Review: A Mango-shaped space

A Mango-shaped space by Wendy Mass

For her entire life, 13-year-old Mia has seen colours and shapes that nobody else can. For Mia, every noise, letter, and number has a specific colour and shape. In fact, she didn't name her cat Mango because of his orange eyes, but because his purr is the same orange colour as the flesh of a mango. It sounds like magic, but ever since the day in third grade when she wrote numbers on the blackboard in their correct colours and was called a freak by classmates, she has kept this a secret and tried her best to be "normal."

When she starts failing her algebra and Spanish classes because the colours she sees make it difficult for her to understand, Mia tells her family. After seeing a doctor and a psychotherapist, Mia finally meets someone who can tell her what she needs to know: that she has something called synesthesia and she's not the only one. This opens a whole new world to Mia, but unfortunately there are prices to pay.

My initial impression of A Mango-shaped space was that Mia's voice was too old for someone who is 13. While I felt that Wendy Mass's descriptions of the colours and shapes Mia sees were very effective and put me inside her head, the occasional phrase in the first couple of chapters would take me out of the story. I just couldn't imagine Mia actually saying of her older sister "[she] dropped me like a bag of piping-hot microwave popcorn" (p. 7). Fortunately, this impression only applied to the early, more descriptive chapters and soon I was swept up in Mia's experience.

This is essentially a coming-of-age book that addresses friendship, a first kiss, family relationships, and grief. However, it is framed within Mia's discovery of synesthesia and figuring out how to deal with it and people's reactions to it and the fact that she kept it a secret for so long. It was remarkable how Wendy Mass described Mia's experience of synesthesia throughout the book, and it certainly increased my understanding of a rare and almost unheard-of human condition.

4.5 stars out of 5 for A Mango-shaped space.

Read a letter that a 16-year-old boy wrote to Wendy Mass about how reading this book made him realize that he had synesthesia, too.

Review: Audrey, wait!

Audrey, wait! by Robin Benway

Audrey is really into music and has just broken up with her boyfriend Evan, who is in a band at their high school. Things seem to be going fine until Evan comes on stage at a concert and sings a song he wrote about their break-up called "Audrey, wait!" The song goes on a meteoric rise to the top of the Billboard charts and makes Evan's band - and Audrey - famous. Between being followed by paparazzi, having people on the internet gossip about her every move, and needing to quit her part-time job (where she has a really cute coworker), Audrey finds out fame may not be all it's cracked up to be.

I adored this book, especially because I loved the characters. Audrey is very likable, her parents are fantastic, and the conversations between Audrey and her best friend Victoria are often completely hilarious. I laughed out loud several times and got completely sucked into the dramas going on in Audrey's life to the point where I couldn't wait to get home and read more. (Given my slack reading patterns lately, that is notable!)

Music is all throughout this novel, and the lyrics quoted at the beginning of each chapter were not only appropriate but had me Googling a few artists who were new to me. Robin Benway is obviously enthusiastic and knowledgeable about music and it pervades the entire book.

Overall, this is a very fun book that I will happily read again.

4.5 stars out of 5 for Audrey, wait!

Read the first chapter online.

Review: Graceling

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Katsa lives in a land of seven kingdoms and is the orphaned niece of King Randa. She lives freely and comfortably in the castle but must do as Randa demands. It wouldn’t be such an awful trade-off but Randa demands that she does horrible things to other people, for Katsa is Graced with an exceptional ability to kill. She is tired of Randa’s bullying and has started the Council, which uses a network of informants and spies to help people in need.

On one of her rescue missions Katsa encounters Po, a foreign prince Graced with fighting who is trying to unravel the mystery of his kidnapped grandfather. When Katsa and Po eventually discover that they are trying to solve the same problem, they team together to take care of it (and a problematic king) once and for all.

Graceling had been getting rave reviews from tons of blogs and starred reviews from major book review publications, so I decided I had to read it. It has quickly become one of my favourite books and one that I will re-read gladly. There are so many things I loved about this book: Katsa kicks butt but is also hilarious and empathetic, the plot never stops for a moment, and there are twists at every turn. One thing that really impressed me is that the moment I figured something out, the characters figured it out too. Nothing irks me more than knowing something integral to the plot and the characters haven’t a clue until 100 pages later. It drives me crazy! This book is smart, funny (I laughed out loud several times), action-packed, thrilling, and devastatingly romantic. In one word: wow.

