#9books9days

If you've been following our twitter (or our Facebook page), you might have noticed that I took a little trip!  And since I had nine relaxing days away from work, I decided to read nine books while I was away.

I'm only going to review seven of them today (you're going to have to wait until the end of the week when Alex and I do Bunnicula books), but I'm going to review the rest of them right here, right now, including TWO books that aren't out yet!!

Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld (Release date 9/29/15)

Really, did you expect a Westerfeld book to be bad?  Well, if you're waiting for one, this isn't it.  You have dynamic characters, who grow not only in their characters but in their powers too.  And you know what?  They pushed the envelope on what we think super heroes are.  We think of people with powers as either good or evil, but these kids?  They could really go either way.  And that's kind of what I love about this book.  At the end of the day, they're still just people.

Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman

This is one of Shusterman's earlier ones and, honestly, I was a little weary.  I had read Downsiders and had been a little disappointed, so I wasn't sure how I would feel.  the Unwind distology is a high bar to set, and some of his other writings hasn't met it.  However, Full Tilt isn't in that category.  It was gritty and in your face and really made you think about life.  It was this nice middle ground between Goosebumps and Fear Street.  Scary, but not so scary you had to put the book down.

The Lightning Thief Graphic Novel (Percy Jackson #1) by Rick Riordan

What is there to say about Percy Jackson that hasn't already been said?  Do I love him?  Of course I do.  Percy Jackson is one of my go to book series.  And, if your kid isn't big on the reading, I might direct you towards the Percy Jackson GNs.  Graphic Novels are great things, and I think they fill a certain niche.  But at the end of the day, this just doesn't even hold a candle to how good the first book was.

Poison by Sarah Pinborough

This one was the only real wildcard in my books this month.  All the other books were either ones I'd read before or by authors I adore.  Pinborough was the only author I knew nothing about, and really didn't know much about her books other than they were retellings of fairy tales.  But I like fairtale redos and the covers on her books look beautiful if nothing else (plus, I got them fairly cheap during employee appreciation.)

However, it was the biggest disappointment this week.  Really, Poison just ended up being the same old Snow White story we always knew, with a twist ending.  The only problem was that twist, wasn't really good enough to make up for the rest of the book.  Her writing was mediocre so, really, the book ends up just being something to look pretty on my shelf.

Sold by Patricia McCormack

I have found I have a love hate relationship with McCormack's book.  Some are AMAZING, some are... eh.  Some I think the topics are important, I think the execution just is a little wanky.  Sold I think falls into the last category.  It most definitely gets better as it goes along, but the beginning of it was just really slow and hard to get through (and not in the 'this is so terrible it's hard to read' kind of way.  In the 'this is kind of boring; please get to the story' kind of way.)  But once our main character had entered the brothel and we saw her deal with her life, her reality, and learn to make friends and negotiate her situation, I think that's where the real story came out.  So, good book, but one that you had to stick with to get there.

Rumble by Ellen Hopkins

I actually expected more out of this book.  That's not to say that I didn't like it, because I did.  I think I've just gotten used to the shock factor in her books and this wasn't one of those books.  BUT I will say that I really did like her approach to the ideas of religion and there being a God.  The main character of our book is an atheist, and there are varying degrees of religious belief all around him, from his overtly christian girlfriend, to his mildly religious aunt, who believes in a creator, but doesn't push it.  As usual, Hopkins hits those topics that people are afraid to talk about, like the idea of a creator, and how people believe, and THAT is what I liked about this book.

Another Day by David Levithan ( Release Date 8/25/15)

When I saw this sitting on the break room table just two days after David Levithan had posted a picture of the cover, words can not describe the excitement I felt.  Seriously, I was jumping up and down in our break room, I was so stoked (we hardly ever get ARCs that I TRULY want to read.)  And this book was every word as good as I thought that it would be.

Levithan really pushes the bounds of sexuality for us, really making us rethink what is male and female, gay, straight, does it even matter, if we're in love?  And I like that it's not a straight forward answer either.  A has been like that his whole life, but it's much harder for Rhiannon to get past the conventions.  Either way, Levithan construction a most wonderful love story that pulls at our heart strings.  I've been waiting for this book for years, and I was not disappointed for a moment.

