Eleven

Eleven Lauren Myracle

"Everyone says change is what makes life an adventure. That when you change, you grow, and if you don't change, you'll shrivel up and rot like an old potato.


Well, baloney. The people who get rah-rah over change are always parents and librarians, not kids. Because when kids change, it's really pretty ugly." (p98)

I'm surprised I finally got a chance to read this. This series (Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen) is crazy popular at work. I'll also have to weed the copy I read because it's been read so many times that it's falling apart. And that's why I did read it, because I wanted to see what has my upper-elementary grade girls so excited.

This is a chronicle of Winnie's 11th year. It's a time of change-- her best friend is growing up without her and finding new friends. The new girl at school is bossy to the point of being a bully. Boys, boys, boys... Winnie often knows the right thing to do, especially when it comes to reaching out to her less-popular classmates, but that doesn't mean she actually wants to do it!

Myracle's portrayal of this awkward time is heart-breakingly honest, while still being really funny. I love the Chinese jump rope sub-plot (oh, Chinese jump rope) Winnie and her friends play slightly differently than we did (different levels, different jumping pattern) and I kinda want to go find myself a Chinese jump rope so I can play this version, too.

And that's one of the things that makes this book so great-- the little details. Not just the Chinese jump-rope, but the giant Dr. Pepper Lip Smacker and the girls-choice skate at the roller rink party, the horrible curling iron burn across your forehead...

And when it's the little details that make something so wonderful, I get a little irked when the little details are wrong, because it totally pulls you out the story.* Not that such things make the story any less, but I don't like it when the story pulls me out of the story. It's jarring and makes me cranky.

But, to end this on a happy note, because it's a good book and deserves to be ended on a happy note, can I just say how much I love Winnie's older sister's boyfriend? He is so nice to Winnie and her younger brother, even though they can be pretty annoying.

*In this case, she says viral pink-eye isn't contagious, even though that's the most contagious kind, and that Lisa Simpson plays the trombone! She plays the saxophone!

Book Provided by... my local library

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Banned Books!

Story of my life: Last night, I finally broke down and purchased Thriller so I could dance around in my kitchen to real music instead of me just singing the bits and pieces I remembered. (Also, that album is AWESOME. It was the best "time to mop the store" music EVER when I worked at the co-op grocery store.) Anyway, I was going back and forth because it's the end of the month and so I had already spent all of my "fun money" budget with a few too many trips to the bookstore this month. And, of course, today I get a gift certificate to Amazon. Face, meet palm.

In other news, I have AWESOME "problems." Really, life is pretty good right now. The sun's even out. Now all I have to do is decide what to eat for dinner tonight.

So, tomorrow I'm finishing up the Banned Book Challenge. Hopefully. There is some mad-dash-to-the-finish-line reading going on over here.

Anyway, in light of that, I thought I'd review some of the banned books I've read for the challenge this week. Sound good? Good.

I already reviewed Speak which is banned because apparently we can't talk about rape in books, even when it never gets described.

Also, for this challenge, I reread Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, because I haven't really been getting into anything I've read lately, so I thought I'd go to something I knew I'd love. Also, this time, I actually read Harry Potter in the Philosopher's Stone. Anyway, it's banned, because Harry and his friends do magic, which is considered by some to be Satanic.

I also read ttyl Lauren Myracle

This book is told entirely in Instant Message, entirely in chat speak. If you're not used to talking to teenage girls online, gird your loins.

Maddie, Angela, and Zoe are best friends as they head into their sophomore year of high school. Maddie's preoccupied with getting the popular girls to like her, Angela falls too hard and too fast for the wrong guy, and something is just not right with Zoe's relationship to her English teacher.

This one gets banned because there is talk about sex, drinking, and shaving your pubes when wearing a bathing suit. Also, I suspect there is issue with the fact that the icky teacher uses church as an excuse to get icky with Zoe. I have also seen a few complaints (mainly in online reviews) that the chat speak is destroying the English language.

Chat speak annoys the hell out of me, but it did lend authenticity to the character's voices. Although, I kinda got the feeling that Zoe was the type of girl to spell her words out and use capitalization, but she didn't.

Overall, I did really enjoy this book. The friendship of the three girls is real and zapped me right back to high school. Many of the decisions they make were STOOOOOOOPID, but guess what kids-- teens aren't know for their awesome decision making skills. It was funny and a quick read. I don't have an overwhelming desire to read the rest of the series (mainly because of the chat speak) but I can see why teens love this one. They should.

Also, at one point, Zoe (I think) mentions thumbprint cookies. I thought about those for the rest of the book (I read it in one sitting) and then had to go make some. But now they're gone.

Post Holiday Whatever

Well, some big changes here at Biblio File. Well, not here at Biblio File, but in my life. After three years I am no longer a "Counterfeit Librarian, Beltway Bandit and Femme Fatale Extroidinarie" and am instead a "Coffee addict, torch singer, and librarian ninja."

2 years ago, we moved and I stopped driving 1/2 around the beltway to get to work, but I still had to do large amounts of beltway driving to get to school, but, my dears, last Sunday, I finally graduated from University of Maryland's iSchool, so I'm now a big L Librarian. The only real change this makes in my day-to-day life at this point is that I no longer have to drive 1/2 way across the metro area to get to class 2 nights a week, no more papers to write, and I have to start paying full price ALA dues. I'm already working as a children's librarian, so I'm saved a job search. Yay!

Although, I will point out that is NOT my diploma. They will mail that to me next month. That is a poster of the University of Maryland, because well... I don't know why they gave me that. But they did.

