Oh My God! It's Us at 14!

What were you like at 14? Did you try hard to be popular and fit in with the popular crowd? Did you lose friends in the process or forget your way as you tried desperately for the cool kids to notice you? Did labels and name brands mean a lot to you as you navigated your first year of high school? If so, whether you are a city girl or a country girl, you can all relate to Ericka (previously known as Ricky Jo when she was in 8th grade) in The Queen of Kentucky by Alecia Whitaker.


Ericka made sure no one called her Ricky Jo. She was starting 9th grade and had no intention of being known as poor farm girl Ricky Jo anymore. it was time to reinvent herself. She had a new wardrobe, she had tried out for cheerleading, and she was on the track of a new group of friends. Even though at home she still had to work in the tobacco fields, getting the crop ready, in school she was Ericka. She lucks out in home room by not only getting to hang out with the Fabulous Four (hoping to change it to the Fabulous Five), but she also sits right next to David Wolfbaker... the boy known as Wolf for more than just his name.


With a rampaging crush on Wolf, Ericka manages to carry on as cool as she can. She and the Fabulous Four have some fun together, but she never finds a way to get herself on the inside of the group. The girls always seem to have an inside joke she doesn't understand or an impromptu sleep over she wasn't invited to. The hardest part s how Ericka's transition has started to affect her best fried Luke and her friends from middle school. She wants to be a good friend, but her attempts to fit in are alienating everyone she originally cared for... and for what? Friends who usually don't seem to care about her as much as they say they do? And Wolf is the worst. She has a crush on a boy who insults her and humiliates her more than he flirts with her, but of course, he is always sweet and adorable the minute no one else is around. She has some big decisions to make: is she sweet farm girl Ricky Jo or cut-throat popular girl Ericka?


I am going to premise this by saying this girl was SO ME when I was in junior high. Everything Whitaker describes about trying to fit in, always finding yourself just outside the popular group, and always feeling sad or disappointed when they didn't include you is an exact description of most of my adolescent years. I look back to those years and cringe, which is why I struggled a little with this story at first. Not because it wasn't well-written, because it was, but because it was SO REAL! I found myself thinking, "Crap?! Did I know this author growing up?" No, but I am sure this story is a lot more common than uncommon. And the beauty of its realistic descriptions is that you feel every single emotion with Ericka. You want to tell her to tell those frenemies to go stuff it. You want her to tell Wolf that he is a total jerk. You want her to kiss Luke. You want her to play basketball which she rocks at instead of wasting her time with cheerleading. And most importantly, you want to tell her she isn't alone, that you know how she feels because you lived through the exact same childhood (possibly minus the tobacco drying in the barn). 


I think this is a great book for any girl, but the important thing to remember is that the main character is only 14. Therefore, she acts, speaks, and thinks like a 14 year old, which if you remember correctly, is a pretty bratty and immature time. So while 14 year olds would really relate to Ericka, I worry older girls might find her too bratty and annoying to give the book a chance, despite the fact that they would love it if they did. (Of course that might be because it hits too close to home about how bratty THEY were at 14!). There is a little talk of making out, but nothing too bad (the main character is mostly worried about getting her first kiss), one scene of silly slumber party streaking that showed girls more embarrassed than proud to take their clothes off, and an ugly bout of drinking that had the cautionary hangover scenes to follow. I think this is a great story for any young girl, whether she is strong and determined (even though we know that s usually a facade), or she is unsure of herself and trying to find her way. As an adult woman, if you read this story, you are bound to see a little of yourself in Ericka, whether you like it or not! And since we all remember what a nightmare it was to be 14, proceed at your own risk! But Alecia Whitaker is definitely an author to be watched! She has a fresh voice and wonderful characters and knows how to take a coming of age story and make it more... so much more!

