The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan

Misskaella, wronged by her family and those around her took her revenge on the island by tempting the men with sea wives: women she can draw from seals.  Now the only people on Rollrock Island are men, their sea wives, and their sons.  And the wives never stop wishing for the sea.

I found this story incredibly disturbing.  It was still an engaging story, but I was very disturbed.  The legend of selkies I always found upsetting: men stealing the seal skin of a women and hiding it so the women cannot return to the sea and then taking her for a wife.  It's really pretty awful.

The setting felt Irish to me, and selkies are often connected to Irish lore.  There was nothing that explicitly put it in Ireland, or our own world for that matter, but some of the slang used, and the constant reference to the native people having red hair caused me to picture Ireland as the backdrop for this story.

The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech

Naomi and Lizzie, two orphan girls living in Blackbird Tree, are minding their own business when a boy falls out of a tree at their feet.  Once Finn shows up, things become very strange.  The mysterious Dingle Dangle man comes to town for an unknown purpose, and things begin changing, fast, and Naomi isn't sure if it's for the better.  She begins to see the strange connections between people, even people far across the sea in Ireland.

I love Sharon Creech.  I grew up reading Walk Two Moons and Chasing Redbird.  I was beside myself when I met her at ALA.  But I did not love this.  It was very...disjointed.  It was disjointed on purpose, I know, but it didn't work for me.  Things kind of came together in the end, but not as much as I would have liked.

Naomi falls quickly for Finn.  Lizzie doesn't seem to have much romantic interest in him, but that doesn't stop Naomi from feeling jealous.  One of Naomi's guardians, Nula, tells her the story of a boy named Finn who broke her heart back in Ireland and caused and rift between her and her sister, who she hasn't seen or spoken to in years.

The chapters go back and forth between Naomi, pinning for Finn, fearing dogs, and visiting unfortunate souls with Lizzie, and Mrs. Kavanagh, who has planned some kind of revenge in Blackbird Tree.  It is not clear what, but it seems to involve a murder.

Naomi, Lizzie and Nula eventually travel to Ireland and many surprising connections are made.  Everyone is linked in some kind of way.  It was all very...airy and flighty and deep thinking and pondery.  Was Finn real?  Was he really there?  I have no idea.  I was confused about that in the end.

I think it will appeal to some girls, but it's not nearly as relatable as many of her other books.  Most of Sharon Creech's books I could recommend to any kid.  This book would take a certain kind of kid.

The Great Unexpected comes out September 4, 2012.

Waiting on Wednesday: Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine to spotlight an upcoming release that we're excited about. This week I'm waiting on Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst.

 In a desert world of sandstorms and sand-wolves, a teen girl must defy the gods to save her tribe in this mystical, atmospheric tale from the author of Drink, Slay, Love.Liyana has trained her entire life to be the vessel of a goddess. The goddess will inhabit Liyana’s body and use magic to bring rain to the desert. But Liyana’s goddess never comes. Abandoned by her angry tribe, Liyana expects to die in the desert. Until a boy walks out of the dust in search of her.

     Korbyn is a god inside his vessel, and a trickster god at that. He tells Liyana that five other gods are missing, and they set off across the desert in search of the other vessels. For the desert tribes cannot survive without the magic of their gods. But the journey is dangerous, even with a god’s help. And not everyone is willing to believe the trickster god’s tale.

     The closer she grows to Korbyn, the less Liyana wants to disappear to make way for her goddess. But she has no choice: She must die for her tribe to live. Unless a trickster god can help her to trick fate—or a human girl can muster some magic of her own. (Summary from GoodReads)

I think this sounds really intriguing, like Sarah Beth Durst created a well-thought out complex world. And it comes out on Arianna's birthday! So good times.

Vessel comes out Sept. 11.

News

24 library-centric sites.  From Mental Floss.

Random House unveils Twitter author chat series.  From PW.

Women are on the rise as top-earning authors.  From Forbes.

The recession has not been good for diversity in children's books.  From the Wisconsin State Journal.

Laura Miller argues that the reason so many more women write YA than men is because YA carries no prestige.  From Salon.

Apparently there are a number of people who still like print books, as Lauren Conrad learned when she filmed a craft video which involved cutting up books.  From The Hollywood Reporter.

A girl looking for a summary of her summer reading book (which she didn't read) gets an answer from the author.  From abc News.

Bags inspired by children's books.  From the Huffington Post.

Jacqueline Wilson on writing a sequel to E Nesbit's Five Children and It.  From The Guardian. 

Mo Willems tells us how to raise a reader.  I love him so.  From Scholastic.

News from Comi-Con.  From SLJ.

Librarians at Comi-Con.  From PW.

Moving right along, Chris Colfer, having written a middle grade book, will now write a YA book.  Also, it will be a movie he will star in.  From PW.

Lesser know books by authors you love.  From The Atlantic Wire.

During a time when many librarians are losing their jobs and libraries are disappearing, it's nice to read things like this: Baltimore schools receive $5 million library upgrade.  From SLJ.

Amulet: Prince of the Elves by Kazu Kibuishi

Emily survived the chaos of the Guardian Academy, but Max Griffin has stolen the Mother Stone.  With it, the Elf King forges new Amulets that will give him the power to invade and destroy the nation of Windsor.  Emily and her friends lead the soldiers of the Cielis Guard in a fight to stop him, but Max stands in their way.  And when she seeks information form the Voice of her Amulet, she discovers that the Voice is much more sinister than she ever could have imagined. (publishers description)

This is the fifth volume in Kibuishi's Amulet series.  In this volume we learn a bit about Max's background, and while I know he's suppose to be evil and all, and he's fighting against our heroes, I totally felt sympathetic for him.  He witnessed the injustices against the elves, and the tragic and unfair death of a friend caused him to take the elves' side in the war.

Emily and her brother Navin are now fighting for the Cielis Guard.  I'm not totally clear while all the pilots and leaders are kids, and the older generation is cool with taking orders from them.  I know Emily is the stonekeeper, and that carries a lot of weight, but there were other kids acting as pilots rather than adults.

Also, I was a little confused about how exactly Emily's stone was manipulating her.  It didn't really tell her to do anything, did it?

I like Kazu Kibuishi's style of art, but one issue I have is that a lot of the human characters look very similar, especially the kids.  In fairness, the ARC I had wasn't fully colored yet, so that may help, but I definitely went a few pages thinking that Navin was Max.

I like how Kibuishi uses the panels to invoke feeling.  On one page, where Navin and the robots are rising up in a kind of elevator, the panel is long and thin down the left-hand side of the page, allowing us to see how high and fast they are rising.  The use of double-paged spreads, often wordless, is also well done, creating a powerful impact.

Amulet: Prince of Elves will be available September 1, 2012.

Giveaway: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

We have an exciting giveaway for you!  Win an ARC of Printz Honor author Maggie Stiefvater's new book The Raven Boys.

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

The Raven Boys comes out September 18, 2012.


This giveaway is now closed.

Waiting on Wednesday: Black City by Elizabeth Richards

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine to spotlight an upcoming release that we're excited about. This week I'm waiting on Black City by Elizabeth Richards.

 A dark and tender post-apocalyptic love story set in the aftermath of a bloody war

In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable--they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash's long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they're caught, they'll be executed--but their feelings are too strong.

When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths. (Summary from GoodReads)

It just all sounds so dramatic and takes a lot of interesting aspects of different genres that I love. Also I think the cover is pretty.  

Black City comes out Nov. 13.