Stranded

Damselfly by Chandra Prasad
New York : Scholastic Press, 2018.
259 p. ; 22 cm.

Damselfly isn't a bad book, in fact it makes for a good escapist read, but it's not a very good novel either.  This contemporary shipwreck (airplane crash actually) remake of Lord of the Flies just feels thin to me.  The set-up is a group of about a dozen teens from an elite school plane-wrecked on a remote island in the South Pacific, where a new social order emerges as the weeks pass - an order based on manipulation, violence and emerging racial tensions (Asian Indian Americans vs. white kids).  There's also danger from a mysterious presence on the island that threaten them (we assume it's a person since it writes messages in English). If you are wondering, yes, the reader does eventually find out the identity of this threat.

It think - like many shipwreck / stranded tales - the best features are the struggles to carve out a survival against the cruel indifference of nature.  The strongest parts were when simple things like getting sick or injured are shown to be the dire situation they are when stripped of the bene that civilization offers.

In contrast, I just didn't find the battle for domination to be all that believable or interesting.  It is a short novel, and too much just gets hurried and rushed in order to squeeze in the various little (and big) character conflicts.

The novel ends with the reader wondering what will happen next. In some novels that seems like a cop-out, but for this story I thought it was a fairly satisfying end.

Fiery Brown

A Volcano Beneath the Snow: John Brown's War Against Slavery by Albert Marrin
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, [2014]
244 p. : ill., maps ; 25 cm.

Like many of the history non-fiction books published with the high school audience in mind, this book has an appealing layout with lots of great photos, reproductions, etc.  It makes for a readable history.  I also like that the length of these non-fiction books is long enough for a substantive treatment of the topic, but not so exhaustive as to be daunting.

I read this book because I really wanted to learn more about John Brown and his passionate fight against slavery in the US and his willingness to die for the cause. 

Marrin does a good job describing the life of Brown and the back drop of slavery - especially the way in which slavers decided that they had to expand slavery in the US to keep their power.  He also illuminates the way in which Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry pushed the coming Civil War even closer.  But I think the biggest weakness is that Marrin tries to highlight the radical and "terrorist" nature of John Brown's actions (for example his execution of unarmed prisoners in Kansas) without fully illuminating the absolute horrors and terrorism of the slave labor system.  Having read The Half Has Never Been Told, I am aware that the cotton-slavery system that evolved after 1820 was an even more vicious, brutal and horrid system of torture/slavery that what already existed before 1820.  I think it is a good thing that Marrin wants students to really wrestle with the complexities of when or if illegal, violent action is acceptable.  But to do that you have to really be honest about the system that that action was targeting - and I don't think Marrin succeeded in that.

I would still recommend the book since it is a thorough treatment of Brown's life and conveys a lot of the dynamics of the time.     

Thumbs Up All the Way Down

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
New York : Atheneum, [2017]
306 p. ; 22 cm.

I'm a fan of Jason Reynolds, especially his When I was the Greatest, and somewhat of his foray into superhero fiction; this work did not disappoint.  I wasn't sure I'd like his novel in verse; when that genre fails, it reads like mediocre prose chopped into lines.  Instead, in this novel the poetry works.  The poems help to enhance the ghostly narrative of the work (the main character is visited by ghosts of friends and family who have been killed by guns), and Reynolds uses a lot of assonance, consonance and internal rhymes to keep the language snapping and tight.

The movement of Reynolds' story is also creative and satisfying.  Will, a young man is on his way to avenge the shooting/killing of his dearly loved older brother, Shawn.  Taking the elevator down from the 7th floor,  he is visited at each floor by the ghosts of various people he's known who have been shot.  These ghosts offer insights, challenges and experience to Will.

The novel manages to be moving, thought-provoking, and interesting.  It also doesn't end wrapped up and tidy.  I would definitely recommend this book.

Yeah, I'm Scowling

Scowler by Daniel Kraus
New York : Ember, 2014.
289 p. ; 22 cm.     

I wish I could say I liked this book - I really do.  It's supposed to be a devilishly good Midwestern Gothic tale. It is an intense, twisted, psychological horror story of human depravity and domestic violence - which just didn't move or captivate me.

