Title: Riding Invisible
Author: Sandra Alonzo [website]
Illustrator: Nathan Huang [website]
Genre: Middle Grade, Young Adult
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Source: Provided by Author
Parental Warning: strong language, physical abuse, animal abuse

“Right now — I’m in a cave.  No one knows about this place, my hideout, my crawl-inside-and-stay-here place where nobody lives.  Shy’s hitched out front chewing weeds — chomp chomp — like a song — chomp.”

Summary:
Yancy Aparicio should be living the life of a typical fourteen year old — counting the minutes until school gets out, hanging out with friends, and pulling pranks against the girls in his class.  Sadly, the life he does lead is filled with fear of his emotionally unstable and abusive brother.  With little relief provided by his parents Yancy endures torment after torment at the hands of his older brother Will, not the least of which are threats (some of which he acts upon) against the young boy’s horse Shy.

When Will physically abuses the horse Yancy decides that he’s finally had enough of waiting for his parents to make things safe and runs away taking Shy with him.  Traveling on horseback Yancy makes his way through a stretch of California that crosses his path with an immigrant horse worker, a young trouble-making girl and countless other adventures of his own making.

So starts his journal.  A written recording of his travels — the people he meets and the places he goes.   It is a detailed description of his feelings about his family and just about everything currently happening in his life as he tries to make positive changes.

Opinion:
Written in journal format this book gets the young teenaged boy’s voice down pat.   He’s brash and at times foul mouthed and more than a little bit hormonal.  Having said that he’s also faithful, tender, broken, and starved for emotional support and guidance.  An outlet for his frustration, a his journal is a voiceless companion that will listen to him and comfort him despite the fact that it can not change his circumstances.

At first I found the language and focus of Yancy’s inner thoughts (especially as it pertained to girls) to be a bit shocking for a boy of his age.  For some reason I thought he’d be a bit less crude.  But when I thought more on it, and read further in the book, I realized that at that age boys are crude and hormonal and lacking in tact.  In the end I felt his voice was a truly accurate depiction of a child his age.  He was scared and nervous and confused a good portion of the time.

Most of all he was resentful of his parents.  Yancy’s parents were no doubt loving and somewhat supportive of him.  He was clearly the shining star in their lives.  Having two sons — one with severe emotional problems and one seemingly thriving — was accurately portrayed as difficult.  The balancing act not always falling in the favor of the younger, more stable, child.  In that way I felt most for Yancy, his parents clearly loved him and wanted what was best for him but they were simply so overwhelmed by taking care of Will and his problems that Yancy slipped through the cracks on a regular basis.

I struggled with the section of  the story where Yancy was taken in by Tavo, the immigrant, and his employer.  I don’t know how many adults would take in a child of that age for as long as they did without question.  Allowing him to remain and work on a farm with no idea as to his past history seemed a bit of a stretch.   Having said that, the friendship built between Yancy and Tavo was the most poignant in the young boys life.  Tavo gave him insight and perspective and taught him about handling adult situations despite his young age.

Finally, the illustrations peppered throughout the story provide the reader with not only excellent visualizations of what is happening in Yancy’s head but also gives the reader an excellent respite from some of the heavier aspects of the book.

Riding Invisible is an excellent resource that realistically speaks to child and animal abuse.  A valuable tool that will help teach children about it without scaring them or over emphasizing the negative aspects of such situations.

Title: 13 Treasures
Author: Michelle Harrison [website] [twitter]
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Source: Provided by Publisher
Parental Warning: none

“The bedroom door closed, leaving her in darkness.  Tanya lay back on her bed, too shocked even to cry. The look on her mother’s face had said it all.  How many times had she been warned, how many times had she been told about the so-called last straw?  Because now, as she listened to the muffled sobbing from the room across the landing, she knew that tonight really had been the last straw for her mother.”

Summary:
Tanya is haunted, or so she thinks. Tormented by creatures in the night she is branded a troublemaker by her mother and shipped off to her grandmother’s remote manor house.  This decision, a fate worse than death in her mind leads Tanya down the path of doing her best to convince her mother to change her mind.  Sadly, she is unsuccessful and is promptly dropped off in Tickey End and left behind in a creep old house with a cadre of strange relatives.

Cousin Fabian is a brainiac intent on mocking her every move, Uncle Warwick is a strange watch dog that thwarts her every attempt at exploring the woods surrounding the house, and her grandmother Florence who didn’t seem to want to anything at all to do with her presence in any capacity.  Tanya, it seemed, was more a burden and nuisance than anything else.

