The Slayer Chronicles: First Kill by Heather Brewer

Soon after the release of this spin-off series, an envelope arrived on my doorstep. Inside was a shiny new copy, signed, just dying to be read. I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that it took me this long to get to it. On the other hand, it was so worth the wait.

If you are familiar with the Chronicles of Vladimir Todd, you probably know Joss. Joss is Henry's cousin and he is a slayer. We got to see Vlad's side of the story, be an audience to the inner workings of vampire society. Now we get to see the other side.

When Joss witnesses a vampire killing his younger sister, he was horrified. At her funeral he is approached by his uncle, Abraham, a family member he cannot ever remember actually talking to. For the first time, someone seems to believe that a vampire actually killed Cecile and Joss is relieved to discover that he is not alone. Not only does Uncle Abraham believe him, he offers Joss a chance to become a slayer and take revenge.

A few years later, Joss is being called to training earlier than expected. In a cabin in the mountains, Joss meets other slayers and begins to learn about the new world he is entering. He makes his first friend, a girl named Kat whose father is the caretaker of the group. However, he is surprised to find his uncle especially cold. He seems to be doing everything in his power to make Joss fail. The training is grueling. To make matters worse, slayers are starting to die and the group is beginning to turn on itself.

This was a great read. There were times went it actually hurt to put it down. It has been wonderful to see Brewer's writing develop with each new book.

Copper-Toed Boots by Marguerite deAngeli

I have been working on reading the deAngeli books for a little while now because I work at the Marguerite deAngeli library and it just seems appropriate to read them. Five days a week I walk past original drawings and a collection of artifacts that includes her Newbery medal. The house she was born in is on a corner that I drive past multiple times a week. Perhaps because of this and because I have spent most of my life living within 20 miles of Lapeer, which is our "city" out this way, I really enjoyed this book.

Copper-Toed Boots is a story of pioneer Lapeer. Like all of deAngeli's stories, it is simple. Shad is just a typical boy. Maybe he gets into trouble a little bit more but most of the time his intentions are good. I say most of the time because there is the incident with the calf in the belfry. A lot of the stories come from tales deAngeli heard growing up. They are rooted in Lapeer history. As fun as it was reading about Shad's adventures, I think I actually had more fun trying to place everything in Lapeer. Where does the Flint River get just deep enough to swim in near Nepessing Street? Where would there be an abandoned mill two or three miles Flint way?

I really did enjoy this book. It was a nice, pleasant read. It was exactly the type of book that I want to share with my children someday.

Rock What You've Got by Katherine Schwarzenegger

I ordered this book for my library because I have a group of girls who are just in junior high. Junior high was when I started having my body issues and I wanted to have something on the shelves with both information and a positive message. I wanted to read it really just to see what it was about.

It was alright. I think that I would feel okay giving it to my junior high girls. There are a lot of facts and personal stories here that are aimed at making girls feel a little less alone. It reads easily enough. There are special sections just for moms. However, I just found her voice to be a bit annoying. Then again, I am not a 12 year old girl anymore! Another thing that I didn't particularly like was how often Schwarzenegger talks about how normal her life is when it obviously is a bit different than the average girl's.

This would be a great book to give a girl the first time you hear her cut herself down. I think that maybe the message would be lost on an older teenager.

Pink Smog by Francesca Lia Block

At first I was a little concerned when I saw that a prequel to the Weetzie Bat books was coming out. The thing that really threw me off was that the description said Louise couldn't get anyone to call her Weetzie, a nickname her father gave her. Wasn't it heavily implied in the original series that Weetzie was her real name? In fact, doesn't Weerzie, when asked about her strange name, exclaim, "Weetzie, Weetzie, Weetzie! I don't know. Crazy parents!"

But I am delighted to report that I loved this book. I can understand why Block is always going back to these characters. Sliding into Weetzie's L.A. is kind of like putting on a favorite pair of shoes. It just feels right.

Plus, isn't it comforting to know that somebody like Weetzie had an awkward stage too? This is when Weetzie is just trying to get by and maybe even fit in. She wants the popular girls' shoes and hair. When her dad leaves and her mother starts drinking even more, Weetzie is forced to grow up. She has to learn to love and see beauty and believe in herself. Really, isn't that what middle school is all about?

If someone as magical as Weetzie started out as a mousette, can't we all end up a little like Weetzie?

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

I had the honor of seeing Jennifer Brown speak at the MLA Spring Institute last year and I instantly fell in love with her. She was funny. She was down to earth. She was a great speaker. I couldn't wait to read her book.

This was a wonderful book. It was one of those perfect teen books. It dealt with serious subject matter in an honest way but was also full of hope. I wanted to read it constantly and actually got really frustrated at myself for being so tired all week and passing out every chance I got to read.

Val's boyfriend, Nick, shot up the school. That's pretty bad. His final shot was to his own head, killing him. That's horrible. What could make it worse? Nick targeted people who were on a list him and Val had created together and she's survived. The Hate List was meant to be a way to vent. Val started it one day when she was having a particularly rough time. Just writing down all of the people and things and ideas that she hated made her feel better. She never meant for anything like this to happen.

Now, two months later, she's going back to school to finish her senior year. She took a bullet to the thigh and she's been in the psych ward and she's in counseling. She's scared but just wants to get it over and fly under the radar. The only problem is that flying under the radar is now impossible. Some people thing she's to blame for the shooting. Other people think she's a hero. Val, however, has no idea who she is anymore.

Watching Val struggle to put her life back together was really satisfying. I couldn't help but cheer for her the whole way!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

After the release of the final movie in July, I decided to re-read all of the Harry Potter books, just like I'm sure everyone else did. I wanted to read them close together which was something that I hadn't done yet. I also hadn't gotten a chance to re-read The Deathly Hallows. These are books, after all, that you seem to take more from the second time around. However, the final volume got pushed to the wayside for a while. It was just too large for me to read it last year. If I had, I wouldn't have made the 100 book goal.

I'm glad that I finally got around to it.

I liked it a lot better this time around. When I first read DH, I felt like the first half of the book was pretty aimless. It dragged on and on and on. It consisted mostly of the boring daily "apparate somewhere random and camp" routine. This time through it didn't feel like it was dragging so much. I started to think about Harry gathering his own trinkets close to him and I was interested in the Dumbledore store too. There may not have been a lot of action but there was a lot to think about. Anyway, the last part more than makes up for it.

It's funny, really. I can tell you exactly what parts brought me to tears the first time I read it and this time it was completely different. Have I changed or do I just have a different outlook now that I know how it ends?

All in all, I would say that I am happy with Rowling's conclusion. I even got a little teary eyed in the last little epilogue chapter. There was a way that things HAD to happen and I think that Rowling managed to dance around that pretty well. I'm glad I made the time to go back to this book.

Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve

This was a WONDERFUL book. I can't stress that enough. It was fun and exciting and magical and just plain wonderful. Not bad for a book I picked out purely because the cover had pretty colors.

Polly lives on her family's rhubarb farm. Only, their farm is not like others. It's magical. They grow regular rhubarb and giant rhubarb and chocolate rhubarb. The children live in a castle. Polly's best friend is a plant. Also, it rains every Monday afternoon at 1.

Until it doesn't rain. That's when things get scary.

Suddenly, Polly sees her world falling apart. The plants are dying, her brother is sick, and her aunt wants to sell the farm. Polly believes in magic and she is sure that the world will be right again but how? Slowly, she uncovers clue after clue to her family's secrets. Then all she has to do is figure out how to make it rain.

This was the kind of book that you want to read and read and read again. I loved every minute of it.