Convinced an experimental surgery will solve her problems, Tina drags her sister on a wild journey from Nova Scotia to Boston. Along the way, Tina finds a gem of a boxer and convinces him to let her operate as his manager. Though skeptical at first, Jesse Mankiller begins to respect Tina’s unorthodox style. Together they hope to prove they have what it takes to win the big fight.
Like its protagonist, Tina MacKenzie, this is definitely one of those books that you might overlook at first. But while the cover won’t reach out and grab you, the story certainly will. Whip-quick narrative and dynamic characters make this novel a one-sitting read and one of the best I’ve read this year. It’s not often that an author assembles the perfect mixture of heroism and flaw in her characters, but Stellings really does it this time. It’s absolutely fabulous. Sports fans will love the journey of an unknown fighter going for a major title and readers looking for a heartwarming tale will fall in love with Tina’s sharp mouth and soft heart. It’s a beautiful story.
Profanity and Crude Language Content
Mild profanity, moderate frequency.
Sexual Content References to sexual behavior, but no details. Brief nudity.
Spiritual Content None.
Violence Descriptions of boxing matches. Limited details about injuries, etc. A character is threatened at gunpoint by mafia thugs.
Drug Content
None.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Update – 1/15/15 The Manager by Caroline Stellings has just been honored with the 2015 Hamilton Literary Award for fiction. The novel is also a finalist for the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction at the 2014 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Awards.
Mason and Omar’s friends helplessly watch from their hiding places as the brothers face liberation, a process which remains a mystery to all Safe Landers. Once the boys learn what it is to be liberated, they begin plotting to bring the truth to all the people of the Safe Lands. After all, the only way to bring freedom to the Safe Lands is to expose the horrible secrets that fuel the leadership’s power.
From his place in hiding, Levi continues to pursue his one goal: getting his people free of the Safe Lands. Before he can make his move, though, his wife Jemma is captured and forced to serve as a Queen, a woman carrying a child for the Safe Lands. Levi vows to rescue her, but each day’s broadcasts seem to show Jemma slipping further into the ways of the Safe Landers.
Series readers will not be disappointed in this thrilling conclusion to a fascinating series. As her readers have come to expect, Williamson delivers an immersive story world. Each major character faces a great challenge to his or her beliefs or expectations about life and really wrestles through the disappointment. Romances are kindled and fears conquered.
Some of the drug content and concern about the thin plague, which is often transmitted sexually (experiences are not described) make this series a bit too heavy for younger readers. This is a novel more suited to readers ages fourteen and up.
Profanity and Crude Language Content
None.
Sexual Content A few kisses. Brief, vague references to sex.
Spiritual Content Many characters wrestle with bitter disappointments which threaten to damage or destroy their faith in God. Though the threads of faith are a little more subtle in this story, there are some really deeply spiritual moments. My favorite moment is when Shaylinn attempts to explain the mystery of faith versus the law to a group of highly disciplined and judgmental people. The conversation doesn’t roll as perfectly in the scene as it did in her mind, which is just so true to the experience so many of us have had in trying to explain the deeper things of faith. Her courage despite the difficulty is heartwarming.
Violence Mason and Omar face multiple opponents. Both are severely beaten. Details are minimal.
Drug Content
Omar continues to use drugs and alcohol as an attempt to relieve emotional pain.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Chirp begins fifth grade looking forward to another year of beloved family traditions: dancing with her mother, bird-watching hikes, and impromptu performances with her older sister Rachel. But something is different in the Orenstein house. Rachel hushes Chirp when she asks questions or wants to show her mother some new dance steps. Chirp can’t understand how these things could make her mother sad like Rachel says.
Then comes her mother’s devastating diagnosis. There will be no more dancing. As her mother’s health deteriorates, Chirp’s family unravels. Even her father’s ever-positive, talk-about-it outlook can make this okay. Nothing will be okay again.
Chirp struggles to understand the new roles her family members adopt in the crisis and to interpret the behavior of the temperamental boy who lives in her neighborhood. This is a story about grief, about the way life doesn’t stay the same, but morphs into something new when we least expect it.
Each wonderful character brings a story of his or her own, and though the reader is limited to Chirp’s version of events, it’s easy to imagine the tales that fill the space between each line. As a young bird-watcher, Chirp often relates her experiences and emotions through the birds around her. Nest is filled with a rich emotional landscape, one that transcends words, just as its narrator’s emotions would lie beyond the capacity of an eleven year-old child to explain. It’s brilliantly done. Truly a great story.
Profanity and CrudeLanguage Content
One brief instance of mild profanity.
Sexual Content A couple very oblique, brief references to sex. (A girl worries that someone might think she’s a “lezzie;” school children ask their teacher if she’s going to teach them sex education.)
Spiritual Content Chirp’s family celebrates her Jewish heritage and does not observe Christian holidays. Sometimes other kids make fun of her family for this. One girl comments to Chirp that even if her family doesn’t ask Jesus into their hearts, surely God will still let them into heaven.
Violence A boy bears a bruise on his face following an unexplained home situation.
Drug Content
Chirp goes with her sister to a party at which the adults smoke marijuana. She is frightened and goes home.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Palmer, Hannah, Claire and Kat begin the spring semester ready for any challenge. Kinda. Palmer wants to be among the elite writers of the university magazine, but she can’t seem to break into the group. That is, without a glass of Moscato in her hand. After years of being the supportive best friend to the girl who could have any guy, Hannah finally has a boyfriend of her own. When a chance to see Germany with her guy arises, Hannah really wants to go, even if it means missing the spring break beach trip with her roomies. Surely Palmer, of all people, will understand?
