Sixteen year-old Kate still reels from the recent loss of her mother. Now she and her brother Brett communicate with their emotionally-absent father through a series of post-it notes. When Dad lands a new job as basketball coach at a ritzy private school, he opts to transfer both kids to the new school.
Kate, determined to adjust and desperate to reconnect with her father, begins attending basketball practices and cheering from the stands. That’s when she meets Jack, a gorgeous and popular star player and boyfriend of any girl’s dreams. But the thrill of being Jack’s girlfriend soon loses its shine when she discovers several unsavory habits of his. Jack pressures and Kate bends, pressing herself into the mold he expects her to be. Then with one drink, everything changes. Those who should protect her wound her instead, and Kate begins to unravel.
But beneath her tumultuous emotions and failing hope, Kate finds a steel resolve within herself. Instead of being destroyed by bullying, she finds her voice and dares to make herself heard, no matter the consequences.
Canary is a raw and beautiful story. At intervals, Kate’s often poetic and poignant blog posts appear, adding another layer of depth to an already fascinating story reminiscent of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak or Sarah Dessen’s Just Listen. Fans of Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher may also enjoy this novel and its bold attention to the devastating problem of bullying in schools and communities today.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
No F-bombs, but regular use of other swear words.
Sexual Content Several references to sex and some jokes about aberrant sexual behavior. A girl discusses pressure to engage in sex with her boyfriend. She succumbs to his persistent requests. At a party, a boy drugs and attempts to rape a girl who is barely able to fight him off. The scene is pretty brief and without a heavy number of details. The instance sparks rumors, rude comments, and general mistreatment toward the victim.
Spiritual Content Brief reference to heaven in the context of a funeral conversation.
Violence During the assault, the boy shoves the girl, bruising her. Several boys bully another boy in the cafeteria. Students also harass the assault victim.
Drug Content Several scenes features parties at which teens consume alcohol. A boy slips a drug into a girl’s drink, rendering her disoriented and helpless.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Henry begins his year-long trip to Nicaragua, leaving Meg behind in Chapin to finish her senior year. Henry faces the challenges of assembling a new building for his sister and brother-in-law’s orphan home in a country with limited supplies and deep distrust toward Americans. Meg meanwhile finds herself the center of affection for the new and fascinating Quinn O’Neill and the unlikely companion to a feisty elderly woman wielding a shotgun.
Meg wants desperately to secure admission to the University of Wyoming, so she and Henry can stay together through college and she can pursue a degree through the writing program there. Quinn helps Meg put together a video about the deadliness of texting and driving. She wants to believe his interest is only friendly, but she seems to be the only one who thinks so. Henry’s plans unravel quickly and governmental changes put the ministry he serves at risk of closing completely. While privately he is nearly falling to pieces, he must maintain a brave face for the children in his care. Even when his girlfriend seems to drift dangerously close to cheating on him with Quinn.
My Review
Fans of Kurk’s first novel, GLASS GIRL may find it to be a story difficult to beat. The intensity of Meg’s journey of loss and love in that novel makes it difficult to imagine creating a follow-up that can match, but PERFECT GLASS does just that. Henry continues to be the strong yet gentle man in Meg’s life, but adversity brings his flaws to the surface. Meg returns to salve the wounds of a dynamic older woman, demonstrating the beauty of character that can bloom after suffering. This is a fabulous novel and a worthy read for teens interested in missions overseas or looking for a classy romance.
Content Notes for Perfect Glass
Profanity/Crude Language Content None.
Sexual Content Very brief references to a past rape, very limited details.
Spiritual Content Both Henry and Meg face startling failures. Each falls back to regroup, but must learn that sometimes one’s personal strength isn’t enough, and only dependence on God can suffice. Meg befriends a boy who has many questions and little faith and a woman with deep anger toward God. Both challenge her to justify her faith.
Violence Men surround a boy in Henry’s care and threaten to attack him, until Henry gets involved. Henry witnesses a man slap a teenaged boy on the back of the head and confronts him about it. Brief references to a past murder and rape, very limited details.
Drug Content None.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links which do not cost anything for you to use but help support this blog.
When her reputation as one of the best mechanics in New Beijing draws a covert visit from the prince, Cinder can’t help but be charmed by his easygoing, friendly nature. She hides her cyborg leg and foot, desperate to hold on to the moment where he sees her as human, rather than as property, as the law dictates. An outbreak of a terrible plague interrupts Cinder’s work and nearly her life when she is sent to the labs as a research subject, a sure death sentence.
Prince Kai watches helplessly as the ruthless plague destroys his father and the responsibility of leadership falls to him. In this dark hour, the Lunar queen, a powerful woman rumored to possess an ability to control the minds of her subjects and anyone in her presence, makes an unscheduled journey to earth to speak of an alliance with Kai and the people of earth. Kai must tread carefully, for the queen will ask the greatest sacrifice of him and pose the greatest threat to his people.
At the lab, Cinder’s test results stun the medical staff and make it clear that she is much more than an orphaned nobody from Europe. She may, in fact, be the key to undoing the Lunar queen’s destructive plan.
