Truth or Dare by Barbara Dee, 2016

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A few white lies during a simple game of truth or dare spin out of control and make life very complicated for Lia in this brand-new novel from Barbara Dee.
When Lia returns after a summer with her eccentric aunt, it feels like everything has changed within her group of five friends. Everyone just seems more…dramatic. And after playing a game of Truth or Dare, Lia discovers how those divides are growing wider, and tells a few white lies about what really happened over the summer in order to “keep up.” But is “keeping up” with her BFFs really worth it?

(256 pages)

When I got an email from Barbara Dee asking me if I wanted to review her latest novel, I was absolutely thrilled. I'd only read one of her books before - the amazing Solving Zoe - but I'd loved it so much that I can't believe I never looked up Dee's other books. That's why I jumped at the chance to read Truth or Dare, even though I probably normally would have said no - I figured, just this once, I could read a book about girls going through puberty and trust in the author that it wouldn't be cringe-worthy.

And you know what? I was right to say yes; I was happy to read Truth or Dare. I enjoyed it. The puberty drama was mixed in with much more serious storylines about grief, parental relationships, peer relationships, and bullying. Lia and her friends play truth or dare, sure, and Lia lies about hitting milestones that she hasn't. But the reason for this isn't just some lame one-upmanship game - instead it's the result of a complex cocktail of emotions and social politics.

I will say, though, that I never once competed with my friends in this arena the way Lia does. Heck, it never even came up! With that in mind, maybe the girls' obsession with puberty isn't exactly the most realistic thing in the world to me, but I'm willing to turn on my suspension of disbelief and accept this as the compelling, meaningful story that it is. Because Lia's dealing with some really hard things in her life: she's still trying to move past her mother's death, she's struggling to see her (rather eccentric) aunt as a mother figure, she's trying to one-up her friends because they're slightly cliquey and she's terrified of being left behind. These and many more storylines intertwine themselves throughout the book, grounding it. Making it feel real, and honest, and true-to-life even when the troubles Lia's dealing with aren't ones that I can personally relate to.

I'm not going to recommend this book to "anyone and everyone," because I don't think it would do well with such a broad audience. Most boys would be turned off by the mentions of bras and periods; some girls who actually are Lia's age might get the wrong idea about what sort of emphasis to place on the milestones of puberty. But for the rest of us, Truth or Dare is a good book. If you've read this far and you're sitting there thinking it looks cool, then I can almost guarantee that Truth or Dare will be a great book for you.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary ARC of this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Six Kids and a Stuffed Cat by Gary Paulsen, 2016

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It seemed like a normal school day, until a horrible storm forced the very cautious school administration to make everyone hole up in a safe place. Six students find themselves stuck in a tiny, questionably smelly space—a school bathroom—with a stuffed cat for entertainment. Hijinks ensue and the unexpected happens. They enter as strangers…and leave as friends.
A special script accompanies the novel, so any six kids can get together with their friends and perform the story anywhere they’d like.

(144 pages)

Okay, this was not exactly what I was expecting.

It's a really short book - really more of a novella than a novel, really. The story was over just as I thought it was getting really interesting, and I suppose I'm so used to meaningful stories taking place over time that I have trouble taking the entire episode in the bathroom as nothing more than exactly that: just a short episode.

It's actually even shorter than the 144 pages the volume as a whole is, because the entire story is re-written in play form. And no, I don't mean that the book is continued in play form or that new meaning is given to the tale as the play casts different light on characters or inflection. I mean that it is literally transcribed into the format of a play, so that people can perform it if the urge strikes. That means the prose story itself is just 76 pages.

I feel like this was supposed to be meaningful, but it really just came across as bizarre more than anything else. It would have made a really interesting middle grade novel, with more fleshed-out characters and room for them to really grow, but in the short format of a novella everything felt really random and kind of rushed.

I don't know, though, maybe I'm just too thick and am missing the point. If you've read Six Kids and a Stuffed Cat and you got more out of it than I did, please enlighten me in the comments section.

Firestorm by Mark Robson, 2010

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Dragon's in Areth each have a single predestined rider and a single life mission, given to them by the Oracle. But this once all-powerful being is now fatally damaged and fading fast... Only the dragons and their riders can save it!
Nolita is terrified of dragons! Learning to fly her day dragon would be dangerous enough without irrational fears to contend with and a vicious dragon-hunter on her tail. With Elian, another novice rider, Nolita seeks the first of four Orbs, whose combined power can restore the Oracle. Only Nolita, as a day dragon rider, can claim it. To do so, she must face her worst fears, and face them alone...

(320 pages)

I was actually all set to turn this book back into the library without reading it, because I decided it looked just too cliche for my scarce time. My mother, however, convinced me not to; she'd seen it in my room, thought it looked interesting, and devoured it in a single sitting. She told me it wasn't crazy original, but it took old ground and trod it very, very well.

And so I decided to read it after all. I do agree with my mom that it was well done, but I also can't entirely get over the fact that I've read so many books like it over the years. I mean, there are only so many books about dragons and their riders and a quest to save the world. It's been done, you know?

It's a rather forgettable book, really, and it's already beginning to blend in my mind with all of the other dragon books I've read. The characters mainly follow the usual stock tropes (the strong and stand-offish female, the proud/unpleasant newcomer, the generically nice guy who keeps everyone together, etc.), though it was refreshing to read a completely different character for once: when the description says Nolita is "terrified of dragons," that's not an overstatement. She literally runs away into the woods and faces starvation because she's so afraid of going anywhere near the dragon she suddenly finds herself attached to. It takes true bravery to overcome your fears, and watching her struggle to combat them was the best part of the book.

I did get the second and third books in the quartet from the library, but I only got around to reading the second book (which isn't as good as this one). The library doesn't even have the last book. It's too bad that there are so many dragon books similar to this series, because if there weren't I think I would have totally snapped it up. As it is, though, I really can't say that it stands too far out from the crowd.

My Diary From the Edge of the World by Jodi Lynn Anderson, 2015

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Told in diary form by an irresistible heroine, this playful and perceptive novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the May Bird trilogy sparkles with science, myth, magic, and the strange beauty of the everyday marvels we sometimes forget to notice.
Spirited, restless Gracie Lockwood has lived in Cliffden, Maine, her whole life. She’s a typical girl in an atypical world: one where sasquatches helped to win the Civil War, where dragons glide over Route 1 on their way south for the winter (sometimes burning down a T.J. Maxx or an Applebee’s along the way), where giants hide in caves near LA and mermaids hunt along the beaches, and where Dark Clouds come for people when they die.
To Gracie it’s all pretty ho-hum…until a Cloud comes looking for her little brother Sam, turning her small-town life upside down. Determined to protect Sam against all odds, her parents pack the family into a used Winnebago and set out on an epic search for a safe place that most people say doesn’t exist: The Extraordinary World. It’s rumored to lie at the ends of the earth, and no one has ever made it there and lived to tell the tale. To reach it, the Lockwoods will have to learn to believe in each other—and to trust that the world holds more possibilities than they’ve ever imagined.

(432 pages; released November 3)

When I requested My Diary from the Edge of the World, I thought it would be a fun, fluffy fantasy I could devour in a few hours. I expected to love it (because, seriously - inverted normality! Dragon migration! Sasquatches participating in the Civil War!), and I did. It was just as fun and enchanting as I'd hoped, but it was a little more than I'd reckoned on as well. It was, in a nutshell, a beautiful, thought-provoking tale of love and family and forgiveness and death, tied together with enough humor and adventure to keep the most fitful reader interested.

Gracie's voice comes through so authentically, so perfectly, that I could completely believe that she really was just writing down her experiences in her diary. She reminded of myself at a younger age, and some of her emotions and experiences in the beginning of the book echoed similar ones in my own life (including a short stint with an injured arm - I wish my wrist injury would heal as quickly!). As I continued reading, I actually found myself drawing a lot of parallels between Gracie's family and mine, because the Lockwoods really reminded me of my own family. By the time they left Cliffden, I'd already established in my mind that I was actually Millie (because I think the way Gracie sees Millie is probably a lot like the way my sister sees me), my sister was Gracie, and my youngest brother was Sam. I was invested in the family, and I loved them all. I even loved Gracie's dad from the beginning, though he did annoy me sometimes. My father really is a scientist (like I said, there were a lot of connections to draw between my family and Gracie's), and he's nothing like the socially awkward, completely oblivious Mr. Lockwood. I get very tired of seeing the scientist always being portrayed as this strange creature so divorced from the emotions of the people around him. It's a rather gentle stereotype in the grand scheme of things, but it still does get grating after a while.