Review Me Twice: Hack by Melissa Plaut

I really enjoyed this book. I like autobiographies and memoirs because it's like having someone tell you stories over drinks (if it's written well). I can picture Melissa Plaut sitting at a table with me, starting each chapter of this book with, "Oh that reminds me of the time..." or "You wouldn't believe this one thing that happened..."

To be entirely honest, I never thought much about what it's like to be a New York cab driver, because I've only ever met two of them (LaGuardia to my hotel and the return trip when I went to New York Comic Con last October). They were both really nice and I made sure to tip well, and the guy who took me back to the airport showed me the UN building on the way... beyond that, it's not something I've ever dealt with. So not only was this book interesting and funny, but it showed me something new that I hadn't thought about before.

I also feel very much like Melissa Plaut is a real person. You know how sometimes, someone writes from their own point of view and you can just tell that they're molding the story to make themselves sound a certain way (be it more moral or smarter or in the right all the time)? I didn't get that from this book. Even in stories where Plaut clearly feels that she was right, she seems to realize that the reader may disagree. It's like having a friend tell you about a traffic incident they were in, and you may know they did something stupid, but it doesn't matter. I hope that makes sense.

One thing I really didn't expect from this book was to feel emotional connections with some of the other people (it feels weird to refer to them as "characters" because they're real people out in the world somewhere). I want to give meet Helen and give her a hug. I want to hear some of Allie's stories about her own job and life. I want to avoid some of the guys from the garage, or hang out with some of the others.

I picked this book up at this huge discount bookfair that I go to about once a year.  It's about an hour and a half from my house, but I never walk out with less than like four books (and usually more towards ten), and it's always worth it.

I paid a big four dollars for Hack, picked up on the recommendation of a friend.  And oh, what a great one it was.  Hack is surprising for a number of reasons.  One, you wouldn't think driving a taxi would be all that entertaining, but the amount of people that you meet doing the job is unprecedented.

Two, I LOVE the picture that it paints of NYC.  NYC is one that, sometimes, gets such a bad rap, when really, it's such an amazing city.  And I love that there were so many stories, so many experiences in her book that show what a GREAT place it is.  At one point, she talked about the Public Transit strike and this mood the city got, this comradery, that you can only get in NYC, but when you get it (and it's rare), man is it unlike anything you've ever felt.  There are some experiences, I feel that can only happen in New York City.

The part that surprised me the most those was the kind of stress this job takes on you.  I mean, she got to the point that she was angry ALL THE TIME.  It would seep into her very bones, into her being, and the hair trigger of her job was seeping into her very life.  Cabbies are the bottom of the barrel, the lowest of the low in NYC, for no real reason.  So they get hassled the most, and targeted by cops the most, and looked down on by customers the most and really just take the most amount of crap.  Eventually, it all just kind of builds up and explodes.

It's a great memoir and really well written and one you can breeze through pretty easily.  It's really a lesser known book, so I really like to let people know about it as much as possible when I can.

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Author Bio: Melissa Plaut

Welcome to May, the month of memoirs and biographies here at Review Me Twice! This month will make the Monday posts a little bit tricky, since telling the story of the author is basically the same as summarizing the books, since that's the idea of memoirs and biographies.

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Our first author of the month is Melissa Plaut, who wrote a book called Hack, about her choice to start driving a yellow cab in New York. And that's just about everything I'm going to tell you, because you'll hear more about her interesting life come Friday when we review the book!

Some of the Best Books This Season

So one of the benefits of working in a bookstore is that I get to see what some of the most popular books of the season are.

Now, I'll let you know in advance, I haven't read all of these.  But they have been bought in HOARDS and people have been telling me nothing but good things about them.  So that that for what you will when buying your last minute book gifting.

Yes, ok the movie is coming out, but I sell no less than five of these a day, sometimes more.  And for every five I sell, I get asked five more times where the book is.  It's a story of a man, surviving the wreckage of his plane in WWII and his journey through life, along with his journey of survival.

Boys in the boat is about the 1936 Berlin Olympics team.  It shows you a bunch of ragmatag guys who manage to come together and go for the gold for the rowing.  Another one that has passed through my hands more than a few times this Christmas season.

