Category Archives: Young Adult/Teen 12-18

Review: Quiet by Susan Cain

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Quiet by Susan Cain

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking
Susan Cain
Crown Publishing Group
Published January 24, 2012

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Quiet

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society. 

In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts—from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, QUIET has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.

My Review

I first read this book years ago, and I remember a lot of things suddenly making sense about myself and my daughter specifically. At the time I was a single mom with an elementary-aged daughter whose teacher was very much an extrovert. She seemed to prefer a collaborative learning environment in the classroom, which can be great. My daughter struggled with some of the methods her teacher used. I remember her teacher seeming frustrated or worried about it. I think she wanted my daughter to be able to engage more fully and was troubled that she didn’t seem to be getting her work done. My suspicion was that there was too much stimulation making it difficult for her to work. Reading QUIET helped me articulate that more effectively. I ended up giving a copy of the book to the teacher, who also loved it.

I started listening to the audiobook again this year because I’d been having trouble sleeping. I wanted something kind of low key to listen to– you know, no big dramatic climax or high stakes– so this seemed like a good fit.

It really struck me how much I had forgotten or how many things that didn’t apply to my life when I read the book before do apply now. I’m currently married and now have two children, sharing a communal-style home with my parents. And we are a house FULL of introverts! So it’s been really interesting thinking about some of the challenges and advantages common to introverted people in various stages of life and… in the midst of a pandemic.

Thinking about the pandemic also really changed what stood out to me in the book this time as I read/listened to it. Cain discusses research into how different animals with both introverted and extroverted members of their species handle risks. Different situations tend to give one group the advantage over the other in terms of survival, because their natural instincts either protect them or expose them to additional risks.

Introverts, Extroverts and Covid (Skip this section if it’s too political for you.)

Early on in the pandemic, I remember thinking that being introverted gave us an advantage because we weren’t ever really big go-out-and-do people. We do things. Sometimes? At our highest level of social activity, my husband and I had nearly weekly game nights with another couple. We rarely eat out at a restaurant– he has trouble hearing and I don’t speak very loudly. We like restaurant food, but takeout has long been our preferred approach.

So while we had to make sacrifices and change our behavior, the changes weren’t nearly as dramatic as for our extroverted friends who have huge house parties every few months and are super active in our local theater productions. I figured that as things began to normalize or restrictions began to loosen/Covid-19 case numbers began to drop, our extroverted friends would be more easily able to return to going out because that was a more comfortable, natural life pace for them. And I think that’s been true.

Lately I’ve been thinking about the chapters on how introverts and extroverts process risk. If I can oversimplify, introverts tend generally to be more risk-averse than extroverts. Sometimes extroverts head directly into risk when it would be better to retreat. Cain discussed some examples and studies on this. I’ve been thinking about that as I watch all these heated discussions about mask wearing and social distance guidelines. It’s not like all the extroverts I know are anti-mask and all the introverts are pro-mask. It’s definitely not that simple. But I guess it has helped me to think about the fact that sometimes there are motivations that I didn’t consider or understand behind people’s behaviors.

That doesn’t change what I think about masks… I’m still really pro-mask and think it falls within the values of loving others and being a responsible community member. But it helps to realize that it’s not that simple for a lot of people, and that there may be genetic or scientific reasons they are behaving the way they are.

Review Summary

I enjoyed reading this book again. It’s one of those books packed with so much information that I don’t know if I could absorb it all in one read. Even now I like the idea of revisiting certain chapters when I’m ready to look at more information.

There’s also a version of this book for younger readers called QUIET POWER. I don’t have it right now, but I really want to check it out. I’d like to post a review of that one as well. If you’ve read it already or have posted a review, please tell me about it in the comments or you can reach out to me on Twitter.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Mostly discusses research and examples of famous introverts and extroverts. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. are both mentioned. The depiction of Rosa Parks doesn’t line up with some of the descriptions from her autobiography. Cain also interviews a Chinese-American college student who’s an introvert in a program that overtly values extroverted behavior. He talks about how a summer in China was so different because some of the cultural values were more comfortable for him as an introvert and how validating that was for him.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog.

