This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Title:  This World We Live In

Author:  Susan Beth Pfeffer

Release date:  April 1, 2010

Publisher:  Harcourt Children’s Books

Pages:  256

Genre:  Young adult fiction, Dystopian fiction

Source:  Library

In case you are unfamiliar with this series, I’ll explain it a little bit for you:  an asteroid has hit the moon, kicking it just a bit closer to earth and causing all kinds of damage.  Tides are all messed up, causing tsunamis and hurricanes.  A coat of ash has blanketed the entire earth, blocking out the sunlight completely.  Entire countries and states have disappeared completely.  And as you can imagine, resources are scarce.  Miranda lives with her mother and two brothers in their home, and their goal in life is simply to survive.  When Miranda’s father turns up with his wife, new baby, and new friends Alex and his sister Julie (from the second book), her little world is turned upside down.

I don’t quite know how to review this one because if you haven’t read the first two books in the series I certainly don’t want to spoil them for you with this review.  I will say that This World We Live In was a fantastic addition to the series, and I think things came together quite well.  I wasn’t sure if the whole Miranda and Alex meeting thing would be realistic based on their two completely separate lives, but Pfeffer made sure that their meeting made complete sense based on the context for how they got to know each other.

I have to admit that while reading this book, I was relieved to find us back with Miranda’s family instead of in New York with Alex.  The second book in the series was just so bleak, I personally enjoyed reading the series from Miranda’s point of view more.  So that was good.  And I think that Pfeffer tied everything together quite nicely.  Yes, the relationships in the book moved too fast, but hey – this is an unnatural situation.  Relationships are bound to be a little abnormal given the circumstances, I think.  And if the last guy on the planet who you are not related to who is your age (for all you know) shows up at your house and moves in, you’d fall in love with him too, right?  So I sorta got the Miranda/Alex relationship.  What else were they supposed to do?

I am absolutely sad to see this series end, because I really enjoyed it and I think Pfeffer did such a fantastic job creating these realistic, true-to-life characters in such a dystopian type story.  I HIGHLY recommend reading these books if you haven’t already.

If You Come Softly by Jaqueline Woodson

Title:  If You Come Softly

Author:  Jacqueline Woodson

Release date:  January 1998

Publisher:  Speak

Pages:  208

Genre:  Middle grade fiction

Source:  Library

Ellie, an upper-middle-class Jewish girl has just started attending Percy, a New York City prep school.  On one of her first days there, she runs into Jeremiah, an African-American boy with famous parents.  Over the course of this short novel, they fall in love.  Not puppy love, either – they have the kind of mature love that many adults don’t even get to experience.  But although they are happy with their relationship, they aren’t sure the world is ready for them – including either of their families. If You Come Softly is a great book for young readers to understand some of the complex issues surrounding race today.

It seems like every one of my favorite bloggers absolutely raves about Jacqueline Woodson.  I finally got the chance to pick up one of her books, and If You Come Softly was a great introduction to the beautiful way she writes for young readers.  The relationship between Ellie and Jeremiah was completely believable – it was so much like what I remember from my first love.  Except so many teens don’t know how to have a mature relationship, and these two really did.  They truly cared for each other, they truly appreciated each other, and they would have done anything to stay together.  It was sweet and inspiring.

I am of two minds about this book, though.  Even though I loved the story and the writing and the characters, I hated the end.  The end is meant to be hated, I get that.  But I felt sort of manipulated by the author, and I’m not a huge fan of that.  I understand where she was going with ending the book the way she did, but it just didn’t sit well with me.  I closed the book thinking, “really?” and “was that necessary?”

So, yeah I liked the book.  Not all of it, but I liked it.  And I definitely think I’ll read more from Woodson.  But for those of you who’ve read more of her books, I ask you – does she do this with ALL of her endings?

Perfect by Natasha Friend

Title:  Perfect

Author:  Natasha Friend

Release date:  September 16, 2004

Publisher:  Milkweed Editions

Pages:  232

Genre:  Middle grade fiction

Source:  Library

When thirteen-year-old Isabelle’s sister catches her throwing up her dinner one night and tattles to their mother, Isabelle finds herself spending every Wednesday evening at an eating disorder support group.  When Ashley Barnum, the most popular girl in Isabelle’s class, shows up at group one evening, Isabelle starts to think that maybe “perfect” isn’t so perfect after all.

I’m not sure what inspired me to pick up Perfect from the library’s shelves.  I think I just needed an audiobook for that week and thought this one looked good.  I like short, easy books for the car because I can concentrate on them and drive at the same time.  This one definitely fit the bill.

