The Water Castle

Blackmore, M. F. (2013). The Water Castle. Broadway, NY: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Intended Audience: Ages 8-14

Genre: Science Fiction

Personal Reaction: The Water Castle was an wonderful story that had me hooked from the very beginning.  I started it on my lunch and within the half hour was already 47 pages into it.  In this story, the characters are searching for the fountain of youth, Ephraim wants it for his father, Mallory wants to know if her parents had been telling the truth for her whole life and Will is curious for the sake of science.  Throughout the story there is a journal shown of the Appledores, the family owning the Water Castle and detailing how they found the Fountain of Youth so many years ago. 

As many stories in small towns, there is centuries of hatred between Ephraim and Will's families, a hatred the young boys are able to help push aside as they become friends.  I always find myself loving books with light science fiction and having real problems needing solved.  At the end  Ephraim's father appears to be healed from his stroke, giving readers the understanding that the Fountain of Youth is real. 

Author Facts: Megan Frazer has her Masters in Library Science from Simmons GSLIS and spent more than ten years as a librarian.  She has a degree in English from Columbia and has taught English to high school students.  Currently she is taking a break from traditional jobs and is instead focusing on her writing and her family. 

Author's website: http://www.meganfrazer.com/

Wintergirls

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Wintergirls. New York: Viking, 2009.

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Intended Audience: Ages 13 and older

Personal Reaction: Wintergirls was a book I both loved and hated.  In it, we learn the story of Lia, a teenager whose friend Cassie just died from bulimia. Lia deals with her own eating disorder and is haunted by Cassie throughout the story.  Her family life is difficult, partly because of her problems and partly because her parents are divorced and don't always pay the best attention to her.

This book was depressing and had very little hope or happiness until the last chapter.  In that sense, it was a difficult read and I am not sure I would have finished it, had it not been required for class.  However, the writing style was wonderful, Anderson showed the number of calories Lia was consuming by putting the numbers in parentheses.  She had words crossed out when Lia thought one thing but attempted to not and at one point had two entire blank pages to emphasize what was happening in the story.  While I would not necessarily hand this book to someone to read, I did enjoy it and would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about mental and eating disorders.

Author Facts: Laurie Halse Anderson hates it when people pronounce her last name incorrectly (Halse rhymes with waltz).  She married her childhood sweetheart and they live in Northern New York with their four children and dog.  Anderson leaves a charmed life, running, gardening and writing in a cottage her husband built for her to write in.

Author Website: http://madwomanintheforest.com/

It's Kind of a Funny Story

Vizzini, Ned. It's Kind of a Funny Story. New York: Baker and Taylor, 2006.


Genre: Realistic Fiction

Intended Audience: Ages 15 and older

Personal Reaction to the book:  I wanted to love this book.  I really did.  I enjoyed the writing, I enjoyed the plot, I even loved some of the lines enough to share them with others, but it was a difficult book for me to want to get back to reading.  The plot was enjoyable, Craig finds he is depressed and wants to kill himself, he checks himself into the hospital for suicide watch after calling the suicide hotline.  Craig makes friends while there and realizes that life is worth living, ending the book with the line “So now life for real, Craig. Live. Live. Live. Live. Live(Vizinni, 444).” 

The most lasting part of this book was how Vizzini shows whether you live with depression or not sometimes life is about managing, not being cured of our ailments.  All people have problems and part of living is learning how to deal with them.  In the book Craig says to a friend “Everybody has problems.  Some people just hide their crap better than others (Vizzini, 366).  I really appreciate that line because this is one so many people need to hear and one Craig eventually needed to believe in order to decide to live.  

Author Facts: Ned Vizzini was born in 1981 in New York.  In his twenties he spent five days in a psychiatric hospital in 2004 and during the following days wrote this book.  Vizzini struggled with depression for his 32 years and in the end took his life, unable to conquer the thing he wrote about.  

