Category Archives: Contemporary

Review: The Girl in the Well is Me by Karen Rivers

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The Girl in the Well is Me by Karen RiversThe Girl in the Well is Me
Karen Rivers
Algonquin Young Readers

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When tough circumstances force Kammie’s family to relocate, she’s determined to make the most of the change. She approaches the prettiest, most popular girls and attempts to join their group. Only what results is Kammie standing on a board that splits and sends her tumbling into a well. Trapped and slowly sinking further, Kammie begs her new “friends” to help her get out. As she waits for them to bring help (and wonders if they’ve simply abandoned her) she begins to think about the good times lost and the struggles her family currently faces. Then she begins to run out of air. Joined by hallucinations, some less than friendly, Kammie wonders if she’ll be rescued, or if her last view of the world will be the dark interior of the well and the small circle of sky above her.

At first I worried that a story about a girl trapped in a well would be sort of boring. I imagine it’s kind of the way people felt before seeing Rear Window when they learned that the whole movie was filmed on a tiny set about a man in a wheelchair. (Other than the scene in which he breaks his leg, we see the whole movie from his apartment. Crazy.) Anyway – this book was not as suspenseful as the classic Hitchcock film, but it never tried to be. Still, it was far from boring.

I liked Kammie pretty immediately. She’s a spunky narrator. You can feel how hard she’s trying to fit in and have a posse around her and how lonely and isolated she is since all the drama with her family has happened. You know she’s worth ten of each of the silly girls she wanted to be friends with, and she’s smart enough to realize it, too.

I thought her relationship with her brother was especially moving. I can’t think of a lot of stories with good examples of brother/sister relationships during that time of life when sibs sometimes grow apart, each seeking their own identity. I liked that this story captured that process so well, even if it was bittersweet.

Kammie’s memories of her life before falling in the well are definitely what keeps the story moving between rescue-related events. Rivers unwinds bits and pieces of this nameless tragedy that shattered Kammie’s life, and it was easy to chase those hints and flashes down looking for what really happened to this remarkable girl.

I thought the tone and the brief use of profanity made it a heavier read than most other middle grade books. Don’t get me wrong – I thought the story was great. See below for more specifics on content.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
One swear word is repeated several times in a sentence as Kammie realizes the dire situation she’s in. There are a few crude references to bodily functions.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Kammie thinks about her grandma, who has died, and wonders briefly if she’s in Heaven.

Violence
Girls play a prank on Kammie which leads to her falling into a well. Kammie sustains serious injuries due to her fall.

Drug Content
Her father drinks alcohol.

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

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Review: Cleo Edison Oliver, Playground Millionaire by Sundee T Frazier

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, , , ,

Cleo Edison Oliver, Playground Millionaire
Sundee T. Frazier
Scholastic, Inc.

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About Cleo Edison Oliver, Playground Millionaire

Cleo wants to be just like her role model, Miss Fortune A. Davies, a famous businesswoman with a nightly TV show motivating young entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams. Cleo has lots of ideas to make money, from selling avocados off the tree in the back yard to her latest and greatest idea ever: a nearly painless tooth-pulling service. As Cleo’s business succeeds, she gets even more excited. Unfortunately, not everyone in her life is as thrilled as she is. Her best friend begins to withdraw, and Cleo has some owning up to do with members of her family after a few poor choices catch up with her. Cleo struggles to find the balance that even many adults find elusive: to balance passions with sensitivity to the important people in our lives. And her struggle happens in a lovable, believable way.

My Review

Though this is a pretty lighthearted story, it does deal with some heart issues. Cleo wrestles with some deep rejection stemming from her mother’s choice to place her for adoption as a baby. Cleo’s best friend struggles to accept her father’s new life with a new girlfriend, though her parents are only recently divorced. Cleo herself is an upbeat, passionate girl whose whole heart is in everything she does. It’s true that sometimes her passions carry her away, and her parents have to reel her in a bit. They do so with admirable wisdom, love and firmness. This is a great book for anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit or who wrestles with issues surrounding adoption and foster family membership.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Cleo is Black and adopted.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Brief mention of church.

Violent Content
Cleo punches a girl after she says some really hurtful things. She’s disciplined for her behavior and has to apologize. She uses a nerf gun as part of a solution to remove loose teeth from consenting kids.

Drug Content
None.

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

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Review: Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

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

Belzhar
Meg Wolitzer
Dutton Books for Young Readers

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When Jam can’t recover from her boyfriend’s death, her desperate family sends her to The Wooden Barn, a boarding school for distraught teens. There Jam finds herself enrolled in Special Topics in English, an elite, invitation-only course. This year, Jam and her classmates will study the works of Sylvia Plath, and will write about their own experiences in special journals given to them by their fascinating instructor, Mrs. Quenell.

