Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney; Trial of Kate Hope; Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City; Airman; Tasting the Sky; and Schooled

Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney by Suzanne Harper, 2007
Sparrow is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter living in Lily Dale, NY, a town founded by spiritualists where most residents still practice the art in one form or another. Sparrow wants to be normal, and travels an hour each way to attend a high school out of town, but she sees a ghost her first day there and can’t maintain her deception that she has no seer gifts in the face of his constant badgering. So she starts talking to him, and eventually agrees to help his family know what happened to him, even if this means her new friends, including the ghost’s brother, will see her as a freak. I found this premise entirely entertaining, and enjoyed this read immensely.



Trials of Kate Hope by Wick Downing, 2008
In 1973, Kate becomes the youngest practicing lawyer, having received training by her granddad and passing the bar at age 14. With her granddad’s help, she works on a case about a dog slated to be killed for supposedly attaching a baby. I could not get into this story. I found the writing choppy, and I didn’t care about the characters. It was also too big of a stretch for me to accept that this 14-year-old was practicing law.



Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller, 2006
Ananka Fishbein discovers the Shadow City through a sink hole near her Manhattan apartment. This discovery leads her to Kiki Strike, a mysterious, petite, white-haired girl who seems to be able to antagonize ruffians in the park and the snottiest elite girls at school with impunity. After trailing her for days, Ananka (as urban archaeologist and access point to the most useful library in the city – her parents’ collection) is invited by Kiki to the first meeting of the Irregulars. With the other newly recruited members DeeDee Morlock (chemist), Oona Wong (master forger and computer hacker), Luz Lopez (mechanical engineer), and Betty Bent (disguise expert), the Irregulars explore the Shadow City. Their movements move from serendipity to purposeful as Kiki’s secret agenda is slowly revealed. Though it took me awhile to get into it, eventually I enjoyed reading this mystery / adventure story.



Airman by Eoin Colfer, 2008
“Conor Broekhart was born to fly” is the start to this story about a young man who is born in a hot-air balloon and never stops working toward flight. He is best friends with Princess Isabella of the small sovereign country of the Saltee Islands off the coast of Ireland. His dad is part of the king’s guard and he studies with a prominent scientist, Victor Vigny, who is also obsessed with discovering the secret of flying. However, the marshall of the Holy Cross Guard and high commander of the Saltee army, Hugo Bonvilian, kills the king and Vigny, framing Vigny for the betrayal. When he catches Conor looking on, he condemns him to prison while telling the rest of his family he was killed too. Believing his family and friends think he helped betray the king, Conor spends years in prison plotting his escape and growing bitter about how easily his supposed betrayal was accepted by those he loved. I kept thinking that this book would be science fiction or fantasy, but it reads more like an historical novel. The plot is complex, the writing tight. Conor’s growth from a young, carefree youth, to an embattled inmate, to a wiser adult is realistic and fascinating. I felt his pain, and the cautious hopefulness of the end hits the right chord.



Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood (956.95) by Ibtisam Barakat, 2007
Framed at either end by short chapters written as a teenager, this memoir mostly relates the experiences of the author as a young child during the 1967 Six-Day War when she and her family had to flee their home, live as refugees in Jordan for a while, and then work to rebuild a home and secure family life while their land is under the rule of strangers. Some of the language is beautiful: “[The breeze] filled the curtains with a daily dance and softly kissed my face. Flapping my arms to let the breeze tickle me, for a moment I felt free, like a bird, tasting the sky.” I also loved how she considered Alef (the Arabic letter A) a friend that she could carry around in her pocket in the form of chalk. This is a memoir of impressions and childhood experiences where the reader is left to make his or her own meaning. The author includes a list of other related books at the back that all sound great.



Schooled by Gordon Korman, 2007
Capricorn and his grandma have lived on a commune farm by themselves for several years, so when grandma falls and needs to spend time in rehab, Cap is shipped off to a middle school were everyday attitudes and practices are completely foreign to him. The book is told in a variety of voices: Capricorn; Mrs. Donnelly, a former commune member and Cap’s social worker and host; Zach Powers, the “big man on campus” whose plans are thwarted by Cap; Hugh Winkleman, the residing nerd and destined for the humiliating class president nomination until Cap appeared; Naomi Erlanger, a Zach groupie until she’s won over by Cap; Sophie Donnelly, Mrs. Donnelly’s daughter who finds Cap’s presence in her home almost unbearable, at least at first; Darryl Pennyfield, another Zach groupie who accidentally tackles and then punches Cap; and Mr. Zasigi, the principal who doesn’t understand how clueless Cap is until he innocently misspends several hundred dollars of school funds. The plot’s a bit predictable, but the book’s quite enjoyable regardless. There are funny scenes about how things we don’t even think about may seem foreign to someone from the outside.

