Waiting on Wednesday: Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys.

"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 Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys.

It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer. She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street.

Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.

With characters as captivating as those in her internationally bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny.

Out of the Easy comes out February 12, 2013.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

Aristotle and Dante meet one summer in high school.  Ari can't swim.  Dante teaches him, and even though they are incredibly different, the two become close friends.  Ari's brother is in prison, and he doesn't even know why.  His family won't talk about it.  All the not talking presses on Ari, until he isn't sure what to do or where to turn.  And all the while there's Dante, seeming to love him unconditionally, which might be more than Ari can stand.

This was beautiful.  It was just beautiful.  It was moving and heartfelt.  It explored sexuality and friendship and growing up and family and what happens when you hold things inside.  I thought the sparse writing style was perfect.  I loved it.  And I was teary at the end.  While there are many books I love and that have moved me, I really don't often cry over books.  But I was just so happy, at the end, and had such a feeling of, "at last, the universe if finally making sense for Ari and he so deserves it and I'm so glad," I had tears in my eyes.

Ari was a wonderful character.  Despite the fact that he was the narrator of the entire book, and it was a first person narration, it was very hard to get to know him, and know what he was really thinking.  The writing style worked perfectly for this.  Dialogue was realistic, which meant short, chopped sentences.  It never felt choppy, however.  It was kind of amazing how lyrical and smooth it was.  It somehow came out seeming poetic, rather than choppy are terse.

Youth Media Awards 2013

So I am fairly happy with the winners of the Youth Media Awards this year.  Usually, I am filled with rage afterwards.  No rage this year, I'm glad to announce.  I'm happy that my favorite book of the year, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (which I will review soon, I swear) won two awards and was an honor book for the Printz.  I was also very happy that Seraphina won the Morris Award.  That book was awesome.  And now, the winners!

The winner of this year's Printz Award (for excellence in literature written for young adults) is In Darkness by Nick Lake.

Honor Books: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (yay!) by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Dodger by Terry Pratchett and The White Bicycle (none of us had heard of this one) by Beverley Brenna.

The winner of this year's Newbery Medal(for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature) is (to no one's surprise) The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.

Honor books: Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz, Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin  and Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage 

The winner of the Caldecott Medal (for the most distinguished American picture book for children) is This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen.

Honor Books: Creepy Carrots! illustrated by Peter Brown, written by Aaron Reynolds, Extra Yarn illustrated by Jon Klassen, written by Mac Barnett, Green illustrated and written by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, One Cool Friend illustrated by David Small, written by Toni Buzzeo, and Sleep Like a Tiger illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski.

The winner of the Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award (recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults) is Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian Pinkney.

Honor Books: Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by E. B. Lewis and No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie.

The winner of this year's Pura Belpré (Author) Award (honoring a Latino writer and illustrator whose children's books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience) is Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (yay!).

Honor Book: The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano by Sonia Manzano

The winner of the Stonewall Book Award - Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award (given annually to English-language children’s and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience) is Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (yay again!)

Honor Books: Drama written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier, Gone, Gone, Gone by Hannah Moskowitz, October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Lesléa Newman, and Sparks: The Epic, Completely True Blue, (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie by S. J. Adams.

The winner of this year's Morris Award (for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens) is Seraphina by Rachel Hartman.

See the full list of all the award winners.

News

According to a Pew study, most people don't know what libraries have to offer.  From infoDocket.

Oh Lord, I'm so depressed now.  Libraries dying slow death, Delta councillor suggests.  From the now.

Well...you could always go this route: library turns to pole dancing to entice new readers.  From The Guardian.

Not a lack of Latino lit, but a lack of awareness.  From SLJ.

10 most anticipated book adaptations of 2013.  From PW.

Such a nice story.  An American Girl doll has gone on many adventures after being lent out from the New York Public Library.  From The New York Times.

A 6th grader from Flint, Michigan is going to have his book published.  From mLive.

Conspiracy theories about classic literary characters.  From Flavorwire.

How sad am I that I couldn't be a John Green's Even of Awesome?  So sad.  From PW.

Sarah Dessen tells the truth about high school.  From post-gazette.com

A German publisher is being criticized for removing controversial language from a classic children's book.  From Spiegel Online International.

A conversation with the always awesome Gail Carriger.  From PW.

Built of books.  From designboom.

Why was I not informed?  10 literary board games for book nerds.  From Flavorwire.

Gary Busey would like to tell you about Hobbits.

Princeless Book One: Save Yourself by Jeremy Whitley, art by M. Goodwin

Like her older sisters, when she turns 16 Adrienne is placed in a tower guarded by a dragon and forced to wait to be rescued by a prince.  But when Adrienne discovers a sword hidden under her bed, she decides to change her own story.  Teaming up with her guardian dragon, Sparky, Adrienne escapes from her tower and sets off to free her sisters.

This was awesome.  In all different ways.  First of all, people of color! Yay!  A whole family of Black princesses! Bedelia, who befriends Adrienne and joins her on her adventure, is white, as is the pathetic prince who tried to rescue Adrienne and ended up running from the dragon.  So far there haven't been any characters of color beside Adrienne and her family, but I have high hopes.

Next, seriously kick ass female characters.  We have Adrienne and Bedelia, who are both doing something that is not typical for woman and have gotten tired of hiding it.  Adrienne has decided she's not going to wait around to be rescued for her life to start, and does it herself.  Bedelia is a blacksmith, but has been letting everyone think that it's her father that does the work, because who would buy armor from a girl?  Bedelia make Adrienne some amazing armor, and then joins her on her quest.

When Adrienne first comes into Bedelia's shop and asks to see the armor, Bedelia shows her the "Women Warrior Collection," which is made up of the stereotypical bikini tops and bottoms.  Clearly harkens back to Xena and Wonder Woman.  Adrienne wonders why armor for woman couldn't be like armor for men, only fit for a woman.  The Woman Warrior armor is so revealing, it would be easy to get killed.  Bedelia thinks about this, agrees, and proceeds to make not a costume, but armor for a warrior women.  Thank you, Jeremy Whitley, you are awesome.

On top of this, it's a good story.  Sparky burns down Adrienne's tower, so her parents think she's dead and have sent knights out to kill the dragon.  Adrienne first heads back to her father's castle to get her little sister, only to discover she's already been taken away somewhere.  Adrienne's brother, Devin, is at odds with his father, who does not think he is fit to be king.  Devin is the only one who knows Adrienne is really alive.  When this first book ends, Adrienne and Bedelia are headed off to rescue Adrienne's sister Angelica.

For the most part the layout was typical comic layout of mostly regularly panels.  It did break of out of this at times, in particular when there was fight scenes, which made these scenes especially striking.  I liked the art, it fit well with the fantasy story.  In terms of representations of woman, the female characters seen so far all pretty much have the same body type - slim, even Bedelia, who's part dwarf and super strong.  Hey, you can't have everything.

Overall, awesome!

Emiko Superstar by Mariko Tamaki

Emiko's best friend moved last year and now she's trying to fit in with the other girls at school. What ends up happening though is a growing feeling of alienation that pushes Emiko to find connections with performance artists who live on the fringe. As Emiko develops a growing sense of self, she also starts performing by reading the diary of an alienated wife that she babysits for. As the story progresses Emiko must decide whether or not she's reflecting her own self or just a reflection of the people she has grown to care for.

I really wanted to love this. I thought the themes were really strong, the setting was fantastic, and the portrayal of underground performance art was new. I unfortunately thought the characters were rather weak. Well maybe that isn't the best explanation, the characters didn't live up to the rest of the story. They were a bit under-developed and underwhelming. Emiko never seemed to really find her sense of 'self.' I liked her development as a performer and her growing confidence in that, but I didn't really feel like that would necessarily mean that she had a new definition of self. Which is the payoff that I was searching for and never ended up getting. Emiko found a group of people that she connected with, but instead of defining herself she let the group define her which I think kind of undercuts the entire arch of the story.

Then there was the subplot of the family that Emiko babysits for. I found this to be quite fascinating and kind of wish more time was spent with it. I thought that the ambient tension and frustration that the family was going through was quite poignant.

To sum up:

• I liked the artwork
• I loved the setting
• I liked some of the secondary characters
• I thought the main character was weak
• I thought the themes were underdeveloped, though well chosen

Overall this book was only okay, it had the potential to be great but never reached the heights I wanted it to.

Waiting on Wednesday: Scarlet 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 Scarlet by Marissa Meyer.

Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.

As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Scarlet comes out February 5, 2013.