#31--If I Stay

Bibliographic Information

If I Stay by Gayle Forman. Dutton Juvenile. (2009).

Price: $16.99 in hardcover

Pages: 201 in hardcover

Plot Summary

*Contains spoilers*

“Do I stay or do I go?” Mia asks herself as she hovers between life and death as a ghost. Although she cannot remember everything she knows that she, her parents, and her brother were involved in a horrible car accident caused by snow on the roadway. She knows that her parents are dead while her brother has been taken to a hospital different than her own. She also knows that she is currently in a coma and must somehow make the decision whether to live or die. It is a difficult decision as she sees the concern of her friends and family etched into their faces while simultaneously imagining a future devoid of her parents. Her decision is made even more difficult after she discovers that her brother is dead too leaving her the only remaining member of their family. Is the love of her grandparents, best friend, and boyfriend really enough to make her stay?

Critical Evaluation

A novel full of gentle humor and wit, If I Stay does an excellent job imagining how one teen might feel when deciding whether to leave or stay. Alternating between her past and her present, Mia reflects on the choice she must make now as well as the ones she has made in the past. With each new story she tells, readers grieve for her lost parents and brother and become more invested in her choice. Gayle Forman’s story will certainly make readers consider what they would decide if they were in Mia’s position. Certainly, there are no easy answers as living would not guarantee that Mia would fully recover from her physical and emotional injuries. Additionally, Mia’s supporters may not stay once their memory of the tragic accident fades, replaced by the everyday worries of life. Could Mia survive without their support? But leaving is not such a tidy solution either as she knows it would hurt her grandparents, her best friend, and her boyfriend. If I Stay is a masterful novel filled with thought provoking questions that will be sure to stay with readers long after they have finished the book.

Reader’s Annotation

Seventeen-year-old Mia hovers between life and death trying to decide whether to go or stay after she learns her family is dead and she is in a coma.

About the Author

Before she became an author Gayle Forman worked as a journalist, first at Seventeen magazine and then as a freelance writer. Her first young adult novel, Sisters in Sanity, was published in 2007 followed by If I Stay in 2009. If I Stay was inspired by the story of a boy who clung to life while the rest of his family died in a car accident.  Even though the boy ended up dying Gayle Forman was touched by his tenacity and would later go on to write If I Stay.

Find out more about Gayle Forman and her books here.

Genre

Supernatural fiction

Readalikes

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

·         The sequel to If I Stay

The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta

·         How can Thomas fix his life which became broken after his uncle died?

Hold Still by Nina LaCour

·         Caitlin struggles to deal with her grief after her best friend commits suicide.

Tags

17 yr. old, Cello, Gender roles, Judaism, Juliard, Portland,Oregon, Romance, Summer camp, Younger brother, Yoyo Ma

Awards Won/Lists On

2009—Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for YA Fiction

2009—NAIBA Book of the Year for Children’s Literature

2010—ALA/YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers

2010—ALA Teens’ Top Ten

2010—Florida Teens Read Nominee

2010—Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee

2010—TAYSHAS High School Reading List

2011—Delaware Blue Hen Award

2011—South Carolina Book Award Nominee for Young Adult Book Award

2011—Pennsylvania Young Readers’ Choice Award Nominee

2012—Abraham Lincoln Award Nominee

Professional Reviews

AudioFile
Booklist
Kirkus Reviews
Publishers' Weekly
School Library Journal

Booktalk Ideas

Mia’s Decision

·         Kim—“Don’t Die” (57)

·         Gram’s desire for her to live

·         Adam—“Stay” (192-193)

·         Gramps’s Permission to Die (151-52)

Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness

This would be an excellent novel to use with someone who has lost a family member or who has a very ill friend.

Reading Level/Interest Level

Reading Level: 5^th grade

Interest Level: 9^th-12^th grade

These levels are according to AR Bookfinder

Challenge Issues

This book includes the following potentially controversial elements:

·         Atheist

·         Denial of God’s presence

·         Devil costume for Halloween

·         Discussion of virginity

·         Foreplay

·         Graphic birthing scene

·         Graphic surgery

·         Homosexual characters

·         Profanity

Librarians can point out that while this book contains heavy themes it is actually much milder than many other YA books. It also encourages the reader to think about the important things in life such as the afterlife and the importance of family and friends.

