The Disreputable History of Franki Landau-Banks

There's a lot going on in Frankie's world. She has suddenly gone from being a skinny girl with frizzy hair to being the sort of girl who turns boys' heads. She's trying to keep up with her school work and debate club at the prestigious and exclusive Alabaster Academy. Her sister has moved on to college, and her father is busy networking with the "old boys" from his days at Alabaster. Her boyfriend is a senior on whom she has crushed for a long time.

So of course, following him around takes precedence over everything else.

Michael is involved in the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, a secret society her father had joined during his youth. Membership is, of course, limited to boys, but she follows the group and overhears some of their plans. She locates their "sacred text", The Disreputable History, and finds that while the group pulled a lot of pranks in the past, it has now devolved into a social/drinking organization. Determined to be a member despite her gender, she embarks on planning a serious of wildly elaborate pranks, e mailing directions to the members while pretending to be the president, Alpha.

The pranks are a success-- but Frankie starts to realize that while the Bassets enjoy the pranks, their main reason for being in the group is to bond with each other, and while she might be able to arrange the pranks, the patriarchal quality of the group will insure that she will never actually be a part of it. Frankie briefly owns some "girl power", but the important thing is that she realizes the disparities and starts to act on them. She has a lot of promise at the end of the book.

While this is written in an odd sort of voice (omniscient but oddly immediate narrator occasionally lapses into present tense), it has the distinction of being the only book I've read to successfully include e mail messages as part of the story. There are also some facets of Frankie's personality that are not adequately explained or developed, but perhaps that is because Frankie hasn't quite figured herself out yet. A slight drag in the middle of the book, before Frankie started the pranks, could be attributed to my extreme fatigue last night. I'll check with my daughter after she reads it.

Ultimately, I loved Frankie. She was intelligent, brash, eloquent, and inventive. She thought about her place in the universe, and when she was unhappy with it, attempted to change it. She makes the whole book smart. Well, that and the use of the word schadenfreude.

I didn't care much for Lockhart's other books, but can't remember why. Tempted to go back and read them again.

For an in-depth discussion of this book, check out:
http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=1225

For E. Lockhart's blog, check out:
http://www.theboyfriendlist.com/

Sic Transit Gloria Librorum

Phyllis Whitney's The Golden Unicorn (1976), enjoyed a nice circulation in the 80s, but has been gathering a bit of dust. It's a decent story, reminiscent of a sanitized but somewhat overwrought Nora Roberts. Courtney, a 25-year-old successful news writer whose adoptive parents have both been killed finds a clue that her real parents might be connected to a famous, reclusive painter. She makes arrangements to interview said painter, and spends time at her house along the beach. The extended family is hiding a variety of secrets and grudges, and these come to light in sometimes dangerous ways.

Thinking about fixing this one up-- the mylar cover is coming off, as is the front cover. The clothes and mores are dated (although the main character has a career, there's some noise about women marrying well and not working), and there is a tone to the whole story like something that would have been excerpted in Redbook in 1973. Was leaning heavily toward deaccession, but then checked out the author web site:

http://www.phyllisawhitney.com/main_page.htm

And found out that Ms. Whitney passed away just this February at the age of 104. I think I'll make the minor repairs and trot this one out next year and see what the students think.

At least the book is not gratuitously vulgar, like David Hernandez's Suckerpunch. I understand that it falls into the category of "gritty", considering the main plot is about two boys trying to prevent an abusive father from moving back home, but there were just several sexual references that were disturbing and completely unnecessary. Didn't finish, not buying.

Various Titles, Apparently Cranky Librarian

A.M. Jenkin's Repossessed has appeared on several lists-- quick picks for reluctant readers and the like. Great cover, interesting premise (demon comes and takes over boy's body), and for some odd reason I could notpick it up. Older Daughter read it and had the same reaction, and then she said "But I don't think it's appropriate anyway-- the main thing the demon wants to do with the boy's body is have sex." Sooooo... this goes in the "thanks but no thanks" pile.

