A return to small town Texas

First off, I read ALL. THE. TIME. but I don't make time to write on my blog...hardly ever. I love lots of books that I don't ever write a post for, but if I do write a post, take notice. As a side note, my last entry was about an installment in Stephanie Tromly's Trouble series. I finished her third (and *gasp* last book in the series) a few weeks ago. Trouble Never Sleeps wasn't nearly as good as the first two, but it was more Digby, and I'll always love that character.  While book three neatly ties up the mystery that spanned the three books, I'm not convinced that Tromly hasn't left the "door" at least unlocked for another book featuring Digby and Zoe. If you read the other books, go ahead and finish the series. Because, you know, Digby.

But this post is not about that. It's about Puddin' by Julie Murphy, a companion novel to Dumplin'. A few weeks ago I accidentally discovered that Puddin' had been written. I quickly requested it from the library and was beyond giddy when my email came a few days later letting me know my hold was ready for pick-up. Honest to God, I squealed when I opened the email! Why? Because while I wanted to be critical of Dumplin', I loved it. I'm cautiously excited that it will be released as a movie later this year, and I love Murphy's writing.

I'm glad I read Puddin' two years after reading Dumplin'. I couldn't remember the details of the supporting cast, which is probably best. Had I read these two books in quick succession, I wouldn't have enjoyed Millie and Callie nearly as much. Puddin' opens almost exactly a year after the opening of Dumplin' and is told from alternating characters. Millie is sugar coated optimism, 100%. The kind of nice that I'd roll my eyes at in real life, but she's so sincere and genuine that I forgive her for being so nice. Millie has been sent to fat camp for several summers and she has decided this is the year she puts her foot down and tells her mom, "No!" Millie has accepted her body and what it will never be and has moved on to achieving her dreams and goals even if society says fat girls can't have it all. Honestly, more power to her but this was one of the only things that didn't quite ring true for a 17 year old. I'm 40 and I've only just started to come to this acceptance in the last few years. But hey, fiction!

Callie is seriously the kind of girl I judge and judge hard. She's co-captain of the school's dance team, popular, catty, has a rich boyfriend...you get the picture. And very, very early on in the book she takes part in vandalism of the local gym that had to drop their sponsorship of the dance team because of financial difficulties. Callie then has the nerve to act justified in her actions and surprised and furious at her punishment of the crime. I hated Callie for a good portion of the book knowing full well that Julie Murphy was going to redeem her...somehow. And if I'm honest, I kind of resented Murphy knowing she was going to make me care for her character. But that's what Murphy does best. She makes you care and believe in her characters.

Millie and Callie are forced into spending time together and that's where all the magic takes place. Puddin' has a lot of great messages about second chances and finding the friends we need, but the best thing about this book is that the characters find the courage to be who they really are and not what society expects them to be. Of course, I have some favorite moments. Like the scene where Millie uses her sweet talking to manipulate Callie's mom into relenting on her grounding for a night. It's hilarious as told from Callie's point of view. I also just loved that the old characters from Dumplin' are an important part of the story and Mitch, sweet Mitch, who had his heart broken by Willowdean gets a happy ending too.

Read this book. It's different from the first. Less splashy and fun plot line. Nothing could really top a band of "misfits" entering a beauty pageant, but the character development of Millie and Callie and the redemption Callie achieves make the story just as compelling. In truth, I can't decide which I like more!

Looking for Trouble

I should have written this blog post long ago. As in the summer, when I read Trouble is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly. I knew however, that the sequel, Trouble Makes a Comeback, was set to be published in November and instead opted to write a post about both books this winter. I should have written it long ago...because I feel like a jerk for keeping this book from my public recommendation list for so long.

If I weren't the type of girl that is happy (for the most part) to live her love life vicariously through the characters in the pages of books, I'd probably have a long, long list of charming yet questionable guys in my life. Digby, the troubled, enigmatic, and completely adorable half of this series' main duo is no exception. In fact, I'm fairly sure I told my good friend and cousin, Jenn, that I would likely try to make out with him if I ever found myself in the same room. Yes, obviously I know the impossibility of this. I do, in fact know that he is the fictional character in a book. My point is, he is just my type of trouble and I am a huge fan!