Why Was This Included?

I included this book because I am doing a presentation on ghosts. However, I also felt that it was time to revisit this novel as I had started it several years previously and put it down because it was too sad. Now that I’ve read If I Stay and thoroughly enjoyed it, I think I just wasn’t ready to read it earlier in my life.

#32--Beautiful Creatures

Bibliographic Information

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl. Little, Brown and Company. (2010)

Price: $9.99 in paperback

Pages: 563 in paperback (not the one with the movie cast on it)

Note: This book was originally published in 2009 and is the first book in the Caster Chronicles

Plot Summary

Sixteen-year-old Ethan Wate cannot wait to finish his last two years of high school and leave his small town of Gatlin, South Carolina. While he loves his family he cannot bear the small-mindedness of most of the townsfolk. He even wouldn’t mind escaping his family once and a while as his father has practically become a hermit after the death of his wife leaving Ethan to talk to Amma, housekeeper, mother figure, and spiritual protector rolled up into one. Ethan finds it difficult to keep secrets from Amma but he does manage to keep one. Every night he experiences terrible nightmares that involve losing the girl of his dreams. When he wakes up in the morning he finds himself covered in mud and unable to erase the girl’s scent of lemons and rosemary. Although he knows that Amma practices voodoo of some sort he refuses to worry her with his nightmares.

Ethan expects, with the exception of the nightmares, that nothing of significance will ever happen to him while he is living in Gatlin but he is soon proved wrong when new student Lena Duchannes moves into town. Strikingly beautiful and unlike any girl he has met previously, Ethan is instantly intrigued by her. Quickly he realizes that she is the girl in his nightmares and the two become friends as they simultaneously try to discover why they have such a link. Unfortunately, they must unravel this mystery before Lena’s sixteenth birthday as she promises Ethan that something terrible will happen to her on that day.

Critical Evaluation

Beautiful Creatures is a highly enjoyable novel as it contains exquisite settings, a well-woven plot, and several intriguing mysteries. Ethan is a character that most readers will be able to sympathize with as he struggles to relate to his high school peers while wanting something more out of life. He is an interesting character in his own right as he is suddenly thrust into the exciting life he has always wanted only to discover that he may not be strong enough to survive it. His courage is continually tested with each new discovery he and Lena make about their past, the past of their town, and the secrets that their guardians have been keeping from them.

The world Garcia and Stohl have created is a fascinating one filled with multi-talented casters and old secrets that date back thousands of years. It is just the sort of world that many readers of fantasy will long to inhabit even if it is rather an unpredictable one. Although I haven’t read many Southern Gothic novels, Beautiful Creatures seems to nicely fit into the genre as was intended by the authors. This is partly due to the multiple mysteries contained within the book’s pages but is primarily due to the exquisite settings the authors have created. From ruined mansions to secret libraries, Garcia and Stohl give their book an old-world flavor that includes a town stuck halfway between the old and the new. Ultimately, Beautiful Creatures was a highly enjoyable book and I cannot wait to read the sequels.

As a side note, this book has recently been turned into a movie.

Reader’s Annotation

When sixteen-year-old Ethan Wate finally meets the girl who has been haunting his dreams he has no idea how exciting his boring town can be.

About the Authors

Friends long before they started writing together, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl met through their children’s school. They first became friends, then critique partners and finally writing partners (Dawn, 2010). Margaret first worked in the video game industry before she became a writer while Kami Garcia first worked as a teacher and reading specialist. Currently, both live in the Los Angeles area where they enjoy working on the Caster Chronicles together. When they are not writing Margaret enjoys traveling with her family while Kami enjoys watching disaster movies.

To learn more about Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl visit their website here.

Or read Dawn’s interview with them here.

