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If you live in tornado alley, you not only respect these hulking beasts, you also get used to them. When the siren blows, you might not run right to the shelter, but you keep an eye out. While you can't live in fear for half a year during the season, being lulled into a false sense of security can be very, very dangerous. In Jennifer Brown's Torn Away, the lives of so many were changed forever with the presence of more than just a funnel cloud... it was like the finger of God himself.
Jersey Cameron grew up knowing what to do in the event of a tornado; its just that she never really had to do it. Occasionally, the family would go to the basement, but most of the time the sirens were a false alarm. So it got easier and easier to ignore them. She gets home and starts a meal like any other normal day while her mother takes her sister to dance class, but there is nothing normal about this day. This is the day that they never saw coming and will never be able to forget.
When Jersey realizes the tornado warning is real this time, she turns dinner off and heads to the basement. Hiding down there, she quickly realizes the tornado is bigger than anyone thought. By the time it is over, she leaves the basement to see that her entire house is almost gone. Her neighborhood is almost gone. Her neighbors, and everyone around her, are either injured, or even dead. If her neighborhood is this bad, how could her mother and sister have survived? All alone, Jersey realizes just how destructive the tornado really was.
This book starts with the destruction of a tornado, but it continues down the road of a young girl's dysfunctional family. Her mother never spoke to her own parents, and so Jersey is sent to live with her father whom she has never met. When she gets there, it is clear these people just don't give a crap about Jersey or anything she has gone through. While the premise of the book is the tornado, the continuation of the story really gets to the heart of the aftermath of such a tragedy. It was a really amazing and heartbreaking journey for both Jersey and the reader. Here was a normal girl in a normal midwest life who had everything she ever knew or loved sucked up into a funnel cloud. What is left is damaged beyond all repair... or is it.
This is a book about family, about healing, and also about grieving. I think pegging this book as a "storm book" doesn't really get to the heart of Brown's purpose for the story. If it was a storm book, it would have ended when Jersey was shipped to her dad's house. Instead it kept going, proving Brown had more to say. I have always like Brown's stories, because they aren't afraid to get to the dark and ugly side of things, and Torn Away is no different. I think this story, while dark and sad, would be appropriate for a variety of students. The real-life implications are deep, and a reader will have a hard time not connecting to the story. Jersey is a young woman who was dealt the worst hand possible, yet there is still hope for her with each page you flip.
Clara may have been angel blood, but she still had free will, and that is what led her to defy the very will of God. Now, in Hallowed, by Cynthia Hand, she must deal with the consequences of choosing her own path.
After the dreams led her to her purpose of saving Christian and sacrificing her boyfriend Tucker, Clara realized the purpose given to her as an angel born wasn't worth losing the boy she cared for as much as she did Tucker. When it turned out Christian was also angel born, perfectly capable of flying, and in absolutely no danger, her decision became even more right in her mind. Unfortunately, she had now exposed herself to a Dark Wing who was now stalking her family and desperate to get ahold of Clara's mother.
It is bad enough to have a Dark Wing stalking them, but Clara then begins to get visions of her adapted purpose, and they involve a funeral. When she realizes the only one not present at the funeral (including the Dark Wing) is Tucker, she is convinced it is going to be his funeral. She already defied a heavenly purpose to save him once. She is not going to be involved in yet another plot to kill her boyfriend. What Clara doesn't consider, though, is that there are a lot more stories at play and more purposes involved than just her own free will... especially those involving her own fate.
I tend to find these books a little slow at times while I am reading them, but by the end, I always seemed to have enjoyed them and want to read the next. I think that is because they end at the absolute perfect spot- enough revealed for some closure and enough left open to entice me into reading the next book. What I particularly enjoyed, however, was the increased family background and historical information about the angels. What can I say? I am a sucker for a good background story! In fact, it makes me connect to the current players, even if the background was centuries before they were even fictionally born!
I think the sometimes slow nature might be a struggle for a reader who needs a fast-paced story, but this is a sweet book with plenty of mystery to keep most readers going. Any reader who wants some romance amongst her fallen angels would also be pleased with this story. I will definitely be checking out the final story, especially with how this story ended!
Crystal meth has become a scourge upon our young people. But do you really understand why? I can't say I do, but in Jacqueline Woodson's heartbreaking tale, Beneath a Meth Moon, I feel like I witnessed the devastation first-hand.
Laurel's mama packed her and her baby brother up to go with their father north, away from the hurricane, away from the water. She said it would only be a few days and that she couldn't leave Laurel's grandmother M'Lady behind, but she lied. It was forever. As they turned and drove away, they never thought that would be the last time she would see or speak to her mother. But the water came. And the water couldn't be stopped. And the water took everything away.
At first they lived with Laurel's aunt, but in search of more work, they headed to a new town with new people and new opportunities. Laurel meets Kaylee and starts cheering. Everything finally seems like it might be a life worth living again. Until Laurel meets T-Boom, the co-captain of the team. It is T-Boom who introduces Laurel to the moon. And once she starts the moon, it isn't so easy to stop. Especially when it takes away all the memories, all the pain, and all the emotions.
This is a short, quick story, but it is devastating, both in the poetic beauty with which it is written, and the haunting devastation of the content. You see this innocent 15 year old girl who lost her mother and her grandmother, and even having a loving father and a little brother who needs her can't make her stop using. She knows it is killing her, she sees herself in the store windows, but when the itch starts, all she can think about is the moon (meth).
I have read a number of addiction YA stories in the past, but there is something so melodic and poetic about the way this story was written that it makes you almost feel guilty in finding beauty in a story of such devastation. That conflict of emotions may be what made me like this story so much. It is written in simple language with large type and is a fast story, so this would be a very good story for an older student who struggles with reading. They won't be bogged down by the heavy content because the writing style is so smooth and easy to read. This story makes me want to explore more from Woodson. I am very impressed by my first story from her!
A good book makes you love the supporting characters as much as the main characters, so when Katie McGarry announced Dare to You, the story of Beth from Pushing the Limits, I was so excited I yelled loud enough to wake my husband and scare my dogs. And lucky for me, McGarry didn't disappoint.
Beth has always taken care of her mother. She buys food, pays the bills, and even collects her when the local bar owner wants her out. Beth has never known what it meant to be a carefree child, but at least she has a family with Noah and Isaiah. When a confrontation with Trent, her mother's abusive, drug-dealing boyfriend, leaves Beth in jail, her aunt calls the one person who can help them: Beth's uncle, the famous baseball player, Scott Risk. Scott is willing to help her, in fact, he insists on it, but he has some conditions. In fact, he tells Beth that if she doesn't live with him, go to school, stay out of trouble, and abandon everything about her former life, he will tell the police exactly what Beth's mom has hidden in her apartment.
Beth can't imagine life in the sticks with prom queens and baseball games, but she will do it to protect her mother. What she didn't expect was to come face to face with the jerk who asked her out last week. Ryan has some demons of his own, but they are well-hidden inside the school's star baseball player. Never one to lose a bet, he continues to try his luck with Beth now that she is permanently in Groveton. His friends bet him he couldn't land a date with her, and lord knows she has made it perfectly clear she would rather stab him that go on a date with him, but Ryan doesn't give up on anything. Especially a girl who seems like a nightmare on the outside, but turns into a whole different person when you get to know her.
I don't think my description of this book can really do it justice. It sounds like a typical romance, but there is so much more to this book and this series. In fact, the romance is hidden within a dark, sad tale about a girl who had never had a stable life. Sure, Isaiah and Noah loved her unconditionally, but she never had real parents. In fact, Beth had to parent her own mother. And because of everything she dealt with growing up, Beth was a hard, angry young woman who was the antithesis of the suburbs her uncle transplanted her to. And who can blame her? Anyone growing up around abusive boyfriends and drug addicts would have to develop a wall around themselves just to survive. But I loved that there was so much more to Beth. She wanted to love and be loved, but she never fully believed she deserved it. Even with Isaiah's undeniable love for her, she never felt she was worthy.
