Reviews: Books for Adult/High School

Adult/High School–Hanna Heath, an Australian book conservationist, is thrilled to be chosen to work on the rare illuminated Haggadah created in Spain in the Middle Ages. The book had been protected in a museum in Sarajevo until 1994, when it was rescued from certain plunder during the Bosnian conflict and hidden in a bank vault by a Muslim librarian. Hanna is as eager to learn and preserve the mysterious history of the codex as she is to restore the manuscript. How did it come to be illustrated, a practice believed to have been forbidden by Jewish law? What is the meaning of the wine stain, the hair, the insect wing, and the salt crystals? The author uses these artifacts to weave a thrilling tale of the unusual creation of the Haggadah in Seville in 1480 and its dangerous journey to Tarragona, Venice, Vienna, and finally Sarajevo. It is a story of the Inquisition and wars, and the enlightenment or ignorance of the men and women who would save or destroy this brilliant treasure. Integrated into these compelling vignettes is Hanna’s own story: her passion for her work, her unhappy relationship with her mother, and her bittersweet love affair. Sophisticated teens will appreciate Hanna’s sarcastic, witty observations, which mask a vulnerable lack of confidence. The mystery of the codex and the forensic examinations are intriguing and will keep readers eagerly awaiting the next revelation. Inspired by the true story of the Sarajevo Haggadah, Brooks has imagined a thrilling mystery and a history that has deep ramifications in our own time.–Jackie Gropman, Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA

Adult/High School–A woman’s bloody and disfigured body is found in her basement in Paradiso. Police Commissario Alessandro Cenni, who has grown up in Perugia, a village near this Umbrian hill town, is on the case. His investigation takes him through the narrow lanes of Paradiso and briefly through the canals of Venice. Is it a coincidence that a grisly murder of a mother and child took place in the same house 50 years earlier? And if that isn’t enough, in the course of his investigation in Venice, Cenni catches a glimpse of the former love of his life, who was kidnapped 20 years earlier. Readers will be drawn into this well-crafted mystery. Brophy’s well-drawn characters include a German woman with a checkered past, her cat-loving neighbor, an Italian hermaphrodite, an aged contessa, and the handsome police inspector. The author feeds readers just enough information through the twists and turns of the plot to keep them on their toes. Teens will love this delightful, action-packed whodunit with some Italian travel and culture thrown in for good measure.–Ellen Bell, Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton, CA

Adult/High School–Jacob Logan returns to his childhood home after a failed business attempt and several years after the death of his parents. From the moment the novel begins, readers know something is not right in the house. Strange and scary things begin happening right away, and it is clear that the creepy caretaker is not to be trusted. Event upon event keep readers turning the pages to figure out what it all means. Are the townspeople trying to drive Jacob away or keep him there forever? Why are his parents haunting the house? Why do the fireflies refuse to come anywhere near the property? Question after question arise and, at times, the plot seems a bit bogged down by all the clues and mysteries. However, mystery, fantasy, and supernatural/horror fans will find much to keep them intrigued. Though the protagonist is a bit hard to feel a connection with, the nonstop events surrounding him will keep readers hooked, if only to find out what the ghosts and the townspeople are up to. Ultimately they will understand that in order for Jacob to face his future, he must come to terms with his past. Compelling.–Jane Ritter, Mill Valley School District, CA

Adult/High School–With its infusion of originality, David’s admirable pastiche of James Barrie’s Peter Pan will have readers of all ages clamoring for a copy. London-dweller Paul Dear is a sensitive boy who relishes his father’s stories of Anyplace and its inhabitants–pirates, pixies, “wild Indians,” and, of course, “The Boy,” whom Paul encounters one night via the mirror in his bedroom. After a family tragedy, Paul is unnerved by his mother’s sorrow and seeks a resolution in Anyplace, where he meets incarnations of many of Barrie’s characters, such as Fiddlefix (Tinkerbelle) and Captain Hack (Hook). The one exception is the marvelous snow tiger that practically steals the limelight and gives the book its title. David provides everything readers could possibly desire: suspense, swashbuckling adventure, tenderness, anguish, a dash of wit and sarcasm, and a perfect ending. Adults will see Tigerheart as an excellent choice for a book discussion group and/or as a useful tool in enhancing cultural literacy, and will appreciate its superior writing, appealing characters, depiction of familial love, and accomplished themes. Teens may view it as an exciting story about a courageous boy who rode a great white tiger, consorted with Indians, and battled pirates. They will all be right. This is a worthy purchase for both school and public libraries.–Dori DeSpain, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