Trouble is a Friend of Mine opens with Zoe having moved out of Manhattan to upstate New York after her parent's divorce. She's miserable and completely focused on impressing her stand-offish father by proving she deserves to be transferred to a prestigious private school where she'll be more likely to finish her trajectory as a future Princeton student. The trouble is, she meets Philip Digby when he rings her doorbell and basically admits he's been watching her through the window. It's not what you think...seriously. The trouble is, she gets entangled with  Digby when he sits next to her at an intervention meeting with the truancy officer because she skipped class.

Digby inserts himself into Zoe's life. He seems to be everywhere and before Zoe knows it, she's fully immersed in helping him investigate a missing girl. Digby's own younger sister went missing from her bedroom when he was only a little boy, and he thinks the crimes could possibly be connected. Zoe can't stay away or say "no" to Digby. At some point, she begins to feel responsible for him. She's clearly drawn to his ridiculous charm and lost puppy vibe.

The novels are full of hilarious supporting characters and ridiculous situations that seem simultaneously outrageously impossible and totally feasible. The chemistry between Zoe and Digby is palpable at times while remaining pretty true to the teen experience. The dialogue is zippy and fresh which makes the fact that Tromly's resume includes screenwriter no surprise. I loved the first book and adored the sequel even more, so I am wildly delighted that she has set herself up for another book. And I am a huge advocate for locking her in a room to write consistently until she has two or three manuscripts ready for immediate publication.

Read Stephanie Tromly's fast-paced teen mysteries. You won't be disappointed.

Doesn't everyone love a little Dumplin' sometimes?

Let's get something out of the way. I'm fat--have been chubby since before 5th grade and don't remember a time when I was skinny. The older I get, the less this descriptor bothers me because while I'm tons of other things, including pretty, fat is an accurate physical description. Before you see the color of my eyes or my sometimes purple hair, you see my size. It doesn't make sense to ignore it. I'm not offended if someone uses fat to describe me to someone who hasn't met me, just don't make it your only descriptor. People get uncomfortable when I use the word fat, but I'm not oblivious to my size, I don't ignore it.

Being fat is NOT the reason I picked up Dumplin' by Julie Murphy which seems to be marketed as a body positive story. I first heard about it at Chicago Public Library's annual Best of the Best event (an all day book lovers dream where librarians from multiple departments talk about their favorites from the previous year.) The book was described as a tale of misfits who enter the local beauty pageant as a sort of giant middle finger to the people running the event. When I made it halfway through the book before the misfits began to assemble into a group, I was disappointed. But I was compelled to keep reading because Murphy's writing is the kind that I love. It makes me laugh out loud, swoon, feel warm and fuzzy, and it makes me think.

Willowdean is fat, loves Dolly Parton, works at a fast food joint, adores her skinny best friend, Ellen, and has a mom who runs the local Miss Teen Blue Bonnet pageant in Clover City, Texas. The book opens just as her sophomore year is ending and pageant season is beginning. Will does not have a good relationship with her mother, misses her aunt who recently passed away, and is worried that she and El are drifting apart. To top all this off, she starts a secret make out relationship with the gorgeous star of the private school's basketball team and her coworker, Bo. Bo is sweet if really quiet and doesn't seem like he has some motive other than he really likes Will. In Bo, lies Will's biggest problem. She develops anxiety every time Bo holds her waist or lets his hands wander away from her face. And truth be told, she's a little mortified to realize that she's the kind of girl that thinks a guy can't or won't like her because of who is she is and how she looks without having to bend to societal norms of beauty. When Will accidentally finds out that Bo will be attending school with her in the fall, she can't stomach what others will say and think if she and Bo remain a couple, so she very sloppily ends their relationship that never really had a chance to start.

With the start of their Junior year, Willowdean catches Mitch's eye. He is genuinely a good guy: thoughtful, sweet, and not Bo. They strike up a friendship and Mitch definitely wants more and sometimes, Will does too. Will's relationship with her mom becomes so strained that she decides she will enter the pageant to honor her aunt who never did and to generally piss off her mom. Upon doing this, Will attracts the attention of a few other girls that don't fit into the pretty or popular mold, and they decide to enter along with her. This is where the story really takes off. Willowdean and Ellen get into an friendship ending fight, and for the record, I get how Will felt, but I think the rift between the two was all her. Bo decides he wants to pursue Will, and there is an epic scene that takes place between the two of them in a girls bathroom at school that had me holding my breath.

