The YA Book Club at Borders will be held for the first time on Friday, March 14 at 7-10pm, at Starbucks, Borders, The Curve, Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. The session is open to 14-21-year-olds. All registered participants will receive free complimentary tall coffee of the day and a Borders Gift Certificate.
For enquiries call 03 7725 9303 or email curve@bordersstores.com.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is the featured book.
The winner of the Costa children's book award is Ann Kelley for The Bower Bird.
The book is about love, life and death seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old girl with congenital disease. It's the sequel to Kelley's The Burying Beetle.
The winners in the other categories are:
First novel
Catherine Flynn for What Was Lost.
Novel
AL Kennedy for Day.
Biography
Simon Sebag Montefiore for Young Stalin
Poetry
Jean Sprackland for Tilt
A human girl and a luscious male vampire decide to go steady. A werewolf offers the girl an alternative (hot-blooded) romance. Obviously, some females attract all the right monsters.
Fan art of Bella and Edward, the human-vampire lovers in Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series.
Communicating with someone solely through notes stuck on the fridge door ... isn't that sort of what most of us do, leaving messages on each other's Facebook page?
I have said the weirdest stuff to people on Facebook that I would never dream of saying to their actual face.
Anyway, the usual 25% discount applies for all the featured books (only with the coupon in today's StarTWo).
May 2007
Zen Shorts
Written and Illustrated by John J. Muth
Publisher: Scholastic, 40 pages
ISBN: 978-0439339117
THREE siblings learn important lessons from their new neighbour, a giant panda called Stillwater. "I'm sorry for arriving unannounced," he says, speaking with a "slight panda acccent".
Stillwater is wise and gentle, and very, very "zen" about everything, hence the book's title. Stillater tells each child a tale, from Zen and Taoist literature, and there are lessons to be learnt from all of them, but they are also just good, interesting stories.
Muth's words are simple, and his style elegant and easy to read. His watercolours are lovely, the colours true and bright, reflecting a serene and beautiful world. Black and white ink sketches illustrate Stillwater's tales and are more cartoonish and quirky than the colour plates. Personally, I found "Zen Shorts" inspiring. Others may just think, "What an adorable panda!" However you feel, this book is destined to be a classic.
By Kyoicho Katayama
Publisher: VIZ Media, 208 pages
This Young Adult love story tells of the innocent love affair between two classmates: Saku and Aki.
The latter is a pretty girl, romantic and just a little shallow - predictably so for someone of her tender years. She has a good heart though and she is sensitive and thoughtful.
Saku is a friendly, wise-cracking, laid-back kendo and rock fan. When he and Aki become friends, he is blissfully unaware of his schoolmates resentment and jealousy.
It takes him awhile to realise how much he likes Aki. In fact, Saku is so clueless that he ignores every single one of Aki's hints, even the most blatant.
To her credit, Aki behaves in a dignified and graceful manner throughout. And once Saku gets his act together and starts seeing his buddy as the lovable girl she is, he too reveals himself to be a warm, generous, loyal and considerate person.
Unfortunately, Aki is diagnosed with a terminal illness and Saku has to learn to carry on by himself.
It's always good to read a Japanese novel that isn't brimming with sex and violence. That's why I enjoy Botchan and Totto-Chan so much. However, this story reminded me too much of those awful Japanese soap operas where one of the leads almost always dies.
Still, at least the writing isn't overly sentimental, and the writer's portrayal of teenagers and their feelings, behaviour and actions is accurate (yes, I remember what it was like!).
This book is a bestseller in Japan so I'm thinking it's lost something in translation.
Honestly, I can't see why it made such an impression. It's an easy and pleasant read, but it didn't really touch me or grab my attention.
Saku and Aki are two nice kids, but I don't think that they are terribly interesting or special.
I think I'd have liked it much more as a teenager though. I remember being very taken with a Japanese soap opera in which the girl, dying of leukemia (or was it congenital heart disease?), falls in love with a bloke who mistakes her for a half-sister and so, nobly, rejects her although he stupidly doesn't tell her why. All very complicated and melodramatic and tragic and sentimental, but I loved it.
Socrates in Love should be a hit with emotional teens age 13 to 16.
P.S. Full marks for the pretty cover!
Last night I finished reading Absolutely, Positively Not ... by David La Rochelle who also wrote that wonderful picture book The Best Pet of All.
When I posted about Best Pet being my favourite picture book of 2004 (My Reading Year: 2004), David emailed to tell me about Absolutely, his first Young Adult novel. Of course I had to ask for a preview copy and I got it, on Monday!