Sorry, short rant over. Going back to the characters, it was my close connection to the Lockwood family that made the ending have that much more of an impact for me. And I'm sorry I can't delve into that more, but I don't want to spoil anything for you. On one hand it's a beautiful, meaningful, perfect ending to a wonderful book that I connected with on a deeper level. On the other hand, I kind of (no, not kind of - really!) wish the ending had been different. And that's all I can say about it.

The ending is only the last twenty pages, though, and this is a 430 page book. When I'm absolutely in love with 410 pages of a book, I have a hard time saying I dislike it just because the last five percent isn't what I'd hoped it would be. I loved watching Gracie and her family experience the wonders of their world, coming to appreciate that it's not quite as hum-drum as they always thought of it as being. Later in the book Gracie makes some really poignant remarks about the people who live in the Extraordinary World (i.e. our world) - about how their surroundings are so amazing, but they are desensitized from it. Hearing that from the girl who thinks Sasquatches are ordinary makes it that much more meaningful, you know?

Do I recommend My Diary From the Edge of the World? I think so, yes. It's such a great story, I have a terrible time turning people off of it. Just be warned that the ending isn't quite as light and fluffy as you might think, and that religion gets just as messed around with as myths and legends do. I feel uncomfortable/unhappy with some parts of the book, but they're so incredible overshadowed by the amazing writing and incredible poignancy of the rest of the story that I still love it. My Diary from the Edge of the World is, regardless of all else, a very beautiful book, and I'm very glad I read it.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.

Turnabout by Margaret Peterson Haddix, 2002

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In the year 2000 Melly and Anny Beth had reached the peak of old age and were ready to die. But when offered the chance to be young again by participating in a top-secret experiment called Project Turnabout, they agreed. Miraculously, the experiment worked -- Melly and Anny Beth were actually growing younger every year. But when they learned that the final treatment would be deadly, they ran for their lives.
Now it is 2085. Melly and Anny Beth are teenagers. They have no idea what will happen when they hit age zero, but they do know they will soon be too young to take care of themselves. They need to find someone to help them before time runs out, once and for all....

(240 pages)

I'm named after my great-grandmother, who was born in 1900. I'm actually named after two of my great-grandmothers (Marie, my middle name, was my dad's grandmother's name), but it's the woman whose first name I share that really captures my fascination. She grew up in a completely different time, on a farm in rural Missouri. She lived a fascinating life full of ups and downs, and died an old woman living on the same farm she'd spent her entire adult life working.

In some ways, Melly is just like my great-grandmother: she grew up in a rural village in the twentieth century, and she was one hundred and one in 2000 so she must have born around the same time as my great-grandmother. The big different between the two women, however, is that my great-grandmother died long before 2015; Melly, on the other hand,  made it much farther than that. She made it much farther than even my grandparents are going to get: to the year 2085. Rereading Turnabout for the first time in a few years, just as I'm becoming interested in researching my family history, I can't help but obsess over how awesome it would be if I could meet my great-grandmother. Meeting her when she'd unaged so far that she was biologically my own age? Even cooler. Just think of all the stories she could tell, all of the precious anecdotes and family stories. She could help me decipher my sometimes-confusing family tree, putting stories to all of the different faces. She could humanize the past with her own personal experience.

Sitting here typing this, I'm thinking that would be pretty cool for me. But would my great-grandmother have wanted to participate in Project Turnabout? I have no way of knowing - it wouldn't be as simple a choice as you'd think. Getting to live for twice your allotted time is great, but what sort of life would you have? You'd either be an anomaly to the world, living your life under a scientific microscope, or you'd spend your whole life running away from anyone and anything that could make you lose your secret. This second choice is the one that Melly and her friend Anny Beth make: to run, to hide, and to lie. They've spent the last eighty-five years completely on their own, with only the agency that initiated Project Turnabout to help them, and they haven't seen hide nor hair of their descendants in all that time because they're afraid it would be too hard to resist telling them who they really were.

I am a huge fan of Haddix's, and it's books like Turnabout that are perfect examples of why I love her writing so much. She takes an amazing story idea ( here it's an unaging scenario with so much potential), adds compelling characters with complex backstories and convincing motives, and sprinkles in some profound thoughts for the reader to chew on (in this case it's aging and death, and what exactly the consequence of avoiding them would be). She often also includes a really interesting setting (here it's her early-2000s view of what the world will be like in the future - including a scary-good prediction of voice recognition software), as the icing in the proverbial cake. So do I recommend Turnabout? That's a silly question, of course I do. The only real question is one that's been haunting me since I first read it years ago: could Project Turnabout ever happen in real life? And if it did, would I want to participate in it?

