YA Wire...The Help Coming Soon

THE HELP – OFFICIAL MOVIE SYNOPSIS

Based on the novel by: Kathryn Stockett (The Help--Adult/YA crossover novel)

by DREAMWORKS STUDIOS
Website and Mobile site: DreamWorksStudios.comLike us on Facebook: Facebook.com/TheHelpCommunity
Follow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/HelpCommunity
Genre: Drama

U.S. Release date: 2011


Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, “The Help” stars Emma Stone (star of the breakout hit, “Zombieland”) as Skeeter, a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends’ lives—and a small Mississippi town—upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families.

Academy Award® nominee Viola Davis (“Eat Pray Love”) stars as Aibileen, Skeeter’s best friend’s housekeeper, who is the first to open up—to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community.

Despite Skeeter’s life-long friendships hanging in the balance, she and Aibileen continue their collaboration and soon more women come forward to tell their stories—and as it turns out, they have a lot to say. Along the way, unlikely friendships are forged and a new sisterhood emerges, but not before everyone in town has a thing or two to say themselves when they become unwittingly—and unwillingly—caught up in the changing times.

Based on one of the most talked about books in years and a #1 New York Times best-selling novel, “The Help” is a provocative and inspiring look at what happens when a southern town’s unspoken code of rules and behavior is shattered by three courageous women who strike up an unlikely friendship.

Totally YA Tuesday...The Spectacular Now...Is Now!

Here are some of my favorite quotes from The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp. I bold-printed the part of the quote I absolutely love.


Quotes:

Scandinavian blond hair, eyes as blue as fiords, skin like vanilla ice cream or flower petals or sugar frosting--or really not like anything else but just her skin. It makes my hair ache. Of course, she does believe in astrology, but I don't even care about that. It's a girl thing. I think of it like she has constellations and fortunes whirling around insider her. (Ch 3)

A first the houses aren't bad, but then they get scuzzier and scuzzier, until I'm surrounded by these little lopsided houses that look like they're made out of shingles. Swaybacked roors, stark concrete porches, scabby trees, bald lawns. Here and there, tricycles or something like a faded plastic pony with wheels leaning sideways in weedy , flowerless flowerbeds. There are families pinched into these flimsy boxes--just like me and my family used to be back in the day.
These are people I understand. These are people I love. (ch 15)

She's cute, too, in a nerdy sort of way. You know the look--glasses that ride down on the nose, pale skin from staying inside too much, mouth hanging slightly open in that classic nerd mouth-breather style. But she has full lips and sweet, liitle blond eyebrows and a nice, slender neck. Her hair isn't pure Scandinavian blond like Cassidy's--it's more dirty blond and sort of lank. And she doesn't have the fjord-blue eyes either--hers ar paler, more like a public swimming pool. Still, she has a way about her that makes me want to do something for her. Not to her. For her. (Ch 17)

"Then what are you having lunch with her for?"
"Moral support. This girl needs it. She lets her family run all over her. You can see it in her eyes. It's like she doesn't think she's important enought to even stand up for herself."
"So what are you gonna do, give her a makeover like in the movies where they turn the nerd girl into a raging hottie?"
"No. It's not about trying to turn her into a hottie. She could never be a hottie. She doesn't have the attitude--that inner positive charge. You can tell by just looking at her slouchy little duck-footed walk." (Ch 18)

Still it's not nearly cold enough for the kind of jacket Aimee's sporting. It's this huge, down-filled purple monster that makes her look like a giant billiard ball. She might be the only girl I've ever met who still hasn't learned to sacrifice bodily comfort for fashion's sake. She did paint on the lipstick again, but putting lipstick on a billiard barll still doesn't give it sex appeal. (Ch 29)

She laughs at something Cody says about a rocket-powered llama, and he reaches over and touches the sleeve of the giant purple coat. She leans a little toward him, her face still beaming. It's stupid, but I want to step in between tehm, maybe even lead her away somewhere. But just then, Cassidy appears in the clearing on the far side, looking like a beautiful fat goddess, and I'm transported to a new sparking warm glaaxy, far, far from Solar Bull and llamas. (Ch 30)

This potential husband dude--I don't know--he seems about like a cross betwen Peter Parker from Spider-man and Han Solo from Star Wars, with a little bit of one of those old, dead romantic poets thrown if for good measure. (Ch 39)


She exudes purity of heart, dude. (Ch 41)


