Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

Most of this review has been pieced together from a conversation in YA Reads for Teachers (and Any Other Adults) on Goodreads. This month the new-ish book I wanted to read Catching Jordan won the nomination which means I lead the discussion. This book is wonderful to moderate. Please know all the words below are mine. I figured since I said them to begin with I could rearrange them any way I liked.


Before I go off on a "I love this book so much that I want to marry it and have its babies" tangent...I want you to know that this book is exactly what I expected and in no way what I thought it was going to be at all!

Here's what I expected

1. A book about football

2. A book that highlighted football games and talked about aspects of the game I didn't understand

3. A romantic comedy

What I didn't expect

1. The subtle commentary about how boys treat girls in sports

2. The reason Jordan chose the boy she chose

3. What gets me is the sex scene...I wasn't even allowed to lock my bedroom door when I was alone and my mother would have flipped had she caught me in my room with a boy...and, she, like Jordan's mother, would have known what was going on. In some ways jordan's parents are 'too cool' and 'hip'.

4. All the f-bombs...even if I know that kids cuss that much when grown-ups aren't around (what I hear in the hall is sometimes astounding) and even if I know that as Jordan matures there seems to be less cussing and over-all 'puffing' up...wow lots of f-bombs

Jordan is a girl who at first seems pretty strong-willed and bad -a, but has actually spent her life trying to please others...her parents, her coach, her best-friend and the list goes on. And, although she has incredible talent as a football player, she still doesn't feel confident enough around girls her age to consider them friends.  It is her best friend that helps her find the balance and, although he is a boy, he is the one who seems to have her best interest at heart. If only he could stop sleeping around and partying enough to get through to her. 


Kenneally did a great job of showing us how easy it is to be a girl in a boy sport in high school compared to the college-level...a sad, but believable approach. Jordan must figure out who she is. She must decide whether she's a college football player (one that's on the bench or one that plays) or a girl who loves her best friend or a girl who loves someone who treats her with kid gloves or a daughter who needs her father's approval. I think this book wonderful shows how our high school dreams morf and change and it shows how we can choose to accept this change or we can find against it our whole lives. In one of those realities we'd have an incredibly unhappy future.


Feel free to discuss...

Oh, and here's the author's website if you're interested:

http://mirandakenneally.com/

Her 25 things is pretty awesome!


Want to contribute to the conversation? Want to read and discuss why YA books with your adult brain? Come join us!

5 Stars

Seriously, if you want a romance, this is it. If you want a book about a girl who plays football, this is it too!


Teacher Advisories 

Sex 4/5

There is a sex scene. The scene is not described in any way. Jordan keeps her door locked and when her mother interrupts by knocking. Jordan and the boy get dressed hastily unlock the door and come down-stairs. Jordan talks about the awkwardness of the situation, but nothing seems to come of it from her mother, just a look.

Language 5/5

The F-word about 25 times. Inappropriate sexual slang. Crude language.

Substance Abuses 3/5

There's underage drinking at parties.

Violence 2/5

A girl yells at a boy, he yells back. There's a fight.


Touchy Subjects

Slumber Parties
Sam and Jordan hang out all of the time. Sam stays the night at Jordan's, but they sleep head to toe.

Girls in Sports and Title IX
I'm sure that athletes will want to talk about how Jordan is treated on the field as being unrealistic or too realistic. They may want to talk about this in relation to Title IX.
What it means to love someone
Jordan has to learn what love means. She also has to learn that love doesn't mean always doing what someone tells you to do, especially if that is against what your heart says.
Sexism
Jordan's father doesn't treat her the same say he does her brother. Jordan's team and coach, treat her pretty fairly, but other players do not.

How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option

Splash into Summer: The Lure of Shapinsay by Krista Holle

My first book about selkies and it was definitely better than I thought it would be. Although the romance of it was a bit OVER THE TOP and Edward/Belle-esque, I enjoyed the story of a selkie torn between the sea he loves and the girl he's lured into being with him.

I thought this story was going to be told through the eyes of the selkie male (named by his 'captor' Eamon) and, it was. However, it is also told through the eyes of the girl, Kait and it seems that it is Kait's story that receives most of the attention in it we find a girl being forced to follow conventions and marry. Her parents have died and it would seem her twin brother Blair thinks he is doing her a favor by setting her up before he pursues his own bride. He believes this to be especially true since Kait's best friend has a baby that isn't quite human, and, because it was thrown out to sea to drown the selkies want some sort of vengeance. Eamon, too, is trapped by duty and a fear of humans, except for he can't stay away from Kait for too long.

It's pretty cool that this story takes place on the island of Shapinsay during the same time period that Balfour Castle was being built, the middle 1800s, when people still believed in faeries and the evil of witches. Kait learns that to keep Eamon with her, she must steal his selkie coat, and hide it in a place that no one would ever look. This is what human men have been doing to beautiful selkie women for ages and it works in reverse, but at what cost. While Eamon and Kait love one another and are bound to one another it must be determined if this love is strong enough to live through so much on both sides of the equation.

