Fly Trap and The Mysterious Benedict Society

Fly Trap by Frances Hardinge          (Children's)

I absolutely loved the first book, Fly By Night. It had an incredibly original plot and a main character who was considered unlovable by those around her, but who the reader knew was a wonderful person. Mosca Mye's name has dark connotations since she was born during the hours of the fly god, so everyone sees her as a skulking thief. It's even worse now that she and Eponymous Clent have fled the rebellion they may have caused and they find themselves in Toll. By day, only those born at the hours of  the bright and beloved Blessed can walk the streets. If you are unfortunate enough to have a name like Mosca, you have to live in Toll-By-Night and never see the sun again.

Of course Mosca has a problem with this, and she is going to  turn Toll on its head, try to steal its Luck and do whatever she has to to survive. Also known by the title Twilight Robbery, this book is both funny and intriguing.


The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (Children's)

Yes, I'm a million years late to this book series, but this, the first book, was so charming that I had to write about it. It had everything I love: smart kids, shadowy figures bent on ruling the world, people who want to give themselves their own nicknames, narcolepsy, and one of the most obstinate female characters ever. If you love children who shave their heads to disguise themselves, if you love girls who have already run away to the circus, and now want to try something new, if you love infiltrating shadowy organizations, then you will probably love this book.

CB # 44-50 Girls in Trouble

I feel like a huge subset of Young Adult fiction, involves stories about girls in trouble.

 

Every Little Thing in the World Nina de Gramont

Sydney finds out that she’s pregnant but doesn’t know what she’s going to do about it. She’s unable to tell her parents, because every discussion ends in a fight with her mom, and her dad lives like a hippie and doesn’t understand her at all. She has no money for an abortion, her mom won’t let her work at the pool, and her father has decided to send her to a summer camp in the Ontario wilderness.

This was a surrising book. You could never figure out what exactly was going to happen to poor Sydney. However, she find the wilderness helps her figure things out. And I loved that the book deals with the invincible feeling that many teens have. Even Sydney’s pregnancy doesn’t seem to wake her up.

A Pure Swift Cry by  Siobhon Dowd

Set in Ireland in the 1960’s, Shell has to take care of her family after her mother’s death. Her father has given up on life and is drinking his way through all the welfare  money. Shell struggles when she discovers that she’s pregnant. This book deals with religion, death  and the secrets that people keep from each other. The writing style was beautiful in this one.

What Happened to Goodbye? by  Sarah Dessen

I love Sarah Dessen books, but I found that the most recent wasn’t as much fun or as engrossing as her older book. There was not as much friendship of relationship drama, which is the main reason why I read Dessen. Instead, this book focuses mainly on interior drama. McLean keeps on moving to different cities with her father, as he tries to rejuvenate failing restaurants. Each time she moves she reinvents herself with a different name. Now who is she?

Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne Jones

This is the book with a boy in trouble as well. Blink is a street kid who witnesses a kidnapping that seems all right, but it seems all wrong. He ends up calling the kidnapped man’s daughter and trying to help her figure out what went wrong.  He ends up meeting with a drug runner named Caution who is punishing herself for her past mistakes. The story is really engrossing with both the mystery of the present day kidnapping, and the mystery of how both these teens got to where they are now.

The Ghosts of Ashbury High by Jaclyn Moriarty

This is a lighter hearted read, that is a return of the girls from the Year of Secret Assignments. They tell  the story of their final year of high school as a series of essay written in gothic style. There are new students at the school, and they have a deep dark secret! The story sort of flips between darker moments and really hilarious moments. I didn't enjoy it as much as some of Moriarty's other books, but it was still a fun read.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A. S. King

Vera deals with the death of her ex-friend Charlie in the worst way possible, with drinking and imagining him everywhere. I thought that this novel is fairly engrossing, but I can’t really bring up much more about it.