This book has one of the best supporting casts that I have read in a book in a long, long time. I can't even reveal them all in this post, but trust me, when the girls take a road trip after Will reads some of her aunt's old emails, you won't be disappointed. And then there are all things Texas in the book, like Homecoming Mums. Google image search them. They're real, hideous, hilarious, and could only exist in Texas! In the end, this was a book with a really good message about relationships and how we can mess them up and sometimes get the chance to fix them. Will's character arc is really interesting even if I can't be 100% on board with a girl who will string along two equally nice guys. Although her choices seem like they ring true for real life, I was still sad and disappointed when someone had to get hurt.

Don't read this book because you are fat or because you are on the body positive bandwagon. Read it because Julie Murphy's writing is great like when she writes, "I walk to my car as Bo's gaze follows me; the feeling of it starts as a ball of heat in my chest and spreads like a sunrise." Read it because it's a damn cute story that gives you all the feels!

** Notice my super cute dog, Max, photobombing my pic...he loves summer as much as me because he snuggles up with me all day while I read.

Fantasy, love, monsters and Russia?

Several months ago I took a chance on a book that appeared on the shelves of my fall Scholastic Book Fair. It was an older title and I had never heard of it. Everyday, as I stared at the shelves while selling books to the students, I kept getting drawn to it. There was something about the cover, something about the author's picture, something about the summary. So I purchased it and started reading. I immediately knew I wanted to write about it on the blog but refrained because there were two more books in the trilogy and I felt it was only right to wait until I had finished them all. Now, finally, eight months later, I've finished Leigh Bardugo's Grisha trilogy.

I won't share too much about the plot because the twists and turns are really quite good (and this comes from someone who has become a little hard to surprise.) The story takes place in the made up country of Ravka which appears to be a fantasy/alternate version of Russia. The main character, Alina is a mapmaker in the First Army who pines after her childhood best friend and fellow orphan, Mal, a gifted tracker, also in the army.  Ravka is ruled by three different (and unequal powers); the king, the Apparat (a religious leader), and the Darkling. The Darkling leads the Grisha an order of people possessing magical abilities that are treated as an elite class in Ravka. They are trained on the palace grounds and are used alongside regular soldiers in the unending war that rages in Ravka. The enemy of the war doesn't exactly seem to be with the surrounding countries, although the relationships across borders are definitely not friendly. The war instead is because of the Shadow Fold which separates the country's citizens with a terrifying place of complete darkness that is inhabited by flying monsters that eat human flesh. To say more is to reveal too much...and honestly, that's less than the jacket cover on the first book, Shadow and Bone.

Leigh Bardugo has created an entirely fictional world. Although Ravka is recognizable to me as a Russian-esque country, there really is nothing that specifically points to that except maybe the style of names that Bardugo gives her characters. Unless my research skills have failed me, she has made up all the terms and words that create her truly creepy and magical world...which really impresses me. The trilogy is full of magic, mythology, intrigue, adventure, personal angst, and truly interesting characters. The relationship between good and evil isn't always clear and separate. Eventually a love triangle is introduced and it might be one of the best I've ever read. At times I was rooting for different people and I was unconvinced that Bardugo could leave me satisfied. To be honest, I am sad that everyone couldn't have a happy ending. My only teeny, tiny complaint is that the afterward feels a little like the ending credits of a movie that shows how the characters are doing after their lives have changed after a disaster. But, this is teen fiction and I probably would have been upset if I didn't get at least some happy closure.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy. The romance is kept to a minimum and I have even pushed my brother, Robert to read the series. I once, a very long time ago told him to read The Hunger Games BEFORE Mockingjay was published (in my defense he only had to wait a handful of months for the final book) and he refuses to read a series that is not finished. This one is, although, Leigh Bardugo has started another series set in the same magical world of Grisha. This one is called Six of Crows and I'm looking forward to reading it. **So Rob, you've been warned. Don't read her latest book!

Fangirls Need Love Too!

Full disclosure: I am a fangirl. I am, I'll admit it. I regularly get lost in books and want to believe that the characters truly exist out in the universe somewhere. The book boyfriends of my past, Edward, Peeta, Four, Jace, and of course, my favorite, Jamie Fraser, all prove my complete geekiness. In my defense I'd like to say the reason for these obsessions is I'm a late bloomer since I never went "boy crazy" in junior high and high school, but I'm pretty sure I'm just wired as a hopeless romantic. Actually, another book lover and friend put it best when she said I was a pragmatic romantic. I fully know that these leading men are only on the pages of my books and that my life does not follow the plot lines that authors write. Not to worry, I'm not waiting around for my life to play out like a popular novel. 