Suffice to say that, reading it, I nearly fell out of bed laughing.
I'm not sure if the Malaysian censors will pass it as it's about a teenage boy (Steve)trying to come to terms with his sexuality. It wouldn't be a problem if it was about a straight guy wrestling with his hormones, but the fact that Steve thinks he might be gay would be a problem. Still, the cover doesn't give anything away, nor the title. Plus, it's not sexually explicit at all; just warm, funny and honest. And Steve is totally cuckoo, which makes him very endearing. Bravo, David!
I'm hoping Absolutely gets released here. I'm definitely asking the bookstores to bring it in directly even if the distributors don't.
Absolutely Positively Not ... is published this month.
Title: Juniper, Gentian and Rosemary
Author: Pamela Dean
Publisher: Tor
Where You Bought This Book: I ordered it, through Bookfinder.com, from an independent American book seller.
Main Characters:
1. Gentian
2. Her sisters, Juniper and Rosemary
3. Their parents
4. Gentian’s best friends
5. Dominic, the boy-next-door
What It’s All About:
As I’ve said before, I’m not sure. The book is pretty plotless, but basically it’s about Gentian and her sisters coping with a very odd new neighbour, Dominic. He’s handsome and speaks in quotes, and he lives at an address the post office insist doesn’t exist.
Dominic wants the three sisters to help him build a time machine but this doesn’t happen til the end of the book. In fact, nothing much happens until the last four or so chapters. Before that, it’s all Gentian and various other characters discussing literature or science or feminism. This makes the book rather unbelievable seeing that she is 13.
What happens finally is quite devastating and you wish Pamela Dean had got to it earlier.
What I like About It:
1. It’s not believable that modern-day 13-year-old girls should spend so much time discussing poetry and feminism, but I did enjoy the conversations Gentian has with her best friends.
2. The poetry that’s supposed to be written by Becky, Gentian’s favourite best friend.
3. The bits which describe the planets and stars Gentian looks at with her telescope.
What I Dislike About It:
There’s nothing I actually dislike. I actually like books that are full of rambling conversations, where nothing much happens, but I guess I wasn’t expecting it of a children’s book, and a fantasy ones at that!
Other Books I’ve Read by the Same Author:
I haven’t, but now I want to.
If You Like the Sound of this Book, You should also Check out these Titles:
1. Katherine Mansfield’s short stories.
2. A World of Love by Elizabeth Bowen.
3. The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones. This one also features sisters and a beautiful boy.
Name of Reviewer: Daphne Lee
I enjoyed a couple of books over the Independence Day bank holiday: The Mirror-Image Ghost by Catherine Storr, and The River at Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston.
I only found out last night that Boston started writing her Green Knowe books when she was 60! Wow! There is hope for me yet! And until last night I thought all the books were about Tolly, the little boy who arrives to live with his grandmother in an old manor house by a river. It seems that the characters in each book vary somewhat.
In River, it's Ida, Oscar and Ping, who explore the water in a canoe. Like in the first book (The Children of Green Knowe, which is the only other in the series I've read) it is pretty plotless, and simply describes the children spending long, idyllic days, exploring and enjoying the countryside. I must say it's a rather magical and evocative read.
I'm keeping my eye out for other Green Knowe books, epsecially Stranger at Green Knowe, which won the Carnegie Medal in 1961 and once again features Ping!
The books are illustrated by Peter Boston, the son of Lucy Boston. In fact, Green Knowe is based on Lucy Boston's own home, Hemingford Grey Manor House, in Huntingdon, Cambrideshire. You can actually visit the house, by appointment. Alas, I did not know this when I was living in the UK!
The other book I read, The Mirror-Image Ghost, is a grimmer, much sadder tale about Lisa, a young girl adjusting to her new step father and siblings. The ghost of the title appears in a haunted mirror, and it is not so much a spirit as a figure from the past. I found the book quite creepy in places, especially near the end ...
Catherine Storr's best known novel is Marianne Dreams, another very spooky tale about a girl who dreams vividly about whatever she draws. The sequel, Mark and Marianne, is weirdly uncreepy though. It's like Marianne forgets totally all the strange things that happened to her in the first book, and goes on to lead a horribly mundane life. I wonder what Storr was thinking! Not that it's a bad book. I'm just baffled by how different it is, up to the point of being rather inconsistent. Maybe Storr just wanted to use the two characters in an ordinary teenage novel.
