Jane by April Lindner

I really enjoyed this modern retelling of Jane Eyre. It's about a 21st century Jane who drops out of college after the death of her parents. She gets a job as a nanny and her client turns out to be Nico Rathburn, an aging rockstar who is staging a big comeback. Plain, unassuming Jane loves Nico's daughter but doesn't particularly like Nico when she finally meets him. But of course, a forbidden love affair blossoms and the reason that it is forbidden is a mystery to Jane.  When she discovers the secret Nico is hiding she must decide what to do. As I said, I enjoyed the story and stayed up late to finish it. Recommended for high school romance fans. (It is a little racier than Jane Eyre.)

The Abduction by John Grisham

This is John Grisham's second book about Theodore Boone, a 13-year-old lawyer wannabe who gets involved in solving crimes in his hometown. In this story one of Theo's best friends, an 8th grader named April, disappears in the night from her home. It is assumed that she has been kidnapped—possibly by a distant relative who recently escaped from prison. The police don't want Theo's help with the case, but Theo can't resist getting involved. While the police track down the escaped criminal and look for bodies in the river, Theo follows another lead and finds April himself. I think some kids might like this book but it lacks the complexity and intelligence of many kids' spy books. It rambles on at times (what was up with the animal court story?) and in the end the plot is pretty simple. I don't believe that the police wouldn't have tried to track down April's father in another state. If they had the crime would have been solved very quickly. I get the feeling that John Grisham is churning these books out without giving them the attention he gives to his adult books. This is a shame, because middle school kids are smart and they can handle action, suspense, and complexity. Grisham also throws in references to booze and gambling and fraternity houses that were jarring to me. I recommend this book to younger middle school readers who want a mystery that won't require too much thinking.

The Mother-Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick

I wanted to love this book. I really did. It's a great concept. Four girls and their mothers form a book club and read classic books. As they read their lives begin to reflect the plots of the books they are reading together. In the first book they read Little Women (an old favorite of mine). The girls are not actually all friends. Their mothers have forced them into this group and there are some old conflicts to be worked through. Each girl has some private struggles to deal with as well. The problem to me with this book is that I just didn't like the girls all that much. The book switches perspectives to all four girls and I didn't feel sympathetic toward any of them. And their mothers weren't exactly believable either. I especially disliked the fat jokes the mothers made about another girl's mother (even though she was a nasty character). It was not a terrible book. I did like the connections to Little Women and I am going to read another one and give it another chance. It just wasn't a great book and that is what I was hoping it would be. The fourth installment in this series is based on the Betsy-Tacy series of books which is my all-time favorite series of books and I will be giving that book a try soon. It's on my nightstand now. 

The Queen of Water by Laura Resau and Maria Virginia Farinango

This novel is based on the true story of Maria Virginia Farinango, one of the authors. She was a very poor indigenous girl growing up in the mountains of Ecuador. Her people were badly discriminated against by the mestizos, who were descendants of the Spanish, and who considered themselves superior to the indigenous farmers who were beneath them on the social ladder. At age 7 Virginia was sent to be a servant to a mestizo family in a city far from her home. She was essentially a slave—working day and night cooking and caring for children and never allowed to leave the house. She was a very bright, inquisitive girl with a lot of initiative, and in spite of her imprisonment she learned to read and always kept her eye on escaping and getting an education. How she turns around her life and fulfills her childhood dreams makes for a perfect coming of age story for young people. I thought this was a fascinating story and all the more inspiring because it is true.

Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge

I am catching up on my blog posts. I read this a while ago and forgot to blog about it. It is a delightful graphic novel told in first person by a teenager named Paige who moves to New York City and feels sort of lost there. It's about how she uses her art to create a new life for herself. I think this would be fantastic for girls 7th grade and up—and probably would appeal to girls who don't usually go for graphic novels. Artists especially will love how Paige expresses herself through her drawings.

I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President by Josh Lieb

I'm not sure what to say about this book. From the cover, I was expecting something appropriate for younger kids—maybe 4th and 5th grade boys. But when I started reading and heard the funny but trash-mouthed narrator I was a little taken aback. Oliver Watson is a 12-year-old kid who secretly is the third-richest person in the world. He's overweight and underdeveloped and puts on a dumb act at school and at home while he secretly overthrows dictators and blackmails presidents in his underground lair. He rigs his middle school drinking fountains with root beer and chocolate milk and has a transmitter in his jaw that can call for a squadron of jets to bomb the school at a moments notice. But it turns out that what he really wants is some approval from his father, which he thinks he can gain if he can be elected class president of the 8th grade. Of course, getting kids to vote for him is a lot harder than making billions of dollars. The author is a producer of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and it is truly a funny book, just be warned that this wise-cracking evil genius can be pretty crude—so give it to 7th and 8th grade boys who will appreciate it.

Jane Austen: A Life Revealed by Catherine Reef

This biography of Jane Austen is a good fit for middle and high school students with an interest in Jane Austen and her novels. While there is a frustrating lack of information about Austen's life, Reef does a good job of conveying what is known and explaining why some things are unknown. The book is heavily padded with plot descriptions of the novels with a little commentary interspersed—which may help young readers better understand the novels. Photos from various movie adaptations of Austen's books make the book more interesting visually. Recommended for readers who (like me) enjoy Austen's books and the corresponding movies and want to know the story-behind-the-story.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Incarceron is a vast and mysterious prison, a place from which only one man has ever escaped. Within it's borders desperate groups of prisoners fight for scarce resources. Fourteen-year-old Finn is a prisoner there who has no memory of his past. In the outside world there is a wealthy girl named Claudia whose father is the warden of Incarceron. She has been groomed her whole life to marry the heir to the throne and take over the kingdom when she is queen. However, the current prince is not her first fiánce—the real prince was killed years ago in a suspicious accident. When Finn and Claudia both acquire crystal keys that allow them to communicate with each other they band together to try to help Finn escape from Incarceron. I saw this book described as science fantasy and that's a good description. It has lots of action and the author has created a pretty amazing world for her characters to live in. Science fiction and fantasy fans will like it. (And the sequel, Sapphique, is already published.)

Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford

This is the story of a high school freshman with ADHD who badly wants a girlfriend and to be a popular guy at his school. Carter is not a total loser—he has plenty of things going for him, including having some good friends, athletic talent, and a big sister to guide him through social situations. The problem with Carter is that he is obsessed with girls and has no idea how to treat them. When newly-hot drill team member Abby wants to go out with him, he blows it by bragging about his exploits in the locker room. It is frequently hilarious (in a crude high school boy kind of way) and definitely inappropriate for a younger audience. As an adult female I did not like the way Carter treats and talks about girls, but I don't doubt that he has an authentic voice and that guys especially will find him very funny. I did love the ending when Carter gets the role of a lifetime in Guys and Dolls. Recommended for high school guys looking for something funny.

The Loser List by H.N. Kowitt

Doug Shine is a middle school geek who loves comics and drawing. When his name shows up on the "loser list" in the girls' bathroom his effort to erase it get him after school detention. There he has a run in with the toughest bullies in school who take him in and make him inadvertently part of a crime. Doug only wants to do what's right but can he win back his best friend and get the stolen goods back to their owner without getting beat up by "The Skulls"? This book is very much like the Wimpy Kids and Big Nate books. It has lots of drawings and an underdog for a hero. It didn't stand out to me as better than those books but it is entertaining if you're looking for something fun and easy to read.

Bruiser by Neal Shusterman

Neal Shusterman is one of my very favorite authors for teenagers and, while very different from his other books, Bruiser was a real treat. I didn't know what to expect because all of the reviews I read tried so hard not to give away what the book is really about. I couldn't even tell if it was realistic or a fantasy until I read it (and I'm still not so sure how I could classify it now that I've read it!) Four characters narrate this book: Brewster aka "Bruiser," a high school boy with no friends and a reputation for being dangerous and violent, Bronte, the nice, normal girl who falls in love with Brewster, Tennyson, Bronte's twin brother who at first is adamantly against his sister dating "Bruiser," and Cody, Brewster's 8-year-old brother. Brewster and Cody live with a sometimes-cruel uncle who forces them to keep to themselves and to form no relationships. Once Bronte and Brewster find each other, though, Brewster begins forging relationships with people with disastrous consequences for himself. SPOILER ALERT—don't read more if you don't want to know why. The truth is that Brewster has a gift (or a curse, depending on how you look at it). He takes away the pain of those he cares about—both physical and emotional. His body is a wreck and getting worse with every injury those around him sustain. The deeper he gets involved with Bronte's family the harder the toll is on his body and spirit. It's a good story with complex characters, and, as always with Neal Shusterman's books, there's a whole other deeper layer to talk about and think about. Recommended for 8th-12th grades.

Bloody Times by James L. Swanson

I am a huge fan of Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, by the same author. It’s one of my all-time favorite nonfiction books for middle school boys because it reads just like a fiction story with an incredible amount of action and intrigue. Bloody Times is in many ways a companion to Chasing Lincoln’s Killer. It details the days following Lincoln’s assassination from two perspectives—the long, drawn-out funeral train journey that took Lincoln home to rest in Springfield, Illinois, and the actions of Jefferson Davis in the days and weeks immediately following Lincoln’s death. Both stories were mostly unknown to me and are quite interesting from my adult point of view. I don’t think this book will be quite as fascinating to kids as it was to me, though. The stories lack the drama (and violence) of the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth which made the first book so compelling. It’s still definitely worth reading, though, and I would recommend it especially to history teachers and students with an interest in history.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

This book wins the prize for the most original book I read this summer. Libba Bray takes what sounds like a cheesy concept—a plane full of teenage beauty pageant contestants crashes on a mysterious island —and turns it into a satirical statement about corporate greed, pop culture, and the objectification of women. She manages to do this in the context of an action-packed, hilarious story with a cast of many multifaceted beauty qreen wannabees. The girls practice dance routines, build a functional society, flirt with pirates, and thwart an evil plot that would kill the girls off and blame it on a crazy dictator of a rogue state. The language and sexuality, as well as the sophisticated tone make this appropriate for high school, college, and even adult readers looking for something completely different.

Smile by Raina Telgemeier

This autobiographical graphic novel is about a pre-teen girl, Raina, who trips and falls and winds up with horrible dental troubles. Her front teeth are pushed up into her gums and she endures years of braces and dental procedures to get her smile looking good again. Along the way she struggles with friendships and cliques and making friends that support her rather than bring her down. Kids will relate to Raina's struggles, and the fact that it all really happened to the author makes it even more interesting. It's quick and easy to read and the illustrations really fit the mood of the story. It will not take any convincing to get girls (4th-6th grade) reading Smile.

Gimme a Call by Sarah Mlynowski

This was a fun summer read about a teenager who gets the opportunity to change the course of her life. Devi, a high school senior, has spent the last four years dating Bryan at the exclusion of studying or keeping up with other friendships. When they break up she is devastated and wishes she could go back in time and change her behavior. When her cell phone falls into a mall fountain she gets her wish--she is only able to call one number--her own. When her 14-year-old self answers she realizes it is her chance to do things differently. The rest of the book is fun, if a bit predictable. Unlike many YA books, this one is wholesome and clean and would be a great choice for middle school girls who want a glimpse of high school life.