Teen Writers Bloc

I discovered the first Herbert’s Wormhole by accident last year, and I immediately fell in love. The book had everything an immature child at heart like myself could want: time travel, aliens, absurd humor, video games, and silly wigs. I loved the book so much that I immediately had to get on Teen Writers Bloc and sing its praises. So when I heard that there was going to be a sequel, I immediately pre-ordered it. Well, it finally arrived and did not disappoint! Without giving too much away, at the end of the first book, our heroes Alex, Herbert, and Sammi had saved the future through an elaborate scheme involving video games and the earth’s amiable conquerors, the Australian accented G’daliens. As Herbert’s Wormhole: The Rise and Fall of El Solo Libre opens, the kids are living the good life, being lauded as heroes by humans and G’daliens alike. But the evil yet pathetic no-good G’dalien Gor-don is still out to get them. Gor-don’s plot involves stuffing his tentacles into high heels and pretending to be a human woman, a disguise which everyone takes at face value, much like that episode of Pinky and the Brain where Brain pretends to be Cher by wearing stilts and a wig. Anyway, the plot isn’t actually all that important. What’s important is that we get more absurd, childish humor involving silly wigs, alien nonsense, and bad puns. In fact, the whole book is worth reading just for the fact that the evil alien bullies are after some valuable substance called LUNN-CHMUNNY. The back of the book says it’s for ages 8–12. But I say, read it, laugh, and feel young again!

Cover image courtesy Harper Collins

Popularity: 6%

Back in January, I got my hands on an advanced copy of Starters, the new dystopian YA novel by debut author Lissa Price. And I was intrigued from the very first line: “Enders gave me the creeps.”

The story, in a nutshell, is about Callie, a teenager, or as they’re called in this story, “Starter,” who lives on the streets of Los Angeles with her sickly younger brother. It’s the future, and America has been hit by a biological war which left everyone between the ages of 19 and 80-ish dead. Children who don’t have living grandparents or elderly relatives are considered “unclaimed minors” and are being rounded up by the government to live in unsavory institutions. Callie and her brother have been on the run for about a year, and now that Tyler is getting sicker, she knows she has to do something to get money. But the only “job” available to her is to rent her body out to old people, aka “Enders,” who want the experience of being young again, via some fancy-yet-highly-illegal new technology. The donor is supposed to remain in a coma-like sleep while the renter is out gallivanting with the rental body, but a week into her month-long rental period, Callie wakes up. She hears a voice in her head — the voice of the Ender who has rented her — telling her that her life is in danger. Thus begins a complicated story of many twists and turns, having to do with political corruption and greed and the murder of children.

In the beginning of the galley, there is a note from the editor, Wendy Loggia, Executive Editor at Delacorte Press. In her note to the reader, Ms. Loggia says, “Starters is one of the best first drafts I’ve ever read, and Lissa Price is a tremendous bestselling author in the making.”

Okay, with an endorsement like that, a reader is going to expect a LOT from a book. Doesn’t Loggia know that going into something (a book, a movie, a play, etc.) with low expectations or no expectations at all is far better than going into it with crazy high expectations? If you start out expecting greatness, you will inevitably be let down. She’s setting her readers up for certain disappointment with this letter. And that’s exactly what happened when I read it.

Things I enjoyed about this book: It was definitely a page-turner. I kept thinking about it during the times when I wasn’t reading, wondering what was going to happen next. I also quite enjoyed Price’s writing style. In contrast to other dystopian-type books like Matched and Delirium, the language in Starters is very bare-bones. Not that I don’t have the greatest respect for Ally Condie and Lauren Oliver — I do — but Price’s simple, unflowery, scant-on-metaphor language was absolutely appropriate for the fast-paced, never-a-dull-moment plot of Starters. I also loved that the story takes place in a city that we all know and recognize, one that doesn’t look that much different after a major war than it does today. Most dystopian stories take place in made-up futuristic societies, and Starters turns that dystopian setting blueprint on its ear.

