All posts by Kasey

About Kasey

Reads things. Writes things. Fluent in sarcasm. Willful optimist. Cat companion, chocolate connoisseur, coffee drinker. There are some who call me Mom.

Review: Reign of Outlaws by Kekla Magoon

Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,
Reign of Outlaws by Kekla Magoon

Reign of Outlaws (Robyn Hoodlum #3)
Kekla Magoon
Bloomsbury
Published on October 24, 2017

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About Reign of Outlaws

When twelve-year-old Robyn Loxley set out to save her parents, she never could’ve predicted that she would become Robyn Hoodlum, leader of the rebellion against the harsh government led by Ignomus Crown. But Robyn’s attempt to free her parents has failed, and on top of that, her friends have been captured. And now Crown has given her 72 hours to turn herself in–or else.

Now Robyn must decide between sacrificing herself, saving her parents and friends, or advancing the rebellion. With the stakes higher than ever, will Robyn be able to succeed?

With an unforgettable heroine and a diverse band of characters, readers will be on the edge of their seats in this action-packed, much-anticipated series conclusion.

My Review

I requested the book for review because I couldn’t resist the idea of a gender-flipped retelling of Robin Hood! I’m a fan of Robin McKinley’s rather feminist retelling called OUTLAWS OF SHERWOOD and enjoyed WANTED by Betsy Schow, which features Robin Hood’s daughter. So this seemed like a great fit for me.

I haven’t read the first or second book in the series, so it took me a couple chapters to catch up with the story and the large cast of characters. Once I figured things out, though, I had a lot of fun reading the story. Laurel quickly became my favorite character—she’s unexpected and smart! I also really liked Tucker, too. Robyn took a little to grow on me, I think because the story started at a place where she was dealing with some self-pity and kind of struggling to regroup. But as she grew as a character, I found I couldn’t help totally rooting for her.

The Robyn Hoodlum series seems like a good fit for middle-elementary-aged kids. It does have a tiny bit of profanity, though, which some readers may be uncomfortable with. It might just be one instance, though.

The story has a great balance between Robyn finding her own path but also needing guidance from mentors and being part of a community. I loved that she had to learn to work together with others in a different way in order to challenge her enemies.

Recommended for Ages 9 to 12.

Cultural Elements
Few descriptive details for characters, but the story appears to have a racially diverse cast.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
References to Tucker being a person of faith.

Violent Content
References to torture—a character expects to be tortured. Another character is whipped as an example to the town. Robyn and her friends steal a cache of guns and have kids deliver them to another location. The weapons are unloaded and Robyn doesn’t intend for her team to use them.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Walled City by Ryan Graudin

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Historical, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

The Walled City
Ryan Graudin
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published on September 8, 2015

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About The Walled City
DAI, trying to escape a haunting past, traffics drugs for the most ruthless kingpin in the Walled City. But in order to find the key to his freedom, he needs help from someone with the power to be invisible….

JIN hides under the radar, afraid the wild street gangs will discover her biggest secret: Jin passes as a boy to stay safe. Still, every chance she gets, she searches for her lost sister….

MEI YEE has been trapped in a brothel for the past two years, dreaming of getting out while watching the girls who try fail one by one. She’s about to give up, when one day she sees an unexpected face at her window…..

My Review
You know how once in a while a book blows you away? This is one of those books for me. It wasn’t even one specific moment, it was like, the way all the pieces merged together as a story. I immediately connected with the characters. The setting intrigued me from even before I picked up the book. I’d heard Ryan Graudin speak at Read Up Greenville in 2016 and her description of the real place that inspired this story had me hooked. The real place, a stacked slum of a city, an area just over 6.5 acres, housed 33,000 people. Like… I can’t even get my head around that, really.

I think I read The Walled City in just over 24 hours, which is pretty unusual for me these days! It kept me on the edge of my seat. It made me hope harder than any book I’ve read this year. I loved it, and I would read it again, recommend it to others, shout it from the rooftops.

If you’re a fan of historical fiction, I think the fact that the setting is based on a real place will make this an interesting read. Fans of fast-paced contemporary stories will enjoy the quick-moving plot and high stakes. Softies like me will love the characters, especially as their relationships with each other develop and change them. Also, it has a great cat!

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
The story occurs in an area modeled after Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong. Characters are Asian—some Cantonese and some Japanese names.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently. I think Dai might be the only one who swears, and it’s not very often. More in the beginning and then a few times toward the end.

