JANUARY 25, 2010
The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd
It’s the summer between high school and college, and Dade is struggling with a variety of issues. He’s gay, but hasn’t come out to his parents, and he’s in a secret relationship with a football player (who’s openly dating a popular girl). Things aren’t great at home, either, where his mother is drinking too much and his father is having an affair. Then he meets Alex Kinkaid, a little bit older, a drug dealer, but good-looking and kind. For the first time, Dade falls in love. As the summer progresses, Dade finds himself coming into his own, including owning his own sexuality, dealing with a crushing blow, and ultimately making the hard but right choices about his life. The author, Nick Burd, is a funny, wise, and honest guide. He’s thoughtful in his choices when telling this story, which makes this a particularly good read for teens. He also writes a great sentence and makes this coming-of-age story move. While sex is a prominent theme, it is handled with discretion. Content deals with drugs and alcohol. This book is definitely for older teens, grades 10 through college. Winner of the 2010 American Library Association’s inaugural Stonewall Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature.
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JANUARY 24, 2010
Trail of Fate by Michael P. Spradlin
This is the Book 2 in "The Youngest Templar Trilogy". It is an action-packed and suspenseful adventure picking up where Book 1 left off. Washed ashore alone somewhere in France, Tristan is surrounded by a group of Cathars, and his friends Robard and Miryam don't appear to have survived their shipwreck. The Cathars make it clear that they don't like Templars, and are in fact running from the High Counsel of France who would persecute them for their differing religious views.Taken hostage, Tristan travels with the group toward Montsegur, their mountain Citadel where they may defend themselves. Tristan's mission of guarding and returning the grail to Scotland is temporarily put on hold, but he knows Sir Hugh is still on his trail and getting closer. He begins to have feelings he doesn't understand for Celia, the Cathars' leader despite nearly being shot by her arrow, and eventually teams up with the Cathars to fight both the High Counsel and Sir Hugh, who has joined forces with them, unsuspecting that his interest is purely in getting his hands on the grail. The battle scenes are quite exciting, and like its predecessor, this book also ends with a cliff-hanger ending. Suitable for ages 12 and up, and like the first book, is excellent on CD.
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JANUARY 24, 2010
Keeper of the Grail by Michael P. Spradlin
This is Book 1 in "The Youngest Templar" trilogy, in which readers are introduced to 14-year-old Tristan. Abandoned in an abbey as a babe, Tristan is raised by the monks, though clues are left indicating that he might have a noble background. He is discovered, seemingly by accident, by the Templar Knight Sir Thomas who is traveling to fight for Richard the Lionheart's Crusade. Overnight, Tristan becomes his squire, but not without the disapproval of another Templar Knight, Sir Hugh who instantly dislikes him. The Templars travel to Acre to fight against the Saracens in the Holy Land, but as the city falls into enemy hands, Tristan is given orders to escape through the tunnels and somehow get to Scotland with a satchel hiding the Holy Grail, which Sir Thomas has been protecting. In his travels during the following week, Tristan meets up with Robard, a 17-year-old King's archer who has completed his conscription with the King's army and is returning home to help his father farm, and Miryam, an Al Hashshashin assassin. The trio plan to find a ship in which to travel to England, but must hide from Saracen armies as well as the evil Sir Hugh who has somehow survived the Acre battle. This is a fast-paced medievel adventure that ends in a cliff-hanger . It will appeal to readers ages 12 and up. Listen to this series on CD to get a flavor of the language.
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JANUARY 21, 2010
The Duel: The Parallel Lives of Alexander Hamilton & Aaron Burr
"The Vice President of the United States shot and killed the former United States Secretary of the Treasury!" Can you imagine the impact of such a headline were it to hit the newscasts today? Yet this tragic event really occurred in the early days of our nation. Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton had lived two amazingly similar lives since orphaned childhoods. They had each struggled to achieve educations, given service to the new union during the Revolutionary War, and as young lawyers had engaged in state and national politics - although in opposing factions as parties began to form around the views of either Thomas Jefferson or John Adams. Their differences of opinion and the customs of the day seem to have led inevitably to the illegal duel in Weehawken, New Jersey, which in a sense ended both their lives. The Duel is brief and clearly written in alternating chapters with informative details describing the in-fighting present even from the earliest days of the United States political scene. This will be of interest primarily to sixth through eighth grade students.
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JANUARY 20, 2010
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
Kyra lives with her father, his three wives, and his 19 children in a desert compound with other polygamous families. The cult, named “The Chosen Ones,” is religiously strict and isolationist, but Kyra is happy and loved by her father, mothers, and siblings. However, Kyra does not conform perfectly to all the rules set by The Prophet. She is involved in a secret, forbidden romance with Joshua, one of the teen boys in the community. And while reading anything besides the Bible is prohibited, Kyra has been secretly borrowing books from the bookmobile. When Kyra learns that she is to be the sixth wife of her uncle, a man fifty years older, serious rebellion begins. Though her family tries to help her, the head of the community will not relent. Kyra can’t escape this marriage without the threat of violence or the potential loss of her family and Joshua. This book doesn’t mention by name the polygamous Mormon communities in the west, but it is obviously modeled after them, and gives a curious teen or adult an inside view of that lifestyle. While a fascinating read, the book only skimmed the surface of the many possible issues it presents. Some violence. Ages 13-16.
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JANUARY 13, 2010
Faith, Hope and Ivy June by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
In Faith, Hope and Ivy June, author Naylor returns to the Kentucky settings that she knows so well. Two seventh grade girls are chosen to participate in the first ever exchange program between a Lexington all female private academy and a public junior high in the mountainous area of the eastern part of the state. Ivy June is the first to leave her grandparents' home to travel to the city to stay with the family of Catherine Combs. Both girls are told to write their impressions in private journals. At first their entries comment on differences in outward appearances, personal possessions (or lack thereof), and independently they make resolutions to avoid critical or judgmental remarks. The girls clearly strive to "fit in" with family and friends in the host schools with varying but realistic results. When, near the end of Catherine's stay with the Mosleys, disasters strike both girls, they support one another and discover to their amazement that when it really counts they are more alike than they had supposed. This novel will be quickly read by middle school girls who will then find themselves pondering its message long after completing it.
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JANUARY 4, 2010
Newsgirl by Liza Ketchum
Set in 1851 San Francisco, 12-year-old Amelia has just arrived by boat with her mother and Estelle, a family friend, who want to start a new life in gold rush country where women enjoy more freedoms, by sewing woman's dresses. But spending more money on the trip over than planned due to a shipwreck, the women don't have money for immediate needs. Amelia quickly realizes that newspapers from the east, even old ones, can earn her $1 per copy. Selling newspapers used to wrap her mother's bolts of fabric, Amelia's news is fresher than the copies the gangs of boys are selling, but she makes enemies. They won't let her join the gang since she's a girl. Finding that being a girl also excludes her from helping at the newspaper office, or even selling a story about their shipwreck as a reporter, Amelia cuts her braids and disguises herself as a boy. Thinking she can get a story about an upcoming balloon launch, she sneaks with her new friend Patrick to watch. In a scene of chaos and unexpected wind, the two find themselves launched into the sky, headed for adventure. This page-turner, filled with many fascinating details about life in early California, tells of a time when life was hard, but full of promise for the many types of people who decided to settle there. It will appeal to those who enjoy historical fiction or stories with a strong female character. Appropriate for ages 12 and up. Highly recommended.
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