To be honest with you, I didn't even know what this one was about till I read the synopsis (which you can go read here.  It sounds really good.)  It sold really well this summer, but when Christmas time came, we couldn't even keep the book on the shelf.

Ok, so Miss Peregrine's is a little weird, and it's a little different, but I have yet to meet a person who didn't enjoy this book.  There's mystery and there is a little bit of super powers and there is some definite danger and it's a good transition book.  Not SO hard to read that a high 11-12 year old couldn't pick it up, but still interesting enough that your teens are going to want to read it.

Alright, this one comes with a lot of conditions, but also, a lot of ideas if you need them last minute for the Christmas season.  This is book five in a series.  And, what's more, it's book five in a SEQUEL series.  Do you remember The Percy Jackson Series?  It's pretty much fabulous.  In fact, it was SO fabulous, Riordan took those characters and started a SECOND series with them!  Cue The Heroes of Olympus series (see above).  So if the person you're buying for has never read Percy Jackson, Ta-Da!  If they have, but haven't gotten into this second companion series, there are five whole new books for them to pick up.  And, the best part, is that this is the last book, so they don't even have to wait for the end.

Review Me Twice - My True Love Gave To Me by Multiple Authors

I am actually a big fan of anthologies.  I have the theory that, by sheer odds, you're eventually going to hit ONE story that you like in it.  And I did.  In fact, there were a number of stories that I liked in it.  I really liked the one by Rainbow Rowell, though probably more so because when I went to see her at Politics and Prose, she read it.

If you ever get the chance to hear an author read their own work, do it.  It's SO MUCH BETTER than what happens in my head (and what happened there was pretty good.)

Some were definitely better than others, because you have twelve authors and while some are great authors, not all of them are meant to be short story writers.  David Levithan's was not one of my favorites.  I love him, and I liked his better when I heard him read it out loud, but I still didn't enjoy his story as much as I have enjoyed his books.

But probably my favorite out of the whole batch was Gayle Foreman's.  It was funny and poignant and sweet and just a great story.  I thought it was well done and one of those stories that was satisfying where it ended but still full of potential.

The book was a good anthology, and definitely worth reading, especially if you're just looking for a nice Christmas book.

I promise, one of my New Year's resolutions is to read every single Review Me Twice book beginning to end. But it's still 2014, so I didn't finish this one. What I did read, though, I really loved. My favorite thing about anthologies (other than what Cassy mentioned above, finding at least ONE you like) is how different authors take different approaches to the same theme or topic. I think a major reason why I didn't manage to finish this book on time was that I had to put it down between stories (and there are a lot of stories... twelve, so sayeth the subtitle). I don't read different authors' short stories back to back. When the anthology is all the same author, I can read straight through, but I have to do that thing where you put it down and digest what you read before I can pick it back up in the multi-author situation.

Twelve Author Bios

This week, we actually have TWELVE authors, because we're reading a Christmas Anthology!!  So, I thought it might be fun to actually do a quick bio on each of them (and that means most of them will be almost directly copy and pasted from Goodreads.  So be prepared for that.)

Stephanie Perkins

Perkins writes novels for teens (and for adults who aren't afraid to admit that teen books are awesome). She was born in South Carolina, raised in Arizona, attended universities in San Francisco and Atlanta, and now lives in the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina.

Her best friend is her husband Jarrod. Their house is almost a hundred years old, and every room is painted a different color of the rainbow. They share it with a cat named Mr. Tumnus.

She's always worked with books—first as a bookseller, then as a librarian, and now as a novelist. On weekdays, you'll find her at her desk, typing away, downing cups of coffee and tea. On the weekend, you'll find her at the movies, waiting for the actors to kiss. She believes all novels and films should have more kissing.

Holly Black

Holly Black is a best-selling author of contemporary fantasy novels for kids, teens, and adults. She is the author of the Modern Faerie Tale series (Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside), The Spiderwick Chronicles (with Tony DiTerlizzi), and The Good Neighbors graphic novels (with Ted Naifeh) The Poison Eaters and Other Stories, a collection of short fiction, and The Curse Worker series (White Cat, Red Glove, and Black Heart). She is also the co-editor of three anthologies, Geektastic (with Cecil Castellucci), Zombies vs. Unicorns (with Justine Larbalestier), and Welcome to Bordertown (with Ellen Kushner). Her most recent works are the middle grade novel, Doll Bones, and the dark fantasy stand-alone, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown.