And her relationship with Isaiah was hard for me to accept. In Pushing the Limits, I wanted her to finally realize he was in love with her, so seeing this book wasn't about the two of them devastated me. But once I saw the story play out, I could see how Isaiah would have been wrong for Beth and she for him. She needed something different, someone new, someone whose romance didn't threaten one of the few friendships Beth had. And Isaiah could never be that for her. And trust me, it was heartbreaking. Watching her come to that realization and Isaiah, wonderful, tattooed, devoted Isaiah, come to that conclusion had to be one of the hardest things for me to read as a person who just loves these characters.
And that is the thing about McGarry. She can make you fall in love with even the toughest and hardest characters. I mean, Beth?! She was the last character you would find yourself siding with in Pushing the Limits, but you always knew there was more to her than just the black hair and nose ring. And McGarry gave you more. And she gave it to you in a way that is absolutely heart-wrenching. I felt such an emotional attachment to these characters that even now, I am looking at this book thinking, "How can it be over?!" These are phenomenal books and I don't think anyone out there could read them and not feel a connection to the characters, even if they could never empathize with them. McGarry has a gift, and I am going to be waiting, very, very impatiently waiting, for Isaiah's story, because he has some unfinished business. I love this series, and I Dare You to read it and not love it too!
All women remember that age. You were about 11 or 12 years old, heading into the stage where boys were cute, brothers were horrid, and parents were embarrassing. It last about until you were 18. And school? Well, school was a battlefield. Essentially they were the hardest years of your life. Now imagine your mother and some other mothers decided to have a Mother-Daughter Book Club with girls you would never speak to in school... unless they were spreading vicious rumors about you, but you can't really call that "speaking", now can you?! In The Mother-Daughter Book Club, Heather Vogel Frederick gives her characters plenty to think about as they survive 6th grade and their mothers.
Cassidy is a tomboy who loves to play hockey and embarrasses her supermodel mother with every burp and outburst. Emma is the poor, pudgy daughter of intellectuals who named her and her brother after Jane Austen characters (Darcy?! No wonder the boy played hockey!). Jess is a shy, sweet farm girl battling her own issues on the home front since her mother moved to NY to be an actress while dealing with issues at school where everyone tells her she stinks and calls her Goat Girl. Megan is one of the popular girls and would sooner die than be caught hanging out with Cassidy, Emma, and Goat Girl. But when their mothers start a book club (sans Jess's mom who is MIA), they have no choice but to all get together once a month. They may have no choice about attendance, but they don't have to pretend they like it.
At first all the girls hate the idea, but slowly they begin to enjoy reading Little Women, especially since Louisa May Alcott lived and wrote the story in their town! Their mothers have made the club pretty fun and not hard, so they can live through the meetings once a month. But the book club is a constant reminder for Jess that her mother has left her family behind. It also reveals the tensions between the mothers and daughters themselves. But when Megan and her followers pull a prank that went way too far, the whole Book Club is threatened. Now the girls and their mothers must decide whether the Book Club can survive a betrayal as bad as Megans, but if the girls didn't want the club in the first place, what is going to make them try to save it?
I had a feeling this was going to be an adorable story, and I was right! These girls are a wonderful mix of characters from the Queen Bee to the target to the hockey playing tomboy/jock. It explores this mix of girls and how they interact when they must be on their best behavior in front of all their mothers. But more importantly, it explores their interactions when their moms aren't around, and it can get ugly! I think my favorite character had to be Cassidy who knew she could never live up to her model mother and just wanted to play hockey. In fact, when there was no hockey team for girls in the town, she didn't hesitate to hide her identity and try out for the boys' team! She was a real butt-kickin' girl, and she wasn't afraid to stand up to Megan and her cronies. I liked the other girls, even Megan eventually, but I loved Cassidy!
This also explores that sacred yet tenuous relationship between mother and daughter. Any of you daughters out there can admit that this relationship is always a little strained but devoted at the same time. I am 31 and my relationship with my mom is that exactly! So the different girls and their wildly different mothers all came together for one big lesson: mothers and daughters love each other, but sometimes they don't see each other enough to understand each other. I think this would be a great lesson for any young lady struggling at this age to traverse life with her mom (or her mom struggling to deal with a daughter this age!). This book is best for a high skilled 4th grader through about 7th grade. It is written in simple language, but the book is fun and has great characters. I look forward to the other books in the series, and might even have to read Little Women again!
