Eleanor and Park Stole My Heart

Every now and then a young adult book comes along that instantly transports us back to our own adolescence, for better or worse. It can be a painful or a beautiful journey (more often than not, a little of both), but it takes a talented author to do so effortlessly. In Eleanor & Park, Rainbow Rowell tells you a story of two misfits that will leave you forever changed. 

Since her mother brought Eleanor back to the house, she, and everyone else, has had to walk on eggshells. Their stepfather is not a nice man, and in particular, he hates Eleanor. In a house as tiny as theirs, it is all but impossible for her to escape him. Sharing a bedroom with her four siblings, worrying about whether or not they will have food each night, and listening to Richie beat her mother are just some of the reasons Eleanor has no interest in seeking friends in her new school. Never mind the fact that she dresses weird (in whatever her mother gets her from Goodwill), she isn't the skinniest girl, and her flaming red hair has a mind of its own. When she steps foot on the bus that first day, no one will let her sit down... until Park lets her sit with him. 

Park isn't a complete outcast, but he isn't popular by any means either. He tries very hard to keep his head down and blend into the background. When he sees Eleanor, he feels bad, but girls like her are who keep the vicious attention of his peers off his own faults. Taking more after his Korean mother, he has always been too gentle, too feminine, and not manly enough for his former soldier father. He doesn't intend to be anyone's hero, but he can't let Eleanor stand in the aisle of the bus and cry the way those beasts want her to. So he tells her to sit. And that changes everything. 

Eleanor and Park don't talk. He reads his comic books and she carefully tries to read them without letting him know she is peaking over his arm to see. He notices her reading the comics and starts turning the pages slower. Then he starts bringing her comics to borrow. All of this happens without a word shared between the two, but slowly, glacially, Park avoids Eleanor less and less. A few careful questions here, a kind gesture there, and the two find the human interaction they miss the most at the end of each day are the interactions they have together on those bus rides. But Eleanor has a lot to hide and is the target of many a malicious teen. And Park is very conscious of how her proximity affects his ability to camouflage himself from the other kids. Their backgrounds, self-consciousness, and situations should have prevented them from ever getting to know one another, but sometimes life's circumstances can't stop love from blossoming, no matter how hard it tries. 

There is something you should know before you read this book. It has been raved about by bloggers, reviewers, booksellers, and readers everywhere. They are right. John Green gave this clip for the New York Times Book Review: "Eleanor and Park reminded me not just what it's like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it's like to be young and in love with a book."  He was right. Yalsa, Printz, and every other professional in the field loved this book. They were all right. If you are anything like me, you develop an immediate bias against a book when it receives instant and passionate acclaim. Why? I don't know. I guess the little rebel in us doesn't want to love what everyone loves. But that stupid generalization keeps us from books like Harry Potter, The Fault in Our Stars, and Eleanor & Park, so let's just stop this nonsense already, ok?! Because if we miss out on amazing books like this one, we are just silly little rebels who have lost out on a chance to read some seriously amazing books. 

Eleanor and Park was the saddest and most achingly romantic story I have read since The Fault in Our Stars. Eleanor is a girl who just needs life to cut her a break, but no one stands up for her. Until Park. And he doesn't do it willingly at first, but when he does, you know it goes against every ounce of self-preservation inside him. And it is that simple act of sticking his neck out for this girl that will make you love him unconditionally. Park isn't perfect. Even Eleanor knows she embarrasses him, but he wants to be a better person, and more importantly, he can't imagine life without Eleanor. I loved this boy. I really did. My heart broke for Eleanor, but I loved Park. And his life wasn't tulips and daisies either, but it couldn't compare to the war zone she lived in. 

I imagine some critics of this novel might find fault in the love between Eleanor and Park, but you have to think of the lack of love they have both lived with. Park can never be enough to satisfy his father. Eleanor's own mother left her with a neighbor for a year because Richie didn't want her in his house. For two damaged kids, finding that love was transformational, both for them and for you, as the reader. Rowell has the ability to make you love the main characters with a fierce protectiveness that will surprise you, and the ability to make you hate those who hurt them with a ferocity that makes you want to inflict bodily harm upon those fictional characters like Richie and the girls who bully Eleanor in school. 