She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Theo, in a house with a secret library.

Ally Carter

Ally Carter is a writer living and working in the Midwest. She loved school so much she kept going...and going...and going...until finally she had to graduate. Now she has degrees from Oklahoma State University and Cornell University and a house and a job and other very grown-up things.

Her life is either very ordinary or the best deep-cover legend ever. She'd tell you more, but...well...you know...

Gayle Foreman

My name is Gayle Forman and I love to write young-adult novels. Because I do. So thank you for reading them. Because without you, it’d just be me. And the voices in my head.

Gayle Forman is an award-winning author and journalist whose articles have appeared in such publications asJane, Seventeen, Glamour, Elle, and The New York Times Magazine, to name just a few. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

Jenny Han

(Han like Han Solo, not Han like hand) was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. She went to college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Go Heels!) and she went on to graduate school at the New School in New York City, where she received her MFA in Writing for Children. She lives in Brooklyn.  She is the author of To All The Boys I Have Loved Before and The Summer I Turned Pretty

David Levithan

David Levithan (born 1972) is an American children's book editor and award-winning author. He published his first YA book, Boy Meets Boy, in 2003. Levithan is also the founding editor of PUSH, a Young Adult imprint of Scholastic Press.

Kelly Link

Kelly Link is an American author of short stories born in 1969. Her stories might be described as slipstream or magic realism: sometimes a combination of science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, and realism.

Myra McEntire

Myra McEntire is an avid Doctor Who fan and will argue passionately about which incarnation is the best. She loves to search thrift stores for things to upcycle, as she’s a big believer in second chances. She lives with her two boys and husband near Nashville, Tennessee. Myra is the author of the Hourglass trilogy, which has been nominated for two RITAs and a YALSA Teen Top Ten, and was chosen as a SIBA Okra Pick. She’s currently contracted with Storybird, where she’s serializing a middle grade novel, called THE SHADOW GATE.

Matt De La Pena

Matt de la Peña is the author of five critically-acclaimed young adult novels—Ball Don't Lie, Mexican WhiteBoy, We Were Here, I Will Save You and The Living—as well as the award-winning picture book A Nation’s Hope: The story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis. Matt received his MFA in creative writing from San Diego State University and his BA from the University of the Pacific, where he attended school on a full athletic scholarship for basketball. de la Peña currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. He teaches creative writing and visits high schools and colleges throughout the country.

Rainbow Rowell

Rainbow Rowell writes books. Sometimes she writes about adults (ATTACHMENTS and LANDLINE). Sometimes she writes about teenagers (ELEANOR & PARK and FANGIRL). But she always writes about people who talk a lot. And people who feel like they're screwing up. And people who fall in love.

When she's not writing, Rainbow is reading comic books, planning Disney World trips and arguing about things that don't really matter in the big scheme of things.

She lives in Nebraska with her husband and two sons.

Laini Taylor

Hi there! I'm a writer of fantasy books for young people, but my books can be enjoyed by adults as well. My 'Dreamdark' books, Blackbringer (2007) and Silksinger (2009) are about faeries -- not dainty little flowery things, but warrior-faeries who battle devils. My first young adult book, Lips Touch, is a finalist for the 2009 National Book Award! It's creepy, sensual supernatural romance. . . about kissing. I am also an artist with a licensed gift product line called "Laini's Ladies."

Kiersten White

Hi! I'm the New York Times best-selling author of Paranormalcy and Supernaturally. I also give the most awkward hugs in the world. You should probably opt for one of my books over one of my hugs, but then again, maybe you like awkward hugs.

As for me, I like writing flirting scenes, and fighting scenes, and sometimes I write scenes that fall somewhere in between the two, but only if I can't avoid it.

And don't forget to enter our contest to win a signed copy of Unwind!!!

