Inside Jacket

I picked up a copy of  Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines when I was at Book Expo America in New York City earlier in the summer.  I must admit that I was intrigued with the book but I was afraid it was a copycat of The Hunger Games, so I didn’t feel compelled to start reading it right away.  It’s easy to see why and I can’t help but quickly talk about the connection first.  Right there in big bold letters on the back cover “It’s a fight to the death – on live TV – when a modern-day gladiator’s daughter steps into the arena.”  A fight to death on live TV?  Sound familiar?  And then the summary finishes up with “For fans of The Hunger Games and Fight Club, Lise Haines’s debut novel is a mesmerizing look at a world addicted to violence – a modern world that’s disturbingly easy to imagine.”   So certainly they are banking on The Hunger Games fans on picking up Girl in the Arena, but this novel can stand completely on its own.  I found it to be completely original and kind of feel sad that it’s being marketed with the tag line “fight to death on live TV.”

Girl in the Arena comes out today and I’d love to see people picking it up to read because I think it makes for some great discussion.  The more that I think about the book, the more I like it.  It has some fascinating insight into a culture that has gone mad for violence and touches on some deep issues.

Girl in the Arena is a dystopian novel but man, it felt like the culture was not such a far fetched idea.  There are a lot of references to current culture – Skyping, Wikipedia, watching Crouching Tiger and Stranger than Fiction but wrapped up in all of this is the Gladiator sport.  And it’s actually more than a sport, it’s an entire culture that began first underground at about the time of the Vietnam War.  Gladiators now fight in front of large crowds and a TV audience and can fight anything from animals to other Gladiators to the death.  It’s a blood sport more popular than football or soccer.

Lyn was born into the Gladiator lifestyle and living the rules and bylaws of the association is second nature to her family.  Her mother is a high profile Glad wife who has been married and widowed by seven Gladiators.  Lyn is known as the daughter who had seven fathers.  They are celebrities.  Tommy, her current father has been matched up with Uber, a new gifted young fighter and if there’s a bylaw that Lyn knows all to well it’s – Never leave the stadium when your father is dying. Uber wins Lyn’s dowry which means that she must marry him.  But after watching her mother lose seven husbands, the last thing that Lyn wants to do is become a Glad wife.  But the Association is intent on her celebrity wedding.  To win her freedom, she challenges Uber to a fight in the arena.  It’s a  first for the association and they’ll do anything for publicity.  The only problem is – she might actually like the guy.  And while she considers herself a fighter, she actually doesn’t like violence.

I loved Lyn’s little brother Thad.  Although, it’s not stated specifically, I imagine that he is Autistic.  Everything that Lyn does, she does for Thad.  I loved their relationship.  Lyn’s relationship with her mother was odd in the sense that she seemed to be taking care of her instead of the other way around.  Plus, I always find it odd when children call their parents by their first name.

Stylistically, I found that the choice to not include quotation marks in dialogue to be very interesting.  It took me more than half of the book to be able to see past it.  It was really hard to read this way at first and took me out of the story.  I honestly don’t know why the dialogue was this way.  I was okay with it the second half of the book after I got in the rhythm of the book.  You can get a slight idea of what I’m talking about in the following passage where Lyn recounts the first time she went to her first Glad fight at the age of five.

– Kitten, we’re going to see some funny things today.  Men being a . . . . little silly.

She rubbed my knuckles with her thumbs as she spoke.

– If we see anything that makes us a little sad or upset, we just have to make a game of it.

I said I wanted to play a game.  And she started over.

– The men are going to look like they’re having a big fight.  Your father is a famous fighter, so this is something to be proud of.

– He’s a gladiator, I said.

– Yes, exactly, and we know that gladiators hav weapons.  Like . . . axes and knives and . . .

– And clubs.

[. . . . ]

– Yes, clubs too.  Good girl.  So nothing to be concerned about.  And I brought your coloring book and crayons.  And look, she said, reaching into her bag and pulling out my favorite stuffed animal.  — I brought your dog and her pajamas if she gets tired.

