Fiction
D’AGOSTINO, Kris. The Sleepy Hollow Family Almanac. 336p. Algonquin. 2012. pap. $13.95. ISBN 978-1-56512-951-1. LC 2011038421.
Adult/High School–It’s 2006, and 24-year-old underachiever Calvin Moretti is up to his eyeballs in student-loan debt. His film degree hasn’t helped him to land a lucrative dream job, so he’s back under his parents’ roof. And despite the fact that he counts the minutes to the end of his workday as an assistant teacher at a special-needs preschool, his misguided (but hot) supervisor thinks he should consider teaching as a career. Life is uncomfortable in the Moretti household, with a family dynamic reminiscent of the dysfunctional, unintentionally comic Hoovers of Little Miss Sunshine. Cal is putting money aside so he can move out, but only after he budgets for collectible record albums and pot. Dad, a grounded pilot, suffers from myeloma. Despite the fact that doctors say it’s curable, he spends his days wallowing in his bathrobe, toting a concealed pistol. Mom worries about losing the house. Older brother Chip, an insufferable Ivy League graduate, has been keeping the family afloat, a fact he won’t let anyone forget. And Cal’s rebellious sister Elissa, still in high school, confides she’s pregnant and intends to keep the baby. Told in the first person, The Sleepy Hollow Family Almanac is sharply funny and full of spot-on observations about what it means to be a responsible adult. Older teens will sympathize with Cal’s struggles as much as they’ll want to throttle him for his self-centered, slacker tendencies. First-time author D’Agostino has an ear for dialogue and the not-too-distant memory of what it’s like to be a conflicted, unmotivated young man.–Paula Gallagher, Baltimore County Public Library, MD
DE ROBERTIS, Carolina. Perla. 236p. Knopf. 2012. Tr $25.95. ISBN 978-0-307-59959-9. LC number unavailable.
Adult/High School–As the daughter of a Navy officer in late 1970’s Argentina, Perla lives in a rarified and protected world unaware that hundreds of men and women are being taken from their homes, tortured and brutally killed by the government. Then, when she is six-years-old, a new friend introduces her to these “desaparecidos”–the “disappeared”–and their mothers and grandmothers who march every day in the square demanding their return. This is a forbidden topic in Perla’s home, and while she cannot understand the easy answers her mother gives her for the disappearances, she somehow knows not to tell anyone that her father is in the military. In alternating chapters, Perla tells her story as a fourth-year college student in Buenos Aires, and the day she opens the door to her house to find a man in her living room. He is wet, naked, and crouching on her floor. He sparks the journey of discovery that drives Perla, caught between the family she has known all her life and the secret that lies behind her secure and privileged life, to search for the truth that she suspects. Unable to speak, the visitor remembers that he was taken, tortured, and dropped into the ocean. What saves him are the memories of his wife, his baby, and his desire to understand what it is that brings him to this living room to talk with this young woman. De Robertis holds back none of the torture, passion, pain, and desperate love that families face during violent times. While some scenes of brutality may be hard to read, many mature teens will find this book uniquely satisfying. Its textured prose is pure poetry.–Connie Williams, Petaluma High School, CA
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FOUNTAIN, Ben. Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. 320p. Ecco. 2012. Tr $25.99. ISBN 978-0-06-088559-5. LC number unavailable.
Adult/High School–Nineteen-year-old Billy Lynn is the hero of Bravo Company, whose actions during an ambush in the Iraq war were captured on video and broadcast endlessly on Fox News. Recognizing an opportunity to galvanize support for the war, the Army evacuates the eight surviving soldiers to America for a hero’s tour of the heartland. Billy earned a Silver Star, but in spite of his valor, he lost his best buddy, Shroom. He is struggling with grief and survivor’s guilt as the tour culminates at the Dallas Cowboy’s Thanksgiving Day football game. The novel unfolds across that one eventful game day, as Bravo Company mingles with Texas millionaires, pursues a movie deal, tours the team facilities, tries to convince Cowboy players that football is not battle, shares the halftime show with Beyoncé, and brawls with stagehands. As if that is not surreal enough, Billy sparks a heartfelt romance with a Cowboy’s cheerleader. The soldiers are fully aware that they are props for the projected patriotism of everyone they meet. No one acknowledges their trauma, nor is anyone aware they will return to Iraq at the end of the game. The cynicism of the soldiers, their wicked humor and hefty appetites for anything that will numb their experience make for a searing satire of the puffery that surrounded American patriotism after 9/11. Teens, especially boys with an appreciation for football or soldiering, will be amused by the spot-on buddy banter among the Bravos and will find the novel engaging and entertaining.–John Sexton, Greenburgh Public Library, NY
GREENWOOD, T. Grace. 352p. Kensington. 2012. pap. $15. ISBN 978-0-7582-5092-6.
