Title: Stay Where You Are & Then Leave
Author: John Boyle
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, 2014
Pages: 256
Source: VOYA
Compensation: None
Alfie Summerfield wishes more than anything else that he could go back to his life before the First World War. Back then the British boy was five years old and his biggest problem was that his dad would not let him ride the milk float with him when he made his milk deliveries. When England entered the War Alfie’s dad volunteered to join the army thinking that it would be easier for him than waiting to get drafted. Four years later Alfie is still hoping for his dad to come home from the “secret mission” his mother claims he is on even if he fears his dad is really dead. The War has changed everything for Alfie—his dad is gone, his mom is constantly working, his friends are held captive by the English government because they are from Prague. Alfie stops going to school every day so he can shine shoes and help his mother pay bills. It is while he is shining shoes one day that he accidentally discovers that his father is neither dead nor on a secret mission, but really in a local mental hospital for soldiers with shell shock. Alfie does not truly understand what shell shock is but he is sure that his father would be much happier at home and Alfie embarks on his own secret mission to make that happen.
John Boyle has written a solid middle school novel about the effects of the First World War on a young boy and his family. Middle school boys will like Alfie’s independence and historical fiction readers will like the political backdrop of the story. The novel is a very quick read and will satisfy those historical fiction requirements.
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Title: Don't Even Think About it
Author: Sarah Mlynowski
Publisher: Random House Children's Books, 2014
Pages: 320 p.
Source: VOYA
Compensation: None
When Homeroom 10B is scheduled to get flu shots, some of the students are nervous, some are nonchalant, but none of them expect to wind up with telepathy. That is what happens to all but two (who did not receive shots) of the New York City high school sophomores in 10B. They quickly discover that telepathy has both good and bad aspects and decide to keep their new talent a secret from the rest of the school and their parents. The “Espies” are so wrapped up in their own thoughts that they have become a “we” instead of 22 “I”s. Only a handful of the Espies are main characters—cheater MacKenzie and her loyal boyfriend Cooper, weight-obsessed Tess, overachiever Pi, and painfully shy Olivia. Readers will not mind not having a clear narrator in this fun and funny quick read. Despite the occasional fluff, Mlynowski’s characters learn something about themselves and each other throughout the novel. Olivia’s transformation is the most striking and fun to watch. Her telepathy gives her a chance to relate to her classmates in a way the extremely shy girl could never do before. Teens will enjoy the hypocritical inner snarky judgments that the teen girls make of each other at the same time as vocalizing supportive comments. The inner thoughts of most of the boys are exactly as one would expect—crude and centered on one topic. Dialog and language are realistic and best suited for mature older readers and not for the tween audience.
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I know, I'm a little late in reading this. But now I don't have to wait for the rest to be published (I just have to wait for them to be available at the library!).
Beatrice lives in a post-apocalptic world separated into different factions: Amity (Kindess), Candor (Honest), Dauntless (Brave), Abnegation (Selfless), and Erudite (Intelligent). Although children are born into a faction, when they reach the age of 16 they undergo a virtual reality test to determine which faction they truly belong in and they then have a choice to either stay in their home faction or transfer. Beatrice expects her test to say Abnegation, even though she secretly hopes it doesn't. She is completely surprised when her results are actually inconclusive--she doesn't belong in any one faction but could go in many. This is a dangerous spot to be in and she is lucky her test administrator is sympathetic and doesn't tell the authorities. Beatrice debates what to do until the final moment of choosing when she decides to be brave instead of selfless. She enters the Dauntless faction as a transfer not knowing what to expect and completely unprepared for her future. Renamed Tris, she must compete against all the other initiates for a spot in the Dauntless society or be factionless.
I've heard the comparisons to The Hunger Games and while I think fans of The Hunger Games, and post apocalyptic novels in general, will enjoy Divergent, I really didn't see it as being the same. All post apocalyptic books have the same general framework-- something got screwed up and now the world is really different and about to get more screwed up. Tris has to compete against her fellow initiates, but she doesn't HAVE to kill them. She just has to be better. There are some cruel kids who take it too far, but it's not a requirement.
I really enjoyed this book. I loved Tris's character. I loved the relationship between her and her instructor Four. I thought her family dynamic was really interesting and I was glad to see that her mom was not just another clueless parent. The ending was non stop can't put it down thrilling action. I'm looking forward to the next one and hope the rest of the trilogy holds up to the promise of the first.
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Title: Burning
Author: Elana K. Arnold
Publisher: Delacorte Press, 2013
Pages: 320 p.
Source: library ebook
Compensation: None
I'm a fan of Elana K. Arnold's two other books, Sacred and Splendor, so when I saw her third book was available in my library's ebook collection, I decided to read that one as well.
Burning is a story of teenage angst and yearning for freedom told in alternating points of view (Ben and Lala). Ben is spending his last summer at home before attending college in the fall. He's one of the lucky ones with a scholarship to a good school so he doesn't have to worry too much about his entire town shutting down when the local gypsum plant closes. Even though his future is promising, he still has a lot of guilt that his friends' futures are not and he often wonders if he is doing the right thing by leaving his family. Lala is a gypsy girl who travels with her family to Ben's small town to make some money reading fortunes for the people on the way to the Burning Man festival. When Lala reads Ben's fortune it changes both of their lives forever.
Ben might be conflicted about his future, but his choices are pretty clear cut: Go to college on his scholarship and be able to get a good job and have a good future, or stay with his friends and family and give up that dream. Lala's future is already decided for her. Her parents have arranged her marriage, even though she's only 16, and she is destined to live the gypsy lifestyle: making babies, obeying her husband, and reading fortunes. She has no choices for her future… until one day she realizes that she does.
This book is not as strong as Arnold's other two. The chapters told in Lala's voice are much better than Ben's. Arnold tries a little too hard to differentiate between the two voices. There are lots of references to body parts in crude language in Ben's point of view. Lala's story is also much more interesting than Ben's dilemma about going off to college while his town disintegrates. This would have been a much stronger novel if it had been able to focus on just Lala. As it is, it is still enjoyable. Girls will like the Romeo & Juliet aspect of forbidden love.
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