Aftercare Instructions

Aftercare Instructions  by Bonnie Pipkin

17-year-old Genesis Johnson walks out into the waiting room at the Planned Parenthood clinic and discovers that Peter, her boyfriend and one true love, is gone.  Cramping and bleeding after the abortion she has just endured, Gen can't believe he has abandoned her.  But he isn't waiting for her, and he won't answer her calls or texts.  What else could it mean?

Events are revealed in alternating formats:  the present day episodes are a straightforward narration, but flashbacks to the past are written as a stage play starring Gen, Peter, and a few important supporting characters.  The details revealed build a story that will surprise readers almost as much as it surprises Genesis herself.

The chapters are titled with excerpts from the aftercare instructions booklet provided by the abortion clinic, which serves as an anchor point for the story and also offers insight into events as they unfold. 

Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.

Tomboy

Tomboy: a graphic memoir  by Liz Prince

Liz was a kid who knew what she liked:  boy stuff.  Boy clothing, boy toys and games, boy sports, boys as friends.  She also knew what she didn't like:  girl stuff.

Her road to adulthood was bumpy and full of uncertainty.  Was she a lesbian?  Transgender?  A complete freakazoidal weirdo that nobody would ever like (except her mom, because that's her mom's, like, job)?  

Would Liz ever conform to gender norms?  And more importantly:  would Liz ever want to comform?

This quick-paced graphic memoir is full of angst, but it's also funny.  Liz may not be much like other people, but she's got a handle on that now.  Her story is worth reading--and sharing.

Recommended for ages 14 to adult. 

The Serpent King

The Serpent King  by Jeff Zentner

Dill has two friends and two problems.

Dill's friends are Travis and Lydia. Travis is big, shy, kind, and so obsessed with his favorite sword-and-sorcery book that he can mostly ignore his lousy home life. Lydia is cute, smart, rich, upwardly mobile, and aimed OUT of the dinky backwater Tennessee town (named for a founding member of the KKK, wahoo!) where they all live.

Dill's problems are his name and his future. His name is Dillard Early, Jr, and he was named for his father, Dillard Early, Sr., (known locally as the Pervert Preacher), and for his papaw, (known locally as the Serpent King).  His future looks a lot like his present day, and that's not good.

Then something happens to make Dill's life unbearable.  The reader knows that something is going to change.  But...what?

If you think you know what will happen to the preacher's kid from "one of those crazy snake churches,"  you are probably wrong.  The journey is not predictable, and yet, it all makes sense. Extra stars for religious extremists who are deeper than the paper on which they are written, and for religious questioning without obvious answers.

You may see this book compared to the works of John Green, and while I understand the comparison, I also don't think this reads like a JG book.  It has some excellent (and some dreadful) parent characters, it has super-tough situations, there is kissing on the page.  But JG rarely touches religion, and I don't know if he could handle (pun intended) a snake church.

And if there's sex, I missed it.  It might have happened off-page.  In fact, I kind of hope it did.

Rivoting read; recommended for readers ages 12 to adult, and it definitely needs to be a movie!

Guy in Real Life

Guy in Real Life by Steve Brezenoff

Lesh does not have romance on his mind as he staggers home drunk at 2:30am after a heavy metal concert in downtown Saint Paul.  He is thinking about his head, his guts, and the sidewalk, and how soon those three things are going to connect in vivid, pukey Technicolor.

That's why Lesh isn't watching where he's walking...and he walks right into Svetlana,

Svetlana isn't thinking about romance either.  She's riding her bicycle, thinking about her friends, and contemplating the amazing artwork she has created for the upcoming Gaming Club campaign...until Lesh wobbles into her path and sends them both sprawling into a puddle.

The collision of Lesh and Svetlana starts a series of events that might be reminiscent of a modern reboot of a 1970's television sitcom...until the plot takes a sudden twist and everything changes.

Lesh is so fascinated by Svetlana that he secretly creates a online MMO  character that looks just like her.  He even names his character "Svvetlana" (with two V's), and campaigns her up to level fifty, gaining power, virtual gold, and lots of magical online loot.

Lesh enjoys spending time with Svetlana (one V) in real life, but he also enjoys being Svvetlana (two V's) in the game.

What could possibly go wrong?

In alternating narrative voices (Lesh and Svetlana, and also the virtual warrior orc Kugnar and the virtual elf priestess Svvetlana), the story gradually stumbles and reels to an unexpected--and sort of wonderful--final chapter.

Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.  Lesh is verbally misogynistic (calling girls "skanks" etc.) which is somewhat disturbing, especially considering his own gender questions.

Learning to Swear in America

Learning to Swear in America  by Katie Kennedy

Apparently, it's difficult to calculate how much stuff from space lands on Earth in an average year.  But in Learning to Swear in America, there's only one object that anybody worries about. 

Asteroid BR1019 is a big one.  Not kill-the-dinosaurs big, (probably), but destroy-the-West-Coast-of-America big (possibly).  That's why NASA has borrowed Russian teen physics prodigy Yuri Strelnikov:  in the hope that Yuri can save California with math.

Yuri's research in antimatter will win the next Nobel Prize (presumably), but he is still a seventeen-year-old boy and the NASA scientists are disinclined to listen to him.  That's enough to drive Yuri to use obscenities, if only he knew how.

With help from hippie-girl Dovie (who declines his offer of quick sex before the world goes cold) and her brother Lennon (who sees the world clearly from his seat in a wheelchair), Yuri learns how to swear.  

And then, Yuri (maybe) has a chance to save the world (or at least, California).

Highly recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.  An excellent pair for The Martian by Andy Weir with (significantly) fewer cuss words.

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children  by Kirstin Cronn-Mills

Gabe was born Elizabeth, but he has always known that (physical characteristics to the contrary) he's a guy.  

While still in high school, he came out to his family and to his best friend Paige.  Now, he's ready to graduate and get on with his life: leave town, move to the city where nobody knows "Liz," get a job in the music industry, and leave all his problems behind him.

Funny how that doesn't quite work out.

This is one of those Important Issue Books(™):   Gabe is still in transition, and not everyone accepts that.  His parents say they do, but they still call him "Liz" and pretend he's a girl. Some of the faithful fans of his radio show "Beautiful Music for Ugly Children" turn against him when they find out he was born female.  And a few people in town have violent intentions.

Will this book be informative, comforting and helpful to transgender teens and their friends and family?  Yes, definitely.

Is this a great book that will stand the test of time?  No, probably not.  The plot is contrived, and several of the characters (mostly the haters) are two-dimensional and moved without motive.  Paige and Gabe's musical mentor John are well-developed, although credibility is stretched by the coincidence of having the first DJ to ever play an Elvis Presley single on the radio (who also happens to own Elvis' very first guitar) living right next door to a kid who loves Elvis.

Do I recommend this as a first purchase for library collections?  Yes, I do.  Mostly because there isn't much like it available right now, and the kids (and adults) who need it do not need to wait several years while the genre matures and improves.  

Buy it in paperback, recommend it to teens, and keep your eyes open for more books on this topic.  

Because surely there will be more.

Eden West

Eden West  by Pete Hautman

Jacob is a member of the Grace living in Nodd, a 12 square mile religious compound located in Montana between a Native reservation and the Rockin' K cattle ranch.  He does not remember life in the World, and thinks himself lucky to be among the few who have rejected all Worldly things so that he will be pure for the coming of the Ark and the archangel Zerachiel.

But Jacob is 17 years old, and inevitably, his body responds to hormonal demands--he is attracted to a young woman in the compound and also to the pretty blond daughter on the neighboring ranch.  The Grace maintain their faith while beset by hardship: a bitterly cold winter, a disease among the chickens, a wolf among the sheep.  But then other tragedies strike, and Jacob finds that he must choose between the life he knows, and the World he does not know.