In an android-saturated futuristic world, Meyer retells the story of the little Cinder girl, her handsome prince, and the magical ball that brought them together. Her version of the story again brings to life familiar roles – the wicked stepmother, stepsisters, a carriage fastened from an unlikely source – and throws new twists into the mix. Cinder’s world is crafted from a complicated social structure in which humans have the technology to save lives of the gravely injured by implanting machinery. Instead of returning to life as normal post-surgery, the victims become cyborgs, second-class citizens no better than slaves. While thoroughly imaginative, it seems an expensive way to acquire a workforce. Despite that, the amazing characters made it easy to suspend that small bit of disbelief. I loved Iko, the android with the malfunctioning personality chip, which made her super interested in fashion and celebrity gossip. She definitely makes me laugh. Cinder and Kai’s relationship always pulls my heartstrings, too.
Another fascinating addition to the story is the powerful Lunar queen, ruler of a people who live on the moon, who possess a gift allowing them to control the thoughts and emotions of others. While the queen claims to seek peace with the people of earth, the military preparations on the moon seem to indicate otherwise, creating an intricate political dilemma which only adds richness and tension to an already worthy story.
Cinder is only the first book in Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles. The series will contain four books. The second, Scarlet features a girl in a red hoodie looking for her missing grandmother, followed by Cress, a retelling of the story of Rapunzel in space. With Meyer’s brilliant imagination and keen sense of story, fans will surely fall in love with each book in the series.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Sexual Content None.
Spiritual Content None.
Violence A terrible plague is spreading rapidly through New Beijing. Some of the descriptions are a little intense but brief.
The day of Ellie’s book debut draws near, and the pressure is on. On top of school and family commitments, Ellie’s editor presses for detailed revisions. Instead of support and cheerleading, Ellie’s best writing buddy has gone AWOL, and her boyfriend Chase doesn’t seem to understand how much work writing can be or how important it is to Ellie.
Tension between Ellie and Chase only rises as he pushes her to spend more time with his friends and their short-term girlfriends. While Ellie believes in the goodness of Chase’s heart and his ability to succeed, he only sees his tarnished reputation. He expects Ellie to bail on the relationship at every turn. Ellie tries to reassure him, but maybe her love isn’t enough to get through to him.
Her relationship with Chase isn’t the only complicated cross-gender issue, either. Now that she and Chase have made things official, Palmer (the guy who was previously too cool to date Ellie publicly) follows her with longing in his eyes. Ellie tries to be friends, but even that spirals into emotions too confusing to sort.
Like her other novels, Stephanie Morrill captures the fresh, perky world of YA, bringing wit and emotional depth to this fantastic story. Ellie’s conflicted relationship with boys really reflects moments on the journey each of us make in learning what makes a successful (or unsuccessful) relationship. She also learns about pride and how one’s choices can injure others. She discovers the pain of humbling oneself to offer apology and the sweet release that comes with such humility.
This sequel to The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet will not disappoint fans and has a lot to offer both teens and aspiring writers alike.
Language Content
None.
Sexual Content Ellie overhears her boyfriend tell his pals that they’ve been having sex. While the boyfriend has been a little “handsier” than usual lately, sex is a line Ellie sure hasn’t crossed.
Spiritual Content Ellie and her family are a wholesome, church-going family. Ellie clearly believes the values and spiritual precepts she has been taught in church and tries to walk them out in her life, but the story doesn’t focus on a lot of spiritual content as much as display the principles through the plot and each character’s response to situations the story places them in.
Violence None.
Drug Content
Despite his claims to Ellie that he’ll behave, Chase seems easily drawn into his friends’ habits of smoking pot and drinking. Ellie does not condone or participate.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Stephanie Morrill lives in Overland Park, Kansas with her husband and two kids. Her only talents are reading, writing, and drinking coffee, so career options were somewhat limited. Fortunately she discovered a passion for young adult novels and has been writing them ever since.
Stephanie is the author of The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt series, The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet, and the award-winning Go Teen Writers: How to Turn Your First Draft into a Published Book. She enjoys encouraging and teaching teen writers on her blog, www.GoTeenWriters.com.
Haunted by a cruel playground song, Stacey is determined never to be fat again. With her best friend Zoe, she embarks on a rigid diet, rejecting the high-calorie, deep-fried southern dishes her family seems to thrive on. But just when Stacey has it all under control, a fainting spell alerts her boyfriend Calvin that things aren’t as well-ordered as they seem. Stacey brushes off the event as “female problems” and hopes Calvin will just forget it.
Calvin just wants Stacey to be okay, and he’s willing to pay just about any price to make that so. He endeavors to support her, but his own emotions become increasingly strained as his bike – and through it his way of coping with life – begins to fall apart. Though Calvin wants to believe he can love and encourage Stacey through her insecurities, it becomes impossible to ignore the downward spiral her life is taking. Calvin isn’t sure he can push her into recovery without breaking her.