Review: Take Three Girls by Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell, and Fiona Wood

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

Take Three Girls
Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell, and Fiona Wood
Sterling Teen
Published April 6, 2021 (Orig. 2017)

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Take Three Girls

Popular Ady seems cool and confident at school, but at home her family is falling apart. Brainiac Kate wants to pursue her dreams of playing music, even if it jeopardizes her academic scholarship. And swim champ Clem finds herself disenchanted with the sport . . . and falling for a very wrong boy. When these three very different girls are forced to team up in a wellness class, they’re not too pleased. But over time, they bond—and when they’re all targeted by PSST, a website that dishes out malicious gossip and lies, they decide to take a stand, uncover the culprits, and fight back. But can they really fix a broken system? With each girl’s story told by a different author, as well as intriguing questionnaires from the wellness class included throughout, this empowering novel explores today’s most relevant topics— from cyberbullying and fat shaming to drug abuse and financial stress.

“Mean stuff spreads so fast. One click. Post. Send. Share. Online bullying = sometimes suicides, so all the private schools have strategies for dealing with it. At St Hilda’s, it’s Wellness classes. We greeted the idea with genuine enthusiasm. Why not? Everyone loves the chance to slack off.”

Three authors. Three appealing and relatable characters. One smart YA novel about a trio of unlikely friends who team up to take down the school cyberbully. 

My Review

My favorite thing about this book is the way the friendships develop between the girls. At the beginning of the story, it’s clear they don’t really like or respect one another. They do have things they grudgingly admire about each other, though, which felt really real. The way their friendship grows felt so natural and believable. I wanted to celebrate every moment of it. It totally took me back to those deep friendships I had in high school, too. I loved that.

There can never be enough stories that shine a light on the power and empowering effect of girl friendships. I love that this book paid such a beautiful tribute to them.

One of the things I feel like I can never get enough of in a book are characters who are artistic in some way. I love living vicariously through them. So I really enjoyed all the scenes in which Kate is playing her cello. I loved that she took playing music, something we’ve all seen done before in books, in a fresh direction, too, by having her also mixing in other sound tracks and giving it a tech aspect– that’s something I’ve never seen done before, I don’t think. And while I know nothing about that process, I felt like I followed what she was doing just fine and loved it. It made me wish I could listen to the music she was writing.

Ady’s family crisis over substance abuse really drew me in, too. I felt like her experience of trying to figure out what was going on and especially doing that through reading the other people in the room and even some eavesdropping felt totally real to me. I remembered a lot of those kinds of moments in my own teen life during the process of discovering someone close to me was addicted to alcohol.

I think I struggled the most with Clem’s story, even though to be honest, that resonated with me, too. For me it was painful to read, not because the story was bad, but because it also kind of called up some things in my own life that were hard to think about. Falling in love can be so hard. I love that Kate and Ady admired things about her from the beginning, and that the story kind of helped reframe her certainty about what she wanted as a positive thing, even though it came with some really hard lessons.

I feel like the back cover copy is a teeny bit misleading because taking down the school bully is really one girl’s idea moreso than the others for most of the story. I thought from reading the cover copy that the story would focus on that takedown, and that doesn’t really emerge until late in the book. Each section does begin with what would be a screenshot of content posted to the online bullying site, so the bullying is a central part of the story that impacts many of the characters. Eventually the girls do all work together on a plan to make it happen, though.

On the whole, I enjoyed reading this book, though I found some of the content was hard for me personally. I’ve made notes below on other potential triggers in the book, so please check those out. Here’s my review of GRAFFITI MOON by Cath Crowley, one of the TAKE THREE GIRLS authors, in case you’re interested in that, too.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
One main character is bisexual. One main character is struggling with her weight.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content – Trigger Warning for Sexual Bullying
Kissing between boy and girl. A man asks for nude photos of a sixteen-year-old girl, which she sends him. He also sends some explicit pictures to her. Several brief descriptions of sex and sexual acts. Kissing between two girls.

Each section includes a post from the PSST site which uses explicit, often sexual language to demean and bully girls whose real names are used.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
One boy punches another in the face.

Drug Content
Underage drinking. One character discovers that her dad is an alcohol and cocaine addict.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog. I received a free copy of TAKE THREE GIRLS in exchange for my honest review.


 

Review: Cazadora by Romina Garber

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , ,

Cazadora (Wolves of No World #2)
Romina Garber
Wednesday Books
Published August 17, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Cazadora

In Cazadora, Romina Garber weaves together Argentine folklore and what it means to be illegal in a timely, intimate, and emotionally powerful narrative.

