tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19942814909814714772024-03-13T20:36:05.823-07:00Undusty New BooksUndusty new books. Books for everyone. Books with pictures. Books written for kids and teens. Favorites, old and new. Books to buy, borrow, and share. *this blog has moved to www.hallietibbetts.comHallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.comBlogger244125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-80881487922648902952015-11-16T18:58:00.003-08:002015-11-16T18:58:52.107-08:00Ms. Rapscott's Girls by Elise Primavera<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I don't read as much for early readers as I should, but I couldn't help being intrigued by the cover of <b><i>Ms. Rapscott's Girls</i> by Elise Primavera</b> (Penguin - Dial). I found it under a pile of mess the other day--what good book doesn't live in a pile of mess, at least some of the time--and decided to flip through it. Illustrated more than many chapter books with pencil pictures, it sucked me in with its mysterious illustrations, and then with its charming text. Basically, imagine that Mary Poppins and Lemony Snicket had an optimistic child that decided to write stories when she grew up.<br />
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Ms. Rapscott has a school for Girls of Busy Parents, and sends out five pre-paid boxes; parents need merely insert their children and send them away. Four of the boxes arrive with disgruntled, neglected girls; one has arrived sans girl, because her parents were too busy to close it properly.<br />
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The rest of the girls find themselves at school having an adventure, and some of it is finding the missing girl, and some of it is finding themselves. There is a perfect age for this book, and that's just when you're a good enough reader to understand wordplay and have enough of an understanding of fiction vs. reality to not be frightened of the idea of your parents sending you away (possibly the same age as you'd need to be for <i>Nancy and Plum)</i>.<br />
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Some older readers have marked this out as too twee for love. I can see that, but it just skirted the border there for me, and I couldn't help giggling now and again. Maybe, too, I know enough girls with neglectful parents, and maybe I liked the idea of bossy, impervious, fearless Ms. Rapscott, and maybe I liked a flock of irrepressible, unlovable, isolated girls finding their true independence, and maybe I liked the found family aspect. Maybe. Okay, a lot.<br />
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I had a couple of momentary dislikes; I thought that a couple mentions of fat people weren't nuanced, and I definitely wished for more diversity among the set of little girls (surely there are busy, distracted families with histories that can be traced to all corners of the world?). Still, because of the particular reader that I am, I was delighted on the whole, because it's so rare to find girls in a pack in books--in so many ways, we are only allowed to exist as different, only, chosen, friendless. And I think the world could use a little more sticking together.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-13375035772048811292015-04-04T07:07:00.001-07:002015-04-04T07:07:12.661-07:00The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf and Station ElevenWell, what do you know; while I've been busy elsewhere, Blogger has reinvented that who-you-follow part of its back end, which was one of the reasons I started posting about books here. Once the RSS feed-thingy went away, I didn't have so much of a sense that I was contributing to a community, or any easy way to read what other people were blogging about.<br />
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I spent nearly all of this week in bed, and while I was too busy sneezing and trying to clear my head enough to breathe most of the time, I did a little reading. And, because I need to keep myself awake for a few more hours in the middle of an ambitious sleep-shifting back to "normal" hours while not overtaxing my blurry brain, I'll tell you about some of it, though I confess I didn't absorb as much as I normally would have.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCH39HCkbWt391xA9B3wleEJ-7irXMKP238nF4tRtlFNgjZHWtfUglqkM6WkC-sPErt2v764OxopoVaj455kGSMh3JqG8KYURfDn83E30Cp6zc0vLs8IcaHLgJ0KfaDnVMTmktpBuvnOTH/s1600/Interrogation+of+Ashala+Wolf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCH39HCkbWt391xA9B3wleEJ-7irXMKP238nF4tRtlFNgjZHWtfUglqkM6WkC-sPErt2v764OxopoVaj455kGSMh3JqG8KYURfDn83E30Cp6zc0vLs8IcaHLgJ0KfaDnVMTmktpBuvnOTH/s1600/Interrogation+of+Ashala+Wolf.jpg" height="200" width="138" /></a>One of the books I read: <i><b>The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf</b></i><b> by <span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">Ambelin Kwaymullina </span></span></b><span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">(Candlewick). This is one of those nifty books that sits somewhere in the space between traditional science fiction and traditional contemporary fantasy by making both a part of the story. Ashala leads the Tribe, children who have developed abilities that society doesn't like in the years following an Earth-wide environmental apocalypse. If she's captured, can she save them--and if she can't, will anyone else? Kwaymullina infuses the story with elements drawn from her Palkyu (Aboriginal Australian) heritage, a bit of which I recognized as I read, and much, I'm sure, I didn't. It's an interesting, twisty, non-linear sort of story.</span></span><br />
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<span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">The other: <b><i>Station Eleven </i>by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf)</b> is about a plague, so of course I read it while ill. (Other books in my sordid illness reading history include <i>The Stand</i> and a handful of books by Robin Cook.) Basically, the world ends in a very literary sort of way, and there is only after, so I felt odd reading the story on an e-reader... I wanted to know what would happen to everyone, and like <i>The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf</i>, <i>Station Eleven</i> isn't told in a linear fashion. Shakespeare surrounds the story, which kicks off with a death, and the rest of the book unravels how it touched the lives of those still living. This sounds kind of boring, but there are escapes, kidnappings, cults, and the like, too. It's about I can't help thinking that there's a little something <i>Cloud Atlas</i> in <i>Station Eleven</i>, though the difference is I actually liked all of the not-quite-so-sectioned-off pieces of <i>Station Eleven</i> and read it in two sittings, one some time ago, and then as soon as I had a free day due to illness, the rest. I recommend, if nothing else, its spot-on descriptions of the Pacific Northwest (as opposed to the sketches of certain other speculative fiction books that do not get it at all).</span></span><br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-27426381832586817452014-06-06T08:00:00.000-07:002014-06-06T08:00:01.601-07:00The Third Eye by Mahtab Narsimhan <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><em>The Third Eye</em> (The Tara Trilogy #1) </b><br />
Mahtab Narsimhan <br />
Dundurn, 2007<br />
paperback edition <br />
<br />
Tara’s mother and grandfather disappear in the middle of the night,
and soon, her father remarries, leaving Tara and her little brother,
Suraj, pitted against an evil stepmother. In true fantasy fashion, the
stepmother pampers her own child and neglects Tara and Suraj. It’s
almost unbearable for the children, especially since their father is a
mere shell of his past self, unable to spin the tales he used to tell.
