BPLD Teen Blog: September 2014

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

When A Monster Calls for Conor it is not the monster he has been expecting. Conor has a lot going on, his mother has been battling cancer for months, this has singled him out to be picked on and treated differently at school, and now he has a monster (taking the form from the yew tree in his backyard) coming to him just after midnight to tell him stories. The monster's stories always sound like folktales, with your typical hero and villain, but they never end how they're supposed to, and who is truly villainous and good is never so cut and dry. The monster is here to force Conor to face truth about his mother and himself and the real monster that Conor has been waiting for.

Ness's book isn't really about monsters or things that go bump in the night, but harsh and heartbreaking realities of life, realizing that "good" and "bad" aren't so easily definable, and that seemingly contradicting things can both be true. A novel that interweaves superb storytelling with raw emotion and denial.

If you like this book you may want to try:
Texting the Underworld by Ellen Booraem
Far Far Away by Tom McNeal
This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel
Bruiser by Neal Shusterman

A Monster Calls is a 2015 Abraham Lincoln Nominee. Check out the book trailer.

Lisa

Friday, September 19, 2014

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Theseus Cassio (better known as Cas) kills ghosts, he inherited the "business" and the athame (the knife needed to "kill" the dead) from his father, who died years ago during a job. He and his mother now move from place to place, following the leads he gets on ghosts. The ghosts Cas kills are usually known for killing people, angry and confused at how their own life ended. Then Cas hears about Anna; Anna has killed anyone who crosses the threshold of her home, from families who have moved in, to drifters passing through looking for a place to sleep. However, the first time she sees Cas (after viciously attacking another student who ventured into the house with him) Anna lets him live. To top it off, as Cas approaches her to get more information, he lets her live as well. As he works to learn Anna's secrets he also begins to close in on a secret from his own past.

Parts of Anna Dressed in Blood have a true ghost story feeling. The ghosts are tragic and creepy, the settings are dark, and people get brutally murdered; Anna's dress is covered (at times dripping) with blood and her eyes are nothing but black. The portions of this book that were about Anna and her death were haunting enough to make this reader turn on an extra light and make sure the door was locked. However, once the book really dug into Cas's past the book begin to feel like more of a supernatural thriller than a ghost story. Both parts are fast paced and suspenseful, but personally I was much more interested in the atmosphere surrounding Anna.

Lisa

Anna Dressed in Blood is an Abraham Lincoln 2015 Nominee. Check out the book trailer.

If you like this you want to give these a try:
Unbreakable by Kami Garcia
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Winger by Andrew Smith

Ryan Dean West is in over his head. He is a fourteen year old junior at Pine Mountain, a boarding school for wealthy kids, and he feels like a little kid even with his friends. Worse, he has a huge crush on his friend Annie and she seems to only think of him as cute and as a friend. Worse yet, his roommate in the dormitory is Chas Becker, a not-too-bright and very scary member of the rugby team. Despite his small size compared to those juniors who are actually old enough to be juniors, Ryan Dean is also a member of the rugby team because of his speed.

Between rugby, tensions with Annie, and another girl at Pine Mountain who develops a thing for Ryan Dean, it would seem like Andrew Smith’s Winger would be action packed. Instead, the book is more of a character study driven by the strong voice Smith gives Ryan Dean. He is a flawed but likeable character who encompasses the sometimes impulsive, sometimes passive and always turbulent years of adolescence.

John

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Branded by the Pink Triangle by Ken Setterington

There is no shortage of books about the brutality and harsh conditions that prisoners in concentration camps suffered during World War II. However, a topic that is much less well covered is how gay men (lesbians were not subject to much of the same treatment) were target and imprisoned during this time period. Branded by the Pink Triangle by Ken Setterington details what life was like for homosexual men not only during the war, but also what life was like for them (specifically in Germany) before and after the war.

Setterington tells the stories of real men and the horrors they suffered during the war and the stigma and shame they carried from being a pink triangle prisoner after the war. These prisoners were treated criminals after the war and it wasn't until 2001 that the German government formally apologized and included them in restitution previously given to other Concentration Camp victims; many of the men who survived the camps did not live long enough to see this.

Lisa

Monday, September 8, 2014

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass is the first book in the series of the same name. Celaena Sardothien has spent the last year of her life as a slave in the salt mines of Endovier; imprisoned for her crimes as one of the kingdom of Adarlan's greatest assassins. Then Prince Dorian and his Captain of the Guard, Chaol come to request (or rather demand) that she compete in a contest, against other thieves, assassins, and criminals, to become the King's Champion. If Celaena wins the contest after four years she will have her freedom. With no other options she accepts their offer. However, upon arrival at the castle Celaena discovers that more than just her own freedom may ride on her becoming the King's Champion, and there are dark forces trying to fix the competition for themselves. And in the midst of it all, the assassin, who has a past full of secrets and pain, may even find herself a few friends.

Full of excitement and intrigue Maas has created a story that will keep the reader turning the pages (and immediately reaching for the next book in the series).

If you like this you may want to try:
Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima

Throne of Glass is also one of this year's Abraham Lincoln Nominees. Check out the book trailer.

Lisa