Book Review: Pointe

Author: Brandy Colbert
Reviewer: Book Girl

Theo is a girl whose life is solely focused on ballet.  She is trying to put her past behind her, a past that includes getting treatment for her anorexia and the kidnapping of her friend Donovan, which occurred four years ago.  Then Theo receives news that she though was no longer possible.  Donovan has returned.  But he is no longer speaking.

Theo tries to move on with her life.  She finds a guy that seems sweet and interested in her, even if he does already have a girlfriend.  She throws herself into preparations for a summer intensive ballet program.  And then she finds out something that completely changes everything.  She knows Donovan's kidnapper.

This book is one of the best I've read all year.  Theo's struggles are many, but are very real to her and to the reader.  She is a strong female character, especially as regards to her love interest, Hosea.  I would love to go into more detail about the book. but don't want to give away anything major, so I'll stop here.

Book Review: Chomp

Author: Carl Hiassen
Reviewer: Sam

Chomp is a book about a kid named Wahoo whose dad owns a ton of animals.  They are hired by a TV show called Expedition Survival  which involves a person who goes out into the wilderness with only a straw and a Swiss army knife to survive a few days.  Wahoo and his father know that Derek Badger, the guy who goes out to survive, is a fake.  Wahoo meets this girl at Wal-Mart, who lives there with her dad, and finds out that her dad has been mistreating her, so when Derek badger and the crew of Expedition Survival invite Wahoo and his dad to go with them to the Everglades, Wahoo invites the girl, Tuna, to go with them.  When her father comes looking for her and Derek Badger disappears, chaos comes and it's here to stay.  It's up to Wahoo and Tuna to find Derek Badger without getting killed by Tuna's psycho Dad. 

                I love this book because although there are many characters to keep track of and  a lot of things that might be the main plot, you still remember everything. I like how this could be a love story between Wahoo and Tuna, but that isn't what the author is focusing on. I would recommend this to anyone who especially cares about endangered animals, or just wants a good laugh about the mistakes Derek Badger will make.
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Daybreak Press: A New Bookstore in St. Paul

A new bookstore is opening up in St. Paul, whose full name is Daybreak Press Global Bookshop and Gathering Space.  This is a new style of bookstore, that focuses on equality and women's issues.  Another rather unique thing about the store is that it organizes its books by continent, including a section for books about Antarctica.  This bookstore is located near Macalester College, and fits perfectly with the kind of students Macalester attracts.  Hopefully its unique aspects will keep it afloat, because the area is certainly not lacking for bookstores, with Garrison Keillor's Common Good Books just a few blocks away.  I am looking forward to going to see this new bookstore.  You can read more about it here.

The Future Library

I recently discovered a project known as the Future Library, and decided to share my thoughts.  The idea of the project is that every year an author is chosen by a committee.  This author produces a work that will be released to the public in 100 years.  You can read more about this project here.

My first reaction to this project was disappointment, since in all likelihood I will not live to see the works that the authors who participate in this project produce.  But after giving it a little thought, I decided that if someone told me a new Louisa May Alcott book was about to come out I would be thrilled.  So overall, I think this project is a neat idea.

Agent Colt Shore Domino 29

Author: Axel Avian
Reviewer: Book Girl

Colton Shore is not just your average kid.  He attends FALCON, a school run by an international organization of the same name that rains kids to be spies.  Colt constantly lives in the shadow of his older brother Dix , an amazing, heroic agent who died when he was twenty-two, before Colt was born.  That changes when Colt finds out that the people he thinks are his parents are, in fact, his grandparents, and Dix is his father.  After finding out his true identity, Colt is sent on a simple mission to protect two young pop stars during their tour in Afghanistan.  This quickly turns into an unprecedented round-the-world search for the victims of a human trafficking group.

I enjoyed this book.  Rather than your average secret agent book, in which the hero spies on a villain with plans for world domination, this book deals with a very real problem.  One slightly confusing part of the book is that it never explicitly states when Colt travels from one place to another.  Overall, this is a very good secret agent story that I would definitely recommend to fans of that genre.

Elusion

Authors: Claudia Gabel and Cheryl Klam
Reviewer: Book Girl

Elusion takes place in a futuristic world, where a new technology, by the name of Elusion, is sweeping the nation.  The technology allows users to visit a paradise of their choice to escape the dreariness of daily life.  The story centers around Regan, whose father designed Elusion, with help from her good friend Patrick.  Regan begins to question Elusion after meeting Josh, whose sister has disappeared, along with a group that hacked Elusion so that they could remain inside the paradise all of the time.

