Fat Kid Rules the World: A Banned Book Review

Troy Billings is seventeen years old. He weighs 296 pounds. He’s six foot one. And he has a crew cut. Yeah, that’s right, a crew cut. He is a sweating fat kid standing on the edge of the subway platform over the yellow line and looking down.

And, if you think about it right, there’s something funny about it, there really is.

At least until Curt MacCrae, the wily blonde ferret of a boy–sometimes student, sometimes dropout, all-the-time legend (and all-the-time homeless) boy/guitar genius, saves Troy’s life.

Suddenly, instead of jumping in front of the F train Troy is the new drummer in Curt’s band. Even though he can’t actually play the drums.

As Troy learns the ins and outs of Punk Rock and being Curt’s friend, he also finds that hitting it big as a drummer and in life might have a lot more to do with his attitude than is weight in Fat Kid Rules the World (2004) by K. L. Going.

Find it on Bookshop.

I didn’t realize it until just now when I was writing up the summary part of the review (I write those all myself, did you all know that?), but this is actually one of my favorite books.

It’s not easy being the outsider because you can’t shop at the same stores as the skinny kids or because you’re plain old bigger than everyone else.* It’s not easy having a brother who thinks you’re a loser or a father who pretty much knows you’re a waste of space. Troy has all of those things bringing him down.

He also has the most amazing sense of humor that comes through in every page of the book in his charming narration. Going manages to take a story that could be tragic and make it funny, poignant, hopeful and amazing. It’s short enough to dazzle reluctant readers, deep enough to thrill anyone looking for something more “literary.” In short, Fat Kid Rules the World is just kind of a great book.

But not everyone thinks so . . . *cue dramatic segue music*

For those of you who might not know, we are smack in the middle of Banned Books Week (September 25 to October 2, 2010). Banned Books Week is an annual thing that ALA has been organizing since 1982. It’s a week to raise awareness about books that are challenged in local libraries for reasons ranging from vaguely logical in a skewed-censorship-supporting-way to the completely insane (like this guy who thought Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson was pornographic**).

At its core, Banned Books Week is, quite simply, about celebrating the freedom to read whatever you want. (Possibly also to read whatever you want without remorse.) Thankfully larger library systems, like the one where I work, don’t have a lot of challenges that reach this level. But many libraries do and it’s a serious problem because people should be able to make their own decisions about what they read. And it’s not just modern books either, many popular classics are banned or challenged all the time.

To celebrate Banned Books Week The Rejectionist and T. H. Mafi have proposed that everyone post a review of their favorite banned book on September 30, so here (obviously) is my review of Fat Kid Rules the World by K. L. Going which was the 58th most banned book of the decade (here’s the bonus list for 1990 to 1999) and also one of the sweetest, most optimistic books out there (in a manly, all of the characters are boys, kind of way). Oh and it was a Printz Award honor book in 2004.

Also, because I enjoy sharing links, here also is K. L. Going’s post about a recent challenge to Fat Kid Rules the World.

*I actually had many petite friends in high school who came to my shoulder and it’s really weird being surrounded by people who are smaller than you. Just saying. Moving on . . .

**SPOILER: He thought it was pornographic because of a rape scene. You read that right. You may already have seen a lot of #speakloudly hashtags on Twitter or heard about it through another book blog.

Possible Pairings: Will by Maria Boyd, You Look Different in Real Life by Jennifer Castle, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, King of the Screwups by K. L. Going, Geography Club by Brent Hartinger, The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga, This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

Halo: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review

Dark forces are gathering. Terrorist attacks, murders, strife, poverty. Just look at the news and you can see them everywhere. Three angels are sent to earth to complete good works and counter the darkness. Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany the least experienced of the three, created a mere seventeen years ago, but also the most connected to the human race.

This is Bethany’s first visit to Earth. While her older siblings are able to view their new earthly surroundings and experiences at a remove Bethany is fascinated by all of it and instantly enchanted by the wonders human life has to offer.

Gabriel and Ivy immediately throw themselves into their mission, seeming to know instinctively what good they can do for the small community Venus Cove. Bethany is less certain of her own role in the mission. Instead of finding her own heavenly path, Bethany finds herself drawn to a mortal boy in Halo (2010) by Alexandra Adornetto.*

Halo had a lot of promise. It’s been getting a lot of hype. The cover is lovely. The plot is kind of interesting sounding. Adornetto, a veteran author at the tender age of seventeen, has the potential to be a media darling. And angels are the new vampires.

