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)

Blindsided by Priscilla Cummings

Pages: 226

Intended Audience: Teens and Tweens

Genre: Real life

Notes for Parents: Contains some mature scenes

The Back Cover

Natalie is a typical fourteen-year-old girl: a great student, lots of friends, a loving family. Her life seems perfect. But when a routine visit to the eye doctor reveals that she will soon go blind, she is devastated. As if this wasn’t shocking enough, she is then forced to leave everything behind and go to a school for the blind to learn the skills she will need to survive. While she does what she’s told, inwardly she desperately hopes for a miracle that will save her sight. But ultimately, Natalie must decide how to go on when her future isn’t what she expected.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

The back cover is a bit misleading. Natalie was born without irises and that put her at high risk for glaucoma and she’d had seven surgeries to relieve pressure in her eye before the story even begins, so it isn’t a “routine visit to the eye doctor” where it’s reveal that she will suddenly and unexpectedly go blind.

What’s good?

This was a quick and easy read with a lot of interesting information about how blind people adapt to their surroundings. The simple storyline follows Natalie as she reluctantly learns skills that will help her if she loses her sight completely. Natalie is a sympathetic and believable 14-year-old who doesn’t want to accept that she may lose her sight completely. The excellent cast of supporting characters include: her mom, who encourages Natalie to prepare for the worst; her dad, who doesn’t want to admit the worst; Meredith, Natalie’s best friend, who’s trying her best to be a good friend; and the students and teachers of the Baltimore school who teach her that losing her sight doesn’t mean she will no longer see the world.

Best Part: Nuisance the goat.

What isn’t good?

The story reads like an afterschool special. It unfolds in a series of events that are uncomplicated and very predictable.  

Worst part: The back cover description.

Recommendation þþþoo

The story was good, but very simple. There were several interesting parts and a couple of very intense scenes which were well executed, but overall, this was a fairly straight forward story about a girl who is forced to accept her challenging circumstances. I recommend this for anyone looking for a light, interesting read.

Cummings, Priscilla. Blindsided. New York: Scholastic, 2010.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Pages: 408

Intended Audience: Teens

Genre: Supernatural adventure

Notes for parents: Some mature scenes

The Inside Cover

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them – until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.

His name is Gansey, and he’s a rich student at Algionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She doesn’t believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

What the Inside Cover doesn’t tell you:

This is the first book in a series.

What’s good?

Outstanding characterization drives this intricate mystery about psychic ability, Welsh legend, and tragic prophecies. The multifarious narrative, full of wide twists and turns, unfolds slowly around a large group of highly developed characters. The women – Blue, Maura (Blue’s mom), Neeve (Maura’s half-sister), Orla (Blue’s cousin), Persephone and Calla (Maura’s best friends) – have a tenuous relationship, a mix of familial bonds, eccentricity, and a link to the world of psychic energy. The boys, however – Gansey, Adam, Ronan, and Noah – are a complex but strong fraternity of intensely loyal friends with a rock solid goal that they would risk life and limb for.

Subplots abound as we see Adam’s home life, learn about Blue’s father, wonder about Gansey’s fate, witness a blooming romance, fear Declan wrath, question Neeve’s intentions, and so much more…this is not a simple story!

Best part: The best part was the part I didn’t see coming. Some reviewers claimed it was obvious, but it took me completely by surprise. I love when a book does that.

What’s not so good?

I was lost at the beginning and considered quitting this book a couple of times before I finally caught on to the rhythm of the story. I was relieved to read in other reviews that many people felt the same way. However, no one could really come up with a clear reason why the first several chapters were so muddy. I suppose, with its plethora of characters and back stories and subplots and mysteries, it just took a while for all of these loose yarns to knit together. When they finally did, I was hooked.

Worst part: I didn’t buy how easily they accepted the identity of the bones.

Recommendations þþþþo

While I felt overwhelmed by the story itself, I was easily hooked by the characters and am excitedly awaiting the next installment. This will not be a book for everyone – it is not a quick and easy read – but it’s got a haunting charm and a deluge of mystery that draws in the inquisitive reader. The bottom line is: I recommend this book.

Stiefvater, Maggie. The Raven Boys. New York: Scholastic, 2012. (Hardcover)