Review Me Twice - Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

I have read this book no less than twelve times in my life.  Maybe more.  I don't know, I just know I've read it a whole lot.  I had to read it for Battle of the Books in the fifth grade and I have been in love with it ever since.

And I think that it's definitely one of Paterson's better ones, probably because she wrote it from a very personal place (it's based on what happened to her son's best friend.)  I like it because, while yes, it is very obviously a kids book, it doesn't shy away from things BECAUSE it is a kids book.  It approaches real topics like bullying and abuse and death and grieving.

I love the characters.  Jess and Leslie are two very real, fleshed out kids who have personalities and lives and problems and it's fabulous.  And even the minor characters become real to me.  Honestly, I just think that Paterson really hit the nail on the head with this book.

Plus, you know I can't resist a good banned book.

Least Favorite Book by Your Favorite Author

You can't please everyone all the time. We love our favorite authors (that's why they're our favorite authors) but we still have to admit that they aren't infallible. These are our least favorite books by our still-favorite authors.

You may recall that we've reviewed Coraline by Neil Gaiman. I don't hate it, by any means; it's quite good. It's just my least favorite of all the things I've read by him.

It's actually quite surprising how many of his books I haven't read, so this isn't considering all of his work. I haven't read Odd and the Frost Giants, or The Ocean at the End of the Lane, or The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains.

I like this book. But I LOVE the Sandman series, and American Gods and Anansi Boys and Good Omens and Fortunately, the Milk and The Graveyard Book and Don't Panic and The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish and The Wolves in the Walls...

Ok, so I'm cheating a LITTLE bit, because Katherine Patterson isn't actually my favorite author.  But I suggested this post with her in mind, because this week, we're reading one of my favorite books.  Easily in my top five, Bridge to Terabithia.  It's awesome and amazing and I LOVE it.

But Patterson also wrote one of my all time LEAST favorite books.

It's basically a book about a girl where everything goes wrong in her life.  Her family falls apart, gets sent different places, she has to pay off debts, on and on.

Which, I guess on its own isn't a terrible idea for a book, but the execution on it is just so POORLY done.  The chapters are bogged down, the writing style so lethargic and there is absolutely nothing in it that holds your interest.  There's no action or events or anything that make you want to continue reading the book.

I specifically remember my mom reading it to me (because I had to read it for school and I was having the hardest time getting through it) and even my mom couldn't stand to read through it.

So when I had to read Bridge to Terabithia, by the same author, I was stunned at how much I enjoyed it.  I could not believe that they were written by the same person.

Favorite Book about Suicide

Morbid, right? But this week's book is about suicide, and many YA books (and other books) are, because we - as a society - are talking more about it and related topics (see last week's Bullying is Bad post for another example). So here are some of our favorite examples of the subgenre.

I love this book. I hate that it exists, because it's autobiographical, so it's horrible that all these things happened to Brent Runyon, but I have to admit that I'm really glad he wrote about them, because he wrote it well.

Long story short, Brent Runyon lit himself on fire in a failed suicide attempt and this is the story of his recoveries (physical, mental, and emotional). He has a great sense of humor mixed with serious talk about important subjects.

Because this is easily one of my favorite subgenres, I feel the need to give you a list of runners-up: Girl, Interrupted; Suicide Notes; Impulse; and I could give you a dozen more if we included self-harm (which is different, though related).

Fair warning, there are going to be some spoilers for this book.

So this book, one of my favorites, is about an older sister, Kate, who has cancer, and her younger sister, Anna, is basically perfectly genetically engineered by her parents to be a perfect match for her older sister in ever way.  In a lot of ways, she was meant to be the replacement parts to save her older sister.

Kate needs a kidney to live, and Anna is expected to give up one of hers.  So Anna sues for the right to her body, the right to NOT give her organs to her older sister, to make all of the decisions about her body.

So what does all of this have to do with suicide you might ask?  Well, inevitably it comes out that Anna isn't doing this because she's a big old jerk who wants her sister to die, but because she's actually making the biggest gesture of love to Kate she can... and giving Kate exactly what she asked for.