I enjoyed this middle grade novel.  I think younger teens and preteens will really relate to Isabelle.  She has a lot going on in her life – her father recently passed away, her mother is depressed, and she has a super annoying little sister to deal with.  So, she turns to bulimia to control the one thing she has control over: her food intake and her body.  And it’s meeting Ashley Barnum, seeing the problems this supposedly “perfect” girl has at home, that helps Isabelle start to face her problems and heal herself emotionally as well as physically.

While Perfect deals with a pretty serious issue, it isn’t at all preachy.  Natasha Friend obviously realizes that eating disorders is a big issue among teens, and I think she handled the topic very well in this book.  she put things into perspective for a nine- to twelve-year-old brain to understand and learn from, and I think that Perfect would be a wonderful book for any preteen or young teen to read.  While things do wrap up neatly at the end of the story, it is a realistic ending that will give hope to anyone who can relate to Isabelle.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Title:  The Hobbit

Author:  J.R.R. Tolkien

Release date:  January 1938

Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Pages:  320

Genre:  Young adult, childrens’ books, fantasy

Source:  Personal copy

Ah, The Hobbit –  I really, really was expecting more from you.  I hate that.  I read this book in sixth grade, and while I was scared of it because I’d never read fantasy before that time, I remember enjoying the book quite a bit.  I always assumed I’d read it again, so when the Lord of the Rings read-a-long began I decided that was the perfect opportunity.  Unfortunately, I didn’t love it as much as I was assuming I would.

Clearly, my twelve-year-old brain was a lot different from my twenty-six-year-old brain.  This time around, I found the narration of The Hobbit mildly annoying and condescending, I wished there would be more showing and much less telling, and the adventures did not have the same magic that I remembered them having when I was a kid.  I still found Bilbo charming and sort of adorable, and I somewhat enjoyed the overall experience of reading the book, but it did not have the same sense of wonder that it had years ago.

The Hobbit is the only J.R.R. Tolkien I’d previously read, and now I’m trying to decide if I want to read the rest of the LOTR books.  I’m thinking I will try the first book and see how I like it before committing to all three.  We’ll see.

Have you read these books since you were a child?  What do you think of them?  I know I’m in the minority with my dislike here, so lay it on me!  What do you love about these books and what am I missing?

Spellbinder by Helen Stringer

Title:  Spellbinder

Author:  Helen Stringer

Release date:  September 29, 2009

Publisher:  Feiwel & Friends

Pages:  384

Genre:  Middle grade fiction, ghost stories, fantasy

Source:  Publisher

Belladonna Johnson is just a regular, average twelve-year-old except for one thing:  she can see ghosts.  Including her parents, who died two years ago but still live in her house, and still cook her dinner, and still take care of her, but as ghosts.  So although Belladonna has had this terrible thing happen to her when her parents were killed, life is pretty normal for her – until one day, when everything changes.  Her parents disappear, along with every other ghost in the world.  Belladonna realizes immediately that this spells disaster – and so she must, with the help of her friend Steve, discover secrets her parents have been keeping from her.  Secrets about an entire world beyond that until this point her parents and grandmother have wanted to protect her from.  Turns out that Belladonna may just be the only person who can bring the ghosts back, she is responsible for finding the Spellbinder and the Spellbinder alone has the power to bring them back.

Spellbinder is one of the only books I’ve ever requested from Shelf Awareness, and the reason I requested it was really impulsive – I liked the cover.  I never do that.  But that’s okay, because it ended up being an okay read.

I have to say, for starters, that I do not think I am the intended audience for this book.  The book was far too juvenile for my tastes.  That may sound silly coming from me, the hardcore Harry Potter addict, but there is something about HP that Spellbinder did not have.  I don’t know what, exactly.  And I’m not saying juvenile in a bad way, not at all.  Just that there was not much complexity, not much to the book beyond the plot.  Which is okay, just not for me personally.

What I did like – Belladonna.  I love to see a fierce female heroine in a book, especially a book for kids.  She was an incredibly intelligent, self-aware twleve-year-old, but not in an over the top kind of way.  She was very twelve – she listened to her parents, she respected her teachers, she was afraid of the great responsibility that seemed to befall her, yet she also did what was necessary when she understood what her responsibilities actually were.  And when her parents disappeared she reacted in a very twelve-year-old way – she wanted them back so badly, even though they annoyed her when they were around.  They were still her parents, and she would do anything she had to in order to get them back.

