Trash

Trash Andy Mulligan

Raphael is a trash sorter at a giant garbage dump outside Manila* when he finds a wallet full of cash and a key. That night, the cops come looking for it, saying that it's important evidence in a murder investigation. Raphael, his friend Gardo, and another dumpsite boy, Rat, are on an adventure through the city as they try to unravel a mystery and save their own skins from the police who don't want them to discover what's actually going on.

LOVE! It sounds depressing, and there are parts that actually are, but a lot like Slumdog Millionaire, it's a very uplifting, feel-good story despite all the police torture. Even better, I love all the different voices-- Raphael and Gardo narrate most of the chapters. Rat gets a few, as do some other characters, most importantly teachers at the Mission School attached to the dumpsite. Y'all know how much I love multiple narrators.

I also love how Mulligan sinks you into a place so well. He really can draw a setting without letting it bog down the narrative.

I like how it's not depressing but not sappy.

I like the suspense.

I love the scene at the end which really reminded me of another excellent scene in Goodbye Lenin (great movie!)

Our YA/J break is 7/8 grade. We have this in YA, but I would not have been surprised if we had put it in J. It's a great book for our in-between readers.





*Ok, so the book never says it takes place in the Philippines, although Mulligan has said that it's based on a real dump outside Manila. Also, my boss is Filipino-American and totally recognized the Filipino setting.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Bumped

Bumped Megan McCafferty

Ok, so in the future, there's a virus that ruins fertility after age 20. It affects large portions of the population. Because of this, teen pregnancy is OK. Some teens have sex with their boyfriends and then give up the children to nonprofit adoption agencies. Some go pro. They have agents and couples offer them large sums of money and other items (Car, college tuition, etc) and then pick a partner for the surrogate to procreate with. Melody has the perfect file and was the first in her school to go pro. The only problem is that she signed a contract years ago and her sponsors STILL haven't found her a guy. She should be on her second or third pregnancy at this point, but she hasn't even tried for her first. To make it worse, she's discovered that her adoptive parents, in addition to having groomed her her entire life to be the perfect pro candidate (which she knew) have borrowed against her equity and are financing their lavish lifestyle on the fertility she's not providing (which she didn't know.)

Her twin sister, Harmony, has just left the fundamentalist compound where she lives to meet Melody for the first time. Harmony's overwhelmed with her awe at the strange world outside of Goodside and her need to save her sister.

So, when Harmony gets a message meant for Melody about how they've finally found a guy (and not just any guy, but a super-celebrity! HOTTTT!) A comedy of mistaken identity ensues.

So, this is obviously the first in a series as there are lots of unresolved issues at the end of the book. Just FYI. Normally that's a deal breaker for me, but I'll give this one a pass because I love the world McCafferty has built. I like how she doesn't spend a lot of time explaining her technological advances, the virus, the slang, or the anything like that. Harmony is used to explain some of it but not an overly large amount. She does have a small role tour guide as we discover this world together, but mostly she's there to sort out her own feelings about her upbringing and her sister's upbringing.

It's told in alternating chapters and it touches on issues of fame, sex, religion, child birth, and a very, very, very believable future.

I am curious as to why people had to have sex to have babies. There's mention of how "petri-babies" are no longer scientifically possible (Because of the virus?) but it doesn't touch why a turkey baster won't work. And while adults can see some of the dark side to this world, it takes Melody a little while longer. The risks of pregnancy and childbirth are always downplayed like they'll never happen. Except, they do. (Which is interesting because so many of the pregnancy books currently on the market tend to overplay all the risks)

It's very different that the Jessica Darling books. But, Zen is much hotter than Marcus any day and this world is pretty horrifying and amazing all at once. I really want to read the next one.

I also like the double meaning of "bumped" You are bumped when you're sporting a bump, but you also bumped in order to get that way.


Book Provided by... my local library

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Rage of the Fallen

The Last Apprentice: Rage of the Fallen Joseph Delaney

Tom, Alice, and the Spook have made it to Ireland, where they get a much better reception than they did on the Island of Mona. In Ireland, they encounter new creatures of the dark that they've never faced before, such as Jibbers. But, even darker, it looks like the Celtic witch that Bill Arkwright killed back in Wrath of the Bloodeye isn't dead, and is intent on seeking her revenge on Tom. He can't concentrate too hard on that, though, because he and the Spook are quickly enlisted in a battle between land owners and the goat mages-- dark magicians who draw power from Pan.

