in love with forever and the girl who was in every way perfect for him. But their relationship ended much too soon and without any resolution. Danny was left in the dark when she suddenly disappeared from his life.
Faced with big decisions about where to go from here, Danny chooses to figure out what it is that kept his mom going for so long. Why she continued to be hopeful and happy, even though her life was near the end. To do this, Danny decides he's going to fly to the apartment they owned in Tokyo, meet the doctor who meant so much to his mother. This is also his chance to really think about what he wants out of his life.
Along the way, Danny meets Kana, who helped take care of the apartment before his mom died. She's quirky, she's energetic, and she's invested in making sure Danny makes the most of his time in Tokyo. It's not at all romantic -- which is a huge plus in my book -- but rather, it's Danny's opportunity to rediscover the value and importance of friendship.
Maybe most important was the twist in the story. That's Holland's story. If you don't want to be spoiled, skip down to the next paragraph. The reason Holland disappeared from Danny's life was that she got pregnant. Since Danny had been the only boy she'd been with and their relationship hadn't been going on that long and she had been on the pill, it was a reality she hadn't quite wrapped her head around. What made it worse was when she went into early labor and when baby Sarah died. Danny is the only person not in the loop on this, and he learns about his daughter when going through his mom's things in Tokyo. His mom had known about the baby, but she and Holland both chose not to tell Danny. It wasn't a choice out of cruelty. It was done to protect him because he had already lost so much in his life. And the truth of it was that the entire situation was scary and heartbreaking for everyone involved.
When Danny does get to meet the doctor his mother had invested so much in, not only does he understand the value and purpose of his mom's life, but he has a moment and realizes what value his own is worth.
Whitney handles all of the topics in this book delicately and powerfully in equal measure. Danny's voice is knock out, authentic, and it is pained. Danny is a boy of action -- his feelings play out in the way he acts and the words he chooses to use. They're not always kind and he's not always rational. But these things happen the way they do because it's how Danny works through his pain and his grief. It's the way he begins to make sense of the world. This is why he chooses to get on that plane and go to Tokyo. It's why he doesn't simply DWELL in the anguish but rather, he works and walks through it, step by tortured step. Where the twist element came in, another author could have pushed the envelope too much, adding simply one more thing to the list of horrible things going on in a character's life. But Whitney introduces and weaves this in so carefully and thoughtfully that it instead amplifies the core of who Danny, his mother, and Holland really are as people.
Danny's understanding of his mother's fight -- and his mother's desire to quit the fight -- comes to a head when he meets with the doctor to whom she claimed saved her and to whom she dedicated so much energy and belief. And boy, did I cry. Danny learns that choosing the time one lives and the time one dies was the central force of his mother's hope, even in her battle with cancer. It's philosophical without being pandering, and it's spiritual without being spiritual (if that even makes sense). Whitney excels are imbuing the narrative with the Eastern and Western philosophy not only in how she structures the story and Danny's journey, but even in the way that death and life are explored.
The writing in When You Were Here is sharp, searing, and noteworthy. It doesn't take a back seat to the complexities of the story nor the complexities of the characters. I give huge credit, too, for how well-done the sex scenes in this book are. There is a great contrast in the sort of sexual relationship Danny has with Trina -- it's one where she is in control, where she calls the shots, and where she gets what she wants and he takes it because he feels so empty and broken from all of the loss in his life. It's not Holland, and it's not an emotional and deeply satisfying act of intimacy. When Danny and Holland reconnect in Tokyo, after laying bare all of the things that were keeping them at a distance, their intimacy is raw, powerful, and healthy. Danny is in it not just physically, but emotionally and mentally. And maybe what made it so good in that moment was that almost nothing is said at all about the mechanics. Because that didn't matter.
I've read a lot of grief books, but without doubt, this one stands out. It's so good it hurts to think about. My one qualm, and it's something I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about, is that Danny does come from privilege. He's able to head to Tokyo to a private and paid-for condo without issue. He has a home back in California that's taken care of, too. These all make sense contextually, but they do require the reader to suspend belief a little. But the freedom Danny has -- he's done with high school and in that "what do I do now?" stage of life before making decisions about going to college or traveling -- is completely believable, especially with all he's been thrown in the recent months and years.