While the plot was engaging and it did keep me reading, I felt that some aspects of the story were a bit confusing.  I found myself going back in the book to reread pages when a new plot element would arise – sometimes I felt like things came out of nowhere and maybe I missed something in a previous chapter.  I’m not sure if that was my fault, if I wasn’t paying enough attention to the story, or if the plot really was disjointed.  Either way, I know that I had trouble connecting some of the dots and staying focused on the details, so I personally had an issue with the pacing and structure of the storyline.  I’m not sure whether it would be easier for kids to follow than it was for me – perhaps it would.  But I still believe that certain plot elements were less than perfect.

Overall, Spellbinder was just okay for me.  While I loved the main character, the book has little else for me to really endorse.  I acknowledge that I am not the intended audience for this read, and so I would definitely be interested in hearing the perspective of a middle-schooler.  Anyone have any children between the ages of nine and thirteen who would be interested in reading Spellbinder?  Just let me know and I’d be happy to send it your way!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Author:  J.K. Rowling

Published date:  July 2007

Publisher:  Arthur A. Levine Books

Pages:  784

Genre:  Children’s/YA Fantasy

Source:  Personal copy

 

Several months ago I made the decision to reread the entire Harry Potter series even though I’d already read most of the books at least three times.  I was having a bad day, I think, and I just felt like Harry, Hermione, and Ron would be able to cheer me up – and who can read one book in this series without reading them all at some point?  I know I certainly can’t.  So here we are, upon my completion of book 7, and this really isn’t a review, more like my thoughts on the final book in the series.  Stay away if for some reason you haven’t read the series, because I will definitely have minor spoilers.

I was most excited to reread Deathly Hallows because I’d only read it once before this time around, and the first time I read it I was reading so frantically towards the end that I was sure I missed some crucial aspects of the plot.  I was also a little hesitant to read it because finishing the series this time around means I won’t pick it up again for a long time.  So it was a bittersweet read for me, definitely.

But – I loved the book so much.  I loved it the first time, but this time I was able to read slowly, to savor every word and every interaction in the book.  I was able to concentrate on all that was revealed to me within the pages, and really think about how everything was finally coming together and starting to make complete sense.

I have to admit that I was SO THRILLED when Harry finally got to see what the real deal is with Snape, through the Pensieve.  I only vaguely remembered this scene from my first reading of Deathly Hallows and when I was reading it, my jaw literally dropped.  I was like… beyond shocked.  I mean, I was hoping all along that things would turn out this way, but really – I couldn’t believe it.  And it made me squeal, I was so happy.

There was lots of action Deathly Hallows, which I loved, but there were also some truly sweet moments (especially between Ron and Hermione) that almost brought me to tears.  It was definitely bittersweet, because it felt to me, like just when these teenagers are finally finding themselves and becoming confident and understanding their world we don’t get to read about them anymore.  It was just hard to read this book knowing that once it’s over, it’s OVER.  And these characters who I’ve fallen in love with are no more.  But the epilogue definitely helped with that.  It helped me to have closure on the whole situation, and just knowing where their lives took them really helped me to finalize the series.

That’s it.  I love these books.  This is by far my favorite series I’ve ever read, and I will continue to reread them in years to come.

Are you a Harry Potter fan?  What did you think of Deathly Hallows?

Baby-Sitters Club Week: Two Reviews

For Amy‘s Baby-Sitter’s Club Week, I decided to review two BSC books, Kristy and the Secret of Susan and Claudia and the Terrible Truth.

When I went to the library to pick out a book to read this week, I honestly had a hard time choosing one!  Looking at all those spines instantly gave me memories from elementary school (and, I’ll admit, middle school even) when I was obsessed with this series and read every single one of these books multiple times.  I settled on these two books because I think they both teach important lessons to kids.

Kristy and the Secret of Susan is about a new baby-sitting charge of Kristy’s, Susan Fowler, who has autism.  In the beginning of the book, Kristy discovers that the reason Susan is “new” to the BSC is that she spends most of the year away from her parents, being educated at a special school.  Kristy’s main goal is to show Susan’s parents that she is capable of making friends and living a semi-normal life, and she should be educated at home, in a regular public school.  Kristy learns, though, that Susan’s autism is not something that Kristy can fix, and that her parents probably understand why she needs to be away and are doing it for a reason.

What I love about this book is that it’s very realistic.  Of course, all of the books have that happy-go-lucky, everything-is-going-to-be-okay feel to them, but Kristy and the Secret of Susan shows that not all kids are perfect, not all days end with everyone laughing and hugging, etc.  I have to admit that when I read this book as a child, it was probably the first time I’d heard or read anything about autism, and it definitely educated me.  Most kids don’t know anything about this, unless they know someone with autism, so I think it’s great that these books can be a platform to teach kids about other kids who may be different from them, and how they should befriend them and love them anyway.  This book is the only one that I remember ending on a semi-sad note.  Susan has to go back to her special school, and Kristy has a difficult time seeing her leave.  Most of the BSC books that I remember end with everyone happy about something, and it’s comforting to know that there’s a little more realism to this one.

