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‘Stargazing for Beginners’ – Jenny McLachlan

The cover for this book is wonderful and I was intrigued by the idea of a novel featuring a female protagonist who is excited by science. Sadly, Meg is portrayed as – and I quote the review material – a ‘science geek’, which only perpetuates the idea that a girl being interested in science is something to mock. The key concept of the novel focuses on Meg’s love of science and how she is desperate to win a competition to visit NASA.

What shone through immediately was the love Meg has for her subject. She is passionate about her love of the stars, but it’s also very clear that she uses this as an escape route to avoid having to deal with the emotional realities of her life, which is chaotic to say the least.

Meg lives with her mother and baby sister, and she very much seems to have adopted the role of ‘adult’ in her family set-up. She gains some respite from the relationship she shares with her grandfather, but none of the adult figures in her life give her the support you might expect. She gets support, but not from where we might expect.

Early on in the book Meg finds herself alone with her baby sister, as her mother has hopped on a plane to fly to Thailand in order to help with another Big Important Cause. Her mother is described as free-spirited, but her selfishness and immaturity just made me so angry. There’s nothing to find positive in an adult who simply abandons her children as she wants to do something useful…

Unfortunately for me, the basic concept of Meg’s family set-up annoyed me so much that I fear it tainted my reading. While the story was entertaining enough, I could not believe it would have worked out like this. Meg was a likeable character, but her growth as a person was not enough to overcome the intense irritation created by the situation she was placed in. This may be one that teen readers would really enjoy since Meg is resilient and copes admirably in the circumstances. Sadly, it did not find a fan in me.

‘The Hate U Give’ – Angie Thomas

Where to start?

Yesterday I watched (somewhat perplexed) the unfolding media storm over the Pepsi advert featuring Kendall Jenner. Purportedly sharing a message of love and unity, the company have been accused of generating controversy at the expense of the Black Lives Matter movement. Whatever we may say, the suggestion that a can of soft drink could stop a riot did – quite rightly in my view – rankle. What it highlighted to me, however, was the need for some form of reflection on the events taking place across the world, and the attitudes towards race that we sometimes unconsciously perpetuate.

Thankfully I do not live in a world where the phrase “A hairbrush is not a gun” means much to me. A quick internet search of the phrase threw up many references to the murder in 2007 of Khiel Coppin by police who thought he had a gun which did, indeed, turn out to be a hairbrush. There are too many such stories that could be quoted throughout history…call me naive but when will we learn to look to our common bond of humanity to shape the way we interact with one another?

Touted as a must read YA book of 2017 already, there’s no doubt that The Hate U Give is a hard-hitting, intensely painful yet moving attempt to try and articulate some of the concerns and thoughts people around the world have about race. Whatever your personal experience, I feel this is a book in which everyone can find something to love.

We follow sixteen year old Starr through what, for many, is an unimaginable series of events but which, sadly for too many, is a stark reality.

Starr comes from a close and loving family, but not everything is so clear-cut. Her father has walked away from the gang culture that pervades their neighbourhood, and she is caught between two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she lives and the suburban prep school she attends where she is one of two black students. These two worlds clash in a way I cannot even begin to fathom when we watch Starr witness the shooting of her best friend by a police officer.

The story quickly becomes national news, and through this main story we are given a compelling narrative exploring Starr’s experiences and the lives of those around her. I was touched by the view of Starr’s mother who said “Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.” This mantra is a hard one to abide by when the consequences are, potentially, so damaging. Yet we watch Starr gain the confidence to find her voice and start to articulate some of her feelings in an attempt to ensure that people look beyond the stereotype of Khalil the drug-dealing thug. While the events surrounding Khalil’s murder are depressingly portrayed, it was interesting to see how this event affected the lives of everyone caught up in it.

While this book does focus predominantly on attitudes to race, there was a highly developed focus on the development of Starr as a person. Watching her try to reconcile her very different experiences, and come to find her voice was compelling. During the novel Starr is asked what the point is of having a voice if, when it’s needed, you keep quiet. Nobody wants to encourage violent agitation of the type described regularly here, but seeing these characters find their voices and try to articulate their frustrations sends a powerful message.

Thank you to edelweiss for the advance copy in exchange for my thoughts. I can’t wait to see what’s made of this by other readers.

‘The Ethan I Was Before’ – Ali Standish

Published early in 2017 I received an advance copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for my review – but hadn’t got round to reading it until now.

