Adult Books for Teens: January 2011
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Fiction BRADLEY, Alan. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag. 384p. (A Flavia de Luce Mystery). Delacorte. 2010. Tr $24. ISBN 978-0-385-34231-5. LC number unavailable. Adult/High School-Flavia de Luce, the plucky 11 year-old heroine introduced in the critically acclaimed Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Delacorte, 2009), solves another murder in her 1950's English hamlet. Passionate about chemistry (more specifically poison), Flavia is funny, audacious, and courageous and follows the twists and turns of events with great aplomb. A traveling puppeteer arrives in town and becomes part of a cast of mysteriously intertwined characters. A farmer who has a hidden cannabis field, a former German POW who works on his farm, and the womanizing puppeteer who ends up dead have past connections that keep readers engaged. While attempting to solve the mystery of the puppeteer's death, Flavia realizes that the long-ago death of a village child also needs to be solved. What does Mad Meg really know about it? How is the former German POW involved? Are the vicar and his wife connected to the deaths? Bradley keeps Flavia a few steps ahead of readers (often riding through the countryside on her trusty bike, Gladys) and her "choice nuggets of deduction" are extraordinary. Readers who enjoy a thoughtfully crafted mystery, a large cast of eccentric characters, remarkable vocabulary, and a step back in time will surely find much to admire in this book.-Jane Ritter, Mill Valley School District, CA DONOGHUE, Emma. Room. 336. Little, Brown. 2010. Tr $24.99. ISBN 978-0-316-09833-5. LC 2010006983. Adult/High School- Room opens on Jack's fifth birthday. He is very excited, wondering what his treat will be. Jack and Ma live in Room. Jack is a smart, happy little boy who asks tons of questions, and Ma finds a way to explain everything. He loves to read, sing, and tell stories. He loves to measure things and talk to his friend Dora the Explorer on TV. He hates green beans. Ma takes good care of Jack, teaching him to wash his hands often, to stay away from Stove. Her entire focus is on keeping him safe and unaware of their circumstances. Jack is always tucked away in Wardrobe before 9pm every night, before Old Nick arrives for his visits. Slowly readers learn that Ma was abducted years before, and has since had a baby, Jack. She has found ways to cope, to make life as normal as possible for Jack. But her captor is becoming unpredictable, and the painkillers she takes for a sore tooth are no longer enough to keep the fever down. Ma starts to talk with Jack about leaving Room, escaping to Outside. Dark as it may sound, this is an uplifting story of love and courage. Through Jack's eyes, the things we take for granted are extraordinary, the things we worry about ridiculous. But there are also hurts that are too painful. Will Ma and Jack survive on the Outside? Teens will fall for the compelling premise and stay for the heartfelt execution and thrilling writing that give this book natural appeal.-Angela Carstensen, Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City GOWDA, Shilpi Somaya. Secret Daughter. 352p. Morrow. 2010. Tr $23.99. ISBN 978-0-06-192231-2. LC number unavailable. Adult/High School-Kavita, a young married woman in India, is just a teenager when she gives birth to her second baby girl. Tradition is powerful in her rural town, where sons are valued and daughters are unwanted. Kavita is terrified that this child will be killed like her older sister, so she smuggles her to an orphanage. Despite the subsequent birth of a beloved son, Kavita still yearns to know the fate of her lost daughter. Readers are able to follow the story of the daughter, Asha, who is adopted by a couple in America. Her adoptive father was born and raised in India, although her mother is solidly American. As Asha grows into her teen years, she becomes increasingly curious about her heritage and travels to India to stay with her father's large, extended family. Teens will surely feel Kavita's pain as she loses her daughters because of a practice that is not completely outdated in even today. Throughout the book, Kavita continues to visit the orphanage, gazing at each little girl to see if she can find her own child. Asha's journey of self-discovery should also appeal to many teens, particularly those who were adopted as babies in faraway countries. Readers will discover, along with Asha, that families are forged in many ways-through blood, through acquired kinship, and perhaps most significantly, through persevering love.