Romance/Sexual Content
Mei Yee has been sold into prostitution. A client visits her, but the details are vague and focus more on her emotional state and how she survives rather than description of the events between her and the man in her room. Those few scenes still feel pretty intense, though.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Men beat a prostitute who has tried to escape her traffickers. Boys gang up on another youth, intending to beat or stab her. At one point, a boy cuts a cat with his knife. A young man uses a gun to shoot at enemies. Again, it’s the intensity of the emotion associated with these scenes which makes them so intense, not so much any graphic descriptions of violence.

Drug Content
Traffickers use heroin to subdue a young woman and prey on her addiction to keep her helpless. They use the threat of injecting heroin to control other girls who fear being drugged and becoming addicted.

 

Review and Giveaway: Mistress of All Evil by Serena Valentino

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , ,

I’m super excited to share this review of the fourth book in the Villains Series by Serena Valentino. Check out my thoughts and be sure to read to the end where you can enter to win the first four books in the series plus a branded mug that changes color in hot water. (Check it out in the prize pack picture below. It’s so cool.) Thanks to Disney-Hyperion for sending me a set of VILLAINS books, and for providing a prize pack!

Mistress of All Evil (Villains #4)
Serena Valentino
Disney Press
Published on October 3, 2017

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About Mistress of All Evil
The tale is told as if it’s happening once upon a dream: the lovely maiden meets her handsome prince in the woods. The story has been told many times and in many ways. But always the maiden finds out that she is a princess-a princess who has been cursed by a dark fairy to prick her finger on a spindle and fall into an eternal sleep. Though her three good fairies try to protect her, the princess succumbs to the curse. But the power of good endures, as her true love defeats the fire-breathing dragon and awakens the princess with true love’s first kiss. The two live happily ever after.

And yet this is only half the story. So what of the dark fairy, Maleficent? Why does she curse the innocent princess? What led to her becoming so filled with malice, anger, and hatred? Many tales have tried to explain her motives. Here is one account, pulled down from the many passed down through the ages. It is a tale of love and betrayal, of magic and reveries. It is a tale of the Mistress of All Evil.

My Review
The book started out a little rough for me. It introduced a lot of characters I wasn’t familiar with who I think feature in earlier books in the series. So if I’d read from the beginning, I probably would have had a better frame of reference. Without that, it took me a while to figure out who the odd sisters and Circe were and why they were significant to the story.

The other tricky thing for me was that at times the story jumped around a bit, and I wasn’t always sure I followed what was happening. At one point the story references Princess Tulip as (I think?) Aurora’s daughter and I didn’t understand how that could be. Probably I misunderstood the reference or it’s better explained in an earlier book in the series.

Once I got my bearings, I enjoyed the way the book explained some of Maleficent’s history and wove together the stories of other villains in other fairy tales. That definitely made me want to read the rest of the series. In fact, a couple of times I almost put down Mistress of All Evil in order to go back and get the full backstory on some of the other fairytales. I especially found the story behind Snow White and her relationship with her stepmother compelling. Totally have to add that to my reading list now.

On the whole, I found the concept for the series pretty cool. I liked that it went above and beyond the facts and elements present in the familiar Disney fairy tales to create a larger whole story world connecting them all. I’d recommend starting with the first book in the series if you can, just so you don’t have the confusion I had at the beginning. I think especially younger readers would find that off-putting. Fans of Jennifer Donnelly’s Deep Blue should check out this series.

Recommended for Ages 9 to 12.

Cultural Elements
As in the fairy tale movie, it seems like most of the characters are white. Maleficent, as in the movie, has greenish skin, though here it changes color with her mood.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Infrequent use of mild profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief references to kissing, marriage, or betrothal between a prince and princess.

Spiritual Content
Maleficent grew up in Fairyland with lots of other fairies, like Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother, the three good fairies who protect Princess Aurora, and the Blue Fairy who guides Pinocchio.

Several reference to nameless gods. Maleficent finds a ruined castle which she learns was once the home of the god Hades. She never meets him but hears about him from her goons, creatures who were once his servants.

Violent Content
Brief descriptions of Ursula’s death and the battle between Maleficent (as a dragon) and the prince who wants to rescue Princess Aurora.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

About Serena Valentino

Website | Facebook |Twitter

Serena Valentino has been weaving tales that combine mythos and guile for the past decade. She has earned critical acclaim in both the comic and horror domains, where she is known for her unique style of storytelling, bringing her readers into exquisitely frightening worlds filled with terror, beauty, and extraordinary protagonists. The books in her best-selling Villains series are best enjoyed when read in the following order: Fairest of All, The Beast Within, Poor Unfortunate Soul, and Mistress of All Evil.