Adult/High School–Why is Kurt taking his 13-year-old son, Trevor, through the deep Vermont snow at midnight with a rifle at his back? These opening pages envelop readers in a deep sense of foreboding that never lets up. From there the story backtracks as Kurt’s family begins to unravel. Trevor is relentlessly bullied and his isolation, rage, and self-hatred are palpable. The two things that make him happy are his younger sister Grace and his aging art teacher who introduces him to the world of photography. Kurt senses that his young wife, Elsbeth, is feeling trapped and that “she was teetering at some terrible precipice.” Kurt is under tremendous financial stress; he’s dealing with his unpleasant father, and he doesn’t understand Trevor. Along with this family struggling with lack of communication and tension, there is a parallel story involving Crystal, a high school senior whose life is spiraling out of control after giving her baby up for adoption. Elsbeth and Grace often shop where Crystal works and their lives become intertwined with devastating consequences. The story is perhaps wrapped up a bit too neatly, but teens will appreciate this tautly written novel with strong characters and emotional depth. Unremittingly painful, it’s hard to put down.–Jane Ritter, Mill Valley School District, CA
MARKOVITS, Anouk. I Am Forbidden: A Novel. 320p. Hogarth. 2012. Tr $25. ISBN 978-0-307-98473-9. LC 2011041305.
Adult/High School–Five year-old Josef becomes Anghel, “son” of the Catholic maid who saves his life after his family is murdered before his eyes. Years later, young Mila watches as her parents are shot, running for the train that carries their rabbi through the Hungarian countryside, away from the atrocities of the Nazis. Why didn’t the holy man save them? But Anghel saves Mila, setting into motion a chain of events that binds them over time and distance. I Am Forbidden is a beautifully written, suspenseful novel whose young characters’ dilemmas will capture the imagination of teen readers as it offers a glimpse of life within the insular Satmar Hasidic sect. Orphaned Mila seeks out family friend Zalman Stern, who raises her alongside his own daughters. She tells him of Anghel, the Jewish farm boy, whom he then “rescues” and sends to Brooklyn to study Talmud. The Sterns transport their family to Paris when Zalman accepts a position as a cantor. Mila and her now-sister Atara attend school with completely different outcomes. Atara craves intellectual challenges, while Mila unquestioningly absorbs the teachings of her faith. Her beloved Atara chooses a path that severs all ties to their staunchly observant family. Josef has never forgotten Mila; he has dreamed of the day she would be his bride. Their destined union is marred by infertility. Knowing that after 10 years a Satmar man must divorce a barren wife, a desperate Mila commits a shocking, life-altering sin, turning her marriage to dust. Markovits’s masterful storytelling elevates this riveting saga of love, loss, and the limits of faith.–Paula J. Gallagher, Baltimore County Public Library, MD
MIGNOLA, Mike & Christopher Golden. Joe Golem and the Drowning City: An Illustrated Novel. 288p. St. Martin’s. 2012. Tr $25.99. ISBN 978-0-312-64473-4. LC 2012013269.