The book also has an intriguing trailer available for your viewing pleasure.

With all of that potential, Halo still managed to fall painfully flat.

Maybe that shouldn’t have been such a surprise after seeing the book’s epigraphs (excerpts from Romeo and Juliet and from Beyonce’s song “Halo”).

First and foremost, Halo is massive. The first book in a projected trilogy this one clocks in at just under 500 pages where nothing happens very slowly. Set up is, of course, very important for a story–arguably more so for a fantasy. That said, one hundred pages without getting to the crux of the story is a bit excessive.

Then there is the matter of Bethany, our narrator. Bethany’s naivete about life on Earth is amusing in the beginning but as the story progresses it begins to ring false. Everything seems to come easily to the angels: they are preternaturally good looking (to the point that Gabriel causes a near riot when he arrives at the local high school as the new music teacher), they inevitably excel at everything they do, they glow (really). And yet, Bethany can’t figure out how to talk to other teenagers when they use slang or reference pop culture? She finds herself tongue-tied and completely obsessed by the first (literally the first, I’m serious) good looking boy she sees. What?

On top of that, everything about Halo felt very contrived.

There are no homely people in Venus Cove, at least if there are they escape Bethany’s notice entirely–all of her human friends are beautiful with startlingly blue eyes or titian curls. The angels, unsurprisingly, have wings and Bethany mentions none of them would be wearing tank tops any time soon only to have Ivy walking around in a tank top a few pages later and Gabriel greeting a human neighbor wearing nothing but a towel.

Finally, and most bizarrely since Adornetto is herself still a teenaged girl, I couldn’t shake this feeling of condescension each time Bethany started talking about human teenagers. She identifies the cliques at school with their stereotypical modifications to their uniforms (except for the “academic types” who are too timid for such things and carry the official school backpack), she talks about listening to the prayers of teenage girls hoping to date the captain of the rugby team. Bethany keeps worrying about how weak and fragile she is compared to her siblings who are so absorbed in their heavenly mission they never get much of a chance to develop in the story. Every character, it seems, is diluted to the basest elements–especially Bethany whose thoughts are wholly consumed by a mortal boy ten pages into the story.

Halo had many promising elements, but taken together they managed to create an unexceptional book. While interesting and an undoubtedly impressive body of work for a seventeen-year-old author Halo simply did not realize its potential.

*I would tell you more about the plot but my YA Lit professor always said not to give away anything beyond the jacket copy and/or the first twenty pages. I adhered to the latter but, be warned, the plot summary above is for the first hundred pages. Seriously.

Exclusive Bonus Content: I’m not religious, so I might be the only person who missed the point here. But it turns out that a book about angels is going to be very religious–not necessarily in a preachy way but in a very overt way that was not entirely comfortable to read. I might be touchy, but I don’t see a lot of non-Christian readers picking up angel books in general and Halo in particular. It wasn’t anything in particular but I felt very at a remove reading it and very . . . not like the intended audience if that makes sense. Anyway, as ever, feel free to draw your own conclusions.

Gearing up for Banned Books Week

So it’s Banned Books Week (September 25 to October 2, 2010). Banned Books Week is an annual thing that ALA has been organizing since 1982. It’s a week to raise awareness about books that are challenged in local libraries for reasons ranging from vaguely logical in a skewed-censorship-supporting-way to the completely insane (like this guy who thought Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson was pornographic*).

At its core, Banned Books Week is, quite simply, about celebrating the freedom to read whatever you want. (Possibly also to read whatever you want without remorse.) Thankfully larger library systems, like the one where I work, don’t have a lot of challenges that reach this level. But many libraries do and it’s a serious problem because people should be able to make their own decisions about what they read. And it’s not just modern books either, many popular classics are banned or challenged all the time.

To celebrate Banned Books Week The Rejectionist and T. H. Mafi have proposed that everyone post a review of their favorite banned book on September 30.

And I think that’s a fabulous idea and hope that if you are a book blogger you might also join me in posting a review.

So check back here Thursday for my review of Fat Kid Rules the World by K. L. Going which I just realized I kind of loved when I was writing up my review.**

It was the 58th most banned book of the decade (here’s the bonus list for 1990 to 1999) and also one of the sweetest, most optimistic books out there (in a manly, all of the characters are boys, kind of way). Oh and it was a Printz Award honor book in 2004.

