THE LIST by Siobhan Vivian - REVIEW

Nobody knows who writes "The List" each year. The Tradition has been passed on for years. The week before Homecoming "The List" appears with the names of the ugliest and the prettiest girls in each grade. Nobody has ever claimed to have written "The List." Years before the seal of the school was stolen and is used to officially emboss "The List." Each year it is passed on to someone else in secret. That person doesn't know who was the list maker before them, but then it is their turn to make "The List."

For the 8 girls on The List life changes dramatically during the week before Homecoming. This year Bridget Honeycutt is chosen as The Prettiest for the junior class. Immediately the pressure is on Bridget to look her best. This manifests in an eating disorder that she thought had been put behind her over the summer. But she is determined to fit into that smaller dress size by the end of the week. Jennifer Briggis becomes the first four-peat girl as ugliest. Her former best friend Margo was chosen as prettiest which puts her in the top running for Homecoming Queen. When Sarah finds her name on the ugliest list she is determined to fight back. She decides to not bathe for the entire week much to the disgust of the student body that have to be in classes with her. Each girl handles their fame or rejection in her own way, unfortunately letting The List change them whether for positive or negative. With one girl determined that this will be the last List EVER.

My Thoughts:

There were a few things that I disliked about this story. The cursing, the sexual situations, and the drinking/smoking. BUT, I think the story brought out a lot of how fragile young adult self-image can be. And then to have their flaws or assets brought out in public like "The List," how damaging it can be even to the most put-together teen. This was not a "feel-good" story, it didn't end with everyone experiencing their "happily ever after." High school is messy, egos and self-image are fragile and the author was able to show that in this story. And there were moments when friendships and relationships weathered the storm which made the story more palatable for me.


Sexual Content=Some sexual situations, but not graphic
Language Content=There were quite a few swear words peppered throughout including use of the "f" word
Other Content=Teens using alcohol and smoking cigarettes, partying

THE BOOK OF BLOOD AND SHADOWS by Robin Wasserman-REVIEW

Nora, her best friend Chris, his girlfriend Adriane and Chris' best friend and roommate Max all  are working on a translation project for a professor. Nora is assigned to translating letters written by Elizabeth Weston over 400 years before. What she discovers is a recipe for a machine that is believed to open up channels to God.

This discovery leads to murder, secret brotherhoods and betrayal. When Chris is found murdered in his home, Adriane catatonic by his side in a pool of blood and Max the last person seen leaving the house, Nora is determined to prove Max's innocence in the murder and to put together the puzzle pieces of where Elizabeth hid the parts of the machine(Lumen Dei).

When Max contacts Nora she and Adriane sneak away from a class trip and head to Prague to meet Max. They are followed by Chris' cousin Eli who has family connections in Prague and also has family secrets he is unwilling to share with Nora. From the time they reach Prague they are faced with those trying to protect the Lumen Dei and others that are trying to find it for their own purposes. Nora soon finds that she doesn't know her friends as well as she thinks she does. Hers and Elizabeth's lives seem to mirror each others and betrayal is around the corner for her just as it was for Elizabeth.

My Thoughts:

I found myself comparing this book to a cross between The DaVinci Code and an Indiana Jones movie. It reminded me of The DaVinci Code with the secret sects protecting a spiritual being/object along with lots of supposedly spiritual connotations. It reminded me of Indiana Jones in the fact that once the object was acquired the greedy person seeking the power suffered a grizzly demise of supernatural dimensions. Not to say that being compared to these is a bad thing, but the fact that this is marketed as a Young Adult book had me scratching my head. The writing was fairly technical and also at times hard for me to slog through. If I had a hard time keeping my attention on the text I cannot imagine a teenager staying with it through to it's ending. I have to say though that I did become invested in the characters and continued to read on just to find out what happened at the end.

Pet Peeve:
Like I said, The Book of Blood and Shadow is marketed for 12 and up. I started seeing very early in the book that the author was peppering the story with words that were not common for most adults not to mention middle school grades or high schoolers. This was frustrating for me, but I began to write down each word that I either didn't know the meaning of or knew from the sentence what the author meant, but wasn't quite sure that a YA student would know the word. I then looked these words up after I finished the book. I probably should have looked them up while reading, but seriously, what Young Adult would stop reading during a story to look up a word? So here is my list of words:

Ameliorated-heard of it, but don't use it!

Iterations-never heard of it

Ensorcelled-huh?

Egalitarian-heard of

Disingenuous-heard of

Caesura-never heard

Karass-couldn't even find it when I looked it up

Vertiginous-heard of

Soporific-heard of

Ethos-heard of

Matrices-plural of matrix!

Defenestration-never heard

Inchoate-never heard

Those are just the words that stood out to me. There were other words such as detritus that I knew the meaning of, but is not really a common word. I understand an author wanting to enlighten and improve our vocabulary, but if I had to stop and look up every word then that to me would detract from the story.  And once again this is a Young Adult book, stick with what they know because the unfamiliar will lose them just as it almost lost me.


Sexual Situations=Some, but nothing graphic
Violence=There are a couple of murders that are bloody
Language Content=Mild

CURVEBALL THE YEAR I LOST MY GRIP by Jordan Sonnenblick-REVIEW

Peter and his best friend AJ are the best baseball pitchers for their team. Their pitching skills are going to take them far. When Peter is pitching, AJ is catching then when AJ pitches then Peter is catching. They are quite a duo. That is until Peter messes up his arm and is told he can no longer pitch~EVER.

This does not seem to be Peter's year. Not only can he no longer pitch, but he is also starting his freshman year of high school. Also, there seems to be something disturbing going on with his Grampa. Peter's Grampa is a famous photographer. He has taught Pete everything he knows about cameras and taking the perfect picture. When his Grampa seems to miss the most perfect shot of all and then up and gives Pete all of his equipment Pete knows there is something terrible going on. His Grampa also seems to be frequently forgetting things.

Pete's mother insists that he enroll in an introductory photography class. Since he can no longer play baseball then she feels he needs to be in a "club" of some sort. Pete meets Angelika in class. They are soon put together as partners and things start to look up for Pete. Even though Pete has always told his best friend AJ everything he somehow can not bring himself to tell AJ about not being able to pitch again. The only one he really talks to about that is Angelika. She encourages him to not only be honest to AJ about his arm, but also to talk to his parents about what is going on with his Grampa.

Once again I love the emotions that Jordan Sonnenblick explores in his stories! Peter's relationship with his Grampa is so special and you feel for him as he watches his Grandfather fade into the world of Alzheimer disease. You feel for Pete in his awkward 9th grade self wondering what he is going to do with his life now that he can't play baseball. You admire AJ and Angelika for being Peter's best friends and helping him through his emotions. I have to say that once again Jordan Sonnenblick was able to bring a smile and tear to my eye in Curveball The Year I Lost My Grip.