For the second year, I signed up to help judge the Nerds Heart YA tournament because:

1. I am a nerd, and
2. I heart YA.

The books I had to decide between were worlds apart this year—one historical fiction and the other a fantasy. I’ll start with reviews of each one, but if you can’t bear the suspense any longer feel free to skip to the end of this post for the decision…

Can you trust me? Compare our taste!

Alligator Bayou

Author: Donna Jo Napoli
Summary: 14-year-old Calogero is a Sicilian boy who’s lost his mother, so he’s sent to work with other Sicilians in a small Louisiana town during the late 1890s. At that time, Italians weren’t accepted as equals by whites, and being friends with blacks was frowned upon. But that doesn’t stop Calogero from having a crush on a beautiful girl who happens to be black.

What I Loved: This would be an excellent choice for kids who are studying this time period in their history class. Early on, a feeling of what life was like in that world settles into your bones. Kids would learn way more from one good piece of fiction like this than from memorizing important dates and names for weeks on end.

So what I loved most about this book is that it takes an obscure slice of America’s history—how five Italian immigrants were brutally murdered—and serves it up for us to mull over.

The language was spare throughout—not too flowery or overly descriptive, but just enough to get a vivid image across. Here’s a snippet for you, from a scene with Calogero and the girl he has a crush on:

She sets down the lantern glass and puts her hands lightly on my cheeks.

I touch the center of her back at the waist. Just a hint. She moves to me, natural as water running downhill.

What I Didn’t Love: The story gets off to a slow start, or at least slower than I prefer. I didn’t really get a sense that the true stakes were life and death until about halfway through the book. More hinting in the beginning about those high stakes would have helped pique my interest.

But I’m glad I stuck with it and finished.

One more minor issue that tripped up my reading was the way that background information was sometimes delivered through dialogue. In some places, that dialogue came off a little too speech-y for my taste. As in: “Ahem. Now listen to me, while I will tell you everything I know about that topic.”

Borrow: Your local library | Swap
Buy: Your local bookstore | Powell’s | Amazon

Evil?

Author: Timothy Carter
Summary: Stu is a gay teen living in a devoutly religious small town. He also summons a demon on occasion to chat. But none of that is why everyone in town hates him. The trouble all started after Stu’s little brother caught Stu in the act of pleasuring himself and announced it at church.

What I Loved: I wish there were more YA books that explore the nature of religion, so I was glad to read such a playful attempt at doing that.

I also loved that what gets Stu in trouble had nothing to do with him being gay. The townspeople were actually surprisingly okay with his orientation—that is, surprising for a small religious town.

What I Didn’t Love: I don’t have a problem with fantasy or absurd storylines. (In fact, I have a fond place in my weird little heart for books like Lips Touch and Pretty Monsters and Jack Tumor.)

But the fantastical twists and turns in this book did not make a believer out of me.

The humor didn’t exactly convert me to fandom, either. Instead of laughing or even smiling at the jokes, I groaned. Like with this one:

I did think I was better than most people in this town. When you’re a gay teenager with a brain among a community that expects God to “Rapture” them at any given moment, you can’t help but feel that way. If that makes me a snob, then say hello to my upturned nostrils!

I like my humor fresh and original. To me, the humor in this book was not either of those things.

Borrow: Your local library | Swap
Buy: Your local bookstore | Powell’s | Amazon

The Decision

The book that will continue to the next round is…

.
.
.

Alligator Bayou

If you’re a numbers sort of person, here’s the ratings breakdown:

Alligator Bayou: 3/5
Evil?: 2/5

To see how Alligator Bayou fares in the next round of the tournament, keep an eye on There’s a Book for Danielle’s decision.

Can you trust me? Compare our taste!

Title: Going Bovine
Author: Libba Bray
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 3/5
Why I Read It: I have a track record of loving Printz winners and honor books, and Going Bovine is the 2010 winner.

Summary: 16-year-old Cameron doesn’t care much about anything. But being diagnosed with mad cow disease solves that problem.

Review: Utterly, positively funny. The wit and sarcasm drips off every single page of this book, so much so that I became immune to it after a while. I tend to prefer the brand of funny that hides around the next corner and startles a laugh out of me.

