What I've Been Reading Lately

Happy fall, everyone! School is in full swing and I've been busy with work and shuttling my children to and from their extra-curricular activities. Nevertheless, I have still found the time to squeeze in some YA reading. For me, reading is how I wind down at the end of a long day. When the book is really, good, however, I still end up going to bed late because I can't put down what I'm reading! 

In no particular order, here are the books that I have read this past month:

1. The Order of the Poison Oak by Brent Hartinger. I have now read three books by this author. The other two were The Geography Club and Project Sweet Life.  Hartinger is a gay man and is one of the few authors I know of who writes about gay teens.  I have already talked about Project Sweet Life in a previous post. The Geography Club is the story of a gay teen named Russ.  Together with his friends he forms a club for gay and bisexual teens and their straight allies. Not wanting to become the target of bullies, members give the club the pseudonym "Geography Club," which they hope will sound so boring to the student body that nobody will want to join it except for those student who know what the club is really about. 

The Order of the Poison Oak is a sequel to The Geography Club, where Russ and his two best friends take jobs as summer camp counselors.  The first group of campers come in, all of whom are burn victims who are coming to camp to have a chance to be with other children like them and temporarily forget their scars. Ultimately, it's a story about acceptance. 4 stars.

2. Art Geeks and Prom Queens by Alyson Noel.  New Yorker Rio moves with her well-off parents to Los Angeles, where Rio tries to fit in at her new school.  While at first she is befriended by the art geeks, she casts them aside when the popular girls invite her to join their inner circle.  Ultimately, however, she realizes that she doesn't belong with the popular kids and goes back to the art geeks.  

What a waste of time this book was. It was shallow, stupid, and full of clichés and one-dimensional characters. Plenty of good YA books about the concept of high school popularity exist, but this book is not one of them. 1 star.

3. See You At Harry's by Jo Knowles.  Fern and her family live in Vermont, where her father owns and operates a restaurant called Harry's.  Fern's biggest problems are feeling invisible, always being saddled with the responsibility of taking care of her annoying little brother Charlie, and dealing with bullies on the bus who have targeted her and her brother Holden as their main victims. All of these problems seem trivial after a family tradegy rocks the family, changing their lives forever.  

I never would have read this book if I had known exactly what the family tragedy was really about.  I read a lot of gritty, realistic fiction but certain topics just haunt me. I had a hard time sleeping after I read this book.  As far as quality of the book, however, I can say that it was pretty well written even though I felt that the conclusion seemed a bit rushed. 3 1/2 stars.

4. Curveball: The Year I Lost my Grip by Jordan Sonnenblick. Rising teen baseball star Peter's pitching career comes to a screeching halt after a devastating injury ends his days as an athlete for good. Now he's left trying to figure out his place in the world.  To make matters worse, his grandfather has started forgetting things and acting strangely.  The only person who seems to understand is Angelika, a girl in his photography class.

This is a nice story about coming of age and dealing with the physical and mental decline of grandparents, but at times I felt that it was trying too hard to educate the reader about dementia instead of moving the story along.  Still, it's a nice story about a boy trying to rebuild himself after his dreams are unexpectedly taken away.  4 stars.

5. Flash Burnout: A Novel by L. K. Madrigal.  Blake juggles having a girlfriend and helping out a female friend whose mother is a drug addict, all while trying to get a grade higher than a C in his photography class.  It's a novel about accepting responsibility for making mistakes and trying to do the right thing.

This book is a very sad portrait of what drug addiction can do to a family, and also very realistically describes how hard it is to balance a romantic relationship with a platonic one, although I was unhappy with the book's sad ending.  4 1/2 stars.

Enjoy the fall everyone and happy reading!

My Last Batch of Summer Books

     So as August came to a close I found that I was having a harder and harder time choosing books to read. After visiting three different libraries, however, I was finally able to compile five titles to read before summer vacation ended.  I spent my time with these titles:

     Here is how I ranked these books:

5. Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber.  A high school senior discovers that the foreign exchange student staying at his house is actually a trained operative intent on revenge, and Prom Night ends up being a crazy adventure through New York City as the foreign exchange student, Gobi, tries to complete her mission before the night is over. This book was fast-paced and well written but seemed to be missing depth.  3 1/2 stars.

4.  Project Sweet Life by Brent Hartinger.  Three friends spend the summer trying to earn enough money so they can fool their parents into thinking that they actually spent their time working at summer jobs. The book includes nice references to the history of Tacoma, but I had already figured out the ending when I was halfway done with the book.  As I was reading I kept thinking that the book would make the perfect Disney movie, but I doubt if Disney would keep the book's homosexual uncle and his partner as characters in the movie version.  3 1/2 stars.

3.  The Accidental Genius of Weasel High by Rick Detorie.   Half novel and half comic book, this book chronicles aspiring filmmaker Larkin's freshman year of high school.  This is a nice, quick and clever read. 4 stars.

2. Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina.  New student Piddy Sanchez becomes the target of a bully, who thinks that Piddy is after her boyfriend.  The bully makes Piddy's life a living hell, but luckily she has friends and family to watch her back. 4 1/2 stars.

1. I Am J by Cris Beam.  Born female, J is a transgender teen intent on becoming a boy, even though it may ruin relationships with friends and family. A heartfelt and realistic look at what it feels like to be trapped in the wrong body.  5 stars.

Now that I'm back at work I won't be reading or posting as much, but I'll still update when I can!