Werewolves. Witches. Romance. Resistance.

Enter a world straight out of Argentine folklore…

Following the events of Lobizona, Manu and her friends cross the mystical border into Kerana–a cursed realm in Argentina–searching for allies and a hiding place. As they chase down leads about the Coven–a mythical resistance manada that might not even exist–the Cazadores chase down leads about Manu, setting up traps to capture and arrest her.

Just as it seems the Cazadores have Manu and her friends cornered, the Coven answers their call for help. As Manu catches her breath among these non-conforming Septimus, she discovers they need a revolution as much as she does.

But is she the right one to lead them? After all, hybrids aren’t just outlawed. They’re feared and reviled. What happens when the Coven learns of Manu’s dual heritage? Will they still protect her? Or will they betray her?

And after running this far, for this long–how much farther can Manu go before her feet get tired, and she stops to take a stand?

“In this effervescent sequel full of magic and beautiful imagery, Manu learns to reclaim her own narrative and, together with her lovable found family… stake out a place in the world where she belongs…An inspiring, powerful tale of belonging.” ―Kirkus, starred review

Must-Read 2021 YA Fantasy ―Book Riot

Must-Read Books by Latinx Authors Out in 2021 ―Hip Latina

My Review

CAZADORA picks up pretty much where LOBIZONA leaves off. Manu and her crew are on the run being pursued by Cazadores, a law enforcement group for the Septimus, which includes the Lobizones (werewolves) and Brujas (witches). I know that’s a lot to digest. This is one of those books you shouldn’t read unless you’ve read the first book already.

The story keeps up that fast pace with Manu fleeing, finding allies, enemies closing in, stakes mounting, all the way to the last page. There are some pauses for romance and for Manu to explore her connections with her parents. CAZADORA has a big cast, so it doesn’t go deeply into many of the relationships between characters, though.

One of the things that does get explored a lot is the issue of gender identity in what is a very binary culture. In the Septimus world, boys are Lobizones. Girls are Brujas. A person’s whole identity within the community is based on those facts. So what does that mean for someone who doesn’t fit those binary definitions?

Manu being a girl with werewolf powers, a Lobizona, at first feels to her like a personal fight for recognition of her identity. But as she pursues a place in her community, she meets others who are in hiding or on the run because of who they are. One Lobizone lost his ability to transform after an attack by a monster. Another is transgender.

So Manu begins to see the restrictive rules of the community as not only impacting herself, but also harming others. In some ways it’s an echo of the fight she’s had her whole life as an undocumented immigrant. So she has to decide whether she’s going to keep running, whether she’s just fighting for herself or for everyone who’s different.

I liked the way those conversations and themes were woven into the story. It felt like those ideas emerged naturally and organically, so it didn’t feel forced to me. I also loved the way the Manu grew as a character through the story. At first, she was just running and surviving. Watching her reach a place where she took control of her story and made her own hard decisions was really moving.

And, of course, like any good second book in a series, this one ends with a new adventure already in its sights. I’m already excited about a third book, and I will definitely be reading it!

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Major characters are Latinx. Two female characters are in a romantic relationship. A minor character has a disability. Another minor character is transgender.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Some scenes showing kissing between couples. A couple scenes show making out and one leads up to sex but fades out at that point.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to transform into werewolves. Others have magical abilities, like the ability to freeze things or create fire. These are thought to be gifts from a goddess.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Some battle violence.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog. I received a free copy of Cazadora in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Lord of the Flies by William Golding

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Lord of the Flies
William Golding
Penguin Books
Published December 16, 2003 (Originally Published 1954)

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Lord of the Flies

At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; this far from civilization the boys can do anything they want. Anything. They attempt to forge their own society, failing, however, in the face of terror, sin and evil. And as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far from reality as the hope of being rescued.

Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, LORD OF THE FLIES is perhaps our most memorable novel about “the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart.”

My Review

LORD OF THE FLIES is one of those iconic books that gets referenced all the time in our culture, but I’d never read it before. My daughter had to read it for school last year, and she had some anxiety about the content. I decided to read it first so she’d be ready for anything that might be difficult for her.

I read the book last fall as things were heating up before the presidential election here in the US. At that time, I actually wrote an initial review. But because I kept pushing back the date for posting the review, I have updated the review and added some more stuff that I’ve thought about on reflection.