In her brave debut, Sharples captures the raw driving intensity of emotional insecurity and the terrible tension it places on a relationship, boldly describing a tragic teen issue. The reactions of Stacey’s friends and family, the helplessness Calvin wrestles with all felt very real and true to character and life. Though a message of hope is woven through its pages, the story Running Lean isn’t dominated by its spiritual messages. Rather, each character wrestles with thoughts about and feelings toward God in his or her own timing and way.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Sexual Content Stacey and Calvin share kisses and hold hands, but both have made a commitment to abstinence until marriage. Things get a little hot and heavy between them as Stacey’s emotions spiral further out of control and Calvin tries to reassure her of his love by pressing her physical boundaries further than she’s comfortable with. Clothes stay on, and nothing much ultimately happens before Stacey stops Calvin. There are brief references to a past sexual abuse situation. While the scars of the experience, both physically and emotionally still manifest in the victim, not a lot of detail is given about the events.
Spiritual Content Since his brother’s death, Calvin has had difficulty thinking about spiritual things. He’s grieving and angry and offers of prayer from his friends and family only frustrate him further. As his relationship with Stacey becomes more and more strained, Calvin begins to rethink his “okay on my own” religious stance and consider asking for God’s help with the situation, since he’s way past knowing what to do on his own.
Violence None.
Drug Content
Stacey visits a party at which alcohol is present. She doesn’t drink anything, but others around her do.
Jaimie Engle is the author of Clifton Chase and the Arrow of Light, a middle-grade adventure story in which a modern-day boy has a chance to be a hero in fifteenth century England. The novel is published by Wayman Publishing and illustrated by Debbie Johnson. Jaimie joins adventure fans today to answer some questions about her debut novel.
Blogger asks: One of the things I found most interesting in your novel is the time period to which the arrow whisked Clifton away. What made you choose to write about this moment in history?
Jaimie answers: It actually started when I came across an oil painting by Philip James de Loutherbourg depicting the Battle of Bosworth Field, which is the final battle of the War of the Roses. There’s this teenage boy holding up a sword among piles of horses and soldiers. I gasped. It was my main character, Clifton Chase, only instead of holding a sword, I envisioned a blazing Arrow of Light. I began some research on the time period and discovered King Richard’s two nephews who had been locked away in the Tower of London, never to be seen again. That’s when the questions swirled.
A story is often inspired by a question. What question inspired you to write this novel?
Jaimie answers: The biggest question I had after my research was: What happened to those two boys? I wondered what it felt like to be forgotten by history, after everything had been stripped from their lives, and how someone might be able to remedy this travesty. They died without honor and I think that’s such a sad way to leave this earth. No legacy. No tombstones. No memory.
Were there things about your favorite character in this story which couldn’t be included in the novel? Can you tell us a little bit about something you know about the story that the reader may not know?
Jaimie answers: Great questions! One of my favorite characters is Dane the dwarf. He’s feisty, he speaks his mind, and he has a tender side that he keeps hidden. Dane is extremely old, much older than is natural. I imagine he was created back during the Old Testament days, maybe some time after the flood, and he stayed in an unseen form until the middle ages. He is connected to another character in a very fundamental way, and his abilities weren’t fully exposed in this novel. Maybe in the next one…
Are you currently working on another novel? Will there be a sequel about Clifton and his magical arrows?
Jaimie answers: I have completed a second novel—not a sequel—which is a YA fantasy taking place in Viking Era Canada, which is currently under review by beta readers. I’ll begin shopping it to agents, hopefully by October. I have had several children and students ask me when the next Clifton book will release. I guess I’d like to see the book reach some level of success before I invest in the series. But I do have some ideas for two more possible Clifton Chase adventures.
One of the great things about middle grade and young adult fiction is that it has such power to mark our memories. Sometimes the stories we read during those years really stick with us for the rest of our lives. What stories did you fall in love with as an early teenager? Who or what awakened an urge to write in you?
Jaimie answers: That’s an easy one for me. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass have smudge marks from where I turned the pages over and over again. These stories whisked me to amazing, beautiful worlds where anything was possible. I knew when I was seven years old that I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. I actually still have about 50 stories I wrote in crayon when I was in the 1st-3rd grades, and lots of humorous poetry inspired by Shel Siverstein.
What advice do you have for other aspiring young writers?
Jaimie answers:My best advice would be to read as much as you can. Read books in the genres you like, books on the craft of writing, and books that are classics or bestsellers. Then, write. Write short stories, poems, songs, whatever you feel inspired to write, with the understanding that, like anything else, you don’t begin as professional. A six year old playing t-ball will never swing a hit like someone in the MLB. But as they practice and grow in their sport, studying others and perfecting their shortcomings, they may one day become an amazing ball player who is recruited by a college team or into the professionals. I’d love to help answer questions for any aspiring young writers. Feel free to email me at jaimiengle [at] cfl [dot] rr [dot] com!
Don’t miss the chance to win a free copy of Clifton Chase and the Arrow of Light
Update: The contest has ended.
Leave a comment on the review posted here and “like” the Clifton Chase fan page on Facebook before Sunday 10/06/13 at 11:59pm Eastern Time. One participant will be selected to receive a FREE copy of Clifton Chase and the Arrow of Light. Two copies will be given away: a paperback copy is available for one participant chosen from those who enter with a US or Canada address, and one winner will be chosen from all entrants worldwide to receive an ebook copy!