There's a lot more going on, but I can't say too much because it gets spoiler-y. One word-- Alice. Holy cow, that girl, how do I love her. She remains the unknown throughout this series and throughout this book, woah.

Lots and lots of action, not just for the plot of this book, but also in some over-reaching plot arcs. Lots of resolution, lots of answers, and a whole new batch of problems and questions.

I liked the Irish setting-- there were new creatures and locations to explore, even things the Spook was unaware of, which was cool. I also liked the concept of the Otherworld and how it was drawn and used. I'm ready for our characters to return to the County, but I like how they explore new places every few books, I like how they interact and learn from new experiences and other Spooks. It adds nice dimensions to their fight against the dark, but also them as characters, the world Delaney has built.

This is one of the stronger books in the series, so fans need to go get it NOW.


Book Provided by... my local library

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Outrunning the Darkness

Outrunning the Darkness Anne Schraff

Are you familiar with the Bluford High series? If you're a teen librarian, I'm guessing yes. If you're a general fan of YA, maybe not.

I don't know about other libraries, but I CANNOT keep Bluford on the shelf. It's inner-city After School Special-y that is GREAT for reluctant readers. Each book has a different main character and issue, but all the kids go to the same school.

Anyway, Outrunning the Darkness is the first book in a new series by one of the Bluford authors. It has the same vibe, but scales a bit older, so... once your readers outgrow Bluford or have just read them all, Urban Underground is up next. I can't keep this series on the shelf either.

But... I have to wonder why. They're just not... that good. It's predictable and the writing is rather stilted.

In this volume, Jaris is dealing with a depressed father who has taken to drinking. He lets his father's words get to him and is afraid he might end up in the same dark cave. At the same time, there's a pretty girl he likes but she's going to go on a date with a jerk! His grandmother is meddling in all of their family's business and everything is just awful, but salvation might come in the form of school play, which is written by a hip new playwright from New York and being debuted at his school! But... it's just a stage adaption of Tale of Two Cities? How do those go together, I don't know. But, Sydney Carton plays a big role for Jaris and his family, so, yeah.

But here's an example of the writing:

"You know, Trev, sometimes I worry that my parents will break up. Mom hates it when Pop gets all moody and drinks before coming home. She always calls her mother and cries on her shoulder and then Grandma Jessie tells her she's be better off without Pop. I worry that they'll split up," Jaris said.

"You got a good pop," Trevor said. "Mama took our old Ford in to Jackson's, and some other mechanic told her it needed a ton of work, and then your pop just tinkered a little bit and said we'd do fine. He's a good mechanic and he's honest. My mama trusts him. Everybody does. Old Jackson his boss sometimes gives him a hard time, but Jackson tells other people your pop is the best man he's ever had working for him."

"I wish my father was proud of what he did," Jaris complained, "but he's always putting himself down, calling himself a grease monkey. He wanted to go to college when he was young and now he's dissapointed and he turns everything dark. He feels so hopeless and he sort of takes it out being sad and grumpy with Mom. I wish I could make him see he's a winner." (pp65-66)

The dialog isn't realistic and the voice is just off.

So, it's not my cup of tea. I've read 1 because it's so popular and won't read the others. But, the teens cannot get enough, so I shouldn't be hogging copies from them anyway! Overall, this is a series that I'm not like "OMG YOU MUST READ THIS!" BUT! If you're a librarian and don't have this series, or work with teens and aren't familiar, you need to know these books.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Prime Baby

Prime Baby Gene Luen Yang

Thaddeus K. Fong knows something's not right with his baby sister. At 18 months, all she says is "ga." His parents don't see this speech delay as an issue, but when Thaddeus discovers that she says "ga" in prime numbers... well, clearly she's an alien.

Of course, she isn't really. She's an inter-dimensional portal so alien slugs who are Missionaries of smiles and happy feelings. They knit a lot of socks. How can Thaddeus save the world from these guys?

