Review: Trinity

Trinity A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb
by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm

"All this work, whether it's lining up dominoes or enriching uranium, builds toward one single moment: the moment when what was once impossible becomes unavoidable. In that moment the logic of the chain reaction takes over. The fire will only stop when there is nothing left to burn."
      -From Trinity, page 51

Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm is a graphic telling of how the bombs that were released over Hiroshima and Nagasaki were released. The story starts with Marie Curie and her husband discovering polonium and radium, and Ernest Rutherford's discovery of the nucleus. Fetter-Vorm includes a lot of scientific information such as atomic structure and the properties of different elements. All of this information enriches his story telling, and helps the reader have a better understanding of the work that went into creating the bombs and the resulting destruction.

Review: Love That Dog

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech is a novel told through poetry. It is written from the point of view of Jack, 5th grader who hates poetry and thinks it's for girls. To Jack's chagrin, his teacher is making the class read and write poetry. Even worse, she wants to put some of the poems Jack wrote on the wall for the entire class to read. Jack reluctantly agrees to let her, under the condition that his work remain anonymous. Gradually, Jack learns that poetry is not only for girls, and that there are poems that he actually likes. He also learns to be proud of his work and is willing to claim his poems.

Review: Peanut

Peanut by Paul Hoppe

Sadie is starting at a new high school, and is worried about making friends. Being new is never easy, and she is afraid she will be doomed to suffer the tortures of high school alone. When Sadie reads an essay to the class about her peanut allergy and how it effects every aspect of her life, a few of her classmates take interest. They start a conversation, and before she knows it, Sadie has a group of friends all her own. And a super sweet boyfriend. She snagged one of those, too. The only problem is that Sadie doesn't really have a peanut allergy.

Rewiew: Anya's Ghost

Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol

When Anya decides to skip school, she never imagined she would find herself at the bottom of a well. She really didn't imagine that she would meet a ghost named Emily at the bottom of said well, either. To Anya's surprise, she finds that a bone from Emily's skeleton made it's way into her bag when she was rescued. Emily can only travel a small distance from her bones, but since Anya has one, Emily can follow her around. At first, Anya is annoyed and plans to ditch Emily and her bone ASAP. However, when Emily helps Anya pass a bio test, the idea of having Emily around suddenly becomes more appealing.

Anya and Emily become close. So close that Anya doesn't seem to want to hang out with her living friends anymore. Emily seems like a great ghost friend at first: she encourages Anya to be nice to Dima, another Russian immigrant in her school who is bullied, helps Anya in school, and is also dedicated to helping Anya snag the man of her dreams. Then the not so nice side of Emily comes out.

When Anya finds out that the man of her dreams is a complete jerk, Emily is still obsessed with the idea of Anya going out with him. What's worse is that Emily claimed that she was murdered, but with a little research (at her local library!) Anya finds out that Emily was actually the murderer. That, for some strange reason, puts Anya off, and she again resolves to ditch Emily's bone in the well. Emily on the other hand does not want that to happen. To stop Anya from leaving her to her lonesome in a well for another 90 years, Emily starts to threaten Anya by doing terrible things to her family.

And they all die.

Kidding!!! Well, Emily is already dead, but that's a minor detail. Anya's Ghost was my first graphic novel. And at this point you are wondering how I can aim to be a young adult librarian and have only read one graphic novel. After reading this one, I will definitely be reading more. I had fun reading this book. It was dark, but still humorous. I really enjoyed the illustrations and was amazed at how 3 or 4 panels with no text could set the tone so effectively. Anya was just as an annoying high school girl should be, and Emily's sweetly manipulative character reminded me a bit of Regina George from "Mean Girls." I'm a little sad that Vera Brosgol has not written any other graphic novels, but I will definitely check out more graphic novels in the near future and exploring different authors.
Suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Review: Then You Were Gone

Then You Were Gone by Lauren Stransick

Then You Were Gone is about a teenage girl, Adrienne, whose former best friend has suddenly disappeared. Adrienne's ex-best friend, Dakota, only left a truck behind at a beach, leading everyone to believe she had killed herself. However, Adrienne does not believe Dakota is the suicidal type. She believes that Dakota is still alive, and will do almost anything to find out.

In her search for what really happened to Dakota, Adrienne seems to ruin or severely strain almost all of her relationships. She puts her boyfriend to the side, and won't listen to her current best friend's advice. She develops feelings for Dakota's boyfriend, (if he can be called that) and acts on those feelings. She also starts smoking, skipping class, and participating in other behaviors that were not part of her life before Dakota disappeared.

All in all, not my cup of tea. Adrienne annoyed me and I didn't develop any sympathy for her. I did not really care whether or not she found Dakota. When she does find Dakota, the reason for her disappearance is so unsurprising, as is the aftermath of Dakota returning home. I was glad this book was a quick read, because I was ready for it to be over.

Review: Eleanor and Park

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor is the new girl in town. She has bright red hair and dresses in old, baggy men's clothing. Park is the only Asian in school, and is the unfortunate person who sits with Eleanor on the bus. For weeks the two sit next to each other without talking and keeping a good amount of space between them. Then, Park notices that when Eleanor is looking down, she is not staring into her lap. She is reading Park's comic books.

The relationship between the two quickly grows. Eleanor cannot stop thinking about Park, and Park can't get enough of Eleanor. They share comics, swap music, and feel that the other's hand is the most amazing thing to touch. The two hang out after school and roll their eyes lovingly at one another. The relationship is not all happy, though. Eleanor is made fun of in school, which not only hurts her, but angers Park to the point of fighting. Also, Eleanor hides that her stepfather is emotionally abusive towards her, and is physically abusive to her mother, from Park. The abuse from all corners eventually takes its toll, and Eleanor asks Park to help her escape.

Eleanor and Park was full of sarcasm and teenage angst. It was not so over-the-top to be annoying, though, and I did end up liking both characters. The book goes back and forth between Eleanor and Park's perspectives, which gives readers a chance to get to know both of them and see what each thinks about different situations. For instance, Eleanor was horrified when she had to leave gym still wearing her uniform (her clothes were flushed as a prank), and even more horrified that Park saw her in the hallway in said gym uniform. However, Park was, put simply, turned on. How fun!

Looking back on what I just wrote, the book may seem kind of annoying. But it wasn't. I promise. I liked it and couldn't put it down. Well, I did, but I was hungry. Anyway, I liked reading about the title characters and their complicated high school love. It had a bit of a Perks of Being A Wallflower feel, possibly because of the descriptions of confusion caused by teenage romance (Does he/she like me? I can't believe he/she likes me. What they hell would he/she ever like me?).

I don't think I'm being very convincing on the subject of my liking this book and why someone should read it. My words are not working. That mean that you (the few and the proud who read this) should just go read the book and draw your own conclusions. I enjoyed it. The end.

Review: Number the Stars

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Annamarie Johansen and Ellen Rosen are best friends. They are growing up in Copenhagen during World War 2, and there are Nazi soldiers on every street corner. This is becoming increasingly difficult for the Rosen family, who are Jewish. When a store owned by a Jewish family is closed, the Rosens and Johansens become worried, but when they find out that soon all Jews will be 'relocated,' the families know it is time to take action.