Thankfully, Graceling is the first in a series.

5 stars out of 5 for Graceling.

Kristin Cashore’s blog.

An interview with Kristin Cashore.

Review: Hate List

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Valerie is not looking forward to her first day of school in grade 12. She hasn't been to school since May 2nd, which was the day her boyfriend, Nick, opened fire in the school cafeteria and killed and injured several people, including Valerie. Nick targeted people who were on the "hate list" that he and Valerie had kept, a list that included students who bullied them and the bullies' friends. Although cleared by the police, many people still believe Valerie knew what Nick was going to do and at least partially blame her for the tragedy. It doesn't help that she's the only one left to blame since Nick died that day, too.

Valerie's journey through her recovery, both physical (Nick shot her almost fatally in the leg) and emotional, is poignant and powerful. She walks a line between being a perpetrator and a victim, not entirely sure which category she falls in even though she didn't know what Nick was planning. And then there's the grief: Nick was her first love and she misses him terribly, let alone trying to come to grips with what he did.

The variety of reactions she gets from her classmates, teachers and members of the community are wide ranging and it was often tough to watch her deal with them, sometimes pushing away the very people who really wanted to help her. I felt a lot of sympathy for Valerie and appreciated the author writing from her point of view.

It is hard to believe that it is 10 years since Columbine, and Hate List appears to be one of several books written recently about school shootings, and it is both unique and one of the best that I've read.

4 stars out of 5 for Hate List.

Jennifer Brown's website.

Read the first chapter of Hate List.

*This review is based on an advanced reader's copy (ARC) that I received from Little, Brown.

Review: I can't keep my own secrets

I can't keep my own secrets: six-word memoirs by teens famous and obscure edited by SMITH Magazine

"Insert melodramatic cliche-teen ick here." - Jordan E. (p. 161)*

Not quite: comprised of hundreds of six-word memoirs, I can't keep my own secrets is a quick and thoughtful read. By turns hilarious and harrowing, reflective and revealing, the brief memoirs offer a glimpse into the lives of teens.

There is something for just about everyone in here: drugs, family, beliefs, death, sexual identity, family, school, and more are all topics found in the memoirs. I don't really know what else to say, except to share some examples:

"You made me stronger. Thanks, rapist." - Alyssa Z. (p. 82)
"I really don't mind being autistic." - Lisa D. (p. 54)
"Some days sucked. Sun still rose." - Mary H. (p. 141)
"Not your average teen angst bullshit." - Amanda L. (p. 30)

Indeed.

4 stars out of 5 for I can't keep my own secrets.

*This review is based on an advanced reader's copy (ARC) that I received from HarperTeen. As such, page numbers cited may not be the same in the final publication.

Review: The knife of never letting go

The knife of never letting go: Chaos walking, book 1 by Patrick Ness

Todd Hewitt is the youngest boy in Prentisstown, where all the women died of a virus shortly after he was born, and the virus caused all the men and boys to hear each other's thoughts and the thoughts of animals as well. Todd is a month away from turning 13 and becoming a man, when one day he "hears" silence in the swamp when he's gathering apples. It turns out the silence is a girl, Viola - the first one he's ever seen.

When the other members of the town hear about Todd's encounter with silence, his caregivers tell him to run away. Todd doesn't understand but he and his dog Manchee go and take Viola with them.

Off they run, beyond the limits of the town to where Todd has never been and he believes nothing - and nobody - else is out there. Turns out that is the least of the lies he has been told: not only are there other towns, but there are women who are alive. With crazy Prentisstown preacher Aaron and an army of Prentisstown men on their tail, Todd, Viola and Manchee set out to make it to the city Haven while they still can.

The knife of never letting go was a fast read. Even though it is almost 500 pages long I whipped through it in 2 days, staying up late to finish it. But wow, is it ever dark! It even seems to me that it's darker than The Hunger Games, but perhaps that was because, apart from Todd's dog Manchee ("Poo. Poo, Todd."), there was not much lightness or humour in the book. I did find it amusing that the only thing sheep think is "sheep!", though. Heh.

This is not a book for the faint of heart. It is a testament to Ness's abilities that the story could wrench my heart so acutely, because it really did some serious wrenching. One scene made me gasp aloud and put the book down for a moment to regain my composure. As awful and painful as this book can be, it is masterfully done, and Todd is a wonderful and compelling character.