This is a book that will steal the heart of any reader. Filled with fabulous 80's music references, comic book references, totally called-for foul language, and adolescence in all its ugly glory, it will change ever reader who turns that first page and can't put it down. There are some dark and dirty parts of this story that are hard to read, but they are just as important as the beautiful, innocent, guarded love that blossoms between Eleanor and park. This book is everything people say it is, and I know it will stand the test of time among readers. 

You are Cordially Invited to Get Sucked In!

How much can our genetics determine who we are? Does the color of our skin or our physical stature change the way people act around us? Do our genes hold the key to preventing violent people from committing crimes? In Sophie Jordan's Uninvited, we have to ask ourselves how far we are willing to go to protect ourselves.

Davy is your typical upper class private school girl with all the opportunities in the world. As a musical prodigy, she aspires to go to Julliard after graduation. When her high school screens for the "killer gene" or HTS (Homicidal Tendency Syndrome), the last person you would think to carry the dangerous genetic code would be Davy, but HTS doesn't follow patterns or expectations. The minute Davy's test results are communicated to the school, she is "uninvited" or basically expelled. The local private school has a program for carriers like Davy, but it means they must show up and leave int he middle of standard class times to avoid interacting with "normal" kids. When she arrives for her first day, she is led to her classroom, The Cage.

While the separation of the people with HTS is meant to protect the general public, it quickly becomes a means for the "normal" population to attack and corral the HTS population. Davy experiences this at the hands of her own boyfriend and friends. Once they find out her status, she is an untouchable. Even her own parents are scared and ashamed of her. She can't believe how the other kids in the Cage survive being treated like this, but the truth is, most of them were untouchable before a test confirmed they carried the Killer Gene. When HTS terrorists commit an unspeakable act, there is nothing left to do but take the segregation a step further. What happens when you put a bunch of people together who already have a genetic predisposition to kill? You can only imagine...

This is a fast-paced, incredible thriller that connects deeply to current situations in a broad, science fiction realm. As I was reading about the prejudice against the HTS kids, I could not help but think about current racial and sexual orientation issues that plague our nation. We currently have legislation that is openly prejudiced against our LGBTQ population that eerily relates to the kind of governmental prejudice in this book. This part of the population had done nothing wrong, but the mere possibility they might was enough to strip them of their rights to freedom. Sound familiar? I loved the carefully shrouded implications Jordan makes about society and how we treat anyone we see as "other". As a teacher of dyslexic students, I see first-hand how a label can change everything. Our students want to be "normal" and what they don't realize (and society perpetuates) is the idea that the way they learn makes them abnormal, different, or defective. It is heartbreaking to watch, and Jordan does a phenomenal job of exploring those feelings of isolation and prejudice with Uninvited. 

The characters in this story, whether you love or hate them, are also amazing representatives of the different approaches people will have to this type of situation. The government gets pressured into questionable legislation based on the acts of a few terrorists who do not represent the general population. Davy's mother is ashamed and overwhelmed while her father disappears completely and wishes he could sweep it all under the carpet. Davy's boyfriend and friends turn on her in an incredible, despicable, and realistic manner. But the characters aren't all vile. Davy's brother in unwavering in his love and support of her. He is willing to do anything to keep her safe. Sean, a fellow carrier who doesn't stick his neck out for anyone, can't stand by and let Davy be eaten alive by those around her. Most of all, this book symbolizes that those we think are predisposed to the most evil, often are not the most evil in reality, or even evil at all. This is important to remember, and I love how Jordan makes us question how we define ourselves compared to how society defines us. This was a great story for a variety of readers. I guarantee any reader will draw parallels to the world we live in today, but they might not like where they fall in that mirror image! 

Rock Out with the Scar Boys

How can you convince someone to accept you in 250 words or less? You can't. So Harbinger decides to tell his story. In Len Vlahos' breakout novel, he gives Harbinger a voice, even though he isn't the kind of you man to stand up and shout... or at least he wasn't, until now. 