-Diane Colson, New Port Richey Library, FL GRANT, Helen. The Vanishing of Katharina Linden. 287p. Delacorte. 2010. Tr $24. ISBN 0385344171. LC 2010003415. Adult/High School-When a young girl attending a village parade dressed as Snow White vanishes without a trace, fear and suspicion lead to unnerving accusations among the townsfolk. Ten year-old Pia, in league with a fellow classmate and outcast, derisively nicknamed StinkStefan, is determined to solve the disappearance of Katharina Linden. Pia learns that young girls have vanished from the town before and begins to pursue clues that lead her deeper into danger rather than toward a solution. With a child's imagination she begins to conflate local folk tales of witches, woe, and redemption with her suspicion that one of her neighbors is responsible for the abductions. Grant incorporates elements of fairy tales into the story, which is set in contemporary Germany. Parents and adults are either indifferent or threatening to the children who naïvely navigate their problems on their own, thus increasing their vulnerability. Part of the fun of reading fairy tales is observing how much danger awaits innocent and clever child. As Pia proceeds to investigate the dark secrets of her town, readers will feel the same uneasy anticipation they did when Red Riding Hood whistled her way to Grandma's house. The old-world feel of the German town, with its folklore and its gossip, is an engaging and entertaining option for those who enjoy their mystery with a dash of grim imagination.-John Sexton, Westchester Library System, NY GRUEN, Sara. Ape House: A Novel. 306p. Spiegel & Grau. 2010. Tr $26. ISBN 978-0-385-52321-9. LC number unavailable. Adult/High School-Gruen's modern-day story features bonobo apes, a species that shares 98% of humans' DNA and is capable of learning human language. The story is told from two points of view. Isabel is a university scientist who studies bonobos in captivity and considers them her family. John is a reporter writing a feature story on the apes. On the day following his visit, the facility is stormed by what appear to be animal activists. Isabel is severely injured, and the apes are sold to a mystery organization. They reappear as part of Ape House, a TV reality show that broadcasts their actions 24/7, frequent sexual encounters and all. As the program becomes a hit, John finds himself reduced to writing for a tabloid paper in Los Angeles, trying to find his way back to the action. Isabel, desperate to reunite with the bonobos, descends on the TV compound looking for a way to shut down the program. As in Water for Elephants (Algonquin, 2006), Gruen once again gives her novel texture with colorful secondary characters, but in this book, the appeal is clearly centered on the apes themselves. Although there are no teen characters, there is enough humor and drama to keep teens involved in the fate of the apes and the people who care for them. Readers interested in learning more about bonobos can try Vanessa Woods's Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo (Penguin, 2010).-Priscille Dando, Robert E. Lee High School, Fairfax County, VA GWIN, Minrose. The Queen of Palmyra. 416p. HarperPerennial. 2010. pap. $14.99. ISBN 978-0-06-184032-6. LC number unavailable. Adult/High School-For 11-year-old Florence, "normal" means that Daddy disappears into the night whenever he gets a phone call, carrying the fancy wood box that has been passed down from his father and grandfather. It also means cruising around at night while her mother visits the Negro bootleggers, passing them mysterious notes. In 1963, she has little access to news of the world at large, living in the insular universe of family and friends. So Florence has only a vague understanding of the racial tensions in her Mississippi town. She knows that her grandparents' black housekeeper, Zenie, is one of the few people who make her feel like "precious cargo," but she cannot comprehend the connections between her father's nighttime activities, her mother's increasingly erratic behavior, and the silences that surround Florence at Zenie's home. Teen readers who enjoyed Kathryn Stockett's The Help will find this book to have the same personalized examination of race relations in the South at a critical turning point in history. As Florence begins "forgetting things," readers become aware that she is being sexually abused, although her memories are so pain-soaked that she is unable to make sense of them until she has grown up. The slow unwinding of the story recalls the feel of an oppressive Mississippi summer, bruising the characters with its inescapable force. In an appendix, Gwin shares further information about her experiences growing up in the South.