This is also one of those covers that isn’t truly representative of the book’s character.  I personally like the cover but Lyn is actually bald for the entirety of the book.  She’s got a nice set of hair in that cover.

Girl in the Arena explores a world of violence and how the lines between reality and games are blurred.  It’s a story that I won’t forget simply because it is SO disturbing.  How does a culture move from being normal to one where killing each other for sport is celebrated?  I don’t think this book will be for everybody.  It is bloody.  So be warned.  But it’s worth picking up.  A fascinating premise and story line.

And although I think it stands completely on it’s own, yes, its true, for fans of The Hunger Games . . . .

Other bloggers on the Kidz Book Buzz tour:  Abby the Librarian, A Patchwork of Books, All About Children’s Books, Becky’s Book Reviews, Fireside Musings, Homeschool Book Buzz, KidzBookBuzz.com, Maw Books Blog, My Own Little Corner of the World, Reading is My Superpower, Through a Child’s Eyes.
Links of interest:  Lise Haines website and on twitter.
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Publisher: Bloomsbury. October 13, 2009.
Hardcover, 336 pages. ISBN 1599903725
Girl in the Arena is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Ghost in the Machine by Patrick Carman is the follow up book to Skeleton Creek.  I love this series because of it’s creativity .  If you are not familiar with Skeleton Creek (which you can check out my review and details here), it’s a book which is told in two different formats.  One is the diary of Ryan and the second is the online videos of his friend Sarah.  So basically, after about every 10-20 pages, you’ll set the book down and visit sarahfincher.com.  There is a password provided in the book which will give you access to the videos.  The videos are vital to the story, in other words, no skipping!  I think it’s a great way to get reluctant readers excited and have a “pay off” when finishing reading a block of text.  And it’s a great way to successfully combine two types of media.

Skeleton Creek finished with a huge cliffhanger.  Argh!  I couldn’t wait for the next book.  I had no idea that I would be receiving a copy of Ghost in the Machine, so I know that I let out an audible squeal when I opened a mystery package one day and it was this book!  Seriously, so excited to read this one.

In Ghost in the Machine, Ryan and Sarah are still forbidden to see each other and trying to solve the mystery at the gold dredge, which is haunted by the ghost of Old Joe Bush.  Time is running out because the town has decided it’s become so dangerous that they are going to burn it down.  But things get complicated when Ryan and Sarah uncover a secret society called The Crossbones which keeps the secrets of the dredge and Ryan’s father is in the middle of it all.

This is a great follow-up to Skeleton Creek.  Kids will enjoy the mystery and love getting spooked with the videos.  I remember that I jumped in one video and for another I had to keep pausing it because it was just plain scary.  Such fun!  But nothing to lose sleep over at night – unless maybe you don’t finish the book before you go to sleep which is virtually impossible because you’ll want to read it in one sitting.

The videos do take some time to load so I recommend skipping ahead to the next video as soon as you finish one so it’s already loaded by the time you get to it.  Be warned though, it’s hard to not have your eyes glaze over potentially spoiling text when skipping ahead.   Although everybody is in need of a few acting lessons, the videos are great.  I was hoping for a third book but everything wrapped up pretty tightly.

Which does remind me.  Ryan writes in his journal like ALL the time.  So I was surprised to see at the end of the book he doesn’t write for four days.  His last entry reads like an epilogue.  It wasn’t in his character to not write during those four days where everything gets wrapped up.  And Sarah also writes in the journal at the end too.  I’d much rather her stick to the videos.  So the ending felt a little bit unbelievable to me because they acted out of character.  But all in all nothing to spoil my enjoyment of the book.

