FINISHED:

Federle, Tim. (2013). Better Nate than ever. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[Where was this book when I was a tween/teen??  Nate steals away from his sheltered, conservative Pennsylvania town to head to New York so that he can audition for the role of Elliott in a new musical based on the movie "E.T.: the Extraterrestrial".  This is a hilariously fun novel that takes place over the course of just a couple of days, and which has Nate reconnecting with an Aunt who has been estranged from Nate's mother when she stole away to New York in an effort to be someplace more open-minded and accepting.  It's one of those books that every small town kid who's just coming into realizing s/he is gay ought to read in order to see that it truly does "get better".  Like I said, this one would've given me so much hope when I was a (closeted) teenager stealing away to Chicago at every opportunity so that I could be around some diversity.]


STARTED:
Green, John. (2012). The fault in our stars. New York: Dutton/Penguin.


[.]


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FINISHED:
Balliett, Blue. (2013). Hold fast. New York: Scholastic.


[.]


STARTED:
Federle, Tim. (2013). Better Nate than ever. New York: Simon & Schuster.


[.]

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FINISHED:
McAlpine, Gordon. (2013). The tell-tale start: The misadventures of Edgar & Allan Poe (Book 1).  New York: Viking.


[.]


STARTED:
Balliett, Blue. (2013). Hold fast. New York: Scholastic.


[LOVE HER.]

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FINISHED:
Spinelli, Jerry. (2013). Hokey Pokey. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.


[???  Not my cup of tea... and I'm not sure how many kids would pick this one up because of its ?? nature.  I think that it's just too esoteric for the intended audience.  I mean, a novel about a bunch of kids living in the desert with bicycles that behave like wild stallions??  I appreciate the fact that it's clearly an allegory about growing out of childhood, but I think that a kid would get it even less than I did.]


STARTED:
McAlpine, Gordon. (2013). The tell-tale start: The misadventures of Edgar & Allan Poe (Book 1).  New York: Viking.


[.]

*

FINISHED:
Johnson, Hal. (2012). Immortal lycanthropes. Boston: Clarion.


[Myron, a teenager that remembers nothing about his life from before five years ago when he was in a terrible accident, is a teen that has a severe facial disfigurement (“His face was partially reconstructed… but it was still a twisted, noseless face”) who, one day while fighting off a bully, discovers that he has extraordinary powers related to the fact that he is an “immortal lycanthrope”.  Finding out that he is one of a number of immortal people who are able to turn into a specific mammal at will sets Myron off on an adventure across the country to find out who he is, all the while being pursued by members of secret societies and other immortals who believe he is “the chosen one”.  Jumping from one random, seemingly unrelated event to another – very often predicated by Myron being knocked unconscious and waking up in a strange place – the proceedings get haphazard and bizarre with an unsatisfying “resolution” that involves Myron finding out on one of the very last pages which animal he can morph into, with him then swimming off (spoiler!) to who knows where.  Though it is not front and center as in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder (Alfred A. Knopf, 2012), Myron’s severe facial deformity is rarely mentioned or used as a basis for his motivations or reactions until he, gallingly, needs to use it to swindle people by gaining sympathy.  This is an odd, often muddled, debut novel with an almost stream-of-consciousness narrative that may attract readers based on the premise alone, but which might leave them feeling kind of confused...]


STARTED:
Spinelli, Jerry. (2013). Hokey Pokey. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.


[.]


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