-Diane Colson, New Port Richey Library, FL HARVELL, Richard. The Bells. 384p. Crown. 2010. Tr $24. ISBN 978-0307590527. LC 2009038737. Adult/High School-Some books are described as cinematic because they feature narrative, structure, and descriptive imagery that create a visual reading experience. The Bells is operatic-a melodrama that reverberates with extreme emotions in unlikely circumstances and, like the best opera, is an irresistible indulgence in passion, love, loss, betrayal, secrets, and tragedy set to music. And it is music that permeates this tale of the life of Moses Forben, whose 18th-century world is composed of sound, each object vibrating with a melody only he can hear and that he is able to communicate through his remarkable singing voice. His voice, however, is the blessing and the curse that determines his fate. It saves his life but it costs him normalcy and his hopes and dreams for love when he is castrated by the obsessed director of his boy's choir. It enchants the young woman who becomes the love of his life but it prevents him from ever fully loving her. It is to her son that he tells his story, explaining how he became the boy's caretaker and a renowned opera star. Because most of the tale is about Moses's youth and his quest for identity, purpose, and the relentless pursuit of doomed love, it has natural appeal for teens. A superbly crafted and engaging novel that echoes the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, The Bells will particularly captivate teens who appreciate music, drama, and historical love stories.-John Sexton, Westchester Library System, NY HICKAM, Homer. The Dinosaur Hunter: A Novel. 311p. 2010. Tr $0. ISBN 978-0-312-38378-7. LC number unavailable. Adult/High School-Penned by the author of the memoir Rocket Boys (made into the movie October Sky,) The Dinosaur Hunter brings a larger-than-life cast of characters to the Montana back lands. Mike Wire, a Los Angeles detective turned cowboy, works along side his hard-as-the-land boss Jeanette, who rules Mike and the Square C ranch with a heart of gold. Enter paleontologist Dr "Pick" Pickford with his assistants, the capable Laura and the beautiful Russian Tanya, who are looking for dinosaur bones. The mayor and her husband want some of the action, and the neighbors up the road aren't whom they seem to be. Bring in the Russian Mob and a pair of teen lovers, throw in the requisite survivalists-a part of Big Country lore and legend-and you have the makings of a great murder mystery in rural Montana. The unpredictable landscape and the painstaking work of an archeological dig are the backdrops for this story about greed, love, the search for truth-and the discovery of a set of dinosaur bones worth millions of dollars. Mike knows and understands the vagaries of the local weather and applies its lessons to his understanding of human behavior. Ever the detective, he's ready to investigate when things don't add up. While this book takes its time in dishing out the mystery, there's something in here for most teens: ranching kids will identify with the physical and cultural landscape, city kids might be fascinated by how rural kids live, and teens with an interest in archaeology will find the descriptions of the archaeological dig informative and fascinating.-Connie Williams, Petaluma High School, CA HILL, Joe. Horns. 370p. Morrow. 2010. Tr $25.99. ISBN 978-0-06-114795-1. LC number unavailable. Adult/High School-Ig wakes up after a drunken night to find two horns growing out of his forehead. In the emergency room no one else can see them. They have the unfortunate effect of causing people to share their ugliest thoughts with Ig, and then immediately forget doing so. If he touches someone, he immediately sees their dastardly deeds and can sometimes push people to either fulfill or avoid their evil persuasions. One year ago, Ig was on his way to London for his first job, and Marrin, the love of his life, was planning to join him if it worked out. But the night before he was scheduled to leave they had a terrible fight. That same night she was murdered. Ig is still the main suspect. Even his parents think he did it. Now, thanks to the horns, Ig sees that one of the people closest to him is pure evil. Horns is irreverent and can be laugh-out-loud clever. Teens will enjoy the humor, the horror, the love story and the murder-mystery pacing. Theology, pop culture, serial-killer lore, a great villain and a dramatic, gruesome final showdown all combine for a smart winner. And like Heart-Shaped Box, this book has, well, heart. Ig is lost without Marrin. He is figuring out if he is good or evil. As he becomes more and more enamored with his demonic side, Ig comes to believe that God is absent and the devil is the one with human interests at heart.