CB # 41-43 Uglies, Pretties, and Specials

Uglies
Pretties

Specials   All by Scott Westerfield (YA)

This trilogy (plus the extra book which is set in the same world, Extras, which I never got around to reading) is set in the far future. Human civilization as we know it has been destroyed by a virus that caused all the petrol to explode. Now humanity has rebuilt itself into a beautiful species.  In the first book, Uglies, Tally Youngblood is excited about her upcoming 16th birthday. Finally she’ll become “pretty,” a surgical process that will physically transform her so that she is a perfect example of the human beauty ideal - giant eyes, perfectly smooth skin, amazing hair etc. Everyone has the surgery at age 16. However, a week before her birthday, Tally’s friend, Shay tells her that she doesn’t want to get the surgery. Instead she is going to run away to the Smoke, to meet her friend David. When Tally doesn’t want to leave with her, Shay gives her instructions on how to find the Smoke. Unfortunately, Uglies aren’t supposed to leave. Instead, Special Circumstances, who police the city, force Tally to go and find out where the Smoke is, and set off a receiver so Special Circumstances can find and destroy the Smoke.

Obviously, Tally's world can't be utopian (why can't we have a utopia?), so there need to be dark secrets which Tally will discover as things go along. Also, it's a trilogy, so more and more secrets will be revealed as you go through the books.  I found the first book to be the strongest and the most interesting, but as a series it couldn't keep my interest. I took forever to read Specials and I found the plot fairly repetitive. However, I will say that I couldn't completely abandon the books. The end of each one hooks you into reading the next, even if it takes you forever to get through them. 

On the plus side, I thought that the friendship between Shay and Tally changed and was complicated in a very real way, and I appreciated it. I also think that as soft science fiction, it can be a great introduction to a reluctant reader to a really fun genre. The writing style is easy to read and Tally has really normal teenage concerns throughout.

CB# 28-29: Wintersmith and I Shall Wear Midnight

Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett               

I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett  (YA)

                These are the two most recent Tiffany Aching books. I’ve reviewed the first two earlier.  I found these books fairly interesting because Pratchett had said that these novels are aimed at younger readers who might also enjoy the fantasy and humour of Discworld. The first two books had really felt aimed at children, while these two, especially I Shall Wear Midnight, feel like they’re aimed at young adults.

                 In Wintersmith, Tiffany is staying with the ancient Miss Treason to learn more witchcraft. She’s nearly 13 and although she misses her home, she knows that she’ll never be truly respected as a witch unless she goes away. Everyone’s seen her as a child, so she needs to leave so that they’ll believe that she’s changed. She’s still being watched over by the Feegles, and she has a pen pal in Roland, the Baron’s son. One night, Miss Treason takes her to a Dark Morris dance which leads to the coming of winter. Even though Miss Treason warns Tiffany that she can only watch the dance, Tiffany ends up dancing in it. This means that she actually danced with the Wintersmith, and replaced Summer in the dance. Now the Wintersmith is intrigued by her, and wants to be with her … forever! Also,  Summer might never come again, since Tiffany’s replaced her. This book is all about personal responsibility and realizing that actions have consequences. Once Tiffany realizes that she’s made a major mistake, she has to do more than just apologize. She has to fix things.

                I Shall Wear Midnight is even darker in tone. Tiffany is nearly 16 and she has to deal with the consequences of what she has done with the Wintersmith. The magic she used then has awoken and called to her a monstrous being whose power is to make witches be hated and feared. This will lead to witches (or women who seem like witches) to be killed by the community that they cared for.  This book is much darker in tone than the first three, at least in the unmagical happenings. In the first chapter, Tiffany has to take care of a 13 year old girl whose father beat her so hard that she miscarried. As well, everyone is worried for Tiffany’s wellbeing because (scroll over for spoilers)  Roland is getting married to someone else! . Honestly, I think it’s for the best, but it’s a bit of a surprise after their friendship in the other 3 novels. Don't let the darker tone turn you off though. In spite of this its still full of humour  and it's exciting to read. And the young girl that Tiffany cares for does manage to escape her father and find a safe place to be.

                I really enjoyed both novels. I love that magic isn’t the answer to everything. I love that being a witch mainly involves doing things that other people don’t want to do or don’t think about like making sure a wizened old lady gets her bath or visiting lonely people. I really like that Tiffany always has to deal with the consequences of her actions, and that she is always capable even if she is scared. In my mind, she’s a pretty good role model.

Does anyone deserve to be treated so badly?

