Systematic Student:
atypical

The free-verse poetry is as powerful as even, invoking images and emotions within the reader easily. I've read several authors who use verse to tell their stories, and none of them are as powerful writers as Hopkins. The intensity she writes with with astound you. It is painful, stark, real. This much honest emotion in a story takes my breath away, even as is breaks my heart. None of these children have had an easy time with life and the legacy Kristina has left for them is heartbreak, addiction and destruction. Not very hopeful, is it?

Life is never all about you. There will always be other people hurt or affected by our decisions, and I think it is important to realize this. You are always able to chose your own actions, but you do not get to chose your consequences for yourself or those around you. I once again commend Hopkins for an amazingly powerful story, one that will stay with me for a long time.

Room by Emma Donoghue is a hard book for me to review. Because really, I just want to spout out random parts of this book that make it so great before just sighing at you and telling you to go read it yourself, because it's kind of a book that just needs to be experienced. But, I won't just blabber on at you.

So Room. It's narrated by Jack, a sweet, smart and charming just turned 5 year old whose whole world are the four walls of Room and it's contents. The only person he's ever seen or spoken to is Ma, although Old Nick is probably real too (but not real real).

I was very impressed with Jack and his voice. I've spent a lot of time around little kids at all stages of life and development, and most of the time, Jack is very much a five year old. The connections he makes, and the way he forms understandings is very typical of five year olds, as is the way he names things. Each wall is named (Door Wall etc), he sleeps in Wardrobe, eats at Table, etc. He does have a rather extensive vocabulary, but to me, that makes perfect sense. Ma has only Jack to talk to all day, and let me tell you — Baby talk gets old really fast. Ma mentions at one point that Jack has already heard every story that she knows, which means they talk a lot, and Jack is surrounded by words. Numerous studies have shown that children who grow up hearing language regularly will learn to speak earlier and will speak properly faster than kids who are rarely spoken to and/or who only hear the adults speak in that babbling baby talk. They also play the 'parrot game' which I loved.

I was impressed with Ma. That would be insanely hard. I can't imagine what it would be like, first to be taken from my home and family and trapped in a small 11x11 room with the only visitor being the creepy older man who kidnapped and rapes me, but to add onto that a baby?! I don't know if I could have done it. And, she's done an admirable job raising him given her circumstances and her resources. That takes a very strong woman, and even though she wasn't perfect (really, who is) she did a good job and she tried so hard. The only thing I could never figure out was why she didn't escape. I know that sounds harsh/unrealistic, especially given the state of the room she was trapped in. But the door was locked using a number keypad, one on the outside, and one on the inside. If I knew I was going to be trapped for an indefinite period of time, I'd start pushing buttons. What else are you going to do?! Or listen to the number tones and try to figure out which he pushes each night. I kind of think she could have done something. But, that's a small thing.

Overall, I was very impressed with this book. There were parts I didn't like, especially in the second half of the book, but for the most part, I loved it. I loved the word sandwiches and the way that Jack tried to take all the new information and assimilate it into ways he already understood. Overall, this is a book that makes you think, makes you wonder and makes you want to hug your kids a little closer. It's a strong book with a strong core of goodness to it. This is a book I would read again, just to hear Jack's voice.

Pick it up. I doubt you'll be sorry.

*Disclaimer: I received this book through Crazy Book Tours.

Youby Charles Beniot is... Wow... Ouch.

This book uses the 2nd person narrative, which is something that you don't see very often and it uses it incredibly well which is something seen even less. This narrative style brings you farther into the story, forcing you to connect to the characters differently. Although Kyle is the narrator, the use of the word 'you' makes you think more about yourself and how you would have reacted in Kyle's position. It's almost as if you stop reading the word 'you' and the story instead becomes about me.

In the authors note in the beginning, Benoit mentions that Kyle is neither bad nor good, he is typical. This makes a lot more sense once you've completed the story, because it's easy to understand how Kyle got to the position he's in when the book begins. There is something in this story that just about every can relate to at one point or another, and that makes it scarier, that much more intense, more real, and more personal. This makes the story all the more heartbreaking because of it's realism.

