YA Bliss: 4/17/11

April 23, 2011

In My Mailbox (87)

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, inspired by Alea and explores the contents of our mailbox on a weekly basis.

For Review:

And By The Way... by Denise Deegan

Won (from Cindy's contest craze):

But I Love Him by Amanda Grace

Library:

Chime by Franny Billingsley (book + audiobook)

April 22, 2011

Top 10 Books Everyone Should Read! (Guest Post by Jennifer Archer)

I could easily name 100! Without stopping to analyze or over-think, I quickly wrote down the titles that came to mind first, and came up with a mix of classics, titles that were published several years ago, and newer titles. Here’s my list:

1. THE BOOK THIEF by Marcus Zusak—This story emphasized to me that not all Germans during World War II were sympathetic to the Nazi agenda, and that many of them suffered, as well. I learned a lot from the point of view of a German girl whose family hid a Jewish man in their basement. This is a beautifully-written book with a unique twist; ‘Death’ narrates the story.
2. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee—If I’m not mistaken, this classic was first marketed as a Young Adult novel when it was published in the 1960’s. This is one of the great American novels. It honestly and vividly captures a place and time in American history – the Deep South during the 1930’s. Although it deals with heavy issues such as prejudice, violence and hypocrisy, the story is told with warmth, humor, and mystery and the characters are so real they jump off the page.

3. A WRINKLE IN TIME by Madeleine L’Engle – This book might be marketed to readers slightly younger than the YA audience, but I think it speaks to every age. I love the uniqueness of this story about teenager Meg, a highly intelligent social misfit, who travels through space and time with her younger brother, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O’Keefe, the most popular guy at her school, in search of Meg’s missing father. Meg is truly a take-charge, resourceful female character! A wonderful read for anyone who has ever felt as if they don’t “fit in.” Which is pretty much everyone, right?!

4. GO ASK ALICE —originally published in the 1970’s, this supposedly “true diary” of a teen girl who succumbs to drug addiction is still relevant today. I first read it when I was sixteen, and I’ve never forgotten it. Some of the language and cultural references are a bit outdated today, but “Alice’s” story is still as gripping as ever.

5. SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson—The story of a girl who stops talking after suffering a personal tragedy. Sparsely written and powerful. I couldn’t put the book down and read it in one sitting.

6. SANG SPELL by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor—I had completely forgotten about his book until asked for this top 10 list! For some reason, it sprang to mind and now I can’t wait to read it again. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is a wonderful writer, and this book is quite different than most of her other works. Sang Spell, which was published in the late 1990’s or early 2000, is one of the most mysterious, haunting, intriguing stories I’ve ever read. It’s about a boy who is hitchhiking to his aunt’s after the death of his mother, when he is mugged, then taken to a community that seems lost in time. Ultimately, this is a story about healing.

7. HATCHET by Gary Paulsen—This has become a classic. A great adventure that had my heart pounding and made me wonder again and again, ‘What if this happened to me? Would I survive?’

8. HOLES by Louis Sachar—One of the most clever books I’ve ever read. The movie is great, too!

9. A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT – Laura Whitcomb—This novel is only a few years old. I love a good ghost story, and this one has a unique slant.

10. THROUGH HER EYES by Jennifer Archer  -- A favorite of mine for obvious reasons!

Such an awesome list! Thank you Jennifer!!

Enter to win an ARC of Jennifer's book! (US only. Ends May 5th)

Interview with Carole Estby Dagg (The Year We Were Famous)

I have a very special treat today. A historical fiction book written by a descendant of the characters! Isn't that cool? Carole Estby Dagg wrote the story that Helga and Clara Etsby never got to write. And she's here today for an interview!

With their family home facing foreclosure, seventeen-year-old Clara Estby and her mother, Helga, need to raise a lot of money fast—no easy feat for two women in 1896. Helga wants to tackle the problem with her usual loud and flashy style, while Clara favors a less showy approach. Together they come up with a plan to walk the 4,600 miles from Mica Creek, Washington, to New York City—and if they can do it in only seven months, a publisher has agreed to give them $10,000. Based on the true story of the author’s great-aunt and great-grandmother, this is a fast-paced historical adventure that sets the drama of Around the World in Eighty Days against an American backdrop during the time of the suffragist movement, the 1896 presidential campaign, and the changing perception of “a woman’s place” in society.

What did your Great-aunt Clara and her mother Helga pack for their four thousand-mile walk across the country?

    Since they had to fit everything into satchels which they would carry from Washington State to New York City, they had no room for blankets , a frying pan, or –since this was 1896 and Victorian women’s clothing was so cumbersome--even a change of clothes. They did pack maps and a compass, first-aid supplies, canteens of water, matches, soap, pepper spray, journals and pencils, knives, a pistol, and a curling iron. In travel-stained clothes (but recently styled hair) they encountered the whole spectrum of 1890’s society from hobos and homesteaders to governors and even president-elect William McKinley.

Did they take a lot of money with them?
    They started with just five dollars apiece; as shoes or clothes wore out, they had to stop and earn money to replace them. In 1896, there were no motels along the way, and they wouldn’t have had money for one even if there had been. They relied on providence and the kindness of strangers who sheltered them for the night to survive from one day to the next. To repay their host’s kindness, Clara and Helga did chores or gave them signed portraits as a keepsake. In the vast empty stretches of the plains, however, they sometimes passed whole days without seeing another home and had to sleep outside without blankets or any shelter

A young woman and her mother traveling alone for over seven months…how did they protect themselves?
    They carried a pistol and an insect sprayer filled with pepper, a trick Helga Estby learned from her suffragist friends. They used the gun once to shoot a would-be assailant in the leg, but in other cases the pepper spray was adequate deterrent.

Since Clara and Helga were the first women to attempt to walk by themselves nearly coast to coast, were they celebrated along the way?

    Nope. Most public opinion fell into two categories: they couldn’t do it or they shouldn’t. In the ‘couldn’t do it’ camp was the reporter from the New York World who wrote: “They intend to write up their adventures afterwards if they survive the experiment.” Even though a woman could survive ten childbirths in twenty years and put a hand to a plow when she had to, she was still ‘the weaker sex,’ constitutionally incapable of walking 25 miles a day for over seven months.
     In the ‘shouldn’t do it’ camp were most conventional thinkers who were scandalized that Clara’s mother would leave seven of her children behind for so long, even if it was with the hope of winning enough money to save the family’s farm. The fact that Clara’s mother was ‘one of those suffragists’ and Clara and Helga started wearing shorter bicycle skirts in Salt Lake City reinforced the idea that they weren’t quite respectable. To allay suspicions of folks they might be asking for shelter, Helga Estby arranged for a letter of introduction on official city stationery from Mayor Belt of Spokane, who vouched for their respectability.
     I didn’t inherit Clara and Helga’s physical endurance, but I guess I did inherit their stubborn Norwegian perseverance, because it has been fifteen years between my first rejection letter and the day I’m finally seeing The Year We Were Famous in print.

Website

Goodreads / Amazon

April 19, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday (90)

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

PURE by Julianna Baggott

A dystopian novel about a society of haves, who escaped an apocalypse in a futuristic dome-covered city, and have-nots, who survived the nearly destroyed outside world. The have-nots are almost entirely marked or mutated in some manner.

PURE centers around the story of Pressia, a 16-year-old survivor with a doll’s head fused into her left hand, and Partridge, an unmarked Pure who has escaped the Dome to find his mother, certain that she has survived the cataclysm.

Why yes, more dystopia! :D As with last week's, the movie rights for this one have been sold too! And... WHAT A COVER! <3

Release Date: February 8, 2012

Goodreads / Amazon