… check out this fantastic infographic flow chart, courtesy of the Lawrence, Kansas public library teen staff:
You can check out the full chart here. Thank you, Lawrence Public Library!
A few quick glimpses of their fabulous work:
Go visit the library site to see more. It’ll make you smile, I promise.
And now, for this week’s Wishlist Wednesday…
The concept is to post about one book from our wish lists that we can’t wait to read. Want to play? Here’s how:
My Wishlist Wednesday book is:
Every Day by David Levithan
From Amazon:
Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
Every morning, A wakes in a different person’s body, a different person’s life. There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.
It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.With his new novel, David Levithan has pushed himself to new creative heights. He has written a captivating story that will fascinate readers as they begin to comprehend the complexities of life and love in A’s world, as A and Rhiannon seek to discover if you can truly love someone who is destined to change every day.
Publication date: August 28, 2012
Why do I want to read this?
I always love a good young adult novel, and David Levithan never fails to impress me. I’ve read several of his novels co-written with other YA authors:
Will Grayson, Will Grayson (co-authored with John Green)
Naomi & Eli’s No Kiss List (co-authored with Rachel Cohn)
Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares (co-authored with Rachel Cohn)
With each, I’ve been incredibly impressed by the authenticity of David Levithan’s voice. He doesn’t talk down, he doesn’t imitate, he’s not an adult trying to capture the lingo of “kids today”. His characters have a depth and dimension that’s unusual in YA fiction. They experience a slice of life, deal with real-life problems and dilemmas, and most of all, have personalities and wits that sparkle.
I’m eager to read some of David Levithan’s stand-alone works, and the story synopsis sounds for Every Day sounds intriguing. Who doesn’t love a story that involves body-swapping? I’ll be interested to see Levithan’s terrific writing skills applied to a fantasy scenario.
Not a lofty, ambitious to-be-read list consisting of 100+ book titles. Just a simple plan for the upcoming week — what I’m reading now, what I plan to read next, and what I’m hoping to squeeze in among the nooks and crannies.
Continuing with the Monday agenda concept I kicked off last week, it’s time to see how well last week’s reading agenda worked out and sketch out the plan for the coming week.
From last week:
Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link: Done! Or at least, I’ve read as many of the short stories in this collection as I intend to.
Fables, volumes 11 – 17 by Bill Willingham: Made it through volumes 11 and 12.
Ocean’s Surrender by Denise Townsend: Done!
Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce: Fail. Didn’t even get started.
Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (group re-read): Keeping up with the group nicely, thank you.
And this week’s new agenda (drumroll, please…):
Fables, volumes 13 – 17 by Bill Willingham: If you happened to read my Series Mania post from earlier today, it will come as no surprise that I’m powering through this series, having abandoned any pretense of reading other books in between volumes. Onward!
Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce: I solemnly swear to read this book! I really am terribly excited about this one, but got side-tracked by Fables.
Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (group re-read): Chapters 36 and 37 on deck for this week.
And if I make it through all of those, I plan to turn my attention toward some young adult titles I’ve been wanting to read:
Small Damages by Beth Kephart
Ashfall by Mike Mullin
Fingers crossed, here’s hoping that I keep on track this week.
That’s my agenda. What’s yours? Add your comments to share your bookish agenda for the week.
Book Review: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler; illustrated by Maira Kalman
Min Green and Ed Slaterton were young and in love… and then they broke up. Why We Broke Up, written by Daniel Handler and gorgeously illustrated by Maira Kalman, is Min’s letter to Ed, hastily and tearily written by Min on her way to dump on Ed’s doorstep all of the accumulated mementos from their brief but intense relationship.
The writing is supercharged with teen-aged emotion and humor. Min is part of the “arty” crowd, an avid film buff who relates everything in life to old movies. When she falls unexpectedly for golden boy Ed, co-captain of the basketball team and center of all that’s popular in their high school, you’d think it was the Montagues and Capulets all over again. Neither Min’s nor Ed’s friends approve, but these two are in orbit around each other.
The point of view is quite interesting. We’re meant to sympathize with Min, yet I can’t help but feel that her perspective is not always reliable. Ed points out to Min repeatedly that he likes her because she’s different — meaning different from him and his friends — but Min never seems to work her way around to being able to reciprocate. Instead, it’s Ed’s popularity and the seeming ease with which he breezes through life which Min consistently adds to the list of reasons of why they broke up. She seems to try to mold Ed into her idea of an acceptable boyfriend, but can’t bring herself to enjoy any of the pursuits that make Ed who he is. Min fails to do more than acknowledge in passing that Ed is largely being cared for by his older sister while his mother is ill — yet as readers, we can infer that his mother is terminal, and thus Ed’s actions may be understandable in a different light, one which Min ignores completely.
Still, these two sparkle together, and their love and lust take them to some touching and surprising places before they’re through with one another. Min speaks with the voice of a girl experiencing first love, and her heartbreak when it falls apart is piercingly true. Min’s internal collapse when she realizes that it’s all over is particularly well-written — a three-page venting that anyone who’s been a teen-aged girl can relate to, in which she lists all the ways in which she’s not special, not different, not anyone of note. It’s dismaying, yet so true a first reaction to rejection that I had to stop and marvel that a male author could capture a girl’s inner voice so accurately.
The writing sparkles, the pictures are lovely, and the story is just a delight. Don’t let the young adult classification fool you — this is good literature, enjoyable for anyone who appreciates witty characters, heartfelt emotions, and a story well-told. Don’t miss it.
Code Name Verity is one of those books that makes me wonder why certain novels get marketed as young adult fiction. In my mind, and on my bookshelves, it just goes on the shelf marked Incredibly Well-Written and Moving Fiction. So there! It will be in very good company, right next to The Book Thief and The Fault In Our Stars, two other so-called YA novels that anyone with any sense ought to read immediately.
Code Name Verity is breathtaking, suspenseful, emotional, and even funny at times. I don’t want to give anything away, but here are the bare bones: This is the story of two young women who manage to find a friendship that elevates them above the harshness of life in wartime. Set in England and France during WWII, Code Name Verity… well, dammit, just read the book! You’re better off starting with a clean slate and not knowing anything before you read it.
Suffice it to say, I was blown away and couldn’t put it down. I took the book out of the library after reading a glowing review, but I think I’ll have to quickly purchase my own copy so I can re-read it at leisure.
Why a quickie book review? It’s simple, really: A) I loved this book and want everyone to know!, and B) this is a book better appreciated with no foreknowledge, so the less said the better.
Bookshelf Fantasies 