Emily's Dress and Other Missing Things by Kathryn Burak

Claire is in her last year of high school for the second time.  She and her father have moved to Amherst after the death of her mother and the disappearance of her best friend, Richy, a case that Claire was a suspect in.  Claire just wants to get through the year, but she can't stop wondering what happened to Richy and if she could have saved him.  After she and the student teacher in her English class, Tate, are brought together in a very strange way, Claire begins to string together clues that might help her figure out what happened to Richy.

The summary on the back of the book confused me, because it starts off with "When you mother dies and your best friend disappears that same year..." but it seemed like Claire's mother had actually died when she was much younger.  But I doubted myself because of the summary.  But I'm pretty sure now that they were in NOT in the same year at all.  It wouldn't be the first time a blurb has been misleading.

At first, I was annoyed with this book.  And I was mostly annoyed by Sam Tate, the worst student teacher ever.  This is the problem reading (or watching TV or movies) that involves your profession.  You end up shaking your head and saying things like, "That's not how it is!" and "If this really happened, you'd be fired so fast!"  I assume this is how doctors feel watching medical shows and how police people and forensic scientists feel watching Law & Order.  Sam, you do not say stuff like that to a student.  You do not make light when they insinuate they had to take time off from school.  You do not give them unsolicited advice about their personal lives.  Because you never know what someone has dealt with.  You never know (because sometimes, the school doesn't tell you) who has cancer, whose father died over the summer, whose sibling is in the hospital, whose suffering from depression.  You SUCK Sam Tate, and you need to keep your mouth shut.

The Suburban Strange by Nathan Kotecki

Celia is starting her sophomore year at Suburban High School.  Celia has always tried to remain unseen, observing life from a distance with her sketchbook for company.  This year will be different, however, since she's been adopted by an interesting group of students: The Rosary.  Celia is beginning to find her confidence, but things aren't quite right at Suburban.  The day before a girls' sixteenth birthday, she has a terrible accident.  No one knows why it happens or how to avoid it.  Celia begins to notice things others don't seem to see, and it seems to involve her Chemistry lab partner and the mysterious boy at The Rosary's favorite club, Diaboliques.

It took me a little while to get into this.  At first I was like, "Is this going to be like Gossip Girl for the alternative set?" because there was a whole lot of detailed clothing description going on.  It was getting a little draggy and boring.  Luckily, as the book went on and the plot picked up, the clothes and music descriptions went to the background, which I liked a lot better.

Not that I didn't enjoy hearing about the clothes and music and the club The Rosary went to, it was just a little heavy at the beginning.  I understand that a lot of that was setting the scene and making it clear how different the kids in The Rosary were from the regular old high school kids.  It wasn't just their taste in music or their carefully selected black and gray clothes.  It also had to do with a level of confidence and how they carried themselves.

At first Celia feels like an impostor, but she grows in her own confidence.  This was a story as much about Celia coming into her own as it was about the supernatural occurrence at her high school.  At first Celia is just going through the motions, still afraid to be seen and in awe of these coolly aloof people who all seem so interesting.  Gradually Celia comes to see she has quite a bit to offer herself.  This is all going on, of course, while strange things are happening to the girls of Suburban High.

Spoilers

Waiting on Wednesday: The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

"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 The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin.

Mara Dyer once believed she could run from her past.

She can’t.

She used to think her problems were all in her head.

They aren’t.

She couldn’t imagine that after everything she’s been through, the boy she loves would still be keeping secrets.

She’s wrong.

In this gripping sequel to The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, the truth evolves and choices prove deadly. What will become of Mara Dyer next?

The Evolution of Mara Dyer comes out October 23, 2012.

News

Happy end of Banned Books Week!  I hope you celebrated by reading whatever you wanted.  Lauren Myracle got to be at the top of the top ten most frequently challenged books for 2011.  In an interview with SLJ she talks about what that means.

How The Princess Bride Became the Quintessential Teen Read.  It is also my favorite book.  Tied with The Phantom Tollbooth. From The Atlantic Wire.

Anthony Horowitz's top 10 apocalypse books.  From The Guardian.

How A Wrinkle in Time was made into a graphic novel.  From PW.

So, that movie of The Giver...will it ever happen?  From EW.

And speaking of Lois Lowry...The Children’s Author Who Actually Listens to Children.  From The New York Times.

The ten most mentioned songs in books.  From PW.

Writing for teens vs adults - looking at J.K. Rowling. From The Daily Beast.

Are Dewey’s Days Numbered?: Libraries Nationwide Are Ditching the Old Classification System. From SLJ.

I hope everyone is gearing up for Star Wars Reads Day, which is tomorrow, October 6.  From PW.