My biggest disappointment is that there is not another book in the series.  I’m not ready for it to be over, I’d love to have more.  And the mystery/ghost story is the PERFECT genre for this concept.   October is also a great time to read this book especially together as a family.  I can see everybody gathered around the computer watching the videos and somebody else poking somebody right in the middle of a cliffhanger.  I can see screams.  Oh, I love it.

Great book, great fun!  We are reading mysteries this month for my Children’s Literature Book Club.  I can’t wait to meet next week to see what everybody thought about this one.

So are you up for it?

Links of interest: Maw Books review of Skeleton Creek (including book trailer to give you an idea of video content), more book blogger reviews, Patrick Carman’s website, extensive alternate reality Skeleton Creek game.
Genre:  Middle Grade Fiction with video elements, approx ages 9-12
Publisher: Scholastic.  October 1, 2009
Hardcover, 192 pages. ISBN 054507570X
Ghost in the Machine is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr is Sara’s best book yet.

15-year-old Sam has always been defined as the pastor’s daughter.  But not all is well behind closed doors.  Citing the pressures of being a pastor’s wife, Sam’s mother is an alcoholic who after one too many DUI’s is now in treatment.  But it’s not a fact that Sam wants her friends (who often don’t invite her along to less questionable activities – you know – the whole being the pasture’s daughter thing) to know about nor is it something that Sam and her father openly talk about with each other.

It is during this crisis in her family, that her community faces a crisis of its own.  A young girl in the church has mysteriously gone missing and no one is free from suspicion including her own father and the girl’s older brother, whom Sam has always crushed on.  This family and community crisis shakes Sam to her inner-core where she also experiences her own personal crisis – one that questions her faith, hope, and belief in something that is bigger than she is.

Although the events of this beautiful novel are huge – alcoholic parent, missing girl – it is also so quiet.  Sam is a character that feels so real.  Does she really live in those pages?  It can’t be possible.  She’s out there somewhere.  Living.  Breathing.  The questions that she asks herself are ones that any teen struggling to learn to identify who they are in the world will relate too.  Scratch that.  Not just teens.  Heck, even I found myself relating to Sam in my life right now and supposedly I’m supposed to have it all together right now.

Sam asks herself this question:

Do I believe?

I believe just enough that Jody is alive that I think we should keep looking.

I believe just enough in my mom to try to make a garden for her to work on when she gets home.

I believe just enough in my dad that he’ll have an explanation even if that explanation is that he’s only human.

I believe just enough in myself to know that even if I start in a new school I’ll be okay.

I believe just enough in forgiveness that eventually we’ll be a family again.

I believe just enough in God that I’m praying right now that Nick means what he says.

As a side note, I loved that Sam wanted to create the perfect garden for her mother to take care of.  As a gardener myself, I understand how gardening can heal.  How the creation of something can bring one hope.  When I garden, I’m basically telling myself that I’ll be around to reap the benefits of my work.  I have faith and hope in the plants and my ability to bring forth something that will bloom into something beautiful for me to enjoy later.  Gardening is an activity that while is enjoyable in the moment is one that is always looking to the future.  Sam wants to create a xeriscape garden:  a garden which can thrive on very little care.  Which I can’t help but think is how Sam thinks of herself, her mother, and her family.

Sara Zarr lives locally to me and it’s been my pleasure to be able to chat with her on numerous occasions.  I love that blogging has bridged that gap between author and reader for me.   The beautiful thing that I loved about Once Was Lost was that the author completely disappeared in the narration.  I did worry that knowing the author behind the book would taint my reading of it.  There’s nothing worse than hearing the author’s voice instead of  the characters.  But I completely forgot about Sara except that I had to keep reminding myself that  this amazing story came out her head.  How do people do that?  Honestly, I shouldn’t have been surprised because Story of a Girl and Sweethearts, are very popular books for teens, but I was in awe of the talent and the story that she’s able to tell.

Once Was Lost has a little bit of it all.  A mystery to pull you along, a family in crisis, a young teen discovering her identity and even a bit of romance.  But mostly it’s a novel about faith and how to hold on to that faith when the world we know comes crumbling down around us.