Savvy

Savvy by Ingrid Law, 2008
The Beaumonts always have interesting 13th birthdays, when their savvy first manifests itself. Her brother can create electricity, and her other brother can create hurricanes, so Mississippi “Mibs” is curious about what her savvy will be. Then her father is in a serious car accident and the preacher’s wife insists on throwing her a party anyway. Mibs becomes convinced that her newly discovered savvy can save her dad, if only she can figure out how to get herself to Salina, 90 miles away. She stows away on Lester’s pink Bible-delivering bus, inadvertently pulling along her brother Fish and the preacher’s kids Will Junior and Roberta “Bobbi” with her. Together with her little brother Samson, who was sleeping in the back, and Lill, who they pick up on the side of the road, every soul on that bus is changed through their extraordinary adventure together.

The writing is so full of similes that it was difficult to read at first, but then the story started pulling me along, and the message of the book is wonderfully cheering. We all have our own savvy, if we know how to look. I was able to read this book in about two sittings.

City of Ember; Zen and the Art of Faking It; Dear Jo; and Hot Lunch

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, 2003
In the year 241, 12-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a messenger, to run to new places in her beloved but decaying city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions. When she discovers a half-chewed message that looks like instructions, she knows she has to solve the mystery. When she sees “pipewo” she involves Doon, a friend from school who works in the pipeworks.

After seeing the new movie, I had to reread this book. The movie was OK, but I remember the book being fantastic. Where did the movie people go wrong? Was it not as good just because I already knew they were underground? After rereading the book, I think not. Even though I know they are underground, experiencing their excitement of discovering “moving light” for the first time, and the meaning of “boat” is thrilling. The movie cheapens this excitement with standard action-movie antics. Capturing the wonderment of seeing a sunrise for the first time is probably what the movie does best. The book, on the other hand, is well written and peopled with fascinating, original characters and a true spirit of discovery and rebirth.


Zen and the Art of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblick, 2007When 13-year-old San Lee moves to a new town and school for the umpteenth time, he is looking for a way to stand out when his knowledge of Zen Buddhism, gained in his previous school, provides the answer -- and the need to quickly become a convincing Zen master.

Other tags: basketball; Pennsylvania; small community; Woody Guthrie; dad in prison for fraud; lying; Asian-American adoptee; soup kitchen; library research; step-brother; school story; identity.

The most unfortunate thing about this book is the cover. The kid standing on his head seems about ten, which I know will turn off middle-schoolers. The story itself is funny. I enjoy Sonnenblick’s blend of humor and growth.


Dear Jo: The story of losing Leah and searching for hope by Christina Kilbourne, 2007
Written in the form of a journal, Maxine is depressed and scared. Her best friend has gone missing and she feels responsible and has survivor’s guilt. It could have just as easily been her. She enjoyed chatting and flirting and telling white lies online just as much as Leah. Now she sees a psychologist, avoids her friends, and is failing her classes. When the opportunity comes to help the police in the investigation, Max is scared but determined to do all she can. Leah wouldn’t have done anything less.

This story covers some serious subject matter, such as online predators and child exploitation, in a realistic and tasteful manner. The protagonist seems older than her supposed 12 years, but otherwise, the voice is believable. I didn’t love the story – it is a bit predictable – but it is completely grabbing my 13-year-old’s attention.


Hot Lunch by Alex Bradley, 2007
When she refuses to work with her assigned partner on an English assignment, Molly initially becomes enemies with Cassie, which escalates to a food fight, for which the consequence is forced work time in the lunch room. When their pranks behind the counter lead to the manager’s resignation, the principal makes them take charge of the lunch room. They must work there and provide the students with lunch indefinitely, unless the students think their lunches are better than those provided under the original manager for an entire week.

Written in first-person, Molly - a blue-haired, earphone-without-ipod-wearing, alternative-high-school-attending girl, tells her story of finding friendship with funny wit and attitude. The development of true friendship, appreciation for food, and true self-awareness is genuine and thoroughly enjoyable. I laughed out loud several times.

Night Tourist; Doppelganger; Cassandra's Sister; Coraline; and Here Lies Arthur

Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh, 2007
Edgar Allan Poe Award winner
Fourteen-year-old Jack Perdu misses his mom, who died 6 years earlier, but his dad won’t talk about her, nor take him back to New York where they once lived. After being hit by a vehicle and nearly dying, MC has some peculiar encounters, convincing his dad to send him to NYC to be examined by a specialist doctor whose a friend of his. The checkup consists solely of having his photo taken, which confuses him, and on the way out he finds a antique subway token that appears gold which he unintentionally takes with him. Waiting for his train home, he joins a tour group of Grand Central Station and enjoys experimenting with the echoing columns. He meets Euri there, quoting one of his favorite poems, who convinces him to follow her to Track 61. Thus begins his journey to the underworld where deceased citizens of New York City reside until they pass on. When he finally realizes where he is, he convinces Euri to help him search for his mom. Racing against the clock and from Cerebus, the three-headed guard dog of the underworld, he and Euri still have time to visit many of the famous landmarks of New York during the night, traveling as easily by air as in an elevator, passing through walls and floors as easily as doors.