-Angela Carstensen, Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City KRAMON, Justin. Finny. 366p. Random. 2010. pap. $15. ISBN 978-0-8129-8023-3. LC 2009034297. Adult/High School-Finny is a spunky kid, a red-headed firebrand fond of shocking her mother and challenging her father. After a typically heated argument, fourteen year-old Finny slips out the sliding glass doors of her house, determined to leave her family behind forever. Her escape route soon leads her to a part of the Maryland countryside that is unfamiliar. As she climbs a rickety fence, a board breaks and Finny falls...into the arms of a boy. It doesn't take long for Finny to fall hopelessly in love with Earl Henkel, a gentle soul who lives in a nearby shack with his father, a virtuoso pianist suffering from narcolepsy. When Finny's parents discover that she is sneaking off to spend time with Earl, they send her to a boarding school where she rooms with the gorgeous yet manipulative Judith. The subsequent unfolding of Finny's story continually returns to her love affair with Earl and her unlikely friendship with Judith. Author Kramon creates characters that are quirky and loveable, weaving their tales of love and betrayal through the keen perspective of irrepressible Finny. This is an excellent crossover book for teens. Finny and Earl spend much of the novel apart, so most of their romance is comprised of waiting and yearning-something that many teens can relate to easily. Teens who enjoy the books of John Green, who also writes of quiet, steady love, or David Levithan, with his exaggerated yet deeply human characters, should love Finny's smart, saucy, and affecting story.-Diane Colson, New Port Richey Library, FL LUTZ, Linda. The Spellmans Strike Again. Bk. 4. 388p. (The Spellmans Series). S & S. 2010. Tr $25. ISBN 9781416593409. LC number unavailable. Adult/High School-Isabel Spellman, narrator of the final installment in the series, practically defines the phrase "arrested development." Chronically self-centered and sarcastic, Isabel is a 33-year-old private investigator who spends much more time interfering in her family members' personal lives and in search of her next drink than actually working any cases in the family business. Good thing too because it's the secondary characters who truly give this story life-particularly her genius teenage sister, Rae, and Isabel's long-suffering love interest, Henry. Brief appearances by Rae's new boyfriend add a welcome sane voice to the Spellman bedlam. Several issues occupy Isabel's time: a desire to find dirt on rival investigator Harkey, avoiding her mother's blackmail scheme to participate in lawyer dates once a week, and discovering why hardware (doorknobs, towel racks) keeps disappearing from her parents' house. None of these problems is particularly important, and interest in an actual mystery takes a backseat to Isabel's juvenile tendencies. Teens will read this for the humorous footnotes throughout, the snarky one-line zingers, and Rae's clever machinations. They will particularly enjoy transcripts of the recorded conversations Isabel conducts with every character, the funniest bits in the book. A movie based on the Alex Award-winning first installment in the series, The Spellman Files (S & S, 2007), is currently in development.-Priscille Dando, Robert E. Lee High School, Fairfax County, VA MCKILLIP, Patricia A.. The Bards of Bone Plain. 329p. Ace. 2010. Tr $24.95. ISBN 978-0-441-01957-1. LC number unavailable. Adult/High School-McKillip is known for her rich prose and evocative imagery, but not for teen-friendly plotting, prose, or characters. Here, however, as in Alphabet of Thorn (2004), two stories intertwine, and one is explicitly concerned with adolescence and the impending pressures of adulthood. One tale concerns Phelan Cle, son of difficult, enigmatic, frequently drunk, and yet somehow charming Jonah Cle. Phelan must write just one more paper to graduate from the Bard's school (where his father once failed), but his topic (and the intercut story), legendary bard Nairn, is much more complex than he initially imagined. Phelan's story also encompasses Princess Beatrice, who prefers grubbing in the past on Jonah's archeological digs to living up to her mother's expectations, and who eventually falls for the unsuitable Phelan. Friendship and romance weave throughout, but this is really about the deep and difficult love between parents and children (Phelan and Jonah; Beatrice and her mother; and even Nairn, whose fraught relationship with his mentor may hold secrets and magic at its core). The two stories eventually collide with a Bardic competition in which Phelan must compete against a mysterious figure who seems to wield an old magic (and bears an uncanny resemblance to the man Nairn competed with before he disappeared from history). A gorgeous composition, perfect for older teens looking for a deeper fantasy with a minor note of romance.