I was able to attend Sara Zarr’s launch party at The Kings English Bookshop in Salt Lake City on release day for Once Was Lost.  Tons of fun as always as so many other local authors came out to attend the big day.

I captured some video to share with you! In this video Sara talks about how the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart (which happened in our SLC community) inspired the writing of Once Was Lost:

Sara talks more about the writing process for Once Was Lost including how the safe return of Elizabeth Smart and Sara’s own therapy changed the outlook of the book:

And last, Sara reads from Once Was Lost (no spoilers – she reads from beginning of book):

Sara is doing a fun video tour of current book tour, I was thrilled to catch a one second image of myself in her last video!

Links of interest:  Sara Zarr website, more book blogger reviews, Maw Books reviews of Story of a Girl, Sweethearts, interview with Sara and  breakfast smoothie recipe.
Genre:  Young Adult Fiction
Publisher:  Little, Brown Young Readers.  October 1, 2009
Hardcover, 224 pages.  ISBN 0316036048
Once Was Lost is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

What in the world is a behemoth?  From Job 40:15 in the Bible, “Look at the land beast, Behemoth.  I created him as well as you . . . “  In addition to an animal being described in the Bible it also means something large in size or power.  It’s these two ideas that form Benny the Baffled Behemoth by Melissa Leembruggen and illustrated by Trish McKinney, a faith-based picture book.

Benny is a young Behemoth.  But he has a major problem.  In fact, it’s a very colorful problem.  In a black and white world, Benny is full of color and he doesn’t like to feel different.  For each emotion that Benny feels he turns a different color.  For example, “On Monday at the carnival, Benny’s friends didn’t share any cotton candy with him.  Benny turned bright red with anger and breathed furious fire from his mouth.”  A different emotion is conveyed for each day of the week and each night Benny goes to bed and wonders “Why was I created so colorfully?”

While at Sunday School, a wise old behemoth notices Benny’s sadness and reminds Benny that “Your King Creator made you to be a member of His family and to reflect His glory!  Every one of those colors will serve a purpose in your life.  You are a royal prince and never forget it.”  It was then that Benny’s heart glowed a bright and beautiful royal purple and the book ends with the scripture 2 Corinthians 3:15-18.

The illustrations by Trish McKinney are a combination of sketches and watercolor and matched the feeling of the book.  There were however two instances where the text flowed across the spread of two pages and I found it difficult to read without holding the book completely flat, which was difficult to do as I had one child in my lap and trying to show another one sitting on the floor.   At the back of the book is a page that encourages interaction and dialogue about how emotions are often paired with colors, how is the reader like or not like Benny and further study about the King Creator,  as well as background about the word Behemoth.

A portion of the profits from Benny the Baffled Behemoth goes to Heart for Africa, a faith-based humanitarian organization focused on bringing HOPE to Africans by targeting the areas of Hunger, Orphans, Poverty and Education.  If you would like to serve in Africa or get more information visit www.heartforafrica.org.

This is the second title of Melissa’s that I’ve reviewed, the first being The Sudan Project. Melissa is an author that is inspiring in that she her writing to make a difference. I’m THRILLED to have Melissa guest post for us today about writing with multiple purposes and you will find that post next!

(Remember that African Bookworms Carnival?  If all goes well, I should have it posted tomorrow.)

Links of interest:  Heart for Africa, also reviewed on the Maw Books Blog by The Sudan Project: Rebuilding with the People of Darfur, A Young Person’s Guide and an interview with Melissa Leembruggen.  Melissa serves as the president of Clay Bridges Communications and can also be found on Twitter @ClayBridges.
Genre:  Christian Picture Book, approx ages 9-12
Published:  Claybridge Communications, February 16, 2009
Paperback, 40 pages.  ISBN:  0615232043
Benny the Baffled Behemoth by Melissa Leembruggen is available from Powell’s and Amazon.