When a strange newcomer, Zarku, tries to usurp Tara’s missing
grandfather’s place as the village healer, Tara hatches a plan to scour
the dangerous forest for her missing relatives. However, the night is
dark and full of vetalas…and before things are done, Tara forges an
alliance with Lord Yama, the god of death.<br />
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<em>The Third Eye</em> won the 2009 Silver Birch Award from the
Ontario Library Association for books aimed at young readers. It’s not
hard to see why: <em>Third Eye</em> is an engrossing, fast-paced fantasy
adventure that incorporates Indian culture and Hindu stories. I loved
that Tara’s quest is not only to save her family (and her relationship
with her younger brother is, frankly, cute), but to save the men of her
village, who are Zarku’s biggest targets. How often does a little girl
end up in that position? I also enjoyed how stories and storytelling
were embedded within the plot, such as the inclusion of Tara’s father’s
stories, which gave me a pleasant sense that the story was operating on
multiple levels.<br />
<br />
The writing is uneven at times, and I sometimes wished for more
attention to introducing details at just the right time. I also wished
for a little more subtlety in the struggle between good and evil. Still,
when this story is good, it’s especially good. I devoured most of the
book on a plane ride, and I’ll be going back for the rest of the
series—this book ends on a breathtaking cliffhanger.<br />
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<i>This review first ran in the June 2014 <a href="http://www.sirensconference.org/news/" target="_blank">Sirens newsletter</a>.</i> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-38851052852729182562014-05-27T08:09:00.000-07:002014-05-27T08:09:00.234-07:00Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I was packing up some books, and I checked to see what I wrote about <i><b>Jumped</b></i><b> by Rita Williams-Garcia </b>(Amistad). Much to my surprise, nothing, even though this was a highlight on the contemporary shelf I've been clearing out.<br />
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Trina, Dominique, and Leticia are in a pressure cooker also known as adolescence. Trina, a young Latina girl immersed in art and a self-imposed picture of her worth, is too self-absorbed to notice when she accidentally wrongs Dominique in the hall one morning. Dominique, banished from the basketball team, focuses her anger there, and vows to take Trina down after school. Leticia witnesses the whole thing, but is inclined to never, ever get involved--she'd much rather watch the world than be part of it, even though she's the only one who has the voice to prevent the coming violence. Over the course of just one day, Leticia has to decide.<br />
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There are two things that fascinate me about this book. The first is how much Williams-Garcia packs into the slender story. There's the despair and powerlessness of getting through school and all its restrictions along with the acknowledgment that one can have great power within such a system. There is the idea that we have choices we don't know we have. There's a look at addiction, in a way; here, it's to the short-lived stories that Leticia craves, whether gossip or on television. There's a look at the desire to control something, anything, in one's own life, especially when one cannot see any real future. There's an acknowledgement that we fail, that our schools fail, that our society has failed to support many students in huge urban schools. I've known girls like Trina, Dominique, and Leticia, and I know that the story on this page hasn't been fiction for them. Even without that, there is much to discuss, and I think <i>Jumped</i> would make an incredible classroom read. <br />
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The second fascination is the incredible voice. Chapters rotate among the girls, and each has a distinct and recognizable voice. I read so many books that alternate POV, and the main difference between the (usually two) main characters is whose name heads the chapter; if I'm lucky, the POV adheres a little closer to the chapter's character and doesn't repeat too much of what came before, or remove all of the mystery when the two meet. In <i>Jumped</i>, I have the sense that each girl is firmly rooted in her perspective, and that while they share some ideas and language by virtue of being at the same school, they each have a distinct story. <i>Jumped</i> is a must-read for writers who plan to narrate from multiple characters' perspectives.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-20559284950434570252014-03-25T15:37:00.000-07:002014-03-25T15:37:00.197-07:00Up in the Air by Walter Kirn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaRsdE-W6xt-NJVUwc56v_RY6Jmv8CrT6BH2ocmzmarCs6uhyvQTW4fLaS7-yoG4izjNe_aGIuo72mP-E2kXBiLTqL0lZWI8N4ya1eJKRYiOs2gM_vmSZhftiF45WzH9t1JAF9FcCDwrv-/s1600/Up+Air.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaRsdE-W6xt-NJVUwc56v_RY6Jmv8CrT6BH2ocmzmarCs6uhyvQTW4fLaS7-yoG4izjNe_aGIuo72mP-E2kXBiLTqL0lZWI8N4ya1eJKRYiOs2gM_vmSZhftiF45WzH9t1JAF9FcCDwrv-/s1600/Up+Air.jpg" /></a></div>
I've never seen the film of<b> <i>Up in the Air</i> by Walter Kirin </b>(various editions; I read the movie tie-in). I understand that few of the plot points are the same, so if you've only seen it, well, I'm interested in hearing what you think.<br />
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Ryan Bingham speaks corporate. He's a road warrior, position head-remover. When a company needs people fired, Ryan does it, and counsels them toward Believing in Themselves and Succeeding. He thinks MythTech might be going to swoop in and save him from this bilious sort of life. They're checking up on him, aren't they? Sending him secret messages, aren't they? We stay with Ryan for his last itinerary, during which he's trying to hit his million airline miles before he quits. He'll give some away to charity and take a trip. It'll be nice.<br />
<br />
Before he leaves, Ryan leaves his resignation on his boss's desk. He tries to make his meetings while also pitching a book deal, having some hookups, and retrieving his sister, a runaway bride, before heading to the family homestead. It's all a bit bizarre.<br />
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For me, the jaded businessman was an okay story, but the more fun one was spotting the outdated tech (this was published just after Y2K). Executives worrying about cell phone minutes. Metal detectors only at airport security. Cassette tape players (already a little old then). And yet, because Ryan was really interested in his own security and how he was being watched by MythTech, there was something creepily futuristic (modern?) in his fear. <br />
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I confess I felt a bit cheated by the ending, but I also should have seen it coming, and it does leave the book open for re-reading and reinterpretation. I won't, but someone else might. Instead, I'll revisit some of the travel books I used to sneak read in my youth, like the infamous <i>Coffee, Tea or Me?</i><br />
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That's the end of the adult book winter reading stretch; next, it's back to YA. I'm working on a contemporary shelf that I'm trying to box up, so it'll be a bit before I'm back to SF/F.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-67093436387730321822014-03-18T09:00:00.000-07:002014-03-18T09:00:00.758-07:00The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB8nPSEBRQ03JwRvDmu8UqxDkb7FyYz8MhZgiB5T5dVTndEKJ6syKJpMUgB6sgDtFg167PIFWmQkzof0LzRAO0XYtuGoRFMmXsFM94CgN8vphkhZZ0Z0joviVjzWIerghayijr8wWLEhkr/s1600/Valley+Amazement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB8nPSEBRQ03JwRvDmu8UqxDkb7FyYz8MhZgiB5T5dVTndEKJ6syKJpMUgB6sgDtFg167PIFWmQkzof0LzRAO0XYtuGoRFMmXsFM94CgN8vphkhZZ0Z0joviVjzWIerghayijr8wWLEhkr/s1600/Valley+Amazement.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a>You know, when I stumbled past Amy Tan being interviewed at last year's Book Expo America, I had to stop and listen, even though that's not what was on my itinerary. She's just an interesting lady! I put <b><i>The Valley of Amazement</i></b> (HarperCollins - Ecco) on my to-read list, and received a copy for Christmas, and since it's (for me) catching up on things not YA/fantasy/SF season, I grabbed the book out of the vast pile that I'm trying to pare down. (Books are going in boxes for a variety of reasons, and I won't see them again for a while.) I noted that I haven't read anything of Tan's in a while, but I think I thought I had because <i>The Joy Luck Club</i> is so often excerpted for tests and reading curricula.<br />
