2014 book challenge: month 4, book 4

Yeah, I know May is month 5, but this time I have a real reason for being behind; I had to wait for a copy of the chosen book to became available.

So this was the month for the topic of high school drama, those books about popular kids making each other miserable, etc. The book was Pretenders, by Lisi Harrison, and I also looked at The List, by Siobhan Vivian. These two, at least, are creatively written. The first is told through journal entries by five kids, the second from the viewpoints of girls deemed "pretty or "ugly" by their peers. I really gave it a try, but I still have about as much interest in the doings of the cool kids as I did in high school, which is to say, none.

More interesting is the phenomenon of having to get on a waiting list almost every time for any current, popular book. I don't know if this is due to living in an era of the ability, and therefore the necessity, of reserving everything, or of living in a big city with too many people for too few resources. Or both.

2014 book challenge: month 3, book 3

(O.k., it's month 4 now, but I did read the book in month 3.)

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Beat Your Ass, by Meg Medina (2013) was the "serious issues" book I chose (it came highly recommended), the issue in this case being bullying. When the main character, Piddy, moves, she finds herself at the top of a bully's hit list at her new school, even though she's never actually met the bully, the Yaqui of the title.

Unlike some other things I've read on the topic in recent years (including some supposed nonfiction), this book faces the hard truth: the only way to survive a bully is to stay off of the bully's radar (which is never completely possible). Grownups won't help, would be powerless if they tried, and telling would probably just make the bullying worse. It used to be that you could get away by making it to the end of high school and then moving out of town, but that was before the internet.

On a more pleasant note, the author does a great job of communicating a sense of place and atmosphere, and there are some  realistically portrayed, strong, female characters.

2014 book challenge: month 2, book 2

O.k., this month wasn't much of a challenge. The topic, "near future / postapocalyptic dystopia," is one I often read, and the book, Killer of Enemies, by Joseph Bruchac (2013), is one I probably would've read, anyway. Still, I believe that self-improvement consists not only of getting our weaknesses up to standard, but also building on our strengths. To be a reader's advisory "expert" on a topic includes keeping up to date.

The disaster in this one is a "Cloud" that knocks out all electricity, with the result that scores of genetically modified monsters are set free from their cages, and society quickly re-arranges itself in a brutal form of feudalism.

In having a Native American (American Indian, NDN, whatever name you're most comfortable with) protagonist, the author deliberately makes the point that Indigenous people do not just belong to the past, but are in the present and will be a part of the future.

It's interesting to note that the plot interweaves Apache folklore and videogame structure. The teenaged protagonist and narrator, Lozen, draws on the folk stories for inspiration to kill various monsters, gaining fighting experience, acquiring useful items, and making helpful allies as she fulfills a series of quests. The main quest is to free her family from a prison-like feudal compound (literally a repurposed penitentiary), and yes, there is a powerful boss to defeat at the end.

2014 book challenge: month 1, book 1

[photo by pawzonthepage, Ecuador, 1989]

The first book I read to get the challenge underway was The Queen of Night, by Laura Resau and Maria Virginia Farinango (2011), from the category of "Hispanic author or topic." (BTW, the reason I'm using the word "Hispanic" here rather than "Latino" is that the library branch where I work calls its large collection of materials on the topic or in Spanish the Hispanic Resource Center. I realize that people often have strong preferences for one term or the other.) I started with this one because a colleague highly recommended it -- and rightly so.

Set in the Ecuadorian Altiplano in the 1980s, the story is based on the childhood and youth of one of the authors, Maria Virginia Farinango, who at the age of seven was sent from her Quichua village to work as a maid. It's not only about her personal struggles with abuse, disrespect, poverty, and lack of opportunity, but also about the worldwide issue of bigotry against indigenous people and its very real consequences -- a problem that, while it has improved in recent decades, still needs work.

 It's not a spoiler to say that she turns out all right in the end -- obviously, she's writing the book -- but it would be a spoiler to tell how, or to explain the title, so I'll end here.

There is an interview with Maria Virginia Farinango on Laura Resau's website.

2014 book challenge

Some of my colleages have taken on reading challenges or set reading goals for the coming year, so I've decided to join in the fun. As I'll be working more closely with Young Adult and Tween fiction this year, I've decided to do an overview of popular topics. subgenres, whatever-you-want-to-call-em. I read quite a bit of YA lit already, but the point here is to sample some that I wouldn't necessarily grab for myself during a shelfcheck just 'cause they look cool. Some may be outside my comfort zone, but not all; if none of them were escapist, I'd probably never make it through the year. All the books should be recently published, not part of a series I'm currently following, and in our library system. They might be on a recent award list, or suggested by a colleague, or fresh off the new book display. To be read in no particular order.

Books I would probably read anyway:

• near future / postapocalyptic dystopia 
• superhero / special powers / special forces 
• time travel or chronological mishmash (steampunk, alternate history, etc.) 
• humor 
• plot or format centered around current technology or trends, or enhanced book  

Books I don't usually read:

• urban fiction  
• Hispanic 
• LGBT 

Books I would normally find too emotional or unpleasant to read:

• vampire / werewolf / supernatural romance 
• high school drama / gossip 
• mental health issues 
• various other serious issues (death, abuse, crime, etc.) 

Twelve topics, twelve months.