Spirit Fighter

Title: Spirit Fighter
Series: Son of Angels: Jonah Stone #1
Author: Jerel Law
ISBN: 9781400318438
Pages: 243 pages
Publisher/Date: Thomas Nelson, Inc. c2011.

“Investigators?” Jonah repeated. “Like. . . police? Dad, what’s wrong?”
Benjamin glanced at the woman, who nodded. He sighed loudly, pulling the glasses off his face. “Mom’s been taken. Someone’s kidnapped her.”
Jonah froze, trying to understand the words his father had just said.
“What do you mean, kidnapped?” he said, and then crossed his arms. “How do you know?”
[...]
Jonah stared at the two strangers. “Who are you? Are you really police? Where’s your patrol car? If it’s true, shouldn’t there be a dozen cops scouring this place by now? Where are they?” [...] “You aren’t police, are you?” (65)

Seventh-grader Jonah has no idea what is happening to him when he acquires abilities like super-strength and speed. But instead of finding out he’s a superhero in disguise his parents explain that he is one-quarter angel. His grandfather (who no one has seen for years) was one of the fallen angels that revolted against God all those years ago. When he comes home from school to discover his mother has been kidnapped by those same evil angels, it’s up to Jonah and his sister Eliza to rescue her due to their unique position between the two worlds. Relying on evolving powers, their guardian angel, and a lot of prayer, Jonah and Eliza search New York City. Will their faith be strong enough to rescue their mother before she’s turned to the wrong side?

I didn’t realize that this was Christian fantasy until this book came in for me from another library. I honestly don’t read a lot of explicitly Christian fiction, although I do occasionally read some “gentler” books that might appeal to moms trying to avoid the “drama” that fiction sometimes contains. So I’ll be the first to admit that I’m probably not the “target audience”. Upon reading this though, I immediately thought of a patron from my previous library whose parents were very guarded about what she could or couldn’t read, and considering her favorite genre was fantasy but it couldn’t have magic in almost any form (witches, spells, etc.), it placed a lot of limitations on what she could check out of the library. This would more than likely have pleased her parents, so if you’re looking for that kind of thing, this would be a good starting point. That being said, it’s not perfect.

The book’s description on the back cover states that it is based on the book of Genesis. That’s not the only thing that gets quoted though, as each part is introduced with a Biblical passage. The kids spout scripture like they are in a seminary, along with just about every other character in the story. Any time they are in a tight spot, or need extra assistance, they pray to God (or Elohim as he’s called in the book) and they receive help. Yes, I understand that’s one of the very obvious morals to the story that Jerel Law makes very apparent over and over again, and yes Jonah and Eliza’s father is a Methodist pastor, but it still struck me as unrealistic. I wish the kids could have struggled a little bit more to solve their own problems, instead of relying so heavily on the assistance of others. Weren’t they sent on this quest for a reason?

Because the morals are laid down so heavily, the dialogue and action comes across as stilted. While it was a fast read, the plot didn’t make sense to me. For some reason, the fallen angels wait all this time to capture Jonah’s mom and others like her in order to essentially brain wash them for their cause. Why wait all this time? Why not recruit them to the cause when they were younger and more easily influenced by their fallen angel parent? And why make Jonah and Eliza “quarterlings,” or one-quarter angel? It would have led more urgency to the plot if they were the half angels (called nephilims) and their younger brother had been captured instead of their adult mother. If the author hadn’t wanted an evil parent situation, then maybe the mother defected from the group upon having kids, and they’ve been in hiding ever since. That would have lent to some intrigue and suspense, and also character development to the story. In terms of super powers, I think Eliza drew the short end of the stick since she doesn’t have nearly as many as Jonah (although hers is still cool).

This being the first in a projected series, I’m assuming we haven’t seen the last of these angels, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to get rid of them that will aid Jonah and Eliza in their continuing conflict. So if you like to get beat over the head with how prayer is powerful and faith in God will guide you, this fantasy will do it for you. Otherwise, I’d pick up Chronicles of Narnia over this “Christian fantasy” any day.

The Spindlers

Title: The Spindlers
Author: Lauren Oliver
Illustrator: Iacopo Bruno
ISBN: 9780061978081
Pages: 246 pages
Publisher/Date: HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, c2012.