However, there are certain things about Starters that I wish had been different. Without giving too much of the plot away, let’s just say it follows the unassuming-teenage-girl-takes-down-the-establishment-and-saves-the-world formula made famous by The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins pulled it off beautifully, but I don’t quite understand why so many authors today are following her lead. It’s just not all that believable.

There are many other similarities to The Hunger Games as well, such as Callie’s almost super-human accuracy with a deadly weapon and the childhood guy friend versus sexy new boy dilemma.

But my biggest problems with the book are things that I can’t go too far into without giving away the story. Let’s just say that there is at least one major plot hole that I really wish Price’s editor would have caught (hint: it has to do with a will), and the big “twist” at the end was less surprising than completely disturbing and unsettling.

I do think Loggia is right about one thing, though — Starters is destined to be a bestseller. Look for it in bookstores March.

Photo Courtesy Delacorte Press

Popularity: 19%

I meant to review this book back in October when it came out, but I got busy reading books for school and didn’t get around to reading it. So now it happens that it’s Black History Month! Score one for procrastination, because this is the perfect book to read this February.

Caleb’s Wars takes place during World War II, an era in African American history that I hadn’t read a lot about. It’s 1944, and fifteen-year-old Caleb lives in rural Georgia with his parents, a devoutly religious mother and a father who whips him. All his life, Caleb’s been taught that you can never say no to a white person. You have to pretend to be stupid, pretend to agree with everything they say, take any abuse, and never question the strict system of segregation and degradation. As summer begins, Caleb expresses his anger with acts of petty vandalism and fistfights. But there’s more going on in Caleb’s town than his own struggles. His brother is in the army and is about to be shipped out to Europe. Meanwhile, German prisoners of war are being kept in a nearby camp. When Caleb’s fights with his father lead him to take a job where he works side by side with a German prisoner, he begins to see that the prisoner may not be one of the Nazis he’s heard about. In fact, the prisoner is the only white person to respect Caleb’s humanity. Over the summer, Caleb grows in his views of the world around him and navigates relationships with his family and the white people who run the town.

Caleb’s Wars is a thoughtful exploration of the social dynamics of a segregated Southern town. It also explores the depths of the kind of racism that would cause white Americans to give more respect to German prisoners than to their own African American soldiers. That Dudley manages to do all this through the eyes of one teenager and without detracting from Caleb’s personal story is something special. I was right there with Caleb the whole time, and I never felt like I was being lectured to or told what to think. In fact, Dudley’s nuanced consideration of these issues was a big plus for me. My only criticism is that the book contains a religion-is-real subplot that detracts from the otherwise stellar historical journey. All in all, I highly recommend Caleb’s Wars for anyone interested in WWII or African American history.

Image courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Popularity: 14%

If you were a reader who loved Laura Ingalls Wilder, you’ll love Caroline Rose’s charming novel-in-verse May B. set in a sod-house on the Kansas prairie. May B. is a sweet girl, full of moxie, who has been sent to help another Kansas prairie family, the Oblingers. Mr. Oblinger’s wife is having trouble adjusting to life on the prairie and in a sodhouse. Mavis Elizabeth Betterly, or “May B” arrives to  help Mrs. Oblinger, who is only a few years older than her, complete chores and to keep her company. May is angry that she has to leave Ma, Pa, and her brother Hiram, as well as give up her schooling, which is of the upmost importance to her. She worries about falling behind in her lessons, since she already has trouble with reading, and her unfriendly and strict Teacher has been hard on her. The letters in her reader jump all over the page and she must memorize them in order to read successfully. But her life changes drastically when Mrs. Oblinger decides to go for a ride on her horse — things change for May. Mrs. Oblinger has flown the coop and now Mr. Oblinger is headed after her, and May is left in the soddy all alone as winter steadily approaches.

This book is told in verse with lovely spare language that invokes both place and sentiment. I love what Caroline Rose does with May’s difficulties with schooling and reading. We get to see what she’s reading and experience her struggles manifest on the page. We read the words as she reads them, and we can identify how the words are jumping around and she’s not slow or stupid like her mean Teacher had said.