There’s no getting away from the fact that this is a book clearly targeting 8-12 year olds. It deals with some hard-hitting issues, but never in a way that feels too scary or threatening.

When we first meet Ethan he is a rather lost soul. Feeling desperately guilty as he thinks he caused his best friend’s accident, Ethan and his family have moved across country to have a fresh start. They move to the town of Palm Knot, principally to help support Ethan’s grandfather  – but it’s all about getting a fresh start and realising that no matter how far away you run, you still have to come to terms with your actions and their consequences.

Initially we are told little detail, but the family are clearly finding it hard to live with unresolved tensions. They circle each other, desperately unhappy, but never quite certain how to move things on.

When Ethan is befriended by larger-than-life Coralee he is reminded, a little, of how to live again. But she is also hiding secrets, and these threaten to cause real problems.

Watching Ethan come to terms with what has happened, and develop his friendships with his family, is endearing. There’s some dramatic moments, but – as you might expect – everything works out okay in the end and lessons are learned.

‘Beck’ – Mal Peet and Meg Rosoff

Beck

Going into this I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Early reviews on the Carnegie Shadowing site seem to be focusing on the inappropriateness of this novel for teen readers, and the concerns over the graphic nature of the abuse experienced by the main character. Looking beyond these comments I learned that Peet had been inspired to write this after reading something about the historical abuse of children sent to Canada and Australia. Of course it’s not going to be all sweetness and light!

With something of a heavy heart I set myself to read this. Oh, how I was doing this book a disservice.

The opening part gives us, very tersely, the background to Beck and immediately makes it clear that this is a boy who was not going to get a good deal in life. I read with a sense of detachment of his early years in the orphanage in Liverpool. Beck gives little comment on this, and the decision to not write this in first-person means we don’t have to go too deep into the emotions/thoughts of the character though it’s all too clear how he’s feeling. I was disgusted by the way in which these boys were packed off to Canada and the lack of care and compassion shown to them.

As part one focuses on the historical element of Beck’s story we cannot shy away from the time he spends with the Brothers. From early on there are hints of bad things happening, and the little details suggesting the abuse experienced by many of the boys indicates the scale of this horror. A number of reviews express concern at the graphic nature of the bath scene where Brother Robert attempts to seduce Beck. I confess to reading this feeling very uncomfortable, and my relief when Beck fought back was chillingly quashed moments later when we were categorically told the results of him not complying with events. An event that will linger long in the memory but, however uncomfortable it made me, it is fact and a truth that deserves to be told.

Watching Beck as he journeys through life was bleak. He is not treated well, and on the rare occasions he is shown love and compassion events conspire to make him feel that he cannot trust anyone. It was a sobering thought that the criminals he encounters are actually the people who treat him most kindly.

When Beck is finally discovered by Grace they appear to have little in common. Over time, they establish a close bond and this attempt to provide Beck with some redemption was welcomed by me. I certainly didn’t read this section feeling that their intimacy was unwelcome. If anything, the fact that someone who had experienced such pain and misery could still find it within themself to love was inspiring.

Peet – and Rosoff who completed the novel after his death – are favourites to win this year’s award. By the comments on the Shadowing site there’ll be lots of students denied the chance to read this and form their own opinion of it. That is a shame. It’s a tough read, without a doubt, but there’s a lot to admire in this.

‘Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth’ – Frank Cottrell Boyce

Sputniks Guide to Life on Earth

A rather typical Cottrell Boyce story, full of good-humour and also packing an emotional punch that seems rather at odds with its cover.

In this story, short-listed for the 2017 Carnegie Awards, we follow a young boy called Prez. Prez is being fostered by a larger-than-life family as his grandfather is suffering from dementia and cannot look after him any more. Whether Prez is unaware of this or in denial about it is not immediately clear, but he is a boy who is having a tough time of it.

This background to Prez’s story immediately warms us to him, but then things take an unexpected twist when Sputnik arrives on the doorstep of the Blythe family. Sputnik, to everyone else, looks like a dog but to Prez he reveals himself to be an alien come to Earth as part of a mission to find ten things to recommend about Earth in order to save it from part of a galactic tidy-up. What follows is utterly fantastic, but tremendous fun that will certainly appeal to younger readers.

There are some wonderful comic scenes – Sputnik interfering with the toy lightsaber and turning it into a weapon of destruction, and the ‘break-out’ of a busload of young offenders were amongst my highlights – and yet increasingly coming to the fore is a focus on the relationship between a  young boy and his grandfather, two like-minded souls who have to come to terms with their shifting relationship.