It's strange being on her bed in the middle of a room full of sci-fi novels and drawings of Commander Amanda Gallico on horseboack. You might think it would be the least sexy place in the world, but that's not the case. Instead, it's mega-intimate, like we're alone togehter in our own little, wierd space capsule, hurtling through the universe. ( ch 45)


Aimee's mom opens the door, her fabulous she-mullet glinting in the TV glow. (ch 50)


Aimee brings something beautiful up from the depths of my insides. (ch 50)


She's drenched and dedraggled, but I've never loved anyone as much as I love her right now. That's how I know I'll have to give her up. (Ch 62)


When I take her home, I have a hard time letting her go. Sure, it's awkward trying to hug her with that huge cast in the way, but I really can't kiss her enough. ( Ch 64)


I stare into her eyes, shooting conficence beams into her. (Ch 64)


Of course, I'm also thinking that she'll find the perfect guy, too, a splendiferous equestrian scientist who'll see her as fantastic new planet, full of miraculous wonders. (Ch 64)

Outside, the streelight shines on the gravel parking lot. I feel like I'm on the surface of the moon. With painted palm trees in the background. (Ch 66)

To break the dank silence, I crank up every Jimmy Buffet song on the jukebox and go into the tale of Casidy and Aimme and my long-lost dad. Everyone's entrhalled. They've been there, a long time ago. (Ch 66)

I say, goodbye, as I disappear little by little into the middle of the middle of my own spectacular now (Ch 66)



Brief Review:

I won't give you a complete review, but I think the quotes tell you a little something about the book. Sutter's voice and point of view is fresh and interesting and humorous. He is a good-natured person although many people don't see this. They see him as some typical, slacker teenager who likes to have a good time and drink whisky. And the girls in his life, always want to change him and take more from him than what he can give--committment. He's used to girls dumping him for that reason. Mixed into all that is his long-lost father who he hasn't seen since he was kid. He has a made up world of a father who is successful and just too busy to see his son, but this fantasy is more unrealistic than Aimee's sci-fi dreams and hopes for the future. In the end, the one thing Sutter hasn't been able to do--stick around in a relationship and give more of himself than he wants to give--is the one thing he wants to do and the one thing he has to give away. But, love makes you do the opposite, especially when you the person you love will benefit the most.

And, some great news...there may be a film adaptation very soon by the director of "500 Days of Summer." Read the link--Movie Adaptation

"It's a really fantastic novel about a 17 year old charm monger who drinks too much. And it's about how he's negotiating the world of growing up."

Thursday Trailer...The Science of Monstrumology

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

I haven't read this yet, but everytime I go to the library, this is one of those books I want to check out. But, then I remember the other 20 books, or so, that I have stacked up in my classroom, bedroom, kitchen...everywhere. Anyways, the book trailer looks spectacular. Will have to read it this summer!

Summary and Excerpt:

These are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed. But he is dead now and has been for nearly ninety years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets. The one who saved me . . . and the one who cursed me.

So starts the diary of Will Henry, orphan and assistant to a doctor with a most unusual specialty: monster hunting. In the short time he has lived with the doctor, Will has grown accustomed to his late night callers and dangerous business. But when one visitor comes with the body of a young girl and the monster that was eating her, Will's world is about to change forever. The doctor has discovered a baby Anthropophagus--a headless monster that feeds through a mouth in its chest--and it signals a growing number of Anthropophagi. Now, Will and the doctor must face the horror threatenning to overtake and consume our world before it is too late.

The Monstrumologist is the first stunning gothic adventure in a series that combines the spirit of HP Lovecraft with the storytelling ability of Rick Riorden.

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)

Late Totally YA Tuesday-Before I Die...Let Me Love You

Before I Die by Jenny Downham is a must read book. However, it is not for the younger reader due to serious subject matter and instances of strong language and adult situations. It's a crossover YA novel for teens and adults and falls into the "Edgy YA" category. To me it is also more literary than the typical contemporary fiction for teens. It takes you to the edge of the end--a teen girl's struggle with leukamia, the debilitating effects of disease, her loss of life just as she has discovered life. My favorite part happens to be the saddest part, but the writing is dream-like, like someone going in and out of consciousness, like someone saying goodbye through fragmented thoughts. The ending is experimental fiction at its best. And it's gut-wrenching with lucid language and mysterious and unbearable, yet beautiful.