Adult/High School–A sequel to Napoleon’s Pyramids (HarperCollins, 2007). American adventurer Ethan Gage, protégé of Benjamin Franklin, meets up once more with Napoleon as the French general is beginning his 1798 invasion of the Holy Land. Moving from Jaffa to Acre to Mt. Tabor to Petra and then to Alexandria and Rosetta in Egypt, Gage is never more than one step away from trouble. He is in search of his beloved, Astiza, last seen falling from a hot-air balloon into the Nile, and at the same time he is doing a little espionage for Napoleon’s British enemies and hoping to find an ancient Egyptian scroll, the Book of Thoth. Gage’s gambling skills, his knowledge of electricity, and his quick wits keep him alive in situations that would daunt a lesser man. He has adventures in love and war, comes close to solving an ancient mystery, and provides an ingenious explanation for the missing piece of the Rosetta Stone. Historical fiction meets thriller here, with plenty to interest fans of both genres. The action is nearly nonstop, the humor is plentiful, and the intrigue is more than enough to keep the pages turning.–Sarah Flowers, Santa Clara County Library, CA

Adult/High School–The crazed gunman who opens fire at a fast food restaurant is the catalyst that turns the psychic wounds of five people into chasms of PTSD. Bruce Laraby, an ER physician mourning the recent loss of his father, a highly respected doctor, left Carby’s moments before the shooting. He treats the victims, but when he fails to save one of them, self-doubt sets in. Teens Anne and Jimmy share a booth with her father and see him gunned down. The man’s lack of heroism throws her into a frenzy of evangelical behavior, building her father into an icon. Jimmy retreats into a silence that is enhanced by his bullying father, who refuses psychological attention for his son. Charlie is buckling under the pressure to make his business a success and to provide for his young family. While standing in line at Carby’s, he is grazed in the head by a bullet. In a daze, he discharges himself from the ER and drives to a casino, where he indulges his gambling addiction. Waitress Carla is trying to support herself and her son on her meager wages. Unhurt physically, she comes to the ER several times with her child, claiming cold symptoms, but she is more interested in seeing the young doctor as the violence triggered in her an awareness of her profound loneliness. Freirich neither characterizes the gunman nor analyzes his motivation. Readers will wonder what fissure in his life exploded into such a violent act. Unfortunately, school and public shootings continue to erupt on an all-too-regular basis, making Winged Creatures a relevant read.–Paula Decker, Charter Oak High School, Covina, CA

Adult/High School–Tully Hart, vulnerable and abandoned by her mother, meets Katie Mularkey in 1974, when they are both in eighth grade. Katie, feeling unpopular and underappreciated, is drawn to dramatic, bold, and beautiful Tully, while Tully is attracted to the loving and stable Mularkey family. After spending many wild and fun times together and sharing their deepest thoughts with one another, they pledge “best friends forever.” Readers will follow the friendship for 30 years and will identify with the intense loyalty and unconditional love that Tully, a successful television personality, and Katie, a stay-at-home mom, have for one another. This changes when Tully betrays and humiliates Katie in a way she cannot forgive. Until their reconciliation, they are both bereft and feel the loss of their friendship sorely. Though Tully’s character is somewhat shallow and stereotypical, her larger-than-life personality is compelling, and the story flows well. At times melodramatic, this novel about the friendship of the two very different women and its themes of betrayal and reconciliation will keep readers turning the pages. You might want to recommend a box of tissues to go along with this tear-jerking, yet hopeful book.–Jane Ritter, Mill Valley School District, CA

Adult/High School–This contemporary British novel deals with terrorists, hostage taking, and characters who appear to keep changing allegiances. The story opens on a perfectly ordinary day in suburbia. Then the scene changes. An old man approaches a young man, but the young man hits him with his backpack and flees, while a car hits the old man. In the midst of this a gun is lost and then found, and by page 50 the young man has taken a father, his twin sons, and two nursery school employees as hostages. Scenes move from character to character, and with each shift readers learn a bit more about what’s actually going on, who is responsible for what, and why individuals who think the world revolves around them are in for a rude awakening. Teens who aren’t already Anglophiles may need to brush up on British slang and idioms to thoroughly understand all that happens, but the reward is good escape literature that should provide a few hours of diversion and entertainment.–Joanne Ligamari, Rio Linda School District, Sacramento, CA