Whitney gets bonus points for a great sidekick animal with Danny's dog Sandy Koufax, and for those of you worried, the dog does not die. Pass When You Were Here off to readers who like foreign-set contemporary stories, who enjoy grief books, who enjoy romantic male lead characters, and those who want to fall into a story for a long time. This one's been compared to Gayle Forman's Where She Went, and while I don't buy that comparison (besides both feature a male romantic lead), I do see how fans of Forman's writing would dig Whitney's novel.
Review copy received from the publisher. When You Were Here will be available Tuesday.
Related StoriesThe Girl Who Was Supposed to Die by April HenryWild Awake by Hilary T. SmithThe Testing by Joelle Charbonneau
May 29, 2013
Red Handed: The Fine Art of Strange Crimes by Matt Kindt
Detective Gould is the most brilliant detective in the city of Red Wheelbarrow. While he hasn't been successful in actually reducing crime, there are no unsolved cases on his watch. Lately, though, there has been a string of very odd crimes. Gould knows they're connected in some way, but puzzling out just how is proving to be more of a challenge than he anticipated. When he discovers the truth, he finds it hits horrifyingly close to home - and reveals more about his own character than he thought possible.
Red Handed is a weird one. The story is very piecemeal, told in a non-linear way that readers may find confusing (it certainly required more close reading on my part than usual). There's not actually much of the story told from Gould's point of view, which was initially quite confusing for me. Kindt mainly follows the culprits of the strange crimes, who each get their own chapter. We get into their heads, but not quite far enough to really understand what's going on. Interspersed among these small stories are conversations between Gould and a mysterious individual, plus some newspaper pages and a strange, possibly connected story about a woman. It all (mostly) fits together at the end, but getting there is a challenge.
Actually, I'd say that the way the story was told deliberately obfuscated it, contributing to the confusion of the mystery, which would certainly have been easier to understand in a more traditionally-told tale. I think that's what Kindt was going for, though I'm not sure the technique really adds much. I mostly just found it frustrating, and whereas I'm sure others would gladly go back and re-read the book, picking up on the clues that are only understandable after the solution is revealed, I don't have the patience to.
Red Handed reminds me a little of Hannah Berry's Britten and Brulightly , another deliberately strange noir mystery, though Berry's book is told in a much more straightforward way, and the art is quite different.
While I wasn't completely sold on the way Kindt told his story, there's certainly something to be said for experimenting. The book is an interesting study, and I think it shows the potential for creativity in the graphic format. The art in particular is worth poring over. It's lovely in itself, but it's also fun to puzzle out how it brings clarity (or doesn't) to the story. The conversations between Gould and the mystery person are told in white thought bubbles on a plain black background. Other sections are sketchy but mostly realistically portrayed, while others lean more toward abstraction. It's an interesting, attractive, and odd mix.
I'd recommend this to readers who are looking for something that will stretch them a bit, who want something different and challenging. Readers looking for their noir fix would do well to give this a shot too, as Kindt pulls off that particular tone with ease. Though this is an adult book, teens interested in graphic mysteries may also enjoy it, and there's nothing the average parent would find objectionable.
Finished copy received from the publisher. Red Handed is available now.
Related StoriesNothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen & Faith Erin HicksThe Girl Who Was Supposed to Die by April HenryWild Awake by Hilary T. Smith
May 28, 2013
The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die by April Henry
I wasn't hugely impressed by April Henry's The Night She Disappeared , though I could see its appeal for other readers. The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die is a bit of a step up for me - it's a little more suspenseful, a little more of a genuine mystery, and feels a little more substantial.
Our initially-unnamed protagonist wakes up in an isolated cabin with no memory of who or where she is. (Yes, it's one of those stories.) What she does know is that there are two men who are deciding whether they should kill her. She's tied to a chair. Her hands are in pain and she realizes her fingernails have been pulled out.
The argument between the two men ends: she is to die. The girl is dragged outside the cabin by one of them, but due to some quick thinking and sheer luck, she's able to knock him out and get away. She runs. She doesn't know where to go; she doesn't even know her own name.
