King Ick

King Dork by Frank Portman
New York : Delacorte Press, c2006.
344 p. ; 22 cm.

Some books work for me and some don't.  This one just didn't, which surprised me since it received a lot of very positive reviews.

As someone who has been working in public schools for over a decade, I found what Booklist calls "a humorous, scathing indictment of the current public education system" to be instead a cynical, crass and deeply dishonest portrayal of public school life.  The high school of Dorkworld is a vicious place where faculty gladly and frequently bully students, where bullying by students is completely accepted and condoned, and where the academics are non-existent.  That would all be ok, if the intention of hte book was to create a exaggerated parody of public high schools.  Additionally, the teachers in Dorkworld are a bunch of imbeciles, bullies, fools, and/or pornographic criminals - and the academic world they preside over is one where even the AP classes offer little more than inane fluff.

Finally, the main "hero" of Dorkworld is supposedly an unappealing outsider subject to bullying, ridicule and insults - but as the novel ends it becomes apparent that he's really as crass as any of the pathological normals that he hates, considers himself better than everyone else, and somehow ends up as the sensual boy-toy of two rather attractive girls.

The writing is pretty good.  Dialogue is well done.  But for me this book just lacks heart.

Homage to Gatsby

Even In Paradise by Chelsey Philpot
New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2014]
360 p. ; 22 cm.

This debut novel received a lot of praise and I think it is well deserved.  So often I'll read a young adult novel where the characters are on witty overdrive, or hyped-up cynicism - but not Chelsey Philpot's Paradise. The Booklist reviewer notes that there is "nothing...we haven't seen before" - and notes that Philpot knows this too, and so offers a graceful pleasure of a read as she probes the intensities of love - in friendship, in family, and in romance.

The novel revels in the private boarding school setting, the old-money wealthy setting of the Buchanan's vacation estate on Nantucket.  She also conveys the way that this wealth and Buchanan's sense of having an elite place in the world wows the narrator who - from a working class family - is attending the boarding school and becomes a part of the Buchanan "family" due to fortunate happenstance.

I was pleased that Philpot did not over use the upper class - lower class differences to create false drama, but instead leaves it to the main character to figure out what can work, and what can not as she finds herself more and more involved and more and more in love with the "great Buchanans."

I'd definitely recommend this to a student who likes well written relationship novels.

First Loves and Second Marriages

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer Smith
New York : Little, Brown, 2013, c2012.
236 p. ; 22 cm.

Sometimes it's just nice to read a book that delivers what you hope it will - in this case a tender and interesting love story between likable characters.  Add a bit of overseas travel, family drama, and well-tuned dialogue and you have the makings of a sweet read.

Much of the story is devoted to Hadley's difficulties with her estranged father, who left his first family after falling in love with a new woman while teaching in Oxford.  The father wants a relationship with Hadley, and Hadley is coming to be in his wedding, but she's sad, angry and determined not to like his new wife.  On the trip over she's fortunate enough to miss one flight, and end up with the very likable Oliver - who takes a shine to her.

Separated at the airport, Hadley has to attend the wedding. As you can imagine a lot of issues get worked through (and maybe worked out) including - her relationship to her father, her feelings about his new wife, and whether or not Oliver really was interested in her and whether she can even find him in London before she has to return home.

I would recommend this to students wanting a good love story, with believable, well-developed characters.  It's also a book to recommend when looking for a teen romance that does not involve sex.  I've seen reviewers who compare it to Sarah Dessen books, and I'd say that is on target.    

The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
New York : Henry Holt and Co., 2014.
319 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.

Let's face it; mass extinction is a depressing topic, but Kolbert manages to make it interesting, humane and compelling.  She does this by not only presenting a general outlines of what the 6th extinction is, and where it fits in the history of science - but also by presenting it in understandable case studies and examples from the past and present.  Also, when she focuses on current extinction events - e.g. Panamanian golden frogs, Sumatran Rhinos, and coral reefs - she travels to the place where this event is happening and joins in with researchers and scientists.  The results are moving and interesting vignettes that help any curious person understand both the specific and fascinating events of mass extinction, but also get a taste of the terrible potentials that they hold for the future of the planet and our species.

I'm pleased that this book won a 2015 Pulitzer Prize - it is well deserved and will bring new readers to this critical topic.   I would also recommend this book to any young adult reader interested in the topic or interested in good science writing in general.