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Review: The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden

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Benefits of Being an OctopusThe Benefits of Being an Octopus
Ann Braden
Sky Pony Press
Published on September 4, 2018

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About The Benefits of Being an Octopus
Some people can do their homework. Some people get to have crushes on boys. Some people have other things they’ve got to do.

Seventh-grader Zoey has her hands full as she takes care of her much younger siblings after school every day while her mom works her shift at the pizza parlor. Not that her mom seems to appreciate it. At least there’s Lenny, her mom’s boyfriend—they all get to live in his nice, clean trailer.

At school, Zoey tries to stay under the radar. Her only friend Fuchsia has her own issues, and since they’re in an entirely different world than the rich kids, it’s best if no one notices them.

Zoey thinks how much easier everything would be if she were an octopus: eight arms to do eight things at once. Incredible camouflage ability and steady, unblinking vision. Powerful protective defenses.

Unfortunately, she’s not totally invisible, and one of her teachers forces her to join the debate club. Even though Zoey resists participating, debate ultimately leads her to see things in a new way: her mom’s relationship with Lenny, Fuchsia’s situation, and her own place in this town of people who think they’re better than her. Can Zoey find the courage to speak up, even if it means risking the most stable home she’s ever had?

My Review
This book has so many cool things about it. I loved that Zoey joins the debate club at school (even though at first she’s an unwilling participant). Her natural talent shows in the way she approaches problems and cares for her siblings, which made it so easy to cheer for her as she battled anxiety about speaking in front of her classmates. I loved her teacher, too. So many moments between Zoey and her teacher had me all teary-eyed. They share a kind of understanding that only someone who’s been through a similar thing can share, and it obviously changes Zoey’s life.

Zoey’s relationship with her mom also gripped me. Because her mom works, Zoey cares for her siblings a lot of the time, and sometimes relates to her mom more as a peer rather than as parent to child. Some of that is kind of sad, but it also showed the way that your relationship with a parent changes as you reach middle school age and start thinking about things differently. I loved the way Zoey’s debate club strategies became the tools she used at home, and the way those same lessons helped her uncover unhealthy patterns in her family.

In the acknowledgements, the author talks about how someone asked her to write about rural poverty so that kids growing up in those situations would have a chance to see themselves in a book. I’m so glad she did. This book made me think of so many kids.

One of the really fun things about the book is the way Zoey uses imagery about octopus behavior to describe how she feels at different times or things she wishes she could do (like have extra hands to manage her three small siblings). I loved those descriptions and how they appeared consistently through the book.

I actually picked up a copy of this book after reading another blogger’s review of it, and I’m so very glad I did. I need to go back and comment on the review say thanks! The Benefits of Being an Octopus definitely deserves a read.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white or not physically described.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Someone fires shots in a school parking lot near students. After the gun incident, students argue about whether guns are good or bad (Zoey believes guns are tools that can be used for good things like hunting while a few other students argue that no one should have guns.). A girl is physically threatened by a man. A man verbally abuses a woman.

Drug Content
None.

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

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Fall To Be Read List

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I feel like I’m always saying I can’t believe how quickly the months go by– and I really can’t! This week’s Top Ten Tuesday (meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) post features the fall 2018 books I can’t wait to read– books I think you won’t want to miss, either!

Imposters by Scott Westerfeld (Uglies #5)

I was a huge fan of the Uglies series when it came out, so I can’t wait to dive into this new look at the story world and hopefully find out more about a few of the characters I left behind in the earlier books.

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak

If you know me at all, you aren’t surprised to see this book on the list. I’ve been waiting for this book for like ten years or something. Fun fact: I once went on a first date with a guy right around my birthday, and he surprised me with a signed copy of The Book Thief (my favorite book) as a birthday present. I married him.

The Echo Room by Parker Peevyhouse

If you like twisty sci-fi stories, definitely check out Parker Peevyhouse’s debut, Where Futures End, which I loved! The Echo Room looks like a dark, suspenseful story about two people trapped alone who have to figure out how to escape and/or work together despite having no idea if they can trust each other.

The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden

I saw a review of this book on LILbooKlovers and had to track down a copy for myself. The older sibling taking care of younger sibs appeals to me as well as some of its thought-provoking elements.