The characterizations were done very well. Many of them are not terribly likable, but each character has their own complexities and that thread of truth that makes this such an impactful novel. Especially Zack. When we are first introduced to Zack, I liked him. He was unique, and I figured he'd be a fun character to read about, initially, he almost makes a great 'good guy'. But then, we get to know him a little better and... shudder. I won't give anything away, because he's a character you really just need to meet for yourself, but ugh... Just be warned.

I also liked the emphasis (however 'underhanded' it may have been) on personal responsibility, and that Kyle acknowledged he really was responsible for his predicament and his placement. Throughout the story, several of the adults in Kyle's life talk about or make him think about his personal responsibility in his current position. I liked that Kyle accepted his responsibility (at least as much as teens are ever capable of fully accepting that responsibility...) and sometimes, it sounded like he really wanted to try a little harder.

The format was also quite interesting. We start at the end and are given a brief glimpse of a pivotal moment, one that sounds tragic (first line: "You're surprised at all the blood.") and then, it's as if the story rewinds, retracing the steps that brought Kyle and the mysterious 'him' to the moments in the beginning of the story with all the blood. It's a fast, intense race to the finish that leaves you a little bit gasping and empty once you've finally reached it. Grab yourself a copy of this book. It's important if you'll let it be.

*Disclaimer: I received this book through Around the World Tours.

(Photo brought to you by the Idaho Meth Project)

(Will contain mild spoilers for Crank, so be warned of this if you haven't read it yet)
If possible, Glass by Ellen Hopkins is even more horrifying, socking and upsetting than its predecessor, Crank (click for review) . Crank shows us how Kristina becomes addicted to 'the monster' — meth. At the end of the book, it seems like Kristina is getting her life back. She is trying to give up the drugs so her unborn child will have a chance of being born normal. Although it's hard, she seems to be doing well.

Glass begins a short time later. Her son, Hunter, is a few months old and Kristina is tired all the time, and she's tired of feeling fat and unattractive. Life begins to feel like too much for her, and she falls back into old habits. She tells herself she is in control, and can handle the drug, and she won't let it handle her. She's confident she can maintain control. Well... She's wrong. The drug grabs hold of her and takes her farther down than she's ever gone before. She loses control quickly and is a danger to herself and to others around her.

It was heart breaking watching Kristina destroy herself and leave those who love her behind. She is an incredibly selfish character, one who refuses to think beyond her own desires. She again becomes involved with the 'wrong crowd', finding people who supply her habit, and make it glamorous.

I found this book to be more powerful and dissuasive than Crank because we are able to watch the complete deterioration of Kristina's life. She completely loses control and doesn't even notice. We watch Kristina as she becomes involved, directly or indirectly with drug trafficking, neglectful/semi-abusive parenting, prostitution, theft, and more.

I can't describe to you how powerful this story is, and again, the free verse style used by Hopkins is brilliant and perfect. I don't think there is a better way to have told this story. This is an important book, one I think should be made readily available to teens. It saddens me that this book has been banned or challenged by people, because it is important. Drugs and the problems it creates aren't going to go away just because you refuse to look at them. If anything, this guarantees that they will be around longer, and that they will only get worse. Both Crank and Glass so us clearly why drugs should be avoided. It's fearful, intense and horrifying. And, I think a lot of the power comes from knowing that some of what's contained here and written comes from personal experience. The author has lived through a lot of this pain and is trying to provide a way for others to avoid that same hurt.

Crank by Ellen Hopkins is one of the scariest books I think I've ever read. It's about a young girl who gets involved with 'The Monster'. Meth is, in my opinion, one of the scariest drugs currently on the market. It's insanely addicting and incredibly damaging. One of the reasons meth is so addicting is that the chemicals used to create this Frankensteinish drug completely obliterate and destroy the pleasure center of your brain, which means that meth becomes the only way you are able to experience pleasure.

Ellen Hopkins is an incredibly powerful writer. It's written in verse and the starkness of the prose is where half the impact lies. Hopkins doesn't need many words, but it's clear each word is chosen carefully for its impact. This book grabs you and never lets go. We follow Kristina, the good girl, through her decent into darkness at the hands of the monster. We watch as her life falls to pieces around her while she believes she's still in control and she only does it to have enough energy to keep going, but really, she can stop. It's like, no big deal. It's heart breaking to watch as it destroys her and brings her family members low with her.