Adult/High School–Molly McHugh is a jaded, yet still good-hearted girl, living on the fringes of society with a strange old man called Orlov the Conjurer in a steampunkish alternate reality. A cataclysm in 1925 caused lower Manhattan and Brooklyn to flood and, ever since, resilient New Yorkers have adjusted, living on the top floors of mostly underwater buildings and getting around by boat and rope bridges. Felix Orvlov is not what he seems, but he is the closest thing Molly has to family and his kidnapping by the sinister Dr. Cocteau spurs her into a desperate search to rescue him. She joins forces with a mysterious man named Mr. Church and his overlarge friend Joe, searching not only for Felix but also for a mysterious artifact called the Pentajulum, which holds the possibility of opening paths to other worlds. She faces many trials in her quest, but the more Molly learns, the more she realizes she doesn’t really know anything, and that most people are not what they seem–Mr. Church is more machine than man and Joe is literally made from stone and earth–and nothing is sure, not even the sanctity of death. Highly descriptive writing and grotesque imagery help to place readers in this truly fantastic setting with hints of elder gods and worlds beyond worlds. Enhanced by multiple points of view and deeply philosophical in its underpinnings, the lavish illustrations add immediacy to Molly’s world. Both teens who like their fantastic sprinkled with a little Lovecraft and steampunk and those who are interested in a wider view of the world should enjoy this.–Charlie Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI
PERCER, Elizabeth. An Uncommon Education. 352p. Harper. 2012. Tr $24.99. ISBN 978-0062110961.
Adult/High School–From the time she was a child, Naomi Feinstein wanted to save those she loved: her father with his failing heart, her mother with her debilitating depression, and her only friend with his smothering mother. She is brilliant and determined to be a cardiologist. As she grows through adolescence, however, she becomes aware that loss is an integral part of life and love, something that she can neither prevent nor control. When she fulfills her dream to attend Wellesley College, she begins to discover the depths of her helplessness in saving others from their destiny. When a twist of fate provides entry into Wellesley’s oddly engaging Shakespeare Society, the hidden truths that have shaped her life begin to reveal themselves as secrets, lies, and well-intentioned deceptions meant to protect her from pain and sadness. As a member of a group misfit and eccentric thespians, she begins to shed her nearly debilitating sense of isolation and self-consciousness. Events of her youth that seemed critically important to her identity become simply a part of her journey to self-discovery. This sad, accessible tale will appeal to patient and introspective teens comfortable with a sometimes meandering narrative, and those looking for insight into the unique and often highly competitive life on an upper-tier college campus.–John Sexton, Greenburgh Public Library, NY
PERINOT, Sophie. The Sister Queens. 498p. notes. New American. 2012. pap. $15. ISBN 978-0-451-23570-1. LC 2011044576.
Adult/High School–Kings, knights, the Crusades, and all the pageantry of 13th-century Europe come to life in this story of two beautiful young women born into one wealthy and powerful family, destined to be royal brides. Marguerite, 13, is sent to wed Louis IX, King of France. She is the older sister but less bold and confident than 12-year-old Eleanor. When Marguerite meets her husband on their wedding day she is charmed by his incredible good looks and kind, gentle manner. She anticipates a love match, but looks are deceiving. His attention is directed solely to God. He is greatly influenced by his mother, “the dragon”; rarely gives Marguerite his attention; and scarcely graces her bed. Not long after, Eleanor is wed to King Henry III of England. She anticipates a loveless marriage for he is old and not at all handsome. But she, too, is deceived and discovers that he is attentive and loving. The women tell their story through alternating narratives and letters to each other. As their story progresses, the kings prove to be none other than what history records: Henry is a poor king and Louis is pious in the extreme. While Marguerite finds passionate love in the arms of another, Eleanor endeavors to help her husband rule his country. Both struggle to survive at a time when women faced multiple births, arduous journeys following their men across continents, war, and little control over their own lives. But these two women discover that influence lies in their sisterhood and in their proximity to royal power; they can affect history. Romance and history loving teens will find this a satisfying read.–Connie Williams, Petaluma High School, CA
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Clik here to view. RASH, Ron. The Cove: A Novel. 272p. Ecco. 2012. pap. $26.99. ISBN 978-0-06-180419-9. LC number unavailable.