Other tags: ancient languages; classics translator; school; child prodigy; family secrets; father-son relationships; ghosts; death

The story starts out slowly, predictably. Once in the underworld, the slow pacing gradually picks up, especially as the mystery of his mother’s story is unraveled. The author describes this underworld with some interesting details, some humor, and several allusions to Greek mythology. By the end, I was into the story and characters and cared about how things turned out.


Doppelganger by Mark Stahler, 2006
Told in first person, the heganger telling the story introduces us to his alien, predatory, parasitic race of doppelgangers, shape-shifters who kill humans and assume their appearance and life. They are without loving affection for their own or for humans, without attractiveness in their own forms, and no purpose other than to propagate their race, an act that happens almost without any free agency on the parts of the participants. When the narrator is abandoned by his mom and forced to live on his own, he wanders around trying to avoid killing, but eventually succumbs. He first kills a homeless drunk who is close to death anyway. While in that form, he is attached by an angry high schooler who he ends up killing as well. Though feeling guilty about what he has done, he assumes this boy’s life, who is called Chris, and ends up falling in love with his girlfriend, Amber, loving his sister, Echo, and even caring about what happens to his abusive and weak parents Harry and Sheila.

Other tags: Macbeth; high school; football; physical abuse

Though the subject is violent, though Chris’s home life is abusive and violent, and though there is sexual tension between Chris and a sheganger as well as sexual attraction between Chris and Amber that eventually leads to the act itself, the writing is subtle and respectful, not graphic nor extraneous. The doppelganger can only assume a victim’s life temporarily due to the instability of taking on a particular form, so any good Chris does, he knows, is only for a time. I found this theme (that time continually marches forward) as well as the other main theme that there are different ways you could be a monster, both intriguing to think about. I would recommend it to 9th graders and up.


Cassandra’s Sister by Veronica Bennett, 2007
Written in the 19th century style of Jane Austin, this story is an imagined recreation of the early life of Jane, her sister, Cassandra, and the rest of her family and social circle. Jane struggles against the limits placed on women during her lifetime, is jolted by a potential suitor for another woman, and is swept off her feet by a young Irishman during the course of three balls, only to never hear from him again. The pacing is a bit plodding, though I was pulled from chapter to chapter, wanting to see how it would end. However, the lack of forthright communication, especially between the sexes, and the portrayal of Jane as someone who would throw away true friendship and a secure marriage because of an infatuation with someone she talked with only three times depressed me. I had to go and watch “Becoming Jane” and then Keira Knighley’s “Pride and Prejudice” soon thereafter.


Coraline by Neil Gaiman, adapted and illustrated by P. Craig Russell, 2008 (741.5 RUS)
Coraline is longing for attention from her parents, who are busy with their work. The neighbors in her apartment house try to be friendly but keep calling her Caroline, and the cat won’t let her get very close. Then she passes through a mysterious bricked-up doorway into an alternative reality where an alternative mom professes her undying love for her, offering her anything she wants if only she will stay forever. But when Coraline realizes her alternative mom is dishonest, controlling, and evil, and that her real family and life are in danger, she uses her wits to outsmart the witch and restore her original life, which is most welcomed despite its imperfections. True love and honesty are preferable to days without them, even if her days would be filled with anything she could imagine.

I read a graphic novel version of this award-winning novel. Personally I do not enjoy this format as well as a traditional novel. Having to constantly switch between words and the visual clues pulls me out of the story more abruptly and repeatedly than straight narrative. However, for a student who likes this format, the graphics are full color and quite spectacular, and the story is sufficiently creepy to pull the reader along.


Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve, 2007
This story is a new imagining of the King Arthur legend where Merlin is Myrrdin, a bard who is convinced Arthur is the best bet for England’s future and is quite gifted at spinning a tale. He is also constantly looking for ways to create allusions and visual tricks that will reenforce his stories’ claims that Arthur is an heroic king, blessed by the gods, both Christian and pre-Christian ones. The story is told from Gwyna’s perspective, an orphan whose lord is killed by Arthur’s band and is rescued by Myrrdin. He has thought of a role she can play, given her unusual swimming talent, to help convince others of Arthur’s divine calling. She becomes the Lady of the Lake, which even Arthur is convinced of, and then transformed to Gwyn, Myrrdin’s nephew and assistant, to hide the deception.

My niece didn’t like how the legend was initiated through trickery, but I found it very believable and interesting. She did like the rest of the story, however, and so did I. Gwyna, as Gwyn, gets quite the exposure to the world of boys that would have been totally hidden from her as a girl, and then has a unique perspective when she returns to the world of women as Gwyna once again. Arthur is portrayed as one of many warring lords who happens to have the best story-telling working for him. This is a concept that still seems very true in this year of presidential elections.