Also, because I enjoy sharing links, here also is K. L. Going’s post about a recent challenge to Fat Kid Rules the World.

So, who’s with me? Leave a comment so I’ll know to watch for your review :)

*SPOILER: He thought it was pornographic because of a rape scene. You read that right. You may already have seen a lot of #speakloudly hashtags on Twitter or heard about it through another book blog.

**I’m reposting a bunch of the basic Banned Books Week info in my review so I apologize in advance if you read this and the review and have to go through the same material twice. I’m nothing if not thorough.

Big Shoes to Fill

A week or so ago I saw my sometimes twin the awesome and inimitable Ray Gunn. After a light lunch at Le Pain Quotidien (which is insanely cool! Why did no one tell me about it before now? Did you all want the place to yourself?) we walked around Union Square and chatted a bit.

At which point I mentioned that I hate shopping for shoes because my feet are huge:

Ray Gunn: [Looking at feet] “No they’re not. Don’t be ridiculous. What size shoe do you wear?”

Miss Print: “Ten. Wide wide.”

Ray Gunn: “Wow. That is big.”

And there you have it.

But in all seriousness, I think a lot of people have that one thing they hate shopping for. I don’t love shopping for clothes but I will do it. Shoes, I hate. Whenever possible I order online (preferably from Zappos because they use magic mail) because while I inevitably have to return some pairs the availability is so much greater when shopping online as compared to stores that only have shoes going to size nine, or just in regular widths, or just plain old out of my size (all of which happen often).

Anyway, what are your thoughts on shoe shopping? Am I alone in my hatred of the whole endeavor?

Exciting Announcement

I have some news of a moderately exciting nature.

I am going to be a judge (in round two) on the 2010 Teen/YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Panel (of the 2010 Cybils Awards.

This is my first year as a judge and I will be in the company of many other excellent bloggers in both round one and round two. Needless to say, I am pleased as punch about the whole thing.

For anyone who is happy but also slightly confused, the Cybils are a series of literary awards given out in different categories for children’s and young adults books. It is the only award given out by bloggers (like me!). If you want even more information, they have a very comprehensive FAQ page.

Here’s the cool thing: Anyone can nominate a book.

Starting October 1st (ending the fifteenth) you can nominated one book in each genre published between Oct. 16, 2009 and Oct. 15, 2010. After the nominations close my colleagues in the first round of judging will go through the books and select five to seven finalists. Starting January 1 the second round judges (like me!) will read all of the books on that list and select a winner by February 12th.

Then everyone gets to throw confetti and readers get to pick up all the finalists and winning books they haven’t read yet. (The confetti part I made up, it’s not mentioned in the official Judging Info page.) This is all new territory for me which is a little scary but also really, really exciting too.

I’ve added a handy sidebar link to the Cybils main page for any interested readers.

Oh, and have I mentioned I’m excited?

UPDATE: Here’s a list of the massive (and awesome) Scifi/Fantasy panel (it–or can I now say we?–has a section for Middle Grade/Elementary Fantasy and a YA/Teen section as well. Anyway here’s the full list of judges and remember to get nominating come October first!
Panelists (Round I Judges), MG/Elementary:
Anamaria Anderson, Books Together
Gwenda Bond, Shaken & Stirred
Cindy Hannikman, Fantasy Book Critic
Aaron Maurer, Coffee for the Brain
Nicole Signoretta, Booked Up
Charlotte Taylor, Charlotte’s Library
Karen Yingling, Ms. Yingling Reads

Panelists (Round I Judges), Teen/YA:
Steve Berman, Guys Lit Wire
Tanita Davis, Finding Wonderland
Leila Roy, Bookshelves of Doom
Sheila Ruth (see panel organizer)
Angie Thompson, Angieville
Hallie Tibbetts, Undusty New Books
Heather Zundel, Secret Adventures of WriterGirl

Round II Judges:

Elementary/Middle
Melissa Baldwin, One Librarian’s Book Reviews
Kate Coombs, Book Aunt
Emily Mitchell, emilyreads
Nancy Tsai, Kidsmomo
Tanya Zavestoski Turek, Books 4 Your Kids

Teen/YA
Emma Carbone, Miss Print
Anne Levy, Cybils
Sam Musher, Parenthetical
Sarah Stevenson, Finding Wonderland
Steph Su, Steph Su Reads

Odds, Ends, and Random Poll #7

I have exciting NEWS to share with you, dear readers. But I can’t share it yet because I’m waiting for the official announcement. BUT it’s really awesome, so watch for it.