While I don’t see it as a winner for the Carnegie – it seems to be in the wrong age-group for the intended audience – this was a surprise hit.

‘Windfall’ – Jennifer E. Smith

Windfall

Alice has, by anyone’s standards, had a pretty tough life with both her parents dying close together. But she has a loving cousin, aunt and uncle, and a good friend. In this story those bonds are tested…by an unexpected windfall.

When Alice buys her best friend, Teddy, a lottery ticket for his birthday she never expected anything to come of it. But he becomes the youngest ever winner and is suddenly responsible for over 140million dollars.

If you ignore the improbability of this story you will definitely enjoy this story. The fun Teddy has squandering this money is probably everyone’s fantasy, but he soon comes to realise money is fairly meaningless. It’s the people around us who matter, and this fortune helps him make a difference to so many people.

What follows is, I think, rather obvious but this is a heart-warming story about love and what it means to people (with the money forming a nice backdrop).

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this.

‘Railhead’ – Philip Reeve

Railhead

I picked this up as it was on the short-list for 2017 Carnegie Awards. There’s been a fair amount of criticism over the choices for this year, so I’m curious to read those on the list and see why they’ve been selected (having read a lot of the nominations and been surprised not to see some on the final list).

This is a book that I can’t help but feel doesn’t do itself justice. The cover and blurb very strongly hint at its sci-fi/cyberpunk style, and I don’t think it screams ‘read me’ to teen readers. What a shame for those who don’t bother to pick it up!

In ‘Railhead’ – the first in a trilogy – Reeve creates a world where humans are no longer bound to Earth, and are able to move from planet to planet by passing through gateways while travelling on sentient trains. Those who travel in this way (railheads) form something of a unique community, and not all seem so keen to allow such travel to take place freely.

‘Railhead’ tells us the story of petty thief Zen Starling. He is one of the aforementioned railheads, and from the start it is strongly suggested that there is more to him than meets the eye. When we are initially introduced to Zen and his family his selfishness was clear to see. This is the boy who himself says he will always choose the winning side, but there is something admirable about him. As we see him get caught up in something we don’t fully understand it takes a while to get answers, but we soon come to realise there’s a whole lot more going on here than we first thought.

The style of the book is eminently readable, and the characters – though quite selfish and unlikeable – do act in ways that I couldn’t help but warm to. The depiction of the futuristic world was incredible, and I have to admire the way Reeve actually got me to care about what are, essentially, machines – whether that was the trains (including the Thought Fox, about which I could see myself having nightmares), the creepy Hive Monks or the wonderful Motoriks! I really liked most of the main characters and the sense of threads coming together as I progressed through the story was immensely satisfying.

Perhaps I’m reading too much into this, but I felt this really held a mirror up to many of the advances/concerns of our world and will encourage readers to consider their views on a number of topics. Going into this with fairly low expectations, I am pleasantly shocked by how much I enjoyed this story. So much so I’ve ordered book two!

‘Bad Little Girl’ – Frances Vick

Bad Little Girl

Lorna Bell is one of those girls who live on the sidelines of life. She comes from ‘a bad family’ and her peers think she is a thief. It seems that, sadly, nothing is going to happen to help Lorna overcome the prejudices of others dealing with her.

Claire Penny is regarded as a bleeding heart teacher. She has taught in the same school for years, cares deeply about the pupils and is somewhat ridiculed by her peers. When she comes across young Lorna Bell there are definite suggestions that things aren’t right with the family, but Claire is manipulated into a dangerous situation.

Initially, the novel focuses on Claire and the extent to which an event in her past seems to have shaped her reaction to the pupils she teaches. She comes across as naive but well-meaning.

As the novel progresses we come to a much less credible scenario. There’s a definite sense of us not wanting to distrust Lorna-nowadays there’s too much potential for it to go wrong-but everything about her is just a little too calculating, a little too knowing and I found myself wondering just how far this would go.

Vick takes this story way beyond where it might have seemed credible into far-fetched territory. There may be readers who like the character of Marianne, and I suppose she does allow a Claire to take a step back from the situation, but I find it hard to believe that two grown women would get themselves into this scenario and also allow a child to terrorise them in the way Lorna does.

Sadly, for me, this was a book that was an interesting premise but just went into incredible territory and lost me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my thoughts.