-Karyn N. Silverman, Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School, New York City OKORAFOR, Nnedi. Who Fears Death. 386p. DAW. 2010. Tr $24.95. ISBN 978-0-7564-0617-2. LC number unavailable. Adult/High School-Onyesonwu is shunned because she is Ewu, the mixed-blood daughter of rape. In post-apocalyptic Africa, the Nuru are trying to exterminate the Okeke people. Impregnating their women is one strategy. Onyesonwu and her mother travel through the desert until she is old enough to attend school, then settle in the village of Jwahir. By the time she is 11, it is obvious that Onyesonwu has special abilities, and the villagers fear her. Once she passes the initiation rite, which involves experiencing a violent death, she studies with the sorcerer Aro, who helps to refine her abilities to shapeshift, travel between spiritual and earthly realms, heal the wounded, and even bring the dead back to life. In her late teens, Onyesonwu becomes convinced that she must travel west, where genocide is rampant, to help the one who is prophesied to rewrite history. Her three best friends and her soulmate, Mwita, accompany her on the harrowing journey, which culminates in a showdown with a powerful, evil sorcerer. Redolent with desert heat, sand, and mysterious natural phenomena, this is a world in which computer technology has been left behind, but a handheld electronic locator device keeps the travelers headed due west and nomads use everyday magic to start campfires. Genocide, child soldiers, and female genital mutilation echo today's Africa. The main characters are all teenagers, full of rage, love, frank sexuality, strength, and determination. Who Fears Death gives fans of coming-of-age sorcerer books an opportunity to expand their horizons within the fantasy genre.-Angela Carstensen Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City RATHBONE, Emma. The Patterns of Paper Monsters. 224p. Little, Brown. 2010. Tr $13.99. ISBN 978-0-316-07750-7. LC number unavailable. Adult/High School-In "the armpit of North Virginia," 17-year-old Jacob Higgins is serving time in a juvenile detention center for committing armed robbery. His account of the "Olympic trials of boredom and grudging acquiescence" begin with all the reasons he hates it there. His searing sarcasm and spot-on observations of life's absurdities simultaneously mask and express his heartbreak, rage, disappointment, and despair. Jacob's sardonic descriptions of interactions with the JDC staff and inmates contrast with those of his mom and her abusive boyfriend, the latter revealing a sensitivity and vulnerability that Jacob tries to hide. He would rather not have to despise "normal people," who "all live in town houses next to the mall or the Metro... [are] all thirty-five and use the same products and have really intense cellphones" because he ultimately wants to get out of "this Rubik's Cube of misguided intentions" and lead a normal life. Much of his time is spent contemplating how to relate to others, how the world should be, and how he's supposed to be in it-just what all adolescents are trying to figure out. His romantic encounters with fellow inmate Andrea are surprisingly sweet. The intentionally loose plot reflects the aimlessness of Jacob's life, and the conclusion is satisfyingly realistic and open-ended. Those who loved Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian (Little, Brown, 2007), and are ready for the next step, will find the same humor and truth in this convincing debut novel.