Tag Archives: Little Brown and Company BFYR

Review: City of Thirst by Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , ,

City of Thirst by Carrie Ryan and John Parke DavisCity of Thirst (Map to Everywhere #2)
Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published on October 13, 2015

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About City of Thirst
When the magical waters of the Pirate Stream begin flooding Marrill’s world, the only way to stop the destruction is to return to the Stream and find the source of the mysterious Iron Tide. Reunited with her best friend Fin–who has been forgotten all over again–Marrill, her disbelieving babysitter, and the Enterprising Kraken crew must make the treacherous trek to the towering, sliding, impossible world of Monerva and uncover the secrets of its long-lost wish machine. Only there can Fin wish to finally be remembered. Only there can Marrill wish to save her world and all the people she loves. But to get everything they’ve ever wanted, Marrill and Fin may have to give up on the most important thing they already have: each other.

My Review
City of Thirst has been on my reading list since I first read The Map to Everywhere back in 2014. I love the imaginative story world and especially the relationships between characters. Fin, whom the crew continually forgets, and his struggle to become memorable hooked me from page one. I love Marrill and her determined babysitter, Remy, and watching them navigate the foreign world of the Pirate Stream.

I also thought it was really clever that the story opens with a kind of recap in the form of Marrill’s homework assignment which has been corrected by Remy. The essay describes Marrill’s first visit to the Pirate Stream. It gives enough detail to orient readers to this second book whether they’ve read the first one and forgotten it or needed a quick refresher before diving into this second book.

The story explores themes about the value of friendship and what happens when we take each other for granted. It also winds its way into explorations about how desire can be a positive idea when it motivates us to help others but can become a destructive force when we begin to value our own wishes over the needs of others.

Filled with whimsical characters and places, City of Thirst is a great book for fans of adventure and fantasy. I think you could read it without having first read The Map to Everywhere, but honestly, I don’t know why you’d want to, since Map is a fantastic book, too.

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Cultural Elements
Marrill and her babysitter are white characters. Fin is described as a boy with olive skin and dark eyes. The rest of the cast includes made up creatures and races from civilizations along the Pirate Stream.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
There’s a bit of boy/girl attraction between a few characters and one almost-kiss. A minor character references and introduces the crew to her “missus.”

Spiritual Content
Some references to magic and prophesies. Fin and Marrill search for a wishing machine which can grant any wish. The cost of the wish may be higher than the wish-maker imagines, though. The story explores some themes about the dangers of chasing desire and letting want for something control one’s actions.

Violent Content
A fire and a magical stream both threaten Marrill and crew at different times.

Drug Content
None.

Review: The Walled City by Ryan Graudin

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

The Walled City
Ryan Graudin
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published on September 8, 2015

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About The Walled City
DAI, trying to escape a haunting past, traffics drugs for the most ruthless kingpin in the Walled City. But in order to find the key to his freedom, he needs help from someone with the power to be invisible….

JIN hides under the radar, afraid the wild street gangs will discover her biggest secret: Jin passes as a boy to stay safe. Still, every chance she gets, she searches for her lost sister….

MEI YEE has been trapped in a brothel for the past two years, dreaming of getting out while watching the girls who try fail one by one. She’s about to give up, when one day she sees an unexpected face at her window…..

My Review
You know how once in a while a book blows you away? This is one of those books for me. It wasn’t even one specific moment, it was like, the way all the pieces merged together as a story. I immediately connected with the characters. The setting intrigued me from even before I picked up the book. I’d heard Ryan Graudin speak at Read Up Greenville in 2016 and her description of the real place that inspired this story had me hooked. The real place, a stacked slum of a city, an area just over 6.5 acres, housed 33,000 people. Like… I can’t even get my head around that, really.

I think I read The Walled City in just over 24 hours, which is pretty unusual for me these days! It kept me on the edge of my seat. It made me hope harder than any book I’ve read this year. I loved it, and I would read it again, recommend it to others, shout it from the rooftops.

If you’re a fan of historical fiction, I think the fact that the setting is based on a real place will make this an interesting read. Fans of fast-paced contemporary stories will enjoy the quick-moving plot and high stakes. Softies like me will love the characters, especially as their relationships with each other develop and change them. Also, it has a great cat!

