I can tell you what Love You Hate You Miss You is about from reading synopsis’s myself.  In fact, I’ll share with you from Scott’s website:

It’s been seventy-five days. Amy’s sick of her parents suddenly taking an interest in her. And she’s really sick of people asking her about Julia. Julia’s gone, and Amy doesn’t want to talk about it. No one knew Julia like she did. No one gets what life is without her.
No one understands what it’s like to know that it’s all your fault.

Amy’s shrink thinks she should keep a journal but instead, Amy starts writing letters to Julia. And as she writes letter after letter, she begins to realize that the past holds its own secrets–and that the present deserves a chance.

Looking over some of the reviews myself, it feels vaguely familiar but yet I cannot recall any feelings nor basic details about the book.  However, other reviewers were very enthusiastic about Love You Hate You Miss You and sad that it didn’t receive more attention at the time of it’s release.  Hey, it’s Elizabeth Scott, I say go read it despite my not being able to remember anything about it.  Will it stand the test of time?  For me, obviously not.  But I didn’t dislike it in the least.  I don’t think all books have to have staying power.  It was a good read at the time.

As a side note – I find it interesting to note how our feelings for a book change over time.  Do you find yourself  not being able to remember basic plotlines of books that you’ve read in the past?

Links of interest: My book reviews of Something, Maybe, Living Dead Girl.  Elizabeth Scott website and blog.  Other blogger reviews.
Genre:  Young Adult
Publisher:  Harper Teen.  May 26, 2009.
Hardcover, 288 pages.
Love You, Hate You, Miss You is available from your local independent bookstore, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

One -  it’s free verse.

Two – it’s historical fiction.

Now some of you may be inwardly groaning to yourself because you don’t like free verse or historical fiction.  But for me it’s a match made in heaven.  A guarantee that I’ll read the book. I love free verse novels.  Adore.  Combine that with historical fiction and Three Rivers Rising was a no brainer purchase for me.

Dust jacket summary:

Sixteen-year-old Celestia vacations with her family at the elite resort at Lake Conemaugh, a shimmering Allegheny Mountain reservoir held inplace by an earthen dam.  Tired of the superficial cheer and sly judgements of the society crowd, she much prefers to swim and fish with Peter, the hotel’s hired boy.  It’s a friendship she must keep secret – her parents would never approve – and when companionship turns to romance, it’s a love that could get Celestia disowned.

These affairs of the heart become all the more wrenching on a single, tragic day in May 1889. After days of heavy rain, the dam fails, unleashing twenty million tons of water onto Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in the valley below – the town where Peter lives with his father.

Told my multiple narrators, Jame Richards’s searing novel in poems explores a cross-class romance, the random hand of disaster, and a tragic and indelible event in American history.

What I really liked about Three Rivers Rising was how nostalgic it felt.  How I was really taken back in time not to just a different time but to a completely different way of thinking.  To a time where family appearances meant more than that actual family. Where one doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice the limb to save the tree, so to speak.  To a time where romance between the classes was merit for being disowned.  I loved the struggle between the characters as they simply tried to love each other.

I enjoyed the free-verse quite a bit. I always do. I have found with other readers that free-verse is something that either you love or hate.  I’m solidly on the love side.  However, I found the free -verse here to read more as prose rather than poetry making me wonder how the novel would have fared simply as prose.  But it’s fair to say that I’m glad it wasn’t prose but instead free-verse.

I had never heard of the Johnstown flood prior to reading Three Rivers Rising and Richards does an excellent job building up the tension prior to the dam breaking and describing the ensuing disaster and recovery. While Johnstown wasn’t the only city hit in this flood, there were more than 2,200 deaths in that area alone.  Reading about this incredible disaster against the backdrop of family and forbidden romance was exciting.

Jame Richards includes an author’s note, a South Dork Dam chronology, and further reading recommendations.  I have found that I like this kind of extra information in the historical fiction that I read.

I simply loved this book.