There are certain things we all want to do before we our lives are finished. I could easily list about a 100 things with the top 5 all having to do with my family, loved ones, and friends. But, I'm 36 and I know what really counts. But what about when you're 16? Tessa's got her list and pretty high up on her list is losing her virginity. She expects to lose that part of her that defines her as inexperienced, but she doesn't expect to find life-altering love. As the book progresses, she finds more and more things to add because when life is ending, all of a sudden there is too much too let go. How does she say goodbye to the most important relationships in her life with her father, mother, brother, and boyfriend?

Excerpt:

I wish I had a boyfriend. I wish he lived in the wardrobe on a coat hanger. Whenever I wanted, I could get him out and he’d look at me the way boys do in films, as if I’m beautiful. He wouldn’t speak much, but he’d be breathing hard as he took off his leather jacket and unbuckled his jeans. He’d wear white pants and he’d be so gorgeous I’d almost faint. He’d take my clothes off too. He’d whisper, ‘Tessa, I love you. I really bloody love you. You’re beautiful’ – exactly those words – as he undressed me.

I sit up and switch on the bedside light. There’s a pen, but no paper, so on the wall behind me I write, I want to feel the weight of a boy on top of me. Then I lie back down and look out at the sky. It’s gone a funny colour – red and charcoal all at once, like the day is bleeding out.

Summary:

Tessa has just months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It’s her To Do Before I Die list. And number one is Sex. Released from the constraints of ‘normal’ life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up. Tessa’s feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, and her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallised in the precious weeks before Tessa’s time finally runs out.

Tessa needs those she loves the most to go to the edge with her...and they do.

Bullyville...Be a Bully or be Bullied

A few weeks ago, I heard of a bullying incident at my son’s school. I don’t know what became of it, but just know I am very thankful none of my children have ever been a victim of bullying. Most kids and teens will face some sort of ridicule at one time or another because, let’s face it, some people don’t understand or truly consider or want to consider the harm of making someone feel ashamed. I know I faced a lot of that growing up. But, bullying is a whole other level because it includes ridicule and intimidation, and in some instances turns physical. How do you deal with that as a kid? How do you deal with it as an adult?

This week I am reviewing Bullyville by Francine Prose. I guess you can tell one of the major themes of the book. Normally this is not the type of book I choose to read because it deals with a younger protagonist and is missing a romantic love story. But, I completely love Prose’s style of writing, and something else in the book jacket caught my interest—9/ll. Yes, that 9/ll, and it’s like an underlying current running through the novel. I wanted to see how she merged it into the storyline, since I’m also tying in 9/11 to a novel I am writing. What a way to study it…through the writing of a great YA author!

So, what does 9/l11 have to do with bullying? Well, it is the reason why Bart is able to enroll at Baileywell Preparatory Academy on a fully paid scholarship. And, everybody knows Baileywell is really Bullyville Prep or Bullywell. Bart and his friends have grown up hearing horrid stories of students who attend Bullyville, but Bart doesn’t really know the full extent of it or even how much truth is behind those rumors.

Quote: I’d heard all those stories—and scarier ones—before I started at Bullywell. But what happened to me there seemed even worse, I guess because it happened to me.

Quote: I had only been at Bullywell for less than five minutes and already I was learning to laugh hysterically at unfunny jokes—jokes on me!

Back to 9/11—what does it have to do with his enrollment? Bart was a hero, a Miracle Boy, and a compassion case all wrapped up in one. Both of his parents worked at the World Trade Center. His father was one of the thousands that was killed, but his mother’s life was salvaged due to the fact that she had to stay home with Bart who had the flu.

Listen to what Bart has to say about all this: Boy, the lucky orphan. The kid who lost his dad, but saved his mother’s life. I had everything, grief and hope, tragedy and consolation, wrapped in one neat package.

Bullyville was a gift, a reward for an outstanding young man, yet it was also a charity case.

Well, my review is getting pretty long, but it’s because I love this book. I won’t give you any more details other than this was the worst years of Bart’s life and that Bart deals with public and private tragedies and losses—the Big Event that shook America, his father’s abandonment for a younger women, the deaths of his father and a close friend, the bullying. And, I’ll tell you the ending is very powerful and hopeful.