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
The story occurs in an area modeled after Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong. Characters are Asian—some Cantonese and some Japanese names.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently. I think Dai might be the only one who swears, and it’s not very often. More in the beginning and then a few times toward the end.

Romance/Sexual Content
Mei Yee has been sold into prostitution. A client visits her, but the details are vague and focus more on her emotional state and how she survives rather than description of the events between her and the man in her room. Those few scenes still feel pretty intense, though.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Men beat a prostitute who has tried to escape her traffickers. Boys gang up on another youth, intending to beat or stab her. At one point, a boy cuts a cat with his knife. A young man uses a gun to shoot at enemies. Again, it’s the intensity of the emotion associated with these scenes which makes them so intense, not so much any graphic descriptions of violence.

Drug Content
Traffickers use heroin to subdue a young woman and prey on her addiction to keep her helpless. They use the threat of injecting heroin to control other girls who fear being drugged and becoming addicted.

 

Review: The Star Thief by Lindsey Becker

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , ,

The Star Thief
Lindsey Becker
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Available April 11, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About The Star Thief
Honorine’s life as as maid at the Vidalia mansion is rather dull, dusting treasures from faraway places and daydreaming in front of maps of the world. But everything changes when she catches two brutish sailors ransacking Lord Vidalia’s study, and then follows a mysterious girl with wings out into the night….

Suddenly, Honorine is whisked into the middle of a battle between the crew of a spectacular steamship and a band of mythical constellations. The stars in the sky have come to life to defend themselves against those who want to harness their powers. Much to her surprise, Honorine is the crux of it all, the center of an epic clash between magic and science, the old ways and the new. But can this spirited young girl bring both sides of a larger-than-life fight together before they unleash an evil power even older than the stars?

My Review
From the very first pages, I was totally hooked on this book. I loved Honorine right from those first few lines. She’s smart but so compassionate. Her interest and talent at mechanics not only made her an interesting character but contributed to several key points in the story. At first I found the concept of the Mordant a little bit confusing. I felt like I missed something, but I read the first few chapters really late at night, so it could have been entirely my slow brain not processing them very well.

One of the interesting things about The Star Thief is the fact that Honorine finds herself caught between two men: a sea captain determined to capture the Mordant and the Mapmaker, a powerful Mordant who vows to stop the captain at any cost. Honorine loves them both, though she trusts neither, and wants desperately to find a way to save them both.

Sometimes stories where all the adults turn out to be disappointing or untrustworthy really bother me. I think that’s because my experience was so the opposite and I want so much for other kids to have good adults in their lives and value them. Someone very close to me did not have the same experience, though. Stories where the hero emerges from difficult situations despite a lack of trustworthy adults really resonate with him, and I wonder if it’s because it’s closer to what he went through.

Either way, this book is a win. Totally imaginative and full of heart. If your reader isn’t quite ready for Percy Jackson, The Star Thief would make a great alternative read. If you’re already a PJ fan, you’ll want to add this book to your reading list. Either way, don’t miss it!

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Two instances of “hell.”

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
In The Star Thief, each constellation corresponds with a living creature called a Mordant. They inspire specific types of knowledge, invention, or creativity. For instance, spending time with one inspires advances in medicine. Fearsome creatures called Bellua inspire war and chaos and will try to kill the Mordant. While they’re not gods and goddesses exactly, it’s clear they have an elevated role compared to humanity.

Violent Content
Battles between a group of pirates and the Mordant and the Mordant and Bellua.

Drug Content
None.

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

 

Review and Giveaway: Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham

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

I’m today’s stop on the Irish Banana Blog Tour for Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham, and I can’t wait to tell you about the book. Stick around for my review, a list of the other tour stops and where you might find great stuff like Q&A with the author, AND don’t miss the chance to win one of three hardcover copies of the book in the giveaway below!

Dreamland Burning
Jennifer Latham
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Available February 21, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Dreamland Burning

When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family’s property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of painful discoveries about the past… and the present.

Nearly one hundred years earlier, a misguided violent encounter propels seventeen-year-old Will Tillman into a racial firestorm. In a country rife with violence against blacks and a hometown segregated by Jim Crow, Will must make hard choices on a painful journey towards self discovery and face his inner demons in order to do what’s right the night Tulsa burns.