Links of interest: Jame Richards website, more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Free Verse Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers. April 10, 2010
Hardcover, 304 pages. ISBN 0375858857
Copy source: Purchased from Books of Wonder, NYC
Three Rivers Rising is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

The Unwritten Rule

I liked him first, but it doesn’t matter.
I still like him.
That doesn’t matter either.
Or at least, it’s not supposed to.

Those four lines set up the entire book perfectly.  Ah . . . to be the third wheel.  It’s bad enough to be the third wheel, but it’s even worse when you have a major crush on your best friend’s boyfriend.  That’s exactly what it’s like for Sarah as she tries to convince herself that she doesn’t really like Ryan.  Her best friend Brianna doesn’t even know that she liked him first, so it’s not like Sarah can even be mad at her either.

And then as if things aren’t awkward enough, Sarah begins to think that perhaps Ryan is beginning to give her more attention.  Is it possible that he may like her in return?  When something happens (great scene by the way!) that confirms her suspicions, she is torn with guilt.  What to do?  Is it worth losing her best friend over?  But he’s so worth it . . .

While Living Dead Girl will always remain my favorite Elizabeth Scott book, I really liked The Unwritten Rule.  It’s a seemingly simple book but full of characters who felt SO real (they all made feel like I was 16 again!), great tension, and one that I’d easily borrow out to all the teen girls in my neighborhood.  The more I think about it later, the more I like it.

Links of interest: Elizabeth Scott website, on Twitter, more book blogger reviews.  Maw Books reviews of Living Dead Girl and Something, Maybe.
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult
Publisher: Simon Pulse.  March 10, 2010.
Hardcover, 224 pages. ISBN 1416978917
Source: Review copy
The Unwritten Rule is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

The Heart is Not a Size

Georgia has always been the reliable one.  The one who will always do the right thing.  The one who recognizes and appreciates just how much her parents love her.  On the other hand, Riley just can’t seem to catch the attention of her distracted mother.  A mother who laments that Riley is just “ordinary” or in other words, nobody special.  Riley is brilliantly artistic but it’s not enough.  A mother’s love.  That’s what she so desperately seeks and in chasing it will almost lose herself.

Georgia hopes that the Juarez trip will make a difference.  But how long can she ignore Riley’s secrets?  How long can she not speak up?  Instead of bringing the two of them closer together, their summer together may tear them apart instead.

I have to admit that the beauty of Beth Kephart’s writing was so beautiful and poignant that I found it almost distracting to the story.  I kept stopping and reading paragraphs again or deconstructing sentences.  I feel as though I could open any page and find a gorgeously written passage.

Later that night I woke up sweating from a dream, those black wings inside my rib cage beating, my mother’s words – Apply your intelligence to every living thing – snaking through my blood.  Because again my heart knew what my mind had avoided:  Juarez was probably a hare-brained scheme; what were the chances – really – that I’d fly all the way there and come home stronger?  I fought with the dark to free myself from my bed, struggled to wrest the weight from my chest.  It was after two, and the house was quiet, and I headed for the stairs, my right fist against my heart to quiet the fury, to survive it.  I needed the night beyond, which finally I reached, stumbling out onto the porch and into the streets and heading for the fairgrounds, which were empty now, the horses long since talked back into their trailers and driving off, Riley’s stories floating somewhere in the caverns of their heads.  I hadn’t had a panic attack in two months.  Each one was bigger than the last.

We find out the heart only by dismantling what the heart knows.

The words are from a poem Jack Gilbert wrote and Mr. Buzzy read toward the end of my sophomore year, when I finally stopped minding the class so much and settles in to learn.  I walked the streets that night with that line in my head – walked until I could breathe again and stand up straight without collapsing.  I was going to Juarez because I needed some perspective, some place where I could let the big bird free.  My head knew things that my heart didn’t yet.  I was privileged.  I was smart.  I had a future.  It was time to believe in myself.

I LOVED the creativity of the characters. Riley through her art endeavors, painting, jewelry making. Georgia through the lens of the camera. I was able to identify with the need for Georgia to take photographs. While I sometimes had a difficult time remembering the side characters, I felt that I got an immediate sense of both Riley and Georgia and through their parents, a solid background of how they were both approaching their upcoming Juarez trip. The sense of place was also very strong. And one can’t help but love the children of Juarez after Kephart’s lovely descriptions.