I'm intentionally not going to say much about the plot beyond the obvious meth addiction, because I feel there is more of an effect, a stronger impact if you don't know what's coming beforehand. I respect that Hopkins doesn't pull her punches, and she doesn't sugar coat the truth at all. It is one of the reasons she is so frequently banned, but it is also why her books are able to reach so many people. When Hopkins is talking about Kristina's experiences with the drugs, her highs are high and her lows are low. Too many books skirt around the truth, they try to convince you to stay away from drugs by lying about how good they feel the first few times, and then turning around are trying to hide how detrimental the side effects are, because they don't feel like our young people can handle it. Hopkins does none of that. She tells it like it is and makes no apologies for it.

Reading this (and Glass) reminded me of the Idaho Meth Project. The images at the top and bottom of this post are part of this effort to educate our children about the dangers and horrors of meth. Idaho state is one of the top states in both meth production and teenage meth use, and around 50% of our inmates are there as a result of meth. They created the Idaho Meth Project to educate and dissuade, and studies are showing that it's working. Reading Crank and Glass reminded me of these ads. It's horrifying because it's real. I recommend checking out the site, that I've linked above and viewing some of the other ads they've produced. There are print ads, radio ads and televisions ads and all are horrifying. This project has been picked up by other states like Montana and Colorado and it's working. Meth usage is dropping. Books like Crank and Glass are just as effective in my mind, because they help to educate us on the true dangers of meth and what really happens when you involve yourself with the monster.

how i live now by Meg Rosoff won the Printz Award in 2005. Beyond that, I didn't know much about this book when I picked it up, other than it takes place during an almost apocalyptic war. I must say that when I started reading, I was not expecting this book.

Our narrator is Daisy, a 15 year old from Manhattan who is coming to England to visit some cousins to escape, what in her mind, is a toxic environment (wicked and pregnant step-mother). At first, I almost felt like I rattled around this book. There is very little standard sentence structure, punctuation and grammar. It took me a few pages to really understand the style of writing and at first, I didn't like it. It's written as a stream of consciousness narrative, so we are actually 'listening' to Daisy's thoughts. And remember, she's a 15 year old from Manhattan who may or may not be slightly unbalanced.

As I mentioned, I didn't originally like the writing style. This was my first experience with this style of writing and it took some getting used to. Once I got involved in the story though, the prose flowed wonderfully and felt insanely realistic. I felt like I was connected to Daisy in a way that rarely happens with a character. I understood her because I was experiencing her.

It was an interesting way to learn about a character, because there wasn't really an introduction in the normal method. We learn about Daisy as she thinks certain details. We don't get a lot of back story on her family, because she doesn't like to think about them. We don't know a lot about her English cousins, because she doesn't know a lot about her English cousins. There are certain facts about Daisy that are never really specified. They are hinted at through conversations with other people and later on in the story are addressed a little more, but as long as Daisy chooses not to think about/focus on them, we don't get anymore information. We are completely in Daisy's mind.

I will admit that I was a little bit weirded out by the incest. Daisy and her cousin Edmond fall in love, and do very little to stop or hide their feelings. Their relationship was incredibly intense. It's hinted throughout the whole story that there may be something a little bit extra in the way these three English cousins are able to communicate, and you see elements of this in Daisy's interactions with all three cousins, although none more so than Edmond. After Daisy and Edmond are separated during the war, they maintain an almost telepathic connection allowing them to know the other is safe, and deliver comfort when needed. I will say one thing though — this relationship was vital to the story. It was a necessary part to truly advance the plot and the characters in the way required. Rosoff uses this as a device but she doesn't let it become overwhelming or take control of the story. It is there, but it isn't extreme and it's definitely far from the level of V.C. Andrews. (That stuff is just creepy to be creepy.)

I know that this review is a little all over the place, and I apologize for that. However, that's a little bit the way this book makes you feel, so i don't really feel too bad about it.

I definitely recommend this book, although I will say that this is not for the faint of heart or the squeamish. This is a story about growing up and discovering who you are and what is most important in life. But, it takes place during a war. War is never pretty, and Rosoff makes no attempt to spare readers from the horrors of a major war. The way the characters handle the side effects of war felt very real, very raw. My heart hurts for these children.