<br />
Anyway. <br />
<br />
This is a commitment of a book. It's quite long, and it's quite harrowing. Lulu Minturn runs a brothel in Shanghai in 1905, one where locals and foreigners can meet to mingle and do business as well as <i>do business.</i> Her daughter, Violet, is absolutely American until she realizes she isn't, and that her father is Chinese. The Qing dynasty comes to an end, and the plan to go to the United States, but one of Lulu's paramours tricks Lulu into leaving Violet for dead, and the paramour sells Violet to another brothel. There, she must be perfectly Chinese to survive.<br />
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There are a lot of themes I like in this book. One is long-term friendships between women; another is the love (and sometimes difficulty) of navigating relationships among several generations of women in the same family who have grown up under very different sets of rules. Another is recognizing, appreciating, and enjoying love--and understanding what love is not. Yet another is forgiveness. And another resilience. Another navigating being part of two very separate backgrounds.<br />
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I enjoyed the historical setting, largely because there's a focus on the everyday--what people ate, thought, wore. (I am not familiar enough to speak to its accuracy; I assume that some details are brutally honest, some changed to support the story.) I liked that the women here are complex--sometimes sympathetic, sometimes unlikeable, sometimes making choices or holding attitudes I think they shouldn't. I liked that the brothels aren't allowed to be too nice, even when we're nice; just when you think Violet is safe, we're reminded that even though this is fiction, it's based on a harsh reality. (It's too easy to be enchanted by the surface details of beauty and art and forget that the end result is sex for money with girls, and when they fall from grace, the rest of their lives can be short and violent. Details are not held back.) I thought that Violet's pull to be parts of two worlds and two races was interestingly mutable as she incorporated outside influences with her own feelings (and her observations and decisions are much more thoughtful than those of others, who want to simplify her at every turn). <br />
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It seemed to me that some spots in the book, particularly lengthy character monologues, replaced even lengthier sections that had had to be cut. I understand that Tan spent a lot of time with family and guides researching <i>The Valley of Amazement</i>, so she probably had more material than could be incorporated, and I sometimes wished for more polishing of those bits. However, everything else flew by, and I really was engaged by Violet and the other women who get a bit of narrator time. I'd recommend this for fans of <i>Memoirs of a Geisha</i> and <i>Snow Flower and the Secret Fan</i>, as well as for readers who like imperfect family relationships, sweeping historical stories, and friendships.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-77021153219178447592014-02-19T17:47:00.003-08:002014-02-19T17:47:39.330-08:00The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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At the beginning of the year, I tend to catch up on my "adult" reading--<i>Smithsonian</i> and <i>National Geographic</i>, nonfiction, business and craft books, and the like. I'm currently reading <i>Hothouse</i> and I just finished and was wowed by <i>Jumped</i> by Rita Williams Garcia (not an adult book, but in one of the to-read piles that was easier to read than to box up, since I'm packing books at the moment).<br />
<br />
And then I was gifted <b><i>The Painted Girls</i></b> by Cathy Marie Buchanan (Penguin - Riverhead). This is a historical novel about girls--who could be YA if this were pointed in that direction--living in not-quite-fin-de-siecle France. The oldest of three sisters, Antoinette, has lost her place in the ballet, and is pulled toward a fascinating boy who, as she says, makes her feel adored, but may be her ruin. The middle sister, Marie, earns a place in the ballet for herself, as does the youngest, Charlotte, while Antoinette takes a job as an actress. They all work because they love the work, but they also need to support themselves. Their father is deceased, and their mother a laundress who loves laudanum best.<br />
<br />
Alternating between Antoinette and Marie, we get a picture of the life of the poor in Paris--the poor who will take second jobs in a bakery before ballet rehearsal, the ones who might take on jobs that involve the sale of their dignity, if it comes to it. Antoinette, prostitution, just enough to save money for the journey to New Caledonia, where her jailed lover will be sent, and where she hopes to join him and to start a new life once he's freed. Marie, to keep the family together, will pose for Degas, who is painting and, in her case, sculpting ballet girls--and when she must, for a patron whose palette is only for show. The space between rock bottom and just above is very narrow, and narrower still once the sisters find that living without one another would be a terrible agony.<br />
<br />
What makes this book tick:<br />
1. Lots of ballet!<br />
2. And Degas!<br />
3. And it's based on some real people, though not all real relationships.<br />
4. And it's an interesting peek at some of the values of the time.<br />
5. This would make a great book club read.<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-83521924974737178182013-12-13T08:30:00.000-08:002014-02-18T18:22:26.566-08:00The Different Girl by Gordon Dahlquist<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<b><i>The Different Girl</i> by Gordon Dahlquist</b> (Penguin - Dutton Juvenile) is one of the most
interesting—and frustrating—books I read this year. Veronika is a girl; she
lives on the island with her three sisters and Irene and Robbert. The girls’
parents died in a plane crash, and now, every day, they learn about learning…in
a way that will tweak the brains of philosophers. They are observed, and they
obey, and they struggle with a new idea: you must obey, but you must also <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">decide</i>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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When May washes up on the shore, after a storm that disrupts
the supply boat schedule, the girls must unravel this mystery: who is the <i>different</i> one? Or are they not different, any of them?</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>The
Different Girl</i> draws from classic SF in a way that many YA books don’t in that it
brings science and technology to the forefront, and it doesn’t wrap things up
neatly, which is both a feature and a bug.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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What makes this book tick:</div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">Really, really trusts the reader.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Philosophical questions are embedded here; a
good book for that reader who still asks "Why?"</li>
<li>An open ending (perhaps it’s a series; I prefer
this as a standalone) that leaves room for discussion and imagination.</li>
<li><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Asks: what does it mean to be human? What does
it mean to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">different</i>, and how is
that constructed?<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a></li>
</ol>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-57743294957531665952013-12-09T09:30:00.000-08:002013-12-09T09:30:00.826-08:00Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sybelle, assassin of the convent of St. Mortain, is Death's daughter--but she's also the daughter of d'Albret, who would kill you if the shadows on your face hinted of your disloyalty. Or maybe just because. In the war for Brittany to remain separate from France in the late 1400s, the convent takes the side of Brittany, and sends forth its assassins, including Sybelle, to murder those who are marqued for death.<br />