Although predictable (what love story isn't?), the ending has a twist that I truly enjoyed. I look forward to reading more lovie-dovie romances by Krista Holle and I need to find more books about selkies, as I don't know any of their legends and lore. I feel like I'm behind the times and must go watch The Secret of Roan Inish and Ondine immediately.

4 Stars   

The over the top romance and Scottish accents (so hard to do successfully on paper) kind of did me in, I do think that my students will like the romance of this book, and if you're looking for a different sort of paranormal and mermaids are too fluffy, I'd suggest a selkie book.

Teacher Advisories
Sex 4/5 
When selkies are on land they are truly naked...um, they don't seem to mind. There's lots of lips touching soft  skin and warm touches and such and Eamon's nude the whole time. There's also a human male who won't leave Kait alone. Kait and Eamon marry and sleep in the same bed. Eamon refers to having sex as 'humping'. They have sex on the beach and in a bed. There's lots of nudity...not written dirtly at all...but it's still there. I'm curious about its YA classification...it seems grown-up in this respect...
Language 0/5 
Nothing.
Substance Abuses 2/5
There's a bonfire where there's drinking. There's some more drinking at the tavern. And, then they drink again. Ah, come on, it's Scotland in the 1800s!!!
Violence 5/5
Blair abuses Kait often, he holds her down or drags her off. I get that he's trying to protect her, but wow, that's controlling and abrasive! Magnum kisses Kate and treats her like property. A baby is drowned, a girl commits suicide. Selkie women are dragged off to be wives. A Selkie man is forced to be a husband, but then he grows to love her...he loved her already actually, but still.

Touchy Subjects
Coerced Relationships
It is selkie lore that in order to trap a selkie and keep them on land you must steal and hide their coat. This makes any selkie relationship a sad affair, especially if that selkie doesn't want to be kept on land.
Brutality towards women
Blair also seems to think that he can force Kait into marrying who he deems fit. He does this by force. It seems that women are not allowed to make choices and they are brutally coerced into making the 'right' choices.

Suicide
After her baby is murdered by its grandfather a woman takes her own life, she is that overcome with grief.

Judgment and Profiling
Humans think that selkies are evil and at the beginning of the book this is shown through the murder of a little selkie baby.



How this book is used in the classroom
1] Independent Read option

Splash into Summer: Everblue by Brenda Pandos

I have no idea why I wanted to read this book. I think I was totally drawn in by the cover; isn't it beautiful? And, then I realized I could get a mermaid book for ever so cheap ($.99 as an ebook on the Nook) and, well, I do love a mermaid book on the cheap.

I love the setting of this book. It's so cool to think that living amongst everyday average people are merpeople and that there are gates to another world where they live and thrive with rules and cities different than our own. I also loved how the gate we see the most is in Lake Tahoe...so VERY different than the other books. I like how the world is created with air bubbles in homes so there can be furniture and human creature comforts. I also like the characters (even though one of the merboys is named Fin...yes, Fin, as in I have one), frankly, I especially like Fin the most of all.

So, if I like all those things about it...why the low-rating? why the dislike? Let me see if I can break it down.

1. The execution of the story
This story is paced like it's a 500 page novel. With little details given over time and/or large chunks given over to explanation of a thing that isn't important at that moment. This book takes up practically a whole year.

2. The back and forth narration doesn't work
I enjoyed the change of narrator in Tangled Tides, it flowed and I got to know the characters. In this book the narration doesn't stay with one character enough for me to get into the story and I found myself rereading a part or a section just to see if I missed something.

3. It's treatment of boys and girls...relationships...men and women
If a mermaid is bonded to a boy once they kiss (an idea I do not mind...mated for life is highly romantic), isn't a forced kiss, well, rape? Ick. That's all I could

4. The strangely forced Christian slant
I am a Christian and I like being one...I don't like Christian just being thrown in for the sake of good Christianness. It just threw me off and...actually made me a little uncomfortable, like I was hanging out with my mother and I was 13 all over again.

Everything about this book has rubbed me the wrong way...I'm not sure I need to read the rest of the series (although I've just downloaded Evergreen, I don't know why...it was cheap). I always feel bad when I genuinely don't like a book, mostly because I'm not really sure if I could do better if I tried and here a person has given their heart and soul and all I can do is read it and bash it. I've also read tons of other reviews, hoping those 4s and 5s (and there are a lot of them) would help me see the story differently. Sometimes I'd read a review and think..."Did we read the same book?". That being said, I do hope you try out this book for yourself and if you rank it higher than me please tell me why, I'd really like to know. I think I would have liked this book better had it been the first mermaid book I'd ever read and not the latest.

I felt sad that for my Splash into Summer week, I chose to read two books that weren't what I thought they would be. On to my first truly selkie book, The Lure of Shapinsay!

2 Stars

A good character or two, nice setting...I don't really like anything else about it

Sex 2/5

I really do find that forced kissing thing deplorable. Fin and Ash kiss...as he is trying to save her life, so they're bonded too. 

