edh's reviews
352 reviews

This is another "preaching to the choir" book that adds to the chorus of voices in education pleading for respite from the grueling testing regime. One of the things that sets this volume apart is its demonstration that students have no opportunity to learn from mistakes, because experiential learning is too time-consuming in schools that cannot waste a second trying to cover a curriculum a mile wide and an inch deep. Recommend this with Linda Perlstein's Tested to readers struggling to understand the new culture of school in today's America.

Kirino delivers a masterful exploration of human society and its outcasts in this dark novel. Three girls who could not be more different attend high school together - the smart but average looking older sister, her unearthly gorgeous younger sister, and an acquaintance who cannot fit in despite her many desperate efforts. Their story bobs and weaves around the central narrative - what do you do when you perceive there is no place for you in society? How do you fill the gaps in your life when success is so elusive, especially for women, in a modern world? How are we oppressed by society's rules, and how are we oppressing ourselves? It's a thinking novel for cerebral readers who don't mind being shocked by truth laid bare amid the gritty lives of women in modern Japan.

The premise of this novel really hooked me - teen Hannah Baker leaves behind audio tapes explaining what compelled her to suicide. The tapes list 13 people who should pass the tapes, one to the other, until everyone has listened to them (and visited the accompanying sites around town marked on a map, included)... and then what?

Hannah describes some mean classmates, terrible situations, and fairly typical adolescent drama. Even elaborate attempts to clue her classmates & teachers in to her growing desire to kill herself don't work. And, in the end, as a reader I felt more than a little disappointed.

I'm not convinced that today's teens would understand Asher's choice of tapes as the vehicle for doomed Hannah's messages over, say, a video or a blog or something more contemporary. Nor am I convinced that they would see Hannah's experiences as suicide-worthy even with their cumulative effect. I am, however, giving this first novel three stars because I think Asher shows lots of promise. While the story was thin, the premise was great. His descriptions were almost noir in effect, very cinematic and powerful despite this being nearly a bathtub story (most action takes place in Clay's thoughts). Hope to see more from this author, and will be eager to see him develop.

Francine (Eff) is the twin of a double-seventh son and a reluctant member of a sprawling family of magicians who moves to the edge of the frontier in an alternate United States. Eff's Columbia is the nation we would have been if old New York had stayed New Amsterdam, and if Lewis and Clark hadn't returned from their travels but were instead presumed dead of a mammoth stampede, or dragon attacks!

The details of this first installment of the proposed Frontier Magic series reads like one of the worlds of Philip Pullman, with a large dash of Anne McCaffrey and the family life of Laura Ingalls Wilder mixed in. Some young readers, especially tweens, will enjoy the fantastical details Wrede is so deft at weaving into the narrative. Eff is no Harry Potter though - she is definitely not an orphan, and takes no joy in magic as she (and others) blame herself for everything going wrong because she was born unlucky thirteen in her large family. Her mind is firmly stuck on blending in and trying to find her own way among all her talented and attention-grabbing siblings. While some are criticizing Wrede for not depicting Native Americans, the Aphrikan (African) characters play major roles in Eff's development; as it turns out, Aphrikan magic (a Taoist style of sensing of universal power) is the sort that she understands most naturally and in which she finds potential talent.

I'll be excited to see how this series develops, and if future volumes feature other characters more prominently - Wrede has built herself a lot of room to play here on the wild and woolly frontier, and I anticipate many 5th-8th graders will identify with Eff's not-so-unfamiliar growing pains on the Columbian prairie.

Lots of people may claim that there's only one reality. But this trio of finely crafted short stories in graphic format turn that notion on its head! There's the boy who longs for a better, more heroic life... a frog who discovers a terrible secret... and a downtrodden cubicle dweller who finds inspiration in a Nigerian prince's love. One has dreamt up his life, one has been cruelly manipulated, and the other decides to take control and construct an alternate reality for herself. Once each of them makes a conscious choice to control their own destiny, that's when the magic happens.

Highly recommended for teens & adult audiences; any teachers not already using Yang and Kim's graphic novels to teach visual literacy/literary devices are missing out on a real opportunity to enhance their practice.

Warning: prepare plenty of snack foods before reading. This book will make you desperately hungry, as our hero Vish Puri loves to eat - so much so that his family & close friends affectionately call him Chubby! Puri is a private investigator with a storied past and, currently, a set of difficult mysteries to solve. A friend's maid has gone missing, and the friend is suspected of her murder - then Puri is shot at while tending his prized chilis on his own rooftop! All the while he is also dealing with bread-and-butter (sorry, chapatti-and-ghee) cases such as a mysterious matrimonial prospect for a prominent military veteran's daughter.

A cast of thousands rotates through the chapters, variously helping and hindering Puri's efforts. His wife Rumpi keeps Puri's diet in line, while mother Mummy-ji is determined to quietly solve the attack on Puri's life. Agency associates operate under their codenames (Tubelight, Facecream, and Handbrake are my favorites) both openly and undercover using bugs & earpieces. Lovers of a great mystery story will find the cases juicy enough to be satisfied, while those more interested in the exotic Indian setting will be equally delighted. Puri himself is just as quirky and distinct as readers expect their detectives to be (his Sandown caps are a great touch) but this is no cozy mystery! Stock up on pakoras or popcorn and tuck in for a nice read in this solid first novel from Tarquin Hall.