The same is unfortunately true with Robin Benway's Audrey, Wait!. Some clever writing (loved the opening paragraph, a description of how a popular song is embraced by various people) and I loved the premise (Girl breaks up with musician boyfriend who is then inspired to write a song about the event. The song becomes a hit, and the girl is catapulted to notoriety.), but the first chapter was liberally sprinkled with the f bomb, and there is some middle school inappropriate discussion (again) of sex. This said, Older Daughter is enjoying the book.

Shanahan's The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious Year that I Truly, Completely Lost It appealed to me so little that I started to suspect that my dislike of Australian titles is somehow on par with my dislike of talking animals and that I should try to work through it, so I tested it on about ten girls at school, and none of them wanted to pick it up either. The original title is My Big Birkett.

I did read Siobhan Vivian's A Little Friendly Advice, and I liked the feeling of tension that was built up throughout the novel. Ruby turns 16, and her father, who left without a word 6 years earlier, shows up. She deals with this by celebrating a little too hard with her friends (the casual use of alcohol and the lack of consequences didn't thrill me, although Ruby develops a dislike of drinking because of the episode), and is in a funk for most of the book, until she finds out the real reason for her parents' breakup, which her best friend knew. This reason seemed to be a little anticlimactic. I liked Ruby and her friends, but something about the plot didn't do it for me. Not sad enough for the fans of sad literature, but too depressing to be happy.

An Na's The Fold was a very interesting examination of one culture's ideas of beauty, and how that idea impacts one young girl. I'd heard about the was an Asian concern that eyelids without a fold were somehow less appealing, and that some Asian women get plastic surgery to create a fold, so it was helpful to read this and get more insight into the phenomenon. However, I didn't like the main character. Joyce is misguided on many issues, a bit whiny, and although she finally decides against getting the surgery that her aunt has offered as a gift, it doesn't seem that she has really come to accept herself all that much.

My main criterion for buying a book is getting something that students want. Students do ask for a huge variety of things, so when I read a book, I think "Which student would I hand this to?" I'll buy things for a small, specific audience, but if I can't think of a single student who would grab it, I can't buy it. This results in boxes of new books that are usually all checked out within 24 hours. I would like to be able to buy books (like Climbing the Stairs) just because I liked them or I thought they were good, but I just don't have the budget. *Sigh*

Linda Gerber LIVE!!!

Linda Gerber was here at Blendon for our career fair! She is very fun to hear and passionate about her writing. The students were thrilled (although sad that I don't have her new book Death by Bikini yet), and Linda graciously answered questions about her writing and experiences for this

First Ever Author Interview!!!:

Ms. Yingling: In The Finnish Line, you write passionately about women being allowed to ski jump. When you were in middle school, in what sports did you compete, or want to, and how did Title IX affect your opportunities?

Linda Gerber: Alas, competitive sports and I were not a good mix in middle school. I still remember the day we were doing archery and I shot my arrow right into the tennis courts where the boys were doing their tennis unit. (Yes, where I went to school, boys and girls took P.E. separately. The girls had to wear these totally embarrassing one-piece gym uniforms but boys got to wear t-shirts and blue shorts. How fair is that?)

I watched Title IX in action as more and more girls challenged stereotypes and discrimination and fought their way into sports such as football and wrestling. It gave me the courage to challenge my own boundaries.

When I started writing _The Finnish Line_, I /didn't know/ women ski jumpers weren't allowed to compete in the Olympics. I couldn't believe
it! Mo's story took on a whole new meaning then.

Ms. Yingling: You have two Students Across the Seven Seas titles. What is the most important thing you have learned from studying other cultures? What do you think is the most important thing for students in the United States to learn about different cultures?Linda

Linda Gerber: I've lived abroad twice and my kids attended an international school in Japan with students from 17 different countries and do you know what I noticed? We're all the same! We might look different and have different customs, religion and/or beliefs, but we all want to be happy, safe and loved. Those different things about us make us interesting and unique, not bad or wrong. So many of the world's problems could be solved if everyone learned that one, simple fact.