Author Website: Vizinni’s website used to be found at http://www.nedvizzini.com/ but appears to have since been removed.  Information about him can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Vizzini .

 

A Wizard of Earthsea

Guin, U. (1968). A Wizard of Earthsea. New York, New York: Bantam Press.

Genre: Fantasy

Intended Audience: Ages 12 and older

Personal reaction to the book: I chose this book because it was a favorite of a friend when he was growing up.  After reading it I find it easy to understand why it made such an impact and why he reads primarily fantasy books.

This book followed the choices of a young wizard, Ged.  It described and acknowledged the importance of taking responsibility for one's actions and not being afraid to clean up one's mess.  Ged released an evil force on the world while showing his pride and being pompous.  He puts the lives of his friends and teachers in danger until he later masters the shadow he created.  Earthsea was a very easy novel to follow and the lessons were easy to see.

Author Facts:Ursula Le Guin learned to write at five and never stopped since.  She received many awards for her books. In addition to writing many novels, Le Guin takes time to review novels of others and can be found on her website.

Author's website: http://www.ursulakleguin.com/

Sweethearts

Zarr, S. (2008). Sweethearts. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Intended Audience: Ages 12 and older

Personal Reaction: I suspect this will be a book that stays with me for a long time.  The language was beautiful and the words well chosen.  Jennifer Harris meets up with Cameron Quick after eight years of thinking he was dead.  His arrival changes her life, it brings back memories from their childhood, of abuse she had attempted to suppress and how she was bullied as a child.  Jennifer had grown up, lost weight, changed her name to Jenna Vaughn, had a step-father added to her family and now had friends.

I was encouraged to read a story that had supportive parental roles.  Jennifer/Jenna's mother and step-father were a part of her life and the concerns that arose were rather believable.  They listened to their daughter, they helped her and also took care of Cameron when needed.  While the ending was not perfect, it did leave readers feeling and longing for the characters.

Author Facts: Sara Zarr is a busy woman.  She lives in Salt Lake City, UT with her husband.  In addition to writing novels for young adults Zarr hosts a podcast called This Creative Life and teaches creative writing at Lesley University for their Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts program. Her next novel is expected to release in fall of 2015.

Author Website: http://www.sarazarr.com/

The Pigman

Zindel, Paul.  The Pigman. New York: Harper Collins, 1987.

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Intended Audience: Ages 12 and older

Personal Reaction to the book: Lorainne and John become friends with Mr. Pignati when Lorainne calls him as a prank and goes to his home to collect money he was giving for charity.  From the very beginning of the book we realize Mr. Pignati would eventually die, but I was unsure of what to expect otherwise. As with many teen novels the parents of Lorainne and John were a very small part of the story.  The friendship between them and Pigman begins and ends in a zoo with Bobo a mean baboon.

I found this book to be quite hope filled, despite the death of Pigman and the trust that was lost between him and Lorainne and John.  It seems as though despite the loss of his wife, Mr. Pignati worked to make the best of every opportunity in his life.  Mr. Pignati offered to give ten dollars to a charity and befriended two young kids, he rode rollerblades through his home, he ate chocolate covered ants.

Author Facts: Paul Zindel was born on Staten Island and later majored in Chemistry while still living on Staten Island.  Zindel taught high school chemistry and physics for ten years and later decided to write full time.  At the age of 66 Zindel died of cancer, after writing numerous plays and books.

Author Website: http://www.paulzindel.com/bio/nytimesobit.htm

The Outsiders

Hinton, S. (1967). The Outsiders. New York: Dell Publishing.

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Intended Audience: Ages 12 and older

Personal Reaction: While I am not sure I would say I would recommend The Outsiders to the entire world, I found myself quite impressed with it.  Perhaps it is my rural upbringing, but having the "greasers" and "Socs" was never a problem in my high school.

