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.

Percy Jackson is coming to a theatre near you

Yes, that's right, The lightning thief (the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan) is being made into a movie with lots of big-name stars, according to Variety. Here's a quick rundown:

Percy Jackson: Logan Lerman (I didn't really realize it until I saw his picture, but this is exactly how I imagined Percy Jackson.)





Grover (who was my favourite character): Brandon T. Jackson







Annabeth: Alexandra Daddario







Chiron: Pierce Brosnan

Zeus: Sean Bean

Poseidon: Kevin McKidd

Medusa: Uma Thurman (I can't wait to see Uma Thurman with snakes for hair, I really can't.)

Athena: Melina Kanakaredes

More cast choices will undoubtedly be announced in the near future as filming begins in Vancouver in a few weeks.

Also, the fifth and final book in the Percy Jackson series, entitled The last Olympian, is being released on May 5th. Check out the Percy Jackson and the Olympians site for more information.

New library books

A few new books have arrived at the library this week, thanks to a Scholastic book sale and preview books from Copper Beech. Our ordering year starts today as well, so I'll be busy making orders over the next few weeks. Hooray!

Fiction

I'd tell you I love you, but then I'd have to kill you and Cross my heart and hope to spy by Ally Carter

Models don't eat chocolate cookies by Erin Dionne

Nonfiction

The boy who dared by Susan Campbell-Bartoletti

Sexually transmitted diseases by Leanne Currie-McGhee

Genocide in Darfur by Janey Levy

Anorexia by Peggy J. Parks

So true

I couldn't resist posting this gem from Indexed.

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.

The best thing you'll never do

It's probably not what you guessed it was.

Nonetheless, check it out and sign the pledge! (I'm #1104.)

March school newsletter and calendar

The Parrsboro Regional High School March newsletter and calendar is now available online as a PDF file.

100 Young Adult books meme

A YA Books meme has been circulating recently (I saw it here). Arbitrary list or not, I thought it would be interesting to see what I have (and haven't) read and to link to the books we have in the PRHS library. So here we go!

Instructions:
Put an "X" next to the books you've read
Put a "+" next to the books you LOVE
Put a "#" next to the books you plan on reading
Tally your "X"s at the bottom

1. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy / Douglas Adams X
2. Kit's Wilderness / David Almond #
3. Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian / Sherman Alexie X
4. Speak / Laurie Halse Anderson #
5. Feed / M.T. Anderson X
6. Flowers in the Attic / V.C. Andrews
7. 13 Reasons Why / Jay Asher X
8. Am I Blue? / Marion Dane Bauer (editor)
9. Audrey Wait! / Robin Benway #
10. Weetzie Bat / Francesca Lia Block X
11. Tangerine / Edward Bloor
12. Forever / Judy Blume X
13. What I Saw and How I Lied / Judy Blundell #
14. Tyrell / Coe Booth
15. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants / Ann Brashares X
16. A Great and Terrible Beauty / Libba Bray X
17. The Princess Diaries / Meg Cabot X
18. The Stranger / Albert Camus
19. Ender's Game / Orson Scott Card #
20. Postcards from No Man's Land / Aidan Chambers
21. Perks of Being a Wallflower / Stephen Chbosky X
22. And Then There Were None / Agatha Christie X
23. Gingerbread / Rachel Cohn
24. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist / Rachel Cohn and David Levithan X
25. Artemis Fowl (series) / Eoin Colfer #
26. The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins X+
27. The Midwife's Apprentice / Karen Cushman #
28. The Truth About Forever / Sarah Dessen
29. Little Brother / Cory Doctorow X
30. A Northern Light / Jennifer Donnelly
31. Tears of a Tiger / Sharon Draper
32. The House of the Scorpion / Nancy Farmer
33. Breathing Underwater / Alex Flinn
34. Stardust / Neil Gaiman
35. Annie on My Mind / Nancy Garden
36. What Happened to Cass McBride / Gail Giles X
37. Fat Kid Rules the World / K.L. Going X
38. Lord of the Flies / William Golding X
39. Looking for Alaska / John Green X
40. Bronx Masquerade / Nikki Grimes
41. Out of the Dust / Karen Hesse
42. Hoot / Carl Hiaasen #
43. The Outsiders / S.E. Hinton X
44. Crank / Ellen Hopkins X
45 The First Part Last / Angela Johnson
46. Blood and Chocolate / Annette Curtis Klause
47. Arrow's Flight / Mercedes Lackey
48. Hattie Big Sky / Kirby Larson
49. To Kill a Mockingbird / Harper Lee X+
50. Boy Meets Boy / David Levithan X
51. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks / E. Lockhart X
52. The Giver / Lois Lowry X
53. Number the Stars / Lois Lowry X
54. Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie / David Lubar X
55. Inexcusable / Chris Lynch
56. The Earth, My Butt and Other Big, Round Things / Carolyn Mackler
57. Dragonsong / Anne McCaffrey
58. White Darkness / Geraldine McCaughrean
59. Sold / Patricia McCormick X+
60. Jellicoe Road / Melina Marchetta #
61. Wicked Lovely / Melissa Marr X
62. Twilight / Stephenie Meyer X
63. Dairy Queen / Catherine Murdock
64. Fallen Angels / Walter Dean Myers
65. Monster / Walter Dean Myers X
66. Step From Heaven / An Na
67. Mama Day / Gloria Naylor
68. The Keys to the Kingdom (series) / Garth Nix
69. Sabriel / Garth Nix
70. Airborn / Kenneth Oppel #
71. Eragon / Christopher Paolini X
72. Hatchet / Gary Paulsen X
73. Life As We Knew It / Susan Beth Pfeffer X+
74. The Golden Compass / Phillip Pullman X
75. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging / Louise Rennison #
76. The Lightning Thief / Rick Riordan X+
77. Always Running: La Vida Loca / Luis Rodriguez
78. how i live now / Meg Rosoff X
79. Harry Potter (series) / J.K. Rowling X
80. Holes / Louis Sachar X
81. Catcher in the Rye / J. D. Salinger X
82. Push / Sapphire
83. Persepolis / Marjane Satrapi X
84. Unwind / Neil Shusterman X+
85. Coldest Winter Ever / Sister Souljah
86. Stargirl / Jerry Spinelli #
87. Chanda's Secrets / Allan Stratton
88. Tale of One Bad Rat / Brian Talbot
89. Rats Saw God / Rob Thomas
90. Lord of the Rings / J.R.R. Tolkien X+
91. Stuck in Neutral / Terry Trueman
92. Gossip Girl / Cecily Von Ziegesar
93. Uglies / Scott Westerfeld X+
94. Every Time a Rainbow Dies / Rita Williams-Garcia
95. Pedro and Me / Judd Winick
96. Hard Love / Ellen Wittlinger
97. American Born Chinese / Gene Luen Yang X
98. Elsewhere / Gabrielle Zevin X
99. I am the Messenger / Markus Zusak X
100. The Book Thief / Markus Zusak X+

Results? I've read 47 of them, and the PRHS library has 51 in its collection. Not bad on either count!

Monday pick-me-up: Zoo babies!

The Boston Globe has a wonderful (and extensive) collection of photographs of baby zoo animals. I may reconsider my career choice and become a zookeeper.