I’ll end with this:

Each time I hit him, it was like there was something behind it, aiming my fist, a force that was making me pound…I hit him once for Nola, and for how unfair it was that she’d died. One punch for every time he’d made me miserable since I came to Bullywell, one for the ketchup, one each for the names, the kids, the locker, the text message supposedly from my dad. And then I was hitting him for my dad….for the towers and the planes flying into them…

A Constant Heart Excerpt

Enjoy the Excerpt...maybe you'll want to read the rest!

"But how could he not like you?"

"He is an earl, Joan!"

"And you, Marget, are to be his countess."

...In several short months I was to exchange my life as a knight's daughter for life as a countess. That thought still had the power to drain the blood from my face as if January's salt-laden winds were whipping in from the Wash, stealing my breath as they continued on their way.

"Think you. For how many years now have you trained for this?"

"Twelve." It had begun at the age of five. If I whispered the number it was only because, of a sudden, I did not wish for the training to end...

"But what if—"

"What if what? What if you cannot please him?" Joan's voice was rising, as if my worries were trifles too small to warrant her attentions. "Do you not know a dozen ways to dance? Can you not sing like a songbird? In how many languages can you read? And how many stitches can you work upon a canvas? How can you fail to please him, Marget?"

"What if he is ... aged?"

"Then you will spend less time in bed and more time in delighting yourself with ... all the means of a countess at your disposal."

I could not keep a blush from spreading through my cheeks. "But his first wife—"

"The marriage was annulled. Is that not what you told me?"

"Aye. 'Tis true."

"Then she was no wife to him at all."

"But what if—"

..."Truly. What if I cannot please him?"

"Are you meaning to ask me if you are to play the role of your mother?"

My fingers tightened around her arm.

"He will not be your father, Marget. You will please him. He will stay in your bed. Is that what vexes you?"

I could not bring myself to nod, but Joan knew me almost better than I knew myself.

"Hear me: there is nothing in you that could make him cast you off."

"But—"

"Hush you. Last time I noticed, earls were still men." She said it as if that settled everything. As if there were no reason for the worries that churned in my belly.

"But—"

"And last time I looked, Marget, you still had the face of an angel." Her gaze softened before she continued on. " 'Tis nothing like my own."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was enough to drive a man mad!

Any nobleman worth his title could write poetry. That was what my tutor had taught me long ago. That was what I had always believed. But then came Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser, and now rumors of some person named Shakespeare. They had ruined it for us all. It was no longer acceptable to just dash out a sonnet. One must employ mythology and politics, and work for days to cultivate allusions aplenty.

But now, all I needed was a rhyme for carriage.

Her Majesty's comportment, her carriage, could be compared to ... Bah! It had been at the edge of my mind the entire forenoon. Carriage ... carnage.

Nay.

Carriage ... cleavage.

There was no hope for it. It would come. I could feel it, but I might as well do something else, something more productive, until it did. Why did poetry have to require so much work? I was replacing the quill in the inkwell when a knock sounded upon the door, and then it opened forthwith.

It was Nicholas. He was carrying something in his hand. "For you, my lord." He straightened from a bow and extended a document toward me. "From the east, my lord."

...I spread it on the desk before me but still could not focus on the words long enough to read them. Pushing away from the desk, I gestured Nicholas toward the paper. "Read it."


"Aye, aye. Does he accept the terms or not?"

...finally, he lifted his eyes to mine. "Aye. After all of that, in the very last phrase, he agrees. You shall have the hand of his daughter in marriage."

"Thank heaven!"

"Congratulations, my lord. It is my fondest hope that the young lady will bring you nothing but happiness."

I looked at him. Though his mien revealed nothing but innocence, I knew him too well. "You mean to say, as opposed to the first young lady?"

Nicholas merely stood there.

I frowned as I regained my desk and removed my quill from the inkpot. "The young lady is of no importance."

"I beg to argue, my lord...As a knight's daughter, her only wish will be to please you. You must not punish her for another's mistakes, my lord."

"Do you think me some cruel tyrant?"

"Nay, my lord. But it was you who said she was of no importance."

"Relatively speaking, Nicholas. 'Tis her dowry that I am after. Her knight-father's riches will allow me to regain Holleystone. If there is anything to rejoice over, 'tis that fact. You and I shall both be going home. 'Tis for that God is to be praised."

Nicholas cleared his throat, a sure sign that I had been ignoring him. "The young lady, my lord."

"What of her?"

"You will not neglect her, my lord?"