During the days May spends alone, we also get to see what she does and doesn’t do with her time. We get to experience what it feels like to run out of food and to have no one to talk to and what that loneliness does to the human psyche. As a teacher and an academic tutor, this is a perfect book to use in conjunction with learning about those brave souls who ventured out to the Plains during the early years of America.

I have a million wonderful things to say about this book, and another thing is the pacing. Oftentimes, I struggle with pacing. It is not my strong suit. Most of my narratives have issues with forward movement; it’s something I need help with from fellow critique partners. But Caroline Rose’s May B. sails along. Split into three parts, the first one sets up the relationship dynamics, May’s new life and the one she left behind, and hints at the trouble in the horizon. Part two opens up after the trouble has hit and we get to see how May adapts and struggles, and part three finishes to a satisfying conclusion with the resolution of the conflict. I finished this book feeling like I wanted another one because I just love historical fiction like this: sweeping, emotional, and full of story.

May B. will release on 1/10/2012 from Random House Children’s Books

Cover art courtesy of Random House

Popularity: 16%

Happy holidays, everyone! Now that we’ve reached the end of 2011, we at Teen Writers Bloc have come together with our favorite kid lit and YA books of the year. Here they are, in alphabetical order by author:

Bronxwood by Coe Booth
Caela says: Bronxwood is a must-read for any kid who has ever had a parent in prison.  Tyrell’s struggles to love, obey, and still disagree with his father when he returns from incarceration are poignant and heart wrenching.

Crossed by Ally Condie
Jess says: Though it’s not quite as gripping as its predecessor, Matched (read the review here!), Crossed, the second book in Ally Condie’s series, is a solid “middle book,” filled with beautiful language and a compelling story — complete with a giant mystery that will keep you guessing until the very end. It is also told from Ky’s, as well as Cassia’s, point of view, so those of you who didn’t get nearly enough of Ky in the first book will be super happy to be inside his head in this one.

Circle Nine by Anne Heltzel
Jane says: I went to one of David Levithan’s book readings at the NYPL and heard an excerpt read by Circle Nine’s author Anne Heltzel. Abby wakes up outside a burning building and is pulled away by Sam, a boy she doesn’t recognize but somehow feels a connection to. She has no memories of who she is or where she came from. Abby is happy to start a new life with Sam, but events and memories bring up the need to figure out who she is and what happened the night of the fire. Read the TWB interview with Anne Heltzel here!

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
Jane says: I chose to read this one because I don’t know of a lot of YA books that have a male narrator. It’s about 16 year old Stephen who’s living in a post-apocalyptic future with his dad and grandfather. The family wanders the land, looking for a place to live and where they can avoid being found by gangs that find people to enslave them. Grandpa dies and Dad has an accident that results in a coma, so when Stephen looks for help, he finds Settlers Landing, a town that’s rebuilt by a group of people trying to regain civilization. Stephen becomes involved in a prank that puts Settlers Landing and lives in danger, and he has to figure out how to deal with the aftermath.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Jess says: The book starts off with our narrator and heroine, Mara, telling us that Mara Dyer is actually not her real name. Her lawyer insisted that if she is to tell her story to the world—the story of how she committed several murders—she must choose a nom de plume. So, right off the bat, we know this is not going to be a story for the faint of heart. Mara is going to kill people, and she is going to get caught. But how it all goes down is anything but predictable. If you are a sucker for dark, paranormal teen romances, trust me when I say you will love this book. Read the TWB review here!

Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby
Mary says:  Full of well-drawn characters and emotional pull, the story builds slowly and grows on you until you are right there in the frozen, claustrophobic fortress. Each person has their own motivations, feelings, and strengths. No one is idealized, and no one is simple. Kirby has done a masterful job of creating tension, intrigue, and action—even though the characters have limited space in which to move. Solveig especially is many-faceted and manages to be both relatable and awesome. Readers will enjoy exploring this world with her. Read the TWB review here!

