Some YA book reviews

(A la Rachel )

Thus follows an account of the various YA novels I have read in the past month, and if they were up to par...or not. Each review is followed by a rating of balls of yarn. Some people use stars or thumbs up, I use balls of yarn. Out of five...five being VERY VERY EXCELLENT.

Whittington by Alan Armstrong - 0375828648
Nope. Nadda. This is the story of a cat..and how he saved the world. Sorta. But it really doesn't turn out that way. And YA??? I think more like 6-8 would be more appropriate. It's got a great premise and a great cover, but frankly, it didn't float my boat at all. Something about it felt too basic, too simple, too not good. The main story is interwoven throughout the little side stories and plots, but I feel it gets lost, and really, it's not believable...I say this about a book about talking animals. Ahem.
One and half balls of yarn.

London Calling by Edward Bloor - 0375836357
I'm glad I never read Tangerine, because if it's as unbelievable as this one was, I'd be very put off. John Martin Conway is given an old old radio from his grandmother (whom everyone thought was getting kookoo) and meets a boy from the past. He must observe events and put things right in the present (the other boy's future). My problem with this story? The kids aren't believable as kids, the adults aren't believable as adults and even though I really liked the imagery and the historical content (because that's always a winner with me), I just couldn't believe in the characters...and that's a big part of escaping into a book. Two balls of yarn.

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas by John Boyne - 0385751060
A fascinating and well told story for younger folk about a German boy whose father is a bigwig at Auschwitz. A different point of view, that of a child who doesn't really understand all that is going on in Germany at the time of WWII, and how it affects his life. He befriends a (Jewish) boy who lives on the "other side of the fence", and this friendship reveals how ignorant many German children were at the time of the state of the world. But, his innocence crosses the boundary of hate, and he and the "boy in the striped pajamas" find some joy in their shared secret friendship. While the Jewish boy's family has been torn apart by Hitler's regime, the German boy's family is torn apart by morals and duty. I really enjoyed this one. At times, it's REALLY disturbing, and so not a kids book, but at the same time, written in an introductory way for younger kids. The ending is a jaw-dropper. Four balls of yarn.

Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins - 0375836047
A perfect book for a Christmas present to any child. I really liked this book, made up of little snapshots of the lives of three toys - Plastic, Lumphy and StingRay. My favourite was Plastic, but Lumphy provides a lot of humour. In a Toy Story vein, these toys (along with all the rest in the little girl's bedroom) come alive at night, or when no one is watching. They argue, they have adventures, they play games, and they get into trouble. Really cute. Three balls of yarn.

Just In Case by Meg Rostoff - 0385746784
What a brilliant book! Explosive imagery, whimscal and serious, smart and incredibly heart wrenching, I couldn't put this book down. It was disturbing, but poignant. It had the "coming of age" feel to it, in a very unconventional way. I think I fell in love a little with Justin (David) and Boy. I found it totally believable, even though it's totally unbelievable. I must read her first book. You must too. Possibly now one of my favoutire YA novels to date. Five balls of yarn!

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall - 0375831436
In the same genre as Happy Little Family, E Nesbit stories, etc., I loved this book! As eccentric as it can get while still being a great read for kids, it's just the kind of smart cute story that makes for great bedtime reading, or sitting in the sun reading. Four young sisters, one widowed father, one summer vacation and the rest is history. Oh yeah, and a really fun dog. Great story, I like! Four balls of yarn.

A Series Of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket - series of 13 books
Hot diggity, it started off so well. And left me more confused and muddled than I thought it could. I feel like Lemony Snicket wrote himself into a corner and didn't know where to go with it all, much like Chris Carter built X-Files into this giant secret that he didn't even know! So many unanswered questions with this series, but still, loads and loads of fun! Great humour and the movie did the frist three books justice, although, now I can't read any of them without hearing it all narrated by Jude Law...which is NOT a bad thing. But, in the end, after so much, you just really want a resolution of some sort...ANYTHING. Instead, we're stuck with new questions, and as Snicket said he will never return to the SoUE, we're pretty much S.O.L. Blah. However, you could say that he purposefully left it like that so that kids could resolve it anyway they want, seeing as through much discussion at work with Sheila, Jessica, Katy, et al, we all have different ideas as to what it was all really about. Maybe one day though, Lemony Snicket will write a tell all or something. I can only hope. Four balls of yarn. Extra half a ball of yarn just because Brett Helquist's illustrations are totally gorgeous, and the book design is wonderful.

Reading now: Airborn by Kenneth Oppel - 0002005379