Adult/High School–Candace Ong, 14, finds herself interested but lacking in the sexual allure that her mean, not-so-best friend Ruby Ping flaunts, and she bemoans her lot in life as the egg roll and crab Rangoon fryer at her parents’ small San Francisco restaurant. But Candace has dreams and abilities of her own. It’s 1983, and her fantasy life is rich with both Adam Ant and the doings of the young men just a generation ahead of her who seem to be living lives of independence and decadence. When she’s not working or following Ruby to Pier 39, Candy O–the persona this potentially hot little schoolgirl is cultivating–tries some trysting on her own, with the fellow at the photocopy shop and a friend of a buddy at the record store. But ultimately, she’s just a kid and a smart one at that, so she can see the dangers that all of the Afterschool Specials she’s ingested through junior high have warned about. She manages to duck out at the last critical moment, unlike Ruby, whose brazenness leads to an explosion in the restaurant. Over the next few months, Candace suffers from guilt and the illusion that Ruby is still able to taunt her. Keltner’s characters are authentic, raw, and fully realized from Candace’s immature, but increasingly insightful, perspective. This is adult urban fiction with a real adolescent protagonist living in a period and place where adolescence seems to be an interminable social condition.–Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia

Adult/High School–During her childhood, Lady Gruadh, the last female descendant of Scotland’s highest royalty, is taught to battle like other Celtic women warriors. Her father, Bodhe, marries her off to a northern warrior and lord. Macbeth murders her husband and forces marriage on Lady Gruadh, who is pregnant. Because of much unrest, the Macbeths battle to protect their lands and her son, Lulach, from Vikings, Saxons, and ultimately Lord Malcolm. King’s prose is rich with excellent details of 11th-century Scotland and vivid characters that are true to life. Specifics of language, customs, food, clothing, daily life, and warfare are incorporated effectively into the story. King’s scholarly research provides the necessary ingredients for a well-crafted story, one that Shakespeare lovers and historical fiction enthusiasts will enjoy.–Gregory Lum, Jesuit High School, Portland, OR

Adult/High School–Some of Marshal Guarnaccia’s superiors describe him as slow and dim-witted, but, like TV’s Columbo, his appearance is deceiving. As the story begins, Daniela Paoletti, daughter of a notorious underworld gangster, has been murdered. Guarnaccia arrives to investigate and, as he looks over the crime scene, he feels apprehensive and wary. The villa emits a feeling of unease and oppression. Conditions don’t improve when prosecutor Fulvio De Vita, a man with whom the marshal has had unpleasant interactions, arrives to assist in the investigation. His help is distracting, and Guarnaccia gets the idea that he would prefer that someone else were in charge. But he perseveres and slowly unravels the ugly underside of Paoletti’s legal-looking businesses. Women are being sold into prostitution, and others are forced to be strippers, exotic dancers, cleaners, and house servants. What puts Guarnaccia into overdrive to solve the murder is learning that children are also being used in the nefarious ventures. With the help of a cagey newspaper reporter, he uses his perceived slow-wittedness to solve the crime and in doing so provides a new life for the people caught up in Paoletti’s heinous world. This book works like an episode of Columbo or a fast food meal. It’s filling and quick, and will satisfy readers whether they have a preference for action or characterization.–Joanne Ligamari, Rio Linda School District, Sacramento, CA

Adult/High School-“Stan….Tomorrow morning. Eight thirty-seven” is teen protagonist Luke Hunter’s stoned premonition of someone’s death. He jokingly shares it with his gang of “basement dwellers” gathered for “bad dope, bad company and even worse music” in bland, middle-class suburban Stokum. But when Stan dies the next day, exactly as predicted, life veers wildly off track for Luke, his friends, his family, and the town’s citizens as they attempt to make sense of it all. Proulx’s thoroughly engrossing first novel is a darkly comic, yet naturalistic portrayal of the interior and external world of contemporary teens. Her kids are refreshingly authentic. They are not exaggerated, self-absorbed cartoons spewing vacuous, ironic sound bites. Rather, they are warmly human, rich, and developed individuals. Luke is tagged the “prophet of death” by an overzealous self-serving news anchor. But he is no prophet, nor does he want to be. His fleeting clairvoyance predicts a few more deaths, but then fades away as quickly as it manifested. He attempts to alter the outcomes of these other premonitions, but he is powerless to do so. Neither well-intentioned nor less-benign adults, including a doctor and a preacher, can provide Luke with the answers he is seeking. Beautiful, unpretentious Faith, Stan’s girlfriend, acts as Luke’s anchor and forgiver. He eventually learns he can only work to heal himself, and be true to his friends and those who love him. This ultimately redemptive story celebrates adolescence with compassionate understanding. A glorious wow of an ending has Luke discovering his own salvation, standing with Faith in the front row of a White Stripes concert, rejoicing simply in their youth.–Jodi Mitchell, Berkeley Public Library, CA

