Manic Monday Mini-Review...The Nature of Jade

Sometime in December I told you The Nature of Jade by Deb Caletti (2007) is one of my all time favorite YA books. It's a book I always go back to when I need inspiration in my future author aspirations and one I think of as a nearly perfect YA romance with just enough serious issues, likeable characters and romance.

Summary (from Simon & Schuster)

I am not my illness. "Girl with Anxiety," "Trauma of the Week" -- no. I hate stuff like that. Everyone, everyone has their issue. But the one thing my illness did make me realize is how necessary it is to ignore the dangers of living in order to live. And how much trouble you can get into if you can't.

Jade DeLuna is too young to die. She knows this, and yet she can't quite believe it, especially when the terrifying thoughts, loss of breath, and dizzy feelings come. Since being diagnosed with Panic Disorder, she's trying her best to stay calm, and visiting the elephants at the nearby zoo seems to help. That's why Jade keeps the live zoo webcam on in her room, and that's where she first sees the boy in the red jacket. A boy who stops to watch the elephants. A boy carrying a baby.

Jade is drawn into Sebastian's cozy life and before she knows it, she's in love. With this boy who has lived through harder times than anyone she knows. This boy with a past.

Jade knows the situation is beyond complicated, but she hasn't felt this safe in a long time. She owes it all to Sebastian, her boy with the great heart. Her boy who is hiding a terrible secret. A secret that will force Jade to decide between what is right, and what feels right.

Master storyteller Deb Caletti has once again created characters so real, you will be breathless with anticipation as their riveting story unfolds.


Quote

He stands and the baby does something that makes me laugh. He grabs a chunk of the boy's hair in each of his hands, yanks the boy's head back. Man, that has to hurt. Oh, ouch. But the baby thinks it is a real crack-up, and starts to laugh. He puts his open mouth down to the boy's head in some baby version of a kiss.

The boy's head is tilted to the sky. He reaches his arms back and unclenches the baby's fingers from his hair. But once he is free, he keeps his chin pointed up, just keeps staring up above. He watches the backlit cotton candy clouds in a lava-lamp sky, and it is then I am sure this is a story I'll be part of.



Deb Caletti's writing is so compelling and she has the ability to bring an authentic young adult voice to all of her characters in all of her novels. Even though Jade suffers from anxiety, falling for a boy with serious problems does not add to her anxiety. If anything her relationship with Sebastian brings a sense of calm to her life even when it seems circumstances are out of their control. I also love how the author deals with more serious intimacy. The readers know what happens in that moment without the author plunging into detail. I want my daughter to one day read my favorite books, but I do not want her to read anything explicit as some YA books tend to have when it comes to intimacy. My overall rating is The Kind of Book You Just Want to Stay in Bed With All Day and Relish Every Favorite Moment.

Of course I love her name...Jade de Luna.

A Novel Idea...for Getting a Boy

After about two grueling weeks of screenwriting and fiction classes, I am finally getting around to reviewing something! I’ve been swamped with this historical epic I’m writing as a screenplay. I won’t even tell you about it because it will make my head hurt…think Gladiator, Braveheart, and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Well…This week I’m writing about A Novel Idea by Aimee Friedman. It is definitely a light read, but it is highly refreshing for all those of you who love the basic YA romance.

It has an anti-romance protagonist who loves books, a poet who is good looking on second glance, and a book club made up of the most random group of teens you can think of…booklover, poet, sci-fi enthusiast, glamour girl, gay best friend, and aspiring pastry chef. Kind of reminds me of the classic 80’s movie, The Breakfast Club. For you millennial/ Y2K babies, the movie was about a random groups of teens…teen socialite, teen outcast, teen rebel, etc. who faced one day together in detention. It’s a classic, but not one of my favorites. I’d rather see A Novel Idea as a movie. I think it’d be a hit.

As you would guess, there are various hook-ups that I cannot tell you about because then I’d ruin the whole story for you. But, here are some things of interest: Norah Bloom attends a Manhattan high school in Greenwich Village named after Edna St. Vincent Millay (yes, named after the poet who had numerous love affairs) and has never been kissed. She hates romance and mushy subway couples and is really glad she lives in a funky, Brooklyn neighborhood with indie bookstores and coffee shops. Her two places of refuge are the comfy sofas of the Book Nook (where she hangs out with her friend to drink lattes and watch the hot guy working the register) and her the home version of the Book Nook in her own bedroom (equipped with a hidden stash of trashy romance novels under the bed). Norah will never admit to reading these books as most people peg her as someone who only reads books with more literary merit. And, no one knows she is using one of those trashy romance novels (with the title How to Catch a Duke) as a guidebook on how to get a guy, or rather, a poet who is on the same wave length as Norah when it comes to anything relating to books and poetry.

Hmmm…what do you suppose happens?