This is a book that I could tell the author poured her soul into. One that was crafted with love and care. And from the end result – a poetic, layered, and thoughtful story that doesn’t back off from issues affecting teens – it shows.

Links of interest: Beth Kephart blog, The Heart is Not a Size resource blog, more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Publisher: Harper Teen.  March 30, 2010
Hardcover, 256 pages. ISBN 0061470481
Source copy: Review copy
The Heart is Not a Size is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

In a coma at the hospital, Mia is able to watch everything that goes on around her including the emotionally charged visits from her grandparents, best friend, and boyfriend.   Mia has a very important decision to make.  Knowing that her life and her family is changed forever from the accident does she fight her way back to reality and the sorrows (and ultimately joy) that will surely follow?  Or does she choose to pass on?  To leave it all behind?  It’s a fascinating premise that had me completely engrossed.

Gayle Forman is able to pack in a wallop of a storyline and character development in just a few short pages.  One thing that I loved about Mia as a character was that she LOVED her parents.  They actually liked to hang out together and TALK to each other.  It’s refreshing to find a family like this in a YA book.  I was impressed with how Forman was able to make me care and know so much about Mia and her family in just the few opening pages of the book.

If I Stay is a very beautiful novel that is well worth reading.  Gayle Forman’s writing was simply fantastic.  In the end, I really really liked it but didn’t LOVE  it, if that makes any sense. There is going to be a sequel and I will definitely read it.   A story well worth following.

Links of interest: Gayle Forman website, more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile. April 2, 2009.
Hardcover, 208 pages. ISBN 0525421033
Copy Source: ARC given to me from Kings English Bookshop.
If I Stay is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

At the heart of this story is the bond of three twelve-year-old girls.  Our unnamed narrator and Neeka are forever changed when D enters their Queens neighborhood and quickly becomes their inseparable third.  But while Neeka and our narrator have grown up with each other and know everything about each other, D has a shroud of mystery about her.   And in addition to D literally walking into Neeka’s and the narrators life, Neeka’s older brother Tash is in jail for being in  he wrong place at the wrong time and her mother is learning to accept that he was gay.

While the girls define their own growing identities and friendships, they latch onto the life and lyrics of hip hop artist Tupac.   Tupac’s music gives the girls something to relate too.  To be able to take their life experiences and hear them expressed right back to them.  Music can speak volumes about the world.

It was hard to read anything about Tupac dying and not think about D. Seems D was right – you listen to Tupac’s songs and you know he’s singing about people like D, about all the kids whose mamas went away, about all the injustice.  Brenda throwing away her baby, the cops beating some brother down, the hungry kids, sad skids, kids who got big dreams nobody’s listening to.  Like over all that tie and distance he looked right across the bridge into Queens, New York – right into Desiree’s eyes.  Strange how he saw her.

He saw her.

There was one thing that had me really surprised and that was the community, the girls and the mother all dismissed Tupac’s unethical actions as unimportant.  He was a fantastic role model.  Now I have no idea if he was a role model or not. I will thoroughly admit that reading After Tupac and D Foster is my first introduction to Tupac.  I know nothing of him, in fact, had never heard of him.  So I only know what has been shared in the plot narrative of the book.

But when Tupac is thrown in jail and then later killed, the mother  never discussed with her daughter why he was in jail. She dismissed it all to the “system.”  Not once did anybody ever question his actions.  Was he a victim of the system, not at fault?  It felt obvious from reading the book that he wasn’t golden but he was truly golden in the eyes of these girls.  What happens when our role models, although they may speak volumes to us in their words, aren’t the best people and are not the role models we should be following?   I would have liked to see a bit of exploration in that area.

I found this to be a a parallel to Neeka’s brother, Tash,  who was a victim to the system.  He was a fantastic role model for these girls.  He was trying to find his way in an unjust world and that unjust world put him in jail.  Did the girls never question Tupac’s actions simply because their only experience with the system had taught them that good people go to jail?  If you’ve read the book, I’d love your insight on this line of thought.