Attempting to make the best of a bad situation, over time, Tanya makes the effort to fit in with those she is living with.  Her relationship with her cousin in particular thaws as the two bond over a common curiosity surrounding a series of odd occurrences in and around Tickey End and the land about the manor in which they live.  Having come face to face with several random characters they are both convinced that something mystical must be happening.

Not new to the idea of magic and faery creatures Tanya does her best to help Fabian adjust to the revelations he faces both about the land they live on and the family they are part of.  With the help of a band of odd balls the two set out on an adventure to save the seemingly unsavable.

Opinion:
A fabulous read for middle graders interested in faery tales and fantasy.  Not too heavy on either, the mystical history created by Harrison was both realistic and understated.  Often times, in my experience, and author gets so drawn into the creation of the other-worldly aspects of this type of story that it can tend to overwhelm.  Not so in the case of 13 Treasures.  The back story here is light on the faery-land and heavy on the character building.  This is not to say that we don’t see the world they live in because to some degree we do, just not at the expense of the events of the world that Tanya and her family are a part of.

The story itself was equally interesting.  At three-hundred and fifty pages it wasn’t short (particularly, I imagine, for some middle grade readers) but at no time did the story lag or become so repetitive in nature that I found myself thinking “man she could have cut out those two chapters”. It had a bevy of fantastic characters including the main heroine Tanya. Spunky, defiant and true to herself she was the picture of endurance and patience as she did her best to solve the mystery presented as it unfurled.  Furthermore, her foe Morewenna was just the right combination of maniacally evil and manipulative.  Using creatures from another realm in consort with magic she plotted against Tanya and her family in a way that wasn’t remotely over the top given the subject matter of the story.

To delve deeper into the story and characters would only serve to ruin the fun twists and turns of the story for the reader so I will leave you with this….

This book is bound to keep your middle grader’s attention, moreover it’s great fun for the young adult reader as well.  If you are looking for a good book to segue into the realm of fantasy 13 Treasures would certainly be well worth your attention.

Title: The Lonely Hearts Club
Author: Elizabeth Eulberg [website] [twitter]
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Point
Source: ARC Exchange at KidlitCon 09
Parental Warning: mild references to sex & innuendo

“Anybody who has ever clung to a song like a musical lifer raft will understand.  Or put on a song to bring out an emotion or a memory.  Or had a soundtrack playing in their head to drown out a conversation or a scene.”

Summary:
Penny has loved Nate since before boys were important.  Growing up with the boy of her dreams visiting every summer, getting to spend every waking hour with him for months on end, encouraged her to dream of a future where they’d always be together.  Now that they’re teenagers and the expectation of sex is thrown into the mix Penny quickly learns that the stuff childhood dreams are made of isn’t quite as shiny and perfect as she’d anticipated.

Unexpectedly humiliated and then dumped Penny struggles with how to get over Nate.  Having always thought they were soul mates and that they would be together forever she finds it difficult to get past the hurt and betrayal he has caused at the demise of their relationship.  That is until one day the perfect idea drops in her lap.  Embracing her parents love of all things Beatles she forms The Lonely Hearts Club.

Swearing off all boys and embracing friendship as the main source of relationship satisfaction Penny welcomes new members in increasing numbers.  Suddenly adored by the female population and despised by every dateless teenage boy she finds herself in a myriad of predicaments; not the least of which is how one can effectively fall in love with a boy when she’s in a group tasked with not dating them.

Opinion:
I loved this book on so many different levels.

First, let me say that Eulberg did a fantastic job of weaving the music of the Beatles into the very foundation of this story.  From the names of the Bloom children to the flower power way of life her parents led all elements of the infusion were sheer perfection.  I mean, seriously, how can a Beatles lover not like a book whose chapter titles are song names/lyrics?

Now, let me move on to the biggest reason why I loved this book.  I thought the lesson it has to teach young girls was filled with positivity.  It didn’t preach being spiteful or mean-spirited.  The concept of The Lonely Hearts Club was productive and the fact that it was built on the concept of creating, sustaining and building friendships made it a lovely way for a young girl to work through the devastating heart-break of losing first love.  Particularly given the fact that she works her way through it all to realize that this love was one-sided and perhaps thought (on her part) to be more than it really was.

Speaking of friendships, I adored the multitudes of relationships Penny and her friends crafted.  From the quirky territorial best friend, to the former BFF who dumped her for a boy friend then sought refuge in the club, to the girls who joined the just to be part of what was building to be the popular crowd, the characters were both realistic and enjoyable to read.  Add to that the dumb, possessive, big man on campus jock-type that thought every girl wanted him and the sweet natured friend who happens to be a boy and you have the perfect recipe for age-appropriate teenaged angst.