In the mean time, my family was all here for graduation/Hanukkah/Christmas but they have all gone home now and the house is quiet and I'm wondering what to do tonight, as our box of Hanukkah candles was 1 candle so there will be some sort of improvisation.

Cybils short lists are coming out next week, which has me VERY excited, because I'm on the judging committee for middle grade/YA non-fiction and I can't wait to see what's nominated.

AND! I got a most fantastic handmade book from my secret santa. (My camera's being weird, so there are no pictures.) BUT! Secret Santa! You did not tell me what blog you blog on! I would love to know! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

In the mean time, let's talk books, ok?

First up, as it's time for such things, is

Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Writing Thank-you Notes Peggy Gifford

Moxy's back! It's after Christmas and Moxy has to write 12 Thank You notes before she can go to California to see her father, whom she hasn't seen in years. Moxy does not want to write her thank you notes and 12 seems like a huge number. Luckily, she has an amazing beyond amazing plan to churn out her thank you notes lickity split and then she will be off to Hollywood to see her dad and be discovered.

Of course, it involves her step-father's brand new photocopier that she's been forbidden to touch. And some spray paint. Of course, it doesn't go to plan and unbelievable hilarity ensues.

Even better than Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little! This has some bigger issues and a little more meat, without getting bogged down or depressing. It's still hilarious and kids (and maybe some adults) will identify with writing Thank You notes as being the most horrendous chore ever assigned. Plus, there's spray paint. You can only imagine Moxy and spray paint...

Also, I spent Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Day reading

Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances Maureen Johnson, John Green, and Lauren Myracle

Do you know how unfair it is that 98% of the country had a huge blizzard and there was a huge blizzard in my book and it was like, 65 degrees out? Frustrating doesn't even begin to cover it!

Anyway, enough of my whining about the weather. This books is three stories that all take place in the same town during the blizzard of the century. Jubilee's parents are arrested and she's shipped off to spend Christmas with her grandparents, only to have the train get stuck. She gets off, wanders into the Waffle House across the highway and meets Stuart, who takes her home. Normally she wouldn't go, but a bunch of cheerleaders ALSO got off the train with her and are also at the Waffle House.

Meanwhile, Tobin and his friends are having a James Bond-a-thon when their friend who works at Waffle House calls and says there are cheerleaders demanding Twister. So they are off into the blizzard, trying to beat other guys to bring Twister to the cheerleaders.

And then, finally, Addie messed up with her boyfriend Jeb, and he stood her up when she tried to apologize. (BUT! the reader knows Jeb. He was on the train with Jubilee and is trapped at the cheerleading Waffle House) It's the day after Christmas and she's at work at Starbucks, trying to figure out how to fix things with Jeb, how to not be so self-centered, and trying to get a pig for her best friend.

So while we have three seperate stories, they are entwined and main characters in one story become minor characters in another. Each author took a story, and I enjoyed them all. I wish I would have been at all the planning sessions for this, because that sounds like fun.

I liked all three stories. I can rank them in order of which I liked them, but I won't because I did really like all of them and think they worked really well together to make up the whole.

I'm working on my end-of-the-year retrospective--which books were my favorites, how much I read, and what I should try and read next year.

Mean Girls

Remember back when Lindsey Lohan was hott and didn't look like she was completely cracked out? Yeah. Me too. These books remind me of Mean Girls.

Rhymes with Witches Lauren Myracle

The Bitches are the coolest girls in school--you have to like them. There are 3--one from each year. There will be 4 once they pick a freshman. Jane wants to be a Bitch. She can't help it--everyone does. She is shocked when they actually pick her though! Jane is the new freshman Bitch and everyone wants to be her frient--everyone except Alicia who was her only girl friend before Jane was chosen. They can't help it though--everyone likes the Bitches.

But, as it turns out, everyone else really can't help it. The Bitches are popular because they've cast a spell on the student body. Every week, the Bitches have to steal something from another girl and sacrifice it. Just something small, like a barrette or some lip gloss, but the sacrifice will suck out the victims popularity and give it to the Bitch who stole from her. Can Jane really go that far? And why is their school infested with feral cats?

I could not put this book down, which is weird, because I hated it. Really really thought it sucked. But I had to finish it anyway. I didn't care about Jane. You're supposed to feel bad for Alicia, the ditched former best friend, but she was annoying and clingy and an attention whoore. It was obvious Jane didn't like her even before the Bitches picked her up.

The ending wasn't happy and yet it was still contrived and forced and it happier than it should have been. The characters are annoying and flat and it's just not well written. The plot, however, is oddball enough that you'll want to see what happens. Just try not and poke your eyes out on the way.

In a similiar Mean Girls-type vein, but done much better, is Alyson Noel's Art Geeks and Prom Queens.

Rio is kinda a loser who moves from New York to Orange County. Her mom is a former almost-famous super-model and pressures Rio to wear the in and trendy clothes...

Rio finally gives in, starts dressing hott and makes friends with the popular girls, leaving behind the first few friends she made in art class. Rio eventually usurps Kristen's position as most popular girl in school and Kristin will do anything to get that power back...

I liked this one better because for one, the quality of writing is just superior. Also, I like the fact that it's realistic and doesn't include odd rituals-- these girls "earn" their popularity in the same bizarre way that everyone else does. (Have any of us figured out what that way is, exactly?). Also, even though Art Geeks and Prom Queens has a totally happy ending, it's the one we were rooting for and it works...


Afternote: So, I had hand written out this update and then typed it up later, but I took a break between the 2 books. I know I had more to say about Art Geeks and Prom Queens but I'll be darned if I can remember... or find the piece of paper I wrote it all down on... ah well.