Underwater Mystery

Imagining life under the surface of the ocean is an interesting activity. Personally, I would love to live in a sub-surface community. My soon-to-be husband Kevin? Won't even put his little pinky toe into water! Terrified of the ocean and everything that might be lurking right under the surface. Of course, I like to tease him about this, but in reality I imagine there are many people who would be terrified to live under the water. Rip Tide, Kat Fall's sequel to Dark Life, has all those scary elements like sharks, saltwater crocodiles, giant squid, and murderous outlaws, but there is something so nice about the communities themselves, you will find yourself dreaming of the ocean!

Although Ty and his parents took Gemma in, she can't bring herself to live underwater. Something about living sub-sea terrifies her. But life in the underwater settlements has improved since Gemma first came along. The government has recognized the settlements as territories and now allows them to sell their farmed and caught food on the open market (instead of using the food as taxes and letting the government keep the profit). Ty's parents are eager to prove to the rest of the community that the trade between the underwater settlers and the "serfs" will be safe and profitable for everyone. Settlers fear the serfs who live on floating cities called townships, and serfs hate the settlers for pushing a new law that prevents them from fishing anywhere on the continental shelf. It is hard enough for them to get enough food to survive, and with government rations cut in half, the new law means they are barely surviving. Ty's parents go on their first trade, but something goes wrong. Someone interrupts the trade and kidnaps his parents, while Ty and Gemma barely get away.

Now Gemma and Ty must find a way to get his parents back, but no one seems to be able to help them. With the incompetence of the Seaguard (police), they decide to do some investigating themselves, fearing the worst for Ty's parents. As they go deeper into the world of reconditioned oil rigs, extreme boxing matches, and the horrible people who run them, they realize just how bad life is for the serfs. When they come upon a terrifying gladiator-esque game where serfs choose to battle enormous saltwater crocodiles for a little extra food for their townships, Ty and Gemma realize something has to change for the serfs. With the weight of the world's problems on their shoulders, they refuse to stop searching for his parents. But will they make it in time?

I was wondering how this sequel was going to follow-up on the previous story, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was a mature but accessible route that really let the story grow up but still work for younger students. I loved the politics of the division between the serfs and the settlers, and how the government was so easily corruptible with no regard to the people it is affecting. It will open up great discussions, but isn't to abstract or mature to miss that "middle reader" crowd. The writing and content is perfect for a wide range of students from middle readers to upper high school. It dances around the fringe of science-fiction or supernatural fiction, but it isn't too far from reality. Therefore I think these two stories would really be great for a huge array of readers. I am interested to see if Kat Falls stops here, or keeps the story going!

Great Message, Awkward Execution

With all the controversy in this country about borders, immigration, illegal aliens, and in particular Mexican immigrants, this book couldn't have come at a better time. Our students are sitting in classrooms with students who are learning English as a second language while simultaneously trying to learn the same content as their peers. Our neighbors are using labor from illegal aliens to keep their farms and businesses afloat. And our government is currently in a federal vs. state war regarding the rights of non-citizens. I would say the YA genre is well overdue for a book to examine both sides of this controversy.

The story begins with a young boy named Tyler who has grown up on the farm that has been run by his family for generations. His older brother and sister are uninterested in the back-breaking work it takes to keep the farm going, but Tyler dreams of running the farm one day, even though he is only eleven. When his grandfather dies suddenly and his father is badly injured in a farm accident, the family resorts to the last hope to keep their farm going: Mexican labor. They hire three men to help with the farm work and live on the farm, but they are surprised to find the men arrive with three young girls. Maria, Luby, and Ofie are with their father, but no one knows where their mother is. She left to return to Mexico almost a year ago to see her dying mother, but after calling Maria's father to let them know she was returning, she disappeared and they haven't heard from her since.

Tyler is having a difficult time with the new residents of the farm. He believes in his country and the constitution and hiring illegal immigrants is breaking the law. Therefore, he is very upset by the turn of events on the farm, and he is torn because he knows this is the only way to save the farm. When the girls are enrolled in his school and Maria is in his class, he gets to know them as more than just illegal immigrants, and gets to know the crueler side of his peers. While Ofie and Luby are US citizens and born in the states, Maria was born in Mexico, and the kids at school don't let her forget it. Slowly, though, the two families grow to care for one another deeply. The girls think of Tyler's grandmother as their own grandmother, Tyler's family invites Maria's family over for dinners and holidays, and all are devastated when Maria's uncle Felipe is picked up by immigration. Now the family must find a way to avoid immigration, run the farm with less men, and find out the truth of where Maria's mother is.