As Jam begins to write in her journal, she’s transported to a place where Reeve still lives, and they can be together. A place she calls Belzhar. As the semester winds down, and the pages of Jam’s journal fill, she knows her visits with Reeve can’t last forever, and the end of them will be like losing him all over again. But she can’t run from the truth forever. And this time, as she faces her beloved Reeve, she has to face truths about him and about herself before she can find healing.

I’m pretty sure I read about this book on a list of a blogger’s favorite books or something of that nature. I think at that point, I had recently read the Bell Jar, and I was even more curious about the story because it references Plath’s work. Since then, it’s been on my to-read list, and at last, I’ve finally read it.

Honestly, I was a little disappointed. There were definitely things I liked about the story – I loved the teacher and the other classmates in the Special Topics class, even if I felt like they deserved a little more airtime. Besides the span in which they told their own stories, I didn’t really feel like I got to know them very well. Which is okay – it really wasn’t the point of the story.

There’s a big twist that I won’t give away, but I had really mixed feelings about it. On the one hand I was really surprised when the truth was revealed. I didn’t suspect it, and yet when I evaluated earlier scenes in the story, it changed how I perceived them, which I think is a mark of a great plot twist. So that was impressive.

On the other hand, I felt like it kind of cheapened the story in a way. I’m not sure I really bought into the real story having the kind of weight I felt like it needed to have. I felt like it kind of took this big conflict and deflated it a little bit.

On the other-other hand, I think the way it played out also felt like a tribute to the way emotional trauma can be devastating and powerful. So I don’t want to downplay it too much.

There was also one moment in which a big thing happens, and Jam isn’t there. I really wanted her to be there for this one critical moment, and instead she hears about it third-hand. So that was a bit disappointing.

On the whole, I’m glad I read it, but it didn’t resonate with me the way some of my other recent reads have. If you’re looking for something that’s a much lighter version of Girl, Interrupted (I’m thinking the movie with Winona Ryder), then this is probably something you want to check out.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency. One character in particular has a bit of a foul mouth, but the language is kind of sprinkled throughout the story.

Romance/Sexual Content
There’s some kissing between Jam and a boyfriend. They reach under each other’s shirts and touch each other. At one point they remove shirts and lie next to each other.

Spiritual Content
Through writing in a journal, Jam is transported to a place she calls Belzhar. There, Reeve is alive, and they are together. The place has rules – she can only relive past moments, nothing new, and after a period of time, she’ll be booted back to reality.

Violent Content
Brief mentions of a drunk driving accident which leaves a girl paralyzed, a boy who has been kidnapped, and a devastating fire.

Drug Content
Jam recalls going to a party at which several teens drink alcohol. Several mentions of smoking pot.

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Review: Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate

Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Seven Ways We Lie
Riley Redgate
ABRAMS Kids/Amulet Books

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Everyone has a secret to hide. Olivia seems like a girl who has it together. She knows what she wants, and she’s not afraid to say so. At home, she watches her father and sister sink deeper into isolation following her mom’s disappearance, and for once, there’s nothing Olivia can do to fix it. Matt’s parents never stop fighting, and his little brother too often ends up caught in the cross-fire. After months of tuning out his parents’ battles in a haze of pot smoke, is it too late for Matt to confront them? Claire can’t let go of the last words her now ex-boyfriend said to her: you can’t compare—to what? To whom? Haunted by what he could have meant, Claire spirals into ever-growing bitterness and envy of her best friends, Olivia and Juniper. Everyone thinks Lucas is the smiley, happy guy he appears. But underneath the shiny grin, he’s cracking in two. When he accidentally reveals his secret to a boy from school, he’s sure it won’t be long until everyone else knows.

When rumors of a teacher/student affair circulate at the high school, it becomes clear that someone has an even bigger secret. When Olivia and her friends discover who it is, they’ll have to decide: do they go to administration and expose the lovers, or do they have a responsibility to handle it differently? After all, everyone has secrets.

The dialogue in this book was extremely realistic. It felt as though I were reading a transcript of high schoolers talking to one another. I liked the complex characters. From the get-go, there were certain ones I didn’t think I would like (Lucas and Matt because of the drug issues), and Redgate really won me over, made me see past the behavioral issues I disagreed with. (I still am not a fan of those choices, but I grew to see them as more than a stoner and a pot supplier.)