One night when Liza went to bed, Patrick was her chubby, stubby, candy-grubbing and pancake-loving younger brother, who irritated and amused her both, and the next morning, when she woke up, he was not.
She could not describe the difference. He looked the same, and was wearing the same pair of ratty space-alien pajamas, with the same fat toe sticking out of the hole in the left foot of his red socks, and he came down the stairs exactly the same way the real Patrick would have done: bump, bump, bump, sliding on his rump.
But he was not the same.
In fact, he was quite, quite different. (1-2)

Liza quickly realizes that Patrick’s soul had been taken by spindlers, spider-like creatures her babysitter warned them out. Spindlers steal children’s souls and lay their eggs in the hallowed out shell, where they will grow until they hatch and burst forth as the body finally crumbles to dust. Intent to rescue her brother’s soul and save him, even though he could be annoying sometimes, Liza ventures Below to find the spindlers. Armed only with a broom, and with the help of a very strangely dressed rat Mirabella, Liza is led through deadly traps and creatures. But while in the dark Below, things aren’t always what they appear to be, as Liza quickly discovers that she might have put herself in more danger than she first realized to rescue her brother.

I have to give props to Lauren Oliver for her creativity. She starts the story off strong with a creepy, creative creature.The spindlers aren’t the only odd-ball animals that occupy Below, as Liza is introduced to nocturni, nids, troglods, lumpen, scawgs (who remind me very much of Greek sirens mixed with Circe), and living forests, in addition to talking, fashionably dressed rat Mirabelle. The introduction of the human characters is also done very well, from loving Liza to possessed Patrick spelling out “I Hate You” with his cereal and even the distracted parents who don’t believe Liza’s story. I like how Liza’s information about the spindlers comes from a babysitter, which lends some credibility for readers who also believe what their babysitters say but still gives a glimmer that it might be made up. Until — of course — Liza literally drops into Below and begins her search.

It’s in that way that Oliver also has an eye for how kids see the world. They could be somewhat skeptical about the babysitters tale, or they could believe it whole heartedly. Another instance of this understanding is when Liza finds the marketplace Below and they are using scrap pieces of paper as currency. “Liza was going to point out that in her world people used real money, not just worthless slips of paper, but it occurred to her that she wasn’t actually certain of the difference, so she said nothing.” (47) Rereading it still makes me smile.

I found myself skipping ahead to see what other weird things came about. The climax is maybe a bit overdone with lots of things happening in the span of a few pages, but no one can say it isn’t action packed, that’s for certain. Overall it’s a good book, probably not a top ten of the year but I can easily see myself recommending it to others who might be looking for this type of thing. The best way I can describe it is a darker, modern day version of Alice in Wonderland.

2 The Point Tuesdays Flying the Dragon

For my new job, all the librarians write a maximum 150 word review of a new book that came into the library during the month. I’ll be adding my contribution to the blog in a new feature I’m calling To the Point Tuesdays. If you want to play along, just post a link in the comments and I’ll add them to the post.

Title: Flying the Dragon
Author: Natalie Dias Lorenzi
ISBN: 9781580894340
Pages: 233 pages
Publisher/Date: Charlesbridge Publishing, c2012.
Publication Date: July 1, 2012

Ever since she had translated something for Hiroshi that morning, Kevin wouldn’t leave her alone. “Ching chang wong wang!” He snickered, obviously pleased with himself.
“That doesn’t even mean anything.” Skye rolled her eyes, hoping no one else had heard him. As luck would have it, she had to peer around his big head to copy the reading homework from the board. But whenever she tried to look, he blocked her way.
She sighed. “Cut it out. I can’t see the board.”
“Why don’t you ask your Chinese boyfriend what it says when he gets back from ESL class?”
“He’s not my boyfriend; he’s my cousin. And he’s not Chinese, duh. He’s Japanese.”
“Whatever.”
Ignore him. Ignore him. Ignore him. (48)

Sorano (called Skye) was excited about finally securing a spot on this coming summer’s All-Star soccer team. Instead, she’ll attend Japanese classes due to her cousin Hiroshi and his family moving to the United States. Hiroshi’s just as surprised as Skye about the move, angrily missing his own summer goal of continuing the family tradition and competing in the annual kite battles. The conflict grows as Hiroshi closely guards the little time he has with his ailing grandfather and Skye is embarrassed by Hiroshi’s very Japanese manners. When Skye accidently damages the kite that Hiroshi and his grandfather built together and carefully transported from Japan, it looks like their friendship is over before it got off the ground. Peppered with Japanese phrases, words, and cultural tidbits, this debut novel realistically portrays a collision of cultures and emotions and how two very different people can help each other succeed and soar.

