Sunday, June 29, 2014

One for the Murphys

One for the Murphys
by Lynda Mullaly Hunt


Genre: Juvenile Fiction

Synopsis:  Twelve-year-old Carley Connors can take a lot.  Growing up in Las Vegas with her fun-loving mother, she's learned to be tough.  But she never expected a betrayal that would land her in foster care.  When she's placed with the Murphys, a lively family with three boys, she's blindsided.  Mrs. Murphy makes her feel seen and heard for the first time.  Then, just when she starts to believe she could truly be one of the Murphys, news from her mother shakes her world.
From the back of the book

Review:  I'm struggling with what to say about this book right now.  I had a hard time with this book because Carley was so conflicted about Mrs. Murphy and her intentions and at times acted like an ungrateful child but yet I had to remember that Carley has had a hard life with her mom and doesn't understand love and kindness.  Her attitude must be close to realistic but it still bothered me at times.  This book also broke my heart several times.  I wanted everything to end well for Carley and for her to find love and happiness.  The ending left a little to be desired.  I had to keep reminding myself as I read this book that it was written for a much younger audience and therefore had really short chapters that sometimes didn't flow from one to the other.  But it was a very touching story that I enjoyed.

Rating: 4 stars

When I Fell From the Sky

When I Fell From the Sky: The True Story of One Woman's Miraculous Survival
by Juliane Koepcke

Genre: Memoir

Synopsis: On December 24, 1971, seventeen-year-old Juliane and her mother, a well known naturalist, boarded a LANSA airplane in Peru to meet her father for Christmas.  They fought to get some of the last seats available, and felt thankful to have made the flight.

Their plane flew into a volatile thunderstorm and was obliterated, killing 91 passengers.  The teenage girl fell two miles through the sky and landed in the Peruvian jungle, commonly referred to as the Amazon.

Juliane was the sole survivor but was presumed dead.

She survived eleven days in the jungle, alone.

"The thought of why I was the only survivor haunts me.  It always will," said Juliane, recounting the survival that stunned the world.  "I remember my mother wasn't nervous, only concerned just moments before the plane broke apart.  I heard an incredibly loud motor and people screaming, and then it was calm, incredibly calm.  I could only hear the wind in my ears; I was still attached to my seat.  I was free-falling in a tailspin; I saw the forest beneath me.  For me the jungle was never a green hell, but a place that kept me alive."

When I Fell From the Sky is not only the true story of dramatic survival, but also a rare look at a life lived in the wake of beating unfathomable odds.  It is a must read for anyone searching for the meaning of his or her own destiny in an unpredictable and unexplainable world.

Juliane Koepcke has gone on to devote her life to preserving the rain forest that caught her and then saved her.  Her story is one of miraculous and epic survival, as well as a "green"-inspired book that will leave all with a renewed respect and appreciation for the environment and our role in it.

Review:  I found this book after reading a short non-fiction about Juliane Koepcke with my students.  They were fascinated by her story as was I and they wanted me to read her memoir.  I found her story of her early life in the jungle interesting and, or course, her story of the fall and subsequent survival incredible.  But the rest of the book was not as interesting.  I thought the book would be mainly about her experience in the rainforest after the plane crash but I was wrong.  Most of this book was about her life before and after the crash and about her trying to protect her parents' land in Peru, a place called Panguana.  The writing style annoyed me at times when the author used ellipses instead of ending a story especially at the end of chapters.  Also the author liked to give her opinion of things, like the morals of journalists, that had no place in this story.  There were several times where I just had to shake my head at something she said in her story that seemed to not belong.

Rating: 3 stars

Thursday, June 26, 2014

The Testing

The Testing
by Joelle Charbonneau


Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Dystopian Fiction

Synopsis:  Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Isn’t that what they say? But how close is too close when they may be one in the same? 

The Seven Stages War left much of the planet a charred wasteland. The future belongs to the next generation’s chosen few who must rebuild it. But to enter this elite group, candidates must first pass The Testing—their one chance at a college education and a rewarding career. 

Cia Vale is honored to be chosen as a Testing candidate; eager to prove her worthiness as a University student and future leader of the United Commonwealth. But on the eve of her departure, her father’s advice hints at a darker side to her upcoming studies--trust no one. 