I thought it was interesting that she explored a lot of different approaches to relationships and sexuality within the novel. One girl has a relationship in which she doesn’t have sex with her boyfriend. Another girl doesn’t do relationships, just casual sex (more on this in a minute.) One boy wrestles with his identity as a pansexual. Another seems to have no feelings of attraction for anyone of any gender. So it definitely communicated the idea that everyone is different and should be respected regardless of those differences.

Olivia’s casual sex mantra is one of the themes I’ve seen often in YA novels. She makes all the usual arguments for her choices—she’s master of her body, boys get to sleep around without anyone villainizing them, she should get to do what she wants without anyone treating her poorly for it.

I agree that she deserves respect regardless of her decisions and that no one has a right to bully or slander her. I found it interesting that despite the very feminist song she sings, as we follow Olivia’s story, we discover that it’s not really feminist principles motivating her behavior. She’s avoiding relationships in the wake of her mother’s abandoning the family. One-night stands avoid the emotional entanglements that Olivia feels will leave her vulnerable to additional hurt. As she begins to heal and grieve the loss of her mother, Olivia finds herself ready to enter a relationship and risk the hurt which might result from a longer-term encounter with a boy. I found that transition interesting.

Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Sexual Content
Olivia chooses to have casual, one-night experiences with boys at her school. A lot of kids make fun of her and call her rude names in response. She remains unrepentant about her choices and angry that some boys treat her poorly. Boys, she reasons, don’t get treated poorly because they sleep around. Why should girls?

There aren’t any scenes describing her escapades. We know about them and we hear some of the slurs students fling at Olivia. In one instance, a boy sends her a picture of his penis via text message. She is disgusted with his uninvited photo.

Another student wrestles with coming out to his friends at school, including his ex-girlfriend, who might not appreciate finding out that he’s pansexual, can have feelings for a person of any gender.

Two boys kiss at one point.

A teacher is accused of having a sexual relationship with a student. See below for more details…

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
None.

Drug Content
Matt spends a great deal of his time smoking pot. Lucas sells pot and beer to kids at school. Juniper drinks alcohol pretty heavily. One girl ends up with alcohol poisoning at a party. There are no real consequences to the pot smoking and selling in the story.

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

SPOILER ALERT

A teacher is accused of having a relationship with a student. The two have not had sex, and met under circumstances in which the teacher thought the student was an adult. In one scene, they kiss and fall asleep in each other’s arms. Eventually the teacher comes forward and admits to having the relationship and the breach of responsibility and judgment that allowed the relationship to occur. The student’s parents are furious and demand the teacher sever contact, which the teacher agrees to. The student hopes that after graduation, the two will be in contact again.

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

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Review: You Were Here by Cori McCarthy

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

You Were Here
Cori McCarthy
Sourcebooks Fire

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Jaycee intends to spend the anniversary of her brother Jake’s death the same way she spent the last one: exploring an abandoned building with her brother’s best friend. Jake’s death fractured Jaycee’s entire community, and even though it’s been five years since his death, her relationships remain in the same ruined condition as the broken mental institution she visits.

Her friends are determined to reach her, though. Even Mik, with whom Jaycee feels a powerful if wordless connection. As grief pushes Jaycee closer and closer to the edge, her friends realize the only way to save her is to join her and look into the face of all they lost the night Jake died.

This might be my favorite book so far this year. (Yes… I know, I just reviewed Winter! And it was great! But…. This book is something special.) I loved each of the characters. They felt desperately real, hopelessly flawed, and I couldn’t help rooting for them to work through the angst and grief and all the things that have been holding them back.

I LOVED how McCarthy uses images to tell the story. One character’s experience is related entirely in pictures of graffiti he’s posted in places the characters travel. And Mik – the boy who rarely speaks – had his story told in graphic novel panels. I’ve never seen that done before, but it really captured that silent-but-present feeling that he brought to the story. He was my favorite, but he doesn’t have a huge lead over some of the other characters. They were all just great.

One of the things I thought was great about this story, too, is that even though it’s all about how Jaycee idolizes her brother and how tragic his death is, the tale also goes into some of the way that keeping that lost person on a pedestal can become unhealthy. Sometimes our memories get warped and we only want to remember the good parts, which can sometimes be damaging. I also liked how the story dealt with the loss of this one person, but showed how the accident had more of a global effect on the community.

Despite all the things I loved, there’s some mature content in this novel. Check the information below to see if it’s the right read for you or one you feel comfortable recommending.

Profanity/ Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
Natalie and her boyfriend Zack have had sex. At one point, he wants to go to a party, and she uses the promise of sex to deter him from going. They disappear into the woods to have sex at one point, but the event isn’t described. One night she puts herself in a compromising position with a boy known for taking advantage of girls. She’s too drunk to know if anything happened between them, but it’s possible that she slept with him.

