Title: The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson (Copyright 2008)
This book takes place sometime after the year of 2032. Jenna has come out of the coma she was told that she was in for the past 18 months or so. She has no memories. She does find that she doesn't quite walk normally, and that she can read emotions and thoughts in through the eyes of the people around here. As the memories begin coming back, she puts together the events of her life, and that things now are not quite what they seem. There are mysterious computers in a locked closet in her mom's bedroom. She doesn't quite bleed like other people. She suddenly has memories from when she was an infant, and her grandmother doesn't like her anymore. What happened to her friends in the accident? And why is she suddenly a walking history textbook when history used to be her worst subject in school? A lot of things she is told don't add up.
This is vaguely a science-fiction novel. It is well-written, and brings up a lot of ethical questions when it comes to bio-engineering. It is highly recommended.
Review: The Adoration of Jenna Fox
Review: My Most Excellent Year
Title: My Most Excellent Year: a Novel of Love, Mary Poppins & Fenway Park by Steve Kluger
Take a paper that needs to be written for school entitled "My Most Excellent Year" (well, that's what TC changes the title to be, anyway), journals, letters emails, lots of IMs, and three friends, and you have a great story. This very humorously written story is first about TC who has a passion for baseball and doesn't think he is popular, when in fact he his popular. He also misses his mother a lot. She died when he was little. His "brother" is Augie. They've been best friends since they were little and the connection is so strong that they consider each other brothers for life. They have their own spaces in each others' houses. Then there is Alejandra. She is the 'new girl' at their high school their freshman year. TC immediately falls in love, and writes Ale a note telling her that he is considering a relationship with her. She thinks he's terrible with his tactics.
It moves on from here. . . you learn about each of their lives and their perspectives. TC meets a little boy who loves Mary Poppins. He takes this boy, Hucky, under his wing, even learning American Sign Language so they can communicate. Augie comes out about his sexual orientation, but it's not really big news to everyone else. They've realized it for a long time. Everyone is very accepting. Ale discovers that she does not want to go into politics or anything else like that as her father expects. She loves singing and dancing.
In the midst of this, there is email communication between the adults in this story, particularly between TC and Augie's fathers. Sometimes this is all quite humorous.
If you want to find out how this all turns out, read this book!
- Reviewed by Leisl, YA Librarian
Review: The Sky Inside
The Sky Inside by Clare B. Dunkle
This new book is great for those who may not be "into" science fiction, but are intrigued by books such as Lois Lowery's The Giver. The Sky Inside takes place in the future, maybe a couple of generations from now. The lucky people got a place in the doomed suburb. Everything from the outside is sent through "packets". The seasons are controlled in the dome, and when seasons change, all the residents put different window clings on their houses (flowers in spring, for instance). Adults in the dome vote on an issue everyday (such as the color of the President's new curtains) via their interactive tv. Meals come through a devine that works much like a gambling machine - you never know what you are going to get to eat. Pets, such as Martin's dog, are "bots" that can be reprogrammed. Martin is a teen who is not part of the genetically-engineered "Wonder Babies" generation like his sister. Babies are sent via packet, too, after parents go through a long application process. His sister Cassie is always asking questions, about everything, like all of the kids of her "model". Then when she is about 7 years old, a stranger ( and strangers never come to their dome) comes, and offers to take all of the Wonder Babies to a school outside the dome so they can learn all that their insatiable minds want to know. This is after he helps find Jimmy's (8 years old, the oldest Wonder Baby) real - not bot - rat. This part of the story offers a modern take on "The Pied Piper", in this way. Read the book to find out what happens next!
Review: Imaginary Enemy
Review: Imaginary Enemy by Julie Gonzalez
Jane Venezuela White's second grade teacher thought she was writing a letter to Buddha, but she was really writing to Bubba (and just wrote the b's the in the wrong direction). Her teacher didn't hang her letter on wall as was the plan, and Jane put it in her math folder. She keeps that folder well into high school, and adds letter after letter to it over the years. She writes to Bubba, her imaginary enemy. As she says on page 3, this first letter was "a fairly modest beginning to what has proven to be a long and fruitless relationship."
This is a great read. You learn all about Jane's relationships with her family and her friends, how she believes herself to be the ultimate slacker (but as she eventually discovers, she really isn't) and how Bubba eventually starts replying!
You should really think about giving this book a try.
- Reviewed by Leisl, YA Librarian
Review: Reincarnation by Suzanne Weyn
Reincarnation by Suzanne Weyn
(Teen Fiction Weyn)
This book is about two soulmates who live through many lifetimes (some shorter and some longer) to eventually come together to enjoy the love they have always had for one another. Whether or not you believe in reincarnation, this is a work of fiction that is well done. It shows that how we may want life to go for us does not always "work out" right then, in that particular lifetime, but that it can and does eventually. This book is fun, too, in that you can start recognizing the same "people" from lifetime to lifetime (one always has foot and ankle problems, and develops a fear of fire and another often has headaches and sometimes strange birthmarks). Besides that two 'main characters' - one of whom is mostly a woman and the other is usually a man (although during their Civil War liftetime, they switched) - there is at least another male and female pair who are always around, too, and often get in the way and cause problems with the soulmate pair. This story starts out in prehistoric times and continues through snapshots of lifetimes up to the current day. The scenes take place in various countries, cultures, and historical time periods.
This is a very good book. Teens in high school would really enjoy this book, particularly if they are into historical fiction and some romance.
- Reviewed by Leisl (YA Librarian)