It's a bit bizarre and pretty funny. It was originally serialized in the New York Times Magazine. The age range is a bit weird. We have it in our teen section (and our teen acquistions librarian said they had a really hard time deciding where to put it, children, teen, or adult) Thaddeus is 8. And acts like he's 8. But a lot of the humor will be missed on your average 8-year-old. There are a lot of great 1-liners in here. "My mother's womb is a Trojan horse, I tell you."

It's really short and I kinda wanted MORE, but I think the length would have worked really well in its original serialized format.

Overall, a fun, super-quick read that proves sometimes, it's not always sibling jealousy. Sometimes, your baby sister really *is* an alien.


Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Ship Breaker

Ship Breaker Paolo Bacigalupi

In the future, global warming has creating Category 6 Hurricanes, City Killers. New Orleans is under water. As is Orleans II and large portions of the Gulf Coast. There are new energies and corporations rule all.

Nailer works light crew, scavenging the old oil tankers for copper wire and other light scrap for the corporations to recycle into their new ships. But after a major storm blows on the of the new ships onto an island, Nailer thinks he's found a goldmine, enough to buy him out of his subsistence lifestyle. The only problem is that the girl who owns the ship is still alive, and on the run. Nailer and Nita escape Nailer's father and Nita's family's rivals to try to get Nita to safety in a series of death-defying adventures.

So, even though I'm getting sick of post-apocalyptic adventure novels, I really enjoyed this one. I like the world Bacigalupi has built and how it's so different from our world, but still recognizable as the US. Also, I think it helps to have a post-apocalyptic on the run from those in power novel to be about a BOY instead of a girl. Maybe I just tend to read the ones about girls and there's a whole slew out there about boys. But, it was a nice change. I liked that there were still kick-ass girls (in fact, almost all (all?) of the girls kicked some ass in one way or the other) but the focus stayed on Nailer and the romance was there, but wasn't the main focus of the plot.

This did win a Printz this year and I'm not sure on this. I've read several books that I think that are better examples of literary excellence for teens (off the top of my head, Nothing, Time of Miracles, Finnikin of the Rock). Although this one does have teen appeal. But that's not a Printz requirement.

Overall, I'm not sure on it's Printz worthiness, but it was still a great read (so don't let the shiny medal scare you away?) even if you're more than a little over post-apocalyptic adventures (and frankly, who isn't at this point?)

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Dead is Not an Option

Dead Is Not an Option Marlene Perez

There's never a quiet day in Nightshade.

Tension is running high between the Were and Vamp population, with people being attacked on both sides. Daisy and the Council are doing their best to avoid full-on war, but it's hard. Things get so bad that prom gets canceled in the name of safety.

At the same time Dracula's in town and his grandson is Poppy's new guy, and Circe is back and Council doesn't seem that concerned that she's not doing anything to help turn Bam and Lily back into themselves.

To top it all off, high school is almost done and Daisy hasn't heard back from ANY of her college applications, yes or no. Everyone else knows what they're doing, except for Daisy.

Good-- we finally find out who's in charge of the Scourge. While it was hinted at pretty heavily in this book, I don't remember any clues pointing in that direction in previous volumes.

More good-- this ISN'T the end of the series! Hurrah! No cliffhanger endings where I MUST KNOW MORE, but characters I enjoy and love, a fun voice, and a great balance of dark mystery and light beach read make me gobble these up.

Sad-- we lose a character we know and love. :(

This is a bit darker than previous installments (see the sad above!) but overall, do you like the series? Yes? Then this is a good one. If you haven't read the series yet, go back and start with the first one and work your way up to this one.

Oh! And there's a cool librarian that plays a minor role in this one. I knew I could trust her. She was a librarian, after all. It was their job to save lives with books (p56)

ARC Provided by... the publisher at ALA midwinter

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Abandon

Abandon Meg Cabot

Two years ago, Pierce died. She hit her head, fell into a pool, and was dead for over an hour before the doctors could bring her back. Since then though, things haven't been the same. The adults in her life think she's slightly mentally unbalanced, and after what happened at her last school, dangerous. But Pierce knows the truth-- there's evil in the world and she can see it. She has to stop it.

After her mother moves her back to her hometown on the Isla Huesos (Island of Bones-- very much based on Cabot's current home of Key West) Pierce starts to discover more and more clues about what happened, and why.