Though Penny’s parents were flighty in the stereotypical hippie-type way I found them to be equally supportive given their lack of information about Penny’s situation with Nate.  They trusted her judgement, backed-her up when she was faced with adversity at school and were loving, helpful and caring individuals.  I’ll add that they also added in a healthy dose of humor to the overall story.

I strongly encourage those young and old to read this book.  It was good fun and filled with valuable life lessons about individuality, hoard mentality, love, and friendship.

**sings**

I wanna be a part of it….New York, New York

How awesome was my trip, you ask?

New York City  – Awesome

Posh digs @ swanky hotel – Awesome

Cool friends to hang with – Awesome

Children’s bookstore – Awesome

Loads of cool authors signing crisp new books – Awe, Awe, Awesome!

As you can see, it was overflowing with the awesomeness.

I could tell you all about my travels and how there were delays with the train both coming and going. But that would bore you to tears.  I could tell you all about how awesome Miss Gail from Ticket to Anywhere is (and dude, she TOTALLY is!) but I think y’all already know that.  I could tell you all about how I met Sharon from Sharon Loves Books and Cats, cause I totally did.  I could even speak to the greatness of New York City in general but I’m pretty sure that goes without saying.

So we’ll skip to the really cool author signing stuff. The NYC Teen Author Festival signing was tremendous!

Can I just shout out mad props to Books of Wonder?  Not only is it a fabulous store in it’s own right (dude, it’s all kids and young adult literature — ‘nough said) but it’s got cupcakes!  A WHOLE bakery full of ‘em!  Add to that the amazing staff that was so totally on point through a day long event with I think about 50+ authors and I can effectively say that this place is a well oiled machine.  KUDOS!

As you saw in my post a couple days ago I got loads of great books signed.  I’m not going to list them all again here but there were a couple of stand outs for me:

Nora Baskin, author of Anything but Typical, was so genuinely gracious.  We chatted about how I’d heard about her book on a blog and that I am a blogger as well.  She was so excited to be at the signing and equally excited to share her book with us all.

Elizabeth Eulberg, author of The Lonely Hearts Club, was amazing.  So outgoing and chatty.  She asked Gail and I which cover for her book we liked best (I like the version on the ARC and Gai was partial to the final published version).  We giggled and talked a bit about why both are great.  It made me wish I had brought my ARC with me to get signed but dang it all, it’s sitting on my coffee table as we speak because I’m writing my review. Maybe next time!

Really, every single author I met was amazingly kind and truly excited to be participating.  Most were at the store early (or stayed late) and mingled around with patrons throughout the day. It was just fabulous all the way around. It definitely gave me a taste of what I’m sure is to come with Book Expo America.  It definitely has been anxious and excited for us all to meet again in May.

**sings**

Start spreadin’ the news….

….Michelle, and I’m a book-a-holic.

For real!

So as many of you may (or may not) have heard I  made a jaunt into New York City to meet my friend Gail from Ticket to Anywhere for an awesome young adult literature author signing extravaganza.  As Gail can attest I walked into the weekend with the attitude that I was *not* going to buy more than a couple books.  If that.

So, what do you think the chances of that were?

[exhibit A]

Exactly!

Between our visit to The Strand (my first), a random book store in Grand Central (where I stole the score of the century from Gail) and the event at Books of Wonder (where I just gave up the ghost and bought, bought, bought)  I walked away with that small little bundle of joy you see up there.

Oh and I lugged it all home in my bag on the train.  Hows that for addiction….er, ummmm….dedication?

So what did I get you ask?

The Strand Stash: A Summer of Silk Moths, The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein, The Secret to Lying, Everything Beautiful in the World, Blue Plate Special, The Gone Away World, Fat Cat, Dreamrider, and Princess for Hire

Random Grand Central Stash: Will Grayson, Will Grayson (signed by both authors!)

Books of Wonder Stash: What They Always Tell Us, Into the Wild, Every Soul a Star, The Season, Distant Waves, Wish, Gentlemen, Out of Time (Marsden ya’ll….Marsden!), Anything But Typical, Struts & Frets, The Summer I Turned Pretty, Knightley Academy

A good portion of the books from that last batch are signed!  How awesome is that?

So tomorrow, I’ll tell you all about the trip. All the juicy gossip and gory details from our adventures in NYC.