Genre

Paranormal romance, Supernatural fiction

Readalikes

Intertwined by Gena Showalter

·         Also about a boy who sees a girl in visions and includes teens with paranormal abilities

Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz

·         Similar premise to Beautiful Creatures except it is the girl who is attracted to the strange boy who insists that he is putting her in danger

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

·         The sequel to Beautiful Creatures

Tags

15 yr. old, 16 yr. old, Civil War history, Daughters of the American Revolution, libraries, Salem witch trials, South Carolina, viola, vocab words, witchcraft, Yorkshire terrier

Awards Won/Lists On

2009—Amazon’s #5 Best Book of the Year

2009—Amazon’s #1 Teen Best Book of the Year

2010—ALA Teens’ Top Ten

2010—William C. Morris Nominee

SCIBA Award Finalist

NYPL Book for the Teen Age

Professional Reviews

 AudioFile

Booklist

Kirkus Reviews
Publishers' Weekly
School Library Journal

Booktalk Ideas

Explanations of Ethan’s Life

·         1^st chapter towards the end

·         Mother died and father is absent

o   “The last five months had been hard for him. He had really loved my mother. But so had I” (p. 28).

o   “I wanted to know why my dad never came out of his study. I wanted to know why we couldn’t leave this worthless old house just because a million Wates had lived here before us, especially now that my mom was gone” (p. 30).

·         His struggle to want to get away from his town while part of him still belongs

o   “It wasn’t that she was different from all the other girls at Jackson. That was obvious. It was that she made me realize how much I was just like the rest of them, even if I wanted to pretend I wasn’t” (p. 36)

o   “Everything had already happened, ten years ago. For our parents, everything had already happened twenty or thirty years ago. And for the town itself, it seemed like nothing had happened for more than a hundred years. Nothing of consequence, that is” (p. 106).

Explanation of Caster’s Abilities

·         Thaumaturge (healer) (278)

·         Natural/Cataclyst

·         Pamlimpset (182)

·         Siren (183)

·         Sybil (183)

·         Illusionist (184)

·         Shifter (184)

Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness

This book can be used to discuss fate, destiny, the balance between one’s responsibility towards oneself and family, and teen romance.

Reading Level/Interest Level

Reading Level: 4^th grade

Interest Level: 6^th grade and up

Level determined by AR Bookfinder

Challenge Issues

This book includes the following potentially controversial elements:

·         Attempted murder

·         Bullying

·         Corrupt authority figures

·         Disobeying authority figures

·         Grave digging

·         Illegitimate children

·         Library as church

·         Magic

·         Murder

·         Spirits/ghosts

·         Succubus

·         Tarot cards

·         Telepathy

·         Witches

Librarians can point out that the witchcraft portrayed in this book is a far cry from actual witchcraft. They can also explain the positive elements of the book including the beautiful writing style and the themes of loyalty, family and fighting for what is right.

Why Was This Included?

I chose this novel because I was doing a presentation on ghosts and it included them. However, I have been tempted to read this book for several years because I was intrigued by its description as a Southern Gothic young adult novel.

#33--Texas Gothic

Bibliographic Information

Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore. Delacorte Books for Young Readers. (2011).

Price: $17.99 for hardback

Pages: 416 for hardback

Plot Summary

Seventeen-year-old Amy Goodnight, with her help of her scatterbrained sister Phin, agrees to help look after her Aunt Hyacinth’s farm for the summer. Although the sisters agree to split the chores Amy knows that running the farm will be hard work as her sister promises to look after the flora leaving Amy with the fauna— a herd of stubborn goats and a pack of unruly dogs. Soon, however, Amy has more difficult problems on her hands once she meets their unwelcoming if rather attractive rancher neighbor. He makes no disguise of his feelings toward the Goodnights who he thinks are all a bunch of bizarre meddlers. While dealing with the unkind neighbor is unsettling Amy’s problems become downright dangerous when a ghost interrupts her sleep in the middle of the night by sucking the warmth out of her body.

Amy has tried to avoid the supernatural ever since the day she and Finn went in search of a dangerous ghost. While this would be easy for most people to do it is nigh impossible for Amy as all the Goodnights have supernatural abilities. Phin is a genius inventor with a knack for creating paranormal devices, Aunt Hyacinth runs a magical herb business, and Amy’s cousin is a psychic. Amy never wants to discover with her supernatural gift is as she is too busy running interference between the normal everyday world and her unusual relatives. But with a dangerous ghost on the loose, not to mention a suspicious, hot cowboy, Amy may have to return to her supernatural roots to make everything right.