Adult/High School–The cove is tucked deep in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina, a place where even the sun is reluctant to venture. But it’s all that’s left to Hank and his sister, Laurel. He has returned from fighting in World War I missing one hand, but determined to make a decent farm from their scrappy land. Laurel, however, is restless to experience more of the world. Superstition in the nearest town, Mars Hill, has it that her deep-blue birthmark labels her a witch, which brings even deeper loneliness to the young woman. Magically, a young man is found in the woods, a musician named Walter who cannot speak but plays enchanting music on his flute. The suspense ratchets up as Laurel falls in love with the stranger. Readers know that he has a secret past, and yet it’s impossible not to root for her and her innocent hopes for love. Rash uses language as untamed and beautiful as the land itself. Laurel imagines that her feelings for Walter were, “…nothing more than a figment her loneliness had fleshed out from a cross of wood and tattered cloth.” Like a thunderstorm ever darkening the horizon, heartache and violence seem sure to come. As in Serena (Ecco, 2008), Rash casts an ominous yet mesmerizing spell over his audience. Teens who cannot get enough of Cormac McCarthy’s atmospheric novels, or love Charles Frazier’s adventures set in the mountains of North Carolina, will be sure to add Ron Rash to their list of favorite authors.–Diane Colson, Palm Harbor Library, FL
ROGERS, Jane. The Testament of Jessie Lamb. 256p. HarperPerennial. 2012. pap. $14.99. ISBN 978-0-06-213080-9. LC number unavailable.
Adult/High School–This thought-provoking dystopian novel is narrated by 16 year-old Jessie Lamb, who lives in Manchester, England with her Mum and Dad in a near-future plagued by Maternal Death Syndrome (MDS). Less than a year earlier, someone (still unknown) released a deadly virus that infects only pregnant women. It attacks the brain; within weeks or even days of being infected, they die. The virus quickly spread around the world, and now there are no more live births. Teenagers and college kids are trying prevent humanity from descending into hopelessness. Jessie helps to form an environmentalist activist group, but leaves when she comes upon a better solution, inspired by her father’s work in a lab at the center of raging reproductive rights protests. Because MDS attacks the mother and not the baby, scientists propose vaccinating frozen embryos stored in medical labs against MDS and then implanting them into surrogate mothers–mothers who would be placed in an induced coma so their babies would survive even after they themselves suffered brain death. That is the background to the present. Now, Jessie is tied up and locked in an empty bedroom in her deceased grandmother’s house, imprisoned by someone trying to keep her from taking the radical action she knows will save the world. The novel is a letter from Jessie meant to give context to her choice, a choice her parents and boyfriend find horrific, a choice she believes to be her purpose in life. Her story is suspenseful, even if its telling is didactic at times. Jessie’s youthful passion and courage make it work.–Angela Carstensen, Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City
THORNE, Melanie. Hand Me Down. 320p. Dutton. 2012. Tr $25.95. ISBN 978-0-525-95268-8. LC 2011022362.
Adult/High School–Liz, 14, and her younger sister Jaime live with their mom and her boyfriend, who just got out of prison for a sex offense. Living with him is creepy; he is far from rehabilitated. When finally it becomes clear that he cannot live with young girls due to his parole conditions, their mother chooses him. Liz moves from couch to couch until she finally lands in Utah at her aunt’s house, which is a welcome respite. Although her aunt loves her, Liz doesn’t quite trust her, especially when her aunt’s boyfriend is in town. And Liz feels tremendously guilty that she is living apart from Jaime and can no longer protect her as she is used to doing. Jaime is living with their father, an alcoholic who has a history of domestic violence and putting their lives in danger. Liz has a great deal of insight into her life and her issues, and much of the book is her internal exploration, most profoundly about choices. While it appears that she is at the mercy of her situation, she actually has a lot of options. How she comes to terms with her choices and their impact on her relationships makes for a satisfying read in spite of little action or major drama to compel the plot forward. A slow pace and a teen beyond her years in terms of insight and awareness make the story comparable to soft reads about difficult subjects, such as Janet Fitch’s White Oleander (Little, Brown, 2001).–Amy Cheney, Alameda County Library, CA
WRIGHT, Tom. What Dies in Summer. 288p. Norton. 2012. Tr $25.95. ISBN 978-0-393-06402-5. LC 2012008463.