-Amy Chow, The Brearley School, New York City VOLMER, Mary. Crown of Dust. 288p. Soho. 2010. Tr $24. ISBN 978-1-56947-861-5. LC number unavailable. Adult/High School-Young Alex shows up, bruised and bloody, in a small Gold Rush settlement called Motherlode. One of his many secrets is that he is actually a girl, fleeing a past that is too terrible to remember. When Alex discovers a gold nugget, he/she finds a new identity as the "Golden Boy," blending in with the rough and tumble cast of characters inhabiting Motherlode's Wayside Inn. The inn is owned by the indomitable Emaline, a woman who creates an unexpected sense of family in the remote hills. Yet she has a secret past of her own. When Motherlode attracts the attention of new settlers, which include lawyers, lawmen, and their gentile women, the past violently re-emerges for both women. Volmer brings the danger and wonder of wild California to life in this vivid re-creation of the Gold Rush era. Readers get a real sense of the tensions surrounding the gold miners: unpredictable nature, vicious rivalries, and the intrusion of laws made by "men in small rooms." The third-person narration passes casually from one character to another, sometimes shifting from one paragraph to the next. This increases the mystery of Alex, who is alternately referred to as "him" or "her," depending on the character's perspective. Teens will be seduced by the slow revelations of Alex's pas, and the collision of her past with those she has come to love in her present.-Diane Colson, New Port Richey Library, FL WILLIS, Connie. All Clear. 641p. ISBN 978-0-553-80767-7. ----. Blackout. 491p. ISBN 978-0-553-80319-8. ea vol: Spectra. 2010. Tr $26. LC number unavailable. Adult/High School-In Blackout, Oxford historians in 2060 use time travel to study momentous events firsthand. Polly, Mike, and Eileen, three adventurous young historians, are heading back to the 20th century to study aspects of World War II. Polly is playing the role of shop girl during the Blitz. Eileen is serving as a nanny to observe displaced London children who were sent to the countryside to avoid the bombing. And Mike, well...he seems to have been dropped in the wrong destination, which could cause major problems for the time travelers. Readers are clued throughout the book that this expedition is not working out as planned. Drop sites are demolished, dates are wrong, and the historians are increasingly frustrated by the lack of communication from the future. Nevertheless, this is much less a time-travel tale than one of historical fiction. The three historians are constantly trying to place themselves in the known sequence of events, always fearing that they will somehow alter history. History buffs will love the inside look at England during the worst of the war, while more casual readers may find themselves scurrying for more background information. It is essential to read Blackout first. In All Clear, unidentified historians from the future strive to get Polly, Mike, and Eileen out of the past, using a variety of names and guises. At times, several hundred pages separate one segment of a character's story from the next. Although the combined books make for a lengthy, complex narrative, it is satisfying to see the stories come together in the end. All of this is accomplished with Willis's trademark understated wit. Readers with an interest in World War II should love these books, but also try recommending it to teens who enjoy complex fictional narratives such as Stieg Larsson's "Millennium trilogy."-Diane Colson, New Port Richey Library, FL Nonfiction CHAPMAN, Margaret & Kathleen Welton. Poetry for Beginners. illus. by Reuben Negron. 151p. Steerforth. 2010. Tr $14.99. ISBN 978-1-934389-46-1. LC number unavailable. Adult/High School-This succinct and serviceable volume begins on exactly the right note for "beginners" who wonder what this thing called poetry could possibly be. After an epigram by Emily Dickinson, where she famously claims that she knows she is in the presence of poetry when she feels as if the top of her head were taken off, page one begins with the wonderful first few lines of Marianne Moore's poem "Poetry:" "I, too, dislike it: there are things that are important beyond all this fiddle." Indeed there are, and indeed she is not alone in that sentiment. But, of course, Moore has more to say on the matter. She suggests that by reading poetry, even while having a perfect contempt for it, one discovers, in the end, that poetry holds "a place for the genuine." The authors of this book make good use of Moore's astute and marvelously stated observation throughout their well-paced and well-illustrated introduction to the art of poetry. The book touches on all the basics: the meaning, look, sound, and sense of poems; the vast array of poetic forms, from epics and odes to limericks and free verse; how to read a poem; and how to experiment with writing one's own poems. There is also a brief survey of the history of poetry from Homer to Hip-Hop. The volume is enlivened with carefully chosen lines from the vast palette of verse, and by appropriately emotive original drawings. Two criticisms, however, need to be noted. One is that: in their effort to be inclusive, they tend to overwhelm "beginners." A handful of new names is one thing, but a list of 50 or 100, or more, with very little said about each one, tends to take on the charm of a page from a telephone book. Also, it appears that the proofreader got a bit tired or distracted, especially toward the end. In a book that explores the wonders precise language can achieve, it is especially important to dispense with the typos. Nonetheless, Poetry for Beginners is a worthwhile purchase.