Before I started reading LORD OF THE FLIES, I felt really weird reading all these big name authors talking about how pivotal this book has been for their writing. I think it’s Suzanne Collins who says that she reads LORD OF THE FLIES every year. That seemed really weird to me for a book with such a dark reputation. Every year? I mean, no offense meant. When a book resonates with you like that, I get wanting to read it every year. For a long time I had a book that I read every year, too. I guess I just found myself surprised about people feeling that way about a book that’s often referenced to describe uncontrolled violence or mayhem.

Anyway. So I went into the book with both some dread (expecting violence, which can be hard for me to read), and some, I don’t know, fascination, I guess?

The thing that still stands out to me most about the book is how easily some boys began to think of others as not human, as animals to be hunted. There’s a moment, after one boy has been killed where two boys talk around what happened. One boy comes right out and says that it was murder. The other boy recoils and tries to defend what happened as something else. He tries to explain it away as something not evil and wrong. It doesn’t work, and for a moment they’re both confronted with the horrible truth.

Watching the vigilantism and the violent language increasingly used by elected officials and repeated online while reading LORD OF THE FLIES was really creepy, y’all. Like, it seriously marked me. I would read a scene and feel like, this is awfully close to the way people are talking to each other or about each other right now. Or I’d get to a scene and think, well, surely our leaders won’t sink this low. And then. Stuff happened.

I couldn’t stop– and still can’t stop– thinking about the way the story explores the power of fear. The collapse of reason that happens when people are afraid and respond with that fear and anger. The steady shift toward things that once seemed unimaginable. I knew what was coming because I’d heard enough about the book that I basically knew what to expect. And yet, the violence of it and the dehumanization of it still shocked and shook me.

Reading this book, I can see not only from the story why it endures, but also from the writing. Like, I felt genuinely pulled into the tale. Even when I wasn’t reading, I thought about it. I wanted to know what would happen. Even though I already pretty much knew what was coming, I couldn’t look away from what was happening. It gripped me and paralyzed me with horror. (Much the way I felt weeks later watching the coverage of the January 6 insurrection.)

Honestly, I won’t say I enjoyed it– not like, celebrated reading it. But it really moved me. I think I would read it again. I think I NEED to read it again.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
All the boys are British private school students.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
The boys fear a mysterious evil they call the Beast. They leave food sacrifices for it, hoping that this will keep the Beast away from them.

Violent Content
At least one racist comment equating Indians with savages. Multiple violent descriptions of hunting and killing pigs. Boys beat another boy to death. A boy falls to his death after being hit with a rock.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

Review: Heartless Heirs by MarcyKate Connolly

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

Heartless Heirs (Twin Daggers #2)
MarcyKate Connolly
Blink
Published August 10, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Heartless Heirs

Now torn between two worlds, Aissa must decide who she can trust. Especially when it comes to her twin.

Now without a home and on the run, Aissa has never felt so trapped and alone even with her sister and friend by her side. Zandria—once her other half—has become cold and inflexible after her time in the Technocrat’s dungeon and is bent on revenge Aissa no longer feels. Their friend Remy may still side with his father, a Magi leader who refuses to believe his spy, Darian Azul, has turned traitor. And Aissa herself is now an enemy of her Magi people after falling in love with—and binding her heart to—Aro, a Techno prince who puts all their lives at stake.

Using clues her parents and others left behind, Aissa is determined to uncover the secrets of the Alchemist Alliance that helped create her and Zandria’s unique magical powers … as well as learn whether the Alliance’s research holds the key to healing the rift between the Magi and Technocrats after centuries of war. But with her people preparing for battle, and Darian poised to use the Technocrats’ might for his own ends, it will take more than lost spells and hidden secrets to accomplish her goal. Especially as the dangerous bond between her Aro grows deeper and threatens everything Aissa has ever believed.

My Review

I didn’t realize this was a sequel before I began reading it, which is totally my own error. I’ve tried to be more careful about this, but I think I was specifically looking for Blink books when I stumbled onto this one, so I probably downloaded it without looking carefully enough.

No worries, though. I was confused at the very beginning because a LOT is happening in that first scene. Aissa and her sister are on the run, reeling from a serious betrayal, grieving over their parents’ deaths, and Aissa is missing the boy she loves and to whom she is now magically bonded. Once I got that sorted out and figured out who everyone was, I followed the story without much trouble.