This is a bitter sweet story that shows both sides of a controversial situation. Chapters alternate between Tyler's story told in prose and Maria's story in the form of letters to her mother, the President of the US, and Guadalupe. It makes the reader understand that immigration is more than just a numbers and borders game- real people are the focus and their lives are in the balance. Not to mention, these people are hard workers who just want to support their families, and they have become a strong support system for businesses that couldn't continue without their help.

I found the message to be well thought out, but the writing was just plain awkward. I would have been fine if only Maria's story was choppier, but Tyler's was too. And the beginning where Tyler is concerned with the legality and moral aspects of the new farm workers, it is simply overdone. It sounded like a robot: "Illegal immigrants are illegal, the constitution is the bestest thing in the world, we follow the constitution in the bestest country in the world, therefore we don't break the law, and illegal immigrants are breaking the law, so they are all bad. Very bad." It was simply silly. It made it hard for me to take the book seriously for a while. Tyler's opinions clearly changed as the story continued, but it was almost as if Maria's family were real aliens from outer space and no one knew about them until now. This part I find hard to believe. It is set in 2005, and I find it hard to believe a family in VT would have no contact with a Mexican family until then. This part of the book was much less realistic and much more contrived.

The book is still an interesting one, and might be best as a school assignment with teacher guidance, or one read with a parent. I don't see many kids picking this story up and sticking with it long enough to get to the important messages. The writing is hard to peg because it is so awkward, but not necessarily written at a lower reading level. The topic is a great one for kids and adults at all ages. It is also an interesting choice for a student learning Spanish, because Spanish words, phrases, and sentences are scattered throughout. Basically, I would read the story first before giving it to a student, and if you are going to use it in your classroom or read with your child, be aware of the flaws in order to reap the benefits of such a story.

C for Creepy and D for Disturbing!

In a literary world where YA has come leaps and bounds (especially since I was a kid!), it is surprising to find a much older book within the genre that can compete with the great fiction that is out there right now. Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien is a really great post-apocalyptic novel that was written for the YA genre decades ago; it is a trailblazer as far as I am concerned!

The story begins with a girl named Ann Burden who has been left alone in a small valley on her parents farm to survive the aftermath of nuclear war. She is surviving well enough between the fresh food from the farm and the dry and canned goods at the local general store. When her parents, brother, and owners of the store left last fall to find other survivors and never returned, Ann knew she had to keep going as she had in order to survive.

Her lonely but peaceful existence was shattered, however, when she spotted a campfire coming her way through the barren, destroyed landscape. When the mysterious man in a big plastic suit enters the valley, she hides, afraid of what kind of man he is. When he impulsively jumps into a contaminated creek and becomes sick with radiation poisoning, however, Ann decides to abandon her hiding place in order to help him. But after she nurses him back to health, she realizes he is not happy to just share the valley with her- he wants it all, including Ann.

I have read a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction in the last 12 months, so it is hard to surprise me these days in this genre, but when the man gets better and starts actually hunting Ann, it was just so disturbing! The way it was written, the way he hunts her, and the sheer magnitude of being the last two alive in this second horror scenario, got to me! It was truly unnerving to see his calculation and deception as he ties up her dog to use for tracking her, locks the store where she is getting her supplies, and takes the keys to her tractor.

This was a really interesting story and quite easy to read with low vocabulary level and comprehension levels. But I don't think this would be a great story for middle schools students- it is just too creepy in a subtle way that gives you the shivers! It would be a GREAT book for an older student who has a low reading level but seeks mature reading material. Now I am going to have to stockpile a HAZMAT suit along with my canned goods, shelter, and ark! I have got to find some cheerier books!