Tuesday 30 July 2013

YA Book Tour- Washington

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Next stop on the tour is Washington with Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Arnold Spirit or Junior as he is called by his family is a Spokane Indian living on the reservation.  He started out with a rough lot health-wise, being born with hydrocephalus (water baby), seizures, bad eyesight, and some teeth issues.  His family, like many families on the rez, is dirt poor.

When Junior starts high school at the rez school, and sees that they are still using the same book that his mother used, he gets understandably mad. After throwing the book and hitting his teacher, he is suspended and his teacher comes to have a talk to him in which he tells him, he deserves better than the rez education can provide.  At this point, Junior decides to get the most out of his education, he needs to transfer to the "white" school off the rez.

Junior's decision prompts many of the Indians on the reservation to consider him a trader.  Believing that he trying to become white. Junior makes his way through the rough waters of being the new and different kid at school and having your people dislike you, and all the while he is really learning to experience life.

This book is an inspiration to everyone because it is truly about making the best out of life.  If anyone has reasons to be angry with the world, it is Junior.  He has had horrible health issue, his family is super poor, his dad is a drunk, and many of his loved ones died in unfortunate incidents.  Junior is, in fact, quite the opposite of angry.  He finds good in many things, and tries to be a better person in general. He works hard at everything he does from school to his drawings. I think that if more people would even attempt to be more like Junior this world would be a better place.

Currently Reading:
Unearthly
by Cynthia Hand

Tuesday 23 July 2013

YA Book Tour- Montana

The Miseducation of Cameron Post

Next stop in the YA book tour is Montana with Emily M. Danforth's The Miseducation of Cameron Post.  Warning this book will make me bust out my soap box on equal rights for gays and lesbians.

Cameron Post is just beginning her adolescents when her parents are killed in a terrible car accident.  The accidents, also, happens the day after Cameron kiss a girl.  Cameron's guardianship is taken over by her old fashion Grandmother and her ultra-religious Aunt Ruth.

As Cameron continues to grow, she knows that she is a lesbian.  She has a summer fling with another girls whom she swims against, but it is when she meets Coley Taylor that she discovers how deep her feelings for another person can be.  Unfortunately for Cameron, her aunt finds out about her feelings and decides she needs to be "fixed" shipping her off to Promise, a christian center to cure her of her homosexual desires.

This book was wonderfully written with fantastic and complex characters.  I feel empathy for Cameron as she struggles to keep her sexual orientation hidden knowing that her small town and her aunt would not be accepting of it, and yet, she is not truly trying to deny who she is. I mean, come on, high school is a struggle when you are straight girl, I can't even imagine how hard it is when you are a lesbian in a small town in the early 90's.

Cameron is such a wonderful character, and so well written.  She is true to herself, even when she is sent to that horrible christian reform place.  I think she says it best when she said she never thought of herself as a homosexual, but just was herself. My heartbreaks for her when Coley betrays her trust, and when her aunt can't love her for the way she is. And lets face it, the problem that Cameron really needs to deal with is not that she is lesbian, but that she is a kleptomaniac.

Coley and Aunt Ruth, oh where to begin.  Aunt Ruth comes in after Cameron's traumatic loss of her parents and starts making big decisions for her without even seeming to care for what is going on with Cameron.  She never for a second stops to think that maybe she is the one that is wrong, and there is nothing wrong with Cameron. Coley, who encourages Cameron's feelings, just takes her heart out and stomps on it.  Coley is in deep denial about herself while we are it.

Promise is what makes me most sad, partly because I know there are really place out there like it. (About to hop on my soap box.)  Being gay or lesbian is not a disease, it is just the way some people are.  It does make them wrong or a perversion. There is no need to cure what is not a disease. The "incident" with one of the students at Promise just goes to show that these places are doing way more harm than good.

This really is a wonderful book, with a great theme of being true to yourself even when the world seems set against you.

Currently Reading:
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie

Friday 19 July 2013

YA Book Tour- South Dakota

Go Big or Go Home

Rolling on to the Black Hills of South Dakota for the next stop on the tour with Will Hobbs' Go Big or Go Home.