I’d say more about how much I loved this book and the cover, but since it’s To the Point Tuesday, you’ll have to satisfy yourself with following the links. Looking for more information? Literary Rambles has an interview with author Natalie Dias Lorenzi and the author has a whole host of links to reviews and interviews on her website.

May B.

Title: May B.
Author: Caroline Starr Rose
ISBN: 9781582464121
Pages: 231 pages
Publisher/Date: Schwartz & Wade Books, c2012.

On the fourth day,
I stand at the stove
and, with my finger on the calendar,
trace the days of August.

I’ve known it since last night:
it’s been too long to expect them
to return.

Something’s happened.

My legs fold under me
as I try
to catch
my breath
between sobs.(71)

Twelve-year-old May B. has been pulled from school by her parents and rented out to a new Kansas couple to help them keep their house and get established because the family crop has failed. “We’ll get you home by Christmas” her mother and father keep telling her, as they drop her off at the farmstead and leave her there. But newly married Mrs. Oblinger is from the city and not happy with her new life. When she takes off and her husband quickly takes chase, four days pass before May B. is willing to admit to herself that something’s happened and they’re not coming back. All alone, with winter quickly approaching, she’s frozen with fear and worried about the weather. Should she attempt to walk the miles of uninhabited land to find her parents’ homestead, or should she wait it out, with little food and wood, until her father comes to rescue her four months from now?

This is Little House on the Prairie meets Hatchet, which is confirmed when the author admits in her author’s note that she “fell in love” with the Little House books when she was a child. I was most impressed with how author Caroline Starr Rose maintains the tension surrounding May’s predicament. Short, staccato phrases make for poetry that echoes the nervousness, frustration, and at times depression May must feel.

Her feelings aren’t alleviated any when her only source of comfort is the reader that she smuggled into her pack when she first came to the Oblingers’ property. While she loves school and dreams of being a teacher, it’s quickly apparent that she suffers from dyslexia and struggles with making sense of written words that she can’t read even when she knows what they say. This was a new spin on an old concept, because we always think of learning disabilities as a recent development, but it’s entirely possible that people have gone undiagnosed for years.

I was slightly disappointed when May didn’t do more to ensure her survival. She obviously has knowledge of how prairie life works, since she makes bread and talks about the plantings. But we don’t see many of her efforts in the beginning, and we hear of her boredom more often than not. The fitful presentation mimics what May must be feeling as she quickly loses track of the days and weeks and only has the weather to rely on. At one point she even says “Time was made / for others, / not for someone / all alone.” (135) It makes readers stop and think about what little the days and weeks matter when there is no difference between them. But the day-to-day survival techniques and chores are the one area where I wish there had been more details.

A strong, relatable character allows readers a glimpse of a girl’s survival story in harsh conditions that we have very little experience with today.

Dear Blue Sky

Title: Dear Blue Sky
Author: Mary Sullivan
ISBN: 9780399256844
Pages: 248 pages
Publisher/Date: Nancy Paulsen Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, Published by The Penguin Group, c2012.
Publication Date: August 2, 2012

“Everything seems so messed up”–I took a deep breath–”since Sef decided to leave.”
“Yeah, I know.” His eyes filled. He wiped underneath them with the back of his hand. “I miss that kid.”
I’d never seen him cry before. I didn’t want to. His heavy cheeks seemed to sag, and for the first time, I noticed little gray hairs near his temples.
“What are we going to do, Dad?”
“I don’t know. We’ll figure it out.” (156)

Cassie knows that her life is nothing compared to what her older brother Sef must be going through serving as a Marine overseas in Iraq. It’s hard to cope though when Sef was the glue that held her family together. Now her parents are fighting, her younger brother isn’t talking, and her older sister is withdrawing and spending all her time with her no good boyfriend. Add to that a best friend who’s dropped Cassie for something she wasn’t responsible for, and Cassie’s only way to find relief is to literally run until she can start breathing again, something that she enjoyed doing with Sef but now must do alone. When Cassie discovers the blog Blue Sky, written by an Iraqi girl about her age, Cassie realizes that her life is nothing compared to the horrors Blue Sky encounters in a war zone. Cassie’s opinions and feelings are put to the test during this year of emotional upheaval, and she wonders what she can do to help everyone, including herself, recover.

