Beach Reads!

Henderson, Laura. Flirting in Italian.

Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 12 June 2012

Violet is an art student in London who sees a picture hanging in a small museum, and the girl in the picture looks just like her! She manages to arrange to travel to Italy and study in a small Italian language course with Catia, who runs a sort of finishing school. This gets her near the castle from which this painting came, and also away from her very overprotective mother who looks nothing like Violet. Joined by fellow Brit Kelly and Americans Paige and Kendra, Violet settles into a routine of learning Italian and nicieties like flower arranging, going out with Catia's children, and falling for the handsome but wicked Luca. The housekeeper at the castle has an odd reaction to Violet, and she does bear a strong resemblance to the current owner's sister when she was young. When someone tries to lock Violet in a secret passage and she is late poisoned, it's clear that there are secrets that someone would like kept that way.

Strengths: The biggest need for books for girls that I have in my library is for romances, but it can be hard to find one that is intriguing and middle school appropriate. This was both. 13 Little Blue Envelopes is a huge favorite, so anything where girls travel does well. The relationship between the classmates is a nice touch.

Weaknesses: The whole mystery aspect of this seems weak to me. Why not just ask is she is adopted instead of planning a whole scheme to get to Italy? There is a bit of drinking, but never ends well. I don't see another book to this one, but the last paragraph hints at one.

Zeitlin, Meredith. Freshman Year and Other Unnatural Disasters.

(1 March 2012)

Kelsey Finklestein vows that THIS year will be different. She will rock at soccer, and since her arch nemesis has moved away, she has a shot at Jordan Rothman. While she does okay at soccer, an older girl, Julie, has something against her, and she gets stuck playing goalie. Her nemesis' cousin has moved to town and threatens to take over, but turns out to be a nice person. Jordan is dating someone... one of her good friends! The school year continues with these ups and downs (a boy is interested in her, but is a horrible sloppy kisser), but Kelsey manages to get through them with the help of her friends.

Strengths: This reminded me of Ellen Conford books, and I was all set to give it to one of my students who likes both sports books and romance books.

Weaknesses: *Sigh* Too much talk of sex. Not a lot of doing, but just a lot more discussion than I was comfortable with. This was a real shame, because I was enjoying it.

Coriell, Shelley. Welcome Caller, this is Chloe.

1 May 2012

Chloe has a great life-- she's just been elected dance queen and has two great friends. Things start to go south when her friends are upset at how she treated them after being elected queen and stop talking to her. Her grandmother's Parkinson's is getting worse, and she may have to go into an assisted living facility. Worst of all, she has an annoying new guidance counselor who has denied her junior project (that had to do with soap opera vixens) and signs her up instead to help with the failing school radio station. Since her friends aren't talking to her, and have convinced most of the school that they shouldn't talk to her, either, Chloe figures that she might as well work with the radio station. She gets a call in program that ends up doing well. Can Chloe manage to pass her junior project, save the radio station, make peace with her friend situation, and maybe even find romance? You bet your vintage shoes.

Strengths: Light, fluffy, improbably-- this is a great beach read. I've not been buying as much girly lit since the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies went belly up, so I will probably have to buy this one.

Weaknesses: Not a lot of internal consistency (her friends won't talk to her, but everyone turns in to the radio program?), and a fairly high slappage factor. Yes, Chloe is enthusiastic, but she also is highly insensitive to those around her. I didn't care for the acerbic Clementine any more. And what WAS with the vintage shoes? What teen is going to spend $200 on a pair of shoes?