This is the first book in a trilogy and it ends on a huge cliffhanger. The second book is out in the fall, so if you find cliffhangers frustrating then you'll want to wait to read it. Otherwise, I highly recommend it.

4.5 stars out of 5 for The knife of never letting go: Chaos walking, book 1.

The knife of never letting go won the Guardian Children's Book Prize in the United Kingdom.

Review: Need

Need by Carrie Jones

After her beloved step-father's death, Zara's mother sends her to live in rural Maine with her grandmother. Strange things start happening immediately: teenage boys are disappearing from the town and there is a creepy pointing man in the woods who calls to her. On the other hand, there are two gorgeous guys interested in her and they both distrust the other one. Zara's not sure what to think.

Things get interesting when Zara and her new friends discover why the creepy pointing guy leaves gold dust in his wake: he's a pixie. And not a friendly one. In fact, he's looking for a queen and has targeted Zara. Luckily, Nick takes on the role of protecting Zara but he has some secrets, too.

Need is basically a combination of Twilight and Wicked Lovely: a girl moves away from her mother to a small town with a pixie king who is hunting her. As such, I rather enjoyed it. Zara's obsession with phobias was fun and each chapter was named after a phobia - my favourite chapter title was "Pixiophobia, a fear of pixies. I made this up, but believe me it should be a word because it sure is a legitimate fear." Heh heh.

Zara was more like Aislinn in Wicked Lovely than Bella in Twilight with her spunkiness, bravery, and nerve. Sure, she was a bit reckless and needed Nick to swoop in and save her once or twice, but at least Nick didn't watch her sleep. Zara was likeable and funny and believable, and her grandmother Betty was fantastic.

Four stars out of five for Need.

Book website.

Review: Inferno

Inferno by Robin Stevenson

Smart, independent Dante is struggling at the school she's been attending since she and her parents moved over a year ago, and being brokenhearted due to her secret girlfriend moving away isn't helping matters. For her sixteenth birthday she changed her name to Dante after reading Dante Alighieri's Inferno, but her mother still calls her Emily and sends her to a support group for girls. It is there that Dante gets to know Parker, a mysterious girl who quit school and lives with her boyfriend.

Dante is an independent thinker and Parker easily convinces her to get involved in her protests against free speech and schools' strict rules. Soon Dante is sneaking out of her house in the middle of the night and scaling walls to hang banners. Things are not all fun and games for long however, and when Parker's group decides to protest the status quo in a way that people will notice and remember, Dante must decide how far she'll go to help a friend.

I like Dante, but then I almost always like smart and independent female protagonists. She's also a bit quirky but confident in her quirks, but I almost always like that too. So perhaps I was destined to like her.

That said (and none too eloquently either), what I really enjoyed was knowing how Dante perceived herself and comparing that to how others saw her. How she came across so confident and self-assured and yet really didn't know what to do most of the time. How her actions were definitive but the decisions going into her actions often weren't. The saying "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" could certainly be used to explain what happens with Dante, but that may be taking the Inferno metaphor too far.

The people who populate the rest of Dante's world were fascinating. I particularly enjoyed her parents and their distinct personalities and reactions. Parker was complex and almost unbearable to watch sometimes. Her situation was heartbreaking but scarily accurate, and of all the characters I wonder most about what happened to her. I doubt I'm the only one she sticks with.

As a side note, I love the cover. The fire juxtaposed with circular clockwork-like graphics is eye-catching and the title font is simple and elegant. Not to be ridiculously picky, but I would have liked the cover even more if the font used for the author's name was the same as the title font. Nonetheless, I would definitely be drawn to this book if it was on a display, and I'll find out soon enough here at the library if others feel the same way.

Inferno is a compelling novel that has friendship, rebellion, love, risk-taking, and more. 4 stars out of 5.

Robin Stevenson's website.
Other books by Robin Stevenson at PRHS.

Dante Alighieri's Inferno.

*This review is based on an advanced reader's copy (ARC) that I received through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

Review: Generation Dead

Generation Dead by Daniel Waters

When some teenagers around America start rising from the dead for reasons nobody understands, some of them go back to school. One of those schools is Oakvale High, where Phoebe and her "normally biotic" friends Adam and Margi attend classes. People have different reactions when it comes to the "differently biotic," everything from fear and revulsion to fascination and compassion. When Phoebe gets a crush on living impaired football player Tommy and starts dating him, things start to get complicated.