So... this is based on Persephone. Basic premise is Pierce meets John (Death Deity) in a graveyard when she's young. When she dies, she sees him again. He gives her a pretty necklace. Pierce can't accept she's dead, runs away, and ends up back in the world of the living. John keeps showing up to save her from bad guys trying to kill her. And now Pierce has moved right on the gateway of it all (so... like Sunnydale's Hellmouth, but it's the mouth of all dead stuff, good and bad.)

So this is Cabot doing something a bit darker than most of what she does. It's not too twisted or dark or depressing and if you like Cabot, you'll probably like this, but just be warned, it's not funny (and it's not trying to be).

BUT! TOTAL CLIFFHANGER ENDING! Gah! That's how the 2nd book in a trilogy is supposed to end!* Not the first!!!!

I like how this takes a well-known myth and doesn't retell it, but uses it to go in a completely different direction.

I like the world Cabot has built and can't wait to explore it more. I really want to see what's going on with the A-wingers and why Pierce's cousin hates them so much.

I also like Pierce a lot. She's nice and strong, but has believable weak moments, so she seems more real. The tension between her and John doesn't overtake the novel (in fact, there could have been more). I like that she's dealing with some serious other stuff besides boys and her problems aren't of her own invention. She's troubled, but not annoyingly neurotic.

Also, I love that Pierce and her friends who are obviously the good guys are all in the New Pathways program, which is for troubled youth. Yay for a book that paints troubled kids as real kids with yes, problems, but they aren't the bad guys, even if the rest of town sees them that way.

Overall, I really liked it and can't wait to read more.

*This is a rule I learned when Boba Fett carted off Han's carbonite encased body at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. It's not a rule I like, but it's one I have come to accept. Luckily for me, when I learned the rule, Return of the Jedi was already out on video, so I didn't have to wait to see what happened next.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Biblio Baby is here!

Hello All!

Just a post to say that Biblio Baby arrived at 2:18 on Saturday morning. 6lbs, 14 oz and a whopping 20 3/4 inches long. (She's almost tall enough to ride the roller coaster!) We're home now and both doing really well, even if I am a bit bleary-eyed.

As this was slightly earlier than expected (she's just making sure we understand who's boss!) I didn't get my posts pre-scheduled.

Please bear with me as I try to figure everything out. I have lots of books to review, lots of reviews written, and lots of books to read.

Posting will resume on as regular of a schedule as we get around here as soon as it can, but who knows when that will be.

Girl, Stolen

Still no baby.

Girl, Stolen April Henry

Cheyenne is asleep in the backseat of the car when it's stolen. When Griffin realizes that he's kidnapped a girl as well as stolen a car, he brings the girl home to his criminal father and ring of seedy illegal chop-shop workers.

The twists are these-- Cheyenne's father is the president of Nike. She's also blind.

It's a pretty fast-paced action-driven novel (as I'm sure you can imagine.) What I really liked is that it's told in alternating chapters by both Cheyenne and Griffin. I also liked how their back stories are woven in.

I like the look we get into Cheyenne's sightless world. She wasn't born blind, so she knows what sight is like, which helps explain things to the sighted reader.

I know a lot of people found the ending a bit unbelievable. I think I might have too, if I hadn't heard so many people complain about it. Because I was already wary of it, it was much more believable than I thought it was going to be, so I totally bought it. (Does that make sense?)

I also like the ambitiousness of the very, very end.

Sorry to be a bit vague, but I don't want to spoil it!

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Nonfiction Monday: How They Croaked

How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous Georgia Bragg illustrated by Kevin O'Malley

Back in March, I was driving to work on a Saturday morning and listening to Weekend Edition. I love Weekend Edition because, around 8:50, they often talk about kidlit and it's the last story I hear before getting out of the car.

On that fateful day, they were talking with Georgia Bragg about her book about the super-gross ways that super-famous people died. I had the book talk written before the interview was done. Then, I got to work and was talking with a coworker who said "I just heard something on the radio about a book that sounds really great..."

And, really great it is! It took me FOREVER to read though, because it turns out, I do A LOT of my reading while I'm eating. This is not a book to read while eating. It's pretty disgusting. The descriptions of Marie Curie's body before she died "Her blackened fingertips were cracked and oozing, and she incessantly rubbed them together." That's pretty tame. Nothing like the grossness of Washington's mouth, Henry VIII exploding in his coffin, or Einstein's autopsy.