Fangirl is the second book I've read by Rainbow Rowell. I read her beautiful novel, Eleanor & Park two summers ago. I've always regretted not writing a blog post about it, but I loved it too much at the time to be able to put it into words. I quite literally recommend, give, or lend it to most of my friends (and even mere acquaintances) who enjoy reading. I'll quickly say this, I was Eleanor in high school minus all the crazy family issues. But who she was at the core and what she thought of herself...that was me. And when I get to read a character that I see so much of the deepest parts of myself in, I fall in, head over heels. If you haven't read it, put it at the top of all your piles of books. It deserves it, you deserve it!

Fangirl was no different for me. My lovely (and totally awesome) cousin, Jenn, recently read Eleanor & Park and yelled at me in shouty capital letters on Facebook that the book was, "BREAKING MY HEART AND I NEVER WANT IT TO END" and that it "book broke" her (a new phrase for me that I love and will use forevermore. ~Thanks Jenn!) Her sentiments are exactly how I felt while reading Fangirl. I wanted to hurry up and finish but I wanted to stay with Cath and Levi and all the other characters for hundreds of more pages.

Fangirl is about Cath and Wren, twins just starting their freshman year of college in Lincoln, Nebraska. Cath is an introvert while Wren is not. Their mother left them and their manic father when they were in grade school which has left both girls with some obvious issues. Cath is confused and hurt when Wren says she doesn't want to room together. Instead, Cath's roommate is Reagan, a surly junior who's boyfriend, Levi, is always around pestering, teasing and making Cath nervous. Cath writes fan fiction for her favorite series of fantasy books that is really a loosely veiled Harry Potter (but what isn't?) Cath would probably readily admit that she'd rather be in the world of Simon Snow than the real world of campus living. The plot is so much more than that, but I don't want to say more because everyone should have the opportunity to experience it the way I did. Which actually pisses me off because I can't share one of my favorite things about the book since it will give away too much before you have even begun. Hmpf! I will say, it just added to my general feelings of awe toward Rainbow Rowell's ability as an author.

Since I won't say more about the plot, I will gush about how this book made me feel. I have little slips of paper marking scene after scene that just made me...sigh. If I was Eleanor in high school, I am Cath in college and beyond. Rowell knows me at my core. If we had ever known each other as adolescents, we would have been friends. Except of course, there is the fact that even though I love people and have learned to conduct myself in larger groups quite well, I'm actually much more of an introvert. So scratch that, Rainbow Rowell and I never would have gotten around to talking. We would have just secretly thought the other seemed pretty cool. 

Rainbow Rowell's writing about the boy-girl experience is so completely spot on. Cath describes her dorm room as feeling too small whenever Levi is there. Who hasn't felt like that when in the room with someone who oozes charming personality?! Or when Cath says, "Smiling is confusing. This is why I don't do it." when she isn't sure if she's flirting with her writing partner. Yeah, Cath. I agree, smiling can be confusing. And then there's, "Breaking news: Boys smell good." Yep, Cath! They sure do...especially when you're discovering you have the ability to flirt. If there are any guys reading this, let me give you a HUGE tip. If you happen to be chasing a girl who loves to read, takes some cues from Levi. He's got some great moves which include getting Cath to read to him all the time. It would probably work in real life too. Really, I could keep quoting Rowell's beautiful characters but you should just read the book and find all your own favorite quotes that speak to your heart. I rarely cry while reading a book, and Rowell made me cry. Twice. I saw it coming and it didn't matter. I cried and kept crying because we have all either experienced something similar or can at least empathize with the characters.

I love Cath. She's smart, a little clueless, a lot awkward and totally lacking confidence. All things I identify with. This book isn't just a love story between a girl and a boy. It's a love story for sisters, family, a pursued passion, and fictional worlds. Deep down, this book is about learning that it's good to step out of your comfort zone in order to discover that there is so much more in the world. This is something I'm still learning and I hope to continue learning for the rest of my life. Some day I would like to meet Rainbow Rowell face to face to tell her how much her words and characters mean to me. I want to hug her and say, "Thank you for writing and allowing me to see myself within the pages of a book."

This is summer...