<br />
Sybelle, however, is not easily led. She struggles with the rules of the game; she's not nearly the pawn others would have her be. When she has to flee with a mysterious knight who's been held in a secret dungeon, her mask is torn away, and she must fight openly. And somehow, she must be willing to face Death and all its attractions head on.<br />
<br />
What makes this book tick:<br />
1. Sybelle, Katsa, and Katniss deserve a quiet retreat together....<br />
2. Subtle meditation on identity and faith wrapped up in a violent war setting.<br />
3. Romance that does not require the heroine to take a back seat. <div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-50177663526447452882013-12-05T13:07:00.000-08:002014-02-18T18:23:17.394-08:00When We Wake by Karen Healey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><b>When We Wake</b></i><b> by Karen Healey</b> (Little, Brown - Books for Young Readers) starts off in the not-so distant future--and in Melbourne, one of my very favorite cities. Tegan is your average teenager (without that awful "normal" boringness that sometimes pops up before stories take off). She's going to a protest with her friends, and she's in her first breath of love, and she's got a lot of life left to live. The next thing she remembers is waking up...a hundred years later. It's not as simple as taking the next breath; Tegan has to decide what to <i>do</i> in the world she has to inhabit.<br />
<br />
What makes this book tick:<br />
1. Dystopian elements extrapolated from modern-day Australian and other politics<br />
2. Science and psychology<br />
3. Rebellion!<br />
4. Inventive story frame<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-35801001701673989982013-12-02T09:00:00.000-08:002013-12-02T09:00:00.676-08:00All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><b>All Our Yesterdays</b></i><b> by Cristin Terrill</b> (Disney - Hyperion) wasn't in my most-urgent reading pile for the Cybils. The cover, while nicely done, fits the mold of a dozen other orange-blue "adventures" I've seen lately. But I thought I'd share this as an example of how all nominated books are being viewed and reviewed by the first round judges--it's great to open to the first pages and be surprised! After a bit of a mysterious start, the action is non-stop.<br />
<br />
Em is imprisoned. What she knows is that she dreads the drain, and that Finn, on the other side of the vent, is her whole world, the only person she can talk to. Then, one day, she steals a spoon and opens the drain, and finds a letter, to her--<i>from</i> her. And there's one instruction: kill him.<br />
<br />
What makes this book tick:<br />
<br />
1. Time travel!<br />
2. Nonlinear storytelling.<br />
3. Questions about fate versus free will.<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-31817144147628496692013-11-22T09:00:00.000-08:002013-11-22T09:00:00.745-08:00Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Oh, the Cybils and its abundance of riches. This year, it seems like review copies are coming in about two weeks later than normal, so I'm hustling along as best I can...<br />
<br />
One book that stopped me in my reading tracks was <b><i>Conjured</i> by Sarah Beth Durst</b> (Bloomsbury - Walker). Eve hardly knows anything that the agents in the protection program don't tell her. She needs instructions on the basics of everything in her life. But when she looks at the birds on the wallpaper, she can make them <i>fly</i>. She remembers...a magician, a storyteller, a circus, deaths. But when she uses her magic, when she remembers, she's sick and loses time. The only way to use her magic safely is to breathe it into Zach, a boy who can take it and shape it anew.<br />
<br />
Who is she? What do her memories mean?<br />
<br />
What makes this book tick:<br />
<ul>
<li>Memory as mystery</li>
<li>Secrets! Lies!</li>
<li>Meditation on humanity</li>
<li>Following your heart to find justice</li>
</ul>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-86179946115922254712013-11-11T09:00:00.000-08:002013-11-11T09:00:01.205-08:00Antigoddess by Kendare Blake<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifTxc5uAsEKEHub-jbjNrMFuCQ8MtnJK_DuNL432udOEF3DNchFHXmcF_l2OP0O7v59fEABucm7rw1RbjQ4NruuARf9a5PsUp-FRyz2oicQuTJg_mERsRARLVAUs4ZH_osKGZaWfrq0_23/s1600/Antigoddess.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifTxc5uAsEKEHub-jbjNrMFuCQ8MtnJK_DuNL432udOEF3DNchFHXmcF_l2OP0O7v59fEABucm7rw1RbjQ4NruuARf9a5PsUp-FRyz2oicQuTJg_mERsRARLVAUs4ZH_osKGZaWfrq0_23/s200/Antigoddess.jpg" width="137" /></a><b><i>Antigoddess</i> by Kendare Blake</b> (Macmillan - Tor Teen) swings away from the
ghostly toward the gods. They aren't gone from this world, but they're trying their best to live quiet lives away from the stresses of being, well, gods. Now they're getting sick, and there's a war coming. Knock off another god, and you'll live longer...</div>
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What makes this book tick:</div>
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<ul>
<li>Larger-than-life characters who are also still teens</li>
<li>Sharp, dark writing</li>
<li>Dark take on mythology, including the Trojan War</li>
<li>Combines fantasy and horror</li>
</ul>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-14265500603186878582013-11-08T08:00:00.000-08:002013-11-08T08:00:01.088-08:00Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ZEEREKOtDxm77b7eK0N8eIUXm1pFcBhXsVWme3q5LH6twgp35cWjcz4-L2C6lfAsUPJOMwtBI6PaAkmkOZ2fk9wvXzKfoWQnuYvl29-ywZsKUI3DgMon4DNe5Xo3wbpp8XfMZ9lR9xIt/s1600/paper+valentine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ZEEREKOtDxm77b7eK0N8eIUXm1pFcBhXsVWme3q5LH6twgp35cWjcz4-L2C6lfAsUPJOMwtBI6PaAkmkOZ2fk9wvXzKfoWQnuYvl29-ywZsKUI3DgMon4DNe5Xo3wbpp8XfMZ9lR9xIt/s200/paper+valentine.jpg" width="133" /></a><b><i>Paper Valentine</i> by Brenna Yovanoff</b> (Penguin - Razorbill) has a sort of
lazy, hot, oppressive feel to it, and not just because the book takes place in
midsummer. Hannah has a friend who’s always hanging around; wherever she goes, Lillian goes too. The thing is, Lillian is dead. And pretty soon, she's not the only dead girl Hannah knows, since there's a killer leaving bloody valentines in the park.</div>
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What makes this book tick:</div>
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<ul>
<li>Excellent imagery</li>
<li>Believable teenagers</li>
<li>Murder mystery</li>
<li>Characters who don’t fit the everyday stock types</li>
</ul>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-44314201025776695512013-11-06T10:00:00.000-08:002013-11-06T10:00:01.595-08:00The Rose Throne by Mette Ivie Harrison<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVSReyWk3BVi4orvTQf3odCsHmRjtf2CrbBPxF7V4du6MSOZIRvvpxOwxvmvuOT1SpaJYwz7EzFGMp1wcO4EI38XveNQPOiWaKJD-mbIpb_GeeCzuIzVvr8uDPE6RnStyxmY7IxVjqSmfo/s1600/rose+throne.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVSReyWk3BVi4orvTQf3odCsHmRjtf2CrbBPxF7V4du6MSOZIRvvpxOwxvmvuOT1SpaJYwz7EzFGMp1wcO4EI38XveNQPOiWaKJD-mbIpb_GeeCzuIzVvr8uDPE6RnStyxmY7IxVjqSmfo/s200/rose+throne.gif" width="132" /></a><b><i>The Rose Throne</i> by Mette Ivie Harrison</b> (Egmont) gave me a
lot to think about. It follows the lives of two princesses in what could be
called rival kingdoms. Both are of an age where they’re expected to take on
their royal duties and marry for strategy, and both has to push against the
boundaries of what girls are allowed to do. What gives The Rose Throne an extra
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and one the province of men. To have the “wrong” magic can be a death sentence…</div>
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What makes this book tick:</div>
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<ul>
<li>Interesting gender-related magic</li>
<li>…that gets deconstructed</li>
<li>Romance</li>
<li>High-level politics</li>
</ul>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-68500716011269941622013-10-29T07:30:00.000-07:002013-10-29T07:30:00.540-07:00The Bitter Kingdom by Rae CarsonThis is one of my absolute favorite series from the past few years--yes, I have collected the set of ARCs and the set of hardbacks. Don't think there aren't paperbacks coming. And I've put off reading the novellas (something I usually skip when reading series) because I wanted to have one last bit left....<br />