Born Scared by Kevin Brooks

I’m super curious about this book as it looks like it tackles some mental health issues and takes place during a blizzard, so it should have high stakes.

Flow Like Water by Mark Burley

Flow Like Water is the second in a suspense series about a parkour expert chasing down a creepy organization who’ve kidnapped his family. Love the action and parkour sequences.

Meet the Sky by McCall Hoyle

I really enjoyed Hoyle’s debut novel last year, so I knew I wanted to check out her next book. This features another natural disaster (hurricane this time) and a disabled sister. Looks like a great contemporary read.

Sadie by Courtney Summers

I pretty much knew I had to read this book as soon as I heard about it. Though I haven’t loved every book I’ve read by Summers, I can’t help but have tons of respect for her powerful writing and her desire to raise awareness of girls’ issues. This book makes me think of the series Vanishing Women and the girls who went missing from the Ohio town.

Wren Hunt by Mary Watson

Magic. Deception. High stakes. Wren Hunt sounds too good to miss.

The Chaos of Now by Erin Jade Lange

A teen hacker defending internet freedom. Internet bullying gone out of control. I’m so excited to read this.

What’s on your fall To Be Read list?

Are any of the books on my list also on yours? Any you hadn’t heard of that you’re adding after seeing them here? Or are there fall 2018 must-read books I need to add to my list? Comment below and fill me in on your picks!

Review: Scythe by Neal Shusterman

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Scythe
Neal Shusterman
Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published on November 22, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Scythe
Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

My Review
When Scythe first came out, it was pretty near the top of my reading list because of how much I loved the other Neal Shusterman books I’ve read. Somehow or other, I didn’t get to reading it very quickly, and here I am, almost two years later.

I really enjoyed this book. I’m often sensitive to violence in books, so I was a little nervous about that. But I found it to be a lot like the way The Hunger Games handles violence. The characters are disturbed by what’s happening and find ways to fight against it or call it out as wrong. Some things about it reminded me of Unwind, particularly the moral questions surrounding the Scythes’ role as killers.

My favorite thing about Scythe is the way the stakes just kept getting higher and higher. It felt like every few chapters, there would be some new intense twist making me sit straight up in my seat. Sometimes I suspected the twist a little bit before it happened, but even then, the revelation of it was so satisfying and the intensity ratcheted up so high that I had to keep going to find out how it all turned out.

Would I read the second one? Yes. Absolutely.

If you liked Unwind, I suspect you’ll love Scythe, too. It will also appeal to fans of Scorch by Gina Damico.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

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

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used pretty infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. A couple of references to sex in suggestive comments.

Spiritual Content
Most religions appear not to exist anymore. One group remains, worshipping sound and living monastic lives in secluded communes.

Violent Content
Vivid descriptions of deaths. Some are painless or quick. Others are crueler. This is meant to show the difference in the ways Scythes carry out their jobs. Some use more compassionate means and others seem to revel in causing pain. Rowan struggles with these attitudes, realizing he could in fact become the kind of monster who enjoys killing.
Scythes are allowed to end their own lives, and some do in the course of the story. One suicide happens off-scene. Rowan witnesses another. Sensitive readers may find scenes like this too intense.

Drug Content
Some Scythes use poisons or drugs to end a life, usually as a way to do it painlessly.

Sadie Blog Tour Q&A with Courtney Summers

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Courtney Summers writes gripping stories that tend to stick with you long after the last page is closed. When I listened to her speak at YALLfest in 2016, her commitment to give girls a strong voice really stuck out to me. When I had the opportunity to participate in this blog tour with Wednesday Books, I jumped at the chance to talk more with Courtney Summers about her latest book, Sadie. I’ll introduce the book and then move straight into what I learned from the author.

About Sadie by Courtney Summers

Amazon | Goodreads | Barnes & Noble

Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she’s been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.

But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie’s entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister’s killer to justice and hits the road following a few meagre clues to find him.

When West McCray—a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America—overhears Sadie’s story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie’s journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it’s too late.

Q&A with Courtney Summers

Do you have a favorite scene, quote, or moment from Sadie?