Language 0/5

None.

Substance Abuses 0/5

None, this really is a nice clean book.

Violence 3/5

The king and his son get into it. The son is a lech, and he picks a fight or two with Fin. It would seem that the whole entire mer kingdom is being led by a lying, conniving father and son duo. Fin's family is also a bit greedy. He gets into a fight with his cousin, there's an explosion, Ash almost drowns and, then there's that whole entire kiss thing. then there was this big fight before the book begins where Fin's father frightens Ash so much that she thinks he's an alcoholic.


Touchy Subjects

Unwanted anything...
Even if somebody kisses you against your will that's still not cool. 

Secrets
Ash doesn't know that Fin and his sister, her best friend, are mermaids.
Religion
I am guessing that the overt Christianity probably gets this book some readers it wouldn't otherwise. It just seemed contrived and forceful to me.



How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option

Splash into Summer: Sea Change by Aimee Freidman

Sea Change by Aimee Friedman is a beautiful story of the sea and of budding teen romance and coming-of-age in a small town in the South...it is a story of mystery, suspense, history and family. I can't really tell if it's a story about mermaids. I think it wants to be. I think it thinks it is. I'm not so sure.

Miranda comes from a long Southern family who vacations every year on Selkie (no there aren't any selkies in this book) Island. Miranda and her mother have gone back to the island to pack up their family home. While doing this Miranda falls for a local boy whose mysteriousness seems to be tied into a book of mermaids found on her grandmothers' bookshelf and to the island itself.

The story of Miranda's growth into a girl who becomes a young adult who doesn't just do what she's told and doesn't live in her life by stereotypes. I really liked how Friedman gives us that stereotypical Southern Belle and Southern Gentleman in several of the teen characters, but then she gives us characters who defy those stereotypes. I like that Miranda learns that just because you fight or disagree with your parents that doesn't mean they don't love you or that you don't love them. I especially love that there is a side of Miranda that she didn't even know existed and I love that her grandmother, even in her death, is helping her find that side.

Leo, a boy she meets on the coast of the island, is everything any girl wants in a man. He passionate and compassionate and good-looking, he loves all the things that she loves (science, sea creatures) and is from the island.

The only thing is, Leo, may or may not be a merman.

This is where Aimee Friedman lost me.

She spends all of this time setting up this mystery. Mercreatures are attracted to red and gold; the whole entire town of fishermen is decked out in red and gold. Leo is always mysteriously near water and has a vast knowledge of the lore and science surrounding the island. However, all of this back story never really comes to any type of conclusion.

I didn't mind the strange reason Miranda and Leo have a fight and I didn't mind how Miranda's mother seems to lose her mind once on the island flirting with an old flame and acting like a debutante. I did mind that this is supposed to be a mermaid story, even better a story about a merboy, and there's only a slight instant of tail fin. I don't mind connecting the dots in a mystery, but is it really a mystery if the author only just gives us a wee-bit to be curious about. In the end no questions are answered and, frankly, there are more questions asked. Is the guy on the ferry mer too? Is Miranda part mer? Was her grandmother and, in turn, her mother? At first, I thought that I had a bad copy of the book, that's how much is missing, but after reading other reviews I think this may be the intention of the novel. This book wants a sequel, although I hear there isn't one in the works at all.

This book has a lovely romance and is a great story of the growth of a girl who learns that things can live outside of her comfort zone and knowledge. If you are reading this book in the hopes of having a little mermaid action you may be disappointed. Maybe.

Review from Coffee and Cliffhangers

3 Stars
 
But, I was promised mermaids...*whine, whine, whine*

Teacher Advisories 

Sex 2/5

The connection between Leo and Miranda is pretty intense. They get close to going all the way a couple of times. One time he gets so fresh that she decides she no longer wants to see him, partly because it scares her and partly because he's so fresh. At least that's how I saw it. Miranda's new summer friends may or may not be true friends, one uses her sensuality to lure a guy away from Miranda.

Language 0/5

No cussing.

Substance Abuses 2/5

There are parties. There's underage drinking.

Violence 1/5

Miranda falls off a boat and is saved. There's some strife between the locals and the summer people.


Touchy Subjects

Science and Myth
Miranda's heart says that what she's reading and seeing couldn't possibly be true.

Secrets
Leo's family has secrets. Miranda's family has secrets. The town maybe hiding a big secret. The summer people have their share of secrets.
Relationships
Miranda's mother hasn't really told her a lot about her family and its history. Miranda's mother also acts pretty irresponsibly through-out the book, but expects Miranda to follow all her rules.

How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option

Tangled Tides by Karen Amanda Hooper

I wasn't really into the cover of this book, the mermaid is in some sort of misty ecstasy with pastel water splashes and a thunderstorm in the background, so it took me awhile to actually read it, which is sad because Tangled Tides is my favorite mermaid book so far. It combines romance, suspense and mythology to entice the reader to go on the journey with Yara.