After every chapter, there are extra bits of related information. So, after talking about Washington's death, there extra information includes a list of bloodletting do's (select the largest vein at the bend of the arm) and don'ts (soak the patient in his own blood. Don't soak the sheets, either), Presidential Death Facts, Faces on American Money, and some selections from Washington's 110 Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversations.

Plus, lots of fun facts-- we're not really sure what Edgar Allen Poe died of, but current thinking is rabies.Charles Dickens was a jerk. James Garfield couldn't keep food down, so they gave him enemas of egg, beef extract, and whiskey.

It's history made fun and exciting. (Plus source notes!) The gross-out factor makes it an easy sell to reluctant readers (most likely boys) but there's enough science, history, music, arts, and extras to make it appeal to most kids. And, if you can get past the blatant gross-out factor, adults will enjoy it, too.

Today's Nonfiction Monday round-up is over at Chapter Book of the Day. Be sure to check it out!

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Personal Blather

A few things:

1. People have been asking and no, I don't have a baby yet. Next week.

2. I am so super-jealous of everyone who did the 48 Hour Reading Challenge this weekend. SO JEALOUS! This is the first year in, well, YEARS that I didn't participate. It made me sad. I did, however, clean out the China cabinet and linen closet (and no, that's not extreme nesting, they've been on my to-do list for MONTHS, they've just be super low-priority and it was finally their turn.)

3. I have no idea what this blog is going to look like this summer. I know enough about babies to not make firm plans. I'm trying to pre-write and pre-schedule a bunch of stuff, but WHO KNOWS.

4. That WSJ article was whack. I don't have anything to add to the responses. I actually can't speak coherently about it. The best I get is 'JENNIE MAD! JENNIE SMASH!' Luckily, other people can see through the veil of red better than I can. I especially love Salon's and Roger's responses.

Skunk Girl

Skunk GirlSheba Karim

Nothing's worse than liking a boy knowing that even if he somehow noticed you and actually liked you back, you'd never be allowed to date him. Well, some things could be worse. Your older sister could be a supernerd who manages to set the academic bar so high you'd never even come close AND be the perfect Pakistani daughter. You could have some severe body hair issues-- like a line of hair running down your back right in the spots where you can't reach it to wax or bleach it. But, if you're Nina Khan, even with all of these problems, you have an excellent voice that makes readers laugh out loud at your dry, wry sense of wit and observation.

It's as though there's an unofficial Pakistani prestige point system; the higher your score, the more esteem you hold among the aunties and uncles, and the more attractive you are as a marriage prospect for their sons and daughters. Everyone starts off with zero, and points are added and subtracted based on different types of criteria. For example:

+5 if you're a doctor
+4 if you went to an Ivy League school
+3 if you're a businessman, a lawyer (the moneymaking kind), or an engineer
+2 if you're fair, if you speak Urdu, or if you're moderately religious
+1 if you're slim (for a woman), or if you're tall (for a man)

-1 if you can't speak Urdu, or if you're fat or short
-2 if you can't understand Urdu, or if you're dark
-3 if you're a religious fanatic
-4 if you're an artist, musician, poet, and anything else in the creative fields
-5 if you're gay or an atheist

Salman has to be at least an eleven. So does Sonia. Asiya's brother Zeeshan is up there too. If I do get into an Ivy League school, I'll be at least a six. But I have a feeling, when everything is said and done, that my score could end up in the negatives, and so I will be a disappointment to my parents, and the aunties and uncles will be reluctant to allow their songs to marry me. But, once you're able to leave home, maybe the amount of fun you have is inversely proportional to your score, which would mean all those gay Pakistani atheists out there must be having the absolute time of their lives.

I loved Nina's voice. I loved her snarky headings of the short chapters. I loved how she was just the right amount of self-involved-- a believable teen with issues she was dealing with but not too much invented woe-is-me drama. I loved how the fact she couldn't go to parties and stuff was commented on, but not really an issue (except with her arch-nemesis). I also loved her big, jolly, happy father. So nice to have a family life that's stricter and traditional in a way many Americans aren't used to but WITHOUT the crazy mean authoritative parents. Seriously, I loved her father.

Overall, just a lot of love for this one.


Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Big Nate

Big Nate: In a Class by Himself Lincoln Peirce

Nate knows his day will be awesome, because the fortune cookie told him "Today you will surpass all others." Only, in trying to find a way to surpass all others, all he does is manage to rack up the detention slips.

Half written, half illustrated (Nate fancies himself a cartoonist) it's definitely one for your Wimpy Kid fans. Very silly and funny it's not a book you need to sell that hard. If your kids aren't already clamoring for it (we can't keep it on the shelf) just show it to them (MAYBE you'll have to open a page) and they'll take it.

The action only follows 1 day, but it gets the highs and lows of junior high life pretty well and Nate, bless his heart, is a really likable guy, he just can't catch a break. (Although I can't fault most of his teachers for whipping out the detention slips!)

Good, silly fun, especially of the boy readers in your life.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Bright Young Things

Bright Young Things Anna Godbersen

In the summer of 1929, Cordelia Grey gets married in rural Ohio and skips town that very night with her best friend, Letty. They're destined for the glitz and glamor of New York City. Cordelia's convinced that the famous bootlegger Darius Grey is actually her father. Letty's convinced she has a spot on the stage. Already in New York is Astrid--girlfriend of Darius's son, Charlie and daughter to a socialite mother who's about to ruin her third marriage.

The cast is much smaller than The Luxe, and I kinda miss the large number of characters, but it has that same gossipy, history soaked drama charm. All of the characters are, to some degree, on the shady side of respectable (or at least end up there). I loved the time period and how well Godbersen immerses you in the 1929 New York, but... it doesn't have the the same drive (? maybe? is that the word I'm looking for?) as The Luxe. I enjoyed it and can't wait until the next one, but it wasn't as compelling as The Luxe and I didn't love love love love it in the same way.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Invisible Girl

Invisible Girl Mary Hanlon Stone

After Stephanie's drunk, abusive mother walks out on their family, she is sent from Boston to California to live with a wealthy family friend. In Boston, she never had friends (ever since the sleep over when parents came to pick up their kids and found Stephanie's mom drunk) and knows how to be invisible. Now she's thrust into a world of pretty people and she reinvents herself to fit into their world. It is only when her host sister Annie's queen-bee status is challenged by a beautiful newcomer that the lies Stephanie has built up start crumbling.

Eh. Stephanie annoyed me a lot. For someone who was supposed to be smart, she did a lot of stupid things. For someone who spent so much time observing people and reading, she had no idea how the world worked, which I found to be rather unbelievable. There were also weird character things, like she has this list of vocab words and uses big words to hide herself, but doesn't know what pasta is? Really?

Also, WTF was up with her father sending her away? WHY was that necessary? Her father really sucked (never did anything to stop the abuse and sends her away and won't let her come back with no explanation?) and while Stephanie thought about it (a bit) it was never really explored, just kinda put out there and dropped. The basic premise required a suspension of disbelief that I wasn't entirely ready to give.

It's like there were two stories that didn't quite come together-- Stephanie dealing with her mom and the break-up of her family and Stephanie being a poor outside observer to the rich and beautiful.

That said, it was a quick read that, despite my issues and lingering questions, I did get sucked into. The social politics and mean-girlness of Annie's group of friends was well-done, especially how Annie reacts to the arrival of Amal.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

A Time of Miracles

A Time of Miracles by Anne-Laure Bondoux, translated from the French by Y. Maudet

Koumail knows that his real name is Blaise Fortune. He is a French citizen. As a baby, he was rescued from a train wreck by Gloria. Since the age of 7, they have been on the run from the rebels, from the war. He doesn't understand the war and everytime he asks, Gloria tells him that it's useless to try to understand the Caucasus. It's not the concern of a French citizen. And so they try to get from Georgia to France, finding kindness and refuge, fleeing from rebels and militias. The politics aren't fully explained until the end and it's hard to know what they're running from, but this confusion that the reader feels is the same that Koumail feels-- he knows they are refugees and that the soldiers mean badness and that's all the reader knows as well.

It's hard to pinpoint, this book. It's quiet and fast-moving at the same time. We start when he is 7, we end when he is 20, but the book is only 180 pages long and the chapters are short. Koumail narrates his story simply, and to the point. Despite all the action, it's still going to be a book for your readers-- Koumail's constant upheaval is just the way his life is, so he's not that focused on it. Instead, he focuses on the relationships he makes-- the friends he meets and inevitably loses along the way. Through it all his is relationship with Gloria, the woman who has raised him and his fear that he will lose her, too.

