tales of the MADMAN underground by Barnes

This seems like a novel who's audience is unclear. I enjoyed it but can't really think to whom I might recommend it. People might think its about kids with mental illness or about alcoholic kids and parents, but ultimately its about allies, the closest of friends. Its really a wonderful tale of friendship. All the characters, teens and adults are flawed as is true in real life.
MADMAN underground is the title a group of teens gave to themselves years earlier. They are all part of a therapy group at school. They are all from homes that are dysfunctional in their own often horrific ways. Everyone at schools knows everything (or think they do) about them. This is small town USA 1973. The teens are very close. They try to protect each other from bad stuff at home and at school. They really discover how close during the months of this story when two of the members try to have a normal, non-therapy year.
Karl is the protagonist/main character. He is scary as people believe he tortures small animals. Before he died his father was well respected in town. Those who knew him try to look out for Karl the way they know how. Karl has numerous odd jobs all over town and several stashes which unfortunately his alcoholic free spirited mother sometimes finds and uses to get drunk, etc. Enter new girl in town, Marti, new member of the underground because her parents believe she needs to be. They periodically lock her out of the house at night as punishment. Other members are Paul, who may be gay and is subjected to beatings by members of the sports teams. Not all however, since Squid and Danny, also MADMEN play sports. Then there is Cheryl and Darla. Marti is dating Paul who is having issues with his best friend Karl. Darla and Karl go to a pond that doubles as a place for dating teens to park and he almost loses his virginity. Karl takes Marti in to a hotel room one night when both have been locked out and Marti's mother accuses him of giving her STD and getting her pregnant. Paul is rescued by the MADMEN before he gets beaten one more time. More stuff happens and is sorted out in quite hopeful ways. There is a side thread, popular Staci is witness to many of the MADMEN troubles and proves to be one of few that doesn't spread rumor or harass the group. This is one of several books I've read recently in which a popular girl/cheerleader is shown to be more human and less snobbish than one might believe a popular teen to be. JDW 2/10

Heartless: A Pretty Little Liars Novel by Sara Shepard

**SPOILER WARNING** This is book seven in the Pretty Little Liars series and will reference information from previous books. I won't give away too much from this novel, but the others might be spoiled. Read on with caution...

At the end of the last novel, a fire nearly kills all four girls and in the twist ending of that novel, the girls saw Ali alive! In this novel, when Emily admits this to the police, everyone gets fed up with the drama these girls are creating. Finally deemed in the press as the "Pretty Little Liars," Hanna, Spencer, Aria, and Emily are slowly becoming the prime suspects in Ali's murder. Fearing for Hanna's sanity, her father ships her off to a spa/rehab/mental institute. There she befriends her roommate who isn't as trustworthy as she seems. Aria, on the other hand, might be the one who needs to be committed as she tries to get in contact with the dead, thinking Ali might be trying to communicate with them from beyond. Emily, under "A"'s advice, dresses up as an Amish girl and heads to Lancaster where she meets a girl whose family has a mysterious past to Darren Wilden - whom they all at one point thought killed Ali. Things begin looking up for Spencer as her family apologizes for treating her like dirt, but that only lasts so long as she begins digging into her family's past and her parent's connections to Ali's family. All of this drama climaxes to the point the girls are all arrested and Ali's killer is identified.

Of course this isn't the last novel in the series as at least one more book remains. A huge part of me hopes the next book is the last. The series has run it's course and I think the story is just being dragged out. Why do the girls keep falling for A's tricks? You'd think by now they'd learn but no, each new text lead to a whole new soap opera storyline. True, the story does draw you in as you're eager to find out where it all leads but it's getting a little old. I think some of it has to do with the time between when books are released. I would almost recommend waiting until all of the books are out and reading them all together. That way your excitement for the story doesn't dwindle.

For what the story is, the novel is good. There are some interesting new leads and twists which makes you wonder what's really going on. But, overall, this storyline needs to come to a close. How much more can realistically be done to the girls before even the readers lose trust in them?
MMK

Going Bovine by Bray

I read this book because it received top honors for a teen book of 2009. The first chapter or so are an angry rant by a teen boy - Cameron. The language and the anger may be a hook for some teen readers but I am an adult who had trouble getting past this. The story changes when Cameron hallucinates that he is fighting fire giants - scary. At first it is believed he is doing serious drugs. Until he has a seizure and winds up in the hospital with a very critical condition. From here on, Cameron lives in an unreal world of fire giants and quests to find a strange hero, Dr. X to save him, led by a pink haired angel named Dulcie and accompanied by Gonzo, his dwarf, hypochondriac roommate. Even though we know the quest is in Cameron's unconscious mind it reads like a fantasy and is exciting, fast, easy to get involved in. This is a very modern re imagined Man of La Mancha retelling. It doesn't hurt to go to wikipedia and look up the summary of the musical to see the connections and differences. I quite thoroughly enjoyed this book and believe goth kids, manga readers and any one who likes quirky, extraordinary books will enjoy it too. JDW 2/10

Earth, My Butt, and other Big Round Things, Mackler

This book is popular with the kids and I can see why. Ginny is a very real teen. She is easy to like and sympathize with. Ginny is the youngest and imperfect kid in an apparently perfect family. Things have already begun to change, the perfect facade is beginning to crumble. Oldest daughter Anais, expected to become a doctor has graduated from college and gone into the peace corps instead of continuing her education. Son Byron has gotten in trouble in college for date raping a girl at a party while very drunk, something that affects Ginny very profoundly. Ginny, meanwhile has to deal with mom constantly lecturing her about her grades, her weight, her lack of exercise, her life goals, her weight, her friends, her weight, her diet etc. If its a lecture, teens tend to shut down, rather than cooperate and Ginny does just that. But, she is a strong kid and slowly finds her own way. She establishes her own life goals, starts a surprising athletic activity her mom has nothing to do with, gets pierced and died and really begins to find her way. She even asks her dad to let her confide in him, to be more involved in her life and he seems happy to have been asked. Its easy to cheer Ginny on. Way to go girl. Fun Read. JDW 2/10