This is the first mermaid book that I've read that actually delves into the history of mermaids, talks about how there are more than one type of mer-creature and doesn't have a heroine that cries and whines all the time. Sure, Yara doesn't want to be a mermaid, but she also doesn't understand how much her family and friends are involved with these ancient creatures either.

While Yara is truly the star of the show, Hooper compels us to get to know each of the characters in this universe she's created. There are two warring half-brothers, this creates a love triangle sort of (another part I like about the book a new twist on the triangle of love), who happen to be on the opposite ends of the same side, an adorable old guardian uncle, a bewitching siren and so many beautiful and colorful mermaids that I couldn't pick a favorite secondary character. I like how the story gets told through the voices of three characters, not just one. At first I thought this was going to be annoying, but then realized the story moved forward with each interpretation of the tale and the three very different voices kept me intrigued.

And, if you want action there's that too. The gorgons want their cursed prize, there's a deadly sickness that mermaids get if they stay in our world too long and they're running out of the cure and time, there's a shark attack that I didn't breath through as I read and there are some sexy scenes and kisses that left me quite breathless, and wishing I had fins and a tail and my own blue-haired tattooed man friend.

This is definitely a book for those people who love their water creatures (as there are mermaids, selkies, water sprites, sirens and gorgons), but it also for people who love mythology (I never really thought about where mermaids came from, until I read this book), or just want a good suspenseful romance.

Oh, and I got this book for free, when it was free, it's now $4.99 on your Kindle and I couldn't find an ebook version on Barnes and Noble.

5 Stars

Teacher Advisories
Sex 2/5 
There's some sexy kissing, some heated thigh touching and a strange scene where a siren is licking at the wounds of a mermaid.
Language 3/5 
Damn, shit, hell used in the usually way that teens and young adults use them.
Substance Abuses 2/5
The mermaids and selkies smoke something called C-weed in the form of seagrettes. While it may seem unnecessary at first and a bit gratuidous it's how they stay alive here on Earth and probably don't do so in their home environment as they wouldn't need the plant to stay alive. Some people might find this constant smoking and their dependence on it questionable.
Violence 4/5
There's a pretty violent shark fight where a mermaid's tail feathers get ripped off. Gorgons are pretty mean and violent, many mermaids and selkies perished at their hands. And, then there's that whole thing with the siren and the licking...ick.

Touchy Subjects
Religion
There's a healing ritual that may seem pretty new-agey to some.
Substance Abuse
It's probably important to note to students that these mermaids and selkies aren't smoking for the fun of it, nor are they addicts. They are doing it to survive.
Brother against Brother
Sure they learn about it when they are taught about civil wars, but kids need to understand the strained relationship between Rownan and Treygan and why they do not get along.
Sacrifice for Family
There's a lot of that going on in this book and it's important to understand a parents' love and their need to make sure their offspring are safe. It is also amazing to think about what Yara and Treygan and Rownan go through because of family.

How this book is used in the classroom
1] Independent Read option (not for honors students...reading level is too darned easy, unless, of course, they read it for their independent summer read and for that I have a guide...a guide I should post on this website...hmmm...)

OyMG by Amy Fellner Dominy

OyMG by Amy Fellner Dominy is one of those books that could easily be someone's favorite. It's cover is cute, entertaining and appealing to tweens (it's target audience) and its title is fantastic. It's insides are just as appealing, a speech and debater (seriously, first book I've read about one of my favorite extra-curriculars) who is Jewish must hide her identity to attend an all Christian speech and debate camp. It tackles the issues of race and religion and honesty...or does it?

And, that's were this book kind of leaves me, well, a little peeved. Ellie has been raised by her Jewish family and although she is raised Jewish, she doesn't question it, until being Jewish means losing a scholarship to a prestigious, definitely Christian, high school. From the very beginning we see Ellie as a strong-willed girl and then we see this girl become less willful and, well, less truthful as the Christian camp progresses. She begins to hide her Jewish grandmother's cross and is embarrassed by her very Jewish Zeydeh (her eccentric grandfather).

I sort of understand why her parents would allow her to lie about her religious affiliation, if they would have protested too much she would have done it anyway, but they don't really talk to her about what it means to be Jewish or about what it means to be Christian. In this respect they seem like good-natured hippies and I bought that. But, if they're so good-natured why must Ellie be anything at all? In fact, it seems that all the Christians in this book are in some ways the villains of the piece...because of an incident long ago, Doris hates all Jewish people, so much so that she wants to punish them horribly and Ellie's Lutheran grandparents seem to be those crazy Christians who feel that their son 'dun did 'em wrong' by raising Ellie Jewish only. Her father talks to her a little bit about how he doesn't go to church because he feels spiritual in the great outdoors gardening and such, but she doesn't say much about where she feels most spiritual. And, why is Ellie only Jewish, just because her father leans towards wanting no religion that doesn't mean they shouldn't teach her all they know, instead of just assuming she will be?

