VVMBookBlog

Samantha is 13 and her father is an alcoholic.   And that causes lots of problems in her life.  She can never trust how her dad will act, so she can’t bring friends home, she always feels like she had to protect her little brother, and the whole situation has to stay a big secret.

But then she can’t take it anymore, so she chooses an older student she sees often in the library and starts sending anonymous notes to “Juliet” asking for advice.  As with many real-life problems like this, things can’t get better until they get worse. And that’s pretty much what the rest of the story is about, including the invitation to a high school party where alcohol gave Sam some problems, too.

Except for the part about choosing a complete stranger to share (by letter) all her secrets, I thought this was a pretty good story about a really difficult problem.  At the end of the book are several pages of resources for kids and teens experiencing problems with alcohol in their family.

Tally Youngblood is about to turn 16 and is looking forward to the “surge” (surgery) that will take away her supposed ugliness and allow here to move to Party Towers in New Pretty Town with the rest of the “pretties.” But then she meets Shay who is questioning the need to conform and reveals to Tally about her secret friends who live in the distant area called Smoke, especially David. And she tries to convince Tally to escape to the Smoke with her.

Just as Tally is about to undergo the life-changing surgery, she is whisked off to the officials in Special Circumstances who force her to lead them to Shay and the rebels living in the Smoke in exchange for her having the surgery to become a “pretty.” And now I can’t tell you any more except that her journey on hoverboard to the Smoke leads her to some pretty interesting people and some disturbing information about what really happens to the people who undergo the surgery to become a pretty. Interesting also are the comments about the Rusties–the people who once inhabited the area where the Smoke is now. Turns out the Rusties were the people who used up all the resources of the land until they became extinct themselves. Hmmm…now who would those people be??

Find out how Tally deals with being a spy among the people of the Smoke. Then go on to the sequels–Pretties and Specials. My first (very uninformed) impression of these books was that they were trying to appeal to some very shallow interests of student readers. And I was wrong! There’s SO much to think about, discuss and imagine what we would do in similar circumstances.

I think we’re going to need more copies of these books!

After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread my Wings, and Flew Away by Joyce Carol Oates

This is another book, recommended for 14 and up, that has mature content (drugs) and some mature language, but it has a great message. Jenna and her mother are in a horrible car accident in which Jenna lives and her mother dies. Her father visits her in the hospital, but she acts like she doesn’t remember him. He lives with his new family, and she doesn’t want to be a part of it. Aunt Caroline brings Jenna to her house to live with her family. Although Jenna’s aunt and uncle are kind and loving, Jenna doesn’t feel comfortable in a new house and new school. Besides, she continues to remember the car accident. Was she the one that caused the accident and killed her mother?

Jenna meets a new best friend in her new school after she finds her in the bathroom and gives her a pill she took from her uncle’s bathroom cabinet. This friendship turns dangerous. Who will be there to help Jenna?

Isabelle is not happy with her life. Her father has died, her mother is deeply depressed, her little sister is a pest, and she thinks she’s too fat. Isabelle deals with all of this upset in her life by turning to food–binging and purging (vomiting). But then her little sister catches her and Isabelle gets sent to “Group” where, to her surprise, she sees a girl from her class–Ashley–and from her perspective Isabelle thinks Ashley is “Perfect!”

Being in Group but keeping it a secret from others in school becomes their bond, and they become friends. Together they engage in some pretty gross (IMHO!) eating behaviors and Isabelle is forced to rethink the “perfect” label she has applied to Ashley. What will it take for Isabelle to see other ways to deal with the problems in her life and what part will Ashley play?

I thought this was a pretty good story, but as I said, the descriptions of them throwing up really bothered me. It’s hard for me to understand how going through all that is better than facing problems directly, but that’s why I appreciate reading books that show how other people deal with life. Books always make my world a little bigger.

Next I’ll be reading this author’s next book, Lush, so stay tuned!