My favorite scene is a spoiler, but my favorite quote is this: “I wish this was a love story.”

What gave you the idea for Sadie?

One of the things that inspired Sadie was the way we consume violence against women and girls as a form of entertainment. When we do that, we reduce its victims to objects, which suggests a level of disposability–that a girl’s pain is only valuable to us if we’re being entertained by it. What is our responsibility to us? I really wanted to explore that and the way we dismiss missing girls and what the cost of that ultimately is.

Can you talk a little bit about how you created the setting for Sadie?

 Sadie is set in various fictional towns and cities across the state of Colorado and Sadie, as a character herself, was integral in creating those places. I had to make sure to put her in environments she could not only respond to, but would reveal her headspace and past to the reader.

What was the most surprising thing you learned in creating your characters?

When I first started Sadie, I was extremely skeptical of West– he had to prove himself to readers over the course of his narrative and given the nature of his job, I was curious to see where writing him would take me. I really loved the way his arc unfolded. I wasn’t necessarily surprised by it, but more gratified by it than I realized I would be.

What was the hardest part of the story to write?

There wasn’t a particular part that was harder to write than any others—writing a book like Sadie requires occupying a dark emotional headspace all the way through, so it was all a bit tough to write in that sense.

Sadie is told through two points of view: Sadie, as she looks for her sister, and West’s podcasts as he follows her story. Did you experience more difficulty writing one or the other, or did you like writing in one form more? How much of the novel did you write in chronological order, and how much did you jump around?

I enjoyed both of them. Writing Sadie’s perspective was very familiar to me because all of my books feature an intensely close first person, female point-of-view. Writing West’s perspective, the podcast format, proved a little more challenging. Not so much because of the way it was written (scripts) but because each episode had to propel Sadie’s narrative forward and give us a different way of looking at the things she went through.

So far, I’ve only ever been able to write in chronological order!

Was this how you always envisioned the book or did it change as you wrote it?

Regina Spektor said something really interesting about writing songs that I’ve always loved and related to as an author. She said, “[A]s soon as you try and take a song from your mind into piano and voice and into the real world, something gets lost and it’s like a moment where, in that moment, you forget how it was and it’s this new way. And then when you make a record, even those ideas that you had, then those get all turned around and changed. So in the end, I think, it just becomes its own thing and really I think a song could be recorded a million different ways and so what my records are, it just happened like that, but it’s not like, this is how I planned it from the very beginning because I have no idea, I can’t remember.”

I feel something similar when writing– the heart of my idea remains intact, but the way it takes its ultimate form is always a little different (or even a lot different) than I might have been expecting, which makes it difficult to recall the starting point. But that’s okay as long as the heart is still there and you’re satisfied with and believe in what you’ve created.

About Courtney Summers

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Courtney Summers was born in Belleville, Ontario, 1986. At age 14, she dropped out of high school. At age 18, she wrote her first novel. Cracked Up to Be was published in 2008, when she was 22 and went on to win the 2009 CYBIL award in YA fiction. Since then, she’s published four more critically acclaimed books: Some Girls Are, Fall for Anything, This is Not a Test and All the Rage, as well as an e-novella, Please Remain Calm which is a sequel to This is Not a Test. Her new novel, Sadie, is available now wherever books are sold. #findsadie
In 2016, Courtney was named one of Flare Magazine’s 60 under 30.

Review and Blog Tour: The Third Mushroom by Jennifer L. Holm

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I’m super excited to be part of my first ever Rockstar Blog Tour. Yay! When I saw the invitation to review The Third Mushroom by Jennifer L. Holm, I really couldn’t resist. I had so much fun reading the first book about Ellie and her grandfather-trapped-in-a-teenager’s-body that I absolutely had to find out what happens to them next in this book, The Third Mushroom. Read on for my review, some information about the author, other stops on the tour and a chance to win your very own copy of the book!