Adult/High School–When a body is found in the ruins of an English abbey, Inspector Ian Rutledge and Hamish, the ghost of the man Rutledge executed during the Great War in France, must identify it. Rutledge would prefer to work alone, but Hamish is a persistent voice in his head. Teens with a taste for either mystery or history will enjoy the bantering between the English policeman and his ghostly Scottish tormentor as they work through the puzzle. The English countryside is beautifully drawn, as is the famous Bronze Age White Horse carved into the hills near Uffington, which gives the book its name. The dead man lived at the base of the Horse, and his neighbors have secrets they would prefer to keep. Soon new bodies join the first as the killer may be trying to finish what he started. Suspects abound–until they are murdered. When Rutledge discovers the true identity of the one in the abbey, he realizes that the British War Office may be working against him, and that the man’s own family would prefer that Rutledge just go away. But the inspector is as relentless as the ghost who haunts him, and he will find his answers even if it costs him his career or his life.–Will Marston, Berkeley Public Library, CA

Adult/High School–New York City’s Slam movement started in the 1980s as the dream of Bob Holman to pull poetry out of the clutches of academia and bring it back to regular folks as a popular art form. Its traditional influences of Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsburg, and Langston Hughes played a large part in its substance, while punk rock and hip-hop brought in a decidedly new–and often aggressive–aesthetic. Aptowicz uses anecdotes, stories, and interviews to chronicle the life of this unique art form. The general public holds an image of an aggressive, in-your-face poet shouting words on stage, but the author shows a movement with surprising levels of depth and diversity. Although many may know the backgrounds and names of the poets who made a big splash on popular TV programs like MTV’s Spoken Word Unplugged and Def Poetry Jam, the stories of Slam’s beginnings and how it continued to grow in spite of its sudden popularity are what make this book so fascinating. Teens with an interest in writing lyrics will love the stories and will find Aptowicz’s style accessible and entertaining. A number of photographs and addresses to major Slam venues are included, but there is no index or bibliography of major published works. Slam Poetry has spread to coffee shops, art galleries, and even libraries across the country; knowing and understanding its roots only enhances the power the style already holds over its audiences.–Matthew L. Moffett, Pohick Regional Library, Burke, VA

Adult/High School–When the automobile was a newfangled invention, Americans flocked to racetracks to watch bicycle competitions. One of the best racers in the nation was Major Taylor, a black man in a sport dominated by whites. In this biography, Balf describes both the racial discrimination Taylor faced and his focused determination to triumph despite the odds. And triumph he did, beating all of the top professional racers in both North America and Europe. The book culminates with the amazing tale of the injured Taylor, known worldwide as “America’s champion,” rising from a hospital bed to race his archrival when he could not pedal a bike without screaming in pain. Following that race, Taylor retired and soon was all but forgotten. An epilogue covers his renaissance, in the form of a growing number of African-American bicycle clubs and racing teams named in his honor. Balf starts his account slowly, providing copious background material, but as the chapters progress, the pace quickens and the tale becomes increasingly gripping. Recommend this one not only to teens interested in bicycling, but also to anyone looking for an inspirational biography.–Sandy Schmitz, Berkeley Public Library, CA

Adult/High School–Shirley is a small, working-class town on Long Island, NY. In the 1950s, Walter T. Shirley, a retired vaudeville huckster, established it as a place where people tired of big-city life could settle down and return to small-town values. McMasters called it home for most of her childhood. She takes the tools of memoir, local history, and science writing to create a disturbing yet loving portrait of the community. The town grew without a plan and never really took off; it faced constant problems with unemployment, poor services, and even an unhealthy atmosphere. Its backdrop is the Brookhaven National Laboratory, a government-funded facility that specializes in energy and medical research. In the 1990s, the lab mistakenly leaked tritium into Shirley’s groundwater supply, sparking a lawsuit as many felt the town’s unusual number of cancer victims were related to Brookhaven’s experiments. McMasters’s style simplifies the complicated subjects of environmental science and economics into easily understood explorations of her own life. The personal moments are powerful, particularly the illness and death of her next-door neighbor, caused by exposure to Brookhaven’s chemicals. The book includes maps and references that expand on the information-packed narrative. Readers with an interest in the environment will be haunted by much that’s in here, while McMasters’s love for Shirley might spur some to appreciate and even protect their own hometown.–Matthew L. Moffett, Pohick Regional Library, Burke, VA

Adult/High School–Vollmann records his recent adventures freight-train hopping in the United States. He weaves together the sights, sounds, emotional rushes and terrors, and sentiments about friends and former lovers with observations on modern hoboes for whom the rail line is still home and classic American authors who conveyed the spirit of the road (Hemingway, London, and, of course, Kerouac). The vignettes are thematically arranged with a generous collection of candid black-and-white photos following the text, illustrating the people, crude signs discussed, and even the moods described in the storytelling. The portrait of outsider life is accessible, compelling, and a welcome surprise for teenage boys who can’t succumb to a welling sense of wanderlust but who can enjoy it vicariously. Vollmann’s presentation of canonical classics may inspire some to move from this to books typically assigned rather than chosen freely.–Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia