Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by K.G. Campbell

Flora is a cynic with a romance writer mother who has no time for her.  But after rescuing a squirrel from death by vacuum cleaner and the squirrel (who Fiona names Ulysses) develops superpowers and a love of poetry, Fiona knows nothing will ever be the same.

What an odd little book!  I kind of loved it.  But what an odd little book!  When I first started reading it I thought it was just weird, but then began to really like it.  I think kids will think it's fun too, superhero squirrel and all, but it's one of those books that adults will connect with on a deeper level, because it's about Life.

Flora's parents are divorced and she lives with her mother, who spends most of her time writing her romance novels on her annoyingly loud typewriter.  Flora tells herself she doesn't care that her parents are divorced or that her mother seems to like her shepherdess lamp more than her.  She's a cynic after all!  Despite her cynic status, Flora loves to read superhero comics, in particular one called The Illuminated Adventures of the Amazing Incandesto!  After Ulysses is vacuumed up by Flora's neighbor, Mrs. Tickham, and Flora rescues him, she sees he has developed super strength when he lifts up the vacuum cleaner and shakes it for cracker crumbs.  Even though she's a cynic, Flora recognizes Ulysses' potential superheroness.

Ulysses himself has an awakening after being vacuumed.  He understands people, and realizes he can read and write (as well as other things) and after being read a poem by Mrs. Tickham wants to write poems himself.  Mostly, he wants to learn new things, be near Flora, write poems and eat.  He is also curious about this whole superhero business.

Flora's mother is concerned about Flora's devotion to the squirrel and tries to get Flora's father to "take care of him."  Flora meets a strange boy, William Spiver, who is staying with his aunt Mrs. Tickham.  William Spiver wears dark glasses and claims to be blind due to a traumatic experience he doesn't want to talk about.  Despite the fact Flora finds him annoying, she starts to kind of like him.

As Ulysses develops more superpowers, Flora begins to realize that she really does need (and want) people in her life who love and care about her.  When her mother kidnaps Ulysses, all these strange characters are brought together.

The story was primary told through prose, but it was interspersed with comic strip sections that moved the story along, as well as illustrations accompanying the words.  It was an interesting mix that worked well and played into the whole superhero theme.

The story doesn't have a neatly tied up ending, even though some things are made right.  Not everything is though, which seemed a proper ending for this kind of story.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski.

"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 Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski.

In the tradition of Kristin Cashore and Cassandra Clare comes this brilliant, unputdownable, star-crossed romance about the curse of winning.

Seventeen-year-old Kestrel is an aristocratic citizen of Valoria, a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers. Here, a girl like Kestrel has two choices: join the military or get married. Despite her skills in military strategy, Kestrel’s real passion is music.Which is why she feels compelled to buy Arin, a slave with a talent for singing, at auction. It’s not long before she finds herself falling in love with Arin, and he seems to feel the same for her. But Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for Arin is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

Set in a new world, The Winner’s Curse is a story of wicked rumors, dirty secrets, and games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.

The Winner's Curse comes out March 4, 2014.

The Property by Rutu Modan

After the death of her father, Mica and her paternal grandmother Regina Segal travel to Warsaw in an attempt to claim property lost during WWII.  Regina has not been back to Poland since she was sent away to Israel before WWII.  But Regina is carrying a secret.  She has other reasons for coming to Warsaw.

Rutu Modan is the author of Exit Wounds, which is on my "to read" list and had a lot of positive buzz when it came out.  There's been lots of buzz about The Property too, and it's started showing up on "best of 2013" lists.

We have two parallel stories happening, Mica's and Regina's.  Mica doesn't know what her grandmother's actual purpose in Warsaw is.  All she knows is that her grandmother initially wanted to come to Warsaw to claim this property, but upon arrival she wants nothing to do with it.  Mica sets out to find the property herself.  She has to deal with a snoopy and interfering friend of her aunt's (who has plans of his own) and meets a young Polish man.  All while trying to figure out what on earth is going on with her grandmother.

Spoilers

News

10 classic books you read in high school and should reread.  From PW.

School Library Journal's "Best Books of 2013" lists are out.  Check out fiction, nonfiction, and adult books 4 teens.

25 young adult novels turned into movies, from I Know What You Did Last Summer to The Maze Runner.  From Los Angeles Times.

Speaking of which, why have so many recent YA movie adaptations flopped?  From Vulture.

School Library Journal's movie review of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

What the Common Core means for fiction in schools.  From BookRiot.

What children's authors make of the Common Core and educational policies.  From wusf news.

Has The Hunger Game advertising completely missed the mark?  From The Guardian.

Eleanor & Park to stay on the shelves at Anoka High.  From StarTribune.

Library Journal's best databases 2013 list.

Young readers prefer print to ebooks.  From The Guardian.

The greatest monsters in literature.  From Flavorwire.

How Hans Christian Anderson revitalized storytelling.  From Brain Pickings.

How to create a "culture of reading."  From SLJ.

Waiting on Wednesday: Cress by Marissa Meyer

"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 Cress by Marissa Meyer.

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard. 

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. 

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. 

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

Cress comes out February 4, 2014.

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

Lucy Knisley's most vivid memories are of how things tasted.  She grew up with a foodie father and caterer mother in the middle of New York's blossoming food scene.  Her memoir tells the love story of her relationship to food, and provides many tasty recipes along the way.

Lucy tells vignettes of her life which all revolve around food in some way.  She recalls her quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookies; her trip to Mexico with her mother and her friend Drew's family (their moms got the flu and the two of them ran all over San Miguel eating cheap food); working in a cheese shop like her mother; relating to her father through food.

As well as giving us a picture of her life, Lucy gives us some of her recipes.  Of course, they are told through image and words, it's a comic, after all!  Her recipes include huevos rancheros, veggie sushi (I feel like I could actually make sushi now!), and shepard pie, among others.

At first I thought the art looked much different than it did in French Milk.  Then I realized, no, it's not the art that looks so different, it's the colors.  The style is the same, but French Milk was in black and white, so the lines were much more clear and detailed.  Relish is done in bold, almost muddy colors (I didn't love the color palette), causing the illustrations to appear less detailed.  I still like the style, which is very cute.

Relish is great, because it not only tells the story of the love of food, but also the story of an awkward kid growing up and making mistakes.  Great for young adults and adults alike.

The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason

Mina Holmes, niece of the great Sherlock Homes and Evaline Stoker, sister to Bram Stoke, have been contacted by Irene Adler herself under orders of the Princess of Wales.  Girls are disappearing and turning up dead, each with a mysterious metal scarab beside them.  Mina and Evaline will need to work together to figure out who is behind the terrible crimes - no easy task for a vampire hunter and a careful and knee observer!

This was a fun start to the series.  It establishes an arch-nemesis, leaves things hanging, introduces various characters and potential love interests and leaves you wondering how Mina and Evaline's relationship will continue to evolve, if it does at all.

We are in a Steampunk version of London in 1889.  I liked that it was actually explained why London had gone with steam rather than electricity (it was political) which is now outlawed.  Mina is much like her uncle - meticulous, logical, and with a knee sense of observation.  Mina misses nothing and always has a plan.  Evaline is her opposite.  Evaline, carrying on the destiny of her family, is a vampire hunter with supernatural strength.  Evaline doesn't like to wait to figure things out, she'd rather act.

I find Evaline incredibly tiresome.  She was constantly getting them into trouble because she couldn't just wait and listen before she felt the need to do something dramatic or punch someone.  I found Mina much more likable, even though she feels the need to cover emotion with her cool, Holmes logic.

The book was told from both Mina's and Evaline's perspective.  This worked well, as it allowed the reader to get a different perspective on the characters.  Mina thinks herself plain and awkward, but that doesn't seem to come across to other people.  Mina sees Evaline as beautiful and easily gets along with people, but Evaline sees herself as trapped in a world she doesn't belong.

There was a weird time travel aspect that didn't quite seem to fit with the rest of the book, and I'm not sure where it's going to go.  While in the British Museum, Mina discovers Dylan, who seems to have been transported back in time by the power of the statue of Sekhmet.  He helps Mina in the end, but mostly he just mopes about and their were sparks between them.  But it was a bit odd. 

Of course, both girls have potential love interests, although nothing is really for sure by the end of the book.  Evaline was helped multiple times by a mysterious man called Prix, and Mina has a bit of a rivalry going to a young detective named Grayling.  I predict some kind of love triangle between Mina, Grayling and Dylan. 

By the end of the first book, Mina and Evaline have a grudging respect for each other.  They have come to care for each other, but are they friends?  It's unclear.