The Third Mushroom
Jennifer L. Holm
Random House
Published on September 4, 2018

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads  | Audible | iBooks | TBD

About The Third Mushroom
Ellie’s grandpa Melvin is a world-renowned scientist . . . in the body of a fourteen-year-old boy. His feet stink, and he eats everything in the refrigerator–and Ellie is so happy to have him around. Grandpa may not exactly fit in at middle school, but he certainly keeps things interesting. When he and Ellie team up for the county science fair, no one realizes just how groundbreaking their experiment will be. The formula for eternal youth may be within their reach! And when Ellie’s cat, Jonas Salk, gets sick, the stakes become even higher. But is the key to eternal life really the key to happiness? Sometimes even the most careful experiments yield unexpected–and wonderful–results.

My Review
I loved The Fourteenth Goldfish with its zany characters and love for science, so when I saw this sequel, The Third Mushroom, I pretty much HAD to read it. Ellie’s grandpa still cracked me up with his goofy blend of grandpa-slash-teenage-boy-ness. I loved the way he referred to hormonal issues as “The Puberty” and his cute relationship with the librarian.
There’s one part (I don’t want to give away what happens) that’s super sad. I wasn’t prepared for it, and it brought back the memories of my own similar experience. Those scenes were tough to read because they were so moving, but overall, there’s a positive message through it. (I’ll add a spoiler section to the end since it might be something you’d want to know about before reading if you’ve got a sensitive kid who’s just been through what Ellie’s experience.)
I also liked the way the story addressed the shifting relationships Ellie experiences. I so remember that stuff happening in middle school and how disconcerting it could be.
Science again plays a fun and interesting role in the story, as Ellie and her grandfather enter a science fair together and learn about various scientists who’ve made important contributions in the past. The end of the book includes a short list of resources to learn more about the scientists and discoveries mentioned in the book, which I thought was a nice touch as well.
Overall, if you enjoy spunky, fun stories, The Third Mushroom is a great pick. You can find my review of The Fourteenth Goldfish here.

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Cultural Elements
Ellie and her family are white. Her best friend is a boy named Raj, who dresses as a goth.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Ellie goes on a date with a boy and holds his hand. She feels a little disappointed that she’s not more excited about the whole thing, and the possible romance kind of fizzles out.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Ellie learns a bit about the invention of penicillin. She and her grandfather discover a compound that seems to have some regenerative capabilities. See spoiler section at the end of the post for more details.


Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Amazon links are affiliate links, meaning if you click the link and purchase items from Amazon.com, I will get a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you. This helps cover the costs of running my blog.

About Jennifer L. Holm

Website | Twitter | Facebook |  Goodreads

Jennifer L. Holm is a NEW YORK TIMES bestselling children’s author and the recipient of three Newbery Honors for her novels OUR ONLY MAY AMELIA, PENNY FROM HEAVEN, and TURTLE IN PARADISE. Jennifer collaborates with her brother, Matthew Holm, on two graphic novel series — the Eisner Award-winning Babymouse series and the bestselling Squish series. Her new novel is THE FOURTEENTH GOLDFISH. She lives in California with her husband and two children.

Visit the Other Stop on The Third Mushroom Blog Tour

Week One:

9/3/2018- Beagles & Books– Review

9/4/2018- BookHounds YA– Excerpt

9/5/2018- The Story Sanctuary– Review

9/6/2018- Rhythmicbooktrovert – Review

9/7/2018- Here’s to Happy Endings– Review

Week Two:

9/10/2018- For the Love of KidLit– Interview

9/11/2018- YA Books Central– Interview

9/12/2018- The OWL– Review

9/13/2018- Book-Keeping– Review

9/14/2018- Two Points of Interest– Review

Enter to Win a Copy of The Third Mushroom

Three winners will each receive one copy of The Third Mushroom by Jennifer L. Holm.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spoiler Alert – super sad scenes

I mentioned above that something happens in the book that’s sad and was hard for me to read because I didn’t expect it and it brought back my own memories of a similar event. What happens is that Ellie’s cat gets seriously injured. The family isn’t sure what happened, but they suspect he was hit by a car. Desperate to help him, Ellie asks her grandfather to inject the formula they’ve discovered into the cat near his damaged spine. It’s too late for the poor furry little guy, and shortly after that, Ellie and her family make the difficult decision to put him to sleep. She grieves for the loss, feeling alternately lost, hurt, angry, etc. Ultimately, she ends up rescuing another cat who’s about to become homeless and realizes she still has love to share and another cat needs her.