There are few surprises in the story, but the narrating voice of Jacob is strong, and worthy of consideration.  Often in literature, religious extremists are portrayed as simple (or crazy), and some of that is present here.  But there is a bit more.

For readers 14 to adult.  Some cussing, some kissing, and quite a few lustful thoughts.

The Girl With Borrowed Wings

The Girl with Borrowed Wings  by Rinsai Rossetti

Everything Frenenqer Paje does is controlled by her father.  He has rules for how she must dress, speak, move.  She must never slam doors, or read too much, or allow milk to drip from a spoon.  She must do whatever her father thinks she must do, always.

One day, in an unprecedented act of independence, Frenenqer rescues a sickly cat from the Animal Souk...and the cat turns out to be much more than a cat.  Sangris is a Free Person, living completely without rules.  He's not even stuck in the shape of a cat--he can take the shape of a person, or a dragon, or an animal that nobody has ever imagined before.  And Sangris loves Frenenqer.

Unfortunately, "love" is against the rules made by Frenenqer's father.

Imaginative, lush, and intriguing, this unique story is not a quick read.  It will not be quick to forget, either.

No cussing, some kissing.  

To All the Boys I've Loved Before

To All the Boys I've Loved Before  by Jenny Han

Lara Jean has kept all the love letters she's ever written.  Whenever she's trying to fall out of love with a boy, she's always written him a letter, put it into an envelope and addressed it, but not mailed the letter.  It's a great system, until one day her little sister mails them all.  

(Oops.)

Now all the boys Lara Jean has loved are coming to find out more about the girl who wrote those letters.  Including her older sister's ex-boyfriend.

(Very big oops.)

Sweet and funny, this story is bigger on the inside.  The relationship between the sisters is complex and believable.  The coming-and-going of boys is realistically confusing for Lara Jean, who has never had a boyfriend--or a date--before.  The rumor mill surrounding the school ski trip is absolutely ripped-from-the-halls-of-your-high-school.

And the ending...just stops. 

Ahhhh, because book #2 in the series (it's a series??) is set for publication in April 2015.  I guess we'll just have to wait and find out what happens next.

(I hate waiting.)

The Here and Now

The Here and Now  by Ann Brashares

Prenna and her mother immigrated to New York five years ago...from the future.

When Prenna was only five years old,  a mosquito-borne plague began killing millions of people.  The world of the future is warmer and wetter, and the mosquito season is always. A few plague-immune people travel backwards in time to try to prevent the pandemic...but the rules that govern the community of time travelers seem designed to prevent changing the future.  They must stick together, avoiding attention from contemporary medical practitioners, and absolutely avoiding inclusion in the historical archive--print, photography, and video--and above all, they must never develop a physically or emotionally intimate relationship with a time-native.

This is fine with Prenna at first.  Then she falls in love with Ethan Jarves, who is not from the future, but somehow seems to know a lot about it.

Together Prenna and Ethan follow a series of clues leading them ever-closer to the original source of the blood plague, and the circumstances that allowed it to spiral out of control.  The clues are small at first, the pace is fast, and the suspense will keep readers turning pages in an attempt to keep up with the main characters' race to save the world.

This is not Connie Willis' time-travel-and-plague book.  That one was absolutely outstanding, and won the Nebula award in 1992 and the Hugo award in 1993.  This one isn't as nearly as good...but it isn't 592 pages long, either.  Instead, it's a quick, fun, mind-bender with a strong female main character, a bit of social thinking, and a touch of romance.

Recommended for ages 12 to adult.

Gorgeous

Gorgeous  by Paul Rudnick

If Doctor Faust and Eliza Doolittle (portrayed by Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady") wrote a book together, that book might be the first half of Gorgeous.