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson was shimmering and magical. That’s really the only way I know how to describe it. Admittedly, the book isn’t for everyone and it definitely is not for tweens and middle schoolers. The less I say about the actual plot, the better because I think each person who reads it will bring their own ideas to the story and see it differently. This is one of the reasons why the book felt like magic. The story is realistic fiction but while I read it, I found undertones of fantasy. Again, there’s magic within the pages of this book.

Noah and Jude are twins and very much see themselves as NoahandJude. They are eccentric, artistic, passionate and feeling. The chapters alternate between Noah and Jude. In Noah’s chapters, the twins are 13; in Jude’s, they are 16. The brilliancy of the story is that we only know 13 year old Jude through her brother’s eyes and we only know 16 year old Noah through his sister’s eyes. Somewhere in between these years, tragedy has struck the family and both twins have done things that they regret deeply. Things they have done to each other and to the family. Noah and Jude each only have half the information as do the readers.

It’s as if the twins have switched places in each of their narrations. At 13, Jude is popular, wild, and mainstream while Noah is an outsider, socially awkward and trying to hide the fact or understand that he’s gay. At 16, the twins are barely speaking to each other and Noah is part of the “in” crowd, hanging out with girls and cliff diving while Jude is the outsider and “hiding” in her own skin under a self-described boycott of boys and love. At 13, Noah is a shoe-in to attend a prestigious art school while at 16, Jude is a student at the school while Noah no longer paints or draws.

The undercurrent of fantasy comes in how each twin tells their story. Noah is still an artist in his chapters and he regularly imagines how he would paint any given situation and titles these paintings. Being an artist myself, I love the names he gives these mind portraits because they are so spot on for the different emotions he goes through. Jude believes that she talks to her grandmother’s spirit while her mother’s spirit destroys her ceramic projects. The reader hears the voice of the grandmother through Jude’s storytelling and it sometimes feels as if we are meant to decide whether or not this is really happening.

Both twins have a love story to tell and this is where the real magic of the story lies. I will admit, I have never been in love, but everyone has felt that moment when you meet someone who feels like they are radiating sunshine directly onto you. Jandy Nelson’s writing in these moments is exquisite! Being around the object of your affection is described as your IQ taking a dip because you are so tongue tied, you trip over your words and everything you say sounds dumb. I mean who can’t relate to that feeling?! And then I think I actually might have swooned a bit when Noah says, “I’m thinking the reason I’ve been so quiet all these years is only because Brian wasn’t around yet for me to tell everything to.” Who doesn’t want that kind of connection with another human being?

I can get annoyed with a story when everything gets tied together in the end or if I can tell where the author is taking me, but that didn’t happen with I’ll Give You the Sun. Everything that gets revealed in the end, while it does come full circle, feels more like redemption than like the author rounding up all the story lines into one. Honesty is chosen over hiding oneself, relationships are repaired and characters are willing to admit that they are different and maybe better because of the bad that has happened. I didn’t love this book, I know it isn’t for everyone, I didn’t devour it, I took my time, but this book is staying with me and it touched me deep down. While these characters are typical melodramatic artists, they are people too and they allow us to see their humanity in the way they find love, worry over it, lose it, and find it again. 

Summer Reading

                                                           

Let's get something straight. I love being a teacher librarian. It is definitely the coolest job I've ever had and I currently work my dream job, but I'm not so old that I don't still have dreams of other professions. One dream is getting paid to read and review children's, young adult, and teen fiction. The older I get, the more I realize that we actually might not ever grow up. I dream on the regular about future possibilities and reinventing myself. Maybe this is part of the human experience or maybe this speaks more to my own personality. 

Since I still love working in a school environment, and I don't even know how to begin making a living as a professional reader/writer, I'll have to figure out a way to keep this blog updated more often. Writing makes me happy and trading in my current job for a new adventure while having a mortgage payment terrifies me.

So here I am, three weeks into my summer vacation with a seemingly endless pile of books for pleasure reading, and right now, summers off seems like the real reason I became a teacher. Of course, I became a teacher for other more noble reasons but really, by the time May and June hit, every teacher entered the profession because they have earned that massive vacation that seems as if it will never arrive. Any teacher that says otherwise is lying to you!

I haven't read anything worth writing about yet, but I'm about to start I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. I've heard amazing things about it. I'm looking forward to sitting next to a pool with it and hopefully writing about it later this week!