As in The Night She Disappeared , there's a skater boy who believes her wild story and decides to help her out. The two hunt down clues even as the murderers hunt them down, and it makes for quite a suspenseful ride.
The amnesia is a cheat, though. There's no real mystery beyond what is locked in the girl's mind, and when her memories all come rushing back at the end - as you knew they would - all is revealed. It's not my favorite kind of mystery. It feels cheap, like all of the hunting for clues I did as a reader alongside the protagonist during the bulk of the book was pointless.
Still, it's a fun, fast-paced read, and the amnesia aspect didn't ruin it for me. When the memories do come back, at least they're mildly surprising and overall fairly interesting. I appreciated that the details of the story weren't pedestrian as I found those in the The Night She Disappeared to be. Here, we get conspiracies and biological warfare alongside your usual murder and kidnapping.
April Henry's books remind me of 21st-century versions of Joan Lowery Nixon's mysteries, which I loved as an early teen. Both authors' books tended to feature girls caught in bad (usually violent) situations who rely on their own quick thinking in order to unravel the mystery. There's usually some double-crossing and a few red herrings, but the stories are never long and they're always suspenseful and quick reads.
Review copy received from the publisher. The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die will be published June 11.
Related StoriesWild Awake by Hilary T. SmithThe Testing by Joelle CharbonneauNothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen & Faith Erin Hicks
May 27, 2013
Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith
This summer, Kiri's parents are on an extended vacation, leaving her to her own devices at home. She's poised to spend it hanging out with best friend/bandmate/crush Lukas making music and competing in battle of the bands. She's also made plans to practice piano because she's quiet accomplished and only wants to get better and better. Really, not that awful a summer.
But it's a phone call from a stranger who changes everything. He says he has some of her dead sister's things.
The sister who died years ago. From an accident. But it wasn't an accident like Kiri was told it was. Sukey died under more mysterious circumstances.
When Kiri goes out of her way to pick up those things, she learns it's not about the things her sister left behind. It's about the people who she runs into on the trip to pick up those things and the people who help her work through the grief she thought she'd packed away so many years ago.
Wild Awake, Smith's debut novel is fresh, alive, and has a helluva voice. Though at heart this is an exploration of grief, it never once falls into feeling like a "grief novel" (arguably nothing does, but I use this phrase to suggest this isn't a sad story). Kiri is a little bit off kilter, driven not only by wild hormones, but she's driven by freedom. Together, she tries things and acts in odd, erratic, but completely believable ways. She's consistently inconsistent, as anyone grieving would be. She dabbles with drugs and alcohol, which helps her remove herself from her time and place as it is. When she's had the rug pulled out from under her, it's the way she can best cope. All the years of thinking she's processed her sister's death are now up for questioning. Was she lied to? Was her sister hiding something deeper? Why did her parents shield the truth?
Moreover, Kiri suffers from mania -- it's impossible to diagnose her mental illness because she doesn't diagnose it herself, but she goes through periods of intense highs with intermittent lows, though they're not low lows. The drugs aid in leveling her in many ways, too.
Even though she believes it to be the case at the beginning of summer, it's not Lukas who ends up capturing Kiri's heart. It's Skunk, the guy who fixed Kiri's bike on that first trip downtown to collect Sukey's things. When she thinks nothing of him then, it's through getting to know him better she discovers he has depths to him that speak to her deeply. He's passionate, he's into music, and he's mentally unstable. The love and acceptance Kiri has for someone like him, who could break at any moment, speaks volumes not only about Kiri and Skunk, but also about the importance of relationships and the things that keep them growing and thriving. Even though the two of them don't bond over their mental states, there is a connection between them relating to this anyway. And maybe that connection is less than the two of them each suffers, but instead, that everyone in the world suffers from something -- for Kiri, it's both grief and it's her mania. Skunk suffers through his illness, in addition to other things.
In other words, this book is about how there's no singular element that can define and thereby reduce a person into a thing.
Of course, this relates right back to Sukey and what happened to her, as well as what happened to the things that made her who she was when she was alive.