Sorting through stuff left behind after the death of her beloved, morbidly obese mother, Becky Randle discovers a phone number concealed within a jewelry box.  Calling the number sets off a whirl of events, leading Becky to the hidden enclave of a mysterious-yet-ubiquitous clothing designer.  Tom Kelly proposes to create three dresses for Becky that will transform her into Rebecca, the most beautiful woman in the world.  The catch?  Becky must fall in love and marry within a year.

Somewhere along the way, the story gets a bit muddled, but the strong, sarcastic voices of Becky, her best friend Rocher, and charming Prince Gregory of England rescue the book from the round file.  This book is full of snarky commentary about money, beauty, talent, fame, social class, and social responsibility, wrapped in an over-the-top, unconventional narrative.  

Lots of cussing, lots of glamour, and some sexual situations on page, including the "outing" of a teen heart-throb.  

Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult--those who enjoyed Beauty Queens (Bray, 2011) will love this.

The Lucy Variations

 

The Lucy Variations  by Sara Zarr

 

Lucy Beck-Moreau was world-famous as a child prodigy at the piano, but at age 16, minutes before taking the stage at an illustrious competition in Prague, she walked away from the piano.  Her family was furious, but Lucy was adament: she did not want to spend her life competing and performing anymore.

 

Eight months have passed, and the family's attention is now focused  on Lucy's 10-year-old brother Gus, who is preparing for his first major public performance.  Lucy wants to help Gus, but she can't help being intrigued by the new piano teacher: a former prodigy himself, Will is attractive, attentive...and married.

 

Lucy's social development was clearly impaired by her years of grueling practice and performance scheduling, but with the help of a few friends, she's learning to relate to her age-mates.  The characters are well-rounded, the dialogues are terrific, and the relationships (even the inappropriate ones) are compelling.  This is a well-written story of a teen who is beginning to make decisions for herself. 

 

Recommended for ages 13 to adult.  A few kisses, and a bit of underage drinking, but nothing to alarm most readers.

Starting From Here

Starting From Here  by Lisa Jenn Bigelow
You wouldn't want Colby's life.  Her mom died of cancer.  Her truck driver dad is gone most of the time.  And her girlfriend just dumped her...for a guy.

Then by chance Colby rescues Mo, a stray dog hit by a car.  Mo survives the amputation of his leg, and caring for him propels Colby into friendships she would never have imagined. 

This potentially too-sweet story is enlivened by an imperfect central character with the knack for screwing up relationships.  Fortunately, Colby is determined to live with her own choices, and the strength of her character makes up for a lot of bad judgement.  Supporting characters are worthwhile as well:  her buddy Van, her absent-but-loving dad, and the cute girl at school who just might forgive Colby's screw-ups, if only she gets the chance.

Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.  No violence; some cussing, some kissing, and one very tactful incident of Star Trek Sex.

Blud and Magick

Blud and Magick  by Preston Norton

Edwin the Educated, one of the surviving Sages of Hazirrez Tower, is given the responsibility of raising a baby girl created from the ashes of the ultra-evil wizard Remmus Alrad.  He takes her away from the magickal realm of Trivaesia into the mundane world of Oklahoma, calls her his "niece" and pretends to everyone that she is completely normal.  But on the first day in a new school, 14-year-old Darla ("Alrad" spelled backwards--get it?) learns that her teacher isn't really her teacher, that her uncle isn't really her uncle, and that she is...not human at all.

The writing is rife with clichés (a hunchback guarding the castle and a vampire seeking revenge?  Really?) and many of the settings and themes seem copycatted from Harry Potter.   Not recommended for discerning readers, but teens seeking fast-moving paranormal  fiction with minimal originality or character development will enjoy the action and not worry about the lack of depth. 

No sex, no drugs.  Some magickal bloodshed, a potentially deadly virtual-reality game that is a dead ringer for Quiddich, and a dragon.  Sequels are clearly planned, and the sequels will probably include some romancing.