-Robert Saunderson, formerly at Berkeley Public Library, CA HILLENBRAND, Laura. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. 478p. Random. 2010. Tr $27. ISBN 978-1400064168. LC 2010017517. Adult/High School-It is difficult to imagine a life more epic than that lived by Louis Zamperini, who saw his dream of becoming the first athlete to run a mile in less than four minutes pre-empted by a nightmare of improbable survival through WW II. Against all odds, Zamperini lived through the crash of his B-24 and a 47-day ordeal adrift in the Pacific with his two surviving crew members, only to be captured by the Japanese and held for more than two years. In the hands of gifted story-teller Hillenbrand, the details of Zamperini's life fall together like tumblers in a lock to reveal the source of strength, ingenuity, and resilience that he needed to survive exposure, shark attack, a typhoon, being shot at by fighter planes (one riddling his plane, another his life raft), disease, and extreme physical and psychological abuse. Hillenbrand deftly weaves stories of Zamperini, his friends and family, as well as tormentors, to transcend the facts of his war experience by exposing the scope of human nature-from depraved torture and hatred to reconciliation and absolute forgiveness. Teens may not be drawn to tales of World War II, but Unbroken will be irresistible to those who appreciate a well-told tale of survival. Teachers of 20th-century history and WWII will find this book a complement to their classes. Such is the nature of Zamperini's heroism and perseverance that it could also accompany a reading of The Odyssey.-John Sexton, Westchester Library System, NY JUNGER, Sebastian. War. 304p. Twelve. 2010. Tr $26.99. ISBN 978-0446556248. LC 2009049493. Adult/High School-War is not just hell-it is insanity. Junger, embedded for a year with U.S. troops fighting insurgents in the mountains above the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan, reports with even-handed clarity and insight on the excruciating intensity and unpredictable madness of combat and its impact on those on the front lines. The ensemble of soldiers he observes fighting, surviving and sometimes dying is as recognizable as any of the teens banging down our high school hallways because that is where they were only months before enlisting. Drawn together now on a mission that is nearly impossible in an alien environment, they find purpose and focus not in the politics of the fight, but in the commitment to protect their buddies at all cost, even if it means sacrificing one's own life. By citing research on the psychology, physiology, and sociology of combat soldiers, Junger provides a context for the story of these troops and their behaviors, from self-sacrifice to channeling rage, grief, and fear through the trigger of a weapon firing 900 rounds per minute. The reality of war is depicted without glorification or judgment. Because this book is an exceptional account of an experience that directly or indirectly impacts the lives of contemporary teens in America, it should be in all libraries.-John Sexton, Westchester County Library System, NY POOLE, Eric. Where's My Wand?: One Boy's Magical Triumph over Alienation and Shag Carpeting. 263p. Amy Einhorn. 2010. Tr $24.95. ISBN 978-0-399-15655-7. LC 2009051233. Adult/High School-Eight-year-old Eric carefully rakes any trace of his footprints out of the shag carpeting, listening to his perpetually angry mother scream furiously at his perpetually beaten father. When the man stomps out of the house into the night, Eric desperately comes up with a solution to his family's misery: Magic. He's seen Eudora on TV's Bewitched pull it off in admirable style, so he drapes himself in a white chenille bedspread and envisions a happier life. It works! (Sort of.) Thus begins Eric's reliance on magical intervention in moments of crisis. Each chapter is a hilarious, heart-wrenching vignette from the child's life in suburban St. Louis during the 1970s. In addition to living in the household from hell, Eric is mercilessly bullied throughout his school years and