The big meteor shower gives Brady quite the surprise as a meteorite crash through the roof of his house into his bedroom.  Brady names the meteorite Fred, and naturally calls his best friend and cousin Quinn to spill the news.

Quinn comes down the next day, and him and Brady get up to their usual summer activities of biking, fishing, and exploring.  They, also, visit the local museum where the expert learns more about Fred. Brady soon learns that he is getting more out Fred than expected, and this little meteorite is causing a strange change in him.

Mr. Hobbs does an excellent job of describing the scenery of the Black Hills.  He really does transport the reader there at times.  That being said, while the book was entertaining enough, but there definitely was not any surprise twist or shocking moments in it.

I was not impressed with the author's characters.  They seemed very flat.  So they liked to do fun and extreme outdoors things, but they need more dimensions to really bring them to life. I just felt that he really could explored his characters a little more and made the book better.

Currently Reading:
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
by Emily M. Danforth

Wednesday 17 July 2013

YA Book Tour- North Dakota

The Beet Fields: Memories of a Sixteenth Summer

Next stop on the YA book tour is North Dakota with Gary Paulsen's The Beet Fields.

A sixteen year old boy with a less than ideal home life, both parents are alcoholics.  Runs away to find a better life. He begins his new life working the beet fields of North Dakota with the migrant Mexican workers. He moves on to different things, and eventually ends up working at a traveling carnival.

In each new experience he learns different life lessons about kindness, family, the ways of the world, and lust.

This book starts out with possible one of the most skin crawling scenes.  The boy's mother gets into bed with him and basically attempts to have sex with him.  After that, it is no wonder he left.

The book never names the main character.  The entire boy he is just called the boy, while every other character gets a name.  It hard to establish a bond with a character with no name, especially because it is not even written in first person.  The way the story is written and how it keeps calling him the boy makes the book feel like an anthropologist's observations on his life.  The book kind of ends very abruptly, and I wonder just a little whatever happened to the boy.

In other news, I officially only have 10 books left to read on the United States of YA book tour.  I will probably post the updated map sometime tomorrow.

Currently Reading:
Go Big or Go Home
by Will Hobbs

Friday 12 July 2013

YA Book Tour- Colorado

A Beautiful Dark (A Beautiful Dark, #1)

Next stop on the United States of YA book tour is Colorado with Jocelyn Davies' A Beautiful Dark.

Skye Parker's seventeenth birthday party is a blast, quite literally.  The boilers explodes, but beyond that she has her first encounter with the new boys in town, Asher and Devin, cousins that are polar opposites.  As Skye becomes more deeply involved with Asher and Devin, she learns that she is more than the average human.

Asher and Devin are on opposites of the powers who control earth.  Devin is part of the Order, who believes very strongly in fate, and will do anything to guide humans to their intended fate.  Asher is part of the Rebellion, who believes that human should have the free will to chose their own path in life without interference from others. And both sides want Skye to join them, because of her heritage each believes she is the piece they need to tip the balance in their favor.

The book was kind of hard to get into at first for me, which is weird because it seems like it right in line with my favorite genres.  I struggled to figure out why I was having trouble getting absorbed in the book, and then it hit me.  I have read this story before, okay not this book exactly, but this book was so extremely close to Lauren Kate's Fallen that it felt like deja vu, and not in relieving your favorite book kind of way.  Even the girl on the cover looks a little like the girl on the cover of the Fallen books.

The main character Skye, did nothing for me.  Honestly she is kind of boring.  She has always been the good little orphan girl, straight A student, and ski team star, which makes a little to perfect for my liking.  At times she is quite the emotional flat line that it is hard to connect with her. And Asher and Devin really did nothing for me either.  Both, from the beginning, just seemed like they were seeing who could play Skye the best to win her to their side.  Super annoying when the author is trying to be deep with them, but nothing feels genuine with either of them. Honestly the character that could have saved this book was Skye's bestie, Cassie.  She is vibrant and full of personality, and unfortunately, a super under utilized character.

The book was so uninspiring to me, that even though it ended in a cliff hanger, I do not feel the need to read the next book.  I just don't know if I could take anymore of the characters and book deja vu.

Currently Reading:
The Beet Fields
by Gary Paulsen