Bumped by Megan McCafferty
Jess says: Bumped is one of the most fascinating books I’ve read in… maybe ever. Though it has a sort-of “popcorn” feel to it, filled to the brim with cheesy references, corny names, and teen celebrity lust, underneath all that, there is an extremely edgy, daring story. What would happen if everyone over the age of 18 became infertile and it was up to teenagers to continue the human species? In this day and age of Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant, it’s a question that, amazingly, doesn’t seem so far-fetched. This book is a fun, quick read, and yet, I guarantee it will really make you think.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Mary says: A Monster Calls is a great illustration of how fantasy can depict reality better than so-called “realism.” What, after all, is more real than our greatest fear? For younger children, that fear might be a monster under the bed or in the closet, but as we get older, we begin to realize that real life contains monsters that can’t be scared away by a bright light. The author’s writing is sparse but lyrical. With few characters and not a single gimmick, Ness brings us into a world of nightmares. Whether the nightmares will end depends on Conor. How will he face the monster that stalks him? Ness’s poignant answers make this book required reading for anyone, young or old, who appreciates the power of a story to reveal truth. Read the TWB review here!

Lisel & Po by Lauren Oliver
Dhonielle says: Liesl & Po has the best blend and balance of both magic and mystery, danger and safety. The tale reminds me of the books I used to stay up late to read as a kid — both classic and modern. Each character has layers and secrets, and Oliver’s flowery prose brings them alive. This book will stand up for multiple readings.

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan
Jess says: Part Lord of the Flies, part Bumped, and part Battlestar Galactica, Glow is filled with murder, deception, and nonstop action. The characters are layered and complicated, to the point where you never entirely know who to trust. Sometimes that can be frustrating, but Ryan pulls it off quite well. Read the TWB review here!

And Then Things Fall Apart by Arlaina Tibensky
Corey says: This is a beautiful contemporary YA about a Sylvia Plath-loving teen whose family is falling to pieces the same summer she has come down with an epic case of chicken pox. Left alone with her dysfunctional family, her confusing relationships, and her virginity to ponder, she spends a lot of time with an old typewriter and a well-loved copy of The Bell Jar. Narrator Keek is one of my favorite YA narrators of all time, and this creative, quirky, honest novel was a good reminder of why I became a writer and why I love writing for teens.

Popularity: 21%

This semester I haven’t done as much outside reading as I would have liked. A few weeks ago though, I did stumble upon a book by Nancy Werlin called Impossible that I couldn’t put down after I began to read it.  In this novel, Werlin takes the lyrics of a well-known folk song, “Scarborough Fair,” and turns them into a curse that has plagued protagonist Lucy Scarborough’s ancestors for many years. However, Lucy doesn’t find this out until after the curse has already begun to affect her.

The only thing Lucy knows when the novel begins is that her biological mother went insane shortly after giving birth to her and now walks around town with a shopping cart, humming the ballad “Scarborough Fair” to herself.  And while Lucy resents her biological mother in those first pages, eventually an understanding between the two emerges when Lucy realizes that she may one day have the same fate. An Elfin Knight with a  grudge has cast a spell, making it so that whenever a Scarborough girl turns eighteen, she gets pregnant, has a baby girl and goes insane. It’s a seemingly never ending cycle.

The only way to break the curse is to complete the tasks mentioned in the “Scarborough Fair” song. The tasks are to: 1. Create a shirt without needle or seam 2. Find an acre of land between salt water and sea strand and 3. Plow the land with a goat’s horn and sow it with one grain of corn. These tasks are nearly impossible to complete, hence the title and the perpetual insanity of each of Lucy’s ancestors.

Werlin is very skilled at keeping you engaged in the story. The story takes place in present day Massachusetts and because initially the plot has elements that could be a part of any realistic YA novel — prom night, track practice, falling in love with your best friend —the incorporation of the magical elements of the tale and their stark contrast to the YA norm really tug at readers, making them want to know more about how Lucy will overcome  this enormous obstacle before her.  Werlin tells the story from multiple points of view, using the third person past tense, allowing us to get into the thoughts of Lucy, the Elfin Knight, and those of Zach, Lucy’s love interest. This I found to be very effective. And while the discussions about pregnancy can feel a bit overdone at certain moments, it’s all essential information for the protagonist to know given her unfair circumstances.