It so reminded me of my own experience losing a cat – I particularly identified with feeling like the heart was missing from my home. I hated being home in an empty house without a cat. Which is how I started visiting an animal shelter just to see kitty faces. And how my next cat won me over. You can see a picture of both my rescue cats on my Instagram.

Anyway – normally I don’t post spoilers, but if you’ve been through the experience of losing a pet recently, this part of the book will either be healing or too much. It happens near the end of the book, and is only the focus of a few scenes, but like I said, it’s pretty moving.

August 2018 Monthly Wrap-Up and Bookish Conversations

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Did you notice my new blog header?

This summer brought a lot of changes. Gabrielle is no longer blogging with me, but I wish her all the best with her own projects, and I really enjoyed having her as a part of The Story Sanctuary. Also, you may have noticed the new header and web icon images on the site. Yay for a fresh new look!

New tag line: Helping you find the right book for your reader.

Another big change is perhaps more subtle. Since I started writing reviews, the tag line of my blog was, “Young adult book reviews from a Christian world-view.” My goal has always been to write reviews of a broad range of books and include information that I, as a Christian parent, would want to know before passing the book on to young readers in my life.

I think, though, that the tag line leads people to assume that I’ll have certain views or only review certain books. It’s never been my desire to tell people what books they shouldn’t read. I’ve hoped to help inform readers about content and allow them to decide for themselves what’s appropriate or interesting.

Still a Believer

My faith is very much an important part of my life, and it will remain so. But I think I’ve been alienating readers who are looking for a more overtly Christian review as well as readers who have negative associations with the term “Christian world-view” and assume it means discrimination and judgement.

So, with all that in mind, I made a really difficult decision to change the tag line. I will still continue reviewing with the same focus: helping you find the right book for you or your reader.

What’s staying the same

My reviews will still include a content breakdown and cultural information about characters in the story. Specifically, the cultural breakdown is NOT meant to steer readers away from books because certain types of characters are represented. Rather, it’s meant to help readers from underrepresented groups find books whose characters represent them and to help readers looking for diverse literature to find it.

Diversity is super important to me. I believe literature helps us cultivate empathy for others by allowing us to imagine ourselves in someone else’s shoes, looking out through their eyes, experiencing their emotions. It’s certainly not a perfect education, but I do believe it helps. I know in my own life, reading diverse books has helped expose prejudices I’ve had often without ever thinking about them. It forces us to examine what we think in a way that our real day to day lives may insulate us from.

I’ll still continue to review Christian books as I always have, and I imagine my faith will come up here and there, because it’s part of me. I’m not looking to bury who I am. Rather, I’m hoping to be more transparent and less confusing.

At any rate, I’m hoping that going forward, The Story Sanctuary remains a welcoming space where we can share thoughts about books. I hope this blog helps you find books you had never heard of, and authors you come to love. That’s the greatest gift a book review blogger can get: knowing someone discovered a favorite book through your review of it.

August 2018 Monthly Wrap-Up

I’m going to do the wrap-up a little differently this time, too. Normally here’s where I’d list the reviews I’ve posted this month, but you can scroll through those on the home page, so rather than repeat them here, I’m going to do something different.

Bookish Conversations I Wish I Was Having: August 2018

Book I read in August 2018 that I’m most likely to reread: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. If you asked me before I read this book whether an author could make me love a swamp monster, I would have seriously doubted it. Kelly Barnhill proved me wrong.

Plus, I absolutely loved the theme about foster mothering. I straight-out bawled when Luna says about her relationship with her mothers that her love is not divided, it is multiplied. I really need somebody in my life to read this book so I can talk about it more!

Book I read in August 2018 that surprised me the most: Behind These Hands by Linda Vigen Phillips. I feel like reading a book from a publisher I’ve never worked with before and am not familiar with is often a gamble. I had no idea what to expect from this humbly packaged novel-in-verse. And wow.

The story and the power of the lines pretty much blew me away. You’ll probably keep hearing me talk about this one, because I just don’t think it’s getting the praise it deserves.

What book did you read this month that surprised you most?

Leave a comment and tell me about a book you read lately that surprised you.