Generation dead is not so much a traditional zombie novel with gore and armed hordes as a tale of prejudice and fear. Differently biotic teens are rejected by their families and friends and subjected to ridicule and violence, and the people who care for them are made vulnerable as well. While the book isn't really preachy about all this, it definitely makes it's point.

Although this book wasn't what I thought it would be I enjoyed it well enough, and I hope that some things (like the suspicious Hunter Foundation) will be fleshed out in the sequels.

3.5 stars out of 5 for Generation Dead.

Tommy's blog, My So-called Undeath.

Review: A long way gone: memoirs of a boy soldier

A long way gone: memoirs of a boy soldier by Ishmael Beah

Ishmael Beah was 12 when a rebel army invaded his village in Sierra Leone. He spent many months running and trying to stay ahead of the rebels who were ruthlessly destroying and killing everything in their path. Since many of the rebel soldiers were young boys, Ishmael and his companions were met with fear almost everywhere they went, and as a result had to survive on their own for months on end.

Less than a year after leaving his village on the run, Ishmael was picked up by the government army and pressed into service. Learning to eat an entire meal in under a minute was perhaps the least violent skill he learned at the camp, and fighting battles and invading villages under the influence of drugs soon became a way of life. A long way gone is a terrible, moving, and ultimately heartwarming tale of one boy's life as a child running from the rebels and fighting them in battle and, later, being rehabilitated.

A long way gone opens masterfully, with a brief anecdote about Ishmael Beah's U.S. high school classmates thinking it was cool how he had seen "people running around with guns and shooting each other." I've heard a similar sentiment expressed many times in the libraries here in Parrsboro, especially from boys who are the same age as Beah was when he was running and fighting for his life. It is a testament to Beah that he could smile at his classmates' ignorance.

In fact, the whole book is a testament to Beah, although he does not glorify himself or try to make himself appear any different from other boy soldiers: as a squad leader in the army, he commanded other boys and performed horrific acts himself and was certainly an active participant. He seems to attribute his rehabilitation as much to luck as anything else, and describes his painful recovery in frank terms. He objectively describes his fear, frustration, annoyance, anger, and joy throughout.

While the book is not gratuitously violent, there are definitely some graphic descriptions of village invasions, battles, and merciless revenge. It is my view that it is as tastefully done as was possible and I was always aware that for every horror described in the book, Beah likely experienced hundreds more.

Yes, this is a bleak book not for the faint of heart, but it is also a tale of the possibility of recovery for children who have lived through horrors that many of us cannot even imagine.

4.5 stars out of 5 for A long way gone.

*Beah has been challenged on the chronology and accuracy of his biography. Whether 100% factually accurate or not, his book provides a much-needed glimpse into the perils of child soldiers.

Review #1.
Review #2.
Watch an interview with Ishmael Beah.
Book website.

Review: Soulless

Soulless by Christopher Golden

Three world-famous mediums (media?) get together on a morning news show in New York City and have a séance. Within a few minutes, things go wrong in the TV studio and strange and terrifying things start happening in the surrounding area. Namely, the dead are rising and feeding on innocent people, particularly their own families.

Soulless follows several teenagers and their horrific experiences during "the Uprising": Phoenix is the daughter of one of the mediums, Matt and Noah are school rivals who are trying to get to their families in NYC, Sara and Zack are stuck inside Sara's house, Jack is a gang member on the run, and Tania is a television and music star on her way to an interview. All of them are trying to stay alive against thousands of rampaging zombies and put an end to the problem.

I'm not ashamed to admit that this book gave me some troubled sleep for a night or two, which is my own fault for reading it before going to bed. Zombies are one thing, but zombies that especially prey on their own loved ones?! It made my skin crawl.

Which is not to say that I didn't enjoy the book and devour it in two sittings. The zombies were creepy and terrifying, the characters and their relationships were interesting, and the action was pretty much nonstop. While there was a lot of violence, I appreciated that the gruesomeness wasn't over the top. Just enough detail to make me shudder is exactly how I like it, and Soulless made me shudder repeatedly.

4 stars out of 5 for Soulless.

Another review.

Review: The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Katniss lives in what used to be known as North America but is now called Panem. Her district, District 12, is one of the poorest districts and in order to feed herself, her mother and her sister, she needs to illegally hunt rabbits and squirrels with the bow and arrow her father taught her to use before he died. Life is not easy, and it's about to get more difficult.