It's an odd tale of a 19 year old young man who at age ten survived his father's attempts to kill him after beating and torturing his wife.  Unfortunately for us and for the young man, his psyche is a twisted bin of delusions, violence, sexual frustration and anger - embodied in his three vividly imagined "living" playthings - a bear, a little Jesus, and a toothy, vile looking toy with very sharp edges - yep, Scowler.  All of this comes exploding to the fore when there  are the surreal impacts of several small meteorites in rural Iowa where this tale takes place.  This cosmic event breaks open the prison where his father is being held - setting him free to come after the family again, and plants a weirdly magnetic and never cooling meteorite on the farm where the family lives.

There were times as I read it that it just felt sordid and creepy.  I'm okay with dark and violence, but for me it has to have more than the goal of just entertainment or creating the "ick" factor (which this book definitely does).  However, I think I'm in the minority in my lack of enthusiasm for Scowler.  The book has received many rave reviews (check out the book's official page), and is popular with those wanting mature and gruesome horror tales.

It's not a book I'll be pushing, but if someone finds it and likes it, that's okay with me.

Violent, Unbelievable - That's History

Samurai Rising by Pamela Turner
Watertown, MA : Charlesbridge, [2016]
xiii, 236 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm

This book had great reviews in VOYA (and other places, too - like the NYT and SLJ).  I had not yet read it, when student asked if I had anything in history to recommend.  Ah ha! I handed him Samurai Rising, and he brought it back several days later saying it was the best thing he'd read in a while.  There's nothing like a student's glowing review to bump a book up to the top of my "to-read" list.

Things I liked a lot about this book:  It's a history - 1160 to1190 in Japan - that I know almost nothing about.  It's well researched with copious notes.  Finally, it's written to be an adventurous, exciting read.

The book is pretty violent - as were most Samurai battles.  There are lots of scenes of hand-to-hand combat with swords, arrows, daggers and copious amounts of blood and corpses.  Strangely, though the violence does not seem gratuitous, as Sarah Miller notes in the NYT review, "Heads topple, limbs are severed, arrows pierce eyeballs, yet these facts are relayed cleanly and directly."

I also appreciated that the author provides an afterward explaining how she made decisions in recreating  the world of the main hero, Minamoto Yoshitsune, even though much of the historic record is sparse.  It's a great insight for students into thinking historically - and creatively.  Finally, I'd be remiss not to praise the illustrations of Gareth Hinds.  His drawings are bold, skillful, uncluttered and yet convey action, emotion and the stately nature of the story being told (the cover graphic at the top is an excellent example of his art).

I was a little stunned to see one review list this as for readers aged 10 - 14.  That would be a very precocious 10 year old! This book should satisfy any high school reader, and frankly I think a lot of adults (myself included) would enjoy this biography.
  

The Hunger Tests

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau
Boston : Houghton Mifflin, [2013]
344 p. ; 22 cm.

Ok, so my title for this post is a little cheeky, but it is hard to read The Testing and not hear many echoes of The Hunger Games.  However, Charbonneau still manages to write a pretty exciting, lethally adventurous dystopian survival tale.  In this series the young people are elites chosen for the "honor" of the annual testing that will decide who continues on to their society's only university where they will be groomed to be the future leaders of the United Commonwealth.  Unfortunately for them, they have no idea just how final some of the testing will be, culminating in a grueling survival trek across hundreds of miles of apocalyptic-war ravaged territory starting at what was - before the catastrophic wars that nearly destroyed humanity - the city Chicago (echoes of Divergent).

I think what makes this novel work is that it is well paced and plotted, and the main character is an interesting, resourceful figure (and female hero).  Like The Hunger Games, the element of trust vs. mistrust between characters keeps things exciting.

I don't think I'll read the next two installments in the series,  but I did enjoy reading The Testing and would definitely recommend it to readers wanting to continue reading exciting dystopian fiction - especially fans of The Hunger Games.

Floats Like a Butterfly

Bed-stuy Setting of When I was the Greatest

When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds
New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, [2014]
231 p. ; 22 cm.  

This is one of those books that really exceeds expectations!  I read it because I saw that it had won the John Steptoe - New Talent / Coretta Scott King Award for 2015 and had received numerous positive reviews (e.g. Publishers Weekly and Kirkus), and I wanted to see for myself if it was a book I could recommend.  Also, I'm always on the lookout for diverse authors - our school is a very diverse school - and Jason Reynolds, a young African-American writer living in Brooklyn, interested me.

