The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: *****
Pages: 338
Calpurnia Virginia Tate, Callie Vee to everyone but her mother and Granddaddy, is the only girl in a family of six brothers. In 1899, that means endless hours of knitting socks at home and lessons on Use of Hankie and Thimble at school. She can't even check out a copy of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species from the library without her mother's permission.
Unfortunately, Calpurnia is beyond her time. She's clever enough to lure earthworms to the surface by dumping a bucket of water on the same patch of dry ground four days in a row-and then sell them to her brother by the dozen. She writes a letter to the newspaper telling them to measure the temperature in the shade instead of the middle of the street. After all, who stands out in the sun unless they're scampering to another patch of shade?
As her interest in the natural world develops, Calpurnia wants to focus her attention on the finch population and her Confederate veteran turned businessman turned naturalist Granddaddy's stories. Unfortunately, her mother is determined to turn her into a proper lady. On top of it all, her oldest brother has started dating-and three of her other brothers are in love with Lula, her best friend.
The independent woman vs. docile lady conflict is nothing new. I'm actually starting to get sick of it. But Calpurnia's spunk and dramatic (if a tad melodramatic) emotions invest this novel with a power rarely seen in debut novels.
 

The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal

 

Rating: ****

Pages: 321

Genre: Fantasy with a hint of mystery, plus the obvious romance you find in every teen novel

Nalia has never felt quite comfortable as princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor. She's shy, bookish, klutzy, and prefers the company of her best friend, an earl named Kiernan, to other ladies. When she learns she's really Sinda Azaway, a stand-in to protect the real Nalia from a deathly prophecy, fitting in becomes even harder. She struggles with the daily tasks of commoners, like cooking, cleaning, and understanding boys. Her newfound magical powers aren't exactly helping.

But when Sinda discovers a conspiracy that threatens both her and Nalia, she's forced to push her powers to the limit, break into tombs, and admit her true feelings for Kiernan.

Mistaken identity and princess stories are two of my bigger pet peeves. Is there anything more improbable and inconvenient than a poor average girl being swept off into a life of luxury that was hers all along? O'Neal takes the other end of the story. Despite a protagonist I suspect to be partly based on herself and the obvious romance, O'Neal's red herrings, midstory twist, and shocker ending create a princess story unlike any other.

Waterfall by Lisa T. Bergren

Rating: **
Genre: Historical fiction, sci fi, romance
Series: First of a trilogy
Pages: 369
For Gabi and Lia, it's shaping up to be yet another boring of summer of uncovering artifacts in ancient Italian burial mounds. Their mother is an archaeologist. They do that every summer. But when they decide to explore the tomb for themselves instead of watching their mom do it from afar, Gabi is swept back seven hundred years to medieval battlefield. Lia is nowhere to be found.
Waterfall avoided some of the more annoying quirks of time travel romances. Gabi is fluent in both Italian and Latin, so there's no need for everybody in Medieval Italy to magically and conveniently start speaking twenty-first century English. She doesn't cower behind knight in shining armor whenever the Bad Guys come out to play. Half the time she's the one wielding the sword.
Waterfall is a very good time travel novel, but a deplorable romance. It's obvious why Marcello (aka Sir Shiny Armor) likes Gabi. How many fourteenth century woman have the spunk to repel down a castle wall with a sword in hand, pretend to be nobility, and back-talk a man, all in effort to find and save her little sister?
But I can't see why Gabi would be willing to spend fifteen seconds of her life fantasizing over this guy. He's described as being hot and treats her with all the courtesy that befits the lady she's pretending to be. But that means nothing to me. I have to see heroic feats of bravery or heartmelting acts of kindness before I bat an eyelash.
The climax happens about a hundred pages before the end of the book. Twenty of those are necessary. The rest is an extended victory party.
Then there's the title. There is no waterfall or even a waterfall metaphor in the entire story.
Waterfall is a good read for anybody who enjoys strong protagonists, action, historical detail, and hot guys on horses (with a disappointing lack of other positive qualities).

Like what you read? Check out my other blog, ourvoiceteen.blogspot.com.