attends a Southern Baptist Church that threatens eternal damnation for...well, almost everyone. It's tempting to compare Eric Poole with other gay men who have survived hellish childhoods to write humorous memoirs, such as David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs. Yet Poole writes with bemused self-mockery rather than satire. His younger self grapples internally with the unreliability of his magic, which eventually evolves into a questioning of God's power. Teen readers, while missing countless wonderful references to 1970s kitsch, will be able to identify with the timeless dilemmas of slightly insane family members, unrealistic religious dogmas, and the brutality of popularity politics. In particular, gay teens will be gladdened to read of Poole's journey of self-discovery and acceptance.-Diane Colson, New Port Richey Library, FL SCHIFF, Stacy. Cleopatra: A Life. 354p. bibliog. index. notes. Little, Brown. 2010. Tr $29.99. ISBN 978-0-316-00192-2. LC 2010006988. Adult/High School-When we consider that Sony Pictures has already cast Angelina Jolie to star in a film based on Schiff's biography, and that a new Cleopatra exhibition will be traveling to five U.S. cities, we can begin to envision the coming fervor. What makes Schiff's book such a winner is her combination of rigorous scholarship; bold, lively prose; and fully developed themes that go far to lift the historical person out of two millennia of myth, legend, and slander. The author addresses such questions as : Was Cleopatra beautiful? Did she sacrifice everything for love? Was she the original bad girl/material girl/femme fatale? But Schiff is more interested in how Cleopatra held her own as a woman in a man's world. In addition to being the wealthiest person of her times and the ruler of most of the eastern Mediterranean, Cleopatra was a clever strategist, a tenacious negotiator, a brilliant administrator, and, by numerous accounts, the most elegant, most charming, most savvy, most beguiling, female or male at any social function. Schiff thoroughly explores how Octavian, Cleopatra's chief nemesis, and his fellow Roman "historians" manipulated the life and character of the Egyptian queen to suit their ambitious needs. The victors always get the first crack at telling it how it was, and Cleopatra's early biographers made the most of it. Others in years to come fed on the theme of the wanton seductress. Now it is time, as Schiff suggests, to move beyond Cleopatra's romantic/sexual effect on two men (and vicariously on a world of others) and to recognize her extraordinary ability to amass political power and to rule with finesse and authority.-Robert Saunderson, formerly at Berkeley Public Library, CA WALCOTT, Derek. White Egrets: Poems. 86p. Farrar. 2010. Tr $24. ISBN 978-0-374-28929-4. LC 2009031895. Adult/High School-A cat scaling a wall and an ocean breaker cresting lead the poet to an observation concerning the human heart. The cat's claws grip the wall as it begins to scamper up, then there's a slip, and in the end a quickening fall. The breaker too follows the pattern of "gripping, sliding, surrendering. . . to the lace-rocked foam." These images, in a poem that manages, in 16 marvelously crafted lines, direct Walcott to observe that the action of the cat and the movement of the breaker are one with "the heart, coming home, trying to fasten on everything it moved from." The poem has rhyme and rhythm, allusion and metaphor, and phrasing rendered with such precision that it is easy to imagine many readers pausing to catch their breath. A fair question remains: is there anything here for young adult readers? Are these poems beyond the reach of the poetry "novice?" It is true that they are not easy. There are allusions to classical mythology, the Bible, Shakespeare, Dante. And the landscape of the majority of the poems is, as usual, the poet's Caribbean homeland. But anyone, anywhere, of any age, can relate to the "desert indifference" of a cat with its "who-the-hell-are-you?' calm," with its belly turned upward as it lies in the midday sun with "eyes slitted in ecstasy." White Egrets is full of such images of universal accessibility, just as it is full of deep and lasting truths of what it means to be human. The themes are large: love, death, birth, ageing, loss, triumph. The locales are varied: New York, Amsterdam, Capri, Spain, Italy, Saint Lucia. The particulars are innumerable: egrets, acacia trees, terra-cotta warriors, diabetes, empires, Barack Obama. The end result is a gift to all who turn to the written word for truth and beauty.- Robert Saunderson, formerly at Berkeley Public Library, CA