The story itself is adorable and the characters are developed and believable. Ellie has never been challenged before and there are speech and debaters there who are better than her. The speech she gives at the end is poignant and would truly convince any kid waffling on either side of the issue to chose one...Ellie is two cultures, yet she must give up one to be the other. As a person of mixed heritage I find that, well, sad.

Hmmm...maybe that's the true problem I have with this book...the fact that Ellie chooses a side. I like the novel Kissing Kate because it gives us all the information and definitely tells us were the main character is leaning, but allows us to see it for ourselves. Lissa is still learning and questioning, therefore so must we. I like that ending. Teaching kids to question is the best part of teaching. I'm not sure this book does that.

I suppose if Jewish kids are reading this it is important for them to identify with Ellie and her family and then understand that being Jewish is their heritage and their identity. And, that would have worked had Ellie not been  part Lutheran and if Ellie hadn't had family members (ie. her Lutheran grandparents) to talk to about their religion. She never does talk to them, by the way, she only goes to church once and the whole time she sees both she and Jesus as outsiders.

3 Stars
 
All of that being said, I think that OyMG is a great book for those middle grade kids who may see that Ellie is truly conflicted, to me that did come across very well.


Teacher Advisories
Sex 1/5 
There's a cute moment with some hand-holding and a little kiss at the end. Good times.
Language 0/5 
I think there's some words used to indicate being upset, but that's about it.
Substance Abuses 0/5
Um, yep, I got nothin'...
Violence 1/5
So, yeah, Dynamite Doris is pretty awful and her story about why she dislikes Jewish people is shallow and has to do with lost love...I mean really shallow, but I think that's what happens something silly totally jades us against someone or something forever.

Touchy Subjects
Religion
Ellie and her family are definitely Jewish. Her father is pretty much agnostic and communes with nature. Doris, the kids at camp and Devon is too. They go to church, Ellie talks about Jesus being Jewish.
Telling lies
Ellie lies to her family, her friends and, in the beginning, Devon encourages her because he sees it as easier than standing up to his grandmother. In the end, of course, the lies catch up to her and she has a lot of explaining to do.
Puppy Love
Ellie has a hard time being herself around Devon because she is so enamored with him.
Will
Do we have free will? What happens when our friends question it?

How this book is used in the classroom
1] Independent Read option (not for honors students...reading level is too darned easy, unless, of course, they read it for their independent summer read and for that I have a guide...a guide I should post on this website...hmmm...)


3 Stars
 
I love the story, love the characters, just wish Ellie would have more of a choice.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

OK, so I'm sorry to admit it, but this book is my first ever horror novel. Yes, that's right folks I own, but have never read Amityville Horror, Psycho, The Woman in Black, The House on Haunted Hill...the closest I've ever come to reading any type of horror novel is reading those creepy little books Tales for the Midnight Hour and More Tales for the Midnight Hour.

I could not have picked a better book to begin this adventure.

Cas comes from a long line of ghost killers. He has a special weapon that propels ghosts back to the Nether Regions. Cas doesn't understand the true power behind this tool he just knows that he must use it to finally vanquish one of the most horrid ghosts of all, a girl properly named Anna Dressed in Blood as her body and the white dress she wears are dripping and soaked with her blood. He knows that killing her will bring him one step closer to vanquishing the evil spirit that killed his father.

But, it isn't that easy.

First, there's the fact that most humans who get near her are ripped into two pieces their spirits trapped within the house forever. Second, Anna isn't your ordinary spirit needing to cross over, she has her own ghostly problems. And, finally, there's the fact that Cas find Anna just plain mesmerizing. He doesn't want to kill her, he wants to save her.

This book is descriptive, fast-paced (seriously, you will be hooked two pages in to the first chapter) and ended in such a way that I wanted more without feeling annoyed that I had to wait for another book to come out.

And, while Cas is an wonderfully believable narrator, yes, I do know boys that cuss that much and yes, I would love to be his friend, he is not my favorite character. My favorite character is Anna and I can't wait for her return for the beyond.

And, to give credit where credit is due, I must thank Hayden at The Teen Book Worm for suggesting this book for my classroom library. His suggestion and wonderful review compelled me to read it. I can't wait for the second in the series. I hope the cat comes back.


5 Stars
Who knew that blood and gore could be so darned entertaining?!

Teacher Advisories 

Sex 1/5

I think there may be a kiss and some hand-holding...um, yep, there's just that.

Language 5/5

This book is chock full of the F-Word and shit and damn so much I lost track...lots and lots of cussing. Frankly, I was really taken aback by this, not because I care, but because of marketing...this tells me I may have lived in the Bible Belt a little too long.

Substance Abuses 2/5

There's references to drinking. Two boys get drunk and bully a girl and another boy. There's smoking, too.

