Book Review: Grace by Elizabeth Scott

In a futuristic or fictional present, Grace is an Angel of Death. She, along with many other girls of the "People," has trained to become a suicide bomber for years. Unlike many of her Angel sisters, she is not completely successful in her mission. She returns to her encampment in shame, and then flees. To an unknown future.

Her companion in flight, Kerr, is attempting to escape demons of his own. He has ties on the other side of this insane war, the side that Grace has been trained to kill.

Now, this unlikely pair is traveling across their desert landscape, attempting to avoid discovery by the many of Keran Berj, a totalitarian dictator without a conscience or a care for his citizens. He wants absolute power, and people like Grace and Kerr are standing in his way. Which cannot go unpunished.

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That was one of the more difficult plot summaries I've written. Not because I didn't understand or appreciate the book, because that could not be farther from the truth. I loved it. I was moved by the spareness of the language in this book, by the beautiful brevity of this story.

And the language is not all that I loved. I could not stop thinking about this book after I finished reading it. It only took a couple of hours to read (devour) but since I turned the last page, I have had several hours of contemplation about the author's intent and the message that these two teens are sending with their story. 

With this book, I see how corrupt all causes--even those who seem tied to protecting people and earth and freedom--can be. That when the mission becomes death and destruction of an "enemy," no matter how common or evil, that those who are fighting will never be the same. That followers and fighters will live and die for a cause, never having lived for themselves. That no matter how successful you are in aiming at your target, it will always move and new enemies will pop up as soon as one falls. It is the nature of evil, to reappear.

In the positive, I can see that there are ways to live in peace. But, this starts with an appreciation for life. Not just your own, but the lives that you don't know exist. I don't know that Grace exists, but I'm sure that there are girls like her, waiting to be sacrificed for a war that will forget them soon after they perish. That there are people everywhere and all of them desire to have access to life without fear. But, I am going to understand that fear causes some people to want to hurt others. I don't know that we can stop this cycle of fear and control and a lack of appreciation for the lives of others, but I do know that the first step in any change is thought and conversation.

Books like Grace are a way to start that conversation.

Thanks to Elizabeth Scott for allowing me this train of thought. I'm going to stay on for a while.

**Read and reviewed as part of Presenting Lenore's Dystopian February Celebration**

The Persnickity Snark FIVE Challenge: The Great Re-Reads of 2010

I've decided to join the Persnickety Snark in her FIVE Challenge. Basically, there she has established a list of categories for each day leading up to the new year. Here are the lists that she has planned:

December 21 - 5 Great Debuts
December 22 - 5 Great Covers
December 23 - 5 Great Series
December 24 - 5 Great Re-Reads (books you've LOVED so much you went back for more)
December 25 - 5 Most Anticipated (2011 titles)
December 26 - 5 Hopes for YA in 2011
December 27 - 5 Great YA Movie Deals
December 28 - 5 Great Author (in the flesh) Moments
December 29 - 5 Great YA Bloggers
December 30 - 5 Great Miracles that Occurred to Get Me Reading More (choose your genre)
December 31 - 5 Best Titles for 2010 (which I double because 5 is too hard)

Here are my FIVE selections for Great Re-Reads (Books I read and then decided to teach/ use in the Chick Lit Book Club) 2010:

 

I now teach both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, so I get to re-read these titles every year!

I re-read this book in 2010, listened to it on audio (brilliant!) and wrote a grant to get copies to teach. I'm teaching it right now to my seniors. They're loving it!

 

I will be teaching this amazing World Lit selection to my sophomores this coming year. Great selection to help us understand what life is like for impoverished children around the globe. 

This read was a huge hit for our first Chick Lit Book Club meeting of the year.  The girls were outraged that forced marriages go unpunished in our society. Lots of great discussion!

We read this book for our November selection for the Chick Lit Book Club.  The discussion, the questions, the insights that came out as a result of reading this book were some of the most powerful that I've listened to in my five years of running this club. Great for mature YAs who want to discuss bullying, identity, and violence in our society. 

