YA Wire...The Carbon Diaries, 2017

YA Wire...Info on New YA Releases

The Carbon Diaries 2017 --Released Feb. 22, 2010

Sometimes I can't work on Thursday Book Trailer because Youtube content is blocked at school. And that's what has happened today. But, I have thought of something else I can throw into the rotation. I am always wondering about the YA world in the crystal ball--you know, what's new out there and what's going to be new soon, so I assume this is true of most book lovers.

A few days ago, the eco-book and sci-fi world saw the release of The Carbon Diaries 2017 by Saci Lloyd. The Carbon Diaries 2017 is actually the sequel to The Carbon Diaries 2015 which was published in 2009. A year later, the dystopian world of Laura and her eco-punk band continues...

I thought it would be a good idea to tell you about The Carbon Diaries 2015 first, though, in case you've never heard of it. I don't think you necessrily have to read it firts, but who wouldn't want to? It sounds awesome! Just know that it appeals to the older teen...it's a YA crossover.

The Carbon Copies 2015

About the Book

Told in short diary entries filled with scrapbook clippings, this riveting ecothriller is one girl's attempt to stay grounded in a world where disaster has become the norm. It's the year 2015, a time when global warming has begun to ravage the environment. In response, the United Kingdom becomes the first country to mandate carbon rationing—a well-intentioned plan that goes tragically awry. When her carbon debit card arrives in the mail, sixteen-year-old Laura is just trying to pass her exams, manage her ecopunk band, and catch the attention of her gorgeous classmate Ravi. But as multiple natural disasters strike and Laura's parents head toward divorce, her world spirals out of control. A severe drought sparks fires and deadly riots; then the highest-category hurricane in recent history strikes London. With the death toll in the thousands and climbing, Laura and her family face the unimaginable as her older sister clings to life. (from publisher's website)

The Carbon Diaries 2017

About the Book:

Two years have passed since the Carbon Diaries 2015 (2009), and Laura just wants to play punk music. With carbon rationing and the Thames flooding constantly, London's not like it used to be. Laura and her loved ones experience drought, flood, malaria, refugee-camp internment and recurring police brutality. Refugees from global drought pour into Europe, sparking increased political power for anti-immigrant racists. But despite the novel s grim dystopianism-- a forward-into-the-past mentality has Londoners planting cabbages on rooftops--Laura s story features unexpected moral complexity. She and her friends repeatedly debate the obligations of the privileged in a world gone horribly wrong. Should they join the anti-government terrorists, march against United Front racists, live in vegan squats, feed refugees in the Sudan or just live their punk-rock student lives? It s complicated, Laura realizes no one answer is right. If there's any hope in this dizzying, brilliantly drawn and terrifyingly possible near-future, it s the ability of even selfish people to passionately throw themselves against overwhelming odds. Captivating. (Science fiction. 12-15) --(from Kirkus Reviews)

The Secret Year...for Star-Crossed Lovers

Totally YA Tuesday: Book Review for The Secret Year

Finally, a real, full review! Not a mini-review where I just post excerpts and summaries, but one I have been inspired to write about.

Have I ever told you my library at school is the most awesome ever? Sometime in January I made a phenomenal list of 2008 and 2009 books I thought the library should add to their collection, and now one month later, they are here. It feels like Christmas. I grabbed about 4 or 5 of them, and I've already read two. So this week, I am a fan of Jennifer R. Hubbard, author of The Secret Year. This is a quick read with an engaging plot and a male protagonist (which I love, by the way). It's not quick as in an easy read, but I mean quick as in if you are a book lover or a bibliophile, then you won't want to put it down. And at 192 pages, The Secret Year is on the shorter side compared to all those 300+ page books out there. To tell you the truth, I read it in about a day during my conference period, lunch, and class down time. You have to understand, I was hungry for reading what I love to read. I've been bombarded with stuff I don't want to read and other work. So I just ravished this book.