This is a powerful book that forces readers to rediscover themselves and rethink the world. Mary Sullivan does an amazing job of putting readers in Cassie’s position. There’s a lot of family problems and drama for one book, but Cassie holds herself together surprisingly well considering the circumstances. I guess that’s what I liked about her the most is how real she comes across. There are times where she is just thoroughly overwhelmed by everything going on in her life, but she gets the support she needs from family, teachers, and classmates and strives to make her life more normal. She knows her life is a little crazy, but she sticks with her family and defends against accusations from other people. I was especially proud of how she cares for her younger brother, who has Down Syndrome and is having trouble with one of the neighborhood kids. She really takes to heart her self-imposed responsibility of taking care of the family now that her brother is away.

There have been a few books that have come out about the war in Iraq, post-September 11th, and teens dealing with a family member involved in the military in some way. Sullivan though presents it from both perspectives with the help of Blue Sky, the Iraqi blogger that Cassie strikes up an e-mail conversation with. While I understand that with the changing nature of the internet it might have been difficult to include a resource guide, I really wish she had included some of the blogs she referenced in her acknowledgements. She writes that she is forever grateful “to all the Iraqi girl bloggers brave enough to write about how the world changed their lives” and I feel like this would have been the perfect opportunity to include some of the ones she read. After a quick google search, quite a few of the blogs are defunct, and the few that are still active only provide a few rare posts each year. A few that I found include Middle East Journals and Baghdad Burning with depressing descriptions of fleeing the country several years ago, after which is stops. You’re left wondering what happened.

Besides that one quibble, I think Sullivan did an excellent job. She provides a plausible explanation for Blue Sky’s passable English skills (her father teaches English and worked as an interpreter) and she provides a glimpse into a life that is literally on the other side of the world from what we are used to in America. I hope we will never have to live through the type of warfare/conflict that has become so common overseas. Sullivan shows how the public can support the troops serving, even if they are conflicted about the war. This is a thought provoking, discussion worthy book with an eye-catching cover.

2 the Point Tuesday — Tua and the Elephant

For my new job, all the librarians write a maximum 150 word review of a new book that came into the library during the month. I’ll be adding my contribution to the blog in a new feature I’m calling To the Point Tuesdays. If you want to play along, just post a link in the comments and I’ll add them to the post.

Title: Tua and the Elephant
Author: R.P. Harris
Illustrator: Taeeun Yoo
ISBN: 9780811877817
Pages: 204 pages
Publisher/Date: Chronicle Books LLC, c2012.
Publication Date: April 18, 2012

“I have an elephant,” Tua said, ignoring the question. Then she began to relate the story of how she had rescued an elephant from a pair of rogues who were mistreating it, how they had stolen money from a poor woman and her baby, and what else was she to do?
“That’s nice, darling,” Auntie Orchid yawned. “Every girl should have a ‘special friend.’” The yawn reminded Orchid that it was quite late after all.
“Kha, Auntie. Can I show it to you?” [...]
“Yes, you may,” said Auntie Orchid “if you must.”
Tua opened the door and gestured with her head for her auntie to look outside. [...]
“Tua, darling,” she calmly asked, “would you please tell me why . . . there is an elephant standing on MY . . . back . . . porch?”(45-46)

In this debut tale of courage and tenacity where Homeward Bound meets Dumbo, ten-year-old Tua is visiting the night market in her town of Chiang Mai, Thailand. Running across a baby elephant clearly in need of rescuing from her abusive and questionable owners, Tua whisks the elephant away into the night while they are sleeping. Naming her Pohn-Pohn, clever Tua reasonably rationalizes that “Taking an elephant home was definitely out of the question.” But what should Tua do with her? So beings an incredible journey across rivers and Thailand farms, in search of a home for the elephant. The purple and yellow illustrations emphasize how out-of-place poor Pohn-Pohn is in the populated yellow fields of rice and corn. But Pohn-Pohn’s previous owners are intent on getting their valuable possession back, using whatever means necessary.

If you want to read a longer synopsis of the book, it was reviewed in the New York Times by none other Sara Gruen, author of her own elephant based book Water for Elephants.

Seven Daughters and Seven Sons

Title: Seven Daughters and Seven Sons
Author: Barbara Cohen and Bahija Lovejoy
ISBN: 0689308752
Pages: 220 pages
Publisher/Date: Atheneum, c1982.

My hands were shaking, but I clasped them so tightly no one could see that. I made my voice strong and firm. “I want to do what my cousins have done. I’ve always dreamed of it. I’m as smart as they are. Send me to one of the cities along the coast. With the money, I’ll set up shop. Those seaports are full of sailors. They sell their goods cheap, they’re so eager to get rid of them. And merchants come, on caravan, just as eager to buy. I’ll send what I make to you. You’ll be rich in a few months time. My uncle will be as nothing compared to you.”
At first my parents were so flabbergasted they couldn’t speak. That’s why I was able to say so much without being interrupted. My mother recovered her voice first. “Tomorrow I’ll send for that old woman who lives in the Muqtadiyya district. She makes a secret broth from a certain herb she finds in the desert. It’s said to cure madness.”
“Mother, I’m not mad.” (24-25)

Buran is one of seven sisters born to a merchant and his wife. Her uncle constantly berates her father’s bad luck, since her uncle has seven sons who he can send out into the world to increase the family’s fortune. When Buran’s father falls ill, Buran is finally able to convince him to assume a disguise and travel dressed as a man in a convoy and set up trade. But dressing as a man has its disadvantages, especially when Buran starts falling in love and is forced to choose between shedding her disguise or her independence.

While I liked the story well enough, it lacks the action and tension that most readers seem to expect these days from a retold fairy tale. Written three decades ago, the age of the story might contribute to the slow pace of the novel. Most of the story covers either Buran’s travels to and from her home or the courtship between her and her love interest. The travels that take her away from home are relatively uneventful, and no real detail is given to her task master/teacher.

The book does give an insight into the culture, although some of the references again might be dated. I’m left wondering how likely it would be for Buran to assume this hidden identity when being raised in a “proper” household, revealing that her father has been the only male to see her since she became a woman. If Buran had been rebellious as a child I could understand a little better this change in clothing, but we don’t really get any sort of rebellious vibe, just the impression that her father is slightly indulgent in teaching her typically male activities and hobbies.

A Monster Calls

Title: A Monster Calls
Author: Patrick Ness
Inspired by an idea by Siobhan Dowd
Illustrator: Jim Kay
Narrator: Jason Isaacs
ISBN: 9780763655594
Pages: 205 pages
CD/Discs: 4 CDs, 4 hours 1 minute plus a bonus disc of illustrations from the book.
Publisher/Date: Candlewick Press, c2011.

I have come to get you, Conor O’Malley, the monster said, pushing against the house, shaking the pictures off Conor’s wall, sending books and electronic gadgets and an old stuffed toy rhino tumbling to the floor. [...]
“So come and get me then,” he said. [...]
The monster paused for a moment, and then with a roar it pounded two fists against the house. Conor’s ceiling buckled under the blows, and huge cracks appeared in the walls. Wind filled the room, the air thundering with the monster’s angry bellows.
“Shout all you want,” Conor shrugged, barely raising his voice. “I’ve seen worse.” [...]
You really aren’t afraid, are you?
“No,” Conor said. “Not of you, anyway.”
The monster narrowed its eyes.
You will be, it said. Before the end.
And the last thing Conor remembered was the monster’s mouth roaring open to eat him alive. (8-9)

Conor O’Malley has been struggling with a nightmare ever since his mother started cancer treatments. So when a real and ancient monster appears demanding the truth from Conor, Conor is still more terrified of the monsters in his dreams. Telling this monster his darkest fears isn’t high on his priority list, especially since everyone except the bully is avoiding him at school, his father has finally escaped his new family in America to visit, and Conor has been forced to live with his grandmother while his mom is in the hospital again. But maybe Conor is right. Maybe the monster outside his room isn’t the thing he’s supposed to fear the most.