There is a real beat and infusion of sound to this novel. It's pulsing and bright and alive. This isn't a mystery and it's not a story with great Depth and Seriousness. But because it's none of those things, it speaks volumes about the human experience, about living and loving, and about being present in the moment. In many ways, Kiri reminded me of Felton Reinstein of Stupid Fast -- they've both been thrown for a big loop, they're both navigating change without ever being a Lesson in the values of Change, and they're both alive and active by bike, at night, and through their respective talents. And at the end of the day, both are also about the importance of relationships, whatever way they come.
I usually don't share quotes from books, but this one had me marking a number of them because they were so good, and they speak to the story:
"Every disaster, every whim, every seemingly random decision came together to make this night happen. There are no mistakes -- just detours whose significance only become clear when you see the whole picture at once."
"It's amazing how well you can get to know a person if you actually pay attention. People are like cities: we all have alleys and gardens and secret rooftops and places where daisies sprout between the sidewalk cracks, but most of the time all we let each other see is a postcard glimpse of a skyline or a polished square. Love lets you find those hidden places in another person, even the ones they didn't know were there, even the ones they wouldn't have thought to call beautiful themselves."
"The universe, I realize, is full of little torches. Sometimes, for some reason, it's your turn to carry one out of the fire -- because the world needed it, or your family needed it, or you needed it to keep your soul from twisting into a shape that's entirely wrong."
Wild Awake tackles so much and does so while maintaining a real voice and perspective that feels new and exciting. When I finished the book, I felt refreshed and happy. Sure, there's heavy stuff here, but Kiri's likable, even if it's imperfect. In fact, I'd argue her imperfections and her willingness to work with those imperfections are what make her so likable. The romance here is sweet and doesn't feel shoehorned in. While there are elements of the story that require suspension of disbelief -- like Kiri's family leaving her alone for the summer when they know she's not entirely stable -- it's okay. There is far more to enjoy here than to nit pick, and Smith's writing stands on its own.
In terms of voice and style, Kiri reminded me a lot of Juno from the movie Juno, and I think readers will see many similarities with Jandy Nelson's The Sky is Everywhere as the stories pertain to grief -- though Smith's novel is a bit lighter in tone. Wild Awake is contemporary, but it contains elements of mystery, with a strong elements about music, about sibling relationships, mental illness, and what can happen over the course of a single summer in a teen's life.
Review copy received from the publisher, via the editor. Wild Awake is available today.
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May 26, 2013
So You Want to Read YA?: Guest Post from Author Kody Keplinger
Today's "So You Want to Read YA?" post comes to us from author Kody Keplinger.
Kody Keplinger is the author of three contemporary YA novels (THE DUFF, SHUT OUT, and A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHTMARE). Her next book, GOLDFISH, will be released in 2014. She lives in New York City, eats a lot of Thai food, and dabbles in improv (also known as: the art of making a fool of yourself). You can check her out at kodykeplinger.com or follow her on twitter at @Kody_Keplinger.
One of my favorite things is being asked for book recommendations. I get a lot of emails from readers saying things like, “Can you tell me other books I’ll like?” or “I don’t read much, but I want more books like yours.” It’s always very flattering, and I always have a huge, huge list of books to send them.
So when Stacked asked me to contribute to this series, I was really excited. I decided to focus particularly on contemporary YA, since those are the recommendations I most often get asked for. So, without farther ado, here we go!
For a Good Cry
Before I Die by Jenny Downham – this book is easily one of my favorites of all time. On top of being beautifully written, it also features great, well-drawn characters. It’s painful and hopeful at the same time.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green – I loved this book far more than I expected to. I loved Hazel’s voice and the way it managed to make me smile and break my heart at the same time.
Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook – This book is the only one to date to make me Ugly Cry. I was sobbing and clutching my chest by the end. It left me with a wonderful ache, and I really, really fell for both of the narrators. An excellent read.
Dreamland by Sarah Dessen – This book holds a special place in my heart. It deals with abusive relationships in an honest, poignant way. I recommend it to everyone.
For a Good Swoon
Perfect You by Elizabeth Scott – Elizabeth Scott is one of my favorite authors, and this book really sealed the deal for me. It’s a sweet (and swoony) romance with a great family story, too.
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen – There’s something to be said for a slow burning love story. I love all of Sarah Dessen’s books, but this one really got me, though. Wes and Macy forever!
Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles – Simone Elkeles knows how to write a romance, but this one is easily my favorite. It’s complicated and angsty in the best possible way.
Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard – This book tells two different love stories: a love story between a boy and girl, and a love story between a girl and the beauty around her. It’s possible to read this book and not want to hop on the next plane to a foreign country!
For a Great Character
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan – Two words: Tiny Cooper.
Like Mandarin by Kirsten Hubbard – Mandarin is one of the richest, most complicated characters I’ve ever read in YA, and the story of her friendship with Grace is incredibly powerful.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson – I read this book when I was fourteen, and I remember thinking that I had had all of the same thoughts and feelings as Melinda. The voice in this book is so authentic, and that’s why it’s stayed popular for all these years. I think anyone can relate.
Sorta Like a Rockstar by Matthew Quick – This book took me totally be surprise. It has one of the quirkiest, most endearing voices you’ll find anywhere, and a great story to boot!
For a Darker Turn
Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers – Oh, God, this book. This book will kick you in the gut, that’s for sure. It’s painfully real and really nails the complexity of girl-on- girl bullying.
Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert – Hands down, this is my favorite contemporary YA. There are a plethora of complicated characters dealing with complicated issues like sex, drugs, and suicide, all set against the 90s grunge era. Really, really wonderful book.
Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott – Warning, this book is brutal. It’s a short, quick read, but it’s haunting in it’s portrayal of a girl living with her abductor. Not for younger readers.
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson – You can’t go wrong with Laurie Halse Anderson, and Wintergirls is right up there with Speak for me as a favorite. It deals with anorexia in an honest, painful way. The writing is also genius.
I highly recommend all these books, especially if you’re a fan of contemporary YA. They cover a big range of stories and emotions, but I think they are all great books every YA reader, whether you are new to the genre or not.
Related StoriesSo You Want to Read YA? Guest Post by Amy Stern, Literary AgentSo You Want to Read YA?: Guest Post from Author Cecil CastellucciSo You Want to Read YA?: Guest Post from Author Bryan Bliss
May 25, 2013
The Great YA/Kid Lit Drink Night @ ALA Annual
Join us for this night of drinks and fun!
Usually, I cohost these with YA Highway, and this time, we're also adding the Chicagoland Kidlit Drink Night folks into the mix. It should be a blast.
BEA at a Glance
I'm not sure when I became a procrastinator about planning for conferences, but I have and I own that. It dawned on me that Book Expo America is this coming week. I've been working on my schedule and think I've figured out a few of my must-see, must-do things.
First and foremost: BEA Blogger Con on Wednesday. I'll be there most of the event, since a number of panels interest me.
If you're going, I sure hope you stop and listen in on the panel I am a part of called "Book Blogging and the Big Niches." You can see who else is on my panel and learn a little more about what our topic of discussion is here. (Also: note the out of date headshot). If you do attend, stop by before or after the panel and say hi.
It's my goal to make it to the Teen Author Carnival on Wednesday, too.
Thursday, I plan on checking out the YA editor's buzz panel in the morning, followed by another panel on book reviews and ethics. I'm thinking I'll wander the floor a little at opening, but my priority is really attending a few interesting sessions since I haven't ever done that a BEA. I've always just wandered the exhibits.
Then on Friday I have a fancy date with Leila if she's not tired of me after spending Wednesday with me, and I want to hit up two panel sessions on tumblarians and one on realistic fiction.
Friday night is an event with the 2013 debut authors that anyone who wants to come to is welcome to attend -- we'll be having a casual meetup at The Library Hotel, in their Bookmarks Bar. The event starts at 7, and it's super laid back. Just show up!
I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones, so feel free to say hi if you see me. And if there's something going on I should know about, let me know.
Catch me in VOYA!
Do you get VOYA magazine? You may have noticed I've got an article in the brand new June/July issue on my favorite topic: contemporary YA fiction. This was a really nice warm up to diving deep into my book.
Don't subscribe to VOYA but want to read my piece (along with everything else inside, including a nice story about fringe science fiction)? You can read the journal in full here. My booklist is on pages 10 and 11.