What was outstanding about this novel is the relationship between the three friends.  Loved it.  The narrators voice was perfect.  So true and believable.  All these characters were real, breathing people to me.  And I love it when that happens.  Jacqueline Woodson continues to be at the top of her game and Tupac and D Foster is one in her bibliography that you shouldn’t miss.

Links of interest:  Maw Books reviews of Hush, I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This, Show Way, Feathers, If You Come Softly, Behind You, Peace Locomotion, Locomotion, and Miracle’s Boys.  My experience meeting Woodson at LA Times Festival of Books.  More book blogger reviews.
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Publisher: Putnam Young Adult. January 10, 2008
Hardcover, 160 pages. ISBN 0399246541
Source copy: library
After Tupac & D Foster is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

Jack describes himself as a criminal mastermind but with an unfortunate amount of bad luck.  He was born to scheme and spent his childhood thinking up one caper after another.  But when one caper goes too far and results in him both being a wanted man and a disappointment to his mother, Jack leaves the city for the wild west where he meets Rapunzel.  Of course, you have to check out Rapunzel’s Revenge for that adventure.

Calamity Jack picks back up with Rapunzel and Jack on their way back to the city where Jack discovers that the Giants have not only taken over the city but are also holding his mother captive as ransom.   Jack must try to make up for his past deeds, rescue the city from doom, regain his mothers trust, and not lose Rapunzel’s love in the process.

While I enjoyed Rapunzel’s Revenge more than Calamity Jack, it’s still a fun story.  Honestly, I just couldn’t get past the idea of giant ants in the story.  But that’s me talking as an adult and let’s face it, kids will think that giant ants are the most awesome thing ever!  I think I mentioned this in my Rapunzel’s Revenge review, but I’m not totally in love with the illustrations as I would have preferred cleaner and simpler lines. But as a graphic novel should, half of the story is in the illustrations and I lingered over them.

Very whitty dialouge and fun bantering with a lot of action adventure make Calamity Jack a worthy retelling of the Jack and the Beanstalk story.

I went to the launch party for Calamity Jack, so check out my post with video if you missed it!

Links of interest:  Maw Books review of Rapunzel’s Revenge, Rapunzel’s Revenge launch party, The Actor and the Housewife, Austenland, Book of a Thousand Days, and Princess Academy. Maw Books interview with Shannon and her yummy zuchinni soup.  Shannon Hale’s website, Dean Hale’s website, and Nathan Hale’s blog.
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Graphic Novel
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books. January 5, 2010
Hardcover, 144 pages. ISBN 1599900769
My copy source:  purchased
Calamity Jack is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

Elsewhere is a story about the afterlife.  Liz is almost sixteen when she’s hit by a  car and killed.  She awakens to find herself on a cruise ship, headed to Elsewhere.  It’s there that she meets her grandmother and discovers that everybody ages backward until they are ready to be born again.  How could I forget that?  The premise certainly is unusual.  I don’t remember ever wanting to put it down.  It held my interest.  I wouldn’t tell people not to read it because I think many teens will like it.  But it’s not one that stuck with me for long.  Oh, yeah.  And there’s talking dogs.  I don’t like talking dogs.

Links of interest:  Gabrielle Zevin website, more book blogger reviews.
Genre:  Young Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy
Publisher:  Square Fish, May 15, 2007.  (original publication: August 11, 2005)
Paperback, 304 pages.  ISBN:  0312367465
Copy source: Library
Elsewhere is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

A family tragedy which is slowly revealed in the story has torn her family apart.  Her father is out on an inopportune extended business trip and calls all the time but when he does Mazzy just hangs up on him.  He has no idea how bad things have gotten at home.  Her mother is severely depressed and lies in bed comatose every day.  This leaves Mazzy very much on her own with neighbors who do try to look out after her.  Social services is also suspicious and Mazzy has to deal with the stress of trying to keep her family together – at least what’s left with it.