Violence 5/5

Well, Anna is a ghost known for ripping people apart. This happens to one of the students and it is described in great, gross detail. Then said student's torn to bits body comes back to talk to Cas. Um, there's a basement full of such people...ghosts who are trapped in Anna's house. A nasty spirit eats a cat...horrible! Anna is such a scary ghost because she was murdered (again something that is given in great detail) and her guardian cast a spell on her spirit. Lots of blood and guts and gore.


Touchy Subjects

Life after Death
I assume that when you read a book about ghost you get pretty curious about the afterlife.

Revenge
Cas has become a slayer of ghost in the hopes of finding the spirit who killed his father. He hopes to kill this spirit and in some ways is blinded by this fact.
Family Secrets
Anna is murdered by her mother, an evil controlling hag.

How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

When I was younger my life's goal was to go to/live in London, England.

This goal was so prominent in my mind that during my Home-Ec class when other girls were making those big wedding plans (a project I'm soooooo glad has been deemed sexist and inappropriate) I planned my trip to London--no, really, I told my teacher I wasn't planning on getting married and that if I did I would do so in Vegas. She told me I should plan my honeymoon instead and my trip (not honeymoon) was a go.

My friends used to help me dream about my life in England.

I'd meet a boy named Nigel "Something"(I don't remember his last name)worth the Third and he'd be handsome and rich and have lovely gardens we'd stroll around. I'd meet the Queen (or is it The Queen?) and she'd be so taken with how polite I was that I'd be offered a job and a place in the palace. I'd own a dog. I'd go to pubs. I'd become an archaeologist and figure out what happened to those boys in the Tower. I'd eat lots of fish and chips. I wish I would have kept all the papers on which we doodled my life plan.

And, then it happened. Everything worked out so I could go to London, England...not just a week or a month, but a whole semester...sigh.

I became a part of the Missouri London Program.

I became an exchange student.

It was awesome.

I'd forgotten how much so until I read Anna and the French Kiss, a wonderfully written, light, but in no way breezy, young adult novel by Stephanie Perkins.

This book would just be another typical teen fish out of water tale if it wasn't for the amazing dialogue. I fell in love with Anna the first moment she was introduced. Actually, Perkins has quite a lovely grasp on dialogue and characters and I fell in love with and related to them all. Each character exhibited traits of people I know and cherish. There's the boy who everyone knows is in the wrong relationship, but he doesn't have the backbone to end it. There's the girl who has had a major crush on said boy, but understands that she is not the one. There's the jealous, over-the-top girlfriend. The boy, who is this case happens to be named Etienne (sigh), has his own wonderful set of quirky guy friends. And, there's all the romance of being in a foreign country sans adults. Something about the way these seniors acting seemed totally believable. This may be the first time I've read a book where a girl or two cries alone or accidentally in front of someone and I didn't want to bash my head, or hers, into a brick wall. I even had some of the same culture shock moments ("What the world I left went on without me while I was having a life overseas?"). This book was soooo good that I couldn't put it down and had to finish it, while my friends waited, sitting on a bed in a lovely Los Angeles hotel an amazing view of the Hollywood sign behind me.

So study abroad. If you're lucky you'll meet people half as cool as these people and you'll have wonderful adventures with or without all the romance. If you can't study abroad right away at least read this book and remember your first love, your first time away from home and live overseas vicariously through them.

Reading this book made me get out the 'ole scrapbooks. Memory lane never felt so good.


5 Stars

The only thing that would have made this book better is if it would have been set in London, no really, I mean that...maybe Stephanie Perkins will do that someday.

Teacher Advisories 

Sex 2/5

There's some kissing...OK, there's lots of kissing there for a minute, whew! A boy alludes to sleeping with a girl, although we never read about it. It is also alluded to the fact the Etienne and his girlfriend sleep together. Anna and Etienne spend a week spooning on a dorm room bed nightly.

Language 4/5

I don't remember there being any cussing in English or in French...gonna go look that up right now...ah, the power of the eReader...OK, so I lied BIG TIME...this book says the F-word like 5, literally, 5 times! Shit also gets thrown around a bit carelessly. I feel bad I have to give this book a 4 on this, but 5 times is a bit much for a teen romance novel!

Substance Abuses 2/5

Um, these are 18 year-old American students in a foreign country that allows you to drink at 18...totally believable situations and frankly, these kids don't act like typical American teens drunk, they act like college students.

Violence 1/5

Drinking and jealous never end up well.


Touchy Subjects

Social Class
Anna goes to school in France because her father has made it big as an author and he wants to impress people. Yeah, you read that right, Anna intially goes to go in France because her father thinks it will look good on his resume.

Love
I love, love, love, love first love books. Be prepared for broken hearts, misunderstandings, lead-ons and the other things that come with it.

The Mores and Folkways of a Foreign Country

Students may want to talk about foreign customs, traditions, home life et cetera.

Couples who are separated
Etienne's parents are separated, but his father still controls much of their lives. For instance, he isn't allowed to see his mother, who has cancer and may be dying, until a scheduled break in the school year.