In other matters, I’ve been tweaking the site a bit and I also joined Amazon’s Associates program. The program is basically a referral and means that if you click a product link through my site I get a small percentage back from Amazon. I don’t know if it’s going to work with Miss Print in the long term and I haven’t even added any links yet (they will be clearly indicated in each post) but I’ve been looking into “next” steps for the blog and I think this might be one. That said this will in no way change anything about how I run the blog or how I write up reviews except that I will include extra links to books at the bottom of reiew posts.

In terms of tweaking I’ve also been wondering how you, my readers, are feeling about the widgets I have. Do you like them all? Do you use them all? Why not tell me in this Random Poll?

Any other thoughts about the sidebar and what’s useful? Tell me in the comments.

A Little Wanting Song: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review

Charlie Duskin lives and breathes music. At least, she does when she’s alone or taking lessons. She’ll talk music with people, but playing guitar or singing in front of them is impossible except for her mom or Gran even though she is not entirely without talent. Charlie doesn’t mind so much because music can be enough most of the time–especially during a summer in the country surrounded by old ghosts and locals who want nothing to do with her.

But Charlie also wants more. She wants a friend. She wants someone, maybe Dave Robbie, to look at her the way Luke looks at Rose Butler. She wants her dad to notice her. She wants to show everyone she’s not entirely unspectacular. Especially Rose Butler.

Rose lives next door to Charlie’s grandfather. She watches cars drive through town on the freeway and tries to keep her reckless boyfriend out of trouble. She’s mad about science. And she wants out of her nowhere town so much that it hurts.

After winning a scholarship to a school in the city, Rose might finally have her way out. If she can convince her parents to let her go. If she can convince her parents she has a responsible friend to stay with in the city. If she can befriend Charlie Duskin and convince her to take her back to the city. It’s brutal, but brutal’s what it is.

Charlie and Rose have nothing in common but by the end of the summer they might help each other get everything they’ve been longing for in A Little Wanting Song (2010*) by Cath Crowley.

Find it on Bookshop.

This book was so amazing.

Told in alternating voices, Crowley has created two strikingly unique narrators with completely individual voices and a stunning story with humor and wit. As Charlie and Rose tell the story of  their summer the narratives overlap and intertwine coming together to create a story about friendship and longing and ultimately about optimism as they both realize the world is theirs for the taking.

Written with a lyrical style and interspersed with lyrics from Charlie’s songs, A Little Wanting Song is a fast read but its prose and story will linger with readers for much longer. Truly, this book will not disappoint. Highly recommended.

*2010 is the date of the first publication of this book in the United  States. This book was originally published in 2005 in Australia under the title Chasing Charlie Duskin. I haven’t seen the Australian book but from the cover images and the actual text I’m comfortable saying this is one of those moments where the American repackaging was really spot on. The book’s American cover and design capture the essence of the book in a way book design usually doesn’t. The title, I think, is also much more appropriate for all of the characters and the story itself. The original title works, but A Little Wanting Song fits.

Possible Pairings: The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen, Take a Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg, The Midnight Dress by Karen Foxlee, , King of the Screwups by K. L. Going, Reuinted by Hilary Weisman Graham, Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson, Fly on the Wall by E. Lockhart, Open Road Summer by Emery Lord, Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta, Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson, After the Kiss by Terra McVoy, I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler, Even in Paradise by Chelsey Philpot, Love, The Square Root of Summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, Harmonium by Vanessa Carlton, Wreck of the Day by Anna Nalick

Exclusive Bonus Content: I know I’ve been harping on book design a lot lately but this one also has a really cool design. The cover has flowers and scroll work as well as paint splatters. Inside the book the narration is split between Charlie and Rose. Charlie’s segments (and her songs) are denoted with the the flowers and scroll work while Rose’s have the paint splatters. The spine also has the scrolls and flowers when you remove the dust jacket. Anyway it’s all really well put together.