After reading Bumped, a dystopia about teenage pregnancy for profit, I had to prove to myself that my issues with Bumped weren't about the idea of teenage pregnancy. Instead, my issues were the silly way it was handled. So I picked up Hooked by Catherine Greenman with one purpose in mind- prove to myself I was open to all kinds of Young Adult novels- even ones about tough subjects. I have one ting to say- This book proved it. Thea is the product of a now-sober alcoholic father and a flighty mother who is more concerned with her own life than that of her daughter she is supposed to be raising. Despite a somewhat absentee father (even when he was physically present) and mother, Thea turned out ok. She was doing decently in her competitive high school, was your average, well-rounded young woman, and had some good friends. When she met Will, it was your typical first love. She felt hooked by her love for him; she needed him to love her as much as she loved him. When Will graduated, he decided to stay in the city and go to Columbia University. At some point in the beginning of the year, Thea becomes pregnant. At first, she is stunned, but she tells her mother and decides to have an abortion. While her best friend and her mom offer to go with her, Thea decides to do it on her own. When she sees the sonogram, though, she can't imagine getting rid of the little person inside her. She panics and leaves the clinic, but doesn't tell anyone about her situation. When it becomes too late for an abortion, she finally admits to Will, her mom, and finally tells her father the truth: she is still pregnant and plans to have the baby.At first everyone is angry with Thea for a host of reasons, but most importantly for keeping this from them. But then they soften and realize she was determined to have the baby. Both sets of parents decide to help Thea and Will out, set them up with a cheap apartment, and are moderately involved in financial support. Will is still going to Columbia, so Thea stays home and takes care of the baby, Ian. At first, the arrangement seems cozy, but quickly the immaturity of both parents comes out. Thea accidentally burns Ian with water and rushes him to the hospital. When Will arrives, he makes it very clear he blames Thea (despite it being an accident). This tension continues until he pushes her to put Ian up for adoption. Terrified Will is going to take Ian and give him away, Thea moves in with her father and asks Will to leave them alone.Life with her father, a man she barely knew growing up, is odd at first, but their shared love for Ian brings them together. They make a cozy little life together, but sometimes their ideas for Thea's future are very different. This causes tension between two parents in very different points in their lives, both trying to raise their children. While Thea must find out who she is and who she wants to become, one thing is always obvious. Thea loves Ian and wants nothing more than to be his mother.This is an amazing story because the characters are flawed, caring, mean well, and are so darned realistic. Thea is a kid, but she is a kid who is determined to be the best mother she can. I have a cousin who had a baby when he was still a teenager, and it still amazes me to see him with his son- he is such an amazing father and he desperately loves his son. This is Thea. She is young. She makes mistakes (which is something we adults to all the time too!). She loves her child unconditionally. I love the way her parenting is told through the voice of an 18 year old woman, too. Instead of "nursing" her son, she "gives him the boob"! And when Will tries to give Ian to an adoption agency, she is too scared to seek help from the adults in her life but also too immature to know he didn't have the right to do so. This was a book that showed the real life of a teen mom- bumps, bruises, tears, joy, love, affection, and all. Nothing is spared here, from the time his belly button nub falls off, to the terror when she accidentally scalded him with hot water. This book is frank and honest. Sure the message is that being a young mother is hard work, means losing the "childhood" your friends get to have, and will change you for better or for worse... but the book also says, "Hang in there. It can be done. People will help you." I loved this message. Oddly, it makes me think of all the things we say to kids to scare them throughout their childhoods. "Don't make that face or it will stick that way." "Don't swallow the watermelon seeds or a plant will grow in your belly." We say so much to scare them, but we forget to just tell them the truth. Well, this book does just that. Truth, for better or worse, is what you will get with Hooked.There is some sexual content in this book that might make it better for a high school reader. The moral is handled seriously, but with enough levity and individualism to make it not sound like a "moral" book. I suspect the cover might frighten away a number of parents and teachers, but I hope you give it a chance. This book doesn't glamorize teen moms, but it doesn't make them seem like a stereotype either. This is a wonderful book for any teenager to read in order to let them get all the information, good and bad, and let them make decisions and choices for themselves. Sometimes, like with Thea, the answer isn't what you first thought was the right answer, but it still might be the best one in the long run.
