Gorilla witness protection program, I assume?
May the Fourth be with you!
Teen Review
Daisy Whitney
Pub 6-2013, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Love and loss are two of the most powerful experiences the human soul can have. One is filled with joy and awakening, the other with sorrow and longing. Yet they often go hand-in-hand: One brings pain, and the other healing. This is the overarching theme of Daisy Whitney’s When You Were Here, the story of a young man trying to find closure after his mother’s death. He manages to find love in ways that bring unexpected healing.
Two months before his graduation, Danny Kellerman’s mother lost her battle with cancer. After losing his father six years before, and his adopted sister more or less deserting his family, Danny really doesn’t think he can take much more. Searching for solace, he flies to his family’s old apartment in Tokyo. There, he meets Kana, a girl with whom he forms an unlikely friendship. While dealing with his mother’s death, Danny also trying to figure out why Holland, his childhood companion and onetime girlfriend, has been acting distant. During his time in Tokyo, Danny discovers that his mother had found a method of healing that may not have saved her life, but did provide comfort for her soul.
Love is the driving force in When You Were Here, and appears in many different forms. There is the love that existed between Danny and his mother: the unconditional, ever-present kind only found between a parent and a child. There is the love between Danny and Kana: not romantic, but a strong brother-sister bond that forms after only a few weeks. And there is the love between Danny and Holland: one which proves that, even in the face of tragedy and distance, when two people are meant to be together, they will find a way. The forms love assumes in this story enable Danny to find healing and hope.
As a person who has never experienced the loss of a parent, I can’t say with a hundred percent authority that this book tackles grief in an authentic way.
However, what I have witnessed in the lives of others leads me to believe that this is an honest, very well-written account of the grieving process. At the beginning, Danny is angry and confused, but by the end he has reached a point of closure and assurance. Yes, he has gone through a horrible experience, but healing is possible. His development as a character is without flaw; Danny changes from a person who can’t see what good can come from tragedy, to someone who is ready to move forward.
Brilliantly executing the difficult themes of love and death, Daisy Whitney has created a story that tells the truth about grief: It is difficult to endure, but there is always a way to move on. If death is the cut, then love is the balm that heals the wounds Danny has incurred.
- Rachel P., 17
Teen Review
Rachel Vail
Pub 12-2012, HarperTeen
He closed the distance I’d opened up between us and kissed me lightly on the lips. “Maybe we can just be,” Kevin whispered.
Rachel Vail is the author of over sixteen young adult novels and countless other books for children. Her latest novel, Kiss Me Again, the sequel to If We Kiss, is a contemporary teen story that pushes boundaries both romantic and familial. This isn’t a story that you hear all the time, but it found a way into my heart with its twists and turns.
Kiss Me Again picks up where If We Kiss ended. Charlie Collins explains how much has changed since last year: Her mother is now married to the father of her crush, Kevin Lazarus, so Kevin is now her stepbrother. Charlie is making all kinds of mistakes — especially with her best friend, whose trust she has to earn back after dating Kevin when Tess was dating him. To make things more odd, Charlie and Kevin are still in love, but their parents don’t know about it.
Vail uses this scenario to show how complicated romance can be for teenagers. Charlie and Kevin have to live under the same roof, and they don’t want to upset the balance. Maybe it’s better sometimes for parents not to know things! But keeping things from parents can also make them more difficult. Because, even though their love is so complicated, Charlie and Kevin aren’t willing to let it go.
When, in If We Kiss, Tess noticed Charlie and Kevin together all the time, she wasn’t happy about it. But even though Charlie didn’t want to hurt her friends’ feelings, she realized she couldn’t make everyone happy. She was faced with a very difficult choice: What did she want the most? She learned that her real friends would stick around despite her choice of boyfriend, even if they weren’t as close as they were before.
Charlie is faced with a similar problem in Kiss Me Again: What does she want most? Does she want to be with Kevin or does she want to keep the peace at home? If she’s with Kevin, their parents will find out and they might break up. Charlie couldn’t live with the guilt. At the same time, she and Kevin can’t keep their love a secret forever. What will Charlie do?
Like my favorite love stories, this one has a happy ending. We don’t find out what happens with Charlie and Kevin, suggesting that there may be a third book (hopefully!) in the series. But Kiss Me Again shows us how to forgive and just love what we have for the moment. It also leaves curiosity in the reader’s head with the last chapter. Kiss Me Again is a great book for all teens still learning about the ins and outs of romance.
- Nisi S., 17
Staff Pick: 17 & Gone
Nova Ren Suma
9780525423409
Penguin, Dutton
$17.99
$17.99
Nova Ren Suma is one of the best authors writing for teenagers today (quote me). In her latest, a high school student named Lauren begins having waking nightmares leading her to a series of girls who all went missing just after their 17th birthday, which is just days away for Lauren herself. Lauren becomes more and more unhinged as she draws closer and closer to the center of the mystery as Cristin spends less and less time sleeping while inhaling pages and pages of this fantastic ghost story.
- Cristin
Staff Pick: In The Shadow of Blackbirds
Cat Winters
97814197053041
Abrams/ Amulet, $16.95
No one expects the Spanish Influenza, and the residents of 1918 San Diego are paralyzed by their fear of contracting the disease. Among them is 16 year old Mary, mourning the sweetheart that she’s just lost in the war and grappling with her recently-discovered ability to communicate with the dead, a power that emerged in perfect synchronicity with the early days of American Spiritualism, which has got to be confusing for a wee teenager. The book is incredibly atmospheric and bananas creepy. Come for the spooky descriptions of coffin-lined streets and disease-ridden sick wards and stay for the remarkable writing.
~Cristin
Young Reviewer
The Critter Club: Amy and the Missing Puppy
Callie Barkley
Pub 1-2013, Little Simon
The Critter Club is a new series by Calli Barkley. Amy and the Missing Puppy is the first book. It’s clear that Callie Barkley loves animals.
Everybody has something to do on Spring break except for Amy. Amy meets Ms. Sullivan. Amy doesn’t know that Ms. Sullivan has a dog. The dog, Rufus, is so excited that he gives Amy a dog kiss when he meets her!
When Amy goes outside she hears a big bang! A few minutes later, Ms. Sullivan comes to her house crying because Rufus is lost.
Amy soon becomes a detective because she wants to find Rufus. Now her Spring break is getting better and better! Amy finds her first clue. All of Amy’s friends come back from their spring breaks and help Amy look for Rufus. Amy’s friends are nervous about meeting Ms. Sullivan. Ms. Sullivan decides to open a new animal shelter, to help find missing animals. Amy’s Spring break turns out to be amazing!
My favorite part of the book is the very end, after Amy and her friends use all the clues they’ve gathered to look for Rufus. I like that they use clues to find him. I also liked Ms. Sullivan because she lets Amy and her friends pick the name of the animal shelter she decides to open. They name it the Critter Club! My favorite character in the book is Amy because she’s a good detective. She uses clues.
I love Amy and the Missing Puppy because I love how the characters act. I think you’ll like the book too!
- Karina G., 5