When it's OK to stand up to your parents
Etienne and his father have a huge fight in which Etienne says some pretty harsh things that further alienate his relationship with his father. When, if ever, is it OK to talk to your parents in this manner? I think that Perkins would have you believe that sometimes this kind of frankness must happen, especially when the parent is verbally, emotionally or physically abusive.

Parents living their lives vicariously through their children
Definitely some lessons to be learned here, as all these kids seem to be privileged in some manner... 

How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option

Fins Are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs

I'm not sure how I feel about Fins Are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs. On the one hand I love the continuation of the story from the first book, I love the character Quince and I love the Lily is learning more and more how to be herself. On the other hand, I felt that new  characters were added just to add meat to the very thin story, I thought that the story was predictable to the point of boredom and, well, there's a whole lot of Dosinia and Doe (as she is called) is the character we spent the whole entire first book disliking--frankly, I disliked her soooo much that, even at the end of this book and we find out a few things about her, I still wanted her to get eaten by a shark.

Although the bond has been severed, at the end of the first book, Lily and Quince decided that they should be together. This means that Lily must give up her kingdom...for a boy. I was willing to accept this fate for Lily as she spent the whole book crying and not listening to her heart and needed to be shown that her true happiness really does matter. In this book she jeopardizes (although by the end we all see why) her future and her happiness, and I still can't decide if it's because she was too stubborn to get it or if Doe is a bigger b-word than I thought.

Which brings me to the fact that I don't like Doe. I suppose that I should be grateful that Childs has written her character so well that I want to vomit every time she's around, which in this book is often, as she's been banished from the kingdom and forced to live with humans. Of course, Brody is back and there's another boy who is heir to a throne in dire straits. Because of this fact, there's more relationship tension between Quince and Lily...tension caused by Lily and her inability to trust people...ugh.

Part of the problem I may have with this book is that I felt that the first one ended so nicely. Actually, this book has a pretty sweetastic ending also, it just took me about 45 pages to understand that there could, in fact, be more to the story.

It may not sound like I enjoyed this book, I did like it, I just know I would have liked it more had it been a stand alone and not a sequel.

3 Stars
 

I'm looking forward to the third book, Just For Fins, and I still love myself some Tera Lynn Childs, however, this particular book didn't totally live up to my expectations. 

Teacher Advisories 

Sex 1/5

There's some kissing...um, that's all, probably like three kisses total.

Language 1/5

The only reason why I say 1 is because my mother always says that people know what you are saying when you replace a cuss word with another word. Childs is excellent at using sea-words for cuss words. I love it, some may not.

Substance Abuses 0/5

Unless you count chlorine, which is toxic to mermaids.

Violence 1/5

There are some intense arguments used with harsh language.


Touchy Subjects

Family
What happens when a family member you hate has to move in with you?

Love
What is love? Does it mean that you have to give up being yourself and your goals to be with someone? How old do you have to be to know you have met 'the one'?

How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option
2] There's an excellent character project that Childs uses to flesh out her characters. It can be found at Books, Boys, Buzz

The Trylle Trilogy by Amanda Hocking

Switched is about a girl, Wendy, whose mother tried to kill her on her sixth birthday because she believed Wendy was not really her child. Eleven years later, with her mother in a mental hospital and under the care of her older brother and aunt, Wendy finds out she was right.

Wendy is a troll, and I think her reaction to finding out is pretty priceless: "Nothing about me resembled a pink-haired doll with a crystal in its stomach or a creepy little monster that lived under a bridge. Admittedly, I was kind of short, but Finn was at least six feet tall." She is taken to the Trylle kingdom, where she discovers she is actually next in line for the throne, and she is none too happy about it. She spends the rest of the three books trying to find her way in her new life (and often fighting to get out of it entirely!).

I have to say, this trilogy got better and better the further I read. Wendy, the heroine, gets stronger and more independent. The obvious choice is rarely the one that writer, Amanda Hocking, makes, which is delightful in any fiction, but especially in girls' YA fiction. She doesn't spend the books mooning over the same boy, and very often pushes love out of her mind for the betterment of the Trylle kingdom and her own independence.

I hesitate to give details because I don't want to ruin the wonderful surprises for future readers, but this whole trilogy was a 5 star absolute must-read! That's as much as I'm giving away. It falls somewhere on the drama-o-meter beneath The Twilight Saga, and I can't quite think of a book to go below it at the moment. It's a lot of fun, drama, and romance, and it was good enough for me to immediately buy the second book and third books in the trilogy after I read the first.

P.S. Amanda Hocking also has a blog! Check it out here.

5 Stars

This book has now become part of my foundation and is an extension of the very essence of me...I laughed, I cried [or some other emotion] and am sad this reading is over...gush, gush, gush...

Teacher Advisories **CAUTION: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!**

Sex 2/5

There is some kissing/making out between Wendy and a male lead, but nothing too detailed or heavy. Sex is alluded to on a few occasions, but it's actually because Wendy gets married to a guy she doesn't love/isn't attracted to and wants to avoid it.

Language 1/5

There may have been a word or two, but nothing I remembered.