This book has some obvious flaws.  The relationship between Regan and Josh felt unnatural and forced.  In fact, all of the characters felt distant and unrelatable. One thing that I really enjoyed about this book was Regan's relationship to Elusion.  In an ordinary book, the protagonist would probably be a person who rebelled against the technology that clearly was destroying society.  However, Regan was very protective of it, and gradually became skeptical of the technology.  The ending was a major disappointment.  Not all of the lose ends were tried up, which was clearly making room for the sequel.

Overall, this book is rather fluffy, but has a somewhat unique protagonist.  I would not recommend it, except for a special case.

Lock and Key

Author: Sarah Dessen
Reviewer: Book Girl

I heard you were saucy at my gates; and allowed your approach rather to wonder at you than to hear you.
-Olivia in Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

This quote described my approach to Sarah Dessen: rather mocking of an author who wrote, in my opinion, strictly fluffy girl romance books.  Well, after reading Lock and Key, I have somewhat changed my tune.  The romance in this book was rather fluffy, but the writing quite excellent.  Ruby, the narrator has a matter-of-fact tone of narration and a rather pessimistic view on life.  That starts to change when (surprise, surprise) she meets the boy next door.  The book had elements of fluffy romance, but also had some big reveals that I didn't know were coming but were still believable.

Ruby has lived an interesting life.  While living with her mother, she has constantly changed schools and apartments using fake names without ever knowing the reason why.  That changes when Ruby's mom leaves her a few months before she turns eighteen.  After living on her own for awhile, she is found out, and sent to live with her older sister, Cora, and Cora's husband Jamie.  Cora left for college ten years earlier, and Ruby feels she was abandoned with a nutso for a mom.  After a failed attempt at running away, Ruby resigns herself to living there -- at least until she is eighteen.  Ruby adjusts to some changes, like living in a rich neighborhood, attending a rich school and actually celebrating holidays.  Ruby knows that something is up with the boy next door, and tries to find out what it is.

The Berlin Boxing Club

Author: Robert Sharenow
Reviewer: Book Girl
      This book takes place in Germany a few years before World War Two.  The main character, Karl is Jewish but doesn't look it and isn't religious.  After being badly beat up at school because of his religion, Karl decides that something has to change.  The change comes in the form of Max Schmeling, a famous German boxer.  Rather than paying for one of the paintings on display in Karl's father's gallery, he offers to give Karl boxing lessons instead.  Karl accepts, to his father's dismay, and begins training with Max.
     This book completely fascinated me.  In it, it shows Hitler wanting to prove that the Aryan German is the superior race, and enforcing that through the strength of their best boxer Max Schmeling, who, in fact, doesn't even look like the ideal Aryan.  I would definitely recommend this book, it is about so much more than boxing.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

Author: Catherynne M. Valente
Reviewer: Book Girl
September is a girl with nothing extraordinary to her name.  One day, she is washing dishes when the Green Wind arrives with the Leopard of Little Breezes to whisk her off to Fairyland which is controlled by an the evil Marquess, who has outlawed all sorts of enjoyable things, like flying.  September is meets some witches who send her to the Marquess to take back the Spoon that she stole from them.

One thing I particularly enjoyed about this book was the Victorian style of writing that sort of reminds me of the Winnie the Pooh books.  The story itself is full of magical beings in beasts made up and that I recognized from myths and stories.

Mr. Chickee's Funny Money

Author: Christopher Paul Curtis
Reviewer: Sam
If you have ever read Christopher Paul Curtis, you have had a taste of his magic of imagination. Now, he gives us Steven who is given a 1,000,000,000,000,000 dollar bill by Mr. Chickee. At first, he is happy to have a quadrillion dollars. But then he finds out it is just trouble. With detective agents chasing him, he and his pals Russel and Zoopy, must find out the truth about the dollar.

It is true, money is the roof of evil, though, I have to admit, it can be hilarious.

A Plague Year

Author: Edward Bloor
Reviewer: Book Girl
The title of this year suggests a medieval plague, perhaps the bubonic plague.  But the real subject is even more frightening and real: meth.  The plague takes place in a small mining town in Pennsylvania and is chronicled through Tom's journal.  Towards the beginning it is only a few that are affected, then signs of the plague are everywhere, on street corners, and friends, and even their parents.  But Tom has many people to turn to for help: a drug counseling group that turns into something deeper, an English teacher who has them read books on plagues and even his bad- boy cousin.  But how can he stop the plague from killing the town, and everyone he knows?

