In Jake Wizner's Spanking Shakespeare, 17-year-old Shakespeare Shapiro is 
writing his memoir. All seniors at his high school are required to do so as a senior project, but not all of them are the talented humorist that Shakespeare is. Shakespeare has a brother named Gandhi, so it seems clear that their parents were not into conventional, boring names for their children. Shakespeare suffers from the usual teen boy angst, the difference here being that he knows how to write about it in a very amusing, if coarse, style. This is not one to recommend to kids under, say, 16, but for older teens and young adults who don't mind Wizner's irreverence, this is a really funny book.
I finished Unwind, by Neal Shusterman, yesterday and now I'm reading it aloud to my boys. They never want me to stop reading! It's hard to find a place to stop because this is a really high energy book -- very exciting and fast moving. The story is set in the not-too-distant future (ipods and plasma screen televisions are from the characters' grandparents' time). In this dystopian world, kids are subject to being "unwound" when they are between the ages of 13 and 18. Once they reach age 18 they are safe, but if their parents or guardians decide to sign the order, they will be killed and all of their body parts will be harvested and given to other people who need them. The story follows three kids who are supposed to be Unwinds but who manage to escape. It's a pretty bizarre premise but it works well in this story. I really like that the author explores the issue of the value of human life from several perspectives. For example, in this world people who have unwanted babies are allowed to "stork" them -- that is, to leave them on someone's doorstep and just leave. If they are caught doing this, they must keep the baby afterall, but if they are not, the people who live in the house have to take care of the child. This was an imaginative, exciting book and I really enjoyed it!
I had never read the original Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie, before this week. I was surprised to find that the Disney movie follows the original story pretty closely. 
There is a cold-blooded battle at the end of the book, though, that Disney (understandably) changed to a light-hearted contest between just Hook and Peter. In the book, the battle pits Peter and the lost boys against Hook and his pirates, and the children kill about 15 pirates. Barrie does not dwell on the violence but I was still rather shocked.
I found Barrie's prose remarkable not only in its imagination but also in its sophistication. Renaissance Learning gives this book a 7th grade reading level, and I found that the book earns this through its advanced vocabulary. Sadly, though, Barrie's view of girls and women was typical for his time, as evidenced by Wendy's limited options. For example, she takes no part in the story's final battle, and her role of "mother" to Peter and the boys pretty much dooms her to a life of cooking, cleaning, and looking after the needs of others, with no time for her own interests or pursuits.
I started reading The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin, many months ago but never finished it. At that time, I just could not get interested in the story. I think I read the first few chapers and then gave up.
Since it is a Newbery Medal winner, I decided to try again. Once I got into the book I did enjoy reading it. Keeping all the names and relationships straight is certainly a challenge, though. The mystery the various characters must solve is who murdered Sam Westing. The strange thing about it is that Mr. Westing seems to have predicted his own demise and set up the game beforehand. What keeps the 16 potential heirs playing is the promise of a whopping $200 million inheritance.
This book is written at a 5th-grade reading level, but I would hesitate to recommend it to kids that young because it really is complex. In my copy of the book there is an introduction written by Raskin's publisher, Ann Durrell. Here, I discovered that Raskin never read children's books before she wrote The Westing Game. Durrell notes that she "never even tried to edit her 'for children,'" saying she was "too wise, too funny, too ingenious--and therefore unique--to tamper with in that way." I agree that the book is very clever and funny. For some reason, though, it just didn't catch my interest the way other children's books have.
A movie version of The City of Ember was evidently released last month, but I don't remember ever seeing it in theaters. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention. Anyway, I thought I had already read this book a few years ago, but rereading it this week, the plot was not familiar. 
The story is about an underground city that "the builders" created to last 200 years, presumably because something terrible had happened to make life above ground impossible (radiation?). The builders left instructions for how to leave the city and get above ground again, but they have been lost, and it has now been over 240 years and supplies are running out. Two 12-year-olds, Doon and Lina, try to find a way out of the city before it is too late and the citizens are left to die in total darkness.
I enjoyed the book and would like to read the sequel because the end is a cliffhanger. I went on a walk outside after finishing the book and greatly appreciated the fresh air and sunshine. Nothing like reading about this kind of dystopian society to appreciate what we have!
I finished Speeding Bullet, another Neal Shusterman novel, in one day because I found it so hard to put down. This is the story of Nick Herrera, a New York City teen who is not rich, does not get terrific grades, and does not get the popular girls. Then one day he saves a little girl from being hit by a subway train and begins to think he has some kind of special gift. He starts looking for other people to rescue, believing that he cannot lose. 
Then he meets Linda Lanko, the daughter of one of the biggest developers in the city, and they begin to spend time together. Linda's father is very rich, and she is used to always getting exactly what she wants. So is this relationship going to be good or bad for Nick? The ending of the book surprised me, and I'm always happy when that happens! I highly recommend this book for tweens and teens, especially reluctant readers.
I had never read anything by prolific teen author Meg Cabot, so when I saw Jinx on the 2008 teens’ top 10 nominations list, I decided to read it. The heroine's real name is not Jinx but Jean, and she goes to live with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in New York City because of a mysterious stalker back home in Iowa. She believes bad luck has plagued her life and that she is unlikely to escape her grim fate any time soon. She also believes that she is a witch.
I can see why this book is so popular; I think that I would have just loved it when I was in high school. To the reader, the heroine's low self-esteem seems just silly, considering all that she has going for her. Jean is beautiful, smart, and gifted. She meets Zack, who lives next door, and convinces herself that he just wants to be friends with her, even though it is obvious to the reader that he really likes her. I think this idea that a young woman's negative perceptions about her own life are drastically mistaken -- and that she is really someone to be admired -- will resonate with a lot of teen girls.
Even so, as an adult reader I found the story rather predictable and shallow. I don't think I'll be picking up another Meg Cabot book any time soon.
The Red Pony, by John Steinbeck, appears on the Battle of the Books list for 6th to 8th graders this year, and I had never read it before. The book is short (around 100 pages) and is divided into 3 sections, all very downbeat and depressing, as I've found is typical of Steinbeck's fiction. I can't honestly say that I enjoyed this book at all, but I recognize that it is considered a classic, with its themes of family relationships, coming-of-age, etc. When I was in school I was not bothered by this type of story, but maybe now with the state of the economy and so much sadness and worry in real life, I'm just in the mood for more escapist fiction. Let's just say I'm not eager right now to re-read The Grapes of Wrath!
