Monster High by Lisi Harrison (ARC)

Monster High by Lisi Harrison. Poppy, 2010.

**NEXT BIG THING ALERT!** This is gonna be a huge tween hit! It is way voltage!

Audience: Ages 12+ (though younger are going to want to read it bc of the dolls)

My Rating: 4* of 5

Summary: Created just fifteen days ago, Frankie Stein is psyched to trade her father's formaldehyde-smelling basement lab for parties and prom. But with a student body totally freaked out by rumors of monsters stalking the halls, Frankie learns that high school can be rough for a chic freak like her. She thinks she finds a friend in fellow new student Melody Carver-but can a "normie" be trusted with her big secret?

Comments: Leave it to Lisi to make a Clique + Twi-tween mash-up of monstrous proportions! The beauty is that MH offers infinitely more concept, fun, and substance than the girls of OCD ever could. Frankie is exceedingly likable and her "normie" foil, Melody is likewise. "Coming out of the casket" references abound, but rather than elicit zombie groans they crackle with Frankie's enthusiasm toward her cause of monster acceptance. An appealing and quality read that backed by some evil genius marketing (uh-dorable dolls by Mattel, Monsterhigh.com video shorts and games, and stinking cute Halloween costumes rtg) is going to explode by October!
Awards:

Read-alikes: Clique, Alphas

A Taste for Red audio

A Taste for Red by Lewis Harris. Listening Library, 2009. (Narrated by Jaclyn Gaines)
Audience: Grades 5-6
My Rating: 1* of 5
Summary: Svetlana Grimm thinks she's a vampire and when her beautiful science teacher, Ms. Larch, begins reading her thoughts Svetlana wonders if Ms. Larch might be a vampire, too? But the thrill of finding another of her kind quickly vanishes when strange "accidents" start happening. Svetlana is always the intended victim, and her teacher is always nearby. So if she and Ms. Larch aren't allies, then that means...Sunny Hill Middle School is about to become a very dangerous place for Svetlana Grimm.

Comments: A poor reading of a poorly written story. I was only just curious enough about where the strange plot was going to finish.

Awards:
Read-alikes: Vampire Island

Tangent: Twi-rant

Something has been bugging me for quite a while...WHY is Twilight so unbelievably popular despite the fact that it is, well, pretty much crap? I have a theory!

First theory link: I quickly associated Twilight with the SBTBE...what I call the Saved By the Bell Effect. We all watched that horrible, horrible show knowing full-well how horribly horrible it was yet we couldn't look away. Something made you watch.

Next theory link: What exactly is it about the writing that evokes the SBTBE? Could it be the constant use of trigger words...wistful...exquisite...that somehow reprogram the brain? Or the ultra-packaged teenagers (Rosalie=Kelly, Alice=Jessie, Edward=Zach, Jacob=...Screech?)? Which led to...

Final theory link: Aha! The simple-minded, obsessive, angsty, self-involved way Meyers writes (esp. Bella) makes an instant connection with the primal, teenage brain still lingering in even the oldest reader (mainly female, sorry to discriminate). This flips the teenage brain switch, flooding the mind with those hormonal, obsessive, angsty feelings/memories. The reader vulnerable to this literary drug becomes hooked, plowing through book after book only to crash when the supply is exhausted (no New Moon? boo-hoo).

So, whaddya think? Am I onto her or just totally out in left field (during a Cullen baseball game, of course)?

rant out. -B