Reveiw: Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes

Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes by Lisa Greenwald, is exactly that.. a sweet treat.  Lisa Greenwald is an author that lives in the mid of your typical 13 year old girl. She even said so herself at our 2009 Kid-Lit Festival.  Her latest book steps up her game even more, taking her into the mind of three very unique 13 year olds, all best friends.

When a blizzard threatens to ruin Valentine’s Day, three seventh-grade friends make and distribute fortune cookies to their lonely neighbors—and confront the secrets they’ve been keeping from one another. Confident Kate doesn’t notice much but the latest gossip, and shy Georgia can’t say out loud what’s always on her mind. They’re joined by observant, careful Olivia, whose epic, single-minded crush on PBJ (real name: Phillip Becker-Jacobs) is starting to frustrate the other two. Using fortune cookies that mysteriously always seem to speak directly to the person who opens them, the three girls try to work together to bring some love to their building, while reminding each other why they’re such good friends to begin with.

When I first started reading this I thought.... oh no Lisa, not a teeny bopper schmaltzy first kiss book.  But she didn't disappoint.  While crushes are core to the story moving along, it really has little to do with the boys.  The three friends find themselves pulling apart now that they each have their own crush, and a few secrets.  Being stranded in their apartment building on Valentine's Day forces them to reveal their secrets, anaylze their crushes, and bond again over a few fortune cookies.  The plot moves through alternating b/w the three girls telling the story and takes place over the course of 30 hours, with a bulk being the day stuck at home.  We get a good glimpse into the psyche of each girl through her storytelling, and her relationships with her family.  The three have distinct personalities, which many young girls will quickly be able to identify with (the quiet thoughtful one, the observer/busy body, and the boy crazy one).  Lisa melds these three together beautifully and makes you want to be a resident in their building as they not only bring themselves together, but the entire neighborhood as well (including some boys!).  This is a book that belongs on every middle school library shelf and in each teacher's collection to loan out to that adolescent girl struggling with her own friend and boy issues. 
~Sam

This review is part of BookingMama's Kid Konnection meme

Review: The Search for WondLa

The Search for WondLa
by Tony DiTerlizzi (creator of Spiderwick Chronicles)
Simon & Schuster
Genre: YA Fantasy

Take a little bit of "The Wizard of Oz" and "Alice in Wonderland", toss in some "Star Wars" and "Planet of the Apes", mix well by a talented writer and you'll have an idea of this book. From the fantastic mind of Tony DiTerlizzi, creator of the Spiderwick Chronicles, this is the first of a three part series.

The story concerns a twelve-year-old girl, Eva Nine, who has been raised in an underground sanctuary by a robot named Muthr. When a vicious hunter destroys the sanctuary in search of Eva, she is forced to go above ground for the first tie in her life. Up there, she finds odd creatures, but no one like her. She sets off across the land to find other humans. With the help of kind, though strange, friends, she runs for her life from the hunter and heads for the badlands where it is rumored she may find other humans.

Mr. DiTerlizzi is a master craftsman with this genre. His characterizations, world building, and settings are so well done, you believe there may actually be a world like this one. The story flows well and is enjoyable from page one to the last chapter. According to the information accompanying this pre-pub copy, there will also be an interactive web site so readers can journey along with Eva and her friends, just the sort of thing any young tween would like.

If there are any drawbacks at all for me, it is that the last page leaves you dangling. This is definitely not a stand alone book and it will be necessary to get the other books to finish the story, a marketing ploy that continually frustrates me. But other than this minor, and not unexpected, issue, I highly recommend The Search for WondLa. I am definitely looking forward to the others.

~Vicky Burkholder

Review- Holy Ghosts by Gary Jansen

Holy Ghosts Or, How a (Not-So) Good Catholic Boy Became a Believer in Things That Go Bump inthe Night
By Gary Jansen
(Tarcher, Hardcover, 9781585428199, 224pp.)

"Holy Ghosts" is a true story about one man's journey to find a link between his religion and the paranormal. It is also a ghost story - a real ghost story.

Gary Jansen, a respected editor and writer, is not given to flights of fancy, but the events of his life would strain even the most skeptical of us. Growing up in Long Island, his mother often claimed their home was haunted. He wasn't sure he believed her, but strange things did seem to happen in the house. When he moved back into his family home in 2001, he had to accept that the odd occurrences were real. By 2007, he knew he had to do something. His son refused to go into his room, and both Gary and his wife had experienced strange incidents in house.

Through friends, he contacted Mary Ann Winkowski, the inspiration for TVs "The Ghost Whisperer." With her help, he rid his home of the two very real ghosts living there.

This is a wry, sometimes funny, sometimes frightening look at the paranormal and how it relates to the Catholic religion. It is a ghost story, but it is also a a deeply religious memoir of Gary trying to understand the place of spirits and the afterlife in respect to his faith.

This is a relatively short, quickly read, excellently written book for anyone searching for the link between life, death, religion, and what happens next. Recommended for anyone with an interest in religion and/or ghosts.

~Vicky

Review: Plain Kate by Erin Bow

Plain Kate lives in a world of superstitions and curses, where a song can heal a wound and a shadow can work deep magic. As the wood-carver's daughter, Kate held a carving knife before a spoon, and her wooden charms are so fine that some even call her "witch-blade" -- a dangerous nickname in a town where witches are hunted and burned in the square.
For Kate and her village have fallen on hard times. Kate's father has died, leaving her alone in the world. And a mysterious fog now covers the countryside, ruining crops and spreading fear of hunger and sickness. The townspeople are looking for someone to blame, and their eyes have fallen on Kate.


Enter Linay, a stranger with a proposition: In exchange for her shadow, he'll give Kate the means to escape the town that seems set to burn her, and what's more, he'll grant her heart's wish. It's a chance for her to start over, to find a home, a family, a place to belong. But Kate soon realizes that she can't live shadowless forever -- and that Linay's designs are darker than she ever dreamed.

This is a deep story about death, persecution, belonging, trust and betrayal, gypsy clans, ghosts, and more. It is a dark book - at times a little too dark - but there are also spots of lightheartedness that have you smiling - especially when the talking cat is involved. Basically, it is a story about a young girl who is a gifted wood carver. Her mother dies at her birth and her father a few years later and she is left orphaned and homeless. Because of her gift with carving, the townsfolk begin to distrust her, then accuse her of being a witch. There is talk of burning her in order to save the town from bad luck. She escapes the town with the help of Roamers (gypsies) and a witch man who takes her shadow. She has to face situations that no twelve-year-old should have to face, but that is her fate. Set in medieval times and heavy with Russian flavor, it reads like an ancient fairy tale. It is well-written and pulls at the emotions.

Though not for every YA reader, those who enjoy darker tales akin to the Golden Compass might like this one. If you want light fare, this is not it. But for those who like darker, heavier stories, this is a good one.


Rating: 3 stars - difficult subjects, Russian fairy-tale theme, dark fantasy.

Vicky Burkholder