Substance Abuses 0/5

Nothing at all!

Violence 3/5

There's some violence, mostly in the third book as a war rages between two kingdoms of trolls. It may be great in volume in a couple of spots, but it's mostly magic based, and it's not really graphic. I've seen worse than what was described on tv!

Touchy Subjects

Family
Wendy's relationship with her mother is rocky because her mother has never believed Wendy was her child. Wendy's supposed brother loves her very much but has a lot of trouble accepting her new place in the world.

Inter-class Relationships
Wendy is in love with a troll who is low on the social totem pole compared to her royal status. She and her troll mother get into it on more than one occasion over this matter.

Arranged Marriages

Wendy is the victim of an arranged marriage (though she eventually gets out of it). It's not really "touchy" in the traditional sense, but kids might have questions about whether this ever happens in the real world.

How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Mermaids and werewolves and vampires and faeries and hags and shape-shifters and waterspirits, if you can name a paranormal, I'm sure they are at least mentioned in Paranormalcy by Kiersten White.

This book rocked my socks off! It's soooo very awesome! It's so awesome, in fact, that I'm sorry it took me two years to read it, so awesome in fact that I'm sorry I don't have the second book right now!

This is one of those cool books that on the surface seems like a cute romp into paranormal land, but is actually a commentary on discrimination, service and relationships.

Evie is seriously that perfect female heroine that I've been looking for when I read teen SF books. She's so girly (pink and animal print are incorporated into everything she wears), but she can also kick major butt using her pink rhinestone encrusted taser, nicknamed Tasy, of course. She falls for a shape-shifter and has doubts, but not the whiny (sorry, I'm about to compare her to two teen girls who annoy the dickens out of me) "I can't live without you" doubts of Bella Swan or "the too tough too touch me blocked-headedness" of Katniss Everdeen. Evie is the rock-star of these girls.

While the plot of this book is not new, the approach is. And, don't let the cover fool you, this book isn't at all fluffy and girly (unless you want to count Evie's pink heeled boots). In the world of Paranormalcy there are humans who know that paranormals exist these humans have taken it upon themselves to defend the world against these creatures and have created an agency to do this. Evie is part of this agency. After she meets a shape-shifting teenage boy, much like herself, she begins to wonder where she fits into the whole thing. Is she trapped? Is she a pawn? Is she an asset? And, most importantly, what does she want?

This book is told with enough humor and seriousness that I found myself laughing seconds after a sad event and I found myself sharing bits of this book to my student in the hallways and at lunch.

It's another one of those books that makes me wish I could have read it when I was 14 and it's another one of those books that I can't wait for my daughter to find.


5 Stars

Teacher Advisories

Sex 1/5 

There are also some nice steamy kisses, embraces and long kiss scenes. Really teen books have the best kissing scenes! A faerie named Reth inappropriately touches Evie all the time, even after you figure out it's still kind of creepy and a little bit pervy.

Language 1/5

I love, love, love when an author uses a fake word in the place of an expletive. Norman Mailer did it with the word 'fug' and Kiersten White does it with *bleep*, it's funny, your kids will love it...I found myself doing it at home. It sure beats cussing!!!

Substance Abuses 0/5

Unless you count getting totally intoxicated on someone's soul...than I bump it up to a 1/5.

Violence 2/5

So, the IPCA fights paranormals. One vamp decides he'd rather die than be confined. A strange creature is going around killing paranormals lots of werewolves and vampires die. A hag dies, a mermaid dies, a werewolf dies, some of the creatures that die we get to know and that's sad...there's lots of violent death.

Touchy Subjects

Slavery and Indentured Servitude
While this is truly a fun teen paranormal romp there are several grown-up and timely themes. IPCA decides who's bad, IPCA locks up and classifies those who are bad, Evie must then decide if who's right. While Evie is deciding if she's actually just a pawn in a game where every side sucks the life out of the other, we must also decide what it means to be truly free. Paranormals are neutered, neutralized and locked up. They are let out only to serve IPCA.

Family
Evie comes from foster homes and has no parents. Raquel takes care of her, but she isn't really a mother per se. Lend's family is everything she desires, but they still have their flaws. Vivian has a family, but have they taught her to be what she is.
Normality
What does it mean to be normal? And, doesn't normal come in many different forms.

Inter (racial ?) relationships
Paranormals date, marry and have children with mortals sometimes to the chagrin and disappoint of their family and friends. These relationships can be seen as allegorical to interracial relationships, and we can see the wonderfulness, but also the troubles that people have when they are in relationships that are defined by society.

How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option

2] Websites

Author's website


Questions for Discussion (from here)

1. It has been said that the book speaks in metaphors regarding issues such as animal rights,  human rights and slavery. Would you agree with this and why? Support your answer using details from the book.

2. Evie’s relationship with Raquel is similar to a mother/daughter relationship. Would you have liked to see their relationship end differently than the way it did? Explain your answer.

3. If you could meet any type of paranormal from the book which would you choose? Why?