Book Review - The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

This is a sensitive and thought- provoking read. The surety of touch by this debut author is astounding. Cameron is 12 when the novel opens and her life is just turned upside down by the death of her parents in a car accident. Her conservative, religious Aunt Ruth, and her well meaning, but ineffectual grandmother, take on the parenting role, something neither of them were expecting or feeling confident about. 

Cameron has feelings for girls not boys which has its own issues and her teenage years also involve all the normal teenage issues; trying out for the swim team, going to the Prom, getting a summer job etc. Her time on the swim team leads to meeting Lindsey, who comes from a more liberal area and displays a confidence in her sexuality that eludes Cameron.  Cameron lives in a conservative, Christian community and when her 'sins' are discovered, she is sent to a Christian camp where it is hoped that she will find their faith and turn away from homosexuality. Her frank account of time in the camp feels very true, describing the schedule of activities, the one-on-one counseling and the room inspections and many other rules. I thought this may be a polemic against such places, but she comes to understand that the people who run it are fully engaged in their belief system and well meaning.  These are not nasty people but they have a deep belief system that does not include gay people. For the teens who share that faith, and therefore have much more of a struggle in trying to change themselves, believing that their own natures are wrong, the camp is much more confronting than for Cameron, who does not share the same faith and sees the camp as just something to get through.

Cameron is just starting to question whether there is any actual scientific basis for the therapies they administer, or any evidence of their success, when a tragic incident occurs, providing a trigger for the novel's ending. The camp does provide a place for Cameron to think about who she is, to make friends and to grow up.  The supporting cast of teenage characters are well imagined and well-drawn, their actions and reactions feel real, their risk-taking believable, their care and compassion for each other heartfelt and their life force engaging. The camp helps Cameron realize her true self, it's just not the self they were trying to bring about.

 

Wendy

Book Review - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

This is a re-release of the acclaimed debut novel first published in 1977. It has been re-published to coincide with the film starring Harrison Ford. It is interesting to discover why he wrote the book and what he was thinking as described in an introduction by the author first published in 1991. The story is of gifted children drafted to BattleSchool for training and assessment in a desperate search for a supreme battle commander . The commander is needed to lead the Earth's forces in an interstellar war against 'the buggers', the insectoid race that came out of the stars in the first interstellar war. This story is deservedly a classic. It focuses on Ender Wiggin, a hugely intelligent 6 year old who is sent to Battle School after his brother Peter, fails as he is too nasty and his sister, Valentine, fails because she is too nice. Because of their genetic potential, their parents were given permission to breed a Third, in a world where 2 children is the maximum allowed. The result is Ender, who combines his siblings' traits. His growing up is a combination of developing knowledge & skills and of understanding the duality of his own personality. When he is first sent into space, "There were 19 other boys in his launch. They filed out of the bus and into the elevator. They talked and joked and bragged and laughed. Ender kept his silence. He noticed how Graff and the other officers were watching them. Analyzing. Everything we do means something, Ender realized. Them laughing. Me not laughing. He toyed with the idea of trying to be like the other boys. But he couldn't think of any jokes, and none of theirs seemed funny. Wherever their laughter came from, Ender couldn't find such a place in himself. He was afraid, and fear made him serious."  The children at BattleSchool face tough challenges to make sure they can do the job but is the price they pay too high? As with the best scifi, the underlying political realities are deftly inserted into the action so that no-one is in any doubt that the black and white areas in life are well and truly greyed out! The space tech is handled well and you can simply read this as a coming-of-age story with fight training. I really enjoyed this book.

Wendy

Book Review - The Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George

Elizabeth George writes the very densely involved Inspector Lynley mystery series and has always seemed so quintessentially English it is a shock to find out she lives in America and has set this YA fiction in her home town on Whidby Island, Washington State.  This is a lighter offering but one that is engrossing and uses her penetrating depictions of people.  Hannah has a gift for hearing other people's thoughts – she calls them whispers. She is unknowingly used by her stepfather to help him swindle people out of their money and when that is discovered, he threatens her life. She and her mother go on the run in different directions to throw him off their trail. With a new look and a new identity as Becca King, her safe haven evaporates as the person she was to stay with dies unexpectedly. Becca finds somewhere to stay and is starting to feel like she will be OK until her mother can come but then she gets caught up in local troubles. Learning how to survive and who she can trust, Becca is in for an eventful and dangerous few months. The young people she meets have their own maturing to do as they deal with family expectations and the normal teenage issues of fitting in and finding out who they are. Elizabeth George uses the natural terrain of forest, hill and coast to maximum advantage and this is every bit as good as her adult fiction.
Wendy