This isn't a book that's going anywhere for me for a while. It's definitely one that is going to stay with me for a long time. Daisy really gets into your mind, just as you get into hers. It's a book to make you think, to make you questions, to give you hope, and to make you reevaluate everything you once thought important. This is one of those books I imagine you love a little more every time you read it. So what are you waiting for? Go grab it!

* Disclaimer — I received an unbound copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair an unbiased review.

Thumbing Through Thoreau is an illustrated collection of quotations from Henry David Thoreau, compiled by Kenny Luck. According to the introduction, Kenny Luck is an avid fan of Thoreau. In Luck's words, Thoreau is his "literary and intellectual soul mate." This book is his chance to gather the best of Thoreau's writings, ideas, and philosophies into one place and make it accessible for everyone.

Before I go into my review of this book specifically, I need to make clear my opinion of Thoreau generally. I read Civil Disobedience in high school and rather enjoyed it. We also spent sometime discussing several major quotations from Walden and discussing those short passages and individual quotations. I found them interesting and thought provoking. I read Walden last year in it's entirety, and had none of the positive feelings for Thoreau I experienced in high school. I found his writings to be pompous, pretentious, and demonstrative of an over inflated sense of self and self importance, not to mention a little self-righteous. So knowing that I don't particularly love Thoreau, why would I accept a book of Thoreau's writing for review? Because I recalled those positive emotions from high school reading small excerpts and individual quotations, which is exactly what this book is! Complete with illustrations!

I decided I would read the book, because I prefer reading Thoreau as individual quotations, and I also liked the idea of the illustrations. The illustrations were lovely. The illustrations were produced by two different artists, with all of Jay Luke's illustrations on the even-numbered pages, and all the odd-numbered pages illustrated by Ren Adams. Each picture is simple but striking. More often than not, the illustrations have very little, if anything, to do with the actual quotation on the page, but instead depict a natural setting. Some are nothing more than the branch of a tree, or an individual flower. Others are more complex landscapes showing trees near bodies of water or rather detailed trees. Although, I am going to admit that when I read several quotations in a row, the illustrations did begin to blend together. Taken individually, the illustrations are each wonderful. When you begin to group them all together, they also start to run together.

However, the main complaint I had with this book was the font. (Feel free to use the 'search inside' feature on amazon.com to see what I mean. in my blog.) The quotations are printed using different sized font for the various words, as well as different shades of gray or black. I imagine the bolded words are those that Luck believed to be of more importance, and requiring emphasis. However, I like to think that I can figure out the important words on my own. I'm rather of the mind that the type of people who would be interested in piking up and reading this book already know how to determine which words are more important in a quotation. It was especially annoying on those occasions where I found myself disagreeing with the words he chose to tell me were more important. **Edit: I was just informed by the publisher (see the comments section) that the bolded words were not actually chosen by the author, and were instead included for purely aesthetic purposes. It makes me smile more fondly on the author, for not supposing he knows better than anyone else which words are more important (sorry about that Kenny...) but I still don't like the shifting font types. I think it detracts from the reading and changes the way you internalize the quotations. ** End of Edit.

I do very much appreciate the idea behind this book. I believe that it makes Thoreau more accessible to people. He isn't an easy man to read for everyone. I know some people who adored Walden and Thoreau and others who can't abide him. I think that this book would be a great addition to anyone's bookshelf. It makes Thoreau easier to approach and the illustrations were lovely. This book would be perfect as a 'coffee table book.' You know, the books that sit on the table waiting for people to glance through, and making the host/hostess look very well-versed. I can see myself picking up a bound copy of this book in the future, and having it displayed somewhere in my home. Very few people decide to sit down and read an entire book of quotations, but this is the perfect type book to take slowly, reading only a few at a time, and to flip through when you don't have the time to sit down and read from your book, but would still like to be reading.

If you like Thoreau, want to like Thoreau, or are interested in getting a glimpse of Thoreau's ideals before you invest in his complete writings, this is a great book to look into. Luck did an amazing amount of research before compiling these quotations and he has a wide variety of sources, including personal letters, and Thoreau's journals in addition to his published works.