The beginning of this novel was difficult to lose myself in, it seemed to start in the middle of the story, which needed more attention.  However, before long I found myself caring about what happened to Ponyboy and Johnny and unable to put it down.  It was hard to watch Johnny having killing Bob, not really meaning to, and having to live with the consequences.

Overall the greatest part I took away from The Outsiders is how much can happen in the span of a week.  Ponyboy and his brothers had a stronger relationship, he and Johnny ran away from the law, two of his friends died and he began writing his story.  While it may seem extreme how quickly events occurred in this novel, when you are only fourteen life does change in such a short span of time.

Author Facts: S.E. Hinton wrote The Outsiders when she was only sixteen years old.  After writing The Outsiders she had a three year writing block and her boyfriend made her write two pages a day which later became That Was Then, This Is Now.  Hinton now has a dog and a horse, she loves horseback riding.

Author's Website: http://www.sehinton.com/

About Me

bib·li·o·phile

ˈbiblēəˌfīl/

noun

1. a person who collects or has a great love of books.

I am a reader, a bibliophile if you must.  I have three bookshelves and boxes of books I own under my bed.  I have an additional bookshelf devoted to library materials and often have to sort through to return items so I have enough room for them.  I love to read.  One of my classmates said he reads because he lives and I find this to be an adequate reason for reading.  I read because I am alive, I read to see the world, to experience it in new ways.  I read to learn, but also to meet friends and know what it is like to live through wars, to experience being an only child or life on the moon.  

This fall (2014) marks the beginning of my Masters in Library Science program.  For my young adult literature class we are required to read forty-one books and keep a reading journal.  They are to be made available to my classmates at the end of the course, though with the number of patrons and friends asking for book recommendations I decided perhaps a blog would be a useful option.  Since this is for school, feel free to comment with any errors you notice, I would love the best grade possible once I turn it in!  

With that, I thank you for reading this.  The reason for writing will be for class, though I may continue to do so if there is enough interest after the course has completed.  

Happy reading!

Nicole

Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack

Kerr, M.E. (1972). Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack. New York: HarperTempest.

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Intended Audience: Ages 13 and older

Personal Reaction of the Book: Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack begins with a cat in need of adoption and the friendship that blossoms because of Nader, the cat.  Tucker puts up a sign for Nader to be adopted and Dinky answers, the two become friends as Tucker goes to the Hocker residence for visitation.  While there are several references younger readers may not catch (such as politicians and other public figures) I found this to be an enjoyable coming of age story. 

The tone of the novel was light, though many serious issues were discussed.  The friends encounter problems of drug use, obesity, mental heath, job loss and politics, realizing the importance of each.  It is easy to see why this book won the many awards. 

Author Facts: M.E. Kerr is the pen name for Marijane Meaker during her writing of novels for young adults.  While she has written many young adult novels, Dinky Hocker was her first.  During her school years, Meaker begged her mother to allow her to attend Stuart Hall School, a boarding school in Staunton, VA.

Author’s Website: http://balkinbuddies.com/kerr/index.html

Say What You Will

McGovern, C. (2014). Say what you will. New York: HarperTeen.

Genre: Realistic fiction

Intended Audience: ages 14 and older

Personal reaction of the book: This is the first of Cammie McGovern’s books I have read and I found it to be quite an emotional ride.  Amy and Matthew become friends when Amy’s mother decides to pay students to help her with her senior year of high school instead of the adult aides she had for years prior.  Amy wants to learn how to make friends and as the book opens we find her trying to convince Matthew to be one of her peer helpers. 

I found myself surprised at the twists the story took, and in many ways I found it reminiscent of Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell.  The book covered many serious issues while remaining hopeful and serious.  

Author Facts: Cammie McGovern is married with three children, her oldest son has autism.  She helped start Whole Children, a grassroots organization offering opportunities for special needs kids and teens to have enrichment programs and fill other gaps the school system often fails to do.  In her spare time she began working elections. 

Website: http://www.cammiemcgovern.com/