Aimee Friedman really knows teenagers, and she has them pegged to a “T,” from the way they dress to the things they like to read, including mention of Eragon, Gossip Girl, and even the more literary acclaimed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. She even mentions her own novel, South Beach, in a string of “chick-lit” books favored by the glamour girl of the book club. Aimee knows what she writes and has enough down-to-earthness to slightly poke fun at herself. In writing Norah’s voice, Aimee Friedman stays true to the voice of any teenage girl looking for that right guy.

I would’ve liked to have seen the blending of a specific book club novel into the plot, especially since the title is A Novel Idea. But, that is just a minor detail and more than makes up for it with her quirky cast of characters.

I have two pieces of advice for Norah and any other young girl out there reading this…

Advice from a 36 year old woman:

1. Never write love letters to yourself from some cute boy who doesn’t exist

2. If it ever looks like a poet or any other good-looking guy is about to kiss you, just grab him and do it.

One of my favorite quotes from A Novel Idea:

Good books and cute boys all at once?

While I was still in high school?

Not possible.

Twenty Boy Summer...Coming to an End

Well, here we are at the end of summer...one more week before I go back to work and I get a whole new batch of teenagers. A whole new group to scare with the grueling workload for advanced placement world history! On the bright side (for them and for me), I know I'm going to meet some really interesting and awesome individuals, and I know I'll find some YA enthusiasts to talk books (when I'm not teaching, of course) with me!

To all my former sophomores...I already miss you (sniff, sniff). You guys must totally come visit me, especially all those of you (and you know who you are) who were like my second set of children. By the way, congratulations! A 28% passing rate on the AP World History exam! See...I told you all the note taking, quizzing, AP bible reading, and essays from the yonder unseen place was necessary torture! For those of you who don't know...28% is actually good. The exam is like the exam of nightmares. Even I'd be afraid to take it.

But on to what I love the most...YA books! And to celebrate the end of summer, this week I'll be focusing on Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler. (Yes, I said this week because with school and graduate night classes, and all kinds of stuff with my own kids everyday of the week, well, I can only commit to doing so many things. But, I promise at least one post a week.)

Before I tell you what it's about, read the excerpt. That will pretty much get you over to a book store or library. I think the title itself is enough. 20 Boys + Summer = 2 Girls in Search of Love

I kick off my flip-flops and walk across the wet grass to the steps, sitting on the bottom one and digging a little tunnel in the sand with my feet. It’s wet and cold under the hot surface, just like Matt said.

As the waves shush against the shore, I look out over the ocean and watch a few families scattered along the beach. In front of me, a mother stands knee-deep in the water, waving and calling for two little boys to come in for lunch.

When someone you love dies, people ask you how you’re doing, but they don't really want to know. They seek affirmation that you’re okay, that you appreciate their concern, that life goes on and so can they. Secretly they wonder when the statute of limitations on asking expires (it’s three months, by the way. Written or unwritten, that’s about all the time it takes for people to forget the one thing that you never will.).

They don’t want to know that you’ll never again eat birthday cake because you don’t want to erase the magical taste of the frosting on his lips. That you wake up every day wondering why you got to live and he didn’t. That on the first afternoon of your first real vacation, you sit in front of the ocean, face hot under the giant sun, willing him to give you a sign that he’s okay.

Want to know more? I'll keep it short.

California sun seems like the ideal ingredient for a summer romance, right? Except when you've already loved someone--someone you know longer have. In Twenty Boy Summer, Anna's best friend, Frankie, is determined to find a boyfriend for Anna by getting her to meet one boy each day for twenty days. Sounds like a plan, but everybody knows relationship is built on quality not quantity. Then again, Frankie is a teenager. I remember being pretty adamant about having a boyfriend back in high school, and I probably would have gone along with Frankie's plan because meeting 20 boys would have been better than none and maybe, just maybe, true love would appear like a fairy tale. But, this is not Anna's reason. See, Anna has already had a summer romance--a summer romance with Frankie's older brother that would have gone through may more seasons had it not been for the hand of tragedy. Frankie does not know this. Anna's love died with Frankie's brother, yet Anna has to go along with the 20 boy plan to protect her secret.

The book is much more than this though. It's a coming-of age novel touching on first love, teen intimacy, loss, grief, friendship, and the value of honesty. It's really more about their friendship, the ways in which Anna and Frankie have changed, the secrets they keep from one another, and the betrayals they face by their own actions. Anna doesn't hold anything back in her voice...the author, Sarah Ockler, manages to get into the immediacey of the experience through a realistic portrayal of a teenage girl. This is Anna.

The guilt of not telling Frankie about Matt and me is overwhelming, but it is a pale second to the violation I feel that she read my most private, raw thoughts and destroyed them. She broke into my carefully guarded heart, stole the only memories of Matt I had to myself, and turned them into a monstrosity.

Red Glass...A Slice of Hispanic Culture

Exciting news! Laura Resau, author of Red Glass, will be a visiting author at South Texas ISD during the month of March. I am completely thrilled! Like I told you a couple days ago, I picked up Red Glass right before a live chat with Laura over at the Readergirlz website. I absolutely loved the book and raved about it to our librarians. So, thank you, Lucy, for contacting Laura and making this happen. She'll be presenting to teens and teachers from Med High and Sci Tech over here in Mercedes, Texas and also at the Edinburg and San Benito campuses...to an audience of readers who will recognize and appreciate the references to Hispanic culture in Red Glass. Can't wait to get more details on her school visit!

