The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

As the book opens, Harold Fry, a retired man in a cold, strained marriage with Maureen, receives a letter from Queenie Hennessy, a former work colleague.  She is writing to say goodbye — she is in hospice and dying of cancer.  Harold writes a simple note in reply and sets off by foot to post it.  However, the first postal box doesn’t seem right, nor the second, . . . and Harold finds himself walking six hundred miles from the south of England to Queenie in the north, convinced that somehow his walking will keep her alive.  Harold is completely unprepared for the walk, but he feels that it is something he must do, and so he keeps on.  Along the way he meets a wildly diverse assortment of individuals, and he ponders his life, remembering the good times of so long ago, as well as the tragedies that followed.  Maureen, left at home, also has time to do a lot of thinking.  This is ultimately a very hopeful book with a message that it is never too late to seek healing for life’s hurts or to make ammends.  Recommended.

Waiting by Carol Lynch Williams

London and Zach traveled the world with their missionary parents all throughout their childhood, so it was easy for the siblings to become best friends.  Now that Zach is gone, though, it means that London has a hole in her heart AND her life.  She simply doesn’t know how to exist without her brother and best friend.  [Is it OK to smile or to laugh when your brother has killed himself?]  Even worse is the fact that her mother hasn’t talked to, looked at, or hugged her in the more than six months since Zach died.  London expects that it’s because her mother thinks it’s her fault.  With the help of friends, old and new, London is doing her best to pick up the pieces of her heart and move on with her life.

Plastic-Free by Beth Terry

It was a photograph that started author Beth Terry on her journey towards living a plastic-free life.  The sight of an albatross who had mistakenly eaten pieces of plastic – bottle caps, small toys, even a piece of a toothbrush – made her confront the reality that the consumer habits of humans have gotten out of control, and that this albatross was only one of the many creatures on land and sea who suffer from our habit of using and throwing out more plastic every year.  Terry started to notice how much plastic she was using, from shampoo bottles to candy wrappers, and decided to dramatically change her plastic consumption by seeking non-plastic alternatives and kept track of her progress in a blog.

Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Habit and You Can Too is the result of that blog and Terry’s experiences reducing plastic use.  She acknowledges that it is virtually impossible to be completely plastic-free; there is plastic in our carpets, our electronics, and our cars that we cannot escape.  However, there are other areas of our lives in which we can strive to skip unnecessary plastic waste to decrease the amount of plastic that gets thrown away each year and will never decompose.  This book does not seek to make anyone feel guilty about their consumer habits, but rather provides endless suggestions for ways to lessen plastic consumption and includes resources for non-plastic toys, dishware, to-go containers, vegetable bags, cleaning products, and more.  Plastic-Free is positive and encouraging, and will certainly inspire anyone to try to live life a bit more plastic-free.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Andrew “Ender” Wiggin was a third — a child who should not even exist in a society with a strict two children per family limit.  Why did he exist, then?  Because his parents had promised to hand him over to the government if he tested well and showed promise as a potential commander in the fight against the Buggers [an alien race with whom the people of Earth were at war].  Even though military leaders were excited by Ender’s progress at Battle School and thought he might possess the skill-set needed to save humanity, Ender was kept in the dark.  All he knew for sure was that Battle School offered him refuge from his sadistic older brother, Peter, while taking him away from the affections of the only person he has ever truly loved, his sister Valentine.  But ruining one kid’s life to potentially save the human race is worth it, right?

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake: a novel by Jenny Wingfield

Each year, on the first Sunday in June, the Moses family gathers for a reunion on their farm in Arkansas.  For daughter Willadee, with her preacher husband Samuel Lake and their three children, the chance to be with her parents is precious.  This year, however, the entire family must cope with the loss of their father and the Lake family faces additional stress when they learn that Samuel will not have a church to pastor in the coming months.  As the summer unfolds, the children thrive on the farm and become friends with the son of a brutally cruel father on an adjacent farm.  By summer’s end, Samuel and his family will find their faith and family tested as tragedy strikes.

This beautifully told story demonstrates the power of family, faith, and a belief in the possibility of miracles.  Its spirited young heroine, Swan Lake, is a child who captures the reader’s  imagination, alternately making you want to laugh, then cry with her audacity.  A powerful read!

Uglies: Shay’s Story by Scott Westerfeld

This book is yet another addition to Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies universe, a dystopia in which people are given surgery to become impossibly beautiful and suspiciously complacent once they are teenagers.  Shay’s Story adds even more illustration to the tale, literally.  This book is a graphic novel interpretation of Shay’s side of the events which take place in the novel Uglies, as well as the story of Shay’s experiences even before she meets the main character, Tally, in Uglies.  After reading all four books in the Uglies series, it was really interesting to see the Uglies universe in pictures, and the extra details from Shay really fill out the story. This graphic novel stands alone and you do not have to read all of the Uglies books to enjoy or understand it, but Westerfeld’s characters and plots are so intriguing that Shay’s Story may inspire you to delve into the novels right away.  Another Uglies graphic novel is coming out this fall and will continue the story of this strange and captivating future.