Kate is tired of the surgeries and the hospitals and the blood draws and never, ever, getting to be a normal girl... ever.  The kidney was her final straw.  So she asked Anna to say no.  To help her die.  To just let her pass on.  It's, essentially, assisted suicide.  Which, really brings up the big ethical question of should it be legal or shouldn't it be?  In the US, it's currently legal in Washington (state), Vermont, New Mexico and Oregon.  In Montana it's not legal, but it's not technically ILLEGAL either, so take that how you will.

The book is incredibly powerful and moving and raises a lot of questions and issues like this one.  Is assisted suicide OK?  Especially in cases where there is absolutely no other way out?  Or how about a case where it seems all but hopeless, and the patient could live, but not a life that's really worth anything?

The Top Ten

Just like last year, I'm going to give you the top ten books that have been challeged/banned in the last year (since it's 2014, this is the list for 2013.)  There are a lot of repeats (Captain Underpants is number one again!  Really!?)  But there are some newbies to the list too.

The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

Reasons: Offensive Language, Unsuited for Age Group, Violence

The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison

Reasons: Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit,  Unsuited for Age Group, Violence

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Reasons: Drugs/Alcohol/Smoking, Offensive Language, Racism, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited for Age Group

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

Reasons: Nudity, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited for Age Group (which is just silly, because it's an adult novel, so you're basically telling me either A. it's appropriate for people YOUNGER than an adult or B. it's inappropriate for everyone.  Everywhere.)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Reasons: Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited for Age Group

A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone

Reasons: Drugs/Alcohol/Smoking, Nudity, Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Reasons: Drugs/Alcohol/Smoking, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited for Age Group

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Reasons: Drugs/Alcohol/Smoking, Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group

Bless me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

Reasons: Occult/Satanism, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Sexually Explicit

Bone by Jeff Smith

Reasons: Political Viewpoint, Racism, Violence

A good list this year (especially because we don't usually see graphic novels, so good for you, Jeff Smith.)  The usual reasons for banning book, sex, drugs and inappropriate topics, though I will admit, this is the first time I've seen Occult/Satanism on the list (though, I'm sure not the first time that it's been on there.)

What are your favorite banned books?  We would love to hear and tell us why they've been banned.  What "reasons" were given for the challenge?  

Review Me Twice: Wonder by R J Palacio

I had seen this cover before, but I had never thought about what the book might be about until Cassy selected it for us to review. And I'm so glad she did. It's about a kid, August, with Treacher-Collins syndrome (which basically means that his face looks very, very different from most people's faces) and how he deals with going to school for the first time.

I sobbed at one part this book. (If you've read it, I bet you can't guess at which part.) But I was totally entrenched in it throughout. I cared about the characters... more importantly, I cared about the protagonist. If you've been reading the blog carefully, you might know that I don't usually care about the protagonist; I'm more interested in side characters and sometimes villains. But August is a great protagonist.

And you might also recall that I'm not a huge fan of switching POVs throughout a book, but I love the way it happens here, because the characters are all interesting and unique and real.

I loved this book and I think it has a wide appeal: young people August's age; slightly older people (high schoolers) his sister Via's age; parents, whether they have a child with a syndrome/disorder/issue like August or not; people like me who had only heard of Treacher-Collins syndrome in passing and never really gave it much thought and had to look it up in Wikipedia to remember the name in order to review the book... everyone.

There are some books that just touch your heart, and Wonder is one of them.  Around Christmas, when I bought a pile of books from my job, I put this one on the pile just because I had seen so many people buy it, and so many people rave about it, so I figured, why not?

I love how Palacio shows us the extreme kindness of humans and the extreme prejudices of them all in one go.  And it's not just kids who are the hurtful ones.  In fact, it was usually the parents who were extremely more hurtful than the kids were.

I like, too, that it shows us that despite best intentions, not everyone is perfect.  Via is probably one of my favorite characters, because it shows that despite loving her brother, fiercely loving her brother, she's still affected by his condition, to the point that she needs an out from it.

Like Alex, usually POV shifts drive me crazy, but this one was very well done.  There were POV shifts, but not so many, nor so frequent, that it detracted from the story.  It was a perfect compliment to it.

This really is an all ages book, and it's a fairly fast (though heavy) read.  This is definitely in the top five of favorites for the year.