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 These are some of my favorite re-reads of 2010. I don't re-read a whole lot of books when I love them--I usually just find a way to teach them or include them in the Chick Lit Book Club. That way, I get to re-read and share them with my students and the cute little Chick-ens of our book club. When I love a book, I want others to love it too. What better way to be excited about teaching and learning than getting to be passionate about great reads?!

If you're interesting in linking your top FIVE lists, visit the Persnickety Snark!

Book Review: Plus by Veronica Chambers

The main character of Plus doesn't start as a plus-sized model, but after a rough break-up with her first real boyfriend, Beatrice, aka Bee, Wilson is discovered as America's next best full-figured beauty. She takes the modeling world by storm, but is secretly lusting after the jerk who broke her heart. Even though she now has money, fans and fame, Bee does not truly have the confidence of a supermodel. She acts like she loves her body, but still seeks attention from men who treat her like dirt.

This is not a deep novel. It's super cute and fun and lighthearted. I was hoping for a more weighty (no pun intended) read. I was disappointed that Bee became heavier and had been naturally slim before. I felt like a girl who had struggled with weight and criticism because of her size would be a much more realistic and endearing character.

But, this is a perfect beach read. It's summery and sorta makes you think, but not so hard that your brain cells are all that taxed. I was hoping to choose this read for the Chick Lit Book Club, but it's a little too light for my girls. They're used to dealing with some serious subject matter. This is a good one for my free reading shelf at the back of the room. And, the cover is adorable. I love it.

**Received from YA Addict's ARC Tours**

Book Review: Dairy Queen

For our last Chick Lit Book Club ("like" us on facebook!) meeting of the year, I chose Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. I didn't exactly know what to expect from this one, but the review I read before choosing this book talked about summertime, football, and farming. Good combination for the girls involved in our rural Maine club!

What I did not expect from this book was to fall completely in love with the main character. Calling DJ a tomboy is a bit like calling Maria Carey a diva--Too obvious. Really, she's a girl who feels overwhelmed with the responsibilities placed on her after her father has an accident and can no longer maintain the family farm. To make a bad situation worse, the communication in DJ's family is less than open. No one talks about feelings openly or shares what's really going on in their lives.

When DJ is coerced into allowing the quarter back of her town's rival team to volunteer on the farm, she finds herself learning more about who she is than she's ever learned from any of her friends or family. Though she hates Brian, the star QB, at first, she becomes more and more comfortable talking with him and is ultimately more open with him than she's ever been with anyone else. And, the connection is mutual.

This book is slow moving, but it's not a bad slow. It's more like a long summer day, filled with sunshine and bittersweet lemonade. I absolutely loved every second of this novel and hope to read the sequel soon. A perfect read to end our school year. Have a great summer, Chicks!

Cover Love (3)

I just finished reading Catherine Gilbert Murdock's Dairy Queen this weekend. For this week's Cover Love (hosted by Linna at 21 Pages, I decided to check out the various covers for this book. The old hardcover and paperback covers are part of the reason why I waited to read this book for so long. But, when the time came to select our title for the May Chick Lit Book Club book, I thought that this would make a nice end-of-year choice. And, I was right. The Chicks have has great things to say about this book, and I feel the same way. (I'll review this title in a later post.)

Here is the hardcover version of this title. I didn't really think that it looked like a great read, and I don't really feel like this cover portrays the plot of the novel (or the personality of the main character) all that well.


This is the cover of the book that I read! I liked having a vision of the main character and her friend/love interest, because I was not sure that they were going to stay friends or make a relationship happen. I think that it connects to the plot and the main characters in this book.


Here is a wacky cover from Germany. I don't understand where this comes from and it almost makes the story seem silly. This is not a humorous read! It's a great story, but not because there are funny cow outfits in it!

On My Wishlist: Grace by Elizabeth Scott

I absolutely cannot wait to read Grace by Elizabeth Scott. If this book is as good as the description sounds, I predict that this will be a groundbreaking YA book. I know that this book will not come out until September of 2010, and I'm thinking that this would be a great selection for the Chick Lit Book Club next year. We've never read about suicide bomber psychology, and I'm thinking that this would be a timely discussion to have with the Chicks. If you've heard anything about this title, please let me know!