Adult/High School–Early one morning, Jim “Biscuit” Bonham’s sixth sense alerts him to a presence on his grandmother’s porch. There he finds his cousin L.A., shivering and nearly catatonic. Clearly she has run away from home, but she refuses to share her reasons. She moves in that very day, eventually finding her voice again, though she’s never quite the same. Jim has been staying with his grandmother ever since living in the same house with his stepfather became intolerable. Jack is an amateur fighter and enjoys practicing on Jim. The novel encompasses one summer when Jim and L.A. are in their early teens, a summer during which teenage girls are found raped and murdered in their suburban Dallas neighborhood, and Jim starts dreaming of a dead girl standing by his bed at night, trying to tell him something. Meanwhile, Jim is in love with beautiful Diana, daughter of the local police chief and L.A.’s best friend. Jim’s best friend, Dee Campion, is “a gentle boy,” an artist misunderstood by his father, headed for tragedy of a different kind. From the outside, their lives appear simple and sweet. But Jim is haunted by his inability to protect those he loves from the evil that walks among the ordinary, which he likens to “having a tiger in your bathtub without knowing it.” Foreboding is intense throughout the novel while, at the same time, Jim’s youthful, innocent voice guides readers through its events. Wright combines horror, crime, mystery, and coming of age with elements of the supernatural and child abuse issues. Teens with a love for dark stories will be intrigued.–Angela Carstensen, Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City
Nonfiction
COLEMAN, Jeffrey Lamar, ed. Words of Protest, Words of Freedom: Poetry of the American Civil Rights. 358p. Duke Univ.. 2012. Tr $89.95. ISBN 978-0-8223-5092-7; pap. $24.95. ISBN 978-0-8223-5103-0. LC number unavailable.
Adult/High School–This marvelous collection of poems written from 1955 to 1975 brings back the emotions and memories of those times as only poetry can. The short, informative introduction to each section serves both teenagers and adults well. Teachers will want to share these fine poems with their students. Chapters present poems that speak of the lynching of Emmett Till, the murders of famous leaders, and the children killed in 1963 in Birmingham at church. Audre Lord’s 1964 poem, “Suffer the Children,” brings back that terrible day. “We who love them remember their child’s laughter/ But he whose hate robs him of their gold/ has yet to weep at night about their graves.” Outstanding poems are included about the integration of the Little Rock schools, the Black Panther Party, and the race riots in the late 1960s. Julius Lester expresses one sad theme in “Revolutionary Mandate 1.” “These are not the times to take your friends for granted–to assume/that they will always be there. They may not be./And if you wait until the next time to tell them that they are very/ special to you/ You may wait until/someone calls you and says that/so and so’s body was found/ beneath the bricks/of a dynamited building.”–Karlan Sick, formerly at New York Public Library
GOODAVAGE, Maria. Soldier Dogs: The Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes. 293p. photos. Dutton. 2012. Tr $26.95. ISBN 978-0-525-95278-7. LC 2011049674.
Adult/High School–In short, chatty chapters, a dog lover and writer embeds readers in the world of the military dog. Goodavage shares the most common job of the dogs (sniffing out explosives) and the best type of dog for it. (Would your pet make a good soldier? Probably not.) The book is divided into four parts : an introductory overview, details about the training, details of scientific background, and, finally, some episodes with actual soldiers and dogs. Along the way, Goodavage does a good job building the case that the dogs are happy, useful parts of the military unit, which makes these stories of the bond between the trainer and dog, especially in combat, even more touching. Certainly some of the stories are sad, but the cumulative effect is a recognition of these dogs as willing heroes, just like their humans. Most readers will find their preconceptions about military working dogs challenged. Even the cover photo holds a surprise – what looks like a wacky photo of a dog in paratrooper glasses is an actual working dog wearing protective goggles due to a war injury. Several colorful photos show the actual dogs and soldiers depicted in the book. As the book draws to a close, Goodavage shares some of the political movements related to the dogs, such as having them classified as more than equipment, as they are now. Teens will enjoy learning about these brave soldiers.–Jamie Watson, Baltimore County Public Library, MD
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Clik here to view.MCGILL, Jerry. Dear Marcus: A Letter to the Man Who Shot Me. 192p. photos. Spiegel & Grau. 2012. Tr $22. ISBN 978-0-8129-9307-3. LC 2011031251.