But surely she can trust Tomas, her handsome childhood friend who offers an alliance? Tomas, who seems to care more about her with the passing of every grueling (and deadly) day of the Testing. To survive, Cia must choose: love without truth or life without trust.
From GoodReads

Review: Here is another book in the young adult dystopian fiction genre that is part of a trilogy.  I've read some reviews and some people think it's a rip off from Hunger Games.  I could see similarities but that didn't make the book any less enjoyable.  It didn't make me know what was coming.  I liked the premise of the story but there were some holes for me.  The students chosen for the Testing have to go through rigorous deadly exams to weed out people who may not be the best leaders for their community but I couldn't figure out why that was necessary as all the people accepted into the University after the Testing didn't go on to lead the country-they were scientists, teachers, researchers, etc.  You would think the best and brightest from each colony should all be accepted to the University and then after completing coursework, they go through a testing process to find their best jobs.  But then there wouldn't have been much of a story to this book!  I appreciated Cia's intelligence in this book and her ability to adapt to situations.  I also appreciated the description of the world and how it came to be its present state.  I look forward to reading the next 2 books in the series.

Rating: 4 stars

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

A Long Walk to Water

A Long Walk to Water
by Linda Sue Park

Genre: Juvenile Fiction

Synopsis:  Nya goes to the pond to fetch water for her family.  She walks eight hours every day.

Salva walks away from his war-torn village.  He is a "lost boy" refugee, destined to cover Africa on foot, searching for his family and safety.

Two young people...two stores.

One country: Sudan.

This mesmerizing dual narrative follows tow threads-one unfolding in 2008 and one in 1985-with one hopeful message: that even in a troubled country, determined survivors may find the future they are hoping for.
From the back of the book

Review: What an eye opening story for young readers (maybe 5th grade and up)!  This was a quick, easy, short read about 2 children from Sudan and their experiences-one in the present who has to walk quite a distance to water and one in the past who is one of the lost boys of the Sudan who lives in refugee camps after the war came to his village.  Each chapter begins with a snippet of Nya's story, the girl who has to walk a long way to water and more of the chapter is about Salva, the lost boy.  I wished that I had more story from both of them.  Maybe a chapter about Nya and then a chapter about Salva would have given more meat to the story.  I wanted to know more and I also wanted to know true facts.  Salva is a real person but some facts are fictional.  Also after a while, I wondered how the author was going to connect the 2 stories.  They were finally connected at the very last sentence of the book.  But overall this really would be a great book for young readers as an introduction to what has happened in the Sudan.

Rating: 4 stars

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Nice to Come Home To

Nice to Come Home To
Rebecca Flowers

Nice to Come Home To

Genre: Women's Fiction, or maybe Chick-lit?

Summary (from Goodreads):  A funny, entertaining novel of love and family for our times: a single woman who fears she's lost her chance at a family of her own, begins to accumulate an ad hoc one around her.

In the tradition of Elinor Lipman or Marisa de los Santos (Love Walked In), Flowers delivers a smart, witty, appealing story of love, family, and community that breaks the mold of the conventional love story-and will have readers cheering.

Everyone around Prudence Whistler, thirty-six, seems to be settling down. Her once single girlfriends have married and had babies. Her gay best friend is discussing marriage with his partner. Even her irresponsible younger sister, Patsy, is the single mother of a two-year-old. But when Pru panics at losing her mediocre boyfriend of two years-and begins to see the door to her traditional family life closing-she accidentally finds something even better: a new definition of family and happiness. First, it's the crazy cat who moves into her apartment. Then come Pru's headstrong sister and two-year-old niece. Then the niece's dog, the sister's ex-boyfriend, and, ultimately, Patsy and Pru's widowed mother. With the strength of her modern new household, Pru musters the confidence to open the dress shop she's always wanted in town-and discovers an extended family of sorts in the community of shop owners and devoted customers. It's only then that she ends up with the man of her dreams. Endearing, romantic, and satisfying, Nice to Come Home To is a charming, crowd-pleasing debut.


Review: An easy-to-read and quick-to-finish book about a very normal girl looking to find her place in life.  Pru was a down-to-earth girl with very amusing friends and family.  In fact, the gay neighbors and crazy sister were much more interesting characters than Pru, who seemed a little too boy crazy for her age, and a little snobby about her career.  Some scenes were spot on perfect - like Pru observing the competitive mothers at a party, but the scenes between her and "the man of her dreams" didn't feel very realistic.  Pru seemed to fall in love with him for no reason at all, and I couldn't understand what he saw in her.  An okay beach read, but ultimately too forgettable.

Rating: 3 stars

Angelina's Bachelors

Angelina's Bachelors
Brian O'Reilly

Angelina's Bachelors: A Novel with Food

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads):  Sometimes the shortest distance between two people is the length of a kitchen table. . . .