Guy Friday--Fake Mustache

Angleberger, Tom. Fake Mustache.
1 April 2012, Amulet Books

Friends Lenny and Casper get into their fair share of trouble in the town of Hairsprinkle, but when Casper uses his money to buy a nice suit and Heidelberg Handlebar Number Seven mustache and use this get up to rob the local bank, Lenny has to stop him, especially when Casper frames Lenny for the robbery. The power of the mustache is soon so great Casper has gathered a fortune large enough for him to buy the company that produced the mustache (as well as other fun novelty gimmicks) and to run for president, a step toward his evil masterminded goal of taking over the world. Lenny finds help in the form of Jodie O'Rodeo, a tween television musical star whose family lives in Hairsprinkle. In this rollicking adventure, the evil-doers are flaky and unapologetic, and the heroes are just trying to the right thing-- as long as someone will bring them some PopTarts as they try to save the world from the evil lurking behind the fake mustache.
Strengths: Like Angleberger's other work (The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda, The Return of Darth Paper, and Horton Halfpott), this is a nonstop GoofFest filled with quirky names, inexplicable obstacles, and giant sticky hands (there's a combo package for the next Scholastic Book Fair!). Totally orginal and unpredictable, fans of funny books as well as notebook novels (this has a fair amount of illustrations) will gladly pick this book up. I am always interested to see what Mr. Angleberger thinks up next!
Weaknesses: I didn't personally like this. Will I buy a copy or two and push them relentlessly on readers. Absolutely. Was it something I would reread on my own? Erm.... I'm not sure what it was-- either the use of odd names, which I always dislike, or the fact that I am not in fact a 12 year old boy (the I Am A Genius of Unspeakable Evil phenomenon), or an issue of falling on the elementary side of the  Pilkey Line of goofiness-- but it didn't speak to me.

It will scream loudly at my reader, though, and that's what really matters!

I thought I might be able to find several covers with mustaches on the cover, but for now we will have to content ourselves with Snidely Whiplash and the book Mustache!






Hannan, Pete. My Big Mouth: 10 Songs I Wrote That Almost Got Me Killed.
1 July 2011, Scholastic.


Davis Delaware and his father move to a new community after the death of Davis' mother. His new high school is home to boring teachers and catatonic students, but also a bully (Gerald, aka "the butcher"), a talkative but friendly Dweeb (Edwin), and a cute girl who wants to start a rock band (Molly). Edwin and Molly start the Amazing Dweebs band, practicing at Edwin's father's barbershop in preparation for the Rock Around the Dock battle of the bands. All the while Davis is joining the poetry club at school, taking karate lessons, having a rocky relationship with Molly, and trying not to get permanently injured by Gerald. This is illustrated with goofy drawings, some from Davis doodling notebook.
Strengths: Loved this description: "It was your basic English teacher/librarian uniformL Cardigan sweater, white button-down blouse, skirt below the knees and --here's the kicker-- glasses with that chain around the neck. Those are pretty much the universal symbol for I think I'm smart and I know I'm old. (page 7) Some clever writing, a good basic plot, romance in a humorous setting.
Weaknesses: Again with the bullies pummeling students in the hallway and teachers looking the other way. Sigh. Not only that, but this is set in high school. Not sure what the goofy line between middle school and high school is called, but I'm thinking this lands on the middle school side of that. May just not be understanding and liking it because I am a girl.

Guy Friday-- Monsters and Ghosts!

Kent, Derek Taylor. Scary School.
Review copy provided by the author.
Charles Nukid is in for a big surprise when he starts the school year at Scary School. He is almost eaten by a monster that lives in the moat, a T. Rex in a blue dress admonishes him for not wearing the school uniform when he is the only one who is, and his teachers are all monsters of various sorts who don't mind killing a student or two. It's okay, though-- dead students come back as vampires, zombies or even dragons! The school year progresses with a variety of activities (goblins give a play on Halloween), and a parade of quirky students while the school prepares to compete in the Ghoul Games against schools with an even more monstrous student body.
Strengths: Skateboarding zombie on the cover. Can't go wrong with that. The illustrations throughout add a lot to the story, which is reminscent of the Dadey and Jones Bailey School Kids books. This is a longer book, though, which will attract better readers and some older students.
Weaknesses: A tiny bit on the younger side, with some quirky writing that bothers me but the students don't mind. (A character named Frank-pronounced-Rachel, strange names for the characters, a Lemony Snicketesque tone... none of my personal favorites!)