Maybe I would have felt differently if I had started out liking the main character. But he is so incredibly apathetic at the beginning that I didn’t feel compelled to care in return. Then about halfway through, I did start rooting for him.

Because guess what? When Cameron started to care about what was going on around him, I started to care too. And it didn’t hurt that the Don Quixote parallels meant I could relive my English major days.

I enjoyed this book, although it was just alright for me. Could be I wasn’t in the right mood when I read it. Here’s a taste so you can decide whether it’s right for you:

The best day of my life happened when I was five and almost died at Disney World.

I’m sixteen now, so you can imagine that’s left me with quite a few days of major suckage.

Like Career Day? Really? Do we need to devote an entire six hours out of the high school year to having “life counselors” tell you all the jobs you could potentially blow at? Is there a reason for dodgeball? Pep rallies? Rad soda commercials featuring Parker Day’s smug, fake-tanned face? I ask you.

But back to the best day of my life, Disney, and my near-death experience.

I know what you’re thinking: WTF? Who dies at Disney World? It’s full of spinning teacups and magical princesses and big-assed chipmunks walking around waving like it’s absolutely normal for jumbo-sized stuffed animals to come to life and post for photo ops. Like, seriously.

Your Turn: What brand of funny do you go for?

Borrow: Your local library | Swap
Buy: Your local bookstore | Powell’s | Amazon

Did You Like This Book? Try:

• Fire—My rating: 3.5/5
• When You Reach Me
• Leviathan
• More Recommendations from LibraryThing

Can you trust me? Compare our taste!

Title: North of Beautiful
Author: Justina Chen Headley
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 3/5
Why I Read It: This title was picked by 3 bloggers during Unsung YA Heroes 2010: Biblio File, Write Meg!, and YA Librarian Tales.

Summary: Most people think Terra is beautiful, until they see the port-wine birthmark on her cheek. Surgery won’t remove it, makeup can’t cover it up all the way, and her father certainly won’t let her forget it’s there.

Review: From the first sentence, this story firmly planted me in Terra’s shoes. Terra’s experience will make you realize how focused we are on a single definition of beauty—who has it and who doesn’t. When I was a good ways into the book, I was out at a coffee shop and standing in line. I caught a kid staring at me, and immediately my hand flew to my cheek. There’s no birthmark on my cheek, but the book made me feel for Terra’s situation so completely that for a split second I thought otherwise.

As if dealing with stares and nasty comments from strangers weren’t enough, Terra’s home situation will break your heart. Her dad is verbally abusive and controlling, almost beyond belief. Terra copes well enough by writing him off, but her mom copes by overeating. This subplot, while powerful, felt a little over-the-top at times. In some scenes, Terra’s mom was just a little too pitiful, and I didn’t believe she was really that weak.

The other reason I didn’t connect 100% with this book is the amount of internal dialogue where Terra explains what she’s feeling. When it comes to internal dialogue, I’m in the camp of less is more. Terra would explain the same emotional struggles over and over again, and I found myself skipping over those parts to get to the action.

But the harsh reality of Terra’s struggles kept me grounded in the story, and the romance felt genuine. This was a good read, just not a favorite for me.

Your Turn: Have you ever unintentionally adopted a habit or quirk of the main character’s from the book you’re currently reading? Or “remembered” something that happened to you, when it was actually from the book?

Borrow: Your local library | Swap
Buy: Your local bookstore | Powell’s | Amazon

Did You Like This Book? Try:

• Twenty Boy Summer—My rating: 3/5
• Wintergirls—My rating: 5/5
• Willow
• More Recommendations from LibraryThing

It took me a little longer than I expected to slot all the winners for the The Great Unsung YA 2010 Giveaway because:

1. I’ve never done a giveaway with such a huge amount of entrants before, and
2. I wanted to make sure the winners got one of their top three picks.

After a little game of musical chairs, I was able to accomplish #2 in all except one case!