Adult/High School–Jerome, 13, was walking home late on New Year’s Eve, when he was shot in the back. What happened to him after that unfolds in letters to his assailant, who was never found–or even looked for. Jerome was an inner city black boy being raised by his mother, but his life was far from stereotypical. These letters take readers on an unforgettable and intriguing journey as Jerome came to terms with his paralysis and his life. Themes of violence, hope, despair, forgiveness, anger, and living with a disability are explored both lightly and deeply, humorously and profoundly, and always honestly through stories about his relationships with family, friends, nurses, and others that crossed his path, all in a conversation and relationship with the person who shot him. The complexity of issues is presented with stunning and distilled simplicity. This is a literary page-turner that explores the reverberations of an action and a moment, the ways in which perpetrators and victims are connected. Letters alternate with short movie-script chapters and themed photographs of the profile or shadow of a young black boy, pavement, or chain link fences. From the packaging, to the insights, to the defiance and challenge of all assumptions, to the writing, this is a book that sophisticated teens will love.–Amy Cheney, Alameda County Library, Juvenile Hall, CA
Graphic Novels
EL SHAFEE, Magdy. Metro: A Story of Cairo. tr. from Arabic by Chip Rossetti. illus. by author. 112p. Metropolitan. 2012. pap. $20. ISBN 978-0-8050-9488-6. LC 2012007732.
Adult/High School–El Shafee, who has other sequential art publishing to his credit, shows his experience with the idioms of the format and offers his front-row observations of the decay of Egyptian society under the weight of political and capitalist corruption. Using Cairo’s subway system as the visual and setting frame for the activities of the plot, he tells a hardboiled story that illustrates the facts: angry young Shehab devises a plan for ripping off millions and evading detection, taking his pal Mustapha into confidence and talking the more-careful man into going along with the scheme. While the details involved in this plot are complex without being complicated or difficult to follow, it is the rich visual and dialogue-carried exposé of the politics and dangers of daily life in contemporary Cairo that mold this book into a unique, insightful, and truly dangerous story; it was banned when first published in Egypt in 2008. The careful translation includes information about such cultural references as ring tones from characters’ cell phones, while the text flows in uninhibited and literary English. El Shafee’s images vary from widely variegated shadings to faint pencil sketches (showing a blind man’s view) and black-and-white silhouettes. An excellent piece of literature, art, and culturally cogent reporting from within a society usually seen here only through foreign journalists’ perceptions.–Francisca Goldsmith, Infopeople Project, CA
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Clik here to view.KICK, Russ, ed. The Graphic Canon. vol. 1. 501p. bibliog. index. notes. Seven Stories. 2012. Tr $34.95. ISBN 978-1-60980-376-6. LC 2012000276.
Adult/High School–This admirable and inclusive project’s first volume offers a plethora of literary milestones as envisioned by such luminary cartoonists as Will Eisner, Seymour Chwast, R. Crumb, Roberta Gregory, Rick Geary, Peter Kuper, and even the younger Schrag sister, Valerie. In an attempt to be culturally inclusive, this “canon” goes beyond the Western (Iliad and Odyssey, Le morte d’Arthur, Shakespearean Sonnets, etc., which are all well represented) to Native America (both North and South), Japan, China, and Tibet, to such religious writers as Hildegard of Bingen and the Book of Esther, and those in classical philosophy such as Plato and Lucretius. Each piece, however translated and/or abridged in text, includes specific source notes. Art styles vary from black-and-white cartoons by masters of the style to beautifully full-colored engravinglike pages. This is a masterpiece of literary choices as well as art and interpretation. It is a perfect graduation or summer-reading present, and the solid editing, including introductory notes for each piece, makes it a required purchase for any library.–Francisca Goldsmith, Infopeople Project, CA