young adult – Page 4

The Saga of Larten Crepsley: Birth of a Killer

A bunch of my favorite authors have been releasing comeback books lately (Jonathan Stroud with The Ring of Solomon, Jasper Fforde with The Last Dragonslayer, Cornelia Funke with Reckless), and I’ve been hedging on reading them. I’ve been resisting buying them all on impulse (at least until the next bookstore sale) because my expectations are set higher for these authors and I still need to condition myself (in case I get disappointed, yes, I’m paranoid that way).

Darren Shan, the author of Cirque du Freak, the only vampire series I’m a fan of, has had a couple of books out recently. I’ve passed up The Thin Executioner and the new release of Procession of the Dead for the moment, mostly because the Demonata series was a hit and miss for me and I haven’t even finished it yet. But I had gotten (as promised) Birth of A Killer: The Saga of Larten Crepsley as a present for one of the junior members of our book club (Paolo, who is every bit of a Cirque du Freak fan as I am), and because I haven’t seen him yet, I couldn’t resist reading the book first before I turn it over to him.

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Banana Heart Summer

For those who love to love and eat
For those who long to love and eat

I fell in love with the book Banana Heart Summer by Merlinda Bobis as soon as I read the title of the first chapter of the book (quoted above). Those words, strung together, told me I was going to like the novel — I’ve always subscribed to the idea of a correlation between loving and enjoying food.

Banana Heart Summer is a Filipino novel published locally by Anvil Publishing (internationally by Delta), which tells of a summer in Bicol (right at the foot of the Mayon volcano) in 1960. Twelve-year old Nenita,inspired by the myth of the banana heart (Close to midnight, whent the heart bows from its stem, wait for its first dew. It will drop like a gem. Catch it with your tongue. When you eat the heart of the matter, you’ll never grow hungry again), leaves home to become a helper in the house next door so she can earn her mother’s love and put food on her hungry family’s table.

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Sabriel

I’ve always been curious about Garth Nix’s Abhorsen Trilogy (Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen) because a friend of mine from college (hello, Tintin!) has been raving about it since we were in school — I remember her sneak-reading it in class, and I remember she even bought the cassette audiobooks and we listened to it in her car!

I’ve had the set sitting in my TBR pile for ages; I’ve always thought it was a bit too high fantasy for my taste. As you might have read in past posts, I balk at fantasy with unpronounceable names, made up languages, and maps; I usually prefer fantasy with some semblance of reality in it. But I listed Garth Nix in my A-Z Challenge purposely so I would be forced to read at least the first book of the trilogy, and I’m so glad I did.

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Thrills and Chills at Skeleton Creek

(First published on Manila Bulletin, Students and Campuses section)

Something sinister is bubbling beneath the surface of the backwater town of Skeleton Creek, and best friends Ryan McCray and Sarah Fincher appear to have stirred it. Ryan and Sarah are convinced that Skeleton Creek is harboring secrets, and they are determined to get to the bottom of it, even though there are forces that want to stop them at all costs.

This is the premise behind Scholastic Press’ latest multimedia venture, following the phenomenal success of its interactive middle reader series 39 Clues, which had readers collecting clue cards and playing online games in the hunt for the Cahill family treasure. This time around, Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman introduces readers to a new multimedia format: video books.

“Books are having a harder time holding the attention of a wired youth culture. iPods, cell phones, movies, the Internet, video games, and television are distracting even our best young readers,” states Skeleton Creek creator Patrick Carman. “I developed Skeleton Creek for ten to sixteen year olds who have grown up with YouTube and MySpace for one reason: I want them to read. While there will always be plenty of room for traditional books for young adults, publishing has to think outside the box in order to bring back many of our young readers.”

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Num8ers

Chicken House is one of my favorite British children’s book publishers. I’ve enjoyed many of their novels immensely, including Cornelia Funke’s The Thief Lord, Dragon Rider, and the Inkheart Trilogy; Elizabeth Kay’s Divide series; Stuart Hill’s The Cry of the Icemark; and The Mysterious Benedict Society, and I have a whole bunch of Chicken House books still waiting to be read on my shelves.

Chicken House was founded by publishing great Barry Cunningham (as in the subject of J.K. Rowling’s quote, “If it wasn’t for Barry Cunningham, Harry Potter might still be languishing in his cupboard under the stairs…”) in 2000, and it specializes in new writers, artists and ideas. Chicken House joined the Scholastic group in 2005, further cementing their hold in international children’s book market.

I’ve always found Chicken House books to be quirky and highly original, so I received a review copy of Numbers by Rachel Ward, I knew I was in for an interesting read.

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