The twist isn't that hard to see coming, but the twist isn't what's important. It's how Koumail grows, how he focuses on the positive so he doesn't give in to despair and his journey.

It's not a book for everyone, but I really loved it.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Pick-Up Game

Pick-Up Game: A Full Day of Full Court ed. by Marc Aronson and Charles R Smith, Jr.

9 poems, 9 photographs, 9 stories, 10 authors, 2 editors, and 1 full day of basketball.

These short stories follow the action of a day of basketball at the Cage, which is the West 4th Street Court near Washington Square in Manhattan. We have new players, good players, bad players, players who talk a good game, girls who want to know players, film students, friends, and old-timers watching the action, shooting the balls and shooting the breeze.

There's more than enough basketball action here to entice your reluctant readers with a good sports book, but the writing, diversity of characters and voices (in every single way), and different takes on the same people and events will draw in your anti-sports book people. I mean, you're looking at writers like Walter Dean Myers, Sharon G. Flake, Joseph Bruchac, Adam Rapp and Rita Garcia-Williams. How can you NOT find something to enjoy about this?

I especially enjoyed Charles R. Smith Jr's poems and photos that started each story. They helped keep the action moving as we shifted focus and voice, but I also enjoyed how different the poems were-- different styles and voices and perspectives as well. The photographs were a great design addition.

There are reoccurring characters in the book and I like Aronson's note at the end that gives some of the history (and the real-life legends mentioned) as well as a bit about the process. Aronson and Smith chose the setting and date and gave each author a time slot. Author's couldn't start writing until the story before theirs was done, so they knew who was on the court and who was playing well that day. A great way to write a collaboration that turned out really well.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Hello

Hi all!

Sorry for the disappearance. I thought I had pre-scheduled further out than I did. Oops!

Anyway, earlier this month I presented on multi-cultural and international books for teens at the Maryland Library Association Annual Conference. I think it went well.

I'm very excited that the 6th Annual (OMG! 6!) 48 Hour Book Challenge is almost here! I love this event. Sadly, I'm not sure if I'll be doing it this year. That's one of my last (if not my last) weekend before I become a parent. In addition to trying to enjoy some time, or sleep, or just spending an unholy amount of time trying to get off the couch, I have a feeling I might be madly putting the nursery together at the last minute. Or something.

On the other hand, most of my library books come from the library I work at and I may be using that weekend to finish reading anything I still have checked out as I transition to the library that it near my house...

WHO KNOWS? All I know is that *you* should totally sign up and DO IT because it's very good fun.

Also, we're under a month until the baby comes. I don't know what the blog is going to look like this summer. Posting might be spotty at best. Or I'll update every day at 1:14am. WHO KNOWS? Not me. I know enough to just see what happens instead of trying to plan it.

Bear with me. :)

Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters

Confessions Of The Sullivan Sisters Natalie Standiford

When The Almighty (otherwise known as their grandmother) declares that a member of the Sullivan clan has offended her greatly, and therefore the entire family will be cut out of her will, the family decides it must have been one of the girls. The only way for the family to regain their promised wealth is for the guilty party to confess, so the three Sullivan sisters write out their confessions.

Norrie dated an older man (interestingly enough, no one really mentions that he is probably African-American, the issue is his age and what happens in their relationship, which I really liked.)

Jane wrote a blog publicizing the family's secrets.

Sassy became immortal.

The premise is interesting and I liked the internal politics that play out in their set of Baltimore's upper crust. I liked how the sisters dealt with their wealth and society and tried to find themselves in the world they had been born to. The tone is light and often funny.

Overall though, I just liked the Sullivan family. I liked the sibling relationships and their relationship with their parents, especially Daddy-O. Sometimes their parents are absent or just clueless, but even though they don't have the most respect for them (especially their mother) the kids obviously love their parents and their parents obviously love and care for them. I also really liked the character of The Almighty. The Sullivan grandmother is the grand dame of Baltimore society, but through the book we see her struggles and private life that round her out a bit more for both the reader and the rest of her family.

I really liked it.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.