<br />
The tags feature should show you a few past reviews; I am loath to give away anything if you haven't started from the beginning. Start at the beginning! Suffice to say that <b><i>The Bitter Kingdom</i> by Rae Carson</b> (HarperCollins - Greenwillow Books) wraps up the series in spectacular fashion.<br />
<br />
What makes this book tick:<br />
<ul>
<li>More exploration of the idea that with great power comes great responsibility</li>
<li>More complication of the relations between Elisa's kingdom and her neighbors</li>
<li>Political intrigue!</li>
<li>Kissing</li>
<li>Sacrifice</li>
<li>Acceptance of leadership</li>
<li>Family relationships, and related self-esteem</li>
<li>Negotiation</li>
<li>Big, epic adventure </li>
</ul>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-40622440936375857342013-10-21T06:30:00.000-07:002013-10-27T16:20:49.989-07:00The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><b>The Summer Prince</b></i><b> by Alaya Dawn Johnson </b>(Scholastic - Arthur A. Levine) marks the first of my 2013 Cybils (short, spoiler-free) reviews. I've been saving up this review because, well, this is a hard book to put into a review without spoiling it, even just as an opening summary.<br />
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In a far, far future Brazil, in Palmares Tres, a sort-of enclosed city ruled with a heavy hand by its matriarchy, June is caught up in the cycle of the Summer Prince, the selection of men and boys who are political and social sacrifices. Enki wins over June and her best friend, Gil--and inspires June to greater artistic heights than ever before.<br />
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What makes this book tick:<br />
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<li>Complete teenage rawness--the idea of being abuzz with hormones and life, and perhaps never closer to foolish death</li>
<li>The compelling, contradictory desire to both be seen and to be invisible</li>
<li>The need to make some sort of mark on the world and to prove oneself</li>
<li>Tension between generations</li>
<li>Flawed characters who keep moving through space</li>
<li>The intersection of art and technology, especially once it's out in the world for consumption</li>
<li>On the literary side of SF--no hand-holding on the worldbuilding or when the plot changes streams</li>
<li>Explorations of class within an imagined culture</li>
<li>Politics and being socially aware </li>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-31338466563671935002013-09-17T08:00:00.000-07:002013-09-17T08:00:00.458-07:00The Cybils 2013I'm excited to say that I'll be returning as a first-round panelist for the 2013 <a href="http://www.cybils.com/" target="_blank">Cybils</a> in the <a href="http://www.cybils.com/2013/09/2013-young-adult-speculative-fiction-judges.html" target="_blank">young adult speculative fiction</a> category. The Cybils are book awards selected by bloggers in areas ranging from book apps to nonfiction to picture books to young adult books (split into contemporary and speculative fiction because there are close to 500 books nominated between the two, nowadays, and only about two months to select a short list for each). You can nominate books to be considered from October 1-15,. A shortlist is announced January 1 and the winners are announced in February. <br />
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Mid-September until mid-October are my busiest time of year because of <a href="http://www.sirensconference.org/" target="_blank">Sirens</a>, but once that's over, you can expect posts about what I'm reading. Some years, I stay up until the nomination form opens because I'm always hoping I'll pick a winner (and I've had years when most of my picks hit the short list). This year, I'll have to focus on battling my reading nemesis, the fantastic Tanita Davis, who I think sneaked past me in the last few days of 2012 and read the most books in our division for the year.* I'm also thinking about changing up how I review during the Cybils; I think that quick "what makes it tick" posts for more books would be fun.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*The rules state that judges don't have to read the entire book. I've found that I start by reading 10 or 20, and then reading parts of the ones that I track down later on to see if they're competitive with what I've already read. Sadly, there's only room for a short list of finalists, and there are more great books than can make the cut.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-79231068483181371152013-09-13T09:00:00.000-07:002013-09-13T09:00:00.423-07:00Palace of Spies by Sarah Zettel<br />
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I am not usually one to post about a book I haven't read, nor one to agree to any sort of promotion before I've come to an independent decision that I absolutely must tell everyone about a particular book. This, however, came through my inbox via Netgalley and it was too cute <i>not</i> to share. <i><b>Palace of Spies</b></i><b> by Sarah Zettel</b> (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Group) is out in November. It looks like it might fill a little bit of the whole left by, sniff, the closure of the Gallagher Girls books by Ally Carter.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="188" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/7Uo6Ha4SvNg" width="250"></iframe><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-50363731221923926742013-09-12T07:30:00.000-07:002013-09-12T07:30:00.940-07:00If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm going to call <i><b>If You Could Be Mine</b></i><b> by Sara Farizan </b>(Algonquin Young Readers)<b><i> </i></b>brave--but not for the reasons you might think. I picked up this book at a BEA buzz panel, and stuck it in my purse for the trip home. Now, I had a comfy seat, tired feet, and I thought that perhaps I'd read a chapter or two before napping; instead, I was glued to the page for the entire flight. <br />
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Sahar loves Nasrin with all of the intensity of first, fiery love. She would do <i>anything</i> for Nasrin. Anything. In Iran, it's a crime for two girls (or two boys) to be together, but the government will gladly pay for a sex change, after which the relationship will no longer be illegal.<br />
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Think about that for a second. It's hard for me to wrap my head around.<br />
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Nasrin is engaged to be married, and married soon, so Sahar pursues the operation--without really knowing what she's getting into. As she learns more about what she asks of and for herself, and about the operation (and what it would mean for her, and for a group of people she meets who have had it), everything starts to fall apart.<br />
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A spoiler or three...<br />
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Given how often--fairly--books about GLBTQ people end in tragedy are questioned for those tragedies, I think it important to note that <i>If You Could Be Mine</i> is not all sunshine and sparkles, so that if you've had one too many, you can consider whether or not to read. Personally, I think that the author treated her subject matter with the utmost respect, and that she paints a clear picture of the challenges faced by her characters.<br />
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And to continue spoilering, what I thought was brave about the book is tied up in that. Nasrin, for example, is so very beautifully imperfect, and Sahar's love and slow growing realization of the imbalances in their relationship is so very real. (I really like seeing books that explore why people are not ALWAYS Meant to Be; first loves usually aren't.) Sahar blunders through problems with all the grace of, well, a teenager. There's a sense of inevitability coupled with hope that, in another time and place, everything could be so different...<br />
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At any rate, I found <i>If You Could Be Mine</i> to be a gripping, thought-provoking, and important read. It's out now.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-56992869579742024332013-05-20T09:30:00.000-07:002013-05-20T17:00:17.455-07:00The Ghost's Child, Tea RexI haven't forgotten about books!
I have just been very busy, sick, and overwhelmed.