If you’re looking for a quick and unique read, Impossible is a book you should at least consider.

Photo Credit: Penguin Putnam, Inc; Nancy Werlin

Popularity: 18%

In ancient Scandinavia, where the Norse gods still rule and dragons hover with haugbui (the undead) just outside real experience, Solveig is the daughter of a king. Embroiled in war, Solveig’s father has sent her and her brother and sister to a hidden fortress packed in ice, where they plan to wait out the winter and hope for peace. As the middle child, who is neither beautiful nor a boy, Solveig has always felt ignored and useless, inferior to both her siblings and her father’s warriers. Packed in with soldiers and a few servants, Solveig doesn’t expect anything to be different in a new place. But under the stress of war and close quarters, true characters come to the surface. Now Solveig must decide whom she can trust and learn to harness her own strength—if any of them are to survive.

This is the wonderful premise of Matthew J. Kirby’s Icefall, which was released by Scholastic on October 1. Full of well-drawn characters and emotional pull, the story builds slowly and grows on you until you are right there in the frozen, claustrophobic fortress. Each person has their own motivations, feelings, and strengths. No one is idealized, and no one is simple. Kirby has done a masterful job of creating tension, intrigue, and action—even though the characters have limited space in which to move. Solveig especially is many-faceted and manages to be both relatable and awesome. Readers will enjoy exploring this world with her.

Icefall is highly recommended.

Cover art courtesy Scholastic Press.

Popularity: 18%

I love reading YA books. I especially love reading really good YA books. And, even more than that, I love reading really good YA books by graduates of The New School’s Writing for Children program. Lucky for me, Amy Kathleen Ryan’s latest science-fiction novel Glow is one such book.

Set on two massive spaceships barreling through a starless pink nebula, Glow is like Battlestar Galactica for teenagers, sans Cylons. Forty-three years ago, the secular Empyrean and the religious New Horizon left a destroyed, crumbling Earth. Like two futuristic Noah’s Arks, they were stocked with people and animals and rainforests and orchards and schools and all the latest technology and set off for New Earth. But because it takes over ninety years of space travel to get to New Earth, it’s necessary for several generations of these brave pioneers to be born and live nearly their entire lives aboard the ships. The only problem is, there have been some fertility hiccups.

After a few decades of futilely trying to procreate, the Empyrean solved the problem first, and sixteen years ago, Waverly Marshall and Kieran Alden were born. As the oldest children on the Empyrean, they are not only seen by everyone as beacons of hope and promise for the future of humankind, they are also expected by everyone to get married and have children of their own. Kieran is all about it, but Waverly is unsure. She is not ready to be a wife and mother, plus lately she’s been finding herself inexplicably drawn to another boy, Seth Ardvale.

But then crew members of the New Horizon hijack the Empyrean and kidnap all their girls back to their own ship, intent on using them to solve their own fertility problems. The heart-stopping, edge-of-your-seat events that follow make Waverly long for the days where her indecision between two boys was her biggest problem.

Part Lord of the Flies, part Bumped, and part Battlestar, Glow is filled with murder, deception, and nonstop action. The characters are layered and complicated, to the point where you never entirely know who to trust. Sometimes that can be frustrating, but Ryan pulls it off quite well. Some of the language might be confusing to some readers — several times throughout the book I found that being a Battlestar Galactica fan worked in my favor, as I was not only familiar with the space-lingo but had a clear picture in my mind of what things like an “air lock” looked like. But readers who don’t know much about the inner workings of spaceships might be confused, as the technical stuff isn’t explained as thoroughly as it could be.