Book Review:

I love the back cover statement...How do you get over someone who was never yours to begin with? Hmmm...reminds me of a semi-boyfriend situation many have faced. You know, going out sometimes on the weekends, with this one particular guy, but then being ignored during the week because you and him just don't mix in the right circles. Or maybe you do, but you have both agreed it's better this way. Yeah right. Even if there is a mutual"agreement" there's always one who wishes things were different. Maybe both wish things were different, but to admit that would be to change what little you do have. Neither one is honest with each other and things just can't go on like that, so things end. That's basically what happens here, but to a much higher degree because one of them dies. This is not a spoiler or a secret because the book jacket tells you and Colt says it from the beginning--Julia was killed on Labor Day on her way fome from a party.

I was intrigued with the story line, and I believed it would be a book many girls would like, especially with the spectacular cover. So it was part of that Christmas in February batch of books. Honestly, I didn't know if I wanted to read it. I was like "What else could possibly happen? Do I want to get into something that can't possibly end on a good note?" But of course, I could not resist the cover, and I absolutely love the male point of view. For a female author to take on the male voice? Luuuuuv it. One of these days...I won't bore you again with my writing aspirations. But one of these days I will use the male POV.

So who wants more? Colt or Julia? Can't say, but possibly both and neither is willing to admit it. But she's dead. How can she admit it? A-ha...therein lies the intrigue. Colt has her journal. A journal where she wrote letters to him, but yet never intended for him to read. Talk about messing with your head! I mean, Colt's head. It's bad enough their relationship was a big secret and he can't even grieve properly because it's not his place to sob all over the coffin at the funeral home. That's a role for Austin, Julia's real boyfriend, or the one she keeps for her upper class, snob circle of friends. She never allowed Colt to enter this social circle, but she sure let him into her heart and other places I won't mention.

Now, he's got to deal with page after page of "Oh, Colt I love being with you in our secret spot and I can't stand Austin and I want to break up him and I will but I haven't yet." Some of the entries are pretty steamy and reading her words along with his actual memory of those nights with her, keep Colt tied to Julia even after her death. Even when he thinks he's done with her, Julia stills has a hold on him. A secret year with an unatainable girl and a year later when he tries to deal with her death and her words. You get both of this simultaneously. And, when you have moved on because you think Colt has moved on, it all comes back again. Another girl has no chance while he's still hooked by Julia. But can you blame him? Poor guy. Actually another girl does have the chance, but she wants too much from him. Let the guy grieve for God's sake. Doesn't that bring more intimicy when you let someone share how they feel no matter what it's about? If I were the new girl, I'd think it would be worth sticking it out.

One of Julia's letters:

All I want is to be back with you, standing thigh-deep in the river, feeding you my tongue.

Wow...how can Colt ever forget when she puts it like that?

Colt's version:

Julia's mouth was hot and the river was cold and her satin dress was so smooth it didn't even seem to be there.

Colt's description of another girl:

Kirby smiled and looked back at me. I leaned forward and put my mouth on hers. Kissing her was like diving into black water.

The black water? Very reminiscint of his first night with Julia. He thought those feeling were over, but a whole other year brings unexpected things.

Does the secret year become public? Does Colt get over Julia? Does the book have a happy ending or one of those endings that is not so happy, but still so very good and better than if it would have been happy? Will Colt ever find another love of his life, but a real one? Read it.

And there is one more secret...the last Friday he saw her. On Monday she dies. What happened in between?

My rating: THE-KIND-OF BOOK-YOU-CAN-REALLY-GET-WRAPPED-INTO-LIKE-A-STEAMY-KISS

Book Synopsis from Amazon:

Take Romeo and Juliet. Add The Outsiders. Mix thoroughly.
Colt and Julia were secretly together for an entire year, and no one—not even Julia’s boyfriend— knew. They had nothing in common, with Julia in her country club world on Black Mountain and Colt from down on the flats, but it never mattered. Until Julia dies in a car accident, and Colt learns the price of secrecy. He can’t mourn Julia openly, and he’s tormented that he might have played a part in her death. When Julia’s journal ends up in his hands, Colt relives their year together at the same time that he’s desperately trying to forget her. But how do you get over someone who was never yours in the first place?

