Winter Girls

     Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson is one of the most intense books I have ever read.  When Lia and Cassie's families begin falling apart, the girls try to control the only thing they can control in their lives - their weight.  They make a vow to one another to be thin.  Cassie does not have the willpower that Lia has, so she resorts to bulimia.  She loses her life in a dirty hotel room, alone, after calling Lia 33 times.  The guilt is excruciating for Lia and her own demons return to haunt her.  Not only does she begin starving herself again, she is also haunted by the ghost of Cassie.  Lia is a lost wintergirl, not dead, but not alive either.  Everyone tries to help her come back from this living death, but only Lia can decide if she will take the easy way out and join Cassie or if she will fight hard enough to live.
     This book touched me deeply.  I loved a wintergirl and she killed herself seven years ago.  I know how hard this world is when your eyes see things that just aren't there.  It is so hard to see girls struggling so hard to be enough in a world that has no place for imperfections.
     The writing is brutal and stark and poetic and beautiful and hauntingly painful.  I couldn't get Lia out of my mind for days.  Every time I picked up the book, I couldn't stop reading.  It was hard to leave her lost in the winter until I could pick up the book again.
     Some people told me they felt this book was inappropriate for girls because it gave them ideas about anorexia and bulimia.  I think the issues go so deep that a book is not going to push someone into this life.  It is not glamorized, but Lia does have ways to convince people that she is fine when she is clearly not.  I would definitely read the book before suggesting it for a teenager to see if it was appropriate for him/her.
     This book was haunting and changed my life profoundly because I now understand the world through a wintergirl's eyes.  Although Lia will stay with me for a very long time, I am glad that I can leave her world.  Here's to the wintergirls.  I hope this book helps us change our views of weight, beauty, and perfection.  

The Sense of an Ending

     The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes frustrated me.  It is a metaphysical book that deals with human emotions of guilt, loss, and rejection.  However, it holds itself above the world of banal emotions and never allows the reader to truly feel anything.
     The plot is slow to develop, although it covers a lifetime in 163 pages.  With a slow plot, distant characters, and philosophical wanderings, it is a difficult book to read.
     The ending was disturbing and reinforced my opinion of the entire book.  Although I learned to dislike Veronica through Tony's eyes, I wondered why she chose to pay for the sins of the people she loved.  Did she feel the guilt of the stupid mistakes we all make when our whole life is ahead of us without the wisdom to tread lightly?
     

Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Peanuts

     I love this title!  It pretty much sums up my life, and the fact that it was a birthday gift from my brother makes it even more perfect.  This book of wisdom pairs up a lesson on the left with an example cartoon from Peanuts on the right. 
     One lesson is "How to Eat Ice Cream" and shows Snoopy and Woodstock eating ice cream together on top of Snoopy's dog house.  Snoopy says, "I always have the vanilla on the bottom and the chocolate on the top."  When Woodstock answers, Snoopy replies, "You like to have the vanilla on top and the chocolate on the bottom?  That's interesting.  It takes all kinds to make a world."  What a wonderful world it would be if we could all see that we like different kinds of ice cream, but it takes all kinds to make a world. 

43 Old Cemetery Road: Dying to Meet You

     Ignatious B. Grumply is a grumply old man who has had writer's block for 20 years.  He rents a home for the summer so he can finally write the next book in his ghost series.  He discovers he is also living with a young boy, the boy's cat, and a protective ghost named Olive.  They will have to learn to live together or "die" trying. 
     This is a really quick read.  The book is told through letters, newspaper articles, drawings, reports, and advertisements.  Each character has a chance to share his or her point-of-view through the different medium used through the book.
     It is a great book if you have a child in upper elementary that enjoys books or for a read-aloud with mom and dad.  Even though it is short, it isn't a good choice for struggling readers.  Ignatius has a huge vocabulary, and he uses words like "beseechingly" and "conciliatorily."  The change in medium every few pages also makes it a struggle for some readers, but a delight for others.  A cute love story told in an original way.       

Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25

       The bullies finally push Michael too far and he shocks them with electricity.  Unlike a taser, Michael's electricity comes from the inside.  The cute cheerleader, Taylor, sees what happens and begins to probe  Michael's secrets.  After discovering they both have super powers, they begin investigating their pasts.  They were born at the same time in a California hospital testing new MRI technology.  They are shocked to discover that of the fifty-nine babies born there with them, only seventeen survive.  Taylor and Michael are two of the lucky ones.  Unfortunately, Dr. Hatch has left the information on the Internet to lure in the missing teens.  Dr. Hatch kidnaps Taylor and Michael's mom, knowing Michael will try to rescue the women he loves.