Here's a description of this title from goodreads:

Book Review: Ashes of Roses

Our April title for the Chick Lit Book Club is called Ashes of Roses and it was written by Mary Jane Auch. I have to admit that I was not super excited to read this book at first, but my anticipation grew as Chick after Chick approached me in our school's hallways telling me how much they loved it. So, After reading eight or nine other titles this week, I decided it was high time to get started. (Our meeting is in four days, so my procrastination had to end sometime!)

What I did not see coming is me wanting to read this book in one sitting. There was something about the voice and persona of the main character, Rose. Rose and her family ventured to America from Ireland in the steerage section of a huge ship in the year 1911. Rose is sixteen and has no idea of the conditions waiting for her in New York City.

After part of her family is sent back to Ireland due to contagious disease, Rose works to become a caretaker for herself and her family. She seeks out several jobs, but is only truly successful in landing a job at the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. I don't want to give away the ending of this story, but if you're interested in learning more about the tragedy that occurred in this sweatshop, this is a great site.

Readers who are interested in historical fiction may like this book. I don't know how, but the main character is interesting and dynamic. This is a great book for us Chicks to talk about and I can't wait for the meeting!

We Made It! Readergirlz Mentions The Chick Lit Book Club

One of my favorite blogs/ sites ever is readergirlz. I love the book reviews, author interviews, and the way that they pair awesome songs with books. when I first read about Operation Teen Book Drop on this site, I knew that the Chicks in our local Chick Lit Book Club needed to get involved. And did they ever! In a few short weeks, the Chicks raised money (about $60) and used that money to purchase six new titles for a variety of classroom, local, and school libraries. We trekked all the way to Barnes and Noble (about an hour's drive) and had a great time reading backs of books and deciding how to best spend our loot. And, we ate lunch and consumed lots of good coffee. It was pretty darn exciting!

Without further rambling, here is a link to the readergirlz site where you can see our Chick Lit Book Club info and picks and such! I need to go pinch myself to make sure that this is all real!

Book Drop Rocked!

Today is the day! After months and months of waiting, Operation Teen Book Drop is in full effect! Our school's Chick Lit Book Club raised money and purchased six young adult novels to "drop" in our local, school, and classroom libraries. Here are a couple of the chicks "dropping" their books on our library shelves. Also included is a picture of the books that we purchased. It was super fun!

Book Review: After by Amy Efaw

I have to admit that I was a little nervous to read Amy Efaw's After. I had written a grant to get a couple of sets of books for the Chick Lit Book Club and had it funded without even reading the book. I'm not used to assigning or giving out books to students without reading them first, and this book has some pretty disturbing subject matter.

From what I'd read online, I knew that the main character in this book was a teen girl who hid her pregnancy, birthed her baby in secret, and then disposed of the baby in a dumpster. Obviously, this was going to be an intense read no matter what type of spin the author put on the plot. My fear, though, was that this book would come across as offensive or as making light of the situation. Almost as soon as I started reading, I realized that this was not the case.

The main character, Devon, is obviously disturbed mentally and emotionally by her situation. When the story opens, Devon truly has no recollection of giving birth or of putting her child into a dumpster. She is medically unstable and requires hospitalization to recover before she arrested for her crime. Always the perfect student and athlete, Devon does not comprehend her new reality. Over the course of a couple of weeks, though, her hard-nosed attorney helps her to understand the weight of her situation. If tried as an adult, Devon could spend the rest of her life in jail.

I loved Efaw's pace in this novel. She doesn't try to cover the entirety of Devon's situation. We only see a small slice of Devon's life and trial, but we see huge growth in her character during this short time. Though this crime is vile and unforgivable, the author allows some insight as to why teen girls like Devon might avoid reality and hide the truth from their families and friends. According to the author, this type of crime happens almost daily in our country, which was definitely news to me. Once I realized how often this horrific crime is committed, I knew that this book needed to be read by our book club. Hopefully, we'll find a way to talk about this book and this situation in a way that will benefit the Chicks!