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.

End of the year

Have a wonderful summer everybody! See you in September.

Summer reading

Summertime is always one of my favourite times for reading (not much beats laying on the beach with a good book). There are many reading lists for teens floating around the internet, and I've listed some of them below. Lots of books to choose from!

Good Comics for Kids summer 2009 reading list (scroll down to get to the teen section)

Graphic novel titles from Get Graphic

Pop Candy: twenty-five great high school books - and there are even more recommendations in the comments.

Rainbow List 2009 - list of recently published GLBTQ books, and don't forget to check out the 2008 list too.

School Library Journal's Best Books 2008 - a great list of very good books published in 2008.

Summer Reading List - this summer reading list from a school district in the U.S. has tons of great books suggested for grades 6-9. This is their list for grades 10-12.

Top 10 dystopian novels for teenagers - a list by a British author who writes (you guessed it) dystopian novels for teens. View my own top 10 list of dystopian novels. This list of dystopian novels from Booklist is most excellent as well. (Can you tell I have a weakness for this genre?)

YALSA book lists and book awards - you'll never be stuck for books to read if you have a look around this site that provides many book lists and awards. Definitely take a look at the Printz and Alex awards, and the Best Books and Teens' Top 10 lists.

And don't forget that the Cumberland Regional Library is having a summer reading program with prizes!

New bookmarks in June

It's that time of year again

...new books time! A couple of quick orders and a generous donation (of 5 books from the Bluford High series) have brought some new fiction into the library in the past couple of weeks.

The diary of Pelly D by L. J. Adlington

The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Darkside by Tom Becker

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

The ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1) by John Flanagan

Ten cents a dance by Christine Fletcher

Right behind you by Gail Giles

Newes from the dead by Mary Hooper

Payback (from the Bluford High series) by Paul Langan

The declaration by Gemma Malley

The fountainhead by Ayn Rand

Lost and found, Secrets in the shadows, Someone to love me, and Until we meet again (all from the Bluford High series) by Anne Schraff

Inside the cage by Matt Whyman

Hush by Jacqueline Woodson

New Delicious links in May

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.

The Hunger Games wins the Battle!

I am very happy about this, so I thought I would share.

If you haven't read The Hunger Games yet, you should. You can get it here at the library.

A few new books

A few new fiction books have come in this week. Hopefully there will be many more coming later this month from orders I sent a couple of weeks ago. Can't wait!

Go ask Alice by Anonymous

Girls in pants: the third summer of the sisterhood by Ann Brashares

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

The ghosts of Kerfol by Deborah Noyes

Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith