Reviews written by Megan Kelly

In the eight and a half months since we left them in Bumped, Harmony and Melody have become the most famous teens in the world, known as The Hotties. As twins who are pregnant with twins, they are swamped with endorsement deals for perfumes and energy bars, hounded by paparazzi, and copied by everyone who follows them on the MiVu. Yet they both are hiding secrets and stand to lose everything if they face up to their lies.

It took me a few pages to get back into Megan McCafferty's world where pregnant teens reign. Once I remembered the slang: "pregg", "dose," and "FunBumps," I settled in to enjoy the end of the twins' story. As always, McCafferty's humor is a highlight. In referring to her school bus, Melody says, "The Bumpmobile's horn is notoriously obnoxious. We call it the waterbreaker." The author has considered every detail and how it contributes to the atmosphere.

Surprisingly, Harmony became my favorite character. She spent much of the first novel speaking only in Biblical verse, but her time on the Otherside has changed her. She has begun to question the rules of the devout community she lives in. While she never loses her belief in God, she wonders if the rigid rules are necessary. She says, "I thought maybe, just maybe, I could find someone else here who sought a different relationship with God. I've only recently begun to accept that I'm the sole doubter among us." Her progress throughout the series feels like a realistic (if slightly exaggerated because of circumstances) development of faith.

Thumped is a book you will read in one sitting, urged along by the short chapters and rapidly unfolding plot.

Viola, her mother, and her brother are doing their best in war-torn Sudan, where all the men have gone to fight and those left behind are terrorized by soldiers. Viola is not exempt from the violence; when she is raped, the family escapes to stay with an uncle in Portland, Maine. There, they must adjust to the extreme cultural differences between Sudan and the United States.

Terry Farish's The Good Braider is a powerful way to learn about the Sudan and an immigrant experience.The clash of the desires of the Sudanese elders and American teenagers is constant, with Viola trying to braid together her old life and new. Some of the surprises that Viola encounters are things I have never considered. For example, her American friend Abby tells her that she must wear her seat belt or the police will get her. Viola is stunned that the police would care whether she died or not.

I have read many novels in verse about the experiences of immigrants, although none geared for older readers, so I would hesitate to lump this into a unit on literature circles with books like Inside Out and Back Again, Home of the Brave, and All the Broken Pieces. The Good Braider is a stand-alone work. Although it is written in verse, it does not appear that way on a kindle, so the experience of reading it as poetry was lost. I recommend reading a paper copy of the book, so that Farish's words can truly sink in.

Eight years have passed since Leck's death and Bitterblue is now the Queen of Monsea, surrounded by her father's former advisers and burdened by paperwork and tasks she doesn't quite understand. She begins sneaking out of the castle and learns that her kingdom is not what she thought it was. In her explorations, she meets two thieves who will change her life forever.

Don't read further if you want to be completely unspoiled!

Bitterblue is the novel I have been anticipating most this year (and for the past three years), so I threw myself a mini parade when I learned I would get to read it early. It was worth the wait.

Kristin Cashore does something different with this novel; both FIRE and GRACELING are written from the perspective of a Graced character, someone with a special skill that sets them apart. Bitterblue is not Graced, although the majority of the people in her service are. After being so interested in these special talents, it was interesting for me to consider what it would be like to try to rule a kingdom full of Graced citizens. Short answer: it's difficult. Bitterblue is confined to the castle for most of the book, which is a change from the previous novels which change location frequently. At times, it is frustrating to wait for the Gracelings to go off on adventures and make the discoveries on Bitterblue's behalf. I wonder if Cashore did this intentionally, to make the reader empathize with the protagonist. A few of these scenes could have been edited out, without doing any damage to the book, particularly ones that lead to a reveal that anyone who has read FIRE already knows.

Fans of the series will be happy to encounter favorites like Katsa, Po, Giddon, and Fire in this novel. There's never enough Po for me! It also continues the tradition that people who love each other might not necessarily always be together. Cashore's work touches on modern topics like birth control and same-sex relationships and sets them in a fantasy world, perhaps making them easier to talk about for young readers who have questions.

Cashore has said that she has ideas for a fourth book in this series, which comes as a relief to me. This is a world where I want to continue to immerse myself. Hopefully, I won't have to wait three years before I can do it again.

I'm always looking to add sports books to my collection, but the challenge is that I don't really enjoy reading them. There are many sports that don't interest me, and I would rather be playing the ones that do. I want to read all the books that I recommend to students, so the sports readers in my class end up with a slim selection. I feel fortunate to have found PLAY BALL, Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir's newly released graphic novel about a girl who joins her school's baseball team. This is a book which I read eagerly, and that I know my students will love.

After her parents' divorce, Dashiell moves to a new house, along with her mother and her fashionable sister, Arica. A change which excites Dash is that her new school has a baseball team that she is dying to join. Unfortunately, the only person who supports her dream is her mother. Arica fears social suicide, the coach and players claim that it's against the rules for a girl to join the team, the softball team is offended that she won't play for them, and her father won't even return her calls.

Dash is an extremely likable heroine. Although she protests the school's policies about gender and sports, it won't be too radical for young readers; she really just wants to play the game she loves. Dash's talent is undeniable, yet she is relatable. She hides her disappointment behind a mask, lashes out at her mother when she is really angry at her father, and has conflicts with her sister. There are many different aspects to the drama in PLAY BALL, but the authors are able to resolve them in a satisfying way.

While I would have preferred for the illustrations to be in color, I enjoyed Jackie Lewis' art. Her drawings of the baseball games kept me interested in a part of the book that I might have skimmed if it wasn't a graphic novel. Even better, Dash looks like a normal girl, freckled and unconcerned about anything but the game. Male readers won't be alienated by her character, rather, they will wish that they had a best friend like her.

PLAY BALL is a key addition to the sports section of my library, a book that bridges interests and will appeal to all readers.

Zeeta and her mother Layla have moved to a new country every year for Zeeta's entire life. When they end up running cabanas in Mazunte, Mexico, Zeeta is determined to make it stick. After all, her beloved Wendell has an internship nearby and her long-lost father is supposedly from Mazunte. Of course, nothing can be that easy, especially when the cabanas where Zeeta lives are said to be cursed and someone is poaching the sea turtles' eggs.

This is the third book in a trilogy and I haven't read the first two, but author Laura Resau gives enough information of past plots that I was able to follow along easily. Fans of the Notebook trilogy won't be surprised to know that The Jade Notebook's plot is assisted by Wendell's visions of the future. Unfortunately, that was the aspect of the story that lost me. Resau has a gift for writing setting; I almost felt like I was in Mexico, tasting the food and meeting the locals. I've even done conservation work with sea turtles, and everything she wrote felt spot on. So when Wendell's clairvoyance arose, it was a sharp contrast to the authentic feeling of the rest of the book.

I found myself easily guessing the surprises and identifying the villains, but turning the pages anyway to read more of Laura Resau's beautiful descriptions.

Master of graphic novel anthologies, Kazu Kibuishi is back with "Explorer: The Mystery Boxes" which features seven stories about a mystery box. By inviting artists who are comfortable with writing short stories in graphic novel form, then providing them with a provocative theme, Kibuishi has guaranteed the reader an entertaining book.

It's interesting to see what the artists can do with such a broad theme. Emily Carroll's "Under the Floorboards" is reminiscent of Anya's Ghost and Jason Caffoe's "The Keeper's Treasure" has beautiful illustrations and a great message. My favorite story might have been Rad Sechrist's "The Butter Thief", where a Japanese grandmother uses a box to protect the family's butter from spirits who want to steal it. Charmed by its unusual plot and cinematic artwork, Sechrist is an artist I will be watching. Kibuishi himself contributed the final story, "The Escape Option". Fans of the Amulet series will be eager to see more of his unique imagination and gorgeous art.

Explorer: The Mystery Boxes is fairly slim at 128 pages, and most stories could have benefited from a few extra pages. I will be adding it to my classroom library, where it will probably never see any "shelf time". If you enjoy the Flight anthologies, you will love this book.

Karla's quilt is unlike any other: it comforts her as she falls asleep with stories of the squares (or "schnitz") that make it up. Through the quilt, she learns about her grandparents' love, her aunt's imagination, and her mother's adventurous childhood. When Karla's new baby sister moves into her bedroom, Mooshka falls silent. After using Mooshka to appease her crying sister, Karla learns that family stories are for sharing.

Julie Paschkis' illustrations are appealing, pulling in the reader with their bright colors and patterns. Each page looks like pieces of a quilt until Mooshka stops telling stories and the background becomes a boring navy. This clever technique helps emphasize the moral of the story visually.

Young readers will love the illustrations and families will love the message of "Mooshka, A Quilt Story".

When a young girl and her mother move to a new house in a neighborhood that must be described as "Dirty-third street", the mother declares it perfect because they can afford it. She encourages her daughter to see the house through eyes of faith, then sets about creating their home. After joining a church and reaching out to the neighbors, their community grows and their house really does become the perfect fit for them.

Jo S. Kittinger's latest book has its roots in religion, but would appeal to anyone. The lessons of community that it teaches are important for those who need help and those who could lend a helping hand.

Thomas Gonzalez's artwork is impressive. His intricate pencil drawings look realistic and he smartly adjusts the colors as the book progresses. At first, the illustrations appear washed out and gray, but as the community grows, the home and everyone around it are more vibrant and bright.

Starting over can be difficult, having a book like "The House on Dirty-Third Street" can smooth the transition.

A young boy prepares for winter by asking his pet lamb for wool, then knitting himself a whole host of cold weather gear. When he sees his his tiny wool-less friend, he surprises the lamb with his own set of wool clothing.

This book could be a precursor to Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree," with the wool standing in as the selfless friend. He says, "Little friend, if you're that cold, I will let you take my wool and you can knit it all up." The message of sharing and friendship is sweet and hooray to Isabel Minhos Martins for writing a male main character who is a knitter.

Yara Kono's artwork is a standout. Her olive green, mustard, and burgundy palette are unconventional and appealing, as it the artwork. The squiggly lines of wool thread through the book until we see the results of the little boy's labor at the end.

Marsha Wilson Chall’s sweet new picture book, A SECRET KEEPS, follows a young boy as he visits his grandparents’ country home, imagining the secret that his grandfather promised him. Written in verse, Chall uses alliteration and gorgeous descriptive language to create a read aloud that will be requested again and again. My favorite line is, “Jillions of peeper frogs leap and peep out behind the barn. Grampa stokes a fire. Flames flick against the sky.” I also loved that the family counted down to big events in terms of sleeps: “I’ll be there in two sleeps where a secret keeps.”

Heather Solomon’s dreamy watercolors add to the atmosphere of the book and her detailed illustrations of the farm animals merit examination. I recommend this book to all families who escape to the country—and those who wish they could.

In a plot device similar to Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", Tessa passes away in a freak dodgeball accident and is forced to relive her life, based on items from the mall where she spends all her time.

I did not enjoy this book at all, unfortunately. The first page is fantastic, and I love Wendy Mass' ability to write voice, but it is wasted on Tessa. Or perhaps it is just that in reviewing Tessa's early years, Mass only revisits all the terrible things she has done, so I ended up really disliking her character.

This book was not for me.

Seventeen-year-old Kit has her life all planned out. Between her AP classes, social life, and plans to spend the summer road tripping with her best friend, she lives a happily high-pressured life. When she learns that her younger brother has cancer, everything changes. Her family is swept up in the futile task of trying to help Buddy survive, and when he doesn't, they are spinning in their own directions.

Written in simple prose, Ellen Yeomans novel is one of the most poetic I've read in awhile. Grouping the poems in sections named after parts of a baseball season ("Warm Ups", "Spring Training"), her writing had a way of seeping into my thoughts. One of the poems that particularly affected me was "Children's Hospital":

A giant giraffe
of plastic or papier-mâché
looming in the lobby.
A wall of fish
swimming beside the gift shop.
Brightly colored walls,
animal-wallpaper borders
and paw-print confetti carpeting.
A bright, welcoming place for children.
But in the mural beside the elevator
in tall teal and lime grass,
I spy a crouching lion.

I've been to the Boston Children's Hospital before, but never noticed this detail.

I enjoyed Kit’s process of rebirth. A fit of productivity leads her to a local hardware store, which leads her to a job. The only way that she can cope with her brother’s death is to relieve the self-imposed pressure she’s felt for her entire life, take on a new name, and become useful. The book does not have a simple happy ending, and it shouldn't when a brother dies. Yeomans handles a difficult subject artfully, getting each step of the process right.

