Quick reads.

This week I'm concentrating on quick reads, books under 200 pages that have some real substance to them.  Ron Koertge, of Stoner and Spaz fame, has a brand new book on our shelf in verse form: Coaltown Jesus.  It’s about coming to terms with life, death, and the unfairness of it all. Walker’s older brother is dead and his mom hasn’t stopped crying ever since. Walker is also broken, so he feels powerless to help her. He prays for God to help her heal, and is shocked when Jesus shows up at his doorstep. Only Walker can see and hear him, so we’re never sure if he is really there, or only Walker’s way of talking through the pain and moving on. Jesus is an irreverent helper, and there is a lot of humor in his sparse, touching dialog. 

Think Tank by Matt Hawkins is a disturbing story of a young college graduate science genius who is recruited by the government to work in a top secret lab designing killing machines. He is fed up with all the death on his hands and resolves to escape.  Quotes from Albert Einstein, one of the creators of the atomic bomb, precede each chapter. This is a smart political thriller in graphic novel format. Volume 2 is coming soon!

Anyone remember Matthew Shephard?  Read about him here: http://www.matthewsplace.com/matthews-story/   Then pick up October Mourning by Lesléa Newman.  Newman has written a beautiful series of poems which tell Matthew’s story from the points of view of people involved as well as inanimate objects surrounding his death.  Quotes included before some of the poems are the most chilling part of this important story. (From one of the officers who found him: “The only place that he didn’t have any blood on him, on his face, was what appeared to be where he’d been crying.” ) Matthew’s life and death changed the way we view hate crimes and propelled the gay rights movement front and center in people’s consciousness.  Read it. 

For the environmentally conscious, try My Chemical Mountain by Corina Vacco. It’s a story about a toxic landfill which is poisoning a community and the teenage boys who unwittingly initiate a change. 

The Golden Day by Ursula Dubosarsky is a haunting mystery which takes place in Australia. During a field trip into mysterious caves a teacher disappears along with the guide, a strange poet with whom the teacher seems obsessed. The girls in the class are sworn to secrecy before they all venture into the caves, so they do not reveal to school authorities where they went and with whom.  What really happened in the caves? A quick and thoughtful mystery.

Some of my recent favorites

Welcome to my new blog dedicated to teen readers!  I am a youth librarian in Trumbull and an avid reader of teen fiction. Visit often for my reviews,  reviews by teens and news of upcoming noteworthy YA releases!  Feel free to comment and add your own reviews. Happy reading!

If you’re a science nerd, or a lover of historical fiction, try Jepp, Who Defied the Stars by Katherine Marsh. Jepp is a dwarf born in the 1500s in Spain. Raised by his innkeeper mother and band of friends/helpers, he is a curious and intelligent young teenager. When an emissary from the castle of the Infanta arrives at the inn and expresses an interest in taking young Jepp to live at the castle, his mother feels it would be an improvement in his life so encourages him to go.  Here he becomes one of many “pet” dwarves kept to entertain the court.  Thus begins Jepp's long journey towards finding his identity and place in this world. The “science nerd” stuff comes a bit later, but hold on because it’s definitely worth the wait. (ever hear of Tycho Brahe? Only a true science nerd has. Read more about his incredibly bizarre life here http://io9.com/5696469/the-crazy-life-and-crazier-death-of-tycho-brahe-historys-strangest-astronomer ) The premise of this historical fiction novel is unusual and the writing is quite striking. Jepp is based on a real historical figure, albeit a very obscure one of which little is known, and Marsh takes those few known facts and creates his story piece by piece in beautiful language.

For the die-hard horror fan, there’s no other author like Daniel Kraus.  His latest book, Scowler, is a true nightmare inducing scare fest!  (a fellow teen librarian tells of waking from a nightmare smelling smoke and positive that there was someone in her room after falling asleep while reading it) When he was 9, Ry Burke fought off his abusive father, Marvin,  with the help, whether real or imagined, of three cherished toys. Dad ended up in prison. Now10 years later,  he's escaped, and is terrorizing his family at their farm--when a meteorite falls into their field and Marvin sees dollar signs. In order to protect his mother and little sister Ry must resurrect his three childhood “friends”, kindly Mr. Furrington, wise Jesus Christ and bloodthirsty Scowler. This one is not for the faint of heart. It gets a 98 out of 100 on the creepy meter.

For the fantasy lover there’s Jasper Fford’s new series for younger readers The Chronicles of Kazam. The first book is The Last Dragonslayer . Kazam is an employment agency run by 15 year old Jennifer Strange for sorcerers and magicians who have sunk to using their powers for the likes of pizza delivery and fixing clogged drains.  But something’s brewing lately, the visions are starting again and a prediction has been made that the world’s last know living dragon will soon be slain by a Dragonslayer.  This would leave the Dragonlands , a once powerful kingdom where all dragons lived, up for grabs and cause a war between two kingdoms who both want the land. By the end, everyone will want their very own Quarkbeast! Jasper Fford’s signature wit is all over this book, his first for younger readers. (Adults know him from the Thursday Next series). Not exactly high fantasy, but very entertaining and a clever and amusing story. (Jennifer drives a rusty old VW Beetle)  The second book in the series is already on our shelf: The Song of the Quarkbeast and there will be two more coming out.  They are highly recommended,  quick fun reads.

On to realistic fiction.  One of the best and most unique authors to come along in a while, in my opinion,  is Matthew Quick (of Silver Linings Playbook fame).  His latest book for teens is Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, a darkly disturbing but somehow uplifting tale of a severely depressed and angry young man determined to kill his former best friend and then himself on his 18^th birthday. But first he must  deliver 4 gifts to people who have had an important role in his life: his elderly neighbor Walt, with whom he shares a love of Humphrey Bogart movies, a musical prodigy who Leonard has been listening to practice for 4 years in the school auditorium, a fundamentalist Christian girl he met and tried to woo at a train station where she was handing out religious tracts, and a beloved teacher of Holocaust history who has some secrets of his own.  At the suggestion of the aforementioned teacher, Leonard has written  letters to himself from future people he has not yet met as a sort of therapy to get him through his roughest days.  These letters are scattered throughout the story, the majority of which takes place in one day.  Leonard does an awful lot of growing up in that one day and I was literally in tears by the end of this book. 

On a happier note, still with realistic fiction, try The Disenchantments by Nina Lacour, a sweet road trip story that takes place right after high school graduation.  For years, best friends Colby and Bev have known that, as soon as they graduate, they're off to bum around Europe, after a West Coast minitour with Bev's (not very good but really enthusiastic)  girlband, The Disenchantments. They borrow  an ancient VW bus from Colby’s uncle who toured in it with Colby’s dad’s band “back in the day”.  Little by little, truths come out during this road trip that will change the course of a few lives.  Nothing earthshattering here, just a sweet fun read. Some (not graphic) sex and a bit of language.