Check out this excerpt: I held Pablo's hand, and when no one was looking Angel would slip his hand into mine for a moment, or I would let my arm graze his, or he would touch me with the excuse of pointing out something and let his hand linger a few beats. The crowd was pushing us into each other and we let it happen. I loved the shade created just for a moment between his arm and mine, his face and my neck, my hair and his hand. And in this space, I could almost forget that he was leaving for good.

And this one too: And then suddenly, Angel's hand was on my hip and he was turning me around and pressing me to him and whispering, out of breath, "Lime-girl." I felt my breasts against his chest, and I breathed in his soap, the detergent of his T-shirt, next to the destroyed Virgen on the sliver of moon, with only a few tiny stars left on her cape, I could see why someone would want a mnoment of complete happiness, even if it wouldn't last.

In Red Glass, Sophie is a teenage girl who has always been afraid of everything--of the sheer number of possible illnesses and tragedies that may come hurling towards her. She is especially afraid of losing life to death and losing those whom she has come to love, including Pablo, a six year old illegal immigrant whose parents died crossing the border into Arizona, and Angel, a young man who many might judge as Sophie's complete opposite with his gold chains and low-slung jeans. Sophie's fears are put to the test when she agrees to travel into Mexico with her aunt Dika, Angel, and Mr. Lorenzo (Dika's boyfriend and Angel's father) to reunite Pablo with his family. Together they create their own little world made up of car, heat, Mexico, and Neruda (Hispanic poet Pablo Neruda) as they travel several days to the state of Oaxaca, a place where some still speak a more indigenous form of Spanish called Mixteco.

Sophie is aware that Pablo might break her heart if he agrees to stay with his family, but what she does not expect is that Angel, someone she has only barely met, may do further damage by going south into Guatemala to find his own mother. Angel knows of death, having nearly lost his own while picking coffee beans during his youth. And, with the hope of finding his mother alive, Angel feels his home is his mother. He sees nothing wrong with making his life in Guatemala rather than the US. He had never wanted to leave his tierra (his land) in the first place. Sophie finds it difficult to understand how anybody, including Pablo and Angel, would be willing to leave the safety and luxury of the U.S. for a world that is more uncertain. Or, rather, a world uncertain to Sophie only.

But, throught the example of strong women, Sophie is able to see she is not the first to endure obstacles and pain. First there is her aunt Dika, a Bosnian refugee whose home was destroyed and who once had a great love in her life. Then there is Nola, who lhas always loved one man, a gitano (gypsy), her entire life even though circumstances have kept her from being with him. There's also her mother who is willing to provide midnight meals to illegal immigrants who are living near life and death situations. And then, there are the women of Pablo's village who show Sophie how to manage the hard work of village life--stirpping kernels off dried corncobs, carrying heavy buckets down dirt roads, making tortillas over a fire and turning them over with her own fingers. (Hey, I barely pick them up with my nails and sometimes resort to a fork or spatula.) And the men? Well, the men do the men work in the fields. That's how my parents, grandparents, and long line of ancestores made their lives.

With their example, Sophie discovers she has more strength than she thinks possible. The gringuita (slang word meaning white girl) from the ends up risking her life through possible bus hijackings and gang abductions in order to rescue the life of a man she has grown to love--Angel Reyes. Now, does he find his mother? Does he come back with Sophie? I won't tell you, but I will say he finds the guavas sustaining life and the red glass once worn by his mother and now draped around Sophie's neck.

But, what I really enjoyed the most was all the cultural flavor...the description of boys selling tiny packs of chicles, the sounds of the cumbia, and the assembly line of tamale making. Now, for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about...chicles refer to gum, the cumbia is a rythmic style of music, and tamales....mmmmm...you've got to eat them! Tamale making is a Mexican tradition still alive here in South Texas. Of course, many of us buy them by the dozen, but even I know exactly what the tamale assembly line is all about. Basically, a bunch of women (the grandmas, aunts, etc.) get together, especially during the holidays, and make loads of tamales for all to share and take home. It's quite an elaborite process of kneading, spreading, and boiling, but it does provide a pleasant time of sisterhood, laughter, and fellowship with all the comadres (close, female friends and relatives). Ok. l'll admit a little gossip probably takes place, too, but it's all in good fun. And, Laura describes it right on. It's been a while since I've done the whole tamale thing...I have to plan better this Christmas and get over to my Mom's whenever she gets the tamale making bug!

Read it! It'll get you in the mood for some awesome, home-made Mexican food. A road trip, yummy food, romance, true-to-life descriptions, and Laura's beautiful imagery...can't go wrong with it. You'll love it! Hmmm...I think I'll make some real tortillas sometime this week.