Claudia and the Terrible Truth is about the Nicholls family, new to the BSC, and they have two young boys, Joey and Nate.  After sitting for the boys a few times, Claudia starts to suspect that something sinister is going on in their home – that Mr. Nicholls is verbally and maybe even physically abusive to them.  Eventually, Claudia tells her mom (who works with Mrs. Nicholls) about her suspicions, and she eventually leaves her husband to seek safety at a family member’s house.

What I love about this book is that, again, it teaches kids a lesson.  It’s a hard thing to learn, if you live in a happy home environment, but there are plenty of kids for which this situation is their regular, daily life.  I think this book handles the abuse in an age-appropriate way without glossing over the reality of how scary it is for the kids who are being abused.  The ending is definitely way too neatly wrapped up (no way would the ending happen in real life), but it does offer hope and teach potential baby-sitters how to handle this situation should they encounter it in their own baby-sitting experiences.  I also think that at the age these books are written for, it’s important to wrap this story up nicely for the readers’ peace of mind.

I’m so thankful to Amy for hosting this awesome Baby-Sitter’s Club week!  I loved reading these two books, they totally brought me back to my childhood… I almost want to read MORE of them! 🙂  Hopefully when I have kids I’ll get a chance to share these books with them, since they were such an instrumental part of my reading when I was younger.

Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

Title:  Dear Mr. Henshaw

Author:  Beverly Cleary

Published:  August 1983

Pages:  144

Publisher:  HarperCollins

Genre:  Fiction, Children’s 9-12

Source:  personal copy

Dear Mr. Henshaw was one of my favorite books when I was a kid.  I can’t even tell you how many times I read this book – SO many.  Something inspired me to read the book again recently, and I’m so glad that I did because it was like a little trip down memory lane.  It was such a comfortable book and I loved every minute I spent with Dear Mr. Henshaw this time around.

The book is written in letters, from the main character, eleven-year-old Leigh Botts to his favorite author, Mr. Henshaw.  Actually, Leigh writes his first letter when he is in second grade, but the majority of the book takes place in his sixth grade year.  Leigh tells Mr. Henshaw about a lot that happens in his life – his parents’ divorce, his issues with other kids at school, and how much he misses his dog.  Through these letters to the author, and later a journal of unsent letters, Leigh forms a close friendship with the author (albeit a tad one-sided) and grows up quite a bit as well.

One of the things I like about this book so much, now that I’m an adult and can look at it from a different perspective, is how average Leigh Botts is.  Of course every kid wishes that they could be smarter, stronger, better than the other kids – but most kids realize that they simply aren’t.  I think that as a kid I related to Leigh because I also saw myself as he did, “in the middle”.  So many main characters of books do something extraordinary or have something extreme happen to them – Leigh Botts just lived an ordinary life like a regular kid.

The other thing that stands out to me about Dear Mr. Henshaw is the talk about Leigh’s parents’ divorce.  Leigh talks about his fears and insecurities regarding the situation with his parents, and I think so many kids who go through that feel the same emotions Lee displays.  Every kid wonders what they could have done differently to keep their parents together, they think that their father or mother (whichever parent has to move out) doesn’t love them enough, that their parents couldn’t possibly meet new people to date, etc.  Leigh deals with all of these confusing thoughts just like any kid would when going through a divorce.

I’m a huge fan of Dear Mr. Henshaw, I always have been, and reading it as an adult just reminded me of that even more.  I would absolutely recommend this book to children of all ages.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Title:  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Author:  J.K. Rowling

Published:  July 16, 2005

Page Count:  672

Genres:  Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult/Children’s

My Rating:  5 out of 5

I believe this was my third time reading HBP.  I read it when it first came out, then again right before Deathly Hallows came out.  I remember being enraptured by HBP the first time I read it, and I still found it pretty darn great this time around.  It’s not my favorite in the series, but it definitely comes close.

What I love about the last few books in the series is the sheer amount of information the reader is given.  I feel like, having now read the entire series (not this time around, but previously), that in the first three books the reader is living in total darkness in relation to Harry Potter’s world.  We think we understand what’s going on, we think we know what they are all up against, we think we get who the bad guys are and what they have done, but really we have no idea.  It isn’t until books four and five that the reader begins to have a clear picture of what Harry is really dealing with.  And it is in this, the sixth book in the series, that we are given a ton of information about Voldemort which we (and Harry) previously had no clue we were even missing out on.  I loved the scenes with Dumbledore and the pensieve – learning about Voldemort’s past, learning about what motivated him, what drove him to be such a ruthless and evil wizard, was so interesting to me.  I loved these sections of HBP the most, I think.

And I also fell MORE in love with these characters throughout this book.  Like I said in my review of Order of the Phoenix, I really don’t mind all the teenager-ness shown by Harry, Ron, Hermione, and their friends in these books.  I like how despite being some of the most intelligent and poweful wizards they know, they are still normal teens with confusing emotions and hormones.  It makes the whole thing seem much more real to me, so much more believable.  And I think this stuff just adds to the characters’ personalities and just helps the reader get to know them all better.

So I’m looking forward to rereading Deathly Hallows, but I’m sort of sad about it, too, because then once again Harry Potter is over and I won’t read these books again for many months, possibly years.  I love this series and it truly gives me such comfort and joy when I get a chance to revisit it!  And I haven’t yet seen the HBP movie – I’ll let you all know what I think when I do see it.

More reviews –

• Jules’ Book Reviews
• In the Shadow of Mt. TBR
• Sam’s Book Blog

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Title:  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Author:  J.K. Rowling

Published:  January 1, 2003

Page Count:  870

Genres:  Fiction, Children’s Books/YA, Fantasy

My Rating:  5 out of 5

I say to you all, once again–in the light of
Lord Voldemort’s return, we are only as strong
as we are united, as weak as we are divided.
Lord Voldemort’s gift for spreading discord and
enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing
an equally strong bond of friendship and trust.

So spoke Albus Dumbledore at the end of Harry Potter’s fourth year at Hogwarts. But as Harry enters his fifth year at wizard school, it seems those bonds have never been more sorely tested. Lord Voldemort’s rise has opened a rift in the wizarding world between those who believe the truth about his return, and those who prefer to believe it’s all madness and lies–just more trouble from Harry Potter.

Add to this a host of other worries for Harry…
• A Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with a personality like poisoned honey
• A venomous, disgruntled house-elf
• Ron as keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team
• And of course, what every student dreads: end-of-term Ordinary Wizarding Level exams

…and you’d know what Harry faces during the day. But at night it’s even worse, because then he dreams of a single door in a silent corridor. And this door is somehow more terrifying than every other nightmare combined.

The fifth installment of the Harry Potter series is absolutely my favorite book in the series – which is funny, because it’s a lot of people’s LEAST favorite.  But I just love it.  There are several reasons why I love the book so much, but none of them really do justice to the comfort that the book brought me when I was recently suffering from a lapse in my reading (I’m still suffering, sort of, sad to say).

I love how much information we are given in this book.  At the end, when Harry and Dumbledore are having their yearly talk – after all the action has occurred, of course – Dumbledore tells Harry, and the reader, SO MUCH.  And it is at this point where the reader starts to understand just how much in the dark they’ve been all along, and also it made me wonder (the first time I read it) what else J.K. Rowling could possibly be hiding from me because obviously there had to be more (don’t worry, there’s more, but I’ll get to that when I review books 6 and 7).

I enjoy the action in this book.  There’s just so much suspense, so much drama – like WTF is going on with Harry’s dreams?  And WHY OH WHY can’t the Ministry figure out that Voldemort is really back?  And WHEN will this confrontation between the Order and Voldemort or the Death Eaters take place?  Because the entire book builds up to the fact that it will.  And I was totally satisfied with the scenes in the end of the book – with the craziness at the Ministry.  I remember the first time I read this one, I was reading so fast because I was so involved in the action that I had to go back and reread chunks because I was speed-reading in such a way as to miss crucial parts of the story.  I loved that!

I also don’t mind the teenage angsty-ness we see in Harry, Ron, and Hermione.  It actually made the book feel more authentic… they are fifteen years old, of course they are going to act like stupid teenagers half the time.  If they didn’t it just wouldn’t seem true to me.  I also appreciated how much more we got to see of Fred and George in this one, they are awesome characters and I love that Rowling developed them a little more here.

Okay, I’m done.  Too much gushing for one day.  I’m currently reading the sixth book so I should be reviewing that one soon.  I’m TRYING to get my review books read, and challenge books too, but I’m having trouble focusing, so these are a nice distraction from my responsibilities. 🙂

More reviews –

• Hannah at Wordlily
• Sam’s Book Blog
• Tanabata at In Spring it is the Dawn