Far too young to be a widow, Angelina D'Angelo suddenly finds herself facing a life without her beloved husband, Frank. Late one night shortly after the funeral, she makes her way down to the kitchen and pours all of her grief and anger into the only outlet she has left - her passion for cooking. In a frenzy of concentration and swift precision, she builds layer upon layer of thick, rich lasagna, braids loaves of yeasty bread, roasts plump herb-rubbed chicken; she makes so much food that she winds up delivering the spoils to the neighbors in her tight-knit Italian community in South Philadelphia.

Retiree Basil Cupertino, who has just moved in with his kindly sister across the street, is positively smitten with Angelina's food. In a stroke of good fortune, Basil offers Angelina (not only husbandless but unemployed) a job cooking for him - two meals a day, six days a week, in exchange for a handsome salary. Soon, word of her irresistible culinary prowess spreads and she finds herself cooking for seven bachelors; and in the process discovers the magical power of food to heal, to bring people together . . . and maybe even to provide a second chance at love.

Filled to the brim with homemade warmth, Angelina's Bachelors is a sweet tale of overcoming grief, redefining family, and following your heart through food.


Review: This was a nice story, but it was just way TOO nice for my taste, and I LIKE nice stories.  Angelina's husband dies at the start of the book, without ever getting a sense of him as a character, or providing the reader with a view of their marriage.  When Angelina finds herself jobless, she manages to quickly find 7 hungry and friendly bachelors who are willing to pay her generously to cook them dinner.  SPOILER ALERT!  Then she discovers that she's actually 5 months pregnant (hello, how dumb is she?) and then she opens a restaurant that's an immediate fantastic success.  It just seemed like everything went Angelina's way without her having to do anything.  And I never got a real sense of who Angelina was and what she wanted from her life (other than to cook for strangers). 

The recipes in this book sounded fantastic, but were extremely long and complicated, and not something I would have the time to make myself.  I couldn't figure out why the recipes were so fancy, and why this chick-lit foodie romance was written by a man, until I discovered that the author is a producer on The Food Network.  Which I think explains a lot about the book.

Rating: 2 stars

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Panic

Panic
by Lauren Oliver


Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Synopsis:  Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a poor town of twelve thousand people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.  Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors.  She'd never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out.  But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic.  His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game; he's sure of it.  But what he doesn't know is that he's not the only one with a secret.  Everyone has something to play for.  For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them-and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.
From the ebook

Review:  This book was like a train wreck-it's horrific and you can't stop looking.  This book was not good but yet I had to keep reading.  I found this book disturbing.  Panic was such an awful, dangerous game and I really hope no one gets ideas after reading this book.  I found much of this book inappropriate for teenagers.  There were so many times that there was underage drinking-I think every scene where kids were getting together had someone drinking.  Plus there was cigarette smoking.  None of these characters were good role models for teenagers.  The teenagers were so reckless and parents were non existent.  The author introduces names of people who had won Panic or had been hurt by Panic and I couldn't keep these people straight but yet I needed to in order to understand what was going on.  There were also topics that were brought up that I thought were unnecessary-homelessness, drug abuse, animal abuse, and more.

Rating: 2 stars

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Breaking Night

Breaking Night
by Liz Murray


Genre: Memoir

Synopsis:  Liz Murray was born to loving but drug-addicted parents in the Bronx.  In school she was taunted for her dirty clothing and lice-infested hair, eventually skipping so many classes that she was put into a girls' home.  At age fifteen, Liz found herself on the streets when her family finally unraveled.  She learned to scrap by, foraging for food and riding subways all night to have a warm place to sleep.

When Liz's mother died of AIDS, she decided to take control of her own destiny and go back to high school, often completing her assignments in the hallways and subway stations where she slept.  While homeless, Liz squeezed four years of high school into two, won a new York Times scholarship, and made it into the Ivy League.  Breaking Night is an unforgettable and beautifully written story of one woman's indomitable spirit and will to survive and prevail against all odds.
From the book jacket

Review: This was such an amazing story of a girl who was always wise beyond her years.  She learned at an early age how to fend for herself.  It was such a sad story to read about this little girl who wanted to be loved, wanted attention and wanted normalcy.  But her parents were not capable of doing much for her as they were addicted to drugs.  My heart broke for this little girl quite often and I couldn't help but wonder why someone in the school didn't help her.  She was often blamed for things when in fact she was the victim of her parents' negligence.  Her story is tragic and shows us flaws that we have in our system of allowing children like this to slip through the cracks.  But yet it is amazing to see how far Liz made it once she decided that she needed to better her life.  This book is honestly and wonderfully written.

Rating: 4 stars