Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

A different type of novel that involves fantasy and humor.

Recommend to: Middle school and older.

Mimi Phung, 8th grade

Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz

This is the most cool book ever.  This is the last book in its series.  It is very action packed.

Recommend to: people.

Nathan Kreuger, 7th Grade

Book Brag: Explanation

Since traditional book clubs (where everyone reads the same book, then meets to discuss it) can be hard to organize with teens, I've decided to move toward book talks, or book brags.  In April and May, I ate lunch with 7th and 8th graders at DMS, and we simply talked about what books we had read recently, and whether or not they were any good. 

It was fantastic!  Everyone had something to say, and I got a lot of ideas for my ever-growing book list.  We had a lot of return students from the first month to the second, so I think they enjoyed it as well.  Though school is ending soon, I am moving the book brags to the library for our Summer Reading Program.  On Monday afternoons, kids can come and talk about the books they read the previous week, thereby giving other kids ideas of books they might like to read.

This afternoon I asked my book braggers to write mini reviews of a book they had enjoyed, and I'll be posting about one a day over the next couple weeks.

Fruits Basket Vol. 4 by Natsuki Takaya

Book Jacket

When the infamous Akito makes an in-class appearance at the start of the school year, the Sohma family worries that his arrival will be an uncensored exercise of show and tell about Yuki's past.  Meanwhile, when Ayame vows to rekindle his brother's lost friendship, he begins to realize that you can choose your friends but you can't choose your family--especially when they're acting like animals!

Review

Now that Momiji and Haru have joined our three main characters at school, the story really clicks and moves quickly.  My favorite stories have ensemble casts (Harry Potter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, LOST) and Fruits Basket is no different.  This only gets better when Ayame joins the group and brings stories of his school days with Hatori and Shigure.

And Momiji?  THAT KID KILLS ME.  He is adorable and charming and cheerful, but his past is absolutely heart-breaking.  The story of his childhood is our second reminder that the whole turning-into-zodiac-animals thing is not fun and games--it's a curse.  (The first reminder, for me, was Hatori's story of loving and losing Kana.)

Have I mentioned in these reviews that I adore Kyo?  Because I really do.  He is so messed up and angry, but with Tohru, he just kind of melts.  I think the manga explores his feelings more than the anime did, which only makes me happy!

Four out of five flamboyant older brothers.

Release Date:  August 2004
Reading Level:  Grade 7+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: Not currently part of Dunlap's collection.

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Book Jacket

The Mortal War is over, and Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her.  She's training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power.  Her mother is getting married to the love of her life.  Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last.  And--most important of all--Clary can finally call Jace her boyfriend.

But nothing comes without a price.

Someone is murdering the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine's Circle, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second bloody war.  Clary's best friend, Simon, can't help her.  His mother just found out that he's a vampire and now he's homeless.  Everywhere he turns, someone wants him on their side--along with the power of the curse that's wrecking his life.  And they're willing to do anything to get what they want.  At the same time he's dating two beautiful, dangerous girls--neither of whom knows about the other.

When Jace begins to pull away from Clary without explaining why, she is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare:  She herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves.  Even Jace.

Love.  Blood.  Betrayal.  Revenge.  The stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels.

Review

Reading City of Fallen Angels was like reuniting with an old high school friend who you never expected to see after graduation.  I was perfectly fine with the way the Mortal Instruments trilogy ended.  I didn't think I needed more of their world (and I didn't exactly love the hundreds-year-sequel, The Clockwork Angel).  But within a chapter, I was giddily happy to find Clary, Jace, Simon, and the rest just as screwed up and awesome as ever.

Actually, with the addition of switching POVs (...did this happen in the original trilogy?  I'm thinking no, but I could be totally wrong), I actually came to like Simon a lot more than I ever did before.  I liked seeing the process of him dealing with being a vampire, and the results of the Mark of Cain is all kinds of terrifying and cool.

Clary and Jace just can't catch a break.  I read the original trilogy ready to stab the pages if it turned out they were brother and sister.  Happily, such measures were not taken, but even without that (monstrously huge) obstacle, their relationship is far from happy happy joy joy.  Which is excellent, because without conflict they would be boring!  However, I felt there was one too many steamy make out scenes.  I like the swoon as much as anyone, but after awhile I wanted to pull them apart and say, "Kissing will do nothing to solve your problems!  Stop touching each other and start talking!"  Eventually they did, and I stopped wanting to punch them.