Claire and Kat almost have their own secret code. After the trauma Claire endured in France and Kat’s unexpected loss, they seem to sense the things that trigger the other’s grief. Counseling has helped Claire make progress toward healing, but when her mom flakes out and forgets to pay for, well, everything, Claire is stuck. Trying to break through her mom’s hyper haze isn’t working and though Palmer offers to pay for everything, Claire doesn’t want to be a charity project.
Running is the only salve to Kat’s wounds. Everything seems to remind her of her brother, but he’s gone. With pressure to perform on the soccer team building around her, Kat’s only escape is to work out until she’s too tired to feel anything. More and more, though, she finds herself alienated from those she loves most.
Smith really captures the beat of college living and the relationships between the girls and other students on campus. Hannah’s first-boyfriend experience will resonate with many as will her battle for balance in her relationships with her new love and her old friends. Palmer’s personal drive and her vulnerability to alcohol are well-explored without glorifying what she’s doing. Consequences follow her choices to drink.
Claire’s story offers a whole different perspective. As the functional one in her relationship with her mother, Claire struggles to maintain a healthy distance from her mother’s unhealthy behavior, something she’s never managed to do in the past. Her friends rally around her as a supportive community and a great message of hope.
Smith has been hailed as a brave voice, telling it like it is, and fearlessly digging through some of early adulthood’s tough issues. In the third novel in her Status Updates series, she lives up to that reputation, peeling back layers of denial and revealing hurting hearts and soothing them with the balm of hope in God.
Profanity and Crude Language Content
No profanity.
Sexual Content Brief references to making out. A boy spends the night in one of the girls’ rooms, though she insists they simply fell asleep talking.
Spiritual Content Through their experiences with addictive behaviors, the girls realize they need more than personal strength and determination to achieve their goals, whether social or academic. They realize their needs for mutual support they receive from one another and, even more, spiritual support from faith and relationship with God.
Violence None.
Drug Content
Palmer uses wine to loosen up socially. Her friends notice what she does not: that more and more she turns to alcohol to relax and connect with others, and it’s getting out of hand. Claire battles her mother’s neglect from a distance, worrying when her mother’s behavior indicates she may be using (or overusing) some sort of pharmaceutical stimulants.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
In an attempt to escape from the turmoil of her home, Posy hides in the library. She begins reading and wakes to find herself trapped within a story. The king and queen treat her as their daughter, but the king’s advisor and the prince know she is an imposter. Posy simply wants to return home, and the only way to do that is to find the real princess and bring her home.
Posy embarks on the journey to find Princess Evanthe, but she soon learns that treachery runs deep within the kingdom. This quest sends her and her companions outside the plot, and if any of them should die, they will not reappear when the next reader begins the story. It quickly becomes clear that to rescue the princess and save her friends, Posy must find the Author and speak to him.
Though this is a story with strong threads of symbolism, I really liked that the author resisted the temptation to have the story play out as a direct allegory to the Christian story. I liked that it was more unpredictable and subtle. The suspenseful elements of looming war and betrayal keep the story moving quickly while the budding romance between Posy and Prince Kyran is really sweet. In the tradition of stories that take a contemporary character to another world, Willis rises to the challenge of engrossing her readers in another world. The simplicity of the story makes it a great read for late elementary-aged readers while the romance and more subtle character relationships make it a good choice for middle and high school readers, too.
Profanity and Crude Language Content
No profanity.
Sexual Content None.
Spiritual Content Posy enters a story in which characters have the choice to follow the Plot set by the Author or to rebel against it. Some characters do not believe the Author even exists, and others have set their own wills above that of the Author. This easily parallels the Christian worldview, in which we make choices about whether to follow the precepts outlined in the Bible or to deny those and live a different way. The Author appears as a character in his own story, the way that God appears in unexpected places in our lives.
Violence Posy witnesses battles between humans and other creatures. The scenes are described without any gory detail.
Drug Content
None.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
A car accident changes everything for Willow, a twelve year-old prodigy. Her family is gone and she is at the mercy of the state’s resources for childcare. As she pulls together the paths of her life that have led her to this tragedy, she reaches out to the only friend she has: a young Vietnamese girl whose brother shares the same guidance counselor as Willow does.
Mai convinces her mother to care for the girl and fight for long-term custody. At first, the sole proprietor of a nail salon resists her daughter’s urging, but she can’t help but be captured by Willow’s grief and loneliness. Together she and the guidance counselor, Mr. Dell Duke, weave a web of support around the lost but brilliant girl and the loose association quickly becomes a community which, like Willow’s incredible public garden project, grows into a family.
Willow’s stunning and awkward brilliance sets her apart from other kids. Where her parents nurtured and understood her quirks and intelligence, much of the rest of the world seems intimidated and annoyed by it. Willow struggles to cope by digging deeper into knowledge, her one comfort.
While she often fumbles through social situations, Willow is deeply self-aware. She often recognizes when she offends her companions and quickly works to right the situation. Her awkwardness is so endearing and her desire to please and earn affection can’t help but charm even the hardest hearts, but her social awareness almost makes her too perfect. A struggle to correct or repair the fallout of failed social moments may have provided additional conflict and character development as well as an essential, though admittedly predictable flaw.
The story itself is filled with warmth and realism without losing itself to controversial language or situations. The protagonist’s youth recommends her to younger readers, but the complexity of the characters’ relationships makes this a valuable read for both middle school and high school students. Counting by 7s reminds us of the power of community and in caring for one another, regardless of family connections or racial differences. This is a book not to be missed.
Profanity and Crude Language Content
None.
Sexual Content None, though at the end of the story, two adult characters make plans to live together unmarried.
Spiritual Content None.
Violence None.
Drug Content
None.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review