There are those books that come into your life at a time when you need them the most, and because of that fact they affect you more than they normally would. This is one of those books. A week after finishing the audiobook, my grandmother passed away after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. Just like Conor is watching his mother struggle, I’d been trying to come to grips with my grandmother’s own struggle, and this book in a strange way brought me comfort at the thought that she knew how much we all cared about her.

Jason Isaacs is someone who could give Jim Dale a run for his money. In the interview following the audiobook version, Isaacs reveals that Ness asked him to be unsentimental, with Ness stressing that there is a difference behind sentiment and emotion and he wanted the emotion to work without added sentiment. (You can hear the interview and a portion of the audiobook here.) Isaacs didn’t have to add emotion. He lets the text speak for itself and instead focuses on the inflection and tone and the power of the words that he’s given. It’s an amazing experience to listen to this man bring Conor’s story to life. The gravely monster roars and expresses outrage, and Conor’s every emotion is palatable, from disdain towards the monster’s stories to rage against the bully and fear of the nightmare disturbing his sleep. It’s the fear that Isaacs conveys the best in my opinion, through cracking voice and tenuous gasps of breath which stay with you even after the last disc has come to an end.

The artwork is equally impressive, with Jim Kay providing striking black, gray and white illustrations to accompany the text. They look to be made with those black etching boards that they hand out in middle school art classes, where students scratch off the black to reveal the white underneath. It’s appropriately dark and stark and the noticeably hashes present throughout the drawings lends a stormy, almost ghostly quality. Some of the drawings are so minimalist that you wonder how he could leave them that way, when compared to the imposing double page spreads. But then you realize that the drawings in the margins bracket those double page spreads, leaving the impression that they (and the accompanying subject matter, which is Conor’s nightmare and the monster) were just too big for two pages and had to bleed over to the accompanying areas.

The irony of the plot of the story is not lost on me. The novel was written by Patrick Ness because Siobhan Dowd succumbed to an early death from cancer and could not finish the work herself. Connor’s mother is also fighting a loosing battle with cancer. Maybe meant as a parting gift to those she left behind, Ness and Dowd are well paired, even though Ness says in the author’s note that they never met each other. I don’t envy his task of bringing someone else’s world to life, but I think Dowd would be pleased.

Although it didn’t win the Printz or Odyssey award, I think it must have been a strong contender for both and deserves a place in all libraries. I’ll definitely be adding both Dowd’s and Ness’s other works to my to-be-read list.

Ghetto Cowboy

Title: Ghetto Cowboy
Author: G. Neri
Illustrator: Jesse Joshua Watson
ISBN: 9780763649227
Pages: 218 pages
Publisher/Date: Candlewick Press, c2011.
Publication Date: August 9, 2011

The front door’s open. I walk in and the first thing I smell is . . . horses? I ain’t never smelled a horse before, never even saw one up close before a few minutes ago. But if a horse got a smell, I think this is it, ’cause that’s all that’s in here: horse stuff. A coupla old saddles, blankets, brushes, work boots, horse things like you see on TV. Instead of furniture, there’s even them square things of hay to sit on.
This ain’t no house–it’s a barn.
To top it off, there a big ol’ hole from floor to ceiling knocked into the side of the living room, leading into the place next door, like he just wanted to epand his crib and took over the abandoned one next to his.
I peek inside the hole, but its dark ’cause all the windows is boarded up. But man, it really smells like animal in there. Suddenly, something big moves in the dark, and I jump back.
“That’s Lightning,” says Harper.
My eyes adjust to a pair of dark eyes staring back at me.
It’s a horse. He got a horse in the house.
No wonder Mom left him. (22-23)

Fed up with Cole’s behavior, skipping school and getting into trouble, his mother drives him through the night to Philadelphia, to the house of the father he’s never met. Cole isn’t sure which parent is crazier, his mother for doing this to him or his father for claiming to be a cowboy and caring for horses out of a rundown stable in an abandoned lot. But Cole realizes that his father isn’t the only crazy one, as he quickly meets the rest of the black cowboys trying to maintain country lifestyles in the city. Will the fight for the horses finally bring Cole and his father together, or just drive them farther apart?