Sundays are for Blogging...Teacher Rant

Rant...students who have mama take care of things for them. My favorite students are the one that take responsibility for their own actions--those who own up to their class effort and handle things in a mature way. The ones who receive a C on a paper and take the effort to find out how to improve rather than gripe about the grade, tell mom and dad, and argue for a better grade even when the work falls below rubric standards. There are parents out there who are raising their children to achieve high levels of success without really working for it. These are the "stage-moms" of the school. Don't these parents work or have other children to be concerned about? Look, if my son gets a B, sure, I will be dissappointed because I think he can do better, but I'm not going to call a teacher conference for it because some of his other classmates who usually get B's and C's received A's. I am not going to question an 81 verses and 87. I am not going to cancel entire weekend plans to work all day and all night on a project. I am not going request that he work independently on projects rather than a group because his group members are not giving full effort. I am not going to ask for him to take a quiz over when that is not the teacher's grading policy. I am not going to question the teacher's use of sarcasm or the teacher's past teaching success. I am not going to get involved when the things in question are trivial. So, let's say his grades dip into the C's. Well, then I will speak to the teacher but my attitude will be how can we help him improve and not what can you, the teacher, do to make sure his grades don't dip below 90. The way I see it, kids are the products of their parents. Want to raise 25 year old babies? Well, keep treating them like that and taking care of all their problems. One last question...how can some parents be more annoying than a classroom of 16 year olds?

Sorry, guys...no raves about anything...too wrapped up in my teacher world!

Thursday Trailer...13 Reasons Why

I read this book a while back (about a year ago). Since then, I've recommended it to many of m high school students. A very interesting premise...a girl leaves suicide for 13 people. But what I think is exceptional in the novel is the alternating narratives of the two main character.

SYNOPSIS

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker--his classmate and crush--who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list. Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

EXCERPT

A shoebox-sized package is propped against the front door at an angle. Our front door has a tiny slot to shove mail through, but anything thicker than a bar of soap gets left outside. A hurried scribble on the wrapping addresses the package to Clay Jensen, so I pick it up and head inside. I take the package into the kitchen and set it on the counter. I slide open the junk drawer and pull out a pair of scissors. Then I run a scissor blade around the package and lift off its top. Inside the shoebox is a rolled-up tube of bubble-wrap. I unroll that and discover seven loose audiotapes. Each tape has a dark blue number painted in the upper right-hand corner, possibly with nail polish. Each side has its own number. One and two on the first tape, three and four on the next, five and six, and so on. The last tape has a thirteen on one side, but nothing on the back. Who would send me a shoebox full of audiotapes? No one listens to tapes anymore. Do I even have a way to play them? The garage! The stereo on the workbench. My dad bought it at a yard sale for almost nothing. It's old, so he doesn't care if it gets coated with sawdust or splattered with paint. And best of all, it plays tapes. I drag a stool in front of the workbench, drop my backpack to the floor, then sit down. I press Eject on the player. A plastic door eases open and I slide in the first tape.
(All of the above from Jay Asher's awesome website)


BOOK TRAILER...THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST I FOUND

Totally YA Tuesday...Where Are My Book Reviews?

Hmmm...have you noticed I have not written any really long, in-depth book review lately? I've noticed and it bugs the heck out of me. I've been meaning to do The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp for about two weeks now, but just haven't been able to get to it. So, I've been filling up YA Tuesday with random information that relates to YA like YALSA Awards and my 100 Followers' Contest. Well, I've added mini-reviews and book trailers as a way to have relevant posting even though they are not full reviews. But, soon... The Spectacular Now. Maybe next Tuesday.

But what about my YA writing adventures? Where have those gone? They are still in my head. And, I haven't updated Livejournal (where I said I was going to focus on my writing) lately. So, here is what is going on.

I had given myself a 5 month ultimatum for finishing my first official novel...an urban fantasy of sorts with a strong romantic element. Well, I have about the first 1000 words whick rolled out very easily and then it all slowed down when I took some time to figure out character needs, motivations, etc. Also, adding to all that was graduate school. I now don't have time for anything else! But, the novel will be written, at the very least this summer when all I will do is work summer school. No graduate school.

