The Sweet Life of Stella Madison by Lara M. Zeises

Stella is the only daughter of two foodies. Her father is a world renown chef and her mother is the owner of Open Kitchen a hip restaurant where the patrons get to interact with a wide variety of celebrity chefs and eat their yummy chef food. Stella, however, is not a foodie. Nope. Stella likes Burger King and hot dogs and Kraft macaroni and cheese. Then she gets a sweet intern gig at a local paper. The catch? She’s got to write about food. Fancy chef food. Foodie food. Things are about to change.

Add in a love triangle and you’ve got the general idea.

I liked this book. It was sweet, made me really hungry, and had me rooting for Stella (even though on occasion I wanted to shake her). She’s got great parents, even though they aren’t perfect, great friends, and normal everyday girl problems. She’s a very relatable character.

It’s got a cute cover too, which doesn’t hurt. I think this one will be popular with your middle school and high school girls.

Dinosaur Hour! by Hitoshi Shioya

This is one of a new crop of GNs for the younger crowd, and it has already acheived some recognition, including listing in SLJ's Good Comics for Kids Summer 2009 Reading List (www.schoolibraryjournal.com/blog/540000654/post/750045675.html)

Short skits introduce various dinos from the Permian to the Cretaceous periods, and while educational, this is by no means meant to be a learning experience! It is pure comedy.

For example, "The Mystery of the Feathered Dinos" features two protoceratops (feature players in many of the skits) discussing what velociraptors look like. One points out that "recent studies" show that raptors had feathers. So they begin to draw the scary, meat-eating dinos in the sand, adding feathers here and there. They finally collapse in giggle fits. And when one of them venture to an area known for raptors, the "truth" is even funnier than their imaginings.

The artwork must also be discussed in this manga. As a comedy, there are of course exaggerations and comic versions of many dinosaurs, but what is surprising is the accuracy and detail of them when they are not comedic. In places, Shioya acheives a realism that is rarily seen in comedy of this kind and the detail on the dinos shows just how much he adores them.

So, if you know a young dino lover with a great funny bone, here is the perfect book for him/her. And this is just volume 1!

Other reviews:

Comics Village

Graphic Novel Reporter

The Devil’s Paintbox by Victoria McKernan

Aiden and his younger sister Maddy are barely alive, eating mud now that the food has run out in their drought and fire ravaged homestead. Their family is dead. Their neighbors are dead or have left for more promising areas. When Jefferson J Jackson arrives on a horse one day, although Aiden doesn’t trust him, he’s quick to grab on to a chance for survival. He joins a wagon train headed for Seattle and indentured work as a logger once he gets there to pay off his and his sister’s travel debt.

McKernan doesn’t pull any punches in this novel. Life was bitterly difficult and she makes sure the reader knows it. Hardships, frequent death, starvation, violence, disease…The west was truly wild. For some reason I thought this was a western, shoot-em-up type tale and so I kept it on my TBR pile for quite a long time. I’m sorry I did that as I could have enjoyed this story so much sooner.

The writing was gritty and full of terse humor:

“Lot of people don’t make it. There’s a hundred ways to die on this journey.”
“Well,” Aiden said, “I do appreciate some novelty.”

I really liked Aiden. He was a tough kid, made so from a tough life in Kansas, from everyone in his family dying, from trying to keep his last sister alive. He’s quick with a bow and even quicker with a fist. He’s a hard worker, honest, and morally upstanding – occasionally too much so to be believable (but that was just with the ladies of the night…I mean come on).

I loved Jefferson J. Jackson the hard man who rounds up and commands the wagon train that Aiden joins. I loved him especially. Gritty and realistic with a soft side that can’t help but be exposed on occasion.

In all honesty, this was quite a thrill ride of a book. Wholly unexpected and made so much more enjoyable for the discovery.

***Spoilers***

The only thing that gave me any pause was that the author did rather a close dance to the prostitute with a heart of gold cliche. I thought she narrowly avoided it. Narrowly. Squeaked by. In contrast, I loved Ruby.

Cold Hands, Warm Heart by Jill Wolfson

This is the story, from start to finish of a heart transplant. We visit with the donor before they are a donor, we visit with her family as they make hard decisions. We learn about Dani, a girl who was born with her heart on the wrong side of her chest. We visit with her pre-op and post. Along the way we learn all about transplants and what they really entail and we laugh and cry and hope that we never need to be in such a position.

This was an extremely well written book. I really enjoyed how the author tied all the disparate stories together. I say that because many people think just about the person getting the organ, but in order for anyone to get an organ so many stories must also be put into play. The author takes what could become a saccharine movie-of-the-week plot and maintains just the right level of heightened emotion without ever devolving into a soppy sappy cry-fest (and you totally know the type of which I speak). There is crying (at least my eyes stayed pretty wet) but the story earns your tears.

This is a first rate book.

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

I picked up this one because an author (who shall remain nameless, but if you want to know I’ll let you know – but you are risking something of a spoilery nature – so if you want to risk it email me) said that this book influenced her on writing her newest YA book. In fact, don’t continue reading if you don’t want any spoilers on this book either.

Well. Let me say this book was very well written. However. However, I wanted to throw it against the wall in the exact same way I wanted to throw the “influenced” book against the wall. I don’t mean that in a bad way. Just there aren’t any answers once you finish. It isn’t tied up for you. There is so much left to interpretation. Which makes for suspenseful reading, bated breath, and, of course, the throwing of books against walls. (And in the interest of full disclosure I never actually threw either book, one was a library book, the other borrowed, and one shouldn’t trash things that do not belong to one’s self. I just wanted to do it.)

Anyhow. After reading this book, I was frustrated for an additional reason. It is all about nature vs. nurture. Was Kevin born bad? Was he a product of his mother’s dislike? Is he a psychopath? Or just a confused child? And by the end of the book, we don’t know. Kevin’s mother is certainly a bad mother. They never had a bond. However, Kevin’s dad dotes on him. He gets plenty of love, affection, etc. So I ruled out the lack of maternal affection creating pychopathy. Did lack of maternal affection make him an angry disaffected youth? Certainly. I was actually willing to believe that Kevin was born bad, until the end of the book where Eva (his mom) said that he reached out for her and she felt love for him for the first time. Which just chapped my hide. You can’t just one day develop the ability to feel love after spending your entire life not emoting. So either he was just an angry disaffected youth who always felt love, but did horrendous things or Eva allowed herself to be fooled at the end and he was, as he had always been, a total psycho.

And of course, we only have Eva’s opinion on the subject and she certainly isn’t an unbiased or completely trustworthy narrator. Maybe she beat the crap out of him everyday and just lied to us about it. Who knows? She was certainly unlikeable enough, but I feel reluctant to believe she lied about everything in the story.

I can totally see how this book influenced the recommending author. I picked it up hoping it would shed some additional light on her book. It did on the writing process certainly, but on the content? Alas, it did not. I will have to re-read her book and look for clues and hints. (And in case you are wondering, I LOVED the YA book I’m totally thinking Printz here.)

Gets you thinking anyhow. It would make a fantastic book club book for adults. It totally compells you to seek out other people's opinions on what happened. Which, for the record, seem to be pretty evenly divided.

Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow

Whew, been awhile. My computer died on me and it took me some time to replace it. Anyway, I did keep reading!

Dru has moved from place to place with her ex-military father, hunting creatures that the normal world doesn't know exist. She helps her dad through use of "the touch," a psychic ability that allows Dru to sense the supernatural beings. When he returns from a hunt as a zombie, Dru must decide what to do: find her father's killer, move on, or try to live a normal life. The creature that is now hunting her may make that choice for her.

I have to say that I liked the pace and the unique creatures that are in this story. It is not a paranormal romance, although I could see it going there in the future. It is definitely an action story. St. Crow weaves in some little used mythology in her story and makes it believeable.

Graves, the Goth boy who helps Dru decide what to do and gives her a place to stay, is probably the most likeable character. However, Dru's constant references to his "half-blood" status and features are obnoxious and borderline racist. Do we really need to be constantly reminded of his half-Asian features and mathematical abilities? It is a horribly overdone cliche for an otherwise great character.

Several reviews I read really like Christophe, the other main character, but I reserve judgement for later novels. Something about him really bothers me.....Just can't put my finger on it.

As for Dru herself, she is plucky and foul-mouthed, cynical and soft-hearted, knowledgable yet still in some ways quite innocent. She is complex enough to carry the story, but understandable and recognizable as a teenager who has lost her whole family and discovered that the secrets they kept are larger than the ones that they shared.

So, overall, not a masterpiece, but I do look forward to future installments. It is a good choice for all those Twilight lovers out there (with better writing and swifter plot). All in all, a new guilty pleasure for those of us who love our paranormal hotties.

Chasing Boys by Karen Tayleur

El had to change schools. It's been over a year and she's still not completely sure about it. She's holding out the hope that it is just temporary. That she'll be back in her old house, her old school, her old life asap. Meanwhile, she'll hold herself over with her secret (at least to him...or maybe not even to him) love Eric, her two friends Margo and Desi, and not talking to Leonard.

El is clearly depressed. It seems to be getting worse. Especially after Eric begins dating Angelique, a smart, nice, and gorgeous girl that El knows is clearly above her in every way. El begins to feel even more alienated from her life.

