Keturah & Lord Death by Martine Leavitt

Pages: 198

Intended Audience: Teens and Mature Tweens

Genre: fantasy

Notes for Parents: The story is about cheating death.

The Back Cover

Keturah, a beautiful young woman of sixteen, lives with her grandmother in a humble cottage near the forest. A captivating storyteller, Keturah tells her friends of being lost in the forest and of her eventual meeting with a dark figure on horseback—Lord Death himself. She bargains with him for her life—and for the lives of the villagers who are threatened by the onset of the plague. But her pact with Death isolates her from the very people she seeks to protect and makes her dreams of love and family increasingly remote. Only by succeeding in the impossible task of finding her one true love before the sun sets will Keturah escape the cold clutches of Death. However hopeless her situation, Keturah must try. If she gives up, it means death not only for her, but for everyone she loves.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

This book was the White Pine Award Winner in 2008 and was shortlisted for the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award the same year.

What’s good?

This haunting story of death and true love unfolds like a fairy tale. Narrated with poetic melancholy and gorgeous imagery, the plot is unapologetic in its simplicity. The personification of death as a man in his prime, severe but beautiful, with a voice that is calm and cold, is chilling and faultless, while the heroine, sixteen, is a beautiful balance of genteel lady and shrewd adversary.

Best Part: “There is no hell…Each man, when he dies, sees the landscape of his own soul.” (pg. 192)

What isn’t good?

The ideas of everyone having “one true love” and that we are defined by destiny are overused romantic themes that keep this feeling like a fairy tale and never like a solid story.

Worst part: There are a few histrionic moments, but nothing too pretentious.

Recommendation þþþþo

I loved it! It was easy to read and beautifully written. This dark tale of romance was clever and entertaining. Highly recommended.

Leavitt, Martine. Keturah & Lord Death. Toronto: Red Deer Press, 2006.

Witch & Wizard by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet

Pages: 307

Intended Audience: Teens and Tweens

Genre: Fantasy/Supernatural/Dystopian

Notes for Parents: None.

The Inside Cover

This is the astonishing testimonial of Wisty and Whit Allgood, a sister and brother who were torn from their family in the middle of the night, slammed into prison, and accused of being a witch and wizard.

They are not alone in their terrifying predicament. Thousands of young people have been kidnapped. Some have been accused; many others remain missing. Their fate is unknown, and the worst is feared—for the ruling regime will stop at nothing to suppress life and liberty, music and books, art and magic…and the pursuit of being a normal teenager.

Most copies of this story have already been seized, shredded, or burned. Read this rare, surviving edition and pass it along with care—before it’s too late.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

This is the first book in a series.

What’s good?

The short, sometimes very short, chapters made this supernatural post-apocalyptic fantasy an extremely easy read. I enjoyed the speckles of humor, the pop culture references and the great potential that this story had.

Best Part: Excerpts of New Order Propaganda as Disseminated by the Council of N.O. “Arts”

What isn’t good?

Ugh. The cookie cutter characters were uninteresting, the dialogue was incredibly cheesy, the plot was all over the place, and the villain – The One Who is The One – is underwhelming. I’ll leave it at that.

Worst part:  “Tough noogies!” (pg. 79)

Recommendation þoooo

I really wanted to like this story. I enjoy Patterson’s writing style, but his execution here is ridiculously off the mark. This is a big idea with great potential that, for me, does not even get off the ground. While this is not the worst book I’ve ever read, I cannot in good conscience recommend this book to anyone.

Patterson, James and Gabrielle Charbonnet. Witch & Wizard. New York: Little Brown & Co., 2009. (Hardcover)

Zombies vs. Unicorns compiled by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier

Pages: 415

Intended Audience: Mature Teens

Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy / Short stories

Notes for Parents: Some strong language, violence, sexuality, and other mature themes.

The Inside Cover

Which is better, the zombie or the unicorn?

Justine Larbalestier says that zombies are our own walking deaths. Funny, grim, and terrifying, they cannot be escaped. Unicorns are sparkly and pastel and fart rainbows.

Holly Black says that unicorns are healers, arbiters of justice, and, occasionally, majestic man-killers. Zombies drool and shed and probably carry disease.

Some of today’s finest writers have chosen their side, creating dazzling stories about both creatues. So read on, and decide for yourself: Are you Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

The stories alternate between zombies and unicorns and are prefaced by the compilers’ humorous banter about why zombies are better than unicorns and vice versa.

What’s good?

The stories come from a great mix of well known young adult authors, including Carrie Ryan, Mareen Johnson, Scott Westerfeld, Meg Cabot, Cassandra Clare and Libba Bray. It was fun to flip back and forth between zombie and unicorn stories. I especially liked how each unicorn story portrayed unicorns differently – majestic, violent, sparkly, tormented; and the zombie stories did, but to a lesser extent, the same thing.

Best Part: The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn.

What isn’t good?

My one complaint is that while some of the stories are appropriate for teens and tweens, a couple of stories seemed a little too mature for either. With the array of popular young adult authors involved, it should be safe to assume that each story is appropriate for the average young adult, but I don’t think they are.

Worst part: Love Will Tear Us Apart.

Recommendation þþþþo

I enjoyed the unicorn stories the most, so I guess I’m Team Unicorn, but several of the zombie stories were very well done. Recommended…in fact, highly recommended!

Black, Holly and Justine Larbalestier, comps. Zombies vs. Unicorns. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010. (Hardcover)

Mousetraps by Pat Schmatz

Pages: 191

Intended Audience: Teens

Genre: Real life / Social issues

Notes for Parents: Some strong language, disturbing scenes, bullying, homosexuality, mentions of drug use, discussions about racism

The Inside Cover

Maxie’s a cartoonist.

Rick’s a design genius.

Back in grade school, they used to come up with crazy inventions, like mousetraps with a zillion parts.

But high school is nothing like child’s play. The traps Maxie and Rick encounter now are a lot more complicated—and a lot more dangerous…

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

Maxie and Rick were best friends in grade school until Rick started getting bullied. After an incident of extreme bullying, Rick and his family moved away. Now it’s high school, and Rick has moved back.

What’s good?

This was a short but powerful story about friendship, bullying, identity, and how to deal. The characters are well done. Maxie is flawed and makes some bad decisions, but she’s sincere and genuinely wants to be a decent person, while Rick is a tragic character that yearns for acceptance. Even though I didn’t like Tay and can’t understand why Maxie would be friends with her, she, Sean and Dexter are excellent supporting characters. Together, they all represent the array of teens that can be found in the high school experience. Despite the very serious subjects (and there are several), the book never feels heavy or preachy. While problems get solved in the end, the solutions are not handed to the reader in a pretty package – they are wrapped in compromises, acceptance, and disappointments that feel real and satisfying.

Best Part: The drawings.

What isn’t good?

It seemed strange that the kid who isn’t gay was always getting picked on and the openly gay guy being raised by his gay uncles wasn’t. Also, Maxie’s parents seemed a little too perfect, and Tay was completely unlikeable.

Worst part: Tay.

Recommendation þþþþo

This was an intense story packed into less than 200 pages. It touched on several teen issues and condensed it into a snippet of a teen girl’s life – done very convincingly. This is not a happy read, but it’s a good one. Recommended.

Schmatz, Pat. Mousetraps. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 2008. (Hardcover)