But I thought I would drop in and talk about two books I've read and loved recently, since--strangely--this blog still gets a lot of hits. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqihA8O-QYZRod_ykoCjBTLOjBZY-xkZ9xOGidTJjPWZP9UxZH1ddHyM_2UWzkPf6_lspirTaQ4tbwQgYYYdsJTo0Kl5VpxfpGngqRu-_cbrZhZ6KTDffdz8fAMhSGCBo9Mc9fBDf3tg1X/s1600/tea+rex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqihA8O-QYZRod_ykoCjBTLOjBZY-xkZ9xOGidTJjPWZP9UxZH1ddHyM_2UWzkPf6_lspirTaQ4tbwQgYYYdsJTo0Kl5VpxfpGngqRu-_cbrZhZ6KTDffdz8fAMhSGCBo9Mc9fBDf3tg1X/s320/tea+rex.jpg" /></a><i><b>Tea Rex</b></i> <b>by Molly Idle. </b>There are certain sorts of picture books that are beautifully absurd, with pictures that appeal to a wide range of readers and not-yet readers, and that amuse adults just as much as children. These could be called <i>Muppet Show</i> books for the special something that makes the book readable on multiple levels. Two small children invite a dinosaur over in <i>Tea Rex</i>; it's the polite thing to do, and everyone will act in certain ways, and the afternoon will be perfect. Except that, well, the rules of engagement are not the same for all parties. The message I took away, though there are several, is that you and your friends may have very different procedures, but that doesn't mean you can't get along. The texture of the dinosaur is fabulous, too. Molly Idle also created the fabulous <i>Flora and the Flamingo</i>, and if I recall correctly, she has another book in the pipeline.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMJUAQZH51N9zIhNdQb3oATsE5EvoBLa7sRiwuIDAyZvBROI1tNGCXQpFx9NliGCju9fmBTdS48DlhTpiQpH1cAm7xvFSiVm6kE4cNTz9hUmFRv602YiePxuHtCparbXZS7KijdnYYS1H6/s1600/Ghosts+child.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMJUAQZH51N9zIhNdQb3oATsE5EvoBLa7sRiwuIDAyZvBROI1tNGCXQpFx9NliGCju9fmBTdS48DlhTpiQpH1cAm7xvFSiVm6kE4cNTz9hUmFRv602YiePxuHtCparbXZS7KijdnYYS1H6/s200/Ghosts+child.jpg" width="128" /></a><i><b>The Ghost's Child</b></i><b> by Sonya Hartnett.</b> Confession: I haven't finished this yet; I've been sipping it two and three pages at a time, and while I sampled the first lines of a few Goodreads reviews, I haven't been spoiled so far. Maybe I should spoil myself--I'm reading a review copy, and since this was published in the US in 2008, I...am very behind in my reading! I'm listing this as a YA read, but it really seems ageless, and I'm not sure it really fits in any category; the main characters are a young boy and an old woman, with most of the story in flashback to when the old woman was teenage-ish. Maddy once traveled the world, seeking, but what she sought didn't please others; she finally pleased herself best with the mysterious Feather, a wild boy she meets on an Australian (?) beach. Unfortunately, the shiniest love may not be enough, for them or for their unborn child. Hartnett nails a fairytale sort of voice, the sort of voice that is very hard to nail, and the sort of voice that I usually can't be on board with, because it's affected or old-fashioned or dull or more suited to being presented orally and with awareness of storytelling conceits. But I kinda love this. And maybe I love this because it's bleak and beautiful, perfect for the sort of tale where the land and the sea touch, over and over, but can never really be together.<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-3047609836626852152013-02-22T08:00:00.000-08:002013-04-07T17:56:57.603-07:00Australia Trip, Part 6Cairns!<br />
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We woke up early because our tour departed early. Handily, people in Cairns understand tropical problems, and the mirror had an unfoggable bit on it. (Handily, there was also a clothesline in the shower. I used to see those all the time, but I never touched them; I thought they were part of the drain, or something to put a hanger on, so I was surprised when C pulled a rope out of the wall.)<br />
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Despite the early, the tour came a bit after we expected. I do get it--give people a time so they can be late and it won't matter. Hmph! We were carrying some granola-like bars (mine was nuts and coconut) and water, and I had a windbreaker, which turned out to be much too warm as we made a bunch of pickups and headed out of town. It seemed that a couple of different (perhaps not entirely full) tours were collapsed into one; some of us were on a day trip, and others were staying overnight in the rainforest.<br />
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I'm not quite sure where we stopped, but we went out along the coast (on the Captain Cook Highway, I think) and had a moment for pictures. It was strange to me to get out of the van and find myself in warm, humid air right along the coast, where I'm more used to being cold! The strangeness of the combination made me very unsettled that day, and I'm not sure why (or whether I ought to just blame things on, still, not feeling very well).<br />
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If only that had been in a certain book.<br />
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Our guide shared that they dye the emergency vinegar blue to prevent people from using it on their chips--and that the strategy doesn't really work.<br />
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But this is what scared me. Crocodiles? In the OCEAN? And also, the title of that book <i>In the Sea There Are Crocodiles</i> kept running through my head for days.<br />
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Our next stop was--I think, as I broke the handle off my file drawer that has receipts and things in it--was the <a href="http://www.cairnstropicalzoo.com.au/index.html" target="_blank">Cairns Tropical Zoo</a>. There are a number of zoos in the area, including some that are mostly open at night so that you can see animals that only come out then. It turns out that while on vacation, I mostly like going to the zoo, the beach, seeing nature, and sleeping in nice hotels! So this was one of the highlights.<br />
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First, we were greeted by zoo staff and we walked through a part of the zoo, including the enclosure for the dangerous, even deadly, cassowary. Take a close look. That's not a colorful turkey. That's a dinosaur with feathers, my friends. See its eyes? It's intelligent. See its feet? They will CUT YOU. They are aggressive, territorial birds. They chase away their young. But if I recall correctly, dad has to raise the babies! Also, there are a number of rainforest plants that only the cassowary can digest, so those plants depend on the cassowary to have a bite and poo out the seed for their future generations.<br />
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An owl of a sort I've forgotten, but I think it ate toads, maybe.<br />
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Kookaburras! Notably, I did not see a single one in a gum tree--and as I'll relate once we get to Hamilton Island, not really gumdrop eaters.<br />
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Then we had a talk about koalas, I think, while one crawled into a tree to eat a bunch of fresh leaves. A nifty thing: though koalas sleep most of the time, I saw more awake and feeding koalas than sleeping ones. Something I didn't realize is that koalas may have a preferred kind of eucalyptus tree, and may prefer the newest leaves, so any disruption in their growth can be a big deal for the koala population--already in danger due to their high incidence of chlamydia! Poor babies.<br />
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At most zoos I visited, there were options to take a picture with various animals, mostly as a fundraiser. In most of Australia, you can't actually hold a koala; they're hung on a tree branch, and you can pet them and take a picture with, but it's still possible in Queensland, and it was possible at this zoo. (I assume that the reasoning is that koalas are really shy and sensitive to stress, and I can understand that. At the same time, everywhere I went that it was allowed to actually hold the koala, the keepers were <i>extremely</i> careful to keep them happy. Those koalas were hand-raised or tame, often previously injured, with no possibility of returning to the wild; they were only allowed to "work" for short stretches of time, and for a short period so many days; you had to follow very specific rules for handling the koala, including being old enough, strong enough, and tall enough, since koalas don't like to be on the ground; and at <i>any</i> sign that the koala was done, that was it, and it was whisked away. Tip: Even in the zoo, they're wild animals with teeth and big claws. They're not just going to let you have a cuddle.) Anyway, C knew that we'd have an opportunity to hold a koala (and a snake, and a bunch of other things) later, so we went ahead and wandered around with our free time and breakfast time.<br />