Also, if you’re looking for a steamy romance, this probably isn’t the book for you — Waverly, Kieran, and Seth get separated early on and, though there is that underlying romantic storyline, the teenagers’ fight for survival soon becomes the primary focus of the story.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Glow is its fearlessness in delving into the whole religion issue. The way the two ships treat religion are so drastically different that, once the populations get mixed up, so do people’s religious views. Ryan explores the questions of truth and lies, blind leadership and inner faith, and which aspects of religion are useful and which do more harm than good.

Glow (on sale today) is the first book in Amy Kathleen Ryan’s Sky Chasers series, and the cliff-hanger ending is certain to leave readers wanting more. I, for one, can’t wait for book two to hit shelves next year!

Book cover image courtesy of St. Martin’s Griffin.

Popularity: 26%

Back in July, I was given an advanced copy of Michelle Hodkin’s debut novel The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. I knew nothing about it (the cover is beautiful but ambiguous, and the back-cover description is as vague as any I’ve seen), but dove in eagerly. And boy, am I glad I did.

The book starts off with our narrator and heroine, Mara, telling us that Mara Dyer is actually not her real name. Her lawyer insisted that if she is to tell her story to the world—the story of how she committed several murders—she must choose a nom de plume. So, right off the bat, we know this is not going to be a story for the faint of heart. Mara is going to kill people, and she is going to get caught.

But how it all goes down is anything but predictable. Mara is not only trapped in the hold of some incredibly wacky paranormal forces, she is also dealing with PTSD, after the recent death of her boyfriend and two friends (an accident of which she is the only survivor), and the stresses of starting a new school after moving across the country. To top it all off, she sees her dead friends everywhere she goes. The girl’s life is in utter turmoil, and we are right there with her as she navigates her way.

Of course, there is a love story involved—and the boy in question, Noah, certainly gives Edward Cullen a run for his money in the super sexy teenager department. Actually, if there is one criticism I have for the book, it would be its many similarities to Twilight. As an unapologetic Twilight fan myself, I am absolutely positive that Michelle Hodkin has not only read Stephenie Meyer’s series a hundred times, she’s also seen the movies a zillion times as well. But though there are several points of comparison between the two books, I do have to say that Hodkin has at least twisted those similarities in a slightly edgier, unexpected way. Let’s just say that The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer has more than a few twists—ones that will keep even the most astute of readers guessing till the very end.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer will be on bookshelves on September 27, and if you are a sucker for dark, paranormal teen romances, trust me when I say you will love this book. Just be warned, however—it’s the first book in a series, so the ending is frustratingly cliff-hangery.

Book cover image courtesy of Simon & Schuster

Popularity: 17%

Do you want to be surprised by something weird? If you answered “yes,” then you’ll love My Favorite Band Does Not Exist, out last month from Clarion Books (full disclosure, my publisher). Author Robert T. Jeschonek isn’t trying to be realistic here. Instead, he gleefully gives his characters outrageous names like Idea Deity (whose parents are named Vengeful and Loving) and Reacher Mirage. But nothing comes off as too clever—every weird, impossible character and event fits perfectly into the world Jeschonek has created. Of course there’s a character with a face tattooed on the back of her head. Why wouldn’t there be?

Idea has created a fake band and enjoys creating buzz for it by posting about it on the Internet. But now other people are selling the band’s merchandise and even selling concert tickets. How dare people profit off Idea’s idea! Meanwhile, Reacher can’t understand how somebody is posting all sorts of information on the Internet about his secret band. Due to a crippling fear of failure, he’s not ready to go public yet, and someone is trying to force him out! While stewing over these unexplained happenings, Idea and Reacher are both reading the same terrible fantasy novel, Fireskull’s Revenant (the cover of which appears on the back of the book).

I have to admit that I wished the selections from Fireskull’s Revenant, though already short, had been a little shorter. But that’s a minor complaint. It’s rare for someone to come up with something totally original that’s weird enough to surprise me and yet actually makes sense. I don’t know if this is because people aren’t writing those books, or because publishers are afraid to give them a try. Whatever the reason, I think we don’t see enough weird and wonderful books. If you think so, too, you’ll appreciate this one.

Cover Image Courtesy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Popularity: 20%