‘The Marvels’ – Brian Selznick

The Marvels

When I ordered this from my local library I really did not know what to expect. First impressions – and I’m being honest – were that it was VERY heavy, but that it looked beautiful with the gold trimmed pages and the intricate design on the front cover.

The story begins with almost 400 pages of pictures. They are wonderful illustrations, but it did make me nervous as it is so different to the usual thing I read.  However, from the opening pictures – where we see young Billy Marvel shipwrecked and his rescue – I was entranced. This is the kind of thing that you could return to time and time again, and not tire of looking for further details as you become more familiar with the story. Watching the history of The Marvels unfold before my eyes was intriguing, and I was rather sad when our story turned to 1990 and the prose section.

For those who admire the illustrations I can imagine this section – focusing on Joseph Jervis running away to London to visit his mysterious uncle – will be off putting. However, unravelling the mysteries of Albert’s story and the links to the earlier part of the book were immensely satisfying.

As soon as I finished this I felt I’d spent time with something truly wonderful. It was a real work of art, and I was most intrigued by the afterword, where the author reveals the source of this story. I’ve never heard of Dennis Severs before reading this, but I feel compelled to read more about his amazing home.

This didn’t make it onto the shortlist of the 2017 Carnegie Awards, but it is on the Greenway Awards shortlist and is a book that I can see finding itself a place on my bookshelf in the near future.

‘The Selection’ series – Kiera Cass

The Selection series The HeirThe Crown

 

Book One – The Selection (read and reviewed July 2016)

Link: http://mygoodreads.co.uk/?p=950

Book Two – The Elite (read 06/03/17)

Book two picks up after the events of the first in the series. America has a firm foothold in Maxon’s affections, but she can’t bring herself to trust her feelings for him/feelings about the caste system and her indecision is the focus of most of the novel.

On the surface we have the superficial Selection process – like Blind Date gone horribly wrong we see the girls who are left put through a series of tasks to prove their worthiness. Lest we forget, we’re reminded regularly that though Maxon gets to choose, there are other forces coming into play that he has less control over.

The book was fairly well-paced and we get some further understanding of just what Maxon is put through as part of his role. This, however, seemed a bit cobbled on to explain why he didn’t stand up to people more.

The threat from the Rebels is closer, and there’s certainly more to this than we’ve been told so far. What annoyed me here though was America herself. She’s reckless, headstrong and so flamin’ indecisive I was really irritated by her. I can see why she’s appealing to some of the characters in the novel, but I hope the anger she was feeling at the end of the book forces her to act with some sense of decisiveness in book three.

 

Book Three -The One (finished 08/03/17)

A really emotional read, which is no mean feat for a book that is, at heart, focused on the superficial Selection process of choosing a wife for Prince Maxon.

In spite of many of the characters being more than irksome, here we got a real chance to see beyond the surface and come to know more about them/their hopes and fears. I even found myself liking America at points as she wrestles with her feelings for Maxon, comes to acknowledge the true state of her relationship with Aspen and finally acknowledges her role in the process.

For me a strength of this book was the fact it moved beyond the Selection and showed us more about the rebels/state of the country. It was much easier to get emotionally invested in people once we stopped seeing them in isolation.

While the actual process of Maxon and America forming their alliance came under pressure, I was quite stunned by the pace of the final part of the novel. Having already hit us with a death-blow that felt absurdly painful, I couldn’t read fast enough for the closing moments. Though I can’t help but feel shamefully manipulated, those final moments of the process and the emergence of the new order contained some of the best scenes of the series.

Book Four – The Heir (read 11/03/17)

We get to see America and Maxon years after their wedding, and we gain an insight into the changes they brought to their country. This novel focuses on their eldest daughter, Eadlyn, and the attempt to quell disturbances by holding another Selection.

There’s no escaping the fact that this felt like the same book, just with different characters. What I did like in this was the characters who aren’t part of the process. I didn’t particularly like many of the boys and the artificiality of the setting. It seemed an unusual situation to leave the book in, but I’m looking forward to seeing where we end up.

Book Five – The Crown (read 12/03/17)

First, this was full of romance and high on emotion. Second, there are some unexpected twists and turns that you might not see coming. Third, that’s it…
Eadlyn begins the novel in the immediate aftermath of her mother’s heart attack. Things are tense, and the turbulence in the Palace is mirrored in the country.
I unashamedly fell for the events of this novel. Rather predictable in places but Eadlyn grew as a character and there was a lot to like here.