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There was a tree full of rainbow lorikeets near where tea was set out for us.<br />
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C and I began to wander the zoo, but pretty soon, we realized that they had kangaroo kibble for sale. And that there was a big, open kangaroo and wallaby enclosure. And...well, I will have to never tell C that if we'd been on our own, we could have fed lemurs and red pandas, too! At least, maybe in pictures.<br />
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When we first found the enclosure, it didn't seem like there were many kangaroos around, but we were approached by this little hustler.<br />
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But we eventually found some that were at least as tall as we were--and there was a hierarchy! The biggest ones gently pushed their way to the front, but not so gently we forgot about their ability to kick you right over. And then all of the, say, 5' kangaroos made sounds like disgruntled Marge Simpson while the 5'6" kangaroo had a snack. The smallest ones nibbled delicately, but the largest, well, they were pretty drooly.<br />
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After a while, we bolted some tea and fruit and pastry and hopped back in the van, but this was definitely a spot I'd have loved to spend more time at. And we were off...<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-38816004392220448422012-12-19T13:24:00.001-08:002012-12-19T13:24:26.548-08:00A Last Round of Cybils PanicThe end of the year is upon us, the Cybils are winding down, and I'm turning pages as fast as I can. I just found a few minutes to schedule one last post blurbing a sample of the fantastic nominations in YA SF/F for 2012.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKAdH_qiKX8QU9YRL-GWR4gYJBUrbRalEzlmL76t2nJ-hGOgaYzAMAvGxUPvuo_eEuXGWK4IGhS_nubiVFHGbitDDSiUv4KWs7YwnUd-EAbeBkURMGc-pS-5_6NSjq4HGq4DI4izkEanly/s1600/Vessel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKAdH_qiKX8QU9YRL-GWR4gYJBUrbRalEzlmL76t2nJ-hGOgaYzAMAvGxUPvuo_eEuXGWK4IGhS_nubiVFHGbitDDSiUv4KWs7YwnUd-EAbeBkURMGc-pS-5_6NSjq4HGq4DI4izkEanly/s200/Vessel.jpg" width="131" /></a><i><b>Vessel</b></i><b> by Sarah Beth Durst</b> (Simon and Schuster - Margaret K. McElderry) was a nice surprise, especially since her books haven't quite clicked with me in the past. Normally I wouldn't mention that, but I think it's a good thing to share--the idea that you might not be in love with <i>this</i> book, but you open every book hoping that that one will be <i>the one</i>. In <i>this one</i>, Liyana is ready to die so that her tribe's goddess will come into her and bring prosperity. She is prepared, practiced, and ready for the ceremonial dance--but her goddess never comes. She's cast out, because her people would never believe her goddess just couldn't get there to take over her human vessel, and Liyana has to decide how to reconcile her wish to live with her wish to serve her people.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7sIy0hBe62_nLq4fg-U7Gt0Zi0x0lwXmsTBZgiYmEHGUGCN8pDs23Qtsk0Gt3VTeTwNLiXl7YNQqY8lZQ2KbA1kXue4ypCi4zs9tew8Ea9rusVrh-R6hj2xU0oc80Qhogw0_H6L5VQ21O/s1600/the+hunt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7sIy0hBe62_nLq4fg-U7Gt0Zi0x0lwXmsTBZgiYmEHGUGCN8pDs23Qtsk0Gt3VTeTwNLiXl7YNQqY8lZQ2KbA1kXue4ypCi4zs9tew8Ea9rusVrh-R6hj2xU0oc80Qhogw0_H6L5VQ21O/s200/the+hunt.jpg" width="126" /></a></div>
In <i><b>The Hunt</b></i><b> by Andrew Fukuda</b> (St. Martin's Griffin), Gene is alive. He doesn't hang from the ceiling. He doesn't stay up all night. He doesn't die in the sun. See where I'm going with this? Gene wins a dubious lottery: a chance to hunt down some real, live humans. Mmm. With some of his peers. Can he hide his true self and survive in this dangerous game?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJsTkddE5NIXJ3Tiv5xxfzoQbmXP1-T666L1RAEbxHyCa6QH01b-KZ5ttZVCiUfywBjGAnG0RF4WC_06eqdzPZSntyU9jTDs8iY1PrkDKTMfy2fvyQwsVOI7po3BJYYTtrR85PaH0SSzFP/s1600/Grave+Mercy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJsTkddE5NIXJ3Tiv5xxfzoQbmXP1-T666L1RAEbxHyCa6QH01b-KZ5ttZVCiUfywBjGAnG0RF4WC_06eqdzPZSntyU9jTDs8iY1PrkDKTMfy2fvyQwsVOI7po3BJYYTtrR85PaH0SSzFP/s200/Grave+Mercy.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
Ismae is a handmaiden of death in <i><b>Grave Mercy </b></i><b>by R.L. LaFevers</b><i><b> </b></i>(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). She's impervious to poison, she can see who St. Mortain has marked for death, and she's a fantastic assassin, which leads to an assignment filled with court intrigue, secret identities, political maneuvering, and the choice between kissing and killing. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOJoaL1fGnLG0Z7hFHkJ8rCQWCqM-0G7XUE1cTm4YTCKyvKzujAifchGdXUTgJpK5EHJKksLmsZBorez0CERMEwJ6mWC_cguo4XA4WfipNLA3MDn-NilVkuSKzHZ8cNFzLK-7ggKW03UAJ/s1600/kairos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOJoaL1fGnLG0Z7hFHkJ8rCQWCqM-0G7XUE1cTm4YTCKyvKzujAifchGdXUTgJpK5EHJKksLmsZBorez0CERMEwJ6mWC_cguo4XA4WfipNLA3MDn-NilVkuSKzHZ8cNFzLK-7ggKW03UAJ/s200/kairos.jpg" width="130" /></a><i><b>The Kairos Mechanism</b></i><b> by Kate Milford</b> (The Clockwork Foundry) has an interesting story outside of the story; it was a Kickstarter project by the author, and bridges the gap between <i>The Boneshaker</i> and <i>The Broken Lands</i>. Only a few hard copies were printed, and I think you should consider getting your hands on one if you can. Natalie Minks notices two boys coming from--well, nowhere, if you pay attention to where the roads go, and they're carrying the corpse of a man who either died yesterday or fifty years ago. Natalie could let it go, but she's not that kind of girl.<br />
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And so, then, you probably want to know about <i><b>The Broken Lands</b></i>, also by <b>Kate Milford</b> (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - Clarion). In 1870s Brooklyn, when the under-construction Brooklyn bridge looms over a grittier, but no less vibrant NYC, a card sharp and a fireworks expert have to battle the forces of evil. Real history is braided masterfully with the supernatural in this book.<br />
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<span id="freeText9958499036522539815"><i>All of these books are nominated in the YA SF/F category for the 2012 <a href="http://www.cybils.com/" target="_blank">Cybils</a>
awards. These reviews are based on copies provided by their respective
publishers, except for </i>Grave Mercy<i>, as I owned a copy.</i></span><br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-9827238784014229232012-12-18T09:00:00.000-08:002012-12-18T09:00:02.046-08:00Still More Cybils PanicCan I mention all of the books I've read? All of the books I really liked this season? No, but I can blurb a few more...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCbp_f_6FMipsG0RED_G9skKjwSvChufRDjKH7zhlfoqoudR8gsHq36jHhPlY9KKHQAxX7kIkggzNTl6655uHmiQtZ7qJ4RELx16HqgtFz2ZGe3RMFEtmoUejBbyd-o8H7xiidPeEaLOG3/s1600/insignia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCbp_f_6FMipsG0RED_G9skKjwSvChufRDjKH7zhlfoqoudR8gsHq36jHhPlY9KKHQAxX7kIkggzNTl6655uHmiQtZ7qJ4RELx16HqgtFz2ZGe3RMFEtmoUejBbyd-o8H7xiidPeEaLOG3/s200/insignia.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
<i><b>Insignia </b></i><b>by S.J. Kincaid<i> </i></b> (Harper Collins - Katherine Tegen Books) is fast-paced military SF for fans of <i>Ender's Game</i> and <i>Brain Jack</i>. Tom is nobody, really, and neither is his no-good gambler of a dad. However, Tom <i>is</i> pretty good at video games, and at bluffing, which gets him a spot on an elite team of teenagers whose brains are, let's say, wired. In a future where countries fight for corporations, Tom has to fight the forces of evil that come with an executive washroom and an expense account, but he also has to figure out what's left when your brain is no longer your own.<br />