 

Book Review - Snow White and the Hunstman: a novel by Lily Blake

This is a movie tie-in and is based on the motion picture, the screen story by Evan Daugherty and the screen play by Evan and others. It's a re-imagining of the classic fairy story. Snow White is imprisoned for years by the evil Queen who has killed her father and taken the throne. She escapes just after she learns that there are some in her father's kingdom who are resisting the Queen's reign of terror; they are led by her boyhood friend, William son of Duke Hammond. The huntsman is suffering from the loss of his beloved wife and thinks he has nothing left to live for. The queen has no pity as she battles against the fading of her powers and sends him after Snow White into the Dark Forest, a magical realm of enchanted traps and monsters. What will Snow White and the huntsman learn? Will they survive? And what choices will they make? An enchanted read.
Wendy

Speculative Fiction....more than the undead.

It can be easy to dismiss speculative fiction as purely asteroids and "zombie lit" and while there is an element of that (and that is OK and very enjoyable!), there is oh so much more.

Speculative fiction encompasses not just the bio-engineering fuelled post apocalyptic nightmare that is found in Justin Cronin's The Passage but also the laugh out laugh universe of Adams Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Asimov's robot riddled futures.

As a genre it is one I have returned to many times. In early high school while other young teenage girls were enjoying the Sweet Valley High Series (Bubblegum pulp) I was enamoured with Kelleher's Taronga, a post apocalyptic adventure set in Sydney's Zoo where the main character can communicate telepathically (thankyou to my high school English teacher for that one).

Later high school, saw my introduction to The Handmaids Tale, Atwoods exploration of female subjagation at the hands of a theocracy. Not only did it set of the biggest exam hissyfit in my academic life (I walked out as I hadn't prepared properly and didn't understand the question), it asked a 16 year old to examine doctorine, equal rights and the wisdom of using butter as moisturiser.


Over the ensuing decades (of which there have been a couple), I have enjoyed so many different sc-fi, paranormal, alternate history (some of the many genre's that seem to fit within this one) that it hard not to list them all. Sara Douglass and her twists on Greek mythology and time travel (The Troy Game) kept me thrilled right to the last page. Suzanne Collins Hunger Games made me cry (and quite possibly neglect my children "Shhhh, mummy's reading") and the Time Traveller's Wife was simply one of the best pieces of writing I have come across (just don't get me started on the movie).

Too many people presume that these books aren't literary, or are just for children. Other's think they should "grown up and read a proper book". I support wide reading.  I support reading outside your comfort zone. i also support reading whatever you like, and with so many different themes in speculative fiction, there is alot to like.

So give me vampires, zombies, robots and cyborgs, take me to worlds where war never happens or is never ending and let me indulge in my fantasies of what the world would be like if time travel was possible.
And don't ever tell me (or your kids, spouse or next door neighbour) , that what I read isn't educational, interesting or literary.

(Oh, and if you do enjoy "zombie lit" check out our blog supporting the Narella Zombie Apocalypse.! )

Narellan Zombie Apocalypse  - April 13 2013

Stacey

Digital Shelves: Youth Fiction

Increasingly authors are covering multiple target groups, as the boundaries about 'what is proper reading' for various ages dissapears. This is great news, as there are plenty of fantastic youth fiction reads that everyone should see. Why not click try some above? Or check out the youth section at Camden and Narellan libraries.

From Little Britain to fiction

David Walliams is best known as one of the creators of the Little Britain TV series. This first novel is an exploration of "The Boy in the Dress" and seeks to explain a boy's journey into cross dressing. Beautifully illustrated by Quentin Blake, the boy in question comes to an understanding with his class mates at school and with his father. He is helped by being one of the school's best soccer players and is needed for a crucial game. I can't help wondering if a boy without a sought-after talent would have fared quite as well. More fable than gritty but an enjoyable read nonetheless. Walliams has a light and sure touch and hopefully will write more.

Wendy

Twilight and Beyond?

Looking for something to read after the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer?
We have the following books that may appeal.

ð Vampire Beach series by Alex Duval
ð House of Night Series by P C Cast
ð The Vampire Diaries L J Smith
ð Tithe or Ironside by Holly black
ð Chronicles of Faerie by O R Melling
ð Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead
ð City of Bones & City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
ð Shattered Mirror and Midnight Predator by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Wendy