With a name like Harbinger, and a history behind that name that would make you sob, Harry was bound to live a unique life. But how unique?

He was almost struck by lightning. 

He wished he was struck by lightning.

He was a methadone addict. 

This all happened before he was 10 years old.

When a group of bullies tied him to a tree, they didn't expect or care about the lightning storm that shot a bolt directly at the same tree where he was tied. He wasn't struck by lightning, but the bolt sheared off the top of the tree in a fiery ball of flames and dropped it on an incapacitated Harry. This leads to months of hospitals, reconstructive surgeries that didn't make him look normal again, and a lifetime of hiding his face from disgusted looks. But he never gave up the kids who tied him to the tree. He was scared to death of those kids. But they were probably more scared of him than he was of them. 

Harry's life is eventful and uneventful all in one. He doesn't do anything. He isn't a stellar student. His situation is a burden on his parents' lives and marriage. He doesn't even have any friends. Until Johnny moves to his town and his school. Johnny is like an uncontainable force that changes everything in his wake, including Harry. When Harry is rejected by a girl, Johnny says, "Let's start a band." While it seemed out of place and not entirely comforting, a band was exactly what Harry needed. Harry needed to stop being a tool. He needed to stop being a doormat. And most of all, he needed to stop feeling sorry for himself. A band wasn't a panacea, but it certainly did change Harry's life in ways he never thought possible.

I personally don't read as much realistic YA as I do fantasy or science fiction, but when I do, I am usually quite impressed because I pick those titles carefully. This story was an absolute shock. It was this mix of shockingly horrible situations, endearing moments, and flawed relationships. I am not quite sure how to classify this story, but I know I loved it. Harbinger is the kind of guy who just lets life happen to him. From the lightning strike to the band, he doesn't fight for or against anything. He just goes through the motions. Johnny changes that, but not all for the good. Sure, Johnny befriended a kid most adults were even too freaked out to talk to, but Johnny liked the fact that Harry was damaged. Next to Harry, Johnny was even more impressive. From his smooth, suave talk with parents to the animal magnetism everyone was drawn to, Johnny appeared to be the model young man, but his relationship with Harry was complicated and not altogether positive. I loved and hated Johnny interchangeably, and it was a difficult pair of emotions to resolve. 

Without Johnny, however, Harry would never have become the young man who wrote this college essay (the premise for the story). He never would have lived those moments, thought those thoughts, or even stepped foot outside his door. And even as he lives this strange and legendary few years with Johnny and the band, he doesn't think he is responsible for any of it. He lives his life assuming the bad things that happen to him were all his fault and the good things were thanks to some other force in his life. It was heartbreaking to witness, but Vlahos made it into a story you can't put down. Harry's short life so far is one we thank god we don't have to live through and thank Vlahos for giving it to us to bear witness. Pretty amazing! I would give this to any student- male or female. I don't think there is a "type" of reader who would enjoy this story because I believe it will transform any reader. Excellent story, transformative characters, and enough spunk and humor to keep you going. A+ in my book!

Dirty Little Flop

Music is infectious. Music seeps into your soul. And if you are meant to make music, there is nothing that can keep you from making that music, even a pair of unsupportive parents who threaten to take away your college tuition. In Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols, Bailey was born a fiddler and will always be a fiddler. No matter who tries to tell her she can't be.

Bailey and her sister Julie were a team. They worked the bluegrass circuit as a duo and always played to each other's strengths and patched the holes of each other's weaknesses. When a record deal was offered, though, it wasn't for the duo. It was for 16 year old Julie, and 18 year old Bailey was informed that not only would she not get a deal, but the recording company was worried about bad press if people found out Julie's fame came from the destruction of a sister duo, so Bailey was sent to live with her grandfather and ordered to stay away from the music scene. Easier said than done in Nashville. Luckily her grandfather, a maker of string instruments, understands Bailey's need to play and gets her a gig playing back-up fiddle for the traveling bands int he mall. Not glamorous, unless you consider being dressed up as a middle-aged Elvis' back-up singer glamorous, but at least she can play. And she is good at it!