A Spider on the Stairs: A (relatively brief) Review

Christmas in England this year is dismal. The foul weather in Yorkshire does little to help Phillip Bethancourt’s mood as he faces the prospect of poor weather and poor company in the form of his stodgy relatives. Happily, for Bethancourt at least, his holiday is soon sidetracked by his friend’s investigation of a suspicious murder.

Detective Sergeant Jack Gibbons is sorry to miss Christmas with his family but after weeks recovering from gunshot wounds at his childhood home, Jack is also eager to get back to work and his own flat in London. Although Gibbons does finally get back to Scotland Yard, his time in London is cut short when he is dispatched to York to determine the connection, if any, between a body found in a York shop and a serial killer who has been striking throughout Southern England.

The murder was likely the work of the Ashdon Killer. But then another murder is discovered at a well-respected York bookshop. As Gibbons and Bethancourt investigate the bookshop killing it seems less and less likely the murder has any connection to Ashdon though the case does raise its own fair share of questions. Bringing the murdered to justice might not catch the Ashdon Killer, but it is still a murder and one both Gibbons and Bethancourt would like very much to see solved in A Spider on the Stairs (2010) by Cassandra Chan.

A Spider on the Stairs is Chan’s fourth book featuring Gibbons and Bethancourt (preceeded, in publication order, by The Young Widow, Village Affairs and Trick of the Mind) and possibly the best so far.*

Chan manages to keep the plot fresh and original without departing completely from the aspects that regular readers already find so appealing. Of particular interest is the emphasis on Jack and Phillip’s friendship–a theme often lacking in other traditional mysteries. A Spider on the Stairs presents readers with the perfect blend of murder, intrigue, humor, and plain old good characters in a thoroughly enjoyable and well-developed story.

*Now might be a good time to mention that, insofar as a traditional mystery with no romance whatsoever can have teams, I am Team Gibbons. My mother is Team Bethancourt. I loved this book. She did not. We suspect this had to do with the fact that Gibbons featured more prominently and, in my view, is more awesome. Anyway, draw your own conclusions.

Halo giveaway winner

Congratulations to the winner of my ARC of Halo *drum roll* Nicole Gallardo!

Remember, even if you didn’t win this giveaway I still have almost twenty books to give out to lucky winners. The only catch is this blog needs to have fifty thousand views in order to unlock this Book Giveaway Bonanza.
As of this posting that’s only 5,432 more views, so keep reading and be on the lookout for more giveaways soon.

Green Witch: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review

Green used to think her story was written. The day her beloved city was burned to the ground seemed to be the end of things. Her mother, her father, and her beautiful sister were gone. The boy she loves is far away searching for his own family. The past is filled with dangerous memories and the future seems like a distant hope. So Green tries to focus on the present.

As her village tries to rebuild, Green tends her garden and collects the stories of the survivors. When Green sets out to find the Enchanted–women the village calls witches–in the hopes of collecting their stories. And maybe something more. One of the witches can grant any person their heart’s desire. With their help Green might be able make her heart whole and rescue a friend she thought was lost in Green Witch (2010) by Alice Hoffman.

Find it on Bookshop.

Green Witch is the sequel to Green Angel–the story that introduced readers to Green and her world. It is also a story that Hoffman had not planned to write until fans asked to know what happened next to Green and the boy she loved.

Like its predecessor, this book is very short with sparse writing that hearkens back to traditional fairy tales and prose poetry in its meter and style.

While Green Angel focused on moving through tragedy for both the town and Green herself, Green Witch is all about rebuilding and transformation. This is a story where women who survived unspeakable loss can become witches imbued with magic, where gardens can grow from ashes, and where a girl who lost everything she loved can rediscover hope and love. As Green gathers stories and tends her gardens, she too begins to grow as she realizes her own power and finds her place in a world forever changed by one tragic day.

Possible Pairings: Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, If I Stay by Gayle Forman, The Window by Jeanette Ingold, Madapple by Cristina Meldrum, Evermore by Alyson Noel, How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

Exclusive Bonus Content: Elizabeth B. Parisi, the mastermind behind the cover designs for The Hunger Games trilogy, also designed Green Witch and Green Angel. Together they are two of the most beautifully put together books you’re likely to find. The front and back covers are illustrated, as are the pages demarking each new section of the story. Matt Mahurin created the cover art which also adds to the book’s physical charm and, of course, brings Green to life.