Every year, the government of Panem sponsors the Hunger Games with 2 teenagers - a boy and a girl - competing from each of the twelve districts, and this year Katniss' younger sister is picked. Katniss steps up and takes her place, which may seem greedy until you know that the winner of the Hunger Games is the last kid alive: it's a fight to the death on live reality TV.

What I just summarized is covered in the first 30 pages. What happens in the next 340 (and don't let that number scare you - it's not a book you can easily put down) is scary, funny, gruesome, shocking, and tense. It features deadly wasps, bloodthirsty opponents, life-or-death chases, explosions, death, and a little romance. Everything is from Katniss' point of view, and she's a great narrator: funny, smart, tough, stubborn, deadly with a bow and arrow, and even has a bit of a weakness for pretty clothes. She's difficult to dislike.

I must admit, I have a weakness for dystopian novels, like The Giver, Uglies, and many more. The Hunger Games is one of the best I've read, and as the first in a projected trilogy, I can't wait until the next book comes out in September.

5 stars out of 5 for The Hunger Games.


Extras:
The Hunger Games website (features interviews with the author and you can read the first chapter).
Stephen King liked this book too.
TeenReads review and excerpt.

Book review: Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer

Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer by Laini Taylor

Fierce nomadic faerie Magpie Windwitch and her posse of crows travel the world capturing escaped demons. A couple of strange encounters send them traveling back to Magpie's home, Dreamdark, to investigate some very odd occurrences, and things only get more dangerous with faerie warriors disappearing and a false queen taking the throne.

And that's just the beginning. Things get worse and worse, with Magpie losing friends to the terrible dark power known as the Blackbringer, the only creature that can help them is a cranky old codger who's been asleep for a few thousand years, and even the forgotten fabric of the world is falling apart. Magpie is thrust into the role of saviour of the world, but can she succeed?

Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer is a fantastic adventure that just gets more ominous and exciting as the book proceeds. There are a lot of twists and turns in the plot that I didn't see coming and never would have guessed, and the characters are full of life and humour (I especially enjoyed Calypso the crow and Batch the scavenger imp). Highly recommended.

5 stars out of 5 for Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer.

Author's website.

A review.

Book review: Crank

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Kristina is 17 and quiet when she goes to visit her father for a few weeks in the summer. She meets Adam in her father's apartment building and quickly becomes involved with him - and with the drug crystal meth, which she calls "the monster." Kristina quickly becomes addicted to both meth and Adam and returns home brokenhearted and high.

That's only the beginning. Kristina, who now calls herself Bree and is more aggressive and flirtatious, makes new friends and finds new ways to get drugs at home to feed her addiction. She'll do just about anything to get another high, and what she does and is forced to do will change her life forever.

Crank is powerful. It's written in free verse from Kristina's point of view, and the author knows what she's talking about as Kristina is based on her own daughter's experience of addiction. Once I picked this up I got so caught up in Kristina's experience that I couldn't put it down. If you at all curious what drug addiction can do and how powerful a hold it can have on your mind and body, read this book.

About Crank and its author, Ellen Hopkins.

Information about crystal meth.

Book review: Monster

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

Steve Harmon is sixteen and on trial for murder. Problem is, he didn't actually kill anyone but instead was accused of being the look-out for a drugstore robbery that went horribly wrong. Was he, or was it just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time? That is what the jury is trying to find out and what Steve's lawyer is determined to prove.

Written in the form of a screenplay for a movie, Monster is Steve's experience in prison as well as in the courtroom. From witnesses on the stand to his parents' visits to him in jail, everything is covered in the movie he's writing, directing and producing. This is an intense and riveting story that I read in one sitting. Highly recommended.

4.5 stars out of 5 for Monster.

Read a review of Monster.

About the author.

Book review: Wicked Lovely

Wicked lovely by Melissa Marr

Rule #3: Don't stare at invisible faeries.
Rule #2: Don't speak to invisible faeries.
Rule #1: Don't ever attract their attention.

Aislinn has always been able to see faeries and now two particularly frightening ones are following her everywhere she goes. Not only that, but one of them makes himself visible and tries to talk to her. It turns out that he is Keenan, the Summer King, and he's determined to make Aislinn his Queen regardless of how she happens to feel about it. Fighting alone for her future, Aislinn must decide whether or not to tell her best friend about her secret or risk losing him, too.

I really got into this book and read it in a couple of days. There's a lot of tension between characters - Donia and Keenan, Aislinn and Seth, Beira and Keenan - which helped me get to know them and their different moods and dynamics. Despite the fact that there were a lot of characters, Marr somehow made it easy to keep track of everyone and get to know them. In the end, I couldn't put this book down.

