Last Bus to Everland

Last Bus to Everland by Sophie Cameron

At home in Edinburgh, Brody is overlooked and bullied.

Everything about his life is difficult. Then, Nico shows Brody the door to Everland: a magical door that only opens at 11:21 on Thursday nights. Inside Everland, Brody is able to embrace all of his dreams, but most of all, Everland is full of people who understand Brody--unlike the real world, where nobody understands anything.

Brody and Nico and their friends explore the wonders of Everland, playing music, attending parties, and wearing outrageous costumes. It seems like a place where they could stay forever--and like Peter Pan's Neverland, it might be a place where they never need to grow up.

Then, the doors out of Everland start disappearing, and Brody needs to make a choice: stay in Everland with Nico, or return to his home and his family.

A diverse cast of main and supporting characters make this compelling story even more wonderful.

Highly recommended for ages 12 to adult, especially those who are still waiting for a Hogwarts letter, sometimes check the back of the wardrobe for doors, and always leave the window open, just in case.

Poisoned Apples

Poisoned Apples : poems for you, my pretty  by Christine Heppermann

After the kiss and the trip to the castle, Sleeping Beauty's day consists of showering, shaving, shampooing, conditioning....and so much more.  Little Miss Muffet signs up for a drastic diet to try to assuage decades of dairy-fed weight.  A "house of bricks" girl gradually starves herself down to mere straw.

In this poetry collection, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, the Miller's Daughter, and many other folkloric ladies are besieged by modern body image issues including eating disorders, social pressure, verbal and physical abuse, and sexual situations.  

This collection is uneven and repetitive.  Some poems are deftly created, merging a traditional tale with modern sensibilities, offering insight to both.

Other pieces clunk when they roll, with messages about fat girls, mean boys, and relentless striving to conquer societal expectations, delivered via a merciless hammer fist and no reference to any external story.

Teachers and lovers of poetry will find useful bits of brilliance here, but the verses may be best enjoyed in small tastes, rather than large gulps.

Butter

Butter by Erin Jade Lange

Butter is obese, a boy who expects to be bullied, lonely, and ignored , especially by his father. 

How the “Butter” nickname evolved is a sick story on its own, but at 429 pounds, Butter is now just done. He decides that he is going to eat himself to death- on New Year’s Eve- videoed live on the internet.  

When he posts this idea online, he (and we) are unprepared for the reaction from his classmates:  cheering!  

In an awful twist, Butter becomes the hero of an idea increasingly difficult to stop.  He now has social standing with all the popular kids, invited to parties, sits at their table at lunch, and one step closer to Annie, the girl of his dreams.

Of course, as we understand the real Butter, we become increasingly alarmed and appalled as we watch the train wreck.   Butter began an online relationship with Annie, posing as an anonymous, handsome football player from another school.  What could go wrong there?  

He is an amazing saxophone player, whose sound, according to his teacher, is “smooth as butter.”  He is not alone in the world, either.  He has a great doctor, his mom, and a friend from “fat camp.”  But those are not the kids in his school.

This is a complex look at eating issues, relationships, and high school culture.  There are few two dimensional characters in this book, so the problems are not going to be simple, or even have straightforward solutions. Expect to get involved in Butter’s life.

And if you have read the book- can you remember Butter’s real name?  Did you get sucked into the group that continues/enables/excuses the bullying behavior?  

Or do you remember his name?