     This book was a little slow to start, but once it got started, it was hard to put down.  The characters were interesting, especially the teens living in Dr. Hatch's laboratory.  The teens powers were all very different, including the way they used their powers for good or evil.  I liked the way the bullies in the story became the ones helping Michael on his mission.  The only thing I didn't like was the almost sadistic side of power being shown at the end of the book.  

     I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to adults and teens who enjoy science fiction/fantasy or action/adventure.  At 326 pages, it is a more difficult book for reluctant readers, but with a great book talk or movie trailer, many would be willing to give it a shot.  

  

The Lost Hero

      Rick Riordan is now officially one of my all-time favorite authors.  This man is an incredible writer.  I wish I had written this book!
     The Lost Hero is the first book in The Heroes of Olympus series.  I loved the characters in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, so I was leery of a new set of characters.  I knew from the first sentence that I would love these characters just as much as Percy, Annabeth and Grover - "Even before he got electrocuted, Jason was having a rotten day."
     The story alternates between three characters, which is confusing at first.  I would just get into this character's story and then it would switch the point-of-view.  It took a while, but once I got to know the character's better, I was able to keep them straight.  I liked getting to know the perspectives of the three characters.  I did miss the funny chapter titles that Rick Riordan used in the first series though - like "I Accidentally Vaporized my Pre-Algebra Teacher."
     I loved the new monsters/bad guys.  It was fun to see how King Midas would survive in the modern world.  Of course, with all of our current greed, he fit right in.  I also loved Medea and her department store of gently used items of dead demigods.  I was alternately disgusted, sympathetic, and intrigued by her character.  I also liked Aeolus - the Lord of the Winds.  It turns out that the weather is controlled by the God's whims and their needs to reward or punish mortals.  Aeolus runs a weather channel that updates every 12 minutes and he is literally going insane from updating the weather as the Gods change their minds about the weather patterns. "We'll have a low-pressure system moving over Florida today, so expect milder temperatures since Demeter wishes to spare the citrus farmers..."  He tapped his earpiece.  "Sorry, folks!  Poseidon is angry with Miami today, so it looks like that Florida freeze is back on!  Sorry, Demeter.  Over in the midwest, I'm not sure what St. Louis did to offend Zeus, but you can expect winter storms!"
     It is a long book, but the action, humor, and well-developed characters make it a fun read.  I recommend it to all kids, teens, and adults that love fantasy or Greek/Roman mythology.  One of the best books Rick Riordan has written so far.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

     Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children may not have been the best book to choose while I was sick, but it seemed like a good one to distract me from my fever and coughing attacks.  It has been sitting in my pile for a couple of weeks, bought on the spur of the moment because the pictures and back of the book reminded me of Stephen King.  

     After witnessing the horrible murder of his beloved grandfather, Jacob sets out to understand his grandfather's dying words.  He discovers his grandfather Abe's fairy tales are true.  As a young Jewish boy, Abe is sent to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children to hide from the Nazis.  The orphanage is an ideal refuge until the Nazi bombing September 3, 1940.  The Nazis are soon overthrown, but new monsters take their place.  Abe is the only one who can see the new monsters, and he risks everything he loves to keep the monsters at bay.  Jason has unknowingly inherited his grandfather's gift and must save the children his grandfather leaves behind.           

     It is definitely one of the weirdest books I have ever read.  It has a bit of everything thrown into the mix: romance, horror, mystery, action, time travel, children with "freak show" abilities and the Nazis.  Unfortunately, the book tries to go too many places and loses its focus.  There are so many characters to keep track of, it is hard to feel for any of them, which is too bad because I want to feel for the kids.  The romance between Jacob and the girl his grandfather also loved is too much of an "ick factor" for me to get past, and the random sexual comments are too much for a recommendation to my students.         

     The photographs in the book are supposed to be actual photographs that people donated of peculiar children, and they are fascinating.  

     The book could have made a very cool allegory about monsters and the underlying truth of his grandfather's experience with the Nazis.  It also could have been a cool horror story.  It's too bad it tries to be everything and fails at all of them.  

     Tim Burton has bought the rights for the movie, so it will be interesting to see how it translates to the big screen.