The same thing goes within the boundaries of a middle school, no matter which neighborhood you live in or where you buy your clothes or what sport you play or the kind of music you like to listen to.

Ms. Yingling: Do you feel that you write your characters, or do they write themselves and assume a life of their own, sometimes surprising you? Who is your favorite book character, either one you have written or one you have readLinda

Linda Gerber: That's a tough one. Some characters come to me fully-formed and ready for action. Others are coy and make me work for every detail and nuance of their personality. They all do take on a life of their own. If they didn't, I'd be worried. My daughter still laughs at the day I was writing the ending to one of my upcoming books and I started to cry because I didn't know one of the characters was going to do what he did and it completely took my by surprise.

Choosing a single favorite book character is too much like choosing a favorite child. It's impossible! From my own work, I really liked Baba and Jiji from Now and Zen because they were patterned after our adopted Grandma and Grandpa in Japan.

Favorite characters from a book I recently read... Cammie Morgan from Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls series because she's fun to follow. And I adore Artemis Fowl and about anyone else Iain Colfer creates. And Vlad from Eight Grade Bites. Oh, and Gilda Joyce! See? I can't choose just one.

************
Death by Bikini is being followed soon by Death by Latte and then Death by Denim, which Linda was rushing home to work on when she left here! Keep an eye on this fabulous new young adult author!

Climbing the Stairs

I very much enjoyed Padma Venkatraman's story of a girl struggling against social conventions in India during World War II. Vidya's father, a doctor, does not care about the strictures of the family's Brahmin caste, and is willing to continue her education to include college. However, when he is critically injured in a protest against the British, the family must move in with the rest of the family, who believe that women should only be married. Vidya finds the library at her grandfather's house, and is allowed to read there. This is a great picture not only of how women were treated in another place and time, but also a good depiction of what was going on in India during World War II. I can't think of anything else I've read set then.

However, I probably won't buy this. I have a lot of great Indian fiction, and it's not something that is asked for a lot.

Two books with chocolate on the cover

Tricia Rayburn's book, The Melting of Maggie Bean, is a good addition to books about eating disorders, which are wildly popular among 7th grade girls especially. Maggie is a very overweight girl who eats vast quantities of chocolate to cope with her father's unemployment and the general unhappiness of her family life. She wants to try out for the Water Wings, the school synchronized swim team, because she is a good swimmer and her mother helped start the team, but is afraid because of her weight. Her parents make her go to a weight loss support group, and she starts the long process of losing weight, exercising, and trying to improve her life. Some of this book stretches credulity a little (Are swim teams really that popular?), but in general is a good addition to weight issue fiction.

Loved the cover of Rebecca Sparrow's The Year Nick McGowan Came to Stay, but there really was very little mention of chocolate. There were, however, a distractingly large number of references to 1980s pop culture. Set in 1989, and in Australia to boot, I couldn't get into this story of a girl whose father volunteers to keep a problem student at their house because he was no longer accepted as a boarder at the school because of discipline problems.

Pirates of the Retail Wasteland!!!

Adam Selzer has a warped and very funny sense of humor. Like How to Get Suspended and Influence People, this book walked that very fine line of almost inappropriate, and never tipped far enough over that parents would complain. It also lent itself to reading aloud and guffawing, which is why I don't have it in front of me to quote-- older daughter tried to rip it out of my grasp but I won, so she is reading it now.

Leon and his friends are upset that Sip, their favorite coffee house/hang out might be forced out of business by Wackford's, a chain coffee house whose primary purpose seems to be to house corporate drones working on lap tops. They plan, with the help of the "McHobo" manager, to take over on one Saturday, turn Wackford's into an office, and film the resultant chaos for a school project. This seemed somewhat far fetched, but it really didn't matter because the sub plots were so much fun.

