The Queen of Kentucky

Alecia Whitaker's book The Queen of Kentucky has one of those fun covers that made me want to read the book as soon as I saw the cover. Ricki Jo attended a k-8 Catholic school in her small community, and as she gears up for 9th grade, she is excited about a chance to finally go to school with more kids within her community. She wants everything to be perfect and decides that in order to start it off right, she needs to be Ericka instead of Ricki Jo.

Along the way I was laughing as Ericka/Ricki Jo tried to navigate who she was and who she wanted to become, while thinking about if that's what she really wanted after all. I loved that her dad thought it was a good idea to offer that she wear his high school FFA jacket on her first day to the high school. (Somewhere I have my corduroy FFA jacket stashed away - the one that I earned by selling the most Sloppy Joe feed tickets. But that is another story...) At least her mom came to her rescue, knowing that was not necessarily the first impression she wanted to make.

Among the unknown Ricki Jo has an anchor in her best friend and neighbor. She discovers what it means to be the "new" girl and tries to decide what her priorities are. While the book mainly lets us know about Ericka's process, there are also glimpses into her friends and acquaintances. Without giving away too much, (but don't keep reading if you don't want any type of a spoiler), I thought the ending had a nice touch, not necessarily your typical girl who wants to be popular eventually abandons the popular girls because of realizations along the way. There was more of a balance, and I liked that shift.

*Debut Author Challenge 2012 - 4/12

Love and Leftovers

I sometimes add books to my Amazon wish list or to my Kindle and then when I actually read them I have forgotten what drew me to them in the first place. That was the case with Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay, but at the first page I remembered with delight why I had chosen it - not only is it in verse, but it is by a semi-local author for me. I always love making connections to locations in the book, so this one had the double benefit of being split between Boise, Idaho (where I commute for my doctorate) and Durham, New Hampshire (somewhere I have never been but that conjures up images of writing gurus, such as Linda Rief and University of New Hampshire faculty).

With that immediate hook, I plunged into the novel, and I did not want to put it down - although I did the first night, knowing that I needed to get to bed at a semi-reasonable hour.

Lisa Schroeder is probably my favorite author who writes novels in verse, and the voice in Love and Leftovers, reminded me of her books. Marcie, the main character is fun and witty. She also tells her story in a gut-wrenching manner, being able to understand her torn emotions and the confusion she feels with everything going on around her (and within herself).

When her mom finds out that her dad is gay and has a boyfriend, Marcie's mom flees with her to New Hampshire. Marcie expects it to be short term, but as the summer comes to a close and it is time to start school, Marcie realizes that it is not so temporary. Far away from her best friend, boyfriend, and the other "leftovers" at Boise High, Marcie starts to make the transition to Oyster River High School.

This shift in her parents' relationship was a curveball for her and she finds herself questioning the other relationships in her life and tries to make sense of her own feelings. Oh, and not only does she miss her friends and her dad, but her mom is depressed.

So many emotions to sift though, and I loved every minute of it trying to figure out the decisions she was going to make, as well as how others in her life would react to the events going on. The verse also had a lot of lines that I absolutely loved.

As an added bonus, I noticed that Sarah Tregay has a tab on her site dedicated to a compilation of novels in verse titles. She has them broken down by age group with suggested ratings. What a great resource! I will definitely have to revisit it for ideas.

*3/12 2012 Debut Author Challenge

The Whole Story of Half a Girl

Those who read my blog frequently know that identity is a topic that always catches my attention in books; however, they are often novels for young adults or adults. Veera Hiranandani's The Whole Story of Half a Girl is a middle grade debut of Sonia navigating experiences of people questioning who she is for the first time. She previously went to a private school with close-knit classes and a general sense of acceptance. When her dad loses his job at the end of her 5th grade year, she finds out that the following year she will be going to public school for the first time.

She quickly notices that students seem to be divided by race and starts to wonder where she fits in as a half Indian, half Jewish American. People ask her questions that she is not sure how to answer. Those inner struggles combined with shifts in her family dynamics weigh heavily on her.

The book was somewhat slow throughout, but I still enjoyed it for a number of reasons. First, is the obvious topic of interest dealing with identity. In the recent years with overall shifts in economy, I have read quite a few books that deal with parents losing jobs, but this book seemed to address the topic at a deeper level, adding more dimensions for discussion. While Sonia was out of her comfort zone and struggling with identity, it was evident that she was a strong person. It was not always easy to predict how she would react to and deal with everyday middle school dramas. If middle grade readers are able to stick with the book, it will give them a lot to consider; however, some readers may be turned off by the slower pace.

*Net Galley electronic copy provided; 2012 Debut Author Challenge 2/12

Ditched

When I first started looking though a list of 2012 debut YA novels, Ditched: A Love Story by Robin Mellon automatically caught my attention. Justina was not the "prom type", but when her best friend for whom she recently realized her feelings were shifting asked her to prom, she accepted. She excitedly geared up for the big night, but it ended up being very far from what she expected. For starters, as we find out at the start of the novel (and from the title), Ian ditched her at the prom.

As readers, we learn about the various events of the night (one disaster after another before and after she was ditched) as Justina recounts them to a couple of women at a 7-11 where she showed up the morning after prom.

I did not end up liking Ditched as much as I had anticipated I would. The book had a fun lay-out with designs pointing to different stains on her dress that each told a piece of the story at the start of each chapter. In addition, Justina would spill pieces of the story before backing up, saying she was getting ahead of herself, so I was constantly wanting to keep reading in order to figure out how what she mentioned could have possibly happened since they were so outrageous. Nonetheless, at times it seemed like it was just dragging on. I did however enjoy getting to know the various characters who emerged throughout the novel based on Justina's descriptions.

Though Ditched did not end up being all that I had hoped it would, it had some creative aspects that I appreciated. I enjoyed considering the author's craft and thinking about the decisions about how to tell the story in a unique way.

*Net Galley electronic version; 2012 Debut Author Challenge 1/12

Under The Mesquite

I love novels in verse. I love reading about moving toward adulthood. I love books that include cultural flavor. Oh, and I love Lee and Low Books. Guadalupe García McCall's novel in verse Under The Mesquite had so much going for it from the first page because I knew it would include all these things - yet, it was so much more. The further I clicked away in the book, the more layers emerged that made me appreciate it even more. 

In the book Lupita reflects on her early childhood in Mexico as well as her transition to moving to the United States. At the core of her memories is her close-knit family - sharing their moments of joy right along with their sibling squabbles. Early on there are glimpses into the discovery that her mother has been diagnosed with cancer, and readers wait along with Lupita to see if treatments will be successful. Parallel to worrying about her mother, she is also growing up and considering what her goals and dreams are. 

The glimpses into Mexico, as well as general cultural references with her family on both sides of the border frequently brought smiles to my face as I could connect to the experiences. I always love snippets of different languages seamlessly integrated into English, and García McCall effectively accomplished this (while also providing a glossary of explanations at the back of the book). In addition, Lupita's character was endearing - I was proud of her for so many reasons.

This is a special, special book. I can't wait for my daughters to enjoy it someday when they are also on the verge of discovering who they are and what they want for their lives. 

*Electronic Net Galley version provided

2012 Reads

For 2012 I am trying out keeping track of the books that I read on Good Reads. That way I can have books from multiple blogs (different audiences) on one master list for the year. You can find my list here.