Through intricately interwoven alternating perspectives, Jennifer Latham’s lightning-paced page-turner brings the Tulsa race riot of 1921 to blazing life and raises important question about the complex state of US race relations – both yesterday and today.

My Review

It took me some time to get into the characters. I kind of wanted the past part of the story to be told from the point-of-view of this spunky little girl named Ruby instead of from William’s perspective. He makes some bad choices especially at the beginning, and even he knows it. It took me a while to get over that and begin to really get into his character. Eventually, I felt like he found his courage and that helped a lot.

I kind of felt the same about Rowan, too, though for different reasons. I really liked her relationship with James and the deep (but not romantic) connection they shared. The fact that they both felt like misfits made them really sympathetic characters. I found it easy to root for them to find their places and solve the mystery of the unidentified body found on Rowan’s family’s property.

One of my favorite elements of the story was the fact that it focuses on a little-known or discussed event in American history– the Tulsa race massacre. Having that story juxtaposed against a present-day setting featuring current race relations issues made for a powerful and moving tale. The writing style is a little less artful and more frank, occasionally bordering on preachy, but the story is no less important and necessary for it. The diverse character cast and spotlight on history would make this an interesting choice for a high school project. Overall, I recommend this book to historical fiction and mystery fans as well as readers looking for books that explore race relations.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Cultural Elements
Rowan’s mother is African American and her father Caucasian. Her best friend James is part Native American, part black and identifies as asexual. William’s mother is Native American and his father Caucasian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity and crude language used with moderate frequency. Racial epithets used a few times.

Romance/Sexual Content
James and Rowan pretend to be a couple to irritate an older couple watching them disapprovingly.

Spiritual Content
Brief references to prayer. At one point Rowan exclaims that James is a god because he’s found important information.

Violent Content
A KKK member describes brutalizing young black men and brags about killing them.

Drug Content
William and his friend get drunk on beer. William picks a fight while drunk and breaks his wrist. Rowan recalls the night she and James swiped a bottle of liquor and drank it together over shared secrets.

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

About Jennifer Latham

website | twitter | facebook

I’m a grown-up army brat with two kids, two dogs, and a husband. After working in a morgue, a maximum-security prison, a heroin detox, and assorted middle and high schools, I decided to try may hand at writing. Happily, it stuck.

I love watching people.

And I love writing about the characters who live inside my head—even when they don’t play nice.

Visit the Other Tour Stops!

Week 1:

2/13: He Said Books or Me – Review
2/14: Bookmark Lit – Cover Colors
2/15: Megnificient Books – Review
2/16: Here’s to Happy Endings – Guest Post
2/17: The Story Sanctuary – Review – You are here!

Week 2:

2/20: Awkwordly Emma – Q&A
2/21: Rattle the Pages – Review
2/22: Such A Novel Idea – Guest Post
2/23: Lekeisha the Bookworm – Review
2/24: The Irish Banana Review – Fast 5

Enter to Win the Giveaway

Three winners will receive a hardcover copy of Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham. (US/Canada only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Review: Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick

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

Every Exquisite Thing
Matthew Quick
Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers
Available May 31, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

It starts with a book. A beloved teacher gives Nanette his copy of an out-of-print novel called The Bubblegum Reaper, about a Holden Caulfield-type boy who falls in love with a girl who shares her secrets with a turtle. As Nanette reads and rereads the novel, she becomes impassioned. She reaches out to the author and discovers another boy who loves the book, and in him, a potential soulmate. But when his vigilante attitude takes him too far, Nanette must learn find the courage to be herself despite the expectations of others on her own.

Part The Fault in Our Stars and part The Bell Jar, Nanette’s journey follows two misfits struggling to find a way out of the parts of life they find so smothering, a story sure to resonate with anyone who has ever been bullied or felt out of place. As Nanette slips closer to the edge of her own sanity, it’s easy to feel her fragility and desperation. Though not quite as dark as his earlier novel Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, this tale lacks none of the emotional punch and wry quirkiness that readers have come to expect from Quick.