I am taking a fiction workshop, playwriting workshop, and science fiction form and theory this semester.

The last thing I turned in to fiction workshop was a self contained chapter for another novel I concocted a long time ago. It's about a teenage boy, baseball, and the meaning of life. I have chapter one (about 2500 words) and will one day write a full novel.

For playwriting I am working on a paranormal, coming of age play about a teenage girl who "dances with the devil." It's a reworking of a Tex-Mex urban legend from South Texas. I think this will be my graduate thesis. I had formerly put on Livejournal that my thesis would be a YA novel about a teenage girl who had to come to terms with her sister's death. I have the beginning of that, but I think I will put off. Why? I enjoy playwriting and my professor said what I write this semester can be used in my two semesters of thesis classes next year. Since this is "acadamia" my thesis has to be "literary" and I don't want my YA novels to be limited by this. I can write a very "literary" YA but not by the end of next year with my crazy, hectic life. A play...well, it's just a lot more feasible.

Good news...one of my poems will be published in Touchstone, a literary journal! I am so excited! I finally feel semi-legitimate! And, one of my flash pieces (it is actually the prologue to my future YA novel about the girl whose sister died) is being seriously considered by another literary journal! Yea!

So, I am emersed in YA! In my own YA even though nothing is published or close to being published. But one day...maybe I can get a whole novel written this summer. That is the first step. I am as a good a writer as many of my favorites, the only thing is that I'm new to all this. I'm just a 'lil Tex-Mex girl living along the border with 3 babies, a husband, and 2 dogs who drives a Saturn Vue, teaches high school, and goes to grad school. Why should I make it? Then again, why should I not?

Interested in knowing more about this girl/devil urban legend...check out the following link.

http://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/tx3.html

My play is based on the story but I am taking a lot of poetic license and making it my own. I have the first 11 pages written so far...only about 90 left to go!!!

Sunday's are for Blogging: My First Blog Award, 10 Things About Me, 10 Blogs I Love

Sunday's are for Blogging...Raves Only Today

FIRST...HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! MAY YOU AND YOUR HUNNY/KIDOS HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY TOGETHER!

Wow! My first award! Thanks go out to Natalie at This Purple Crayon for the pink bling! Like Natalie, I don't know where this award comes from or what it all means, but it looks great and it's a great spirit booster for a little blogger like me. About the only thing I do know about the award is that I have to list ten things you may not know about me and then pass it on to 10 other bloggers.

TEN THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME
1. My first name is Minerva and that is the name of a Roman goddess...the equivelant of the Greek Athena. And it's also my mother's middle name and we are both called Minnie by family and friends (except people pronounce her name with more of a Spanish flair and mine like Minnie Mouse).
2. I have a "Holy Cow" Boston Terrier named Larry..."Holy Cow" because that's exactly what you would say if you saw him...he's huge! The heavy weight of dogs! And he has a nagging "wife" named Skippy. She's a slender Rat Terrier.
3. I used to be a high school English teacher and I absolutely loved teaching the great Greek tragedy, Antigone written by Sophocles. I also loved doing all those artsy type projects that now don't work so well in World History AP.
4. I am currently addicted to Sprite...that's all I want to drink whenever I go out to eat.
5. I love that song by Train...Hey, Soul Sister.
6. That song, Fifteen by Taylor Swift, has actually made me cry. Why? Maybe because I have a daughter and one day she will be fifteen and everything that song says is so true...

7. I have a 12 year old son, a 10 year old daughter, and a 7 year old son. Wow...will one day have three teenagers in the house!

8. I live in deep, deep South Texas...pretty close to the Mexican border!

9. I will one day be a published YA author...if I ever get my act together!

10. I play the saxophone at church...my speciality is the soprano sax, like Kenny G. You can call me Minnie V.

Now...I pass on the award to 10 awesome blogs...

1. Jessica at Joy Marie's Boutique

2. Elisabeth Marie at YS Princesse's Ideas, Resources, and Reviews

3. Lauryn at Seed Thoughts

4. June at Writing is a Blessing

5. Mrs. Addison at Wonderfully Chaotic

6. Lisa (YA author) at Lisa Schroeder

7. Sam at Cooking With Samantha

8. Carrie at Books and Movies

9. Naomi at YA Books and More

10. Angie at Angieville

Just grab the award and go post it on your blog...tell us somethings we don't know and then pass it on.

Thursday Trailer...The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker

I've been wanting to read this book...sounds very interesting and the book trailer is fantastic. Makes me want to read it more! A Gothic Victorian novel! The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber.

Summary:

What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Hidden in the dark heart of Victorian London, the Romanesque school was dreadfully imposing, a veritable fortress, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met its powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadows, of the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She saw simply that she was different, haunted, with her snow white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gift. This arched stone doorway was a portal to a new life, to an education far from what could be had at a convent-and it was an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death...

Book Trailer!

Quote:

The newcomer turned to face his students. Percy’s breath caught. Here stood the most striking man she had ever seen. Lustrous dark hair hung loosely to broad shoulders. A few locks turned out in an unkempt manner contrary to the rest of his appearance, while a few strands clung to his noble, chiseled features—a long nose, high cheekbones, defined lips like a Grecian sculpture and impossibly dark eyes. He was dressed in a long professorial robe that hung open over a smartly buttoned velvet vest, and a crimson cravat at the throat was the only colour this distinguished figure sported.

Totally YA Tuesday...CONTEST DETAILS-100 FOLLOWER'S CONTEST!

OK. I need validation! I need support! I need followers...to make me feel like people are actually interested in what I have to say. I am very grateful for my current 59 followers...thank you so much for taking the time to go through the process and checking out my book blog.

So, here is my solution...a 100 followers contest! Once I get 100 people to officially follow my blog, all followers will get the chance to be one of 2 lucky winners (random selection) and choose any 2011 YA book (as long as the book is under 15.00). So, come join me at Athena's!

Hmmm...what would I choose if I were a winner? I work in a school district with an awesome library and I can pretty much read any book I want for free, and if they don't have it, I can have it ordered for their fiction collection. So, there are definitely books I would like to win...

My list of ARCS I hope to somehow be blessed with and/or request from my library:

Sea by Heidi King (new YA author!)
It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han (author of The Summer I Turned Pretty)
The Dead Tossed Seas by Carrie Ryan (author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth)

Wow...they all have something to do with water!


On to other news... my first Blog Award! Will tell you about this one this week and put up the award ASAP (I want to add it when I announce it)!

Manic Monday Mini Review...The H-Bomb Girl

Hmmm...what if a future reality could impose itself on a past event through the element of time travel? If the goal was to shape a more improved future, would this act indeed allow for that or would it just mess everything up or bring about a future that was not necessarily better? Or does fate play a role in creating a future that is just as it was in the first place before man decided to interfere in the past? This all seems like great material for theorizing on sci-fi time machines, but it's also what you will get from reading The H-Bomb Girl by Stephen Baxter. With this novel, you'll get plenty of possible alternate realities and ethical dilemas. Throw in som Beatles and a little love story and it's just my kind of book (and yours, too)!

Summary:

Liverpool 1962. A place and time of danger and passion. A thrilling new music is bursting on to the grey streets of the post-war city. A music that electrifies. A music that promises to change everything. But in Cuba, on the other side of the earth, nuclear tensions are at breaking point. The end of the whole world could be just days away. At the heart of it all is 14-year-old Laura Mann. She's on the run, hunted by strange forces fighting over the future of humanity. And Laura's about to discover that her own life is at stake - in ways she could never have imagined...

Excerpt:

"H-BOMB Girl," Nick said, "listen to yourself. You are a 14-year-old girl, stuck in a hole in the ground, in Liverpool. How can you talk about causing wars or not? How can you talk about choosing futures? Who do you think you are, the Virgin Mary or Supergirl?"