I’m always up for a good “based on a true story” book, and this is no different. G. Neri does a great job with the dialogue and urban dialect without going overboard with language that would force it into the teen area. I could still see teens enjoying this book, especially the reluctant/struggling/hi-lo readers. The conversations and flow is typical of everyday speech patterns, which makes it a very fast and easy read. But the relationships are what make it compelling, as we see that not everything is black and white. Cole’s father probably says it best when explaining that the city has turned some people against them, while other city people are glad that the horses provide an alternative activity for youth besides gangs. Cole realizes the complexity of the issue when he finds out that Cole’s father is even friends with a cop who used to stable a horse in the city.

This seems to be an ongoing issue, with no cut and dry answers. Neri respects that struggle by not giving his own story a cut and dry happy ending. Even with the epilogue, the characters still have their own battles to fight, but it in no way makes the ending any less satisfying. This is a book ready-made for discussion, with Mr. Neri providing websites, videos, and even a discussion packet on his own website, http://gregneri.com/cowboy.html that teachers and librarians should really check out. Looking through some of the news stories, you can tell that the author did his research and based some of the events in the book on actual events in the Federation of Black Cowboys history and experience. Although I read the physical book, and the illustrations are phenomenal, the audiobook did receive an Odyssey Honor Award and an AudioFile Earphones Award, so I guess that format would be just as impressive.

Clarity

Title: Clarity
Author: Kim Harrington
ISBN: 9780545230506
Pages: 246 pages
Publisher/Date: Point, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., c2011.

“You don’t want to kill me,” I said.
“Of course I don’t, Clare. But I have to.”
If I wasn’t already bleeding, with the room tilting and swaying, I would have slapped myself. I never saw this coming. I had let my personal feelings cloud my judgment. And now I was looking down the barrel of a gun. (1)

Clarity “Clare” Fern is a psychic who receives visions from touching objects. She, her mother, and her brother are all involved in the family business of giving psychic readings, with her brother Perry able to talk to ghosts and her mother able to read people’s minds (to Clare and Perry’s constant annoyance). Clare hopes that her powers can come in handy when she’s called upon to assist in the murder of a tourist in their small town. She has more than one reason to say no, especially when the mayor’s son is her cheating ex-boyfriend (“It was a mistake” — HA not likely) and the new detective in town’s son is a non-believer. But that’s before her brother becomes the prime suspect for the crime. Now, not knowing who she can trust or turn to, Clare is forced to question who people she’s known her whole life really are.

I LIKED this book, and it was a joy to finish off 2011 with this book. It was the perfect combination of mystery and romance and action. You have an escalating body count as people connected to the initial murder go missing and/or turn up dead. There are multiple suspects and multiple motives examined, all with (pardon the pun) clarity and realism. And you have the ever popular love triangle that is much more believable than some of the other ones I’ve seen recently. And it all comes to a riveting climax that keeps you on the edge of your seat and reading until the very end. It’s an enjoyable roller coaster ride.

Clarity was a clearly developed, multifaceted character, and so were the rest of the people in her life. Perry is scared out of his wits, and Clarity’s loyalty to her brother, although understandably called into question, never falters completely. Her confused and torn feelings toward both her ex-boyfriend Justin and the new detective’s hot son Gabriel are relatable. At the same time she’s trying to forgive Justin’s one drunken mistake, she’s also trying to decide if she can forgive Gabriel’s skepticism about her gift. It’s the known vs the unknown, and I for one have a good feeling about where her heart is heading at the end of the book.

There’s never a good way to say this without making me sound like a prude, but although the book references sexual acts and drinking, Clarity doesn’t partake in it and only hears about it second-hand. But there’s still enough suspense and action that you don’t miss the more controversial elements that teen fiction has become famous in having. Bravo!

This debut novel is a great first book, and while the ending comes to a satisfying conclusion, I’m hoping for a sequel. Clare is only sixteen in this summer mystery, and I’m hoping for at least one more book where we can see her in school and interact with more classmates that might or might not care for her special powers. Plus, maybe I’ll showcase my own psychic abilities and predict correctly whether Clare choses Justin or Gabe.