Author Bio: R J Palacio

Here's a fun fact for you guys... a lot of female authors use initials instead of their first names. Many of them do it because it's hard for women to get certain types of books published (yes, even in 2014).

S E Hinton (The Outsiders) did it. J K Rowling (I hope you know who she is) did it. And apparently R J Palacio did it. I read this week's book (Wonder) assuming that the author was a man. So I guess that says something about assumptions and society and whatnot.

Palacio started off illustrating for book covers, and eventually decided it was time for her to write a book of her own.

She does school visits, is on Twitter (@rjpalacio), and for a long time she was Skyping with fans and readers (but she is currently on hiatus from that).

By Its Cover: And Tango Makes Three

Do I even have to tell you how cute this cover is? Penguins in love, with the happiest little fluffy baby penguin in front of them. If that isn't the perfect picture of a family, I don't know what is.

Picture book covers have the benefit of making it really obvious what's inside the book, because they're illustrated by the illustrator of the rest of the book, and they often are a copy of a page within the book. This image was well selected, well drawn by Henry Cole, and is as inoffensive as a "controversial" book can be. (And yet, it has been on the top ten most challenged books list 6 of the 7 years since it was published. Who wouldn't want fuzzy little Tango on their bookshelf?)

Everything about this cover screams cute.  Hugging penguins, a cute, little, fluffy, happy penguin.  I also really like Cole's style.  There's just something about the way he uses colored pencil that makes me feel warm fuzzies inside.  Maybe it's the topic.  Maybe it's because you just can't help but look at penguins and go, "awwwwww".

Really, there is nothing controversial in this book.  Yeah, ok, they're homosexual penguins.  But they're so cute!  This book is definitely going to populate my future child's bookshelves.

Review Me Twice: And Tango Makes Three (Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell)

This is just the cutest picture book ever. It has animals! It has a love story! It has a baby! It has a happy ending! It has social relevance! What more do you want?

The story itself is heart-warming and beautiful and happy, and I appreciate that Richardson and Parnell heard this story and apparently thought, "We need to make this into a kids' book." And Henry Cole did a great job illustrating... it's nothing ground-breaking or particularly different, but look at that fuzzy little bugger on the cover! That's the cute little fluffy Tango!

I suggest, that if you've had a bad day, you go pick up a copy of this book and read it and you'll smile because yay! Happy penguin family! (Of course, if you think homosexuality is a sin or amoral or whatever your hangup is, it might just make your day worse, so you should probably try something like Goodnight Moon or One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.)

Really, this is the most docile book in the entire world and we all know that the ONLY reason that it has ended up on the banned books list all these years is because it talks about gay penguins.  Which is sad.

It's an adorable book.  Because, WELL, PENGUINS!  Who doesn't love an adorable penguin.  And the book is very age appropriate.  The description of penguin mating is "when the right girl and the right boy find each other, they become a couple."  Seriously.  It's that cute.  And it's a sweet story.

I really liked the illustrations.  They weren't mind blowingly awesome, but they worked perfectly with the book.  Really, I don't understand how you could do anything but love this story.

Author Bio: Peter Parnell & Justin Richardson

This week, we're reviewing one of the ALA's top ten most challenged books of the year... one that has been on that list 7 of the 8 years since it was published: And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson.

Parnell is a playwright perhaps best known for Cider House Rules, but has authored many other works, including an episode of West Wing. Richardson was not a writer before he and Parnell wrote And Tango Makes Three. They also wrote a picture book based on the true story of Christian, the hugging lion (it's titled Christian, the Hugging Lion).

The two are a couple, and in a wonderful example of life imitating art, they have their own baby (but they named her Gemma, not Tango).

And the Winner Is...

What's the one thing we all want to know?  Why, the top ten books that were banned this year, of course!  So, to kick off Banned Books week, here's the list.

Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey.

Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.

Reasons: Offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher.

Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited for age group

Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James.

Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit

And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson.

Reasons: Homosexuality, unsuited for age group

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

Reasons: Homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit

Looking for Alaska by John Green.

Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group

Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz

Reasons: Unsuited for age group, violence

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Reasons: Sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence

How many have you read on this list?  What your favorite banned book?