If you would like more information about the book, or about Kenny Luck (who did participate in the 69th Annual Thoreau Society Gathering at Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts in July, 2010) you can visit the website for the book, http://www.thumbingthroughthoreau.com. Here you can find photos from the above mentioned Thoreau Society Gathering, additional information about the author and illustrators as well as samples of the illustrations. Head on over, check it out, and let me know what you think!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick won the Caldecott Medal in 2008. As I'm sure most of you are aware, the Caldecott Medal is awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American Picture Book for Children. It's akin to receiving the Newbery Award for children's books, or the Printz Award for young adult.

Hugo Cabret was an especially interesting win for the Caldecott, because although it does contain a lot of beautiful illustrations (284 in a 533 pg. book) it's a 533 page novel. The front jacket describes this as a book "combining elements of picture book, graphic novel, and film" which "breaks open the novel form to create an entirely new reading experience."

The dust jacket does not lie. Reading this book was unlike anything else I've ever read and it was wonderful. I was hooked from the first page, "A Brief Introduction by Professor H. Alcofrisbas" to the last page as we visually watch the moon as it disappears from the sky. The illustrations are... beyond brilliant. Designed to look like sketches, they are surprisingly complex and deceptively simple. As I mentioned in my review of American Born Chinese I am increasingly shocked by what you can portray and how much story you can tell with just one picture.

The story itself was wonderful. Hugo Cabret is a wonderful character just trying to find his place in life. He is a young boy living alone in the middle of Paris in the 1930s, trying desperately to survive. He has no money, but he feels bad every time he is forced to steal something to survive. He is such a good character. He is so confused and desperately searching for something tangible to bring him hope. I loved the secondary characters as well. Questioning and spunky Isabelle, hurting and bitter old Georges, and loving and protective Jeanne. Each of the characters are incredibly well developed. Even the minor characters are given more depth than we normally see.

This book was marvelous. It's definitely one that I am going to want on my own shelf sometime soon. It's beautifully illustrated and wonderfully written. This is a book that can be enjoyed by people of any age, at any stage of their life. I'm enjoyed reading this one so much, that I am definitely looking forward to seeing what else Mr. Selznick has to offer the literary world.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang won the Printz Award in 2007. Before picking up this book, I had never before read a graphic novel, so I didn't quite know what to expect. I was hopeful though, because I had been hearing a lot of really great things about it. So, what did I think?

I was pleasantly surprised that I really enjoyed reading this as a graphic novel. The illustrations really added a lot to the reading. I don't know why, but I expected the illustrations to be a nice addition to the story, but not necessary to the story itself. I started reading it that way to, giving the illustrations only a cursory glance. It didn't take me long to realize that I was missing a lot of the story that way, so I slowed down and gave each page of illustrations as much attention as I gave the words. And all I can say is, Wow! It amazed me how much emotion and action you can get across to the reader in one small frame. That one illustration is able to convey an emotion or message, thought or feeling in just seconds, while it would have taken several sentences or a paragraph to give that same feeling using only words.

I really liked the graphic novel aspect and will definitely be searching out more in the future. However, I had also heard a lot of positive comments from people who simply gushed about this book. This was harder for me, because I didn't love this book the way so many others seemed to. The book uses three seemingly unrelated storylines to tell us our story. It begins with my favorite of the three, the tale of the Monkey King. He becomes a master of all sorts of Kung Fu, but is unhappy because the other gods will not accept him as an equal, no matter what he does, because he is a monkey, not a man. Next, we meet our main character, Jin Wang. He struggles to find his place, just wanting to fit in and be accepted for who he is. The final storyline (and my least favorite) is young Danny and his cousin Chin-Kee. Danny is the all-american high schooler; good looking, basketball player (bla bla bla) while Chin-Kee is the epitome of the negative Chinese stereotype.