Teaser Tuesdays: Turnabout by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Oct 13)

Okay, so for those of you who are new to this meme, here's how it works:

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My current read is Turnabout by Margaret Peterson Haddix.

In the year 2000 Melly and Anny Beth had reached the peak of old age and were ready to die. But when offered the chance to be young again by participating in a top-secret experiment called Project Turnabout, they agreed. Miraculously, the experiment worked -- Melly and Anny Beth were actually growing younger every year. But when they learned that the final treatment would be deadly, they ran for their lives.
Now it is 2085. Melly and Anny Beth are teenagers. They have no idea what will happen when they hit age zero, but they do know they will soon be too young to take care of themselves. They need to find someone to help them before time runs out, once and for all....

(240 pages)

Here's this week's teaser, from page 132:

Sad was such an old-fashioned word. Nobody in the twenty-first century was ever sad - they were depressed, emotionally unbalanced, incorrectly medicated. Sorrow was a disease that everyone rushed to cure.

Let me know what you think of the book, and check back on Friday for my review!

Redeemed by Margaret Peterson Haddix, 2015

Have you read the first seven books in the Missing series? No? Then go away! There are some really major spoilers in this review - and I mean spoilers from not only book 1, but from book 7 as well. Don't read the synopsis, don't scroll down to check out the last paragraph, don't do anything except hit the back arrow and leave this page until you're ready to get excited for the last book in the Missing series.

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Jonah’s new twin must time travel and face off against his siblings’ worst enemy in order to save the future—and his family—in the eighth and final book of the New York Times bestselling The Missing series, which Kirkus Reviews calls “plenty of fun and great for history teachers as well.”
After traveling through history multiple times and finding out his original identity, Jonah thought he’d fixed everything. But some of his actions left unexpected consequences. His parents—and many other adults—are still stuck as teenagers. And now Jonah has a new sibling, an identical twin brother named Jordan.
As odd as all this is for Jonah, it’s beyond confusing for Jordan. How does everyone in his family have memories of Jonah when he doesn’t? How can his annoying kid sister Katherine speak so expertly about time travel—and have people from the future treating her with respect? A few rash moves by Jordan send them all into the future—and into danger. What if he’s also the only one who can get them back to safety, once and for all?
(416 pages; Release date September 8, 2015)

It's over. It's actually over. No more waiting for Missing books, no more begging my parents into driving me to Barnes & Noble on release day, no more bugging my sister/roomie with chants of "Only three more days now! Three more days!" as I count down to a new book. No more adventures with Jonah and Katherine, no more huge identity reveals that I never saw coming. I still have Margaret Peterson Haddix books to look forward to, but no more Missing books. And since I've been reading the Missing series for as long as I've been reading Haddix's books, that is really, really weird to me.

But enough about me, how was the book itself? Well, I'll start with the negatives. And they all boil down to one main factor: Jordan. Not that I have anything against the poor boy (in fact, I had been biting my nails to learn more about him since he showed up at the end of Redeemed!), but he just isn't Jonah. I spent seven books getting attached to Jonah - seven books! That's a lot of pages. Those were a lot of years. The experiences I share with Jonah simply aren't there with Jordan, and so no matter how interested in his story I am I'm still more interested in Jonah's. And sadly, we don't get as much of Jonah as I would have liked. He's there, of course, and there's definitely some tension going on between him and Jordan, but he and Katherine get separated from Jordan about two-thirds of the way into the book and then that's it. No more Jonah and Katherine. Ick.

Also, I would have liked a bit more exploration of the whole twin issue. Jonah and Jordan are practically identical (because nature and nurture were both working to keep them that way), but it did slightly grate on my when people said they were practically "the same person." I mean, Margaret Peterson Haddix of all people should be able to write about genetically identical kids raised in near-identical situations - Jordan isn't just a reboot of Jonah, a "what-if" version that would have happened if Jonah had never discovered time travel. He's a real, unique, individual person. And I couldn't tell if Haddix was ignoring this, or if she simply didn't have time to deal with it when so many things were already going on in the story.

So there's the negative. What about the positive? Again, it mostly boils down to Jordan. You know, Jonah's brother, the one who got time travel (and an identical twin) dropped into his lap. How could Jordan not be awesome?! Jonah-shortage aside, there were a lot of advantages to being inside Jordan's head this time around. He acts like a time-traveling idiot for most of the book, but somehow that never really bothered me. I actually really liked the fact that he was so naive, because it's realistic. If the Jonah from Found had been dropped into Revealed, he would have been just as terrible at time traveling as Jordan is. Speaking of our dear time-traveling pro, I also dearly love the glimpses we get of Jonah throughout Redeemed, as he tries not-very-hard to hide his disgust at having an identical twin brother dropped into his life. That's probably why I got so frustrated about not being inside his head while all of that was going on.