Still Life with Shape-shifter

Still Life with Shape-shifter  by Sharon Shinn

Melanie has been keeping her half-sister Ann's secret since they were both young children:  Ann is a shape-shifter who periodically takes the shape of a white dog.  When investigative reporter Brody Westerbrook asks to interview them both, Melanie automatically refuses...but Ann does not.  Gradually, Brody's life becomes intertwined with the lives of the sisters, and gradually the secret is shared with a few more people.  But when Ann's poor health seems to be overwhelming her, they must reach out to the only stranger who might be able to help.

Gentle themes of love, loyalty, grief, and friendship draw readers deeply into the story. The first-person perspective changes narrators throughout the book, and at first the connection between characters is confusing, but the author carefully interweaves the tales so that by the final page, the story is completely cohesive and it all makes sense.

This book is written and marketed for adults, but teen readers fascinated by magic and non-traditional shapeshifters will enjoy the story. 

Minor cussing, minor violence (including some parental bullying) and off-page sexual situations.  This book is part two of a shape-shifter trilogy, but stands alone nicely.  Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.

The Brides of Rollrock Island

The Brides of Rollrock Island  by Margo Lanagan

Misskaella Prout is ugly and outcast, unloved by her family, mocked by the women and rejected by the men of Rollrock Island. 

Though she has a magical talent to pull selkies from out of their seal-skins and into human shape, she does not stop with merely conjuring a lover for herself.  Instead, Misskaella also creates a deep and complex revenge against the island people by providing--for a price--a beautiful seal-wife for each man on the island.  Enchanted by the fey sea-wives, the men abandon their human families, mortgage their wealth, and deny that their lives are anything but wonderful.  The selkie women are helpless without their seal-skins...but when their sons steal back the coats, life on the island changes dramatically once again.

A complex and beautifully written story of hatred, love, magic, revenge, and eventually, redemption.  No cussing, minimal violence, and some on-page sexual situations between humans and selkies in (mostly) human form.  Highly recommended, ages 14 to adult.

Cat Girl's Day Off

Cat Girl's Day Off  by Kimberly Pauley

Natalie Ng's two sisters have "Class A Talents": Emmy is a chameleon, able to blend in perfectly with her surroundings.  Viv has X-ray vision and the gift of truth divination.

All Natalie can do is talk to cats.

Nat considers her Talent more of an embarrassment than a gift.  She has sworn her family and best friends to secrecy about the nature of her ability rather than face the shame of being known at school as "Cat Girl."  And yet, it is Natalie's unusual aptitude that leads her into a crime-fighting adventure complicated by a movie film crew and cast intent on re-making Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Funny and fluffy, this breezy read will appeal to girls who like a little bit of humor and magic or fantasy mixed into normal high school romance stories. The talking cats almost entirely steal the second half of the book. 

No cussing, no sex, some kissing, a few threats of violence from the Talented villain.  Recommended for ages 14 and up.

Ready Player One

Ready Player One  by Ernest Cline


The year is 2044 and 18-year-old Wade Watts, like almost everyone else in the world, regularly escapes from grim reality to spend most of his waking time in OASIS, the online community that has grown up from early beginnings as a network of online video simulation games.  Wade is a "gunter", a game player dedicated to locating the elusive "Easter Egg" hidden somewhere in the nearly-infinite OASIS.  The creator of OASIS was obsessed with the pop culture of the 1980's, and left hundreds of clues for gunters hidden within 1980's movies, books, music, television shows and even commercials  The first to find the Egg will inherit a fortune in cash and controlling interest in the OASIS.  Unfortunately, there are some unscrupulous bad guys who don't mind cheating--or even killing--to win the Egg.