About the Villains Series

The Disney Villains series by Serena Valentino explores how the antagonists in Disney movies became some of storytelling’s most iconic villains. In the first four Villains books, we see how the Evil Queen, the Beast, Ursula, and Maleficent fall into darkness, through the instigation of the mysterious Odd Sisters: Lucinda, Martha, and Ruby.

Enter to Win the Villains Prize Pack

One winner receives a copy of the first four books in the Villains series and a branded mug that changes color in hot water. Giveaway open to US addresses only. Prizing and samples provided by Disney-Hyperion.

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Review: Ungifted by Gordon Korman

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , ,

Ungifted
Gordon Korman
Balzer + Bray
Published on August 21, 2012

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About Ungifted
The word gifted has never been applied to a kid like Donovan Curtis. It’s usually more like Don’t try this at home. So when the troublemaker pulls a major prank at his middle school, he thinks he’s finally gone too far. But thanks to a mix-up by one of the administrators, instead of getting in trouble, Donovan is sent to the Academy of Scholastic Distinction (ASD), a special program for gifted and talented students.

It wasn’t exactly what Donovan had intended, but there couldn’t be a more perfect hideout for someone like him. That is, if he can manage to fool people whose IQs are above genius level. And that becomes harder and harder as the students and teachers of ASD grow to realize that Donovan may not be good at math or science (or just about anything). But after an ongoing experiment with a live human (sister), an unforgettably dramatic middle-school dance, and the most astonishing come-from-behind robot victory ever, Donovan shows that his gifts might be exactly what the ASD students never knew they needed.

My Review
The opening chapter of Ungifted was one of the funniest things I’ve read in a while. I was immediately drawn in to Donovan’s frank humor and way of viewing the world around him (despite its sometimes disastrous consequences!). I’m not a huge fan of adult point-of-view scenes in children’s literature. Ungifted contains a few of those, but not too many. I still kind of wish they’d been left out. I found the kids’ viewpoints much more interesting and entertaining.

I liked how each character had a distinct voice and a story which contributed to the overall whole. I thought the positive view of science was great and the parts about the robotics competition were super cool. The tone and quick pacing make this book a great choice for reluctant readers as well as those interested in science and robotics. Highly recommended.

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Cultural Elements
Main characters appear to be white. I think some other races are represented in minor characters.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
One of the boys uses a wrestling move he learned on YouTube to attack a couple of bullies trying to break the gifted students’ robot.

Drug Content
None.

Review: Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Clean Fiction, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Once Was Lost
Sara Zarr
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published on October 1, 2009

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About Once Was Lost
Samara Taylor used to believe in miracles. But her mother is in rehab, and her father seems more interested in his congregation than his family. And when a young girl in her small town is kidnapped, her already-worn thread of faith begins to unravel.

Samara Taylor used to believe in miracles. She used to believe in a lot of things. As a pastor’s kid, it’s hard not to buy in to the idea of the perfect family, a loving God, and amazing grace. But lately, Sam has a lot of reason to doubt. Her mother lands in rehab after a DUI and her father seems more interested in his congregation than his family. When a young girl in her small town is kidnapped, the local tragedy overlaps with Sam’s personal one, and the already-worn thread of faith holding her together begins to unravel.

In her third novel, acclaimed author Sara Zarr examines the coexistence of affliction and hope, and what happens when everything you thought you believed—about God, about your family, about yourself—is transformed.

My Review
Once Was Lost has been on my reading list for years. I kind of have no excuse for taking so long to get to it, because it’s not a long book, and it’s exactly the kind of story I love—someone in a difficult place desperately trying to do the right thing anyway. I loved that about Sam. She makes some choices that get her into trouble, but I never doubted that her heart was good and never wavered in wanting to know how her story ended.

Perhaps it’s a little unexpected to find a book in mainstream literature with such strong spiritual themes. I loved the way Zarr handled the descriptions of the small town and the church people. She made them real and gave them real problems without vilifying them. I also loved the way she let us into Sam’s struggles about her faith and her disappointment about what youth group was like. Sam expected this joyous, close-knit community, and instead, she felt distant from the other participants. That war between appearances and genuine connection totally resonated with me thinking back to my own youth group days. It felt so very right on.