I also loved reading about everything through a newbie's eyes. I learned the ropes of time travel alongside Jonah (actually, inside Jonah!), and I love him to pieces but it's true that my knowledge-base is exactly the same as his. With Jordan, I'm the old hat and he's the clueless newcomer to the table. Being in his head, and watching him try to get a handle on Jonah when I already know him so well, is neat. And through Jordan we get to see how much everyone respects Jonah. Very, very cool! I also love the scene about halfway through, when they go through a re-hash of some of the most dangerous moments in the past seven books. I literally squealed when Jonah said "Richard III" and I realized what was happening! Somehow it was even cooler reliving it through Jordan's eyes, because he spent the whole time freaking out about all the crazy things that happen.

Anyway, this is shaping up to be the longest review I've written in a very long time. I guess I'll stop now, but I could go on and on. I have been waiting for this book for literally five years, and I am so, so thrilled to have finally read it. A few (fairly necessary) disappointments aside, Redeemed was everything I had hoped it would be, and I absolutely loved it.

Though part of me does still wish Jonah had narrated the epilogue.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Full Ride by Margaret Peterson Haddix, 2013

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Becca thought her life was over when her father was sent to prison for embezzlement. It didn't help when he used her as his excuse: "How else is a guy like me supposed to send his daughter to college?" She and her mother fled their town and their notoriety, started over, and vowed never to let anyone know about their past.
Now a senior in high school, Becca has spent the last four years hiding in anonymity. But when it's time to apply to colleges and for financial aid, her mother gives her a rude awakening: If she applies, her past may be revealed to the world
But Becca has already applied for a full-ride scholarship. And as she begins to probe deeper into the secrets of her past, she discovers that she and her mother might be in danger of more than simple discovery - by revealing the truth about their past, she might be putting their very lives in jeopardy.

(368 pages)

When Full Ride came out, I was in 10th grade and taking my very first AP class. My comprehension of the college admissions process was extremely vague, and the parts of the book dealing with it flew right over my head. I was gripped by the story line about Becca's father, about the crimes he had committed and how Becca and her mother were paying for them every day of their lives. Becca's academics served as nothing more than the distraction she used to keep her mind off of the terrible rut her life had entered when her father went to jail for online theft.

The second time through, it's the academic parts of the story that grasp my attention. When Becca and her friends allude to "AP lit" and "AP calc," I know exactly what they're talking about (and shudder because I'm taking them next year!). When Becca's friends recommend that she check out collegedata.com, I get out my iPad and a Google it - only to decide that, like Becca, I'm none to keen on handing out my address to some random college tips website. When Becca ruminates about how her father went to Vanderbilt (or, actually, lied to her about how he had gone there), I flip through my college notebook to discover that I have indeed researched Vanderbilt, but it doesn't have two of the three major fields I'm looking for.

Okay, okay, enough examples. My point is that I could totally own what Becca was going through, college-wise, and that Full Ride came alive to me in a whole new way because of it. But the really neat thing was that when I read it for the first time, I didn't have that angle and I still really enjoyed it. Full Ride is multi-focused enough that you could read it from quite a few different backgrounds, and get different things out each time. This makes it a great re-read as you go through life, because as you discover more about different issues Becca is struggling with (and watches others struggle with), you will find more and more angles in the book that interest you.

Of course, having so many different balls in the air at the same time means that a few of them get dropped by the end of the book - no, "dropped" isn't the right word. They get "sidelined." Mrs. Haddix opts for a dramatic and relatively fulfilling ending, but she leaves a lot of storylines up for grabs. I for one would have liked to read more about Becca's relationship with her friends, how it shifts as they come to grips with the new knowledge they gain as the book goes along. Do they question everything they ever thought they knew about her? Do they feel tricked? Or do they just blink for a minute, go "okay," and keep moving? I don't know, I think that could have been explored a little more.

Altogether, though, it's a very well-written and engaging book, with lots of really interesting topics woven together. And as for the true test of my feelings toward Full Ride? Yeah, I stayed up until after midnight re-reading it. In another year or two, I'll probably do that again.