But she was at the pivot, Laura thought. Because of the Key. She was at the place the futures were fighting over, to become real. She didn't ask for it to be that way, but that's how it was. Maybe everyone thinks they're the centre of the world. But, Laura thought now, maybe whole futures, whole worlds, billions of lives and deaths, really did depend on the decisions she made in the next few hours. She looked around at them, her mum, Agatha, battered Nick, troubled Joel, curledover, pregnant Bernadette. "I've made my mind up," she said.


Love that psychedilic book cover art!

Thursday Trailer...Soul Enchilada

Soul Enchilada by David Macinnis Gil is a quirky gem of a book. But, why Soul? A pun meaning your spiritual soul and also soul food . Why Enchilada? That's in reference to the Hispanic ethnicity of the main characer. Why Soul Enchilada? The main characer is also African-American. Basically, the story is about...

From BooklistEunice “Bug” Smoot is a recent high-school graduate with all sorts of problems: she’s about to get evicted from the flophouse apartment she rents, she’s just been fired from her pizza-delivery job, and it seems like every day some idiot is giving her crap for being half-African American and half-Tejana. The only light in her life is her dead grandfather’s classic 1958 Cadillac Biarritz—and even that goes down the tubes when a demon named Mr. Beals materializes in the passenger seat and demands repossession of the vehicle. Turns out, her grandfather financed the car by selling his soul. Luckily, Bug’s crush, a car-wash attendant, just happens to moonlight for the International Supernatural Immigration Service and he’s got some ideas about how to deport this “Illegal.” Gill’s debut has weirdness to spare: there’s insect-puking villains, pizza-delivery contests with Satan, and some very high-stakes basketball. At times it can all be too much to swallow, but Bug is a refreshingly gutsy female protagonist with an attitude that will win over readers searching for something different. Grades 7-10. --Daniel Kraus



Girl meets boy at a car wash.
"Dog," she says.
"Dude," he says.
And probably this would have been a sweet teen romance. . . .
If Beals hadn't been sitting next to her in the car.
If Beals hadn't been a supernatural repo man looking to repossess her car.
And to possess her.

David Macinnis Gill delivers the whole enchilada. With a side of soul.

Totally YA Tuesday...Prolific Writers of the Genre

A Link You Should Read!

Last week, The Young Adult Literature Journal posted a link on Facebook about YA writers from the past 10 years, and I thought it was an excellent source to for my Tuesday blog.



http://www.omnivoracious.com/2010/01/the-ya-decade.html






The link/article is a blog post on the top 10 prolific YA authors who changed the face of YA. Before I started reading YA, I pretty much only thought of V.C. Andrews and Judy Bloom because that's what I remembered from my own teen years. Is V.C. Andrews even YA? Probably not. Anyways, I had no clue YA was so great! I was reading Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook, etc.) just a couple of years ago, right before the first YA book I picked up...Twilight. And that was it. My love for YA was ignited. I have read about 250 books in the las 2 years and I can't stop--most of which have been YA!

Read the link and see if you agree with the listing of top 10 authors at Omnivoracious.

Also, some of the comments are very intersting as they explore the use of rating systems for YA (like movies). Some see it as censoring and others as a way to measure the maturity level. Some parents just want to know and some teens think a rating system wouldn't make a difference. Even I commented, but if you don't feel like scrolling through all the comments, here is what I have to say on the topic...

Look, us parents just want to know what's in the book. I am an avid YA reader, reviewer, and blogger. So I know what's out there and I love it all. But, do I want my 13 year old daughter to read about an extremely intimate act or book full of f-bombs? No. Will my "No" keep her from reading any YA book? No. Will I tell her not to read a certain book? No. But do I have the right as a parent to know the content of her book? Yes. And so does the reader whether he or she is 13 or 56. Book jackets do not say enough. Why not at least say whether a book has adult language or sexual scenes and how much of it. Mild? Strong? I'm not for censoring and I'm not for a rating system, but I am for honest facts about the books up-front. As it is now, it's a free for all when it comes to reading a book. There could be a reference or a whole passage devoted to oral sex and you wouldn't know unless you read it. If YA is going to push the bar of what is appropriate, then YA needs to spill the content of the book up front.