If you're not, this should help: together at last, Star Wars and Dr. Seuss.  From Mashable.

A group of authors in the UK is warning publishers about the decline of nonfiction.  From The Guardian.

Beginning-reader series means a new path for Kevin Henke.  From Courier Press. 

Maggie Stiefvater on The Raven Boys.  From The Daily Beast.

Waiting on Wednesday: Freakling by Lana Krumwiede

"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 Freakling by Lana Krumwiede.

 In twelve-year-old Taemon’s city, everyone has a power called psi—the ability to move and manipulate objects with their minds. When Taemon loses his psi in a traumatic accident, he must hide his lack of power by any means possible. But a humiliating incident at a sports tournament exposes his disability, and Taemon is exiled to the powerless colony.

The "dud farm" is not what Taemon expected, though: people are kind and open, and they actually seem to enjoy using their hands to work and play and even comfort their children. Taemon adjusts to his new life quickly, making friends and finding unconditional acceptance.

But gradually he discovers that for all its openness, there are mysteries at the colony, too—dangerous secrets that would give unchecked power to psi wielders if discovered.

When Taemon unwittingly leaks one of these secrets, will he have the courage to repair the damage—even if it means returning to the city and facing the very people who exiled him?

Freakling comes out October 9, 2012.

Breathe by Sarah Crossan

 Trees and oceans were destroyed, and oxygen levels plummeted.  The only way to survive was to be one of the lucky ones selected to live in one of the pods, where the organization Breathe could pump air in.  Many years later, Alina is a member of the Resistance, trying to regrow trees outside the pod, but the ministry is on to her.  With the help of an unsuspecting Premium boy Quinn, and his suspicious auxiliary friend Bea, Alina escapes from the pod.  Now they're all on the run, having learned the terrible secrets behind Breathe.

I enjoyed this.  It was a good story, although things fell apart at the end a bit I thought.  It has all the elements YA readers will like: dystopian future, fighting back against those in power, and a love triangle, of sorts.  Quinn has a crush on Alina, who isn't interested, and Bea is in love with Quinn, who's oblivious.  I guess that's not a triangle at all.  It's a line of unrequited love.

I thought the world that had been created was good, although a little weak on how it got that way.  All that's mentioned is that the population exploded, and more and more trees were cut down so housing could be built, under the assumption that the oceans could handle the oxygen needs, but it couldn't and the oceans sickened or something and then people started dying.  It was a little weak and not all that clear.  I'm not sure if that's just due to not great world building, or if we're being deliberately kept in the dark.  I think it might be not great world building.

The world inside the pod is quite interesting though.  We understand that there are pods such as this all over the world, and they operate of caste systems.  The Premiums have the most money and the most access to air.  They can afford to get extra air to do things like exercise.  If a family goes over their designated air amount, they have to pay for it.  If you're not a Premium, you're either a steward, who works for the government, or an auxiliary, which is pretty sucky.  Auxiliaries are second class citizens and seemed to have very few rights.

Spoilers ahead

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

Gwen's family has been waiting in anticipation for her perfect cousin Charlotte to elapse. Most of the women in Gwen's family has some sort of special ability, but it has been prophesied that a girl from their family will have the ability to elapse back in time and be the final key to the secret society that her family has been a part of for centuries. But as Gwen starts having dizzy spells, and eventually elapses several times, she is thrust into events that she is completely unprepared for (and partnered with a snooty hottie who thinks she's beneath recognition). She must decide who she trusts and if the society's ultimate goal is something she wants to be a part of.

I really enjoyed this book, as in I'm super excited for the sequel like I was excited about the Lux series by Jennifer Armentrout. Rock star. Here's thing though, it really reminds me of Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough. The idea of a girl who grows up in a relative's shadow and then discovers that not only is she extraordinary but also the penultimate power. Perhaps a bit heavy handed, but both were so well done that you can't but forgive the similar themes.

The first book is a lot of set up, there are many different plot devices that are being set up and characters to introduce. Count Saint-Germain seems super creepy, Gideon seems a bit smarmy, and I love the twist on who Lucy Montrose is and how she plays out her part. The characters are complex in Ruby Red, and you're never quite sure whose side a person is on. I'm not sure if it's because Kerstin Gier is German, but this book has a great complexity and pace that you don't see much in young adult books.

I have to apologize, Ari and I were up late last night preparing a paper for possible publication. I meant to do a better job with this, but am having a hard time completing thoughts. This was an excellent book, which I thought you should all know about. I'll come back soon and see if I can't flesh it out to tell you how awesome it was.

The sequel Sapphire Blue comes out Oct. 30.