Jaycee wonders about Mik’s romantic history. He’s older than she is, and she worries that he has more experience than she does. He patiently answers her questions, but doesn’t offer details. At one point they reach under each other’s shirts and touch for a moment.

Spiritual Content
Jaycee dwells mostly on things from Jake’s life and very little on whether he’s in heaven or somewhere now that he’s gone.

Violence
There are a couple of skirmishes between the boys. Nothing grisly. One boy’s older brother picks on him relentlessly. One girl has issues with cutting. It’s only mentioned peripherally.

Drug Content
Zack really likes getting drunk. Natalie drinks too much at a party and pays some serious consequences. Jaycee and Zack drink together in an abandoned building. Jaycee gets buzzed pretty easily because she doesn’t usually drink.

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

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Review: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

The Absolutely True Part-Time Diary of an Indian
Sherman Alexie
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

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About The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

After a school incident provokes a teacher to challenge fifteen year-old Junior, he leaves the school on the Spokane Indian Reservation for an all-white school in a nearby town with better resources. At first, Junior’s new schoolmates shun him for being different, and at home, his friends shun him for being a traitor and leaving the reservation. Through cartoon drawings and frank narrative, Junior wrestles with his own sense of value and the value of his people.

My Review

Part of what makes this story so powerful is the fact that we see not only Junior’s internal struggles as he wrestles with his identity and value, but that we see the culture and people of the reservation through his eyes as well. We clearly feel his warring love and frustration. We cringe at the gaffs of (sometimes) well-meaning white people who come to the reservation or who interact with Junior at school.

I feel like it shouldn’t take a novel so poignantly written to take me outside my own point-of-view and really make me think about how things sound or come across, well-meaning or not. Sometimes it does take being forced to imagine life from a completely perspective in order to succeed in doing so.

The poverty in which so many of the families lived is portrayed so vividly. Sadly, stupidly, I had never even thought about this, and I’m ashamed to admit that. We talk about ending world hunger and people talk about children in the US being hungry, too. I just really hadn’t thought to look further for names and faces, if that makes sense?

I loved that though Junior’s diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, his story isn’t defined by this condition. He’s a talented artist and basketball player as well as a loving son, brother and friend. (This sounds like a eulogy…. He doesn’t die in the story, I promise.)

Another thing that was really well-described was the difference in the sense of community in the town of Reardon vs the sense of community at the reservation. Junior points things out directly a few times, but the story itself shows the ways in which the culture of each is different and how Junior responds differently in each place.

Banned Book

I’d been meaning to read this story for a while because several times I’ve heard of different school districts banning the book for the sexual content. I can understand how, as a conservative parent trying to teach your child that masturbation is morally wrong, handing your child a book which bluntly states that it’s something everyone does and everyone enjoys would be problematic.

On the one hand, I’m not a huge fan of book banning. On the other hand, I’m a fan of having freedom to raise children according to moral and spiritual doctrines of my choosing, even if they’re contrary to popular belief or opinion. So… I’d say it’s a tough call.

I also believe that issues like this within literature can make for a great opportunity to discuss beliefs and why our family believes certain things or does things a certain way that other people might not follow. But it’s certainly not the only opportunity for discussion.

I found this book to be a valuable voice in children’s literature. I understand why some parents might choose not to read this book or allow their kids to read it. Despite the brief content, though, I feel like The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian gives an important perspective. For me, it was definitely worth reading.

Content Notes

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Some crude language and mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Junior briefly discusses his feelings about masturbation – mainly, that everyone does it and everyone enjoys it. Later, one of his friends drags him to the library and describes being there as an experience which should give one a metaphorical “boner.”

Junior gives a gift to his best friend Rowdy. Rowdy’s dad makes fun of the gesture, calling Junior derogatory names.

Junior has a girlfriend at school. They exchange brief kisses. Her father makes a somewhat crude comment warning Junior to keep his hands and other areas of interest to himself.

Spiritual Content
Brief references to cultural ceremonies.

After the loss of a family members and a dear friend, Junior grieves. He describes the process, saying at one point that he “mocked God.” A cartoon shows a crowd of people making fun of Jesus.

Violence
Junior gets beat up a lot on the reservation. His best friend’s father beats him up, and his friend in turn beats other kids up. Junior describes the social climate on the reservation as having strict rules which require you to fight anyone who insults you or your family. Later, off the reservation, a boy at school insults him, and Junior punches him. He is puzzled when the boy doesn’t fight back.

Drug Content
References to drug abuse and alcoholism happening at the reservation. Junior’s dad is an alcoholic. Several deaths in the story have a direct relationship to alcohol abuse.

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