 

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

In this first book of the Chemical Garden trilogy, Lauren DeStefano introduces readers to a world in which scientists [whose intention was to cure all disease] have accidentally shortened the human life span.  Males only live to be 25, and females only live to be 20.  Some people have hope that the older generation [who still have a normal life span] will be able to fix the problem, though many have given up hope, and it seems as though the entire world is falling apart.  Young girls are routinely kidnapped and forced to work in brothels or to enter polygamous marriages so they can bear as many children as possible in an attempt to forestall the collapse of the human race.  This is how we meet Rhine.

Rhine’s parents were scientists, and they died in an explosion created by protesters.  She and her twin brother did their best to look out for one another, but she was still snatched off the street, transported several states away, and forced to marry a rich man named Linden.  Rhine is determined to escape from her new life, despite the riches and extravagance now at her disposal, because she would rather live the remainder of her short life in freedom and with her only remaining family.  She isn’t exactly sure how she might escape, let alone get back to her home and her brother, but Rhine knows she would rather die trying than give up and potentially become the subject of Linden’s father’s nefarious experiments.

Sacre Bleu: A Comedy D’Art by Christopher Moore

What did a stooped old man (with a tendency towards exhibitionism), a beautiful and mysterious woman, and a highly desired ultramarine paint known as “sacred blue” have to do with Vincent Van Gogh’s death?  Christopher Moore, the king of irreverent hilarity, will lead you to the answer in this playful and often bawdy romp through nineteenth century France.  Join Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and fictitious artist Lucien Lessard as they investigate their friend Van Gogh’s death, and along the way discover an ancient cave painting, a trove of priceless art treasures, and the truth behind Lessard’s father’s death years earlier. Moore’s book is a pleasure to read, not only for its bursts of humor and wonderful caricatures of the French Impressionists, but also for the author’s skilled writing.  A perfect summer read.

After the Snow by S.D. Crockett

This is not your typical YA dystopian story.  First, it takes place in the United Kingdom, a huge move away from the typical setting somewhere in North America.  Second, the first-person narrator speaks in a particular dialect that at first can seem confusing, but then becomes a type of free verse that places you right in the mindset of the main character, 15-year-old Willo.  Third, it’s cold.  Very very cold.  Willo lives in a world of winter, where it snows practically the entire year and major European cities have dwindled to overcrowded settlements without enough food or electricity.

Against this bleak backdrop, Willo’s story begins when he returns home from trapping in the woods to find that his entire family has disappeared from their house in the mountains.  His search to find them leads him away from the only home he’s ever known in the woods on a journey where he learns dangerous secrets about his past and makes difficult choices that will affect his future.  This is a coming of age story told in a unique style in an imagined future. There are environmental and political themes in the background, but the main focus is on the story of a boy coming into his own and taking charge of his life. The book ends on a positive note and has much to offer for teen and adult readers alike.

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

I never really thought of myself as being old enough to have  historical fiction about my generation, but this book has changed my mind.  Computers with high speed internet have become so ingrained in my life that I sometimes forget how painfully slow dial-up used to be.  Kids today might not remember those AOL trial offer CD-ROMS that used to come in the mail and litter customer service counters, but I distinctly remember wondering what the internet would be like — then fighting with my parents about tying up the phone line when I started to use it!  And although I was introduced to chat rooms, IMs, and e-mail in much the same way as Emma and Josh, I was not able to peer into my future via a mystical connection with my [15-years-in-the-future] Facebook account.

Josh and Emma weren’t sure what to make of it at first.  Sure, the picture looked a lot like an older version of Emma… but it had to be a prank.  Right?  Once they started to believe that this could possibly be a glimpse into the future, it became increasingly tempting for Emma to try and change the future.  If Emma saw something indicating that she would become unhappy in the future, she tried to think of what she could change now.  And while Josh thought his future self seemed pretty happy, he wasn’t so sure about how to handle some of the things he learned about other people.  It reminded me a bit of Back to the Future 2 with ever-changing Facebook status updates instead of actual time travel.  A fun read that makes you think?  Awesome!

Making Rounds with Oscar : the Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat by David Dosa

  • Dosa, a geriatrician working at a nursing home, at first scoffs upon hearing that Oscar, the resident cat, knows when a patient at the nursing home is going to die.  Then he starts observing that the cat unerringly heads to the room of a dying patient and stays there, providing company and comfort to both patient and family members.  However long the passing takes, Oscar stays.  Dr. Dosa begins to gather information from families of patients who have died at the nursing home, and eventually he becomes a true believer.  It is clear that Oscar somehow knows when death is near, and he won’t let anyone in his nursing home die alone.  A touching, true story about an amazing cat.