"Certainly not! Luck's chosen vessel must be looked after ..."

My thoughts turned toward all the ways in which I might, very soon, become lucky. I might be selected to receive a venerable Garter Knighthood. I might be asked to take a seat on Her Majesty's Privy Council. I might be given another estate or even a chance to purchase a monopoly.

Cleopatra's Daughter...With a K

Today's YA Release

I just finished reading Michelle Moran's historical fiction, Cleopatra's Daughter, this past weekend and all I can say is wow. It's been a while since I've been completely engrossed with a novel (not since the last Eva Ibottson book I read), and it was so frustrating not being able to just sit down and read and enjoy. I've been so busy with work and school, and I really wanted to get this book read and have this review out today on the release date. But what was more pressing than the review was simply finding out what would happen to Kleopatra Selene!

Set against the demise of Egypt in 30 BC, the children of Queen Kleopatra VII and Mark Antony fear a sure death and are taken as orphans and prisoners to the Palatine, the throne and heart of the Roman Empire. Although forced to participate in Octavian Caesar's triumphal parade bound by gold chains, the twins, Alexander Helios and Kleopatra Selene are treated as the guests of royalty while living with Octavian's sister, Octavia, and her two younger children. As the last of the impressive bloodline of Alexander the Great, Alexander and Selene, the sun and the moon of Egypt, recieve many priveleges and indulgences in exchange for a few moments of humilation. One evening all invited guests to the Palatine are dressed in stereotypical Egyptian garb that has not been in use for centuries--razored chin length hair and cobra arm cuffs. Or, when Alexander and Selene ride through the triumphal parade next to a figure of their mother with a cobra coiled between her breasts in mockery of her suicide and the notion of Egyptian females as painted women.

In reading Cleopatra's Daughter, you will be swept into the rising world of the Roman Empire. Now, without getting into all the history of what was Rome, I was impressed by Michelle Moran's ability to recreate the ancient world of the first century BC. Everyone regards the Roman Empire for its legacy to western culture and no one can deny the sheer size and power of the empire at its height. But there is another side to Rome. The side of narrow streets, smoke, mud, pungent smells, and plebian riots. The side that looked away from its reliance on slaves and their mistreatment and the use of bribery and flattery and political negotiation in the interest of the patricians, senators, and the ruling family. The side that looked away from its subjugation of women. And, it was all these that contributed to the eventual fall of the Roman Empire, and it is these things that are relevant to plot of Cleopatra's Daughter. People die, slaves are guilty, girls marry old men, women belong to men, and anything said may be misconstrued as traitorous.

To Selene, Rome is nothing like Alexandria, her home in Egypt. Alexandria was the center of the cultured world beginning from the rule of Alexander the Great throughout the Greek world and continuing through the reign of Queen Kleopatra in Egypt. Alexandira was a home of beauty, marble, exquisite design, and a great love affair. A home Selene hopes to return to. But whether she ever will...well, that depends on Caesar--Augustus Caesar (formerly Octavian), the adopted heir of the renown Julius Caesar. Everything is in Caesar's hands even whether she will even see another day. She can only hope to be seen as useful through her artistic and architectural skills and enter a love match with someone who is not older than her father at his death.

You know, I can tell my students all about how slaves kept Rome from advancing, how political leaders endulged in personal interests, how 13 year old girls entered loveless marriages, how Rome was a virtual blood bath, but all my lecturing and anything they read in a textbook can not compare to the intrigue and authenticity of this novel. Here we see Rome for what it truly was. You'll fully understand that to be a women or slave in this ancient world is to have no voice. Yes, I know this is historical fiction, but it is the kind of historical fiction that is extremely authentic in the spirit and legacy of a culture because of the author's painstaking attention to detail that can only come through hours of in-depth research. I appreciate the historical timeline from the death of Alexander the Great to the deafeat of Marc Antony and Kleopatra, the afterword where the author recounts the historical facts surrounding the future of many of the main characters, and the glossery of Roman terms.

I wouldn't call it a historical romance, although it does have that element making it all the better for a person like myself who thinks anything with event the slightest hint of romance is pretty great.

"Well?" Juba stood over me when we were finished.
"They're fine, " I said shortly, dusting my hands on my tunic and rising.
"A perfect job," Vitruvius complemented. "And very handsome sculptures, Juba. Are they all Roman?"
"Only the Venus is Greek. For some reason, I was drawn to her face."
I looked across the Pantheon to the statue of Venus. Perhaps it was my own vanity that made me think I reconginized her. But the nose and possibly the light, painted eyes were similar to mine. I caught Jubal looking at me. Then Gallia dropped her voice and whispered, "She reminds me of Casear's mistress."
"Terentill." Juba nodded. "Yes, Perhaps you're right."

As you can tell...I'm rooting for Juba. A broad-shouldered 20 something year old prince with the form of a Greek god from Numidia who is one of Caesar's right hand men. The one who is always looking out for Selene and the one who may have a genuine interest in all the issues Selene is drawn to. But Selene has fallen for a Roman, a young Apollo. Will she marry either one? Will she be allowed to return to Egypt? Will she be accepted as an architect? Will Selene and her world discover the identity of the Red Eagle, champion of the slaves and freedmen? Her fate, as well as the fate of an entire empire...well, it's in Caesar's hands.

But the romance is not the story. The story is Selene and her journey to womanhood amidst the backdrop of the emerging Roman Empire grappling with the use and treatment of slaves, a growing orphan problem, and rising mob mentaliy by the masses. The Roman Republic promoted the fair treatment of all citizens through the establishment of the Twelve Tables, but who were the citizens of the Republic? Not the poor, the slave, or the woman, nor were they in the time of the Roman Empire. Please realize the Roman Empire endured from 46 BC through 476 AD. Augustus Caesar died in 14 BC, but the Rome he helped to establish lasted over 400 years. His reign began the Pax Romana, or time of peace, but really what does that mean? Rome may not have had any political rivals, but within the walls, within the Roman roads--the plebians, slaves, and women suffered. Imagine the state of Rome in 476 AD.

Happy Labor Day and Michelle Moran

Happy Labor Day to all you who actually do not have to labor today...I'm one of them. Well, I am completely alone at home today. I plan to visit my mom, meet my husband at Taco Bell, take a nap, and pick up my son from school. Then it's dinner, homework, and all kinds of sports. But, somehow, through all this I have to get myself together and do some major damage in my own homework schedule. Tommorrow I have to "pitch" my story idea for a feature film to my screenwriting professor and classmates.

Amazingly, I got a brainstorm Saturday morning. The picture above has got something to do with...a coming of age screenplay dealing with South Padre Island. It seems like too much to put here on my review blog...so go check out my live journal if you want to know more. I'm really gonna try hard to put anything to do with my aspiring career as a writer over on livejournal and not fill up Athena's YA Reviews with that, eventhough I have been doing a little of this. I'll still give tidbits here every now and then, but I don't want to lose the focus of this blog.

On to Michelle Moran...I have only read a piece of Cleopatra's Daughter, but so far I love it. How can I not, especially since I teach world history?

I don't have a review yet, but I do have a blog post by the author herself! Just keep reading...

Michelle Moran on Why Cleopatra's daughter?

It began with a dive. Not the kind of dive that people take into swimming pools, but the kind where you squeeze yourself into a wetsuit and wonder just how tasty your rump must appear to passing sharks now that it looks exactly like an elephant seal. My husband and I had taken a trip to Egypt, and at the suggestion of a friend, we decided to go to Alexandria and do a dive to see the remains of Cleopatra’s underwater city. Let it be known that I had never done an underwater dive before, so after four days with an instructor (and countless questions like, Will there be sharks? How about jellyfish? If there is an earthquake, what happens underwater?) we were ready for the real thing.

We drove to the Eastern Harbor in Alexandria. Dozens of other divers were already there, waiting to see what sort of magic lay beneath the waves. I wondered if the real thing could possibly live up to all of the guides and brochures selling this underwater city, lost for thousands of years until now. Then we did the dive, and it was every bit as magical as everyone had promised. You can see the rocks which once formed Marc Antony’s summer palace, come face to face with Cleopatra’s towering sphinx, and take your time floating above ten thousand ancient artifacts, including obelisks, statues, and countless amphorae. By the time we had surfaced, I was Cleopatra-obsessed. I wanted to know what had happened to her city once she and Marc Antony had committed suicide. Where did all of its people go? Were they allowed to remain or were they killed by the Romans? What about her four children?

It was this last question which surprised me the most. I had always believed that all of Cleopatra’s children had been murdered. But the Roman conqueror Octavian had actually spared the three she bore to Marc Antony: her six-year-old son, Ptolemy, and her ten-year-old twins, Alexander and Selene. As soon as I learned that Octavian had taken the three of them for his Triumph in Rome, I knew at once I had my next book. This is how all of my novels seem to begin – with a journey, then an adventure, and finally, enormous amounts of research for what I hope is an exciting story.

Testimony...A Novel of Scandal at Avery Academy

Want a great novel with insight into the inner psyche of a whole cast of characters? Want to be a sleuth of sorts and figure out what really went down at Avery Acadamey, or AA as called by a post-grad basketball player at the elite private school? Want to know how minutes of self-indulgment wrecks havok in the lives of all involved?

You know, I picked up Testimony by Anita Shreve off the top shelf of the library not really knowing anything about it except that I read Body Surfing sometime last spring and truly enjoyed it. I'll have to tell you all about Body Surfing some other time...a thorough look at the intricacies of love. Well, I read the inside jacket of Testimony and that was it... I had to read it. I personally love this type of novel where you get more than just a one sided point of view. Not that the narrator is omniscient, but rather many chapters read like personal or eye-witness testimonies, alternating between the voices of those involved in the Avery scandal and those merely touched by its ripples.

What? Scandal? Tell me more!

Basically, 3 high school seniors and 1 freshmen are videotaped in lewd acts. Right from chapter 1 readers get a full account of what happens one night after a high school dance...pretty much things you don't want to think abou. That's all I'm gonna say about it.

You know, what gets me is that something like this, as gross as it , probably actually happens more often than we'd like to think. I'm a high school teacher, so I've heard here and there from a combination of rumors and portions of conversation I try and block out about rampant alcohol and drug use and sexual activity. I do not doubt the teen world today is probably about 175 % worse than when I was a teenager. Just look at some the profile pictures posted by teenage girls on Myspace, Facebook, etc. They aim to look provocative. Did I aim for that? I guess to a certain point I did, but I don't think you'll find one picture of me with a carefully practice pout or look of lust. I've seen girls dressed like Playboy bunnies on Halloween...HELLO! At a high school! A magnet high school with amazingly sharp kids. I guess this stuff is everywhere. It makes me so sad to think some of my students might be at some pary tonight drinking excessive alcohol or doing worse things. Then they come back to school on Monday like it is no big deal. Don't get me wrong...I have a sizeable amount of really good, good kids, as do many teachers across the country. But, the minute something is made public, then that's the minute you realized there is an alcohol, drug, and sex problem underlying our youth. Let's not even talk about the statistics.

Testimony brings all this out and more. Because this not a YA novel. The novel is not all about this privte high school and the mess that comes from a night of drunken debauchery. It's about betrayal, love, pain, forgiveness, and anger. It's about the raw human condition and all the implications it leaves within each. It's about the Avery headmaster and his decision to attempt a cover up and take written confessions from teens without proper legal council. It's about his unhappy marriage and his short lived moments of happiness in the home of another. It's about a mother's longing for her son and another mother's betrayal of father and son. It's about a father being shamed by his son and another father drawing a civil suit in the name of his son. It's about first love and first love-loss. It's about adults looking away yet expecting the spectacular. It's about media frenzy, death by freezing, crumbled love-pain letters, and never going back. It's about lonely adults and teenagers one day becoming lonely adults.

So, who is telling the truth about the AA scandal? Must be Rob. He is the last testimony. What he says is poignant, honest without trying. But Rob is a patholigical liar. That's one thing his mom knows. Nonetheless, I choose to believe he is being truthful. Not that his is the only truth, but the other truths are wrapped in emotion when the characters speak. As Rob says, "I have thought long and hard about why we did it, but I think the why was in the act itself. It was an act without why." And he ends with this: "...I believe that alcohol made it happen, but the 'it' was inside of us." As far as the "it"--well, the "it" applies to every action and decision taken by all characters in the book...even those not directly involved. I believe in what Rob says, but I don't know that I can count Rob to actually really mean this. He is too good a liar.

One last thing. Do teenagers know true love? Possibly. But, they definitely feel all the adult emotions of intimate relationships.

"I just wanted to talk to you before I did it, before I had to leave or whatever I have to do, and so I wanted to write this because it feels like I am talking to you. And, oh God, I so wish you were here with me, and I would tell you I was sorry a hundred thousand times, and I would not ask you to look at me or let me touch you or even let me say I love you..." (character: Silas)