The Secret Journal of Brett Colton by Kay Lynn Mangum

 
 808    821
Rating: ****
Genre: Realistic fiction, religious, Mormon literature
Series: No sequel, but there's a companion book containing two guest apperances.
     Kathy can't stand her brother Brett, even though he died when he was seventeen and she was two. Her family talks about him as if he were a touchdown scoring martyr. He stared in his school play and became the first sophmore to play quarterback for varsity. Now it's Kathy's sophmore year. She's forced to tutor Jason West, the second sophmore to play quarterback for varsity. In addition to being an obnoxious jock, Jason is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon), which happens to be the church Brett investigated before his death.
     On Kathy's sixteenth birthday, she finds a journal Brett kept for her. As Kathy reads the entries between trying to raise her grade in theater class and sorting out her feelings for Jason, she can't help but grow closer to Brett.
     Mangum's characters are unique. Brett and Jason aren't your stereotypical dumb jocks, Kathy is more than a quiet, book-loving girl. Brett's entries tie in with and add drama to whatever Kathy happens to be doing at the moment.
     Though is one of those young adult books that can appeal to a wide age range. I first read it in fourth grade, but I can see adults enjoying it. Though set and published in Utah, The Secret Journal of Brett Colton is applicable to the lives of people everywhere.

Like what you read? Check out my other blog, ourvoiceteen.blogspot.com.

Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Rating: *****
Genre: Mythology, fantasy, action

Pages: 345

Series: A sequel is set for release in fall 2012.

Gretchen is a huntress descended from the legendary Medusa. The only family she's ever known is her mentor, Ursula, who trained her to hunt monsters on the dark streets of San Francisco before she vanished without explanation.

Grace is a vegetarian and computer geek trying to fit in at her elite private school in a strange new city. She understands that San Francisco, being a big city, will have its share of weirdos, but that doesn't explain why she keeps running into monsters. Or a girl who could be her twin.

Greer is occupied with shoe shopping, pleasing her busy parents, and co-chairing the Immaculate Heart Alumnae Tea. She simply doesn't have time for those two girls who look eerily similar to her, aside from their woeful lack of fashion sense. Besides, monster hunting could get her clothes dirty.

But like it or not, the three of them are triplets, destined to work together to save the world.

Before I started reading, I thought it would be confusing to shift between three first person narrators, expecially because they all have similar names. But Gretchen, Grace, and Greer have such different personalities, styles, food preferences, and even language. I was never lost. Aside from Greer not appearing until chapter fifteen (well, look who decided to show up), I didn't have any problems with this book.

I loved the language, the unique characters, and the interesting but not distracting subplots, but the thing that stuck out to me is how Childs really gets teenage life. She understands that we have whiteboards instead of blackboards, powerpoint presentations are a good time to have naps, and that most schools don't have a popularity pyramid like they do in movies.

With its mythological background, Sweet Venom is a great read for anybody suffering from Percy Jackson withdrawal.

Like what you read? Check out my other blog, ourvoiceteen.blogspot.com.

EPIC by Conor Kostick

 
Rating: ***1/2
Genre: Sci fi, fantasy, adventure, dystopian
Series: Two sequels
Pages: 396
     Erik's life isn't too different from many of ours': eat, sleep, work, video games. But in Erik's world, your success in life depends on your success in Epic, a virtual reality game slightly similar to World of Warcraft. If you play well, you can live in a nice house and go to college. If you don't, you live in a tiny farm house with no future, like Erik.
     But when Erik's character dies and takes his hard earned money with it, he doesn't feel like playing by the rules anymore. When he creates his new character, he spends all his points on beauty instead of strength or weapons. That would be a pretty stupid decision if it didn't cause somebody to walk up to his character and hand over a priceless jewel. Instead of fighting easy monsters for meager money, Erik convinces his friends to help him with an impossible quest that surprises them by paying off. Big time. But when Erik makes a shocking discovery, he begins to wonder if the world might be better off without Epic.
     I like the idea of the book, but the characters bugged me, particularly Erik. He not a very interesting character and I thought the story could have been told just as well from any of his friends' point of view. At least they have one or two distinguishing characteristics. I recommend Epic to readers of sci fi and dystopian fiction, as well as people who wonder why books can't be as interesting as video games.
     

Savvy by Ingrid Law

  
Rating: ***1/2
Genre: Fantasy
Series: One companion book
Pages: 352
     Mibs's family is not what you would call normal. On their thirteenth birthday, they wake up with a magical talent called a savvy. Mibs can't wait for her savvy-until an accident leaves her dad in a coma. Luckily, her savvy seems to hold the key to making him better, and it's a simple matter of sneaking aboard a bus headed toward the hospital. But everything goes wrong. The bus heads in the wrong direction, there are other stowaways who suspect something is up with Mibs, one of them is a cute boy, and she may even be wrong about her savvy.
     I didn't have high expectations when I picked up this book. The cover and idea were interesting enough, but I thought writing a 352 page book about a bus ride would be a stretch. 
     I was surprised. The characters are unique, the pace is steady, and, best of all, everything goes wrong, but the characters keep on going.