The three stories are told individually, and at first there doesn't seem to be any connection between the three. As we approach the end of the book, the three story lines do pull together to create one larger story. I really liked the idea of pulling all three story lines together, but didn't love the way it happened. Almost all my disappointment in this novel revolves around the Danny and Chin-Kee storyline. I just feel that I missed a little bit of what they were actually trying to say. I understood the message and the importance of that segment, but there are a few details left over that weren't really clear to me. I don't want to ruin the ending, so I won't specify but a little more clarity would have been nice. A few things at the end just seemed to happen. Almost like they popped out of nowhere. (I'm looking at you Wei-Chen) Some of it was just a little too much for me to comfortably grasp, and I wasn't really able to give it the necessary suspension of disbelief in its entirety.

Overall, I must say that I did really enjoy American Born Chinese. It was a very interesting glimpse of what it must be like to grow up different from everyone around you, especially when it's very likely they already have a preconceived (negative) notion about you. There are a lot of life lessons hinted at in this book that many people would do well to learn.

Anyone else read this one? Tell me what you think!

WARNING: This review contains more spoilers than normal.

When I first picked up this book, I, like most readers, had heard that this is a true story. Go Ask Alice is marketed as the true diary of a 15 year old girl detailing the destruction of her life after becoming involved with drugs. (Not true, but, more on that later.)
In high school, I kept a journal. A very detailed journal. (I filled 9 large notebooks in 2 years...) Although absolutely nothing in my life relates to or compares to what Alice experienced, I did keep a journal during the same age bracket Alice was writing. Reading this book as if it were her diary was interesting for me, because I did not recognize this as an actual diary of a young teenage girl. Very little of the book focused on typical teenaged drama. She touches on major crushes, glosses over losing her virginity and gives an intensely colorful and detailed description of the wonderful colors and feelings experienced while high on acid... Hmm...
The writer of this 'journal' rarely felt 15 to me. Her writing was too advanced and cohesive to be the true ramblings and musings of a lost (and generally high) 15 year old trying to sort out her problems and her life. It just wasn't realistic. The few times the narrator felt 15 were after being ostracized from her peer groups. She expresses feelings of confusion and loneliness that range true but even those passages were so short as to almost be an afterthought. I read this believing it to be true, but was confused more than once and had to really stop to think about it. No 15 year old I know writes or talks like this.
(I am about to SPOIL the ENDING. You have been warned.) Perhaps the most disappointing thing about this novel was the ending. It leaves you with a feeling of hopelessness. Rather than being a triumphal story about a young girl overcoming her addictions, or a cautionary tale about a life of excess, it is a tale to those addicted to drugs that there is no hope for you. The end will never come, and you will be a user until you die no matter how hard you try to get away from it. Alice has got her life back on track. She is clean, living with her parents and she even has a new boyfriend who knows her past and accepts her for who and how she is. Everything seems to be going so well for her. It seems so hopeful and wonderful. So what happens? In an 'afternote' we are told that 3 weeks after Alice wrote the last page in her diary (remember, she's clean now) she ODs and DIES! Really?! She cleans herself up so that she can die in the end?! Sigh...
Okay. Now that I've told you why I didn't love this book, I should tell you that I did like it. It made me sad. It broke my heart. Although it wasn't always delivered in a perfectly believable manner, the situations Alice discovered herself in were traumatic and portrayed quite well. If nothing else, this book made me feel. For the most part, I was able to ignore the parts of the story that didn't ring perfectly true until I had finished the read. It's a short book, and one that I would say is definitely worth the read. Even though some of the descriptions and the writing itself isn't always on the level a 15 year old would use, the language of emotion was. When Alice did speak about her emotions, I found myself easily believing the sincerity of the narrator's emotions, especially when feeling lost, lonely and homesick.
So, although overall I DID enjoy this book, and I DO recommend it, I am going to warn you now — This book is a work of fiction, no matter what you have heard otherwise. Check out snopes.com for the specifics about this book. And, read the copyright page! It clearly states that this book is a work of fiction. My recommendation to you — Read this book knowing that it is NOT really the anonymous diary of a teenager addicted to drugs and is instead someone's story of what could happen to you if you find yourself mixed up with drugs. It's a horrifying tale that doesn't need to be marketed as non-fiction to accomplish it's goal. I would have enjoyed this book much more had I know beforehand that it wasn't really true.

