Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto (audio)

Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto by Eric Luper, read by Nick Podehl
Audience: Grades 8 and up
My Rating: 4* of 5
Summary: Seth's girlfriend breaks up with him at Applebee's. But wait, there's more. While Seth's girlfriend is breaking up with him at Applebee's, they see Seth's dad veeeeery cozy a few booths over with a woman who is not Seth's mom. Oh, and this Applebee's double whammy makes Seth late for his job at Belgian Fries in the mall so he gets fired. Sound like the start of a great summer?
Comments: A clever, funny, sometimes sweet boy-logic-applied-to-love book. Seth is just dopey enough to still be likable. Plot threads are all sorted well without being cheesy. Some colorful characters add to the charm.
Read-alikes: Swim the Fly / Beat the Band by Don Calame, both read by Nick Podehl; John Green books.

The Last Little Blue Envelope (ARC) by Johnson

The Last Little Blue Envelope (ARC) by Johnson due May, 2011 from Harper Teen.
Audience: Grades 7 and up
My Rating: 4* of 5
Summary: A mysterious boy contacts Ginny, saying he found her backpack with the 13 blue envelopes in it. Ginny heads to London and embarks on a new adventure, filled with old friends, new loves, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
Comments: Thank you, Jennie, for bringing this from ALA Midwinter. MauJo's nearly flawless galley starts with a much-needed recap of the previous book (2005 was a while ago!) and then quickly reinserts Ginny into another London adventure. More poignant than the playful prequel, we get a closer look at Ginny's relationships with aunt Peg, (uncle) Richard, Keith, and new mystery man Oliver. While all concludes satisfactorily, MauJo still leaves enough loose threads should she decide to revisit Ginny in another 6 years!
Read-alikes: 13 Little Blue Envelopes and other titles by Johnson

Bruiser by Neal Shusterman

Bruiser by Neal Shusterman, 2010.

Audience: Grades 7-12

My Rating: 5* of 5

Summary: Bronte: There's a reason why Brewster can't have friends—why he can't care about too many people. Because when he cares about you, things start to happen. Impossible things that can't be explained. I know, because they're happening to me.
Comments: While Unwind may have some of Shusterman's best writing, Bruiser is his best novel to date. Multiple voices are written masterfully, the suspense sets in quickly and does not relent, characters are interesting and worth following...in short, everything works and works very well. All told, Shusterman uses a super-human character to show the best, worst, and always flawed faces of humanity.

Awards: 2011 Lone Star list

Read-alikes: If I Stay by Foreman, Unwind by Shusterman, Hero by Moore

Reckless by Cornelia Funke

Reckless by Cornelia Funke, 2010.
Audience: Grades 5-8
My Rating: 4.5* of 5
Summary: Jacob and Will Reckless have looked out for each other ever since their father disappeared, but when Jacob discovers a magical mirror that transports him to a warring world populated by witches, giants, and ogres, he keeps it to himself until Will follows him one day, with dire consequences.

Comments: I reluctantly picked this one up as I have read a few Funke titles and didn't love them. Reckless, however, is a different story. The allure of the magic mirror as a portal to the dark underbelly of Grimm's fairy tale world quickly drew me in. The relationships are surprisingly grown up and realistically reflect the complications of romance, family, and loyalty (though nothing is inappropriate for middle/high school readers). What's missing from Reckless is the dense, over told story (a la Inkheart) that has always turned me off of Funke. Instead, there is a tantalizing sense of negative space left to the reader's imagining and future Reckless adventures to fill.

Read-alikes: The Grimm Legacy

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (*spoiler-free except for one vague quote*)

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. Scholastic, 2010.

Audience: Ages 13+

My Rating: 4.5* of 5

Comments: After hearing Suzanne speak in April, I was worried that Mockingjay might shift what had thus far been a seemingly unbiased series of war stories toward a didactic vehicle for Collins' personal message/agenda on war and politics. Suzanne, I will never doubt again. She is far too talented a writer for that to happen even with such delicate subject matter. None of my predictions for the conclusion of this trilogy came to fruition--I've never been so glad to have guessed incorrectly. I enjoyed the pacing, surprises, punches to the gut, revelations, unexpected connections, and unfortunate losses woven into this powerful conclusion. Above all, I admire Suzanne for giving young adult readers an honest, realistic ending to Katniss's story. Life is messy, love is imperfect, war is impossible, but somehow many survive and slowly rebuild a life...and even try to make it good.

There are worse games to play.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson (collecting quotes while I listen)

Loved this book enough the first time to now experience the audio fabulousness (complete with singing!) and collect a few choice cuts this time. [owg=Green; wg=Levithan]

owg: "You like someone who can’t like you back because unrequited love can be survived in a way that once-requited love cannot."

wg: “...because Isaac has become the one the songs are about.”

owg: "i know it sucks, but in a way, it’s good....love and truth being tied together, i mean. they make each other possible, you know?

owg: “She kisses like a sweet devouring, and I don’t know where to touch her because I want all of her."

wg: "when things break, it's not the actual breaking that prevents them from getting back together again. it's because a little piece gets lost. the two remaining ends couldn't fit together even if they wanted to. the whole shape has changed."

owg: [discussing Schrödinger's cat with Jane] "It seems to me that all the things we keep in sealed boxes are both alive and dead until we open the box. That the unobserved is both there and not...I chose the closed box."
Jane: "They eventually figured out that keeping the box closed doesn't actually keep the cat alive and dead...keeping the box closed just keeps you in the dark, not the universe."

owg: "It's hard to believe in coincidence, but it's even harder to believe in anything else."

wg: "i just want to be myself and i wanna be with someone who's just himself, that's all. i want to see through all the performance and all the pretending and get right to the truth."

wg: "this is why we call people 'exes' i guess because the paths they cross in the middle end up separating at the end. it's too easy to see an ex/x as a crossout--it's not. because there is no way to cross out something like that. the ex/x is a diagram of two paths."

owg: "Since when is the person you want to screw the only person you get to love?"

Tiny: "Love is the most common miracle. Love is always a miracle...everywhere...every time."

[curtain]