I have kind of mixed feelings about the story. There were things I liked, like the fact that it’s a book about sisters. I love those. It’s also got some interesting exploration of two peoples with grievances against each other going back generations. It shows leaders who want to try to bring them together despite those past wounds and traumas. I liked that there were two distinct people. Magi have the ability to perform magic as defense or offense. Technocrats have no magic but create powerful machines to protect themselves or battle the Magi.

On the other hand, some things about the book didn’t resonate with me. Aissa and Aro are pretty gooey with each other. A couple times, they’re literally in the middle of a battle or intense situation and they just drop what they’re doing for a minute and get all smoochy. I felt like that interrupted the tension in the scene. It didn’t feel to me like something that would realistically happen in a situation where adrenaline would be that high and for trained fighters.

I also had some issues with the way Aissa treated Aro. There were times she was really patronizing, treating him like he was this fragile flower who had to stay locked away to protect her because of their magic bond, which meant that if he got injured or killed, the same would happen to her. I at least wanted him to confront her about the way she was treating him. I didn’t feel like there was a satisfying resolution to that issue.

On the whole it was an interesting book, and I enjoyed some things about it. It reminded me a tiny bit of the Safe Lands series by Jill Williamson because of its dystopian-type setting.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
A couple minor characters are described as having bronze or brown skin. One minor character, a woman, is married to another woman.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. They share a bed, but there’s no description of anything happening between them there beyond cuddling.

Spiritual Content
Some references to “the Anvil” or “forges” which seem like references to a faith or spiritual belief or history of some kind, but it’s never explained. Magi possess magical powers that allow them to change things around them.

Violent Content
Battle scenes, references to and some descriptions of torture.

Drug Content
The Technocrats have created ways to siphon the Magi’s power (which harms Magi) to benefit themselves.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog. I received a free copy of HEARTLESS HEIRS in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Toll by Neal Shusterman

Book Review and Content, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

The Toll (Arc of a Scythe #3)
Neal Shusterman
Simon & Schuster
Published November 5, 2019

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Toll

It’s been three years since Rowan and Citra disappeared; since Scythe Goddard came into power; since the Thunderhead closed itself off to everyone but Grayson Tolliver.

In this pulse-pounding conclusion to New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman’s Arc of a Scythe trilogy, constitutions are tested and old friends are brought back from the dead.

My Review

I needed a break between THUNDERHEAD, the second book in the series, and THE TOLL. The ending of THUNDERHEAD kind of overwhelmed me, so it took me a while to feel like I was ready to pick up where it left off.

This is kind of a dark book, especially at the beginning. Scythe Goddard is in charge and pretty much willing to do anything to cement his power. Rowan and Citra return, but of course if Goddard finds out they’re alive, they’ll be in trouble. Grayson finds himself in a really strange situation with the Thunderhead once again. As he and his allies discover more about the history of the Scythe system and Goddard becomes still more unhinged, it becomes pretty clear they need to do something big.

I liked all the buildup where the story bounced between different characters, and it feels like all of them begin moving toward one cohesive goal. This book introduces some new characters that I enjoyed a lot. I think this book needed to feel really big, and it did feel like that to me.

Thoughts on Technology in The Toll

In this whole series, humans have a really interesting relationship with technology. The Thunderhead knows all of history and connects to each person (outside of the Scythes) so that it knows them deeply. It also views itself as a sort of shepherd of humanity, and humans have come to rely on it as a companion they can speak to at any time. It’s not presented really as a religion, but it sort of functions that way.

On the one hand, I really enjoyed that this is a technology-positive story. There are TONS of books out there where the computer turns out to be the super villain, right? This one isn’t really like that. But it does present some interesting questions about our dependence on technology and whether that’s a good thing. So, I liked some of questions the story raised in that vein.

I’m glad I finally did sit down and finish the series. I think it was worth finishing. Readers who enjoy a good dystopian series should check this one out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
In this futuristic story world, all races are pretty mixed. Certain characters are also described as “leaning” toward a particular race or other. Scythes are mandated to kill across a diverse population or else face punishment.

One character is genderfluid.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Reference to sex between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Tonists are a cult of people whose worship centers around sound. They believe in the Toll, a prophet of sorts.

Violent Content
Sythes glean (kill) people in various ways, sometimes violent ones. Tonists attack and attempt to kill people they oppose.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog.