Four Thumbs Up for Mockingjay

Since the much-anticipated sequel has been out for weeks now, I feel an Everead review is perhaps overdue. And as usual, a post from me is very overdue, so here goes!

It was with much trepidation that I opened my pre-ordered Amazon.com package to reveal the frosty-blue hardback. So many series seem to end disappointingly, and quite frankly I was scared. Not for Katniss. Not for Peeta. For me. I was scared of a letdown.

As I turned the last few pages of the crisp, new-book-smelling novel, I berated myself for my lack of faith in Suzanne Collins. She'd already given me two subliminal reads, and it just seemed impossible for a third delivery, but she did it.

The page-turning action sequences were there. One thumb up. The no-loose-ends, nicely-packaged ending was there. Two thumbs up. The well-rounded, fault-filled, but lovable characters were there. Three thumbs up (yes, I do realize I don't have three thumbs, but work with me here). And to my delight, the satisfyingly surprising plot twists were there. That makes a grand total of four solid thumbs up.

That, my friends, is about all I can say without commenting on details, which would classify me as a spoiler. Wouldn't want to spoil your fun, so I'll just say: hats off to you Suzanne Collins!

House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones

Personally, I really enjoy whimsical fantasies full of bumbling characters, clever retorts, and funny magical twists. And anyone who has read Patricia C. Wrede, Caroline Stevermer, or Diana Wynne Jones is familiar with this fun, light-hearted, quirky style of story-telling. Jones fits the bill with House of Many Ways.

Her fun, book-loving protagonist pulls her nose out of her books long enough to land a house-keeping job for her magician uncle. Unfortunately, our little heroine doesn’t know a thing about magic. Thus her adventures (and misadventures) are particularly humorous. Add a handful of magical and non-magical compatriots, some favorite characters from one of Jones’ other books (you don’t have to read her “Moving Castle” book to enjoy this book though), and a bad guy with a mean egg-implanting sting, and you have a fun-filled little fantasy.

My issues with it as an award-winning book: I can’t see many guys really going for this book, and I feel strongly that a true award-winning book should appeal to both genders. Also, it took a little while to get into it…just a little bit of a slow start. It just wasn’t always as compelling as I wanted it to be.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Beehive Awards will be announced soon, and I've finished reading them all...now I just have to write the reviews!

Neal Shusterman has spun a very interesting futuristic tale that gives me the same jitters as Scott Westerfeld's Uglies. Essentially, this is a socio-political commentary, but let's face it, it makes a heck of a story too!

You'll experience near-constant intense anxiety as you follow the story of a few teenagers who are running away from a world that wants to harvest all their body parts for donation to society's needy. Excitement - check. Originiality - mostly check. Violence - double check. Captivating story - check, check, and check.

I consider this book highly worthy of any award nomination, as it is appealing to both genders, hard to put down, and fairly original. Not a bad choice, Beehive nominators!

Airman by Eoin Colfer

Three thumbs up for this Count-of-Monte-Cristo-style tale of an adventurous inventor with a heroic streak (yes, I realize I don’t have three thumbs, but that’s how much I liked it people!). This is a must-read for males, females, adults, children, and anyone I missed in the cracks of those classifications.
The book details the life of Conor Broekhart who studies the science of flight right around the time the Wright brothers are scheming in America. Conor’s dream is to work with his dashing tutor and his royal family friend (the king of some small islands off the British Coast) to create the first self-propelled flying machine. But then Conor hears/sees too much as he rubs shoulders with royal doings and ends up struggling to survive as a prisoner working in a deep and dangerous diamond mine. A few years go by, and we see how the now-late-adolescent plans daring escapes, rescues, and dramatic reunions with his childhood dreams.
My one complaint is the uncharacteristic amount of loose ends that Colfer has left within the story. Perhaps he is planning a sequel to answer some of my questions? What happens to the plans that Conor engraved in his jail cell? Did the evil Bonvilain really die? While we do have a few loose ends, all the major conflicts are resolved though, so I guess I really can’t complain.
The characters (with a slight amount of exception) are well-developed, the plot moves quickly and compellingly, and the story weaves its own magic, though there are plot elements that definitely remind one of Alexandre Dumas’ timeless tale. The book is chalk-full of heroic rescue, tragic happenstance, and a particular obsession with flying. An excellent Beehive Nominee!

Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman

When my brother announced he would be living in India for two years back in 2005, my family was a little taken aback, we knew nothing about Indian culture other than what we could gather from movies like The Jungle Book and Gandhi. Since then, I’ve learned a lot about India and its people, and gained an immense appreciation in particular for Indian women. Thus, I enjoyed this book quite a lot, as it follows the life and dreams of a teenage Indian girl during World War II.
Vidya, our protagonist, is a perky character with a stubborn streak and a sense of independence. Her fascination with India’s growing discontent with British rule clashes with her brother’s belief in doing his duty to fight the Nazis. All these opinions are thrown into the relative background when Vidya and her father are caught in the middle of a protest march and tragedy strikes the family. Vidya must move to the strictly Brahmin household of her extended family members, where she is forbidden to mingle with males (including her brother), and isn’t even allowed to go upstairs in the house. Here, she fears she will be forced into an arranged marriage before she has a chance to fulfill her dreams of higher education. Every day is a struggle, and the reader struggles with her.
While this historical fiction novel held some definite appeal to my interests, I can’t say it would fascinate everyone in the same way. It has some slow moments, and there is definitely some feminist angst that might not strike a chord with many males in the same way it did with me. If you have the time and the interest, it’s definitely worth reading, but I can’t really see it winning the Beehive Award.

Shift by Jennifer Bradbury

Two teenage boys agree to undergo their own particular rite of passage into adulthood by biking from West Virginia to the west coast. Little do they know this isn’t just a quest for manhood, it’s a journey of self-discovery. Surprise! Oh wait…we could have guessed that they second they said they wanted to bike across the country… Shift is an appealing novel with an interesting past-mixed-with-present narrative style and a mysterious streak. Here’s the problem: it’s too touchy-feely to be compelling. The element that keeps you reading is the mystery, but the main mystery is given away within the first half of the book, and then the reading gets obligatory. I think the author probably wanted to emphasize the element of self-discovery. But I’m sorry, self-discovery just doesn’t keep me reading. There’s gotta be something else mixed in: action, romance, mystery... Perhaps I’m too demanding – after all, not every book can be tense and action-packed. Still, couldn’t we have made a little more effort to keep that mystery going? On the other hand, this book is fresh and original, has excellent character development, and unfolds itself very artfully. I would recommend it to males and females of all ages (which is something I really can’t say for many of these Beehive nominees), and perhaps you’ll find you disagree with me? In any case, at the very least, the book made me want my own epic adventure – probably not involving two months of bike-riding in my case.

Schooled by Gordon Korman

Remember that post-modern theory about no original ideas? Well here’s another Beehive nominee that fits the bill. If Jerry Spinelli had written a Starboy to go with his Stargirl, I imagine it would be something like Schooled. A hippie commune-raised teen is thrown into public school without a clue about anything modern, technological, or pop-culture related. His social skills are negative zero since he’s spent his whole life on the farm where he only knew one person. Then, we basically follow the Stargirl Pattern: everyone hates him because he’s different, they ridicule and persecute, he doesn’t respond how they expect, and he ends up as the most popular kid in the school. Everyone decides that releasing their inner hippie could help make the world a better place after all. This is a charming tale of acceptance and popularity, told from many points of view including a social worker, the hippie-teen extraordinaire, most popular boy in the middle school, popular middle school girl, middle school loser/geek, etc. The major problem with the story: we’ve seen it before. This doesn’t mean it isn’t worth reading – goodness knows the teenage world can use all the messages about acceptance it can get. It does mean that it’s just not quite up to par for the Beehive Award.

Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande

If you ever take a contemporary literary theory class (just for the heck of it), one of the theories you run across in the post-modernist train of thought is the “fact” that there are no original ideas. I’ve noticed that quite a few of the Beehive nominees this year play right into this theory. Take Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature for instance. This book is basically a slightly candy-coated version of the movie Saved with Mandy Moore and Macaulay Culkin. Not being a huge fan of the over-the-top parody of Radical Christianity that Saved supplies, I liked this book much better, but the basic idea is the same. A teenage girl finds herself a sudden outcast among her group of radically Christian friends because she feels deeply in her heart that their brand of Christianity is leading them to persecute the gentiles in an un-Christlike manner. Thus, she wrestles with “worldly” concepts that she has always viewed as wrong (until her recent inner revelation that leads her contrary to her previous radical Christian beliefs) such as wizardry in Lord of the Rings, Science vs. Religion, and homosexuality. Her quirky new friends, crazy biology teacher, and former radical friends provide a pretty entertaining back-drop for an angsty search to find a new-and-improved brand of Christian beliefs. The book has its moments, and could probably do a lot of good in making teenagers think about how their convictions, beliefs, and actions affect other people. However, it isn’t always compelling, isn’t particularly exciting, and has too many slower moments to make it a Beehive Award winner. Bottom line: worth reading, but I’m not rushing to the book store to buy it, and I don’t anticipate reading it again.

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

Post by Laura--
Now, I love Shannon Hale, and I didn’t dislike this book…BUT, I have to say it’s just not up to snuff compared to some of her other work. Sure, it’s different, exciting, at times even a little tense, however it’s also predictable, slow-moving, and a little bit hokey. There, I said it, “hokey.” I remember hearing Hale talk about the research she did to be inspired by authentic Mongolian legend and tradition when I went to a book signing just after the premiere of Book of a Thousand Days. So, I’m sure that I’m undervaluing the cultural value of the story, but still – werewolves? Really? That’s what it came down to? Lest I ruin it for the rest of you, I won’t delve any further into detailed hokiness, but suffice it to say I was expecting more than I got from the story. Nevertheless, it’s not a bad read, and the Mongolian tradition along with the journal-entry-style narrative makes it a unique novel. It’s worth a read, otherwise it wouldn’t have made the Beehive nomination, but don’t hold it to the same standard as the rest of Hale’s work.

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Gossip Girl meets Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and surprisingly, we have some pretty entertaining results. Told from “the beast’s” point of view, a familiar story has quirky contemporary twists, plenty of parental angst, and some happy feel-good moments peppered in. Fairly predictable (but hey, it is a re-telling of a well-known fairy tale), and a bit of a stretch fitting in the magical elements, but overall, very enjoyable. I read the book almost entirely in one sitting, and it kept me interested and compelled to read on. I definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good fairy tale re-telling, but I would be surprised if it won the Beehive Award. Here’s why: although the protagonist is male, I have a hard time picturing the young adult male audience really getting into this book. I think part of the reason I enjoyed it so much is that it satisfied my inner Disney Princess. This is not to say that males can’t enjoy a good fairy tale as much as anyone (or that males can’t have an inner Disney Princess too…), but in my heart of hearts I have to say that this was a satisfyingly girly book, despite all efforts to make it otherwise. Sorry Alex Finn, excellent writing, but not quite there yet!

Back with a "Beehive" Bang!

Greetings Evereaders!

You may or may not remember me from the early days of this blog, but I'm the third blogger on the Everead team: Laura.

Having taken an extended leave of absence from Everead, I'm making my way back into the book-blogging world with my own special "Bang". In the next few weeks I will be reviewing each of the twelve nominees for the Children's Literature Association of Utah's (CLAU) 2010 Beehive Book Award.

CLAU sponsors a Beehive Book Award for each of the following five categories:
Children's Picture Books
Children's Fiction Books
Children's Informational Books
Young Adult Books
Children's Poetry Books

As Young Adult fiction is my particular forte, I'll be reviewing the twelve nominees in that category.

So get ready for some good reads and some fresh reviews from a voice you haven't heard in a while!

P.S. - Clarification:
Beehive Book Award Nominees are not exclusively written by Utah authors, nor do they have to be written within the last year to win the award,