When Bailey is assigned to Johnny Cash (impersonator) and his son, she doesn't expect to find a boy who not only gets her, but also understands her passion for the rockabilly music they all crave. Sam commandeers his father's song and Bailey gets a little taste of his brilliance, both with guitar and his singing. When he convinces her to come play with her band, she is terrified her parents will find out or someone will connect her to Julie if she performs, but Sam is a persuasive guy. When she gets on stage with Charlotte, Ace, and Sam, she knows this band is where she belongs. Unfortunately, Julie's career is more important to her than her own music, and she won't jeopardize Julie. But Sam has other ideas. Not one to take no for an answer, he isn't afraid to lie, cheat, and manipulate to get what he wants, especially if it means he can achieve the success he so desperately craves.

I need to preface this review by saying I have always loved Jennifer Echols' books. They are edgy, no BS, and they appeal to mature YA audiences (or New Adult, if you buy into that subgenre). But this book made me cringe. I loved Bailey, but my hatred for Sam spoiled the entire book for me. Bailey was a sweet girl who got shafted all around: by her parents, by the recording industry, and by Sam... all the time. Everyone used her or discarded her to fit their own needs and no one cared about who Bailey was and what she wanted. And quite frankly, it made me angry to the point of violence against these fictional characters. I don't know why I didn't put the book down, but I can only imagine it was because I figured it had to eventually improve, but I was wrong. Instead, by the end of the book, I was so disgusted by Sam and Bailey's parents that I actually wished I had never read this book. What a poor example for young adult women to be exposed to.

**Spoilers**
First, Bailey was "in trouble" for the car accident she got into with her boyfriend. This was supposed to be the huge thing that led them to tuck her away, BUT they had already told her about the recording deal, taken away her future, cut her off from her sister, and discarded her BEFORE the accident. Then the accident itself wasn't even that awful, at least on her part. She went to a party where she didn't drink or do drugs, got in a car with her boyfriend who she didn't know had done coke, then he crashed into a pond, and finally he tried to manipulate her into taking the fall. Gratefully, Bailey told him to go scratch and told the truth about the wreck, but besides having poor taste in boys, I don't understand how any of this was Her fault, besides the fact that it made her parents have to remember that they had a second daughter- a fact they were happy to forget. 

Then her parents. Ugh. They had no problem discarding one daughter for the fame of the other, and Julie's career was what THEY wanted, not Julie. She missed having a real life, but they didn't care. They just threw it in her face that they had made huge sacrifices to get her this far. Even when she refused to go on stage until Bailey came, they blamed Bailey for filling her head with nonsense. Great parents. Really, model parents right here. If Echols' purpose was to make every young adult thankful for the loving, yet inevitably flawed, parents they had, then she succeeded. Otherwise, she just made me appalled by such selfish, self-centered, manipulative parents who should never have been allowed to have children. 

And finally, there is Sam. The worst of the worst. Sam is only concerned with his own career, and he is willing to do anything to get it. Including seducing young women to join his band to get them gigs. In fact, even though Charlotte, his bandmate, blows up his spot and tells Bailey that every sweet nothing he whispered to her, he also whispered to Charlotte (verbatim), Sam still manages to paint Charlotte as crazy and jealous... and Bailey BELIEVES him! Ugh! Then, Bailey agrees to play with them as long as there are no videos or other evidence that could be posted somewhere and jeopardize Julie's career. Does Sam care? NOPE! Send it in anyway and then cannot fathom why she would be upset by all this! In fact, he makes her feel like SHE is being selfish. Yep. Real winner there! Then, he makes fun of songwriters, something Bailey is not only good at, but she sees as her only outlet since there is no one in her life she can talk to. What a winner that guy Sam is! And as if that isn't enough... he actually convinces her to go groveling back to her parents SO THEY CAN GET HIM A RECORD DEAL. Before he realized just how serious Julie's career was, he was all, "Oh your parents are horrid! Never speak to them again!" Then he sees Julie's billboard and is like, "What is wrong with you? Your parents can make us famous! Can't you suck up your pride for once to help us?! C'mon! They aren't all that bad! See?! Having connections makes them infallible! Never mind your horrible childhood. I want a record deal!" And you know what she does? First she calls him on this BS... then she sleeps with him. Fabulous. Calling all Young Adult ladies! You worried you might be too strong, too determined, too powerful, and too proud? Don't worry, I've got the book for you! And this one will be sure to make you into the quivering, manipulated, spineless woman we want our next generation to become!! 
**End Spoilers**