The Familiars

Author: Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson
Reviewer: Sam
Aldwyn the cat while being chased, hops into a store window to find many animals with many different talents. He is chosen to be a boy named Jack's familiar, and soon has the life of 3 people, in his paws. But for the plan to succeed, they need to use his magical abilities, which he does not have. Read the book to find adventure, magic, and so many twists and turns they could turn you inside out.

The Smart Aleck's Guide to American History

Author: Adam Selzer
Reviewer: Book Girl
This was hilarious!  It is set up like a history textbook, but unlike a history textbook, it is full of jokes, funny captions and rhymes to help you remember history such as:

Roses are red, violets are blue
Benjamin Franklin
Invented the stove

This book actually engaged me and made me want to read more, unlike some other books about history that I have read in my free time that I have abandoned after the first chapter.  Read it!

Frankenstein

Author: Mary Shelley
Reviewer: Book Girl

This book was very different than what I was expecting.  I came to it prepared to be completely horrified at how Frankenstein kills people.  Instead, the beginning of the book opens with a sea captain's letters to his sister as he navigates the frozen arctic tundra. However, a crazy looking man by the name of Victor Frankenstein comes to his ship on a dogsled across the ice.  Then, this new guy starts basically telling the story of his life, which is all very fine and jolly.  Things start to get interesting when he talks about wanting to research how the very life is given to living things.  He decides to create his own human, and makes it out of parts of dead bodies (ugh!) which he then shocks to life.  When he leaves the room and comes back, the monster is gone.  Then he returns to his home and finds out that his younger brother has been killed, a good friend of the family is accused of the crime, and he discovers his monster is responsible.  Thus, Victor tells the story of his quest to rid the world of the monster once and for all.

As for how the reading of the actual book went, it was pretty slow going.  I read the original version of the story, and everyone talks in a very flowery manner.  Also, the author seems very prejudiced towards peasants and people who are not very high in society.  Well, that was gist I got, because every time the narrator got to know peasants, he found out that they were orphaned from dukes and duchesses or exiled from their home country.  Overall I consider the book a good read, but the flowery bits can get rather dull.

Merriam Park Library is Back!

After being closed for over a month, the Merraim Park Library is back!  It's reopening today drew crowds, anxious to get back their library and to see the new renovations.  The biggest change is the information desk, which was torn down and replaced by a sitting area.  The main desk looks sleek and new, and when you return books, the barcode is scanned automatically.  Bibliophiles rejoice!

Alanna: The First Adventure

Reviewer: Book Girl
Author: Tamora Pierce

Picture this: a girl growing up in a medieval style land.  You see gowns and fancy dinners.  But this book is utterly different: Alanna disguises herself a boy in order to train to become a knight.  She is the smallest and weakest of all the pages, but still becomes the close friend of Jonathan, the heir to the throne, after saving his life using her healing magic.  But the disease was not natural.  There is a dangerous mage out to kill Jonathan, and it is up to Alanna to save his life.

Half Magic

Reviewer: Sam
Author: Edward Eager

Half Magic is more then half awesome. Katherine, Martha, Jane and Mark have found a nickle. At least, that was what they thought it was at the time. After a while, they found out the "nickle" granted wishes. Well, half way. If you wanted 2 hotdogs, you had to wish for 4. But sometimes they forgot they had it.Well, I'm halfway done with this review. Remember, be careful what you wish for, because you will probably regret it later.

Sorry

You might have noticed I have not posted recently.  Sorry about that.  However, I will be bringing back the guest reviewers.  First up: Circus Man Sam!

Thirteen Reasons Why

Author: Jay Asher
Review Writer: Book Girl
This book is kind of depressing but a very good read.  It is basically a girl's suicide tapes, that tell thirteen people why they are responsible for why she killed herself.  The narrator is one of the people on the tapes, and I kind of skipped over the commentary he was giving as the tapes were playing.  Overall a very good read.

The Wild Girls

Author:Pat Murphy
Review Writer: Book Girl
In this book Joan moves to a new town and meets Fox. Joan’s dad is very negative and is not a very good dad. Gus, Fox’s dad is a tough novel writer and has lots of tattoes. Fox tells Joan a story about how her mom became a fox. They have a lot of fun throwing rocks at trees and writing a story that takes first place in a story contest. After reading the story with unexpected stolen lipstick as war paint, they are offered a place in a writing class taught by Verla Volante. However, Joan’s dad does not want her to go. In this book, Fox and Joan learn about friendship, trying new thinks and asking questions.