4 stars out of 5 for Wicked Lovely.

Reviews (on the author's website).
Interview with the author.

Book review: Shark Girl

Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham

Jane Arrowood is fifteen, loves cooking, and is an accomplished artist. Her life changes one day at the beach when she is attacked by a shark and loses most of her right arm. Not only does she find it incredibly difficult to come to terms with the loss of her arm, but a man at the beach caught the attack on video and it was shown on the news across the country. While hundreds of people write to say how brave she is and that they are pulling for her, Jane struggles with anger and frustration at not being able to do the things she could do before. And how can she even go out in public when everyone knows what happened to her and will be staring?

Shark girl was a captivating read. Jane was very realistic: angry at the world (and herself) for what happened, frustrated that the things she most loved to do now seem impossible, and anxious about going out in public knowing that absolutely everyone has seen the horrific footage of the attack. The reactions of the people around her - her mother, brother, relatives, friends, therapist - are all different yet realistic. All this, and the novel is entirely in verse form.

I didn't think
things could get much worse
when the doctors told me,
their voices penetrating
some faraway cloud
I'd been inhaling,
"Jane, we've had to amputate.
Your right arm, Jane.
Above the elbow."
I didn't think things could get worse.
But then I was in a coma for
the first ten days. (excerpt from page 6)

I'd never read a poetry novel before but I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading others in the library collection. Bingham does an excellent job.

4 stars out of 5 for Shark Girl.

Author's website.

Author interview (discussing Shark Girl).

Review: What happened to Cass McBride?

What happened to Cass McBride? by Gail Giles

David committed suicide on Tuesday. Cass disappeared on Friday. What’s the connection? Told from the points of view of three main characters – Cass, Kyle and Ben, a police officer – What happened to Cass McBride? is a suspenseful tale of what drives one person to kidnap and torture another.

What I like best about this book (which I read in one sitting) is how, even though the reader knows very early on how things turn out, the process of getting there is what creates all the suspense. I am not a writer but I would imagine that this is very difficult to do – and with three different perspectives and timelines on the storyline to boot. I found myself anxious to learn what Kyle was explaining when I was reading about what was happening from Cass’s point of view, and vice versa, which was probably why I couldn’t put it down!

The characters are fascinating as well – very complex and proof of “don’t judge a book by its cover.” I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a thrilling suspense.

4.5 stars out of 5 for “What happened to Cass McBride?”

Reviews:
http://www.teensreadtoo.com/CassMcBride.html
http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0316166383.asp

Review: Life as we knew it

Life as we knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer

16-year-old Miranda is really not happy about that meteor that's supposed to hit the moon. Her teachers pile on extra meteor assignments and everyone is excited to watch the meteor hit the moon, especially those astronomers on TV.

What nobody expected is the moon to be moved closer to the earth, and within hours earthquakes and volcanoes cause world-wide destruction. Miranda's whole life - and the lives of those around her - is thrown into chaos by the events that follow. Gas prices climb to $35 a gallon. There is no electricity. Deadly diseases spread. Bite your nails as Miranda and her family struggle to survive.

This book freaked me out. I almost went to the grocery store to stockpile nonperishables halfway through the book, except I couldn't put it down. The next few times in the grocery store I had to stop myself from loading a cart with cans of soup. Sure, sounds crazy, but read it and you'll understand.

5 stars out of 5 for Life as we knew it.

Read a review.

Review: Green Angel

Green Angel by Alice Hoffman

Green and her family live in a small town near to a large city and make their living by farming and selling their harvest at the city market. Green is especially talented at making things grow, and is upset when her parents leave her alone at the house and take her little sister with them to the market. When a bomb is dropped on the city that day it changes Green’s life forever.

Green is a great character, and the way she copes with losing her family and life as she knew it is fascinating. She renames herself Ash and begins to tattoo dark images of thorns and raven wings on her skin and wear boots with spikes sticking out of them. When she retreats into her garden, she discovers that her talent remains and others come to rely on her. Written full of imagery, Green Angel is a very different kind of dystopic novel.

4 stars out of 5 for Green Angel.

Reviews:
http://www.cbc.ca/kids/reviews/2006/10/green_angel.html
http://www.scholastic.com/titles/features/fiction/greenangel_rrr.asp