I hated Sam with a vehemence that doesn't even rival my hatred for Lord Voldemort, because at least the Big LV admitted he was evil, relished in it, even. Sam was billed as an awesome musician who came to sweep her off her feet, and instead he just continued to abuse her like her parents did. I am sorry, but there is no young adult woman I would ever give this book to. It demeans everything we try to teach the amazing young women in our lives: to believe in themselves, to stand up for themselves, and to see through people who would rather use them than love them. This book is truthfully one of the worst examples of young adulthood that I have ever read. Please don't give this to your young ladies. Don't do that to our next generation. Instead give them a book like Graceling or Throne of Glass or Defiance with some real, butt-kickin', take no prisoners kind of ladies. Trust me. We don't want to encourage our young women to become the Baileys of the world. Sorry, Ms. Echols. You might have ruined me forever from your books with this one. 

Rockin' Story!

Every graduation ceremony is littered with students who feel obligated to make their parents happy, have their fleeting moment of freedom cut short by obligations, and are wildly unsure of themselves. If you show me a new graduate who has a clue what they want to do with their lives, I will show you someone who is delusional! In Tara Kelly's Amplified, we get a glimpse into the life of a young woman who is in the middle of figuring out what she really wants to do, even if that means her father kicks her out of the house.

Jasmine Kiss (yes that's her real name) may not have ever played in a real show or in front of anyone, but she considers herself a musician. She has used every penny she ever saved to buy her equipment, and even though her only shows are for her best friend in the garage, she knows she has to spend her life playing music. The problem is her father has other ideas about what she should be doing with her time- namely, college. When Jasmine refuses to go to college right away, her dad kicks her out and tells her to make it on her own. For a girl form the rich neighborhood, being homeless and broke are new experiences.

When Jasmine finds an add for a guitarist similar to her style, but they are only looking for guys. Since the gig comes with housing, Jasmine takes a chance anyway. She instantly likes Veta, the perky, angsty singer, but Sean, Veta's rude brother is a whole different story. When they agree to let Jasmine join the band (albeit reluctantly for some members), they have no idea that she has never played a show or been part of a band before. With the band, C-Note's, rising success, the next few shows are going to make it or break it for them, and Jasmine's complete lack of experience could do them in completely.

Jasmine was a strange mix. She was strong enough to stand up to her father, get kicked out of the house, and even sleep in her car until she hooked up with the band. But then you put her onstage and she becomes a shy little mouse who can't even do what she loves. And quite frankly, that was tough for me to understand. A girl who has enough guts to abandon her cushy life and live in her car should be able to get up in front of five people and play the guitar (the packed club I understand, but she could barely even try out!). But the supporting characters were a decent addition. Not everyone in the band was sold on Jasmine, which made the dynamic more realistic and believable. I had a tough time even liking Sean, Jasmine's love interest, because he was such a toad most of the time. Yes, it sucks your girlfriend cheated on you with your best friend and broke up your band, but what the heck does that have to do with this new girl who might save your flippin' band, dude? Lighten up! Sean just didn't really do it for me.

The story, however, was much more interesting than any individual character (although I loved Veta). I love the idea of abandoning your parents' expectations and taking some risks in order to do something that makes you happy. By this age our kids are so influenced by everyone around them, it was enlightening to see a young girl who simply couldn't pretend anymore. She knew she wanted to play, and there was nothing that was going to stop her (except stage fright, perhaps). So this isn't a bad story for young adults, but it might be particularly good for that rebellious young woman who needs to recognize rebellion for a cause, not rebellion for the sake of annoying people. And anyone interested in music will enjoy the detailed descriptions of the band's songs- pretty powerful!