Critical Evaluation

While Texas Gothic may not be a literary masterpiece it is certainly fun to read. Rosemary Clement-Moore has a created an intriguing supernatural world that runs parallel to the world we all know. Readers will love Aunt Hyacinth’s products that do everything from clearing heads to soothing aches and pains as well as Phin’s scientific devices. They will also be intrigued with Clement-Moore’s creation of ghosts. For example, ghosts within the world she’s created can only manifest by sucking the warmth out of a human body. Interestingly, both good and bad ghosts do this even though it can potentially kill the human they are trying to contact. Another fascinating part of the novel is Clement-Moore’s exploration of archeological techniques. Admittedly, I have no background in this field but her description of a dig site and the events that occur there seems accurate.

While the book was fun to read it had a few flaws. The plot dragged in some places as Clement-Moore dedicated much of the book to the archeological dig that occurred on the McCulloch ranch. As a result, the pacing of the novel sometimes seemed off as the mystery surrounding Amy’s ghost was put on hiatus for other plot points. Perhaps the element that bothered me the most was Amy’s descriptions of her neighbor, Ben McCulloch. While this isn’t necessarily an unforgivable thing it did make me feel embarrassed to be reading the novel. For example, when she first meets him she notes that “just because he looked great in the saddle did not mean that he wasn’t an axe murderer…I stood transfixed by the flex of the young man’s legs, the effortless shift of his weight as he controlled the horse…” (p. 16 & 17). Perhaps this is harsh but that description sounds like it came straight out of a romance novel with Fabio on the cover. True, the book does get better but Amy seems to remain in this half-intelligent, half-ditzy stage which could annoy some readers.

Reader’s Annotation

When Amy Goodnight promises to help look after her aunt’s farm she has no idea that the neighbors consist of a creepy ghost and a hot cowboy.

About the Author

Author Rosemary Clement-Moore has written five young adult novels to date. Before she was a full-time author she worked at Chuck E. Cheese. She prefers writing as she gets to play Guitar Hero every day. She is currently working on Spirit and Dust, another novel about a girl who can speak to the dead.

To learn more about Rosemary Clement-Moore visit her site here.

Genre

Mystery, Paranormal fiction, Romance

Readalikes

The Mediator series by Meg Cabot

·         Also about a girl who can see ghosts & also contains a hot cowboy

Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst

·         Another tongue-in-cheek paranormal book

Prom Dates from Hell by Rosemary Clement-Moore

·         Another humorous paranormal novel by the same author as Texas Gothic

Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore

·         The sequel to Texas Gothic

Tags

17 yr. old, Anthropology, Cattle ranching, Excavation, Farming, Goats, Land rights, Redheads, sophomore in college, Texas, Texas history

Awards Won/Lists On

2011—Kirkus Reviews’ Best Teen Books of the Year’

2012—ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults

Professional Reviews

Booklist
Kirkus Reviews
Publishers' Weekly
School Library Journal
The Horn Book
VOYA

Booktalk Ideas

Family Talents (p. 175)

·         Psychic

·         Artists

·         Gatekeeper?

Differences (p. 237)

·         Going to college and living a normal life

·         Embracing her magical side

Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness

This book can be used in discussions about self-esteem, finding one’s purpose in life, and the disconnect between society and family.

Reading Level/Interest Level

Reading Level: 5^th grade

Interest Level: 9^th-12^th grade

These levels are according to AR Bookfinder

Challenge Issues

This book includes the following potentially controversial elements:

·         Attempted murder

·         Discussion of afterlife

·         ESP

·         Ghosts

·         Love spells

·         Profanity

·         Psychics

·         Taking the Lord’s Name in Vain

·         Talk of breasts

·         Witchcraft

Librarians can point out that while this book contains supernatural elements it is also a coming-of-age story and addresses how to be true to yourself even when it is deemed not popular by society.

Why Was This Included?

I decided to include this novel because of my presentation on ghosts. I wanted to have a relatively recent novel to include. I also thought it sounded like a lot of fun. I mean, who doesn’t want to read a book that has plenty of humor and a good mystery in it?