     

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

Forget what you think you know about mermaids.  They aren’t beautiful creatures with beautiful voices who long for nothing more than to be human… They are ruthless creatures who happen to be beautiful and have beautiful voices so they can better lure humans into the water in order to kill them and absorb their emotions!  Calder White is a merman whose family lives in Lake Superior.  He leaves his sisters and migrates to the tropics  during the winter, but his instincts and family bond force him to return to Lake Superior every summer.  Returning is especially important this year, though, because his sisters believe that they have finally found Jason Hancock.  ”Who’s that?,” you ask.  Oh, only the man responsible for their mother’s death.

When Jason Hancock was a baby, his father fell into the lake and was rescued by a mermaid [Calder’s mom].  In exchange for his life, he promised to give her his infant son [Jason] — but he left and took his family with him.  Calder’s mother was furious and, in her anger, was caught and killed in a fisherman’s net.  Not only do mermaids refuse to accept broken promises, but this family of mer-people wants revenge for their mother’s death as well.  Calder’s job is fairly simple.  He needs to find a way to get close to the family so that he can lure Jason into the water, where his sister’s will exact their mother’s revenge.  The only problem?  Calder starts to have feelings for Jason’s eldest daughter, Lily.  My favorite part of this book?  The end page that said a sequel would be out in 2013!

Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way by Mayim Bialik, PhD

I have been hearing much more about Attachment Parenting [AP] in recent months, so I decided to check out a book that several people told me about.  Many people will recognize Mayim Bialik as the actress who played “Blossom” [on Blossom] as an adolescent and who now plays “Amy Farrah Fowler” [on Big Bang Theory].  What a lot of people may not know, though, is that Bialik also has a PhD in Neuroscience from UCLA.  Based on her background in neuroscience, she and her husband decided that the AP style of parenting was the best possible way to raise their children — and, now, Bialik has become a spokeswoman of sorts for AP.

My son and daughter are 7 years old and 2.5 years old, respectively, so I knew a lot of the book — the information about birth, the postpartum period, and staying sane through infancy, for example — would not necessarily help me anymore.  Still, I knew the basic premise of AP would work as a guide for parenting children of any age.  Some of the topics I most enjoyed reading about — probably because they were most applicable to me now — were how to let kids be kids, how to use “gentle discipline,” and how parents can balance taking care of their children with being attentive to their own needs.  The best part of this book?  The fact that Bialik avoids being preachy and acknowledges that different methods work for different families.  How refreshing to read a parenting book that didn’t make me feel like a bad mom!

The Pregnancy Project: A Memoir by Gaby Rodriguez with Jenna Glatzer

When I first heard about Gaby Rodriguez, I just knew she would get a book deal and that I would purchase her book for my library.  I was impressed that she not only chose to fake a pregnancy for her senior project but that she managed to pull it off until the scheduled reveal at the end of her “second trimester.”  Even more impressive than her skill at pulling off this elaborate ruse, though, was her reason for doing this project.  Gaby grew up in a community where teen pregnancy was very common.  In fact, her own mother and seven older siblings had all become parents as teens.  Gaby decided to pretend to “live down to” people’s expectations to raise awareness of the way our culture reacts to teen pregnancy and treats the parents-to-be.  In order to get the most accurate results from this experiment, Gaby had to keep her project secret from all but a few people in her life.  The only people who knew the truth were her mother, her boyfriend, one of her best friends [who would report back about the reactions of teachers and students], one sister [who would report back about the reactions of family members], and some school administrators who had to approve the project.

It was amazing [albeit disheartening] to read about how quickly people changed their opinions of Gaby.  While she was still in the top 5% of her class, and she still belonged to two leadership organizations, many people automatically assumed her life was ruined as soon as they heard she was pregnant.  Based on all of the negative attention her boyfriend, Jorge, received, Gaby also came to understand why so many teen dads take off.  Being physically able to run away from a situation that everyone assures you will “ruin your life” certainly sounds like an understandable response to me.  This book is a good way to get a conversation started about how we, as a society, can do better to prevent teen pregnancy and also how we can better support teen parents so they provide themselves and their children with a better life — and hopefully help their own children break the cycle of teen pregnancy.

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

Mandy Kalinowski is pregnant and scared.  She isn’t sure about much in her life, but she is sure that she wants her baby to have a better life than she can provide — so she plans to give her baby up for adoption.

Jill MacSweeny has been lonely and depressed since her father’s sudden, unexpected death about a year before.  She has driven away most of her former friends but has a mom and a boyfriend who are ready and willing to support her.  The problem is that she doesn’t want to learn how to move on… She just wants things back the way they were.

How do their lives intersect?  Jill’s mom, Robin, is planning to adopt Mandy’s baby — without lawyers or an adoption agency.  Jill is extremely cynical, to say the least.  She is not happy that her mom is trying to adopt a baby, but she is more afraid that Mandy is going to decide to keep the baby and break her mom’s heart.  Mandy knows that the Robin is better prepared to raise this baby, but she also fantasizes about running away and keeping/raising the baby herself.  It’s hard to imagine anything but a heart-breaking ending to this story, but I promise you will cry HAPPY tears for this one!  An amazing story about life, love, and finding your place in the world.