Flash Burnout - L.K. Madigan

Blake's life is going good. He's got a great girlfriend, Shannon, he's got his guy friends to hang out with, and he's got Marissa, a girl he met in photography class last year as a freshman, as a friend too. While doing one of the photography assignments in Old Town, Blake takes a picture of Marissa's mother. Marissa sees the picture the next day, and she heads to Old Town. She finds her mother, brings her back to her grandma's house, and gets her into rehab for her meth addiction. Blake starts to spend more and more time with Marissa and less time with Shannon. One day Blake, Garret (Blake's brother), and Marissa go to the morgue because Blake's dad was talking about a drug overdose victim that came in the night before. Marissa fears its her mother, who's been missing for a few weeks. They break into the morgue, and find out it isn't Marissa's mother. Blake and Marissa spend the whole day together when Blake was supposed to go to Shannon's recital. Blake and Marissa end up having sex, and Blake takes a few pictures of her afterwords. The next day Shannon tells Blake her grandmother died, and she wanted to know why he wasn't answering her calls. After those two days Blake's world falls apart.

I really enjoyed this book. It tackles the question can guys and girls just be friends, which in Blake's case is good for awhile, but then certain urges take over and things fall apart. I also liked that it was told from the guys point of view. Flash Burnout won the 2010 William C Morris YA Debut Award at last months ALA Midwinter conference.

T.B. 2/10/10

Mission Telemark By Amanda Mitchison

This novel is about four teen freedom fighters, who fought during WWII. The novel has one teen girl named Ase, and three teen males. Frederick a red head speaks Norwegian, Jakob also speaks Norwegian, and so does Lars. To me the novel is exciting, and very detailed about WWII. The teens are on a mission to destroy the water plant the Germans controlled in Vernock.

The Colonel's student's that were teens, had to go through training that was tough; to prepare them for their mission. It was like going to boot camp for the United States Marines at Paris Island in Virginia. The teens endure a lot of hardship, but the British Colonel knows what the teens will face.

In case the teens are captured by the Germans, each teen has a cyanide capsule to take. Fortunately the teens were not captured. What the teens accomplished was great. They had to ski on the slope of huge mountains, and climb big rock cliffs that were not easy. They had to hide from their enemy as they approached the large water plant. he enemy was the German soldiers. Frederick hides in a deep freeze, Ase hides in a locker,Lars and Jakob hide in a deep freeze together. They complete their mission by placing the explosives around the water plant.
Their escape is very difficult. Frederick dislocates his shoulder, which slows the teens down. The teens had to hunt for food. They hunted rabbits, and deer meat for survival. The teens endured harsh cold, and hunger.
I enjoyed the novel very much, because it was fascinating, and educational too.
LRD 2/4/10

Black-eyed Suzie by Susan Shaw

Although I never read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, I know enough about it to recommend Black-Eyed Suzie if you enjoyed Speak. This novel is another powerful story about facing the hard times in order to find your voice and heal.

Suzie is a young girl who feels trapped in a box and has lost the use of words. All day long all she does is sit curled up on her chair, not speaking or eating, just occasionally crying. Her mother can't stand it and frequently gets angry at Suzie but insists it's just a stage and fights getting her daughter help. Soon Uncle Elliot - her father's boss - comes and takes Suzie to the hospital where she is admitted. The long journey begins as Suzie remembers her mother's temper and violence and learns to trust the doctors and nurses, but she still can't find the words to speak, especially since it means hurting the ones she loves. She also makes friends with fellow patients and enemies with others - only to discover some problems aren't as obvious as you might think. Soon, though, when her sister's life is in danger, Suzie finds her voice and discovers that sometimes the truth hurts, but silence can be even more painful.

I couldn't get into Speak because of the choppy, snapshot format of the novel and while Black-Eyed Suzie is a little bit choppy, I felt as though it created a more fluid, detailed story. I wish it went a little bit more into the lives of the others at the hospital because Suzie's constant silence became somewhat annoying. Maybe if there was more going on around her, the silence wouldn't become so monotonous. For example, Karen finally started to develop and right when it gets good, her story is left hanging. True, some people don't recover, but don't give us a taste and then take it away.

This was a very easy novel to read, therefore making it accessible to everyone. It has a great message and definitely is a novel people should read, especially for teens living in abusive relationships - whether with parents or boyfriend/girlfriend. Silence doesn't solve anything. By not speaking, no one gets the help they need - you're only protecting the abuser and that's not right. Yes, coming out with the truth will hurt, especially if you honestly love the abuser, but in the long run, the truth will be better for everyone.
MMK

The First Part Last By: Angela Johnson

Most stories about teenage pregnancy tend to be seen all through the females point of view. In this novel, a boy named Bobby and his girlfriend Nia are madly in love but then find out that she is pregnant while they are still in high school. The story is told through Bobby's eyes, and it is interesting to see what might go through a young boys mind when he finds out that his girlfriend is pregnant. The novel has a lot of flashbacks and can be confusing at times but it a fast, suspenseful, and dramatic piece. Will Bobby and Nia keep the baby? How will they deal? Will Bobby learn what it means to become a man and accept the consequences of his actions? GV