All in all, I loved this book. I think it’s a great read for Christian kids who may be facing the same kinds of struggles Sam is but also for kids who don’t share Sam’s upbringing or faith. It’s a great window into what church life can be like with its ups and downs. And ultimately, this story is about self-discovery and personal growth and healing. You don’t need to have faith for those messages to matter. I highly recommend this one.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white. The story takes place in a small California town.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
One instance of mild profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
As pastor’s daughter, Sam and her family feel a lot of pressure to behave in certain ways. Sam feels like she can’t be honest about doubts she’s having, and when others have significant spiritual experiences, they expect her to be as thrilled about them as they are. Sam wrestles with her faith in a genuine, sensitive way. The church is depicted as a group of well-meaning, even if sometimes hurtful, people. While Sam’s faith isn’t the focal point of the story, her wrestling with doubts does have a meaningful resolution.

Violent Content
While Jody is missing, people speculate about what may have happened to her. The story doesn’t give any details about what goes on during her captivity, but it obviously traumatized her.

Drug Content
Sam’s mom spends much of the book in a rehab program for alcoholics. Sam remembers different events where her mom’s alcoholism interfered with family life or caused other problems. Sam knows her two best friends have gone out with other kids to have a beer at a party, but she’s never invited along, and they don’t tell her about it directly.

 

Review: Legalizing Marijuana: Promises and Pitfalls by Margaret Goldstein

Book Review and Content, Nonfiction, , , , ,

Legalizing Marijuana: Promises and Pitfalls
Margaret Goldstein
Twenty-First Century Books
Published on November 1, 2016

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Many states and experts have vastly different positions on the use of marijuana. Are the medicinal benefits strong enough to justify legalizing it for treatment of some serious health conditions? Is it safer than already legalized recreational substances like alcohol and tobacco?

In chapters populated with information on the drug’s history, scientific studies, and current laws governing use, this book presents a fairly balanced look at issues surrounding the potential legalization of marijuana. Strong arguments in favor of medicinal use are checked by the reality that currently, scientists in the United States do not enough true scientific data to support the various claims of its effectiveness in treating medical conditions. The text explores law enforcement issues arising in states whose laws conflict with those of the federal government. All in all, it’s an informative resource for someone looking to explore the history, use, and arguments for or against the legalization of marijuana.

My Review
I can be honest, right? We’re all friends here.

So here’s the thing. I’m not a fan of recreational drug use. At all. Before reading this book, I had very little information (or even interest, really) in the debate about whether marijuana should be legalized and, if so, for what purpose and with what restrictions. In the last year or so my family, like many of us, has become more politically active. For us this means researching issues and contacting our representatives about important topics. Reading this book has been part of an endeavor to better understand the issues surrounding the potential legalization of marijuana. I think getting more information is a good idea, and I want to find resources I can pass along with confidence.

Legalizing Marijuana raised a lot of interesting points and questions. There were some arguments I’d heard before and some new ones. I liked having specific facts and statistics—though in some cases I would have liked to have even more data.

For instance, one of the most compelling points the book explores relates to the argument about legalizing marijuana for medicinal use. Right now it’s very difficult for scientists to conduct studies testing the effectiveness of different types of marijuana to treat various types of illnesses because it’s a Schedule I drug. There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence that it helps vastly and more effectively than other drugs with a wide range of problems. But we don’t have great scientific proof because of how difficult it is to get approval for the studies. I felt like that was an interesting point that added weight to both sides of the argument for and against marijuana for medicinal use. It certainly gives supporters some areas in which political outreach may be helpful, too.

One area where I wished the book included more statistics was in a chapter about recreational use. The argument is that marijuana is safer than tobacco or alcohol in terms of its health risks. It would have made for a more compelling argument to give some specific numbers on alcohol-related car crashes versus marijuana-related car crashes for instance. Give some numbers that show some actual comparisons rather than the vague trust-me-it-is-so type of statement here.

I’m not sure this book changed how I feel about the legalization of marijuana—other than pointing out how lucrative it is for states in terms of tax revenue, which made me suspect we’ll see a greater push toward legalization for financial reasons than we have seen in the past—but I feel better equipped in terms of information on the topic. I’m glad I read it.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
This is more about the topic than people, so there aren’t really cultural elements highlighted in the book.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
 A blog reader noted the book also contains a photo of a shirtless guy and a young woman, representing the 1960s.

Spiritual Content
Brief reference to a high THC form of marijuana used by some groups who believed it would help them commune with spirits.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Lots of information about what kinds of ways marijuana is used. Not specific how-to type stuff—more like exploring the goals or outcomes of people who use it.

As pointed out by a blog reader, there’s also a photo from the “Reefer Madness” movie.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.