So without further ado, here are the lucky winners, thanks to random.org:

1. Alexa Nagasue and a BONUS copy for Shesten Melder: Gamma Glamma by Kim Flores
   (A special thanks to the author for sending over an extra copy of an uncorrected proof so Shesten could get the bonus win!)
2. Annika Dalton: The Secrets of the Cheese Syndicate by Donna St. Cyr
3. Kat Drennan: My Life from Air-Bras to Zits by Barbara Haworth-Attard
4. Keira Gillett: The Thirteen Curses by Michelle Harrison
5. Lisa Gibson: The Puzzle Ring by Kate Forsyth
6. Mary Bell: Unsigned Hype by Booker T. Mattison
7. Melanie Goodman: Border Crossing by Jessica Lee Anderson
8. Sabrina Horande: Trudy by Jessica Lee Anderson
9. Stacy Walker: Year of the Horse by Justin Allen
10. Susie Sharp: The Death-Defying Pepper Roux by Geraldine McCaughrean

Congratulations, all! Details are on their way via email.

Photo by A Christmas Story House Gift Shop.

Can you trust me? Compare our taste!

Title: Hush, Hush
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 1/5
Why I Read It: This review at Forever Young Adult put the book on my radar so when I saw it on the library shelf, I snagged it.

Summary: High school senior Nora and her best friend are lab partners in biology, but for some reason their teacher makes a new seating chart with only weeks left in the year. Nora gets stuck with the new guy who she feels simultaneously attracted to and repulsed by.

Review: This book was lucky to get even a 1-star rating from me. The star it did earn is based purely on the writing—which I thought was good for the most part save for some repetitive internal dialogue—and nothing to do with the actual story.

Because I hated the actual story.

Nora’s love interest, Patch, is downright abusive to her, but she keeps coming back for more. It’d be one thing if through the relationship, she learned to assert herself or learned that she doesn’t deserve to be treated that way or learned anything about herself, actually. Nope.

Nora can tell he wants to hurt her, at least emotionally if not also physically. And it seems to make her want Patch all the more.

Maybe I just need to get over it. After all, it’s just a story. A bit of candy in book form. At least it gets kids to turn off the TV and read.

But…is it “just a story”? Here’s a quick snippet from a book called Influencer, which looks at behavioral science research to determine what motivates people to change their behavior.

Entertainment education helps people change how they view the world through the telling of vibrant and credible stories. Told well, these vicariously created events approximate the gold standard of change—real experiences… We can use words to persuade others to come around to our way of thinking by telling a story rather than firing of a lecture… A well-told narrative…changes people’s view of how the world works because it presents a plausible, touching, and memorable flow of cause and effect that can alter people’s view of the consequences of various actions or beliefs.

Meaning? Stories matter. Lectures from parents and teachers, not so much. Stories—and the messages they carry—break through where nagging doesn’t and make a real impact.

The impact books like this and Twilight will make—are making—scares me. Not because I imagine girls will finish the book, set it down, and think to themselves “Golly gee, I’d sure like to find me an emotionally abusive boy.” The problem is they won’t think about it. They’ll get caught up in the story, which will leave an imprint on their sensibilities.

I wish this were just an irrational fear of mine. Unfortunately, research has proven this is exactly what happens. Again, from Influencer:

Concrete and vivid stories exert extraordinary influence because they transport people out of the role of critic and into the role of participant. The more poignant, vibrant, and relevant the story, the more the listener moves from thinking about the inherent arguments to experiencing every element of the tale itself. Stories don’t merely trump verbal persuasion by disproving counterarguments; stories keep the listener from offering counterarguments in the first place.

So why did this book get my dander up? Because this is the message it mainlines to girls: A boy who abuses you is hot. The reason he abuses you is he truly loves you. If you put up with the abuse long enough, he’ll prove his love to you and it will all be worth it.

Finally, a quick sidebar: I have been working on this review since I finished the book a couple months ago, but a few recent posts on this same topic gave me the courage to say how I really felt about this book. Thank you to those bloggers for speaking up.

Your Turn: Which came first—the books that equate stalking with hotness, or the girls who want to read them?

Borrow: Your local library | Swap
Buy: Your local bookstore | Powell’s | Amazon

Did You Like This Book? Try:

• Fallen
• Shiver—My rating: 3/5
• Beautiful Creatures
• More Recommendations from LibraryThing