Would I recommend this book?  The answer is a definite Yes!  I loved this book.  One of the reviewers on Goodreads writes, "Jason Reynolds just slays the voice in this book.  Slays it," and I have to agree.  His voice reminded me a lot of Christopher Paul Curtis, the wonderful author of Bud not Buddy. But, where Bud not Buddy is aimed at middle school readers, Reynolds book hits right at the high school age reader.

What I loved about Reynolds book is that it deals with the rough life of the urban working poor and unemployed - and does so with humor, a light touch and a lot of heart.  There is action in this book, a bit of sex (or almost sex), physical violence, lawbreaking, and cussing, but the heart of the book is about loyalty, friendship, acceptance, and - dare one say it? - love.

It's funny to me that the cover, seen here,

was actually controversial!  I was disappointed with the cover, but not for it being too provocative.  On the contrary, I think it's a weak cover that doesn't grab the attention of a high school reader.  A stunning portrait of a kid in a fight, or shadows on a Brooklyn street, or hustlers on a street corner would have been far more compelling.  Honestly, when I first saw the book, I thought "Oh, cool it's a new LGBT book!" For the record, it's not.

Cover aside, I will definitely recommend this book to any student looking for an all-around good read or a fresh take on urban life, drama, and growing up.

A Terrible Time

All Involved by Ryan Gattis
New York, NY : Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2016.
372 p. ; 21 cm.

Gattis' novel won an Alex Award this year, an award recognizing books published for adults which have a high appeal for young adult readers.

All Involved is a powerful read and the author's site for the book is a good place to go for links to some of the history behind the novel.  

I can see why Gattis' book won an Alex Award, but I would definitely note that the content is very mature.  Set in the lawless, violent days of the LA upheaval (riot? insurrection? uprising?) the novel is gritty, violent, vulgar and disturbing.  However, it is hard to imagine a book about the LA Riots of 1992 that would be able to avoid some very upsetting and graphic episodes.  What makes this novel exceptional its use of seventeen interconnected 1st person narratives that tell the story of six days of unrest that followed the acquittal of police officers unknowingly filmed as they savagely beat Rodney King nearly to death.  In this novel we see gangs settling old scores, sweeping in innocent and not-so-innocent people with savage violence and betrayal.  We also see the humanity of people working to save the injured, the dying and buildings that have been set ablaze.

I found this a compelling read, even if somewhat demoralizing.  It is a book that would appeal to students who are interested in urban violence, gang life and extreme situations - think Rodriguez's Always Running or Reymundo Sanchez' Once a King - and, like those books, it is one that is for mature readers.

Game Over

Against Football: One Fan's Reluctant Manifesto by Steve Almond
Brooklyn : Melville House, [2014]
178 p.; 20cm.

In late summer this year, I heard Steve Almond on several talk shows [you can hear him talking with the superb Dave Zirin at the 13 minute mark here] discussing this book, Against Football.  Hearing him talk about the moral problems of being a fan of football was interesting, especially because he was a devoted and obsessed fan of professional football, mainly of the Oakland Raiders.  He brought to the discussion an element missing in some criticisms of football - a passion for the thrills of the game for the fans.

To my mind, Almond has written a powerful and passionate denunciation of the popular love of football by the American public - something that polling data backs up.  Almond manages in this short [178 p.] manifesto to expose football as a brutal [even lethal] sport that embodies many of the shortcomings of US society - sexism, racism, militarism, and unbridled capitalist greed.  However, he also tries to explain why it is such an appealing sport for millions of fans.  He backs his critiques up with facts and data that are hard to dispute. 

Of course many fans will be angry or frustrated with Almond's critique.  Any fan reading this book, will have to confront that their support of football, is a support for a sport that ravages the brains and the bodies of its players [including this tragic injury at a nearby high school this fall].  For those reluctant to give up football, I would suggest checking out this moving video from Time magazine which explains a lot about CTE - the brain injury that is a direct result of football violence and is at the heart of the injury crisis confronting football.

Want to keep watching, enjoying football?  If you do, you at least owe it to yourself and your conscience to read this passionate renunciation of American football.