There is a lot to like in this book. El, for the most part is a great narrator. The chapters are short and kind of spare, they convey emotions precicely. El is a smart girl, even if she seems somewhat obtuse about the reality of Eric. The story has a nice arc and a believable resolution and there are a couple of plot twists, one which is clearly coming, the other which is not.

If I were talking to Leonard, which I'm not, I would ask him a question. "Leonard," I would say, "what sort of person makes up a rumor for the sheer pleasure of making someone else unhappy?" Then Leonard would look at me and clear his throat and do that tapping thing with his foot and I would get so annoyed that I wouldn't stay around for his answer. That's the trouble with Leonard. He's just so damn annoying.

My biggest complaint isn't actually about the writing at all. It is about the title and the cover. It isn't representative of the story at all. El is neither a chaser of boys nor is her story a chick-lit romp which, to me at least, the title and cover imply.

The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews

In full disclosure I must admit that I began reading Ms. Toews because, like her, I was also was born and bred in Winnipeg. Ok, I don’t really know that she was born there, but she certainly lives there. It makes me love her. The fact that she is an insanely talented writer certainly doesn’t hurt either.

The Flying Troutmans is the third of her books that I’ve read. It is also, in my opinion, the funniest. How she manages to write about such topics as severe depression and interject such madcap humor (and it really is madcap at times) is a feat. It is heartbreaking, heartwarming, and a wonderful emotional experience reading her stories.

Min, mother of two, has once again fallen into a severe depression and must be hospitalized. Hattie, her younger sister comes back from Paris to help out (just as she is dumped by her boyfriend who is going to an Ashram in India - he says they’ll communicate telepathically…). Thebes, insists on wearing a blue terry cloth short outfit, not washing, speaks as though she belongs in a 1990s hip-hop group, and makes giant oversized novelty checks. Logan is often silent, especially when he is carving cryptic messages into the van dashboard, stealing the van to shoot hoops, or creating personal ads for school assignments.

I am fifteen years old. I am a consistent B student and enjoy watching football and other things on television. I like gambling and am extremely wealthy. I enjoy films and music of all kinds. I like many different kinds of food and desserts including breakfast. I hate the cold and own many warm garments. I like people who are easy going and have a crazy sense of humour. No member of my family is “known” by the bolice and I am relatively well-adjusted.

Hattie, at a loss of what to do, decides to pack up the kids and take them on a road trip to find their father. Hijinx and heartfelt healing ensue. And if not healing, at least coming to terms with the reality of the situation.

We never really meet Min. We see her through the eyes of her family. We learn about her through shared stories and memories. We see that although she has struggled with severe depression her whole life, she is a force of nature. Her family loves her fiercely, even if they are at a loss about how to help her. One story that I particularly loved was how she hated her son’s kindergarten teacher. The teacher had called her and expressed concern that Logan didn’t know his colors or how to hop on one foot. She was incensed. Several years later she had a chance encounter with the teacher while he was waiting at the bus stop. She harassed him hopping on one foot telling him things like, “oh, look, it’s very important to be able to do this. Can you do this? Because if you are not able to hop on one foot you may as well kill yourself. Nobody will hire you. Nobody will marry you. Nobody will want to be your friend.” No wonder her kids idolized her despite her flaws.

This is one of those books that you want to share with everyone. It is that wonderful.

(A note on the cover, this is the UK cover. I just picked it because I liked it the best.)

Someone Please Explain...

How did we go from this:



To this???




I'm frightened.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe by Bryan Lee O'Malley

This image doesn't show the iridescence of the book cover. It's such a beautifully shiny shiny cover for my darling Scott Pilgrim. Hooray for volume 5!

Scott has 3 more of Ramona's Evil Ex-Boyfriends left to defeat. This volume he gets a double whammy with the Katayanagi twins Kyle K (Handsome Jerk) and Ken K (Perfect Asshat). They're Japanese. They're hot. And they build robots! YES. Robot Fights. Scott battles robots. !!!!!!

This volume, though, is more about Ramona and whatever darkness she has in her past. We've been wondering what's up with her and these boyfriends all this time. Since there's 1 more volume left, we don't get any answers here. The usual gang is split up since the focus is Ramona and Scott. Not enough Young Neil or Wallace for me this time. I think the biggest shocker for me was Kim and her decision to move. She's pined for Scott (Kim Pine, get it?) and then there's that bit with Knives.

We'll have to see if the gang bands together to help Scott & Ramona with his last challenge - Gideon.

This series is going to be made into a movie, so if you haven't already ordered it for your collection, hop to it!

Oni Press, 2009

(also, for you librarians if you missed it)