Calamity Jack by Shannon and Deal Hale is the sequel to their first graphic novel, Rapunzel's Revenge, which Misty reviewed yesterday. I picked up Rapunzel's Revenge a while ago, because I had just finished reading some of Shannon's other books, and I loved them. When I went to the library to grab the copy on reserve, I was shocked to see that it was a graphic novel. I hadn't read any previously and wasn't interested in starting. But, I was in a hurry and my indecisiveness made me hesitate long enough that I decided I would just take the copy for now, and bring it back later. But, I was bored, still had the book and started to read it. And, I read it in one sitting because I found it to be positively delightful.

So, when I heard that they were writing a sequel told from Jack's perspective, I knew I had to read it. And it was just as delightfully fun as the first novel! Jack and Rapunzel have a great relationship. Their banter and the way they play off of each other never fails to make me laugh. This is Jack's story of climbing up the beanstalk and taking on the giants. Where Rapunzel's story was mostly in the wild's of the west, Jack's story puts us right in the middle of the industrial city.

Jack is a crazy character. He's mischievous, tricksy, and a lot less devious than he thinks he is. He fancies himself a bit of a criminal genius, but he's rather a bit more of a bumbler, who sometimes gets lucky. But, when Rapunzel is with him, with her crazy awesome hair and hard-core butt kicking abilities, things usually go much smoother.

I will admit that I didn't like this book as much as I liked Rapunzel's Revenge. I truly enjoyed it, I laughed just as much as before, but there was just a little something missing for me. It just wan't quite... there, the way that Rapunzel's story was for me. But it's definitely worth the read, especially if you read and enjoyed Rapunzel's story.

I will say that both of these books are awesome for reluctant readers. They are both fast paced, the dialogue is perfect and the drawings are fabulous. I am much more open to reading graphic novels after reading these books because when done right, the pictures add a whole new layer of depth and you catch nuances that weren't there before.

Tricks by Ellen Hopkins is further proof that Ellen Hopkins is made of awesome and is a brilliant writer. She writes a lot of tough stuff, and she writes it honestly. I could say a lot about Hopkins brilliant poetry, but it's all been said before. I've said it before. So this time, I'm going to focus on the characters, and their stories. (Although the poetry really is genius.)

Tricks is the story of 5 teenagers. Some of them come from normal, happy families, some of them do not. Each of them have something they struggle with, and that struggle ultimately leads them on a path that none of them ever expected to take.

Our main characters are: Eden, whose father is an Evangelical preacher, and whose mother is abusive, hypocritical, and self-righteous; Seth, a gay teen struggling to accept himself in a small mid-west town, where everyone, including his father (and his dead mother), believes homosexuality to be a sin against God; Whitney, a girl struggling to be herself in the shadow of the 'perfect' older sister, loved and coddled by her workaholic mother, ignored by her mother, and desperate for someone (anyone) to love her; Ginger, who has spent her whole life looking after her younger siblings while her mother earns money as a prostitute; and Cody, whose awesome mom, and lovingly supportive step-dad are keeping a secret that will change their family forever.

While each of these characters have their own independent struggles, they are, for the most part, surprisingly well-adapted and well rounded characters. They all seem like good people. But it was incredibly scary to watch how quickly their lives spiraled down into disaster. It's amazing to me to see how fast it can all fall apart.

As you might have heard, or guessed from the title, this is a book dealing with teen prostitution. I don't know anyone who actually believes that this is a life that could ever touch them. I admit I myself have wondered how anyone could reach the point where they would be willing to sell their bodies to support themselves. It boggles my mind. But now, after reading this book it scares me. Because it can happen to anyone. None of these characters set out with the idea that becoming a prostitute was a great way of life. Ginger personally abhors it, because of her mother and the damage it has caused to her mother and their family. But each of them finds themselves in a situation where they don't believe they have any choices left.

Each of these stories are strongly emotional, which, I believe is the real strength to Ellen Hopkins writing style. I've read many books written in poem form and have never felt the emotion in the writing that seems so effortless in a Hopkins novel. Each character is painfully real and demands that we see them as real people, with real feelings, and real struggles. They dare us to judge them. Dare us to say we would have done any differently and beg us to understand and love them anyway. There is depth to these characters, not just on the pages, but that pores out around us. We need more writers like Hopkins that understand what it means to live, to hurt and to keep on anyway.