While I’m kind of a sucker for this kind of story, I find I’m often left kind of wishing there was more of a triumph at the end of the tale. I did feel that way here, but in a way, it’s kind of the point that I think the author was trying to make. In life, we don’t always get those big moments where things snap neatly into place. Every Exquisite Thing isn’t without its victories. But it’s definitely one of those stories whose goal is to force you to think more deeply about situations in your life rather than to scratch the happily-ever-after itch.

Fans of Belzhar should give this one a try.

Recommended Age 17 up.

Cultural Elements
None.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency. Much of the profanity was in the latter half of the book. There’s also some crude language about sex and male genitals. In one instance, Nanette and her friends are talking about boys and her friends ask about the size of Nan’s boy’s parts. She responds with an exaggeration that’s meant to point out the stupidity of the conversation, but the joke goes over the girls’ heads.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. Nan invites a boy to touch her boob. (Afterward, her mom comments on the “nice show”.) At one point, Nan decides to have sex with a boy. It’s briefly described. At one point, Nan visits an adult friend only to discover that he and a lady appear to be in the middle of a romance. She doesn’t see anything wholly inappropriate. (I think one character wears a robe when answering the door.)

Spiritual Content
Nanette and Alex talk at length about God. At one point they list reasons they don’t believe in God (disasters, pain, negative things like that) and reasons they do believe. Nanette comments that it’s clear they both wish the list of reasons to believe would outnumber the reasons not to.

Violent Content
Alex tells Nanette (via his poetry) about being bullied at school. Later, he fights bullies picking on another kid and punches a man in the face.

Drug Content
Nanette goes to parties where her friends get drunk.

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

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Review: Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes

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

Towers Falling
Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Available July 12, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

When Deja’s family loses their home and are forced to move to a shelter, she starts fifth grade at a new school. She’s embarrassed by her family’s situation and braced for judgment from the other kids. Instead, Ben, also a new kid, and Sabeen, a sweet girl who covers her hair with a scarf, become Deja’s new friends. As their teacher, Miss Garcia, begins a unit about history connecting to the present, the class learns about the World Trade Center towers falling on September 11, 2001. The material covered in the classroom is gentle and oblique, but Deja feels there’s a much more gruesome truth that no one dares to tell her. Her questions and research lead her to a harder realization: a connection between her father’s anxiety and respiratory illness and the terrorist attack that caused the collapse of the towers.

Before I picked up this novel and still now that I’ve finished it, I can’t help but admire the author for tackling the topic of the September 11 attack as the basis for a middle grade story. For the most part, I think the topic was handled with extreme care. Deja’s dad is extremely uncomfortable at first when he learns that the school is teaching his daughter about the terrorist attack. He visits the school and speaks with Miss Garcia and the school’s principal. I liked the inclusion of that element. It felt very real and natural, and certainly something that concerned parents may do. Deja had her own anxiety about what would happen as a result of her father’s visit, and her friends and trusted adults in her life were able to reassure her.

At one point Deja and Ben skip school to visit the memorial site where the World Trade Center once stood. They return home to find worried and angry parents, but there’s not much discussion about it beyond that.

I can only find one issue with the story. Many scenes take place in a classroom or other forum where someone else educates Deja about the history of the September 11 attack. This leaves the book feeling a bit preachy at times. Sometimes Deja privately processes the information she’s been told. Those were some of the most powerful moments in the story. She begins to understand how much the past affects her present, something so simple but so true and nicely woven into the plot of this tale.

Cultural Elements
Deja and her family are African-American. Her mother moved to the United States from Jamaica, as she says, for a better life. Ben’s grandmother comes from Mexico. Sabeen’s family is from Turkey. They are practicing Muslims. Deja meets Sabeen’s parents, grandmother, and her uncle and enjoys dinner with them of traditional Turkish foods. Sabeen also makes Turkish delight and baklava to share with her friends.

The diversity of the character cast felt very organic and natural to the story. I enjoyed the richness it brought to the novel, and especially the descriptions of the food prepared by Sabeen’s family, as it sounded delicious!

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Deja’s friend Sabeen and her family practice Islam. She briefly discusses the prejudice against Muslims that her family faces in America and how hurtful this is to her family.

Violent Content
Deja and Ben watch videos online showing the towers falling. She notices people leaping from the building.

Drug Content
Her father suffers from a debilitating illness. At one point Deja wonders if the doctor has changed his medicine.

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

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