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<i><b>Ashen Winter </b></i><b>by Mike Mullin </b>(Tanglewood) is just as personally frightening as <i>Ashfall</i> was for me. Sure, it's been a while since Yellowstone blew up, covering the rest of the country with ash and sending temperatures dropping. Sure, we could just keep eating kale, one of the few things that will grow. But Alex's parents are still out there, looking for him, and he can't just wait for them to come home.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCmw862v4LGXgwkzLNsw4d2I0kbXtrshrv6jbJ0LVM4j7IbGeM8d1Uh3b3jOE-cpTaR7Wunm61zGcSOHskmmIVqvS2O8-2UsNtFFD4vpeZgDTC8tzSD6XdmpNeAWOanDXGpXUWsZYTs3UH/s1600/infects.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCmw862v4LGXgwkzLNsw4d2I0kbXtrshrv6jbJ0LVM4j7IbGeM8d1Uh3b3jOE-cpTaR7Wunm61zGcSOHskmmIVqvS2O8-2UsNtFFD4vpeZgDTC8tzSD6XdmpNeAWOanDXGpXUWsZYTs3UH/s200/infects.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
When I picked up <i><b>The Infects</b></i><b> by Sean Beaudoin </b>(Candlewick), I knew I'd be in for a ride. See, I don't always know <i>exactly</i> what is going on in Beudoin's books. They're so <i>weird</i>. But I am so glad they're out there. In <i>The Infects</i>, a kid is on his way to camp for juvenile delinquents. And then there are zombies. And it's <i>weird</i>, okay? If you like things a little absurd, <i>The Infects</i> is one to pick up.<br />
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In <i><b>What's Left of Me</b></i><b> by Kat Zhang<i> </i></b>(HarperCollins), the souls of sisters Addie and Eve share one body. Children start out as hybrids, and eventually, one of the souls slips away. It's part of growing up--and it's part of being a good, non-criminal person. Addie and Eve haven't settled, though, which makes them suspicious, different, and <i>ill</i>. When Addie and Eve are sent away to get better, the fight for both of their lives gets dire. This makes an interesting contrast to <i>Every Day</i>, by the way.<br />
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<b><i>Shadowfell </i>by Juliet Marillier </b>(Knopf) completely charmed me. Neryn's not supposed to be magical; it's prohibited. She can see the fairies, though, and that means she has to run. To be straightforward: I've read so many books-with-fairies in the past five or so years that few stand out, but Neryn's journey had something Frodo-esque and pure about it. And there were some very clever moments that stole my heart. If you've read this one: Go small!<br />
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<span id="freeText9958499036522539815"><i>All of these books are nominated in the YA SF/F category for the 2012 <a href="http://www.cybils.com/" target="_blank">Cybils</a> awards. These reviews are based on copies provided by their respective publishers, either through the Cybils program or when I requested them from NetGalley and completely forgot to read them earlier in the year. So it goes. </i></span><br />
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<br /><br /><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1994281490981471477.post-72800082715769526882012-12-16T13:42:00.000-08:002012-12-16T13:42:14.309-08:00Yet More Cybils PanicAnother roundup of books I'd like to review more carefully for
you--but which I simply can't if I'm to attempt to finish looking at as
many of the 205 YA SF/F nominees as I can...<br />
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This gets
tough to do; as soon as I'm through with one book, I'm on to another,
and even when I'm ruminating on a book, a few days' distance makes it
hard to put together a few lines. I hope this gives you a few hints and
inspires you to go looking for yourself! <br />
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<i><b>Long Lankin</b></i><b> by Lindsey Barraclough </b>(Bodley
Head) is a book that sort of defies its category. "Beware of Long
Lankin, who lives in the moss..." That might fit nicely with the last
line of Rock-a-bye Baby, but Long Lankin is a much scarier ending than
just falling out of the sky. Two girls are sent to live with their
great-aunt in the late 1950s. The house where they live, moldering, old,
is being swallowed by the sea and by sorrow. Great-aunt Ida wants Cora
and Mimi gone, but something much more sinister might get them all
first. I'm not entirely sure how to conceive of the children's
viewpoints (I couldn't figure out if Cora was an old-school, mature 12,
or, say, 14), and the great-aunt receives sections from her point of
view as well. <i>Long Lankin</i> is lovingly written, and has something
scary for everyone, but it might take a mature reader to unravel the
time/place. I definitely think that an older teen who loooooves scary
movies will find something here; I spent one long night awake after a
certain scene!<br />
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<br />I love the cover of <b><i>The Assassin's Curse</i> by Cassandra Rose Clarke </b>(Strange
Chemistry). The detail, the paper-cut feel, and the swirly font all
hint at the story of Ananna, a girl whose world might have been a
parallel universe to any bit of the <i>Arabian Nights</i>. Ananna's
parents, pirates (quite respectable ones), have plans to marry her off,
but Ananna is having none of it. She makes a daring escape on a camel
and carries on: there's no going back. It's not easy to be a young girl,
on her own, with no tools or funds at your disposal, but things are<i> really</i> not easy when there are assassins involved.<br />
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<i><b>The Freedom Maze</b></i><b> by Delia Sherman </b>(Small
Beer Press - Big Mouth House) is another that defies category (the
Cybils divides only into contemporary and SF/F in YA and MG, so anything
with an odd happening is usually SF/F; though this is largely, closely
focused on non-magical history, there are a few otherworldly,
time-travel-y bits, and that's why this is here). In this carefully
researched story, Sophie slips back in time from 1960 to 1860 on her
family's land. In 1860, she's taken for a slave, but don't think this is
a story of a girl who solves all the woes of the past. She's part of
others solving for themselves, and part of something bigger, and more
thoughtful, regarding class, race, and power.<br />
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<i><b>Daylight Saving</b></i><b> by Edward Hogan </b>(Walker)
starts with a boy, Daniel, who's not very pleased to be spending the
summer at Leisure World with his dad. His dad is a drunk. Daniel's also
not so great, by his own judgment, and then there's a boring summer of
boring sport(s) to look forward to. And then there's a girl that only he
can see... Covers don't have much to do with insides, but I thought
that this cover was really, really interesting. I don't know that it
expands on the <i>title</i>, so much, but it's simple, iconic, and memorable. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ryRxgwFKlwWjHzRFpONW_dK7tye7GcO74WnFyEkYq2VTPGb-tNeyXM00Yhkn8Pj105sdsFZUT1gKpf2mxWIkz1R7fEQr0bqjPQdxUwdA6qVDngQo92hcTkQYXo5oxLINYsGeI_vLnqUn/s1600/when+the+sea+is+rising+red.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ryRxgwFKlwWjHzRFpONW_dK7tye7GcO74WnFyEkYq2VTPGb-tNeyXM00Yhkn8Pj105sdsFZUT1gKpf2mxWIkz1R7fEQr0bqjPQdxUwdA6qVDngQo92hcTkQYXo5oxLINYsGeI_vLnqUn/s200/when+the+sea+is+rising+red.jpg" width="127" /></a></div>
<i><b>When the Sea is Rising Red </b></i><b>by Cat Hellisen</b> (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux - Books for Young Readers) is another with a very striking cover, and one with a creepy, evocative title. Felicita lives as one of the privileged few in <span id="freeText9958499036522539815">Pelimburg,
though it's quickly clear that privilege does not come with freedom;
her best friend kills herself to escape an arranged marriage, and soon,
Felicita has escaped to the slums. Her friend's death has called forth a
strange magic that might or might not be the best thing for everyone,
and Felicita has to decide where to fight...</span><br />
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<span id="freeText9958499036522539815"><i>All of these books are nominated in the YA SF/F category for the 2012 <a href="http://www.cybils.com/" target="_blank">Cybils</a> awards. These reviews are based on copies provided by their respective publishers. </i></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit the blog at undusty.com to comment.</div>Hallie Tibbettshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00981681314071163287noreply@blogger.com1