As promised, my 2 sen on those young adult books I'm recommending in this Sunday's Tots to Teens:
Judy Blume
Forever
(Macmillan, 178 pages)
Story: Katherine meets Michael and they fall in love. After several dates that include lots of kissing and some heavy petting, they decide to bite the bullet and go all the way. Of course, things are less than perfect the first few times, but they do get better – phew!
Katherine has very progressive parents and a hip and happening Grandma who advises her on contraception (we should all be so lucky!) so she doesn’t have to go through the normal cloak and dagger that most “teens-on-the brink” do.
I like the bit where Katherine gets her period on a special weekend getaway. That’s such a big deal when you’re a teen and time with your beloved is so precious!
What I find very cringe-worthy is “Ralph” – I won’t say anymore. Read the book!
NB: This book was a big deal when I was a teenager. It's still a pretty candid account of a teenage girl's first sexual relationship. It was written in the 70s so there is no mention of AIDs, which in itself presents an interesting discussion point for parents and teens.
Valeries Mendes
Lost and Found
(Simon and Schuster, 244 pages)
Story: Daniel is grieving the death of his grandmother and guardian when several things happen. First, he meets Laura whom he tries, reluctantly, to adopt for his class’s “Adopt a Granny” programme. Second, his grandmother’s house is sold and the beautiful Jade moves in with her parents and beloved baby brother, Finn.
Daniel falls in love and finds solace in Jade who is not only pretty, but warm, bright and fun to be with.
He also grows close to Laura who is grieving too (for her father). The two help each other cope with the loss of a loved one.
Daniel introduces Jade to Laura and the three get along well until Laura notices that Jade seems share a uncommonly close bond with Finn. Secrets then come to light that nearly destroy the new relationships Daniel has built.
NB: Bereavement is the central theme of this beautiful story, which also deals with statutory rape, motherhood, love and commitment.
I like the way Mendes brings her characters to life with just a few simple phrases. Jade, especially, just dances out of the page at you: “The girl stood on the step, shimmering with colour,” “Her dress sang with rainbow-coloured stripes.” Lovely!
Garret Freymann-Weyr
My Heartbeat
(Young Picador, 138 pages)
Story: Ellen is 14. The two people she loves most in the world are Link, her brother, and his best friend James. Then one day, a classmate asks if Link and James are a couple, which starts Ellen thinking hard and asking all sorts of difficult questions about their relationship – with each other, with her, and with her parents, especially her homophobic father.
NB: Ellen keeps the tone of this book light and almost flippant despite the serious themes of sexual orientation, parental acceptance, emotional blackmail and underage sex.
I love the fact that Ellen and James become a couple, and it’s interesting how practical yet romantic their relationship becomes.
Ellen is so grown-up and smart for her age. And yet she’s vulnerable and babyish in some ways: I like the mix. She’s a very attractive, charismatic character. And James is just gorgeous. They make a really sweet couple.
Julia Green
Baby Blue
(Puffin Books, 246 pages)
Story: This is the sequel to Blue Moon, in which Mia deals with pregnancy. In this book she’s just had her baby and has to cope with motherhood (and breastfeeding!). She also has to deal with the pain of growing apart from her school friends as they continue their carefree teenage existence and she has to struggle with the responsibilities and difficulties of single-parenthood.
Mia’s parents are supportive of her decision to raise baby, but she feels that they don’t understand what she is going through. Will, the baby’s father, is also no help. He tries to get close again, but it’s clear that he’s motivated just by what he wants and seems to have no understanding of and interest in what Mia is experiencing as a mother.
It is when Mia meets another young, single mum, Colleen, and has someone to share and empathise with that things to start to look up and fall into place.
NB: As a mother I have to say Green writes very accurately and sensitively about what it’s like to care for a new baby, especially if it’s your first. I could really feel for Mia and found a story a very compelling and emotional one.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
June 2008: Jenny Wagner (Author) & Ron Brooks (Illustrator): John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat
John Brown is an old English sheep dog. He belongs to Rose, an old widow, and is a deeply devoted companion. Says Rose, "We are all right, John Brown. Just the two of us. You and me." But one night, Rose notices a cat in the garden. A midnight cat. She is fascinated by the cat. John Brown doesn't approve. He tells the cat to leave. But Rose wants the cat. She longs for it. She leaves it milk in a bowl, which John Brown tips over. Finally, Rose takes to her bed and declares that she might stay there forever. John Brown is sad and decides that, because he loves Rose so much, he will put up with the midnight cat. This is a strange picture book - quite gloomy and sombre. The midnight cat is slightly sinister - could it be a symbol of death? When John Brown finally allows the cat into the cottage, is he really accepting Rose's death? Perhaps being a true friend includes being able to let go.