Anyone who has ever gotten immersed in a book, a movie, a video game, or a face-to-face session of Dungeons and Dragons will relate to Wade's experience in OASIS.  Anyone who can recite the entire script of Monty Python and the Holy Grail,  knows every line ever spoken on Star Trek (original series and/or any of the prequel/sequel/spin-off series), played PacMan or Joust for uncounted hours, or who ever rolled for damage to an imaginary monster will revel in the retro-geekiness of the narrative.  Anyone who wants a fun, action-filled dystopian adventure is advised to hide this book from family members who might grab it for themselves and demand a roll of the dice to determine ownership (as happened to this reviewer).

Comic book violence and some off-stage "real world" violence, cussing, and two paragraphs of non-graphic virtual sex with an ultimately unsatisfactory anatomically-correct haptic doll, plus some awesome friendships and a sweet romance.

Highly recommended for readers ages 14 to adult, maybe especially for adults who were teens in the 1980's...but since this book was given to me by a 16-year-old boy, I must recommend it also for those who weren't even a naughty notion in the 1980's.

Jumping Off Swings

Jumping Off Swings  by Jo Knowles

Every time Ellie hooks up with a new guy, she's sure that there will be more to the encounter than sex, and that she will finally feel loved.  But the "one-time thing" with eager virgin Josh gets much more complicated when Ellie gets pregnant. 

The events of nine months after that fateful night in Josh's van are told by four narrators:  Ellie and Josh, plus their friends Corinne and Caleb, who live complicated lives of their own.  Their voices are mostly realistic, although the situations often seems straight out of an "afterschool special." 

With repetitive writing (I got tired of reading the word "empty") and mostly-predictable characters, this book is no classic, but readers looking for an emotional problem-novel with minimal cussing will find Jumping Off Swings engaging enough.

The "condom slipping off" situation that causes the pregnancy seems vaguely plausible.Sexual situations are described in flashback sentences, without graphic details, and childbirth is treated with similar distance: Ellie repeats the phrase "it hurts so much" frequently until she is sedated for the caesarean-section birth. Adult characters are flawed, but the reader understands that most of the parents really do love their teen offspring, even if they lack the ability to express their love openly.

On-page sexual situations, mild cussing, underage drinking and partying.  Readers 14 and up.

Divergent

Divergent  by Veronica Roth

Beatrice and Caleb are both turning sixteen, which is the year they must choose among the factions:  Abnegation (living for others,denying yourself); Candor (always telling the truth); Erudite (learning and research);  Amity  (understanding for others and yourself); and Dauntless (fearless action and fighting).

Now they are living in Abnegation, but the test they take will tell them what qualities they have that will induce them into the faction path.  In this dystopian society in torn apart and deserted Chicago, you don’t have to choose the faction where the test points, but Beatrice is shocked to learn that she is a Divergent: she has qualities of several of the factions instead of a single one.  To be known as Divergent is dangerous; the condition must be kept hidden.

Beatrice ultimately chooses Dauntless; Caleb chooses Erudite.  This is Beatrice’s story.  She learns to jump off moving trains, fall into a net six stories down; fight in many combat situations; and overcome both prejudice and years of training in Abnegation.  Only ten initiates will survive; the others will be left Factionless and homeless...or dead. Tris meets Four, who is two years older and is alternately enticing and irritating. There is also something sinister edging its way into the novel:  the Dauntless faction is becoming more focused on anger and cruelty, and someone is trying destroy all Divergents.

The characters of Beatrice and Four are central to the novel; all others are pretty one-dimensional.  This is a trilogy, so perhaps more attention will be given to others as the story develops.  It is an enjoyable and fast-paced novel, full of action and surprise.  At times it seems pretty derivative:  there are lots of aspects of The Hunger Games and the romance between Beatrice and Four builds and falls in a pretty standard pattern.

There are also several holes left in the story:  What is the world like outside Chicago?  Who runs the trains and do they ever stop anywhere?

Some kissing; lots of longing, off-page intimacy.  

This is Mary Jo's review.  To read Aarene's review of this book, click HERE.