Everything is Fine is told in a very sparse prose.  A style which I found refreshing but many might find disconcerting.  It’s also told through the random stream of conscience of Mazzy.

He calls back and I let it ring.
He calls back again and I let it ring.
He calls back again and I finally answer.
He says:  Mazzy, I am going to say one more thing and then you can hang up.nes
I pick my toenail and lie on the couch.
He says: Your mom and I love you very -
But then I hang up again.
A rerun of Judge Judy is on.

Dad and Mom used to dance.
Late at night when we were supposed to be asleep.
Mom would throw back her head and laugh and Dad would pick her up.
“Stop it, Dave,” she’d say.
“What?” And he twirled her around and around.
“You’re going to to hurt your back.”"Well, I guess I should stop, then,” he’d say, and keep twirling and twirling and twirling.
I used to lay on the floor and watch them from the hallway.
Watch them laugh.
I’d lay there until maybe Dad saw me and he’d say, “Well, looks like someone is in big old trouble,” and I’d scream “No!” and he’d put Mom on the couch, and her face.  I can see her face.
All giggly.
I’d start down the hall but he’d catch me.  He always catught me and then it was me laughing and twirling and everything was how it was supposed to be.
My mom  used to love my dad and my dad used to love my mom.
And they both used to love me.
He went for a one-week audition for ESPN 360.  One week became forever.

This book was so odd and so touching.  The whole time, I was reading it I kept thinking, this book is so weird!  But I loved it!  Ellis is an author to look out for.  She’s different.  And I love that.

Back when the book was released (March), I went to hear Ann Dee Ellis (another of our wonderful Utah authors) give a reading at The Kings English Bookshop.

I’m smiling funny but dang, she’s so cute! Can’t wait to see what she has coming up next.

Links of interest: Ann Dee Ellis website, more book blogger reviews, and Maw Books review of  This is What I Did by Ann Dee Ellis.
Genre: Young Adult
Published:  Little Brown Young Readers; March 1, 2009
Hardcover, 160 pages.  ISBN 978-0316013642
Copy source: Library
Everything is Fine is available from your independent bookstore, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

And to tell you the truth that’s all of the jacket copy I read.  Because I tend to only read the first sentence of jacket covers in fear of knowing too much about the book.  But that was just enough to make me anxious to dive into the book right away.  A book set during World War II.  Score!  A book set in India during World War II?  Double score! I’ve never read a book set in India during the war that I can recall.

Let me go ahead and share the rest of the summary from the dust jacket with you.  Simply because I’ve written three reviews in a row tonight and well, despite my own avoidance of them, this particular summary does a fine job.

When tragedy strikes, Vidya and her brother, Kitta, are forced to move into a traditional household with their grandfather and their extended family, where men live separately upstairs and the women who live below are meant to be married, not educated.

Breaking the rules, Vidya finds refuge in her grandfather’s second-floor library.  There she meets Raman, a young man also living in the house.  Surprisingly, he treats her like and equal and encourages her intellectual curiosity.  But soon it’s clear Raman wants more than just friendship, and when Kitta makes a shocking choice the family cannon condone, Vidya’s life becomes a whirlwind of personal and political complications.  Will she be strong enough to survive the storm?

What a wonderful book.   I loved Vidya sneaking upstairs and reading Oliver Twist, Hans Brinker, Ivanhoe, Pride and Prejudice, The Mayor of Castorbridge and more.  I loved how Vidya defied all conventions that was expected of her.  She desperately wanted to go to college, she did not want to get married young, and she wanted to be treated as an equal with her male counterparts.  I hated that women in her society were meant only to serve the men.  Vidya wanted so much and stood up for her rights.  I love a girl who can stand up for herself.   I desperately wanted to see her hopes and dreams come true.

A great historical fiction novel set in India.  It was wonderful.

Links of interest:  Padma Venkatraman website, more book blogger reviews.
Genre:  Young Adult Fiction
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile.  May 1, 2008.
Hardcover, 256 pages. ISBN 0399247467
Climbing the Stairs is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.