The minor characters continue to steal their scenes.  Isabelle rocks, and she's given a bit more depth.  Alec and Magnus are hilarious sidenotes throughout most of the beginning, but quickly become integral to the plot when they return to NYC. 

I haven't even touched on the plot.  It's good!  I promise.  And the ending is one of those "oh no you didn't" ones, which are absolutely delicious (but would be more so if the next book weren't so far away).

I didn't really expect anything out of this book, but I kind of loved it.  Nice job, Ms. Clare.

Four out of five seraph blades.

Release Date:  April 2011
Reading Level:  Grade 7+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: YPL CLA


Don't believe me?  Check out these reviews of City of Fallen Angels:

The Crooked Shelf
Frenetic Reader

Horoscopes for the Dead by Billy Collins

Book Jacket

Billy Collins is widely acknowledged as a prominent player at the table of modern American poetry.  And in this new collection, Horoscopes for the Dead, the verbal gifts that earned him the title "America's most popular poet" are on full display.  The poems here cover the usual but everlasting themes of love and loss, life and death, youth and aging, solitude and union.  With simple diction and effortless turns of phrase, Collins is at once ironic and elegiac, as in the opening lines of the title poem:

Every morning since you disappeared for good,
I read about you in the newspaper
along with the box scores, the weather, and all the bad news.

Some days I am reminded that today
will not be a wildly romantic time for you...

And in this reflection on his own transience:

It doesn't take much to remind me
what a mayfly I am,
what a soapbubble floating over the children's party.

Standing under the bones of a dinosaur
in a museum does the trick every time
or confronting in a vitrine a rock from the moon.

Smart, lyrical, and not afraid to be funny, these new poems extend Collins's reputation as a poet who occupies a special place in tehc onsciousness of readers of poetry, including the many he has converted to the genre.

Review

Eh.  Not much in this collection of poems made me stop and think...anything.  It wasn't bad poetry, but neither was it great.  Probably I didn't give any of the poems enough time to really sink in.  But leaving this book, I found myself wanting to return to Shakespeare's sonnets or the one Wilde poem I've read. 

Still, there was some good stuff to be found.  I absolutely adored Collins's picture of writer's block:  "I must have picked up the wrong pen/ The one that had no poem lurking in its vein of ink."  And the poem about his discovery that his dog didn't have cancer was kind of beautiful.

Two out of five bike rides through the graveyard.

Release Date:  April 2011
Reading Level:  Grade 7+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: Not yet a part of Dunlap's collection.


Don't believe me?  Check out these reviews of Horoscopes for the Dead:

The Agony Column

Fruits Basket Vol. 3 by Natsuki Takaya

Book Jacket

A family with an ancient curse...And the girl who will change their lives forever...

It's Valentine's Day and you know what that means--lots of chocolates for the cutest boys at school!  In this case it's a pretty close tie between hot-headed Kyo Sohma and "Prince Charming" Yuki Sohma.  Of course the kind-hearted Tohru, guest of the Sohma family, has chocolates for everyone!  But when White Day comes around, what will the Sohma family give her in return?

Review

One reason I love manga is that I learn about Japanese culture without even trying.  For instance, the idea that girls hand-make chocolates for cute boys on Valentine's Day?  Fascinating (and nerve-wracking if you're a girl with a crush, I'd imagine)!  I wonder why boys get showered with gifts in Japan while girls typically get the gifts in America?  Thoughts to think!

The Fruits Basket cast of characters expands a little bit more in volume three with the addition of Haru, whose zodiac form is the ox.  And that is another thing I love about this series:  turning into an ox might be cool, but Haru's form is actually a cow (like Hatori's potentially epic form of dragon actually being...a seahorse, heh heh).  Takaya never allows her characters to be too awesome before cutting them down to size.

In this volume we also meet a future zodiac's mother: Okami, who runs the spring spa as the concubine, I mean, concierge (oh, Momiji).  My friends and I found her absolutely hysterical when we watched the anime--her violent apologies begged to be repeated in real-world situations, and often were.  She's less funny in the mana, which only proves that certain comedic gags appeal to different mediums.

Four out of five ping pong battles.

Release Date:  June 2004
Reading Level:  Grade 7+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: Not yet a part of Dunlap's collection.