Leon has the best parents in teen literature. They embarass him gleefully and with abandon. The father's attempt to create hair dye that adheres to hair but not skin results in a green mohawk, and later, no hair at all. They are still cooking out of vintage cookbooks and dressing the part as well. They aren't mentioned a lot, but I adore them.

There's some girlfriend issues, some hysterical poetry attempts to get the gym teacher to quit (the reworking of Ginsberg Howl begged to be declaimed out loud), and line after line that made me giggle. My only problem with this book is that I'm afraid that my daughter may try to start collecting tacky vintage album covers to decorate her walls.

Assorted Titles

Some books are fine but don't meet my needs. Looked at (but did not read entirely) four fantasies aimed more at girls last night. Since I have plenty of those, I think I'll pass on:

Coombs-- The Runaway Princess. Maybe for elementary collections, where girls are enthralled with princesses. The princess in this is atypical-- brave and boisterous-- but I prefer The Enchanted Forest Chronicles for that.

Levine-- Ever. Love this author, but not this one. High fantasy with completely made up world, lots of made up words (for stuff like mother and father, which just irritated me), and then people peeing on the grass. Lost me about there.

Selfors-- Saving Juliet. Time travel is almost impossible to sell, and I have at least two other time travel back to the time of Shakespeare books (one is by Susan Cooper). I would like it, but it would gather dust in my library. Great cover, too.

Wilce-- Flora Segunda. Liked the title and the premise, but it was a bit too self-consciously quirky for me.

Terhune--Lad, a Dog. Mine is an anniversary edition; the original is from 1919. Considering how old it is, it reads pretty well, and I'm always short on dog stories. If modern books were bound this well, I wouldn't be gluing 20 books a week back together. I will keep for texture.

Swift-- Gulliver's Travels. Not a big circulator, but I do have the occasional student who wants a challenge, and this is pretty interesting as, again, older things go. I have a weird Whitman-like binding printed in Romania, but again, will keep for texture.

Stevenson-- The Unprotected Witness. Sequel to Bones in the Cliff, which I liked a little more, but this was an easy to follow mystery that will appeal to students who read the first book.

I think that R.L. Stine is the next big frontier in my alphabetical reading, and as all the books come back I will make sure I have read everything before that. There are a couple of sequels that I have missed as they came in, since students were waiting so eagerly for them.

Clare's City of Bones

You think you're having a rough day? Clary goes out with her friends to a club and sees a boy murdered by two Shadowhunters-- only he isn't a boy, but a demon. Later, Clary gets a panicked call from her mother, telling her not to come home. Clary does, of course, only to be set upon by a demon and rescued by the very Shadowhunters who killed the demon in the club. Things only get worse-- she finds out that her mother had a relationship with a Shadowhunter gone bad-- Valentine, who wanted to find the Mortal Cup and use it to turn children into his own private army. Downside of that? Most of them would be killed. Clary finds out that she herself is part of this world of demons and demonhunters, even though her mother tried very hard to keep her from realizing it.

There's plenty of action in this book, some romance (Clary's long time friend Simon versus the hot but smarmy Shadowhunter Jace) and some clever twists on the whole vampire-witch-fairy stories that the teens seem to adore. At first, I thought it would be a self-involved Goth tale (starting out at the club put a bad taste in my mouth), but it improved. Some of the writing is very clever. Hearing the suggestion that Valentine sent the demon after Clary's mother because "maybe he wants to get back together", Jace says "It wouldn't be my move. First the candy and flowers, then the apology letters, then the ravenous demon hordes. In that order."(Page 153)

With the exception of a drawn out battle for Simon after he gets himself turned into a rat, the book improved steadily from the begining, and in the end, I liked the book. Much better than Twilight, but not quite as clever as Blue Bloods. I will look forward to the sequel, The City of Ashes, which is already out, and The City of Glass, which comes out in March of 2009.

http://www.cassandraclare.com/
http://www.mortalinstruments.com/