FAR FROM YOU is the only Lisa Schroeder book I hadn't read, and I was hesitant to check it out because I am not a fan of angels, which the cover emphasizes. I ignored my reservations and read this novel in verse, and there were hardly any references to angels anyway.

Alice is a teenager who has felt sad and angry since her mother's death years before. While her father has moved on to a new wife and a newborn daughter, Alice continues to write sad songs and complain about her family to her tattooed boyfriend Blaze and her best friend. Even they are tired of her inability to accept her stepmother, Victoria, into her life. When Alice, Victoria, and the baby are stranded in a car during a snowstorm, they get to know each other better and hope that it isn't too late.

I've never lost a parent nor had to watch the other move on, but I think I need to take a break from books that feature this trope, as I always end up on the side of the step-parent, not the mopey teen! That may also have something to do with my age. Regardless, I found Alice to be a prickly narrator and difficult to love. I usually mark the pages with quotes that I'd like to share, yet none stood out in this novel. The combination of those factors make me recommend this book to hardcore Lisa Schroeder fans only. Everyone else, read CHASING BROOKLYN instead!

When I'm reading a book that I plan on reviewing, I turn down the corners of pages with lines I particularly enjoy. With David Levithan's novel in verse, The Realm of Possibility, I wasn't able to do this because every single page would be dog-eared. He is such a talented writer.

In a series of interrelated poems, twenty teenagers from the same high school give brief insights into their lives and the other characters. The chart on the book's wikipedia entry is very useful for making the connections between the characters; I found myself flipping back often to see who was who. Levithan expertly threads the stories together. With long poems and beautiful writing, I felt that I knew all of the characters well and wanted more. This is what I was hoping for when I read Helen Frost's Keesha's House.

While I loved all of the narratives, I particularly enjoyed "Tinder Heart" which was written from the perspective of Mary, an anorexic. It is the only poem in the book which features only a few words per line, as if even Mary's poem wants to be thinner. This section features moving imagery:

"why won't they
leave me
alone?
don't they
realize i
have a
tinder heart
and a
paper body
and that
any spark
will turn me
straight to
ash?"

Another excellent writing decision was to have Jamie's chapter, "The Day" be written with the lines all beginning with the same letter. Jamie takes us alphabetically through the first day after his girlfriend breaks his heart, over the course of sixteen pages. I admit, I didn't realize this was the format until all the lines were starting with the letter "L".

There are so many other wonderful things I could write about, although part of Levithan's magic is discovering what you love for yourself. While the book is too mature for my middle school students, I will be adding it to my personal library shelf and seeking out other books by the author.

We meet Ruby at the airport, where she is flying across the country to meet and live with her father after her mother's death. Oh yeah, her father is a Hollywood star (think Tom Cruise) and Ruby is furious with him for never contacting her before her mother's death.

This is the only one of Sonya Sones' novels in verse that I haven't read and it held up to the high standard I have come to expect from her. Although the tone is light in the book, it features some lines that I will be pondering long after finishing the book. One is, "Worry is negative prayer." I am a big worrier, so this is a quote for that side of me. Another is:
"And I flat out refuse
to have one of those lives
that I wouldn't even want
to read about."
I want to hang that quote up in my classroom to inspire students (and me) to dream bigger and do more.

Despite the title, this isn't really One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies. First, the mother has died before the book began. Second, although Ruby misses her mother and is devastated by the loss, she expresses it in a unique way: she continues to email her mother's old address, with messages full of "LOLs" and "How are things in the casket? Not too damp, I hope." This is the aspect of the novel that I liked least. Since Ruby is still early in the grieving process, I don't think she would be at the place where she could make crass jokes.

I also found it a bit difficult to pity Ruby, moving into a gorgeous mansion with a man who is bending over backwards to make her happy. She may be upset at him for missing such a large chunk of her life, but her father so obviously cares about her and wants to make her happy that it just ends up reflecting poorly on Ruby.

Despite these nitpicks, I enjoyed One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies. Simply put, Sonya Sones writes what I want to read.