The Treasure Map of Boys  by E. Lockhart  YA

I was so impressed by The Disreputable History that I decided that I had to read something else by Lockhart. Unfortunately, the Education Library doesn’t have a huge range of books. This is the third in the series of Ruby Oliver books, and while I haven’t read the other two, there is enough background material to help me understand what is going on. In the past, Ruby’s boyfriend, Jackson, left her for her best friend, Kim.  Understandably, Ruby was pretty heartbroken about this and when Jackson kissed her while Kim was away, she went with it. Kim was disgusted with Ruby when she found out, and turned all her friends against her. Without any friends, Ruby starts to suffer from panic attacks and while in therapy she writes down the names of all they boys she’s had crushes on. Her ex-friends find the list, photocopy it, and leave it all over her school. Everyone at school assumes that this a list of boys Ruby has slept with, and that she’s a slut, resulting in her getting tormented in various ways. The Treasure Map starts after all this has occurred.

 Ruby has managed to make two new friends, Meghan and Nora, and there is a boy who thinks she’s lovely, Noah. However, Nora is completely head over heels about Noah, and since she’s one of Ruby’s only friends, Ruby feels that she can’t date Noah. As well, Jackson has finally broken up with Kim and he wants to be friends (or more) again. In case this isn’t too much, Ruby has been fired from her job at the petting zoo because she tells off a drunk man who puts his child in danger around the animals. Ruby’s life is just a mess and she has very few good things in it.

What I really liked about this book is the way it deals with slut shaming. It’s a real thing that happens to tons of girls and there is nothing similar that happens to boys. Ruby hasn’t done anything other than kiss someone else’s boyfriend, but that’s enough for everyone to hate her and assume the worst of her. Obviously, it wasn’t a good thing to have done, but it was a mistake and she feels horrible for having done it. People do mess up, but girls and women have to deal with the consequences for so much longer than boys and men do. I could really feel Ruby’s loneliness as she hears her ex-friends in class. She’s just managed to rebuild some sort of life out of what has happened and now there’s the chance that it’s going to be destroyed all over again because of the boys in her life.

One other thing I loved about Ruby is that although she’s a feminist, she admits to being boy crazy. She really likes being in a relationship and this makes it harder for her to ignore the sparks between her and Noah. I just find it interesting to read about a character who admits that her values don’t fall exactly in line with her desires and needs. It’s pretty realistic and I feel that teens sometimes need reminders that life isn’t all that cut and dried, especially because expectations that things must be just so can lead to bullying, as seen in the novel.

I didn’t like this one as much as The Disreputable History, possibly because I didn’t read the first two books, but I think it really has a message that some people really need to hear. There are girls experiencing slut shaming and there are tons of people letting this happen.

All I want to do is write to you...

The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty         (YA)

                 Cassie, Emily and Lydia are three best friends who go to posh Ashbury in Australia, but their teacher wants to expand their horizons and makes the entire class write letters to the close by but “rough” Brookfield High. Although the girls have low expectations that this experiment can work, Emily and Lydia find that their male pen pals are actually alright people… even if they go to Brookfield. Cassie, however, has already been having a hard time in her personal life, and her pen pal just seems to be making things worse.

                I’m just going to put it out there that I love Jaclyn Moriarty. She writes epistolary novels, with this novel consisting of letters, diary entries and notes left around the house. It really allows the reader to get inside the heads of  the three friends, and also understand the Brookfield boys. Each character has a unique writing style and it helps to create really distinct personalities. I also love how the three girls relate to each other. Sure there are boys and the possibility of romance, but that is not in any way their main focus. They really care about each other, and they try to help each other out any way they can. The secret assignments from the title are a way for Emily and Lydia to distract Cassie from her grief and hopefully cheer her up. The girls are also really funny, especially Lydia who writes the most absurd, hilarious things to her pen pal in the hopes of scaring him off. These girls aren’t perfect by any standard, but that’s the reason why you’d want to be friends with them.

 If you’ve read Feeling Sorry for Cecilia, then Elizabeth makes a quick appearance and you’ll meet Bindy from The Murder of Bindy MacKenzie. My favourite Moriarty is Feeling Sorry for Cecilia, which is about building a new friendship when an old one falls through. I loved that novel because some of the letters from groups like the Association of Teenagers, and the Cold Hard Truth Society, showed how Elizabeth thinks in a funny but honest way. The Year of Secret Assignments is always written by a particular character, which still works but can be less engaging. We know that some thing is going on with Cassie, but since the friends know what's happened, we rarely get any information about it. However, I still love this novel for its humour and its portrayal of friendship.